sufficed to vanquish every one, even the most indifferent." Polybius also emphasizes her youth, calling her a "child" bride, something which Diodorus also mentions. Nevertheless, those traits have led modern historians to consider her a true political agent for Carthage instead of a mere pawn of the war. Loyal to her city, Sophonisba managed to make Syphax join forces with Hasdrubal and face Scipio and Masinissa in the battles of Utica and the Great Plains, but the Punic forces ended up ultimately defeated. Syphax was then defeated and captured himself in 203 BC in the Battle of Cirta. When Sophonisba fell in Masinissa's hands, he freed her and married her, accepting that she had been forced to marry Syphax against her will. However, after hearing claims (confirmed by Gaius Laelius's inquiries) that Syphax had acted against Rome under the influence of Sophonisba, Scipio refused to agree to this arrangement, fearing she would turn Masinissa against him as well. He insisted on the immediate surrender of the princess so that she could be taken to Rome and appear in the triumphal parade. On the other hand, Plutarch considers Scipio asked for Sophonisba's delivery for safety reasons, fearing Masinissa could torment her in revenge for her marriage to Syphax. Although Masinissa loved Sophonisba, he agreed to leave her to avoid being declared an enemy to Rome, and went to Sophonisba. He told her that he could not free her from captivity or shield her from Roman wrath, and so he asked her to die like a true Carthaginian princess. With great composure, she drank a cup of poison that he offered her and died, berating Masinissa for making their marriage short and bitter. Afterwards, Masinissa handed Scipio her corpse. His kingdom and Rome remained allied for long after Masinissa's death in 148 BC. In literature, art and film Petrarch elaborated her story in his epic poem Africa, published posthumously in 1396. The playwright John Marston wrote The Wonder of Women, a Roman tragedy based on the story of Sophonisba, in 1606 for the Children of the Queen's Revels. There are a number of paintings of Sophonisba drinking her poison, but the subject is often very similar to that of Artemisia II of Caria drinking her husband's ashes, and the Rembrandt in the Prado (now known as Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes and a Donato Creti in the National Gallery are examples