of the invasion to Scipio. In about 204 BC, Scipio was ready to invade Africa. After several skirmishes, and a period of contrived truce, the Romans assaulted the allied camp at the battle of Utica in which Scipio and Laelius set fire to the Carthaginian camp. The Romans nevertheless failed to detach Syphax from his marital and political alliance with the Carthaginians; nor was a complete victory possible over the Carthaginian army, with Scipio fearing for his fleet. Finally, in 203 BC, Laelius defeated Syphax, captured the city of Cirta, and took Syphax alive. He then conducted the captured prince and his son Vermina and some other leading men to Rome. At Zama (202 BC), Laelius rendered considerable service in command of the cavalry, which was again placed originally on the left wing with Masinissa on the right wing; without the cavalry intervening at a crucial time and falling upon the Carthaginians from the rear, Scipio may well have been defeated. Political career Laelius was elected quaestor after Scipio's decisive victory in 202 BC. In 197 BC, he was elected plebeian aedile and in 196 BC made praetor of Sicily, both times apparently with the aid of his former commander and old friend. Scipio's influence, however, did not serve to win Laelius the consulship in 192 BC. Finally, in 190, he was elected consul along with Scipio's younger brother Scipio Asiaticus but failed to win leadership of the campaign against Antiochus III the Great, which would have enriched him. One version has Laelius himself nobly offering the Senate the choice instead of the traditional drawing of lots to decide the allocation of provinces. When his friend Scipio Africanus announced that, if his brother Lucius was chosen to lead the campaign against Antiochus, he would accompany his brother as a legate, the decision was inevitable - Lucius would be preferred. Laelius's decision, if this version is correct, was a triumph of friendship, but not for his personal finances. He was given Gaul as his province, and was employed in organizing the recently conquered territory in Cisalpine Gaul. Placentia and Cremona were repopulated. Later life Like other superannuated Roman generals, Laelius later served on embassies to King Perseus of Macedon (174-173 BC) and to Transalpine Gaul (170 BC). Laelius's wife is not known, but c. 188 BC, he fathered a legitimate son who would become consul in 140 BC - Gaius Laelius