By the terms of the peace imposed in 201 BC, Carthage had been confined to their original territory as marked by the Phoenician Trenches, an earthwork defence line lying in a rough arc between the north and east coasts. Numidian territory was to the west and south of this line with Masinissa recognised by the Romans as being its king. Carthage was forbidden to wage war outside Africa, or inside Africa even in self defence, without the permission of Rome.
To pay the annual indemnity to Rome, it was proposed to increase the taxes. This aroused great resentment, since it was known that much of the revenue was already lost to corrupt officials. In 196 BC Hannibal was elected one of the two suffettes (‘judges’), the annually elected chief magistrates of Carthage, and he introduced reforms to prevent embezzlement of state revenues. His reforms appear to have been effective, but in 195 BC his enemies laid false information against him, asserting that he was negotiating with Antiochus III of Syria to make war on Rome. Hannibal fled to the East where he served for a time as a general of Antiochus, and finally in 183 BC committed suicide to avoid capture by the Romans.
Despite its loss of territory, Carthage still controlled a large region of good agricultural land in the interior of Africa, which yielded a substantial surplus of corn for export. By 191 BC Carthage was able to offer to pay all the outstanding instalments, the last of which was not actually due until 151 BC.
The vague terms of the treaty made it easy for Masinissa to capture parts of Carthaginian territory. When Carthage protested to Rome about his annexations, the Senate chose not to intervene. During the 150s BC the Carthaginians, exasperated by Masinissa’s aggressions and by Rome’s failure to check them, began to rearm. In winter 151 BC, a twenty-five thousand strong Carthaginian army under Hasdrubal (9) (fl.151-147 BC) marched against Masinissa. But Hasdrubal was worsted in a full-scale battle and the Carthaginians surrendered.
By waging war against Masinissa without first obtaining Roman approval the Carthaginians had clearly breached the peace treaty. They banished Hasdrubal in the hope that this might go some way towards placating the Romans, and sent five envoys to Rome to negotiate a peace settlement. When the envoys heard that war had already been decided upon, they offered unconditional surrender.
The Romans said that the people could keep their freedom, property, laws and religion if Carthage sent three hundred hostages and handed over all its weapons. After the city gave up its arms the Romans then demanded that the city of Carthage be moved ten miles (16 km) inland. This was unacceptable to the Carthaginians and they refused to comply. Rome declared war in 149 BC.
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