 Ancient authors, such as Polybius and Livy, tend to stress Carthage's reliance on mercenary units.The term "mercenary", however, is misleading when applied to the entire Carthaginian army.While Carthage did employ mercenaries in the true sense of the word, Carthage's usage of native African and Iberian recruits would not be true mercenaries as these peoples were subjects of Carthage.