After this he set apart Mago and the Carthaginians who were with him, two of them being members of the council of elders and fifteen members of the senate.
He committed these to the custody of Laelius, ordering him to pay them due attention.
Next he invited the hostages, over three hundred in number, to visit him, and calling the children to him one by one and caressing them bade them be of good cheer, as in a few days they would see their parents.
He also bade the rest take heart and asked them all to write to their relations at home, firstly, that they were safe and well, and secondly, that the Romans were willing to restore them all in safety to their homes if their relatives chose to become allies of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>.
After speaking thus, having reserved from the booty the most suitable objects for this purpose, he gave them such gifts as became their sex and age, presenting the girls with earrings and bracelets and the young men with poniards and swords.
When one of the captive women, the wife of Mandonius, who was the brother of Andobales, king of the Ilergetes, fell at his feet and entreated him with tears to treat them with more proper consideration than the Carthaginians had done, he was touched and asked her what they stood in need of.
The lady was indeed of advanced age, and bore herself with a certain majestic dignity.
Upon her making no reply he sent for the officials appointed to attend on the women.
When you presented themselves and informed him that they kept the women generously supplied with all they required, the lady again clasped his knees and addressed him in the same words, upon which Scipio was still more puzzled, and conceiving the idea that the officials who attended on the women were neglecting them and had now made a false statement,
he bade the ladies be of good cheer, for he said he would himself appoint other attendants who would see to it that they were in want of nothing.
The old lady after some hesitation said, "General, you do not take me rightly if you think that our present situation is about our food."
Scipio then understood what the lady meant, and noticing the youth and beauty of the daughters of Andobales and other princes he was forced to tears, recognizing in how few words she had pointed out to him the danger to which they were exposed.
So now he made it clear to her that he had taken her meaning, and grasping her by the right hand bade her and the rest be of good cheer,
for he would look after them as if they were his own sisters and children and would accordingly appoint trustworthy men to attend on them.
Walbank Commentary