Hasdrubal and Syphax negotiate Sophonisba's marriage in the minutes after Scipio's departure, transforming a teenage girl neither of them consults into the price of an alliance. The chapter reveals that Syphax has wanted her for seven years -- since she was eleven -- making this not new opportunity but the culmination of patient, sustained pursuit. Hasdrubal warns that Sophonisba will make Syphax greater than he's ever been, but she will never be his possession, only his partner. Kandake, watching from the shadows, is the only character who asks: "And if she doesn't want to be taken?"
The death of Gaia (Massinissa's father) and the fracturing of the Massylii kingdom are historically accurate, occurring around this time. Syphax did seize much of eastern Numidian territory. The *amana* was a genuine Carthaginian concept for the sacred transfer of a daughter from father to husband, with significant legal and ceremonial weight. The chapter takes place immediately after the shared couch dinner with Scipio (Chapter 3).
The chapter achieves something rare: it makes a backroom negotiation feel like tragedy unfolding. Sophonisba is the subject of every sentence and appears in zero scenes -- the novel makes us feel her objectification by making her the object of the chapter's grammar. Syphax's seven-year obsession becomes: creepy, strategic, patient, obsessive, sincere, predatory, and grief-touched simultaneously. The *amana* concept grounds this in actual ancient Mediterranean marriage customs rather than modern sensibilities projected backward. Hasdrubal warns about her partnership before the marriage happens, then Syphax admits his grief over seven years of waiting, then Kandake asks about consent -- and the chapter refuses to simplify these contradictions into easy moral categories. The final revelation is that Syphax didn't want a docile bride; he wanted "what she would become." Whether that's romantic partnership or grooming remains deliberately ambiguous. The chapter's thesis: both men recognize Sophonisba's value exceeds use, yet they use her anyway.
"Sophonisba is the subject of every sentence and appears in zero scenes. The novel makes us feel her objectification by making her the object of the chapter's grammar. By the time Syphax admits seven years of obsession, we understand: this isn't new opportunity. This is the culmination of patient predation dressed as desire."
— Reader 1
"The chapter refuses easy moral categories. Syphax has grief. Hasdrubal warns about partnership. Both are using her, and both recognize her value beyond use. The contradictions aren't resolved -- which is precisely what makes them true to human complexity."
— Reader 2
"Perfect political theater that becomes human tragedy. Two men negotiating a marriage neither can imagine will fail. One admitting seven years of obsession. The other warning she'll never be manageable. And throughout: the absent protagonist, whose agency is being negotiated away while everyone involved acknowledges she has too much agency to control. At 1,000 words, not one is wasted."
— Reader 3