[6] Hasdrubal, however, remembered not only the alliance with Scipio into which the king had entered, but also how naturally characterless and fickle are barbarians. He feared that if Scipio should cross over to Africa this marriage would be a slender bond. Consequently while the Numidian, fired by his newfound love, was in his power, with the help also of the young woman's allurements, Hasdrubal prevailed upon him to send ambassadors to Scipio in Sicily, and through these men he was to warn Scipio not to cross over to Africa in reliance upon his previous promises. [7] They were to say that he was [8??] linked with the Carthaginian people both by his marriage to a citizen of Carthage, daughter of the Hasdrubal whom Scipio had seen received as a guest in his own house, and by a public treaty as well; [9] that in the first place he wished that the Romans would carry on war with the Carthaginians, as they had done hitherto, far from Africa, making it unnecessary for him to be involved in their conflicts and to follow the arms of this side or that, rejecting alliance with the other side; [10] that if Scipio did not keep away from Africa and moved his army up to Carthage, it would be necessary for him to fight both for the land of Africa, in which he too had [p. 301]been born, and for the native city of his wife and for3 her father and her home.