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diff --git a/old/1290-0.txt b/old/1290-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e7d9150..0000000 --- a/old/1290-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12046 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salammbô, by Gustave Flaubert - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Salammbô - -Author: Gustave Flaubert - -Translator: J.S. Chartres - -Release Date: April, 1998 [eBook #1290] -[Most recently updated: August 12, 2021] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: John Bickers and David Widger - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALAMMBÔ *** - - - - -Salammbô - -By Gustave Flaubert - - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - - CHAPTER II - - CHAPTER III - - CHAPTER IV - - CHAPTER V - - CHAPTER VI - - CHAPTER VII - - CHAPTER VIII - - CHAPTER IX - - CHAPTER X - - CHAPTER XI - - CHAPTER XII - - CHAPTER XIII - - CHAPTER XIV - - CHAPTER XV - - - - - -CHAPTER I THE FEAST - -It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar. The -soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily were having a great feast to -celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Eryx, and as the master was -away, and they were numerous, they ate and drank with perfect freedom. - -The captains, who wore bronze cothurni, had placed themselves in the -central path, beneath a gold-fringed purple awning, which reached from -the wall of the stables to the first terrace of the palace; the common -soldiers were scattered beneath the trees, where numerous flat-roofed -buildings might be seen, wine-presses, cellars, storehouses, bakeries, -and arsenals, with a court for elephants, dens for wild beasts, and a -prison for slaves. - -Fig-trees surrounded the kitchens; a wood of sycamores stretched away to -meet masses of verdure, where the pomegranate shone amid the white tufts -of the cotton-plant; vines, grape-laden, grew up into the branches of -the pines; a field of roses bloomed beneath the plane-trees; here and -there lilies rocked upon the turf; the paths were strewn with black sand -mingled with powdered coral, and in the centre the avenue of cypress -formed, as it were, a double colonnade of green obelisks from one -extremity to the other. - -Far in the background stood the palace, built of yellow mottled Numidian -marble, broad courses supporting its four terraced stories. With its -large, straight, ebony staircase, bearing the prow of a vanquished -galley at the corners of every step, its red doors quartered with black -crosses, its brass gratings protecting it from scorpions below, and its -trellises of gilded rods closing the apertures above, it seemed to the -soldiers in its haughty opulence as solemn and impenetrable as the face -of Hamilcar. - -The Council had appointed his house for the holding of this feast; the -convalescents lying in the temple of Eschmoun had set out at daybreak -and dragged themselves thither on their crutches. Every minute others -were arriving. They poured in ceaselessly by every path like torrents -rushing into a lake; through the trees the slaves of the kitchens might -be seen running scared and half-naked; the gazelles fled bleating on the -lawns; the sun was setting, and the perfume of citron trees rendered the -exhalation from the perspiring crowd heavier still. - -Men of all nations were there, Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearians, -Negroes, and fugitives from Rome. Beside the heavy Dorian dialect were -audible the resonant Celtic syllables rattling like chariots of war, -while Ionian terminations conflicted with consonants of the desert -as harsh as the jackal’s cry. The Greek might be recognised by his -slender figure, the Egyptian by his elevated shoulders, the Cantabrian -by his broad calves. There were Carians proudly nodding their helmet -plumes, Cappadocian archers displaying large flowers painted on their -bodies with the juice of herbs, and a few Lydians in women’s robes, -dining in slippers and earrings. Others were ostentatiously daubed with -vermilion, and resembled coral statues. - -They stretched themselves on the cushions, they ate squatting round -large trays, or lying face downwards they drew out the pieces of meat -and sated themselves, leaning on their elbows in the peaceful posture -of lions tearing their prey. The last comers stood leaning against the -trees watching the low tables half hidden beneath the scarlet coverings, -and awaiting their turn. - -Hamilcar’s kitchens being insufficient, the Council had sent them -slaves, ware, and beds, and in the middle of the garden, as on a -battle-field when they burn the dead, large bright fires might be seen, -at which oxen were roasting. Anise-sprinkled loaves alternated with -great cheeses heavier than discuses, crateras filled with wine, -and cantharuses filled with water, together with baskets of gold -filigree-work containing flowers. Every eye was dilated with the joy of -being able at last to gorge at pleasure, and songs were beginning here -and there. - -First they were served with birds and green sauce in plates of red clay -relieved by drawings in black, then with every kind of shell-fish that -is gathered on the Punic coasts, wheaten porridge, beans and barley, and -snails dressed with cumin on dishes of yellow amber. - -Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their -horns, peacocks with their feathers, whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, -haunches of she-camels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried -grasshoppers, and preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in the -midst of saffron in bowls of Tamrapanni wood. Everything was running -over with wine, truffles, and asafotida. Pyramids of fruit were -crumbling upon honeycombs, and they had not forgotten a few of those -plump little dogs with pink silky hair and fattened on olive lees,—a -Carthaginian dish held in abhorrence among other nations. Surprise at -the novel fare excited the greed of the stomach. The Gauls with -their long hair drawn up on the crown of the head, snatched at the -water-melons and lemons, and crunched them up with the rind. The -Negroes, who had never seen a lobster, tore their faces with its red -prickles. But the shaven Greeks, whiter than marble, threw the leavings -of their plates behind them, while the herdsmen from Brutium, in their -wolf-skin garments, devoured in silence with their faces in their -portions. - -Night fell. The velarium, spread over the cypress avenue, was drawn -back, and torches were brought. - -The apes, sacred to the moon, were terrified on the cedar tops by the -wavering lights of the petroleum as it burned in the porphyry vases. -They uttered screams which afforded mirth to the soldiers. - -Oblong flames trembled in cuirasses of brass. Every kind of -scintillation flashed from the gem-incrusted dishes. The crateras with -their borders of convex mirrors multiplied and enlarged the images of -things; the soldiers thronged around, looking at their reflections with -amazement, and grimacing to make themselves laugh. They tossed the ivory -stools and golden spatulas to one another across the tables. They gulped -down all the Greek wines in their leathern bottles, the Campanian wine -enclosed in amphoras, the Cantabrian wines brought in casks, with the -wines of the jujube, cinnamomum and lotus. There were pools of these on -the ground that made the foot slip. The smoke of the meats ascended into -the foliage with the vapour of the breath. Simultaneously were heard -the snapping of jaws, the noise of speech, songs, and cups, the crash of -Campanian vases shivering into a thousand pieces, or the limpid sound of -a large silver dish. - -In proportion as their intoxication increased they more and more -recalled the injustice of Carthage. The Republic, in fact, exhausted by -the war, had allowed all the returning bands to accumulate in the town. -Gisco, their general, had however been prudent enough to send them back -severally in order to facilitate the liquidation of their pay, and -the Council had believed that they would in the end consent to some -reduction. But at present ill-will was caused by the inability to pay -them. This debt was confused in the minds of the people with the 3200 -Euboic talents exacted by Lutatius, and equally with Rome they were -regarded as enemies to Carthage. The Mercenaries understood this, and -their indignation found vent in threats and outbreaks. At last they -demanded permission to assemble to celebrate one of their victories, -and the peace party yielded, at the same time revenging themselves on -Hamilcar who had so strongly upheld the war. It had been terminated -notwithstanding all his efforts, so that, despairing of Carthage, he -had entrusted the government of the Mercenaries to Gisco. To appoint his -palace for their reception was to draw upon him something of the hatred -which was borne to them. Moreover, the expense must be excessive, and he -would incur nearly the whole. - -Proud of having brought the Republic to submit, the Mercenaries thought -that they were at last about to return to their homes with the payment -for their blood in the hoods of their cloaks. But as seen through the -mists of intoxication, their fatigues seemed to them prodigious and but -ill-rewarded. They showed one another their wounds, they told of their -combats, their travels and the hunting in their native lands. They -imitated the cries and the leaps of wild beasts. Then came unclean -wagers; they buried their heads in the amphoras and drank on without -interruption, like thirsty dromedaries. A Lusitanian of gigantic stature -ran over the tables, carrying a man in each hand at arm’s length, and -spitting out fire through his nostrils. Some Lacedæmonians, who had not -taken off their cuirasses, were leaping with a heavy step. Some advanced -like women, making obscene gestures; others stripped naked to fight amid -the cups after the fashion of gladiators, and a company of Greeks danced -around a vase whereon nymphs were to be seen, while a Negro tapped with -an ox-bone on a brazen buckler. - -Suddenly they heard a plaintive song, a song loud and soft, rising and -falling in the air like the wing-beating of a wounded bird. - -It was the voice of the slaves in the ergastulum. Some soldiers rose at -a bound to release them and disappeared. - -They returned, driving through the dust amid shouts, twenty men, -distinguished by their greater paleness of face. Small black felt caps -of conical shape covered their shaven heads; they all wore wooden shoes, -and yet made a noise as of old iron like driving chariots. - -They reached the avenue of cypress, where they were lost among the crowd -of those questioning them. One of them remained apart, standing. Through -the rents in his tunic his shoulders could be seen striped with long -scars. Drooping his chin, he looked round him with distrust, closing his -eyelids somewhat against the dazzling light of the torches, but when -he saw that none of the armed men were unfriendly to him, a great sigh -escaped from his breast; he stammered, he sneered through the bright -tears that bathed his face. At last he seized a brimming cantharus by -its rings, raised it straight up into the air with his outstretched -arms, from which his chains hung down, and then looking to heaven, and -still holding the cup he said: - -“Hail first to thee, Baal-Eschmoun, the deliverer, whom the people of -my country call Æsculapius! and to you, genii of the fountains, light, -and woods! and to you, ye gods hidden beneath the mountains and in the -caverns of the earth! and to you, strong men in shining armour who have -set me free!” - -Then he let fall the cup and related his history. He was called -Spendius. The Carthaginians had taken him in the battle of Æginusæ, -and he thanked the Mercenaries once more in Greek, Ligurian and Punic; -he kissed their hands; finally, he congratulated them on the banquet, -while expressing his surprise at not perceiving the cups of the Sacred -Legion. These cups, which bore an emerald vine on each of their -six golden faces, belonged to a corps composed exclusively of young -patricians of the tallest stature. They were a privilege, almost a -sacerdotal distinction, and accordingly nothing among the treasures -of the Republic was more coveted by the Mercenaries. They detested the -Legion on this account, and some of them had been known to risk their -lives for the inconceivable pleasure of drinking out of these cups. - -Accordingly they commanded that the cups should be brought. They were -in the keeping of the Syssitia, companies of traders, who had a common -table. The slaves returned. At that hour all the members of the Syssitia -were asleep. - -“Let them be awakened!” responded the Mercenaries. - -After a second excursion it was explained to them that the cups were -shut up in a temple. - -“Let it be opened!” they replied. - -And when the slaves confessed with trembling that they were in the -possession of Gisco, the general, they cried out: - -“Let him bring them!” - -Gisco soon appeared at the far end of the garden with an escort of the -Sacred Legion. His full, black cloak, which was fastened on his head to -a golden mitre starred with precious stones, and which hung all about -him down to his horse’s hoofs, blended in the distance with the colour -of the night. His white beard, the radiancy of his head-dress, and his -triple necklace of broad blue plates beating against his breast, were -alone visible. - -When he entered, the soldiers greeted him with loud shouts, all crying: - -“The cups! The cups!” - -He began by declaring that if reference were had to their courage, they -were worthy of them. - -The crowd applauded and howled with joy. - -He knew it, he who had commanded them over yonder, and had returned with -the last cohort in the last galley! - -“True! True!” said they. - -Nevertheless, Gisco continued, the Republic had respected their national -divisions, their customs, and their modes of worship; in Carthage -they were free! As to the cups of the Sacred Legion, they were private -property. Suddenly a Gaul, who was close to Spendius, sprang over the -tables and ran straight up to Gisco, gesticulating and threatening him -with two naked swords. - -Without interrupting his speech, the General struck him on the head with -his heavy ivory staff, and the Barbarian fell. The Gauls howled, and -their frenzy, which was spreading to the others, would soon have swept -away the legionaries. Gisco shrugged his shoulders as he saw them -growing pale. He thought that his courage would be useless against these -exasperated brute beasts. It would be better to revenge himself upon -them by some artifice later; accordingly, he signed to his soldiers and -slowly withdrew. Then, turning in the gateway towards the Mercenaries, -he cried to them that they would repent of it. - -The feast recommenced. But Gisco might return, and by surrounding the -suburb, which was beside the last ramparts, might crush them against the -walls. Then they felt themselves alone in spite of their crowd, and the -great town sleeping beneath them in the shade suddenly made them afraid, -with its piles of staircases, its lofty black houses, and its vague gods -fiercer even than its people. In the distance a few ships’-lanterns -were gliding across the harbour, and there were lights in the temple of -Khamon. They thought of Hamilcar. Where was he? Why had he forsaken -them when peace was concluded? His differences with the Council were -doubtless but a pretence in order to destroy them. Their unsatisfied -hate recoiled upon him, and they cursed him, exasperating one another -with their own anger. At this juncture they collected together beneath -the plane-trees to see a slave who, with eyeballs fixed, neck contorted, -and lips covered with foam, was rolling on the ground, and beating the -soil with his limbs. Some one cried out that he was poisoned. All then -believed themselves poisoned. They fell upon the slaves, a terrible -clamour was raised, and a vertigo of destruction came like a whirlwind -upon the drunken army. They struck about them at random, they smashed, -they slew; some hurled torches into the foliage; others, leaning over -the lions’ balustrade, massacred the animals with arrows; the most -daring ran to the elephants, desiring to cut down their trunks and eat -ivory. - -Some Balearic slingers, however, who had gone round the corner of the -palace, in order to pillage more conveniently, were checked by a lofty -barrier, made of Indian cane. They cut the lock-straps with their -daggers, and then found themselves beneath the front that faced -Carthage, in another garden full of trimmed vegetation. Lines of white -flowers all following one another in regular succession formed long -parabolas like star-rockets on the azure-coloured earth. The gloomy -bushes exhaled warm and honied odours. There were trunks of trees -smeared with cinnabar, which resembled columns covered with blood. In -the centre were twelve pedestals, each supporting a great glass ball, -and these hollow globes were indistinctly filled with reddish lights, -like enormous and still palpitating eyeballs. The soldiers lighted -themselves with torches as they stumbled on the slope of the deeply -laboured soil. - -But they perceived a little lake divided into several basins by walls -of blue stones. So limpid was the wave that the flames of the torches -quivered in it at the very bottom, on a bed of white pebbles and golden -dust. It began to bubble, luminous spangles glided past, and great fish -with gems about their mouths, appeared near the surface. - -With much laughter the soldiers slipped their fingers into the gills and -brought them to the tables. They were the fish of the Barca family, and -were all descended from those primordial lotes which had hatched the -mystic egg wherein the goddess was concealed. The idea of committing -a sacrilege revived the greediness of the Mercenaries; they speedily -placed fire beneath some brazen vases, and amused themselves by watching -the beautiful fish struggling in the boiling water. - -The surge of soldiers pressed on. They were no longer afraid. They -commenced to drink again. Their ragged tunics were wet with the perfumes -that flowed in large drops from their foreheads, and resting both fists -on the tables, which seemed to them to be rocking like ships, they -rolled their great drunken eyes around to devour by sight what they -could not take. Others walked amid the dishes on the purple table -covers, breaking ivory stools, and phials of Tyrian glass to pieces with -their feet. Songs mingled with the death-rattle of the slaves expiring -amid the broken cups. They demanded wine, meat, gold. They cried out for -women. They raved in a hundred languages. Some thought that they were at -the vapour baths on account of the steam which floated around them, -or else, catching sight of the foliage, imagined that they were at -the chase, and rushed upon their companions as upon wild beasts. The -conflagration spread to all the trees, one after another, and the lofty -mosses of verdure, emitting long white spirals, looked like volcanoes -beginning to smoke. The clamour redoubled; the wounded lions roared in -the shade. - -In an instant the highest terrace of the palace was illuminated, the -central door opened, and a woman, Hamilcar’s daughter herself, clothed -in black garments, appeared on the threshold. She descended the first -staircase, which ran obliquely along the first story, then the second, -and the third, and stopped on the last terrace at the head of the galley -staircase. Motionless and with head bent, she gazed upon the soldiers. - -Behind her, on each side, were two long shadows of pale men, clad in -white, red-fringed robes, which fell straight to their feet. They had no -beard, no hair, no eyebrows. In their hands, which sparkled with rings, -they carried enormous lyres, and with shrill voice they sang a hymn to -the divinity of Carthage. They were the eunuch priests of the temple of -Tanith, who were often summoned by Salammbô to her house. - -At last she descended the galley staircase. The priests followed her. -She advanced into the avenue of cypress, and walked slowly through the -tables of the captains, who drew back somewhat as they watched her pass. - -Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the -form of a tower, after the fashion of the Chanaanite maidens, added to -her height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell to -the corners of her mouth, which was as rosy as a half-open pomegranate. -On her breast was a collection of luminous stones, their variegation -imitating the scales of the murena. Her arms were adorned with diamonds, -and issued naked from her sleeveless tunic, which was starred with -red flowers on a perfectly black ground. Between her ankles she wore a -golden chainlet to regulate her steps, and her large dark purple mantle, -cut of an unknown material, trailed behind her, making, as it were, at -each step, a broad wave which followed her. - -The priests played nearly stifled chords on their lyres from time to -time, and in the intervals of the music might be heard the tinkling of -the little golden chain, and the regular patter of her papyrus sandals. - -No one as yet was acquainted with her. It was only known that she led a -retired life, engaged in pious practices. Some soldiers had seen her in -the night on the summit of her palace kneeling before the stars amid the -eddyings from kindled perfuming-pans. It was the moon that had made her -so pale, and there was something from the gods that enveloped her like a -subtle vapour. Her eyes seemed to gaze far beyond terrestrial space. She -bent her head as she walked, and in her right hand she carried a little -ebony lyre. - -They heard her murmur: - -“Dead! All dead! No more will you come obedient to my voice as -when, seated on the edge of the lake, I used to through seeds of the -watermelon into your mouths! The mystery of Tanith ranged in the depths -of your eyes that were more limpid than the globules of rivers.” And -she called them by their names, which were those of the months—“Siv! -Sivan! Tammouz, Eloul, Tischri, Schebar! Ah! have pity on me, -goddess!” - -The soldiers thronged about her without understanding what she said. -They wondered at her attire, but she turned a long frightened look upon -them all, then sinking her head beneath her shoulders, and waving her -arms, she repeated several times: - -“What have you done? what have you done? - -“Yet you had bread, and meats and oil, and all the malobathrum of the -granaries for your enjoyment! I had brought oxen from Hecatompylos; -I had sent hunters into the desert!” Her voice swelled; her cheeks -purpled. She added, “Where, pray, are you now? In a conquered town, -or in the palace of a master? And what master? Hamilcar the Suffet, my -father, the servant of the Baals! It was he who withheld from Lutatius -those arms of yours, red now with the blood of his slaves! Know you of -any in your own lands more skilled in the conduct of battles? Look! our -palace steps are encumbered with our victories! Ah! desist not! burn -it! I will carry away with me the genius of my house, my black serpent -slumbering up yonder on lotus leaves! I will whistle and he will follow -me, and if I embark in a galley he will speed in the wake of my ship -over the foam of the waves.” - -Her delicate nostrils were quivering. She crushed her nails against the -gems on her bosom. Her eyes drooped, and she resumed: - -“Ah! poor Carthage! lamentable city! No longer hast thou for thy -protection the strong men of former days who went beyond the oceans to -build temples on their shores. All the lands laboured about thee, and -the sea-plains, ploughed by thine oars, rocked with thy harvests.” -Then she began to sing the adventures of Melkarth, the god of the -Sidonians, and the father of her family. - -She told of the ascent of the mountains of Ersiphonia, the journey to -Tartessus, and the war against Masisabal to avenge the queen of the -serpents: - -“He pursued the female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead -leaves like a silver brook, into the forest, and came to a plain where -women with dragon-croups were round a great fire, standing erect on the -points of their tails. The blood-coloured moon was shining within a -pale circle, and their scarlet tongues, cloven like the harpoons of -fishermen, reached curling forth to the very edge of the flame.” - -Then Salammbô, without pausing, related how Melkarth, after vanquishing -Masisabal, placed her severed head on the prow of his ship. “At each -throb of the waves it sank beneath the foam, but the sun embalmed it; it -became harder than gold; nevertheless the eyes ceased not to weep, and -the tears fell into the water continually.” - -She sang all this in an old Chanaanite idiom, which the Barbarians did -not understand. They asked one another what she could be saying to them -with those frightful gestures which accompanied her speech, and mounted -round about her on the tables, beds, and sycamore boughs, they strove -with open mouths and craned necks to grasp the vague stories hovering -before their imaginations, through the dimness of the theogonies, like -phantoms wrapped in cloud. - -Only the beardless priests understood Salammbô; their wrinkled hands, -which hung over the strings of their lyres, quivered, and from time -to time they would draw forth a mournful chord; for, feebler than old -women, they trembled at once with mystic emotion, and with the -fear inspired by men. The Barbarians heeded them not, but listened -continually to the maiden’s song. - -None gazed at her like a young Numidian chief, who was placed at the -captains’ tables among soldiers of his own nation. His girdle so -bristled with darts that it formed a swelling in his ample cloak, -which was fastened on his temples with a leather lace. The cloth parted -asunder as it fell upon his shoulders, and enveloped his countenance in -shadow, so that only the fires of his two fixed eyes could be seen. It -was by chance that he was at the feast, his father having domiciled him -with the Barca family, according to the custom by which kings used to -send their children into the households of the great in order to pave -the way for alliances; but Narr’ Havas had lodged there for six months -without having hitherto seen Salammbô, and now, seated on his heels, -with his head brushing the handles of his javelins, he was watching her -with dilated nostrils, like a leopard crouching among the bamboos. - -On the other side of the tables was a Libyan of colossal stature, and -with short black curly hair. He had retained only his military jacket, -the brass plates of which were tearing the purple of the couch. A -necklace of silver moons was tangled in his hairy breast. His face was -stained with splashes of blood; he was leaning on his left elbow with a -smile on his large, open mouth. - -Salammbô had abandoned the sacred rhythm. With a woman’s subtlety she -was simultaneously employing all the dialects of the Barbarians in order -to appease their anger. To the Greeks she spoke Greek; then she turned -to the Ligurians, the Campanians, the Negroes, and listening to her each -one found again in her voice the sweetness of his native land. She now, -carried away by the memories of Carthage, sang of the ancient battles -against Rome; they applauded. She kindled at the gleaming of the naked -swords, and cried aloud with outstretched arms. Her lyre fell, she was -silent; and, pressing both hands upon her heart, she remained for some -minutes with closed eyelids enjoying the agitation of all these men. - -Matho, the Libyan, leaned over towards her. Involuntarily she approached -him, and impelled by grateful pride, poured him a long stream of wine -into a golden cup in order to conciliate the army. - -“Drink!” she said. - -He took the cup, and was carrying it to his lips when a Gaul, the same -that had been hurt by Gisco, struck him on the shoulder, while in a -jovial manner he gave utterance to pleasantries in his native tongue. -Spendius was not far off, and he volunteered to interpret them. - -“Speak!” said Matho. - -“The gods protect you; you are going to become rich. When will the -nuptials be?” - -“What nuptials?” - -“Yours! for with us,” said the Gaul, “when a woman gives drink to -a soldier, it means that she offers him her couch.” - -He had not finished when Narr’ Havas, with a bound, drew a javelin -from his girdle, and, leaning his right foot upon the edge of the table, -hurled it against Matho. - -The javelin whistled among the cups, and piercing the Lybian’s arm, -pinned it so firmly to the cloth, that the shaft quivered in the air. - -Matho quickly plucked it out; but he was weaponless and naked; at last -he lifted the over-laden table with both arms, and flung it against -Narr’ Havas into the very centre of the crowd that rushed between -them. The soldiers and Numidians pressed together so closely that they -were unable to draw their swords. Matho advanced dealing great blows -with his head. When he raised it, Narr’ Havas had disappeared. He -sought for him with his eyes. Salammbô also was gone. - -Then directing his looks to the palace he perceived the red door with -the black cross closing far above, and he darted away. - -They saw him run between the prows of the galleys, and then reappear -along the three staircases until he reached the red door against which -he dashed his whole body. Panting, he leaned against the wall to keep -himself from falling. - -But a man had followed him, and through the darkness, for the lights -of the feast were hidden by the corner of the palace, he recognised -Spendius. - -“Begone!” said he. - -The slave without replying began to tear his tunic with his teeth; -then kneeling beside Matho he tenderly took his arm, and felt it in the -shadow to discover the wound. - -By a ray of the moon which was then gliding between the clouds, Spendius -perceived a gaping wound in the middle of the arm. He rolled the piece -of stuff about it, but the other said irritably, “Leave me! leave -me!” - -“Oh no!” replied the slave. “You released me from the ergastulum. -I am yours! you are my master! command me!” - -Matho walked round the terrace brushing against the walls. He strained -his ears at every step, glancing down into the silent apartments through -the spaces between the gilded reeds. At last he stopped with a look of -despair. - -“Listen!” said the slave to him. “Oh! do not despise me for my -feebleness! I have lived in the palace. I can wind like a viper through -the walls. Come! in the Ancestor’s Chamber there is an ingot of gold -beneath every flagstone; an underground path leads to their tombs.” - -“Well! what matters it?” said Matho. - -Spendius was silent. - -They were on the terrace. A huge mass of shadow stretched before them, -appearing as if it contained vague accumulations, like the gigantic -billows of a black and petrified ocean. - -But a luminous bar rose towards the East; far below, on the left, the -canals of Megara were beginning to stripe the verdure of the gardens -with their windings of white. The conical roofs of the heptagonal -temples, the staircases, terraces, and ramparts were being carved by -degrees upon the paleness of the dawn; and a girdle of white foam rocked -around the Carthaginian peninsula, while the emerald sea appeared as if -it were curdled in the freshness of the morning. Then as the rosy sky -grew larger, the lofty houses, bending over the sloping soil, reared -and massed themselves like a herd of black goats coming down from the -mountains. The deserted streets lengthened; the palm-trees that topped -the walls here and there were motionless; the brimming cisterns seemed -like silver bucklers lost in the courts; the beacon on the promontory of -Hermæum was beginning to grow pale. The horses of Eschmoun, on the very -summit of the Acropolis in the cypress wood, feeling that the light was -coming, placed their hoofs on the marble parapet, and neighed towards -the sun. - -It appeared, and Spendius raised his arms with a cry. - -Everything stirred in a diffusion of red, for the god, as if he were -rending himself, now poured full-rayed upon Carthage the golden rain -of his veins. The beaks of the galleys sparkled, the roof of Khamon -appeared to be all in flames, while far within the temples, whose -doors were opening, glimmerings of light could be seen. Large chariots, -arriving from the country, rolled their wheels over the flagstones -in the streets. Dromedaries, baggage-laden, came down the ramps. -Money-changers raised the pent-houses of their shops at the cross ways, -storks took to flight, white sails fluttered. In the wood of Tanith -might be heard the tabourines of the sacred courtesans, and the furnaces -for baking the clay coffins were beginning to smoke on the Mappalian -point. - -Spendius leaned over the terrace; his teeth chattered and he repeated: - -“Ah! yes—yes—master! I understand why you scorned the pillage of -the house just now.” - -Matho was as if he had just been awaked by the hissing of his voice, and -did not seem to understand. Spendius resumed: - -“Ah! what riches! and the men who possess them have not even the steel -to defend them!” - -Then, pointing with his right arm outstretched to some of the populace -who were crawling on the sand outside the mole to look for gold dust: - -“See!” he said to him, “the Republic is like these wretches: -bending on the brink of the ocean, she buries her greedy arms in every -shore, and the noise of the billows so fills her ear that she cannot -hear behind her the tread of a master’s heel!” - -He drew Matho to quite the other end of the terrace, and showed him the -garden, wherein the soldiers’ swords, hanging on the trees, were like -mirrors in the sun. - -“But here there are strong men whose hatred is roused! and nothing -binds them to Carthage, neither families, oaths nor gods!” - -Matho remained leaning against the wall; Spendius came close, and -continued in a low voice: - -“Do you understand me, soldier? We should walk purple-clad like -satraps. We should bathe in perfumes; and I should in turn have slaves! -Are you not weary of sleeping on hard ground, of drinking the vinegar -of the camps, and of continually hearing the trumpet? But you will rest -later, will you not? When they pull off your cuirass to cast your corpse -to the vultures! or perhaps blind, lame, and weak you will go, leaning -on a stick, from door to door to tell of your youth to pickle-sellers -and little children. Remember all the injustice of your chiefs, the -campings in the snow, the marchings in the sun, the tyrannies of -discipline, and the everlasting menace of the cross! And after all this -misery they have given you a necklace of honour, as they hang a girdle -of bells round the breast of an ass to deafen it on its journey, and -prevent it from feeling fatigue. A man like you, braver than Pyrrhus! If -only you had wished it! Ah! how happy will you be in large cool halls, -with the sound of lyres, lying on flowers, with women and buffoons! Do -not tell me that the enterprise is impossible. Have not the Mercenaries -already possessed Rhegium and other fortified places in Italy? Who is to -prevent you? Hamilcar is away; the people execrate the rich; Gisco can -do nothing with the cowards who surround him. Command them! Carthage is -ours; let us fall upon it!” - -“No!” said Matho, “the curse of Moloch weighs upon me. I felt it -in her eyes, and just now I saw a black ram retreating in a temple.” -Looking around him he added: “But where is she?” - -Then Spendius understood that a great disquiet possessed him, and did -not venture to speak again. - -The trees behind them were still smoking; half-burned carcases of apes -dropped from their blackened boughs from time to time into the midst -of the dishes. Drunken soldiers snored open-mouthed by the side of the -corpses, and those who were not asleep lowered their heads dazzled by -the light of day. The trampled soil was hidden beneath splashes of red. -The elephants poised their bleeding trunks between the stakes of their -pens. In the open granaries might be seen sacks of spilled wheat, below -the gate was a thick line of chariots which had been heaped up by the -Barbarians, and the peacocks perched in the cedars were spreading their -tails and beginning to utter their cry. - -Matho’s immobility, however, astonished Spendius; he was even paler -than he had recently been, and he was following something on the horizon -with fixed eyeballs, and with both fists resting on the edge of the -terrace. Spendius crouched down, and so at last discovered at what he -was gazing. In the distance a golden speck was turning in the dust on -the road to Utica; it was the nave of a chariot drawn by two mules; -a slave was running at the end of the pole, and holding them by the -bridle. Two women were seated in the chariot. The manes of the animals -were puffed between the ears after the Persian fashion, beneath a -network of blue pearls. Spendius recognised them, and restrained a cry. - -A large veil floated behind in the wind. - - - - - -CHAPTER II AT SICCA - -Two days afterwards the Mercenaries left Carthage. - -They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they -should go into camp at Sicca, and they had been told with all sorts of -caresses: - -“You are the saviours of Carthage! But you would starve it if you -remained there; it would become insolvent. Withdraw! The Republic will -be grateful to you later for all this condescension. We are going to -levy taxes immediately; your pay shall be in full, and galleys shall be -equipped to take you back to your native lands.” - -They did not know how to reply to all this talk. These men, accustomed -as they were to war, were wearied by residence in a town; there was -difficulty in convincing them, and the people mounted the walls to see -them go away. - -They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, -pell-mell, archers with hoplites, captains with soldiers, Lusitanians -with Greeks. They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy -cothurni on the paving stones. Their armour was dented by the catapult, -and their faces blackened by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse cries issued -from their thick beards, their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the -pommels of their swords, and through the holes in the brass might be -seen their naked limbs, as frightful as engines of war. Sarissæ, axes, -spears, felt caps and bronze helmets, all swung together with a single -motion. They filled the street thickly enough to have made the walls -crack, and the long mass of armed soldiers overflowed between the lofty -bitumen-smeared houses six storys high. Behind their gratings of iron or -reed the women, with veiled heads, silently watched the Barbarians pass. - -The terraces, fortifications, and walls were hidden beneath the crowd -of Carthaginians, who were dressed in garments of black. The sailors’ -tunics showed like drops of blood among the dark multitude, and nearly -naked children, whose skin shone beneath their copper bracelets, -gesticulated in the foliage of the columns, or amid the branches of -a palm tree. Some of the Ancients were posted on the platform of the -towers, and people did not know why a personage with a long beard stood -thus in a dreamy attitude here and there. He appeared in the distance -against the background of the sky, vague as a phantom and motionless as -stone. - -All, however, were oppressed with the same anxiety; it was feared that -the Barbarians, seeing themselves so strong, might take a fancy to stay. -But they were leaving with so much good faith that the Carthaginians -grew bold and mingled with the soldiers. They overwhelmed them with -protestations and embraces. Some with exaggerated politeness and -audacious hypocrisy even sought to induce them not to leave the city. -They threw perfumes, flowers, and pieces of silver to them. They gave -them amulets to avert sickness; but they had spit upon them three times -to attract death, or had enclosed jackal’s hair within them to put -cowardice into their hearts. Aloud, they invoked Melkarth’s favour, -and in a whisper, his curse. - -Then came the mob of baggage, beasts of burden, and stragglers. The sick -groaned on the backs of dromedaries, while others limped along leaning -on broken pikes. The drunkards carried leathern bottles, and the greedy -quarters of meat, cakes, fruits, butter wrapped in fig leaves, and snow -in linen bags. Some were to be seen with parasols in their hands, and -parrots on their shoulders. They had mastiffs, gazelles, and panthers -following behind them. Women of Libyan race, mounted on asses, inveighed -against the Negresses who had forsaken the lupanaria of Malqua for the -soldiers; many of them were suckling children suspended on their bosoms -by leathern thongs. The mules were goaded out at the point of the sword, -their backs bending beneath the load of tents, while there were numbers -of serving-men and water-carriers, emaciated, jaundiced with fever, -and filthy with vermin, the scum of the Carthaginian populace, who had -attached themselves to the Barbarians. - -When they had passed, the gates were shut behind them, but the people -did not descend from the walls. The army soon spread over the breadth of -the isthmus. - -It parted into unequal masses. Then the lances appeared like tall blades -of grass, and finally all was lost in a train of dust; those of the -soldiers who looked back towards Carthage could now only see its long -walls with their vacant battlements cut out against the edge of the sky. - -Then the Barbarians heard a great shout. They thought that some from -among them (for they did not know their own number) had remained in the -town, and were amusing themselves by pillaging a temple. They laughed a -great deal at the idea of this, and then continued their journey. - -They were rejoiced to find themselves, as in former days, marching all -together in the open country, and some of the Greeks sang the old song -of the Mamertines: - -“With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of the house! -The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and Great King.” - -They shouted, they leaped, the merriest began to tell stories; the -time of their miseries was past. As they arrived at Tunis, some of -them remarked that a troop of Balearic slingers was missing. They were -doubtless not far off; and no further heed was paid to them. - -Some went to lodge in the houses, others camped at the foot of the -walls, and the townspeople came out to chat with the soldiers. - -During the whole night fires were seen burning on the horizon in the -direction of Carthage; the light stretched like giant torches across the -motionless lake. No one in the army could tell what festival was being -celebrated. - -On the following day the Barbarians passed through a region that was -covered with cultivation. The domains of the patricians succeeded one -another along the border of the route; channels of water flowed -through woods of palm; there were long, green lines of olive-trees; -rose-coloured vapours floated in the gorges of the hills, while blue -mountains reared themselves behind. A warm wind was blowing. Chameleons -were crawling on the broad leaves of the cactus. - -The Barbarians slackened their speed. - -They marched on in isolated detachments, or lagged behind one another at -long intervals. They ate grapes along the margin of the vines. They lay -on the grass and gazed with stupefaction upon the large, artificially -twisted horns of the oxen, the sheep clothed with skins to protect their -wool, the furrows crossing one another so as to form lozenges, and the -ploughshares like ships’ anchors, with the pomegranate trees that were -watered with silphium. Such wealth of the soil and such inventions of -wisdom dazzled them. - -In the evening they stretched themselves on the tents without unfolding -them; and thought with regret of Hamilcar’s feast, as they fell asleep -with their faces towards the stars. - -In the middle of the following day they halted on the bank of a river, -amid clumps of rose-bays. Then they quickly threw aside lances, bucklers -and belts. They bathed with shouts, and drew water in their helmets, -while others drank lying flat on their stomachs, and all in the midst of -the beasts of burden whose baggage was slipping from them. - -Spendius, who was seated on a dromedary stolen in Hamilcar’s parks, -perceived Matho at a distance, with his arm hanging against his breast, -his head bare, and his face bent down, giving his mule drink, and -watching the water flow. Spendius immediately ran through the crowd -calling him, “Master! master!” - -Matho gave him but scant thanks for his blessings, but Spendius paid no -heed to this, and began to march behind him, from time to time turning -restless glances in the direction of Carthage. - -He was the son of a Greek rhetor and a Campanian prostitute. He had at -first grown rich by dealing in women; then, ruined by a shipwreck, he -had made war against the Romans with the herdsmen of Samnium. He had -been taken and had escaped; he had been retaken, and had worked in the -quarries, panted in the vapour-baths, shrieked under torture, passed -through the hands of many masters, and experienced every frenzy. At -last, one day, in despair, he had flung himself into the sea from the -top of a trireme where he was working at the oar. Some of Hamilcar’s -sailors had picked him up when at the point of death, and had brought -him to the ergastulum of Megara, at Carthage. But, as fugitives were to -be given back to the Romans, he had taken advantage of the confusion to -fly with the soldiers. - -During the whole of the march he remained near Matho; he brought him -food, assisted him to dismount, and spread a carpet in the evening -beneath his head. Matho at last was touched by these attentions, and by -degrees unlocked his lips. - -He had been born in the gulf of Syrtis. His father had taken him on a -pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon. Then he had hunted elephants in the -forests of the Garamantes. Afterwards he had entered the service of -Carthage. He had been appointed tetrarch at the capture of Drepanum. -The Republic owed him four horses, twenty-three medimni of wheat, and -a winter’s pay. He feared the gods, and wished to die in his native -land. - -Spendius spoke to him of his travels, and of the peoples and temples -that he had visited. He knew many things: he could make sandals, -boar-spears and nets; he could tame wild beasts and could cook fish. - -Sometimes he would interrupt himself, and utter a hoarse cry from the -depths of his throat; Matho’s mule would quicken his pace, and others -would hasten after them, and then Spendius would begin again though -still torn with agony. This subsided at last on the evening of the -fourth day. - -They were marching side by side to the right of the army on the side of -a hill; below them stretched the plain lost in the vapours of the night. -The lines of soldiers also were defiling below, making undulations in -the shade. From time to time these passed over eminences lit up by the -moon; then stars would tremble on the points of the pikes, the helmets -would glimmer for an instant, all would disappear, and others would come -on continually. Startled flocks bleated in the distance, and a something -of infinite sweetness seemed to sink upon the earth. - -Spendius, with his head thrown back and his eyes half-closed, inhaled -the freshness of the wind with great sighs; he spread out his arms, -moving his fingers that he might the better feel the cares that streamed -over his body. Hopes of vengeance came back to him and transported him. -He pressed his hand upon his mouth to check his sobs, and half-swooning -with intoxication, let go the halter of his dromedary, which was -proceeding with long, regular steps. Matho had relapsed into his former -melancholy; his legs hung down to the ground, and the grass made a -continuous rustling as it beat against his cothurni. - -The journey, however, spread itself out without ever coming to an end. -At the extremity of a plain they would always reach a round-shaped -plateau; then they would descend again into a valley, and the mountains -which seemed to block up the horizon would, in proportion as they were -approached, glide as it were from their positions. From time to time a -river would appear amid the verdure of tamarisks to lose itself at the -turning of the hills. Sometimes a huge rock would tower aloft like the -prow of a vessel or the pedestal of some vanished colossus. - -At regular intervals they met with little quadrangular temples, which -served as stations for the pilgrims who repaired to Sicca. They were -closed like tombs. The Libyans struck great blows upon the doors to have -them opened. But no one inside responded. - -Then the cultivation became more rare. They suddenly entered upon belts -of sand bristling with thorny thickets. Flocks of sheep were browsing -among the stones; a woman with a blue fleece about her waist was -watching them. She fled screaming when she saw the soldiers’ pikes -among the rocks. - -They were marching through a kind of large passage bordered by two -chains of reddish coloured hillocks, when their nostrils were greeted -with a nauseous odour, and they thought that they could see something -extraordinary on the top of a carob tree: a lion’s head reared itself -above the leaves. - -They ran thither. It was a lion with his four limbs fastened to a cross -like a criminal. His huge muzzle fell upon his breast, and his two -fore-paws, half-hidden beneath the abundance of his mane, were spread -out wide like the wings of a bird. His ribs stood severally out beneath -his distended skin; his hind legs, which were nailed against each other, -were raised somewhat, and the black blood, flowing through his hair, -had collected in stalactites at the end of his tail, which hung down -perfectly straight along the cross. The soldiers made merry around; they -called him consul, and Roman citizen, and threw pebbles into his eyes to -drive away the gnats. - -But a hundred paces further on they saw two more, and then there -suddenly appeared a long file of crosses bearing lions. Some had been -so long dead that nothing was left against the wood but the remains -of their skeletons; others which were half eaten away had their jaws -twisted into horrible grimaces; there were some enormous ones; the -shafts of the crosses bent beneath them, and they swayed in the wind, -while bands of crows wheeled ceaselessly in the air above their heads. -It was thus that the Carthaginian peasants avenged themselves when -they captured a wild beast; they hoped to terrify the others by such -an example. The Barbarians ceased their laughter, and were long lost -in amazement. “What people is this,” they thought, “that amuses -itself by crucifying lions!” - -They were, besides, especially the men of the North, vaguely uneasy, -troubled, and already sick. They tore their hands with the darts of the -aloes; great mosquitoes buzzed in their ears, and dysentry was breaking -out in the army. They were weary at not yet seeing Sicca. They were -afraid of losing themselves and of reaching the desert, the country of -sands and terrors. Many even were unwilling to advance further. Others -started back to Carthage. - -At last on the seventh day, after following the base of a mountain for a -long time, they turned abruptly to the right, and there then appeared -a line of walls resting on white rocks and blending with them. Suddenly -the entire city rose; blue, yellow, and white veils moved on the walls -in the redness of the evening. These were the priestesses of Tanith, -who had hastened hither to receive the men. They stood ranged along the -rampart, striking tabourines, playing lyres, and shaking crotala, while -the rays of the sun, setting behind them in the mountains of Numidia, -shot between the strings of their lyres over which their naked arms were -stretched. At intervals their instruments would become suddenly still, -and a cry would break forth strident, precipitate, frenzied, continuous, -a sort of barking which they made by striking both corners of the mouth -with the tongue. Others, more motionless than the Sphynx, rested on -their elbows with their chins on their hands, and darted their great -black eyes upon the army as it ascended. - -Although Sicca was a sacred town it could not hold such a multitude; the -temple alone, with its appurtenances, occupied half of it. Accordingly -the Barbarians established themselves at their ease on the plain; -those who were disciplined in regular troops, and the rest according to -nationality or their own fancy. - -The Greeks ranged their tents of skin in parallel lines; the Iberians -placed their canvas pavilions in a circle; the Gauls made themselves -huts of planks; the Libyans cabins of dry stones, while the Negroes with -their nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in. Many, not -knowing where to go, wandered about among the baggage, and at nightfall -lay down in their ragged mantles on the ground. - - -The plain, which was wholly bounded by mountains, expanded around them. -Here and there a palm tree leaned over a sand hill, and pines and oaks -flecked the sides of the precipices: sometimes the rain of a storm would -hang from the sky like a long scarf, while the country everywhere was -still covered with azure and serenity; then a warm wind would drive -before it tornadoes of dust, and a stream would descend in cascades from -the heights of Sicca, where, with its roofing of gold on its columns of -brass, rose the temple of the Carthaginian Venus, the mistress of the -land. She seemed to fill it with her soul. In such convulsions of the -soil, such alternations of temperature, and such plays of light would -she manifest the extravagance of her might with the beauty of her -eternal smile. The mountains at their summits were crescent-shaped; -others were like women’s bosoms presenting their swelling breasts, and -the Barbarians felt a heaviness that was full of delight weighing down -their fatigues. - -Spendius had bought a slave with the money brought him by his dromedary. -The whole day long he lay asleep stretched before Matho’s tent. Often -he would awake, thinking in his dreams that he heard the whistling of -the thongs; with a smile he would pass his hands over the scars on his -legs at the place where the fetters had long been worn, and then he -would fall asleep again. - -Matho accepted his companionship, and when he went out Spendius would -escort him like a lictor with a long sword on his thigh; or perhaps -Matho would rest his arm carelessly on the other’s shoulder, for -Spendius was small. - -One evening when they were passing together through the streets in the -camp they perceived some men covered with white cloaks; among them was -Narr’ Havas, the prince of the Numidians. Matho started. - -“Your sword!” he cried; “I will kill him!” - -“Not yet!” said Spendius, restraining him. Narr’ Havas was already -advancing towards him. - -He kissed both thumbs in token of alliance, showing nothing of the anger -which he had experienced at the drunkenness of the feast; then he spoke -at length against Carthage, but did not say what brought him among the -Barbarians. - -“Was it to betray them, or else the Republic?” Spendius asked -himself; and as he expected to profit by every disorder, he felt -grateful to Narr’ Havas for the future perfidies of which he suspected -him. - -The chief of the Numidians remained amongst the Mercenaries. He appeared -desirous of attaching Matho to himself. He sent him fat goats, gold -dust, and ostrich feathers. The Libyan, who was amazed at such caresses, -was in doubt whether to respond to them or to become exasperated at -them. But Spendius pacified him, and Matho allowed himself to be ruled -by the slave, remaining ever irresolute and in an unconquerable torpor, -like those who have once taken a draught of which they are to die. - -One morning when all three went out lion-hunting, Narr’ Havas -concealed a dagger in his cloak. Spendius kept continually behind him, -and when they returned the dagger had not been drawn. - -Another time Narr’ Havas took them a long way off, as far as the -boundaries of his kingdom. They came to a narrow gorge, and Narr’ -Havas smiled as he declared that he had forgotten the way. Spendius -found it again. - -But most frequently Matho would go off at sunrise, as melancholy as -an augur, to wander about the country. He would stretch himself on the -sand, and remain there motionless until the evening. - -He consulted all the soothsayers in the army one after the -other,—those who watch the trail of serpents, those who read the -stars, and those who breathe upon the ashes of the dead. He swallowed -galbanum, seseli, and viper’s venom which freezes the heart; Negro -women, singing barbarous words in the moonlight, pricked the skin of -his forehead with golden stylets; he loaded himself with necklaces -and charms; he invoked in turn Baal-Khamon, Moloch, the seven Kabiri, -Tanith, and the Venus of the Greeks. He engraved a name upon a copper -plate, and buried it in the sand at the threshold of his tent. Spendius -used to hear him groaning and talking to himself. - -One night he went in. - -Matho, as naked as a corpse, was lying on a lion’s skin flat on his -stomach, with his face in both his hands; a hanging lamp lit up his -armour, which was hooked on to the tent-pole above his head. - -“You are suffering?” said the slave to him. “What is the matter -with you? Answer me?” And he shook him by the shoulder calling him -several times, “Master! master!” - -At last Matho lifted large troubled eyes towards him. - -“Listen!” he said in a low voice, and with a finger on his lips. -“It is the wrath of the Gods! Hamilcar’s daughter pursues me! I am -afraid of her, Spendius!” He pressed himself close against his breast -like a child terrified by a phantom. “Speak to me! I am sick! I want -to get well! I have tried everything! But you, you perhaps know some -stronger gods, or some resistless invocation?” - -“For what purpose?” asked Spendius. - -Striking his head with both his fists, he replied: - -“To rid me of her!” - -Then speaking to himself with long pauses he said: - -“I am no doubt the victim of some holocaust which she has promised to -the gods?—She holds me fast by a chain which people cannot see. If I -walk, it is she that is advancing; when I stop, she is resting! Her eyes -burn me, I hear her voice. She encompasses me, she penetrates me. It -seems to me that she has become my soul! - -“And yet between us there are, as it were, the invisible billows of a -boundless ocean! She is far away and quite inaccessible! The splendour -of her beauty forms a cloud of light around her, and at times I think -that I have never seen her—that she does not exist—and that it is -all a dream!” - -Matho wept thus in the darkness; the Barbarians were sleeping. Spendius, -as he looked at him, recalled the young men who once used to entreat -him with golden cases in their hands, when he led his herd of courtesans -through the towns; a feeling of pity moved him, and he said— - -“Be strong, my master! Summon your will, and beseech the gods no more, -for they turn not aside at the cries of men! Weeping like a coward! And -you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much suffering?” - -“Am I a child?” said Matho. “Do you think that I am moved by their -faces and songs? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our stables. I -have embraced them amid assaults, beneath falling ceilings, and while -the catapult was still vibrating!—But she, Spendius, she!—” - -The slave interrupted him: - -“If she were not Hanno’s daughter—” - -“No!” cried Matho. “She has nothing in common with the daughters -of other men! Have you seen her great eyes beneath her great eyebrows, -like suns beneath triumphal arches? Think: when she appeared all the -torches grew pale. Her naked breast shone here and there through the -diamonds of her necklace; behind her you perceived as it were the odour -of a temple, and her whole being emitted something that was sweeter than -wine and more terrible than death. She walked, however, and then she -stopped.” - -He remained gaping with his head cast down and his eyeballs fixed. - -“But I want her! I need her! I am dying for her! I am transported with -frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms, and yet I hate -her, Spendius! I should like to beat her! What is to be done? I have a -mind to sell myself and become her slave! You have been that! You were -able to get sight of her; speak to me of her! Every night she ascends -to the terrace of her palace, does she not? Ah! the stones must quiver -beneath her sandals, and the stars bend down to see her!” - -He fell back in a perfect frenzy, with a rattling in his throat like a -wounded bull. - -Then Matho sang: “He pursued into the forest the female monster, whose -tail undulated over the dead leaves like a silver brook.” And with -lingering tones he imitated Salammbô’s voice, while his outspread -hands were held like two light hands on the strings of a lyre. - -To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he repeated the same words; -their nights were spent in these wailings and exhortations. - -Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine. After his fits of -drunkenness he was more melancholy still. He tried to divert himself at -huckle-bones, and lost the gold plates of his necklace one by one. He -had himself taken to the servants of the Goddess; but he came down the -hill sobbing, like one returning from a funeral. - -Spendius, on the contrary, became more bold and gay. He was to be seen -in the leafy taverns discoursing in the midst of the soldiers. He mended -old cuirasses. He juggled with daggers. He went and gathered herbs in -the fields for the sick. He was facetious, dexterous, full of invention -and talk; the Barbarians grew accustomed to his services, and he came to -be loved by them. - -However, they were awaiting an ambassador from Carthage to bring -them mules laden with baskets of gold; and ever beginning the same -calculation over again, they would trace figures with their fingers in -the sand. Every one was arranging his life beforehand; they would have -concubines, slaves, lands; others intended to bury their treasure, -or risk it on a vessel. But their tempers were provoked by want of -employment; there were constant disputes between horse-soldiers and -foot-soldiers, Barbarians and Greeks, while there was a never-ending din -of shrill female voices. - -Every day men came flocking in nearly naked, and with grass on their -heads to protect them from the sun; they were the debtors of the rich -Carthaginians and had been forced to till the lands of the latter, but -had escaped. Libyans came pouring in with peasants ruined by the taxes, -outlaws, and malefactors. Then the horde of traders, all the dealers in -wine and oil, who were furious at not being paid, laid the blame upon -the Republic. Spendius declaimed against it. Soon the provisions ran -low; and there was talk of advancing in a body upon Carthage, and -calling in the Romans. - -One evening, at supper-time, dull cracked sounds were heard approaching, -and something red appeared in the distance among the undulations of the -soil. - -It was a large purple litter, adorned with ostrich feathers at the -corners. Chains of crystal and garlands of pearls beat against the -closed hangings. It was followed by camels sounding the great bells -that hung at their breasts, and having around them horsemen clad from -shoulder to heel in armour of golden scales. - -They halted three hundred paces from the camp to take their round -bucklers, broad swords, and Boeotian helmets out of the cases which they -carried behind their saddles. Some remained with the camels, while -the others resumed their march. At last the ensigns of the Republic -appeared, that is to say, staves of blue wood terminated in horses’ -heads or fir cones. The Barbarians all rose with applause; the women -rushed towards the guards of the Legion and kissed their feet. - -The litter advanced on the shoulders of twelve Negroes who walked in -step with short, rapid strides; they went at random to right or left, -being embarrassed by the tent-ropes, the animals that were straying -about, or the tripods where food was being cooked. Sometimes a fat hand, -laden with rings, would partially open the litter, and a hoarse voice -would utter loud reproaches; then the bearers would stop and take a -different direction through the camp. - -But the purple curtains were raised, and a human head, impassible and -bloated, was seen resting on a large pillow; the eyebrows, which were -like arches of ebony, met each other at the points; golden dust sparkled -in the frizzled hair, and the face was so wan that it looked as if -it had been powdered with marble raspings. The rest of the body was -concealed beneath the fleeces which filled the litter. - -In the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, he -whose slackness had assisted to lose the battle of the Ægatian islands; -and as to his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans, even if he did -behave with clemency, thought the Barbarians, it was owing to cupidity, -for he had sold all the captives on his own account, although he had -reported their deaths to the Republic. - -After seeking for some time a convenient place from which to harangue -the soldiers, he made a sign; the litter stopped, and Hanno, supported -by two slaves, put his tottering feet to the ground. - -He wore boots of black felt strewn with silver moons. His legs were -swathed in bands like those wrapped about a mummy, and the flesh crept -through the crossings of the linen; his stomach came out beyond the -scarlet jacket which covered his thighs; the folds of his neck fell down -to his breast like the dewlaps of an ox; his tunic, which was painted -with flowers, was bursting at the arm-pits; he wore a scarf, a girdle, -and an ample black cloak with laced double-sleeves. But the abundance of -his garments, his great necklace of blue stones, his golden clasps, and -heavy earrings only rendered his deformity still more hideous. He might -have been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in a block of stone; for -a pale leprosy, which was spread over his whole body, gave him the -appearance of an inert thing. His nose, however, which was hooked like -a vulture’s beak, was violently dilated to breathe in the air, and his -little eyes, with their gummed lashes, shone with a hard and metallic -lustre. He held a spatula of aloe-wood in his hand wherewith to scratch -his skin. - -At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided, and -Hanno commenced to speak. - -He began with an eulogy of the gods and the Republic; the Barbarians -ought to congratulate themselves on having served it. But they must show -themselves more reasonable; times were hard, “and if a master has only -three olives, is it not right that he should keep two for himself?” - -The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and -apologues, nodding his head the while to solicit some approval. - -He spoke in Punic, and those surrounding him (the most alert, who -had hastened thither without their arms), were Campanians, Gauls, and -Greeks, so that no one in the crowd understood him. Hanno, perceiving -this, stopped and reflected, swaying himself heavily from one leg to the -other. - -It occurred to him to call the captains together; then his heralds -shouted the order in Greek, the language which, from the time of -Xanthippus, had been used for commands in the Carthaginian armies. - -The guards dispersed the mob of soldiers with strokes of the whip; and -the captains of the Spartan phalanxes and the chiefs of the Barbarian -cohorts soon arrived with the insignia of their rank, and in the -armour of their nation. Night had fallen, a great tumult was spreading -throughout the plain; fires were burning here and there; and the -soldiers kept going from one to another asking what the matter was, and -why the Suffet did not distribute the money? - -He was setting the infinite burdens of the Republic before the captains. -Her treasury was empty. The tribute to Rome was crushing her. “We are -quite at a loss what to do! She is much to be pitied!” - -From time to time he would rub his limbs with his aloe-wood spatula, -or perhaps he would break off to drink a ptisan made of the ashes of a -weasel and asparagus boiled in vinegar from a silver cup handed to -him by a slave; then he would wipe his lips with a scarlet napkin and -resume: - -“What used to be worth a shekel of silver is now worth three shekels -of gold, while the cultivated lands which were abandoned during the war -bring in nothing! Our purpura fisheries are nearly gone, and even pearls -are becoming exhorbitant; we have scarcely unguents enough for the -service of the gods! As for the things of the table, I shall say nothing -about them; it is a calamity! For want of galleys we are without spices, -and it is a matter of great difficulty to procure silphium on account -of the rebellions on the Cyrenian frontier. Sicily, where so many slaves -used to be had, is now closed to us! Only yesterday I gave more money -for a bather and four scullions than I used at one time to give for a -pair of elephants!” - -He unrolled a long piece of papyrus; and, without omitting a single -figure, read all the expenses that the government had incurred; so much -for repairing the temples, for paving the streets, for the construction -of vessels, for the coral-fisheries, for the enlargement of the -Syssitia, and for engines in the mines in the country of the -Cantabrians. - -But the captains understood Punic as little as the soldiers, although -the Mercenaries saluted one another in that language. It was usual to -place a few Carthaginian officers in the Barbarian armies to act as -interpreters; after the war they had concealed themselves through fear -of vengeance, and Hanno had not thought of taking them with him; his -hollow voice, too, was lost in the wind. - -The Greeks, girthed in their iron waist-belts, strained their ears as -they strove to guess at his words, while the mountaineers, covered with -furs like bears, looked at him with distrust, or yawned as they leaned -on their brass-nailed clubs. The heedless Gauls sneered as they -shook their lofty heads of hair, and the men of the desert listened -motionless, cowled in their garments of grey wool; others kept coming up -behind; the guards, crushed by the mob, staggered on their horses; the -Negroes held out burning fir branches at arm’s length; and the big -Carthaginian, mounted on a grassy hillock, continued his harangue. - -The Barbarians, however, were growing impatient; murmuring arose, and -every one apostrophized him. Hanno gesticulated with his spatula; and -those who wished the others to be quiet shouted still more loudly, -thereby adding to the din. - -Suddenly a man of mean appearance bounded to Hanno’s feet, snatched -up a herald’s trumpet, blew it, and Spendius (for it was he) announced -that he was going to say something of importance. At this declaration, -which was rapidly uttered in five different languages, Greek, Latin, -Gallic, Libyan and Balearic, the captains, half laughing and half -surprised, replied: “Speak! Speak!” - -Spendius hesitated; he trembled; at last, addressing the Libyans who -were the most numerous, he said to them: - -“You have all heard this man’s horrible threats!” - -Hanno made no exclamation, therefore he did not understand Libyan; and, -to carry on the experiment, Spendius repeated the same phrase in the -other Barbarian dialects. - -They looked at one another in astonishment; then, as by a tacit -agreement, and believing perhaps that they had understood, they bent -their heads in token of assent. - -Then Spendius began in vehement tones: - -“He said first that all the Gods of the other nations were but dreams -besides the Gods of Carthage! He called you cowards, thieves, liars, -dogs, and the sons of dogs! But for you (he said that!) the Republic -would not be forced to pay excessive tribute to the Romans; and through -your excesses you have drained it of perfumes, aromatics, slaves, -and silphium, for you are in league with the nomads on the Cyrenian -frontier! But the guilty shall be punished! He read the enumeration of -their torments; they shall be made to work at the paving of the streets, -at the equipment of the vessels, at the adornment of the Syssitia, while -the rest shall be sent to scrape the earth in the mines in the country -of the Cantabrians.” - -Spendius repeated the same statements to the Gauls, Greeks, Campanians -and Balearians. The Mercenaries, recognising several of the proper -names which had met their ears, were convinced that he was accurately -reporting the Suffet’s speech. A few cried out to him, “You lie!” -but their voices were drowned in the tumult of the rest; Spendius added: - -“Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horse-soldiers -outside the camp? At a given signal they will hasten hither to slay you -all.” - -The Barbarians turned in that direction, and as the crowd was then -scattering, there appeared in the midst of them, and advancing with the -slowness of a phantom, a human being, bent, lean, entirely naked, and -covered down to his flanks with long hair bristling with dried leaves, -dust and thorns. About his loins and his knees he had wisps of straw and -linen rags; his soft and earthy skin hung on his emaciated limbs like -tatters on dried boughs; his hands trembled with a continuous quivering, -and as he walked he leaned on a staff of olive-wood. - -He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches. His pale gums were -displayed in a sort of idiotic titter; his large, scared eyes gazed upon -the crowd of Barbarians around him. - -But uttering a cry of terror he threw himself behind them, shielding -himself with their bodies. “There they are! There they are!” he -stammered out, pointing to the Suffet’s guards, who were motionless -in their glittering armour. Their horses, dazzled by the light of the -torches which crackled in the darkness, were pawing the ground; the -human spectre struggled and howled: - -“They have killed them!” - -At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, some Balearians came up -and recognised him; without answering them he repeated: - -“Yes, all killed, all! crushed like grapes! The fine young men! the -slingers! my companions and yours!” - -They gave him wine to drink, and he wept; then he launched forth into -speech. - -Spendius could scarcely repress his joy, as he explained the horrors -related by Zarxas to the Greeks and Libyans; he could not believe them, -so appropriately did they come in. The Balearians grew pale as they -learned how their companions had perished. - -It was a troop of three hundred slingers who had disembarked the evening -before, and had on that day slept too late. When they reached the -square of Khamon the Barbarians were gone, and they found themselves -defenceless, their clay bullets having been put on the camels with the -rest of the baggage. They were allowed to advance into the street of -Satheb as far as the brass sheathed oaken gate; then the people with a -single impulse had sprung upon them. - -Indeed, the soldiers remembered a great shout; Spendius, who was flying -at the head of the columns, had not heard it. - -Then the corpses were placed in the arms of the Patæc gods that fringed -the temple of Khamon. They were upbraided with all the crimes of the -Mercenaries; their gluttony, their thefts, their impiety, their disdain, -and the murder of the fishes in Salammbô’s garden. Their bodies were -subjected to infamous mutilations; the priests burned their hair -in order to torture their souls; they were hung up in pieces in the -meat-shops; some even buried their teeth in them, and in the evening -funeral-piles were kindled at the cross-ways to finish them. - -These were the flames that had gleamed from a distance across the lake. -But some houses having taken fire, any dead or dying that remained were -speedily thrown over the walls; Zarxas had remained among the reeds on -the edge of the lake until the following day; then he had wandered about -through the country, seeking for the army by the footprints in the dust. -In the morning he hid himself in caves; in the evening he resumed his -march with his bleeding wounds, famished, sick, living on roots and -carrion; at last one day he perceived lances on the horizon, and he -had followed them, for his reason was disturbed through his terrors and -miseries. - -The indignation of the soldiers, restrained so long as he was speaking, -broke forth like a tempest; they were going to massacre the guards -together with the Suffet. A few interposed, saying that they ought to -hear him and know at least whether they should be paid. Then they all -cried: “Our money!” Hanno replied that he had brought it. - -They ran to the outposts, and the Suffet’s baggage arrived in the -midst of the tents, pressed forward by the Barbarians. Without waiting -for the slaves, they very quickly unfastened the baskets; in them they -found hyacinth robes, sponges, scrapers, brushes, perfumes, and antimony -pencils for painting the eyes—all belonging to the guards, who were -rich men and accustomed to such refinements. Next they uncovered a large -bronze tub on a camel: it belonged to the Suffet who had it for bathing -in during his journey; for he had taken all manner of precautions, even -going so far as to bring caged weasels from Hecatompylos, which were -burnt alive to make his ptisan. But, as his malady gave him a great -appetite, there were also many comestibles and many wines, pickle, meats -and fishes preserved in honey, with little pots of Commagene, or melted -goose-fat covered with snow and chopped straw. There was a considerable -supply of it; the more they opened the baskets the more they found, and -laughter arose like conflicting waves. - -As to the pay of the Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass -baskets; there were even visible in one of them some of the leathern -discs which the Republic used to economise its specie; and as the -Barbarians appeared greatly surprised, Hanno told them that, their -accounts being very difficult, the Ancients had not had leisure to -examine them. Meanwhile they had sent them this. - -Then everything was in disorder and confusion: mules, serving men, -litter, provisions, and baggage. The soldiers took the coin in the bags -to stone Hanno. With great difficulty he was able to mount an ass; and -he fled, clinging to its hair, howling, weeping, shaken, bruised, and -calling down the curse of all the gods upon the army. His broad necklace -of precious stones rebounded up to his ears. His cloak which was too -long, and which trailed behind him, he kept on with his teeth, and -from afar the Barbarians shouted at him, “Begone coward! pig! sink of -Moloch! sweat your gold and your plague! quicker! quicker!” The routed -escort galloped beside him. - -But the fury of the Barbarians did not abate. They remembered that -several of them who had set out for Carthage had not returned; no doubt -they had been killed. So much injustice exasperated them, and they began -to pull up the stakes of their tents, to roll up their cloaks, and to -bridle their horses; every one took his helmet and sword, and instantly -all was ready. Those who had no arms rushed into the woods to cut -staves. - -Day dawned; the people of Sicca were roused, and stirring in the -streets. “They are going to Carthage,” said they, and the rumour of -this soon spread through the country. - -From every path and every ravine men arose. Shepherds were seen running -down from the mountains. - -Then, when the Barbarians had set out, Spendius circled the plain, -riding on a Punic stallion, and attended by his slave, who led a third -horse. - -A single tent remained. Spendius entered it. - -“Up, master! rise! we are departing!” - -“And where are you going?” asked Matho. - -“To Carthage!” cried Spendius. - -Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held at the door. - - - - - -CHAPTER III Salammbô - -The moon was rising just above the waves, and on the town which -was still wrapped in darkness there glittered white and luminous -specks:—the pole of a chariot, a dangling rag of linen, the corner of -a wall, or a golden necklace on the bosom of a god. The glass balls on -the roofs of the temples beamed like great diamonds here and there. -But ill-defined ruins, piles of black earth, and gardens formed deeper -masses in the gloom, and below Malqua fishermen’s nets stretched -from one house to another like gigantic bats spreading their wings. The -grinding of the hydraulic wheels which conveyed water to the highest -storys of the palaces, was no longer heard; and the camels, lying -ostrich fashion on their stomachs, rested peacefully in the middle of -the terraces. The porters were asleep in the streets on the thresholds -of the houses; the shadows of the colossuses stretched across the -deserted squares; occasionally in the distance the smoke of a still -burning sacrifice would escape through the bronze tiling, and the heavy -breeze would waft the odours of aromatics blended with the scent of the -sea and the exhalation from the sun-heated walls. The motionless waves -shone around Carthage, for the moon was spreading her light at once upon -the mountain-circled gulf and upon the lake of Tunis, where flamingoes -formed long rose-coloured lines amid the banks of sand, while further -on beneath the catacombs the great salt lagoon shimmered like a piece -of silver. The blue vault of heaven sank on the horizon in one direction -into the dustiness of the plains, and in the other into the mists of the -sea, and on the summit of the Acropolis, the pyramidal cypress trees, -fringing the temple of Eschmoun, swayed murmuring like the regular waves -that beat slowly along the mole beneath the ramparts. - -Salammbô ascended to the terrace of her palace, supported by a female -slave who carried an iron dish filled with live coals. - -In the middle of the terrace there was a small ivory bed covered -with lynx skins, and cushions made with the feathers of the parrot, a -fatidical animal consecrated to the gods; and at the four corners rose -four long perfuming-pans filled with nard, incense, cinnamomum, and -myrrh. The slave lit the perfumes. Salammbô looked at the polar star; -she slowly saluted the four points of heaven, and knelt down on the -ground in the azure dust which was strewn with golden stars in imitation -of the firmament. Then with both elbows against her sides, her fore-arms -straight and her hands open, she threw back her head beneath the rays of -the moon, and said: - -“O Rabetna!—Baalet!—Tanith!” and her voice was lengthened in -a plaintive fashion as if calling to some one. “Anaïtis! Astarte! -Derceto! Astoreth! Mylitta! Athara! Elissa! Tiratha!—By the hidden -symbols, by the resounding sistra,—by the furrows of the earth,—by -the eternal silence and by the eternal fruitfulness,—mistress of the -gloomy sea and of the azure shores, O Queen of the watery world, all -hail!” - -She swayed her whole body twice or thrice, and then cast herself face -downwards in the dust with both arms outstretched. - -But the slave nimbly raised her, for according to the rites someone must -catch the suppliant at the moment of his prostration; this told him -that the gods accepted him, and Salammbô’s nurse never failed in this -pious duty. - -Some merchants from Darytian Gætulia had brought her to Carthage when -quite young, and after her enfranchisement she would not forsake her old -masters, as was shown by her right ear, which was pierced with a large -hole. A petticoat of many-coloured stripes fitted closely on her hips, -and fell to her ankles, where two tin rings clashed together. Her -somewhat flat face was yellow like her tunic. Silver bodkins of great -length formed a sun behind her head. She wore a coral button on the -nostril, and she stood beside the bed more erect than a Hermes, and with -her eyelids cast down. - -Salammbô walked to the edge of the terrace; her eyes swept the horizon -for an instant, and then were lowered upon the sleeping town, while the -sigh that she heaved swelled her bosom, and gave an undulating movement -to the whole length of the long white simar which hung without clasp or -girdle about her. Her curved and painted sandals were hidden beneath -a heap of emeralds, and a net of purple thread was filled with her -disordered hair. - -But she raised her head to gaze upon the moon, and murmured, mingling -her speech with fragments of hymns: - -“How lightly turnest thou, supported by the impalpable ether! It -brightens about thee, and ’Tis the stir of thine agitation that -distributes the winds and fruitful dews. According as thou dost wax -and wane the eyes of cats and spots of panthers lengthen or grow short. -Wives shriek thy name in the pangs of childbirth! Thou makest the shells -to swell, the wine to bubble, and the corpse to putrefy! Thou formest -the pearls at the bottom of the sea! - -“And every germ, O goddess! ferments in the dark depths of thy -moisture. - -“When thou appearest, quietness is spread abroad upon the earth; the -flowers close, the waves are soothed, wearied man stretches his breast -toward thee, and the world with its oceans and mountains looks at -itself in thy face as in a mirror. Thou art white, gentle, luminous, -immaculate, helping, purifying, serene!” - -The crescent of the moon was then over the mountain of the Hot Springs, -in the hollow formed by its two summits, on the other side of the gulf. -Below it there was a little star, and all around it a pale circle. -Salammbô went on: - -“But thou art a terrible mistress!—Monsters, terrifying phantoms, -and lying dreams come from thee; thine eyes devour the stones of -buildings, and the apes are ever ill each time thou growest young again. - -“Whither goest thou? Why dost thou change thy forms continually? Now, -slender and curved thou glidest through space like a mastless galley; -and then, amid the stars, thou art like a shepherd keeping his flock. -Shining and round, thou dost graze the mountain-tops like the wheel of a -chariot. - -“O Tanith! thou dost love me? I have looked so much on thee! But no! -thou sailest through thine azure, and I—I remain on the motionless -earth. - -“Taanach, take your nebal and play softly on the silver string, for my -heart is sad!” - -The slave lifted a sort of harp of ebony wood, taller than herself, -and triangular in shape like a delta; she fixed the point in a crystal -globe, and with both hands began to play. - -The sounds followed one another hurried and deep, like the buzzing of -bees, and with increasing sonorousness floated away into the night with -the complaining of the waves, and the rustling of the great trees on the -summit of the Acropolis. - -“Hush!” cried Salammbô. - -“What ails you, mistress? The blowing of the breeze, the passing of a -cloud, everything disquiets you just now!” - -“I do not know,” she said. - -“You are wearied with too long prayers!” - -“Oh! Tanaach, I would fain be dissolved in them like a flower in -wine!” - -“Perhaps it is the smoke of your perfumes?” - -“No!” said Salammbô; “the spirit of the gods dwells in fragrant -odours.” - -Then the slave spoke to her of her father. It was thought that he had -gone towards the amber country, behind the pillars of Melkarth. “But -if he does not return,” she said, “you must nevertheless, since it -was his will, choose a husband among the sons of the Ancients, and then -your grief will pass away in a man’s arms.” - -“Why?” asked the young girl. All those that she had seen had -horrified her with their fallow-deer laughter and their coarse limbs. - -“Sometimes, Tanaach, from the depths of my being there exhale as it -were hot fumes heavier than the vapours from a volcano. Voices call me, -a globe of fire rolls and mounts within my bosom, it stifles me, I am at -the point of death; and then, something sweet, flowing from my brow to -my feet, passes through my flesh—it is a caress enfolding me, and I -feel myself crushed as if some god were stretched upon me. Oh! would -that I could lose myself in the mists of the night, the waters of the -fountains, the sap of the trees, that I could issue from my body, and be -but a breath, or a ray, and glide, mount up to thee, O Mother!” - -She raised her arms to their full length, arching her form, which in -its long garment was as pale and light as the moon. Then she fell back, -panting, on the ivory couch; but Taanach passed an amber necklace with -dolphin’s teeth about her neck to banish terrors, and Salammbô said -in an almost stifled voice: “Go and bring me Schahabarim.” - -Her father had not wished her to enter the college of priestesses, -nor even to be made at all acquainted with the popular Tanith. He was -reserving her for some alliance that might serve his political ends; so -that Salammbô lived alone in the midst of the palace. Her mother was -long since dead. - -She had grown up with abstinences, fastings and purifications, always -surrounded by grave and exquisite things, her body saturated with -perfumes, and her soul filled with prayers. She had never tasted wine, -nor eaten meat, nor touched an unclean animal, nor set her heels in the -house of death. - -She knew nothing of obscene images, for as each god was manifested -in different forms, the same principle often received the witness -of contradictory cults, and Salammbô worshipped the goddess in her -sidereal presentation. An influence had descended upon the maiden from -the moon; when the planet passed diminishing away, Salammbô grew weak. -She languished the whole day long, and revived at evening. During an -eclipse she nearly died. - -But Rabetna, in jealousy, revenged herself for the virginity withdrawn -from her sacrifices, and she tormented Salammbô with possessions, all -the stronger for being vague, which were spread through this belief and -excited by it. - -Unceasingly was Hamilcar’s daughter disquieted about Tanith. She had -learned her adventures, her travels, and all her names, which she would -repeat without their having any distinct signification for her. In -order to penetrate into the depths of her dogma, she wished to become -acquainted, in the most secret part of the temple, with the old idol in -the magnificent mantle, whereon depended the destinies of Carthage, for -the idea of a god did not stand out clearly from his representation, -and to hold, or even see the image of one, was to take away part of his -virtue, and in a measure to rule him. - -But Salammbô turned around. She had recognised the sound of the golden -bells which Schahabarim wore at the hem of his garment. - -He ascended the staircases; then at the threshold of the terrace he -stopped and folded his arms. - -His sunken eyes shone like the lamps of a sepulchre; his long thin body -floated in its linen robe which was weighted by the bells, the latter -alternating with balls of emeralds at his heels. He had feeble limbs, an -oblique skull and a pointed chin; his skin seemed cold to the touch, and -his yellow face, which was deeply furrowed with wrinkles, was as if it -contracted in a longing, in an everlasting grief. - -He was the high priest of Tanith, and it was he who had educated -Salammbô. - -“Speak!” he said. “What will you?” - -“I hoped—you had almost promised me—” She stammered and was -confused; then suddenly: “Why do you despise me? what have I forgotten -in the rites? You are my master, and you told me that no one was so -accomplished in the things pertaining to the goddess as I; but there are -some of which you will not speak. Is it so, O father?” - -Schahabarim remembered Hamilcar’s orders, and replied: - -“No, I have nothing more to teach you!” - -“A genius,” she resumed, “impels me to this love. I have climbed -the steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I have -slept beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian -colonies; I have pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener -and fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the -gods of woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand? -they are all too far away, too high, too insensible, while she—I feel -her mingled in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward -startings, as though she were leaping in order to escape. Methinks I am -about to hear her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and then -I sink back again into the darkness.” - -Schahabarim was silent. She entreated him with suppliant looks. At -last he made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of -Chanaanitish race. Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one arm -in the air, began: - -“Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull -and indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream. It contracted, -creating Desire and Cloud, and from Desire and Cloud there issued -primitive Matter. This was a water, muddy, black, icy and deep. It -contained senseless monsters, incoherent portions of the forms to be -born, which are painted on the walls of the sanctuaries. - -“Then Matter condensed. It became an egg. It burst. One half formed -the earth and the other the firmament. Sun, moon, winds and clouds -appeared, and at the crash of the thunder intelligent creatures awoke. -Then Eschmoun spread himself in the starry sphere; Khamon beamed in -the sun; Melkarth thrust him with his arms behind Gades; the Kabiri -descended beneath the volcanoes, and Rabetna like a nurse bent over the -world pouring out her light like milk, and her night like a mantle.” - -“And then?” she said. - -He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from -sublimer prospects; but the maiden’s desire kindled again at his last -words, and Schahabarim, half yielding resumed: - -“She inspires and governs the loves of men.” - -“The loves of men!” repeated Salammbô dreamily. - -“She is the soul of Carthage,” continued the priest; “and although -she is everywhere diffused, it is here that she dwells, beneath the -sacred veil.” - -“O father!” cried Salammbô, “I shall see her, shall I not? you -will bring me to her! I had long been hesitating; I am devoured with -curiosity to see her form. Pity! help me! let us go?” - -He repulsed her with a vehement gesture that was full of pride. - -“Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals -are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in -weakness. Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge that -you possess!” - -She fell upon her knees placing two fingers against her ears in token of -repentance; and crushed by the priest’s words, and filled at once with -anger against him, with terror and humiliation, she burst into sobs. -Schahabarim remained erect, and more insensible than the stones of the -terrace. He looked down upon her quivering at his feet, and felt a kind -of joy on seeing her suffer for his divinity whom he himself could not -wholly embrace. The birds were already singing, a cold wind was blowing, -and little clouds were drifting in the paling sky. - -Suddenly he perceived on the horizon, behind Tunis, what looked like -slight mists trailing along the ground; then these became a great -curtain of dust extending perpendicularly, and, amid the whirlwinds of -the thronging mass, dromedaries’ heads, lances and shields appeared. -It was the army of the Barbarians advancing upon Carthage. - - - - - -CHAPTER IV BENEATH THE WALLS OF CARTHAGE - -Some country people, riding on asses or running on foot, arrived in the -town, pale, breathless, and mad with fear. They were flying before the -army. It had accomplished the journey from Sicca in three days, in order -to reach Carthage and wholly exterminate it. - -The gates were shut. The Barbarians appeared almost immediately; but -they stopped in the middle of the isthmus, on the edge of the lake. - -At first they made no hostile announcement. Several approached with palm -branches in their hands. They were driven back with arrows, so great was -the terror. - -In the morning and at nightfall prowlers would sometimes wander along -the walls. A little man carefully wrapped in a cloak, and with his face -concealed beneath a very low visor, was especially noticed. He would -remain whole hours gazing at the aqueduct, and so persistently that he -doubtless wished to mislead the Carthaginians as to his real designs. -Another man, a sort of giant who walked bareheaded, used to accompany -him. - -But Carthage was defended throughout the whole breadth of the isthmus: -first by a trench, then by a grassy rampart, and lastly by a wall thirty -cubits high, built of freestone, and in two storys. It contained stables -for three hundred elephants with stores for their caparisons, shackles, -and food; other stables again for four thousand horses with supplies -of barley and harness, and barracks for twenty thousand soldiers with -armour and all materials of war. Towers rose from the second story, all -provided with battlements, and having bronze bucklers hung on cramps on -the outside. - -This first line of wall gave immediate shelter to Malqua, the sailors’ -and dyers’ quarter. Masts might be seen whereon purple sails were -drying, and on the highest terraces clay furnaces for heating the pickle -were visible. - -Behind, the lofty houses of the city rose in an ampitheatre of cubical -form. They were built of stone, planks, shingle, reeds, shells, and -beaten earth. The woods belonging to the temples were like lakes of -verdure in this mountain of diversely-coloured blocks. It was levelled -at unequal distances by the public squares, and was cut from top to -bottom by countless intersecting lanes. The enclosures of the three old -quarters which are now lost might be distinguished; they rose here -and there like great reefs, or extended in enormous fronts, blackened, -half-covered with flowers, and broadly striped by the casting of filth, -while streets passed through their yawning apertures like rivers beneath -bridges. - -The hill of the Acropolis, in the centre of Byrsa, was hidden beneath a -disordered array of monuments. There were temples with wreathed columns -bearing bronze capitals and metal chains, cones of dry stones with bands -of azure, copper cupolas, marble architraves, Babylonian buttresses, -obelisks poised on their points like inverted torches. Peristyles -reached to pediments; volutes were displayed through colonnades; granite -walls supported tile partitions; the whole mounting, half-hidden, the -one above the other in a marvellous and incomprehensible fashion. In it -might be felt the succession of the ages, and, as it were, the memorials -of forgotten fatherlands. - -Behind the Acropolis the Mappalian road, which was lined with tombs, -extended through red lands in a straight line from the shore to the -catacombs; then spacious dwellings occurred at intervals in the gardens, -and this third quarter, Megara, which was the new town, reached as far -as the edge of the cliff, where rose a giant pharos that blazed forth -every night. - -In this fashion was Carthage displayed before the soldiers quartered in -the plain. - -They could recognise the markets and crossways in the distance, and -disputed with one another as to the sites of the temples. Khamon’s, -fronting the Syssitia, had golden tiles; Melkarth, to the left of -Eschmoun, had branches of coral on its roofing; beyond, Tanith’s -copper cupola swelled among the palm trees; the dark Moloch was below -the cisterns, in the direction of the pharos. At the angles of the -pediments, on the tops of the walls, at the corners of the squares, -everywhere, divinities with hideous heads might be seen, colossal or -squat, with enormous bellies, or immoderately flattened, opening their -jaws, extending their arms, and holding forks, chains or javelins in -their hands; while the blue of the sea stretched away behind the streets -which were rendered still steeper by the perspective. - -They were filled from morning till evening with a tumultuous people; -young boys shaking little bells, shouted at the doors of the baths; the -shops for hot drinks smoked, the air resounded with the noise of anvils, -the white cocks, sacred to the Sun, crowed on the terraces, the oxen -that were being slaughtered bellowed in the temples, slaves ran about -with baskets on their heads; and in the depths of the porticoes a priest -would sometimes appear, draped in a dark cloak, barefooted, and wearing -a pointed cap. - -The spectacle afforded by Carthage irritated the Barbarians; they -admired it and execrated it, and would have liked both to annihilate it -and to dwell in it. But what was there in the Military Harbour defended -by a triple wall? Then behind the town, at the back of Megara, and -higher than the Acropolis, appeared Hamilcar’s palace. - -Matho’s eyes were directed thither every moment. He would ascend the -olive trees and lean over with his hand spread out above his eyebrows. -The gardens were empty, and the red door with its black cross remained -constantly shut. - -More than twenty times he walked round the ramparts, seeking some breach -by which he might enter. One night he threw himself into the gulf and -swam for three hours at a stretch. He reached the foot of the Mappalian -quarter and tried to climb up the face of the cliff. He covered his -knees with blood, broke his nails, and then fell back into the waves and -returned. - -His impotence exasperated him. He was jealous of this Carthage which -contained Salammbô, as if of some one who had possessed her. His -nervelessness left him to be replaced by a mad and continual eagerness -for action. With flaming cheek, angry eyes, and hoarse voice, he would -walk with rapid strides through the camp; or seated on the shore he -would scour his great sword with sand. He shot arrows at the passing -vultures. His heart overflowed into frenzied speech. - -“Give free course to your wrath like a runaway chariot,” said -Spendius. “Shout, blaspheme, ravage and slay. Grief is allayed with -blood, and since you cannot sate your love, gorge your hate; it will -sustain you!” - -Matho resumed the command of his soldiers. He drilled them pitilessly. -He was respected for his courage and especially for his strength. -Moreover he inspired a sort of mystic dread, and it was believed that -he conversed at night with phantoms. The other captains were animated -by his example. The army soon grew disciplined. From their houses the -Carthaginians could hear the bugle-flourishes that regulated their -exercises. At last the Barbarians drew near. - -To crush them in the isthmus it would have been necessary for two armies -to take them simultaneously in the rear, one disembarking at the end of -the gulf of Utica, and the second at the mountain of the Hot Springs. -But what could be done with the single sacred Legion, mustering at most -six thousand men? If the enemy bent towards the east they would join the -nomads and intercept the commerce of the desert. If they fell back to -the west, Numidia would rise. Finally, lack of provisions would -sooner or later lead them to devastate the surrounding country like -grasshoppers, and the rich trembled for their fine country-houses, their -vineyards and their cultivated lands. - -Hanno proposed atrocious and impracticable measures, such as promising -a heavy sum for every Barbarian’s head, or setting fire to their camp -with ships and machines. His colleague Gisco, on the other hand, wished -them to be paid. But the Ancients detested him owing to his popularity; -for they dreaded the risk of a master, and through terror of monarchy -strove to weaken whatever contributed to it or might re-establish it. - -Outside the fortification there were people of another race and of -unknown origin, all hunters of the porcupine, and eaters of shell-fish -and serpents. They used to go into caves to catch hyenas alive, and -amuse themselves by making them run in the evening on the sands of -Megara between the stelæ of the tombs. Their huts, which were made -of mud and wrack, hung on the cliff like swallows’ nests. There they -lived, without government and without gods, pell-mell, completely naked, -at once feeble and fierce, and execrated by the people of all time on -account of their unclean food. One morning the sentries perceived that -they were all gone. - -At last some members of the Great Council arrived at a decision. They -came to the camp without necklaces or girdles, and in open sandals -like neighbours. They walked at a quiet pace, waving salutations to -the captains, or stopped to speak to the soldiers, saying that all was -finished and that justice was about to be done to their claims. - -Many of them saw a camp of Mercenaries for the first time. Instead of -the confusion which they had pictured to themselves, there prevailed -everywhere terrible silence and order. A grassy rampart formed a lofty -wall round the army immovable by the shock of catapults. The ground in -the streets was sprinkled with fresh water; through the holes in the -tents they could perceive tawny eyeballs gleaming in the shade. The -piles of pikes and hanging panoplies dazzled them like mirrors. They -conversed in low tones. They were afraid of upsetting something with -their long robes. - -The soldiers requested provisions, undertaking to pay for them out of -the money that was due. - -Oxen, sheep, guinea fowl, fruit and lupins were sent to them, with -smoked scombri, that excellent scombri which Carthage dispatched to -every port. But they walked scornfully around the magnificent cattle, -and disparaging what they coveted, offered the worth of a pigeon for -a ram, or the price of a pomegranate for three goats. The Eaters of -Uncleanness came forward as arbitrators, and declared that they were -being duped. Then they drew their swords with threats to slay. - -Commissaries of the Great Council wrote down the number of years for -which pay was due to each soldier. But it was no longer possible to know -how many Mercenaries had been engaged, and the Ancients were dismayed at -the enormous sum which they would have to pay. The reserve of silphium -must be sold, and the trading towns taxed; the Mercenaries would -grow impatient; Tunis was already with them; and the rich, stunned by -Hanno’s ragings and his colleague’s reproaches, urged any citizens -who might know a Barbarian to go to see him immediately in order to win -back his friendship, and to speak him fair. Such a show of confidence -would soothe them. - -Traders, scribes, workers in the arsenal, and whole families visited the -Barbarians. - -The soldiers allowed all the Carthaginians to come in, but by a single -passage so narrow that four men abreast jostled one another in it. -Spendius, standing against the barrier, had them carefully searched; -facing him Matho was examining the multitude, trying to recognise some -one whom he might have seen at Salammbô’s palace. - -The camp was like a town, so full of people and of movement was it. The -two distinct crowds mingled without blending, one dressed in linen or -wool, with felt caps like fir-cones, and the other clad in iron and -wearing helmets. Amid serving men and itinerant vendors there moved -women of all nations, as brown as ripe dates, as greenish as olives, -as yellow as oranges, sold by sailors, picked out of dens, stolen from -caravans, taken in the sacking of towns, women that were jaded with love -so long as they were young, and plied with blows when they were old, and -that died in routs on the roadsides among the baggage and the abandoned -beasts of burden. The wives of the nomads had square, tawny robes of -dromedary’s hair swinging at their heels; musicians from Cyrenaica, -wrapped in violet gauze and with painted eyebrows, sang, squatting on -mats; old Negresses with hanging breasts gathered the animals’ dung -that was drying in the sun to light their fires; the Syracusan women had -golden plates in their hair; the Lusitanians had necklaces of shells; -the Gauls wore wolf skins upon their white bosoms; and sturdy children, -vermin-covered, naked and uncircumcised, butted with their heads against -passers-by, or came behind them like young tigers to bite their hands. - -The Carthaginians walked through the camp, surprised at the quantities -of things with which it was running over. The most miserable were -melancholy, and the rest dissembled their anxiety. - -The soldiers struck them on the shoulder, and exhorted them to be gay. -As soon as they saw any one, they invited him to their amusements. If -they were playing at discus, they would manage to crush his feet, or -if at boxing to fracture his jaw with the very first blow. The slingers -terrified the Carthaginians with their slings, the Psylli with their -vipers, and the horsemen with their horses, while their victims, -addicted as they were to peaceful occupations, bent their heads and -tried to smile at all these outrages. Some, in order to show themselves -brave, made signs that they should like to become soldiers. They were -set to split wood and to curry mules. They were buckled up in armour, -and rolled like casks through the streets of the camp. Then, when -they were about to leave, the Mercenaries plucked out their hair with -grotesque contortions. - -But many, from foolishness or prejudice, innocently believed that all -the Carthaginians were very rich, and they walked behind them entreating -them to grant them something. They requested everything that they -thought fine: a ring, a girdle, sandals, the fringe of a robe, and when -the despoiled Carthaginian cried—“But I have nothing left. What -do you want?” they would reply, “Your wife!” Others even said, -“Your life!” - -The military accounts were handed to the captains, read to the soldiers, -and definitively approved. Then they claimed tents; they received them. -Next the polemarchs of the Greeks demanded some of the handsome suits of -armour that were manufactured at Carthage; the Great Council voted -sums of money for their purchase. But it was only fair, so the horsemen -pretended, that the Republic should indemnify them for their horses; -one had lost three at such a siege, another, five during such a march, -another, fourteen in the precipices. Stallions from Hecatompylos were -offered to them, but they preferred money. - -Next they demanded that they should be paid in money (in pieces of -money, and not in leathern coins) for all the corn that was owing to -them, and at the highest price that it had fetched during the war; so -that they exacted four hundred times as much for a measure of meal as -they had given for a sack of wheat. Such injustice was exasperating; but -it was necessary, nevertheless, to submit. - -Then the delegates from the soldiers and from the Great Council swore -renewed friendship by the Genius of Carthage and the gods of the -Barbarians. They exchanged excuses and caresses with oriental -demonstrativeness and verbosity. Then the soldiers claimed, as a proof -of friendship, the punishment of those who had estranged them from the -Republic. - -Their meaning, it was pretended, was not understood, and they explained -themselves more clearly by saying that they must have Hanno’s head. - -Several times a day, they left their camp, and walked along the foot of -the walls, shouting a demand that the Suffet’s head should be thrown -to them, and holding out their robes to receive it. - -The Great Council would perhaps have given way but for a last exaction, -more outrageous than the rest; they demanded maidens, chosen from -illustrious families, in marriage for their chiefs. It was an idea -which had emanated from Spendius, and which many thought most simple and -practicable. But the assumption of their desire to mix with Punic blood -made the people indignant; and they were bluntly told that they were to -receive no more. Then they exclaimed that they had been deceived, -and that if their pay did not arrive within three days, they would -themselves go and take it in Carthage. - -The bad faith of the Mercenaries was not so complete as their enemies -thought. Hamilcar had made them extravagant promises, vague, it is true, -but at the same time solemn and reiterated. They might have believed -that when they disembarked at Carthage the town would be abandoned to -them, and that they should have treasures divided among them; and -when they saw that scarcely their wages would be paid, the disillusion -touched their pride no less than their greed. - -Had not Dionysius, Pyrrhus, Agathocles, and the generals of Alexander -furnished examples of marvellous good fortune? Hercules, whom the -Chanaanites confounded with the sun, was the ideal which shone on the -horizon of armies. They knew that simple soldiers had worn diadems, and -the echoes of crumbling empires would furnish dreams to the Gaul in -his oak forest, to the Ethiopian amid his sands. But there was a nation -always ready to turn courage to account; and the robber driven from -his tribe, the patricide wandering on the roads, the perpetrator of -sacrilege pursued by the gods, all who were starving or in despair -strove to reach the port where the Carthaginian broker was recruiting -soldiers. Usually the Republic kept its promises. This time, however, -the eagerness of its avarice had brought it into perilous disgrace. -Numidians, Libyans, the whole of Africa was about to fall upon Carthage. -Only the sea was open to it, and there it met with the Romans; so that, -like a man assailed by murderers, it felt death all around it. - -It was quite necessary to have recourse to Gisco, and the Barbarians -accepted his intervention. One morning they saw the chains of the -harbour lowered, and three flat-bottomed boats passing through the canal -of Tænia entered the lake. - -Gisco was visible on the first at the prow. Behind him rose an enormous -chest, higher than a catafalque, and furnished with rings like hanging -crowns. Then appeared the legion of interpreters, with their hair -dressed like sphinxes, and with parrots tattooed on their breasts. -Friends and slaves followed, all without arms, and in such numbers that -they shouldered one another. The three long, dangerously-loaded barges -advanced amid the shouts of the onlooking army. - -As soon as Gisco disembarked the soldiers ran to him. He had a sort of -tribune erected with knapsacks, and declared that he should not depart -before he had paid them all in full. - -There was an outburst of applause, and it was a long time before he was -able to speak. - -Then he censured the wrongs done to the Republic, and to the Barbarians; -the fault lay with a few mutineers who had alarmed Carthage by their -violence. The best proof of good intention on the part of the latter was -that it was he, the eternal adversary of the Suffet Hanno, who was sent -to them. They must not credit the people with the folly of desiring to -provoke brave men, nor with ingratitude enough not to recognise their -services; and Gisco began to pay the soldiers, commencing with the -Libyans. As they had declared that the lists were untruthful, he made no -use of them. - -They defiled before him according to nationality, opening their fingers -to show the number of their years of service; they were marked in -succession with green paint on the left arm; the scribes dipped into the -yawning coffer, while others made holes with a style on a sheet of lead. - -A man passed walking heavily like an ox. - -“Come up beside me,” said the Suffet, suspecting some fraud; “how -many years have you served?” - -“Twelve,” replied the Libyan. - -Gisco slipped his fingers under his chin, for the chin-piece of the -helmet used in course of time to occasion two callosities there; these -were called carobs, and “to have the carobs” was an expression used -to denote a veteran. - -“Thief!” exclaimed the Suffet, “your shoulders ought to have what -your face lacks!” and tearing off his tunic he laid bare is back which -was covered with a bleeding scab; he was a labourer from Hippo-Zarytus. -Hootings were raised, and he was decapitated. - -As soon as night fell, Spendius went and roused the Libyans, and said to -them: - -“When the Ligurians, Greeks, Balearians, and men of Italy are paid, -they will return. But as for you, you will remain in Africa, scattered -through your tribes, and without any means of defence! It will be then -that the Republic will take its revenge! Mistrust the journey! Are you -going to believe everything that is said? Both the Suffets are agreed, -and this one is imposing on you! Remember the Island of Bones, and -Xanthippus, whom they sent back to Sparta in a rotten galley!” - -“How are we to proceed?” they asked. - -“Reflect!” said Spendius. - -The two following days were spent in paying the men of Magdala, Leptis, -and Hecatompylos; Spendius went about among the Gauls. - -“They are paying off the Libyans, and then they will discharge the -Greeks, the Balearians, the Asiatics and all the rest! But you, who are -few in number, will receive nothing! You will see your native lands -no more! You will have no ships, and they will kill you to save your -food!” - -The Gauls came to the Suffet. Autaritus, he whom he had wounded at -Hamilcar’s palace, put questions to him, but was repelled by the -slaves, and disappeared swearing he would be revenged. - -The demands and complaints multiplied. The most obstinate penetrated at -night into the Suffet’s tent; they took his hands and sought to move -him by making him feel their toothless mouths, their wasted arms, and -the scars of their wounds. Those who had not yet been paid were growing -angry, those who had received the money demanded more for their horses; -and vagabonds and outlaws assumed soldiers’ arms and declared that -they were being forgotten. Every minute there arrived whirlwinds of men, -as it were; the tents strained and fell; the multitude, thick pressed -between the ramparts of the camp, swayed with loud shouts from the gates -to the centre. When the tumult grew excessively violent Gisco would rest -one elbow on his ivory sceptre and stand motionless looking at the sea -with his fingers buried in his beard. - -Matho frequently went off to speak with Spendius; then he would again -place himself in front of the Suffet, and Gisco could feel his eyes -continually like two flaming phalaricas darted against him. Several -times they hurled reproaches at each other over the heads of the crowd, -but without making themselves heard. The distribution, meanwhile, -continued, and the Suffet found expedients to remove every obstacle. - -The Greeks tried to quibble about differences in currency, but he -furnished them with such explanations that they retired without a -murmur. The Negroes demanded white shells such as are used for trading -in the interior of Africa, but when he offered to send to Carthage for -them they accepted money like the rest. - -But the Balearians had been promised something better, namely, women. -The Suffet replied that a whole caravan of maidens was expected for -them, but the journey was long and would require six moons more. When -they were fat and well rubbed with benjamin they should be sent in ships -to the ports of the Balearians. - -Suddenly Zarxas, now handsome and vigorous, leaped like a mountebank -upon the shoulders of his friends and cried: - -“Have you reserved any of them for the corpses?” at the same time -pointing to the gate of Khamon in Carthage. - -The brass plates with which it was furnished from top to bottom shone -in the sun’s latest fires, and the Barbarians believed that they could -discern on it a trail of blood. Every time that Gisco wished to speak -their shouts began again. At last he descended with measured steps, and -shut himself up in his tent. - -When he left it at sunrise his interpreters, who used to sleep outside, -did not stir; they lay on their backs with their eyes fixed, their -tongues between their teeth, and their faces of a bluish colour. White -mucus flowed from their nostrils, and their limbs were stiff, as if -they had all been frozen by the cold during the night. Each had a little -noose of rushes round his neck. - -From that time onward the rebellion was unchecked. The murder of the -Balearians which had been recalled by Zarxas strengthened the distrust -inspired by Spendius. They imagined that the Republic was always trying -to deceive them. An end must be put to it! The interpreters should be -dispensed with! Zarxas sang war songs with a sling around his head; -Autaritus brandished his great sword; Spendius whispered a word to one -or gave a dagger to another. The boldest endeavoured to pay themselves, -while those who were less frenzied wished to have the distribution -continued. No one now relinquished his arms, and the anger of all -combined into a tumultuous hatred of Gisco. - -Some got up beside him. So long as they vociferated abuse they were -listened to with patience; but if they tried to utter the least word in -his behalf they were immediately stoned, or their heads were cut off -by a sabre-stroke from behind. The heap of knapsacks was redder than an -altar. - -They became terrible after their meal and when they had drunk wine! This -was an enjoyment forbidden in the Punic armies under pain of death, and -they raised their cups in the direction of Carthage in derision of its -discipline. Then they returned to the slaves of the exchequer and again -began to kill. The word strike, though different in each language, was -understood by all. - -Gisco was well aware that he was being abandoned by his country; but in -spite of its ingratitude he would not dishonour it. When they reminded -him that they had been promised ships, he swore by Moloch to provide -them himself at his own expense, and pulling off his necklace of blue -stones he threw it into the crowd as the pledge of his oath. - -Then the Africans claimed the corn in accordance with the engagements -made by the Great Council. Gisco spread out the accounts of the Syssitia -traced in violet pigment on sheep skins; and read out all that had -entered Carthage month by month and day by day. - -Suddenly he stopped with gaping eyes, as if he had just discovered his -sentence of death among the figures. - -The Ancients had, in fact, fraudulently reduced them, and the corn sold -during the most calamitous period of the war was set down at so low a -rate that, blindness apart, it was impossible to believe it. - -“Speak!” they shouted. “Louder! Ah! he is trying to lie, the -coward! Don’t trust him.” - -For some time he hesitated. At last he resumed his task. - -The soldiers, without suspecting that they were being deceived, accepted -the accounts of the Syssitia as true. But the abundance that had -prevailed at Carthage made them furiously jealous. They broke open the -sycamore chest; it was three parts empty. They had seen such sums coming -out of it, that they thought it inexhaustible; Gisco must have buried -some in his tent. They scaled the knapsacks. Matho led them, and as they -shouted “The money! the money!” Gisco at last replied: - -“Let your general give it to you!” - -He looked them in the face without speaking, with his great yellow eyes, -and his long face that was paler than his beard. An arrow, held by its -feathers, hung from the large gold ring in his ear, and a stream of -blood was trickling from his tiara upon his shoulder. - -At a gesture from Matho all advanced. Gisco held out his arms; Spendius -tied his wrists with a slip knot; another knocked him down, and he -disappeared amid the disorder of the crowd which was stumbling over the -knapsacks. - -They sacked his tent. Nothing was found in it except things -indispensable to life; and, on a closer search, three images of Tanith, -and, wrapped up in an ape’s skin, a black stone which had fallen from -the moon. Many Carthaginians had chosen to accompany him; they were -eminent men, and all belonged to the war party. - -They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for the -reception of filth. They were tied with iron chains around the body to -solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the javelin. - -Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but -being quite ignorant of his language they made no reply; and the Gaul -from time to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out. - - -The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army. Now that -their anger was over they were seized with anxiety. Matho was suffering -from vague melancholy. It seemed to him that Salammbô had indirectly -been insulted. These rich men were a kind of appendage to her person. -He sat down in the night on the edge of the pit, and recognised in their -groanings something of the voice of which his heart was full. - -All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid. But while -national antipathies revived, together with personal hatreds, it was -felt that it would be perilous to give way to them. Reprisals after -such an outrage would be formidable. It was necessary, therefore, to -anticipate the vengeance of Carthage. Conventions and harangues never -ceased. Every one spoke, no one was listened to; Spendius, usually so -loquacious, shook his head at every proposal. - -One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs in -the interior of the town. - -“Not one!” replied Matho. - -The next day Spendius drew him aside to the bank of the lake. - -“Master!” said the former slave, “If your heart is dauntless, I -will bring you into Carthage.” - -“How?” repeated the other, panting. - -“Swear to execute all my commands and to follow me like a shadow!” - -Then Matho, raising his arm towards the planet of Chabar, exclaimed: - -“By Tanith, I swear!” - -Spendius resumed: - -“To-morrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the -aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades. Bring with you an iron -pick, a crestless helmet, and leathern sandals.” - -The aqueduct of which he spoke crossed the entire isthmus obliquely,—a -considerable work, afterwards enlarged by the Romans. In spite of her -disdain of other nations, Carthage had awkwardly borrowed this novel -invention from them, just as Rome herself had built Punic galleys; and -five rows of superposed arches, of a dumpy kind of architecture, with -buttresses at their foot and lions’ heads at the top, reached to -the western part of the Acropolis, where they sank beneath the town to -incline what was nearly a river into the cisterns of Megara. - -Spendius met Matho here at the hour agreed upon. He fastened a sort of -harpoon to the end of a cord and whirled it rapidly like a sling; the -iron instrument caught fast, and they began to climb up the wall, the -one after the other. - -But when they had ascended to the first story the cramp fell back every -time that they threw it, and in order to discover some fissure they had -to walk along the edge of the cornice. At every row of arches they found -that it became narrower. Then the cord relaxed. Several times it nearly -broke. - -At last they reached the upper platform. Spendius stooped down from time -to time to feel the stones with his hand. - -“Here it is,” he said; “let us begin!” And leaning on the -pick which Matho had brought they succeeded in dislodging one of the -flagstones. - -In the distance they perceived a troop of horse-men galloping on horses -without bridles. Their golden bracelets leaped in the vague drapings -of their cloaks. A man could be seen in front crowned with ostrich -feathers, and galloping with a lance in each hand. - -“Narr’ Havas!” exclaimed Matho. - -“What matter?” returned Spendius, and he leaped into the hole which -they had just made by removing the flagstone. - -Matho at his command tried to thrust out one of the blocks. But he could -not move his elbows for want of room. - -“We shall return,” said Spendius; “go in front.” Then they -ventured into the channel of water. - -It reached to their waists. Soon they staggered, and were obliged to -swim. Their limbs knocked against the walls of the narrow duct. The -water flowed almost immediately beneath the stones above, and their -faces were torn by them. Then the current carried them away. Their -breasts were crushed with air heavier than that of a sepulchre, and -stretching themselves out as much as possible with their heads between -their arms and their legs close together, they passed like arrows into -the darkness, choking, gurgling, and almost dead. Suddenly all became -black before them, and the speed of the waters redoubled. They fell. - -When they came to the surface again, they remained for a few minutes -extended on their backs, inhaling the air delightfully. Arcades, one -behind another, opened up amid large walls separating the various -basins. All were filled, and the water stretched in a single sheet -throughout the length of the cisterns. Through the air-holes in the -cupolas on the ceiling there fell a pale brightness which spread upon -the waves discs, as it were, of light, while the darkness round about -thickened towards the walls and threw them back to an indefinite -distance. The slightest sound made a great echo. - -Spendius and Matho commenced to swim again, and passing through the -opening of the arches, traversed several chambers in succession. Two -other rows of smaller basins extended in a parallel direction on each -side. They lost themselves; they turned, and came back again. At last -something offered a resistance to their heels. It was the pavement of -the gallery that ran along the cisterns. - -Then, advancing with great precautions, they felt along the wall to -find an outlet. But their feet slipped, and they fell into the great -centre-basins. They had to climb up again, and there they fell again. -They experienced terrible fatigue, which made them feel as if all their -limbs had been dissolved in the water while swimming. Their eyes closed; -they were in the agonies of death. - -Spendius struck his hand against the bars of a grating. They shook it, -it gave way, and they found themselves on the steps of a staircase. A -door of bronze closed it above. With the point of a dagger they moved -the bar, which was opened from without, and suddenly the pure open air -surrounded them. - -The night was filled with silence, and the sky seemed at an -extraordinary height. Clusters of trees projected over the long lines of -walls. The whole town was asleep. The fires of the outposts shone like -lost stars. - -Spendius, who had spent three years in the ergastulum, was but -imperfectly acquainted with the different quarters. Matho conjectured -that to reach Hamilcar’s palace they ought to strike to the left and -cross the Mappalian district. - -“No,” said Spendius, “take me to the temple of Tanith.” - -Matho wished to speak. - -“Remember!” said the former slave, and raising his arm he showed him -the glittering planet of Chabar. - -Then Matho turned in silence towards the Acropolis. - -They crept along the nopal hedges which bordered the paths. The water -trickled from their limbs upon the dust. Their damp sandals made no -noise; Spendius, with eyes that flamed more than torches, searched -the bushes at every step;—and he walked behind Matho with his hands -resting on the two daggers which he carried on his arms, and which hung -from below the armpit by a leathern band. - - - - - -CHAPTER V TANITH - -After leaving the gardens Matho and Spendius found themselves checked -by the rampart of Megara. But they discovered a breach in the great wall -and passed through. - -The ground sloped downwards, forming a kind of very broad valley. It was -an exposed place. - -“Listen,” said Spendius, “and first of all fear nothing! I shall -fulfil my promise—” - -He stopped abruptly, and seemed to reflect as though searching for -words,—“Do you remember that time at sunrise when I showed Carthage -to you on Salammbô’s terrace? We were strong that day, but you would -listen to nothing!” Then in a grave voice: “Master, in the sanctuary -of Tanith there is a mysterious veil, which fell from heaven and which -covers the goddess.” - -“I know,” said Matho. - -Spendius resumed: “It is itself divine, for it forms part of her. The -gods reside where their images are. It is because Carthage possesses it -that Carthage is powerful.” Then leaning over to his ear: “I have -brought you with me to carry it off!” - -Matho recoiled in horror. “Begone! look for some one else! I will not -help you in this execrable crime!” - -“But Tanith is your enemy,” retorted Spendius; “she is persecuting -you and you are dying through her wrath. You will be revenged upon -her. She will obey you, and you will become almost immortal and -invincible.” - -Matho bent his head. Spendius continued: - -“We should succumb; the army would be annihilated of itself. We have -neither flight, nor succour, nor pardon to hope for! What chastisement -from the gods can you be afraid of since you will have their power in -your own hands? Would you rather die on the evening of a defeat, in -misery beneath the shelter of a bush, or amid the outrages of the -populace and the flames of funeral piles? Master, one day you will enter -Carthage among the colleges of the pontiffs, who will kiss your sandals; -and if the veil of Tanith weighs upon you still, you will reinstate it -in its temple. Follow me! come and take it.” - -Matho was consumed by a terrible longing. He would have liked to possess -the veil while refraining from the sacrilege. He said to himself that -perhaps it would not be necessary to take it in order to monopolise its -virtue. He did not go to the bottom of his thought but stopped at the -boundary, where it terrified him. - -“Come on!” he said; and they went off with rapid strides, side by -side, and without speaking. - -The ground rose again, and the dwellings were near. They turned again -into the narrow streets amid the darkness. The strips of esparto-grass -with which the doors were closed, beat against the walls. Some camels -were ruminating in a square before heaps of cut grass. Then they passed -beneath a gallery covered with foliage. A pack of dogs were barking. But -suddenly the space grew wider and they recognised the western face of -the Acropolis. At the foot of Byrsa there stretched a long black mass: -it was the temple of Tanith, a whole made up of monuments and galleries, -courts and fore-courts, and bounded by a low wall of dry stones. -Spendius and Matho leaped over it. - -This first barrier enclosed a wood of plane-trees as a precaution -against plague and infection in the air. Tents were scattered here -and there, in which, during the daytime, depilatory pastes, -perfumes, garments, moon-shaped cakes, and images of the goddess with -representations of the temple hollowed out in blocks of alabaster, were -on sale. - -They had nothing to fear, for on nights when the planet did not appear, -all rites were suspended; nevertheless Matho slackened his speed, and -stopped before the three ebony steps leading to the second enclosure. - -“Forward!” said Spendius. - -Pomegranate, almond trees, cypresses and myrtles alternated in regular -succession; the path, which was paved with blue pebbles, creaked beneath -their footsteps, and full-blown roses formed a hanging bower over the -whole length of the avenue. They arrived before an oval hole protected -by a grating. Then Matho, who was frightened by the silence, said to -Spendius: - -“It is here that they mix the fresh water and the bitter.” - -“I have seen all that,” returned the former slave, “in Syria, in -the town of Maphug”; and they ascended into the third enclosure by a -staircase of six silver steps. - -A huge cedar occupied the centre. Its lowest branches were hidden -beneath scraps of material and necklaces hung upon them by the faithful. -They walked a few steps further on, and the front of the temple was -displayed before them. - -Two long porticoes, with their architraves resting on dumpy pillars, -flanked a quadrangular tower, the platform of which was adorned with -the crescent of a moon. On the angles of the porticoes and at the four -corners of the tower stood vases filled with kindled aromatics. The -capitals were laden with pomegranates and coloquintidas. Twining knots, -lozenges, and rows of pearls alternated on the walls, and a hedge of -silver filigree formed a wide semicircle in front of the brass staircase -which led down from the vestibule. - -There was a cone of stone at the entrance between a stela of gold and -one of emerald, and Matho kissed his right hand as he passed beside it. - -The first room was very lofty; its vaulted roof was pierced by -numberless apertures, and if the head were raised the stars might be -seen. All round the wall rush baskets were heaped up with the first -fruits of adolescence in the shape of beards and curls of hair; and in -the centre of the circular apartment the body of a woman issued from a -sheath which was covered with breasts. Fat, bearded, and with eyelids -downcast, she looked as though she were smiling, while her hands were -crossed upon the lower part of her big body, which was polished by the -kisses of the crowd. - -Then they found themselves again in the open air in a transverse -corridor, wherein there was an altar of small dimensions leaning against -an ivory door. There was no further passage; the priests alone could -open it; for the temple was not a place of meeting for the multitude, -but the private abode of a divinity. - -“The enterprise is impossible,” said Matho. “You had not thought -of this! Let us go back!” Spendius was examining the walls. - -He wanted the veil, not because he had confidence in its virtue -(Spendius believed only in the Oracle), but because he was persuaded -that the Carthaginians would be greatly dismayed on seeing themselves -deprived of it. They walked all round behind in order to find some -outlet. - -Aedicules of different shapes were visible beneath clusters of -turpentine trees. Here and there rose a stone phallus, and large stags -roamed peacefully about, spurning the fallen fir-cones with their cloven -hoofs. - -But they retraced their steps between two long galleries which ran -parallel to each other. There were small open cells along their sides, -and tabourines and cymbals hung against their cedar columns from top to -bottom. Women were sleeping stretched on mats outside the cells. Their -bodies were greasy with unguents, and exhaled an odour of spices and -extinguished perfuming-pans; while they were so covered with tattooings, -necklaces, rings, vermilion, and antimony that, but for the motion of -their breasts, they might have been taken for idols as they lay thus on -the ground. There were lotus-trees encircling a fountain in which fish -like Salammbô’s were swimming; and then in the background, against -the wall of the temple, spread a vine, the branches of which were of -glass and the grape-bunches of emerald, the rays from the precious -stones making a play of light through the painted columns upon the -sleeping faces. - -Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere pressed down upon him by -the cedar partitions. All these symbols of fecundation, these perfumes, -radiations, and breathings overwhelmed him. Through all the mystic -dazzling he kept thinking of Salammbô. She became confused with the -goddess herself, and his loved unfolded itself all the more, like the -great lotus-plants blooming upon the depths of the waters. - -Spendius was calculating how much money he would have made in former -days by the sale of these women; and with a rapid glance he estimated -the weight of the golden necklaces as he passed by. - -The temple was impenetrable on this side as on the other, and they -returned behind the first chamber. While Spendius was searching and -ferreting, Matho was prostrate before the door supplicating Tanith. He -besought her not to permit the sacrilege, and strove to soften her with -caressing words, such as are used to an angry person. - -Spendius noticed a narrow aperture above the door. - -“Rise!” he said to Matho, and he made him stand erect with his back -against the wall. Placing one foot in his hands, and then the other -upon his head, he reached up to the air-hole, made his way into it and -disappeared. Then Matho felt a knotted cord—that one which Spendius -had rolled around his body before entering the cisterns—fall upon his -shoulders, and bearing upon it with both hands he soon found himself by -the side of the other in a large hall filled with shadow. - -Such an attempt was something extraordinary. The inadequacy of the -means for preventing it was a sufficient proof that it was considered -impossible. The sanctuaries were protected by terror more than by their -walls. Matho expected to die at every step. - -However a light was flickering far back in the darkness, and they went -up to it. It was a lamp burning in a shell on the pedestal of a statue -which wore the cap of the Kabiri. Its long blue robe was strewn with -diamond discs, and its heels were fastened to the ground by chains which -sank beneath the pavement. Matho suppressed a cry. “Ah! there she is! -there she is!” he stammered out. Spendius took up the lamp in order to -light himself. - -“What an impious man you are!” murmured Matho, following him -nevertheless. - -The apartment which they entered had nothing in it but a black painting -representing another woman. Her legs reached to the top of the wall, and -her body filled the entire ceiling; a huge egg hung by a thread from her -navel, and she fell head downwards upon the other wall, reaching as far -as the level of the pavement, which was touched by her pointed fingers. - -They drew a hanging aside, in order to go on further; but the wind blew -and the light went out. - -Then they wandered about, lost in the complications of the architecture. -Suddenly they felt something strangely soft beneath their feet. Sparks -crackled and leaped; they were walking in fire. Spendius touched the -ground and perceived that it was carefully carpeted with lynx skins; -then it seemed to them that a big cord, wet, cold, and viscous, was -gliding between their legs. Through some fissures cut in the wall there -fell thin white rays, and they advanced by this uncertain light. At last -they distinguished a large black serpent. It darted quickly away and -disappeared. - -“Let us fly!” exclaimed Matho. “It is she! I feel her; she is -coming.” - -“No, no,” replied Spendius, “the temple is empty.” - -Then a dazzling light made them lower their eyes. Next they perceived -all around them an infinite number of beasts, lean, panting, with -bristling claws, and mingled together one above another in a mysterious -and terrifying confusion. There were serpents with feet, and bulls -with wings, fishes with human heads were devouring fruit, flowers were -blooming in the jaws of crocodiles, and elephants with uplifted trunks -were sailing proudly through the azure like eagles. Their incomplete or -multiplied limbs were distended with terrible exertion. As they thrust -out their tongues they looked as though they would fain give forth -their souls; and every shape was to be found among them as if the -germ-receptacle had been suddenly hatched and had burst, emptying itself -upon the walls of the hall. - -Round the latter were twelve globes of blue crystal, supported by -monsters resembling tigers. Their eyeballs were starting out of their -heads like those of snails, with their dumpy loins bent they were -turning round towards the background where the supreme Rabbet, the -Omnifecund, the last invented, shone splendid in a chariot of ivory. - -She was covered with scales, feathers, flowers, and birds as high as the -waist. For earrings she had silver cymbals, which flapped against her -cheeks. Her large fixed eyes gazed upon you, and a luminous stone, -set in an obscene symbol on her brow, lighted the whole hall by its -reflection in red copper mirrors above the door. - -Matho stood a step forward; but a flag stone yielded beneath his heels -and immediately the spheres began to revolve and the monsters to roar; -music rose melodious and pealing, like the harmony of the planets; the -tumultuous soul of Tanith was poured streaming forth. She was about to -arise, as lofty as the hall and with open arms. Suddenly the monsters -closed their jaws and the crystal globes revolved no more. - -Then a mournful modulation lingered for a time through the air and at -last died away. - -“And the veil?” said Spendius. - -Nowhere could it be seen. Where was it to be found? How could it be -discovered? What if the priests had hidden it? Matho experienced anguish -of heart and felt as though he had been deceived in his belief. - -“This way!” whispered Spendius. An inspiration guided him. He drew -Matho behind Tanith’s chariot, where a cleft a cubit wide ran down the -wall from top to bottom. - -Then they penetrated into a small and completely circular room, so lofty -that it was like the interior of a pillar. In the centre there was a -big black stone, of semispherical shape like a tabourine; flames were -burning upon it; an ebony cone, bearing a head and two arms, rose -behind. - -But beyond it seemed as though there were a cloud wherein were twinkling -stars; faces appeared in the depths of its folds—Eschmoun with the -Kabiri, some of the monsters that had already been seen, the sacred -beasts of the Babylonians, and others with which they were not -acquainted. It passed beneath the idol’s face like a mantle, and -spread fully out was drawn up on the wall to which it was fastened by -the corners, appearing at once bluish as the night, yellow as the dawn, -purple as the sun, multitudinous, diaphanous, sparkling light. It was -the mantle of the goddess, the holy zaïmph which might not be seen. - -Both turned pale. - -“Take it!” said Matho at last. - -Spendius did not hesitate, and leaning upon the idol he unfastened the -veil, which sank to the ground. Matho laid his hand upon it; then he put -his head through the opening, then he wrapped it about his body, and he -spread out his arms the better to view it. - -“Let us go!” said Spendius. - -Matho stood panting with his eyes fixed upon the pavement. Suddenly he -exclaimed: - -“But what if I went to her? I fear her beauty no longer! What could -she do to me? I am now more than a man. I could pass through flames or -walk upon the sea! I am transported! Salammbô! Salammbô! I am your -master!” - -His voice was like thunder. He seemed to Spendius to have grown taller -and transformed. - -A sound of footsteps drew near, a door opened, and a man appeared, a -priest with lofty cap and staring eyes. Before he could make a gesture -Spendius had rushed upon him, and clasping him in his arms had buried -both his daggers in his sides. His head rang upon the pavement. - -Then they stood for a while, as motionless as the corpse, listening. -Nothing could be heard but the murmuring of the wind through the -half-opened door. - -The latter led into a narrow passage. Spendius advanced along it, Matho -followed him, and they found themselves almost immediately in the third -enclosure, between the lateral porticoes, in which were the dwellings of -the priests. - -Behind the cells there must be a shorter way out. They hastened along. - -Spendius squatted down at the edge of the fountain and washed his -bloodstained hands. The women slept. The emerald vine shone. They -resumed their advance. - -But something was running behind them under the trees; and Matho, who -bore the veil, several times felt that it was being pulled very gently -from below. It was a large cynocephalus, one of those which dwelt at -liberty within the enclosure of the goddess. It clung to the mantle as -though it had been conscious of the theft. They did not dare to strike -it, however, fearing that it might redouble its cries; suddenly its -anger subsided, and it trotted close beside them swinging its body with -its long hanging arms. Then at the barrier it leaped at a bound into a -palm tree. - -When they had left the last enclosure they directed their steps towards -Hamilcar’s palace, Spendius understanding that it would be useless to -try to dissuade Matho. - -They went by the street of the Tanners, the square of Muthumbal, the -green market and the crossways of Cynasyn. At the angle of a wall a man -drew back frightened by the sparkling thing which pierced the darkness. - -“Hide the zaïmph!” said Spendius. - -Other people passed them, but without perceiving them. - -At last they recognised the houses of Megara. - -The pharos, which was built behind them on the summit of the cliff, -lit up the heavens with a great red brightness, and the shadow of the -palace, with its rising terraces, projected a monstrous pyramid, as it -were, upon the gardens. They entered through the hedge of jujube-trees, -beating down the branches with blows of the dagger. - -The traces of the feast of the Mercenaries were everywhere still -manifest. The parks were broken up, the trenches drained, the doors -of the ergastulum open. No one was to be seen about the kitchens or -cellars. They wondered at the silence, which was occasionally broken by -the hoarse breathing of the elephants moving in their shackles, and the -crepitation of the pharos, in which a pile of aloes was burning. - -Matho, however, kept repeating: - -“But where is she? I wish to see her! Lead me!” - -“It is a piece of insanity!” Spendius kept saying. “She will call, -her slaves will run up, and in spite of your strength you will die!” - -They reached thus the galley staircase. Matho raised his head, and -thought that he could perceive far above a vague brightness, radiant and -soft. Spendius sought to restrain him, but he dashed up the steps. - -As he found himself again in places where he had already seen her, the -interval of the days that had passed was obliterated from his memory. -But now had she been singing among the tables; she had disappeared, and -he had since been continually ascending this staircase. The sky above -his head was covered with fires; the sea filled the horizon; at each -step he was surrounded by a still greater immensity, and he continued to -climb upward with that strange facility which we experience in dreams. - -The rustling of the veil as it brushed against the stones recalled his -new power to him; but in the excess of his hope he could no longer tell -what he was to do; this uncertainty alarmed him. - -From time to time he would press his face against the quadrangular -openings in the closed apartments, and he thought that in several of the -latter he could see persons asleep. - -The last story, which was narrower, formed a sort of dado on the summit -of the terraces. Matho walked round it slowly. - -A milky light filled the sheets of talc which closed the little -apertures in the wall, and in their symmetrical arrangement they looked -in the darkness like rows of delicate pearls. He recognised the red door -with the black cross. The throbbing of his heart increased. He would -fain have fled. He pushed the door and it opened. - -A galley-shaped lamp hung burning in the back part of the room, -and three rays, emitted from its silver keel, trembled on the lofty -wainscots, which were painted red with black bands. The ceiling was an -assemblage of small beams, with amethysts and topazes amid their gilding -in the knots of the wood. On both the great sides of the apartment there -stretched a very low bed made with white leathern straps; while above, -semi-circles like shells, opened in the thickness of the wall, suffered -a garment to come out and hang down to the ground. - -There was an oval basin with a step of onyx round it; delicate slippers -of serpent skin were standing on the edge, together with an alabaster -flagon. The trace of a wet footstep might be seen beyond. Exquisite -scents were evaporating. - -Matho glided over the pavement, which was encrusted with gold, -mother-of-pearl, and glass; and, in spite of the polished smoothness -of the ground, it seemed to him that his feet sank as though he were -walking on sand. - -Behind the silver lamp he had perceived a large square of azure held in -the air by four cords from above, and he advanced with loins bent and -mouth open. - -Flamingoes’ wings, fitted on branches of black coral, lay about -among purple cushions, tortoiseshell strigils, cedar boxes, and ivory -spatulas. There were antelopes’ horns with rings and bracelets strung -upon them; and clay vases were cooling in the wind in the cleft of the -wall with a lattice-work of reeds. Several times he struck his foot, -for the ground had various levels of unequal height, which formed a -succession of apartments, as it were, in the room. In the background -there were silver balustrades surrounding a carpet strewn with painted -flowers. At last he came to the hanging bed beside an ebony stool -serving to get into it. - -But the light ceased at the edge;—and the shadow, like a great -curtain, revealed only a corner of the red mattress with the extremity -of a little naked foot lying upon its ankle. Then Matho took up the lamp -very gently. - -She was sleeping with her cheek in one hand and with the other arm -extended. Her ringlets were spread about her in such abundance that she -appeared to be lying on black feathers, and her ample white tunic wound -in soft draperies to her feet following the curves of her person. Her -eyes were just visible beneath her half-closed eyelids. The curtains, -which stretched perpendicularly, enveloped her in a bluish atmosphere, -and the motion of her breathing, communicating itself to the cords, -seemed to rock her in the air. A long mosquito was buzzing. - -Matho stood motionless holding the silver lamp at arm’s length; but -on a sudden the mosquito-net caught fire and disappeared, and Salammbô -awoke. - -The fire had gone out of itself. She did not speak. The lamp caused -great luminous moires to flicker on the wainscots. - -“What is it?” she said. - -He replied: - -“’Tis the veil of the goddess!” - -“The veil of the goddess!” cried Salammbô, and supporting herself -on both clenched hands she leaned shuddering out. He resumed: - -“I have been in the depths of the sanctuary to seek it for you! -Look!” The zaïmph shone a mass of rays. - -“Do you remember it?” said Matho. “You appeared at night in my -dreams, but I did not guess the mute command of your eyes!” She put -out one foot upon the ebony stool. “Had I understood I should have -hastened hither, I should have forsaken the army, I should not have left -Carthage. To obey you I would go down through the caverns of Hadrumetum -into the kingdom of the shades!—Forgive me! it was as though mountains -were weighing upon my days; and yet something drew me on! I tried to -come to you! Should I ever have dared this without the Gods!—Let us -go! You must follow me! or, if you do not wish to do so, I will remain. -What matters it to me!—Drown my soul in your breath! Let my lips be -crushed with kissing your hands!” - -“Let me see it!” she said. “Nearer! nearer!” - -Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with -a vinous colour. Salammbô leaned fainting against the cushions of the -bed. - -“I love you!” cried Matho. - -“Give it!” she stammered out, and they drew closer together. - -She kept advancing, clothed in her white trailing simar, and with her -large eyes fastened on the veil. Matho gazed at her, dazzled by the -splendours of her head, and, holding out the zaïmph towards her, was -about to enfold her in an embrace. She was stretching out her -arms. Suddenly she stopped, and they stood looking at each other, -open-mouthed. - -Then without understanding the meaning of his solicitation a horror -seized upon her. Her delicate eyebrows rose, her lips opened; she -trembled. At last she struck one of the brass pateras which hung at the -corners of the red mattress, crying: - -“To the rescue! to the rescue! Back, sacrilegious man! infamous and -accursed! Help, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, Schaoul!” - -And the scared face of Spendius, appearing in the wall between the clay -flagons, cried out these words: - -“Fly! they are hastening hither!” - -A great tumult came upwards shaking the staircases, and a flood of -people, women, serving-men, and slaves, rushed into the room with -stakes, tomahawks, cutlasses, and daggers. They were nearly paralysed -with indignation on perceiving a man; the female servants uttered -funeral wailings, and the eunuchs grew pale beneath their black skins. - -Matho was standing behind the balustrades. With the zaïmph which was -wrapped about him, he looked like a sidereal god surrounded by the -firmament. The slaves were going to fall upon him, but she stopped them: - -“Touch it not! It is the mantle of the goddess!” - -She had drawn back into a corner; but she took a step towards him, and -stretched forth her naked arm: - -“A curse upon you, you who have plundered Tanith! Hatred, vengeance, -massacre, and grief! May Gurzil, god of battles, rend you! may Mastiman, -god of the dead, stifle you! and may the Other—he who may not be -named—burn you!” - -Matho uttered a cry as though he had received a sword-thrust. She -repeated several times: “Begone! begone!” - -The crowd of servants spread out, and Matho, with hanging head, passed -slowly through the midst of them; but at the door he stopped, for the -fringe of the zaïmph had caught on one of the golden stars with which -the flagstones were paved. He pulled it off abruptly with a movement of -his shoulder and went down the staircases. - -Spendius, bounding from terrace to terrace, and leaping over the hedges -and trenches, had escaped from the gardens. He reached the foot of the -pharos. The wall was discontinued at this spot, so inaccessible was the -cliff. He advanced to the edge, lay down on his back, and let himself -slide, feet foremost, down the whole length of it to the bottom; then -by swimming he reached the Cape of the Tombs, made a wide circuit of the -salt lagoon, and re-entered the camp of the Barbarians in the evening. - -The sun had risen; and, like a retreating lion, Matho went down the -paths, casting terrible glances about him. - -A vague clamour reached his ears. It had started from the palace, and it -was beginning afresh in the distance, towards the Acropolis. Some said -that the treasure of the Republic had been seized in the temple of -Moloch; others spoke of the assassination of a priest. It was thought, -moreover, that the Barbarians had entered the city. - -Matho, who did not know how to get out of the enclosures, walked -straight before him. He was seen, and an outcry was raised. Every one -understood; and there was consternation, then immense wrath. - -From the bottom of the Mappalian quarter, from the heights of the -Acropolis, from the catacombs, from the borders of the lake, the -multitude came in haste. The patricians left their palaces, and the -traders left their shops; the women forsook their children; swords, -hatchets, and sticks were seized; but the obstacle which had stayed -Salammbô stayed them. How could the veil be taken back? The mere sight -of it was a crime; it was of the nature of the gods, and contact with it -was death. - -The despairing priests wrung their hands on the peristyles of the -temples. The guards of the Legion galloped about at random; the people -climbed upon the houses, the terraces, the shoulders of the colossuses, -and the masts of the ships. He went on, nevertheless, and the rage, and -the terror also, increased at each of his steps; the streets cleared at -his approach, and the torrent of flying men streamed on both sides up -to the tops of the walls. Everywhere he could perceive only eyes opened -widely as if to devour him, chattering teeth and outstretched fists, and -Salammbô’s imprecations resounded many times renewed. - -Suddenly a long arrow whizzed past, then another, and stones began to -buzz about him; but the missiles, being badly aimed (for there was the -dread of hitting the zaïmph), passed over his head. Moreover, he made a -shield of the veil, holding it to the right, to the left, before him and -behind him; and they could devise no expedient. He quickened his steps -more and more, advancing through the open streets. They were barred -with cords, chariots, and snares; and all his windings brought him back -again. At last he entered the square of Khamon where the Balearians had -perished, and stopped, growing pale as one about to die. This time he -was surely lost, and the multitude clapped their hands. - -He ran up to the great gate, which was closed. It was very high, made -throughout of heart of oak, with iron nails and sheathed with brass. -Matho flung himself against it. The people stamped their feet with joy -when they saw the impotence of his fury; then he took his sandal, spit -upon it, and beat the immovable panels with it. The whole city howled. -The veil was forgotten now, and they were about to crush him. Matho -gazed with wide vacant eyes upon the crowd. His temples were throbbing -with violence enough to stun him, and he felt a numbness as of -intoxication creeping over him. Suddenly he caught sight of the long -chain used in working the swinging of the gate. With a bound he grasped -it, stiffening his arms, and making a buttress of his feet, and at last -the huge leaves partly opened. - -Then when he was outside he took the great zaïmph from his neck, and -raised it as high as possible above his head. The material, upborne by -the sea breeze, shone in the sunlight with its colours, its gems, and -the figures of its gods. Matho bore it thus across the whole plain as -far as the soldiers’ tents, and the people on the walls watched the -fortune of Carthage depart. - - - - - -CHAPTER VI HANNO - -“I ought to have carried her off!” Matho said in the evening to -Spendius. “I should have seized her, and torn her from her house! No -one would have dared to touch me!” - -Spendius was not listening to him. Stretched on his back he was taking -delicious rest beside a large jar filled with honey-coloured water, into -which he would dip his head from time to time in order to drink more -copiously. - -Matho resumed: - -“What is to be done? How can we re-enter Carthage?” - -“I do not know,” said Spendius. - -Such impassibility exasperated Matho and he exclaimed: - -“Why! the fault is yours! You carry me away, and then you forsake me, -coward that you are! Why, pray, should I obey you? Do you think that you -are my master? Ah! you prostituter, you slave, you son of a slave!” He -ground his teeth and raised his broad hand above Spendius. - -The Greek did not reply. An earthen lamp was burning gently against the -tent-pole, where the zaïmph shone amid the hanging panoply. Suddenly -Matho put on his cothurni, buckled on his brazen jacket of mail, and -took his helmet. - -“Where are you going?” asked Spendius. - -“I am returning! Let me alone! I will bring her back! And if they -show themselves I will crush them like vipers! I will put her to death, -Spendius! Yes,” he repeated, “I will kill her! You shall see, I will -kill her!” - -But Spendius, who was listening eagerly, snatched up the zaïmph -abruptly and threw it into a corner, heaping up fleeces above it. -A murmuring of voices was heard, torches gleamed, and Narr’ Havas -entered, followed by about twenty men. - -They wore white woollen cloaks, long daggers, copper necklaces, wooden -earrings, and boots of hyena skin; and standing on the threshold they -leaned upon their lances like herdsmen resting themselves. Narr’ -Havas was the handsomest of all; his slender arms were bound with straps -ornamented with pearls. The golden circlet which fastened his ample -garment about his head held an ostrich feather which hung down behind -his shoulder; his teeth were displayed in a continual smile; his eyes -seemed sharpened like arrows, and there was something observant and airy -about his whole demeanour. - -He declared that he had come to join the Mercenaries, for the Republic -had long been threatening his kingdom. Accordingly he was interested in -assisting the Barbarians, and he might also be of service to them. - -“I will provide you with elephants (my forests are full of them), -wine, oil, barley, dates, pitch and sulphur for sieges, twenty thousand -foot-soldiers and ten thousand horses. If I address myself to you, -Matho, it is because the possession of the zaïmph has made you chief -man in the army. Moreover,” he added, “we are old friends.” - -Matho, however, was looking at Spendius, who, seated on the sheep-skins, -was listening, and giving little nods of assent the while. Narr’ Havas -continued speaking. He called the gods to witness he cursed Carthage. In -his imprecations he broke a javelin. All his men uttered simultaneously -a loud howl, and Matho, carried away by so much passion, exclaimed that -he accepted the alliance. - -A white bull and a black sheep, the symbols of day and night, were then -brought, and their throats were cut on the edge of a ditch. When the -latter was full of blood they dipped their arms into it. Then Narr’ -Havas spread out his hand upon Matho’s breast, and Matho did the -same to Narr’ Havas. They repeated the stain upon the canvas of their -tents. Afterwards they passed the night in eating, and the remaining -portions of the meat were burnt together with the skin, bones, horns, -and hoofs. - -Matho had been greeted with great shouting when he had come back bearing -the veil of the goddess; even those who were not of the Chanaanitish -religion were made by their vague enthusiasm to feel the arrival of -a genius. As to seizing the zaïmph, no one thought of it, for the -mysterious manner in which he had acquired it was sufficient in the -minds of the Barbarians to justify its possession; such were the -thoughts of the soldiers of the African race. The others, whose hatred -was not of such long standing, did not know how to make up their minds. -If they had had ships they would immediately have departed. - -Spendius, Narr’ Havas, and Matho despatched men to all the tribes on -Punic soil. - -Carthage was sapping the strength of these nations. She wrung exorbitant -taxes from them, and arrears or even murmurings were punished with -fetters, the axe, or the cross. It was necessary to cultivate whatever -suited the Republic, and to furnish what she demanded; no one had the -right of possessing a weapon; when villages rebelled the inhabitants -were sold; governors were esteemed like wine-presses, according to the -quantity which they succeeded in extracting. Then beyond the regions -immediately subject to Carthage extended the allies roamed the Nomads, -who might be let loose upon them. By this system the crops were always -abundant, the studs skilfully managed, and the plantations superb. - -The elder Cato, a master in the matters of tillage and slaves, was -amazed at it ninety-two years later, and the death-cry which he repeated -continually at Rome was but the exclamation of jealous greed. - -During the last war the exactions had been increased, so that nearly -all the towns of Libya had surrendered to Regulus. To punish them, a -thousand talents, twenty thousand oxen, three hundred bags of gold dust, -and considerable advances of grain had been exacted from them, and the -chiefs of the tribes had been crucified or thrown to the lions. - -Tunis especially execrated Carthage! Older than the metropolis, it could -not forgive her her greatness, and it fronted her walls crouching in -the mire on the water’s edge like a venomous beast watching her. -Transportation, massacres, and epidemics did not weaken it. It -had assisted Archagathas, the son of Agathocles, and the Eaters of -Uncleanness found arms there at once. - -The couriers had not yet set out when universal rejoicing broke out -in the provinces. Without waiting for anything they strangled the -comptrollers of the houses and the functionaries of the Republic in -the baths; they took the old weapons that had been concealed out of the -caves; they forged swords with the iron of the ploughs; the children -sharpened javelins at the doors, and the women gave their necklaces, -rings, earrings, and everything that could be employed for the -destruction of Carthage. Piles of lances were heaped up in the country -towns like sheaves of maize. Cattle and money were sent off. Matho -speedily paid the Mercenaries their arrears, and owing to this, which -was Spendius’s idea, he was appointed commander-in-chief—the -schalishim of the Barbarians. - -Reinforcements of men poured in at the same time. The aborigines -appeared first, and were followed by the slaves from the country; -caravans of Negroes were seized and armed, and merchants on their way -to Carthage, despairing of any more certain profit, mingled with the -Barbarians. Numerous bands were continually arriving. From the heights -of the Acropolis the growing army might be seen. - -But the guards of the Legion were posted as sentries on the platform -of the aqueduct, and near them rose at intervals brazen vats, in which -floods of asphalt were boiling. Below in the plain the great crowd -stirred tumultuously. They were in a state of uncertainty, feeling the -embarrassment with which Barbarians are always inspired when they meet -with walls. - -Utica and Hippo-Zarytus refused their alliance. Phonician colonies like -Carthage, they were self-governing, and always had clauses inserted -in the treaties concluded by the Republic to distinguish them from the -latter. Nevertheless they respected this strong sister of theirs who -protected them, and they did not think that she could be vanquished by -a mass of Barbarians; these would on the contrary be themselves -exterminated. They desired to remain neutral and to live at peace. - -But their position rendered them indispensable. Utica, at the foot -of the gulf, was convenient for bringing assistance to Carthage from -without. If Utica alone were taken, Hippo-Zarytus, six hours further -distant along the coast, would take its place, and the metropolis, being -revictualled in this way, would be impregnable. - -Spendius wished the siege to be undertaken immediately. Narr’ Havas -was opposed to this: an advance should first be made upon the frontier. -This was the opinion of the veterans, and of Matho himself, and it -was decided that Spendius should go to attack Utica, and Matho -Hippo-Zarytus, while in the third place the main body should rest on -Tunis and occupy the plain of Carthage, Autaritus being in command. -As to Narr’ Havas, he was to return to his own kingdom to procure -elephants and to scour the roads with his cavalry. - -The women cried out loudly against this decision; they coveted the -jewels of the Punic ladies. The Libyans also protested. They had been -summoned against Carthage, and now they were going away from it! The -soldiers departed almost alone. Matho commanded his own companions, -together with the Iberians, Lusitanians, and the men of the West, and of -the islands; all those who spoke Greek had asked for Spendius on account -of his cleverness. - -Great was the stupefaction when the army was seen suddenly in motion; -it stretched along beneath the mountain of Ariana on the road to Utica -beside the sea. A fragment remained before Tunis, the rest disappeared -to re-appear on the other shore of the gulf on the outskirts of the -woods in which they were lost. - -They were perhaps eighty thousand men. The two Tyrian cities would offer -no resistance, and they would return against Carthage. Already there was -a considerable army attacking it from the base of the isthmus, and it -would soon perish from famine, for it was impossible to live without the -aid of the provinces, the citizens not paying contributions as they did -at Rome. Carthage was wanting in political genius. Her eternal anxiety -for gain prevented her from having the prudence which results from -loftier ambitions. A galley anchored on the Libyan sands, it was with -toil that she maintained her position. The nations roared like billows -around her, and the slightest storm shook this formidable machine. - -The treasury was exhausted by the Roman war and by all that had been -squandered and lost in the bargaining with the Barbarians. Nevertheless -soldiers must be had, and not a government would trust the Republic! -Ptolemæus had lately refused it two thousand talents. Moreover the rape -of the veil disheartened them. Spendius had clearly foreseen this. - -But the nation, feeling that it was hated, clasped its money and -its gods to its heart, and its patriotism was sustained by the very -constitution of its government. - -First, the power rested with all, without any one being strong enough -to engross it. Private debts were considered as public debts, men of -Chanaanitish race had a monopoly of commerce, and by multiplying the -profits of piracy with those of usury, by hard dealings in lands and -slaves and with the poor, fortunes were sometimes made. These alone -opened up all the magistracies, and although authority and money were -perpetuated in the same families, people tolerated the oligarchy because -they hoped ultimately to share in it. - -The societies of merchants, in which the laws were elaborated, chose the -inspectors of the exchequer, who on leaving office nominated the hundred -members of the Council of the Ancients, themselves dependent on the -Grand Assembly, or general gathering of all the rich. As to the two -Suffets, the relics of the monarchy and the less than consuls, they were -taken from distinct families on the same day. All kinds of enmities were -contrived between them, so that they might mutually weaken each other. -They could not deliberate concerning war, and when they were vanquished -the Great Council crucified them. - -The power of Carthage emanated, therefore, from the Syssitia, that is -to say, from a large court in the centre of Malqua, at the place, it -was said, where the first bark of Phonician sailors had touched, the -sea having retired a long way since then. It was a collection of little -rooms of archaic architecture, built of palm trunks with corners of -stone, and separated from one another so as to accommodate the various -societies separately. The rich crowded there all day to discuss their -own concerns and those of the government, from the procuring of pepper -to the extermination of Rome. Thrice in a moon they would have their -beds brought up to the lofty terrace running along the wall of the -court, and they might be seen from below at table in the air, without -cothurni or cloaks, with their diamond-covered fingers wandering -over the dishes, and their large earrings hanging down among the -flagons,—all fat and lusty, half-naked, smiling and eating beneath the -blue sky, like great sharks sporting in the sea. - -But just now they were unable to dissemble their anxiety; they were too -pale for that. The crowd which waited for them at the gates escorted -them to their palaces in order to obtain some news from them. As in -times of pestilence, all the houses were shut; the streets would fill -and suddenly clear again; people ascended the Acropolis or ran to the -harbour, and the Great Council deliberated every night. At last the -people were convened in the square of Khamon, and it was decided to -leave the management of things to Hanno, the conqueror of Hecatompylos. - -He was a true Carthaginian, devout, crafty, and pitiless towards the -people of Africa. His revenues equalled those of the Barcas. No one had -such experience in administrative affairs. - -He decreed the enrolment of all healthy citizens, he placed catapults on -the towers, he exacted exorbitant supplies of arms, he even ordered the -construction of fourteen galleys which were not required, and he desired -everything to be registered and carefully set down in writing. He had -himself conveyed to the arsenal, the pharos, and the treasuries of the -temples; his great litter was continually to be seen swinging from step -to step as it ascended the staircases of the Acropolis. And then in -his palace at night, being unable to sleep, he would yell out warlike -manouvres in terrible tones so as to prepare himself for the fray. - -In their extremity of terror all became brave. The rich ranged -themselves in line along the Mappalian district at cockcrow, and tucking -up their robes practised themselves in handling the pike. But for -want of an instructor they had disputes about it. They would sit down -breathless upon the tombs and then begin again. Several even dieted -themselves. Some imagined that it was necessary to eat a great deal in -order to acquire strength, while others who were inconvenienced by their -corpulence weakened themselves with fasts in order to become thin. - -Utica had already called several times upon Carthage for assistance; but -Hanno would not set out until the engines of war had been supplied with -the last screws. He lost three moons more in equipping the one hundred -and twelve elephants that were lodged in the ramparts. They were the -conquerors of Regulus; the people loved them; it was impossible to treat -such old friends too well. Hanno had the brass plates which adorned -their breasts recast, their tusks gilt, their towers enlarged, and -caparisons, edged with very heavy fringes, cut out of the handsomest -purple. Finally, as their drivers were called Indians (after the first -ones, no doubt, who came from the Indies) he ordered them all to be -costumed after the Indian fashion; that is to say, with white pads round -their temples, and small drawers of byssus, which with their transverse -folds looked like two valves of a shell applied to the hips. - -The army under Autaritus still remained before Tunis. It was hidden -behind a wall made with mud from the lake, and protected on the top by -thorny brushwood. Some Negroes had planted tall sticks here and there -bearing frightful faces,—human masks made with birds’ feathers, and -jackals’ or serpents’ heads,—which gaped towards the enemy for -the purpose of terrifying him; and the Barbarians, reckoning themselves -invincible through these means, danced, wrestled, and juggled, convinced -that Carthage would perish before long. Any one but Hanno would easily -have crushed such a multitude, hampered as it was with herds and women. -Moreover, they knew nothing of drill, and Autaritus was so disheartened -that he had ceased to require it. - -They stepped aside when he passed by rolling his big blue eyes. Then -on reaching the edge of the lake he would draw back his sealskin cloak, -unfasten the cord which tied up his long red hair, and soak the latter -in the water. He regretted that he had not deserted to the Romans along -with the two thousand Gauls of the temple of Eryx. - -Often the sun would suddenly lose his rays in the middle of the day. -Then the gulf and the open sea would seem as motionless as molten lead. -A cloud of brown dust stretching perpendicularly would speed whirling -along; the palm trees would bend and the sky disappear, while stones -would be heard rebounding on the animals’ cruppers; and the Gaul, his -lips glued against the holes in his tent, would gasp with exhaustion and -melancholy. His thoughts would be of the scent of the pastures on autumn -mornings, of snowflakes, or of the bellowing of the urus lost in the -fog, and closing his eyelids he would in imagination behold the fires in -long, straw-roofed cottages flickering on the marshes in the depths of -the woods. - -Others regretted their native lands as well as he, even though they -might not be so far away. Indeed the Carthaginian captives could -distinguish the velaria spread over the courtyards of their houses, -beyond the gulf on the slopes of Byrsa. But sentries marched round them -continually. They were all fastened to a common chain. Each one wore an -iron carcanet, and the crowd was never weary of coming to gaze at them. -The women would show their little children the handsome robes hanging in -tatters on their wasted limbs. - -Whenever Autaritus looked at Gisco he was seized with rage at the -recollection of the insult that he had received, and he would have -killed him but for the oath which he had taken to Narr’ Havas. Then -he would go back into his tent and drink a mixture of barley and cumin -until he swooned away from intoxication,—to awake afterwards in broad -daylight consumed with horrible thirst. - -Matho, meanwhile, was besieging Hippo-Zarytus. But the town was -protected by a lake, communicating with the sea. It had three lines of -circumvallation, and upon the heights which surrounded it there -extended a wall fortified with towers. He had never commanded in such -an enterprise before. Moreover, he was beset with thoughts of Salammbô, -and he raved in the delight of her beauty as in the sweetness of a -vengeance that transported him with pride. He felt an acrid, frenzied, -permanent want to see her again. He even thought of presenting himself -as the bearer of a flag of truce, in the hope that once within Carthage -he might make his way to her. Often he would cause the assault to be -sounded and waiting for nothing rush upon the mole which it was sought -to construct in the sea. He would snatch up the stones with his hands, -overturn, strike, and deal sword-thrusts everywhere. The Barbarians -would dash on pell-mell; the ladders would break with a loud crash, and -masses of men would tumble into the water, causing it to fly up in -red waves against the walls. Finally the tumult would subside, and the -soldiers would retire to make a fresh beginning. - -Matho would go and seat himself outside the tents, wipe his -blood-splashed face with his arm, and gaze at the horizon in the -direction of Carthage. - -In front of him, among the olives, palms, myrtles and planes, stretched -two broad ponds which met another lake, the outlines of which could not -be seen. Behind one mountain other mountains reared themselves, and -in the middle of the immense lake rose an island perfectly black and -pyramidal in form. On the left, at the extremity of the gulf, were -sand-heaps like arrested waves, large and pale, while the sea, flat as a -pavement of lapis-lazuli, ascended by insensible degrees to the edge -of the sky. The verdure of the country was lost in places beneath long -sheets of yellow; carobs were shining like knobs of coral; vine branches -drooped from the tops of the sycamores; the murmuring of the water could -be heard; crested larks were hopping about, and the sun’s latest fires -gilded the carapaces of the tortoises as they came forth from the reeds -to inhale the breeze. - -Matho would heave deep sighs. He would lie flat on his face, with his -nails buried in the soil, and weep; he felt wretched, paltry, forsaken. -Never would he possess her, and he was unable even to take a town. - -At night when alone in his tent he would gaze upon the zaïmph. Of what -use to him was this thing which belonged to the gods?—and doubt crept -into the Barbarian’s thoughts. Then, on the contrary, it would seem -to him that the vesture of the goddess was depending from Salammbô, and -that a portion of her soul hovered in it, subtler than a breath; and -he would feel it, breathe it in, bury his face in it, and kiss it with -sobs. He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself -that he was beside her. - -Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over -the sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon -a horse on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in -Spendius’s tent. - -At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease -his sorrow by talking about Salammbô. Spendius exhorted him to be -prudent. - -“Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them! -Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if Carthage -is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces. We shall become -kings!” - -But how was it that the possession of the zaïmph did not give them the -victory? According to Spendius they must wait. - -Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race -exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself: -“The zaïmph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have -lost it, it will do nothing for them.” - -Afterwards a scruple troubled him. He was afraid of offending Moloch -by worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked -Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a man. - -“Keep on sacrificing!” laughed Spendius. - -Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek -of having a genius of whom he did not speak. - -All modes of worship, as well as all races, were to be met with in these -armies of Barbarians, and consideration was had to the gods of others, -for they too, inspired fear. Many mingled foreign practices with their -native religion. It was to no purpose that they did not adore the stars; -if a constellation were fatal or helpful, sacrifices were offered to -it; an unknown amulet found by chance at a moment of peril became -a divinity; or it might be a name and nothing more, which would be -repeated without any attempt to understand its meaning. But after -pillaging temples, and seeing numbers of nations and slaughters, many -ultimately ceased to believe in anything but destiny and death;—and -every evening these would fall asleep with the placidity of wild beasts. -Spendius had spit upon the images of Jupiter Olympius; nevertheless he -dreaded to speak aloud in the dark, nor did he fail every day to put on -his right boot first. - -He reared a long quadrangular terrace in front of Utica, but in -proportion as it ascended the rampart was also heightened, and what was -thrown down by the one side was almost immediately raised again by the -other. Spendius took care of his men; he dreamed of plans and strove to -recall the stratagems which he had heard described in his travels. But -why did Narr’ Havas not return? There was nothing but anxiety. - -Hanno had at last concluded his preparations. One night when there was -no moon he transported his elephants and soldiers on rafts across -the Gulf of Carthage. Then they wheeled round the mountain of the Hot -Springs so as to avoid Autaritus, and continued their march so slowly -that instead of surprising the Barbarians in the morning, as the Suffet -had calculated, they did not reach them until it was broad daylight on -the third day. - -Utica had on the east a plain which extended to the large lagoon of -Carthage; behind it a valley ran at right angles between two low and -abruptly terminated mountains; the Barbarians were encamped further -to the left in such a way as to blockade the harbour; and they were -sleeping in their tents (for on that day both sides were too weary -to fight and were resting) when the Carthaginian army appeared at the -turning of the hills. - -Some camp followers furnished with slings were stationed at intervals -on the wings. The first line was formed of the guards of the Legion in -golden scale-armour, mounted on their big horses, which were without -mane, hair, or ears, and had silver horns in the middle of their -foreheads to make them look like rhinoceroses. Between their squadrons -were youths wearing small helmets and swinging an ashen javelin in each -hand. The long files of the heavy infantry marched behind. All these -traders had piled as many weapons upon their bodies as possible. Some -might be seen carrying an axe, a lance, a club, and two swords all at -once; others bristled with darts like porcupines, and their arms stood -out from their cuirasses in sheets of horn or iron plates. At last the -scaffoldings of the lofty engines appeared: carrobalistas, onagers, -catapults and scorpions, rocking on chariots drawn by mules and -quadrigas of oxen; and in proportion as the army drew out, the captains -ran panting right and left to deliver commands, close up the files, and -preserve the intervals. Such of the Ancients as held commands had come -in purple cassocks, the magnificent fringes of which tangled in the -white straps of their cothurni. Their faces, which were smeared all over -with vermilion, shone beneath enormous helmets surmounted with images -of the gods; and, as they had shields with ivory borders covered with -precious stones, they might have been taken for suns passing over walls -of brass. - -But the Carthaginians manouvred so clumsily that the soldiers in -derision urged them to sit down. They called out that they were just -going to empty their big stomachs, to dust the gilding of their skin, -and to give them iron to drink. - -A strip of green cloth appeared at the top of the pole planted before -Spendius’s tent: it was the signal. The Carthaginian army replied to -it with a great noise of trumpets, cymbals, flutes of asses’ bones, -and tympanums. The Barbarians had already leaped outside the palisades, -and were facing their enemies within a javelin’s throw of them. - -A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets into -his thong, and swung round his arm. An ivory shield was shivered, and -the two armies mingled together. - -The Greeks made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by -pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. The slaves -who were to hurl stones had picked such as were too big, and they -accordingly fell close to them. The Punic foot-soldiers exposed the -right side in cutting with their long swords. The Barbarians broke their -lines; they slaughtered them freely; they stumbled over the dying and -dead, quite blinded by the blood that spurted into their faces. The -confused heap of pikes, helmets, cuirasses and swords turned round -about, widening out and closing in with elastic contractions. The gaps -increased more and more in the Carthaginian cohorts, the engines could -not get out of the sand; and finally the Suffet’s litter (his grand -litter with crystal pendants), which from the beginning might have -been seen tossing among the soldiers like a bark on the waves, suddenly -foundered. He was no doubt dead. The Barbarians found themselves alone. - -The dust around them fell and they were beginning to sing, when Hanno -himself appeared on the top of an elephant. He sat bare-headed beneath a -parasol of byssus which was carried by a Negro behind him. His necklace -of blue plates flapped against the flowers on his black tunic; his huge -arms were compressed within circles of diamonds, and with open mouth he -brandished a pike of inordinate size, which spread out at the end like -a lotus, and flashed more than a mirror. Immediately the earth -shook,—and the Barbarians saw all the elephants of Carthage, with -their gilt tusks and blue-painted ears, hastening up in single line, -clothed with bronze and shaking the leathern towers which were placed -above their scarlet caparisons, in each of which were three archers -bending large bows. - -The soldiers were barely in possession of their arms; they had taken -up their positions at random. They were frozen with terror; they stood -undecided. - -Javelins, arrows, phalaricas, and masses of lead were already being -showered down upon them from the towers. Some clung to the fringes of -the caparisons in order to climb up, but their hands were struck off -with cutlasses and they fell backwards upon the swords’ points. The -pikes were too weak and broke, and the elephants passed through the -phalanxes like wild boars through tufts of grass; they plucked up the -stakes of the camp with their trunks, and traversed it from one end to -the other, overthrowing the tents with their breasts. All the Barbarians -had fled. They were hiding themselves in the hills bordering the valley -by which the Carthaginians had come. - -The victorious Hanno presented himself before the gates of Utica. He had -a trumpet sounded. The three Judges of the town appeared in the opening -of the battlements on the summit of a tower. - -But the people of Utica would not receive such well-armed guests. Hanno -was furious. At last they consented to admit him with a feeble escort. - -The streets were too narrow for the elephants. They had to be left -outside. - -As soon as the Suffet was in the town the principal men came to greet -him. He had himself taken to the vapour baths, and called for his cooks. - - -Three hours afterwards he was still immersed in the oil of cinnamomum -with which the basin had been filled; and while he bathed he ate -flamingoes’ tongues with honied poppy-seeds on a spread ox-hide. -Beside him was his Greek physician, motionless, in a long yellow robe, -directing the re-heating of the bath from time to time, and two young -boys leaned over the steps of the basin and rubbed his legs. But -attention to his body did not check his love for the commonwealth, for -he was dictating a letter to be sent to the Great Council, and as -some prisoners had just been taken he was asking himself what terrible -punishment could be devised. - -“Stop!” said he to a slave who stood writing in the hollow of his -hand. “Let some of them be brought to me! I wish to see them!” - -And from the bottom of the hall, full of a whitish vapour on which the -torches cast red spots, three Barbarians were thrust forward: a Samnite, -a Spartan, and a Cappadocian. - -“Proceed!” said Hanno. - -“Rejoice, light of the Baals! your Suffet has exterminated the -ravenous hounds! Blessings on the Republic! Give orders for prayers!” -He perceived the captives and burst out laughing: “Ah! ha! my fine -fellows of Sicca! You are not shouting so loudly to-day! It is I! Do -you recognise me? And where are your swords? What really terrible -fellows!” and he pretended to be desirous to hide himself as if -he were afraid of them. “You demanded horses, women, estates, -magistracies, no doubt, and priesthoods! Why not? Well, I will provide -you with the estates, and such as you will never come out of! You shall -be married to gibbets that are perfectly new! Your pay? it shall be -melted in your mouths in leaden ingots! and I will put you into good and -very exalted positions among the clouds, so as to bring you close to the -eagles!” - -The three long-haired and ragged Barbarians looked at him without -understanding what he said. Wounded in the knees, they had been seized -by having ropes thrown over them, and the ends of the great chains on -their hands trailed upon the pavement. Hanno was indignant at their -impassibility. - -“On your knees! on your knees! jackals! dust! vermin! excrements! And -they make no reply! Enough! be silent! Let them be flayed alive! No! -presently!” - -He was breathing like a hippopotamus and rolling his eyes. The perfumed -oil overflowed beneath the mass of his body, and clinging to the scales -on his skin, made it look pink in the light of the torches. - -He resumed: - -“For four days we suffered greatly from the sun. Some mules were lost -in crossing the Macaras. In spite of their position, the extraordinary -courage—Ah! Demonades! how I suffer! Have the bricks reheated, and let -them be red-hot!” - -A noise of rakes and furnaces was heard. The incense smoked more -strongly in the large perfuming pans, and the shampooers, who were quite -naked and were sweating like sponges, crushed a paste composed of wheat, -sulphur, black wine, bitch’s milk, myrrh, galbanum and storax upon his -joints. He was consumed with incessant thirst, but the yellow-robed man -did not yield to this inclination, and held out to him a golden cup in -which viper broth was smoking. - -“Drink!” said he, “that strength of sun-born serpents may -penetrate into the marrow of your bones, and take courage, O reflection -of the gods! You know, moreover, that a priest of Eschmoun watches those -cruel stars round the Dog from which your malady is derived. They are -growing pale like the spots on your skin, and you are not to die from -them.” - -“Oh! yes, that is so, is it not?” repeated the Suffet, “I am not -to die from them!” And his violaceous lips gave forth a breath more -nauseous than the exhalation from a corpse. Two coals seemed to burn in -the place of his eyes, which had lost their eyebrows; a mass of wrinkled -skin hung over his forehead; both his ears stood out from his head -and were beginning to increase in size; and the deep lines forming -semicircles round his nostrils gave him a strange and terrifying -appearance, the look of a wild beast. His unnatural voice was like a -roar; he said: - -“Perhaps you are right, Demonades. In fact there are many ulcers here -which have closed. I feel robust. Here! look how I am eating!” - -And less from greediness than from ostentation, and the desire to prove -to himself that he was in good health, he cut into the forcemeats -of cheese and marjoram, the boned fish, gourds, oysters with eggs, -horse-radishes, truffles, and brochettes of small birds. As he looked -at the prisoners he revelled in the imagination of their tortures. -Nevertheless he remembered Sicca, and the rage caused by all his woes -found vent in the abuse of these three men. - -“Ah! traitors! ah! wretches! infamous, accursed creatures! And you -outraged me!—me! the Suffet! Their services, the price of their -blood, say they! Ah! yes! their blood! their blood!” Then speaking -to himself:—“All shall perish! not one shall be sold! It would be -better to bring them to Carthage! I should be seen—but doubtless, I -have not brought chains enough? Write: Send me—How many of them are -there? go and ask Muthumbal! Go! no pity! and let all their hands be cut -off and brought to me in baskets!” - -But strange cries at once hoarse and shrill penetrated into the hall -above Hanno’s voice and the rattling of the dishes that were being -placed around him. They increased, and suddenly the furious trumpeting -of the elephants burst forth as if the battle were beginning again. A -great tumult was going on around the town. - -The Carthaginians had not attempted to pursue the Barbarians. They had -taken up their quarters at the foot of the walls with their baggage, -mules, serving men, and all their train of satraps; and they made -merry in their beautiful pearl-bordered tents, while the camp of the -Mercenaries was now nothing but a heap of ruins in the plain. Spendius -had recovered his courage. He dispatched Zarxas to Matho, scoured the -woods, rallied his men (the losses had been inconsiderable),—and they -were re-forming their lines enraged at having been conquered without a -fight, when they discovered a vat of petroleum which had no doubt been -abandoned by the Carthaginians. Then Spendius had some pigs carried off -from the farms, smeared them with bitumen, set them on fire, and drove -them towards Utica. - -The elephants were terrified by the flames and fled. The ground sloped -upwards, javelins were thrown at them, and they turned back;—and -with great blows of ivory and trampling feet they ripped up the -Carthaginians, stifled them, flattened them. The Barbarians descended -the hill behind them; the Punic camp, which was without entrenchments -was sacked at the first rush, and the Carthaginians were crushed against -the gates, which were not opened through fear of the Mercenaries. - -Day broke, and Matho’s foot-soldiers were seen coming up from the -west. At the same time horsemen appeared; they were Narr’ Havas with -his Numidians. Leaping ravines and bushes they ran down the fugitives -like greyhounds pursuing hares. This change of fortune interrupted the -Suffet. He called out to be assisted to leave the vapour bath. - -The three captives were still before him. Then a Negro (the same who had -carried his parasol in the battle) leaned over to his ear. - -“Well?” replied the Suffet slowly. “Ah! kill them!” he added in -an abrupt tone. - -The Ethiopian drew a long dagger from his girdle and the three heads -fell. One of them rebounded among the remains of the feast, and leaped -into the basin, where it floated for some time with open mouth and -staring eyes. The morning light entered through the chinks in the wall; -the three bodies streamed with great bubbles like three fountains, and -a sheet of blood flowed over the mosaics with their powdering of blue -dust. The Suffet dipped his hand into this hot mire and rubbed his knees -with it: it was a cure. - -When evening had come he stole away from the town with his escort, and -made his way into the mountain to rejoin his army. - -He succeeded in finding the remains of it. - -Four days afterward he was on the top of a defile at Gorza, when the -troops under Spendius appeared below. Twenty stout lances might easily -have checked them by attacking the head of their column, but the -Carthaginians watched them pass by in a state of stupefaction. Hanno -recognised the king of the Numidians in the rearguard; Narr’ -Havas bowed to him, at the same time making a sign which he did not -understand. - -The return to Carthage took place amid all kinds of terrors. They -marched only at night, hiding in the olive woods during the day. -There were deaths at every halting-place; several times they believed -themselves lost. At last they reached Cape Hermæum, where vessels came -to receive them. - -Hanno was so fatigued, so desperate—the loss of the elephants in -particular overwhelmed him—that he demanded poison from Demonades in -order to put an end to it all. Moreover he could already feel himself -stretched upon the cross. - -Carthage had not strength enough to be indignant with him. Its losses -had amounted to one hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy-two -shekels of silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three shekels -of gold, eighteen elephants, fourteen members of the Great Council, -three hundred of the rich, eight thousand citizens, corn enough for -three moons, a considerable quantity of baggage, and all the engines of -war! The defection of Narr’ Havas was certain, and both sieges were -beginning again. The army under Autaritus now extended from Tunis to -Rhades. From the top of the Acropolis long columns of smoke might be -seen in the country ascending to the sky; they were the mansions of the -rich, which were on fire. - -One man alone could have saved the Republic. People repented that -they had slighted him, and the peace party itself voted holocausts for -Hamilcar’s return. - -The sight of the zaïmph had upset Salammbô. At night she thought -that she could hear the footsteps of the goddess, and she would awake -terrified and shrieking. Every day she sent food to the temples. Taanach -was worn out with executing her orders, and Schahabarim never left her. - - - - - -CHAPTER VII HAMILCAR BARCA - -The Announcer of the Moons, who watched on the summit of the temple of -Eschmoun every night in order to signal the disturbances of the planet -with his trumpet, one morning perceived towards the west something like -a bird skimming the surface of the sea with its long wings. - -It was a ship with three tiers of oars and with a horse carved on the -prow. The sun was rising; the Announcer of the Moons put up his hand -before his eyes, and then grasping his clarion with outstretched arms -sounded a loud brazen cry over Carthage. - -People came out of every house; they would not believe what was said; -they disputed with one another; the mole was covered with people. At -last they recognised Hamilcar’s trireme. - -It advanced in fierce and haughty fashion, cleaving the foam around it, -the lateen-yard quite square and the sail bulging down the whole length -of the mast; its gigantic oars kept time as they beat the water; -every now and then the extremity of the keel, which was shaped like a -plough-share, would appear, and the ivory-headed horse, rearing both -its feet beneath the spur which terminated the prow, would seem to be -speeding over the plains of the sea. - -As it rounded the promontory the wind ceased, the sail fell, and a man -was seen standing bareheaded beside the pilot. It was he, Hamilcar, the -Suffet! About his sides he wore gleaming sheets of steel; a red cloak, -fastened to his shoulders, left his arms visible; two pearls of great -length hung from his ears, and his black, bushy beard rested on his -breast. - -The galley, however, tossing amid the rocks, was proceeding along -the side of the mole, and the crowd followed it on the flag-stones, -shouting: - -“Greeting! blessing! Eye of Khamon! ah! deliver us! ’Tis the fault -of the rich! they want to put you to death! Take care of yourself, -Barca!” - -He made no reply, as if the loud clamour of oceans and battles had -completely deafened him. But when he was below the staircase leading -down from the Acropolis, Hamilcar raised his head, and looked with -folded arms upon the temple of Eschmoun. His gaze mounted higher still, -to the great pure sky; he shouted an order in a harsh voice to his -sailors; the trireme leaped forward; it grazed the idol set up at the -corner of the mole to stay the storms; and in the merchant harbour, -which was full of filth, fragments of wood, and rinds of fruit, it -pushed aside and crushed against the other ships moored to stakes and -terminating in crocodiles’ jaws. The people hastened thither, and some -threw themselves into the water to swim to it. It was already at the -very end before the gate which bristled with nails. The gate rose, and -the trireme disappeared beneath the deep arch. - -The Military Harbour was completely separated from the town; when -ambassadors arrived, they had to proceed between two walls through -a passage which had its outlet on the left in front of the temple of -Khamon. This great expanse of water was as round as a cup, and was -bordered with quays on which sheds were built for sheltering the ships. -Before each of these rose two pillars bearing the horns of Ammon on -their capitals and forming continuous porticoes all round the basin. On -an island in the centre stood a house for the marine Suffet. - -The water was so limpid that the bottom was visible with its paving -of white pebbles. The noise of the streets did not reach so far, and -Hamilcar as he passed recognised the triremes which he had formerly -commanded. - -Not more than twenty perhaps remained, under shelter on the land, -leaning over on their sides or standing upright on their keels, with -lofty poops and swelling prows, and covered with gildings and mystic -symbols. The chimaeras had lost their wings, the Patæc Gods their arms, -the bulls their silver horns;—and half-painted, motionless, and rotten -as they were, yet full of associations, and still emitting the scent -of voyages, they all seemed to say to him, like mutilated soldiers on -seeing their master again, “’Tis we! ’Tis we! and you too are -vanquished!” - -No one excepting the marine Suffet might enter the admiral’s house. -So long as there was no proof of his death he was considered as still in -existence. In this way the Ancients avoided a master the more, and they -had not failed to comply with the custom in respect to Hamilcar. - -The Suffet proceeded into the deserted apartments. At every step he -recognised armour and furniture—familiar objects which nevertheless -astonished him, and in a perfuming-pan in the vestibule there even -remained the ashes of the perfumes that had been kindled at his -departure for the conjuration of Melkarth. It was not thus that he had -hoped to return. Everything that he had done, everything that he had -seen, unfolded itself in his memory: assaults, conflagrations, legions, -tempests, Drepanum, Syracuse, Lilybæum, Mount Etna, the plateau of -Eryx, five years of battles,—until the fatal day when arms had been -laid down and Sicily had been lost. Then he once more saw the woods of -citron-trees, and herdsmen with their goats on grey mountains; and his -heart leaped at the thought of the establishment of another Carthage -down yonder. His projects and his recollections buzzed through his -head, which was still dizzy from the pitching of the vessel; he was -overwhelmed with anguish, and, becoming suddenly weak, he felt the -necessity of drawing near to the gods. - -Then he went up to the highest story of his house, and taking a -nail-studded staple from a golden shell, which hung on his arm, he -opened a small oval chamber. - -It was softly lighted by means of delicate black discs let into the -wall and as transparent as glass. Between the rows of these equal discs, -holes, like those for the urns in columbaria, were hollowed out. Each of -them contained a round dark stone, which appeared to be very heavy. -Only people of superior understanding honoured these abaddirs, which had -fallen from the moon. By their fall they denoted the stars, the sky, and -fire; by their colour dark night, and by their density the cohesion of -terrestrial things. A stifling atmosphere filled this mystic place. The -round stones lying in the niches were whitened somewhat with sea-sand -which the wind had no doubt driven through the door. Hamilcar counted -them one after another with the tip of his finger; then he hid his face -in a saffron-coloured veil, and, falling on his knees, stretched himself -on the ground with both arms extended. - -The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters -of black lattice-work. Arborescences, hillocks, eddies, and ill-defined -animals appeared in their diaphanous thickness; and the light came -terrifying and yet peaceful as it must be behind the sun in the dull -spaces of future creations. He strove to banish from his thoughts all -forms, and all symbols and appellations of the gods, that he might the -better apprehend the immutable spirit which outward appearances took -away. Something of the planetary vitalities penetrated him, and he felt -withal a wiser and more intimate scorn of death and of every accident. -When he rose he was filled with serene fearlessness and was proof -against pity or dread, and as his chest was choking he went to the top -of the tower which overlooked Carthage. - -The town sank downwards in a long hollow curve, with its cupolas, its -temples, its golden roofs, its houses, its clusters of palm trees here -and there, and its glass balls with streaming rays, while the ramparts -formed, as it were, the gigantic border of this horn of plenty which -poured itself out before him. Far below he could see the harbours, the -squares, the interiors of the courts, the plan of the streets, and the -people, who seemed very small and but little above the level of the -pavement. Ah! if Hanno had not arrived too late on the morning of -the Ægatian islands! He fastened his eyes on the extreme horizon and -stretched forth his quivering arms in the direction of Rome. - -The steps of the Acropolis were occupied by the multitude. In the square -of Khamon the people were pressing forwards to see the Suffet come -out, and the terraces were gradually being loaded with people; a few -recognised him, and he was saluted; but he retired in order the better -to excite the impatience of the people. - -Hamilcar found the most important men of his party below in the hall: -Istatten, Subeldia, Hictamon, Yeoubas and others. They related to him -all that had taken place since the conclusion of the peace: the greed -of the Ancients, the departure of the soldiers, their return, their -demands, the capture of Gisco, the theft of the zaïmph, the relief and -subsequent abandonment of Utica; but no one ventured to tell him of the -events which concerned himself. At last they separated, to meet again -during the night at the assembly of the Ancients in the temple of -Moloch. - -They had just gone out when a tumult arose outside the door. Some one -was trying to enter in spite of the servants; and as the disturbance was -increasing Hamilcar ordered the stranger to be shown in. - -An old Negress made her appearance, broken, wrinkled, trembling, -stupid-looking, wrapped to the heels in ample blue veils. She advanced -face to face with the Suffet, and they looked at each other for some -time; suddenly Hamilcar started; at a wave of his hand the slaves -withdrew. Then, signing to her to walk with precaution, he drew her by -the arm into a remote apartment. - -The Negress threw herself upon the floor to kiss his feet; he raised her -brutally. - -“Where have you left him, Iddibal?” - -“Down there, Master;” and extricating herself from her veils, she -rubbed her face with her sleeve; the black colour, the senile trembling, -the bent figure disappeared, and there remained a strong old man whose -skin seemed tanned by sand, wind, and sea. A tuft of white hair rose on -his skull like the crest of a bird; and he indicated his disguise, as it -lay on the ground, with an ironic glance. - -“You have done well, Iddibal! ’Tis well!” Then piercing him, as it -were, with his keen gaze: “No one yet suspects?” - -The old man swore to him by the Kabiri that the mystery had been kept. -They never left their cottage, which was three days’ journey from -Hadrumetum, on a shore peopled with turtles, and with palms on the dune. -“And in accordance with your command, O Master! I teach him to hurl -the javelin and to drive a team.” - -“He is strong, is he not?” - -“Yes, Master, and intrepid as well! He has no fear of serpents, or -thunder, or phantoms. He runs bare-footed like a herdsman along the -brinks of precipices.” - -“Speak! speak!” - -“He invents snares for wild beasts. Would you believe it, that last -moon he surprised an eagle; he dragged it away, and the bird’s blood -and the child’s were scattered in the air in large drops like driven -roses. The animal in its fury enwrapped him in the beating of its -wings; he strained it against his breast, and as it died his laughter -increased, piercing and proud like the clashing of swords.” - -Hamilcar bent his head, dazzled by such presages of greatness. - -“But he has been for some time restless and disturbed. He gazes at -the sails passing far out at sea; he is melancholy, he rejects bread, -he inquires about the gods, and he wishes to become acquainted with -Carthage.” - -“No, no! not yet!” exclaimed the Suffet. - -The old slave seemed to understand the peril which alarmed Hamilcar, and -he resumed: - -“How is he to be restrained? Already I am obliged to make him -promises, and I have come to Carthage only to buy him a dagger with -a silver handle and pearls all around it.” Then he told how, having -perceived the Suffet on the terrace, he had passed himself off on the -warders of the harbour as one of Salammbô’s women, so as to make his -way in to him. - -Hamilcar remained for a long time apparently lost in deliberation; at -last he said: - -“To-morrow you will present yourself at sunset behind the purple -factories in Megara, and imitate a jackal’s cry three times. If you do -not see me, you will return to Carthage on the first day of every moon. -Forget nothing! Love him! You may speak to him now about Hamilcar.” - -The slave resumed his costume, and they left the house and the harbour -together. - -Hamilcar went on his way alone on foot and without an escort, for the -meetings of the Ancients were, under extraordinary circumstances, always -secret, and were resorted to mysteriously. - -At first he went along the western front of the Acropolis, and then -passed through the Green Market, the galleries of Kinisdo, and the -Perfumers’ suburb. The scattered lights were being extinguished, the -broader streets grew still, then shadows glided through the darkness. -They followed him, others appeared, and like him they all directed their -course towards the Mappalian district. - -The temple of Moloch was built at the foot of a steep defile in a -sinister spot. From below nothing could be seen but lofty walls rising -indefinitely like those of a monstrous tomb. The night was gloomy, a -greyish fog seemed to weigh upon the sea, which beat against the cliff -with a noise as of death-rattles and sobs; and the shadows gradually -vanished as if they had passed through the walls. - -But as soon as the doorway was crossed one found oneself in a vast -quadrangular court bordered by arcades. In the centre rose a mass of -architecture with eight equal faces. It was surmounted by cupolas which -thronged around a second story supporting a kind of rotunda, from which -sprang a cone with a re-entrant curve and terminating in a ball on the -summit. - -Fires were burning in cylinders of filigree-work fitted upon poles, -which men were carrying to and fro. These lights flickered in the gusts -of wind and reddened the golden combs which fastened their plaited -hair on the nape of the neck. They ran about calling to one another to -receive the Ancients. - -Here and there on the flag-stones huge lions were couched like -sphinxes, living symbols of the devouring sun. They were slumbering with -half-closed eyelids. But roused by the footsteps and voices they rose -slowly, came towards the Ancients, whom they recognised by their dress, -and rubbed themselves against their thighs, arching their backs with -sonorous yawns; the vapour of their breath passed across the light of -the torches. The stir increased, doors closed, all the priests fled, -and the Ancients disappeared beneath the columns which formed a deep -vestibule round the temple. - -These columns were arranged in such a way that their circular ranks, -which were contained one within another, showed the Saturnian period -with its years, the years with their months, and the months with their -days, and finally reached to the walls of the sanctuary. - -Here it was that the Ancients laid aside their sticks of -narwhal’s-horn,—for a law which was always observed inflicted the -punishment of death upon any one entering the meeting with any kind -of weapon. Several wore a rent repaired with a strip of purple at the -bottom of their garment, to show that they had not been economical in -their dress when mourning for their relatives, and this testimony to -their affliction prevented the slit from growing larger. Others had -their beards inclosed in little bags of violet skin, and fastened to -their ears by two cords. They all accosted one another by embracing -breast to breast. They surrounded Hamilcar with congratulations; they -might have been taken for brothers meeting their brother again. - -These men were generally thick-set, with curved noses like those of the -Assyrian colossi. In a few, however, the more prominent cheek-bone, the -taller figure, and the narrower foot, betrayed an African origin -and nomad ancestors. Those who lived continually shut up in their -counting-houses had pale faces; others showed in theirs the severity -of the desert, and strange jewels sparkled on all the fingers of -their hands, which were burnt by unknown suns. The navigators might be -distinguished by their rolling gait, while the men of agriculture -smelt of the wine-press, dried herbs, and the sweat of mules. These -old pirates had lands under tillage, these money-grubbers would fit -out ships, these proprietors of cultivated lands supported slaves who -followed trades. All were skilled in religious discipline, expert in -strategy, pitiless and rich. They looked wearied of prolonged cares. -Their flaming eyes expressed distrust, and their habits of travelling -and lying, trafficking and commanding, gave an appearance of cunning -and violence, a sort of discreet and convulsive brutality to their whole -demeanour. Further, the influence of the god cast a gloom upon them. - -They first passed through a vaulted hall which was shaped like an egg. -Seven doors, corresponding to the seven planets, displayed seven squares -of different colours against the wall. After traversing a long room they -entered another similar hall. - -A candelabrum completely covered with chiselled flowers was burning at -the far end, and each of its eight golden branches bore a wick of byssus -in a diamond chalice. It was placed upon the last of the long steps -leading to a great altar, the corners of which terminated in horns of -brass. Two lateral staircases led to its flattened summit; the stones -of it could not be seen; it was like a mountain of heaped cinders, and -something indistinct was slowly smoking at the top of it. Then further -back, higher than the candelabrum, and much higher than the altar, rose -the Moloch, all of iron, and with gaping apertures in his human breast. -His outspread wings were stretched upon the wall, his tapering hands -reached down to the ground; three black stones bordered by yellow -circles represented three eyeballs on his brow, and his bull’s head -was raised with a terrible effort as if in order to bellow. - -Ebony stools were ranged round the apartment. Behind each of them was -a bronze shaft resting on three claws and supporting a torch. All these -lights were reflected in the mother-of-pearl lozenges which formed the -pavement of the hall. So lofty was the latter that the red colour of the -walls grew black as it rose towards the vaulted roof, and the three eyes -of the idol appeared far above like stars half lost in the night. - -The Ancients sat down on the ebony stools after putting the trains of -their robes over their heads. They remained motionless with their hands -crossed inside their broad sleeves, and the mother-of-pearl pavement -seemed like a luminous river streaming from the altar to the door and -flowing beneath their naked feet. - -The four pontiffs had their places in the centre, sitting back to back -on four ivory seats which formed a cross, the high-priest of Eschmoun -in a hyacinth robe, the high-priest of Tanith in a white linen robe, the -high-priest of Khamon in a tawny woollen robe, and the high-priest of -Moloch in a purple robe. - -Hamilcar advanced towards the candelabrum. He walked all round it, -looking at the burning wicks; then he threw a scented powder upon them, -and violet flames appeared at the extremities of the branches. - -Then a shrill voice rose; another replied to it, and the hundred -Ancients, the four pontiffs, and Hamilcar, who remained standing, -simultaneously intoned a hymn, and their voices—ever repeating the -same syllables and strengthening the sounds—rose, grew loud, became -terrible, and then suddenly were still. - -There was a pause for some time. At last Hamilcar drew from his breast a -little three-headed statuette, as blue as sapphire, and placed it before -him. It was the image of Truth, the very genius of his speech. Then he -replaced it in his bosom, and all, as if seized with sudden wrath, cried -out: - -“They are good friends of yours, are the Barbarians! Infamous traitor! -You come back to see us perish, do you not? Let him speak!—No! no!” - -They were taking their revenge for the constraint to which political -ceremonial had just obliged them; and even though they had wished for -Hamilcar’s return, they were now indignant that he had not anticipated -their disasters, or rather that he had not endured them as well as they. - -When the tumult had subsided, the pontiff of Moloch rose: - -“We ask you why you did not return to Carthage?” - -“What is that to you?” replied the Suffet disdainfully. - -Their shouts were redoubled. - -“Of what do you accuse me? I managed the war badly, perhaps! You have -seen how I order my battles, you who conveniently allow Barbarians—” - -“Enough! enough!” - -He went on in a low voice so as to make himself the better listened to: - -“Oh! that is true! I am wrong, lights of the Baals; there are intrepid -men among you! Gisco, rise!” And surveying the step of the altar with -half-closed eyelids, as if he sought for some one, he repeated: - -“Rise, Gisco! You can accuse me; they will protect you! But where is -he?” Then, as if he remembered himself: “Ah! in his house, no doubt! -surrounded by his sons, commanding his slaves, happy, and counting on -the wall the necklaces of honour which his country has given to him!” - -They moved about raising their shoulders as if they were being scourged -with thongs. “You do not even know whether he is living or dead!” -And without giving any heed to their clamours he said that in deserting -the Suffet they had deserted the Republic. So, too, the peace with Rome, -however advantageous it might appear to them, was more fatal than twenty -battles. A few—those who were the least rich of the Council and -were suspected of perpetual leanings towards the people or towards -tyranny—applauded. Their opponents, chiefs of the Syssitia and -administrators, triumphed over them in point of numbers; and the more -eminent of them had ranged themselves close to Hanno, who was sitting at -the other end of the hall before the lofty door, which was closed by a -hanging of hyacinth colour. - -He had covered the ulcers on his face with paint. But the gold dust in -his hair had fallen upon his shoulders, where it formed two brilliant -sheets, so that his hair appeared whitish, fine, and frizzled like wool. -His hands were enveloped in linen soaked in a greasy perfume, which -dripped upon the pavement, and his disease had no doubt considerably -increased, for his eyes were hidden beneath the folds of his eyelids. -He had thrown back his head in order to see. His partisans urged him to -speak. At last in a hoarse and hideous voice he said: - -“Less arrogance, Barca! We have all been vanquished! Each one supports -his own misfortune! Be resigned!” - -“Tell us rather,” said Hamilcar, smiling, “how it was that you -steered your galleys into the Roman fleet?” - -“I was driven by the wind,” replied Hanno. - -“You are like a rhinoceros trampling on his dung: you are -displaying your own folly! be silent!” And they began to indulge in -recriminations respecting the battle of the Ægatian islands. - -Hanno accused him of not having come to meet him. - -“But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood -out from the coast; what prevented you? Ah! I forgot! all elephants are -afraid of the sea!” - -Hamilcar’s followers thought this jest so good that they burst -out into loud laughter. The vault rang with it like the beating of -tympanums. - -Hanno denounced the unworthiness of such an insult; the disease had -come upon him from a cold taken at the siege of Hecatompylos, and tears -flowed down his face like winter rain on a ruined wall. - -Hamilcar resumed: - -“If you had loved me as much as him there would be great joy in -Carthage now! How many times did I not call upon you! and you always -refused me money!” - -“We had need of it,” said the chiefs of the Syssitia. - -“And when things were desperate with me—we drank mules’ urine and -ate the straps of our sandals; when I would fain have had the blades of -grass soldiers and made battalions with the rottenness of our dead, you -recalled the vessels that I had left!” - -“We could not risk everything,” replied Baat-Baal, who possessed -gold mines in Darytian Gætulia. - -“But what did you do here, at Carthage, in your houses, behind your -walls? There are Gauls on the Eridanus, who ought to have been roused, -Chanaanites at Cyrene who would have come, and while the Romans send -ambassadors to Ptolemæus—” - -“Now he is extolling the Romans to us!” Some one shouted out to him: -“How much have they paid you to defend them?” - -“Ask that of the plains of Brutium, of the ruins of Locri, of -Metapontum, and of Heraclea! I have burnt all their trees, I -have pillaged all their temples, and even to the death of their -grandchildren’s grandchildren—” - -“Why, you disclaim like a rhetor!” said Kapouras, a very illustrious -merchant. “What is it that you want?” - -“I say that we must be more ingenious or more terrible! If the whole -of Africa rejects your yoke the reason is, my feeble masters, that you -do not know how to fasten it to her shoulders! Agathocles, Regulus, -Copio, any bold man has only to land and capture her; and when the -Libyans in the east concert with the Numidians in the west, and the -Nomads come from the south, and the Romans from the north”—a cry of -horror rose—“Oh! you will beat your breasts, and roll in the dust, -and tear your cloaks! No matter! you will have to go and turn the -mill-stone in the Suburra, and gather grapes on the hills of Latium.” - -They smote their right thighs to mark their sense of the scandal, and -the sleeves of their robes rose like large wings of startled birds. -Hamilcar, carried away by a spirit, continued his speech, standing on -the highest step of the altar, quivering and terrible; he raised his -arms, and the rays from the candelabrum which burned behind him passed -between his fingers like javelins of gold. - -“You will lose your ships, your country seats, your chariots, your -hanging beds, and the slaves who rub your feet! The jackal will crouch -in your palaces, and the ploughshare will upturn your tombs. Nothing -will be left but the eagles’ scream and a heap of ruins. Carthage, -thou wilt fall!” - -The four pontiffs spread out their hands to avert the anathema. All had -risen. But the marine Suffet, being a sacerdotal magistrate under the -protection of the Sun, was inviolate so long as the assembly of the -rich had not judged him. Terror was associated with the altar. They drew -back. - -Hamilcar had ceased speaking, and was panting with eye fixed, his face -as pale as the pearls of his tiara, almost frightened at himself, and -his spirit lost in funereal visions. From the height on which he stood, -all the torches on the bronze shafts seemed to him like a vast crown of -fire laid level with the pavement; black smoke issuing from them mounted -up into the darkness of the vault; and for some minutes the silence was -so profound that they could hear in the distance the sound of the sea. - -Then the Ancients began to question one another. Their interests, their -existence, were attacked by the Barbarians. But it was impossible to -conquer them without the assistance of the Suffet, and in spite of their -pride this consideration made them forget every other. His friends were -taken aside. There were interested reconciliations, understandings, and -promises. Hamilcar would not take any further part in any government. -All conjured him. They besought him; and as the word treason occurred -in their speech, he fell into a passion. The sole traitor was the Great -Council, for as the enlistment of the soldiers expired with the war, -they became free as soon as the war was finished; he even exalted their -bravery and all the advantages which might be derived from interesting -them in the Republic by donations and privileges. - -Then Magdassin, a former provincial governor, said, as he rolled his -yellow eyes: - -“Truly Barca, with your travelling you have become a Greek, or a -Latin, or something! Why speak you of rewards for these men? Rather let -ten thousand Barbarians perish than a single one of us!” - -The Ancients nodded approval, murmuring:—“Yes, is there need for so -much trouble? They can always be had?” - -“And they can be got rid of conveniently, can they not? They are -deserted as they were by you in Sardinia. The enemy is apprised of the -road which they are to take, as in the case of those Gauls in Sicily, -or perhaps they are disembarked in the middle of the sea. As I was -returning I saw the rock quite white with their bones!” - -“What a misfortune!” said Kapouras impudently. - -“Have they not gone over to the enemy a hundred times?” cried the -others. - -“Why, then,” exclaimed Hamilcar, “did you recall them to Carthage, -notwithstanding your laws? And when they are in your town, poor and -numerous amid all your riches, it does not occur to you to weaken them -by the slightest division! Afterwards you dismiss the whole of them -with their women and children, without keeping a single hostage! Did -you expect that they would murder themselves to spare you the pain of -keeping your oaths? You hate them because they are strong! You hate me -still more, who am their master! Oh! I felt it just now when you were -kissing my hands and were all putting a constraint upon yourselves not -to bite them!” - -If the lions that were sleeping in the court had come howling in, the -uproar could not have been more frightful. But the pontiff of Eschmoun -rose, and, standing perfectly upright, with his knees close together, -his elbows pressed to his body, and his hands half open, he said: - -“Barca, Carthage has need that you should take the general command of -the Punic forces against the Mercenaries!” - -“I refuse,” replied Hamilcar. - -“We will give you full authority,” cried the chiefs of the Syssitia. - -“No!” - -“With no control, no partition, all the money that you want, all -the captives, all the booty, fifty zereths of land for every enemy’s -corpse.” - -“No! no! because it is impossible to conquer with you!” - -“He is afraid!” - -“Because you are cowardly, greedy, ungrateful, pusillanimous and -mad!” - -“He is careful of them!” - -“In order to put himself at their head,” said some one. - -“And return against us,” said another; and from the bottom of the -hall Hanno howled: - -“He wants to make himself king!” - -Then they bounded up, overturning the seats and the torches: the crowd -of them rushed towards the altar; they brandished daggers. But Hamilcar -dived into his sleeves and drew from them two broad cutlasses; and -half stooping, his left foot advanced, his eyes flaming and his -teeth clenched, he defied them as he stood there beneath the golden -candelabrum. - -Thus they had brought weapons with them as a precaution; it was a crime; -they looked with terror at one another. As all were guilty, every one -became quickly reassured; and by degrees they turned their backs on the -Suffet and came down again maddened with humiliation. For the second -time they recoiled before him. They remained standing for some time. -Several who had wounded their fingers put them to their mouths or rolled -them gently in the hem of their mantles, and they were about to depart -when Hamilcar heard these words: - -“Why! it is a piece of delicacy to avoid distressing his daughter!” - -A louder voice was raised: - -“No doubt, since she takes her lovers from among the Mercenaries!” - -At first he tottered, then his eye rapidly sought for Schahabarim. But -the priest of Tanith had alone remained in his place; and Hamilcar could -see only his lofty cap in the distance. All were sneering in his face. -In proportion as his anguish increased their joy redoubled, and those -who were behind shouted amid the hootings: - -“He was seen coming out of her room!” - -“One morning in the month of Tammouz!” - -“It was the thief who stole the zaïmph!” - -“A very handsome man!” - -“Taller than you!” - -He snatched off the tiara, the ensign of his rank—his tiara with its -eight mystic rows, and with an emerald shell in the centre—and with -both hands and with all his strength dashed it to the ground; the golden -circles rebounded as they broke, and the pearls rang upon the pavement. -Then they saw a long scar upon the whiteness of his brow; it moved like -a serpent between his eyebrows; all his limbs trembled. He ascended one -of the lateral staircases which led on to the altar, and walked upon -the latter! This was to devote himself to the god, to offer himself as -a holocaust. The motion of his mantle agitated the lights of the -candelabrum, which was lower than his sandals, and the fine dust raised -by his footsteps surrounded him like a cloud as high as the waist. He -stopped between the legs of the brass colossus. He took up two handfuls -of the dust, the mere sight of which made every Carthaginian shudder -with horror, and said: - -“By the hundred torches of your Intelligences! by the eight fires of -the Kabiri! by the stars, the meteors, and the volcanoes! by everything -that burns! by the thirst of the desert and the saltness of the ocean! -by the cave of Hadrumetum and the empire of Souls! by extermination! by -the ashes of your sons and the ashes of the brothers of your ancestors -with which I now mingle my own!—you, the Hundred of the Council of -Carthage, have lied in your accusation of my daughter! And I, Hamilcar -Barca, marine Suffet, chief of the rich and ruler of the people, in the -presence of bull-headed Moloch, I swear”—they expected something -frightful, but he resumed in a loftier and calmer tone—“that I will -not even speak to her about it!” - -The sacred servants entered wearing their golden combs, some with purple -sponges and others with branches of palm. They raised the hyacinth -curtain which was stretched before the door; and through the opening of -this angle there was visible behind the other halls the great pink -sky which seemed to be a continuation of the vault and to rest at -the horizon upon the blue sea. The sun was issuing from the waves and -mounting upwards. It suddenly struck upon the breast of the brazen -colossus, which was divided into seven compartments closed by gratings. -His red-toothed jaws opened in a horrible yawn; his enormous nostrils -were dilated, the broad daylight animated him, and gave him a terrible -and impatient aspect, as if he would fain have leaped without to mingle -with the star, the god, and together traverse the immensities. - -The torches, however, which were scattered on the ground, were still -burning, while here and there on the mother-of-pearl pavement was -stretched from them what looked like spots of blood. The Ancients were -reeling from exhaustion; they filled their lungs inhaling the freshness -of the air; the sweat flowed down their livid faces; they had shouted -so much that they could now scarcely make their voices heard. But their -wrath against the Suffet was not at all abated; they hurled menaces at -him by way of farewells, and Hamilcar answered them again. - -“Until the next night, Barca, in the temple of Eschmoun!” - -“I shall be there!” - -“We will have you condemned by the rich!” - -“And I you by the people!” - -“Take care that you do not end on the cross!” - -“And you that you are not torn to pieces in the streets!” - -As soon as they were on the threshold of the court they again assumed a -calm demeanour. - - -Their runners and coachmen were waiting for them at the door. Most of -them departed on white mules. The Suffet leaped into his chariot and -took the reins; the two animals, curving their necks, and rhythmically -beating the resounding pebbles, went up the whole of the Mappalian Way -at full gallop, and the silver vulture at the extremity of the pole -seemed to fly, so quickly did the chariot pass along. - -The road crossed a field planted with slabs of stone, which were painted -on the top like pyramids, and had open hands carved out in the centre as -if all the dead men lying beneath had stretched them out towards heaven -to demand something. Next there came scattered cabins built of earth, -branches, and bulrush-hurdles, and all of a conical shape. These -dwellings, which became constantly denser as the road ascended towards -the Suffet’s gardens, were irregularly separated from one another by -little pebble walls, trenches of spring water, ropes of esparto-grass, -and nopal hedges. But Hamilcar’s eyes were fastened on a great tower, -the three storys of which formed three monster cylinders—the first -being built of stone, the second of brick, and the third all of -cedar—supporting a copper cupola upon twenty-four pillars of juniper, -from which slender interlacing chains of brass hung down after the -manner of garlands. This lofty edifice overlooked the buildings—the -emporiums and mercantile houses—which stretched to the right, while -the women’s palace rose at the end of the cypress trees, which were -ranged in line like two walls of bronze. - -When the echoing chariot had entered through the narrow gateway it -stopped beneath a broad shed in which there were shackled horses eating -from heaps of chopped grass. - -All the servants hastened up. They formed quite a multitude, those who -worked on the country estates having been brought to Carthage through -fear of the soldiers. The labourers, who were clad in animals’ skins, -had chains riveted to their ankles and trailing after them; the workers -in the purple factories had arms as red as those of executioners; the -sailors wore green caps; the fishermen coral necklaces; the huntsmen -carried nets on their shoulders; and the people belonging to Megara -wore black or white tunics, leathern drawers, and caps of straw, felt or -linen, according to their service or their different occupations. - -Behind pressed a tattered populace. They lived without employment remote -from the apartments, slept at night in the gardens, ate the refuse -from the kitchens,—a human mouldiness vegetating in the shadow of -the palace. Hamilcar tolerated them from foresight even more than from -scorn. They had all put a flower in the ear in token of their joy, and -many of them had never seen him. - -But men with head-dresses like the Sphinx’s, and furnished with great -sticks, dashed into the crowd, striking right and left. This was to -drive back the slaves, who were curious to see their master, so that he -might not be assailed by their numbers or inconvenienced by their smell. - -Then they all threw themselves flat on the ground, crying: - -“Eye of Baal, may your house flourish!” And through these people as -they lay thus on the ground in the avenue of cypress trees, Abdalonim, -the Steward of the stewards, waving a white miter, advanced towards -Hamilcar with a censer in his hand. - -Salammbô was then coming down the galley staircases. All her slave -women followed her; and, at each of her steps, they also descended. The -heads of the Negresses formed big black spots on the line of the bands -of the golden plates clasping the foreheads of the Roman women. Others -had silver arrows, emerald butterflies, or long bodkins set like suns in -their hair. Rings, clasps, necklaces, fringes, and bracelets shone amid -the confusion of white, yellow, and blue garments; a rustling of -light material became audible; the pattering of sandals might be heard -together with the dull sound of naked feet as they were set down on the -wood;—and here and there a tall eunuch, head and shoulders above them, -smiled with his face in air. When the shouting of the men had subsided -they hid their faces in their sleeves, and together uttered a strange -cry like the howling of a she-wolf, and so frenzied and strident was -it that it seemed to make the great ebony staircase, with its thronging -women, vibrate from top to bottom like a lyre. - -The wind lifted their veils, and the slender stems of the papyrus plant -rocked gently. It was the month of Schebaz and the depth of winter. The -flowering pomegranates swelled against the azure of the sky, and the -sea disappeared through the branches with an island in the distance half -lost in the mist. - -Hamilcar stopped on perceiving Salammbô. She had come to him after the -death of several male children. Moreover, the birth of daughters -was considered a calamity in the religions of the Sun. The gods had -afterwards sent him a son; but he still felt something of the betrayal -of his hope, and the shock, as it were, of the curse which he had -uttered against her. Salammbô, however, continued to advance. - -Long bunches of various-coloured pearls fell from her ears to her -shoulders, and as far as her elbows. Her hair was crisped so as to -simulate a cloud. Round her neck she wore little quadrangular plates of -gold, representing a woman between two rampant lions; and her costume -was a complete reproduction of the equipment of the goddess. Her -broad-sleeved hyacinth robe fitted close to her figure, widening out -below. The vermilion on her lips gave additional whiteness to her teeth, -and the antimony on her eyelids greater length to her eyes. Her sandals, -which were cut out in bird’s plumage, had very high heels, and she was -extraordinarily pale, doubtless on account of the cold. - -At last she came close to Hamilcar, and without looking at him, without -raising her head to him: - -“Greeting, eye of Baalim, eternal glory! triumph! leisure! -satisfaction! riches! Long has my heart been sad and the house drooping. -But the returning master is like reviving Tammouz; and beneath -your gaze, O father, joyfulness and a new existence will everywhere -prevail!” - -And taking from Taanach’s hands a little oblong vase wherein smoked -a mixture of meal, butter, cardamom, and wine: “Drink freely,” said -she, “of the returning cup, which your servant has prepared!” - -He replied: “A blessing upon you!” and he mechanically grasped the -golden vase which she held out to him. - -He scanned her, however, with such harsh attention, that Salammbô was -troubled and stammered out: - -“They have told you, O Master!” - -“Yes! I know!” said Hamilcar in a low voice. - -Was this a confession, or was she speaking of the Barbarians? And he -added a few vague words upon the public embarrassments which he hoped by -his sole efforts to clear away. - -“O father!” exclaimed Salammbô, “you will not obliterate what is -irreparable!” - -Then he drew back and Salammbô was astonished at his amazement; for -she was not thinking of Carthage but of the sacrilege in which she found -herself implicated. This man, who made legions tremble and whom she -hardly knew, terrified her like a god; he had guessed, he knew all, -something awful was about to happen. “Pardon!” she cried. - -Hamilcar slowly bowed his head. - -Although she wished to accuse herself she dared not open her lips; and -yet she felt stifled with the need of complaining and being comforted. -Hamilcar was struggling against a longing to break his oath. He kept it -out of pride or from the dread of putting an end to his uncertainty; and -he looked into her face with all his might so as to lay hold on what she -kept concealed at the bottom of her heart. - -By degrees the panting Salammbô, crushed by such heavy looks, let her -head sink below her shoulders. He was now sure that she had erred in -the embrace of a Barbarian; he shuddered and raised both his fists. She -uttered a shriek and fell down among her women, who crowded around her. - -Hamilcar turned on his heel. All the stewards followed him. - -The door of the emporiums was opened, and he entered a vast round hall -form which long passages leading to other halls branched off like the -spokes from the nave of a wheel. A stone disc stood in the centre with -balustrades to support the cushions that were heaped up upon carpets. - -The Suffet walked at first with rapid strides; he breathed noisily, he -struck the ground with his heel, and drew his hand across his forehead -like a man annoyed by flies. But he shook his head, and as he perceived -the accumulation of his riches he became calm; his thoughts, which were -attracted by the vistas in the passages, wandered to the other halls -that were full of still rarer treasures. Bronze plates, silver ingots, -and iron bars alternated with pigs of tin brought from the Cassiterides -over the Dark Sea; gums from the country of the Blacks were running over -their bags of palm bark; and gold dust heaped up in leathern bottles was -insensibly creeping out through the worn-out seams. Delicate filaments -drawn from marine plants hung amid flax from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane -and Judæa; mandrepores bristled like large bushes at the foot of the -walls; and an indefinable odour—the exhalation from perfumes, leather, -spices, and ostrich feathers, the latter tied in great bunches at the -very top of the vault—floated through the air. An arch was formed -above the door before each passage with elephants’ teeth placed -upright and meeting together at the points. - -At last he ascended the stone disc. All the stewards stood with arms -folded and heads bent while Abdalonim reared his pointed mitre with a -haughty air. - -Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He was an old pilot with -eyelids chafed by the wind, and white locks fell to his hips as if -dashing foam of the tempests had remained on his beard. - -He replied that he had sent a fleet by Gades and Thymiamata to try to -reach Eziongaber by doubling the Southern Horn and the promontory of -Aromata. - -Others had advanced continuously towards the west for four moons without -meeting with any shore; but the ships prows became entangled in -weeds, the horizon echoed continually with the noise of cataracts, -blood-coloured mists darkened the sun, a perfume-laden breeze lulled the -crews to sleep; and their memories were so disturbed that they were now -unable to tell anything. However, expeditions had ascended the rivers of -the Scythians, had made their way into Colchis, and into the countries -of the Jugrians and of the Estians, had carried off fifteen hundred -maidens in the Archipelago, and sunk all the strange vessels sailing -beyond Cape Oestrymon, so that the secret of the routes should not -be known. King Ptolemæus was detaining the incense from Schesbar; -Syracuse, Elathia, Corsica, and the islands had furnished nothing, and -the old pilot lowered his voice to announce that a trireme was taken at -Rusicada by the Numidians,—“for they are with them, Master.” - -Hamilcar knit his brows; then he signed to the Chief of the Journeys to -speak. This functionary was enveloped in a brown, ungirdled robe, and -had his head covered with a long scarf of white stuff which passed along -the edge of his lips and fell upon his shoulder behind. - -The caravans had set out regularly at the winter equinox. But of fifteen -hundred men directing their course towards the extreme boundaries of -Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leathern bottles, and supplies of -painted cloth, but one had reappeared at Carthage—the rest having died -of fatigue or become mad through the terror of the desert;—and he said -that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing the Atarantes and the -country of the great apes, he had seen immense kingdoms, wherein the -pettiest utensils were all of gold, a river of the colour of milk and -as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees, hills of aromatics, monsters -with human faces vegetating on the rocks with eyeballs which expanded -like flowers to look at you; and then crystal mountains supporting the -sun behind lakes all covered with dragons. Others had returned from -India with peacocks, pepper, and new textures. As to those who go by way -of the Syrtes and the temple of Ammon to purchase chalcedony, they had -no doubt perished in the sands. The caravans from Gætulia and Phazzana -had furnished their usual supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, -did not venture to fit one out just now. - -Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the country. -He leaned upon his other elbow with a hollow groan; and the Chief of -Farms was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in spite of -his thick shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which was as -snub-nosed as a mastiff’s, was surmounted by a net woven of threads -of bark. He wore a waist-belt of hairy leopard’s skin, wherein gleamed -two formidable cutlasses. - -As soon as Hamilcar turned away he began to cry aloud and invoke all the -Baals. It was not his fault! he could not help it! He had watched the -temperature, the soil, the stars, had planted at the winter solstice and -pruned at the waning of the moon, had inspected the slaves and had been -careful of their clothes. - -But Hamilcar grew angry at this loquacity. He clacked his tongue, and -the man with the cutlasses went on in rapid tones: - -“Ah, Master! they have pillaged everything! sacked everything! -destroyed everything! Three thousand trees have been cut down at -Maschala, and at Ubada the granaries have been looted and the cisterns -filled up! At Tedes they have carried off fifteen hundred gomors of -meal; at Marrazana they have killed the shepherds, eaten the flocks, -burnt your house—your beautiful house with its cedar beams, which -you used to visit in the summer! The slaves at Tuburbo who were reaping -barley fled to the mountains; and the asses, the mules both great and -small, the oxen from Taormina, and the antelopes,—not a single one -left! all carried away! It is a curse! I shall not survive it!” He -went on again in tears: “Ah! if you knew how full the cellars -were, and how the ploughshares shone! Ah! the fine rams! ah! the fine -bulls!—” - -Hamilcar’s wrath was choking him. It burst forth: - -“Be silent! Am I a pauper then? No lies! speak the truth! I wish -to know all that I have lost to the last shekel, to the last cab! -Abdalonim, bring me the accounts of the ships, of the caravans, of the -farms, of the house! And if your consciences are not clear, woe be on -your heads! Go out!” - -All the stewards went out walking backwards, with their fists touching -the ground. - -Abdalonim went up to a set of pigeon-holes in the wall, and from the -midst of them took out knotted cords, strips of linen or papyrus, and -sheeps’ shoulder-blades inscribed with delicate writing. He laid them -at Hamilcar’s feet, placed in his hands a wooden frame furnished on -the inside with three threads on which balls of gold, silver, and horn -were strung, and began: - -“One hundred and ninety-two houses in the Mappalian district let to -the New Carthaginians at the rate of one bekah a moon.” - -“No! it is too much! be lenient towards the poor people! and you will -try to learn whether they are attached to the Republic, and write -down the names of those who appear to you to be the most daring! What -next?” - -Abdalonim hesitated in surprise at such generosity. - -Hamilcar snatched the strips of linen from his hands. - -“What is this? three palaces around Khamon at twelve kesitahs a month! -Make it twenty! I do not want to be eaten up by the rich.” - -The Steward of the stewards, after a long salutation, resumed: - -“Lent to Tigillas until the end of the season two kikars at three per -cent., maritime interest; to Bar-Malkarth fifteen hundred shekels on the -security of thirty slaves. But twelve have died in the salt-marshes.” - -“That is because they were not hardy,” said the Suffet, laughing. -“No matter! if he is in want of money, satisfy him! We should always -lend, and at different rates of interest, according to the wealth of the -individual.” - -Then the servant hastened to read all that had been brought in by the -iron-mines of Annaba, the coral fisheries, the purple factories, the -farming of the tax on the resident Greeks, the export of silver to -Arabia, where it had ten times the value of gold, and the captures of -vessels, deduction of a tenth being made for the temple of the goddess. -“Each time I declared a quarter less, Master!” Hamilcar was -reckoning with the balls; they rang beneath his fingers. - -“Enough! What have you paid?” - -“To Stratonicles of Corinth, and to three Alexandrian merchants, on -these letters here (they have been realised), ten thousand Athenian -drachmas, and twelve Syrian talents of gold. The food for the crews, -amounting to twenty minæ a month for each trireme—” - -“I know! How many lost?” - -“Here is the account on these sheets of lead,” said the Steward. -“As to the ships chartered in common, it has often been necessary -to throw the cargo into the seas, and so the unequal losses have been -divided among the partners. For the ropes which were borrowed from the -arsenals, and which it was impossible to restore, the Syssitia exacted -eight hundred kesitahs before the expedition to Utica.” - -“They again!” said Hamilcar, hanging his head; and he remained for a -time as if quite crushed by the weight of all the hatreds that he could -feel upon him. “But I do not see the Megara expenses?” - -Abdalonim, turning pale, went to another set of pigeon-holes, and -took from them some planchettes of sycamore wood strung in packets on -leathern strings. - -Hamilcar, curious about these domestic details, listened to him and -grew calm with the monotony of the tones in which the figures were -enumerated. Abdalonim became slower. Suddenly he let the wooden sheets -fall to the ground and threw himself flat on his face with his arms -stretched out in the position of a condemned criminal. Hamilcar picked -up the tablets without any emotion; and his lips parted and his eyes -grew larger when he perceived an exorbitant consumption of meat, fish, -birds, wines, and aromatics, with broken vases, dead slaves, and spoiled -carpets set down as the expense of a single day. - -Abdalonim, still prostrate, told him of the feast of the Barbarians. -He had not been able to avoid the command of the Ancients. Moreover, -Salammbô desired money to be lavished for the better reception of the -soldiers. - -At his daughter’s name Hamilcar leaped to his feet. Then with -compressed lips he crouched down upon the cushions, tearing the fringes -with his nails, and panting with staring eyes. - -“Rise!” said he; and he descended. - -Abdalonim followed him; his knees trembled. But seizing an iron bar he -began like one distraught to loosen the paving stones. A wooden disc -sprang up and soon there appeared throughout the length of the passage -several of the large covers employed for stopping up the trenches in -which grain was kept. - -“You see, Eye of Baal,” said the servant, trembling, “they have -not taken everything yet! and these are each fifty cubits deep and -filled up to the brim! During your voyage I had them dug out in the -arsenals, in the gardens, everywhere! your house is full of corn as your -heart is full of wisdom.” - -A smile passed over Hamilcar’s face. “It is well, Abdalonim!” -Then bending over to his ear: “You will have it brought from Etruria, -Brutium, whence you will, and no matter at what price! Heap it and keep -it! I alone must possess all the corn in Carthage.” - -Then when they were alone at the extremity of the passage, Abdalonim, -with one of the keys hanging at his girdle, opened a large quadrangular -chamber divided in the centre by pillars of cedar. Gold, silver, and -brass coins were arranged on tables or packed into niches, and rose -as high as the joists of the roof along the four walls. In the corners -there were huge baskets of hippopotamus skin supporting whole rows of -smaller bags; there were hillocks formed of heaps of bullion on the -pavement; and here and there a pile that was too high had given way and -looked like a ruined column. The large Carthaginian pieces, representing -Tanith with a horse beneath a palm-tree, mingled with those from the -colonies, which were marked with a bull, star, globe, or crescent. Then -there might be seen pieces of all values, dimensions, and ages arrayed -in unequal amounts—from the ancient coins of Assyria, slender as the -nail, to the ancient ones of Latium, thicker than the hand, with the -buttons of Egina, the tablets of Bactriana, and the short bars of -Lacedæmon; many were covered with rust, or had grown greasy, or, having -been taken in nets or from among the ruins of captured cities, were -green with the water or blackened by fire. The Suffet had speedily -calculated whether the sums present corresponded with the gains and -losses which had just been read to him; and he was going away when he -perceived three brass jars completely empty. Abdalonim turned away his -head to mark his horror, and Hamilcar, resigning himself to it, said -nothing. - -They crossed other passages and other halls, and at last reached a door -where, to ensure its better protection and in accordance with a Roman -custom lately introduced into Carthage, a man was fastened by the waist -to a long chain let into the wall. His beard and nails had grown to an -immoderate length, and he swayed himself from right to left with that -continual oscillation which is characteristic of captive animals. As -soon as he recognised Hamilcar he darted towards him, crying: - -“Pardon, Eye of Baal! pity! kill me! For ten years I have not seen the -sun! In your father’s name, pardon!” - -Hamilcar, without answering him, clapped his hands and three men -appeared; and all four simultaneously stiffening their arms, drew back -from its rings the enormous bar which closed the door. Hamilcar took a -torch and disappeared into the darkness. - -This was believed to be the family burying-place; but nothing would have -been found in it except a broad well. It was dug out merely to baffle -robbers, and it concealed nothing. Hamilcar passed along beside it; then -stooping down he made a very heavy millstone turn upon its rollers, and -through this aperture entered an apartment which was built in the shape -of a cone. - -The walls were covered with scales of brass; and in the centre, on a -granite pedestal, stood the statue of one of the Kabiri called Aletes, -the discoverer of the mines in Celtiberia. On the ground, at its base, -and arranged in the form of a cross, were large gold shields and monster -close-necked silver vases, of extravagant shape and unfitted for use; -it was customary to cast quantities of metal in this way, so that -dilapidation and even removal should be almost impossible. - -With his torch he lit a miner’s lamp which was fastened to the -idol’s cap, and green, yellow, blue, violet, wine-coloured, and -blood-coloured fires suddenly illuminated the hall. It was filled with -gems which were either in gold calabashes fastened like sconces upon -sheets of brass, or were ranged in native masses at the foot of the -wall. There were callaides shot away from the mountains with slings, -carbuncles formed by the urine of the lynx, glossopetræ which had -fallen from the moon, tyanos, diamonds, sandastra, beryls, with the -three kinds of rubies, the four kinds of sapphires, and the twelve -kinds of emeralds. They gleamed like splashes of milk, blue icicles, and -silver dust, and shed their light in sheets, rays, and stars. Ceraunia, -engendered by the thunder, sparkled by the side of chalcedonies, which -are a cure for poison. There were topazes from Mount Zabarca to avert -terrors, opals from Bactriana to prevent abortions, and horns of Ammon, -which are placed under the bed to induce dreams. - -The fires from the stones and the flames from the lamp were mirrored in -the great golden shields. Hamilcar stood smiling with folded arms, and -was less delighted by the sight of his riches than by the consciousness -of their possession. They were inaccessible, exhaustless, infinite. -His ancestors sleeping beneath his feet transmitted something of their -eternity to his heart. He felt very near to the subterranean deities. -It was as the joy of one of the Kabiri; and the great luminous rays -striking upon his face looked like the extremity of an invisible net -linking him across the abysses with the centre of the world. - -A thought came which made him shudder, and placing himself behind the -idol he walked straight up to the wall. Then among the tattooings on his -arm he scrutinised a horizontal line with two other perpendicular ones -which in Chanaanitish figures expressed the number thirteen. Then he -counted as far as the thirteenth of the brass plates and again raised -his ample sleeve; and with his right hand stretched out he read other -more complicated lines on his arm, at the same time moving his fingers -daintily about like one playing on a lyre. At last he struck seven blows -with his thumb, and an entire section of the wall turned about in a -single block. - -It served to conceal a sort of cellar containing mysterious things which -had no name and were of incalculable value. Hamilcar went down the three -steps, took up a llama’s skin which was floating on a black liquid in -a silver vat, and then re-ascended. - -Abdalonim again began to walk before him. He struck the pavement with -his tall cane, the pommel of which was adorned with bells, and before -every apartment cried aloud the name of Hamilcar amid eulogies and -benedictions. - -Along the walls of the circular gallery, from which the passages -branched off, were piled little beams of algummim, bags of Lawsonia, -cakes of Lemnos-earth, and tortoise carapaces filled with pearls. The -Suffet brushed them with his robe as he passed without even looking at -some gigantic pieces of amber, an almost divine material formed by the -rays of the sun. - -A cloud of odorous vapour burst forth. - -“Push open the door!” - -They went in. - -Naked men were kneading pastes, crushing herbs, stirring coals, pouring -oil into jars, and opening and shutting the little ovoid cells which -were hollowed out all round in the wall, and were so numerous that -the apartment was like the interior of a hive. They were brimful of -myrobalan, bdellium, saffron, and violets. Gums, powders, roots, glass -phials, branches of filipendula, and rose-petals were scattered about -everywhere, and the scents were stifling in spite of the cloud-wreaths -from the styrax shrivelling on a brazen tripod in the centre. - -The Chief of the Sweet Odours, pale and long as a waxen torch, came up -to Hamilcar to crush a roll of metopion in his hands, while two others -rubbed his heels with leaves of baccharis. He repelled them; they were -Cyreneans of infamous morals, but valued on account of the secrets which -they possessed. - -To show his vigilance the Chief of the Odours offered the Suffet a -little malobathrum to taste in an electrum spoon; then he pierced three -Indian bezoars with an awl. The master, who knew the artifices employed, -took a horn full of balm, and after holding it near the coals inclined -it over his robe. A brown spot appeared; it was a fraud. Then he gazed -fixedly at the Chief of the Odours, and without saying anything flung -the gazelle’s horn full in his face. - -However indignant he might be at adulterations made to his own -prejudice, when he perceived some parcels of nard which were being -packed up for countries beyond the sea, he ordered antimony to be mixed -with it so as to make it heavier. - -Then he asked where three boxes of psagdas designed for his own use were -to be found. - -The Chief of the Odours confessed that he did not know; some soldiers -had come howling in with knives and he had opened the boxes for them. - -“So you are more afraid of them then of me!” cried the Suffet; and -his eyeballs flashed like torches through the smoke upon the tall, pale -man who was beginning to understand. “Abdalonim! you will make him run -the gauntlet before sunset: tear him!” - -This loss, which was less than the others, had exasperated him; for in -spite of his efforts to banish them from his thoughts he was continually -coming again across the Barbarians. Their excesses were blended with -his daughter’s shame, and he was angry with the whole household for -knowing of the latter and for not speaking of it to him. But something -impelled him to bury himself in his misfortune; and in an inquisitorial -fit he visited the sheds behind the mercantile house to see the -supplies of bitumen, wood, anchors and cordage, honey and wax, the cloth -warehouse, the stores of food, the marble yard and the silphium barn. - -He went to the other side of the gardens to make an inspection in their -cottages, of the domestic artisans whose productions were sold. There -were tailors embroidering cloaks, others making nets, others painting -cushions or cutting out sandals, and Egyptian workmen polished papyrus -with a shell, while the weavers’ shuttles rattled and the armourers’ -anvils rang. - -Hamilcar said to them: - -“Beat away at the swords! I shall want them.” And he drew the -antelope’s skin that had been steeped in poisons from his bosom to -have it cut into a cuirass more solid than one of brass and unassailable -by steel or flame. - -As soon as he approached the workmen, Abdalonim, to give his wrath -another direction, tried to anger him against them by murmured -disparagement of their work. “What a performance! It is a shame! The -Master is indeed too good.” Hamilcar moved away without listening to -him. - -He slackened his pace, for the paths were barred by great trees calcined -from one end to the other, such as may be met with in woods where -shepherds have encamped; and the palings were broken, the water in the -trenches was disappearing, while fragments of glass and the bones of -apes were to be seen amid the miry puddles. A scrap of cloth hung -here and there from the bushes, and the rotten flowers formed a yellow -muck-heap beneath the citron trees. In fact, the servants had neglected -everything, thinking that the master would never return. - -At every step he discovered some new disaster, some further proof of the -thing which he had forbidden himself to learn. Here he was soiling his -purple boots as he crushed the filth under-foot; and he had not all -these men before him at the end of a catapult to make them fly into -fragments! He felt humiliated at having defended them; it was a delusion -and a piece of treachery; and as he could not revenge himself upon -the soldiers, or the Ancients, or Salammbô, or anybody, and his wrath -required some victim, he condemned all the slaves of the gardens to the -mines at a single stroke. - -Abdalonim shuddered each time that he saw him approaching the parks. But -Hamilcar took the path towards the mill, from which there might be heard -issuing a mournful melopoia. - -The heavy mill-stones were turning amid the dust. They consisted of two -cones of porphyry laid the one upon the other—the upper one of the -two, which carried a funnel, being made to revolve upon the second by -means of strong bars. Some men were pushing these with their breasts -and arms, while others were yoked to them and were pulling them. The -friction of the straps had formed purulent scabs round about their -armpits such as are seen on asses’ withers, and the end of the limp -black rag, which scarcely covered their loins, hung down and flapped -against their hams like a long tail. Their eyes were red, the irons on -their feet clanked, and all their breasts panted rhythmically. On their -mouths they had muzzles fastened by two little bronze chains to render -it impossible for them to eat the flour, and their hands were enclosed -in gauntlets without fingers, so as to prevent them from taking any. - -At the master’s entrance the wooden bars creaked still more loudly. -The grain grated as it was being crushed. Several fell upon their knees; -the others, continuing their work, stepped across them. - -He asked for Giddenem, the governor of the slaves, and that personage -appeared, his rank being displayed in the richness of his dress. His -tunic, which was slit up the sides, was of fine purple; his ears were -weighted with heavy rings; and the strips of cloth enfolding his legs -were joined together with a lacing of gold which extended from his -ankles to his hips, like a serpent winding about a tree. In his fingers, -which were laden with rings, he held a necklace of jet beads, so as to -recognise the men who were subject to the sacred disease. - -Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the muzzles. Then with the cries of -famished animals they all rushed upon the flour, burying their faces in -the heaps of it and devouring it. - -“You are weakening them!” said the Suffet. - -Giddenem replied that such treatment was necessary in order to subdue -them. - -“It was scarcely worth while sending you to the slaves’ school at -Syracuse. Fetch the others!” - -And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, and litter-carriers, the men -belonging to the vapour-baths, and the women with their children, all -ranged themselves in a single line in the garden from the mercantile -house to the deer park. They held their breath. An immense silence -prevailed in Megara. The sun was lengthening across the lagoon at the -foot of the catacombs. The peacocks were screeching. Hamilcar walked -along step by step. - -“What am I to do with these old creatures?” he said. “Sell them! -There are too many Gauls: they are drunkards! and too many Cretans: they -are liars! Buy me some Cappadocians, Asiatics, and Negroes.” - -He was astonished that the children were so few. “The house ought to -have births every year, Giddenem. You will leave the huts open every -night to let them mingle freely.” - -He then had the thieves, the lazy, and the mutinous shown to him. He -distributed punishments, with reproaches to Giddenem; and Giddenem, -ox-like, bent his low forehead, with its two broad intersecting -eyebrows. - -“See, Eye of Baal,” he said, pointing out a sturdy Libyan, “here -is one who was caught with the rope round his neck.” - -“Ah! you wish to die?” said the Suffet scornfully. - -“Yes!” replied the slave in an intrepid tone. - -Then, without heeding the precedent or the pecuniary loss, Hamilcar said -to the serving-men: - -“Away with him!” - -Perhaps in his thoughts he intended a sacrifice. It was a misfortune -which he inflicted upon himself in order to avert more terrible ones. - -Giddenem had hidden those who were mutilated behind the others. Hamilcar -perceived them. - -“Who cut off your arm?” - -“The soldiers, Eye of Baal.” - -Then to a Samnite who was staggering like a wounded heron: - -“And you, who did that to you?” - -It was the governor, who had broken his leg with an iron bar. - -This silly atrocity made the Suffet indignant; he snatched the jet -necklace out of Giddenem’s hands. - -“Cursed be the dog that injures the flock! Gracious Tanith, to cripple -slaves! Ah! you ruin your master! Let him be smothered in the dunghill. -And those that are missing? Where are they? Have you helped the soldiers -to murder them?” - -His face was so terrible that all the women fled. The slaves drew back -and formed a large circle around them; Giddenem was frantically kissing -his sandals; Hamilcar stood upright with his arms raised above him. - -But with his understanding as clear as in the sternest of his battles, -he recalled a thousand odious things, ignominies from which he had -turned aside; and in the gleaming of his wrath he could once more see -all his disasters simultaneously as in the lightnings of a storm. -The governors of the country estates had fled through terror of the -soldiers, perhaps through collusion with them; they were all deceiving -him; he had restrained himself too long. - -“Bring them here!” he cried; “and brand them on the forehead with -red-hot irons as cowards!” - -Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters, -carcanets, knives, chains for those condemned to the mines, cippi for -fastening the legs, numellæ for confining the shoulders, and scorpions -or whips with triple thongs terminating in brass claws. - -All were placed facing the sun, in the direction of Moloch the Devourer, -and were stretched on the ground on their stomachs or on their backs, -those, however, who were sentenced to be flogged standing upright -against the trees with two men beside them, one counting the blows and -the other striking. - -In striking he used both his arms, and the whistling thongs made the -bark of the plane-trees fly. The blood was scattered like rain upon the -foliage, and red masses writhed with howls at the foot of the trees. -Those who were under the iron tore their faces with their nails. -The wooden screws could be heard creaking; dull knockings resounded; -sometimes a sharp cry would suddenly pierce the air. In the direction of -the kitchens, men were brisking up burning coals with fans amid -tattered garments and scattered hair, and a smell of burning flesh was -perceptible. Those who were under the scourge, swooning, but kept in -their positions by the bonds on their arms, rolled their heads upon -their shoulders and closed their eyes. The others who were watching -them began to shriek with terror, and the lions, remembering the feast -perhaps, stretched themselves out yawning against the edge of the dens. - -Then Salammbô was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly -about it from left to right. Hamilcar perceived her. It seemed to him -that she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a -gesture of horror he plunged into the elephants’ park. - -These animals were the pride of the great Punic houses. They had carried -their ancestors, had triumphed in the wars, and they were reverenced as -being the favourites of the Sun. - -Those of Megara were the strongest in Carthage. Before he went away -Hamilcar had required Abdalonim to swear that he would watch over them. -But they had died from their mutilations; and only three remained, lying -in the middle of the court in the dust before the ruins of their manger. - -They recognised him and came up to him. One had its ears horribly slit, -another had a large wound in its knee, while the trunk of the third was -cut off. - -They looked sadly at him, like reasonable creatures; and the one that -had lost its trunk tried by stooping its huge head and bending its hams -to stroke him softly with the hideous extremity of its stump. - -At this caress from the animal two tears started into his eyes. He -rushed at Abdalonim. - -“Ah! wretch! the cross! the cross!” - -Abdalonim fell back swooning upon the ground. - -The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue -smoke of which was ascending slowly into the sky; Hamilcar paused. - -The thought of his son had suddenly calmed him like the touch of a -god. He caught a glimpse of a prolongation of his might, an indefinite -continuation of his personality, and the slaves could not understand -whence this appeasement had come upon him. - -As he bent his steps towards the purple factories he passed before the -ergastulum, which was a long house of black stone built in a square pit -with a small pathway all round it and four staircases at the corners. - -Iddibal was doubtless waiting until the night to finish his signal. -“There is no hurry yet,” thought Hamilcar; and he went down into the -prison. Some cried out to him: “Return”; the boldest followed him. - -The open door was flapping in the wind. The twilight entered through -the narrow loopholes, and in the interior broken chains could be -distinguished hanging from the walls. - -This was all that remained of the captives of war! - -Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning -over the pit outside saw him resting one hand against the wall to keep -himself from falling. - -But the jackal uttered its cry three times in succession. Hamilcar -raised his head; he did not speak a word nor make a gesture. Then when -the sun had completely set he disappeared behind the nopal hedge, and in -the evening he said as he entered the assembly of the rich in the temple -of Eschmoun: - -“Luminaries of the Baalim, I accept the command of the Punic forces -against the army of the Barbarians!” - - - - - -CHAPTER VIII THE BATTLE OF THE MACARAS - -In the following day he drew two hundred and twenty-three thousand -kikars of gold from the Syssitia, and decreed a tax of fourteen shekels -upon the rich. Even the women contributed; payment was made in behalf -of the children, and he compelled the colleges of priests to furnish -money—a monstrous thing, according to Carthaginian customs. - -He demanded all the horses, mules, and arms. A few tried to conceal -their wealth, and their property was sold; and, to intimidate the -avarice of the rest, he himself gave sixty suits of armour, and fifteen -hundred gomers of meal, which was as much as was given by the Ivory -Company. - -He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers -accustomed to fight with bears; they were paid for six moons in advance -at the rate of four minæ a day. - -Nevertheless an army was wanted. But he did not, like Hanno, accept all -the citizens. First he rejected those engaged in sedentary occupations, -and then those who were big-bellied or had a pusillanimous look; and he -admitted those of ill-repute, the scum of Malqua, sons of Barbarians, -freed men. For reward he promised some of the New Carthaginians complete -rights of citizenship. - -His first care was to reform the Legion. These handsome young fellows, -who regarded themselves as the military majesty of the Republic, -governed themselves. He reduced their officers to the ranks; he treated -them harshly, made them run, leap, ascend the declivity of Byrsa at a -single burst, hurl javelins, wrestle together, and sleep in the squares -at night. Their families used to come to see them and pity them. - -He ordered shorter swords and stronger buskins. He fixed the number of -serving-men, and reduced the amount of baggage; and as there were three -hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them in spite -of the pontiff’s protests. - -He organised a phalanx of seventy-two elephants with those which -had returned from Utica, and others which were private property, and -rendered them formidable. He armed their drivers with mallet and chisel -to enable them to split their skulls in the fight if they ran away. - -He would not allow his generals to be nominated by the Grand Council. -The Ancients tried to urge the laws in objection, but he set them aside; -no one ventured to murmur again, and everything yielded to the violence -of his genius. - -He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances; -and as a precaution against accusations he demanded the Suffet Hanno as -examiner of his accounts. - -He set to work upon the ramparts, and had the old and now useless inner -walls demolished in order to furnish stones. But difference of fortune, -replacing the hierarchy of race, still kept the sons of the vanquished -and those of the conquerors apart; thus the patricians viewed the -destruction of these ruins with an angry eye, while the plebeians, -scarcely knowing why, rejoiced. - -The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till -night; every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed -bearing shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women engaged -in tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to another, and -Hamilcar’s soul filled the Republic. - -He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place -a strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his -files, so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at -once led and pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand -Ligurians, and the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple phalanx -of four thousand and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze helmets, -and handling ashen sarissæ fourteen cubits long. - -There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a dagger, -and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others armed with -round shields and Roman swords. - -The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining -guardsmen of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like -the Assyrian Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted archers, -of those that were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel’s skin, -two-edged axes, and leathern tunics. Finally there were twelve hundred -Negroes from the quarter of the caravans, who were mingled with the -Clinabarians, and were to run beside the stallions with one hand resting -on the manes. All was ready, and yet Hamilcar did not start. - -Often at night he would go out of Carthage alone and make his way beyond -the lagoon towards the mouths of the Macaras. Did he intend to join the -Mercenaries? The Ligurians encamped in the Mappalian district surrounded -his house. - -The apprehensions of the rich appeared justified when, one day, three -hundred Barbarians were seen approaching the walls. The Suffet opened -the gates to them; they were deserters; drawn by fear or by fidelity, -they were hastening to their master. - -Hamilcar’s return had not surprised the Mercenaries; according to -their ideas the man could not die. He was returning to fulfil his -promise;—a hope by no means absurd, so deep was the abyss between -Country and Army. Moreover they did not believe themselves culpable; the -feast was forgotten. - -The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. It was a triumph for the -bitter; even the lukewarm grew furious. Then the two sieges overwhelmed -then with weariness; no progress was being made; a battle would be -better! Thus many men had left the ranks and were scouring the country. -But at news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for joy. “At -last! at last!” he cried. - -Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbô was turned -against Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as -his vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he -had realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was -seized with a loftier tenderness, and consumed by more acrid desire. -He saw himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing the -Suffet’s head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed, -clasping the maiden in his arms, covering her face with kisses, passing -his hands over her long, black hair; and the imagination of this, which -he knew could never be realised, tortured him. He swore to himself that, -since his companions had appointed him schalishim, he would conduct the -war; the certainty that he would not return from it urged him to render -it a pitiless one. - -He came to Spendius and said to him: - -“You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We -are lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do you understand me? Rise!” - -Spendius was stupefied before such an air of authority. Matho usually -allowed himself to be led, and his previous transports had quickly -passed away. But just now he appeared at once calmer and more terrible; -a superb will gleamed in his eyes like the flame of sacrifice. - -The Greek did not listen to his reasons. He was living in one of the -Carthaginian pearl-bordered tents, drinking cool beverages from silver -cups, playing at the cottabos, letting his hair grow, and conducting the -siege with slackness. Moreover, he had entered into communications with -some in the town and would not leave, being sure that it would open its -gates before many days were over. - -Narr’ Havas, who wandered about among the three armies, was at that -time with him. He supported his opinion, and even blamed the Libyan for -wishing in his excess of courage to abandon their enterprise. - -“Go, if you are afraid!” exclaimed Matho; “you promised us pitch, -sulphur, elephants, foot-soldiers, horses! where are they?” - -Narr’ Havas reminded him that he had exterminated Hanno’s last -cohorts;—as to the elephants, they were being hunted in the woods, -he was arming the foot-soldiers, the horses were on their way; and the -Numidian rolled his eyes like a woman and smiled in an irritating manner -as he stroked the ostrich feather which fell upon his shoulder. In his -presence Matho was at a loss for a reply. - -But a man who was a stranger entered, wet with perspiration, scared, -and with bleeding feet and loosened girdle; his breathing shook his -lean sides enough to have burst them, and speaking in an unintelligible -dialect he opened his eyes wide as if he were telling of some battle. -The king sprang outside and called his horsemen. - -They ranged themselves in the plain before him in the form of a circle. -Narr’ Havas, who was mounted, bent his head and bit his lips. At last -he separated his men into two equal divisions, and told the first to -wait; then with an imperious gesture he carried off the others at a -gallop and disappeared on the horizon in the direction of the mountains. - -“Master!” murmured Spendius, “I do not like these extraordinary -chances—the Suffet returning, Narr’ Havas going away—” - -“Why! what does it matter?” said Matho disdainfully. - -It was a reason the more for anticipating Hamilcar by uniting with -Autaritus. But if the siege of the towns were raised, the inhabitants -would come out and attack them in the rear, while they would have the -Carthaginians in front. After much talking the following measures were -resolved upon and immediately executed. - -Spendius proceeded with fifteen thousand men as far as the bridge built -across the Macaras, three miles from Utica; the corners of it were -fortified with four huge towers provided with catapults; all the paths -and gorges in the mountains were stopped up with trunks of trees, pieces -of rock, interlacings of thorn, and stone walls; on the summits heaps -of grass were made which might be lighted as signals, and shepherds who -were able to see at a distance were posted at intervals. - -No doubt Hamilcar would not, like Hanno, advance by the mountain of -the Hot Springs. He would think that Autaritus, being master of the -interior, would close the route against him. Moreover, a check at the -opening of the campaign would ruin him, while if he gained a victory he -would soon have to make a fresh beginning, the Mercenaries being further -off. Again, he could disembark at Cape Grapes and march thence upon one -of the towns. But he would then find himself between the two armies, -an indiscretion which he could not commit with his scanty forces. -Accordingly he must proceed along the base of Mount Ariana, then turn -to the left to avoid the mouths of the Macaras, and come straight to the -bridge. It was there that Matho expected him. - -At night he used to inspect the pioneers by torch-light. He would hasten -to Hippo-Zarytus or to the works on the mountains, would come back -again, would never rest. Spendius envied his energy; but in the -management of spies, the choice of sentries, the working of the engines -and all means of defence, Matho listened docilely to his companion. They -spoke no more of Salammbô,—one not thinking about her, and the other -being prevented by a feeling of shame. - -Often he would go towards Carthage, striving to catch sight of -Hamilcar’s troops. His eyes would dart along the horizon; he would -lie flat on the ground, and believe that he could hear an army in the -throbbing of his arteries. - -He told Spendius that if Hamilcar did not arrive in three days he would -go with all his men to meet him and offer him battle. Two further days -elapsed. Spendius restrained him; but on the morning of the sixth day he -departed. - - -The Carthaginians were no less impatient for war than the Barbarians. -In tents and in houses there was the same longing and the same distress; -all were asking one another what was delaying Hamilcar. - -From time to time he would mount to the cupola of the temple of Eschmoun -beside the Announcer of the Moons and take note of the wind. - -One day—it was the third of the month of Tibby—they saw him -descending from the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour arose -in the Mappalian district. Soon the streets were astir, and the soldiers -were everywhere beginning to arm themselves upon their breasts; then -they ran quickly to the square of Khamon to take their places in the -ranks. No one was allowed to follow them or even to speak to them, or to -approach the ramparts; for some minutes the whole town was silent as a -great tomb. The soldiers as they leaned on their lances were thinking, -and the others in the houses were sighing. - -At sunset the army went out by the western gate; but instead of taking -the road to Tunis or making for the mountains in the direction of Utica, -they continued their march along the edge of the sea; and they soon -reached the Lagoon, where round spaces quite whitened with salt -glittered like gigantic silver dishes forgotten on the shore. - -Then the pools of water multiplied. The ground gradually became softer, -and the feet sank in it. Hamilcar did not turn back. He went on still -at their head; and his horse, which was yellow-spotted like a dragon, -advanced into the mire flinging froth around him, and with great -straining of the loins. Night—a moonless light—fell. A few cried out -that they were about to perish; he snatched their arms from them, and -gave them to the serving-men. Nevertheless the mud became deeper and -deeper. Some had to mount the beasts of burden; others clung to the -horses’ tails; the sturdy pulled the weak, and the Ligurian corps -drove on the infantry with the points of their pikes. The darkness -increased. They had lost their way. All stopped. - -Then some of the Suffet’s slaves went on ahead to look for the buoys -which had been placed at intervals by his order. They shouted through -the darkness, and the army followed them at a distance. - -At last they felt the resistance of the ground. Then a whitish curve -became dimly visible, and they found themselves on the bank of the -Macaras. In spite of the cold no fires were lighted. - -In the middle of the night squalls of wind arose. Hamilcar had the -soldiers roused, but not a trumpet was sounded: their captain tapped -them softly on the shoulder. - -A man of lofty stature went down into the water. It did not come up to -his girdle; it was possible to cross. - -The Suffet ordered thirty-two of the elephants to be posted in the river -a hundred paces further on, while the others, lower down, would check -the lines of men that were carried away by the current; and holding -their weapons above their heads they all crossed the Macaras as though -between two walls. He had noticed that the western wind had driven the -sand so as to obstruct the river and form a natural causeway across it. - -He was now on the left bank in front of Utica, and in a vast plain, the -latter being advantageous for his elephants, which formed the strength -of his army. - -This feat of genius filled the soldiers with enthusiasm. They recovered -extraordinary confidence. They wished to hasten immediately against the -Barbarians; but the Suffet bade them rest for two hours. As soon as the -sun appeared they moved into the plain in three lines—first came the -elephants, and then the light infantry with the cavalry behind it, the -phalanx marching next. - -The Barbarians encamped at Utica, and the fifteen thousand about the -bridge were surprised to see the ground undulating in the distance. The -wind, which was blowing very hard, was driving tornadoes of sand before -it; they rose as though snatched from the soil, ascended in great -light-coloured strips, then parted asunder and began again, hiding the -Punic army the while from the Mercenaries. Owing to the horns, which -stood up on the edge of the helmets, some thought that they could -perceive a herd of oxen; others, deceived by the motion of the cloaks, -pretended that they could distinguish wings, and those who had travelled -a good deal shrugged their shoulders and explained everything by -the illusions of the mirage. Nevertheless something of enormous size -continued to advance. Little vapours, as subtle as the breath, ran -across the surface of the desert; the sun, which was higher now, shone -more strongly: a harsh light, which seemed to vibrate, threw back -the depths of the sky, and permeating objects, rendered distance -incalculable. The immense plain expanded in every direction beyond the -limits of vision; and the almost insensible undulations of the soil -extended to the extreme horizon, which was closed by a great blue line -which they knew to be the sea. The two armies, having left their tents, -stood gazing; the people of Utica were massing on the ramparts to have a -better view. - -At last they distinguished several transverse bars bristling with level -points. They became thicker, larger; black hillocks swayed to and fro; -square thickets suddenly appeared; they were elephants and lances. A -single shout went up: “The Carthaginians!” and without signal or -command the soldiers at Utica and those at the bridge ran pell-mell to -fall in a body upon Hamilcar. - -Spendius shuddered at the name. “Hamilcar! Hamilcar!” he repeated, -panting, and Matho was not there! What was to be done? No means of -flight! The suddenness of the event, his terror of the Suffet, and above -all, the urgent need of forming an immediate resolution, distracted him; -he could see himself pierced by a thousand swords, decapitated, dead. -Meanwhile he was being called for; thirty thousand men would follow him; -he was seized with fury against himself; he fell back upon the hope of -victory; it was full of bliss, and he believed himself more intrepid -than Epaminondas. He smeared his cheeks with vermilion in order to -conceal his paleness, then he buckled on his knemids and his cuirass, -swallowed a patera of pure wine, and ran after his troops, who were -hastening towards those from Utica. - -They united so rapidly that the Suffet had not time to draw up his -men in battle array. By degrees he slackened his speed. The elephants -stopped; they rocked their heavy heads with their chargings of ostrich -feathers, striking their shoulders the while with their trunks. - -Behind the intervals between them might be seen the cohorts of the -velites, and further on the great helmets of the Clinabarians, -with steel heads glancing in the sun, cuirasses, plumes, and waving -standards. But the Carthaginian army, which amounted to eleven thousand -three hundred and ninety-six men, seemed scarcely to contain them, for -it formed an oblong, narrow at the sides and pressed back upon itself. - -Seeing them so weak, the Barbarians, who were thrice as numerous, were -seized with extravagant joy. Hamilcar was not to be seen. Perhaps he -had remained down yonder? Moreover what did it matter? The disdain -which they felt for these traders strengthened their courage; and -before Spendius could command a manouvre they had all understood it, and -already executed it. - -They were deployed in a long, straight line, overlapping the wings of -the Punic army in order to completely encompass it. But when there -was an interval of only three hundred paces between the armies, the -elephants turned round instead of advancing; then the Clinabarians were -seen to face about and follow them; and the surprise of the Mercenaries -increased when they saw the archers running to join them. So the -Carthaginians were afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous hooting broke -out from among the Barbarian troops, and Spendius exclaimed from the top -of his dromedary: “Ah! I knew it! Forward! forward!” - -Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously. The -elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop more -quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like shadows in -a cloud. - -But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated by -the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously. -The space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full -of eddies and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it. -Cohorts of infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time -all the rest saw the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a -gallop. - -Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and -the elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals -so as to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he -calculated the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when -they reached him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long straight -line. - -In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full squares -having sixteen men on each side. All the leaders of all the files -appeared amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly around -them, for the first six ranks crossed their sarissæ, holding them in -the middle, and the ten lower ranks rested them upon the shoulders of -their companions in succession before them. Their faces were all half -hidden beneath the visors of their helmets; their right legs were all -covered with bronze knemids; broad cylindrical shields reached down to -their knees; and the horrible quadrangular mass moved in a single body, -and seemed to live like an animal and work like a machine. Two cohorts -of elephants flanked it in regular array; quivering, they shook off the -splinters of the arrows that clung to their black skins. The Indians, -squatting on their withers among the tufts of white feathers, restrained -them with their spoon-headed harpoons, while the men in the towers, who -were hidden up to their shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished -with lighted tow on the edges of their large bended bows. Right and -left of the elephants hovered the slingers, each with a sling around his -loins, a second on his head, and a third in his right hand. Then came -the Clinabarians, each flanked by a Negro, and pointing their lances -between the ears of their horses, which, like themselves, were -completely covered with gold. Afterwards, at intervals, came the light -armed soldiers with shields of lynx skin, beyond which projected the -points of the javelins which they held in their left hands; while -the Tarentines, each having two coupled horses, relieved this wall of -soldiers at its two extremities. - -The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to -preserve its line. Undulations and blanks were to be found through -its extravagant length; all were panting and out of breath with their -running. - -The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissæ; -and the too slender line of the Mercenaries soon yielded in the centre -beneath the enormous weight. - -Then the Carthaginian wings expanded in order to fall upon them, the -elephants following. The phalanx, with obliquely pointed lances, cut -through the Barbarians; there were two enormous, struggling bodies; and -the wings with slings and arrows beat them back upon the phalangites. -There was no cavalry to get rid of them, except two hundred Numidians -operating against the right squadron of the Clinabarians. All the rest -were hemmed in, and unable to extricate themselves from the lines. The -peril was imminent, and the need of coming to some resolution urgent. - -Spendius ordered attacks to be made simultaneously on both flanks of the -phalanx so as to pass clean through it. But the narrower ranks glided -below the longer ones and recovered their position, and the phalanx -turned upon the Barbarians as terrible in flank as it had just been in -front. - -They struck at the staves of the sarissæ, but the cavalry in the rear -embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx, supported by the elephants, -lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, -a cone, a rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid. A twofold internal movement -went on continually from its head to its rear; for those who were at -the lowest part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the -latter, from fatigue, or on account of the wounded, fell further back. -The Barbarians found themselves thronged upon the phalanx. It was -impossible for it to advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein -leaped red crests and scales of brass, while the bright shields rolled -like silver foam. Sometimes broad currents would descend from one -extremity to the other, and then go up again, while a heavy mass -remained motionless in the centre. The lances dipped and rose -alternately. Elsewhere there was so quick a play of naked swords that -only the points were visible, while turmæ of cavalry formed wide -circles which closed again like whirlwinds behind them. - -Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the -grating of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds of clay whistled through -the air, dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the skull. -The wounded, sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their shields, -pointed their swords by resting the pommels on the ground, while others, -lying in pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels of those above -them. The multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, and the tumult -so great that it was impossible to distinguish anything; the cowards who -offered to surrender were not even heard. Those whose hands were empty -clasped one another close; breasts cracked against cuirasses, and -corpses hung with head thrown back between a pair of contracted arms. -There was a company of sixty Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their -pikes before their eyes, immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two -syntagmata to recoil simultaneously. Some Epirote shepherds ran upon the -left squadron of the Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the -horses by the man; the animals threw their riders and fled across the -plain. The Punic slingers scattered here and there stood gaping. The -phalanx began to waver, the captains ran to and fro in distraction, -the rearmost in the files were pressing upon the soldiers, and the -Barbarians had re-formed; they were recovering; the victory was theirs. - -But a cry, a terrible cry broke forth, a roar of pain and wrath: it came -from the seventy-two elephants which were rushing on in double line, -Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed together in -one spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had goaded them so -vigorously that blood was trickling down their broad ears. Their trunks, -which were smeared with minium, were stretched straight out in the air -like red serpents; their breasts were furnished with spears and their -backs with cuirasses; their tusks were lengthened with steel blades -curved like sabres,—and to make them more ferocious they had been -intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, wine, and incense. They shook -their necklaces of bells, and shrieked; and the elephantarchs bent their -heads beneath the stream of phalaricas which was beginning to fly from -the tops of the towers. - -In order to resist them the better the Barbarians rushed forward in -a compact crowd; the elephants flung themselves impetuously upon the -centre of it. The spurs on their breasts, like ships’ prows, clove -through the cohorts, which flowed surging back. They stifled the men -with their trunks, or else snatching them up from the ground delivered -them over their heads to the soldiers in the towers; with their tusks -they disembowelled them, and hurled them into the air, and long entrails -hung from their ivory fangs like bundles of rope from a mast. The -Barbarians strove to blind them, to hamstring them; others would slip -beneath their bodies, bury a sword in them up to the hilt, and perish -crushed to death; the most intrepid clung to their straps; they would go -on sawing the leather amid flames, bullets, and arrows, and the wicker -tower would fall like a tower of stone. Fourteen of the animals on the -extreme right, irritated by their wounds, turned upon the second rank; -the Indians seized mallet and chisel, applied the latter to a joint in -the head, and with all their might struck a great blow. - -Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another. It was like -a mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous -elephant, called “The Fury of Baal,” which had been caught by the -leg in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in its -eye. - -The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination, -overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged against the corpses and the -débris. To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they -turned about on their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual -rotatory motion. The Carthaginians felt their energy increase, and the -battle begin again. - -The Barbarians were growing weak; some Greek hoplites threw away all -their arms, and terror seized upon the rest. Spendius was seen stooping -upon his dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two javelins. -Then they all rushed away from the wings and ran towards Utica. - -The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake -them. The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an -advance towards the river. But the Carthaginians, who were posted in the -centre of the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their feet -with longing for the vengeance which was flying from them; and they -were already darting forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when Hamilcar -appeared. - -He held in his spotted and sweat-covered horse with silver reins. The -bands fastened to the horns on his helmet flapped in the wind behind -him, and he had placed his oval shield beneath his left thigh. With a -motion of his triple-pointed pike he checked the army. - -The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off right -and left towards the river and towards the town. - -The phalanx exterminated all the remaining Barbarians at leisure. When -the swords appeared they would stretch out their throats and close their -eyelids. Others defended themselves to the last, and were knocked down -from a distance with flints like mad dogs. Hamilcar had desired the -taking of prisoners, but the Carthaginians obeyed him grudgingly, so -much pleasure did they derive from plunging their swords into the bodies -of the Barbarians. As they were too hot they set about their work with -bare arms like mowers; and when they desisted to take breath they would -follow with their eyes a horseman galloping across the country after a -fleeing soldier. He would succeed in seizing him by the hair, hold him -thus for a while, and then fell him with a blow of his axe. - -Night fell. Carthaginians and Barbarians had disappeared. The elephants -which had taken to flight roamed in the horizon with their fired towers. -These burned here and there in the darkness like beacons nearly half -lost in the mist; and no movement could be discerned in the plain save -the undulation of the river, which was heaped with corpses, and was -drifting them away to the sea. - - -Two hours afterwards Matho arrived. He caught sight in the starlight of -long, uneven heaps lying upon the ground. - -They were files of Barbarians. He stooped down; all were dead. He called -into the distance, but no voice replied. - -That very morning he had left Hippo-Zarytus with his soldiers to march -upon Carthage. At Utica the army under Spendius had just set out, and -the inhabitants were beginning to fire the engines. All had fought -desperately. But, the tumult which was going on in the direction of -the bridge increasing in an incomprehensible fashion, Matho had struck -across the mountain by the shortest road, and as the Barbarians were -fleeing over the plain he had encountered nobody. - -Facing him were little pyramidal masses rearing themselves in the shade, -and on this side of the river and closer to him were motionless lights -on the surface of the ground. In fact the Carthaginians had fallen -back behind the bridge, and to deceive the Barbarians the Suffet had -stationed numerous posts upon the other bank. - -Matho, still advancing, thought that he could distinguish Punic engines, -for horses’ heads which did not stir appeared in the air fixed upon -the tops of piles of staves which could not be seen; and further off he -could hear a great clamour, a noise of songs, and clashing of cups. - -Then, not knowing where he was nor how to find Spendius, assailed with -anguish, scared, and lost in the darkness, he returned more impetuously -by the same road. The dawn as growing grey when from the top of -the mountain he perceived the town with the carcases of the engines -blackened by the flames and looking like giant skeletons leaning against -the walls. - -All was peaceful amid extraordinary silence and heaviness. Among his -soldiers on the verge of the tents men were sleeping nearly naked, each -upon his back, or with his forehead against his arm which was supported -by his cuirass. Some were unwinding bloodstained bandages from their -legs. Those who were doomed to die rolled their heads about gently; -others dragged themselves along and brought them drink. The sentries -walked up and down along the narrow paths in order to warm themselves, -or stood in a fierce attitude with their faces turned towards the -horizon, and their pikes on their shoulders. Matho found Spendius -sheltered beneath a rag of canvas, supported by two sticks set in the -ground, his knee in his hands and his head cast down. - -They remained for a long time without speaking. - -At last Matho murmured: “Conquered!” - -Spendius rejoined in a gloomy voice: “Yes, conquered!” - -And to all questions he replied by gestures of despair. - -Meanwhile sighs and death-rattles reached them. Matho partially opened -the canvas. Then the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another -disaster on the same spot, and he ground his teeth: “Wretch! once -already—” - -Spendius interrupted him: “You were not there either.” - -“It is a curse!” exclaimed Matho. “Nevertheless, in the end I -will get at him! I will conquer him! I will slay him! Ah! if I had been -there!—” The thought of having missed the battle rendered him even -more desperate than the defeat. He snatched up his sword and threw it -upon the ground. “But how did the Carthaginians beat you?” - -The former slave began to describe the manouvres. Matho seemed to -see them, and he grew angry. The army from Utica ought to have taken -Hamilcar in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge. - -“Ah! I know!” said Spendius. - -“You ought to have made your ranks twice as deep, avoided exposing the -velites against the phalanx, and given free passage to the elephants. -Everything might have been recovered at the last moment; there was no -necessity to fly.” - -Spendius replied: - -“I saw him pass along in his large red cloak, with uplifted arms -and higher than the dust, like an eagle flying upon the flank of the -cohorts; and at every nod they closed up or darted forward; the throng -carried us towards each other; he looked at me, and I felt the cold -steel as it were in my heart.” - -“He selected the day, perhaps?” whispered Matho to himself. - -They questioned each other, trying to discover what it was that had -brought the Suffet just when circumstances were most unfavourable. -They went on to talk over the situation, and Spendius, to extenuate his -fault, or to revive his courage, asserted that some hope still remained. - -“And if there be none, it matters not!” said Matho; “alone, I will -carry on the war!” - -“And I too!” exclaimed the Greek, leaping up; he strode to and fro, -his eyes sparkling, and a strange smile wrinkled his jackal face. - -“We will make a fresh start; do not leave me again! I am not made for -battles in the sunlight—the flashing of swords troubles my sight; it -is a disease, I lived too long in the ergastulum. But give me walls to -scale at night, and I will enter the citadels, and the corpses shall be -cold before cock-crow! Show me any one, anything, an enemy, a treasure, -a woman,—a woman,” he repeated, “were she a king’s daughter, -and I will quickly bring your desire to your feet. You reproach me for -having lost the battle against Hanno, nevertheless I won it back -again. Confess it! my herd of swine did more for us than a phalanx of -Spartans.” And yielding to the need that he felt of exalting himself -and taking his revenge, he enumerated all that he had done for the cause -of the Mercenaries. “It was I who urged on the Gaul in the Suffet’s -gardens! And later, at Sicca, I maddened them all with fear of the -Republic! Gisco was sending them back, but I prevented the interpreters -speaking. Ah! how their tongues hung out of their mouths! do you -remember? I brought you into Carthage; I stole the zaïmph. I led you to -her. I will do more yet: you shall see!” He burst out laughing like a -madman. - -Matho regarded him with gaping eyes. He felt in a measure uncomfortable -in the presence of this man, who was at once so cowardly and so -terrible. - -The Greek resumed in jovial tones and cracking his fingers: - -“Evoe! Sun after run! I have worked in the quarries, and I have -drunk Massic wine beneath a golden awning in a vessel of my own like a -Ptolemæus. Calamity should help to make us cleverer. By dint of work we -may make fortune bend. She loves politicians. She will yield!” - -He returned to Matho and took him by the arm. - -“Master, at present the Carthaginians are sure of their victory. You -have quite an army which has not fought, and your men obey you. Place -them in the front: mine will follow to avenge themselves. I have still -three thousand Carians, twelve hundred slingers and archers, whole -cohorts! A phalanx even might be formed; let us return!” - -Matho, who had been stunned by the disaster, had hitherto thought of -no means of repairing it. He listened with open mouth, and the bronze -plates which circled his sides rose with the leapings of his heart. He -picked up his sword, crying: - -“Follow me; forward!” - -But when the scouts returned, they announced that the Carthaginian dead -had been carried off, that the bridge was in ruins, and that Hamilcar -had disappeared. - - - - - -CHAPTER IX IN THE FIELD - -Hamilcar had thought that the Mercenaries would await him at Utica, or -that they would return against him; and finding his forces insufficient -to make or to sustain an attack, he had struck southwards along the -right bank of the river, thus protecting himself immediately from a -surprise. - -He intended first to wink at the revolt of the tribes and to detach them -all from the cause of the Barbarians; then when they were quite isolated -in the midst of the provinces he would fall upon them and exterminate -them. - -In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised between Thouccaber -and Utica, with the towns of Tignicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others -further to the west. Zounghar built in the mountains, Assoura celebrated -for its temple, Djeraado fertile in junipers, Thapitis, and Hagour -sent embassies to him. The country people came with their hands full of -provisions, implored his protection, kissed his feet and those of the -soldiers, and complained of the Barbarians. Some came to offer him bags -containing heads of Mercenaries killed, so they said, by themselves, but -which they had cut off corpses; for many had lost themselves in their -flight, and were found dead here and there beneath the olive trees and -among the vines. - -On the morrow of his victory, Hamilcar, to dazzle the people, had sent -to Carthage the two thousand captives taken on the battlefield. They -arrived in long companies of one hundred men each, all with their arms -fastened behind their backs with a bar of bronze which caught them at -the nape of the neck, and the wounded, bleeding as they still were, -running also along; horsemen followed them, driving them on with blows -of the whip. - -Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six -thousand Barbarians killed; the others would not hold out, and the war -was finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed -the faces of the Patæc Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them. -These, with their big eyes, their big bodies, and their arms raised as -high as the shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, and -to participate in the cheerfulness of the people. The rich left their -doors open; the city resounded with the noise of the timbrels; the -temples were illuminated every night, and the servants of the goddess -went down to Malqua and set up stages of sycamore-wood at the corners -of the cross-ways, and prostituted themselves there. Lands were voted to -the conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred gold crowns to the -Suffet, and his partisans proposed to decree to him new prerogatives and -honours. - -He had begged the Ancients to make overtures to Autaritus for exchanging -all the Barbarians, if necessary, for the aged Gisco, and the other -Carthaginians detained like him. The Libyans and Nomads composing the -army under Autaritus knew scarcely anything of these Mercenaries, who -were men of Italiote or Greek race; and the offer by the Republic of so -many Barbarians for so few Carthaginians, showed that the value of the -former was nothing and that of the latter considerable. They dreaded a -snare. Autaritus refused. - -Then the Ancients decreed the execution of the captives, although the -Suffet had written to them not to put them to death. He reckoned -upon incorporating the best of them with his own troops and of thus -instigating defections. But hatred swept away all circumspection. - -The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelæ of the tombs in -the Mappalian quarter; and traders, scullions, embroiderers, and even -women,—the widows of the dead with their children—all who would, -came to kill them with arrows. They aimed slowly at them, the better to -prolong their torture, lowering the weapon and then raising it in turn; -and the multitude pressed forward howling. Paralytics had themselves -brought thither in hand-barrows; many took the precaution of bringing -their food, and remained on the spot until the evening; others passed -the night there. Tents had been set up in which drinking went on. Many -gained large sums by hiring out bows. - -Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so many -red statues on the tombs, and the excitement even spread to the people -of Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, and were -usually indifferent to the affairs of their country. Out of gratitude -for the pleasure it had been giving them they now interested themselves -in its fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and the Ancients -thought it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire people in a -single act of vengeance. - -The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all -quarters of the sky. They wheeled in the air as they flew with loud -hoarse cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself. -It was seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermæum. -Sometimes it would suddenly burst asunder, its black spirals extending -far away, as an eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again; -here and there on the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, -and the pediments of the temples there were big birds holding human -fragments in their reddened beaks. - -Owing to the smell the Carthaginians resigned themselves to unbind the -corpses. A few of them were burnt; the rest were thrown into the sea, -and the waves, driven by the north wind, deposited them on the shore at -the end of the gulf before the camp of Autaritus. - -This punishment had no doubt terrified the Barbarians, for from the top -of Eschmoun they could be seen striking their tents, collecting their -flocks, and hoisting their baggage upon asses, and on the evening of the -same day the entire army withdrew. - - -It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs -and Hippo-Zarytus, and so debar the Suffet from approaching the Tyrian -towns, and from the possibility of a return to Carthage. - -Meanwhile the two other armies were to try to overtake him in the south, -Spendius in the east, and Matho in the west, in such a way that all -three should unite to surprise and entangle him. Then they received a -reinforcement which they had not looked for: Narr’ Havas appeared with -three hundred camels laden with bitumen, twenty-five elephants, and six -thousand horsemen. - -To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had judged it prudent to occupy his -attention at a distance in his own kingdom. From the heart of Carthage -he had come to an understanding with Masgaba, a Gætulian brigand -who was seeking to found an empire. Strengthened by Punic money, the -adventurer had raised the Numidian States with promises of freedom. -But Narr’ Havas, warned by his nurse’s son, had dropped into Cirta, -poisoned the conquerors with the water of the cisterns, struck off a few -heads, set all right again, and had just arrived against the Suffet more -furious than the Barbarians. - -The chiefs of the four armies concerted the arrangements for the war. It -would be a long one, and everything must be foreseen. - -It was agreed first to entreat the assistance of the Romans, and -this mission was offered to Spendius, but as a fugitive he dared not -undertake it. Twelve men from the Greek colonies embarked at Annaba in -a sloop belonging to the Numidians. Then the chiefs exacted an oath -of complete obedience from all the Barbarians. Every day the captains -inspected clothes and boots; the sentries were even forbidden to use a -shield, for they would often lean it against their lance and fall -asleep as they stood; those who had any baggage trailing after them -were obliged to get rid of it; everything was to be carried, in Roman -fashion, on the back. As a precaution against the elephants Matho -instituted a corps of cataphract cavalry, men and horses being hidden -beneath cuirasses of hippopotamus skin bristling with nails; and to -protect the horses’ hoofs boots of plaited esparto-grass were made for -them. - -It was forbidden to pillage the villages, or to tyrannise over the -inhabitants who were not of Punic race. But as the country was becoming -exhausted, Matho ordered the provisions to be served out to the soldiers -individually, without troubling about the women. At first the men shared -with them. Many grew weak for lack of food. It was the occasion of many -quarrels and invectives, many drawing away the companions of the rest -by the bait or even by the promise of their own portion. Matho commanded -them all to be driven away pitilessly. They took refuge in the camp -of Autaritus; but the Gaulish and Libyan women forced them by their -outrageous treatment to depart. - -At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the -protection of Ceres and Proserpine, for in Byrsa there was a temple -with priests consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the horrors -formerly committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, alleging -their right to waifs and strays, claimed the youngest in order to sell -them; and some fair Lacedæmonian women were taken by New Carthaginians -in marriage. - -A few persisted in following the armies. They ran on the flank of the -syntagmata by the side of the captains. They called to their husbands, -pulled them by the cloak, cursed them as they beat their breasts, and -held out their little naked and weeping children at arm’s length. The -sight of them was unmanning the Barbarians; they were an embarrassment -and a peril. Several times they were repulsed, but they came back again; -Matho made the horsemen belonging to Narr’ Havas charge them with the -point of the lance; and on some Balearians shouting out to him that they -must have women, he replied: “I have none!” - -Just now he was invaded by the genius of Moloch. In spite of the -rebellion of his conscience, he performed terrible deeds, imagining that -he was thus obeying the voice of a god. When he could not ravage the -fields, Matho would cast stones into them to render them sterile. - -He urged Autaritus and Spendius with repeated messages to make haste. -But the Suffet’s operations were incomprehensible. He encamped at -Eidous, Monchar, and Tehent successively; some scouts believed that they -saw him in the neighbourhood of Ischiil, near the frontiers of Narr’ -Havas, and it was reported that he had crossed the river above Tebourba -as though to return to Carthage. Scarcely was he in one place when he -removed to another. The routes that he followed always remained unknown. -The Suffet preserved his advantages without offering battle, and while -pursued by the Barbarians seemed to be leading them. - -These marches and counter marches were still more fatiguing to the -Carthaginians, and Hamilcar’s forces, receiving no reinforcements, -diminished from day to day. The country people were now more backward -in bringing him provisions. In every direction he encountered taciturn -hesitation and hatred; and in spite of his entreaties to the Great -Council no succour came from Carthage. - -It was said, perhaps it was believed, that he had need of none. It was -a trick, or his complaints were unnecessary; and Hanno’s partisans, in -order to do him an ill turn, exaggerated the importance of his victory. -The troops which he commanded he was welcome to; but they were not -going to supply his demands continually in that way. The war was quite -burdensome enough! it had cost too much, and from pride the patricians -belonging to his faction supported him but slackly. - -Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the tribes -all that he wanted for the war—grain, oil, wood, cattle, and men. -But the inhabitants were not long in taking flight. The villages passed -through were empty, and the cabins were ransacked without anything being -discerned in them. The Punic army was soon encompassed by a terrible -solitude. - -The Carthaginians, who were furious, began to sack the provinces; they -filled up the cisterns and fired the houses. The sparks, being carried -by the wind, were scattered far off, and whole forests were on fire on -the mountains; they bordered the valleys with a crown of flames, and -it was often necessary to wait in order to pass beyond them. Then the -soldiers resumed their march over the warm ashes in the full glare of -the sun. - -Sometimes they would see what looked like the eyes of a tiger cat -gleaming in a bush by the side of the road. This was a Barbarian -crouching upon his heels, and smeared with dust, that he might not be -distinguished from the colour of the foliage; or perhaps when passing -along a ravine those on the wings would suddenly hear the rolling of -stones, and raising their eyes would perceive a bare-footed man bounding -along through the openings of the gorge. - -Meanwhile Utica and Hippo-Zarytus were free since the Mercenaries -were no longer besieging them. Hamilcar commanded them to come to his -assistance. But not caring to compromise themselves, they answered him -with vague words, with compliments and excuses. - -He went up again abruptly into the North, determined to open up one of -the Tyrian towns, though he were obliged to lay siege to it. He required -a station on the coast, so as to be able to draw supplies and men from -the islands or from Cyrene, and he coveted the harbour of Utica as being -the nearest to Carthage. - -The Suffet therefore left Zouitin and turned the lake of Hippo-Zarytus -with circumspection. But he was soon obliged to lengthen out his -regiments into column in order to climb the mountain which separates -the two valleys. They were descending at sunset into its hollow, -funnel-shaped summit, when they perceived on the level of the ground -before them bronze she-wolves which seemed to be running across the -grass. - -Suddenly large plumes arose and a terrible song burst forth, accompanied -by the rhythm of flutes. It was the army under Spendius; for some -Campanians and Greeks, in their execration of Carthage, had assumed the -ensigns of Rome. At the same time long pikes, shields of leopard’s -skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders were seen on the left. -These were the Iberians under Matho, the Lusitanians, Balearians, and -Gætulians; the horses of Narr’ Havas were heard to neigh; they -spread around the hill; then came the loose rabble commanded by -Autaritus—Gauls, Libyans, and Nomads; while the Eaters of Uncleanness -might be recognised among them by the fish bones which they wore in -their hair. - -Thus the Barbarians, having contrived their marches with exactness, had -come together again. But themselves surprised, they remained motionless -for some minutes in consultation. - -The Suffet had collected his men into an orbicular mass, in such a way -as to offer an equal resistance in every direction. The infantry were -surrounded by their tall, pointed shields fixed close to one another in -the turf. The Clinabarians were outside and the elephants at intervals -further off. The Mercenaries were worn out with fatigue; it was better -to wait till next day; and the Barbarians feeling sure of their victory -occupied themselves the whole night in eating. - -They lighted large bright fires, which, while dazzling themselves, left -the Punic army below them in the shade. Hamilcar caused a trench fifteen -feet broad and ten cubits deep to be dug in Roman fashion round his -camp, and the earth thrown out to be raised on the inside into a -parapet, on which sharp interlacing stakes were planted; and at sunrise -the Mercenaries were amazed to perceive all the Carthaginians thus -entrenched as if in a fortress. - -They could recognise Hamilcar in the midst of the tents walking about -and giving orders. His person was clad in a brown cuirass cut in little -scales; he was followed by his horse, and stopped from time to time to -point out something with his right arm outstretched. - -Then more than one recalled similar mornings when, amid the din of -clarions, he passed slowly before them, and his looks strengthened -them like cups of wine. A kind of emotion overcame them. Those, on the -contrary, who were not acquainted with Hamilcar, were mad with joy at -having caught him. - -Nevertheless if all attacked at once they would do one another mutual -injury in the insufficiency of space. The Numidians might dash through; -but the Clinabarians, who were protected by cuirasses, would crush them. -And then how were the palisades to be crossed? As to the elephants, they -were not sufficiently well trained. - -“You are all cowards!” exclaimed Matho. - -And with the best among them he rushed against the entrenchment. They -were repulsed by a volley of stones; for the Suffet had taken their -abandoned catapults on the bridge. - -This want of success produced an abrupt change in the fickle minds -of the Barbarians. Their extreme bravery disappeared; they wished to -conquer, but with the smallest possible risk. According to Spendius they -ought to maintain carefully the position that they held, and starve out -the Punic army. But the Carthaginians began to dig wells, and as there -were mountains surrounding the hill, they discovered water. - -From the summit of their palisade they launched arrows, earth, dung, -and pebbles which they gathered from the ground, while the six catapults -rolled incessantly throughout the length of the terrace. - -But the springs would dry up of themselves; the provisions would be -exhausted, and the catapults worn out; the Mercenaries, who were -ten times as numerous, would triumph in the end. The Suffet devised -negotiations so as to gain time, and one morning the Barbarians found -a sheep’s skin covered with writing within their lines. He justified -himself for his victory: the Ancients had forced him into the war, and -to show them that he was keeping his word, he offered them the pillaging -of Utica or Hippo-Zarytus at their choice; in conclusion, Hamilcar -declared that he did not fear them because he had won over some -traitors, and thanks to them would easily manage the rest. - -The Barbarians were disturbed: this proposal of immediate booty made -them consider; they were apprehensive of treachery, not suspecting -a snare in the Suffet’s boasting, and they began to look upon one -another with mistrust. Words and steps were watched; terrors awaked -them in the night. Many forsook their companions and chose their army as -fancy dictated, and the Gauls with Autaritus went and joined themselves -with the men of Cisalpine Gaul, whose language they understood. - -The four chiefs met together every evening in Matho’s tent, and -squatting round a shield, attentively moved backwards and forwards the -little wooden figures invented by Pyrrhus for the representation of -manouvres. Spendius would demonstrate Hamilcar’s resources, and with -oaths by all the gods entreat that the opportunity should not be wasted. -Matho would walk about angry and gesticulating. The war against Carthage -was his own personal affair; he was indignant that the others should -interfere in it without being willing to obey him. Autaritus would -divine his speech from his countenance and applaud. Narr’ Havas would -elevate his chin to mark his disdain; there was not a measure he did not -consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs would escape him as -though he were thrusting back sorrow for an impossible dream, despair -for an abortive enterprise. - -While the Barbarians deliberated in uncertainty, the Suffet increased -his defences: he had a second trench dug within the palisades, a second -wall raised, and wooden towers constructed at the corners; and his -slaves went as far as the middle of the outposts to drive caltrops into -the ground. But the elephants, whose allowances were lessened, struggled -in their shackles. To economise the grass he ordered the Clinabarians to -kill the least strong among the stallions. A few refused to do so, and -he had them decapitated. The horses were eaten. The recollection of -this fresh meat was a source of great sadness to them in the days that -followed. - -From the bottom of the ampitheatre in which they were confined they -could see the four bustling camps of the Barbarians all around them on -the heights. Women moved about with leathern bottles on their heads, -goats strayed bleating beneath the piles of pikes; sentries were being -relieved, and eating was going on around tripods. In fact, the tribes -furnished them abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves -suspect how much their inaction alarmed the Punic army. - -On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three -hundred men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads. These were -the rich who had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war. -Some Libyans ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their -station behind them, and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart -of their bodies. The wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised, -so completely were their faces covered with vermin and filth. Their hair -had been plucked out in places, leaving bare the ulcers on their -heads, and they were so lean and hideous that they were like mummies in -tattered shrouds. A few trembled and sobbed with a stupid look; the rest -cried out to their friends to fire upon the Barbarians. There was one -who remained quite motionless with face cast down, and without -speaking; his long white beard fell to his chain-covered hands; and the -Carthaginians, feeling as it were the downfall of the Republic in the -bottom of their hearts, recognised Gisco. Although the place was a -dangerous one they pressed forward to see him. On his head had been -placed a grotesque tiara of hippopotamus leather incrusted with pebbles. -It was Autaritus’s idea; but it was displeasing to Matho. - -Hamilcar in exasperation, and resolved to cut his way through in one way -or another, had the palisades opened; and the Carthaginians went at a -furious rate half way up the hill or three hundred paces. Such a flood -of Barbarians descended upon them that they were driven back to their -lines. One of the guards of the Legion who had remained outside was -stumbling among the stones. Zarxas ran up to him, knocked him down, and -plunged a dagger into his throat; he drew it out, threw himself upon the -wound—and gluing his lips to it with mutterings of joy, and startings -which shook him to the heels, pumped up the blood by breastfuls; then he -quietly sat down upon the corpse, raised his face with his neck thrown -back the better to breathe in the air, like a hind that has just drunk -at a mountain stream, and in a shrill voice began to sing a Balearic -song, a vague melody full of prolonged modulations, with interruptions -and alternations like echoes answering one another in the mountains; he -called upon his dead brothers and invited them to a feast;—then he let -his hands fall between his legs, slowly bent his head, and wept. This -atrocious occurrence horrified the Barbarians, especially the Greeks. - -From that time forth the Carthaginians did not attempt to make any -sally; and they had no thought of surrender, certain as they were that -they would perish in tortures. - -Nevertheless the provisions, in spite of Hamilcar’s carefulness, -diminished frightfully. There was not left per man more than ten -k’hommers of wheat, three hins of millet, and twelve betzas of dried -fruit. No more meat, no more oil, no more salt food, and not a grain of -barley for the horses, which might be seen stretching down their wasted -necks seeking in the dust for blades of trampled straw. Often the -sentries on vedette upon the terrace would see in the moonlight a dog -belonging to the Barbarians coming to prowl beneath the entrenchment -among the heaps of filth; it would be knocked down with a stone, and -then, after a descent had been effected along the palisades by means -of the straps of a shield, it would be eaten without a word. Sometimes -horrible barkings would be heard and the man would not come up again. -Three phalangites, in the fourth dilochia of the twelfth syntagmata, -killed one another with knives in a dispute about a rat. - -All regretted their families, and their houses; the poor their -hive-shaped huts, with the shells on the threshold and the hanging net, -and the patricians their large halls filled with bluish shadows, where -at the most indolent hour of the day they used to rest listening to the -vague noise of the streets mingled with the rustling of the leaves as -they stirred in their gardens;—to go deeper into the thought of this, -and to enjoy it more, they would half close their eyelids, only to be -roused by the shock of a wound. Every minute there was some engagement, -some fresh alarm; the towers were burning, the Eaters of Uncleanness -were leaping across the palisades; their hands would be struck off with -axes; others would hasten up; an iron hail would fall upon the tents. -Galleries of rushen hurdles were raised as a protection against the -projectiles. The Carthaginians shut themselves up within them and -stirred out no more. - -Every day the sun coming over the hill used, after the early hours, to -forsake the bottom of the gorge and leave them in the shade. The grey -slopes of the ground, covered with flints spotted with scanty lichen, -ascended in front and in the rear, and above their summits stretched the -sky in its perpetual purity, smoother and colder to the eye than a metal -cupola. Hamilcar was so indignant with Carthage that he felt inclined to -throw himself among the Barbarians and lead them against her. Moreover, -the porters, sutlers, and slaves were beginning to murmur, while neither -people, nor Great Council, nor any one sent as much as a hope. The -situation was intolerable, especially owing to the thought that it would -become worse. - - -At the news of the disaster Carthage had leaped, as it were, with anger -and hate; the Suffet would have been less execrated if he had allowed -himself to be conquered from the first. - -But time and money were lacking for the hire of other Mercenaries. As to -a levy of soldiers in the town, how were they to be equipped? Hamilcar -had taken all the arms! and then who was to command them? The best -captains were down yonder with him! Meanwhile, some men despatched by -the Suffet arrived in the streets with shouts. The Great Council were -roused by them, and contrived to make them disappear. - -It was an unnecessary precaution; every one accused Barca of having -behaved with slackness. He ought to have annihilated the Mercenaries -after his victory. Why had he ravaged the tribes? The sacrifices -already imposed had been heavy enough! and the patricians deplored their -contributions of fourteen shekels, and the Syssitia their two hundred -and twenty-three thousand gold kikars; those who had given nothing -lamented like the rest. The populace was jealous of the New -Carthaginians, to whom he had promised full rights of citizenship; -and even the Ligurians, who had fought with such intrepidity, were -confounded with the Barbarians and cursed like them; their race became -a crime, the proof of complicity. The traders on the threshold of their -shops, the workmen passing plumb-line in hand, the vendors of pickle -rinsing their baskets, the attendants in the vapour baths and the -retailers of hot drinks all discussed the operations of the campaign. -They would trace battle-plans with their fingers in the dust, and -there was not a sorry rascal to be found who could not have corrected -Hamilcar’s mistakes. - -It was a punishment, said the priests, for his long-continued impiety. -He had offered no holocausts; he had not purified his troops; he had -even refused to take augurs with him; and the scandal of sacrilege -strengthened the violence of restrained hate, and the rage of betrayed -hopes. People recalled the Sicilian disasters, and all the burden of -his pride that they had borne for so long! The colleges of the pontiffs -could not forgive him for having seized their treasure, and they -demanded a pledge from the Great Council to crucify him should he ever -return. - -The heats of the month of Eloul, which were excessive in that year, were -another calamity. Sickening smells rose from the borders of the Lake, -and were wafted through the air together with the fumes of the aromatics -that eddied at the corners of the streets. The sounds of hymns were -constantly heard. Crowds of people occupied the staircases of the -temples; all the walls were covered with black veils; tapers burnt -on the brows of the Patæc Gods, and the blood of camels slain for -sacrifice ran along the flights of stairs forming red cascades upon the -steps. Carthage was agitated with funereal delirium. From the depths of -the narrowest lanes, and the blackest dens, there issued pale faces, -men with viper-like profiles and grinding their teeth. The houses were -filled with the women’s piercing shrieks, which, escaping through the -gratings, caused those who stood talking in the squares to turn round. -Sometimes it was thought that the Barbarians were arriving; they had -been seen behind the mountain of the Hot Springs; they were encamped at -Tunis; and the voices would multiply and swell, and be blended into one -single clamour. Then universal silence would reign, some remaining where -they had climbed upon the frontals of the buildings, screening their -eyes with their open hand, while the rest lay flat on their faces at the -foot of the ramparts straining their ears. When their terror had passed -off their anger would begin again. But the conviction of their own -impotence would soon sink them into the same sadness as before. - -It increased every evening when all ascended the terraces, and bowing -down nine times uttered a loud cry in salutation of the sun, as it -sank slowly behind the lagoon, and then suddenly disappeared among the -mountains in the direction of the Barbarians. - -They were waiting for the thrice holy festival when, from the summit -of a funeral pile, an eagle flew heavenwards as a symbol of the -resurrection of the year, and a message from the people to their Baal; -they regarded it as a sort of union, a method of connecting themselves -with the might of the Sun. Moreover, filled as they now were with -hatred, they turned frankly towards homicidal Moloch, and all forsook -Tanith. In fact, Rabetna, having lost her veil, was as if she had been -despoiled of part of her virtue. She denied the beneficence of her -waters, she had abandoned Carthage; she was a deserter, an enemy. -Some threw stones at her to insult her. But many pitied her while they -inveighed against her; she was still beloved, and perhaps more deeply -than she had been. - -All their misfortunes came, therefore, from the loss of the zaïmph. -Salammbô had indirectly participated in it; she was included in the -same ill will; she must be punished. A vague idea of immolation spread -among the people. To appease the Baalim it was without doubt necessary -to offer them something of incalculable worth, a being handsome, young, -virgin, of old family, a descendant of the gods, a human star. Every day -the gardens of Megara were invaded by strange men; the slaves, trembling -on their own account, dared not resist them. Nevertheless, they did not -pass beyond the galley staircase. They remained below with their eyes -raised to the highest terrace; they were waiting for Salammbô, and they -would cry out for hours against her like dogs baying at the moon. - - - - - -CHAPTER X THE SERPENT - -These clamourings of the populace did not alarm Hamilcar’s daughter. -She was disturbed by loftier anxieties: her great serpent, the black -python, was drooping; and in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the serpent -was at once a national and a private fetish. It was believed to be the -offspring of the dust of the earth, since it emerges from its depths and -has no need of feet to traverse it; its mode of progression called to -mind the undulations of rivers, its temperature the ancient, viscous, -and fecund darkness, and the orbit which it describes when biting its -tail the harmony of the planets, and the intelligence of Eschmoun. - -Salammbô’s serpent had several times already refused the four live -sparrows which were offered to it at the full moon and at every new -moon. Its handsome skin, covered like the firmament with golden spots -upon a perfectly black ground, was now yellow, relaxed, wrinkled, and -too large for its body. A cottony mouldiness extended round its head; -and in the corners of its eyelids might be seen little red specks which -appeared to move. Salammbô would approach its silver-wire basket -from time to time, and would draw aside the purple curtains, the lotus -leaves, and the bird’s down; but it was continually rolled up upon -itself, more motionless than a withered bind-weed; and from looking at -it she at last came to feel a kind of spiral within her heart, another -serpent, as it were, mounting up to her throat by degrees and strangling -her. - -She was in despair of having seen the zaïmph, and yet she felt a sort -of joy, an intimate pride at having done so. A mystery shrank within the -splendour of its folds; it was the cloud that enveloped the gods, and -the secret of the universal existence, and Salammbô, horror-stricken at -herself, regretted that she had not raised it. - -She was almost always crouching at the back of her apartment, holding -her bended left leg in her hands, her mouth half open, her chin sunk, -her eye fixed. She recollected her father’s face with terror; she -wished to go away into the mountains of Phonicia, on a pilgrimage to -the temple of Aphaka, where Tanith descended in the form of a star; -all kinds of imaginings attracted her and terrified her; moreover, a -solitude which every day became greater encompassed her. She did not -even know what Hamilcar was about. - -Wearied at last with her thoughts she would rise, and trailing along -her little sandals whose soles clacked upon her heels at every step, she -would walk at random through the large silent room. The amethysts and -topazes of the ceiling made luminous spots quiver here and there, and -Salammbô as she walked would turn her head a little to see them. She -would go and take the hanging amphoras by the neck; she would cool -her bosom beneath the broad fans, or perhaps amuse herself by burning -cinnamomum in hollow pearls. At sunset Taanach would draw back the black -felt lozenges that closed the openings in the wall; then her doves, -rubbed with musk like the doves of Tanith, suddenly entered, and their -pink feet glided over the glass pavement, amid the grains of barley -which she threw to them in handfuls like a sower in a field. But on a -sudden she would burst into sobs and lie stretched on the large bed of -ox-leather straps without moving, repeating a word that was ever the -same, with open eyes, pale as one dead, insensible, cold; and yet she -could hear the cries of the apes in the tufts of the palm trees, with -the continuous grinding of the great wheel which brought a flow of pure -water through the stories into the porphyry centre-basin. - -Sometimes for several days she would refuse to eat. She could see in -a dream troubled stars wandering beneath her feet. She would call -Schahabarim, and when he came she had nothing to say to him. - -She could not live without the relief of his presence. But she rebelled -inwardly against this domination; her feeling towards the priest was one -at once of terror, jealousy, hatred, and a species of love, in gratitude -for the singular voluptuousness which she experienced by his side. - -He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, being skilful to discern -the gods who send diseases; and to cure Salammbô he had her apartment -watered with lotions of vervain, and maidenhair; she ate mandrakes every -morning; she slept with her head on a cushion filled with aromatics -blended by the pontiffs; he had even employed baaras, a fiery-coloured -root which drives back fatal geniuses into the North; lastly, turning -towards the polar star, he murmured thrice the mysterious name of -Tanith; but Salammbô still suffered and her anguish deepened. - -No one in Carthage was so learned as he. In his youth he had studied at -the College of the Mogbeds, at Borsippa, near Babylon; had then visited -Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judæa, and the temples of the -Nabathæ, which are lost in the sands; and had travelled on foot along -the banks of the Nile from the cataracts to the sea. Shaking torches -with veil-covered face, he had cast a black cock upon a fire of -sandarach before the breast of the Sphinx, the Father of Terror. He had -descended into the caverns of Proserpine; he had seen the five hundred -pillars of the labyrinth of Lemnos revolve, and the candelabrum of -Tarentum, which bore as many sconces on its shaft as there are days in -the year, shine in its splendour; at times he received Greeks by night -in order to question them. The constitution of the world disquieted him -no less than the nature of the gods; he had observed the equinoxes with -the armils placed in the portico of Alexandria, and accompanied the -bematists of Evergetes, who measure the sky by calculating the number -of their steps, as far as Cyrene; so that there was now growing in his -thoughts a religion of his own, with no distinct formula, and on that -very account full of infatuation and fervour. He no longer believed that -the earth was formed like a fir-cone; he believed it to be round, and -eternally falling through immensity with such prodigious speed that its -fall was not perceived. - -From the position of the sun above the moon he inferred the predominance -of Baal, of whom the planet itself is but the reflection and figure; -moreover, all that he saw in terrestrial things compelled him to -recognise the male exterminating principle as supreme. And then he -secretly charged Rabbet with the misfortune of his life. Was it not for -her that the grand-pontiff had once advanced amid the tumult of cymbals, -and with a patera of boiling water taken from him his future virility? -And he followed with a melancholy gaze the men who were disappearing -with the priestesses in the depths of the turpentine trees. - -His days were spent in inspecting the censers, the gold vases, the -tongs, the rakes for the ashes of the altar, and all the robes of the -statues down to the bronze bodkin that served to curl the hair of an old -Tanith in the third aedicule near the emerald vine. At the same hours he -would raise the great hangings of the same swinging doors; would remain -with his arms outspread in the same attitude; or prayed prostrate on the -same flag-stones, while around him a people of priests moved barefooted -through the passages filled with an eternal twilight. - -But Salammbô was in the barrenness of his life like a flower in the -cleft of a sepulchre. Nevertheless he was hard upon her, and spared -her neither penances nor bitter words. His condition established, as it -were, the equality of a common sex between them, and he was less angry -with the girl for his inability to possess her than for finding her so -beautiful, and above all so pure. Often he saw that she grew weary of -following his thought. Then he would turn away sadder than before; he -would feel himself more forsaken, more empty, more alone. - -Strange words escaped him sometimes, which passed before Salammbô like -broad lightnings illuminating the abysses. This would be at night on the -terrace when, both alone, they gazed upon the stars, and Carthage spread -below under their feet, with the gulf and the open sea dimly lost in the -colour of the darkness. - -He would set forth to her the theory of the souls that descend upon -the earth, following the same route as the sun through the signs of the -zodiac. With outstretched arm he showed the gate of human generation in -the Ram, and that of the return to the gods in Capricorn; and Salammbô -strove to see them, for she took these conceptions for realities; -she accepted pure symbols and even manners of speech as being true in -themselves, a distinction not always very clear even to the priest. - -“The souls of the dead,” said he, “resolve themselves into -the moon, as their bodies do into the earth. Their tears compose its -humidity; ’Tis a dark abode full of mire, and wreck, and tempest.” - -She asked what would become of her then. - -“At first you will languish as light as a vapour hovering upon the -waves; and after more lengthened ordeals and agonies, you will pass into -the forces of the sun, the very source of Intelligence!” - -He did not speak, however, of Rabbet. Salammbô imagined that it was -through some shame for his vanquished goddess, and calling her by a -common name which designated the moon, she launched into blessings upon -the soft and fertile planet. At last he exclaimed: - -“No! no! she draws all her fecundity from the other! Do you not see -her hovering about him like an amorous woman running after a man in a -field?” And he exalted the virtue of light unceasingly. - -Far from depressing her mystic desires, he sought, on the contrary, -to excite them, and he even seemed to take joy in grieving her by the -revelation of a pitiless doctrine. In spite of the pains of her love -Salammbô threw herself upon it with transport. - -But the more that Schahabarim felt himself in doubt about Tanith, the -more he wished to believe in her. At the bottom of his soul he was -arrested by remorse. He needed some proof, some manifestation from the -gods, and in the hope of obtaining it the priest devised an enterprise -which might save at once his country and his belief. - -Thenceforward he set himself to deplore before Salammbô the sacrilege -and the misfortunes which resulted from it even in the regions of -the sky. Then he suddenly announced the peril of the Suffet, who was -assailed by three armies under the command of Matho—for on account of -the veil Matho was, in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the king, as it -were, of the Barbarians,—and he added that the safety of the Republic -and of her father depended upon her alone. - -“Upon me!” she exclaimed. “How can I—?” - -But the priest, with a smile of disdain said: - -“You will never consent!” - -She entreated him. At last Schahabarim said to her: - -“You must go to the Barbarians and recover the zaïmph!” - -She sank down upon the ebony stool, and remained with her arms stretched -out between her knees and shivering in all her limbs, like a victim -at the altar’s foot awaiting the blow of the club. Her temples were -ringing, she could see fiery circles revolving, and in her stupor -she had lost the understanding of all things save one, that she was -certainly going to die soon. - -But if Rabbetna triumphed, if the zaïmph were restored and Carthage -delivered, what mattered a woman’s life? thought Schahabarim. -Moreover, she would perhaps obtain the veil and not perish. - -He stayed away for three days; on the evening of the fourth she sent for -him. - -The better to inflame her heart he reported to her all the invectives -howled against Hamilcar in open council; he told her that she had erred, -that she owed reparation for her crime, and that Rabbetna commanded the -sacrifice. - -A great uproar came frequently across the Mappalian district to Megara. -Schahabarim and Salammbô went out quickly, and gazed from the top of -the galley staircase. - -There were people in the square of Khamon shouting for arms. The -Ancients would not provide them, esteeming such an effort useless; -others who had set out without a general had been massacred. At last -they were permitted to depart, and as a sort of homage to Moloch, or -from a vague need of destruction, they tore up tall cypress trees in -the woods of the temples, and having kindled them at the torches of the -Kabiri, were carrying them through the streets singing. These monstrous -flames advanced swaying gently; they transmitted fires to the glass -balls on the crests of the temples, to the ornaments of the colossuses -and the beaks of the ships, passed beyond the terraces and formed suns -as it were, which rolled through the town. They descended the Acropolis. -The gate of Malqua opened. - -“Are you ready?” exclaimed Schahabarim, “or have you asked them -to tell your father that you abandoned him?” She hid her face in her -veils, and the great lights retired, sinking gradually the while to the -edge of the waves. - -An indeterminate dread restrained her; she was afraid of Moloch and of -Matho. This man, with his giant stature, who was master of the zaïmph, -ruled Rabbetna as much as did Baal, and seemed to her to be surrounded -by the same fulgurations; and then the souls of the gods sometimes -visited the bodies of men. Did not Schahabarim in speaking of him say -that she was to vanquish Moloch? They were mingled with each other; she -confused them together; both of them were pursuing her. - -She wished to learn the future, and approached the serpent, for auguries -were drawn from the attitudes of serpents. But the basket was empty; -Salammbô was disturbed. - -She found him with his tail rolled round one of the silver balustrades -beside the hanging bed, which he was rubbing in order to free himself -from his old yellowish skin, while his body stretched forth gleaming and -clear like a sword half out of the sheath. - -Then on the days following, in proportion as she allowed herself to be -convinced, and was more disposed to succour Tanith, the python recovered -and grew; he seemed to be reviving. - -The certainty that Salammbô was giving expression to the will of the -gods then became established in her conscience. One morning she awoke -resolved, and she asked what was necessary to make Matho restore the -veil. - -“To claim it,” said Schahabarim. - -“But if he refuses?” she rejoined. - -The priest scanned her fixedly with a smile such as she had never seen. - -“Yes, what is to be done?” repeated Salammbô. - -He rolled between his fingers the extremities of the bands which fell -from his tiara upon his shoulders, standing motionless with eyes cast -down. At last seeing that she did not understand: - -“You will be alone with him.” - -“Well?” she said. - -“Alone in his tent.” - -“What then?” - -Schahabarim bit his lips. He sought for some phrase, some -circumlocution. - -“If you are to die, that will be later,” he said; “later! fear -nothing! and whatever he may undertake to do, do not call out! do not -be frightened! You will be humble, you understand, and submissive to his -desire, which is ordained of heaven!” - -“But the veil?” - -“The gods will take thought for it,” replied Schahabarim. - -“Suppose you were to accompany me, O father?” she added. - -“No!” - -He made her kneel down, and keeping his left hand raised and his right -extended, he swore in her behalf to bring back the mantle of Tanith into -Carthage. With terrible imprecations she devoted herself to the gods, -and each time that Schahabarim pronounced a word she falteringly -repeated it. - -He indicated to her all the purifications and fastings that she was to -observe, and how she was to reach Matho. Moreover, a man acquainted with -the routes would accompany her. - -She felt as if she had been set free. She thought only of the happiness -of seeing the zaïmph again, and she now blessed Schahabarim for his -exhortations. - - -It was the period at which the doves of Carthage migrated to Sicily to -the mountain of Eryx and the temple of Venus. For several days before -their departure they sought out and called to one another so as to -collect together; at last one evening they flew away; the wind blew them -along, and the big white cloud glided across the sky high above the sea. - -The horizon was filled with the colour of blood. They seemed to descend -gradually to the waves; then they disappeared as though swallowed up, -and falling of themselves into the jaws of the sun. Salammbô, who -watched them retiring, bent her head, and then Taanach, believing that -she guessed her sorrow, said gently to her: - -“But they will come back, Mistress.” - -“Yes! I know.” - -“And you will see them again.” - -“Perhaps!” she said, sighing. - -She had not confided her resolve to any one; in order to carry it out -with the greater discretion she sent Taanach to the suburb of Kinisdo to -buy all the things that she required instead of requesting them from the -stewards: vermilion, aromatics, a linen girdle, and new garments. The -old slave was amazed at these preparations, without daring, however, -to ask any questions; and the day, which had been fixed by Schahabarim, -arrived when Salammbô was to set out. - -About the twelfth hour she perceived, in the depths of the sycamore -trees, a blind old man with one hand resting on the shoulder of a child -who walked before him, while with the other he carried a kind of cithara -of black wood against his hip. The eunuchs, slaves, and women had -been scrupulously sent away; no one might know the mystery that was -preparing. - -Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cadamomum in the -corners of the apartment; then she unfolded large Babylonian hangings, -and stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbô did not -wish to be seen even by the walls. The kinnor-player squatted behind -the door and the young boy standing upright applied a reed flute to -his lips. In the distance the roar of the streets was growing feebler, -violet shadows were lengthening before the peristyles of the temples, -and on the other side of the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of -olive-trees, and the vague yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and were -blended together in a bluish haze; not a sound was to be heard, and an -unspeakable depression weighed in the air. - -Salammbô crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; she -raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and began -her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred rites. - -Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an alabaster -phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren women on a -winter’s night amid the rubbish of a sepulchre. She rubbed it upon -her ears, her heels, and the thumb of her right hand, and even her nail -remained somewhat red, as if she had crushed a fruit. - -The moon rose; then the cithara and the flute began to play together. - -Salammbô unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her -long white simar; she unknotted the band in her hair, shaking the latter -for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by thus -scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three notes -ever the same, hurried and frenzied; the strings grated, the flute blew; -Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbô, with a swaying of -her whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one after another -around her. - -The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python’s head appeared above -the cord that supported it. The serpent descended slowly like a drop -of water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and -then, gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his eyes, -more brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon Salammbô. - -A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame, at first made her -hesitate. But she recalled Schahabarim’s orders and advanced; the -python turned downwards, and resting the centre of its body upon the -nape of her neck, allowed its head and tail to hang like a broken -necklace with both ends trailing to the ground. Salammbô rolled it -around her sides, under her arms and between her knees; then taking it -by the jaw she brought the little triangular mouth to the edge of her -teeth, and half shutting her eyes, threw herself back beneath the rays -of the moon. The white light seemed to envelop her in a silver mist, the -prints of her humid steps shone upon the flag-stones, stars quivered in -the depth of the water; it tightened upon her its black rings that were -spotted with scales of gold. Salammbô panted beneath the excessive -weight, her loins yielded, she felt herself dying, and with the tip -of its tail the serpent gently beat her thigh; then the music becoming -still it fell off again. - -Taanach came back to her; and after arranging two candelabra, the lights -of which burned in crystal balls filled with water, she tinged the -inside of her hands with Lawsonia, spread vermilion upon her cheeks, and -antimony along the edge of her eyelids, and lengthened her eyebrows with -a mixture of gum, musk, ebony, and crushed legs of flies. - -Salammbô seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the -attentions of the slave. But the touchings, the odour of the aromatics, -and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. She became so -pale that Taanach stopped. - -“Go on!” said Salammbô, and bearing up against herself, she -suddenly revived. Then she was seized with impatience; she urged Taanach -to make haste, and the old slave grumbled: - -“Well! well! Mistress!—Besides, you have no one waiting for you!” - -“Yes!” said Salammbô, “some one is waiting for me.” - -Taanach drew back in surprise, and in order to learn more about it, -said: - -“What orders to you give me, Mistress? for if you are to remain -away—” - -But Salammbô was sobbing; the slave exclaimed: - -“You are suffering! what is the matter? Do not go away! take me! When -you were quite little and used to cry, I took you to my heart and -made you laugh with the points of my breasts; you have drained them, -Mistress!” She struck herself upon her dried-up bosom. “Now I am -old! I can do nothing for you! you no longer love me! you hide your -griefs from me, you despise the nurse!” And tears of tenderness and -vexation flowed down her cheeks in the gashes of her tattooing. - -“No!” said Salammbô, “no, I love you! be comforted!” - -With a smile like the grimace of an old ape, Taanach resumed her task. -In accordance with Schahabarim’s recommendations, Salammbô had -ordered the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her -mistress with barbaric taste full at once of refinement and ingenuity. - -Over a first delicate and vinous-coloured tunic she passed a second -embroidered with birds’ feathers. Golden scales clung to her hips, -and from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silver-starred -trousers. Next Taanach put upon her a long robe made of the cloth of the -country of Seres, white and streaked with green lines. On the edge of -her shoulder she fastened a square of purple weighted at the hem with -grains of sandastrum; and above all these garments she placed a black -mantle with a flowing train; then she gazed at her, and proud of her -work could not help saying: - -“You will not be more beautiful on the day of your bridal!” - -“My bridal!” repeated Salammbô; she was musing with her elbow -resting upon the ivory chair. - -But Taanach set up before her a copper mirror, which was so broad and -high that she could see herself completely in it. Then she rose, and -with a light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was -falling too low. - -Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung down -behind over her back in long twists ending in pearls. The brightness -of the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the gold on her -garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, and on her -arms, hands and toes, she had such a wealth of gems that the mirror sent -back rays upon her like a sun;—and Salammbô, standing by the side of -Taanach, who leaned over to see her, smiled amid this dazzling display. - -Then she walked to and fro embarrassed by the time that was still left. - -Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded. She quickly pinned a long yellow -veil upon her hair, passed a scarf around her neck, thrust her feet into -blue leather boots, and said to Taanach: - -“Go and see whether there is not a man with two horses beneath the -myrtles.” - -Taanach had scarcely re-entered when she was descending the galley -staircase. - -“Mistress!” cried the nurse. - -Salammbô turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for -discretion and immobility. - -Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, -and from a distance she could distinguish by the light of the moon a -gigantic shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of -Salammbô, a sign which presaged death. - -Taanach went up again into the chamber. She threw herself upon the -ground tearing her face with her nails; she plucked out her hair, and -uttered piercing shrieks with all her might. - -It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent, -sobbing quite softly with her head in the hands and her face on the -pavement. - - - - - -CHAPTER XI IN THE TENT - -The man who guided Salammbô made her ascend again beyond the pharos -in the direction of the Catacombs, and then go down the long suburb of -Molouya, which was full of steep lanes. The sky was beginning to grow -grey. Sometimes palm-wood beams jutting out from the walls obliged them -to bend their heads. The two horses which were at the walk would often -slip; and thus they reached the Teveste gate. - -Its heavy leaves were half open; they passed through, and it closed -behind them. - -At first they followed the foot of the ramparts for a time, and at the -height of the cisterns they took their way along the Tænia, a narrow -strip of yellow earth separating the gulf from the lake and extending as -far as Rhades. - -No one was to be seen around Carthage, whether on the sea or in the -country. The slate-coloured waves chopped softly, and the light wind -blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with white rents. -In spite of all her veils, Salammbô shivered in the freshness of the -morning; the motion and the open air dazed her. Then the sun rose; it -preyed on the back of her head, and she involuntarily dozed a little. -The two animals rambled along side by side, their feet sinking into the -silent sand. - -When they had passed the mountain of the Hot Springs, they went on at a -more rapid rate, the ground being firmer. - -But although it was the season for sowing and ploughing, the fields were -as empty as the desert as far as the eye could reach. Here and there -were scattered heaps of corn; at other places the barley was shedding -its reddened ears. The villages showed black upon the clear horizon, -with shapes incoherently carved. - -From time to time a half-calcined piece of wall would be found standing -on the edge of the road. The roofs of the cottages were falling in, and -in the interiors might be distinguished fragments of pottery, rags of -clothing, and all kinds of unrecognisable utensils and broken things. -Often a creature clothed in tatters, with earthy face and flaming eyes -would emerge from these ruins. But he would very quickly begin to run or -would disappear into a hole. Salammbô and her guide did not stop. - -Deserted plains succeeded one another. Charcoal dust which was raised by -their feet behind them, stretched in unequal trails over large spaces -of perfectly white soil. Sometimes they came upon little peaceful spots, -where a brook flowed amid the long grass; and as they ascended the other -bank Salammbô would pluck damp leaves to cool her hands. At the corner -of a wood of rose-bays her horse shied violently at the corpse of a man -which lay extended on the ground. - -The slave immediately settled her again on the cushions. He was one of -the servants of the Temple, a man whom Schahabarim used to employ on -perilous missions. - -With extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the -horses; he would whip the animals with the end of a leathern lace wound -round his arm, or would perhaps take balls made of wheat, dates, and -yolks of eggs wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against his -breast, and offer them to Salammbô without speaking, and running all -the time. - -In the middle of the day three Barbarians clad in animals’ skins -crossed their path. By degrees others appeared wandering in troops of -ten, twelve, or twenty-five men; many were driving goats or a limping -cow. Their heavy sticks bristled with brass points; cutlasses gleamed -in their clothes, which were savagely dirty, and they opened their eyes -with a look of menace and amazement. As they passed some sent them -a vulgar benediction; others obscene jests, and Schahabarim’s man -replied to each in his own idiom. He told them that this was a sick -youth going to be cured at a distant temple. - -However, the day was closing in. Barkings were heard, and they -approached them. - -Then in the twilight they perceived an enclosure of dry stones shutting -in a rambling edifice. A dog was running along the top of the wall. The -slave threw some pebbles at him and they entered a lofty vaulted hall. - -A woman was crouching in the centre warming herself at a fire of -brushwood, the smoke of which escaped through the holes in the ceiling. -She was half hidden by her white hair which fell to her knees; and -unwilling to answer, she muttered with idiotic look words of vengeance -against the Barbarians and the Carthaginians. - -The runner ferreted right and left. Then he returned to her and demanded -something to eat. The old woman shook her head, and murmured with her -eyes fixed upon the charcoal: - -“I was the hand. The ten fingers are cut off. The mouth eats no -more.” - -The slave showed her a handful of gold pieces. She rushed upon them, but -soon resumed her immobility. - -At last he placed a dagger which he had in his girdle beneath her -throat. Then, trembling, she went and raised a large stone, and brought -back an amphora of wine with fish from Hippo-Zarytus preserved in honey. - -Salammbô turned away from this unclean food, and fell asleep on the -horses’ caparisons which were spread in a corner of the hall. - -He awoke her before daylight. - -The dog was howling. The slave went up to it quietly, and struck off -its head with a single blow of his dagger. Then he rubbed the horses’ -nostrils with blood to revive them. The old woman cast a malediction at -him from behind. Salammbô perceived this, and pressed the amulet which -she wore above her heart. - -They resumed their journey. - -From time to time she asked whether they would not arrive soon. The road -undulated over little hills. Nothing was to be heard but the grating of -the grasshoppers. The sun heated the yellowed grass; the ground was all -chinked with crevices which in dividing formed, as it were, monstrous -paving-stones. Sometimes a viper passed, or eagles flew by; the slave -still continued running. Salammbô mused beneath her veils, and in spite -of the heat did not lay them aside through fear of soiling her beautiful -garments. - -At regular distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the -purpose of keeping watch upon the tribes. They entered these for the -sake of the shade, and then set out again. - -For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before. But they -met with no one just now; the region being a sterile one, the Barbarians -had not passed that way. - -Gradually the devastation began again. Sometimes a piece of mosaic would -be displayed in the centre of a field, the sole remnant of a vanished -mansion; and the leafless olive trees looked at a distance like large -bushes of thorns. They passed through a town in which houses were burnt -to the ground. Human skeletons might be seen along the walls. There were -some, too, of dromedaries and mules. Half-gnawed carrion blocked the -streets. - -Night fell. The sky was lowering and cloudy. - -They ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction, when suddenly -they perceived a quantity of little flames before them. - -These were shining at the bottom of an ampitheatre. Gold plates, as they -displaced one another, glanced here and there. These were the cuirasses -of the Clinabarians in the Punic camp; then in the neighbourhood they -distinguished other and more numerous lights, for the armies of the -Mercenaries, now blended together, extended over a great space. - -Salammbô made a movement as though to advance. But Schahabarim’s -man took her further away, and they passed along by the terrace which -enclosed the camp of the Barbarians. A breach became visible in it, and -the slave disappeared. - -A sentry was walking upon the top of the entrenchment with a bow in his -hand and a pike on his shoulder. - -Salammbô drew still nearer; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow -pierced the hem of her cloak. Then as she stood motionless and -shrieking, he asked her what she wanted. - -“To speak to Matho,” she replied. “I am a fugitive from -Carthage.” - -He gave a whistle, which was repeated at intervals further away. - -Salammbô waited; her frightened horse moved round and round, sniffing. - -When Matho arrived the moon was rising behind her. But she had a yellow -veil with black flowers over her face, and so many draperies about her -person, that it was impossible to make any guess about her. From the top -of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up like a phantom -in the penumbræ of the evening. - -At last she said to him: - -“Lead me to your tent! I wish it!” - -A recollection which he could not define passed through his memory. He -felt his heart beating. The air of command intimidated him. - -“Follow me!” he said. - -The barrier was lowered, and immediately she was in the camp of the -Barbarians. - -It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng. Bright fires were -burning beneath hanging pots; and their purpled reflections illuminating -some places left others completely in the dark. There was shouting and -calling; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid the tents; the -latter were round and square, of leather or of canvas; there were huts -of reeds, and holes in the sand such as are made by dogs. Soldiers were -carting faggots, resting on their elbows on the ground, or wrapping -themselves up in mats and preparing to sleep; and Salammbô’s horse -sometimes stretched out a leg and jumped in order to pass over them. - -She remembered that she had seen them before; but their beards were -longer now, their faces still blacker, and their voices hoarser. Matho, -who walked before her, waved them off with a gesture of his arm which -raised his red mantle. Some kissed his hands; others bending their -spines approached him to ask for orders, for he was now veritable and -sole chief of the Barbarians; Spendius, Autaritus, and Narr’ Havas had -become disheartened, and he had displayed so much audacity and obstinacy -that all obeyed him. - -Salammbô followed him through the entire camp. His tent was at the end, -three hundred feet from Hamilcar’s entrenchments. - -She noticed a wide pit on the right, and it seemed to her that faces -were resting against the edge of it on a level with the ground, as -decapitated heads might have done. However, their eyes moved, and from -these half-opened mouths groanings escaped in the Punic tongue. - -Two Negroes holding resin lights stood on both sides of the door. Matho -drew the canvas abruptly aside. She followed him. - -It was a deep tent with a pole standing up in the centre. It was lighted -by a large lamp-holder shaped like a lotus and full of a yellow oil -wherein floated handfuls of burning tow, and military things might be -distinguished gleaming in the shade. A naked sword leaned against a -stool by the side of a shield; whips of hippopotamus leather, -cymbals, bells, and necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of -esparto-grass; a felt rug lay soiled with crumbs of black bread; some -copper money was carelessly heaped upon a round stone in a corner, and -through the rents in the canvas the wind brought the dust from without, -together with the smell of the elephants, which might be heard eating -and shaking their chains. - -“Who are you?” said Matho. - -She looked slowly around her without replying; then her eyes were -arrested in the background, where something bluish and sparkling fell -upon a bed of palm-branches. - -She advanced quickly. A cry escaped her. Matho stamped his foot behind -her. - -“Who brings you here? why do you come?” - -“To take it!” she replied, pointing to the zaïmph, and with the -other hand she tore the veils from her head. He drew back with his -elbows behind him, gaping, almost terrified. - -She felt as if she were leaning on the might of the gods; and looking at -him face to face she asked him for the zaïmph; she demanded it in words -abundant and superb. - -Matho did not hear; he was gazing at her, and in his eyes her garments -were blended with her body. The clouding of the stuffs, like the -splendour of her skin, was something special and belonging to her alone. -Her eyes and her diamonds sparkled; the polish of her nails continued -the delicacy of the stones which loaded her fingers; the two clasps of -her tunic raised her breasts somewhat and brought them closer together, -and he in thought lost himself in the narrow interval between them -whence there fell a thread holding a plate of emeralds which could be -seen lower down beneath the violet gauze. She had as earrings two little -sapphire scales, each supporting a hollow pearl filled with liquid -scent. A little drop would fall every moment through the holes in the -pearl and moisten her naked shoulder. Matho watched it fall. - -He was carried away by ungovernable curiosity; and, like a child laying -his hand upon a strange fruit, he tremblingly and lightly touched -the top of her chest with the tip of his finger: the flesh, which was -somewhat cold, yielded with an elastic resistance. - -This contact, though scarcely a sensible one, shook Matho to the very -depths of his nature. An uprising of his whole being urged him towards -her. He would fain have enveloped her, absorbed her, drunk her. His -bosom was panting, his teeth were chattering. - -Taking her by the wrists he drew her gently to him, and then sat -down upon a cuirass beside the palm-tree bed which was covered with a -lion’s skin. She was standing. He looked up at her, holding her thus -between his knees, and repeating: - -“How beautiful you are! how beautiful you are!” - -His eyes, which were continually fixed upon hers, pained her; and the -uncomfortableness, the repugnance increased in so acute a fashion that -Salammbô put a constraint upon herself not to cry out. The thought of -Schahabarim came back to her, and she resigned herself. - -Matho still kept her little hands in his own; and from time to time, in -spite of the priest’s command, she turned away her face and tried to -thrust him off by jerking her arms. He opened his nostrils the better -to breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person. It was a fresh, -indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, like the smoke -from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense, roses, with -another odour still. - -But how was she thus with him in his tent, and at his disposal? Some one -no doubt had urged her. She had not come for the zaïmph. His arms fell, -and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie. - -To soften him Salammbô said to him in a plaintive voice: - -“What have I done to you that you should desire my death?” - -“Your death!” - -She resumed: - -“I saw you one evening by the light of my burning gardens amid fuming -cups and my slaughtered slaves, and your anger was so strong that you -bounded towards me and I was obliged to fly! Then terror entered into -Carthage. There were cries of the devastation of the towns, the burning -of the country-seats, the massacre of the soldiery; it was you who had -ruined them, it was you who had murdered them! I hate you! Your very -name gnaws me like remorse! You are execrated more than the plague, and -the Roman war! The provinces shudder at your fury, the furrows are full -of corpses! I have followed the traces of your fires as though I were -travelling behind Moloch!” - -Matho leaped up; his heart was swelling with colossal pride; he was -raised to the stature of a god. - -With quivering nostrils and clenched teeth she went on: - -“As if your sacrilege were not enough, you came to me in my sleep -covered with the zaïmph! Your words I did not understand; but I could -see that you wished to drag me to some terrible thing at the bottom of -an abyss.” - -Matho, writhing his arms, exclaimed: - -“No! no! it was to give it to you! to restore it to you! It seemed to -me that the goddess had left her garment for you, and that it belonged -to you! In her temple or in your house, what does it matter? are you not -all-powerful, immaculate, radiant and beautiful even as Tanith?” And -with a look of boundless adoration he added: - -“Unless perhaps you are Tanith?” - -“I, Tanith!” said Salammbô to herself. - -They left off speaking. The thunder rolled in the distance. Some sheep -bleated, frightened by the storm. - -“Oh! come near!” he went on, “come near! fear nothing! - -“Formerly I was only a soldier mingled with the common herd of the -Mercenaries, ay, and so meek that I used to carry wood on my back for -the others. Do I trouble myself about Carthage! The crowd of its people -move as though lost in the dust of your sandals, and all its treasures, -with the provinces, fleets, and islands, do not raise my envy like the -freshness of your lips and the turn of your shoulders. But I wanted to -throw down its walls that I might reach you to possess you! Moreover, -I was revenging myself in the meantime! At present I crush men like -shells, and I throw myself upon phalanxes; I put aside the sarissæ with -my hands, I check the stallions by the nostrils; a catapult would -not kill me! Oh! if you knew how I think of you in the midst of war! -Sometimes the memory of a gesture or of a fold of your garment suddenly -seizes me and entwines me like a net! I perceive your eyes in the flames -of the phalaricas and on the gilding of the shields! I hear your voice -in the sounding of the cymbals. I turn aside, but you are not there! and -I plunge again into the battle!” - -He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one another like ivy on -the branches of a tree. Sweat flowed down his breast between his square -muscles; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze girdle all -garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees, which were firmer than -marble. Salammbô, who was accustomed to eunuchs, yielded to amazement -at the strength of this man. It was the chastisement of the goddess or -the influence of Moloch in motion around her in the five armies. She was -overwhelmed with lassitude; and she listened in a state of stupor to the -intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they answered one another. - -The flames of the lamp kindled in the squalls of hot air. There came -at times broad lightning flashes; then the darkness increased; and she -could only see Matho’s eyeballs like two coals in the night. However, -she felt that a fatality was surrounding her, that she had reached a -supreme and irrevocable moment, and making an effort she went up again -towards the zaïmph and raised her hands to seize it. - -“What are you doing?” exclaimed Matho. - -“I am going back to Carthage,” she placidly replied. - -He advanced folding his arms and with so terrible a look that her heels -were immediately nailed, as it were, to the spot. - -“Going back to Carthage!” He stammered, and, grinding his teeth, -repeated: - -“Going back to Carthage! Ah! you came to take the zaïmph, to conquer -me, and then disappear! No, no! you belong to me! and no one now shall -tear you from here! Oh! I have not forgotten the insolence of your -large tranquil eyes, and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of your -beauty! ’Tis my turn now! You are my captive, my slave, my servant! -Call, if you like, on your father and his army, the Ancients, the -rich, and your whole accursed people! I am the master of three hundred -thousand soldiers! I will go and seek them in Lusitania, in the Gauls, -and in the depths of the desert, and I will overthrow your town and burn -all its temples; the triremes shall float on the waves of blood! I will -not have a house, a stone, or a palm tree remaining! And if men fail me -I will draw the bears from the mountains and urge on the lions! Seek not -to fly or I kill you!” - -Pale and with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are -about to burst. Suddenly sobs stifled him, and he sank down upon his -hams. - -“Ah! forgive me! I am a scoundrel, and viler than scorpions, than mire -and dust! Just now while you were speaking your breath passed across my -face, and I rejoiced like a dying man who drinks lying flat on the edge -of a stream. Crush me, if only I feel your feet! curse me, if only I -hear your voice! Do not go! have pity! I love you! I love you!” - -He was on his knees on the ground before her; and he encircled her form -with both his arms, his head thrown back, and his hands wandering; the -gold discs hanging from his ears gleamed upon his bronzed neck; big -tears rolled in his eyes like silver globes; he sighed caressingly, and -murmured vague words lighter than a breeze and sweet as a kiss. - -Salammbô was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all consciousness -of herself. Something at once inward and lofty, a command from the gods, -obliged her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and she fell back -swooning upon the bed amid the lion’s hair. The zaïmph fell, and -enveloped her; she could see Matho’s face bending down above her -breast. - -“Moloch, thou burnest me!” and the soldier’s kisses, more -devouring than flames, covered her; she was as though swept away in a -hurricane, taken in the might of the sun. - -He kissed all her fingers, her arms, her feet, and the long tresses of -her hair from one end to the other. - -“Carry it off,” he said, “what do I care? take me away with it! -I abandon the army! I renounce everything! Beyond Gades, twenty days’ -journey into the sea, you come to an island covered with gold dust, -verdure, and birds. On the mountains large flowers filled with smoking -perfumes rock like eternal censers; in the citron trees, which are -higher than cedars, milk-coloured serpents cause the fruit to fall upon -the turf with the diamonds in their jaws; the air is so mild that it -keeps you from dying. Oh! I shall find it, you will see. We shall live -in crystal grottoes cut out at the foot of the hills. No one dwells in -it yet, or I shall become the king of the country.” - -He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter of -a pomegranate between her lips; he heaped up garments behind her head to -make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and to humble -himself, and he even spread the zaïmph over her feet as if it were a -mere rug. - -“Have you still,” he said, “those little gazelle’s horns on -which your necklaces hang? You will give them to me! I love them!” For -he spoke as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from him. -The Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The moon -was gliding between two clouds. They could see it through an opening in -the tent. “Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed to -me like a veil that hid your face; you would look at me through her; -the memory of you was mingled with her beams; then I could no longer -distinguish you!” And with his head between her breasts he wept -copiously. - -“And this,” she thought, “is the formidable man who makes Carthage -tremble!” - -He fell asleep. Then disengaging herself from his arm she put one foot -to the ground, and she perceived that her chainlet was broken. - -The maidens of the great families were accustomed to respect these -shackles as something that was almost religious, and Salammbô, -blushing, rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles. - -Carthage, Megara, her house, her room, and the country that she had -passed through, whirled in tumultuous yet distinct images through her -memory. But an abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an infinite -distance from her. - -The storm was departing; drops of water splashing rarely, one by one, -made the tent-roof shake. - -Matho slept like a drunken man, stretched on his side, and with one arm -over the edge of the couch. His band of pearls was raised somewhat, and -uncovered his brow; his teeth were parted in a smile; they shone through -his black beard, and there was a silent and almost outrageous gaiety in -his half-closed eyelids. - -Salammbô looked at him motionless, her head bent and her hands crossed. - -A dagger was displayed on the table of cypress-wood at the head of the -bed; the sight of the gleaming blade fired her with a sanguinary desire. -Mournful voices lingered at a distance in the shade, and like a chorus -of geniuses urged her on. She approached it; she seized the steel by the -handle. At the rustling of her dress Matho half opened his eyes, putting -forth his mouth upon her hands, and the dagger fell. - -Shouts arose; a terrible light flashed behind the canvas. Matho raised -the latter; they perceived the camp of the Libyans enveloped in great -flames. - -Their reed huts were burning, and the twisting stems burst in the smoke -and flew off like arrows; black shadows ran about distractedly on the -red horizon. They could hear the shrieks of those who were in the -huts; the elephants, oxen, and horses plunged in the midst of the crowd -crushing it together with the stores and baggage that were being rescued -from the fire. Trumpets sounded. There were calls of “Matho! Matho!” -Some people at the door tried to get in. - -“Come along! Hamilcar is burning the camp of Autaritus!” - -He made a spring. She found herself quite alone. - -Then she examined the zaïmph; and when she had viewed it well she was -surprised that she had not the happiness which she had once imagined to -herself. She stood with melancholy before her accomplished dream. - -But the lower part of the tent was raised, and a monstrous form -appeared. Salammbô could at first distinguish only the two eyes and -a long white beard which hung down to the ground; for the rest of the -body, which was cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment, trailed along -the earth; and with every forward movement the hands passed into the -beard and then fell again. Crawling in this way it reached her feet, and -Salammbô recognised the aged Gisco. - -In fact, the Mercenaries had broken the legs of the captive Ancients -with a brass bar to prevent them from taking to flight; and they were -all rotting pell-mell in a pit in the midst of filth. But the sturdiest -of them raised themselves and shouted when they heard the noise of -platters, and it was in this way that Gisco had seen Salammbô. He -had guessed that she was a Carthaginian woman by the little balls of -sandastrum flapping against her cothurni; and having a presentiment -of an important mystery he had succeeded, with the assistance of his -companions, in getting out of the pit; then with elbows and hands he had -dragged himself twenty paces further on as far as Matho’s tent. Two -voices were speaking within it. He had listened outside and had heard -everything. - -“It is you!” she said at last, almost terrified. - -“Yes, it is I!” he replied, raising himself on his wrists. “They -think me dead, do they not?” - -She bent her head. He resumed: - -“Ah! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy!” He approached -so close he was touching her. “They would have spared me the pain of -cursing you!” - -Salammbô sprang quickly back, so much afraid was she of this unclean -being, who was as hideous as a larva and nearly as terrible as a -phantom. - -“I am nearly one hundred years old,” he said. “I have seen -Agathocles; I have seen Regulus and the eagles of the Romans passing -over the harvests of the Punic fields! I have seen all the terrors of -battles and the sea encumbered with the wrecks of our fleets! Barbarians -whom I used to command have chained my four limbs like a slave that -has committed murder. My companions are dying around me, one after the -other; the odour of their corpses awakes me in the night; I drive away -the birds that come to peck out their eyes; and yet not for a single day -have I despaired of Carthage! Though I had seen all the armies of the -earth against her, and the flames of the siege overtop the height of the -temples, I should have still believed in her eternity! But now all is -over! all is lost! The gods execrate her! A curse upon you who have -quickened her ruin by your disgrace!” - -She opened her lips. - -“Ah! I was there!” he cried. “I heard you gurgling with love like -a prostitute; then he told you of his desire, and you allowed him to -kiss your hands! But if the frenzy of your unchastity urged you to -it, you should at least have done as do the fallow deer, which hide -themselves in their copulations, and not have displayed your shame -beneath your father’s very eyes!” - -“What?” she said. - -“Ah! you did not know that the two entrenchments are sixty cubits from -each other and that your Matho, in the excess of his pride, has posted -himself just in front of Hamilcar. Your father is there behind you; and -could I climb the path which leads to the platform, I should cry to him: -‘Come and see your daughter in the Barbarian’s arms! She has put on -the garment of the goddess to please him; and in yielding her body to -him she surrenders with the glory of your name the majesty of the gods, -the vengeance of her country, even the safety of Carthage!’” The -motion of his toothless mouth moved his beard throughout its length; -his eyes were riveted upon her and devoured her; panting in the dust he -repeated: - -“Ah! sacrilegious one! May you be accursed! accursed! accursed!” - -Salammbô had drawn back the canvas; she held it raised at arm’s -length, and without answering him she looked in the direction of -Hamilcar. - -“It is this way, is it not?” she said. - -“What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face -against the earth! It is a holy spot which would be polluted by your -gaze!” - -She threw the zaïmph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils, -mantle, and scarf. “I hasten thither!” she cried; and making her -escape Salammbô disappeared. - -At first she walked through the darkness without meeting any one, for -all were betaking themselves to the fire; the uproar was increasing and -great flames purpled the sky behind; a long terrace stopped her. - -She turned round to right and left at random, seeking for a ladder, -a rope, a stone, something in short to assist her. She was afraid of -Gisco, and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were pursuing her. -Day was beginning to break. She perceived a path in the thickness of the -entrenchment. She took the hem of her robe, which impeded her, in her -teeth, and in three bounds she was on the platform. - -A sonorous shout burst forth beneath her in the shade, the same which -she had heard at the foot of the galley staircase, and leaning over she -recognised Schahabarim’s man with his coupled horses. - -He had wandered all night between the two entrenchments; then disquieted -by the fire, he had gone back again trying to see what was passing in -Matho’s camp; and, knowing that this spot was nearest to his tent, he -had not stirred from it, in obedience to the priest’s command. - -He stood up on one of the horses. Salammbô let herself slide down to -him; and they fled at full gallop, circling the Punic camp in search of -a gate. - - -Matho had re-entered his tent. The smoky lamp gave but little light, and -he also believed that Salammbô was asleep. Then he delicately touched -the lion’s skin on the palm-tree bed. He called but she did not -answer; he quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some light; -the zaïmph was gone. - -The earth trembled beneath thronging feet. Shouts, neighings, and -clashing of armour rose in the air, and clarion flourishes sounded -the charge. It was as though a hurricane were whirling around him. -Immoderate frenzy made him leap upon his arms, and he dashed outside. - -The long files of the Barbarians were descending the mountain at a -run, and the Punic squares were advancing against them with a heavy -and regular oscillation. The mist, rent by the rays of the sun, formed -little rocking clouds which as they rose gradually discovered standards, -helmets, and points of pikes. Beneath the rapid evolutions portions of -the earth which were still in the shadow seemed to be displaced bodily; -in other places it looked as if huge torrents were crossing one -another, while thorny masses stood motionless between them. Matho could -distinguish the captains, soldiers, heralds, and even the serving-men, -who were mounted on asses in the rear. But instead of maintaining his -position in order to cover the foot-soldiers, Narr’ Havas turned -abruptly to the right, as though he wished himself to be crushed by -Hamilcar. - -His horsemen outstripped the elephants, which were slackening their -speed; and all the horses, stretching out their unbridled heads, -galloped at so furious a rate that their bellies seemed to graze the -earth. Then suddenly Narr’ Havas went resolutely up to a sentry. He -threw away his sword, lance, and javelins, and disappeared among the -Carthaginians. - -The king of the Numidians reached Hamilcar’s tent, and pointing to his -men, who were standing still at a distance, he said: - -“Barca! I bring them to you. They are yours.” - -Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage, and to prove his -fidelity recalled all his conduct from the beginning of the war. - -First, he had prevented the siege of Carthage and the massacre of the -captives; then he had taken no advantage of the victory over Hanno after -the defeat at Utica. As to the Tyrian towns, they were on the frontiers -of his kingdom. Finally he had not taken part in the battle of the -Macaras; and he had even expressly absented himself in order to evade -the obligation of fighting against the Suffet. - -Narr’ Havas had in fact wished to aggrandise himself by encroachments -upon the Punic provinces, and had alternately assisted and forsaken -the Mercenaries according to the chances of victory. But seeing that -Hamilcar would ultimately prove the stronger, he had gone over to him; -and in his desertion there was perhaps something of a grudge against -Matho, whether on account of the command or of his former love. - -The Suffet listened without interrupting him. The man who thus presented -himself with an army where vengeance was his due was not an auxiliary to -be despised; Hamilcar at once divined the utility of such an alliance in -his great projects. With the Numidians he would get rid of the Libyans. -Then he would draw off the West to the conquest of Iberia; and, without -asking Narr’ Havas why he had not come sooner, or noticing any of his -lies, he kissed him, striking his breast thrice against his own. - -It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that he had fired the -camp of the Libyans. This army came to him like a relief from the gods; -dissembling his joy he replied: - -“May the Baals favour you! I do not know what the Republic will do for -you, but Hamilcar is not ungrateful.” - -The tumult increased; some captains entered. He was arming himself as he -spoke. - -“Come, return! You will use your horsemen to beat down their infantry -between your elephants and mine. Courage! exterminate them!” - -And Narr’ Havas was rushing away when Salammbô appeared. - -She leaped down quickly from her horse. She opened her ample cloak and -spreading out her arms displayed the zaïmph. - -The leathern tent, which was raised at the corners, left visible the -entire circuit of the mountain with its thronging soldiers, and as -it was in the centre Salammbô could be seen on all sides. An immense -shouting burst forth, a long cry of triumph and hope. Those who were -marching stopped; the dying leaned on their elbows and turned round -to bless her. All the Barbarians knew now that she had recovered the -zaïmph; they saw her or believed that they saw her from a distance; and -other cries, but those of rage and vengeance, resounded in spite of the -plaudits of the Carthaginians. Thus did the five armies in tiers upon -the mountain stamp and shriek around Salammbô. - -Hamilcar, who was unable to speak, nodded her his thanks. His eyes were -directed alternately upon the zaïmph and upon her, and he noticed that -her chainlet was broken. Then he shivered, being seized with a terrible -suspicion. But soon recovering his impassibility he looked sideways at -Narr’ Havas without turning his face. - -The king of the Numidians held himself apart in a discreet attitude; -on his forehead he bore a little of the dust which he had touched when -prostrating himself. At last the Suffet advanced towards him with a look -full of gravity. - -“As a reward for the services which you have rendered me, Narr’ -Havas, I give you my daughter. Be my son,” he added, “and defend -your father!” - -Narr’ Havas gave a great gesture of surprise; then he threw himself -upon Hamilcar’s hands and covered them with kisses. - -Salammbô, calm as a statue, did not seem to understand. She blushed -a little as she cast down her eyelids, and her long curved lashes made -shadows upon her cheeks. - -Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in indissoluble betrothal. A -lance was placed in Salammbô’s hands and by her offered to Narr’ -Havas; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of ox-leather; then -corn was poured upon their heads, and the grains that fell around them -rang like rebounding hail. - - - - - -CHAPTER XII THE AQUEDUCT - -Twelve hours afterwards all that remained of the Mercenaries was a heap -of wounded, dead, and dying. - -Hamilcar had suddenly emerged from the bottom of the gorge, and again -descended the western slope that looked towards Hippo-Zarytus, and -the space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the -Barbarians into it. Narr’ Havas had encompassed them with his horse; -the Suffet meanwhile drove them back and crushed them. Then, too, they -were conquered beforehand by the loss of the zaïmph; even those who -cared nothing about it had experienced anguish and something akin to -enfeeblement. Hamilcar, not indulging his pride by holding the field of -battle, had retired a little further off on the left to some heights, -from which he commanded them. - -The shape of the camps could be recognised by their sloping palisades. -A long heap of black cinders was smoking on the side of the Libyans; -the devastated soil showed undulations like the sea, and the tents with -their tattered canvas looked like dim ships half lost in the breakers. -Cuirasses, forks, clarions, pieces of wood, iron and brass, corn, straw, -and garments were scattered about among the corpses; here and there a -phalarica on the point of extinction burned against a heap of baggage; -in some places the earth was hidden with shields; horses’ carcasses -succeeded one another like a series of hillocks; legs, sandals, arms, -and coats of mail were to be seen, with heads held in their helmets by -the chin-pieces and rolling about like balls; heads of hair were hanging -on the thorns; elephants were lying with their towers in pools of blood, -with entrails exposed, and gasping. The foot trod on slimy things, and -there were swamps of mud although no rain had fallen. - -This confusion of dead bodies covered the whole mountain from top to -bottom. - -Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting in unequal -groups they looked at one another scared and without speaking. - -The lake of Hippo-Zarytus shone at the end of a long meadow beneath -the setting sun. To the right an agglomeration of white houses extended -beyond a girdle of walls; then the sea spread out indefinitely; and the -Barbarians, with their chins in their hands, sighed as they thought of -their native lands. A cloud of grey dust was falling. - -The evening wind blew; then every breast dilated, and as the freshness -increased, the vermin might be seen to forsake the dead, who were colder -now, and to run over the hot sand. Crows, looking towards the dying, -rested motionless on the tops of the big stones. - -When night had fallen yellow-haired dogs, those unclean beasts which -followed the armies, came quite softly into the midst of the Barbarians. -At first they licked the clots of blood on the still tepid stumps; and -soon they began to devour the corpses, biting into the stomachs first of -all. - -The fugitives reappeared one by one like shadows; the women also -ventured to return, for there were still some of them left, especially -among the Libyans, in spite of the dreadful massacre of them by the -Numidians. - -Some took ropes’ ends and lighted them to use as torches. Others held -crossed pikes. The corpses were placed upon these and were conveyed -apart. - -They were found lying stretched in long lines, on their backs, with -their mouths open, and their lances beside them; or else they were piled -up pell-mell so that it was often necessary to dig out a whole heap -in order to discover those they were wanting. Then the torch would be -passed slowly over their faces. They had received complicated wounds -from hideous weapons. Greenish strips hung from their foreheads; they -were cut in pieces, crushed to the marrow, blue from strangulation, -or broadly cleft by the elephants’ ivory. Although they had died at -almost the same time there existed differences between their various -states of corruption. The men of the North were puffed up with livid -swellings, while the more nervous Africans looked as though they had -been smoked, and were already drying up. The Mercenaries might be -recognised by the tattooing on their hands: the old soldiers of -Antiochus displayed a sparrow-hawk; those who had served in Egypt, the -head of the cynosephalus; those who had served with the princes of Asia, -a hatchet, a pomegranate, or a hammer; those who had served in the Greek -republics, the side-view of a citadel or the name of an archon; and some -were to be seen whose arms were entirely covered with these multiplied -symbols, which mingled with their scars and their recent wounds. - -Four great funeral piles were erected for the men of Latin race, the -Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and Bruttians. - -The Greeks dug pits with the points of their swords. The Spartans -removed their red cloaks and wrapped them round the dead; the Athenians -laid them out with their faces towards the rising sun; the Cantabrians -buried them beneath a heap of pebbles; the Nasamonians bent them double -with ox-leather thongs, and the Garamantians went and interred them on -the shore so that they might be perpetually washed by the waves. But the -Latins were grieved that they could not collect the ashes in urns; the -Nomads regretted the heat of the sands in which bodies were mummified, -and the Celts, the three rude stones beneath a rainy sky at the end of -an islet-covered gulf. - -Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened silence. This was to -oblige the souls to return. Then the shouting was resumed persistently -at regular intervals. - -They made excuses to the dead for their inability to honour them as the -rites prescribed: for, owing to this deprivation, they would pass for -infinite periods through all kinds of chances and metamorphoses; they -questioned them and asked them what they desired; others loaded them -with abuse for having allowed themselves to be conquered. - -The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks of armour showed -pale in the light of the great funeral-pile; tears provoked tears, the -sobs became shriller, the recognitions and embracings more frantic. -Women stretched themselves on the corpses, mouth to mouth and brow to -brow; it was necessary to beat them in order to make them withdraw when -the earth was being thrown in. They blackened their cheeks; they cut off -their hair; they drew their own blood and poured it into the pits; they -gashed themselves in imitation of the wounds that disfigured the dead. -Roarings burst forth through the crashings of the cymbals. Some snatched -off their amulets and spat upon them. The dying rolled in the bloody -mire biting their mutilated fists in their rage; and forty-three -Samnites, quite a “sacred spring,” cut one another’s throats like -gladiators. Soon wood for the funeral-piles failed, the flames were -extinguished, every spot was occupied; and weary from shouting, -weakened, tottering, they fell asleep close to their dead brethren, -those who still clung to life full of anxieties, and the others desiring -never to wake again. - - -In the greyness of the dawn some soldiers appeared on the outskirts of -the Barbarians, and filed past with their helmets raised on the points -of their pikes; they saluted the Mercenaries and asked them whether they -had no messages to send to their native lands. - -Others approached, and the Barbarians recognised some of their former -companions. - -The Suffet had proposed to all the captives that they should serve in -his troops. Several had fearlessly refused; and quite resolved neither -to support them nor to abandon them to the Great Council, he had sent -them away with injunctions to fight no more against Carthage. As to -those who had been rendered docile by the fear of tortures, they had -been furnished with the weapons taken from the enemy; and they were now -presenting themselves to the vanquished, not so much in order to seduce -them as out of an impulse of pride and curiosity. - -At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from -the Suffet; the Barbarians listened to them with jealousy although they -despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards fell -into a passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords -and cuirasses and invited them with abuse to come and take them. The -Barbarians picked up flints; all took to flight; and nothing more could -be seen on the summit of the mountain except the lance-points projecting -above the edge of the palisades. - -Then the Barbarians were overwhelmed with a grief that was heavier than -the humiliation of the defeat. They thought of the emptiness of their -courage, and they stood with their eyes fixed and grinding their teeth. - -The same thought came to them all. They rushed tumultuously upon the -Carthaginian prisoners. It chanced that the Suffet’s soldiers had -been unable to discover them, and as he had withdrawn from the field of -battle they were still in the deep pit. - -They were ranged on the ground on a flattened spot. Sentries formed a -circle round them, and the women were allowed to enter thirty or forty -at a time. Wishing to profit by the short time that was allowed to them, -they ran from one to the other, uncertain and panting; then bending over -the poor bodies they struck them with all their might like washerwomen -beating linen; shrieking their husband’s names they tore them with -their nails and put out their eyes with the bodkins of their hair. The -men came next and tortured them from their feet, which they cut off at -the ankles, to their foreheads, from which they took crowns of skin to -put upon their own heads. The Eaters of Uncleanness were atrocious in -their devices. They envenomed the wounds by pouring into them dust, -vinegar, and fragments of pottery; others waited behind; blood flowed, -and they rejoiced like vintagers round fuming vats. - -Matho, however, was seated on the ground, at the very place where he had -happened to be when the battle ended, his elbows on his knees, and his -temples in his hands; he saw nothing, heard nothing, and had ceased to -think. - -At the shrieks of joy uttered by the crowd he raised his head. Before -him a strip of canvas caught on a flagpole, and trailing on the ground, -sheltered in confused fashion blankets, carpets, and a lion’s skin. He -recognised his tent; and he riveted his eyes upon the ground as though -Hamilcar’s daughter, when she disappeared, had sunk into the earth. - -The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes -passed across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of -a hand. It was the hand of Narr’ Havas, the token of their alliance. -Then Matho rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and threw -it disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent. Then with the toe of his -cothurn he pushed the things which fell out back towards the flame so -that nothing might be left. - -Suddenly, without any one being able to guess from what point he had -sprung up, Spendius reappeared. - -The former slave had fastened two fragments of a lance against his -thigh; he limped with a piteous look, breathing forth complaints the -while. - -“Remove that,” said Matho to him. “I know that you are a brave -fellow!” For he was so crushed by the injustice of the gods that he -had not strength enough to be indignant with men. - -Spendius beckoned to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, where -Zarxas and Autaritus were lying concealed. - -They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the -other in spite of his bravery. But who, said they, could have expected -the treachery of Narr’ Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans, -the loss of the zaïmph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, -his manouvres which forced them to return to the bottom of the mountain -beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made no -acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that his leg -was broken. - -At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what -decision should now be adopted. - -Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught -between his soldiers and the provinces belonging to Narr’ Havas; -the Tyrian towns would join the conquerors; the Barbarians would find -themselves driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces -would crush them. This would infallibly happen. - -Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly -they must prosecute it to the bitter end. But how were they to make the -necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these disheartened -people, who were still bleeding from their wounds. - -“I will undertake that!” said Spendius. - -Two hours afterwards a man who came from the direction of Hippo-Zarytus -climbed the mountain at a run. He waved some tablets at arm’s length, -and as he shouted very loudly the Barbarians surrounded him. - -The tablets had been despatched by the Greek soldiers in Sardinia. They -recommended their African comrades to watch over Gisco and the other -captives. A Samian trader, one Hipponax, coming from Carthage, had -informed them that a plot was being organised to promote their escape, -and the Barbarians were urged to take every precaution; the Republic was -powerful. - -Spendius’s stratagem did not succeed at first as he had hoped. This -assurance of the new peril, so far from exciting frenzy, raised fears; -and remembering Hamilcar’s warning, lately thrown into their midst, -they expected something unlooked for and terrible. The night was spent -in great distress; several even got rid of their weapons, so as to -soften the Suffet when he presented himself. - -But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner appeared, -still more breathless, and blackened with dust. The Greek snatched -from his hand a roll of papyrus covered with Phonician writing. The -Mercenaries were entreated not to be disheartened; the brave men of -Tunis were coming with large reinforcements. - -Spendius first read the letter three times in succession; and held up by -two Cappadocians, who bore him seated on their shoulders, he had -himself conveyed from place to place and re-read it. For seven hours he -harangued. - -He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises of the Great Council; the -Africans of the cruelties of the stewards, and all the Barbarians of -the injustice of Carthage. The Suffet’s mildness was only a bait to -capture them; those who surrendered would be sold as slaves, and the -vanquished would perish under torture. As to flight, what routes could -they follow? Not a nation would receive them. Whereas by continuing -their efforts they would obtain at once freedom, vengeance, and money! -And they would not have long to wait, since the people of Tunis, the -whole of Libya, was rushing to relieve them. He showed the unrolled -papyrus: “Look at it! read! see their promises! I do not lie.” - -Dogs were straying about with their black muzzles all plastered with -red. The men’s uncovered heads were growing hot in the burning sun. -A nauseous smell exhaled from the badly buried corpses. Some even -projected from the earth as far as the waist. Spendius called them to -witness what he was saying; then he raised his fists in the direction of -Hamilcar. - -Matho, moreover, was watching him, and to cover his cowardice he -displayed an anger by which he gradually found himself carried away. -Devoting himself to the gods he heaped curses upon the Carthaginians. -The torture of the captives was child’s play. Why spare them, and be -ever dragging this useless cattle after one? “No! we must put an end -to it! their designs are known! a single one might ruin us! no pity! -Those who are worthy will be known by the speed of their legs and the -force of their blows.” - -Then they turned again upon the captives. Several were still in the last -throes; they were finished by the thrust of a heel in the mouth or a -stab with the point of a javelin. - -Then they thought of Gisco. Nowhere could he be seen; they were -disturbed with anxiety. They wished at once to convince themselves of -his death and to participate in it. At last three Samnite shepherds -discovered him at a distance of fifteen paces from the spot where -Matho’s tent lately stood. They recognised him by his long beard and -they called the rest. - -Stretched on his back, his arms against his hips, and his knees close -together, he looked like a dead man laid out for the tomb. Nevertheless -his wasted sides rose and fell, and his eyes, wide-opened in his pallid -face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion. - -The Barbarians looked at him at first with great astonishment. Since he -had been living in the pit he had been almost forgotten; rendered uneasy -by old memories they stood at a distance and did not venture to raise -their hands against him. - -But those who were behind were murmuring and pressed forward when a -Garamantian passed through the crowd; he was brandishing a sickle; all -understood his thought; their faces purpled, and smitten with shame they -shrieked: - -“Yes! yes!” - -The man with the curved steel approached Gisco. He took his head, and, -resting it upon his knee, sawed it off with rapid strokes; it fell; to -great jets of blood made a hole in the dust. Zarxas leaped upon it, and -lighter than a leopard ran towards the Carthaginians. - -Then when he had covered two thirds of the mountain he drew Gisco’s -head from his breast by the beard, whirled his arm rapidly several -times,—and the mass, when thrown at last, described a long parabola -and disappeared behind the Punic entrenchments. - -Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards, the -customary sign for claiming a corpse. - -Then four heralds, chosen for their width of chest, went out with great -clarions, and speaking through the brass tubes declared that henceforth -there would be between Carthaginians and Barbarians neither faith, pity, -nor gods, that they refused all overtures beforehand, and that envoys -would be sent back with their hands cut off. - -Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to Hippo-Zarytus to procure -provisions; the Tyrian city sent them some the same evening. They ate -greedily. Then when they were strengthened they speedily collected -the remains of their baggage and their broken arms; the women massed -themselves in the centre, and heedless of the wounded left weeping -behind them, they set out along the edge of the shore like a herd of -wolves taking its departure. - -They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, resolved to take it, for they had -need of a town. - -Hamilcar, as he perceived them at a distance, had a feeling of despair -in spite of the pride which he experienced in seeing them fly before -him. He ought to have attacked them immediately with fresh troops. -Another similar day and the war was over! If matters were protracted -they would return with greater strength; the Tyrian towns would join -them; his clemency towards the vanquished had been of no avail. He -resolved to be pitiless. - -The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden with -bracelets collected from the dead, and with horrible threats ordered -another army to be despatched. - -All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his -victory they felt a stupefaction which was almost terror. The vaguely -announced return of the zaïmph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and -the might of Carthage seemed now to belong to him. - -None of his enemies ventured upon complaint or recrimination. Owing to -the enthusiasm of some and the pusillanimity of the rest, an army of -five thousand men was ready before the interval prescribed had elapsed. - -This army promptly made its way to Utica in order to support the -Suffet’s rear, while three thousand of the most notable citizens -embarked in vessels which were to land them at Hippo-Zarytus, whence -they were to drive back the Barbarians. - -Hanno had accepted the command; but he intrusted the army to his -lieutenant, Magdassin, so as to lead the troops which were to be -disembarked himself, for he could no longer endure the shaking of -the litter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils, and had -hollowed out a large hole in his face; the back of his throat could be -seen at a distance of ten paces, and he knew himself to be so hideous -that he wore a veil over his head like a woman. - -Hippo-Zarytus paid no attention to his summonings nor yet to those of -the Barbarians; but every morning the inhabitants lowered provisions to -the latter in baskets, and shouting from the tops of the towers pleaded -the exigencies of the Republic and conjured them to withdraw. By means -of signs they addressed the same protestations to the Carthaginians, who -were stationed on the sea. - -Hanno contented himself with blockading the harbour without risking an -attack. However, he permitted the judges of Hippo-Zarytus to admit three -hundred soldiers. Then he departed to the Cape Grapes, and made a -long circuit so as to hem in the Barbarians, an inopportune and even -dangerous operation. His jealousy prevented him from relieving the -Suffet; he arrested his spies, impeded him in all his plans, and -compromised the success of the enterprise. At last Hamilcar wrote to -the Great Council to rid himself of Hanno, and the latter returned to -Carthage furious at the baseness of the Ancients and the madness of his -colleague. Hence, after so many hopes, the situation was now still more -deplorable; but there was an effort not to reflect upon it and even not -to talk about it. - -As if all this were not sufficient misfortune at one time, news came -that the Sardinian Mercenaries had crucified their general, seized the -strongholds, and everywhere slaughtered those of Chanaanitish race. The -Roman people threatened the Republic with immediate hostilities -unless she gave twelve hundred talents with the whole of the island of -Sardinia. They had accepted the alliance of the Barbarians, and they -despatched to them flat-bottomed boats laden with meal and dried meat. -The Carthaginians pursued these, and captured five hundred men; but -three days afterwards a fleet coming from Byzacena, and conveying -provisions to Carthage, foundered in a storm. The gods were evidently -declaring against her. - -Upon this the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, under pretence of an alarm, -made Hanno’s three hundred men ascend their walls; then coming behind -them they took them by the legs, and suddenly threw them over the -ramparts. Some who were not killed were pursued, and went and drowned -themselves in the sea. - -Utica was enduring the presence of soldiers, for Magdassin had acted -like Hanno, and in accordance with his orders and deaf to Hamilcar’s -prayers, was surrounding the town. As for these, they were given wine -mixed with mandrake, and were then slaughtered in their sleep. At the -same time the Barbarians arrived; Magdassin fled; the gates were opened, -and thenceforward the two Tyrian towns displayed an obstinate devotion -to their new friends and an inconceivable hatred to their former allies. - -This abandonment of the Punic cause was a counsel and a precedent. Hopes -of deliverance revived. Populations hitherto uncertain hesitated no -longer. Everywhere there was a stir. The Suffet learnt this, and he had -no assistance to look for! He was now irrevocably lost. - -He immediately dismissed Narr’ Havas, who was to guard the borders of -his kingdom. As for himself, he resolved to re-enter Carthage in order -to obtain soldiers and begin the war again. - -The Barbarians posted at Hippo-Zarytus perceived his army as it -descended the mountain. - -Where could the Carthaginians be going? Hunger, no doubt, was urging -them on; and, distracted by their sufferings, they were coming in spite -of their weakness to give battle. But they turned to the right: they -were fleeing. They might be overtaken and all be crushed. The Barbarians -dashed in pursuit of them. - -The Carthaginians were checked by the river. It was wide this time and -the west wind had not been blowing. Some crossed by swimming, and the -rest on their shields. They resumed their march. Night fell. They were -out of sight. - -The Barbarians did not stop; they went higher to find a narrower place. -The people of Tunis hastened thither, bringing those of Utica along with -them. Their numbers increased at every bush; and the Carthaginians, as -they lay on the ground, could hear the tramping of their feet in the -darkness. From time to time Barca had a volley of arrows discharged -behind him to check them, and several were killed. When day broke they -were in the Ariana Mountains, at the spot where the road makes a bend. - -Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could -distinguish something green on the horizon on the summit of an eminence. -Then the ground sank, and obelisks, domes, and houses appeared! It was -Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself from falling, so -rapidly did his heart beat. - -He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the -last time that he had passed that way! It was an infinite surprise, it -stunned him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing -Salammbô again. The reasons which he had for execrating her returned to -his recollection, but he very quickly rejected them. Quivering and with -straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace above the -palm trees beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy lighted his face as if -some great light had reached him; he opened his arms, and sent kisses on -the breeze, and murmured: “Come! come!” A sigh swelled his breast, -and two long tears like pearls fell upon his beard. - -“What stays you?” cried Spendius. “Make haste! Forward! The Suffet -is going to escape us! But your knees are tottering, and you are looking -at me like a drunken man!” - -He stamped with impatience and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at the -approach of an object long aimed at. - -“Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!” - -He had so convinced and triumphant an air that Matho was surprised from -his torpor, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, coming -when his distress was at its height, drove his despair to vengeance, and -pointed to food for his wrath. He bounded upon one of the camels that -were among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and with the long -rope, struck the stragglers with all his might, running right and left -alternately, in the rear of the army, like a dog driving a flock. - -At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame -hurried their steps; the intervening space lessened in the middle of the -isthmus. The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust raised -by the Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and were on the -point of touching. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, and the great -gate of Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square divided; three -columns were swallowed up, and eddied beneath the porches. Soon the -mass, being too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed -in the air, and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the -walls. - -Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round -and shouted to his men to move aside. He dismounted from his horse; and -pricking it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it against -the Barbarians. - -It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend -its knees to allow its master to mount. Why was he sending it away? Was -this a sacrifice? - -The noble horse galloped into the midst of the lances, knocked down men, -and, entangling its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose again -with furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to stop it, -or looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united again; they -entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them. - -It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it;—and for -some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which became -weaker and weaker, and at last ceased. - -The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to -hurl stones, balls, and beams. Spendius represented that it would be -best not to persist. The Barbarians went and posted themselves further -off, all being quite resolved to lay siege to Carthage. - - -The rumour of the war, however, had passed beyond the confines of -the Punic empire; and from the pillars of Hercules to beyond Cyrene -shepherds mused on it as they kept their flocks, and caravans talked -about it in the light of the stars. This great Carthage, mistress of the -seas, splendid as the sun, and terrible as a god, actually found men -who were daring enough to attack her! Her fall even had been asserted -several times; and all had believed it for all wished it: the subject -populations, the tributary villages, the allied provinces, the -independent hordes, those who execrated her for her tyranny or were -jealous of her power, or coveted her wealth. The bravest had very -speedily joined the Mercenaries. The defeat at the Macaras had checked -all the rest. At last they had recovered confidence, had gradually -advanced and approached; and now the men of the eastern regions were -lying on the sandhills of Clypea on the other side of the gulf. As soon -as they perceived the Barbarians they showed themselves. - -They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long -composed the third army, but nomads from the tableland of Barca, bandits -from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Dernah, from Phazzana and -Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish wells -walled in with camels’ bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering of -ostrich feathers, had come on quadrigæ; the Garamantians, masked with -black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were mounted on -asses, onagers, zebras, and buffaloes; while some dragged after them the -roofs of their sloop-shaped huts together with their families and -idols. There were Ammonians with limbs wrinkled by the hot water of the -springs; Atarantians, who curse the sun; Troglodytes, who bury their -dead with laughter beneath branches of trees; and the hideous Auseans, -who eat grass-hoppers; the Achyrmachidæ, who eat lice; and the -vermilion-painted Gysantians, who eat apes. - -All were ranged along the edge of the sea in a great straight line. -Afterwards they advanced like tornadoes of sand raised by the wind. In -the centre of the isthmus the throng stopped, the Mercenaries who were -posted in front of them, close to the walls, being unwilling to move. - -Then from the direction of Ariana appeared the men of the West, the -people of the Numidians. In fact, Narr’ Havas governed only the -Massylians; and, moreover, as they were permitted by custom to abandon -their king when reverses were sustained, they had assembled on the -Zainus, and then had crossed it at Hamilcar’s first movement. First -were seen running up all the hunters from Malethut-Baal and Garaphos, -clad in lions’ skins, and with the staves of their pikes driving small -lean horses with long manes; then marched the Gætulians in cuirasses of -serpents’ skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of wax -and resin; and the Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each holding -two javelins and a round shield of hippopotamus leather. They stopped at -the foot of the Catacombs among the first pools of the Lagoon. - -But when the Libyans had moved away, the multitude of the Negroes -appeared like a cloud on a level with the ground, in the place which the -others had occupied. They were there from the White Harousch, the Black -Harousch, the desert of Augila, and even from the great country of -Agazymba, which is four months’ journey south of the Garamantians, -and from regions further still! In spite of their red wooden jewels, the -filth of their black skin made them look like mulberries that had been -long rolling in the dust. They had bark-thread drawers, dried-grass -tunics, fallow-deer muzzles on their heads; they shook rods furnished -with rings, and brandished cows’ tails at the end of sticks, after the -fashion of standards, howling the while like wolves. - -Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gætulians pressed the -yellowish men, who are spread through the cedar forests beyond Taggir. -They had cat-skin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they led -in leashes enormous dogs, which were as high as asses, and did not bark. - -Finally, as though Africa had not been sufficiently emptied, and it had -been necessary to seek further fury in the very dregs of the races, men -might be seen behind the rest, with beast-like profiles and grinning -with idiotic laughter—wretches ravaged by hideous diseases, deformed -pigmies, mulattoes of doubtful sex, albinos whose red eyes blinked in -the sun; stammering out unintelligible sounds, they put a finger into -their mouths to show that they were hungry. - -The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples. -There was not a deadly invention that was not present—from wooden -daggers, stone hatchets and ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed -like saws, slender, and formed of a yielding copper blade. They handled -cutlasses which were forked into several branches like antelopes’ -horns, bills fastened to the ends of ropes, iron triangles, clubs and -bodkins. The Ethiopians from the Bambotus had little poisoned darts -hidden in their hair. Many had brought pebbles in bags. Others, empty -handed, chattered with their teeth. - -This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell. Dromedaries, smeared -all over with tar-like streaks, knocked down the women, who carried -their children on their hips. The provisions in the baskets were pouring -out; in walking, pieces of salt, parcels of gum, rotten dates, and -gourou nuts were crushed underfoot; and sometimes on vermin-covered -bosoms there would hang a slender cord supporting a diamond that the -Satraps had sought, an almost fabulous stone, sufficient to purchase -an empire. Most of them did not even know what they desired. They were -impelled by fascination or curiosity; and nomads who had never seen a -town were frightened by the shadows of the walls. - -The isthmus was now hidden by men; and this long surface, whereon the -tents were like huts amid an inundation, stretched as far as the first -lines of the other Barbarians, which were streaming with steel and were -posted symmetrically upon both sides of the aqueduct. - -The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their -arrival when they perceived the siege-engines sent by the Tyrian towns -coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildings—with -their masts, arms, ropes, articulations, capitals and carapaces, sixty -carroballistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions, fifty tollenos, twelve -rams, and three gigantic catapults which hurled pieces of rock of the -weight of fifteen talents. Masses of men clinging to their bases pushed -them on; at every step a quivering shook them, and in this way they -arrived in front of the walls. - -But several days were still needed to finish the preparations for -the siege. The Mercenaries, taught by their defeats, would not risk -themselves in useless engagements; and on both sides there was no haste, -for it was well known that a terrible action was about to open, and that -the result of it would be complete victory or complete extermination. - -Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a -series of re-entrant and projecting angles, an advantageous arrangement -for repelling assaults. - -Nevertheless a portion had fallen down in the direction of the -Catacombs, and on dark nights lights could be seen in the dens of Malqua -through the disjointed blocks. These in some places overlooked the top -of the ramparts. It was here that the Mercenaries’ wives, who had been -driven away by Matho, were living with their new husbands. On seeing the -men again their hearts could stand it no longer. They waved their scarfs -at a distance; then they came and chatted in the darkness with the -soldiers through the cleft in the wall, and one morning the Great -Council learned that they had all fled. Some had passed through between -the stones; others with greater intrepidity had let themselves down with -ropes. - -At last Spendius resolved to accomplish his design. - -The war, by keeping him at a distance, had hitherto prevented him; -and since the return to before Carthage, it seemed to him that the -inhabitants suspected his enterprise. But soon they diminished the -sentries on the aqueduct. There were not too many people for the defence -of the walls. - -The former slave practised himself for some days in shooting arrows at -the flamingoes on the lake. Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho -to light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all his -men were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he went -away along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis. - -When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the -aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of the -pillars. - -The sentries on the platform were walking quietly up and down. - -Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette, -believing that there was an assault, rushed away in the direction of -Carthage. - -One man had remained. He showed black against the background of the -sky. The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of -extravagant size, looked in the distance like an obelisk proceeding -across the plain. - -They waited until he was in position just before them. Zarxas seized his -sling, but whether from prudence or from ferocity Spendius stopped him. -“No, the whiz of the bullet would make a noise! Let me!” - -Then he bent his bow with all his strength, resting the lower end of it -against the great toe of his left foot; he took aim, and the arrow went -off. - -The man did not fall. He disappeared. - -“If he were wounded we should hear him!” said Spendius; and he -mounted quickly from story to story as he had done the first time, with -the assistance of a rope and a harpoon. Then when he had reached the top -and was beside the corpse, he let it fall again. The Balearian fastened -a pick and a mallet to it and turned back. - -The trumpets sounded no longer. All was now quiet. Spendius had raised -one of the flag-stones and, entering the water, had closed it behind -him. - -Calculating the distance by the number of his steps, he arrived at the -exact spot where he had noticed an oblique fissure; and for three hours -until morning he worked in continuous and furious fashion, breathing -with difficulty through the interstices in the upper flag-tones, -assailed with anguish, and twenty times believing that he was going -to die. At last a crack was heard, and a huge stone ricocheting on the -lower arches rolled to the ground,—and suddenly a cataract, an entire -river, fell from the skies onto the plain. The aqueduct, being cut -through in the centre, was emptying itself. It was death to Carthage and -victory for the Barbarians. - -In an instant the awakened Carthaginians appeared on the walls, the -houses, and the temples. The Barbarians pressed forward with shouts. -They danced in delirium around the great waterfall, and came up and wet -their heads in it in the extravagance of their joy. - -A man in a torn, brown tunic was perceived on the summit of the -aqueduct. He stood leaning over the very edge with both hands on his -hips, and was looking down below him as though astonished at his work. - -Then he drew himself up. He surveyed the horizon with a haughty air -which seemed to say: “All that is now mine!” The applause of the -Barbarians burst forth, while the Carthaginians, comprehending their -disaster at last, shrieked with despair. Then he began to run about -the platform from one end to the other,—and like a chariot-driver -triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, raised -his arms aloft. - - - - - -CHAPTER XIII MOLOCH - -The Barbarians had no need of a circumvallation on the side of Africa, -for it was theirs. But to facilitate the approach to the walls, the -entrenchments bordering the ditch were thrown down. Matho next divided -the army into great semicircles so as to encompass Carthage the better. -The hoplites of the Mercenaries were placed in the first rank, and -behind them the slingers and horsemen; quite at the back were the -baggage, chariots, and horses; and the engines bristled in front of this -throng at a distance of three hundred paces from the towers. - -Amid the infinite variety of their nomenclature (which changed several -times in the course of the centuries) these machines might be reduced to -two systems: some acted like slings, and the rest like bows. - -The first, which were the catapults, was composed of a square frame with -two vertical uprights and a horizontal bar. In its anterior portion was -a cylinder, furnished with cables, which held back a great beam bearing -a spoon for the reception of projectiles; its base was caught in a -skein of twisted thread, and when the ropes were let go it sprang up and -struck against the bar, which, checking it with a shock, multiplied its -power. - -The second presented a more complicated mechanism. A cross-bar had its -centre fixed on a little pillar, and from this point of junction there -branched off at right angles a short of channel; two caps containing -twists of horse-hair stood at the extremities of the cross-bar; two -small beams were fastened to them to hold the extremities of a rope -which was brought to the bottom of the channel upon a tablet of bronze. -This metal plate was released by a spring, and sliding in grooves -impelled the arrows. - -The catapults were likewise called onagers, after the wild asses which -fling up stones with their feet, and the ballistas scorpions, on account -of a hook which stood upon the tablet, and being lowered by a blow of -the fist, released the spring. - -Their construction required learned calculations; the wood selected had -to be of the hardest substance, and their gearing all of brass; they -were stretched with levers, tackle-blocks, capstans or tympanums; the -direction of the shooting was changed by means of strong pivots; they -were moved forward on cylinders, and the most considerable of them, -which were brought piece by piece, were set up in front of the enemy. - -Spendius arranged three great catapults opposite the three principle -angles; he placed a ram before every gate, a ballista before every -tower, while carroballistas were to move about in the rear. But it was -necessary to protect them against the fire thrown by the besieged, and -first of all to fill up the trench which separated them from the walls. - -They pushed forward galleries formed of hurdles of green reeds, and -oaken semicircles like enormous shields gliding on three wheels; the -workers were sheltered in little huts covered with raw hides and stuffed -with wrack; the catapults and ballistas were protected by rope curtains -which had been steeped in vinegar to render them incombustible. The -women and children went to procure stones on the strand, and gathered -earth with their hands and brought it to the soldiers. - -The Carthaginians also made preparations. - -Hamilcar had speedily reassured them by declaring that there was enough -water left in the cisterns for one hundred and twenty-three days. This -assertion, together with his presence, and above all that of the zaïmph -among them, gave them good hopes. Carthage recovered from its dejection; -those who were not of Chanaanitish origin were carried away by the -passion of the rest. - -The slaves were armed, the arsenals were emptied, and every citizen had -his own post and his own employment. Twelve hundred of the fugitives -had survived, and the Suffet made them all captains; and carpenters, -armourers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths were intrusted with the engines. -The Carthaginians had kept a few in spite of the conditions of the peace -with Rome. These were repaired. They understood such work. - -The two northern and eastern sides, being protected by the sea and the -gulf, remained inaccessible. On the wall fronting the Barbarians they -collected tree-trunks, mill-stones, vases filled with sulphur, and -vats filled with oil, and built furnaces. Stones were heaped up on the -platforms of the towers, and the houses bordering immediately on the -rampart were crammed with sand in order to strengthen it and increase -its thickness. - -The Barbarians grew angry at the sight of these preparations. They -wished to fight at once. The weights which they put into the catapults -were so extravagantly heavy that the beams broke, and the attack was -delayed. - -At last on the thirteenth day of the month of Schabar,—at sunrise,—a -great blow was heard at the gate of Khamon. - -Seventy-five soldiers were pulling at ropes arranged at the base of a -gigantic beam which was suspended horizontally by chains hanging from a -framework, and which terminated in a ram’s head of pure brass. It had -been swathed in ox-hides; it was bound at intervals with iron bracelets; -it was thrice as thick as a man’s body, one hundred and twenty cubits -long, and under the crowd of naked arms pushing it forward and drawing -it back, it moved to and fro with a regular oscillation. - -The other rams before the other gates began to be in motion. Men -might be seen mounting from step to step in the hollow wheels of the -tympanums. The pulleys and caps grated, the rope curtains were lowered, -and showers of stones and showers of arrows poured forth simultaneously; -all the scattered slingers ran up. Some approached the rampart hiding -pots of resin under their shields; then they would hurl these with all -their might. This hail of bullets, darts, and flames passed above the -first ranks in the form of a curve which fell behind the walls. But -long cranes, used for masting vessels, were reared on the summit of the -ramparts; and from them there descended some of those enormous pincers -which terminated in two semicircles toothed on the inside. They bit the -rams. The soldiers clung to the beam and drew it back. The Carthaginians -hauled in order to pull it up; and the action was prolonged until the -evening. - -When the Mercenaries resumed their task on the following day, the tops -of the walls were completely carpeted with bales of cotton, sails, and -cushions; the battlements were stopped up with mats; and a line of forks -and blades, fixed upon sticks, might be distinguished among the cranes -on the rampart. A furious resistance immediately began. - -Trunks of trees fastened to cables fell and rose alternately and -battered the rams; cramps hurled by the ballistas tore away the roofs of -the huts; and streams of flints and pebbles poured from the platforms of -the towers. - -At last the rams broke the gates of Khamon and Tagaste. But the -Carthaginians had piled up such an abundance of materials on the inside -that the leaves did not open. They remained standing. - -Then they drove augers against the walls; these were applied to the -joints of the blocks, so as to detach the latter. The engines were -better managed, the men serving them were divided into squads, and they -were worked from morning till evening without interruption and with the -monotonous precision of a weaver’s loom. - -Spendius returned to them untiringly. It was he who stretched the skeins -of the ballistas. In order that the twin tensions might completely -correspond, the ropes as they were tightened were struck on the right -and left alternately until both sides gave out an equal sound. Spendius -would mount upon the timbers. He would strike the ropes softly with -the extremity of his foot, and strain his ears like a musician tuning -a lyre. Then when the beam of the catapult rose, when the pillar of the -ballista trembled with the shock of the spring, when the stones were -shooting in rays, and the darts pouring in streams, he would incline his -whole body and fling his arms into the air as though to follow them. - -The soldiers admired his skill and executed his commands. In the gaiety -of their work they gave utterance to jests on the names of the machines. -Thus the plyers for seizing the rams were called “wolves,” and the -galleries were covered with “vines”; they were lambs, or they were -going to gather the grapes; and as they loaded their pieces they -would say to the onagers: “Come, pick well!” and to the scorpions: -“Pierce them to the heart!” These jokes, which were ever the same, -kept up their courage. - -Nevertheless the machines did not demolish the rampart. It was formed of -two walls and was completely filled with earth. The upper portions were -beaten down, but each time the besieged raised them again. Matho ordered -the construction of wooden towers which should be as high as the towers -of stone. They cast turf, stakes, pebbles and chariots with their wheels -into the trench so as to fill it up the more quickly; but before this -was accomplished the immense throng of the Barbarians undulated over the -plain with a single movement and came beating against the foot of the -walls like an overflowing sea. - -They moved forward the rope ladders, straight ladders, and sambucas, -the latter consisting of two poles from which a series of bamboos -terminating in a moveable bridge were lowered by means of tackling. -They formed numerous straight lines resting against the wall, and the -Mercenaries mounted them in files, holding their weapons in their hands. -Not a Carthaginian showed himself; already two thirds of the rampart -had been covered. Then the battlements opened, vomiting flames and smoke -like dragon jaws; the sand scattered and entered the joints of their -armour; the petroleum fastened on their garments; the liquid lead -hopped on their helmets and made holes in their flesh; a rain of sparks -splashed against their faces, and eyeless orbits seemed to weep tears as -big as almonds. There were men all yellow with oil, with their hair -in flames. They began to run and set fire to the rest. They were -extinguished in mantles steeped in blood, which were thrown from a -distance over their faces. Some who had no wounds remained motionless, -stiffer than stakes, their mouths open and their arms outspread. - -The assault was renewed for several days in succession, the Mercenaries -hoping to triumph by extraordinary energy and audacity. - -Sometimes a man raised on the shoulders of another would drive a -pin between the stones, and then making use of it as a step to reach -further, would place a second and a third; and, protected by the edge -of the battlements, which stood out from the wall, they would gradually -raise themselves in this way; but on reaching a certain height they -always fell back again. The great trench was full to overflowing; -the wounded were massed pell-mell with the dead and dying beneath the -footsteps of the living. Calcined trunks formed black spots amid opened -entrails, scattered brains, and pools of blood; and arms and legs -projecting half way out of a heap, would stand straight up like props in -a burning vineyard. - -The ladders proving insufficient the tollenos were brought into -requisition,—instruments consisting of a long beam set transversely -upon another, and bearing at its extremity a quadrangular basket which -would hold thirty foot-soldiers with their weapons. - -Matho wished to ascend in the first that was ready. Spendius stopped -him. - -Some men bent over a capstan; the great beam rose, became horizontal, -reared itself almost vertically, and being overweighted at the end, bent -like a huge reed. The soldiers, who were crowded together, were hidden -up to their chins; only their helmet-plumes could be seen. At last when -it was twenty cubits high in the air it turned several times to the -right and to the left, and then was depressed; and like a giant arm -holding a cohort of pigmies in its hand, it laid the basketful of -men upon the edge of the wall. They leaped into the crowd and never -returned. - -All the other tollenos were speedily made ready. But a hundred times -as many would have been needed for the capture of the town. They were -utilised in a murderous fashion: Ethiopian archers were placed in the -baskets; then, the cables having been fastened, they remained suspended -and shot poisoned arrows. The fifty tollenos commanding the battlements -thus surrounded Carthage like monstrous vultures; and the Negroes -laughed to see the guards on the rampart dying in grievous convulsions. - -Hamilcar sent hoplites to these posts, and every morning made them drink -the juice of certain herbs which protected them against the poison. - -One evening when it was dark he embarked the best of his soldiers -on lighters and planks, and turning to the right of the harbour, -disembarked on the Tænia. Then he advanced to the first lines of -the Barbarians, and taking them in flank, made a great slaughter. Men -hanging to ropes would descend at night from the top of the wall with -torches in their hands, burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then -mount up again. - -Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which led -him into terrible extravagances. He mentally summoned Salammbô to an -interview; then he waited. She did not come; this seemed to him like a -fresh piece of treachery,—and henceforth he execrated her. If he -had seen her corpse he would perhaps have gone away. He doubled the -outposts, he planted forks at the foot of the rampart, he drove caltrops -into the ground, and he commanded the Libyans to bring him a whole -forest that he might set it on fire and burn Carthage like a den of -foxes. - -Spendius went on obstinately with the siege. He sought to invent -terrible machines such as had never before been constructed. - -The other Barbarians, encamped at a distance on the isthmus, were amazed -at these delays; they murmured, and they were let loose. - -Then they rushed with their cutlasses and javelins, and beat against -the gates with them. But the nakedness of their bodies facilitating the -infliction of wounds, the Carthaginians massacred them freely; and the -Mercenaries rejoiced at it, no doubt through jealousy about the plunder. -Hence there resulted quarrels and combats between them. Then, the -country having been ravaged, provisions were soon scarce. They grew -disheartened. Numerous hordes went away, but the crowd was so great that -the loss was not apparent. - -The best of them tried to dig mines, but the earth, being badly -supported, fell in. They began again in other places, but Hamilcar -always guessed the direction that they were taking by holding his ear -against a bronze shield. He bored counter-mines beneath the path along -which the wooden towers were to move, and when they were pushed forward -they sank into the holes. - -At last all recognised that the town was impregnable, unless a long -terrace was raised to the same height as the walls, so as to enable them -to fight on the same level. The top of it should be paved so that -the machines might be rolled along. Then Carthage would find it quite -impossible to resist. - - -The town was beginning to suffer from thirst. The water which was worth -two kesitahs the bath at the opening of the siege was now sold for -a shekel of silver; the stores of meat and corn were also becoming -exhausted; there was a dread of famine, and some even began to speak of -useless mouths, which terrified every one. - -From the square of Khamon to the temple of Melkarth the streets were -cumbered with corpses; and, as it was the end of the summer, the -combatants were annoyed by great black flies. Old men carried off the -wounded, and the devout continued the fictitious funerals for their -relatives and friends who had died far away during the war. Waxen -statues with clothes and hair were displayed across the gates. They -melted in the heat of the tapers burning beside them; the paint flowed -down upon their shoulders, and tears streamed over the faces of the -living, as they chanted mournful songs beside them. The crowd meanwhile -ran to and fro; armed bands passed; captains shouted orders, while the -shock of the rams beating against the rampart was constantly heard. - -The temperature became so heavy that the bodies swelled and would no -longer fit into the coffins. They were burned in the centre of the -courts. But the fires, being too much confined, kindled the neighbouring -walls, and long flames suddenly burst from the houses like blood -spurting from an artery. Thus Moloch was in possession of Carthage; he -clasped the ramparts, he rolled through the streets, he devoured the -very corpses. - -Men wearing cloaks made of collected rags in token of despair, stationed -themselves at the corners of the cross-ways. They declaimed against the -Ancients and against Hamilcar, predicted complete ruin to the people, -and invited them to universal destruction and license. The most -dangerous were the henbane-drinkers; in their crisis they believed -themselves wild beasts, and leaped upon the passers-by to rend them. -Mobs formed around them, and the defence of Carthage was forgotten. The -Suffet devised the payment of others to support his policy. - -In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images -had been covered with chains. Black veils were placed upon the Patæc -gods, and hair-cloths around the altars; and attempts were made to -excite the pride and jealousy of the Baals by singing in their ears: -“Thou art about to suffer thyself to be vanquished! Are the others -perchance more strong? Show thyself! aid us! that the peoples may not -say: ‘Where are now their gods?’” - -The colleges of the pontiffs were agitated by unceasing anxiety. Those -of Rabbetna were especially afraid—the restoration of the zaïmph -having been of no avail. They kept themselves shut up in the third -enclosure which was as impregnable as a fortress. Only one among them, -the high priest Schahabarim, ventured to go out. - -He used to visit Salammbô. But he would either remain perfectly silent, -gazing at her with fixed eyeballs, or else would be lavish of words, and -the reproaches that he uttered were harder than ever. - -With inconceivable inconsistency he could not forgive the young girl -for carrying out his commands; Schahabarim had guessed all, and this -haunting thought revived the jealousies of his impotence. He accused her -of being the cause of the war. Matho, according to him, was besieging -Carthage to recover the zaïmph; and he poured out imprecations and -sarcasms upon this Barbarian who pretended to the possession of holy -things. Yet it was not this that the priest wished to say. - -But just now Salammbô felt no terror of him. The anguish which she used -formerly to suffer had left her. A strange peacefulness possessed her. -Her gaze was less wandering, and shone with limpid fire. - -Meanwhile the python had become ill again; and as Salammbô, on the -contrary, appeared to be recovering, old Taanach rejoiced in the -conviction that by its decline it was taking away the languor of her -mistress. - -One morning she found it coiled up behind the bed of ox-hides, colder -than marble, and with its head hidden by a heap of worms. Her cries -brought Salammbô to the spot. She turned it over for a while with the -tip of her sandal, and the slave was amazed at her insensibility. - -Hamilcar’s daughter no longer prolonged her fasts with so much -fervour. She passed whole days on the top of her terrace, leaning her -elbows against the balustrade, and amusing herself by looking out before -her. The summits of the walls at the end of the town cut uneven zigzags -upon the sky, and the lances of the sentries formed what was like a -border of corn-ears throughout their length. Further away she could see -the manouvres of the Barbarians between the towers; on days when the -siege was interrupted she could even distinguish their occupations. They -mended their weapons, greased their hair, and washed their bloodstained -arms in the sea; the tents were closed; the beasts of burden were -feeding; and in the distance the scythes of the chariots, which were all -ranged in a semicircle, looked like a silver scimitar lying at the base -of the mountains. Schahabarim’s talk recurred to her memory. She was -waiting for Narr’ Havas, her betrothed. In spite of her hatred she -would have liked to see Matho again. Of all the Carthaginians she was -perhaps the only one who would have spoken to him without fear. - -Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the -cushions, and gaze at her with an almost tender look, as if he found -some rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes questioned -her about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He even asked her -whether any one had urged her to it; and with a shake of the head she -answered, No,—so proud was Salammbô of having saved the zaïmph. - -But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making -military inquiries. He could not understand how the hours which she had -spent in the tent had been employed. Salammbô, in fact, said nothing -about Gisco; for as words had an effective power in themselves, curses, -if reported to any one, might be turned against him; and she was silent -about her wish to assassinate, lest she should be blamed for not having -yielded to it. She said that the schalischim appeared furious, that he -had shouted a great deal, and that he had then fallen asleep. Salammbô -told no more, through shame perhaps, or else because she was led by her -extreme ingenuousness to attach but little importance to the soldier’s -kisses. Moreover, it all floated through her head in a melancholy and -misty fashion, like the recollection of a depressing dream; and she -would not have known in what way or in what words to express it. - -One evening when they were thus face to face with each other, Taanach -came in looking quite scared. An old man with a child was yonder in the -courts, and wished to see the Suffet. - -Hamilcar turned pale, and then quickly replied: - -“Let him come up!” - -Iddibal entered without prostrating himself. He held a young boy, -covered with a goat’s-hair cloak, by the hand, and at once raised the -hood which screened his face. - -“Here he is, Master! Take him!” - -The Suffet and the slave went into a corner of the room. - -The child remained in the centre standing upright, and with a gaze -of attention rather than of astonishment he surveyed the ceiling, the -furniture, the pearl necklaces trailing on the purple draperies, and the -majestic maiden who was bending over towards him. - -He was perhaps ten years old, and was not taller than a Roman sword. His -curly hair shaded his swelling forehead. His eyeballs looked as if they -were seeking for space. The nostrils of his delicate nose were broad -and palpitating, and upon his whole person was displayed the indefinable -splendour of those who are destined to great enterprises. When he had -cast aside his extremely heavy cloak, he remained clad in a lynx skin, -which was fastened about his waist, and he rested his little naked feet, -which were all white with dust, resolutely upon the pavement. But he no -doubt divined that important matters were under discussion, for he -stood motionless, with one hand behind his back, his chin lowered, and a -finger in his mouth. - -At last Hamilcar attracted Salammbô with a sign and said to her in a -low voice: - -“You will keep him with you, you understand! No one, even though -belonging to the house, must know of his existence!” - -Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal whether he was quite sure -that they had not been noticed. - -“No!” said the slave, “the streets were empty.” - -As the war filled all the provinces he had feared for his master’s -son. Then, not knowing where to hide him, he had come along the coasts -in a sloop, and for three days Iddibal had been tacking about in the -gulf and watching the ramparts. At last, that evening, as the environs -of Khamon seemed to be deserted, he had passed briskly through the -channel and landed near the arsenal, the entrance to the harbour being -free. - -But soon the Barbarians posted an immense raft in front of it in order -to prevent the Carthaginians from coming out. They were again rearing -the wooden towers, and the terrace was rising at the same time. - -Outside communications were cut off and an intolerable famine set in. - -The besieged killed all the dogs, all the mules, all the asses, and then -the fifteen elephants which the Suffet had brought back. The lions of -the temple of Moloch had become ferocious, and the hierodules no longer -durst approach them. They were fed at first with the wounded Barbarians; -then they were thrown corpses that were still warm; they refused -them, and they all died. People wandered in the twilight along the old -enclosures, and gathered grass and flowers among the stones to boil -them in wine, wine being cheaper than water. Others crept as far as -the enemy’s outposts, and entered the tents to steal food, and the -stupefied Barbarians sometimes allowed them to return. At last a day -arrived when the Ancients resolved to slaughter the horses of Eschmoun -privately. They were holy animals whose manes were plaited by the -pontiffs with gold ribbons, and whose existence denoted the motion of -the sun—the idea of fire in its most exalted form. Their flesh was cut -into equal portions and buried behind the altar. Then every evening the -Ancients, alleging some act of devotion, would go up to the temple and -regale themselves in secret, and each would take away a piece beneath -his tunic for his children. In the deserted quarters remote from the -walls, the inhabitants, whose misery was not so great, had barricaded -themselves through fear of the rest. - -The stones from the catapults, and the demolitions commanded for -purposes of defence, had accumulated heaps of ruins in the middle of -the streets. At the quietest times masses of people would suddenly rush -along with shouts; and from the top of the Acropolis the conflagrations -were like purple rags scattered upon the terraces and twisted by the -wind. - -The three great catapults did not stop in spite of all these works. -Their ravages were extraordinary: thus a man’s head rebounded from the -pediment of the Syssitia; a woman who was being confined in the street -of Kinisdo was crushed by a block of marble, and her child was carried -with the bed as far as the crossways of Cinasyn, where the coverlet was -found. - -The most annoying were the bullets of the slingers. They fell upon the -roofs, and in the gardens, and in the middle of the courts, while people -were at table before a slender meal with their hearts big with sighs. -These cruel projectiles bore engraved letters which stamped themselves -upon the flesh;—and insults might be read on corpses such as -“pig,” “jackal,” “vermin,” and sometimes jests: “Catch -it!” or “I have well deserved it!” - -The portion of the rampart which extended from the corner of the -harbours to the height of the cisterns was broken down. Then the people -of Malqua found themselves caught between the old enclosure of Byrsa -behind, and the Barbarians in front. But there was enough to be done in -thickening the wall and making it as high as possible without troubling -about them; they were abandoned; all perished; and although they were -generally hated, Hamilcar came to be greatly abhorred. - -On the morrow he opened the pits in which he kept stores of corn, -and his stewards gave it to the people. For three days they gorged -themselves. - -Their thirst, however, only became the more intolerable, and they could -constantly see before them the long cascade formed by the clear falling -water of the aqueduct. A thin vapour, with a rainbow beside it, went up -from its base, beneath the rays of the sun, and a little stream curving -through the plain fell into the gulf. - -Hamilcar did not give way. He was reckoning upon an event, upon -something decisive and extraordinary. - -His own slaves tore off the silver plates from the temple of Melkarth; -four long boats were drawn out of the harbour, they were brought by -means of capstans to the foot of the Mappalian quarter, the wall facing -the shore was bored, and they set out for the Gauls to buy Mercenaries -there at no matter what price. Nevertheless, Hamilcar was distressed at -his inability to communicate with the king of the Numidians, for he -knew that he was behind the Barbarians, and ready to fall upon them. But -Narr’ Havas, being too weak, was not going to make any venture alone; -and the Suffet had the rampart raised twelve palms higher, all the -material in the arsenals piled up in the Acropolis, and the machines -repaired once more. - -Sinews taken from bulls’ necks, or else stags’ hamstrings, were -commonly employed for the twists of the catapults. However, neither -stags nor bulls were in existence in Carthage. Hamilcar asked the -Ancients for the hair of their wives; all sacrificed it, but the -quantity was not sufficient. In the buildings of the Syssitia there were -twelve hundred marriageable slaves destined for prostitution in Greece -and Italy, and their hair, having been rendered elastic by the use -of unguents, was wonderfully well adapted for engines of war. But the -subsequent loss would be too great. Accordingly it was decided that a -choice should be made of the finest heads of hair among the wives of the -plebeians. Careless of their country’s needs, they shrieked in despair -when the servants of the Hundred came with scissors to lay hands upon -them. - -The Barbarians were animated with increased fury. They could be seen in -the distance taking fat from the dead to grease their machines, while -others pulled out the nails and stitched them end to end to make -cuirasses. They devised a plan of putting into the catapults vessels -filled with serpents which had been brought by the Negroes; the clay -pots broke on the flag-stones, the serpents ran about, seemed to -multiply, and, so numerous were they, to issue naturally from the walls. -Then the Barbarians, not satisfied with their invention, improved upon -it; they hurled all kinds of filth, human excrements, pieces of carrion, -corpses. The plague reappeared. The teeth of the Carthaginians fell out -of their mouths, and their gums were discoloured like those of camels -after too long a journey. - -The machines were set up on the terrace, although the latter did not -as yet reach everywhere to the height of the rampart. Before the -twenty-three towers on the fortification stood twenty-three others of -wood. All the tollenos were mounted again, and in the centre, a -little further back, appeared the formidable helepolis of Demetrius -Poliorcetes, which Spendius had at last reconstructed. Of pyramidical -shape, like the pharos of Alexandria, it was one hundred and thirty -cubits high and twenty-three wide, with nine stories, diminishing as -they approached the summit, and protected by scales of brass; they were -pierced with numerous doors and were filled with soldiers, and on the -upper platform there stood a catapult flanked by two ballistas. - -Then Hamilcar planted crosses for those who should speak of surrender, -and even the women were brigaded. The people lay in the streets and -waited full of distress. - -Then one morning before sunrise (it was the seventh day of the month -of Nyssan) they heard a great shout uttered by all the Barbarians -simultaneously; the leaden-tubed trumpets pealed, and the great -Paphlagonian horns bellowed like bulls. All rose and ran to the rampart. - -A forest of lances, pikes, and swords bristled at its base. It leaped -against the wall, the ladders grappled them; and Barbarians’ heads -appeared in the intervals of the battlements. - -Beams supported by long files of men were battering at the gates; and, -in order to demolish the wall at places where the terrace was wanting, -the Mercenaries came up in serried cohorts, the first line crawling, the -second bending their hams, and the others rising in succession to the -last who stood upright; while elsewhere, in order to climb up, the -tallest advanced in front and the lowest in the rear, and all rested -their shields upon their helmets with their left arms, joining them -together at the edges so tightly that they might have been taken for an -assemblage of large tortoises. The projectiles slid over these oblique -masses. - -The Carthaginians threw down mill-stones, pestles, vats, casks, beds, -everything that could serve as a weight and could knock down. Some -watched at the embrasures with fisherman’s nets, and when the -Barbarian arrived he found himself caught in the meshes, and struggled -like a fish. They demolished their own battlements; portions of wall -fell down raising a great dust; and as the catapults on the terrace were -shooting over against one another, the stones would strike together -and shiver into a thousand pieces, making a copious shower upon the -combatants. - -Soon the two crowds formed but one great chain of human bodies; it -overflowed into the intervals in the terrace, and, somewhat looser at -the two extremities, swayed perpetually without advancing. They clasped -one another, lying flat on the ground like wrestlers. They crushed one -another. The women leaned over the battlements and shrieked. They -were dragged away by their veils, and the whiteness of their suddenly -uncovered sides shone in the arms of the Negroes as the latter buried -their daggers in them. Some corpses did not fall, being too much pressed -by the crowd, and, supported by the shoulders of their companions, -advanced for some minutes quite upright and with staring eyes. Some -who had both temples pierced by a javelin swayed their heads about like -bears. Mouths, opened to shout, remained gaping; severed hands flew -through the air. Mighty blows were dealt, which were long talked of by -the survivors. - -Meanwhile arrows darted from the towers of wood and stone. The tollenos -moved their long yards rapidly; and as the Barbarians had sacked the -old cemetery of the aborigines beneath the Catacombs, they hurled the -tombstones against the Carthaginians. Sometimes the cables broke under -the weight of too heavy baskets, and masses of men, all with uplifted -arms, would fall from the sky. - -Up to the middle of the day the veterans had attacked the Tænia -fiercely in order to penetrate into the harbour and destroy the fleet. -Hamilcar had a fire of damp straw lit upon the roofing of Khamon, and -as the smoke blinded them they fell back to left, and came to swell -the horrible rout which was pressing forward in Malqua. Some syntagmata -composed of sturdy men, chosen expressly for the purpose, had broken in -three gates. They were checked by lofty barriers made of planks studded -with nails, but a fourth yielded easily; they dashed over it at a -run and rolled into a pit in which there were hidden snares. At the -south-west gate Autaritus and his men broke down the rampart, the -fissure in which had been stopped up with bricks. The ground behind -rose, and they climbed it nimbly. But on the top they found a second -wall composed of stones and long beams lying quite flat and alternating -like the squares on a chess-board. It was a Gaulish fashion, and had -been adapted by the Suffet to the requirements of the situation; the -Gauls imagined themselves before a town in their own country. Their -attack was weak, and they were repulsed. - -All the roundway, from the street of Khamon as far as the Green Market, -now belonged to the Barbarians, and the Samnites were finishing off -the dying with blows of stakes; or else with one foot on the wall were -gazing down at the smoking ruins beneath them, and the battle which was -beginning again in the distance. - -The slingers, who were distributed through the rear, were still -shooting. But the springs of the Acarnanian slings had broken from use, -and many were throwing stones with the hand like shepherds; the rest -hurled leaden bullets with the handle of a whip. Zarxas, his shoulders -covered with his long black hair, went about everywhere, and led on the -Barbarians. Two pouches hung at his hips; he thrust his left hand -into them continually, while his right arm whirled round like a -chariot-wheel. - -Matho had at first refrained from fighting, the better to command -the Barbarians all at once. He had been seen along the gulf with the -Mercenaries, near the lagoon with the Numidians, and on the shores of -the lake among the Negroes, and from the back part of the plain he urged -forward masses of soldiers who came ceaselessly against the ramparts. By -degrees he had drawn near; the smell of blood, the sight of carnage, and -the tumult of clarions had at last made his heart leap. Then he had gone -back into his tent, and throwing off his cuirass had taken his lion’s -skin as being more convenient for battle. The snout fitted upon his -head, bordering his face with a circle of fangs; the two fore-paws were -crossed upon his breast, and the claws of the hinder ones fell beneath -his knees. - -He had kept on his strong waist-belt, wherein gleamed a two-edged axe, -and with his great sword in both hands he had dashed impetuously through -the breach. Like a pruner cutting willow-branches and trying to strike -off as much as possible so as to make the more money, he marched along -mowing down the Carthaginians around him. Those who tried to seize him -in flank he knocked down with blows of the pommel; when they attacked -him in front he ran them through; if they fled he clove them. Two men -leaped together upon his back; he bounded backwards against a gate and -crushed them. His sword fell and rose. It shivered on the angle of a -wall. Then he took his heavy axe, and front and rear he ripped up the -Carthaginians like a flock of sheep. They scattered more and more, and -he was quite alone when he reached the second enclosure at the foot -of the Acropolis. The materials which had been flung from the summit -cumbered the steps and were heaped up higher than the wall. Matho turned -back amid the ruins to summons his companions. - -He perceived their crests scattered over the multitude; they were -sinking and their wearers were about to perish; he dashed towards them; -then the vast wreath of red plumes closed in, and they soon rejoined him -and surrounded him. But an enormous crowd was discharging from the side -streets. He was caught by the hips, lifted up and carried away outside -the ramparts to a spot where the terrace was high. - -Matho shouted a command and all the shields sank upon the helmets; he -leaped upon them in order to catch hold somewhere so as to re-enter -Carthage; and, flourishing his terrible axe, ran over the shields, which -resembled waves of bronze, like a marine god, with brandished trident, -over his billows. - -However, a man in a white robe was walking along the edge of the -rampart, impassible, and indifferent to the death which surrounded him. -Sometimes he would spread out his right hand above his eyes in order -to find out some one. Matho happened to pass beneath him. Suddenly his -eyeballs flamed, his livid face contracted; and raising both his lean -arms he shouted out abuse at him. - -Matho did not hear it; but he felt so furious and cruel a look entering -his heart that he uttered a roar. He hurled his long axe at him; some -people threw themselves upon Schahabarim; and Matho seeing him no more -fell back exhausted. - -A terrible creaking drew near, mingled with the rhythm of hoarse voices -singing together. - -It was the great helepolis surrounded by a crowd of soldiers. They were -dragging it with both hands, hauling it with ropes, and pushing it with -their shoulders,—for the slope rising from the plain to the terrace, -although extremely gentle, was found impracticable for machines of such -prodigious weight. However, it had eight wheels banded with iron, and it -had been advancing slowly in this way since the morning, like a mountain -raised upon another. Then there appeared an immense ram issuing from its -base. The doors along the three fronts which faced the town fell down, -and cuirassed soldiers appeared in the interior like pillars of iron. -Some might be seen climbing and descending the two staircases which -crossed the stories. Some were waiting to dart out as soon as the cramps -of the doors touched the walls; in the middle of the upper platform the -skeins of the ballistas were turning, and the great beam of the catapult -was being lowered. - -Hamilcar was at that moment standing upright on the roof of Melkarth. He -had calculated that it would come directly towards him, against what was -the most invulnerable place in the wall, which was for that very reason -denuded of sentries. His slaves had for a long time been bringing -leathern bottles along the roundway, where they had raised with clay -two transverse partitions forming a sort of basin. The water was flowing -insensibly along the terrace, and strange to say, it seemed to cause -Hamilcar no anxiety. - -But when the helepolis was thirty paces off, he commanded planks to -be placed over the streets between the houses from the cisterns to -the rampart; and a file of people passed from hand to hand helmets and -amphoras, which were emptied continually. The Carthaginians, however, -grew indignant at this waste of water. The ram was demolishing the wall, -when suddenly a fountain sprang forth from the disjointed stones. Then -the lofty brazen mass, nine stories high, which contained and engaged -more than three thousand soldiers, began to rock gently like a ship. -In fact, the water, which had penetrated the terrace, had broken up the -path before it; its wheels stuck in the mire; the head of Spendius, -with distended cheeks blowing an ivory cornet, appeared between leathern -curtains on the first story. The great machine, as though convulsively -upheaved, advanced perhaps ten paces; but the ground softened more and -more, the mire reached to the axles, and the helepolis stopped, leaning -over frightfully to one side. The catapult rolled to the edge of the -platform, and carried away by the weight of its beam, fell, shattering -the lower stories beneath it. The soldiers who were standing on the -doors slipped into the abyss, or else held on to the extremities of -the long beams, and by their weight increased the inclination of the -helepolis, which was going to pieces with creakings in all its joints. - -The other Barbarians rushed up to help them, massing themselves into -a compact crowd. The Carthaginians descended from the rampart, and, -assailing them in the rear, killed them at leisure. But the chariots -furnished with sickles hastened up, and galloped round the outskirts of -the multitude. The latter ascended the wall again; night came on; and -the Barbarians gradually retired. - -Nothing could now be seen on the plain but a sort of perfectly black, -swarming mass, which extended from the bluish gulf to the purely white -lagoon; and the lake, which had received streams of blood, stretched -further away like a great purple pool. - -The terrace was now so laden with corpses that it looked as though it -had been constructed of human bodies. In the centre stood the helepolis -covered with armour; and from time to time huge fragments broke off -from it, like stones from a crumbling pyramid. Broad tracks made by -the streams of lead might be distinguished on the walls. A broken-down -wooden tower burned here and there, and the houses showed dimly like the -stages of a ruined ampitheatre. Heavy fumes of smoke were rising, and -rolling with them sparks which were lost in the dark sky. - - -The Carthaginians, however, who were consumed by thirst, had rushed to -the cisterns. They broke open the doors. A miry swamp stretched at the -bottom. - -What was to be done now? Moreover, the Barbarians were countless, and -when their fatigue was over they would begin again. - -The people deliberated all night in groups at the corners of the -streets. Some said that they ought to send away the women, the sick, and -the old men; others proposed to abandon the town, and found a colony far -away. But vessels were lacking, and when the sun appeared no decision -had been made. - -There was no fighting that day, all being too much exhausted. The -sleepers looked like corpses. - -Then the Carthaginians, reflecting upon the cause of their disasters, -remembered that they had not dispatched to Phonicia the annual offering -due to Tyrian Melkarth, and a great terror came upon them. The gods -were indignant with the Republic, and were, no doubt, about to prosecute -their vengeance. - -They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with -supplications and allowed themselves to be bribed with presents. All -were feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the -very flesh of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, -the Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it to him, which calmed -his fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape of the -neck, with woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal brought -in much money to the priests, they failed not to recommend it as being -easier and more pleasant. - -This time, however, the Republic itself was at stake. But as every -profit must be purchased by some loss, and as every transaction was -regulated according to the needs of the weaker and the demands of the -stronger, there was no pain great enough for the god, since he delighted -in such as was of the most horrible description, and all were now at his -mercy. He must accordingly be fully gratified. Precedents showed that -in this way the scourge would be made to disappear. Moreover, it was -believed that an immolation by fire would purify Carthage. The ferocity -of the people was predisposed towards it. The choice, too, must fall -exclusively upon the families of the great. - -The Ancients assembled. The sitting was a long one. Hanno had come to -it. As he was now unable to sit he remained lying down near the door, -half hidden among the fringes of the lofty tapestry; and when the -pontiff of Moloch asked them whether they would consent to surrender -their children, his voice suddenly broke forth from the shadow like the -roaring of a genius in the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he said, -that he had none of his own blood to give; and he gazed at Hamilcar, -who faced him at the other end of the hall. The Suffet was so much -disconcerted by this look that it made him lower his eyes. All -successively bent their heads in approval; and in accordance with the -rites he had to reply to the high priest: “Yes; be it so.” Then the -Ancients decreed the sacrifice in traditional circumlocution,—because -there are things more troublesome to say than to perform. - -The decision was almost immediately known in Carthage, and lamentations -resounded. The cries of women might everywhere be heard; their husbands -consoled them, or railed at them with remonstrances. - -But three hours afterwards extraordinary tidings were spread abroad: the -Suffet had discovered springs at the foot of the cliff. There was a rush -to the place. Water might be seen in holes dug in the sand, and some -were already lying flat on the ground and drinking. - -Hamilcar did not himself know whether it was by the determination of the -gods or through the vague recollection of a revelation which his father -had once made to him; but on leaving the Ancients he had gone down to -the shore and had begun to dig the gravel with his slaves. - -He gave clothing, boots, and wine. He gave all the rest of the corn that -he was keeping by him. He even let the crowd enter his palace, and -he opened kitchens, stores, and all the rooms,—Salammbô’s alone -excepted. He announced that six thousand Gaulish Mercenaries were -coming, and that the king of Macedonia was sending soldiers. - -But on the second day the springs diminished, and on the evening of the -third they were completely dried up. Then the decree of the Ancients -passed everywhere from lip to lip, and the priests of Moloch began their -task. - -Men in black robes presented themselves in the houses. In many instances -the owners had deserted them under pretence of some business, or of some -dainty that they were going to buy; and the servants of Moloch came and -took the children away. Others themselves surrendered them stupidly. -Then they were brought to the temple of Tanith, where the priestesses -were charged with their amusement and support until the solemn day. - -They visited Hamilcar suddenly and found him in his gardens. - -“Barca! we come for that that you know of—your son!” They added -that some people had met him one evening during the previous moon in the -centre of the Mappalian district being led by an old man. - -He was as though suffocated at first. But speedily understanding that -any denial would be in vain, Hamilcar bowed; and he brought them into -the commercial house. Some slaves who had run up at a sign kept watch -all round about it. - -He entered Salammbô’s room in a state of distraction. He seized -Hannibal with one hand, snatched up the cord of a trailing garment with -the other, tied his feet and hands with it, thrust the end into his -mouth to form a gag, and hid him under the bed of the ox-hides by -letting an ample drapery fall to the ground. - -Afterwards he walked about from right to left, raised his arms, wheeled -round, bit his lips. Then he stood still with staring eyelids, and -panted as though he were about to die. - -But he clapped his hands three times. Giddenem appeared. - -“Listen!” he said, “go and take from among the slaves a male child -from eight to nine years of age, with black hair and swelling forehead! -Bring him here! make haste!” - -Giddenem soon entered again, bringing forward a young boy. - -He was a miserable child, at once lean and bloated; his skin looked -greyish, like the infected rag hanging to his sides; his head was sunk -between his shoulders, and with the back of his hand he was rubbing his -eyes, which were filled with flies. - -How could he ever be confounded with Hannibal! and there was no time -to choose another. Hamilcar looked at Giddenem; he felt inclined to -strangle him. - -“Begone!” he cried; and the master of the slaves fled. - -The misfortune which he had so long dreaded was therefore come, and with -extravagant efforts he strove to discover whether there was not some -mode, some means to escape it. - -Abdalonim suddenly spoke from behind the door. The Suffet was being -asked for. The servants of Moloch were growing impatient. - -Hamilcar repressed a cry as though a red hot iron had burnt him; and -he began anew to pace the room like one distraught. Then he sank down -beside the balustrade, and, with his elbows on his knees, pressed his -forehead into his shut fists. - -The porphyry basin still contained a little clear water for -Salammbô’s ablutions. In spite of his repugnance and all his pride, -the Suffet dipped the child into it, and, like a slave merchant, began -to wash him and rub him with strigils and red earth. Then he took two -purple squares from the receptacles round the wall, placed one on his -breast and the other on his back, and joined them together on the collar -bones with two diamond clasps. He poured perfume upon his head, passed -an electrum necklace around his neck, and put on him sandals with heels -of pearl,—sandals belonging to his own daughter! But he stamped with -shame and vexation; Salammbô, who busied herself in helping him, was -as pale as he. The child, dazzled by such splendour, smiled and, growing -bold even, was beginning to clap his hands and jump, when Hamilcar took -him away. - -He held him firmly by the arm as though he were afraid of losing him, -and the child, who was hurt, wept a little as he ran beside him. - -When on a level with the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a voice was -raised, a mournful and supplicant voice. It murmured: “Master! oh! -master!” - -Hamilcar turned and beside him perceived a man of abject appearance, one -of the wretches who led a haphazard existence in the household. - -“What do you want?” said the Suffet. - -The slave, who trembled horribly, stammered: - -“I am his father!” - -Hamilcar walked on; the other followed him with stooping loins, bent -hams, and head thrust forward. His face was convulsed with unspeakable -anguish, and he was choking with suppressed sobs, so eager was he at -once to question him, and to cry: “Mercy!” - -At last he ventured to touch him lightly with one finger on the elbow. - -“Are you going to—?” He had not the strength to finish, and -Hamilcar stopped quite amazed at such grief. - -He had never thought—so immense was the abyss separating them from -each other—that there could be anything in common between them. It -even appeared to him a sort of outrage, an encroachment upon his -own privileges. He replied with a look colder and heavier than an -executioner’s axe; the slave swooned and fell in the dust at his feet. -Hamilcar strode across him. - -The three black-robed men were waiting in the great hall, and standing -against the stone disc. Immediately he tore his garments, and rolled -upon the pavement uttering piercing cries. - -“Ah! poor little Hannibal! Oh! my son! my consolation! my hope! my -life! Kill me also! take me away! Woe! Woe!” He ploughed his face with -his nails, tore out his hair, and shrieked like the women who lament at -funerals. “Take him away then! my suffering is too great! begone! kill -me like him!” The servants of Moloch were astonished that the great -Hamilcar was so weak-spirited. They were almost moved by it. - -A noise of naked feet became audible, with a broken throat-rattling like -the breathing of a wild beast speeding along, and a man, pale, terrible, -and with outspread arms appeared on the threshold of the third gallery, -between the ivory pots; he exclaimed: - -“My child!” - -Hamilcar threw himself with a bound upon the slave, and covering the -man’s mouth with his hand exclaimed still more loudly: - -“It is the old man who reared him! he calls him ‘my child!’ -it will make him mad! enough! enough!” And hustling away the three -priests and their victim he went out with them and with a great kick -shut the door behind him. - -Hamilcar strained his ears for some minutes in constant fear of seeing -them return. He then thought of getting rid of the slave in order to -be quite sure that he would see nothing; but the peril had not wholly -disappeared, and, if the gods were provoked at the man’s death, it -might be turned against his son. Then, changing his intention, he sent -him by Taanach the best from his kitchens—a quarter of a goat, beans, -and preserved pomegranates. The slave, who had eaten nothing for a long -time, rushed upon them; his tears fell into the dishes. - -Hamilcar at last returned to Salammbô, and unfastened Hannibal’s -cords. The child in exasperation bit his hand until the blood came. He -repelled him with a caress. - -To make him remain quiet Salammbô tried to frighten him with Lamia, a -Cyrenian ogress. - -“But where is she?” he asked. - -He was told that brigands were coming to put him into prison. “Let -them come,” he rejoined, “and I will kill them!” - -Then Hamilcar told him the frightful truth. But he fell into a passion -with his father, contending that he was quite able to annihilate the -whole people, since he was the master of Carthage. - -At last, exhausted by his exertions and anger, he fell into a wild -sleep. He spoke in his dreams, his back leaning against a scarlet -cushion; his head was thrown back somewhat, and his little arm, -outstretched from his body, lay quite straight in an attitude of -command. - -When the night had grown dark Hamilcar lifted him up gently, and, -without a torch, went down the galley staircase. As he passed through -the mercantile house he took up a basket of grapes and a flagon of pure -water; the child awoke before the statue of Aletes in the vault of gems, -and he smiled—like the other—on his father’s arm at the brilliant -lights which surrounded him. - -Hamilcar felt quite sure that his son could not be taken from him. It -was an impenetrable spot communicating with the beach by a subterranean -passage which he alone knew, and casting his eyes around he inhaled -a great draught of air. Then he set him down upon a stool beside some -golden shields. No one at present could see him; he had no further need -for watching; and he relieved his feelings. Like a mother finding her -first-born that was lost, he threw himself upon his son; he clasped him -to his breast, he laughed and wept at the same time, he called him -by the fondest names and covered him with kisses; little Hannibal was -frightened by this terrible tenderness and was silent now. - -Hamilcar returned with silent steps, feeling the walls around him, and -came into the great hall where the moonlight entered through one of the -apertures in the dome; in the centre the slave lay sleeping after his -repast, stretched at full length upon the marble pavement. He looked at -him and was moved with a sort of pity. With the tip of his cothurn he -pushed forward a carpet beneath his head. Then he raised his eyes and -gazed at Tanith, whose slender crescent was shining in the sky, and felt -himself stronger than the Baals and full of contempt for them. - -The arrangements for the sacrifice were already begun. - - -Part of a wall in the temple of Moloch was thrown down in order to draw -out the brazen god without touching the ashes of the altar. Then as -soon as the sun appeared the hierodules pushed it towards the square of -Khamon. - -It moved backwards sliding upon cylinders; its shoulders overlapped the -walls. No sooner did the Carthaginians perceive it in the distance than -they speedily took to flight, for the Baal could be looked upon with -impunity only when exercising his wrath. - -A smell of aromatics spread through the streets. All the temples -had just been opened simultaneously, and from them there came forth -tabernacles borne upon chariots, or upon litters carried by the -pontiffs. Great plumes swayed at the corners of them, and rays were -emitted from their slender pinnacles which terminated in balls of -crystal, gold, silver or copper. - -These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who -were returning to their first cause to humble themselves before his -might and annihilate themselves in his splendour. - -Melkarth’s pavilion, which was of fine purple, sheltered a petroleum -flare; on Khamon’s, which was of hyacinth colour, there rose an ivory -phallus bordered with a circle of gems; between Eschmoun’s curtains, -which were as blue as the ether, a sleeping python formed a circle with -his tail, and the Patæc gods, held in the arms of their priests, looked -like great infants in swaddling clothes with their heels touching the -ground. - -Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: Baal-Samin, god of -celestial space; Baal-Peor, god of the sacred mountains; Baal-Zeboub, -god of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and -congenerous races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldæa, the -Kijun of the Syrians; Derceto, with her virgin’s face, crept on -her fins, and the corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a -catafalque among torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the kings -of the firmament to the Sun, and prevent their particular influences -from disturbing his, diversely coloured metal stars were brandished -at the end of long poles; and all were there, from the dark Neblo, the -genius of Mercury, to the hideous Rahab, which is the constellation of -the Crocodile. The Abbadirs, stones which had fallen from the moon, were -whirling in slings of silver thread; little loaves, representing the -female form, were born on baskets by the priests of Ceres; others -brought their fetishes and amulets; forgotten idols reappeared, while -the mystic symbols had been taken from the very ships as though Carthage -wished to concentrate herself wholly upon a single thought of death and -desolation. - -Before each tabernacle a man balanced a large vase of smoking incense on -his head. Clouds hovered here and there, and the hangings, pendants, -and embroideries of the sacred pavilions might be distinguished amid -the thick vapours. These advanced slowly owing to their enormous weight. -Sometimes the axles became fast in the streets; then the pious took -advantage of the opportunity to touch the Baalim with their garments, -which they preserved afterwards as holy things. - -The brazen statue continued to advance towards the square of Khamon. The -rich, carrying sceptres with emerald balls, set out from the bottom -of Megara; the Ancients, with diadems on their heads, had assembled in -Kinisdo, and masters of the finances, governors of provinces, sailors, -and the numerous horde employed at funerals, all with the insignia of -their magistracies or the instruments of their calling, were making -their way towards the tabernacles which were descending from the -Acropolis between the colleges of the pontiffs. - -Out of deference to Moloch they had adorned themselves with the most -splendid jewels. Diamonds sparkled on their black garments; but their -rings were too large and fell from their wasted hands,—nor could -there have been anything so mournful as this silent crowd where earrings -tapped against pale faces, and gold tiaras clasped brows contracted with -stern despair. - -At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His -pontiffs arranged an enclosure with trellis-work to keep off the -multitude, and remained around him at his feet. - -The priests of Khamon, in tawny woollen robes, formed a line before -their temple beneath the columns of the portico; those of Eschmoun, in -linen mantles with necklaces of koukouphas’ heads and pointed -tiaras, posted themselves on the steps of the Acropolis; the priests of -Melkarth, in violet tunics, took the western side; the priests of the -Abbadirs, clasped with bands of Phrygian stuffs, placed themselves on -the east, while towards the south, with the necromancers all covered -with tattooings, and the shriekers in patched cloaks, were ranged the -curates of the Patæc gods, and the Yidonim, who put the bone of a dead -man into their mouths to learn the future. The priests of Ceres, who -were dressed in blue robes, had prudently stopped in the street of -Satheb, and in low tones were chanting a thesmophorion in the Megarian -dialect. - -From time to time files of men arrived, completely naked, their arms -outstretched, and all holding one another by the shoulders. From -the depths of their breasts they drew forth a hoarse and cavernous -intonation; their eyes, which were fastened upon the colossus, shone -through the dust, and they swayed their bodies simultaneously, and at -equal distances, as though they were all affected by a single movement. -They were so frenzied that to restore order the hierodules compelled -them, with blows of the stick, to lie flat upon the ground, with their -faces resting against the brass trellis-work. - -Then it was that a man in a white robe advanced from the back of the -square. He penetrated the crowd slowly, and people recognised a priest -of Tanith—the high-priest Schahabarim. Hootings were raised, for the -tyranny of the male principle prevailed that day in all consciences, and -the goddess was actually so completely forgotten that the absence of her -pontiffs had not been noticed. But the amazement was increased when he -was seen to open one of the doors of the trellis-work intended for -those who intended to offer up victims. It was an outrage to their god, -thought the priests of Moloch, that he had just committed, and they -sought with eager gestures to repel him. Fed on the meat of the -holocausts, clad in purple like kings, and wearing triple-storied -crowns, they despised the pale eunuch, weakened with his macerations, -and angry laughter shook their black beards, which were displayed on -their breasts in the sun. - -Schahabarim walked on, giving no reply, and, traversing the whole -enclosure with deliberation, reached the legs of the colossus; then, -spreading out both arms, he touched it on both sides, which was a solemn -form of adoration. For a long time Rabbet had been torturing him, and -in despair, or perhaps for lack of a god that completely satisfied his -ideas, he had at last decided for this one. - -The crowd, terrified by this act of apostasy, uttered a lengthened -murmur. It was felt that the last tie which bound their souls to a -merciful divinity was breaking. - -But owing to his mutilation, Schahabarim could take no part in the cult -of the Baal. The men in the red cloaks shut him out from the enclosure; -then, when he was outside, he went round all the colleges in succession, -and the priest, henceforth without a god, disappeared into the crowd. It -scattered at his approach. - -Meanwhile a fire of aloes, cedar, and laurel was burning between the -legs of the colossus. The tips of its long wings dipped into the flame; -the unguents with which it had been rubbed flowed like sweat over its -brazen limbs. Around the circular flagstone on which its feet rested, -the children, wrapped in black veils, formed a motionless circle; and -its extravagantly long arms reached down their palms to them as though -to seize the crown that they formed and carry it to the sky. - -The rich, the Ancients, the women, the whole multitude, thronged behind -the priests and on the terraces of the houses. The large painted stars -revolved no longer; the tabernacles were set upon the ground; and the -fumes from the censers ascended perpendicularly, spreading their bluish -branches through the azure like gigantic trees. - -Many fainted; others became inert and petrified in their ecstasy. -Infinite anguish weighed upon the breasts of the beholders. The -last shouts died out one by one,—and the people of Carthage stood -breathless, and absorbed in the longing of their terror. - -At last the high priest of Moloch passed his left hand beneath the -children’s veils, plucked a lock of hair from their foreheads, and -threw it upon the flames. Then the men in the red cloaks chanted the -sacred hymn: - -“Homage to thee, Sun! king of the two zones, self-generating Creator, -Father and Mother, Father and Son, God and Goddess, Goddess and God!” -And their voices were lost in the outburst of instruments sounding -simultaneously to drown the cries of the victims. The eight-stringed -scheminiths, the kinnors which had ten strings, and the nebals which -had twelve, grated, whistled, and thundered. Enormous leathern bags, -bristling with pipes, made a shrill clashing noise; the tabourines, -beaten with all the players’ might, resounded with heavy, rapid blows; -and, in spite of the fury of the clarions, the salsalim snapped like -grasshoppers’ wings. - -The hierodules, with a long hook, opened the seven-storied compartments -on the body of the Baal. They put meal into the highest, two -turtle-doves into the second, an ape into the third, a ram into the -fourth, a sheep into the fifth, and as no ox was to be had for the -sixth, a tawny hide taken from the sanctuary was thrown into it. The -seventh compartment yawned empty still. - -Before undertaking anything it was well to make trial of the arms of the -god. Slender chainlets stretched from his fingers up to his shoulders -and fell behind, where men by pulling them made the two hands rise to a -level with the elbows, and come close together against the belly; they -were moved several times in succession with little abrupt jerks. Then -the instruments were still. The fire roared. - -The pontiffs of Moloch walked about on the great flagstone scanning the -multitude. - -An individual sacrifice was necessary, a perfectly voluntary oblation, -which was considered as carrying the others along with it. But no one -had appeared up to the present, and the seven passages leading from the -barriers to the colossus were completely empty. Then the priests, to -encourage the people, drew bodkins from their girdles and gashed their -faces. The Devotees, who were stretched on the ground outside, were -brought within the enclosure. A bundle of horrible irons was thrown to -them, and each chose his own torture. They drove in spits between their -breasts; they split their cheeks; they put crowns of thorns upon their -heads; then they twined their arms together, and surrounded the children -in another large circle which widened and contracted in turns. They -reached to the balustrade, they threw themselves back again, and then -began once more, attracting the crowd to them by the dizziness of their -motion with its accompanying blood and shrieks. - -By degrees people came into the end of the passages; they flung into -the flames pearls, gold vases, cups, torches, all their wealth; the -offerings became constantly more numerous and more splendid. At last a -man who tottered, a man pale and hideous with terror, thrust forward -a child; then a little black mass was seen between the hands of the -colossus, and sank into the dark opening. The priests bent over the edge -of the great flagstone,—and a new song burst forth celebrating the -joys of death and of new birth into eternity. - -The children ascended slowly, and as the smoke formed lofty eddies as -it escaped, they seemed at a distance to disappear in a cloud. Not -one stirred. Their wrists and ankles were tied, and the dark drapery -prevented them from seeing anything and from being recognised. - -Hamilcar, in a red cloak, like the priests of Moloch, was beside the -Baal, standing upright in front of the great toe of its right foot. When -the fourteenth child was brought every one could see him make a great -gesture of horror. But he soon resumed his former attitude, folded his -arms, and looked upon the ground. The high pontiff stood on the other -side of the statue as motionless as he. His head, laden with an Assyrian -mitre, was bent, and he was watching the gold plate on his breast; it -was covered with fatidical stones, and the flame mirrored in it formed -irisated lights. He grew pale and dismayed. Hamilcar bent his brow; and -they were both so near the funeral-pile that the hems of their cloaks -brushed it as they rose from time to time. - -The brazen arms were working more quickly. They paused no longer. Every -time that a child was placed in them the priests of Moloch spread -out their hands upon him to burden him with the crimes of the people, -vociferating: “They are not men but oxen!” and the multitude round -about repeated: “Oxen! oxen!” The devout exclaimed: “Lord! eat!” -and the priests of Proserpine, complying through terror with the needs -of Carthage, muttered the Eleusinian formula: “Pour out rain! bring -forth!” - -The victims, when scarcely at the edge of the opening, disappeared like -a drop of water on a red-hot plate, and white smoke rose amid the great -scarlet colour. - -Nevertheless, the appetite of the god was not appeased. He ever wished -for more. In order to furnish him with a larger supply, the victims were -piled up on his hands with a big chain above them which kept them in -their place. Some devout persons had at the beginning wished to count -them, to see whether their number corresponded with the days of -the solar year; but others were brought, and it was impossible to -distinguish them in the giddy motion of the horrible arms. This lasted -for a long, indefinite time until the evening. Then the partitions -inside assumed a darker glow, and burning flesh could be seen. Some even -believed that they could descry hair, limbs, and whole bodies. - -Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeral-pile, which -was flameless now, formed a pyramid of coals up to his knees; completely -red like a giant covered with blood, he looked, with his head -thrown back, as though he were staggering beneath the weight of his -intoxication. - -In proportion as the priests made haste, the frenzy of the people -increased; as the number of the victims was diminishing, some cried -out to spare them, others that still more were needful. The walls, with -their burden of people, seemed to be giving way beneath the howlings -of terror and mystic voluptuousness. Then the faithful came into the -passages, dragging their children, who clung to them; and they beat them -in order to make them let go, and handed them over to the men in red. -The instrument-players sometimes stopped through exhaustion; then the -cries of the mothers might be heard, and the frizzling of the fat as it -fell upon the coals. The henbane-drinkers crawled on all fours around -the colossus, roaring like tigers; the Yidonim vaticinated, the Devotees -sang with their cloven lips; the trellis-work had been broken through, -all wished for a share in the sacrifice;—and fathers, whose children -had died previously, cast their effigies, their playthings, their -preserved bones into the fire. Some who had knives rushed upon the rest. -They slaughtered one another. The hierodules took the fallen ashes at -the edge of the flagstone in bronze fans, and cast them into the air -that the sacrifice might be scattered over the town and even to the -region of the stars. - -The loud noise and great light had attracted the Barbarians to the foot -of the walls; they clung to the wreck of the helepolis to have a better -view, and gazed open-mouthed in horror. - - - - - -CHAPTER XIV THE PASS OF THE HATCHET - -The Carthaginians had not re-entered their houses when the clouds -accumulated more thickly; those who raised their heads towards the -colossus could feel big drops on their foreheads, and the rain fell. - -It fell the whole night plentifully, in floods; the thunder growled; it -was the voice of Moloch; he had vanquished Tanith; and she, being now -fecundated, opened up her vast bosom in heaven’s heights. Sometimes -she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched upon cushions -of cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as though she -were still too weary and wished to sleep again; the Carthaginians, all -believing that water is brought forth by the moon, shouted to make her -travail easy. - -The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in -the courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of the -streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big frothy -jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it seemed -as though whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the washed -temple-roofs shone black in the gleam of the lightning. Torrents -descended from the Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses suddenly gave -way, and small beams, plaster, rubbish, and furniture passed along in -streams which ran impetuously over the pavement. - -Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the -torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of -the Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their -mouths to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their -arms into them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly -with water that they vomited it forth like buffaloes. The freshness -gradually spread; they breathed in the damp air with play of limb, and -in the happiness of their intoxication boundless hope soon arose. All -their miseries were forgotten. Their country was born anew. - -They felt the need, as it were, of directing upon others the extravagant -fury which they had been unable to employ against themselves. Such a -sacrifice could not be in vain; although they felt no remorse they found -themselves carried away by the frenzy which results from complicity in -irreparable crimes. - -The Barbarians had encountered the storm in their ill-closed tents; and -they were still quite chilled on the morrow as they tramped through the -mud in search of their stores and weapons, which were spoiled and lost. - -Hamilcar went himself to see Hanno, and, in virtue of his plenary -powers, intrusted the command to him. The old Suffet hesitated for a -few minutes between his animosity and his appetite for authority, but he -accepted nevertheless. - -Hamilcar next took out a galley armed with a catapult at each end. -He placed it in the gulf in front of the raft; then he embarked -his stoutest troops on board such vessels as were available. He was -apparently taking to flight; and running northward before the wind he -disappeared into the mist. - -But three days afterwards, when the attack was about to begin again, -some people arrived tumultuously from the Libyan coast. Barca had -come among them. He had carried off provisions everywhere, and he was -spreading through the country. - -Then the Barbarians were indignant as though he were betraying them. -Those who were most weary of the siege, and especially the Gauls, did -not hesitate to leave the walls in order to try and rejoin him. Spendius -wanted to reconstruct the helepolis; Matho had traced an imaginary line -from his tent to Megara, and inwardly swore to follow it, and none of -their men stirred. But the rest, under the command of Autaritus, went -off, abandoning the western part of the rampart, and so profound was the -carelessness exhibited that no one even thought of replacing them. - -Narr’ Havas spied them from afar in the mountains. During the night he -led all his men along the sea-shore on the outer side of the Lagoon, and -entered Carthage. - -He presented himself as a saviour with six thousand men all carrying -meal under their cloaks, and forty elephants laden with forage and dried -meat. The people flocked quickly around them; they gave them names. The -sight of these strong animals, sacred to Baal, gave the Carthaginians -even more joy than the arrival of such relief; it was a token of the -tenderness of the god, a proof that he was at last about to interfere in -the war to defend them. - -Narr’ Havas received the compliments of the Ancients. Then he ascended -to Salammbô’s palace. - -He had not seen her again since the time when in Hamilcar’s tent amid -the five armies he had felt her little, cold, soft hand fastened to his -own; she had left for Carthage after the betrothal. His love, which -had been diverted by other ambitions, had come back to him; and now he -expected to enjoy his rights, to marry her, and take her. - -Salammbô did not understand how the young man could ever become her -master! Although she asked Tanith every day for Matho’s death, her -horror of the Libyan was growing less. She vaguely felt that the hate -with which he had persecuted her was something almost religious,—and -she would fain have seen in Narr’ Havas’s person a reflection, as -it were, of that malice which still dazzled her. She desired to know him -better, and yet his presence would have embarrassed her. She sent him -word that she could not receive him. - -Moreover, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit the King of the -Numidians to see her; by putting off his reward to the end of the war -he hoped to retain his devotion;—and, through dread of the Suffet, -Narr’ Havas withdrew. - -But he bore himself haughtily towards the Hundred. He changed their -arrangements. He demanded privileges for his men, and placed them -on important posts; thus the Barbarians stared when they perceived -Numidians on the towers. - -The surprise of the Carthaginians was greater still when three hundred -of their own people, who had been made prisoners during the Sicilian -war, arrived on board an old Punic trireme. Hamilcar, in fact, had -secretly sent back to the Quirites the crews of the Latin vessels, -taken before the defection of the Tyrian towns; and, to reciprocate the -courtesy, Rome was now sending him back her captives. She scorned the -overtures of the Mercenaries in Sardinian, and would not even recognise -the inhabitants of Utica as subjects. - -Hiero, who was ruling at Syracuse, was carried away by this example. For -the preservation of his own States it was necessary that an equilibrium -should exist between the two peoples; he was interested, therefore, in -the safety of the Chanaanites, and he declared himself their friend, and -sent them twelve hundred oxen, with fifty-three thousand nebels of pure -wheat. - -A deeper reason prompted aid to Carthage. It was felt that if the -Mercenaries triumphed, every one, from soldier to plate-washer, would -rise, and that no government and no house could resist them. - -Meanwhile Hamilcar was scouring the eastern districts. He drove back -the Gauls, and all the Barbarians found that they were themselves in -something like a state of siege. - -Then he set himself to harass them. He would arrive and then retire, and -by constantly renewing this manouvre, he gradually detached them from -their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and in the end -Matho yielded in like manner. - -He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself up within its walls. This -persistence was full of wisdom, for soon Narr’ Havas was to be -seen issuing from the gate of Khamon with his elephants and soldiers. -Hamilcar was recalling him, but the other Barbarians were already -wandering about in the provinces in pursuit of the Suffet. - -The latter had received three thousand Gauls from Clypea. He had horses -brought to him from Cyrenaica, and armour from Brutium, and began the -war again. - -Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. For five moons he -dragged his enemies after him. He had an end to which he wished to guide -them. - - -The Barbarians had at first tried to encompass him with small -detachments, but he always escaped them. They ceased to separate then. -Their army amounted to about forty thousand men, and several times they -enjoyed the sight of seeing the Carthaginians fall back. - -The horsemen of Narr’ Havas were what they found most tormenting. -Often, at times of the greatest weariness, when they were advancing over -the plains, and dozing beneath the weight of their arms, a great line of -dust would suddenly rise on the horizon; there would be a galloping up -to them, and a rain of darts would pour from the bosom of a cloud filled -with flaming eyes. The Numidians in their white cloaks would utter -loud shouts, raise their arms, press their rearing stallions with their -knees, and, wheeling them round abruptly, would then disappear. They had -always supplies of javelins and dromedaries some distance off, and they -would return more terrible than before, howl like wolves, and take to -flight like vultures. The Barbarians posted at the extremities of the -files fell one by one; and this would continue until evening, when an -attempt would be made to enter the mountains. - -Although they were perilous for elephants, Hamilcar made his way in -among them. He followed the long chain which extends from the promontory -of Hermæum to the top of Zagouan. This, they believed, was a device for -hiding the insufficiency of his troops. But the continual uncertainty in -which he kept them exasperated them at last more than any defeat. They -did not lose heart, and marched after him. - -At last one evening they surprised a body of velites amid some big -rocks at the entrance of a pass between the Silver Mountain and the Lead -Mountain; the entire army was certainly in front of them, for a noise -of footsteps and clarions could be heard; the Carthaginians immediately -fled through the gorge. It descended into a plain, and was shaped like -an iron hatchet with a surrounding of lofty cliffs. The Barbarians -dashed into it in order to overtake the velites; quite at the bottom -other Carthaginians were running tumultuously amid galloping oxen. A man -in a red cloak was to be seen; it was the Suffet; they shouted this to -one another; and they were carried away with increased fury and joy. -Several, from laziness or prudence, had remained on the threshold of the -pass. But some cavalry, debouching from a wood, beat them down upon -the rest with blows of pike and sabre; and soon all the Barbarians were -below in the plain. - -Then this great human mass, after swaying to and fro for some time, -stood still; they could discover no outlet. - -Those who were nearest to the pass went back again, but the passage had -entirely disappeared. They hailed those in front to make them go on; -they were being crushed against the mountain, and from a distance they -inveighed against their companions, who were unable to find the route -again. - -In fact the Barbarians had scarcely descended when men who had been -crouching behind the rocks raised the latter with beams and overthrew -them, and as the slope was steep the huge blocks had rolled down -pell-mell and completely stopped up the narrow opening. - -At the other extremity of the plain stretched a long passage, split in -gaps here and there, and leading to a ravine which ascended to the upper -plateau, where the Punic army was stationed. Ladders had been placed -beforehand in this passage against the wall of cliff; and, protected by -the windings of the gaps, the velites were able to seize and mount them -before being overtaken. Several even made their way to the bottom of the -ravine; they were drawn up with cables, for the ground at this spot was -of moving sand, and so much inclined that it was impossible to climb -it even on the knees. The Barbarians arrived almost immediately. But -a portcullis, forty cubits high, and made to fit the intervening space -exactly, suddenly sank before them like a rampart fallen from the skies. - -The Suffet’s combinations had therefore succeeded. None of the -Mercenaries knew the mountain, and, marching as they did at the head -of their columns, they had drawn on the rest. The rocks, which were -somewhat narrow at the base, had been easily cast down; and, while -all were running, his army had raised shouts, as of distress, on the -horizon. Hamilcar, it is true, might have lost his velites, only half of -whom remained, but he would have sacrificed twenty times as many for the -success of such an enterprise. - -The Barbarians pressed forward until morning, in compact files, from one -end of the plain to the other. They felt the mountain with their hands, -seeking to discover a passage. - -At last day broke; and they perceived all about them a great white wall -hewn with the pick. And no means of safety, no hope! The two natural -outcomes from this blind alley were closed by the portcullis and the -heaps of rocks. - -Then they all looked at one another without speaking. They sank down in -collapse, feeling an icy coldness in their loins, and an overwhelming -weight upon their eyelids. - -They rose, and bounded against the rocks. But the lowest were weighted -by the pressure of the others, and were immovable. They tried to cling -to them so as to reach the top, but the bellying shape of the great -masses rendered all hold impossible. They sought to cleave the ground on -both sides of the gorge, but their instruments broke. They made a large -fire with the tent poles, but the fire could not burn the mountain. - -They returned to the portcullis; it was garnished with long nails as -thick as stakes, as sharp as the spines of a porcupine, and closer than -the hairs of a brush. But they were animated by such rage that they -dashed themselves against it. The first were pierced to the backbone, -those coming next surged over them, and all fell back, leaving human -fragments and bloodstained hair on those horrible branches. - -When their discouragement was somewhat abated, they made an examination -of the provisions. The Mercenaries, whose baggage was lost, possessed -scarcely enough for two days; and all the rest found themselves -destitute,—for they had been awaiting a convoy promised by the -villages of the South. - -However, some bulls were roaming about, those which the Carthaginians -had loosed in the gorge to attract the Barbarians. They killed them with -lance thrusts and ate them, and when their stomachs were filled their -thoughts were less mournful. - -The next day they slaughtered all the mules to the number of about -forty; then they scraped the skins, boiled the entrails, pounded the -bones, and did not yet despair; the army from Tunis had no doubt been -warned, and was coming. - -But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger increased; they gnawed -their sword-belts, and the little sponges which bordered the bottom of -their helmets. - -These forty thousand men were massed into the species of hippodrome -formed by the mountain about them. Some remained in front of the -portcullis, or at the foot of the rocks; the rest covered the plain -confusedly. The strong shunned one another, and the timid sought out the -brave, who, nevertheless, were unable to save them. - -To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily buried; -and the position of the graves was no longer visible. - -All the Barbarians lay drooping on the ground. A veteran would pass -between their lines here and there; and they would howl curses against -the Carthaginians, against Hamilcar, and against Matho, although he was -innocent of their disaster; but it seemed to them that their pains would -have been less if he had shared them. Then they groaned, and some wept -softly like little children. - -They came to the captains and besought them to grant them something that -would alleviate their sufferings. The others made no reply; or, seized -with fury, would pick up a stone and fling it in their faces. - -Several, in fact, carefully kept a reserve of food in a hole in the -ground—a few handfuls of dates, or a little meal; and they ate this -during the night, with their heads bent beneath their cloaks. Those -who had swords kept them naked in their hands, and the most suspicious -remained standing with their backs against the mountain. - -They accused their chiefs and threatened them. Autaritus was not afraid -of showing himself. With the Barbaric obstinacy which nothing could -discourage, he would advance twenty times a day to the rocks at the -bottom, hoping every time to find them perchance displaced; and swaying -his heavy fur-covered shoulders, he reminded his companions of a bear -coming forth from its cave in springtime to see whether the snows are -melted. - -Spendius, surrounded by the Greeks, hid himself in one of the gaps; as -he was afraid, he caused a rumour of his death to be spread. - -They were now hideously lean; their skin was overlaid with bluish -marblings. On the evening of the ninth day three Iberians died. - -Their frightened companions left the spot. They were stripped, and the -white, naked bodies lay in the sunshine on the sand. - -Then the Garamantians began to prowl slowly round about them. They were -men accustomed to existence in solitude, and they reverenced no god. At -last the oldest of the band made a sign, and bending over the corpses -they cut strips from them with their knives, then squatted upon their -heels and ate. The rest looked on from a distance; they uttered cries -of horror;—many, nevertheless, being, at the bottom of their souls, -jealous of such courage. - -In the middle of the night some of these approached, and, dissembling -their eagerness, asked for a small mouthful, merely to try, they said. -Bolder ones came up; their number increased; there was soon a crowd. But -almost all of them let their hands fall on feeling the cold flesh on the -edge of their lips; others, on the contrary, devoured it with delight. - -That they might be led away by example, they urged one another on -mutually. Such as had at first refused went to see the Garamantians, and -returned no more. They cooked the pieces on coals at the point of the -sword; they salted them with dust, and contended for the best morsels. -When nothing was left of the three corpses, their eyes ranged over the -whole plain to find others. - -But were they not in possession of Carthaginians—twenty captives taken -in the last encounter, whom no one had noticed up to the present? These -disappeared; moreover, it was an act of vengeance. Then, as they must -live, as the taste for this food had become developed, and as they were -dying, they cut the throats of the water-carriers, grooms, and all the -serving-men belonging to the Mercenaries. They killed some of them every -day. Some ate much, recovered strength, and were sad no more. - -Soon this resource failed. Then the longing was directed to the wounded -and sick. Since they could not recover, it was as well to release -them from their tortures; and, as soon as a man began to stagger, all -exclaimed that he was now lost, and ought to be made use of for the -rest. Artifices were employed to accelerate their death; the last -remnant of their foul portion was stolen from them; they were trodden -on as though by inadvertence; those in the last throes wishing to make -believe that they were strong, strove to stretch out their arms, to -rise, to laugh. Men who had swooned came to themselves at the touch of a -notched blade sawing off a limb;—and they still slew, ferociously and -needlessly, to sate their fury. - -A mist heavy and warm, such as comes in those regions at the end -of winter, sank on the fourteenth day upon the army. This change -of temperature brought numerous deaths with it, and corruption was -developed with frightful rapidity in the warm dampness which was kept -in by the sides of the mountain. The drizzle that fell upon the corpses -softened them, and soon made the plain one broad tract of rottenness. -Whitish vapours floated overhead; they pricked the nostrils, penetrated -the skin, and troubled the sight; and the Barbarians thought that -through the exhalations of the breath they could see the souls of their -companions. They were overwhelmed with immense disgust. They wished for -nothing more; they preferred to die. - -Two days afterwards the weather became fine again, and hunger seized -them once more. It seemed to them that their stomachs were being -wrenched from them with tongs. Then they rolled about in convulsions, -flung handfuls of dust into their mouths, bit their arms, and burst into -frantic laughter. - -They were still more tormented by thirst, for they had not a drop of -water, the leathern bottles having been completely dried up since the -ninth day. To cheat their need they applied their tongues to the metal -plates on their waist-belts, their ivory pommels, and the steel of their -swords. Some former caravan-leaders tightened their waists with ropes. -Others sucked a pebble. They drank urine cooled in their brazen helmets. - -And they still expected the army from Tunis! The length of time which it -took in coming was, according to their conjectures, an assurance of its -early arrival. Besides, Matho, who was a brave fellow, would not desert -them. “’Twill be to-morrow!” they would say to one another; and -then to-morrow would pass. - -At the beginning they had offered up prayers and vows, and practised all -kinds of incantations. Just now their only feeling to their divinities -was one of hatred, and they strove to revenge themselves by believing in -them no more. - -Men of violent disposition perished first; the Africans held out -better than the Gauls. Zarxas lay stretched at full length among the -Balearians, his hair over his arm, inert. Spendius found a plant with -broad leaves filled abundantly with juice, and after declaring that it -was poisonous, so as to keep off the rest, he fed himself upon it. - -They were too weak to knock down the flying crows with stones. Sometimes -when a gypaëtus was perched on a corpse, and had been mangling it for -a long time, a man would set himself to crawl towards it with a javelin -between his teeth. He would support himself with one hand, and after -taking a good aim, throw his weapon. The white-feathered creature, -disturbed by the noise, would desist and look about in tranquil fashion -like a cormorant on a rock, and would then again thrust in its hideous, -yellow beak, while the man, in despair, would fall flat on his face in -the dust. Some succeeded in discovering chameleons and serpents. But it -was the love of life that kept them alive. They directed their souls to -this idea exclusively, and clung to existence by an effort of the will -that prolonged it. - -The most stoical kept close to one another, seated in a circle here and -there, among the dead in the middle of the plain; and wrapped in their -cloaks they gave themselves up silently to their sadness. - -Those who had been born in towns recalled the resounding streets, the -taverns, theatres, baths, and the barbers’ shops where there are tales -to be heard. Others could once more see country districts at sunset, -when the yellow corn waves, and the great oxen ascend the hills again -with the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers dreamed of cisterns, -hunters of their forests, veterans of battles; and in the somnolence -that benumbed them their thoughts jostled one another with the -precipitancy and clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came suddenly upon -them; they sought for a door in the mountain in order to flee, and tried -to pass through it. Others thought that they were sailing in a storm -and gave orders for the handling of a ship, or else fell back in terror, -perceiving Punic battalions in the clouds. There were some who imagined -themselves at a feast, and sang. - -Many through a strange mania would repeat the same word or continually -make the same gesture. Then when they happened to raise their heads -and look at one another they were choked with sobs on discovering the -horrible ravages made in their faces. Some had ceased to suffer, and to -while away the hours told of the perils which they had escaped. - -Death was certain and imminent to all. How many times had they not tried -to open up a passage! As to implore terms from the conqueror, by what -means could they do so? They did not even know where Hamilcar was. - -The wind was blowing from the direction of the ravine. It made the sand -flow perpetually in cascades over the portcullis; and the cloaks and -hair of the Barbarians were being covered with it as though the earth -were rising upon them and desirous of burying them. Nothing stirred; the -eternal mountain seemed still higher to them every morning. - -Sometimes flights of birds darted past beneath the blue sky in the -freedom of the air. The men closed their eyes that they might not see -them. - -At first they felt a buzzing in their ears, their nails grew black, the -cold reached to their breasts; they lay upon their sides and expired -without a cry. - -On the nineteenth day two thousand Asiatics were dead, with fifteen -hundred from the Archipelago, eight thousand from Libya, the youngest of -the Mercenaries and whole tribes—in all twenty thousand soldiers, or -half of the army. - -Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in -order to put an end to this state of things, when he thought he saw a -man on the top of the mountain in front of him. - -Owing to his elevation this man did not appear taller than a dwarf. -However, Autaritus recognised a shield shaped like a trefoil on his left -arm. “A Carthaginian!” he exclaimed, and immediately throughout -the plain, before the portcullis and beneath the rocks, all rose. The -soldier was walking along the edge of the precipice; the Barbarians -gazed at him from below. - -Spendius picked up the head of an ox; then having formed a diadem with -two belts, he fixed it on the horns at the end of a pole in token of -pacific intentions. The Carthaginian disappeared. They waited. - -At last in the evening a sword-belt suddenly fell from above like a -stone loosened from the cliff. It was made of red leather covered with -embroidery, with three diamond stars, and stamped in the centre, it bore -the mark of the Great Council: a horse beneath a palm-tree. This was -Hamilcar’s reply, the safe-conduct that he sent them. - -They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune brought with it the end -of their woes. They were moved with extravagant joy, they embraced one -another, they wept. Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas, four Italiotes, -a Negro and two Spartans offered themselves as envoys. They were -immediately accepted. They did not know, however, by what means they -should get away. - -But a cracking sounded in the direction of the rocks; and the most -elevated of them, after rocking to and fro, rebounded to the bottom. -In fact, if they were immovable on the side of the Barbarians—for it -would have been necessary to urge them up an incline plane, and -they were, moreover, heaped together owing to the narrowness of the -gorge—on the others, on the contrary, it was sufficient to drive -against them with violence to make them descend. The Carthaginians -pushed them, and at daybreak they projected into the plain like the -steps of an immense ruined staircase. - -The Barbarians were still unable to climb them. Ladders were held out -for their assistance; all rushed upon them. The discharge of a catapult -drove the crowd back; only the Ten were taken away. - -They walked amid the Clinabarians, leaning their hands on the horses’ -croups for support. - -Now that their first joy was over they began to harbour anxieties. -Hamilcar’s demands would be cruel. But Spendius reassured them. - -“I will speak!” And he boasted that he knew excellent things to say -for the safety of the army. - -Behind all the bushes they met with ambushed sentries, who prostrated -themselves before the sword-belt which Spendius had placed over his -shoulder. - -When they reached the Punic camp the crowd flocked around them, and they -thought that they could hear whisperings and laughter. The door of a -tent opened. - -Hamilcar was at the very back of it seated on a stool beside a table on -which there shone a naked sword. He was surrounded by captains, who were -standing. - -He started back on perceiving these men, and then bent over to examine -them. - -Their pupils were strangely dilated, and there was a great black circle -round their eyes, which extended to the lower parts of their ears; their -bluish noses stood out between their hollow cheeks, which were chinked -with deep wrinkles; the skin of their bodies was too large for their -muscles, and was hidden beneath a slate-coloured dust; their lips were -glued to their yellow teeth; they exhaled an infectious odour; they -might have been taken for half-opened tombs, for living sepulchres. - -In the centre of the tent, on a mat on which the captains were about to -sit down, there was a dish of smoking gourds. The Barbarians fastened -their eyes upon it with a shivering in all their limbs, and tears came -to their eyelids; nevertheless they restrained themselves. - -Hamilcar turned away to speak to some one. Then they all flung -themselves upon it, flat on the ground. Their faces were soaked in the -fat, and the noise of their deglutition was mingled with the sobs of joy -which they uttered. Through astonishment, doubtless, rather than pity, -they were allowed to finish the mess. Then when they had risen Hamilcar -with a sign commanded the man who bore the sword-belt to speak. Spendius -was afraid; he stammered. - -Hamilcar, while listening to him, kept turning round on his finger a -big gold ring, the same which had stamped the seal of Carthage upon the -sword-belt. He let it fall to the ground; Spendius immediately picked it -up; his servile habits came back to him in the presence of his master. -The others quivered with indignation at such baseness. - -But the Greek raised his voice and spoke for a long time in rapid, -insidious, and even violent fashion, setting forth the crimes of Hanno, -whom he knew to be Barca’s enemy, and striving to move Hamilcar’s -pity by the details of their miseries and the recollection of their -devotion; in the end he became forgetful of himself, being carried away -by the warmth of his temper. - -Hamilcar replied that he accepted their excuses. Peace, then, was about -to be concluded, and now it would be a definitive one! But he required -that ten Mercenaries, chosen by himself, should be delivered up to him -without weapons or tunics. - -They had not expected such clemency; Spendius exclaimed: “Ah! twenty -if you wish, master!” - -“No! ten will suffice,” replied Hamilcar quietly. - -They were sent out of the tent to deliberate. As soon as they were -alone, Autaritus protested against the sacrifice of their companions, -and Zarxas said to Spendius: - -“Why did you not kill him? his sword was there beside you!” - -“Him!” said Spendius. “Him! him!” he repeated several times, as -though the thing had been impossible, and Hamilcar were an immortal. - -They were so overwhelmed with weariness that they stretched themselves -on their backs on the ground, not knowing at what resolution to arrive. - -Spendius urged them to yield. At last they consented, and went in again. - -Then the Suffet put his hand into the hands of the ten Barbarians in -turn, and pressed their thumbs; then he rubbed it on his garment, for -their viscous skin gave a rude, soft impression to the touch, a greasy -tingling which induced horripilation. Afterwards he said to them: - -“You are really all the chiefs of the Barbarians, and you have sworn -for them?” - -“Yes!” they replied. - -“Without constraint, from the bottom of your souls, with the intention -of fulfilling your promises?” - -They assured him that they were returning to the rest in order to fulfil -them. - -“Well!” rejoined the Suffet, “in accordance with the convention -concluded between myself, Barca, and the ambassadors of the Mercenaries, -it is you whom I choose and shall keep!” - -Spendius fell swooning upon the mat. The Barbarians, as though -abandoning him, pressed close together; and there was not a word, not a -complaint. - - -Their companions, who were waiting for them, not seeing them return, -believed themselves betrayed. The envoys had no doubt given themselves -up to the Suffet. - -They waited for two days longer; then on the morning of the third, their -resolution was taken. With ropes, picks, and arrows, arranged like -rungs between strips of canvas, they succeeded in scaling the rocks; and -leaving the weakest, about three thousand in number, behind them, they -began their march to rejoin the army at Tunis. - -Above the gorge there stretched a meadow thinly sown with shrubs; the -Barbarians devoured the buds. Afterwards they found a field of beans; -and everything disappeared as though a cloud of grasshoppers had passed -that way. Three hours later they reached a second plateau bordered by a -belt of green hills. - -Among the undulations of these hillocks, silvery sheaves shone at -intervals from one another; the Barbarians, who were dazzled by the -sun, could perceive confusedly below great black masses supporting them; -these rose, as though they were expanding. They were lances in towers on -elephants terribly armed. - -Besides the spears on their breasts, the bodkin tusks, the brass plates -which covered their sides, and the daggers fastened to their knee-caps, -they had at the extremity of their tusks a leathern bracelet, in -which the handle of a broad cutlass was inserted; they had set out -simultaneously from the back part of the plain, and were advancing on -both sides in parallel lines. - -The Barbarians were frozen with a nameless terror. They did not even try -to flee. They already found themselves surrounded. - -The elephants entered into this mass of men; and the spurs on their -breasts divided it, the lances on their tusks upturned it like -ploughshares; they cut, hewed, and hacked with the scythes on their -trunks; the towers, which were full of phalaricas, looked like volcanoes -on the march; nothing could be distinguished but a large heap, whereon -human flesh, pieces of brass and blood made white spots, grey sheets -and red fuses. The horrible animals dug out black furrows as they passed -through the midst of it all. - -The fiercest was driven by a Numidian who was crowned with a diadem of -plumes. He hurled javelins with frightful quickness, giving at intervals -a long shrill whistle. The great beasts, docile as dogs, kept an eye on -him during the carnage. - -The circle of them narrowed by degrees; the weakened Barbarians offered -no resistance; the elephants were soon in the centre of the plain. -They lacked space; they thronged half-rearing together, and their tusks -clashed against one another. Suddenly Narr’ Havas quieted them, and -wheeling round they trotted back to the hills. - -Two syntagmata, however, had taken refuge on the right in a bend of -ground, had thrown away their arms, and were all kneeling with their -faces towards the Punic tents imploring mercy with uplifted arms. - -Their legs and hands were tied; then when they were stretched on the -ground beside one another the elephants were brought back. - -Their breasts cracked like boxes being forced; two were crushed at every -step; the big feet sank into the bodies with a motion of the haunches -which made the elephants appear lame. They went on to the very end. - -The level surface of the plain again became motionless. Night fell. -Hamilcar was delighting himself with the spectacle of his vengeance, but -suddenly he started. - -He saw, and all saw, some more Barbarians six hundred paces to the -left on the summit of a peak! In fact four hundred of the stoutest -Mercenaries, Etruscans, Libyans, and Spartans had gained the heights at -the beginning, and had remained there in uncertainty until now. After -the massacre of their companions they resolved to make their way through -the Carthaginians; they were already descending in serried columns, in a -marvellous and formidable fashion. - -A herald was immediately despatched to them. The Suffet needed soldiers; -he received them unconditionally, so greatly did he admire their -bravery. They could even, said the man of Carthage, come a little -nearer, to a place, which he pointed out to them, where they would find -provisions. - -The Barbarians ran thither and spent the night in eating. Then the -Carthaginians broke into clamours against the Suffet’s partiality for -the Mercenaries. - -Did he yield to these outbursts of insatiable hatred or was it a -refinement of treachery? The next day he came himself, without a sword -and bare-headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and announced to -them that having too many to feed he did not intend to keep them. -Nevertheless, as he wanted men and he knew of no means of selecting the -good ones, they were to fight together to the death; he would then admit -the conquerors into his own body-guard. This death was quite as good as -another;—and then moving his soldiers aside (for the Punic standards -hid the horizon from the Mercenaries) he showed them the one hundred -and ninety-two elephants under Narr’ Havas, forming a single straight -line, their trunks brandishing broad steel blades like giant arms -holding axes above their heads. - -The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that -made them turn pale, but the horrible compulsion to which they found -themselves reduced. - -The community of their lives had brought about profound friendship among -these men. The camp, with most, took the place of their country; living -without a family they transferred the needful tenderness to a companion, -and they would fall asleep in the starlight side by side under the -same cloak. And then in their perpetual wanderings through all sorts of -countries, murders, and adventures, they had contracted affections, one -for the other, in which the stronger protected the younger in the midst -of battles, helped him to cross precipices, sponged the sweat of fevers -from his brow, and stole food for him, and the weaker, a child perhaps, -who had been picked up on the roadside, and had then become a Mercenary, -repaid this devotion by a thousand kindnesses. - -They exchanged their necklaces and earrings, presents which they had -made to one another in former days, after great peril, or in hours of -intoxication. All asked to die, and none would strike. A young fellow -might be seen here and there, saying to another whose beard was grey: -“No! no! you are more robust! you will avenge us, kill me!” and the -man would reply: “I have fewer years to live! Strike to the heart, and -think no more about it!” Brothers gazed on one another with clasped -hands, and friend bade friend eternal farewells, standing and weeping -upon his shoulder. - -They threw off their cuirasses that the sword-points might be thrust in -the more quickly. Then there appeared the marks of the great blows which -they had received for Carthage, and which looked like inscriptions on -columns. - -They placed themselves in four equal ranks, after the fashion of -gladiators, and began with timid engagements. Some had even bandaged -their eyes, and their swords waved gently through the air like blind -men’s sticks. The Carthaginians hooted, and shouted to them that they -were cowards. The Barbarians became animated, and soon the combat as -general, headlong, and terrible. - -Sometimes two men all covered with blood would stop, fall into each -other’s arms, and die with mutual kisses. None drew back. They rushed -upon the extended blades. Their delirium was so frenzied that the -Carthaginians in the distance were afraid. - -At last they stopped. Their breasts made a great hoarse noise, and -their eyeballs could be seen through their long hair, which hung down -as though it had come out of a purple bath. Several were turning round -rapidly, like panthers wounded in the forehead. Others stood motionless -looking at a corpse at their feet; then they would suddenly tear their -faces with their nails, take their swords with both hands, and plunge -them into their own bodies. - -There were still sixty left. They asked for drink. They were told by -shouts to throw away their swords, and when they had done so water was -brought to them. - -While they were drinking, with their faces buried in the vases, sixty -Carthaginians leaped upon them and killed them with stiletos in the -back. - -Hamilcar had done this to gratify the instincts of his army, and, by -means of this treachery, to attach it to his own person. - -The war, then, was ended; at least he believed that it was; Matho -would not resist; in his impatience the Suffet commanded an immediate -departure. - -His scouts came to tell him that a convoy had been descried, departing -towards the Lead Mountain. Hamilcar did not trouble himself about it. -The Mercenaries once annihilated, the Nomads would give him no further -trouble. The important matter was to take Tunis. He advanced by forced -marches upon it. - -He had sent Narr’ Havas to Carthage with the news of his victory; and -the King of the Numidians, proud of his success, visited Salammbô. - - -She received him in her gardens under a large sycamore tree, amid -pillows of yellow leather, and with Taanach beside her. Her face was -covered with a white scarf, which, passing over her mouth and forehead, -allowed only her eyes to be seen; but her lips shone in the transparency -of the tissue like the gems on her fingers, for Salammbô had both -her hands wrapped up, and did not make a gesture during the whole -conversation. - -Narr’ Havas announced the defeat of the Barbarians to her. She thanked -him with a blessing for the services which he had rendered to her -father. Then he began to tell her about the whole campaign. - -The doves on the palm trees around them cooed softly, and other birds -fluttered amid the grass: ring-necked glareolas, Tartessus quails and -Punic guinea-fowl. The garden, long uncultivated, had multiplied -its verdure; coloquintidas mounted into the branches of cassias, the -asclepias was scattered over fields of roses, all kinds of vegetation -formed entwinings and bowers; and here and there, as in the woods, -sun-rays, descending obliquely, marked the shadow of a leaf upon the -ground. Domestic animals, grown wild again, fled at the slightest -noise. Sometimes a gazelle might be seen trailing scattered peacocks’ -feathers after its little black hoofs. The clamours of the distant town -were lost in the murmuring of the waves. The sky was quite blue, and not -a sail was visible on the sea. - -Narr’ Havas had ceased speaking; Salammbô was looking at him without -replying. He wore a linen robe with flowers painted on it, and with gold -fringes at the hem; two silver arrows fastened his plaited hair at the -tips of his ears; his right hand rested on a pike-staff adorned with -circles of electrum and tufts of hair. - -As she watched him a crowd of dim thoughts absorbed her. This young man, -with his gentle voice and feminine figure, captivated her eyes by the -grace of his person, and seemed to her like an elder sister sent by the -Baals to protect her. The recollection of Matho came upon her, nor did -she resist the desire to learn what had become of him. - -Narr’ Havas replied that the Carthaginians were advancing towards -Tunis to take it. In proportion as he set forth their chances of success -and Matho’s weaknesses, she seemed to rejoice in extraordinary hope. -Her lips trembled, her breast panted. When he finally promised to kill -him himself, she exclaimed: “Yes! kill him! It must be so!” - -The Numidian replied that he desired this death ardently, since he would -be her husband when the war was over. - -Salammbô started, and bent her head. - -But Narr’ Havas, pursuing the subject, compared his longings to -flowers languishing for rain, or to lost travellers waiting for the day. -He told her, further, that she was more beautiful than the moon, better -than the wind of morning or than the face of a guest. He would bring -for her from the country of the Blacks things such as there were none in -Carthage, and the apartments in their house should be sanded with gold -dust. - -Evening fell, and odours of balsam were exhaled. For a long time they -looked at each other in silence, and Salammbô’s eyes, in the depths -of her long draperies, resembled two stars in the rift of a cloud. -Before the sun set he withdrew. - -The Ancients felt themselves relieved of a great anxiety, when he -left Carthage. The people had received him with even more enthusiastic -acclamations than on the first occasion. If Hamilcar and the King of the -Numidians triumphed alone over the Mercenaries it would be impossible -to resist them. To weaken Barca they therefore resolved to make the aged -Hanno, him whom they loved, a sharer in the deliverance of Carthage. - -He proceeded immediately towards the western provinces, to take his -vengeance in the very places which had witnessed his shame. But the -inhabitants and the Barbarians were dead, hidden, or fled. Then his -anger was vented upon the country. He burnt the ruins of the ruins, he -did not leave a single tree nor a blade of grass; the children and the -infirm, that were met with, were tortured; he gave the women to his -soldiers to be violated before they were slaughtered. - -Often, on the crests of the hills, black tents were struck as though -overturned by the wind, and broad, brilliantly bordered discs, which -were recognised as being chariot-wheels, revolved with a plaintive sound -as they gradually disappeared in the valleys. The tribes, which had -abandoned the siege of Carthage, were wandering in this way through the -provinces, waiting for an opportunity, or for some victory to be gained -by the Mercenaries, in order to return. But, whether from terror or -famine, they all took the roads to their native lands, and disappeared. - -Hamilcar was not jealous of Hanno’s successes. Nevertheless he was in -a hurry to end matters; he commanded him to fall back upon Tunis; and -Hanno, who loved his country, was under the walls of the town on the -appointed day. - -For its protection it had its aboriginal population, twelve thousand -Mercenaries, and, in addition, all the Eaters of Uncleanness, for -like Matho they were riveted to the horizon of Carthage, and plebs and -schalischim gazed at its lofty walls from afar, looking back in thought -to boundless enjoyments. With this harmony of hatred, resistance was -briskly organised. Leathern bottles were taken to make helmets; all the -palm-trees in the gardens were cut down for lances; cisterns were dug; -while for provisions they caught on the shores of the lake big white -fish, fed on corpses and filth. Their ramparts, kept in ruins now by the -jealousy of Carthage, were so weak that they could be thrown down with a -push of the shoulder. Matho stopped up the holes in them with the stones -of the houses. It was the last struggle; he hoped for nothing, and yet -he told himself that fortune was fickle. - -As the Carthaginians approached they noticed a man on the rampart who -towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that -flew about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of swallows. -Extraordinary to say, none of them touched him. - -Hamilcar pitched his camp on the south side; Narr’ Havas, to his -right, occupied the plain of Rhades, and Hanno the shore of the lake; -and the three generals were to maintain their respective positions, so -as all to attack the walls simultaneously. - -But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish -them like slaves. He had the ten ambassadors crucified beside one -another on a hillock in front of the town. - -At the sight of this the besieged forsook the rampart. - -Matho had said to himself that if he could pass between the walls and -Narr’ Havas’s tents with such rapidity that the Numidians had -not time to come out, he could fall upon the rear of the Carthaginian -infantry, who would be caught between his division and those inside. He -dashed out with his veterans. - -Narr’ Havas perceived him; he crossed the shore of the lake, and came -to warn Hanno to dispatch men to Hamilcar’s assistance. Did he believe -Barca too weak to resist the Mercenaries? Was it a piece of treachery or -folly? No one could ever learn. - -Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesitate. He shouted -orders to sound the trumpets, and his whole army rushed upon the -Barbarians. The latter returned, and ran straight against the -Carthaginians; they knocked them down, crushed them under their feet, -and, driving them back in this way, reached the tent of Hanno, who was -then surrounded by thirty Carthaginians, the most illustrious of the -Ancients. - -He appeared stupefied by their audacity; he called for his captains. -Every one thrust his fist under his throat, vociferating abuse. The -crowd pressed on; and those who had their hands on him could scarce -retain their hold. However, he tried to whisper to them: “I will gave -you whatever you want! I am rich! Save me!” They dragged him along; -heavy as he was his feet did not touch the ground. The Ancients had -been carried off. His terror increased. “You have beaten me! I am your -captive! I will ransom myself! Listen to me, my friends!” and borne -along by all those shoulders which were pressed against his sides, he -repeated: “What are you going to do? What do you want? You can see -that I am not obstanite! I have always been good-natured!” - -A gigantic cross stood at the gate. The Barbarians howled: “Here! -here!” But he raised his voice still higher; and in the names of their -gods he called upon them to lead him to the schalischim, because he -wished to confide to him something on which their safety depended. - -They paused, some asserting that it was right to summon Matho. He was -sent for. - -Hanno fell upon the grass; and he saw around him other crosses also, as -though the torture by which he was about to perish had been multiplied -beforehand; he made efforts to convince himself that he was mistaken, -that there was only one, and even to believe that there were none at -all. At last he was lifted up. - -“Speak!” said Matho. - -He offered to give up Hamilcar; then they would enter Carthage and both -be kings. - -Matho withdrew, signing to the others to make haste. It was a stratagem, -he thought, to gain time. - -The Barbarian was mistaken; Hanno was in an extremity when consideration -is had to nothing, and, moreover, he so execrated Hamilcar that he -would have sacrificed him and all his soldiers on the slightest hope of -safety. - -The Ancients were languishing on the ground at the foot of the crosses; -ropes had already been passed beneath their armpits. Then the old -Suffet, understanding that he must die, wept. - -They tore off the clothes that were still left on him—and the horror -of his person appeared. Ulcers covered the nameless mass; the fat on his -legs hid the nails on his feet; from his fingers there hung what looked -like greenish strips; and the tears streaming through the tubercles on -his cheeks gave to his face an expression of frightful sadness, for -they seemed to take up more room than on another human face. His royal -fillet, which was half unfastened, trailed with his white hair in the -dust. - -They thought that they had no ropes strong enough to haul him up to the -top of the cross, and they nailed him upon it, after the Punic fashion, -before it was erected. But his pride awoke in his pain. He began to -overwhelm them with abuse. He foamed and twisted like a marine monster -being slaughtered on the shore, and predicted that they would all end -more horribly still, and that he would be avenged. - -He was. On the other side of the town, whence there now escaped jets of -flame with columns of smoke, the ambassadors from the Mercenaries were -in their last throes. - -Some who had swooned at first had just revived in the freshness of the -wind; but their chins still rested upon their breasts, and their bodies -had fallen somewhat, in spite of the nails in their arms, which were -fastened higher than their heads; from their heels and hands blood -fell in big, slow drops, as ripe fruit falls from the branches of a -tree,—and Carthage, gulf, mountains, and plains all appeared to them -to be revolving like an immense wheel; sometimes a cloud of dust, rising -from the ground, enveloped them in its eddies; they burned with horrible -thirst, their tongues curled in their mouths, and they felt an icy sweat -flowing over them with their departing souls. - -Nevertheless they had glimpses, at an infinite depth, of streets, -marching soldiers, and the swinging of swords; and the tumult of battle -reached them dimly like the noise of the sea to shipwrecked men dying -on the masts of a ship. The Italiotes, who were sturdier than the rest, -were still shrieking. The Lacedæmonians were silent, with eyelids -closed; Zarxas, once so vigorous, was bending like a broken reed; the -Ethiopian beside him had his head thrown back over the arms of the -cross; Autaritus was motionless, rolling his eyes; his great head of -hair, caught in a cleft in the wood, fell straight upon his forehead, -and his death-rattle seemed rather to be a roar of anger. As to -Spendius, a strange courage had come to him; he despised life now in -the certainty which he possessed of an almost immediate and an eternal -emancipation, and he awaited death with impassibility. - -Amid their swooning, they sometimes started at the brushing of feathers -passing across their lips. Large wings swung shadows around them, -croakings sounded in the air; and as Spendius’s cross was the highest, -it was upon his that the first vulture alighted. Then he turned his face -towards Autaritus, and said slowly to him with an unaccountable smile: - -“Do you remember the lions on the road to Sicca?” - -“They were our brothers!” replied the Gaul, as he expired. - -The Suffet, meanwhile, had bored through the walls and reached -the citadel. The smoke suddenly disappeared before a gust of wind, -discovering the horizon as far as the walls of Carthage; he even thought -that he could distinguish people watching on the platform of Eschmoun; -then, bringing back his eyes, he perceived thirty crosses of extravagant -size on the shore of the Lake, to the left. - -In fact, to render them still more frightful, they had been constructed -with tent-poles fastened end to end, and the thirty corpses of the -Ancients appeared high up in the sky. They had what looked like white -butterflies on their breasts; these were the feathers of the arrows -which had been shot at them from below. - -A broad gold ribbon shone on the summit of the highest; it hung down -to the shoulder, there being no arm on that side, and Hamilcar had some -difficulty in recognising Hanno. His spongy bones had given way under -the iron pins, portions of his limbs had come off, and nothing was left -on the cross but shapeless remains, like the fragments of animals that -are hung up on huntsmen’s doors. - -The Suffet could not have known anything about it; the town in front of -him masked everything that was beyond and behind; and the captains who -had been successively sent to the two generals had not re-appeared. Then -fugitives arrived with the tale of the rout, and the Punic army halted. -This catastrophe, falling upon them as it did in the midst of their -victory, stupefied them. Hamilcar’s orders were no longer listened to. - -Matho took advantage of this to continue his ravages among the -Numidians. - -Hanno’s camp having been overthrown, he had returned against them. -The elephants came out; but the Mercenaries advanced through the plain -shaking about flaming firebrands, which they had plucked from the walls, -and the great beasts, in fright, ran headlong into the gulf, where -they killed one another in their struggles, or were drowned beneath -the weight of their cuirasses. Narr’ Havas had already launched his -cavalry; all threw themselves face downwards upon the ground; then, when -the horses were within three paces of them, they sprang beneath their -bellies, ripped them open with dagger-strokes, and half the Numidians -had perished when Barca came up. - -The exhausted Mercenaries could not withstand his troops. They retired -in good order to the mountain of the Hot Springs. The Suffet was prudent -enough not to pursue them. He directed his course to the mouths of the -Macaras. - -Tunis was his; but it was now nothing but a heap of smoking rubbish. The -ruins fell through the breaches in the walls to the centre of the plain; -quite in the background, between the shores of the gulf, the corpses of -the elephants drifting before the wind conflicted, like an archipelago -of black rocks floating on the water. - -Narr’ Havas had drained his forests of these animals, taking young and -old, male and female, to keep up the war, and the military force of -his kingdom could not repair the loss. The people who had seen them -perishing at a distance were grieved at it; men lamented in the -streets, calling them by their names like deceased friends: “Ah! the -Invincible! the Victory! the Thunderer! the Swallow!” On the first -day, too, there was no talk except of the dead citizens. But on the -morrow the tents of the Mercenaries were seen on the mountain of the -Hot Springs. Then so deep was the despair that many people, especially -women, flung themselves headlong from the top of the Acropolis. - - -Hamilcar’s designs were not known. He lived alone in his tent with -none near him but a young boy, and no one ever ate with them, not even -excepting Narr’ Havas. Nevertheless he showed great deference to the -latter after Hanno’s defeat; but the king of the Numidians had too -great an interest in becoming his son not to distrust him. - -This inertness veiled skilful manouvres. Hamilcar seduced the heads of -the villages by all sorts of artifices; and the Mercenaries were hunted, -repulsed, and enclosed like wild beasts. As soon as they entered a wood, -the trees caught fire around them; when they drank of a spring it was -poisoned; the caves in which they hid in order to sleep were walled up. -Their old accomplices, the populations who had hitherto defended them, -now pursued them; and they continually recognised Carthaginian armour in -these bands. - -Many had their faces consumed with red tetters; this, they thought, had -come to them through touching Hanno. Others imagined that it was because -they had eaten Salammbô’s fishes, and far from repenting of it, they -dreamed of even more abominable sacrileges, so that the abasement of -the Punic Gods might be still greater. They would fain have exterminated -them. - -In this way they lingered for three months along the eastern coast, and -then behind the mountain of Selloum, and as far as the first sands of -the desert. They sought for a place of refuge, no matter where. -Utica and Hippo-Zarytus alone had not betrayed them; but Hamilcar was -encompassing these two towns. Then they went northwards at haphazard -without even knowing the various routes. Their many miseries had -confused their understandings. - -The only feeling left them was one of exasperation, which went on -developing; and one day they found themselves again in the gorges of -Cobus and once more before Carthage! - -Then the actions multiplied. Fortune remained equal; but both sides were -so wearied that they would willingly have exchanged these skirmishes for -a great battle, provided that it were really the last. - -Matho was inclined to carry this proposal himself to the Suffet. One of -his Libyans devoted himself for the purpose. All were convinced as they -saw him depart that he would not return. - -He returned the same evening. - -Hamilcar accepted the challenge. The encounter should take place the -following day at sunrise, in the plain of Rhades. - -The Mercenaries wished to know whether he had said anything more, and -the Libyan added: - -“As I remained in his presence, he asked me what I was waiting for. -‘To be killed!’ I replied. Then he rejoined: ‘No! begone! that -will be to-morrow with the rest.’” - -This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some were terrified by it, -and Matho regretted that the emissary had not been killed. - - -He had still remaining three thousand Africans, twelve hundred -Greeks, fifteen hundred Campanians, two hundred Iberians, four hundred -Etruscans, five hundred Samnites, forty Gauls, and a troop of Naffurs, -nomad bandits met with in the date region—in all seven thousand two -hundred and nineteen soldiers, but not one complete syntagmata. They -had stopped up the holes in their cuirasses with the shoulder-blades of -quadrupeds, and replaced their brass cothurni with worn sandals. Their -garments were weighted with copper or steel plates; their coats of -mail hung in tatters about them, and scars appeared like purple threads -through the hair on their arms and faces. - -The wraiths of their dead companions came back to their souls and -increased their energy; they felt, in a confused way, that they were the -ministers of a god diffused in the hearts of the oppressed, and were the -pontiffs, so to speak, of universal vengeance! Then they were enraged -with grief at what was extravagant injustice, and above all by the sight -of Carthage on the horizon. They swore an oath to fight for one another -until death. - -The beasts of burden were killed, and as much as possible was eaten so -as to gain strength; afterwards they slept. Some prayed, turning towards -different constellations. - -The Carthaginians arrived first in the plain. They rubbed the edges of -their shields with oil to make the arrows glide off them easily; the -foot-soldiers who wore long hair took the precaution of cutting it on -the forehead; and Hamilcar ordered all bowls to be inverted from the -fifth hour, knowing that it is disadvantageous to fight with the stomach -too full. His army amounted to fourteen thousand men, or about double -the number of the Barbarians. Nevertheless, he had never felt such -anxiety; if he succumbed it would mean the annihilation of the Republic, -and he would perish on the cross; if, on the contrary, he triumphed, he -would reach Italy by way of the Pyrenees, the Gauls, and the Alps, and -the empire of the Barcas would become eternal. Twenty times during the -night he rose to inspect everything himself, down to the most trifling -details. As to the Carthaginians, they were exasperated by their -lengthened terror. Narr’ Havas suspected the fidelity of his -Numidians. Moreover, the Barbarians might vanquish them. A strange -weakness had come upon him; every moment he drank large cups of water. - -But a man whom he did not know opened his tent and laid on the ground a -crown of rock-salt, adorned with hieratic designs formed with sulphur, -and lozenges of mother-of-pearl; a marriage crown was sometimes sent to -a betrothed husband; it was a proof of love, a sort of invitation. - -Nevertheless Hamilcar’s daughter had no tenderness for Narr’ Havas. - -The recollection of Matho disturbed her in an intolerable manner; it -seemed to her that the death of this man would unburden her thoughts, -just as people to cure themselves of the bite of a viper crush it upon -the wound. The king of the Numidians was depending upon her; he awaited -the wedding with impatience, and, as it was to follow the victory, -Salammbô made him this present to stimulate his courage. Then his -distress vanished, and he thought only of the happiness of possessing so -beautiful a woman. - -The same vision had assailed Matho; but he cast it from him immediately, -and his love, that he thus thrust back, was poured out upon his -companions in arms. He cherished them like portions of his own person, -of his hatred,—and he felt his spirit higher, and his arms stronger; -everything that he was to accomplish appeared clearly before him. If -sighs sometimes escaped him, it was because he was thinking of Spendius. - -He drew up the Barbarians in six equal ranks. He posted the Etruscans -in the centre, all being fastened to a bronze chain; the archers were -behind, and on the wings he distributed the Naffurs, who were mounted on -short-haired camels, covered with ostrich feathers. - -The Suffet arranged the Carthaginians in similar order. He placed the -Clinabarians outside the infantry next to the velites, and the Numidians -beyond; when day appeared, both sides were thus in line face to face. -All gazed at each other from a distance, with round fierce eyes. There -was at first some hesitation; at last both armies moved. - -The Barbarians advanced slowly so as not to become out of breath, -beating the ground with their feet; the centre of the Punic army formed -a convex curve. Then came the burst of a terrible shock, like the crash -of two fleets in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians had quickly -opened up, and the marksmen, hidden behind the others, discharged their -bullets, arrows, and javelins. The curve of the Carthaginians, however, -flattened by degrees, became quite straight, and then bent inwards; upon -this, the two sections of the velites drew together in parallel lines, -like the legs of a compass that is being closed. The Barbarians, who -were attacking the phalanx with fury, entered the gap; they were being -lost; Matho checked them,—and while the Carthaginian wings continued -to advance, he drew out the three inner ranks of his line; they soon -covered his flanks, and his army appeared in triple array. - -But the Barbarians placed at the extremities were the weakest, -especially those on the left, who had exhausted their quivers, and the -troop of velites, which had at last come up against them, was cutting -them up greatly. - -Matho made them fall back. His right comprised Campanians, who were -armed with axes; he hurled them against the Carthaginian left; the -centre attacked the enemy, and those at the other extremity, who were -out of peril, kept the velites at a distance. - -Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites -between them, and sent them against the Mercenaries. - -Those cone-shaped masses presented a front of horses, and their broader -sides were filled and bristling with lances. The Barbarians found it -impossible to resist; the Greek foot-soldiers alone had brazen armour, -all the rest had cutlasses on the end of poles, scythes taken from the -farms, or swords manufactured out of the fellies of wheels; the -soft blades were twisted by a blow, and while they were engaged in -straightening them under their heels, the Carthaginians massacred them -right and left at their ease. - -But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not stir; those who were -dead, being prevented from falling, formed an obstruction with their -corpses; and the great bronze line widened and contracted in turn, as -supple as a serpent, and as impregnable as a wall. The Barbarians would -come to re-form behind it, pant for a minute, and then set off again -with the fragments of their weapons in their hands. - -Many already had none left, and they leaped upon the Carthaginians, -biting their faces like dogs. The Gauls in their pride stripped -themselves of the sagum; they showed their great white bodies from a -distance, and they enlarged their wounds to terrify the enemy. The voice -of the crier announcing the orders could no longer be heard in the -midst of the Punic syntagmata; their signals were being repeated by the -standards, which were raised above the dust, and every one was swept -away in the swaying of the great mass that surrounded him. - -Hamilcar commanded the Numidians to advance. But the Naffurs rushed to -meet them. - -Clad in vast black robes, with a tuft of hair on the top of the skull, -and a shield of rhinoceros leather, they wielded a steel which had no -handle, and which they held by a rope; and their camels, which bristled -all over with feathers, uttered long, hoarse cluckings. Each blade fell -on a precise spot, then rose again with a smart stroke carrying off a -limb with it. The fierce beasts galloped through the syntagmata. Some, -whose legs were broken, went hopping along like wounded ostriches. - -The Punic infantry turned in a body upon the Barbarians, and cut them -off. Their maniples wheeled about at intervals from one another. The -more brilliant Carthaginian weapons encircled them like golden crowns; -there was a swarming movement in the centre, and the sun, striking down -upon the points of the swords, made them glitter with white flickering -gleams. However, files of Clinabarians lay stretched upon the plain; -some Mercenaries snatched away their armour, clothed themselves in it, -and then returned to the fray. The deluded Carthaginians were several -times entangled in their midst. They would stand stupidly motionless, -or else would back, surge again, and triumphant shouts rising in the -distance seemed to drive them along like derelicts in a storm. Hamilcar -was growing desperate; all was about to perish beneath the genius of -Matho and the invincible courage of the Mercenaries. - -But a great noise of tabourines burst forth on the horizon. It was a -crowd of old men, sick persons, children of fifteen years of age, and -even women, who, being unable to withstand their distress any longer, -had set out from Carthage, and, for the purpose of placing themselves -under the protection of something formidable, had taken from -Hamilcar’s palace the only elephant that the Republic now -possessed,—that one, namely, whose trunk had been cut off. - -Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their country, forsaking its -walls, was coming to command them to die for her. They were seized with -increased fury, and the Numidians carried away all the rest. - -The Barbarians had set themselves with their backs to a hillock in -the centre of the plain. They had no chance of conquering, or even of -surviving; but they were the best, the most intrepid, and the strongest. - -The people from Carthage began to throw spits, larding-pins and hammers, -over the heads of the Numidians; those whom consuls had feared died -beneath sticks hurled by women; the Punic populace was exterminating the -Mercenaries. - -The latter had taken refuge on the top of the hill. Their circle closed -up after every fresh breach; twice it descended to be immediately -repulsed with a shock; and the Carthaginians stretched forth their arms -pell-mell, thrusting their pikes between the legs of their companions, -and raking at random before them. They slipped in the blood; the steep -slope of the ground made the corpses roll to the bottom. The elephant, -which was trying to climb the hillock, was up to its belly; it seemed to -be crawling over them with delight; and its shortened trunk, which was -broad at the extremity, rose from time to time like an enormous leech. - -Then all paused. The Carthaginians ground their teeth as they gazed at -the hill, where the Barbarians were standing. - -At last they dashed at them abruptly, and the fight began again. The -Mercenaries would often let them approach, shouting to them that they -wished to surrender; then, with frightful sneers, they would kill -themselves at a blow, and as the dead fell, the rest would mount upon -them to defend themselves. It was a kind of pyramid, which grew larger -by degrees. - -Soon there were only fifty, then only twenty, only three, and lastly -only two—a Samnite armed with an axe, and Matho who still had his -sword. - -The Samnite with bent hams swept his axe alternately to the right and -left, at the same time warning Matho of the blows that were being aimed -at him. “Master, this way! that way! stoop down!” - -Matho had lost his shoulder-pieces, his helmet, his cuirass; he was -completely naked, and more livid than the dead, with his hair quite -erect, and two patches of foam at the corners of his lips,—and his -sword whirled so rapidly that it formed an aureola around him. A -stone broke it near the guard; the Samnite was killed and the flood of -Carthaginians closed in, they touched Matho. Then he raised both his -empty hands towards heaven, closed his eyes, and, opening out his arms -like a man throwing himself from the summit of a promontory into the -sea, hurled himself among the pikes. - -They moved away before him. Several times he ran against the -Carthaginians. But they always drew back and turned their weapons aside. - -His foot struck against a sword. Matho tried to seize it. He felt -himself tied by the wrists and knees, and fell. - -Narr’ Havas had been following him for some time, step by step, -with one of the large nets used for capturing wild beasts, and, taking -advantage of the moment when he stooped down, had involved him in it. - -Then he was fastened on the elephants with his four limbs forming a -cross; and all those who were not wounded escorted him, and rushed with -great tumult towards Carthage. - -The news of the victory had arrived in some inexplicable way at the -third hour of the night; the clepsydra of Khamon had just completed the -fifth as they reached Malqua; then Matho opened his eyes. There were so -many lights in the houses that the town appeared to be all in flames. - -An immense clamour reached him dimly; and lying on his back he looked at -the stars. - -Then a door closed and he was wrapped in darkness. - -On the morrow, at the same hour, the last of the men left in the Pass of -the Hatchet expired. - -On the day that their companions had set out, some Zuaeces who were -returning had tumbled the rocks down, and had fed them for some time. - -The Barbarians constantly expected to see Matho appear,—and from -discouragement, from languor, and from the obstinacy of sick men who -object to change their situation, they would not leave the mountain; -at last the provisions were exhausted and the Zuaeces went away. It was -known that they numbered scarcely more than thirteen hundred men, and -there was no need to employ soldiers to put an end to them. - -Wild beasts, especially lions, had multiplied during the three years -that the war had lasted. Narr’ Havas had held a great battue, -and—after tying goats at intervals—had run upon them and so driven -them towards the Pass of the Hatchet;—and they were now all living in -it when a man arrived who had been sent by the Ancients to find out what -there was left of the Barbarians. - -Lions and corpses were lying over the tract of the plain, and the dead -were mingled with clothes and armour. Nearly all had the face or an arm -wanting; some appeared to be still intact; others were completely dried -up, and their helmets were filled with powdery skulls; feet which had -lost their flesh stood out straight from the knemides; skeletons still -wore their cloaks; and bones, cleaned by the sun, made gleaming spots in -the midst of the sand. - -The lions were resting with their breasts against the ground and both -paws stretched out, winking their eyelids in the bright daylight, which -was heightened by the reflection from the white rocks. Others were -seated on their hind-quarters and staring before them, or else were -sleeping, rolled into a ball and half hidden by their great manes; they -all looked well fed, tired, and dull. They were as motionless as the -mountain and the dead. Night was falling; the sky was striped with broad -red bands in the west. - -In one of the heaps, which in an irregular fashion embossed the plain, -something rose up vaguer than a spectre. Then one of the lions set -himself in motion, his monstrous form cutting a black shadow on the -background of the purple sky, and when he was quite close to the man, he -knocked him down with a single blow of his paw. - -Then, stretching himself flat upon him, he slowly drew out the entrails -with the edge of his teeth. - -Afterwards he opened his huge jaws, and for some minutes uttered a -lengthened roar which was repeated by the echoes in the mountain, and -was finally lost in the solitude. - -Suddenly some small gravel rolled down from above. The rustling of rapid -steps was heard, and in the direction of the portcullis and of the gorge -there appeared pointed muzzles and straight ears, with gleaming, tawny -eyes. These were the jackals coming to eat what was left. - -The Carthaginian, who was leaning over the top of the precipice to look, -went back again. - - - - - -CHAPTER XV MATHO - -There were rejoicings at Carthage,—rejoicings deep, universal, -extravagant, frantic; the holes of the ruins had been stopped up, the -statues of the gods had been repainted, the streets were strewn with -myrtle branches, incense smoked at the corners of the crossways, and the -throng on the terraces looked, in their variegated garments, like heaps -of flowers blooming in the air. - -The shouts of the water-carriers watering the pavement rose above the -continual screaming of voices; slaves belonging to Hamilcar offered -in his name roasted barley and pieces of raw meat; people accosted one -another, and embraced one another with tears; the Tyrian towns were -taken, the nomads dispersed, and all the Barbarians annihilated. -The Acropolis was hidden beneath coloured velaria; the beaks of the -triremes, drawn up in line outside the mole, shone like a dyke of -diamonds; everywhere there was a sense of the restoration of order, the -beginning of a new existence, and the diffusion of vast happiness: it -was the day of Salammbô’s marriage with the King of the Numidians. - -On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables -laden with gigantic plate, at which the priests, Ancients, and the rich -were to sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar, -Narr’ Havas, and Salammbô; for as she had saved her country by the -restoration of the zaïmph, the people turned her wedding day into a -national rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she should -appear. - -But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing: -Matho’s death has been promised for the ceremony. - -It had been proposed at first to flay him alive, to pour lead into his -entrails, to kill him with hunger; he should be tied to a tree, and -an ape behind him should strike him on the head with a stone; he had -offended Tanith, and the cynocephaluses of Tanith should avenge her. -Others were of opinion that he should be led about on a dromedary after -linen wicks, dipped in oil, had been inserted in his body in several -places;—and they took pleasure in the thought of the large animal -wandering through the streets with this man writhing beneath the fires -like a candelabrum blown about by the wind. - -But what citizens should be charged with his torture, and why disappoint -the rest? They would have liked a kind of death in which the whole -town might take part, in which every hand, every weapon, everything -Carthaginian, to the very paving-stones in the streets and the waves in -the gulf, could rend him, and crush him, and annihilate him. Accordingly -the Ancients decided that he should go from his prison to the square of -Khamon without any escort, and with his arms fastened to his back; it -was forbidden to strike him to the heart, in order that he might live -the longer; to put out his eyes, so that he might see the torture -through; to hurl anything against his person, or to lay more than three -fingers upon him at a time. - -Although he was not to appear until the end of the day, the people -sometimes fancied that he could be seen, and the crowd would rush -towards the Acropolis, and empty the streets, to return with lengthened -murmurings. Some people had remained standing in the same place since -the day before, and they would call on one another from a distance and -show their nails which they had allowed to grow, the better to bury them -into his flesh. Others walked restlessly up and down; some were as pale -as though they were awaiting their own execution. - -Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian -district. It was Salammbô leaving her palace; a sigh of relief found -vent. - -But the procession was long in coming; it marched with deliberation. - -First there filed past the priests of the Patæc Gods, then those of -Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other colleges in succession, with -the same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the -time of the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent, -and the multitude stood aside from them in a kind of remorse. But the -priests of Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in their -hands; the priestesses followed them in transparent robes of yellow -or black, uttering cries like birds and writhing like vipers, or else -whirling round to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of the stars, -while their light garments wafted puffs of delicate scents through the -streets. - -The Kedeschim, with painted eyelids, who symbolised the hermaphrodism of -the Divinity, received applause among these women, and, being perfumed -and dressed like them, they resembled them in spite of their flat -breasts and narrower hips. Moreover, on this day the female principle -dominated and confused all things; a mystic voluptuousness moved in the -heavy air; the torches were already lighted in the depths of the sacred -woods; there was to be a great celebration there during the night; three -vessels had brought courtesans from Sicily, and others had come from the -desert. - -As the colleges arrived they ranged themselves in the courts of the -temples, on the outer galleries, and along double staircases which rose -against the walls, and drew together at the top. Files of white robes -appeared between the colonnades, and the architecture was peopled with -human statues, motionless as statues of stone. - -Then came the masters of the exchequer, the governors of the provinces, -and all the rich. A great tumult prevailed below. Adjacent streets were -discharging the crowd, hierodules were driving it back with blows of -sticks; and then Salammbô appeared in a litter surmounted by a purple -canopy, and surrounded by the Ancients crowned with their golden tiaras. - -Thereupon an immense shout arose; the cymbals and crotala sounded more -loudly, the tabourines thundered, and the great purple canopy sank -between the two pylons. - -It appeared again on the first landing. Salammbô was walking slowly -beneath it; then she crossed the terrace to take her seat behind on a -kind of throne cut out of the carapace of a tortoise. An ivory stool -with three steps was pushed beneath her feet; two Negro children knelt -on the edge of the first step, and sometimes she would rest both arms, -which were laden with rings of excessive weight, upon their heads. - -From ankle to hip she was covered with a network of narrow meshes which -were in imitation of fish scales, and shone like mother-of-pearl; her -waist was clasped by a blue zone, which allowed her breasts to be -seen through two crescent-shaped slashings; the nipples were hidden by -carbuncle pendants. She had a headdress made of peacock’s feathers -studded with gems; an ample cloak, as white as snow, fell behind -her,—and with her elbows at her sides, her knees pressed together, -and circles of diamonds on the upper part of her arms, she remained -perfectly upright in a hieratic attitude. - -Her father and her husband were on two lower seats, Narr’ Havas -dressed in a light simar and wearing his crown of rock-salt, from which -there strayed two tresses of hair as twisted as the horns of Ammon; and -Hamilcar in a violet tunic figured with gold vine branches, and with a -battle-sword at his side. - -The python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on the ground amid pools of -pink oil in the space enclosed by the tables, and, biting its tail, -described a large black circle. In the middle of the circle there was a -copper pillar bearing a crystal egg; and, as the sun shone upon it, rays -were emitted on every side. - -Behind Salammbô stretched the priests of Tanith in linen robes; on her -right the Ancients, in their tiaras, formed a great gold line, and -on the other side the rich with their emerald sceptres a great green -line,—while quite in the background, where the priests of Moloch were -ranged, the cloaks looked like a wall of purple. The other colleges -occupied the lower terraces. The multitude obstructed the streets. It -reached to the house-tops, and extended in long files to the summit of -the Acropolis. Having thus the people at her feet, the firmament -above her head, and around her the immensity of the sea, the gulf, the -mountains, and the distant provinces, Salammbô in her splendour was -blended with Tanith, and seemed the very genius of Carthage, and its -embodied soul. - -The feast was to last all night, and lamps with several branches were -planted like trees on the painted woollen cloths which covered the low -tables. Large electrum flagons, blue glass amphoras, tortoise-shell -spoons, and small round loaves were crowded between the double row of -pearl-bordered plates; bunches of grapes with their leaves had been -rolled round ivory vine-stocks after the fashion of the thyrsus; blocks -of snow were melting on ebony trays, and lemons, pomegranates, gourds, -and watermelons formed hillocks beneath the lofty silver plate; boars -with open jaws were wallowing in the dust of spices; hares, covered with -their fur, appeared to be bounding amid the flowers; there were shells -filled with forcemeat; the pastry had symbolic shapes; when the covers -of the dishes were removed doves flew out. - -The slaves, meanwhile, with tunics tucked up, were going about on -tiptoe; from time to time a hymn sounded on the lyres, or a choir of -voices rose. The clamour of the people, continuous as the noise of -the sea, floated vaguely around the feast, and seemed to lull it in a -broader harmony; some recalled the banquet of the Mercenaries; they gave -themselves up to dreams of happiness; the sun was beginning to go down, -and the crescent of the moon was already rising in another part of the -sky. - -But Salammbô turned her head as though some one had called her; the -people, who were watching her, followed the direction of her eyes. - -The door of the dungeon, hewn in the rock at the foot of the temple, on -the summit of the Acropolis, had just opened; and a man was standing on -the threshold of this black hole. - -He came forth bent double, with the scared look of fallow deer when -suddenly enlarged. - -The light dazzled him; he stood motionless awhile. All had recognised -him, and they held their breath. - -In their eyes the body of this victim was something peculiarly theirs, -and was adorned with almost religious splendour. They bent forward to -see him, especially the women. They burned to gaze upon him who had -caused the deaths of their children and husbands; and from the bottom -of their souls there sprang up in spite of themselves an infamous -curiosity, a desire to know him completely, a wish mingled with remorse -which turned to increased execration. - -At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared. -Numbers of arms were raised, and he was lost to sight. - -The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as -though he were rolled down in a torrent from the top of a mountain; -three times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his feet. - -His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks; -and he made such efforts to burst his bonds that his arms, which were -crossed on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent. - -Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which he -found himself. In each of them a triple row of bronze chains fastened to -the navels of the Patæc gods extended in parallel lines from one end -to the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, and servants, -belonging to the Ancients, walked in the middle brandishing thongs. - -One of them drove him forward with a great blow; Matho began to move. - -They thrust their arms over the chains shouting out that the road had -been left too wide for him; and he passed along, felt, pricked, and -slashed by all those fingers; when he reached the end of one street -another appeared; several times he flung himself to one side to bite -them; they speedily dispersed, the chains held him back, and the crowd -burst out laughing. - -A child rent his ear; a young girl, hiding the point of a spindle in her -sleeve, split his cheek; they tore handfuls of hair from him and strips -of flesh; others smeared his face with sponges steeped in filth and -fastened upon sticks. A stream of blood started from the right side of -his neck, frenzy immediately set in. This last Barbarian was to them a -representative of all the Barbarians, and all the army; they were taking -vengeance on him for their disasters, their terrors, and their shame. -The rage of the mob developed with its gratification; the curving chains -were over-strained, and were on the point of breaking; the people did -not feel the blows of the slaves who struck at them to drive them back; -some clung to the projections of the houses; all the openings in the -walls were stopped up with heads; and they howled at him the mischief -that they could not inflict upon him. - -It was atrocious, filthy abuse mingled with ironical encouragements and -imprecations; and, his present tortures not being enough for them, they -foretold to him others that should be still more terrible in eternity. - -This vast baying filled Carthage with stupid continuity. Frequently -a single syllable—a hoarse, deep, and frantic intonation—would -be repeated for several minutes by the entire people. The walls would -vibrate with it from top to bottom, and both sides of the street would -seem to Matho to be coming against him, and carrying him off the ground, -like two immense arms stifling him in the air. - -Nevertheless he remembered that he had experienced something like it -before. The same crowd was on the terraces, there were the same looks -and the same wrath; but then he had walked free, all had then dispersed, -for a god covered him;—and the recollection of this, gaining precision -by degrees, brought a crushing sadness upon him. Shadows passed before -his eyes; the town whirled round in his head, his blood streamed from a -wound in his hip, he felt that he was dying; his hams bent, and he sank -quite gently upon the pavement. - -Some one went to the peristyle of the temple of Melkarth, took thence -the bar of a tripod, heated red hot in the coals, and, slipping it -beneath the first chain, pressed it against his wound. The flesh was -seen to smoke; the hootings of the people drowned his voice; he was -standing again. - -Six paces further on, and he fell a third and again a fourth time; but -some new torture always made him rise. They discharged little drops of -boiling oil through tubes at him; they strewed pieces of broken glass -beneath his feet; still he walked on. At the corner of the street of -Satheb he leaned his back against the wall beneath the pent-house of a -shop, and advanced no further. - -The slaves of the Council struck him with their whips of hippopotamus -leather, so furiously and long that the fringes of their tunics were -drenched with sweat. Matho appeared insensible; suddenly he started -off and began to run at random, making a noise with his lips like one -shivering with severe cold. He threaded the street of Boudes, and the -street of Soepo, crossed the Green Market, and reached the square of -Khamon. - -He now belonged to the priests; the slaves had just dispersed the crowd, -and there was more room. Matho gazed round him and his eyes encountered -Salammbô. - -At the first step that he had taken she had risen; then, as he -approached, she had involuntarily advanced by degrees to the edge of the -terrace; and soon all external things were blotted out, and she saw -only Matho. Silence fell in her soul,—one of those abysses wherein -the whole world disappears beneath the pressure of a single thought, a -memory, a look. This man who was walking towards her attracted her. - -Excepting his eyes he had no appearance of humanity left; he was a long, -perfectly red shape; his broken bonds hung down his thighs, but they -could not be distinguished from the tendons of his wrists, which were -laid quite bare; his mouth remained wide open; from his eye-sockets -there darted flames which seemed to rise up to his hair;—and the -wretch still walked on! - -He reached the foot of the terrace. Salammbô was leaning over the -balustrade; those frightful eyeballs were scanning her, and there rose -within her a consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. Although -he was in his death agony she could see him once more kneeling in his -tent, encircling her waist with his arms, and stammering out gentle -words; she thirsted to feel them and hear them again; she did not want -him to die! At this moment Matho gave a great start; she was on the -point of shrieking aloud. He fell backwards and did not stir again. - -Salammbô was borne back, nearly swooning, to her throne by the priests -who flocked about her. They congratulated her; it was her work. All -clapped their hands and stamped their feet, howling her name. - -A man darted upon the corpse. Although he had no beard he had the cloak -of a priest of Moloch on his shoulder, and in his belt that species -of knife which they employed for cutting up the sacred meat, and which -terminated, at the end of the handle, in a golden spatula. He cleft -Matho’s breast with a single blow, then snatched out the heart and -laid it upon the spoon; and Schahabarim, uplifting his arm, offered it -to the sun. - -The sun sank behind the waves; his rays fell like long arrows upon the -red heart. As the beatings diminished the planet sank into the sea; and -at the last palpitation it disappeared. - -Then from the gulf to the lagoon, and from the isthmus to the pharos, in -all the streets, on all the houses, and on all the temples, there was -a single shout; sometimes it paused, to be again renewed; the buildings -shook with it; Carthage was convulsed, as it were, in the spasm of -Titanic joy and boundless hope. - -Narr’ Havas, drunk with pride, passed his left arm beneath -Salammbô’s waist in token of possession; and taking a gold patera in -his right hand, he drank to the Genius of Carthage. - -Salammbô rose like her husband, with a cup in her hand, to drink -also. She fell down again with her head lying over the back of the -throne,—pale, stiff, with parted lips,—and her loosened hair hung to -the ground. - -Thus died Hamilcar’s daughter for having touched the mantle of Tanith. - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALAMMBÔ *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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-almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: Salammbô
-
-Author: Gustave Flaubert
-
-Release Date: February 11, 2006 [EBook #1290]
-Last Updated: September 13, 2016
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK Salammbô ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by John Bickers and David Widger
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
- <p>
- <br /> <br />
- </p>
- <h1>
- Salammbô
- </h1>
- <h2>
- By Gustave Flaubert
- </h2>
- <p>
- <br /> <br />
- </p>
- <hr />
- <p>
- <br /> <br />
- </p>
- <blockquote>
- <p class="toc">
- <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a>
- </p>
- <p class="toc">
- <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a>
- </p>
- </blockquote>
- <p>
- <br /> <br />
- </p>
- <hr />
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br />
- </p>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER I
- </h2>
- <h3>
- THE FEAST
- </h3>
- <p>
- It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar. The
- soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily were having a great feast to
- celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Eryx, and as the master was
- away, and they were numerous, they ate and drank with perfect freedom.
- </p>
- <p>
- The captains, who wore bronze cothurni, had placed themselves in the
- central path, beneath a gold-fringed purple awning, which reached from the
- wall of the stables to the first terrace of the palace; the common
- soldiers were scattered beneath the trees, where numerous flat-roofed
- buildings might be seen, wine-presses, cellars, storehouses, bakeries, and
- arsenals, with a court for elephants, dens for wild beasts, and a prison
- for slaves.
- </p>
- <p>
- Fig-trees surrounded the kitchens; a wood of sycamores stretched away to
- meet masses of verdure, where the pomegranate shone amid the white tufts
- of the cotton-plant; vines, grape-laden, grew up into the branches of the
- pines; a field of roses bloomed beneath the plane-trees; here and there
- lilies rocked upon the turf; the paths were strewn with black sand mingled
- with powdered coral, and in the centre the avenue of cypress formed, as it
- were, a double colonnade of green obelisks from one extremity to the
- other.
- </p>
- <p>
- Far in the background stood the palace, built of yellow mottled Numidian
- marble, broad courses supporting its four terraced stories. With its
- large, straight, ebony staircase, bearing the prow of a vanquished galley
- at the corners of every step, its red doors quartered with black crosses,
- its brass gratings protecting it from scorpions below, and its trellises
- of gilded rods closing the apertures above, it seemed to the soldiers in
- its haughty opulence as solemn and impenetrable as the face of Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Council had appointed his house for the holding of this feast; the
- convalescents lying in the temple of Eschmoun had set out at daybreak and
- dragged themselves thither on their crutches. Every minute others were
- arriving. They poured in ceaselessly by every path like torrents rushing
- into a lake; through the trees the slaves of the kitchens might be seen
- running scared and half-naked; the gazelles fled bleating on the lawns;
- the sun was setting, and the perfume of citron trees rendered the
- exhalation from the perspiring crowd heavier still.
- </p>
- <p>
- Men of all nations were there, Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearians,
- Negroes, and fugitives from Rome. Beside the heavy Dorian dialect were
- audible the resonant Celtic syllables rattling like chariots of war, while
- Ionian terminations conflicted with consonants of the desert as harsh as
- the jackal’s cry. The Greek might be recognised by his slender
- figure, the Egyptian by his elevated shoulders, the Cantabrian by his
- broad calves. There were Carians proudly nodding their helmet plumes,
- Cappadocian archers displaying large flowers painted on their bodies with
- the juice of herbs, and a few Lydians in women’s robes, dining in
- slippers and earrings. Others were ostentatiously daubed with vermilion,
- and resembled coral statues.
- </p>
- <p>
- They stretched themselves on the cushions, they ate squatting round large
- trays, or lying face downwards they drew out the pieces of meat and sated
- themselves, leaning on their elbows in the peaceful posture of lions
- tearing their prey. The last comers stood leaning against the trees
- watching the low tables half hidden beneath the scarlet coverings, and
- awaiting their turn.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar’s kitchens being insufficient, the Council had sent them
- slaves, ware, and beds, and in the middle of the garden, as on a
- battle-field when they burn the dead, large bright fires might be seen, at
- which oxen were roasting. Anise-sprinkled loaves alternated with great
- cheeses heavier than discuses, crateras filled with wine, and cantharuses
- filled with water, together with baskets of gold filigree-work containing
- flowers. Every eye was dilated with the joy of being able at last to gorge
- at pleasure, and songs were beginning here and there.
- </p>
- <p>
- First they were served with birds and green sauce in plates of red clay
- relieved by drawings in black, then with every kind of shell-fish that is
- gathered on the Punic coasts, wheaten porridge, beans and barley, and
- snails dressed with cumin on dishes of yellow amber.
- </p>
- <p>
- Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their horns,
- peacocks with their feathers, whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, haunches
- of she-camels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried grasshoppers, and
- preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in the midst of saffron in
- bowls of Tamrapanni wood. Everything was running over with wine, truffles,
- and asafotida. Pyramids of fruit were crumbling upon honeycombs, and they
- had not forgotten a few of those plump little dogs with pink silky hair
- and fattened on olive lees,—a Carthaginian dish held in abhorrence
- among other nations. Surprise at the novel fare excited the greed of the
- stomach. The Gauls with their long hair drawn up on the crown of the head,
- snatched at the water-melons and lemons, and crunched them up with the
- rind. The Negroes, who had never seen a lobster, tore their faces with its
- red prickles. But the shaven Greeks, whiter than marble, threw the
- leavings of their plates behind them, while the herdsmen from Brutium, in
- their wolf-skin garments, devoured in silence with their faces in their
- portions.
- </p>
- <p>
- Night fell. The velarium, spread over the cypress avenue, was drawn back,
- and torches were brought.
- </p>
- <p>
- The apes, sacred to the moon, were terrified on the cedar tops by the
- wavering lights of the petroleum as it burned in the porphyry vases. They
- uttered screams which afforded mirth to the soldiers.
- </p>
- <p>
- Oblong flames trembled in cuirasses of brass. Every kind of scintillation
- flashed from the gem-incrusted dishes. The crateras with their borders of
- convex mirrors multiplied and enlarged the images of things; the soldiers
- thronged around, looking at their reflections with amazement, and
- grimacing to make themselves laugh. They tossed the ivory stools and
- golden spatulas to one another across the tables. They gulped down all the
- Greek wines in their leathern bottles, the Campanian wine enclosed in
- amphoras, the Cantabrian wines brought in casks, with the wines of the
- jujube, cinnamomum and lotus. There were pools of these on the ground that
- made the foot slip. The smoke of the meats ascended into the foliage with
- the vapour of the breath. Simultaneously were heard the snapping of jaws,
- the noise of speech, songs, and cups, the crash of Campanian vases
- shivering into a thousand pieces, or the limpid sound of a large silver
- dish.
- </p>
- <p>
- In proportion as their intoxication increased they more and more recalled
- the injustice of Carthage. The Republic, in fact, exhausted by the war,
- had allowed all the returning bands to accumulate in the town. Gisco,
- their general, had however been prudent enough to send them back severally
- in order to facilitate the liquidation of their pay, and the Council had
- believed that they would in the end consent to some reduction. But at
- present ill-will was caused by the inability to pay them. This debt was
- confused in the minds of the people with the 3200 Euboic talents exacted
- by Lutatius, and equally with Rome they were regarded as enemies to
- Carthage. The Mercenaries understood this, and their indignation found
- vent in threats and outbreaks. At last they demanded permission to
- assemble to celebrate one of their victories, and the peace party yielded,
- at the same time revenging themselves on Hamilcar who had so strongly
- upheld the war. It had been terminated notwithstanding all his efforts, so
- that, despairing of Carthage, he had entrusted the government of the
- Mercenaries to Gisco. To appoint his palace for their reception was to
- draw upon him something of the hatred which was borne to them. Moreover,
- the expense must be excessive, and he would incur nearly the whole.
- </p>
- <p>
- Proud of having brought the Republic to submit, the Mercenaries thought
- that they were at last about to return to their homes with the payment for
- their blood in the hoods of their cloaks. But as seen through the mists of
- intoxication, their fatigues seemed to them prodigious and but
- ill-rewarded. They showed one another their wounds, they told of their
- combats, their travels and the hunting in their native lands. They
- imitated the cries and the leaps of wild beasts. Then came unclean wagers;
- they buried their heads in the amphoras and drank on without interruption,
- like thirsty dromedaries. A Lusitanian of gigantic stature ran over the
- tables, carrying a man in each hand at arm’s length, and spitting
- out fire through his nostrils. Some Lacedæmonians, who had not taken off
- their cuirasses, were leaping with a heavy step. Some advanced like women,
- making obscene gestures; others stripped naked to fight amid the cups
- after the fashion of gladiators, and a company of Greeks danced around a
- vase whereon nymphs were to be seen, while a Negro tapped with an ox-bone
- on a brazen buckler.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly they heard a plaintive song, a song loud and soft, rising and
- falling in the air like the wing-beating of a wounded bird.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was the voice of the slaves in the ergastulum. Some soldiers rose at a
- bound to release them and disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- They returned, driving through the dust amid shouts, twenty men,
- distinguished by their greater paleness of face. Small black felt caps of
- conical shape covered their shaven heads; they all wore wooden shoes, and
- yet made a noise as of old iron like driving chariots.
- </p>
- <p>
- They reached the avenue of cypress, where they were lost among the crowd
- of those questioning them. One of them remained apart, standing. Through
- the rents in his tunic his shoulders could be seen striped with long
- scars. Drooping his chin, he looked round him with distrust, closing his
- eyelids somewhat against the dazzling light of the torches, but when he
- saw that none of the armed men were unfriendly to him, a great sigh
- escaped from his breast; he stammered, he sneered through the bright tears
- that bathed his face. At last he seized a brimming cantharus by its rings,
- raised it straight up into the air with his outstretched arms, from which
- his chains hung down, and then looking to heaven, and still holding the
- cup he said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Hail first to thee, Baal-Eschmoun, the deliverer, whom the people
- of my country call Æsculapius! and to you, genii of the fountains, light,
- and woods! and to you, ye gods hidden beneath the mountains and in the
- caverns of the earth! and to you, strong men in shining armour who have
- set me free!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he let fall the cup and related his history. He was called Spendius.
- The Carthaginians had taken him in the battle of Æginusæ, and he thanked
- the Mercenaries once more in Greek, Ligurian and Punic; he kissed their
- hands; finally, he congratulated them on the banquet, while expressing his
- surprise at not perceiving the cups of the Sacred Legion. These cups,
- which bore an emerald vine on each of their six golden faces, belonged to
- a corps composed exclusively of young patricians of the tallest stature.
- They were a privilege, almost a sacerdotal distinction, and accordingly
- nothing among the treasures of the Republic was more coveted by the
- Mercenaries. They detested the Legion on this account, and some of them
- had been known to risk their lives for the inconceivable pleasure of
- drinking out of these cups.
- </p>
- <p>
- Accordingly they commanded that the cups should be brought. They were in
- the keeping of the Syssitia, companies of traders, who had a common table.
- The slaves returned. At that hour all the members of the Syssitia were
- asleep.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let them be awakened!” responded the Mercenaries.
- </p>
- <p>
- After a second excursion it was explained to them that the cups were shut
- up in a temple.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let it be opened!” they replied.
- </p>
- <p>
- And when the slaves confessed with trembling that they were in the
- possession of Gisco, the general, they cried out:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let him bring them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Gisco soon appeared at the far end of the garden with an escort of the
- Sacred Legion. His full, black cloak, which was fastened on his head to a
- golden mitre starred with precious stones, and which hung all about him
- down to his horse’s hoofs, blended in the distance with the colour
- of the night. His white beard, the radiancy of his head-dress, and his
- triple necklace of broad blue plates beating against his breast, were
- alone visible.
- </p>
- <p>
- When he entered, the soldiers greeted him with loud shouts, all crying:
- </p>
- <p>
- “The cups! The cups!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He began by declaring that if reference were had to their courage, they
- were worthy of them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The crowd applauded and howled with joy.
- </p>
- <p>
- <i>He</i> knew it, he who had commanded them over yonder, and had returned
- with the last cohort in the last galley!
- </p>
- <p>
- “True! True!” said they.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless, Gisco continued, the Republic had respected their national
- divisions, their customs, and their modes of worship; in Carthage they
- were free! As to the cups of the Sacred Legion, they were private
- property. Suddenly a Gaul, who was close to Spendius, sprang over the
- tables and ran straight up to Gisco, gesticulating and threatening him
- with two naked swords.
- </p>
- <p>
- Without interrupting his speech, the General struck him on the head with
- his heavy ivory staff, and the Barbarian fell. The Gauls howled, and their
- frenzy, which was spreading to the others, would soon have swept away the
- legionaries. Gisco shrugged his shoulders as he saw them growing pale. He
- thought that his courage would be useless against these exasperated brute
- beasts. It would be better to revenge himself upon them by some artifice
- later; accordingly, he signed to his soldiers and slowly withdrew. Then,
- turning in the gateway towards the Mercenaries, he cried to them that they
- would repent of it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The feast recommenced. But Gisco might return, and by surrounding the
- suburb, which was beside the last ramparts, might crush them against the
- walls. Then they felt themselves alone in spite of their crowd, and the
- great town sleeping beneath them in the shade suddenly made them afraid,
- with its piles of staircases, its lofty black houses, and its vague gods
- fiercer even than its people. In the distance a few ships’-lanterns
- were gliding across the harbour, and there were lights in the temple of
- Khamon. They thought of Hamilcar. Where was he? Why had he forsaken them
- when peace was concluded? His differences with the Council were doubtless
- but a pretence in order to destroy them. Their unsatisfied hate recoiled
- upon him, and they cursed him, exasperating one another with their own
- anger. At this juncture they collected together beneath the plane-trees to
- see a slave who, with eyeballs fixed, neck contorted, and lips covered
- with foam, was rolling on the ground, and beating the soil with his limbs.
- Some one cried out that he was poisoned. All then believed themselves
- poisoned. They fell upon the slaves, a terrible clamour was raised, and a
- vertigo of destruction came like a whirlwind upon the drunken army. They
- struck about them at random, they smashed, they slew; some hurled torches
- into the foliage; others, leaning over the lions’ balustrade,
- massacred the animals with arrows; the most daring ran to the elephants,
- desiring to cut down their trunks and eat ivory.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some Balearic slingers, however, who had gone round the corner of the
- palace, in order to pillage more conveniently, were checked by a lofty
- barrier, made of Indian cane. They cut the lock-straps with their daggers,
- and then found themselves beneath the front that faced Carthage, in
- another garden full of trimmed vegetation. Lines of white flowers all
- following one another in regular succession formed long parabolas like
- star-rockets on the azure-coloured earth. The gloomy bushes exhaled warm
- and honied odours. There were trunks of trees smeared with cinnabar, which
- resembled columns covered with blood. In the centre were twelve pedestals,
- each supporting a great glass ball, and these hollow globes were
- indistinctly filled with reddish lights, like enormous and still
- palpitating eyeballs. The soldiers lighted themselves with torches as they
- stumbled on the slope of the deeply laboured soil.
- </p>
- <p>
- But they perceived a little lake divided into several basins by walls of
- blue stones. So limpid was the wave that the flames of the torches
- quivered in it at the very bottom, on a bed of white pebbles and golden
- dust. It began to bubble, luminous spangles glided past, and great fish
- with gems about their mouths, appeared near the surface.
- </p>
- <p>
- With much laughter the soldiers slipped their fingers into the gills and
- brought them to the tables. They were the fish of the Barca family, and
- were all descended from those primordial lotes which had hatched the
- mystic egg wherein the goddess was concealed. The idea of committing a
- sacrilege revived the greediness of the Mercenaries; they speedily placed
- fire beneath some brazen vases, and amused themselves by watching the
- beautiful fish struggling in the boiling water.
- </p>
- <p>
- The surge of soldiers pressed on. They were no longer afraid. They
- commenced to drink again. Their ragged tunics were wet with the perfumes
- that flowed in large drops from their foreheads, and resting both fists on
- the tables, which seemed to them to be rocking like ships, they rolled
- their great drunken eyes around to devour by sight what they could not
- take. Others walked amid the dishes on the purple table covers, breaking
- ivory stools, and phials of Tyrian glass to pieces with their feet. Songs
- mingled with the death-rattle of the slaves expiring amid the broken cups.
- They demanded wine, meat, gold. They cried out for women. They raved in a
- hundred languages. Some thought that they were at the vapour baths on
- account of the steam which floated around them, or else, catching sight of
- the foliage, imagined that they were at the chase, and rushed upon their
- companions as upon wild beasts. The conflagration spread to all the trees,
- one after another, and the lofty mosses of verdure, emitting long white
- spirals, looked like volcanoes beginning to smoke. The clamour redoubled;
- the wounded lions roared in the shade.
- </p>
- <p>
- In an instant the highest terrace of the palace was illuminated, the
- central door opened, and a woman, Hamilcar’s daughter herself,
- clothed in black garments, appeared on the threshold. She descended the
- first staircase, which ran obliquely along the first story, then the
- second, and the third, and stopped on the last terrace at the head of the
- galley staircase. Motionless and with head bent, she gazed upon the
- soldiers.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind her, on each side, were two long shadows of pale men, clad in
- white, red-fringed robes, which fell straight to their feet. They had no
- beard, no hair, no eyebrows. In their hands, which sparkled with rings,
- they carried enormous lyres, and with shrill voice they sang a hymn to the
- divinity of Carthage. They were the eunuch priests of the temple of
- Tanith, who were often summoned by Salammbô to her house.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last she descended the galley staircase. The priests followed her. She
- advanced into the avenue of cypress, and walked slowly through the tables
- of the captains, who drew back somewhat as they watched her pass.
- </p>
- <p>
- Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the form
- of a tower, after the fashion of the Chanaanite maidens, added to her
- height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell to the
- corners of her mouth, which was as rosy as a half-open pomegranate. On her
- breast was a collection of luminous stones, their variegation imitating
- the scales of the murena. Her arms were adorned with diamonds, and issued
- naked from her sleeveless tunic, which was starred with red flowers on a
- perfectly black ground. Between her ankles she wore a golden chainlet to
- regulate her steps, and her large dark purple mantle, cut of an unknown
- material, trailed behind her, making, as it were, at each step, a broad
- wave which followed her.
- </p>
- <p>
- The priests played nearly stifled chords on their lyres from time to time,
- and in the intervals of the music might be heard the tinkling of the
- little golden chain, and the regular patter of her papyrus sandals.
- </p>
- <p>
- No one as yet was acquainted with her. It was only known that she led a
- retired life, engaged in pious practices. Some soldiers had seen her in
- the night on the summit of her palace kneeling before the stars amid the
- eddyings from kindled perfuming-pans. It was the moon that had made her so
- pale, and there was something from the gods that enveloped her like a
- subtle vapour. Her eyes seemed to gaze far beyond terrestrial space. She
- bent her head as she walked, and in her right hand she carried a little
- ebony lyre.
- </p>
- <p>
- They heard her murmur:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Dead! All dead! No more will you come obedient to my voice as when,
- seated on the edge of the lake, I used to through seeds of the watermelon
- into your mouths! The mystery of Tanith ranged in the depths of your eyes
- that were more limpid than the globules of rivers.” And she called
- them by their names, which were those of the months—“Siv!
- Sivan! Tammouz, Eloul, Tischri, Schebar! Ah! have pity on me, goddess!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The soldiers thronged about her without understanding what she said. They
- wondered at her attire, but she turned a long frightened look upon them
- all, then sinking her head beneath her shoulders, and waving her arms, she
- repeated several times:
- </p>
- <p>
- “What have you done? what have you done?
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yet you had bread, and meats and oil, and all the malobathrum of
- the granaries for your enjoyment! I had brought oxen from Hecatompylos; I
- had sent hunters into the desert!” Her voice swelled; her cheeks
- purpled. She added, “Where, pray, are you now? In a conquered town,
- or in the palace of a master? And what master? Hamilcar the Suffet, my
- father, the servant of the Baals! It was he who withheld from Lutatius
- those arms of yours, red now with the blood of his slaves! Know you of any
- in your own lands more skilled in the conduct of battles? Look! our palace
- steps are encumbered with our victories! Ah! desist not! burn it! I will
- carry away with me the genius of my house, my black serpent slumbering up
- yonder on lotus leaves! I will whistle and he will follow me, and if I
- embark in a galley he will speed in the wake of my ship over the foam of
- the waves.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Her delicate nostrils were quivering. She crushed her nails against the
- gems on her bosom. Her eyes drooped, and she resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! poor Carthage! lamentable city! No longer hast thou for thy
- protection the strong men of former days who went beyond the oceans to
- build temples on their shores. All the lands laboured about thee, and the
- sea-plains, ploughed by thine oars, rocked with thy harvests.” Then
- she began to sing the adventures of Melkarth, the god of the Sidonians,
- and the father of her family.
- </p>
- <p>
- She told of the ascent of the mountains of Ersiphonia, the journey to
- Tartessus, and the war against Masisabal to avenge the queen of the
- serpents:
- </p>
- <p>
- “He pursued the female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead
- leaves like a silver brook, into the forest, and came to a plain where
- women with dragon-croups were round a great fire, standing erect on the
- points of their tails. The blood-coloured moon was shining within a pale
- circle, and their scarlet tongues, cloven like the harpoons of fishermen,
- reached curling forth to the very edge of the flame.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Salammbô, without pausing, related how Melkarth, after vanquishing
- Masisabal, placed her severed head on the prow of his ship. “At each
- throb of the waves it sank beneath the foam, but the sun embalmed it; it
- became harder than gold; nevertheless the eyes ceased not to weep, and the
- tears fell into the water continually.”
- </p>
- <p>
- She sang all this in an old Chanaanite idiom, which the Barbarians did not
- understand. They asked one another what she could be saying to them with
- those frightful gestures which accompanied her speech, and mounted round
- about her on the tables, beds, and sycamore boughs, they strove with open
- mouths and craned necks to grasp the vague stories hovering before their
- imaginations, through the dimness of the theogonies, like phantoms wrapped
- in cloud.
- </p>
- <p>
- Only the beardless priests understood Salammbô; their wrinkled hands,
- which hung over the strings of their lyres, quivered, and from time to
- time they would draw forth a mournful chord; for, feebler than old women,
- they trembled at once with mystic emotion, and with the fear inspired by
- men. The Barbarians heeded them not, but listened continually to the
- maiden’s song.
- </p>
- <p>
- None gazed at her like a young Numidian chief, who was placed at the
- captains’ tables among soldiers of his own nation. His girdle so
- bristled with darts that it formed a swelling in his ample cloak, which
- was fastened on his temples with a leather lace. The cloth parted asunder
- as it fell upon his shoulders, and enveloped his countenance in shadow, so
- that only the fires of his two fixed eyes could be seen. It was by chance
- that he was at the feast, his father having domiciled him with the Barca
- family, according to the custom by which kings used to send their children
- into the households of the great in order to pave the way for alliances;
- but Narr’ Havas had lodged there for six months without having
- hitherto seen Salammbô, and now, seated on his heels, with his head
- brushing the handles of his javelins, he was watching her with dilated
- nostrils, like a leopard crouching among the bamboos.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the other side of the tables was a Libyan of colossal stature, and with
- short black curly hair. He had retained only his military jacket, the
- brass plates of which were tearing the purple of the couch. A necklace of
- silver moons was tangled in his hairy breast. His face was stained with
- splashes of blood; he was leaning on his left elbow with a smile on his
- large, open mouth.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô had abandoned the sacred rhythm. With a woman’s subtlety
- she was simultaneously employing all the dialects of the Barbarians in
- order to appease their anger. To the Greeks she spoke Greek; then she
- turned to the Ligurians, the Campanians, the Negroes, and listening to her
- each one found again in her voice the sweetness of his native land. She
- now, carried away by the memories of Carthage, sang of the ancient battles
- against Rome; they applauded. She kindled at the gleaming of the naked
- swords, and cried aloud with outstretched arms. Her lyre fell, she was
- silent; and, pressing both hands upon her heart, she remained for some
- minutes with closed eyelids enjoying the agitation of all these men.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, the Libyan, leaned over towards her. Involuntarily she approached
- him, and impelled by grateful pride, poured him a long stream of wine into
- a golden cup in order to conciliate the army.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Drink!” she said.
- </p>
- <p>
- He took the cup, and was carrying it to his lips when a Gaul, the same
- that had been hurt by Gisco, struck him on the shoulder, while in a jovial
- manner he gave utterance to pleasantries in his native tongue. Spendius
- was not far off, and he volunteered to interpret them.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Speak!” said Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- “The gods protect you; you are going to become rich. When will the
- nuptials be?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “What nuptials?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yours! for with us,” said the Gaul, “when a woman gives
- drink to a soldier, it means that she offers him her couch.”
- </p>
- <p>
- He had not finished when Narr’ Havas, with a bound, drew a javelin
- from his girdle, and, leaning his right foot upon the edge of the table,
- hurled it against Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- The javelin whistled among the cups, and piercing the Lybian’s arm,
- pinned it so firmly to the cloth, that the shaft quivered in the air.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho quickly plucked it out; but he was weaponless and naked; at last he
- lifted the over-laden table with both arms, and flung it against Narr’
- Havas into the very centre of the crowd that rushed between them. The
- soldiers and Numidians pressed together so closely that they were unable
- to draw their swords. Matho advanced dealing great blows with his head.
- When he raised it, Narr’ Havas had disappeared. He sought for him
- with his eyes. Salammbô also was gone.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then directing his looks to the palace he perceived the red door with the
- black cross closing far above, and he darted away.
- </p>
- <p>
- They saw him run between the prows of the galleys, and then reappear along
- the three staircases until he reached the red door against which he dashed
- his whole body. Panting, he leaned against the wall to keep himself from
- falling.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a man had followed him, and through the darkness, for the lights of
- the feast were hidden by the corner of the palace, he recognised Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Begone!” said he.
- </p>
- <p>
- The slave without replying began to tear his tunic with his teeth; then
- kneeling beside Matho he tenderly took his arm, and felt it in the shadow
- to discover the wound.
- </p>
- <p>
- By a ray of the moon which was then gliding between the clouds, Spendius
- perceived a gaping wound in the middle of the arm. He rolled the piece of
- stuff about it, but the other said irritably, “Leave me! leave me!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Oh no!” replied the slave. “You released me from the
- ergastulum. I am yours! you are my master! command me!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho walked round the terrace brushing against the walls. He strained his
- ears at every step, glancing down into the silent apartments through the
- spaces between the gilded reeds. At last he stopped with a look of
- despair.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Listen!” said the slave to him. “Oh! do not despise me
- for my feebleness! I have lived in the palace. I can wind like a viper
- through the walls. Come! in the Ancestor’s Chamber there is an ingot
- of gold beneath every flagstone; an underground path leads to their tombs.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Well! what matters it?” said Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius was silent.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were on the terrace. A huge mass of shadow stretched before them,
- appearing as if it contained vague accumulations, like the gigantic
- billows of a black and petrified ocean.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a luminous bar rose towards the East; far below, on the left, the
- canals of Megara were beginning to stripe the verdure of the gardens with
- their windings of white. The conical roofs of the heptagonal temples, the
- staircases, terraces, and ramparts were being carved by degrees upon the
- paleness of the dawn; and a girdle of white foam rocked around the
- Carthaginian peninsula, while the emerald sea appeared as if it were
- curdled in the freshness of the morning. Then as the rosy sky grew larger,
- the lofty houses, bending over the sloping soil, reared and massed
- themselves like a herd of black goats coming down from the mountains. The
- deserted streets lengthened; the palm-trees that topped the walls here and
- there were motionless; the brimming cisterns seemed like silver bucklers
- lost in the courts; the beacon on the promontory of Hermæum was beginning
- to grow pale. The horses of Eschmoun, on the very summit of the Acropolis
- in the cypress wood, feeling that the light was coming, placed their hoofs
- on the marble parapet, and neighed towards the sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- It appeared, and Spendius raised his arms with a cry.
- </p>
- <p>
- Everything stirred in a diffusion of red, for the god, as if he were
- rending himself, now poured full-rayed upon Carthage the golden rain of
- his veins. The beaks of the galleys sparkled, the roof of Khamon appeared
- to be all in flames, while far within the temples, whose doors were
- opening, glimmerings of light could be seen. Large chariots, arriving from
- the country, rolled their wheels over the flagstones in the streets.
- Dromedaries, baggage-laden, came down the ramps. Money-changers raised the
- pent-houses of their shops at the cross ways, storks took to flight, white
- sails fluttered. In the wood of Tanith might be heard the tabourines of
- the sacred courtesans, and the furnaces for baking the clay coffins were
- beginning to smoke on the Mappalian point.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius leaned over the terrace; his teeth chattered and he repeated:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! yes—yes—master! I understand why you scorned the
- pillage of the house just now.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho was as if he had just been awaked by the hissing of his voice, and
- did not seem to understand. Spendius resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! what riches! and the men who possess them have not even the
- steel to defend them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then, pointing with his right arm outstretched to some of the populace who
- were crawling on the sand outside the mole to look for gold dust:
- </p>
- <p>
- “See!” he said to him, “the Republic is like these
- wretches: bending on the brink of the ocean, she buries her greedy arms in
- every shore, and the noise of the billows so fills her ear that she cannot
- hear behind her the tread of a master’s heel!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He drew Matho to quite the other end of the terrace, and showed him the
- garden, wherein the soldiers’ swords, hanging on the trees, were
- like mirrors in the sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- “But here there are strong men whose hatred is roused! and nothing
- binds them to Carthage, neither families, oaths nor gods!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho remained leaning against the wall; Spendius came close, and
- continued in a low voice:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Do you understand me, soldier? We should walk purple-clad like
- satraps. We should bathe in perfumes; and I should in turn have slaves!
- Are you not weary of sleeping on hard ground, of drinking the vinegar of
- the camps, and of continually hearing the trumpet? But you will rest
- later, will you not? When they pull off your cuirass to cast your corpse
- to the vultures! or perhaps blind, lame, and weak you will go, leaning on
- a stick, from door to door to tell of your youth to pickle-sellers and
- little children. Remember all the injustice of your chiefs, the campings
- in the snow, the marchings in the sun, the tyrannies of discipline, and
- the everlasting menace of the cross! And after all this misery they have
- given you a necklace of honour, as they hang a girdle of bells round the
- breast of an ass to deafen it on its journey, and prevent it from feeling
- fatigue. A man like you, braver than Pyrrhus! If only you had wished it!
- Ah! how happy will you be in large cool halls, with the sound of lyres,
- lying on flowers, with women and buffoons! Do not tell me that the
- enterprise is impossible. Have not the Mercenaries already possessed
- Rhegium and other fortified places in Italy? Who is to prevent you?
- Hamilcar is away; the people execrate the rich; Gisco can do nothing with
- the cowards who surround him. Command them! Carthage is ours; let us fall
- upon it!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No!” said Matho, “the curse of Moloch weighs upon me. I
- felt it in her eyes, and just now I saw a black ram retreating in a
- temple.” Looking around him he added: “But where is she?”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Spendius understood that a great disquiet possessed him, and did not
- venture to speak again.
- </p>
- <p>
- The trees behind them were still smoking; half-burned carcases of apes
- dropped from their blackened boughs from time to time into the midst of
- the dishes. Drunken soldiers snored open-mouthed by the side of the
- corpses, and those who were not asleep lowered their heads dazzled by the
- light of day. The trampled soil was hidden beneath splashes of red. The
- elephants poised their bleeding trunks between the stakes of their pens.
- In the open granaries might be seen sacks of spilled wheat, below the gate
- was a thick line of chariots which had been heaped up by the Barbarians,
- and the peacocks perched in the cedars were spreading their tails and
- beginning to utter their cry.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho’s immobility, however, astonished Spendius; he was even paler
- than he had recently been, and he was following something on the horizon
- with fixed eyeballs, and with both fists resting on the edge of the
- terrace. Spendius crouched down, and so at last discovered at what he was
- gazing. In the distance a golden speck was turning in the dust on the road
- to Utica; it was the nave of a chariot drawn by two mules; a slave was
- running at the end of the pole, and holding them by the bridle. Two women
- were seated in the chariot. The manes of the animals were puffed between
- the ears after the Persian fashion, beneath a network of blue pearls.
- Spendius recognised them, and restrained a cry.
- </p>
- <p>
- A large veil floated behind in the wind.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER II
- </h2>
- <h3>
- AT SICCA
- </h3>
- <p>
- Two days afterwards the Mercenaries left Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they should
- go into camp at Sicca, and they had been told with all sorts of caresses:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are the saviours of Carthage! But you would starve it if you
- remained there; it would become insolvent. Withdraw! The Republic will be
- grateful to you later for all this condescension. We are going to levy
- taxes immediately; your pay shall be in full, and galleys shall be
- equipped to take you back to your native lands.”
- </p>
- <p>
- They did not know how to reply to all this talk. These men, accustomed as
- they were to war, were wearied by residence in a town; there was
- difficulty in convincing them, and the people mounted the walls to see
- them go away.
- </p>
- <p>
- They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, pell-mell,
- archers with hoplites, captains with soldiers, Lusitanians with Greeks.
- They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy cothurni on the paving
- stones. Their armour was dented by the catapult, and their faces blackened
- by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse cries issued from their thick beards,
- their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the pommels of their swords, and
- through the holes in the brass might be seen their naked limbs, as
- frightful as engines of war. sarissæ, axes, spears, felt caps and bronze
- helmets, all swung together with a single motion. They filled the street
- thickly enough to have made the walls crack, and the long mass of armed
- soldiers overflowed between the lofty bitumen-smeared houses six storys
- high. Behind their gratings of iron or reed the women, with veiled heads,
- silently watched the Barbarians pass.
- </p>
- <p>
- The terraces, fortifications, and walls were hidden beneath the crowd of
- Carthaginians, who were dressed in garments of black. The sailors’
- tunics showed like drops of blood among the dark multitude, and nearly
- naked children, whose skin shone beneath their copper bracelets,
- gesticulated in the foliage of the columns, or amid the branches of a palm
- tree. Some of the Ancients were posted on the platform of the towers, and
- people did not know why a personage with a long beard stood thus in a
- dreamy attitude here and there. He appeared in the distance against the
- background of the sky, vague as a phantom and motionless as stone.
- </p>
- <p>
- All, however, were oppressed with the same anxiety; it was feared that the
- Barbarians, seeing themselves so strong, might take a fancy to stay. But
- they were leaving with so much good faith that the Carthaginians grew bold
- and mingled with the soldiers. They overwhelmed them with protestations
- and embraces. Some with exaggerated politeness and audacious hypocrisy
- even sought to induce them not to leave the city. They threw perfumes,
- flowers, and pieces of silver to them. They gave them amulets to avert
- sickness; but they had spit upon them three times to attract death, or had
- enclosed jackal’s hair within them to put cowardice into their
- hearts. Aloud, they invoked Melkarth’s favour, and in a whisper, his
- curse.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then came the mob of baggage, beasts of burden, and stragglers. The sick
- groaned on the backs of dromedaries, while others limped along leaning on
- broken pikes. The drunkards carried leathern bottles, and the greedy
- quarters of meat, cakes, fruits, butter wrapped in fig leaves, and snow in
- linen bags. Some were to be seen with parasols in their hands, and parrots
- on their shoulders. They had mastiffs, gazelles, and panthers following
- behind them. Women of Libyan race, mounted on asses, inveighed against the
- Negresses who had forsaken the lupanaria of Malqua for the soldiers; many
- of them were suckling children suspended on their bosoms by leathern
- thongs. The mules were goaded out at the point of the sword, their backs
- bending beneath the load of tents, while there were numbers of serving-men
- and water-carriers, emaciated, jaundiced with fever, and filthy with
- vermin, the scum of the Carthaginian populace, who had attached themselves
- to the Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- When they had passed, the gates were shut behind them, but the people did
- not descend from the walls. The army soon spread over the breadth of the
- isthmus.
- </p>
- <p>
- It parted into unequal masses. Then the lances appeared like tall blades
- of grass, and finally all was lost in a train of dust; those of the
- soldiers who looked back towards Carthage could now only see its long
- walls with their vacant battlements cut out against the edge of the sky.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Barbarians heard a great shout. They thought that some from among
- them (for they did not know their own number) had remained in the town,
- and were amusing themselves by pillaging a temple. They laughed a great
- deal at the idea of this, and then continued their journey.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were rejoiced to find themselves, as in former days, marching all
- together in the open country, and some of the Greeks sang the old song of
- the Mamertines:
- </p>
- <p>
- “With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of the
- house! The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and Great King.”
- </p>
- <p>
- They shouted, they leaped, the merriest began to tell stories; the time of
- their miseries was past. As they arrived at Tunis, some of them remarked
- that a troop of Balearic slingers was missing. They were doubtless not far
- off; and no further heed was paid to them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some went to lodge in the houses, others camped at the foot of the walls,
- and the townspeople came out to chat with the soldiers.
- </p>
- <p>
- During the whole night fires were seen burning on the horizon in the
- direction of Carthage; the light stretched like giant torches across the
- motionless lake. No one in the army could tell what festival was being
- celebrated.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the following day the Barbarian’s passed through a region that
- was covered with cultivation. The domains of the patricians succeeded one
- another along the border of the route; channels of water flowed through
- woods of palm; there were long, green lines of olive-trees; rose-coloured
- vapours floated in the gorges of the hills, while blue mountains reared
- themselves behind. A warm wind was blowing. Chameleons were crawling on
- the broad leaves of the cactus.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians slackened their speed.
- </p>
- <p>
- They marched on in isolated detachments, or lagged behind one another at
- long intervals. They ate grapes along the margin of the vines. They lay on
- the grass and gazed with stupefaction upon the large, artificially twisted
- horns of the oxen, the sheep clothed with skins to protect their wool, the
- furrows crossing one another so as to form lozenges, and the ploughshares
- like ships’ anchors, with the pomegranate trees that were watered
- with silphium. Such wealth of the soil and such inventions of wisdom
- dazzled them.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the evening they stretched themselves on the tents without unfolding
- them; and thought with regret of Hamilcar’s feast, as they fell
- asleep with their faces towards the stars.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the middle of the following day they halted on the bank of a river,
- amid clumps of rose-bays. Then they quickly threw aside lances, bucklers
- and belts. They bathed with shouts, and drew water in their helmets, while
- others drank lying flat on their stomachs, and all in the midst of the
- beasts of burden whose baggage was slipping from them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius, who was seated on a dromedary stolen in Hamilcar’s parks,
- perceived Matho at a distance, with his arm hanging against his breast,
- his head bare, and his face bent down, giving his mule drink, and watching
- the water flow. Spendius immediately ran through the crowd calling him,
- “Master! master!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho gave him but scant thanks for his blessings, but Spendius paid no
- heed to this, and began to march behind him, from time to time turning
- restless glances in the direction of Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was the son of a Greek rhetor and a Campanian prostitute. He had at
- first grown rich by dealing in women; then, ruined by a shipwreck, he had
- made war against the Romans with the herdsmen of Samnium. He had been
- taken and had escaped; he had been retaken, and had worked in the
- quarries, panted in the vapour-baths, shrieked under torture, passed
- through the hands of many masters, and experienced every frenzy. At last,
- one day, in despair, he had flung himself into the sea from the top of a
- trireme where he was working at the oar. Some of Hamilcar’s sailors
- had picked him up when at the point of death, and had brought him to the
- ergastulum of Megara, at Carthage. But, as fugitives were to be given back
- to the Romans, he had taken advantage of the confusion to fly with the
- soldiers.
- </p>
- <p>
- During the whole of the march he remained near Matho; he brought him food,
- assisted him to dismount, and spread a carpet in the evening beneath his
- head. Matho at last was touched by these attentions, and by degrees
- unlocked his lips.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had been born in the gulf of Syrtis. His father had taken him on a
- pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon. Then he had hunted elephants in the
- forests of the Garamantes. Afterwards he had entered the service of
- Carthage. He had been appointed tetrarch at the capture of Drepanum. The
- Republic owed him four horses, twenty-three medimni of wheat, and a winter’s
- pay. He feared the gods, and wished to die in his native land.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius spoke to him of his travels, and of the peoples and temples that
- he had visited. He knew many things: he could make sandals, boar-spears
- and nets; he could tame wild beasts and could cook fish.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sometimes he would interrupt himself, and utter a hoarse cry from the
- depths of his throat; Matho’s mule would quicken his pace, and
- others would hasten after them, and then Spendius would begin again though
- still torn with agony. This subsided at last on the evening of the fourth
- day.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were marching side by side to the right of the army on the side of a
- hill; below them stretched the plain lost in the vapours of the night. The
- lines of soldiers also were defiling below, making undulations in the
- shade. From time to time these passed over eminences lit up by the moon;
- then stars would tremble on the points of the pikes, the helmets would
- glimmer for an instant, all would disappear, and others would come on
- continually. Startled flocks bleated in the distance, and a something of
- infinite sweetness seemed to sink upon the earth.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius, with his head thrown back and his eyes half-closed, inhaled the
- freshness of the wind with great sighs; he spread out his arms, moving his
- fingers that he might the better feel the cares that streamed over his
- body. Hopes of vengeance came back to him and transported him. He pressed
- his hand upon his mouth to check his sobs, and half-swooning with
- intoxication, let go the halter of his dromedary, which was proceeding
- with long, regular steps. Matho had relapsed into his former melancholy;
- his legs hung down to the ground, and the grass made a continuous rustling
- as it beat against his cothurni.
- </p>
- <p>
- The journey, however, spread itself out without ever coming to an end. At
- the extremity of a plain they would always reach a round-shaped plateau;
- then they would descend again into a valley, and the mountains which
- seemed to block up the horizon would, in proportion as they were
- approached, glide as it were from their positions. From time to time a
- river would appear amid the verdure of tamarisks to lose itself at the
- turning of the hills. Sometimes a huge rock would tower aloft like the
- prow of a vessel or the pedestal of some vanished colossus.
- </p>
- <p>
- At regular intervals they met with little quadrangular temples, which
- served as stations for the pilgrims who repaired to Sicca. They were
- closed like tombs. The Libyans struck great blows upon the doors to have
- them opened. But no one inside responded.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the cultivation became more rare. They suddenly entered upon belts of
- sand bristling with thorny thickets. Flocks of sheep were browsing among
- the stones; a woman with a blue fleece about her waist was watching them.
- She fled screaming when she saw the soldiers’ pikes among the rocks.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were marching through a kind of large passage bordered by two chains
- of reddish coloured hillocks, when their nostrils were greeted with a
- nauseous odour, and they thought that they could see something
- extraordinary on the top of a carob tree: a lion’s head reared
- itself above the leaves.
- </p>
- <p>
- They ran thither. It was a lion with his four limbs fastened to a cross
- like a criminal. His huge muzzle fell upon his breast, and his two
- fore-paws, half-hidden beneath the abundance of his mane, were spread out
- wide like the wings of a bird. His ribs stood severally out beneath his
- distended skin; his hind legs, which were nailed against each other, were
- raised somewhat, and the black blood, flowing through his hair, had
- collected in stalactites at the end of his tail, which hung down perfectly
- straight along the cross. The soldiers made merry around; they called him
- consul, and Roman citizen, and threw pebbles into his eyes to drive away
- the gnats.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a hundred paces further on they saw two more, and then there suddenly
- appeared a long file of crosses bearing lions. Some had been so long dead
- that nothing was left against the wood but the remains of their skeletons;
- others which were half eaten away had their jaws twisted into horrible
- grimaces; there were some enormous ones; the shafts of the crosses bent
- beneath them, and they swayed in the wind, while bands of crows wheeled
- ceaselessly in the air above their heads. It was thus that the
- Carthaginian peasants avenged themselves when they captured a wild beast;
- they hoped to terrify the others by such an example. The Barbarians ceased
- their laughter, and were long lost in amazement. “What people is
- this,” they thought, “that amuses itself by crucifying lions!”
- </p>
- <p>
- They were, besides, especially the men of the North, vaguely uneasy,
- troubled, and already sick. They tore their hands with the darts of the
- aloes; great mosquitoes buzzed in their ears, and dysentry was breaking
- out in the army. They were weary at not yet seeing Sicca. They were afraid
- of losing themselves and of reaching the desert, the country of sands and
- terrors. Many even were unwilling to advance further. Others started back
- to Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last on the seventh day, after following the base of a mountain for a
- long time, they turned abruptly to the right, and there then appeared a
- line of walls resting on white rocks and blending with them. Suddenly the
- entire city rose; blue, yellow, and white veils moved on the walls in the
- redness of the evening. These were the priestesses of Tanith, who had
- hastened hither to receive the men. They stood ranged along the rampart,
- striking tabourines, playing lyres, and shaking crotala, while the rays of
- the sun, setting behind them in the mountains of Numidia, shot between the
- strings of their lyres over which their naked arms were stretched. At
- intervals their instruments would become suddenly still, and a cry would
- break forth strident, precipitate, frenzied, continuous, a sort of barking
- which they made by striking both corners of the mouth with the tongue.
- Others, more motionless than the Sphynx, rested on their elbows with their
- chins on their hands, and darted their great black eyes upon the army as
- it ascended.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although Sicca was a sacred town it could not hold such a multitude; the
- temple alone, with its appurtenances, occupied half of it. Accordingly the
- Barbarians established themselves at their ease on the plain; those who
- were disciplined in regular troops, and the rest according to nationality
- or their own fancy.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greeks ranged their tents of skin in parallel lines; the Iberians
- placed their canvas pavilions in a circle; the Gauls made themselves huts
- of planks; the Libyans cabins of dry stones, while the Negroes with their
- nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in. Many, not knowing
- where to go, wandered about among the baggage, and at nightfall lay down
- in their ragged mantles on the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- The plain, which was wholly bounded by mountains, expanded around them.
- Here and there a palm tree leaned over a sand hill, and pines and oaks
- flecked the sides of the precipices: sometimes the rain of a storm would
- hang from the sky like a long scarf, while the country everywhere was
- still covered with azure and serenity; then a warm wind would drive before
- it tornadoes of dust, and a stream would descend in cascades from the
- heights of Sicca, where, with its roofing of gold on its columns of brass,
- rose the temple of the Carthaginian Venus, the mistress of the land. She
- seemed to fill it with her soul. In such convulsions of the soil, such
- alternations of temperature, and such plays of light would she manifest
- the extravagance of her might with the beauty of her eternal smile. The
- mountains at their summits were crescent-shaped; others were like women’s
- bosoms presenting their swelling breasts, and the Barbarians felt a
- heaviness that was full of delight weighing down their fatigues.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius had bought a slave with the money brought him by his dromedary.
- The whole day long he lay asleep stretched before Matho’s tent.
- Often he would awake, thinking in his dreams that he heard the whistling
- of the thongs; with a smile he would pass his hands over the scars on his
- legs at the place where the fetters had long been worn, and then he would
- fall asleep again.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho accepted his companionship, and when he went out Spendius would
- escort him like a lictor with a long sword on his thigh; or perhaps Matho
- would rest his arm carelessly on the other’s shoulder, for Spendius
- was small.
- </p>
- <p>
- One evening when they were passing together through the streets in the
- camp they perceived some men covered with white cloaks; among them was
- Narr’ Havas, the prince of the Numidians. Matho started.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Your sword!” he cried; “I will kill him!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Not yet!” said Spendius, restraining him. Narr’ Havas
- was already advancing towards him.
- </p>
- <p>
- He kissed both thumbs in token of alliance, showing nothing of the anger
- which he had experienced at the drunkenness of the feast; then he spoke at
- length against Carthage, but did not say what brought him among the
- Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Was it to betray them, or else the Republic?” Spendius asked
- himself; and as he expected to profit by every disorder, he felt grateful
- to Narr’ Havas for the future perfidies of which he suspected him.
- </p>
- <p>
- The chief of the Numidians remained amongst the Mercenaries. He appeared
- desirous of attaching Matho to himself. He sent him fat goats, gold dust,
- and ostrich feathers. The Libyan, who was amazed at such caresses, was in
- doubt whether to respond to them or to become exasperated at them. But
- Spendius pacified him, and Matho allowed himself to be ruled by the slave,
- remaining ever irresolute and in an unconquerable torpor, like those who
- have once taken a draught of which they are to die.
- </p>
- <p>
- One morning when all three went out lion-hunting, Narr’ Havas
- concealed a dagger in his cloak. Spendius kept continually behind him, and
- when they returned the dagger had not been drawn.
- </p>
- <p>
- Another time Narr’ Havas took them a long way off, as far as the
- boundaries of his kingdom. They came to a narrow gorge, and Narr’
- Havas smiled as he declared that he had forgotten the way. Spendius found
- it again.
- </p>
- <p>
- But most frequently Matho would go off at sunrise, as melancholy as an
- augur, to wander about the country. He would stretch himself on the sand,
- and remain there motionless until the evening.
- </p>
- <p>
- He consulted all the soothsayers in the army one after the other,—those
- who watch the trail of serpents, those who read the stars, and those who
- breathe upon the ashes of the dead. He swallowed galbanum, seseli, and
- viper’s venom which freezes the heart; Negro women, singing
- barbarous words in the moonlight, pricked the skin of his forehead with
- golden stylets; he loaded himself with necklaces and charms; he invoked in
- turn Baal-Khamon, Moloch, the seven Kabiri, Tanith, and the Venus of the
- Greeks. He engraved a name upon a copper plate, and buried it in the sand
- at the threshold of his tent. Spendius used to hear him groaning and
- talking to himself.
- </p>
- <p>
- One night he went in.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, as naked as a corpse, was lying on a lion’s skin flat on his
- stomach, with his face in both his hands; a hanging lamp lit up his
- armour, which was hooked on to the tent-pole above his head.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are suffering?” said the slave to him. “What is the
- matter with you? Answer me?” And he shook him by the shoulder
- calling him several times, “Master! master!”
- </p>
- <p>
- At last Matho lifted large troubled eyes towards him.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Listen!” he said in a low voice, and with a finger on his
- lips. “It is the wrath of the Gods! Hamilcar’s daughter
- pursues me! I am afraid of her, Spendius!” He pressed himself close
- against his breast like a child terrified by a phantom. “Speak to
- me! I am sick! I want to get well! I have tried everything! But you, you
- perhaps know some stronger gods, or some resistless invocation?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “For what purpose?” asked Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Striking his head with both his fists, he replied:
- </p>
- <p>
- “To rid me of her!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then speaking to himself with long pauses he said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “I am no doubt the victim of some holocaust which she has promised
- to the gods?—She holds me fast by a chain which people cannot see.
- If I walk, it is she that is advancing; when I stop, she is resting! Her
- eyes burn me, I hear her voice. She encompasses me, she penetrates me. It
- seems to me that she has become my soul!
- </p>
- <p>
- “And yet between us there are, as it were, the invisible billows of
- a boundless ocean! She is far away and quite inaccessible! The splendour
- of her beauty forms a cloud of light around her, and at times I think that
- I have never seen her—that she does not exist—and that it is
- all a dream!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho wept thus in the darkness; the Barbarians were sleeping. Spendius,
- as he looked at him, recalled the young men who once used to entreat him
- with golden cases in their hands, when he led his herd of courtesans
- through the towns; a feeling of pity moved him, and he said—
- </p>
- <p>
- “Be strong, my master! Summon your will, and beseech the gods no
- more, for they turn not aside at the cries of men! Weeping like a coward!
- And you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much suffering?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Am I a child?” said Matho. “Do you think that I am
- moved by their faces and songs? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our
- stables. I have embraced them amid assaults, beneath falling ceilings, and
- while the catapult was still vibrating!—But she, Spendius, she!—”
- </p>
- <p>
- The slave interrupted him:
- </p>
- <p>
- “If she were not Hanno’s daughter—”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No!” cried Matho. “She has nothing in common with the
- daughters of other men! Have you seen her great eyes beneath her great
- eyebrows, like suns beneath triumphal arches? Think: when she appeared all
- the torches grew pale. Her naked breast shone here and there through the
- diamonds of her necklace; behind her you perceived as it were the odour of
- a temple, and her whole being emitted something that was sweeter than wine
- and more terrible than death. She walked, however, and then she stopped.”
- </p>
- <p>
- He remained gaping with his head cast down and his eyeballs fixed.
- </p>
- <p>
- “But I want her! I need her! I am dying for her! I am transported
- with frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms, and yet I
- hate her, Spendius! I should like to beat her! What is to be done? I have
- a mind to sell myself and become her slave! <i>You</i> have been that! You
- were able to get sight of her; speak to me of her! Every night she ascends
- to the terrace of her palace, does she not? Ah! the stones must quiver
- beneath her sandals, and the stars bend down to see her!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He fell back in a perfect frenzy, with a rattling in his throat like a
- wounded bull.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Matho sang: “He pursued into the forest the female monster,
- whose tail undulated over the dead leaves like a silver brook.” And
- with lingering tones he imitated Salammbô’s voice, while his
- outspread hands were held like two light hands on the strings of a lyre.
- </p>
- <p>
- To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he repeated the same words;
- their nights were spent in these wailings and exhortations.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine. After his fits of drunkenness
- he was more melancholy still. He tried to divert himself at huckle-bones,
- and lost the gold plates of his necklace one by one. He had himself taken
- to the servants of the Goddess; but he came down the hill sobbing, like
- one returning from a funeral.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius, on the contrary, became more bold and gay. He was to be seen in
- the leafy taverns discoursing in the midst of the soldiers. He mended old
- cuirasses. He juggled with daggers. He went and gathered herbs in the
- fields for the sick. He was facetious, dexterous, full of invention and
- talk; the Barbarians grew accustomed to his services, and he came to be
- loved by them.
- </p>
- <p>
- However, they were awaiting an ambassador from Carthage to bring them
- mules laden with baskets of gold; and ever beginning the same calculation
- over again, they would trace figures with their fingers in the sand. Every
- one was arranging his life beforehand; they would have concubines, slaves,
- lands; others intended to bury their treasure, or risk it on a vessel. But
- their tempers were provoked by want of employment; there were constant
- disputes between horse-soldiers and foot-soldiers, Barbarians and Greeks,
- while there was a never-ending din of shrill female voices.
- </p>
- <p>
- Every day men came flocking in nearly naked, and with grass on their heads
- to protect them from the sun; they were the debtors of the rich
- Carthaginians and had been forced to till the lands of the latter, but had
- escaped. Libyans came pouring in with peasants ruined by the taxes,
- outlaws, and malefactors. Then the horde of traders, all the dealers in
- wine and oil, who were furious at not being paid, laid the blame upon the
- Republic. Spendius declaimed against it. Soon the provisions ran low; and
- there was talk of advancing in a body upon Carthage, and calling in the
- Romans.
- </p>
- <p>
- One evening, at supper-time, dull cracked sounds were heard approaching,
- and something red appeared in the distance among the undulations of the
- soil.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a large purple litter, adorned with ostrich feathers at the
- corners. Chains of crystal and garlands of pearls beat against the closed
- hangings. It was followed by camels sounding the great bells that hung at
- their breasts, and having around them horsemen clad from shoulder to heel
- in armour of golden scales.
- </p>
- <p>
- They halted three hundred paces from the camp to take their round
- bucklers, broad swords, and Boeotian helmets out of the cases which they
- carried behind their saddles. Some remained with the camels, while the
- others resumed their march. At last the ensigns of the Republic appeared,
- that is to say, staves of blue wood terminated in horses’ heads or
- fir cones. The Barbarians all rose with applause; the women rushed towards
- the guards of the Legion and kissed their feet.
- </p>
- <p>
- The litter advanced on the shoulders of twelve Negroes who walked in step
- with short, rapid strides; they went at random to right or left, being
- embarrassed by the tent-ropes, the animals that were straying about, or
- the tripods where food was being cooked. Sometimes a fat hand, laden with
- rings, would partially open the litter, and a hoarse voice would utter
- loud reproaches; then the bearers would stop and take a different
- direction through the camp.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the purple curtains were raised, and a human head, impassible and
- bloated, was seen resting on a large pillow; the eyebrows, which were like
- arches of ebony, met each other at the points; golden dust sparkled in the
- frizzled hair, and the face was so wan that it looked as if it had been
- powdered with marble raspings. The rest of the body was concealed beneath
- the fleeces which filled the litter.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, he whose
- slackness had assisted to lose the battle of the Ægatian islands; and as
- to his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans, even if he did behave
- with clemency, thought the Barbarians, it was owing to cupidity, for he
- had sold all the captives on his own account, although he had reported
- their deaths to the Republic.
- </p>
- <p>
- After seeking for some time a convenient place from which to harangue the
- soldiers, he made a sign; the litter stopped, and Hanno, supported by two
- slaves, put his tottering feet to the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- He wore boots of black felt strewn with silver moons. His legs were
- swathed in bands like those wrapped about a mummy, and the flesh crept
- through the crossings of the linen; his stomach came out beyond the
- scarlet jacket which covered his thighs; the folds of his neck fell down
- to his breast like the dewlaps of an ox; his tunic, which was painted with
- flowers, was bursting at the arm-pits; he wore a scarf, a girdle, and an
- ample black cloak with laced double-sleeves. But the abundance of his
- garments, his great necklace of blue stones, his golden clasps, and heavy
- earrings only rendered his deformity still more hideous. He might have
- been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in a block of stone; for a pale
- leprosy, which was spread over his whole body, gave him the appearance of
- an inert thing. His nose, however, which was hooked like a vulture’s
- beak, was violently dilated to breathe in the air, and his little eyes,
- with their gummed lashes, shone with a hard and metallic lustre. He held a
- spatula of aloe-wood in his hand wherewith to scratch his skin.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided, and
- Hanno commenced to speak.
- </p>
- <p>
- He began with an eulogy of the gods and the Republic; the Barbarians ought
- to congratulate themselves on having served it. But they must show
- themselves more reasonable; times were hard, “and if a master has
- only three olives, is it not right that he should keep two for himself?”
- </p>
- <p>
- The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and apologues,
- nodding his head the while to solicit some approval.
- </p>
- <p>
- He spoke in Punic, and those surrounding him (the most alert, who had
- hastened thither without their arms), were Campanians, Gauls, and Greeks,
- so that no one in the crowd understood him. Hanno, perceiving this,
- stopped and reflected, swaying himself heavily from one leg to the other.
- </p>
- <p>
- It occurred to him to call the captains together; then his heralds shouted
- the order in Greek, the language which, from the time of Xanthippus, had
- been used for commands in the Carthaginian armies.
- </p>
- <p>
- The guards dispersed the mob of soldiers with strokes of the whip; and the
- captains of the Spartan phalanxes and the chiefs of the Barbarian cohorts
- soon arrived with the insignia of their rank, and in the armour of their
- nation. Night had fallen, a great tumult was spreading throughout the
- plain; fires were burning here and there; and the soldiers kept going from
- one to another asking what the matter was, and why the Suffet did not
- distribute the money?
- </p>
- <p>
- He was setting the infinite burdens of the Republic before the captains.
- Her treasury was empty. The tribute to Rome was crushing her. “We
- are quite at a loss what to do! She is much to be pitied!”
- </p>
- <p>
- From time to time he would rub his limbs with his aloe-wood spatula, or
- perhaps he would break off to drink a ptisan made of the ashes of a weasel
- and asparagus boiled in vinegar from a silver cup handed to him by a
- slave; then he would wipe his lips with a scarlet napkin and resume:
- </p>
- <p>
- “What used to be worth a shekel of silver is now worth three shekels
- of gold, while the cultivated lands which were abandoned during the war
- bring in nothing! Our purpura fisheries are nearly gone, and even pearls
- are becoming exhorbitant; we have scarcely unguents enough for the service
- of the gods! As for the things of the table, I shall say nothing about
- them; it is a calamity! For want of galleys we are without spices, and it
- is a matter of great difficulty to procure silphium on account of the
- rebellions on the Cyrenian frontier. Sicily, where so many slaves used to
- be had, is now closed to us! Only yesterday I gave more money for a bather
- and four scullions than I used at one time to give for a pair of
- elephants!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He unrolled a long piece of papyrus; and, without omitting a single
- figure, read all the expenses that the government had incurred; so much
- for repairing the temples, for paving the streets, for the construction of
- vessels, for the coral-fisheries, for the enlargement of the Syssitia, and
- for engines in the mines in the country of the Cantabrians.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the captains understood Punic as little as the soldiers, although the
- Mercenaries saluted one another in that language. It was usual to place a
- few Carthaginian officers in the Barbarian armies to act as interpreters;
- after the war they had concealed themselves through fear of vengeance, and
- Hanno had not thought of taking them with him; his hollow voice, too, was
- lost in the wind.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greeks, girthed in their iron waist-belts, strained their ears as they
- strove to guess at his words, while the mountaineers, covered with furs
- like bears, looked at him with distrust, or yawned as they leaned on their
- brass-nailed clubs. The heedless Gauls sneered as they shook their lofty
- heads of hair, and the men of the desert listened motionless, cowled in
- their garments of grey wool; others kept coming up behind; the guards,
- crushed by the mob, staggered on their horses; the Negroes held out
- burning fir branches at arm’s length; and the big Carthaginian,
- mounted on a grassy hillock, continued his harangue.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians, however, were growing impatient; murmuring arose, and
- every one apostrophized him. Hanno gesticulated with his spatula; and
- those who wished the others to be quiet shouted still more loudly, thereby
- adding to the din.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly a man of mean appearance bounded to Hanno’s feet, snatched
- up a herald’s trumpet, blew it, and Spendius (for it was he)
- announced that he was going to say something of importance. At this
- declaration, which was rapidly uttered in five different languages, Greek,
- Latin, Gallic, Libyan and Balearic, the captains, half laughing and half
- surprised, replied: “Speak! Speak!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius hesitated; he trembled; at last, addressing the Libyans who were
- the most numerous, he said to them:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You have all heard this man’s horrible threats!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno made no exclamation, therefore he did not understand Libyan; and, to
- carry on the experiment, Spendius repeated the same phrase in the other
- Barbarian dialects.
- </p>
- <p>
- They looked at one another in astonishment; then, as by a tacit agreement,
- and believing perhaps that they had understood, they bent their heads in
- token of assent.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Spendius began in vehement tones:
- </p>
- <p>
- “He said first that all the Gods of the other nations were but
- dreams besides the Gods of Carthage! He called you cowards, thieves,
- liars, dogs, and the sons of dogs! But for you (he said that!) the
- Republic would not be forced to pay excessive tribute to the Romans; and
- through your excesses you have drained it of perfumes, aromatics, slaves,
- and silphium, for you are in league with the nomads on the Cyrenian
- frontier! But the guilty shall be punished! He read the enumeration of
- their torments; they shall be made to work at the paving of the streets,
- at the equipment of the vessels, at the adornment of the Syssitia, while
- the rest shall be sent to scrape the earth in the mines in the country of
- the Cantabrians.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius repeated the same statements to the Gauls, Greeks, Campanians and
- Balearians. The Mercenaries, recognising several of the proper names which
- had met their ears, were convinced that he was accurately reporting the
- Suffet’s speech. A few cried out to him, “You lie!” but
- their voices were drowned in the tumult of the rest; Spendius added:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horse-soldiers
- outside the camp? At a given signal they will hasten hither to slay you
- all.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians turned in that direction, and as the crowd was then
- scattering, there appeared in the midst of them, and advancing with the
- slowness of a phantom, a human being, bent, lean, entirely naked, and
- covered down to his flanks with long hair bristling with dried leaves,
- dust and thorns. About his loins and his knees he had wisps of straw and
- linen rags; his soft and earthy skin hung on his emaciated limbs like
- tatters on dried boughs; his hands trembled with a continuous quivering,
- and as he walked he leaned on a staff of olive-wood.
- </p>
- <p>
- He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches. His pale gums were
- displayed in a sort of idiotic titter; his large, scared eyes gazed upon
- the crowd of Barbarians around him.
- </p>
- <p>
- But uttering a cry of terror he threw himself behind them, shielding
- himself with their bodies. “There they are! There they are!”
- he stammered out, pointing to the Suffet’s guards, who were
- motionless in their glittering armour. Their horses, dazzled by the light
- of the torches which crackled in the darkness, were pawing the ground; the
- human spectre struggled and howled:
- </p>
- <p>
- “They have killed them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, some Balearians came up
- and recognised him; without answering them he repeated:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes, all killed, all! crushed like grapes! The fine young men! the
- slingers! my companions and yours!”
- </p>
- <p>
- They gave him wine to drink, and he wept; then he launched forth into
- speech.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius could scarcely repress his joy, as he explained the horrors
- related by Zarxas to the Greeks and Libyans; he could not believe them, so
- appropriately did they come in. The Balearians grew pale as they learned
- how their companions had perished.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a troop of three hundred slingers who had disembarked the evening
- before, and had on that day slept too late. When they reached the square
- of Khamon the Barbarians were gone, and they found themselves defenceless,
- their clay bullets having been put on the camels with the rest of the
- baggage. They were allowed to advance into the street of Satheb as far as
- the brass sheathed oaken gate; then the people with a single impulse had
- sprung upon them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Indeed, the soldiers remembered a great shout; Spendius, who was flying at
- the head of the columns, had not heard it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the corpses were placed in the arms of the Patæc gods that fringed
- the temple of Khamon. They were upbraided with all the crimes of the
- Mercenaries; their gluttony, their thefts, their impiety, their disdain,
- and the murder of the fishes in Salammbô’s garden. Their bodies were
- subjected to infamous mutilations; the priests burned their hair in order
- to torture their souls; they were hung up in pieces in the meat-shops;
- some even buried their teeth in them, and in the evening funeral-piles
- were kindled at the cross-ways to finish them.
- </p>
- <p>
- These were the flames that had gleamed from a distance across the lake.
- But some houses having taken fire, any dead or dying that remained were
- speedily thrown over the walls; Zarxas had remained among the reeds on the
- edge of the lake until the following day; then he had wandered about
- through the country, seeking for the army by the footprints in the dust.
- In the morning he hid himself in caves; in the evening he resumed his
- march with his bleeding wounds, famished, sick, living on roots and
- carrion; at last one day he perceived lances on the horizon, and he had
- followed them, for his reason was disturbed through his terrors and
- miseries.
- </p>
- <p>
- The indignation of the soldiers, restrained so long as he was speaking,
- broke forth like a tempest; they were going to massacre the guards
- together with the Suffet. A few interposed, saying that they ought to hear
- him and know at least whether they should be paid. Then they all cried:
- “Our money!” Hanno replied that he had brought it.
- </p>
- <p>
- They ran to the outposts, and the Suffet’s baggage arrived in the
- midst of the tents, pressed forward by the Barbarians. Without waiting for
- the slaves, they very quickly unfastened the baskets; in them they found
- hyacinth robes, sponges, scrapers, brushes, perfumes, and antimony pencils
- for painting the eyes—all belonging to the guards, who were rich men
- and accustomed to such refinements. Next they uncovered a large bronze tub
- on a camel: it belonged to the Suffet who had it for bathing in during his
- journey; for he had taken all manner of precautions, even going so far as
- to bring caged weasels from Hecatompylos, which were burnt alive to make
- his ptisan. But, as his malady gave him a great appetite, there were also
- many comestibles and many wines, pickle, meats and fishes preserved in
- honey, with little pots of Commagene, or melted goose-fat covered with
- snow and chopped straw. There was a considerable supply of it; the more
- they opened the baskets the more they found, and laughter arose like
- conflicting waves.
- </p>
- <p>
- As to the pay of the Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass
- baskets; there were even visible in one of them some of the leathern discs
- which the Republic used to economise its specie; and as the Barbarians
- appeared greatly surprised, Hanno told them that, their accounts being
- very difficult, the Ancients had not had leisure to examine them.
- Meanwhile they had sent them this.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then everything was in disorder and confusion: mules, serving men, litter,
- provisions, and baggage. The soldiers took the coin in the bags to stone
- Hanno. With great difficulty he was able to mount an ass; and he fled,
- clinging to its hair, howling, weeping, shaken, bruised, and calling down
- the curse of all the gods upon the army. His broad necklace of precious
- stones rebounded up to his ears. His cloak which was too long, and which
- trailed behind him, he kept on with his teeth, and from afar the
- Barbarians shouted at him, “Begone coward! pig! sink of Moloch!
- sweat your gold and your plague! quicker! quicker!” The routed
- escort galloped beside him.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the fury of the Barbarians did not abate. They remembered that several
- of them who had set out for Carthage had not returned; no doubt they had
- been killed. So much injustice exasperated them, and they began to pull up
- the stakes of their tents, to roll up their cloaks, and to bridle their
- horses; every one took his helmet and sword, and instantly all was ready.
- Those who had no arms rushed into the woods to cut staves.
- </p>
- <p>
- Day dawned; the people of Sicca were roused, and stirring in the streets.
- “They are going to Carthage,” said they, and the rumour of
- this soon spread through the country.
- </p>
- <p>
- From every path and every ravine men arose. Shepherds were seen running
- down from the mountains.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then, when the Barbarians had set out, Spendius circled the plain, riding
- on a Punic stallion, and attended by his slave, who led a third horse.
- </p>
- <p>
- A single tent remained. Spendius entered it.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Up, master! rise! we are departing!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “And where are you going?” asked Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- “To Carthage!” cried Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held at the door.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER III
- </h2>
- <h3>
- Salammbô
- </h3>
- <p>
- The moon was rising just above the waves, and on the town which was still
- wrapped in darkness there glittered white and luminous specks:—the
- pole of a chariot, a dangling rag of linen, the corner of a wall, or a
- golden necklace on the bosom of a god. The glass balls on the roofs of the
- temples beamed like great diamonds here and there. But ill-defined ruins,
- piles of black earth, and gardens formed deeper masses in the gloom, and
- below Malqua fishermen’s nets stretched from one house to another
- like gigantic bats spreading their wings. The grinding of the hydraulic
- wheels which conveyed water to the highest storys of the palaces, was no
- longer heard; and the camels, lying ostrich fashion on their stomachs,
- rested peacefully in the middle of the terraces. The porters were asleep
- in the streets on the thresholds of the houses; the shadows of the
- colossuses stretched across the deserted squares; occasionally in the
- distance the smoke of a still burning sacrifice would escape through the
- bronze tiling, and the heavy breeze would waft the odours of aromatics
- blended with the scent of the sea and the exhalation from the sun-heated
- walls. The motionless waves shone around Carthage, for the moon was
- spreading her light at once upon the mountain-circled gulf and upon the
- lake of Tunis, where flamingoes formed long rose-coloured lines amid the
- banks of sand, while further on beneath the catacombs the great salt
- lagoon shimmered like a piece of silver. The blue vault of heaven sank on
- the horizon in one direction into the dustiness of the plains, and in the
- other into the mists of the sea, and on the summit of the Acropolis, the
- pyramidal cypress trees, fringing the temple of Eschmoun, swayed murmuring
- like the regular waves that beat slowly along the mole beneath the
- ramparts.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô ascended to the terrace of her palace, supported by a female
- slave who carried an iron dish filled with live coals.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the middle of the terrace there was a small ivory bed covered with lynx
- skins, and cushions made with the feathers of the parrot, a fatidical
- animal consecrated to the gods; and at the four corners rose four long
- perfuming-pans filled with nard, incense, cinnamomum, and myrrh. The slave
- lit the perfumes. Salammbô looked at the polar star; she slowly saluted
- the four points of heaven, and knelt down on the ground in the azure dust
- which was strewn with golden stars in imitation of the firmament. Then
- with both elbows against her sides, her fore-arms straight and her hands
- open, she threw back her head beneath the rays of the moon, and said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “O Rabetna!—Baalet!—Tanith!” and her voice was
- lengthened in a plaintive fashion as if calling to some one. “Anaïtis!
- Astarte! Derceto! Astoreth! Mylitta! Athara! Elissa! Tiratha!—By the
- hidden symbols, by the resounding sistra,—by the furrows of the
- earth,—by the eternal silence and by the eternal fruitfulness,—mistress
- of the gloomy sea and of the azure shores, O Queen of the watery world,
- all hail!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She swayed her whole body twice or thrice, and then cast herself face
- downwards in the dust with both arms outstretched.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the slave nimbly raised her, for according to the rites someone must
- catch the suppliant at the moment of his prostration; this told him that
- the gods accepted him, and Salammbô’s nurse never failed in this
- pious duty.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some merchants from Darytian Gætulia had brought her to Carthage when
- quite young, and after her enfranchisement she would not forsake her old
- masters, as was shown by her right ear, which was pierced with a large
- hole. A petticoat of many-coloured stripes fitted closely on her hips, and
- fell to her ankles, where two tin rings clashed together. Her somewhat
- flat face was yellow like her tunic. Silver bodkins of great length formed
- a sun behind her head. She wore a coral button on the nostril, and she
- stood beside the bed more erect than a Hermes, and with her eyelids cast
- down.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô walked to the edge of the terrace; her eyes swept the horizon for
- an instant, and then were lowered upon the sleeping town, while the sigh
- that she heaved swelled her bosom, and gave an undulating movement to the
- whole length of the long white simar which hung without clasp or girdle
- about her. Her curved and painted sandals were hidden beneath a heap of
- emeralds, and a net of purple thread was filled with her disordered hair.
- </p>
- <p>
- But she raised her head to gaze upon the moon, and murmured, mingling her
- speech with fragments of hymns:
- </p>
- <p>
- “How lightly turnest thou, supported by the impalpable ether! It
- brightens about thee, and ’Tis the stir of thine agitation that
- distributes the winds and fruitful dews. According as thou dost wax and
- wane the eyes of cats and spots of panthers lengthen or grow short. Wives
- shriek thy name in the pangs of childbirth! Thou makest the shells to
- swell, the wine to bubble, and the corpse to putrefy! Thou formest the
- pearls at the bottom of the sea!
- </p>
- <p>
- “And every germ, O goddess! ferments in the dark depths of thy
- moisture.
- </p>
- <p>
- “When thou appearest, quietness is spread abroad upon the earth; the
- flowers close, the waves are soothed, wearied man stretches his breast
- toward thee, and the world with its oceans and mountains looks at itself
- in thy face as in a mirror. Thou art white, gentle, luminous, immaculate,
- helping, purifying, serene!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The crescent of the moon was then over the mountain of the Hot Springs, in
- the hollow formed by its two summits, on the other side of the gulf. Below
- it there was a little star, and all around it a pale circle. Salammbô went
- on:
- </p>
- <p>
- “But thou art a terrible mistress!—Monsters, terrifying
- phantoms, and lying dreams come from thee; thine eyes devour the stones of
- buildings, and the apes are ever ill each time thou growest young again.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Whither goest thou? Why dost thou change thy forms continually?
- Now, slender and curved thou glidest through space like a mastless galley;
- and then, amid the stars, thou art like a shepherd keeping his flock.
- Shining and round, thou dost graze the mountain-tops like the wheel of a
- chariot.
- </p>
- <p>
- “O Tanith! thou dost love me? I have looked so much on thee! But no!
- thou sailest through thine azure, and I—I remain on the motionless
- earth.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Taanach, take your nebal and play softly on the silver string, for
- my heart is sad!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The slave lifted a sort of harp of ebony wood, taller than herself, and
- triangular in shape like a delta; she fixed the point in a crystal globe,
- and with both hands began to play.
- </p>
- <p>
- The sounds followed one another hurried and deep, like the buzzing of
- bees, and with increasing sonorousness floated away into the night with
- the complaining of the waves, and the rustling of the great trees on the
- summit of the Acropolis.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Hush!” cried Salammbô.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What ails you, mistress? The blowing of the breeze, the passing of
- a cloud, everything disquiets you just now!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I do not know,” she said.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are wearied with too long prayers!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Oh! Tanaach, I would fain be dissolved in them like a flower in
- wine!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Perhaps it is the smoke of your perfumes?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No!” said Salammbô; “the spirit of the gods dwells in
- fragrant odours.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the slave spoke to her of her father. It was thought that he had gone
- towards the amber country, behind the pillars of Melkarth. “But if
- he does not return,” she said, “you must nevertheless, since
- it was his will, choose a husband among the sons of the Ancients, and then
- your grief will pass away in a man’s arms.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why?” asked the young girl. All those that she had seen had
- horrified her with their fallow-deer laughter and their coarse limbs.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Sometimes, Tanaach, from the depths of my being there exhale as it
- were hot fumes heavier than the vapours from a volcano. Voices call me, a
- globe of fire rolls and mounts within my bosom, it stifles me, I am at the
- point of death; and then, something sweet, flowing from my brow to my
- feet, passes through my flesh—it is a caress enfolding me, and I
- feel myself crushed as if some god were stretched upon me. Oh! would that
- I could lose myself in the mists of the night, the waters of the
- fountains, the sap of the trees, that I could issue from my body, and be
- but a breath, or a ray, and glide, mount up to thee, O Mother!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She raised her arms to their full length, arching her form, which in its
- long garment was as pale and light as the moon. Then she fell back,
- panting, on the ivory couch; but Taanach passed an amber necklace with
- dolphin’s teeth about her neck to banish terrors, and Salammbô said
- in an almost stifled voice: “Go and bring me Schahabarim.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Her father had not wished her to enter the college of priestesses, nor
- even to be made at all acquainted with the popular Tanith. He was
- reserving her for some alliance that might serve his political ends; so
- that Salammbô lived alone in the midst of the palace. Her mother was long
- since dead.
- </p>
- <p>
- She had grown up with abstinences, fastings and purifications, always
- surrounded by grave and exquisite things, her body saturated with
- perfumes, and her soul filled with prayers. She had never tasted wine, nor
- eaten meat, nor touched an unclean animal, nor set her heels in the house
- of death.
- </p>
- <p>
- She knew nothing of obscene images, for as each god was manifested in
- different forms, the same principle often received the witness of
- contradictory cults, and Salammbô worshipped the goddess in her sidereal
- presentation. An influence had descended upon the maiden from the moon;
- when the planet passed diminishing away, Salammbô grew weak. She
- languished the whole day long, and revived at evening. During an eclipse
- she nearly died.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Rabetna, in jealousy, revenged herself for the virginity withdrawn
- from her sacrifices, and she tormented Salammbô with possessions, all the
- stronger for being vague, which were spread through this belief and
- excited by it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Unceasingly was Hamilcar’s daughter disquieted about Tanith. She had
- learned her adventures, her travels, and all her names, which she would
- repeat without their having any distinct signification for her. In order
- to penetrate into the depths of her dogma, she wished to become
- acquainted, in the most secret part of the temple, with the old idol in
- the magnificent mantle, whereon depended the destinies of Carthage, for
- the idea of a god did not stand out clearly from his representation, and
- to hold, or even see the image of one, was to take away part of his
- virtue, and in a measure to rule him.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Salammbô turned around. She had recognised the sound of the golden
- bells which Schahabarim wore at the hem of his garment.
- </p>
- <p>
- He ascended the staircases; then at the threshold of the terrace he
- stopped and folded his arms.
- </p>
- <p>
- His sunken eyes shone like the lamps of a sepulchre; his long thin body
- floated in its linen robe which was weighted by the bells, the latter
- alternating with balls of emeralds at his heels. He had feeble limbs, an
- oblique skull and a pointed chin; his skin seemed cold to the touch, and
- his yellow face, which was deeply furrowed with wrinkles, was as if it
- contracted in a longing, in an everlasting grief.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was the high priest of Tanith, and it was he who had educated Salammbô.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Speak!” he said. “What will you?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I hoped—you had almost promised me—” She
- stammered and was confused; then suddenly: “Why do you despise me?
- what have I forgotten in the rites? You are my master, and you told me
- that no one was so accomplished in the things pertaining to the goddess as
- I; but there are some of which you will not speak. Is it so, O father?”
- </p>
- <p>
- Schahabarim remembered Hamilcar’s orders, and replied:
- </p>
- <p>
- “No, I have nothing more to teach you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “A genius,” she resumed, “impels me to this love. I have
- climbed the steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I
- have slept beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian
- colonies; I have pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener and
- fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the gods of
- woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand? they are all
- too far away, too high, too insensible, while she—I feel her mingled
- in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward startings, as
- though she were leaping in order to escape. Methinks I am about to hear
- her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and then I sink back
- again into the darkness.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Schahabarim was silent. She entreated him with suppliant looks. At last he
- made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of Chanaanitish
- race. Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one arm in the air,
- began:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull
- and indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream. It contracted,
- creating Desire and Cloud, and from Desire and Cloud there issued
- primitive Matter. This was a water, muddy, black, icy and deep. It
- contained senseless monsters, incoherent portions of the forms to be born,
- which are painted on the walls of the sanctuaries.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Then Matter condensed. It became an egg. It burst. One half formed
- the earth and the other the firmament. Sun, moon, winds and clouds
- appeared, and at the crash of the thunder intelligent creatures awoke.
- Then Eschmoun spread himself in the starry sphere; Khamon beamed in the
- sun; Melkarth thrust him with his arms behind Gades; the Kabiri descended
- beneath the volcanoes, and Rabetna like a nurse bent over the world
- pouring out her light like milk, and her night like a mantle.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “And then?” she said.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from
- sublimer prospects; but the maiden’s desire kindled again at his
- last words, and Schahabarim, half yielding resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “She inspires and governs the loves of men.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “The loves of men!” repeated Salammbô dreamily.
- </p>
- <p>
- “She is the soul of Carthage,” continued the priest; “and
- although she is everywhere diffused, it is here that she dwells, beneath
- the sacred veil.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “O father!” cried Salammbô, “I shall see her, shall I
- not? you will bring me to her! I had long been hesitating; I am devoured
- with curiosity to see her form. Pity! help me! let us go?”
- </p>
- <p>
- He repulsed her with a vehement gesture that was full of pride.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals
- are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in
- weakness. Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge that
- you possess!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She fell upon her knees placing two fingers against her ears in token of
- repentance; and crushed by the priest’s words, and filled at once
- with anger against him, with terror and humiliation, she burst into sobs.
- Schahabarim remained erect, and more insensible than the stones of the
- terrace. He looked down upon her quivering at his feet, and felt a kind of
- joy on seeing her suffer for his divinity whom he himself could not wholly
- embrace. The birds were already singing, a cold wind was blowing, and
- little clouds were drifting in the paling sky.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly he perceived on the horizon, behind Tunis, what looked like
- slight mists trailing along the ground; then these became a great curtain
- of dust extending perpendicularly, and, amid the whirlwinds of the
- thronging mass, dromedaries’ heads, lances and shields appeared. It
- was the army of the Barbarians advancing upon Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER IV
- </h2>
- <h3>
- BENEATH THE WALLS OF CARTHAGE
- </h3>
- <p>
- Some country people, riding on asses or running on foot, arrived in the
- town, pale, breathless, and mad with fear. They were flying before the
- army. It had accomplished the journey from Sicca in three days, in order
- to reach Carthage and wholly exterminate it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The gates were shut. The Barbarians appeared almost immediately; but they
- stopped in the middle of the isthmus, on the edge of the lake.
- </p>
- <p>
- At first they made no hostile announcement. Several approached with palm
- branches in their hands. They were driven back with arrows, so great was
- the terror.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the morning and at nightfall prowlers would sometimes wander along the
- walls. A little man carefully wrapped in a cloak, and with his face
- concealed beneath a very low visor, was especially noticed. He would
- remain whole hours gazing at the aqueduct, and so persistently that he
- doubtless wished to mislead the Carthaginians as to his real designs.
- Another man, a sort of giant who walked bareheaded, used to accompany him.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Carthage was defended throughout the whole breadth of the isthmus:
- first by a trench, then by a grassy rampart, and lastly by a wall thirty
- cubits high, built of freestone, and in two storys. It contained stables
- for three hundred elephants with stores for their caparisons, shackles,
- and food; other stables again for four thousand horses with supplies of
- barley and harness, and barracks for twenty thousand soldiers with armour
- and all materials of war. Towers rose from the second story, all provided
- with battlements, and having bronze bucklers hung on cramps on the
- outside.
- </p>
- <p>
- This first line of wall gave immediate shelter to Malqua, the sailors’
- and dyers’ quarter. Masts might be seen whereon purple sails were
- drying, and on the highest terraces clay furnaces for heating the pickle
- were visible.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind, the lofty houses of the city rose in an ampitheatre of cubical
- form. They were built of stone, planks, shingle, reeds, shells, and beaten
- earth. The woods belonging to the temples were like lakes of verdure in
- this mountain of diversely-coloured blocks. It was levelled at unequal
- distances by the public squares, and was cut from top to bottom by
- countless intersecting lanes. The enclosures of the three old quarters
- which are now lost might be distinguished; they rose here and there like
- great reefs, or extended in enormous fronts, blackened, half-covered with
- flowers, and broadly striped by the casting of filth, while streets passed
- through their yawning apertures like rivers beneath bridges.
- </p>
- <p>
- The hill of the Acropolis, in the centre of Byrsa, was hidden beneath a
- disordered array of monuments. There were temples with wreathed columns
- bearing bronze capitals and metal chains, cones of dry stones with bands
- of azure, copper cupolas, marble architraves, Babylonian buttresses,
- obelisks poised on their points like inverted torches. Peristyles reached
- to pediments; volutes were displayed through colonnades; granite walls
- supported tile partitions; the whole mounting, half-hidden, the one above
- the other in a marvellous and incomprehensible fashion. In it might be
- felt the succession of the ages, and, as it were, the memorials of
- forgotten fatherlands.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind the Acropolis the Mappalian road, which was lined with tombs,
- extended through red lands in a straight line from the shore to the
- catacombs; then spacious dwellings occurred at intervals in the gardens,
- and this third quarter, Megara, which was the new town, reached as far as
- the edge of the cliff, where rose a giant pharos that blazed forth every
- night.
- </p>
- <p>
- In this fashion was Carthage displayed before the soldiers quartered in
- the plain.
- </p>
- <p>
- They could recognise the markets and crossways in the distance, and
- disputed with one another as to the sites of the temples. Khamon’s,
- fronting the Syssitia, had golden tiles; Melkarth, to the left of
- Eschmoun, had branches of coral on its roofing; beyond, Tanith’s
- copper cupola swelled among the palm trees; the dark Moloch was below the
- cisterns, in the direction of the pharos. At the angles of the pediments,
- on the tops of the walls, at the corners of the squares, everywhere,
- divinities with hideous heads might be seen, colossal or squat, with
- enormous bellies, or immoderately flattened, opening their jaws, extending
- their arms, and holding forks, chains or javelins in their hands; while
- the blue of the sea stretched away behind the streets which were rendered
- still steeper by the perspective.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were filled from morning till evening with a tumultuous people; young
- boys shaking little bells, shouted at the doors of the baths; the shops
- for hot drinks smoked, the air resounded with the noise of anvils, the
- white cocks, sacred to the Sun, crowed on the terraces, the oxen that were
- being slaughtered bellowed in the temples, slaves ran about with baskets
- on their heads; and in the depths of the porticoes a priest would
- sometimes appear, draped in a dark cloak, barefooted, and wearing a
- pointed cap.
- </p>
- <p>
- The spectacle afforded by Carthage irritated the Barbarians; they admired
- it and execrated it, and would have liked both to annihilate it and to
- dwell in it. But what was there in the Military Harbour defended by a
- triple wall? Then behind the town, at the back of Megara, and higher than
- the Acropolis, appeared Hamilcar’s palace.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho’s eyes were directed thither every moment. He would ascend the
- olive trees and lean over with his hand spread out above his eyebrows. The
- gardens were empty, and the red door with its black cross remained
- constantly shut.
- </p>
- <p>
- More than twenty times he walked round the ramparts, seeking some breach
- by which he might enter. One night he threw himself into the gulf and swam
- for three hours at a stretch. He reached the foot of the Mappalian quarter
- and tried to climb up the face of the cliff. He covered his knees with
- blood, broke his nails, and then fell back into the waves and returned.
- </p>
- <p>
- His impotence exasperated him. He was jealous of this Carthage which
- contained Salammbô, as if of some one who had possessed her. His
- nervelessness left him to be replaced by a mad and continual eagerness for
- action. With flaming cheek, angry eyes, and hoarse voice, he would walk
- with rapid strides through the camp; or seated on the shore he would scour
- his great sword with sand. He shot arrows at the passing vultures. His
- heart overflowed into frenzied speech.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Give free course to your wrath like a runaway chariot,” said
- Spendius. “Shout, blaspheme, ravage and slay. Grief is allayed with
- blood, and since you cannot sate your love, gorge your hate; it will
- sustain you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho resumed the command of his soldiers. He drilled them pitilessly. He
- was respected for his courage and especially for his strength. Moreover he
- inspired a sort of mystic dread, and it was believed that he conversed at
- night with phantoms. The other captains were animated by his example. The
- army soon grew disciplined. From their houses the Carthaginians could hear
- the bugle-flourishes that regulated their exercises. At last the
- Barbarians drew near.
- </p>
- <p>
- To crush them in the isthmus it would have been necessary for two armies
- to take them simultaneously in the rear, one disembarking at the end of
- the gulf of Utica, and the second at the mountain of the Hot Springs. But
- what could be done with the single sacred Legion, mustering at most six
- thousand men? If the enemy bent towards the east they would join the
- nomads and intercept the commerce of the desert. If they fell back to the
- west, Numidia would rise. Finally, lack of provisions would sooner or
- later lead them to devastate the surrounding country like grasshoppers,
- and the rich trembled for their fine country-houses, their vineyards and
- their cultivated lands.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno proposed atrocious and impracticable measures, such as promising a
- heavy sum for every Barbarian’s head, or setting fire to their camp
- with ships and machines. His colleague Gisco, on the other hand, wished
- them to be paid. But the Ancients detested him owing to his popularity;
- for they dreaded the risk of a master, and through terror of monarchy
- strove to weaken whatever contributed to it or might re-establish it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Outside the fortification there were people of another race and of unknown
- origin, all hunters of the porcupine, and eaters of shell-fish and
- serpents. They used to go into caves to catch hyenas alive, and amuse
- themselves by making them run in the evening on the sands of Megara
- between the stelæ of the tombs. Their huts, which were made of mud and
- wrack, hung on the cliff like swallows’ nests. There they lived,
- without government and without gods, pell-mell, completely naked, at once
- feeble and fierce, and execrated by the people of all time on account of
- their unclean food. One morning the sentries perceived that they were all
- gone.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last some members of the Great Council arrived at a decision. They came
- to the camp without necklaces or girdles, and in open sandals like
- neighbours. They walked at a quiet pace, waving salutations to the
- captains, or stopped to speak to the soldiers, saying that all was
- finished and that justice was about to be done to their claims.
- </p>
- <p>
- Many of them saw a camp of Mercenaries for the first time. Instead of the
- confusion which they had pictured to themselves, there prevailed
- everywhere terrible silence and order. A grassy rampart formed a lofty
- wall round the army immovable by the shock of catapults. The ground in the
- streets was sprinkled with fresh water; through the holes in the tents
- they could perceive tawny eyeballs gleaming in the shade. The piles of
- pikes and hanging panoplies dazzled them like mirrors. They conversed in
- low tones. They were afraid of upsetting something with their long robes.
- </p>
- <p>
- The soldiers requested provisions, undertaking to pay for them out of the
- money that was due.
- </p>
- <p>
- Oxen, sheep, guinea fowl, fruit and lupins were sent to them, with smoked
- scombri, that excellent scombri which Carthage dispatched to every port.
- But they walked scornfully around the magnificent cattle, and disparaging
- what they coveted, offered the worth of a pigeon for a ram, or the price
- of a pomegranate for three goats. The Eaters of Uncleanness came forward
- as arbitrators, and declared that they were being duped. Then they drew
- their swords with threats to slay.
- </p>
- <p>
- Commissaries of the Great Council wrote down the number of years for which
- pay was due to each soldier. But it was no longer possible to know how
- many Mercenaries had been engaged, and the Ancients were dismayed at the
- enormous sum which they would have to pay. The reserve of silphium must be
- sold, and the trading towns taxed; the Mercenaries would grow impatient;
- Tunis was already with them; and the rich, stunned by Hanno’s
- ragings and his colleague’s reproaches, urged any citizens who might
- know a Barbarian to go to see him immediately in order to win back his
- friendship, and to speak him fair. Such a show of confidence would soothe
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Traders, scribes, workers in the arsenal, and whole families visited the
- Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- The soldiers allowed all the Carthaginians to come in, but by a single
- passage so narrow that four men abreast jostled one another in it.
- Spendius, standing against the barrier, had them carefully searched;
- facing him Matho was examining the multitude, trying to recognise some one
- whom he might have seen at Salammbô’s palace.
- </p>
- <p>
- The camp was like a town, so full of people and of movement was it. The
- two distinct crowds mingled without blending, one dressed in linen or
- wool, with felt caps like fir-cones, and the other clad in iron and
- wearing helmets. Amid serving men and itinerant vendors there moved women
- of all nations, as brown as ripe dates, as greenish as olives, as yellow
- as oranges, sold by sailors, picked out of dens, stolen from caravans,
- taken in the sacking of towns, women that were jaded with love so long as
- they were young, and plied with blows when they were old, and that died in
- routs on the roadsides among the baggage and the abandoned beasts of
- burden. The wives of the nomads had square, tawny robes of dromedary’s
- hair swinging at their heels; musicians from Cyrenaica, wrapped in violet
- gauze and with painted eyebrows, sang, squatting on mats; old Negresses
- with hanging breasts gathered the animals’ dung that was drying in
- the sun to light their fires; the Syracusan women had golden plates in
- their hair; the Lusitanians had necklaces of shells; the Gauls wore wolf
- skins upon their white bosoms; and sturdy children, vermin-covered, naked
- and uncircumcised, butted with their heads against passers-by, or came
- behind them like young tigers to bite their hands.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians walked through the camp, surprised at the quantities of
- things with which it was running over. The most miserable were melancholy,
- and the rest dissembled their anxiety.
- </p>
- <p>
- The soldiers struck them on the shoulder, and exhorted them to be gay. As
- soon as they saw any one, they invited him to their amusements. If they
- were playing at discus, they would manage to crush his feet, or if at
- boxing to fracture his jaw with the very first blow. The slingers
- terrified the Carthaginians with their slings, the Psylli with their
- vipers, and the horsemen with their horses, while their victims, addicted
- as they were to peaceful occupations, bent their heads and tried to smile
- at all these outrages. Some, in order to show themselves brave, made signs
- that they should like to become soldiers. They were set to split wood and
- to curry mules. They were buckled up in armour, and rolled like casks
- through the streets of the camp. Then, when they were about to leave, the
- Mercenaries plucked out their hair with grotesque contortions.
- </p>
- <p>
- But many, from foolishness or prejudice, innocently believed that all the
- Carthaginians were very rich, and they walked behind them entreating them
- to grant them something. They requested everything that they thought fine:
- a ring, a girdle, sandals, the fringe of a robe, and when the despoiled
- Carthaginian cried—“But I have nothing left. What do you want?”
- they would reply, “Your wife!” Others even said, “Your
- life!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The military accounts were handed to the captains, read to the soldiers,
- and definitively approved. Then they claimed tents; they received them.
- Next the polemarchs of the Greeks demanded some of the handsome suits of
- armour that were manufactured at Carthage; the Great Council voted sums of
- money for their purchase. But it was only fair, so the horsemen pretended,
- that the Republic should indemnify them for their horses; one had lost
- three at such a siege, another, five during such a march, another,
- fourteen in the precipices. Stallions from Hecatompylos were offered to
- them, but they preferred money.
- </p>
- <p>
- Next they demanded that they should be paid in money (in pieces of money,
- and not in leathern coins) for all the corn that was owing to them, and at
- the highest price that it had fetched during the war; so that they exacted
- four hundred times as much for a measure of meal as they had given for a
- sack of wheat. Such injustice was exasperating; but it was necessary,
- nevertheless, to submit.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the delegates from the soldiers and from the Great Council swore
- renewed friendship by the Genius of Carthage and the gods of the
- Barbarians. They exchanged excuses and caresses with oriental
- demonstrativeness and verbosity. Then the soldiers claimed, as a proof of
- friendship, the punishment of those who had estranged them from the
- Republic.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their meaning, it was pretended, was not understood, and they explained
- themselves more clearly by saying that they must have Hanno’s head.
- </p>
- <p>
- Several times a day, they left their camp, and walked along the foot of
- the walls, shouting a demand that the Suffet’s head should be thrown
- to them, and holding out their robes to receive it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Great Council would perhaps have given way but for a last exaction,
- more outrageous than the rest; they demanded maidens, chosen from
- illustrious families, in marriage for their chiefs. It was an idea which
- had emanated from Spendius, and which many thought most simple and
- practicable. But the assumption of their desire to mix with Punic blood
- made the people indignant; and they were bluntly told that they were to
- receive no more. Then they exclaimed that they had been deceived, and that
- if their pay did not arrive within three days, they would themselves go
- and take it in Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- The bad faith of the Mercenaries was not so complete as their enemies
- thought. Hamilcar had made them extravagant promises, vague, it is true,
- but at the same time solemn and reiterated. They might have believed that
- when they disembarked at Carthage the town would be abandoned to them, and
- that they should have treasures divided among them; and when they saw that
- scarcely their wages would be paid, the disillusion touched their pride no
- less than their greed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Had not Dionysius, Pyrrhus, Agathocles, and the generals of Alexander
- furnished examples of marvellous good fortune? Hercules, whom the
- Chanaanites confounded with the sun, was the ideal which shone on the
- horizon of armies. They knew that simple soldiers had worn diadems, and
- the echoes of crumbling empires would furnish dreams to the Gaul in his
- oak forest, to the Ethiopian amid his sands. But there was a nation always
- ready to turn courage to account; and the robber driven from his tribe,
- the patricide wandering on the roads, the perpetrator of sacrilege pursued
- by the gods, all who were starving or in despair strove to reach the port
- where the Carthaginian broker was recruiting soldiers. Usually the
- Republic kept its promises. This time, however, the eagerness of its
- avarice had brought it into perilous disgrace. Numidians, Libyans, the
- whole of Africa was about to fall upon Carthage. Only the sea was open to
- it, and there it met with the Romans; so that, like a man assailed by
- murderers, it felt death all around it.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was quite necessary to have recourse to Gisco, and the Barbarians
- accepted his intervention. One morning they saw the chains of the harbour
- lowered, and three flat-bottomed boats passing through the canal of Tænia
- entered the lake.
- </p>
- <p>
- Gisco was visible on the first at the prow. Behind him rose an enormous
- chest, higher than a catafalque, and furnished with rings like hanging
- crowns. Then appeared the legion of interpreters, with their hair dressed
- like sphinxes, and with parrots tattooed on their breasts. Friends and
- slaves followed, all without arms, and in such numbers that they
- shouldered one another. The three long, dangerously-loaded barges advanced
- amid the shouts of the onlooking army.
- </p>
- <p>
- As soon as Gisco disembarked the soldiers ran to him. He had a sort of
- tribune erected with knapsacks, and declared that he should not depart
- before he had paid them all in full.
- </p>
- <p>
- There was an outburst of applause, and it was a long time before he was
- able to speak.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he censured the wrongs done to the Republic, and to the Barbarians;
- the fault lay with a few mutineers who had alarmed Carthage by their
- violence. The best proof of good intention on the part of the latter was
- that it was he, the eternal adversary of the Suffet Hanno, who was sent to
- them. They must not credit the people with the folly of desiring to
- provoke brave men, nor with ingratitude enough not to recognise their
- services; and Gisco began to pay the soldiers, commencing with the
- Libyans. As they had declared that the lists were untruthful, he made no
- use of them.
- </p>
- <p>
- They defiled before him according to nationality, opening their fingers to
- show the number of their years of service; they were marked in succession
- with green paint on the left arm; the scribes dipped into the yawning
- coffer, while others made holes with a style on a sheet of lead.
- </p>
- <p>
- A man passed walking heavily like an ox.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Come up beside me,” said the Suffet, suspecting some fraud;
- “how many years have you served?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Twelve,” replied the Libyan.
- </p>
- <p>
- Gisco slipped his fingers under his chin, for the chin-piece of the helmet
- used in course of time to occasion two callosities there; these were
- called carobs, and “to have the carobs” was an expression used
- to denote a veteran.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Thief!” exclaimed the Suffet, “your shoulders ought to
- have what your face lacks!” and tearing off his tunic he laid bare
- is back which was covered with a bleeding scab; he was a labourer from
- Hippo-Zarytus. Hootings were raised, and he was decapitated.
- </p>
- <p>
- As soon as night fell, Spendius went and roused the Libyans, and said to
- them:
- </p>
- <p>
- “When the Ligurians, Greeks, Balearians, and men of Italy are paid,
- they will return. But as for you, you will remain in Africa, scattered
- through your tribes, and without any means of defence! It will be then
- that the Republic will take its revenge! Mistrust the journey! Are you
- going to believe everything that is said? Both the Suffets are agreed, and
- this one is imposing on you! Remember the Island of Bones, and Xanthippus,
- whom they sent back to Sparta in a rotten galley!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “How are we to proceed?” they asked.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Reflect!” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- The two following days were spent in paying the men of Magdala, Leptis,
- and Hecatompylos; Spendius went about among the Gauls.
- </p>
- <p>
- “They are paying off the Libyans, and then they will discharge the
- Greeks, the Balearians, the Asiatics and all the rest! But you, who are
- few in number, will receive nothing! You will see your native lands no
- more! You will have no ships, and they will kill you to save your food!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Gauls came to the Suffet. Autaritus, he whom he had wounded at
- Hamilcar’s palace, put questions to him, but was repelled by the
- slaves, and disappeared swearing he would be revenged.
- </p>
- <p>
- The demands and complaints multiplied. The most obstinate penetrated at
- night into the Suffet’s tent; they took his hands and sought to move
- him by making him feel their toothless mouths, their wasted arms, and the
- scars of their wounds. Those who had not yet been paid were growing angry,
- those who had received the money demanded more for their horses; and
- vagabonds and outlaws assumed soldiers’ arms and declared that they
- were being forgotten. Every minute there arrived whirlwinds of men, as it
- were; the tents strained and fell; the multitude, thick pressed between
- the ramparts of the camp, swayed with loud shouts from the gates to the
- centre. When the tumult grew excessively violent Gisco would rest one
- elbow on his ivory sceptre and stand motionless looking at the sea with
- his fingers buried in his beard.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho frequently went off to speak with Spendius; then he would again
- place himself in front of the Suffet, and Gisco could feel his eyes
- continually like two flaming phalaricas darted against him. Several times
- they hurled reproaches at each other over the heads of the crowd, but
- without making themselves heard. The distribution, meanwhile, continued,
- and the Suffet found expedients to remove every obstacle.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greeks tried to quibble about differences in currency, but he
- furnished them with such explanations that they retired without a murmur.
- The Negroes demanded white shells such as are used for trading in the
- interior of Africa, but when he offered to send to Carthage for them they
- accepted money like the rest.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the Balearians had been promised something better, namely, women. The
- Suffet replied that a whole caravan of maidens was expected for them, but
- the journey was long and would require six moons more. When they were fat
- and well rubbed with benjamin they should be sent in ships to the ports of
- the Balearians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly Zarxas, now handsome and vigorous, leaped like a mountebank upon
- the shoulders of his friends and cried:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Have you reserved any of them for the corpses?” at the same
- time pointing to the gate of Khamon in Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- The brass plates with which it was furnished from top to bottom shone in
- the sun’s latest fires, and the Barbarians believed that they could
- discern on it a trail of blood. Every time that Gisco wished to speak
- their shouts began again. At last he descended with measured steps, and
- shut himself up in his tent.
- </p>
- <p>
- When he left it at sunrise his interpreters, who used to sleep outside,
- did not stir; they lay on their backs with their eyes fixed, their tongues
- between their teeth, and their faces of a bluish colour. White mucus
- flowed from their nostrils, and their limbs were stiff, as if they had all
- been frozen by the cold during the night. Each had a little noose of
- rushes round his neck.
- </p>
- <p>
- From that time onward the rebellion was unchecked. The murder of the
- Balearians which had been recalled by Zarxas strengthened the distrust
- inspired by Spendius. They imagined that the Republic was always trying to
- deceive them. An end must be put to it! The interpreters should be
- dispensed with! Zarxas sang war songs with a sling around his head;
- Autaritus brandished his great sword; Spendius whispered a word to one or
- gave a dagger to another. The boldest endeavoured to pay themselves, while
- those who were less frenzied wished to have the distribution continued. No
- one now relinquished his arms, and the anger of all combined into a
- tumultuous hatred of Gisco.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some got up beside him. So long as they vociferated abuse they were
- listened to with patience; but if they tried to utter the least word in
- his behalf they were immediately stoned, or their heads were cut off by a
- sabre-stroke from behind. The heap of knapsacks was redder than an altar.
- </p>
- <p>
- They became terrible after their meal and when they had drunk wine! This
- was an enjoyment forbidden in the Punic armies under pain of death, and
- they raised their cups in the direction of Carthage in derision of its
- discipline. Then they returned to the slaves of the exchequer and again
- began to kill. The word <i>strike</i>, though different in each language,
- was understood by all.
- </p>
- <p>
- Gisco was well aware that he was being abandoned by his country; but in
- spite of its ingratitude he would not dishonour it. When they reminded him
- that they had been promised ships, he swore by Moloch to provide them
- himself at his own expense, and pulling off his necklace of blue stones he
- threw it into the crowd as the pledge of his oath.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Africans claimed the corn in accordance with the engagements made
- by the Great Council. Gisco spread out the accounts of the Syssitia traced
- in violet pigment on sheep skins; and read out all that had entered
- Carthage month by month and day by day.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly he stopped with gaping eyes, as if he had just discovered his
- sentence of death among the figures.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Ancients had, in fact, fraudulently reduced them, and the corn sold
- during the most calamitous period of the war was set down at so low a rate
- that, blindness apart, it was impossible to believe it.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Speak!” they shouted. “Louder! Ah! he is trying to lie,
- the coward! Don’t trust him.”
- </p>
- <p>
- For some time he hesitated. At last he resumed his task.
- </p>
- <p>
- The soldiers, without suspecting that they were being deceived, accepted
- the accounts of the Syssitia as true. But the abundance that had prevailed
- at Carthage made them furiously jealous. They broke open the sycamore
- chest; it was three parts empty. They had seen such sums coming out of it,
- that they thought it inexhaustible; Gisco must have buried some in his
- tent. They scaled the knapsacks. Matho led them, and as they shouted
- “The money! the money!” Gisco at last replied:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let your general give it to you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He looked them in the face without speaking, with his great yellow eyes,
- and his long face that was paler than his beard. An arrow, held by its
- feathers, hung from the large gold ring in his ear, and a stream of blood
- was trickling from his tiara upon his shoulder.
- </p>
- <p>
- At a gesture from Matho all advanced. Gisco held out his arms; Spendius
- tied his wrists with a slip knot; another knocked him down, and he
- disappeared amid the disorder of the crowd which was stumbling over the
- knapsacks.
- </p>
- <p>
- They sacked his tent. Nothing was found in it except things indispensable
- to life; and, on a closer search, three images of Tanith, and, wrapped up
- in an ape’s skin, a black stone which had fallen from the moon. Many
- Carthaginians had chosen to accompany him; they were eminent men, and all
- belonged to the war party.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for the
- reception of filth. They were tied with iron chains around the body to
- solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the javelin.
- </p>
- <p>
- Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but being
- quite ignorant of his language they made no reply; and the Gaul from time
- to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army. Now that their
- anger was over they were seized with anxiety. Matho was suffering from
- vague melancholy. It seemed to him that Salammbô had indirectly been
- insulted. These rich men were a kind of appendage to her person. He sat
- down in the night on the edge of the pit, and recognised in their
- groanings something of the voice of which his heart was full.
- </p>
- <p>
- All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid. But while
- national antipathies revived, together with personal hatreds, it was felt
- that it would be perilous to give way to them. Reprisals after such an
- outrage would be formidable. It was necessary, therefore, to anticipate
- the vengeance of Carthage. Conventions and harangues never ceased. Every
- one spoke, no one was listened to; Spendius, usually so loquacious, shook
- his head at every proposal.
- </p>
- <p>
- One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs in
- the interior of the town.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Not one!” replied Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- The next day Spendius drew him aside to the bank of the lake.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Master!” said the former slave, “If your heart is
- dauntless, I will bring you into Carthage.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “How?” repeated the other, panting.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Swear to execute all my commands and to follow me like a shadow!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Matho, raising his arm towards the planet of Chabar, exclaimed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “By Tanith, I swear!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “To-morrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the
- aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades. Bring with you an iron pick,
- a crestless helmet, and leathern sandals.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The aqueduct of which he spoke crossed the entire isthmus obliquely,—a
- considerable work, afterwards enlarged by the Romans. In spite of her
- disdain of other nations, Carthage had awkwardly borrowed this novel
- invention from them, just as Rome herself had built Punic galleys; and
- five rows of superposed arches, of a dumpy kind of architecture, with
- buttresses at their foot and lions’ heads at the top, reached to the
- western part of the Acropolis, where they sank beneath the town to incline
- what was nearly a river into the cisterns of Megara.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius met Matho here at the hour agreed upon. He fastened a sort of
- harpoon to the end of a cord and whirled it rapidly like a sling; the iron
- instrument caught fast, and they began to climb up the wall, the one after
- the other.
- </p>
- <p>
- But when they had ascended to the first story the cramp fell back every
- time that they threw it, and in order to discover some fissure they had to
- walk along the edge of the cornice. At every row of arches they found that
- it became narrower. Then the cord relaxed. Several times it nearly broke.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last they reached the upper platform. Spendius stooped down from time
- to time to feel the stones with his hand.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Here it is,” he said; “let us begin!” And leaning
- on the pick which Matho had brought they succeeded in dislodging one of
- the flagstones.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the distance they perceived a troop of horse-men galloping on horses
- without bridles. Their golden bracelets leaped in the vague drapings of
- their cloaks. A man could be seen in front crowned with ostrich feathers,
- and galloping with a lance in each hand.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Narr’ Havas!” exclaimed Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What matter?” returned Spendius, and he leaped into the hole
- which they had just made by removing the flagstone.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho at his command tried to thrust out one of the blocks. But he could
- not move his elbows for want of room.
- </p>
- <p>
- “We shall return,” said Spendius; “go in front.”
- Then they ventured into the channel of water.
- </p>
- <p>
- It reached to their waists. Soon they staggered, and were obliged to swim.
- Their limbs knocked against the walls of the narrow duct. The water flowed
- almost immediately beneath the stones above, and their faces were torn by
- them. Then the current carried them away. Their breasts were crushed with
- air heavier than that of a sepulchre, and stretching themselves out as
- much as possible with their heads between their arms and their legs close
- together, they passed like arrows into the darkness, choking, gurgling,
- and almost dead. Suddenly all became black before them, and the speed of
- the waters redoubled. They fell.
- </p>
- <p>
- When they came to the surface again, they remained for a few minutes
- extended on their backs, inhaling the air delightfully. Arcades, one
- behind another, opened up amid large walls separating the various basins.
- All were filled, and the water stretched in a single sheet throughout the
- length of the cisterns. Through the air-holes in the cupolas on the
- ceiling there fell a pale brightness which spread upon the waves discs, as
- it were, of light, while the darkness round about thickened towards the
- walls and threw them back to an indefinite distance. The slightest sound
- made a great echo.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius and Matho commenced to swim again, and passing through the
- opening of the arches, traversed several chambers in succession. Two other
- rows of smaller basins extended in a parallel direction on each side. They
- lost themselves; they turned, and came back again. At last something
- offered a resistance to their heels. It was the pavement of the gallery
- that ran along the cisterns.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then, advancing with great precautions, they felt along the wall to find
- an outlet. But their feet slipped, and they fell into the great
- centre-basins. They had to climb up again, and there they fell again. They
- experienced terrible fatigue, which made them feel as if all their limbs
- had been dissolved in the water while swimming. Their eyes closed; they
- were in the agonies of death.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius struck his hand against the bars of a grating. They shook it, it
- gave way, and they found themselves on the steps of a staircase. A door of
- bronze closed it above. With the point of a dagger they moved the bar,
- which was opened from without, and suddenly the pure open air surrounded
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The night was filled with silence, and the sky seemed at an extraordinary
- height. Clusters of trees projected over the long lines of walls. The
- whole town was asleep. The fires of the outposts shone like lost stars.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius, who had spent three years in the ergastulum, was but imperfectly
- acquainted with the different quarters. Matho conjectured that to reach
- Hamilcar’s palace they ought to strike to the left and cross the
- Mappalian district.
- </p>
- <p>
- “No,” said Spendius, “take me to the temple of Tanith.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho wished to speak.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Remember!” said the former slave, and raising his arm he
- showed him the glittering planet of Chabar.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Matho turned in silence towards the Acropolis.
- </p>
- <p>
- They crept along the nopal hedges which bordered the paths. The water
- trickled from their limbs upon the dust. Their damp sandals made no noise;
- Spendius, with eyes that flamed more than torches, searched the bushes at
- every step;—and he walked behind Matho with his hands resting on the
- two daggers which he carried on his arms, and which hung from below the
- armpit by a leathern band.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER V
- </h2>
- <h3>
- TANITH
- </h3>
- <p>
- After leaving the gardens Matho and Spendius found themselves checked by
- the rampart of Megara. But they discovered a breach in the great wall and
- passed through.
- </p>
- <p>
- The ground sloped downwards, forming a kind of very broad valley. It was
- an exposed place.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Listen,” said Spendius, “and first of all fear nothing!
- I shall fulfil my promise—”
- </p>
- <p>
- He stopped abruptly, and seemed to reflect as though searching for words,—“Do
- you remember that time at sunrise when I showed Carthage to you on
- Salammbô’s terrace? We were strong that day, but you would listen to
- nothing!” Then in a grave voice: “Master, in the sanctuary of
- Tanith there is a mysterious veil, which fell from heaven and which covers
- the goddess.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I know,” said Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius resumed: “It is itself divine, for it forms part of her.
- The gods reside where their images are. It is because Carthage possesses
- it that Carthage is powerful.” Then leaning over to his ear: “I
- have brought you with me to carry it off!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho recoiled in horror. “Begone! look for some one else! I will
- not help you in this execrable crime!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “But Tanith is your enemy,” retorted Spendius; “she is
- persecuting you and you are dying through her wrath. You will be revenged
- upon her. She will obey you, and you will become almost immortal and
- invincible.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho bent his head. Spendius continued:
- </p>
- <p>
- “We should succumb; the army would be annihilated of itself. We have
- neither flight, nor succour, nor pardon to hope for! What chastisement
- from the gods can you be afraid of since you will have their power in your
- own hands? Would you rather die on the evening of a defeat, in misery
- beneath the shelter of a bush, or amid the outrages of the populace and
- the flames of funeral piles? Master, one day you will enter Carthage among
- the colleges of the pontiffs, who will kiss your sandals; and if the veil
- of Tanith weighs upon you still, you will reinstate it in its temple.
- Follow me! come and take it.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho was consumed by a terrible longing. He would have liked to possess
- the veil while refraining from the sacrilege. He said to himself that
- perhaps it would not be necessary to take it in order to monopolise its
- virtue. He did not go to the bottom of his thought but stopped at the
- boundary, where it terrified him.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Come on!” he said; and they went off with rapid strides, side
- by side, and without speaking.
- </p>
- <p>
- The ground rose again, and the dwellings were near. They turned again into
- the narrow streets amid the darkness. The strips of esparto-grass with
- which the doors were closed, beat against the walls. Some camels were
- ruminating in a square before heaps of cut grass. Then they passed beneath
- a gallery covered with foliage. A pack of dogs were barking. But suddenly
- the space grew wider and they recognised the western face of the
- Acropolis. At the foot of Byrsa there stretched a long black mass: it was
- the temple of Tanith, a whole made up of monuments and galleries, courts
- and fore-courts, and bounded by a low wall of dry stones. Spendius and
- Matho leaped over it.
- </p>
- <p>
- This first barrier enclosed a wood of plane-trees as a precaution against
- plague and infection in the air. Tents were scattered here and there, in
- which, during the daytime, depilatory pastes, perfumes, garments,
- moon-shaped cakes, and images of the goddess with representations of the
- temple hollowed out in blocks of alabaster, were on sale.
- </p>
- <p>
- They had nothing to fear, for on nights when the planet did not appear,
- all rites were suspended; nevertheless Matho slackened his speed, and
- stopped before the three ebony steps leading to the second enclosure.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Forward!” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Pomegranate, almond trees, cypresses and myrtles alternated in regular
- succession; the path, which was paved with blue pebbles, creaked beneath
- their footsteps, and full-blown roses formed a hanging bower over the
- whole length of the avenue. They arrived before an oval hole protected by
- a grating. Then Matho, who was frightened by the silence, said to
- Spendius:
- </p>
- <p>
- “It is here that they mix the fresh water and the bitter.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I have seen all that,” returned the former slave, “in
- Syria, in the town of Maphug”; and they ascended into the third
- enclosure by a staircase of six silver steps.
- </p>
- <p>
- A huge cedar occupied the centre. Its lowest branches were hidden beneath
- scraps of material and necklaces hung upon them by the faithful. They
- walked a few steps further on, and the front of the temple was displayed
- before them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Two long porticoes, with their architraves resting on dumpy pillars,
- flanked a quadrangular tower, the platform of which was adorned with the
- crescent of a moon. On the angles of the porticoes and at the four corners
- of the tower stood vases filled with kindled aromatics. The capitals were
- laden with pomegranates and coloquintidas. Twining knots, lozenges, and
- rows of pearls alternated on the walls, and a hedge of silver filigree
- formed a wide semicircle in front of the brass staircase which led down
- from the vestibule.
- </p>
- <p>
- There was a cone of stone at the entrance between a stela of gold and one
- of emerald, and Matho kissed his right hand as he passed beside it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The first room was very lofty; its vaulted roof was pierced by numberless
- apertures, and if the head were raised the stars might be seen. All round
- the wall rush baskets were heaped up with the first fruits of adolescence
- in the shape of beards and curls of hair; and in the centre of the
- circular apartment the body of a woman issued from a sheath which was
- covered with breasts. Fat, bearded, and with eyelids downcast, she looked
- as though she were smiling, while her hands were crossed upon the lower
- part of her big body, which was polished by the kisses of the crowd.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they found themselves again in the open air in a transverse corridor,
- wherein there was an altar of small dimensions leaning against an ivory
- door. There was no further passage; the priests alone could open it; for
- the temple was not a place of meeting for the multitude, but the private
- abode of a divinity.
- </p>
- <p>
- “The enterprise is impossible,” said Matho. “You had not
- thought of this! Let us go back!” Spendius was examining the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- He wanted the veil, not because he had confidence in its virtue (Spendius
- believed only in the Oracle), but because he was persuaded that the
- Carthaginians would be greatly dismayed on seeing themselves deprived of
- it. They walked all round behind in order to find some outlet.
- </p>
- <p>
- Aedicules of different shapes were visible beneath clusters of turpentine
- trees. Here and there rose a stone phallus, and large stags roamed
- peacefully about, spurning the fallen fir-cones with their cloven hoofs.
- </p>
- <p>
- But they retraced their steps between two long galleries which ran
- parallel to each other. There were small open cells along their sides, and
- tabourines and cymbals hung against their cedar columns from top to
- bottom. Women were sleeping stretched on mats outside the cells. Their
- bodies were greasy with unguents, and exhaled an odour of spices and
- extinguished perfuming-pans; while they were so covered with tattooings,
- necklaces, rings, vermilion, and antimony that, but for the motion of
- their breasts, they might have been taken for idols as they lay thus on
- the ground. There were lotus-trees encircling a fountain in which fish
- like Salammbô’s were swimming; and then in the background, against
- the wall of the temple, spread a vine, the branches of which were of glass
- and the grape-bunches of emerald, the rays from the precious stones making
- a play of light through the painted columns upon the sleeping faces.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere pressed down upon him by the
- cedar partitions. All these symbols of fecundation, these perfumes,
- radiations, and breathings overwhelmed him. Through all the mystic
- dazzling he kept thinking of Salammbô. She became confused with the
- goddess herself, and his loved unfolded itself all the more, like the
- great lotus-plants blooming upon the depths of the waters.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius was calculating how much money he would have made in former days
- by the sale of these women; and with a rapid glance he estimated the
- weight of the golden necklaces as he passed by.
- </p>
- <p>
- The temple was impenetrable on this side as on the other, and they
- returned behind the first chamber. While Spendius was searching and
- ferreting, Matho was prostrate before the door supplicating Tanith. He
- besought her not to permit the sacrilege, and strove to soften her with
- caressing words, such as are used to an angry person.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius noticed a narrow aperture above the door.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Rise!” he said to Matho, and he made him stand erect with his
- back against the wall. Placing one foot in his hands, and then the other
- upon his head, he reached up to the air-hole, made his way into it and
- disappeared. Then Matho felt a knotted cord—that one which Spendius
- had rolled around his body before entering the cisterns—fall upon
- his shoulders, and bearing upon it with both hands he soon found himself
- by the side of the other in a large hall filled with shadow.
- </p>
- <p>
- Such an attempt was something extraordinary. The inadequacy of the means
- for preventing it was a sufficient proof that it was considered
- impossible. The sanctuaries were protected by terror more than by their
- walls. Matho expected to die at every step.
- </p>
- <p>
- However a light was flickering far back in the darkness, and they went up
- to it. It was a lamp burning in a shell on the pedestal of a statue which
- wore the cap of the Kabiri. Its long blue robe was strewn with diamond
- discs, and its heels were fastened to the ground by chains which sank
- beneath the pavement. Matho suppressed a cry. “Ah! there she is!
- there she is!” he stammered out. Spendius took up the lamp in order
- to light himself.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What an impious man you are!” murmured Matho, following him
- nevertheless.
- </p>
- <p>
- The apartment which they entered had nothing in it but a black painting
- representing another woman. Her legs reached to the top of the wall, and
- her body filled the entire ceiling; a huge egg hung by a thread from her
- navel, and she fell head downwards upon the other wall, reaching as far as
- the level of the pavement, which was touched by her pointed fingers.
- </p>
- <p>
- They drew a hanging aside, in order to go on further; but the wind blew
- and the light went out.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they wandered about, lost in the complications of the architecture.
- Suddenly they felt something strangely soft beneath their feet. Sparks
- crackled and leaped; they were walking in fire. Spendius touched the
- ground and perceived that it was carefully carpeted with lynx skins; then
- it seemed to them that a big cord, wet, cold, and viscous, was gliding
- between their legs. Through some fissures cut in the wall there fell thin
- white rays, and they advanced by this uncertain light. At last they
- distinguished a large black serpent. It darted quickly away and
- disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let us fly!” exclaimed Matho. “It is she! I feel her;
- she is coming.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No, no,” replied Spendius, “the temple is empty.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then a dazzling light made them lower their eyes. Next they perceived all
- around them an infinite number of beasts, lean, panting, with bristling
- claws, and mingled together one above another in a mysterious and
- terrifying confusion. There were serpents with feet, and bulls with wings,
- fishes with human heads were devouring fruit, flowers were blooming in the
- jaws of crocodiles, and elephants with uplifted trunks were sailing
- proudly through the azure like eagles. Their incomplete or multiplied
- limbs were distended with terrible exertion. As they thrust out their
- tongues they looked as though they would fain give forth their souls; and
- every shape was to be found among them as if the germ-receptacle had been
- suddenly hatched and had burst, emptying itself upon the walls of the
- hall.
- </p>
- <p>
- Round the latter were twelve globes of blue crystal, supported by monsters
- resembling tigers. Their eyeballs were starting out of their heads like
- those of snails, with their dumpy loins bent they were turning round
- towards the background where the supreme Rabbet, the Omnifecund, the last
- invented, shone splendid in a chariot of ivory.
- </p>
- <p>
- She was covered with scales, feathers, flowers, and birds as high as the
- waist. For earrings she had silver cymbals, which flapped against her
- cheeks. Her large fixed eyes gazed upon you, and a luminous stone, set in
- an obscene symbol on her brow, lighted the whole hall by its reflection in
- red copper mirrors above the door.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho stood a step forward; but a flag stone yielded beneath his heels and
- immediately the spheres began to revolve and the monsters to roar; music
- rose melodious and pealing, like the harmony of the planets; the
- tumultuous soul of Tanith was poured streaming forth. She was about to
- arise, as lofty as the hall and with open arms. Suddenly the monsters
- closed their jaws and the crystal globes revolved no more.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then a mournful modulation lingered for a time through the air and at last
- died away.
- </p>
- <p>
- “And the veil?” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nowhere could it be seen. Where was it to be found? How could it be
- discovered? What if the priests had hidden it? Matho experienced anguish
- of heart and felt as though he had been deceived in his belief.
- </p>
- <p>
- “This way!” whispered Spendius. An inspiration guided him. He
- drew Matho behind Tanith’s chariot, where a cleft a cubit wide ran
- down the wall from top to bottom.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they penetrated into a small and completely circular room, so lofty
- that it was like the interior of a pillar. In the centre there was a big
- black stone, of semispherical shape like a tabourine; flames were burning
- upon it; an ebony cone, bearing a head and two arms, rose behind.
- </p>
- <p>
- But beyond it seemed as though there were a cloud wherein were twinkling
- stars; faces appeared in the depths of its folds—Eschmoun with the
- Kabiri, some of the monsters that had already been seen, the sacred beasts
- of the Babylonians, and others with which they were not acquainted. It
- passed beneath the idol’s face like a mantle, and spread fully out
- was drawn up on the wall to which it was fastened by the corners,
- appearing at once bluish as the night, yellow as the dawn, purple as the
- sun, multitudinous, diaphanous, sparkling light. It was the mantle of the
- goddess, the holy zaïmph which might not be seen.
- </p>
- <p>
- Both turned pale.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Take it!” said Matho at last.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius did not hesitate, and leaning upon the idol he unfastened the
- veil, which sank to the ground. Matho laid his hand upon it; then he put
- his head through the opening, then he wrapped it about his body, and he
- spread out his arms the better to view it.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let us go!” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho stood panting with his eyes fixed upon the pavement. Suddenly he
- exclaimed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “But what if I went to her? I fear her beauty no longer! What could
- she do to me? I am now more than a man. I could pass through flames or
- walk upon the sea! I am transported! Salammbô! Salammbô! I am your master!”
- </p>
- <p>
- His voice was like thunder. He seemed to Spendius to have grown taller and
- transformed.
- </p>
- <p>
- A sound of footsteps drew near, a door opened, and a man appeared, a
- priest with lofty cap and staring eyes. Before he could make a gesture
- Spendius had rushed upon him, and clasping him in his arms had buried both
- his daggers in his sides. His head rang upon the pavement.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they stood for a while, as motionless as the corpse, listening.
- Nothing could be heard but the murmuring of the wind through the
- half-opened door.
- </p>
- <p>
- The latter led into a narrow passage. Spendius advanced along it, Matho
- followed him, and they found themselves almost immediately in the third
- enclosure, between the lateral porticoes, in which were the dwellings of
- the priests.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind the cells there must be a shorter way out. They hastened along.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius squatted down at the edge of the fountain and washed his
- bloodstained hands. The women slept. The emerald vine shone. They resumed
- their advance.
- </p>
- <p>
- But something was running behind them under the trees; and Matho, who bore
- the veil, several times felt that it was being pulled very gently from
- below. It was a large cynocephalus, one of those which dwelt at liberty
- within the enclosure of the goddess. It clung to the mantle as though it
- had been conscious of the theft. They did not dare to strike it, however,
- fearing that it might redouble its cries; suddenly its anger subsided, and
- it trotted close beside them swinging its body with its long hanging arms.
- Then at the barrier it leaped at a bound into a palm tree.
- </p>
- <p>
- When they had left the last enclosure they directed their steps towards
- Hamilcar’s palace, Spendius understanding that it would be useless
- to try to dissuade Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- They went by the street of the Tanners, the square of Muthumbal, the green
- market and the crossways of Cynasyn. At the angle of a wall a man drew
- back frightened by the sparkling thing which pierced the darkness.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Hide the zaïmph!” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Other people passed them, but without perceiving them.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last they recognised the houses of Megara.
- </p>
- <p>
- The pharos, which was built behind them on the summit of the cliff, lit up
- the heavens with a great red brightness, and the shadow of the palace,
- with its rising terraces, projected a monstrous pyramid, as it were, upon
- the gardens. They entered through the hedge of jujube-trees, beating down
- the branches with blows of the dagger.
- </p>
- <p>
- The traces of the feast of the Mercenaries were everywhere still manifest.
- The parks were broken up, the trenches drained, the doors of the
- ergastulum open. No one was to be seen about the kitchens or cellars. They
- wondered at the silence, which was occasionally broken by the hoarse
- breathing of the elephants moving in their shackles, and the crepitation
- of the pharos, in which a pile of aloes was burning.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, however, kept repeating:
- </p>
- <p>
- “But where is she? I wish to see her! Lead me!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “It is a piece of insanity!” Spendius kept saying. “She
- will call, her slaves will run up, and in spite of your strength you will
- die!”
- </p>
- <p>
- They reached thus the galley staircase. Matho raised his head, and thought
- that he could perceive far above a vague brightness, radiant and soft.
- Spendius sought to restrain him, but he dashed up the steps.
- </p>
- <p>
- As he found himself again in places where he had already seen her, the
- interval of the days that had passed was obliterated from his memory. But
- now had she been singing among the tables; she had disappeared, and he had
- since been continually ascending this staircase. The sky above his head
- was covered with fires; the sea filled the horizon; at each step he was
- surrounded by a still greater immensity, and he continued to climb upward
- with that strange facility which we experience in dreams.
- </p>
- <p>
- The rustling of the veil as it brushed against the stones recalled his new
- power to him; but in the excess of his hope he could no longer tell what
- he was to do; this uncertainty alarmed him.
- </p>
- <p>
- From time to time he would press his face against the quadrangular
- openings in the closed apartments, and he thought that in several of the
- latter he could see persons asleep.
- </p>
- <p>
- The last story, which was narrower, formed a sort of dado on the summit of
- the terraces. Matho walked round it slowly.
- </p>
- <p>
- A milky light filled the sheets of talc which closed the little apertures
- in the wall, and in their symmetrical arrangement they looked in the
- darkness like rows of delicate pearls. He recognised the red door with the
- black cross. The throbbing of his heart increased. He would fain have
- fled. He pushed the door and it opened.
- </p>
- <p>
- A galley-shaped lamp hung burning in the back part of the room, and three
- rays, emitted from its silver keel, trembled on the lofty wainscots, which
- were painted red with black bands. The ceiling was an assemblage of small
- beams, with amethysts and topazes amid their gilding in the knots of the
- wood. On both the great sides of the apartment there stretched a very low
- bed made with white leathern straps; while above, semi-circles like
- shells, opened in the thickness of the wall, suffered a garment to come
- out and hang down to the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- There was an oval basin with a step of onyx round it; delicate slippers of
- serpent skin were standing on the edge, together with an alabaster flagon.
- The trace of a wet footstep might be seen beyond. Exquisite scents were
- evaporating.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho glided over the pavement, which was encrusted with gold,
- mother-of-pearl, and glass; and, in spite of the polished smoothness of
- the ground, it seemed to him that his feet sank as though he were walking
- on sand.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind the silver lamp he had perceived a large square of azure held in
- the air by four cords from above, and he advanced with loins bent and
- mouth open.
- </p>
- <p>
- Flamingoes’ wings, fitted on branches of black coral, lay about
- among purple cushions, tortoiseshell strigils, cedar boxes, and ivory
- spatulas. There were antelopes’ horns with rings and bracelets
- strung upon them; and clay vases were cooling in the wind in the cleft of
- the wall with a lattice-work of reeds. Several times he struck his foot,
- for the ground had various levels of unequal height, which formed a
- succession of apartments, as it were, in the room. In the background there
- were silver balustrades surrounding a carpet strewn with painted flowers.
- At last he came to the hanging bed beside an ebony stool serving to get
- into it.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the light ceased at the edge;—and the shadow, like a great
- curtain, revealed only a corner of the red mattress with the extremity of
- a little naked foot lying upon its ankle. Then Matho took up the lamp very
- gently.
- </p>
- <p>
- She was sleeping with her cheek in one hand and with the other arm
- extended. Her ringlets were spread about her in such abundance that she
- appeared to be lying on black feathers, and her ample white tunic wound in
- soft draperies to her feet following the curves of her person. Her eyes
- were just visible beneath her half-closed eyelids. The curtains, which
- stretched perpendicularly, enveloped her in a bluish atmosphere, and the
- motion of her breathing, communicating itself to the cords, seemed to rock
- her in the air. A long mosquito was buzzing.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho stood motionless holding the silver lamp at arm’s length; but
- on a sudden the mosquito-net caught fire and disappeared, and Salammbô
- awoke.
- </p>
- <p>
- The fire had gone out of itself. She did not speak. The lamp caused great
- luminous moires to flicker on the wainscots.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What is it?” she said.
- </p>
- <p>
- He replied:
- </p>
- <p>
- “’Tis the veil of the goddess!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “The veil of the goddess!” cried Salammbô, and supporting
- herself on both clenched hands she leaned shuddering out. He resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “I have been in the depths of the sanctuary to seek it for you!
- Look!” The zaïmph shone a mass of rays.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Do you remember it?” said Matho. “You appeared at night
- in my dreams, but I did not guess the mute command of your eyes!”
- She put out one foot upon the ebony stool. “Had I understood I
- should have hastened hither, I should have forsaken the army, I should not
- have left Carthage. To obey you I would go down through the caverns of
- Hadrumetum into the kingdom of the shades!—Forgive me! it was as
- though mountains were weighing upon my days; and yet something drew me on!
- I tried to come to you! Should I ever have dared this without the Gods!—Let
- us go! You must follow me! or, if you do not wish to do so, I will remain.
- What matters it to me!—Drown my soul in your breath! Let my lips be
- crushed with kissing your hands!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let me see it!” she said. “Nearer! nearer!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with a
- vinous colour. Salammbô leaned fainting against the cushions of the bed.
- </p>
- <p>
- “I love you!” cried Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Give it!” she stammered out, and they drew closer together.
- </p>
- <p>
- She kept advancing, clothed in her white trailing simar, and with her
- large eyes fastened on the veil. Matho gazed at her, dazzled by the
- splendours of her head, and, holding out the zaïmph towards her, was about
- to enfold her in an embrace. She was stretching out her arms. Suddenly she
- stopped, and they stood looking at each other, open-mouthed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then without understanding the meaning of his solicitation a horror seized
- upon her. Her delicate eyebrows rose, her lips opened; she trembled. At
- last she struck one of the brass pateras which hung at the corners of the
- red mattress, crying:
- </p>
- <p>
- “To the rescue! to the rescue! Back, sacrilegious man! infamous and
- accursed! Help, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, Schaoul!”
- </p>
- <p>
- And the scared face of Spendius, appearing in the wall between the clay
- flagons, cried out these words:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Fly! they are hastening hither!”
- </p>
- <p>
- A great tumult came upwards shaking the staircases, and a flood of people,
- women, serving-men, and slaves, rushed into the room with stakes,
- tomahawks, cutlasses, and daggers. They were nearly paralysed with
- indignation on perceiving a man; the female servants uttered funeral
- wailings, and the eunuchs grew pale beneath their black skins.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho was standing behind the balustrades. With the zaïmph which was
- wrapped about him, he looked like a sidereal god surrounded by the
- firmament. The slaves were going to fall upon him, but she stopped them:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Touch it not! It is the mantle of the goddess!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She had drawn back into a corner; but she took a step towards him, and
- stretched forth her naked arm:
- </p>
- <p>
- “A curse upon you, you who have plundered Tanith! Hatred, vengeance,
- massacre, and grief! May Gurzil, god of battles, rend you! may Mastiman,
- god of the dead, stifle you! and may the Other—he who may not be
- named—burn you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho uttered a cry as though he had received a sword-thrust. She repeated
- several times: “Begone! begone!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The crowd of servants spread out, and Matho, with hanging head, passed
- slowly through the midst of them; but at the door he stopped, for the
- fringe of the zaïmph had caught on one of the golden stars with which the
- flagstones were paved. He pulled it off abruptly with a movement of his
- shoulder and went down the staircases.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius, bounding from terrace to terrace, and leaping over the hedges
- and trenches, had escaped from the gardens. He reached the foot of the
- pharos. The wall was discontinued at this spot, so inaccessible was the
- cliff. He advanced to the edge, lay down on his back, and let himself
- slide, feet foremost, down the whole length of it to the bottom; then by
- swimming he reached the Cape of the Tombs, made a wide circuit of the salt
- lagoon, and re-entered the camp of the Barbarians in the evening.
- </p>
- <p>
- The sun had risen; and, like a retreating lion, Matho went down the paths,
- casting terrible glances about him.
- </p>
- <p>
- A vague clamour reached his ears. It had started from the palace, and it
- was beginning afresh in the distance, towards the Acropolis. Some said
- that the treasure of the Republic had been seized in the temple of Moloch;
- others spoke of the assassination of a priest. It was thought, moreover,
- that the Barbarians had entered the city.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, who did not know how to get out of the enclosures, walked straight
- before him. He was seen, and an outcry was raised. Every one understood;
- and there was consternation, then immense wrath.
- </p>
- <p>
- From the bottom of the Mappalian quarter, from the heights of the
- Acropolis, from the catacombs, from the borders of the lake, the multitude
- came in haste. The patricians left their palaces, and the traders left
- their shops; the women forsook their children; swords, hatchets, and
- sticks were seized; but the obstacle which had stayed Salammbô stayed
- them. How could the veil be taken back? The mere sight of it was a crime;
- it was of the nature of the gods, and contact with it was death.
- </p>
- <p>
- The despairing priests wrung their hands on the peristyles of the temples.
- The guards of the Legion galloped about at random; the people climbed upon
- the houses, the terraces, the shoulders of the colossuses, and the masts
- of the ships. He went on, nevertheless, and the rage, and the terror also,
- increased at each of his steps; the streets cleared at his approach, and
- the torrent of flying men streamed on both sides up to the tops of the
- walls. Everywhere he could perceive only eyes opened widely as if to
- devour him, chattering teeth and outstretched fists, and Salammbô’s
- imprecations resounded many times renewed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly a long arrow whizzed past, then another, and stones began to buzz
- about him; but the missiles, being badly aimed (for there was the dread of
- hitting the zaïmph), passed over his head. Moreover, he made a shield of
- the veil, holding it to the right, to the left, before him and behind him;
- and they could devise no expedient. He quickened his steps more and more,
- advancing through the open streets. They were barred with cords, chariots,
- and snares; and all his windings brought him back again. At last he
- entered the square of Khamon where the Balearians had perished, and
- stopped, growing pale as one about to die. This time he was surely lost,
- and the multitude clapped their hands.
- </p>
- <p>
- He ran up to the great gate, which was closed. It was very high, made
- throughout of heart of oak, with iron nails and sheathed with brass. Matho
- flung himself against it. The people stamped their feet with joy when they
- saw the impotence of his fury; then he took his sandal, spit upon it, and
- beat the immovable panels with it. The whole city howled. The veil was
- forgotten now, and they were about to crush him. Matho gazed with wide
- vacant eyes upon the crowd. His temples were throbbing with violence
- enough to stun him, and he felt a numbness as of intoxication creeping
- over him. Suddenly he caught sight of the long chain used in working the
- swinging of the gate. With a bound he grasped it, stiffening his arms, and
- making a buttress of his feet, and at last the huge leaves partly opened.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then when he was outside he took the great zaïmph from his neck, and
- raised it as high as possible above his head. The material, upborne by the
- sea breeze, shone in the sunlight with its colours, its gems, and the
- figures of its gods. Matho bore it thus across the whole plain as far as
- the soldiers’ tents, and the people on the walls watched the fortune
- of Carthage depart.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER VI
- </h2>
- <h3>
- HANNO
- </h3>
- <p>
- “I ought to have carried her off!” Matho said in the evening
- to Spendius. “I should have seized her, and torn her from her house!
- No one would have dared to touch me!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius was not listening to him. Stretched on his back he was taking
- delicious rest beside a large jar filled with honey-coloured water, into
- which he would dip his head from time to time in order to drink more
- copiously.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “What is to be done? How can we re-enter Carthage?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I do not know,” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Such impassibility exasperated Matho and he exclaimed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why! the fault is yours! You carry me away, and then you forsake
- me, coward that you are! Why, pray, should I obey you? Do you think that
- you are my master? Ah! you prostituter, you slave, you son of a slave!”
- He ground his teeth and raised his broad hand above Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greek did not reply. An earthen lamp was burning gently against the
- tent-pole, where the zaïmph shone amid the hanging panoply. Suddenly Matho
- put on his cothurni, buckled on his brazen jacket of mail, and took his
- helmet.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Where are you going?” asked Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- “I am returning! Let me alone! I will bring her back! And if they
- show themselves I will crush them like vipers! I will put her to death,
- Spendius! Yes,” he repeated, “I will kill her! You shall see,
- I will kill her!”
- </p>
- <p>
- But Spendius, who was listening eagerly, snatched up the zaïmph abruptly
- and threw it into a corner, heaping up fleeces above it. A murmuring of
- voices was heard, torches gleamed, and Narr’ Havas entered, followed
- by about twenty men.
- </p>
- <p>
- They wore white woollen cloaks, long daggers, copper necklaces, wooden
- earrings, and boots of hyena skin; and standing on the threshold they
- leaned upon their lances like herdsmen resting themselves. Narr’
- Havas was the handsomest of all; his slender arms were bound with straps
- ornamented with pearls. The golden circlet which fastened his ample
- garment about his head held an ostrich feather which hung down behind his
- shoulder; his teeth were displayed in a continual smile; his eyes seemed
- sharpened like arrows, and there was something observant and airy about
- his whole demeanour.
- </p>
- <p>
- He declared that he had come to join the Mercenaries, for the Republic had
- long been threatening his kingdom. Accordingly he was interested in
- assisting the Barbarians, and he might also be of service to them.
- </p>
- <p>
- “I will provide you with elephants (my forests are full of them),
- wine, oil, barley, dates, pitch and sulphur for sieges, twenty thousand
- foot-soldiers and ten thousand horses. If I address myself to you, Matho,
- it is because the possession of the zaïmph has made you chief man in the
- army. Moreover,” he added, “we are old friends.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, however, was looking at Spendius, who, seated on the sheep-skins,
- was listening, and giving little nods of assent the while. Narr’
- Havas continued speaking. He called the gods to witness he cursed
- Carthage. In his imprecations he broke a javelin. All his men uttered
- simultaneously a loud howl, and Matho, carried away by so much passion,
- exclaimed that he accepted the alliance.
- </p>
- <p>
- A white bull and a black sheep, the symbols of day and night, were then
- brought, and their throats were cut on the edge of a ditch. When the
- latter was full of blood they dipped their arms into it. Then Narr’
- Havas spread out his hand upon Matho’s breast, and Matho did the
- same to Narr’ Havas. They repeated the stain upon the canvas of
- their tents. Afterwards they passed the night in eating, and the remaining
- portions of the meat were burnt together with the skin, bones, horns, and
- hoofs.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho had been greeted with great shouting when he had come back bearing
- the veil of the goddess; even those who were not of the Chanaanitish
- religion were made by their vague enthusiasm to feel the arrival of a
- genius. As to seizing the zaïmph, no one thought of it, for the mysterious
- manner in which he had acquired it was sufficient in the minds of the
- Barbarians to justify its possession; such were the thoughts of the
- soldiers of the African race. The others, whose hatred was not of such
- long standing, did not know how to make up their minds. If they had had
- ships they would immediately have departed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius, Narr’ Havas, and Matho despatched men to all the tribes on
- Punic soil.
- </p>
- <p>
- Carthage was sapping the strength of these nations. She wrung exorbitant
- taxes from them, and arrears or even murmurings were punished with
- fetters, the axe, or the cross. It was necessary to cultivate whatever
- suited the Republic, and to furnish what she demanded; no one had the
- right of possessing a weapon; when villages rebelled the inhabitants were
- sold; governors were esteemed like wine-presses, according to the quantity
- which they succeeded in extracting. Then beyond the regions immediately
- subject to Carthage extended the allies roamed the Nomads, who might be
- let loose upon them. By this system the crops were always abundant, the
- studs skilfully managed, and the plantations superb.
- </p>
- <p>
- The elder Cato, a master in the matters of tillage and slaves, was amazed
- at it ninety-two years later, and the death-cry which he repeated
- continually at Rome was but the exclamation of jealous greed.
- </p>
- <p>
- During the last war the exactions had been increased, so that nearly all
- the towns of Libya had surrendered to Regulus. To punish them, a thousand
- talents, twenty thousand oxen, three hundred bags of gold dust, and
- considerable advances of grain had been exacted from them, and the chiefs
- of the tribes had been crucified or thrown to the lions.
- </p>
- <p>
- Tunis especially execrated Carthage! Older than the metropolis, it could
- not forgive her her greatness, and it fronted her walls crouching in the
- mire on the water’s edge like a venomous beast watching her.
- Transportation, massacres, and epidemics did not weaken it. It had
- assisted Archagathas, the son of Agathocles, and the Eaters of Uncleanness
- found arms there at once.
- </p>
- <p>
- The couriers had not yet set out when universal rejoicing broke out in the
- provinces. Without waiting for anything they strangled the comptrollers of
- the houses and the functionaries of the Republic in the baths; they took
- the old weapons that had been concealed out of the caves; they forged
- swords with the iron of the ploughs; the children sharpened javelins at
- the doors, and the women gave their necklaces, rings, earrings, and
- everything that could be employed for the destruction of Carthage. Piles
- of lances were heaped up in the country towns like sheaves of maize.
- Cattle and money were sent off. Matho speedily paid the Mercenaries their
- arrears, and owing to this, which was Spendius’s idea, he was
- appointed commander-in-chief—the schalishim of the Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Reinforcements of men poured in at the same time. The aborigines appeared
- first, and were followed by the slaves from the country; caravans of
- Negroes were seized and armed, and merchants on their way to Carthage,
- despairing of any more certain profit, mingled with the Barbarians.
- Numerous bands were continually arriving. From the heights of the
- Acropolis the growing army might be seen.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the guards of the Legion were posted as sentries on the platform of
- the aqueduct, and near them rose at intervals brazen vats, in which floods
- of asphalt were boiling. Below in the plain the great crowd stirred
- tumultuously. They were in a state of uncertainty, feeling the
- embarrassment with which Barbarians are always inspired when they meet
- with walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- Utica and Hippo-Zarytus refused their alliance. Phonician colonies like
- Carthage, they were self-governing, and always had clauses inserted in the
- treaties concluded by the Republic to distinguish them from the latter.
- Nevertheless they respected this strong sister of theirs who protected
- them, and they did not think that she could be vanquished by a mass of
- Barbarians; these would on the contrary be themselves exterminated. They
- desired to remain neutral and to live at peace.
- </p>
- <p>
- But their position rendered them indispensable. Utica, at the foot of the
- gulf, was convenient for bringing assistance to Carthage from without. If
- Utica alone were taken, Hippo-Zarytus, six hours further distant along the
- coast, would take its place, and the metropolis, being revictualled in
- this way, would be impregnable.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius wished the siege to be undertaken immediately. Narr’ Havas
- was opposed to this: an advance should first be made upon the frontier.
- This was the opinion of the veterans, and of Matho himself, and it was
- decided that Spendius should go to attack Utica, and Matho Hippo-Zarytus,
- while in the third place the main body should rest on Tunis and occupy the
- plain of Carthage, Autaritus being in command. As to Narr’ Havas, he
- was to return to his own kingdom to procure elephants and to scour the
- roads with his cavalry.
- </p>
- <p>
- The women cried out loudly against this decision; they coveted the jewels
- of the Punic ladies. The Libyans also protested. They had been summoned
- against Carthage, and now they were going away from it! The soldiers
- departed almost alone. Matho commanded his own companions, together with
- the Iberians, Lusitanians, and the men of the West, and of the islands;
- all those who spoke Greek had asked for Spendius on account of his
- cleverness.
- </p>
- <p>
- Great was the stupefaction when the army was seen suddenly in motion; it
- stretched along beneath the mountain of Ariana on the road to Utica beside
- the sea. A fragment remained before Tunis, the rest disappeared to
- re-appear on the other shore of the gulf on the outskirts of the woods in
- which they were lost.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were perhaps eighty thousand men. The two Tyrian cities would offer
- no resistance, and they would return against Carthage. Already there was a
- considerable army attacking it from the base of the isthmus, and it would
- soon perish from famine, for it was impossible to live without the aid of
- the provinces, the citizens not paying contributions as they did at Rome.
- Carthage was wanting in political genius. Her eternal anxiety for gain
- prevented her from having the prudence which results from loftier
- ambitions. A galley anchored on the Libyan sands, it was with toil that
- she maintained her position. The nations roared like billows around her,
- and the slightest storm shook this formidable machine.
- </p>
- <p>
- The treasury was exhausted by the Roman war and by all that had been
- squandered and lost in the bargaining with the Barbarians. Nevertheless
- soldiers must be had, and not a government would trust the Republic!
- Ptolemæus had lately refused it two thousand talents. Moreover the rape of
- the veil disheartened them. Spendius had clearly foreseen this.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the nation, feeling that it was hated, clasped its money and its gods
- to its heart, and its patriotism was sustained by the very constitution of
- its government.
- </p>
- <p>
- First, the power rested with all, without any one being strong enough to
- engross it. Private debts were considered as public debts, men of
- Chanaanitish race had a monopoly of commerce, and by multiplying the
- profits of piracy with those of usury, by hard dealings in lands and
- slaves and with the poor, fortunes were sometimes made. These alone opened
- up all the magistracies, and although authority and money were perpetuated
- in the same families, people tolerated the oligarchy because they hoped
- ultimately to share in it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The societies of merchants, in which the laws were elaborated, chose the
- inspectors of the exchequer, who on leaving office nominated the hundred
- members of the Council of the Ancients, themselves dependent on the Grand
- Assembly, or general gathering of all the rich. As to the two Suffets, the
- relics of the monarchy and the less than consuls, they were taken from
- distinct families on the same day. All kinds of enmities were contrived
- between them, so that they might mutually weaken each other. They could
- not deliberate concerning war, and when they were vanquished the Great
- Council crucified them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The power of Carthage emanated, therefore, from the Syssitia, that is to
- say, from a large court in the centre of Malqua, at the place, it was
- said, where the first bark of Phonician sailors had touched, the sea
- having retired a long way since then. It was a collection of little rooms
- of archaic architecture, built of palm trunks with corners of stone, and
- separated from one another so as to accommodate the various societies
- separately. The rich crowded there all day to discuss their own concerns
- and those of the government, from the procuring of pepper to the
- extermination of Rome. Thrice in a moon they would have their beds brought
- up to the lofty terrace running along the wall of the court, and they
- might be seen from below at table in the air, without cothurni or cloaks,
- with their diamond-covered fingers wandering over the dishes, and their
- large earrings hanging down among the flagons,—all fat and lusty,
- half-naked, smiling and eating beneath the blue sky, like great sharks
- sporting in the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- But just now they were unable to dissemble their anxiety; they were too
- pale for that. The crowd which waited for them at the gates escorted them
- to their palaces in order to obtain some news from them. As in times of
- pestilence, all the houses were shut; the streets would fill and suddenly
- clear again; people ascended the Acropolis or ran to the harbour, and the
- Great Council deliberated every night. At last the people were convened in
- the square of Khamon, and it was decided to leave the management of things
- to Hanno, the conqueror of Hecatompylos.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was a true Carthaginian, devout, crafty, and pitiless towards the
- people of Africa. His revenues equalled those of the Barcas. No one had
- such experience in administrative affairs.
- </p>
- <p>
- He decreed the enrolment of all healthy citizens, he placed catapults on
- the towers, he exacted exorbitant supplies of arms, he even ordered the
- construction of fourteen galleys which were not required, and he desired
- everything to be registered and carefully set down in writing. He had
- himself conveyed to the arsenal, the pharos, and the treasuries of the
- temples; his great litter was continually to be seen swinging from step to
- step as it ascended the staircases of the Acropolis. And then in his
- palace at night, being unable to sleep, he would yell out warlike
- manouvres in terrible tones so as to prepare himself for the fray.
- </p>
- <p>
- In their extremity of terror all became brave. The rich ranged themselves
- in line along the Mappalian district at cockcrow, and tucking up their
- robes practised themselves in handling the pike. But for want of an
- instructor they had disputes about it. They would sit down breathless upon
- the tombs and then begin again. Several even dieted themselves. Some
- imagined that it was necessary to eat a great deal in order to acquire
- strength, while others who were inconvenienced by their corpulence
- weakened themselves with fasts in order to become thin.
- </p>
- <p>
- Utica had already called several times upon Carthage for assistance; but
- Hanno would not set out until the engines of war had been supplied with
- the last screws. He lost three moons more in equipping the one hundred and
- twelve elephants that were lodged in the ramparts. They were the
- conquerors of Regulus; the people loved them; it was impossible to treat
- such old friends too well. Hanno had the brass plates which adorned their
- breasts recast, their tusks gilt, their towers enlarged, and caparisons,
- edged with very heavy fringes, cut out of the handsomest purple. Finally,
- as their drivers were called Indians (after the first ones, no doubt, who
- came from the Indies) he ordered them all to be costumed after the Indian
- fashion; that is to say, with white pads round their temples, and small
- drawers of byssus, which with their transverse folds looked like two
- valves of a shell applied to the hips.
- </p>
- <p>
- The army under Autaritus still remained before Tunis. It was hidden behind
- a wall made with mud from the lake, and protected on the top by thorny
- brushwood. Some Negroes had planted tall sticks here and there bearing
- frightful faces,—human masks made with birds’ feathers, and
- jackals’ or serpents’ heads,—which gaped towards the
- enemy for the purpose of terrifying him; and the Barbarians, reckoning
- themselves invincible through these means, danced, wrestled, and juggled,
- convinced that Carthage would perish before long. Any one but Hanno would
- easily have crushed such a multitude, hampered as it was with herds and
- women. Moreover, they knew nothing of drill, and Autaritus was so
- disheartened that he had ceased to require it.
- </p>
- <p>
- They stepped aside when he passed by rolling his big blue eyes. Then on
- reaching the edge of the lake he would draw back his sealskin cloak,
- unfasten the cord which tied up his long red hair, and soak the latter in
- the water. He regretted that he had not deserted to the Romans along with
- the two thousand Gauls of the temple of Eryx.
- </p>
- <p>
- Often the sun would suddenly lose his rays in the middle of the day. Then
- the gulf and the open sea would seem as motionless as molten lead. A cloud
- of brown dust stretching perpendicularly would speed whirling along; the
- palm trees would bend and the sky disappear, while stones would be heard
- rebounding on the animals’ cruppers; and the Gaul, his lips glued
- against the holes in his tent, would gasp with exhaustion and melancholy.
- His thoughts would be of the scent of the pastures on autumn mornings, of
- snowflakes, or of the bellowing of the urus lost in the fog, and closing
- his eyelids he would in imagination behold the fires in long, straw-roofed
- cottages flickering on the marshes in the depths of the woods.
- </p>
- <p>
- Others regretted their native lands as well as he, even though they might
- not be so far away. Indeed the Carthaginian captives could distinguish the
- velaria spread over the courtyards of their houses, beyond the gulf on the
- slopes of Byrsa. But sentries marched round them continually. They were
- all fastened to a common chain. Each one wore an iron carcanet, and the
- crowd was never weary of coming to gaze at them. The women would show
- their little children the handsome robes hanging in tatters on their
- wasted limbs.
- </p>
- <p>
- Whenever Autaritus looked at Gisco he was seized with rage at the
- recollection of the insult that he had received, and he would have killed
- him but for the oath which he had taken to Narr’ Havas. Then he
- would go back into his tent and drink a mixture of barley and cumin until
- he swooned away from intoxication,—to awake afterwards in broad
- daylight consumed with horrible thirst.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, meanwhile, was besieging Hippo-Zarytus. But the town was protected
- by a lake, communicating with the sea. It had three lines of
- circumvallation, and upon the heights which surrounded it there extended a
- wall fortified with towers. He had never commanded in such an enterprise
- before. Moreover, he was beset with thoughts of Salammbô, and he raved in
- the delight of her beauty as in the sweetness of a vengeance that
- transported him with pride. He felt an acrid, frenzied, permanent want to
- see her again. He even thought of presenting himself as the bearer of a
- flag of truce, in the hope that once within Carthage he might make his way
- to her. Often he would cause the assault to be sounded and waiting for
- nothing rush upon the mole which it was sought to construct in the sea. He
- would snatch up the stones with his hands, overturn, strike, and deal
- sword-thrusts everywhere. The Barbarians would dash on pell-mell; the
- ladders would break with a loud crash, and masses of men would tumble into
- the water, causing it to fly up in red waves against the walls. Finally
- the tumult would subside, and the soldiers would retire to make a fresh
- beginning.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho would go and seat himself outside the tents, wipe his blood-splashed
- face with his arm, and gaze at the horizon in the direction of Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- In front of him, among the olives, palms, myrtles and planes, stretched
- two broad ponds which met another lake, the outlines of which could not be
- seen. Behind one mountain other mountains reared themselves, and in the
- middle of the immense lake rose an island perfectly black and pyramidal in
- form. On the left, at the extremity of the gulf, were sand-heaps like
- arrested waves, large and pale, while the sea, flat as a pavement of
- lapis-lazuli, ascended by insensible degrees to the edge of the sky. The
- verdure of the country was lost in places beneath long sheets of yellow;
- carobs were shining like knobs of coral; vine branches drooped from the
- tops of the sycamores; the murmuring of the water could be heard; crested
- larks were hopping about, and the sun’s latest fires gilded the
- carapaces of the tortoises as they came forth from the reeds to inhale the
- breeze.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho would heave deep sighs. He would lie flat on his face, with his
- nails buried in the soil, and weep; he felt wretched, paltry, forsaken.
- Never would he possess her, and he was unable even to take a town.
- </p>
- <p>
- At night when alone in his tent he would gaze upon the zaïmph. Of what use
- to him was this thing which belonged to the gods?—and doubt crept
- into the Barbarian’s thoughts. Then, on the contrary, it would seem
- to him that the vesture of the goddess was depending from Salammbô, and
- that a portion of her soul hovered in it, subtler than a breath; and he
- would feel it, breathe it in, bury his face in it, and kiss it with sobs.
- He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself that he
- was beside her.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over the
- sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon a horse
- on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in Spendius’s
- tent.
- </p>
- <p>
- At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease his
- sorrow by talking about Salammbô. Spendius exhorted him to be prudent.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them!
- Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if Carthage
- is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces. We shall become
- kings!”
- </p>
- <p>
- But how was it that the possession of the zaïmph did not give them the
- victory? According to Spendius they must wait.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race
- exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself:
- “The zaïmph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have
- lost it, it will do nothing for them.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Afterwards a scruple troubled him. He was afraid of offending Moloch by
- worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked
- Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a man.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Keep on sacrificing!” laughed Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek of
- having a genius of whom he did not speak.
- </p>
- <p>
- All modes of worship, as well as all races, were to be met with in these
- armies of Barbarians, and consideration was had to the gods of others, for
- they too, inspired fear. Many mingled foreign practices with their native
- religion. It was to no purpose that they did not adore the stars; if a
- constellation were fatal or helpful, sacrifices were offered to it; an
- unknown amulet found by chance at a moment of peril became a divinity; or
- it might be a name and nothing more, which would be repeated without any
- attempt to understand its meaning. But after pillaging temples, and seeing
- numbers of nations and slaughters, many ultimately ceased to believe in
- anything but destiny and death;—and every evening these would fall
- asleep with the placidity of wild beasts. Spendius had spit upon the
- images of Jupiter Olympius; nevertheless he dreaded to speak aloud in the
- dark, nor did he fail every day to put on his right boot first.
- </p>
- <p>
- He reared a long quadrangular terrace in front of Utica, but in proportion
- as it ascended the rampart was also heightened, and what was thrown down
- by the one side was almost immediately raised again by the other. Spendius
- took care of his men; he dreamed of plans and strove to recall the
- stratagems which he had heard described in his travels. But why did Narr’
- Havas not return? There was nothing but anxiety.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno had at last concluded his preparations. One night when there was no
- moon he transported his elephants and soldiers on rafts across the Gulf of
- Carthage. Then they wheeled round the mountain of the Hot Springs so as to
- avoid Autaritus, and continued their march so slowly that instead of
- surprising the Barbarians in the morning, as the Suffet had calculated,
- they did not reach them until it was broad daylight on the third day.
- </p>
- <p>
- Utica had on the east a plain which extended to the large lagoon of
- Carthage; behind it a valley ran at right angles between two low and
- abruptly terminated mountains; the Barbarians were encamped further to the
- left in such a way as to blockade the harbour; and they were sleeping in
- their tents (for on that day both sides were too weary to fight and were
- resting) when the Carthaginian army appeared at the turning of the hills.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some camp followers furnished with slings were stationed at intervals on
- the wings. The first line was formed of the guards of the Legion in golden
- scale-armour, mounted on their big horses, which were without mane, hair,
- or ears, and had silver horns in the middle of their foreheads to make
- them look like rhinoceroses. Between their squadrons were youths wearing
- small helmets and swinging an ashen javelin in each hand. The long files
- of the heavy infantry marched behind. All these traders had piled as many
- weapons upon their bodies as possible. Some might be seen carrying an axe,
- a lance, a club, and two swords all at once; others bristled with darts
- like porcupines, and their arms stood out from their cuirasses in sheets
- of horn or iron plates. At last the scaffoldings of the lofty engines
- appeared: carrobalistas, onagers, catapults and scorpions, rocking on
- chariots drawn by mules and quadrigas of oxen; and in proportion as the
- army drew out, the captains ran panting right and left to deliver
- commands, close up the files, and preserve the intervals. Such of the
- Ancients as held commands had come in purple cassocks, the magnificent
- fringes of which tangled in the white straps of their cothurni. Their
- faces, which were smeared all over with vermilion, shone beneath enormous
- helmets surmounted with images of the gods; and, as they had shields with
- ivory borders covered with precious stones, they might have been taken for
- suns passing over walls of brass.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the Carthaginians manouvred so clumsily that the soldiers in derision
- urged them to sit down. They called out that they were just going to empty
- their big stomachs, to dust the gilding of their skin, and to give them
- iron to drink.
- </p>
- <p>
- A strip of green cloth appeared at the top of the pole planted before
- Spendius’s tent: it was the signal. The Carthaginian army replied to
- it with a great noise of trumpets, cymbals, flutes of asses’ bones,
- and tympanums. The Barbarians had already leaped outside the palisades,
- and were facing their enemies within a javelin’s throw of them.
- </p>
- <p>
- A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets into
- his thong, and swung round his arm. An ivory shield was shivered, and the
- two armies mingled together.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greeks made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by
- pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. The slaves who
- were to hurl stones had picked such as were too big, and they accordingly
- fell close to them. The Punic foot-soldiers exposed the right side in
- cutting with their long swords. The Barbarians broke their lines; they
- slaughtered them freely; they stumbled over the dying and dead, quite
- blinded by the blood that spurted into their faces. The confused heap of
- pikes, helmets, cuirasses and swords turned round about, widening out and
- closing in with elastic contractions. The gaps increased more and more in
- the Carthaginian cohorts, the engines could not get out of the sand; and
- finally the Suffet’s litter (his grand litter with crystal
- pendants), which from the beginning might have been seen tossing among the
- soldiers like a bark on the waves, suddenly foundered. He was no doubt
- dead. The Barbarians found themselves alone.
- </p>
- <p>
- The dust around them fell and they were beginning to sing, when Hanno
- himself appeared on the top of an elephant. He sat bare-headed beneath a
- parasol of byssus which was carried by a Negro behind him. His necklace of
- blue plates flapped against the flowers on his black tunic; his huge arms
- were compressed within circles of diamonds, and with open mouth he
- brandished a pike of inordinate size, which spread out at the end like a
- lotus, and flashed more than a mirror. Immediately the earth shook,—and
- the Barbarians saw all the elephants of Carthage, with their gilt tusks
- and blue-painted ears, hastening up in single line, clothed with bronze
- and shaking the leathern towers which were placed above their scarlet
- caparisons, in each of which were three archers bending large bows.
- </p>
- <p>
- The soldiers were barely in possession of their arms; they had taken up
- their positions at random. They were frozen with terror; they stood
- undecided.
- </p>
- <p>
- Javelins, arrows, phalaricas, and masses of lead were already being
- showered down upon them from the towers. Some clung to the fringes of the
- caparisons in order to climb up, but their hands were struck off with
- cutlasses and they fell backwards upon the swords’ points. The pikes
- were too weak and broke, and the elephants passed through the phalanxes
- like wild boars through tufts of grass; they plucked up the stakes of the
- camp with their trunks, and traversed it from one end to the other,
- overthrowing the tents with their breasts. All the Barbarians had fled.
- They were hiding themselves in the hills bordering the valley by which the
- Carthaginians had come.
- </p>
- <p>
- The victorious Hanno presented himself before the gates of Utica. He had a
- trumpet sounded. The three Judges of the town appeared in the opening of
- the battlements on the summit of a tower.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the people of Utica would not receive such well-armed guests. Hanno
- was furious. At last they consented to admit him with a feeble escort.
- </p>
- <p>
- The streets were too narrow for the elephants. They had to be left
- outside.
- </p>
- <p>
- As soon as the Suffet was in the town the principal men came to greet him.
- He had himself taken to the vapour baths, and called for his cooks.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- Three hours afterwards he was still immersed in the oil of cinnamomum with
- which the basin had been filled; and while he bathed he ate flamingoes’
- tongues with honied poppy-seeds on a spread ox-hide. Beside him was his
- Greek physician, motionless, in a long yellow robe, directing the
- re-heating of the bath from time to time, and two young boys leaned over
- the steps of the basin and rubbed his legs. But attention to his body did
- not check his love for the commonwealth, for he was dictating a letter to
- be sent to the Great Council, and as some prisoners had just been taken he
- was asking himself what terrible punishment could be devised.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Stop!” said he to a slave who stood writing in the hollow of
- his hand. “Let some of them be brought to me! I wish to see them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- And from the bottom of the hall, full of a whitish vapour on which the
- torches cast red spots, three Barbarians were thrust forward: a Samnite, a
- Spartan, and a Cappadocian.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Proceed!” said Hanno.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Rejoice, light of the Baals! your Suffet has exterminated the
- ravenous hounds! Blessings on the Republic! Give orders for prayers!”
- He perceived the captives and burst out laughing: “Ah! ha! my fine
- fellows of Sicca! You are not shouting so loudly to-day! It is I! Do you
- recognise me? And where are your swords? What really terrible fellows!”
- and he pretended to be desirous to hide himself as if he were afraid of
- them. “You demanded horses, women, estates, magistracies, no doubt,
- and priesthoods! Why not? Well, I will provide you with the estates, and
- such as you will never come out of! You shall be married to gibbets that
- are perfectly new! Your pay? it shall be melted in your mouths in leaden
- ingots! and I will put you into good and very exalted positions among the
- clouds, so as to bring you close to the eagles!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The three long-haired and ragged Barbarians looked at him without
- understanding what he said. Wounded in the knees, they had been seized by
- having ropes thrown over them, and the ends of the great chains on their
- hands trailed upon the pavement. Hanno was indignant at their
- impassibility.
- </p>
- <p>
- “On your knees! on your knees! jackals! dust! vermin! excrements!
- And they make no reply! Enough! be silent! Let them be flayed alive! No!
- presently!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He was breathing like a hippopotamus and rolling his eyes. The perfumed
- oil overflowed beneath the mass of his body, and clinging to the scales on
- his skin, made it look pink in the light of the torches.
- </p>
- <p>
- He resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “For four days we suffered greatly from the sun. Some mules were
- lost in crossing the Macaras. In spite of their position, the
- extraordinary courage—Ah! Demonades! how I suffer! Have the bricks
- reheated, and let them be red-hot!”
- </p>
- <p>
- A noise of rakes and furnaces was heard. The incense smoked more strongly
- in the large perfuming pans, and the shampooers, who were quite naked and
- were sweating like sponges, crushed a paste composed of wheat, sulphur,
- black wine, bitch’s milk, myrrh, galbanum and storax upon his
- joints. He was consumed with incessant thirst, but the yellow-robed man
- did not yield to this inclination, and held out to him a golden cup in
- which viper broth was smoking.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Drink!” said he, “that strength of sun-born serpents
- may penetrate into the marrow of your bones, and take courage, O
- reflection of the gods! You know, moreover, that a priest of Eschmoun
- watches those cruel stars round the Dog from which your malady is derived.
- They are growing pale like the spots on your skin, and you are not to die
- from them.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Oh! yes, that is so, is it not?” repeated the Suffet, “I
- am not to die from them!” And his violaceous lips gave forth a
- breath more nauseous than the exhalation from a corpse. Two coals seemed
- to burn in the place of his eyes, which had lost their eyebrows; a mass of
- wrinkled skin hung over his forehead; both his ears stood out from his
- head and were beginning to increase in size; and the deep lines forming
- semicircles round his nostrils gave him a strange and terrifying
- appearance, the look of a wild beast. His unnatural voice was like a roar;
- he said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Perhaps you are right, Demonades. In fact there are many ulcers
- here which have closed. I feel robust. Here! look how I am eating!”
- </p>
- <p>
- And less from greediness than from ostentation, and the desire to prove to
- himself that he was in good health, he cut into the forcemeats of cheese
- and marjoram, the boned fish, gourds, oysters with eggs, horse-radishes,
- truffles, and brochettes of small birds. As he looked at the prisoners he
- revelled in the imagination of their tortures. Nevertheless he remembered
- Sicca, and the rage caused by all his woes found vent in the abuse of
- these three men.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! traitors! ah! wretches! infamous, accursed creatures! And you
- outraged me!—me! the Suffet! Their services, the price of their
- blood, say they! Ah! yes! their blood! their blood!” Then speaking
- to himself:—“All shall perish! not one shall be sold! It would
- be better to bring them to Carthage! I should be seen—but doubtless,
- I have not brought chains enough? Write: Send me—How many of them
- are there? go and ask Muthumbal! Go! no pity! and let all their hands be
- cut off and brought to me in baskets!”
- </p>
- <p>
- But strange cries at once hoarse and shrill penetrated into the hall above
- Hanno’s voice and the rattling of the dishes that were being placed
- around him. They increased, and suddenly the furious trumpeting of the
- elephants burst forth as if the battle were beginning again. A great
- tumult was going on around the town.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians had not attempted to pursue the Barbarians. They had
- taken up their quarters at the foot of the walls with their baggage,
- mules, serving men, and all their train of satraps; and they made merry in
- their beautiful pearl-bordered tents, while the camp of the Mercenaries
- was now nothing but a heap of ruins in the plain. Spendius had recovered
- his courage. He dispatched Zarxas to Matho, scoured the woods, rallied his
- men (the losses had been inconsiderable),—and they were re-forming
- their lines enraged at having been conquered without a fight, when they
- discovered a vat of petroleum which had no doubt been abandoned by the
- Carthaginians. Then Spendius had some pigs carried off from the farms,
- smeared them with bitumen, set them on fire, and drove them towards Utica.
- </p>
- <p>
- The elephants were terrified by the flames and fled. The ground sloped
- upwards, javelins were thrown at them, and they turned back;—and
- with great blows of ivory and trampling feet they ripped up the
- Carthaginians, stifled them, flattened them. The Barbarians descended the
- hill behind them; the Punic camp, which was without entrenchments was
- sacked at the first rush, and the Carthaginians were crushed against the
- gates, which were not opened through fear of the Mercenaries.
- </p>
- <p>
- Day broke, and Matho’s foot-soldiers were seen coming up from the
- west. At the same time horsemen appeared; they were Narr’ Havas with
- his Numidians. Leaping ravines and bushes they ran down the fugitives like
- greyhounds pursuing hares. This change of fortune interrupted the Suffet.
- He called out to be assisted to leave the vapour bath.
- </p>
- <p>
- The three captives were still before him. Then a Negro (the same who had
- carried his parasol in the battle) leaned over to his ear.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Well?” replied the Suffet slowly. “Ah! kill them!”
- he added in an abrupt tone.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Ethiopian drew a long dagger from his girdle and the three heads fell.
- One of them rebounded among the remains of the feast, and leaped into the
- basin, where it floated for some time with open mouth and staring eyes.
- The morning light entered through the chinks in the wall; the three bodies
- streamed with great bubbles like three fountains, and a sheet of blood
- flowed over the mosaics with their powdering of blue dust. The Suffet
- dipped his hand into this hot mire and rubbed his knees with it: it was a
- cure.
- </p>
- <p>
- When evening had come he stole away from the town with his escort, and
- made his way into the mountain to rejoin his army.
- </p>
- <p>
- He succeeded in finding the remains of it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Four days afterward he was on the top of a defile at Gorza, when the
- troops under Spendius appeared below. Twenty stout lances might easily
- have checked them by attacking the head of their column, but the
- Carthaginians watched them pass by in a state of stupefaction. Hanno
- recognised the king of the Numidians in the rearguard; Narr’ Havas
- bowed to him, at the same time making a sign which he did not understand.
- </p>
- <p>
- The return to Carthage took place amid all kinds of terrors. They marched
- only at night, hiding in the olive woods during the day. There were deaths
- at every halting-place; several times they believed themselves lost. At
- last they reached Cape Hermæum, where vessels came to receive them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno was so fatigued, so desperate—the loss of the elephants in
- particular overwhelmed him—that he demanded poison from Demonades in
- order to put an end to it all. Moreover he could already feel himself
- stretched upon the cross.
- </p>
- <p>
- Carthage had not strength enough to be indignant with him. Its losses had
- amounted to one hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy-two shekels of
- silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three shekels of gold,
- eighteen elephants, fourteen members of the Great Council, three hundred
- of the rich, eight thousand citizens, corn enough for three moons, a
- considerable quantity of baggage, and all the engines of war! The
- defection of Narr’ Havas was certain, and both sieges were beginning
- again. The army under Autaritus now extended from Tunis to Rhades. From
- the top of the Acropolis long columns of smoke might be seen in the
- country ascending to the sky; they were the mansions of the rich, which
- were on fire.
- </p>
- <p>
- One man alone could have saved the Republic. People repented that they had
- slighted him, and the peace party itself voted holocausts for Hamilcar’s
- return.
- </p>
- <p>
- The sight of the zaïmph had upset Salammbô. At night she thought that she
- could hear the footsteps of the goddess, and she would awake terrified and
- shrieking. Every day she sent food to the temples. Taanach was worn out
- with executing her orders, and Schahabarim never left her.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER VII
- </h2>
- <h3>
- HAMILCAR BARCA
- </h3>
- <p>
- The Announcer of the Moons, who watched on the summit of the temple of
- Eschmoun every night in order to signal the disturbances of the planet
- with his trumpet, one morning perceived towards the west something like a
- bird skimming the surface of the sea with its long wings.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a ship with three tiers of oars and with a horse carved on the
- prow. The sun was rising; the Announcer of the Moons put up his hand
- before his eyes, and then grasping his clarion with outstretched arms
- sounded a loud brazen cry over Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- People came out of every house; they would not believe what was said; they
- disputed with one another; the mole was covered with people. At last they
- recognised Hamilcar’s trireme.
- </p>
- <p>
- It advanced in fierce and haughty fashion, cleaving the foam around it,
- the lateen-yard quite square and the sail bulging down the whole length of
- the mast; its gigantic oars kept time as they beat the water; every now
- and then the extremity of the keel, which was shaped like a plough-share,
- would appear, and the ivory-headed horse, rearing both its feet beneath
- the spur which terminated the prow, would seem to be speeding over the
- plains of the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- As it rounded the promontory the wind ceased, the sail fell, and a man was
- seen standing bareheaded beside the pilot. It was he, Hamilcar, the
- Suffet! About his sides he wore gleaming sheets of steel; a red cloak,
- fastened to his shoulders, left his arms visible; two pearls of great
- length hung from his ears, and his black, bushy beard rested on his
- breast.
- </p>
- <p>
- The galley, however, tossing amid the rocks, was proceeding along the side
- of the mole, and the crowd followed it on the flag-stones, shouting:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Greeting! blessing! Eye of Khamon! ah! deliver us! ’Tis the
- fault of the rich! they want to put you to death! Take care of yourself,
- Barca!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He made no reply, as if the loud clamour of oceans and battles had
- completely deafened him. But when he was below the staircase leading down
- from the Acropolis, Hamilcar raised his head, and looked with folded arms
- upon the temple of Eschmoun. His gaze mounted higher still, to the great
- pure sky; he shouted an order in a harsh voice to his sailors; the trireme
- leaped forward; it grazed the idol set up at the corner of the mole to
- stay the storms; and in the merchant harbour, which was full of filth,
- fragments of wood, and rinds of fruit, it pushed aside and crushed against
- the other ships moored to stakes and terminating in crocodiles’
- jaws. The people hastened thither, and some threw themselves into the
- water to swim to it. It was already at the very end before the gate which
- bristled with nails. The gate rose, and the trireme disappeared beneath
- the deep arch.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Military Harbour was completely separated from the town; when
- ambassadors arrived, they had to proceed between two walls through a
- passage which had its outlet on the left in front of the temple of Khamon.
- This great expanse of water was as round as a cup, and was bordered with
- quays on which sheds were built for sheltering the ships. Before each of
- these rose two pillars bearing the horns of Ammon on their capitals and
- forming continuous porticoes all round the basin. On an island in the
- centre stood a house for the marine Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- The water was so limpid that the bottom was visible with its paving of
- white pebbles. The noise of the streets did not reach so far, and Hamilcar
- as he passed recognised the triremes which he had formerly commanded.
- </p>
- <p>
- Not more than twenty perhaps remained, under shelter on the land, leaning
- over on their sides or standing upright on their keels, with lofty poops
- and swelling prows, and covered with gildings and mystic symbols. The
- chimaeras had lost their wings, the Patæc Gods their arms, the bulls their
- silver horns;—and half-painted, motionless, and rotten as they were,
- yet full of associations, and still emitting the scent of voyages, they
- all seemed to say to him, like mutilated soldiers on seeing their master
- again, “’Tis we! ’Tis we! and <i>you</i> too are
- vanquished!”
- </p>
- <p>
- No one excepting the marine Suffet might enter the admiral’s house.
- So long as there was no proof of his death he was considered as still in
- existence. In this way the Ancients avoided a master the more, and they
- had not failed to comply with the custom in respect to Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet proceeded into the deserted apartments. At every step he
- recognised armour and furniture—familiar objects which nevertheless
- astonished him, and in a perfuming-pan in the vestibule there even
- remained the ashes of the perfumes that had been kindled at his departure
- for the conjuration of Melkarth. It was not thus that he had hoped to
- return. Everything that he had done, everything that he had seen, unfolded
- itself in his memory: assaults, conflagrations, legions, tempests,
- Drepanum, Syracuse, Lilybæum, Mount Etna, the plateau of Eryx, five years
- of battles,—until the fatal day when arms had been laid down and
- Sicily had been lost. Then he once more saw the woods of citron-trees, and
- herdsmen with their goats on grey mountains; and his heart leaped at the
- thought of the establishment of another Carthage down yonder. His projects
- and his recollections buzzed through his head, which was still dizzy from
- the pitching of the vessel; he was overwhelmed with anguish, and, becoming
- suddenly weak, he felt the necessity of drawing near to the gods.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he went up to the highest story of his house, and taking a
- nail-studded staple from a golden shell, which hung on his arm, he opened
- a small oval chamber.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was softly lighted by means of delicate black discs let into the wall
- and as transparent as glass. Between the rows of these equal discs, holes,
- like those for the urns in columbaria, were hollowed out. Each of them
- contained a round dark stone, which appeared to be very heavy. Only people
- of superior understanding honoured these abaddirs, which had fallen from
- the moon. By their fall they denoted the stars, the sky, and fire; by
- their colour dark night, and by their density the cohesion of terrestrial
- things. A stifling atmosphere filled this mystic place. The round stones
- lying in the niches were whitened somewhat with sea-sand which the wind
- had no doubt driven through the door. Hamilcar counted them one after
- another with the tip of his finger; then he hid his face in a
- saffron-coloured veil, and, falling on his knees, stretched himself on the
- ground with both arms extended.
- </p>
- <p>
- The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters of
- black lattice-work. Arborescences, hillocks, eddies, and ill-defined
- animals appeared in their diaphanous thickness; and the light came
- terrifying and yet peaceful as it must be behind the sun in the dull
- spaces of future creations. He strove to banish from his thoughts all
- forms, and all symbols and appellations of the gods, that he might the
- better apprehend the immutable spirit which outward appearances took away.
- Something of the planetary vitalities penetrated him, and he felt withal a
- wiser and more intimate scorn of death and of every accident. When he rose
- he was filled with serene fearlessness and was proof against pity or
- dread, and as his chest was choking he went to the top of the tower which
- overlooked Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- The town sank downwards in a long hollow curve, with its cupolas, its
- temples, its golden roofs, its houses, its clusters of palm trees here and
- there, and its glass balls with streaming rays, while the ramparts formed,
- as it were, the gigantic border of this horn of plenty which poured itself
- out before him. Far below he could see the harbours, the squares, the
- interiors of the courts, the plan of the streets, and the people, who
- seemed very small and but little above the level of the pavement. Ah! if
- Hanno had not arrived too late on the morning of the Ægatian islands! He
- fastened his eyes on the extreme horizon and stretched forth his quivering
- arms in the direction of Rome.
- </p>
- <p>
- The steps of the Acropolis were occupied by the multitude. In the square
- of Khamon the people were pressing forwards to see the Suffet come out,
- and the terraces were gradually being loaded with people; a few recognised
- him, and he was saluted; but he retired in order the better to excite the
- impatience of the people.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar found the most important men of his party below in the hall:
- Istatten, Subeldia, Hictamon, Yeoubas and others. They related to him all
- that had taken place since the conclusion of the peace: the greed of the
- Ancients, the departure of the soldiers, their return, their demands, the
- capture of Gisco, the theft of the zaïmph, the relief and subsequent
- abandonment of Utica; but no one ventured to tell him of the events which
- concerned himself. At last they separated, to meet again during the night
- at the assembly of the Ancients in the temple of Moloch.
- </p>
- <p>
- They had just gone out when a tumult arose outside the door. Some one was
- trying to enter in spite of the servants; and as the disturbance was
- increasing Hamilcar ordered the stranger to be shown in.
- </p>
- <p>
- An old Negress made her appearance, broken, wrinkled, trembling,
- stupid-looking, wrapped to the heels in ample blue veils. She advanced
- face to face with the Suffet, and they looked at each other for some time;
- suddenly Hamilcar started; at a wave of his hand the slaves withdrew.
- Then, signing to her to walk with precaution, he drew her by the arm into
- a remote apartment.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Negress threw herself upon the floor to kiss his feet; he raised her
- brutally.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Where have you left him, Iddibal?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Down there, Master;” and extricating herself from her veils,
- she rubbed her face with her sleeve; the black colour, the senile
- trembling, the bent figure disappeared, and there remained a strong old
- man whose skin seemed tanned by sand, wind, and sea. A tuft of white hair
- rose on his skull like the crest of a bird; and he indicated his disguise,
- as it lay on the ground, with an ironic glance.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You have done well, Iddibal! ’Tis well!” Then piercing
- him, as it were, with his keen gaze: “No one yet suspects?”
- </p>
- <p>
- The old man swore to him by the Kabiri that the mystery had been kept.
- They never left their cottage, which was three days’ journey from
- Hadrumetum, on a shore peopled with turtles, and with palms on the dune.
- “And in accordance with your command, O Master! I teach him to hurl
- the javelin and to drive a team.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “He is strong, is he not?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes, Master, and intrepid as well! He has no fear of serpents, or
- thunder, or phantoms. He runs bare-footed like a herdsman along the brinks
- of precipices.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Speak! speak!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “He invents snares for wild beasts. Would you believe it, that last
- moon he surprised an eagle; he dragged it away, and the bird’s blood
- and the child’s were scattered in the air in large drops like driven
- roses. The animal in its fury enwrapped him in the beating of its wings;
- he strained it against his breast, and as it died his laughter increased,
- piercing and proud like the clashing of swords.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar bent his head, dazzled by such presages of greatness.
- </p>
- <p>
- “But he has been for some time restless and disturbed. He gazes at
- the sails passing far out at sea; he is melancholy, he rejects bread, he
- inquires about the gods, and he wishes to become acquainted with Carthage.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No, no! not yet!” exclaimed the Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- The old slave seemed to understand the peril which alarmed Hamilcar, and
- he resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “How is he to be restrained? Already I am obliged to make him
- promises, and I have come to Carthage only to buy him a dagger with a
- silver handle and pearls all around it.” Then he told how, having
- perceived the Suffet on the terrace, he had passed himself off on the
- warders of the harbour as one of Salammbô’s women, so as to make his
- way in to him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar remained for a long time apparently lost in deliberation; at last
- he said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “To-morrow you will present yourself at sunset behind the purple
- factories in Megara, and imitate a jackal’s cry three times. If you
- do not see me, you will return to Carthage on the first day of every moon.
- Forget nothing! Love him! You may speak to him now about Hamilcar.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The slave resumed his costume, and they left the house and the harbour
- together.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar went on his way alone on foot and without an escort, for the
- meetings of the Ancients were, under extraordinary circumstances, always
- secret, and were resorted to mysteriously.
- </p>
- <p>
- At first he went along the western front of the Acropolis, and then passed
- through the Green Market, the galleries of Kinisdo, and the Perfumers’
- suburb. The scattered lights were being extinguished, the broader streets
- grew still, then shadows glided through the darkness. They followed him,
- others appeared, and like him they all directed their course towards the
- Mappalian district.
- </p>
- <p>
- The temple of Moloch was built at the foot of a steep defile in a sinister
- spot. From below nothing could be seen but lofty walls rising indefinitely
- like those of a monstrous tomb. The night was gloomy, a greyish fog seemed
- to weigh upon the sea, which beat against the cliff with a noise as of
- death-rattles and sobs; and the shadows gradually vanished as if they had
- passed through the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- But as soon as the doorway was crossed one found oneself in a vast
- quadrangular court bordered by arcades. In the centre rose a mass of
- architecture with eight equal faces. It was surmounted by cupolas which
- thronged around a second story supporting a kind of rotunda, from which
- sprang a cone with a re-entrant curve and terminating in a ball on the
- summit.
- </p>
- <p>
- Fires were burning in cylinders of filigree-work fitted upon poles, which
- men were carrying to and fro. These lights flickered in the gusts of wind
- and reddened the golden combs which fastened their plaited hair on the
- nape of the neck. They ran about calling to one another to receive the
- Ancients.
- </p>
- <p>
- Here and there on the flag-stones huge lions were couched like sphinxes,
- living symbols of the devouring sun. They were slumbering with half-closed
- eyelids. But roused by the footsteps and voices they rose slowly, came
- towards the Ancients, whom they recognised by their dress, and rubbed
- themselves against their thighs, arching their backs with sonorous yawns;
- the vapour of their breath passed across the light of the torches. The
- stir increased, doors closed, all the priests fled, and the Ancients
- disappeared beneath the columns which formed a deep vestibule round the
- temple.
- </p>
- <p>
- These columns were arranged in such a way that their circular ranks, which
- were contained one within another, showed the Saturnian period with its
- years, the years with their months, and the months with their days, and
- finally reached to the walls of the sanctuary.
- </p>
- <p>
- Here it was that the Ancients laid aside their sticks of narwhal’s-horn,—for
- a law which was always observed inflicted the punishment of death upon any
- one entering the meeting with any kind of weapon. Several wore a rent
- repaired with a strip of purple at the bottom of their garment, to show
- that they had not been economical in their dress when mourning for their
- relatives, and this testimony to their affliction prevented the slit from
- growing larger. Others had their beards inclosed in little bags of violet
- skin, and fastened to their ears by two cords. They all accosted one
- another by embracing breast to breast. They surrounded Hamilcar with
- congratulations; they might have been taken for brothers meeting their
- brother again.
- </p>
- <p>
- These men were generally thick-set, with curved noses like those of the
- Assyrian colossi. In a few, however, the more prominent cheek-bone, the
- taller figure, and the narrower foot, betrayed an African origin and nomad
- ancestors. Those who lived continually shut up in their counting-houses
- had pale faces; others showed in theirs the severity of the desert, and
- strange jewels sparkled on all the fingers of their hands, which were
- burnt by unknown suns. The navigators might be distinguished by their
- rolling gait, while the men of agriculture smelt of the wine-press, dried
- herbs, and the sweat of mules. These old pirates had lands under tillage,
- these money-grubbers would fit out ships, these proprietors of cultivated
- lands supported slaves who followed trades. All were skilled in religious
- discipline, expert in strategy, pitiless and rich. They looked wearied of
- prolonged cares. Their flaming eyes expressed distrust, and their habits
- of travelling and lying, trafficking and commanding, gave an appearance of
- cunning and violence, a sort of discreet and convulsive brutality to their
- whole demeanour. Further, the influence of the god cast a gloom upon them.
- </p>
- <p>
- They first passed through a vaulted hall which was shaped like an egg.
- Seven doors, corresponding to the seven planets, displayed seven squares
- of different colours against the wall. After traversing a long room they
- entered another similar hall.
- </p>
- <p>
- A candelabrum completely covered with chiselled flowers was burning at the
- far end, and each of its eight golden branches bore a wick of byssus in a
- diamond chalice. It was placed upon the last of the long steps leading to
- a great altar, the corners of which terminated in horns of brass. Two
- lateral staircases led to its flattened summit; the stones of it could not
- be seen; it was like a mountain of heaped cinders, and something
- indistinct was slowly smoking at the top of it. Then further back, higher
- than the candelabrum, and much higher than the altar, rose the Moloch, all
- of iron, and with gaping apertures in his human breast. His outspread
- wings were stretched upon the wall, his tapering hands reached down to the
- ground; three black stones bordered by yellow circles represented three
- eyeballs on his brow, and his bull’s head was raised with a terrible
- effort as if in order to bellow.
- </p>
- <p>
- Ebony stools were ranged round the apartment. Behind each of them was a
- bronze shaft resting on three claws and supporting a torch. All these
- lights were reflected in the mother-of-pearl lozenges which formed the
- pavement of the hall. So lofty was the latter that the red colour of the
- walls grew black as it rose towards the vaulted roof, and the three eyes
- of the idol appeared far above like stars half lost in the night.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Ancients sat down on the ebony stools after putting the trains of
- their robes over their heads. They remained motionless with their hands
- crossed inside their broad sleeves, and the mother-of-pearl pavement
- seemed like a luminous river streaming from the altar to the door and
- flowing beneath their naked feet.
- </p>
- <p>
- The four pontiffs had their places in the centre, sitting back to back on
- four ivory seats which formed a cross, the high-priest of Eschmoun in a
- hyacinth robe, the high-priest of Tanith in a white linen robe, the
- high-priest of Khamon in a tawny woollen robe, and the high-priest of
- Moloch in a purple robe.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar advanced towards the candelabrum. He walked all round it, looking
- at the burning wicks; then he threw a scented powder upon them, and violet
- flames appeared at the extremities of the branches.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then a shrill voice rose; another replied to it, and the hundred Ancients,
- the four pontiffs, and Hamilcar, who remained standing, simultaneously
- intoned a hymn, and their voices—ever repeating the same syllables
- and strengthening the sounds—rose, grew loud, became terrible, and
- then suddenly were still.
- </p>
- <p>
- There was a pause for some time. At last Hamilcar drew from his breast a
- little three-headed statuette, as blue as sapphire, and placed it before
- him. It was the image of Truth, the very genius of his speech. Then he
- replaced it in his bosom, and all, as if seized with sudden wrath, cried
- out:
- </p>
- <p>
- “They are good friends of yours, are the Barbarians! Infamous
- traitor! You come back to see us perish, do you not? Let him speak!—No!
- no!”
- </p>
- <p>
- They were taking their revenge for the constraint to which political
- ceremonial had just obliged them; and even though they had wished for
- Hamilcar’s return, they were now indignant that he had not
- anticipated their disasters, or rather that he had not endured them as
- well as they.
- </p>
- <p>
- When the tumult had subsided, the pontiff of Moloch rose:
- </p>
- <p>
- “We ask you why you did not return to Carthage?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “What is that to you?” replied the Suffet disdainfully.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their shouts were redoubled.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Of what do you accuse me? I managed the war badly, perhaps! You
- have seen how I order my battles, you who conveniently allow Barbarians—”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Enough! enough!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He went on in a low voice so as to make himself the better listened to:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Oh! that is true! I am wrong, lights of the Baals; there are
- intrepid men among you! Gisco, rise!” And surveying the step of the
- altar with half-closed eyelids, as if he sought for some one, he repeated:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Rise, Gisco! You can accuse me; they will protect you! But where is
- he?” Then, as if he remembered himself: “Ah! in his house, no
- doubt! surrounded by his sons, commanding his slaves, happy, and counting
- on the wall the necklaces of honour which his country has given to him!”
- </p>
- <p>
- They moved about raising their shoulders as if they were being scourged
- with thongs. “You do not even know whether he is living or dead!”
- And without giving any heed to their clamours he said that in deserting
- the Suffet they had deserted the Republic. So, too, the peace with Rome,
- however advantageous it might appear to them, was more fatal than twenty
- battles. A few—those who were the least rich of the Council and were
- suspected of perpetual leanings towards the people or towards tyranny—applauded.
- Their opponents, chiefs of the Syssitia and administrators, triumphed over
- them in point of numbers; and the more eminent of them had ranged
- themselves close to Hanno, who was sitting at the other end of the hall
- before the lofty door, which was closed by a hanging of hyacinth colour.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had covered the ulcers on his face with paint. But the gold dust in his
- hair had fallen upon his shoulders, where it formed two brilliant sheets,
- so that his hair appeared whitish, fine, and frizzled like wool. His hands
- were enveloped in linen soaked in a greasy perfume, which dripped upon the
- pavement, and his disease had no doubt considerably increased, for his
- eyes were hidden beneath the folds of his eyelids. He had thrown back his
- head in order to see. His partisans urged him to speak. At last in a
- hoarse and hideous voice he said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Less arrogance, Barca! We have all been vanquished! Each one
- supports his own misfortune! Be resigned!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Tell us rather,” said Hamilcar, smiling, “how it was
- that you steered your galleys into the Roman fleet?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I was driven by the wind,” replied Hanno.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are like a rhinoceros trampling on his dung: you are displaying
- your own folly! be silent!” And they began to indulge in
- recriminations respecting the battle of the Ægatian islands.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno accused him of not having come to meet him.
- </p>
- <p>
- “But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood
- out from the coast; what prevented you? Ah! I forgot! all elephants are
- afraid of the sea!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar’s followers thought this jest so good that they burst out
- into loud laughter. The vault rang with it like the beating of tympanums.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno denounced the unworthiness of such an insult; the disease had come
- upon him from a cold taken at the siege of Hecatompylos, and tears flowed
- down his face like winter rain on a ruined wall.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “If you had loved me as much as him there would be great joy in
- Carthage now! How many times did I not call upon you! and you always
- refused me money!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “We had need of it,” said the chiefs of the Syssitia.
- </p>
- <p>
- “And when things were desperate with me—we drank mules’
- urine and ate the straps of our sandals; when I would fain have had the
- blades of grass soldiers and made battalions with the rottenness of our
- dead, you recalled the vessels that I had left!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “We could not risk everything,” replied Baat-Baal, who
- possessed gold mines in Darytian Gætulia.
- </p>
- <p>
- “But what did you do here, at Carthage, in your houses, behind your
- walls? There are Gauls on the Eridanus, who ought to have been roused,
- Chanaanites at Cyrene who would have come, and while the Romans send
- ambassadors to Ptolemæus—”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Now he is extolling the Romans to us!” Some one shouted out
- to him: “How much have they paid you to defend them?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ask that of the plains of Brutium, of the ruins of Locri, of
- Metapontum, and of Heraclea! I have burnt all their trees, I have pillaged
- all their temples, and even to the death of their grandchildren’s
- grandchildren—”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why, you disclaim like a rhetor!” said Kapouras, a very
- illustrious merchant. “What is it that you want?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I say that we must be more ingenious or more terrible! If the whole
- of Africa rejects your yoke the reason is, my feeble masters, that you do
- not know how to fasten it to her shoulders! Agathocles, Regulus, Copio,
- any bold man has only to land and capture her; and when the Libyans in the
- east concert with the Numidians in the west, and the Nomads come from the
- south, and the Romans from the north”—a cry of horror rose—“Oh!
- you will beat your breasts, and roll in the dust, and tear your cloaks! No
- matter! you will have to go and turn the mill-stone in the Suburra, and
- gather grapes on the hills of Latium.”
- </p>
- <p>
- They smote their right thighs to mark their sense of the scandal, and the
- sleeves of their robes rose like large wings of startled birds. Hamilcar,
- carried away by a spirit, continued his speech, standing on the highest
- step of the altar, quivering and terrible; he raised his arms, and the
- rays from the candelabrum which burned behind him passed between his
- fingers like javelins of gold.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You will lose your ships, your country seats, your chariots, your
- hanging beds, and the slaves who rub your feet! The jackal will crouch in
- your palaces, and the ploughshare will upturn your tombs. Nothing will be
- left but the eagles’ scream and a heap of ruins. Carthage, thou wilt
- fall!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The four pontiffs spread out their hands to avert the anathema. All had
- risen. But the marine Suffet, being a sacerdotal magistrate under the
- protection of the Sun, was inviolate so long as the assembly of the rich
- had not judged him. Terror was associated with the altar. They drew back.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar had ceased speaking, and was panting with eye fixed, his face as
- pale as the pearls of his tiara, almost frightened at himself, and his
- spirit lost in funereal visions. From the height on which he stood, all
- the torches on the bronze shafts seemed to him like a vast crown of fire
- laid level with the pavement; black smoke issuing from them mounted up
- into the darkness of the vault; and for some minutes the silence was so
- profound that they could hear in the distance the sound of the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Ancients began to question one another. Their interests, their
- existence, were attacked by the Barbarians. But it was impossible to
- conquer them without the assistance of the Suffet, and in spite of their
- pride this consideration made them forget every other. His friends were
- taken aside. There were interested reconciliations, understandings, and
- promises. Hamilcar would not take any further part in any government. All
- conjured him. They besought him; and as the word treason occurred in their
- speech, he fell into a passion. The sole traitor was the Great Council,
- for as the enlistment of the soldiers expired with the war, they became
- free as soon as the war was finished; he even exalted their bravery and
- all the advantages which might be derived from interesting them in the
- Republic by donations and privileges.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Magdassin, a former provincial governor, said, as he rolled his
- yellow eyes:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Truly Barca, with your travelling you have become a Greek, or a
- Latin, or something! Why speak you of rewards for these men? Rather let
- ten thousand Barbarians perish than a single one of us!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Ancients nodded approval, murmuring:—“Yes, is there need
- for so much trouble? They can always be had?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “And they can be got rid of conveniently, can they not? They are
- deserted as they were by you in Sardinia. The enemy is apprised of the
- road which they are to take, as in the case of those Gauls in Sicily, or
- perhaps they are disembarked in the middle of the sea. As I was returning
- I saw the rock quite white with their bones!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “What a misfortune!” said Kapouras impudently.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Have they not gone over to the enemy a hundred times?” cried
- the others.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why, then,” exclaimed Hamilcar, “did you recall them to
- Carthage, notwithstanding your laws? And when they are in your town, poor
- and numerous amid all your riches, it does not occur to you to weaken them
- by the slightest division! Afterwards you dismiss the whole of them with
- their women and children, without keeping a single hostage! Did you expect
- that they would murder themselves to spare you the pain of keeping your
- oaths? You hate them because they are strong! You hate me still more, who
- am their master! Oh! I felt it just now when you were kissing my hands and
- were all putting a constraint upon yourselves not to bite them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- If the lions that were sleeping in the court had come howling in, the
- uproar could not have been more frightful. But the pontiff of Eschmoun
- rose, and, standing perfectly upright, with his knees close together, his
- elbows pressed to his body, and his hands half open, he said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Barca, Carthage has need that you should take the general command
- of the Punic forces against the Mercenaries!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I refuse,” replied Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- “We will give you full authority,” cried the chiefs of the
- Syssitia.
- </p>
- <p>
- “No!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “With no control, no partition, all the money that you want, all the
- captives, all the booty, fifty zereths of land for every enemy’s
- corpse.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No! no! because it is impossible to conquer with you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “He is afraid!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Because you are cowardly, greedy, ungrateful, pusillanimous and
- mad!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “He is careful of them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “In order to put himself at their head,” said some one.
- </p>
- <p>
- “And return against us,” said another; and from the bottom of
- the hall Hanno howled:
- </p>
- <p>
- “He wants to make himself king!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they bounded up, overturning the seats and the torches: the crowd of
- them rushed towards the altar; they brandished daggers. But Hamilcar dived
- into his sleeves and drew from them two broad cutlasses; and half
- stooping, his left foot advanced, his eyes flaming and his teeth clenched,
- he defied them as he stood there beneath the golden candelabrum.
- </p>
- <p>
- Thus they had brought weapons with them as a precaution; it was a crime;
- they looked with terror at one another. As all were guilty, every one
- became quickly reassured; and by degrees they turned their backs on the
- Suffet and came down again maddened with humiliation. For the second time
- they recoiled before him. They remained standing for some time. Several
- who had wounded their fingers put them to their mouths or rolled them
- gently in the hem of their mantles, and they were about to depart when
- Hamilcar heard these words:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why! it is a piece of delicacy to avoid distressing his daughter!”
- </p>
- <p>
- A louder voice was raised:
- </p>
- <p>
- “No doubt, since she takes her lovers from among the Mercenaries!”
- </p>
- <p>
- At first he tottered, then his eye rapidly sought for Schahabarim. But the
- priest of Tanith had alone remained in his place; and Hamilcar could see
- only his lofty cap in the distance. All were sneering in his face. In
- proportion as his anguish increased their joy redoubled, and those who
- were behind shouted amid the hootings:
- </p>
- <p>
- “He was seen coming out of her room!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “One morning in the month of Tammouz!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “It was the thief who stole the zaïmph!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “A very handsome man!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Taller than you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He snatched off the tiara, the ensign of his rank—his tiara with its
- eight mystic rows, and with an emerald shell in the centre—and with
- both hands and with all his strength dashed it to the ground; the golden
- circles rebounded as they broke, and the pearls rang upon the pavement.
- Then they saw a long scar upon the whiteness of his brow; it moved like a
- serpent between his eyebrows; all his limbs trembled. He ascended one of
- the lateral staircases which led on to the altar, and walked upon the
- latter! This was to devote himself to the god, to offer himself as a
- holocaust. The motion of his mantle agitated the lights of the
- candelabrum, which was lower than his sandals, and the fine dust raised by
- his footsteps surrounded him like a cloud as high as the waist. He stopped
- between the legs of the brass colossus. He took up two handfuls of the
- dust, the mere sight of which made every Carthaginian shudder with horror,
- and said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “By the hundred torches of your Intelligences! by the eight fires of
- the Kabiri! by the stars, the meteors, and the volcanoes! by everything
- that burns! by the thirst of the desert and the saltness of the ocean! by
- the cave of Hadrumetum and the empire of Souls! by extermination! by the
- ashes of your sons and the ashes of the brothers of your ancestors with
- which I now mingle my own!—you, the Hundred of the Council of
- Carthage, have lied in your accusation of my daughter! And I, Hamilcar
- Barca, marine Suffet, chief of the rich and ruler of the people, in the
- presence of bull-headed Moloch, I swear”—they expected
- something frightful, but he resumed in a loftier and calmer tone—“that
- I will not even speak to her about it!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The sacred servants entered wearing their golden combs, some with purple
- sponges and others with branches of palm. They raised the hyacinth curtain
- which was stretched before the door; and through the opening of this angle
- there was visible behind the other halls the great pink sky which seemed
- to be a continuation of the vault and to rest at the horizon upon the blue
- sea. The sun was issuing from the waves and mounting upwards. It suddenly
- struck upon the breast of the brazen colossus, which was divided into
- seven compartments closed by gratings. His red-toothed jaws opened in a
- horrible yawn; his enormous nostrils were dilated, the broad daylight
- animated him, and gave him a terrible and impatient aspect, as if he would
- fain have leaped without to mingle with the star, the god, and together
- traverse the immensities.
- </p>
- <p>
- The torches, however, which were scattered on the ground, were still
- burning, while here and there on the mother-of-pearl pavement was
- stretched from them what looked like spots of blood. The Ancients were
- reeling from exhaustion; they filled their lungs inhaling the freshness of
- the air; the sweat flowed down their livid faces; they had shouted so much
- that they could now scarcely make their voices heard. But their wrath
- against the Suffet was not at all abated; they hurled menaces at him by
- way of farewells, and Hamilcar answered them again.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Until the next night, Barca, in the temple of Eschmoun!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I shall be there!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “We will have you condemned by the rich!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “And I you by the people!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Take care that you do not end on the cross!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “And you that you are not torn to pieces in the streets!”
- </p>
- <p>
- As soon as they were on the threshold of the court they again assumed a
- calm demeanour.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- Their runners and coachmen were waiting for them at the door. Most of them
- departed on white mules. The Suffet leaped into his chariot and took the
- reins; the two animals, curving their necks, and rhythmically beating the
- resounding pebbles, went up the whole of the Mappalian Way at full gallop,
- and the silver vulture at the extremity of the pole seemed to fly, so
- quickly did the chariot pass along.
- </p>
- <p>
- The road crossed a field planted with slabs of stone, which were painted
- on the top like pyramids, and had open hands carved out in the centre as
- if all the dead men lying beneath had stretched them out towards heaven to
- demand something. Next there came scattered cabins built of earth,
- branches, and bulrush-hurdles, and all of a conical shape. These
- dwellings, which became constantly denser as the road ascended towards the
- Suffet’s gardens, were irregularly separated from one another by
- little pebble walls, trenches of spring water, ropes of esparto-grass, and
- nopal hedges. But Hamilcar’s eyes were fastened on a great tower,
- the three storys of which formed three monster cylinders—the first
- being built of stone, the second of brick, and the third all of cedar—supporting
- a copper cupola upon twenty-four pillars of juniper, from which slender
- interlacing chains of brass hung down after the manner of garlands. This
- lofty edifice overlooked the buildings—the emporiums and mercantile
- houses—which stretched to the right, while the women’s palace
- rose at the end of the cypress trees, which were ranged in line like two
- walls of bronze.
- </p>
- <p>
- When the echoing chariot had entered through the narrow gateway it stopped
- beneath a broad shed in which there were shackled horses eating from heaps
- of chopped grass.
- </p>
- <p>
- All the servants hastened up. They formed quite a multitude, those who
- worked on the country estates having been brought to Carthage through fear
- of the soldiers. The labourers, who were clad in animals’ skins, had
- chains riveted to their ankles and trailing after them; the workers in the
- purple factories had arms as red as those of executioners; the sailors
- wore green caps; the fishermen coral necklaces; the huntsmen carried nets
- on their shoulders; and the people belonging to Megara wore black or white
- tunics, leathern drawers, and caps of straw, felt or linen, according to
- their service or their different occupations.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind pressed a tattered populace. They lived without employment remote
- from the apartments, slept at night in the gardens, ate the refuse from
- the kitchens,—a human mouldiness vegetating in the shadow of the
- palace. Hamilcar tolerated them from foresight even more than from scorn.
- They had all put a flower in the ear in token of their joy, and many of
- them had never seen him.
- </p>
- <p>
- But men with head-dresses like the Sphinx’s, and furnished with
- great sticks, dashed into the crowd, striking right and left. This was to
- drive back the slaves, who were curious to see their master, so that he
- might not be assailed by their numbers or inconvenienced by their smell.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they all threw themselves flat on the ground, crying:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Eye of Baal, may your house flourish!” And through these
- people as they lay thus on the ground in the avenue of cypress trees,
- Abdalonim, the Steward of the stewards, waving a white miter, advanced
- towards Hamilcar with a censer in his hand.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô was then coming down the galley staircases. All her slave women
- followed her; and, at each of her steps, they also descended. The heads of
- the Negresses formed big black spots on the line of the bands of the
- golden plates clasping the foreheads of the Roman women. Others had silver
- arrows, emerald butterflies, or long bodkins set like suns in their hair.
- Rings, clasps, necklaces, fringes, and bracelets shone amid the confusion
- of white, yellow, and blue garments; a rustling of light material became
- audible; the pattering of sandals might be heard together with the dull
- sound of naked feet as they were set down on the wood;—and here and
- there a tall eunuch, head and shoulders above them, smiled with his face
- in air. When the shouting of the men had subsided they hid their faces in
- their sleeves, and together uttered a strange cry like the howling of a
- she-wolf, and so frenzied and strident was it that it seemed to make the
- great ebony staircase, with its thronging women, vibrate from top to
- bottom like a lyre.
- </p>
- <p>
- The wind lifted their veils, and the slender stems of the papyrus plant
- rocked gently. It was the month of Schebaz and the depth of winter. The
- flowering pomegranates swelled against the azure of the sky, and the sea
- disappeared through the branches with an island in the distance half lost
- in the mist.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar stopped on perceiving Salammbô. She had come to him after the
- death of several male children. Moreover, the birth of daughters was
- considered a calamity in the religions of the Sun. The gods had afterwards
- sent him a son; but he still felt something of the betrayal of his hope,
- and the shock, as it were, of the curse which he had uttered against her.
- Salammbô, however, continued to advance.
- </p>
- <p>
- Long bunches of various-coloured pearls fell from her ears to her
- shoulders, and as far as her elbows. Her hair was crisped so as to
- simulate a cloud. Round her neck she wore little quadrangular plates of
- gold, representing a woman between two rampant lions; and her costume was
- a complete reproduction of the equipment of the goddess. Her broad-sleeved
- hyacinth robe fitted close to her figure, widening out below. The
- vermilion on her lips gave additional whiteness to her teeth, and the
- antimony on her eyelids greater length to her eyes. Her sandals, which
- were cut out in bird’s plumage, had very high heels, and she was
- extraordinarily pale, doubtless on account of the cold.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last she came close to Hamilcar, and without looking at him, without
- raising her head to him:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Greeting, eye of Baalim, eternal glory! triumph! leisure!
- satisfaction! riches! Long has my heart been sad and the house drooping.
- But the returning master is like reviving Tammouz; and beneath your gaze,
- O father, joyfulness and a new existence will everywhere prevail!”
- </p>
- <p>
- And taking from Taanach’s hands a little oblong vase wherein smoked
- a mixture of meal, butter, cardamom, and wine: “Drink freely,”
- said she, “of the returning cup, which your servant has prepared!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He replied: “A blessing upon you!” and he mechanically grasped
- the golden vase which she held out to him.
- </p>
- <p>
- He scanned her, however, with such harsh attention, that Salammbô was
- troubled and stammered out:
- </p>
- <p>
- “They have told you, O Master!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes! I know!” said Hamilcar in a low voice.
- </p>
- <p>
- Was this a confession, or was she speaking of the Barbarians? And he added
- a few vague words upon the public embarrassments which he hoped by his
- sole efforts to clear away.
- </p>
- <p>
- “O father!” exclaimed Salammbô, “you will not obliterate
- what is irreparable!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he drew back and Salammbô was astonished at his amazement; for she
- was not thinking of Carthage but of the sacrilege in which she found
- herself implicated. This man, who made legions tremble and whom she hardly
- knew, terrified her like a god; he had guessed, he knew all, something
- awful was about to happen. “Pardon!” she cried.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar slowly bowed his head.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although she wished to accuse herself she dared not open her lips; and yet
- she felt stifled with the need of complaining and being comforted.
- Hamilcar was struggling against a longing to break his oath. He kept it
- out of pride or from the dread of putting an end to his uncertainty; and
- he looked into her face with all his might so as to lay hold on what she
- kept concealed at the bottom of her heart.
- </p>
- <p>
- By degrees the panting Salammbô, crushed by such heavy looks, let her head
- sink below her shoulders. He was now sure that she had erred in the
- embrace of a Barbarian; he shuddered and raised both his fists. She
- uttered a shriek and fell down among her women, who crowded around her.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar turned on his heel. All the stewards followed him.
- </p>
- <p>
- The door of the emporiums was opened, and he entered a vast round hall
- form which long passages leading to other halls branched off like the
- spokes from the nave of a wheel. A stone disc stood in the centre with
- balustrades to support the cushions that were heaped up upon carpets.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet walked at first with rapid strides; he breathed noisily, he
- struck the ground with his heel, and drew his hand across his forehead
- like a man annoyed by flies. But he shook his head, and as he perceived
- the accumulation of his riches he became calm; his thoughts, which were
- attracted by the vistas in the passages, wandered to the other halls that
- were full of still rarer treasures. Bronze plates, silver ingots, and iron
- bars alternated with pigs of tin brought from the Cassiterides over the
- Dark Sea; gums from the country of the Blacks were running over their bags
- of palm bark; and gold dust heaped up in leathern bottles was insensibly
- creeping out through the worn-out seams. Delicate filaments drawn from
- marine plants hung amid flax from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane and Judæa;
- mandrepores bristled like large bushes at the foot of the walls; and an
- indefinable odour—the exhalation from perfumes, leather, spices, and
- ostrich feathers, the latter tied in great bunches at the very top of the
- vault—floated through the air. An arch was formed above the door
- before each passage with elephants’ teeth placed upright and meeting
- together at the points.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last he ascended the stone disc. All the stewards stood with arms
- folded and heads bent while Abdalonim reared his pointed mitre with a
- haughty air.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He was an old pilot with
- eyelids chafed by the wind, and white locks fell to his hips as if dashing
- foam of the tempests had remained on his beard.
- </p>
- <p>
- He replied that he had sent a fleet by Gades and Thymiamata to try to
- reach Eziongaber by doubling the Southern Horn and the promontory of
- Aromata.
- </p>
- <p>
- Others had advanced continuously towards the west for four moons without
- meeting with any shore; but the ships prows became entangled in weeds, the
- horizon echoed continually with the noise of cataracts, blood-coloured
- mists darkened the sun, a perfume-laden breeze lulled the crews to sleep;
- and their memories were so disturbed that they were now unable to tell
- anything. However, expeditions had ascended the rivers of the Scythians,
- had made their way into Colchis, and into the countries of the Jugrians
- and of the Estians, had carried off fifteen hundred maidens in the
- Archipelago, and sunk all the strange vessels sailing beyond Cape
- Oestrymon, so that the secret of the routes should not be known. King
- Ptolemæus was detaining the incense from Schesbar; Syracuse, Elathia,
- Corsica, and the islands had furnished nothing, and the old pilot lowered
- his voice to announce that a trireme was taken at Rusicada by the
- Numidians,—“for they are with them, Master.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar knit his brows; then he signed to the Chief of the Journeys to
- speak. This functionary was enveloped in a brown, ungirdled robe, and had
- his head covered with a long scarf of white stuff which passed along the
- edge of his lips and fell upon his shoulder behind.
- </p>
- <p>
- The caravans had set out regularly at the winter equinox. But of fifteen
- hundred men directing their course towards the extreme boundaries of
- Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leathern bottles, and supplies of
- painted cloth, but one had reappeared at Carthage—the rest having
- died of fatigue or become mad through the terror of the desert;—and
- he said that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing the Atarantes
- and the country of the great apes, he had seen immense kingdoms, wherein
- the pettiest utensils were all of gold, a river of the colour of milk and
- as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees, hills of aromatics, monsters
- with human faces vegetating on the rocks with eyeballs which expanded like
- flowers to look at you; and then crystal mountains supporting the sun
- behind lakes all covered with dragons. Others had returned from India with
- peacocks, pepper, and new textures. As to those who go by way of the
- Syrtes and the temple of Ammon to purchase chalcedony, they had no doubt
- perished in the sands. The caravans from Gætulia and Phazzana had
- furnished their usual supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, did not
- venture to fit one out just now.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the country. He
- leaned upon his other elbow with a hollow groan; and the Chief of Farms
- was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in spite of his thick
- shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which was as snub-nosed as a
- mastiff’s, was surmounted by a net woven of threads of bark. He wore
- a waist-belt of hairy leopard’s skin, wherein gleamed two formidable
- cutlasses.
- </p>
- <p>
- As soon as Hamilcar turned away he began to cry aloud and invoke all the
- Baals. It was not his fault! he could not help it! He had watched the
- temperature, the soil, the stars, had planted at the winter solstice and
- pruned at the waning of the moon, had inspected the slaves and had been
- careful of their clothes.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Hamilcar grew angry at this loquacity. He clacked his tongue, and the
- man with the cutlasses went on in rapid tones:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah, Master! they have pillaged everything! sacked everything!
- destroyed everything! Three thousand trees have been cut down at Maschala,
- and at Ubada the granaries have been looted and the cisterns filled up! At
- Tedes they have carried off fifteen hundred gomors of meal; at Marrazana
- they have killed the shepherds, eaten the flocks, burnt your house—your
- beautiful house with its cedar beams, which you used to visit in the
- summer! The slaves at Tuburbo who were reaping barley fled to the
- mountains; and the asses, the mules both great and small, the oxen from
- Taormina, and the antelopes,—not a single one left! all carried
- away! It is a curse! I shall not survive it!” He went on again in
- tears: “Ah! if you knew how full the cellars were, and how the
- ploughshares shone! Ah! the fine rams! ah! the fine bulls!—”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar’s wrath was choking him. It burst forth:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Be silent! Am I a pauper then? No lies! speak the truth! I wish to
- know all that I have lost to the last shekel, to the last cab! Abdalonim,
- bring me the accounts of the ships, of the caravans, of the farms, of the
- house! And if your consciences are not clear, woe be on your heads! Go
- out!”
- </p>
- <p>
- All the stewards went out walking backwards, with their fists touching the
- ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim went up to a set of pigeon-holes in the wall, and from the midst
- of them took out knotted cords, strips of linen or papyrus, and sheeps’
- shoulder-blades inscribed with delicate writing. He laid them at Hamilcar’s
- feet, placed in his hands a wooden frame furnished on the inside with
- three threads on which balls of gold, silver, and horn were strung, and
- began:
- </p>
- <p>
- “One hundred and ninety-two houses in the Mappalian district let to
- the New Carthaginians at the rate of one bekah a moon.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No! it is too much! be lenient towards the poor people! and you
- will try to learn whether they are attached to the Republic, and write
- down the names of those who appear to you to be the most daring! What
- next?”
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim hesitated in surprise at such generosity.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar snatched the strips of linen from his hands.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What is this? three palaces around Khamon at twelve kesitahs a
- month! Make it twenty! I do not want to be eaten up by the rich.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Steward of the stewards, after a long salutation, resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Lent to Tigillas until the end of the season two kikars at three
- per cent., maritime interest; to Bar-Malkarth fifteen hundred shekels on
- the security of thirty slaves. But twelve have died in the salt-marshes.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “That is because they were not hardy,” said the Suffet,
- laughing. “No matter! if he is in want of money, satisfy him! We
- should always lend, and at different rates of interest, according to the
- wealth of the individual.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the servant hastened to read all that had been brought in by the
- iron-mines of Annaba, the coral fisheries, the purple factories, the
- farming of the tax on the resident Greeks, the export of silver to Arabia,
- where it had ten times the value of gold, and the captures of vessels,
- deduction of a tenth being made for the temple of the goddess. “Each
- time I declared a quarter less, Master!” Hamilcar was reckoning with
- the balls; they rang beneath his fingers.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Enough! What have you paid?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “To Stratonicles of Corinth, and to three Alexandrian merchants, on
- these letters here (they have been realised), ten thousand Athenian
- drachmas, and twelve Syrian talents of gold. The food for the crews,
- amounting to twenty minæ a month for each trireme—”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I know! How many lost?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Here is the account on these sheets of lead,” said the
- Steward. “As to the ships chartered in common, it has often been
- necessary to throw the cargo into the seas, and so the unequal losses have
- been divided among the partners. For the ropes which were borrowed from
- the arsenals, and which it was impossible to restore, the Syssitia exacted
- eight hundred kesitahs before the expedition to Utica.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “They again!” said Hamilcar, hanging his head; and he remained
- for a time as if quite crushed by the weight of all the hatreds that he
- could feel upon him. “But I do not see the Megara expenses?”
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim, turning pale, went to another set of pigeon-holes, and took
- from them some planchettes of sycamore wood strung in packets on leathern
- strings.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar, curious about these domestic details, listened to him and grew
- calm with the monotony of the tones in which the figures were enumerated.
- Abdalonim became slower. Suddenly he let the wooden sheets fall to the
- ground and threw himself flat on his face with his arms stretched out in
- the position of a condemned criminal. Hamilcar picked up the tablets
- without any emotion; and his lips parted and his eyes grew larger when he
- perceived an exorbitant consumption of meat, fish, birds, wines, and
- aromatics, with broken vases, dead slaves, and spoiled carpets set down as
- the expense of a single day.
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim, still prostrate, told him of the feast of the Barbarians. He
- had not been able to avoid the command of the Ancients. Moreover, Salammbô
- desired money to be lavished for the better reception of the soldiers.
- </p>
- <p>
- At his daughter’s name Hamilcar leaped to his feet. Then with
- compressed lips he crouched down upon the cushions, tearing the fringes
- with his nails, and panting with staring eyes.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Rise!” said he; and he descended.
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim followed him; his knees trembled. But seizing an iron bar he
- began like one distraught to loosen the paving stones. A wooden disc
- sprang up and soon there appeared throughout the length of the passage
- several of the large covers employed for stopping up the trenches in which
- grain was kept.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You see, Eye of Baal,” said the servant, trembling, “they
- have not taken everything yet! and these are each fifty cubits deep and
- filled up to the brim! During your voyage I had them dug out in the
- arsenals, in the gardens, everywhere! your house is full of corn as your
- heart is full of wisdom.”
- </p>
- <p>
- A smile passed over Hamilcar’s face. “It is well, Abdalonim!”
- Then bending over to his ear: “You will have it brought from
- Etruria, Brutium, whence you will, and no matter at what price! Heap it
- and keep it! I alone must possess all the corn in Carthage.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then when they were alone at the extremity of the passage, Abdalonim, with
- one of the keys hanging at his girdle, opened a large quadrangular chamber
- divided in the centre by pillars of cedar. Gold, silver, and brass coins
- were arranged on tables or packed into niches, and rose as high as the
- joists of the roof along the four walls. In the corners there were huge
- baskets of hippopotamus skin supporting whole rows of smaller bags; there
- were hillocks formed of heaps of bullion on the pavement; and here and
- there a pile that was too high had given way and looked like a ruined
- column. The large Carthaginian pieces, representing Tanith with a horse
- beneath a palm-tree, mingled with those from the colonies, which were
- marked with a bull, star, globe, or crescent. Then there might be seen
- pieces of all values, dimensions, and ages arrayed in unequal amounts—from
- the ancient coins of Assyria, slender as the nail, to the ancient ones of
- Latium, thicker than the hand, with the buttons of Egina, the tablets of
- Bactriana, and the short bars of Lacedæmon; many were covered with rust,
- or had grown greasy, or, having been taken in nets or from among the ruins
- of captured cities, were green with the water or blackened by fire. The
- Suffet had speedily calculated whether the sums present corresponded with
- the gains and losses which had just been read to him; and he was going
- away when he perceived three brass jars completely empty. Abdalonim turned
- away his head to mark his horror, and Hamilcar, resigning himself to it,
- said nothing.
- </p>
- <p>
- They crossed other passages and other halls, and at last reached a door
- where, to ensure its better protection and in accordance with a Roman
- custom lately introduced into Carthage, a man was fastened by the waist to
- a long chain let into the wall. His beard and nails had grown to an
- immoderate length, and he swayed himself from right to left with that
- continual oscillation which is characteristic of captive animals. As soon
- as he recognised Hamilcar he darted towards him, crying:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Pardon, Eye of Baal! pity! kill me! For ten years I have not seen
- the sun! In your father’s name, pardon!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar, without answering him, clapped his hands and three men appeared;
- and all four simultaneously stiffening their arms, drew back from its
- rings the enormous bar which closed the door. Hamilcar took a torch and
- disappeared into the darkness.
- </p>
- <p>
- This was believed to be the family burying-place; but nothing would have
- been found in it except a broad well. It was dug out merely to baffle
- robbers, and it concealed nothing. Hamilcar passed along beside it; then
- stooping down he made a very heavy millstone turn upon its rollers, and
- through this aperture entered an apartment which was built in the shape of
- a cone.
- </p>
- <p>
- The walls were covered with scales of brass; and in the centre, on a
- granite pedestal, stood the statue of one of the Kabiri called Aletes, the
- discoverer of the mines in Celtiberia. On the ground, at its base, and
- arranged in the form of a cross, were large gold shields and monster
- close-necked silver vases, of extravagant shape and unfitted for use; it
- was customary to cast quantities of metal in this way, so that
- dilapidation and even removal should be almost impossible.
- </p>
- <p>
- With his torch he lit a miner’s lamp which was fastened to the idol’s
- cap, and green, yellow, blue, violet, wine-coloured, and blood-coloured
- fires suddenly illuminated the hall. It was filled with gems which were
- either in gold calabashes fastened like sconces upon sheets of brass, or
- were ranged in native masses at the foot of the wall. There were callaides
- shot away from the mountains with slings, carbuncles formed by the urine
- of the lynx, glossopetræ which had fallen from the moon, tyanos, diamonds,
- sandastra, beryls, with the three kinds of rubies, the four kinds of
- sapphires, and the twelve kinds of emeralds. They gleamed like splashes of
- milk, blue icicles, and silver dust, and shed their light in sheets, rays,
- and stars. Ceraunia, engendered by the thunder, sparkled by the side of
- chalcedonies, which are a cure for poison. There were topazes from Mount
- Zabarca to avert terrors, opals from Bactriana to prevent abortions, and
- horns of Ammon, which are placed under the bed to induce dreams.
- </p>
- <p>
- The fires from the stones and the flames from the lamp were mirrored in
- the great golden shields. Hamilcar stood smiling with folded arms, and was
- less delighted by the sight of his riches than by the consciousness of
- their possession. They were inaccessible, exhaustless, infinite. His
- ancestors sleeping beneath his feet transmitted something of their
- eternity to his heart. He felt very near to the subterranean deities. It
- was as the joy of one of the Kabiri; and the great luminous rays striking
- upon his face looked like the extremity of an invisible net linking him
- across the abysses with the centre of the world.
- </p>
- <p>
- A thought came which made him shudder, and placing himself behind the idol
- he walked straight up to the wall. Then among the tattooings on his arm he
- scrutinised a horizontal line with two other perpendicular ones which in
- Chanaanitish figures expressed the number thirteen. Then he counted as far
- as the thirteenth of the brass plates and again raised his ample sleeve;
- and with his right hand stretched out he read other more complicated lines
- on his arm, at the same time moving his fingers daintily about like one
- playing on a lyre. At last he struck seven blows with his thumb, and an
- entire section of the wall turned about in a single block.
- </p>
- <p>
- It served to conceal a sort of cellar containing mysterious things which
- had no name and were of incalculable value. Hamilcar went down the three
- steps, took up a llama’s skin which was floating on a black liquid
- in a silver vat, and then re-ascended.
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim again began to walk before him. He struck the pavement with his
- tall cane, the pommel of which was adorned with bells, and before every
- apartment cried aloud the name of Hamilcar amid eulogies and benedictions.
- </p>
- <p>
- Along the walls of the circular gallery, from which the passages branched
- off, were piled little beams of algummim, bags of Lawsonia, cakes of
- Lemnos-earth, and tortoise carapaces filled with pearls. The Suffet
- brushed them with his robe as he passed without even looking at some
- gigantic pieces of amber, an almost divine material formed by the rays of
- the sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- A cloud of odorous vapour burst forth.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Push open the door!”
- </p>
- <p>
- They went in.
- </p>
- <p>
- Naked men were kneading pastes, crushing herbs, stirring coals, pouring
- oil into jars, and opening and shutting the little ovoid cells which were
- hollowed out all round in the wall, and were so numerous that the
- apartment was like the interior of a hive. They were brimful of myrobalan,
- bdellium, saffron, and violets. Gums, powders, roots, glass phials,
- branches of filipendula, and rose-petals were scattered about everywhere,
- and the scents were stifling in spite of the cloud-wreaths from the styrax
- shrivelling on a brazen tripod in the centre.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Chief of the Sweet Odours, pale and long as a waxen torch, came up to
- Hamilcar to crush a roll of metopion in his hands, while two others rubbed
- his heels with leaves of baccharis. He repelled them; they were Cyreneans
- of infamous morals, but valued on account of the secrets which they
- possessed.
- </p>
- <p>
- To show his vigilance the Chief of the Odours offered the Suffet a little
- malobathrum to taste in an electrum spoon; then he pierced three Indian
- bezoars with an awl. The master, who knew the artifices employed, took a
- horn full of balm, and after holding it near the coals inclined it over
- his robe. A brown spot appeared; it was a fraud. Then he gazed fixedly at
- the Chief of the Odours, and without saying anything flung the gazelle’s
- horn full in his face.
- </p>
- <p>
- However indignant he might be at adulterations made to his own prejudice,
- when he perceived some parcels of nard which were being packed up for
- countries beyond the sea, he ordered antimony to be mixed with it so as to
- make it heavier.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he asked where three boxes of psagdas designed for his own use were
- to be found.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Chief of the Odours confessed that he did not know; some soldiers had
- come howling in with knives and he had opened the boxes for them.
- </p>
- <p>
- “So you are more afraid of them then of me!” cried the Suffet;
- and his eyeballs flashed like torches through the smoke upon the tall,
- pale man who was beginning to understand. “Abdalonim! you will make
- him run the gauntlet before sunset: tear him!”
- </p>
- <p>
- This loss, which was less than the others, had exasperated him; for in
- spite of his efforts to banish them from his thoughts he was continually
- coming again across the Barbarians. Their excesses were blended with his
- daughter’s shame, and he was angry with the whole household for
- knowing of the latter and for not speaking of it to him. But something
- impelled him to bury himself in his misfortune; and in an inquisitorial
- fit he visited the sheds behind the mercantile house to see the supplies
- of bitumen, wood, anchors and cordage, honey and wax, the cloth warehouse,
- the stores of food, the marble yard and the silphium barn.
- </p>
- <p>
- He went to the other side of the gardens to make an inspection in their
- cottages, of the domestic artisans whose productions were sold. There were
- tailors embroidering cloaks, others making nets, others painting cushions
- or cutting out sandals, and Egyptian workmen polished papyrus with a
- shell, while the weavers’ shuttles rattled and the armourers’
- anvils rang.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar said to them:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Beat away at the swords! I shall want them.” And he drew the
- antelope’s skin that had been steeped in poisons from his bosom to
- have it cut into a cuirass more solid than one of brass and unassailable
- by steel or flame.
- </p>
- <p>
- As soon as he approached the workmen, Abdalonim, to give his wrath another
- direction, tried to anger him against them by murmured disparagement of
- their work. “What a performance! It is a shame! The Master is indeed
- too good.” Hamilcar moved away without listening to him.
- </p>
- <p>
- He slackened his pace, for the paths were barred by great trees calcined
- from one end to the other, such as may be met with in woods where
- shepherds have encamped; and the palings were broken, the water in the
- trenches was disappearing, while fragments of glass and the bones of apes
- were to be seen amid the miry puddles. A scrap of cloth hung here and
- there from the bushes, and the rotten flowers formed a yellow muck-heap
- beneath the citron trees. In fact, the servants had neglected everything,
- thinking that the master would never return.
- </p>
- <p>
- At every step he discovered some new disaster, some further proof of the
- thing which he had forbidden himself to learn. Here he was soiling his
- purple boots as he crushed the filth under-foot; and he had not all these
- men before him at the end of a catapult to make them fly into fragments!
- He felt humiliated at having defended them; it was a delusion and a piece
- of treachery; and as he could not revenge himself upon the soldiers, or
- the Ancients, or Salammbô, or anybody, and his wrath required some victim,
- he condemned all the slaves of the gardens to the mines at a single
- stroke.
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim shuddered each time that he saw him approaching the parks. But
- Hamilcar took the path towards the mill, from which there might be heard
- issuing a mournful melopoia.
- </p>
- <p>
- The heavy mill-stones were turning amid the dust. They consisted of two
- cones of porphyry laid the one upon the other—the upper one of the
- two, which carried a funnel, being made to revolve upon the second by
- means of strong bars. Some men were pushing these with their breasts and
- arms, while others were yoked to them and were pulling them. The friction
- of the straps had formed purulent scabs round about their armpits such as
- are seen on asses’ withers, and the end of the limp black rag, which
- scarcely covered their loins, hung down and flapped against their hams
- like a long tail. Their eyes were red, the irons on their feet clanked,
- and all their breasts panted rhythmically. On their mouths they had
- muzzles fastened by two little bronze chains to render it impossible for
- them to eat the flour, and their hands were enclosed in gauntlets without
- fingers, so as to prevent them from taking any.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the master’s entrance the wooden bars creaked still more loudly.
- The grain grated as it was being crushed. Several fell upon their knees;
- the others, continuing their work, stepped across them.
- </p>
- <p>
- He asked for Giddenem, the governor of the slaves, and that personage
- appeared, his rank being displayed in the richness of his dress. His
- tunic, which was slit up the sides, was of fine purple; his ears were
- weighted with heavy rings; and the strips of cloth enfolding his legs were
- joined together with a lacing of gold which extended from his ankles to
- his hips, like a serpent winding about a tree. In his fingers, which were
- laden with rings, he held a necklace of jet beads, so as to recognise the
- men who were subject to the sacred disease.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the muzzles. Then with the cries of
- famished animals they all rushed upon the flour, burying their faces in
- the heaps of it and devouring it.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are weakening them!” said the Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- Giddenem replied that such treatment was necessary in order to subdue
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- “It was scarcely worth while sending you to the slaves’ school
- at Syracuse. Fetch the others!”
- </p>
- <p>
- And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, and litter-carriers, the men
- belonging to the vapour-baths, and the women with their children, all
- ranged themselves in a single line in the garden from the mercantile house
- to the deer park. They held their breath. An immense silence prevailed in
- Megara. The sun was lengthening across the lagoon at the foot of the
- catacombs. The peacocks were screeching. Hamilcar walked along step by
- step.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What am I to do with these old creatures?” he said. “Sell
- them! There are too many Gauls: they are drunkards! and too many Cretans:
- they are liars! Buy me some Cappadocians, Asiatics, and Negroes.”
- </p>
- <p>
- He was astonished that the children were so few. “The house ought to
- have births every year, Giddenem. You will leave the huts open every night
- to let them mingle freely.”
- </p>
- <p>
- He then had the thieves, the lazy, and the mutinous shown to him. He
- distributed punishments, with reproaches to Giddenem; and Giddenem,
- ox-like, bent his low forehead, with its two broad intersecting eyebrows.
- </p>
- <p>
- “See, Eye of Baal,” he said, pointing out a sturdy Libyan,
- “here is one who was caught with the rope round his neck.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! you wish to die?” said the Suffet scornfully.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes!” replied the slave in an intrepid tone.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then, without heeding the precedent or the pecuniary loss, Hamilcar said
- to the serving-men:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Away with him!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Perhaps in his thoughts he intended a sacrifice. It was a misfortune which
- he inflicted upon himself in order to avert more terrible ones.
- </p>
- <p>
- Giddenem had hidden those who were mutilated behind the others. Hamilcar
- perceived them.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Who cut off your arm?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “The soldiers, Eye of Baal.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then to a Samnite who was staggering like a wounded heron:
- </p>
- <p>
- “And you, who did that to you?”
- </p>
- <p>
- It was the governor, who had broken his leg with an iron bar.
- </p>
- <p>
- This silly atrocity made the Suffet indignant; he snatched the jet
- necklace out of Giddenem’s hands.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Cursed be the dog that injures the flock! Gracious Tanith, to
- cripple slaves! Ah! you ruin your master! Let him be smothered in the
- dunghill. And those that are missing? Where are they? Have you helped the
- soldiers to murder them?”
- </p>
- <p>
- His face was so terrible that all the women fled. The slaves drew back and
- formed a large circle around them; Giddenem was frantically kissing his
- sandals; Hamilcar stood upright with his arms raised above him.
- </p>
- <p>
- But with his understanding as clear as in the sternest of his battles, he
- recalled a thousand odious things, ignominies from which he had turned
- aside; and in the gleaming of his wrath he could once more see all his
- disasters simultaneously as in the lightnings of a storm. The governors of
- the country estates had fled through terror of the soldiers, perhaps
- through collusion with them; they were all deceiving him; he had
- restrained himself too long.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Bring them here!” he cried; “and brand them on the
- forehead with red-hot irons as cowards!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters,
- carcanets, knives, chains for those condemned to the mines, cippi for
- fastening the legs, numellæ for confining the shoulders, and scorpions or
- whips with triple thongs terminating in brass claws.
- </p>
- <p>
- All were placed facing the sun, in the direction of Moloch the Devourer,
- and were stretched on the ground on their stomachs or on their backs,
- those, however, who were sentenced to be flogged standing upright against
- the trees with two men beside them, one counting the blows and the other
- striking.
- </p>
- <p>
- In striking he used both his arms, and the whistling thongs made the bark
- of the plane-trees fly. The blood was scattered like rain upon the
- foliage, and red masses writhed with howls at the foot of the trees. Those
- who were under the iron tore their faces with their nails. The wooden
- screws could be heard creaking; dull knockings resounded; sometimes a
- sharp cry would suddenly pierce the air. In the direction of the kitchens,
- men were brisking up burning coals with fans amid tattered garments and
- scattered hair, and a smell of burning flesh was perceptible. Those who
- were under the scourge, swooning, but kept in their positions by the bonds
- on their arms, rolled their heads upon their shoulders and closed their
- eyes. The others who were watching them began to shriek with terror, and
- the lions, remembering the feast perhaps, stretched themselves out yawning
- against the edge of the dens.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Salammbô was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly
- about it from left to right. Hamilcar perceived her. It seemed to him that
- she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a gesture
- of horror he plunged into the elephants’ park.
- </p>
- <p>
- These animals were the pride of the great Punic houses. They had carried
- their ancestors, had triumphed in the wars, and they were reverenced as
- being the favourites of the Sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- Those of Megara were the strongest in Carthage. Before he went away
- Hamilcar had required Abdalonim to swear that he would watch over them.
- But they had died from their mutilations; and only three remained, lying
- in the middle of the court in the dust before the ruins of their manger.
- </p>
- <p>
- They recognised him and came up to him. One had its ears horribly slit,
- another had a large wound in its knee, while the trunk of the third was
- cut off.
- </p>
- <p>
- They looked sadly at him, like reasonable creatures; and the one that had
- lost its trunk tried by stooping its huge head and bending its hams to
- stroke him softly with the hideous extremity of its stump.
- </p>
- <p>
- At this caress from the animal two tears started into his eyes. He rushed
- at Abdalonim.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! wretch! the cross! the cross!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim fell back swooning upon the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue smoke
- of which was ascending slowly into the sky; Hamilcar paused.
- </p>
- <p>
- The thought of his son had suddenly calmed him like the touch of a god. He
- caught a glimpse of a prolongation of his might, an indefinite
- continuation of his personality, and the slaves could not understand
- whence this appeasement had come upon him.
- </p>
- <p>
- As he bent his steps towards the purple factories he passed before the
- ergastulum, which was a long house of black stone built in a square pit
- with a small pathway all round it and four staircases at the corners.
- </p>
- <p>
- Iddibal was doubtless waiting until the night to finish his signal.
- “There is no hurry yet,” thought Hamilcar; and he went down
- into the prison. Some cried out to him: “Return”; the boldest
- followed him.
- </p>
- <p>
- The open door was flapping in the wind. The twilight entered through the
- narrow loopholes, and in the interior broken chains could be distinguished
- hanging from the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- This was all that remained of the captives of war!
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning over
- the pit outside saw him resting one hand against the wall to keep himself
- from falling.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the jackal uttered its cry three times in succession. Hamilcar raised
- his head; he did not speak a word nor make a gesture. Then when the sun
- had completely set he disappeared behind the nopal hedge, and in the
- evening he said as he entered the assembly of the rich in the temple of
- Eschmoun:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Luminaries of the Baalim, I accept the command of the Punic forces
- against the army of the Barbarians!”
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER VIII
- </h2>
- <h3>
- THE BATTLE OF THE MACARAS
- </h3>
- <p>
- In the following day he drew two hundred and twenty-three thousand kikars
- of gold from the Syssitia, and decreed a tax of fourteen shekels upon the
- rich. Even the women contributed; payment was made in behalf of the
- children, and he compelled the colleges of priests to furnish money—a
- monstrous thing, according to Carthaginian customs.
- </p>
- <p>
- He demanded all the horses, mules, and arms. A few tried to conceal their
- wealth, and their property was sold; and, to intimidate the avarice of the
- rest, he himself gave sixty suits of armour, and fifteen hundred gomers of
- meal, which was as much as was given by the Ivory Company.
- </p>
- <p>
- He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers
- accustomed to fight with bears; they were paid for six moons in advance at
- the rate of four minæ a day.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless an army was wanted. But he did not, like Hanno, accept all
- the citizens. First he rejected those engaged in sedentary occupations,
- and then those who were big-bellied or had a pusillanimous look; and he
- admitted those of ill-repute, the scum of Malqua, sons of Barbarians,
- freed men. For reward he promised some of the New Carthaginians complete
- rights of citizenship.
- </p>
- <p>
- His first care was to reform the Legion. These handsome young fellows, who
- regarded themselves as the military majesty of the Republic, governed
- themselves. He reduced their officers to the ranks; he treated them
- harshly, made them run, leap, ascend the declivity of Byrsa at a single
- burst, hurl javelins, wrestle together, and sleep in the squares at night.
- Their families used to come to see them and pity them.
- </p>
- <p>
- He ordered shorter swords and stronger buskins. He fixed the number of
- serving-men, and reduced the amount of baggage; and as there were three
- hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them in spite of
- the pontiff’s protests.
- </p>
- <p>
- He organised a phalanx of seventy-two elephants with those which had
- returned from Utica, and others which were private property, and rendered
- them formidable. He armed their drivers with mallet and chisel to enable
- them to split their skulls in the fight if they ran away.
- </p>
- <p>
- He would not allow his generals to be nominated by the Grand Council. The
- Ancients tried to urge the laws in objection, but he set them aside; no
- one ventured to murmur again, and everything yielded to the violence of
- his genius.
- </p>
- <p>
- He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances; and
- as a precaution against accusations he demanded the Suffet Hanno as
- examiner of his accounts.
- </p>
- <p>
- He set to work upon the ramparts, and had the old and now useless inner
- walls demolished in order to furnish stones. But difference of fortune,
- replacing the hierarchy of race, still kept the sons of the vanquished and
- those of the conquerors apart; thus the patricians viewed the destruction
- of these ruins with an angry eye, while the plebeians, scarcely knowing
- why, rejoiced.
- </p>
- <p>
- The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till night;
- every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed bearing
- shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women engaged in
- tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to another, and Hamilcar’s
- soul filled the Republic.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place a
- strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his files,
- so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at once led and
- pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand Ligurians, and
- the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple phalanx of four thousand
- and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze helmets, and handling ashen
- sarissæ fourteen cubits long.
- </p>
- <p>
- There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a dagger,
- and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others armed with round
- shields and Roman swords.
- </p>
- <p>
- The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining guardsmen
- of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like the Assyrian
- Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted archers, of those that
- were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel’s skin, two-edged axes,
- and leathern tunics. Finally there were twelve hundred Negroes from the
- quarter of the caravans, who were mingled with the Clinabarians, and were
- to run beside the stallions with one hand resting on the manes. All was
- ready, and yet Hamilcar did not start.
- </p>
- <p>
- Often at night he would go out of Carthage alone and make his way beyond
- the lagoon towards the mouths of the Macaras. Did he intend to join the
- Mercenaries? The Ligurians encamped in the Mappalian district surrounded
- his house.
- </p>
- <p>
- The apprehensions of the rich appeared justified when, one day, three
- hundred Barbarians were seen approaching the walls. The Suffet opened the
- gates to them; they were deserters; drawn by fear or by fidelity, they
- were hastening to their master.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar’s return had not surprised the Mercenaries; according to
- their ideas the man could not die. He was returning to fulfil his promise;—a
- hope by no means absurd, so deep was the abyss between Country and Army.
- Moreover they did not believe themselves culpable; the feast was
- forgotten.
- </p>
- <p>
- The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. It was a triumph for the
- bitter; even the lukewarm grew furious. Then the two sieges overwhelmed
- then with weariness; no progress was being made; a battle would be better!
- Thus many men had left the ranks and were scouring the country. But at
- news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for joy. “At last! at
- last!” he cried.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbô was turned against
- Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as his
- vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he had
- realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was seized
- with a loftier tenderness, and consumed by more acrid desire. He saw
- himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing the Suffet’s
- head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed, clasping the
- maiden in his arms, covering her face with kisses, passing his hands over
- her long, black hair; and the imagination of this, which he knew could
- never be realised, tortured him. He swore to himself that, since his
- companions had appointed him schalishim, he would conduct the war; the
- certainty that he would not return from it urged him to render it a
- pitiless one.
- </p>
- <p>
- He came to Spendius and said to him:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We
- are lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do you understand me? Rise!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius was stupefied before such an air of authority. Matho usually
- allowed himself to be led, and his previous transports had quickly passed
- away. But just now he appeared at once calmer and more terrible; a superb
- will gleamed in his eyes like the flame of sacrifice.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greek did not listen to his reasons. He was living in one of the
- Carthaginian pearl-bordered tents, drinking cool beverages from silver
- cups, playing at the cottabos, letting his hair grow, and conducting the
- siege with slackness. Moreover, he had entered into communications with
- some in the town and would not leave, being sure that it would open its
- gates before many days were over.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas, who wandered about among the three armies, was at that
- time with him. He supported his opinion, and even blamed the Libyan for
- wishing in his excess of courage to abandon their enterprise.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Go, if you are afraid!” exclaimed Matho; “you promised
- us pitch, sulphur, elephants, foot-soldiers, horses! where are they?”
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas reminded him that he had exterminated Hanno’s last
- cohorts;—as to the elephants, they were being hunted in the woods,
- he was arming the foot-soldiers, the horses were on their way; and the
- Numidian rolled his eyes like a woman and smiled in an irritating manner
- as he stroked the ostrich feather which fell upon his shoulder. In his
- presence Matho was at a loss for a reply.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a man who was a stranger entered, wet with perspiration, scared, and
- with bleeding feet and loosened girdle; his breathing shook his lean sides
- enough to have burst them, and speaking in an unintelligible dialect he
- opened his eyes wide as if he were telling of some battle. The king sprang
- outside and called his horsemen.
- </p>
- <p>
- They ranged themselves in the plain before him in the form of a circle.
- Narr’ Havas, who was mounted, bent his head and bit his lips. At
- last he separated his men into two equal divisions, and told the first to
- wait; then with an imperious gesture he carried off the others at a gallop
- and disappeared on the horizon in the direction of the mountains.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Master!” murmured Spendius, “I do not like these
- extraordinary chances—the Suffet returning, Narr’ Havas going
- away—”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why! what does it matter?” said Matho disdainfully.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a reason the more for anticipating Hamilcar by uniting with
- Autaritus. But if the siege of the towns were raised, the inhabitants
- would come out and attack them in the rear, while they would have the
- Carthaginians in front. After much talking the following measures were
- resolved upon and immediately executed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius proceeded with fifteen thousand men as far as the bridge built
- across the Macaras, three miles from Utica; the corners of it were
- fortified with four huge towers provided with catapults; all the paths and
- gorges in the mountains were stopped up with trunks of trees, pieces of
- rock, interlacings of thorn, and stone walls; on the summits heaps of
- grass were made which might be lighted as signals, and shepherds who were
- able to see at a distance were posted at intervals.
- </p>
- <p>
- No doubt Hamilcar would not, like Hanno, advance by the mountain of the
- Hot Springs. He would think that Autaritus, being master of the interior,
- would close the route against him. Moreover, a check at the opening of the
- campaign would ruin him, while if he gained a victory he would soon have
- to make a fresh beginning, the Mercenaries being further off. Again, he
- could disembark at Cape Grapes and march thence upon one of the towns. But
- he would then find himself between the two armies, an indiscretion which
- he could not commit with his scanty forces. Accordingly he must proceed
- along the base of Mount Ariana, then turn to the left to avoid the mouths
- of the Macaras, and come straight to the bridge. It was there that Matho
- expected him.
- </p>
- <p>
- At night he used to inspect the pioneers by torch-light. He would hasten
- to Hippo-Zarytus or to the works on the mountains, would come back again,
- would never rest. Spendius envied his energy; but in the management of
- spies, the choice of sentries, the working of the engines and all means of
- defence, Matho listened docilely to his companion. They spoke no more of
- Salammbô,—one not thinking about her, and the other being prevented
- by a feeling of shame.
- </p>
- <p>
- Often he would go towards Carthage, striving to catch sight of Hamilcar’s
- troops. His eyes would dart along the horizon; he would lie flat on the
- ground, and believe that he could hear an army in the throbbing of his
- arteries.
- </p>
- <p>
- He told Spendius that if Hamilcar did not arrive in three days he would go
- with all his men to meet him and offer him battle. Two further days
- elapsed. Spendius restrained him; but on the morning of the sixth day he
- departed.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians were no less impatient for war than the Barbarians. In
- tents and in houses there was the same longing and the same distress; all
- were asking one another what was delaying Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- From time to time he would mount to the cupola of the temple of Eschmoun
- beside the Announcer of the Moons and take note of the wind.
- </p>
- <p>
- One day—it was the third of the month of Tibby—they saw him
- descending from the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour arose in
- the Mappalian district. Soon the streets were astir, and the soldiers were
- everywhere beginning to arm themselves upon their breasts; then they ran
- quickly to the square of Khamon to take their places in the ranks. No one
- was allowed to follow them or even to speak to them, or to approach the
- ramparts; for some minutes the whole town was silent as a great tomb. The
- soldiers as they leaned on their lances were thinking, and the others in
- the houses were sighing.
- </p>
- <p>
- At sunset the army went out by the western gate; but instead of taking the
- road to Tunis or making for the mountains in the direction of Utica, they
- continued their march along the edge of the sea; and they soon reached the
- Lagoon, where round spaces quite whitened with salt glittered like
- gigantic silver dishes forgotten on the shore.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the pools of water multiplied. The ground gradually became softer,
- and the feet sank in it. Hamilcar did not turn back. He went on still at
- their head; and his horse, which was yellow-spotted like a dragon,
- advanced into the mire flinging froth around him, and with great straining
- of the loins. Night—a moonless light—fell. A few cried out
- that they were about to perish; he snatched their arms from them, and gave
- them to the serving-men. Nevertheless the mud became deeper and deeper.
- Some had to mount the beasts of burden; others clung to the horses’
- tails; the sturdy pulled the weak, and the Ligurian corps drove on the
- infantry with the points of their pikes. The darkness increased. They had
- lost their way. All stopped.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then some of the Suffet’s slaves went on ahead to look for the buoys
- which had been placed at intervals by his order. They shouted through the
- darkness, and the army followed them at a distance.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last they felt the resistance of the ground. Then a whitish curve
- became dimly visible, and they found themselves on the bank of the
- Macaras. In spite of the cold no fires were lighted.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the middle of the night squalls of wind arose. Hamilcar had the
- soldiers roused, but not a trumpet was sounded: their captain tapped them
- softly on the shoulder.
- </p>
- <p>
- A man of lofty stature went down into the water. It did not come up to his
- girdle; it was possible to cross.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet ordered thirty-two of the elephants to be posted in the river a
- hundred paces further on, while the others, lower down, would check the
- lines of men that were carried away by the current; and holding their
- weapons above their heads they all crossed the Macaras as though between
- two walls. He had noticed that the western wind had driven the sand so as
- to obstruct the river and form a natural causeway across it.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was now on the left bank in front of Utica, and in a vast plain, the
- latter being advantageous for his elephants, which formed the strength of
- his army.
- </p>
- <p>
- This feat of genius filled the soldiers with enthusiasm. They recovered
- extraordinary confidence. They wished to hasten immediately against the
- Barbarians; but the Suffet bade them rest for two hours. As soon as the
- sun appeared they moved into the plain in three lines—first came the
- elephants, and then the light infantry with the cavalry behind it, the
- phalanx marching next.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians encamped at Utica, and the fifteen thousand about the
- bridge were surprised to see the ground undulating in the distance. The
- wind, which was blowing very hard, was driving tornadoes of sand before
- it; they rose as though snatched from the soil, ascended in great
- light-coloured strips, then parted asunder and began again, hiding the
- Punic army the while from the Mercenaries. Owing to the horns, which stood
- up on the edge of the helmets, some thought that they could perceive a
- herd of oxen; others, deceived by the motion of the cloaks, pretended that
- they could distinguish wings, and those who had travelled a good deal
- shrugged their shoulders and explained everything by the illusions of the
- mirage. Nevertheless something of enormous size continued to advance.
- Little vapours, as subtle as the breath, ran across the surface of the
- desert; the sun, which was higher now, shone more strongly: a harsh light,
- which seemed to vibrate, threw back the depths of the sky, and permeating
- objects, rendered distance incalculable. The immense plain expanded in
- every direction beyond the limits of vision; and the almost insensible
- undulations of the soil extended to the extreme horizon, which was closed
- by a great blue line which they knew to be the sea. The two armies, having
- left their tents, stood gazing; the people of Utica were massing on the
- ramparts to have a better view.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last they distinguished several transverse bars bristling with level
- points. They became thicker, larger; black hillocks swayed to and fro;
- square thickets suddenly appeared; they were elephants and lances. A
- single shout went up: “The Carthaginians!” and without signal
- or command the soldiers at Utica and those at the bridge ran pell-mell to
- fall in a body upon Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius shuddered at the name. “Hamilcar! Hamilcar!” he
- repeated, panting, and Matho was not there! What was to be done? No means
- of flight! The suddenness of the event, his terror of the Suffet, and
- above all, the urgent need of forming an immediate resolution, distracted
- him; he could see himself pierced by a thousand swords, decapitated, dead.
- Meanwhile he was being called for; thirty thousand men would follow him;
- he was seized with fury against himself; he fell back upon the hope of
- victory; it was full of bliss, and he believed himself more intrepid than
- Epaminondas. He smeared his cheeks with vermilion in order to conceal his
- paleness, then he buckled on his knemids and his cuirass, swallowed a
- patera of pure wine, and ran after his troops, who were hastening towards
- those from Utica.
- </p>
- <p>
- They united so rapidly that the Suffet had not time to draw up his men in
- battle array. By degrees he slackened his speed. The elephants stopped;
- they rocked their heavy heads with their chargings of ostrich feathers,
- striking their shoulders the while with their trunks.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind the intervals between them might be seen the cohorts of the
- velites, and further on the great helmets of the Clinabarians, with steel
- heads glancing in the sun, cuirasses, plumes, and waving standards. But
- the Carthaginian army, which amounted to eleven thousand three hundred and
- ninety-six men, seemed scarcely to contain them, for it formed an oblong,
- narrow at the sides and pressed back upon itself.
- </p>
- <p>
- Seeing them so weak, the Barbarians, who were thrice as numerous, were
- seized with extravagant joy. Hamilcar was not to be seen. Perhaps he had
- remained down yonder? Moreover what did it matter? The disdain which they
- felt for these traders strengthened their courage; and before Spendius
- could command a manouvre they had all understood it, and already executed
- it.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were deployed in a long, straight line, overlapping the wings of the
- Punic army in order to completely encompass it. But when there was an
- interval of only three hundred paces between the armies, the elephants
- turned round instead of advancing; then the Clinabarians were seen to face
- about and follow them; and the surprise of the Mercenaries increased when
- they saw the archers running to join them. So the Carthaginians were
- afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous hooting broke out from among the
- Barbarian troops, and Spendius exclaimed from the top of his dromedary:
- “Ah! I knew it! Forward! forward!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously. The
- elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop more
- quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like shadows in a
- cloud.
- </p>
- <p>
- But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated by
- the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously. The
- space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full of eddies
- and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it. Cohorts of
- infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time all the rest saw
- the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a gallop.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and the
- elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals so as
- to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he calculated
- the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when they reached
- him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long straight line.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full squares
- having sixteen men on each side. All the leaders of all the files appeared
- amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly around them, for
- the first six ranks crossed their sarissæ, holding them in the middle, and
- the ten lower ranks rested them upon the shoulders of their companions in
- succession before them. Their faces were all half hidden beneath the
- visors of their helmets; their right legs were all covered with bronze
- knemids; broad cylindrical shields reached down to their knees; and the
- horrible quadrangular mass moved in a single body, and seemed to live like
- an animal and work like a machine. Two cohorts of elephants flanked it in
- regular array; quivering, they shook off the splinters of the arrows that
- clung to their black skins. The Indians, squatting on their withers among
- the tufts of white feathers, restrained them with their spoon-headed
- harpoons, while the men in the towers, who were hidden up to their
- shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished with lighted tow on the
- edges of their large bended bows. Right and left of the elephants hovered
- the slingers, each with a sling around his loins, a second on his head,
- and a third in his right hand. Then came the Clinabarians, each flanked by
- a Negro, and pointing their lances between the ears of their horses,
- which, like themselves, were completely covered with gold. Afterwards, at
- intervals, came the light armed soldiers with shields of lynx skin, beyond
- which projected the points of the javelins which they held in their left
- hands; while the Tarentines, each having two coupled horses, relieved this
- wall of soldiers at its two extremities.
- </p>
- <p>
- The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to preserve
- its line. Undulations and blanks were to be found through its extravagant
- length; all were panting and out of breath with their running.
- </p>
- <p>
- The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissæ; and the
- too slender line of the Mercenaries soon yielded in the centre beneath the
- enormous weight.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Carthaginian wings expanded in order to fall upon them, the
- elephants following. The phalanx, with obliquely pointed lances, cut
- through the Barbarians; there were two enormous, struggling bodies; and
- the wings with slings and arrows beat them back upon the phalangites.
- There was no cavalry to get rid of them, except two hundred Numidians
- operating against the right squadron of the Clinabarians. All the rest
- were hemmed in, and unable to extricate themselves from the lines. The
- peril was imminent, and the need of coming to some resolution urgent.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius ordered attacks to be made simultaneously on both flanks of the
- phalanx so as to pass clean through it. But the narrower ranks glided
- below the longer ones and recovered their position, and the phalanx turned
- upon the Barbarians as terrible in flank as it had just been in front.
- </p>
- <p>
- They struck at the staves of the sarissæ, but the cavalry in the rear
- embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx, supported by the elephants,
- lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, a
- cone, a rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid. A twofold internal movement went
- on continually from its head to its rear; for those who were at the lowest
- part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the latter, from
- fatigue, or on account of the wounded, fell further back. The Barbarians
- found themselves thronged upon the phalanx. It was impossible for it to
- advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein leaped red crests and
- scales of brass, while the bright shields rolled like silver foam.
- Sometimes broad currents would descend from one extremity to the other,
- and then go up again, while a heavy mass remained motionless in the
- centre. The lances dipped and rose alternately. Elsewhere there was so
- quick a play of naked swords that only the points were visible, while
- turmæ of cavalry formed wide circles which closed again like whirlwinds
- behind them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the grating
- of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds of clay whistled through the air,
- dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the skull. The
- wounded, sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their shields, pointed
- their swords by resting the pommels on the ground, while others, lying in
- pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels of those above them. The
- multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, and the tumult so great that
- it was impossible to distinguish anything; the cowards who offered to
- surrender were not even heard. Those whose hands were empty clasped one
- another close; breasts cracked against cuirasses, and corpses hung with
- head thrown back between a pair of contracted arms. There was a company of
- sixty Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their pikes before their eyes,
- immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two syntagmata to recoil
- simultaneously. Some Epirote shepherds ran upon the left squadron of the
- Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the horses by the man; the
- animals threw their riders and fled across the plain. The Punic slingers
- scattered here and there stood gaping. The phalanx began to waver, the
- captains ran to and fro in distraction, the rearmost in the files were
- pressing upon the soldiers, and the Barbarians had re-formed; they were
- recovering; the victory was theirs.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a cry, a terrible cry broke forth, a roar of pain and wrath: it came
- from the seventy-two elephants which were rushing on in double line,
- Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed together in one
- spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had goaded them so
- vigorously that blood was trickling down their broad ears. Their trunks,
- which were smeared with minium, were stretched straight out in the air
- like red serpents; their breasts were furnished with spears and their
- backs with cuirasses; their tusks were lengthened with steel blades curved
- like sabres,—and to make them more ferocious they had been
- intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, wine, and incense. They shook their
- necklaces of bells, and shrieked; and the elephantarchs bent their heads
- beneath the stream of phalaricas which was beginning to fly from the tops
- of the towers.
- </p>
- <p>
- In order to resist them the better the Barbarians rushed forward in a
- compact crowd; the elephants flung themselves impetuously upon the centre
- of it. The spurs on their breasts, like ships’ prows, clove through
- the cohorts, which flowed surging back. They stifled the men with their
- trunks, or else snatching them up from the ground delivered them over
- their heads to the soldiers in the towers; with their tusks they
- disembowelled them, and hurled them into the air, and long entrails hung
- from their ivory fangs like bundles of rope from a mast. The Barbarians
- strove to blind them, to hamstring them; others would slip beneath their
- bodies, bury a sword in them up to the hilt, and perish crushed to death;
- the most intrepid clung to their straps; they would go on sawing the
- leather amid flames, bullets, and arrows, and the wicker tower would fall
- like a tower of stone. Fourteen of the animals on the extreme right,
- irritated by their wounds, turned upon the second rank; the Indians seized
- mallet and chisel, applied the latter to a joint in the head, and with all
- their might struck a great blow.
- </p>
- <p>
- Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another. It was like a
- mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous
- elephant, called “The Fury of Baal,” which had been caught by
- the leg in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in
- its eye.
- </p>
- <p>
- The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination,
- overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged against the corpses and the <i>débris</i>.
- To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they turned about on
- their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual rotatory motion. The
- Carthaginians felt their energy increase, and the battle begin again.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians were growing weak; some Greek hoplites threw away all their
- arms, and terror seized upon the rest. Spendius was seen stooping upon his
- dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two javelins. Then they
- all rushed away from the wings and ran towards Utica.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake
- them. The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an advance
- towards the river. But the Carthaginians, who were posted in the centre of
- the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their feet with longing for
- the vengeance which was flying from them; and they were already darting
- forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when Hamilcar appeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- He held in his spotted and sweat-covered horse with silver reins. The
- bands fastened to the horns on his helmet flapped in the wind behind him,
- and he had placed his oval shield beneath his left thigh. With a motion of
- his triple-pointed pike he checked the army.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off right
- and left towards the river and towards the town.
- </p>
- <p>
- The phalanx exterminated all the remaining Barbarians at leisure. When the
- swords appeared they would stretch out their throats and close their
- eyelids. Others defended themselves to the last, and were knocked down
- from a distance with flints like mad dogs. Hamilcar had desired the taking
- of prisoners, but the Carthaginians obeyed him grudgingly, so much
- pleasure did they derive from plunging their swords into the bodies of the
- Barbarians. As they were too hot they set about their work with bare arms
- like mowers; and when they desisted to take breath they would follow with
- their eyes a horseman galloping across the country after a fleeing
- soldier. He would succeed in seizing him by the hair, hold him thus for a
- while, and then fell him with a blow of his axe.
- </p>
- <p>
- Night fell. Carthaginians and Barbarians had disappeared. The elephants
- which had taken to flight roamed in the horizon with their fired towers.
- These burned here and there in the darkness like beacons nearly half lost
- in the mist; and no movement could be discerned in the plain save the
- undulation of the river, which was heaped with corpses, and was drifting
- them away to the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- Two hours afterwards Matho arrived. He caught sight in the starlight of
- long, uneven heaps lying upon the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were files of Barbarians. He stooped down; all were dead. He called
- into the distance, but no voice replied.
- </p>
- <p>
- That very morning he had left Hippo-Zarytus with his soldiers to march
- upon Carthage. At Utica the army under Spendius had just set out, and the
- inhabitants were beginning to fire the engines. All had fought
- desperately. But, the tumult which was going on in the direction of the
- bridge increasing in an incomprehensible fashion, Matho had struck across
- the mountain by the shortest road, and as the Barbarians were fleeing over
- the plain he had encountered nobody.
- </p>
- <p>
- Facing him were little pyramidal masses rearing themselves in the shade,
- and on this side of the river and closer to him were motionless lights on
- the surface of the ground. In fact the Carthaginians had fallen back
- behind the bridge, and to deceive the Barbarians the Suffet had stationed
- numerous posts upon the other bank.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, still advancing, thought that he could distinguish Punic engines,
- for horses’ heads which did not stir appeared in the air fixed upon
- the tops of piles of staves which could not be seen; and further off he
- could hear a great clamour, a noise of songs, and clashing of cups.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then, not knowing where he was nor how to find Spendius, assailed with
- anguish, scared, and lost in the darkness, he returned more impetuously by
- the same road. The dawn as growing grey when from the top of the mountain
- he perceived the town with the carcases of the engines blackened by the
- flames and looking like giant skeletons leaning against the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- All was peaceful amid extraordinary silence and heaviness. Among his
- soldiers on the verge of the tents men were sleeping nearly naked, each
- upon his back, or with his forehead against his arm which was supported by
- his cuirass. Some were unwinding bloodstained bandages from their legs.
- Those who were doomed to die rolled their heads about gently; others
- dragged themselves along and brought them drink. The sentries walked up
- and down along the narrow paths in order to warm themselves, or stood in a
- fierce attitude with their faces turned towards the horizon, and their
- pikes on their shoulders. Matho found Spendius sheltered beneath a rag of
- canvas, supported by two sticks set in the ground, his knee in his hands
- and his head cast down.
- </p>
- <p>
- They remained for a long time without speaking.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last Matho murmured: “Conquered!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius rejoined in a gloomy voice: “Yes, conquered!”
- </p>
- <p>
- And to all questions he replied by gestures of despair.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile sighs and death-rattles reached them. Matho partially opened the
- canvas. Then the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another disaster on
- the same spot, and he ground his teeth: “Wretch! once already—”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius interrupted him: “You were not there either.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “It is a curse!” exclaimed Matho. “Nevertheless, in the
- end I will get at him! I will conquer him! I will slay him! Ah! if I had
- been there!—” The thought of having missed the battle rendered
- him even more desperate than the defeat. He snatched up his sword and
- threw it upon the ground. “But how did the Carthaginians beat you?”
- </p>
- <p>
- The former slave began to describe the manouvres. Matho seemed to see
- them, and he grew angry. The army from Utica ought to have taken Hamilcar
- in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! I know!” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You ought to have made your ranks twice as deep, avoided exposing
- the velites against the phalanx, and given free passage to the elephants.
- Everything might have been recovered at the last moment; there was no
- necessity to fly.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius replied:
- </p>
- <p>
- “I saw him pass along in his large red cloak, with uplifted arms and
- higher than the dust, like an eagle flying upon the flank of the cohorts;
- and at every nod they closed up or darted forward; the throng carried us
- towards each other; he looked at me, and I felt the cold steel as it were
- in my heart.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “He selected the day, perhaps?” whispered Matho to himself.
- </p>
- <p>
- They questioned each other, trying to discover what it was that had
- brought the Suffet just when circumstances were most unfavourable. They
- went on to talk over the situation, and Spendius, to extenuate his fault,
- or to revive his courage, asserted that some hope still remained.
- </p>
- <p>
- “And if there be none, it matters not!” said Matho; “alone,
- I will carry on the war!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “And I too!” exclaimed the Greek, leaping up; he strode to and
- fro, his eyes sparkling, and a strange smile wrinkled his jackal face.
- </p>
- <p>
- “We will make a fresh start; do not leave me again! I am not made
- for battles in the sunlight—the flashing of swords troubles my
- sight; it is a disease, I lived too long in the ergastulum. But give me
- walls to scale at night, and I will enter the citadels, and the corpses
- shall be cold before cock-crow! Show me any one, anything, an enemy, a
- treasure, a woman,—a woman,” he repeated, “were she a
- king’s daughter, and I will quickly bring your desire to your feet.
- You reproach me for having lost the battle against Hanno, nevertheless I
- won it back again. Confess it! my herd of swine did more for us than a
- phalanx of Spartans.” And yielding to the need that he felt of
- exalting himself and taking his revenge, he enumerated all that he had
- done for the cause of the Mercenaries. “It was I who urged on the
- Gaul in the Suffet’s gardens! And later, at Sicca, I maddened them
- all with fear of the Republic! Gisco was sending them back, but I
- prevented the interpreters speaking. Ah! how their tongues hung out of
- their mouths! do you remember? I brought you into Carthage; I stole the
- zaïmph. I led you to her. I will do more yet: you shall see!” He
- burst out laughing like a madman.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho regarded him with gaping eyes. He felt in a measure uncomfortable in
- the presence of this man, who was at once so cowardly and so terrible.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greek resumed in jovial tones and cracking his fingers:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Evoe! Sun after run! I have worked in the quarries, and I have
- drunk Massic wine beneath a golden awning in a vessel of my own like a
- Ptolemæus. Calamity should help to make us cleverer. By dint of work we
- may make fortune bend. She loves politicians. She will yield!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He returned to Matho and took him by the arm.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Master, at present the Carthaginians are sure of their victory. You
- have quite an army which has not fought, and your men obey <i>you</i>.
- Place them in the front: mine will follow to avenge themselves. I have
- still three thousand Carians, twelve hundred slingers and archers, whole
- cohorts! A phalanx even might be formed; let us return!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, who had been stunned by the disaster, had hitherto thought of no
- means of repairing it. He listened with open mouth, and the bronze plates
- which circled his sides rose with the leapings of his heart. He picked up
- his sword, crying:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Follow me; forward!”
- </p>
- <p>
- But when the scouts returned, they announced that the Carthaginian dead
- had been carried off, that the bridge was in ruins, and that Hamilcar had
- disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER IX
- </h2>
- <h3>
- IN THE FIELD
- </h3>
- <p>
- Hamilcar had thought that the Mercenaries would await him at Utica, or
- that they would return against him; and finding his forces insufficient to
- make or to sustain an attack, he had struck southwards along the right
- bank of the river, thus protecting himself immediately from a surprise.
- </p>
- <p>
- He intended first to wink at the revolt of the tribes and to detach them
- all from the cause of the Barbarians; then when they were quite isolated
- in the midst of the provinces he would fall upon them and exterminate
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised between Thouccaber and
- Utica, with the towns of Tignicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others further
- to the west. Zounghar built in the mountains, Assoura celebrated for its
- temple, Djeraado fertile in junipers, Thapitis, and Hagour sent embassies
- to him. The country people came with their hands full of provisions,
- implored his protection, kissed his feet and those of the soldiers, and
- complained of the Barbarians. Some came to offer him bags containing heads
- of Mercenaries killed, so they said, by themselves, but which they had cut
- off corpses; for many had lost themselves in their flight, and were found
- dead here and there beneath the olive trees and among the vines.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the morrow of his victory, Hamilcar, to dazzle the people, had sent to
- Carthage the two thousand captives taken on the battlefield. They arrived
- in long companies of one hundred men each, all with their arms fastened
- behind their backs with a bar of bronze which caught them at the nape of
- the neck, and the wounded, bleeding as they still were, running also
- along; horsemen followed them, driving them on with blows of the whip.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six
- thousand Barbarians killed; the others would not hold out, and the war was
- finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed the faces
- of the Patæc Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them. These, with
- their big eyes, their big bodies, and their arms raised as high as the
- shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, and to participate
- in the cheerfulness of the people. The rich left their doors open; the
- city resounded with the noise of the timbrels; the temples were
- illuminated every night, and the servants of the goddess went down to
- Malqua and set up stages of sycamore-wood at the corners of the
- cross-ways, and prostituted themselves there. Lands were voted to the
- conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred gold crowns to the
- Suffet, and his partisans proposed to decree to him new prerogatives and
- honours.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had begged the Ancients to make overtures to Autaritus for exchanging
- all the Barbarians, if necessary, for the aged Gisco, and the other
- Carthaginians detained like him. The Libyans and Nomads composing the army
- under Autaritus knew scarcely anything of these Mercenaries, who were men
- of Italiote or Greek race; and the offer by the Republic of so many
- Barbarians for so few Carthaginians, showed that the value of the former
- was nothing and that of the latter considerable. They dreaded a snare.
- Autaritus refused.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Ancients decreed the execution of the captives, although the
- Suffet had written to them not to put them to death. He reckoned upon
- incorporating the best of them with his own troops and of thus instigating
- defections. But hatred swept away all circumspection.
- </p>
- <p>
- The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelæ of the tombs in the
- Mappalian quarter; and traders, scullions, embroiderers, and even women,—the
- widows of the dead with their children—all who would, came to kill
- them with arrows. They aimed slowly at them, the better to prolong their
- torture, lowering the weapon and then raising it in turn; and the
- multitude pressed forward howling. Paralytics had themselves brought
- thither in hand-barrows; many took the precaution of bringing their food,
- and remained on the spot until the evening; others passed the night there.
- Tents had been set up in which drinking went on. Many gained large sums by
- hiring out bows.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so many
- red statues on the tombs, and the excitement even spread to the people of
- Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, and were
- usually indifferent to the affairs of their country. Out of gratitude for
- the pleasure it had been giving them they now interested themselves in its
- fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and the Ancients thought
- it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire people in a single act
- of vengeance.
- </p>
- <p>
- The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all
- quarters of the sky. They wheeled in the air as they flew with loud hoarse
- cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself. It was
- seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermæum. Sometimes it
- would suddenly burst asunder, its black spirals extending far away, as an
- eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again; here and there on
- the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, and the pediments of
- the temples there were big birds holding human fragments in their reddened
- beaks.
- </p>
- <p>
- Owing to the smell the Carthaginians resigned themselves to unbind the
- corpses. A few of them were burnt; the rest were thrown into the sea, and
- the waves, driven by the north wind, deposited them on the shore at the
- end of the gulf before the camp of Autaritus.
- </p>
- <p>
- This punishment had no doubt terrified the Barbarians, for from the top of
- Eschmoun they could be seen striking their tents, collecting their flocks,
- and hoisting their baggage upon asses, and on the evening of the same day
- the entire army withdrew.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs and
- Hippo-Zarytus, and so debar the Suffet from approaching the Tyrian towns,
- and from the possibility of a return to Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile the two other armies were to try to overtake him in the south,
- Spendius in the east, and Matho in the west, in such a way that all three
- should unite to surprise and entangle him. Then they received a
- reinforcement which they had not looked for: Narr’ Havas appeared
- with three hundred camels laden with bitumen, twenty-five elephants, and
- six thousand horsemen.
- </p>
- <p>
- To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had judged it prudent to occupy his
- attention at a distance in his own kingdom. From the heart of Carthage he
- had come to an understanding with Masgaba, a Gætulian brigand who was
- seeking to found an empire. Strengthened by Punic money, the adventurer
- had raised the Numidian States with promises of freedom. But Narr’
- Havas, warned by his nurse’s son, had dropped into Cirta, poisoned
- the conquerors with the water of the cisterns, struck off a few heads, set
- all right again, and had just arrived against the Suffet more furious than
- the Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- The chiefs of the four armies concerted the arrangements for the war. It
- would be a long one, and everything must be foreseen.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was agreed first to entreat the assistance of the Romans, and this
- mission was offered to Spendius, but as a fugitive he dared not undertake
- it. Twelve men from the Greek colonies embarked at Annaba in a sloop
- belonging to the Numidians. Then the chiefs exacted an oath of complete
- obedience from all the Barbarians. Every day the captains inspected
- clothes and boots; the sentries were even forbidden to use a shield, for
- they would often lean it against their lance and fall asleep as they
- stood; those who had any baggage trailing after them were obliged to get
- rid of it; everything was to be carried, in Roman fashion, on the back. As
- a precaution against the elephants Matho instituted a corps of cataphract
- cavalry, men and horses being hidden beneath cuirasses of hippopotamus
- skin bristling with nails; and to protect the horses’ hoofs boots of
- plaited esparto-grass were made for them.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was forbidden to pillage the villages, or to tyrannise over the
- inhabitants who were not of Punic race. But as the country was becoming
- exhausted, Matho ordered the provisions to be served out to the soldiers
- individually, without troubling about the women. At first the men shared
- with them. Many grew weak for lack of food. It was the occasion of many
- quarrels and invectives, many drawing away the companions of the rest by
- the bait or even by the promise of their own portion. Matho commanded them
- all to be driven away pitilessly. They took refuge in the camp of
- Autaritus; but the Gaulish and Libyan women forced them by their
- outrageous treatment to depart.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the protection
- of Ceres and Proserpine, for in Byrsa there was a temple with priests
- consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the horrors formerly
- committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, alleging their right to
- waifs and strays, claimed the youngest in order to sell them; and some
- fair Lacedæmonian women were taken by New Carthaginians in marriage.
- </p>
- <p>
- A few persisted in following the armies. They ran on the flank of the
- syntagmata by the side of the captains. They called to their husbands,
- pulled them by the cloak, cursed them as they beat their breasts, and held
- out their little naked and weeping children at arm’s length. The
- sight of them was unmanning the Barbarians; they were an embarrassment and
- a peril. Several times they were repulsed, but they came back again; Matho
- made the horsemen belonging to Narr’ Havas charge them with the
- point of the lance; and on some Balearians shouting out to him that they
- must have women, he replied: “<i>I</i> have none!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Just now he was invaded by the genius of Moloch. In spite of the rebellion
- of his conscience, he performed terrible deeds, imagining that he was thus
- obeying the voice of a god. When he could not ravage the fields, Matho
- would cast stones into them to render them sterile.
- </p>
- <p>
- He urged Autaritus and Spendius with repeated messages to make haste. But
- the Suffet’s operations were incomprehensible. He encamped at
- Eidous, Monchar, and Tehent successively; some scouts believed that they
- saw him in the neighbourhood of Ischiil, near the frontiers of Narr’
- Havas, and it was reported that he had crossed the river above Tebourba as
- though to return to Carthage. Scarcely was he in one place when he removed
- to another. The routes that he followed always remained unknown. The
- Suffet preserved his advantages without offering battle, and while pursued
- by the Barbarians seemed to be leading them.
- </p>
- <p>
- These marches and counter marches were still more fatiguing to the
- Carthaginians, and Hamilcar’s forces, receiving no reinforcements,
- diminished from day to day. The country people were now more backward in
- bringing him provisions. In every direction he encountered taciturn
- hesitation and hatred; and in spite of his entreaties to the Great Council
- no succour came from Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was said, perhaps it was believed, that he had need of none. It was a
- trick, or his complaints were unnecessary; and Hanno’s partisans, in
- order to do him an ill turn, exaggerated the importance of his victory.
- The troops which he commanded he was welcome to; but they were not going
- to supply his demands continually in that way. The war was quite
- burdensome enough! it had cost too much, and from pride the patricians
- belonging to his faction supported him but slackly.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the tribes
- all that he wanted for the war—grain, oil, wood, cattle, and men.
- But the inhabitants were not long in taking flight. The villages passed
- through were empty, and the cabins were ransacked without anything being
- discerned in them. The Punic army was soon encompassed by a terrible
- solitude.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians, who were furious, began to sack the provinces; they
- filled up the cisterns and fired the houses. The sparks, being carried by
- the wind, were scattered far off, and whole forests were on fire on the
- mountains; they bordered the valleys with a crown of flames, and it was
- often necessary to wait in order to pass beyond them. Then the soldiers
- resumed their march over the warm ashes in the full glare of the sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sometimes they would see what looked like the eyes of a tiger cat gleaming
- in a bush by the side of the road. This was a Barbarian crouching upon his
- heels, and smeared with dust, that he might not be distinguished from the
- colour of the foliage; or perhaps when passing along a ravine those on the
- wings would suddenly hear the rolling of stones, and raising their eyes
- would perceive a bare-footed man bounding along through the openings of
- the gorge.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile Utica and Hippo-Zarytus were free since the Mercenaries were no
- longer besieging them. Hamilcar commanded them to come to his assistance.
- But not caring to compromise themselves, they answered him with vague
- words, with compliments and excuses.
- </p>
- <p>
- He went up again abruptly into the North, determined to open up one of the
- Tyrian towns, though he were obliged to lay siege to it. He required a
- station on the coast, so as to be able to draw supplies and men from the
- islands or from Cyrene, and he coveted the harbour of Utica as being the
- nearest to Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet therefore left Zouitin and turned the lake of Hippo-Zarytus
- with circumspection. But he was soon obliged to lengthen out his regiments
- into column in order to climb the mountain which separates the two
- valleys. They were descending at sunset into its hollow, funnel-shaped
- summit, when they perceived on the level of the ground before them bronze
- she-wolves which seemed to be running across the grass.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly large plumes arose and a terrible song burst forth, accompanied
- by the rhythm of flutes. It was the army under Spendius; for some
- Campanians and Greeks, in their execration of Carthage, had assumed the
- ensigns of Rome. At the same time long pikes, shields of leopard’s
- skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders were seen on the left. These
- were the Iberians under Matho, the Lusitanians, Balearians, and Gætulians;
- the horses of Narr’ Havas were heard to neigh; they spread around
- the hill; then came the loose rabble commanded by Autaritus—Gauls,
- Libyans, and Nomads; while the Eaters of Uncleanness might be recognised
- among them by the fish bones which they wore in their hair.
- </p>
- <p>
- Thus the Barbarians, having contrived their marches with exactness, had
- come together again. But themselves surprised, they remained motionless
- for some minutes in consultation.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet had collected his men into an orbicular mass, in such a way as
- to offer an equal resistance in every direction. The infantry were
- surrounded by their tall, pointed shields fixed close to one another in
- the turf. The Clinabarians were outside and the elephants at intervals
- further off. The Mercenaries were worn out with fatigue; it was better to
- wait till next day; and the Barbarians feeling sure of their victory
- occupied themselves the whole night in eating.
- </p>
- <p>
- They lighted large bright fires, which, while dazzling themselves, left
- the Punic army below them in the shade. Hamilcar caused a trench fifteen
- feet broad and ten cubits deep to be dug in Roman fashion round his camp,
- and the earth thrown out to be raised on the inside into a parapet, on
- which sharp interlacing stakes were planted; and at sunrise the
- Mercenaries were amazed to perceive all the Carthaginians thus entrenched
- as if in a fortress.
- </p>
- <p>
- They could recognise Hamilcar in the midst of the tents walking about and
- giving orders. His person was clad in a brown cuirass cut in little
- scales; he was followed by his horse, and stopped from time to time to
- point out something with his right arm outstretched.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then more than one recalled similar mornings when, amid the din of
- clarions, he passed slowly before them, and his looks strengthened them
- like cups of wine. A kind of emotion overcame them. Those, on the
- contrary, who were not acquainted with Hamilcar, were mad with joy at
- having caught him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless if all attacked at once they would do one another mutual
- injury in the insufficiency of space. The Numidians might dash through;
- but the Clinabarians, who were protected by cuirasses, would crush them.
- And then how were the palisades to be crossed? As to the elephants, they
- were not sufficiently well trained.
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are all cowards!” exclaimed Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- And with the best among them he rushed against the entrenchment. They were
- repulsed by a volley of stones; for the Suffet had taken their abandoned
- catapults on the bridge.
- </p>
- <p>
- This want of success produced an abrupt change in the fickle minds of the
- Barbarians. Their extreme bravery disappeared; they wished to conquer, but
- with the smallest possible risk. According to Spendius they ought to
- maintain carefully the position that they held, and starve out the Punic
- army. But the Carthaginians began to dig wells, and as there were
- mountains surrounding the hill, they discovered water.
- </p>
- <p>
- From the summit of their palisade they launched arrows, earth, dung, and
- pebbles which they gathered from the ground, while the six catapults
- rolled incessantly throughout the length of the terrace.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the springs would dry up of themselves; the provisions would be
- exhausted, and the catapults worn out; the Mercenaries, who were ten times
- as numerous, would triumph in the end. The Suffet devised negotiations so
- as to gain time, and one morning the Barbarians found a sheep’s skin
- covered with writing within their lines. He justified himself for his
- victory: the Ancients had forced him into the war, and to show them that
- he was keeping his word, he offered them the pillaging of Utica or
- Hippo-Zarytus at their choice; in conclusion, Hamilcar declared that he
- did not fear them because he had won over some traitors, and thanks to
- them would easily manage the rest.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians were disturbed: this proposal of immediate booty made them
- consider; they were apprehensive of treachery, not suspecting a snare in
- the Suffet’s boasting, and they began to look upon one another with
- mistrust. Words and steps were watched; terrors awaked them in the night.
- Many forsook their companions and chose their army as fancy dictated, and
- the Gauls with Autaritus went and joined themselves with the men of
- Cisalpine Gaul, whose language they understood.
- </p>
- <p>
- The four chiefs met together every evening in Matho’s tent, and
- squatting round a shield, attentively moved backwards and forwards the
- little wooden figures invented by Pyrrhus for the representation of
- manouvres. Spendius would demonstrate Hamilcar’s resources, and with
- oaths by all the gods entreat that the opportunity should not be wasted.
- Matho would walk about angry and gesticulating. The war against Carthage
- was his own personal affair; he was indignant that the others should
- interfere in it without being willing to obey him. Autaritus would divine
- his speech from his countenance and applaud. Narr’ Havas would
- elevate his chin to mark his disdain; there was not a measure he did not
- consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs would escape him as
- though he were thrusting back sorrow for an impossible dream, despair for
- an abortive enterprise.
- </p>
- <p>
- While the Barbarians deliberated in uncertainty, the Suffet increased his
- defences: he had a second trench dug within the palisades, a second wall
- raised, and wooden towers constructed at the corners; and his slaves went
- as far as the middle of the outposts to drive caltrops into the ground.
- But the elephants, whose allowances were lessened, struggled in their
- shackles. To economise the grass he ordered the Clinabarians to kill the
- least strong among the stallions. A few refused to do so, and he had them
- decapitated. The horses were eaten. The recollection of this fresh meat
- was a source of great sadness to them in the days that followed.
- </p>
- <p>
- From the bottom of the ampitheatre in which they were confined they could
- see the four bustling camps of the Barbarians all around them on the
- heights. Women moved about with leathern bottles on their heads, goats
- strayed bleating beneath the piles of pikes; sentries were being relieved,
- and eating was going on around tripods. In fact, the tribes furnished them
- abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves suspect how much
- their inaction alarmed the Punic army.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three hundred
- men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads. These were the rich who
- had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war. Some Libyans
- ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their station behind them,
- and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart of their bodies. The
- wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised, so completely were their
- faces covered with vermin and filth. Their hair had been plucked out in
- places, leaving bare the ulcers on their heads, and they were so lean and
- hideous that they were like mummies in tattered shrouds. A few trembled
- and sobbed with a stupid look; the rest cried out to their friends to fire
- upon the Barbarians. There was one who remained quite motionless with face
- cast down, and without speaking; his long white beard fell to his
- chain-covered hands; and the Carthaginians, feeling as it were the
- downfall of the Republic in the bottom of their hearts, recognised Gisco.
- Although the place was a dangerous one they pressed forward to see him. On
- his head had been placed a grotesque tiara of hippopotamus leather
- incrusted with pebbles. It was Autaritus’s idea; but it was
- displeasing to Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar in exasperation, and resolved to cut his way through in one way
- or another, had the palisades opened; and the Carthaginians went at a
- furious rate half way up the hill or three hundred paces. Such a flood of
- Barbarians descended upon them that they were driven back to their lines.
- One of the guards of the Legion who had remained outside was stumbling
- among the stones. Zarxas ran up to him, knocked him down, and plunged a
- dagger into his throat; he drew it out, threw himself upon the wound—and
- gluing his lips to it with mutterings of joy, and startings which shook
- him to the heels, pumped up the blood by breastfuls; then he quietly sat
- down upon the corpse, raised his face with his neck thrown back the better
- to breathe in the air, like a hind that has just drunk at a mountain
- stream, and in a shrill voice began to sing a Balearic song, a vague
- melody full of prolonged modulations, with interruptions and alternations
- like echoes answering one another in the mountains; he called upon his
- dead brothers and invited them to a feast;—then he let his hands
- fall between his legs, slowly bent his head, and wept. This atrocious
- occurrence horrified the Barbarians, especially the Greeks.
- </p>
- <p>
- From that time forth the Carthaginians did not attempt to make any sally;
- and they had no thought of surrender, certain as they were that they would
- perish in tortures.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless the provisions, in spite of Hamilcar’s carefulness,
- diminished frightfully. There was not left per man more than ten k’hommers
- of wheat, three hins of millet, and twelve betzas of dried fruit. No more
- meat, no more oil, no more salt food, and not a grain of barley for the
- horses, which might be seen stretching down their wasted necks seeking in
- the dust for blades of trampled straw. Often the sentries on vedette upon
- the terrace would see in the moonlight a dog belonging to the Barbarians
- coming to prowl beneath the entrenchment among the heaps of filth; it
- would be knocked down with a stone, and then, after a descent had been
- effected along the palisades by means of the straps of a shield, it would
- be eaten without a word. Sometimes horrible barkings would be heard and
- the man would not come up again. Three phalangites, in the fourth dilochia
- of the twelfth syntagmata, killed one another with knives in a dispute
- about a rat.
- </p>
- <p>
- All regretted their families, and their houses; the poor their hive-shaped
- huts, with the shells on the threshold and the hanging net, and the
- patricians their large halls filled with bluish shadows, where at the most
- indolent hour of the day they used to rest listening to the vague noise of
- the streets mingled with the rustling of the leaves as they stirred in
- their gardens;—to go deeper into the thought of this, and to enjoy
- it more, they would half close their eyelids, only to be roused by the
- shock of a wound. Every minute there was some engagement, some fresh
- alarm; the towers were burning, the Eaters of Uncleanness were leaping
- across the palisades; their hands would be struck off with axes; others
- would hasten up; an iron hail would fall upon the tents. Galleries of
- rushen hurdles were raised as a protection against the projectiles. The
- Carthaginians shut themselves up within them and stirred out no more.
- </p>
- <p>
- Every day the sun coming over the hill used, after the early hours, to
- forsake the bottom of the gorge and leave them in the shade. The grey
- slopes of the ground, covered with flints spotted with scanty lichen,
- ascended in front and in the rear, and above their summits stretched the
- sky in its perpetual purity, smoother and colder to the eye than a metal
- cupola. Hamilcar was so indignant with Carthage that he felt inclined to
- throw himself among the Barbarians and lead them against her. Moreover,
- the porters, sutlers, and slaves were beginning to murmur, while neither
- people, nor Great Council, nor any one sent as much as a hope. The
- situation was intolerable, especially owing to the thought that it would
- become worse.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- At the news of the disaster Carthage had leaped, as it were, with anger
- and hate; the Suffet would have been less execrated if he had allowed
- himself to be conquered from the first.
- </p>
- <p>
- But time and money were lacking for the hire of other Mercenaries. As to a
- levy of soldiers in the town, how were they to be equipped? Hamilcar had
- taken all the arms! and then who was to command them? The best captains
- were down yonder with him! Meanwhile, some men despatched by the Suffet
- arrived in the streets with shouts. The Great Council were roused by them,
- and contrived to make them disappear.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was an unnecessary precaution; every one accused Barca of having
- behaved with slackness. He ought to have annihilated the Mercenaries after
- his victory. Why had he ravaged the tribes? The sacrifices already imposed
- had been heavy enough! and the patricians deplored their contributions of
- fourteen shekels, and the Syssitia their two hundred and twenty-three
- thousand gold kikars; those who had given nothing lamented like the rest.
- The populace was jealous of the New Carthaginians, to whom he had promised
- full rights of citizenship; and even the Ligurians, who had fought with
- such intrepidity, were confounded with the Barbarians and cursed like
- them; their race became a crime, the proof of complicity. The traders on
- the threshold of their shops, the workmen passing plumb-line in hand, the
- vendors of pickle rinsing their baskets, the attendants in the vapour
- baths and the retailers of hot drinks all discussed the operations of the
- campaign. They would trace battle-plans with their fingers in the dust,
- and there was not a sorry rascal to be found who could not have corrected
- Hamilcar’s mistakes.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a punishment, said the priests, for his long-continued impiety. He
- had offered no holocausts; he had not purified his troops; he had even
- refused to take augurs with him; and the scandal of sacrilege strengthened
- the violence of restrained hate, and the rage of betrayed hopes. People
- recalled the Sicilian disasters, and all the burden of his pride that they
- had borne for so long! The colleges of the pontiffs could not forgive him
- for having seized their treasure, and they demanded a pledge from the
- Great Council to crucify him should he ever return.
- </p>
- <p>
- The heats of the month of Eloul, which were excessive in that year, were
- another calamity. Sickening smells rose from the borders of the Lake, and
- were wafted through the air together with the fumes of the aromatics that
- eddied at the corners of the streets. The sounds of hymns were constantly
- heard. Crowds of people occupied the staircases of the temples; all the
- walls were covered with black veils; tapers burnt on the brows of the
- Patæc Gods, and the blood of camels slain for sacrifice ran along the
- flights of stairs forming red cascades upon the steps. Carthage was
- agitated with funereal delirium. From the depths of the narrowest lanes,
- and the blackest dens, there issued pale faces, men with viper-like
- profiles and grinding their teeth. The houses were filled with the women’s
- piercing shrieks, which, escaping through the gratings, caused those who
- stood talking in the squares to turn round. Sometimes it was thought that
- the Barbarians were arriving; they had been seen behind the mountain of
- the Hot Springs; they were encamped at Tunis; and the voices would
- multiply and swell, and be blended into one single clamour. Then universal
- silence would reign, some remaining where they had climbed upon the
- frontals of the buildings, screening their eyes with their open hand,
- while the rest lay flat on their faces at the foot of the ramparts
- straining their ears. When their terror had passed off their anger would
- begin again. But the conviction of their own impotence would soon sink
- them into the same sadness as before.
- </p>
- <p>
- It increased every evening when all ascended the terraces, and bowing down
- nine times uttered a loud cry in salutation of the sun, as it sank slowly
- behind the lagoon, and then suddenly disappeared among the mountains in
- the direction of the Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were waiting for the thrice holy festival when, from the summit of a
- funeral pile, an eagle flew heavenwards as a symbol of the resurrection of
- the year, and a message from the people to their Baal; they regarded it as
- a sort of union, a method of connecting themselves with the might of the
- Sun. Moreover, filled as they now were with hatred, they turned frankly
- towards homicidal Moloch, and all forsook Tanith. In fact, Rabetna, having
- lost her veil, was as if she had been despoiled of part of her virtue. She
- denied the beneficence of her waters, she had abandoned Carthage; she was
- a deserter, an enemy. Some threw stones at her to insult her. But many
- pitied her while they inveighed against her; she was still beloved, and
- perhaps more deeply than she had been.
- </p>
- <p>
- All their misfortunes came, therefore, from the loss of the zaïmph.
- Salammbô had indirectly participated in it; she was included in the same
- ill will; she must be punished. A vague idea of immolation spread among
- the people. To appease the Baalim it was without doubt necessary to offer
- them something of incalculable worth, a being handsome, young, virgin, of
- old family, a descendant of the gods, a human star. Every day the gardens
- of Megara were invaded by strange men; the slaves, trembling on their own
- account, dared not resist them. Nevertheless, they did not pass beyond the
- galley staircase. They remained below with their eyes raised to the
- highest terrace; they were waiting for Salammbô, and they would cry out
- for hours against her like dogs baying at the moon.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER X
- </h2>
- <h3>
- THE SERPENT
- </h3>
- <p>
- These clamourings of the populace did not alarm Hamilcar’s daughter.
- She was disturbed by loftier anxieties: her great serpent, the black
- python, was drooping; and in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the serpent
- was at once a national and a private fetish. It was believed to be the
- offspring of the dust of the earth, since it emerges from its depths and
- has no need of feet to traverse it; its mode of progression called to mind
- the undulations of rivers, its temperature the ancient, viscous, and
- fecund darkness, and the orbit which it describes when biting its tail the
- harmony of the planets, and the intelligence of Eschmoun.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô’s serpent had several times already refused the four live
- sparrows which were offered to it at the full moon and at every new moon.
- Its handsome skin, covered like the firmament with golden spots upon a
- perfectly black ground, was now yellow, relaxed, wrinkled, and too large
- for its body. A cottony mouldiness extended round its head; and in the
- corners of its eyelids might be seen little red specks which appeared to
- move. Salammbô would approach its silver-wire basket from time to time,
- and would draw aside the purple curtains, the lotus leaves, and the bird’s
- down; but it was continually rolled up upon itself, more motionless than a
- withered bind-weed; and from looking at it she at last came to feel a kind
- of spiral within her heart, another serpent, as it were, mounting up to
- her throat by degrees and strangling her.
- </p>
- <p>
- She was in despair of having seen the zaïmph, and yet she felt a sort of
- joy, an intimate pride at having done so. A mystery shrank within the
- splendour of its folds; it was the cloud that enveloped the gods, and the
- secret of the universal existence, and Salammbô, horror-stricken at
- herself, regretted that she had not raised it.
- </p>
- <p>
- She was almost always crouching at the back of her apartment, holding her
- bended left leg in her hands, her mouth half open, her chin sunk, her eye
- fixed. She recollected her father’s face with terror; she wished to
- go away into the mountains of Phonicia, on a pilgrimage to the temple of
- Aphaka, where Tanith descended in the form of a star; all kinds of
- imaginings attracted her and terrified her; moreover, a solitude which
- every day became greater encompassed her. She did not even know what
- Hamilcar was about.
- </p>
- <p>
- Wearied at last with her thoughts she would rise, and trailing along her
- little sandals whose soles clacked upon her heels at every step, she would
- walk at random through the large silent room. The amethysts and topazes of
- the ceiling made luminous spots quiver here and there, and Salammbô as she
- walked would turn her head a little to see them. She would go and take the
- hanging amphoras by the neck; she would cool her bosom beneath the broad
- fans, or perhaps amuse herself by burning cinnamomum in hollow pearls. At
- sunset Taanach would draw back the black felt lozenges that closed the
- openings in the wall; then her doves, rubbed with musk like the doves of
- Tanith, suddenly entered, and their pink feet glided over the glass
- pavement, amid the grains of barley which she threw to them in handfuls
- like a sower in a field. But on a sudden she would burst into sobs and lie
- stretched on the large bed of ox-leather straps without moving, repeating
- a word that was ever the same, with open eyes, pale as one dead,
- insensible, cold; and yet she could hear the cries of the apes in the
- tufts of the palm trees, with the continuous grinding of the great wheel
- which brought a flow of pure water through the stories into the porphyry
- centre-basin.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sometimes for several days she would refuse to eat. She could see in a
- dream troubled stars wandering beneath her feet. She would call
- Schahabarim, and when he came she had nothing to say to him.
- </p>
- <p>
- She could not live without the relief of his presence. But she rebelled
- inwardly against this domination; her feeling towards the priest was one
- at once of terror, jealousy, hatred, and a species of love, in gratitude
- for the singular voluptuousness which she experienced by his side.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, being skilful to discern the
- gods who send diseases; and to cure Salammbô he had her apartment watered
- with lotions of vervain, and maidenhair; she ate mandrakes every morning;
- she slept with her head on a cushion filled with aromatics blended by the
- pontiffs; he had even employed baaras, a fiery-coloured root which drives
- back fatal geniuses into the North; lastly, turning towards the polar
- star, he murmured thrice the mysterious name of Tanith; but Salammbô still
- suffered and her anguish deepened.
- </p>
- <p>
- No one in Carthage was so learned as he. In his youth he had studied at
- the College of the Mogbeds, at Borsippa, near Babylon; had then visited
- Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judæa, and the temples of the
- Nabathæ, which are lost in the sands; and had travelled on foot along the
- banks of the Nile from the cataracts to the sea. Shaking torches with
- veil-covered face, he had cast a black cock upon a fire of sandarach
- before the breast of the Sphinx, the Father of Terror. He had descended
- into the caverns of Proserpine; he had seen the five hundred pillars of
- the labyrinth of Lemnos revolve, and the candelabrum of Tarentum, which
- bore as many sconces on its shaft as there are days in the year, shine in
- its splendour; at times he received Greeks by night in order to question
- them. The constitution of the world disquieted him no less than the nature
- of the gods; he had observed the equinoxes with the armils placed in the
- portico of Alexandria, and accompanied the bematists of Evergetes, who
- measure the sky by calculating the number of their steps, as far as
- Cyrene; so that there was now growing in his thoughts a religion of his
- own, with no distinct formula, and on that very account full of
- infatuation and fervour. He no longer believed that the earth was formed
- like a fir-cone; he believed it to be round, and eternally falling through
- immensity with such prodigious speed that its fall was not perceived.
- </p>
- <p>
- From the position of the sun above the moon he inferred the predominance
- of Baal, of whom the planet itself is but the reflection and figure;
- moreover, all that he saw in terrestrial things compelled him to recognise
- the male exterminating principle as supreme. And then he secretly charged
- Rabbet with the misfortune of his life. Was it not for her that the
- grand-pontiff had once advanced amid the tumult of cymbals, and with a
- patera of boiling water taken from him his future virility? And he
- followed with a melancholy gaze the men who were disappearing with the
- priestesses in the depths of the turpentine trees.
- </p>
- <p>
- His days were spent in inspecting the censers, the gold vases, the tongs,
- the rakes for the ashes of the altar, and all the robes of the statues
- down to the bronze bodkin that served to curl the hair of an old Tanith in
- the third aedicule near the emerald vine. At the same hours he would raise
- the great hangings of the same swinging doors; would remain with his arms
- outspread in the same attitude; or prayed prostrate on the same
- flag-stones, while around him a people of priests moved barefooted through
- the passages filled with an eternal twilight.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Salammbô was in the barrenness of his life like a flower in the cleft
- of a sepulchre. Nevertheless he was hard upon her, and spared her neither
- penances nor bitter words. His condition established, as it were, the
- equality of a common sex between them, and he was less angry with the girl
- for his inability to possess her than for finding her so beautiful, and
- above all so pure. Often he saw that she grew weary of following his
- thought. Then he would turn away sadder than before; he would feel himself
- more forsaken, more empty, more alone.
- </p>
- <p>
- Strange words escaped him sometimes, which passed before Salammbô like
- broad lightnings illuminating the abysses. This would be at night on the
- terrace when, both alone, they gazed upon the stars, and Carthage spread
- below under their feet, with the gulf and the open sea dimly lost in the
- colour of the darkness.
- </p>
- <p>
- He would set forth to her the theory of the souls that descend upon the
- earth, following the same route as the sun through the signs of the
- zodiac. With outstretched arm he showed the gate of human generation in
- the Ram, and that of the return to the gods in Capricorn; and Salammbô
- strove to see them, for she took these conceptions for realities; she
- accepted pure symbols and even manners of speech as being true in
- themselves, a distinction not always very clear even to the priest.
- </p>
- <p>
- “The souls of the dead,” said he, “resolve themselves
- into the moon, as their bodies do into the earth. Their tears compose its
- humidity; ’Tis a dark abode full of mire, and wreck, and tempest.”
- </p>
- <p>
- She asked what would become of her then.
- </p>
- <p>
- “At first you will languish as light as a vapour hovering upon the
- waves; and after more lengthened ordeals and agonies, you will pass into
- the forces of the sun, the very source of Intelligence!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He did not speak, however, of Rabbet. Salammbô imagined that it was
- through some shame for his vanquished goddess, and calling her by a common
- name which designated the moon, she launched into blessings upon the soft
- and fertile planet. At last he exclaimed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “No! no! she draws all her fecundity from the other! Do you not see
- her hovering about him like an amorous woman running after a man in a
- field?” And he exalted the virtue of light unceasingly.
- </p>
- <p>
- Far from depressing her mystic desires, he sought, on the contrary, to
- excite them, and he even seemed to take joy in grieving her by the
- revelation of a pitiless doctrine. In spite of the pains of her love
- Salammbô threw herself upon it with transport.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the more that Schahabarim felt himself in doubt about Tanith, the more
- he wished to believe in her. At the bottom of his soul he was arrested by
- remorse. He needed some proof, some manifestation from the gods, and in
- the hope of obtaining it the priest devised an enterprise which might save
- at once his country and his belief.
- </p>
- <p>
- Thenceforward he set himself to deplore before Salammbô the sacrilege and
- the misfortunes which resulted from it even in the regions of the sky.
- Then he suddenly announced the peril of the Suffet, who was assailed by
- three armies under the command of Matho—for on account of the veil
- Matho was, in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the king, as it were, of the
- Barbarians,—and he added that the safety of the Republic and of her
- father depended upon her alone.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Upon me!” she exclaimed. “How can I—?”
- </p>
- <p>
- But the priest, with a smile of disdain said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You will never consent!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She entreated him. At last Schahabarim said to her:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You must go to the Barbarians and recover the zaïmph!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She sank down upon the ebony stool, and remained with her arms stretched
- out between her knees and shivering in all her limbs, like a victim at the
- altar’s foot awaiting the blow of the club. Her temples were
- ringing, she could see fiery circles revolving, and in her stupor she had
- lost the understanding of all things save one, that she was certainly
- going to die soon.
- </p>
- <p>
- But if Rabbetna triumphed, if the zaïmph were restored and Carthage
- delivered, what mattered a woman’s life? thought Schahabarim.
- Moreover, she would perhaps obtain the veil and not perish.
- </p>
- <p>
- He stayed away for three days; on the evening of the fourth she sent for
- him.
- </p>
- <p>
- The better to inflame her heart he reported to her all the invectives
- howled against Hamilcar in open council; he told her that she had erred,
- that she owed reparation for her crime, and that Rabbetna commanded the
- sacrifice.
- </p>
- <p>
- A great uproar came frequently across the Mappalian district to Megara.
- Schahabarim and Salammbô went out quickly, and gazed from the top of the
- galley staircase.
- </p>
- <p>
- There were people in the square of Khamon shouting for arms. The Ancients
- would not provide them, esteeming such an effort useless; others who had
- set out without a general had been massacred. At last they were permitted
- to depart, and as a sort of homage to Moloch, or from a vague need of
- destruction, they tore up tall cypress trees in the woods of the temples,
- and having kindled them at the torches of the Kabiri, were carrying them
- through the streets singing. These monstrous flames advanced swaying
- gently; they transmitted fires to the glass balls on the crests of the
- temples, to the ornaments of the colossuses and the beaks of the ships,
- passed beyond the terraces and formed suns as it were, which rolled
- through the town. They descended the Acropolis. The gate of Malqua opened.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Are you ready?” exclaimed Schahabarim, “or have you
- asked them to tell your father that you abandoned him?” She hid her
- face in her veils, and the great lights retired, sinking gradually the
- while to the edge of the waves.
- </p>
- <p>
- An indeterminate dread restrained her; she was afraid of Moloch and of
- Matho. This man, with his giant stature, who was master of the zaïmph,
- ruled Rabbetna as much as did Baal, and seemed to her to be surrounded by
- the same fulgurations; and then the souls of the gods sometimes visited
- the bodies of men. Did not Schahabarim in speaking of him say that she was
- to vanquish Moloch? They were mingled with each other; she confused them
- together; both of them were pursuing her.
- </p>
- <p>
- She wished to learn the future, and approached the serpent, for auguries
- were drawn from the attitudes of serpents. But the basket was empty;
- Salammbô was disturbed.
- </p>
- <p>
- She found him with his tail rolled round one of the silver balustrades
- beside the hanging bed, which he was rubbing in order to free himself from
- his old yellowish skin, while his body stretched forth gleaming and clear
- like a sword half out of the sheath.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then on the days following, in proportion as she allowed herself to be
- convinced, and was more disposed to succour Tanith, the python recovered
- and grew; he seemed to be reviving.
- </p>
- <p>
- The certainty that Salammbô was giving expression to the will of the gods
- then became established in her conscience. One morning she awoke resolved,
- and she asked what was necessary to make Matho restore the veil.
- </p>
- <p>
- “To claim it,” said Schahabarim.
- </p>
- <p>
- “But if he refuses?” she rejoined.
- </p>
- <p>
- The priest scanned her fixedly with a smile such as she had never seen.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes, what is to be done?” repeated Salammbô.
- </p>
- <p>
- He rolled between his fingers the extremities of the bands which fell from
- his tiara upon his shoulders, standing motionless with eyes cast down. At
- last seeing that she did not understand:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You will be alone with him.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Well?” she said.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Alone in his tent.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “What then?”
- </p>
- <p>
- Schahabarim bit his lips. He sought for some phrase, some circumlocution.
- </p>
- <p>
- “If you are to die, that will be later,” he said; “later!
- fear nothing! and whatever he may undertake to do, do not call out! do not
- be frightened! You will be humble, you understand, and submissive to his
- desire, which is ordained of heaven!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “But the veil?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “The gods will take thought for it,” replied Schahabarim.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Suppose you were to accompany me, O father?” she added.
- </p>
- <p>
- “No!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He made her kneel down, and keeping his left hand raised and his right
- extended, he swore in her behalf to bring back the mantle of Tanith into
- Carthage. With terrible imprecations she devoted herself to the gods, and
- each time that Schahabarim pronounced a word she falteringly repeated it.
- </p>
- <p>
- He indicated to her all the purifications and fastings that she was to
- observe, and how she was to reach Matho. Moreover, a man acquainted with
- the routes would accompany her.
- </p>
- <p>
- She felt as if she had been set free. She thought only of the happiness of
- seeing the zaïmph again, and she now blessed Schahabarim for his
- exhortations.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- It was the period at which the doves of Carthage migrated to Sicily to the
- mountain of Eryx and the temple of Venus. For several days before their
- departure they sought out and called to one another so as to collect
- together; at last one evening they flew away; the wind blew them along,
- and the big white cloud glided across the sky high above the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- The horizon was filled with the colour of blood. They seemed to descend
- gradually to the waves; then they disappeared as though swallowed up, and
- falling of themselves into the jaws of the sun. Salammbô, who watched them
- retiring, bent her head, and then Taanach, believing that she guessed her
- sorrow, said gently to her:
- </p>
- <p>
- “But they will come back, Mistress.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes! I know.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “And you will see them again.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Perhaps!” she said, sighing.
- </p>
- <p>
- She had not confided her resolve to any one; in order to carry it out with
- the greater discretion she sent Taanach to the suburb of Kinisdo to buy
- all the things that she required instead of requesting them from the
- stewards: vermilion, aromatics, a linen girdle, and new garments. The old
- slave was amazed at these preparations, without daring, however, to ask
- any questions; and the day, which had been fixed by Schahabarim, arrived
- when Salammbô was to set out.
- </p>
- <p>
- About the twelfth hour she perceived, in the depths of the sycamore trees,
- a blind old man with one hand resting on the shoulder of a child who
- walked before him, while with the other he carried a kind of cithara of
- black wood against his hip. The eunuchs, slaves, and women had been
- scrupulously sent away; no one might know the mystery that was preparing.
- </p>
- <p>
- Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cadamomum in the
- corners of the apartment; then she unfolded large Babylonian hangings, and
- stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbô did not wish to
- be seen even by the walls. The kinnor-player squatted behind the door and
- the young boy standing upright applied a reed flute to his lips. In the
- distance the roar of the streets was growing feebler, violet shadows were
- lengthening before the peristyles of the temples, and on the other side of
- the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of olive-trees, and the vague
- yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and were blended together in a bluish
- haze; not a sound was to be heard, and an unspeakable depression weighed
- in the air.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; she
- raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and began
- her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred rites.
- </p>
- <p>
- Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an alabaster
- phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren women on a
- winter’s night amid the rubbish of a sepulchre. She rubbed it upon
- her ears, her heels, and the thumb of her right hand, and even her nail
- remained somewhat red, as if she had crushed a fruit.
- </p>
- <p>
- The moon rose; then the cithara and the flute began to play together.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her
- long white simar; she unknotted the band in her hair, shaking the latter
- for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by thus
- scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three notes ever
- the same, hurried and frenzied; the strings grated, the flute blew;
- Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbô, with a swaying of her
- whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one after another
- around her.
- </p>
- <p>
- The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python’s head appeared above
- the cord that supported it. The serpent descended slowly like a drop of
- water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and then,
- gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his eyes, more
- brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon Salammbô.
- </p>
- <p>
- A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame, at first made her
- hesitate. But she recalled Schahabarim’s orders and advanced; the
- python turned downwards, and resting the centre of its body upon the nape
- of her neck, allowed its head and tail to hang like a broken necklace with
- both ends trailing to the ground. Salammbô rolled it around her sides,
- under her arms and between her knees; then taking it by the jaw she
- brought the little triangular mouth to the edge of her teeth, and half
- shutting her eyes, threw herself back beneath the rays of the moon. The
- white light seemed to envelop her in a silver mist, the prints of her
- humid steps shone upon the flag-stones, stars quivered in the depth of the
- water; it tightened upon her its black rings that were spotted with scales
- of gold. Salammbô panted beneath the excessive weight, her loins yielded,
- she felt herself dying, and with the tip of its tail the serpent gently
- beat her thigh; then the music becoming still it fell off again.
- </p>
- <p>
- Taanach came back to her; and after arranging two candelabra, the lights
- of which burned in crystal balls filled with water, she tinged the inside
- of her hands with Lawsonia, spread vermilion upon her cheeks, and antimony
- along the edge of her eyelids, and lengthened her eyebrows with a mixture
- of gum, musk, ebony, and crushed legs of flies.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the
- attentions of the slave. But the touchings, the odour of the aromatics,
- and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. She became so
- pale that Taanach stopped.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Go on!” said Salammbô, and bearing up against herself, she
- suddenly revived. Then she was seized with impatience; she urged Taanach
- to make haste, and the old slave grumbled:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Well! well! Mistress!—Besides, you have no one waiting for
- you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes!” said Salammbô, “some one is waiting for me.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Taanach drew back in surprise, and in order to learn more about it, said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “What orders to you give me, Mistress? for if you are to remain away—”
- </p>
- <p>
- But Salammbô was sobbing; the slave exclaimed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are suffering! what is the matter? Do not go away! take me!
- When you were quite little and used to cry, I took you to my heart and
- made you laugh with the points of my breasts; you have drained them,
- Mistress!” She struck herself upon her dried-up bosom. “Now I
- am old! I can do nothing for you! you no longer love me! you hide your
- griefs from me, you despise the nurse!” And tears of tenderness and
- vexation flowed down her cheeks in the gashes of her tattooing.
- </p>
- <p>
- “No!” said Salammbô, “no, I love you! be comforted!”
- </p>
- <p>
- With a smile like the grimace of an old ape, Taanach resumed her task. In
- accordance with Schahabarim’s recommendations, Salammbô had ordered
- the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her mistress with
- barbaric taste full at once of refinement and ingenuity.
- </p>
- <p>
- Over a first delicate and vinous-coloured tunic she passed a second
- embroidered with birds’ feathers. Golden scales clung to her hips,
- and from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silver-starred
- trousers. Next Taanach put upon her a long robe made of the cloth of the
- country of Seres, white and streaked with green lines. On the edge of her
- shoulder she fastened a square of purple weighted at the hem with grains
- of sandastrum; and above all these garments she placed a black mantle with
- a flowing train; then she gazed at her, and proud of her work could not
- help saying:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You will not be more beautiful on the day of your bridal!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “My bridal!” repeated Salammbô; she was musing with her elbow
- resting upon the ivory chair.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Taanach set up before her a copper mirror, which was so broad and high
- that she could see herself completely in it. Then she rose, and with a
- light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was falling too
- low.
- </p>
- <p>
- Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung down
- behind over her back in long twists ending in pearls. The brightness of
- the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the gold on her
- garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, and on her
- arms, hands and toes, she had such a wealth of gems that the mirror sent
- back rays upon her like a sun;—and Salammbô, standing by the side of
- Taanach, who leaned over to see her, smiled amid this dazzling display.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then she walked to and fro embarrassed by the time that was still left.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded. She quickly pinned a long yellow
- veil upon her hair, passed a scarf around her neck, thrust her feet into
- blue leather boots, and said to Taanach:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Go and see whether there is not a man with two horses beneath the
- myrtles.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Taanach had scarcely re-entered when she was descending the galley
- staircase.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Mistress!” cried the nurse.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for
- discretion and immobility.
- </p>
- <p>
- Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, and from
- a distance she could distinguish by the light of the moon a gigantic
- shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of Salammbô, a
- sign which presaged death.
- </p>
- <p>
- Taanach went up again into the chamber. She threw herself upon the ground
- tearing her face with her nails; she plucked out her hair, and uttered
- piercing shrieks with all her might.
- </p>
- <p>
- It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent,
- sobbing quite softly with her head in the hands and her face on the
- pavement.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER XI
- </h2>
- <h3>
- IN THE TENT
- </h3>
- <p>
- The man who guided Salammbô made her ascend again beyond the pharos in the
- direction of the Catacombs, and then go down the long suburb of Molouya,
- which was full of steep lanes. The sky was beginning to grow grey.
- Sometimes palm-wood beams jutting out from the walls obliged them to bend
- their heads. The two horses which were at the walk would often slip; and
- thus they reached the Teveste gate.
- </p>
- <p>
- Its heavy leaves were half open; they passed through, and it closed behind
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- At first they followed the foot of the ramparts for a time, and at the
- height of the cisterns they took their way along the Tænia, a narrow strip
- of yellow earth separating the gulf from the lake and extending as far as
- Rhades.
- </p>
- <p>
- No one was to be seen around Carthage, whether on the sea or in the
- country. The slate-coloured waves chopped softly, and the light wind
- blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with white rents. In
- spite of all her veils, Salammbô shivered in the freshness of the morning;
- the motion and the open air dazed her. Then the sun rose; it preyed on the
- back of her head, and she involuntarily dozed a little. The two animals
- rambled along side by side, their feet sinking into the silent sand.
- </p>
- <p>
- When they had passed the mountain of the Hot Springs, they went on at a
- more rapid rate, the ground being firmer.
- </p>
- <p>
- But although it was the season for sowing and ploughing, the fields were
- as empty as the desert as far as the eye could reach. Here and there were
- scattered heaps of corn; at other places the barley was shedding its
- reddened ears. The villages showed black upon the clear horizon, with
- shapes incoherently carved.
- </p>
- <p>
- From time to time a half-calcined piece of wall would be found standing on
- the edge of the road. The roofs of the cottages were falling in, and in
- the interiors might be distinguished fragments of pottery, rags of
- clothing, and all kinds of unrecognisable utensils and broken things.
- Often a creature clothed in tatters, with earthy face and flaming eyes
- would emerge from these ruins. But he would very quickly begin to run or
- would disappear into a hole. Salammbô and her guide did not stop.
- </p>
- <p>
- Deserted plains succeeded one another. Charcoal dust which was raised by
- their feet behind them, stretched in unequal trails over large spaces of
- perfectly white soil. Sometimes they came upon little peaceful spots,
- where a brook flowed amid the long grass; and as they ascended the other
- bank Salammbô would pluck damp leaves to cool her hands. At the corner of
- a wood of rose-bays her horse shied violently at the corpse of a man which
- lay extended on the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- The slave immediately settled her again on the cushions. He was one of the
- servants of the Temple, a man whom Schahabarim used to employ on perilous
- missions.
- </p>
- <p>
- With extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the
- horses; he would whip the animals with the end of a leathern lace wound
- round his arm, or would perhaps take balls made of wheat, dates, and yolks
- of eggs wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against his breast,
- and offer them to Salammbô without speaking, and running all the time.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the middle of the day three Barbarians clad in animals’ skins
- crossed their path. By degrees others appeared wandering in troops of ten,
- twelve, or twenty-five men; many were driving goats or a limping cow.
- Their heavy sticks bristled with brass points; cutlasses gleamed in their
- clothes, which were savagely dirty, and they opened their eyes with a look
- of menace and amazement. As they passed some sent them a vulgar
- benediction; others obscene jests, and Schahabarim’s man replied to
- each in his own idiom. He told them that this was a sick youth going to be
- cured at a distant temple.
- </p>
- <p>
- However, the day was closing in. Barkings were heard, and they approached
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then in the twilight they perceived an enclosure of dry stones shutting in
- a rambling edifice. A dog was running along the top of the wall. The slave
- threw some pebbles at him and they entered a lofty vaulted hall.
- </p>
- <p>
- A woman was crouching in the centre warming herself at a fire of
- brushwood, the smoke of which escaped through the holes in the ceiling.
- She was half hidden by her white hair which fell to her knees; and
- unwilling to answer, she muttered with idiotic look words of vengeance
- against the Barbarians and the Carthaginians.
- </p>
- <p>
- The runner ferreted right and left. Then he returned to her and demanded
- something to eat. The old woman shook her head, and murmured with her eyes
- fixed upon the charcoal:
- </p>
- <p>
- “I was the hand. The ten fingers are cut off. The mouth eats no
- more.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The slave showed her a handful of gold pieces. She rushed upon them, but
- soon resumed her immobility.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last he placed a dagger which he had in his girdle beneath her throat.
- Then, trembling, she went and raised a large stone, and brought back an
- amphora of wine with fish from Hippo-Zarytus preserved in honey.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô turned away from this unclean food, and fell asleep on the horses’
- caparisons which were spread in a corner of the hall.
- </p>
- <p>
- He awoke her before daylight.
- </p>
- <p>
- The dog was howling. The slave went up to it quietly, and struck off its
- head with a single blow of his dagger. Then he rubbed the horses’
- nostrils with blood to revive them. The old woman cast a malediction at
- him from behind. Salammbô perceived this, and pressed the amulet which she
- wore above her heart.
- </p>
- <p>
- They resumed their journey.
- </p>
- <p>
- From time to time she asked whether they would not arrive soon. The road
- undulated over little hills. Nothing was to be heard but the grating of
- the grasshoppers. The sun heated the yellowed grass; the ground was all
- chinked with crevices which in dividing formed, as it were, monstrous
- paving-stones. Sometimes a viper passed, or eagles flew by; the slave
- still continued running. Salammbô mused beneath her veils, and in spite of
- the heat did not lay them aside through fear of soiling her beautiful
- garments.
- </p>
- <p>
- At regular distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the
- purpose of keeping watch upon the tribes. They entered these for the sake
- of the shade, and then set out again.
- </p>
- <p>
- For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before. But they met
- with no one just now; the region being a sterile one, the Barbarians had
- not passed that way.
- </p>
- <p>
- Gradually the devastation began again. Sometimes a piece of mosaic would
- be displayed in the centre of a field, the sole remnant of a vanished
- mansion; and the leafless olive trees looked at a distance like large
- bushes of thorns. They passed through a town in which houses were burnt to
- the ground. Human skeletons might be seen along the walls. There were
- some, too, of dromedaries and mules. Half-gnawed carrion blocked the
- streets.
- </p>
- <p>
- Night fell. The sky was lowering and cloudy.
- </p>
- <p>
- They ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction, when suddenly
- they perceived a quantity of little flames before them.
- </p>
- <p>
- These were shining at the bottom of an ampitheatre. Gold plates, as they
- displaced one another, glanced here and there. These were the cuirasses of
- the Clinabarians in the Punic camp; then in the neighbourhood they
- distinguished other and more numerous lights, for the armies of the
- Mercenaries, now blended together, extended over a great space.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô made a movement as though to advance. But Schahabarim’s man
- took her further away, and they passed along by the terrace which enclosed
- the camp of the Barbarians. A breach became visible in it, and the slave
- disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- A sentry was walking upon the top of the entrenchment with a bow in his
- hand and a pike on his shoulder.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô drew still nearer; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow pierced
- the hem of her cloak. Then as she stood motionless and shrieking, he asked
- her what she wanted.
- </p>
- <p>
- “To speak to Matho,” she replied. “I am a fugitive from
- Carthage.”
- </p>
- <p>
- He gave a whistle, which was repeated at intervals further away.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô waited; her frightened horse moved round and round, sniffing.
- </p>
- <p>
- When Matho arrived the moon was rising behind her. But she had a yellow
- veil with black flowers over her face, and so many draperies about her
- person, that it was impossible to make any guess about her. From the top
- of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up like a phantom in
- the penumbræ of the evening.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last she said to him:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Lead me to your tent! I wish it!”
- </p>
- <p>
- A recollection which he could not define passed through his memory. He
- felt his heart beating. The air of command intimidated him.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Follow me!” he said.
- </p>
- <p>
- The barrier was lowered, and immediately she was in the camp of the
- Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng. Bright fires were
- burning beneath hanging pots; and their purpled reflections illuminating
- some places left others completely in the dark. There was shouting and
- calling; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid the tents; the
- latter were round and square, of leather or of canvas; there were huts of
- reeds, and holes in the sand such as are made by dogs. Soldiers were
- carting faggots, resting on their elbows on the ground, or wrapping
- themselves up in mats and preparing to sleep; and Salammbô’s horse
- sometimes stretched out a leg and jumped in order to pass over them.
- </p>
- <p>
- She remembered that she had seen them before; but their beards were longer
- now, their faces still blacker, and their voices hoarser. Matho, who
- walked before her, waved them off with a gesture of his arm which raised
- his red mantle. Some kissed his hands; others bending their spines
- approached him to ask for orders, for he was now veritable and sole chief
- of the Barbarians; Spendius, Autaritus, and Narr’ Havas had become
- disheartened, and he had displayed so much audacity and obstinacy that all
- obeyed him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô followed him through the entire camp. His tent was at the end,
- three hundred feet from Hamilcar’s entrenchments.
- </p>
- <p>
- She noticed a wide pit on the right, and it seemed to her that faces were
- resting against the edge of it on a level with the ground, as decapitated
- heads might have done. However, their eyes moved, and from these
- half-opened mouths groanings escaped in the Punic tongue.
- </p>
- <p>
- Two Negroes holding resin lights stood on both sides of the door. Matho
- drew the canvas abruptly aside. She followed him.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a deep tent with a pole standing up in the centre. It was lighted
- by a large lamp-holder shaped like a lotus and full of a yellow oil
- wherein floated handfuls of burning tow, and military things might be
- distinguished gleaming in the shade. A naked sword leaned against a stool
- by the side of a shield; whips of hippopotamus leather, cymbals, bells,
- and necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of esparto-grass; a felt
- rug lay soiled with crumbs of black bread; some copper money was
- carelessly heaped upon a round stone in a corner, and through the rents in
- the canvas the wind brought the dust from without, together with the smell
- of the elephants, which might be heard eating and shaking their chains.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Who are you?” said Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- She looked slowly around her without replying; then her eyes were arrested
- in the background, where something bluish and sparkling fell upon a bed of
- palm-branches.
- </p>
- <p>
- She advanced quickly. A cry escaped her. Matho stamped his foot behind
- her.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Who brings you here? why do you come?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “To take it!” she replied, pointing to the zaïmph, and with
- the other hand she tore the veils from her head. He drew back with his
- elbows behind him, gaping, almost terrified.
- </p>
- <p>
- She felt as if she were leaning on the might of the gods; and looking at
- him face to face she asked him for the zaïmph; she demanded it in words
- abundant and superb.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho did not hear; he was gazing at her, and in his eyes her garments
- were blended with her body. The clouding of the stuffs, like the splendour
- of her skin, was something special and belonging to her alone. Her eyes
- and her diamonds sparkled; the polish of her nails continued the delicacy
- of the stones which loaded her fingers; the two clasps of her tunic raised
- her breasts somewhat and brought them closer together, and he in thought
- lost himself in the narrow interval between them whence there fell a
- thread holding a plate of emeralds which could be seen lower down beneath
- the violet gauze. She had as earrings two little sapphire scales, each
- supporting a hollow pearl filled with liquid scent. A little drop would
- fall every moment through the holes in the pearl and moisten her naked
- shoulder. Matho watched it fall.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was carried away by ungovernable curiosity; and, like a child laying
- his hand upon a strange fruit, he tremblingly and lightly touched the top
- of her chest with the tip of his finger: the flesh, which was somewhat
- cold, yielded with an elastic resistance.
- </p>
- <p>
- This contact, though scarcely a sensible one, shook Matho to the very
- depths of his nature. An uprising of his whole being urged him towards
- her. He would fain have enveloped her, absorbed her, drunk her. His bosom
- was panting, his teeth were chattering.
- </p>
- <p>
- Taking her by the wrists he drew her gently to him, and then sat down upon
- a cuirass beside the palm-tree bed which was covered with a lion’s
- skin. She was standing. He looked up at her, holding her thus between his
- knees, and repeating:
- </p>
- <p>
- “How beautiful you are! how beautiful you are!”
- </p>
- <p>
- His eyes, which were continually fixed upon hers, pained her; and the
- uncomfortableness, the repugnance increased in so acute a fashion that
- Salammbô put a constraint upon herself not to cry out. The thought of
- Schahabarim came back to her, and she resigned herself.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho still kept her little hands in his own; and from time to time, in
- spite of the priest’s command, she turned away her face and tried to
- thrust him off by jerking her arms. He opened his nostrils the better to
- breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person. It was a fresh,
- indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, like the smoke
- from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense, roses, with
- another odour still.
- </p>
- <p>
- But how was she thus with him in his tent, and at his disposal? Some one
- no doubt had urged her. She had not come for the zaïmph. His arms fell,
- and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie.
- </p>
- <p>
- To soften him Salammbô said to him in a plaintive voice:
- </p>
- <p>
- “What have I done to you that you should desire my death?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Your death!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “I saw you one evening by the light of my burning gardens amid
- fuming cups and my slaughtered slaves, and your anger was so strong that
- you bounded towards me and I was obliged to fly! Then terror entered into
- Carthage. There were cries of the devastation of the towns, the burning of
- the country-seats, the massacre of the soldiery; it was you who had ruined
- them, it was you who had murdered them! I hate you! Your very name gnaws
- me like remorse! You are execrated more than the plague, and the Roman
- war! The provinces shudder at your fury, the furrows are full of corpses!
- I have followed the traces of your fires as though I were travelling
- behind Moloch!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho leaped up; his heart was swelling with colossal pride; he was raised
- to the stature of a god.
- </p>
- <p>
- With quivering nostrils and clenched teeth she went on:
- </p>
- <p>
- “As if your sacrilege were not enough, you came to me in my sleep
- covered with the zaïmph! Your words I did not understand; but I could see
- that you wished to drag me to some terrible thing at the bottom of an
- abyss.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, writhing his arms, exclaimed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “No! no! it was to give it to you! to restore it to you! It seemed
- to me that the goddess had left her garment for you, and that it belonged
- to you! In her temple or in your house, what does it matter? are you not
- all-powerful, immaculate, radiant and beautiful even as Tanith?” And
- with a look of boundless adoration he added:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Unless perhaps you are Tanith?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I, Tanith!” said Salammbô to herself.
- </p>
- <p>
- They left off speaking. The thunder rolled in the distance. Some sheep
- bleated, frightened by the storm.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Oh! come near!” he went on, “come near! fear nothing!
- </p>
- <p>
- “Formerly I was only a soldier mingled with the common herd of the
- Mercenaries, ay, and so meek that I used to carry wood on my back for the
- others. Do I trouble myself about Carthage! The crowd of its people move
- as though lost in the dust of your sandals, and all its treasures, with
- the provinces, fleets, and islands, do not raise my envy like the
- freshness of your lips and the turn of your shoulders. But I wanted to
- throw down its walls that I might reach you to possess you! Moreover, I
- was revenging myself in the meantime! At present I crush men like shells,
- and I throw myself upon phalanxes; I put aside the sarissæ with my hands,
- I check the stallions by the nostrils; a catapult would not kill me! Oh!
- if you knew how I think of you in the midst of war! Sometimes the memory
- of a gesture or of a fold of your garment suddenly seizes me and entwines
- me like a net! I perceive your eyes in the flames of the phalaricas and on
- the gilding of the shields! I hear your voice in the sounding of the
- cymbals. I turn aside, but you are not there! and I plunge again into the
- battle!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one another like ivy on the
- branches of a tree. Sweat flowed down his breast between his square
- muscles; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze girdle all
- garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees, which were firmer than
- marble. Salammbô, who was accustomed to eunuchs, yielded to amazement at
- the strength of this man. It was the chastisement of the goddess or the
- influence of Moloch in motion around her in the five armies. She was
- overwhelmed with lassitude; and she listened in a state of stupor to the
- intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they answered one another.
- </p>
- <p>
- The flames of the lamp kindled in the squalls of hot air. There came at
- times broad lightning flashes; then the darkness increased; and she could
- only see Matho’s eyeballs like two coals in the night. However, she
- felt that a fatality was surrounding her, that she had reached a supreme
- and irrevocable moment, and making an effort she went up again towards the
- zaïmph and raised her hands to seize it.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What are you doing?” exclaimed Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- “I am going back to Carthage,” she placidly replied.
- </p>
- <p>
- He advanced folding his arms and with so terrible a look that her heels
- were immediately nailed, as it were, to the spot.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Going back to Carthage!” He stammered, and, grinding his
- teeth, repeated:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Going back to Carthage! Ah! you came to take the zaïmph, to conquer
- me, and then disappear! No, no! you belong to me! and no one now shall
- tear you from here! Oh! I have not forgotten the insolence of your large
- tranquil eyes, and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of your beauty!
- ’Tis my turn now! You are my captive, my slave, my servant! Call, if
- you like, on your father and his army, the Ancients, the rich, and your
- whole accursed people! I am the master of three hundred thousand soldiers!
- I will go and seek them in Lusitania, in the Gauls, and in the depths of
- the desert, and I will overthrow your town and burn all its temples; the
- triremes shall float on the waves of blood! I will not have a house, a
- stone, or a palm tree remaining! And if men fail me I will draw the bears
- from the mountains and urge on the lions! Seek not to fly or I kill you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Pale and with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are
- about to burst. Suddenly sobs stifled him, and he sank down upon his hams.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! forgive me! I am a scoundrel, and viler than scorpions, than
- mire and dust! Just now while you were speaking your breath passed across
- my face, and I rejoiced like a dying man who drinks lying flat on the edge
- of a stream. Crush me, if only I feel your feet! curse me, if only I hear
- your voice! Do not go! have pity! I love you! I love you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He was on his knees on the ground before her; and he encircled her form
- with both his arms, his head thrown back, and his hands wandering; the
- gold discs hanging from his ears gleamed upon his bronzed neck; big tears
- rolled in his eyes like silver globes; he sighed caressingly, and murmured
- vague words lighter than a breeze and sweet as a kiss.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all consciousness of
- herself. Something at once inward and lofty, a command from the gods,
- obliged her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and she fell back
- swooning upon the bed amid the lion’s hair. The zaïmph fell, and
- enveloped her; she could see Matho’s face bending down above her
- breast.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Moloch, thou burnest me!” and the soldier’s kisses,
- more devouring than flames, covered her; she was as though swept away in a
- hurricane, taken in the might of the sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- He kissed all her fingers, her arms, her feet, and the long tresses of her
- hair from one end to the other.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Carry it off,” he said, “what do I care? take me away
- with it! I abandon the army! I renounce everything! Beyond Gades, twenty
- days’ journey into the sea, you come to an island covered with gold
- dust, verdure, and birds. On the mountains large flowers filled with
- smoking perfumes rock like eternal censers; in the citron trees, which are
- higher than cedars, milk-coloured serpents cause the fruit to fall upon
- the turf with the diamonds in their jaws; the air is so mild that it keeps
- you from dying. Oh! I shall find it, you will see. We shall live in
- crystal grottoes cut out at the foot of the hills. No one dwells in it
- yet, or I shall become the king of the country.”
- </p>
- <p>
- He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter of a
- pomegranate between her lips; he heaped up garments behind her head to
- make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and to humble
- himself, and he even spread the zaïmph over her feet as if it were a mere
- rug.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Have you still,” he said, “those little gazelle’s
- horns on which your necklaces hang? You will give them to me! I love them!”
- For he spoke as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from
- him. The Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The
- moon was gliding between two clouds. They could see it through an opening
- in the tent. “Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed
- to me like a veil that hid your face; you would look at me through her;
- the memory of you was mingled with her beams; then I could no longer
- distinguish you!” And with his head between her breasts he wept
- copiously.
- </p>
- <p>
- “And this,” she thought, “is the formidable man who
- makes Carthage tremble!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He fell asleep. Then disengaging herself from his arm she put one foot to
- the ground, and she perceived that her chainlet was broken.
- </p>
- <p>
- The maidens of the great families were accustomed to respect these
- shackles as something that was almost religious, and Salammbô, blushing,
- rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles.
- </p>
- <p>
- Carthage, Megara, her house, her room, and the country that she had passed
- through, whirled in tumultuous yet distinct images through her memory. But
- an abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an infinite distance from
- her.
- </p>
- <p>
- The storm was departing; drops of water splashing rarely, one by one, made
- the tent-roof shake.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho slept like a drunken man, stretched on his side, and with one arm
- over the edge of the couch. His band of pearls was raised somewhat, and
- uncovered his brow; his teeth were parted in a smile; they shone through
- his black beard, and there was a silent and almost outrageous gaiety in
- his half-closed eyelids.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô looked at him motionless, her head bent and her hands crossed.
- </p>
- <p>
- A dagger was displayed on the table of cypress-wood at the head of the
- bed; the sight of the gleaming blade fired her with a sanguinary desire.
- Mournful voices lingered at a distance in the shade, and like a chorus of
- geniuses urged her on. She approached it; she seized the steel by the
- handle. At the rustling of her dress Matho half opened his eyes, putting
- forth his mouth upon her hands, and the dagger fell.
- </p>
- <p>
- Shouts arose; a terrible light flashed behind the canvas. Matho raised the
- latter; they perceived the camp of the Libyans enveloped in great flames.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their reed huts were burning, and the twisting stems burst in the smoke
- and flew off like arrows; black shadows ran about distractedly on the red
- horizon. They could hear the shrieks of those who were in the huts; the
- elephants, oxen, and horses plunged in the midst of the crowd crushing it
- together with the stores and baggage that were being rescued from the
- fire. Trumpets sounded. There were calls of “Matho! Matho!”
- Some people at the door tried to get in.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Come along! Hamilcar is burning the camp of Autaritus!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He made a spring. She found herself quite alone.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then she examined the zaïmph; and when she had viewed it well she was
- surprised that she had not the happiness which she had once imagined to
- herself. She stood with melancholy before her accomplished dream.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the lower part of the tent was raised, and a monstrous form appeared.
- Salammbô could at first distinguish only the two eyes and a long white
- beard which hung down to the ground; for the rest of the body, which was
- cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment, trailed along the earth; and
- with every forward movement the hands passed into the beard and then fell
- again. Crawling in this way it reached her feet, and Salammbô recognised
- the aged Gisco.
- </p>
- <p>
- In fact, the Mercenaries had broken the legs of the captive Ancients with
- a brass bar to prevent them from taking to flight; and they were all
- rotting pell-mell in a pit in the midst of filth. But the sturdiest of
- them raised themselves and shouted when they heard the noise of platters,
- and it was in this way that Gisco had seen Salammbô. He had guessed that
- she was a Carthaginian woman by the little balls of sandastrum flapping
- against her cothurni; and having a presentiment of an important mystery he
- had succeeded, with the assistance of his companions, in getting out of
- the pit; then with elbows and hands he had dragged himself twenty paces
- further on as far as Matho’s tent. Two voices were speaking within
- it. He had listened outside and had heard everything.
- </p>
- <p>
- “It is you!” she said at last, almost terrified.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes, it is I!” he replied, raising himself on his wrists.
- “They think me dead, do they not?”
- </p>
- <p>
- She bent her head. He resumed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy!” He
- approached so close he was touching her. “They would have spared me
- the pain of cursing you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô sprang quickly back, so much afraid was she of this unclean
- being, who was as hideous as a larva and nearly as terrible as a phantom.
- </p>
- <p>
- “I am nearly one hundred years old,” he said. “I have
- seen Agathocles; I have seen Regulus and the eagles of the Romans passing
- over the harvests of the Punic fields! I have seen all the terrors of
- battles and the sea encumbered with the wrecks of our fleets! Barbarians
- whom I used to command have chained my four limbs like a slave that has
- committed murder. My companions are dying around me, one after the other;
- the odour of their corpses awakes me in the night; I drive away the birds
- that come to peck out their eyes; and yet not for a single day have I
- despaired of Carthage! Though I had seen all the armies of the earth
- against her, and the flames of the siege overtop the height of the
- temples, I should have still believed in her eternity! But now all is
- over! all is lost! The gods execrate her! A curse upon you who have
- quickened her ruin by your disgrace!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She opened her lips.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! I was there!” he cried. “I heard you gurgling with
- love like a prostitute; then he told you of his desire, and you allowed
- him to kiss your hands! But if the frenzy of your unchastity urged you to
- it, you should at least have done as do the fallow deer, which hide
- themselves in their copulations, and not have displayed your shame beneath
- your father’s very eyes!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “What?” she said.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! you did not know that the two entrenchments are sixty cubits
- from each other and that your Matho, in the excess of his pride, has
- posted himself just in front of Hamilcar. Your father is there behind you;
- and could I climb the path which leads to the platform, I should cry to
- him: ‘Come and see your daughter in the Barbarian’s arms! She
- has put on the garment of the goddess to please him; and in yielding her
- body to him she surrenders with the glory of your name the majesty of the
- gods, the vengeance of her country, even the safety of Carthage!’”
- The motion of his toothless mouth moved his beard throughout its length;
- his eyes were riveted upon her and devoured her; panting in the dust he
- repeated:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! sacrilegious one! May you be accursed! accursed! accursed!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô had drawn back the canvas; she held it raised at arm’s
- length, and without answering him she looked in the direction of Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- “It is this way, is it not?” she said.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face
- against the earth! It is a holy spot which would be polluted by your gaze!”
- </p>
- <p>
- She threw the zaïmph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils,
- mantle, and scarf. “I hasten thither!” she cried; and making
- her escape Salammbô disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- At first she walked through the darkness without meeting any one, for all
- were betaking themselves to the fire; the uproar was increasing and great
- flames purpled the sky behind; a long terrace stopped her.
- </p>
- <p>
- She turned round to right and left at random, seeking for a ladder, a
- rope, a stone, something in short to assist her. She was afraid of Gisco,
- and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were pursuing her. Day was
- beginning to break. She perceived a path in the thickness of the
- entrenchment. She took the hem of her robe, which impeded her, in her
- teeth, and in three bounds she was on the platform.
- </p>
- <p>
- A sonorous shout burst forth beneath her in the shade, the same which she
- had heard at the foot of the galley staircase, and leaning over she
- recognised Schahabarim’s man with his coupled horses.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had wandered all night between the two entrenchments; then disquieted
- by the fire, he had gone back again trying to see what was passing in
- Matho’s camp; and, knowing that this spot was nearest to his tent,
- he had not stirred from it, in obedience to the priest’s command.
- </p>
- <p>
- He stood up on one of the horses. Salammbô let herself slide down to him;
- and they fled at full gallop, circling the Punic camp in search of a gate.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho had re-entered his tent. The smoky lamp gave but little light, and
- he also believed that Salammbô was asleep. Then he delicately touched the
- lion’s skin on the palm-tree bed. He called but she did not answer;
- he quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some light; the
- zaïmph was gone.
- </p>
- <p>
- The earth trembled beneath thronging feet. Shouts, neighings, and clashing
- of armour rose in the air, and clarion flourishes sounded the charge. It
- was as though a hurricane were whirling around him. Immoderate frenzy made
- him leap upon his arms, and he dashed outside.
- </p>
- <p>
- The long files of the Barbarians were descending the mountain at a run,
- and the Punic squares were advancing against them with a heavy and regular
- oscillation. The mist, rent by the rays of the sun, formed little rocking
- clouds which as they rose gradually discovered standards, helmets, and
- points of pikes. Beneath the rapid evolutions portions of the earth which
- were still in the shadow seemed to be displaced bodily; in other places it
- looked as if huge torrents were crossing one another, while thorny masses
- stood motionless between them. Matho could distinguish the captains,
- soldiers, heralds, and even the serving-men, who were mounted on asses in
- the rear. But instead of maintaining his position in order to cover the
- foot-soldiers, Narr’ Havas turned abruptly to the right, as though
- he wished himself to be crushed by Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- His horsemen outstripped the elephants, which were slackening their speed;
- and all the horses, stretching out their unbridled heads, galloped at so
- furious a rate that their bellies seemed to graze the earth. Then suddenly
- Narr’ Havas went resolutely up to a sentry. He threw away his sword,
- lance, and javelins, and disappeared among the Carthaginians.
- </p>
- <p>
- The king of the Numidians reached Hamilcar’s tent, and pointing to
- his men, who were standing still at a distance, he said:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Barca! I bring them to you. They are yours.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage, and to prove his fidelity
- recalled all his conduct from the beginning of the war.
- </p>
- <p>
- First, he had prevented the siege of Carthage and the massacre of the
- captives; then he had taken no advantage of the victory over Hanno after
- the defeat at Utica. As to the Tyrian towns, they were on the frontiers of
- his kingdom. Finally he had not taken part in the battle of the Macaras;
- and he had even expressly absented himself in order to evade the
- obligation of fighting against the Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas had in fact wished to aggrandise himself by
- encroachments upon the Punic provinces, and had alternately assisted and
- forsaken the Mercenaries according to the chances of victory. But seeing
- that Hamilcar would ultimately prove the stronger, he had gone over to
- him; and in his desertion there was perhaps something of a grudge against
- Matho, whether on account of the command or of his former love.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet listened without interrupting him. The man who thus presented
- himself with an army where vengeance was his due was not an auxiliary to
- be despised; Hamilcar at once divined the utility of such an alliance in
- his great projects. With the Numidians he would get rid of the Libyans.
- Then he would draw off the West to the conquest of Iberia; and, without
- asking Narr’ Havas why he had not come sooner, or noticing any of
- his lies, he kissed him, striking his breast thrice against his own.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that he had fired the
- camp of the Libyans. This army came to him like a relief from the gods;
- dissembling his joy he replied:
- </p>
- <p>
- “May the Baals favour you! I do not know what the Republic will do
- for you, but Hamilcar is not ungrateful.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The tumult increased; some captains entered. He was arming himself as he
- spoke.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Come, return! You will use your horsemen to beat down their
- infantry between your elephants and mine. Courage! exterminate them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- And Narr’ Havas was rushing away when Salammbô appeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- She leaped down quickly from her horse. She opened her ample cloak and
- spreading out her arms displayed the zaïmph.
- </p>
- <p>
- The leathern tent, which was raised at the corners, left visible the
- entire circuit of the mountain with its thronging soldiers, and as it was
- in the centre Salammbô could be seen on all sides. An immense shouting
- burst forth, a long cry of triumph and hope. Those who were marching
- stopped; the dying leaned on their elbows and turned round to bless her.
- All the Barbarians knew now that she had recovered the zaïmph; they saw
- her or believed that they saw her from a distance; and other cries, but
- those of rage and vengeance, resounded in spite of the plaudits of the
- Carthaginians. Thus did the five armies in tiers upon the mountain stamp
- and shriek around Salammbô.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar, who was unable to speak, nodded her his thanks. His eyes were
- directed alternately upon the zaïmph and upon her, and he noticed that her
- chainlet was broken. Then he shivered, being seized with a terrible
- suspicion. But soon recovering his impassibility he looked sideways at
- Narr’ Havas without turning his face.
- </p>
- <p>
- The king of the Numidians held himself apart in a discreet attitude; on
- his forehead he bore a little of the dust which he had touched when
- prostrating himself. At last the Suffet advanced towards him with a look
- full of gravity.
- </p>
- <p>
- “As a reward for the services which you have rendered me, Narr’
- Havas, I give you my daughter. Be my son,” he added, “and
- defend your father!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas gave a great gesture of surprise; then he threw himself
- upon Hamilcar’s hands and covered them with kisses.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô, calm as a statue, did not seem to understand. She blushed a
- little as she cast down her eyelids, and her long curved lashes made
- shadows upon her cheeks.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in indissoluble betrothal. A
- lance was placed in Salammbô’s hands and by her offered to Narr’
- Havas; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of ox-leather; then
- corn was poured upon their heads, and the grains that fell around them
- rang like rebounding hail.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER XII
- </h2>
- <h3>
- THE AQUEDUCT
- </h3>
- <p>
- Twelve hours afterwards all that remained of the Mercenaries was a heap of
- wounded, dead, and dying.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar had suddenly emerged from the bottom of the gorge, and again
- descended the western slope that looked towards Hippo-Zarytus, and the
- space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the Barbarians
- into it. Narr’ Havas had encompassed them with his horse; the Suffet
- meanwhile drove them back and crushed them. Then, too, they were conquered
- beforehand by the loss of the zaïmph; even those who cared nothing about
- it had experienced anguish and something akin to enfeeblement. Hamilcar,
- not indulging his pride by holding the field of battle, had retired a
- little further off on the left to some heights, from which he commanded
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The shape of the camps could be recognised by their sloping palisades. A
- long heap of black cinders was smoking on the side of the Libyans; the
- devastated soil showed undulations like the sea, and the tents with their
- tattered canvas looked like dim ships half lost in the breakers.
- Cuirasses, forks, clarions, pieces of wood, iron and brass, corn, straw,
- and garments were scattered about among the corpses; here and there a
- phalarica on the point of extinction burned against a heap of baggage; in
- some places the earth was hidden with shields; horses’ carcasses
- succeeded one another like a series of hillocks; legs, sandals, arms, and
- coats of mail were to be seen, with heads held in their helmets by the
- chin-pieces and rolling about like balls; heads of hair were hanging on
- the thorns; elephants were lying with their towers in pools of blood, with
- entrails exposed, and gasping. The foot trod on slimy things, and there
- were swamps of mud although no rain had fallen.
- </p>
- <p>
- This confusion of dead bodies covered the whole mountain from top to
- bottom.
- </p>
- <p>
- Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting in unequal
- groups they looked at one another scared and without speaking.
- </p>
- <p>
- The lake of Hippo-Zarytus shone at the end of a long meadow beneath the
- setting sun. To the right an agglomeration of white houses extended beyond
- a girdle of walls; then the sea spread out indefinitely; and the
- Barbarians, with their chins in their hands, sighed as they thought of
- their native lands. A cloud of grey dust was falling.
- </p>
- <p>
- The evening wind blew; then every breast dilated, and as the freshness
- increased, the vermin might be seen to forsake the dead, who were colder
- now, and to run over the hot sand. Crows, looking towards the dying,
- rested motionless on the tops of the big stones.
- </p>
- <p>
- When night had fallen yellow-haired dogs, those unclean beasts which
- followed the armies, came quite softly into the midst of the Barbarians.
- At first they licked the clots of blood on the still tepid stumps; and
- soon they began to devour the corpses, biting into the stomachs first of
- all.
- </p>
- <p>
- The fugitives reappeared one by one like shadows; the women also ventured
- to return, for there were still some of them left, especially among the
- Libyans, in spite of the dreadful massacre of them by the Numidians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some took ropes’ ends and lighted them to use as torches. Others
- held crossed pikes. The corpses were placed upon these and were conveyed
- apart.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were found lying stretched in long lines, on their backs, with their
- mouths open, and their lances beside them; or else they were piled up
- pell-mell so that it was often necessary to dig out a whole heap in order
- to discover those they were wanting. Then the torch would be passed slowly
- over their faces. They had received complicated wounds from hideous
- weapons. Greenish strips hung from their foreheads; they were cut in
- pieces, crushed to the marrow, blue from strangulation, or broadly cleft
- by the elephants’ ivory. Although they had died at almost the same
- time there existed differences between their various states of corruption.
- The men of the North were puffed up with livid swellings, while the more
- nervous Africans looked as though they had been smoked, and were already
- drying up. The Mercenaries might be recognised by the tattooing on their
- hands: the old soldiers of Antiochus displayed a sparrow-hawk; those who
- had served in Egypt, the head of the cynosephalus; those who had served
- with the princes of Asia, a hatchet, a pomegranate, or a hammer; those who
- had served in the Greek republics, the side-view of a citadel or the name
- of an archon; and some were to be seen whose arms were entirely covered
- with these multiplied symbols, which mingled with their scars and their
- recent wounds.
- </p>
- <p>
- Four great funeral piles were erected for the men of Latin race, the
- Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and Bruttians.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Greeks dug pits with the points of their swords. The Spartans removed
- their red cloaks and wrapped them round the dead; the Athenians laid them
- out with their faces towards the rising sun; the Cantabrians buried them
- beneath a heap of pebbles; the Nasamonians bent them double with
- ox-leather thongs, and the Garamantians went and interred them on the
- shore so that they might be perpetually washed by the waves. But the
- Latins were grieved that they could not collect the ashes in urns; the
- Nomads regretted the heat of the sands in which bodies were mummified, and
- the Celts, the three rude stones beneath a rainy sky at the end of an
- islet-covered gulf.
- </p>
- <p>
- Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened silence. This was to
- oblige the souls to return. Then the shouting was resumed persistently at
- regular intervals.
- </p>
- <p>
- They made excuses to the dead for their inability to honour them as the
- rites prescribed: for, owing to this deprivation, they would pass for
- infinite periods through all kinds of chances and metamorphoses; they
- questioned them and asked them what they desired; others loaded them with
- abuse for having allowed themselves to be conquered.
- </p>
- <p>
- The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks of armour showed
- pale in the light of the great funeral-pile; tears provoked tears, the
- sobs became shriller, the recognitions and embracings more frantic. Women
- stretched themselves on the corpses, mouth to mouth and brow to brow; it
- was necessary to beat them in order to make them withdraw when the earth
- was being thrown in. They blackened their cheeks; they cut off their hair;
- they drew their own blood and poured it into the pits; they gashed
- themselves in imitation of the wounds that disfigured the dead. Roarings
- burst forth through the crashings of the cymbals. Some snatched off their
- amulets and spat upon them. The dying rolled in the bloody mire biting
- their mutilated fists in their rage; and forty-three Samnites, quite a
- “sacred spring,” cut one another’s throats like
- gladiators. Soon wood for the funeral-piles failed, the flames were
- extinguished, every spot was occupied; and weary from shouting, weakened,
- tottering, they fell asleep close to their dead brethren, those who still
- clung to life full of anxieties, and the others desiring never to wake
- again.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- In the greyness of the dawn some soldiers appeared on the outskirts of the
- Barbarians, and filed past with their helmets raised on the points of
- their pikes; they saluted the Mercenaries and asked them whether they had
- no messages to send to their native lands.
- </p>
- <p>
- Others approached, and the Barbarians recognised some of their former
- companions.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet had proposed to all the captives that they should serve in his
- troops. Several had fearlessly refused; and quite resolved neither to
- support them nor to abandon them to the Great Council, he had sent them
- away with injunctions to fight no more against Carthage. As to those who
- had been rendered docile by the fear of tortures, they had been furnished
- with the weapons taken from the enemy; and they were now presenting
- themselves to the vanquished, not so much in order to seduce them as out
- of an impulse of pride and curiosity.
- </p>
- <p>
- At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from the
- Suffet; the Barbarians listened to them with jealousy although they
- despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards fell into a
- passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords and cuirasses
- and invited them with abuse to come and take them. The Barbarians picked
- up flints; all took to flight; and nothing more could be seen on the
- summit of the mountain except the lance-points projecting above the edge
- of the palisades.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Barbarians were overwhelmed with a grief that was heavier than
- the humiliation of the defeat. They thought of the emptiness of their
- courage, and they stood with their eyes fixed and grinding their teeth.
- </p>
- <p>
- The same thought came to them all. They rushed tumultuously upon the
- Carthaginian prisoners. It chanced that the Suffet’s soldiers had
- been unable to discover them, and as he had withdrawn from the field of
- battle they were still in the deep pit.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were ranged on the ground on a flattened spot. Sentries formed a
- circle round them, and the women were allowed to enter thirty or forty at
- a time. Wishing to profit by the short time that was allowed to them, they
- ran from one to the other, uncertain and panting; then bending over the
- poor bodies they struck them with all their might like washerwomen beating
- linen; shrieking their husband’s names they tore them with their
- nails and put out their eyes with the bodkins of their hair. The men came
- next and tortured them from their feet, which they cut off at the ankles,
- to their foreheads, from which they took crowns of skin to put upon their
- own heads. The Eaters of Uncleanness were atrocious in their devices. They
- envenomed the wounds by pouring into them dust, vinegar, and fragments of
- pottery; others waited behind; blood flowed, and they rejoiced like
- vintagers round fuming vats.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, however, was seated on the ground, at the very place where he had
- happened to be when the battle ended, his elbows on his knees, and his
- temples in his hands; he saw nothing, heard nothing, and had ceased to
- think.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the shrieks of joy uttered by the crowd he raised his head. Before him
- a strip of canvas caught on a flagpole, and trailing on the ground,
- sheltered in confused fashion blankets, carpets, and a lion’s skin.
- He recognised his tent; and he riveted his eyes upon the ground as though
- Hamilcar’s daughter, when she disappeared, had sunk into the earth.
- </p>
- <p>
- The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes passed
- across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of a hand. It
- was the hand of Narr’ Havas, the token of their alliance. Then Matho
- rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and threw it
- disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent. Then with the toe of his cothurn
- he pushed the things which fell out back towards the flame so that nothing
- might be left.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly, without any one being able to guess from what point he had
- sprung up, Spendius reappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- The former slave had fastened two fragments of a lance against his thigh;
- he limped with a piteous look, breathing forth complaints the while.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Remove that,” said Matho to him. “I know that you are a
- brave fellow!” For he was so crushed by the injustice of the gods
- that he had not strength enough to be indignant with men.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius beckoned to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, where
- Zarxas and Autaritus were lying concealed.
- </p>
- <p>
- They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the other
- in spite of his bravery. But who, said they, could have expected the
- treachery of Narr’ Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans,
- the loss of the zaïmph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, his
- manouvres which forced them to return to the bottom of the mountain
- beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made no
- acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that his leg
- was broken.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what
- decision should now be adopted.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught
- between his soldiers and the provinces belonging to Narr’ Havas; the
- Tyrian towns would join the conquerors; the Barbarians would find
- themselves driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces
- would crush them. This would infallibly happen.
- </p>
- <p>
- Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly they
- must prosecute it to the bitter end. But how were they to make the
- necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these disheartened
- people, who were still bleeding from their wounds.
- </p>
- <p>
- “I will undertake that!” said Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- Two hours afterwards a man who came from the direction of Hippo-Zarytus
- climbed the mountain at a run. He waved some tablets at arm’s
- length, and as he shouted very loudly the Barbarians surrounded him.
- </p>
- <p>
- The tablets had been despatched by the Greek soldiers in Sardinia. They
- recommended their African comrades to watch over Gisco and the other
- captives. A Samian trader, one Hipponax, coming from Carthage, had
- informed them that a plot was being organised to promote their escape, and
- the Barbarians were urged to take every precaution; the Republic was
- powerful.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius’s stratagem did not succeed at first as he had hoped. This
- assurance of the new peril, so far from exciting frenzy, raised fears; and
- remembering Hamilcar’s warning, lately thrown into their midst, they
- expected something unlooked for and terrible. The night was spent in great
- distress; several even got rid of their weapons, so as to soften the
- Suffet when he presented himself.
- </p>
- <p>
- But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner appeared,
- still more breathless, and blackened with dust. The Greek snatched from
- his hand a roll of papyrus covered with Phonician writing. The Mercenaries
- were entreated not to be disheartened; the brave men of Tunis were coming
- with large reinforcements.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius first read the letter three times in succession; and held up by
- two Cappadocians, who bore him seated on their shoulders, he had himself
- conveyed from place to place and re-read it. For seven hours he harangued.
- </p>
- <p>
- He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises of the Great Council; the
- Africans of the cruelties of the stewards, and all the Barbarians of the
- injustice of Carthage. The Suffet’s mildness was only a bait to
- capture them; those who surrendered would be sold as slaves, and the
- vanquished would perish under torture. As to flight, what routes could
- they follow? Not a nation would receive them. Whereas by continuing their
- efforts they would obtain at once freedom, vengeance, and money! And they
- would not have long to wait, since the people of Tunis, the whole of
- Libya, was rushing to relieve them. He showed the unrolled papyrus:
- “Look at it! read! see their promises! I do not lie.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Dogs were straying about with their black muzzles all plastered with red.
- The men’s uncovered heads were growing hot in the burning sun. A
- nauseous smell exhaled from the badly buried corpses. Some even projected
- from the earth as far as the waist. Spendius called them to witness what
- he was saying; then he raised his fists in the direction of Hamilcar.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho, moreover, was watching him, and to cover his cowardice he displayed
- an anger by which he gradually found himself carried away. Devoting
- himself to the gods he heaped curses upon the Carthaginians. The torture
- of the captives was child’s play. Why spare them, and be ever
- dragging this useless cattle after one? “No! we must put an end to
- it! their designs are known! a single one might ruin us! no pity! Those
- who are worthy will be known by the speed of their legs and the force of
- their blows.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they turned again upon the captives. Several were still in the last
- throes; they were finished by the thrust of a heel in the mouth or a stab
- with the point of a javelin.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they thought of Gisco. Nowhere could he be seen; they were disturbed
- with anxiety. They wished at once to convince themselves of his death and
- to participate in it. At last three Samnite shepherds discovered him at a
- distance of fifteen paces from the spot where Matho’s tent lately
- stood. They recognised him by his long beard and they called the rest.
- </p>
- <p>
- Stretched on his back, his arms against his hips, and his knees close
- together, he looked like a dead man laid out for the tomb. Nevertheless
- his wasted sides rose and fell, and his eyes, wide-opened in his pallid
- face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians looked at him at first with great astonishment. Since he
- had been living in the pit he had been almost forgotten; rendered uneasy
- by old memories they stood at a distance and did not venture to raise
- their hands against him.
- </p>
- <p>
- But those who were behind were murmuring and pressed forward when a
- Garamantian passed through the crowd; he was brandishing a sickle; all
- understood his thought; their faces purpled, and smitten with shame they
- shrieked:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes! yes!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The man with the curved steel approached Gisco. He took his head, and,
- resting it upon his knee, sawed it off with rapid strokes; it fell; to
- great jets of blood made a hole in the dust. Zarxas leaped upon it, and
- lighter than a leopard ran towards the Carthaginians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then when he had covered two thirds of the mountain he drew Gisco’s
- head from his breast by the beard, whirled his arm rapidly several times,—and
- the mass, when thrown at last, described a long parabola and disappeared
- behind the Punic entrenchments.
- </p>
- <p>
- Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards, the
- customary sign for claiming a corpse.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then four heralds, chosen for their width of chest, went out with great
- clarions, and speaking through the brass tubes declared that henceforth
- there would be between Carthaginians and Barbarians neither faith, pity,
- nor gods, that they refused all overtures beforehand, and that envoys
- would be sent back with their hands cut off.
- </p>
- <p>
- Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to Hippo-Zarytus to procure
- provisions; the Tyrian city sent them some the same evening. They ate
- greedily. Then when they were strengthened they speedily collected the
- remains of their baggage and their broken arms; the women massed
- themselves in the centre, and heedless of the wounded left weeping behind
- them, they set out along the edge of the shore like a herd of wolves
- taking its departure.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, resolved to take it, for they had
- need of a town.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar, as he perceived them at a distance, had a feeling of despair in
- spite of the pride which he experienced in seeing them fly before him. He
- ought to have attacked them immediately with fresh troops. Another similar
- day and the war was over! If matters were protracted they would return
- with greater strength; the Tyrian towns would join them; his clemency
- towards the vanquished had been of no avail. He resolved to be pitiless.
- </p>
- <p>
- The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden with
- bracelets collected from the dead, and with horrible threats ordered
- another army to be despatched.
- </p>
- <p>
- All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his victory
- they felt a stupefaction which was almost terror. The vaguely announced
- return of the zaïmph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and the might of
- Carthage seemed now to belong to him.
- </p>
- <p>
- None of his enemies ventured upon complaint or recrimination. Owing to the
- enthusiasm of some and the pusillanimity of the rest, an army of five
- thousand men was ready before the interval prescribed had elapsed.
- </p>
- <p>
- This army promptly made its way to Utica in order to support the Suffet’s
- rear, while three thousand of the most notable citizens embarked in
- vessels which were to land them at Hippo-Zarytus, whence they were to
- drive back the Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno had accepted the command; but he intrusted the army to his
- lieutenant, Magdassin, so as to lead the troops which were to be
- disembarked himself, for he could no longer endure the shaking of the
- litter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils, and had hollowed
- out a large hole in his face; the back of his throat could be seen at a
- distance of ten paces, and he knew himself to be so hideous that he wore a
- veil over his head like a woman.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hippo-Zarytus paid no attention to his summonings nor yet to those of the
- Barbarians; but every morning the inhabitants lowered provisions to the
- latter in baskets, and shouting from the tops of the towers pleaded the
- exigencies of the Republic and conjured them to withdraw. By means of
- signs they addressed the same protestations to the Carthaginians, who were
- stationed on the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno contented himself with blockading the harbour without risking an
- attack. However, he permitted the judges of Hippo-Zarytus to admit three
- hundred soldiers. Then he departed to the Cape Grapes, and made a long
- circuit so as to hem in the Barbarians, an inopportune and even dangerous
- operation. His jealousy prevented him from relieving the Suffet; he
- arrested his spies, impeded him in all his plans, and compromised the
- success of the enterprise. At last Hamilcar wrote to the Great Council to
- rid himself of Hanno, and the latter returned to Carthage furious at the
- baseness of the Ancients and the madness of his colleague. Hence, after so
- many hopes, the situation was now still more deplorable; but there was an
- effort not to reflect upon it and even not to talk about it.
- </p>
- <p>
- As if all this were not sufficient misfortune at one time, news came that
- the Sardinian Mercenaries had crucified their general, seized the
- strongholds, and everywhere slaughtered those of Chanaanitish race. The
- Roman people threatened the Republic with immediate hostilities unless she
- gave twelve hundred talents with the whole of the island of Sardinia. They
- had accepted the alliance of the Barbarians, and they despatched to them
- flat-bottomed boats laden with meal and dried meat. The Carthaginians
- pursued these, and captured five hundred men; but three days afterwards a
- fleet coming from Byzacena, and conveying provisions to Carthage,
- foundered in a storm. The gods were evidently declaring against her.
- </p>
- <p>
- Upon this the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, under pretence of an alarm, made
- Hanno’s three hundred men ascend their walls; then coming behind
- them they took them by the legs, and suddenly threw them over the
- ramparts. Some who were not killed were pursued, and went and drowned
- themselves in the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- Utica was enduring the presence of soldiers, for Magdassin had acted like
- Hanno, and in accordance with his orders and deaf to Hamilcar’s
- prayers, was surrounding the town. As for these, they were given wine
- mixed with mandrake, and were then slaughtered in their sleep. At the same
- time the Barbarians arrived; Magdassin fled; the gates were opened, and
- thenceforward the two Tyrian towns displayed an obstinate devotion to
- their new friends and an inconceivable hatred to their former allies.
- </p>
- <p>
- This abandonment of the Punic cause was a counsel and a precedent. Hopes
- of deliverance revived. Populations hitherto uncertain hesitated no
- longer. Everywhere there was a stir. The Suffet learnt this, and he had no
- assistance to look for! He was now irrevocably lost.
- </p>
- <p>
- He immediately dismissed Narr’ Havas, who was to guard the borders
- of his kingdom. As for himself, he resolved to re-enter Carthage in order
- to obtain soldiers and begin the war again.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians posted at Hippo-Zarytus perceived his army as it descended
- the mountain.
- </p>
- <p>
- Where could the Carthaginians be going? Hunger, no doubt, was urging them
- on; and, distracted by their sufferings, they were coming in spite of
- their weakness to give battle. But they turned to the right: they were
- fleeing. They might be overtaken and all be crushed. The Barbarians dashed
- in pursuit of them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians were checked by the river. It was wide this time and the
- west wind had not been blowing. Some crossed by swimming, and the rest on
- their shields. They resumed their march. Night fell. They were out of
- sight.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians did not stop; they went higher to find a narrower place.
- The people of Tunis hastened thither, bringing those of Utica along with
- them. Their numbers increased at every bush; and the Carthaginians, as
- they lay on the ground, could hear the tramping of their feet in the
- darkness. From time to time Barca had a volley of arrows discharged behind
- him to check them, and several were killed. When day broke they were in
- the Ariana Mountains, at the spot where the road makes a bend.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could
- distinguish something green on the horizon on the summit of an eminence.
- Then the ground sank, and obelisks, domes, and houses appeared! It was
- Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself from falling, so
- rapidly did his heart beat.
- </p>
- <p>
- He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the last
- time that he had passed that way! It was an infinite surprise, it stunned
- him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing Salammbô
- again. The reasons which he had for execrating her returned to his
- recollection, but he very quickly rejected them. Quivering and with
- straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace above the
- palm trees beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy lighted his face as if some
- great light had reached him; he opened his arms, and sent kisses on the
- breeze, and murmured: “Come! come!” A sigh swelled his breast,
- and two long tears like pearls fell upon his beard.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What stays you?” cried Spendius. “Make haste! Forward!
- The Suffet is going to escape us! But your knees are tottering, and you
- are looking at me like a drunken man!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He stamped with impatience and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at the
- approach of an object long aimed at.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- He had so convinced and triumphant an air that Matho was surprised from
- his torpor, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, coming when
- his distress was at its height, drove his despair to vengeance, and
- pointed to food for his wrath. He bounded upon one of the camels that were
- among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and with the long rope, struck
- the stragglers with all his might, running right and left alternately, in
- the rear of the army, like a dog driving a flock.
- </p>
- <p>
- At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame hurried
- their steps; the intervening space lessened in the middle of the isthmus.
- The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust raised by the
- Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and were on the point of
- touching. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, and the great gate of
- Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square divided; three columns
- were swallowed up, and eddied beneath the porches. Soon the mass, being
- too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed in the air,
- and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round and
- shouted to his men to move aside. He dismounted from his horse; and
- pricking it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it against the
- Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend
- its knees to allow its master to mount. Why was he sending it away? Was
- this a sacrifice?
- </p>
- <p>
- The noble horse galloped into the midst of the lances, knocked down men,
- and, entangling its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose again with
- furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to stop it, or
- looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united again; they
- entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them.
- </p>
- <p>
- It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it;—and for
- some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which became
- weaker and weaker, and at last ceased.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to hurl
- stones, balls, and beams. Spendius represented that it would be best not
- to persist. The Barbarians went and posted themselves further off, all
- being quite resolved to lay siege to Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- The rumour of the war, however, had passed beyond the confines of the
- Punic empire; and from the pillars of Hercules to beyond Cyrene shepherds
- mused on it as they kept their flocks, and caravans talked about it in the
- light of the stars. This great Carthage, mistress of the seas, splendid as
- the sun, and terrible as a god, actually found men who were daring enough
- to attack her! Her fall even had been asserted several times; and all had
- believed it for all wished it: the subject populations, the tributary
- villages, the allied provinces, the independent hordes, those who
- execrated her for her tyranny or were jealous of her power, or coveted her
- wealth. The bravest had very speedily joined the Mercenaries. The defeat
- at the Macaras had checked all the rest. At last they had recovered
- confidence, had gradually advanced and approached; and now the men of the
- eastern regions were lying on the sandhills of Clypea on the other side of
- the gulf. As soon as they perceived the Barbarians they showed themselves.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long
- composed the third army, but nomads from the tableland of Barca, bandits
- from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Dernah, from Phazzana and
- Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish wells
- walled in with camels’ bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering of
- ostrich feathers, had come on quadrigæ; the Garamantians, masked with
- black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were mounted on
- asses, onagers, zebras, and buffaloes; while some dragged after them the
- roofs of their sloop-shaped huts together with their families and idols.
- There were Ammonians with limbs wrinkled by the hot water of the springs;
- Atarantians, who curse the sun; Troglodytes, who bury their dead with
- laughter beneath branches of trees; and the hideous Auseans, who eat
- grass-hoppers; the Achyrmachidæ, who eat lice; and the vermilion-painted
- Gysantians, who eat apes.
- </p>
- <p>
- All were ranged along the edge of the sea in a great straight line.
- Afterwards they advanced like tornadoes of sand raised by the wind. In the
- centre of the isthmus the throng stopped, the Mercenaries who were posted
- in front of them, close to the walls, being unwilling to move.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then from the direction of Ariana appeared the men of the West, the people
- of the Numidians. In fact, Narr’ Havas governed only the Massylians;
- and, moreover, as they were permitted by custom to abandon their king when
- reverses were sustained, they had assembled on the Zainus, and then had
- crossed it at Hamilcar’s first movement. First were seen running up
- all the hunters from Malethut-Baal and Garaphos, clad in lions’
- skins, and with the staves of their pikes driving small lean horses with
- long manes; then marched the Gætulians in cuirasses of serpents’
- skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of wax and resin; and
- the Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each holding two javelins and a
- round shield of hippopotamus leather. They stopped at the foot of the
- Catacombs among the first pools of the Lagoon.
- </p>
- <p>
- But when the Libyans had moved away, the multitude of the Negroes appeared
- like a cloud on a level with the ground, in the place which the others had
- occupied. They were there from the White Harousch, the Black Harousch, the
- desert of Augila, and even from the great country of Agazymba, which is
- four months’ journey south of the Garamantians, and from regions
- further still! In spite of their red wooden jewels, the filth of their
- black skin made them look like mulberries that had been long rolling in
- the dust. They had bark-thread drawers, dried-grass tunics, fallow-deer
- muzzles on their heads; they shook rods furnished with rings, and
- brandished cows’ tails at the end of sticks, after the fashion of
- standards, howling the while like wolves.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gætulians pressed the yellowish
- men, who are spread through the cedar forests beyond Taggir. They had
- cat-skin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they led in leashes
- enormous dogs, which were as high as asses, and did not bark.
- </p>
- <p>
- Finally, as though Africa had not been sufficiently emptied, and it had
- been necessary to seek further fury in the very dregs of the races, men
- might be seen behind the rest, with beast-like profiles and grinning with
- idiotic laughter—wretches ravaged by hideous diseases, deformed
- pigmies, mulattoes of doubtful sex, albinos whose red eyes blinked in the
- sun; stammering out unintelligible sounds, they put a finger into their
- mouths to show that they were hungry.
- </p>
- <p>
- The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples.
- There was not a deadly invention that was not present—from wooden
- daggers, stone hatchets and ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed like
- saws, slender, and formed of a yielding copper blade. They handled
- cutlasses which were forked into several branches like antelopes’
- horns, bills fastened to the ends of ropes, iron triangles, clubs and
- bodkins. The Ethiopians from the Bambotus had little poisoned darts hidden
- in their hair. Many had brought pebbles in bags. Others, empty handed,
- chattered with their teeth.
- </p>
- <p>
- This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell. Dromedaries, smeared
- all over with tar-like streaks, knocked down the women, who carried their
- children on their hips. The provisions in the baskets were pouring out; in
- walking, pieces of salt, parcels of gum, rotten dates, and gourou nuts
- were crushed underfoot; and sometimes on vermin-covered bosoms there would
- hang a slender cord supporting a diamond that the Satraps had sought, an
- almost fabulous stone, sufficient to purchase an empire. Most of them did
- not even know what they desired. They were impelled by fascination or
- curiosity; and nomads who had never seen a town were frightened by the
- shadows of the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- The isthmus was now hidden by men; and this long surface, whereon the
- tents were like huts amid an inundation, stretched as far as the first
- lines of the other Barbarians, which were streaming with steel and were
- posted symmetrically upon both sides of the aqueduct.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their
- arrival when they perceived the siege-engines sent by the Tyrian towns
- coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildings—with
- their masts, arms, ropes, articulations, capitals and carapaces, sixty
- carroballistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions, fifty tollenos, twelve
- rams, and three gigantic catapults which hurled pieces of rock of the
- weight of fifteen talents. Masses of men clinging to their bases pushed
- them on; at every step a quivering shook them, and in this way they
- arrived in front of the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- But several days were still needed to finish the preparations for the
- siege. The Mercenaries, taught by their defeats, would not risk themselves
- in useless engagements; and on both sides there was no haste, for it was
- well known that a terrible action was about to open, and that the result
- of it would be complete victory or complete extermination.
- </p>
- <p>
- Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a
- series of re-entrant and projecting angles, an advantageous arrangement
- for repelling assaults.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless a portion had fallen down in the direction of the Catacombs,
- and on dark nights lights could be seen in the dens of Malqua through the
- disjointed blocks. These in some places overlooked the top of the
- ramparts. It was here that the Mercenaries’ wives, who had been
- driven away by Matho, were living with their new husbands. On seeing the
- men again their hearts could stand it no longer. They waved their scarfs
- at a distance; then they came and chatted in the darkness with the
- soldiers through the cleft in the wall, and one morning the Great Council
- learned that they had all fled. Some had passed through between the
- stones; others with greater intrepidity had let themselves down with
- ropes.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last Spendius resolved to accomplish his design.
- </p>
- <p>
- The war, by keeping him at a distance, had hitherto prevented him; and
- since the return to before Carthage, it seemed to him that the inhabitants
- suspected his enterprise. But soon they diminished the sentries on the
- aqueduct. There were not too many people for the defence of the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- The former slave practised himself for some days in shooting arrows at the
- flamingoes on the lake. Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho to
- light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all his men
- were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he went away
- along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis.
- </p>
- <p>
- When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the
- aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of the
- pillars.
- </p>
- <p>
- The sentries on the platform were walking quietly up and down.
- </p>
- <p>
- Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette,
- believing that there was an assault, rushed away in the direction of
- Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- One man had remained. He showed black against the background of the sky.
- The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of extravagant
- size, looked in the distance like an obelisk proceeding across the plain.
- </p>
- <p>
- They waited until he was in position just before them. Zarxas seized his
- sling, but whether from prudence or from ferocity Spendius stopped him.
- “No, the whiz of the bullet would make a noise! Let me!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he bent his bow with all his strength, resting the lower end of it
- against the great toe of his left foot; he took aim, and the arrow went
- off.
- </p>
- <p>
- The man did not fall. He disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- “If he were wounded we should hear him!” said Spendius; and he
- mounted quickly from story to story as he had done the first time, with
- the assistance of a rope and a harpoon. Then when he had reached the top
- and was beside the corpse, he let it fall again. The Balearian fastened a
- pick and a mallet to it and turned back.
- </p>
- <p>
- The trumpets sounded no longer. All was now quiet. Spendius had raised one
- of the flag-stones and, entering the water, had closed it behind him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Calculating the distance by the number of his steps, he arrived at the
- exact spot where he had noticed an oblique fissure; and for three hours
- until morning he worked in continuous and furious fashion, breathing with
- difficulty through the interstices in the upper flag-tones, assailed with
- anguish, and twenty times believing that he was going to die. At last a
- crack was heard, and a huge stone ricocheting on the lower arches rolled
- to the ground,—and suddenly a cataract, an entire river, fell from
- the skies onto the plain. The aqueduct, being cut through in the centre,
- was emptying itself. It was death to Carthage and victory for the
- Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- In an instant the awakened Carthaginians appeared on the walls, the
- houses, and the temples. The Barbarians pressed forward with shouts. They
- danced in delirium around the great waterfall, and came up and wet their
- heads in it in the extravagance of their joy.
- </p>
- <p>
- A man in a torn, brown tunic was perceived on the summit of the aqueduct.
- He stood leaning over the very edge with both hands on his hips, and was
- looking down below him as though astonished at his work.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he drew himself up. He surveyed the horizon with a haughty air which
- seemed to say: “All that is now mine!” The applause of the
- Barbarians burst forth, while the Carthaginians, comprehending their
- disaster at last, shrieked with despair. Then he began to run about the
- platform from one end to the other,—and like a chariot-driver
- triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, raised
- his arms aloft.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER XIII
- </h2>
- <h3>
- MOLOCH
- </h3>
- <p>
- The Barbarians had no need of a circumvallation on the side of Africa, for
- it was theirs. But to facilitate the approach to the walls, the
- entrenchments bordering the ditch were thrown down. Matho next divided the
- army into great semicircles so as to encompass Carthage the better. The
- hoplites of the Mercenaries were placed in the first rank, and behind them
- the slingers and horsemen; quite at the back were the baggage, chariots,
- and horses; and the engines bristled in front of this throng at a distance
- of three hundred paces from the towers.
- </p>
- <p>
- Amid the infinite variety of their nomenclature (which changed several
- times in the course of the centuries) these machines might be reduced to
- two systems: some acted like slings, and the rest like bows.
- </p>
- <p>
- The first, which were the catapults, was composed of a square frame with
- two vertical uprights and a horizontal bar. In its anterior portion was a
- cylinder, furnished with cables, which held back a great beam bearing a
- spoon for the reception of projectiles; its base was caught in a skein of
- twisted thread, and when the ropes were let go it sprang up and struck
- against the bar, which, checking it with a shock, multiplied its power.
- </p>
- <p>
- The second presented a more complicated mechanism. A cross-bar had its
- centre fixed on a little pillar, and from this point of junction there
- branched off at right angles a short of channel; two caps containing
- twists of horse-hair stood at the extremities of the cross-bar; two small
- beams were fastened to them to hold the extremities of a rope which was
- brought to the bottom of the channel upon a tablet of bronze. This metal
- plate was released by a spring, and sliding in grooves impelled the
- arrows.
- </p>
- <p>
- The catapults were likewise called onagers, after the wild asses which
- fling up stones with their feet, and the ballistas scorpions, on account
- of a hook which stood upon the tablet, and being lowered by a blow of the
- fist, released the spring.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their construction required learned calculations; the wood selected had to
- be of the hardest substance, and their gearing all of brass; they were
- stretched with levers, tackle-blocks, capstans or tympanums; the direction
- of the shooting was changed by means of strong pivots; they were moved
- forward on cylinders, and the most considerable of them, which were
- brought piece by piece, were set up in front of the enemy.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius arranged three great catapults opposite the three principle
- angles; he placed a ram before every gate, a ballista before every tower,
- while carroballistas were to move about in the rear. But it was necessary
- to protect them against the fire thrown by the besieged, and first of all
- to fill up the trench which separated them from the walls.
- </p>
- <p>
- They pushed forward galleries formed of hurdles of green reeds, and oaken
- semicircles like enormous shields gliding on three wheels; the workers
- were sheltered in little huts covered with raw hides and stuffed with
- wrack; the catapults and ballistas were protected by rope curtains which
- had been steeped in vinegar to render them incombustible. The women and
- children went to procure stones on the strand, and gathered earth with
- their hands and brought it to the soldiers.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians also made preparations.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar had speedily reassured them by declaring that there was enough
- water left in the cisterns for one hundred and twenty-three days. This
- assertion, together with his presence, and above all that of the zaïmph
- among them, gave them good hopes. Carthage recovered from its dejection;
- those who were not of Chanaanitish origin were carried away by the passion
- of the rest.
- </p>
- <p>
- The slaves were armed, the arsenals were emptied, and every citizen had
- his own post and his own employment. Twelve hundred of the fugitives had
- survived, and the Suffet made them all captains; and carpenters,
- armourers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths were intrusted with the engines.
- The Carthaginians had kept a few in spite of the conditions of the peace
- with Rome. These were repaired. They understood such work.
- </p>
- <p>
- The two northern and eastern sides, being protected by the sea and the
- gulf, remained inaccessible. On the wall fronting the Barbarians they
- collected tree-trunks, mill-stones, vases filled with sulphur, and vats
- filled with oil, and built furnaces. Stones were heaped up on the
- platforms of the towers, and the houses bordering immediately on the
- rampart were crammed with sand in order to strengthen it and increase its
- thickness.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians grew angry at the sight of these preparations. They wished
- to fight at once. The weights which they put into the catapults were so
- extravagantly heavy that the beams broke, and the attack was delayed.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last on the thirteenth day of the month of Schabar,—at sunrise,—a
- great blow was heard at the gate of Khamon.
- </p>
- <p>
- Seventy-five soldiers were pulling at ropes arranged at the base of a
- gigantic beam which was suspended horizontally by chains hanging from a
- framework, and which terminated in a ram’s head of pure brass. It
- had been swathed in ox-hides; it was bound at intervals with iron
- bracelets; it was thrice as thick as a man’s body, one hundred and
- twenty cubits long, and under the crowd of naked arms pushing it forward
- and drawing it back, it moved to and fro with a regular oscillation.
- </p>
- <p>
- The other rams before the other gates began to be in motion. Men might be
- seen mounting from step to step in the hollow wheels of the tympanums. The
- pulleys and caps grated, the rope curtains were lowered, and showers of
- stones and showers of arrows poured forth simultaneously; all the
- scattered slingers ran up. Some approached the rampart hiding pots of
- resin under their shields; then they would hurl these with all their
- might. This hail of bullets, darts, and flames passed above the first
- ranks in the form of a curve which fell behind the walls. But long cranes,
- used for masting vessels, were reared on the summit of the ramparts; and
- from them there descended some of those enormous pincers which terminated
- in two semicircles toothed on the inside. They bit the rams. The soldiers
- clung to the beam and drew it back. The Carthaginians hauled in order to
- pull it up; and the action was prolonged until the evening.
- </p>
- <p>
- When the Mercenaries resumed their task on the following day, the tops of
- the walls were completely carpeted with bales of cotton, sails, and
- cushions; the battlements were stopped up with mats; and a line of forks
- and blades, fixed upon sticks, might be distinguished among the cranes on
- the rampart. A furious resistance immediately began.
- </p>
- <p>
- Trunks of trees fastened to cables fell and rose alternately and battered
- the rams; cramps hurled by the ballistas tore away the roofs of the huts;
- and streams of flints and pebbles poured from the platforms of the towers.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last the rams broke the gates of Khamon and Tagaste. But the
- Carthaginians had piled up such an abundance of materials on the inside
- that the leaves did not open. They remained standing.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they drove augers against the walls; these were applied to the joints
- of the blocks, so as to detach the latter. The engines were better
- managed, the men serving them were divided into squads, and they were
- worked from morning till evening without interruption and with the
- monotonous precision of a weaver’s loom.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius returned to them untiringly. It was he who stretched the skeins
- of the ballistas. In order that the twin tensions might completely
- correspond, the ropes as they were tightened were struck on the right and
- left alternately until both sides gave out an equal sound. Spendius would
- mount upon the timbers. He would strike the ropes softly with the
- extremity of his foot, and strain his ears like a musician tuning a lyre.
- Then when the beam of the catapult rose, when the pillar of the ballista
- trembled with the shock of the spring, when the stones were shooting in
- rays, and the darts pouring in streams, he would incline his whole body
- and fling his arms into the air as though to follow them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The soldiers admired his skill and executed his commands. In the gaiety of
- their work they gave utterance to jests on the names of the machines. Thus
- the plyers for seizing the rams were called “wolves,” and the
- galleries were covered with “vines”; they were lambs, or they
- were going to gather the grapes; and as they loaded their pieces they
- would say to the onagers: “Come, pick well!” and to the
- scorpions: “Pierce them to the heart!” These jokes, which were
- ever the same, kept up their courage.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless the machines did not demolish the rampart. It was formed of
- two walls and was completely filled with earth. The upper portions were
- beaten down, but each time the besieged raised them again. Matho ordered
- the construction of wooden towers which should be as high as the towers of
- stone. They cast turf, stakes, pebbles and chariots with their wheels into
- the trench so as to fill it up the more quickly; but before this was
- accomplished the immense throng of the Barbarians undulated over the plain
- with a single movement and came beating against the foot of the walls like
- an overflowing sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- They moved forward the rope ladders, straight ladders, and sambucas, the
- latter consisting of two poles from which a series of bamboos terminating
- in a moveable bridge were lowered by means of tackling. They formed
- numerous straight lines resting against the wall, and the Mercenaries
- mounted them in files, holding their weapons in their hands. Not a
- Carthaginian showed himself; already two thirds of the rampart had been
- covered. Then the battlements opened, vomiting flames and smoke like
- dragon jaws; the sand scattered and entered the joints of their armour;
- the petroleum fastened on their garments; the liquid lead hopped on their
- helmets and made holes in their flesh; a rain of sparks splashed against
- their faces, and eyeless orbits seemed to weep tears as big as almonds.
- There were men all yellow with oil, with their hair in flames. They began
- to run and set fire to the rest. They were extinguished in mantles steeped
- in blood, which were thrown from a distance over their faces. Some who had
- no wounds remained motionless, stiffer than stakes, their mouths open and
- their arms outspread.
- </p>
- <p>
- The assault was renewed for several days in succession, the Mercenaries
- hoping to triumph by extraordinary energy and audacity.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sometimes a man raised on the shoulders of another would drive a pin
- between the stones, and then making use of it as a step to reach further,
- would place a second and a third; and, protected by the edge of the
- battlements, which stood out from the wall, they would gradually raise
- themselves in this way; but on reaching a certain height they always fell
- back again. The great trench was full to overflowing; the wounded were
- massed pell-mell with the dead and dying beneath the footsteps of the
- living. Calcined trunks formed black spots amid opened entrails, scattered
- brains, and pools of blood; and arms and legs projecting half way out of a
- heap, would stand straight up like props in a burning vineyard.
- </p>
- <p>
- The ladders proving insufficient the tollenos were brought into
- requisition,—instruments consisting of a long beam set transversely
- upon another, and bearing at its extremity a quadrangular basket which
- would hold thirty foot-soldiers with their weapons.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho wished to ascend in the first that was ready. Spendius stopped him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some men bent over a capstan; the great beam rose, became horizontal,
- reared itself almost vertically, and being overweighted at the end, bent
- like a huge reed. The soldiers, who were crowded together, were hidden up
- to their chins; only their helmet-plumes could be seen. At last when it
- was twenty cubits high in the air it turned several times to the right and
- to the left, and then was depressed; and like a giant arm holding a cohort
- of pigmies in its hand, it laid the basketful of men upon the edge of the
- wall. They leaped into the crowd and never returned.
- </p>
- <p>
- All the other tollenos were speedily made ready. But a hundred times as
- many would have been needed for the capture of the town. They were
- utilised in a murderous fashion: Ethiopian archers were placed in the
- baskets; then, the cables having been fastened, they remained suspended
- and shot poisoned arrows. The fifty tollenos commanding the battlements
- thus surrounded Carthage like monstrous vultures; and the Negroes laughed
- to see the guards on the rampart dying in grievous convulsions.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar sent hoplites to these posts, and every morning made them drink
- the juice of certain herbs which protected them against the poison.
- </p>
- <p>
- One evening when it was dark he embarked the best of his soldiers on
- lighters and planks, and turning to the right of the harbour, disembarked
- on the Tænia. Then he advanced to the first lines of the Barbarians, and
- taking them in flank, made a great slaughter. Men hanging to ropes would
- descend at night from the top of the wall with torches in their hands,
- burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then mount up again.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which led
- him into terrible extravagances. He mentally summoned Salammbô to an
- interview; then he waited. She did not come; this seemed to him like a
- fresh piece of treachery,—and henceforth he execrated her. If he had
- seen her corpse he would perhaps have gone away. He doubled the outposts,
- he planted forks at the foot of the rampart, he drove caltrops into the
- ground, and he commanded the Libyans to bring him a whole forest that he
- might set it on fire and burn Carthage like a den of foxes.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius went on obstinately with the siege. He sought to invent terrible
- machines such as had never before been constructed.
- </p>
- <p>
- The other Barbarians, encamped at a distance on the isthmus, were amazed
- at these delays; they murmured, and they were let loose.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they rushed with their cutlasses and javelins, and beat against the
- gates with them. But the nakedness of their bodies facilitating the
- infliction of wounds, the Carthaginians massacred them freely; and the
- Mercenaries rejoiced at it, no doubt through jealousy about the plunder.
- Hence there resulted quarrels and combats between them. Then, the country
- having been ravaged, provisions were soon scarce. They grew disheartened.
- Numerous hordes went away, but the crowd was so great that the loss was
- not apparent.
- </p>
- <p>
- The best of them tried to dig mines, but the earth, being badly supported,
- fell in. They began again in other places, but Hamilcar always guessed the
- direction that they were taking by holding his ear against a bronze
- shield. He bored counter-mines beneath the path along which the wooden
- towers were to move, and when they were pushed forward they sank into the
- holes.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last all recognised that the town was impregnable, unless a long
- terrace was raised to the same height as the walls, so as to enable them
- to fight on the same level. The top of it should be paved so that the
- machines might be rolled along. Then Carthage would find it quite
- impossible to resist.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- The town was beginning to suffer from thirst. The water which was worth
- two kesitahs the bath at the opening of the siege was now sold for a
- shekel of silver; the stores of meat and corn were also becoming
- exhausted; there was a dread of famine, and some even began to speak of
- useless mouths, which terrified every one.
- </p>
- <p>
- From the square of Khamon to the temple of Melkarth the streets were
- cumbered with corpses; and, as it was the end of the summer, the
- combatants were annoyed by great black flies. Old men carried off the
- wounded, and the devout continued the fictitious funerals for their
- relatives and friends who had died far away during the war. Waxen statues
- with clothes and hair were displayed across the gates. They melted in the
- heat of the tapers burning beside them; the paint flowed down upon their
- shoulders, and tears streamed over the faces of the living, as they
- chanted mournful songs beside them. The crowd meanwhile ran to and fro;
- armed bands passed; captains shouted orders, while the shock of the rams
- beating against the rampart was constantly heard.
- </p>
- <p>
- The temperature became so heavy that the bodies swelled and would no
- longer fit into the coffins. They were burned in the centre of the courts.
- But the fires, being too much confined, kindled the neighbouring walls,
- and long flames suddenly burst from the houses like blood spurting from an
- artery. Thus Moloch was in possession of Carthage; he clasped the
- ramparts, he rolled through the streets, he devoured the very corpses.
- </p>
- <p>
- Men wearing cloaks made of collected rags in token of despair, stationed
- themselves at the corners of the cross-ways. They declaimed against the
- Ancients and against Hamilcar, predicted complete ruin to the people, and
- invited them to universal destruction and license. The most dangerous were
- the henbane-drinkers; in their crisis they believed themselves wild
- beasts, and leaped upon the passers-by to rend them. Mobs formed around
- them, and the defence of Carthage was forgotten. The Suffet devised the
- payment of others to support his policy.
- </p>
- <p>
- In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images had
- been covered with chains. Black veils were placed upon the Patæc gods, and
- hair-cloths around the altars; and attempts were made to excite the pride
- and jealousy of the Baals by singing in their ears: “Thou art about
- to suffer thyself to be vanquished! Are the others perchance more strong?
- Show thyself! aid us! that the peoples may not say: ‘Where are now
- their gods?’”
- </p>
- <p>
- The colleges of the pontiffs were agitated by unceasing anxiety. Those of
- Rabbetna were especially afraid—the restoration of the zaïmph having
- been of no avail. They kept themselves shut up in the third enclosure
- which was as impregnable as a fortress. Only one among them, the high
- priest Schahabarim, ventured to go out.
- </p>
- <p>
- He used to visit Salammbô. But he would either remain perfectly silent,
- gazing at her with fixed eyeballs, or else would be lavish of words, and
- the reproaches that he uttered were harder than ever.
- </p>
- <p>
- With inconceivable inconsistency he could not forgive the young girl for
- carrying out his commands; Schahabarim had guessed all, and this haunting
- thought revived the jealousies of his impotence. He accused her of being
- the cause of the war. Matho, according to him, was besieging Carthage to
- recover the zaïmph; and he poured out imprecations and sarcasms upon this
- Barbarian who pretended to the possession of holy things. Yet it was not
- this that the priest wished to say.
- </p>
- <p>
- But just now Salammbô felt no terror of him. The anguish which she used
- formerly to suffer had left her. A strange peacefulness possessed her. Her
- gaze was less wandering, and shone with limpid fire.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile the python had become ill again; and as Salammbô, on the
- contrary, appeared to be recovering, old Taanach rejoiced in the
- conviction that by its decline it was taking away the languor of her
- mistress.
- </p>
- <p>
- One morning she found it coiled up behind the bed of ox-hides, colder than
- marble, and with its head hidden by a heap of worms. Her cries brought
- Salammbô to the spot. She turned it over for a while with the tip of her
- sandal, and the slave was amazed at her insensibility.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar’s daughter no longer prolonged her fasts with so much
- fervour. She passed whole days on the top of her terrace, leaning her
- elbows against the balustrade, and amusing herself by looking out before
- her. The summits of the walls at the end of the town cut uneven zigzags
- upon the sky, and the lances of the sentries formed what was like a border
- of corn-ears throughout their length. Further away she could see the
- manouvres of the Barbarians between the towers; on days when the siege was
- interrupted she could even distinguish their occupations. They mended
- their weapons, greased their hair, and washed their bloodstained arms in
- the sea; the tents were closed; the beasts of burden were feeding; and in
- the distance the scythes of the chariots, which were all ranged in a
- semicircle, looked like a silver scimitar lying at the base of the
- mountains. Schahabarim’s talk recurred to her memory. She was
- waiting for Narr’ Havas, her betrothed. In spite of her hatred she
- would have liked to see Matho again. Of all the Carthaginians she was
- perhaps the only one who would have spoken to him without fear.
- </p>
- <p>
- Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the
- cushions, and gaze at her with an almost tender look, as if he found some
- rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes questioned her
- about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He even asked her
- whether any one had urged her to it; and with a shake of the head she
- answered, No,—so proud was Salammbô of having saved the zaïmph.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making military
- inquiries. He could not understand how the hours which she had spent in
- the tent had been employed. Salammbô, in fact, said nothing about Gisco;
- for as words had an effective power in themselves, curses, if reported to
- any one, might be turned against him; and she was silent about her wish to
- assassinate, lest she should be blamed for not having yielded to it. She
- said that the schalischim appeared furious, that he had shouted a great
- deal, and that he had then fallen asleep. Salammbô told no more, through
- shame perhaps, or else because she was led by her extreme ingenuousness to
- attach but little importance to the soldier’s kisses. Moreover, it
- all floated through her head in a melancholy and misty fashion, like the
- recollection of a depressing dream; and she would not have known in what
- way or in what words to express it.
- </p>
- <p>
- One evening when they were thus face to face with each other, Taanach came
- in looking quite scared. An old man with a child was yonder in the courts,
- and wished to see the Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar turned pale, and then quickly replied:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Let him come up!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Iddibal entered without prostrating himself. He held a young boy, covered
- with a goat’s-hair cloak, by the hand, and at once raised the hood
- which screened his face.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Here he is, Master! Take him!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet and the slave went into a corner of the room.
- </p>
- <p>
- The child remained in the centre standing upright, and with a gaze of
- attention rather than of astonishment he surveyed the ceiling, the
- furniture, the pearl necklaces trailing on the purple draperies, and the
- majestic maiden who was bending over towards him.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was perhaps ten years old, and was not taller than a Roman sword. His
- curly hair shaded his swelling forehead. His eyeballs looked as if they
- were seeking for space. The nostrils of his delicate nose were broad and
- palpitating, and upon his whole person was displayed the indefinable
- splendour of those who are destined to great enterprises. When he had cast
- aside his extremely heavy cloak, he remained clad in a lynx skin, which
- was fastened about his waist, and he rested his little naked feet, which
- were all white with dust, resolutely upon the pavement. But he no doubt
- divined that important matters were under discussion, for he stood
- motionless, with one hand behind his back, his chin lowered, and a finger
- in his mouth.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last Hamilcar attracted Salammbô with a sign and said to her in a low
- voice:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You will keep him with you, you understand! No one, even though
- belonging to the house, must know of his existence!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal whether he was quite sure
- that they had not been noticed.
- </p>
- <p>
- “No!” said the slave, “the streets were empty.”
- </p>
- <p>
- As the war filled all the provinces he had feared for his master’s
- son. Then, not knowing where to hide him, he had come along the coasts in
- a sloop, and for three days Iddibal had been tacking about in the gulf and
- watching the ramparts. At last, that evening, as the environs of Khamon
- seemed to be deserted, he had passed briskly through the channel and
- landed near the arsenal, the entrance to the harbour being free.
- </p>
- <p>
- But soon the Barbarians posted an immense raft in front of it in order to
- prevent the Carthaginians from coming out. They were again rearing the
- wooden towers, and the terrace was rising at the same time.
- </p>
- <p>
- Outside communications were cut off and an intolerable famine set in.
- </p>
- <p>
- The besieged killed all the dogs, all the mules, all the asses, and then
- the fifteen elephants which the Suffet had brought back. The lions of the
- temple of Moloch had become ferocious, and the hierodules no longer durst
- approach them. They were fed at first with the wounded Barbarians; then
- they were thrown corpses that were still warm; they refused them, and they
- all died. People wandered in the twilight along the old enclosures, and
- gathered grass and flowers among the stones to boil them in wine, wine
- being cheaper than water. Others crept as far as the enemy’s
- outposts, and entered the tents to steal food, and the stupefied
- Barbarians sometimes allowed them to return. At last a day arrived when
- the Ancients resolved to slaughter the horses of Eschmoun privately. They
- were holy animals whose manes were plaited by the pontiffs with gold
- ribbons, and whose existence denoted the motion of the sun—the idea
- of fire in its most exalted form. Their flesh was cut into equal portions
- and buried behind the altar. Then every evening the Ancients, alleging
- some act of devotion, would go up to the temple and regale themselves in
- secret, and each would take away a piece beneath his tunic for his
- children. In the deserted quarters remote from the walls, the inhabitants,
- whose misery was not so great, had barricaded themselves through fear of
- the rest.
- </p>
- <p>
- The stones from the catapults, and the demolitions commanded for purposes
- of defence, had accumulated heaps of ruins in the middle of the streets.
- At the quietest times masses of people would suddenly rush along with
- shouts; and from the top of the Acropolis the conflagrations were like
- purple rags scattered upon the terraces and twisted by the wind.
- </p>
- <p>
- The three great catapults did not stop in spite of all these works. Their
- ravages were extraordinary: thus a man’s head rebounded from the
- pediment of the Syssitia; a woman who was being confined in the street of
- Kinisdo was crushed by a block of marble, and her child was carried with
- the bed as far as the crossways of Cinasyn, where the coverlet was found.
- </p>
- <p>
- The most annoying were the bullets of the slingers. They fell upon the
- roofs, and in the gardens, and in the middle of the courts, while people
- were at table before a slender meal with their hearts big with sighs.
- These cruel projectiles bore engraved letters which stamped themselves
- upon the flesh;—and insults might be read on corpses such as “pig,”
- “jackal,” “vermin,” and sometimes jests: “Catch
- it!” or “I have well deserved it!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The portion of the rampart which extended from the corner of the harbours
- to the height of the cisterns was broken down. Then the people of Malqua
- found themselves caught between the old enclosure of Byrsa behind, and the
- Barbarians in front. But there was enough to be done in thickening the
- wall and making it as high as possible without troubling about them; they
- were abandoned; all perished; and although they were generally hated,
- Hamilcar came to be greatly abhorred.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the morrow he opened the pits in which he kept stores of corn, and his
- stewards gave it to the people. For three days they gorged themselves.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their thirst, however, only became the more intolerable, and they could
- constantly see before them the long cascade formed by the clear falling
- water of the aqueduct. A thin vapour, with a rainbow beside it, went up
- from its base, beneath the rays of the sun, and a little stream curving
- through the plain fell into the gulf.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar did not give way. He was reckoning upon an event, upon something
- decisive and extraordinary.
- </p>
- <p>
- His own slaves tore off the silver plates from the temple of Melkarth;
- four long boats were drawn out of the harbour, they were brought by means
- of capstans to the foot of the Mappalian quarter, the wall facing the
- shore was bored, and they set out for the Gauls to buy Mercenaries there
- at no matter what price. Nevertheless, Hamilcar was distressed at his
- inability to communicate with the king of the Numidians, for he knew that
- he was behind the Barbarians, and ready to fall upon them. But Narr’
- Havas, being too weak, was not going to make any venture alone; and the
- Suffet had the rampart raised twelve palms higher, all the material in the
- arsenals piled up in the Acropolis, and the machines repaired once more.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sinews taken from bulls’ necks, or else stags’ hamstrings,
- were commonly employed for the twists of the catapults. However, neither
- stags nor bulls were in existence in Carthage. Hamilcar asked the Ancients
- for the hair of their wives; all sacrificed it, but the quantity was not
- sufficient. In the buildings of the Syssitia there were twelve hundred
- marriageable slaves destined for prostitution in Greece and Italy, and
- their hair, having been rendered elastic by the use of unguents, was
- wonderfully well adapted for engines of war. But the subsequent loss would
- be too great. Accordingly it was decided that a choice should be made of
- the finest heads of hair among the wives of the plebeians. Careless of
- their country’s needs, they shrieked in despair when the servants of
- the Hundred came with scissors to lay hands upon them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians were animated with increased fury. They could be seen in
- the distance taking fat from the dead to grease their machines, while
- others pulled out the nails and stitched them end to end to make
- cuirasses. They devised a plan of putting into the catapults vessels
- filled with serpents which had been brought by the Negroes; the clay pots
- broke on the flag-stones, the serpents ran about, seemed to multiply, and,
- so numerous were they, to issue naturally from the walls. Then the
- Barbarians, not satisfied with their invention, improved upon it; they
- hurled all kinds of filth, human excrements, pieces of carrion, corpses.
- The plague reappeared. The teeth of the Carthaginians fell out of their
- mouths, and their gums were discoloured like those of camels after too
- long a journey.
- </p>
- <p>
- The machines were set up on the terrace, although the latter did not as
- yet reach everywhere to the height of the rampart. Before the twenty-three
- towers on the fortification stood twenty-three others of wood. All the
- tollenos were mounted again, and in the centre, a little further back,
- appeared the formidable helepolis of Demetrius Poliorcetes, which Spendius
- had at last reconstructed. Of pyramidical shape, like the pharos of
- Alexandria, it was one hundred and thirty cubits high and twenty-three
- wide, with nine stories, diminishing as they approached the summit, and
- protected by scales of brass; they were pierced with numerous doors and
- were filled with soldiers, and on the upper platform there stood a
- catapult flanked by two ballistas.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Hamilcar planted crosses for those who should speak of surrender, and
- even the women were brigaded. The people lay in the streets and waited
- full of distress.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then one morning before sunrise (it was the seventh day of the month of
- Nyssan) they heard a great shout uttered by all the Barbarians
- simultaneously; the leaden-tubed trumpets pealed, and the great
- Paphlagonian horns bellowed like bulls. All rose and ran to the rampart.
- </p>
- <p>
- A forest of lances, pikes, and swords bristled at its base. It leaped
- against the wall, the ladders grappled them; and Barbarians’ heads
- appeared in the intervals of the battlements.
- </p>
- <p>
- Beams supported by long files of men were battering at the gates; and, in
- order to demolish the wall at places where the terrace was wanting, the
- Mercenaries came up in serried cohorts, the first line crawling, the
- second bending their hams, and the others rising in succession to the last
- who stood upright; while elsewhere, in order to climb up, the tallest
- advanced in front and the lowest in the rear, and all rested their shields
- upon their helmets with their left arms, joining them together at the
- edges so tightly that they might have been taken for an assemblage of
- large tortoises. The projectiles slid over these oblique masses.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians threw down mill-stones, pestles, vats, casks, beds,
- everything that could serve as a weight and could knock down. Some watched
- at the embrasures with fisherman’s nets, and when the Barbarian
- arrived he found himself caught in the meshes, and struggled like a fish.
- They demolished their own battlements; portions of wall fell down raising
- a great dust; and as the catapults on the terrace were shooting over
- against one another, the stones would strike together and shiver into a
- thousand pieces, making a copious shower upon the combatants.
- </p>
- <p>
- Soon the two crowds formed but one great chain of human bodies; it
- overflowed into the intervals in the terrace, and, somewhat looser at the
- two extremities, swayed perpetually without advancing. They clasped one
- another, lying flat on the ground like wrestlers. They crushed one
- another. The women leaned over the battlements and shrieked. They were
- dragged away by their veils, and the whiteness of their suddenly uncovered
- sides shone in the arms of the Negroes as the latter buried their daggers
- in them. Some corpses did not fall, being too much pressed by the crowd,
- and, supported by the shoulders of their companions, advanced for some
- minutes quite upright and with staring eyes. Some who had both temples
- pierced by a javelin swayed their heads about like bears. Mouths, opened
- to shout, remained gaping; severed hands flew through the air. Mighty
- blows were dealt, which were long talked of by the survivors.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile arrows darted from the towers of wood and stone. The tollenos
- moved their long yards rapidly; and as the Barbarians had sacked the old
- cemetery of the aborigines beneath the Catacombs, they hurled the
- tombstones against the Carthaginians. Sometimes the cables broke under the
- weight of too heavy baskets, and masses of men, all with uplifted arms,
- would fall from the sky.
- </p>
- <p>
- Up to the middle of the day the veterans had attacked the Tænia fiercely
- in order to penetrate into the harbour and destroy the fleet. Hamilcar had
- a fire of damp straw lit upon the roofing of Khamon, and as the smoke
- blinded them they fell back to left, and came to swell the horrible rout
- which was pressing forward in Malqua. Some syntagmata composed of sturdy
- men, chosen expressly for the purpose, had broken in three gates. They
- were checked by lofty barriers made of planks studded with nails, but a
- fourth yielded easily; they dashed over it at a run and rolled into a pit
- in which there were hidden snares. At the south-west gate Autaritus and
- his men broke down the rampart, the fissure in which had been stopped up
- with bricks. The ground behind rose, and they climbed it nimbly. But on
- the top they found a second wall composed of stones and long beams lying
- quite flat and alternating like the squares on a chess-board. It was a
- Gaulish fashion, and had been adapted by the Suffet to the requirements of
- the situation; the Gauls imagined themselves before a town in their own
- country. Their attack was weak, and they were repulsed.
- </p>
- <p>
- All the roundway, from the street of Khamon as far as the Green Market,
- now belonged to the Barbarians, and the Samnites were finishing off the
- dying with blows of stakes; or else with one foot on the wall were gazing
- down at the smoking ruins beneath them, and the battle which was beginning
- again in the distance.
- </p>
- <p>
- The slingers, who were distributed through the rear, were still shooting.
- But the springs of the Acarnanian slings had broken from use, and many
- were throwing stones with the hand like shepherds; the rest hurled leaden
- bullets with the handle of a whip. Zarxas, his shoulders covered with his
- long black hair, went about everywhere, and led on the Barbarians. Two
- pouches hung at his hips; he thrust his left hand into them continually,
- while his right arm whirled round like a chariot-wheel.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho had at first refrained from fighting, the better to command the
- Barbarians all at once. He had been seen along the gulf with the
- Mercenaries, near the lagoon with the Numidians, and on the shores of the
- lake among the Negroes, and from the back part of the plain he urged
- forward masses of soldiers who came ceaselessly against the ramparts. By
- degrees he had drawn near; the smell of blood, the sight of carnage, and
- the tumult of clarions had at last made his heart leap. Then he had gone
- back into his tent, and throwing off his cuirass had taken his lion’s
- skin as being more convenient for battle. The snout fitted upon his head,
- bordering his face with a circle of fangs; the two fore-paws were crossed
- upon his breast, and the claws of the hinder ones fell beneath his knees.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had kept on his strong waist-belt, wherein gleamed a two-edged axe, and
- with his great sword in both hands he had dashed impetuously through the
- breach. Like a pruner cutting willow-branches and trying to strike off as
- much as possible so as to make the more money, he marched along mowing
- down the Carthaginians around him. Those who tried to seize him in flank
- he knocked down with blows of the pommel; when they attacked him in front
- he ran them through; if they fled he clove them. Two men leaped together
- upon his back; he bounded backwards against a gate and crushed them. His
- sword fell and rose. It shivered on the angle of a wall. Then he took his
- heavy axe, and front and rear he ripped up the Carthaginians like a flock
- of sheep. They scattered more and more, and he was quite alone when he
- reached the second enclosure at the foot of the Acropolis. The materials
- which had been flung from the summit cumbered the steps and were heaped up
- higher than the wall. Matho turned back amid the ruins to summons his
- companions.
- </p>
- <p>
- He perceived their crests scattered over the multitude; they were sinking
- and their wearers were about to perish; he dashed towards them; then the
- vast wreath of red plumes closed in, and they soon rejoined him and
- surrounded him. But an enormous crowd was discharging from the side
- streets. He was caught by the hips, lifted up and carried away outside the
- ramparts to a spot where the terrace was high.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho shouted a command and all the shields sank upon the helmets; he
- leaped upon them in order to catch hold somewhere so as to re-enter
- Carthage; and, flourishing his terrible axe, ran over the shields, which
- resembled waves of bronze, like a marine god, with brandished trident,
- over his billows.
- </p>
- <p>
- However, a man in a white robe was walking along the edge of the rampart,
- impassible, and indifferent to the death which surrounded him. Sometimes
- he would spread out his right hand above his eyes in order to find out
- some one. Matho happened to pass beneath him. Suddenly his eyeballs
- flamed, his livid face contracted; and raising both his lean arms he
- shouted out abuse at him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho did not hear it; but he felt so furious and cruel a look entering
- his heart that he uttered a roar. He hurled his long axe at him; some
- people threw themselves upon Schahabarim; and Matho seeing him no more
- fell back exhausted.
- </p>
- <p>
- A terrible creaking drew near, mingled with the rhythm of hoarse voices
- singing together.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was the great helepolis surrounded by a crowd of soldiers. They were
- dragging it with both hands, hauling it with ropes, and pushing it with
- their shoulders,—for the slope rising from the plain to the terrace,
- although extremely gentle, was found impracticable for machines of such
- prodigious weight. However, it had eight wheels banded with iron, and it
- had been advancing slowly in this way since the morning, like a mountain
- raised upon another. Then there appeared an immense ram issuing from its
- base. The doors along the three fronts which faced the town fell down, and
- cuirassed soldiers appeared in the interior like pillars of iron. Some
- might be seen climbing and descending the two staircases which crossed the
- stories. Some were waiting to dart out as soon as the cramps of the doors
- touched the walls; in the middle of the upper platform the skeins of the
- ballistas were turning, and the great beam of the catapult was being
- lowered.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar was at that moment standing upright on the roof of Melkarth. He
- had calculated that it would come directly towards him, against what was
- the most invulnerable place in the wall, which was for that very reason
- denuded of sentries. His slaves had for a long time been bringing leathern
- bottles along the roundway, where they had raised with clay two transverse
- partitions forming a sort of basin. The water was flowing insensibly along
- the terrace, and strange to say, it seemed to cause Hamilcar no anxiety.
- </p>
- <p>
- But when the helepolis was thirty paces off, he commanded planks to be
- placed over the streets between the houses from the cisterns to the
- rampart; and a file of people passed from hand to hand helmets and
- amphoras, which were emptied continually. The Carthaginians, however, grew
- indignant at this waste of water. The ram was demolishing the wall, when
- suddenly a fountain sprang forth from the disjointed stones. Then the
- lofty brazen mass, nine stories high, which contained and engaged more
- than three thousand soldiers, began to rock gently like a ship. In fact,
- the water, which had penetrated the terrace, had broken up the path before
- it; its wheels stuck in the mire; the head of Spendius, with distended
- cheeks blowing an ivory cornet, appeared between leathern curtains on the
- first story. The great machine, as though convulsively upheaved, advanced
- perhaps ten paces; but the ground softened more and more, the mire reached
- to the axles, and the helepolis stopped, leaning over frightfully to one
- side. The catapult rolled to the edge of the platform, and carried away by
- the weight of its beam, fell, shattering the lower stories beneath it. The
- soldiers who were standing on the doors slipped into the abyss, or else
- held on to the extremities of the long beams, and by their weight
- increased the inclination of the helepolis, which was going to pieces with
- creakings in all its joints.
- </p>
- <p>
- The other Barbarians rushed up to help them, massing themselves into a
- compact crowd. The Carthaginians descended from the rampart, and,
- assailing them in the rear, killed them at leisure. But the chariots
- furnished with sickles hastened up, and galloped round the outskirts of
- the multitude. The latter ascended the wall again; night came on; and the
- Barbarians gradually retired.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nothing could now be seen on the plain but a sort of perfectly black,
- swarming mass, which extended from the bluish gulf to the purely white
- lagoon; and the lake, which had received streams of blood, stretched
- further away like a great purple pool.
- </p>
- <p>
- The terrace was now so laden with corpses that it looked as though it had
- been constructed of human bodies. In the centre stood the helepolis
- covered with armour; and from time to time huge fragments broke off from
- it, like stones from a crumbling pyramid. Broad tracks made by the streams
- of lead might be distinguished on the walls. A broken-down wooden tower
- burned here and there, and the houses showed dimly like the stages of a
- ruined ampitheatre. Heavy fumes of smoke were rising, and rolling with
- them sparks which were lost in the dark sky.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians, however, who were consumed by thirst, had rushed to the
- cisterns. They broke open the doors. A miry swamp stretched at the bottom.
- </p>
- <p>
- What was to be done now? Moreover, the Barbarians were countless, and when
- their fatigue was over they would begin again.
- </p>
- <p>
- The people deliberated all night in groups at the corners of the streets.
- Some said that they ought to send away the women, the sick, and the old
- men; others proposed to abandon the town, and found a colony far away. But
- vessels were lacking, and when the sun appeared no decision had been made.
- </p>
- <p>
- There was no fighting that day, all being too much exhausted. The sleepers
- looked like corpses.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Carthaginians, reflecting upon the cause of their disasters,
- remembered that they had not dispatched to Phonicia the annual offering
- due to Tyrian Melkarth, and a great terror came upon them. The gods were
- indignant with the Republic, and were, no doubt, about to prosecute their
- vengeance.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with
- supplications and allowed themselves to be bribed with presents. All were
- feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the very
- flesh of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, the
- Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it to him, which calmed his
- fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape of the neck,
- with woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal brought in much
- money to the priests, they failed not to recommend it as being easier and
- more pleasant.
- </p>
- <p>
- This time, however, the Republic itself was at stake. But as every profit
- must be purchased by some loss, and as every transaction was regulated
- according to the needs of the weaker and the demands of the stronger,
- there was no pain great enough for the god, since he delighted in such as
- was of the most horrible description, and all were now at his mercy. He
- must accordingly be fully gratified. Precedents showed that in this way
- the scourge would be made to disappear. Moreover, it was believed that an
- immolation by fire would purify Carthage. The ferocity of the people was
- predisposed towards it. The choice, too, must fall exclusively upon the
- families of the great.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Ancients assembled. The sitting was a long one. Hanno had come to it.
- As he was now unable to sit he remained lying down near the door, half
- hidden among the fringes of the lofty tapestry; and when the pontiff of
- Moloch asked them whether they would consent to surrender their children,
- his voice suddenly broke forth from the shadow like the roaring of a
- genius in the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he said, that he had none
- of his own blood to give; and he gazed at Hamilcar, who faced him at the
- other end of the hall. The Suffet was so much disconcerted by this look
- that it made him lower his eyes. All successively bent their heads in
- approval; and in accordance with the rites he had to reply to the high
- priest: “Yes; be it so.” Then the Ancients decreed the
- sacrifice in traditional circumlocution,—because there are things
- more troublesome to say than to perform.
- </p>
- <p>
- The decision was almost immediately known in Carthage, and lamentations
- resounded. The cries of women might everywhere be heard; their husbands
- consoled them, or railed at them with remonstrances.
- </p>
- <p>
- But three hours afterwards extraordinary tidings were spread abroad: the
- Suffet had discovered springs at the foot of the cliff. There was a rush
- to the place. Water might be seen in holes dug in the sand, and some were
- already lying flat on the ground and drinking.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar did not himself know whether it was by the determination of the
- gods or through the vague recollection of a revelation which his father
- had once made to him; but on leaving the Ancients he had gone down to the
- shore and had begun to dig the gravel with his slaves.
- </p>
- <p>
- He gave clothing, boots, and wine. He gave all the rest of the corn that
- he was keeping by him. He even let the crowd enter his palace, and he
- opened kitchens, stores, and all the rooms,—Salammbô’s alone
- excepted. He announced that six thousand Gaulish Mercenaries were coming,
- and that the king of Macedonia was sending soldiers.
- </p>
- <p>
- But on the second day the springs diminished, and on the evening of the
- third they were completely dried up. Then the decree of the Ancients
- passed everywhere from lip to lip, and the priests of Moloch began their
- task.
- </p>
- <p>
- Men in black robes presented themselves in the houses. In many instances
- the owners had deserted them under pretence of some business, or of some
- dainty that they were going to buy; and the servants of Moloch came and
- took the children away. Others themselves surrendered them stupidly. Then
- they were brought to the temple of Tanith, where the priestesses were
- charged with their amusement and support until the solemn day.
- </p>
- <p>
- They visited Hamilcar suddenly and found him in his gardens.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Barca! we come for that that you know of—your son!”
- They added that some people had met him one evening during the previous
- moon in the centre of the Mappalian district being led by an old man.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was as though suffocated at first. But speedily understanding that any
- denial would be in vain, Hamilcar bowed; and he brought them into the
- commercial house. Some slaves who had run up at a sign kept watch all
- round about it.
- </p>
- <p>
- He entered Salammbô’s room in a state of distraction. He seized
- Hannibal with one hand, snatched up the cord of a trailing garment with
- the other, tied his feet and hands with it, thrust the end into his mouth
- to form a gag, and hid him under the bed of the ox-hides by letting an
- ample drapery fall to the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- Afterwards he walked about from right to left, raised his arms, wheeled
- round, bit his lips. Then he stood still with staring eyelids, and panted
- as though he were about to die.
- </p>
- <p>
- But he clapped his hands three times. Giddenem appeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Listen!” he said, “go and take from among the slaves a
- male child from eight to nine years of age, with black hair and swelling
- forehead! Bring him here! make haste!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Giddenem soon entered again, bringing forward a young boy.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was a miserable child, at once lean and bloated; his skin looked
- greyish, like the infected rag hanging to his sides; his head was sunk
- between his shoulders, and with the back of his hand he was rubbing his
- eyes, which were filled with flies.
- </p>
- <p>
- How could he ever be confounded with Hannibal! and there was no time to
- choose another. Hamilcar looked at Giddenem; he felt inclined to strangle
- him.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Begone!” he cried; and the master of the slaves fled.
- </p>
- <p>
- The misfortune which he had so long dreaded was therefore come, and with
- extravagant efforts he strove to discover whether there was not some mode,
- some means to escape it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Abdalonim suddenly spoke from behind the door. The Suffet was being asked
- for. The servants of Moloch were growing impatient.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar repressed a cry as though a red hot iron had burnt him; and he
- began anew to pace the room like one distraught. Then he sank down beside
- the balustrade, and, with his elbows on his knees, pressed his forehead
- into his shut fists.
- </p>
- <p>
- The porphyry basin still contained a little clear water for Salammbô’s
- ablutions. In spite of his repugnance and all his pride, the Suffet dipped
- the child into it, and, like a slave merchant, began to wash him and rub
- him with strigils and red earth. Then he took two purple squares from the
- receptacles round the wall, placed one on his breast and the other on his
- back, and joined them together on the collar bones with two diamond
- clasps. He poured perfume upon his head, passed an electrum necklace
- around his neck, and put on him sandals with heels of pearl,—sandals
- belonging to his own daughter! But he stamped with shame and vexation;
- Salammbô, who busied herself in helping him, was as pale as he. The child,
- dazzled by such splendour, smiled and, growing bold even, was beginning to
- clap his hands and jump, when Hamilcar took him away.
- </p>
- <p>
- He held him firmly by the arm as though he were afraid of losing him, and
- the child, who was hurt, wept a little as he ran beside him.
- </p>
- <p>
- When on a level with the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a voice was
- raised, a mournful and supplicant voice. It murmured: “Master! oh!
- master!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar turned and beside him perceived a man of abject appearance, one
- of the wretches who led a haphazard existence in the household.
- </p>
- <p>
- “What do you want?” said the Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- The slave, who trembled horribly, stammered:
- </p>
- <p>
- “I am his father!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar walked on; the other followed him with stooping loins, bent hams,
- and head thrust forward. His face was convulsed with unspeakable anguish,
- and he was choking with suppressed sobs, so eager was he at once to
- question him, and to cry: “Mercy!”
- </p>
- <p>
- At last he ventured to touch him lightly with one finger on the elbow.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Are you going to—?” He had not the strength to finish,
- and Hamilcar stopped quite amazed at such grief.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had never thought—so immense was the abyss separating them from
- each other—that there could be anything in common between them. It
- even appeared to him a sort of outrage, an encroachment upon his own
- privileges. He replied with a look colder and heavier than an executioner’s
- axe; the slave swooned and fell in the dust at his feet. Hamilcar strode
- across him.
- </p>
- <p>
- The three black-robed men were waiting in the great hall, and standing
- against the stone disc. Immediately he tore his garments, and rolled upon
- the pavement uttering piercing cries.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Ah! poor little Hannibal! Oh! my son! my consolation! my hope! my
- life! Kill me also! take me away! Woe! Woe!” He ploughed his face
- with his nails, tore out his hair, and shrieked like the women who lament
- at funerals. “Take him away then! my suffering is too great! begone!
- kill me like him!” The servants of Moloch were astonished that the
- great Hamilcar was so weak-spirited. They were almost moved by it.
- </p>
- <p>
- A noise of naked feet became audible, with a broken throat-rattling like
- the breathing of a wild beast speeding along, and a man, pale, terrible,
- and with outspread arms appeared on the threshold of the third gallery,
- between the ivory pots; he exclaimed:
- </p>
- <p>
- “My child!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar threw himself with a bound upon the slave, and covering the man’s
- mouth with his hand exclaimed still more loudly:
- </p>
- <p>
- “It is the old man who reared him! he calls him ‘my child!’
- it will make him mad! enough! enough!” And hustling away the three
- priests and their victim he went out with them and with a great kick shut
- the door behind him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar strained his ears for some minutes in constant fear of seeing
- them return. He then thought of getting rid of the slave in order to be
- quite sure that he would see nothing; but the peril had not wholly
- disappeared, and, if the gods were provoked at the man’s death, it
- might be turned against his son. Then, changing his intention, he sent him
- by Taanach the best from his kitchens—a quarter of a goat, beans,
- and preserved pomegranates. The slave, who had eaten nothing for a long
- time, rushed upon them; his tears fell into the dishes.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar at last returned to Salammbô, and unfastened Hannibal’s
- cords. The child in exasperation bit his hand until the blood came. He
- repelled him with a caress.
- </p>
- <p>
- To make him remain quiet Salammbô tried to frighten him with Lamia, a
- Cyrenian ogress.
- </p>
- <p>
- “But where is she?” he asked.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was told that brigands were coming to put him into prison. “Let
- them come,” he rejoined, “and I will kill them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Hamilcar told him the frightful truth. But he fell into a passion
- with his father, contending that he was quite able to annihilate the whole
- people, since he was the master of Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last, exhausted by his exertions and anger, he fell into a wild sleep.
- He spoke in his dreams, his back leaning against a scarlet cushion; his
- head was thrown back somewhat, and his little arm, outstretched from his
- body, lay quite straight in an attitude of command.
- </p>
- <p>
- When the night had grown dark Hamilcar lifted him up gently, and, without
- a torch, went down the galley staircase. As he passed through the
- mercantile house he took up a basket of grapes and a flagon of pure water;
- the child awoke before the statue of Aletes in the vault of gems, and he
- smiled—like the other—on his father’s arm at the
- brilliant lights which surrounded him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar felt quite sure that his son could not be taken from him. It was
- an impenetrable spot communicating with the beach by a subterranean
- passage which he alone knew, and casting his eyes around he inhaled a
- great draught of air. Then he set him down upon a stool beside some golden
- shields. No one at present could see him; he had no further need for
- watching; and he relieved his feelings. Like a mother finding her
- first-born that was lost, he threw himself upon his son; he clasped him to
- his breast, he laughed and wept at the same time, he called him by the
- fondest names and covered him with kisses; little Hannibal was frightened
- by this terrible tenderness and was silent now.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar returned with silent steps, feeling the walls around him, and
- came into the great hall where the moonlight entered through one of the
- apertures in the dome; in the centre the slave lay sleeping after his
- repast, stretched at full length upon the marble pavement. He looked at
- him and was moved with a sort of pity. With the tip of his cothurn he
- pushed forward a carpet beneath his head. Then he raised his eyes and
- gazed at Tanith, whose slender crescent was shining in the sky, and felt
- himself stronger than the Baals and full of contempt for them.
- </p>
- <p>
- The arrangements for the sacrifice were already begun.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- Part of a wall in the temple of Moloch was thrown down in order to draw
- out the brazen god without touching the ashes of the altar. Then as soon
- as the sun appeared the hierodules pushed it towards the square of Khamon.
- </p>
- <p>
- It moved backwards sliding upon cylinders; its shoulders overlapped the
- walls. No sooner did the Carthaginians perceive it in the distance than
- they speedily took to flight, for the Baal could be looked upon with
- impunity only when exercising his wrath.
- </p>
- <p>
- A smell of aromatics spread through the streets. All the temples had just
- been opened simultaneously, and from them there came forth tabernacles
- borne upon chariots, or upon litters carried by the pontiffs. Great plumes
- swayed at the corners of them, and rays were emitted from their slender
- pinnacles which terminated in balls of crystal, gold, silver or copper.
- </p>
- <p>
- These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who
- were returning to their first cause to humble themselves before his might
- and annihilate themselves in his splendour.
- </p>
- <p>
- Melkarth’s pavilion, which was of fine purple, sheltered a petroleum
- flare; on Khamon’s, which was of hyacinth colour, there rose an
- ivory phallus bordered with a circle of gems; between Eschmoun’s
- curtains, which were as blue as the ether, a sleeping python formed a
- circle with his tail, and the Patæc gods, held in the arms of their
- priests, looked like great infants in swaddling clothes with their heels
- touching the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: Baal-Samin, god of
- celestial space; Baal-Peor, god of the sacred mountains; Baal-Zeboub, god
- of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and congenerous
- races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldæa, the Kijun of the
- Syrians; Derceto, with her virgin’s face, crept on her fins, and the
- corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a catafalque among
- torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the kings of the firmament
- to the Sun, and prevent their particular influences from disturbing his,
- diversely coloured metal stars were brandished at the end of long poles;
- and all were there, from the dark Neblo, the genius of Mercury, to the
- hideous Rahab, which is the constellation of the Crocodile. The Abbadirs,
- stones which had fallen from the moon, were whirling in slings of silver
- thread; little loaves, representing the female form, were born on baskets
- by the priests of Ceres; others brought their fetishes and amulets;
- forgotten idols reappeared, while the mystic symbols had been taken from
- the very ships as though Carthage wished to concentrate herself wholly
- upon a single thought of death and desolation.
- </p>
- <p>
- Before each tabernacle a man balanced a large vase of smoking incense on
- his head. Clouds hovered here and there, and the hangings, pendants, and
- embroideries of the sacred pavilions might be distinguished amid the thick
- vapours. These advanced slowly owing to their enormous weight. Sometimes
- the axles became fast in the streets; then the pious took advantage of the
- opportunity to touch the Baalim with their garments, which they preserved
- afterwards as holy things.
- </p>
- <p>
- The brazen statue continued to advance towards the square of Khamon. The
- rich, carrying sceptres with emerald balls, set out from the bottom of
- Megara; the Ancients, with diadems on their heads, had assembled in
- Kinisdo, and masters of the finances, governors of provinces, sailors, and
- the numerous horde employed at funerals, all with the insignia of their
- magistracies or the instruments of their calling, were making their way
- towards the tabernacles which were descending from the Acropolis between
- the colleges of the pontiffs.
- </p>
- <p>
- Out of deference to Moloch they had adorned themselves with the most
- splendid jewels. Diamonds sparkled on their black garments; but their
- rings were too large and fell from their wasted hands,—nor could
- there have been anything so mournful as this silent crowd where earrings
- tapped against pale faces, and gold tiaras clasped brows contracted with
- stern despair.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His pontiffs
- arranged an enclosure with trellis-work to keep off the multitude, and
- remained around him at his feet.
- </p>
- <p>
- The priests of Khamon, in tawny woollen robes, formed a line before their
- temple beneath the columns of the portico; those of Eschmoun, in linen
- mantles with necklaces of koukouphas’ heads and pointed tiaras,
- posted themselves on the steps of the Acropolis; the priests of Melkarth,
- in violet tunics, took the western side; the priests of the Abbadirs,
- clasped with bands of Phrygian stuffs, placed themselves on the east,
- while towards the south, with the necromancers all covered with
- tattooings, and the shriekers in patched cloaks, were ranged the curates
- of the Patæc gods, and the Yidonim, who put the bone of a dead man into
- their mouths to learn the future. The priests of Ceres, who were dressed
- in blue robes, had prudently stopped in the street of Satheb, and in low
- tones were chanting a thesmophorion in the Megarian dialect.
- </p>
- <p>
- From time to time files of men arrived, completely naked, their arms
- outstretched, and all holding one another by the shoulders. From the
- depths of their breasts they drew forth a hoarse and cavernous intonation;
- their eyes, which were fastened upon the colossus, shone through the dust,
- and they swayed their bodies simultaneously, and at equal distances, as
- though they were all affected by a single movement. They were so frenzied
- that to restore order the hierodules compelled them, with blows of the
- stick, to lie flat upon the ground, with their faces resting against the
- brass trellis-work.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then it was that a man in a white robe advanced from the back of the
- square. He penetrated the crowd slowly, and people recognised a priest of
- Tanith—the high-priest Schahabarim. Hootings were raised, for the
- tyranny of the male principle prevailed that day in all consciences, and
- the goddess was actually so completely forgotten that the absence of her
- pontiffs had not been noticed. But the amazement was increased when he was
- seen to open one of the doors of the trellis-work intended for those who
- intended to offer up victims. It was an outrage to their god, thought the
- priests of Moloch, that he had just committed, and they sought with eager
- gestures to repel him. Fed on the meat of the holocausts, clad in purple
- like kings, and wearing triple-storied crowns, they despised the pale
- eunuch, weakened with his macerations, and angry laughter shook their
- black beards, which were displayed on their breasts in the sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- Schahabarim walked on, giving no reply, and, traversing the whole
- enclosure with deliberation, reached the legs of the colossus; then,
- spreading out both arms, he touched it on both sides, which was a solemn
- form of adoration. For a long time Rabbet had been torturing him, and in
- despair, or perhaps for lack of a god that completely satisfied his ideas,
- he had at last decided for this one.
- </p>
- <p>
- The crowd, terrified by this act of apostasy, uttered a lengthened murmur.
- It was felt that the last tie which bound their souls to a merciful
- divinity was breaking.
- </p>
- <p>
- But owing to his mutilation, Schahabarim could take no part in the cult of
- the Baal. The men in the red cloaks shut him out from the enclosure; then,
- when he was outside, he went round all the colleges in succession, and the
- priest, henceforth without a god, disappeared into the crowd. It scattered
- at his approach.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile a fire of aloes, cedar, and laurel was burning between the legs
- of the colossus. The tips of its long wings dipped into the flame; the
- unguents with which it had been rubbed flowed like sweat over its brazen
- limbs. Around the circular flagstone on which its feet rested, the
- children, wrapped in black veils, formed a motionless circle; and its
- extravagantly long arms reached down their palms to them as though to
- seize the crown that they formed and carry it to the sky.
- </p>
- <p>
- The rich, the Ancients, the women, the whole multitude, thronged behind
- the priests and on the terraces of the houses. The large painted stars
- revolved no longer; the tabernacles were set upon the ground; and the
- fumes from the censers ascended perpendicularly, spreading their bluish
- branches through the azure like gigantic trees.
- </p>
- <p>
- Many fainted; others became inert and petrified in their ecstasy. Infinite
- anguish weighed upon the breasts of the beholders. The last shouts died
- out one by one,—and the people of Carthage stood breathless, and
- absorbed in the longing of their terror.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last the high priest of Moloch passed his left hand beneath the
- children’s veils, plucked a lock of hair from their foreheads, and
- threw it upon the flames. Then the men in the red cloaks chanted the
- sacred hymn:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Homage to thee, Sun! king of the two zones, self-generating
- Creator, Father and Mother, Father and Son, God and Goddess, Goddess and
- God!” And their voices were lost in the outburst of instruments
- sounding simultaneously to drown the cries of the victims. The
- eight-stringed scheminiths, the kinnors which had ten strings, and the
- nebals which had twelve, grated, whistled, and thundered. Enormous
- leathern bags, bristling with pipes, made a shrill clashing noise; the
- tabourines, beaten with all the players’ might, resounded with
- heavy, rapid blows; and, in spite of the fury of the clarions, the
- salsalim snapped like grasshoppers’ wings.
- </p>
- <p>
- The hierodules, with a long hook, opened the seven-storied compartments on
- the body of the Baal. They put meal into the highest, two turtle-doves
- into the second, an ape into the third, a ram into the fourth, a sheep
- into the fifth, and as no ox was to be had for the sixth, a tawny hide
- taken from the sanctuary was thrown into it. The seventh compartment
- yawned empty still.
- </p>
- <p>
- Before undertaking anything it was well to make trial of the arms of the
- god. Slender chainlets stretched from his fingers up to his shoulders and
- fell behind, where men by pulling them made the two hands rise to a level
- with the elbows, and come close together against the belly; they were
- moved several times in succession with little abrupt jerks. Then the
- instruments were still. The fire roared.
- </p>
- <p>
- The pontiffs of Moloch walked about on the great flagstone scanning the
- multitude.
- </p>
- <p>
- An individual sacrifice was necessary, a perfectly voluntary oblation,
- which was considered as carrying the others along with it. But no one had
- appeared up to the present, and the seven passages leading from the
- barriers to the colossus were completely empty. Then the priests, to
- encourage the people, drew bodkins from their girdles and gashed their
- faces. The Devotees, who were stretched on the ground outside, were
- brought within the enclosure. A bundle of horrible irons was thrown to
- them, and each chose his own torture. They drove in spits between their
- breasts; they split their cheeks; they put crowns of thorns upon their
- heads; then they twined their arms together, and surrounded the children
- in another large circle which widened and contracted in turns. They
- reached to the balustrade, they threw themselves back again, and then
- began once more, attracting the crowd to them by the dizziness of their
- motion with its accompanying blood and shrieks.
- </p>
- <p>
- By degrees people came into the end of the passages; they flung into the
- flames pearls, gold vases, cups, torches, all their wealth; the offerings
- became constantly more numerous and more splendid. At last a man who
- tottered, a man pale and hideous with terror, thrust forward a child; then
- a little black mass was seen between the hands of the colossus, and sank
- into the dark opening. The priests bent over the edge of the great
- flagstone,—and a new song burst forth celebrating the joys of death
- and of new birth into eternity.
- </p>
- <p>
- The children ascended slowly, and as the smoke formed lofty eddies as it
- escaped, they seemed at a distance to disappear in a cloud. Not one
- stirred. Their wrists and ankles were tied, and the dark drapery prevented
- them from seeing anything and from being recognised.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar, in a red cloak, like the priests of Moloch, was beside the Baal,
- standing upright in front of the great toe of its right foot. When the
- fourteenth child was brought every one could see him make a great gesture
- of horror. But he soon resumed his former attitude, folded his arms, and
- looked upon the ground. The high pontiff stood on the other side of the
- statue as motionless as he. His head, laden with an Assyrian mitre, was
- bent, and he was watching the gold plate on his breast; it was covered
- with fatidical stones, and the flame mirrored in it formed irisated
- lights. He grew pale and dismayed. Hamilcar bent his brow; and they were
- both so near the funeral-pile that the hems of their cloaks brushed it as
- they rose from time to time.
- </p>
- <p>
- The brazen arms were working more quickly. They paused no longer. Every
- time that a child was placed in them the priests of Moloch spread out
- their hands upon him to burden him with the crimes of the people,
- vociferating: “They are not men but oxen!” and the multitude
- round about repeated: “Oxen! oxen!” The devout exclaimed:
- “Lord! eat!” and the priests of Proserpine, complying through
- terror with the needs of Carthage, muttered the Eleusinian formula:
- “Pour out rain! bring forth!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The victims, when scarcely at the edge of the opening, disappeared like a
- drop of water on a red-hot plate, and white smoke rose amid the great
- scarlet colour.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless, the appetite of the god was not appeased. He ever wished for
- more. In order to furnish him with a larger supply, the victims were piled
- up on his hands with a big chain above them which kept them in their
- place. Some devout persons had at the beginning wished to count them, to
- see whether their number corresponded with the days of the solar year; but
- others were brought, and it was impossible to distinguish them in the
- giddy motion of the horrible arms. This lasted for a long, indefinite time
- until the evening. Then the partitions inside assumed a darker glow, and
- burning flesh could be seen. Some even believed that they could descry
- hair, limbs, and whole bodies.
- </p>
- <p>
- Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeral-pile, which was
- flameless now, formed a pyramid of coals up to his knees; completely red
- like a giant covered with blood, he looked, with his head thrown back, as
- though he were staggering beneath the weight of his intoxication.
- </p>
- <p>
- In proportion as the priests made haste, the frenzy of the people
- increased; as the number of the victims was diminishing, some cried out to
- spare them, others that still more were needful. The walls, with their
- burden of people, seemed to be giving way beneath the howlings of terror
- and mystic voluptuousness. Then the faithful came into the passages,
- dragging their children, who clung to them; and they beat them in order to
- make them let go, and handed them over to the men in red. The
- instrument-players sometimes stopped through exhaustion; then the cries of
- the mothers might be heard, and the frizzling of the fat as it fell upon
- the coals. The henbane-drinkers crawled on all fours around the colossus,
- roaring like tigers; the Yidonim vaticinated, the Devotees sang with their
- cloven lips; the trellis-work had been broken through, all wished for a
- share in the sacrifice;—and fathers, whose children had died
- previously, cast their effigies, their playthings, their preserved bones
- into the fire. Some who had knives rushed upon the rest. They slaughtered
- one another. The hierodules took the fallen ashes at the edge of the
- flagstone in bronze fans, and cast them into the air that the sacrifice
- might be scattered over the town and even to the region of the stars.
- </p>
- <p>
- The loud noise and great light had attracted the Barbarians to the foot of
- the walls; they clung to the wreck of the helepolis to have a better view,
- and gazed open-mouthed in horror.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER XIV
- </h2>
- <h3>
- THE PASS OF THE HATCHET
- </h3>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians had not re-entered their houses when the clouds
- accumulated more thickly; those who raised their heads towards the
- colossus could feel big drops on their foreheads, and the rain fell.
- </p>
- <p>
- It fell the whole night plentifully, in floods; the thunder growled; it
- was the voice of Moloch; he had vanquished Tanith; and she, being now
- fecundated, opened up her vast bosom in heaven’s heights. Sometimes
- she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched upon cushions of
- cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as though she were still
- too weary and wished to sleep again; the Carthaginians, all believing that
- water is brought forth by the moon, shouted to make her travail easy.
- </p>
- <p>
- The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in the
- courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of the
- streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big frothy
- jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it seemed as though
- whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the washed temple-roofs
- shone black in the gleam of the lightning. Torrents descended from the
- Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses suddenly gave way, and small beams,
- plaster, rubbish, and furniture passed along in streams which ran
- impetuously over the pavement.
- </p>
- <p>
- Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the
- torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of the
- Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their mouths
- to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their arms into
- them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly with water
- that they vomited it forth like buffaloes. The freshness gradually spread;
- they breathed in the damp air with play of limb, and in the happiness of
- their intoxication boundless hope soon arose. All their miseries were
- forgotten. Their country was born anew.
- </p>
- <p>
- They felt the need, as it were, of directing upon others the extravagant
- fury which they had been unable to employ against themselves. Such a
- sacrifice could not be in vain; although they felt no remorse they found
- themselves carried away by the frenzy which results from complicity in
- irreparable crimes.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians had encountered the storm in their ill-closed tents; and
- they were still quite chilled on the morrow as they tramped through the
- mud in search of their stores and weapons, which were spoiled and lost.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar went himself to see Hanno, and, in virtue of his plenary powers,
- intrusted the command to him. The old Suffet hesitated for a few minutes
- between his animosity and his appetite for authority, but he accepted
- nevertheless.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar next took out a galley armed with a catapult at each end. He
- placed it in the gulf in front of the raft; then he embarked his stoutest
- troops on board such vessels as were available. He was apparently taking
- to flight; and running northward before the wind he disappeared into the
- mist.
- </p>
- <p>
- But three days afterwards, when the attack was about to begin again, some
- people arrived tumultuously from the Libyan coast. Barca had come among
- them. He had carried off provisions everywhere, and he was spreading
- through the country.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Barbarians were indignant as though he were betraying them. Those
- who were most weary of the siege, and especially the Gauls, did not
- hesitate to leave the walls in order to try and rejoin him. Spendius
- wanted to reconstruct the helepolis; Matho had traced an imaginary line
- from his tent to Megara, and inwardly swore to follow it, and none of
- their men stirred. But the rest, under the command of Autaritus, went off,
- abandoning the western part of the rampart, and so profound was the
- carelessness exhibited that no one even thought of replacing them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas spied them from afar in the mountains. During the night
- he led all his men along the sea-shore on the outer side of the Lagoon,
- and entered Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- He presented himself as a saviour with six thousand men all carrying meal
- under their cloaks, and forty elephants laden with forage and dried meat.
- The people flocked quickly around them; they gave them names. The sight of
- these strong animals, sacred to Baal, gave the Carthaginians even more joy
- than the arrival of such relief; it was a token of the tenderness of the
- god, a proof that he was at last about to interfere in the war to defend
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas received the compliments of the Ancients. Then he
- ascended to Salammbô’s palace.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had not seen her again since the time when in Hamilcar’s tent
- amid the five armies he had felt her little, cold, soft hand fastened to
- his own; she had left for Carthage after the betrothal. His love, which
- had been diverted by other ambitions, had come back to him; and now he
- expected to enjoy his rights, to marry her, and take her.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô did not understand how the young man could ever become her
- master! Although she asked Tanith every day for Matho’s death, her
- horror of the Libyan was growing less. She vaguely felt that the hate with
- which he had persecuted her was something almost religious,—and she
- would fain have seen in Narr’ Havas’s person a reflection, as
- it were, of that malice which still dazzled her. She desired to know him
- better, and yet his presence would have embarrassed her. She sent him word
- that she could not receive him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Moreover, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit the King of the
- Numidians to see her; by putting off his reward to the end of the war he
- hoped to retain his devotion;—and, through dread of the Suffet, Narr’
- Havas withdrew.
- </p>
- <p>
- But he bore himself haughtily towards the Hundred. He changed their
- arrangements. He demanded privileges for his men, and placed them on
- important posts; thus the Barbarians stared when they perceived Numidians
- on the towers.
- </p>
- <p>
- The surprise of the Carthaginians was greater still when three hundred of
- their own people, who had been made prisoners during the Sicilian war,
- arrived on board an old Punic trireme. Hamilcar, in fact, had secretly
- sent back to the Quirites the crews of the Latin vessels, taken before the
- defection of the Tyrian towns; and, to reciprocate the courtesy, Rome was
- now sending him back her captives. She scorned the overtures of the
- Mercenaries in Sardinian, and would not even recognise the inhabitants of
- Utica as subjects.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hiero, who was ruling at Syracuse, was carried away by this example. For
- the preservation of his own States it was necessary that an equilibrium
- should exist between the two peoples; he was interested, therefore, in the
- safety of the Chanaanites, and he declared himself their friend, and sent
- them twelve hundred oxen, with fifty-three thousand nebels of pure wheat.
- </p>
- <p>
- A deeper reason prompted aid to Carthage. It was felt that if the
- Mercenaries triumphed, every one, from soldier to plate-washer, would
- rise, and that no government and no house could resist them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile Hamilcar was scouring the eastern districts. He drove back the
- Gauls, and all the Barbarians found that they were themselves in something
- like a state of siege.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he set himself to harass them. He would arrive and then retire, and
- by constantly renewing this manouvre, he gradually detached them from
- their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and in the end
- Matho yielded in like manner.
- </p>
- <p>
- He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself up within its walls. This
- persistence was full of wisdom, for soon Narr’ Havas was to be seen
- issuing from the gate of Khamon with his elephants and soldiers. Hamilcar
- was recalling him, but the other Barbarians were already wandering about
- in the provinces in pursuit of the Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- The latter had received three thousand Gauls from Clypea. He had horses
- brought to him from Cyrenaica, and armour from Brutium, and began the war
- again.
- </p>
- <p>
- Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. For five moons he
- dragged his enemies after him. He had an end to which he wished to guide
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians had at first tried to encompass him with small detachments,
- but he always escaped them. They ceased to separate then. Their army
- amounted to about forty thousand men, and several times they enjoyed the
- sight of seeing the Carthaginians fall back.
- </p>
- <p>
- The horsemen of Narr’ Havas were what they found most tormenting.
- Often, at times of the greatest weariness, when they were advancing over
- the plains, and dozing beneath the weight of their arms, a great line of
- dust would suddenly rise on the horizon; there would be a galloping up to
- them, and a rain of darts would pour from the bosom of a cloud filled with
- flaming eyes. The Numidians in their white cloaks would utter loud shouts,
- raise their arms, press their rearing stallions with their knees, and,
- wheeling them round abruptly, would then disappear. They had always
- supplies of javelins and dromedaries some distance off, and they would
- return more terrible than before, howl like wolves, and take to flight
- like vultures. The Barbarians posted at the extremities of the files fell
- one by one; and this would continue until evening, when an attempt would
- be made to enter the mountains.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although they were perilous for elephants, Hamilcar made his way in among
- them. He followed the long chain which extends from the promontory of
- Hermæum to the top of Zagouan. This, they believed, was a device for
- hiding the insufficiency of his troops. But the continual uncertainty in
- which he kept them exasperated them at last more than any defeat. They did
- not lose heart, and marched after him.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last one evening they surprised a body of velites amid some big rocks
- at the entrance of a pass between the Silver Mountain and the Lead
- Mountain; the entire army was certainly in front of them, for a noise of
- footsteps and clarions could be heard; the Carthaginians immediately fled
- through the gorge. It descended into a plain, and was shaped like an iron
- hatchet with a surrounding of lofty cliffs. The Barbarians dashed into it
- in order to overtake the velites; quite at the bottom other Carthaginians
- were running tumultuously amid galloping oxen. A man in a red cloak was to
- be seen; it was the Suffet; they shouted this to one another; and they
- were carried away with increased fury and joy. Several, from laziness or
- prudence, had remained on the threshold of the pass. But some cavalry,
- debouching from a wood, beat them down upon the rest with blows of pike
- and sabre; and soon all the Barbarians were below in the plain.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then this great human mass, after swaying to and fro for some time, stood
- still; they could discover no outlet.
- </p>
- <p>
- Those who were nearest to the pass went back again, but the passage had
- entirely disappeared. They hailed those in front to make them go on; they
- were being crushed against the mountain, and from a distance they
- inveighed against their companions, who were unable to find the route
- again.
- </p>
- <p>
- In fact the Barbarians had scarcely descended when men who had been
- crouching behind the rocks raised the latter with beams and overthrew
- them, and as the slope was steep the huge blocks had rolled down pell-mell
- and completely stopped up the narrow opening.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the other extremity of the plain stretched a long passage, split in
- gaps here and there, and leading to a ravine which ascended to the upper
- plateau, where the Punic army was stationed. Ladders had been placed
- beforehand in this passage against the wall of cliff; and, protected by
- the windings of the gaps, the velites were able to seize and mount them
- before being overtaken. Several even made their way to the bottom of the
- ravine; they were drawn up with cables, for the ground at this spot was of
- moving sand, and so much inclined that it was impossible to climb it even
- on the knees. The Barbarians arrived almost immediately. But a portcullis,
- forty cubits high, and made to fit the intervening space exactly, suddenly
- sank before them like a rampart fallen from the skies.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet’s combinations had therefore succeeded. None of the
- Mercenaries knew the mountain, and, marching as they did at the head of
- their columns, they had drawn on the rest. The rocks, which were somewhat
- narrow at the base, had been easily cast down; and, while all were
- running, his army had raised shouts, as of distress, on the horizon.
- Hamilcar, it is true, might have lost his velites, only half of whom
- remained, but he would have sacrificed twenty times as many for the
- success of such an enterprise.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians pressed forward until morning, in compact files, from one
- end of the plain to the other. They felt the mountain with their hands,
- seeking to discover a passage.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last day broke; and they perceived all about them a great white wall
- hewn with the pick. And no means of safety, no hope! The two natural
- outcomes from this blind alley were closed by the portcullis and the heaps
- of rocks.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then they all looked at one another without speaking. They sank down in
- collapse, feeling an icy coldness in their loins, and an overwhelming
- weight upon their eyelids.
- </p>
- <p>
- They rose, and bounded against the rocks. But the lowest were weighted by
- the pressure of the others, and were immovable. They tried to cling to
- them so as to reach the top, but the bellying shape of the great masses
- rendered all hold impossible. They sought to cleave the ground on both
- sides of the gorge, but their instruments broke. They made a large fire
- with the tent poles, but the fire could not burn the mountain.
- </p>
- <p>
- They returned to the portcullis; it was garnished with long nails as thick
- as stakes, as sharp as the spines of a porcupine, and closer than the
- hairs of a brush. But they were animated by such rage that they dashed
- themselves against it. The first were pierced to the backbone, those
- coming next surged over them, and all fell back, leaving human fragments
- and bloodstained hair on those horrible branches.
- </p>
- <p>
- When their discouragement was somewhat abated, they made an examination of
- the provisions. The Mercenaries, whose baggage was lost, possessed
- scarcely enough for two days; and all the rest found themselves destitute,—for
- they had been awaiting a convoy promised by the villages of the South.
- </p>
- <p>
- However, some bulls were roaming about, those which the Carthaginians had
- loosed in the gorge to attract the Barbarians. They killed them with lance
- thrusts and ate them, and when their stomachs were filled their thoughts
- were less mournful.
- </p>
- <p>
- The next day they slaughtered all the mules to the number of about forty;
- then they scraped the skins, boiled the entrails, pounded the bones, and
- did not yet despair; the army from Tunis had no doubt been warned, and was
- coming.
- </p>
- <p>
- But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger increased; they gnawed
- their sword-belts, and the little sponges which bordered the bottom of
- their helmets.
- </p>
- <p>
- These forty thousand men were massed into the species of hippodrome formed
- by the mountain about them. Some remained in front of the portcullis, or
- at the foot of the rocks; the rest covered the plain confusedly. The
- strong shunned one another, and the timid sought out the brave, who,
- nevertheless, were unable to save them.
- </p>
- <p>
- To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily buried;
- and the position of the graves was no longer visible.
- </p>
- <p>
- All the Barbarians lay drooping on the ground. A veteran would pass
- between their lines here and there; and they would howl curses against the
- Carthaginians, against Hamilcar, and against Matho, although he was
- innocent of their disaster; but it seemed to them that their pains would
- have been less if he had shared them. Then they groaned, and some wept
- softly like little children.
- </p>
- <p>
- They came to the captains and besought them to grant them something that
- would alleviate their sufferings. The others made no reply; or, seized
- with fury, would pick up a stone and fling it in their faces.
- </p>
- <p>
- Several, in fact, carefully kept a reserve of food in a hole in the ground—a
- few handfuls of dates, or a little meal; and they ate this during the
- night, with their heads bent beneath their cloaks. Those who had swords
- kept them naked in their hands, and the most suspicious remained standing
- with their backs against the mountain.
- </p>
- <p>
- They accused their chiefs and threatened them. Autaritus was not afraid of
- showing himself. With the Barbaric obstinacy which nothing could
- discourage, he would advance twenty times a day to the rocks at the
- bottom, hoping every time to find them perchance displaced; and swaying
- his heavy fur-covered shoulders, he reminded his companions of a bear
- coming forth from its cave in springtime to see whether the snows are
- melted.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius, surrounded by the Greeks, hid himself in one of the gaps; as he
- was afraid, he caused a rumour of his death to be spread.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were now hideously lean; their skin was overlaid with bluish
- marblings. On the evening of the ninth day three Iberians died.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their frightened companions left the spot. They were stripped, and the
- white, naked bodies lay in the sunshine on the sand.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Garamantians began to prowl slowly round about them. They were
- men accustomed to existence in solitude, and they reverenced no god. At
- last the oldest of the band made a sign, and bending over the corpses they
- cut strips from them with their knives, then squatted upon their heels and
- ate. The rest looked on from a distance; they uttered cries of horror;—many,
- nevertheless, being, at the bottom of their souls, jealous of such
- courage.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the middle of the night some of these approached, and, dissembling
- their eagerness, asked for a small mouthful, merely to try, they said.
- Bolder ones came up; their number increased; there was soon a crowd. But
- almost all of them let their hands fall on feeling the cold flesh on the
- edge of their lips; others, on the contrary, devoured it with delight.
- </p>
- <p>
- That they might be led away by example, they urged one another on
- mutually. Such as had at first refused went to see the Garamantians, and
- returned no more. They cooked the pieces on coals at the point of the
- sword; they salted them with dust, and contended for the best morsels.
- When nothing was left of the three corpses, their eyes ranged over the
- whole plain to find others.
- </p>
- <p>
- But were they not in possession of Carthaginians—twenty captives
- taken in the last encounter, whom no one had noticed up to the present?
- These disappeared; moreover, it was an act of vengeance. Then, as they
- must live, as the taste for this food had become developed, and as they
- were dying, they cut the throats of the water-carriers, grooms, and all
- the serving-men belonging to the Mercenaries. They killed some of them
- every day. Some ate much, recovered strength, and were sad no more.
- </p>
- <p>
- Soon this resource failed. Then the longing was directed to the wounded
- and sick. Since they could not recover, it was as well to release them
- from their tortures; and, as soon as a man began to stagger, all exclaimed
- that he was now lost, and ought to be made use of for the rest. Artifices
- were employed to accelerate their death; the last remnant of their foul
- portion was stolen from them; they were trodden on as though by
- inadvertence; those in the last throes wishing to make believe that they
- were strong, strove to stretch out their arms, to rise, to laugh. Men who
- had swooned came to themselves at the touch of a notched blade sawing off
- a limb;—and they still slew, ferociously and needlessly, to sate
- their fury.
- </p>
- <p>
- A mist heavy and warm, such as comes in those regions at the end of
- winter, sank on the fourteenth day upon the army. This change of
- temperature brought numerous deaths with it, and corruption was developed
- with frightful rapidity in the warm dampness which was kept in by the
- sides of the mountain. The drizzle that fell upon the corpses softened
- them, and soon made the plain one broad tract of rottenness. Whitish
- vapours floated overhead; they pricked the nostrils, penetrated the skin,
- and troubled the sight; and the Barbarians thought that through the
- exhalations of the breath they could see the souls of their companions.
- They were overwhelmed with immense disgust. They wished for nothing more;
- they preferred to die.
- </p>
- <p>
- Two days afterwards the weather became fine again, and hunger seized them
- once more. It seemed to them that their stomachs were being wrenched from
- them with tongs. Then they rolled about in convulsions, flung handfuls of
- dust into their mouths, bit their arms, and burst into frantic laughter.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were still more tormented by thirst, for they had not a drop of
- water, the leathern bottles having been completely dried up since the
- ninth day. To cheat their need they applied their tongues to the metal
- plates on their waist-belts, their ivory pommels, and the steel of their
- swords. Some former caravan-leaders tightened their waists with ropes.
- Others sucked a pebble. They drank urine cooled in their brazen helmets.
- </p>
- <p>
- And they still expected the army from Tunis! The length of time which it
- took in coming was, according to their conjectures, an assurance of its
- early arrival. Besides, Matho, who was a brave fellow, would not desert
- them. “’Twill be to-morrow!” they would say to one
- another; and then to-morrow would pass.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the beginning they had offered up prayers and vows, and practised all
- kinds of incantations. Just now their only feeling to their divinities was
- one of hatred, and they strove to revenge themselves by believing in them
- no more.
- </p>
- <p>
- Men of violent disposition perished first; the Africans held out better
- than the Gauls. Zarxas lay stretched at full length among the Balearians,
- his hair over his arm, inert. Spendius found a plant with broad leaves
- filled abundantly with juice, and after declaring that it was poisonous,
- so as to keep off the rest, he fed himself upon it.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were too weak to knock down the flying crows with stones. Sometimes
- when a gypaëtus was perched on a corpse, and had been mangling it for a
- long time, a man would set himself to crawl towards it with a javelin
- between his teeth. He would support himself with one hand, and after
- taking a good aim, throw his weapon. The white-feathered creature,
- disturbed by the noise, would desist and look about in tranquil fashion
- like a cormorant on a rock, and would then again thrust in its hideous,
- yellow beak, while the man, in despair, would fall flat on his face in the
- dust. Some succeeded in discovering chameleons and serpents. But it was
- the love of life that kept them alive. They directed their souls to this
- idea exclusively, and clung to existence by an effort of the will that
- prolonged it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The most stoical kept close to one another, seated in a circle here and
- there, among the dead in the middle of the plain; and wrapped in their
- cloaks they gave themselves up silently to their sadness.
- </p>
- <p>
- Those who had been born in towns recalled the resounding streets, the
- taverns, theatres, baths, and the barbers’ shops where there are
- tales to be heard. Others could once more see country districts at sunset,
- when the yellow corn waves, and the great oxen ascend the hills again with
- the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers dreamed of cisterns, hunters
- of their forests, veterans of battles; and in the somnolence that benumbed
- them their thoughts jostled one another with the precipitancy and
- clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came suddenly upon them; they sought
- for a door in the mountain in order to flee, and tried to pass through it.
- Others thought that they were sailing in a storm and gave orders for the
- handling of a ship, or else fell back in terror, perceiving Punic
- battalions in the clouds. There were some who imagined themselves at a
- feast, and sang.
- </p>
- <p>
- Many through a strange mania would repeat the same word or continually
- make the same gesture. Then when they happened to raise their heads and
- look at one another they were choked with sobs on discovering the horrible
- ravages made in their faces. Some had ceased to suffer, and to while away
- the hours told of the perils which they had escaped.
- </p>
- <p>
- Death was certain and imminent to all. How many times had they not tried
- to open up a passage! As to implore terms from the conqueror, by what
- means could they do so? They did not even know where Hamilcar was.
- </p>
- <p>
- The wind was blowing from the direction of the ravine. It made the sand
- flow perpetually in cascades over the portcullis; and the cloaks and hair
- of the Barbarians were being covered with it as though the earth were
- rising upon them and desirous of burying them. Nothing stirred; the
- eternal mountain seemed still higher to them every morning.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sometimes flights of birds darted past beneath the blue sky in the freedom
- of the air. The men closed their eyes that they might not see them.
- </p>
- <p>
- At first they felt a buzzing in their ears, their nails grew black, the
- cold reached to their breasts; they lay upon their sides and expired
- without a cry.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the nineteenth day two thousand Asiatics were dead, with fifteen
- hundred from the Archipelago, eight thousand from Libya, the youngest of
- the Mercenaries and whole tribes—in all twenty thousand soldiers, or
- half of the army.
- </p>
- <p>
- Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in
- order to put an end to this state of things, when he thought he saw a man
- on the top of the mountain in front of him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Owing to his elevation this man did not appear taller than a dwarf.
- However, Autaritus recognised a shield shaped like a trefoil on his left
- arm. “A Carthaginian!” he exclaimed, and immediately
- throughout the plain, before the portcullis and beneath the rocks, all
- rose. The soldier was walking along the edge of the precipice; the
- Barbarians gazed at him from below.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius picked up the head of an ox; then having formed a diadem with two
- belts, he fixed it on the horns at the end of a pole in token of pacific
- intentions. The Carthaginian disappeared. They waited.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last in the evening a sword-belt suddenly fell from above like a stone
- loosened from the cliff. It was made of red leather covered with
- embroidery, with three diamond stars, and stamped in the centre, it bore
- the mark of the Great Council: a horse beneath a palm-tree. This was
- Hamilcar’s reply, the safe-conduct that he sent them.
- </p>
- <p>
- They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune brought with it the end of
- their woes. They were moved with extravagant joy, they embraced one
- another, they wept. Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas, four Italiotes, a
- Negro and two Spartans offered themselves as envoys. They were immediately
- accepted. They did not know, however, by what means they should get away.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a cracking sounded in the direction of the rocks; and the most
- elevated of them, after rocking to and fro, rebounded to the bottom. In
- fact, if they were immovable on the side of the Barbarians—for it
- would have been necessary to urge them up an incline plane, and they were,
- moreover, heaped together owing to the narrowness of the gorge—on
- the others, on the contrary, it was sufficient to drive against them with
- violence to make them descend. The Carthaginians pushed them, and at
- daybreak they projected into the plain like the steps of an immense ruined
- staircase.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians were still unable to climb them. Ladders were held out for
- their assistance; all rushed upon them. The discharge of a catapult drove
- the crowd back; only the Ten were taken away.
- </p>
- <p>
- They walked amid the Clinabarians, leaning their hands on the horses’
- croups for support.
- </p>
- <p>
- Now that their first joy was over they began to harbour anxieties.
- Hamilcar’s demands would be cruel. But Spendius reassured them.
- </p>
- <p>
- “<i>I</i> will speak!” And he boasted that he knew excellent
- things to say for the safety of the army.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind all the bushes they met with ambushed sentries, who prostrated
- themselves before the sword-belt which Spendius had placed over his
- shoulder.
- </p>
- <p>
- When they reached the Punic camp the crowd flocked around them, and they
- thought that they could hear whisperings and laughter. The door of a tent
- opened.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar was at the very back of it seated on a stool beside a table on
- which there shone a naked sword. He was surrounded by captains, who were
- standing.
- </p>
- <p>
- He started back on perceiving these men, and then bent over to examine
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their pupils were strangely dilated, and there was a great black circle
- round their eyes, which extended to the lower parts of their ears; their
- bluish noses stood out between their hollow cheeks, which were chinked
- with deep wrinkles; the skin of their bodies was too large for their
- muscles, and was hidden beneath a slate-coloured dust; their lips were
- glued to their yellow teeth; they exhaled an infectious odour; they might
- have been taken for half-opened tombs, for living sepulchres.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the centre of the tent, on a mat on which the captains were about to
- sit down, there was a dish of smoking gourds. The Barbarians fastened
- their eyes upon it with a shivering in all their limbs, and tears came to
- their eyelids; nevertheless they restrained themselves.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar turned away to speak to some one. Then they all flung themselves
- upon it, flat on the ground. Their faces were soaked in the fat, and the
- noise of their deglutition was mingled with the sobs of joy which they
- uttered. Through astonishment, doubtless, rather than pity, they were
- allowed to finish the mess. Then when they had risen Hamilcar with a sign
- commanded the man who bore the sword-belt to speak. Spendius was afraid;
- he stammered.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar, while listening to him, kept turning round on his finger a big
- gold ring, the same which had stamped the seal of Carthage upon the
- sword-belt. He let it fall to the ground; Spendius immediately picked it
- up; his servile habits came back to him in the presence of his master. The
- others quivered with indignation at such baseness.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the Greek raised his voice and spoke for a long time in rapid,
- insidious, and even violent fashion, setting forth the crimes of Hanno,
- whom he knew to be Barca’s enemy, and striving to move Hamilcar’s
- pity by the details of their miseries and the recollection of their
- devotion; in the end he became forgetful of himself, being carried away by
- the warmth of his temper.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar replied that he accepted their excuses. Peace, then, was about to
- be concluded, and now it would be a definitive one! But he required that
- ten Mercenaries, chosen by himself, should be delivered up to him without
- weapons or tunics.
- </p>
- <p>
- They had not expected such clemency; Spendius exclaimed: “Ah! twenty
- if you wish, master!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “No! ten will suffice,” replied Hamilcar quietly.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were sent out of the tent to deliberate. As soon as they were alone,
- Autaritus protested against the sacrifice of their companions, and Zarxas
- said to Spendius:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why did you not kill him? his sword was there beside you!”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Him!” said Spendius. “Him! him!” he repeated
- several times, as though the thing had been impossible, and Hamilcar were
- an immortal.
- </p>
- <p>
- They were so overwhelmed with weariness that they stretched themselves on
- their backs on the ground, not knowing at what resolution to arrive.
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius urged them to yield. At last they consented, and went in again.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the Suffet put his hand into the hands of the ten Barbarians in turn,
- and pressed their thumbs; then he rubbed it on his garment, for their
- viscous skin gave a rude, soft impression to the touch, a greasy tingling
- which induced horripilation. Afterwards he said to them:
- </p>
- <p>
- “You are really all the chiefs of the Barbarians, and you have sworn
- for them?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Yes!” they replied.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Without constraint, from the bottom of your souls, with the
- intention of fulfilling your promises?”
- </p>
- <p>
- They assured him that they were returning to the rest in order to fulfil
- them.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Well!” rejoined the Suffet, “in accordance with the
- convention concluded between myself, Barca, and the ambassadors of the
- Mercenaries, it is you whom I choose and shall keep!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Spendius fell swooning upon the mat. The Barbarians, as though abandoning
- him, pressed close together; and there was not a word, not a complaint.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- Their companions, who were waiting for them, not seeing them return,
- believed themselves betrayed. The envoys had no doubt given themselves up
- to the Suffet.
- </p>
- <p>
- They waited for two days longer; then on the morning of the third, their
- resolution was taken. With ropes, picks, and arrows, arranged like rungs
- between strips of canvas, they succeeded in scaling the rocks; and leaving
- the weakest, about three thousand in number, behind them, they began their
- march to rejoin the army at Tunis.
- </p>
- <p>
- Above the gorge there stretched a meadow thinly sown with shrubs; the
- Barbarians devoured the buds. Afterwards they found a field of beans; and
- everything disappeared as though a cloud of grasshoppers had passed that
- way. Three hours later they reached a second plateau bordered by a belt of
- green hills.
- </p>
- <p>
- Among the undulations of these hillocks, silvery sheaves shone at
- intervals from one another; the Barbarians, who were dazzled by the sun,
- could perceive confusedly below great black masses supporting them; these
- rose, as though they were expanding. They were lances in towers on
- elephants terribly armed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Besides the spears on their breasts, the bodkin tusks, the brass plates
- which covered their sides, and the daggers fastened to their knee-caps,
- they had at the extremity of their tusks a leathern bracelet, in which the
- handle of a broad cutlass was inserted; they had set out simultaneously
- from the back part of the plain, and were advancing on both sides in
- parallel lines.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians were frozen with a nameless terror. They did not even try
- to flee. They already found themselves surrounded.
- </p>
- <p>
- The elephants entered into this mass of men; and the spurs on their
- breasts divided it, the lances on their tusks upturned it like
- ploughshares; they cut, hewed, and hacked with the scythes on their
- trunks; the towers, which were full of phalaricas, looked like volcanoes
- on the march; nothing could be distinguished but a large heap, whereon
- human flesh, pieces of brass and blood made white spots, grey sheets and
- red fuses. The horrible animals dug out black furrows as they passed
- through the midst of it all.
- </p>
- <p>
- The fiercest was driven by a Numidian who was crowned with a diadem of
- plumes. He hurled javelins with frightful quickness, giving at intervals a
- long shrill whistle. The great beasts, docile as dogs, kept an eye on him
- during the carnage.
- </p>
- <p>
- The circle of them narrowed by degrees; the weakened Barbarians offered no
- resistance; the elephants were soon in the centre of the plain. They
- lacked space; they thronged half-rearing together, and their tusks clashed
- against one another. Suddenly Narr’ Havas quieted them, and wheeling
- round they trotted back to the hills.
- </p>
- <p>
- Two syntagmata, however, had taken refuge on the right in a bend of
- ground, had thrown away their arms, and were all kneeling with their faces
- towards the Punic tents imploring mercy with uplifted arms.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their legs and hands were tied; then when they were stretched on the
- ground beside one another the elephants were brought back.
- </p>
- <p>
- Their breasts cracked like boxes being forced; two were crushed at every
- step; the big feet sank into the bodies with a motion of the haunches
- which made the elephants appear lame. They went on to the very end.
- </p>
- <p>
- The level surface of the plain again became motionless. Night fell.
- Hamilcar was delighting himself with the spectacle of his vengeance, but
- suddenly he started.
- </p>
- <p>
- He saw, and all saw, some more Barbarians six hundred paces to the left on
- the summit of a peak! In fact four hundred of the stoutest Mercenaries,
- Etruscans, Libyans, and Spartans had gained the heights at the beginning,
- and had remained there in uncertainty until now. After the massacre of
- their companions they resolved to make their way through the
- Carthaginians; they were already descending in serried columns, in a
- marvellous and formidable fashion.
- </p>
- <p>
- A herald was immediately despatched to them. The Suffet needed soldiers;
- he received them unconditionally, so greatly did he admire their bravery.
- They could even, said the man of Carthage, come a little nearer, to a
- place, which he pointed out to them, where they would find provisions.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians ran thither and spent the night in eating. Then the
- Carthaginians broke into clamours against the Suffet’s partiality
- for the Mercenaries.
- </p>
- <p>
- Did he yield to these outbursts of insatiable hatred or was it a
- refinement of treachery? The next day he came himself, without a sword and
- bare-headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and announced to them that
- having too many to feed he did not intend to keep them. Nevertheless, as
- he wanted men and he knew of no means of selecting the good ones, they
- were to fight together to the death; he would then admit the conquerors
- into his own body-guard. This death was quite as good as another;—and
- then moving his soldiers aside (for the Punic standards hid the horizon
- from the Mercenaries) he showed them the one hundred and ninety-two
- elephants under Narr’ Havas, forming a single straight line, their
- trunks brandishing broad steel blades like giant arms holding axes above
- their heads.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that made
- them turn pale, but the horrible compulsion to which they found themselves
- reduced.
- </p>
- <p>
- The community of their lives had brought about profound friendship among
- these men. The camp, with most, took the place of their country; living
- without a family they transferred the needful tenderness to a companion,
- and they would fall asleep in the starlight side by side under the same
- cloak. And then in their perpetual wanderings through all sorts of
- countries, murders, and adventures, they had contracted affections, one
- for the other, in which the stronger protected the younger in the midst of
- battles, helped him to cross precipices, sponged the sweat of fevers from
- his brow, and stole food for him, and the weaker, a child perhaps, who had
- been picked up on the roadside, and had then become a Mercenary, repaid
- this devotion by a thousand kindnesses.
- </p>
- <p>
- They exchanged their necklaces and earrings, presents which they had made
- to one another in former days, after great peril, or in hours of
- intoxication. All asked to die, and none would strike. A young fellow
- might be seen here and there, saying to another whose beard was grey:
- “No! no! you are more robust! you will avenge us, kill me!”
- and the man would reply: “I have fewer years to live! Strike to the
- heart, and think no more about it!” Brothers gazed on one another
- with clasped hands, and friend bade friend eternal farewells, standing and
- weeping upon his shoulder.
- </p>
- <p>
- They threw off their cuirasses that the sword-points might be thrust in
- the more quickly. Then there appeared the marks of the great blows which
- they had received for Carthage, and which looked like inscriptions on
- columns.
- </p>
- <p>
- They placed themselves in four equal ranks, after the fashion of
- gladiators, and began with timid engagements. Some had even bandaged their
- eyes, and their swords waved gently through the air like blind men’s
- sticks. The Carthaginians hooted, and shouted to them that they were
- cowards. The Barbarians became animated, and soon the combat as general,
- headlong, and terrible.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sometimes two men all covered with blood would stop, fall into each other’s
- arms, and die with mutual kisses. None drew back. They rushed upon the
- extended blades. Their delirium was so frenzied that the Carthaginians in
- the distance were afraid.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last they stopped. Their breasts made a great hoarse noise, and their
- eyeballs could be seen through their long hair, which hung down as though
- it had come out of a purple bath. Several were turning round rapidly, like
- panthers wounded in the forehead. Others stood motionless looking at a
- corpse at their feet; then they would suddenly tear their faces with their
- nails, take their swords with both hands, and plunge them into their own
- bodies.
- </p>
- <p>
- There were still sixty left. They asked for drink. They were told by
- shouts to throw away their swords, and when they had done so water was
- brought to them.
- </p>
- <p>
- While they were drinking, with their faces buried in the vases, sixty
- Carthaginians leaped upon them and killed them with stiletos in the back.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar had done this to gratify the instincts of his army, and, by means
- of this treachery, to attach it to his own person.
- </p>
- <p>
- The war, then, was ended; at least he believed that it was; Matho would
- not resist; in his impatience the Suffet commanded an immediate departure.
- </p>
- <p>
- His scouts came to tell him that a convoy had been descried, departing
- towards the Lead Mountain. Hamilcar did not trouble himself about it. The
- Mercenaries once annihilated, the Nomads would give him no further
- trouble. The important matter was to take Tunis. He advanced by forced
- marches upon it.
- </p>
- <p>
- He had sent Narr’ Havas to Carthage with the news of his victory;
- and the King of the Numidians, proud of his success, visited Salammbô.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- She received him in her gardens under a large sycamore tree, amid pillows
- of yellow leather, and with Taanach beside her. Her face was covered with
- a white scarf, which, passing over her mouth and forehead, allowed only
- her eyes to be seen; but her lips shone in the transparency of the tissue
- like the gems on her fingers, for Salammbô had both her hands wrapped up,
- and did not make a gesture during the whole conversation.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas announced the defeat of the Barbarians to her. She
- thanked him with a blessing for the services which he had rendered to her
- father. Then he began to tell her about the whole campaign.
- </p>
- <p>
- The doves on the palm trees around them cooed softly, and other birds
- fluttered amid the grass: ring-necked glareolas, Tartessus quails and
- Punic guinea-fowl. The garden, long uncultivated, had multiplied its
- verdure; coloquintidas mounted into the branches of cassias, the asclepias
- was scattered over fields of roses, all kinds of vegetation formed
- entwinings and bowers; and here and there, as in the woods, sun-rays,
- descending obliquely, marked the shadow of a leaf upon the ground.
- Domestic animals, grown wild again, fled at the slightest noise. Sometimes
- a gazelle might be seen trailing scattered peacocks’ feathers after
- its little black hoofs. The clamours of the distant town were lost in the
- murmuring of the waves. The sky was quite blue, and not a sail was visible
- on the sea.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas had ceased speaking; Salammbô was looking at him without
- replying. He wore a linen robe with flowers painted on it, and with gold
- fringes at the hem; two silver arrows fastened his plaited hair at the
- tips of his ears; his right hand rested on a pike-staff adorned with
- circles of electrum and tufts of hair.
- </p>
- <p>
- As she watched him a crowd of dim thoughts absorbed her. This young man,
- with his gentle voice and feminine figure, captivated her eyes by the
- grace of his person, and seemed to her like an elder sister sent by the
- Baals to protect her. The recollection of Matho came upon her, nor did she
- resist the desire to learn what had become of him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas replied that the Carthaginians were advancing towards
- Tunis to take it. In proportion as he set forth their chances of success
- and Matho’s weaknesses, she seemed to rejoice in extraordinary hope.
- Her lips trembled, her breast panted. When he finally promised to kill him
- himself, she exclaimed: “Yes! kill him! It must be so!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Numidian replied that he desired this death ardently, since he would
- be her husband when the war was over.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô started, and bent her head.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Narr’ Havas, pursuing the subject, compared his longings to
- flowers languishing for rain, or to lost travellers waiting for the day.
- He told her, further, that she was more beautiful than the moon, better
- than the wind of morning or than the face of a guest. He would bring for
- her from the country of the Blacks things such as there were none in
- Carthage, and the apartments in their house should be sanded with gold
- dust.
- </p>
- <p>
- Evening fell, and odours of balsam were exhaled. For a long time they
- looked at each other in silence, and Salammbô’s eyes, in the depths
- of her long draperies, resembled two stars in the rift of a cloud. Before
- the sun set he withdrew.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Ancients felt themselves relieved of a great anxiety, when he left
- Carthage. The people had received him with even more enthusiastic
- acclamations than on the first occasion. If Hamilcar and the King of the
- Numidians triumphed alone over the Mercenaries it would be impossible to
- resist them. To weaken Barca they therefore resolved to make the aged
- Hanno, him whom they loved, a sharer in the deliverance of Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- He proceeded immediately towards the western provinces, to take his
- vengeance in the very places which had witnessed his shame. But the
- inhabitants and the Barbarians were dead, hidden, or fled. Then his anger
- was vented upon the country. He burnt the ruins of the ruins, he did not
- leave a single tree nor a blade of grass; the children and the infirm,
- that were met with, were tortured; he gave the women to his soldiers to be
- violated before they were slaughtered.
- </p>
- <p>
- Often, on the crests of the hills, black tents were struck as though
- overturned by the wind, and broad, brilliantly bordered discs, which were
- recognised as being chariot-wheels, revolved with a plaintive sound as
- they gradually disappeared in the valleys. The tribes, which had abandoned
- the siege of Carthage, were wandering in this way through the provinces,
- waiting for an opportunity, or for some victory to be gained by the
- Mercenaries, in order to return. But, whether from terror or famine, they
- all took the roads to their native lands, and disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar was not jealous of Hanno’s successes. Nevertheless he was
- in a hurry to end matters; he commanded him to fall back upon Tunis; and
- Hanno, who loved his country, was under the walls of the town on the
- appointed day.
- </p>
- <p>
- For its protection it had its aboriginal population, twelve thousand
- Mercenaries, and, in addition, all the Eaters of Uncleanness, for like
- Matho they were riveted to the horizon of Carthage, and plebs and
- schalischim gazed at its lofty walls from afar, looking back in thought to
- boundless enjoyments. With this harmony of hatred, resistance was briskly
- organised. Leathern bottles were taken to make helmets; all the palm-trees
- in the gardens were cut down for lances; cisterns were dug; while for
- provisions they caught on the shores of the lake big white fish, fed on
- corpses and filth. Their ramparts, kept in ruins now by the jealousy of
- Carthage, were so weak that they could be thrown down with a push of the
- shoulder. Matho stopped up the holes in them with the stones of the
- houses. It was the last struggle; he hoped for nothing, and yet he told
- himself that fortune was fickle.
- </p>
- <p>
- As the Carthaginians approached they noticed a man on the rampart who
- towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that flew
- about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of swallows.
- Extraordinary to say, none of them touched him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar pitched his camp on the south side; Narr’ Havas, to his
- right, occupied the plain of Rhades, and Hanno the shore of the lake; and
- the three generals were to maintain their respective positions, so as all
- to attack the walls simultaneously.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish
- them like slaves. He had the ten ambassadors crucified beside one another
- on a hillock in front of the town.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the sight of this the besieged forsook the rampart.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho had said to himself that if he could pass between the walls and Narr’
- Havas’s tents with such rapidity that the Numidians had not time to
- come out, he could fall upon the rear of the Carthaginian infantry, who
- would be caught between his division and those inside. He dashed out with
- his veterans.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas perceived him; he crossed the shore of the lake, and
- came to warn Hanno to dispatch men to Hamilcar’s assistance. Did he
- believe Barca too weak to resist the Mercenaries? Was it a piece of
- treachery or folly? No one could ever learn.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesitate. He shouted
- orders to sound the trumpets, and his whole army rushed upon the
- Barbarians. The latter returned, and ran straight against the
- Carthaginians; they knocked them down, crushed them under their feet, and,
- driving them back in this way, reached the tent of Hanno, who was then
- surrounded by thirty Carthaginians, the most illustrious of the Ancients.
- </p>
- <p>
- He appeared stupefied by their audacity; he called for his captains. Every
- one thrust his fist under his throat, vociferating abuse. The crowd
- pressed on; and those who had their hands on him could scarce retain their
- hold. However, he tried to whisper to them: “I will gave you
- whatever you want! I am rich! Save me!” They dragged him along;
- heavy as he was his feet did not touch the ground. The Ancients had been
- carried off. His terror increased. “You have beaten me! I am your
- captive! I will ransom myself! Listen to me, my friends!” and borne
- along by all those shoulders which were pressed against his sides, he
- repeated: “What are you going to do? What do you want? You can see
- that I am not obstanite! I have always been good-natured!”
- </p>
- <p>
- A gigantic cross stood at the gate. The Barbarians howled: “Here!
- here!” But he raised his voice still higher; and in the names of
- their gods he called upon them to lead him to the schalischim, because he
- wished to confide to him something on which their safety depended.
- </p>
- <p>
- They paused, some asserting that it was right to summon Matho. He was sent
- for.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno fell upon the grass; and he saw around him other crosses also, as
- though the torture by which he was about to perish had been multiplied
- beforehand; he made efforts to convince himself that he was mistaken, that
- there was only one, and even to believe that there were none at all. At
- last he was lifted up.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Speak!” said Matho.
- </p>
- <p>
- He offered to give up Hamilcar; then they would enter Carthage and both be
- kings.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho withdrew, signing to the others to make haste. It was a stratagem,
- he thought, to gain time.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarian was mistaken; Hanno was in an extremity when consideration
- is had to nothing, and, moreover, he so execrated Hamilcar that he would
- have sacrificed him and all his soldiers on the slightest hope of safety.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Ancients were languishing on the ground at the foot of the crosses;
- ropes had already been passed beneath their armpits. Then the old Suffet,
- understanding that he must die, wept.
- </p>
- <p>
- They tore off the clothes that were still left on him—and the horror
- of his person appeared. Ulcers covered the nameless mass; the fat on his
- legs hid the nails on his feet; from his fingers there hung what looked
- like greenish strips; and the tears streaming through the tubercles on his
- cheeks gave to his face an expression of frightful sadness, for they
- seemed to take up more room than on another human face. His royal fillet,
- which was half unfastened, trailed with his white hair in the dust.
- </p>
- <p>
- They thought that they had no ropes strong enough to haul him up to the
- top of the cross, and they nailed him upon it, after the Punic fashion,
- before it was erected. But his pride awoke in his pain. He began to
- overwhelm them with abuse. He foamed and twisted like a marine monster
- being slaughtered on the shore, and predicted that they would all end more
- horribly still, and that he would be avenged.
- </p>
- <p>
- He was. On the other side of the town, whence there now escaped jets of
- flame with columns of smoke, the ambassadors from the Mercenaries were in
- their last throes.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some who had swooned at first had just revived in the freshness of the
- wind; but their chins still rested upon their breasts, and their bodies
- had fallen somewhat, in spite of the nails in their arms, which were
- fastened higher than their heads; from their heels and hands blood fell in
- big, slow drops, as ripe fruit falls from the branches of a tree,—and
- Carthage, gulf, mountains, and plains all appeared to them to be revolving
- like an immense wheel; sometimes a cloud of dust, rising from the ground,
- enveloped them in its eddies; they burned with horrible thirst, their
- tongues curled in their mouths, and they felt an icy sweat flowing over
- them with their departing souls.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless they had glimpses, at an infinite depth, of streets, marching
- soldiers, and the swinging of swords; and the tumult of battle reached
- them dimly like the noise of the sea to shipwrecked men dying on the masts
- of a ship. The Italiotes, who were sturdier than the rest, were still
- shrieking. The Lacedæmonians were silent, with eyelids closed; Zarxas,
- once so vigorous, was bending like a broken reed; the Ethiopian beside him
- had his head thrown back over the arms of the cross; Autaritus was
- motionless, rolling his eyes; his great head of hair, caught in a cleft in
- the wood, fell straight upon his forehead, and his death-rattle seemed
- rather to be a roar of anger. As to Spendius, a strange courage had come
- to him; he despised life now in the certainty which he possessed of an
- almost immediate and an eternal emancipation, and he awaited death with
- impassibility.
- </p>
- <p>
- Amid their swooning, they sometimes started at the brushing of feathers
- passing across their lips. Large wings swung shadows around them,
- croakings sounded in the air; and as Spendius’s cross was the
- highest, it was upon his that the first vulture alighted. Then he turned
- his face towards Autaritus, and said slowly to him with an unaccountable
- smile:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Do you remember the lions on the road to Sicca?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “They were our brothers!” replied the Gaul, as he expired.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet, meanwhile, had bored through the walls and reached the
- citadel. The smoke suddenly disappeared before a gust of wind, discovering
- the horizon as far as the walls of Carthage; he even thought that he could
- distinguish people watching on the platform of Eschmoun; then, bringing
- back his eyes, he perceived thirty crosses of extravagant size on the
- shore of the Lake, to the left.
- </p>
- <p>
- In fact, to render them still more frightful, they had been constructed
- with tent-poles fastened end to end, and the thirty corpses of the
- Ancients appeared high up in the sky. They had what looked like white
- butterflies on their breasts; these were the feathers of the arrows which
- had been shot at them from below.
- </p>
- <p>
- A broad gold ribbon shone on the summit of the highest; it hung down to
- the shoulder, there being no arm on that side, and Hamilcar had some
- difficulty in recognising Hanno. His spongy bones had given way under the
- iron pins, portions of his limbs had come off, and nothing was left on the
- cross but shapeless remains, like the fragments of animals that are hung
- up on huntsmen’s doors.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet could not have known anything about it; the town in front of
- him masked everything that was beyond and behind; and the captains who had
- been successively sent to the two generals had not re-appeared. Then
- fugitives arrived with the tale of the rout, and the Punic army halted.
- This catastrophe, falling upon them as it did in the midst of their
- victory, stupefied them. Hamilcar’s orders were no longer listened
- to.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho took advantage of this to continue his ravages among the Numidians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hanno’s camp having been overthrown, he had returned against them.
- The elephants came out; but the Mercenaries advanced through the plain
- shaking about flaming firebrands, which they had plucked from the walls,
- and the great beasts, in fright, ran headlong into the gulf, where they
- killed one another in their struggles, or were drowned beneath the weight
- of their cuirasses. Narr’ Havas had already launched his cavalry;
- all threw themselves face downwards upon the ground; then, when the horses
- were within three paces of them, they sprang beneath their bellies, ripped
- them open with dagger-strokes, and half the Numidians had perished when
- Barca came up.
- </p>
- <p>
- The exhausted Mercenaries could not withstand his troops. They retired in
- good order to the mountain of the Hot Springs. The Suffet was prudent
- enough not to pursue them. He directed his course to the mouths of the
- Macaras.
- </p>
- <p>
- Tunis was his; but it was now nothing but a heap of smoking rubbish. The
- ruins fell through the breaches in the walls to the centre of the plain;
- quite in the background, between the shores of the gulf, the corpses of
- the elephants drifting before the wind conflicted, like an archipelago of
- black rocks floating on the water.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas had drained his forests of these animals, taking young
- and old, male and female, to keep up the war, and the military force of
- his kingdom could not repair the loss. The people who had seen them
- perishing at a distance were grieved at it; men lamented in the streets,
- calling them by their names like deceased friends: “Ah! the
- Invincible! the Victory! the Thunderer! the Swallow!” On the first
- day, too, there was no talk except of the dead citizens. But on the morrow
- the tents of the Mercenaries were seen on the mountain of the Hot Springs.
- Then so deep was the despair that many people, especially women, flung
- themselves headlong from the top of the Acropolis.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar’s designs were not known. He lived alone in his tent with
- none near him but a young boy, and no one ever ate with them, not even
- excepting Narr’ Havas. Nevertheless he showed great deference to the
- latter after Hanno’s defeat; but the king of the Numidians had too
- great an interest in becoming his son not to distrust him.
- </p>
- <p>
- This inertness veiled skilful manouvres. Hamilcar seduced the heads of the
- villages by all sorts of artifices; and the Mercenaries were hunted,
- repulsed, and enclosed like wild beasts. As soon as they entered a wood,
- the trees caught fire around them; when they drank of a spring it was
- poisoned; the caves in which they hid in order to sleep were walled up.
- Their old accomplices, the populations who had hitherto defended them, now
- pursued them; and they continually recognised Carthaginian armour in these
- bands.
- </p>
- <p>
- Many had their faces consumed with red tetters; this, they thought, had
- come to them through touching Hanno. Others imagined that it was because
- they had eaten Salammbô’s fishes, and far from repenting of it, they
- dreamed of even more abominable sacrileges, so that the abasement of the
- Punic Gods might be still greater. They would fain have exterminated them.
- </p>
- <p>
- In this way they lingered for three months along the eastern coast, and
- then behind the mountain of Selloum, and as far as the first sands of the
- desert. They sought for a place of refuge, no matter where. Utica and
- Hippo-Zarytus alone had not betrayed them; but Hamilcar was encompassing
- these two towns. Then they went northwards at haphazard without even
- knowing the various routes. Their many miseries had confused their
- understandings.
- </p>
- <p>
- The only feeling left them was one of exasperation, which went on
- developing; and one day they found themselves again in the gorges of Cobus
- and once more before Carthage!
- </p>
- <p>
- Then the actions multiplied. Fortune remained equal; but both sides were
- so wearied that they would willingly have exchanged these skirmishes for a
- great battle, provided that it were really the last.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho was inclined to carry this proposal himself to the Suffet. One of
- his Libyans devoted himself for the purpose. All were convinced as they
- saw him depart that he would not return.
- </p>
- <p>
- He returned the same evening.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar accepted the challenge. The encounter should take place the
- following day at sunrise, in the plain of Rhades.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Mercenaries wished to know whether he had said anything more, and the
- Libyan added:
- </p>
- <p>
- “As I remained in his presence, he asked me what I was waiting for.
- ‘To be killed!’ I replied. Then he rejoined: ‘No!
- begone! that will be to-morrow with the rest.’”
- </p>
- <p>
- This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some were terrified by it, and
- Matho regretted that the emissary had not been killed.
- </p>
- <p>
- <br />
- </p>
- <p>
- He had still remaining three thousand Africans, twelve hundred Greeks,
- fifteen hundred Campanians, two hundred Iberians, four hundred Etruscans,
- five hundred Samnites, forty Gauls, and a troop of Naffurs, nomad bandits
- met with in the date region—in all seven thousand two hundred and
- nineteen soldiers, but not one complete syntagmata. They had stopped up
- the holes in their cuirasses with the shoulder-blades of quadrupeds, and
- replaced their brass cothurni with worn sandals. Their garments were
- weighted with copper or steel plates; their coats of mail hung in tatters
- about them, and scars appeared like purple threads through the hair on
- their arms and faces.
- </p>
- <p>
- The wraiths of their dead companions came back to their souls and
- increased their energy; they felt, in a confused way, that they were the
- ministers of a god diffused in the hearts of the oppressed, and were the
- pontiffs, so to speak, of universal vengeance! Then they were enraged with
- grief at what was extravagant injustice, and above all by the sight of
- Carthage on the horizon. They swore an oath to fight for one another until
- death.
- </p>
- <p>
- The beasts of burden were killed, and as much as possible was eaten so as
- to gain strength; afterwards they slept. Some prayed, turning towards
- different constellations.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginians arrived first in the plain. They rubbed the edges of
- their shields with oil to make the arrows glide off them easily; the
- foot-soldiers who wore long hair took the precaution of cutting it on the
- forehead; and Hamilcar ordered all bowls to be inverted from the fifth
- hour, knowing that it is disadvantageous to fight with the stomach too
- full. His army amounted to fourteen thousand men, or about double the
- number of the Barbarians. Nevertheless, he had never felt such anxiety; if
- he succumbed it would mean the annihilation of the Republic, and he would
- perish on the cross; if, on the contrary, he triumphed, he would reach
- Italy by way of the Pyrenees, the Gauls, and the Alps, and the empire of
- the Barcas would become eternal. Twenty times during the night he rose to
- inspect everything himself, down to the most trifling details. As to the
- Carthaginians, they were exasperated by their lengthened terror. Narr’
- Havas suspected the fidelity of his Numidians. Moreover, the Barbarians
- might vanquish them. A strange weakness had come upon him; every moment he
- drank large cups of water.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a man whom he did not know opened his tent and laid on the ground a
- crown of rock-salt, adorned with hieratic designs formed with sulphur, and
- lozenges of mother-of-pearl; a marriage crown was sometimes sent to a
- betrothed husband; it was a proof of love, a sort of invitation.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless Hamilcar’s daughter had no tenderness for Narr’
- Havas.
- </p>
- <p>
- The recollection of Matho disturbed her in an intolerable manner; it
- seemed to her that the death of this man would unburden her thoughts, just
- as people to cure themselves of the bite of a viper crush it upon the
- wound. The king of the Numidians was depending upon her; he awaited the
- wedding with impatience, and, as it was to follow the victory, Salammbô
- made him this present to stimulate his courage. Then his distress
- vanished, and he thought only of the happiness of possessing so beautiful
- a woman.
- </p>
- <p>
- The same vision had assailed Matho; but he cast it from him immediately,
- and his love, that he thus thrust back, was poured out upon his companions
- in arms. He cherished them like portions of his own person, of his hatred,—and
- he felt his spirit higher, and his arms stronger; everything that he was
- to accomplish appeared clearly before him. If sighs sometimes escaped him,
- it was because he was thinking of Spendius.
- </p>
- <p>
- He drew up the Barbarians in six equal ranks. He posted the Etruscans in
- the centre, all being fastened to a bronze chain; the archers were behind,
- and on the wings he distributed the Naffurs, who were mounted on
- short-haired camels, covered with ostrich feathers.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Suffet arranged the Carthaginians in similar order. He placed the
- Clinabarians outside the infantry next to the velites, and the Numidians
- beyond; when day appeared, both sides were thus in line face to face. All
- gazed at each other from a distance, with round fierce eyes. There was at
- first some hesitation; at last both armies moved.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians advanced slowly so as not to become out of breath, beating
- the ground with their feet; the centre of the Punic army formed a convex
- curve. Then came the burst of a terrible shock, like the crash of two
- fleets in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians had quickly opened
- up, and the marksmen, hidden behind the others, discharged their bullets,
- arrows, and javelins. The curve of the Carthaginians, however, flattened
- by degrees, became quite straight, and then bent inwards; upon this, the
- two sections of the velites drew together in parallel lines, like the legs
- of a compass that is being closed. The Barbarians, who were attacking the
- phalanx with fury, entered the gap; they were being lost; Matho checked
- them,—and while the Carthaginian wings continued to advance, he drew
- out the three inner ranks of his line; they soon covered his flanks, and
- his army appeared in triple array.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the Barbarians placed at the extremities were the weakest, especially
- those on the left, who had exhausted their quivers, and the troop of
- velites, which had at last come up against them, was cutting them up
- greatly.
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho made them fall back. His right comprised Campanians, who were armed
- with axes; he hurled them against the Carthaginian left; the centre
- attacked the enemy, and those at the other extremity, who were out of
- peril, kept the velites at a distance.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites between
- them, and sent them against the Mercenaries.
- </p>
- <p>
- Those cone-shaped masses presented a front of horses, and their broader
- sides were filled and bristling with lances. The Barbarians found it
- impossible to resist; the Greek foot-soldiers alone had brazen armour, all
- the rest had cutlasses on the end of poles, scythes taken from the farms,
- or swords manufactured out of the fellies of wheels; the soft blades were
- twisted by a blow, and while they were engaged in straightening them under
- their heels, the Carthaginians massacred them right and left at their
- ease.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not stir; those who were
- dead, being prevented from falling, formed an obstruction with their
- corpses; and the great bronze line widened and contracted in turn, as
- supple as a serpent, and as impregnable as a wall. The Barbarians would
- come to re-form behind it, pant for a minute, and then set off again with
- the fragments of their weapons in their hands.
- </p>
- <p>
- Many already had none left, and they leaped upon the Carthaginians, biting
- their faces like dogs. The Gauls in their pride stripped themselves of the
- sagum; they showed their great white bodies from a distance, and they
- enlarged their wounds to terrify the enemy. The voice of the crier
- announcing the orders could no longer be heard in the midst of the Punic
- syntagmata; their signals were being repeated by the standards, which were
- raised above the dust, and every one was swept away in the swaying of the
- great mass that surrounded him.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hamilcar commanded the Numidians to advance. But the Naffurs rushed to
- meet them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Clad in vast black robes, with a tuft of hair on the top of the skull, and
- a shield of rhinoceros leather, they wielded a steel which had no handle,
- and which they held by a rope; and their camels, which bristled all over
- with feathers, uttered long, hoarse cluckings. Each blade fell on a
- precise spot, then rose again with a smart stroke carrying off a limb with
- it. The fierce beasts galloped through the syntagmata. Some, whose legs
- were broken, went hopping along like wounded ostriches.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Punic infantry turned in a body upon the Barbarians, and cut them off.
- Their maniples wheeled about at intervals from one another. The more
- brilliant Carthaginian weapons encircled them like golden crowns; there
- was a swarming movement in the centre, and the sun, striking down upon the
- points of the swords, made them glitter with white flickering gleams.
- However, files of Clinabarians lay stretched upon the plain; some
- Mercenaries snatched away their armour, clothed themselves in it, and then
- returned to the fray. The deluded Carthaginians were several times
- entangled in their midst. They would stand stupidly motionless, or else
- would back, surge again, and triumphant shouts rising in the distance
- seemed to drive them along like derelicts in a storm. Hamilcar was growing
- desperate; all was about to perish beneath the genius of Matho and the
- invincible courage of the Mercenaries.
- </p>
- <p>
- But a great noise of tabourines burst forth on the horizon. It was a crowd
- of old men, sick persons, children of fifteen years of age, and even
- women, who, being unable to withstand their distress any longer, had set
- out from Carthage, and, for the purpose of placing themselves under the
- protection of something formidable, had taken from Hamilcar’s palace
- the only elephant that the Republic now possessed,—that one, namely,
- whose trunk had been cut off.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their country, forsaking its
- walls, was coming to command them to die for her. They were seized with
- increased fury, and the Numidians carried away all the rest.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians had set themselves with their backs to a hillock in the
- centre of the plain. They had no chance of conquering, or even of
- surviving; but they were the best, the most intrepid, and the strongest.
- </p>
- <p>
- The people from Carthage began to throw spits, larding-pins and hammers,
- over the heads of the Numidians; those whom consuls had feared died
- beneath sticks hurled by women; the Punic populace was exterminating the
- Mercenaries.
- </p>
- <p>
- The latter had taken refuge on the top of the hill. Their circle closed up
- after every fresh breach; twice it descended to be immediately repulsed
- with a shock; and the Carthaginians stretched forth their arms pell-mell,
- thrusting their pikes between the legs of their companions, and raking at
- random before them. They slipped in the blood; the steep slope of the
- ground made the corpses roll to the bottom. The elephant, which was trying
- to climb the hillock, was up to its belly; it seemed to be crawling over
- them with delight; and its shortened trunk, which was broad at the
- extremity, rose from time to time like an enormous leech.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then all paused. The Carthaginians ground their teeth as they gazed at the
- hill, where the Barbarians were standing.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last they dashed at them abruptly, and the fight began again. The
- Mercenaries would often let them approach, shouting to them that they
- wished to surrender; then, with frightful sneers, they would kill
- themselves at a blow, and as the dead fell, the rest would mount upon them
- to defend themselves. It was a kind of pyramid, which grew larger by
- degrees.
- </p>
- <p>
- Soon there were only fifty, then only twenty, only three, and lastly only
- two—a Samnite armed with an axe, and Matho who still had his sword.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Samnite with bent hams swept his axe alternately to the right and
- left, at the same time warning Matho of the blows that were being aimed at
- him. “Master, this way! that way! stoop down!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Matho had lost his shoulder-pieces, his helmet, his cuirass; he was
- completely naked, and more livid than the dead, with his hair quite erect,
- and two patches of foam at the corners of his lips,—and his sword
- whirled so rapidly that it formed an aureola around him. A stone broke it
- near the guard; the Samnite was killed and the flood of Carthaginians
- closed in, they touched Matho. Then he raised both his empty hands towards
- heaven, closed his eyes, and, opening out his arms like a man throwing
- himself from the summit of a promontory into the sea, hurled himself among
- the pikes.
- </p>
- <p>
- They moved away before him. Several times he ran against the
- Carthaginians. But they always drew back and turned their weapons aside.
- </p>
- <p>
- His foot struck against a sword. Matho tried to seize it. He felt himself
- tied by the wrists and knees, and fell.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas had been following him for some time, step by step, with
- one of the large nets used for capturing wild beasts, and, taking
- advantage of the moment when he stooped down, had involved him in it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then he was fastened on the elephants with his four limbs forming a cross;
- and all those who were not wounded escorted him, and rushed with great
- tumult towards Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- The news of the victory had arrived in some inexplicable way at the third
- hour of the night; the clepsydra of Khamon had just completed the fifth as
- they reached Malqua; then Matho opened his eyes. There were so many lights
- in the houses that the town appeared to be all in flames.
- </p>
- <p>
- An immense clamour reached him dimly; and lying on his back he looked at
- the stars.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then a door closed and he was wrapped in darkness.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the morrow, at the same hour, the last of the men left in the Pass of
- the Hatchet expired.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the day that their companions had set out, some Zuaeces who were
- returning had tumbled the rocks down, and had fed them for some time.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Barbarians constantly expected to see Matho appear,—and from
- discouragement, from languor, and from the obstinacy of sick men who
- object to change their situation, they would not leave the mountain; at
- last the provisions were exhausted and the Zuaeces went away. It was known
- that they numbered scarcely more than thirteen hundred men, and there was
- no need to employ soldiers to put an end to them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Wild beasts, especially lions, had multiplied during the three years that
- the war had lasted. Narr’ Havas had held a great battue, and—after
- tying goats at intervals—had run upon them and so driven them
- towards the Pass of the Hatchet;—and they were now all living in it
- when a man arrived who had been sent by the Ancients to find out what
- there was left of the Barbarians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Lions and corpses were lying over the tract of the plain, and the dead
- were mingled with clothes and armour. Nearly all had the face or an arm
- wanting; some appeared to be still intact; others were completely dried
- up, and their helmets were filled with powdery skulls; feet which had lost
- their flesh stood out straight from the knemides; skeletons still wore
- their cloaks; and bones, cleaned by the sun, made gleaming spots in the
- midst of the sand.
- </p>
- <p>
- The lions were resting with their breasts against the ground and both paws
- stretched out, winking their eyelids in the bright daylight, which was
- heightened by the reflection from the white rocks. Others were seated on
- their hind-quarters and staring before them, or else were sleeping, rolled
- into a ball and half hidden by their great manes; they all looked well
- fed, tired, and dull. They were as motionless as the mountain and the
- dead. Night was falling; the sky was striped with broad red bands in the
- west.
- </p>
- <p>
- In one of the heaps, which in an irregular fashion embossed the plain,
- something rose up vaguer than a spectre. Then one of the lions set himself
- in motion, his monstrous form cutting a black shadow on the background of
- the purple sky, and when he was quite close to the man, he knocked him
- down with a single blow of his paw.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then, stretching himself flat upon him, he slowly drew out the entrails
- with the edge of his teeth.
- </p>
- <p>
- Afterwards he opened his huge jaws, and for some minutes uttered a
- lengthened roar which was repeated by the echoes in the mountain, and was
- finally lost in the solitude.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly some small gravel rolled down from above. The rustling of rapid
- steps was heard, and in the direction of the portcullis and of the gorge
- there appeared pointed muzzles and straight ears, with gleaming, tawny
- eyes. These were the jackals coming to eat what was left.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Carthaginian, who was leaning over the top of the precipice to look,
- went back again.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
- <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
- </p>
- <div style="height: 4em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
- <h2>
- CHAPTER XV
- </h2>
- <h3>
- MATHO
- </h3>
- <p>
- There were rejoicings at Carthage,—rejoicings deep, universal,
- extravagant, frantic; the holes of the ruins had been stopped up, the
- statues of the gods had been repainted, the streets were strewn with
- myrtle branches, incense smoked at the corners of the crossways, and the
- throng on the terraces looked, in their variegated garments, like heaps of
- flowers blooming in the air.
- </p>
- <p>
- The shouts of the water-carriers watering the pavement rose above the
- continual screaming of voices; slaves belonging to Hamilcar offered in his
- name roasted barley and pieces of raw meat; people accosted one another,
- and embraced one another with tears; the Tyrian towns were taken, the
- nomads dispersed, and all the Barbarians annihilated. The Acropolis was
- hidden beneath coloured velaria; the beaks of the triremes, drawn up in
- line outside the mole, shone like a dyke of diamonds; everywhere there was
- a sense of the restoration of order, the beginning of a new existence, and
- the diffusion of vast happiness: it was the day of Salammbô’s
- marriage with the King of the Numidians.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables laden
- with gigantic plate, at which the priests, Ancients, and the rich were to
- sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar, Narr’
- Havas, and Salammbô; for as she had saved her country by the restoration
- of the zaïmph, the people turned her wedding day into a national
- rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she should appear.
- </p>
- <p>
- But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing: Matho’s
- death has been promised for the ceremony.
- </p>
- <p>
- It had been proposed at first to flay him alive, to pour lead into his
- entrails, to kill him with hunger; he should be tied to a tree, and an ape
- behind him should strike him on the head with a stone; he had offended
- Tanith, and the cynocephaluses of Tanith should avenge her. Others were of
- opinion that he should be led about on a dromedary after linen wicks,
- dipped in oil, had been inserted in his body in several places;—and
- they took pleasure in the thought of the large animal wandering through
- the streets with this man writhing beneath the fires like a candelabrum
- blown about by the wind.
- </p>
- <p>
- But what citizens should be charged with his torture, and why disappoint
- the rest? They would have liked a kind of death in which the whole town
- might take part, in which every hand, every weapon, everything
- Carthaginian, to the very paving-stones in the streets and the waves in
- the gulf, could rend him, and crush him, and annihilate him. Accordingly
- the Ancients decided that he should go from his prison to the square of
- Khamon without any escort, and with his arms fastened to his back; it was
- forbidden to strike him to the heart, in order that he might live the
- longer; to put out his eyes, so that he might see the torture through; to
- hurl anything against his person, or to lay more than three fingers upon
- him at a time.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although he was not to appear until the end of the day, the people
- sometimes fancied that he could be seen, and the crowd would rush towards
- the Acropolis, and empty the streets, to return with lengthened
- murmurings. Some people had remained standing in the same place since the
- day before, and they would call on one another from a distance and show
- their nails which they had allowed to grow, the better to bury them into
- his flesh. Others walked restlessly up and down; some were as pale as
- though they were awaiting their own execution.
- </p>
- <p>
- Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian
- district. It was Salammbô leaving her palace; a sigh of relief found vent.
- </p>
- <p>
- But the procession was long in coming; it marched with deliberation.
- </p>
- <p>
- First there filed past the priests of the Patæc Gods, then those of
- Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other colleges in succession, with the
- same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the time of
- the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent, and the
- multitude stood aside from them in a kind of remorse. But the priests of
- Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in their hands; the
- priestesses followed them in transparent robes of yellow or black,
- uttering cries like birds and writhing like vipers, or else whirling round
- to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of the stars, while their
- light garments wafted puffs of delicate scents through the streets.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Kedeschim, with painted eyelids, who symbolised the hermaphrodism of
- the Divinity, received applause among these women, and, being perfumed and
- dressed like them, they resembled them in spite of their flat breasts and
- narrower hips. Moreover, on this day the female principle dominated and
- confused all things; a mystic voluptuousness moved in the heavy air; the
- torches were already lighted in the depths of the sacred woods; there was
- to be a great celebration there during the night; three vessels had
- brought courtesans from Sicily, and others had come from the desert.
- </p>
- <p>
- As the colleges arrived they ranged themselves in the courts of the
- temples, on the outer galleries, and along double staircases which rose
- against the walls, and drew together at the top. Files of white robes
- appeared between the colonnades, and the architecture was peopled with
- human statues, motionless as statues of stone.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then came the masters of the exchequer, the governors of the provinces,
- and all the rich. A great tumult prevailed below. Adjacent streets were
- discharging the crowd, hierodules were driving it back with blows of
- sticks; and then Salammbô appeared in a litter surmounted by a purple
- canopy, and surrounded by the Ancients crowned with their golden tiaras.
- </p>
- <p>
- Thereupon an immense shout arose; the cymbals and crotala sounded more
- loudly, the tabourines thundered, and the great purple canopy sank between
- the two pylons.
- </p>
- <p>
- It appeared again on the first landing. Salammbô was walking slowly
- beneath it; then she crossed the terrace to take her seat behind on a kind
- of throne cut out of the carapace of a tortoise. An ivory stool with three
- steps was pushed beneath her feet; two Negro children knelt on the edge of
- the first step, and sometimes she would rest both arms, which were laden
- with rings of excessive weight, upon their heads.
- </p>
- <p>
- From ankle to hip she was covered with a network of narrow meshes which
- were in imitation of fish scales, and shone like mother-of-pearl; her
- waist was clasped by a blue zone, which allowed her breasts to be seen
- through two crescent-shaped slashings; the nipples were hidden by
- carbuncle pendants. She had a headdress made of peacock’s feathers
- studded with gems; an ample cloak, as white as snow, fell behind her,—and
- with her elbows at her sides, her knees pressed together, and circles of
- diamonds on the upper part of her arms, she remained perfectly upright in
- a hieratic attitude.
- </p>
- <p>
- Her father and her husband were on two lower seats, Narr’ Havas
- dressed in a light simar and wearing his crown of rock-salt, from which
- there strayed two tresses of hair as twisted as the horns of Ammon; and
- Hamilcar in a violet tunic figured with gold vine branches, and with a
- battle-sword at his side.
- </p>
- <p>
- The python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on the ground amid pools of pink
- oil in the space enclosed by the tables, and, biting its tail, described a
- large black circle. In the middle of the circle there was a copper pillar
- bearing a crystal egg; and, as the sun shone upon it, rays were emitted on
- every side.
- </p>
- <p>
- Behind Salammbô stretched the priests of Tanith in linen robes; on her
- right the Ancients, in their tiaras, formed a great gold line, and on the
- other side the rich with their emerald sceptres a great green line,—while
- quite in the background, where the priests of Moloch were ranged, the
- cloaks looked like a wall of purple. The other colleges occupied the lower
- terraces. The multitude obstructed the streets. It reached to the
- house-tops, and extended in long files to the summit of the Acropolis.
- Having thus the people at her feet, the firmament above her head, and
- around her the immensity of the sea, the gulf, the mountains, and the
- distant provinces, Salammbô in her splendour was blended with Tanith, and
- seemed the very genius of Carthage, and its embodied soul.
- </p>
- <p>
- The feast was to last all night, and lamps with several branches were
- planted like trees on the painted woollen cloths which covered the low
- tables. Large electrum flagons, blue glass amphoras, tortoise-shell
- spoons, and small round loaves were crowded between the double row of
- pearl-bordered plates; bunches of grapes with their leaves had been rolled
- round ivory vine-stocks after the fashion of the thyrsus; blocks of snow
- were melting on ebony trays, and lemons, pomegranates, gourds, and
- watermelons formed hillocks beneath the lofty silver plate; boars with
- open jaws were wallowing in the dust of spices; hares, covered with their
- fur, appeared to be bounding amid the flowers; there were shells filled
- with forcemeat; the pastry had symbolic shapes; when the covers of the
- dishes were removed doves flew out.
- </p>
- <p>
- The slaves, meanwhile, with tunics tucked up, were going about on tiptoe;
- from time to time a hymn sounded on the lyres, or a choir of voices rose.
- The clamour of the people, continuous as the noise of the sea, floated
- vaguely around the feast, and seemed to lull it in a broader harmony; some
- recalled the banquet of the Mercenaries; they gave themselves up to dreams
- of happiness; the sun was beginning to go down, and the crescent of the
- moon was already rising in another part of the sky.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Salammbô turned her head as though some one had called her; the
- people, who were watching her, followed the direction of her eyes.
- </p>
- <p>
- The door of the dungeon, hewn in the rock at the foot of the temple, on
- the summit of the Acropolis, had just opened; and a man was standing on
- the threshold of this black hole.
- </p>
- <p>
- He came forth bent double, with the scared look of fallow deer when
- suddenly enlarged.
- </p>
- <p>
- The light dazzled him; he stood motionless awhile. All had recognised him,
- and they held their breath.
- </p>
- <p>
- In their eyes the body of this victim was something peculiarly theirs, and
- was adorned with almost religious splendour. They bent forward to see him,
- especially the women. They burned to gaze upon him who had caused the
- deaths of their children and husbands; and from the bottom of their souls
- there sprang up in spite of themselves an infamous curiosity, a desire to
- know him completely, a wish mingled with remorse which turned to increased
- execration.
- </p>
- <p>
- At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared.
- Numbers of arms were raised, and he was lost to sight.
- </p>
- <p>
- The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as
- though he were rolled down in a torrent from the top of a mountain; three
- times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his feet.
- </p>
- <p>
- His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks; and
- he made such efforts to burst his bonds that his arms, which were crossed
- on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent.
- </p>
- <p>
- Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which he
- found himself. In each of them a triple row of bronze chains fastened to
- the navels of the Patæc gods extended in parallel lines from one end to
- the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, and servants,
- belonging to the Ancients, walked in the middle brandishing thongs.
- </p>
- <p>
- One of them drove him forward with a great blow; Matho began to move.
- </p>
- <p>
- They thrust their arms over the chains shouting out that the road had been
- left too wide for him; and he passed along, felt, pricked, and slashed by
- all those fingers; when he reached the end of one street another appeared;
- several times he flung himself to one side to bite them; they speedily
- dispersed, the chains held him back, and the crowd burst out laughing.
- </p>
- <p>
- A child rent his ear; a young girl, hiding the point of a spindle in her
- sleeve, split his cheek; they tore handfuls of hair from him and strips of
- flesh; others smeared his face with sponges steeped in filth and fastened
- upon sticks. A stream of blood started from the right side of his neck,
- frenzy immediately set in. This last Barbarian was to them a
- representative of all the Barbarians, and all the army; they were taking
- vengeance on him for their disasters, their terrors, and their shame. The
- rage of the mob developed with its gratification; the curving chains were
- over-strained, and were on the point of breaking; the people did not feel
- the blows of the slaves who struck at them to drive them back; some clung
- to the projections of the houses; all the openings in the walls were
- stopped up with heads; and they howled at him the mischief that they could
- not inflict upon him.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was atrocious, filthy abuse mingled with ironical encouragements and
- imprecations; and, his present tortures not being enough for them, they
- foretold to him others that should be still more terrible in eternity.
- </p>
- <p>
- This vast baying filled Carthage with stupid continuity. Frequently a
- single syllable—a hoarse, deep, and frantic intonation—would
- be repeated for several minutes by the entire people. The walls would
- vibrate with it from top to bottom, and both sides of the street would
- seem to Matho to be coming against him, and carrying him off the ground,
- like two immense arms stifling him in the air.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nevertheless he remembered that he had experienced something like it
- before. The same crowd was on the terraces, there were the same looks and
- the same wrath; but then he had walked free, all had then dispersed, for a
- god covered him;—and the recollection of this, gaining precision by
- degrees, brought a crushing sadness upon him. Shadows passed before his
- eyes; the town whirled round in his head, his blood streamed from a wound
- in his hip, he felt that he was dying; his hams bent, and he sank quite
- gently upon the pavement.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some one went to the peristyle of the temple of Melkarth, took thence the
- bar of a tripod, heated red hot in the coals, and, slipping it beneath the
- first chain, pressed it against his wound. The flesh was seen to smoke;
- the hootings of the people drowned his voice; he was standing again.
- </p>
- <p>
- Six paces further on, and he fell a third and again a fourth time; but
- some new torture always made him rise. They discharged little drops of
- boiling oil through tubes at him; they strewed pieces of broken glass
- beneath his feet; still he walked on. At the corner of the street of
- Satheb he leaned his back against the wall beneath the pent-house of a
- shop, and advanced no further.
- </p>
- <p>
- The slaves of the Council struck him with their whips of hippopotamus
- leather, so furiously and long that the fringes of their tunics were
- drenched with sweat. Matho appeared insensible; suddenly he started off
- and began to run at random, making a noise with his lips like one
- shivering with severe cold. He threaded the street of Boudes, and the
- street of Soepo, crossed the Green Market, and reached the square of
- Khamon.
- </p>
- <p>
- He now belonged to the priests; the slaves had just dispersed the crowd,
- and there was more room. Matho gazed round him and his eyes encountered
- Salammbô.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the first step that he had taken she had risen; then, as he approached,
- she had involuntarily advanced by degrees to the edge of the terrace; and
- soon all external things were blotted out, and she saw only Matho. Silence
- fell in her soul,—one of those abysses wherein the whole world
- disappears beneath the pressure of a single thought, a memory, a look.
- This man who was walking towards her attracted her.
- </p>
- <p>
- Excepting his eyes he had no appearance of humanity left; he was a long,
- perfectly red shape; his broken bonds hung down his thighs, but they could
- not be distinguished from the tendons of his wrists, which were laid quite
- bare; his mouth remained wide open; from his eye-sockets there darted
- flames which seemed to rise up to his hair;—and the wretch still
- walked on!
- </p>
- <p>
- He reached the foot of the terrace. Salammbô was leaning over the
- balustrade; those frightful eyeballs were scanning her, and there rose
- within her a consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. Although
- he was in his death agony she could see him once more kneeling in his
- tent, encircling her waist with his arms, and stammering out gentle words;
- she thirsted to feel them and hear them again; she did not want him to
- die! At this moment Matho gave a great start; she was on the point of
- shrieking aloud. He fell backwards and did not stir again.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô was borne back, nearly swooning, to her throne by the priests who
- flocked about her. They congratulated her; it was her work. All clapped
- their hands and stamped their feet, howling her name.
- </p>
- <p>
- A man darted upon the corpse. Although he had no beard he had the cloak of
- a priest of Moloch on his shoulder, and in his belt that species of knife
- which they employed for cutting up the sacred meat, and which terminated,
- at the end of the handle, in a golden spatula. He cleft Matho’s
- breast with a single blow, then snatched out the heart and laid it upon
- the spoon; and Schahabarim, uplifting his arm, offered it to the sun.
- </p>
- <p>
- The sun sank behind the waves; his rays fell like long arrows upon the red
- heart. As the beatings diminished the planet sank into the sea; and at the
- last palpitation it disappeared.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then from the gulf to the lagoon, and from the isthmus to the pharos, in
- all the streets, on all the houses, and on all the temples, there was a
- single shout; sometimes it paused, to be again renewed; the buildings
- shook with it; Carthage was convulsed, as it were, in the spasm of Titanic
- joy and boundless hope.
- </p>
- <p>
- Narr’ Havas, drunk with pride, passed his left arm beneath Salammbô’s
- waist in token of possession; and taking a gold patera in his right hand,
- he drank to the Genius of Carthage.
- </p>
- <p>
- Salammbô rose like her husband, with a cup in her hand, to drink also. She
- fell down again with her head lying over the back of the throne,—pale,
- stiff, with parted lips,—and her loosened hair hung to the ground.
- </p>
- <p>
- Thus died Hamilcar’s daughter for having touched the mantle of
- Tanith.
- </p>
- <div style="height: 6em;">
- <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
- </div>
-<pre xml:space="preserve">
-
-
-
-
-
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diff --git a/old/1290-h/1290-h.htm b/old/1290-h/1290-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 0eeda98..0000000 --- a/old/1290-h/1290-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14043 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salammbô, by Gustave Flaubert</title> - -<style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> - -body { margin-left: 20%; - margin-right: 20%; - text-align: justify; } - -h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: -normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} - -h1 {font-size: 300%; - margin-top: 0.6em; - margin-bottom: 0.6em; - letter-spacing: 0.12em; - word-spacing: 0.2em; - text-indent: 0em;} -h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} -h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} -h4 {font-size: 120%;} -h5 {font-size: 110%;} - -.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} - -hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} - -p {text-indent: 1em; - margin-top: 0.25em; - margin-bottom: 0.25em; } - -a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} -a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} -a:hover {color:red} - -</style> - </head> - <body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salammbô, by Gustave Flaubert</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Salammbô</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Gustave Flaubert</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: J.S. Chartres</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April, 1998 [eBook #1290]<br /> -[Most recently updated: August 12, 2021]</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers and David Widger</div> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALAMMBÔ ***</div> - - <h1> - Salammbô - </h1> - - <h2 class="no-break"> - By Gustave Flaubert - </h2> - - <hr /> - - <p> - <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a> - </p> - - <hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"></a> - CHAPTER I - </h2> - <h3> - THE FEAST - </h3> - <p> - It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar. The - soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily were having a great feast to - celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Eryx, and as the master was - away, and they were numerous, they ate and drank with perfect freedom. - </p> - <p> - The captains, who wore bronze cothurni, had placed themselves in the - central path, beneath a gold-fringed purple awning, which reached from the - wall of the stables to the first terrace of the palace; the common - soldiers were scattered beneath the trees, where numerous flat-roofed - buildings might be seen, wine-presses, cellars, storehouses, bakeries, and - arsenals, with a court for elephants, dens for wild beasts, and a prison - for slaves. - </p> - <p> - Fig-trees surrounded the kitchens; a wood of sycamores stretched away to - meet masses of verdure, where the pomegranate shone amid the white tufts - of the cotton-plant; vines, grape-laden, grew up into the branches of the - pines; a field of roses bloomed beneath the plane-trees; here and there - lilies rocked upon the turf; the paths were strewn with black sand mingled - with powdered coral, and in the centre the avenue of cypress formed, as it - were, a double colonnade of green obelisks from one extremity to the - other. - </p> - <p> - Far in the background stood the palace, built of yellow mottled Numidian - marble, broad courses supporting its four terraced stories. With its - large, straight, ebony staircase, bearing the prow of a vanquished galley - at the corners of every step, its red doors quartered with black crosses, - its brass gratings protecting it from scorpions below, and its trellises - of gilded rods closing the apertures above, it seemed to the soldiers in - its haughty opulence as solemn and impenetrable as the face of Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - The Council had appointed his house for the holding of this feast; the - convalescents lying in the temple of Eschmoun had set out at daybreak and - dragged themselves thither on their crutches. Every minute others were - arriving. They poured in ceaselessly by every path like torrents rushing - into a lake; through the trees the slaves of the kitchens might be seen - running scared and half-naked; the gazelles fled bleating on the lawns; - the sun was setting, and the perfume of citron trees rendered the - exhalation from the perspiring crowd heavier still. - </p> - <p> - Men of all nations were there, Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearians, - Negroes, and fugitives from Rome. Beside the heavy Dorian dialect were - audible the resonant Celtic syllables rattling like chariots of war, while - Ionian terminations conflicted with consonants of the desert as harsh as - the jackal’s cry. The Greek might be recognised by his slender - figure, the Egyptian by his elevated shoulders, the Cantabrian by his - broad calves. There were Carians proudly nodding their helmet plumes, - Cappadocian archers displaying large flowers painted on their bodies with - the juice of herbs, and a few Lydians in women’s robes, dining in - slippers and earrings. Others were ostentatiously daubed with vermilion, - and resembled coral statues. - </p> - <p> - They stretched themselves on the cushions, they ate squatting round large - trays, or lying face downwards they drew out the pieces of meat and sated - themselves, leaning on their elbows in the peaceful posture of lions - tearing their prey. The last comers stood leaning against the trees - watching the low tables half hidden beneath the scarlet coverings, and - awaiting their turn. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s kitchens being insufficient, the Council had sent them - slaves, ware, and beds, and in the middle of the garden, as on a - battle-field when they burn the dead, large bright fires might be seen, at - which oxen were roasting. Anise-sprinkled loaves alternated with great - cheeses heavier than discuses, crateras filled with wine, and cantharuses - filled with water, together with baskets of gold filigree-work containing - flowers. Every eye was dilated with the joy of being able at last to gorge - at pleasure, and songs were beginning here and there. - </p> - <p> - First they were served with birds and green sauce in plates of red clay - relieved by drawings in black, then with every kind of shell-fish that is - gathered on the Punic coasts, wheaten porridge, beans and barley, and - snails dressed with cumin on dishes of yellow amber. - </p> - <p> - Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their horns, - peacocks with their feathers, whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, haunches - of she-camels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried grasshoppers, and - preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in the midst of saffron in - bowls of Tamrapanni wood. Everything was running over with wine, truffles, - and asafotida. Pyramids of fruit were crumbling upon honeycombs, and they - had not forgotten a few of those plump little dogs with pink silky hair - and fattened on olive lees,—a Carthaginian dish held in abhorrence - among other nations. Surprise at the novel fare excited the greed of the - stomach. The Gauls with their long hair drawn up on the crown of the head, - snatched at the water-melons and lemons, and crunched them up with the - rind. The Negroes, who had never seen a lobster, tore their faces with its - red prickles. But the shaven Greeks, whiter than marble, threw the - leavings of their plates behind them, while the herdsmen from Brutium, in - their wolf-skin garments, devoured in silence with their faces in their - portions. - </p> - <p> - Night fell. The velarium, spread over the cypress avenue, was drawn back, - and torches were brought. - </p> - <p> - The apes, sacred to the moon, were terrified on the cedar tops by the - wavering lights of the petroleum as it burned in the porphyry vases. They - uttered screams which afforded mirth to the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - Oblong flames trembled in cuirasses of brass. Every kind of scintillation - flashed from the gem-incrusted dishes. The crateras with their borders of - convex mirrors multiplied and enlarged the images of things; the soldiers - thronged around, looking at their reflections with amazement, and - grimacing to make themselves laugh. They tossed the ivory stools and - golden spatulas to one another across the tables. They gulped down all the - Greek wines in their leathern bottles, the Campanian wine enclosed in - amphoras, the Cantabrian wines brought in casks, with the wines of the - jujube, cinnamomum and lotus. There were pools of these on the ground that - made the foot slip. The smoke of the meats ascended into the foliage with - the vapour of the breath. Simultaneously were heard the snapping of jaws, - the noise of speech, songs, and cups, the crash of Campanian vases - shivering into a thousand pieces, or the limpid sound of a large silver - dish. - </p> - <p> - In proportion as their intoxication increased they more and more recalled - the injustice of Carthage. The Republic, in fact, exhausted by the war, - had allowed all the returning bands to accumulate in the town. Gisco, - their general, had however been prudent enough to send them back severally - in order to facilitate the liquidation of their pay, and the Council had - believed that they would in the end consent to some reduction. But at - present ill-will was caused by the inability to pay them. This debt was - confused in the minds of the people with the 3200 Euboic talents exacted - by Lutatius, and equally with Rome they were regarded as enemies to - Carthage. The Mercenaries understood this, and their indignation found - vent in threats and outbreaks. At last they demanded permission to - assemble to celebrate one of their victories, and the peace party yielded, - at the same time revenging themselves on Hamilcar who had so strongly - upheld the war. It had been terminated notwithstanding all his efforts, so - that, despairing of Carthage, he had entrusted the government of the - Mercenaries to Gisco. To appoint his palace for their reception was to - draw upon him something of the hatred which was borne to them. Moreover, - the expense must be excessive, and he would incur nearly the whole. - </p> - <p> - Proud of having brought the Republic to submit, the Mercenaries thought - that they were at last about to return to their homes with the payment for - their blood in the hoods of their cloaks. But as seen through the mists of - intoxication, their fatigues seemed to them prodigious and but - ill-rewarded. They showed one another their wounds, they told of their - combats, their travels and the hunting in their native lands. They - imitated the cries and the leaps of wild beasts. Then came unclean wagers; - they buried their heads in the amphoras and drank on without interruption, - like thirsty dromedaries. A Lusitanian of gigantic stature ran over the - tables, carrying a man in each hand at arm’s length, and spitting - out fire through his nostrils. Some Lacedæmonians, who had not taken off - their cuirasses, were leaping with a heavy step. Some advanced like women, - making obscene gestures; others stripped naked to fight amid the cups - after the fashion of gladiators, and a company of Greeks danced around a - vase whereon nymphs were to be seen, while a Negro tapped with an ox-bone - on a brazen buckler. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly they heard a plaintive song, a song loud and soft, rising and - falling in the air like the wing-beating of a wounded bird. - </p> - <p> - It was the voice of the slaves in the ergastulum. Some soldiers rose at a - bound to release them and disappeared. - </p> - <p> - They returned, driving through the dust amid shouts, twenty men, - distinguished by their greater paleness of face. Small black felt caps of - conical shape covered their shaven heads; they all wore wooden shoes, and - yet made a noise as of old iron like driving chariots. - </p> - <p> - They reached the avenue of cypress, where they were lost among the crowd - of those questioning them. One of them remained apart, standing. Through - the rents in his tunic his shoulders could be seen striped with long - scars. Drooping his chin, he looked round him with distrust, closing his - eyelids somewhat against the dazzling light of the torches, but when he - saw that none of the armed men were unfriendly to him, a great sigh - escaped from his breast; he stammered, he sneered through the bright tears - that bathed his face. At last he seized a brimming cantharus by its rings, - raised it straight up into the air with his outstretched arms, from which - his chains hung down, and then looking to heaven, and still holding the - cup he said: - </p> - <p> - “Hail first to thee, Baal-Eschmoun, the deliverer, whom the people - of my country call Æsculapius! and to you, genii of the fountains, light, - and woods! and to you, ye gods hidden beneath the mountains and in the - caverns of the earth! and to you, strong men in shining armour who have - set me free!” - </p> - <p> - Then he let fall the cup and related his history. He was called Spendius. - The Carthaginians had taken him in the battle of Æginusæ, and he thanked - the Mercenaries once more in Greek, Ligurian and Punic; he kissed their - hands; finally, he congratulated them on the banquet, while expressing his - surprise at not perceiving the cups of the Sacred Legion. These cups, - which bore an emerald vine on each of their six golden faces, belonged to - a corps composed exclusively of young patricians of the tallest stature. - They were a privilege, almost a sacerdotal distinction, and accordingly - nothing among the treasures of the Republic was more coveted by the - Mercenaries. They detested the Legion on this account, and some of them - had been known to risk their lives for the inconceivable pleasure of - drinking out of these cups. - </p> - <p> - Accordingly they commanded that the cups should be brought. They were in - the keeping of the Syssitia, companies of traders, who had a common table. - The slaves returned. At that hour all the members of the Syssitia were - asleep. - </p> - <p> - “Let them be awakened!” responded the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - After a second excursion it was explained to them that the cups were shut - up in a temple. - </p> - <p> - “Let it be opened!” they replied. - </p> - <p> - And when the slaves confessed with trembling that they were in the - possession of Gisco, the general, they cried out: - </p> - <p> - “Let him bring them!” - </p> - <p> - Gisco soon appeared at the far end of the garden with an escort of the - Sacred Legion. His full, black cloak, which was fastened on his head to a - golden mitre starred with precious stones, and which hung all about him - down to his horse’s hoofs, blended in the distance with the colour - of the night. His white beard, the radiancy of his head-dress, and his - triple necklace of broad blue plates beating against his breast, were - alone visible. - </p> - <p> - When he entered, the soldiers greeted him with loud shouts, all crying: - </p> - <p> - “The cups! The cups!” - </p> - <p> - He began by declaring that if reference were had to their courage, they - were worthy of them. - </p> - <p> - The crowd applauded and howled with joy. - </p> - <p> - <i>He</i> knew it, he who had commanded them over yonder, and had returned - with the last cohort in the last galley! - </p> - <p> - “True! True!” said they. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless, Gisco continued, the Republic had respected their national - divisions, their customs, and their modes of worship; in Carthage they - were free! As to the cups of the Sacred Legion, they were private - property. Suddenly a Gaul, who was close to Spendius, sprang over the - tables and ran straight up to Gisco, gesticulating and threatening him - with two naked swords. - </p> - <p> - Without interrupting his speech, the General struck him on the head with - his heavy ivory staff, and the Barbarian fell. The Gauls howled, and their - frenzy, which was spreading to the others, would soon have swept away the - legionaries. Gisco shrugged his shoulders as he saw them growing pale. He - thought that his courage would be useless against these exasperated brute - beasts. It would be better to revenge himself upon them by some artifice - later; accordingly, he signed to his soldiers and slowly withdrew. Then, - turning in the gateway towards the Mercenaries, he cried to them that they - would repent of it. - </p> - <p> - The feast recommenced. But Gisco might return, and by surrounding the - suburb, which was beside the last ramparts, might crush them against the - walls. Then they felt themselves alone in spite of their crowd, and the - great town sleeping beneath them in the shade suddenly made them afraid, - with its piles of staircases, its lofty black houses, and its vague gods - fiercer even than its people. In the distance a few ships’-lanterns - were gliding across the harbour, and there were lights in the temple of - Khamon. They thought of Hamilcar. Where was he? Why had he forsaken them - when peace was concluded? His differences with the Council were doubtless - but a pretence in order to destroy them. Their unsatisfied hate recoiled - upon him, and they cursed him, exasperating one another with their own - anger. At this juncture they collected together beneath the plane-trees to - see a slave who, with eyeballs fixed, neck contorted, and lips covered - with foam, was rolling on the ground, and beating the soil with his limbs. - Some one cried out that he was poisoned. All then believed themselves - poisoned. They fell upon the slaves, a terrible clamour was raised, and a - vertigo of destruction came like a whirlwind upon the drunken army. They - struck about them at random, they smashed, they slew; some hurled torches - into the foliage; others, leaning over the lions’ balustrade, - massacred the animals with arrows; the most daring ran to the elephants, - desiring to cut down their trunks and eat ivory. - </p> - <p> - Some Balearic slingers, however, who had gone round the corner of the - palace, in order to pillage more conveniently, were checked by a lofty - barrier, made of Indian cane. They cut the lock-straps with their daggers, - and then found themselves beneath the front that faced Carthage, in - another garden full of trimmed vegetation. Lines of white flowers all - following one another in regular succession formed long parabolas like - star-rockets on the azure-coloured earth. The gloomy bushes exhaled warm - and honied odours. There were trunks of trees smeared with cinnabar, which - resembled columns covered with blood. In the centre were twelve pedestals, - each supporting a great glass ball, and these hollow globes were - indistinctly filled with reddish lights, like enormous and still - palpitating eyeballs. The soldiers lighted themselves with torches as they - stumbled on the slope of the deeply laboured soil. - </p> - <p> - But they perceived a little lake divided into several basins by walls of - blue stones. So limpid was the wave that the flames of the torches - quivered in it at the very bottom, on a bed of white pebbles and golden - dust. It began to bubble, luminous spangles glided past, and great fish - with gems about their mouths, appeared near the surface. - </p> - <p> - With much laughter the soldiers slipped their fingers into the gills and - brought them to the tables. They were the fish of the Barca family, and - were all descended from those primordial lotes which had hatched the - mystic egg wherein the goddess was concealed. The idea of committing a - sacrilege revived the greediness of the Mercenaries; they speedily placed - fire beneath some brazen vases, and amused themselves by watching the - beautiful fish struggling in the boiling water. - </p> - <p> - The surge of soldiers pressed on. They were no longer afraid. They - commenced to drink again. Their ragged tunics were wet with the perfumes - that flowed in large drops from their foreheads, and resting both fists on - the tables, which seemed to them to be rocking like ships, they rolled - their great drunken eyes around to devour by sight what they could not - take. Others walked amid the dishes on the purple table covers, breaking - ivory stools, and phials of Tyrian glass to pieces with their feet. Songs - mingled with the death-rattle of the slaves expiring amid the broken cups. - They demanded wine, meat, gold. They cried out for women. They raved in a - hundred languages. Some thought that they were at the vapour baths on - account of the steam which floated around them, or else, catching sight of - the foliage, imagined that they were at the chase, and rushed upon their - companions as upon wild beasts. The conflagration spread to all the trees, - one after another, and the lofty mosses of verdure, emitting long white - spirals, looked like volcanoes beginning to smoke. The clamour redoubled; - the wounded lions roared in the shade. - </p> - <p> - In an instant the highest terrace of the palace was illuminated, the - central door opened, and a woman, Hamilcar’s daughter herself, - clothed in black garments, appeared on the threshold. She descended the - first staircase, which ran obliquely along the first story, then the - second, and the third, and stopped on the last terrace at the head of the - galley staircase. Motionless and with head bent, she gazed upon the - soldiers. - </p> - <p> - Behind her, on each side, were two long shadows of pale men, clad in - white, red-fringed robes, which fell straight to their feet. They had no - beard, no hair, no eyebrows. In their hands, which sparkled with rings, - they carried enormous lyres, and with shrill voice they sang a hymn to the - divinity of Carthage. They were the eunuch priests of the temple of - Tanith, who were often summoned by Salammbô to her house. - </p> - <p> - At last she descended the galley staircase. The priests followed her. She - advanced into the avenue of cypress, and walked slowly through the tables - of the captains, who drew back somewhat as they watched her pass. - </p> - <p> - Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the form - of a tower, after the fashion of the Chanaanite maidens, added to her - height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell to the - corners of her mouth, which was as rosy as a half-open pomegranate. On her - breast was a collection of luminous stones, their variegation imitating - the scales of the murena. Her arms were adorned with diamonds, and issued - naked from her sleeveless tunic, which was starred with red flowers on a - perfectly black ground. Between her ankles she wore a golden chainlet to - regulate her steps, and her large dark purple mantle, cut of an unknown - material, trailed behind her, making, as it were, at each step, a broad - wave which followed her. - </p> - <p> - The priests played nearly stifled chords on their lyres from time to time, - and in the intervals of the music might be heard the tinkling of the - little golden chain, and the regular patter of her papyrus sandals. - </p> - <p> - No one as yet was acquainted with her. It was only known that she led a - retired life, engaged in pious practices. Some soldiers had seen her in - the night on the summit of her palace kneeling before the stars amid the - eddyings from kindled perfuming-pans. It was the moon that had made her so - pale, and there was something from the gods that enveloped her like a - subtle vapour. Her eyes seemed to gaze far beyond terrestrial space. She - bent her head as she walked, and in her right hand she carried a little - ebony lyre. - </p> - <p> - They heard her murmur: - </p> - <p> - “Dead! All dead! No more will you come obedient to my voice as when, - seated on the edge of the lake, I used to through seeds of the watermelon - into your mouths! The mystery of Tanith ranged in the depths of your eyes - that were more limpid than the globules of rivers.” And she called - them by their names, which were those of the months—“Siv! - Sivan! Tammouz, Eloul, Tischri, Schebar! Ah! have pity on me, goddess!” - </p> - <p> - The soldiers thronged about her without understanding what she said. They - wondered at her attire, but she turned a long frightened look upon them - all, then sinking her head beneath her shoulders, and waving her arms, she - repeated several times: - </p> - <p> - “What have you done? what have you done? - </p> - <p> - “Yet you had bread, and meats and oil, and all the malobathrum of - the granaries for your enjoyment! I had brought oxen from Hecatompylos; I - had sent hunters into the desert!” Her voice swelled; her cheeks - purpled. She added, “Where, pray, are you now? In a conquered town, - or in the palace of a master? And what master? Hamilcar the Suffet, my - father, the servant of the Baals! It was he who withheld from Lutatius - those arms of yours, red now with the blood of his slaves! Know you of any - in your own lands more skilled in the conduct of battles? Look! our palace - steps are encumbered with our victories! Ah! desist not! burn it! I will - carry away with me the genius of my house, my black serpent slumbering up - yonder on lotus leaves! I will whistle and he will follow me, and if I - embark in a galley he will speed in the wake of my ship over the foam of - the waves.” - </p> - <p> - Her delicate nostrils were quivering. She crushed her nails against the - gems on her bosom. Her eyes drooped, and she resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! poor Carthage! lamentable city! No longer hast thou for thy - protection the strong men of former days who went beyond the oceans to - build temples on their shores. All the lands laboured about thee, and the - sea-plains, ploughed by thine oars, rocked with thy harvests.” Then - she began to sing the adventures of Melkarth, the god of the Sidonians, - and the father of her family. - </p> - <p> - She told of the ascent of the mountains of Ersiphonia, the journey to - Tartessus, and the war against Masisabal to avenge the queen of the - serpents: - </p> - <p> - “He pursued the female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead - leaves like a silver brook, into the forest, and came to a plain where - women with dragon-croups were round a great fire, standing erect on the - points of their tails. The blood-coloured moon was shining within a pale - circle, and their scarlet tongues, cloven like the harpoons of fishermen, - reached curling forth to the very edge of the flame.” - </p> - <p> - Then Salammbô, without pausing, related how Melkarth, after vanquishing - Masisabal, placed her severed head on the prow of his ship. “At each - throb of the waves it sank beneath the foam, but the sun embalmed it; it - became harder than gold; nevertheless the eyes ceased not to weep, and the - tears fell into the water continually.” - </p> - <p> - She sang all this in an old Chanaanite idiom, which the Barbarians did not - understand. They asked one another what she could be saying to them with - those frightful gestures which accompanied her speech, and mounted round - about her on the tables, beds, and sycamore boughs, they strove with open - mouths and craned necks to grasp the vague stories hovering before their - imaginations, through the dimness of the theogonies, like phantoms wrapped - in cloud. - </p> - <p> - Only the beardless priests understood Salammbô; their wrinkled hands, - which hung over the strings of their lyres, quivered, and from time to - time they would draw forth a mournful chord; for, feebler than old women, - they trembled at once with mystic emotion, and with the fear inspired by - men. The Barbarians heeded them not, but listened continually to the - maiden’s song. - </p> - <p> - None gazed at her like a young Numidian chief, who was placed at the - captains’ tables among soldiers of his own nation. His girdle so - bristled with darts that it formed a swelling in his ample cloak, which - was fastened on his temples with a leather lace. The cloth parted asunder - as it fell upon his shoulders, and enveloped his countenance in shadow, so - that only the fires of his two fixed eyes could be seen. It was by chance - that he was at the feast, his father having domiciled him with the Barca - family, according to the custom by which kings used to send their children - into the households of the great in order to pave the way for alliances; - but Narr’ Havas had lodged there for six months without having - hitherto seen Salammbô, and now, seated on his heels, with his head - brushing the handles of his javelins, he was watching her with dilated - nostrils, like a leopard crouching among the bamboos. - </p> - <p> - On the other side of the tables was a Libyan of colossal stature, and with - short black curly hair. He had retained only his military jacket, the - brass plates of which were tearing the purple of the couch. A necklace of - silver moons was tangled in his hairy breast. His face was stained with - splashes of blood; he was leaning on his left elbow with a smile on his - large, open mouth. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô had abandoned the sacred rhythm. With a woman’s subtlety - she was simultaneously employing all the dialects of the Barbarians in - order to appease their anger. To the Greeks she spoke Greek; then she - turned to the Ligurians, the Campanians, the Negroes, and listening to her - each one found again in her voice the sweetness of his native land. She - now, carried away by the memories of Carthage, sang of the ancient battles - against Rome; they applauded. She kindled at the gleaming of the naked - swords, and cried aloud with outstretched arms. Her lyre fell, she was - silent; and, pressing both hands upon her heart, she remained for some - minutes with closed eyelids enjoying the agitation of all these men. - </p> - <p> - Matho, the Libyan, leaned over towards her. Involuntarily she approached - him, and impelled by grateful pride, poured him a long stream of wine into - a golden cup in order to conciliate the army. - </p> - <p> - “Drink!” she said. - </p> - <p> - He took the cup, and was carrying it to his lips when a Gaul, the same - that had been hurt by Gisco, struck him on the shoulder, while in a jovial - manner he gave utterance to pleasantries in his native tongue. Spendius - was not far off, and he volunteered to interpret them. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - “The gods protect you; you are going to become rich. When will the - nuptials be?” - </p> - <p> - “What nuptials?” - </p> - <p> - “Yours! for with us,” said the Gaul, “when a woman gives - drink to a soldier, it means that she offers him her couch.” - </p> - <p> - He had not finished when Narr’ Havas, with a bound, drew a javelin - from his girdle, and, leaning his right foot upon the edge of the table, - hurled it against Matho. - </p> - <p> - The javelin whistled among the cups, and piercing the Lybian’s arm, - pinned it so firmly to the cloth, that the shaft quivered in the air. - </p> - <p> - Matho quickly plucked it out; but he was weaponless and naked; at last he - lifted the over-laden table with both arms, and flung it against Narr’ - Havas into the very centre of the crowd that rushed between them. The - soldiers and Numidians pressed together so closely that they were unable - to draw their swords. Matho advanced dealing great blows with his head. - When he raised it, Narr’ Havas had disappeared. He sought for him - with his eyes. Salammbô also was gone. - </p> - <p> - Then directing his looks to the palace he perceived the red door with the - black cross closing far above, and he darted away. - </p> - <p> - They saw him run between the prows of the galleys, and then reappear along - the three staircases until he reached the red door against which he dashed - his whole body. Panting, he leaned against the wall to keep himself from - falling. - </p> - <p> - But a man had followed him, and through the darkness, for the lights of - the feast were hidden by the corner of the palace, he recognised Spendius. - </p> - <p> - “Begone!” said he. - </p> - <p> - The slave without replying began to tear his tunic with his teeth; then - kneeling beside Matho he tenderly took his arm, and felt it in the shadow - to discover the wound. - </p> - <p> - By a ray of the moon which was then gliding between the clouds, Spendius - perceived a gaping wound in the middle of the arm. He rolled the piece of - stuff about it, but the other said irritably, “Leave me! leave me!” - </p> - <p> - “Oh no!” replied the slave. “You released me from the - ergastulum. I am yours! you are my master! command me!” - </p> - <p> - Matho walked round the terrace brushing against the walls. He strained his - ears at every step, glancing down into the silent apartments through the - spaces between the gilded reeds. At last he stopped with a look of - despair. - </p> - <p> - “Listen!” said the slave to him. “Oh! do not despise me - for my feebleness! I have lived in the palace. I can wind like a viper - through the walls. Come! in the Ancestor’s Chamber there is an ingot - of gold beneath every flagstone; an underground path leads to their tombs.” - </p> - <p> - “Well! what matters it?” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - Spendius was silent. - </p> - <p> - They were on the terrace. A huge mass of shadow stretched before them, - appearing as if it contained vague accumulations, like the gigantic - billows of a black and petrified ocean. - </p> - <p> - But a luminous bar rose towards the East; far below, on the left, the - canals of Megara were beginning to stripe the verdure of the gardens with - their windings of white. The conical roofs of the heptagonal temples, the - staircases, terraces, and ramparts were being carved by degrees upon the - paleness of the dawn; and a girdle of white foam rocked around the - Carthaginian peninsula, while the emerald sea appeared as if it were - curdled in the freshness of the morning. Then as the rosy sky grew larger, - the lofty houses, bending over the sloping soil, reared and massed - themselves like a herd of black goats coming down from the mountains. The - deserted streets lengthened; the palm-trees that topped the walls here and - there were motionless; the brimming cisterns seemed like silver bucklers - lost in the courts; the beacon on the promontory of Hermæum was beginning - to grow pale. The horses of Eschmoun, on the very summit of the Acropolis - in the cypress wood, feeling that the light was coming, placed their hoofs - on the marble parapet, and neighed towards the sun. - </p> - <p> - It appeared, and Spendius raised his arms with a cry. - </p> - <p> - Everything stirred in a diffusion of red, for the god, as if he were - rending himself, now poured full-rayed upon Carthage the golden rain of - his veins. The beaks of the galleys sparkled, the roof of Khamon appeared - to be all in flames, while far within the temples, whose doors were - opening, glimmerings of light could be seen. Large chariots, arriving from - the country, rolled their wheels over the flagstones in the streets. - Dromedaries, baggage-laden, came down the ramps. Money-changers raised the - pent-houses of their shops at the cross ways, storks took to flight, white - sails fluttered. In the wood of Tanith might be heard the tabourines of - the sacred courtesans, and the furnaces for baking the clay coffins were - beginning to smoke on the Mappalian point. - </p> - <p> - Spendius leaned over the terrace; his teeth chattered and he repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! yes—yes—master! I understand why you scorned the - pillage of the house just now.” - </p> - <p> - Matho was as if he had just been awaked by the hissing of his voice, and - did not seem to understand. Spendius resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! what riches! and the men who possess them have not even the - steel to defend them!” - </p> - <p> - Then, pointing with his right arm outstretched to some of the populace who - were crawling on the sand outside the mole to look for gold dust: - </p> - <p> - “See!” he said to him, “the Republic is like these - wretches: bending on the brink of the ocean, she buries her greedy arms in - every shore, and the noise of the billows so fills her ear that she cannot - hear behind her the tread of a master’s heel!” - </p> - <p> - He drew Matho to quite the other end of the terrace, and showed him the - garden, wherein the soldiers’ swords, hanging on the trees, were - like mirrors in the sun. - </p> - <p> - “But here there are strong men whose hatred is roused! and nothing - binds them to Carthage, neither families, oaths nor gods!” - </p> - <p> - Matho remained leaning against the wall; Spendius came close, and - continued in a low voice: - </p> - <p> - “Do you understand me, soldier? We should walk purple-clad like - satraps. We should bathe in perfumes; and I should in turn have slaves! - Are you not weary of sleeping on hard ground, of drinking the vinegar of - the camps, and of continually hearing the trumpet? But you will rest - later, will you not? When they pull off your cuirass to cast your corpse - to the vultures! or perhaps blind, lame, and weak you will go, leaning on - a stick, from door to door to tell of your youth to pickle-sellers and - little children. Remember all the injustice of your chiefs, the campings - in the snow, the marchings in the sun, the tyrannies of discipline, and - the everlasting menace of the cross! And after all this misery they have - given you a necklace of honour, as they hang a girdle of bells round the - breast of an ass to deafen it on its journey, and prevent it from feeling - fatigue. A man like you, braver than Pyrrhus! If only you had wished it! - Ah! how happy will you be in large cool halls, with the sound of lyres, - lying on flowers, with women and buffoons! Do not tell me that the - enterprise is impossible. Have not the Mercenaries already possessed - Rhegium and other fortified places in Italy? Who is to prevent you? - Hamilcar is away; the people execrate the rich; Gisco can do nothing with - the cowards who surround him. Command them! Carthage is ours; let us fall - upon it!” - </p> - <p> - “No!” said Matho, “the curse of Moloch weighs upon me. I - felt it in her eyes, and just now I saw a black ram retreating in a - temple.” Looking around him he added: “But where is she?” - </p> - <p> - Then Spendius understood that a great disquiet possessed him, and did not - venture to speak again. - </p> - <p> - The trees behind them were still smoking; half-burned carcases of apes - dropped from their blackened boughs from time to time into the midst of - the dishes. Drunken soldiers snored open-mouthed by the side of the - corpses, and those who were not asleep lowered their heads dazzled by the - light of day. The trampled soil was hidden beneath splashes of red. The - elephants poised their bleeding trunks between the stakes of their pens. - In the open granaries might be seen sacks of spilled wheat, below the gate - was a thick line of chariots which had been heaped up by the Barbarians, - and the peacocks perched in the cedars were spreading their tails and - beginning to utter their cry. - </p> - <p> - Matho’s immobility, however, astonished Spendius; he was even paler - than he had recently been, and he was following something on the horizon - with fixed eyeballs, and with both fists resting on the edge of the - terrace. Spendius crouched down, and so at last discovered at what he was - gazing. In the distance a golden speck was turning in the dust on the road - to Utica; it was the nave of a chariot drawn by two mules; a slave was - running at the end of the pole, and holding them by the bridle. Two women - were seated in the chariot. The manes of the animals were puffed between - the ears after the Persian fashion, beneath a network of blue pearls. - Spendius recognised them, and restrained a cry. - </p> - <p> - A large veil floated behind in the wind. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"></a> - CHAPTER II - </h2> - <h3> - AT SICCA - </h3> - <p> - Two days afterwards the Mercenaries left Carthage. - </p> - <p> - They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they should - go into camp at Sicca, and they had been told with all sorts of caresses: - </p> - <p> - “You are the saviours of Carthage! But you would starve it if you - remained there; it would become insolvent. Withdraw! The Republic will be - grateful to you later for all this condescension. We are going to levy - taxes immediately; your pay shall be in full, and galleys shall be - equipped to take you back to your native lands.” - </p> - <p> - They did not know how to reply to all this talk. These men, accustomed as - they were to war, were wearied by residence in a town; there was - difficulty in convincing them, and the people mounted the walls to see - them go away. - </p> - <p> - They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, pell-mell, - archers with hoplites, captains with soldiers, Lusitanians with Greeks. - They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy cothurni on the paving - stones. Their armour was dented by the catapult, and their faces blackened - by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse cries issued from their thick beards, - their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the pommels of their swords, and - through the holes in the brass might be seen their naked limbs, as - frightful as engines of war. Sarissæ, axes, spears, felt caps and bronze - helmets, all swung together with a single motion. They filled the street - thickly enough to have made the walls crack, and the long mass of armed - soldiers overflowed between the lofty bitumen-smeared houses six storys - high. Behind their gratings of iron or reed the women, with veiled heads, - silently watched the Barbarians pass. - </p> - <p> - The terraces, fortifications, and walls were hidden beneath the crowd of - Carthaginians, who were dressed in garments of black. The sailors’ - tunics showed like drops of blood among the dark multitude, and nearly - naked children, whose skin shone beneath their copper bracelets, - gesticulated in the foliage of the columns, or amid the branches of a palm - tree. Some of the Ancients were posted on the platform of the towers, and - people did not know why a personage with a long beard stood thus in a - dreamy attitude here and there. He appeared in the distance against the - background of the sky, vague as a phantom and motionless as stone. - </p> - <p> - All, however, were oppressed with the same anxiety; it was feared that the - Barbarians, seeing themselves so strong, might take a fancy to stay. But - they were leaving with so much good faith that the Carthaginians grew bold - and mingled with the soldiers. They overwhelmed them with protestations - and embraces. Some with exaggerated politeness and audacious hypocrisy - even sought to induce them not to leave the city. They threw perfumes, - flowers, and pieces of silver to them. They gave them amulets to avert - sickness; but they had spit upon them three times to attract death, or had - enclosed jackal’s hair within them to put cowardice into their - hearts. Aloud, they invoked Melkarth’s favour, and in a whisper, his - curse. - </p> - <p> - Then came the mob of baggage, beasts of burden, and stragglers. The sick - groaned on the backs of dromedaries, while others limped along leaning on - broken pikes. The drunkards carried leathern bottles, and the greedy - quarters of meat, cakes, fruits, butter wrapped in fig leaves, and snow in - linen bags. Some were to be seen with parasols in their hands, and parrots - on their shoulders. They had mastiffs, gazelles, and panthers following - behind them. Women of Libyan race, mounted on asses, inveighed against the - Negresses who had forsaken the lupanaria of Malqua for the soldiers; many - of them were suckling children suspended on their bosoms by leathern - thongs. The mules were goaded out at the point of the sword, their backs - bending beneath the load of tents, while there were numbers of serving-men - and water-carriers, emaciated, jaundiced with fever, and filthy with - vermin, the scum of the Carthaginian populace, who had attached themselves - to the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - When they had passed, the gates were shut behind them, but the people did - not descend from the walls. The army soon spread over the breadth of the - isthmus. - </p> - <p> - It parted into unequal masses. Then the lances appeared like tall blades - of grass, and finally all was lost in a train of dust; those of the - soldiers who looked back towards Carthage could now only see its long - walls with their vacant battlements cut out against the edge of the sky. - </p> - <p> - Then the Barbarians heard a great shout. They thought that some from among - them (for they did not know their own number) had remained in the town, - and were amusing themselves by pillaging a temple. They laughed a great - deal at the idea of this, and then continued their journey. - </p> - <p> - They were rejoiced to find themselves, as in former days, marching all - together in the open country, and some of the Greeks sang the old song of - the Mamertines: - </p> - <p> - “With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of the - house! The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and Great King.” - </p> - <p> - They shouted, they leaped, the merriest began to tell stories; the time of - their miseries was past. As they arrived at Tunis, some of them remarked - that a troop of Balearic slingers was missing. They were doubtless not far - off; and no further heed was paid to them. - </p> - <p> - Some went to lodge in the houses, others camped at the foot of the walls, - and the townspeople came out to chat with the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - During the whole night fires were seen burning on the horizon in the - direction of Carthage; the light stretched like giant torches across the - motionless lake. No one in the army could tell what festival was being - celebrated. - </p> - <p> - On the following day the Barbarians passed through a region that - was covered with cultivation. The domains of the patricians succeeded one - another along the border of the route; channels of water flowed through - woods of palm; there were long, green lines of olive-trees; rose-coloured - vapours floated in the gorges of the hills, while blue mountains reared - themselves behind. A warm wind was blowing. Chameleons were crawling on - the broad leaves of the cactus. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians slackened their speed. - </p> - <p> - They marched on in isolated detachments, or lagged behind one another at - long intervals. They ate grapes along the margin of the vines. They lay on - the grass and gazed with stupefaction upon the large, artificially twisted - horns of the oxen, the sheep clothed with skins to protect their wool, the - furrows crossing one another so as to form lozenges, and the ploughshares - like ships’ anchors, with the pomegranate trees that were watered - with silphium. Such wealth of the soil and such inventions of wisdom - dazzled them. - </p> - <p> - In the evening they stretched themselves on the tents without unfolding - them; and thought with regret of Hamilcar’s feast, as they fell - asleep with their faces towards the stars. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the following day they halted on the bank of a river, - amid clumps of rose-bays. Then they quickly threw aside lances, bucklers - and belts. They bathed with shouts, and drew water in their helmets, while - others drank lying flat on their stomachs, and all in the midst of the - beasts of burden whose baggage was slipping from them. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, who was seated on a dromedary stolen in Hamilcar’s parks, - perceived Matho at a distance, with his arm hanging against his breast, - his head bare, and his face bent down, giving his mule drink, and watching - the water flow. Spendius immediately ran through the crowd calling him, - “Master! master!” - </p> - <p> - Matho gave him but scant thanks for his blessings, but Spendius paid no - heed to this, and began to march behind him, from time to time turning - restless glances in the direction of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - He was the son of a Greek rhetor and a Campanian prostitute. He had at - first grown rich by dealing in women; then, ruined by a shipwreck, he had - made war against the Romans with the herdsmen of Samnium. He had been - taken and had escaped; he had been retaken, and had worked in the - quarries, panted in the vapour-baths, shrieked under torture, passed - through the hands of many masters, and experienced every frenzy. At last, - one day, in despair, he had flung himself into the sea from the top of a - trireme where he was working at the oar. Some of Hamilcar’s sailors - had picked him up when at the point of death, and had brought him to the - ergastulum of Megara, at Carthage. But, as fugitives were to be given back - to the Romans, he had taken advantage of the confusion to fly with the - soldiers. - </p> - <p> - During the whole of the march he remained near Matho; he brought him food, - assisted him to dismount, and spread a carpet in the evening beneath his - head. Matho at last was touched by these attentions, and by degrees - unlocked his lips. - </p> - <p> - He had been born in the gulf of Syrtis. His father had taken him on a - pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon. Then he had hunted elephants in the - forests of the Garamantes. Afterwards he had entered the service of - Carthage. He had been appointed tetrarch at the capture of Drepanum. The - Republic owed him four horses, twenty-three medimni of wheat, and a winter’s - pay. He feared the gods, and wished to die in his native land. - </p> - <p> - Spendius spoke to him of his travels, and of the peoples and temples that - he had visited. He knew many things: he could make sandals, boar-spears - and nets; he could tame wild beasts and could cook fish. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes he would interrupt himself, and utter a hoarse cry from the - depths of his throat; Matho’s mule would quicken his pace, and - others would hasten after them, and then Spendius would begin again though - still torn with agony. This subsided at last on the evening of the fourth - day. - </p> - <p> - They were marching side by side to the right of the army on the side of a - hill; below them stretched the plain lost in the vapours of the night. The - lines of soldiers also were defiling below, making undulations in the - shade. From time to time these passed over eminences lit up by the moon; - then stars would tremble on the points of the pikes, the helmets would - glimmer for an instant, all would disappear, and others would come on - continually. Startled flocks bleated in the distance, and a something of - infinite sweetness seemed to sink upon the earth. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, with his head thrown back and his eyes half-closed, inhaled the - freshness of the wind with great sighs; he spread out his arms, moving his - fingers that he might the better feel the cares that streamed over his - body. Hopes of vengeance came back to him and transported him. He pressed - his hand upon his mouth to check his sobs, and half-swooning with - intoxication, let go the halter of his dromedary, which was proceeding - with long, regular steps. Matho had relapsed into his former melancholy; - his legs hung down to the ground, and the grass made a continuous rustling - as it beat against his cothurni. - </p> - <p> - The journey, however, spread itself out without ever coming to an end. At - the extremity of a plain they would always reach a round-shaped plateau; - then they would descend again into a valley, and the mountains which - seemed to block up the horizon would, in proportion as they were - approached, glide as it were from their positions. From time to time a - river would appear amid the verdure of tamarisks to lose itself at the - turning of the hills. Sometimes a huge rock would tower aloft like the - prow of a vessel or the pedestal of some vanished colossus. - </p> - <p> - At regular intervals they met with little quadrangular temples, which - served as stations for the pilgrims who repaired to Sicca. They were - closed like tombs. The Libyans struck great blows upon the doors to have - them opened. But no one inside responded. - </p> - <p> - Then the cultivation became more rare. They suddenly entered upon belts of - sand bristling with thorny thickets. Flocks of sheep were browsing among - the stones; a woman with a blue fleece about her waist was watching them. - She fled screaming when she saw the soldiers’ pikes among the rocks. - </p> - <p> - They were marching through a kind of large passage bordered by two chains - of reddish coloured hillocks, when their nostrils were greeted with a - nauseous odour, and they thought that they could see something - extraordinary on the top of a carob tree: a lion’s head reared - itself above the leaves. - </p> - <p> - They ran thither. It was a lion with his four limbs fastened to a cross - like a criminal. His huge muzzle fell upon his breast, and his two - fore-paws, half-hidden beneath the abundance of his mane, were spread out - wide like the wings of a bird. His ribs stood severally out beneath his - distended skin; his hind legs, which were nailed against each other, were - raised somewhat, and the black blood, flowing through his hair, had - collected in stalactites at the end of his tail, which hung down perfectly - straight along the cross. The soldiers made merry around; they called him - consul, and Roman citizen, and threw pebbles into his eyes to drive away - the gnats. - </p> - <p> - But a hundred paces further on they saw two more, and then there suddenly - appeared a long file of crosses bearing lions. Some had been so long dead - that nothing was left against the wood but the remains of their skeletons; - others which were half eaten away had their jaws twisted into horrible - grimaces; there were some enormous ones; the shafts of the crosses bent - beneath them, and they swayed in the wind, while bands of crows wheeled - ceaselessly in the air above their heads. It was thus that the - Carthaginian peasants avenged themselves when they captured a wild beast; - they hoped to terrify the others by such an example. The Barbarians ceased - their laughter, and were long lost in amazement. “What people is - this,” they thought, “that amuses itself by crucifying lions!” - </p> - <p> - They were, besides, especially the men of the North, vaguely uneasy, - troubled, and already sick. They tore their hands with the darts of the - aloes; great mosquitoes buzzed in their ears, and dysentry was breaking - out in the army. They were weary at not yet seeing Sicca. They were afraid - of losing themselves and of reaching the desert, the country of sands and - terrors. Many even were unwilling to advance further. Others started back - to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - At last on the seventh day, after following the base of a mountain for a - long time, they turned abruptly to the right, and there then appeared a - line of walls resting on white rocks and blending with them. Suddenly the - entire city rose; blue, yellow, and white veils moved on the walls in the - redness of the evening. These were the priestesses of Tanith, who had - hastened hither to receive the men. They stood ranged along the rampart, - striking tabourines, playing lyres, and shaking crotala, while the rays of - the sun, setting behind them in the mountains of Numidia, shot between the - strings of their lyres over which their naked arms were stretched. At - intervals their instruments would become suddenly still, and a cry would - break forth strident, precipitate, frenzied, continuous, a sort of barking - which they made by striking both corners of the mouth with the tongue. - Others, more motionless than the Sphynx, rested on their elbows with their - chins on their hands, and darted their great black eyes upon the army as - it ascended. - </p> - <p> - Although Sicca was a sacred town it could not hold such a multitude; the - temple alone, with its appurtenances, occupied half of it. Accordingly the - Barbarians established themselves at their ease on the plain; those who - were disciplined in regular troops, and the rest according to nationality - or their own fancy. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks ranged their tents of skin in parallel lines; the Iberians - placed their canvas pavilions in a circle; the Gauls made themselves huts - of planks; the Libyans cabins of dry stones, while the Negroes with their - nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in. Many, not knowing - where to go, wandered about among the baggage, and at nightfall lay down - in their ragged mantles on the ground. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The plain, which was wholly bounded by mountains, expanded around them. - Here and there a palm tree leaned over a sand hill, and pines and oaks - flecked the sides of the precipices: sometimes the rain of a storm would - hang from the sky like a long scarf, while the country everywhere was - still covered with azure and serenity; then a warm wind would drive before - it tornadoes of dust, and a stream would descend in cascades from the - heights of Sicca, where, with its roofing of gold on its columns of brass, - rose the temple of the Carthaginian Venus, the mistress of the land. She - seemed to fill it with her soul. In such convulsions of the soil, such - alternations of temperature, and such plays of light would she manifest - the extravagance of her might with the beauty of her eternal smile. The - mountains at their summits were crescent-shaped; others were like women’s - bosoms presenting their swelling breasts, and the Barbarians felt a - heaviness that was full of delight weighing down their fatigues. - </p> - <p> - Spendius had bought a slave with the money brought him by his dromedary. - The whole day long he lay asleep stretched before Matho’s tent. - Often he would awake, thinking in his dreams that he heard the whistling - of the thongs; with a smile he would pass his hands over the scars on his - legs at the place where the fetters had long been worn, and then he would - fall asleep again. - </p> - <p> - Matho accepted his companionship, and when he went out Spendius would - escort him like a lictor with a long sword on his thigh; or perhaps Matho - would rest his arm carelessly on the other’s shoulder, for Spendius - was small. - </p> - <p> - One evening when they were passing together through the streets in the - camp they perceived some men covered with white cloaks; among them was - Narr’ Havas, the prince of the Numidians. Matho started. - </p> - <p> - “Your sword!” he cried; “I will kill him!” - </p> - <p> - “Not yet!” said Spendius, restraining him. Narr’ Havas - was already advancing towards him. - </p> - <p> - He kissed both thumbs in token of alliance, showing nothing of the anger - which he had experienced at the drunkenness of the feast; then he spoke at - length against Carthage, but did not say what brought him among the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - “Was it to betray them, or else the Republic?” Spendius asked - himself; and as he expected to profit by every disorder, he felt grateful - to Narr’ Havas for the future perfidies of which he suspected him. - </p> - <p> - The chief of the Numidians remained amongst the Mercenaries. He appeared - desirous of attaching Matho to himself. He sent him fat goats, gold dust, - and ostrich feathers. The Libyan, who was amazed at such caresses, was in - doubt whether to respond to them or to become exasperated at them. But - Spendius pacified him, and Matho allowed himself to be ruled by the slave, - remaining ever irresolute and in an unconquerable torpor, like those who - have once taken a draught of which they are to die. - </p> - <p> - One morning when all three went out lion-hunting, Narr’ Havas - concealed a dagger in his cloak. Spendius kept continually behind him, and - when they returned the dagger had not been drawn. - </p> - <p> - Another time Narr’ Havas took them a long way off, as far as the - boundaries of his kingdom. They came to a narrow gorge, and Narr’ - Havas smiled as he declared that he had forgotten the way. Spendius found - it again. - </p> - <p> - But most frequently Matho would go off at sunrise, as melancholy as an - augur, to wander about the country. He would stretch himself on the sand, - and remain there motionless until the evening. - </p> - <p> - He consulted all the soothsayers in the army one after the other,—those - who watch the trail of serpents, those who read the stars, and those who - breathe upon the ashes of the dead. He swallowed galbanum, seseli, and - viper’s venom which freezes the heart; Negro women, singing - barbarous words in the moonlight, pricked the skin of his forehead with - golden stylets; he loaded himself with necklaces and charms; he invoked in - turn Baal-Khamon, Moloch, the seven Kabiri, Tanith, and the Venus of the - Greeks. He engraved a name upon a copper plate, and buried it in the sand - at the threshold of his tent. Spendius used to hear him groaning and - talking to himself. - </p> - <p> - One night he went in. - </p> - <p> - Matho, as naked as a corpse, was lying on a lion’s skin flat on his - stomach, with his face in both his hands; a hanging lamp lit up his - armour, which was hooked on to the tent-pole above his head. - </p> - <p> - “You are suffering?” said the slave to him. “What is the - matter with you? Answer me?” And he shook him by the shoulder - calling him several times, “Master! master!” - </p> - <p> - At last Matho lifted large troubled eyes towards him. - </p> - <p> - “Listen!” he said in a low voice, and with a finger on his - lips. “It is the wrath of the Gods! Hamilcar’s daughter - pursues me! I am afraid of her, Spendius!” He pressed himself close - against his breast like a child terrified by a phantom. “Speak to - me! I am sick! I want to get well! I have tried everything! But you, you - perhaps know some stronger gods, or some resistless invocation?” - </p> - <p> - “For what purpose?” asked Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Striking his head with both his fists, he replied: - </p> - <p> - “To rid me of her!” - </p> - <p> - Then speaking to himself with long pauses he said: - </p> - <p> - “I am no doubt the victim of some holocaust which she has promised - to the gods?—She holds me fast by a chain which people cannot see. - If I walk, it is she that is advancing; when I stop, she is resting! Her - eyes burn me, I hear her voice. She encompasses me, she penetrates me. It - seems to me that she has become my soul! - </p> - <p> - “And yet between us there are, as it were, the invisible billows of - a boundless ocean! She is far away and quite inaccessible! The splendour - of her beauty forms a cloud of light around her, and at times I think that - I have never seen her—that she does not exist—and that it is - all a dream!” - </p> - <p> - Matho wept thus in the darkness; the Barbarians were sleeping. Spendius, - as he looked at him, recalled the young men who once used to entreat him - with golden cases in their hands, when he led his herd of courtesans - through the towns; a feeling of pity moved him, and he said— - </p> - <p> - “Be strong, my master! Summon your will, and beseech the gods no - more, for they turn not aside at the cries of men! Weeping like a coward! - And you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much suffering?” - </p> - <p> - “Am I a child?” said Matho. “Do you think that I am - moved by their faces and songs? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our - stables. I have embraced them amid assaults, beneath falling ceilings, and - while the catapult was still vibrating!—But she, Spendius, she!—” - </p> - <p> - The slave interrupted him: - </p> - <p> - “If she were not Hanno’s daughter—” - </p> - <p> - “No!” cried Matho. “She has nothing in common with the - daughters of other men! Have you seen her great eyes beneath her great - eyebrows, like suns beneath triumphal arches? Think: when she appeared all - the torches grew pale. Her naked breast shone here and there through the - diamonds of her necklace; behind her you perceived as it were the odour of - a temple, and her whole being emitted something that was sweeter than wine - and more terrible than death. She walked, however, and then she stopped.” - </p> - <p> - He remained gaping with his head cast down and his eyeballs fixed. - </p> - <p> - “But I want her! I need her! I am dying for her! I am transported - with frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms, and yet I - hate her, Spendius! I should like to beat her! What is to be done? I have - a mind to sell myself and become her slave! <i>You</i> have been that! You - were able to get sight of her; speak to me of her! Every night she ascends - to the terrace of her palace, does she not? Ah! the stones must quiver - beneath her sandals, and the stars bend down to see her!” - </p> - <p> - He fell back in a perfect frenzy, with a rattling in his throat like a - wounded bull. - </p> - <p> - Then Matho sang: “He pursued into the forest the female monster, - whose tail undulated over the dead leaves like a silver brook.” And - with lingering tones he imitated Salammbô’s voice, while his - outspread hands were held like two light hands on the strings of a lyre. - </p> - <p> - To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he repeated the same words; - their nights were spent in these wailings and exhortations. - </p> - <p> - Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine. After his fits of drunkenness - he was more melancholy still. He tried to divert himself at huckle-bones, - and lost the gold plates of his necklace one by one. He had himself taken - to the servants of the Goddess; but he came down the hill sobbing, like - one returning from a funeral. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, on the contrary, became more bold and gay. He was to be seen in - the leafy taverns discoursing in the midst of the soldiers. He mended old - cuirasses. He juggled with daggers. He went and gathered herbs in the - fields for the sick. He was facetious, dexterous, full of invention and - talk; the Barbarians grew accustomed to his services, and he came to be - loved by them. - </p> - <p> - However, they were awaiting an ambassador from Carthage to bring them - mules laden with baskets of gold; and ever beginning the same calculation - over again, they would trace figures with their fingers in the sand. Every - one was arranging his life beforehand; they would have concubines, slaves, - lands; others intended to bury their treasure, or risk it on a vessel. But - their tempers were provoked by want of employment; there were constant - disputes between horse-soldiers and foot-soldiers, Barbarians and Greeks, - while there was a never-ending din of shrill female voices. - </p> - <p> - Every day men came flocking in nearly naked, and with grass on their heads - to protect them from the sun; they were the debtors of the rich - Carthaginians and had been forced to till the lands of the latter, but had - escaped. Libyans came pouring in with peasants ruined by the taxes, - outlaws, and malefactors. Then the horde of traders, all the dealers in - wine and oil, who were furious at not being paid, laid the blame upon the - Republic. Spendius declaimed against it. Soon the provisions ran low; and - there was talk of advancing in a body upon Carthage, and calling in the - Romans. - </p> - <p> - One evening, at supper-time, dull cracked sounds were heard approaching, - and something red appeared in the distance among the undulations of the - soil. - </p> - <p> - It was a large purple litter, adorned with ostrich feathers at the - corners. Chains of crystal and garlands of pearls beat against the closed - hangings. It was followed by camels sounding the great bells that hung at - their breasts, and having around them horsemen clad from shoulder to heel - in armour of golden scales. - </p> - <p> - They halted three hundred paces from the camp to take their round - bucklers, broad swords, and Boeotian helmets out of the cases which they - carried behind their saddles. Some remained with the camels, while the - others resumed their march. At last the ensigns of the Republic appeared, - that is to say, staves of blue wood terminated in horses’ heads or - fir cones. The Barbarians all rose with applause; the women rushed towards - the guards of the Legion and kissed their feet. - </p> - <p> - The litter advanced on the shoulders of twelve Negroes who walked in step - with short, rapid strides; they went at random to right or left, being - embarrassed by the tent-ropes, the animals that were straying about, or - the tripods where food was being cooked. Sometimes a fat hand, laden with - rings, would partially open the litter, and a hoarse voice would utter - loud reproaches; then the bearers would stop and take a different - direction through the camp. - </p> - <p> - But the purple curtains were raised, and a human head, impassible and - bloated, was seen resting on a large pillow; the eyebrows, which were like - arches of ebony, met each other at the points; golden dust sparkled in the - frizzled hair, and the face was so wan that it looked as if it had been - powdered with marble raspings. The rest of the body was concealed beneath - the fleeces which filled the litter. - </p> - <p> - In the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, he whose - slackness had assisted to lose the battle of the Ægatian islands; and as - to his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans, even if he did behave - with clemency, thought the Barbarians, it was owing to cupidity, for he - had sold all the captives on his own account, although he had reported - their deaths to the Republic. - </p> - <p> - After seeking for some time a convenient place from which to harangue the - soldiers, he made a sign; the litter stopped, and Hanno, supported by two - slaves, put his tottering feet to the ground. - </p> - <p> - He wore boots of black felt strewn with silver moons. His legs were - swathed in bands like those wrapped about a mummy, and the flesh crept - through the crossings of the linen; his stomach came out beyond the - scarlet jacket which covered his thighs; the folds of his neck fell down - to his breast like the dewlaps of an ox; his tunic, which was painted with - flowers, was bursting at the arm-pits; he wore a scarf, a girdle, and an - ample black cloak with laced double-sleeves. But the abundance of his - garments, his great necklace of blue stones, his golden clasps, and heavy - earrings only rendered his deformity still more hideous. He might have - been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in a block of stone; for a pale - leprosy, which was spread over his whole body, gave him the appearance of - an inert thing. His nose, however, which was hooked like a vulture’s - beak, was violently dilated to breathe in the air, and his little eyes, - with their gummed lashes, shone with a hard and metallic lustre. He held a - spatula of aloe-wood in his hand wherewith to scratch his skin. - </p> - <p> - At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided, and - Hanno commenced to speak. - </p> - <p> - He began with an eulogy of the gods and the Republic; the Barbarians ought - to congratulate themselves on having served it. But they must show - themselves more reasonable; times were hard, “and if a master has - only three olives, is it not right that he should keep two for himself?” - </p> - <p> - The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and apologues, - nodding his head the while to solicit some approval. - </p> - <p> - He spoke in Punic, and those surrounding him (the most alert, who had - hastened thither without their arms), were Campanians, Gauls, and Greeks, - so that no one in the crowd understood him. Hanno, perceiving this, - stopped and reflected, swaying himself heavily from one leg to the other. - </p> - <p> - It occurred to him to call the captains together; then his heralds shouted - the order in Greek, the language which, from the time of Xanthippus, had - been used for commands in the Carthaginian armies. - </p> - <p> - The guards dispersed the mob of soldiers with strokes of the whip; and the - captains of the Spartan phalanxes and the chiefs of the Barbarian cohorts - soon arrived with the insignia of their rank, and in the armour of their - nation. Night had fallen, a great tumult was spreading throughout the - plain; fires were burning here and there; and the soldiers kept going from - one to another asking what the matter was, and why the Suffet did not - distribute the money? - </p> - <p> - He was setting the infinite burdens of the Republic before the captains. - Her treasury was empty. The tribute to Rome was crushing her. “We - are quite at a loss what to do! She is much to be pitied!” - </p> - <p> - From time to time he would rub his limbs with his aloe-wood spatula, or - perhaps he would break off to drink a ptisan made of the ashes of a weasel - and asparagus boiled in vinegar from a silver cup handed to him by a - slave; then he would wipe his lips with a scarlet napkin and resume: - </p> - <p> - “What used to be worth a shekel of silver is now worth three shekels - of gold, while the cultivated lands which were abandoned during the war - bring in nothing! Our purpura fisheries are nearly gone, and even pearls - are becoming exhorbitant; we have scarcely unguents enough for the service - of the gods! As for the things of the table, I shall say nothing about - them; it is a calamity! For want of galleys we are without spices, and it - is a matter of great difficulty to procure silphium on account of the - rebellions on the Cyrenian frontier. Sicily, where so many slaves used to - be had, is now closed to us! Only yesterday I gave more money for a bather - and four scullions than I used at one time to give for a pair of - elephants!” - </p> - <p> - He unrolled a long piece of papyrus; and, without omitting a single - figure, read all the expenses that the government had incurred; so much - for repairing the temples, for paving the streets, for the construction of - vessels, for the coral-fisheries, for the enlargement of the Syssitia, and - for engines in the mines in the country of the Cantabrians. - </p> - <p> - But the captains understood Punic as little as the soldiers, although the - Mercenaries saluted one another in that language. It was usual to place a - few Carthaginian officers in the Barbarian armies to act as interpreters; - after the war they had concealed themselves through fear of vengeance, and - Hanno had not thought of taking them with him; his hollow voice, too, was - lost in the wind. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks, girthed in their iron waist-belts, strained their ears as they - strove to guess at his words, while the mountaineers, covered with furs - like bears, looked at him with distrust, or yawned as they leaned on their - brass-nailed clubs. The heedless Gauls sneered as they shook their lofty - heads of hair, and the men of the desert listened motionless, cowled in - their garments of grey wool; others kept coming up behind; the guards, - crushed by the mob, staggered on their horses; the Negroes held out - burning fir branches at arm’s length; and the big Carthaginian, - mounted on a grassy hillock, continued his harangue. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians, however, were growing impatient; murmuring arose, and - every one apostrophized him. Hanno gesticulated with his spatula; and - those who wished the others to be quiet shouted still more loudly, thereby - adding to the din. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly a man of mean appearance bounded to Hanno’s feet, snatched - up a herald’s trumpet, blew it, and Spendius (for it was he) - announced that he was going to say something of importance. At this - declaration, which was rapidly uttered in five different languages, Greek, - Latin, Gallic, Libyan and Balearic, the captains, half laughing and half - surprised, replied: “Speak! Speak!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius hesitated; he trembled; at last, addressing the Libyans who were - the most numerous, he said to them: - </p> - <p> - “You have all heard this man’s horrible threats!” - </p> - <p> - Hanno made no exclamation, therefore he did not understand Libyan; and, to - carry on the experiment, Spendius repeated the same phrase in the other - Barbarian dialects. - </p> - <p> - They looked at one another in astonishment; then, as by a tacit agreement, - and believing perhaps that they had understood, they bent their heads in - token of assent. - </p> - <p> - Then Spendius began in vehement tones: - </p> - <p> - “He said first that all the Gods of the other nations were but - dreams besides the Gods of Carthage! He called you cowards, thieves, - liars, dogs, and the sons of dogs! But for you (he said that!) the - Republic would not be forced to pay excessive tribute to the Romans; and - through your excesses you have drained it of perfumes, aromatics, slaves, - and silphium, for you are in league with the nomads on the Cyrenian - frontier! But the guilty shall be punished! He read the enumeration of - their torments; they shall be made to work at the paving of the streets, - at the equipment of the vessels, at the adornment of the Syssitia, while - the rest shall be sent to scrape the earth in the mines in the country of - the Cantabrians.” - </p> - <p> - Spendius repeated the same statements to the Gauls, Greeks, Campanians and - Balearians. The Mercenaries, recognising several of the proper names which - had met their ears, were convinced that he was accurately reporting the - Suffet’s speech. A few cried out to him, “You lie!” but - their voices were drowned in the tumult of the rest; Spendius added: - </p> - <p> - “Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horse-soldiers - outside the camp? At a given signal they will hasten hither to slay you - all.” - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians turned in that direction, and as the crowd was then - scattering, there appeared in the midst of them, and advancing with the - slowness of a phantom, a human being, bent, lean, entirely naked, and - covered down to his flanks with long hair bristling with dried leaves, - dust and thorns. About his loins and his knees he had wisps of straw and - linen rags; his soft and earthy skin hung on his emaciated limbs like - tatters on dried boughs; his hands trembled with a continuous quivering, - and as he walked he leaned on a staff of olive-wood. - </p> - <p> - He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches. His pale gums were - displayed in a sort of idiotic titter; his large, scared eyes gazed upon - the crowd of Barbarians around him. - </p> - <p> - But uttering a cry of terror he threw himself behind them, shielding - himself with their bodies. “There they are! There they are!” - he stammered out, pointing to the Suffet’s guards, who were - motionless in their glittering armour. Their horses, dazzled by the light - of the torches which crackled in the darkness, were pawing the ground; the - human spectre struggled and howled: - </p> - <p> - “They have killed them!” - </p> - <p> - At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, some Balearians came up - and recognised him; without answering them he repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Yes, all killed, all! crushed like grapes! The fine young men! the - slingers! my companions and yours!” - </p> - <p> - They gave him wine to drink, and he wept; then he launched forth into - speech. - </p> - <p> - Spendius could scarcely repress his joy, as he explained the horrors - related by Zarxas to the Greeks and Libyans; he could not believe them, so - appropriately did they come in. The Balearians grew pale as they learned - how their companions had perished. - </p> - <p> - It was a troop of three hundred slingers who had disembarked the evening - before, and had on that day slept too late. When they reached the square - of Khamon the Barbarians were gone, and they found themselves defenceless, - their clay bullets having been put on the camels with the rest of the - baggage. They were allowed to advance into the street of Satheb as far as - the brass sheathed oaken gate; then the people with a single impulse had - sprung upon them. - </p> - <p> - Indeed, the soldiers remembered a great shout; Spendius, who was flying at - the head of the columns, had not heard it. - </p> - <p> - Then the corpses were placed in the arms of the Patæc gods that fringed - the temple of Khamon. They were upbraided with all the crimes of the - Mercenaries; their gluttony, their thefts, their impiety, their disdain, - and the murder of the fishes in Salammbô’s garden. Their bodies were - subjected to infamous mutilations; the priests burned their hair in order - to torture their souls; they were hung up in pieces in the meat-shops; - some even buried their teeth in them, and in the evening funeral-piles - were kindled at the cross-ways to finish them. - </p> - <p> - These were the flames that had gleamed from a distance across the lake. - But some houses having taken fire, any dead or dying that remained were - speedily thrown over the walls; Zarxas had remained among the reeds on the - edge of the lake until the following day; then he had wandered about - through the country, seeking for the army by the footprints in the dust. - In the morning he hid himself in caves; in the evening he resumed his - march with his bleeding wounds, famished, sick, living on roots and - carrion; at last one day he perceived lances on the horizon, and he had - followed them, for his reason was disturbed through his terrors and - miseries. - </p> - <p> - The indignation of the soldiers, restrained so long as he was speaking, - broke forth like a tempest; they were going to massacre the guards - together with the Suffet. A few interposed, saying that they ought to hear - him and know at least whether they should be paid. Then they all cried: - “Our money!” Hanno replied that he had brought it. - </p> - <p> - They ran to the outposts, and the Suffet’s baggage arrived in the - midst of the tents, pressed forward by the Barbarians. Without waiting for - the slaves, they very quickly unfastened the baskets; in them they found - hyacinth robes, sponges, scrapers, brushes, perfumes, and antimony pencils - for painting the eyes—all belonging to the guards, who were rich men - and accustomed to such refinements. Next they uncovered a large bronze tub - on a camel: it belonged to the Suffet who had it for bathing in during his - journey; for he had taken all manner of precautions, even going so far as - to bring caged weasels from Hecatompylos, which were burnt alive to make - his ptisan. But, as his malady gave him a great appetite, there were also - many comestibles and many wines, pickle, meats and fishes preserved in - honey, with little pots of Commagene, or melted goose-fat covered with - snow and chopped straw. There was a considerable supply of it; the more - they opened the baskets the more they found, and laughter arose like - conflicting waves. - </p> - <p> - As to the pay of the Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass - baskets; there were even visible in one of them some of the leathern discs - which the Republic used to economise its specie; and as the Barbarians - appeared greatly surprised, Hanno told them that, their accounts being - very difficult, the Ancients had not had leisure to examine them. - Meanwhile they had sent them this. - </p> - <p> - Then everything was in disorder and confusion: mules, serving men, litter, - provisions, and baggage. The soldiers took the coin in the bags to stone - Hanno. With great difficulty he was able to mount an ass; and he fled, - clinging to its hair, howling, weeping, shaken, bruised, and calling down - the curse of all the gods upon the army. His broad necklace of precious - stones rebounded up to his ears. His cloak which was too long, and which - trailed behind him, he kept on with his teeth, and from afar the - Barbarians shouted at him, “Begone coward! pig! sink of Moloch! - sweat your gold and your plague! quicker! quicker!” The routed - escort galloped beside him. - </p> - <p> - But the fury of the Barbarians did not abate. They remembered that several - of them who had set out for Carthage had not returned; no doubt they had - been killed. So much injustice exasperated them, and they began to pull up - the stakes of their tents, to roll up their cloaks, and to bridle their - horses; every one took his helmet and sword, and instantly all was ready. - Those who had no arms rushed into the woods to cut staves. - </p> - <p> - Day dawned; the people of Sicca were roused, and stirring in the streets. - “They are going to Carthage,” said they, and the rumour of - this soon spread through the country. - </p> - <p> - From every path and every ravine men arose. Shepherds were seen running - down from the mountains. - </p> - <p> - Then, when the Barbarians had set out, Spendius circled the plain, riding - on a Punic stallion, and attended by his slave, who led a third horse. - </p> - <p> - A single tent remained. Spendius entered it. - </p> - <p> - “Up, master! rise! we are departing!” - </p> - <p> - “And where are you going?” asked Matho. - </p> - <p> - “To Carthage!” cried Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held at the door. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"></a> - CHAPTER III - </h2> - <h3> - Salammbô - </h3> - <p> - The moon was rising just above the waves, and on the town which was still - wrapped in darkness there glittered white and luminous specks:—the - pole of a chariot, a dangling rag of linen, the corner of a wall, or a - golden necklace on the bosom of a god. The glass balls on the roofs of the - temples beamed like great diamonds here and there. But ill-defined ruins, - piles of black earth, and gardens formed deeper masses in the gloom, and - below Malqua fishermen’s nets stretched from one house to another - like gigantic bats spreading their wings. The grinding of the hydraulic - wheels which conveyed water to the highest storys of the palaces, was no - longer heard; and the camels, lying ostrich fashion on their stomachs, - rested peacefully in the middle of the terraces. The porters were asleep - in the streets on the thresholds of the houses; the shadows of the - colossuses stretched across the deserted squares; occasionally in the - distance the smoke of a still burning sacrifice would escape through the - bronze tiling, and the heavy breeze would waft the odours of aromatics - blended with the scent of the sea and the exhalation from the sun-heated - walls. The motionless waves shone around Carthage, for the moon was - spreading her light at once upon the mountain-circled gulf and upon the - lake of Tunis, where flamingoes formed long rose-coloured lines amid the - banks of sand, while further on beneath the catacombs the great salt - lagoon shimmered like a piece of silver. The blue vault of heaven sank on - the horizon in one direction into the dustiness of the plains, and in the - other into the mists of the sea, and on the summit of the Acropolis, the - pyramidal cypress trees, fringing the temple of Eschmoun, swayed murmuring - like the regular waves that beat slowly along the mole beneath the - ramparts. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô ascended to the terrace of her palace, supported by a female - slave who carried an iron dish filled with live coals. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the terrace there was a small ivory bed covered with lynx - skins, and cushions made with the feathers of the parrot, a fatidical - animal consecrated to the gods; and at the four corners rose four long - perfuming-pans filled with nard, incense, cinnamomum, and myrrh. The slave - lit the perfumes. Salammbô looked at the polar star; she slowly saluted - the four points of heaven, and knelt down on the ground in the azure dust - which was strewn with golden stars in imitation of the firmament. Then - with both elbows against her sides, her fore-arms straight and her hands - open, she threw back her head beneath the rays of the moon, and said: - </p> - <p> - “O Rabetna!—Baalet!—Tanith!” and her voice was - lengthened in a plaintive fashion as if calling to some one. “Anaïtis! - Astarte! Derceto! Astoreth! Mylitta! Athara! Elissa! Tiratha!—By the - hidden symbols, by the resounding sistra,—by the furrows of the - earth,—by the eternal silence and by the eternal fruitfulness,—mistress - of the gloomy sea and of the azure shores, O Queen of the watery world, - all hail!” - </p> - <p> - She swayed her whole body twice or thrice, and then cast herself face - downwards in the dust with both arms outstretched. - </p> - <p> - But the slave nimbly raised her, for according to the rites someone must - catch the suppliant at the moment of his prostration; this told him that - the gods accepted him, and Salammbô’s nurse never failed in this - pious duty. - </p> - <p> - Some merchants from Darytian Gætulia had brought her to Carthage when - quite young, and after her enfranchisement she would not forsake her old - masters, as was shown by her right ear, which was pierced with a large - hole. A petticoat of many-coloured stripes fitted closely on her hips, and - fell to her ankles, where two tin rings clashed together. Her somewhat - flat face was yellow like her tunic. Silver bodkins of great length formed - a sun behind her head. She wore a coral button on the nostril, and she - stood beside the bed more erect than a Hermes, and with her eyelids cast - down. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô walked to the edge of the terrace; her eyes swept the horizon for - an instant, and then were lowered upon the sleeping town, while the sigh - that she heaved swelled her bosom, and gave an undulating movement to the - whole length of the long white simar which hung without clasp or girdle - about her. Her curved and painted sandals were hidden beneath a heap of - emeralds, and a net of purple thread was filled with her disordered hair. - </p> - <p> - But she raised her head to gaze upon the moon, and murmured, mingling her - speech with fragments of hymns: - </p> - <p> - “How lightly turnest thou, supported by the impalpable ether! It - brightens about thee, and ’Tis the stir of thine agitation that - distributes the winds and fruitful dews. According as thou dost wax and - wane the eyes of cats and spots of panthers lengthen or grow short. Wives - shriek thy name in the pangs of childbirth! Thou makest the shells to - swell, the wine to bubble, and the corpse to putrefy! Thou formest the - pearls at the bottom of the sea! - </p> - <p> - “And every germ, O goddess! ferments in the dark depths of thy - moisture. - </p> - <p> - “When thou appearest, quietness is spread abroad upon the earth; the - flowers close, the waves are soothed, wearied man stretches his breast - toward thee, and the world with its oceans and mountains looks at itself - in thy face as in a mirror. Thou art white, gentle, luminous, immaculate, - helping, purifying, serene!” - </p> - <p> - The crescent of the moon was then over the mountain of the Hot Springs, in - the hollow formed by its two summits, on the other side of the gulf. Below - it there was a little star, and all around it a pale circle. Salammbô went - on: - </p> - <p> - “But thou art a terrible mistress!—Monsters, terrifying - phantoms, and lying dreams come from thee; thine eyes devour the stones of - buildings, and the apes are ever ill each time thou growest young again. - </p> - <p> - “Whither goest thou? Why dost thou change thy forms continually? - Now, slender and curved thou glidest through space like a mastless galley; - and then, amid the stars, thou art like a shepherd keeping his flock. - Shining and round, thou dost graze the mountain-tops like the wheel of a - chariot. - </p> - <p> - “O Tanith! thou dost love me? I have looked so much on thee! But no! - thou sailest through thine azure, and I—I remain on the motionless - earth. - </p> - <p> - “Taanach, take your nebal and play softly on the silver string, for - my heart is sad!” - </p> - <p> - The slave lifted a sort of harp of ebony wood, taller than herself, and - triangular in shape like a delta; she fixed the point in a crystal globe, - and with both hands began to play. - </p> - <p> - The sounds followed one another hurried and deep, like the buzzing of - bees, and with increasing sonorousness floated away into the night with - the complaining of the waves, and the rustling of the great trees on the - summit of the Acropolis. - </p> - <p> - “Hush!” cried Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - “What ails you, mistress? The blowing of the breeze, the passing of - a cloud, everything disquiets you just now!” - </p> - <p> - “I do not know,” she said. - </p> - <p> - “You are wearied with too long prayers!” - </p> - <p> - “Oh! Tanaach, I would fain be dissolved in them like a flower in - wine!” - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps it is the smoke of your perfumes?” - </p> - <p> - “No!” said Salammbô; “the spirit of the gods dwells in - fragrant odours.” - </p> - <p> - Then the slave spoke to her of her father. It was thought that he had gone - towards the amber country, behind the pillars of Melkarth. “But if - he does not return,” she said, “you must nevertheless, since - it was his will, choose a husband among the sons of the Ancients, and then - your grief will pass away in a man’s arms.” - </p> - <p> - “Why?” asked the young girl. All those that she had seen had - horrified her with their fallow-deer laughter and their coarse limbs. - </p> - <p> - “Sometimes, Tanaach, from the depths of my being there exhale as it - were hot fumes heavier than the vapours from a volcano. Voices call me, a - globe of fire rolls and mounts within my bosom, it stifles me, I am at the - point of death; and then, something sweet, flowing from my brow to my - feet, passes through my flesh—it is a caress enfolding me, and I - feel myself crushed as if some god were stretched upon me. Oh! would that - I could lose myself in the mists of the night, the waters of the - fountains, the sap of the trees, that I could issue from my body, and be - but a breath, or a ray, and glide, mount up to thee, O Mother!” - </p> - <p> - She raised her arms to their full length, arching her form, which in its - long garment was as pale and light as the moon. Then she fell back, - panting, on the ivory couch; but Taanach passed an amber necklace with - dolphin’s teeth about her neck to banish terrors, and Salammbô said - in an almost stifled voice: “Go and bring me Schahabarim.” - </p> - <p> - Her father had not wished her to enter the college of priestesses, nor - even to be made at all acquainted with the popular Tanith. He was - reserving her for some alliance that might serve his political ends; so - that Salammbô lived alone in the midst of the palace. Her mother was long - since dead. - </p> - <p> - She had grown up with abstinences, fastings and purifications, always - surrounded by grave and exquisite things, her body saturated with - perfumes, and her soul filled with prayers. She had never tasted wine, nor - eaten meat, nor touched an unclean animal, nor set her heels in the house - of death. - </p> - <p> - She knew nothing of obscene images, for as each god was manifested in - different forms, the same principle often received the witness of - contradictory cults, and Salammbô worshipped the goddess in her sidereal - presentation. An influence had descended upon the maiden from the moon; - when the planet passed diminishing away, Salammbô grew weak. She - languished the whole day long, and revived at evening. During an eclipse - she nearly died. - </p> - <p> - But Rabetna, in jealousy, revenged herself for the virginity withdrawn - from her sacrifices, and she tormented Salammbô with possessions, all the - stronger for being vague, which were spread through this belief and - excited by it. - </p> - <p> - Unceasingly was Hamilcar’s daughter disquieted about Tanith. She had - learned her adventures, her travels, and all her names, which she would - repeat without their having any distinct signification for her. In order - to penetrate into the depths of her dogma, she wished to become - acquainted, in the most secret part of the temple, with the old idol in - the magnificent mantle, whereon depended the destinies of Carthage, for - the idea of a god did not stand out clearly from his representation, and - to hold, or even see the image of one, was to take away part of his - virtue, and in a measure to rule him. - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô turned around. She had recognised the sound of the golden - bells which Schahabarim wore at the hem of his garment. - </p> - <p> - He ascended the staircases; then at the threshold of the terrace he - stopped and folded his arms. - </p> - <p> - His sunken eyes shone like the lamps of a sepulchre; his long thin body - floated in its linen robe which was weighted by the bells, the latter - alternating with balls of emeralds at his heels. He had feeble limbs, an - oblique skull and a pointed chin; his skin seemed cold to the touch, and - his yellow face, which was deeply furrowed with wrinkles, was as if it - contracted in a longing, in an everlasting grief. - </p> - <p> - He was the high priest of Tanith, and it was he who had educated Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” he said. “What will you?” - </p> - <p> - “I hoped—you had almost promised me—” She - stammered and was confused; then suddenly: “Why do you despise me? - what have I forgotten in the rites? You are my master, and you told me - that no one was so accomplished in the things pertaining to the goddess as - I; but there are some of which you will not speak. Is it so, O father?” - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim remembered Hamilcar’s orders, and replied: - </p> - <p> - “No, I have nothing more to teach you!” - </p> - <p> - “A genius,” she resumed, “impels me to this love. I have - climbed the steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I - have slept beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian - colonies; I have pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener and - fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the gods of - woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand? they are all - too far away, too high, too insensible, while she—I feel her mingled - in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward startings, as - though she were leaping in order to escape. Methinks I am about to hear - her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and then I sink back - again into the darkness.” - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim was silent. She entreated him with suppliant looks. At last he - made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of Chanaanitish - race. Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one arm in the air, - began: - </p> - <p> - “Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull - and indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream. It contracted, - creating Desire and Cloud, and from Desire and Cloud there issued - primitive Matter. This was a water, muddy, black, icy and deep. It - contained senseless monsters, incoherent portions of the forms to be born, - which are painted on the walls of the sanctuaries. - </p> - <p> - “Then Matter condensed. It became an egg. It burst. One half formed - the earth and the other the firmament. Sun, moon, winds and clouds - appeared, and at the crash of the thunder intelligent creatures awoke. - Then Eschmoun spread himself in the starry sphere; Khamon beamed in the - sun; Melkarth thrust him with his arms behind Gades; the Kabiri descended - beneath the volcanoes, and Rabetna like a nurse bent over the world - pouring out her light like milk, and her night like a mantle.” - </p> - <p> - “And then?” she said. - </p> - <p> - He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from - sublimer prospects; but the maiden’s desire kindled again at his - last words, and Schahabarim, half yielding resumed: - </p> - <p> - “She inspires and governs the loves of men.” - </p> - <p> - “The loves of men!” repeated Salammbô dreamily. - </p> - <p> - “She is the soul of Carthage,” continued the priest; “and - although she is everywhere diffused, it is here that she dwells, beneath - the sacred veil.” - </p> - <p> - “O father!” cried Salammbô, “I shall see her, shall I - not? you will bring me to her! I had long been hesitating; I am devoured - with curiosity to see her form. Pity! help me! let us go?” - </p> - <p> - He repulsed her with a vehement gesture that was full of pride. - </p> - <p> - “Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals - are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in - weakness. Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge that - you possess!” - </p> - <p> - She fell upon her knees placing two fingers against her ears in token of - repentance; and crushed by the priest’s words, and filled at once - with anger against him, with terror and humiliation, she burst into sobs. - Schahabarim remained erect, and more insensible than the stones of the - terrace. He looked down upon her quivering at his feet, and felt a kind of - joy on seeing her suffer for his divinity whom he himself could not wholly - embrace. The birds were already singing, a cold wind was blowing, and - little clouds were drifting in the paling sky. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly he perceived on the horizon, behind Tunis, what looked like - slight mists trailing along the ground; then these became a great curtain - of dust extending perpendicularly, and, amid the whirlwinds of the - thronging mass, dromedaries’ heads, lances and shields appeared. It - was the army of the Barbarians advancing upon Carthage. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"></a> - CHAPTER IV - </h2> - <h3> - BENEATH THE WALLS OF CARTHAGE - </h3> - <p> - Some country people, riding on asses or running on foot, arrived in the - town, pale, breathless, and mad with fear. They were flying before the - army. It had accomplished the journey from Sicca in three days, in order - to reach Carthage and wholly exterminate it. - </p> - <p> - The gates were shut. The Barbarians appeared almost immediately; but they - stopped in the middle of the isthmus, on the edge of the lake. - </p> - <p> - At first they made no hostile announcement. Several approached with palm - branches in their hands. They were driven back with arrows, so great was - the terror. - </p> - <p> - In the morning and at nightfall prowlers would sometimes wander along the - walls. A little man carefully wrapped in a cloak, and with his face - concealed beneath a very low visor, was especially noticed. He would - remain whole hours gazing at the aqueduct, and so persistently that he - doubtless wished to mislead the Carthaginians as to his real designs. - Another man, a sort of giant who walked bareheaded, used to accompany him. - </p> - <p> - But Carthage was defended throughout the whole breadth of the isthmus: - first by a trench, then by a grassy rampart, and lastly by a wall thirty - cubits high, built of freestone, and in two storys. It contained stables - for three hundred elephants with stores for their caparisons, shackles, - and food; other stables again for four thousand horses with supplies of - barley and harness, and barracks for twenty thousand soldiers with armour - and all materials of war. Towers rose from the second story, all provided - with battlements, and having bronze bucklers hung on cramps on the - outside. - </p> - <p> - This first line of wall gave immediate shelter to Malqua, the sailors’ - and dyers’ quarter. Masts might be seen whereon purple sails were - drying, and on the highest terraces clay furnaces for heating the pickle - were visible. - </p> - <p> - Behind, the lofty houses of the city rose in an ampitheatre of cubical - form. They were built of stone, planks, shingle, reeds, shells, and beaten - earth. The woods belonging to the temples were like lakes of verdure in - this mountain of diversely-coloured blocks. It was levelled at unequal - distances by the public squares, and was cut from top to bottom by - countless intersecting lanes. The enclosures of the three old quarters - which are now lost might be distinguished; they rose here and there like - great reefs, or extended in enormous fronts, blackened, half-covered with - flowers, and broadly striped by the casting of filth, while streets passed - through their yawning apertures like rivers beneath bridges. - </p> - <p> - The hill of the Acropolis, in the centre of Byrsa, was hidden beneath a - disordered array of monuments. There were temples with wreathed columns - bearing bronze capitals and metal chains, cones of dry stones with bands - of azure, copper cupolas, marble architraves, Babylonian buttresses, - obelisks poised on their points like inverted torches. Peristyles reached - to pediments; volutes were displayed through colonnades; granite walls - supported tile partitions; the whole mounting, half-hidden, the one above - the other in a marvellous and incomprehensible fashion. In it might be - felt the succession of the ages, and, as it were, the memorials of - forgotten fatherlands. - </p> - <p> - Behind the Acropolis the Mappalian road, which was lined with tombs, - extended through red lands in a straight line from the shore to the - catacombs; then spacious dwellings occurred at intervals in the gardens, - and this third quarter, Megara, which was the new town, reached as far as - the edge of the cliff, where rose a giant pharos that blazed forth every - night. - </p> - <p> - In this fashion was Carthage displayed before the soldiers quartered in - the plain. - </p> - <p> - They could recognise the markets and crossways in the distance, and - disputed with one another as to the sites of the temples. Khamon’s, - fronting the Syssitia, had golden tiles; Melkarth, to the left of - Eschmoun, had branches of coral on its roofing; beyond, Tanith’s - copper cupola swelled among the palm trees; the dark Moloch was below the - cisterns, in the direction of the pharos. At the angles of the pediments, - on the tops of the walls, at the corners of the squares, everywhere, - divinities with hideous heads might be seen, colossal or squat, with - enormous bellies, or immoderately flattened, opening their jaws, extending - their arms, and holding forks, chains or javelins in their hands; while - the blue of the sea stretched away behind the streets which were rendered - still steeper by the perspective. - </p> - <p> - They were filled from morning till evening with a tumultuous people; young - boys shaking little bells, shouted at the doors of the baths; the shops - for hot drinks smoked, the air resounded with the noise of anvils, the - white cocks, sacred to the Sun, crowed on the terraces, the oxen that were - being slaughtered bellowed in the temples, slaves ran about with baskets - on their heads; and in the depths of the porticoes a priest would - sometimes appear, draped in a dark cloak, barefooted, and wearing a - pointed cap. - </p> - <p> - The spectacle afforded by Carthage irritated the Barbarians; they admired - it and execrated it, and would have liked both to annihilate it and to - dwell in it. But what was there in the Military Harbour defended by a - triple wall? Then behind the town, at the back of Megara, and higher than - the Acropolis, appeared Hamilcar’s palace. - </p> - <p> - Matho’s eyes were directed thither every moment. He would ascend the - olive trees and lean over with his hand spread out above his eyebrows. The - gardens were empty, and the red door with its black cross remained - constantly shut. - </p> - <p> - More than twenty times he walked round the ramparts, seeking some breach - by which he might enter. One night he threw himself into the gulf and swam - for three hours at a stretch. He reached the foot of the Mappalian quarter - and tried to climb up the face of the cliff. He covered his knees with - blood, broke his nails, and then fell back into the waves and returned. - </p> - <p> - His impotence exasperated him. He was jealous of this Carthage which - contained Salammbô, as if of some one who had possessed her. His - nervelessness left him to be replaced by a mad and continual eagerness for - action. With flaming cheek, angry eyes, and hoarse voice, he would walk - with rapid strides through the camp; or seated on the shore he would scour - his great sword with sand. He shot arrows at the passing vultures. His - heart overflowed into frenzied speech. - </p> - <p> - “Give free course to your wrath like a runaway chariot,” said - Spendius. “Shout, blaspheme, ravage and slay. Grief is allayed with - blood, and since you cannot sate your love, gorge your hate; it will - sustain you!” - </p> - <p> - Matho resumed the command of his soldiers. He drilled them pitilessly. He - was respected for his courage and especially for his strength. Moreover he - inspired a sort of mystic dread, and it was believed that he conversed at - night with phantoms. The other captains were animated by his example. The - army soon grew disciplined. From their houses the Carthaginians could hear - the bugle-flourishes that regulated their exercises. At last the - Barbarians drew near. - </p> - <p> - To crush them in the isthmus it would have been necessary for two armies - to take them simultaneously in the rear, one disembarking at the end of - the gulf of Utica, and the second at the mountain of the Hot Springs. But - what could be done with the single sacred Legion, mustering at most six - thousand men? If the enemy bent towards the east they would join the - nomads and intercept the commerce of the desert. If they fell back to the - west, Numidia would rise. Finally, lack of provisions would sooner or - later lead them to devastate the surrounding country like grasshoppers, - and the rich trembled for their fine country-houses, their vineyards and - their cultivated lands. - </p> - <p> - Hanno proposed atrocious and impracticable measures, such as promising a - heavy sum for every Barbarian’s head, or setting fire to their camp - with ships and machines. His colleague Gisco, on the other hand, wished - them to be paid. But the Ancients detested him owing to his popularity; - for they dreaded the risk of a master, and through terror of monarchy - strove to weaken whatever contributed to it or might re-establish it. - </p> - <p> - Outside the fortification there were people of another race and of unknown - origin, all hunters of the porcupine, and eaters of shell-fish and - serpents. They used to go into caves to catch hyenas alive, and amuse - themselves by making them run in the evening on the sands of Megara - between the stelæ of the tombs. Their huts, which were made of mud and - wrack, hung on the cliff like swallows’ nests. There they lived, - without government and without gods, pell-mell, completely naked, at once - feeble and fierce, and execrated by the people of all time on account of - their unclean food. One morning the sentries perceived that they were all - gone. - </p> - <p> - At last some members of the Great Council arrived at a decision. They came - to the camp without necklaces or girdles, and in open sandals like - neighbours. They walked at a quiet pace, waving salutations to the - captains, or stopped to speak to the soldiers, saying that all was - finished and that justice was about to be done to their claims. - </p> - <p> - Many of them saw a camp of Mercenaries for the first time. Instead of the - confusion which they had pictured to themselves, there prevailed - everywhere terrible silence and order. A grassy rampart formed a lofty - wall round the army immovable by the shock of catapults. The ground in the - streets was sprinkled with fresh water; through the holes in the tents - they could perceive tawny eyeballs gleaming in the shade. The piles of - pikes and hanging panoplies dazzled them like mirrors. They conversed in - low tones. They were afraid of upsetting something with their long robes. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers requested provisions, undertaking to pay for them out of the - money that was due. - </p> - <p> - Oxen, sheep, guinea fowl, fruit and lupins were sent to them, with smoked - scombri, that excellent scombri which Carthage dispatched to every port. - But they walked scornfully around the magnificent cattle, and disparaging - what they coveted, offered the worth of a pigeon for a ram, or the price - of a pomegranate for three goats. The Eaters of Uncleanness came forward - as arbitrators, and declared that they were being duped. Then they drew - their swords with threats to slay. - </p> - <p> - Commissaries of the Great Council wrote down the number of years for which - pay was due to each soldier. But it was no longer possible to know how - many Mercenaries had been engaged, and the Ancients were dismayed at the - enormous sum which they would have to pay. The reserve of silphium must be - sold, and the trading towns taxed; the Mercenaries would grow impatient; - Tunis was already with them; and the rich, stunned by Hanno’s - ragings and his colleague’s reproaches, urged any citizens who might - know a Barbarian to go to see him immediately in order to win back his - friendship, and to speak him fair. Such a show of confidence would soothe - them. - </p> - <p> - Traders, scribes, workers in the arsenal, and whole families visited the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers allowed all the Carthaginians to come in, but by a single - passage so narrow that four men abreast jostled one another in it. - Spendius, standing against the barrier, had them carefully searched; - facing him Matho was examining the multitude, trying to recognise some one - whom he might have seen at Salammbô’s palace. - </p> - <p> - The camp was like a town, so full of people and of movement was it. The - two distinct crowds mingled without blending, one dressed in linen or - wool, with felt caps like fir-cones, and the other clad in iron and - wearing helmets. Amid serving men and itinerant vendors there moved women - of all nations, as brown as ripe dates, as greenish as olives, as yellow - as oranges, sold by sailors, picked out of dens, stolen from caravans, - taken in the sacking of towns, women that were jaded with love so long as - they were young, and plied with blows when they were old, and that died in - routs on the roadsides among the baggage and the abandoned beasts of - burden. The wives of the nomads had square, tawny robes of dromedary’s - hair swinging at their heels; musicians from Cyrenaica, wrapped in violet - gauze and with painted eyebrows, sang, squatting on mats; old Negresses - with hanging breasts gathered the animals’ dung that was drying in - the sun to light their fires; the Syracusan women had golden plates in - their hair; the Lusitanians had necklaces of shells; the Gauls wore wolf - skins upon their white bosoms; and sturdy children, vermin-covered, naked - and uncircumcised, butted with their heads against passers-by, or came - behind them like young tigers to bite their hands. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians walked through the camp, surprised at the quantities of - things with which it was running over. The most miserable were melancholy, - and the rest dissembled their anxiety. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers struck them on the shoulder, and exhorted them to be gay. As - soon as they saw any one, they invited him to their amusements. If they - were playing at discus, they would manage to crush his feet, or if at - boxing to fracture his jaw with the very first blow. The slingers - terrified the Carthaginians with their slings, the Psylli with their - vipers, and the horsemen with their horses, while their victims, addicted - as they were to peaceful occupations, bent their heads and tried to smile - at all these outrages. Some, in order to show themselves brave, made signs - that they should like to become soldiers. They were set to split wood and - to curry mules. They were buckled up in armour, and rolled like casks - through the streets of the camp. Then, when they were about to leave, the - Mercenaries plucked out their hair with grotesque contortions. - </p> - <p> - But many, from foolishness or prejudice, innocently believed that all the - Carthaginians were very rich, and they walked behind them entreating them - to grant them something. They requested everything that they thought fine: - a ring, a girdle, sandals, the fringe of a robe, and when the despoiled - Carthaginian cried—“But I have nothing left. What do you want?” - they would reply, “Your wife!” Others even said, “Your - life!” - </p> - <p> - The military accounts were handed to the captains, read to the soldiers, - and definitively approved. Then they claimed tents; they received them. - Next the polemarchs of the Greeks demanded some of the handsome suits of - armour that were manufactured at Carthage; the Great Council voted sums of - money for their purchase. But it was only fair, so the horsemen pretended, - that the Republic should indemnify them for their horses; one had lost - three at such a siege, another, five during such a march, another, - fourteen in the precipices. Stallions from Hecatompylos were offered to - them, but they preferred money. - </p> - <p> - Next they demanded that they should be paid in money (in pieces of money, - and not in leathern coins) for all the corn that was owing to them, and at - the highest price that it had fetched during the war; so that they exacted - four hundred times as much for a measure of meal as they had given for a - sack of wheat. Such injustice was exasperating; but it was necessary, - nevertheless, to submit. - </p> - <p> - Then the delegates from the soldiers and from the Great Council swore - renewed friendship by the Genius of Carthage and the gods of the - Barbarians. They exchanged excuses and caresses with oriental - demonstrativeness and verbosity. Then the soldiers claimed, as a proof of - friendship, the punishment of those who had estranged them from the - Republic. - </p> - <p> - Their meaning, it was pretended, was not understood, and they explained - themselves more clearly by saying that they must have Hanno’s head. - </p> - <p> - Several times a day, they left their camp, and walked along the foot of - the walls, shouting a demand that the Suffet’s head should be thrown - to them, and holding out their robes to receive it. - </p> - <p> - The Great Council would perhaps have given way but for a last exaction, - more outrageous than the rest; they demanded maidens, chosen from - illustrious families, in marriage for their chiefs. It was an idea which - had emanated from Spendius, and which many thought most simple and - practicable. But the assumption of their desire to mix with Punic blood - made the people indignant; and they were bluntly told that they were to - receive no more. Then they exclaimed that they had been deceived, and that - if their pay did not arrive within three days, they would themselves go - and take it in Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The bad faith of the Mercenaries was not so complete as their enemies - thought. Hamilcar had made them extravagant promises, vague, it is true, - but at the same time solemn and reiterated. They might have believed that - when they disembarked at Carthage the town would be abandoned to them, and - that they should have treasures divided among them; and when they saw that - scarcely their wages would be paid, the disillusion touched their pride no - less than their greed. - </p> - <p> - Had not Dionysius, Pyrrhus, Agathocles, and the generals of Alexander - furnished examples of marvellous good fortune? Hercules, whom the - Chanaanites confounded with the sun, was the ideal which shone on the - horizon of armies. They knew that simple soldiers had worn diadems, and - the echoes of crumbling empires would furnish dreams to the Gaul in his - oak forest, to the Ethiopian amid his sands. But there was a nation always - ready to turn courage to account; and the robber driven from his tribe, - the patricide wandering on the roads, the perpetrator of sacrilege pursued - by the gods, all who were starving or in despair strove to reach the port - where the Carthaginian broker was recruiting soldiers. Usually the - Republic kept its promises. This time, however, the eagerness of its - avarice had brought it into perilous disgrace. Numidians, Libyans, the - whole of Africa was about to fall upon Carthage. Only the sea was open to - it, and there it met with the Romans; so that, like a man assailed by - murderers, it felt death all around it. - </p> - <p> - It was quite necessary to have recourse to Gisco, and the Barbarians - accepted his intervention. One morning they saw the chains of the harbour - lowered, and three flat-bottomed boats passing through the canal of Tænia - entered the lake. - </p> - <p> - Gisco was visible on the first at the prow. Behind him rose an enormous - chest, higher than a catafalque, and furnished with rings like hanging - crowns. Then appeared the legion of interpreters, with their hair dressed - like sphinxes, and with parrots tattooed on their breasts. Friends and - slaves followed, all without arms, and in such numbers that they - shouldered one another. The three long, dangerously-loaded barges advanced - amid the shouts of the onlooking army. - </p> - <p> - As soon as Gisco disembarked the soldiers ran to him. He had a sort of - tribune erected with knapsacks, and declared that he should not depart - before he had paid them all in full. - </p> - <p> - There was an outburst of applause, and it was a long time before he was - able to speak. - </p> - <p> - Then he censured the wrongs done to the Republic, and to the Barbarians; - the fault lay with a few mutineers who had alarmed Carthage by their - violence. The best proof of good intention on the part of the latter was - that it was he, the eternal adversary of the Suffet Hanno, who was sent to - them. They must not credit the people with the folly of desiring to - provoke brave men, nor with ingratitude enough not to recognise their - services; and Gisco began to pay the soldiers, commencing with the - Libyans. As they had declared that the lists were untruthful, he made no - use of them. - </p> - <p> - They defiled before him according to nationality, opening their fingers to - show the number of their years of service; they were marked in succession - with green paint on the left arm; the scribes dipped into the yawning - coffer, while others made holes with a style on a sheet of lead. - </p> - <p> - A man passed walking heavily like an ox. - </p> - <p> - “Come up beside me,” said the Suffet, suspecting some fraud; - “how many years have you served?” - </p> - <p> - “Twelve,” replied the Libyan. - </p> - <p> - Gisco slipped his fingers under his chin, for the chin-piece of the helmet - used in course of time to occasion two callosities there; these were - called carobs, and “to have the carobs” was an expression used - to denote a veteran. - </p> - <p> - “Thief!” exclaimed the Suffet, “your shoulders ought to - have what your face lacks!” and tearing off his tunic he laid bare - is back which was covered with a bleeding scab; he was a labourer from - Hippo-Zarytus. Hootings were raised, and he was decapitated. - </p> - <p> - As soon as night fell, Spendius went and roused the Libyans, and said to - them: - </p> - <p> - “When the Ligurians, Greeks, Balearians, and men of Italy are paid, - they will return. But as for you, you will remain in Africa, scattered - through your tribes, and without any means of defence! It will be then - that the Republic will take its revenge! Mistrust the journey! Are you - going to believe everything that is said? Both the Suffets are agreed, and - this one is imposing on you! Remember the Island of Bones, and Xanthippus, - whom they sent back to Sparta in a rotten galley!” - </p> - <p> - “How are we to proceed?” they asked. - </p> - <p> - “Reflect!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - The two following days were spent in paying the men of Magdala, Leptis, - and Hecatompylos; Spendius went about among the Gauls. - </p> - <p> - “They are paying off the Libyans, and then they will discharge the - Greeks, the Balearians, the Asiatics and all the rest! But you, who are - few in number, will receive nothing! You will see your native lands no - more! You will have no ships, and they will kill you to save your food!” - </p> - <p> - The Gauls came to the Suffet. Autaritus, he whom he had wounded at - Hamilcar’s palace, put questions to him, but was repelled by the - slaves, and disappeared swearing he would be revenged. - </p> - <p> - The demands and complaints multiplied. The most obstinate penetrated at - night into the Suffet’s tent; they took his hands and sought to move - him by making him feel their toothless mouths, their wasted arms, and the - scars of their wounds. Those who had not yet been paid were growing angry, - those who had received the money demanded more for their horses; and - vagabonds and outlaws assumed soldiers’ arms and declared that they - were being forgotten. Every minute there arrived whirlwinds of men, as it - were; the tents strained and fell; the multitude, thick pressed between - the ramparts of the camp, swayed with loud shouts from the gates to the - centre. When the tumult grew excessively violent Gisco would rest one - elbow on his ivory sceptre and stand motionless looking at the sea with - his fingers buried in his beard. - </p> - <p> - Matho frequently went off to speak with Spendius; then he would again - place himself in front of the Suffet, and Gisco could feel his eyes - continually like two flaming phalaricas darted against him. Several times - they hurled reproaches at each other over the heads of the crowd, but - without making themselves heard. The distribution, meanwhile, continued, - and the Suffet found expedients to remove every obstacle. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks tried to quibble about differences in currency, but he - furnished them with such explanations that they retired without a murmur. - The Negroes demanded white shells such as are used for trading in the - interior of Africa, but when he offered to send to Carthage for them they - accepted money like the rest. - </p> - <p> - But the Balearians had been promised something better, namely, women. The - Suffet replied that a whole caravan of maidens was expected for them, but - the journey was long and would require six moons more. When they were fat - and well rubbed with benjamin they should be sent in ships to the ports of - the Balearians. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly Zarxas, now handsome and vigorous, leaped like a mountebank upon - the shoulders of his friends and cried: - </p> - <p> - “Have you reserved any of them for the corpses?” at the same - time pointing to the gate of Khamon in Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The brass plates with which it was furnished from top to bottom shone in - the sun’s latest fires, and the Barbarians believed that they could - discern on it a trail of blood. Every time that Gisco wished to speak - their shouts began again. At last he descended with measured steps, and - shut himself up in his tent. - </p> - <p> - When he left it at sunrise his interpreters, who used to sleep outside, - did not stir; they lay on their backs with their eyes fixed, their tongues - between their teeth, and their faces of a bluish colour. White mucus - flowed from their nostrils, and their limbs were stiff, as if they had all - been frozen by the cold during the night. Each had a little noose of - rushes round his neck. - </p> - <p> - From that time onward the rebellion was unchecked. The murder of the - Balearians which had been recalled by Zarxas strengthened the distrust - inspired by Spendius. They imagined that the Republic was always trying to - deceive them. An end must be put to it! The interpreters should be - dispensed with! Zarxas sang war songs with a sling around his head; - Autaritus brandished his great sword; Spendius whispered a word to one or - gave a dagger to another. The boldest endeavoured to pay themselves, while - those who were less frenzied wished to have the distribution continued. No - one now relinquished his arms, and the anger of all combined into a - tumultuous hatred of Gisco. - </p> - <p> - Some got up beside him. So long as they vociferated abuse they were - listened to with patience; but if they tried to utter the least word in - his behalf they were immediately stoned, or their heads were cut off by a - sabre-stroke from behind. The heap of knapsacks was redder than an altar. - </p> - <p> - They became terrible after their meal and when they had drunk wine! This - was an enjoyment forbidden in the Punic armies under pain of death, and - they raised their cups in the direction of Carthage in derision of its - discipline. Then they returned to the slaves of the exchequer and again - began to kill. The word <i>strike</i>, though different in each language, - was understood by all. - </p> - <p> - Gisco was well aware that he was being abandoned by his country; but in - spite of its ingratitude he would not dishonour it. When they reminded him - that they had been promised ships, he swore by Moloch to provide them - himself at his own expense, and pulling off his necklace of blue stones he - threw it into the crowd as the pledge of his oath. - </p> - <p> - Then the Africans claimed the corn in accordance with the engagements made - by the Great Council. Gisco spread out the accounts of the Syssitia traced - in violet pigment on sheep skins; and read out all that had entered - Carthage month by month and day by day. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly he stopped with gaping eyes, as if he had just discovered his - sentence of death among the figures. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients had, in fact, fraudulently reduced them, and the corn sold - during the most calamitous period of the war was set down at so low a rate - that, blindness apart, it was impossible to believe it. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” they shouted. “Louder! Ah! he is trying to lie, - the coward! Don’t trust him.” - </p> - <p> - For some time he hesitated. At last he resumed his task. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers, without suspecting that they were being deceived, accepted - the accounts of the Syssitia as true. But the abundance that had prevailed - at Carthage made them furiously jealous. They broke open the sycamore - chest; it was three parts empty. They had seen such sums coming out of it, - that they thought it inexhaustible; Gisco must have buried some in his - tent. They scaled the knapsacks. Matho led them, and as they shouted - “The money! the money!” Gisco at last replied: - </p> - <p> - “Let your general give it to you!” - </p> - <p> - He looked them in the face without speaking, with his great yellow eyes, - and his long face that was paler than his beard. An arrow, held by its - feathers, hung from the large gold ring in his ear, and a stream of blood - was trickling from his tiara upon his shoulder. - </p> - <p> - At a gesture from Matho all advanced. Gisco held out his arms; Spendius - tied his wrists with a slip knot; another knocked him down, and he - disappeared amid the disorder of the crowd which was stumbling over the - knapsacks. - </p> - <p> - They sacked his tent. Nothing was found in it except things indispensable - to life; and, on a closer search, three images of Tanith, and, wrapped up - in an ape’s skin, a black stone which had fallen from the moon. Many - Carthaginians had chosen to accompany him; they were eminent men, and all - belonged to the war party. - </p> - <p> - They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for the - reception of filth. They were tied with iron chains around the body to - solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the javelin. - </p> - <p> - Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but being - quite ignorant of his language they made no reply; and the Gaul from time - to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army. Now that their - anger was over they were seized with anxiety. Matho was suffering from - vague melancholy. It seemed to him that Salammbô had indirectly been - insulted. These rich men were a kind of appendage to her person. He sat - down in the night on the edge of the pit, and recognised in their - groanings something of the voice of which his heart was full. - </p> - <p> - All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid. But while - national antipathies revived, together with personal hatreds, it was felt - that it would be perilous to give way to them. Reprisals after such an - outrage would be formidable. It was necessary, therefore, to anticipate - the vengeance of Carthage. Conventions and harangues never ceased. Every - one spoke, no one was listened to; Spendius, usually so loquacious, shook - his head at every proposal. - </p> - <p> - One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs in - the interior of the town. - </p> - <p> - “Not one!” replied Matho. - </p> - <p> - The next day Spendius drew him aside to the bank of the lake. - </p> - <p> - “Master!” said the former slave, “If your heart is - dauntless, I will bring you into Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - “How?” repeated the other, panting. - </p> - <p> - “Swear to execute all my commands and to follow me like a shadow!” - </p> - <p> - Then Matho, raising his arm towards the planet of Chabar, exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “By Tanith, I swear!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius resumed: - </p> - <p> - “To-morrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the - aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades. Bring with you an iron pick, - a crestless helmet, and leathern sandals.” - </p> - <p> - The aqueduct of which he spoke crossed the entire isthmus obliquely,—a - considerable work, afterwards enlarged by the Romans. In spite of her - disdain of other nations, Carthage had awkwardly borrowed this novel - invention from them, just as Rome herself had built Punic galleys; and - five rows of superposed arches, of a dumpy kind of architecture, with - buttresses at their foot and lions’ heads at the top, reached to the - western part of the Acropolis, where they sank beneath the town to incline - what was nearly a river into the cisterns of Megara. - </p> - <p> - Spendius met Matho here at the hour agreed upon. He fastened a sort of - harpoon to the end of a cord and whirled it rapidly like a sling; the iron - instrument caught fast, and they began to climb up the wall, the one after - the other. - </p> - <p> - But when they had ascended to the first story the cramp fell back every - time that they threw it, and in order to discover some fissure they had to - walk along the edge of the cornice. At every row of arches they found that - it became narrower. Then the cord relaxed. Several times it nearly broke. - </p> - <p> - At last they reached the upper platform. Spendius stooped down from time - to time to feel the stones with his hand. - </p> - <p> - “Here it is,” he said; “let us begin!” And leaning - on the pick which Matho had brought they succeeded in dislodging one of - the flagstones. - </p> - <p> - In the distance they perceived a troop of horse-men galloping on horses - without bridles. Their golden bracelets leaped in the vague drapings of - their cloaks. A man could be seen in front crowned with ostrich feathers, - and galloping with a lance in each hand. - </p> - <p> - “Narr’ Havas!” exclaimed Matho. - </p> - <p> - “What matter?” returned Spendius, and he leaped into the hole - which they had just made by removing the flagstone. - </p> - <p> - Matho at his command tried to thrust out one of the blocks. But he could - not move his elbows for want of room. - </p> - <p> - “We shall return,” said Spendius; “go in front.” - Then they ventured into the channel of water. - </p> - <p> - It reached to their waists. Soon they staggered, and were obliged to swim. - Their limbs knocked against the walls of the narrow duct. The water flowed - almost immediately beneath the stones above, and their faces were torn by - them. Then the current carried them away. Their breasts were crushed with - air heavier than that of a sepulchre, and stretching themselves out as - much as possible with their heads between their arms and their legs close - together, they passed like arrows into the darkness, choking, gurgling, - and almost dead. Suddenly all became black before them, and the speed of - the waters redoubled. They fell. - </p> - <p> - When they came to the surface again, they remained for a few minutes - extended on their backs, inhaling the air delightfully. Arcades, one - behind another, opened up amid large walls separating the various basins. - All were filled, and the water stretched in a single sheet throughout the - length of the cisterns. Through the air-holes in the cupolas on the - ceiling there fell a pale brightness which spread upon the waves discs, as - it were, of light, while the darkness round about thickened towards the - walls and threw them back to an indefinite distance. The slightest sound - made a great echo. - </p> - <p> - Spendius and Matho commenced to swim again, and passing through the - opening of the arches, traversed several chambers in succession. Two other - rows of smaller basins extended in a parallel direction on each side. They - lost themselves; they turned, and came back again. At last something - offered a resistance to their heels. It was the pavement of the gallery - that ran along the cisterns. - </p> - <p> - Then, advancing with great precautions, they felt along the wall to find - an outlet. But their feet slipped, and they fell into the great - centre-basins. They had to climb up again, and there they fell again. They - experienced terrible fatigue, which made them feel as if all their limbs - had been dissolved in the water while swimming. Their eyes closed; they - were in the agonies of death. - </p> - <p> - Spendius struck his hand against the bars of a grating. They shook it, it - gave way, and they found themselves on the steps of a staircase. A door of - bronze closed it above. With the point of a dagger they moved the bar, - which was opened from without, and suddenly the pure open air surrounded - them. - </p> - <p> - The night was filled with silence, and the sky seemed at an extraordinary - height. Clusters of trees projected over the long lines of walls. The - whole town was asleep. The fires of the outposts shone like lost stars. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, who had spent three years in the ergastulum, was but imperfectly - acquainted with the different quarters. Matho conjectured that to reach - Hamilcar’s palace they ought to strike to the left and cross the - Mappalian district. - </p> - <p> - “No,” said Spendius, “take me to the temple of Tanith.” - </p> - <p> - Matho wished to speak. - </p> - <p> - “Remember!” said the former slave, and raising his arm he - showed him the glittering planet of Chabar. - </p> - <p> - Then Matho turned in silence towards the Acropolis. - </p> - <p> - They crept along the nopal hedges which bordered the paths. The water - trickled from their limbs upon the dust. Their damp sandals made no noise; - Spendius, with eyes that flamed more than torches, searched the bushes at - every step;—and he walked behind Matho with his hands resting on the - two daggers which he carried on his arms, and which hung from below the - armpit by a leathern band. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"></a> - CHAPTER V - </h2> - <h3> - TANITH - </h3> - <p> - After leaving the gardens Matho and Spendius found themselves checked by - the rampart of Megara. But they discovered a breach in the great wall and - passed through. - </p> - <p> - The ground sloped downwards, forming a kind of very broad valley. It was - an exposed place. - </p> - <p> - “Listen,” said Spendius, “and first of all fear nothing! - I shall fulfil my promise—” - </p> - <p> - He stopped abruptly, and seemed to reflect as though searching for words,—“Do - you remember that time at sunrise when I showed Carthage to you on - Salammbô’s terrace? We were strong that day, but you would listen to - nothing!” Then in a grave voice: “Master, in the sanctuary of - Tanith there is a mysterious veil, which fell from heaven and which covers - the goddess.” - </p> - <p> - “I know,” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - Spendius resumed: “It is itself divine, for it forms part of her. - The gods reside where their images are. It is because Carthage possesses - it that Carthage is powerful.” Then leaning over to his ear: “I - have brought you with me to carry it off!” - </p> - <p> - Matho recoiled in horror. “Begone! look for some one else! I will - not help you in this execrable crime!” - </p> - <p> - “But Tanith is your enemy,” retorted Spendius; “she is - persecuting you and you are dying through her wrath. You will be revenged - upon her. She will obey you, and you will become almost immortal and - invincible.” - </p> - <p> - Matho bent his head. Spendius continued: - </p> - <p> - “We should succumb; the army would be annihilated of itself. We have - neither flight, nor succour, nor pardon to hope for! What chastisement - from the gods can you be afraid of since you will have their power in your - own hands? Would you rather die on the evening of a defeat, in misery - beneath the shelter of a bush, or amid the outrages of the populace and - the flames of funeral piles? Master, one day you will enter Carthage among - the colleges of the pontiffs, who will kiss your sandals; and if the veil - of Tanith weighs upon you still, you will reinstate it in its temple. - Follow me! come and take it.” - </p> - <p> - Matho was consumed by a terrible longing. He would have liked to possess - the veil while refraining from the sacrilege. He said to himself that - perhaps it would not be necessary to take it in order to monopolise its - virtue. He did not go to the bottom of his thought but stopped at the - boundary, where it terrified him. - </p> - <p> - “Come on!” he said; and they went off with rapid strides, side - by side, and without speaking. - </p> - <p> - The ground rose again, and the dwellings were near. They turned again into - the narrow streets amid the darkness. The strips of esparto-grass with - which the doors were closed, beat against the walls. Some camels were - ruminating in a square before heaps of cut grass. Then they passed beneath - a gallery covered with foliage. A pack of dogs were barking. But suddenly - the space grew wider and they recognised the western face of the - Acropolis. At the foot of Byrsa there stretched a long black mass: it was - the temple of Tanith, a whole made up of monuments and galleries, courts - and fore-courts, and bounded by a low wall of dry stones. Spendius and - Matho leaped over it. - </p> - <p> - This first barrier enclosed a wood of plane-trees as a precaution against - plague and infection in the air. Tents were scattered here and there, in - which, during the daytime, depilatory pastes, perfumes, garments, - moon-shaped cakes, and images of the goddess with representations of the - temple hollowed out in blocks of alabaster, were on sale. - </p> - <p> - They had nothing to fear, for on nights when the planet did not appear, - all rites were suspended; nevertheless Matho slackened his speed, and - stopped before the three ebony steps leading to the second enclosure. - </p> - <p> - “Forward!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Pomegranate, almond trees, cypresses and myrtles alternated in regular - succession; the path, which was paved with blue pebbles, creaked beneath - their footsteps, and full-blown roses formed a hanging bower over the - whole length of the avenue. They arrived before an oval hole protected by - a grating. Then Matho, who was frightened by the silence, said to - Spendius: - </p> - <p> - “It is here that they mix the fresh water and the bitter.” - </p> - <p> - “I have seen all that,” returned the former slave, “in - Syria, in the town of Maphug”; and they ascended into the third - enclosure by a staircase of six silver steps. - </p> - <p> - A huge cedar occupied the centre. Its lowest branches were hidden beneath - scraps of material and necklaces hung upon them by the faithful. They - walked a few steps further on, and the front of the temple was displayed - before them. - </p> - <p> - Two long porticoes, with their architraves resting on dumpy pillars, - flanked a quadrangular tower, the platform of which was adorned with the - crescent of a moon. On the angles of the porticoes and at the four corners - of the tower stood vases filled with kindled aromatics. The capitals were - laden with pomegranates and coloquintidas. Twining knots, lozenges, and - rows of pearls alternated on the walls, and a hedge of silver filigree - formed a wide semicircle in front of the brass staircase which led down - from the vestibule. - </p> - <p> - There was a cone of stone at the entrance between a stela of gold and one - of emerald, and Matho kissed his right hand as he passed beside it. - </p> - <p> - The first room was very lofty; its vaulted roof was pierced by numberless - apertures, and if the head were raised the stars might be seen. All round - the wall rush baskets were heaped up with the first fruits of adolescence - in the shape of beards and curls of hair; and in the centre of the - circular apartment the body of a woman issued from a sheath which was - covered with breasts. Fat, bearded, and with eyelids downcast, she looked - as though she were smiling, while her hands were crossed upon the lower - part of her big body, which was polished by the kisses of the crowd. - </p> - <p> - Then they found themselves again in the open air in a transverse corridor, - wherein there was an altar of small dimensions leaning against an ivory - door. There was no further passage; the priests alone could open it; for - the temple was not a place of meeting for the multitude, but the private - abode of a divinity. - </p> - <p> - “The enterprise is impossible,” said Matho. “You had not - thought of this! Let us go back!” Spendius was examining the walls. - </p> - <p> - He wanted the veil, not because he had confidence in its virtue (Spendius - believed only in the Oracle), but because he was persuaded that the - Carthaginians would be greatly dismayed on seeing themselves deprived of - it. They walked all round behind in order to find some outlet. - </p> - <p> - Aedicules of different shapes were visible beneath clusters of turpentine - trees. Here and there rose a stone phallus, and large stags roamed - peacefully about, spurning the fallen fir-cones with their cloven hoofs. - </p> - <p> - But they retraced their steps between two long galleries which ran - parallel to each other. There were small open cells along their sides, and - tabourines and cymbals hung against their cedar columns from top to - bottom. Women were sleeping stretched on mats outside the cells. Their - bodies were greasy with unguents, and exhaled an odour of spices and - extinguished perfuming-pans; while they were so covered with tattooings, - necklaces, rings, vermilion, and antimony that, but for the motion of - their breasts, they might have been taken for idols as they lay thus on - the ground. There were lotus-trees encircling a fountain in which fish - like Salammbô’s were swimming; and then in the background, against - the wall of the temple, spread a vine, the branches of which were of glass - and the grape-bunches of emerald, the rays from the precious stones making - a play of light through the painted columns upon the sleeping faces. - </p> - <p> - Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere pressed down upon him by the - cedar partitions. All these symbols of fecundation, these perfumes, - radiations, and breathings overwhelmed him. Through all the mystic - dazzling he kept thinking of Salammbô. She became confused with the - goddess herself, and his loved unfolded itself all the more, like the - great lotus-plants blooming upon the depths of the waters. - </p> - <p> - Spendius was calculating how much money he would have made in former days - by the sale of these women; and with a rapid glance he estimated the - weight of the golden necklaces as he passed by. - </p> - <p> - The temple was impenetrable on this side as on the other, and they - returned behind the first chamber. While Spendius was searching and - ferreting, Matho was prostrate before the door supplicating Tanith. He - besought her not to permit the sacrilege, and strove to soften her with - caressing words, such as are used to an angry person. - </p> - <p> - Spendius noticed a narrow aperture above the door. - </p> - <p> - “Rise!” he said to Matho, and he made him stand erect with his - back against the wall. Placing one foot in his hands, and then the other - upon his head, he reached up to the air-hole, made his way into it and - disappeared. Then Matho felt a knotted cord—that one which Spendius - had rolled around his body before entering the cisterns—fall upon - his shoulders, and bearing upon it with both hands he soon found himself - by the side of the other in a large hall filled with shadow. - </p> - <p> - Such an attempt was something extraordinary. The inadequacy of the means - for preventing it was a sufficient proof that it was considered - impossible. The sanctuaries were protected by terror more than by their - walls. Matho expected to die at every step. - </p> - <p> - However a light was flickering far back in the darkness, and they went up - to it. It was a lamp burning in a shell on the pedestal of a statue which - wore the cap of the Kabiri. Its long blue robe was strewn with diamond - discs, and its heels were fastened to the ground by chains which sank - beneath the pavement. Matho suppressed a cry. “Ah! there she is! - there she is!” he stammered out. Spendius took up the lamp in order - to light himself. - </p> - <p> - “What an impious man you are!” murmured Matho, following him - nevertheless. - </p> - <p> - The apartment which they entered had nothing in it but a black painting - representing another woman. Her legs reached to the top of the wall, and - her body filled the entire ceiling; a huge egg hung by a thread from her - navel, and she fell head downwards upon the other wall, reaching as far as - the level of the pavement, which was touched by her pointed fingers. - </p> - <p> - They drew a hanging aside, in order to go on further; but the wind blew - and the light went out. - </p> - <p> - Then they wandered about, lost in the complications of the architecture. - Suddenly they felt something strangely soft beneath their feet. Sparks - crackled and leaped; they were walking in fire. Spendius touched the - ground and perceived that it was carefully carpeted with lynx skins; then - it seemed to them that a big cord, wet, cold, and viscous, was gliding - between their legs. Through some fissures cut in the wall there fell thin - white rays, and they advanced by this uncertain light. At last they - distinguished a large black serpent. It darted quickly away and - disappeared. - </p> - <p> - “Let us fly!” exclaimed Matho. “It is she! I feel her; - she is coming.” - </p> - <p> - “No, no,” replied Spendius, “the temple is empty.” - </p> - <p> - Then a dazzling light made them lower their eyes. Next they perceived all - around them an infinite number of beasts, lean, panting, with bristling - claws, and mingled together one above another in a mysterious and - terrifying confusion. There were serpents with feet, and bulls with wings, - fishes with human heads were devouring fruit, flowers were blooming in the - jaws of crocodiles, and elephants with uplifted trunks were sailing - proudly through the azure like eagles. Their incomplete or multiplied - limbs were distended with terrible exertion. As they thrust out their - tongues they looked as though they would fain give forth their souls; and - every shape was to be found among them as if the germ-receptacle had been - suddenly hatched and had burst, emptying itself upon the walls of the - hall. - </p> - <p> - Round the latter were twelve globes of blue crystal, supported by monsters - resembling tigers. Their eyeballs were starting out of their heads like - those of snails, with their dumpy loins bent they were turning round - towards the background where the supreme Rabbet, the Omnifecund, the last - invented, shone splendid in a chariot of ivory. - </p> - <p> - She was covered with scales, feathers, flowers, and birds as high as the - waist. For earrings she had silver cymbals, which flapped against her - cheeks. Her large fixed eyes gazed upon you, and a luminous stone, set in - an obscene symbol on her brow, lighted the whole hall by its reflection in - red copper mirrors above the door. - </p> - <p> - Matho stood a step forward; but a flag stone yielded beneath his heels and - immediately the spheres began to revolve and the monsters to roar; music - rose melodious and pealing, like the harmony of the planets; the - tumultuous soul of Tanith was poured streaming forth. She was about to - arise, as lofty as the hall and with open arms. Suddenly the monsters - closed their jaws and the crystal globes revolved no more. - </p> - <p> - Then a mournful modulation lingered for a time through the air and at last - died away. - </p> - <p> - “And the veil?” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Nowhere could it be seen. Where was it to be found? How could it be - discovered? What if the priests had hidden it? Matho experienced anguish - of heart and felt as though he had been deceived in his belief. - </p> - <p> - “This way!” whispered Spendius. An inspiration guided him. He - drew Matho behind Tanith’s chariot, where a cleft a cubit wide ran - down the wall from top to bottom. - </p> - <p> - Then they penetrated into a small and completely circular room, so lofty - that it was like the interior of a pillar. In the centre there was a big - black stone, of semispherical shape like a tabourine; flames were burning - upon it; an ebony cone, bearing a head and two arms, rose behind. - </p> - <p> - But beyond it seemed as though there were a cloud wherein were twinkling - stars; faces appeared in the depths of its folds—Eschmoun with the - Kabiri, some of the monsters that had already been seen, the sacred beasts - of the Babylonians, and others with which they were not acquainted. It - passed beneath the idol’s face like a mantle, and spread fully out - was drawn up on the wall to which it was fastened by the corners, - appearing at once bluish as the night, yellow as the dawn, purple as the - sun, multitudinous, diaphanous, sparkling light. It was the mantle of the - goddess, the holy zaïmph which might not be seen. - </p> - <p> - Both turned pale. - </p> - <p> - “Take it!” said Matho at last. - </p> - <p> - Spendius did not hesitate, and leaning upon the idol he unfastened the - veil, which sank to the ground. Matho laid his hand upon it; then he put - his head through the opening, then he wrapped it about his body, and he - spread out his arms the better to view it. - </p> - <p> - “Let us go!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Matho stood panting with his eyes fixed upon the pavement. Suddenly he - exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “But what if I went to her? I fear her beauty no longer! What could - she do to me? I am now more than a man. I could pass through flames or - walk upon the sea! I am transported! Salammbô! Salammbô! I am your master!” - </p> - <p> - His voice was like thunder. He seemed to Spendius to have grown taller and - transformed. - </p> - <p> - A sound of footsteps drew near, a door opened, and a man appeared, a - priest with lofty cap and staring eyes. Before he could make a gesture - Spendius had rushed upon him, and clasping him in his arms had buried both - his daggers in his sides. His head rang upon the pavement. - </p> - <p> - Then they stood for a while, as motionless as the corpse, listening. - Nothing could be heard but the murmuring of the wind through the - half-opened door. - </p> - <p> - The latter led into a narrow passage. Spendius advanced along it, Matho - followed him, and they found themselves almost immediately in the third - enclosure, between the lateral porticoes, in which were the dwellings of - the priests. - </p> - <p> - Behind the cells there must be a shorter way out. They hastened along. - </p> - <p> - Spendius squatted down at the edge of the fountain and washed his - bloodstained hands. The women slept. The emerald vine shone. They resumed - their advance. - </p> - <p> - But something was running behind them under the trees; and Matho, who bore - the veil, several times felt that it was being pulled very gently from - below. It was a large cynocephalus, one of those which dwelt at liberty - within the enclosure of the goddess. It clung to the mantle as though it - had been conscious of the theft. They did not dare to strike it, however, - fearing that it might redouble its cries; suddenly its anger subsided, and - it trotted close beside them swinging its body with its long hanging arms. - Then at the barrier it leaped at a bound into a palm tree. - </p> - <p> - When they had left the last enclosure they directed their steps towards - Hamilcar’s palace, Spendius understanding that it would be useless - to try to dissuade Matho. - </p> - <p> - They went by the street of the Tanners, the square of Muthumbal, the green - market and the crossways of Cynasyn. At the angle of a wall a man drew - back frightened by the sparkling thing which pierced the darkness. - </p> - <p> - “Hide the zaïmph!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Other people passed them, but without perceiving them. - </p> - <p> - At last they recognised the houses of Megara. - </p> - <p> - The pharos, which was built behind them on the summit of the cliff, lit up - the heavens with a great red brightness, and the shadow of the palace, - with its rising terraces, projected a monstrous pyramid, as it were, upon - the gardens. They entered through the hedge of jujube-trees, beating down - the branches with blows of the dagger. - </p> - <p> - The traces of the feast of the Mercenaries were everywhere still manifest. - The parks were broken up, the trenches drained, the doors of the - ergastulum open. No one was to be seen about the kitchens or cellars. They - wondered at the silence, which was occasionally broken by the hoarse - breathing of the elephants moving in their shackles, and the crepitation - of the pharos, in which a pile of aloes was burning. - </p> - <p> - Matho, however, kept repeating: - </p> - <p> - “But where is she? I wish to see her! Lead me!” - </p> - <p> - “It is a piece of insanity!” Spendius kept saying. “She - will call, her slaves will run up, and in spite of your strength you will - die!” - </p> - <p> - They reached thus the galley staircase. Matho raised his head, and thought - that he could perceive far above a vague brightness, radiant and soft. - Spendius sought to restrain him, but he dashed up the steps. - </p> - <p> - As he found himself again in places where he had already seen her, the - interval of the days that had passed was obliterated from his memory. But - now had she been singing among the tables; she had disappeared, and he had - since been continually ascending this staircase. The sky above his head - was covered with fires; the sea filled the horizon; at each step he was - surrounded by a still greater immensity, and he continued to climb upward - with that strange facility which we experience in dreams. - </p> - <p> - The rustling of the veil as it brushed against the stones recalled his new - power to him; but in the excess of his hope he could no longer tell what - he was to do; this uncertainty alarmed him. - </p> - <p> - From time to time he would press his face against the quadrangular - openings in the closed apartments, and he thought that in several of the - latter he could see persons asleep. - </p> - <p> - The last story, which was narrower, formed a sort of dado on the summit of - the terraces. Matho walked round it slowly. - </p> - <p> - A milky light filled the sheets of talc which closed the little apertures - in the wall, and in their symmetrical arrangement they looked in the - darkness like rows of delicate pearls. He recognised the red door with the - black cross. The throbbing of his heart increased. He would fain have - fled. He pushed the door and it opened. - </p> - <p> - A galley-shaped lamp hung burning in the back part of the room, and three - rays, emitted from its silver keel, trembled on the lofty wainscots, which - were painted red with black bands. The ceiling was an assemblage of small - beams, with amethysts and topazes amid their gilding in the knots of the - wood. On both the great sides of the apartment there stretched a very low - bed made with white leathern straps; while above, semi-circles like - shells, opened in the thickness of the wall, suffered a garment to come - out and hang down to the ground. - </p> - <p> - There was an oval basin with a step of onyx round it; delicate slippers of - serpent skin were standing on the edge, together with an alabaster flagon. - The trace of a wet footstep might be seen beyond. Exquisite scents were - evaporating. - </p> - <p> - Matho glided over the pavement, which was encrusted with gold, - mother-of-pearl, and glass; and, in spite of the polished smoothness of - the ground, it seemed to him that his feet sank as though he were walking - on sand. - </p> - <p> - Behind the silver lamp he had perceived a large square of azure held in - the air by four cords from above, and he advanced with loins bent and - mouth open. - </p> - <p> - Flamingoes’ wings, fitted on branches of black coral, lay about - among purple cushions, tortoiseshell strigils, cedar boxes, and ivory - spatulas. There were antelopes’ horns with rings and bracelets - strung upon them; and clay vases were cooling in the wind in the cleft of - the wall with a lattice-work of reeds. Several times he struck his foot, - for the ground had various levels of unequal height, which formed a - succession of apartments, as it were, in the room. In the background there - were silver balustrades surrounding a carpet strewn with painted flowers. - At last he came to the hanging bed beside an ebony stool serving to get - into it. - </p> - <p> - But the light ceased at the edge;—and the shadow, like a great - curtain, revealed only a corner of the red mattress with the extremity of - a little naked foot lying upon its ankle. Then Matho took up the lamp very - gently. - </p> - <p> - She was sleeping with her cheek in one hand and with the other arm - extended. Her ringlets were spread about her in such abundance that she - appeared to be lying on black feathers, and her ample white tunic wound in - soft draperies to her feet following the curves of her person. Her eyes - were just visible beneath her half-closed eyelids. The curtains, which - stretched perpendicularly, enveloped her in a bluish atmosphere, and the - motion of her breathing, communicating itself to the cords, seemed to rock - her in the air. A long mosquito was buzzing. - </p> - <p> - Matho stood motionless holding the silver lamp at arm’s length; but - on a sudden the mosquito-net caught fire and disappeared, and Salammbô - awoke. - </p> - <p> - The fire had gone out of itself. She did not speak. The lamp caused great - luminous moires to flicker on the wainscots. - </p> - <p> - “What is it?” she said. - </p> - <p> - He replied: - </p> - <p> - “’Tis the veil of the goddess!” - </p> - <p> - “The veil of the goddess!” cried Salammbô, and supporting - herself on both clenched hands she leaned shuddering out. He resumed: - </p> - <p> - “I have been in the depths of the sanctuary to seek it for you! - Look!” The zaïmph shone a mass of rays. - </p> - <p> - “Do you remember it?” said Matho. “You appeared at night - in my dreams, but I did not guess the mute command of your eyes!” - She put out one foot upon the ebony stool. “Had I understood I - should have hastened hither, I should have forsaken the army, I should not - have left Carthage. To obey you I would go down through the caverns of - Hadrumetum into the kingdom of the shades!—Forgive me! it was as - though mountains were weighing upon my days; and yet something drew me on! - I tried to come to you! Should I ever have dared this without the Gods!—Let - us go! You must follow me! or, if you do not wish to do so, I will remain. - What matters it to me!—Drown my soul in your breath! Let my lips be - crushed with kissing your hands!” - </p> - <p> - “Let me see it!” she said. “Nearer! nearer!” - </p> - <p> - Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with a - vinous colour. Salammbô leaned fainting against the cushions of the bed. - </p> - <p> - “I love you!” cried Matho. - </p> - <p> - “Give it!” she stammered out, and they drew closer together. - </p> - <p> - She kept advancing, clothed in her white trailing simar, and with her - large eyes fastened on the veil. Matho gazed at her, dazzled by the - splendours of her head, and, holding out the zaïmph towards her, was about - to enfold her in an embrace. She was stretching out her arms. Suddenly she - stopped, and they stood looking at each other, open-mouthed. - </p> - <p> - Then without understanding the meaning of his solicitation a horror seized - upon her. Her delicate eyebrows rose, her lips opened; she trembled. At - last she struck one of the brass pateras which hung at the corners of the - red mattress, crying: - </p> - <p> - “To the rescue! to the rescue! Back, sacrilegious man! infamous and - accursed! Help, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, Schaoul!” - </p> - <p> - And the scared face of Spendius, appearing in the wall between the clay - flagons, cried out these words: - </p> - <p> - “Fly! they are hastening hither!” - </p> - <p> - A great tumult came upwards shaking the staircases, and a flood of people, - women, serving-men, and slaves, rushed into the room with stakes, - tomahawks, cutlasses, and daggers. They were nearly paralysed with - indignation on perceiving a man; the female servants uttered funeral - wailings, and the eunuchs grew pale beneath their black skins. - </p> - <p> - Matho was standing behind the balustrades. With the zaïmph which was - wrapped about him, he looked like a sidereal god surrounded by the - firmament. The slaves were going to fall upon him, but she stopped them: - </p> - <p> - “Touch it not! It is the mantle of the goddess!” - </p> - <p> - She had drawn back into a corner; but she took a step towards him, and - stretched forth her naked arm: - </p> - <p> - “A curse upon you, you who have plundered Tanith! Hatred, vengeance, - massacre, and grief! May Gurzil, god of battles, rend you! may Mastiman, - god of the dead, stifle you! and may the Other—he who may not be - named—burn you!” - </p> - <p> - Matho uttered a cry as though he had received a sword-thrust. She repeated - several times: “Begone! begone!” - </p> - <p> - The crowd of servants spread out, and Matho, with hanging head, passed - slowly through the midst of them; but at the door he stopped, for the - fringe of the zaïmph had caught on one of the golden stars with which the - flagstones were paved. He pulled it off abruptly with a movement of his - shoulder and went down the staircases. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, bounding from terrace to terrace, and leaping over the hedges - and trenches, had escaped from the gardens. He reached the foot of the - pharos. The wall was discontinued at this spot, so inaccessible was the - cliff. He advanced to the edge, lay down on his back, and let himself - slide, feet foremost, down the whole length of it to the bottom; then by - swimming he reached the Cape of the Tombs, made a wide circuit of the salt - lagoon, and re-entered the camp of the Barbarians in the evening. - </p> - <p> - The sun had risen; and, like a retreating lion, Matho went down the paths, - casting terrible glances about him. - </p> - <p> - A vague clamour reached his ears. It had started from the palace, and it - was beginning afresh in the distance, towards the Acropolis. Some said - that the treasure of the Republic had been seized in the temple of Moloch; - others spoke of the assassination of a priest. It was thought, moreover, - that the Barbarians had entered the city. - </p> - <p> - Matho, who did not know how to get out of the enclosures, walked straight - before him. He was seen, and an outcry was raised. Every one understood; - and there was consternation, then immense wrath. - </p> - <p> - From the bottom of the Mappalian quarter, from the heights of the - Acropolis, from the catacombs, from the borders of the lake, the multitude - came in haste. The patricians left their palaces, and the traders left - their shops; the women forsook their children; swords, hatchets, and - sticks were seized; but the obstacle which had stayed Salammbô stayed - them. How could the veil be taken back? The mere sight of it was a crime; - it was of the nature of the gods, and contact with it was death. - </p> - <p> - The despairing priests wrung their hands on the peristyles of the temples. - The guards of the Legion galloped about at random; the people climbed upon - the houses, the terraces, the shoulders of the colossuses, and the masts - of the ships. He went on, nevertheless, and the rage, and the terror also, - increased at each of his steps; the streets cleared at his approach, and - the torrent of flying men streamed on both sides up to the tops of the - walls. Everywhere he could perceive only eyes opened widely as if to - devour him, chattering teeth and outstretched fists, and Salammbô’s - imprecations resounded many times renewed. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly a long arrow whizzed past, then another, and stones began to buzz - about him; but the missiles, being badly aimed (for there was the dread of - hitting the zaïmph), passed over his head. Moreover, he made a shield of - the veil, holding it to the right, to the left, before him and behind him; - and they could devise no expedient. He quickened his steps more and more, - advancing through the open streets. They were barred with cords, chariots, - and snares; and all his windings brought him back again. At last he - entered the square of Khamon where the Balearians had perished, and - stopped, growing pale as one about to die. This time he was surely lost, - and the multitude clapped their hands. - </p> - <p> - He ran up to the great gate, which was closed. It was very high, made - throughout of heart of oak, with iron nails and sheathed with brass. Matho - flung himself against it. The people stamped their feet with joy when they - saw the impotence of his fury; then he took his sandal, spit upon it, and - beat the immovable panels with it. The whole city howled. The veil was - forgotten now, and they were about to crush him. Matho gazed with wide - vacant eyes upon the crowd. His temples were throbbing with violence - enough to stun him, and he felt a numbness as of intoxication creeping - over him. Suddenly he caught sight of the long chain used in working the - swinging of the gate. With a bound he grasped it, stiffening his arms, and - making a buttress of his feet, and at last the huge leaves partly opened. - </p> - <p> - Then when he was outside he took the great zaïmph from his neck, and - raised it as high as possible above his head. The material, upborne by the - sea breeze, shone in the sunlight with its colours, its gems, and the - figures of its gods. Matho bore it thus across the whole plain as far as - the soldiers’ tents, and the people on the walls watched the fortune - of Carthage depart. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"></a> - CHAPTER VI - </h2> - <h3> - HANNO - </h3> - <p> - “I ought to have carried her off!” Matho said in the evening - to Spendius. “I should have seized her, and torn her from her house! - No one would have dared to touch me!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius was not listening to him. Stretched on his back he was taking - delicious rest beside a large jar filled with honey-coloured water, into - which he would dip his head from time to time in order to drink more - copiously. - </p> - <p> - Matho resumed: - </p> - <p> - “What is to be done? How can we re-enter Carthage?” - </p> - <p> - “I do not know,” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Such impassibility exasperated Matho and he exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “Why! the fault is yours! You carry me away, and then you forsake - me, coward that you are! Why, pray, should I obey you? Do you think that - you are my master? Ah! you prostituter, you slave, you son of a slave!” - He ground his teeth and raised his broad hand above Spendius. - </p> - <p> - The Greek did not reply. An earthen lamp was burning gently against the - tent-pole, where the zaïmph shone amid the hanging panoply. Suddenly Matho - put on his cothurni, buckled on his brazen jacket of mail, and took his - helmet. - </p> - <p> - “Where are you going?” asked Spendius. - </p> - <p> - “I am returning! Let me alone! I will bring her back! And if they - show themselves I will crush them like vipers! I will put her to death, - Spendius! Yes,” he repeated, “I will kill her! You shall see, - I will kill her!” - </p> - <p> - But Spendius, who was listening eagerly, snatched up the zaïmph abruptly - and threw it into a corner, heaping up fleeces above it. A murmuring of - voices was heard, torches gleamed, and Narr’ Havas entered, followed - by about twenty men. - </p> - <p> - They wore white woollen cloaks, long daggers, copper necklaces, wooden - earrings, and boots of hyena skin; and standing on the threshold they - leaned upon their lances like herdsmen resting themselves. Narr’ - Havas was the handsomest of all; his slender arms were bound with straps - ornamented with pearls. The golden circlet which fastened his ample - garment about his head held an ostrich feather which hung down behind his - shoulder; his teeth were displayed in a continual smile; his eyes seemed - sharpened like arrows, and there was something observant and airy about - his whole demeanour. - </p> - <p> - He declared that he had come to join the Mercenaries, for the Republic had - long been threatening his kingdom. Accordingly he was interested in - assisting the Barbarians, and he might also be of service to them. - </p> - <p> - “I will provide you with elephants (my forests are full of them), - wine, oil, barley, dates, pitch and sulphur for sieges, twenty thousand - foot-soldiers and ten thousand horses. If I address myself to you, Matho, - it is because the possession of the zaïmph has made you chief man in the - army. Moreover,” he added, “we are old friends.” - </p> - <p> - Matho, however, was looking at Spendius, who, seated on the sheep-skins, - was listening, and giving little nods of assent the while. Narr’ - Havas continued speaking. He called the gods to witness he cursed - Carthage. In his imprecations he broke a javelin. All his men uttered - simultaneously a loud howl, and Matho, carried away by so much passion, - exclaimed that he accepted the alliance. - </p> - <p> - A white bull and a black sheep, the symbols of day and night, were then - brought, and their throats were cut on the edge of a ditch. When the - latter was full of blood they dipped their arms into it. Then Narr’ - Havas spread out his hand upon Matho’s breast, and Matho did the - same to Narr’ Havas. They repeated the stain upon the canvas of - their tents. Afterwards they passed the night in eating, and the remaining - portions of the meat were burnt together with the skin, bones, horns, and - hoofs. - </p> - <p> - Matho had been greeted with great shouting when he had come back bearing - the veil of the goddess; even those who were not of the Chanaanitish - religion were made by their vague enthusiasm to feel the arrival of a - genius. As to seizing the zaïmph, no one thought of it, for the mysterious - manner in which he had acquired it was sufficient in the minds of the - Barbarians to justify its possession; such were the thoughts of the - soldiers of the African race. The others, whose hatred was not of such - long standing, did not know how to make up their minds. If they had had - ships they would immediately have departed. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, Narr’ Havas, and Matho despatched men to all the tribes on - Punic soil. - </p> - <p> - Carthage was sapping the strength of these nations. She wrung exorbitant - taxes from them, and arrears or even murmurings were punished with - fetters, the axe, or the cross. It was necessary to cultivate whatever - suited the Republic, and to furnish what she demanded; no one had the - right of possessing a weapon; when villages rebelled the inhabitants were - sold; governors were esteemed like wine-presses, according to the quantity - which they succeeded in extracting. Then beyond the regions immediately - subject to Carthage extended the allies roamed the Nomads, who might be - let loose upon them. By this system the crops were always abundant, the - studs skilfully managed, and the plantations superb. - </p> - <p> - The elder Cato, a master in the matters of tillage and slaves, was amazed - at it ninety-two years later, and the death-cry which he repeated - continually at Rome was but the exclamation of jealous greed. - </p> - <p> - During the last war the exactions had been increased, so that nearly all - the towns of Libya had surrendered to Regulus. To punish them, a thousand - talents, twenty thousand oxen, three hundred bags of gold dust, and - considerable advances of grain had been exacted from them, and the chiefs - of the tribes had been crucified or thrown to the lions. - </p> - <p> - Tunis especially execrated Carthage! Older than the metropolis, it could - not forgive her her greatness, and it fronted her walls crouching in the - mire on the water’s edge like a venomous beast watching her. - Transportation, massacres, and epidemics did not weaken it. It had - assisted Archagathas, the son of Agathocles, and the Eaters of Uncleanness - found arms there at once. - </p> - <p> - The couriers had not yet set out when universal rejoicing broke out in the - provinces. Without waiting for anything they strangled the comptrollers of - the houses and the functionaries of the Republic in the baths; they took - the old weapons that had been concealed out of the caves; they forged - swords with the iron of the ploughs; the children sharpened javelins at - the doors, and the women gave their necklaces, rings, earrings, and - everything that could be employed for the destruction of Carthage. Piles - of lances were heaped up in the country towns like sheaves of maize. - Cattle and money were sent off. Matho speedily paid the Mercenaries their - arrears, and owing to this, which was Spendius’s idea, he was - appointed commander-in-chief—the schalishim of the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - Reinforcements of men poured in at the same time. The aborigines appeared - first, and were followed by the slaves from the country; caravans of - Negroes were seized and armed, and merchants on their way to Carthage, - despairing of any more certain profit, mingled with the Barbarians. - Numerous bands were continually arriving. From the heights of the - Acropolis the growing army might be seen. - </p> - <p> - But the guards of the Legion were posted as sentries on the platform of - the aqueduct, and near them rose at intervals brazen vats, in which floods - of asphalt were boiling. Below in the plain the great crowd stirred - tumultuously. They were in a state of uncertainty, feeling the - embarrassment with which Barbarians are always inspired when they meet - with walls. - </p> - <p> - Utica and Hippo-Zarytus refused their alliance. Phonician colonies like - Carthage, they were self-governing, and always had clauses inserted in the - treaties concluded by the Republic to distinguish them from the latter. - Nevertheless they respected this strong sister of theirs who protected - them, and they did not think that she could be vanquished by a mass of - Barbarians; these would on the contrary be themselves exterminated. They - desired to remain neutral and to live at peace. - </p> - <p> - But their position rendered them indispensable. Utica, at the foot of the - gulf, was convenient for bringing assistance to Carthage from without. If - Utica alone were taken, Hippo-Zarytus, six hours further distant along the - coast, would take its place, and the metropolis, being revictualled in - this way, would be impregnable. - </p> - <p> - Spendius wished the siege to be undertaken immediately. Narr’ Havas - was opposed to this: an advance should first be made upon the frontier. - This was the opinion of the veterans, and of Matho himself, and it was - decided that Spendius should go to attack Utica, and Matho Hippo-Zarytus, - while in the third place the main body should rest on Tunis and occupy the - plain of Carthage, Autaritus being in command. As to Narr’ Havas, he - was to return to his own kingdom to procure elephants and to scour the - roads with his cavalry. - </p> - <p> - The women cried out loudly against this decision; they coveted the jewels - of the Punic ladies. The Libyans also protested. They had been summoned - against Carthage, and now they were going away from it! The soldiers - departed almost alone. Matho commanded his own companions, together with - the Iberians, Lusitanians, and the men of the West, and of the islands; - all those who spoke Greek had asked for Spendius on account of his - cleverness. - </p> - <p> - Great was the stupefaction when the army was seen suddenly in motion; it - stretched along beneath the mountain of Ariana on the road to Utica beside - the sea. A fragment remained before Tunis, the rest disappeared to - re-appear on the other shore of the gulf on the outskirts of the woods in - which they were lost. - </p> - <p> - They were perhaps eighty thousand men. The two Tyrian cities would offer - no resistance, and they would return against Carthage. Already there was a - considerable army attacking it from the base of the isthmus, and it would - soon perish from famine, for it was impossible to live without the aid of - the provinces, the citizens not paying contributions as they did at Rome. - Carthage was wanting in political genius. Her eternal anxiety for gain - prevented her from having the prudence which results from loftier - ambitions. A galley anchored on the Libyan sands, it was with toil that - she maintained her position. The nations roared like billows around her, - and the slightest storm shook this formidable machine. - </p> - <p> - The treasury was exhausted by the Roman war and by all that had been - squandered and lost in the bargaining with the Barbarians. Nevertheless - soldiers must be had, and not a government would trust the Republic! - Ptolemæus had lately refused it two thousand talents. Moreover the rape of - the veil disheartened them. Spendius had clearly foreseen this. - </p> - <p> - But the nation, feeling that it was hated, clasped its money and its gods - to its heart, and its patriotism was sustained by the very constitution of - its government. - </p> - <p> - First, the power rested with all, without any one being strong enough to - engross it. Private debts were considered as public debts, men of - Chanaanitish race had a monopoly of commerce, and by multiplying the - profits of piracy with those of usury, by hard dealings in lands and - slaves and with the poor, fortunes were sometimes made. These alone opened - up all the magistracies, and although authority and money were perpetuated - in the same families, people tolerated the oligarchy because they hoped - ultimately to share in it. - </p> - <p> - The societies of merchants, in which the laws were elaborated, chose the - inspectors of the exchequer, who on leaving office nominated the hundred - members of the Council of the Ancients, themselves dependent on the Grand - Assembly, or general gathering of all the rich. As to the two Suffets, the - relics of the monarchy and the less than consuls, they were taken from - distinct families on the same day. All kinds of enmities were contrived - between them, so that they might mutually weaken each other. They could - not deliberate concerning war, and when they were vanquished the Great - Council crucified them. - </p> - <p> - The power of Carthage emanated, therefore, from the Syssitia, that is to - say, from a large court in the centre of Malqua, at the place, it was - said, where the first bark of Phonician sailors had touched, the sea - having retired a long way since then. It was a collection of little rooms - of archaic architecture, built of palm trunks with corners of stone, and - separated from one another so as to accommodate the various societies - separately. The rich crowded there all day to discuss their own concerns - and those of the government, from the procuring of pepper to the - extermination of Rome. Thrice in a moon they would have their beds brought - up to the lofty terrace running along the wall of the court, and they - might be seen from below at table in the air, without cothurni or cloaks, - with their diamond-covered fingers wandering over the dishes, and their - large earrings hanging down among the flagons,—all fat and lusty, - half-naked, smiling and eating beneath the blue sky, like great sharks - sporting in the sea. - </p> - <p> - But just now they were unable to dissemble their anxiety; they were too - pale for that. The crowd which waited for them at the gates escorted them - to their palaces in order to obtain some news from them. As in times of - pestilence, all the houses were shut; the streets would fill and suddenly - clear again; people ascended the Acropolis or ran to the harbour, and the - Great Council deliberated every night. At last the people were convened in - the square of Khamon, and it was decided to leave the management of things - to Hanno, the conqueror of Hecatompylos. - </p> - <p> - He was a true Carthaginian, devout, crafty, and pitiless towards the - people of Africa. His revenues equalled those of the Barcas. No one had - such experience in administrative affairs. - </p> - <p> - He decreed the enrolment of all healthy citizens, he placed catapults on - the towers, he exacted exorbitant supplies of arms, he even ordered the - construction of fourteen galleys which were not required, and he desired - everything to be registered and carefully set down in writing. He had - himself conveyed to the arsenal, the pharos, and the treasuries of the - temples; his great litter was continually to be seen swinging from step to - step as it ascended the staircases of the Acropolis. And then in his - palace at night, being unable to sleep, he would yell out warlike - manouvres in terrible tones so as to prepare himself for the fray. - </p> - <p> - In their extremity of terror all became brave. The rich ranged themselves - in line along the Mappalian district at cockcrow, and tucking up their - robes practised themselves in handling the pike. But for want of an - instructor they had disputes about it. They would sit down breathless upon - the tombs and then begin again. Several even dieted themselves. Some - imagined that it was necessary to eat a great deal in order to acquire - strength, while others who were inconvenienced by their corpulence - weakened themselves with fasts in order to become thin. - </p> - <p> - Utica had already called several times upon Carthage for assistance; but - Hanno would not set out until the engines of war had been supplied with - the last screws. He lost three moons more in equipping the one hundred and - twelve elephants that were lodged in the ramparts. They were the - conquerors of Regulus; the people loved them; it was impossible to treat - such old friends too well. Hanno had the brass plates which adorned their - breasts recast, their tusks gilt, their towers enlarged, and caparisons, - edged with very heavy fringes, cut out of the handsomest purple. Finally, - as their drivers were called Indians (after the first ones, no doubt, who - came from the Indies) he ordered them all to be costumed after the Indian - fashion; that is to say, with white pads round their temples, and small - drawers of byssus, which with their transverse folds looked like two - valves of a shell applied to the hips. - </p> - <p> - The army under Autaritus still remained before Tunis. It was hidden behind - a wall made with mud from the lake, and protected on the top by thorny - brushwood. Some Negroes had planted tall sticks here and there bearing - frightful faces,—human masks made with birds’ feathers, and - jackals’ or serpents’ heads,—which gaped towards the - enemy for the purpose of terrifying him; and the Barbarians, reckoning - themselves invincible through these means, danced, wrestled, and juggled, - convinced that Carthage would perish before long. Any one but Hanno would - easily have crushed such a multitude, hampered as it was with herds and - women. Moreover, they knew nothing of drill, and Autaritus was so - disheartened that he had ceased to require it. - </p> - <p> - They stepped aside when he passed by rolling his big blue eyes. Then on - reaching the edge of the lake he would draw back his sealskin cloak, - unfasten the cord which tied up his long red hair, and soak the latter in - the water. He regretted that he had not deserted to the Romans along with - the two thousand Gauls of the temple of Eryx. - </p> - <p> - Often the sun would suddenly lose his rays in the middle of the day. Then - the gulf and the open sea would seem as motionless as molten lead. A cloud - of brown dust stretching perpendicularly would speed whirling along; the - palm trees would bend and the sky disappear, while stones would be heard - rebounding on the animals’ cruppers; and the Gaul, his lips glued - against the holes in his tent, would gasp with exhaustion and melancholy. - His thoughts would be of the scent of the pastures on autumn mornings, of - snowflakes, or of the bellowing of the urus lost in the fog, and closing - his eyelids he would in imagination behold the fires in long, straw-roofed - cottages flickering on the marshes in the depths of the woods. - </p> - <p> - Others regretted their native lands as well as he, even though they might - not be so far away. Indeed the Carthaginian captives could distinguish the - velaria spread over the courtyards of their houses, beyond the gulf on the - slopes of Byrsa. But sentries marched round them continually. They were - all fastened to a common chain. Each one wore an iron carcanet, and the - crowd was never weary of coming to gaze at them. The women would show - their little children the handsome robes hanging in tatters on their - wasted limbs. - </p> - <p> - Whenever Autaritus looked at Gisco he was seized with rage at the - recollection of the insult that he had received, and he would have killed - him but for the oath which he had taken to Narr’ Havas. Then he - would go back into his tent and drink a mixture of barley and cumin until - he swooned away from intoxication,—to awake afterwards in broad - daylight consumed with horrible thirst. - </p> - <p> - Matho, meanwhile, was besieging Hippo-Zarytus. But the town was protected - by a lake, communicating with the sea. It had three lines of - circumvallation, and upon the heights which surrounded it there extended a - wall fortified with towers. He had never commanded in such an enterprise - before. Moreover, he was beset with thoughts of Salammbô, and he raved in - the delight of her beauty as in the sweetness of a vengeance that - transported him with pride. He felt an acrid, frenzied, permanent want to - see her again. He even thought of presenting himself as the bearer of a - flag of truce, in the hope that once within Carthage he might make his way - to her. Often he would cause the assault to be sounded and waiting for - nothing rush upon the mole which it was sought to construct in the sea. He - would snatch up the stones with his hands, overturn, strike, and deal - sword-thrusts everywhere. The Barbarians would dash on pell-mell; the - ladders would break with a loud crash, and masses of men would tumble into - the water, causing it to fly up in red waves against the walls. Finally - the tumult would subside, and the soldiers would retire to make a fresh - beginning. - </p> - <p> - Matho would go and seat himself outside the tents, wipe his blood-splashed - face with his arm, and gaze at the horizon in the direction of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - In front of him, among the olives, palms, myrtles and planes, stretched - two broad ponds which met another lake, the outlines of which could not be - seen. Behind one mountain other mountains reared themselves, and in the - middle of the immense lake rose an island perfectly black and pyramidal in - form. On the left, at the extremity of the gulf, were sand-heaps like - arrested waves, large and pale, while the sea, flat as a pavement of - lapis-lazuli, ascended by insensible degrees to the edge of the sky. The - verdure of the country was lost in places beneath long sheets of yellow; - carobs were shining like knobs of coral; vine branches drooped from the - tops of the sycamores; the murmuring of the water could be heard; crested - larks were hopping about, and the sun’s latest fires gilded the - carapaces of the tortoises as they came forth from the reeds to inhale the - breeze. - </p> - <p> - Matho would heave deep sighs. He would lie flat on his face, with his - nails buried in the soil, and weep; he felt wretched, paltry, forsaken. - Never would he possess her, and he was unable even to take a town. - </p> - <p> - At night when alone in his tent he would gaze upon the zaïmph. Of what use - to him was this thing which belonged to the gods?—and doubt crept - into the Barbarian’s thoughts. Then, on the contrary, it would seem - to him that the vesture of the goddess was depending from Salammbô, and - that a portion of her soul hovered in it, subtler than a breath; and he - would feel it, breathe it in, bury his face in it, and kiss it with sobs. - He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself that he - was beside her. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over the - sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon a horse - on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in Spendius’s - tent. - </p> - <p> - At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease his - sorrow by talking about Salammbô. Spendius exhorted him to be prudent. - </p> - <p> - “Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them! - Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if Carthage - is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces. We shall become - kings!” - </p> - <p> - But how was it that the possession of the zaïmph did not give them the - victory? According to Spendius they must wait. - </p> - <p> - Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race - exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself: - “The zaïmph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have - lost it, it will do nothing for them.” - </p> - <p> - Afterwards a scruple troubled him. He was afraid of offending Moloch by - worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked - Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a man. - </p> - <p> - “Keep on sacrificing!” laughed Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek of - having a genius of whom he did not speak. - </p> - <p> - All modes of worship, as well as all races, were to be met with in these - armies of Barbarians, and consideration was had to the gods of others, for - they too, inspired fear. Many mingled foreign practices with their native - religion. It was to no purpose that they did not adore the stars; if a - constellation were fatal or helpful, sacrifices were offered to it; an - unknown amulet found by chance at a moment of peril became a divinity; or - it might be a name and nothing more, which would be repeated without any - attempt to understand its meaning. But after pillaging temples, and seeing - numbers of nations and slaughters, many ultimately ceased to believe in - anything but destiny and death;—and every evening these would fall - asleep with the placidity of wild beasts. Spendius had spit upon the - images of Jupiter Olympius; nevertheless he dreaded to speak aloud in the - dark, nor did he fail every day to put on his right boot first. - </p> - <p> - He reared a long quadrangular terrace in front of Utica, but in proportion - as it ascended the rampart was also heightened, and what was thrown down - by the one side was almost immediately raised again by the other. Spendius - took care of his men; he dreamed of plans and strove to recall the - stratagems which he had heard described in his travels. But why did Narr’ - Havas not return? There was nothing but anxiety. - </p> - <p> - Hanno had at last concluded his preparations. One night when there was no - moon he transported his elephants and soldiers on rafts across the Gulf of - Carthage. Then they wheeled round the mountain of the Hot Springs so as to - avoid Autaritus, and continued their march so slowly that instead of - surprising the Barbarians in the morning, as the Suffet had calculated, - they did not reach them until it was broad daylight on the third day. - </p> - <p> - Utica had on the east a plain which extended to the large lagoon of - Carthage; behind it a valley ran at right angles between two low and - abruptly terminated mountains; the Barbarians were encamped further to the - left in such a way as to blockade the harbour; and they were sleeping in - their tents (for on that day both sides were too weary to fight and were - resting) when the Carthaginian army appeared at the turning of the hills. - </p> - <p> - Some camp followers furnished with slings were stationed at intervals on - the wings. The first line was formed of the guards of the Legion in golden - scale-armour, mounted on their big horses, which were without mane, hair, - or ears, and had silver horns in the middle of their foreheads to make - them look like rhinoceroses. Between their squadrons were youths wearing - small helmets and swinging an ashen javelin in each hand. The long files - of the heavy infantry marched behind. All these traders had piled as many - weapons upon their bodies as possible. Some might be seen carrying an axe, - a lance, a club, and two swords all at once; others bristled with darts - like porcupines, and their arms stood out from their cuirasses in sheets - of horn or iron plates. At last the scaffoldings of the lofty engines - appeared: carrobalistas, onagers, catapults and scorpions, rocking on - chariots drawn by mules and quadrigas of oxen; and in proportion as the - army drew out, the captains ran panting right and left to deliver - commands, close up the files, and preserve the intervals. Such of the - Ancients as held commands had come in purple cassocks, the magnificent - fringes of which tangled in the white straps of their cothurni. Their - faces, which were smeared all over with vermilion, shone beneath enormous - helmets surmounted with images of the gods; and, as they had shields with - ivory borders covered with precious stones, they might have been taken for - suns passing over walls of brass. - </p> - <p> - But the Carthaginians manouvred so clumsily that the soldiers in derision - urged them to sit down. They called out that they were just going to empty - their big stomachs, to dust the gilding of their skin, and to give them - iron to drink. - </p> - <p> - A strip of green cloth appeared at the top of the pole planted before - Spendius’s tent: it was the signal. The Carthaginian army replied to - it with a great noise of trumpets, cymbals, flutes of asses’ bones, - and tympanums. The Barbarians had already leaped outside the palisades, - and were facing their enemies within a javelin’s throw of them. - </p> - <p> - A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets into - his thong, and swung round his arm. An ivory shield was shivered, and the - two armies mingled together. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by - pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. The slaves who - were to hurl stones had picked such as were too big, and they accordingly - fell close to them. The Punic foot-soldiers exposed the right side in - cutting with their long swords. The Barbarians broke their lines; they - slaughtered them freely; they stumbled over the dying and dead, quite - blinded by the blood that spurted into their faces. The confused heap of - pikes, helmets, cuirasses and swords turned round about, widening out and - closing in with elastic contractions. The gaps increased more and more in - the Carthaginian cohorts, the engines could not get out of the sand; and - finally the Suffet’s litter (his grand litter with crystal - pendants), which from the beginning might have been seen tossing among the - soldiers like a bark on the waves, suddenly foundered. He was no doubt - dead. The Barbarians found themselves alone. - </p> - <p> - The dust around them fell and they were beginning to sing, when Hanno - himself appeared on the top of an elephant. He sat bare-headed beneath a - parasol of byssus which was carried by a Negro behind him. His necklace of - blue plates flapped against the flowers on his black tunic; his huge arms - were compressed within circles of diamonds, and with open mouth he - brandished a pike of inordinate size, which spread out at the end like a - lotus, and flashed more than a mirror. Immediately the earth shook,—and - the Barbarians saw all the elephants of Carthage, with their gilt tusks - and blue-painted ears, hastening up in single line, clothed with bronze - and shaking the leathern towers which were placed above their scarlet - caparisons, in each of which were three archers bending large bows. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers were barely in possession of their arms; they had taken up - their positions at random. They were frozen with terror; they stood - undecided. - </p> - <p> - Javelins, arrows, phalaricas, and masses of lead were already being - showered down upon them from the towers. Some clung to the fringes of the - caparisons in order to climb up, but their hands were struck off with - cutlasses and they fell backwards upon the swords’ points. The pikes - were too weak and broke, and the elephants passed through the phalanxes - like wild boars through tufts of grass; they plucked up the stakes of the - camp with their trunks, and traversed it from one end to the other, - overthrowing the tents with their breasts. All the Barbarians had fled. - They were hiding themselves in the hills bordering the valley by which the - Carthaginians had come. - </p> - <p> - The victorious Hanno presented himself before the gates of Utica. He had a - trumpet sounded. The three Judges of the town appeared in the opening of - the battlements on the summit of a tower. - </p> - <p> - But the people of Utica would not receive such well-armed guests. Hanno - was furious. At last they consented to admit him with a feeble escort. - </p> - <p> - The streets were too narrow for the elephants. They had to be left - outside. - </p> - <p> - As soon as the Suffet was in the town the principal men came to greet him. - He had himself taken to the vapour baths, and called for his cooks. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Three hours afterwards he was still immersed in the oil of cinnamomum with - which the basin had been filled; and while he bathed he ate flamingoes’ - tongues with honied poppy-seeds on a spread ox-hide. Beside him was his - Greek physician, motionless, in a long yellow robe, directing the - re-heating of the bath from time to time, and two young boys leaned over - the steps of the basin and rubbed his legs. But attention to his body did - not check his love for the commonwealth, for he was dictating a letter to - be sent to the Great Council, and as some prisoners had just been taken he - was asking himself what terrible punishment could be devised. - </p> - <p> - “Stop!” said he to a slave who stood writing in the hollow of - his hand. “Let some of them be brought to me! I wish to see them!” - </p> - <p> - And from the bottom of the hall, full of a whitish vapour on which the - torches cast red spots, three Barbarians were thrust forward: a Samnite, a - Spartan, and a Cappadocian. - </p> - <p> - “Proceed!” said Hanno. - </p> - <p> - “Rejoice, light of the Baals! your Suffet has exterminated the - ravenous hounds! Blessings on the Republic! Give orders for prayers!” - He perceived the captives and burst out laughing: “Ah! ha! my fine - fellows of Sicca! You are not shouting so loudly to-day! It is I! Do you - recognise me? And where are your swords? What really terrible fellows!” - and he pretended to be desirous to hide himself as if he were afraid of - them. “You demanded horses, women, estates, magistracies, no doubt, - and priesthoods! Why not? Well, I will provide you with the estates, and - such as you will never come out of! You shall be married to gibbets that - are perfectly new! Your pay? it shall be melted in your mouths in leaden - ingots! and I will put you into good and very exalted positions among the - clouds, so as to bring you close to the eagles!” - </p> - <p> - The three long-haired and ragged Barbarians looked at him without - understanding what he said. Wounded in the knees, they had been seized by - having ropes thrown over them, and the ends of the great chains on their - hands trailed upon the pavement. Hanno was indignant at their - impassibility. - </p> - <p> - “On your knees! on your knees! jackals! dust! vermin! excrements! - And they make no reply! Enough! be silent! Let them be flayed alive! No! - presently!” - </p> - <p> - He was breathing like a hippopotamus and rolling his eyes. The perfumed - oil overflowed beneath the mass of his body, and clinging to the scales on - his skin, made it look pink in the light of the torches. - </p> - <p> - He resumed: - </p> - <p> - “For four days we suffered greatly from the sun. Some mules were - lost in crossing the Macaras. In spite of their position, the - extraordinary courage—Ah! Demonades! how I suffer! Have the bricks - reheated, and let them be red-hot!” - </p> - <p> - A noise of rakes and furnaces was heard. The incense smoked more strongly - in the large perfuming pans, and the shampooers, who were quite naked and - were sweating like sponges, crushed a paste composed of wheat, sulphur, - black wine, bitch’s milk, myrrh, galbanum and storax upon his - joints. He was consumed with incessant thirst, but the yellow-robed man - did not yield to this inclination, and held out to him a golden cup in - which viper broth was smoking. - </p> - <p> - “Drink!” said he, “that strength of sun-born serpents - may penetrate into the marrow of your bones, and take courage, O - reflection of the gods! You know, moreover, that a priest of Eschmoun - watches those cruel stars round the Dog from which your malady is derived. - They are growing pale like the spots on your skin, and you are not to die - from them.” - </p> - <p> - “Oh! yes, that is so, is it not?” repeated the Suffet, “I - am not to die from them!” And his violaceous lips gave forth a - breath more nauseous than the exhalation from a corpse. Two coals seemed - to burn in the place of his eyes, which had lost their eyebrows; a mass of - wrinkled skin hung over his forehead; both his ears stood out from his - head and were beginning to increase in size; and the deep lines forming - semicircles round his nostrils gave him a strange and terrifying - appearance, the look of a wild beast. His unnatural voice was like a roar; - he said: - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps you are right, Demonades. In fact there are many ulcers - here which have closed. I feel robust. Here! look how I am eating!” - </p> - <p> - And less from greediness than from ostentation, and the desire to prove to - himself that he was in good health, he cut into the forcemeats of cheese - and marjoram, the boned fish, gourds, oysters with eggs, horse-radishes, - truffles, and brochettes of small birds. As he looked at the prisoners he - revelled in the imagination of their tortures. Nevertheless he remembered - Sicca, and the rage caused by all his woes found vent in the abuse of - these three men. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! traitors! ah! wretches! infamous, accursed creatures! And you - outraged me!—me! the Suffet! Their services, the price of their - blood, say they! Ah! yes! their blood! their blood!” Then speaking - to himself:—“All shall perish! not one shall be sold! It would - be better to bring them to Carthage! I should be seen—but doubtless, - I have not brought chains enough? Write: Send me—How many of them - are there? go and ask Muthumbal! Go! no pity! and let all their hands be - cut off and brought to me in baskets!” - </p> - <p> - But strange cries at once hoarse and shrill penetrated into the hall above - Hanno’s voice and the rattling of the dishes that were being placed - around him. They increased, and suddenly the furious trumpeting of the - elephants burst forth as if the battle were beginning again. A great - tumult was going on around the town. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians had not attempted to pursue the Barbarians. They had - taken up their quarters at the foot of the walls with their baggage, - mules, serving men, and all their train of satraps; and they made merry in - their beautiful pearl-bordered tents, while the camp of the Mercenaries - was now nothing but a heap of ruins in the plain. Spendius had recovered - his courage. He dispatched Zarxas to Matho, scoured the woods, rallied his - men (the losses had been inconsiderable),—and they were re-forming - their lines enraged at having been conquered without a fight, when they - discovered a vat of petroleum which had no doubt been abandoned by the - Carthaginians. Then Spendius had some pigs carried off from the farms, - smeared them with bitumen, set them on fire, and drove them towards Utica. - </p> - <p> - The elephants were terrified by the flames and fled. The ground sloped - upwards, javelins were thrown at them, and they turned back;—and - with great blows of ivory and trampling feet they ripped up the - Carthaginians, stifled them, flattened them. The Barbarians descended the - hill behind them; the Punic camp, which was without entrenchments was - sacked at the first rush, and the Carthaginians were crushed against the - gates, which were not opened through fear of the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - Day broke, and Matho’s foot-soldiers were seen coming up from the - west. At the same time horsemen appeared; they were Narr’ Havas with - his Numidians. Leaping ravines and bushes they ran down the fugitives like - greyhounds pursuing hares. This change of fortune interrupted the Suffet. - He called out to be assisted to leave the vapour bath. - </p> - <p> - The three captives were still before him. Then a Negro (the same who had - carried his parasol in the battle) leaned over to his ear. - </p> - <p> - “Well?” replied the Suffet slowly. “Ah! kill them!” - he added in an abrupt tone. - </p> - <p> - The Ethiopian drew a long dagger from his girdle and the three heads fell. - One of them rebounded among the remains of the feast, and leaped into the - basin, where it floated for some time with open mouth and staring eyes. - The morning light entered through the chinks in the wall; the three bodies - streamed with great bubbles like three fountains, and a sheet of blood - flowed over the mosaics with their powdering of blue dust. The Suffet - dipped his hand into this hot mire and rubbed his knees with it: it was a - cure. - </p> - <p> - When evening had come he stole away from the town with his escort, and - made his way into the mountain to rejoin his army. - </p> - <p> - He succeeded in finding the remains of it. - </p> - <p> - Four days afterward he was on the top of a defile at Gorza, when the - troops under Spendius appeared below. Twenty stout lances might easily - have checked them by attacking the head of their column, but the - Carthaginians watched them pass by in a state of stupefaction. Hanno - recognised the king of the Numidians in the rearguard; Narr’ Havas - bowed to him, at the same time making a sign which he did not understand. - </p> - <p> - The return to Carthage took place amid all kinds of terrors. They marched - only at night, hiding in the olive woods during the day. There were deaths - at every halting-place; several times they believed themselves lost. At - last they reached Cape Hermæum, where vessels came to receive them. - </p> - <p> - Hanno was so fatigued, so desperate—the loss of the elephants in - particular overwhelmed him—that he demanded poison from Demonades in - order to put an end to it all. Moreover he could already feel himself - stretched upon the cross. - </p> - <p> - Carthage had not strength enough to be indignant with him. Its losses had - amounted to one hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy-two shekels of - silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three shekels of gold, - eighteen elephants, fourteen members of the Great Council, three hundred - of the rich, eight thousand citizens, corn enough for three moons, a - considerable quantity of baggage, and all the engines of war! The - defection of Narr’ Havas was certain, and both sieges were beginning - again. The army under Autaritus now extended from Tunis to Rhades. From - the top of the Acropolis long columns of smoke might be seen in the - country ascending to the sky; they were the mansions of the rich, which - were on fire. - </p> - <p> - One man alone could have saved the Republic. People repented that they had - slighted him, and the peace party itself voted holocausts for Hamilcar’s - return. - </p> - <p> - The sight of the zaïmph had upset Salammbô. At night she thought that she - could hear the footsteps of the goddess, and she would awake terrified and - shrieking. Every day she sent food to the temples. Taanach was worn out - with executing her orders, and Schahabarim never left her. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"></a> - CHAPTER VII - </h2> - <h3> - HAMILCAR BARCA - </h3> - <p> - The Announcer of the Moons, who watched on the summit of the temple of - Eschmoun every night in order to signal the disturbances of the planet - with his trumpet, one morning perceived towards the west something like a - bird skimming the surface of the sea with its long wings. - </p> - <p> - It was a ship with three tiers of oars and with a horse carved on the - prow. The sun was rising; the Announcer of the Moons put up his hand - before his eyes, and then grasping his clarion with outstretched arms - sounded a loud brazen cry over Carthage. - </p> - <p> - People came out of every house; they would not believe what was said; they - disputed with one another; the mole was covered with people. At last they - recognised Hamilcar’s trireme. - </p> - <p> - It advanced in fierce and haughty fashion, cleaving the foam around it, - the lateen-yard quite square and the sail bulging down the whole length of - the mast; its gigantic oars kept time as they beat the water; every now - and then the extremity of the keel, which was shaped like a plough-share, - would appear, and the ivory-headed horse, rearing both its feet beneath - the spur which terminated the prow, would seem to be speeding over the - plains of the sea. - </p> - <p> - As it rounded the promontory the wind ceased, the sail fell, and a man was - seen standing bareheaded beside the pilot. It was he, Hamilcar, the - Suffet! About his sides he wore gleaming sheets of steel; a red cloak, - fastened to his shoulders, left his arms visible; two pearls of great - length hung from his ears, and his black, bushy beard rested on his - breast. - </p> - <p> - The galley, however, tossing amid the rocks, was proceeding along the side - of the mole, and the crowd followed it on the flag-stones, shouting: - </p> - <p> - “Greeting! blessing! Eye of Khamon! ah! deliver us! ’Tis the - fault of the rich! they want to put you to death! Take care of yourself, - Barca!” - </p> - <p> - He made no reply, as if the loud clamour of oceans and battles had - completely deafened him. But when he was below the staircase leading down - from the Acropolis, Hamilcar raised his head, and looked with folded arms - upon the temple of Eschmoun. His gaze mounted higher still, to the great - pure sky; he shouted an order in a harsh voice to his sailors; the trireme - leaped forward; it grazed the idol set up at the corner of the mole to - stay the storms; and in the merchant harbour, which was full of filth, - fragments of wood, and rinds of fruit, it pushed aside and crushed against - the other ships moored to stakes and terminating in crocodiles’ - jaws. The people hastened thither, and some threw themselves into the - water to swim to it. It was already at the very end before the gate which - bristled with nails. The gate rose, and the trireme disappeared beneath - the deep arch. - </p> - <p> - The Military Harbour was completely separated from the town; when - ambassadors arrived, they had to proceed between two walls through a - passage which had its outlet on the left in front of the temple of Khamon. - This great expanse of water was as round as a cup, and was bordered with - quays on which sheds were built for sheltering the ships. Before each of - these rose two pillars bearing the horns of Ammon on their capitals and - forming continuous porticoes all round the basin. On an island in the - centre stood a house for the marine Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The water was so limpid that the bottom was visible with its paving of - white pebbles. The noise of the streets did not reach so far, and Hamilcar - as he passed recognised the triremes which he had formerly commanded. - </p> - <p> - Not more than twenty perhaps remained, under shelter on the land, leaning - over on their sides or standing upright on their keels, with lofty poops - and swelling prows, and covered with gildings and mystic symbols. The - chimaeras had lost their wings, the Patæc Gods their arms, the bulls their - silver horns;—and half-painted, motionless, and rotten as they were, - yet full of associations, and still emitting the scent of voyages, they - all seemed to say to him, like mutilated soldiers on seeing their master - again, “’Tis we! ’Tis we! and <i>you</i> too are - vanquished!” - </p> - <p> - No one excepting the marine Suffet might enter the admiral’s house. - So long as there was no proof of his death he was considered as still in - existence. In this way the Ancients avoided a master the more, and they - had not failed to comply with the custom in respect to Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet proceeded into the deserted apartments. At every step he - recognised armour and furniture—familiar objects which nevertheless - astonished him, and in a perfuming-pan in the vestibule there even - remained the ashes of the perfumes that had been kindled at his departure - for the conjuration of Melkarth. It was not thus that he had hoped to - return. Everything that he had done, everything that he had seen, unfolded - itself in his memory: assaults, conflagrations, legions, tempests, - Drepanum, Syracuse, Lilybæum, Mount Etna, the plateau of Eryx, five years - of battles,—until the fatal day when arms had been laid down and - Sicily had been lost. Then he once more saw the woods of citron-trees, and - herdsmen with their goats on grey mountains; and his heart leaped at the - thought of the establishment of another Carthage down yonder. His projects - and his recollections buzzed through his head, which was still dizzy from - the pitching of the vessel; he was overwhelmed with anguish, and, becoming - suddenly weak, he felt the necessity of drawing near to the gods. - </p> - <p> - Then he went up to the highest story of his house, and taking a - nail-studded staple from a golden shell, which hung on his arm, he opened - a small oval chamber. - </p> - <p> - It was softly lighted by means of delicate black discs let into the wall - and as transparent as glass. Between the rows of these equal discs, holes, - like those for the urns in columbaria, were hollowed out. Each of them - contained a round dark stone, which appeared to be very heavy. Only people - of superior understanding honoured these abaddirs, which had fallen from - the moon. By their fall they denoted the stars, the sky, and fire; by - their colour dark night, and by their density the cohesion of terrestrial - things. A stifling atmosphere filled this mystic place. The round stones - lying in the niches were whitened somewhat with sea-sand which the wind - had no doubt driven through the door. Hamilcar counted them one after - another with the tip of his finger; then he hid his face in a - saffron-coloured veil, and, falling on his knees, stretched himself on the - ground with both arms extended. - </p> - <p> - The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters of - black lattice-work. Arborescences, hillocks, eddies, and ill-defined - animals appeared in their diaphanous thickness; and the light came - terrifying and yet peaceful as it must be behind the sun in the dull - spaces of future creations. He strove to banish from his thoughts all - forms, and all symbols and appellations of the gods, that he might the - better apprehend the immutable spirit which outward appearances took away. - Something of the planetary vitalities penetrated him, and he felt withal a - wiser and more intimate scorn of death and of every accident. When he rose - he was filled with serene fearlessness and was proof against pity or - dread, and as his chest was choking he went to the top of the tower which - overlooked Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The town sank downwards in a long hollow curve, with its cupolas, its - temples, its golden roofs, its houses, its clusters of palm trees here and - there, and its glass balls with streaming rays, while the ramparts formed, - as it were, the gigantic border of this horn of plenty which poured itself - out before him. Far below he could see the harbours, the squares, the - interiors of the courts, the plan of the streets, and the people, who - seemed very small and but little above the level of the pavement. Ah! if - Hanno had not arrived too late on the morning of the Ægatian islands! He - fastened his eyes on the extreme horizon and stretched forth his quivering - arms in the direction of Rome. - </p> - <p> - The steps of the Acropolis were occupied by the multitude. In the square - of Khamon the people were pressing forwards to see the Suffet come out, - and the terraces were gradually being loaded with people; a few recognised - him, and he was saluted; but he retired in order the better to excite the - impatience of the people. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar found the most important men of his party below in the hall: - Istatten, Subeldia, Hictamon, Yeoubas and others. They related to him all - that had taken place since the conclusion of the peace: the greed of the - Ancients, the departure of the soldiers, their return, their demands, the - capture of Gisco, the theft of the zaïmph, the relief and subsequent - abandonment of Utica; but no one ventured to tell him of the events which - concerned himself. At last they separated, to meet again during the night - at the assembly of the Ancients in the temple of Moloch. - </p> - <p> - They had just gone out when a tumult arose outside the door. Some one was - trying to enter in spite of the servants; and as the disturbance was - increasing Hamilcar ordered the stranger to be shown in. - </p> - <p> - An old Negress made her appearance, broken, wrinkled, trembling, - stupid-looking, wrapped to the heels in ample blue veils. She advanced - face to face with the Suffet, and they looked at each other for some time; - suddenly Hamilcar started; at a wave of his hand the slaves withdrew. - Then, signing to her to walk with precaution, he drew her by the arm into - a remote apartment. - </p> - <p> - The Negress threw herself upon the floor to kiss his feet; he raised her - brutally. - </p> - <p> - “Where have you left him, Iddibal?” - </p> - <p> - “Down there, Master;” and extricating herself from her veils, - she rubbed her face with her sleeve; the black colour, the senile - trembling, the bent figure disappeared, and there remained a strong old - man whose skin seemed tanned by sand, wind, and sea. A tuft of white hair - rose on his skull like the crest of a bird; and he indicated his disguise, - as it lay on the ground, with an ironic glance. - </p> - <p> - “You have done well, Iddibal! ’Tis well!” Then piercing - him, as it were, with his keen gaze: “No one yet suspects?” - </p> - <p> - The old man swore to him by the Kabiri that the mystery had been kept. - They never left their cottage, which was three days’ journey from - Hadrumetum, on a shore peopled with turtles, and with palms on the dune. - “And in accordance with your command, O Master! I teach him to hurl - the javelin and to drive a team.” - </p> - <p> - “He is strong, is he not?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes, Master, and intrepid as well! He has no fear of serpents, or - thunder, or phantoms. He runs bare-footed like a herdsman along the brinks - of precipices.” - </p> - <p> - “Speak! speak!” - </p> - <p> - “He invents snares for wild beasts. Would you believe it, that last - moon he surprised an eagle; he dragged it away, and the bird’s blood - and the child’s were scattered in the air in large drops like driven - roses. The animal in its fury enwrapped him in the beating of its wings; - he strained it against his breast, and as it died his laughter increased, - piercing and proud like the clashing of swords.” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar bent his head, dazzled by such presages of greatness. - </p> - <p> - “But he has been for some time restless and disturbed. He gazes at - the sails passing far out at sea; he is melancholy, he rejects bread, he - inquires about the gods, and he wishes to become acquainted with Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - “No, no! not yet!” exclaimed the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The old slave seemed to understand the peril which alarmed Hamilcar, and - he resumed: - </p> - <p> - “How is he to be restrained? Already I am obliged to make him - promises, and I have come to Carthage only to buy him a dagger with a - silver handle and pearls all around it.” Then he told how, having - perceived the Suffet on the terrace, he had passed himself off on the - warders of the harbour as one of Salammbô’s women, so as to make his - way in to him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar remained for a long time apparently lost in deliberation; at last - he said: - </p> - <p> - “To-morrow you will present yourself at sunset behind the purple - factories in Megara, and imitate a jackal’s cry three times. If you - do not see me, you will return to Carthage on the first day of every moon. - Forget nothing! Love him! You may speak to him now about Hamilcar.” - </p> - <p> - The slave resumed his costume, and they left the house and the harbour - together. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar went on his way alone on foot and without an escort, for the - meetings of the Ancients were, under extraordinary circumstances, always - secret, and were resorted to mysteriously. - </p> - <p> - At first he went along the western front of the Acropolis, and then passed - through the Green Market, the galleries of Kinisdo, and the Perfumers’ - suburb. The scattered lights were being extinguished, the broader streets - grew still, then shadows glided through the darkness. They followed him, - others appeared, and like him they all directed their course towards the - Mappalian district. - </p> - <p> - The temple of Moloch was built at the foot of a steep defile in a sinister - spot. From below nothing could be seen but lofty walls rising indefinitely - like those of a monstrous tomb. The night was gloomy, a greyish fog seemed - to weigh upon the sea, which beat against the cliff with a noise as of - death-rattles and sobs; and the shadows gradually vanished as if they had - passed through the walls. - </p> - <p> - But as soon as the doorway was crossed one found oneself in a vast - quadrangular court bordered by arcades. In the centre rose a mass of - architecture with eight equal faces. It was surmounted by cupolas which - thronged around a second story supporting a kind of rotunda, from which - sprang a cone with a re-entrant curve and terminating in a ball on the - summit. - </p> - <p> - Fires were burning in cylinders of filigree-work fitted upon poles, which - men were carrying to and fro. These lights flickered in the gusts of wind - and reddened the golden combs which fastened their plaited hair on the - nape of the neck. They ran about calling to one another to receive the - Ancients. - </p> - <p> - Here and there on the flag-stones huge lions were couched like sphinxes, - living symbols of the devouring sun. They were slumbering with half-closed - eyelids. But roused by the footsteps and voices they rose slowly, came - towards the Ancients, whom they recognised by their dress, and rubbed - themselves against their thighs, arching their backs with sonorous yawns; - the vapour of their breath passed across the light of the torches. The - stir increased, doors closed, all the priests fled, and the Ancients - disappeared beneath the columns which formed a deep vestibule round the - temple. - </p> - <p> - These columns were arranged in such a way that their circular ranks, which - were contained one within another, showed the Saturnian period with its - years, the years with their months, and the months with their days, and - finally reached to the walls of the sanctuary. - </p> - <p> - Here it was that the Ancients laid aside their sticks of narwhal’s-horn,—for - a law which was always observed inflicted the punishment of death upon any - one entering the meeting with any kind of weapon. Several wore a rent - repaired with a strip of purple at the bottom of their garment, to show - that they had not been economical in their dress when mourning for their - relatives, and this testimony to their affliction prevented the slit from - growing larger. Others had their beards inclosed in little bags of violet - skin, and fastened to their ears by two cords. They all accosted one - another by embracing breast to breast. They surrounded Hamilcar with - congratulations; they might have been taken for brothers meeting their - brother again. - </p> - <p> - These men were generally thick-set, with curved noses like those of the - Assyrian colossi. In a few, however, the more prominent cheek-bone, the - taller figure, and the narrower foot, betrayed an African origin and nomad - ancestors. Those who lived continually shut up in their counting-houses - had pale faces; others showed in theirs the severity of the desert, and - strange jewels sparkled on all the fingers of their hands, which were - burnt by unknown suns. The navigators might be distinguished by their - rolling gait, while the men of agriculture smelt of the wine-press, dried - herbs, and the sweat of mules. These old pirates had lands under tillage, - these money-grubbers would fit out ships, these proprietors of cultivated - lands supported slaves who followed trades. All were skilled in religious - discipline, expert in strategy, pitiless and rich. They looked wearied of - prolonged cares. Their flaming eyes expressed distrust, and their habits - of travelling and lying, trafficking and commanding, gave an appearance of - cunning and violence, a sort of discreet and convulsive brutality to their - whole demeanour. Further, the influence of the god cast a gloom upon them. - </p> - <p> - They first passed through a vaulted hall which was shaped like an egg. - Seven doors, corresponding to the seven planets, displayed seven squares - of different colours against the wall. After traversing a long room they - entered another similar hall. - </p> - <p> - A candelabrum completely covered with chiselled flowers was burning at the - far end, and each of its eight golden branches bore a wick of byssus in a - diamond chalice. It was placed upon the last of the long steps leading to - a great altar, the corners of which terminated in horns of brass. Two - lateral staircases led to its flattened summit; the stones of it could not - be seen; it was like a mountain of heaped cinders, and something - indistinct was slowly smoking at the top of it. Then further back, higher - than the candelabrum, and much higher than the altar, rose the Moloch, all - of iron, and with gaping apertures in his human breast. His outspread - wings were stretched upon the wall, his tapering hands reached down to the - ground; three black stones bordered by yellow circles represented three - eyeballs on his brow, and his bull’s head was raised with a terrible - effort as if in order to bellow. - </p> - <p> - Ebony stools were ranged round the apartment. Behind each of them was a - bronze shaft resting on three claws and supporting a torch. All these - lights were reflected in the mother-of-pearl lozenges which formed the - pavement of the hall. So lofty was the latter that the red colour of the - walls grew black as it rose towards the vaulted roof, and the three eyes - of the idol appeared far above like stars half lost in the night. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients sat down on the ebony stools after putting the trains of - their robes over their heads. They remained motionless with their hands - crossed inside their broad sleeves, and the mother-of-pearl pavement - seemed like a luminous river streaming from the altar to the door and - flowing beneath their naked feet. - </p> - <p> - The four pontiffs had their places in the centre, sitting back to back on - four ivory seats which formed a cross, the high-priest of Eschmoun in a - hyacinth robe, the high-priest of Tanith in a white linen robe, the - high-priest of Khamon in a tawny woollen robe, and the high-priest of - Moloch in a purple robe. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar advanced towards the candelabrum. He walked all round it, looking - at the burning wicks; then he threw a scented powder upon them, and violet - flames appeared at the extremities of the branches. - </p> - <p> - Then a shrill voice rose; another replied to it, and the hundred Ancients, - the four pontiffs, and Hamilcar, who remained standing, simultaneously - intoned a hymn, and their voices—ever repeating the same syllables - and strengthening the sounds—rose, grew loud, became terrible, and - then suddenly were still. - </p> - <p> - There was a pause for some time. At last Hamilcar drew from his breast a - little three-headed statuette, as blue as sapphire, and placed it before - him. It was the image of Truth, the very genius of his speech. Then he - replaced it in his bosom, and all, as if seized with sudden wrath, cried - out: - </p> - <p> - “They are good friends of yours, are the Barbarians! Infamous - traitor! You come back to see us perish, do you not? Let him speak!—No! - no!” - </p> - <p> - They were taking their revenge for the constraint to which political - ceremonial had just obliged them; and even though they had wished for - Hamilcar’s return, they were now indignant that he had not - anticipated their disasters, or rather that he had not endured them as - well as they. - </p> - <p> - When the tumult had subsided, the pontiff of Moloch rose: - </p> - <p> - “We ask you why you did not return to Carthage?” - </p> - <p> - “What is that to you?” replied the Suffet disdainfully. - </p> - <p> - Their shouts were redoubled. - </p> - <p> - “Of what do you accuse me? I managed the war badly, perhaps! You - have seen how I order my battles, you who conveniently allow Barbarians—” - </p> - <p> - “Enough! enough!” - </p> - <p> - He went on in a low voice so as to make himself the better listened to: - </p> - <p> - “Oh! that is true! I am wrong, lights of the Baals; there are - intrepid men among you! Gisco, rise!” And surveying the step of the - altar with half-closed eyelids, as if he sought for some one, he repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Rise, Gisco! You can accuse me; they will protect you! But where is - he?” Then, as if he remembered himself: “Ah! in his house, no - doubt! surrounded by his sons, commanding his slaves, happy, and counting - on the wall the necklaces of honour which his country has given to him!” - </p> - <p> - They moved about raising their shoulders as if they were being scourged - with thongs. “You do not even know whether he is living or dead!” - And without giving any heed to their clamours he said that in deserting - the Suffet they had deserted the Republic. So, too, the peace with Rome, - however advantageous it might appear to them, was more fatal than twenty - battles. A few—those who were the least rich of the Council and were - suspected of perpetual leanings towards the people or towards tyranny—applauded. - Their opponents, chiefs of the Syssitia and administrators, triumphed over - them in point of numbers; and the more eminent of them had ranged - themselves close to Hanno, who was sitting at the other end of the hall - before the lofty door, which was closed by a hanging of hyacinth colour. - </p> - <p> - He had covered the ulcers on his face with paint. But the gold dust in his - hair had fallen upon his shoulders, where it formed two brilliant sheets, - so that his hair appeared whitish, fine, and frizzled like wool. His hands - were enveloped in linen soaked in a greasy perfume, which dripped upon the - pavement, and his disease had no doubt considerably increased, for his - eyes were hidden beneath the folds of his eyelids. He had thrown back his - head in order to see. His partisans urged him to speak. At last in a - hoarse and hideous voice he said: - </p> - <p> - “Less arrogance, Barca! We have all been vanquished! Each one - supports his own misfortune! Be resigned!” - </p> - <p> - “Tell us rather,” said Hamilcar, smiling, “how it was - that you steered your galleys into the Roman fleet?” - </p> - <p> - “I was driven by the wind,” replied Hanno. - </p> - <p> - “You are like a rhinoceros trampling on his dung: you are displaying - your own folly! be silent!” And they began to indulge in - recriminations respecting the battle of the Ægatian islands. - </p> - <p> - Hanno accused him of not having come to meet him. - </p> - <p> - “But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood - out from the coast; what prevented you? Ah! I forgot! all elephants are - afraid of the sea!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s followers thought this jest so good that they burst out - into loud laughter. The vault rang with it like the beating of tympanums. - </p> - <p> - Hanno denounced the unworthiness of such an insult; the disease had come - upon him from a cold taken at the siege of Hecatompylos, and tears flowed - down his face like winter rain on a ruined wall. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar resumed: - </p> - <p> - “If you had loved me as much as him there would be great joy in - Carthage now! How many times did I not call upon you! and you always - refused me money!” - </p> - <p> - “We had need of it,” said the chiefs of the Syssitia. - </p> - <p> - “And when things were desperate with me—we drank mules’ - urine and ate the straps of our sandals; when I would fain have had the - blades of grass soldiers and made battalions with the rottenness of our - dead, you recalled the vessels that I had left!” - </p> - <p> - “We could not risk everything,” replied Baat-Baal, who - possessed gold mines in Darytian Gætulia. - </p> - <p> - “But what did you do here, at Carthage, in your houses, behind your - walls? There are Gauls on the Eridanus, who ought to have been roused, - Chanaanites at Cyrene who would have come, and while the Romans send - ambassadors to Ptolemæus—” - </p> - <p> - “Now he is extolling the Romans to us!” Some one shouted out - to him: “How much have they paid you to defend them?” - </p> - <p> - “Ask that of the plains of Brutium, of the ruins of Locri, of - Metapontum, and of Heraclea! I have burnt all their trees, I have pillaged - all their temples, and even to the death of their grandchildren’s - grandchildren—” - </p> - <p> - “Why, you disclaim like a rhetor!” said Kapouras, a very - illustrious merchant. “What is it that you want?” - </p> - <p> - “I say that we must be more ingenious or more terrible! If the whole - of Africa rejects your yoke the reason is, my feeble masters, that you do - not know how to fasten it to her shoulders! Agathocles, Regulus, Copio, - any bold man has only to land and capture her; and when the Libyans in the - east concert with the Numidians in the west, and the Nomads come from the - south, and the Romans from the north”—a cry of horror rose—“Oh! - you will beat your breasts, and roll in the dust, and tear your cloaks! No - matter! you will have to go and turn the mill-stone in the Suburra, and - gather grapes on the hills of Latium.” - </p> - <p> - They smote their right thighs to mark their sense of the scandal, and the - sleeves of their robes rose like large wings of startled birds. Hamilcar, - carried away by a spirit, continued his speech, standing on the highest - step of the altar, quivering and terrible; he raised his arms, and the - rays from the candelabrum which burned behind him passed between his - fingers like javelins of gold. - </p> - <p> - “You will lose your ships, your country seats, your chariots, your - hanging beds, and the slaves who rub your feet! The jackal will crouch in - your palaces, and the ploughshare will upturn your tombs. Nothing will be - left but the eagles’ scream and a heap of ruins. Carthage, thou wilt - fall!” - </p> - <p> - The four pontiffs spread out their hands to avert the anathema. All had - risen. But the marine Suffet, being a sacerdotal magistrate under the - protection of the Sun, was inviolate so long as the assembly of the rich - had not judged him. Terror was associated with the altar. They drew back. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had ceased speaking, and was panting with eye fixed, his face as - pale as the pearls of his tiara, almost frightened at himself, and his - spirit lost in funereal visions. From the height on which he stood, all - the torches on the bronze shafts seemed to him like a vast crown of fire - laid level with the pavement; black smoke issuing from them mounted up - into the darkness of the vault; and for some minutes the silence was so - profound that they could hear in the distance the sound of the sea. - </p> - <p> - Then the Ancients began to question one another. Their interests, their - existence, were attacked by the Barbarians. But it was impossible to - conquer them without the assistance of the Suffet, and in spite of their - pride this consideration made them forget every other. His friends were - taken aside. There were interested reconciliations, understandings, and - promises. Hamilcar would not take any further part in any government. All - conjured him. They besought him; and as the word treason occurred in their - speech, he fell into a passion. The sole traitor was the Great Council, - for as the enlistment of the soldiers expired with the war, they became - free as soon as the war was finished; he even exalted their bravery and - all the advantages which might be derived from interesting them in the - Republic by donations and privileges. - </p> - <p> - Then Magdassin, a former provincial governor, said, as he rolled his - yellow eyes: - </p> - <p> - “Truly Barca, with your travelling you have become a Greek, or a - Latin, or something! Why speak you of rewards for these men? Rather let - ten thousand Barbarians perish than a single one of us!” - </p> - <p> - The Ancients nodded approval, murmuring:—“Yes, is there need - for so much trouble? They can always be had?” - </p> - <p> - “And they can be got rid of conveniently, can they not? They are - deserted as they were by you in Sardinia. The enemy is apprised of the - road which they are to take, as in the case of those Gauls in Sicily, or - perhaps they are disembarked in the middle of the sea. As I was returning - I saw the rock quite white with their bones!” - </p> - <p> - “What a misfortune!” said Kapouras impudently. - </p> - <p> - “Have they not gone over to the enemy a hundred times?” cried - the others. - </p> - <p> - “Why, then,” exclaimed Hamilcar, “did you recall them to - Carthage, notwithstanding your laws? And when they are in your town, poor - and numerous amid all your riches, it does not occur to you to weaken them - by the slightest division! Afterwards you dismiss the whole of them with - their women and children, without keeping a single hostage! Did you expect - that they would murder themselves to spare you the pain of keeping your - oaths? You hate them because they are strong! You hate me still more, who - am their master! Oh! I felt it just now when you were kissing my hands and - were all putting a constraint upon yourselves not to bite them!” - </p> - <p> - If the lions that were sleeping in the court had come howling in, the - uproar could not have been more frightful. But the pontiff of Eschmoun - rose, and, standing perfectly upright, with his knees close together, his - elbows pressed to his body, and his hands half open, he said: - </p> - <p> - “Barca, Carthage has need that you should take the general command - of the Punic forces against the Mercenaries!” - </p> - <p> - “I refuse,” replied Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - “We will give you full authority,” cried the chiefs of the - Syssitia. - </p> - <p> - “No!” - </p> - <p> - “With no control, no partition, all the money that you want, all the - captives, all the booty, fifty zereths of land for every enemy’s - corpse.” - </p> - <p> - “No! no! because it is impossible to conquer with you!” - </p> - <p> - “He is afraid!” - </p> - <p> - “Because you are cowardly, greedy, ungrateful, pusillanimous and - mad!” - </p> - <p> - “He is careful of them!” - </p> - <p> - “In order to put himself at their head,” said some one. - </p> - <p> - “And return against us,” said another; and from the bottom of - the hall Hanno howled: - </p> - <p> - “He wants to make himself king!” - </p> - <p> - Then they bounded up, overturning the seats and the torches: the crowd of - them rushed towards the altar; they brandished daggers. But Hamilcar dived - into his sleeves and drew from them two broad cutlasses; and half - stooping, his left foot advanced, his eyes flaming and his teeth clenched, - he defied them as he stood there beneath the golden candelabrum. - </p> - <p> - Thus they had brought weapons with them as a precaution; it was a crime; - they looked with terror at one another. As all were guilty, every one - became quickly reassured; and by degrees they turned their backs on the - Suffet and came down again maddened with humiliation. For the second time - they recoiled before him. They remained standing for some time. Several - who had wounded their fingers put them to their mouths or rolled them - gently in the hem of their mantles, and they were about to depart when - Hamilcar heard these words: - </p> - <p> - “Why! it is a piece of delicacy to avoid distressing his daughter!” - </p> - <p> - A louder voice was raised: - </p> - <p> - “No doubt, since she takes her lovers from among the Mercenaries!” - </p> - <p> - At first he tottered, then his eye rapidly sought for Schahabarim. But the - priest of Tanith had alone remained in his place; and Hamilcar could see - only his lofty cap in the distance. All were sneering in his face. In - proportion as his anguish increased their joy redoubled, and those who - were behind shouted amid the hootings: - </p> - <p> - “He was seen coming out of her room!” - </p> - <p> - “One morning in the month of Tammouz!” - </p> - <p> - “It was the thief who stole the zaïmph!” - </p> - <p> - “A very handsome man!” - </p> - <p> - “Taller than you!” - </p> - <p> - He snatched off the tiara, the ensign of his rank—his tiara with its - eight mystic rows, and with an emerald shell in the centre—and with - both hands and with all his strength dashed it to the ground; the golden - circles rebounded as they broke, and the pearls rang upon the pavement. - Then they saw a long scar upon the whiteness of his brow; it moved like a - serpent between his eyebrows; all his limbs trembled. He ascended one of - the lateral staircases which led on to the altar, and walked upon the - latter! This was to devote himself to the god, to offer himself as a - holocaust. The motion of his mantle agitated the lights of the - candelabrum, which was lower than his sandals, and the fine dust raised by - his footsteps surrounded him like a cloud as high as the waist. He stopped - between the legs of the brass colossus. He took up two handfuls of the - dust, the mere sight of which made every Carthaginian shudder with horror, - and said: - </p> - <p> - “By the hundred torches of your Intelligences! by the eight fires of - the Kabiri! by the stars, the meteors, and the volcanoes! by everything - that burns! by the thirst of the desert and the saltness of the ocean! by - the cave of Hadrumetum and the empire of Souls! by extermination! by the - ashes of your sons and the ashes of the brothers of your ancestors with - which I now mingle my own!—you, the Hundred of the Council of - Carthage, have lied in your accusation of my daughter! And I, Hamilcar - Barca, marine Suffet, chief of the rich and ruler of the people, in the - presence of bull-headed Moloch, I swear”—they expected - something frightful, but he resumed in a loftier and calmer tone—“that - I will not even speak to her about it!” - </p> - <p> - The sacred servants entered wearing their golden combs, some with purple - sponges and others with branches of palm. They raised the hyacinth curtain - which was stretched before the door; and through the opening of this angle - there was visible behind the other halls the great pink sky which seemed - to be a continuation of the vault and to rest at the horizon upon the blue - sea. The sun was issuing from the waves and mounting upwards. It suddenly - struck upon the breast of the brazen colossus, which was divided into - seven compartments closed by gratings. His red-toothed jaws opened in a - horrible yawn; his enormous nostrils were dilated, the broad daylight - animated him, and gave him a terrible and impatient aspect, as if he would - fain have leaped without to mingle with the star, the god, and together - traverse the immensities. - </p> - <p> - The torches, however, which were scattered on the ground, were still - burning, while here and there on the mother-of-pearl pavement was - stretched from them what looked like spots of blood. The Ancients were - reeling from exhaustion; they filled their lungs inhaling the freshness of - the air; the sweat flowed down their livid faces; they had shouted so much - that they could now scarcely make their voices heard. But their wrath - against the Suffet was not at all abated; they hurled menaces at him by - way of farewells, and Hamilcar answered them again. - </p> - <p> - “Until the next night, Barca, in the temple of Eschmoun!” - </p> - <p> - “I shall be there!” - </p> - <p> - “We will have you condemned by the rich!” - </p> - <p> - “And I you by the people!” - </p> - <p> - “Take care that you do not end on the cross!” - </p> - <p> - “And you that you are not torn to pieces in the streets!” - </p> - <p> - As soon as they were on the threshold of the court they again assumed a - calm demeanour. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Their runners and coachmen were waiting for them at the door. Most of them - departed on white mules. The Suffet leaped into his chariot and took the - reins; the two animals, curving their necks, and rhythmically beating the - resounding pebbles, went up the whole of the Mappalian Way at full gallop, - and the silver vulture at the extremity of the pole seemed to fly, so - quickly did the chariot pass along. - </p> - <p> - The road crossed a field planted with slabs of stone, which were painted - on the top like pyramids, and had open hands carved out in the centre as - if all the dead men lying beneath had stretched them out towards heaven to - demand something. Next there came scattered cabins built of earth, - branches, and bulrush-hurdles, and all of a conical shape. These - dwellings, which became constantly denser as the road ascended towards the - Suffet’s gardens, were irregularly separated from one another by - little pebble walls, trenches of spring water, ropes of esparto-grass, and - nopal hedges. But Hamilcar’s eyes were fastened on a great tower, - the three storys of which formed three monster cylinders—the first - being built of stone, the second of brick, and the third all of cedar—supporting - a copper cupola upon twenty-four pillars of juniper, from which slender - interlacing chains of brass hung down after the manner of garlands. This - lofty edifice overlooked the buildings—the emporiums and mercantile - houses—which stretched to the right, while the women’s palace - rose at the end of the cypress trees, which were ranged in line like two - walls of bronze. - </p> - <p> - When the echoing chariot had entered through the narrow gateway it stopped - beneath a broad shed in which there were shackled horses eating from heaps - of chopped grass. - </p> - <p> - All the servants hastened up. They formed quite a multitude, those who - worked on the country estates having been brought to Carthage through fear - of the soldiers. The labourers, who were clad in animals’ skins, had - chains riveted to their ankles and trailing after them; the workers in the - purple factories had arms as red as those of executioners; the sailors - wore green caps; the fishermen coral necklaces; the huntsmen carried nets - on their shoulders; and the people belonging to Megara wore black or white - tunics, leathern drawers, and caps of straw, felt or linen, according to - their service or their different occupations. - </p> - <p> - Behind pressed a tattered populace. They lived without employment remote - from the apartments, slept at night in the gardens, ate the refuse from - the kitchens,—a human mouldiness vegetating in the shadow of the - palace. Hamilcar tolerated them from foresight even more than from scorn. - They had all put a flower in the ear in token of their joy, and many of - them had never seen him. - </p> - <p> - But men with head-dresses like the Sphinx’s, and furnished with - great sticks, dashed into the crowd, striking right and left. This was to - drive back the slaves, who were curious to see their master, so that he - might not be assailed by their numbers or inconvenienced by their smell. - </p> - <p> - Then they all threw themselves flat on the ground, crying: - </p> - <p> - “Eye of Baal, may your house flourish!” And through these - people as they lay thus on the ground in the avenue of cypress trees, - Abdalonim, the Steward of the stewards, waving a white miter, advanced - towards Hamilcar with a censer in his hand. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô was then coming down the galley staircases. All her slave women - followed her; and, at each of her steps, they also descended. The heads of - the Negresses formed big black spots on the line of the bands of the - golden plates clasping the foreheads of the Roman women. Others had silver - arrows, emerald butterflies, or long bodkins set like suns in their hair. - Rings, clasps, necklaces, fringes, and bracelets shone amid the confusion - of white, yellow, and blue garments; a rustling of light material became - audible; the pattering of sandals might be heard together with the dull - sound of naked feet as they were set down on the wood;—and here and - there a tall eunuch, head and shoulders above them, smiled with his face - in air. When the shouting of the men had subsided they hid their faces in - their sleeves, and together uttered a strange cry like the howling of a - she-wolf, and so frenzied and strident was it that it seemed to make the - great ebony staircase, with its thronging women, vibrate from top to - bottom like a lyre. - </p> - <p> - The wind lifted their veils, and the slender stems of the papyrus plant - rocked gently. It was the month of Schebaz and the depth of winter. The - flowering pomegranates swelled against the azure of the sky, and the sea - disappeared through the branches with an island in the distance half lost - in the mist. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar stopped on perceiving Salammbô. She had come to him after the - death of several male children. Moreover, the birth of daughters was - considered a calamity in the religions of the Sun. The gods had afterwards - sent him a son; but he still felt something of the betrayal of his hope, - and the shock, as it were, of the curse which he had uttered against her. - Salammbô, however, continued to advance. - </p> - <p> - Long bunches of various-coloured pearls fell from her ears to her - shoulders, and as far as her elbows. Her hair was crisped so as to - simulate a cloud. Round her neck she wore little quadrangular plates of - gold, representing a woman between two rampant lions; and her costume was - a complete reproduction of the equipment of the goddess. Her broad-sleeved - hyacinth robe fitted close to her figure, widening out below. The - vermilion on her lips gave additional whiteness to her teeth, and the - antimony on her eyelids greater length to her eyes. Her sandals, which - were cut out in bird’s plumage, had very high heels, and she was - extraordinarily pale, doubtless on account of the cold. - </p> - <p> - At last she came close to Hamilcar, and without looking at him, without - raising her head to him: - </p> - <p> - “Greeting, eye of Baalim, eternal glory! triumph! leisure! - satisfaction! riches! Long has my heart been sad and the house drooping. - But the returning master is like reviving Tammouz; and beneath your gaze, - O father, joyfulness and a new existence will everywhere prevail!” - </p> - <p> - And taking from Taanach’s hands a little oblong vase wherein smoked - a mixture of meal, butter, cardamom, and wine: “Drink freely,” - said she, “of the returning cup, which your servant has prepared!” - </p> - <p> - He replied: “A blessing upon you!” and he mechanically grasped - the golden vase which she held out to him. - </p> - <p> - He scanned her, however, with such harsh attention, that Salammbô was - troubled and stammered out: - </p> - <p> - “They have told you, O Master!” - </p> - <p> - “Yes! I know!” said Hamilcar in a low voice. - </p> - <p> - Was this a confession, or was she speaking of the Barbarians? And he added - a few vague words upon the public embarrassments which he hoped by his - sole efforts to clear away. - </p> - <p> - “O father!” exclaimed Salammbô, “you will not obliterate - what is irreparable!” - </p> - <p> - Then he drew back and Salammbô was astonished at his amazement; for she - was not thinking of Carthage but of the sacrilege in which she found - herself implicated. This man, who made legions tremble and whom she hardly - knew, terrified her like a god; he had guessed, he knew all, something - awful was about to happen. “Pardon!” she cried. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar slowly bowed his head. - </p> - <p> - Although she wished to accuse herself she dared not open her lips; and yet - she felt stifled with the need of complaining and being comforted. - Hamilcar was struggling against a longing to break his oath. He kept it - out of pride or from the dread of putting an end to his uncertainty; and - he looked into her face with all his might so as to lay hold on what she - kept concealed at the bottom of her heart. - </p> - <p> - By degrees the panting Salammbô, crushed by such heavy looks, let her head - sink below her shoulders. He was now sure that she had erred in the - embrace of a Barbarian; he shuddered and raised both his fists. She - uttered a shriek and fell down among her women, who crowded around her. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned on his heel. All the stewards followed him. - </p> - <p> - The door of the emporiums was opened, and he entered a vast round hall - form which long passages leading to other halls branched off like the - spokes from the nave of a wheel. A stone disc stood in the centre with - balustrades to support the cushions that were heaped up upon carpets. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet walked at first with rapid strides; he breathed noisily, he - struck the ground with his heel, and drew his hand across his forehead - like a man annoyed by flies. But he shook his head, and as he perceived - the accumulation of his riches he became calm; his thoughts, which were - attracted by the vistas in the passages, wandered to the other halls that - were full of still rarer treasures. Bronze plates, silver ingots, and iron - bars alternated with pigs of tin brought from the Cassiterides over the - Dark Sea; gums from the country of the Blacks were running over their bags - of palm bark; and gold dust heaped up in leathern bottles was insensibly - creeping out through the worn-out seams. Delicate filaments drawn from - marine plants hung amid flax from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane and Judæa; - mandrepores bristled like large bushes at the foot of the walls; and an - indefinable odour—the exhalation from perfumes, leather, spices, and - ostrich feathers, the latter tied in great bunches at the very top of the - vault—floated through the air. An arch was formed above the door - before each passage with elephants’ teeth placed upright and meeting - together at the points. - </p> - <p> - At last he ascended the stone disc. All the stewards stood with arms - folded and heads bent while Abdalonim reared his pointed mitre with a - haughty air. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He was an old pilot with - eyelids chafed by the wind, and white locks fell to his hips as if dashing - foam of the tempests had remained on his beard. - </p> - <p> - He replied that he had sent a fleet by Gades and Thymiamata to try to - reach Eziongaber by doubling the Southern Horn and the promontory of - Aromata. - </p> - <p> - Others had advanced continuously towards the west for four moons without - meeting with any shore; but the ships prows became entangled in weeds, the - horizon echoed continually with the noise of cataracts, blood-coloured - mists darkened the sun, a perfume-laden breeze lulled the crews to sleep; - and their memories were so disturbed that they were now unable to tell - anything. However, expeditions had ascended the rivers of the Scythians, - had made their way into Colchis, and into the countries of the Jugrians - and of the Estians, had carried off fifteen hundred maidens in the - Archipelago, and sunk all the strange vessels sailing beyond Cape - Oestrymon, so that the secret of the routes should not be known. King - Ptolemæus was detaining the incense from Schesbar; Syracuse, Elathia, - Corsica, and the islands had furnished nothing, and the old pilot lowered - his voice to announce that a trireme was taken at Rusicada by the - Numidians,—“for they are with them, Master.” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar knit his brows; then he signed to the Chief of the Journeys to - speak. This functionary was enveloped in a brown, ungirdled robe, and had - his head covered with a long scarf of white stuff which passed along the - edge of his lips and fell upon his shoulder behind. - </p> - <p> - The caravans had set out regularly at the winter equinox. But of fifteen - hundred men directing their course towards the extreme boundaries of - Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leathern bottles, and supplies of - painted cloth, but one had reappeared at Carthage—the rest having - died of fatigue or become mad through the terror of the desert;—and - he said that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing the Atarantes - and the country of the great apes, he had seen immense kingdoms, wherein - the pettiest utensils were all of gold, a river of the colour of milk and - as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees, hills of aromatics, monsters - with human faces vegetating on the rocks with eyeballs which expanded like - flowers to look at you; and then crystal mountains supporting the sun - behind lakes all covered with dragons. Others had returned from India with - peacocks, pepper, and new textures. As to those who go by way of the - Syrtes and the temple of Ammon to purchase chalcedony, they had no doubt - perished in the sands. The caravans from Gætulia and Phazzana had - furnished their usual supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, did not - venture to fit one out just now. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the country. He - leaned upon his other elbow with a hollow groan; and the Chief of Farms - was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in spite of his thick - shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which was as snub-nosed as a - mastiff’s, was surmounted by a net woven of threads of bark. He wore - a waist-belt of hairy leopard’s skin, wherein gleamed two formidable - cutlasses. - </p> - <p> - As soon as Hamilcar turned away he began to cry aloud and invoke all the - Baals. It was not his fault! he could not help it! He had watched the - temperature, the soil, the stars, had planted at the winter solstice and - pruned at the waning of the moon, had inspected the slaves and had been - careful of their clothes. - </p> - <p> - But Hamilcar grew angry at this loquacity. He clacked his tongue, and the - man with the cutlasses went on in rapid tones: - </p> - <p> - “Ah, Master! they have pillaged everything! sacked everything! - destroyed everything! Three thousand trees have been cut down at Maschala, - and at Ubada the granaries have been looted and the cisterns filled up! At - Tedes they have carried off fifteen hundred gomors of meal; at Marrazana - they have killed the shepherds, eaten the flocks, burnt your house—your - beautiful house with its cedar beams, which you used to visit in the - summer! The slaves at Tuburbo who were reaping barley fled to the - mountains; and the asses, the mules both great and small, the oxen from - Taormina, and the antelopes,—not a single one left! all carried - away! It is a curse! I shall not survive it!” He went on again in - tears: “Ah! if you knew how full the cellars were, and how the - ploughshares shone! Ah! the fine rams! ah! the fine bulls!—” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s wrath was choking him. It burst forth: - </p> - <p> - “Be silent! Am I a pauper then? No lies! speak the truth! I wish to - know all that I have lost to the last shekel, to the last cab! Abdalonim, - bring me the accounts of the ships, of the caravans, of the farms, of the - house! And if your consciences are not clear, woe be on your heads! Go - out!” - </p> - <p> - All the stewards went out walking backwards, with their fists touching the - ground. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim went up to a set of pigeon-holes in the wall, and from the midst - of them took out knotted cords, strips of linen or papyrus, and sheeps’ - shoulder-blades inscribed with delicate writing. He laid them at Hamilcar’s - feet, placed in his hands a wooden frame furnished on the inside with - three threads on which balls of gold, silver, and horn were strung, and - began: - </p> - <p> - “One hundred and ninety-two houses in the Mappalian district let to - the New Carthaginians at the rate of one bekah a moon.” - </p> - <p> - “No! it is too much! be lenient towards the poor people! and you - will try to learn whether they are attached to the Republic, and write - down the names of those who appear to you to be the most daring! What - next?” - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim hesitated in surprise at such generosity. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar snatched the strips of linen from his hands. - </p> - <p> - “What is this? three palaces around Khamon at twelve kesitahs a - month! Make it twenty! I do not want to be eaten up by the rich.” - </p> - <p> - The Steward of the stewards, after a long salutation, resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Lent to Tigillas until the end of the season two kikars at three - per cent., maritime interest; to Bar-Malkarth fifteen hundred shekels on - the security of thirty slaves. But twelve have died in the salt-marshes.” - </p> - <p> - “That is because they were not hardy,” said the Suffet, - laughing. “No matter! if he is in want of money, satisfy him! We - should always lend, and at different rates of interest, according to the - wealth of the individual.” - </p> - <p> - Then the servant hastened to read all that had been brought in by the - iron-mines of Annaba, the coral fisheries, the purple factories, the - farming of the tax on the resident Greeks, the export of silver to Arabia, - where it had ten times the value of gold, and the captures of vessels, - deduction of a tenth being made for the temple of the goddess. “Each - time I declared a quarter less, Master!” Hamilcar was reckoning with - the balls; they rang beneath his fingers. - </p> - <p> - “Enough! What have you paid?” - </p> - <p> - “To Stratonicles of Corinth, and to three Alexandrian merchants, on - these letters here (they have been realised), ten thousand Athenian - drachmas, and twelve Syrian talents of gold. The food for the crews, - amounting to twenty minæ a month for each trireme—” - </p> - <p> - “I know! How many lost?” - </p> - <p> - “Here is the account on these sheets of lead,” said the - Steward. “As to the ships chartered in common, it has often been - necessary to throw the cargo into the seas, and so the unequal losses have - been divided among the partners. For the ropes which were borrowed from - the arsenals, and which it was impossible to restore, the Syssitia exacted - eight hundred kesitahs before the expedition to Utica.” - </p> - <p> - “They again!” said Hamilcar, hanging his head; and he remained - for a time as if quite crushed by the weight of all the hatreds that he - could feel upon him. “But I do not see the Megara expenses?” - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim, turning pale, went to another set of pigeon-holes, and took - from them some planchettes of sycamore wood strung in packets on leathern - strings. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, curious about these domestic details, listened to him and grew - calm with the monotony of the tones in which the figures were enumerated. - Abdalonim became slower. Suddenly he let the wooden sheets fall to the - ground and threw himself flat on his face with his arms stretched out in - the position of a condemned criminal. Hamilcar picked up the tablets - without any emotion; and his lips parted and his eyes grew larger when he - perceived an exorbitant consumption of meat, fish, birds, wines, and - aromatics, with broken vases, dead slaves, and spoiled carpets set down as - the expense of a single day. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim, still prostrate, told him of the feast of the Barbarians. He - had not been able to avoid the command of the Ancients. Moreover, Salammbô - desired money to be lavished for the better reception of the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - At his daughter’s name Hamilcar leaped to his feet. Then with - compressed lips he crouched down upon the cushions, tearing the fringes - with his nails, and panting with staring eyes. - </p> - <p> - “Rise!” said he; and he descended. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim followed him; his knees trembled. But seizing an iron bar he - began like one distraught to loosen the paving stones. A wooden disc - sprang up and soon there appeared throughout the length of the passage - several of the large covers employed for stopping up the trenches in which - grain was kept. - </p> - <p> - “You see, Eye of Baal,” said the servant, trembling, “they - have not taken everything yet! and these are each fifty cubits deep and - filled up to the brim! During your voyage I had them dug out in the - arsenals, in the gardens, everywhere! your house is full of corn as your - heart is full of wisdom.” - </p> - <p> - A smile passed over Hamilcar’s face. “It is well, Abdalonim!” - Then bending over to his ear: “You will have it brought from - Etruria, Brutium, whence you will, and no matter at what price! Heap it - and keep it! I alone must possess all the corn in Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - Then when they were alone at the extremity of the passage, Abdalonim, with - one of the keys hanging at his girdle, opened a large quadrangular chamber - divided in the centre by pillars of cedar. Gold, silver, and brass coins - were arranged on tables or packed into niches, and rose as high as the - joists of the roof along the four walls. In the corners there were huge - baskets of hippopotamus skin supporting whole rows of smaller bags; there - were hillocks formed of heaps of bullion on the pavement; and here and - there a pile that was too high had given way and looked like a ruined - column. The large Carthaginian pieces, representing Tanith with a horse - beneath a palm-tree, mingled with those from the colonies, which were - marked with a bull, star, globe, or crescent. Then there might be seen - pieces of all values, dimensions, and ages arrayed in unequal amounts—from - the ancient coins of Assyria, slender as the nail, to the ancient ones of - Latium, thicker than the hand, with the buttons of Egina, the tablets of - Bactriana, and the short bars of Lacedæmon; many were covered with rust, - or had grown greasy, or, having been taken in nets or from among the ruins - of captured cities, were green with the water or blackened by fire. The - Suffet had speedily calculated whether the sums present corresponded with - the gains and losses which had just been read to him; and he was going - away when he perceived three brass jars completely empty. Abdalonim turned - away his head to mark his horror, and Hamilcar, resigning himself to it, - said nothing. - </p> - <p> - They crossed other passages and other halls, and at last reached a door - where, to ensure its better protection and in accordance with a Roman - custom lately introduced into Carthage, a man was fastened by the waist to - a long chain let into the wall. His beard and nails had grown to an - immoderate length, and he swayed himself from right to left with that - continual oscillation which is characteristic of captive animals. As soon - as he recognised Hamilcar he darted towards him, crying: - </p> - <p> - “Pardon, Eye of Baal! pity! kill me! For ten years I have not seen - the sun! In your father’s name, pardon!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, without answering him, clapped his hands and three men appeared; - and all four simultaneously stiffening their arms, drew back from its - rings the enormous bar which closed the door. Hamilcar took a torch and - disappeared into the darkness. - </p> - <p> - This was believed to be the family burying-place; but nothing would have - been found in it except a broad well. It was dug out merely to baffle - robbers, and it concealed nothing. Hamilcar passed along beside it; then - stooping down he made a very heavy millstone turn upon its rollers, and - through this aperture entered an apartment which was built in the shape of - a cone. - </p> - <p> - The walls were covered with scales of brass; and in the centre, on a - granite pedestal, stood the statue of one of the Kabiri called Aletes, the - discoverer of the mines in Celtiberia. On the ground, at its base, and - arranged in the form of a cross, were large gold shields and monster - close-necked silver vases, of extravagant shape and unfitted for use; it - was customary to cast quantities of metal in this way, so that - dilapidation and even removal should be almost impossible. - </p> - <p> - With his torch he lit a miner’s lamp which was fastened to the idol’s - cap, and green, yellow, blue, violet, wine-coloured, and blood-coloured - fires suddenly illuminated the hall. It was filled with gems which were - either in gold calabashes fastened like sconces upon sheets of brass, or - were ranged in native masses at the foot of the wall. There were callaides - shot away from the mountains with slings, carbuncles formed by the urine - of the lynx, glossopetræ which had fallen from the moon, tyanos, diamonds, - sandastra, beryls, with the three kinds of rubies, the four kinds of - sapphires, and the twelve kinds of emeralds. They gleamed like splashes of - milk, blue icicles, and silver dust, and shed their light in sheets, rays, - and stars. Ceraunia, engendered by the thunder, sparkled by the side of - chalcedonies, which are a cure for poison. There were topazes from Mount - Zabarca to avert terrors, opals from Bactriana to prevent abortions, and - horns of Ammon, which are placed under the bed to induce dreams. - </p> - <p> - The fires from the stones and the flames from the lamp were mirrored in - the great golden shields. Hamilcar stood smiling with folded arms, and was - less delighted by the sight of his riches than by the consciousness of - their possession. They were inaccessible, exhaustless, infinite. His - ancestors sleeping beneath his feet transmitted something of their - eternity to his heart. He felt very near to the subterranean deities. It - was as the joy of one of the Kabiri; and the great luminous rays striking - upon his face looked like the extremity of an invisible net linking him - across the abysses with the centre of the world. - </p> - <p> - A thought came which made him shudder, and placing himself behind the idol - he walked straight up to the wall. Then among the tattooings on his arm he - scrutinised a horizontal line with two other perpendicular ones which in - Chanaanitish figures expressed the number thirteen. Then he counted as far - as the thirteenth of the brass plates and again raised his ample sleeve; - and with his right hand stretched out he read other more complicated lines - on his arm, at the same time moving his fingers daintily about like one - playing on a lyre. At last he struck seven blows with his thumb, and an - entire section of the wall turned about in a single block. - </p> - <p> - It served to conceal a sort of cellar containing mysterious things which - had no name and were of incalculable value. Hamilcar went down the three - steps, took up a llama’s skin which was floating on a black liquid - in a silver vat, and then re-ascended. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim again began to walk before him. He struck the pavement with his - tall cane, the pommel of which was adorned with bells, and before every - apartment cried aloud the name of Hamilcar amid eulogies and benedictions. - </p> - <p> - Along the walls of the circular gallery, from which the passages branched - off, were piled little beams of algummim, bags of Lawsonia, cakes of - Lemnos-earth, and tortoise carapaces filled with pearls. The Suffet - brushed them with his robe as he passed without even looking at some - gigantic pieces of amber, an almost divine material formed by the rays of - the sun. - </p> - <p> - A cloud of odorous vapour burst forth. - </p> - <p> - “Push open the door!” - </p> - <p> - They went in. - </p> - <p> - Naked men were kneading pastes, crushing herbs, stirring coals, pouring - oil into jars, and opening and shutting the little ovoid cells which were - hollowed out all round in the wall, and were so numerous that the - apartment was like the interior of a hive. They were brimful of myrobalan, - bdellium, saffron, and violets. Gums, powders, roots, glass phials, - branches of filipendula, and rose-petals were scattered about everywhere, - and the scents were stifling in spite of the cloud-wreaths from the styrax - shrivelling on a brazen tripod in the centre. - </p> - <p> - The Chief of the Sweet Odours, pale and long as a waxen torch, came up to - Hamilcar to crush a roll of metopion in his hands, while two others rubbed - his heels with leaves of baccharis. He repelled them; they were Cyreneans - of infamous morals, but valued on account of the secrets which they - possessed. - </p> - <p> - To show his vigilance the Chief of the Odours offered the Suffet a little - malobathrum to taste in an electrum spoon; then he pierced three Indian - bezoars with an awl. The master, who knew the artifices employed, took a - horn full of balm, and after holding it near the coals inclined it over - his robe. A brown spot appeared; it was a fraud. Then he gazed fixedly at - the Chief of the Odours, and without saying anything flung the gazelle’s - horn full in his face. - </p> - <p> - However indignant he might be at adulterations made to his own prejudice, - when he perceived some parcels of nard which were being packed up for - countries beyond the sea, he ordered antimony to be mixed with it so as to - make it heavier. - </p> - <p> - Then he asked where three boxes of psagdas designed for his own use were - to be found. - </p> - <p> - The Chief of the Odours confessed that he did not know; some soldiers had - come howling in with knives and he had opened the boxes for them. - </p> - <p> - “So you are more afraid of them then of me!” cried the Suffet; - and his eyeballs flashed like torches through the smoke upon the tall, - pale man who was beginning to understand. “Abdalonim! you will make - him run the gauntlet before sunset: tear him!” - </p> - <p> - This loss, which was less than the others, had exasperated him; for in - spite of his efforts to banish them from his thoughts he was continually - coming again across the Barbarians. Their excesses were blended with his - daughter’s shame, and he was angry with the whole household for - knowing of the latter and for not speaking of it to him. But something - impelled him to bury himself in his misfortune; and in an inquisitorial - fit he visited the sheds behind the mercantile house to see the supplies - of bitumen, wood, anchors and cordage, honey and wax, the cloth warehouse, - the stores of food, the marble yard and the silphium barn. - </p> - <p> - He went to the other side of the gardens to make an inspection in their - cottages, of the domestic artisans whose productions were sold. There were - tailors embroidering cloaks, others making nets, others painting cushions - or cutting out sandals, and Egyptian workmen polished papyrus with a - shell, while the weavers’ shuttles rattled and the armourers’ - anvils rang. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar said to them: - </p> - <p> - “Beat away at the swords! I shall want them.” And he drew the - antelope’s skin that had been steeped in poisons from his bosom to - have it cut into a cuirass more solid than one of brass and unassailable - by steel or flame. - </p> - <p> - As soon as he approached the workmen, Abdalonim, to give his wrath another - direction, tried to anger him against them by murmured disparagement of - their work. “What a performance! It is a shame! The Master is indeed - too good.” Hamilcar moved away without listening to him. - </p> - <p> - He slackened his pace, for the paths were barred by great trees calcined - from one end to the other, such as may be met with in woods where - shepherds have encamped; and the palings were broken, the water in the - trenches was disappearing, while fragments of glass and the bones of apes - were to be seen amid the miry puddles. A scrap of cloth hung here and - there from the bushes, and the rotten flowers formed a yellow muck-heap - beneath the citron trees. In fact, the servants had neglected everything, - thinking that the master would never return. - </p> - <p> - At every step he discovered some new disaster, some further proof of the - thing which he had forbidden himself to learn. Here he was soiling his - purple boots as he crushed the filth under-foot; and he had not all these - men before him at the end of a catapult to make them fly into fragments! - He felt humiliated at having defended them; it was a delusion and a piece - of treachery; and as he could not revenge himself upon the soldiers, or - the Ancients, or Salammbô, or anybody, and his wrath required some victim, - he condemned all the slaves of the gardens to the mines at a single - stroke. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim shuddered each time that he saw him approaching the parks. But - Hamilcar took the path towards the mill, from which there might be heard - issuing a mournful melopoia. - </p> - <p> - The heavy mill-stones were turning amid the dust. They consisted of two - cones of porphyry laid the one upon the other—the upper one of the - two, which carried a funnel, being made to revolve upon the second by - means of strong bars. Some men were pushing these with their breasts and - arms, while others were yoked to them and were pulling them. The friction - of the straps had formed purulent scabs round about their armpits such as - are seen on asses’ withers, and the end of the limp black rag, which - scarcely covered their loins, hung down and flapped against their hams - like a long tail. Their eyes were red, the irons on their feet clanked, - and all their breasts panted rhythmically. On their mouths they had - muzzles fastened by two little bronze chains to render it impossible for - them to eat the flour, and their hands were enclosed in gauntlets without - fingers, so as to prevent them from taking any. - </p> - <p> - At the master’s entrance the wooden bars creaked still more loudly. - The grain grated as it was being crushed. Several fell upon their knees; - the others, continuing their work, stepped across them. - </p> - <p> - He asked for Giddenem, the governor of the slaves, and that personage - appeared, his rank being displayed in the richness of his dress. His - tunic, which was slit up the sides, was of fine purple; his ears were - weighted with heavy rings; and the strips of cloth enfolding his legs were - joined together with a lacing of gold which extended from his ankles to - his hips, like a serpent winding about a tree. In his fingers, which were - laden with rings, he held a necklace of jet beads, so as to recognise the - men who were subject to the sacred disease. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the muzzles. Then with the cries of - famished animals they all rushed upon the flour, burying their faces in - the heaps of it and devouring it. - </p> - <p> - “You are weakening them!” said the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - Giddenem replied that such treatment was necessary in order to subdue - them. - </p> - <p> - “It was scarcely worth while sending you to the slaves’ school - at Syracuse. Fetch the others!” - </p> - <p> - And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, and litter-carriers, the men - belonging to the vapour-baths, and the women with their children, all - ranged themselves in a single line in the garden from the mercantile house - to the deer park. They held their breath. An immense silence prevailed in - Megara. The sun was lengthening across the lagoon at the foot of the - catacombs. The peacocks were screeching. Hamilcar walked along step by - step. - </p> - <p> - “What am I to do with these old creatures?” he said. “Sell - them! There are too many Gauls: they are drunkards! and too many Cretans: - they are liars! Buy me some Cappadocians, Asiatics, and Negroes.” - </p> - <p> - He was astonished that the children were so few. “The house ought to - have births every year, Giddenem. You will leave the huts open every night - to let them mingle freely.” - </p> - <p> - He then had the thieves, the lazy, and the mutinous shown to him. He - distributed punishments, with reproaches to Giddenem; and Giddenem, - ox-like, bent his low forehead, with its two broad intersecting eyebrows. - </p> - <p> - “See, Eye of Baal,” he said, pointing out a sturdy Libyan, - “here is one who was caught with the rope round his neck.” - </p> - <p> - “Ah! you wish to die?” said the Suffet scornfully. - </p> - <p> - “Yes!” replied the slave in an intrepid tone. - </p> - <p> - Then, without heeding the precedent or the pecuniary loss, Hamilcar said - to the serving-men: - </p> - <p> - “Away with him!” - </p> - <p> - Perhaps in his thoughts he intended a sacrifice. It was a misfortune which - he inflicted upon himself in order to avert more terrible ones. - </p> - <p> - Giddenem had hidden those who were mutilated behind the others. Hamilcar - perceived them. - </p> - <p> - “Who cut off your arm?” - </p> - <p> - “The soldiers, Eye of Baal.” - </p> - <p> - Then to a Samnite who was staggering like a wounded heron: - </p> - <p> - “And you, who did that to you?” - </p> - <p> - It was the governor, who had broken his leg with an iron bar. - </p> - <p> - This silly atrocity made the Suffet indignant; he snatched the jet - necklace out of Giddenem’s hands. - </p> - <p> - “Cursed be the dog that injures the flock! Gracious Tanith, to - cripple slaves! Ah! you ruin your master! Let him be smothered in the - dunghill. And those that are missing? Where are they? Have you helped the - soldiers to murder them?” - </p> - <p> - His face was so terrible that all the women fled. The slaves drew back and - formed a large circle around them; Giddenem was frantically kissing his - sandals; Hamilcar stood upright with his arms raised above him. - </p> - <p> - But with his understanding as clear as in the sternest of his battles, he - recalled a thousand odious things, ignominies from which he had turned - aside; and in the gleaming of his wrath he could once more see all his - disasters simultaneously as in the lightnings of a storm. The governors of - the country estates had fled through terror of the soldiers, perhaps - through collusion with them; they were all deceiving him; he had - restrained himself too long. - </p> - <p> - “Bring them here!” he cried; “and brand them on the - forehead with red-hot irons as cowards!” - </p> - <p> - Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters, - carcanets, knives, chains for those condemned to the mines, cippi for - fastening the legs, numellæ for confining the shoulders, and scorpions or - whips with triple thongs terminating in brass claws. - </p> - <p> - All were placed facing the sun, in the direction of Moloch the Devourer, - and were stretched on the ground on their stomachs or on their backs, - those, however, who were sentenced to be flogged standing upright against - the trees with two men beside them, one counting the blows and the other - striking. - </p> - <p> - In striking he used both his arms, and the whistling thongs made the bark - of the plane-trees fly. The blood was scattered like rain upon the - foliage, and red masses writhed with howls at the foot of the trees. Those - who were under the iron tore their faces with their nails. The wooden - screws could be heard creaking; dull knockings resounded; sometimes a - sharp cry would suddenly pierce the air. In the direction of the kitchens, - men were brisking up burning coals with fans amid tattered garments and - scattered hair, and a smell of burning flesh was perceptible. Those who - were under the scourge, swooning, but kept in their positions by the bonds - on their arms, rolled their heads upon their shoulders and closed their - eyes. The others who were watching them began to shriek with terror, and - the lions, remembering the feast perhaps, stretched themselves out yawning - against the edge of the dens. - </p> - <p> - Then Salammbô was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly - about it from left to right. Hamilcar perceived her. It seemed to him that - she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a gesture - of horror he plunged into the elephants’ park. - </p> - <p> - These animals were the pride of the great Punic houses. They had carried - their ancestors, had triumphed in the wars, and they were reverenced as - being the favourites of the Sun. - </p> - <p> - Those of Megara were the strongest in Carthage. Before he went away - Hamilcar had required Abdalonim to swear that he would watch over them. - But they had died from their mutilations; and only three remained, lying - in the middle of the court in the dust before the ruins of their manger. - </p> - <p> - They recognised him and came up to him. One had its ears horribly slit, - another had a large wound in its knee, while the trunk of the third was - cut off. - </p> - <p> - They looked sadly at him, like reasonable creatures; and the one that had - lost its trunk tried by stooping its huge head and bending its hams to - stroke him softly with the hideous extremity of its stump. - </p> - <p> - At this caress from the animal two tears started into his eyes. He rushed - at Abdalonim. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! wretch! the cross! the cross!” - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim fell back swooning upon the ground. - </p> - <p> - The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue smoke - of which was ascending slowly into the sky; Hamilcar paused. - </p> - <p> - The thought of his son had suddenly calmed him like the touch of a god. He - caught a glimpse of a prolongation of his might, an indefinite - continuation of his personality, and the slaves could not understand - whence this appeasement had come upon him. - </p> - <p> - As he bent his steps towards the purple factories he passed before the - ergastulum, which was a long house of black stone built in a square pit - with a small pathway all round it and four staircases at the corners. - </p> - <p> - Iddibal was doubtless waiting until the night to finish his signal. - “There is no hurry yet,” thought Hamilcar; and he went down - into the prison. Some cried out to him: “Return”; the boldest - followed him. - </p> - <p> - The open door was flapping in the wind. The twilight entered through the - narrow loopholes, and in the interior broken chains could be distinguished - hanging from the walls. - </p> - <p> - This was all that remained of the captives of war! - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning over - the pit outside saw him resting one hand against the wall to keep himself - from falling. - </p> - <p> - But the jackal uttered its cry three times in succession. Hamilcar raised - his head; he did not speak a word nor make a gesture. Then when the sun - had completely set he disappeared behind the nopal hedge, and in the - evening he said as he entered the assembly of the rich in the temple of - Eschmoun: - </p> - <p> - “Luminaries of the Baalim, I accept the command of the Punic forces - against the army of the Barbarians!” - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"></a> - CHAPTER VIII - </h2> - <h3> - THE BATTLE OF THE MACARAS - </h3> - <p> - In the following day he drew two hundred and twenty-three thousand kikars - of gold from the Syssitia, and decreed a tax of fourteen shekels upon the - rich. Even the women contributed; payment was made in behalf of the - children, and he compelled the colleges of priests to furnish money—a - monstrous thing, according to Carthaginian customs. - </p> - <p> - He demanded all the horses, mules, and arms. A few tried to conceal their - wealth, and their property was sold; and, to intimidate the avarice of the - rest, he himself gave sixty suits of armour, and fifteen hundred gomers of - meal, which was as much as was given by the Ivory Company. - </p> - <p> - He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers - accustomed to fight with bears; they were paid for six moons in advance at - the rate of four minæ a day. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless an army was wanted. But he did not, like Hanno, accept all - the citizens. First he rejected those engaged in sedentary occupations, - and then those who were big-bellied or had a pusillanimous look; and he - admitted those of ill-repute, the scum of Malqua, sons of Barbarians, - freed men. For reward he promised some of the New Carthaginians complete - rights of citizenship. - </p> - <p> - His first care was to reform the Legion. These handsome young fellows, who - regarded themselves as the military majesty of the Republic, governed - themselves. He reduced their officers to the ranks; he treated them - harshly, made them run, leap, ascend the declivity of Byrsa at a single - burst, hurl javelins, wrestle together, and sleep in the squares at night. - Their families used to come to see them and pity them. - </p> - <p> - He ordered shorter swords and stronger buskins. He fixed the number of - serving-men, and reduced the amount of baggage; and as there were three - hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them in spite of - the pontiff’s protests. - </p> - <p> - He organised a phalanx of seventy-two elephants with those which had - returned from Utica, and others which were private property, and rendered - them formidable. He armed their drivers with mallet and chisel to enable - them to split their skulls in the fight if they ran away. - </p> - <p> - He would not allow his generals to be nominated by the Grand Council. The - Ancients tried to urge the laws in objection, but he set them aside; no - one ventured to murmur again, and everything yielded to the violence of - his genius. - </p> - <p> - He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances; and - as a precaution against accusations he demanded the Suffet Hanno as - examiner of his accounts. - </p> - <p> - He set to work upon the ramparts, and had the old and now useless inner - walls demolished in order to furnish stones. But difference of fortune, - replacing the hierarchy of race, still kept the sons of the vanquished and - those of the conquerors apart; thus the patricians viewed the destruction - of these ruins with an angry eye, while the plebeians, scarcely knowing - why, rejoiced. - </p> - <p> - The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till night; - every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed bearing - shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women engaged in - tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to another, and Hamilcar’s - soul filled the Republic. - </p> - <p> - He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place a - strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his files, - so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at once led and - pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand Ligurians, and - the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple phalanx of four thousand - and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze helmets, and handling ashen - sarissæ fourteen cubits long. - </p> - <p> - There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a dagger, - and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others armed with round - shields and Roman swords. - </p> - <p> - The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining guardsmen - of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like the Assyrian - Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted archers, of those that - were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel’s skin, two-edged axes, - and leathern tunics. Finally there were twelve hundred Negroes from the - quarter of the caravans, who were mingled with the Clinabarians, and were - to run beside the stallions with one hand resting on the manes. All was - ready, and yet Hamilcar did not start. - </p> - <p> - Often at night he would go out of Carthage alone and make his way beyond - the lagoon towards the mouths of the Macaras. Did he intend to join the - Mercenaries? The Ligurians encamped in the Mappalian district surrounded - his house. - </p> - <p> - The apprehensions of the rich appeared justified when, one day, three - hundred Barbarians were seen approaching the walls. The Suffet opened the - gates to them; they were deserters; drawn by fear or by fidelity, they - were hastening to their master. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s return had not surprised the Mercenaries; according to - their ideas the man could not die. He was returning to fulfil his promise;—a - hope by no means absurd, so deep was the abyss between Country and Army. - Moreover they did not believe themselves culpable; the feast was - forgotten. - </p> - <p> - The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. It was a triumph for the - bitter; even the lukewarm grew furious. Then the two sieges overwhelmed - then with weariness; no progress was being made; a battle would be better! - Thus many men had left the ranks and were scouring the country. But at - news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for joy. “At last! at - last!” he cried. - </p> - <p> - Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbô was turned against - Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as his - vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he had - realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was seized - with a loftier tenderness, and consumed by more acrid desire. He saw - himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing the Suffet’s - head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed, clasping the - maiden in his arms, covering her face with kisses, passing his hands over - her long, black hair; and the imagination of this, which he knew could - never be realised, tortured him. He swore to himself that, since his - companions had appointed him schalishim, he would conduct the war; the - certainty that he would not return from it urged him to render it a - pitiless one. - </p> - <p> - He came to Spendius and said to him: - </p> - <p> - “You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We - are lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do you understand me? Rise!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius was stupefied before such an air of authority. Matho usually - allowed himself to be led, and his previous transports had quickly passed - away. But just now he appeared at once calmer and more terrible; a superb - will gleamed in his eyes like the flame of sacrifice. - </p> - <p> - The Greek did not listen to his reasons. He was living in one of the - Carthaginian pearl-bordered tents, drinking cool beverages from silver - cups, playing at the cottabos, letting his hair grow, and conducting the - siege with slackness. Moreover, he had entered into communications with - some in the town and would not leave, being sure that it would open its - gates before many days were over. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas, who wandered about among the three armies, was at that - time with him. He supported his opinion, and even blamed the Libyan for - wishing in his excess of courage to abandon their enterprise. - </p> - <p> - “Go, if you are afraid!” exclaimed Matho; “you promised - us pitch, sulphur, elephants, foot-soldiers, horses! where are they?” - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas reminded him that he had exterminated Hanno’s last - cohorts;—as to the elephants, they were being hunted in the woods, - he was arming the foot-soldiers, the horses were on their way; and the - Numidian rolled his eyes like a woman and smiled in an irritating manner - as he stroked the ostrich feather which fell upon his shoulder. In his - presence Matho was at a loss for a reply. - </p> - <p> - But a man who was a stranger entered, wet with perspiration, scared, and - with bleeding feet and loosened girdle; his breathing shook his lean sides - enough to have burst them, and speaking in an unintelligible dialect he - opened his eyes wide as if he were telling of some battle. The king sprang - outside and called his horsemen. - </p> - <p> - They ranged themselves in the plain before him in the form of a circle. - Narr’ Havas, who was mounted, bent his head and bit his lips. At - last he separated his men into two equal divisions, and told the first to - wait; then with an imperious gesture he carried off the others at a gallop - and disappeared on the horizon in the direction of the mountains. - </p> - <p> - “Master!” murmured Spendius, “I do not like these - extraordinary chances—the Suffet returning, Narr’ Havas going - away—” - </p> - <p> - “Why! what does it matter?” said Matho disdainfully. - </p> - <p> - It was a reason the more for anticipating Hamilcar by uniting with - Autaritus. But if the siege of the towns were raised, the inhabitants - would come out and attack them in the rear, while they would have the - Carthaginians in front. After much talking the following measures were - resolved upon and immediately executed. - </p> - <p> - Spendius proceeded with fifteen thousand men as far as the bridge built - across the Macaras, three miles from Utica; the corners of it were - fortified with four huge towers provided with catapults; all the paths and - gorges in the mountains were stopped up with trunks of trees, pieces of - rock, interlacings of thorn, and stone walls; on the summits heaps of - grass were made which might be lighted as signals, and shepherds who were - able to see at a distance were posted at intervals. - </p> - <p> - No doubt Hamilcar would not, like Hanno, advance by the mountain of the - Hot Springs. He would think that Autaritus, being master of the interior, - would close the route against him. Moreover, a check at the opening of the - campaign would ruin him, while if he gained a victory he would soon have - to make a fresh beginning, the Mercenaries being further off. Again, he - could disembark at Cape Grapes and march thence upon one of the towns. But - he would then find himself between the two armies, an indiscretion which - he could not commit with his scanty forces. Accordingly he must proceed - along the base of Mount Ariana, then turn to the left to avoid the mouths - of the Macaras, and come straight to the bridge. It was there that Matho - expected him. - </p> - <p> - At night he used to inspect the pioneers by torch-light. He would hasten - to Hippo-Zarytus or to the works on the mountains, would come back again, - would never rest. Spendius envied his energy; but in the management of - spies, the choice of sentries, the working of the engines and all means of - defence, Matho listened docilely to his companion. They spoke no more of - Salammbô,—one not thinking about her, and the other being prevented - by a feeling of shame. - </p> - <p> - Often he would go towards Carthage, striving to catch sight of Hamilcar’s - troops. His eyes would dart along the horizon; he would lie flat on the - ground, and believe that he could hear an army in the throbbing of his - arteries. - </p> - <p> - He told Spendius that if Hamilcar did not arrive in three days he would go - with all his men to meet him and offer him battle. Two further days - elapsed. Spendius restrained him; but on the morning of the sixth day he - departed. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians were no less impatient for war than the Barbarians. In - tents and in houses there was the same longing and the same distress; all - were asking one another what was delaying Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - From time to time he would mount to the cupola of the temple of Eschmoun - beside the Announcer of the Moons and take note of the wind. - </p> - <p> - One day—it was the third of the month of Tibby—they saw him - descending from the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour arose in - the Mappalian district. Soon the streets were astir, and the soldiers were - everywhere beginning to arm themselves upon their breasts; then they ran - quickly to the square of Khamon to take their places in the ranks. No one - was allowed to follow them or even to speak to them, or to approach the - ramparts; for some minutes the whole town was silent as a great tomb. The - soldiers as they leaned on their lances were thinking, and the others in - the houses were sighing. - </p> - <p> - At sunset the army went out by the western gate; but instead of taking the - road to Tunis or making for the mountains in the direction of Utica, they - continued their march along the edge of the sea; and they soon reached the - Lagoon, where round spaces quite whitened with salt glittered like - gigantic silver dishes forgotten on the shore. - </p> - <p> - Then the pools of water multiplied. The ground gradually became softer, - and the feet sank in it. Hamilcar did not turn back. He went on still at - their head; and his horse, which was yellow-spotted like a dragon, - advanced into the mire flinging froth around him, and with great straining - of the loins. Night—a moonless light—fell. A few cried out - that they were about to perish; he snatched their arms from them, and gave - them to the serving-men. Nevertheless the mud became deeper and deeper. - Some had to mount the beasts of burden; others clung to the horses’ - tails; the sturdy pulled the weak, and the Ligurian corps drove on the - infantry with the points of their pikes. The darkness increased. They had - lost their way. All stopped. - </p> - <p> - Then some of the Suffet’s slaves went on ahead to look for the buoys - which had been placed at intervals by his order. They shouted through the - darkness, and the army followed them at a distance. - </p> - <p> - At last they felt the resistance of the ground. Then a whitish curve - became dimly visible, and they found themselves on the bank of the - Macaras. In spite of the cold no fires were lighted. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the night squalls of wind arose. Hamilcar had the - soldiers roused, but not a trumpet was sounded: their captain tapped them - softly on the shoulder. - </p> - <p> - A man of lofty stature went down into the water. It did not come up to his - girdle; it was possible to cross. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet ordered thirty-two of the elephants to be posted in the river a - hundred paces further on, while the others, lower down, would check the - lines of men that were carried away by the current; and holding their - weapons above their heads they all crossed the Macaras as though between - two walls. He had noticed that the western wind had driven the sand so as - to obstruct the river and form a natural causeway across it. - </p> - <p> - He was now on the left bank in front of Utica, and in a vast plain, the - latter being advantageous for his elephants, which formed the strength of - his army. - </p> - <p> - This feat of genius filled the soldiers with enthusiasm. They recovered - extraordinary confidence. They wished to hasten immediately against the - Barbarians; but the Suffet bade them rest for two hours. As soon as the - sun appeared they moved into the plain in three lines—first came the - elephants, and then the light infantry with the cavalry behind it, the - phalanx marching next. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians encamped at Utica, and the fifteen thousand about the - bridge were surprised to see the ground undulating in the distance. The - wind, which was blowing very hard, was driving tornadoes of sand before - it; they rose as though snatched from the soil, ascended in great - light-coloured strips, then parted asunder and began again, hiding the - Punic army the while from the Mercenaries. Owing to the horns, which stood - up on the edge of the helmets, some thought that they could perceive a - herd of oxen; others, deceived by the motion of the cloaks, pretended that - they could distinguish wings, and those who had travelled a good deal - shrugged their shoulders and explained everything by the illusions of the - mirage. Nevertheless something of enormous size continued to advance. - Little vapours, as subtle as the breath, ran across the surface of the - desert; the sun, which was higher now, shone more strongly: a harsh light, - which seemed to vibrate, threw back the depths of the sky, and permeating - objects, rendered distance incalculable. The immense plain expanded in - every direction beyond the limits of vision; and the almost insensible - undulations of the soil extended to the extreme horizon, which was closed - by a great blue line which they knew to be the sea. The two armies, having - left their tents, stood gazing; the people of Utica were massing on the - ramparts to have a better view. - </p> - <p> - At last they distinguished several transverse bars bristling with level - points. They became thicker, larger; black hillocks swayed to and fro; - square thickets suddenly appeared; they were elephants and lances. A - single shout went up: “The Carthaginians!” and without signal - or command the soldiers at Utica and those at the bridge ran pell-mell to - fall in a body upon Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - Spendius shuddered at the name. “Hamilcar! Hamilcar!” he - repeated, panting, and Matho was not there! What was to be done? No means - of flight! The suddenness of the event, his terror of the Suffet, and - above all, the urgent need of forming an immediate resolution, distracted - him; he could see himself pierced by a thousand swords, decapitated, dead. - Meanwhile he was being called for; thirty thousand men would follow him; - he was seized with fury against himself; he fell back upon the hope of - victory; it was full of bliss, and he believed himself more intrepid than - Epaminondas. He smeared his cheeks with vermilion in order to conceal his - paleness, then he buckled on his knemids and his cuirass, swallowed a - patera of pure wine, and ran after his troops, who were hastening towards - those from Utica. - </p> - <p> - They united so rapidly that the Suffet had not time to draw up his men in - battle array. By degrees he slackened his speed. The elephants stopped; - they rocked their heavy heads with their chargings of ostrich feathers, - striking their shoulders the while with their trunks. - </p> - <p> - Behind the intervals between them might be seen the cohorts of the - velites, and further on the great helmets of the Clinabarians, with steel - heads glancing in the sun, cuirasses, plumes, and waving standards. But - the Carthaginian army, which amounted to eleven thousand three hundred and - ninety-six men, seemed scarcely to contain them, for it formed an oblong, - narrow at the sides and pressed back upon itself. - </p> - <p> - Seeing them so weak, the Barbarians, who were thrice as numerous, were - seized with extravagant joy. Hamilcar was not to be seen. Perhaps he had - remained down yonder? Moreover what did it matter? The disdain which they - felt for these traders strengthened their courage; and before Spendius - could command a manouvre they had all understood it, and already executed - it. - </p> - <p> - They were deployed in a long, straight line, overlapping the wings of the - Punic army in order to completely encompass it. But when there was an - interval of only three hundred paces between the armies, the elephants - turned round instead of advancing; then the Clinabarians were seen to face - about and follow them; and the surprise of the Mercenaries increased when - they saw the archers running to join them. So the Carthaginians were - afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous hooting broke out from among the - Barbarian troops, and Spendius exclaimed from the top of his dromedary: - “Ah! I knew it! Forward! forward!” - </p> - <p> - Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously. The - elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop more - quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like shadows in a - cloud. - </p> - <p> - But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated by - the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously. The - space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full of eddies - and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it. Cohorts of - infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time all the rest saw - the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a gallop. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and the - elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals so as - to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he calculated - the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when they reached - him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long straight line. - </p> - <p> - In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full squares - having sixteen men on each side. All the leaders of all the files appeared - amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly around them, for - the first six ranks crossed their sarissæ, holding them in the middle, and - the ten lower ranks rested them upon the shoulders of their companions in - succession before them. Their faces were all half hidden beneath the - visors of their helmets; their right legs were all covered with bronze - knemids; broad cylindrical shields reached down to their knees; and the - horrible quadrangular mass moved in a single body, and seemed to live like - an animal and work like a machine. Two cohorts of elephants flanked it in - regular array; quivering, they shook off the splinters of the arrows that - clung to their black skins. The Indians, squatting on their withers among - the tufts of white feathers, restrained them with their spoon-headed - harpoons, while the men in the towers, who were hidden up to their - shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished with lighted tow on the - edges of their large bended bows. Right and left of the elephants hovered - the slingers, each with a sling around his loins, a second on his head, - and a third in his right hand. Then came the Clinabarians, each flanked by - a Negro, and pointing their lances between the ears of their horses, - which, like themselves, were completely covered with gold. Afterwards, at - intervals, came the light armed soldiers with shields of lynx skin, beyond - which projected the points of the javelins which they held in their left - hands; while the Tarentines, each having two coupled horses, relieved this - wall of soldiers at its two extremities. - </p> - <p> - The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to preserve - its line. Undulations and blanks were to be found through its extravagant - length; all were panting and out of breath with their running. - </p> - <p> - The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissæ; and the - too slender line of the Mercenaries soon yielded in the centre beneath the - enormous weight. - </p> - <p> - Then the Carthaginian wings expanded in order to fall upon them, the - elephants following. The phalanx, with obliquely pointed lances, cut - through the Barbarians; there were two enormous, struggling bodies; and - the wings with slings and arrows beat them back upon the phalangites. - There was no cavalry to get rid of them, except two hundred Numidians - operating against the right squadron of the Clinabarians. All the rest - were hemmed in, and unable to extricate themselves from the lines. The - peril was imminent, and the need of coming to some resolution urgent. - </p> - <p> - Spendius ordered attacks to be made simultaneously on both flanks of the - phalanx so as to pass clean through it. But the narrower ranks glided - below the longer ones and recovered their position, and the phalanx turned - upon the Barbarians as terrible in flank as it had just been in front. - </p> - <p> - They struck at the staves of the sarissæ, but the cavalry in the rear - embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx, supported by the elephants, - lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, a - cone, a rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid. A twofold internal movement went - on continually from its head to its rear; for those who were at the lowest - part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the latter, from - fatigue, or on account of the wounded, fell further back. The Barbarians - found themselves thronged upon the phalanx. It was impossible for it to - advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein leaped red crests and - scales of brass, while the bright shields rolled like silver foam. - Sometimes broad currents would descend from one extremity to the other, - and then go up again, while a heavy mass remained motionless in the - centre. The lances dipped and rose alternately. Elsewhere there was so - quick a play of naked swords that only the points were visible, while - turmæ of cavalry formed wide circles which closed again like whirlwinds - behind them. - </p> - <p> - Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the grating - of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds of clay whistled through the air, - dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the skull. The - wounded, sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their shields, pointed - their swords by resting the pommels on the ground, while others, lying in - pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels of those above them. The - multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, and the tumult so great that - it was impossible to distinguish anything; the cowards who offered to - surrender were not even heard. Those whose hands were empty clasped one - another close; breasts cracked against cuirasses, and corpses hung with - head thrown back between a pair of contracted arms. There was a company of - sixty Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their pikes before their eyes, - immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two syntagmata to recoil - simultaneously. Some Epirote shepherds ran upon the left squadron of the - Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the horses by the man; the - animals threw their riders and fled across the plain. The Punic slingers - scattered here and there stood gaping. The phalanx began to waver, the - captains ran to and fro in distraction, the rearmost in the files were - pressing upon the soldiers, and the Barbarians had re-formed; they were - recovering; the victory was theirs. - </p> - <p> - But a cry, a terrible cry broke forth, a roar of pain and wrath: it came - from the seventy-two elephants which were rushing on in double line, - Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed together in one - spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had goaded them so - vigorously that blood was trickling down their broad ears. Their trunks, - which were smeared with minium, were stretched straight out in the air - like red serpents; their breasts were furnished with spears and their - backs with cuirasses; their tusks were lengthened with steel blades curved - like sabres,—and to make them more ferocious they had been - intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, wine, and incense. They shook their - necklaces of bells, and shrieked; and the elephantarchs bent their heads - beneath the stream of phalaricas which was beginning to fly from the tops - of the towers. - </p> - <p> - In order to resist them the better the Barbarians rushed forward in a - compact crowd; the elephants flung themselves impetuously upon the centre - of it. The spurs on their breasts, like ships’ prows, clove through - the cohorts, which flowed surging back. They stifled the men with their - trunks, or else snatching them up from the ground delivered them over - their heads to the soldiers in the towers; with their tusks they - disembowelled them, and hurled them into the air, and long entrails hung - from their ivory fangs like bundles of rope from a mast. The Barbarians - strove to blind them, to hamstring them; others would slip beneath their - bodies, bury a sword in them up to the hilt, and perish crushed to death; - the most intrepid clung to their straps; they would go on sawing the - leather amid flames, bullets, and arrows, and the wicker tower would fall - like a tower of stone. Fourteen of the animals on the extreme right, - irritated by their wounds, turned upon the second rank; the Indians seized - mallet and chisel, applied the latter to a joint in the head, and with all - their might struck a great blow. - </p> - <p> - Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another. It was like a - mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous - elephant, called “The Fury of Baal,” which had been caught by - the leg in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in - its eye. - </p> - <p> - The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination, - overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged against the corpses and the <i>débris</i>. - To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they turned about on - their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual rotatory motion. The - Carthaginians felt their energy increase, and the battle begin again. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were growing weak; some Greek hoplites threw away all their - arms, and terror seized upon the rest. Spendius was seen stooping upon his - dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two javelins. Then they - all rushed away from the wings and ran towards Utica. - </p> - <p> - The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake - them. The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an advance - towards the river. But the Carthaginians, who were posted in the centre of - the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their feet with longing for - the vengeance which was flying from them; and they were already darting - forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when Hamilcar appeared. - </p> - <p> - He held in his spotted and sweat-covered horse with silver reins. The - bands fastened to the horns on his helmet flapped in the wind behind him, - and he had placed his oval shield beneath his left thigh. With a motion of - his triple-pointed pike he checked the army. - </p> - <p> - The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off right - and left towards the river and towards the town. - </p> - <p> - The phalanx exterminated all the remaining Barbarians at leisure. When the - swords appeared they would stretch out their throats and close their - eyelids. Others defended themselves to the last, and were knocked down - from a distance with flints like mad dogs. Hamilcar had desired the taking - of prisoners, but the Carthaginians obeyed him grudgingly, so much - pleasure did they derive from plunging their swords into the bodies of the - Barbarians. As they were too hot they set about their work with bare arms - like mowers; and when they desisted to take breath they would follow with - their eyes a horseman galloping across the country after a fleeing - soldier. He would succeed in seizing him by the hair, hold him thus for a - while, and then fell him with a blow of his axe. - </p> - <p> - Night fell. Carthaginians and Barbarians had disappeared. The elephants - which had taken to flight roamed in the horizon with their fired towers. - These burned here and there in the darkness like beacons nearly half lost - in the mist; and no movement could be discerned in the plain save the - undulation of the river, which was heaped with corpses, and was drifting - them away to the sea. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Two hours afterwards Matho arrived. He caught sight in the starlight of - long, uneven heaps lying upon the ground. - </p> - <p> - They were files of Barbarians. He stooped down; all were dead. He called - into the distance, but no voice replied. - </p> - <p> - That very morning he had left Hippo-Zarytus with his soldiers to march - upon Carthage. At Utica the army under Spendius had just set out, and the - inhabitants were beginning to fire the engines. All had fought - desperately. But, the tumult which was going on in the direction of the - bridge increasing in an incomprehensible fashion, Matho had struck across - the mountain by the shortest road, and as the Barbarians were fleeing over - the plain he had encountered nobody. - </p> - <p> - Facing him were little pyramidal masses rearing themselves in the shade, - and on this side of the river and closer to him were motionless lights on - the surface of the ground. In fact the Carthaginians had fallen back - behind the bridge, and to deceive the Barbarians the Suffet had stationed - numerous posts upon the other bank. - </p> - <p> - Matho, still advancing, thought that he could distinguish Punic engines, - for horses’ heads which did not stir appeared in the air fixed upon - the tops of piles of staves which could not be seen; and further off he - could hear a great clamour, a noise of songs, and clashing of cups. - </p> - <p> - Then, not knowing where he was nor how to find Spendius, assailed with - anguish, scared, and lost in the darkness, he returned more impetuously by - the same road. The dawn as growing grey when from the top of the mountain - he perceived the town with the carcases of the engines blackened by the - flames and looking like giant skeletons leaning against the walls. - </p> - <p> - All was peaceful amid extraordinary silence and heaviness. Among his - soldiers on the verge of the tents men were sleeping nearly naked, each - upon his back, or with his forehead against his arm which was supported by - his cuirass. Some were unwinding bloodstained bandages from their legs. - Those who were doomed to die rolled their heads about gently; others - dragged themselves along and brought them drink. The sentries walked up - and down along the narrow paths in order to warm themselves, or stood in a - fierce attitude with their faces turned towards the horizon, and their - pikes on their shoulders. Matho found Spendius sheltered beneath a rag of - canvas, supported by two sticks set in the ground, his knee in his hands - and his head cast down. - </p> - <p> - They remained for a long time without speaking. - </p> - <p> - At last Matho murmured: “Conquered!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius rejoined in a gloomy voice: “Yes, conquered!” - </p> - <p> - And to all questions he replied by gestures of despair. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile sighs and death-rattles reached them. Matho partially opened the - canvas. Then the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another disaster on - the same spot, and he ground his teeth: “Wretch! once already—” - </p> - <p> - Spendius interrupted him: “You were not there either.” - </p> - <p> - “It is a curse!” exclaimed Matho. “Nevertheless, in the - end I will get at him! I will conquer him! I will slay him! Ah! if I had - been there!—” The thought of having missed the battle rendered - him even more desperate than the defeat. He snatched up his sword and - threw it upon the ground. “But how did the Carthaginians beat you?” - </p> - <p> - The former slave began to describe the manouvres. Matho seemed to see - them, and he grew angry. The army from Utica ought to have taken Hamilcar - in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! I know!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - “You ought to have made your ranks twice as deep, avoided exposing - the velites against the phalanx, and given free passage to the elephants. - Everything might have been recovered at the last moment; there was no - necessity to fly.” - </p> - <p> - Spendius replied: - </p> - <p> - “I saw him pass along in his large red cloak, with uplifted arms and - higher than the dust, like an eagle flying upon the flank of the cohorts; - and at every nod they closed up or darted forward; the throng carried us - towards each other; he looked at me, and I felt the cold steel as it were - in my heart.” - </p> - <p> - “He selected the day, perhaps?” whispered Matho to himself. - </p> - <p> - They questioned each other, trying to discover what it was that had - brought the Suffet just when circumstances were most unfavourable. They - went on to talk over the situation, and Spendius, to extenuate his fault, - or to revive his courage, asserted that some hope still remained. - </p> - <p> - “And if there be none, it matters not!” said Matho; “alone, - I will carry on the war!” - </p> - <p> - “And I too!” exclaimed the Greek, leaping up; he strode to and - fro, his eyes sparkling, and a strange smile wrinkled his jackal face. - </p> - <p> - “We will make a fresh start; do not leave me again! I am not made - for battles in the sunlight—the flashing of swords troubles my - sight; it is a disease, I lived too long in the ergastulum. But give me - walls to scale at night, and I will enter the citadels, and the corpses - shall be cold before cock-crow! Show me any one, anything, an enemy, a - treasure, a woman,—a woman,” he repeated, “were she a - king’s daughter, and I will quickly bring your desire to your feet. - You reproach me for having lost the battle against Hanno, nevertheless I - won it back again. Confess it! my herd of swine did more for us than a - phalanx of Spartans.” And yielding to the need that he felt of - exalting himself and taking his revenge, he enumerated all that he had - done for the cause of the Mercenaries. “It was I who urged on the - Gaul in the Suffet’s gardens! And later, at Sicca, I maddened them - all with fear of the Republic! Gisco was sending them back, but I - prevented the interpreters speaking. Ah! how their tongues hung out of - their mouths! do you remember? I brought you into Carthage; I stole the - zaïmph. I led you to her. I will do more yet: you shall see!” He - burst out laughing like a madman. - </p> - <p> - Matho regarded him with gaping eyes. He felt in a measure uncomfortable in - the presence of this man, who was at once so cowardly and so terrible. - </p> - <p> - The Greek resumed in jovial tones and cracking his fingers: - </p> - <p> - “Evoe! Sun after run! I have worked in the quarries, and I have - drunk Massic wine beneath a golden awning in a vessel of my own like a - Ptolemæus. Calamity should help to make us cleverer. By dint of work we - may make fortune bend. She loves politicians. She will yield!” - </p> - <p> - He returned to Matho and took him by the arm. - </p> - <p> - “Master, at present the Carthaginians are sure of their victory. You - have quite an army which has not fought, and your men obey <i>you</i>. - Place them in the front: mine will follow to avenge themselves. I have - still three thousand Carians, twelve hundred slingers and archers, whole - cohorts! A phalanx even might be formed; let us return!” - </p> - <p> - Matho, who had been stunned by the disaster, had hitherto thought of no - means of repairing it. He listened with open mouth, and the bronze plates - which circled his sides rose with the leapings of his heart. He picked up - his sword, crying: - </p> - <p> - “Follow me; forward!” - </p> - <p> - But when the scouts returned, they announced that the Carthaginian dead - had been carried off, that the bridge was in ruins, and that Hamilcar had - disappeared. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"></a> - CHAPTER IX - </h2> - <h3> - IN THE FIELD - </h3> - <p> - Hamilcar had thought that the Mercenaries would await him at Utica, or - that they would return against him; and finding his forces insufficient to - make or to sustain an attack, he had struck southwards along the right - bank of the river, thus protecting himself immediately from a surprise. - </p> - <p> - He intended first to wink at the revolt of the tribes and to detach them - all from the cause of the Barbarians; then when they were quite isolated - in the midst of the provinces he would fall upon them and exterminate - them. - </p> - <p> - In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised between Thouccaber and - Utica, with the towns of Tignicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others further - to the west. Zounghar built in the mountains, Assoura celebrated for its - temple, Djeraado fertile in junipers, Thapitis, and Hagour sent embassies - to him. The country people came with their hands full of provisions, - implored his protection, kissed his feet and those of the soldiers, and - complained of the Barbarians. Some came to offer him bags containing heads - of Mercenaries killed, so they said, by themselves, but which they had cut - off corpses; for many had lost themselves in their flight, and were found - dead here and there beneath the olive trees and among the vines. - </p> - <p> - On the morrow of his victory, Hamilcar, to dazzle the people, had sent to - Carthage the two thousand captives taken on the battlefield. They arrived - in long companies of one hundred men each, all with their arms fastened - behind their backs with a bar of bronze which caught them at the nape of - the neck, and the wounded, bleeding as they still were, running also - along; horsemen followed them, driving them on with blows of the whip. - </p> - <p> - Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six - thousand Barbarians killed; the others would not hold out, and the war was - finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed the faces - of the Patæc Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them. These, with - their big eyes, their big bodies, and their arms raised as high as the - shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, and to participate - in the cheerfulness of the people. The rich left their doors open; the - city resounded with the noise of the timbrels; the temples were - illuminated every night, and the servants of the goddess went down to - Malqua and set up stages of sycamore-wood at the corners of the - cross-ways, and prostituted themselves there. Lands were voted to the - conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred gold crowns to the - Suffet, and his partisans proposed to decree to him new prerogatives and - honours. - </p> - <p> - He had begged the Ancients to make overtures to Autaritus for exchanging - all the Barbarians, if necessary, for the aged Gisco, and the other - Carthaginians detained like him. The Libyans and Nomads composing the army - under Autaritus knew scarcely anything of these Mercenaries, who were men - of Italiote or Greek race; and the offer by the Republic of so many - Barbarians for so few Carthaginians, showed that the value of the former - was nothing and that of the latter considerable. They dreaded a snare. - Autaritus refused. - </p> - <p> - Then the Ancients decreed the execution of the captives, although the - Suffet had written to them not to put them to death. He reckoned upon - incorporating the best of them with his own troops and of thus instigating - defections. But hatred swept away all circumspection. - </p> - <p> - The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelæ of the tombs in the - Mappalian quarter; and traders, scullions, embroiderers, and even women,—the - widows of the dead with their children—all who would, came to kill - them with arrows. They aimed slowly at them, the better to prolong their - torture, lowering the weapon and then raising it in turn; and the - multitude pressed forward howling. Paralytics had themselves brought - thither in hand-barrows; many took the precaution of bringing their food, - and remained on the spot until the evening; others passed the night there. - Tents had been set up in which drinking went on. Many gained large sums by - hiring out bows. - </p> - <p> - Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so many - red statues on the tombs, and the excitement even spread to the people of - Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, and were - usually indifferent to the affairs of their country. Out of gratitude for - the pleasure it had been giving them they now interested themselves in its - fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and the Ancients thought - it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire people in a single act - of vengeance. - </p> - <p> - The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all - quarters of the sky. They wheeled in the air as they flew with loud hoarse - cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself. It was - seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermæum. Sometimes it - would suddenly burst asunder, its black spirals extending far away, as an - eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again; here and there on - the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, and the pediments of - the temples there were big birds holding human fragments in their reddened - beaks. - </p> - <p> - Owing to the smell the Carthaginians resigned themselves to unbind the - corpses. A few of them were burnt; the rest were thrown into the sea, and - the waves, driven by the north wind, deposited them on the shore at the - end of the gulf before the camp of Autaritus. - </p> - <p> - This punishment had no doubt terrified the Barbarians, for from the top of - Eschmoun they could be seen striking their tents, collecting their flocks, - and hoisting their baggage upon asses, and on the evening of the same day - the entire army withdrew. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs and - Hippo-Zarytus, and so debar the Suffet from approaching the Tyrian towns, - and from the possibility of a return to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile the two other armies were to try to overtake him in the south, - Spendius in the east, and Matho in the west, in such a way that all three - should unite to surprise and entangle him. Then they received a - reinforcement which they had not looked for: Narr’ Havas appeared - with three hundred camels laden with bitumen, twenty-five elephants, and - six thousand horsemen. - </p> - <p> - To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had judged it prudent to occupy his - attention at a distance in his own kingdom. From the heart of Carthage he - had come to an understanding with Masgaba, a Gætulian brigand who was - seeking to found an empire. Strengthened by Punic money, the adventurer - had raised the Numidian States with promises of freedom. But Narr’ - Havas, warned by his nurse’s son, had dropped into Cirta, poisoned - the conquerors with the water of the cisterns, struck off a few heads, set - all right again, and had just arrived against the Suffet more furious than - the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - The chiefs of the four armies concerted the arrangements for the war. It - would be a long one, and everything must be foreseen. - </p> - <p> - It was agreed first to entreat the assistance of the Romans, and this - mission was offered to Spendius, but as a fugitive he dared not undertake - it. Twelve men from the Greek colonies embarked at Annaba in a sloop - belonging to the Numidians. Then the chiefs exacted an oath of complete - obedience from all the Barbarians. Every day the captains inspected - clothes and boots; the sentries were even forbidden to use a shield, for - they would often lean it against their lance and fall asleep as they - stood; those who had any baggage trailing after them were obliged to get - rid of it; everything was to be carried, in Roman fashion, on the back. As - a precaution against the elephants Matho instituted a corps of cataphract - cavalry, men and horses being hidden beneath cuirasses of hippopotamus - skin bristling with nails; and to protect the horses’ hoofs boots of - plaited esparto-grass were made for them. - </p> - <p> - It was forbidden to pillage the villages, or to tyrannise over the - inhabitants who were not of Punic race. But as the country was becoming - exhausted, Matho ordered the provisions to be served out to the soldiers - individually, without troubling about the women. At first the men shared - with them. Many grew weak for lack of food. It was the occasion of many - quarrels and invectives, many drawing away the companions of the rest by - the bait or even by the promise of their own portion. Matho commanded them - all to be driven away pitilessly. They took refuge in the camp of - Autaritus; but the Gaulish and Libyan women forced them by their - outrageous treatment to depart. - </p> - <p> - At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the protection - of Ceres and Proserpine, for in Byrsa there was a temple with priests - consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the horrors formerly - committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, alleging their right to - waifs and strays, claimed the youngest in order to sell them; and some - fair Lacedæmonian women were taken by New Carthaginians in marriage. - </p> - <p> - A few persisted in following the armies. They ran on the flank of the - syntagmata by the side of the captains. They called to their husbands, - pulled them by the cloak, cursed them as they beat their breasts, and held - out their little naked and weeping children at arm’s length. The - sight of them was unmanning the Barbarians; they were an embarrassment and - a peril. Several times they were repulsed, but they came back again; Matho - made the horsemen belonging to Narr’ Havas charge them with the - point of the lance; and on some Balearians shouting out to him that they - must have women, he replied: “<i>I</i> have none!” - </p> - <p> - Just now he was invaded by the genius of Moloch. In spite of the rebellion - of his conscience, he performed terrible deeds, imagining that he was thus - obeying the voice of a god. When he could not ravage the fields, Matho - would cast stones into them to render them sterile. - </p> - <p> - He urged Autaritus and Spendius with repeated messages to make haste. But - the Suffet’s operations were incomprehensible. He encamped at - Eidous, Monchar, and Tehent successively; some scouts believed that they - saw him in the neighbourhood of Ischiil, near the frontiers of Narr’ - Havas, and it was reported that he had crossed the river above Tebourba as - though to return to Carthage. Scarcely was he in one place when he removed - to another. The routes that he followed always remained unknown. The - Suffet preserved his advantages without offering battle, and while pursued - by the Barbarians seemed to be leading them. - </p> - <p> - These marches and counter marches were still more fatiguing to the - Carthaginians, and Hamilcar’s forces, receiving no reinforcements, - diminished from day to day. The country people were now more backward in - bringing him provisions. In every direction he encountered taciturn - hesitation and hatred; and in spite of his entreaties to the Great Council - no succour came from Carthage. - </p> - <p> - It was said, perhaps it was believed, that he had need of none. It was a - trick, or his complaints were unnecessary; and Hanno’s partisans, in - order to do him an ill turn, exaggerated the importance of his victory. - The troops which he commanded he was welcome to; but they were not going - to supply his demands continually in that way. The war was quite - burdensome enough! it had cost too much, and from pride the patricians - belonging to his faction supported him but slackly. - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the tribes - all that he wanted for the war—grain, oil, wood, cattle, and men. - But the inhabitants were not long in taking flight. The villages passed - through were empty, and the cabins were ransacked without anything being - discerned in them. The Punic army was soon encompassed by a terrible - solitude. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians, who were furious, began to sack the provinces; they - filled up the cisterns and fired the houses. The sparks, being carried by - the wind, were scattered far off, and whole forests were on fire on the - mountains; they bordered the valleys with a crown of flames, and it was - often necessary to wait in order to pass beyond them. Then the soldiers - resumed their march over the warm ashes in the full glare of the sun. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes they would see what looked like the eyes of a tiger cat gleaming - in a bush by the side of the road. This was a Barbarian crouching upon his - heels, and smeared with dust, that he might not be distinguished from the - colour of the foliage; or perhaps when passing along a ravine those on the - wings would suddenly hear the rolling of stones, and raising their eyes - would perceive a bare-footed man bounding along through the openings of - the gorge. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile Utica and Hippo-Zarytus were free since the Mercenaries were no - longer besieging them. Hamilcar commanded them to come to his assistance. - But not caring to compromise themselves, they answered him with vague - words, with compliments and excuses. - </p> - <p> - He went up again abruptly into the North, determined to open up one of the - Tyrian towns, though he were obliged to lay siege to it. He required a - station on the coast, so as to be able to draw supplies and men from the - islands or from Cyrene, and he coveted the harbour of Utica as being the - nearest to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet therefore left Zouitin and turned the lake of Hippo-Zarytus - with circumspection. But he was soon obliged to lengthen out his regiments - into column in order to climb the mountain which separates the two - valleys. They were descending at sunset into its hollow, funnel-shaped - summit, when they perceived on the level of the ground before them bronze - she-wolves which seemed to be running across the grass. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly large plumes arose and a terrible song burst forth, accompanied - by the rhythm of flutes. It was the army under Spendius; for some - Campanians and Greeks, in their execration of Carthage, had assumed the - ensigns of Rome. At the same time long pikes, shields of leopard’s - skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders were seen on the left. These - were the Iberians under Matho, the Lusitanians, Balearians, and Gætulians; - the horses of Narr’ Havas were heard to neigh; they spread around - the hill; then came the loose rabble commanded by Autaritus—Gauls, - Libyans, and Nomads; while the Eaters of Uncleanness might be recognised - among them by the fish bones which they wore in their hair. - </p> - <p> - Thus the Barbarians, having contrived their marches with exactness, had - come together again. But themselves surprised, they remained motionless - for some minutes in consultation. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet had collected his men into an orbicular mass, in such a way as - to offer an equal resistance in every direction. The infantry were - surrounded by their tall, pointed shields fixed close to one another in - the turf. The Clinabarians were outside and the elephants at intervals - further off. The Mercenaries were worn out with fatigue; it was better to - wait till next day; and the Barbarians feeling sure of their victory - occupied themselves the whole night in eating. - </p> - <p> - They lighted large bright fires, which, while dazzling themselves, left - the Punic army below them in the shade. Hamilcar caused a trench fifteen - feet broad and ten cubits deep to be dug in Roman fashion round his camp, - and the earth thrown out to be raised on the inside into a parapet, on - which sharp interlacing stakes were planted; and at sunrise the - Mercenaries were amazed to perceive all the Carthaginians thus entrenched - as if in a fortress. - </p> - <p> - They could recognise Hamilcar in the midst of the tents walking about and - giving orders. His person was clad in a brown cuirass cut in little - scales; he was followed by his horse, and stopped from time to time to - point out something with his right arm outstretched. - </p> - <p> - Then more than one recalled similar mornings when, amid the din of - clarions, he passed slowly before them, and his looks strengthened them - like cups of wine. A kind of emotion overcame them. Those, on the - contrary, who were not acquainted with Hamilcar, were mad with joy at - having caught him. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless if all attacked at once they would do one another mutual - injury in the insufficiency of space. The Numidians might dash through; - but the Clinabarians, who were protected by cuirasses, would crush them. - And then how were the palisades to be crossed? As to the elephants, they - were not sufficiently well trained. - </p> - <p> - “You are all cowards!” exclaimed Matho. - </p> - <p> - And with the best among them he rushed against the entrenchment. They were - repulsed by a volley of stones; for the Suffet had taken their abandoned - catapults on the bridge. - </p> - <p> - This want of success produced an abrupt change in the fickle minds of the - Barbarians. Their extreme bravery disappeared; they wished to conquer, but - with the smallest possible risk. According to Spendius they ought to - maintain carefully the position that they held, and starve out the Punic - army. But the Carthaginians began to dig wells, and as there were - mountains surrounding the hill, they discovered water. - </p> - <p> - From the summit of their palisade they launched arrows, earth, dung, and - pebbles which they gathered from the ground, while the six catapults - rolled incessantly throughout the length of the terrace. - </p> - <p> - But the springs would dry up of themselves; the provisions would be - exhausted, and the catapults worn out; the Mercenaries, who were ten times - as numerous, would triumph in the end. The Suffet devised negotiations so - as to gain time, and one morning the Barbarians found a sheep’s skin - covered with writing within their lines. He justified himself for his - victory: the Ancients had forced him into the war, and to show them that - he was keeping his word, he offered them the pillaging of Utica or - Hippo-Zarytus at their choice; in conclusion, Hamilcar declared that he - did not fear them because he had won over some traitors, and thanks to - them would easily manage the rest. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were disturbed: this proposal of immediate booty made them - consider; they were apprehensive of treachery, not suspecting a snare in - the Suffet’s boasting, and they began to look upon one another with - mistrust. Words and steps were watched; terrors awaked them in the night. - Many forsook their companions and chose their army as fancy dictated, and - the Gauls with Autaritus went and joined themselves with the men of - Cisalpine Gaul, whose language they understood. - </p> - <p> - The four chiefs met together every evening in Matho’s tent, and - squatting round a shield, attentively moved backwards and forwards the - little wooden figures invented by Pyrrhus for the representation of - manouvres. Spendius would demonstrate Hamilcar’s resources, and with - oaths by all the gods entreat that the opportunity should not be wasted. - Matho would walk about angry and gesticulating. The war against Carthage - was his own personal affair; he was indignant that the others should - interfere in it without being willing to obey him. Autaritus would divine - his speech from his countenance and applaud. Narr’ Havas would - elevate his chin to mark his disdain; there was not a measure he did not - consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs would escape him as - though he were thrusting back sorrow for an impossible dream, despair for - an abortive enterprise. - </p> - <p> - While the Barbarians deliberated in uncertainty, the Suffet increased his - defences: he had a second trench dug within the palisades, a second wall - raised, and wooden towers constructed at the corners; and his slaves went - as far as the middle of the outposts to drive caltrops into the ground. - But the elephants, whose allowances were lessened, struggled in their - shackles. To economise the grass he ordered the Clinabarians to kill the - least strong among the stallions. A few refused to do so, and he had them - decapitated. The horses were eaten. The recollection of this fresh meat - was a source of great sadness to them in the days that followed. - </p> - <p> - From the bottom of the ampitheatre in which they were confined they could - see the four bustling camps of the Barbarians all around them on the - heights. Women moved about with leathern bottles on their heads, goats - strayed bleating beneath the piles of pikes; sentries were being relieved, - and eating was going on around tripods. In fact, the tribes furnished them - abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves suspect how much - their inaction alarmed the Punic army. - </p> - <p> - On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three hundred - men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads. These were the rich who - had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war. Some Libyans - ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their station behind them, - and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart of their bodies. The - wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised, so completely were their - faces covered with vermin and filth. Their hair had been plucked out in - places, leaving bare the ulcers on their heads, and they were so lean and - hideous that they were like mummies in tattered shrouds. A few trembled - and sobbed with a stupid look; the rest cried out to their friends to fire - upon the Barbarians. There was one who remained quite motionless with face - cast down, and without speaking; his long white beard fell to his - chain-covered hands; and the Carthaginians, feeling as it were the - downfall of the Republic in the bottom of their hearts, recognised Gisco. - Although the place was a dangerous one they pressed forward to see him. On - his head had been placed a grotesque tiara of hippopotamus leather - incrusted with pebbles. It was Autaritus’s idea; but it was - displeasing to Matho. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar in exasperation, and resolved to cut his way through in one way - or another, had the palisades opened; and the Carthaginians went at a - furious rate half way up the hill or three hundred paces. Such a flood of - Barbarians descended upon them that they were driven back to their lines. - One of the guards of the Legion who had remained outside was stumbling - among the stones. Zarxas ran up to him, knocked him down, and plunged a - dagger into his throat; he drew it out, threw himself upon the wound—and - gluing his lips to it with mutterings of joy, and startings which shook - him to the heels, pumped up the blood by breastfuls; then he quietly sat - down upon the corpse, raised his face with his neck thrown back the better - to breathe in the air, like a hind that has just drunk at a mountain - stream, and in a shrill voice began to sing a Balearic song, a vague - melody full of prolonged modulations, with interruptions and alternations - like echoes answering one another in the mountains; he called upon his - dead brothers and invited them to a feast;—then he let his hands - fall between his legs, slowly bent his head, and wept. This atrocious - occurrence horrified the Barbarians, especially the Greeks. - </p> - <p> - From that time forth the Carthaginians did not attempt to make any sally; - and they had no thought of surrender, certain as they were that they would - perish in tortures. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless the provisions, in spite of Hamilcar’s carefulness, - diminished frightfully. There was not left per man more than ten k’hommers - of wheat, three hins of millet, and twelve betzas of dried fruit. No more - meat, no more oil, no more salt food, and not a grain of barley for the - horses, which might be seen stretching down their wasted necks seeking in - the dust for blades of trampled straw. Often the sentries on vedette upon - the terrace would see in the moonlight a dog belonging to the Barbarians - coming to prowl beneath the entrenchment among the heaps of filth; it - would be knocked down with a stone, and then, after a descent had been - effected along the palisades by means of the straps of a shield, it would - be eaten without a word. Sometimes horrible barkings would be heard and - the man would not come up again. Three phalangites, in the fourth dilochia - of the twelfth syntagmata, killed one another with knives in a dispute - about a rat. - </p> - <p> - All regretted their families, and their houses; the poor their hive-shaped - huts, with the shells on the threshold and the hanging net, and the - patricians their large halls filled with bluish shadows, where at the most - indolent hour of the day they used to rest listening to the vague noise of - the streets mingled with the rustling of the leaves as they stirred in - their gardens;—to go deeper into the thought of this, and to enjoy - it more, they would half close their eyelids, only to be roused by the - shock of a wound. Every minute there was some engagement, some fresh - alarm; the towers were burning, the Eaters of Uncleanness were leaping - across the palisades; their hands would be struck off with axes; others - would hasten up; an iron hail would fall upon the tents. Galleries of - rushen hurdles were raised as a protection against the projectiles. The - Carthaginians shut themselves up within them and stirred out no more. - </p> - <p> - Every day the sun coming over the hill used, after the early hours, to - forsake the bottom of the gorge and leave them in the shade. The grey - slopes of the ground, covered with flints spotted with scanty lichen, - ascended in front and in the rear, and above their summits stretched the - sky in its perpetual purity, smoother and colder to the eye than a metal - cupola. Hamilcar was so indignant with Carthage that he felt inclined to - throw himself among the Barbarians and lead them against her. Moreover, - the porters, sutlers, and slaves were beginning to murmur, while neither - people, nor Great Council, nor any one sent as much as a hope. The - situation was intolerable, especially owing to the thought that it would - become worse. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - At the news of the disaster Carthage had leaped, as it were, with anger - and hate; the Suffet would have been less execrated if he had allowed - himself to be conquered from the first. - </p> - <p> - But time and money were lacking for the hire of other Mercenaries. As to a - levy of soldiers in the town, how were they to be equipped? Hamilcar had - taken all the arms! and then who was to command them? The best captains - were down yonder with him! Meanwhile, some men despatched by the Suffet - arrived in the streets with shouts. The Great Council were roused by them, - and contrived to make them disappear. - </p> - <p> - It was an unnecessary precaution; every one accused Barca of having - behaved with slackness. He ought to have annihilated the Mercenaries after - his victory. Why had he ravaged the tribes? The sacrifices already imposed - had been heavy enough! and the patricians deplored their contributions of - fourteen shekels, and the Syssitia their two hundred and twenty-three - thousand gold kikars; those who had given nothing lamented like the rest. - The populace was jealous of the New Carthaginians, to whom he had promised - full rights of citizenship; and even the Ligurians, who had fought with - such intrepidity, were confounded with the Barbarians and cursed like - them; their race became a crime, the proof of complicity. The traders on - the threshold of their shops, the workmen passing plumb-line in hand, the - vendors of pickle rinsing their baskets, the attendants in the vapour - baths and the retailers of hot drinks all discussed the operations of the - campaign. They would trace battle-plans with their fingers in the dust, - and there was not a sorry rascal to be found who could not have corrected - Hamilcar’s mistakes. - </p> - <p> - It was a punishment, said the priests, for his long-continued impiety. He - had offered no holocausts; he had not purified his troops; he had even - refused to take augurs with him; and the scandal of sacrilege strengthened - the violence of restrained hate, and the rage of betrayed hopes. People - recalled the Sicilian disasters, and all the burden of his pride that they - had borne for so long! The colleges of the pontiffs could not forgive him - for having seized their treasure, and they demanded a pledge from the - Great Council to crucify him should he ever return. - </p> - <p> - The heats of the month of Eloul, which were excessive in that year, were - another calamity. Sickening smells rose from the borders of the Lake, and - were wafted through the air together with the fumes of the aromatics that - eddied at the corners of the streets. The sounds of hymns were constantly - heard. Crowds of people occupied the staircases of the temples; all the - walls were covered with black veils; tapers burnt on the brows of the - Patæc Gods, and the blood of camels slain for sacrifice ran along the - flights of stairs forming red cascades upon the steps. Carthage was - agitated with funereal delirium. From the depths of the narrowest lanes, - and the blackest dens, there issued pale faces, men with viper-like - profiles and grinding their teeth. The houses were filled with the women’s - piercing shrieks, which, escaping through the gratings, caused those who - stood talking in the squares to turn round. Sometimes it was thought that - the Barbarians were arriving; they had been seen behind the mountain of - the Hot Springs; they were encamped at Tunis; and the voices would - multiply and swell, and be blended into one single clamour. Then universal - silence would reign, some remaining where they had climbed upon the - frontals of the buildings, screening their eyes with their open hand, - while the rest lay flat on their faces at the foot of the ramparts - straining their ears. When their terror had passed off their anger would - begin again. But the conviction of their own impotence would soon sink - them into the same sadness as before. - </p> - <p> - It increased every evening when all ascended the terraces, and bowing down - nine times uttered a loud cry in salutation of the sun, as it sank slowly - behind the lagoon, and then suddenly disappeared among the mountains in - the direction of the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - They were waiting for the thrice holy festival when, from the summit of a - funeral pile, an eagle flew heavenwards as a symbol of the resurrection of - the year, and a message from the people to their Baal; they regarded it as - a sort of union, a method of connecting themselves with the might of the - Sun. Moreover, filled as they now were with hatred, they turned frankly - towards homicidal Moloch, and all forsook Tanith. In fact, Rabetna, having - lost her veil, was as if she had been despoiled of part of her virtue. She - denied the beneficence of her waters, she had abandoned Carthage; she was - a deserter, an enemy. Some threw stones at her to insult her. But many - pitied her while they inveighed against her; she was still beloved, and - perhaps more deeply than she had been. - </p> - <p> - All their misfortunes came, therefore, from the loss of the zaïmph. - Salammbô had indirectly participated in it; she was included in the same - ill will; she must be punished. A vague idea of immolation spread among - the people. To appease the Baalim it was without doubt necessary to offer - them something of incalculable worth, a being handsome, young, virgin, of - old family, a descendant of the gods, a human star. Every day the gardens - of Megara were invaded by strange men; the slaves, trembling on their own - account, dared not resist them. Nevertheless, they did not pass beyond the - galley staircase. They remained below with their eyes raised to the - highest terrace; they were waiting for Salammbô, and they would cry out - for hours against her like dogs baying at the moon. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"></a> - CHAPTER X - </h2> - <h3> - THE SERPENT - </h3> - <p> - These clamourings of the populace did not alarm Hamilcar’s daughter. - She was disturbed by loftier anxieties: her great serpent, the black - python, was drooping; and in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the serpent - was at once a national and a private fetish. It was believed to be the - offspring of the dust of the earth, since it emerges from its depths and - has no need of feet to traverse it; its mode of progression called to mind - the undulations of rivers, its temperature the ancient, viscous, and - fecund darkness, and the orbit which it describes when biting its tail the - harmony of the planets, and the intelligence of Eschmoun. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô’s serpent had several times already refused the four live - sparrows which were offered to it at the full moon and at every new moon. - Its handsome skin, covered like the firmament with golden spots upon a - perfectly black ground, was now yellow, relaxed, wrinkled, and too large - for its body. A cottony mouldiness extended round its head; and in the - corners of its eyelids might be seen little red specks which appeared to - move. Salammbô would approach its silver-wire basket from time to time, - and would draw aside the purple curtains, the lotus leaves, and the bird’s - down; but it was continually rolled up upon itself, more motionless than a - withered bind-weed; and from looking at it she at last came to feel a kind - of spiral within her heart, another serpent, as it were, mounting up to - her throat by degrees and strangling her. - </p> - <p> - She was in despair of having seen the zaïmph, and yet she felt a sort of - joy, an intimate pride at having done so. A mystery shrank within the - splendour of its folds; it was the cloud that enveloped the gods, and the - secret of the universal existence, and Salammbô, horror-stricken at - herself, regretted that she had not raised it. - </p> - <p> - She was almost always crouching at the back of her apartment, holding her - bended left leg in her hands, her mouth half open, her chin sunk, her eye - fixed. She recollected her father’s face with terror; she wished to - go away into the mountains of Phonicia, on a pilgrimage to the temple of - Aphaka, where Tanith descended in the form of a star; all kinds of - imaginings attracted her and terrified her; moreover, a solitude which - every day became greater encompassed her. She did not even know what - Hamilcar was about. - </p> - <p> - Wearied at last with her thoughts she would rise, and trailing along her - little sandals whose soles clacked upon her heels at every step, she would - walk at random through the large silent room. The amethysts and topazes of - the ceiling made luminous spots quiver here and there, and Salammbô as she - walked would turn her head a little to see them. She would go and take the - hanging amphoras by the neck; she would cool her bosom beneath the broad - fans, or perhaps amuse herself by burning cinnamomum in hollow pearls. At - sunset Taanach would draw back the black felt lozenges that closed the - openings in the wall; then her doves, rubbed with musk like the doves of - Tanith, suddenly entered, and their pink feet glided over the glass - pavement, amid the grains of barley which she threw to them in handfuls - like a sower in a field. But on a sudden she would burst into sobs and lie - stretched on the large bed of ox-leather straps without moving, repeating - a word that was ever the same, with open eyes, pale as one dead, - insensible, cold; and yet she could hear the cries of the apes in the - tufts of the palm trees, with the continuous grinding of the great wheel - which brought a flow of pure water through the stories into the porphyry - centre-basin. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes for several days she would refuse to eat. She could see in a - dream troubled stars wandering beneath her feet. She would call - Schahabarim, and when he came she had nothing to say to him. - </p> - <p> - She could not live without the relief of his presence. But she rebelled - inwardly against this domination; her feeling towards the priest was one - at once of terror, jealousy, hatred, and a species of love, in gratitude - for the singular voluptuousness which she experienced by his side. - </p> - <p> - He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, being skilful to discern the - gods who send diseases; and to cure Salammbô he had her apartment watered - with lotions of vervain, and maidenhair; she ate mandrakes every morning; - she slept with her head on a cushion filled with aromatics blended by the - pontiffs; he had even employed baaras, a fiery-coloured root which drives - back fatal geniuses into the North; lastly, turning towards the polar - star, he murmured thrice the mysterious name of Tanith; but Salammbô still - suffered and her anguish deepened. - </p> - <p> - No one in Carthage was so learned as he. In his youth he had studied at - the College of the Mogbeds, at Borsippa, near Babylon; had then visited - Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judæa, and the temples of the - Nabathæ, which are lost in the sands; and had travelled on foot along the - banks of the Nile from the cataracts to the sea. Shaking torches with - veil-covered face, he had cast a black cock upon a fire of sandarach - before the breast of the Sphinx, the Father of Terror. He had descended - into the caverns of Proserpine; he had seen the five hundred pillars of - the labyrinth of Lemnos revolve, and the candelabrum of Tarentum, which - bore as many sconces on its shaft as there are days in the year, shine in - its splendour; at times he received Greeks by night in order to question - them. The constitution of the world disquieted him no less than the nature - of the gods; he had observed the equinoxes with the armils placed in the - portico of Alexandria, and accompanied the bematists of Evergetes, who - measure the sky by calculating the number of their steps, as far as - Cyrene; so that there was now growing in his thoughts a religion of his - own, with no distinct formula, and on that very account full of - infatuation and fervour. He no longer believed that the earth was formed - like a fir-cone; he believed it to be round, and eternally falling through - immensity with such prodigious speed that its fall was not perceived. - </p> - <p> - From the position of the sun above the moon he inferred the predominance - of Baal, of whom the planet itself is but the reflection and figure; - moreover, all that he saw in terrestrial things compelled him to recognise - the male exterminating principle as supreme. And then he secretly charged - Rabbet with the misfortune of his life. Was it not for her that the - grand-pontiff had once advanced amid the tumult of cymbals, and with a - patera of boiling water taken from him his future virility? And he - followed with a melancholy gaze the men who were disappearing with the - priestesses in the depths of the turpentine trees. - </p> - <p> - His days were spent in inspecting the censers, the gold vases, the tongs, - the rakes for the ashes of the altar, and all the robes of the statues - down to the bronze bodkin that served to curl the hair of an old Tanith in - the third aedicule near the emerald vine. At the same hours he would raise - the great hangings of the same swinging doors; would remain with his arms - outspread in the same attitude; or prayed prostrate on the same - flag-stones, while around him a people of priests moved barefooted through - the passages filled with an eternal twilight. - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô was in the barrenness of his life like a flower in the cleft - of a sepulchre. Nevertheless he was hard upon her, and spared her neither - penances nor bitter words. His condition established, as it were, the - equality of a common sex between them, and he was less angry with the girl - for his inability to possess her than for finding her so beautiful, and - above all so pure. Often he saw that she grew weary of following his - thought. Then he would turn away sadder than before; he would feel himself - more forsaken, more empty, more alone. - </p> - <p> - Strange words escaped him sometimes, which passed before Salammbô like - broad lightnings illuminating the abysses. This would be at night on the - terrace when, both alone, they gazed upon the stars, and Carthage spread - below under their feet, with the gulf and the open sea dimly lost in the - colour of the darkness. - </p> - <p> - He would set forth to her the theory of the souls that descend upon the - earth, following the same route as the sun through the signs of the - zodiac. With outstretched arm he showed the gate of human generation in - the Ram, and that of the return to the gods in Capricorn; and Salammbô - strove to see them, for she took these conceptions for realities; she - accepted pure symbols and even manners of speech as being true in - themselves, a distinction not always very clear even to the priest. - </p> - <p> - “The souls of the dead,” said he, “resolve themselves - into the moon, as their bodies do into the earth. Their tears compose its - humidity; ’Tis a dark abode full of mire, and wreck, and tempest.” - </p> - <p> - She asked what would become of her then. - </p> - <p> - “At first you will languish as light as a vapour hovering upon the - waves; and after more lengthened ordeals and agonies, you will pass into - the forces of the sun, the very source of Intelligence!” - </p> - <p> - He did not speak, however, of Rabbet. Salammbô imagined that it was - through some shame for his vanquished goddess, and calling her by a common - name which designated the moon, she launched into blessings upon the soft - and fertile planet. At last he exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “No! no! she draws all her fecundity from the other! Do you not see - her hovering about him like an amorous woman running after a man in a - field?” And he exalted the virtue of light unceasingly. - </p> - <p> - Far from depressing her mystic desires, he sought, on the contrary, to - excite them, and he even seemed to take joy in grieving her by the - revelation of a pitiless doctrine. In spite of the pains of her love - Salammbô threw herself upon it with transport. - </p> - <p> - But the more that Schahabarim felt himself in doubt about Tanith, the more - he wished to believe in her. At the bottom of his soul he was arrested by - remorse. He needed some proof, some manifestation from the gods, and in - the hope of obtaining it the priest devised an enterprise which might save - at once his country and his belief. - </p> - <p> - Thenceforward he set himself to deplore before Salammbô the sacrilege and - the misfortunes which resulted from it even in the regions of the sky. - Then he suddenly announced the peril of the Suffet, who was assailed by - three armies under the command of Matho—for on account of the veil - Matho was, in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the king, as it were, of the - Barbarians,—and he added that the safety of the Republic and of her - father depended upon her alone. - </p> - <p> - “Upon me!” she exclaimed. “How can I—?” - </p> - <p> - But the priest, with a smile of disdain said: - </p> - <p> - “You will never consent!” - </p> - <p> - She entreated him. At last Schahabarim said to her: - </p> - <p> - “You must go to the Barbarians and recover the zaïmph!” - </p> - <p> - She sank down upon the ebony stool, and remained with her arms stretched - out between her knees and shivering in all her limbs, like a victim at the - altar’s foot awaiting the blow of the club. Her temples were - ringing, she could see fiery circles revolving, and in her stupor she had - lost the understanding of all things save one, that she was certainly - going to die soon. - </p> - <p> - But if Rabbetna triumphed, if the zaïmph were restored and Carthage - delivered, what mattered a woman’s life? thought Schahabarim. - Moreover, she would perhaps obtain the veil and not perish. - </p> - <p> - He stayed away for three days; on the evening of the fourth she sent for - him. - </p> - <p> - The better to inflame her heart he reported to her all the invectives - howled against Hamilcar in open council; he told her that she had erred, - that she owed reparation for her crime, and that Rabbetna commanded the - sacrifice. - </p> - <p> - A great uproar came frequently across the Mappalian district to Megara. - Schahabarim and Salammbô went out quickly, and gazed from the top of the - galley staircase. - </p> - <p> - There were people in the square of Khamon shouting for arms. The Ancients - would not provide them, esteeming such an effort useless; others who had - set out without a general had been massacred. At last they were permitted - to depart, and as a sort of homage to Moloch, or from a vague need of - destruction, they tore up tall cypress trees in the woods of the temples, - and having kindled them at the torches of the Kabiri, were carrying them - through the streets singing. These monstrous flames advanced swaying - gently; they transmitted fires to the glass balls on the crests of the - temples, to the ornaments of the colossuses and the beaks of the ships, - passed beyond the terraces and formed suns as it were, which rolled - through the town. They descended the Acropolis. The gate of Malqua opened. - </p> - <p> - “Are you ready?” exclaimed Schahabarim, “or have you - asked them to tell your father that you abandoned him?” She hid her - face in her veils, and the great lights retired, sinking gradually the - while to the edge of the waves. - </p> - <p> - An indeterminate dread restrained her; she was afraid of Moloch and of - Matho. This man, with his giant stature, who was master of the zaïmph, - ruled Rabbetna as much as did Baal, and seemed to her to be surrounded by - the same fulgurations; and then the souls of the gods sometimes visited - the bodies of men. Did not Schahabarim in speaking of him say that she was - to vanquish Moloch? They were mingled with each other; she confused them - together; both of them were pursuing her. - </p> - <p> - She wished to learn the future, and approached the serpent, for auguries - were drawn from the attitudes of serpents. But the basket was empty; - Salammbô was disturbed. - </p> - <p> - She found him with his tail rolled round one of the silver balustrades - beside the hanging bed, which he was rubbing in order to free himself from - his old yellowish skin, while his body stretched forth gleaming and clear - like a sword half out of the sheath. - </p> - <p> - Then on the days following, in proportion as she allowed herself to be - convinced, and was more disposed to succour Tanith, the python recovered - and grew; he seemed to be reviving. - </p> - <p> - The certainty that Salammbô was giving expression to the will of the gods - then became established in her conscience. One morning she awoke resolved, - and she asked what was necessary to make Matho restore the veil. - </p> - <p> - “To claim it,” said Schahabarim. - </p> - <p> - “But if he refuses?” she rejoined. - </p> - <p> - The priest scanned her fixedly with a smile such as she had never seen. - </p> - <p> - “Yes, what is to be done?” repeated Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - He rolled between his fingers the extremities of the bands which fell from - his tiara upon his shoulders, standing motionless with eyes cast down. At - last seeing that she did not understand: - </p> - <p> - “You will be alone with him.” - </p> - <p> - “Well?” she said. - </p> - <p> - “Alone in his tent.” - </p> - <p> - “What then?” - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim bit his lips. He sought for some phrase, some circumlocution. - </p> - <p> - “If you are to die, that will be later,” he said; “later! - fear nothing! and whatever he may undertake to do, do not call out! do not - be frightened! You will be humble, you understand, and submissive to his - desire, which is ordained of heaven!” - </p> - <p> - “But the veil?” - </p> - <p> - “The gods will take thought for it,” replied Schahabarim. - </p> - <p> - “Suppose you were to accompany me, O father?” she added. - </p> - <p> - “No!” - </p> - <p> - He made her kneel down, and keeping his left hand raised and his right - extended, he swore in her behalf to bring back the mantle of Tanith into - Carthage. With terrible imprecations she devoted herself to the gods, and - each time that Schahabarim pronounced a word she falteringly repeated it. - </p> - <p> - He indicated to her all the purifications and fastings that she was to - observe, and how she was to reach Matho. Moreover, a man acquainted with - the routes would accompany her. - </p> - <p> - She felt as if she had been set free. She thought only of the happiness of - seeing the zaïmph again, and she now blessed Schahabarim for his - exhortations. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - It was the period at which the doves of Carthage migrated to Sicily to the - mountain of Eryx and the temple of Venus. For several days before their - departure they sought out and called to one another so as to collect - together; at last one evening they flew away; the wind blew them along, - and the big white cloud glided across the sky high above the sea. - </p> - <p> - The horizon was filled with the colour of blood. They seemed to descend - gradually to the waves; then they disappeared as though swallowed up, and - falling of themselves into the jaws of the sun. Salammbô, who watched them - retiring, bent her head, and then Taanach, believing that she guessed her - sorrow, said gently to her: - </p> - <p> - “But they will come back, Mistress.” - </p> - <p> - “Yes! I know.” - </p> - <p> - “And you will see them again.” - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps!” she said, sighing. - </p> - <p> - She had not confided her resolve to any one; in order to carry it out with - the greater discretion she sent Taanach to the suburb of Kinisdo to buy - all the things that she required instead of requesting them from the - stewards: vermilion, aromatics, a linen girdle, and new garments. The old - slave was amazed at these preparations, without daring, however, to ask - any questions; and the day, which had been fixed by Schahabarim, arrived - when Salammbô was to set out. - </p> - <p> - About the twelfth hour she perceived, in the depths of the sycamore trees, - a blind old man with one hand resting on the shoulder of a child who - walked before him, while with the other he carried a kind of cithara of - black wood against his hip. The eunuchs, slaves, and women had been - scrupulously sent away; no one might know the mystery that was preparing. - </p> - <p> - Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cadamomum in the - corners of the apartment; then she unfolded large Babylonian hangings, and - stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbô did not wish to - be seen even by the walls. The kinnor-player squatted behind the door and - the young boy standing upright applied a reed flute to his lips. In the - distance the roar of the streets was growing feebler, violet shadows were - lengthening before the peristyles of the temples, and on the other side of - the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of olive-trees, and the vague - yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and were blended together in a bluish - haze; not a sound was to be heard, and an unspeakable depression weighed - in the air. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; she - raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and began - her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred rites. - </p> - <p> - Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an alabaster - phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren women on a - winter’s night amid the rubbish of a sepulchre. She rubbed it upon - her ears, her heels, and the thumb of her right hand, and even her nail - remained somewhat red, as if she had crushed a fruit. - </p> - <p> - The moon rose; then the cithara and the flute began to play together. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her - long white simar; she unknotted the band in her hair, shaking the latter - for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by thus - scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three notes ever - the same, hurried and frenzied; the strings grated, the flute blew; - Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbô, with a swaying of her - whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one after another - around her. - </p> - <p> - The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python’s head appeared above - the cord that supported it. The serpent descended slowly like a drop of - water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and then, - gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his eyes, more - brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame, at first made her - hesitate. But she recalled Schahabarim’s orders and advanced; the - python turned downwards, and resting the centre of its body upon the nape - of her neck, allowed its head and tail to hang like a broken necklace with - both ends trailing to the ground. Salammbô rolled it around her sides, - under her arms and between her knees; then taking it by the jaw she - brought the little triangular mouth to the edge of her teeth, and half - shutting her eyes, threw herself back beneath the rays of the moon. The - white light seemed to envelop her in a silver mist, the prints of her - humid steps shone upon the flag-stones, stars quivered in the depth of the - water; it tightened upon her its black rings that were spotted with scales - of gold. Salammbô panted beneath the excessive weight, her loins yielded, - she felt herself dying, and with the tip of its tail the serpent gently - beat her thigh; then the music becoming still it fell off again. - </p> - <p> - Taanach came back to her; and after arranging two candelabra, the lights - of which burned in crystal balls filled with water, she tinged the inside - of her hands with Lawsonia, spread vermilion upon her cheeks, and antimony - along the edge of her eyelids, and lengthened her eyebrows with a mixture - of gum, musk, ebony, and crushed legs of flies. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the - attentions of the slave. But the touchings, the odour of the aromatics, - and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. She became so - pale that Taanach stopped. - </p> - <p> - “Go on!” said Salammbô, and bearing up against herself, she - suddenly revived. Then she was seized with impatience; she urged Taanach - to make haste, and the old slave grumbled: - </p> - <p> - “Well! well! Mistress!—Besides, you have no one waiting for - you!” - </p> - <p> - “Yes!” said Salammbô, “some one is waiting for me.” - </p> - <p> - Taanach drew back in surprise, and in order to learn more about it, said: - </p> - <p> - “What orders to you give me, Mistress? for if you are to remain away—” - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô was sobbing; the slave exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “You are suffering! what is the matter? Do not go away! take me! - When you were quite little and used to cry, I took you to my heart and - made you laugh with the points of my breasts; you have drained them, - Mistress!” She struck herself upon her dried-up bosom. “Now I - am old! I can do nothing for you! you no longer love me! you hide your - griefs from me, you despise the nurse!” And tears of tenderness and - vexation flowed down her cheeks in the gashes of her tattooing. - </p> - <p> - “No!” said Salammbô, “no, I love you! be comforted!” - </p> - <p> - With a smile like the grimace of an old ape, Taanach resumed her task. In - accordance with Schahabarim’s recommendations, Salammbô had ordered - the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her mistress with - barbaric taste full at once of refinement and ingenuity. - </p> - <p> - Over a first delicate and vinous-coloured tunic she passed a second - embroidered with birds’ feathers. Golden scales clung to her hips, - and from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silver-starred - trousers. Next Taanach put upon her a long robe made of the cloth of the - country of Seres, white and streaked with green lines. On the edge of her - shoulder she fastened a square of purple weighted at the hem with grains - of sandastrum; and above all these garments she placed a black mantle with - a flowing train; then she gazed at her, and proud of her work could not - help saying: - </p> - <p> - “You will not be more beautiful on the day of your bridal!” - </p> - <p> - “My bridal!” repeated Salammbô; she was musing with her elbow - resting upon the ivory chair. - </p> - <p> - But Taanach set up before her a copper mirror, which was so broad and high - that she could see herself completely in it. Then she rose, and with a - light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was falling too - low. - </p> - <p> - Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung down - behind over her back in long twists ending in pearls. The brightness of - the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the gold on her - garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, and on her - arms, hands and toes, she had such a wealth of gems that the mirror sent - back rays upon her like a sun;—and Salammbô, standing by the side of - Taanach, who leaned over to see her, smiled amid this dazzling display. - </p> - <p> - Then she walked to and fro embarrassed by the time that was still left. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded. She quickly pinned a long yellow - veil upon her hair, passed a scarf around her neck, thrust her feet into - blue leather boots, and said to Taanach: - </p> - <p> - “Go and see whether there is not a man with two horses beneath the - myrtles.” - </p> - <p> - Taanach had scarcely re-entered when she was descending the galley - staircase. - </p> - <p> - “Mistress!” cried the nurse. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for - discretion and immobility. - </p> - <p> - Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, and from - a distance she could distinguish by the light of the moon a gigantic - shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of Salammbô, a - sign which presaged death. - </p> - <p> - Taanach went up again into the chamber. She threw herself upon the ground - tearing her face with her nails; she plucked out her hair, and uttered - piercing shrieks with all her might. - </p> - <p> - It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent, - sobbing quite softly with her head in the hands and her face on the - pavement. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"></a> - CHAPTER XI - </h2> - <h3> - IN THE TENT - </h3> - <p> - The man who guided Salammbô made her ascend again beyond the pharos in the - direction of the Catacombs, and then go down the long suburb of Molouya, - which was full of steep lanes. The sky was beginning to grow grey. - Sometimes palm-wood beams jutting out from the walls obliged them to bend - their heads. The two horses which were at the walk would often slip; and - thus they reached the Teveste gate. - </p> - <p> - Its heavy leaves were half open; they passed through, and it closed behind - them. - </p> - <p> - At first they followed the foot of the ramparts for a time, and at the - height of the cisterns they took their way along the Tænia, a narrow strip - of yellow earth separating the gulf from the lake and extending as far as - Rhades. - </p> - <p> - No one was to be seen around Carthage, whether on the sea or in the - country. The slate-coloured waves chopped softly, and the light wind - blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with white rents. In - spite of all her veils, Salammbô shivered in the freshness of the morning; - the motion and the open air dazed her. Then the sun rose; it preyed on the - back of her head, and she involuntarily dozed a little. The two animals - rambled along side by side, their feet sinking into the silent sand. - </p> - <p> - When they had passed the mountain of the Hot Springs, they went on at a - more rapid rate, the ground being firmer. - </p> - <p> - But although it was the season for sowing and ploughing, the fields were - as empty as the desert as far as the eye could reach. Here and there were - scattered heaps of corn; at other places the barley was shedding its - reddened ears. The villages showed black upon the clear horizon, with - shapes incoherently carved. - </p> - <p> - From time to time a half-calcined piece of wall would be found standing on - the edge of the road. The roofs of the cottages were falling in, and in - the interiors might be distinguished fragments of pottery, rags of - clothing, and all kinds of unrecognisable utensils and broken things. - Often a creature clothed in tatters, with earthy face and flaming eyes - would emerge from these ruins. But he would very quickly begin to run or - would disappear into a hole. Salammbô and her guide did not stop. - </p> - <p> - Deserted plains succeeded one another. Charcoal dust which was raised by - their feet behind them, stretched in unequal trails over large spaces of - perfectly white soil. Sometimes they came upon little peaceful spots, - where a brook flowed amid the long grass; and as they ascended the other - bank Salammbô would pluck damp leaves to cool her hands. At the corner of - a wood of rose-bays her horse shied violently at the corpse of a man which - lay extended on the ground. - </p> - <p> - The slave immediately settled her again on the cushions. He was one of the - servants of the Temple, a man whom Schahabarim used to employ on perilous - missions. - </p> - <p> - With extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the - horses; he would whip the animals with the end of a leathern lace wound - round his arm, or would perhaps take balls made of wheat, dates, and yolks - of eggs wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against his breast, - and offer them to Salammbô without speaking, and running all the time. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the day three Barbarians clad in animals’ skins - crossed their path. By degrees others appeared wandering in troops of ten, - twelve, or twenty-five men; many were driving goats or a limping cow. - Their heavy sticks bristled with brass points; cutlasses gleamed in their - clothes, which were savagely dirty, and they opened their eyes with a look - of menace and amazement. As they passed some sent them a vulgar - benediction; others obscene jests, and Schahabarim’s man replied to - each in his own idiom. He told them that this was a sick youth going to be - cured at a distant temple. - </p> - <p> - However, the day was closing in. Barkings were heard, and they approached - them. - </p> - <p> - Then in the twilight they perceived an enclosure of dry stones shutting in - a rambling edifice. A dog was running along the top of the wall. The slave - threw some pebbles at him and they entered a lofty vaulted hall. - </p> - <p> - A woman was crouching in the centre warming herself at a fire of - brushwood, the smoke of which escaped through the holes in the ceiling. - She was half hidden by her white hair which fell to her knees; and - unwilling to answer, she muttered with idiotic look words of vengeance - against the Barbarians and the Carthaginians. - </p> - <p> - The runner ferreted right and left. Then he returned to her and demanded - something to eat. The old woman shook her head, and murmured with her eyes - fixed upon the charcoal: - </p> - <p> - “I was the hand. The ten fingers are cut off. The mouth eats no - more.” - </p> - <p> - The slave showed her a handful of gold pieces. She rushed upon them, but - soon resumed her immobility. - </p> - <p> - At last he placed a dagger which he had in his girdle beneath her throat. - Then, trembling, she went and raised a large stone, and brought back an - amphora of wine with fish from Hippo-Zarytus preserved in honey. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô turned away from this unclean food, and fell asleep on the horses’ - caparisons which were spread in a corner of the hall. - </p> - <p> - He awoke her before daylight. - </p> - <p> - The dog was howling. The slave went up to it quietly, and struck off its - head with a single blow of his dagger. Then he rubbed the horses’ - nostrils with blood to revive them. The old woman cast a malediction at - him from behind. Salammbô perceived this, and pressed the amulet which she - wore above her heart. - </p> - <p> - They resumed their journey. - </p> - <p> - From time to time she asked whether they would not arrive soon. The road - undulated over little hills. Nothing was to be heard but the grating of - the grasshoppers. The sun heated the yellowed grass; the ground was all - chinked with crevices which in dividing formed, as it were, monstrous - paving-stones. Sometimes a viper passed, or eagles flew by; the slave - still continued running. Salammbô mused beneath her veils, and in spite of - the heat did not lay them aside through fear of soiling her beautiful - garments. - </p> - <p> - At regular distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the - purpose of keeping watch upon the tribes. They entered these for the sake - of the shade, and then set out again. - </p> - <p> - For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before. But they met - with no one just now; the region being a sterile one, the Barbarians had - not passed that way. - </p> - <p> - Gradually the devastation began again. Sometimes a piece of mosaic would - be displayed in the centre of a field, the sole remnant of a vanished - mansion; and the leafless olive trees looked at a distance like large - bushes of thorns. They passed through a town in which houses were burnt to - the ground. Human skeletons might be seen along the walls. There were - some, too, of dromedaries and mules. Half-gnawed carrion blocked the - streets. - </p> - <p> - Night fell. The sky was lowering and cloudy. - </p> - <p> - They ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction, when suddenly - they perceived a quantity of little flames before them. - </p> - <p> - These were shining at the bottom of an ampitheatre. Gold plates, as they - displaced one another, glanced here and there. These were the cuirasses of - the Clinabarians in the Punic camp; then in the neighbourhood they - distinguished other and more numerous lights, for the armies of the - Mercenaries, now blended together, extended over a great space. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô made a movement as though to advance. But Schahabarim’s man - took her further away, and they passed along by the terrace which enclosed - the camp of the Barbarians. A breach became visible in it, and the slave - disappeared. - </p> - <p> - A sentry was walking upon the top of the entrenchment with a bow in his - hand and a pike on his shoulder. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô drew still nearer; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow pierced - the hem of her cloak. Then as she stood motionless and shrieking, he asked - her what she wanted. - </p> - <p> - “To speak to Matho,” she replied. “I am a fugitive from - Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - He gave a whistle, which was repeated at intervals further away. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô waited; her frightened horse moved round and round, sniffing. - </p> - <p> - When Matho arrived the moon was rising behind her. But she had a yellow - veil with black flowers over her face, and so many draperies about her - person, that it was impossible to make any guess about her. From the top - of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up like a phantom in - the penumbræ of the evening. - </p> - <p> - At last she said to him: - </p> - <p> - “Lead me to your tent! I wish it!” - </p> - <p> - A recollection which he could not define passed through his memory. He - felt his heart beating. The air of command intimidated him. - </p> - <p> - “Follow me!” he said. - </p> - <p> - The barrier was lowered, and immediately she was in the camp of the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng. Bright fires were - burning beneath hanging pots; and their purpled reflections illuminating - some places left others completely in the dark. There was shouting and - calling; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid the tents; the - latter were round and square, of leather or of canvas; there were huts of - reeds, and holes in the sand such as are made by dogs. Soldiers were - carting faggots, resting on their elbows on the ground, or wrapping - themselves up in mats and preparing to sleep; and Salammbô’s horse - sometimes stretched out a leg and jumped in order to pass over them. - </p> - <p> - She remembered that she had seen them before; but their beards were longer - now, their faces still blacker, and their voices hoarser. Matho, who - walked before her, waved them off with a gesture of his arm which raised - his red mantle. Some kissed his hands; others bending their spines - approached him to ask for orders, for he was now veritable and sole chief - of the Barbarians; Spendius, Autaritus, and Narr’ Havas had become - disheartened, and he had displayed so much audacity and obstinacy that all - obeyed him. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô followed him through the entire camp. His tent was at the end, - three hundred feet from Hamilcar’s entrenchments. - </p> - <p> - She noticed a wide pit on the right, and it seemed to her that faces were - resting against the edge of it on a level with the ground, as decapitated - heads might have done. However, their eyes moved, and from these - half-opened mouths groanings escaped in the Punic tongue. - </p> - <p> - Two Negroes holding resin lights stood on both sides of the door. Matho - drew the canvas abruptly aside. She followed him. - </p> - <p> - It was a deep tent with a pole standing up in the centre. It was lighted - by a large lamp-holder shaped like a lotus and full of a yellow oil - wherein floated handfuls of burning tow, and military things might be - distinguished gleaming in the shade. A naked sword leaned against a stool - by the side of a shield; whips of hippopotamus leather, cymbals, bells, - and necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of esparto-grass; a felt - rug lay soiled with crumbs of black bread; some copper money was - carelessly heaped upon a round stone in a corner, and through the rents in - the canvas the wind brought the dust from without, together with the smell - of the elephants, which might be heard eating and shaking their chains. - </p> - <p> - “Who are you?” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - She looked slowly around her without replying; then her eyes were arrested - in the background, where something bluish and sparkling fell upon a bed of - palm-branches. - </p> - <p> - She advanced quickly. A cry escaped her. Matho stamped his foot behind - her. - </p> - <p> - “Who brings you here? why do you come?” - </p> - <p> - “To take it!” she replied, pointing to the zaïmph, and with - the other hand she tore the veils from her head. He drew back with his - elbows behind him, gaping, almost terrified. - </p> - <p> - She felt as if she were leaning on the might of the gods; and looking at - him face to face she asked him for the zaïmph; she demanded it in words - abundant and superb. - </p> - <p> - Matho did not hear; he was gazing at her, and in his eyes her garments - were blended with her body. The clouding of the stuffs, like the splendour - of her skin, was something special and belonging to her alone. Her eyes - and her diamonds sparkled; the polish of her nails continued the delicacy - of the stones which loaded her fingers; the two clasps of her tunic raised - her breasts somewhat and brought them closer together, and he in thought - lost himself in the narrow interval between them whence there fell a - thread holding a plate of emeralds which could be seen lower down beneath - the violet gauze. She had as earrings two little sapphire scales, each - supporting a hollow pearl filled with liquid scent. A little drop would - fall every moment through the holes in the pearl and moisten her naked - shoulder. Matho watched it fall. - </p> - <p> - He was carried away by ungovernable curiosity; and, like a child laying - his hand upon a strange fruit, he tremblingly and lightly touched the top - of her chest with the tip of his finger: the flesh, which was somewhat - cold, yielded with an elastic resistance. - </p> - <p> - This contact, though scarcely a sensible one, shook Matho to the very - depths of his nature. An uprising of his whole being urged him towards - her. He would fain have enveloped her, absorbed her, drunk her. His bosom - was panting, his teeth were chattering. - </p> - <p> - Taking her by the wrists he drew her gently to him, and then sat down upon - a cuirass beside the palm-tree bed which was covered with a lion’s - skin. She was standing. He looked up at her, holding her thus between his - knees, and repeating: - </p> - <p> - “How beautiful you are! how beautiful you are!” - </p> - <p> - His eyes, which were continually fixed upon hers, pained her; and the - uncomfortableness, the repugnance increased in so acute a fashion that - Salammbô put a constraint upon herself not to cry out. The thought of - Schahabarim came back to her, and she resigned herself. - </p> - <p> - Matho still kept her little hands in his own; and from time to time, in - spite of the priest’s command, she turned away her face and tried to - thrust him off by jerking her arms. He opened his nostrils the better to - breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person. It was a fresh, - indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, like the smoke - from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense, roses, with - another odour still. - </p> - <p> - But how was she thus with him in his tent, and at his disposal? Some one - no doubt had urged her. She had not come for the zaïmph. His arms fell, - and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie. - </p> - <p> - To soften him Salammbô said to him in a plaintive voice: - </p> - <p> - “What have I done to you that you should desire my death?” - </p> - <p> - “Your death!” - </p> - <p> - She resumed: - </p> - <p> - “I saw you one evening by the light of my burning gardens amid - fuming cups and my slaughtered slaves, and your anger was so strong that - you bounded towards me and I was obliged to fly! Then terror entered into - Carthage. There were cries of the devastation of the towns, the burning of - the country-seats, the massacre of the soldiery; it was you who had ruined - them, it was you who had murdered them! I hate you! Your very name gnaws - me like remorse! You are execrated more than the plague, and the Roman - war! The provinces shudder at your fury, the furrows are full of corpses! - I have followed the traces of your fires as though I were travelling - behind Moloch!” - </p> - <p> - Matho leaped up; his heart was swelling with colossal pride; he was raised - to the stature of a god. - </p> - <p> - With quivering nostrils and clenched teeth she went on: - </p> - <p> - “As if your sacrilege were not enough, you came to me in my sleep - covered with the zaïmph! Your words I did not understand; but I could see - that you wished to drag me to some terrible thing at the bottom of an - abyss.” - </p> - <p> - Matho, writhing his arms, exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “No! no! it was to give it to you! to restore it to you! It seemed - to me that the goddess had left her garment for you, and that it belonged - to you! In her temple or in your house, what does it matter? are you not - all-powerful, immaculate, radiant and beautiful even as Tanith?” And - with a look of boundless adoration he added: - </p> - <p> - “Unless perhaps you are Tanith?” - </p> - <p> - “I, Tanith!” said Salammbô to herself. - </p> - <p> - They left off speaking. The thunder rolled in the distance. Some sheep - bleated, frightened by the storm. - </p> - <p> - “Oh! come near!” he went on, “come near! fear nothing! - </p> - <p> - “Formerly I was only a soldier mingled with the common herd of the - Mercenaries, ay, and so meek that I used to carry wood on my back for the - others. Do I trouble myself about Carthage! The crowd of its people move - as though lost in the dust of your sandals, and all its treasures, with - the provinces, fleets, and islands, do not raise my envy like the - freshness of your lips and the turn of your shoulders. But I wanted to - throw down its walls that I might reach you to possess you! Moreover, I - was revenging myself in the meantime! At present I crush men like shells, - and I throw myself upon phalanxes; I put aside the sarissæ with my hands, - I check the stallions by the nostrils; a catapult would not kill me! Oh! - if you knew how I think of you in the midst of war! Sometimes the memory - of a gesture or of a fold of your garment suddenly seizes me and entwines - me like a net! I perceive your eyes in the flames of the phalaricas and on - the gilding of the shields! I hear your voice in the sounding of the - cymbals. I turn aside, but you are not there! and I plunge again into the - battle!” - </p> - <p> - He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one another like ivy on the - branches of a tree. Sweat flowed down his breast between his square - muscles; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze girdle all - garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees, which were firmer than - marble. Salammbô, who was accustomed to eunuchs, yielded to amazement at - the strength of this man. It was the chastisement of the goddess or the - influence of Moloch in motion around her in the five armies. She was - overwhelmed with lassitude; and she listened in a state of stupor to the - intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they answered one another. - </p> - <p> - The flames of the lamp kindled in the squalls of hot air. There came at - times broad lightning flashes; then the darkness increased; and she could - only see Matho’s eyeballs like two coals in the night. However, she - felt that a fatality was surrounding her, that she had reached a supreme - and irrevocable moment, and making an effort she went up again towards the - zaïmph and raised her hands to seize it. - </p> - <p> - “What are you doing?” exclaimed Matho. - </p> - <p> - “I am going back to Carthage,” she placidly replied. - </p> - <p> - He advanced folding his arms and with so terrible a look that her heels - were immediately nailed, as it were, to the spot. - </p> - <p> - “Going back to Carthage!” He stammered, and, grinding his - teeth, repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Going back to Carthage! Ah! you came to take the zaïmph, to conquer - me, and then disappear! No, no! you belong to me! and no one now shall - tear you from here! Oh! I have not forgotten the insolence of your large - tranquil eyes, and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of your beauty! - ’Tis my turn now! You are my captive, my slave, my servant! Call, if - you like, on your father and his army, the Ancients, the rich, and your - whole accursed people! I am the master of three hundred thousand soldiers! - I will go and seek them in Lusitania, in the Gauls, and in the depths of - the desert, and I will overthrow your town and burn all its temples; the - triremes shall float on the waves of blood! I will not have a house, a - stone, or a palm tree remaining! And if men fail me I will draw the bears - from the mountains and urge on the lions! Seek not to fly or I kill you!” - </p> - <p> - Pale and with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are - about to burst. Suddenly sobs stifled him, and he sank down upon his hams. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! forgive me! I am a scoundrel, and viler than scorpions, than - mire and dust! Just now while you were speaking your breath passed across - my face, and I rejoiced like a dying man who drinks lying flat on the edge - of a stream. Crush me, if only I feel your feet! curse me, if only I hear - your voice! Do not go! have pity! I love you! I love you!” - </p> - <p> - He was on his knees on the ground before her; and he encircled her form - with both his arms, his head thrown back, and his hands wandering; the - gold discs hanging from his ears gleamed upon his bronzed neck; big tears - rolled in his eyes like silver globes; he sighed caressingly, and murmured - vague words lighter than a breeze and sweet as a kiss. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all consciousness of - herself. Something at once inward and lofty, a command from the gods, - obliged her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and she fell back - swooning upon the bed amid the lion’s hair. The zaïmph fell, and - enveloped her; she could see Matho’s face bending down above her - breast. - </p> - <p> - “Moloch, thou burnest me!” and the soldier’s kisses, - more devouring than flames, covered her; she was as though swept away in a - hurricane, taken in the might of the sun. - </p> - <p> - He kissed all her fingers, her arms, her feet, and the long tresses of her - hair from one end to the other. - </p> - <p> - “Carry it off,” he said, “what do I care? take me away - with it! I abandon the army! I renounce everything! Beyond Gades, twenty - days’ journey into the sea, you come to an island covered with gold - dust, verdure, and birds. On the mountains large flowers filled with - smoking perfumes rock like eternal censers; in the citron trees, which are - higher than cedars, milk-coloured serpents cause the fruit to fall upon - the turf with the diamonds in their jaws; the air is so mild that it keeps - you from dying. Oh! I shall find it, you will see. We shall live in - crystal grottoes cut out at the foot of the hills. No one dwells in it - yet, or I shall become the king of the country.” - </p> - <p> - He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter of a - pomegranate between her lips; he heaped up garments behind her head to - make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and to humble - himself, and he even spread the zaïmph over her feet as if it were a mere - rug. - </p> - <p> - “Have you still,” he said, “those little gazelle’s - horns on which your necklaces hang? You will give them to me! I love them!” - For he spoke as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from - him. The Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The - moon was gliding between two clouds. They could see it through an opening - in the tent. “Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed - to me like a veil that hid your face; you would look at me through her; - the memory of you was mingled with her beams; then I could no longer - distinguish you!” And with his head between her breasts he wept - copiously. - </p> - <p> - “And this,” she thought, “is the formidable man who - makes Carthage tremble!” - </p> - <p> - He fell asleep. Then disengaging herself from his arm she put one foot to - the ground, and she perceived that her chainlet was broken. - </p> - <p> - The maidens of the great families were accustomed to respect these - shackles as something that was almost religious, and Salammbô, blushing, - rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles. - </p> - <p> - Carthage, Megara, her house, her room, and the country that she had passed - through, whirled in tumultuous yet distinct images through her memory. But - an abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an infinite distance from - her. - </p> - <p> - The storm was departing; drops of water splashing rarely, one by one, made - the tent-roof shake. - </p> - <p> - Matho slept like a drunken man, stretched on his side, and with one arm - over the edge of the couch. His band of pearls was raised somewhat, and - uncovered his brow; his teeth were parted in a smile; they shone through - his black beard, and there was a silent and almost outrageous gaiety in - his half-closed eyelids. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô looked at him motionless, her head bent and her hands crossed. - </p> - <p> - A dagger was displayed on the table of cypress-wood at the head of the - bed; the sight of the gleaming blade fired her with a sanguinary desire. - Mournful voices lingered at a distance in the shade, and like a chorus of - geniuses urged her on. She approached it; she seized the steel by the - handle. At the rustling of her dress Matho half opened his eyes, putting - forth his mouth upon her hands, and the dagger fell. - </p> - <p> - Shouts arose; a terrible light flashed behind the canvas. Matho raised the - latter; they perceived the camp of the Libyans enveloped in great flames. - </p> - <p> - Their reed huts were burning, and the twisting stems burst in the smoke - and flew off like arrows; black shadows ran about distractedly on the red - horizon. They could hear the shrieks of those who were in the huts; the - elephants, oxen, and horses plunged in the midst of the crowd crushing it - together with the stores and baggage that were being rescued from the - fire. Trumpets sounded. There were calls of “Matho! Matho!” - Some people at the door tried to get in. - </p> - <p> - “Come along! Hamilcar is burning the camp of Autaritus!” - </p> - <p> - He made a spring. She found herself quite alone. - </p> - <p> - Then she examined the zaïmph; and when she had viewed it well she was - surprised that she had not the happiness which she had once imagined to - herself. She stood with melancholy before her accomplished dream. - </p> - <p> - But the lower part of the tent was raised, and a monstrous form appeared. - Salammbô could at first distinguish only the two eyes and a long white - beard which hung down to the ground; for the rest of the body, which was - cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment, trailed along the earth; and - with every forward movement the hands passed into the beard and then fell - again. Crawling in this way it reached her feet, and Salammbô recognised - the aged Gisco. - </p> - <p> - In fact, the Mercenaries had broken the legs of the captive Ancients with - a brass bar to prevent them from taking to flight; and they were all - rotting pell-mell in a pit in the midst of filth. But the sturdiest of - them raised themselves and shouted when they heard the noise of platters, - and it was in this way that Gisco had seen Salammbô. He had guessed that - she was a Carthaginian woman by the little balls of sandastrum flapping - against her cothurni; and having a presentiment of an important mystery he - had succeeded, with the assistance of his companions, in getting out of - the pit; then with elbows and hands he had dragged himself twenty paces - further on as far as Matho’s tent. Two voices were speaking within - it. He had listened outside and had heard everything. - </p> - <p> - “It is you!” she said at last, almost terrified. - </p> - <p> - “Yes, it is I!” he replied, raising himself on his wrists. - “They think me dead, do they not?” - </p> - <p> - She bent her head. He resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy!” He - approached so close he was touching her. “They would have spared me - the pain of cursing you!” - </p> - <p> - Salammbô sprang quickly back, so much afraid was she of this unclean - being, who was as hideous as a larva and nearly as terrible as a phantom. - </p> - <p> - “I am nearly one hundred years old,” he said. “I have - seen Agathocles; I have seen Regulus and the eagles of the Romans passing - over the harvests of the Punic fields! I have seen all the terrors of - battles and the sea encumbered with the wrecks of our fleets! Barbarians - whom I used to command have chained my four limbs like a slave that has - committed murder. My companions are dying around me, one after the other; - the odour of their corpses awakes me in the night; I drive away the birds - that come to peck out their eyes; and yet not for a single day have I - despaired of Carthage! Though I had seen all the armies of the earth - against her, and the flames of the siege overtop the height of the - temples, I should have still believed in her eternity! But now all is - over! all is lost! The gods execrate her! A curse upon you who have - quickened her ruin by your disgrace!” - </p> - <p> - She opened her lips. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! I was there!” he cried. “I heard you gurgling with - love like a prostitute; then he told you of his desire, and you allowed - him to kiss your hands! But if the frenzy of your unchastity urged you to - it, you should at least have done as do the fallow deer, which hide - themselves in their copulations, and not have displayed your shame beneath - your father’s very eyes!” - </p> - <p> - “What?” she said. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! you did not know that the two entrenchments are sixty cubits - from each other and that your Matho, in the excess of his pride, has - posted himself just in front of Hamilcar. Your father is there behind you; - and could I climb the path which leads to the platform, I should cry to - him: ‘Come and see your daughter in the Barbarian’s arms! She - has put on the garment of the goddess to please him; and in yielding her - body to him she surrenders with the glory of your name the majesty of the - gods, the vengeance of her country, even the safety of Carthage!’” - The motion of his toothless mouth moved his beard throughout its length; - his eyes were riveted upon her and devoured her; panting in the dust he - repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! sacrilegious one! May you be accursed! accursed! accursed!” - </p> - <p> - Salammbô had drawn back the canvas; she held it raised at arm’s - length, and without answering him she looked in the direction of Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - “It is this way, is it not?” she said. - </p> - <p> - “What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face - against the earth! It is a holy spot which would be polluted by your gaze!” - </p> - <p> - She threw the zaïmph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils, - mantle, and scarf. “I hasten thither!” she cried; and making - her escape Salammbô disappeared. - </p> - <p> - At first she walked through the darkness without meeting any one, for all - were betaking themselves to the fire; the uproar was increasing and great - flames purpled the sky behind; a long terrace stopped her. - </p> - <p> - She turned round to right and left at random, seeking for a ladder, a - rope, a stone, something in short to assist her. She was afraid of Gisco, - and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were pursuing her. Day was - beginning to break. She perceived a path in the thickness of the - entrenchment. She took the hem of her robe, which impeded her, in her - teeth, and in three bounds she was on the platform. - </p> - <p> - A sonorous shout burst forth beneath her in the shade, the same which she - had heard at the foot of the galley staircase, and leaning over she - recognised Schahabarim’s man with his coupled horses. - </p> - <p> - He had wandered all night between the two entrenchments; then disquieted - by the fire, he had gone back again trying to see what was passing in - Matho’s camp; and, knowing that this spot was nearest to his tent, - he had not stirred from it, in obedience to the priest’s command. - </p> - <p> - He stood up on one of the horses. Salammbô let herself slide down to him; - and they fled at full gallop, circling the Punic camp in search of a gate. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Matho had re-entered his tent. The smoky lamp gave but little light, and - he also believed that Salammbô was asleep. Then he delicately touched the - lion’s skin on the palm-tree bed. He called but she did not answer; - he quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some light; the - zaïmph was gone. - </p> - <p> - The earth trembled beneath thronging feet. Shouts, neighings, and clashing - of armour rose in the air, and clarion flourishes sounded the charge. It - was as though a hurricane were whirling around him. Immoderate frenzy made - him leap upon his arms, and he dashed outside. - </p> - <p> - The long files of the Barbarians were descending the mountain at a run, - and the Punic squares were advancing against them with a heavy and regular - oscillation. The mist, rent by the rays of the sun, formed little rocking - clouds which as they rose gradually discovered standards, helmets, and - points of pikes. Beneath the rapid evolutions portions of the earth which - were still in the shadow seemed to be displaced bodily; in other places it - looked as if huge torrents were crossing one another, while thorny masses - stood motionless between them. Matho could distinguish the captains, - soldiers, heralds, and even the serving-men, who were mounted on asses in - the rear. But instead of maintaining his position in order to cover the - foot-soldiers, Narr’ Havas turned abruptly to the right, as though - he wished himself to be crushed by Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - His horsemen outstripped the elephants, which were slackening their speed; - and all the horses, stretching out their unbridled heads, galloped at so - furious a rate that their bellies seemed to graze the earth. Then suddenly - Narr’ Havas went resolutely up to a sentry. He threw away his sword, - lance, and javelins, and disappeared among the Carthaginians. - </p> - <p> - The king of the Numidians reached Hamilcar’s tent, and pointing to - his men, who were standing still at a distance, he said: - </p> - <p> - “Barca! I bring them to you. They are yours.” - </p> - <p> - Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage, and to prove his fidelity - recalled all his conduct from the beginning of the war. - </p> - <p> - First, he had prevented the siege of Carthage and the massacre of the - captives; then he had taken no advantage of the victory over Hanno after - the defeat at Utica. As to the Tyrian towns, they were on the frontiers of - his kingdom. Finally he had not taken part in the battle of the Macaras; - and he had even expressly absented himself in order to evade the - obligation of fighting against the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had in fact wished to aggrandise himself by - encroachments upon the Punic provinces, and had alternately assisted and - forsaken the Mercenaries according to the chances of victory. But seeing - that Hamilcar would ultimately prove the stronger, he had gone over to - him; and in his desertion there was perhaps something of a grudge against - Matho, whether on account of the command or of his former love. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet listened without interrupting him. The man who thus presented - himself with an army where vengeance was his due was not an auxiliary to - be despised; Hamilcar at once divined the utility of such an alliance in - his great projects. With the Numidians he would get rid of the Libyans. - Then he would draw off the West to the conquest of Iberia; and, without - asking Narr’ Havas why he had not come sooner, or noticing any of - his lies, he kissed him, striking his breast thrice against his own. - </p> - <p> - It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that he had fired the - camp of the Libyans. This army came to him like a relief from the gods; - dissembling his joy he replied: - </p> - <p> - “May the Baals favour you! I do not know what the Republic will do - for you, but Hamilcar is not ungrateful.” - </p> - <p> - The tumult increased; some captains entered. He was arming himself as he - spoke. - </p> - <p> - “Come, return! You will use your horsemen to beat down their - infantry between your elephants and mine. Courage! exterminate them!” - </p> - <p> - And Narr’ Havas was rushing away when Salammbô appeared. - </p> - <p> - She leaped down quickly from her horse. She opened her ample cloak and - spreading out her arms displayed the zaïmph. - </p> - <p> - The leathern tent, which was raised at the corners, left visible the - entire circuit of the mountain with its thronging soldiers, and as it was - in the centre Salammbô could be seen on all sides. An immense shouting - burst forth, a long cry of triumph and hope. Those who were marching - stopped; the dying leaned on their elbows and turned round to bless her. - All the Barbarians knew now that she had recovered the zaïmph; they saw - her or believed that they saw her from a distance; and other cries, but - those of rage and vengeance, resounded in spite of the plaudits of the - Carthaginians. Thus did the five armies in tiers upon the mountain stamp - and shriek around Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, who was unable to speak, nodded her his thanks. His eyes were - directed alternately upon the zaïmph and upon her, and he noticed that her - chainlet was broken. Then he shivered, being seized with a terrible - suspicion. But soon recovering his impassibility he looked sideways at - Narr’ Havas without turning his face. - </p> - <p> - The king of the Numidians held himself apart in a discreet attitude; on - his forehead he bore a little of the dust which he had touched when - prostrating himself. At last the Suffet advanced towards him with a look - full of gravity. - </p> - <p> - “As a reward for the services which you have rendered me, Narr’ - Havas, I give you my daughter. Be my son,” he added, “and - defend your father!” - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas gave a great gesture of surprise; then he threw himself - upon Hamilcar’s hands and covered them with kisses. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô, calm as a statue, did not seem to understand. She blushed a - little as she cast down her eyelids, and her long curved lashes made - shadows upon her cheeks. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in indissoluble betrothal. A - lance was placed in Salammbô’s hands and by her offered to Narr’ - Havas; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of ox-leather; then - corn was poured upon their heads, and the grains that fell around them - rang like rebounding hail. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"></a> - CHAPTER XII - </h2> - <h3> - THE AQUEDUCT - </h3> - <p> - Twelve hours afterwards all that remained of the Mercenaries was a heap of - wounded, dead, and dying. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had suddenly emerged from the bottom of the gorge, and again - descended the western slope that looked towards Hippo-Zarytus, and the - space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the Barbarians - into it. Narr’ Havas had encompassed them with his horse; the Suffet - meanwhile drove them back and crushed them. Then, too, they were conquered - beforehand by the loss of the zaïmph; even those who cared nothing about - it had experienced anguish and something akin to enfeeblement. Hamilcar, - not indulging his pride by holding the field of battle, had retired a - little further off on the left to some heights, from which he commanded - them. - </p> - <p> - The shape of the camps could be recognised by their sloping palisades. A - long heap of black cinders was smoking on the side of the Libyans; the - devastated soil showed undulations like the sea, and the tents with their - tattered canvas looked like dim ships half lost in the breakers. - Cuirasses, forks, clarions, pieces of wood, iron and brass, corn, straw, - and garments were scattered about among the corpses; here and there a - phalarica on the point of extinction burned against a heap of baggage; in - some places the earth was hidden with shields; horses’ carcasses - succeeded one another like a series of hillocks; legs, sandals, arms, and - coats of mail were to be seen, with heads held in their helmets by the - chin-pieces and rolling about like balls; heads of hair were hanging on - the thorns; elephants were lying with their towers in pools of blood, with - entrails exposed, and gasping. The foot trod on slimy things, and there - were swamps of mud although no rain had fallen. - </p> - <p> - This confusion of dead bodies covered the whole mountain from top to - bottom. - </p> - <p> - Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting in unequal - groups they looked at one another scared and without speaking. - </p> - <p> - The lake of Hippo-Zarytus shone at the end of a long meadow beneath the - setting sun. To the right an agglomeration of white houses extended beyond - a girdle of walls; then the sea spread out indefinitely; and the - Barbarians, with their chins in their hands, sighed as they thought of - their native lands. A cloud of grey dust was falling. - </p> - <p> - The evening wind blew; then every breast dilated, and as the freshness - increased, the vermin might be seen to forsake the dead, who were colder - now, and to run over the hot sand. Crows, looking towards the dying, - rested motionless on the tops of the big stones. - </p> - <p> - When night had fallen yellow-haired dogs, those unclean beasts which - followed the armies, came quite softly into the midst of the Barbarians. - At first they licked the clots of blood on the still tepid stumps; and - soon they began to devour the corpses, biting into the stomachs first of - all. - </p> - <p> - The fugitives reappeared one by one like shadows; the women also ventured - to return, for there were still some of them left, especially among the - Libyans, in spite of the dreadful massacre of them by the Numidians. - </p> - <p> - Some took ropes’ ends and lighted them to use as torches. Others - held crossed pikes. The corpses were placed upon these and were conveyed - apart. - </p> - <p> - They were found lying stretched in long lines, on their backs, with their - mouths open, and their lances beside them; or else they were piled up - pell-mell so that it was often necessary to dig out a whole heap in order - to discover those they were wanting. Then the torch would be passed slowly - over their faces. They had received complicated wounds from hideous - weapons. Greenish strips hung from their foreheads; they were cut in - pieces, crushed to the marrow, blue from strangulation, or broadly cleft - by the elephants’ ivory. Although they had died at almost the same - time there existed differences between their various states of corruption. - The men of the North were puffed up with livid swellings, while the more - nervous Africans looked as though they had been smoked, and were already - drying up. The Mercenaries might be recognised by the tattooing on their - hands: the old soldiers of Antiochus displayed a sparrow-hawk; those who - had served in Egypt, the head of the cynosephalus; those who had served - with the princes of Asia, a hatchet, a pomegranate, or a hammer; those who - had served in the Greek republics, the side-view of a citadel or the name - of an archon; and some were to be seen whose arms were entirely covered - with these multiplied symbols, which mingled with their scars and their - recent wounds. - </p> - <p> - Four great funeral piles were erected for the men of Latin race, the - Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and Bruttians. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks dug pits with the points of their swords. The Spartans removed - their red cloaks and wrapped them round the dead; the Athenians laid them - out with their faces towards the rising sun; the Cantabrians buried them - beneath a heap of pebbles; the Nasamonians bent them double with - ox-leather thongs, and the Garamantians went and interred them on the - shore so that they might be perpetually washed by the waves. But the - Latins were grieved that they could not collect the ashes in urns; the - Nomads regretted the heat of the sands in which bodies were mummified, and - the Celts, the three rude stones beneath a rainy sky at the end of an - islet-covered gulf. - </p> - <p> - Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened silence. This was to - oblige the souls to return. Then the shouting was resumed persistently at - regular intervals. - </p> - <p> - They made excuses to the dead for their inability to honour them as the - rites prescribed: for, owing to this deprivation, they would pass for - infinite periods through all kinds of chances and metamorphoses; they - questioned them and asked them what they desired; others loaded them with - abuse for having allowed themselves to be conquered. - </p> - <p> - The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks of armour showed - pale in the light of the great funeral-pile; tears provoked tears, the - sobs became shriller, the recognitions and embracings more frantic. Women - stretched themselves on the corpses, mouth to mouth and brow to brow; it - was necessary to beat them in order to make them withdraw when the earth - was being thrown in. They blackened their cheeks; they cut off their hair; - they drew their own blood and poured it into the pits; they gashed - themselves in imitation of the wounds that disfigured the dead. Roarings - burst forth through the crashings of the cymbals. Some snatched off their - amulets and spat upon them. The dying rolled in the bloody mire biting - their mutilated fists in their rage; and forty-three Samnites, quite a - “sacred spring,” cut one another’s throats like - gladiators. Soon wood for the funeral-piles failed, the flames were - extinguished, every spot was occupied; and weary from shouting, weakened, - tottering, they fell asleep close to their dead brethren, those who still - clung to life full of anxieties, and the others desiring never to wake - again. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - In the greyness of the dawn some soldiers appeared on the outskirts of the - Barbarians, and filed past with their helmets raised on the points of - their pikes; they saluted the Mercenaries and asked them whether they had - no messages to send to their native lands. - </p> - <p> - Others approached, and the Barbarians recognised some of their former - companions. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet had proposed to all the captives that they should serve in his - troops. Several had fearlessly refused; and quite resolved neither to - support them nor to abandon them to the Great Council, he had sent them - away with injunctions to fight no more against Carthage. As to those who - had been rendered docile by the fear of tortures, they had been furnished - with the weapons taken from the enemy; and they were now presenting - themselves to the vanquished, not so much in order to seduce them as out - of an impulse of pride and curiosity. - </p> - <p> - At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from the - Suffet; the Barbarians listened to them with jealousy although they - despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards fell into a - passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords and cuirasses - and invited them with abuse to come and take them. The Barbarians picked - up flints; all took to flight; and nothing more could be seen on the - summit of the mountain except the lance-points projecting above the edge - of the palisades. - </p> - <p> - Then the Barbarians were overwhelmed with a grief that was heavier than - the humiliation of the defeat. They thought of the emptiness of their - courage, and they stood with their eyes fixed and grinding their teeth. - </p> - <p> - The same thought came to them all. They rushed tumultuously upon the - Carthaginian prisoners. It chanced that the Suffet’s soldiers had - been unable to discover them, and as he had withdrawn from the field of - battle they were still in the deep pit. - </p> - <p> - They were ranged on the ground on a flattened spot. Sentries formed a - circle round them, and the women were allowed to enter thirty or forty at - a time. Wishing to profit by the short time that was allowed to them, they - ran from one to the other, uncertain and panting; then bending over the - poor bodies they struck them with all their might like washerwomen beating - linen; shrieking their husband’s names they tore them with their - nails and put out their eyes with the bodkins of their hair. The men came - next and tortured them from their feet, which they cut off at the ankles, - to their foreheads, from which they took crowns of skin to put upon their - own heads. The Eaters of Uncleanness were atrocious in their devices. They - envenomed the wounds by pouring into them dust, vinegar, and fragments of - pottery; others waited behind; blood flowed, and they rejoiced like - vintagers round fuming vats. - </p> - <p> - Matho, however, was seated on the ground, at the very place where he had - happened to be when the battle ended, his elbows on his knees, and his - temples in his hands; he saw nothing, heard nothing, and had ceased to - think. - </p> - <p> - At the shrieks of joy uttered by the crowd he raised his head. Before him - a strip of canvas caught on a flagpole, and trailing on the ground, - sheltered in confused fashion blankets, carpets, and a lion’s skin. - He recognised his tent; and he riveted his eyes upon the ground as though - Hamilcar’s daughter, when she disappeared, had sunk into the earth. - </p> - <p> - The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes passed - across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of a hand. It - was the hand of Narr’ Havas, the token of their alliance. Then Matho - rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and threw it - disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent. Then with the toe of his cothurn - he pushed the things which fell out back towards the flame so that nothing - might be left. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly, without any one being able to guess from what point he had - sprung up, Spendius reappeared. - </p> - <p> - The former slave had fastened two fragments of a lance against his thigh; - he limped with a piteous look, breathing forth complaints the while. - </p> - <p> - “Remove that,” said Matho to him. “I know that you are a - brave fellow!” For he was so crushed by the injustice of the gods - that he had not strength enough to be indignant with men. - </p> - <p> - Spendius beckoned to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, where - Zarxas and Autaritus were lying concealed. - </p> - <p> - They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the other - in spite of his bravery. But who, said they, could have expected the - treachery of Narr’ Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans, - the loss of the zaïmph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, his - manouvres which forced them to return to the bottom of the mountain - beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made no - acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that his leg - was broken. - </p> - <p> - At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what - decision should now be adopted. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught - between his soldiers and the provinces belonging to Narr’ Havas; the - Tyrian towns would join the conquerors; the Barbarians would find - themselves driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces - would crush them. This would infallibly happen. - </p> - <p> - Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly they - must prosecute it to the bitter end. But how were they to make the - necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these disheartened - people, who were still bleeding from their wounds. - </p> - <p> - “I will undertake that!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Two hours afterwards a man who came from the direction of Hippo-Zarytus - climbed the mountain at a run. He waved some tablets at arm’s - length, and as he shouted very loudly the Barbarians surrounded him. - </p> - <p> - The tablets had been despatched by the Greek soldiers in Sardinia. They - recommended their African comrades to watch over Gisco and the other - captives. A Samian trader, one Hipponax, coming from Carthage, had - informed them that a plot was being organised to promote their escape, and - the Barbarians were urged to take every precaution; the Republic was - powerful. - </p> - <p> - Spendius’s stratagem did not succeed at first as he had hoped. This - assurance of the new peril, so far from exciting frenzy, raised fears; and - remembering Hamilcar’s warning, lately thrown into their midst, they - expected something unlooked for and terrible. The night was spent in great - distress; several even got rid of their weapons, so as to soften the - Suffet when he presented himself. - </p> - <p> - But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner appeared, - still more breathless, and blackened with dust. The Greek snatched from - his hand a roll of papyrus covered with Phonician writing. The Mercenaries - were entreated not to be disheartened; the brave men of Tunis were coming - with large reinforcements. - </p> - <p> - Spendius first read the letter three times in succession; and held up by - two Cappadocians, who bore him seated on their shoulders, he had himself - conveyed from place to place and re-read it. For seven hours he harangued. - </p> - <p> - He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises of the Great Council; the - Africans of the cruelties of the stewards, and all the Barbarians of the - injustice of Carthage. The Suffet’s mildness was only a bait to - capture them; those who surrendered would be sold as slaves, and the - vanquished would perish under torture. As to flight, what routes could - they follow? Not a nation would receive them. Whereas by continuing their - efforts they would obtain at once freedom, vengeance, and money! And they - would not have long to wait, since the people of Tunis, the whole of - Libya, was rushing to relieve them. He showed the unrolled papyrus: - “Look at it! read! see their promises! I do not lie.” - </p> - <p> - Dogs were straying about with their black muzzles all plastered with red. - The men’s uncovered heads were growing hot in the burning sun. A - nauseous smell exhaled from the badly buried corpses. Some even projected - from the earth as far as the waist. Spendius called them to witness what - he was saying; then he raised his fists in the direction of Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - Matho, moreover, was watching him, and to cover his cowardice he displayed - an anger by which he gradually found himself carried away. Devoting - himself to the gods he heaped curses upon the Carthaginians. The torture - of the captives was child’s play. Why spare them, and be ever - dragging this useless cattle after one? “No! we must put an end to - it! their designs are known! a single one might ruin us! no pity! Those - who are worthy will be known by the speed of their legs and the force of - their blows.” - </p> - <p> - Then they turned again upon the captives. Several were still in the last - throes; they were finished by the thrust of a heel in the mouth or a stab - with the point of a javelin. - </p> - <p> - Then they thought of Gisco. Nowhere could he be seen; they were disturbed - with anxiety. They wished at once to convince themselves of his death and - to participate in it. At last three Samnite shepherds discovered him at a - distance of fifteen paces from the spot where Matho’s tent lately - stood. They recognised him by his long beard and they called the rest. - </p> - <p> - Stretched on his back, his arms against his hips, and his knees close - together, he looked like a dead man laid out for the tomb. Nevertheless - his wasted sides rose and fell, and his eyes, wide-opened in his pallid - face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians looked at him at first with great astonishment. Since he - had been living in the pit he had been almost forgotten; rendered uneasy - by old memories they stood at a distance and did not venture to raise - their hands against him. - </p> - <p> - But those who were behind were murmuring and pressed forward when a - Garamantian passed through the crowd; he was brandishing a sickle; all - understood his thought; their faces purpled, and smitten with shame they - shrieked: - </p> - <p> - “Yes! yes!” - </p> - <p> - The man with the curved steel approached Gisco. He took his head, and, - resting it upon his knee, sawed it off with rapid strokes; it fell; to - great jets of blood made a hole in the dust. Zarxas leaped upon it, and - lighter than a leopard ran towards the Carthaginians. - </p> - <p> - Then when he had covered two thirds of the mountain he drew Gisco’s - head from his breast by the beard, whirled his arm rapidly several times,—and - the mass, when thrown at last, described a long parabola and disappeared - behind the Punic entrenchments. - </p> - <p> - Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards, the - customary sign for claiming a corpse. - </p> - <p> - Then four heralds, chosen for their width of chest, went out with great - clarions, and speaking through the brass tubes declared that henceforth - there would be between Carthaginians and Barbarians neither faith, pity, - nor gods, that they refused all overtures beforehand, and that envoys - would be sent back with their hands cut off. - </p> - <p> - Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to Hippo-Zarytus to procure - provisions; the Tyrian city sent them some the same evening. They ate - greedily. Then when they were strengthened they speedily collected the - remains of their baggage and their broken arms; the women massed - themselves in the centre, and heedless of the wounded left weeping behind - them, they set out along the edge of the shore like a herd of wolves - taking its departure. - </p> - <p> - They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, resolved to take it, for they had - need of a town. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, as he perceived them at a distance, had a feeling of despair in - spite of the pride which he experienced in seeing them fly before him. He - ought to have attacked them immediately with fresh troops. Another similar - day and the war was over! If matters were protracted they would return - with greater strength; the Tyrian towns would join them; his clemency - towards the vanquished had been of no avail. He resolved to be pitiless. - </p> - <p> - The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden with - bracelets collected from the dead, and with horrible threats ordered - another army to be despatched. - </p> - <p> - All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his victory - they felt a stupefaction which was almost terror. The vaguely announced - return of the zaïmph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and the might of - Carthage seemed now to belong to him. - </p> - <p> - None of his enemies ventured upon complaint or recrimination. Owing to the - enthusiasm of some and the pusillanimity of the rest, an army of five - thousand men was ready before the interval prescribed had elapsed. - </p> - <p> - This army promptly made its way to Utica in order to support the Suffet’s - rear, while three thousand of the most notable citizens embarked in - vessels which were to land them at Hippo-Zarytus, whence they were to - drive back the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - Hanno had accepted the command; but he intrusted the army to his - lieutenant, Magdassin, so as to lead the troops which were to be - disembarked himself, for he could no longer endure the shaking of the - litter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils, and had hollowed - out a large hole in his face; the back of his throat could be seen at a - distance of ten paces, and he knew himself to be so hideous that he wore a - veil over his head like a woman. - </p> - <p> - Hippo-Zarytus paid no attention to his summonings nor yet to those of the - Barbarians; but every morning the inhabitants lowered provisions to the - latter in baskets, and shouting from the tops of the towers pleaded the - exigencies of the Republic and conjured them to withdraw. By means of - signs they addressed the same protestations to the Carthaginians, who were - stationed on the sea. - </p> - <p> - Hanno contented himself with blockading the harbour without risking an - attack. However, he permitted the judges of Hippo-Zarytus to admit three - hundred soldiers. Then he departed to the Cape Grapes, and made a long - circuit so as to hem in the Barbarians, an inopportune and even dangerous - operation. His jealousy prevented him from relieving the Suffet; he - arrested his spies, impeded him in all his plans, and compromised the - success of the enterprise. At last Hamilcar wrote to the Great Council to - rid himself of Hanno, and the latter returned to Carthage furious at the - baseness of the Ancients and the madness of his colleague. Hence, after so - many hopes, the situation was now still more deplorable; but there was an - effort not to reflect upon it and even not to talk about it. - </p> - <p> - As if all this were not sufficient misfortune at one time, news came that - the Sardinian Mercenaries had crucified their general, seized the - strongholds, and everywhere slaughtered those of Chanaanitish race. The - Roman people threatened the Republic with immediate hostilities unless she - gave twelve hundred talents with the whole of the island of Sardinia. They - had accepted the alliance of the Barbarians, and they despatched to them - flat-bottomed boats laden with meal and dried meat. The Carthaginians - pursued these, and captured five hundred men; but three days afterwards a - fleet coming from Byzacena, and conveying provisions to Carthage, - foundered in a storm. The gods were evidently declaring against her. - </p> - <p> - Upon this the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, under pretence of an alarm, made - Hanno’s three hundred men ascend their walls; then coming behind - them they took them by the legs, and suddenly threw them over the - ramparts. Some who were not killed were pursued, and went and drowned - themselves in the sea. - </p> - <p> - Utica was enduring the presence of soldiers, for Magdassin had acted like - Hanno, and in accordance with his orders and deaf to Hamilcar’s - prayers, was surrounding the town. As for these, they were given wine - mixed with mandrake, and were then slaughtered in their sleep. At the same - time the Barbarians arrived; Magdassin fled; the gates were opened, and - thenceforward the two Tyrian towns displayed an obstinate devotion to - their new friends and an inconceivable hatred to their former allies. - </p> - <p> - This abandonment of the Punic cause was a counsel and a precedent. Hopes - of deliverance revived. Populations hitherto uncertain hesitated no - longer. Everywhere there was a stir. The Suffet learnt this, and he had no - assistance to look for! He was now irrevocably lost. - </p> - <p> - He immediately dismissed Narr’ Havas, who was to guard the borders - of his kingdom. As for himself, he resolved to re-enter Carthage in order - to obtain soldiers and begin the war again. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians posted at Hippo-Zarytus perceived his army as it descended - the mountain. - </p> - <p> - Where could the Carthaginians be going? Hunger, no doubt, was urging them - on; and, distracted by their sufferings, they were coming in spite of - their weakness to give battle. But they turned to the right: they were - fleeing. They might be overtaken and all be crushed. The Barbarians dashed - in pursuit of them. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians were checked by the river. It was wide this time and the - west wind had not been blowing. Some crossed by swimming, and the rest on - their shields. They resumed their march. Night fell. They were out of - sight. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians did not stop; they went higher to find a narrower place. - The people of Tunis hastened thither, bringing those of Utica along with - them. Their numbers increased at every bush; and the Carthaginians, as - they lay on the ground, could hear the tramping of their feet in the - darkness. From time to time Barca had a volley of arrows discharged behind - him to check them, and several were killed. When day broke they were in - the Ariana Mountains, at the spot where the road makes a bend. - </p> - <p> - Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could - distinguish something green on the horizon on the summit of an eminence. - Then the ground sank, and obelisks, domes, and houses appeared! It was - Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself from falling, so - rapidly did his heart beat. - </p> - <p> - He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the last - time that he had passed that way! It was an infinite surprise, it stunned - him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing Salammbô - again. The reasons which he had for execrating her returned to his - recollection, but he very quickly rejected them. Quivering and with - straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace above the - palm trees beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy lighted his face as if some - great light had reached him; he opened his arms, and sent kisses on the - breeze, and murmured: “Come! come!” A sigh swelled his breast, - and two long tears like pearls fell upon his beard. - </p> - <p> - “What stays you?” cried Spendius. “Make haste! Forward! - The Suffet is going to escape us! But your knees are tottering, and you - are looking at me like a drunken man!” - </p> - <p> - He stamped with impatience and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at the - approach of an object long aimed at. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!” - </p> - <p> - He had so convinced and triumphant an air that Matho was surprised from - his torpor, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, coming when - his distress was at its height, drove his despair to vengeance, and - pointed to food for his wrath. He bounded upon one of the camels that were - among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and with the long rope, struck - the stragglers with all his might, running right and left alternately, in - the rear of the army, like a dog driving a flock. - </p> - <p> - At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame hurried - their steps; the intervening space lessened in the middle of the isthmus. - The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust raised by the - Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and were on the point of - touching. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, and the great gate of - Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square divided; three columns - were swallowed up, and eddied beneath the porches. Soon the mass, being - too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed in the air, - and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the walls. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round and - shouted to his men to move aside. He dismounted from his horse; and - pricking it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it against the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend - its knees to allow its master to mount. Why was he sending it away? Was - this a sacrifice? - </p> - <p> - The noble horse galloped into the midst of the lances, knocked down men, - and, entangling its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose again with - furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to stop it, or - looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united again; they - entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them. - </p> - <p> - It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it;—and for - some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which became - weaker and weaker, and at last ceased. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to hurl - stones, balls, and beams. Spendius represented that it would be best not - to persist. The Barbarians went and posted themselves further off, all - being quite resolved to lay siege to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The rumour of the war, however, had passed beyond the confines of the - Punic empire; and from the pillars of Hercules to beyond Cyrene shepherds - mused on it as they kept their flocks, and caravans talked about it in the - light of the stars. This great Carthage, mistress of the seas, splendid as - the sun, and terrible as a god, actually found men who were daring enough - to attack her! Her fall even had been asserted several times; and all had - believed it for all wished it: the subject populations, the tributary - villages, the allied provinces, the independent hordes, those who - execrated her for her tyranny or were jealous of her power, or coveted her - wealth. The bravest had very speedily joined the Mercenaries. The defeat - at the Macaras had checked all the rest. At last they had recovered - confidence, had gradually advanced and approached; and now the men of the - eastern regions were lying on the sandhills of Clypea on the other side of - the gulf. As soon as they perceived the Barbarians they showed themselves. - </p> - <p> - They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long - composed the third army, but nomads from the tableland of Barca, bandits - from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Dernah, from Phazzana and - Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish wells - walled in with camels’ bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering of - ostrich feathers, had come on quadrigæ; the Garamantians, masked with - black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were mounted on - asses, onagers, zebras, and buffaloes; while some dragged after them the - roofs of their sloop-shaped huts together with their families and idols. - There were Ammonians with limbs wrinkled by the hot water of the springs; - Atarantians, who curse the sun; Troglodytes, who bury their dead with - laughter beneath branches of trees; and the hideous Auseans, who eat - grass-hoppers; the Achyrmachidæ, who eat lice; and the vermilion-painted - Gysantians, who eat apes. - </p> - <p> - All were ranged along the edge of the sea in a great straight line. - Afterwards they advanced like tornadoes of sand raised by the wind. In the - centre of the isthmus the throng stopped, the Mercenaries who were posted - in front of them, close to the walls, being unwilling to move. - </p> - <p> - Then from the direction of Ariana appeared the men of the West, the people - of the Numidians. In fact, Narr’ Havas governed only the Massylians; - and, moreover, as they were permitted by custom to abandon their king when - reverses were sustained, they had assembled on the Zainus, and then had - crossed it at Hamilcar’s first movement. First were seen running up - all the hunters from Malethut-Baal and Garaphos, clad in lions’ - skins, and with the staves of their pikes driving small lean horses with - long manes; then marched the Gætulians in cuirasses of serpents’ - skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of wax and resin; and - the Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each holding two javelins and a - round shield of hippopotamus leather. They stopped at the foot of the - Catacombs among the first pools of the Lagoon. - </p> - <p> - But when the Libyans had moved away, the multitude of the Negroes appeared - like a cloud on a level with the ground, in the place which the others had - occupied. They were there from the White Harousch, the Black Harousch, the - desert of Augila, and even from the great country of Agazymba, which is - four months’ journey south of the Garamantians, and from regions - further still! In spite of their red wooden jewels, the filth of their - black skin made them look like mulberries that had been long rolling in - the dust. They had bark-thread drawers, dried-grass tunics, fallow-deer - muzzles on their heads; they shook rods furnished with rings, and - brandished cows’ tails at the end of sticks, after the fashion of - standards, howling the while like wolves. - </p> - <p> - Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gætulians pressed the yellowish - men, who are spread through the cedar forests beyond Taggir. They had - cat-skin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they led in leashes - enormous dogs, which were as high as asses, and did not bark. - </p> - <p> - Finally, as though Africa had not been sufficiently emptied, and it had - been necessary to seek further fury in the very dregs of the races, men - might be seen behind the rest, with beast-like profiles and grinning with - idiotic laughter—wretches ravaged by hideous diseases, deformed - pigmies, mulattoes of doubtful sex, albinos whose red eyes blinked in the - sun; stammering out unintelligible sounds, they put a finger into their - mouths to show that they were hungry. - </p> - <p> - The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples. - There was not a deadly invention that was not present—from wooden - daggers, stone hatchets and ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed like - saws, slender, and formed of a yielding copper blade. They handled - cutlasses which were forked into several branches like antelopes’ - horns, bills fastened to the ends of ropes, iron triangles, clubs and - bodkins. The Ethiopians from the Bambotus had little poisoned darts hidden - in their hair. Many had brought pebbles in bags. Others, empty handed, - chattered with their teeth. - </p> - <p> - This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell. Dromedaries, smeared - all over with tar-like streaks, knocked down the women, who carried their - children on their hips. The provisions in the baskets were pouring out; in - walking, pieces of salt, parcels of gum, rotten dates, and gourou nuts - were crushed underfoot; and sometimes on vermin-covered bosoms there would - hang a slender cord supporting a diamond that the Satraps had sought, an - almost fabulous stone, sufficient to purchase an empire. Most of them did - not even know what they desired. They were impelled by fascination or - curiosity; and nomads who had never seen a town were frightened by the - shadows of the walls. - </p> - <p> - The isthmus was now hidden by men; and this long surface, whereon the - tents were like huts amid an inundation, stretched as far as the first - lines of the other Barbarians, which were streaming with steel and were - posted symmetrically upon both sides of the aqueduct. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their - arrival when they perceived the siege-engines sent by the Tyrian towns - coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildings—with - their masts, arms, ropes, articulations, capitals and carapaces, sixty - carroballistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions, fifty tollenos, twelve - rams, and three gigantic catapults which hurled pieces of rock of the - weight of fifteen talents. Masses of men clinging to their bases pushed - them on; at every step a quivering shook them, and in this way they - arrived in front of the walls. - </p> - <p> - But several days were still needed to finish the preparations for the - siege. The Mercenaries, taught by their defeats, would not risk themselves - in useless engagements; and on both sides there was no haste, for it was - well known that a terrible action was about to open, and that the result - of it would be complete victory or complete extermination. - </p> - <p> - Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a - series of re-entrant and projecting angles, an advantageous arrangement - for repelling assaults. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless a portion had fallen down in the direction of the Catacombs, - and on dark nights lights could be seen in the dens of Malqua through the - disjointed blocks. These in some places overlooked the top of the - ramparts. It was here that the Mercenaries’ wives, who had been - driven away by Matho, were living with their new husbands. On seeing the - men again their hearts could stand it no longer. They waved their scarfs - at a distance; then they came and chatted in the darkness with the - soldiers through the cleft in the wall, and one morning the Great Council - learned that they had all fled. Some had passed through between the - stones; others with greater intrepidity had let themselves down with - ropes. - </p> - <p> - At last Spendius resolved to accomplish his design. - </p> - <p> - The war, by keeping him at a distance, had hitherto prevented him; and - since the return to before Carthage, it seemed to him that the inhabitants - suspected his enterprise. But soon they diminished the sentries on the - aqueduct. There were not too many people for the defence of the walls. - </p> - <p> - The former slave practised himself for some days in shooting arrows at the - flamingoes on the lake. Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho to - light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all his men - were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he went away - along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis. - </p> - <p> - When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the - aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of the - pillars. - </p> - <p> - The sentries on the platform were walking quietly up and down. - </p> - <p> - Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette, - believing that there was an assault, rushed away in the direction of - Carthage. - </p> - <p> - One man had remained. He showed black against the background of the sky. - The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of extravagant - size, looked in the distance like an obelisk proceeding across the plain. - </p> - <p> - They waited until he was in position just before them. Zarxas seized his - sling, but whether from prudence or from ferocity Spendius stopped him. - “No, the whiz of the bullet would make a noise! Let me!” - </p> - <p> - Then he bent his bow with all his strength, resting the lower end of it - against the great toe of his left foot; he took aim, and the arrow went - off. - </p> - <p> - The man did not fall. He disappeared. - </p> - <p> - “If he were wounded we should hear him!” said Spendius; and he - mounted quickly from story to story as he had done the first time, with - the assistance of a rope and a harpoon. Then when he had reached the top - and was beside the corpse, he let it fall again. The Balearian fastened a - pick and a mallet to it and turned back. - </p> - <p> - The trumpets sounded no longer. All was now quiet. Spendius had raised one - of the flag-stones and, entering the water, had closed it behind him. - </p> - <p> - Calculating the distance by the number of his steps, he arrived at the - exact spot where he had noticed an oblique fissure; and for three hours - until morning he worked in continuous and furious fashion, breathing with - difficulty through the interstices in the upper flag-tones, assailed with - anguish, and twenty times believing that he was going to die. At last a - crack was heard, and a huge stone ricocheting on the lower arches rolled - to the ground,—and suddenly a cataract, an entire river, fell from - the skies onto the plain. The aqueduct, being cut through in the centre, - was emptying itself. It was death to Carthage and victory for the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - In an instant the awakened Carthaginians appeared on the walls, the - houses, and the temples. The Barbarians pressed forward with shouts. They - danced in delirium around the great waterfall, and came up and wet their - heads in it in the extravagance of their joy. - </p> - <p> - A man in a torn, brown tunic was perceived on the summit of the aqueduct. - He stood leaning over the very edge with both hands on his hips, and was - looking down below him as though astonished at his work. - </p> - <p> - Then he drew himself up. He surveyed the horizon with a haughty air which - seemed to say: “All that is now mine!” The applause of the - Barbarians burst forth, while the Carthaginians, comprehending their - disaster at last, shrieked with despair. Then he began to run about the - platform from one end to the other,—and like a chariot-driver - triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, raised - his arms aloft. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"></a> - CHAPTER XIII - </h2> - <h3> - MOLOCH - </h3> - <p> - The Barbarians had no need of a circumvallation on the side of Africa, for - it was theirs. But to facilitate the approach to the walls, the - entrenchments bordering the ditch were thrown down. Matho next divided the - army into great semicircles so as to encompass Carthage the better. The - hoplites of the Mercenaries were placed in the first rank, and behind them - the slingers and horsemen; quite at the back were the baggage, chariots, - and horses; and the engines bristled in front of this throng at a distance - of three hundred paces from the towers. - </p> - <p> - Amid the infinite variety of their nomenclature (which changed several - times in the course of the centuries) these machines might be reduced to - two systems: some acted like slings, and the rest like bows. - </p> - <p> - The first, which were the catapults, was composed of a square frame with - two vertical uprights and a horizontal bar. In its anterior portion was a - cylinder, furnished with cables, which held back a great beam bearing a - spoon for the reception of projectiles; its base was caught in a skein of - twisted thread, and when the ropes were let go it sprang up and struck - against the bar, which, checking it with a shock, multiplied its power. - </p> - <p> - The second presented a more complicated mechanism. A cross-bar had its - centre fixed on a little pillar, and from this point of junction there - branched off at right angles a short of channel; two caps containing - twists of horse-hair stood at the extremities of the cross-bar; two small - beams were fastened to them to hold the extremities of a rope which was - brought to the bottom of the channel upon a tablet of bronze. This metal - plate was released by a spring, and sliding in grooves impelled the - arrows. - </p> - <p> - The catapults were likewise called onagers, after the wild asses which - fling up stones with their feet, and the ballistas scorpions, on account - of a hook which stood upon the tablet, and being lowered by a blow of the - fist, released the spring. - </p> - <p> - Their construction required learned calculations; the wood selected had to - be of the hardest substance, and their gearing all of brass; they were - stretched with levers, tackle-blocks, capstans or tympanums; the direction - of the shooting was changed by means of strong pivots; they were moved - forward on cylinders, and the most considerable of them, which were - brought piece by piece, were set up in front of the enemy. - </p> - <p> - Spendius arranged three great catapults opposite the three principle - angles; he placed a ram before every gate, a ballista before every tower, - while carroballistas were to move about in the rear. But it was necessary - to protect them against the fire thrown by the besieged, and first of all - to fill up the trench which separated them from the walls. - </p> - <p> - They pushed forward galleries formed of hurdles of green reeds, and oaken - semicircles like enormous shields gliding on three wheels; the workers - were sheltered in little huts covered with raw hides and stuffed with - wrack; the catapults and ballistas were protected by rope curtains which - had been steeped in vinegar to render them incombustible. The women and - children went to procure stones on the strand, and gathered earth with - their hands and brought it to the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians also made preparations. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had speedily reassured them by declaring that there was enough - water left in the cisterns for one hundred and twenty-three days. This - assertion, together with his presence, and above all that of the zaïmph - among them, gave them good hopes. Carthage recovered from its dejection; - those who were not of Chanaanitish origin were carried away by the passion - of the rest. - </p> - <p> - The slaves were armed, the arsenals were emptied, and every citizen had - his own post and his own employment. Twelve hundred of the fugitives had - survived, and the Suffet made them all captains; and carpenters, - armourers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths were intrusted with the engines. - The Carthaginians had kept a few in spite of the conditions of the peace - with Rome. These were repaired. They understood such work. - </p> - <p> - The two northern and eastern sides, being protected by the sea and the - gulf, remained inaccessible. On the wall fronting the Barbarians they - collected tree-trunks, mill-stones, vases filled with sulphur, and vats - filled with oil, and built furnaces. Stones were heaped up on the - platforms of the towers, and the houses bordering immediately on the - rampart were crammed with sand in order to strengthen it and increase its - thickness. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians grew angry at the sight of these preparations. They wished - to fight at once. The weights which they put into the catapults were so - extravagantly heavy that the beams broke, and the attack was delayed. - </p> - <p> - At last on the thirteenth day of the month of Schabar,—at sunrise,—a - great blow was heard at the gate of Khamon. - </p> - <p> - Seventy-five soldiers were pulling at ropes arranged at the base of a - gigantic beam which was suspended horizontally by chains hanging from a - framework, and which terminated in a ram’s head of pure brass. It - had been swathed in ox-hides; it was bound at intervals with iron - bracelets; it was thrice as thick as a man’s body, one hundred and - twenty cubits long, and under the crowd of naked arms pushing it forward - and drawing it back, it moved to and fro with a regular oscillation. - </p> - <p> - The other rams before the other gates began to be in motion. Men might be - seen mounting from step to step in the hollow wheels of the tympanums. The - pulleys and caps grated, the rope curtains were lowered, and showers of - stones and showers of arrows poured forth simultaneously; all the - scattered slingers ran up. Some approached the rampart hiding pots of - resin under their shields; then they would hurl these with all their - might. This hail of bullets, darts, and flames passed above the first - ranks in the form of a curve which fell behind the walls. But long cranes, - used for masting vessels, were reared on the summit of the ramparts; and - from them there descended some of those enormous pincers which terminated - in two semicircles toothed on the inside. They bit the rams. The soldiers - clung to the beam and drew it back. The Carthaginians hauled in order to - pull it up; and the action was prolonged until the evening. - </p> - <p> - When the Mercenaries resumed their task on the following day, the tops of - the walls were completely carpeted with bales of cotton, sails, and - cushions; the battlements were stopped up with mats; and a line of forks - and blades, fixed upon sticks, might be distinguished among the cranes on - the rampart. A furious resistance immediately began. - </p> - <p> - Trunks of trees fastened to cables fell and rose alternately and battered - the rams; cramps hurled by the ballistas tore away the roofs of the huts; - and streams of flints and pebbles poured from the platforms of the towers. - </p> - <p> - At last the rams broke the gates of Khamon and Tagaste. But the - Carthaginians had piled up such an abundance of materials on the inside - that the leaves did not open. They remained standing. - </p> - <p> - Then they drove augers against the walls; these were applied to the joints - of the blocks, so as to detach the latter. The engines were better - managed, the men serving them were divided into squads, and they were - worked from morning till evening without interruption and with the - monotonous precision of a weaver’s loom. - </p> - <p> - Spendius returned to them untiringly. It was he who stretched the skeins - of the ballistas. In order that the twin tensions might completely - correspond, the ropes as they were tightened were struck on the right and - left alternately until both sides gave out an equal sound. Spendius would - mount upon the timbers. He would strike the ropes softly with the - extremity of his foot, and strain his ears like a musician tuning a lyre. - Then when the beam of the catapult rose, when the pillar of the ballista - trembled with the shock of the spring, when the stones were shooting in - rays, and the darts pouring in streams, he would incline his whole body - and fling his arms into the air as though to follow them. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers admired his skill and executed his commands. In the gaiety of - their work they gave utterance to jests on the names of the machines. Thus - the plyers for seizing the rams were called “wolves,” and the - galleries were covered with “vines”; they were lambs, or they - were going to gather the grapes; and as they loaded their pieces they - would say to the onagers: “Come, pick well!” and to the - scorpions: “Pierce them to the heart!” These jokes, which were - ever the same, kept up their courage. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless the machines did not demolish the rampart. It was formed of - two walls and was completely filled with earth. The upper portions were - beaten down, but each time the besieged raised them again. Matho ordered - the construction of wooden towers which should be as high as the towers of - stone. They cast turf, stakes, pebbles and chariots with their wheels into - the trench so as to fill it up the more quickly; but before this was - accomplished the immense throng of the Barbarians undulated over the plain - with a single movement and came beating against the foot of the walls like - an overflowing sea. - </p> - <p> - They moved forward the rope ladders, straight ladders, and sambucas, the - latter consisting of two poles from which a series of bamboos terminating - in a moveable bridge were lowered by means of tackling. They formed - numerous straight lines resting against the wall, and the Mercenaries - mounted them in files, holding their weapons in their hands. Not a - Carthaginian showed himself; already two thirds of the rampart had been - covered. Then the battlements opened, vomiting flames and smoke like - dragon jaws; the sand scattered and entered the joints of their armour; - the petroleum fastened on their garments; the liquid lead hopped on their - helmets and made holes in their flesh; a rain of sparks splashed against - their faces, and eyeless orbits seemed to weep tears as big as almonds. - There were men all yellow with oil, with their hair in flames. They began - to run and set fire to the rest. They were extinguished in mantles steeped - in blood, which were thrown from a distance over their faces. Some who had - no wounds remained motionless, stiffer than stakes, their mouths open and - their arms outspread. - </p> - <p> - The assault was renewed for several days in succession, the Mercenaries - hoping to triumph by extraordinary energy and audacity. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes a man raised on the shoulders of another would drive a pin - between the stones, and then making use of it as a step to reach further, - would place a second and a third; and, protected by the edge of the - battlements, which stood out from the wall, they would gradually raise - themselves in this way; but on reaching a certain height they always fell - back again. The great trench was full to overflowing; the wounded were - massed pell-mell with the dead and dying beneath the footsteps of the - living. Calcined trunks formed black spots amid opened entrails, scattered - brains, and pools of blood; and arms and legs projecting half way out of a - heap, would stand straight up like props in a burning vineyard. - </p> - <p> - The ladders proving insufficient the tollenos were brought into - requisition,—instruments consisting of a long beam set transversely - upon another, and bearing at its extremity a quadrangular basket which - would hold thirty foot-soldiers with their weapons. - </p> - <p> - Matho wished to ascend in the first that was ready. Spendius stopped him. - </p> - <p> - Some men bent over a capstan; the great beam rose, became horizontal, - reared itself almost vertically, and being overweighted at the end, bent - like a huge reed. The soldiers, who were crowded together, were hidden up - to their chins; only their helmet-plumes could be seen. At last when it - was twenty cubits high in the air it turned several times to the right and - to the left, and then was depressed; and like a giant arm holding a cohort - of pigmies in its hand, it laid the basketful of men upon the edge of the - wall. They leaped into the crowd and never returned. - </p> - <p> - All the other tollenos were speedily made ready. But a hundred times as - many would have been needed for the capture of the town. They were - utilised in a murderous fashion: Ethiopian archers were placed in the - baskets; then, the cables having been fastened, they remained suspended - and shot poisoned arrows. The fifty tollenos commanding the battlements - thus surrounded Carthage like monstrous vultures; and the Negroes laughed - to see the guards on the rampart dying in grievous convulsions. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar sent hoplites to these posts, and every morning made them drink - the juice of certain herbs which protected them against the poison. - </p> - <p> - One evening when it was dark he embarked the best of his soldiers on - lighters and planks, and turning to the right of the harbour, disembarked - on the Tænia. Then he advanced to the first lines of the Barbarians, and - taking them in flank, made a great slaughter. Men hanging to ropes would - descend at night from the top of the wall with torches in their hands, - burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then mount up again. - </p> - <p> - Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which led - him into terrible extravagances. He mentally summoned Salammbô to an - interview; then he waited. She did not come; this seemed to him like a - fresh piece of treachery,—and henceforth he execrated her. If he had - seen her corpse he would perhaps have gone away. He doubled the outposts, - he planted forks at the foot of the rampart, he drove caltrops into the - ground, and he commanded the Libyans to bring him a whole forest that he - might set it on fire and burn Carthage like a den of foxes. - </p> - <p> - Spendius went on obstinately with the siege. He sought to invent terrible - machines such as had never before been constructed. - </p> - <p> - The other Barbarians, encamped at a distance on the isthmus, were amazed - at these delays; they murmured, and they were let loose. - </p> - <p> - Then they rushed with their cutlasses and javelins, and beat against the - gates with them. But the nakedness of their bodies facilitating the - infliction of wounds, the Carthaginians massacred them freely; and the - Mercenaries rejoiced at it, no doubt through jealousy about the plunder. - Hence there resulted quarrels and combats between them. Then, the country - having been ravaged, provisions were soon scarce. They grew disheartened. - Numerous hordes went away, but the crowd was so great that the loss was - not apparent. - </p> - <p> - The best of them tried to dig mines, but the earth, being badly supported, - fell in. They began again in other places, but Hamilcar always guessed the - direction that they were taking by holding his ear against a bronze - shield. He bored counter-mines beneath the path along which the wooden - towers were to move, and when they were pushed forward they sank into the - holes. - </p> - <p> - At last all recognised that the town was impregnable, unless a long - terrace was raised to the same height as the walls, so as to enable them - to fight on the same level. The top of it should be paved so that the - machines might be rolled along. Then Carthage would find it quite - impossible to resist. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The town was beginning to suffer from thirst. The water which was worth - two kesitahs the bath at the opening of the siege was now sold for a - shekel of silver; the stores of meat and corn were also becoming - exhausted; there was a dread of famine, and some even began to speak of - useless mouths, which terrified every one. - </p> - <p> - From the square of Khamon to the temple of Melkarth the streets were - cumbered with corpses; and, as it was the end of the summer, the - combatants were annoyed by great black flies. Old men carried off the - wounded, and the devout continued the fictitious funerals for their - relatives and friends who had died far away during the war. Waxen statues - with clothes and hair were displayed across the gates. They melted in the - heat of the tapers burning beside them; the paint flowed down upon their - shoulders, and tears streamed over the faces of the living, as they - chanted mournful songs beside them. The crowd meanwhile ran to and fro; - armed bands passed; captains shouted orders, while the shock of the rams - beating against the rampart was constantly heard. - </p> - <p> - The temperature became so heavy that the bodies swelled and would no - longer fit into the coffins. They were burned in the centre of the courts. - But the fires, being too much confined, kindled the neighbouring walls, - and long flames suddenly burst from the houses like blood spurting from an - artery. Thus Moloch was in possession of Carthage; he clasped the - ramparts, he rolled through the streets, he devoured the very corpses. - </p> - <p> - Men wearing cloaks made of collected rags in token of despair, stationed - themselves at the corners of the cross-ways. They declaimed against the - Ancients and against Hamilcar, predicted complete ruin to the people, and - invited them to universal destruction and license. The most dangerous were - the henbane-drinkers; in their crisis they believed themselves wild - beasts, and leaped upon the passers-by to rend them. Mobs formed around - them, and the defence of Carthage was forgotten. The Suffet devised the - payment of others to support his policy. - </p> - <p> - In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images had - been covered with chains. Black veils were placed upon the Patæc gods, and - hair-cloths around the altars; and attempts were made to excite the pride - and jealousy of the Baals by singing in their ears: “Thou art about - to suffer thyself to be vanquished! Are the others perchance more strong? - Show thyself! aid us! that the peoples may not say: ‘Where are now - their gods?’” - </p> - <p> - The colleges of the pontiffs were agitated by unceasing anxiety. Those of - Rabbetna were especially afraid—the restoration of the zaïmph having - been of no avail. They kept themselves shut up in the third enclosure - which was as impregnable as a fortress. Only one among them, the high - priest Schahabarim, ventured to go out. - </p> - <p> - He used to visit Salammbô. But he would either remain perfectly silent, - gazing at her with fixed eyeballs, or else would be lavish of words, and - the reproaches that he uttered were harder than ever. - </p> - <p> - With inconceivable inconsistency he could not forgive the young girl for - carrying out his commands; Schahabarim had guessed all, and this haunting - thought revived the jealousies of his impotence. He accused her of being - the cause of the war. Matho, according to him, was besieging Carthage to - recover the zaïmph; and he poured out imprecations and sarcasms upon this - Barbarian who pretended to the possession of holy things. Yet it was not - this that the priest wished to say. - </p> - <p> - But just now Salammbô felt no terror of him. The anguish which she used - formerly to suffer had left her. A strange peacefulness possessed her. Her - gaze was less wandering, and shone with limpid fire. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile the python had become ill again; and as Salammbô, on the - contrary, appeared to be recovering, old Taanach rejoiced in the - conviction that by its decline it was taking away the languor of her - mistress. - </p> - <p> - One morning she found it coiled up behind the bed of ox-hides, colder than - marble, and with its head hidden by a heap of worms. Her cries brought - Salammbô to the spot. She turned it over for a while with the tip of her - sandal, and the slave was amazed at her insensibility. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s daughter no longer prolonged her fasts with so much - fervour. She passed whole days on the top of her terrace, leaning her - elbows against the balustrade, and amusing herself by looking out before - her. The summits of the walls at the end of the town cut uneven zigzags - upon the sky, and the lances of the sentries formed what was like a border - of corn-ears throughout their length. Further away she could see the - manouvres of the Barbarians between the towers; on days when the siege was - interrupted she could even distinguish their occupations. They mended - their weapons, greased their hair, and washed their bloodstained arms in - the sea; the tents were closed; the beasts of burden were feeding; and in - the distance the scythes of the chariots, which were all ranged in a - semicircle, looked like a silver scimitar lying at the base of the - mountains. Schahabarim’s talk recurred to her memory. She was - waiting for Narr’ Havas, her betrothed. In spite of her hatred she - would have liked to see Matho again. Of all the Carthaginians she was - perhaps the only one who would have spoken to him without fear. - </p> - <p> - Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the - cushions, and gaze at her with an almost tender look, as if he found some - rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes questioned her - about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He even asked her - whether any one had urged her to it; and with a shake of the head she - answered, No,—so proud was Salammbô of having saved the zaïmph. - </p> - <p> - But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making military - inquiries. He could not understand how the hours which she had spent in - the tent had been employed. Salammbô, in fact, said nothing about Gisco; - for as words had an effective power in themselves, curses, if reported to - any one, might be turned against him; and she was silent about her wish to - assassinate, lest she should be blamed for not having yielded to it. She - said that the schalischim appeared furious, that he had shouted a great - deal, and that he had then fallen asleep. Salammbô told no more, through - shame perhaps, or else because she was led by her extreme ingenuousness to - attach but little importance to the soldier’s kisses. Moreover, it - all floated through her head in a melancholy and misty fashion, like the - recollection of a depressing dream; and she would not have known in what - way or in what words to express it. - </p> - <p> - One evening when they were thus face to face with each other, Taanach came - in looking quite scared. An old man with a child was yonder in the courts, - and wished to see the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned pale, and then quickly replied: - </p> - <p> - “Let him come up!” - </p> - <p> - Iddibal entered without prostrating himself. He held a young boy, covered - with a goat’s-hair cloak, by the hand, and at once raised the hood - which screened his face. - </p> - <p> - “Here he is, Master! Take him!” - </p> - <p> - The Suffet and the slave went into a corner of the room. - </p> - <p> - The child remained in the centre standing upright, and with a gaze of - attention rather than of astonishment he surveyed the ceiling, the - furniture, the pearl necklaces trailing on the purple draperies, and the - majestic maiden who was bending over towards him. - </p> - <p> - He was perhaps ten years old, and was not taller than a Roman sword. His - curly hair shaded his swelling forehead. His eyeballs looked as if they - were seeking for space. The nostrils of his delicate nose were broad and - palpitating, and upon his whole person was displayed the indefinable - splendour of those who are destined to great enterprises. When he had cast - aside his extremely heavy cloak, he remained clad in a lynx skin, which - was fastened about his waist, and he rested his little naked feet, which - were all white with dust, resolutely upon the pavement. But he no doubt - divined that important matters were under discussion, for he stood - motionless, with one hand behind his back, his chin lowered, and a finger - in his mouth. - </p> - <p> - At last Hamilcar attracted Salammbô with a sign and said to her in a low - voice: - </p> - <p> - “You will keep him with you, you understand! No one, even though - belonging to the house, must know of his existence!” - </p> - <p> - Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal whether he was quite sure - that they had not been noticed. - </p> - <p> - “No!” said the slave, “the streets were empty.” - </p> - <p> - As the war filled all the provinces he had feared for his master’s - son. Then, not knowing where to hide him, he had come along the coasts in - a sloop, and for three days Iddibal had been tacking about in the gulf and - watching the ramparts. At last, that evening, as the environs of Khamon - seemed to be deserted, he had passed briskly through the channel and - landed near the arsenal, the entrance to the harbour being free. - </p> - <p> - But soon the Barbarians posted an immense raft in front of it in order to - prevent the Carthaginians from coming out. They were again rearing the - wooden towers, and the terrace was rising at the same time. - </p> - <p> - Outside communications were cut off and an intolerable famine set in. - </p> - <p> - The besieged killed all the dogs, all the mules, all the asses, and then - the fifteen elephants which the Suffet had brought back. The lions of the - temple of Moloch had become ferocious, and the hierodules no longer durst - approach them. They were fed at first with the wounded Barbarians; then - they were thrown corpses that were still warm; they refused them, and they - all died. People wandered in the twilight along the old enclosures, and - gathered grass and flowers among the stones to boil them in wine, wine - being cheaper than water. Others crept as far as the enemy’s - outposts, and entered the tents to steal food, and the stupefied - Barbarians sometimes allowed them to return. At last a day arrived when - the Ancients resolved to slaughter the horses of Eschmoun privately. They - were holy animals whose manes were plaited by the pontiffs with gold - ribbons, and whose existence denoted the motion of the sun—the idea - of fire in its most exalted form. Their flesh was cut into equal portions - and buried behind the altar. Then every evening the Ancients, alleging - some act of devotion, would go up to the temple and regale themselves in - secret, and each would take away a piece beneath his tunic for his - children. In the deserted quarters remote from the walls, the inhabitants, - whose misery was not so great, had barricaded themselves through fear of - the rest. - </p> - <p> - The stones from the catapults, and the demolitions commanded for purposes - of defence, had accumulated heaps of ruins in the middle of the streets. - At the quietest times masses of people would suddenly rush along with - shouts; and from the top of the Acropolis the conflagrations were like - purple rags scattered upon the terraces and twisted by the wind. - </p> - <p> - The three great catapults did not stop in spite of all these works. Their - ravages were extraordinary: thus a man’s head rebounded from the - pediment of the Syssitia; a woman who was being confined in the street of - Kinisdo was crushed by a block of marble, and her child was carried with - the bed as far as the crossways of Cinasyn, where the coverlet was found. - </p> - <p> - The most annoying were the bullets of the slingers. They fell upon the - roofs, and in the gardens, and in the middle of the courts, while people - were at table before a slender meal with their hearts big with sighs. - These cruel projectiles bore engraved letters which stamped themselves - upon the flesh;—and insults might be read on corpses such as “pig,” - “jackal,” “vermin,” and sometimes jests: “Catch - it!” or “I have well deserved it!” - </p> - <p> - The portion of the rampart which extended from the corner of the harbours - to the height of the cisterns was broken down. Then the people of Malqua - found themselves caught between the old enclosure of Byrsa behind, and the - Barbarians in front. But there was enough to be done in thickening the - wall and making it as high as possible without troubling about them; they - were abandoned; all perished; and although they were generally hated, - Hamilcar came to be greatly abhorred. - </p> - <p> - On the morrow he opened the pits in which he kept stores of corn, and his - stewards gave it to the people. For three days they gorged themselves. - </p> - <p> - Their thirst, however, only became the more intolerable, and they could - constantly see before them the long cascade formed by the clear falling - water of the aqueduct. A thin vapour, with a rainbow beside it, went up - from its base, beneath the rays of the sun, and a little stream curving - through the plain fell into the gulf. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar did not give way. He was reckoning upon an event, upon something - decisive and extraordinary. - </p> - <p> - His own slaves tore off the silver plates from the temple of Melkarth; - four long boats were drawn out of the harbour, they were brought by means - of capstans to the foot of the Mappalian quarter, the wall facing the - shore was bored, and they set out for the Gauls to buy Mercenaries there - at no matter what price. Nevertheless, Hamilcar was distressed at his - inability to communicate with the king of the Numidians, for he knew that - he was behind the Barbarians, and ready to fall upon them. But Narr’ - Havas, being too weak, was not going to make any venture alone; and the - Suffet had the rampart raised twelve palms higher, all the material in the - arsenals piled up in the Acropolis, and the machines repaired once more. - </p> - <p> - Sinews taken from bulls’ necks, or else stags’ hamstrings, - were commonly employed for the twists of the catapults. However, neither - stags nor bulls were in existence in Carthage. Hamilcar asked the Ancients - for the hair of their wives; all sacrificed it, but the quantity was not - sufficient. In the buildings of the Syssitia there were twelve hundred - marriageable slaves destined for prostitution in Greece and Italy, and - their hair, having been rendered elastic by the use of unguents, was - wonderfully well adapted for engines of war. But the subsequent loss would - be too great. Accordingly it was decided that a choice should be made of - the finest heads of hair among the wives of the plebeians. Careless of - their country’s needs, they shrieked in despair when the servants of - the Hundred came with scissors to lay hands upon them. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were animated with increased fury. They could be seen in - the distance taking fat from the dead to grease their machines, while - others pulled out the nails and stitched them end to end to make - cuirasses. They devised a plan of putting into the catapults vessels - filled with serpents which had been brought by the Negroes; the clay pots - broke on the flag-stones, the serpents ran about, seemed to multiply, and, - so numerous were they, to issue naturally from the walls. Then the - Barbarians, not satisfied with their invention, improved upon it; they - hurled all kinds of filth, human excrements, pieces of carrion, corpses. - The plague reappeared. The teeth of the Carthaginians fell out of their - mouths, and their gums were discoloured like those of camels after too - long a journey. - </p> - <p> - The machines were set up on the terrace, although the latter did not as - yet reach everywhere to the height of the rampart. Before the twenty-three - towers on the fortification stood twenty-three others of wood. All the - tollenos were mounted again, and in the centre, a little further back, - appeared the formidable helepolis of Demetrius Poliorcetes, which Spendius - had at last reconstructed. Of pyramidical shape, like the pharos of - Alexandria, it was one hundred and thirty cubits high and twenty-three - wide, with nine stories, diminishing as they approached the summit, and - protected by scales of brass; they were pierced with numerous doors and - were filled with soldiers, and on the upper platform there stood a - catapult flanked by two ballistas. - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar planted crosses for those who should speak of surrender, and - even the women were brigaded. The people lay in the streets and waited - full of distress. - </p> - <p> - Then one morning before sunrise (it was the seventh day of the month of - Nyssan) they heard a great shout uttered by all the Barbarians - simultaneously; the leaden-tubed trumpets pealed, and the great - Paphlagonian horns bellowed like bulls. All rose and ran to the rampart. - </p> - <p> - A forest of lances, pikes, and swords bristled at its base. It leaped - against the wall, the ladders grappled them; and Barbarians’ heads - appeared in the intervals of the battlements. - </p> - <p> - Beams supported by long files of men were battering at the gates; and, in - order to demolish the wall at places where the terrace was wanting, the - Mercenaries came up in serried cohorts, the first line crawling, the - second bending their hams, and the others rising in succession to the last - who stood upright; while elsewhere, in order to climb up, the tallest - advanced in front and the lowest in the rear, and all rested their shields - upon their helmets with their left arms, joining them together at the - edges so tightly that they might have been taken for an assemblage of - large tortoises. The projectiles slid over these oblique masses. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians threw down mill-stones, pestles, vats, casks, beds, - everything that could serve as a weight and could knock down. Some watched - at the embrasures with fisherman’s nets, and when the Barbarian - arrived he found himself caught in the meshes, and struggled like a fish. - They demolished their own battlements; portions of wall fell down raising - a great dust; and as the catapults on the terrace were shooting over - against one another, the stones would strike together and shiver into a - thousand pieces, making a copious shower upon the combatants. - </p> - <p> - Soon the two crowds formed but one great chain of human bodies; it - overflowed into the intervals in the terrace, and, somewhat looser at the - two extremities, swayed perpetually without advancing. They clasped one - another, lying flat on the ground like wrestlers. They crushed one - another. The women leaned over the battlements and shrieked. They were - dragged away by their veils, and the whiteness of their suddenly uncovered - sides shone in the arms of the Negroes as the latter buried their daggers - in them. Some corpses did not fall, being too much pressed by the crowd, - and, supported by the shoulders of their companions, advanced for some - minutes quite upright and with staring eyes. Some who had both temples - pierced by a javelin swayed their heads about like bears. Mouths, opened - to shout, remained gaping; severed hands flew through the air. Mighty - blows were dealt, which were long talked of by the survivors. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile arrows darted from the towers of wood and stone. The tollenos - moved their long yards rapidly; and as the Barbarians had sacked the old - cemetery of the aborigines beneath the Catacombs, they hurled the - tombstones against the Carthaginians. Sometimes the cables broke under the - weight of too heavy baskets, and masses of men, all with uplifted arms, - would fall from the sky. - </p> - <p> - Up to the middle of the day the veterans had attacked the Tænia fiercely - in order to penetrate into the harbour and destroy the fleet. Hamilcar had - a fire of damp straw lit upon the roofing of Khamon, and as the smoke - blinded them they fell back to left, and came to swell the horrible rout - which was pressing forward in Malqua. Some syntagmata composed of sturdy - men, chosen expressly for the purpose, had broken in three gates. They - were checked by lofty barriers made of planks studded with nails, but a - fourth yielded easily; they dashed over it at a run and rolled into a pit - in which there were hidden snares. At the south-west gate Autaritus and - his men broke down the rampart, the fissure in which had been stopped up - with bricks. The ground behind rose, and they climbed it nimbly. But on - the top they found a second wall composed of stones and long beams lying - quite flat and alternating like the squares on a chess-board. It was a - Gaulish fashion, and had been adapted by the Suffet to the requirements of - the situation; the Gauls imagined themselves before a town in their own - country. Their attack was weak, and they were repulsed. - </p> - <p> - All the roundway, from the street of Khamon as far as the Green Market, - now belonged to the Barbarians, and the Samnites were finishing off the - dying with blows of stakes; or else with one foot on the wall were gazing - down at the smoking ruins beneath them, and the battle which was beginning - again in the distance. - </p> - <p> - The slingers, who were distributed through the rear, were still shooting. - But the springs of the Acarnanian slings had broken from use, and many - were throwing stones with the hand like shepherds; the rest hurled leaden - bullets with the handle of a whip. Zarxas, his shoulders covered with his - long black hair, went about everywhere, and led on the Barbarians. Two - pouches hung at his hips; he thrust his left hand into them continually, - while his right arm whirled round like a chariot-wheel. - </p> - <p> - Matho had at first refrained from fighting, the better to command the - Barbarians all at once. He had been seen along the gulf with the - Mercenaries, near the lagoon with the Numidians, and on the shores of the - lake among the Negroes, and from the back part of the plain he urged - forward masses of soldiers who came ceaselessly against the ramparts. By - degrees he had drawn near; the smell of blood, the sight of carnage, and - the tumult of clarions had at last made his heart leap. Then he had gone - back into his tent, and throwing off his cuirass had taken his lion’s - skin as being more convenient for battle. The snout fitted upon his head, - bordering his face with a circle of fangs; the two fore-paws were crossed - upon his breast, and the claws of the hinder ones fell beneath his knees. - </p> - <p> - He had kept on his strong waist-belt, wherein gleamed a two-edged axe, and - with his great sword in both hands he had dashed impetuously through the - breach. Like a pruner cutting willow-branches and trying to strike off as - much as possible so as to make the more money, he marched along mowing - down the Carthaginians around him. Those who tried to seize him in flank - he knocked down with blows of the pommel; when they attacked him in front - he ran them through; if they fled he clove them. Two men leaped together - upon his back; he bounded backwards against a gate and crushed them. His - sword fell and rose. It shivered on the angle of a wall. Then he took his - heavy axe, and front and rear he ripped up the Carthaginians like a flock - of sheep. They scattered more and more, and he was quite alone when he - reached the second enclosure at the foot of the Acropolis. The materials - which had been flung from the summit cumbered the steps and were heaped up - higher than the wall. Matho turned back amid the ruins to summons his - companions. - </p> - <p> - He perceived their crests scattered over the multitude; they were sinking - and their wearers were about to perish; he dashed towards them; then the - vast wreath of red plumes closed in, and they soon rejoined him and - surrounded him. But an enormous crowd was discharging from the side - streets. He was caught by the hips, lifted up and carried away outside the - ramparts to a spot where the terrace was high. - </p> - <p> - Matho shouted a command and all the shields sank upon the helmets; he - leaped upon them in order to catch hold somewhere so as to re-enter - Carthage; and, flourishing his terrible axe, ran over the shields, which - resembled waves of bronze, like a marine god, with brandished trident, - over his billows. - </p> - <p> - However, a man in a white robe was walking along the edge of the rampart, - impassible, and indifferent to the death which surrounded him. Sometimes - he would spread out his right hand above his eyes in order to find out - some one. Matho happened to pass beneath him. Suddenly his eyeballs - flamed, his livid face contracted; and raising both his lean arms he - shouted out abuse at him. - </p> - <p> - Matho did not hear it; but he felt so furious and cruel a look entering - his heart that he uttered a roar. He hurled his long axe at him; some - people threw themselves upon Schahabarim; and Matho seeing him no more - fell back exhausted. - </p> - <p> - A terrible creaking drew near, mingled with the rhythm of hoarse voices - singing together. - </p> - <p> - It was the great helepolis surrounded by a crowd of soldiers. They were - dragging it with both hands, hauling it with ropes, and pushing it with - their shoulders,—for the slope rising from the plain to the terrace, - although extremely gentle, was found impracticable for machines of such - prodigious weight. However, it had eight wheels banded with iron, and it - had been advancing slowly in this way since the morning, like a mountain - raised upon another. Then there appeared an immense ram issuing from its - base. The doors along the three fronts which faced the town fell down, and - cuirassed soldiers appeared in the interior like pillars of iron. Some - might be seen climbing and descending the two staircases which crossed the - stories. Some were waiting to dart out as soon as the cramps of the doors - touched the walls; in the middle of the upper platform the skeins of the - ballistas were turning, and the great beam of the catapult was being - lowered. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was at that moment standing upright on the roof of Melkarth. He - had calculated that it would come directly towards him, against what was - the most invulnerable place in the wall, which was for that very reason - denuded of sentries. His slaves had for a long time been bringing leathern - bottles along the roundway, where they had raised with clay two transverse - partitions forming a sort of basin. The water was flowing insensibly along - the terrace, and strange to say, it seemed to cause Hamilcar no anxiety. - </p> - <p> - But when the helepolis was thirty paces off, he commanded planks to be - placed over the streets between the houses from the cisterns to the - rampart; and a file of people passed from hand to hand helmets and - amphoras, which were emptied continually. The Carthaginians, however, grew - indignant at this waste of water. The ram was demolishing the wall, when - suddenly a fountain sprang forth from the disjointed stones. Then the - lofty brazen mass, nine stories high, which contained and engaged more - than three thousand soldiers, began to rock gently like a ship. In fact, - the water, which had penetrated the terrace, had broken up the path before - it; its wheels stuck in the mire; the head of Spendius, with distended - cheeks blowing an ivory cornet, appeared between leathern curtains on the - first story. The great machine, as though convulsively upheaved, advanced - perhaps ten paces; but the ground softened more and more, the mire reached - to the axles, and the helepolis stopped, leaning over frightfully to one - side. The catapult rolled to the edge of the platform, and carried away by - the weight of its beam, fell, shattering the lower stories beneath it. The - soldiers who were standing on the doors slipped into the abyss, or else - held on to the extremities of the long beams, and by their weight - increased the inclination of the helepolis, which was going to pieces with - creakings in all its joints. - </p> - <p> - The other Barbarians rushed up to help them, massing themselves into a - compact crowd. The Carthaginians descended from the rampart, and, - assailing them in the rear, killed them at leisure. But the chariots - furnished with sickles hastened up, and galloped round the outskirts of - the multitude. The latter ascended the wall again; night came on; and the - Barbarians gradually retired. - </p> - <p> - Nothing could now be seen on the plain but a sort of perfectly black, - swarming mass, which extended from the bluish gulf to the purely white - lagoon; and the lake, which had received streams of blood, stretched - further away like a great purple pool. - </p> - <p> - The terrace was now so laden with corpses that it looked as though it had - been constructed of human bodies. In the centre stood the helepolis - covered with armour; and from time to time huge fragments broke off from - it, like stones from a crumbling pyramid. Broad tracks made by the streams - of lead might be distinguished on the walls. A broken-down wooden tower - burned here and there, and the houses showed dimly like the stages of a - ruined ampitheatre. Heavy fumes of smoke were rising, and rolling with - them sparks which were lost in the dark sky. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians, however, who were consumed by thirst, had rushed to the - cisterns. They broke open the doors. A miry swamp stretched at the bottom. - </p> - <p> - What was to be done now? Moreover, the Barbarians were countless, and when - their fatigue was over they would begin again. - </p> - <p> - The people deliberated all night in groups at the corners of the streets. - Some said that they ought to send away the women, the sick, and the old - men; others proposed to abandon the town, and found a colony far away. But - vessels were lacking, and when the sun appeared no decision had been made. - </p> - <p> - There was no fighting that day, all being too much exhausted. The sleepers - looked like corpses. - </p> - <p> - Then the Carthaginians, reflecting upon the cause of their disasters, - remembered that they had not dispatched to Phonicia the annual offering - due to Tyrian Melkarth, and a great terror came upon them. The gods were - indignant with the Republic, and were, no doubt, about to prosecute their - vengeance. - </p> - <p> - They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with - supplications and allowed themselves to be bribed with presents. All were - feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the very - flesh of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, the - Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it to him, which calmed his - fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape of the neck, - with woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal brought in much - money to the priests, they failed not to recommend it as being easier and - more pleasant. - </p> - <p> - This time, however, the Republic itself was at stake. But as every profit - must be purchased by some loss, and as every transaction was regulated - according to the needs of the weaker and the demands of the stronger, - there was no pain great enough for the god, since he delighted in such as - was of the most horrible description, and all were now at his mercy. He - must accordingly be fully gratified. Precedents showed that in this way - the scourge would be made to disappear. Moreover, it was believed that an - immolation by fire would purify Carthage. The ferocity of the people was - predisposed towards it. The choice, too, must fall exclusively upon the - families of the great. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients assembled. The sitting was a long one. Hanno had come to it. - As he was now unable to sit he remained lying down near the door, half - hidden among the fringes of the lofty tapestry; and when the pontiff of - Moloch asked them whether they would consent to surrender their children, - his voice suddenly broke forth from the shadow like the roaring of a - genius in the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he said, that he had none - of his own blood to give; and he gazed at Hamilcar, who faced him at the - other end of the hall. The Suffet was so much disconcerted by this look - that it made him lower his eyes. All successively bent their heads in - approval; and in accordance with the rites he had to reply to the high - priest: “Yes; be it so.” Then the Ancients decreed the - sacrifice in traditional circumlocution,—because there are things - more troublesome to say than to perform. - </p> - <p> - The decision was almost immediately known in Carthage, and lamentations - resounded. The cries of women might everywhere be heard; their husbands - consoled them, or railed at them with remonstrances. - </p> - <p> - But three hours afterwards extraordinary tidings were spread abroad: the - Suffet had discovered springs at the foot of the cliff. There was a rush - to the place. Water might be seen in holes dug in the sand, and some were - already lying flat on the ground and drinking. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar did not himself know whether it was by the determination of the - gods or through the vague recollection of a revelation which his father - had once made to him; but on leaving the Ancients he had gone down to the - shore and had begun to dig the gravel with his slaves. - </p> - <p> - He gave clothing, boots, and wine. He gave all the rest of the corn that - he was keeping by him. He even let the crowd enter his palace, and he - opened kitchens, stores, and all the rooms,—Salammbô’s alone - excepted. He announced that six thousand Gaulish Mercenaries were coming, - and that the king of Macedonia was sending soldiers. - </p> - <p> - But on the second day the springs diminished, and on the evening of the - third they were completely dried up. Then the decree of the Ancients - passed everywhere from lip to lip, and the priests of Moloch began their - task. - </p> - <p> - Men in black robes presented themselves in the houses. In many instances - the owners had deserted them under pretence of some business, or of some - dainty that they were going to buy; and the servants of Moloch came and - took the children away. Others themselves surrendered them stupidly. Then - they were brought to the temple of Tanith, where the priestesses were - charged with their amusement and support until the solemn day. - </p> - <p> - They visited Hamilcar suddenly and found him in his gardens. - </p> - <p> - “Barca! we come for that that you know of—your son!” - They added that some people had met him one evening during the previous - moon in the centre of the Mappalian district being led by an old man. - </p> - <p> - He was as though suffocated at first. But speedily understanding that any - denial would be in vain, Hamilcar bowed; and he brought them into the - commercial house. Some slaves who had run up at a sign kept watch all - round about it. - </p> - <p> - He entered Salammbô’s room in a state of distraction. He seized - Hannibal with one hand, snatched up the cord of a trailing garment with - the other, tied his feet and hands with it, thrust the end into his mouth - to form a gag, and hid him under the bed of the ox-hides by letting an - ample drapery fall to the ground. - </p> - <p> - Afterwards he walked about from right to left, raised his arms, wheeled - round, bit his lips. Then he stood still with staring eyelids, and panted - as though he were about to die. - </p> - <p> - But he clapped his hands three times. Giddenem appeared. - </p> - <p> - “Listen!” he said, “go and take from among the slaves a - male child from eight to nine years of age, with black hair and swelling - forehead! Bring him here! make haste!” - </p> - <p> - Giddenem soon entered again, bringing forward a young boy. - </p> - <p> - He was a miserable child, at once lean and bloated; his skin looked - greyish, like the infected rag hanging to his sides; his head was sunk - between his shoulders, and with the back of his hand he was rubbing his - eyes, which were filled with flies. - </p> - <p> - How could he ever be confounded with Hannibal! and there was no time to - choose another. Hamilcar looked at Giddenem; he felt inclined to strangle - him. - </p> - <p> - “Begone!” he cried; and the master of the slaves fled. - </p> - <p> - The misfortune which he had so long dreaded was therefore come, and with - extravagant efforts he strove to discover whether there was not some mode, - some means to escape it. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim suddenly spoke from behind the door. The Suffet was being asked - for. The servants of Moloch were growing impatient. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar repressed a cry as though a red hot iron had burnt him; and he - began anew to pace the room like one distraught. Then he sank down beside - the balustrade, and, with his elbows on his knees, pressed his forehead - into his shut fists. - </p> - <p> - The porphyry basin still contained a little clear water for Salammbô’s - ablutions. In spite of his repugnance and all his pride, the Suffet dipped - the child into it, and, like a slave merchant, began to wash him and rub - him with strigils and red earth. Then he took two purple squares from the - receptacles round the wall, placed one on his breast and the other on his - back, and joined them together on the collar bones with two diamond - clasps. He poured perfume upon his head, passed an electrum necklace - around his neck, and put on him sandals with heels of pearl,—sandals - belonging to his own daughter! But he stamped with shame and vexation; - Salammbô, who busied herself in helping him, was as pale as he. The child, - dazzled by such splendour, smiled and, growing bold even, was beginning to - clap his hands and jump, when Hamilcar took him away. - </p> - <p> - He held him firmly by the arm as though he were afraid of losing him, and - the child, who was hurt, wept a little as he ran beside him. - </p> - <p> - When on a level with the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a voice was - raised, a mournful and supplicant voice. It murmured: “Master! oh! - master!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned and beside him perceived a man of abject appearance, one - of the wretches who led a haphazard existence in the household. - </p> - <p> - “What do you want?” said the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The slave, who trembled horribly, stammered: - </p> - <p> - “I am his father!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar walked on; the other followed him with stooping loins, bent hams, - and head thrust forward. His face was convulsed with unspeakable anguish, - and he was choking with suppressed sobs, so eager was he at once to - question him, and to cry: “Mercy!” - </p> - <p> - At last he ventured to touch him lightly with one finger on the elbow. - </p> - <p> - “Are you going to—?” He had not the strength to finish, - and Hamilcar stopped quite amazed at such grief. - </p> - <p> - He had never thought—so immense was the abyss separating them from - each other—that there could be anything in common between them. It - even appeared to him a sort of outrage, an encroachment upon his own - privileges. He replied with a look colder and heavier than an executioner’s - axe; the slave swooned and fell in the dust at his feet. Hamilcar strode - across him. - </p> - <p> - The three black-robed men were waiting in the great hall, and standing - against the stone disc. Immediately he tore his garments, and rolled upon - the pavement uttering piercing cries. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! poor little Hannibal! Oh! my son! my consolation! my hope! my - life! Kill me also! take me away! Woe! Woe!” He ploughed his face - with his nails, tore out his hair, and shrieked like the women who lament - at funerals. “Take him away then! my suffering is too great! begone! - kill me like him!” The servants of Moloch were astonished that the - great Hamilcar was so weak-spirited. They were almost moved by it. - </p> - <p> - A noise of naked feet became audible, with a broken throat-rattling like - the breathing of a wild beast speeding along, and a man, pale, terrible, - and with outspread arms appeared on the threshold of the third gallery, - between the ivory pots; he exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “My child!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar threw himself with a bound upon the slave, and covering the man’s - mouth with his hand exclaimed still more loudly: - </p> - <p> - “It is the old man who reared him! he calls him ‘my child!’ - it will make him mad! enough! enough!” And hustling away the three - priests and their victim he went out with them and with a great kick shut - the door behind him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar strained his ears for some minutes in constant fear of seeing - them return. He then thought of getting rid of the slave in order to be - quite sure that he would see nothing; but the peril had not wholly - disappeared, and, if the gods were provoked at the man’s death, it - might be turned against his son. Then, changing his intention, he sent him - by Taanach the best from his kitchens—a quarter of a goat, beans, - and preserved pomegranates. The slave, who had eaten nothing for a long - time, rushed upon them; his tears fell into the dishes. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar at last returned to Salammbô, and unfastened Hannibal’s - cords. The child in exasperation bit his hand until the blood came. He - repelled him with a caress. - </p> - <p> - To make him remain quiet Salammbô tried to frighten him with Lamia, a - Cyrenian ogress. - </p> - <p> - “But where is she?” he asked. - </p> - <p> - He was told that brigands were coming to put him into prison. “Let - them come,” he rejoined, “and I will kill them!” - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar told him the frightful truth. But he fell into a passion - with his father, contending that he was quite able to annihilate the whole - people, since he was the master of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - At last, exhausted by his exertions and anger, he fell into a wild sleep. - He spoke in his dreams, his back leaning against a scarlet cushion; his - head was thrown back somewhat, and his little arm, outstretched from his - body, lay quite straight in an attitude of command. - </p> - <p> - When the night had grown dark Hamilcar lifted him up gently, and, without - a torch, went down the galley staircase. As he passed through the - mercantile house he took up a basket of grapes and a flagon of pure water; - the child awoke before the statue of Aletes in the vault of gems, and he - smiled—like the other—on his father’s arm at the - brilliant lights which surrounded him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar felt quite sure that his son could not be taken from him. It was - an impenetrable spot communicating with the beach by a subterranean - passage which he alone knew, and casting his eyes around he inhaled a - great draught of air. Then he set him down upon a stool beside some golden - shields. No one at present could see him; he had no further need for - watching; and he relieved his feelings. Like a mother finding her - first-born that was lost, he threw himself upon his son; he clasped him to - his breast, he laughed and wept at the same time, he called him by the - fondest names and covered him with kisses; little Hannibal was frightened - by this terrible tenderness and was silent now. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar returned with silent steps, feeling the walls around him, and - came into the great hall where the moonlight entered through one of the - apertures in the dome; in the centre the slave lay sleeping after his - repast, stretched at full length upon the marble pavement. He looked at - him and was moved with a sort of pity. With the tip of his cothurn he - pushed forward a carpet beneath his head. Then he raised his eyes and - gazed at Tanith, whose slender crescent was shining in the sky, and felt - himself stronger than the Baals and full of contempt for them. - </p> - <p> - The arrangements for the sacrifice were already begun. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Part of a wall in the temple of Moloch was thrown down in order to draw - out the brazen god without touching the ashes of the altar. Then as soon - as the sun appeared the hierodules pushed it towards the square of Khamon. - </p> - <p> - It moved backwards sliding upon cylinders; its shoulders overlapped the - walls. No sooner did the Carthaginians perceive it in the distance than - they speedily took to flight, for the Baal could be looked upon with - impunity only when exercising his wrath. - </p> - <p> - A smell of aromatics spread through the streets. All the temples had just - been opened simultaneously, and from them there came forth tabernacles - borne upon chariots, or upon litters carried by the pontiffs. Great plumes - swayed at the corners of them, and rays were emitted from their slender - pinnacles which terminated in balls of crystal, gold, silver or copper. - </p> - <p> - These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who - were returning to their first cause to humble themselves before his might - and annihilate themselves in his splendour. - </p> - <p> - Melkarth’s pavilion, which was of fine purple, sheltered a petroleum - flare; on Khamon’s, which was of hyacinth colour, there rose an - ivory phallus bordered with a circle of gems; between Eschmoun’s - curtains, which were as blue as the ether, a sleeping python formed a - circle with his tail, and the Patæc gods, held in the arms of their - priests, looked like great infants in swaddling clothes with their heels - touching the ground. - </p> - <p> - Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: Baal-Samin, god of - celestial space; Baal-Peor, god of the sacred mountains; Baal-Zeboub, god - of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and congenerous - races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldæa, the Kijun of the - Syrians; Derceto, with her virgin’s face, crept on her fins, and the - corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a catafalque among - torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the kings of the firmament - to the Sun, and prevent their particular influences from disturbing his, - diversely coloured metal stars were brandished at the end of long poles; - and all were there, from the dark Neblo, the genius of Mercury, to the - hideous Rahab, which is the constellation of the Crocodile. The Abbadirs, - stones which had fallen from the moon, were whirling in slings of silver - thread; little loaves, representing the female form, were born on baskets - by the priests of Ceres; others brought their fetishes and amulets; - forgotten idols reappeared, while the mystic symbols had been taken from - the very ships as though Carthage wished to concentrate herself wholly - upon a single thought of death and desolation. - </p> - <p> - Before each tabernacle a man balanced a large vase of smoking incense on - his head. Clouds hovered here and there, and the hangings, pendants, and - embroideries of the sacred pavilions might be distinguished amid the thick - vapours. These advanced slowly owing to their enormous weight. Sometimes - the axles became fast in the streets; then the pious took advantage of the - opportunity to touch the Baalim with their garments, which they preserved - afterwards as holy things. - </p> - <p> - The brazen statue continued to advance towards the square of Khamon. The - rich, carrying sceptres with emerald balls, set out from the bottom of - Megara; the Ancients, with diadems on their heads, had assembled in - Kinisdo, and masters of the finances, governors of provinces, sailors, and - the numerous horde employed at funerals, all with the insignia of their - magistracies or the instruments of their calling, were making their way - towards the tabernacles which were descending from the Acropolis between - the colleges of the pontiffs. - </p> - <p> - Out of deference to Moloch they had adorned themselves with the most - splendid jewels. Diamonds sparkled on their black garments; but their - rings were too large and fell from their wasted hands,—nor could - there have been anything so mournful as this silent crowd where earrings - tapped against pale faces, and gold tiaras clasped brows contracted with - stern despair. - </p> - <p> - At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His pontiffs - arranged an enclosure with trellis-work to keep off the multitude, and - remained around him at his feet. - </p> - <p> - The priests of Khamon, in tawny woollen robes, formed a line before their - temple beneath the columns of the portico; those of Eschmoun, in linen - mantles with necklaces of koukouphas’ heads and pointed tiaras, - posted themselves on the steps of the Acropolis; the priests of Melkarth, - in violet tunics, took the western side; the priests of the Abbadirs, - clasped with bands of Phrygian stuffs, placed themselves on the east, - while towards the south, with the necromancers all covered with - tattooings, and the shriekers in patched cloaks, were ranged the curates - of the Patæc gods, and the Yidonim, who put the bone of a dead man into - their mouths to learn the future. The priests of Ceres, who were dressed - in blue robes, had prudently stopped in the street of Satheb, and in low - tones were chanting a thesmophorion in the Megarian dialect. - </p> - <p> - From time to time files of men arrived, completely naked, their arms - outstretched, and all holding one another by the shoulders. From the - depths of their breasts they drew forth a hoarse and cavernous intonation; - their eyes, which were fastened upon the colossus, shone through the dust, - and they swayed their bodies simultaneously, and at equal distances, as - though they were all affected by a single movement. They were so frenzied - that to restore order the hierodules compelled them, with blows of the - stick, to lie flat upon the ground, with their faces resting against the - brass trellis-work. - </p> - <p> - Then it was that a man in a white robe advanced from the back of the - square. He penetrated the crowd slowly, and people recognised a priest of - Tanith—the high-priest Schahabarim. Hootings were raised, for the - tyranny of the male principle prevailed that day in all consciences, and - the goddess was actually so completely forgotten that the absence of her - pontiffs had not been noticed. But the amazement was increased when he was - seen to open one of the doors of the trellis-work intended for those who - intended to offer up victims. It was an outrage to their god, thought the - priests of Moloch, that he had just committed, and they sought with eager - gestures to repel him. Fed on the meat of the holocausts, clad in purple - like kings, and wearing triple-storied crowns, they despised the pale - eunuch, weakened with his macerations, and angry laughter shook their - black beards, which were displayed on their breasts in the sun. - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim walked on, giving no reply, and, traversing the whole - enclosure with deliberation, reached the legs of the colossus; then, - spreading out both arms, he touched it on both sides, which was a solemn - form of adoration. For a long time Rabbet had been torturing him, and in - despair, or perhaps for lack of a god that completely satisfied his ideas, - he had at last decided for this one. - </p> - <p> - The crowd, terrified by this act of apostasy, uttered a lengthened murmur. - It was felt that the last tie which bound their souls to a merciful - divinity was breaking. - </p> - <p> - But owing to his mutilation, Schahabarim could take no part in the cult of - the Baal. The men in the red cloaks shut him out from the enclosure; then, - when he was outside, he went round all the colleges in succession, and the - priest, henceforth without a god, disappeared into the crowd. It scattered - at his approach. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile a fire of aloes, cedar, and laurel was burning between the legs - of the colossus. The tips of its long wings dipped into the flame; the - unguents with which it had been rubbed flowed like sweat over its brazen - limbs. Around the circular flagstone on which its feet rested, the - children, wrapped in black veils, formed a motionless circle; and its - extravagantly long arms reached down their palms to them as though to - seize the crown that they formed and carry it to the sky. - </p> - <p> - The rich, the Ancients, the women, the whole multitude, thronged behind - the priests and on the terraces of the houses. The large painted stars - revolved no longer; the tabernacles were set upon the ground; and the - fumes from the censers ascended perpendicularly, spreading their bluish - branches through the azure like gigantic trees. - </p> - <p> - Many fainted; others became inert and petrified in their ecstasy. Infinite - anguish weighed upon the breasts of the beholders. The last shouts died - out one by one,—and the people of Carthage stood breathless, and - absorbed in the longing of their terror. - </p> - <p> - At last the high priest of Moloch passed his left hand beneath the - children’s veils, plucked a lock of hair from their foreheads, and - threw it upon the flames. Then the men in the red cloaks chanted the - sacred hymn: - </p> - <p> - “Homage to thee, Sun! king of the two zones, self-generating - Creator, Father and Mother, Father and Son, God and Goddess, Goddess and - God!” And their voices were lost in the outburst of instruments - sounding simultaneously to drown the cries of the victims. The - eight-stringed scheminiths, the kinnors which had ten strings, and the - nebals which had twelve, grated, whistled, and thundered. Enormous - leathern bags, bristling with pipes, made a shrill clashing noise; the - tabourines, beaten with all the players’ might, resounded with - heavy, rapid blows; and, in spite of the fury of the clarions, the - salsalim snapped like grasshoppers’ wings. - </p> - <p> - The hierodules, with a long hook, opened the seven-storied compartments on - the body of the Baal. They put meal into the highest, two turtle-doves - into the second, an ape into the third, a ram into the fourth, a sheep - into the fifth, and as no ox was to be had for the sixth, a tawny hide - taken from the sanctuary was thrown into it. The seventh compartment - yawned empty still. - </p> - <p> - Before undertaking anything it was well to make trial of the arms of the - god. Slender chainlets stretched from his fingers up to his shoulders and - fell behind, where men by pulling them made the two hands rise to a level - with the elbows, and come close together against the belly; they were - moved several times in succession with little abrupt jerks. Then the - instruments were still. The fire roared. - </p> - <p> - The pontiffs of Moloch walked about on the great flagstone scanning the - multitude. - </p> - <p> - An individual sacrifice was necessary, a perfectly voluntary oblation, - which was considered as carrying the others along with it. But no one had - appeared up to the present, and the seven passages leading from the - barriers to the colossus were completely empty. Then the priests, to - encourage the people, drew bodkins from their girdles and gashed their - faces. The Devotees, who were stretched on the ground outside, were - brought within the enclosure. A bundle of horrible irons was thrown to - them, and each chose his own torture. They drove in spits between their - breasts; they split their cheeks; they put crowns of thorns upon their - heads; then they twined their arms together, and surrounded the children - in another large circle which widened and contracted in turns. They - reached to the balustrade, they threw themselves back again, and then - began once more, attracting the crowd to them by the dizziness of their - motion with its accompanying blood and shrieks. - </p> - <p> - By degrees people came into the end of the passages; they flung into the - flames pearls, gold vases, cups, torches, all their wealth; the offerings - became constantly more numerous and more splendid. At last a man who - tottered, a man pale and hideous with terror, thrust forward a child; then - a little black mass was seen between the hands of the colossus, and sank - into the dark opening. The priests bent over the edge of the great - flagstone,—and a new song burst forth celebrating the joys of death - and of new birth into eternity. - </p> - <p> - The children ascended slowly, and as the smoke formed lofty eddies as it - escaped, they seemed at a distance to disappear in a cloud. Not one - stirred. Their wrists and ankles were tied, and the dark drapery prevented - them from seeing anything and from being recognised. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, in a red cloak, like the priests of Moloch, was beside the Baal, - standing upright in front of the great toe of its right foot. When the - fourteenth child was brought every one could see him make a great gesture - of horror. But he soon resumed his former attitude, folded his arms, and - looked upon the ground. The high pontiff stood on the other side of the - statue as motionless as he. His head, laden with an Assyrian mitre, was - bent, and he was watching the gold plate on his breast; it was covered - with fatidical stones, and the flame mirrored in it formed irisated - lights. He grew pale and dismayed. Hamilcar bent his brow; and they were - both so near the funeral-pile that the hems of their cloaks brushed it as - they rose from time to time. - </p> - <p> - The brazen arms were working more quickly. They paused no longer. Every - time that a child was placed in them the priests of Moloch spread out - their hands upon him to burden him with the crimes of the people, - vociferating: “They are not men but oxen!” and the multitude - round about repeated: “Oxen! oxen!” The devout exclaimed: - “Lord! eat!” and the priests of Proserpine, complying through - terror with the needs of Carthage, muttered the Eleusinian formula: - “Pour out rain! bring forth!” - </p> - <p> - The victims, when scarcely at the edge of the opening, disappeared like a - drop of water on a red-hot plate, and white smoke rose amid the great - scarlet colour. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless, the appetite of the god was not appeased. He ever wished for - more. In order to furnish him with a larger supply, the victims were piled - up on his hands with a big chain above them which kept them in their - place. Some devout persons had at the beginning wished to count them, to - see whether their number corresponded with the days of the solar year; but - others were brought, and it was impossible to distinguish them in the - giddy motion of the horrible arms. This lasted for a long, indefinite time - until the evening. Then the partitions inside assumed a darker glow, and - burning flesh could be seen. Some even believed that they could descry - hair, limbs, and whole bodies. - </p> - <p> - Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeral-pile, which was - flameless now, formed a pyramid of coals up to his knees; completely red - like a giant covered with blood, he looked, with his head thrown back, as - though he were staggering beneath the weight of his intoxication. - </p> - <p> - In proportion as the priests made haste, the frenzy of the people - increased; as the number of the victims was diminishing, some cried out to - spare them, others that still more were needful. The walls, with their - burden of people, seemed to be giving way beneath the howlings of terror - and mystic voluptuousness. Then the faithful came into the passages, - dragging their children, who clung to them; and they beat them in order to - make them let go, and handed them over to the men in red. The - instrument-players sometimes stopped through exhaustion; then the cries of - the mothers might be heard, and the frizzling of the fat as it fell upon - the coals. The henbane-drinkers crawled on all fours around the colossus, - roaring like tigers; the Yidonim vaticinated, the Devotees sang with their - cloven lips; the trellis-work had been broken through, all wished for a - share in the sacrifice;—and fathers, whose children had died - previously, cast their effigies, their playthings, their preserved bones - into the fire. Some who had knives rushed upon the rest. They slaughtered - one another. The hierodules took the fallen ashes at the edge of the - flagstone in bronze fans, and cast them into the air that the sacrifice - might be scattered over the town and even to the region of the stars. - </p> - <p> - The loud noise and great light had attracted the Barbarians to the foot of - the walls; they clung to the wreck of the helepolis to have a better view, - and gazed open-mouthed in horror. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"></a> - CHAPTER XIV - </h2> - <h3> - THE PASS OF THE HATCHET - </h3> - <p> - The Carthaginians had not re-entered their houses when the clouds - accumulated more thickly; those who raised their heads towards the - colossus could feel big drops on their foreheads, and the rain fell. - </p> - <p> - It fell the whole night plentifully, in floods; the thunder growled; it - was the voice of Moloch; he had vanquished Tanith; and she, being now - fecundated, opened up her vast bosom in heaven’s heights. Sometimes - she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched upon cushions of - cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as though she were still - too weary and wished to sleep again; the Carthaginians, all believing that - water is brought forth by the moon, shouted to make her travail easy. - </p> - <p> - The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in the - courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of the - streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big frothy - jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it seemed as though - whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the washed temple-roofs - shone black in the gleam of the lightning. Torrents descended from the - Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses suddenly gave way, and small beams, - plaster, rubbish, and furniture passed along in streams which ran - impetuously over the pavement. - </p> - <p> - Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the - torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of the - Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their mouths - to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their arms into - them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly with water - that they vomited it forth like buffaloes. The freshness gradually spread; - they breathed in the damp air with play of limb, and in the happiness of - their intoxication boundless hope soon arose. All their miseries were - forgotten. Their country was born anew. - </p> - <p> - They felt the need, as it were, of directing upon others the extravagant - fury which they had been unable to employ against themselves. Such a - sacrifice could not be in vain; although they felt no remorse they found - themselves carried away by the frenzy which results from complicity in - irreparable crimes. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians had encountered the storm in their ill-closed tents; and - they were still quite chilled on the morrow as they tramped through the - mud in search of their stores and weapons, which were spoiled and lost. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar went himself to see Hanno, and, in virtue of his plenary powers, - intrusted the command to him. The old Suffet hesitated for a few minutes - between his animosity and his appetite for authority, but he accepted - nevertheless. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar next took out a galley armed with a catapult at each end. He - placed it in the gulf in front of the raft; then he embarked his stoutest - troops on board such vessels as were available. He was apparently taking - to flight; and running northward before the wind he disappeared into the - mist. - </p> - <p> - But three days afterwards, when the attack was about to begin again, some - people arrived tumultuously from the Libyan coast. Barca had come among - them. He had carried off provisions everywhere, and he was spreading - through the country. - </p> - <p> - Then the Barbarians were indignant as though he were betraying them. Those - who were most weary of the siege, and especially the Gauls, did not - hesitate to leave the walls in order to try and rejoin him. Spendius - wanted to reconstruct the helepolis; Matho had traced an imaginary line - from his tent to Megara, and inwardly swore to follow it, and none of - their men stirred. But the rest, under the command of Autaritus, went off, - abandoning the western part of the rampart, and so profound was the - carelessness exhibited that no one even thought of replacing them. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas spied them from afar in the mountains. During the night - he led all his men along the sea-shore on the outer side of the Lagoon, - and entered Carthage. - </p> - <p> - He presented himself as a saviour with six thousand men all carrying meal - under their cloaks, and forty elephants laden with forage and dried meat. - The people flocked quickly around them; they gave them names. The sight of - these strong animals, sacred to Baal, gave the Carthaginians even more joy - than the arrival of such relief; it was a token of the tenderness of the - god, a proof that he was at last about to interfere in the war to defend - them. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas received the compliments of the Ancients. Then he - ascended to Salammbô’s palace. - </p> - <p> - He had not seen her again since the time when in Hamilcar’s tent - amid the five armies he had felt her little, cold, soft hand fastened to - his own; she had left for Carthage after the betrothal. His love, which - had been diverted by other ambitions, had come back to him; and now he - expected to enjoy his rights, to marry her, and take her. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô did not understand how the young man could ever become her - master! Although she asked Tanith every day for Matho’s death, her - horror of the Libyan was growing less. She vaguely felt that the hate with - which he had persecuted her was something almost religious,—and she - would fain have seen in Narr’ Havas’s person a reflection, as - it were, of that malice which still dazzled her. She desired to know him - better, and yet his presence would have embarrassed her. She sent him word - that she could not receive him. - </p> - <p> - Moreover, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit the King of the - Numidians to see her; by putting off his reward to the end of the war he - hoped to retain his devotion;—and, through dread of the Suffet, Narr’ - Havas withdrew. - </p> - <p> - But he bore himself haughtily towards the Hundred. He changed their - arrangements. He demanded privileges for his men, and placed them on - important posts; thus the Barbarians stared when they perceived Numidians - on the towers. - </p> - <p> - The surprise of the Carthaginians was greater still when three hundred of - their own people, who had been made prisoners during the Sicilian war, - arrived on board an old Punic trireme. Hamilcar, in fact, had secretly - sent back to the Quirites the crews of the Latin vessels, taken before the - defection of the Tyrian towns; and, to reciprocate the courtesy, Rome was - now sending him back her captives. She scorned the overtures of the - Mercenaries in Sardinian, and would not even recognise the inhabitants of - Utica as subjects. - </p> - <p> - Hiero, who was ruling at Syracuse, was carried away by this example. For - the preservation of his own States it was necessary that an equilibrium - should exist between the two peoples; he was interested, therefore, in the - safety of the Chanaanites, and he declared himself their friend, and sent - them twelve hundred oxen, with fifty-three thousand nebels of pure wheat. - </p> - <p> - A deeper reason prompted aid to Carthage. It was felt that if the - Mercenaries triumphed, every one, from soldier to plate-washer, would - rise, and that no government and no house could resist them. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile Hamilcar was scouring the eastern districts. He drove back the - Gauls, and all the Barbarians found that they were themselves in something - like a state of siege. - </p> - <p> - Then he set himself to harass them. He would arrive and then retire, and - by constantly renewing this manouvre, he gradually detached them from - their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and in the end - Matho yielded in like manner. - </p> - <p> - He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself up within its walls. This - persistence was full of wisdom, for soon Narr’ Havas was to be seen - issuing from the gate of Khamon with his elephants and soldiers. Hamilcar - was recalling him, but the other Barbarians were already wandering about - in the provinces in pursuit of the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The latter had received three thousand Gauls from Clypea. He had horses - brought to him from Cyrenaica, and armour from Brutium, and began the war - again. - </p> - <p> - Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. For five moons he - dragged his enemies after him. He had an end to which he wished to guide - them. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians had at first tried to encompass him with small detachments, - but he always escaped them. They ceased to separate then. Their army - amounted to about forty thousand men, and several times they enjoyed the - sight of seeing the Carthaginians fall back. - </p> - <p> - The horsemen of Narr’ Havas were what they found most tormenting. - Often, at times of the greatest weariness, when they were advancing over - the plains, and dozing beneath the weight of their arms, a great line of - dust would suddenly rise on the horizon; there would be a galloping up to - them, and a rain of darts would pour from the bosom of a cloud filled with - flaming eyes. The Numidians in their white cloaks would utter loud shouts, - raise their arms, press their rearing stallions with their knees, and, - wheeling them round abruptly, would then disappear. They had always - supplies of javelins and dromedaries some distance off, and they would - return more terrible than before, howl like wolves, and take to flight - like vultures. The Barbarians posted at the extremities of the files fell - one by one; and this would continue until evening, when an attempt would - be made to enter the mountains. - </p> - <p> - Although they were perilous for elephants, Hamilcar made his way in among - them. He followed the long chain which extends from the promontory of - Hermæum to the top of Zagouan. This, they believed, was a device for - hiding the insufficiency of his troops. But the continual uncertainty in - which he kept them exasperated them at last more than any defeat. They did - not lose heart, and marched after him. - </p> - <p> - At last one evening they surprised a body of velites amid some big rocks - at the entrance of a pass between the Silver Mountain and the Lead - Mountain; the entire army was certainly in front of them, for a noise of - footsteps and clarions could be heard; the Carthaginians immediately fled - through the gorge. It descended into a plain, and was shaped like an iron - hatchet with a surrounding of lofty cliffs. The Barbarians dashed into it - in order to overtake the velites; quite at the bottom other Carthaginians - were running tumultuously amid galloping oxen. A man in a red cloak was to - be seen; it was the Suffet; they shouted this to one another; and they - were carried away with increased fury and joy. Several, from laziness or - prudence, had remained on the threshold of the pass. But some cavalry, - debouching from a wood, beat them down upon the rest with blows of pike - and sabre; and soon all the Barbarians were below in the plain. - </p> - <p> - Then this great human mass, after swaying to and fro for some time, stood - still; they could discover no outlet. - </p> - <p> - Those who were nearest to the pass went back again, but the passage had - entirely disappeared. They hailed those in front to make them go on; they - were being crushed against the mountain, and from a distance they - inveighed against their companions, who were unable to find the route - again. - </p> - <p> - In fact the Barbarians had scarcely descended when men who had been - crouching behind the rocks raised the latter with beams and overthrew - them, and as the slope was steep the huge blocks had rolled down pell-mell - and completely stopped up the narrow opening. - </p> - <p> - At the other extremity of the plain stretched a long passage, split in - gaps here and there, and leading to a ravine which ascended to the upper - plateau, where the Punic army was stationed. Ladders had been placed - beforehand in this passage against the wall of cliff; and, protected by - the windings of the gaps, the velites were able to seize and mount them - before being overtaken. Several even made their way to the bottom of the - ravine; they were drawn up with cables, for the ground at this spot was of - moving sand, and so much inclined that it was impossible to climb it even - on the knees. The Barbarians arrived almost immediately. But a portcullis, - forty cubits high, and made to fit the intervening space exactly, suddenly - sank before them like a rampart fallen from the skies. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet’s combinations had therefore succeeded. None of the - Mercenaries knew the mountain, and, marching as they did at the head of - their columns, they had drawn on the rest. The rocks, which were somewhat - narrow at the base, had been easily cast down; and, while all were - running, his army had raised shouts, as of distress, on the horizon. - Hamilcar, it is true, might have lost his velites, only half of whom - remained, but he would have sacrificed twenty times as many for the - success of such an enterprise. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians pressed forward until morning, in compact files, from one - end of the plain to the other. They felt the mountain with their hands, - seeking to discover a passage. - </p> - <p> - At last day broke; and they perceived all about them a great white wall - hewn with the pick. And no means of safety, no hope! The two natural - outcomes from this blind alley were closed by the portcullis and the heaps - of rocks. - </p> - <p> - Then they all looked at one another without speaking. They sank down in - collapse, feeling an icy coldness in their loins, and an overwhelming - weight upon their eyelids. - </p> - <p> - They rose, and bounded against the rocks. But the lowest were weighted by - the pressure of the others, and were immovable. They tried to cling to - them so as to reach the top, but the bellying shape of the great masses - rendered all hold impossible. They sought to cleave the ground on both - sides of the gorge, but their instruments broke. They made a large fire - with the tent poles, but the fire could not burn the mountain. - </p> - <p> - They returned to the portcullis; it was garnished with long nails as thick - as stakes, as sharp as the spines of a porcupine, and closer than the - hairs of a brush. But they were animated by such rage that they dashed - themselves against it. The first were pierced to the backbone, those - coming next surged over them, and all fell back, leaving human fragments - and bloodstained hair on those horrible branches. - </p> - <p> - When their discouragement was somewhat abated, they made an examination of - the provisions. The Mercenaries, whose baggage was lost, possessed - scarcely enough for two days; and all the rest found themselves destitute,—for - they had been awaiting a convoy promised by the villages of the South. - </p> - <p> - However, some bulls were roaming about, those which the Carthaginians had - loosed in the gorge to attract the Barbarians. They killed them with lance - thrusts and ate them, and when their stomachs were filled their thoughts - were less mournful. - </p> - <p> - The next day they slaughtered all the mules to the number of about forty; - then they scraped the skins, boiled the entrails, pounded the bones, and - did not yet despair; the army from Tunis had no doubt been warned, and was - coming. - </p> - <p> - But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger increased; they gnawed - their sword-belts, and the little sponges which bordered the bottom of - their helmets. - </p> - <p> - These forty thousand men were massed into the species of hippodrome formed - by the mountain about them. Some remained in front of the portcullis, or - at the foot of the rocks; the rest covered the plain confusedly. The - strong shunned one another, and the timid sought out the brave, who, - nevertheless, were unable to save them. - </p> - <p> - To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily buried; - and the position of the graves was no longer visible. - </p> - <p> - All the Barbarians lay drooping on the ground. A veteran would pass - between their lines here and there; and they would howl curses against the - Carthaginians, against Hamilcar, and against Matho, although he was - innocent of their disaster; but it seemed to them that their pains would - have been less if he had shared them. Then they groaned, and some wept - softly like little children. - </p> - <p> - They came to the captains and besought them to grant them something that - would alleviate their sufferings. The others made no reply; or, seized - with fury, would pick up a stone and fling it in their faces. - </p> - <p> - Several, in fact, carefully kept a reserve of food in a hole in the ground—a - few handfuls of dates, or a little meal; and they ate this during the - night, with their heads bent beneath their cloaks. Those who had swords - kept them naked in their hands, and the most suspicious remained standing - with their backs against the mountain. - </p> - <p> - They accused their chiefs and threatened them. Autaritus was not afraid of - showing himself. With the Barbaric obstinacy which nothing could - discourage, he would advance twenty times a day to the rocks at the - bottom, hoping every time to find them perchance displaced; and swaying - his heavy fur-covered shoulders, he reminded his companions of a bear - coming forth from its cave in springtime to see whether the snows are - melted. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, surrounded by the Greeks, hid himself in one of the gaps; as he - was afraid, he caused a rumour of his death to be spread. - </p> - <p> - They were now hideously lean; their skin was overlaid with bluish - marblings. On the evening of the ninth day three Iberians died. - </p> - <p> - Their frightened companions left the spot. They were stripped, and the - white, naked bodies lay in the sunshine on the sand. - </p> - <p> - Then the Garamantians began to prowl slowly round about them. They were - men accustomed to existence in solitude, and they reverenced no god. At - last the oldest of the band made a sign, and bending over the corpses they - cut strips from them with their knives, then squatted upon their heels and - ate. The rest looked on from a distance; they uttered cries of horror;—many, - nevertheless, being, at the bottom of their souls, jealous of such - courage. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the night some of these approached, and, dissembling - their eagerness, asked for a small mouthful, merely to try, they said. - Bolder ones came up; their number increased; there was soon a crowd. But - almost all of them let their hands fall on feeling the cold flesh on the - edge of their lips; others, on the contrary, devoured it with delight. - </p> - <p> - That they might be led away by example, they urged one another on - mutually. Such as had at first refused went to see the Garamantians, and - returned no more. They cooked the pieces on coals at the point of the - sword; they salted them with dust, and contended for the best morsels. - When nothing was left of the three corpses, their eyes ranged over the - whole plain to find others. - </p> - <p> - But were they not in possession of Carthaginians—twenty captives - taken in the last encounter, whom no one had noticed up to the present? - These disappeared; moreover, it was an act of vengeance. Then, as they - must live, as the taste for this food had become developed, and as they - were dying, they cut the throats of the water-carriers, grooms, and all - the serving-men belonging to the Mercenaries. They killed some of them - every day. Some ate much, recovered strength, and were sad no more. - </p> - <p> - Soon this resource failed. Then the longing was directed to the wounded - and sick. Since they could not recover, it was as well to release them - from their tortures; and, as soon as a man began to stagger, all exclaimed - that he was now lost, and ought to be made use of for the rest. Artifices - were employed to accelerate their death; the last remnant of their foul - portion was stolen from them; they were trodden on as though by - inadvertence; those in the last throes wishing to make believe that they - were strong, strove to stretch out their arms, to rise, to laugh. Men who - had swooned came to themselves at the touch of a notched blade sawing off - a limb;—and they still slew, ferociously and needlessly, to sate - their fury. - </p> - <p> - A mist heavy and warm, such as comes in those regions at the end of - winter, sank on the fourteenth day upon the army. This change of - temperature brought numerous deaths with it, and corruption was developed - with frightful rapidity in the warm dampness which was kept in by the - sides of the mountain. The drizzle that fell upon the corpses softened - them, and soon made the plain one broad tract of rottenness. Whitish - vapours floated overhead; they pricked the nostrils, penetrated the skin, - and troubled the sight; and the Barbarians thought that through the - exhalations of the breath they could see the souls of their companions. - They were overwhelmed with immense disgust. They wished for nothing more; - they preferred to die. - </p> - <p> - Two days afterwards the weather became fine again, and hunger seized them - once more. It seemed to them that their stomachs were being wrenched from - them with tongs. Then they rolled about in convulsions, flung handfuls of - dust into their mouths, bit their arms, and burst into frantic laughter. - </p> - <p> - They were still more tormented by thirst, for they had not a drop of - water, the leathern bottles having been completely dried up since the - ninth day. To cheat their need they applied their tongues to the metal - plates on their waist-belts, their ivory pommels, and the steel of their - swords. Some former caravan-leaders tightened their waists with ropes. - Others sucked a pebble. They drank urine cooled in their brazen helmets. - </p> - <p> - And they still expected the army from Tunis! The length of time which it - took in coming was, according to their conjectures, an assurance of its - early arrival. Besides, Matho, who was a brave fellow, would not desert - them. “’Twill be to-morrow!” they would say to one - another; and then to-morrow would pass. - </p> - <p> - At the beginning they had offered up prayers and vows, and practised all - kinds of incantations. Just now their only feeling to their divinities was - one of hatred, and they strove to revenge themselves by believing in them - no more. - </p> - <p> - Men of violent disposition perished first; the Africans held out better - than the Gauls. Zarxas lay stretched at full length among the Balearians, - his hair over his arm, inert. Spendius found a plant with broad leaves - filled abundantly with juice, and after declaring that it was poisonous, - so as to keep off the rest, he fed himself upon it. - </p> - <p> - They were too weak to knock down the flying crows with stones. Sometimes - when a gypaëtus was perched on a corpse, and had been mangling it for a - long time, a man would set himself to crawl towards it with a javelin - between his teeth. He would support himself with one hand, and after - taking a good aim, throw his weapon. The white-feathered creature, - disturbed by the noise, would desist and look about in tranquil fashion - like a cormorant on a rock, and would then again thrust in its hideous, - yellow beak, while the man, in despair, would fall flat on his face in the - dust. Some succeeded in discovering chameleons and serpents. But it was - the love of life that kept them alive. They directed their souls to this - idea exclusively, and clung to existence by an effort of the will that - prolonged it. - </p> - <p> - The most stoical kept close to one another, seated in a circle here and - there, among the dead in the middle of the plain; and wrapped in their - cloaks they gave themselves up silently to their sadness. - </p> - <p> - Those who had been born in towns recalled the resounding streets, the - taverns, theatres, baths, and the barbers’ shops where there are - tales to be heard. Others could once more see country districts at sunset, - when the yellow corn waves, and the great oxen ascend the hills again with - the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers dreamed of cisterns, hunters - of their forests, veterans of battles; and in the somnolence that benumbed - them their thoughts jostled one another with the precipitancy and - clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came suddenly upon them; they sought - for a door in the mountain in order to flee, and tried to pass through it. - Others thought that they were sailing in a storm and gave orders for the - handling of a ship, or else fell back in terror, perceiving Punic - battalions in the clouds. There were some who imagined themselves at a - feast, and sang. - </p> - <p> - Many through a strange mania would repeat the same word or continually - make the same gesture. Then when they happened to raise their heads and - look at one another they were choked with sobs on discovering the horrible - ravages made in their faces. Some had ceased to suffer, and to while away - the hours told of the perils which they had escaped. - </p> - <p> - Death was certain and imminent to all. How many times had they not tried - to open up a passage! As to implore terms from the conqueror, by what - means could they do so? They did not even know where Hamilcar was. - </p> - <p> - The wind was blowing from the direction of the ravine. It made the sand - flow perpetually in cascades over the portcullis; and the cloaks and hair - of the Barbarians were being covered with it as though the earth were - rising upon them and desirous of burying them. Nothing stirred; the - eternal mountain seemed still higher to them every morning. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes flights of birds darted past beneath the blue sky in the freedom - of the air. The men closed their eyes that they might not see them. - </p> - <p> - At first they felt a buzzing in their ears, their nails grew black, the - cold reached to their breasts; they lay upon their sides and expired - without a cry. - </p> - <p> - On the nineteenth day two thousand Asiatics were dead, with fifteen - hundred from the Archipelago, eight thousand from Libya, the youngest of - the Mercenaries and whole tribes—in all twenty thousand soldiers, or - half of the army. - </p> - <p> - Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in - order to put an end to this state of things, when he thought he saw a man - on the top of the mountain in front of him. - </p> - <p> - Owing to his elevation this man did not appear taller than a dwarf. - However, Autaritus recognised a shield shaped like a trefoil on his left - arm. “A Carthaginian!” he exclaimed, and immediately - throughout the plain, before the portcullis and beneath the rocks, all - rose. The soldier was walking along the edge of the precipice; the - Barbarians gazed at him from below. - </p> - <p> - Spendius picked up the head of an ox; then having formed a diadem with two - belts, he fixed it on the horns at the end of a pole in token of pacific - intentions. The Carthaginian disappeared. They waited. - </p> - <p> - At last in the evening a sword-belt suddenly fell from above like a stone - loosened from the cliff. It was made of red leather covered with - embroidery, with three diamond stars, and stamped in the centre, it bore - the mark of the Great Council: a horse beneath a palm-tree. This was - Hamilcar’s reply, the safe-conduct that he sent them. - </p> - <p> - They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune brought with it the end of - their woes. They were moved with extravagant joy, they embraced one - another, they wept. Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas, four Italiotes, a - Negro and two Spartans offered themselves as envoys. They were immediately - accepted. They did not know, however, by what means they should get away. - </p> - <p> - But a cracking sounded in the direction of the rocks; and the most - elevated of them, after rocking to and fro, rebounded to the bottom. In - fact, if they were immovable on the side of the Barbarians—for it - would have been necessary to urge them up an incline plane, and they were, - moreover, heaped together owing to the narrowness of the gorge—on - the others, on the contrary, it was sufficient to drive against them with - violence to make them descend. The Carthaginians pushed them, and at - daybreak they projected into the plain like the steps of an immense ruined - staircase. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were still unable to climb them. Ladders were held out for - their assistance; all rushed upon them. The discharge of a catapult drove - the crowd back; only the Ten were taken away. - </p> - <p> - They walked amid the Clinabarians, leaning their hands on the horses’ - croups for support. - </p> - <p> - Now that their first joy was over they began to harbour anxieties. - Hamilcar’s demands would be cruel. But Spendius reassured them. - </p> - <p> - “<i>I</i> will speak!” And he boasted that he knew excellent - things to say for the safety of the army. - </p> - <p> - Behind all the bushes they met with ambushed sentries, who prostrated - themselves before the sword-belt which Spendius had placed over his - shoulder. - </p> - <p> - When they reached the Punic camp the crowd flocked around them, and they - thought that they could hear whisperings and laughter. The door of a tent - opened. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was at the very back of it seated on a stool beside a table on - which there shone a naked sword. He was surrounded by captains, who were - standing. - </p> - <p> - He started back on perceiving these men, and then bent over to examine - them. - </p> - <p> - Their pupils were strangely dilated, and there was a great black circle - round their eyes, which extended to the lower parts of their ears; their - bluish noses stood out between their hollow cheeks, which were chinked - with deep wrinkles; the skin of their bodies was too large for their - muscles, and was hidden beneath a slate-coloured dust; their lips were - glued to their yellow teeth; they exhaled an infectious odour; they might - have been taken for half-opened tombs, for living sepulchres. - </p> - <p> - In the centre of the tent, on a mat on which the captains were about to - sit down, there was a dish of smoking gourds. The Barbarians fastened - their eyes upon it with a shivering in all their limbs, and tears came to - their eyelids; nevertheless they restrained themselves. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned away to speak to some one. Then they all flung themselves - upon it, flat on the ground. Their faces were soaked in the fat, and the - noise of their deglutition was mingled with the sobs of joy which they - uttered. Through astonishment, doubtless, rather than pity, they were - allowed to finish the mess. Then when they had risen Hamilcar with a sign - commanded the man who bore the sword-belt to speak. Spendius was afraid; - he stammered. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, while listening to him, kept turning round on his finger a big - gold ring, the same which had stamped the seal of Carthage upon the - sword-belt. He let it fall to the ground; Spendius immediately picked it - up; his servile habits came back to him in the presence of his master. The - others quivered with indignation at such baseness. - </p> - <p> - But the Greek raised his voice and spoke for a long time in rapid, - insidious, and even violent fashion, setting forth the crimes of Hanno, - whom he knew to be Barca’s enemy, and striving to move Hamilcar’s - pity by the details of their miseries and the recollection of their - devotion; in the end he became forgetful of himself, being carried away by - the warmth of his temper. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar replied that he accepted their excuses. Peace, then, was about to - be concluded, and now it would be a definitive one! But he required that - ten Mercenaries, chosen by himself, should be delivered up to him without - weapons or tunics. - </p> - <p> - They had not expected such clemency; Spendius exclaimed: “Ah! twenty - if you wish, master!” - </p> - <p> - “No! ten will suffice,” replied Hamilcar quietly. - </p> - <p> - They were sent out of the tent to deliberate. As soon as they were alone, - Autaritus protested against the sacrifice of their companions, and Zarxas - said to Spendius: - </p> - <p> - “Why did you not kill him? his sword was there beside you!” - </p> - <p> - “Him!” said Spendius. “Him! him!” he repeated - several times, as though the thing had been impossible, and Hamilcar were - an immortal. - </p> - <p> - They were so overwhelmed with weariness that they stretched themselves on - their backs on the ground, not knowing at what resolution to arrive. - </p> - <p> - Spendius urged them to yield. At last they consented, and went in again. - </p> - <p> - Then the Suffet put his hand into the hands of the ten Barbarians in turn, - and pressed their thumbs; then he rubbed it on his garment, for their - viscous skin gave a rude, soft impression to the touch, a greasy tingling - which induced horripilation. Afterwards he said to them: - </p> - <p> - “You are really all the chiefs of the Barbarians, and you have sworn - for them?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes!” they replied. - </p> - <p> - “Without constraint, from the bottom of your souls, with the - intention of fulfilling your promises?” - </p> - <p> - They assured him that they were returning to the rest in order to fulfil - them. - </p> - <p> - “Well!” rejoined the Suffet, “in accordance with the - convention concluded between myself, Barca, and the ambassadors of the - Mercenaries, it is you whom I choose and shall keep!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius fell swooning upon the mat. The Barbarians, as though abandoning - him, pressed close together; and there was not a word, not a complaint. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Their companions, who were waiting for them, not seeing them return, - believed themselves betrayed. The envoys had no doubt given themselves up - to the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - They waited for two days longer; then on the morning of the third, their - resolution was taken. With ropes, picks, and arrows, arranged like rungs - between strips of canvas, they succeeded in scaling the rocks; and leaving - the weakest, about three thousand in number, behind them, they began their - march to rejoin the army at Tunis. - </p> - <p> - Above the gorge there stretched a meadow thinly sown with shrubs; the - Barbarians devoured the buds. Afterwards they found a field of beans; and - everything disappeared as though a cloud of grasshoppers had passed that - way. Three hours later they reached a second plateau bordered by a belt of - green hills. - </p> - <p> - Among the undulations of these hillocks, silvery sheaves shone at - intervals from one another; the Barbarians, who were dazzled by the sun, - could perceive confusedly below great black masses supporting them; these - rose, as though they were expanding. They were lances in towers on - elephants terribly armed. - </p> - <p> - Besides the spears on their breasts, the bodkin tusks, the brass plates - which covered their sides, and the daggers fastened to their knee-caps, - they had at the extremity of their tusks a leathern bracelet, in which the - handle of a broad cutlass was inserted; they had set out simultaneously - from the back part of the plain, and were advancing on both sides in - parallel lines. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were frozen with a nameless terror. They did not even try - to flee. They already found themselves surrounded. - </p> - <p> - The elephants entered into this mass of men; and the spurs on their - breasts divided it, the lances on their tusks upturned it like - ploughshares; they cut, hewed, and hacked with the scythes on their - trunks; the towers, which were full of phalaricas, looked like volcanoes - on the march; nothing could be distinguished but a large heap, whereon - human flesh, pieces of brass and blood made white spots, grey sheets and - red fuses. The horrible animals dug out black furrows as they passed - through the midst of it all. - </p> - <p> - The fiercest was driven by a Numidian who was crowned with a diadem of - plumes. He hurled javelins with frightful quickness, giving at intervals a - long shrill whistle. The great beasts, docile as dogs, kept an eye on him - during the carnage. - </p> - <p> - The circle of them narrowed by degrees; the weakened Barbarians offered no - resistance; the elephants were soon in the centre of the plain. They - lacked space; they thronged half-rearing together, and their tusks clashed - against one another. Suddenly Narr’ Havas quieted them, and wheeling - round they trotted back to the hills. - </p> - <p> - Two syntagmata, however, had taken refuge on the right in a bend of - ground, had thrown away their arms, and were all kneeling with their faces - towards the Punic tents imploring mercy with uplifted arms. - </p> - <p> - Their legs and hands were tied; then when they were stretched on the - ground beside one another the elephants were brought back. - </p> - <p> - Their breasts cracked like boxes being forced; two were crushed at every - step; the big feet sank into the bodies with a motion of the haunches - which made the elephants appear lame. They went on to the very end. - </p> - <p> - The level surface of the plain again became motionless. Night fell. - Hamilcar was delighting himself with the spectacle of his vengeance, but - suddenly he started. - </p> - <p> - He saw, and all saw, some more Barbarians six hundred paces to the left on - the summit of a peak! In fact four hundred of the stoutest Mercenaries, - Etruscans, Libyans, and Spartans had gained the heights at the beginning, - and had remained there in uncertainty until now. After the massacre of - their companions they resolved to make their way through the - Carthaginians; they were already descending in serried columns, in a - marvellous and formidable fashion. - </p> - <p> - A herald was immediately despatched to them. The Suffet needed soldiers; - he received them unconditionally, so greatly did he admire their bravery. - They could even, said the man of Carthage, come a little nearer, to a - place, which he pointed out to them, where they would find provisions. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians ran thither and spent the night in eating. Then the - Carthaginians broke into clamours against the Suffet’s partiality - for the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - Did he yield to these outbursts of insatiable hatred or was it a - refinement of treachery? The next day he came himself, without a sword and - bare-headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and announced to them that - having too many to feed he did not intend to keep them. Nevertheless, as - he wanted men and he knew of no means of selecting the good ones, they - were to fight together to the death; he would then admit the conquerors - into his own body-guard. This death was quite as good as another;—and - then moving his soldiers aside (for the Punic standards hid the horizon - from the Mercenaries) he showed them the one hundred and ninety-two - elephants under Narr’ Havas, forming a single straight line, their - trunks brandishing broad steel blades like giant arms holding axes above - their heads. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that made - them turn pale, but the horrible compulsion to which they found themselves - reduced. - </p> - <p> - The community of their lives had brought about profound friendship among - these men. The camp, with most, took the place of their country; living - without a family they transferred the needful tenderness to a companion, - and they would fall asleep in the starlight side by side under the same - cloak. And then in their perpetual wanderings through all sorts of - countries, murders, and adventures, they had contracted affections, one - for the other, in which the stronger protected the younger in the midst of - battles, helped him to cross precipices, sponged the sweat of fevers from - his brow, and stole food for him, and the weaker, a child perhaps, who had - been picked up on the roadside, and had then become a Mercenary, repaid - this devotion by a thousand kindnesses. - </p> - <p> - They exchanged their necklaces and earrings, presents which they had made - to one another in former days, after great peril, or in hours of - intoxication. All asked to die, and none would strike. A young fellow - might be seen here and there, saying to another whose beard was grey: - “No! no! you are more robust! you will avenge us, kill me!” - and the man would reply: “I have fewer years to live! Strike to the - heart, and think no more about it!” Brothers gazed on one another - with clasped hands, and friend bade friend eternal farewells, standing and - weeping upon his shoulder. - </p> - <p> - They threw off their cuirasses that the sword-points might be thrust in - the more quickly. Then there appeared the marks of the great blows which - they had received for Carthage, and which looked like inscriptions on - columns. - </p> - <p> - They placed themselves in four equal ranks, after the fashion of - gladiators, and began with timid engagements. Some had even bandaged their - eyes, and their swords waved gently through the air like blind men’s - sticks. The Carthaginians hooted, and shouted to them that they were - cowards. The Barbarians became animated, and soon the combat as general, - headlong, and terrible. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes two men all covered with blood would stop, fall into each other’s - arms, and die with mutual kisses. None drew back. They rushed upon the - extended blades. Their delirium was so frenzied that the Carthaginians in - the distance were afraid. - </p> - <p> - At last they stopped. Their breasts made a great hoarse noise, and their - eyeballs could be seen through their long hair, which hung down as though - it had come out of a purple bath. Several were turning round rapidly, like - panthers wounded in the forehead. Others stood motionless looking at a - corpse at their feet; then they would suddenly tear their faces with their - nails, take their swords with both hands, and plunge them into their own - bodies. - </p> - <p> - There were still sixty left. They asked for drink. They were told by - shouts to throw away their swords, and when they had done so water was - brought to them. - </p> - <p> - While they were drinking, with their faces buried in the vases, sixty - Carthaginians leaped upon them and killed them with stiletos in the back. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had done this to gratify the instincts of his army, and, by means - of this treachery, to attach it to his own person. - </p> - <p> - The war, then, was ended; at least he believed that it was; Matho would - not resist; in his impatience the Suffet commanded an immediate departure. - </p> - <p> - His scouts came to tell him that a convoy had been descried, departing - towards the Lead Mountain. Hamilcar did not trouble himself about it. The - Mercenaries once annihilated, the Nomads would give him no further - trouble. The important matter was to take Tunis. He advanced by forced - marches upon it. - </p> - <p> - He had sent Narr’ Havas to Carthage with the news of his victory; - and the King of the Numidians, proud of his success, visited Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - She received him in her gardens under a large sycamore tree, amid pillows - of yellow leather, and with Taanach beside her. Her face was covered with - a white scarf, which, passing over her mouth and forehead, allowed only - her eyes to be seen; but her lips shone in the transparency of the tissue - like the gems on her fingers, for Salammbô had both her hands wrapped up, - and did not make a gesture during the whole conversation. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas announced the defeat of the Barbarians to her. She - thanked him with a blessing for the services which he had rendered to her - father. Then he began to tell her about the whole campaign. - </p> - <p> - The doves on the palm trees around them cooed softly, and other birds - fluttered amid the grass: ring-necked glareolas, Tartessus quails and - Punic guinea-fowl. The garden, long uncultivated, had multiplied its - verdure; coloquintidas mounted into the branches of cassias, the asclepias - was scattered over fields of roses, all kinds of vegetation formed - entwinings and bowers; and here and there, as in the woods, sun-rays, - descending obliquely, marked the shadow of a leaf upon the ground. - Domestic animals, grown wild again, fled at the slightest noise. Sometimes - a gazelle might be seen trailing scattered peacocks’ feathers after - its little black hoofs. The clamours of the distant town were lost in the - murmuring of the waves. The sky was quite blue, and not a sail was visible - on the sea. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had ceased speaking; Salammbô was looking at him without - replying. He wore a linen robe with flowers painted on it, and with gold - fringes at the hem; two silver arrows fastened his plaited hair at the - tips of his ears; his right hand rested on a pike-staff adorned with - circles of electrum and tufts of hair. - </p> - <p> - As she watched him a crowd of dim thoughts absorbed her. This young man, - with his gentle voice and feminine figure, captivated her eyes by the - grace of his person, and seemed to her like an elder sister sent by the - Baals to protect her. The recollection of Matho came upon her, nor did she - resist the desire to learn what had become of him. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas replied that the Carthaginians were advancing towards - Tunis to take it. In proportion as he set forth their chances of success - and Matho’s weaknesses, she seemed to rejoice in extraordinary hope. - Her lips trembled, her breast panted. When he finally promised to kill him - himself, she exclaimed: “Yes! kill him! It must be so!” - </p> - <p> - The Numidian replied that he desired this death ardently, since he would - be her husband when the war was over. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô started, and bent her head. - </p> - <p> - But Narr’ Havas, pursuing the subject, compared his longings to - flowers languishing for rain, or to lost travellers waiting for the day. - He told her, further, that she was more beautiful than the moon, better - than the wind of morning or than the face of a guest. He would bring for - her from the country of the Blacks things such as there were none in - Carthage, and the apartments in their house should be sanded with gold - dust. - </p> - <p> - Evening fell, and odours of balsam were exhaled. For a long time they - looked at each other in silence, and Salammbô’s eyes, in the depths - of her long draperies, resembled two stars in the rift of a cloud. Before - the sun set he withdrew. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients felt themselves relieved of a great anxiety, when he left - Carthage. The people had received him with even more enthusiastic - acclamations than on the first occasion. If Hamilcar and the King of the - Numidians triumphed alone over the Mercenaries it would be impossible to - resist them. To weaken Barca they therefore resolved to make the aged - Hanno, him whom they loved, a sharer in the deliverance of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - He proceeded immediately towards the western provinces, to take his - vengeance in the very places which had witnessed his shame. But the - inhabitants and the Barbarians were dead, hidden, or fled. Then his anger - was vented upon the country. He burnt the ruins of the ruins, he did not - leave a single tree nor a blade of grass; the children and the infirm, - that were met with, were tortured; he gave the women to his soldiers to be - violated before they were slaughtered. - </p> - <p> - Often, on the crests of the hills, black tents were struck as though - overturned by the wind, and broad, brilliantly bordered discs, which were - recognised as being chariot-wheels, revolved with a plaintive sound as - they gradually disappeared in the valleys. The tribes, which had abandoned - the siege of Carthage, were wandering in this way through the provinces, - waiting for an opportunity, or for some victory to be gained by the - Mercenaries, in order to return. But, whether from terror or famine, they - all took the roads to their native lands, and disappeared. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was not jealous of Hanno’s successes. Nevertheless he was - in a hurry to end matters; he commanded him to fall back upon Tunis; and - Hanno, who loved his country, was under the walls of the town on the - appointed day. - </p> - <p> - For its protection it had its aboriginal population, twelve thousand - Mercenaries, and, in addition, all the Eaters of Uncleanness, for like - Matho they were riveted to the horizon of Carthage, and plebs and - schalischim gazed at its lofty walls from afar, looking back in thought to - boundless enjoyments. With this harmony of hatred, resistance was briskly - organised. Leathern bottles were taken to make helmets; all the palm-trees - in the gardens were cut down for lances; cisterns were dug; while for - provisions they caught on the shores of the lake big white fish, fed on - corpses and filth. Their ramparts, kept in ruins now by the jealousy of - Carthage, were so weak that they could be thrown down with a push of the - shoulder. Matho stopped up the holes in them with the stones of the - houses. It was the last struggle; he hoped for nothing, and yet he told - himself that fortune was fickle. - </p> - <p> - As the Carthaginians approached they noticed a man on the rampart who - towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that flew - about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of swallows. - Extraordinary to say, none of them touched him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar pitched his camp on the south side; Narr’ Havas, to his - right, occupied the plain of Rhades, and Hanno the shore of the lake; and - the three generals were to maintain their respective positions, so as all - to attack the walls simultaneously. - </p> - <p> - But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish - them like slaves. He had the ten ambassadors crucified beside one another - on a hillock in front of the town. - </p> - <p> - At the sight of this the besieged forsook the rampart. - </p> - <p> - Matho had said to himself that if he could pass between the walls and Narr’ - Havas’s tents with such rapidity that the Numidians had not time to - come out, he could fall upon the rear of the Carthaginian infantry, who - would be caught between his division and those inside. He dashed out with - his veterans. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas perceived him; he crossed the shore of the lake, and - came to warn Hanno to dispatch men to Hamilcar’s assistance. Did he - believe Barca too weak to resist the Mercenaries? Was it a piece of - treachery or folly? No one could ever learn. - </p> - <p> - Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesitate. He shouted - orders to sound the trumpets, and his whole army rushed upon the - Barbarians. The latter returned, and ran straight against the - Carthaginians; they knocked them down, crushed them under their feet, and, - driving them back in this way, reached the tent of Hanno, who was then - surrounded by thirty Carthaginians, the most illustrious of the Ancients. - </p> - <p> - He appeared stupefied by their audacity; he called for his captains. Every - one thrust his fist under his throat, vociferating abuse. The crowd - pressed on; and those who had their hands on him could scarce retain their - hold. However, he tried to whisper to them: “I will gave you - whatever you want! I am rich! Save me!” They dragged him along; - heavy as he was his feet did not touch the ground. The Ancients had been - carried off. His terror increased. “You have beaten me! I am your - captive! I will ransom myself! Listen to me, my friends!” and borne - along by all those shoulders which were pressed against his sides, he - repeated: “What are you going to do? What do you want? You can see - that I am not obstanite! I have always been good-natured!” - </p> - <p> - A gigantic cross stood at the gate. The Barbarians howled: “Here! - here!” But he raised his voice still higher; and in the names of - their gods he called upon them to lead him to the schalischim, because he - wished to confide to him something on which their safety depended. - </p> - <p> - They paused, some asserting that it was right to summon Matho. He was sent - for. - </p> - <p> - Hanno fell upon the grass; and he saw around him other crosses also, as - though the torture by which he was about to perish had been multiplied - beforehand; he made efforts to convince himself that he was mistaken, that - there was only one, and even to believe that there were none at all. At - last he was lifted up. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - He offered to give up Hamilcar; then they would enter Carthage and both be - kings. - </p> - <p> - Matho withdrew, signing to the others to make haste. It was a stratagem, - he thought, to gain time. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarian was mistaken; Hanno was in an extremity when consideration - is had to nothing, and, moreover, he so execrated Hamilcar that he would - have sacrificed him and all his soldiers on the slightest hope of safety. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients were languishing on the ground at the foot of the crosses; - ropes had already been passed beneath their armpits. Then the old Suffet, - understanding that he must die, wept. - </p> - <p> - They tore off the clothes that were still left on him—and the horror - of his person appeared. Ulcers covered the nameless mass; the fat on his - legs hid the nails on his feet; from his fingers there hung what looked - like greenish strips; and the tears streaming through the tubercles on his - cheeks gave to his face an expression of frightful sadness, for they - seemed to take up more room than on another human face. His royal fillet, - which was half unfastened, trailed with his white hair in the dust. - </p> - <p> - They thought that they had no ropes strong enough to haul him up to the - top of the cross, and they nailed him upon it, after the Punic fashion, - before it was erected. But his pride awoke in his pain. He began to - overwhelm them with abuse. He foamed and twisted like a marine monster - being slaughtered on the shore, and predicted that they would all end more - horribly still, and that he would be avenged. - </p> - <p> - He was. On the other side of the town, whence there now escaped jets of - flame with columns of smoke, the ambassadors from the Mercenaries were in - their last throes. - </p> - <p> - Some who had swooned at first had just revived in the freshness of the - wind; but their chins still rested upon their breasts, and their bodies - had fallen somewhat, in spite of the nails in their arms, which were - fastened higher than their heads; from their heels and hands blood fell in - big, slow drops, as ripe fruit falls from the branches of a tree,—and - Carthage, gulf, mountains, and plains all appeared to them to be revolving - like an immense wheel; sometimes a cloud of dust, rising from the ground, - enveloped them in its eddies; they burned with horrible thirst, their - tongues curled in their mouths, and they felt an icy sweat flowing over - them with their departing souls. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless they had glimpses, at an infinite depth, of streets, marching - soldiers, and the swinging of swords; and the tumult of battle reached - them dimly like the noise of the sea to shipwrecked men dying on the masts - of a ship. The Italiotes, who were sturdier than the rest, were still - shrieking. The Lacedæmonians were silent, with eyelids closed; Zarxas, - once so vigorous, was bending like a broken reed; the Ethiopian beside him - had his head thrown back over the arms of the cross; Autaritus was - motionless, rolling his eyes; his great head of hair, caught in a cleft in - the wood, fell straight upon his forehead, and his death-rattle seemed - rather to be a roar of anger. As to Spendius, a strange courage had come - to him; he despised life now in the certainty which he possessed of an - almost immediate and an eternal emancipation, and he awaited death with - impassibility. - </p> - <p> - Amid their swooning, they sometimes started at the brushing of feathers - passing across their lips. Large wings swung shadows around them, - croakings sounded in the air; and as Spendius’s cross was the - highest, it was upon his that the first vulture alighted. Then he turned - his face towards Autaritus, and said slowly to him with an unaccountable - smile: - </p> - <p> - “Do you remember the lions on the road to Sicca?” - </p> - <p> - “They were our brothers!” replied the Gaul, as he expired. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet, meanwhile, had bored through the walls and reached the - citadel. The smoke suddenly disappeared before a gust of wind, discovering - the horizon as far as the walls of Carthage; he even thought that he could - distinguish people watching on the platform of Eschmoun; then, bringing - back his eyes, he perceived thirty crosses of extravagant size on the - shore of the Lake, to the left. - </p> - <p> - In fact, to render them still more frightful, they had been constructed - with tent-poles fastened end to end, and the thirty corpses of the - Ancients appeared high up in the sky. They had what looked like white - butterflies on their breasts; these were the feathers of the arrows which - had been shot at them from below. - </p> - <p> - A broad gold ribbon shone on the summit of the highest; it hung down to - the shoulder, there being no arm on that side, and Hamilcar had some - difficulty in recognising Hanno. His spongy bones had given way under the - iron pins, portions of his limbs had come off, and nothing was left on the - cross but shapeless remains, like the fragments of animals that are hung - up on huntsmen’s doors. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet could not have known anything about it; the town in front of - him masked everything that was beyond and behind; and the captains who had - been successively sent to the two generals had not re-appeared. Then - fugitives arrived with the tale of the rout, and the Punic army halted. - This catastrophe, falling upon them as it did in the midst of their - victory, stupefied them. Hamilcar’s orders were no longer listened - to. - </p> - <p> - Matho took advantage of this to continue his ravages among the Numidians. - </p> - <p> - Hanno’s camp having been overthrown, he had returned against them. - The elephants came out; but the Mercenaries advanced through the plain - shaking about flaming firebrands, which they had plucked from the walls, - and the great beasts, in fright, ran headlong into the gulf, where they - killed one another in their struggles, or were drowned beneath the weight - of their cuirasses. Narr’ Havas had already launched his cavalry; - all threw themselves face downwards upon the ground; then, when the horses - were within three paces of them, they sprang beneath their bellies, ripped - them open with dagger-strokes, and half the Numidians had perished when - Barca came up. - </p> - <p> - The exhausted Mercenaries could not withstand his troops. They retired in - good order to the mountain of the Hot Springs. The Suffet was prudent - enough not to pursue them. He directed his course to the mouths of the - Macaras. - </p> - <p> - Tunis was his; but it was now nothing but a heap of smoking rubbish. The - ruins fell through the breaches in the walls to the centre of the plain; - quite in the background, between the shores of the gulf, the corpses of - the elephants drifting before the wind conflicted, like an archipelago of - black rocks floating on the water. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had drained his forests of these animals, taking young - and old, male and female, to keep up the war, and the military force of - his kingdom could not repair the loss. The people who had seen them - perishing at a distance were grieved at it; men lamented in the streets, - calling them by their names like deceased friends: “Ah! the - Invincible! the Victory! the Thunderer! the Swallow!” On the first - day, too, there was no talk except of the dead citizens. But on the morrow - the tents of the Mercenaries were seen on the mountain of the Hot Springs. - Then so deep was the despair that many people, especially women, flung - themselves headlong from the top of the Acropolis. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s designs were not known. He lived alone in his tent with - none near him but a young boy, and no one ever ate with them, not even - excepting Narr’ Havas. Nevertheless he showed great deference to the - latter after Hanno’s defeat; but the king of the Numidians had too - great an interest in becoming his son not to distrust him. - </p> - <p> - This inertness veiled skilful manouvres. Hamilcar seduced the heads of the - villages by all sorts of artifices; and the Mercenaries were hunted, - repulsed, and enclosed like wild beasts. As soon as they entered a wood, - the trees caught fire around them; when they drank of a spring it was - poisoned; the caves in which they hid in order to sleep were walled up. - Their old accomplices, the populations who had hitherto defended them, now - pursued them; and they continually recognised Carthaginian armour in these - bands. - </p> - <p> - Many had their faces consumed with red tetters; this, they thought, had - come to them through touching Hanno. Others imagined that it was because - they had eaten Salammbô’s fishes, and far from repenting of it, they - dreamed of even more abominable sacrileges, so that the abasement of the - Punic Gods might be still greater. They would fain have exterminated them. - </p> - <p> - In this way they lingered for three months along the eastern coast, and - then behind the mountain of Selloum, and as far as the first sands of the - desert. They sought for a place of refuge, no matter where. Utica and - Hippo-Zarytus alone had not betrayed them; but Hamilcar was encompassing - these two towns. Then they went northwards at haphazard without even - knowing the various routes. Their many miseries had confused their - understandings. - </p> - <p> - The only feeling left them was one of exasperation, which went on - developing; and one day they found themselves again in the gorges of Cobus - and once more before Carthage! - </p> - <p> - Then the actions multiplied. Fortune remained equal; but both sides were - so wearied that they would willingly have exchanged these skirmishes for a - great battle, provided that it were really the last. - </p> - <p> - Matho was inclined to carry this proposal himself to the Suffet. One of - his Libyans devoted himself for the purpose. All were convinced as they - saw him depart that he would not return. - </p> - <p> - He returned the same evening. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar accepted the challenge. The encounter should take place the - following day at sunrise, in the plain of Rhades. - </p> - <p> - The Mercenaries wished to know whether he had said anything more, and the - Libyan added: - </p> - <p> - “As I remained in his presence, he asked me what I was waiting for. - ‘To be killed!’ I replied. Then he rejoined: ‘No! - begone! that will be to-morrow with the rest.’” - </p> - <p> - This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some were terrified by it, and - Matho regretted that the emissary had not been killed. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - He had still remaining three thousand Africans, twelve hundred Greeks, - fifteen hundred Campanians, two hundred Iberians, four hundred Etruscans, - five hundred Samnites, forty Gauls, and a troop of Naffurs, nomad bandits - met with in the date region—in all seven thousand two hundred and - nineteen soldiers, but not one complete syntagmata. They had stopped up - the holes in their cuirasses with the shoulder-blades of quadrupeds, and - replaced their brass cothurni with worn sandals. Their garments were - weighted with copper or steel plates; their coats of mail hung in tatters - about them, and scars appeared like purple threads through the hair on - their arms and faces. - </p> - <p> - The wraiths of their dead companions came back to their souls and - increased their energy; they felt, in a confused way, that they were the - ministers of a god diffused in the hearts of the oppressed, and were the - pontiffs, so to speak, of universal vengeance! Then they were enraged with - grief at what was extravagant injustice, and above all by the sight of - Carthage on the horizon. They swore an oath to fight for one another until - death. - </p> - <p> - The beasts of burden were killed, and as much as possible was eaten so as - to gain strength; afterwards they slept. Some prayed, turning towards - different constellations. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians arrived first in the plain. They rubbed the edges of - their shields with oil to make the arrows glide off them easily; the - foot-soldiers who wore long hair took the precaution of cutting it on the - forehead; and Hamilcar ordered all bowls to be inverted from the fifth - hour, knowing that it is disadvantageous to fight with the stomach too - full. His army amounted to fourteen thousand men, or about double the - number of the Barbarians. Nevertheless, he had never felt such anxiety; if - he succumbed it would mean the annihilation of the Republic, and he would - perish on the cross; if, on the contrary, he triumphed, he would reach - Italy by way of the Pyrenees, the Gauls, and the Alps, and the empire of - the Barcas would become eternal. Twenty times during the night he rose to - inspect everything himself, down to the most trifling details. As to the - Carthaginians, they were exasperated by their lengthened terror. Narr’ - Havas suspected the fidelity of his Numidians. Moreover, the Barbarians - might vanquish them. A strange weakness had come upon him; every moment he - drank large cups of water. - </p> - <p> - But a man whom he did not know opened his tent and laid on the ground a - crown of rock-salt, adorned with hieratic designs formed with sulphur, and - lozenges of mother-of-pearl; a marriage crown was sometimes sent to a - betrothed husband; it was a proof of love, a sort of invitation. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless Hamilcar’s daughter had no tenderness for Narr’ - Havas. - </p> - <p> - The recollection of Matho disturbed her in an intolerable manner; it - seemed to her that the death of this man would unburden her thoughts, just - as people to cure themselves of the bite of a viper crush it upon the - wound. The king of the Numidians was depending upon her; he awaited the - wedding with impatience, and, as it was to follow the victory, Salammbô - made him this present to stimulate his courage. Then his distress - vanished, and he thought only of the happiness of possessing so beautiful - a woman. - </p> - <p> - The same vision had assailed Matho; but he cast it from him immediately, - and his love, that he thus thrust back, was poured out upon his companions - in arms. He cherished them like portions of his own person, of his hatred,—and - he felt his spirit higher, and his arms stronger; everything that he was - to accomplish appeared clearly before him. If sighs sometimes escaped him, - it was because he was thinking of Spendius. - </p> - <p> - He drew up the Barbarians in six equal ranks. He posted the Etruscans in - the centre, all being fastened to a bronze chain; the archers were behind, - and on the wings he distributed the Naffurs, who were mounted on - short-haired camels, covered with ostrich feathers. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet arranged the Carthaginians in similar order. He placed the - Clinabarians outside the infantry next to the velites, and the Numidians - beyond; when day appeared, both sides were thus in line face to face. All - gazed at each other from a distance, with round fierce eyes. There was at - first some hesitation; at last both armies moved. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians advanced slowly so as not to become out of breath, beating - the ground with their feet; the centre of the Punic army formed a convex - curve. Then came the burst of a terrible shock, like the crash of two - fleets in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians had quickly opened - up, and the marksmen, hidden behind the others, discharged their bullets, - arrows, and javelins. The curve of the Carthaginians, however, flattened - by degrees, became quite straight, and then bent inwards; upon this, the - two sections of the velites drew together in parallel lines, like the legs - of a compass that is being closed. The Barbarians, who were attacking the - phalanx with fury, entered the gap; they were being lost; Matho checked - them,—and while the Carthaginian wings continued to advance, he drew - out the three inner ranks of his line; they soon covered his flanks, and - his army appeared in triple array. - </p> - <p> - But the Barbarians placed at the extremities were the weakest, especially - those on the left, who had exhausted their quivers, and the troop of - velites, which had at last come up against them, was cutting them up - greatly. - </p> - <p> - Matho made them fall back. His right comprised Campanians, who were armed - with axes; he hurled them against the Carthaginian left; the centre - attacked the enemy, and those at the other extremity, who were out of - peril, kept the velites at a distance. - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites between - them, and sent them against the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - Those cone-shaped masses presented a front of horses, and their broader - sides were filled and bristling with lances. The Barbarians found it - impossible to resist; the Greek foot-soldiers alone had brazen armour, all - the rest had cutlasses on the end of poles, scythes taken from the farms, - or swords manufactured out of the fellies of wheels; the soft blades were - twisted by a blow, and while they were engaged in straightening them under - their heels, the Carthaginians massacred them right and left at their - ease. - </p> - <p> - But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not stir; those who were - dead, being prevented from falling, formed an obstruction with their - corpses; and the great bronze line widened and contracted in turn, as - supple as a serpent, and as impregnable as a wall. The Barbarians would - come to re-form behind it, pant for a minute, and then set off again with - the fragments of their weapons in their hands. - </p> - <p> - Many already had none left, and they leaped upon the Carthaginians, biting - their faces like dogs. The Gauls in their pride stripped themselves of the - sagum; they showed their great white bodies from a distance, and they - enlarged their wounds to terrify the enemy. The voice of the crier - announcing the orders could no longer be heard in the midst of the Punic - syntagmata; their signals were being repeated by the standards, which were - raised above the dust, and every one was swept away in the swaying of the - great mass that surrounded him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar commanded the Numidians to advance. But the Naffurs rushed to - meet them. - </p> - <p> - Clad in vast black robes, with a tuft of hair on the top of the skull, and - a shield of rhinoceros leather, they wielded a steel which had no handle, - and which they held by a rope; and their camels, which bristled all over - with feathers, uttered long, hoarse cluckings. Each blade fell on a - precise spot, then rose again with a smart stroke carrying off a limb with - it. The fierce beasts galloped through the syntagmata. Some, whose legs - were broken, went hopping along like wounded ostriches. - </p> - <p> - The Punic infantry turned in a body upon the Barbarians, and cut them off. - Their maniples wheeled about at intervals from one another. The more - brilliant Carthaginian weapons encircled them like golden crowns; there - was a swarming movement in the centre, and the sun, striking down upon the - points of the swords, made them glitter with white flickering gleams. - However, files of Clinabarians lay stretched upon the plain; some - Mercenaries snatched away their armour, clothed themselves in it, and then - returned to the fray. The deluded Carthaginians were several times - entangled in their midst. They would stand stupidly motionless, or else - would back, surge again, and triumphant shouts rising in the distance - seemed to drive them along like derelicts in a storm. Hamilcar was growing - desperate; all was about to perish beneath the genius of Matho and the - invincible courage of the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - But a great noise of tabourines burst forth on the horizon. It was a crowd - of old men, sick persons, children of fifteen years of age, and even - women, who, being unable to withstand their distress any longer, had set - out from Carthage, and, for the purpose of placing themselves under the - protection of something formidable, had taken from Hamilcar’s palace - the only elephant that the Republic now possessed,—that one, namely, - whose trunk had been cut off. - </p> - <p> - Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their country, forsaking its - walls, was coming to command them to die for her. They were seized with - increased fury, and the Numidians carried away all the rest. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians had set themselves with their backs to a hillock in the - centre of the plain. They had no chance of conquering, or even of - surviving; but they were the best, the most intrepid, and the strongest. - </p> - <p> - The people from Carthage began to throw spits, larding-pins and hammers, - over the heads of the Numidians; those whom consuls had feared died - beneath sticks hurled by women; the Punic populace was exterminating the - Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - The latter had taken refuge on the top of the hill. Their circle closed up - after every fresh breach; twice it descended to be immediately repulsed - with a shock; and the Carthaginians stretched forth their arms pell-mell, - thrusting their pikes between the legs of their companions, and raking at - random before them. They slipped in the blood; the steep slope of the - ground made the corpses roll to the bottom. The elephant, which was trying - to climb the hillock, was up to its belly; it seemed to be crawling over - them with delight; and its shortened trunk, which was broad at the - extremity, rose from time to time like an enormous leech. - </p> - <p> - Then all paused. The Carthaginians ground their teeth as they gazed at the - hill, where the Barbarians were standing. - </p> - <p> - At last they dashed at them abruptly, and the fight began again. The - Mercenaries would often let them approach, shouting to them that they - wished to surrender; then, with frightful sneers, they would kill - themselves at a blow, and as the dead fell, the rest would mount upon them - to defend themselves. It was a kind of pyramid, which grew larger by - degrees. - </p> - <p> - Soon there were only fifty, then only twenty, only three, and lastly only - two—a Samnite armed with an axe, and Matho who still had his sword. - </p> - <p> - The Samnite with bent hams swept his axe alternately to the right and - left, at the same time warning Matho of the blows that were being aimed at - him. “Master, this way! that way! stoop down!” - </p> - <p> - Matho had lost his shoulder-pieces, his helmet, his cuirass; he was - completely naked, and more livid than the dead, with his hair quite erect, - and two patches of foam at the corners of his lips,—and his sword - whirled so rapidly that it formed an aureola around him. A stone broke it - near the guard; the Samnite was killed and the flood of Carthaginians - closed in, they touched Matho. Then he raised both his empty hands towards - heaven, closed his eyes, and, opening out his arms like a man throwing - himself from the summit of a promontory into the sea, hurled himself among - the pikes. - </p> - <p> - They moved away before him. Several times he ran against the - Carthaginians. But they always drew back and turned their weapons aside. - </p> - <p> - His foot struck against a sword. Matho tried to seize it. He felt himself - tied by the wrists and knees, and fell. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had been following him for some time, step by step, with - one of the large nets used for capturing wild beasts, and, taking - advantage of the moment when he stooped down, had involved him in it. - </p> - <p> - Then he was fastened on the elephants with his four limbs forming a cross; - and all those who were not wounded escorted him, and rushed with great - tumult towards Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The news of the victory had arrived in some inexplicable way at the third - hour of the night; the clepsydra of Khamon had just completed the fifth as - they reached Malqua; then Matho opened his eyes. There were so many lights - in the houses that the town appeared to be all in flames. - </p> - <p> - An immense clamour reached him dimly; and lying on his back he looked at - the stars. - </p> - <p> - Then a door closed and he was wrapped in darkness. - </p> - <p> - On the morrow, at the same hour, the last of the men left in the Pass of - the Hatchet expired. - </p> - <p> - On the day that their companions had set out, some Zuaeces who were - returning had tumbled the rocks down, and had fed them for some time. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians constantly expected to see Matho appear,—and from - discouragement, from languor, and from the obstinacy of sick men who - object to change their situation, they would not leave the mountain; at - last the provisions were exhausted and the Zuaeces went away. It was known - that they numbered scarcely more than thirteen hundred men, and there was - no need to employ soldiers to put an end to them. - </p> - <p> - Wild beasts, especially lions, had multiplied during the three years that - the war had lasted. Narr’ Havas had held a great battue, and—after - tying goats at intervals—had run upon them and so driven them - towards the Pass of the Hatchet;—and they were now all living in it - when a man arrived who had been sent by the Ancients to find out what - there was left of the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - Lions and corpses were lying over the tract of the plain, and the dead - were mingled with clothes and armour. Nearly all had the face or an arm - wanting; some appeared to be still intact; others were completely dried - up, and their helmets were filled with powdery skulls; feet which had lost - their flesh stood out straight from the knemides; skeletons still wore - their cloaks; and bones, cleaned by the sun, made gleaming spots in the - midst of the sand. - </p> - <p> - The lions were resting with their breasts against the ground and both paws - stretched out, winking their eyelids in the bright daylight, which was - heightened by the reflection from the white rocks. Others were seated on - their hind-quarters and staring before them, or else were sleeping, rolled - into a ball and half hidden by their great manes; they all looked well - fed, tired, and dull. They were as motionless as the mountain and the - dead. Night was falling; the sky was striped with broad red bands in the - west. - </p> - <p> - In one of the heaps, which in an irregular fashion embossed the plain, - something rose up vaguer than a spectre. Then one of the lions set himself - in motion, his monstrous form cutting a black shadow on the background of - the purple sky, and when he was quite close to the man, he knocked him - down with a single blow of his paw. - </p> - <p> - Then, stretching himself flat upon him, he slowly drew out the entrails - with the edge of his teeth. - </p> - <p> - Afterwards he opened his huge jaws, and for some minutes uttered a - lengthened roar which was repeated by the echoes in the mountain, and was - finally lost in the solitude. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly some small gravel rolled down from above. The rustling of rapid - steps was heard, and in the direction of the portcullis and of the gorge - there appeared pointed muzzles and straight ears, with gleaming, tawny - eyes. These were the jackals coming to eat what was left. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginian, who was leaning over the top of the precipice to look, - went back again. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"></a> - CHAPTER XV - </h2> - <h3> - MATHO - </h3> - <p> - There were rejoicings at Carthage,—rejoicings deep, universal, - extravagant, frantic; the holes of the ruins had been stopped up, the - statues of the gods had been repainted, the streets were strewn with - myrtle branches, incense smoked at the corners of the crossways, and the - throng on the terraces looked, in their variegated garments, like heaps of - flowers blooming in the air. - </p> - <p> - The shouts of the water-carriers watering the pavement rose above the - continual screaming of voices; slaves belonging to Hamilcar offered in his - name roasted barley and pieces of raw meat; people accosted one another, - and embraced one another with tears; the Tyrian towns were taken, the - nomads dispersed, and all the Barbarians annihilated. The Acropolis was - hidden beneath coloured velaria; the beaks of the triremes, drawn up in - line outside the mole, shone like a dyke of diamonds; everywhere there was - a sense of the restoration of order, the beginning of a new existence, and - the diffusion of vast happiness: it was the day of Salammbô’s - marriage with the King of the Numidians. - </p> - <p> - On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables laden - with gigantic plate, at which the priests, Ancients, and the rich were to - sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar, Narr’ - Havas, and Salammbô; for as she had saved her country by the restoration - of the zaïmph, the people turned her wedding day into a national - rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she should appear. - </p> - <p> - But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing: Matho’s - death has been promised for the ceremony. - </p> - <p> - It had been proposed at first to flay him alive, to pour lead into his - entrails, to kill him with hunger; he should be tied to a tree, and an ape - behind him should strike him on the head with a stone; he had offended - Tanith, and the cynocephaluses of Tanith should avenge her. Others were of - opinion that he should be led about on a dromedary after linen wicks, - dipped in oil, had been inserted in his body in several places;—and - they took pleasure in the thought of the large animal wandering through - the streets with this man writhing beneath the fires like a candelabrum - blown about by the wind. - </p> - <p> - But what citizens should be charged with his torture, and why disappoint - the rest? They would have liked a kind of death in which the whole town - might take part, in which every hand, every weapon, everything - Carthaginian, to the very paving-stones in the streets and the waves in - the gulf, could rend him, and crush him, and annihilate him. Accordingly - the Ancients decided that he should go from his prison to the square of - Khamon without any escort, and with his arms fastened to his back; it was - forbidden to strike him to the heart, in order that he might live the - longer; to put out his eyes, so that he might see the torture through; to - hurl anything against his person, or to lay more than three fingers upon - him at a time. - </p> - <p> - Although he was not to appear until the end of the day, the people - sometimes fancied that he could be seen, and the crowd would rush towards - the Acropolis, and empty the streets, to return with lengthened - murmurings. Some people had remained standing in the same place since the - day before, and they would call on one another from a distance and show - their nails which they had allowed to grow, the better to bury them into - his flesh. Others walked restlessly up and down; some were as pale as - though they were awaiting their own execution. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian - district. It was Salammbô leaving her palace; a sigh of relief found vent. - </p> - <p> - But the procession was long in coming; it marched with deliberation. - </p> - <p> - First there filed past the priests of the Patæc Gods, then those of - Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other colleges in succession, with the - same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the time of - the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent, and the - multitude stood aside from them in a kind of remorse. But the priests of - Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in their hands; the - priestesses followed them in transparent robes of yellow or black, - uttering cries like birds and writhing like vipers, or else whirling round - to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of the stars, while their - light garments wafted puffs of delicate scents through the streets. - </p> - <p> - The Kedeschim, with painted eyelids, who symbolised the hermaphrodism of - the Divinity, received applause among these women, and, being perfumed and - dressed like them, they resembled them in spite of their flat breasts and - narrower hips. Moreover, on this day the female principle dominated and - confused all things; a mystic voluptuousness moved in the heavy air; the - torches were already lighted in the depths of the sacred woods; there was - to be a great celebration there during the night; three vessels had - brought courtesans from Sicily, and others had come from the desert. - </p> - <p> - As the colleges arrived they ranged themselves in the courts of the - temples, on the outer galleries, and along double staircases which rose - against the walls, and drew together at the top. Files of white robes - appeared between the colonnades, and the architecture was peopled with - human statues, motionless as statues of stone. - </p> - <p> - Then came the masters of the exchequer, the governors of the provinces, - and all the rich. A great tumult prevailed below. Adjacent streets were - discharging the crowd, hierodules were driving it back with blows of - sticks; and then Salammbô appeared in a litter surmounted by a purple - canopy, and surrounded by the Ancients crowned with their golden tiaras. - </p> - <p> - Thereupon an immense shout arose; the cymbals and crotala sounded more - loudly, the tabourines thundered, and the great purple canopy sank between - the two pylons. - </p> - <p> - It appeared again on the first landing. Salammbô was walking slowly - beneath it; then she crossed the terrace to take her seat behind on a kind - of throne cut out of the carapace of a tortoise. An ivory stool with three - steps was pushed beneath her feet; two Negro children knelt on the edge of - the first step, and sometimes she would rest both arms, which were laden - with rings of excessive weight, upon their heads. - </p> - <p> - From ankle to hip she was covered with a network of narrow meshes which - were in imitation of fish scales, and shone like mother-of-pearl; her - waist was clasped by a blue zone, which allowed her breasts to be seen - through two crescent-shaped slashings; the nipples were hidden by - carbuncle pendants. She had a headdress made of peacock’s feathers - studded with gems; an ample cloak, as white as snow, fell behind her,—and - with her elbows at her sides, her knees pressed together, and circles of - diamonds on the upper part of her arms, she remained perfectly upright in - a hieratic attitude. - </p> - <p> - Her father and her husband were on two lower seats, Narr’ Havas - dressed in a light simar and wearing his crown of rock-salt, from which - there strayed two tresses of hair as twisted as the horns of Ammon; and - Hamilcar in a violet tunic figured with gold vine branches, and with a - battle-sword at his side. - </p> - <p> - The python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on the ground amid pools of pink - oil in the space enclosed by the tables, and, biting its tail, described a - large black circle. In the middle of the circle there was a copper pillar - bearing a crystal egg; and, as the sun shone upon it, rays were emitted on - every side. - </p> - <p> - Behind Salammbô stretched the priests of Tanith in linen robes; on her - right the Ancients, in their tiaras, formed a great gold line, and on the - other side the rich with their emerald sceptres a great green line,—while - quite in the background, where the priests of Moloch were ranged, the - cloaks looked like a wall of purple. The other colleges occupied the lower - terraces. The multitude obstructed the streets. It reached to the - house-tops, and extended in long files to the summit of the Acropolis. - Having thus the people at her feet, the firmament above her head, and - around her the immensity of the sea, the gulf, the mountains, and the - distant provinces, Salammbô in her splendour was blended with Tanith, and - seemed the very genius of Carthage, and its embodied soul. - </p> - <p> - The feast was to last all night, and lamps with several branches were - planted like trees on the painted woollen cloths which covered the low - tables. Large electrum flagons, blue glass amphoras, tortoise-shell - spoons, and small round loaves were crowded between the double row of - pearl-bordered plates; bunches of grapes with their leaves had been rolled - round ivory vine-stocks after the fashion of the thyrsus; blocks of snow - were melting on ebony trays, and lemons, pomegranates, gourds, and - watermelons formed hillocks beneath the lofty silver plate; boars with - open jaws were wallowing in the dust of spices; hares, covered with their - fur, appeared to be bounding amid the flowers; there were shells filled - with forcemeat; the pastry had symbolic shapes; when the covers of the - dishes were removed doves flew out. - </p> - <p> - The slaves, meanwhile, with tunics tucked up, were going about on tiptoe; - from time to time a hymn sounded on the lyres, or a choir of voices rose. - The clamour of the people, continuous as the noise of the sea, floated - vaguely around the feast, and seemed to lull it in a broader harmony; some - recalled the banquet of the Mercenaries; they gave themselves up to dreams - of happiness; the sun was beginning to go down, and the crescent of the - moon was already rising in another part of the sky. - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô turned her head as though some one had called her; the - people, who were watching her, followed the direction of her eyes. - </p> - <p> - The door of the dungeon, hewn in the rock at the foot of the temple, on - the summit of the Acropolis, had just opened; and a man was standing on - the threshold of this black hole. - </p> - <p> - He came forth bent double, with the scared look of fallow deer when - suddenly enlarged. - </p> - <p> - The light dazzled him; he stood motionless awhile. All had recognised him, - and they held their breath. - </p> - <p> - In their eyes the body of this victim was something peculiarly theirs, and - was adorned with almost religious splendour. They bent forward to see him, - especially the women. They burned to gaze upon him who had caused the - deaths of their children and husbands; and from the bottom of their souls - there sprang up in spite of themselves an infamous curiosity, a desire to - know him completely, a wish mingled with remorse which turned to increased - execration. - </p> - <p> - At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared. - Numbers of arms were raised, and he was lost to sight. - </p> - <p> - The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as - though he were rolled down in a torrent from the top of a mountain; three - times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his feet. - </p> - <p> - His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks; and - he made such efforts to burst his bonds that his arms, which were crossed - on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent. - </p> - <p> - Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which he - found himself. In each of them a triple row of bronze chains fastened to - the navels of the Patæc gods extended in parallel lines from one end to - the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, and servants, - belonging to the Ancients, walked in the middle brandishing thongs. - </p> - <p> - One of them drove him forward with a great blow; Matho began to move. - </p> - <p> - They thrust their arms over the chains shouting out that the road had been - left too wide for him; and he passed along, felt, pricked, and slashed by - all those fingers; when he reached the end of one street another appeared; - several times he flung himself to one side to bite them; they speedily - dispersed, the chains held him back, and the crowd burst out laughing. - </p> - <p> - A child rent his ear; a young girl, hiding the point of a spindle in her - sleeve, split his cheek; they tore handfuls of hair from him and strips of - flesh; others smeared his face with sponges steeped in filth and fastened - upon sticks. A stream of blood started from the right side of his neck, - frenzy immediately set in. This last Barbarian was to them a - representative of all the Barbarians, and all the army; they were taking - vengeance on him for their disasters, their terrors, and their shame. The - rage of the mob developed with its gratification; the curving chains were - over-strained, and were on the point of breaking; the people did not feel - the blows of the slaves who struck at them to drive them back; some clung - to the projections of the houses; all the openings in the walls were - stopped up with heads; and they howled at him the mischief that they could - not inflict upon him. - </p> - <p> - It was atrocious, filthy abuse mingled with ironical encouragements and - imprecations; and, his present tortures not being enough for them, they - foretold to him others that should be still more terrible in eternity. - </p> - <p> - This vast baying filled Carthage with stupid continuity. Frequently a - single syllable—a hoarse, deep, and frantic intonation—would - be repeated for several minutes by the entire people. The walls would - vibrate with it from top to bottom, and both sides of the street would - seem to Matho to be coming against him, and carrying him off the ground, - like two immense arms stifling him in the air. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless he remembered that he had experienced something like it - before. The same crowd was on the terraces, there were the same looks and - the same wrath; but then he had walked free, all had then dispersed, for a - god covered him;—and the recollection of this, gaining precision by - degrees, brought a crushing sadness upon him. Shadows passed before his - eyes; the town whirled round in his head, his blood streamed from a wound - in his hip, he felt that he was dying; his hams bent, and he sank quite - gently upon the pavement. - </p> - <p> - Some one went to the peristyle of the temple of Melkarth, took thence the - bar of a tripod, heated red hot in the coals, and, slipping it beneath the - first chain, pressed it against his wound. The flesh was seen to smoke; - the hootings of the people drowned his voice; he was standing again. - </p> - <p> - Six paces further on, and he fell a third and again a fourth time; but - some new torture always made him rise. They discharged little drops of - boiling oil through tubes at him; they strewed pieces of broken glass - beneath his feet; still he walked on. At the corner of the street of - Satheb he leaned his back against the wall beneath the pent-house of a - shop, and advanced no further. - </p> - <p> - The slaves of the Council struck him with their whips of hippopotamus - leather, so furiously and long that the fringes of their tunics were - drenched with sweat. Matho appeared insensible; suddenly he started off - and began to run at random, making a noise with his lips like one - shivering with severe cold. He threaded the street of Boudes, and the - street of Soepo, crossed the Green Market, and reached the square of - Khamon. - </p> - <p> - He now belonged to the priests; the slaves had just dispersed the crowd, - and there was more room. Matho gazed round him and his eyes encountered - Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - At the first step that he had taken she had risen; then, as he approached, - she had involuntarily advanced by degrees to the edge of the terrace; and - soon all external things were blotted out, and she saw only Matho. Silence - fell in her soul,—one of those abysses wherein the whole world - disappears beneath the pressure of a single thought, a memory, a look. - This man who was walking towards her attracted her. - </p> - <p> - Excepting his eyes he had no appearance of humanity left; he was a long, - perfectly red shape; his broken bonds hung down his thighs, but they could - not be distinguished from the tendons of his wrists, which were laid quite - bare; his mouth remained wide open; from his eye-sockets there darted - flames which seemed to rise up to his hair;—and the wretch still - walked on! - </p> - <p> - He reached the foot of the terrace. Salammbô was leaning over the - balustrade; those frightful eyeballs were scanning her, and there rose - within her a consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. Although - he was in his death agony she could see him once more kneeling in his - tent, encircling her waist with his arms, and stammering out gentle words; - she thirsted to feel them and hear them again; she did not want him to - die! At this moment Matho gave a great start; she was on the point of - shrieking aloud. He fell backwards and did not stir again. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô was borne back, nearly swooning, to her throne by the priests who - flocked about her. They congratulated her; it was her work. All clapped - their hands and stamped their feet, howling her name. - </p> - <p> - A man darted upon the corpse. Although he had no beard he had the cloak of - a priest of Moloch on his shoulder, and in his belt that species of knife - which they employed for cutting up the sacred meat, and which terminated, - at the end of the handle, in a golden spatula. He cleft Matho’s - breast with a single blow, then snatched out the heart and laid it upon - the spoon; and Schahabarim, uplifting his arm, offered it to the sun. - </p> - <p> - The sun sank behind the waves; his rays fell like long arrows upon the red - heart. As the beatings diminished the planet sank into the sea; and at the - last palpitation it disappeared. - </p> - <p> - Then from the gulf to the lagoon, and from the isthmus to the pharos, in - all the streets, on all the houses, and on all the temples, there was a - single shout; sometimes it paused, to be again renewed; the buildings - shook with it; Carthage was convulsed, as it were, in the spasm of Titanic - joy and boundless hope. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas, drunk with pride, passed his left arm beneath Salammbô’s - waist in token of possession; and taking a gold patera in his right hand, - he drank to the Genius of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô rose like her husband, with a cup in her hand, to drink also. She - fell down again with her head lying over the back of the throne,—pale, - stiff, with parted lips,—and her loosened hair hung to the ground. - </p> - <p> - Thus died Hamilcar’s daughter for having touched the mantle of - Tanith. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALAMMBÔ ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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The -soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily were having a great feast to -celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Eryx, and as the master was -away, and they were numerous, they ate and drank with perfect freedom. - -The captains, who wore bronze cothurni, had placed themselves in the -central path, beneath a gold-fringed purple awning, which reached from -the wall of the stables to the first terrace of the palace; the common -soldiers were scattered beneath the trees, where numerous flat-roofed -buildings might be seen, wine-presses, cellars, storehouses, bakeries, -and arsenals, with a court for elephants, dens for wild beasts, and a -prison for slaves. - -Fig-trees surrounded the kitchens; a wood of sycamores stretched away to -meet masses of verdure, where the pomegranate shone amid the white tufts -of the cotton-plant; vines, grape-laden, grew up into the branches of -the pines; a field of roses bloomed beneath the plane-trees; here and -there lilies rocked upon the turf; the paths were strewn with black sand -mingled with powdered coral, and in the centre the avenue of cypress -formed, as it were, a double colonnade of green obelisks from one -extremity to the other. - -Far in the background stood the palace, built of yellow mottled Numidian -marble, broad courses supporting its four terraced stories. With its -large, straight, ebony staircase, bearing the prow of a vanquished -galley at the corners of every step, its red doors quartered with black -crosses, its brass gratings protecting it from scorpions below, and its -trellises of gilded rods closing the apertures above, it seemed to the -soldiers in its haughty opulence as solemn and impenetrable as the face -of Hamilcar. - -The Council had appointed his house for the holding of this feast; the -convalescents lying in the temple of Eschmoun had set out at daybreak -and dragged themselves thither on their crutches. Every minute others -were arriving. They poured in ceaselessly by every path like torrents -rushing into a lake; through the trees the slaves of the kitchens might -be seen running scared and half-naked; the gazelles fled bleating on the -lawns; the sun was setting, and the perfume of citron trees rendered the -exhalation from the perspiring crowd heavier still. - -Men of all nations were there, Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearians, -Negroes, and fugitives from Rome. Beside the heavy Dorian dialect were -audible the resonant Celtic syllables rattling like chariots of war, -while Ionian terminations conflicted with consonants of the desert -as harsh as the jackal’s cry. The Greek might be recognised by his -slender figure, the Egyptian by his elevated shoulders, the Cantabrian -by his broad calves. There were Carians proudly nodding their helmet -plumes, Cappadocian archers displaying large flowers painted on their -bodies with the juice of herbs, and a few Lydians in women’s robes, -dining in slippers and earrings. Others were ostentatiously daubed with -vermilion, and resembled coral statues. - -They stretched themselves on the cushions, they ate squatting round -large trays, or lying face downwards they drew out the pieces of meat -and sated themselves, leaning on their elbows in the peaceful posture -of lions tearing their prey. The last comers stood leaning against the -trees watching the low tables half hidden beneath the scarlet coverings, -and awaiting their turn. - -Hamilcar’s kitchens being insufficient, the Council had sent them -slaves, ware, and beds, and in the middle of the garden, as on a -battle-field when they burn the dead, large bright fires might be seen, -at which oxen were roasting. Anise-sprinkled loaves alternated with -great cheeses heavier than discuses, crateras filled with wine, -and cantharuses filled with water, together with baskets of gold -filigree-work containing flowers. Every eye was dilated with the joy of -being able at last to gorge at pleasure, and songs were beginning here -and there. - -First they were served with birds and green sauce in plates of red clay -relieved by drawings in black, then with every kind of shell-fish that -is gathered on the Punic coasts, wheaten porridge, beans and barley, and -snails dressed with cumin on dishes of yellow amber. - -Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their -horns, peacocks with their feathers, whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, -haunches of she-camels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried -grasshoppers, and preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in the -midst of saffron in bowls of Tamrapanni wood. Everything was running -over with wine, truffles, and asafotida. Pyramids of fruit were -crumbling upon honeycombs, and they had not forgotten a few of those -plump little dogs with pink silky hair and fattened on olive lees,—a -Carthaginian dish held in abhorrence among other nations. Surprise at -the novel fare excited the greed of the stomach. The Gauls with -their long hair drawn up on the crown of the head, snatched at the -water-melons and lemons, and crunched them up with the rind. The -Negroes, who had never seen a lobster, tore their faces with its red -prickles. But the shaven Greeks, whiter than marble, threw the leavings -of their plates behind them, while the herdsmen from Brutium, in their -wolf-skin garments, devoured in silence with their faces in their -portions. - -Night fell. The velarium, spread over the cypress avenue, was drawn -back, and torches were brought. - -The apes, sacred to the moon, were terrified on the cedar tops by the -wavering lights of the petroleum as it burned in the porphyry vases. -They uttered screams which afforded mirth to the soldiers. - -Oblong flames trembled in cuirasses of brass. Every kind of -scintillation flashed from the gem-incrusted dishes. The crateras with -their borders of convex mirrors multiplied and enlarged the images of -things; the soldiers thronged around, looking at their reflections with -amazement, and grimacing to make themselves laugh. They tossed the ivory -stools and golden spatulas to one another across the tables. They gulped -down all the Greek wines in their leathern bottles, the Campanian wine -enclosed in amphoras, the Cantabrian wines brought in casks, with the -wines of the jujube, cinnamomum and lotus. There were pools of these on -the ground that made the foot slip. The smoke of the meats ascended into -the foliage with the vapour of the breath. Simultaneously were heard -the snapping of jaws, the noise of speech, songs, and cups, the crash of -Campanian vases shivering into a thousand pieces, or the limpid sound of -a large silver dish. - -In proportion as their intoxication increased they more and more -recalled the injustice of Carthage. The Republic, in fact, exhausted by -the war, had allowed all the returning bands to accumulate in the town. -Gisco, their general, had however been prudent enough to send them back -severally in order to facilitate the liquidation of their pay, and -the Council had believed that they would in the end consent to some -reduction. But at present ill-will was caused by the inability to pay -them. This debt was confused in the minds of the people with the 3200 -Euboic talents exacted by Lutatius, and equally with Rome they were -regarded as enemies to Carthage. The Mercenaries understood this, and -their indignation found vent in threats and outbreaks. At last they -demanded permission to assemble to celebrate one of their victories, -and the peace party yielded, at the same time revenging themselves on -Hamilcar who had so strongly upheld the war. It had been terminated -notwithstanding all his efforts, so that, despairing of Carthage, he -had entrusted the government of the Mercenaries to Gisco. To appoint his -palace for their reception was to draw upon him something of the hatred -which was borne to them. Moreover, the expense must be excessive, and he -would incur nearly the whole. - -Proud of having brought the Republic to submit, the Mercenaries thought -that they were at last about to return to their homes with the payment -for their blood in the hoods of their cloaks. But as seen through the -mists of intoxication, their fatigues seemed to them prodigious and but -ill-rewarded. They showed one another their wounds, they told of their -combats, their travels and the hunting in their native lands. They -imitated the cries and the leaps of wild beasts. Then came unclean -wagers; they buried their heads in the amphoras and drank on without -interruption, like thirsty dromedaries. A Lusitanian of gigantic stature -ran over the tables, carrying a man in each hand at arm’s length, and -spitting out fire through his nostrils. Some Lacedæmonians, who had not -taken off their cuirasses, were leaping with a heavy step. Some advanced -like women, making obscene gestures; others stripped naked to fight amid -the cups after the fashion of gladiators, and a company of Greeks danced -around a vase whereon nymphs were to be seen, while a Negro tapped with -an ox-bone on a brazen buckler. - -Suddenly they heard a plaintive song, a song loud and soft, rising and -falling in the air like the wing-beating of a wounded bird. - -It was the voice of the slaves in the ergastulum. Some soldiers rose at -a bound to release them and disappeared. - -They returned, driving through the dust amid shouts, twenty men, -distinguished by their greater paleness of face. Small black felt caps -of conical shape covered their shaven heads; they all wore wooden shoes, -and yet made a noise as of old iron like driving chariots. - -They reached the avenue of cypress, where they were lost among the crowd -of those questioning them. One of them remained apart, standing. Through -the rents in his tunic his shoulders could be seen striped with long -scars. Drooping his chin, he looked round him with distrust, closing his -eyelids somewhat against the dazzling light of the torches, but when -he saw that none of the armed men were unfriendly to him, a great sigh -escaped from his breast; he stammered, he sneered through the bright -tears that bathed his face. At last he seized a brimming cantharus by -its rings, raised it straight up into the air with his outstretched -arms, from which his chains hung down, and then looking to heaven, and -still holding the cup he said: - -“Hail first to thee, Baal-Eschmoun, the deliverer, whom the people of -my country call Æsculapius! and to you, genii of the fountains, light, -and woods! and to you, ye gods hidden beneath the mountains and in the -caverns of the earth! and to you, strong men in shining armour who have -set me free!” - -Then he let fall the cup and related his history. He was called -Spendius. The Carthaginians had taken him in the battle of Æginusæ, -and he thanked the Mercenaries once more in Greek, Ligurian and Punic; -he kissed their hands; finally, he congratulated them on the banquet, -while expressing his surprise at not perceiving the cups of the Sacred -Legion. These cups, which bore an emerald vine on each of their -six golden faces, belonged to a corps composed exclusively of young -patricians of the tallest stature. They were a privilege, almost a -sacerdotal distinction, and accordingly nothing among the treasures -of the Republic was more coveted by the Mercenaries. They detested the -Legion on this account, and some of them had been known to risk their -lives for the inconceivable pleasure of drinking out of these cups. - -Accordingly they commanded that the cups should be brought. They were -in the keeping of the Syssitia, companies of traders, who had a common -table. The slaves returned. At that hour all the members of the Syssitia -were asleep. - -“Let them be awakened!” responded the Mercenaries. - -After a second excursion it was explained to them that the cups were -shut up in a temple. - -“Let it be opened!” they replied. - -And when the slaves confessed with trembling that they were in the -possession of Gisco, the general, they cried out: - -“Let him bring them!” - -Gisco soon appeared at the far end of the garden with an escort of the -Sacred Legion. His full, black cloak, which was fastened on his head to -a golden mitre starred with precious stones, and which hung all about -him down to his horse’s hoofs, blended in the distance with the colour -of the night. His white beard, the radiancy of his head-dress, and his -triple necklace of broad blue plates beating against his breast, were -alone visible. - -When he entered, the soldiers greeted him with loud shouts, all crying: - -“The cups! The cups!” - -He began by declaring that if reference were had to their courage, they -were worthy of them. - -The crowd applauded and howled with joy. - -He knew it, he who had commanded them over yonder, and had returned with -the last cohort in the last galley! - -“True! True!” said they. - -Nevertheless, Gisco continued, the Republic had respected their national -divisions, their customs, and their modes of worship; in Carthage -they were free! As to the cups of the Sacred Legion, they were private -property. Suddenly a Gaul, who was close to Spendius, sprang over the -tables and ran straight up to Gisco, gesticulating and threatening him -with two naked swords. - -Without interrupting his speech, the General struck him on the head with -his heavy ivory staff, and the Barbarian fell. The Gauls howled, and -their frenzy, which was spreading to the others, would soon have swept -away the legionaries. Gisco shrugged his shoulders as he saw them -growing pale. He thought that his courage would be useless against these -exasperated brute beasts. It would be better to revenge himself upon -them by some artifice later; accordingly, he signed to his soldiers and -slowly withdrew. Then, turning in the gateway towards the Mercenaries, -he cried to them that they would repent of it. - -The feast recommenced. But Gisco might return, and by surrounding the -suburb, which was beside the last ramparts, might crush them against the -walls. Then they felt themselves alone in spite of their crowd, and the -great town sleeping beneath them in the shade suddenly made them afraid, -with its piles of staircases, its lofty black houses, and its vague gods -fiercer even than its people. In the distance a few ships’-lanterns -were gliding across the harbour, and there were lights in the temple of -Khamon. They thought of Hamilcar. Where was he? Why had he forsaken -them when peace was concluded? His differences with the Council were -doubtless but a pretence in order to destroy them. Their unsatisfied -hate recoiled upon him, and they cursed him, exasperating one another -with their own anger. At this juncture they collected together beneath -the plane-trees to see a slave who, with eyeballs fixed, neck contorted, -and lips covered with foam, was rolling on the ground, and beating the -soil with his limbs. Some one cried out that he was poisoned. All then -believed themselves poisoned. They fell upon the slaves, a terrible -clamour was raised, and a vertigo of destruction came like a whirlwind -upon the drunken army. They struck about them at random, they smashed, -they slew; some hurled torches into the foliage; others, leaning over -the lions’ balustrade, massacred the animals with arrows; the most -daring ran to the elephants, desiring to cut down their trunks and eat -ivory. - -Some Balearic slingers, however, who had gone round the corner of the -palace, in order to pillage more conveniently, were checked by a lofty -barrier, made of Indian cane. They cut the lock-straps with their -daggers, and then found themselves beneath the front that faced -Carthage, in another garden full of trimmed vegetation. Lines of white -flowers all following one another in regular succession formed long -parabolas like star-rockets on the azure-coloured earth. The gloomy -bushes exhaled warm and honied odours. There were trunks of trees -smeared with cinnabar, which resembled columns covered with blood. In -the centre were twelve pedestals, each supporting a great glass ball, -and these hollow globes were indistinctly filled with reddish lights, -like enormous and still palpitating eyeballs. The soldiers lighted -themselves with torches as they stumbled on the slope of the deeply -laboured soil. - -But they perceived a little lake divided into several basins by walls -of blue stones. So limpid was the wave that the flames of the torches -quivered in it at the very bottom, on a bed of white pebbles and golden -dust. It began to bubble, luminous spangles glided past, and great fish -with gems about their mouths, appeared near the surface. - -With much laughter the soldiers slipped their fingers into the gills and -brought them to the tables. They were the fish of the Barca family, and -were all descended from those primordial lotes which had hatched the -mystic egg wherein the goddess was concealed. The idea of committing -a sacrilege revived the greediness of the Mercenaries; they speedily -placed fire beneath some brazen vases, and amused themselves by watching -the beautiful fish struggling in the boiling water. - -The surge of soldiers pressed on. They were no longer afraid. They -commenced to drink again. Their ragged tunics were wet with the perfumes -that flowed in large drops from their foreheads, and resting both fists -on the tables, which seemed to them to be rocking like ships, they -rolled their great drunken eyes around to devour by sight what they -could not take. Others walked amid the dishes on the purple table -covers, breaking ivory stools, and phials of Tyrian glass to pieces with -their feet. Songs mingled with the death-rattle of the slaves expiring -amid the broken cups. They demanded wine, meat, gold. They cried out for -women. They raved in a hundred languages. Some thought that they were at -the vapour baths on account of the steam which floated around them, -or else, catching sight of the foliage, imagined that they were at -the chase, and rushed upon their companions as upon wild beasts. The -conflagration spread to all the trees, one after another, and the lofty -mosses of verdure, emitting long white spirals, looked like volcanoes -beginning to smoke. The clamour redoubled; the wounded lions roared in -the shade. - -In an instant the highest terrace of the palace was illuminated, the -central door opened, and a woman, Hamilcar’s daughter herself, clothed -in black garments, appeared on the threshold. She descended the first -staircase, which ran obliquely along the first story, then the second, -and the third, and stopped on the last terrace at the head of the galley -staircase. Motionless and with head bent, she gazed upon the soldiers. - -Behind her, on each side, were two long shadows of pale men, clad in -white, red-fringed robes, which fell straight to their feet. They had no -beard, no hair, no eyebrows. In their hands, which sparkled with rings, -they carried enormous lyres, and with shrill voice they sang a hymn to -the divinity of Carthage. They were the eunuch priests of the temple of -Tanith, who were often summoned by Salammbô to her house. - -At last she descended the galley staircase. The priests followed her. -She advanced into the avenue of cypress, and walked slowly through the -tables of the captains, who drew back somewhat as they watched her pass. - -Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the -form of a tower, after the fashion of the Chanaanite maidens, added to -her height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell to -the corners of her mouth, which was as rosy as a half-open pomegranate. -On her breast was a collection of luminous stones, their variegation -imitating the scales of the murena. Her arms were adorned with diamonds, -and issued naked from her sleeveless tunic, which was starred with -red flowers on a perfectly black ground. Between her ankles she wore a -golden chainlet to regulate her steps, and her large dark purple mantle, -cut of an unknown material, trailed behind her, making, as it were, at -each step, a broad wave which followed her. - -The priests played nearly stifled chords on their lyres from time to -time, and in the intervals of the music might be heard the tinkling of -the little golden chain, and the regular patter of her papyrus sandals. - -No one as yet was acquainted with her. It was only known that she led a -retired life, engaged in pious practices. Some soldiers had seen her in -the night on the summit of her palace kneeling before the stars amid the -eddyings from kindled perfuming-pans. It was the moon that had made her -so pale, and there was something from the gods that enveloped her like a -subtle vapour. Her eyes seemed to gaze far beyond terrestrial space. She -bent her head as she walked, and in her right hand she carried a little -ebony lyre. - -They heard her murmur: - -“Dead! All dead! No more will you come obedient to my voice as when, -seated on the edge of the lake, I used to throw seeds of the watermelon -into your mouths! The mystery of Tanith ranged in the depths of your -eyes that were more limpid than the globules of rivers.” And she called -them by their names, which were those of the months—“Siv! Sivan! -Tammouz, Eloul, Tischri, Schebar! Ah! have pity on me, goddess!” - -The soldiers thronged about her without understanding what she said. -They wondered at her attire, but she turned a long frightened look upon -them all, then sinking her head beneath her shoulders, and waving her -arms, she repeated several times: - -“What have you done? what have you done? - -“Yet you had bread, and meats and oil, and all the malobathrum of the -granaries for your enjoyment! I had brought oxen from Hecatompylos; -I had sent hunters into the desert!” Her voice swelled; her cheeks -purpled. She added, “Where, pray, are you now? In a conquered town, -or in the palace of a master? And what master? Hamilcar the Suffet, my -father, the servant of the Baals! It was he who withheld from Lutatius -those arms of yours, red now with the blood of his slaves! Know you of -any in your own lands more skilled in the conduct of battles? Look! our -palace steps are encumbered with our victories! Ah! desist not! burn -it! I will carry away with me the genius of my house, my black serpent -slumbering up yonder on lotus leaves! I will whistle and he will follow -me, and if I embark in a galley he will speed in the wake of my ship -over the foam of the waves.” - -Her delicate nostrils were quivering. She crushed her nails against the -gems on her bosom. Her eyes drooped, and she resumed: - -“Ah! poor Carthage! lamentable city! No longer hast thou for thy -protection the strong men of former days who went beyond the oceans to -build temples on their shores. All the lands laboured about thee, and -the sea-plains, ploughed by thine oars, rocked with thy harvests.” -Then she began to sing the adventures of Melkarth, the god of the -Sidonians, and the father of her family. - -She told of the ascent of the mountains of Ersiphonia, the journey to -Tartessus, and the war against Masisabal to avenge the queen of the -serpents: - -“He pursued the female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead -leaves like a silver brook, into the forest, and came to a plain where -women with dragon-croups were round a great fire, standing erect on the -points of their tails. The blood-coloured moon was shining within a -pale circle, and their scarlet tongues, cloven like the harpoons of -fishermen, reached curling forth to the very edge of the flame.” - -Then Salammbô, without pausing, related how Melkarth, after vanquishing -Masisabal, placed her severed head on the prow of his ship. “At each -throb of the waves it sank beneath the foam, but the sun embalmed it; it -became harder than gold; nevertheless the eyes ceased not to weep, and -the tears fell into the water continually.” - -She sang all this in an old Chanaanite idiom, which the Barbarians did -not understand. They asked one another what she could be saying to them -with those frightful gestures which accompanied her speech, and mounted -round about her on the tables, beds, and sycamore boughs, they strove -with open mouths and craned necks to grasp the vague stories hovering -before their imaginations, through the dimness of the theogonies, like -phantoms wrapped in cloud. - -Only the beardless priests understood Salammbô; their wrinkled hands, -which hung over the strings of their lyres, quivered, and from time -to time they would draw forth a mournful chord; for, feebler than old -women, they trembled at once with mystic emotion, and with the -fear inspired by men. The Barbarians heeded them not, but listened -continually to the maiden’s song. - -None gazed at her like a young Numidian chief, who was placed at the -captains’ tables among soldiers of his own nation. His girdle so -bristled with darts that it formed a swelling in his ample cloak, -which was fastened on his temples with a leather lace. The cloth parted -asunder as it fell upon his shoulders, and enveloped his countenance in -shadow, so that only the fires of his two fixed eyes could be seen. It -was by chance that he was at the feast, his father having domiciled him -with the Barca family, according to the custom by which kings used to -send their children into the households of the great in order to pave -the way for alliances; but Narr’ Havas had lodged there for six months -without having hitherto seen Salammbô, and now, seated on his heels, -with his head brushing the handles of his javelins, he was watching her -with dilated nostrils, like a leopard crouching among the bamboos. - -On the other side of the tables was a Libyan of colossal stature, and -with short black curly hair. He had retained only his military jacket, -the brass plates of which were tearing the purple of the couch. A -necklace of silver moons was tangled in his hairy breast. His face was -stained with splashes of blood; he was leaning on his left elbow with a -smile on his large, open mouth. - -Salammbô had abandoned the sacred rhythm. With a woman’s subtlety she -was simultaneously employing all the dialects of the Barbarians in order -to appease their anger. To the Greeks she spoke Greek; then she turned -to the Ligurians, the Campanians, the Negroes, and listening to her each -one found again in her voice the sweetness of his native land. She now, -carried away by the memories of Carthage, sang of the ancient battles -against Rome; they applauded. She kindled at the gleaming of the naked -swords, and cried aloud with outstretched arms. Her lyre fell, she was -silent; and, pressing both hands upon her heart, she remained for some -minutes with closed eyelids enjoying the agitation of all these men. - -Matho, the Libyan, leaned over towards her. Involuntarily she approached -him, and impelled by grateful pride, poured him a long stream of wine -into a golden cup in order to conciliate the army. - -“Drink!” she said. - -He took the cup, and was carrying it to his lips when a Gaul, the same -that had been hurt by Gisco, struck him on the shoulder, while in a -jovial manner he gave utterance to pleasantries in his native tongue. -Spendius was not far off, and he volunteered to interpret them. - -“Speak!” said Matho. - -“The gods protect you; you are going to become rich. When will the -nuptials be?” - -“What nuptials?” - -“Yours! for with us,” said the Gaul, “when a woman gives drink to -a soldier, it means that she offers him her couch.” - -He had not finished when Narr’ Havas, with a bound, drew a javelin -from his girdle, and, leaning his right foot upon the edge of the table, -hurled it against Matho. - -The javelin whistled among the cups, and piercing the Lybian’s arm, -pinned it so firmly to the cloth, that the shaft quivered in the air. - -Matho quickly plucked it out; but he was weaponless and naked; at last -he lifted the over-laden table with both arms, and flung it against -Narr’ Havas into the very centre of the crowd that rushed between -them. The soldiers and Numidians pressed together so closely that they -were unable to draw their swords. Matho advanced dealing great blows -with his head. When he raised it, Narr’ Havas had disappeared. He -sought for him with his eyes. Salammbô also was gone. - -Then directing his looks to the palace he perceived the red door with -the black cross closing far above, and he darted away. - -They saw him run between the prows of the galleys, and then reappear -along the three staircases until he reached the red door against which -he dashed his whole body. Panting, he leaned against the wall to keep -himself from falling. - -But a man had followed him, and through the darkness, for the lights -of the feast were hidden by the corner of the palace, he recognised -Spendius. - -“Begone!” said he. - -The slave without replying began to tear his tunic with his teeth; -then kneeling beside Matho he tenderly took his arm, and felt it in the -shadow to discover the wound. - -By a ray of the moon which was then gliding between the clouds, Spendius -perceived a gaping wound in the middle of the arm. He rolled the piece -of stuff about it, but the other said irritably, “Leave me! leave -me!” - -“Oh no!” replied the slave. “You released me from the ergastulum. -I am yours! you are my master! command me!” - -Matho walked round the terrace brushing against the walls. He strained -his ears at every step, glancing down into the silent apartments through -the spaces between the gilded reeds. At last he stopped with a look of -despair. - -“Listen!” said the slave to him. “Oh! do not despise me for my -feebleness! I have lived in the palace. I can wind like a viper through -the walls. Come! in the Ancestor’s Chamber there is an ingot of gold -beneath every flagstone; an underground path leads to their tombs.” - -“Well! what matters it?” said Matho. - -Spendius was silent. - -They were on the terrace. A huge mass of shadow stretched before them, -appearing as if it contained vague accumulations, like the gigantic -billows of a black and petrified ocean. - -But a luminous bar rose towards the East; far below, on the left, the -canals of Megara were beginning to stripe the verdure of the gardens -with their windings of white. The conical roofs of the heptagonal -temples, the staircases, terraces, and ramparts were being carved by -degrees upon the paleness of the dawn; and a girdle of white foam rocked -around the Carthaginian peninsula, while the emerald sea appeared as if -it were curdled in the freshness of the morning. Then as the rosy sky -grew larger, the lofty houses, bending over the sloping soil, reared -and massed themselves like a herd of black goats coming down from the -mountains. The deserted streets lengthened; the palm-trees that topped -the walls here and there were motionless; the brimming cisterns seemed -like silver bucklers lost in the courts; the beacon on the promontory of -Hermæum was beginning to grow pale. The horses of Eschmoun, on the very -summit of the Acropolis in the cypress wood, feeling that the light was -coming, placed their hoofs on the marble parapet, and neighed towards -the sun. - -It appeared, and Spendius raised his arms with a cry. - -Everything stirred in a diffusion of red, for the god, as if he were -rending himself, now poured full-rayed upon Carthage the golden rain -of his veins. The beaks of the galleys sparkled, the roof of Khamon -appeared to be all in flames, while far within the temples, whose -doors were opening, glimmerings of light could be seen. Large chariots, -arriving from the country, rolled their wheels over the flagstones -in the streets. Dromedaries, baggage-laden, came down the ramps. -Money-changers raised the pent-houses of their shops at the cross ways, -storks took to flight, white sails fluttered. In the wood of Tanith -might be heard the tabourines of the sacred courtesans, and the furnaces -for baking the clay coffins were beginning to smoke on the Mappalian -point. - -Spendius leaned over the terrace; his teeth chattered and he repeated: - -“Ah! yes—yes—master! I understand why you scorned the pillage of -the house just now.” - -Matho was as if he had just been awaked by the hissing of his voice, and -did not seem to understand. Spendius resumed: - -“Ah! what riches! and the men who possess them have not even the steel -to defend them!” - -Then, pointing with his right arm outstretched to some of the populace -who were crawling on the sand outside the mole to look for gold dust: - -“See!” he said to him, “the Republic is like these wretches: -bending on the brink of the ocean, she buries her greedy arms in every -shore, and the noise of the billows so fills her ear that she cannot -hear behind her the tread of a master’s heel!” - -He drew Matho to quite the other end of the terrace, and showed him the -garden, wherein the soldiers’ swords, hanging on the trees, were like -mirrors in the sun. - -“But here there are strong men whose hatred is roused! and nothing -binds them to Carthage, neither families, oaths nor gods!” - -Matho remained leaning against the wall; Spendius came close, and -continued in a low voice: - -“Do you understand me, soldier? We should walk purple-clad like -satraps. We should bathe in perfumes; and I should in turn have slaves! -Are you not weary of sleeping on hard ground, of drinking the vinegar -of the camps, and of continually hearing the trumpet? But you will rest -later, will you not? When they pull off your cuirass to cast your corpse -to the vultures! or perhaps blind, lame, and weak you will go, leaning -on a stick, from door to door to tell of your youth to pickle-sellers -and little children. Remember all the injustice of your chiefs, the -campings in the snow, the marchings in the sun, the tyrannies of -discipline, and the everlasting menace of the cross! And after all this -misery they have given you a necklace of honour, as they hang a girdle -of bells round the breast of an ass to deafen it on its journey, and -prevent it from feeling fatigue. A man like you, braver than Pyrrhus! If -only you had wished it! Ah! how happy will you be in large cool halls, -with the sound of lyres, lying on flowers, with women and buffoons! Do -not tell me that the enterprise is impossible. Have not the Mercenaries -already possessed Rhegium and other fortified places in Italy? Who is to -prevent you? Hamilcar is away; the people execrate the rich; Gisco can -do nothing with the cowards who surround him. Command them! Carthage is -ours; let us fall upon it!” - -“No!” said Matho, “the curse of Moloch weighs upon me. I felt it -in her eyes, and just now I saw a black ram retreating in a temple.” -Looking around him he added: “But where is she?” - -Then Spendius understood that a great disquiet possessed him, and did -not venture to speak again. - -The trees behind them were still smoking; half-burned carcases of apes -dropped from their blackened boughs from time to time into the midst -of the dishes. Drunken soldiers snored open-mouthed by the side of the -corpses, and those who were not asleep lowered their heads dazzled by -the light of day. The trampled soil was hidden beneath splashes of red. -The elephants poised their bleeding trunks between the stakes of their -pens. In the open granaries might be seen sacks of spilled wheat, below -the gate was a thick line of chariots which had been heaped up by the -Barbarians, and the peacocks perched in the cedars were spreading their -tails and beginning to utter their cry. - -Matho’s immobility, however, astonished Spendius; he was even paler -than he had recently been, and he was following something on the horizon -with fixed eyeballs, and with both fists resting on the edge of the -terrace. Spendius crouched down, and so at last discovered at what he -was gazing. In the distance a golden speck was turning in the dust on -the road to Utica; it was the nave of a chariot drawn by two mules; -a slave was running at the end of the pole, and holding them by the -bridle. Two women were seated in the chariot. The manes of the animals -were puffed between the ears after the Persian fashion, beneath a -network of blue pearls. Spendius recognised them, and restrained a cry. - -A large veil floated behind in the wind. - - - - - -CHAPTER II AT SICCA - -Two days afterwards the Mercenaries left Carthage. - -They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they -should go into camp at Sicca, and they had been told with all sorts of -caresses: - -“You are the saviours of Carthage! But you would starve it if you -remained there; it would become insolvent. Withdraw! The Republic will -be grateful to you later for all this condescension. We are going to -levy taxes immediately; your pay shall be in full, and galleys shall be -equipped to take you back to your native lands.” - -They did not know how to reply to all this talk. These men, accustomed -as they were to war, were wearied by residence in a town; there was -difficulty in convincing them, and the people mounted the walls to see -them go away. - -They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, -pell-mell, archers with hoplites, captains with soldiers, Lusitanians -with Greeks. They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy -cothurni on the paving stones. Their armour was dented by the catapult, -and their faces blackened by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse cries issued -from their thick beards, their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the -pommels of their swords, and through the holes in the brass might be -seen their naked limbs, as frightful as engines of war. Sarissæ, axes, -spears, felt caps and bronze helmets, all swung together with a single -motion. They filled the street thickly enough to have made the walls -crack, and the long mass of armed soldiers overflowed between the lofty -bitumen-smeared houses six storys high. Behind their gratings of iron or -reed the women, with veiled heads, silently watched the Barbarians pass. - -The terraces, fortifications, and walls were hidden beneath the crowd -of Carthaginians, who were dressed in garments of black. The sailors’ -tunics showed like drops of blood among the dark multitude, and nearly -naked children, whose skin shone beneath their copper bracelets, -gesticulated in the foliage of the columns, or amid the branches of -a palm tree. Some of the Ancients were posted on the platform of the -towers, and people did not know why a personage with a long beard stood -thus in a dreamy attitude here and there. He appeared in the distance -against the background of the sky, vague as a phantom and motionless as -stone. - -All, however, were oppressed with the same anxiety; it was feared that -the Barbarians, seeing themselves so strong, might take a fancy to stay. -But they were leaving with so much good faith that the Carthaginians -grew bold and mingled with the soldiers. They overwhelmed them with -protestations and embraces. Some with exaggerated politeness and -audacious hypocrisy even sought to induce them not to leave the city. -They threw perfumes, flowers, and pieces of silver to them. They gave -them amulets to avert sickness; but they had spit upon them three times -to attract death, or had enclosed jackal’s hair within them to put -cowardice into their hearts. Aloud, they invoked Melkarth’s favour, -and in a whisper, his curse. - -Then came the mob of baggage, beasts of burden, and stragglers. The sick -groaned on the backs of dromedaries, while others limped along leaning -on broken pikes. The drunkards carried leathern bottles, and the greedy -quarters of meat, cakes, fruits, butter wrapped in fig leaves, and snow -in linen bags. Some were to be seen with parasols in their hands, and -parrots on their shoulders. They had mastiffs, gazelles, and panthers -following behind them. Women of Libyan race, mounted on asses, inveighed -against the Negresses who had forsaken the lupanaria of Malqua for the -soldiers; many of them were suckling children suspended on their bosoms -by leathern thongs. The mules were goaded out at the point of the sword, -their backs bending beneath the load of tents, while there were numbers -of serving-men and water-carriers, emaciated, jaundiced with fever, -and filthy with vermin, the scum of the Carthaginian populace, who had -attached themselves to the Barbarians. - -When they had passed, the gates were shut behind them, but the people -did not descend from the walls. The army soon spread over the breadth of -the isthmus. - -It parted into unequal masses. Then the lances appeared like tall blades -of grass, and finally all was lost in a train of dust; those of the -soldiers who looked back towards Carthage could now only see its long -walls with their vacant battlements cut out against the edge of the sky. - -Then the Barbarians heard a great shout. They thought that some from -among them (for they did not know their own number) had remained in the -town, and were amusing themselves by pillaging a temple. They laughed a -great deal at the idea of this, and then continued their journey. - -They were rejoiced to find themselves, as in former days, marching all -together in the open country, and some of the Greeks sang the old song -of the Mamertines: - -“With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of the house! -The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and Great King.” - -They shouted, they leaped, the merriest began to tell stories; the -time of their miseries was past. As they arrived at Tunis, some of -them remarked that a troop of Balearic slingers was missing. They were -doubtless not far off; and no further heed was paid to them. - -Some went to lodge in the houses, others camped at the foot of the -walls, and the townspeople came out to chat with the soldiers. - -During the whole night fires were seen burning on the horizon in the -direction of Carthage; the light stretched like giant torches across the -motionless lake. No one in the army could tell what festival was being -celebrated. - -On the following day the Barbarians passed through a region that was -covered with cultivation. The domains of the patricians succeeded one -another along the border of the route; channels of water flowed -through woods of palm; there were long, green lines of olive-trees; -rose-coloured vapours floated in the gorges of the hills, while blue -mountains reared themselves behind. A warm wind was blowing. Chameleons -were crawling on the broad leaves of the cactus. - -The Barbarians slackened their speed. - -They marched on in isolated detachments, or lagged behind one another at -long intervals. They ate grapes along the margin of the vines. They lay -on the grass and gazed with stupefaction upon the large, artificially -twisted horns of the oxen, the sheep clothed with skins to protect their -wool, the furrows crossing one another so as to form lozenges, and the -ploughshares like ships’ anchors, with the pomegranate trees that were -watered with silphium. Such wealth of the soil and such inventions of -wisdom dazzled them. - -In the evening they stretched themselves on the tents without unfolding -them; and thought with regret of Hamilcar’s feast, as they fell asleep -with their faces towards the stars. - -In the middle of the following day they halted on the bank of a river, -amid clumps of rose-bays. Then they quickly threw aside lances, bucklers -and belts. They bathed with shouts, and drew water in their helmets, -while others drank lying flat on their stomachs, and all in the midst of -the beasts of burden whose baggage was slipping from them. - -Spendius, who was seated on a dromedary stolen in Hamilcar’s parks, -perceived Matho at a distance, with his arm hanging against his breast, -his head bare, and his face bent down, giving his mule drink, and -watching the water flow. Spendius immediately ran through the crowd -calling him, “Master! master!” - -Matho gave him but scant thanks for his blessings, but Spendius paid no -heed to this, and began to march behind him, from time to time turning -restless glances in the direction of Carthage. - -He was the son of a Greek rhetor and a Campanian prostitute. He had at -first grown rich by dealing in women; then, ruined by a shipwreck, he -had made war against the Romans with the herdsmen of Samnium. He had -been taken and had escaped; he had been retaken, and had worked in the -quarries, panted in the vapour-baths, shrieked under torture, passed -through the hands of many masters, and experienced every frenzy. At -last, one day, in despair, he had flung himself into the sea from the -top of a trireme where he was working at the oar. Some of Hamilcar’s -sailors had picked him up when at the point of death, and had brought -him to the ergastulum of Megara, at Carthage. But, as fugitives were to -be given back to the Romans, he had taken advantage of the confusion to -fly with the soldiers. - -During the whole of the march he remained near Matho; he brought him -food, assisted him to dismount, and spread a carpet in the evening -beneath his head. Matho at last was touched by these attentions, and by -degrees unlocked his lips. - -He had been born in the gulf of Syrtis. His father had taken him on a -pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon. Then he had hunted elephants in the -forests of the Garamantes. Afterwards he had entered the service of -Carthage. He had been appointed tetrarch at the capture of Drepanum. -The Republic owed him four horses, twenty-three medimni of wheat, and -a winter’s pay. He feared the gods, and wished to die in his native -land. - -Spendius spoke to him of his travels, and of the peoples and temples -that he had visited. He knew many things: he could make sandals, -boar-spears and nets; he could tame wild beasts and could cook fish. - -Sometimes he would interrupt himself, and utter a hoarse cry from the -depths of his throat; Matho’s mule would quicken his pace, and others -would hasten after them, and then Spendius would begin again though -still torn with agony. This subsided at last on the evening of the -fourth day. - -They were marching side by side to the right of the army on the side of -a hill; below them stretched the plain lost in the vapours of the night. -The lines of soldiers also were defiling below, making undulations in -the shade. From time to time these passed over eminences lit up by the -moon; then stars would tremble on the points of the pikes, the helmets -would glimmer for an instant, all would disappear, and others would come -on continually. Startled flocks bleated in the distance, and a something -of infinite sweetness seemed to sink upon the earth. - -Spendius, with his head thrown back and his eyes half-closed, inhaled -the freshness of the wind with great sighs; he spread out his arms, -moving his fingers that he might the better feel the cares that streamed -over his body. Hopes of vengeance came back to him and transported him. -He pressed his hand upon his mouth to check his sobs, and half-swooning -with intoxication, let go the halter of his dromedary, which was -proceeding with long, regular steps. Matho had relapsed into his former -melancholy; his legs hung down to the ground, and the grass made a -continuous rustling as it beat against his cothurni. - -The journey, however, spread itself out without ever coming to an end. -At the extremity of a plain they would always reach a round-shaped -plateau; then they would descend again into a valley, and the mountains -which seemed to block up the horizon would, in proportion as they were -approached, glide as it were from their positions. From time to time a -river would appear amid the verdure of tamarisks to lose itself at the -turning of the hills. Sometimes a huge rock would tower aloft like the -prow of a vessel or the pedestal of some vanished colossus. - -At regular intervals they met with little quadrangular temples, which -served as stations for the pilgrims who repaired to Sicca. They were -closed like tombs. The Libyans struck great blows upon the doors to have -them opened. But no one inside responded. - -Then the cultivation became more rare. They suddenly entered upon belts -of sand bristling with thorny thickets. Flocks of sheep were browsing -among the stones; a woman with a blue fleece about her waist was -watching them. She fled screaming when she saw the soldiers’ pikes -among the rocks. - -They were marching through a kind of large passage bordered by two -chains of reddish coloured hillocks, when their nostrils were greeted -with a nauseous odour, and they thought that they could see something -extraordinary on the top of a carob tree: a lion’s head reared itself -above the leaves. - -They ran thither. It was a lion with his four limbs fastened to a cross -like a criminal. His huge muzzle fell upon his breast, and his two -fore-paws, half-hidden beneath the abundance of his mane, were spread -out wide like the wings of a bird. His ribs stood severally out beneath -his distended skin; his hind legs, which were nailed against each other, -were raised somewhat, and the black blood, flowing through his hair, -had collected in stalactites at the end of his tail, which hung down -perfectly straight along the cross. The soldiers made merry around; they -called him consul, and Roman citizen, and threw pebbles into his eyes to -drive away the gnats. - -But a hundred paces further on they saw two more, and then there -suddenly appeared a long file of crosses bearing lions. Some had been -so long dead that nothing was left against the wood but the remains -of their skeletons; others which were half eaten away had their jaws -twisted into horrible grimaces; there were some enormous ones; the -shafts of the crosses bent beneath them, and they swayed in the wind, -while bands of crows wheeled ceaselessly in the air above their heads. -It was thus that the Carthaginian peasants avenged themselves when -they captured a wild beast; they hoped to terrify the others by such -an example. The Barbarians ceased their laughter, and were long lost -in amazement. “What people is this,” they thought, “that amuses -itself by crucifying lions!” - -They were, besides, especially the men of the North, vaguely uneasy, -troubled, and already sick. They tore their hands with the darts of the -aloes; great mosquitoes buzzed in their ears, and dysentry was breaking -out in the army. They were weary at not yet seeing Sicca. They were -afraid of losing themselves and of reaching the desert, the country of -sands and terrors. Many even were unwilling to advance further. Others -started back to Carthage. - -At last on the seventh day, after following the base of a mountain for a -long time, they turned abruptly to the right, and there then appeared -a line of walls resting on white rocks and blending with them. Suddenly -the entire city rose; blue, yellow, and white veils moved on the walls -in the redness of the evening. These were the priestesses of Tanith, -who had hastened hither to receive the men. They stood ranged along the -rampart, striking tabourines, playing lyres, and shaking crotala, while -the rays of the sun, setting behind them in the mountains of Numidia, -shot between the strings of their lyres over which their naked arms were -stretched. At intervals their instruments would become suddenly still, -and a cry would break forth strident, precipitate, frenzied, continuous, -a sort of barking which they made by striking both corners of the mouth -with the tongue. Others, more motionless than the Sphynx, rested on -their elbows with their chins on their hands, and darted their great -black eyes upon the army as it ascended. - -Although Sicca was a sacred town it could not hold such a multitude; the -temple alone, with its appurtenances, occupied half of it. Accordingly -the Barbarians established themselves at their ease on the plain; -those who were disciplined in regular troops, and the rest according to -nationality or their own fancy. - -The Greeks ranged their tents of skin in parallel lines; the Iberians -placed their canvas pavilions in a circle; the Gauls made themselves -huts of planks; the Libyans cabins of dry stones, while the Negroes with -their nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in. Many, not -knowing where to go, wandered about among the baggage, and at nightfall -lay down in their ragged mantles on the ground. - - -The plain, which was wholly bounded by mountains, expanded around them. -Here and there a palm tree leaned over a sand hill, and pines and oaks -flecked the sides of the precipices: sometimes the rain of a storm would -hang from the sky like a long scarf, while the country everywhere was -still covered with azure and serenity; then a warm wind would drive -before it tornadoes of dust, and a stream would descend in cascades from -the heights of Sicca, where, with its roofing of gold on its columns of -brass, rose the temple of the Carthaginian Venus, the mistress of the -land. She seemed to fill it with her soul. In such convulsions of the -soil, such alternations of temperature, and such plays of light would -she manifest the extravagance of her might with the beauty of her -eternal smile. The mountains at their summits were crescent-shaped; -others were like women’s bosoms presenting their swelling breasts, and -the Barbarians felt a heaviness that was full of delight weighing down -their fatigues. - -Spendius had bought a slave with the money brought him by his dromedary. -The whole day long he lay asleep stretched before Matho’s tent. Often -he would awake, thinking in his dreams that he heard the whistling of -the thongs; with a smile he would pass his hands over the scars on his -legs at the place where the fetters had long been worn, and then he -would fall asleep again. - -Matho accepted his companionship, and when he went out Spendius would -escort him like a lictor with a long sword on his thigh; or perhaps -Matho would rest his arm carelessly on the other’s shoulder, for -Spendius was small. - -One evening when they were passing together through the streets in the -camp they perceived some men covered with white cloaks; among them was -Narr’ Havas, the prince of the Numidians. Matho started. - -“Your sword!” he cried; “I will kill him!” - -“Not yet!” said Spendius, restraining him. Narr’ Havas was already -advancing towards him. - -He kissed both thumbs in token of alliance, showing nothing of the anger -which he had experienced at the drunkenness of the feast; then he spoke -at length against Carthage, but did not say what brought him among the -Barbarians. - -“Was it to betray them, or else the Republic?” Spendius asked -himself; and as he expected to profit by every disorder, he felt -grateful to Narr’ Havas for the future perfidies of which he suspected -him. - -The chief of the Numidians remained amongst the Mercenaries. He appeared -desirous of attaching Matho to himself. He sent him fat goats, gold -dust, and ostrich feathers. The Libyan, who was amazed at such caresses, -was in doubt whether to respond to them or to become exasperated at -them. But Spendius pacified him, and Matho allowed himself to be ruled -by the slave, remaining ever irresolute and in an unconquerable torpor, -like those who have once taken a draught of which they are to die. - -One morning when all three went out lion-hunting, Narr’ Havas -concealed a dagger in his cloak. Spendius kept continually behind him, -and when they returned the dagger had not been drawn. - -Another time Narr’ Havas took them a long way off, as far as the -boundaries of his kingdom. They came to a narrow gorge, and Narr’ -Havas smiled as he declared that he had forgotten the way. Spendius -found it again. - -But most frequently Matho would go off at sunrise, as melancholy as -an augur, to wander about the country. He would stretch himself on the -sand, and remain there motionless until the evening. - -He consulted all the soothsayers in the army one after the -other,—those who watch the trail of serpents, those who read the -stars, and those who breathe upon the ashes of the dead. He swallowed -galbanum, seseli, and viper’s venom which freezes the heart; Negro -women, singing barbarous words in the moonlight, pricked the skin of -his forehead with golden stylets; he loaded himself with necklaces -and charms; he invoked in turn Baal-Khamon, Moloch, the seven Kabiri, -Tanith, and the Venus of the Greeks. He engraved a name upon a copper -plate, and buried it in the sand at the threshold of his tent. Spendius -used to hear him groaning and talking to himself. - -One night he went in. - -Matho, as naked as a corpse, was lying on a lion’s skin flat on his -stomach, with his face in both his hands; a hanging lamp lit up his -armour, which was hooked on to the tent-pole above his head. - -“You are suffering?” said the slave to him. “What is the matter -with you? Answer me?” And he shook him by the shoulder calling him -several times, “Master! master!” - -At last Matho lifted large troubled eyes towards him. - -“Listen!” he said in a low voice, and with a finger on his lips. -“It is the wrath of the Gods! Hamilcar’s daughter pursues me! I am -afraid of her, Spendius!” He pressed himself close against his breast -like a child terrified by a phantom. “Speak to me! I am sick! I want -to get well! I have tried everything! But you, you perhaps know some -stronger gods, or some resistless invocation?” - -“For what purpose?” asked Spendius. - -Striking his head with both his fists, he replied: - -“To rid me of her!” - -Then speaking to himself with long pauses he said: - -“I am no doubt the victim of some holocaust which she has promised to -the gods?—She holds me fast by a chain which people cannot see. If I -walk, it is she that is advancing; when I stop, she is resting! Her eyes -burn me, I hear her voice. She encompasses me, she penetrates me. It -seems to me that she has become my soul! - -“And yet between us there are, as it were, the invisible billows of a -boundless ocean! She is far away and quite inaccessible! The splendour -of her beauty forms a cloud of light around her, and at times I think -that I have never seen her—that she does not exist—and that it is -all a dream!” - -Matho wept thus in the darkness; the Barbarians were sleeping. Spendius, -as he looked at him, recalled the young men who once used to entreat -him with golden cases in their hands, when he led his herd of courtesans -through the towns; a feeling of pity moved him, and he said— - -“Be strong, my master! Summon your will, and beseech the gods no more, -for they turn not aside at the cries of men! Weeping like a coward! And -you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much suffering?” - -“Am I a child?” said Matho. “Do you think that I am moved by their -faces and songs? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our stables. I -have embraced them amid assaults, beneath falling ceilings, and while -the catapult was still vibrating!—But she, Spendius, she!—” - -The slave interrupted him: - -“If she were not Hanno’s daughter—” - -“No!” cried Matho. “She has nothing in common with the daughters -of other men! Have you seen her great eyes beneath her great eyebrows, -like suns beneath triumphal arches? Think: when she appeared all the -torches grew pale. Her naked breast shone here and there through the -diamonds of her necklace; behind her you perceived as it were the odour -of a temple, and her whole being emitted something that was sweeter than -wine and more terrible than death. She walked, however, and then she -stopped.” - -He remained gaping with his head cast down and his eyeballs fixed. - -“But I want her! I need her! I am dying for her! I am transported with -frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms, and yet I hate -her, Spendius! I should like to beat her! What is to be done? I have a -mind to sell myself and become her slave! You have been that! You were -able to get sight of her; speak to me of her! Every night she ascends -to the terrace of her palace, does she not? Ah! the stones must quiver -beneath her sandals, and the stars bend down to see her!” - -He fell back in a perfect frenzy, with a rattling in his throat like a -wounded bull. - -Then Matho sang: “He pursued into the forest the female monster, whose -tail undulated over the dead leaves like a silver brook.” And with -lingering tones he imitated Salammbô’s voice, while his outspread -hands were held like two light hands on the strings of a lyre. - -To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he repeated the same words; -their nights were spent in these wailings and exhortations. - -Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine. After his fits of -drunkenness he was more melancholy still. He tried to divert himself at -huckle-bones, and lost the gold plates of his necklace one by one. He -had himself taken to the servants of the Goddess; but he came down the -hill sobbing, like one returning from a funeral. - -Spendius, on the contrary, became more bold and gay. He was to be seen -in the leafy taverns discoursing in the midst of the soldiers. He mended -old cuirasses. He juggled with daggers. He went and gathered herbs in -the fields for the sick. He was facetious, dexterous, full of invention -and talk; the Barbarians grew accustomed to his services, and he came to -be loved by them. - -However, they were awaiting an ambassador from Carthage to bring -them mules laden with baskets of gold; and ever beginning the same -calculation over again, they would trace figures with their fingers in -the sand. Every one was arranging his life beforehand; they would have -concubines, slaves, lands; others intended to bury their treasure, -or risk it on a vessel. But their tempers were provoked by want of -employment; there were constant disputes between horse-soldiers and -foot-soldiers, Barbarians and Greeks, while there was a never-ending din -of shrill female voices. - -Every day men came flocking in nearly naked, and with grass on their -heads to protect them from the sun; they were the debtors of the rich -Carthaginians and had been forced to till the lands of the latter, but -had escaped. Libyans came pouring in with peasants ruined by the taxes, -outlaws, and malefactors. Then the horde of traders, all the dealers in -wine and oil, who were furious at not being paid, laid the blame upon -the Republic. Spendius declaimed against it. Soon the provisions ran -low; and there was talk of advancing in a body upon Carthage, and -calling in the Romans. - -One evening, at supper-time, dull cracked sounds were heard approaching, -and something red appeared in the distance among the undulations of the -soil. - -It was a large purple litter, adorned with ostrich feathers at the -corners. Chains of crystal and garlands of pearls beat against the -closed hangings. It was followed by camels sounding the great bells -that hung at their breasts, and having around them horsemen clad from -shoulder to heel in armour of golden scales. - -They halted three hundred paces from the camp to take their round -bucklers, broad swords, and Boeotian helmets out of the cases which they -carried behind their saddles. Some remained with the camels, while -the others resumed their march. At last the ensigns of the Republic -appeared, that is to say, staves of blue wood terminated in horses’ -heads or fir cones. The Barbarians all rose with applause; the women -rushed towards the guards of the Legion and kissed their feet. - -The litter advanced on the shoulders of twelve Negroes who walked in -step with short, rapid strides; they went at random to right or left, -being embarrassed by the tent-ropes, the animals that were straying -about, or the tripods where food was being cooked. Sometimes a fat hand, -laden with rings, would partially open the litter, and a hoarse voice -would utter loud reproaches; then the bearers would stop and take a -different direction through the camp. - -But the purple curtains were raised, and a human head, impassible and -bloated, was seen resting on a large pillow; the eyebrows, which were -like arches of ebony, met each other at the points; golden dust sparkled -in the frizzled hair, and the face was so wan that it looked as if -it had been powdered with marble raspings. The rest of the body was -concealed beneath the fleeces which filled the litter. - -In the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, he -whose slackness had assisted to lose the battle of the Ægatian islands; -and as to his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans, even if he did -behave with clemency, thought the Barbarians, it was owing to cupidity, -for he had sold all the captives on his own account, although he had -reported their deaths to the Republic. - -After seeking for some time a convenient place from which to harangue -the soldiers, he made a sign; the litter stopped, and Hanno, supported -by two slaves, put his tottering feet to the ground. - -He wore boots of black felt strewn with silver moons. His legs were -swathed in bands like those wrapped about a mummy, and the flesh crept -through the crossings of the linen; his stomach came out beyond the -scarlet jacket which covered his thighs; the folds of his neck fell down -to his breast like the dewlaps of an ox; his tunic, which was painted -with flowers, was bursting at the arm-pits; he wore a scarf, a girdle, -and an ample black cloak with laced double-sleeves. But the abundance of -his garments, his great necklace of blue stones, his golden clasps, and -heavy earrings only rendered his deformity still more hideous. He might -have been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in a block of stone; for -a pale leprosy, which was spread over his whole body, gave him the -appearance of an inert thing. His nose, however, which was hooked like -a vulture’s beak, was violently dilated to breathe in the air, and his -little eyes, with their gummed lashes, shone with a hard and metallic -lustre. He held a spatula of aloe-wood in his hand wherewith to scratch -his skin. - -At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided, and -Hanno commenced to speak. - -He began with an eulogy of the gods and the Republic; the Barbarians -ought to congratulate themselves on having served it. But they must show -themselves more reasonable; times were hard, “and if a master has only -three olives, is it not right that he should keep two for himself?” - -The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and -apologues, nodding his head the while to solicit some approval. - -He spoke in Punic, and those surrounding him (the most alert, who -had hastened thither without their arms), were Campanians, Gauls, and -Greeks, so that no one in the crowd understood him. Hanno, perceiving -this, stopped and reflected, swaying himself heavily from one leg to the -other. - -It occurred to him to call the captains together; then his heralds -shouted the order in Greek, the language which, from the time of -Xanthippus, had been used for commands in the Carthaginian armies. - -The guards dispersed the mob of soldiers with strokes of the whip; and -the captains of the Spartan phalanxes and the chiefs of the Barbarian -cohorts soon arrived with the insignia of their rank, and in the -armour of their nation. Night had fallen, a great tumult was spreading -throughout the plain; fires were burning here and there; and the -soldiers kept going from one to another asking what the matter was, and -why the Suffet did not distribute the money? - -He was setting the infinite burdens of the Republic before the captains. -Her treasury was empty. The tribute to Rome was crushing her. “We are -quite at a loss what to do! She is much to be pitied!” - -From time to time he would rub his limbs with his aloe-wood spatula, -or perhaps he would break off to drink a ptisan made of the ashes of a -weasel and asparagus boiled in vinegar from a silver cup handed to -him by a slave; then he would wipe his lips with a scarlet napkin and -resume: - -“What used to be worth a shekel of silver is now worth three shekels -of gold, while the cultivated lands which were abandoned during the war -bring in nothing! Our purpura fisheries are nearly gone, and even pearls -are becoming exhorbitant; we have scarcely unguents enough for the -service of the gods! As for the things of the table, I shall say nothing -about them; it is a calamity! For want of galleys we are without spices, -and it is a matter of great difficulty to procure silphium on account -of the rebellions on the Cyrenian frontier. Sicily, where so many slaves -used to be had, is now closed to us! Only yesterday I gave more money -for a bather and four scullions than I used at one time to give for a -pair of elephants!” - -He unrolled a long piece of papyrus; and, without omitting a single -figure, read all the expenses that the government had incurred; so much -for repairing the temples, for paving the streets, for the construction -of vessels, for the coral-fisheries, for the enlargement of the -Syssitia, and for engines in the mines in the country of the -Cantabrians. - -But the captains understood Punic as little as the soldiers, although -the Mercenaries saluted one another in that language. It was usual to -place a few Carthaginian officers in the Barbarian armies to act as -interpreters; after the war they had concealed themselves through fear -of vengeance, and Hanno had not thought of taking them with him; his -hollow voice, too, was lost in the wind. - -The Greeks, girthed in their iron waist-belts, strained their ears as -they strove to guess at his words, while the mountaineers, covered with -furs like bears, looked at him with distrust, or yawned as they leaned -on their brass-nailed clubs. The heedless Gauls sneered as they -shook their lofty heads of hair, and the men of the desert listened -motionless, cowled in their garments of grey wool; others kept coming up -behind; the guards, crushed by the mob, staggered on their horses; the -Negroes held out burning fir branches at arm’s length; and the big -Carthaginian, mounted on a grassy hillock, continued his harangue. - -The Barbarians, however, were growing impatient; murmuring arose, and -every one apostrophized him. Hanno gesticulated with his spatula; and -those who wished the others to be quiet shouted still more loudly, -thereby adding to the din. - -Suddenly a man of mean appearance bounded to Hanno’s feet, snatched -up a herald’s trumpet, blew it, and Spendius (for it was he) announced -that he was going to say something of importance. At this declaration, -which was rapidly uttered in five different languages, Greek, Latin, -Gallic, Libyan and Balearic, the captains, half laughing and half -surprised, replied: “Speak! Speak!” - -Spendius hesitated; he trembled; at last, addressing the Libyans who -were the most numerous, he said to them: - -“You have all heard this man’s horrible threats!” - -Hanno made no exclamation, therefore he did not understand Libyan; and, -to carry on the experiment, Spendius repeated the same phrase in the -other Barbarian dialects. - -They looked at one another in astonishment; then, as by a tacit -agreement, and believing perhaps that they had understood, they bent -their heads in token of assent. - -Then Spendius began in vehement tones: - -“He said first that all the Gods of the other nations were but dreams -besides the Gods of Carthage! He called you cowards, thieves, liars, -dogs, and the sons of dogs! But for you (he said that!) the Republic -would not be forced to pay excessive tribute to the Romans; and through -your excesses you have drained it of perfumes, aromatics, slaves, -and silphium, for you are in league with the nomads on the Cyrenian -frontier! But the guilty shall be punished! He read the enumeration of -their torments; they shall be made to work at the paving of the streets, -at the equipment of the vessels, at the adornment of the Syssitia, while -the rest shall be sent to scrape the earth in the mines in the country -of the Cantabrians.” - -Spendius repeated the same statements to the Gauls, Greeks, Campanians -and Balearians. The Mercenaries, recognising several of the proper -names which had met their ears, were convinced that he was accurately -reporting the Suffet’s speech. A few cried out to him, “You lie!” -but their voices were drowned in the tumult of the rest; Spendius added: - -“Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horse-soldiers -outside the camp? At a given signal they will hasten hither to slay you -all.” - -The Barbarians turned in that direction, and as the crowd was then -scattering, there appeared in the midst of them, and advancing with the -slowness of a phantom, a human being, bent, lean, entirely naked, and -covered down to his flanks with long hair bristling with dried leaves, -dust and thorns. About his loins and his knees he had wisps of straw and -linen rags; his soft and earthy skin hung on his emaciated limbs like -tatters on dried boughs; his hands trembled with a continuous quivering, -and as he walked he leaned on a staff of olive-wood. - -He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches. His pale gums were -displayed in a sort of idiotic titter; his large, scared eyes gazed upon -the crowd of Barbarians around him. - -But uttering a cry of terror he threw himself behind them, shielding -himself with their bodies. “There they are! There they are!” he -stammered out, pointing to the Suffet’s guards, who were motionless -in their glittering armour. Their horses, dazzled by the light of the -torches which crackled in the darkness, were pawing the ground; the -human spectre struggled and howled: - -“They have killed them!” - -At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, some Balearians came up -and recognised him; without answering them he repeated: - -“Yes, all killed, all! crushed like grapes! The fine young men! the -slingers! my companions and yours!” - -They gave him wine to drink, and he wept; then he launched forth into -speech. - -Spendius could scarcely repress his joy, as he explained the horrors -related by Zarxas to the Greeks and Libyans; he could not believe them, -so appropriately did they come in. The Balearians grew pale as they -learned how their companions had perished. - -It was a troop of three hundred slingers who had disembarked the evening -before, and had on that day slept too late. When they reached the -square of Khamon the Barbarians were gone, and they found themselves -defenceless, their clay bullets having been put on the camels with the -rest of the baggage. They were allowed to advance into the street of -Satheb as far as the brass sheathed oaken gate; then the people with a -single impulse had sprung upon them. - -Indeed, the soldiers remembered a great shout; Spendius, who was flying -at the head of the columns, had not heard it. - -Then the corpses were placed in the arms of the Patæc gods that fringed -the temple of Khamon. They were upbraided with all the crimes of the -Mercenaries; their gluttony, their thefts, their impiety, their disdain, -and the murder of the fishes in Salammbô’s garden. Their bodies were -subjected to infamous mutilations; the priests burned their hair -in order to torture their souls; they were hung up in pieces in the -meat-shops; some even buried their teeth in them, and in the evening -funeral-piles were kindled at the cross-ways to finish them. - -These were the flames that had gleamed from a distance across the lake. -But some houses having taken fire, any dead or dying that remained were -speedily thrown over the walls; Zarxas had remained among the reeds on -the edge of the lake until the following day; then he had wandered about -through the country, seeking for the army by the footprints in the dust. -In the morning he hid himself in caves; in the evening he resumed his -march with his bleeding wounds, famished, sick, living on roots and -carrion; at last one day he perceived lances on the horizon, and he -had followed them, for his reason was disturbed through his terrors and -miseries. - -The indignation of the soldiers, restrained so long as he was speaking, -broke forth like a tempest; they were going to massacre the guards -together with the Suffet. A few interposed, saying that they ought to -hear him and know at least whether they should be paid. Then they all -cried: “Our money!” Hanno replied that he had brought it. - -They ran to the outposts, and the Suffet’s baggage arrived in the -midst of the tents, pressed forward by the Barbarians. Without waiting -for the slaves, they very quickly unfastened the baskets; in them they -found hyacinth robes, sponges, scrapers, brushes, perfumes, and antimony -pencils for painting the eyes—all belonging to the guards, who were -rich men and accustomed to such refinements. Next they uncovered a large -bronze tub on a camel: it belonged to the Suffet who had it for bathing -in during his journey; for he had taken all manner of precautions, even -going so far as to bring caged weasels from Hecatompylos, which were -burnt alive to make his ptisan. But, as his malady gave him a great -appetite, there were also many comestibles and many wines, pickle, meats -and fishes preserved in honey, with little pots of Commagene, or melted -goose-fat covered with snow and chopped straw. There was a considerable -supply of it; the more they opened the baskets the more they found, and -laughter arose like conflicting waves. - -As to the pay of the Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass -baskets; there were even visible in one of them some of the leathern -discs which the Republic used to economise its specie; and as the -Barbarians appeared greatly surprised, Hanno told them that, their -accounts being very difficult, the Ancients had not had leisure to -examine them. Meanwhile they had sent them this. - -Then everything was in disorder and confusion: mules, serving men, -litter, provisions, and baggage. The soldiers took the coin in the bags -to stone Hanno. With great difficulty he was able to mount an ass; and -he fled, clinging to its hair, howling, weeping, shaken, bruised, and -calling down the curse of all the gods upon the army. His broad necklace -of precious stones rebounded up to his ears. His cloak which was too -long, and which trailed behind him, he kept on with his teeth, and -from afar the Barbarians shouted at him, “Begone coward! pig! sink of -Moloch! sweat your gold and your plague! quicker! quicker!” The routed -escort galloped beside him. - -But the fury of the Barbarians did not abate. They remembered that -several of them who had set out for Carthage had not returned; no doubt -they had been killed. So much injustice exasperated them, and they began -to pull up the stakes of their tents, to roll up their cloaks, and to -bridle their horses; every one took his helmet and sword, and instantly -all was ready. Those who had no arms rushed into the woods to cut -staves. - -Day dawned; the people of Sicca were roused, and stirring in the -streets. “They are going to Carthage,” said they, and the rumour of -this soon spread through the country. - -From every path and every ravine men arose. Shepherds were seen running -down from the mountains. - -Then, when the Barbarians had set out, Spendius circled the plain, -riding on a Punic stallion, and attended by his slave, who led a third -horse. - -A single tent remained. Spendius entered it. - -“Up, master! rise! we are departing!” - -“And where are you going?” asked Matho. - -“To Carthage!” cried Spendius. - -Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held at the door. - - - - - -CHAPTER III SALAMMBÔ - -The moon was rising just above the waves, and on the town which -was still wrapped in darkness there glittered white and luminous -specks:—the pole of a chariot, a dangling rag of linen, the corner of -a wall, or a golden necklace on the bosom of a god. The glass balls on -the roofs of the temples beamed like great diamonds here and there. -But ill-defined ruins, piles of black earth, and gardens formed deeper -masses in the gloom, and below Malqua fishermen’s nets stretched -from one house to another like gigantic bats spreading their wings. The -grinding of the hydraulic wheels which conveyed water to the highest -storys of the palaces, was no longer heard; and the camels, lying -ostrich fashion on their stomachs, rested peacefully in the middle of -the terraces. The porters were asleep in the streets on the thresholds -of the houses; the shadows of the colossuses stretched across the -deserted squares; occasionally in the distance the smoke of a still -burning sacrifice would escape through the bronze tiling, and the heavy -breeze would waft the odours of aromatics blended with the scent of the -sea and the exhalation from the sun-heated walls. The motionless waves -shone around Carthage, for the moon was spreading her light at once upon -the mountain-circled gulf and upon the lake of Tunis, where flamingoes -formed long rose-coloured lines amid the banks of sand, while further -on beneath the catacombs the great salt lagoon shimmered like a piece -of silver. The blue vault of heaven sank on the horizon in one direction -into the dustiness of the plains, and in the other into the mists of the -sea, and on the summit of the Acropolis, the pyramidal cypress trees, -fringing the temple of Eschmoun, swayed murmuring like the regular waves -that beat slowly along the mole beneath the ramparts. - -Salammbô ascended to the terrace of her palace, supported by a female -slave who carried an iron dish filled with live coals. - -In the middle of the terrace there was a small ivory bed covered -with lynx skins, and cushions made with the feathers of the parrot, a -fatidical animal consecrated to the gods; and at the four corners rose -four long perfuming-pans filled with nard, incense, cinnamomum, and -myrrh. The slave lit the perfumes. Salammbô looked at the polar star; -she slowly saluted the four points of heaven, and knelt down on the -ground in the azure dust which was strewn with golden stars in imitation -of the firmament. Then with both elbows against her sides, her fore-arms -straight and her hands open, she threw back her head beneath the rays of -the moon, and said: - -“O Rabetna!—Baalet!—Tanith!” and her voice was lengthened in -a plaintive fashion as if calling to some one. “Anaïtis! Astarte! -Derceto! Astoreth! Mylitta! Athara! Elissa! Tiratha!—By the hidden -symbols, by the resounding sistra,—by the furrows of the earth,—by -the eternal silence and by the eternal fruitfulness,—mistress of the -gloomy sea and of the azure shores, O Queen of the watery world, all -hail!” - -She swayed her whole body twice or thrice, and then cast herself face -downwards in the dust with both arms outstretched. - -But the slave nimbly raised her, for according to the rites someone must -catch the suppliant at the moment of his prostration; this told him -that the gods accepted him, and Salammbô’s nurse never failed in this -pious duty. - -Some merchants from Darytian Gætulia had brought her to Carthage when -quite young, and after her enfranchisement she would not forsake her old -masters, as was shown by her right ear, which was pierced with a large -hole. A petticoat of many-coloured stripes fitted closely on her hips, -and fell to her ankles, where two tin rings clashed together. Her -somewhat flat face was yellow like her tunic. Silver bodkins of great -length formed a sun behind her head. She wore a coral button on the -nostril, and she stood beside the bed more erect than a Hermes, and with -her eyelids cast down. - -Salammbô walked to the edge of the terrace; her eyes swept the horizon -for an instant, and then were lowered upon the sleeping town, while the -sigh that she heaved swelled her bosom, and gave an undulating movement -to the whole length of the long white simar which hung without clasp or -girdle about her. Her curved and painted sandals were hidden beneath -a heap of emeralds, and a net of purple thread was filled with her -disordered hair. - -But she raised her head to gaze upon the moon, and murmured, mingling -her speech with fragments of hymns: - -“How lightly turnest thou, supported by the impalpable ether! It -brightens about thee, and ’tis the stir of thine agitation that -distributes the winds and fruitful dews. According as thou dost wax -and wane the eyes of cats and spots of panthers lengthen or grow short. -Wives shriek thy name in the pangs of childbirth! Thou makest the shells -to swell, the wine to bubble, and the corpse to putrefy! Thou formest -the pearls at the bottom of the sea! - -“And every germ, O goddess! ferments in the dark depths of thy -moisture. - -“When thou appearest, quietness is spread abroad upon the earth; the -flowers close, the waves are soothed, wearied man stretches his breast -toward thee, and the world with its oceans and mountains looks at -itself in thy face as in a mirror. Thou art white, gentle, luminous, -immaculate, helping, purifying, serene!” - -The crescent of the moon was then over the mountain of the Hot Springs, -in the hollow formed by its two summits, on the other side of the gulf. -Below it there was a little star, and all around it a pale circle. -Salammbô went on: - -“But thou art a terrible mistress!—Monsters, terrifying phantoms, -and lying dreams come from thee; thine eyes devour the stones of -buildings, and the apes are ever ill each time thou growest young again. - -“Whither goest thou? Why dost thou change thy forms continually? Now, -slender and curved thou glidest through space like a mastless galley; -and then, amid the stars, thou art like a shepherd keeping his flock. -Shining and round, thou dost graze the mountain-tops like the wheel of a -chariot. - -“O Tanith! thou dost love me? I have looked so much on thee! But no! -thou sailest through thine azure, and I—I remain on the motionless -earth. - -“Taanach, take your nebal and play softly on the silver string, for my -heart is sad!” - -The slave lifted a sort of harp of ebony wood, taller than herself, -and triangular in shape like a delta; she fixed the point in a crystal -globe, and with both hands began to play. - -The sounds followed one another hurried and deep, like the buzzing of -bees, and with increasing sonorousness floated away into the night with -the complaining of the waves, and the rustling of the great trees on the -summit of the Acropolis. - -“Hush!” cried Salammbô. - -“What ails you, mistress? The blowing of the breeze, the passing of a -cloud, everything disquiets you just now!” - -“I do not know,” she said. - -“You are wearied with too long prayers!” - -“Oh! Tanaach, I would fain be dissolved in them like a flower in -wine!” - -“Perhaps it is the smoke of your perfumes?” - -“No!” said Salammbô; “the spirit of the gods dwells in fragrant -odours.” - -Then the slave spoke to her of her father. It was thought that he had -gone towards the amber country, behind the pillars of Melkarth. “But -if he does not return,” she said, “you must nevertheless, since it -was his will, choose a husband among the sons of the Ancients, and then -your grief will pass away in a man’s arms.” - -“Why?” asked the young girl. All those that she had seen had -horrified her with their fallow-deer laughter and their coarse limbs. - -“Sometimes, Tanaach, from the depths of my being there exhale as it -were hot fumes heavier than the vapours from a volcano. Voices call me, -a globe of fire rolls and mounts within my bosom, it stifles me, I am at -the point of death; and then, something sweet, flowing from my brow to -my feet, passes through my flesh—it is a caress enfolding me, and I -feel myself crushed as if some god were stretched upon me. Oh! would -that I could lose myself in the mists of the night, the waters of the -fountains, the sap of the trees, that I could issue from my body, and be -but a breath, or a ray, and glide, mount up to thee, O Mother!” - -She raised her arms to their full length, arching her form, which in -its long garment was as pale and light as the moon. Then she fell back, -panting, on the ivory couch; but Taanach passed an amber necklace with -dolphin’s teeth about her neck to banish terrors, and Salammbô said -in an almost stifled voice: “Go and bring me Schahabarim.” - -Her father had not wished her to enter the college of priestesses, -nor even to be made at all acquainted with the popular Tanith. He was -reserving her for some alliance that might serve his political ends; so -that Salammbô lived alone in the midst of the palace. Her mother was -long since dead. - -She had grown up with abstinences, fastings and purifications, always -surrounded by grave and exquisite things, her body saturated with -perfumes, and her soul filled with prayers. She had never tasted wine, -nor eaten meat, nor touched an unclean animal, nor set her heels in the -house of death. - -She knew nothing of obscene images, for as each god was manifested -in different forms, the same principle often received the witness -of contradictory cults, and Salammbô worshipped the goddess in her -sidereal presentation. An influence had descended upon the maiden from -the moon; when the planet passed diminishing away, Salammbô grew weak. -She languished the whole day long, and revived at evening. During an -eclipse she nearly died. - -But Rabetna, in jealousy, revenged herself for the virginity withdrawn -from her sacrifices, and she tormented Salammbô with possessions, all -the stronger for being vague, which were spread through this belief and -excited by it. - -Unceasingly was Hamilcar’s daughter disquieted about Tanith. She had -learned her adventures, her travels, and all her names, which she would -repeat without their having any distinct signification for her. In -order to penetrate into the depths of her dogma, she wished to become -acquainted, in the most secret part of the temple, with the old idol in -the magnificent mantle, whereon depended the destinies of Carthage, for -the idea of a god did not stand out clearly from his representation, -and to hold, or even see the image of one, was to take away part of his -virtue, and in a measure to rule him. - -But Salammbô turned around. She had recognised the sound of the golden -bells which Schahabarim wore at the hem of his garment. - -He ascended the staircases; then at the threshold of the terrace he -stopped and folded his arms. - -His sunken eyes shone like the lamps of a sepulchre; his long thin body -floated in its linen robe which was weighted by the bells, the latter -alternating with balls of emeralds at his heels. He had feeble limbs, an -oblique skull and a pointed chin; his skin seemed cold to the touch, and -his yellow face, which was deeply furrowed with wrinkles, was as if it -contracted in a longing, in an everlasting grief. - -He was the high priest of Tanith, and it was he who had educated -Salammbô. - -“Speak!” he said. “What will you?” - -“I hoped—you had almost promised me—” She stammered and was -confused; then suddenly: “Why do you despise me? what have I forgotten -in the rites? You are my master, and you told me that no one was so -accomplished in the things pertaining to the goddess as I; but there are -some of which you will not speak. Is it so, O father?” - -Schahabarim remembered Hamilcar’s orders, and replied: - -“No, I have nothing more to teach you!” - -“A genius,” she resumed, “impels me to this love. I have climbed -the steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I have -slept beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian -colonies; I have pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener -and fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the -gods of woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand? -they are all too far away, too high, too insensible, while she—I feel -her mingled in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward -startings, as though she were leaping in order to escape. Methinks I am -about to hear her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and then -I sink back again into the darkness.” - -Schahabarim was silent. She entreated him with suppliant looks. At -last he made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of -Chanaanitish race. Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one arm -in the air, began: - -“Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull -and indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream. It contracted, -creating Desire and Cloud, and from Desire and Cloud there issued -primitive Matter. This was a water, muddy, black, icy and deep. It -contained senseless monsters, incoherent portions of the forms to be -born, which are painted on the walls of the sanctuaries. - -“Then Matter condensed. It became an egg. It burst. One half formed -the earth and the other the firmament. Sun, moon, winds and clouds -appeared, and at the crash of the thunder intelligent creatures awoke. -Then Eschmoun spread himself in the starry sphere; Khamon beamed in -the sun; Melkarth thrust him with his arms behind Gades; the Kabiri -descended beneath the volcanoes, and Rabetna like a nurse bent over the -world pouring out her light like milk, and her night like a mantle.” - -“And then?” she said. - -He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from -sublimer prospects; but the maiden’s desire kindled again at his last -words, and Schahabarim, half yielding resumed: - -“She inspires and governs the loves of men.” - -“The loves of men!” repeated Salammbô dreamily. - -“She is the soul of Carthage,” continued the priest; “and although -she is everywhere diffused, it is here that she dwells, beneath the -sacred veil.” - -“O father!” cried Salammbô, “I shall see her, shall I not? you -will bring me to her! I had long been hesitating; I am devoured with -curiosity to see her form. Pity! help me! let us go?” - -He repulsed her with a vehement gesture that was full of pride. - -“Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals -are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in -weakness. Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge that -you possess!” - -She fell upon her knees placing two fingers against her ears in token of -repentance; and crushed by the priest’s words, and filled at once with -anger against him, with terror and humiliation, she burst into sobs. -Schahabarim remained erect, and more insensible than the stones of the -terrace. He looked down upon her quivering at his feet, and felt a kind -of joy on seeing her suffer for his divinity whom he himself could not -wholly embrace. The birds were already singing, a cold wind was blowing, -and little clouds were drifting in the paling sky. - -Suddenly he perceived on the horizon, behind Tunis, what looked like -slight mists trailing along the ground; then these became a great -curtain of dust extending perpendicularly, and, amid the whirlwinds of -the thronging mass, dromedaries’ heads, lances and shields appeared. -It was the army of the Barbarians advancing upon Carthage. - - - - - -CHAPTER IV BENEATH THE WALLS OF CARTHAGE - -Some country people, riding on asses or running on foot, arrived in the -town, pale, breathless, and mad with fear. They were flying before the -army. It had accomplished the journey from Sicca in three days, in order -to reach Carthage and wholly exterminate it. - -The gates were shut. The Barbarians appeared almost immediately; but -they stopped in the middle of the isthmus, on the edge of the lake. - -At first they made no hostile announcement. Several approached with palm -branches in their hands. They were driven back with arrows, so great was -the terror. - -In the morning and at nightfall prowlers would sometimes wander along -the walls. A little man carefully wrapped in a cloak, and with his face -concealed beneath a very low visor, was especially noticed. He would -remain whole hours gazing at the aqueduct, and so persistently that he -doubtless wished to mislead the Carthaginians as to his real designs. -Another man, a sort of giant who walked bareheaded, used to accompany -him. - -But Carthage was defended throughout the whole breadth of the isthmus: -first by a trench, then by a grassy rampart, and lastly by a wall thirty -cubits high, built of freestone, and in two storys. It contained stables -for three hundred elephants with stores for their caparisons, shackles, -and food; other stables again for four thousand horses with supplies -of barley and harness, and barracks for twenty thousand soldiers with -armour and all materials of war. Towers rose from the second story, all -provided with battlements, and having bronze bucklers hung on cramps on -the outside. - -This first line of wall gave immediate shelter to Malqua, the sailors’ -and dyers’ quarter. Masts might be seen whereon purple sails were -drying, and on the highest terraces clay furnaces for heating the pickle -were visible. - -Behind, the lofty houses of the city rose in an ampitheatre of cubical -form. They were built of stone, planks, shingle, reeds, shells, and -beaten earth. The woods belonging to the temples were like lakes of -verdure in this mountain of diversely-coloured blocks. It was levelled -at unequal distances by the public squares, and was cut from top to -bottom by countless intersecting lanes. The enclosures of the three old -quarters which are now lost might be distinguished; they rose here -and there like great reefs, or extended in enormous fronts, blackened, -half-covered with flowers, and broadly striped by the casting of filth, -while streets passed through their yawning apertures like rivers beneath -bridges. - -The hill of the Acropolis, in the centre of Byrsa, was hidden beneath a -disordered array of monuments. There were temples with wreathed columns -bearing bronze capitals and metal chains, cones of dry stones with bands -of azure, copper cupolas, marble architraves, Babylonian buttresses, -obelisks poised on their points like inverted torches. Peristyles -reached to pediments; volutes were displayed through colonnades; granite -walls supported tile partitions; the whole mounting, half-hidden, the -one above the other in a marvellous and incomprehensible fashion. In it -might be felt the succession of the ages, and, as it were, the memorials -of forgotten fatherlands. - -Behind the Acropolis the Mappalian road, which was lined with tombs, -extended through red lands in a straight line from the shore to the -catacombs; then spacious dwellings occurred at intervals in the gardens, -and this third quarter, Megara, which was the new town, reached as far -as the edge of the cliff, where rose a giant pharos that blazed forth -every night. - -In this fashion was Carthage displayed before the soldiers quartered in -the plain. - -They could recognise the markets and crossways in the distance, and -disputed with one another as to the sites of the temples. Khamon’s, -fronting the Syssitia, had golden tiles; Melkarth, to the left of -Eschmoun, had branches of coral on its roofing; beyond, Tanith’s -copper cupola swelled among the palm trees; the dark Moloch was below -the cisterns, in the direction of the pharos. At the angles of the -pediments, on the tops of the walls, at the corners of the squares, -everywhere, divinities with hideous heads might be seen, colossal or -squat, with enormous bellies, or immoderately flattened, opening their -jaws, extending their arms, and holding forks, chains or javelins in -their hands; while the blue of the sea stretched away behind the streets -which were rendered still steeper by the perspective. - -They were filled from morning till evening with a tumultuous people; -young boys shaking little bells, shouted at the doors of the baths; the -shops for hot drinks smoked, the air resounded with the noise of anvils, -the white cocks, sacred to the Sun, crowed on the terraces, the oxen -that were being slaughtered bellowed in the temples, slaves ran about -with baskets on their heads; and in the depths of the porticoes a priest -would sometimes appear, draped in a dark cloak, barefooted, and wearing -a pointed cap. - -The spectacle afforded by Carthage irritated the Barbarians; they -admired it and execrated it, and would have liked both to annihilate it -and to dwell in it. But what was there in the Military Harbour defended -by a triple wall? Then behind the town, at the back of Megara, and -higher than the Acropolis, appeared Hamilcar’s palace. - -Matho’s eyes were directed thither every moment. He would ascend the -olive trees and lean over with his hand spread out above his eyebrows. -The gardens were empty, and the red door with its black cross remained -constantly shut. - -More than twenty times he walked round the ramparts, seeking some breach -by which he might enter. One night he threw himself into the gulf and -swam for three hours at a stretch. He reached the foot of the Mappalian -quarter and tried to climb up the face of the cliff. He covered his -knees with blood, broke his nails, and then fell back into the waves and -returned. - -His impotence exasperated him. He was jealous of this Carthage which -contained Salammbô, as if of some one who had possessed her. His -nervelessness left him to be replaced by a mad and continual eagerness -for action. With flaming cheek, angry eyes, and hoarse voice, he would -walk with rapid strides through the camp; or seated on the shore he -would scour his great sword with sand. He shot arrows at the passing -vultures. His heart overflowed into frenzied speech. - -“Give free course to your wrath like a runaway chariot,” said -Spendius. “Shout, blaspheme, ravage and slay. Grief is allayed with -blood, and since you cannot sate your love, gorge your hate; it will -sustain you!” - -Matho resumed the command of his soldiers. He drilled them pitilessly. -He was respected for his courage and especially for his strength. -Moreover he inspired a sort of mystic dread, and it was believed that -he conversed at night with phantoms. The other captains were animated -by his example. The army soon grew disciplined. From their houses the -Carthaginians could hear the bugle-flourishes that regulated their -exercises. At last the Barbarians drew near. - -To crush them in the isthmus it would have been necessary for two armies -to take them simultaneously in the rear, one disembarking at the end of -the gulf of Utica, and the second at the mountain of the Hot Springs. -But what could be done with the single sacred Legion, mustering at most -six thousand men? If the enemy bent towards the east they would join the -nomads and intercept the commerce of the desert. If they fell back to -the west, Numidia would rise. Finally, lack of provisions would -sooner or later lead them to devastate the surrounding country like -grasshoppers, and the rich trembled for their fine country-houses, their -vineyards and their cultivated lands. - -Hanno proposed atrocious and impracticable measures, such as promising -a heavy sum for every Barbarian’s head, or setting fire to their camp -with ships and machines. His colleague Gisco, on the other hand, wished -them to be paid. But the Ancients detested him owing to his popularity; -for they dreaded the risk of a master, and through terror of monarchy -strove to weaken whatever contributed to it or might re-establish it. - -Outside the fortification there were people of another race and of -unknown origin, all hunters of the porcupine, and eaters of shell-fish -and serpents. They used to go into caves to catch hyenas alive, and -amuse themselves by making them run in the evening on the sands of -Megara between the stelæ of the tombs. Their huts, which were made -of mud and wrack, hung on the cliff like swallows’ nests. There they -lived, without government and without gods, pell-mell, completely naked, -at once feeble and fierce, and execrated by the people of all time on -account of their unclean food. One morning the sentries perceived that -they were all gone. - -At last some members of the Great Council arrived at a decision. They -came to the camp without necklaces or girdles, and in open sandals -like neighbours. They walked at a quiet pace, waving salutations to -the captains, or stopped to speak to the soldiers, saying that all was -finished and that justice was about to be done to their claims. - -Many of them saw a camp of Mercenaries for the first time. Instead of -the confusion which they had pictured to themselves, there prevailed -everywhere terrible silence and order. A grassy rampart formed a lofty -wall round the army immovable by the shock of catapults. The ground in -the streets was sprinkled with fresh water; through the holes in the -tents they could perceive tawny eyeballs gleaming in the shade. The -piles of pikes and hanging panoplies dazzled them like mirrors. They -conversed in low tones. They were afraid of upsetting something with -their long robes. - -The soldiers requested provisions, undertaking to pay for them out of -the money that was due. - -Oxen, sheep, guinea fowl, fruit and lupins were sent to them, with -smoked scombri, that excellent scombri which Carthage dispatched to -every port. But they walked scornfully around the magnificent cattle, -and disparaging what they coveted, offered the worth of a pigeon for -a ram, or the price of a pomegranate for three goats. The Eaters of -Uncleanness came forward as arbitrators, and declared that they were -being duped. Then they drew their swords with threats to slay. - -Commissaries of the Great Council wrote down the number of years for -which pay was due to each soldier. But it was no longer possible to know -how many Mercenaries had been engaged, and the Ancients were dismayed at -the enormous sum which they would have to pay. The reserve of silphium -must be sold, and the trading towns taxed; the Mercenaries would -grow impatient; Tunis was already with them; and the rich, stunned by -Hanno’s ragings and his colleague’s reproaches, urged any citizens -who might know a Barbarian to go to see him immediately in order to win -back his friendship, and to speak him fair. Such a show of confidence -would soothe them. - -Traders, scribes, workers in the arsenal, and whole families visited the -Barbarians. - -The soldiers allowed all the Carthaginians to come in, but by a single -passage so narrow that four men abreast jostled one another in it. -Spendius, standing against the barrier, had them carefully searched; -facing him Matho was examining the multitude, trying to recognise some -one whom he might have seen at Salammbô’s palace. - -The camp was like a town, so full of people and of movement was it. The -two distinct crowds mingled without blending, one dressed in linen or -wool, with felt caps like fir-cones, and the other clad in iron and -wearing helmets. Amid serving men and itinerant vendors there moved -women of all nations, as brown as ripe dates, as greenish as olives, -as yellow as oranges, sold by sailors, picked out of dens, stolen from -caravans, taken in the sacking of towns, women that were jaded with love -so long as they were young, and plied with blows when they were old, and -that died in routs on the roadsides among the baggage and the abandoned -beasts of burden. The wives of the nomads had square, tawny robes of -dromedary’s hair swinging at their heels; musicians from Cyrenaica, -wrapped in violet gauze and with painted eyebrows, sang, squatting on -mats; old Negresses with hanging breasts gathered the animals’ dung -that was drying in the sun to light their fires; the Syracusan women had -golden plates in their hair; the Lusitanians had necklaces of shells; -the Gauls wore wolf skins upon their white bosoms; and sturdy children, -vermin-covered, naked and uncircumcised, butted with their heads against -passers-by, or came behind them like young tigers to bite their hands. - -The Carthaginians walked through the camp, surprised at the quantities -of things with which it was running over. The most miserable were -melancholy, and the rest dissembled their anxiety. - -The soldiers struck them on the shoulder, and exhorted them to be gay. -As soon as they saw any one, they invited him to their amusements. If -they were playing at discus, they would manage to crush his feet, or -if at boxing to fracture his jaw with the very first blow. The slingers -terrified the Carthaginians with their slings, the Psylli with their -vipers, and the horsemen with their horses, while their victims, -addicted as they were to peaceful occupations, bent their heads and -tried to smile at all these outrages. Some, in order to show themselves -brave, made signs that they should like to become soldiers. They were -set to split wood and to curry mules. They were buckled up in armour, -and rolled like casks through the streets of the camp. Then, when -they were about to leave, the Mercenaries plucked out their hair with -grotesque contortions. - -But many, from foolishness or prejudice, innocently believed that all -the Carthaginians were very rich, and they walked behind them entreating -them to grant them something. They requested everything that they -thought fine: a ring, a girdle, sandals, the fringe of a robe, and when -the despoiled Carthaginian cried—“But I have nothing left. What -do you want?” they would reply, “Your wife!” Others even said, -“Your life!” - -The military accounts were handed to the captains, read to the soldiers, -and definitively approved. Then they claimed tents; they received them. -Next the polemarchs of the Greeks demanded some of the handsome suits of -armour that were manufactured at Carthage; the Great Council voted -sums of money for their purchase. But it was only fair, so the horsemen -pretended, that the Republic should indemnify them for their horses; -one had lost three at such a siege, another, five during such a march, -another, fourteen in the precipices. Stallions from Hecatompylos were -offered to them, but they preferred money. - -Next they demanded that they should be paid in money (in pieces of -money, and not in leathern coins) for all the corn that was owing to -them, and at the highest price that it had fetched during the war; so -that they exacted four hundred times as much for a measure of meal as -they had given for a sack of wheat. Such injustice was exasperating; but -it was necessary, nevertheless, to submit. - -Then the delegates from the soldiers and from the Great Council swore -renewed friendship by the Genius of Carthage and the gods of the -Barbarians. They exchanged excuses and caresses with oriental -demonstrativeness and verbosity. Then the soldiers claimed, as a proof -of friendship, the punishment of those who had estranged them from the -Republic. - -Their meaning, it was pretended, was not understood, and they explained -themselves more clearly by saying that they must have Hanno’s head. - -Several times a day, they left their camp, and walked along the foot of -the walls, shouting a demand that the Suffet’s head should be thrown -to them, and holding out their robes to receive it. - -The Great Council would perhaps have given way but for a last exaction, -more outrageous than the rest; they demanded maidens, chosen from -illustrious families, in marriage for their chiefs. It was an idea -which had emanated from Spendius, and which many thought most simple and -practicable. But the assumption of their desire to mix with Punic blood -made the people indignant; and they were bluntly told that they were to -receive no more. Then they exclaimed that they had been deceived, -and that if their pay did not arrive within three days, they would -themselves go and take it in Carthage. - -The bad faith of the Mercenaries was not so complete as their enemies -thought. Hamilcar had made them extravagant promises, vague, it is true, -but at the same time solemn and reiterated. They might have believed -that when they disembarked at Carthage the town would be abandoned to -them, and that they should have treasures divided among them; and -when they saw that scarcely their wages would be paid, the disillusion -touched their pride no less than their greed. - -Had not Dionysius, Pyrrhus, Agathocles, and the generals of Alexander -furnished examples of marvellous good fortune? Hercules, whom the -Chanaanites confounded with the sun, was the ideal which shone on the -horizon of armies. They knew that simple soldiers had worn diadems, and -the echoes of crumbling empires would furnish dreams to the Gaul in -his oak forest, to the Ethiopian amid his sands. But there was a nation -always ready to turn courage to account; and the robber driven from -his tribe, the patricide wandering on the roads, the perpetrator of -sacrilege pursued by the gods, all who were starving or in despair -strove to reach the port where the Carthaginian broker was recruiting -soldiers. Usually the Republic kept its promises. This time, however, -the eagerness of its avarice had brought it into perilous disgrace. -Numidians, Libyans, the whole of Africa was about to fall upon Carthage. -Only the sea was open to it, and there it met with the Romans; so that, -like a man assailed by murderers, it felt death all around it. - -It was quite necessary to have recourse to Gisco, and the Barbarians -accepted his intervention. One morning they saw the chains of the -harbour lowered, and three flat-bottomed boats passing through the canal -of Tænia entered the lake. - -Gisco was visible on the first at the prow. Behind him rose an enormous -chest, higher than a catafalque, and furnished with rings like hanging -crowns. Then appeared the legion of interpreters, with their hair -dressed like sphinxes, and with parrots tattooed on their breasts. -Friends and slaves followed, all without arms, and in such numbers that -they shouldered one another. The three long, dangerously-loaded barges -advanced amid the shouts of the onlooking army. - -As soon as Gisco disembarked the soldiers ran to him. He had a sort of -tribune erected with knapsacks, and declared that he should not depart -before he had paid them all in full. - -There was an outburst of applause, and it was a long time before he was -able to speak. - -Then he censured the wrongs done to the Republic, and to the Barbarians; -the fault lay with a few mutineers who had alarmed Carthage by their -violence. The best proof of good intention on the part of the latter was -that it was he, the eternal adversary of the Suffet Hanno, who was sent -to them. They must not credit the people with the folly of desiring to -provoke brave men, nor with ingratitude enough not to recognise their -services; and Gisco began to pay the soldiers, commencing with the -Libyans. As they had declared that the lists were untruthful, he made no -use of them. - -They defiled before him according to nationality, opening their fingers -to show the number of their years of service; they were marked in -succession with green paint on the left arm; the scribes dipped into the -yawning coffer, while others made holes with a style on a sheet of lead. - -A man passed walking heavily like an ox. - -“Come up beside me,” said the Suffet, suspecting some fraud; “how -many years have you served?” - -“Twelve,” replied the Libyan. - -Gisco slipped his fingers under his chin, for the chin-piece of the -helmet used in course of time to occasion two callosities there; these -were called carobs, and “to have the carobs” was an expression used -to denote a veteran. - -“Thief!” exclaimed the Suffet, “your shoulders ought to have what -your face lacks!” and tearing off his tunic he laid bare is back which -was covered with a bleeding scab; he was a labourer from Hippo-Zarytus. -Hootings were raised, and he was decapitated. - -As soon as night fell, Spendius went and roused the Libyans, and said to -them: - -“When the Ligurians, Greeks, Balearians, and men of Italy are paid, -they will return. But as for you, you will remain in Africa, scattered -through your tribes, and without any means of defence! It will be then -that the Republic will take its revenge! Mistrust the journey! Are you -going to believe everything that is said? Both the Suffets are agreed, -and this one is imposing on you! Remember the Island of Bones, and -Xanthippus, whom they sent back to Sparta in a rotten galley!” - -“How are we to proceed?” they asked. - -“Reflect!” said Spendius. - -The two following days were spent in paying the men of Magdala, Leptis, -and Hecatompylos; Spendius went about among the Gauls. - -“They are paying off the Libyans, and then they will discharge the -Greeks, the Balearians, the Asiatics and all the rest! But you, who are -few in number, will receive nothing! You will see your native lands -no more! You will have no ships, and they will kill you to save your -food!” - -The Gauls came to the Suffet. Autaritus, he whom he had wounded at -Hamilcar’s palace, put questions to him, but was repelled by the -slaves, and disappeared swearing he would be revenged. - -The demands and complaints multiplied. The most obstinate penetrated at -night into the Suffet’s tent; they took his hands and sought to move -him by making him feel their toothless mouths, their wasted arms, and -the scars of their wounds. Those who had not yet been paid were growing -angry, those who had received the money demanded more for their horses; -and vagabonds and outlaws assumed soldiers’ arms and declared that -they were being forgotten. Every minute there arrived whirlwinds of men, -as it were; the tents strained and fell; the multitude, thick pressed -between the ramparts of the camp, swayed with loud shouts from the gates -to the centre. When the tumult grew excessively violent Gisco would rest -one elbow on his ivory sceptre and stand motionless looking at the sea -with his fingers buried in his beard. - -Matho frequently went off to speak with Spendius; then he would again -place himself in front of the Suffet, and Gisco could feel his eyes -continually like two flaming phalaricas darted against him. Several -times they hurled reproaches at each other over the heads of the crowd, -but without making themselves heard. The distribution, meanwhile, -continued, and the Suffet found expedients to remove every obstacle. - -The Greeks tried to quibble about differences in currency, but he -furnished them with such explanations that they retired without a -murmur. The Negroes demanded white shells such as are used for trading -in the interior of Africa, but when he offered to send to Carthage for -them they accepted money like the rest. - -But the Balearians had been promised something better, namely, women. -The Suffet replied that a whole caravan of maidens was expected for -them, but the journey was long and would require six moons more. When -they were fat and well rubbed with benjamin they should be sent in ships -to the ports of the Balearians. - -Suddenly Zarxas, now handsome and vigorous, leaped like a mountebank -upon the shoulders of his friends and cried: - -“Have you reserved any of them for the corpses?” at the same time -pointing to the gate of Khamon in Carthage. - -The brass plates with which it was furnished from top to bottom shone -in the sun’s latest fires, and the Barbarians believed that they could -discern on it a trail of blood. Every time that Gisco wished to speak -their shouts began again. At last he descended with measured steps, and -shut himself up in his tent. - -When he left it at sunrise his interpreters, who used to sleep outside, -did not stir; they lay on their backs with their eyes fixed, their -tongues between their teeth, and their faces of a bluish colour. White -mucus flowed from their nostrils, and their limbs were stiff, as if -they had all been frozen by the cold during the night. Each had a little -noose of rushes round his neck. - -From that time onward the rebellion was unchecked. The murder of the -Balearians which had been recalled by Zarxas strengthened the distrust -inspired by Spendius. They imagined that the Republic was always trying -to deceive them. An end must be put to it! The interpreters should be -dispensed with! Zarxas sang war songs with a sling around his head; -Autaritus brandished his great sword; Spendius whispered a word to one -or gave a dagger to another. The boldest endeavoured to pay themselves, -while those who were less frenzied wished to have the distribution -continued. No one now relinquished his arms, and the anger of all -combined into a tumultuous hatred of Gisco. - -Some got up beside him. So long as they vociferated abuse they were -listened to with patience; but if they tried to utter the least word in -his behalf they were immediately stoned, or their heads were cut off -by a sabre-stroke from behind. The heap of knapsacks was redder than an -altar. - -They became terrible after their meal and when they had drunk wine! This -was an enjoyment forbidden in the Punic armies under pain of death, and -they raised their cups in the direction of Carthage in derision of its -discipline. Then they returned to the slaves of the exchequer and again -began to kill. The word strike, though different in each language, was -understood by all. - -Gisco was well aware that he was being abandoned by his country; but in -spite of its ingratitude he would not dishonour it. When they reminded -him that they had been promised ships, he swore by Moloch to provide -them himself at his own expense, and pulling off his necklace of blue -stones he threw it into the crowd as the pledge of his oath. - -Then the Africans claimed the corn in accordance with the engagements -made by the Great Council. Gisco spread out the accounts of the Syssitia -traced in violet pigment on sheep skins; and read out all that had -entered Carthage month by month and day by day. - -Suddenly he stopped with gaping eyes, as if he had just discovered his -sentence of death among the figures. - -The Ancients had, in fact, fraudulently reduced them, and the corn sold -during the most calamitous period of the war was set down at so low a -rate that, blindness apart, it was impossible to believe it. - -“Speak!” they shouted. “Louder! Ah! he is trying to lie, the -coward! Don’t trust him.” - -For some time he hesitated. At last he resumed his task. - -The soldiers, without suspecting that they were being deceived, accepted -the accounts of the Syssitia as true. But the abundance that had -prevailed at Carthage made them furiously jealous. They broke open the -sycamore chest; it was three parts empty. They had seen such sums coming -out of it, that they thought it inexhaustible; Gisco must have buried -some in his tent. They scaled the knapsacks. Matho led them, and as they -shouted “The money! the money!” Gisco at last replied: - -“Let your general give it to you!” - -He looked them in the face without speaking, with his great yellow eyes, -and his long face that was paler than his beard. An arrow, held by its -feathers, hung from the large gold ring in his ear, and a stream of -blood was trickling from his tiara upon his shoulder. - -At a gesture from Matho all advanced. Gisco held out his arms; Spendius -tied his wrists with a slip knot; another knocked him down, and he -disappeared amid the disorder of the crowd which was stumbling over the -knapsacks. - -They sacked his tent. Nothing was found in it except things -indispensable to life; and, on a closer search, three images of Tanith, -and, wrapped up in an ape’s skin, a black stone which had fallen from -the moon. Many Carthaginians had chosen to accompany him; they were -eminent men, and all belonged to the war party. - -They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for the -reception of filth. They were tied with iron chains around the body to -solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the javelin. - -Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but -being quite ignorant of his language they made no reply; and the Gaul -from time to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out. - - -The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army. Now that -their anger was over they were seized with anxiety. Matho was suffering -from vague melancholy. It seemed to him that Salammbô had indirectly -been insulted. These rich men were a kind of appendage to her person. -He sat down in the night on the edge of the pit, and recognised in their -groanings something of the voice of which his heart was full. - -All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid. But while -national antipathies revived, together with personal hatreds, it was -felt that it would be perilous to give way to them. Reprisals after -such an outrage would be formidable. It was necessary, therefore, to -anticipate the vengeance of Carthage. Conventions and harangues never -ceased. Every one spoke, no one was listened to; Spendius, usually so -loquacious, shook his head at every proposal. - -One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs in -the interior of the town. - -“Not one!” replied Matho. - -The next day Spendius drew him aside to the bank of the lake. - -“Master!” said the former slave, “If your heart is dauntless, I -will bring you into Carthage.” - -“How?” repeated the other, panting. - -“Swear to execute all my commands and to follow me like a shadow!” - -Then Matho, raising his arm towards the planet of Chabar, exclaimed: - -“By Tanith, I swear!” - -Spendius resumed: - -“To-morrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the -aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades. Bring with you an iron -pick, a crestless helmet, and leathern sandals.” - -The aqueduct of which he spoke crossed the entire isthmus obliquely,—a -considerable work, afterwards enlarged by the Romans. In spite of her -disdain of other nations, Carthage had awkwardly borrowed this novel -invention from them, just as Rome herself had built Punic galleys; and -five rows of superposed arches, of a dumpy kind of architecture, with -buttresses at their foot and lions’ heads at the top, reached to -the western part of the Acropolis, where they sank beneath the town to -incline what was nearly a river into the cisterns of Megara. - -Spendius met Matho here at the hour agreed upon. He fastened a sort of -harpoon to the end of a cord and whirled it rapidly like a sling; the -iron instrument caught fast, and they began to climb up the wall, the -one after the other. - -But when they had ascended to the first story the cramp fell back every -time that they threw it, and in order to discover some fissure they had -to walk along the edge of the cornice. At every row of arches they found -that it became narrower. Then the cord relaxed. Several times it nearly -broke. - -At last they reached the upper platform. Spendius stooped down from time -to time to feel the stones with his hand. - -“Here it is,” he said; “let us begin!” And leaning on the -pick which Matho had brought they succeeded in dislodging one of the -flagstones. - -In the distance they perceived a troop of horse-men galloping on horses -without bridles. Their golden bracelets leaped in the vague drapings -of their cloaks. A man could be seen in front crowned with ostrich -feathers, and galloping with a lance in each hand. - -“Narr’ Havas!” exclaimed Matho. - -“What matter?” returned Spendius, and he leaped into the hole which -they had just made by removing the flagstone. - -Matho at his command tried to thrust out one of the blocks. But he could -not move his elbows for want of room. - -“We shall return,” said Spendius; “go in front.” Then they -ventured into the channel of water. - -It reached to their waists. Soon they staggered, and were obliged to -swim. Their limbs knocked against the walls of the narrow duct. The -water flowed almost immediately beneath the stones above, and their -faces were torn by them. Then the current carried them away. Their -breasts were crushed with air heavier than that of a sepulchre, and -stretching themselves out as much as possible with their heads between -their arms and their legs close together, they passed like arrows into -the darkness, choking, gurgling, and almost dead. Suddenly all became -black before them, and the speed of the waters redoubled. They fell. - -When they came to the surface again, they remained for a few minutes -extended on their backs, inhaling the air delightfully. Arcades, one -behind another, opened up amid large walls separating the various -basins. All were filled, and the water stretched in a single sheet -throughout the length of the cisterns. Through the air-holes in the -cupolas on the ceiling there fell a pale brightness which spread upon -the waves discs, as it were, of light, while the darkness round about -thickened towards the walls and threw them back to an indefinite -distance. The slightest sound made a great echo. - -Spendius and Matho commenced to swim again, and passing through the -opening of the arches, traversed several chambers in succession. Two -other rows of smaller basins extended in a parallel direction on each -side. They lost themselves; they turned, and came back again. At last -something offered a resistance to their heels. It was the pavement of -the gallery that ran along the cisterns. - -Then, advancing with great precautions, they felt along the wall to -find an outlet. But their feet slipped, and they fell into the great -centre-basins. They had to climb up again, and there they fell again. -They experienced terrible fatigue, which made them feel as if all their -limbs had been dissolved in the water while swimming. Their eyes closed; -they were in the agonies of death. - -Spendius struck his hand against the bars of a grating. They shook it, -it gave way, and they found themselves on the steps of a staircase. A -door of bronze closed it above. With the point of a dagger they moved -the bar, which was opened from without, and suddenly the pure open air -surrounded them. - -The night was filled with silence, and the sky seemed at an -extraordinary height. Clusters of trees projected over the long lines of -walls. The whole town was asleep. The fires of the outposts shone like -lost stars. - -Spendius, who had spent three years in the ergastulum, was but -imperfectly acquainted with the different quarters. Matho conjectured -that to reach Hamilcar’s palace they ought to strike to the left and -cross the Mappalian district. - -“No,” said Spendius, “take me to the temple of Tanith.” - -Matho wished to speak. - -“Remember!” said the former slave, and raising his arm he showed him -the glittering planet of Chabar. - -Then Matho turned in silence towards the Acropolis. - -They crept along the nopal hedges which bordered the paths. The water -trickled from their limbs upon the dust. Their damp sandals made no -noise; Spendius, with eyes that flamed more than torches, searched -the bushes at every step;—and he walked behind Matho with his hands -resting on the two daggers which he carried on his arms, and which hung -from below the armpit by a leathern band. - - - - - -CHAPTER V TANITH - -After leaving the gardens Matho and Spendius found themselves checked -by the rampart of Megara. But they discovered a breach in the great wall -and passed through. - -The ground sloped downwards, forming a kind of very broad valley. It was -an exposed place. - -“Listen,” said Spendius, “and first of all fear nothing! I shall -fulfil my promise—” - -He stopped abruptly, and seemed to reflect as though searching for -words,—“Do you remember that time at sunrise when I showed Carthage -to you on Salammbô’s terrace? We were strong that day, but you would -listen to nothing!” Then in a grave voice: “Master, in the sanctuary -of Tanith there is a mysterious veil, which fell from heaven and which -covers the goddess.” - -“I know,” said Matho. - -Spendius resumed: “It is itself divine, for it forms part of her. The -gods reside where their images are. It is because Carthage possesses it -that Carthage is powerful.” Then leaning over to his ear: “I have -brought you with me to carry it off!” - -Matho recoiled in horror. “Begone! look for some one else! I will not -help you in this execrable crime!” - -“But Tanith is your enemy,” retorted Spendius; “she is persecuting -you and you are dying through her wrath. You will be revenged upon -her. She will obey you, and you will become almost immortal and -invincible.” - -Matho bent his head. Spendius continued: - -“We should succumb; the army would be annihilated of itself. We have -neither flight, nor succour, nor pardon to hope for! What chastisement -from the gods can you be afraid of since you will have their power in -your own hands? Would you rather die on the evening of a defeat, in -misery beneath the shelter of a bush, or amid the outrages of the -populace and the flames of funeral piles? Master, one day you will enter -Carthage among the colleges of the pontiffs, who will kiss your sandals; -and if the veil of Tanith weighs upon you still, you will reinstate it -in its temple. Follow me! come and take it.” - -Matho was consumed by a terrible longing. He would have liked to possess -the veil while refraining from the sacrilege. He said to himself that -perhaps it would not be necessary to take it in order to monopolise its -virtue. He did not go to the bottom of his thought but stopped at the -boundary, where it terrified him. - -“Come on!” he said; and they went off with rapid strides, side by -side, and without speaking. - -The ground rose again, and the dwellings were near. They turned again -into the narrow streets amid the darkness. The strips of esparto-grass -with which the doors were closed, beat against the walls. Some camels -were ruminating in a square before heaps of cut grass. Then they passed -beneath a gallery covered with foliage. A pack of dogs were barking. But -suddenly the space grew wider and they recognised the western face of -the Acropolis. At the foot of Byrsa there stretched a long black mass: -it was the temple of Tanith, a whole made up of monuments and galleries, -courts and fore-courts, and bounded by a low wall of dry stones. -Spendius and Matho leaped over it. - -This first barrier enclosed a wood of plane-trees as a precaution -against plague and infection in the air. Tents were scattered here -and there, in which, during the daytime, depilatory pastes, -perfumes, garments, moon-shaped cakes, and images of the goddess with -representations of the temple hollowed out in blocks of alabaster, were -on sale. - -They had nothing to fear, for on nights when the planet did not appear, -all rites were suspended; nevertheless Matho slackened his speed, and -stopped before the three ebony steps leading to the second enclosure. - -“Forward!” said Spendius. - -Pomegranate, almond trees, cypresses and myrtles alternated in regular -succession; the path, which was paved with blue pebbles, creaked beneath -their footsteps, and full-blown roses formed a hanging bower over the -whole length of the avenue. They arrived before an oval hole protected -by a grating. Then Matho, who was frightened by the silence, said to -Spendius: - -“It is here that they mix the fresh water and the bitter.” - -“I have seen all that,” returned the former slave, “in Syria, in -the town of Maphug”; and they ascended into the third enclosure by a -staircase of six silver steps. - -A huge cedar occupied the centre. Its lowest branches were hidden -beneath scraps of material and necklaces hung upon them by the faithful. -They walked a few steps further on, and the front of the temple was -displayed before them. - -Two long porticoes, with their architraves resting on dumpy pillars, -flanked a quadrangular tower, the platform of which was adorned with -the crescent of a moon. On the angles of the porticoes and at the four -corners of the tower stood vases filled with kindled aromatics. The -capitals were laden with pomegranates and coloquintidas. Twining knots, -lozenges, and rows of pearls alternated on the walls, and a hedge of -silver filigree formed a wide semicircle in front of the brass staircase -which led down from the vestibule. - -There was a cone of stone at the entrance between a stela of gold and -one of emerald, and Matho kissed his right hand as he passed beside it. - -The first room was very lofty; its vaulted roof was pierced by -numberless apertures, and if the head were raised the stars might be -seen. All round the wall rush baskets were heaped up with the first -fruits of adolescence in the shape of beards and curls of hair; and in -the centre of the circular apartment the body of a woman issued from a -sheath which was covered with breasts. Fat, bearded, and with eyelids -downcast, she looked as though she were smiling, while her hands were -crossed upon the lower part of her big body, which was polished by the -kisses of the crowd. - -Then they found themselves again in the open air in a transverse -corridor, wherein there was an altar of small dimensions leaning against -an ivory door. There was no further passage; the priests alone could -open it; for the temple was not a place of meeting for the multitude, -but the private abode of a divinity. - -“The enterprise is impossible,” said Matho. “You had not thought -of this! Let us go back!” Spendius was examining the walls. - -He wanted the veil, not because he had confidence in its virtue -(Spendius believed only in the Oracle), but because he was persuaded -that the Carthaginians would be greatly dismayed on seeing themselves -deprived of it. They walked all round behind in order to find some -outlet. - -Aedicules of different shapes were visible beneath clusters of -turpentine trees. Here and there rose a stone phallus, and large stags -roamed peacefully about, spurning the fallen fir-cones with their cloven -hoofs. - -But they retraced their steps between two long galleries which ran -parallel to each other. There were small open cells along their sides, -and tabourines and cymbals hung against their cedar columns from top to -bottom. Women were sleeping stretched on mats outside the cells. Their -bodies were greasy with unguents, and exhaled an odour of spices and -extinguished perfuming-pans; while they were so covered with tattooings, -necklaces, rings, vermilion, and antimony that, but for the motion of -their breasts, they might have been taken for idols as they lay thus on -the ground. There were lotus-trees encircling a fountain in which fish -like Salammbô’s were swimming; and then in the background, against -the wall of the temple, spread a vine, the branches of which were of -glass and the grape-bunches of emerald, the rays from the precious -stones making a play of light through the painted columns upon the -sleeping faces. - -Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere pressed down upon him by -the cedar partitions. All these symbols of fecundation, these perfumes, -radiations, and breathings overwhelmed him. Through all the mystic -dazzling he kept thinking of Salammbô. She became confused with the -goddess herself, and his love unfolded itself all the more, like the -great lotus-plants blooming upon the depths of the waters. - -Spendius was calculating how much money he would have made in former -days by the sale of these women; and with a rapid glance he estimated -the weight of the golden necklaces as he passed by. - -The temple was impenetrable on this side as on the other, and they -returned behind the first chamber. While Spendius was searching and -ferreting, Matho was prostrate before the door supplicating Tanith. He -besought her not to permit the sacrilege, and strove to soften her with -caressing words, such as are used to an angry person. - -Spendius noticed a narrow aperture above the door. - -“Rise!” he said to Matho, and he made him stand erect with his back -against the wall. Placing one foot in his hands, and then the other -upon his head, he reached up to the air-hole, made his way into it and -disappeared. Then Matho felt a knotted cord—that one which Spendius -had rolled around his body before entering the cisterns—fall upon his -shoulders, and bearing upon it with both hands he soon found himself by -the side of the other in a large hall filled with shadow. - -Such an attempt was something extraordinary. The inadequacy of the -means for preventing it was a sufficient proof that it was considered -impossible. The sanctuaries were protected by terror more than by their -walls. Matho expected to die at every step. - -However a light was flickering far back in the darkness, and they went -up to it. It was a lamp burning in a shell on the pedestal of a statue -which wore the cap of the Kabiri. Its long blue robe was strewn with -diamond discs, and its heels were fastened to the ground by chains which -sank beneath the pavement. Matho suppressed a cry. “Ah! there she is! -there she is!” he stammered out. Spendius took up the lamp in order to -light himself. - -“What an impious man you are!” murmured Matho, following him -nevertheless. - -The apartment which they entered had nothing in it but a black painting -representing another woman. Her legs reached to the top of the wall, and -her body filled the entire ceiling; a huge egg hung by a thread from her -navel, and she fell head downwards upon the other wall, reaching as far -as the level of the pavement, which was touched by her pointed fingers. - -They drew a hanging aside, in order to go on further; but the wind blew -and the light went out. - -Then they wandered about, lost in the complications of the architecture. -Suddenly they felt something strangely soft beneath their feet. Sparks -crackled and leaped; they were walking in fire. Spendius touched the -ground and perceived that it was carefully carpeted with lynx skins; -then it seemed to them that a big cord, wet, cold, and viscous, was -gliding between their legs. Through some fissures cut in the wall there -fell thin white rays, and they advanced by this uncertain light. At last -they distinguished a large black serpent. It darted quickly away and -disappeared. - -“Let us fly!” exclaimed Matho. “It is she! I feel her; she is -coming.” - -“No, no,” replied Spendius, “the temple is empty.” - -Then a dazzling light made them lower their eyes. Next they perceived -all around them an infinite number of beasts, lean, panting, with -bristling claws, and mingled together one above another in a mysterious -and terrifying confusion. There were serpents with feet, and bulls -with wings, fishes with human heads were devouring fruit, flowers were -blooming in the jaws of crocodiles, and elephants with uplifted trunks -were sailing proudly through the azure like eagles. Their incomplete or -multiplied limbs were distended with terrible exertion. As they thrust -out their tongues they looked as though they would fain give forth -their souls; and every shape was to be found among them as if the -germ-receptacle had been suddenly hatched and had burst, emptying itself -upon the walls of the hall. - -Round the latter were twelve globes of blue crystal, supported by -monsters resembling tigers. Their eyeballs were starting out of their -heads like those of snails, with their dumpy loins bent they were -turning round towards the background where the supreme Rabbet, the -Omnifecund, the last invented, shone splendid in a chariot of ivory. - -She was covered with scales, feathers, flowers, and birds as high as the -waist. For earrings she had silver cymbals, which flapped against her -cheeks. Her large fixed eyes gazed upon you, and a luminous stone, -set in an obscene symbol on her brow, lighted the whole hall by its -reflection in red copper mirrors above the door. - -Matho stood a step forward; but a flag stone yielded beneath his heels -and immediately the spheres began to revolve and the monsters to roar; -music rose melodious and pealing, like the harmony of the planets; the -tumultuous soul of Tanith was poured streaming forth. She was about to -arise, as lofty as the hall and with open arms. Suddenly the monsters -closed their jaws and the crystal globes revolved no more. - -Then a mournful modulation lingered for a time through the air and at -last died away. - -“And the veil?” said Spendius. - -Nowhere could it be seen. Where was it to be found? How could it be -discovered? What if the priests had hidden it? Matho experienced anguish -of heart and felt as though he had been deceived in his belief. - -“This way!” whispered Spendius. An inspiration guided him. He drew -Matho behind Tanith’s chariot, where a cleft a cubit wide ran down the -wall from top to bottom. - -Then they penetrated into a small and completely circular room, so lofty -that it was like the interior of a pillar. In the centre there was a -big black stone, of semispherical shape like a tabourine; flames were -burning upon it; an ebony cone, bearing a head and two arms, rose -behind. - -But beyond it seemed as though there were a cloud wherein were twinkling -stars; faces appeared in the depths of its folds—Eschmoun with the -Kabiri, some of the monsters that had already been seen, the sacred -beasts of the Babylonians, and others with which they were not -acquainted. It passed beneath the idol’s face like a mantle, and -spread fully out was drawn up on the wall to which it was fastened by -the corners, appearing at once bluish as the night, yellow as the dawn, -purple as the sun, multitudinous, diaphanous, sparkling light. It was -the mantle of the goddess, the holy zaïmph which might not be seen. - -Both turned pale. - -“Take it!” said Matho at last. - -Spendius did not hesitate, and leaning upon the idol he unfastened the -veil, which sank to the ground. Matho laid his hand upon it; then he put -his head through the opening, then he wrapped it about his body, and he -spread out his arms the better to view it. - -“Let us go!” said Spendius. - -Matho stood panting with his eyes fixed upon the pavement. Suddenly he -exclaimed: - -“But what if I went to her? I fear her beauty no longer! What could -she do to me? I am now more than a man. I could pass through flames or -walk upon the sea! I am transported! Salammbô! Salammbô! I am your -master!” - -His voice was like thunder. He seemed to Spendius to have grown taller -and transformed. - -A sound of footsteps drew near, a door opened, and a man appeared, a -priest with lofty cap and staring eyes. Before he could make a gesture -Spendius had rushed upon him, and clasping him in his arms had buried -both his daggers in his sides. His head rang upon the pavement. - -Then they stood for a while, as motionless as the corpse, listening. -Nothing could be heard but the murmuring of the wind through the -half-opened door. - -The latter led into a narrow passage. Spendius advanced along it, Matho -followed him, and they found themselves almost immediately in the third -enclosure, between the lateral porticoes, in which were the dwellings of -the priests. - -Behind the cells there must be a shorter way out. They hastened along. - -Spendius squatted down at the edge of the fountain and washed his -bloodstained hands. The women slept. The emerald vine shone. They -resumed their advance. - -But something was running behind them under the trees; and Matho, who -bore the veil, several times felt that it was being pulled very gently -from below. It was a large cynocephalus, one of those which dwelt at -liberty within the enclosure of the goddess. It clung to the mantle as -though it had been conscious of the theft. They did not dare to strike -it, however, fearing that it might redouble its cries; suddenly its -anger subsided, and it trotted close beside them swinging its body with -its long hanging arms. Then at the barrier it leaped at a bound into a -palm tree. - -When they had left the last enclosure they directed their steps towards -Hamilcar’s palace, Spendius understanding that it would be useless to -try to dissuade Matho. - -They went by the street of the Tanners, the square of Muthumbal, the -green market and the crossways of Cynasyn. At the angle of a wall a man -drew back frightened by the sparkling thing which pierced the darkness. - -“Hide the zaïmph!” said Spendius. - -Other people passed them, but without perceiving them. - -At last they recognised the houses of Megara. - -The pharos, which was built behind them on the summit of the cliff, -lit up the heavens with a great red brightness, and the shadow of the -palace, with its rising terraces, projected a monstrous pyramid, as it -were, upon the gardens. They entered through the hedge of jujube-trees, -beating down the branches with blows of the dagger. - -The traces of the feast of the Mercenaries were everywhere still -manifest. The parks were broken up, the trenches drained, the doors -of the ergastulum open. No one was to be seen about the kitchens or -cellars. They wondered at the silence, which was occasionally broken by -the hoarse breathing of the elephants moving in their shackles, and the -crepitation of the pharos, in which a pile of aloes was burning. - -Matho, however, kept repeating: - -“But where is she? I wish to see her! Lead me!” - -“It is a piece of insanity!” Spendius kept saying. “She will call, -her slaves will run up, and in spite of your strength you will die!” - -They reached thus the galley staircase. Matho raised his head, and -thought that he could perceive far above a vague brightness, radiant and -soft. Spendius sought to restrain him, but he dashed up the steps. - -As he found himself again in places where he had already seen her, the -interval of the days that had passed was obliterated from his memory. -But now had she been singing among the tables; she had disappeared, and -he had since been continually ascending this staircase. The sky above -his head was covered with fires; the sea filled the horizon; at each -step he was surrounded by a still greater immensity, and he continued to -climb upward with that strange facility which we experience in dreams. - -The rustling of the veil as it brushed against the stones recalled his -new power to him; but in the excess of his hope he could no longer tell -what he was to do; this uncertainty alarmed him. - -From time to time he would press his face against the quadrangular -openings in the closed apartments, and he thought that in several of the -latter he could see persons asleep. - -The last story, which was narrower, formed a sort of dado on the summit -of the terraces. Matho walked round it slowly. - -A milky light filled the sheets of talc which closed the little -apertures in the wall, and in their symmetrical arrangement they looked -in the darkness like rows of delicate pearls. He recognised the red door -with the black cross. The throbbing of his heart increased. He would -fain have fled. He pushed the door and it opened. - -A galley-shaped lamp hung burning in the back part of the room, -and three rays, emitted from its silver keel, trembled on the lofty -wainscots, which were painted red with black bands. The ceiling was an -assemblage of small beams, with amethysts and topazes amid their gilding -in the knots of the wood. On both the great sides of the apartment there -stretched a very low bed made with white leathern straps; while above, -semi-circles like shells, opened in the thickness of the wall, suffered -a garment to come out and hang down to the ground. - -There was an oval basin with a step of onyx round it; delicate slippers -of serpent skin were standing on the edge, together with an alabaster -flagon. The trace of a wet footstep might be seen beyond. Exquisite -scents were evaporating. - -Matho glided over the pavement, which was encrusted with gold, -mother-of-pearl, and glass; and, in spite of the polished smoothness -of the ground, it seemed to him that his feet sank as though he were -walking on sand. - -Behind the silver lamp he had perceived a large square of azure held in -the air by four cords from above, and he advanced with loins bent and -mouth open. - -Flamingoes’ wings, fitted on branches of black coral, lay about -among purple cushions, tortoiseshell strigils, cedar boxes, and ivory -spatulas. There were antelopes’ horns with rings and bracelets strung -upon them; and clay vases were cooling in the wind in the cleft of the -wall with a lattice-work of reeds. Several times he struck his foot, -for the ground had various levels of unequal height, which formed a -succession of apartments, as it were, in the room. In the background -there were silver balustrades surrounding a carpet strewn with painted -flowers. At last he came to the hanging bed beside an ebony stool -serving to get into it. - -But the light ceased at the edge;—and the shadow, like a great -curtain, revealed only a corner of the red mattress with the extremity -of a little naked foot lying upon its ankle. Then Matho took up the lamp -very gently. - -She was sleeping with her cheek in one hand and with the other arm -extended. Her ringlets were spread about her in such abundance that she -appeared to be lying on black feathers, and her ample white tunic wound -in soft draperies to her feet following the curves of her person. Her -eyes were just visible beneath her half-closed eyelids. The curtains, -which stretched perpendicularly, enveloped her in a bluish atmosphere, -and the motion of her breathing, communicating itself to the cords, -seemed to rock her in the air. A long mosquito was buzzing. - -Matho stood motionless holding the silver lamp at arm’s length; but -on a sudden the mosquito-net caught fire and disappeared, and Salammbô -awoke. - -The fire had gone out of itself. She did not speak. The lamp caused -great luminous moires to flicker on the wainscots. - -“What is it?” she said. - -He replied: - -“’Tis the veil of the goddess!” - -“The veil of the goddess!” cried Salammbô, and supporting herself -on both clenched hands she leaned shuddering out. He resumed: - -“I have been in the depths of the sanctuary to seek it for you! -Look!” The zaïmph shone a mass of rays. - -“Do you remember it?” said Matho. “You appeared at night in my -dreams, but I did not guess the mute command of your eyes!” She put -out one foot upon the ebony stool. “Had I understood I should have -hastened hither, I should have forsaken the army, I should not have left -Carthage. To obey you I would go down through the caverns of Hadrumetum -into the kingdom of the shades!—Forgive me! it was as though mountains -were weighing upon my days; and yet something drew me on! I tried to -come to you! Should I ever have dared this without the Gods!—Let us -go! You must follow me! or, if you do not wish to do so, I will remain. -What matters it to me!—Drown my soul in your breath! Let my lips be -crushed with kissing your hands!” - -“Let me see it!” she said. “Nearer! nearer!” - -Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with -a vinous colour. Salammbô leaned fainting against the cushions of the -bed. - -“I love you!” cried Matho. - -“Give it!” she stammered out, and they drew closer together. - -She kept advancing, clothed in her white trailing simar, and with her -large eyes fastened on the veil. Matho gazed at her, dazzled by the -splendours of her head, and, holding out the zaïmph towards her, was -about to enfold her in an embrace. She was stretching out her -arms. Suddenly she stopped, and they stood looking at each other, -open-mouthed. - -Then without understanding the meaning of his solicitation a horror -seized upon her. Her delicate eyebrows rose, her lips opened; she -trembled. At last she struck one of the brass pateras which hung at the -corners of the red mattress, crying: - -“To the rescue! to the rescue! Back, sacrilegious man! infamous and -accursed! Help, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, Schaoul!” - -And the scared face of Spendius, appearing in the wall between the clay -flagons, cried out these words: - -“Fly! they are hastening hither!” - -A great tumult came upwards shaking the staircases, and a flood of -people, women, serving-men, and slaves, rushed into the room with -stakes, tomahawks, cutlasses, and daggers. They were nearly paralysed -with indignation on perceiving a man; the female servants uttered -funeral wailings, and the eunuchs grew pale beneath their black skins. - -Matho was standing behind the balustrades. With the zaïmph which was -wrapped about him, he looked like a sidereal god surrounded by the -firmament. The slaves were going to fall upon him, but she stopped them: - -“Touch it not! It is the mantle of the goddess!” - -She had drawn back into a corner; but she took a step towards him, and -stretched forth her naked arm: - -“A curse upon you, you who have plundered Tanith! Hatred, vengeance, -massacre, and grief! May Gurzil, god of battles, rend you! may Mastiman, -god of the dead, stifle you! and may the Other—he who may not be -named—burn you!” - -Matho uttered a cry as though he had received a sword-thrust. She -repeated several times: “Begone! begone!” - -The crowd of servants spread out, and Matho, with hanging head, passed -slowly through the midst of them; but at the door he stopped, for the -fringe of the zaïmph had caught on one of the golden stars with which -the flagstones were paved. He pulled it off abruptly with a movement of -his shoulder and went down the staircases. - -Spendius, bounding from terrace to terrace, and leaping over the hedges -and trenches, had escaped from the gardens. He reached the foot of the -pharos. The wall was discontinued at this spot, so inaccessible was the -cliff. He advanced to the edge, lay down on his back, and let himself -slide, feet foremost, down the whole length of it to the bottom; then -by swimming he reached the Cape of the Tombs, made a wide circuit of the -salt lagoon, and re-entered the camp of the Barbarians in the evening. - -The sun had risen; and, like a retreating lion, Matho went down the -paths, casting terrible glances about him. - -A vague clamour reached his ears. It had started from the palace, and it -was beginning afresh in the distance, towards the Acropolis. Some said -that the treasure of the Republic had been seized in the temple of -Moloch; others spoke of the assassination of a priest. It was thought, -moreover, that the Barbarians had entered the city. - -Matho, who did not know how to get out of the enclosures, walked -straight before him. He was seen, and an outcry was raised. Every one -understood; and there was consternation, then immense wrath. - -From the bottom of the Mappalian quarter, from the heights of the -Acropolis, from the catacombs, from the borders of the lake, the -multitude came in haste. The patricians left their palaces, and the -traders left their shops; the women forsook their children; swords, -hatchets, and sticks were seized; but the obstacle which had stayed -Salammbô stayed them. How could the veil be taken back? The mere sight -of it was a crime; it was of the nature of the gods, and contact with it -was death. - -The despairing priests wrung their hands on the peristyles of the -temples. The guards of the Legion galloped about at random; the people -climbed upon the houses, the terraces, the shoulders of the colossuses, -and the masts of the ships. He went on, nevertheless, and the rage, and -the terror also, increased at each of his steps; the streets cleared at -his approach, and the torrent of flying men streamed on both sides up -to the tops of the walls. Everywhere he could perceive only eyes opened -widely as if to devour him, chattering teeth and outstretched fists, and -Salammbô’s imprecations resounded many times renewed. - -Suddenly a long arrow whizzed past, then another, and stones began to -buzz about him; but the missiles, being badly aimed (for there was the -dread of hitting the zaïmph), passed over his head. Moreover, he made a -shield of the veil, holding it to the right, to the left, before him and -behind him; and they could devise no expedient. He quickened his steps -more and more, advancing through the open streets. They were barred -with cords, chariots, and snares; and all his windings brought him back -again. At last he entered the square of Khamon where the Balearians had -perished, and stopped, growing pale as one about to die. This time he -was surely lost, and the multitude clapped their hands. - -He ran up to the great gate, which was closed. It was very high, made -throughout of heart of oak, with iron nails and sheathed with brass. -Matho flung himself against it. The people stamped their feet with joy -when they saw the impotence of his fury; then he took his sandal, spit -upon it, and beat the immovable panels with it. The whole city howled. -The veil was forgotten now, and they were about to crush him. Matho -gazed with wide vacant eyes upon the crowd. His temples were throbbing -with violence enough to stun him, and he felt a numbness as of -intoxication creeping over him. Suddenly he caught sight of the long -chain used in working the swinging of the gate. With a bound he grasped -it, stiffening his arms, and making a buttress of his feet, and at last -the huge leaves partly opened. - -Then when he was outside he took the great zaïmph from his neck, and -raised it as high as possible above his head. The material, upborne by -the sea breeze, shone in the sunlight with its colours, its gems, and -the figures of its gods. Matho bore it thus across the whole plain as -far as the soldiers’ tents, and the people on the walls watched the -fortune of Carthage depart. - - - - - -CHAPTER VI HANNO - -“I ought to have carried her off!” Matho said in the evening to -Spendius. “I should have seized her, and torn her from her house! No -one would have dared to touch me!” - -Spendius was not listening to him. Stretched on his back he was taking -delicious rest beside a large jar filled with honey-coloured water, into -which he would dip his head from time to time in order to drink more -copiously. - -Matho resumed: - -“What is to be done? How can we re-enter Carthage?” - -“I do not know,” said Spendius. - -Such impassibility exasperated Matho and he exclaimed: - -“Why! the fault is yours! You carry me away, and then you forsake me, -coward that you are! Why, pray, should I obey you? Do you think that you -are my master? Ah! you prostituter, you slave, you son of a slave!” He -ground his teeth and raised his broad hand above Spendius. - -The Greek did not reply. An earthen lamp was burning gently against the -tent-pole, where the zaïmph shone amid the hanging panoply. Suddenly -Matho put on his cothurni, buckled on his brazen jacket of mail, and -took his helmet. - -“Where are you going?” asked Spendius. - -“I am returning! Let me alone! I will bring her back! And if they -show themselves I will crush them like vipers! I will put her to death, -Spendius! Yes,” he repeated, “I will kill her! You shall see, I will -kill her!” - -But Spendius, who was listening eagerly, snatched up the zaïmph -abruptly and threw it into a corner, heaping up fleeces above it. -A murmuring of voices was heard, torches gleamed, and Narr’ Havas -entered, followed by about twenty men. - -They wore white woollen cloaks, long daggers, copper necklaces, wooden -earrings, and boots of hyena skin; and standing on the threshold they -leaned upon their lances like herdsmen resting themselves. Narr’ -Havas was the handsomest of all; his slender arms were bound with straps -ornamented with pearls. The golden circlet which fastened his ample -garment about his head held an ostrich feather which hung down behind -his shoulder; his teeth were displayed in a continual smile; his eyes -seemed sharpened like arrows, and there was something observant and airy -about his whole demeanour. - -He declared that he had come to join the Mercenaries, for the Republic -had long been threatening his kingdom. Accordingly he was interested in -assisting the Barbarians, and he might also be of service to them. - -“I will provide you with elephants (my forests are full of them), -wine, oil, barley, dates, pitch and sulphur for sieges, twenty thousand -foot-soldiers and ten thousand horses. If I address myself to you, -Matho, it is because the possession of the zaïmph has made you chief -man in the army. Moreover,” he added, “we are old friends.” - -Matho, however, was looking at Spendius, who, seated on the sheep-skins, -was listening, and giving little nods of assent the while. Narr’ Havas -continued speaking. He called the gods to witness he cursed Carthage. In -his imprecations he broke a javelin. All his men uttered simultaneously -a loud howl, and Matho, carried away by so much passion, exclaimed that -he accepted the alliance. - -A white bull and a black sheep, the symbols of day and night, were then -brought, and their throats were cut on the edge of a ditch. When the -latter was full of blood they dipped their arms into it. Then Narr’ -Havas spread out his hand upon Matho’s breast, and Matho did the -same to Narr’ Havas. They repeated the stain upon the canvas of their -tents. Afterwards they passed the night in eating, and the remaining -portions of the meat were burnt together with the skin, bones, horns, -and hoofs. - -Matho had been greeted with great shouting when he had come back bearing -the veil of the goddess; even those who were not of the Chanaanitish -religion were made by their vague enthusiasm to feel the arrival of -a genius. As to seizing the zaïmph, no one thought of it, for the -mysterious manner in which he had acquired it was sufficient in the -minds of the Barbarians to justify its possession; such were the -thoughts of the soldiers of the African race. The others, whose hatred -was not of such long standing, did not know how to make up their minds. -If they had had ships they would immediately have departed. - -Spendius, Narr’ Havas, and Matho despatched men to all the tribes on -Punic soil. - -Carthage was sapping the strength of these nations. She wrung exorbitant -taxes from them, and arrears or even murmurings were punished with -fetters, the axe, or the cross. It was necessary to cultivate whatever -suited the Republic, and to furnish what she demanded; no one had the -right of possessing a weapon; when villages rebelled the inhabitants -were sold; governors were esteemed like wine-presses, according to the -quantity which they succeeded in extracting. Then beyond the regions -immediately subject to Carthage extended the allies roamed the Nomads, -who might be let loose upon them. By this system the crops were always -abundant, the studs skilfully managed, and the plantations superb. - -The elder Cato, a master in the matters of tillage and slaves, was -amazed at it ninety-two years later, and the death-cry which he repeated -continually at Rome was but the exclamation of jealous greed. - -During the last war the exactions had been increased, so that nearly -all the towns of Libya had surrendered to Regulus. To punish them, a -thousand talents, twenty thousand oxen, three hundred bags of gold dust, -and considerable advances of grain had been exacted from them, and the -chiefs of the tribes had been crucified or thrown to the lions. - -Tunis especially execrated Carthage! Older than the metropolis, it could -not forgive her her greatness, and it fronted her walls crouching in -the mire on the water’s edge like a venomous beast watching her. -Transportation, massacres, and epidemics did not weaken it. It -had assisted Archagathas, the son of Agathocles, and the Eaters of -Uncleanness found arms there at once. - -The couriers had not yet set out when universal rejoicing broke out -in the provinces. Without waiting for anything they strangled the -comptrollers of the houses and the functionaries of the Republic in -the baths; they took the old weapons that had been concealed out of the -caves; they forged swords with the iron of the ploughs; the children -sharpened javelins at the doors, and the women gave their necklaces, -rings, earrings, and everything that could be employed for the -destruction of Carthage. Piles of lances were heaped up in the country -towns like sheaves of maize. Cattle and money were sent off. Matho -speedily paid the Mercenaries their arrears, and owing to this, which -was Spendius’s idea, he was appointed commander-in-chief—the -schalishim of the Barbarians. - -Reinforcements of men poured in at the same time. The aborigines -appeared first, and were followed by the slaves from the country; -caravans of Negroes were seized and armed, and merchants on their way -to Carthage, despairing of any more certain profit, mingled with the -Barbarians. Numerous bands were continually arriving. From the heights -of the Acropolis the growing army might be seen. - -But the guards of the Legion were posted as sentries on the platform -of the aqueduct, and near them rose at intervals brazen vats, in which -floods of asphalt were boiling. Below in the plain the great crowd -stirred tumultuously. They were in a state of uncertainty, feeling the -embarrassment with which Barbarians are always inspired when they meet -with walls. - -Utica and Hippo-Zarytus refused their alliance. Phonician colonies like -Carthage, they were self-governing, and always had clauses inserted -in the treaties concluded by the Republic to distinguish them from the -latter. Nevertheless they respected this strong sister of theirs who -protected them, and they did not think that she could be vanquished by -a mass of Barbarians; these would on the contrary be themselves -exterminated. They desired to remain neutral and to live at peace. - -But their position rendered them indispensable. Utica, at the foot -of the gulf, was convenient for bringing assistance to Carthage from -without. If Utica alone were taken, Hippo-Zarytus, six hours further -distant along the coast, would take its place, and the metropolis, being -revictualled in this way, would be impregnable. - -Spendius wished the siege to be undertaken immediately. Narr’ Havas -was opposed to this: an advance should first be made upon the frontier. -This was the opinion of the veterans, and of Matho himself, and it -was decided that Spendius should go to attack Utica, and Matho -Hippo-Zarytus, while in the third place the main body should rest on -Tunis and occupy the plain of Carthage, Autaritus being in command. -As to Narr’ Havas, he was to return to his own kingdom to procure -elephants and to scour the roads with his cavalry. - -The women cried out loudly against this decision; they coveted the -jewels of the Punic ladies. The Libyans also protested. They had been -summoned against Carthage, and now they were going away from it! The -soldiers departed almost alone. Matho commanded his own companions, -together with the Iberians, Lusitanians, and the men of the West, and of -the islands; all those who spoke Greek had asked for Spendius on account -of his cleverness. - -Great was the stupefaction when the army was seen suddenly in motion; -it stretched along beneath the mountain of Ariana on the road to Utica -beside the sea. A fragment remained before Tunis, the rest disappeared -to re-appear on the other shore of the gulf on the outskirts of the -woods in which they were lost. - -They were perhaps eighty thousand men. The two Tyrian cities would offer -no resistance, and they would return against Carthage. Already there was -a considerable army attacking it from the base of the isthmus, and it -would soon perish from famine, for it was impossible to live without the -aid of the provinces, the citizens not paying contributions as they did -at Rome. Carthage was wanting in political genius. Her eternal anxiety -for gain prevented her from having the prudence which results from -loftier ambitions. A galley anchored on the Libyan sands, it was with -toil that she maintained her position. The nations roared like billows -around her, and the slightest storm shook this formidable machine. - -The treasury was exhausted by the Roman war and by all that had been -squandered and lost in the bargaining with the Barbarians. Nevertheless -soldiers must be had, and not a government would trust the Republic! -Ptolemæus had lately refused it two thousand talents. Moreover the rape -of the veil disheartened them. Spendius had clearly foreseen this. - -But the nation, feeling that it was hated, clasped its money and -its gods to its heart, and its patriotism was sustained by the very -constitution of its government. - -First, the power rested with all, without any one being strong enough -to engross it. Private debts were considered as public debts, men of -Chanaanitish race had a monopoly of commerce, and by multiplying the -profits of piracy with those of usury, by hard dealings in lands and -slaves and with the poor, fortunes were sometimes made. These alone -opened up all the magistracies, and although authority and money were -perpetuated in the same families, people tolerated the oligarchy because -they hoped ultimately to share in it. - -The societies of merchants, in which the laws were elaborated, chose the -inspectors of the exchequer, who on leaving office nominated the hundred -members of the Council of the Ancients, themselves dependent on the -Grand Assembly, or general gathering of all the rich. As to the two -Suffets, the relics of the monarchy and the less than consuls, they were -taken from distinct families on the same day. All kinds of enmities were -contrived between them, so that they might mutually weaken each other. -They could not deliberate concerning war, and when they were vanquished -the Great Council crucified them. - -The power of Carthage emanated, therefore, from the Syssitia, that is -to say, from a large court in the centre of Malqua, at the place, it -was said, where the first bark of Phonician sailors had touched, the -sea having retired a long way since then. It was a collection of little -rooms of archaic architecture, built of palm trunks with corners of -stone, and separated from one another so as to accommodate the various -societies separately. The rich crowded there all day to discuss their -own concerns and those of the government, from the procuring of pepper -to the extermination of Rome. Thrice in a moon they would have their -beds brought up to the lofty terrace running along the wall of the -court, and they might be seen from below at table in the air, without -cothurni or cloaks, with their diamond-covered fingers wandering -over the dishes, and their large earrings hanging down among the -flagons,—all fat and lusty, half-naked, smiling and eating beneath the -blue sky, like great sharks sporting in the sea. - -But just now they were unable to dissemble their anxiety; they were too -pale for that. The crowd which waited for them at the gates escorted -them to their palaces in order to obtain some news from them. As in -times of pestilence, all the houses were shut; the streets would fill -and suddenly clear again; people ascended the Acropolis or ran to the -harbour, and the Great Council deliberated every night. At last the -people were convened in the square of Khamon, and it was decided to -leave the management of things to Hanno, the conqueror of Hecatompylos. - -He was a true Carthaginian, devout, crafty, and pitiless towards the -people of Africa. His revenues equalled those of the Barcas. No one had -such experience in administrative affairs. - -He decreed the enrolment of all healthy citizens, he placed catapults on -the towers, he exacted exorbitant supplies of arms, he even ordered the -construction of fourteen galleys which were not required, and he desired -everything to be registered and carefully set down in writing. He had -himself conveyed to the arsenal, the pharos, and the treasuries of the -temples; his great litter was continually to be seen swinging from step -to step as it ascended the staircases of the Acropolis. And then in -his palace at night, being unable to sleep, he would yell out warlike -manouvres in terrible tones so as to prepare himself for the fray. - -In their extremity of terror all became brave. The rich ranged -themselves in line along the Mappalian district at cockcrow, and tucking -up their robes practised themselves in handling the pike. But for -want of an instructor they had disputes about it. They would sit down -breathless upon the tombs and then begin again. Several even dieted -themselves. Some imagined that it was necessary to eat a great deal in -order to acquire strength, while others who were inconvenienced by their -corpulence weakened themselves with fasts in order to become thin. - -Utica had already called several times upon Carthage for assistance; but -Hanno would not set out until the engines of war had been supplied with -the last screws. He lost three moons more in equipping the one hundred -and twelve elephants that were lodged in the ramparts. They were the -conquerors of Regulus; the people loved them; it was impossible to treat -such old friends too well. Hanno had the brass plates which adorned -their breasts recast, their tusks gilt, their towers enlarged, and -caparisons, edged with very heavy fringes, cut out of the handsomest -purple. Finally, as their drivers were called Indians (after the first -ones, no doubt, who came from the Indies) he ordered them all to be -costumed after the Indian fashion; that is to say, with white pads round -their temples, and small drawers of byssus, which with their transverse -folds looked like two valves of a shell applied to the hips. - -The army under Autaritus still remained before Tunis. It was hidden -behind a wall made with mud from the lake, and protected on the top by -thorny brushwood. Some Negroes had planted tall sticks here and there -bearing frightful faces,—human masks made with birds’ feathers, and -jackals’ or serpents’ heads,—which gaped towards the enemy for -the purpose of terrifying him; and the Barbarians, reckoning themselves -invincible through these means, danced, wrestled, and juggled, convinced -that Carthage would perish before long. Any one but Hanno would easily -have crushed such a multitude, hampered as it was with herds and women. -Moreover, they knew nothing of drill, and Autaritus was so disheartened -that he had ceased to require it. - -They stepped aside when he passed by rolling his big blue eyes. Then -on reaching the edge of the lake he would draw back his sealskin cloak, -unfasten the cord which tied up his long red hair, and soak the latter -in the water. He regretted that he had not deserted to the Romans along -with the two thousand Gauls of the temple of Eryx. - -Often the sun would suddenly lose his rays in the middle of the day. -Then the gulf and the open sea would seem as motionless as molten lead. -A cloud of brown dust stretching perpendicularly would speed whirling -along; the palm trees would bend and the sky disappear, while stones -would be heard rebounding on the animals’ cruppers; and the Gaul, his -lips glued against the holes in his tent, would gasp with exhaustion and -melancholy. His thoughts would be of the scent of the pastures on autumn -mornings, of snowflakes, or of the bellowing of the urus lost in the -fog, and closing his eyelids he would in imagination behold the fires in -long, straw-roofed cottages flickering on the marshes in the depths of -the woods. - -Others regretted their native lands as well as he, even though they -might not be so far away. Indeed the Carthaginian captives could -distinguish the velaria spread over the courtyards of their houses, -beyond the gulf on the slopes of Byrsa. But sentries marched round them -continually. They were all fastened to a common chain. Each one wore an -iron carcanet, and the crowd was never weary of coming to gaze at them. -The women would show their little children the handsome robes hanging in -tatters on their wasted limbs. - -Whenever Autaritus looked at Gisco he was seized with rage at the -recollection of the insult that he had received, and he would have -killed him but for the oath which he had taken to Narr’ Havas. Then -he would go back into his tent and drink a mixture of barley and cumin -until he swooned away from intoxication,—to awake afterwards in broad -daylight consumed with horrible thirst. - -Matho, meanwhile, was besieging Hippo-Zarytus. But the town was -protected by a lake, communicating with the sea. It had three lines of -circumvallation, and upon the heights which surrounded it there -extended a wall fortified with towers. He had never commanded in such -an enterprise before. Moreover, he was beset with thoughts of Salammbô, -and he raved in the delight of her beauty as in the sweetness of a -vengeance that transported him with pride. He felt an acrid, frenzied, -permanent want to see her again. He even thought of presenting himself -as the bearer of a flag of truce, in the hope that once within Carthage -he might make his way to her. Often he would cause the assault to be -sounded and waiting for nothing rush upon the mole which it was sought -to construct in the sea. He would snatch up the stones with his hands, -overturn, strike, and deal sword-thrusts everywhere. The Barbarians -would dash on pell-mell; the ladders would break with a loud crash, and -masses of men would tumble into the water, causing it to fly up in -red waves against the walls. Finally the tumult would subside, and the -soldiers would retire to make a fresh beginning. - -Matho would go and seat himself outside the tents, wipe his -blood-splashed face with his arm, and gaze at the horizon in the -direction of Carthage. - -In front of him, among the olives, palms, myrtles and planes, stretched -two broad ponds which met another lake, the outlines of which could not -be seen. Behind one mountain other mountains reared themselves, and -in the middle of the immense lake rose an island perfectly black and -pyramidal in form. On the left, at the extremity of the gulf, were -sand-heaps like arrested waves, large and pale, while the sea, flat as a -pavement of lapis-lazuli, ascended by insensible degrees to the edge -of the sky. The verdure of the country was lost in places beneath long -sheets of yellow; carobs were shining like knobs of coral; vine branches -drooped from the tops of the sycamores; the murmuring of the water could -be heard; crested larks were hopping about, and the sun’s latest fires -gilded the carapaces of the tortoises as they came forth from the reeds -to inhale the breeze. - -Matho would heave deep sighs. He would lie flat on his face, with his -nails buried in the soil, and weep; he felt wretched, paltry, forsaken. -Never would he possess her, and he was unable even to take a town. - -At night when alone in his tent he would gaze upon the zaïmph. Of what -use to him was this thing which belonged to the gods?—and doubt crept -into the Barbarian’s thoughts. Then, on the contrary, it would seem -to him that the vesture of the goddess was depending from Salammbô, and -that a portion of her soul hovered in it, subtler than a breath; and -he would feel it, breathe it in, bury his face in it, and kiss it with -sobs. He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself -that he was beside her. - -Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over -the sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon -a horse on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in -Spendius’s tent. - -At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease -his sorrow by talking about Salammbô. Spendius exhorted him to be -prudent. - -“Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them! -Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if Carthage -is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces. We shall become -kings!” - -But how was it that the possession of the zaïmph did not give them the -victory? According to Spendius they must wait. - -Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race -exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself: -“The zaïmph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have -lost it, it will do nothing for them.” - -Afterwards a scruple troubled him. He was afraid of offending Moloch -by worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked -Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a man. - -“Keep on sacrificing!” laughed Spendius. - -Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek -of having a genius of whom he did not speak. - -All modes of worship, as well as all races, were to be met with in these -armies of Barbarians, and consideration was had to the gods of others, -for they too, inspired fear. Many mingled foreign practices with their -native religion. It was to no purpose that they did not adore the stars; -if a constellation were fatal or helpful, sacrifices were offered to -it; an unknown amulet found by chance at a moment of peril became -a divinity; or it might be a name and nothing more, which would be -repeated without any attempt to understand its meaning. But after -pillaging temples, and seeing numbers of nations and slaughters, many -ultimately ceased to believe in anything but destiny and death;—and -every evening these would fall asleep with the placidity of wild beasts. -Spendius had spit upon the images of Jupiter Olympius; nevertheless he -dreaded to speak aloud in the dark, nor did he fail every day to put on -his right boot first. - -He reared a long quadrangular terrace in front of Utica, but in -proportion as it ascended the rampart was also heightened, and what was -thrown down by the one side was almost immediately raised again by the -other. Spendius took care of his men; he dreamed of plans and strove to -recall the stratagems which he had heard described in his travels. But -why did Narr’ Havas not return? There was nothing but anxiety. - -Hanno had at last concluded his preparations. One night when there was -no moon he transported his elephants and soldiers on rafts across -the Gulf of Carthage. Then they wheeled round the mountain of the Hot -Springs so as to avoid Autaritus, and continued their march so slowly -that instead of surprising the Barbarians in the morning, as the Suffet -had calculated, they did not reach them until it was broad daylight on -the third day. - -Utica had on the east a plain which extended to the large lagoon of -Carthage; behind it a valley ran at right angles between two low and -abruptly terminated mountains; the Barbarians were encamped further -to the left in such a way as to blockade the harbour; and they were -sleeping in their tents (for on that day both sides were too weary -to fight and were resting) when the Carthaginian army appeared at the -turning of the hills. - -Some camp followers furnished with slings were stationed at intervals -on the wings. The first line was formed of the guards of the Legion in -golden scale-armour, mounted on their big horses, which were without -mane, hair, or ears, and had silver horns in the middle of their -foreheads to make them look like rhinoceroses. Between their squadrons -were youths wearing small helmets and swinging an ashen javelin in each -hand. The long files of the heavy infantry marched behind. All these -traders had piled as many weapons upon their bodies as possible. Some -might be seen carrying an axe, a lance, a club, and two swords all at -once; others bristled with darts like porcupines, and their arms stood -out from their cuirasses in sheets of horn or iron plates. At last the -scaffoldings of the lofty engines appeared: carrobalistas, onagers, -catapults and scorpions, rocking on chariots drawn by mules and -quadrigas of oxen; and in proportion as the army drew out, the captains -ran panting right and left to deliver commands, close up the files, and -preserve the intervals. Such of the Ancients as held commands had come -in purple cassocks, the magnificent fringes of which tangled in the -white straps of their cothurni. Their faces, which were smeared all over -with vermilion, shone beneath enormous helmets surmounted with images -of the gods; and, as they had shields with ivory borders covered with -precious stones, they might have been taken for suns passing over walls -of brass. - -But the Carthaginians manouvred so clumsily that the soldiers in -derision urged them to sit down. They called out that they were just -going to empty their big stomachs, to dust the gilding of their skin, -and to give them iron to drink. - -A strip of green cloth appeared at the top of the pole planted before -Spendius’s tent: it was the signal. The Carthaginian army replied to -it with a great noise of trumpets, cymbals, flutes of asses’ bones, -and tympanums. The Barbarians had already leaped outside the palisades, -and were facing their enemies within a javelin’s throw of them. - -A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets into -his thong, and swung round his arm. An ivory shield was shivered, and -the two armies mingled together. - -The Greeks made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by -pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. The slaves -who were to hurl stones had picked such as were too big, and they -accordingly fell close to them. The Punic foot-soldiers exposed the -right side in cutting with their long swords. The Barbarians broke their -lines; they slaughtered them freely; they stumbled over the dying and -dead, quite blinded by the blood that spurted into their faces. The -confused heap of pikes, helmets, cuirasses and swords turned round -about, widening out and closing in with elastic contractions. The gaps -increased more and more in the Carthaginian cohorts, the engines could -not get out of the sand; and finally the Suffet’s litter (his grand -litter with crystal pendants), which from the beginning might have -been seen tossing among the soldiers like a bark on the waves, suddenly -foundered. He was no doubt dead. The Barbarians found themselves alone. - -The dust around them fell and they were beginning to sing, when Hanno -himself appeared on the top of an elephant. He sat bare-headed beneath a -parasol of byssus which was carried by a Negro behind him. His necklace -of blue plates flapped against the flowers on his black tunic; his huge -arms were compressed within circles of diamonds, and with open mouth he -brandished a pike of inordinate size, which spread out at the end like -a lotus, and flashed more than a mirror. Immediately the earth -shook,—and the Barbarians saw all the elephants of Carthage, with -their gilt tusks and blue-painted ears, hastening up in single line, -clothed with bronze and shaking the leathern towers which were placed -above their scarlet caparisons, in each of which were three archers -bending large bows. - -The soldiers were barely in possession of their arms; they had taken -up their positions at random. They were frozen with terror; they stood -undecided. - -Javelins, arrows, phalaricas, and masses of lead were already being -showered down upon them from the towers. Some clung to the fringes of -the caparisons in order to climb up, but their hands were struck off -with cutlasses and they fell backwards upon the swords’ points. The -pikes were too weak and broke, and the elephants passed through the -phalanxes like wild boars through tufts of grass; they plucked up the -stakes of the camp with their trunks, and traversed it from one end to -the other, overthrowing the tents with their breasts. All the Barbarians -had fled. They were hiding themselves in the hills bordering the valley -by which the Carthaginians had come. - -The victorious Hanno presented himself before the gates of Utica. He had -a trumpet sounded. The three Judges of the town appeared in the opening -of the battlements on the summit of a tower. - -But the people of Utica would not receive such well-armed guests. Hanno -was furious. At last they consented to admit him with a feeble escort. - -The streets were too narrow for the elephants. They had to be left -outside. - -As soon as the Suffet was in the town the principal men came to greet -him. He had himself taken to the vapour baths, and called for his cooks. - - -Three hours afterwards he was still immersed in the oil of cinnamomum -with which the basin had been filled; and while he bathed he ate -flamingoes’ tongues with honied poppy-seeds on a spread ox-hide. -Beside him was his Greek physician, motionless, in a long yellow robe, -directing the re-heating of the bath from time to time, and two young -boys leaned over the steps of the basin and rubbed his legs. But -attention to his body did not check his love for the commonwealth, for -he was dictating a letter to be sent to the Great Council, and as -some prisoners had just been taken he was asking himself what terrible -punishment could be devised. - -“Stop!” said he to a slave who stood writing in the hollow of his -hand. “Let some of them be brought to me! I wish to see them!” - -And from the bottom of the hall, full of a whitish vapour on which the -torches cast red spots, three Barbarians were thrust forward: a Samnite, -a Spartan, and a Cappadocian. - -“Proceed!” said Hanno. - -“Rejoice, light of the Baals! your Suffet has exterminated the -ravenous hounds! Blessings on the Republic! Give orders for prayers!” -He perceived the captives and burst out laughing: “Ah! ha! my fine -fellows of Sicca! You are not shouting so loudly to-day! It is I! Do -you recognise me? And where are your swords? What really terrible -fellows!” and he pretended to be desirous to hide himself as if -he were afraid of them. “You demanded horses, women, estates, -magistracies, no doubt, and priesthoods! Why not? Well, I will provide -you with the estates, and such as you will never come out of! You shall -be married to gibbets that are perfectly new! Your pay? it shall be -melted in your mouths in leaden ingots! and I will put you into good and -very exalted positions among the clouds, so as to bring you close to the -eagles!” - -The three long-haired and ragged Barbarians looked at him without -understanding what he said. Wounded in the knees, they had been seized -by having ropes thrown over them, and the ends of the great chains on -their hands trailed upon the pavement. Hanno was indignant at their -impassibility. - -“On your knees! on your knees! jackals! dust! vermin! excrements! And -they make no reply! Enough! be silent! Let them be flayed alive! No! -presently!” - -He was breathing like a hippopotamus and rolling his eyes. The perfumed -oil overflowed beneath the mass of his body, and clinging to the scales -on his skin, made it look pink in the light of the torches. - -He resumed: - -“For four days we suffered greatly from the sun. Some mules were lost -in crossing the Macaras. In spite of their position, the extraordinary -courage—Ah! Demonades! how I suffer! Have the bricks reheated, and let -them be red-hot!” - -A noise of rakes and furnaces was heard. The incense smoked more -strongly in the large perfuming pans, and the shampooers, who were quite -naked and were sweating like sponges, crushed a paste composed of wheat, -sulphur, black wine, bitch’s milk, myrrh, galbanum and storax upon his -joints. He was consumed with incessant thirst, but the yellow-robed man -did not yield to this inclination, and held out to him a golden cup in -which viper broth was smoking. - -“Drink!” said he, “that strength of sun-born serpents may -penetrate into the marrow of your bones, and take courage, O reflection -of the gods! You know, moreover, that a priest of Eschmoun watches those -cruel stars round the Dog from which your malady is derived. They are -growing pale like the spots on your skin, and you are not to die from -them.” - -“Oh! yes, that is so, is it not?” repeated the Suffet, “I am not -to die from them!” And his violaceous lips gave forth a breath more -nauseous than the exhalation from a corpse. Two coals seemed to burn in -the place of his eyes, which had lost their eyebrows; a mass of wrinkled -skin hung over his forehead; both his ears stood out from his head -and were beginning to increase in size; and the deep lines forming -semicircles round his nostrils gave him a strange and terrifying -appearance, the look of a wild beast. His unnatural voice was like a -roar; he said: - -“Perhaps you are right, Demonades. In fact there are many ulcers here -which have closed. I feel robust. Here! look how I am eating!” - -And less from greediness than from ostentation, and the desire to prove -to himself that he was in good health, he cut into the forcemeats -of cheese and marjoram, the boned fish, gourds, oysters with eggs, -horse-radishes, truffles, and brochettes of small birds. As he looked -at the prisoners he revelled in the imagination of their tortures. -Nevertheless he remembered Sicca, and the rage caused by all his woes -found vent in the abuse of these three men. - -“Ah! traitors! ah! wretches! infamous, accursed creatures! And you -outraged me!—me! the Suffet! Their services, the price of their -blood, say they! Ah! yes! their blood! their blood!” Then speaking -to himself:—“All shall perish! not one shall be sold! It would be -better to bring them to Carthage! I should be seen—but doubtless, I -have not brought chains enough? Write: Send me—How many of them are -there? go and ask Muthumbal! Go! no pity! and let all their hands be cut -off and brought to me in baskets!” - -But strange cries at once hoarse and shrill penetrated into the hall -above Hanno’s voice and the rattling of the dishes that were being -placed around him. They increased, and suddenly the furious trumpeting -of the elephants burst forth as if the battle were beginning again. A -great tumult was going on around the town. - -The Carthaginians had not attempted to pursue the Barbarians. They had -taken up their quarters at the foot of the walls with their baggage, -mules, serving men, and all their train of satraps; and they made -merry in their beautiful pearl-bordered tents, while the camp of the -Mercenaries was now nothing but a heap of ruins in the plain. Spendius -had recovered his courage. He dispatched Zarxas to Matho, scoured the -woods, rallied his men (the losses had been inconsiderable),—and they -were re-forming their lines enraged at having been conquered without a -fight, when they discovered a vat of petroleum which had no doubt been -abandoned by the Carthaginians. Then Spendius had some pigs carried off -from the farms, smeared them with bitumen, set them on fire, and drove -them towards Utica. - -The elephants were terrified by the flames and fled. The ground sloped -upwards, javelins were thrown at them, and they turned back;—and -with great blows of ivory and trampling feet they ripped up the -Carthaginians, stifled them, flattened them. The Barbarians descended -the hill behind them; the Punic camp, which was without entrenchments -was sacked at the first rush, and the Carthaginians were crushed against -the gates, which were not opened through fear of the Mercenaries. - -Day broke, and Matho’s foot-soldiers were seen coming up from the -west. At the same time horsemen appeared; they were Narr’ Havas with -his Numidians. Leaping ravines and bushes they ran down the fugitives -like greyhounds pursuing hares. This change of fortune interrupted the -Suffet. He called out to be assisted to leave the vapour bath. - -The three captives were still before him. Then a Negro (the same who had -carried his parasol in the battle) leaned over to his ear. - -“Well?” replied the Suffet slowly. “Ah! kill them!” he added in -an abrupt tone. - -The Ethiopian drew a long dagger from his girdle and the three heads -fell. One of them rebounded among the remains of the feast, and leaped -into the basin, where it floated for some time with open mouth and -staring eyes. The morning light entered through the chinks in the wall; -the three bodies streamed with great bubbles like three fountains, and -a sheet of blood flowed over the mosaics with their powdering of blue -dust. The Suffet dipped his hand into this hot mire and rubbed his knees -with it: it was a cure. - -When evening had come he stole away from the town with his escort, and -made his way into the mountain to rejoin his army. - -He succeeded in finding the remains of it. - -Four days afterward he was on the top of a defile at Gorza, when the -troops under Spendius appeared below. Twenty stout lances might easily -have checked them by attacking the head of their column, but the -Carthaginians watched them pass by in a state of stupefaction. Hanno -recognised the king of the Numidians in the rearguard; Narr’ -Havas bowed to him, at the same time making a sign which he did not -understand. - -The return to Carthage took place amid all kinds of terrors. They -marched only at night, hiding in the olive woods during the day. -There were deaths at every halting-place; several times they believed -themselves lost. At last they reached Cape Hermæum, where vessels came -to receive them. - -Hanno was so fatigued, so desperate—the loss of the elephants in -particular overwhelmed him—that he demanded poison from Demonades in -order to put an end to it all. Moreover he could already feel himself -stretched upon the cross. - -Carthage had not strength enough to be indignant with him. Its losses -had amounted to one hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy-two -shekels of silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three shekels -of gold, eighteen elephants, fourteen members of the Great Council, -three hundred of the rich, eight thousand citizens, corn enough for -three moons, a considerable quantity of baggage, and all the engines of -war! The defection of Narr’ Havas was certain, and both sieges were -beginning again. The army under Autaritus now extended from Tunis to -Rhades. From the top of the Acropolis long columns of smoke might be -seen in the country ascending to the sky; they were the mansions of the -rich, which were on fire. - -One man alone could have saved the Republic. People repented that -they had slighted him, and the peace party itself voted holocausts for -Hamilcar’s return. - -The sight of the zaïmph had upset Salammbô. At night she thought -that she could hear the footsteps of the goddess, and she would awake -terrified and shrieking. Every day she sent food to the temples. Taanach -was worn out with executing her orders, and Schahabarim never left her. - - - - - -CHAPTER VII HAMILCAR BARCA - -The Announcer of the Moons, who watched on the summit of the temple of -Eschmoun every night in order to signal the disturbances of the planet -with his trumpet, one morning perceived towards the west something like -a bird skimming the surface of the sea with its long wings. - -It was a ship with three tiers of oars and with a horse carved on the -prow. The sun was rising; the Announcer of the Moons put up his hand -before his eyes, and then grasping his clarion with outstretched arms -sounded a loud brazen cry over Carthage. - -People came out of every house; they would not believe what was said; -they disputed with one another; the mole was covered with people. At -last they recognised Hamilcar’s trireme. - -It advanced in fierce and haughty fashion, cleaving the foam around it, -the lateen-yard quite square and the sail bulging down the whole length -of the mast; its gigantic oars kept time as they beat the water; -every now and then the extremity of the keel, which was shaped like a -plough-share, would appear, and the ivory-headed horse, rearing both -its feet beneath the spur which terminated the prow, would seem to be -speeding over the plains of the sea. - -As it rounded the promontory the wind ceased, the sail fell, and a man -was seen standing bareheaded beside the pilot. It was he, Hamilcar, the -Suffet! About his sides he wore gleaming sheets of steel; a red cloak, -fastened to his shoulders, left his arms visible; two pearls of great -length hung from his ears, and his black, bushy beard rested on his -breast. - -The galley, however, tossing amid the rocks, was proceeding along -the side of the mole, and the crowd followed it on the flag-stones, -shouting: - -“Greeting! blessing! Eye of Khamon! ah! deliver us! ’Tis the fault -of the rich! they want to put you to death! Take care of yourself, -Barca!” - -He made no reply, as if the loud clamour of oceans and battles had -completely deafened him. But when he was below the staircase leading -down from the Acropolis, Hamilcar raised his head, and looked with -folded arms upon the temple of Eschmoun. His gaze mounted higher still, -to the great pure sky; he shouted an order in a harsh voice to his -sailors; the trireme leaped forward; it grazed the idol set up at the -corner of the mole to stay the storms; and in the merchant harbour, -which was full of filth, fragments of wood, and rinds of fruit, it -pushed aside and crushed against the other ships moored to stakes and -terminating in crocodiles’ jaws. The people hastened thither, and some -threw themselves into the water to swim to it. It was already at the -very end before the gate which bristled with nails. The gate rose, and -the trireme disappeared beneath the deep arch. - -The Military Harbour was completely separated from the town; when -ambassadors arrived, they had to proceed between two walls through -a passage which had its outlet on the left in front of the temple of -Khamon. This great expanse of water was as round as a cup, and was -bordered with quays on which sheds were built for sheltering the ships. -Before each of these rose two pillars bearing the horns of Ammon on -their capitals and forming continuous porticoes all round the basin. On -an island in the centre stood a house for the marine Suffet. - -The water was so limpid that the bottom was visible with its paving -of white pebbles. The noise of the streets did not reach so far, and -Hamilcar as he passed recognised the triremes which he had formerly -commanded. - -Not more than twenty perhaps remained, under shelter on the land, -leaning over on their sides or standing upright on their keels, with -lofty poops and swelling prows, and covered with gildings and mystic -symbols. The chimaeras had lost their wings, the Patæc Gods their arms, -the bulls their silver horns;—and half-painted, motionless, and rotten -as they were, yet full of associations, and still emitting the scent -of voyages, they all seemed to say to him, like mutilated soldiers on -seeing their master again, “’Tis we! ’Tis we! and you too are -vanquished!” - -No one excepting the marine Suffet might enter the admiral’s house. -So long as there was no proof of his death he was considered as still in -existence. In this way the Ancients avoided a master the more, and they -had not failed to comply with the custom in respect to Hamilcar. - -The Suffet proceeded into the deserted apartments. At every step he -recognised armour and furniture—familiar objects which nevertheless -astonished him, and in a perfuming-pan in the vestibule there even -remained the ashes of the perfumes that had been kindled at his -departure for the conjuration of Melkarth. It was not thus that he had -hoped to return. Everything that he had done, everything that he had -seen, unfolded itself in his memory: assaults, conflagrations, legions, -tempests, Drepanum, Syracuse, Lilybæum, Mount Etna, the plateau of -Eryx, five years of battles,—until the fatal day when arms had been -laid down and Sicily had been lost. Then he once more saw the woods of -citron-trees, and herdsmen with their goats on grey mountains; and his -heart leaped at the thought of the establishment of another Carthage -down yonder. His projects and his recollections buzzed through his -head, which was still dizzy from the pitching of the vessel; he was -overwhelmed with anguish, and, becoming suddenly weak, he felt the -necessity of drawing near to the gods. - -Then he went up to the highest story of his house, and taking a -nail-studded staple from a golden shell, which hung on his arm, he -opened a small oval chamber. - -It was softly lighted by means of delicate black discs let into the -wall and as transparent as glass. Between the rows of these equal discs, -holes, like those for the urns in columbaria, were hollowed out. Each of -them contained a round dark stone, which appeared to be very heavy. -Only people of superior understanding honoured these abaddirs, which had -fallen from the moon. By their fall they denoted the stars, the sky, and -fire; by their colour dark night, and by their density the cohesion of -terrestrial things. A stifling atmosphere filled this mystic place. The -round stones lying in the niches were whitened somewhat with sea-sand -which the wind had no doubt driven through the door. Hamilcar counted -them one after another with the tip of his finger; then he hid his face -in a saffron-coloured veil, and, falling on his knees, stretched himself -on the ground with both arms extended. - -The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters -of black lattice-work. Arborescences, hillocks, eddies, and ill-defined -animals appeared in their diaphanous thickness; and the light came -terrifying and yet peaceful as it must be behind the sun in the dull -spaces of future creations. He strove to banish from his thoughts all -forms, and all symbols and appellations of the gods, that he might the -better apprehend the immutable spirit which outward appearances took -away. Something of the planetary vitalities penetrated him, and he felt -withal a wiser and more intimate scorn of death and of every accident. -When he rose he was filled with serene fearlessness and was proof -against pity or dread, and as his chest was choking he went to the top -of the tower which overlooked Carthage. - -The town sank downwards in a long hollow curve, with its cupolas, its -temples, its golden roofs, its houses, its clusters of palm trees here -and there, and its glass balls with streaming rays, while the ramparts -formed, as it were, the gigantic border of this horn of plenty which -poured itself out before him. Far below he could see the harbours, the -squares, the interiors of the courts, the plan of the streets, and the -people, who seemed very small and but little above the level of the -pavement. Ah! if Hanno had not arrived too late on the morning of -the Ægatian islands! He fastened his eyes on the extreme horizon and -stretched forth his quivering arms in the direction of Rome. - -The steps of the Acropolis were occupied by the multitude. In the square -of Khamon the people were pressing forwards to see the Suffet come -out, and the terraces were gradually being loaded with people; a few -recognised him, and he was saluted; but he retired in order the better -to excite the impatience of the people. - -Hamilcar found the most important men of his party below in the hall: -Istatten, Subeldia, Hictamon, Yeoubas and others. They related to him -all that had taken place since the conclusion of the peace: the greed -of the Ancients, the departure of the soldiers, their return, their -demands, the capture of Gisco, the theft of the zaïmph, the relief and -subsequent abandonment of Utica; but no one ventured to tell him of the -events which concerned himself. At last they separated, to meet again -during the night at the assembly of the Ancients in the temple of -Moloch. - -They had just gone out when a tumult arose outside the door. Some one -was trying to enter in spite of the servants; and as the disturbance was -increasing Hamilcar ordered the stranger to be shown in. - -An old Negress made her appearance, broken, wrinkled, trembling, -stupid-looking, wrapped to the heels in ample blue veils. She advanced -face to face with the Suffet, and they looked at each other for some -time; suddenly Hamilcar started; at a wave of his hand the slaves -withdrew. Then, signing to her to walk with precaution, he drew her by -the arm into a remote apartment. - -The Negress threw herself upon the floor to kiss his feet; he raised her -brutally. - -“Where have you left him, Iddibal?” - -“Down there, Master;” and extricating herself from her veils, she -rubbed her face with her sleeve; the black colour, the senile trembling, -the bent figure disappeared, and there remained a strong old man whose -skin seemed tanned by sand, wind, and sea. A tuft of white hair rose on -his skull like the crest of a bird; and he indicated his disguise, as it -lay on the ground, with an ironic glance. - -“You have done well, Iddibal! ’Tis well!” Then piercing him, as it -were, with his keen gaze: “No one yet suspects?” - -The old man swore to him by the Kabiri that the mystery had been kept. -They never left their cottage, which was three days’ journey from -Hadrumetum, on a shore peopled with turtles, and with palms on the dune. -“And in accordance with your command, O Master! I teach him to hurl -the javelin and to drive a team.” - -“He is strong, is he not?” - -“Yes, Master, and intrepid as well! He has no fear of serpents, or -thunder, or phantoms. He runs bare-footed like a herdsman along the -brinks of precipices.” - -“Speak! speak!” - -“He invents snares for wild beasts. Would you believe it, that last -moon he surprised an eagle; he dragged it away, and the bird’s blood -and the child’s were scattered in the air in large drops like driven -roses. The animal in its fury enwrapped him in the beating of its -wings; he strained it against his breast, and as it died his laughter -increased, piercing and proud like the clashing of swords.” - -Hamilcar bent his head, dazzled by such presages of greatness. - -“But he has been for some time restless and disturbed. He gazes at -the sails passing far out at sea; he is melancholy, he rejects bread, -he inquires about the gods, and he wishes to become acquainted with -Carthage.” - -“No, no! not yet!” exclaimed the Suffet. - -The old slave seemed to understand the peril which alarmed Hamilcar, and -he resumed: - -“How is he to be restrained? Already I am obliged to make him -promises, and I have come to Carthage only to buy him a dagger with -a silver handle and pearls all around it.” Then he told how, having -perceived the Suffet on the terrace, he had passed himself off on the -warders of the harbour as one of Salammbô’s women, so as to make his -way in to him. - -Hamilcar remained for a long time apparently lost in deliberation; at -last he said: - -“To-morrow you will present yourself at sunset behind the purple -factories in Megara, and imitate a jackal’s cry three times. If you do -not see me, you will return to Carthage on the first day of every moon. -Forget nothing! Love him! You may speak to him now about Hamilcar.” - -The slave resumed his costume, and they left the house and the harbour -together. - -Hamilcar went on his way alone on foot and without an escort, for the -meetings of the Ancients were, under extraordinary circumstances, always -secret, and were resorted to mysteriously. - -At first he went along the western front of the Acropolis, and then -passed through the Green Market, the galleries of Kinisdo, and the -Perfumers’ suburb. The scattered lights were being extinguished, the -broader streets grew still, then shadows glided through the darkness. -They followed him, others appeared, and like him they all directed their -course towards the Mappalian district. - -The temple of Moloch was built at the foot of a steep defile in a -sinister spot. From below nothing could be seen but lofty walls rising -indefinitely like those of a monstrous tomb. The night was gloomy, a -greyish fog seemed to weigh upon the sea, which beat against the cliff -with a noise as of death-rattles and sobs; and the shadows gradually -vanished as if they had passed through the walls. - -But as soon as the doorway was crossed one found oneself in a vast -quadrangular court bordered by arcades. In the centre rose a mass of -architecture with eight equal faces. It was surmounted by cupolas which -thronged around a second story supporting a kind of rotunda, from which -sprang a cone with a re-entrant curve and terminating in a ball on the -summit. - -Fires were burning in cylinders of filigree-work fitted upon poles, -which men were carrying to and fro. These lights flickered in the gusts -of wind and reddened the golden combs which fastened their plaited -hair on the nape of the neck. They ran about calling to one another to -receive the Ancients. - -Here and there on the flag-stones huge lions were couched like -sphinxes, living symbols of the devouring sun. They were slumbering with -half-closed eyelids. But roused by the footsteps and voices they rose -slowly, came towards the Ancients, whom they recognised by their dress, -and rubbed themselves against their thighs, arching their backs with -sonorous yawns; the vapour of their breath passed across the light of -the torches. The stir increased, doors closed, all the priests fled, -and the Ancients disappeared beneath the columns which formed a deep -vestibule round the temple. - -These columns were arranged in such a way that their circular ranks, -which were contained one within another, showed the Saturnian period -with its years, the years with their months, and the months with their -days, and finally reached to the walls of the sanctuary. - -Here it was that the Ancients laid aside their sticks of -narwhal’s-horn,—for a law which was always observed inflicted the -punishment of death upon any one entering the meeting with any kind -of weapon. Several wore a rent repaired with a strip of purple at the -bottom of their garment, to show that they had not been economical in -their dress when mourning for their relatives, and this testimony to -their affliction prevented the slit from growing larger. Others had -their beards inclosed in little bags of violet skin, and fastened to -their ears by two cords. They all accosted one another by embracing -breast to breast. They surrounded Hamilcar with congratulations; they -might have been taken for brothers meeting their brother again. - -These men were generally thick-set, with curved noses like those of the -Assyrian colossi. In a few, however, the more prominent cheek-bone, the -taller figure, and the narrower foot, betrayed an African origin -and nomad ancestors. Those who lived continually shut up in their -counting-houses had pale faces; others showed in theirs the severity -of the desert, and strange jewels sparkled on all the fingers of -their hands, which were burnt by unknown suns. The navigators might be -distinguished by their rolling gait, while the men of agriculture -smelt of the wine-press, dried herbs, and the sweat of mules. These -old pirates had lands under tillage, these money-grubbers would fit -out ships, these proprietors of cultivated lands supported slaves who -followed trades. All were skilled in religious discipline, expert in -strategy, pitiless and rich. They looked wearied of prolonged cares. -Their flaming eyes expressed distrust, and their habits of travelling -and lying, trafficking and commanding, gave an appearance of cunning -and violence, a sort of discreet and convulsive brutality to their whole -demeanour. Further, the influence of the god cast a gloom upon them. - -They first passed through a vaulted hall which was shaped like an egg. -Seven doors, corresponding to the seven planets, displayed seven squares -of different colours against the wall. After traversing a long room they -entered another similar hall. - -A candelabrum completely covered with chiselled flowers was burning at -the far end, and each of its eight golden branches bore a wick of byssus -in a diamond chalice. It was placed upon the last of the long steps -leading to a great altar, the corners of which terminated in horns of -brass. Two lateral staircases led to its flattened summit; the stones -of it could not be seen; it was like a mountain of heaped cinders, and -something indistinct was slowly smoking at the top of it. Then further -back, higher than the candelabrum, and much higher than the altar, rose -the Moloch, all of iron, and with gaping apertures in his human breast. -His outspread wings were stretched upon the wall, his tapering hands -reached down to the ground; three black stones bordered by yellow -circles represented three eyeballs on his brow, and his bull’s head -was raised with a terrible effort as if in order to bellow. - -Ebony stools were ranged round the apartment. Behind each of them was -a bronze shaft resting on three claws and supporting a torch. All these -lights were reflected in the mother-of-pearl lozenges which formed the -pavement of the hall. So lofty was the latter that the red colour of the -walls grew black as it rose towards the vaulted roof, and the three eyes -of the idol appeared far above like stars half lost in the night. - -The Ancients sat down on the ebony stools after putting the trains of -their robes over their heads. They remained motionless with their hands -crossed inside their broad sleeves, and the mother-of-pearl pavement -seemed like a luminous river streaming from the altar to the door and -flowing beneath their naked feet. - -The four pontiffs had their places in the centre, sitting back to back -on four ivory seats which formed a cross, the high-priest of Eschmoun -in a hyacinth robe, the high-priest of Tanith in a white linen robe, the -high-priest of Khamon in a tawny woollen robe, and the high-priest of -Moloch in a purple robe. - -Hamilcar advanced towards the candelabrum. He walked all round it, -looking at the burning wicks; then he threw a scented powder upon them, -and violet flames appeared at the extremities of the branches. - -Then a shrill voice rose; another replied to it, and the hundred -Ancients, the four pontiffs, and Hamilcar, who remained standing, -simultaneously intoned a hymn, and their voices—ever repeating the -same syllables and strengthening the sounds—rose, grew loud, became -terrible, and then suddenly were still. - -There was a pause for some time. At last Hamilcar drew from his breast a -little three-headed statuette, as blue as sapphire, and placed it before -him. It was the image of Truth, the very genius of his speech. Then he -replaced it in his bosom, and all, as if seized with sudden wrath, cried -out: - -“They are good friends of yours, are the Barbarians! Infamous traitor! -You come back to see us perish, do you not? Let him speak!—No! no!” - -They were taking their revenge for the constraint to which political -ceremonial had just obliged them; and even though they had wished for -Hamilcar’s return, they were now indignant that he had not anticipated -their disasters, or rather that he had not endured them as well as they. - -When the tumult had subsided, the pontiff of Moloch rose: - -“We ask you why you did not return to Carthage?” - -“What is that to you?” replied the Suffet disdainfully. - -Their shouts were redoubled. - -“Of what do you accuse me? I managed the war badly, perhaps! You have -seen how I order my battles, you who conveniently allow Barbarians—” - -“Enough! enough!” - -He went on in a low voice so as to make himself the better listened to: - -“Oh! that is true! I am wrong, lights of the Baals; there are intrepid -men among you! Gisco, rise!” And surveying the step of the altar with -half-closed eyelids, as if he sought for some one, he repeated: - -“Rise, Gisco! You can accuse me; they will protect you! But where is -he?” Then, as if he remembered himself: “Ah! in his house, no doubt! -surrounded by his sons, commanding his slaves, happy, and counting on -the wall the necklaces of honour which his country has given to him!” - -They moved about raising their shoulders as if they were being scourged -with thongs. “You do not even know whether he is living or dead!” -And without giving any heed to their clamours he said that in deserting -the Suffet they had deserted the Republic. So, too, the peace with Rome, -however advantageous it might appear to them, was more fatal than twenty -battles. A few—those who were the least rich of the Council and -were suspected of perpetual leanings towards the people or towards -tyranny—applauded. Their opponents, chiefs of the Syssitia and -administrators, triumphed over them in point of numbers; and the more -eminent of them had ranged themselves close to Hanno, who was sitting at -the other end of the hall before the lofty door, which was closed by a -hanging of hyacinth colour. - -He had covered the ulcers on his face with paint. But the gold dust in -his hair had fallen upon his shoulders, where it formed two brilliant -sheets, so that his hair appeared whitish, fine, and frizzled like wool. -His hands were enveloped in linen soaked in a greasy perfume, which -dripped upon the pavement, and his disease had no doubt considerably -increased, for his eyes were hidden beneath the folds of his eyelids. -He had thrown back his head in order to see. His partisans urged him to -speak. At last in a hoarse and hideous voice he said: - -“Less arrogance, Barca! We have all been vanquished! Each one supports -his own misfortune! Be resigned!” - -“Tell us rather,” said Hamilcar, smiling, “how it was that you -steered your galleys into the Roman fleet?” - -“I was driven by the wind,” replied Hanno. - -“You are like a rhinoceros trampling on his dung: you are -displaying your own folly! be silent!” And they began to indulge in -recriminations respecting the battle of the Ægatian islands. - -Hanno accused him of not having come to meet him. - -“But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood -out from the coast; what prevented you? Ah! I forgot! all elephants are -afraid of the sea!” - -Hamilcar’s followers thought this jest so good that they burst -out into loud laughter. The vault rang with it like the beating of -tympanums. - -Hanno denounced the unworthiness of such an insult; the disease had -come upon him from a cold taken at the siege of Hecatompylos, and tears -flowed down his face like winter rain on a ruined wall. - -Hamilcar resumed: - -“If you had loved me as much as him there would be great joy in -Carthage now! How many times did I not call upon you! and you always -refused me money!” - -“We had need of it,” said the chiefs of the Syssitia. - -“And when things were desperate with me—we drank mules’ urine and -ate the straps of our sandals; when I would fain have had the blades of -grass soldiers and made battalions with the rottenness of our dead, you -recalled the vessels that I had left!” - -“We could not risk everything,” replied Baat-Baal, who possessed -gold mines in Darytian Gætulia. - -“But what did you do here, at Carthage, in your houses, behind your -walls? There are Gauls on the Eridanus, who ought to have been roused, -Chanaanites at Cyrene who would have come, and while the Romans send -ambassadors to Ptolemæus—” - -“Now he is extolling the Romans to us!” Some one shouted out to him: -“How much have they paid you to defend them?” - -“Ask that of the plains of Brutium, of the ruins of Locri, of -Metapontum, and of Heraclea! I have burnt all their trees, I -have pillaged all their temples, and even to the death of their -grandchildren’s grandchildren—” - -“Why, you disclaim like a rhetor!” said Kapouras, a very illustrious -merchant. “What is it that you want?” - -“I say that we must be more ingenious or more terrible! If the whole -of Africa rejects your yoke the reason is, my feeble masters, that you -do not know how to fasten it to her shoulders! Agathocles, Regulus, -Copio, any bold man has only to land and capture her; and when the -Libyans in the east concert with the Numidians in the west, and the -Nomads come from the south, and the Romans from the north”—a cry of -horror rose—“Oh! you will beat your breasts, and roll in the dust, -and tear your cloaks! No matter! you will have to go and turn the -mill-stone in the Suburra, and gather grapes on the hills of Latium.” - -They smote their right thighs to mark their sense of the scandal, and -the sleeves of their robes rose like large wings of startled birds. -Hamilcar, carried away by a spirit, continued his speech, standing on -the highest step of the altar, quivering and terrible; he raised his -arms, and the rays from the candelabrum which burned behind him passed -between his fingers like javelins of gold. - -“You will lose your ships, your country seats, your chariots, your -hanging beds, and the slaves who rub your feet! The jackal will crouch -in your palaces, and the ploughshare will upturn your tombs. Nothing -will be left but the eagles’ scream and a heap of ruins. Carthage, -thou wilt fall!” - -The four pontiffs spread out their hands to avert the anathema. All had -risen. But the marine Suffet, being a sacerdotal magistrate under the -protection of the Sun, was inviolate so long as the assembly of the -rich had not judged him. Terror was associated with the altar. They drew -back. - -Hamilcar had ceased speaking, and was panting with eye fixed, his face -as pale as the pearls of his tiara, almost frightened at himself, and -his spirit lost in funereal visions. From the height on which he stood, -all the torches on the bronze shafts seemed to him like a vast crown of -fire laid level with the pavement; black smoke issuing from them mounted -up into the darkness of the vault; and for some minutes the silence was -so profound that they could hear in the distance the sound of the sea. - -Then the Ancients began to question one another. Their interests, their -existence, were attacked by the Barbarians. But it was impossible to -conquer them without the assistance of the Suffet, and in spite of their -pride this consideration made them forget every other. His friends were -taken aside. There were interested reconciliations, understandings, and -promises. Hamilcar would not take any further part in any government. -All conjured him. They besought him; and as the word treason occurred -in their speech, he fell into a passion. The sole traitor was the Great -Council, for as the enlistment of the soldiers expired with the war, -they became free as soon as the war was finished; he even exalted their -bravery and all the advantages which might be derived from interesting -them in the Republic by donations and privileges. - -Then Magdassin, a former provincial governor, said, as he rolled his -yellow eyes: - -“Truly Barca, with your travelling you have become a Greek, or a -Latin, or something! Why speak you of rewards for these men? Rather let -ten thousand Barbarians perish than a single one of us!” - -The Ancients nodded approval, murmuring:—“Yes, is there need for so -much trouble? They can always be had?” - -“And they can be got rid of conveniently, can they not? They are -deserted as they were by you in Sardinia. The enemy is apprised of the -road which they are to take, as in the case of those Gauls in Sicily, -or perhaps they are disembarked in the middle of the sea. As I was -returning I saw the rock quite white with their bones!” - -“What a misfortune!” said Kapouras impudently. - -“Have they not gone over to the enemy a hundred times?” cried the -others. - -“Why, then,” exclaimed Hamilcar, “did you recall them to Carthage, -notwithstanding your laws? And when they are in your town, poor and -numerous amid all your riches, it does not occur to you to weaken them -by the slightest division! Afterwards you dismiss the whole of them -with their women and children, without keeping a single hostage! Did -you expect that they would murder themselves to spare you the pain of -keeping your oaths? You hate them because they are strong! You hate me -still more, who am their master! Oh! I felt it just now when you were -kissing my hands and were all putting a constraint upon yourselves not -to bite them!” - -If the lions that were sleeping in the court had come howling in, the -uproar could not have been more frightful. But the pontiff of Eschmoun -rose, and, standing perfectly upright, with his knees close together, -his elbows pressed to his body, and his hands half open, he said: - -“Barca, Carthage has need that you should take the general command of -the Punic forces against the Mercenaries!” - -“I refuse,” replied Hamilcar. - -“We will give you full authority,” cried the chiefs of the Syssitia. - -“No!” - -“With no control, no partition, all the money that you want, all -the captives, all the booty, fifty zereths of land for every enemy’s -corpse.” - -“No! no! because it is impossible to conquer with you!” - -“He is afraid!” - -“Because you are cowardly, greedy, ungrateful, pusillanimous and -mad!” - -“He is careful of them!” - -“In order to put himself at their head,” said some one. - -“And return against us,” said another; and from the bottom of the -hall Hanno howled: - -“He wants to make himself king!” - -Then they bounded up, overturning the seats and the torches: the crowd -of them rushed towards the altar; they brandished daggers. But Hamilcar -dived into his sleeves and drew from them two broad cutlasses; and -half stooping, his left foot advanced, his eyes flaming and his -teeth clenched, he defied them as he stood there beneath the golden -candelabrum. - -Thus they had brought weapons with them as a precaution; it was a crime; -they looked with terror at one another. As all were guilty, every one -became quickly reassured; and by degrees they turned their backs on the -Suffet and came down again maddened with humiliation. For the second -time they recoiled before him. They remained standing for some time. -Several who had wounded their fingers put them to their mouths or rolled -them gently in the hem of their mantles, and they were about to depart -when Hamilcar heard these words: - -“Why! it is a piece of delicacy to avoid distressing his daughter!” - -A louder voice was raised: - -“No doubt, since she takes her lovers from among the Mercenaries!” - -At first he tottered, then his eye rapidly sought for Schahabarim. But -the priest of Tanith had alone remained in his place; and Hamilcar could -see only his lofty cap in the distance. All were sneering in his face. -In proportion as his anguish increased their joy redoubled, and those -who were behind shouted amid the hootings: - -“He was seen coming out of her room!” - -“One morning in the month of Tammouz!” - -“It was the thief who stole the zaïmph!” - -“A very handsome man!” - -“Taller than you!” - -He snatched off the tiara, the ensign of his rank—his tiara with its -eight mystic rows, and with an emerald shell in the centre—and with -both hands and with all his strength dashed it to the ground; the golden -circles rebounded as they broke, and the pearls rang upon the pavement. -Then they saw a long scar upon the whiteness of his brow; it moved like -a serpent between his eyebrows; all his limbs trembled. He ascended one -of the lateral staircases which led on to the altar, and walked upon -the latter! This was to devote himself to the god, to offer himself as -a holocaust. The motion of his mantle agitated the lights of the -candelabrum, which was lower than his sandals, and the fine dust raised -by his footsteps surrounded him like a cloud as high as the waist. He -stopped between the legs of the brass colossus. He took up two handfuls -of the dust, the mere sight of which made every Carthaginian shudder -with horror, and said: - -“By the hundred torches of your Intelligences! by the eight fires of -the Kabiri! by the stars, the meteors, and the volcanoes! by everything -that burns! by the thirst of the desert and the saltness of the ocean! -by the cave of Hadrumetum and the empire of Souls! by extermination! by -the ashes of your sons and the ashes of the brothers of your ancestors -with which I now mingle my own!—you, the Hundred of the Council of -Carthage, have lied in your accusation of my daughter! And I, Hamilcar -Barca, marine Suffet, chief of the rich and ruler of the people, in the -presence of bull-headed Moloch, I swear”—they expected something -frightful, but he resumed in a loftier and calmer tone—“that I will -not even speak to her about it!” - -The sacred servants entered wearing their golden combs, some with purple -sponges and others with branches of palm. They raised the hyacinth -curtain which was stretched before the door; and through the opening of -this angle there was visible behind the other halls the great pink -sky which seemed to be a continuation of the vault and to rest at -the horizon upon the blue sea. The sun was issuing from the waves and -mounting upwards. It suddenly struck upon the breast of the brazen -colossus, which was divided into seven compartments closed by gratings. -His red-toothed jaws opened in a horrible yawn; his enormous nostrils -were dilated, the broad daylight animated him, and gave him a terrible -and impatient aspect, as if he would fain have leaped without to mingle -with the star, the god, and together traverse the immensities. - -The torches, however, which were scattered on the ground, were still -burning, while here and there on the mother-of-pearl pavement was -stretched from them what looked like spots of blood. The Ancients were -reeling from exhaustion; they filled their lungs inhaling the freshness -of the air; the sweat flowed down their livid faces; they had shouted -so much that they could now scarcely make their voices heard. But their -wrath against the Suffet was not at all abated; they hurled menaces at -him by way of farewells, and Hamilcar answered them again. - -“Until the next night, Barca, in the temple of Eschmoun!” - -“I shall be there!” - -“We will have you condemned by the rich!” - -“And I you by the people!” - -“Take care that you do not end on the cross!” - -“And you that you are not torn to pieces in the streets!” - -As soon as they were on the threshold of the court they again assumed a -calm demeanour. - - -Their runners and coachmen were waiting for them at the door. Most of -them departed on white mules. The Suffet leaped into his chariot and -took the reins; the two animals, curving their necks, and rhythmically -beating the resounding pebbles, went up the whole of the Mappalian Way -at full gallop, and the silver vulture at the extremity of the pole -seemed to fly, so quickly did the chariot pass along. - -The road crossed a field planted with slabs of stone, which were painted -on the top like pyramids, and had open hands carved out in the centre as -if all the dead men lying beneath had stretched them out towards heaven -to demand something. Next there came scattered cabins built of earth, -branches, and bulrush-hurdles, and all of a conical shape. These -dwellings, which became constantly denser as the road ascended towards -the Suffet’s gardens, were irregularly separated from one another by -little pebble walls, trenches of spring water, ropes of esparto-grass, -and nopal hedges. But Hamilcar’s eyes were fastened on a great tower, -the three storys of which formed three monster cylinders—the first -being built of stone, the second of brick, and the third all of -cedar—supporting a copper cupola upon twenty-four pillars of juniper, -from which slender interlacing chains of brass hung down after the -manner of garlands. This lofty edifice overlooked the buildings—the -emporiums and mercantile houses—which stretched to the right, while -the women’s palace rose at the end of the cypress trees, which were -ranged in line like two walls of bronze. - -When the echoing chariot had entered through the narrow gateway it -stopped beneath a broad shed in which there were shackled horses eating -from heaps of chopped grass. - -All the servants hastened up. They formed quite a multitude, those who -worked on the country estates having been brought to Carthage through -fear of the soldiers. The labourers, who were clad in animals’ skins, -had chains riveted to their ankles and trailing after them; the workers -in the purple factories had arms as red as those of executioners; the -sailors wore green caps; the fishermen coral necklaces; the huntsmen -carried nets on their shoulders; and the people belonging to Megara -wore black or white tunics, leathern drawers, and caps of straw, felt or -linen, according to their service or their different occupations. - -Behind pressed a tattered populace. They lived without employment remote -from the apartments, slept at night in the gardens, ate the refuse -from the kitchens,—a human mouldiness vegetating in the shadow of -the palace. Hamilcar tolerated them from foresight even more than from -scorn. They had all put a flower in the ear in token of their joy, and -many of them had never seen him. - -But men with head-dresses like the Sphinx’s, and furnished with great -sticks, dashed into the crowd, striking right and left. This was to -drive back the slaves, who were curious to see their master, so that he -might not be assailed by their numbers or inconvenienced by their smell. - -Then they all threw themselves flat on the ground, crying: - -“Eye of Baal, may your house flourish!” And through these people as -they lay thus on the ground in the avenue of cypress trees, Abdalonim, -the Steward of the stewards, waving a white mitre, advanced towards -Hamilcar with a censer in his hand. - -Salammbô was then coming down the galley staircases. All her slave -women followed her; and, at each of her steps, they also descended. The -heads of the Negresses formed big black spots on the line of the bands -of the golden plates clasping the foreheads of the Roman women. Others -had silver arrows, emerald butterflies, or long bodkins set like suns in -their hair. Rings, clasps, necklaces, fringes, and bracelets shone amid -the confusion of white, yellow, and blue garments; a rustling of -light material became audible; the pattering of sandals might be heard -together with the dull sound of naked feet as they were set down on the -wood;—and here and there a tall eunuch, head and shoulders above them, -smiled with his face in air. When the shouting of the men had subsided -they hid their faces in their sleeves, and together uttered a strange -cry like the howling of a she-wolf, and so frenzied and strident was -it that it seemed to make the great ebony staircase, with its thronging -women, vibrate from top to bottom like a lyre. - -The wind lifted their veils, and the slender stems of the papyrus plant -rocked gently. It was the month of Schebaz and the depth of winter. The -flowering pomegranates swelled against the azure of the sky, and the -sea disappeared through the branches with an island in the distance half -lost in the mist. - -Hamilcar stopped on perceiving Salammbô. She had come to him after the -death of several male children. Moreover, the birth of daughters -was considered a calamity in the religions of the Sun. The gods had -afterwards sent him a son; but he still felt something of the betrayal -of his hope, and the shock, as it were, of the curse which he had -uttered against her. Salammbô, however, continued to advance. - -Long bunches of various-coloured pearls fell from her ears to her -shoulders, and as far as her elbows. Her hair was crisped so as to -simulate a cloud. Round her neck she wore little quadrangular plates of -gold, representing a woman between two rampant lions; and her costume -was a complete reproduction of the equipment of the goddess. Her -broad-sleeved hyacinth robe fitted close to her figure, widening out -below. The vermilion on her lips gave additional whiteness to her teeth, -and the antimony on her eyelids greater length to her eyes. Her sandals, -which were cut out in bird’s plumage, had very high heels, and she was -extraordinarily pale, doubtless on account of the cold. - -At last she came close to Hamilcar, and without looking at him, without -raising her head to him: - -“Greeting, eye of Baalim, eternal glory! triumph! leisure! -satisfaction! riches! Long has my heart been sad and the house drooping. -But the returning master is like reviving Tammouz; and beneath -your gaze, O father, joyfulness and a new existence will everywhere -prevail!” - -And taking from Taanach’s hands a little oblong vase wherein smoked -a mixture of meal, butter, cardamom, and wine: “Drink freely,” said -she, “of the returning cup, which your servant has prepared!” - -He replied: “A blessing upon you!” and he mechanically grasped the -golden vase which she held out to him. - -He scanned her, however, with such harsh attention, that Salammbô was -troubled and stammered out: - -“They have told you, O Master!” - -“Yes! I know!” said Hamilcar in a low voice. - -Was this a confession, or was she speaking of the Barbarians? And he -added a few vague words upon the public embarrassments which he hoped by -his sole efforts to clear away. - -“O father!” exclaimed Salammbô, “you will not obliterate what is -irreparable!” - -Then he drew back and Salammbô was astonished at his amazement; for -she was not thinking of Carthage but of the sacrilege in which she found -herself implicated. This man, who made legions tremble and whom she -hardly knew, terrified her like a god; he had guessed, he knew all, -something awful was about to happen. “Pardon!” she cried. - -Hamilcar slowly bowed his head. - -Although she wished to accuse herself she dared not open her lips; and -yet she felt stifled with the need of complaining and being comforted. -Hamilcar was struggling against a longing to break his oath. He kept it -out of pride or from the dread of putting an end to his uncertainty; and -he looked into her face with all his might so as to lay hold on what she -kept concealed at the bottom of her heart. - -By degrees the panting Salammbô, crushed by such heavy looks, let her -head sink below her shoulders. He was now sure that she had erred in -the embrace of a Barbarian; he shuddered and raised both his fists. She -uttered a shriek and fell down among her women, who crowded around her. - -Hamilcar turned on his heel. All the stewards followed him. - -The door of the emporiums was opened, and he entered a vast round hall -form which long passages leading to other halls branched off like the -spokes from the nave of a wheel. A stone disc stood in the centre with -balustrades to support the cushions that were heaped up upon carpets. - -The Suffet walked at first with rapid strides; he breathed noisily, he -struck the ground with his heel, and drew his hand across his forehead -like a man annoyed by flies. But he shook his head, and as he perceived -the accumulation of his riches he became calm; his thoughts, which were -attracted by the vistas in the passages, wandered to the other halls -that were full of still rarer treasures. Bronze plates, silver ingots, -and iron bars alternated with pigs of tin brought from the Cassiterides -over the Dark Sea; gums from the country of the Blacks were running over -their bags of palm bark; and gold dust heaped up in leathern bottles was -insensibly creeping out through the worn-out seams. Delicate filaments -drawn from marine plants hung amid flax from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane -and Judæa; mandrepores bristled like large bushes at the foot of the -walls; and an indefinable odour—the exhalation from perfumes, leather, -spices, and ostrich feathers, the latter tied in great bunches at the -very top of the vault—floated through the air. An arch was formed -above the door before each passage with elephants’ teeth placed -upright and meeting together at the points. - -At last he ascended the stone disc. All the stewards stood with arms -folded and heads bent while Abdalonim reared his pointed mitre with a -haughty air. - -Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He was an old pilot with -eyelids chafed by the wind, and white locks fell to his hips as if -dashing foam of the tempests had remained on his beard. - -He replied that he had sent a fleet by Gades and Thymiamata to try to -reach Eziongaber by doubling the Southern Horn and the promontory of -Aromata. - -Others had advanced continuously towards the west for four moons without -meeting with any shore; but the ships prows became entangled in -weeds, the horizon echoed continually with the noise of cataracts, -blood-coloured mists darkened the sun, a perfume-laden breeze lulled the -crews to sleep; and their memories were so disturbed that they were now -unable to tell anything. However, expeditions had ascended the rivers of -the Scythians, had made their way into Colchis, and into the countries -of the Jugrians and of the Estians, had carried off fifteen hundred -maidens in the Archipelago, and sunk all the strange vessels sailing -beyond Cape Oestrymon, so that the secret of the routes should not -be known. King Ptolemæus was detaining the incense from Schesbar; -Syracuse, Elathia, Corsica, and the islands had furnished nothing, and -the old pilot lowered his voice to announce that a trireme was taken at -Rusicada by the Numidians,—“for they are with them, Master.” - -Hamilcar knit his brows; then he signed to the Chief of the Journeys to -speak. This functionary was enveloped in a brown, ungirdled robe, and -had his head covered with a long scarf of white stuff which passed along -the edge of his lips and fell upon his shoulder behind. - -The caravans had set out regularly at the winter equinox. But of fifteen -hundred men directing their course towards the extreme boundaries of -Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leathern bottles, and supplies of -painted cloth, but one had reappeared at Carthage—the rest having died -of fatigue or become mad through the terror of the desert;—and he said -that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing the Atarantes and the -country of the great apes, he had seen immense kingdoms, wherein the -pettiest utensils were all of gold, a river of the colour of milk and -as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees, hills of aromatics, monsters -with human faces vegetating on the rocks with eyeballs which expanded -like flowers to look at you; and then crystal mountains supporting the -sun behind lakes all covered with dragons. Others had returned from -India with peacocks, pepper, and new textures. As to those who go by way -of the Syrtes and the temple of Ammon to purchase chalcedony, they had -no doubt perished in the sands. The caravans from Gætulia and Phazzana -had furnished their usual supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, -did not venture to fit one out just now. - -Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the country. -He leaned upon his other elbow with a hollow groan; and the Chief of -Farms was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in spite of -his thick shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which was as -snub-nosed as a mastiff’s, was surmounted by a net woven of threads -of bark. He wore a waist-belt of hairy leopard’s skin, wherein gleamed -two formidable cutlasses. - -As soon as Hamilcar turned away he began to cry aloud and invoke all the -Baals. It was not his fault! he could not help it! He had watched the -temperature, the soil, the stars, had planted at the winter solstice and -pruned at the waning of the moon, had inspected the slaves and had been -careful of their clothes. - -But Hamilcar grew angry at this loquacity. He clacked his tongue, and -the man with the cutlasses went on in rapid tones: - -“Ah, Master! they have pillaged everything! sacked everything! -destroyed everything! Three thousand trees have been cut down at -Maschala, and at Ubada the granaries have been looted and the cisterns -filled up! At Tedes they have carried off fifteen hundred gomors of -meal; at Marrazana they have killed the shepherds, eaten the flocks, -burnt your house—your beautiful house with its cedar beams, which -you used to visit in the summer! The slaves at Tuburbo who were reaping -barley fled to the mountains; and the asses, the mules both great and -small, the oxen from Taormina, and the antelopes,—not a single one -left! all carried away! It is a curse! I shall not survive it!” He -went on again in tears: “Ah! if you knew how full the cellars -were, and how the ploughshares shone! Ah! the fine rams! ah! the fine -bulls!—” - -Hamilcar’s wrath was choking him. It burst forth: - -“Be silent! Am I a pauper then? No lies! speak the truth! I wish -to know all that I have lost to the last shekel, to the last cab! -Abdalonim, bring me the accounts of the ships, of the caravans, of the -farms, of the house! And if your consciences are not clear, woe be on -your heads! Go out!” - -All the stewards went out walking backwards, with their fists touching -the ground. - -Abdalonim went up to a set of pigeon-holes in the wall, and from the -midst of them took out knotted cords, strips of linen or papyrus, and -sheeps’ shoulder-blades inscribed with delicate writing. He laid them -at Hamilcar’s feet, placed in his hands a wooden frame furnished on -the inside with three threads on which balls of gold, silver, and horn -were strung, and began: - -“One hundred and ninety-two houses in the Mappalian district let to -the New Carthaginians at the rate of one bekah a moon.” - -“No! it is too much! be lenient towards the poor people! and you will -try to learn whether they are attached to the Republic, and write -down the names of those who appear to you to be the most daring! What -next?” - -Abdalonim hesitated in surprise at such generosity. - -Hamilcar snatched the strips of linen from his hands. - -“What is this? three palaces around Khamon at twelve kesitahs a month! -Make it twenty! I do not want to be eaten up by the rich.” - -The Steward of the stewards, after a long salutation, resumed: - -“Lent to Tigillas until the end of the season two kikars at three per -cent., maritime interest; to Bar-Malkarth fifteen hundred shekels on the -security of thirty slaves. But twelve have died in the salt-marshes.” - -“That is because they were not hardy,” said the Suffet, laughing. -“No matter! if he is in want of money, satisfy him! We should always -lend, and at different rates of interest, according to the wealth of the -individual.” - -Then the servant hastened to read all that had been brought in by the -iron-mines of Annaba, the coral fisheries, the purple factories, the -farming of the tax on the resident Greeks, the export of silver to -Arabia, where it had ten times the value of gold, and the captures of -vessels, deduction of a tenth being made for the temple of the goddess. -“Each time I declared a quarter less, Master!” Hamilcar was -reckoning with the balls; they rang beneath his fingers. - -“Enough! What have you paid?” - -“To Stratonicles of Corinth, and to three Alexandrian merchants, on -these letters here (they have been realised), ten thousand Athenian -drachmas, and twelve Syrian talents of gold. The food for the crews, -amounting to twenty minæ a month for each trireme—” - -“I know! How many lost?” - -“Here is the account on these sheets of lead,” said the Steward. -“As to the ships chartered in common, it has often been necessary -to throw the cargo into the seas, and so the unequal losses have been -divided among the partners. For the ropes which were borrowed from the -arsenals, and which it was impossible to restore, the Syssitia exacted -eight hundred kesitahs before the expedition to Utica.” - -“They again!” said Hamilcar, hanging his head; and he remained for a -time as if quite crushed by the weight of all the hatreds that he could -feel upon him. “But I do not see the Megara expenses?” - -Abdalonim, turning pale, went to another set of pigeon-holes, and -took from them some planchettes of sycamore wood strung in packets on -leathern strings. - -Hamilcar, curious about these domestic details, listened to him and -grew calm with the monotony of the tones in which the figures were -enumerated. Abdalonim became slower. Suddenly he let the wooden sheets -fall to the ground and threw himself flat on his face with his arms -stretched out in the position of a condemned criminal. Hamilcar picked -up the tablets without any emotion; and his lips parted and his eyes -grew larger when he perceived an exorbitant consumption of meat, fish, -birds, wines, and aromatics, with broken vases, dead slaves, and spoiled -carpets set down as the expense of a single day. - -Abdalonim, still prostrate, told him of the feast of the Barbarians. -He had not been able to avoid the command of the Ancients. Moreover, -Salammbô desired money to be lavished for the better reception of the -soldiers. - -At his daughter’s name Hamilcar leaped to his feet. Then with -compressed lips he crouched down upon the cushions, tearing the fringes -with his nails, and panting with staring eyes. - -“Rise!” said he; and he descended. - -Abdalonim followed him; his knees trembled. But seizing an iron bar he -began like one distraught to loosen the paving stones. A wooden disc -sprang up and soon there appeared throughout the length of the passage -several of the large covers employed for stopping up the trenches in -which grain was kept. - -“You see, Eye of Baal,” said the servant, trembling, “they have -not taken everything yet! and these are each fifty cubits deep and -filled up to the brim! During your voyage I had them dug out in the -arsenals, in the gardens, everywhere! your house is full of corn as your -heart is full of wisdom.” - -A smile passed over Hamilcar’s face. “It is well, Abdalonim!” -Then bending over to his ear: “You will have it brought from Etruria, -Brutium, whence you will, and no matter at what price! Heap it and keep -it! I alone must possess all the corn in Carthage.” - -Then when they were alone at the extremity of the passage, Abdalonim, -with one of the keys hanging at his girdle, opened a large quadrangular -chamber divided in the centre by pillars of cedar. Gold, silver, and -brass coins were arranged on tables or packed into niches, and rose -as high as the joists of the roof along the four walls. In the corners -there were huge baskets of hippopotamus skin supporting whole rows of -smaller bags; there were hillocks formed of heaps of bullion on the -pavement; and here and there a pile that was too high had given way and -looked like a ruined column. The large Carthaginian pieces, representing -Tanith with a horse beneath a palm-tree, mingled with those from the -colonies, which were marked with a bull, star, globe, or crescent. Then -there might be seen pieces of all values, dimensions, and ages arrayed -in unequal amounts—from the ancient coins of Assyria, slender as the -nail, to the ancient ones of Latium, thicker than the hand, with the -buttons of Egina, the tablets of Bactriana, and the short bars of -Lacedæmon; many were covered with rust, or had grown greasy, or, having -been taken in nets or from among the ruins of captured cities, were -green with the water or blackened by fire. The Suffet had speedily -calculated whether the sums present corresponded with the gains and -losses which had just been read to him; and he was going away when he -perceived three brass jars completely empty. Abdalonim turned away his -head to mark his horror, and Hamilcar, resigning himself to it, said -nothing. - -They crossed other passages and other halls, and at last reached a door -where, to ensure its better protection and in accordance with a Roman -custom lately introduced into Carthage, a man was fastened by the waist -to a long chain let into the wall. His beard and nails had grown to an -immoderate length, and he swayed himself from right to left with that -continual oscillation which is characteristic of captive animals. As -soon as he recognised Hamilcar he darted towards him, crying: - -“Pardon, Eye of Baal! pity! kill me! For ten years I have not seen the -sun! In your father’s name, pardon!” - -Hamilcar, without answering him, clapped his hands and three men -appeared; and all four simultaneously stiffening their arms, drew back -from its rings the enormous bar which closed the door. Hamilcar took a -torch and disappeared into the darkness. - -This was believed to be the family burying-place; but nothing would have -been found in it except a broad well. It was dug out merely to baffle -robbers, and it concealed nothing. Hamilcar passed along beside it; then -stooping down he made a very heavy millstone turn upon its rollers, and -through this aperture entered an apartment which was built in the shape -of a cone. - -The walls were covered with scales of brass; and in the centre, on a -granite pedestal, stood the statue of one of the Kabiri called Aletes, -the discoverer of the mines in Celtiberia. On the ground, at its base, -and arranged in the form of a cross, were large gold shields and monster -close-necked silver vases, of extravagant shape and unfitted for use; -it was customary to cast quantities of metal in this way, so that -dilapidation and even removal should be almost impossible. - -With his torch he lit a miner’s lamp which was fastened to the -idol’s cap, and green, yellow, blue, violet, wine-coloured, and -blood-coloured fires suddenly illuminated the hall. It was filled with -gems which were either in gold calabashes fastened like sconces upon -sheets of brass, or were ranged in native masses at the foot of the -wall. There were callaides shot away from the mountains with slings, -carbuncles formed by the urine of the lynx, glossopetræ which had -fallen from the moon, tyanos, diamonds, sandastra, beryls, with the -three kinds of rubies, the four kinds of sapphires, and the twelve -kinds of emeralds. They gleamed like splashes of milk, blue icicles, and -silver dust, and shed their light in sheets, rays, and stars. Ceraunia, -engendered by the thunder, sparkled by the side of chalcedonies, which -are a cure for poison. There were topazes from Mount Zabarca to avert -terrors, opals from Bactriana to prevent abortions, and horns of Ammon, -which are placed under the bed to induce dreams. - -The fires from the stones and the flames from the lamp were mirrored in -the great golden shields. Hamilcar stood smiling with folded arms, and -was less delighted by the sight of his riches than by the consciousness -of their possession. They were inaccessible, exhaustless, infinite. -His ancestors sleeping beneath his feet transmitted something of their -eternity to his heart. He felt very near to the subterranean deities. -It was as the joy of one of the Kabiri; and the great luminous rays -striking upon his face looked like the extremity of an invisible net -linking him across the abysses with the centre of the world. - -A thought came which made him shudder, and placing himself behind the -idol he walked straight up to the wall. Then among the tattooings on his -arm he scrutinised a horizontal line with two other perpendicular ones -which in Chanaanitish figures expressed the number thirteen. Then he -counted as far as the thirteenth of the brass plates and again raised -his ample sleeve; and with his right hand stretched out he read other -more complicated lines on his arm, at the same time moving his fingers -daintily about like one playing on a lyre. At last he struck seven blows -with his thumb, and an entire section of the wall turned about in a -single block. - -It served to conceal a sort of cellar containing mysterious things which -had no name and were of incalculable value. Hamilcar went down the three -steps, took up a llama’s skin which was floating on a black liquid in -a silver vat, and then re-ascended. - -Abdalonim again began to walk before him. He struck the pavement with -his tall cane, the pommel of which was adorned with bells, and before -every apartment cried aloud the name of Hamilcar amid eulogies and -benedictions. - -Along the walls of the circular gallery, from which the passages -branched off, were piled little beams of algummim, bags of Lawsonia, -cakes of Lemnos-earth, and tortoise carapaces filled with pearls. The -Suffet brushed them with his robe as he passed without even looking at -some gigantic pieces of amber, an almost divine material formed by the -rays of the sun. - -A cloud of odorous vapour burst forth. - -“Push open the door!” - -They went in. - -Naked men were kneading pastes, crushing herbs, stirring coals, pouring -oil into jars, and opening and shutting the little ovoid cells which -were hollowed out all round in the wall, and were so numerous that -the apartment was like the interior of a hive. They were brimful of -myrobalan, bdellium, saffron, and violets. Gums, powders, roots, glass -phials, branches of filipendula, and rose-petals were scattered about -everywhere, and the scents were stifling in spite of the cloud-wreaths -from the styrax shrivelling on a brazen tripod in the centre. - -The Chief of the Sweet Odours, pale and long as a waxen torch, came up -to Hamilcar to crush a roll of metopion in his hands, while two others -rubbed his heels with leaves of baccharis. He repelled them; they were -Cyreneans of infamous morals, but valued on account of the secrets which -they possessed. - -To show his vigilance the Chief of the Odours offered the Suffet a -little malobathrum to taste in an electrum spoon; then he pierced three -Indian bezoars with an awl. The master, who knew the artifices employed, -took a horn full of balm, and after holding it near the coals inclined -it over his robe. A brown spot appeared; it was a fraud. Then he gazed -fixedly at the Chief of the Odours, and without saying anything flung -the gazelle’s horn full in his face. - -However indignant he might be at adulterations made to his own -prejudice, when he perceived some parcels of nard which were being -packed up for countries beyond the sea, he ordered antimony to be mixed -with it so as to make it heavier. - -Then he asked where three boxes of psagdas designed for his own use were -to be found. - -The Chief of the Odours confessed that he did not know; some soldiers -had come howling in with knives and he had opened the boxes for them. - -“So you are more afraid of them then of me!” cried the Suffet; and -his eyeballs flashed like torches through the smoke upon the tall, pale -man who was beginning to understand. “Abdalonim! you will make him run -the gauntlet before sunset: tear him!” - -This loss, which was less than the others, had exasperated him; for in -spite of his efforts to banish them from his thoughts he was continually -coming again across the Barbarians. Their excesses were blended with -his daughter’s shame, and he was angry with the whole household for -knowing of the latter and for not speaking of it to him. But something -impelled him to bury himself in his misfortune; and in an inquisitorial -fit he visited the sheds behind the mercantile house to see the -supplies of bitumen, wood, anchors and cordage, honey and wax, the cloth -warehouse, the stores of food, the marble yard and the silphium barn. - -He went to the other side of the gardens to make an inspection in their -cottages, of the domestic artisans whose productions were sold. There -were tailors embroidering cloaks, others making nets, others painting -cushions or cutting out sandals, and Egyptian workmen polished papyrus -with a shell, while the weavers’ shuttles rattled and the armourers’ -anvils rang. - -Hamilcar said to them: - -“Beat away at the swords! I shall want them.” And he drew the -antelope’s skin that had been steeped in poisons from his bosom to -have it cut into a cuirass more solid than one of brass and unassailable -by steel or flame. - -As soon as he approached the workmen, Abdalonim, to give his wrath -another direction, tried to anger him against them by murmured -disparagement of their work. “What a performance! It is a shame! The -Master is indeed too good.” Hamilcar moved away without listening to -him. - -He slackened his pace, for the paths were barred by great trees calcined -from one end to the other, such as may be met with in woods where -shepherds have encamped; and the palings were broken, the water in the -trenches was disappearing, while fragments of glass and the bones of -apes were to be seen amid the miry puddles. A scrap of cloth hung -here and there from the bushes, and the rotten flowers formed a yellow -muck-heap beneath the citron trees. In fact, the servants had neglected -everything, thinking that the master would never return. - -At every step he discovered some new disaster, some further proof of the -thing which he had forbidden himself to learn. Here he was soiling his -purple boots as he crushed the filth under-foot; and he had not all -these men before him at the end of a catapult to make them fly into -fragments! He felt humiliated at having defended them; it was a delusion -and a piece of treachery; and as he could not revenge himself upon -the soldiers, or the Ancients, or Salammbô, or anybody, and his wrath -required some victim, he condemned all the slaves of the gardens to the -mines at a single stroke. - -Abdalonim shuddered each time that he saw him approaching the parks. But -Hamilcar took the path towards the mill, from which there might be heard -issuing a mournful melopoia. - -The heavy mill-stones were turning amid the dust. They consisted of two -cones of porphyry laid the one upon the other—the upper one of the -two, which carried a funnel, being made to revolve upon the second by -means of strong bars. Some men were pushing these with their breasts -and arms, while others were yoked to them and were pulling them. The -friction of the straps had formed purulent scabs round about their -armpits such as are seen on asses’ withers, and the end of the limp -black rag, which scarcely covered their loins, hung down and flapped -against their hams like a long tail. Their eyes were red, the irons on -their feet clanked, and all their breasts panted rhythmically. On their -mouths they had muzzles fastened by two little bronze chains to render -it impossible for them to eat the flour, and their hands were enclosed -in gauntlets without fingers, so as to prevent them from taking any. - -At the master’s entrance the wooden bars creaked still more loudly. -The grain grated as it was being crushed. Several fell upon their knees; -the others, continuing their work, stepped across them. - -He asked for Giddenem, the governor of the slaves, and that personage -appeared, his rank being displayed in the richness of his dress. His -tunic, which was slit up the sides, was of fine purple; his ears were -weighted with heavy rings; and the strips of cloth enfolding his legs -were joined together with a lacing of gold which extended from his -ankles to his hips, like a serpent winding about a tree. In his fingers, -which were laden with rings, he held a necklace of jet beads, so as to -recognise the men who were subject to the sacred disease. - -Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the muzzles. Then with the cries of -famished animals they all rushed upon the flour, burying their faces in -the heaps of it and devouring it. - -“You are weakening them!” said the Suffet. - -Giddenem replied that such treatment was necessary in order to subdue -them. - -“It was scarcely worth while sending you to the slaves’ school at -Syracuse. Fetch the others!” - -And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, and litter-carriers, the men -belonging to the vapour-baths, and the women with their children, all -ranged themselves in a single line in the garden from the mercantile -house to the deer park. They held their breath. An immense silence -prevailed in Megara. The sun was lengthening across the lagoon at the -foot of the catacombs. The peacocks were screeching. Hamilcar walked -along step by step. - -“What am I to do with these old creatures?” he said. “Sell them! -There are too many Gauls: they are drunkards! and too many Cretans: they -are liars! Buy me some Cappadocians, Asiatics, and Negroes.” - -He was astonished that the children were so few. “The house ought to -have births every year, Giddenem. You will leave the huts open every -night to let them mingle freely.” - -He then had the thieves, the lazy, and the mutinous shown to him. He -distributed punishments, with reproaches to Giddenem; and Giddenem, -ox-like, bent his low forehead, with its two broad intersecting -eyebrows. - -“See, Eye of Baal,” he said, pointing out a sturdy Libyan, “here -is one who was caught with the rope round his neck.” - -“Ah! you wish to die?” said the Suffet scornfully. - -“Yes!” replied the slave in an intrepid tone. - -Then, without heeding the precedent or the pecuniary loss, Hamilcar said -to the serving-men: - -“Away with him!” - -Perhaps in his thoughts he intended a sacrifice. It was a misfortune -which he inflicted upon himself in order to avert more terrible ones. - -Giddenem had hidden those who were mutilated behind the others. Hamilcar -perceived them. - -“Who cut off your arm?” - -“The soldiers, Eye of Baal.” - -Then to a Samnite who was staggering like a wounded heron: - -“And you, who did that to you?” - -It was the governor, who had broken his leg with an iron bar. - -This silly atrocity made the Suffet indignant; he snatched the jet -necklace out of Giddenem’s hands. - -“Cursed be the dog that injures the flock! Gracious Tanith, to cripple -slaves! Ah! you ruin your master! Let him be smothered in the dunghill. -And those that are missing? Where are they? Have you helped the soldiers -to murder them?” - -His face was so terrible that all the women fled. The slaves drew back -and formed a large circle around them; Giddenem was frantically kissing -his sandals; Hamilcar stood upright with his arms raised above him. - -But with his understanding as clear as in the sternest of his battles, -he recalled a thousand odious things, ignominies from which he had -turned aside; and in the gleaming of his wrath he could once more see -all his disasters simultaneously as in the lightnings of a storm. -The governors of the country estates had fled through terror of the -soldiers, perhaps through collusion with them; they were all deceiving -him; he had restrained himself too long. - -“Bring them here!” he cried; “and brand them on the forehead with -red-hot irons as cowards!” - -Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters, -carcanets, knives, chains for those condemned to the mines, cippi for -fastening the legs, numellæ for confining the shoulders, and scorpions -or whips with triple thongs terminating in brass claws. - -All were placed facing the sun, in the direction of Moloch the Devourer, -and were stretched on the ground on their stomachs or on their backs, -those, however, who were sentenced to be flogged standing upright -against the trees with two men beside them, one counting the blows and -the other striking. - -In striking he used both his arms, and the whistling thongs made the -bark of the plane-trees fly. The blood was scattered like rain upon the -foliage, and red masses writhed with howls at the foot of the trees. -Those who were under the iron tore their faces with their nails. -The wooden screws could be heard creaking; dull knockings resounded; -sometimes a sharp cry would suddenly pierce the air. In the direction of -the kitchens, men were brisking up burning coals with fans amid -tattered garments and scattered hair, and a smell of burning flesh was -perceptible. Those who were under the scourge, swooning, but kept in -their positions by the bonds on their arms, rolled their heads upon -their shoulders and closed their eyes. The others who were watching -them began to shriek with terror, and the lions, remembering the feast -perhaps, stretched themselves out yawning against the edge of the dens. - -Then Salammbô was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly -about it from left to right. Hamilcar perceived her. It seemed to him -that she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a -gesture of horror he plunged into the elephants’ park. - -These animals were the pride of the great Punic houses. They had carried -their ancestors, had triumphed in the wars, and they were reverenced as -being the favourites of the Sun. - -Those of Megara were the strongest in Carthage. Before he went away -Hamilcar had required Abdalonim to swear that he would watch over them. -But they had died from their mutilations; and only three remained, lying -in the middle of the court in the dust before the ruins of their manger. - -They recognised him and came up to him. One had its ears horribly slit, -another had a large wound in its knee, while the trunk of the third was -cut off. - -They looked sadly at him, like reasonable creatures; and the one that -had lost its trunk tried by stooping its huge head and bending its hams -to stroke him softly with the hideous extremity of its stump. - -At this caress from the animal two tears started into his eyes. He -rushed at Abdalonim. - -“Ah! wretch! the cross! the cross!” - -Abdalonim fell back swooning upon the ground. - -The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue -smoke of which was ascending slowly into the sky; Hamilcar paused. - -The thought of his son had suddenly calmed him like the touch of a -god. He caught a glimpse of a prolongation of his might, an indefinite -continuation of his personality, and the slaves could not understand -whence this appeasement had come upon him. - -As he bent his steps towards the purple factories he passed before the -ergastulum, which was a long house of black stone built in a square pit -with a small pathway all round it and four staircases at the corners. - -Iddibal was doubtless waiting until the night to finish his signal. -“There is no hurry yet,” thought Hamilcar; and he went down into the -prison. Some cried out to him: “Return”; the boldest followed him. - -The open door was flapping in the wind. The twilight entered through -the narrow loopholes, and in the interior broken chains could be -distinguished hanging from the walls. - -This was all that remained of the captives of war! - -Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning -over the pit outside saw him resting one hand against the wall to keep -himself from falling. - -But the jackal uttered its cry three times in succession. Hamilcar -raised his head; he did not speak a word nor make a gesture. Then when -the sun had completely set he disappeared behind the nopal hedge, and in -the evening he said as he entered the assembly of the rich in the temple -of Eschmoun: - -“Luminaries of the Baalim, I accept the command of the Punic forces -against the army of the Barbarians!” - - - - - -CHAPTER VIII THE BATTLE OF THE MACARAS - -In the following day he drew two hundred and twenty-three thousand -kikars of gold from the Syssitia, and decreed a tax of fourteen shekels -upon the rich. Even the women contributed; payment was made in behalf -of the children, and he compelled the colleges of priests to furnish -money—a monstrous thing, according to Carthaginian customs. - -He demanded all the horses, mules, and arms. A few tried to conceal -their wealth, and their property was sold; and, to intimidate the -avarice of the rest, he himself gave sixty suits of armour, and fifteen -hundred gomers of meal, which was as much as was given by the Ivory -Company. - -He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers -accustomed to fight with bears; they were paid for six moons in advance -at the rate of four minæ a day. - -Nevertheless an army was wanted. But he did not, like Hanno, accept all -the citizens. First he rejected those engaged in sedentary occupations, -and then those who were big-bellied or had a pusillanimous look; and he -admitted those of ill-repute, the scum of Malqua, sons of Barbarians, -freed men. For reward he promised some of the New Carthaginians complete -rights of citizenship. - -His first care was to reform the Legion. These handsome young fellows, -who regarded themselves as the military majesty of the Republic, -governed themselves. He reduced their officers to the ranks; he treated -them harshly, made them run, leap, ascend the declivity of Byrsa at a -single burst, hurl javelins, wrestle together, and sleep in the squares -at night. Their families used to come to see them and pity them. - -He ordered shorter swords and stronger buskins. He fixed the number of -serving-men, and reduced the amount of baggage; and as there were three -hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them in spite -of the pontiff’s protests. - -He organised a phalanx of seventy-two elephants with those which -had returned from Utica, and others which were private property, and -rendered them formidable. He armed their drivers with mallet and chisel -to enable them to split their skulls in the fight if they ran away. - -He would not allow his generals to be nominated by the Grand Council. -The Ancients tried to urge the laws in objection, but he set them aside; -no one ventured to murmur again, and everything yielded to the violence -of his genius. - -He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances; -and as a precaution against accusations he demanded the Suffet Hanno as -examiner of his accounts. - -He set to work upon the ramparts, and had the old and now useless inner -walls demolished in order to furnish stones. But difference of fortune, -replacing the hierarchy of race, still kept the sons of the vanquished -and those of the conquerors apart; thus the patricians viewed the -destruction of these ruins with an angry eye, while the plebeians, -scarcely knowing why, rejoiced. - -The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till -night; every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed -bearing shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women engaged -in tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to another, and -Hamilcar’s soul filled the Republic. - -He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place -a strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his -files, so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at -once led and pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand -Ligurians, and the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple phalanx -of four thousand and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze helmets, -and handling ashen sarissæ fourteen cubits long. - -There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a dagger, -and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others armed with -round shields and Roman swords. - -The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining -guardsmen of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like -the Assyrian Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted archers, -of those that were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel’s skin, -two-edged axes, and leathern tunics. Finally there were twelve hundred -Negroes from the quarter of the caravans, who were mingled with the -Clinabarians, and were to run beside the stallions with one hand resting -on the manes. All was ready, and yet Hamilcar did not start. - -Often at night he would go out of Carthage alone and make his way beyond -the lagoon towards the mouths of the Macaras. Did he intend to join the -Mercenaries? The Ligurians encamped in the Mappalian district surrounded -his house. - -The apprehensions of the rich appeared justified when, one day, three -hundred Barbarians were seen approaching the walls. The Suffet opened -the gates to them; they were deserters; drawn by fear or by fidelity, -they were hastening to their master. - -Hamilcar’s return had not surprised the Mercenaries; according to -their ideas the man could not die. He was returning to fulfil his -promise;—a hope by no means absurd, so deep was the abyss between -Country and Army. Moreover they did not believe themselves culpable; the -feast was forgotten. - -The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. It was a triumph for the -bitter; even the lukewarm grew furious. Then the two sieges overwhelmed -then with weariness; no progress was being made; a battle would be -better! Thus many men had left the ranks and were scouring the country. -But at news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for joy. “At -last! at last!” he cried. - -Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbô was turned -against Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as -his vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he -had realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was -seized with a loftier tenderness, and consumed by more acrid desire. -He saw himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing the -Suffet’s head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed, -clasping the maiden in his arms, covering her face with kisses, passing -his hands over her long, black hair; and the imagination of this, which -he knew could never be realised, tortured him. He swore to himself that, -since his companions had appointed him schalishim, he would conduct the -war; the certainty that he would not return from it urged him to render -it a pitiless one. - -He came to Spendius and said to him: - -“You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We -are lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do you understand me? Rise!” - -Spendius was stupefied before such an air of authority. Matho usually -allowed himself to be led, and his previous transports had quickly -passed away. But just now he appeared at once calmer and more terrible; -a superb will gleamed in his eyes like the flame of sacrifice. - -The Greek did not listen to his reasons. He was living in one of the -Carthaginian pearl-bordered tents, drinking cool beverages from silver -cups, playing at the cottabos, letting his hair grow, and conducting the -siege with slackness. Moreover, he had entered into communications with -some in the town and would not leave, being sure that it would open its -gates before many days were over. - -Narr’ Havas, who wandered about among the three armies, was at that -time with him. He supported his opinion, and even blamed the Libyan for -wishing in his excess of courage to abandon their enterprise. - -“Go, if you are afraid!” exclaimed Matho; “you promised us pitch, -sulphur, elephants, foot-soldiers, horses! where are they?” - -Narr’ Havas reminded him that he had exterminated Hanno’s last -cohorts;—as to the elephants, they were being hunted in the woods, -he was arming the foot-soldiers, the horses were on their way; and the -Numidian rolled his eyes like a woman and smiled in an irritating manner -as he stroked the ostrich feather which fell upon his shoulder. In his -presence Matho was at a loss for a reply. - -But a man who was a stranger entered, wet with perspiration, scared, -and with bleeding feet and loosened girdle; his breathing shook his -lean sides enough to have burst them, and speaking in an unintelligible -dialect he opened his eyes wide as if he were telling of some battle. -The king sprang outside and called his horsemen. - -They ranged themselves in the plain before him in the form of a circle. -Narr’ Havas, who was mounted, bent his head and bit his lips. At last -he separated his men into two equal divisions, and told the first to -wait; then with an imperious gesture he carried off the others at a -gallop and disappeared on the horizon in the direction of the mountains. - -“Master!” murmured Spendius, “I do not like these extraordinary -chances—the Suffet returning, Narr’ Havas going away—” - -“Why! what does it matter?” said Matho disdainfully. - -It was a reason the more for anticipating Hamilcar by uniting with -Autaritus. But if the siege of the towns were raised, the inhabitants -would come out and attack them in the rear, while they would have the -Carthaginians in front. After much talking the following measures were -resolved upon and immediately executed. - -Spendius proceeded with fifteen thousand men as far as the bridge built -across the Macaras, three miles from Utica; the corners of it were -fortified with four huge towers provided with catapults; all the paths -and gorges in the mountains were stopped up with trunks of trees, pieces -of rock, interlacings of thorn, and stone walls; on the summits heaps -of grass were made which might be lighted as signals, and shepherds who -were able to see at a distance were posted at intervals. - -No doubt Hamilcar would not, like Hanno, advance by the mountain of -the Hot Springs. He would think that Autaritus, being master of the -interior, would close the route against him. Moreover, a check at the -opening of the campaign would ruin him, while if he gained a victory he -would soon have to make a fresh beginning, the Mercenaries being further -off. Again, he could disembark at Cape Grapes and march thence upon one -of the towns. But he would then find himself between the two armies, -an indiscretion which he could not commit with his scanty forces. -Accordingly he must proceed along the base of Mount Ariana, then turn -to the left to avoid the mouths of the Macaras, and come straight to the -bridge. It was there that Matho expected him. - -At night he used to inspect the pioneers by torch-light. He would hasten -to Hippo-Zarytus or to the works on the mountains, would come back -again, would never rest. Spendius envied his energy; but in the -management of spies, the choice of sentries, the working of the engines -and all means of defence, Matho listened docilely to his companion. They -spoke no more of Salammbô,—one not thinking about her, and the other -being prevented by a feeling of shame. - -Often he would go towards Carthage, striving to catch sight of -Hamilcar’s troops. His eyes would dart along the horizon; he would -lie flat on the ground, and believe that he could hear an army in the -throbbing of his arteries. - -He told Spendius that if Hamilcar did not arrive in three days he would -go with all his men to meet him and offer him battle. Two further days -elapsed. Spendius restrained him; but on the morning of the sixth day he -departed. - - -The Carthaginians were no less impatient for war than the Barbarians. -In tents and in houses there was the same longing and the same distress; -all were asking one another what was delaying Hamilcar. - -From time to time he would mount to the cupola of the temple of Eschmoun -beside the Announcer of the Moons and take note of the wind. - -One day—it was the third of the month of Tibby—they saw him -descending from the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour arose -in the Mappalian district. Soon the streets were astir, and the soldiers -were everywhere beginning to arm themselves upon their breasts; then -they ran quickly to the square of Khamon to take their places in the -ranks. No one was allowed to follow them or even to speak to them, or to -approach the ramparts; for some minutes the whole town was silent as a -great tomb. The soldiers as they leaned on their lances were thinking, -and the others in the houses were sighing. - -At sunset the army went out by the western gate; but instead of taking -the road to Tunis or making for the mountains in the direction of Utica, -they continued their march along the edge of the sea; and they soon -reached the Lagoon, where round spaces quite whitened with salt -glittered like gigantic silver dishes forgotten on the shore. - -Then the pools of water multiplied. The ground gradually became softer, -and the feet sank in it. Hamilcar did not turn back. He went on still -at their head; and his horse, which was yellow-spotted like a dragon, -advanced into the mire flinging froth around him, and with great -straining of the loins. Night—a moonless light—fell. A few cried out -that they were about to perish; he snatched their arms from them, and -gave them to the serving-men. Nevertheless the mud became deeper and -deeper. Some had to mount the beasts of burden; others clung to the -horses’ tails; the sturdy pulled the weak, and the Ligurian corps -drove on the infantry with the points of their pikes. The darkness -increased. They had lost their way. All stopped. - -Then some of the Suffet’s slaves went on ahead to look for the buoys -which had been placed at intervals by his order. They shouted through -the darkness, and the army followed them at a distance. - -At last they felt the resistance of the ground. Then a whitish curve -became dimly visible, and they found themselves on the bank of the -Macaras. In spite of the cold no fires were lighted. - -In the middle of the night squalls of wind arose. Hamilcar had the -soldiers roused, but not a trumpet was sounded: their captain tapped -them softly on the shoulder. - -A man of lofty stature went down into the water. It did not come up to -his girdle; it was possible to cross. - -The Suffet ordered thirty-two of the elephants to be posted in the river -a hundred paces further on, while the others, lower down, would check -the lines of men that were carried away by the current; and holding -their weapons above their heads they all crossed the Macaras as though -between two walls. He had noticed that the western wind had driven the -sand so as to obstruct the river and form a natural causeway across it. - -He was now on the left bank in front of Utica, and in a vast plain, the -latter being advantageous for his elephants, which formed the strength -of his army. - -This feat of genius filled the soldiers with enthusiasm. They recovered -extraordinary confidence. They wished to hasten immediately against the -Barbarians; but the Suffet bade them rest for two hours. As soon as the -sun appeared they moved into the plain in three lines—first came the -elephants, and then the light infantry with the cavalry behind it, the -phalanx marching next. - -The Barbarians encamped at Utica, and the fifteen thousand about the -bridge were surprised to see the ground undulating in the distance. The -wind, which was blowing very hard, was driving tornadoes of sand before -it; they rose as though snatched from the soil, ascended in great -light-coloured strips, then parted asunder and began again, hiding the -Punic army the while from the Mercenaries. Owing to the horns, which -stood up on the edge of the helmets, some thought that they could -perceive a herd of oxen; others, deceived by the motion of the cloaks, -pretended that they could distinguish wings, and those who had travelled -a good deal shrugged their shoulders and explained everything by -the illusions of the mirage. Nevertheless something of enormous size -continued to advance. Little vapours, as subtle as the breath, ran -across the surface of the desert; the sun, which was higher now, shone -more strongly: a harsh light, which seemed to vibrate, threw back -the depths of the sky, and permeating objects, rendered distance -incalculable. The immense plain expanded in every direction beyond the -limits of vision; and the almost insensible undulations of the soil -extended to the extreme horizon, which was closed by a great blue line -which they knew to be the sea. The two armies, having left their tents, -stood gazing; the people of Utica were massing on the ramparts to have a -better view. - -At last they distinguished several transverse bars bristling with level -points. They became thicker, larger; black hillocks swayed to and fro; -square thickets suddenly appeared; they were elephants and lances. A -single shout went up: “The Carthaginians!” and without signal or -command the soldiers at Utica and those at the bridge ran pell-mell to -fall in a body upon Hamilcar. - -Spendius shuddered at the name. “Hamilcar! Hamilcar!” he repeated, -panting, and Matho was not there! What was to be done? No means of -flight! The suddenness of the event, his terror of the Suffet, and above -all, the urgent need of forming an immediate resolution, distracted him; -he could see himself pierced by a thousand swords, decapitated, dead. -Meanwhile he was being called for; thirty thousand men would follow him; -he was seized with fury against himself; he fell back upon the hope of -victory; it was full of bliss, and he believed himself more intrepid -than Epaminondas. He smeared his cheeks with vermilion in order to -conceal his paleness, then he buckled on his knemids and his cuirass, -swallowed a patera of pure wine, and ran after his troops, who were -hastening towards those from Utica. - -They united so rapidly that the Suffet had not time to draw up his -men in battle array. By degrees he slackened his speed. The elephants -stopped; they rocked their heavy heads with their chargings of ostrich -feathers, striking their shoulders the while with their trunks. - -Behind the intervals between them might be seen the cohorts of the -velites, and further on the great helmets of the Clinabarians, -with steel heads glancing in the sun, cuirasses, plumes, and waving -standards. But the Carthaginian army, which amounted to eleven thousand -three hundred and ninety-six men, seemed scarcely to contain them, for -it formed an oblong, narrow at the sides and pressed back upon itself. - -Seeing them so weak, the Barbarians, who were thrice as numerous, were -seized with extravagant joy. Hamilcar was not to be seen. Perhaps he -had remained down yonder? Moreover what did it matter? The disdain -which they felt for these traders strengthened their courage; and -before Spendius could command a manouvre they had all understood it, and -already executed it. - -They were deployed in a long, straight line, overlapping the wings of -the Punic army in order to completely encompass it. But when there -was an interval of only three hundred paces between the armies, the -elephants turned round instead of advancing; then the Clinabarians were -seen to face about and follow them; and the surprise of the Mercenaries -increased when they saw the archers running to join them. So the -Carthaginians were afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous hooting broke -out from among the Barbarian troops, and Spendius exclaimed from the top -of his dromedary: “Ah! I knew it! Forward! forward!” - -Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously. The -elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop more -quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like shadows in -a cloud. - -But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated by -the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously. -The space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full -of eddies and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it. -Cohorts of infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time -all the rest saw the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a -gallop. - -Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and -the elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals -so as to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he -calculated the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when -they reached him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long straight -line. - -In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full squares -having sixteen men on each side. All the leaders of all the files -appeared amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly around -them, for the first six ranks crossed their sarissæ, holding them in -the middle, and the ten lower ranks rested them upon the shoulders of -their companions in succession before them. Their faces were all half -hidden beneath the visors of their helmets; their right legs were all -covered with bronze knemids; broad cylindrical shields reached down to -their knees; and the horrible quadrangular mass moved in a single body, -and seemed to live like an animal and work like a machine. Two cohorts -of elephants flanked it in regular array; quivering, they shook off the -splinters of the arrows that clung to their black skins. The Indians, -squatting on their withers among the tufts of white feathers, restrained -them with their spoon-headed harpoons, while the men in the towers, who -were hidden up to their shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished -with lighted tow on the edges of their large bended bows. Right and -left of the elephants hovered the slingers, each with a sling around his -loins, a second on his head, and a third in his right hand. Then came -the Clinabarians, each flanked by a Negro, and pointing their lances -between the ears of their horses, which, like themselves, were -completely covered with gold. Afterwards, at intervals, came the light -armed soldiers with shields of lynx skin, beyond which projected the -points of the javelins which they held in their left hands; while -the Tarentines, each having two coupled horses, relieved this wall of -soldiers at its two extremities. - -The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to -preserve its line. Undulations and blanks were to be found through -its extravagant length; all were panting and out of breath with their -running. - -The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissæ; -and the too slender line of the Mercenaries soon yielded in the centre -beneath the enormous weight. - -Then the Carthaginian wings expanded in order to fall upon them, the -elephants following. The phalanx, with obliquely pointed lances, cut -through the Barbarians; there were two enormous, struggling bodies; and -the wings with slings and arrows beat them back upon the phalangites. -There was no cavalry to get rid of them, except two hundred Numidians -operating against the right squadron of the Clinabarians. All the rest -were hemmed in, and unable to extricate themselves from the lines. The -peril was imminent, and the need of coming to some resolution urgent. - -Spendius ordered attacks to be made simultaneously on both flanks of the -phalanx so as to pass clean through it. But the narrower ranks glided -below the longer ones and recovered their position, and the phalanx -turned upon the Barbarians as terrible in flank as it had just been in -front. - -They struck at the staves of the sarissæ, but the cavalry in the rear -embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx, supported by the elephants, -lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, -a cone, a rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid. A twofold internal movement -went on continually from its head to its rear; for those who were at -the lowest part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the -latter, from fatigue, or on account of the wounded, fell further back. -The Barbarians found themselves thronged upon the phalanx. It was -impossible for it to advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein -leaped red crests and scales of brass, while the bright shields rolled -like silver foam. Sometimes broad currents would descend from one -extremity to the other, and then go up again, while a heavy mass -remained motionless in the centre. The lances dipped and rose -alternately. Elsewhere there was so quick a play of naked swords that -only the points were visible, while turmæ of cavalry formed wide -circles which closed again like whirlwinds behind them. - -Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the -grating of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds of clay whistled through -the air, dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the skull. -The wounded, sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their shields, -pointed their swords by resting the pommels on the ground, while others, -lying in pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels of those above -them. The multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, and the tumult -so great that it was impossible to distinguish anything; the cowards who -offered to surrender were not even heard. Those whose hands were empty -clasped one another close; breasts cracked against cuirasses, and -corpses hung with head thrown back between a pair of contracted arms. -There was a company of sixty Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their -pikes before their eyes, immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two -syntagmata to recoil simultaneously. Some Epirote shepherds ran upon the -left squadron of the Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the -horses by the man; the animals threw their riders and fled across the -plain. The Punic slingers scattered here and there stood gaping. The -phalanx began to waver, the captains ran to and fro in distraction, -the rearmost in the files were pressing upon the soldiers, and the -Barbarians had re-formed; they were recovering; the victory was theirs. - -But a cry, a terrible cry broke forth, a roar of pain and wrath: it came -from the seventy-two elephants which were rushing on in double line, -Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed together in -one spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had goaded them so -vigorously that blood was trickling down their broad ears. Their trunks, -which were smeared with minium, were stretched straight out in the air -like red serpents; their breasts were furnished with spears and their -backs with cuirasses; their tusks were lengthened with steel blades -curved like sabres,—and to make them more ferocious they had been -intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, wine, and incense. They shook -their necklaces of bells, and shrieked; and the elephantarchs bent their -heads beneath the stream of phalaricas which was beginning to fly from -the tops of the towers. - -In order to resist them the better the Barbarians rushed forward in -a compact crowd; the elephants flung themselves impetuously upon the -centre of it. The spurs on their breasts, like ships’ prows, clove -through the cohorts, which flowed surging back. They stifled the men -with their trunks, or else snatching them up from the ground delivered -them over their heads to the soldiers in the towers; with their tusks -they disembowelled them, and hurled them into the air, and long entrails -hung from their ivory fangs like bundles of rope from a mast. The -Barbarians strove to blind them, to hamstring them; others would slip -beneath their bodies, bury a sword in them up to the hilt, and perish -crushed to death; the most intrepid clung to their straps; they would go -on sawing the leather amid flames, bullets, and arrows, and the wicker -tower would fall like a tower of stone. Fourteen of the animals on the -extreme right, irritated by their wounds, turned upon the second rank; -the Indians seized mallet and chisel, applied the latter to a joint in -the head, and with all their might struck a great blow. - -Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another. It was like -a mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous -elephant, called “The Fury of Baal,” which had been caught by the -leg in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in its -eye. - -The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination, -overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged against the corpses and the -débris. To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they -turned about on their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual -rotatory motion. The Carthaginians felt their energy increase, and the -battle begin again. - -The Barbarians were growing weak; some Greek hoplites threw away all -their arms, and terror seized upon the rest. Spendius was seen stooping -upon his dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two javelins. -Then they all rushed away from the wings and ran towards Utica. - -The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake -them. The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an -advance towards the river. But the Carthaginians, who were posted in the -centre of the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their feet -with longing for the vengeance which was flying from them; and they -were already darting forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when Hamilcar -appeared. - -He held in his spotted and sweat-covered horse with silver reins. The -bands fastened to the horns on his helmet flapped in the wind behind -him, and he had placed his oval shield beneath his left thigh. With a -motion of his triple-pointed pike he checked the army. - -The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off right -and left towards the river and towards the town. - -The phalanx exterminated all the remaining Barbarians at leisure. When -the swords appeared they would stretch out their throats and close their -eyelids. Others defended themselves to the last, and were knocked down -from a distance with flints like mad dogs. Hamilcar had desired the -taking of prisoners, but the Carthaginians obeyed him grudgingly, so -much pleasure did they derive from plunging their swords into the bodies -of the Barbarians. As they were too hot they set about their work with -bare arms like mowers; and when they desisted to take breath they would -follow with their eyes a horseman galloping across the country after a -fleeing soldier. He would succeed in seizing him by the hair, hold him -thus for a while, and then fell him with a blow of his axe. - -Night fell. Carthaginians and Barbarians had disappeared. The elephants -which had taken to flight roamed in the horizon with their fired towers. -These burned here and there in the darkness like beacons nearly half -lost in the mist; and no movement could be discerned in the plain save -the undulation of the river, which was heaped with corpses, and was -drifting them away to the sea. - - -Two hours afterwards Matho arrived. He caught sight in the starlight of -long, uneven heaps lying upon the ground. - -They were files of Barbarians. He stooped down; all were dead. He called -into the distance, but no voice replied. - -That very morning he had left Hippo-Zarytus with his soldiers to march -upon Carthage. At Utica the army under Spendius had just set out, and -the inhabitants were beginning to fire the engines. All had fought -desperately. But, the tumult which was going on in the direction of -the bridge increasing in an incomprehensible fashion, Matho had struck -across the mountain by the shortest road, and as the Barbarians were -fleeing over the plain he had encountered nobody. - -Facing him were little pyramidal masses rearing themselves in the shade, -and on this side of the river and closer to him were motionless lights -on the surface of the ground. In fact the Carthaginians had fallen -back behind the bridge, and to deceive the Barbarians the Suffet had -stationed numerous posts upon the other bank. - -Matho, still advancing, thought that he could distinguish Punic engines, -for horses’ heads which did not stir appeared in the air fixed upon -the tops of piles of staves which could not be seen; and further off he -could hear a great clamour, a noise of songs, and clashing of cups. - -Then, not knowing where he was nor how to find Spendius, assailed with -anguish, scared, and lost in the darkness, he returned more impetuously -by the same road. The dawn as growing grey when from the top of -the mountain he perceived the town with the carcases of the engines -blackened by the flames and looking like giant skeletons leaning against -the walls. - -All was peaceful amid extraordinary silence and heaviness. Among his -soldiers on the verge of the tents men were sleeping nearly naked, each -upon his back, or with his forehead against his arm which was supported -by his cuirass. Some were unwinding bloodstained bandages from their -legs. Those who were doomed to die rolled their heads about gently; -others dragged themselves along and brought them drink. The sentries -walked up and down along the narrow paths in order to warm themselves, -or stood in a fierce attitude with their faces turned towards the -horizon, and their pikes on their shoulders. Matho found Spendius -sheltered beneath a rag of canvas, supported by two sticks set in the -ground, his knee in his hands and his head cast down. - -They remained for a long time without speaking. - -At last Matho murmured: “Conquered!” - -Spendius rejoined in a gloomy voice: “Yes, conquered!” - -And to all questions he replied by gestures of despair. - -Meanwhile sighs and death-rattles reached them. Matho partially opened -the canvas. Then the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another -disaster on the same spot, and he ground his teeth: “Wretch! once -already—” - -Spendius interrupted him: “You were not there either.” - -“It is a curse!” exclaimed Matho. “Nevertheless, in the end I -will get at him! I will conquer him! I will slay him! Ah! if I had been -there!—” The thought of having missed the battle rendered him even -more desperate than the defeat. He snatched up his sword and threw it -upon the ground. “But how did the Carthaginians beat you?” - -The former slave began to describe the manouvres. Matho seemed to -see them, and he grew angry. The army from Utica ought to have taken -Hamilcar in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge. - -“Ah! I know!” said Spendius. - -“You ought to have made your ranks twice as deep, avoided exposing the -velites against the phalanx, and given free passage to the elephants. -Everything might have been recovered at the last moment; there was no -necessity to fly.” - -Spendius replied: - -“I saw him pass along in his large red cloak, with uplifted arms -and higher than the dust, like an eagle flying upon the flank of the -cohorts; and at every nod they closed up or darted forward; the throng -carried us towards each other; he looked at me, and I felt the cold -steel as it were in my heart.” - -“He selected the day, perhaps?” whispered Matho to himself. - -They questioned each other, trying to discover what it was that had -brought the Suffet just when circumstances were most unfavourable. -They went on to talk over the situation, and Spendius, to extenuate his -fault, or to revive his courage, asserted that some hope still remained. - -“And if there be none, it matters not!” said Matho; “alone, I will -carry on the war!” - -“And I too!” exclaimed the Greek, leaping up; he strode to and fro, -his eyes sparkling, and a strange smile wrinkled his jackal face. - -“We will make a fresh start; do not leave me again! I am not made for -battles in the sunlight—the flashing of swords troubles my sight; it -is a disease, I lived too long in the ergastulum. But give me walls to -scale at night, and I will enter the citadels, and the corpses shall be -cold before cock-crow! Show me any one, anything, an enemy, a treasure, -a woman,—a woman,” he repeated, “were she a king’s daughter, -and I will quickly bring your desire to your feet. You reproach me for -having lost the battle against Hanno, nevertheless I won it back -again. Confess it! my herd of swine did more for us than a phalanx of -Spartans.” And yielding to the need that he felt of exalting himself -and taking his revenge, he enumerated all that he had done for the cause -of the Mercenaries. “It was I who urged on the Gaul in the Suffet’s -gardens! And later, at Sicca, I maddened them all with fear of the -Republic! Gisco was sending them back, but I prevented the interpreters -speaking. Ah! how their tongues hung out of their mouths! do you -remember? I brought you into Carthage; I stole the zaïmph. I led you to -her. I will do more yet: you shall see!” He burst out laughing like a -madman. - -Matho regarded him with gaping eyes. He felt in a measure uncomfortable -in the presence of this man, who was at once so cowardly and so -terrible. - -The Greek resumed in jovial tones and cracking his fingers: - -“Evoe! Sun after rain! I have worked in the quarries, and I have -drunk Massic wine beneath a golden awning in a vessel of my own like a -Ptolemæus. Calamity should help to make us cleverer. By dint of work we -may make fortune bend. She loves politicians. She will yield!” - -He returned to Matho and took him by the arm. - -“Master, at present the Carthaginians are sure of their victory. You -have quite an army which has not fought, and your men obey you. Place -them in the front: mine will follow to avenge themselves. I have still -three thousand Carians, twelve hundred slingers and archers, whole -cohorts! A phalanx even might be formed; let us return!” - -Matho, who had been stunned by the disaster, had hitherto thought of -no means of repairing it. He listened with open mouth, and the bronze -plates which circled his sides rose with the leapings of his heart. He -picked up his sword, crying: - -“Follow me; forward!” - -But when the scouts returned, they announced that the Carthaginian dead -had been carried off, that the bridge was in ruins, and that Hamilcar -had disappeared. - - - - - -CHAPTER IX IN THE FIELD - -Hamilcar had thought that the Mercenaries would await him at Utica, or -that they would return against him; and finding his forces insufficient -to make or to sustain an attack, he had struck southwards along the -right bank of the river, thus protecting himself immediately from a -surprise. - -He intended first to wink at the revolt of the tribes and to detach them -all from the cause of the Barbarians; then when they were quite isolated -in the midst of the provinces he would fall upon them and exterminate -them. - -In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised between Thouccaber -and Utica, with the towns of Tignicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others -further to the west. Zounghar built in the mountains, Assoura celebrated -for its temple, Djeraado fertile in junipers, Thapitis, and Hagour -sent embassies to him. The country people came with their hands full of -provisions, implored his protection, kissed his feet and those of the -soldiers, and complained of the Barbarians. Some came to offer him bags -containing heads of Mercenaries killed, so they said, by themselves, but -which they had cut off corpses; for many had lost themselves in their -flight, and were found dead here and there beneath the olive trees and -among the vines. - -On the morrow of his victory, Hamilcar, to dazzle the people, had sent -to Carthage the two thousand captives taken on the battlefield. They -arrived in long companies of one hundred men each, all with their arms -fastened behind their backs with a bar of bronze which caught them at -the nape of the neck, and the wounded, bleeding as they still were, -running also along; horsemen followed them, driving them on with blows -of the whip. - -Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six -thousand Barbarians killed; the others would not hold out, and the war -was finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed -the faces of the Patæc Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them. -These, with their big eyes, their big bodies, and their arms raised as -high as the shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, and -to participate in the cheerfulness of the people. The rich left their -doors open; the city resounded with the noise of the timbrels; the -temples were illuminated every night, and the servants of the goddess -went down to Malqua and set up stages of sycamore-wood at the corners -of the cross-ways, and prostituted themselves there. Lands were voted to -the conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred gold crowns to the -Suffet, and his partisans proposed to decree to him new prerogatives and -honours. - -He had begged the Ancients to make overtures to Autaritus for exchanging -all the Barbarians, if necessary, for the aged Gisco, and the other -Carthaginians detained like him. The Libyans and Nomads composing the -army under Autaritus knew scarcely anything of these Mercenaries, who -were men of Italiote or Greek race; and the offer by the Republic of so -many Barbarians for so few Carthaginians, showed that the value of the -former was nothing and that of the latter considerable. They dreaded a -snare. Autaritus refused. - -Then the Ancients decreed the execution of the captives, although the -Suffet had written to them not to put them to death. He reckoned -upon incorporating the best of them with his own troops and of thus -instigating defections. But hatred swept away all circumspection. - -The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelæ of the tombs in -the Mappalian quarter; and traders, scullions, embroiderers, and even -women,—the widows of the dead with their children—all who would, -came to kill them with arrows. They aimed slowly at them, the better to -prolong their torture, lowering the weapon and then raising it in turn; -and the multitude pressed forward howling. Paralytics had themselves -brought thither in hand-barrows; many took the precaution of bringing -their food, and remained on the spot until the evening; others passed -the night there. Tents had been set up in which drinking went on. Many -gained large sums by hiring out bows. - -Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so many -red statues on the tombs, and the excitement even spread to the people -of Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, and were -usually indifferent to the affairs of their country. Out of gratitude -for the pleasure it had been giving them they now interested themselves -in its fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and the Ancients -thought it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire people in a -single act of vengeance. - -The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all -quarters of the sky. They wheeled in the air as they flew with loud -hoarse cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself. -It was seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermæum. -Sometimes it would suddenly burst asunder, its black spirals extending -far away, as an eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again; -here and there on the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, -and the pediments of the temples there were big birds holding human -fragments in their reddened beaks. - -Owing to the smell the Carthaginians resigned themselves to unbind the -corpses. A few of them were burnt; the rest were thrown into the sea, -and the waves, driven by the north wind, deposited them on the shore at -the end of the gulf before the camp of Autaritus. - -This punishment had no doubt terrified the Barbarians, for from the top -of Eschmoun they could be seen striking their tents, collecting their -flocks, and hoisting their baggage upon asses, and on the evening of the -same day the entire army withdrew. - - -It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs -and Hippo-Zarytus, and so debar the Suffet from approaching the Tyrian -towns, and from the possibility of a return to Carthage. - -Meanwhile the two other armies were to try to overtake him in the south, -Spendius in the east, and Matho in the west, in such a way that all -three should unite to surprise and entangle him. Then they received a -reinforcement which they had not looked for: Narr’ Havas appeared with -three hundred camels laden with bitumen, twenty-five elephants, and six -thousand horsemen. - -To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had judged it prudent to occupy his -attention at a distance in his own kingdom. From the heart of Carthage -he had come to an understanding with Masgaba, a Gætulian brigand -who was seeking to found an empire. Strengthened by Punic money, the -adventurer had raised the Numidian States with promises of freedom. -But Narr’ Havas, warned by his nurse’s son, had dropped into Cirta, -poisoned the conquerors with the water of the cisterns, struck off a few -heads, set all right again, and had just arrived against the Suffet more -furious than the Barbarians. - -The chiefs of the four armies concerted the arrangements for the war. It -would be a long one, and everything must be foreseen. - -It was agreed first to entreat the assistance of the Romans, and -this mission was offered to Spendius, but as a fugitive he dared not -undertake it. Twelve men from the Greek colonies embarked at Annaba in -a sloop belonging to the Numidians. Then the chiefs exacted an oath -of complete obedience from all the Barbarians. Every day the captains -inspected clothes and boots; the sentries were even forbidden to use a -shield, for they would often lean it against their lance and fall -asleep as they stood; those who had any baggage trailing after them -were obliged to get rid of it; everything was to be carried, in Roman -fashion, on the back. As a precaution against the elephants Matho -instituted a corps of cataphract cavalry, men and horses being hidden -beneath cuirasses of hippopotamus skin bristling with nails; and to -protect the horses’ hoofs boots of plaited esparto-grass were made for -them. - -It was forbidden to pillage the villages, or to tyrannise over the -inhabitants who were not of Punic race. But as the country was becoming -exhausted, Matho ordered the provisions to be served out to the soldiers -individually, without troubling about the women. At first the men shared -with them. Many grew weak for lack of food. It was the occasion of many -quarrels and invectives, many drawing away the companions of the rest -by the bait or even by the promise of their own portion. Matho commanded -them all to be driven away pitilessly. They took refuge in the camp -of Autaritus; but the Gaulish and Libyan women forced them by their -outrageous treatment to depart. - -At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the -protection of Ceres and Proserpine, for in Byrsa there was a temple -with priests consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the horrors -formerly committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, alleging -their right to waifs and strays, claimed the youngest in order to sell -them; and some fair Lacedæmonian women were taken by New Carthaginians -in marriage. - -A few persisted in following the armies. They ran on the flank of the -syntagmata by the side of the captains. They called to their husbands, -pulled them by the cloak, cursed them as they beat their breasts, and -held out their little naked and weeping children at arm’s length. The -sight of them was unmanning the Barbarians; they were an embarrassment -and a peril. Several times they were repulsed, but they came back again; -Matho made the horsemen belonging to Narr’ Havas charge them with the -point of the lance; and on some Balearians shouting out to him that they -must have women, he replied: “I have none!” - -Just now he was invaded by the genius of Moloch. In spite of the -rebellion of his conscience, he performed terrible deeds, imagining that -he was thus obeying the voice of a god. When he could not ravage the -fields, Matho would cast stones into them to render them sterile. - -He urged Autaritus and Spendius with repeated messages to make haste. -But the Suffet’s operations were incomprehensible. He encamped at -Eidous, Monchar, and Tehent successively; some scouts believed that they -saw him in the neighbourhood of Ischiil, near the frontiers of Narr’ -Havas, and it was reported that he had crossed the river above Tebourba -as though to return to Carthage. Scarcely was he in one place when he -removed to another. The routes that he followed always remained unknown. -The Suffet preserved his advantages without offering battle, and while -pursued by the Barbarians seemed to be leading them. - -These marches and counter marches were still more fatiguing to the -Carthaginians, and Hamilcar’s forces, receiving no reinforcements, -diminished from day to day. The country people were now more backward -in bringing him provisions. In every direction he encountered taciturn -hesitation and hatred; and in spite of his entreaties to the Great -Council no succour came from Carthage. - -It was said, perhaps it was believed, that he had need of none. It was -a trick, or his complaints were unnecessary; and Hanno’s partisans, in -order to do him an ill turn, exaggerated the importance of his victory. -The troops which he commanded he was welcome to; but they were not -going to supply his demands continually in that way. The war was quite -burdensome enough! it had cost too much, and from pride the patricians -belonging to his faction supported him but slackly. - -Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the tribes -all that he wanted for the war—grain, oil, wood, cattle, and men. -But the inhabitants were not long in taking flight. The villages passed -through were empty, and the cabins were ransacked without anything being -discerned in them. The Punic army was soon encompassed by a terrible -solitude. - -The Carthaginians, who were furious, began to sack the provinces; they -filled up the cisterns and fired the houses. The sparks, being carried -by the wind, were scattered far off, and whole forests were on fire on -the mountains; they bordered the valleys with a crown of flames, and -it was often necessary to wait in order to pass beyond them. Then the -soldiers resumed their march over the warm ashes in the full glare of -the sun. - -Sometimes they would see what looked like the eyes of a tiger cat -gleaming in a bush by the side of the road. This was a Barbarian -crouching upon his heels, and smeared with dust, that he might not be -distinguished from the colour of the foliage; or perhaps when passing -along a ravine those on the wings would suddenly hear the rolling of -stones, and raising their eyes would perceive a bare-footed man bounding -along through the openings of the gorge. - -Meanwhile Utica and Hippo-Zarytus were free since the Mercenaries -were no longer besieging them. Hamilcar commanded them to come to his -assistance. But not caring to compromise themselves, they answered him -with vague words, with compliments and excuses. - -He went up again abruptly into the North, determined to open up one of -the Tyrian towns, though he were obliged to lay siege to it. He required -a station on the coast, so as to be able to draw supplies and men from -the islands or from Cyrene, and he coveted the harbour of Utica as being -the nearest to Carthage. - -The Suffet therefore left Zouitin and turned the lake of Hippo-Zarytus -with circumspection. But he was soon obliged to lengthen out his -regiments into column in order to climb the mountain which separates -the two valleys. They were descending at sunset into its hollow, -funnel-shaped summit, when they perceived on the level of the ground -before them bronze she-wolves which seemed to be running across the -grass. - -Suddenly large plumes arose and a terrible song burst forth, accompanied -by the rhythm of flutes. It was the army under Spendius; for some -Campanians and Greeks, in their execration of Carthage, had assumed the -ensigns of Rome. At the same time long pikes, shields of leopard’s -skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders were seen on the left. -These were the Iberians under Matho, the Lusitanians, Balearians, and -Gætulians; the horses of Narr’ Havas were heard to neigh; they -spread around the hill; then came the loose rabble commanded by -Autaritus—Gauls, Libyans, and Nomads; while the Eaters of Uncleanness -might be recognised among them by the fish bones which they wore in -their hair. - -Thus the Barbarians, having contrived their marches with exactness, had -come together again. But themselves surprised, they remained motionless -for some minutes in consultation. - -The Suffet had collected his men into an orbicular mass, in such a way -as to offer an equal resistance in every direction. The infantry were -surrounded by their tall, pointed shields fixed close to one another in -the turf. The Clinabarians were outside and the elephants at intervals -further off. The Mercenaries were worn out with fatigue; it was better -to wait till next day; and the Barbarians feeling sure of their victory -occupied themselves the whole night in eating. - -They lighted large bright fires, which, while dazzling themselves, left -the Punic army below them in the shade. Hamilcar caused a trench fifteen -feet broad and ten cubits deep to be dug in Roman fashion round his -camp, and the earth thrown out to be raised on the inside into a -parapet, on which sharp interlacing stakes were planted; and at sunrise -the Mercenaries were amazed to perceive all the Carthaginians thus -entrenched as if in a fortress. - -They could recognise Hamilcar in the midst of the tents walking about -and giving orders. His person was clad in a brown cuirass cut in little -scales; he was followed by his horse, and stopped from time to time to -point out something with his right arm outstretched. - -Then more than one recalled similar mornings when, amid the din of -clarions, he passed slowly before them, and his looks strengthened -them like cups of wine. A kind of emotion overcame them. Those, on the -contrary, who were not acquainted with Hamilcar, were mad with joy at -having caught him. - -Nevertheless if all attacked at once they would do one another mutual -injury in the insufficiency of space. The Numidians might dash through; -but the Clinabarians, who were protected by cuirasses, would crush them. -And then how were the palisades to be crossed? As to the elephants, they -were not sufficiently well trained. - -“You are all cowards!” exclaimed Matho. - -And with the best among them he rushed against the entrenchment. They -were repulsed by a volley of stones; for the Suffet had taken their -abandoned catapults on the bridge. - -This want of success produced an abrupt change in the fickle minds -of the Barbarians. Their extreme bravery disappeared; they wished to -conquer, but with the smallest possible risk. According to Spendius they -ought to maintain carefully the position that they held, and starve out -the Punic army. But the Carthaginians began to dig wells, and as there -were mountains surrounding the hill, they discovered water. - -From the summit of their palisade they launched arrows, earth, dung, -and pebbles which they gathered from the ground, while the six catapults -rolled incessantly throughout the length of the terrace. - -But the springs would dry up of themselves; the provisions would be -exhausted, and the catapults worn out; the Mercenaries, who were -ten times as numerous, would triumph in the end. The Suffet devised -negotiations so as to gain time, and one morning the Barbarians found -a sheep’s skin covered with writing within their lines. He justified -himself for his victory: the Ancients had forced him into the war, and -to show them that he was keeping his word, he offered them the pillaging -of Utica or Hippo-Zarytus at their choice; in conclusion, Hamilcar -declared that he did not fear them because he had won over some -traitors, and thanks to them would easily manage the rest. - -The Barbarians were disturbed: this proposal of immediate booty made -them consider; they were apprehensive of treachery, not suspecting -a snare in the Suffet’s boasting, and they began to look upon one -another with mistrust. Words and steps were watched; terrors awaked -them in the night. Many forsook their companions and chose their army as -fancy dictated, and the Gauls with Autaritus went and joined themselves -with the men of Cisalpine Gaul, whose language they understood. - -The four chiefs met together every evening in Matho’s tent, and -squatting round a shield, attentively moved backwards and forwards the -little wooden figures invented by Pyrrhus for the representation of -manouvres. Spendius would demonstrate Hamilcar’s resources, and with -oaths by all the gods entreat that the opportunity should not be wasted. -Matho would walk about angry and gesticulating. The war against Carthage -was his own personal affair; he was indignant that the others should -interfere in it without being willing to obey him. Autaritus would -divine his speech from his countenance and applaud. Narr’ Havas would -elevate his chin to mark his disdain; there was not a measure he did not -consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs would escape him as -though he were thrusting back sorrow for an impossible dream, despair -for an abortive enterprise. - -While the Barbarians deliberated in uncertainty, the Suffet increased -his defences: he had a second trench dug within the palisades, a second -wall raised, and wooden towers constructed at the corners; and his -slaves went as far as the middle of the outposts to drive caltrops into -the ground. But the elephants, whose allowances were lessened, struggled -in their shackles. To economise the grass he ordered the Clinabarians to -kill the least strong among the stallions. A few refused to do so, and -he had them decapitated. The horses were eaten. The recollection of -this fresh meat was a source of great sadness to them in the days that -followed. - -From the bottom of the ampitheatre in which they were confined they -could see the four bustling camps of the Barbarians all around them on -the heights. Women moved about with leathern bottles on their heads, -goats strayed bleating beneath the piles of pikes; sentries were being -relieved, and eating was going on around tripods. In fact, the tribes -furnished them abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves -suspect how much their inaction alarmed the Punic army. - -On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three -hundred men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads. These were -the rich who had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war. -Some Libyans ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their -station behind them, and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart -of their bodies. The wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised, -so completely were their faces covered with vermin and filth. Their hair -had been plucked out in places, leaving bare the ulcers on their -heads, and they were so lean and hideous that they were like mummies in -tattered shrouds. A few trembled and sobbed with a stupid look; the rest -cried out to their friends to fire upon the Barbarians. There was one -who remained quite motionless with face cast down, and without -speaking; his long white beard fell to his chain-covered hands; and the -Carthaginians, feeling as it were the downfall of the Republic in the -bottom of their hearts, recognised Gisco. Although the place was a -dangerous one they pressed forward to see him. On his head had been -placed a grotesque tiara of hippopotamus leather incrusted with pebbles. -It was Autaritus’s idea; but it was displeasing to Matho. - -Hamilcar in exasperation, and resolved to cut his way through in one way -or another, had the palisades opened; and the Carthaginians went at a -furious rate half way up the hill or three hundred paces. Such a flood -of Barbarians descended upon them that they were driven back to their -lines. One of the guards of the Legion who had remained outside was -stumbling among the stones. Zarxas ran up to him, knocked him down, and -plunged a dagger into his throat; he drew it out, threw himself upon the -wound—and gluing his lips to it with mutterings of joy, and startings -which shook him to the heels, pumped up the blood by breastfuls; then he -quietly sat down upon the corpse, raised his face with his neck thrown -back the better to breathe in the air, like a hind that has just drunk -at a mountain stream, and in a shrill voice began to sing a Balearic -song, a vague melody full of prolonged modulations, with interruptions -and alternations like echoes answering one another in the mountains; he -called upon his dead brothers and invited them to a feast;—then he let -his hands fall between his legs, slowly bent his head, and wept. This -atrocious occurrence horrified the Barbarians, especially the Greeks. - -From that time forth the Carthaginians did not attempt to make any -sally; and they had no thought of surrender, certain as they were that -they would perish in tortures. - -Nevertheless the provisions, in spite of Hamilcar’s carefulness, -diminished frightfully. There was not left per man more than ten -k’hommers of wheat, three hins of millet, and twelve betzas of dried -fruit. No more meat, no more oil, no more salt food, and not a grain of -barley for the horses, which might be seen stretching down their wasted -necks seeking in the dust for blades of trampled straw. Often the -sentries on vedette upon the terrace would see in the moonlight a dog -belonging to the Barbarians coming to prowl beneath the entrenchment -among the heaps of filth; it would be knocked down with a stone, and -then, after a descent had been effected along the palisades by means -of the straps of a shield, it would be eaten without a word. Sometimes -horrible barkings would be heard and the man would not come up again. -Three phalangites, in the fourth dilochia of the twelfth syntagmata, -killed one another with knives in a dispute about a rat. - -All regretted their families, and their houses; the poor their -hive-shaped huts, with the shells on the threshold and the hanging net, -and the patricians their large halls filled with bluish shadows, where -at the most indolent hour of the day they used to rest listening to the -vague noise of the streets mingled with the rustling of the leaves as -they stirred in their gardens;—to go deeper into the thought of this, -and to enjoy it more, they would half close their eyelids, only to be -roused by the shock of a wound. Every minute there was some engagement, -some fresh alarm; the towers were burning, the Eaters of Uncleanness -were leaping across the palisades; their hands would be struck off with -axes; others would hasten up; an iron hail would fall upon the tents. -Galleries of rushen hurdles were raised as a protection against the -projectiles. The Carthaginians shut themselves up within them and -stirred out no more. - -Every day the sun coming over the hill used, after the early hours, to -forsake the bottom of the gorge and leave them in the shade. The grey -slopes of the ground, covered with flints spotted with scanty lichen, -ascended in front and in the rear, and above their summits stretched the -sky in its perpetual purity, smoother and colder to the eye than a metal -cupola. Hamilcar was so indignant with Carthage that he felt inclined to -throw himself among the Barbarians and lead them against her. Moreover, -the porters, sutlers, and slaves were beginning to murmur, while neither -people, nor Great Council, nor any one sent as much as a hope. The -situation was intolerable, especially owing to the thought that it would -become worse. - - -At the news of the disaster Carthage had leaped, as it were, with anger -and hate; the Suffet would have been less execrated if he had allowed -himself to be conquered from the first. - -But time and money were lacking for the hire of other Mercenaries. As to -a levy of soldiers in the town, how were they to be equipped? Hamilcar -had taken all the arms! and then who was to command them? The best -captains were down yonder with him! Meanwhile, some men despatched by -the Suffet arrived in the streets with shouts. The Great Council were -roused by them, and contrived to make them disappear. - -It was an unnecessary precaution; every one accused Barca of having -behaved with slackness. He ought to have annihilated the Mercenaries -after his victory. Why had he ravaged the tribes? The sacrifices -already imposed had been heavy enough! and the patricians deplored their -contributions of fourteen shekels, and the Syssitia their two hundred -and twenty-three thousand gold kikars; those who had given nothing -lamented like the rest. The populace was jealous of the New -Carthaginians, to whom he had promised full rights of citizenship; -and even the Ligurians, who had fought with such intrepidity, were -confounded with the Barbarians and cursed like them; their race became -a crime, the proof of complicity. The traders on the threshold of their -shops, the workmen passing plumb-line in hand, the vendors of pickle -rinsing their baskets, the attendants in the vapour baths and the -retailers of hot drinks all discussed the operations of the campaign. -They would trace battle-plans with their fingers in the dust, and -there was not a sorry rascal to be found who could not have corrected -Hamilcar’s mistakes. - -It was a punishment, said the priests, for his long-continued impiety. -He had offered no holocausts; he had not purified his troops; he had -even refused to take augurs with him; and the scandal of sacrilege -strengthened the violence of restrained hate, and the rage of betrayed -hopes. People recalled the Sicilian disasters, and all the burden of -his pride that they had borne for so long! The colleges of the pontiffs -could not forgive him for having seized their treasure, and they -demanded a pledge from the Great Council to crucify him should he ever -return. - -The heats of the month of Eloul, which were excessive in that year, were -another calamity. Sickening smells rose from the borders of the Lake, -and were wafted through the air together with the fumes of the aromatics -that eddied at the corners of the streets. The sounds of hymns were -constantly heard. Crowds of people occupied the staircases of the -temples; all the walls were covered with black veils; tapers burnt -on the brows of the Patæc Gods, and the blood of camels slain for -sacrifice ran along the flights of stairs forming red cascades upon the -steps. Carthage was agitated with funereal delirium. From the depths of -the narrowest lanes, and the blackest dens, there issued pale faces, -men with viper-like profiles and grinding their teeth. The houses were -filled with the women’s piercing shrieks, which, escaping through the -gratings, caused those who stood talking in the squares to turn round. -Sometimes it was thought that the Barbarians were arriving; they had -been seen behind the mountain of the Hot Springs; they were encamped at -Tunis; and the voices would multiply and swell, and be blended into one -single clamour. Then universal silence would reign, some remaining where -they had climbed upon the frontals of the buildings, screening their -eyes with their open hand, while the rest lay flat on their faces at the -foot of the ramparts straining their ears. When their terror had passed -off their anger would begin again. But the conviction of their own -impotence would soon sink them into the same sadness as before. - -It increased every evening when all ascended the terraces, and bowing -down nine times uttered a loud cry in salutation of the sun, as it -sank slowly behind the lagoon, and then suddenly disappeared among the -mountains in the direction of the Barbarians. - -They were waiting for the thrice holy festival when, from the summit -of a funeral pile, an eagle flew heavenwards as a symbol of the -resurrection of the year, and a message from the people to their Baal; -they regarded it as a sort of union, a method of connecting themselves -with the might of the Sun. Moreover, filled as they now were with -hatred, they turned frankly towards homicidal Moloch, and all forsook -Tanith. In fact, Rabetna, having lost her veil, was as if she had been -despoiled of part of her virtue. She denied the beneficence of her -waters, she had abandoned Carthage; she was a deserter, an enemy. -Some threw stones at her to insult her. But many pitied her while they -inveighed against her; she was still beloved, and perhaps more deeply -than she had been. - -All their misfortunes came, therefore, from the loss of the zaïmph. -Salammbô had indirectly participated in it; she was included in the -same ill will; she must be punished. A vague idea of immolation spread -among the people. To appease the Baalim it was without doubt necessary -to offer them something of incalculable worth, a being handsome, young, -virgin, of old family, a descendant of the gods, a human star. Every day -the gardens of Megara were invaded by strange men; the slaves, trembling -on their own account, dared not resist them. Nevertheless, they did not -pass beyond the galley staircase. They remained below with their eyes -raised to the highest terrace; they were waiting for Salammbô, and they -would cry out for hours against her like dogs baying at the moon. - - - - - -CHAPTER X THE SERPENT - -These clamourings of the populace did not alarm Hamilcar’s daughter. -She was disturbed by loftier anxieties: her great serpent, the black -python, was drooping; and in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the serpent -was at once a national and a private fetish. It was believed to be the -offspring of the dust of the earth, since it emerges from its depths and -has no need of feet to traverse it; its mode of progression called to -mind the undulations of rivers, its temperature the ancient, viscous, -and fecund darkness, and the orbit which it describes when biting its -tail the harmony of the planets, and the intelligence of Eschmoun. - -Salammbô’s serpent had several times already refused the four live -sparrows which were offered to it at the full moon and at every new -moon. Its handsome skin, covered like the firmament with golden spots -upon a perfectly black ground, was now yellow, relaxed, wrinkled, and -too large for its body. A cottony mouldiness extended round its head; -and in the corners of its eyelids might be seen little red specks which -appeared to move. Salammbô would approach its silver-wire basket -from time to time, and would draw aside the purple curtains, the lotus -leaves, and the bird’s down; but it was continually rolled up upon -itself, more motionless than a withered bind-weed; and from looking at -it she at last came to feel a kind of spiral within her heart, another -serpent, as it were, mounting up to her throat by degrees and strangling -her. - -She was in despair of having seen the zaïmph, and yet she felt a sort -of joy, an intimate pride at having done so. A mystery shrank within the -splendour of its folds; it was the cloud that enveloped the gods, and -the secret of the universal existence, and Salammbô, horror-stricken at -herself, regretted that she had not raised it. - -She was almost always crouching at the back of her apartment, holding -her bended left leg in her hands, her mouth half open, her chin sunk, -her eye fixed. She recollected her father’s face with terror; she -wished to go away into the mountains of Phonicia, on a pilgrimage to -the temple of Aphaka, where Tanith descended in the form of a star; -all kinds of imaginings attracted her and terrified her; moreover, a -solitude which every day became greater encompassed her. She did not -even know what Hamilcar was about. - -Wearied at last with her thoughts she would rise, and trailing along -her little sandals whose soles clacked upon her heels at every step, she -would walk at random through the large silent room. The amethysts and -topazes of the ceiling made luminous spots quiver here and there, and -Salammbô as she walked would turn her head a little to see them. She -would go and take the hanging amphoras by the neck; she would cool -her bosom beneath the broad fans, or perhaps amuse herself by burning -cinnamomum in hollow pearls. At sunset Taanach would draw back the black -felt lozenges that closed the openings in the wall; then her doves, -rubbed with musk like the doves of Tanith, suddenly entered, and their -pink feet glided over the glass pavement, amid the grains of barley -which she threw to them in handfuls like a sower in a field. But on a -sudden she would burst into sobs and lie stretched on the large bed of -ox-leather straps without moving, repeating a word that was ever the -same, with open eyes, pale as one dead, insensible, cold; and yet she -could hear the cries of the apes in the tufts of the palm trees, with -the continuous grinding of the great wheel which brought a flow of pure -water through the stories into the porphyry centre-basin. - -Sometimes for several days she would refuse to eat. She could see in -a dream troubled stars wandering beneath her feet. She would call -Schahabarim, and when he came she had nothing to say to him. - -She could not live without the relief of his presence. But she rebelled -inwardly against this domination; her feeling towards the priest was one -at once of terror, jealousy, hatred, and a species of love, in gratitude -for the singular voluptuousness which she experienced by his side. - -He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, being skilful to discern -the gods who send diseases; and to cure Salammbô he had her apartment -watered with lotions of vervain, and maidenhair; she ate mandrakes every -morning; she slept with her head on a cushion filled with aromatics -blended by the pontiffs; he had even employed baaras, a fiery-coloured -root which drives back fatal geniuses into the North; lastly, turning -towards the polar star, he murmured thrice the mysterious name of -Tanith; but Salammbô still suffered and her anguish deepened. - -No one in Carthage was so learned as he. In his youth he had studied at -the College of the Mogbeds, at Borsippa, near Babylon; had then visited -Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judæa, and the temples of the -Nabathæ, which are lost in the sands; and had travelled on foot along -the banks of the Nile from the cataracts to the sea. Shaking torches -with veil-covered face, he had cast a black cock upon a fire of -sandarach before the breast of the Sphinx, the Father of Terror. He had -descended into the caverns of Proserpine; he had seen the five hundred -pillars of the labyrinth of Lemnos revolve, and the candelabrum of -Tarentum, which bore as many sconces on its shaft as there are days in -the year, shine in its splendour; at times he received Greeks by night -in order to question them. The constitution of the world disquieted him -no less than the nature of the gods; he had observed the equinoxes with -the armils placed in the portico of Alexandria, and accompanied the -bematists of Evergetes, who measure the sky by calculating the number -of their steps, as far as Cyrene; so that there was now growing in his -thoughts a religion of his own, with no distinct formula, and on that -very account full of infatuation and fervour. He no longer believed that -the earth was formed like a fir-cone; he believed it to be round, and -eternally falling through immensity with such prodigious speed that its -fall was not perceived. - -From the position of the sun above the moon he inferred the predominance -of Baal, of whom the planet itself is but the reflection and figure; -moreover, all that he saw in terrestrial things compelled him to -recognise the male exterminating principle as supreme. And then he -secretly charged Rabbet with the misfortune of his life. Was it not for -her that the grand-pontiff had once advanced amid the tumult of cymbals, -and with a patera of boiling water taken from him his future virility? -And he followed with a melancholy gaze the men who were disappearing -with the priestesses in the depths of the turpentine trees. - -His days were spent in inspecting the censers, the gold vases, the -tongs, the rakes for the ashes of the altar, and all the robes of the -statues down to the bronze bodkin that served to curl the hair of an old -Tanith in the third aedicule near the emerald vine. At the same hours he -would raise the great hangings of the same swinging doors; would remain -with his arms outspread in the same attitude; or prayed prostrate on the -same flag-stones, while around him a people of priests moved barefooted -through the passages filled with an eternal twilight. - -But Salammbô was in the barrenness of his life like a flower in the -cleft of a sepulchre. Nevertheless he was hard upon her, and spared -her neither penances nor bitter words. His condition established, as it -were, the equality of a common sex between them, and he was less angry -with the girl for his inability to possess her than for finding her so -beautiful, and above all so pure. Often he saw that she grew weary of -following his thought. Then he would turn away sadder than before; he -would feel himself more forsaken, more empty, more alone. - -Strange words escaped him sometimes, which passed before Salammbô like -broad lightnings illuminating the abysses. This would be at night on the -terrace when, both alone, they gazed upon the stars, and Carthage spread -below under their feet, with the gulf and the open sea dimly lost in the -colour of the darkness. - -He would set forth to her the theory of the souls that descend upon -the earth, following the same route as the sun through the signs of the -zodiac. With outstretched arm he showed the gate of human generation in -the Ram, and that of the return to the gods in Capricorn; and Salammbô -strove to see them, for she took these conceptions for realities; -she accepted pure symbols and even manners of speech as being true in -themselves, a distinction not always very clear even to the priest. - -“The souls of the dead,” said he, “resolve themselves into -the moon, as their bodies do into the earth. Their tears compose its -humidity; ’tis a dark abode full of mire, and wreck, and tempest.” - -She asked what would become of her then. - -“At first you will languish as light as a vapour hovering upon the -waves; and after more lengthened ordeals and agonies, you will pass into -the forces of the sun, the very source of Intelligence!” - -He did not speak, however, of Rabbet. Salammbô imagined that it was -through some shame for his vanquished goddess, and calling her by a -common name which designated the moon, she launched into blessings upon -the soft and fertile planet. At last he exclaimed: - -“No! no! she draws all her fecundity from the other! Do you not see -her hovering about him like an amorous woman running after a man in a -field?” And he exalted the virtue of light unceasingly. - -Far from depressing her mystic desires, he sought, on the contrary, -to excite them, and he even seemed to take joy in grieving her by the -revelation of a pitiless doctrine. In spite of the pains of her love -Salammbô threw herself upon it with transport. - -But the more that Schahabarim felt himself in doubt about Tanith, the -more he wished to believe in her. At the bottom of his soul he was -arrested by remorse. He needed some proof, some manifestation from the -gods, and in the hope of obtaining it the priest devised an enterprise -which might save at once his country and his belief. - -Thenceforward he set himself to deplore before Salammbô the sacrilege -and the misfortunes which resulted from it even in the regions of -the sky. Then he suddenly announced the peril of the Suffet, who was -assailed by three armies under the command of Matho—for on account of -the veil Matho was, in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the king, as it -were, of the Barbarians,—and he added that the safety of the Republic -and of her father depended upon her alone. - -“Upon me!” she exclaimed. “How can I—?” - -But the priest, with a smile of disdain said: - -“You will never consent!” - -She entreated him. At last Schahabarim said to her: - -“You must go to the Barbarians and recover the zaïmph!” - -She sank down upon the ebony stool, and remained with her arms stretched -out between her knees and shivering in all her limbs, like a victim -at the altar’s foot awaiting the blow of the club. Her temples were -ringing, she could see fiery circles revolving, and in her stupor -she had lost the understanding of all things save one, that she was -certainly going to die soon. - -But if Rabbetna triumphed, if the zaïmph were restored and Carthage -delivered, what mattered a woman’s life? thought Schahabarim. -Moreover, she would perhaps obtain the veil and not perish. - -He stayed away for three days; on the evening of the fourth she sent for -him. - -The better to inflame her heart he reported to her all the invectives -howled against Hamilcar in open council; he told her that she had erred, -that she owed reparation for her crime, and that Rabbetna commanded the -sacrifice. - -A great uproar came frequently across the Mappalian district to Megara. -Schahabarim and Salammbô went out quickly, and gazed from the top of -the galley staircase. - -There were people in the square of Khamon shouting for arms. The -Ancients would not provide them, esteeming such an effort useless; -others who had set out without a general had been massacred. At last -they were permitted to depart, and as a sort of homage to Moloch, or -from a vague need of destruction, they tore up tall cypress trees in -the woods of the temples, and having kindled them at the torches of the -Kabiri, were carrying them through the streets singing. These monstrous -flames advanced swaying gently; they transmitted fires to the glass -balls on the crests of the temples, to the ornaments of the colossuses -and the beaks of the ships, passed beyond the terraces and formed suns -as it were, which rolled through the town. They descended the Acropolis. -The gate of Malqua opened. - -“Are you ready?” exclaimed Schahabarim, “or have you asked them -to tell your father that you abandoned him?” She hid her face in her -veils, and the great lights retired, sinking gradually the while to the -edge of the waves. - -An indeterminate dread restrained her; she was afraid of Moloch and of -Matho. This man, with his giant stature, who was master of the zaïmph, -ruled Rabbetna as much as did Baal, and seemed to her to be surrounded -by the same fulgurations; and then the souls of the gods sometimes -visited the bodies of men. Did not Schahabarim in speaking of him say -that she was to vanquish Moloch? They were mingled with each other; she -confused them together; both of them were pursuing her. - -She wished to learn the future, and approached the serpent, for auguries -were drawn from the attitudes of serpents. But the basket was empty; -Salammbô was disturbed. - -She found him with his tail rolled round one of the silver balustrades -beside the hanging bed, which he was rubbing in order to free himself -from his old yellowish skin, while his body stretched forth gleaming and -clear like a sword half out of the sheath. - -Then on the days following, in proportion as she allowed herself to be -convinced, and was more disposed to succour Tanith, the python recovered -and grew; he seemed to be reviving. - -The certainty that Salammbô was giving expression to the will of the -gods then became established in her conscience. One morning she awoke -resolved, and she asked what was necessary to make Matho restore the -veil. - -“To claim it,” said Schahabarim. - -“But if he refuses?” she rejoined. - -The priest scanned her fixedly with a smile such as she had never seen. - -“Yes, what is to be done?” repeated Salammbô. - -He rolled between his fingers the extremities of the bands which fell -from his tiara upon his shoulders, standing motionless with eyes cast -down. At last seeing that she did not understand: - -“You will be alone with him.” - -“Well?” she said. - -“Alone in his tent.” - -“What then?” - -Schahabarim bit his lips. He sought for some phrase, some -circumlocution. - -“If you are to die, that will be later,” he said; “later! fear -nothing! and whatever he may undertake to do, do not call out! do not -be frightened! You will be humble, you understand, and submissive to his -desire, which is ordained of heaven!” - -“But the veil?” - -“The gods will take thought for it,” replied Schahabarim. - -“Suppose you were to accompany me, O father?” she added. - -“No!” - -He made her kneel down, and keeping his left hand raised and his right -extended, he swore in her behalf to bring back the mantle of Tanith into -Carthage. With terrible imprecations she devoted herself to the gods, -and each time that Schahabarim pronounced a word she falteringly -repeated it. - -He indicated to her all the purifications and fastings that she was to -observe, and how she was to reach Matho. Moreover, a man acquainted with -the routes would accompany her. - -She felt as if she had been set free. She thought only of the happiness -of seeing the zaïmph again, and she now blessed Schahabarim for his -exhortations. - - -It was the period at which the doves of Carthage migrated to Sicily to -the mountain of Eryx and the temple of Venus. For several days before -their departure they sought out and called to one another so as to -collect together; at last one evening they flew away; the wind blew them -along, and the big white cloud glided across the sky high above the sea. - -The horizon was filled with the colour of blood. They seemed to descend -gradually to the waves; then they disappeared as though swallowed up, -and falling of themselves into the jaws of the sun. Salammbô, who -watched them retiring, bent her head, and then Taanach, believing that -she guessed her sorrow, said gently to her: - -“But they will come back, Mistress.” - -“Yes! I know.” - -“And you will see them again.” - -“Perhaps!” she said, sighing. - -She had not confided her resolve to any one; in order to carry it out -with the greater discretion she sent Taanach to the suburb of Kinisdo to -buy all the things that she required instead of requesting them from the -stewards: vermilion, aromatics, a linen girdle, and new garments. The -old slave was amazed at these preparations, without daring, however, -to ask any questions; and the day, which had been fixed by Schahabarim, -arrived when Salammbô was to set out. - -About the twelfth hour she perceived, in the depths of the sycamore -trees, a blind old man with one hand resting on the shoulder of a child -who walked before him, while with the other he carried a kind of cithara -of black wood against his hip. The eunuchs, slaves, and women had -been scrupulously sent away; no one might know the mystery that was -preparing. - -Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cardamomum in the -corners of the apartment; then she unfolded large Babylonian hangings, -and stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbô did not -wish to be seen even by the walls. The kinnor-player squatted behind -the door and the young boy standing upright applied a reed flute to -his lips. In the distance the roar of the streets was growing feebler, -violet shadows were lengthening before the peristyles of the temples, -and on the other side of the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of -olive-trees, and the vague yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and were -blended together in a bluish haze; not a sound was to be heard, and an -unspeakable depression weighed in the air. - -Salammbô crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; she -raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and began -her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred rites. - -Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an alabaster -phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren women on a -winter’s night amid the rubbish of a sepulchre. She rubbed it upon -her ears, her heels, and the thumb of her right hand, and even her nail -remained somewhat red, as if she had crushed a fruit. - -The moon rose; then the cithara and the flute began to play together. - -Salammbô unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her -long white simar; she unknotted the band in her hair, shaking the latter -for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by thus -scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three notes -ever the same, hurried and frenzied; the strings grated, the flute blew; -Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbô, with a swaying of -her whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one after another -around her. - -The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python’s head appeared above -the cord that supported it. The serpent descended slowly like a drop -of water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and -then, gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his eyes, -more brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon Salammbô. - -A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame, at first made her -hesitate. But she recalled Schahabarim’s orders and advanced; the -python turned downwards, and resting the centre of its body upon the -nape of her neck, allowed its head and tail to hang like a broken -necklace with both ends trailing to the ground. Salammbô rolled it -around her sides, under her arms and between her knees; then taking it -by the jaw she brought the little triangular mouth to the edge of her -teeth, and half shutting her eyes, threw herself back beneath the rays -of the moon. The white light seemed to envelop her in a silver mist, the -prints of her humid steps shone upon the flag-stones, stars quivered in -the depth of the water; it tightened upon her its black rings that were -spotted with scales of gold. Salammbô panted beneath the excessive -weight, her loins yielded, she felt herself dying, and with the tip -of its tail the serpent gently beat her thigh; then the music becoming -still it fell off again. - -Taanach came back to her; and after arranging two candelabra, the lights -of which burned in crystal balls filled with water, she tinged the -inside of her hands with Lawsonia, spread vermilion upon her cheeks, and -antimony along the edge of her eyelids, and lengthened her eyebrows with -a mixture of gum, musk, ebony, and crushed legs of flies. - -Salammbô seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the -attentions of the slave. But the touchings, the odour of the aromatics, -and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. She became so -pale that Taanach stopped. - -“Go on!” said Salammbô, and bearing up against herself, she -suddenly revived. Then she was seized with impatience; she urged Taanach -to make haste, and the old slave grumbled: - -“Well! well! Mistress!—Besides, you have no one waiting for you!” - -“Yes!” said Salammbô, “some one is waiting for me.” - -Taanach drew back in surprise, and in order to learn more about it, -said: - -“What orders to you give me, Mistress? for if you are to remain -away—” - -But Salammbô was sobbing; the slave exclaimed: - -“You are suffering! what is the matter? Do not go away! take me! When -you were quite little and used to cry, I took you to my heart and -made you laugh with the points of my breasts; you have drained them, -Mistress!” She struck herself upon her dried-up bosom. “Now I am -old! I can do nothing for you! you no longer love me! you hide your -griefs from me, you despise the nurse!” And tears of tenderness and -vexation flowed down her cheeks in the gashes of her tattooing. - -“No!” said Salammbô, “no, I love you! be comforted!” - -With a smile like the grimace of an old ape, Taanach resumed her task. -In accordance with Schahabarim’s recommendations, Salammbô had -ordered the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her -mistress with barbaric taste full at once of refinement and ingenuity. - -Over a first delicate and vinous-coloured tunic she passed a second -embroidered with birds’ feathers. Golden scales clung to her hips, -and from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silver-starred -trousers. Next Taanach put upon her a long robe made of the cloth of the -country of Seres, white and streaked with green lines. On the edge of -her shoulder she fastened a square of purple weighted at the hem with -grains of sandastrum; and above all these garments she placed a black -mantle with a flowing train; then she gazed at her, and proud of her -work could not help saying: - -“You will not be more beautiful on the day of your bridal!” - -“My bridal!” repeated Salammbô; she was musing with her elbow -resting upon the ivory chair. - -But Taanach set up before her a copper mirror, which was so broad and -high that she could see herself completely in it. Then she rose, and -with a light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was -falling too low. - -Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung down -behind over her back in long twists ending in pearls. The brightness -of the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the gold on her -garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, and on her -arms, hands and toes, she had such a wealth of gems that the mirror sent -back rays upon her like a sun;—and Salammbô, standing by the side of -Taanach, who leaned over to see her, smiled amid this dazzling display. - -Then she walked to and fro embarrassed by the time that was still left. - -Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded. She quickly pinned a long yellow -veil upon her hair, passed a scarf around her neck, thrust her feet into -blue leather boots, and said to Taanach: - -“Go and see whether there is not a man with two horses beneath the -myrtles.” - -Taanach had scarcely re-entered when she was descending the galley -staircase. - -“Mistress!” cried the nurse. - -Salammbô turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for -discretion and immobility. - -Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, -and from a distance she could distinguish by the light of the moon a -gigantic shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of -Salammbô, a sign which presaged death. - -Taanach went up again into the chamber. She threw herself upon the -ground tearing her face with her nails; she plucked out her hair, and -uttered piercing shrieks with all her might. - -It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent, -sobbing quite softly with her head in the hands and her face on the -pavement. - - - - - -CHAPTER XI IN THE TENT - -The man who guided Salammbô made her ascend again beyond the pharos -in the direction of the Catacombs, and then go down the long suburb of -Molouya, which was full of steep lanes. The sky was beginning to grow -grey. Sometimes palm-wood beams jutting out from the walls obliged them -to bend their heads. The two horses which were at the walk would often -slip; and thus they reached the Teveste gate. - -Its heavy leaves were half open; they passed through, and it closed -behind them. - -At first they followed the foot of the ramparts for a time, and at the -height of the cisterns they took their way along the Tænia, a narrow -strip of yellow earth separating the gulf from the lake and extending as -far as Rhades. - -No one was to be seen around Carthage, whether on the sea or in the -country. The slate-coloured waves chopped softly, and the light wind -blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with white rents. -In spite of all her veils, Salammbô shivered in the freshness of the -morning; the motion and the open air dazed her. Then the sun rose; it -preyed on the back of her head, and she involuntarily dozed a little. -The two animals rambled along side by side, their feet sinking into the -silent sand. - -When they had passed the mountain of the Hot Springs, they went on at a -more rapid rate, the ground being firmer. - -But although it was the season for sowing and ploughing, the fields were -as empty as the desert as far as the eye could reach. Here and there -were scattered heaps of corn; at other places the barley was shedding -its reddened ears. The villages showed black upon the clear horizon, -with shapes incoherently carved. - -From time to time a half-calcined piece of wall would be found standing -on the edge of the road. The roofs of the cottages were falling in, and -in the interiors might be distinguished fragments of pottery, rags of -clothing, and all kinds of unrecognisable utensils and broken things. -Often a creature clothed in tatters, with earthy face and flaming eyes -would emerge from these ruins. But he would very quickly begin to run or -would disappear into a hole. Salammbô and her guide did not stop. - -Deserted plains succeeded one another. Charcoal dust which was raised by -their feet behind them, stretched in unequal trails over large spaces -of perfectly white soil. Sometimes they came upon little peaceful spots, -where a brook flowed amid the long grass; and as they ascended the other -bank Salammbô would pluck damp leaves to cool her hands. At the corner -of a wood of rose-bays her horse shied violently at the corpse of a man -which lay extended on the ground. - -The slave immediately settled her again on the cushions. He was one of -the servants of the Temple, a man whom Schahabarim used to employ on -perilous missions. - -With extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the -horses; he would whip the animals with the end of a leathern lace wound -round his arm, or would perhaps take balls made of wheat, dates, and -yolks of eggs wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against his -breast, and offer them to Salammbô without speaking, and running all -the time. - -In the middle of the day three Barbarians clad in animals’ skins -crossed their path. By degrees others appeared wandering in troops of -ten, twelve, or twenty-five men; many were driving goats or a limping -cow. Their heavy sticks bristled with brass points; cutlasses gleamed -in their clothes, which were savagely dirty, and they opened their eyes -with a look of menace and amazement. As they passed some sent them -a vulgar benediction; others obscene jests, and Schahabarim’s man -replied to each in his own idiom. He told them that this was a sick -youth going to be cured at a distant temple. - -However, the day was closing in. Barkings were heard, and they -approached them. - -Then in the twilight they perceived an enclosure of dry stones shutting -in a rambling edifice. A dog was running along the top of the wall. The -slave threw some pebbles at him and they entered a lofty vaulted hall. - -A woman was crouching in the centre warming herself at a fire of -brushwood, the smoke of which escaped through the holes in the ceiling. -She was half hidden by her white hair which fell to her knees; and -unwilling to answer, she muttered with idiotic look words of vengeance -against the Barbarians and the Carthaginians. - -The runner ferreted right and left. Then he returned to her and demanded -something to eat. The old woman shook her head, and murmured with her -eyes fixed upon the charcoal: - -“I was the hand. The ten fingers are cut off. The mouth eats no -more.” - -The slave showed her a handful of gold pieces. She rushed upon them, but -soon resumed her immobility. - -At last he placed a dagger which he had in his girdle beneath her -throat. Then, trembling, she went and raised a large stone, and brought -back an amphora of wine with fish from Hippo-Zarytus preserved in honey. - -Salammbô turned away from this unclean food, and fell asleep on the -horses’ caparisons which were spread in a corner of the hall. - -He awoke her before daylight. - -The dog was howling. The slave went up to it quietly, and struck off -its head with a single blow of his dagger. Then he rubbed the horses’ -nostrils with blood to revive them. The old woman cast a malediction at -him from behind. Salammbô perceived this, and pressed the amulet which -she wore above her heart. - -They resumed their journey. - -From time to time she asked whether they would not arrive soon. The road -undulated over little hills. Nothing was to be heard but the grating of -the grasshoppers. The sun heated the yellowed grass; the ground was all -chinked with crevices which in dividing formed, as it were, monstrous -paving-stones. Sometimes a viper passed, or eagles flew by; the slave -still continued running. Salammbô mused beneath her veils, and in spite -of the heat did not lay them aside through fear of soiling her beautiful -garments. - -At regular distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the -purpose of keeping watch upon the tribes. They entered these for the -sake of the shade, and then set out again. - -For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before. But they -met with no one just now; the region being a sterile one, the Barbarians -had not passed that way. - -Gradually the devastation began again. Sometimes a piece of mosaic would -be displayed in the centre of a field, the sole remnant of a vanished -mansion; and the leafless olive trees looked at a distance like large -bushes of thorns. They passed through a town in which houses were burnt -to the ground. Human skeletons might be seen along the walls. There were -some, too, of dromedaries and mules. Half-gnawed carrion blocked the -streets. - -Night fell. The sky was lowering and cloudy. - -They ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction, when suddenly -they perceived a quantity of little flames before them. - -These were shining at the bottom of an ampitheatre. Gold plates, as they -displaced one another, glanced here and there. These were the cuirasses -of the Clinabarians in the Punic camp; then in the neighbourhood they -distinguished other and more numerous lights, for the armies of the -Mercenaries, now blended together, extended over a great space. - -Salammbô made a movement as though to advance. But Schahabarim’s -man took her further away, and they passed along by the terrace which -enclosed the camp of the Barbarians. A breach became visible in it, and -the slave disappeared. - -A sentry was walking upon the top of the entrenchment with a bow in his -hand and a pike on his shoulder. - -Salammbô drew still nearer; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow -pierced the hem of her cloak. Then as she stood motionless and -shrieking, he asked her what she wanted. - -“To speak to Matho,” she replied. “I am a fugitive from -Carthage.” - -He gave a whistle, which was repeated at intervals further away. - -Salammbô waited; her frightened horse moved round and round, sniffing. - -When Matho arrived the moon was rising behind her. But she had a yellow -veil with black flowers over her face, and so many draperies about her -person, that it was impossible to make any guess about her. From the top -of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up like a phantom -in the penumbræ of the evening. - -At last she said to him: - -“Lead me to your tent! I wish it!” - -A recollection which he could not define passed through his memory. He -felt his heart beating. The air of command intimidated him. - -“Follow me!” he said. - -The barrier was lowered, and immediately she was in the camp of the -Barbarians. - -It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng. Bright fires were -burning beneath hanging pots; and their purpled reflections illuminating -some places left others completely in the dark. There was shouting and -calling; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid the tents; the -latter were round and square, of leather or of canvas; there were huts -of reeds, and holes in the sand such as are made by dogs. Soldiers were -carting faggots, resting on their elbows on the ground, or wrapping -themselves up in mats and preparing to sleep; and Salammbô’s horse -sometimes stretched out a leg and jumped in order to pass over them. - -She remembered that she had seen them before; but their beards were -longer now, their faces still blacker, and their voices hoarser. Matho, -who walked before her, waved them off with a gesture of his arm which -raised his red mantle. Some kissed his hands; others bending their -spines approached him to ask for orders, for he was now veritable and -sole chief of the Barbarians; Spendius, Autaritus, and Narr’ Havas had -become disheartened, and he had displayed so much audacity and obstinacy -that all obeyed him. - -Salammbô followed him through the entire camp. His tent was at the end, -three hundred feet from Hamilcar’s entrenchments. - -She noticed a wide pit on the right, and it seemed to her that faces -were resting against the edge of it on a level with the ground, as -decapitated heads might have done. However, their eyes moved, and from -these half-opened mouths groanings escaped in the Punic tongue. - -Two Negroes holding resin lights stood on both sides of the door. Matho -drew the canvas abruptly aside. She followed him. - -It was a deep tent with a pole standing up in the centre. It was lighted -by a large lamp-holder shaped like a lotus and full of a yellow oil -wherein floated handfuls of burning tow, and military things might be -distinguished gleaming in the shade. A naked sword leaned against a -stool by the side of a shield; whips of hippopotamus leather, -cymbals, bells, and necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of -esparto-grass; a felt rug lay soiled with crumbs of black bread; some -copper money was carelessly heaped upon a round stone in a corner, and -through the rents in the canvas the wind brought the dust from without, -together with the smell of the elephants, which might be heard eating -and shaking their chains. - -“Who are you?” said Matho. - -She looked slowly around her without replying; then her eyes were -arrested in the background, where something bluish and sparkling fell -upon a bed of palm-branches. - -She advanced quickly. A cry escaped her. Matho stamped his foot behind -her. - -“Who brings you here? why do you come?” - -“To take it!” she replied, pointing to the zaïmph, and with the -other hand she tore the veils from her head. He drew back with his -elbows behind him, gaping, almost terrified. - -She felt as if she were leaning on the might of the gods; and looking at -him face to face she asked him for the zaïmph; she demanded it in words -abundant and superb. - -Matho did not hear; he was gazing at her, and in his eyes her garments -were blended with her body. The clouding of the stuffs, like the -splendour of her skin, was something special and belonging to her alone. -Her eyes and her diamonds sparkled; the polish of her nails continued -the delicacy of the stones which loaded her fingers; the two clasps of -her tunic raised her breasts somewhat and brought them closer together, -and he in thought lost himself in the narrow interval between them -whence there fell a thread holding a plate of emeralds which could be -seen lower down beneath the violet gauze. She had as earrings two little -sapphire scales, each supporting a hollow pearl filled with liquid -scent. A little drop would fall every moment through the holes in the -pearl and moisten her naked shoulder. Matho watched it fall. - -He was carried away by ungovernable curiosity; and, like a child laying -his hand upon a strange fruit, he tremblingly and lightly touched -the top of her chest with the tip of his finger: the flesh, which was -somewhat cold, yielded with an elastic resistance. - -This contact, though scarcely a sensible one, shook Matho to the very -depths of his nature. An uprising of his whole being urged him towards -her. He would fain have enveloped her, absorbed her, drunk her. His -bosom was panting, his teeth were chattering. - -Taking her by the wrists he drew her gently to him, and then sat -down upon a cuirass beside the palm-tree bed which was covered with a -lion’s skin. She was standing. He looked up at her, holding her thus -between his knees, and repeating: - -“How beautiful you are! how beautiful you are!” - -His eyes, which were continually fixed upon hers, pained her; and the -uncomfortableness, the repugnance increased in so acute a fashion that -Salammbô put a constraint upon herself not to cry out. The thought of -Schahabarim came back to her, and she resigned herself. - -Matho still kept her little hands in his own; and from time to time, in -spite of the priest’s command, she turned away her face and tried to -thrust him off by jerking her arms. He opened his nostrils the better -to breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person. It was a fresh, -indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, like the smoke -from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense, roses, with -another odour still. - -But how was she thus with him in his tent, and at his disposal? Some one -no doubt had urged her. She had not come for the zaïmph. His arms fell, -and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie. - -To soften him Salammbô said to him in a plaintive voice: - -“What have I done to you that you should desire my death?” - -“Your death!” - -She resumed: - -“I saw you one evening by the light of my burning gardens amid fuming -cups and my slaughtered slaves, and your anger was so strong that you -bounded towards me and I was obliged to fly! Then terror entered into -Carthage. There were cries of the devastation of the towns, the burning -of the country-seats, the massacre of the soldiery; it was you who had -ruined them, it was you who had murdered them! I hate you! Your very -name gnaws me like remorse! You are execrated more than the plague, and -the Roman war! The provinces shudder at your fury, the furrows are full -of corpses! I have followed the traces of your fires as though I were -travelling behind Moloch!” - -Matho leaped up; his heart was swelling with colossal pride; he was -raised to the stature of a god. - -With quivering nostrils and clenched teeth she went on: - -“As if your sacrilege were not enough, you came to me in my sleep -covered with the zaïmph! Your words I did not understand; but I could -see that you wished to drag me to some terrible thing at the bottom of -an abyss.” - -Matho, writhing his arms, exclaimed: - -“No! no! it was to give it to you! to restore it to you! It seemed to -me that the goddess had left her garment for you, and that it belonged -to you! In her temple or in your house, what does it matter? are you not -all-powerful, immaculate, radiant and beautiful even as Tanith?” And -with a look of boundless adoration he added: - -“Unless perhaps you are Tanith?” - -“I, Tanith!” said Salammbô to herself. - -They left off speaking. The thunder rolled in the distance. Some sheep -bleated, frightened by the storm. - -“Oh! come near!” he went on, “come near! fear nothing! - -“Formerly I was only a soldier mingled with the common herd of the -Mercenaries, ay, and so meek that I used to carry wood on my back for -the others. Do I trouble myself about Carthage! The crowd of its people -move as though lost in the dust of your sandals, and all its treasures, -with the provinces, fleets, and islands, do not raise my envy like the -freshness of your lips and the turn of your shoulders. But I wanted to -throw down its walls that I might reach you to possess you! Moreover, -I was revenging myself in the meantime! At present I crush men like -shells, and I throw myself upon phalanxes; I put aside the sarissæ with -my hands, I check the stallions by the nostrils; a catapult would -not kill me! Oh! if you knew how I think of you in the midst of war! -Sometimes the memory of a gesture or of a fold of your garment suddenly -seizes me and entwines me like a net! I perceive your eyes in the flames -of the phalaricas and on the gilding of the shields! I hear your voice -in the sounding of the cymbals. I turn aside, but you are not there! and -I plunge again into the battle!” - -He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one another like ivy on -the branches of a tree. Sweat flowed down his breast between his square -muscles; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze girdle all -garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees, which were firmer than -marble. Salammbô, who was accustomed to eunuchs, yielded to amazement -at the strength of this man. It was the chastisement of the goddess or -the influence of Moloch in motion around her in the five armies. She was -overwhelmed with lassitude; and she listened in a state of stupor to the -intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they answered one another. - -The flames of the lamp kindled in the squalls of hot air. There came -at times broad lightning flashes; then the darkness increased; and she -could only see Matho’s eyeballs like two coals in the night. However, -she felt that a fatality was surrounding her, that she had reached a -supreme and irrevocable moment, and making an effort she went up again -towards the zaïmph and raised her hands to seize it. - -“What are you doing?” exclaimed Matho. - -“I am going back to Carthage,” she placidly replied. - -He advanced folding his arms and with so terrible a look that her heels -were immediately nailed, as it were, to the spot. - -“Going back to Carthage!” He stammered, and, grinding his teeth, -repeated: - -“Going back to Carthage! Ah! you came to take the zaïmph, to conquer -me, and then disappear! No, no! you belong to me! and no one now shall -tear you from here! Oh! I have not forgotten the insolence of your -large tranquil eyes, and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of your -beauty! ’Tis my turn now! You are my captive, my slave, my servant! -Call, if you like, on your father and his army, the Ancients, the -rich, and your whole accursed people! I am the master of three hundred -thousand soldiers! I will go and seek them in Lusitania, in the Gauls, -and in the depths of the desert, and I will overthrow your town and burn -all its temples; the triremes shall float on the waves of blood! I will -not have a house, a stone, or a palm tree remaining! And if men fail me -I will draw the bears from the mountains and urge on the lions! Seek not -to fly or I kill you!” - -Pale and with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are -about to burst. Suddenly sobs stifled him, and he sank down upon his -hams. - -“Ah! forgive me! I am a scoundrel, and viler than scorpions, than mire -and dust! Just now while you were speaking your breath passed across my -face, and I rejoiced like a dying man who drinks lying flat on the edge -of a stream. Crush me, if only I feel your feet! curse me, if only I -hear your voice! Do not go! have pity! I love you! I love you!” - -He was on his knees on the ground before her; and he encircled her form -with both his arms, his head thrown back, and his hands wandering; the -gold discs hanging from his ears gleamed upon his bronzed neck; big -tears rolled in his eyes like silver globes; he sighed caressingly, and -murmured vague words lighter than a breeze and sweet as a kiss. - -Salammbô was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all consciousness -of herself. Something at once inward and lofty, a command from the gods, -obliged her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and she fell back -swooning upon the bed amid the lion’s hair. The zaïmph fell, and -enveloped her; she could see Matho’s face bending down above her -breast. - -“Moloch, thou burnest me!” and the soldier’s kisses, more -devouring than flames, covered her; she was as though swept away in a -hurricane, taken in the might of the sun. - -He kissed all her fingers, her arms, her feet, and the long tresses of -her hair from one end to the other. - -“Carry it off,” he said, “what do I care? take me away with it! -I abandon the army! I renounce everything! Beyond Gades, twenty days’ -journey into the sea, you come to an island covered with gold dust, -verdure, and birds. On the mountains large flowers filled with smoking -perfumes rock like eternal censers; in the citron trees, which are -higher than cedars, milk-coloured serpents cause the fruit to fall upon -the turf with the diamonds in their jaws; the air is so mild that it -keeps you from dying. Oh! I shall find it, you will see. We shall live -in crystal grottoes cut out at the foot of the hills. No one dwells in -it yet, or I shall become the king of the country.” - -He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter of -a pomegranate between her lips; he heaped up garments behind her head to -make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and to humble -himself, and he even spread the zaïmph over her feet as if it were a -mere rug. - -“Have you still,” he said, “those little gazelle’s horns on -which your necklaces hang? You will give them to me! I love them!” For -he spoke as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from him. -The Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The moon -was gliding between two clouds. They could see it through an opening in -the tent. “Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed to -me like a veil that hid your face; you would look at me through her; -the memory of you was mingled with her beams; then I could no longer -distinguish you!” And with his head between her breasts he wept -copiously. - -“And this,” she thought, “is the formidable man who makes Carthage -tremble!” - -He fell asleep. Then disengaging herself from his arm she put one foot -to the ground, and she perceived that her chainlet was broken. - -The maidens of the great families were accustomed to respect these -shackles as something that was almost religious, and Salammbô, -blushing, rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles. - -Carthage, Megara, her house, her room, and the country that she had -passed through, whirled in tumultuous yet distinct images through her -memory. But an abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an infinite -distance from her. - -The storm was departing; drops of water splashing rarely, one by one, -made the tent-roof shake. - -Matho slept like a drunken man, stretched on his side, and with one arm -over the edge of the couch. His band of pearls was raised somewhat, and -uncovered his brow; his teeth were parted in a smile; they shone through -his black beard, and there was a silent and almost outrageous gaiety in -his half-closed eyelids. - -Salammbô looked at him motionless, her head bent and her hands crossed. - -A dagger was displayed on the table of cypress-wood at the head of the -bed; the sight of the gleaming blade fired her with a sanguinary desire. -Mournful voices lingered at a distance in the shade, and like a chorus -of geniuses urged her on. She approached it; she seized the steel by the -handle. At the rustling of her dress Matho half opened his eyes, putting -forth his mouth upon her hands, and the dagger fell. - -Shouts arose; a terrible light flashed behind the canvas. Matho raised -the latter; they perceived the camp of the Libyans enveloped in great -flames. - -Their reed huts were burning, and the twisting stems burst in the smoke -and flew off like arrows; black shadows ran about distractedly on the -red horizon. They could hear the shrieks of those who were in the -huts; the elephants, oxen, and horses plunged in the midst of the crowd -crushing it together with the stores and baggage that were being rescued -from the fire. Trumpets sounded. There were calls of “Matho! Matho!” -Some people at the door tried to get in. - -“Come along! Hamilcar is burning the camp of Autaritus!” - -He made a spring. She found herself quite alone. - -Then she examined the zaïmph; and when she had viewed it well she was -surprised that she had not the happiness which she had once imagined to -herself. She stood with melancholy before her accomplished dream. - -But the lower part of the tent was raised, and a monstrous form -appeared. Salammbô could at first distinguish only the two eyes and -a long white beard which hung down to the ground; for the rest of the -body, which was cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment, trailed along -the earth; and with every forward movement the hands passed into the -beard and then fell again. Crawling in this way it reached her feet, and -Salammbô recognised the aged Gisco. - -In fact, the Mercenaries had broken the legs of the captive Ancients -with a brass bar to prevent them from taking to flight; and they were -all rotting pell-mell in a pit in the midst of filth. But the sturdiest -of them raised themselves and shouted when they heard the noise of -platters, and it was in this way that Gisco had seen Salammbô. He -had guessed that she was a Carthaginian woman by the little balls of -sandastrum flapping against her cothurni; and having a presentiment -of an important mystery he had succeeded, with the assistance of his -companions, in getting out of the pit; then with elbows and hands he had -dragged himself twenty paces further on as far as Matho’s tent. Two -voices were speaking within it. He had listened outside and had heard -everything. - -“It is you!” she said at last, almost terrified. - -“Yes, it is I!” he replied, raising himself on his wrists. “They -think me dead, do they not?” - -She bent her head. He resumed: - -“Ah! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy!” He approached -so close he was touching her. “They would have spared me the pain of -cursing you!” - -Salammbô sprang quickly back, so much afraid was she of this unclean -being, who was as hideous as a larva and nearly as terrible as a -phantom. - -“I am nearly one hundred years old,” he said. “I have seen -Agathocles; I have seen Regulus and the eagles of the Romans passing -over the harvests of the Punic fields! I have seen all the terrors of -battles and the sea encumbered with the wrecks of our fleets! Barbarians -whom I used to command have chained my four limbs like a slave that -has committed murder. My companions are dying around me, one after the -other; the odour of their corpses awakes me in the night; I drive away -the birds that come to peck out their eyes; and yet not for a single day -have I despaired of Carthage! Though I had seen all the armies of the -earth against her, and the flames of the siege overtop the height of the -temples, I should have still believed in her eternity! But now all is -over! all is lost! The gods execrate her! A curse upon you who have -quickened her ruin by your disgrace!” - -She opened her lips. - -“Ah! I was there!” he cried. “I heard you gurgling with love like -a prostitute; then he told you of his desire, and you allowed him to -kiss your hands! But if the frenzy of your unchastity urged you to -it, you should at least have done as do the fallow deer, which hide -themselves in their copulations, and not have displayed your shame -beneath your father’s very eyes!” - -“What?” she said. - -“Ah! you did not know that the two entrenchments are sixty cubits from -each other and that your Matho, in the excess of his pride, has posted -himself just in front of Hamilcar. Your father is there behind you; and -could I climb the path which leads to the platform, I should cry to him: -‘Come and see your daughter in the Barbarian’s arms! She has put on -the garment of the goddess to please him; and in yielding her body to -him she surrenders with the glory of your name the majesty of the gods, -the vengeance of her country, even the safety of Carthage!’” The -motion of his toothless mouth moved his beard throughout its length; -his eyes were riveted upon her and devoured her; panting in the dust he -repeated: - -“Ah! sacrilegious one! May you be accursed! accursed! accursed!” - -Salammbô had drawn back the canvas; she held it raised at arm’s -length, and without answering him she looked in the direction of -Hamilcar. - -“It is this way, is it not?” she said. - -“What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face -against the earth! It is a holy spot which would be polluted by your -gaze!” - -She threw the zaïmph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils, -mantle, and scarf. “I hasten thither!” she cried; and making her -escape Salammbô disappeared. - -At first she walked through the darkness without meeting any one, for -all were betaking themselves to the fire; the uproar was increasing and -great flames purpled the sky behind; a long terrace stopped her. - -She turned round to right and left at random, seeking for a ladder, -a rope, a stone, something in short to assist her. She was afraid of -Gisco, and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were pursuing her. -Day was beginning to break. She perceived a path in the thickness of the -entrenchment. She took the hem of her robe, which impeded her, in her -teeth, and in three bounds she was on the platform. - -A sonorous shout burst forth beneath her in the shade, the same which -she had heard at the foot of the galley staircase, and leaning over she -recognised Schahabarim’s man with his coupled horses. - -He had wandered all night between the two entrenchments; then disquieted -by the fire, he had gone back again trying to see what was passing in -Matho’s camp; and, knowing that this spot was nearest to his tent, he -had not stirred from it, in obedience to the priest’s command. - -He stood up on one of the horses. Salammbô let herself slide down to -him; and they fled at full gallop, circling the Punic camp in search of -a gate. - - -Matho had re-entered his tent. The smoky lamp gave but little light, and -he also believed that Salammbô was asleep. Then he delicately touched -the lion’s skin on the palm-tree bed. He called but she did not -answer; he quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some light; -the zaïmph was gone. - -The earth trembled beneath thronging feet. Shouts, neighings, and -clashing of armour rose in the air, and clarion flourishes sounded -the charge. It was as though a hurricane were whirling around him. -Immoderate frenzy made him leap upon his arms, and he dashed outside. - -The long files of the Barbarians were descending the mountain at a -run, and the Punic squares were advancing against them with a heavy -and regular oscillation. The mist, rent by the rays of the sun, formed -little rocking clouds which as they rose gradually discovered standards, -helmets, and points of pikes. Beneath the rapid evolutions portions of -the earth which were still in the shadow seemed to be displaced bodily; -in other places it looked as if huge torrents were crossing one -another, while thorny masses stood motionless between them. Matho could -distinguish the captains, soldiers, heralds, and even the serving-men, -who were mounted on asses in the rear. But instead of maintaining his -position in order to cover the foot-soldiers, Narr’ Havas turned -abruptly to the right, as though he wished himself to be crushed by -Hamilcar. - -His horsemen outstripped the elephants, which were slackening their -speed; and all the horses, stretching out their unbridled heads, -galloped at so furious a rate that their bellies seemed to graze the -earth. Then suddenly Narr’ Havas went resolutely up to a sentry. He -threw away his sword, lance, and javelins, and disappeared among the -Carthaginians. - -The king of the Numidians reached Hamilcar’s tent, and pointing to his -men, who were standing still at a distance, he said: - -“Barca! I bring them to you. They are yours.” - -Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage, and to prove his -fidelity recalled all his conduct from the beginning of the war. - -First, he had prevented the siege of Carthage and the massacre of the -captives; then he had taken no advantage of the victory over Hanno after -the defeat at Utica. As to the Tyrian towns, they were on the frontiers -of his kingdom. Finally he had not taken part in the battle of the -Macaras; and he had even expressly absented himself in order to evade -the obligation of fighting against the Suffet. - -Narr’ Havas had in fact wished to aggrandise himself by encroachments -upon the Punic provinces, and had alternately assisted and forsaken -the Mercenaries according to the chances of victory. But seeing that -Hamilcar would ultimately prove the stronger, he had gone over to him; -and in his desertion there was perhaps something of a grudge against -Matho, whether on account of the command or of his former love. - -The Suffet listened without interrupting him. The man who thus presented -himself with an army where vengeance was his due was not an auxiliary to -be despised; Hamilcar at once divined the utility of such an alliance in -his great projects. With the Numidians he would get rid of the Libyans. -Then he would draw off the West to the conquest of Iberia; and, without -asking Narr’ Havas why he had not come sooner, or noticing any of his -lies, he kissed him, striking his breast thrice against his own. - -It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that he had fired the -camp of the Libyans. This army came to him like a relief from the gods; -dissembling his joy he replied: - -“May the Baals favour you! I do not know what the Republic will do for -you, but Hamilcar is not ungrateful.” - -The tumult increased; some captains entered. He was arming himself as he -spoke. - -“Come, return! You will use your horsemen to beat down their infantry -between your elephants and mine. Courage! exterminate them!” - -And Narr’ Havas was rushing away when Salammbô appeared. - -She leaped down quickly from her horse. She opened her ample cloak and -spreading out her arms displayed the zaïmph. - -The leathern tent, which was raised at the corners, left visible the -entire circuit of the mountain with its thronging soldiers, and as -it was in the centre Salammbô could be seen on all sides. An immense -shouting burst forth, a long cry of triumph and hope. Those who were -marching stopped; the dying leaned on their elbows and turned round -to bless her. All the Barbarians knew now that she had recovered the -zaïmph; they saw her or believed that they saw her from a distance; and -other cries, but those of rage and vengeance, resounded in spite of the -plaudits of the Carthaginians. Thus did the five armies in tiers upon -the mountain stamp and shriek around Salammbô. - -Hamilcar, who was unable to speak, nodded her his thanks. His eyes were -directed alternately upon the zaïmph and upon her, and he noticed that -her chainlet was broken. Then he shivered, being seized with a terrible -suspicion. But soon recovering his impassibility he looked sideways at -Narr’ Havas without turning his face. - -The king of the Numidians held himself apart in a discreet attitude; -on his forehead he bore a little of the dust which he had touched when -prostrating himself. At last the Suffet advanced towards him with a look -full of gravity. - -“As a reward for the services which you have rendered me, Narr’ -Havas, I give you my daughter. Be my son,” he added, “and defend -your father!” - -Narr’ Havas gave a great gesture of surprise; then he threw himself -upon Hamilcar’s hands and covered them with kisses. - -Salammbô, calm as a statue, did not seem to understand. She blushed -a little as she cast down her eyelids, and her long curved lashes made -shadows upon her cheeks. - -Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in indissoluble betrothal. A -lance was placed in Salammbô’s hands and by her offered to Narr’ -Havas; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of ox-leather; then -corn was poured upon their heads, and the grains that fell around them -rang like rebounding hail. - - - - - -CHAPTER XII THE AQUEDUCT - -Twelve hours afterwards all that remained of the Mercenaries was a heap -of wounded, dead, and dying. - -Hamilcar had suddenly emerged from the bottom of the gorge, and again -descended the western slope that looked towards Hippo-Zarytus, and -the space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the -Barbarians into it. Narr’ Havas had encompassed them with his horse; -the Suffet meanwhile drove them back and crushed them. Then, too, they -were conquered beforehand by the loss of the zaïmph; even those who -cared nothing about it had experienced anguish and something akin to -enfeeblement. Hamilcar, not indulging his pride by holding the field of -battle, had retired a little further off on the left to some heights, -from which he commanded them. - -The shape of the camps could be recognised by their sloping palisades. -A long heap of black cinders was smoking on the side of the Libyans; -the devastated soil showed undulations like the sea, and the tents with -their tattered canvas looked like dim ships half lost in the breakers. -Cuirasses, forks, clarions, pieces of wood, iron and brass, corn, straw, -and garments were scattered about among the corpses; here and there a -phalarica on the point of extinction burned against a heap of baggage; -in some places the earth was hidden with shields; horses’ carcasses -succeeded one another like a series of hillocks; legs, sandals, arms, -and coats of mail were to be seen, with heads held in their helmets by -the chin-pieces and rolling about like balls; heads of hair were hanging -on the thorns; elephants were lying with their towers in pools of blood, -with entrails exposed, and gasping. The foot trod on slimy things, and -there were swamps of mud although no rain had fallen. - -This confusion of dead bodies covered the whole mountain from top to -bottom. - -Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting in unequal -groups they looked at one another scared and without speaking. - -The lake of Hippo-Zarytus shone at the end of a long meadow beneath -the setting sun. To the right an agglomeration of white houses extended -beyond a girdle of walls; then the sea spread out indefinitely; and the -Barbarians, with their chins in their hands, sighed as they thought of -their native lands. A cloud of grey dust was falling. - -The evening wind blew; then every breast dilated, and as the freshness -increased, the vermin might be seen to forsake the dead, who were colder -now, and to run over the hot sand. Crows, looking towards the dying, -rested motionless on the tops of the big stones. - -When night had fallen yellow-haired dogs, those unclean beasts which -followed the armies, came quite softly into the midst of the Barbarians. -At first they licked the clots of blood on the still tepid stumps; and -soon they began to devour the corpses, biting into the stomachs first of -all. - -The fugitives reappeared one by one like shadows; the women also -ventured to return, for there were still some of them left, especially -among the Libyans, in spite of the dreadful massacre of them by the -Numidians. - -Some took ropes’ ends and lighted them to use as torches. Others held -crossed pikes. The corpses were placed upon these and were conveyed -apart. - -They were found lying stretched in long lines, on their backs, with -their mouths open, and their lances beside them; or else they were piled -up pell-mell so that it was often necessary to dig out a whole heap -in order to discover those they were wanting. Then the torch would be -passed slowly over their faces. They had received complicated wounds -from hideous weapons. Greenish strips hung from their foreheads; they -were cut in pieces, crushed to the marrow, blue from strangulation, -or broadly cleft by the elephants’ ivory. Although they had died at -almost the same time there existed differences between their various -states of corruption. The men of the North were puffed up with livid -swellings, while the more nervous Africans looked as though they had -been smoked, and were already drying up. The Mercenaries might be -recognised by the tattooing on their hands: the old soldiers of -Antiochus displayed a sparrow-hawk; those who had served in Egypt, the -head of the cynocephalus; those who had served with the princes of Asia, -a hatchet, a pomegranate, or a hammer; those who had served in the Greek -republics, the side-view of a citadel or the name of an archon; and some -were to be seen whose arms were entirely covered with these multiplied -symbols, which mingled with their scars and their recent wounds. - -Four great funeral piles were erected for the men of Latin race, the -Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and Bruttians. - -The Greeks dug pits with the points of their swords. The Spartans -removed their red cloaks and wrapped them round the dead; the Athenians -laid them out with their faces towards the rising sun; the Cantabrians -buried them beneath a heap of pebbles; the Nasamonians bent them double -with ox-leather thongs, and the Garamantians went and interred them on -the shore so that they might be perpetually washed by the waves. But the -Latins were grieved that they could not collect the ashes in urns; the -Nomads regretted the heat of the sands in which bodies were mummified, -and the Celts, the three rude stones beneath a rainy sky at the end of -an islet-covered gulf. - -Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened silence. This was to -oblige the souls to return. Then the shouting was resumed persistently -at regular intervals. - -They made excuses to the dead for their inability to honour them as the -rites prescribed: for, owing to this deprivation, they would pass for -infinite periods through all kinds of chances and metamorphoses; they -questioned them and asked them what they desired; others loaded them -with abuse for having allowed themselves to be conquered. - -The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks of armour showed -pale in the light of the great funeral-pile; tears provoked tears, the -sobs became shriller, the recognitions and embracings more frantic. -Women stretched themselves on the corpses, mouth to mouth and brow to -brow; it was necessary to beat them in order to make them withdraw when -the earth was being thrown in. They blackened their cheeks; they cut off -their hair; they drew their own blood and poured it into the pits; they -gashed themselves in imitation of the wounds that disfigured the dead. -Roarings burst forth through the crashings of the cymbals. Some snatched -off their amulets and spat upon them. The dying rolled in the bloody -mire biting their mutilated fists in their rage; and forty-three -Samnites, quite a “sacred spring,” cut one another’s throats like -gladiators. Soon wood for the funeral-piles failed, the flames were -extinguished, every spot was occupied; and weary from shouting, -weakened, tottering, they fell asleep close to their dead brethren, -those who still clung to life full of anxieties, and the others desiring -never to wake again. - - -In the greyness of the dawn some soldiers appeared on the outskirts of -the Barbarians, and filed past with their helmets raised on the points -of their pikes; they saluted the Mercenaries and asked them whether they -had no messages to send to their native lands. - -Others approached, and the Barbarians recognised some of their former -companions. - -The Suffet had proposed to all the captives that they should serve in -his troops. Several had fearlessly refused; and quite resolved neither -to support them nor to abandon them to the Great Council, he had sent -them away with injunctions to fight no more against Carthage. As to -those who had been rendered docile by the fear of tortures, they had -been furnished with the weapons taken from the enemy; and they were now -presenting themselves to the vanquished, not so much in order to seduce -them as out of an impulse of pride and curiosity. - -At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from -the Suffet; the Barbarians listened to them with jealousy although they -despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards fell -into a passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords -and cuirasses and invited them with abuse to come and take them. The -Barbarians picked up flints; all took to flight; and nothing more could -be seen on the summit of the mountain except the lance-points projecting -above the edge of the palisades. - -Then the Barbarians were overwhelmed with a grief that was heavier than -the humiliation of the defeat. They thought of the emptiness of their -courage, and they stood with their eyes fixed and grinding their teeth. - -The same thought came to them all. They rushed tumultuously upon the -Carthaginian prisoners. It chanced that the Suffet’s soldiers had -been unable to discover them, and as he had withdrawn from the field of -battle they were still in the deep pit. - -They were ranged on the ground on a flattened spot. Sentries formed a -circle round them, and the women were allowed to enter thirty or forty -at a time. Wishing to profit by the short time that was allowed to them, -they ran from one to the other, uncertain and panting; then bending over -the poor bodies they struck them with all their might like washerwomen -beating linen; shrieking their husband’s names they tore them with -their nails and put out their eyes with the bodkins of their hair. The -men came next and tortured them from their feet, which they cut off at -the ankles, to their foreheads, from which they took crowns of skin to -put upon their own heads. The Eaters of Uncleanness were atrocious in -their devices. They envenomed the wounds by pouring into them dust, -vinegar, and fragments of pottery; others waited behind; blood flowed, -and they rejoiced like vintagers round fuming vats. - -Matho, however, was seated on the ground, at the very place where he had -happened to be when the battle ended, his elbows on his knees, and his -temples in his hands; he saw nothing, heard nothing, and had ceased to -think. - -At the shrieks of joy uttered by the crowd he raised his head. Before -him a strip of canvas caught on a flagpole, and trailing on the ground, -sheltered in confused fashion blankets, carpets, and a lion’s skin. He -recognised his tent; and he riveted his eyes upon the ground as though -Hamilcar’s daughter, when she disappeared, had sunk into the earth. - -The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes -passed across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of -a hand. It was the hand of Narr’ Havas, the token of their alliance. -Then Matho rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and threw -it disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent. Then with the toe of his -cothurn he pushed the things which fell out back towards the flame so -that nothing might be left. - -Suddenly, without any one being able to guess from what point he had -sprung up, Spendius reappeared. - -The former slave had fastened two fragments of a lance against his -thigh; he limped with a piteous look, breathing forth complaints the -while. - -“Remove that,” said Matho to him. “I know that you are a brave -fellow!” For he was so crushed by the injustice of the gods that he -had not strength enough to be indignant with men. - -Spendius beckoned to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, where -Zarxas and Autaritus were lying concealed. - -They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the -other in spite of his bravery. But who, said they, could have expected -the treachery of Narr’ Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans, -the loss of the zaïmph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, -his manouvres which forced them to return to the bottom of the mountain -beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made no -acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that his leg -was broken. - -At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what -decision should now be adopted. - -Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught -between his soldiers and the provinces belonging to Narr’ Havas; -the Tyrian towns would join the conquerors; the Barbarians would find -themselves driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces -would crush them. This would infallibly happen. - -Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly -they must prosecute it to the bitter end. But how were they to make the -necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these disheartened -people, who were still bleeding from their wounds. - -“I will undertake that!” said Spendius. - -Two hours afterwards a man who came from the direction of Hippo-Zarytus -climbed the mountain at a run. He waved some tablets at arm’s length, -and as he shouted very loudly the Barbarians surrounded him. - -The tablets had been despatched by the Greek soldiers in Sardinia. They -recommended their African comrades to watch over Gisco and the other -captives. A Samian trader, one Hipponax, coming from Carthage, had -informed them that a plot was being organised to promote their escape, -and the Barbarians were urged to take every precaution; the Republic was -powerful. - -Spendius’s stratagem did not succeed at first as he had hoped. This -assurance of the new peril, so far from exciting frenzy, raised fears; -and remembering Hamilcar’s warning, lately thrown into their midst, -they expected something unlooked for and terrible. The night was spent -in great distress; several even got rid of their weapons, so as to -soften the Suffet when he presented himself. - -But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner appeared, -still more breathless, and blackened with dust. The Greek snatched -from his hand a roll of papyrus covered with Phonician writing. The -Mercenaries were entreated not to be disheartened; the brave men of -Tunis were coming with large reinforcements. - -Spendius first read the letter three times in succession; and held up by -two Cappadocians, who bore him seated on their shoulders, he had -himself conveyed from place to place and re-read it. For seven hours he -harangued. - -He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises of the Great Council; the -Africans of the cruelties of the stewards, and all the Barbarians of -the injustice of Carthage. The Suffet’s mildness was only a bait to -capture them; those who surrendered would be sold as slaves, and the -vanquished would perish under torture. As to flight, what routes could -they follow? Not a nation would receive them. Whereas by continuing -their efforts they would obtain at once freedom, vengeance, and money! -And they would not have long to wait, since the people of Tunis, the -whole of Libya, was rushing to relieve them. He showed the unrolled -papyrus: “Look at it! read! see their promises! I do not lie.” - -Dogs were straying about with their black muzzles all plastered with -red. The men’s uncovered heads were growing hot in the burning sun. -A nauseous smell exhaled from the badly buried corpses. Some even -projected from the earth as far as the waist. Spendius called them to -witness what he was saying; then he raised his fists in the direction of -Hamilcar. - -Matho, moreover, was watching him, and to cover his cowardice he -displayed an anger by which he gradually found himself carried away. -Devoting himself to the gods he heaped curses upon the Carthaginians. -The torture of the captives was child’s play. Why spare them, and be -ever dragging this useless cattle after one? “No! we must put an end -to it! their designs are known! a single one might ruin us! no pity! -Those who are worthy will be known by the speed of their legs and the -force of their blows.” - -Then they turned again upon the captives. Several were still in the last -throes; they were finished by the thrust of a heel in the mouth or a -stab with the point of a javelin. - -Then they thought of Gisco. Nowhere could he be seen; they were -disturbed with anxiety. They wished at once to convince themselves of -his death and to participate in it. At last three Samnite shepherds -discovered him at a distance of fifteen paces from the spot where -Matho’s tent lately stood. They recognised him by his long beard and -they called the rest. - -Stretched on his back, his arms against his hips, and his knees close -together, he looked like a dead man laid out for the tomb. Nevertheless -his wasted sides rose and fell, and his eyes, wide-opened in his pallid -face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion. - -The Barbarians looked at him at first with great astonishment. Since he -had been living in the pit he had been almost forgotten; rendered uneasy -by old memories they stood at a distance and did not venture to raise -their hands against him. - -But those who were behind were murmuring and pressed forward when a -Garamantian passed through the crowd; he was brandishing a sickle; all -understood his thought; their faces purpled, and smitten with shame they -shrieked: - -“Yes! yes!” - -The man with the curved steel approached Gisco. He took his head, and, -resting it upon his knee, sawed it off with rapid strokes; it fell; to -great jets of blood made a hole in the dust. Zarxas leaped upon it, and -lighter than a leopard ran towards the Carthaginians. - -Then when he had covered two thirds of the mountain he drew Gisco’s -head from his breast by the beard, whirled his arm rapidly several -times,—and the mass, when thrown at last, described a long parabola -and disappeared behind the Punic entrenchments. - -Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards, the -customary sign for claiming a corpse. - -Then four heralds, chosen for their width of chest, went out with great -clarions, and speaking through the brass tubes declared that henceforth -there would be between Carthaginians and Barbarians neither faith, pity, -nor gods, that they refused all overtures beforehand, and that envoys -would be sent back with their hands cut off. - -Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to Hippo-Zarytus to procure -provisions; the Tyrian city sent them some the same evening. They ate -greedily. Then when they were strengthened they speedily collected -the remains of their baggage and their broken arms; the women massed -themselves in the centre, and heedless of the wounded left weeping -behind them, they set out along the edge of the shore like a herd of -wolves taking its departure. - -They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, resolved to take it, for they had -need of a town. - -Hamilcar, as he perceived them at a distance, had a feeling of despair -in spite of the pride which he experienced in seeing them fly before -him. He ought to have attacked them immediately with fresh troops. -Another similar day and the war was over! If matters were protracted -they would return with greater strength; the Tyrian towns would join -them; his clemency towards the vanquished had been of no avail. He -resolved to be pitiless. - -The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden with -bracelets collected from the dead, and with horrible threats ordered -another army to be despatched. - -All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his -victory they felt a stupefaction which was almost terror. The vaguely -announced return of the zaïmph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and -the might of Carthage seemed now to belong to him. - -None of his enemies ventured upon complaint or recrimination. Owing to -the enthusiasm of some and the pusillanimity of the rest, an army of -five thousand men was ready before the interval prescribed had elapsed. - -This army promptly made its way to Utica in order to support the -Suffet’s rear, while three thousand of the most notable citizens -embarked in vessels which were to land them at Hippo-Zarytus, whence -they were to drive back the Barbarians. - -Hanno had accepted the command; but he intrusted the army to his -lieutenant, Magdassin, so as to lead the troops which were to be -disembarked himself, for he could no longer endure the shaking of -the litter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils, and had -hollowed out a large hole in his face; the back of his throat could be -seen at a distance of ten paces, and he knew himself to be so hideous -that he wore a veil over his head like a woman. - -Hippo-Zarytus paid no attention to his summonings nor yet to those of -the Barbarians; but every morning the inhabitants lowered provisions to -the latter in baskets, and shouting from the tops of the towers pleaded -the exigencies of the Republic and conjured them to withdraw. By means -of signs they addressed the same protestations to the Carthaginians, who -were stationed on the sea. - -Hanno contented himself with blockading the harbour without risking an -attack. However, he permitted the judges of Hippo-Zarytus to admit three -hundred soldiers. Then he departed to the Cape Grapes, and made a -long circuit so as to hem in the Barbarians, an inopportune and even -dangerous operation. His jealousy prevented him from relieving the -Suffet; he arrested his spies, impeded him in all his plans, and -compromised the success of the enterprise. At last Hamilcar wrote to -the Great Council to rid himself of Hanno, and the latter returned to -Carthage furious at the baseness of the Ancients and the madness of his -colleague. Hence, after so many hopes, the situation was now still more -deplorable; but there was an effort not to reflect upon it and even not -to talk about it. - -As if all this were not sufficient misfortune at one time, news came -that the Sardinian Mercenaries had crucified their general, seized the -strongholds, and everywhere slaughtered those of Chanaanitish race. The -Roman people threatened the Republic with immediate hostilities -unless she gave twelve hundred talents with the whole of the island of -Sardinia. They had accepted the alliance of the Barbarians, and they -despatched to them flat-bottomed boats laden with meal and dried meat. -The Carthaginians pursued these, and captured five hundred men; but -three days afterwards a fleet coming from Byzacena, and conveying -provisions to Carthage, foundered in a storm. The gods were evidently -declaring against her. - -Upon this the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, under pretence of an alarm, -made Hanno’s three hundred men ascend their walls; then coming behind -them they took them by the legs, and suddenly threw them over the -ramparts. Some who were not killed were pursued, and went and drowned -themselves in the sea. - -Utica was enduring the presence of soldiers, for Magdassin had acted -like Hanno, and in accordance with his orders and deaf to Hamilcar’s -prayers, was surrounding the town. As for these, they were given wine -mixed with mandrake, and were then slaughtered in their sleep. At the -same time the Barbarians arrived; Magdassin fled; the gates were opened, -and thenceforward the two Tyrian towns displayed an obstinate devotion -to their new friends and an inconceivable hatred to their former allies. - -This abandonment of the Punic cause was a counsel and a precedent. Hopes -of deliverance revived. Populations hitherto uncertain hesitated no -longer. Everywhere there was a stir. The Suffet learnt this, and he had -no assistance to look for! He was now irrevocably lost. - -He immediately dismissed Narr’ Havas, who was to guard the borders of -his kingdom. As for himself, he resolved to re-enter Carthage in order -to obtain soldiers and begin the war again. - -The Barbarians posted at Hippo-Zarytus perceived his army as it -descended the mountain. - -Where could the Carthaginians be going? Hunger, no doubt, was urging -them on; and, distracted by their sufferings, they were coming in spite -of their weakness to give battle. But they turned to the right: they -were fleeing. They might be overtaken and all be crushed. The Barbarians -dashed in pursuit of them. - -The Carthaginians were checked by the river. It was wide this time and -the west wind had not been blowing. Some crossed by swimming, and the -rest on their shields. They resumed their march. Night fell. They were -out of sight. - -The Barbarians did not stop; they went higher to find a narrower place. -The people of Tunis hastened thither, bringing those of Utica along with -them. Their numbers increased at every bush; and the Carthaginians, as -they lay on the ground, could hear the tramping of their feet in the -darkness. From time to time Barca had a volley of arrows discharged -behind him to check them, and several were killed. When day broke they -were in the Ariana Mountains, at the spot where the road makes a bend. - -Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could -distinguish something green on the horizon on the summit of an eminence. -Then the ground sank, and obelisks, domes, and houses appeared! It was -Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself from falling, so -rapidly did his heart beat. - -He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the -last time that he had passed that way! It was an infinite surprise, it -stunned him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing -Salammbô again. The reasons which he had for execrating her returned to -his recollection, but he very quickly rejected them. Quivering and with -straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace above the -palm trees beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy lighted his face as if -some great light had reached him; he opened his arms, and sent kisses on -the breeze, and murmured: “Come! come!” A sigh swelled his breast, -and two long tears like pearls fell upon his beard. - -“What stays you?” cried Spendius. “Make haste! Forward! The Suffet -is going to escape us! But your knees are tottering, and you are looking -at me like a drunken man!” - -He stamped with impatience and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at the -approach of an object long aimed at. - -“Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!” - -He had so convinced and triumphant an air that Matho was surprised from -his torpor, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, coming -when his distress was at its height, drove his despair to vengeance, and -pointed to food for his wrath. He bounded upon one of the camels that -were among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and with the long -rope, struck the stragglers with all his might, running right and left -alternately, in the rear of the army, like a dog driving a flock. - -At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame -hurried their steps; the intervening space lessened in the middle of the -isthmus. The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust raised -by the Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and were on the -point of touching. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, and the great -gate of Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square divided; three -columns were swallowed up, and eddied beneath the porches. Soon the -mass, being too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed -in the air, and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the -walls. - -Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round -and shouted to his men to move aside. He dismounted from his horse; and -pricking it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it against -the Barbarians. - -It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend -its knees to allow its master to mount. Why was he sending it away? Was -this a sacrifice? - -The noble horse galloped into the midst of the lances, knocked down men, -and, entangling its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose again -with furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to stop it, -or looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united again; they -entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them. - -It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it;—and for -some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which became -weaker and weaker, and at last ceased. - -The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to -hurl stones, balls, and beams. Spendius represented that it would be -best not to persist. The Barbarians went and posted themselves further -off, all being quite resolved to lay siege to Carthage. - - -The rumour of the war, however, had passed beyond the confines of -the Punic empire; and from the pillars of Hercules to beyond Cyrene -shepherds mused on it as they kept their flocks, and caravans talked -about it in the light of the stars. This great Carthage, mistress of the -seas, splendid as the sun, and terrible as a god, actually found men -who were daring enough to attack her! Her fall even had been asserted -several times; and all had believed it for all wished it: the subject -populations, the tributary villages, the allied provinces, the -independent hordes, those who execrated her for her tyranny or were -jealous of her power, or coveted her wealth. The bravest had very -speedily joined the Mercenaries. The defeat at the Macaras had checked -all the rest. At last they had recovered confidence, had gradually -advanced and approached; and now the men of the eastern regions were -lying on the sandhills of Clypea on the other side of the gulf. As soon -as they perceived the Barbarians they showed themselves. - -They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long -composed the third army, but nomads from the tableland of Barca, bandits -from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Dernah, from Phazzana and -Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish wells -walled in with camels’ bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering of -ostrich feathers, had come on quadrigæ; the Garamantians, masked with -black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were mounted on -asses, onagers, zebras, and buffaloes; while some dragged after them the -roofs of their sloop-shaped huts together with their families and -idols. There were Ammonians with limbs wrinkled by the hot water of the -springs; Atarantians, who curse the sun; Troglodytes, who bury their -dead with laughter beneath branches of trees; and the hideous Auseans, -who eat grass-hoppers; the Achyrmachidæ, who eat lice; and the -vermilion-painted Gysantians, who eat apes. - -All were ranged along the edge of the sea in a great straight line. -Afterwards they advanced like tornadoes of sand raised by the wind. In -the centre of the isthmus the throng stopped, the Mercenaries who were -posted in front of them, close to the walls, being unwilling to move. - -Then from the direction of Ariana appeared the men of the West, the -people of the Numidians. In fact, Narr’ Havas governed only the -Massylians; and, moreover, as they were permitted by custom to abandon -their king when reverses were sustained, they had assembled on the -Zainus, and then had crossed it at Hamilcar’s first movement. First -were seen running up all the hunters from Malethut-Baal and Garaphos, -clad in lions’ skins, and with the staves of their pikes driving small -lean horses with long manes; then marched the Gætulians in cuirasses of -serpents’ skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of wax -and resin; and the Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each holding -two javelins and a round shield of hippopotamus leather. They stopped at -the foot of the Catacombs among the first pools of the Lagoon. - -But when the Libyans had moved away, the multitude of the Negroes -appeared like a cloud on a level with the ground, in the place which the -others had occupied. They were there from the White Harousch, the Black -Harousch, the desert of Augila, and even from the great country of -Agazymba, which is four months’ journey south of the Garamantians, -and from regions further still! In spite of their red wooden jewels, the -filth of their black skin made them look like mulberries that had been -long rolling in the dust. They had bark-thread drawers, dried-grass -tunics, fallow-deer muzzles on their heads; they shook rods furnished -with rings, and brandished cows’ tails at the end of sticks, after the -fashion of standards, howling the while like wolves. - -Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gætulians pressed the -yellowish men, who are spread through the cedar forests beyond Taggir. -They had cat-skin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they led -in leashes enormous dogs, which were as high as asses, and did not bark. - -Finally, as though Africa had not been sufficiently emptied, and it had -been necessary to seek further fury in the very dregs of the races, men -might be seen behind the rest, with beast-like profiles and grinning -with idiotic laughter—wretches ravaged by hideous diseases, deformed -pigmies, mulattoes of doubtful sex, albinos whose red eyes blinked in -the sun; stammering out unintelligible sounds, they put a finger into -their mouths to show that they were hungry. - -The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples. -There was not a deadly invention that was not present—from wooden -daggers, stone hatchets and ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed -like saws, slender, and formed of a yielding copper blade. They handled -cutlasses which were forked into several branches like antelopes’ -horns, bills fastened to the ends of ropes, iron triangles, clubs and -bodkins. The Ethiopians from the Bambotus had little poisoned darts -hidden in their hair. Many had brought pebbles in bags. Others, empty -handed, chattered with their teeth. - -This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell. Dromedaries, smeared -all over with tar-like streaks, knocked down the women, who carried -their children on their hips. The provisions in the baskets were pouring -out; in walking, pieces of salt, parcels of gum, rotten dates, and -gourou nuts were crushed underfoot; and sometimes on vermin-covered -bosoms there would hang a slender cord supporting a diamond that the -Satraps had sought, an almost fabulous stone, sufficient to purchase -an empire. Most of them did not even know what they desired. They were -impelled by fascination or curiosity; and nomads who had never seen a -town were frightened by the shadows of the walls. - -The isthmus was now hidden by men; and this long surface, whereon the -tents were like huts amid an inundation, stretched as far as the first -lines of the other Barbarians, which were streaming with steel and were -posted symmetrically upon both sides of the aqueduct. - -The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their -arrival when they perceived the siege-engines sent by the Tyrian towns -coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildings—with -their masts, arms, ropes, articulations, capitals and carapaces, sixty -carroballistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions, fifty tollenos, twelve -rams, and three gigantic catapults which hurled pieces of rock of the -weight of fifteen talents. Masses of men clinging to their bases pushed -them on; at every step a quivering shook them, and in this way they -arrived in front of the walls. - -But several days were still needed to finish the preparations for -the siege. The Mercenaries, taught by their defeats, would not risk -themselves in useless engagements; and on both sides there was no haste, -for it was well known that a terrible action was about to open, and that -the result of it would be complete victory or complete extermination. - -Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a -series of re-entrant and projecting angles, an advantageous arrangement -for repelling assaults. - -Nevertheless a portion had fallen down in the direction of the -Catacombs, and on dark nights lights could be seen in the dens of Malqua -through the disjointed blocks. These in some places overlooked the top -of the ramparts. It was here that the Mercenaries’ wives, who had been -driven away by Matho, were living with their new husbands. On seeing the -men again their hearts could stand it no longer. They waved their scarfs -at a distance; then they came and chatted in the darkness with the -soldiers through the cleft in the wall, and one morning the Great -Council learned that they had all fled. Some had passed through between -the stones; others with greater intrepidity had let themselves down with -ropes. - -At last Spendius resolved to accomplish his design. - -The war, by keeping him at a distance, had hitherto prevented him; -and since the return to before Carthage, it seemed to him that the -inhabitants suspected his enterprise. But soon they diminished the -sentries on the aqueduct. There were not too many people for the defence -of the walls. - -The former slave practised himself for some days in shooting arrows at -the flamingoes on the lake. Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho -to light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all his -men were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he went -away along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis. - -When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the -aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of the -pillars. - -The sentries on the platform were walking quietly up and down. - -Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette, -believing that there was an assault, rushed away in the direction of -Carthage. - -One man had remained. He showed black against the background of the -sky. The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of -extravagant size, looked in the distance like an obelisk proceeding -across the plain. - -They waited until he was in position just before them. Zarxas seized his -sling, but whether from prudence or from ferocity Spendius stopped him. -“No, the whiz of the bullet would make a noise! Let me!” - -Then he bent his bow with all his strength, resting the lower end of it -against the great toe of his left foot; he took aim, and the arrow went -off. - -The man did not fall. He disappeared. - -“If he were wounded we should hear him!” said Spendius; and he -mounted quickly from story to story as he had done the first time, with -the assistance of a rope and a harpoon. Then when he had reached the top -and was beside the corpse, he let it fall again. The Balearian fastened -a pick and a mallet to it and turned back. - -The trumpets sounded no longer. All was now quiet. Spendius had raised -one of the flag-stones and, entering the water, had closed it behind -him. - -Calculating the distance by the number of his steps, he arrived at the -exact spot where he had noticed an oblique fissure; and for three hours -until morning he worked in continuous and furious fashion, breathing -with difficulty through the interstices in the upper flag-stones, -assailed with anguish, and twenty times believing that he was going -to die. At last a crack was heard, and a huge stone ricocheting on the -lower arches rolled to the ground,—and suddenly a cataract, an entire -river, fell from the skies onto the plain. The aqueduct, being cut -through in the centre, was emptying itself. It was death to Carthage and -victory for the Barbarians. - -In an instant the awakened Carthaginians appeared on the walls, the -houses, and the temples. The Barbarians pressed forward with shouts. -They danced in delirium around the great waterfall, and came up and wet -their heads in it in the extravagance of their joy. - -A man in a torn, brown tunic was perceived on the summit of the -aqueduct. He stood leaning over the very edge with both hands on his -hips, and was looking down below him as though astonished at his work. - -Then he drew himself up. He surveyed the horizon with a haughty air -which seemed to say: “All that is now mine!” The applause of the -Barbarians burst forth, while the Carthaginians, comprehending their -disaster at last, shrieked with despair. Then he began to run about -the platform from one end to the other,—and like a chariot-driver -triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, raised -his arms aloft. - - - - - -CHAPTER XIII MOLOCH - -The Barbarians had no need of a circumvallation on the side of Africa, -for it was theirs. But to facilitate the approach to the walls, the -entrenchments bordering the ditch were thrown down. Matho next divided -the army into great semicircles so as to encompass Carthage the better. -The hoplites of the Mercenaries were placed in the first rank, and -behind them the slingers and horsemen; quite at the back were the -baggage, chariots, and horses; and the engines bristled in front of this -throng at a distance of three hundred paces from the towers. - -Amid the infinite variety of their nomenclature (which changed several -times in the course of the centuries) these machines might be reduced to -two systems: some acted like slings, and the rest like bows. - -The first, which were the catapults, was composed of a square frame with -two vertical uprights and a horizontal bar. In its anterior portion was -a cylinder, furnished with cables, which held back a great beam bearing -a spoon for the reception of projectiles; its base was caught in a -skein of twisted thread, and when the ropes were let go it sprang up and -struck against the bar, which, checking it with a shock, multiplied its -power. - -The second presented a more complicated mechanism. A cross-bar had its -centre fixed on a little pillar, and from this point of junction there -branched off at right angles a short of channel; two caps containing -twists of horse-hair stood at the extremities of the cross-bar; two -small beams were fastened to them to hold the extremities of a rope -which was brought to the bottom of the channel upon a tablet of bronze. -This metal plate was released by a spring, and sliding in grooves -impelled the arrows. - -The catapults were likewise called onagers, after the wild asses which -fling up stones with their feet, and the ballistas scorpions, on account -of a hook which stood upon the tablet, and being lowered by a blow of -the fist, released the spring. - -Their construction required learned calculations; the wood selected had -to be of the hardest substance, and their gearing all of brass; they -were stretched with levers, tackle-blocks, capstans or tympanums; the -direction of the shooting was changed by means of strong pivots; they -were moved forward on cylinders, and the most considerable of them, -which were brought piece by piece, were set up in front of the enemy. - -Spendius arranged three great catapults opposite the three principle -angles; he placed a ram before every gate, a ballista before every -tower, while carroballistas were to move about in the rear. But it was -necessary to protect them against the fire thrown by the besieged, and -first of all to fill up the trench which separated them from the walls. - -They pushed forward galleries formed of hurdles of green reeds, and -oaken semicircles like enormous shields gliding on three wheels; the -workers were sheltered in little huts covered with raw hides and stuffed -with wrack; the catapults and ballistas were protected by rope curtains -which had been steeped in vinegar to render them incombustible. The -women and children went to procure stones on the strand, and gathered -earth with their hands and brought it to the soldiers. - -The Carthaginians also made preparations. - -Hamilcar had speedily reassured them by declaring that there was enough -water left in the cisterns for one hundred and twenty-three days. This -assertion, together with his presence, and above all that of the zaïmph -among them, gave them good hopes. Carthage recovered from its dejection; -those who were not of Chanaanitish origin were carried away by the -passion of the rest. - -The slaves were armed, the arsenals were emptied, and every citizen had -his own post and his own employment. Twelve hundred of the fugitives -had survived, and the Suffet made them all captains; and carpenters, -armourers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths were intrusted with the engines. -The Carthaginians had kept a few in spite of the conditions of the peace -with Rome. These were repaired. They understood such work. - -The two northern and eastern sides, being protected by the sea and the -gulf, remained inaccessible. On the wall fronting the Barbarians they -collected tree-trunks, mill-stones, vases filled with sulphur, and -vats filled with oil, and built furnaces. Stones were heaped up on the -platforms of the towers, and the houses bordering immediately on the -rampart were crammed with sand in order to strengthen it and increase -its thickness. - -The Barbarians grew angry at the sight of these preparations. They -wished to fight at once. The weights which they put into the catapults -were so extravagantly heavy that the beams broke, and the attack was -delayed. - -At last on the thirteenth day of the month of Schabar,—at sunrise,—a -great blow was heard at the gate of Khamon. - -Seventy-five soldiers were pulling at ropes arranged at the base of a -gigantic beam which was suspended horizontally by chains hanging from a -framework, and which terminated in a ram’s head of pure brass. It had -been swathed in ox-hides; it was bound at intervals with iron bracelets; -it was thrice as thick as a man’s body, one hundred and twenty cubits -long, and under the crowd of naked arms pushing it forward and drawing -it back, it moved to and fro with a regular oscillation. - -The other rams before the other gates began to be in motion. Men -might be seen mounting from step to step in the hollow wheels of the -tympanums. The pulleys and caps grated, the rope curtains were lowered, -and showers of stones and showers of arrows poured forth simultaneously; -all the scattered slingers ran up. Some approached the rampart hiding -pots of resin under their shields; then they would hurl these with all -their might. This hail of bullets, darts, and flames passed above the -first ranks in the form of a curve which fell behind the walls. But -long cranes, used for masting vessels, were reared on the summit of the -ramparts; and from them there descended some of those enormous pincers -which terminated in two semicircles toothed on the inside. They bit the -rams. The soldiers clung to the beam and drew it back. The Carthaginians -hauled in order to pull it up; and the action was prolonged until the -evening. - -When the Mercenaries resumed their task on the following day, the tops -of the walls were completely carpeted with bales of cotton, sails, and -cushions; the battlements were stopped up with mats; and a line of forks -and blades, fixed upon sticks, might be distinguished among the cranes -on the rampart. A furious resistance immediately began. - -Trunks of trees fastened to cables fell and rose alternately and -battered the rams; cramps hurled by the ballistas tore away the roofs of -the huts; and streams of flints and pebbles poured from the platforms of -the towers. - -At last the rams broke the gates of Khamon and Tagaste. But the -Carthaginians had piled up such an abundance of materials on the inside -that the leaves did not open. They remained standing. - -Then they drove augers against the walls; these were applied to the -joints of the blocks, so as to detach the latter. The engines were -better managed, the men serving them were divided into squads, and they -were worked from morning till evening without interruption and with the -monotonous precision of a weaver’s loom. - -Spendius returned to them untiringly. It was he who stretched the skeins -of the ballistas. In order that the twin tensions might completely -correspond, the ropes as they were tightened were struck on the right -and left alternately until both sides gave out an equal sound. Spendius -would mount upon the timbers. He would strike the ropes softly with -the extremity of his foot, and strain his ears like a musician tuning -a lyre. Then when the beam of the catapult rose, when the pillar of the -ballista trembled with the shock of the spring, when the stones were -shooting in rays, and the darts pouring in streams, he would incline his -whole body and fling his arms into the air as though to follow them. - -The soldiers admired his skill and executed his commands. In the gaiety -of their work they gave utterance to jests on the names of the machines. -Thus the plyers for seizing the rams were called “wolves,” and the -galleries were covered with “vines”; they were lambs, or they were -going to gather the grapes; and as they loaded their pieces they -would say to the onagers: “Come, pick well!” and to the scorpions: -“Pierce them to the heart!” These jokes, which were ever the same, -kept up their courage. - -Nevertheless the machines did not demolish the rampart. It was formed of -two walls and was completely filled with earth. The upper portions were -beaten down, but each time the besieged raised them again. Matho ordered -the construction of wooden towers which should be as high as the towers -of stone. They cast turf, stakes, pebbles and chariots with their wheels -into the trench so as to fill it up the more quickly; but before this -was accomplished the immense throng of the Barbarians undulated over the -plain with a single movement and came beating against the foot of the -walls like an overflowing sea. - -They moved forward the rope ladders, straight ladders, and sambucas, -the latter consisting of two poles from which a series of bamboos -terminating in a moveable bridge were lowered by means of tackling. -They formed numerous straight lines resting against the wall, and the -Mercenaries mounted them in files, holding their weapons in their hands. -Not a Carthaginian showed himself; already two thirds of the rampart -had been covered. Then the battlements opened, vomiting flames and smoke -like dragon jaws; the sand scattered and entered the joints of their -armour; the petroleum fastened on their garments; the liquid lead -hopped on their helmets and made holes in their flesh; a rain of sparks -splashed against their faces, and eyeless orbits seemed to weep tears as -big as almonds. There were men all yellow with oil, with their hair -in flames. They began to run and set fire to the rest. They were -extinguished in mantles steeped in blood, which were thrown from a -distance over their faces. Some who had no wounds remained motionless, -stiffer than stakes, their mouths open and their arms outspread. - -The assault was renewed for several days in succession, the Mercenaries -hoping to triumph by extraordinary energy and audacity. - -Sometimes a man raised on the shoulders of another would drive a -pin between the stones, and then making use of it as a step to reach -further, would place a second and a third; and, protected by the edge -of the battlements, which stood out from the wall, they would gradually -raise themselves in this way; but on reaching a certain height they -always fell back again. The great trench was full to overflowing; -the wounded were massed pell-mell with the dead and dying beneath the -footsteps of the living. Calcined trunks formed black spots amid opened -entrails, scattered brains, and pools of blood; and arms and legs -projecting half way out of a heap, would stand straight up like props in -a burning vineyard. - -The ladders proving insufficient the tollenos were brought into -requisition,—instruments consisting of a long beam set transversely -upon another, and bearing at its extremity a quadrangular basket which -would hold thirty foot-soldiers with their weapons. - -Matho wished to ascend in the first that was ready. Spendius stopped -him. - -Some men bent over a capstan; the great beam rose, became horizontal, -reared itself almost vertically, and being overweighted at the end, bent -like a huge reed. The soldiers, who were crowded together, were hidden -up to their chins; only their helmet-plumes could be seen. At last when -it was twenty cubits high in the air it turned several times to the -right and to the left, and then was depressed; and like a giant arm -holding a cohort of pigmies in its hand, it laid the basketful of -men upon the edge of the wall. They leaped into the crowd and never -returned. - -All the other tollenos were speedily made ready. But a hundred times -as many would have been needed for the capture of the town. They were -utilised in a murderous fashion: Ethiopian archers were placed in the -baskets; then, the cables having been fastened, they remained suspended -and shot poisoned arrows. The fifty tollenos commanding the battlements -thus surrounded Carthage like monstrous vultures; and the Negroes -laughed to see the guards on the rampart dying in grievous convulsions. - -Hamilcar sent hoplites to these posts, and every morning made them drink -the juice of certain herbs which protected them against the poison. - -One evening when it was dark he embarked the best of his soldiers -on lighters and planks, and turning to the right of the harbour, -disembarked on the Tænia. Then he advanced to the first lines of -the Barbarians, and taking them in flank, made a great slaughter. Men -hanging to ropes would descend at night from the top of the wall with -torches in their hands, burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then -mount up again. - -Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which led -him into terrible extravagances. He mentally summoned Salammbô to an -interview; then he waited. She did not come; this seemed to him like a -fresh piece of treachery,—and henceforth he execrated her. If he -had seen her corpse he would perhaps have gone away. He doubled the -outposts, he planted forks at the foot of the rampart, he drove caltrops -into the ground, and he commanded the Libyans to bring him a whole -forest that he might set it on fire and burn Carthage like a den of -foxes. - -Spendius went on obstinately with the siege. He sought to invent -terrible machines such as had never before been constructed. - -The other Barbarians, encamped at a distance on the isthmus, were amazed -at these delays; they murmured, and they were let loose. - -Then they rushed with their cutlasses and javelins, and beat against -the gates with them. But the nakedness of their bodies facilitating the -infliction of wounds, the Carthaginians massacred them freely; and the -Mercenaries rejoiced at it, no doubt through jealousy about the plunder. -Hence there resulted quarrels and combats between them. Then, the -country having been ravaged, provisions were soon scarce. They grew -disheartened. Numerous hordes went away, but the crowd was so great that -the loss was not apparent. - -The best of them tried to dig mines, but the earth, being badly -supported, fell in. They began again in other places, but Hamilcar -always guessed the direction that they were taking by holding his ear -against a bronze shield. He bored counter-mines beneath the path along -which the wooden towers were to move, and when they were pushed forward -they sank into the holes. - -At last all recognised that the town was impregnable, unless a long -terrace was raised to the same height as the walls, so as to enable them -to fight on the same level. The top of it should be paved so that -the machines might be rolled along. Then Carthage would find it quite -impossible to resist. - - -The town was beginning to suffer from thirst. The water which was worth -two kesitahs the bath at the opening of the siege was now sold for -a shekel of silver; the stores of meat and corn were also becoming -exhausted; there was a dread of famine, and some even began to speak of -useless mouths, which terrified every one. - -From the square of Khamon to the temple of Melkarth the streets were -cumbered with corpses; and, as it was the end of the summer, the -combatants were annoyed by great black flies. Old men carried off the -wounded, and the devout continued the fictitious funerals for their -relatives and friends who had died far away during the war. Waxen -statues with clothes and hair were displayed across the gates. They -melted in the heat of the tapers burning beside them; the paint flowed -down upon their shoulders, and tears streamed over the faces of the -living, as they chanted mournful songs beside them. The crowd meanwhile -ran to and fro; armed bands passed; captains shouted orders, while the -shock of the rams beating against the rampart was constantly heard. - -The temperature became so heavy that the bodies swelled and would no -longer fit into the coffins. They were burned in the centre of the -courts. But the fires, being too much confined, kindled the neighbouring -walls, and long flames suddenly burst from the houses like blood -spurting from an artery. Thus Moloch was in possession of Carthage; he -clasped the ramparts, he rolled through the streets, he devoured the -very corpses. - -Men wearing cloaks made of collected rags in token of despair, stationed -themselves at the corners of the cross-ways. They declaimed against the -Ancients and against Hamilcar, predicted complete ruin to the people, -and invited them to universal destruction and license. The most -dangerous were the henbane-drinkers; in their crisis they believed -themselves wild beasts, and leaped upon the passers-by to rend them. -Mobs formed around them, and the defence of Carthage was forgotten. The -Suffet devised the payment of others to support his policy. - -In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images -had been covered with chains. Black veils were placed upon the Patæc -gods, and hair-cloths around the altars; and attempts were made to -excite the pride and jealousy of the Baals by singing in their ears: -“Thou art about to suffer thyself to be vanquished! Are the others -perchance more strong? Show thyself! aid us! that the peoples may not -say: ‘Where are now their gods?’” - -The colleges of the pontiffs were agitated by unceasing anxiety. Those -of Rabbetna were especially afraid—the restoration of the zaïmph -having been of no avail. They kept themselves shut up in the third -enclosure which was as impregnable as a fortress. Only one among them, -the high priest Schahabarim, ventured to go out. - -He used to visit Salammbô. But he would either remain perfectly silent, -gazing at her with fixed eyeballs, or else would be lavish of words, and -the reproaches that he uttered were harder than ever. - -With inconceivable inconsistency he could not forgive the young girl -for carrying out his commands; Schahabarim had guessed all, and this -haunting thought revived the jealousies of his impotence. He accused her -of being the cause of the war. Matho, according to him, was besieging -Carthage to recover the zaïmph; and he poured out imprecations and -sarcasms upon this Barbarian who pretended to the possession of holy -things. Yet it was not this that the priest wished to say. - -But just now Salammbô felt no terror of him. The anguish which she used -formerly to suffer had left her. A strange peacefulness possessed her. -Her gaze was less wandering, and shone with limpid fire. - -Meanwhile the python had become ill again; and as Salammbô, on the -contrary, appeared to be recovering, old Taanach rejoiced in the -conviction that by its decline it was taking away the languor of her -mistress. - -One morning she found it coiled up behind the bed of ox-hides, colder -than marble, and with its head hidden by a heap of worms. Her cries -brought Salammbô to the spot. She turned it over for a while with the -tip of her sandal, and the slave was amazed at her insensibility. - -Hamilcar’s daughter no longer prolonged her fasts with so much -fervour. She passed whole days on the top of her terrace, leaning her -elbows against the balustrade, and amusing herself by looking out before -her. The summits of the walls at the end of the town cut uneven zigzags -upon the sky, and the lances of the sentries formed what was like a -border of corn-ears throughout their length. Further away she could see -the manouvres of the Barbarians between the towers; on days when the -siege was interrupted she could even distinguish their occupations. They -mended their weapons, greased their hair, and washed their bloodstained -arms in the sea; the tents were closed; the beasts of burden were -feeding; and in the distance the scythes of the chariots, which were all -ranged in a semicircle, looked like a silver scimitar lying at the base -of the mountains. Schahabarim’s talk recurred to her memory. She was -waiting for Narr’ Havas, her betrothed. In spite of her hatred she -would have liked to see Matho again. Of all the Carthaginians she was -perhaps the only one who would have spoken to him without fear. - -Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the -cushions, and gaze at her with an almost tender look, as if he found -some rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes questioned -her about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He even asked her -whether any one had urged her to it; and with a shake of the head she -answered, No,—so proud was Salammbô of having saved the zaïmph. - -But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making -military inquiries. He could not understand how the hours which she had -spent in the tent had been employed. Salammbô, in fact, said nothing -about Gisco; for as words had an effective power in themselves, curses, -if reported to any one, might be turned against him; and she was silent -about her wish to assassinate, lest she should be blamed for not having -yielded to it. She said that the schalischim appeared furious, that he -had shouted a great deal, and that he had then fallen asleep. Salammbô -told no more, through shame perhaps, or else because she was led by her -extreme ingenuousness to attach but little importance to the soldier’s -kisses. Moreover, it all floated through her head in a melancholy and -misty fashion, like the recollection of a depressing dream; and she -would not have known in what way or in what words to express it. - -One evening when they were thus face to face with each other, Taanach -came in looking quite scared. An old man with a child was yonder in the -courts, and wished to see the Suffet. - -Hamilcar turned pale, and then quickly replied: - -“Let him come up!” - -Iddibal entered without prostrating himself. He held a young boy, -covered with a goat’s-hair cloak, by the hand, and at once raised the -hood which screened his face. - -“Here he is, Master! Take him!” - -The Suffet and the slave went into a corner of the room. - -The child remained in the centre standing upright, and with a gaze -of attention rather than of astonishment he surveyed the ceiling, the -furniture, the pearl necklaces trailing on the purple draperies, and the -majestic maiden who was bending over towards him. - -He was perhaps ten years old, and was not taller than a Roman sword. His -curly hair shaded his swelling forehead. His eyeballs looked as if they -were seeking for space. The nostrils of his delicate nose were broad -and palpitating, and upon his whole person was displayed the indefinable -splendour of those who are destined to great enterprises. When he had -cast aside his extremely heavy cloak, he remained clad in a lynx skin, -which was fastened about his waist, and he rested his little naked feet, -which were all white with dust, resolutely upon the pavement. But he no -doubt divined that important matters were under discussion, for he -stood motionless, with one hand behind his back, his chin lowered, and a -finger in his mouth. - -At last Hamilcar attracted Salammbô with a sign and said to her in a -low voice: - -“You will keep him with you, you understand! No one, even though -belonging to the house, must know of his existence!” - -Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal whether he was quite sure -that they had not been noticed. - -“No!” said the slave, “the streets were empty.” - -As the war filled all the provinces he had feared for his master’s -son. Then, not knowing where to hide him, he had come along the coasts -in a sloop, and for three days Iddibal had been tacking about in the -gulf and watching the ramparts. At last, that evening, as the environs -of Khamon seemed to be deserted, he had passed briskly through the -channel and landed near the arsenal, the entrance to the harbour being -free. - -But soon the Barbarians posted an immense raft in front of it in order -to prevent the Carthaginians from coming out. They were again rearing -the wooden towers, and the terrace was rising at the same time. - -Outside communications were cut off and an intolerable famine set in. - -The besieged killed all the dogs, all the mules, all the asses, and then -the fifteen elephants which the Suffet had brought back. The lions of -the temple of Moloch had become ferocious, and the hierodules no longer -durst approach them. They were fed at first with the wounded Barbarians; -then they were thrown corpses that were still warm; they refused -them, and they all died. People wandered in the twilight along the old -enclosures, and gathered grass and flowers among the stones to boil -them in wine, wine being cheaper than water. Others crept as far as -the enemy’s outposts, and entered the tents to steal food, and the -stupefied Barbarians sometimes allowed them to return. At last a day -arrived when the Ancients resolved to slaughter the horses of Eschmoun -privately. They were holy animals whose manes were plaited by the -pontiffs with gold ribbons, and whose existence denoted the motion of -the sun—the idea of fire in its most exalted form. Their flesh was cut -into equal portions and buried behind the altar. Then every evening the -Ancients, alleging some act of devotion, would go up to the temple and -regale themselves in secret, and each would take away a piece beneath -his tunic for his children. In the deserted quarters remote from the -walls, the inhabitants, whose misery was not so great, had barricaded -themselves through fear of the rest. - -The stones from the catapults, and the demolitions commanded for -purposes of defence, had accumulated heaps of ruins in the middle of -the streets. At the quietest times masses of people would suddenly rush -along with shouts; and from the top of the Acropolis the conflagrations -were like purple rags scattered upon the terraces and twisted by the -wind. - -The three great catapults did not stop in spite of all these works. -Their ravages were extraordinary: thus a man’s head rebounded from the -pediment of the Syssitia; a woman who was being confined in the street -of Kinisdo was crushed by a block of marble, and her child was carried -with the bed as far as the crossways of Cinasyn, where the coverlet was -found. - -The most annoying were the bullets of the slingers. They fell upon the -roofs, and in the gardens, and in the middle of the courts, while people -were at table before a slender meal with their hearts big with sighs. -These cruel projectiles bore engraved letters which stamped themselves -upon the flesh;—and insults might be read on corpses such as -“pig,” “jackal,” “vermin,” and sometimes jests: “Catch -it!” or “I have well deserved it!” - -The portion of the rampart which extended from the corner of the -harbours to the height of the cisterns was broken down. Then the people -of Malqua found themselves caught between the old enclosure of Byrsa -behind, and the Barbarians in front. But there was enough to be done in -thickening the wall and making it as high as possible without troubling -about them; they were abandoned; all perished; and although they were -generally hated, Hamilcar came to be greatly abhorred. - -On the morrow he opened the pits in which he kept stores of corn, -and his stewards gave it to the people. For three days they gorged -themselves. - -Their thirst, however, only became the more intolerable, and they could -constantly see before them the long cascade formed by the clear falling -water of the aqueduct. A thin vapour, with a rainbow beside it, went up -from its base, beneath the rays of the sun, and a little stream curving -through the plain fell into the gulf. - -Hamilcar did not give way. He was reckoning upon an event, upon -something decisive and extraordinary. - -His own slaves tore off the silver plates from the temple of Melkarth; -four long boats were drawn out of the harbour, they were brought by -means of capstans to the foot of the Mappalian quarter, the wall facing -the shore was bored, and they set out for the Gauls to buy Mercenaries -there at no matter what price. Nevertheless, Hamilcar was distressed at -his inability to communicate with the king of the Numidians, for he -knew that he was behind the Barbarians, and ready to fall upon them. But -Narr’ Havas, being too weak, was not going to make any venture alone; -and the Suffet had the rampart raised twelve palms higher, all the -material in the arsenals piled up in the Acropolis, and the machines -repaired once more. - -Sinews taken from bulls’ necks, or else stags’ hamstrings, were -commonly employed for the twists of the catapults. However, neither -stags nor bulls were in existence in Carthage. Hamilcar asked the -Ancients for the hair of their wives; all sacrificed it, but the -quantity was not sufficient. In the buildings of the Syssitia there were -twelve hundred marriageable slaves destined for prostitution in Greece -and Italy, and their hair, having been rendered elastic by the use -of unguents, was wonderfully well adapted for engines of war. But the -subsequent loss would be too great. Accordingly it was decided that a -choice should be made of the finest heads of hair among the wives of the -plebeians. Careless of their country’s needs, they shrieked in despair -when the servants of the Hundred came with scissors to lay hands upon -them. - -The Barbarians were animated with increased fury. They could be seen in -the distance taking fat from the dead to grease their machines, while -others pulled out the nails and stitched them end to end to make -cuirasses. They devised a plan of putting into the catapults vessels -filled with serpents which had been brought by the Negroes; the clay -pots broke on the flag-stones, the serpents ran about, seemed to -multiply, and, so numerous were they, to issue naturally from the walls. -Then the Barbarians, not satisfied with their invention, improved upon -it; they hurled all kinds of filth, human excrements, pieces of carrion, -corpses. The plague reappeared. The teeth of the Carthaginians fell out -of their mouths, and their gums were discoloured like those of camels -after too long a journey. - -The machines were set up on the terrace, although the latter did not -as yet reach everywhere to the height of the rampart. Before the -twenty-three towers on the fortification stood twenty-three others of -wood. All the tollenos were mounted again, and in the centre, a -little further back, appeared the formidable helepolis of Demetrius -Poliorcetes, which Spendius had at last reconstructed. Of pyramidical -shape, like the pharos of Alexandria, it was one hundred and thirty -cubits high and twenty-three wide, with nine stories, diminishing as -they approached the summit, and protected by scales of brass; they were -pierced with numerous doors and were filled with soldiers, and on the -upper platform there stood a catapult flanked by two ballistas. - -Then Hamilcar planted crosses for those who should speak of surrender, -and even the women were brigaded. The people lay in the streets and -waited full of distress. - -Then one morning before sunrise (it was the seventh day of the month -of Nyssan) they heard a great shout uttered by all the Barbarians -simultaneously; the leaden-tubed trumpets pealed, and the great -Paphlagonian horns bellowed like bulls. All rose and ran to the rampart. - -A forest of lances, pikes, and swords bristled at its base. It leaped -against the wall, the ladders grappled them; and Barbarians’ heads -appeared in the intervals of the battlements. - -Beams supported by long files of men were battering at the gates; and, -in order to demolish the wall at places where the terrace was wanting, -the Mercenaries came up in serried cohorts, the first line crawling, the -second bending their hams, and the others rising in succession to the -last who stood upright; while elsewhere, in order to climb up, the -tallest advanced in front and the lowest in the rear, and all rested -their shields upon their helmets with their left arms, joining them -together at the edges so tightly that they might have been taken for an -assemblage of large tortoises. The projectiles slid over these oblique -masses. - -The Carthaginians threw down mill-stones, pestles, vats, casks, beds, -everything that could serve as a weight and could knock down. Some -watched at the embrasures with fisherman’s nets, and when the -Barbarian arrived he found himself caught in the meshes, and struggled -like a fish. They demolished their own battlements; portions of wall -fell down raising a great dust; and as the catapults on the terrace were -shooting over against one another, the stones would strike together -and shiver into a thousand pieces, making a copious shower upon the -combatants. - -Soon the two crowds formed but one great chain of human bodies; it -overflowed into the intervals in the terrace, and, somewhat looser at -the two extremities, swayed perpetually without advancing. They clasped -one another, lying flat on the ground like wrestlers. They crushed one -another. The women leaned over the battlements and shrieked. They -were dragged away by their veils, and the whiteness of their suddenly -uncovered sides shone in the arms of the Negroes as the latter buried -their daggers in them. Some corpses did not fall, being too much pressed -by the crowd, and, supported by the shoulders of their companions, -advanced for some minutes quite upright and with staring eyes. Some -who had both temples pierced by a javelin swayed their heads about like -bears. Mouths, opened to shout, remained gaping; severed hands flew -through the air. Mighty blows were dealt, which were long talked of by -the survivors. - -Meanwhile arrows darted from the towers of wood and stone. The tollenos -moved their long yards rapidly; and as the Barbarians had sacked the -old cemetery of the aborigines beneath the Catacombs, they hurled the -tombstones against the Carthaginians. Sometimes the cables broke under -the weight of too heavy baskets, and masses of men, all with uplifted -arms, would fall from the sky. - -Up to the middle of the day the veterans had attacked the Tænia -fiercely in order to penetrate into the harbour and destroy the fleet. -Hamilcar had a fire of damp straw lit upon the roofing of Khamon, and -as the smoke blinded them they fell back to left, and came to swell -the horrible rout which was pressing forward in Malqua. Some syntagmata -composed of sturdy men, chosen expressly for the purpose, had broken in -three gates. They were checked by lofty barriers made of planks studded -with nails, but a fourth yielded easily; they dashed over it at a -run and rolled into a pit in which there were hidden snares. At the -south-west gate Autaritus and his men broke down the rampart, the -fissure in which had been stopped up with bricks. The ground behind -rose, and they climbed it nimbly. But on the top they found a second -wall composed of stones and long beams lying quite flat and alternating -like the squares on a chess-board. It was a Gaulish fashion, and had -been adapted by the Suffet to the requirements of the situation; the -Gauls imagined themselves before a town in their own country. Their -attack was weak, and they were repulsed. - -All the roundway, from the street of Khamon as far as the Green Market, -now belonged to the Barbarians, and the Samnites were finishing off -the dying with blows of stakes; or else with one foot on the wall were -gazing down at the smoking ruins beneath them, and the battle which was -beginning again in the distance. - -The slingers, who were distributed through the rear, were still -shooting. But the springs of the Acarnanian slings had broken from use, -and many were throwing stones with the hand like shepherds; the rest -hurled leaden bullets with the handle of a whip. Zarxas, his shoulders -covered with his long black hair, went about everywhere, and led on the -Barbarians. Two pouches hung at his hips; he thrust his left hand -into them continually, while his right arm whirled round like a -chariot-wheel. - -Matho had at first refrained from fighting, the better to command -the Barbarians all at once. He had been seen along the gulf with the -Mercenaries, near the lagoon with the Numidians, and on the shores of -the lake among the Negroes, and from the back part of the plain he urged -forward masses of soldiers who came ceaselessly against the ramparts. By -degrees he had drawn near; the smell of blood, the sight of carnage, and -the tumult of clarions had at last made his heart leap. Then he had gone -back into his tent, and throwing off his cuirass had taken his lion’s -skin as being more convenient for battle. The snout fitted upon his -head, bordering his face with a circle of fangs; the two fore-paws were -crossed upon his breast, and the claws of the hinder ones fell beneath -his knees. - -He had kept on his strong waist-belt, wherein gleamed a two-edged axe, -and with his great sword in both hands he had dashed impetuously through -the breach. Like a pruner cutting willow-branches and trying to strike -off as much as possible so as to make the more money, he marched along -mowing down the Carthaginians around him. Those who tried to seize him -in flank he knocked down with blows of the pommel; when they attacked -him in front he ran them through; if they fled he clove them. Two men -leaped together upon his back; he bounded backwards against a gate and -crushed them. His sword fell and rose. It shivered on the angle of a -wall. Then he took his heavy axe, and front and rear he ripped up the -Carthaginians like a flock of sheep. They scattered more and more, and -he was quite alone when he reached the second enclosure at the foot -of the Acropolis. The materials which had been flung from the summit -cumbered the steps and were heaped up higher than the wall. Matho turned -back amid the ruins to summons his companions. - -He perceived their crests scattered over the multitude; they were -sinking and their wearers were about to perish; he dashed towards them; -then the vast wreath of red plumes closed in, and they soon rejoined him -and surrounded him. But an enormous crowd was discharging from the side -streets. He was caught by the hips, lifted up and carried away outside -the ramparts to a spot where the terrace was high. - -Matho shouted a command and all the shields sank upon the helmets; he -leaped upon them in order to catch hold somewhere so as to re-enter -Carthage; and, flourishing his terrible axe, ran over the shields, which -resembled waves of bronze, like a marine god, with brandished trident, -over his billows. - -However, a man in a white robe was walking along the edge of the -rampart, impassible, and indifferent to the death which surrounded him. -Sometimes he would spread out his right hand above his eyes in order -to find out some one. Matho happened to pass beneath him. Suddenly his -eyeballs flamed, his livid face contracted; and raising both his lean -arms he shouted out abuse at him. - -Matho did not hear it; but he felt so furious and cruel a look entering -his heart that he uttered a roar. He hurled his long axe at him; some -people threw themselves upon Schahabarim; and Matho seeing him no more -fell back exhausted. - -A terrible creaking drew near, mingled with the rhythm of hoarse voices -singing together. - -It was the great helepolis surrounded by a crowd of soldiers. They were -dragging it with both hands, hauling it with ropes, and pushing it with -their shoulders,—for the slope rising from the plain to the terrace, -although extremely gentle, was found impracticable for machines of such -prodigious weight. However, it had eight wheels banded with iron, and it -had been advancing slowly in this way since the morning, like a mountain -raised upon another. Then there appeared an immense ram issuing from its -base. The doors along the three fronts which faced the town fell down, -and cuirassed soldiers appeared in the interior like pillars of iron. -Some might be seen climbing and descending the two staircases which -crossed the stories. Some were waiting to dart out as soon as the cramps -of the doors touched the walls; in the middle of the upper platform the -skeins of the ballistas were turning, and the great beam of the catapult -was being lowered. - -Hamilcar was at that moment standing upright on the roof of Melkarth. He -had calculated that it would come directly towards him, against what was -the most invulnerable place in the wall, which was for that very reason -denuded of sentries. His slaves had for a long time been bringing -leathern bottles along the roundway, where they had raised with clay -two transverse partitions forming a sort of basin. The water was flowing -insensibly along the terrace, and strange to say, it seemed to cause -Hamilcar no anxiety. - -But when the helepolis was thirty paces off, he commanded planks to -be placed over the streets between the houses from the cisterns to -the rampart; and a file of people passed from hand to hand helmets and -amphoras, which were emptied continually. The Carthaginians, however, -grew indignant at this waste of water. The ram was demolishing the wall, -when suddenly a fountain sprang forth from the disjointed stones. Then -the lofty brazen mass, nine stories high, which contained and engaged -more than three thousand soldiers, began to rock gently like a ship. -In fact, the water, which had penetrated the terrace, had broken up the -path before it; its wheels stuck in the mire; the head of Spendius, -with distended cheeks blowing an ivory cornet, appeared between leathern -curtains on the first story. The great machine, as though convulsively -upheaved, advanced perhaps ten paces; but the ground softened more and -more, the mire reached to the axles, and the helepolis stopped, leaning -over frightfully to one side. The catapult rolled to the edge of the -platform, and carried away by the weight of its beam, fell, shattering -the lower stories beneath it. The soldiers who were standing on the -doors slipped into the abyss, or else held on to the extremities of -the long beams, and by their weight increased the inclination of the -helepolis, which was going to pieces with creakings in all its joints. - -The other Barbarians rushed up to help them, massing themselves into -a compact crowd. The Carthaginians descended from the rampart, and, -assailing them in the rear, killed them at leisure. But the chariots -furnished with sickles hastened up, and galloped round the outskirts of -the multitude. The latter ascended the wall again; night came on; and -the Barbarians gradually retired. - -Nothing could now be seen on the plain but a sort of perfectly black, -swarming mass, which extended from the bluish gulf to the purely white -lagoon; and the lake, which had received streams of blood, stretched -further away like a great purple pool. - -The terrace was now so laden with corpses that it looked as though it -had been constructed of human bodies. In the centre stood the helepolis -covered with armour; and from time to time huge fragments broke off -from it, like stones from a crumbling pyramid. Broad tracks made by -the streams of lead might be distinguished on the walls. A broken-down -wooden tower burned here and there, and the houses showed dimly like the -stages of a ruined ampitheatre. Heavy fumes of smoke were rising, and -rolling with them sparks which were lost in the dark sky. - - -The Carthaginians, however, who were consumed by thirst, had rushed to -the cisterns. They broke open the doors. A miry swamp stretched at the -bottom. - -What was to be done now? Moreover, the Barbarians were countless, and -when their fatigue was over they would begin again. - -The people deliberated all night in groups at the corners of the -streets. Some said that they ought to send away the women, the sick, and -the old men; others proposed to abandon the town, and found a colony far -away. But vessels were lacking, and when the sun appeared no decision -had been made. - -There was no fighting that day, all being too much exhausted. The -sleepers looked like corpses. - -Then the Carthaginians, reflecting upon the cause of their disasters, -remembered that they had not dispatched to Phonicia the annual offering -due to Tyrian Melkarth, and a great terror came upon them. The gods -were indignant with the Republic, and were, no doubt, about to prosecute -their vengeance. - -They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with -supplications and allowed themselves to be bribed with presents. All -were feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the -very flesh of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, -the Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it to him, which calmed -his fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape of the -neck, with woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal brought -in much money to the priests, they failed not to recommend it as being -easier and more pleasant. - -This time, however, the Republic itself was at stake. But as every -profit must be purchased by some loss, and as every transaction was -regulated according to the needs of the weaker and the demands of the -stronger, there was no pain great enough for the god, since he delighted -in such as was of the most horrible description, and all were now at his -mercy. He must accordingly be fully gratified. Precedents showed that -in this way the scourge would be made to disappear. Moreover, it was -believed that an immolation by fire would purify Carthage. The ferocity -of the people was predisposed towards it. The choice, too, must fall -exclusively upon the families of the great. - -The Ancients assembled. The sitting was a long one. Hanno had come to -it. As he was now unable to sit he remained lying down near the door, -half hidden among the fringes of the lofty tapestry; and when the -pontiff of Moloch asked them whether they would consent to surrender -their children, his voice suddenly broke forth from the shadow like the -roaring of a genius in the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he said, -that he had none of his own blood to give; and he gazed at Hamilcar, -who faced him at the other end of the hall. The Suffet was so much -disconcerted by this look that it made him lower his eyes. All -successively bent their heads in approval; and in accordance with the -rites he had to reply to the high priest: “Yes; be it so.” Then the -Ancients decreed the sacrifice in traditional circumlocution,—because -there are things more troublesome to say than to perform. - -The decision was almost immediately known in Carthage, and lamentations -resounded. The cries of women might everywhere be heard; their husbands -consoled them, or railed at them with remonstrances. - -But three hours afterwards extraordinary tidings were spread abroad: the -Suffet had discovered springs at the foot of the cliff. There was a rush -to the place. Water might be seen in holes dug in the sand, and some -were already lying flat on the ground and drinking. - -Hamilcar did not himself know whether it was by the determination of the -gods or through the vague recollection of a revelation which his father -had once made to him; but on leaving the Ancients he had gone down to -the shore and had begun to dig the gravel with his slaves. - -He gave clothing, boots, and wine. He gave all the rest of the corn that -he was keeping by him. He even let the crowd enter his palace, and -he opened kitchens, stores, and all the rooms,—Salammbô’s alone -excepted. He announced that six thousand Gaulish Mercenaries were -coming, and that the king of Macedonia was sending soldiers. - -But on the second day the springs diminished, and on the evening of the -third they were completely dried up. Then the decree of the Ancients -passed everywhere from lip to lip, and the priests of Moloch began their -task. - -Men in black robes presented themselves in the houses. In many instances -the owners had deserted them under pretence of some business, or of some -dainty that they were going to buy; and the servants of Moloch came and -took the children away. Others themselves surrendered them stupidly. -Then they were brought to the temple of Tanith, where the priestesses -were charged with their amusement and support until the solemn day. - -They visited Hamilcar suddenly and found him in his gardens. - -“Barca! we come for that that you know of—your son!” They added -that some people had met him one evening during the previous moon in the -centre of the Mappalian district being led by an old man. - -He was as though suffocated at first. But speedily understanding that -any denial would be in vain, Hamilcar bowed; and he brought them into -the commercial house. Some slaves who had run up at a sign kept watch -all round about it. - -He entered Salammbô’s room in a state of distraction. He seized -Hannibal with one hand, snatched up the cord of a trailing garment with -the other, tied his feet and hands with it, thrust the end into his -mouth to form a gag, and hid him under the bed of the ox-hides by -letting an ample drapery fall to the ground. - -Afterwards he walked about from right to left, raised his arms, wheeled -round, bit his lips. Then he stood still with staring eyelids, and -panted as though he were about to die. - -But he clapped his hands three times. Giddenem appeared. - -“Listen!” he said, “go and take from among the slaves a male child -from eight to nine years of age, with black hair and swelling forehead! -Bring him here! make haste!” - -Giddenem soon entered again, bringing forward a young boy. - -He was a miserable child, at once lean and bloated; his skin looked -greyish, like the infected rag hanging to his sides; his head was sunk -between his shoulders, and with the back of his hand he was rubbing his -eyes, which were filled with flies. - -How could he ever be confounded with Hannibal! and there was no time -to choose another. Hamilcar looked at Giddenem; he felt inclined to -strangle him. - -“Begone!” he cried; and the master of the slaves fled. - -The misfortune which he had so long dreaded was therefore come, and with -extravagant efforts he strove to discover whether there was not some -mode, some means to escape it. - -Abdalonim suddenly spoke from behind the door. The Suffet was being -asked for. The servants of Moloch were growing impatient. - -Hamilcar repressed a cry as though a red hot iron had burnt him; and -he began anew to pace the room like one distraught. Then he sank down -beside the balustrade, and, with his elbows on his knees, pressed his -forehead into his shut fists. - -The porphyry basin still contained a little clear water for -Salammbô’s ablutions. In spite of his repugnance and all his pride, -the Suffet dipped the child into it, and, like a slave merchant, began -to wash him and rub him with strigils and red earth. Then he took two -purple squares from the receptacles round the wall, placed one on his -breast and the other on his back, and joined them together on the collar -bones with two diamond clasps. He poured perfume upon his head, passed -an electrum necklace around his neck, and put on him sandals with heels -of pearl,—sandals belonging to his own daughter! But he stamped with -shame and vexation; Salammbô, who busied herself in helping him, was -as pale as he. The child, dazzled by such splendour, smiled and, growing -bold even, was beginning to clap his hands and jump, when Hamilcar took -him away. - -He held him firmly by the arm as though he were afraid of losing him, -and the child, who was hurt, wept a little as he ran beside him. - -When on a level with the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a voice was -raised, a mournful and supplicant voice. It murmured: “Master! oh! -master!” - -Hamilcar turned and beside him perceived a man of abject appearance, one -of the wretches who led a haphazard existence in the household. - -“What do you want?” said the Suffet. - -The slave, who trembled horribly, stammered: - -“I am his father!” - -Hamilcar walked on; the other followed him with stooping loins, bent -hams, and head thrust forward. His face was convulsed with unspeakable -anguish, and he was choking with suppressed sobs, so eager was he at -once to question him, and to cry: “Mercy!” - -At last he ventured to touch him lightly with one finger on the elbow. - -“Are you going to—?” He had not the strength to finish, and -Hamilcar stopped quite amazed at such grief. - -He had never thought—so immense was the abyss separating them from -each other—that there could be anything in common between them. It -even appeared to him a sort of outrage, an encroachment upon his -own privileges. He replied with a look colder and heavier than an -executioner’s axe; the slave swooned and fell in the dust at his feet. -Hamilcar strode across him. - -The three black-robed men were waiting in the great hall, and standing -against the stone disc. Immediately he tore his garments, and rolled -upon the pavement uttering piercing cries. - -“Ah! poor little Hannibal! Oh! my son! my consolation! my hope! my -life! Kill me also! take me away! Woe! Woe!” He ploughed his face with -his nails, tore out his hair, and shrieked like the women who lament at -funerals. “Take him away then! my suffering is too great! begone! kill -me like him!” The servants of Moloch were astonished that the great -Hamilcar was so weak-spirited. They were almost moved by it. - -A noise of naked feet became audible, with a broken throat-rattling like -the breathing of a wild beast speeding along, and a man, pale, terrible, -and with outspread arms appeared on the threshold of the third gallery, -between the ivory pots; he exclaimed: - -“My child!” - -Hamilcar threw himself with a bound upon the slave, and covering the -man’s mouth with his hand exclaimed still more loudly: - -“It is the old man who reared him! he calls him ‘my child!’ -it will make him mad! enough! enough!” And hustling away the three -priests and their victim he went out with them and with a great kick -shut the door behind him. - -Hamilcar strained his ears for some minutes in constant fear of seeing -them return. He then thought of getting rid of the slave in order to -be quite sure that he would see nothing; but the peril had not wholly -disappeared, and, if the gods were provoked at the man’s death, it -might be turned against his son. Then, changing his intention, he sent -him by Taanach the best from his kitchens—a quarter of a goat, beans, -and preserved pomegranates. The slave, who had eaten nothing for a long -time, rushed upon them; his tears fell into the dishes. - -Hamilcar at last returned to Salammbô, and unfastened Hannibal’s -cords. The child in exasperation bit his hand until the blood came. He -repelled him with a caress. - -To make him remain quiet Salammbô tried to frighten him with Lamia, a -Cyrenian ogress. - -“But where is she?” he asked. - -He was told that brigands were coming to put him into prison. “Let -them come,” he rejoined, “and I will kill them!” - -Then Hamilcar told him the frightful truth. But he fell into a passion -with his father, contending that he was quite able to annihilate the -whole people, since he was the master of Carthage. - -At last, exhausted by his exertions and anger, he fell into a wild -sleep. He spoke in his dreams, his back leaning against a scarlet -cushion; his head was thrown back somewhat, and his little arm, -outstretched from his body, lay quite straight in an attitude of -command. - -When the night had grown dark Hamilcar lifted him up gently, and, -without a torch, went down the galley staircase. As he passed through -the mercantile house he took up a basket of grapes and a flagon of pure -water; the child awoke before the statue of Aletes in the vault of gems, -and he smiled—like the other—on his father’s arm at the brilliant -lights which surrounded him. - -Hamilcar felt quite sure that his son could not be taken from him. It -was an impenetrable spot communicating with the beach by a subterranean -passage which he alone knew, and casting his eyes around he inhaled -a great draught of air. Then he set him down upon a stool beside some -golden shields. No one at present could see him; he had no further need -for watching; and he relieved his feelings. Like a mother finding her -first-born that was lost, he threw himself upon his son; he clasped him -to his breast, he laughed and wept at the same time, he called him -by the fondest names and covered him with kisses; little Hannibal was -frightened by this terrible tenderness and was silent now. - -Hamilcar returned with silent steps, feeling the walls around him, and -came into the great hall where the moonlight entered through one of the -apertures in the dome; in the centre the slave lay sleeping after his -repast, stretched at full length upon the marble pavement. He looked at -him and was moved with a sort of pity. With the tip of his cothurn he -pushed forward a carpet beneath his head. Then he raised his eyes and -gazed at Tanith, whose slender crescent was shining in the sky, and felt -himself stronger than the Baals and full of contempt for them. - -The arrangements for the sacrifice were already begun. - - -Part of a wall in the temple of Moloch was thrown down in order to draw -out the brazen god without touching the ashes of the altar. Then as -soon as the sun appeared the hierodules pushed it towards the square of -Khamon. - -It moved backwards sliding upon cylinders; its shoulders overlapped the -walls. No sooner did the Carthaginians perceive it in the distance than -they speedily took to flight, for the Baal could be looked upon with -impunity only when exercising his wrath. - -A smell of aromatics spread through the streets. All the temples -had just been opened simultaneously, and from them there came forth -tabernacles borne upon chariots, or upon litters carried by the -pontiffs. Great plumes swayed at the corners of them, and rays were -emitted from their slender pinnacles which terminated in balls of -crystal, gold, silver or copper. - -These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who -were returning to their first cause to humble themselves before his -might and annihilate themselves in his splendour. - -Melkarth’s pavilion, which was of fine purple, sheltered a petroleum -flare; on Khamon’s, which was of hyacinth colour, there rose an ivory -phallus bordered with a circle of gems; between Eschmoun’s curtains, -which were as blue as the ether, a sleeping python formed a circle with -his tail, and the Patæc gods, held in the arms of their priests, looked -like great infants in swaddling clothes with their heels touching the -ground. - -Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: Baal-Samin, god of -celestial space; Baal-Peor, god of the sacred mountains; Baal-Zeboub, -god of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and -congenerous races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldæa, the -Kijun of the Syrians; Derceto, with her virgin’s face, crept on -her fins, and the corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a -catafalque among torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the kings -of the firmament to the Sun, and prevent their particular influences -from disturbing his, diversely coloured metal stars were brandished -at the end of long poles; and all were there, from the dark Neblo, the -genius of Mercury, to the hideous Rahab, which is the constellation of -the Crocodile. The Abbadirs, stones which had fallen from the moon, were -whirling in slings of silver thread; little loaves, representing the -female form, were born on baskets by the priests of Ceres; others -brought their fetishes and amulets; forgotten idols reappeared, while -the mystic symbols had been taken from the very ships as though Carthage -wished to concentrate herself wholly upon a single thought of death and -desolation. - -Before each tabernacle a man balanced a large vase of smoking incense on -his head. Clouds hovered here and there, and the hangings, pendants, -and embroideries of the sacred pavilions might be distinguished amid -the thick vapours. These advanced slowly owing to their enormous weight. -Sometimes the axles became fast in the streets; then the pious took -advantage of the opportunity to touch the Baalim with their garments, -which they preserved afterwards as holy things. - -The brazen statue continued to advance towards the square of Khamon. The -rich, carrying sceptres with emerald balls, set out from the bottom -of Megara; the Ancients, with diadems on their heads, had assembled in -Kinisdo, and masters of the finances, governors of provinces, sailors, -and the numerous horde employed at funerals, all with the insignia of -their magistracies or the instruments of their calling, were making -their way towards the tabernacles which were descending from the -Acropolis between the colleges of the pontiffs. - -Out of deference to Moloch they had adorned themselves with the most -splendid jewels. Diamonds sparkled on their black garments; but their -rings were too large and fell from their wasted hands,—nor could -there have been anything so mournful as this silent crowd where earrings -tapped against pale faces, and gold tiaras clasped brows contracted with -stern despair. - -At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His -pontiffs arranged an enclosure with trellis-work to keep off the -multitude, and remained around him at his feet. - -The priests of Khamon, in tawny woollen robes, formed a line before -their temple beneath the columns of the portico; those of Eschmoun, in -linen mantles with necklaces of koukouphas’ heads and pointed -tiaras, posted themselves on the steps of the Acropolis; the priests of -Melkarth, in violet tunics, took the western side; the priests of the -Abbadirs, clasped with bands of Phrygian stuffs, placed themselves on -the east, while towards the south, with the necromancers all covered -with tattooings, and the shriekers in patched cloaks, were ranged the -curates of the Patæc gods, and the Yidonim, who put the bone of a dead -man into their mouths to learn the future. The priests of Ceres, who -were dressed in blue robes, had prudently stopped in the street of -Satheb, and in low tones were chanting a thesmophorion in the Megarian -dialect. - -From time to time files of men arrived, completely naked, their arms -outstretched, and all holding one another by the shoulders. From -the depths of their breasts they drew forth a hoarse and cavernous -intonation; their eyes, which were fastened upon the colossus, shone -through the dust, and they swayed their bodies simultaneously, and at -equal distances, as though they were all affected by a single movement. -They were so frenzied that to restore order the hierodules compelled -them, with blows of the stick, to lie flat upon the ground, with their -faces resting against the brass trellis-work. - -Then it was that a man in a white robe advanced from the back of the -square. He penetrated the crowd slowly, and people recognised a priest -of Tanith—the high-priest Schahabarim. Hootings were raised, for the -tyranny of the male principle prevailed that day in all consciences, and -the goddess was actually so completely forgotten that the absence of her -pontiffs had not been noticed. But the amazement was increased when he -was seen to open one of the doors of the trellis-work intended for -those who intended to offer up victims. It was an outrage to their god, -thought the priests of Moloch, that he had just committed, and they -sought with eager gestures to repel him. Fed on the meat of the -holocausts, clad in purple like kings, and wearing triple-storied -crowns, they despised the pale eunuch, weakened with his macerations, -and angry laughter shook their black beards, which were displayed on -their breasts in the sun. - -Schahabarim walked on, giving no reply, and, traversing the whole -enclosure with deliberation, reached the legs of the colossus; then, -spreading out both arms, he touched it on both sides, which was a solemn -form of adoration. For a long time Rabbet had been torturing him, and -in despair, or perhaps for lack of a god that completely satisfied his -ideas, he had at last decided for this one. - -The crowd, terrified by this act of apostasy, uttered a lengthened -murmur. It was felt that the last tie which bound their souls to a -merciful divinity was breaking. - -But owing to his mutilation, Schahabarim could take no part in the cult -of the Baal. The men in the red cloaks shut him out from the enclosure; -then, when he was outside, he went round all the colleges in succession, -and the priest, henceforth without a god, disappeared into the crowd. It -scattered at his approach. - -Meanwhile a fire of aloes, cedar, and laurel was burning between the -legs of the colossus. The tips of its long wings dipped into the flame; -the unguents with which it had been rubbed flowed like sweat over its -brazen limbs. Around the circular flagstone on which its feet rested, -the children, wrapped in black veils, formed a motionless circle; and -its extravagantly long arms reached down their palms to them as though -to seize the crown that they formed and carry it to the sky. - -The rich, the Ancients, the women, the whole multitude, thronged behind -the priests and on the terraces of the houses. The large painted stars -revolved no longer; the tabernacles were set upon the ground; and the -fumes from the censers ascended perpendicularly, spreading their bluish -branches through the azure like gigantic trees. - -Many fainted; others became inert and petrified in their ecstasy. -Infinite anguish weighed upon the breasts of the beholders. The -last shouts died out one by one,—and the people of Carthage stood -breathless, and absorbed in the longing of their terror. - -At last the high priest of Moloch passed his left hand beneath the -children’s veils, plucked a lock of hair from their foreheads, and -threw it upon the flames. Then the men in the red cloaks chanted the -sacred hymn: - -“Homage to thee, Sun! king of the two zones, self-generating Creator, -Father and Mother, Father and Son, God and Goddess, Goddess and God!” -And their voices were lost in the outburst of instruments sounding -simultaneously to drown the cries of the victims. The eight-stringed -scheminiths, the kinnors which had ten strings, and the nebals which -had twelve, grated, whistled, and thundered. Enormous leathern bags, -bristling with pipes, made a shrill clashing noise; the tabourines, -beaten with all the players’ might, resounded with heavy, rapid blows; -and, in spite of the fury of the clarions, the salsalim snapped like -grasshoppers’ wings. - -The hierodules, with a long hook, opened the seven-storied compartments -on the body of the Baal. They put meal into the highest, two -turtle-doves into the second, an ape into the third, a ram into the -fourth, a sheep into the fifth, and as no ox was to be had for the -sixth, a tawny hide taken from the sanctuary was thrown into it. The -seventh compartment yawned empty still. - -Before undertaking anything it was well to make trial of the arms of the -god. Slender chainlets stretched from his fingers up to his shoulders -and fell behind, where men by pulling them made the two hands rise to a -level with the elbows, and come close together against the belly; they -were moved several times in succession with little abrupt jerks. Then -the instruments were still. The fire roared. - -The pontiffs of Moloch walked about on the great flagstone scanning the -multitude. - -An individual sacrifice was necessary, a perfectly voluntary oblation, -which was considered as carrying the others along with it. But no one -had appeared up to the present, and the seven passages leading from the -barriers to the colossus were completely empty. Then the priests, to -encourage the people, drew bodkins from their girdles and gashed their -faces. The Devotees, who were stretched on the ground outside, were -brought within the enclosure. A bundle of horrible irons was thrown to -them, and each chose his own torture. They drove in spits between their -breasts; they split their cheeks; they put crowns of thorns upon their -heads; then they twined their arms together, and surrounded the children -in another large circle which widened and contracted in turns. They -reached to the balustrade, they threw themselves back again, and then -began once more, attracting the crowd to them by the dizziness of their -motion with its accompanying blood and shrieks. - -By degrees people came into the end of the passages; they flung into -the flames pearls, gold vases, cups, torches, all their wealth; the -offerings became constantly more numerous and more splendid. At last a -man who tottered, a man pale and hideous with terror, thrust forward -a child; then a little black mass was seen between the hands of the -colossus, and sank into the dark opening. The priests bent over the edge -of the great flagstone,—and a new song burst forth celebrating the -joys of death and of new birth into eternity. - -The children ascended slowly, and as the smoke formed lofty eddies as -it escaped, they seemed at a distance to disappear in a cloud. Not -one stirred. Their wrists and ankles were tied, and the dark drapery -prevented them from seeing anything and from being recognised. - -Hamilcar, in a red cloak, like the priests of Moloch, was beside the -Baal, standing upright in front of the great toe of its right foot. When -the fourteenth child was brought every one could see him make a great -gesture of horror. But he soon resumed his former attitude, folded his -arms, and looked upon the ground. The high pontiff stood on the other -side of the statue as motionless as he. His head, laden with an Assyrian -mitre, was bent, and he was watching the gold plate on his breast; it -was covered with fatidical stones, and the flame mirrored in it formed -irisated lights. He grew pale and dismayed. Hamilcar bent his brow; and -they were both so near the funeral-pile that the hems of their cloaks -brushed it as they rose from time to time. - -The brazen arms were working more quickly. They paused no longer. Every -time that a child was placed in them the priests of Moloch spread -out their hands upon him to burden him with the crimes of the people, -vociferating: “They are not men but oxen!” and the multitude round -about repeated: “Oxen! oxen!” The devout exclaimed: “Lord! eat!” -and the priests of Proserpine, complying through terror with the needs -of Carthage, muttered the Eleusinian formula: “Pour out rain! bring -forth!” - -The victims, when scarcely at the edge of the opening, disappeared like -a drop of water on a red-hot plate, and white smoke rose amid the great -scarlet colour. - -Nevertheless, the appetite of the god was not appeased. He ever wished -for more. In order to furnish him with a larger supply, the victims were -piled up on his hands with a big chain above them which kept them in -their place. Some devout persons had at the beginning wished to count -them, to see whether their number corresponded with the days of -the solar year; but others were brought, and it was impossible to -distinguish them in the giddy motion of the horrible arms. This lasted -for a long, indefinite time until the evening. Then the partitions -inside assumed a darker glow, and burning flesh could be seen. Some even -believed that they could descry hair, limbs, and whole bodies. - -Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeral-pile, which -was flameless now, formed a pyramid of coals up to his knees; completely -red like a giant covered with blood, he looked, with his head -thrown back, as though he were staggering beneath the weight of his -intoxication. - -In proportion as the priests made haste, the frenzy of the people -increased; as the number of the victims was diminishing, some cried -out to spare them, others that still more were needful. The walls, with -their burden of people, seemed to be giving way beneath the howlings -of terror and mystic voluptuousness. Then the faithful came into the -passages, dragging their children, who clung to them; and they beat them -in order to make them let go, and handed them over to the men in red. -The instrument-players sometimes stopped through exhaustion; then the -cries of the mothers might be heard, and the frizzling of the fat as it -fell upon the coals. The henbane-drinkers crawled on all fours around -the colossus, roaring like tigers; the Yidonim vaticinated, the Devotees -sang with their cloven lips; the trellis-work had been broken through, -all wished for a share in the sacrifice;—and fathers, whose children -had died previously, cast their effigies, their playthings, their -preserved bones into the fire. Some who had knives rushed upon the rest. -They slaughtered one another. The hierodules took the fallen ashes at -the edge of the flagstone in bronze fans, and cast them into the air -that the sacrifice might be scattered over the town and even to the -region of the stars. - -The loud noise and great light had attracted the Barbarians to the foot -of the walls; they clung to the wreck of the helepolis to have a better -view, and gazed open-mouthed in horror. - - - - - -CHAPTER XIV THE PASS OF THE HATCHET - -The Carthaginians had not re-entered their houses when the clouds -accumulated more thickly; those who raised their heads towards the -colossus could feel big drops on their foreheads, and the rain fell. - -It fell the whole night plentifully, in floods; the thunder growled; it -was the voice of Moloch; he had vanquished Tanith; and she, being now -fecundated, opened up her vast bosom in heaven’s heights. Sometimes -she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched upon cushions -of cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as though she -were still too weary and wished to sleep again; the Carthaginians, all -believing that water is brought forth by the moon, shouted to make her -travail easy. - -The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in -the courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of the -streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big frothy -jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it seemed -as though whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the washed -temple-roofs shone black in the gleam of the lightning. Torrents -descended from the Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses suddenly gave -way, and small beams, plaster, rubbish, and furniture passed along in -streams which ran impetuously over the pavement. - -Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the -torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of -the Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their -mouths to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their -arms into them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly -with water that they vomited it forth like buffaloes. The freshness -gradually spread; they breathed in the damp air with play of limb, and -in the happiness of their intoxication boundless hope soon arose. All -their miseries were forgotten. Their country was born anew. - -They felt the need, as it were, of directing upon others the extravagant -fury which they had been unable to employ against themselves. Such a -sacrifice could not be in vain; although they felt no remorse they found -themselves carried away by the frenzy which results from complicity in -irreparable crimes. - -The Barbarians had encountered the storm in their ill-closed tents; and -they were still quite chilled on the morrow as they tramped through the -mud in search of their stores and weapons, which were spoiled and lost. - -Hamilcar went himself to see Hanno, and, in virtue of his plenary -powers, intrusted the command to him. The old Suffet hesitated for a -few minutes between his animosity and his appetite for authority, but he -accepted nevertheless. - -Hamilcar next took out a galley armed with a catapult at each end. -He placed it in the gulf in front of the raft; then he embarked -his stoutest troops on board such vessels as were available. He was -apparently taking to flight; and running northward before the wind he -disappeared into the mist. - -But three days afterwards, when the attack was about to begin again, -some people arrived tumultuously from the Libyan coast. Barca had -come among them. He had carried off provisions everywhere, and he was -spreading through the country. - -Then the Barbarians were indignant as though he were betraying them. -Those who were most weary of the siege, and especially the Gauls, did -not hesitate to leave the walls in order to try and rejoin him. Spendius -wanted to reconstruct the helepolis; Matho had traced an imaginary line -from his tent to Megara, and inwardly swore to follow it, and none of -their men stirred. But the rest, under the command of Autaritus, went -off, abandoning the western part of the rampart, and so profound was the -carelessness exhibited that no one even thought of replacing them. - -Narr’ Havas spied them from afar in the mountains. During the night he -led all his men along the sea-shore on the outer side of the Lagoon, and -entered Carthage. - -He presented himself as a saviour with six thousand men all carrying -meal under their cloaks, and forty elephants laden with forage and dried -meat. The people flocked quickly around them; they gave them names. The -sight of these strong animals, sacred to Baal, gave the Carthaginians -even more joy than the arrival of such relief; it was a token of the -tenderness of the god, a proof that he was at last about to interfere in -the war to defend them. - -Narr’ Havas received the compliments of the Ancients. Then he ascended -to Salammbô’s palace. - -He had not seen her again since the time when in Hamilcar’s tent amid -the five armies he had felt her little, cold, soft hand fastened to his -own; she had left for Carthage after the betrothal. His love, which -had been diverted by other ambitions, had come back to him; and now he -expected to enjoy his rights, to marry her, and take her. - -Salammbô did not understand how the young man could ever become her -master! Although she asked Tanith every day for Matho’s death, her -horror of the Libyan was growing less. She vaguely felt that the hate -with which he had persecuted her was something almost religious,—and -she would fain have seen in Narr’ Havas’s person a reflection, as -it were, of that malice which still dazzled her. She desired to know him -better, and yet his presence would have embarrassed her. She sent him -word that she could not receive him. - -Moreover, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit the King of the -Numidians to see her; by putting off his reward to the end of the war -he hoped to retain his devotion;—and, through dread of the Suffet, -Narr’ Havas withdrew. - -But he bore himself haughtily towards the Hundred. He changed their -arrangements. He demanded privileges for his men, and placed them -on important posts; thus the Barbarians stared when they perceived -Numidians on the towers. - -The surprise of the Carthaginians was greater still when three hundred -of their own people, who had been made prisoners during the Sicilian -war, arrived on board an old Punic trireme. Hamilcar, in fact, had -secretly sent back to the Quirites the crews of the Latin vessels, -taken before the defection of the Tyrian towns; and, to reciprocate the -courtesy, Rome was now sending him back her captives. She scorned the -overtures of the Mercenaries in Sardinian, and would not even recognise -the inhabitants of Utica as subjects. - -Hiero, who was ruling at Syracuse, was carried away by this example. For -the preservation of his own States it was necessary that an equilibrium -should exist between the two peoples; he was interested, therefore, in -the safety of the Chanaanites, and he declared himself their friend, and -sent them twelve hundred oxen, with fifty-three thousand nebels of pure -wheat. - -A deeper reason prompted aid to Carthage. It was felt that if the -Mercenaries triumphed, every one, from soldier to plate-washer, would -rise, and that no government and no house could resist them. - -Meanwhile Hamilcar was scouring the eastern districts. He drove back -the Gauls, and all the Barbarians found that they were themselves in -something like a state of siege. - -Then he set himself to harass them. He would arrive and then retire, and -by constantly renewing this manouvre, he gradually detached them from -their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and in the end -Matho yielded in like manner. - -He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself up within its walls. This -persistence was full of wisdom, for soon Narr’ Havas was to be -seen issuing from the gate of Khamon with his elephants and soldiers. -Hamilcar was recalling him, but the other Barbarians were already -wandering about in the provinces in pursuit of the Suffet. - -The latter had received three thousand Gauls from Clypea. He had horses -brought to him from Cyrenaica, and armour from Brutium, and began the -war again. - -Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. For five moons he -dragged his enemies after him. He had an end to which he wished to guide -them. - - -The Barbarians had at first tried to encompass him with small -detachments, but he always escaped them. They ceased to separate then. -Their army amounted to about forty thousand men, and several times they -enjoyed the sight of seeing the Carthaginians fall back. - -The horsemen of Narr’ Havas were what they found most tormenting. -Often, at times of the greatest weariness, when they were advancing over -the plains, and dozing beneath the weight of their arms, a great line of -dust would suddenly rise on the horizon; there would be a galloping up -to them, and a rain of darts would pour from the bosom of a cloud filled -with flaming eyes. The Numidians in their white cloaks would utter -loud shouts, raise their arms, press their rearing stallions with their -knees, and, wheeling them round abruptly, would then disappear. They had -always supplies of javelins and dromedaries some distance off, and they -would return more terrible than before, howl like wolves, and take to -flight like vultures. The Barbarians posted at the extremities of the -files fell one by one; and this would continue until evening, when an -attempt would be made to enter the mountains. - -Although they were perilous for elephants, Hamilcar made his way in -among them. He followed the long chain which extends from the promontory -of Hermæum to the top of Zagouan. This, they believed, was a device for -hiding the insufficiency of his troops. But the continual uncertainty in -which he kept them exasperated them at last more than any defeat. They -did not lose heart, and marched after him. - -At last one evening they surprised a body of velites amid some big -rocks at the entrance of a pass between the Silver Mountain and the Lead -Mountain; the entire army was certainly in front of them, for a noise -of footsteps and clarions could be heard; the Carthaginians immediately -fled through the gorge. It descended into a plain, and was shaped like -an iron hatchet with a surrounding of lofty cliffs. The Barbarians -dashed into it in order to overtake the velites; quite at the bottom -other Carthaginians were running tumultuously amid galloping oxen. A man -in a red cloak was to be seen; it was the Suffet; they shouted this to -one another; and they were carried away with increased fury and joy. -Several, from laziness or prudence, had remained on the threshold of the -pass. But some cavalry, debouching from a wood, beat them down upon -the rest with blows of pike and sabre; and soon all the Barbarians were -below in the plain. - -Then this great human mass, after swaying to and fro for some time, -stood still; they could discover no outlet. - -Those who were nearest to the pass went back again, but the passage had -entirely disappeared. They hailed those in front to make them go on; -they were being crushed against the mountain, and from a distance they -inveighed against their companions, who were unable to find the route -again. - -In fact the Barbarians had scarcely descended when men who had been -crouching behind the rocks raised the latter with beams and overthrew -them, and as the slope was steep the huge blocks had rolled down -pell-mell and completely stopped up the narrow opening. - -At the other extremity of the plain stretched a long passage, split in -gaps here and there, and leading to a ravine which ascended to the upper -plateau, where the Punic army was stationed. Ladders had been placed -beforehand in this passage against the wall of cliff; and, protected by -the windings of the gaps, the velites were able to seize and mount them -before being overtaken. Several even made their way to the bottom of the -ravine; they were drawn up with cables, for the ground at this spot was -of moving sand, and so much inclined that it was impossible to climb -it even on the knees. The Barbarians arrived almost immediately. But -a portcullis, forty cubits high, and made to fit the intervening space -exactly, suddenly sank before them like a rampart fallen from the skies. - -The Suffet’s combinations had therefore succeeded. None of the -Mercenaries knew the mountain, and, marching as they did at the head -of their columns, they had drawn on the rest. The rocks, which were -somewhat narrow at the base, had been easily cast down; and, while -all were running, his army had raised shouts, as of distress, on the -horizon. Hamilcar, it is true, might have lost his velites, only half of -whom remained, but he would have sacrificed twenty times as many for the -success of such an enterprise. - -The Barbarians pressed forward until morning, in compact files, from one -end of the plain to the other. They felt the mountain with their hands, -seeking to discover a passage. - -At last day broke; and they perceived all about them a great white wall -hewn with the pick. And no means of safety, no hope! The two natural -outcomes from this blind alley were closed by the portcullis and the -heaps of rocks. - -Then they all looked at one another without speaking. They sank down in -collapse, feeling an icy coldness in their loins, and an overwhelming -weight upon their eyelids. - -They rose, and bounded against the rocks. But the lowest were weighted -by the pressure of the others, and were immovable. They tried to cling -to them so as to reach the top, but the bellying shape of the great -masses rendered all hold impossible. They sought to cleave the ground on -both sides of the gorge, but their instruments broke. They made a large -fire with the tent poles, but the fire could not burn the mountain. - -They returned to the portcullis; it was garnished with long nails as -thick as stakes, as sharp as the spines of a porcupine, and closer than -the hairs of a brush. But they were animated by such rage that they -dashed themselves against it. The first were pierced to the backbone, -those coming next surged over them, and all fell back, leaving human -fragments and bloodstained hair on those horrible branches. - -When their discouragement was somewhat abated, they made an examination -of the provisions. The Mercenaries, whose baggage was lost, possessed -scarcely enough for two days; and all the rest found themselves -destitute,—for they had been awaiting a convoy promised by the -villages of the South. - -However, some bulls were roaming about, those which the Carthaginians -had loosed in the gorge to attract the Barbarians. They killed them with -lance thrusts and ate them, and when their stomachs were filled their -thoughts were less mournful. - -The next day they slaughtered all the mules to the number of about -forty; then they scraped the skins, boiled the entrails, pounded the -bones, and did not yet despair; the army from Tunis had no doubt been -warned, and was coming. - -But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger increased; they gnawed -their sword-belts, and the little sponges which bordered the bottom of -their helmets. - -These forty thousand men were massed into the species of hippodrome -formed by the mountain about them. Some remained in front of the -portcullis, or at the foot of the rocks; the rest covered the plain -confusedly. The strong shunned one another, and the timid sought out the -brave, who, nevertheless, were unable to save them. - -To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily buried; -and the position of the graves was no longer visible. - -All the Barbarians lay drooping on the ground. A veteran would pass -between their lines here and there; and they would howl curses against -the Carthaginians, against Hamilcar, and against Matho, although he was -innocent of their disaster; but it seemed to them that their pains would -have been less if he had shared them. Then they groaned, and some wept -softly like little children. - -They came to the captains and besought them to grant them something that -would alleviate their sufferings. The others made no reply; or, seized -with fury, would pick up a stone and fling it in their faces. - -Several, in fact, carefully kept a reserve of food in a hole in the -ground—a few handfuls of dates, or a little meal; and they ate this -during the night, with their heads bent beneath their cloaks. Those -who had swords kept them naked in their hands, and the most suspicious -remained standing with their backs against the mountain. - -They accused their chiefs and threatened them. Autaritus was not afraid -of showing himself. With the Barbaric obstinacy which nothing could -discourage, he would advance twenty times a day to the rocks at the -bottom, hoping every time to find them perchance displaced; and swaying -his heavy fur-covered shoulders, he reminded his companions of a bear -coming forth from its cave in springtime to see whether the snows are -melted. - -Spendius, surrounded by the Greeks, hid himself in one of the gaps; as -he was afraid, he caused a rumour of his death to be spread. - -They were now hideously lean; their skin was overlaid with bluish -marblings. On the evening of the ninth day three Iberians died. - -Their frightened companions left the spot. They were stripped, and the -white, naked bodies lay in the sunshine on the sand. - -Then the Garamantians began to prowl slowly round about them. They were -men accustomed to existence in solitude, and they reverenced no god. At -last the oldest of the band made a sign, and bending over the corpses -they cut strips from them with their knives, then squatted upon their -heels and ate. The rest looked on from a distance; they uttered cries -of horror;—many, nevertheless, being, at the bottom of their souls, -jealous of such courage. - -In the middle of the night some of these approached, and, dissembling -their eagerness, asked for a small mouthful, merely to try, they said. -Bolder ones came up; their number increased; there was soon a crowd. But -almost all of them let their hands fall on feeling the cold flesh on the -edge of their lips; others, on the contrary, devoured it with delight. - -That they might be led away by example, they urged one another on -mutually. Such as had at first refused went to see the Garamantians, and -returned no more. They cooked the pieces on coals at the point of the -sword; they salted them with dust, and contended for the best morsels. -When nothing was left of the three corpses, their eyes ranged over the -whole plain to find others. - -But were they not in possession of Carthaginians—twenty captives taken -in the last encounter, whom no one had noticed up to the present? These -disappeared; moreover, it was an act of vengeance. Then, as they must -live, as the taste for this food had become developed, and as they were -dying, they cut the throats of the water-carriers, grooms, and all the -serving-men belonging to the Mercenaries. They killed some of them every -day. Some ate much, recovered strength, and were sad no more. - -Soon this resource failed. Then the longing was directed to the wounded -and sick. Since they could not recover, it was as well to release -them from their tortures; and, as soon as a man began to stagger, all -exclaimed that he was now lost, and ought to be made use of for the -rest. Artifices were employed to accelerate their death; the last -remnant of their foul portion was stolen from them; they were trodden -on as though by inadvertence; those in the last throes wishing to make -believe that they were strong, strove to stretch out their arms, to -rise, to laugh. Men who had swooned came to themselves at the touch of a -notched blade sawing off a limb;—and they still slew, ferociously and -needlessly, to sate their fury. - -A mist heavy and warm, such as comes in those regions at the end -of winter, sank on the fourteenth day upon the army. This change -of temperature brought numerous deaths with it, and corruption was -developed with frightful rapidity in the warm dampness which was kept -in by the sides of the mountain. The drizzle that fell upon the corpses -softened them, and soon made the plain one broad tract of rottenness. -Whitish vapours floated overhead; they pricked the nostrils, penetrated -the skin, and troubled the sight; and the Barbarians thought that -through the exhalations of the breath they could see the souls of their -companions. They were overwhelmed with immense disgust. They wished for -nothing more; they preferred to die. - -Two days afterwards the weather became fine again, and hunger seized -them once more. It seemed to them that their stomachs were being -wrenched from them with tongs. Then they rolled about in convulsions, -flung handfuls of dust into their mouths, bit their arms, and burst into -frantic laughter. - -They were still more tormented by thirst, for they had not a drop of -water, the leathern bottles having been completely dried up since the -ninth day. To cheat their need they applied their tongues to the metal -plates on their waist-belts, their ivory pommels, and the steel of their -swords. Some former caravan-leaders tightened their waists with ropes. -Others sucked a pebble. They drank urine cooled in their brazen helmets. - -And they still expected the army from Tunis! The length of time which it -took in coming was, according to their conjectures, an assurance of its -early arrival. Besides, Matho, who was a brave fellow, would not desert -them. “’Twill be to-morrow!” they would say to one another; and -then to-morrow would pass. - -At the beginning they had offered up prayers and vows, and practised all -kinds of incantations. Just now their only feeling to their divinities -was one of hatred, and they strove to revenge themselves by believing in -them no more. - -Men of violent disposition perished first; the Africans held out -better than the Gauls. Zarxas lay stretched at full length among the -Balearians, his hair over his arm, inert. Spendius found a plant with -broad leaves filled abundantly with juice, and after declaring that it -was poisonous, so as to keep off the rest, he fed himself upon it. - -They were too weak to knock down the flying crows with stones. Sometimes -when a gypaëtus was perched on a corpse, and had been mangling it for -a long time, a man would set himself to crawl towards it with a javelin -between his teeth. He would support himself with one hand, and after -taking a good aim, throw his weapon. The white-feathered creature, -disturbed by the noise, would desist and look about in tranquil fashion -like a cormorant on a rock, and would then again thrust in its hideous, -yellow beak, while the man, in despair, would fall flat on his face in -the dust. Some succeeded in discovering chameleons and serpents. But it -was the love of life that kept them alive. They directed their souls to -this idea exclusively, and clung to existence by an effort of the will -that prolonged it. - -The most stoical kept close to one another, seated in a circle here and -there, among the dead in the middle of the plain; and wrapped in their -cloaks they gave themselves up silently to their sadness. - -Those who had been born in towns recalled the resounding streets, the -taverns, theatres, baths, and the barbers’ shops where there are tales -to be heard. Others could once more see country districts at sunset, -when the yellow corn waves, and the great oxen ascend the hills again -with the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers dreamed of cisterns, -hunters of their forests, veterans of battles; and in the somnolence -that benumbed them their thoughts jostled one another with the -precipitancy and clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came suddenly upon -them; they sought for a door in the mountain in order to flee, and tried -to pass through it. Others thought that they were sailing in a storm -and gave orders for the handling of a ship, or else fell back in terror, -perceiving Punic battalions in the clouds. There were some who imagined -themselves at a feast, and sang. - -Many through a strange mania would repeat the same word or continually -make the same gesture. Then when they happened to raise their heads -and look at one another they were choked with sobs on discovering the -horrible ravages made in their faces. Some had ceased to suffer, and to -while away the hours told of the perils which they had escaped. - -Death was certain and imminent to all. How many times had they not tried -to open up a passage! As to implore terms from the conqueror, by what -means could they do so? They did not even know where Hamilcar was. - -The wind was blowing from the direction of the ravine. It made the sand -flow perpetually in cascades over the portcullis; and the cloaks and -hair of the Barbarians were being covered with it as though the earth -were rising upon them and desirous of burying them. Nothing stirred; the -eternal mountain seemed still higher to them every morning. - -Sometimes flights of birds darted past beneath the blue sky in the -freedom of the air. The men closed their eyes that they might not see -them. - -At first they felt a buzzing in their ears, their nails grew black, the -cold reached to their breasts; they lay upon their sides and expired -without a cry. - -On the nineteenth day two thousand Asiatics were dead, with fifteen -hundred from the Archipelago, eight thousand from Libya, the youngest of -the Mercenaries and whole tribes—in all twenty thousand soldiers, or -half of the army. - -Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in -order to put an end to this state of things, when he thought he saw a -man on the top of the mountain in front of him. - -Owing to his elevation this man did not appear taller than a dwarf. -However, Autaritus recognised a shield shaped like a trefoil on his left -arm. “A Carthaginian!” he exclaimed, and immediately throughout -the plain, before the portcullis and beneath the rocks, all rose. The -soldier was walking along the edge of the precipice; the Barbarians -gazed at him from below. - -Spendius picked up the head of an ox; then having formed a diadem with -two belts, he fixed it on the horns at the end of a pole in token of -pacific intentions. The Carthaginian disappeared. They waited. - -At last in the evening a sword-belt suddenly fell from above like a -stone loosened from the cliff. It was made of red leather covered with -embroidery, with three diamond stars, and stamped in the centre, it bore -the mark of the Great Council: a horse beneath a palm-tree. This was -Hamilcar’s reply, the safe-conduct that he sent them. - -They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune brought with it the end -of their woes. They were moved with extravagant joy, they embraced one -another, they wept. Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas, four Italiotes, -a Negro and two Spartans offered themselves as envoys. They were -immediately accepted. They did not know, however, by what means they -should get away. - -But a cracking sounded in the direction of the rocks; and the most -elevated of them, after rocking to and fro, rebounded to the bottom. -In fact, if they were immovable on the side of the Barbarians—for it -would have been necessary to urge them up an incline plane, and -they were, moreover, heaped together owing to the narrowness of the -gorge—on the others, on the contrary, it was sufficient to drive -against them with violence to make them descend. The Carthaginians -pushed them, and at daybreak they projected into the plain like the -steps of an immense ruined staircase. - -The Barbarians were still unable to climb them. Ladders were held out -for their assistance; all rushed upon them. The discharge of a catapult -drove the crowd back; only the Ten were taken away. - -They walked amid the Clinabarians, leaning their hands on the horses’ -croups for support. - -Now that their first joy was over they began to harbour anxieties. -Hamilcar’s demands would be cruel. But Spendius reassured them. - -“I will speak!” And he boasted that he knew excellent things to say -for the safety of the army. - -Behind all the bushes they met with ambushed sentries, who prostrated -themselves before the sword-belt which Spendius had placed over his -shoulder. - -When they reached the Punic camp the crowd flocked around them, and they -thought that they could hear whisperings and laughter. The door of a -tent opened. - -Hamilcar was at the very back of it seated on a stool beside a table on -which there shone a naked sword. He was surrounded by captains, who were -standing. - -He started back on perceiving these men, and then bent over to examine -them. - -Their pupils were strangely dilated, and there was a great black circle -round their eyes, which extended to the lower parts of their ears; their -bluish noses stood out between their hollow cheeks, which were chinked -with deep wrinkles; the skin of their bodies was too large for their -muscles, and was hidden beneath a slate-coloured dust; their lips were -glued to their yellow teeth; they exhaled an infectious odour; they -might have been taken for half-opened tombs, for living sepulchres. - -In the centre of the tent, on a mat on which the captains were about to -sit down, there was a dish of smoking gourds. The Barbarians fastened -their eyes upon it with a shivering in all their limbs, and tears came -to their eyelids; nevertheless they restrained themselves. - -Hamilcar turned away to speak to some one. Then they all flung -themselves upon it, flat on the ground. Their faces were soaked in the -fat, and the noise of their deglutition was mingled with the sobs of joy -which they uttered. Through astonishment, doubtless, rather than pity, -they were allowed to finish the mess. Then when they had risen Hamilcar -with a sign commanded the man who bore the sword-belt to speak. Spendius -was afraid; he stammered. - -Hamilcar, while listening to him, kept turning round on his finger a -big gold ring, the same which had stamped the seal of Carthage upon the -sword-belt. He let it fall to the ground; Spendius immediately picked it -up; his servile habits came back to him in the presence of his master. -The others quivered with indignation at such baseness. - -But the Greek raised his voice and spoke for a long time in rapid, -insidious, and even violent fashion, setting forth the crimes of Hanno, -whom he knew to be Barca’s enemy, and striving to move Hamilcar’s -pity by the details of their miseries and the recollection of their -devotion; in the end he became forgetful of himself, being carried away -by the warmth of his temper. - -Hamilcar replied that he accepted their excuses. Peace, then, was about -to be concluded, and now it would be a definitive one! But he required -that ten Mercenaries, chosen by himself, should be delivered up to him -without weapons or tunics. - -They had not expected such clemency; Spendius exclaimed: “Ah! twenty -if you wish, master!” - -“No! ten will suffice,” replied Hamilcar quietly. - -They were sent out of the tent to deliberate. As soon as they were -alone, Autaritus protested against the sacrifice of their companions, -and Zarxas said to Spendius: - -“Why did you not kill him? his sword was there beside you!” - -“Him!” said Spendius. “Him! him!” he repeated several times, as -though the thing had been impossible, and Hamilcar were an immortal. - -They were so overwhelmed with weariness that they stretched themselves -on their backs on the ground, not knowing at what resolution to arrive. - -Spendius urged them to yield. At last they consented, and went in again. - -Then the Suffet put his hand into the hands of the ten Barbarians in -turn, and pressed their thumbs; then he rubbed it on his garment, for -their viscous skin gave a rude, soft impression to the touch, a greasy -tingling which induced horripilation. Afterwards he said to them: - -“You are really all the chiefs of the Barbarians, and you have sworn -for them?” - -“Yes!” they replied. - -“Without constraint, from the bottom of your souls, with the intention -of fulfilling your promises?” - -They assured him that they were returning to the rest in order to fulfil -them. - -“Well!” rejoined the Suffet, “in accordance with the convention -concluded between myself, Barca, and the ambassadors of the Mercenaries, -it is you whom I choose and shall keep!” - -Spendius fell swooning upon the mat. The Barbarians, as though -abandoning him, pressed close together; and there was not a word, not a -complaint. - - -Their companions, who were waiting for them, not seeing them return, -believed themselves betrayed. The envoys had no doubt given themselves -up to the Suffet. - -They waited for two days longer; then on the morning of the third, their -resolution was taken. With ropes, picks, and arrows, arranged like -rungs between strips of canvas, they succeeded in scaling the rocks; and -leaving the weakest, about three thousand in number, behind them, they -began their march to rejoin the army at Tunis. - -Above the gorge there stretched a meadow thinly sown with shrubs; the -Barbarians devoured the buds. Afterwards they found a field of beans; -and everything disappeared as though a cloud of grasshoppers had passed -that way. Three hours later they reached a second plateau bordered by a -belt of green hills. - -Among the undulations of these hillocks, silvery sheaves shone at -intervals from one another; the Barbarians, who were dazzled by the -sun, could perceive confusedly below great black masses supporting them; -these rose, as though they were expanding. They were lances in towers on -elephants terribly armed. - -Besides the spears on their breasts, the bodkin tusks, the brass plates -which covered their sides, and the daggers fastened to their knee-caps, -they had at the extremity of their tusks a leathern bracelet, in -which the handle of a broad cutlass was inserted; they had set out -simultaneously from the back part of the plain, and were advancing on -both sides in parallel lines. - -The Barbarians were frozen with a nameless terror. They did not even try -to flee. They already found themselves surrounded. - -The elephants entered into this mass of men; and the spurs on their -breasts divided it, the lances on their tusks upturned it like -ploughshares; they cut, hewed, and hacked with the scythes on their -trunks; the towers, which were full of phalaricas, looked like volcanoes -on the march; nothing could be distinguished but a large heap, whereon -human flesh, pieces of brass and blood made white spots, grey sheets -and red fuses. The horrible animals dug out black furrows as they passed -through the midst of it all. - -The fiercest was driven by a Numidian who was crowned with a diadem of -plumes. He hurled javelins with frightful quickness, giving at intervals -a long shrill whistle. The great beasts, docile as dogs, kept an eye on -him during the carnage. - -The circle of them narrowed by degrees; the weakened Barbarians offered -no resistance; the elephants were soon in the centre of the plain. -They lacked space; they thronged half-rearing together, and their tusks -clashed against one another. Suddenly Narr’ Havas quieted them, and -wheeling round they trotted back to the hills. - -Two syntagmata, however, had taken refuge on the right in a bend of -ground, had thrown away their arms, and were all kneeling with their -faces towards the Punic tents imploring mercy with uplifted arms. - -Their legs and hands were tied; then when they were stretched on the -ground beside one another the elephants were brought back. - -Their breasts cracked like boxes being forced; two were crushed at every -step; the big feet sank into the bodies with a motion of the haunches -which made the elephants appear lame. They went on to the very end. - -The level surface of the plain again became motionless. Night fell. -Hamilcar was delighting himself with the spectacle of his vengeance, but -suddenly he started. - -He saw, and all saw, some more Barbarians six hundred paces to the -left on the summit of a peak! In fact four hundred of the stoutest -Mercenaries, Etruscans, Libyans, and Spartans had gained the heights at -the beginning, and had remained there in uncertainty until now. After -the massacre of their companions they resolved to make their way through -the Carthaginians; they were already descending in serried columns, in a -marvellous and formidable fashion. - -A herald was immediately despatched to them. The Suffet needed soldiers; -he received them unconditionally, so greatly did he admire their -bravery. They could even, said the man of Carthage, come a little -nearer, to a place, which he pointed out to them, where they would find -provisions. - -The Barbarians ran thither and spent the night in eating. Then the -Carthaginians broke into clamours against the Suffet’s partiality for -the Mercenaries. - -Did he yield to these outbursts of insatiable hatred or was it a -refinement of treachery? The next day he came himself, without a sword -and bare-headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and announced to -them that having too many to feed he did not intend to keep them. -Nevertheless, as he wanted men and he knew of no means of selecting the -good ones, they were to fight together to the death; he would then admit -the conquerors into his own body-guard. This death was quite as good as -another;—and then moving his soldiers aside (for the Punic standards -hid the horizon from the Mercenaries) he showed them the one hundred -and ninety-two elephants under Narr’ Havas, forming a single straight -line, their trunks brandishing broad steel blades like giant arms -holding axes above their heads. - -The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that -made them turn pale, but the horrible compulsion to which they found -themselves reduced. - -The community of their lives had brought about profound friendship among -these men. The camp, with most, took the place of their country; living -without a family they transferred the needful tenderness to a companion, -and they would fall asleep in the starlight side by side under the -same cloak. And then in their perpetual wanderings through all sorts of -countries, murders, and adventures, they had contracted affections, one -for the other, in which the stronger protected the younger in the midst -of battles, helped him to cross precipices, sponged the sweat of fevers -from his brow, and stole food for him, and the weaker, a child perhaps, -who had been picked up on the roadside, and had then become a Mercenary, -repaid this devotion by a thousand kindnesses. - -They exchanged their necklaces and earrings, presents which they had -made to one another in former days, after great peril, or in hours of -intoxication. All asked to die, and none would strike. A young fellow -might be seen here and there, saying to another whose beard was grey: -“No! no! you are more robust! you will avenge us, kill me!” and the -man would reply: “I have fewer years to live! Strike to the heart, and -think no more about it!” Brothers gazed on one another with clasped -hands, and friend bade friend eternal farewells, standing and weeping -upon his shoulder. - -They threw off their cuirasses that the sword-points might be thrust in -the more quickly. Then there appeared the marks of the great blows which -they had received for Carthage, and which looked like inscriptions on -columns. - -They placed themselves in four equal ranks, after the fashion of -gladiators, and began with timid engagements. Some had even bandaged -their eyes, and their swords waved gently through the air like blind -men’s sticks. The Carthaginians hooted, and shouted to them that they -were cowards. The Barbarians became animated, and soon the combat as -general, headlong, and terrible. - -Sometimes two men all covered with blood would stop, fall into each -other’s arms, and die with mutual kisses. None drew back. They rushed -upon the extended blades. Their delirium was so frenzied that the -Carthaginians in the distance were afraid. - -At last they stopped. Their breasts made a great hoarse noise, and -their eyeballs could be seen through their long hair, which hung down -as though it had come out of a purple bath. Several were turning round -rapidly, like panthers wounded in the forehead. Others stood motionless -looking at a corpse at their feet; then they would suddenly tear their -faces with their nails, take their swords with both hands, and plunge -them into their own bodies. - -There were still sixty left. They asked for drink. They were told by -shouts to throw away their swords, and when they had done so water was -brought to them. - -While they were drinking, with their faces buried in the vases, sixty -Carthaginians leaped upon them and killed them with stiletos in the -back. - -Hamilcar had done this to gratify the instincts of his army, and, by -means of this treachery, to attach it to his own person. - -The war, then, was ended; at least he believed that it was; Matho -would not resist; in his impatience the Suffet commanded an immediate -departure. - -His scouts came to tell him that a convoy had been descried, departing -towards the Lead Mountain. Hamilcar did not trouble himself about it. -The Mercenaries once annihilated, the Nomads would give him no further -trouble. The important matter was to take Tunis. He advanced by forced -marches upon it. - -He had sent Narr’ Havas to Carthage with the news of his victory; and -the King of the Numidians, proud of his success, visited Salammbô. - - -She received him in her gardens under a large sycamore tree, amid -pillows of yellow leather, and with Taanach beside her. Her face was -covered with a white scarf, which, passing over her mouth and forehead, -allowed only her eyes to be seen; but her lips shone in the transparency -of the tissue like the gems on her fingers, for Salammbô had both -her hands wrapped up, and did not make a gesture during the whole -conversation. - -Narr’ Havas announced the defeat of the Barbarians to her. She thanked -him with a blessing for the services which he had rendered to her -father. Then he began to tell her about the whole campaign. - -The doves on the palm trees around them cooed softly, and other birds -fluttered amid the grass: ring-necked glareolas, Tartessus quails and -Punic guinea-fowl. The garden, long uncultivated, had multiplied -its verdure; coloquintidas mounted into the branches of cassias, the -asclepias was scattered over fields of roses, all kinds of vegetation -formed entwinings and bowers; and here and there, as in the woods, -sun-rays, descending obliquely, marked the shadow of a leaf upon the -ground. Domestic animals, grown wild again, fled at the slightest -noise. Sometimes a gazelle might be seen trailing scattered peacocks’ -feathers after its little black hoofs. The clamours of the distant town -were lost in the murmuring of the waves. The sky was quite blue, and not -a sail was visible on the sea. - -Narr’ Havas had ceased speaking; Salammbô was looking at him without -replying. He wore a linen robe with flowers painted on it, and with gold -fringes at the hem; two silver arrows fastened his plaited hair at the -tips of his ears; his right hand rested on a pike-staff adorned with -circles of electrum and tufts of hair. - -As she watched him a crowd of dim thoughts absorbed her. This young man, -with his gentle voice and feminine figure, captivated her eyes by the -grace of his person, and seemed to her like an elder sister sent by the -Baals to protect her. The recollection of Matho came upon her, nor did -she resist the desire to learn what had become of him. - -Narr’ Havas replied that the Carthaginians were advancing towards -Tunis to take it. In proportion as he set forth their chances of success -and Matho’s weaknesses, she seemed to rejoice in extraordinary hope. -Her lips trembled, her breast panted. When he finally promised to kill -him himself, she exclaimed: “Yes! kill him! It must be so!” - -The Numidian replied that he desired this death ardently, since he would -be her husband when the war was over. - -Salammbô started, and bent her head. - -But Narr’ Havas, pursuing the subject, compared his longings to -flowers languishing for rain, or to lost travellers waiting for the day. -He told her, further, that she was more beautiful than the moon, better -than the wind of morning or than the face of a guest. He would bring -for her from the country of the Blacks things such as there were none in -Carthage, and the apartments in their house should be sanded with gold -dust. - -Evening fell, and odours of balsam were exhaled. For a long time they -looked at each other in silence, and Salammbô’s eyes, in the depths -of her long draperies, resembled two stars in the rift of a cloud. -Before the sun set he withdrew. - -The Ancients felt themselves relieved of a great anxiety, when he -left Carthage. The people had received him with even more enthusiastic -acclamations than on the first occasion. If Hamilcar and the King of the -Numidians triumphed alone over the Mercenaries it would be impossible -to resist them. To weaken Barca they therefore resolved to make the aged -Hanno, him whom they loved, a sharer in the deliverance of Carthage. - -He proceeded immediately towards the western provinces, to take his -vengeance in the very places which had witnessed his shame. But the -inhabitants and the Barbarians were dead, hidden, or fled. Then his -anger was vented upon the country. He burnt the ruins of the ruins, he -did not leave a single tree nor a blade of grass; the children and the -infirm, that were met with, were tortured; he gave the women to his -soldiers to be violated before they were slaughtered. - -Often, on the crests of the hills, black tents were struck as though -overturned by the wind, and broad, brilliantly bordered discs, which -were recognised as being chariot-wheels, revolved with a plaintive sound -as they gradually disappeared in the valleys. The tribes, which had -abandoned the siege of Carthage, were wandering in this way through the -provinces, waiting for an opportunity, or for some victory to be gained -by the Mercenaries, in order to return. But, whether from terror or -famine, they all took the roads to their native lands, and disappeared. - -Hamilcar was not jealous of Hanno’s successes. Nevertheless he was in -a hurry to end matters; he commanded him to fall back upon Tunis; and -Hanno, who loved his country, was under the walls of the town on the -appointed day. - -For its protection it had its aboriginal population, twelve thousand -Mercenaries, and, in addition, all the Eaters of Uncleanness, for -like Matho they were riveted to the horizon of Carthage, and plebs and -schalischim gazed at its lofty walls from afar, looking back in thought -to boundless enjoyments. With this harmony of hatred, resistance was -briskly organised. Leathern bottles were taken to make helmets; all the -palm-trees in the gardens were cut down for lances; cisterns were dug; -while for provisions they caught on the shores of the lake big white -fish, fed on corpses and filth. Their ramparts, kept in ruins now by the -jealousy of Carthage, were so weak that they could be thrown down with a -push of the shoulder. Matho stopped up the holes in them with the stones -of the houses. It was the last struggle; he hoped for nothing, and yet -he told himself that fortune was fickle. - -As the Carthaginians approached they noticed a man on the rampart who -towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that -flew about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of swallows. -Extraordinary to say, none of them touched him. - -Hamilcar pitched his camp on the south side; Narr’ Havas, to his -right, occupied the plain of Rhades, and Hanno the shore of the lake; -and the three generals were to maintain their respective positions, so -as all to attack the walls simultaneously. - -But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish -them like slaves. He had the ten ambassadors crucified beside one -another on a hillock in front of the town. - -At the sight of this the besieged forsook the rampart. - -Matho had said to himself that if he could pass between the walls and -Narr’ Havas’s tents with such rapidity that the Numidians had -not time to come out, he could fall upon the rear of the Carthaginian -infantry, who would be caught between his division and those inside. He -dashed out with his veterans. - -Narr’ Havas perceived him; he crossed the shore of the lake, and came -to warn Hanno to dispatch men to Hamilcar’s assistance. Did he believe -Barca too weak to resist the Mercenaries? Was it a piece of treachery or -folly? No one could ever learn. - -Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesitate. He shouted -orders to sound the trumpets, and his whole army rushed upon the -Barbarians. The latter returned, and ran straight against the -Carthaginians; they knocked them down, crushed them under their feet, -and, driving them back in this way, reached the tent of Hanno, who was -then surrounded by thirty Carthaginians, the most illustrious of the -Ancients. - -He appeared stupefied by their audacity; he called for his captains. -Every one thrust his fist under his throat, vociferating abuse. The -crowd pressed on; and those who had their hands on him could scarce -retain their hold. However, he tried to whisper to them: “I will gave -you whatever you want! I am rich! Save me!” They dragged him along; -heavy as he was his feet did not touch the ground. The Ancients had -been carried off. His terror increased. “You have beaten me! I am your -captive! I will ransom myself! Listen to me, my friends!” and borne -along by all those shoulders which were pressed against his sides, he -repeated: “What are you going to do? What do you want? You can see -that I am not obstanite! I have always been good-natured!” - -A gigantic cross stood at the gate. The Barbarians howled: “Here! -here!” But he raised his voice still higher; and in the names of their -gods he called upon them to lead him to the schalischim, because he -wished to confide to him something on which their safety depended. - -They paused, some asserting that it was right to summon Matho. He was -sent for. - -Hanno fell upon the grass; and he saw around him other crosses also, as -though the torture by which he was about to perish had been multiplied -beforehand; he made efforts to convince himself that he was mistaken, -that there was only one, and even to believe that there were none at -all. At last he was lifted up. - -“Speak!” said Matho. - -He offered to give up Hamilcar; then they would enter Carthage and both -be kings. - -Matho withdrew, signing to the others to make haste. It was a stratagem, -he thought, to gain time. - -The Barbarian was mistaken; Hanno was in an extremity when consideration -is had to nothing, and, moreover, he so execrated Hamilcar that he -would have sacrificed him and all his soldiers on the slightest hope of -safety. - -The Ancients were languishing on the ground at the foot of the crosses; -ropes had already been passed beneath their armpits. Then the old -Suffet, understanding that he must die, wept. - -They tore off the clothes that were still left on him—and the horror -of his person appeared. Ulcers covered the nameless mass; the fat on his -legs hid the nails on his feet; from his fingers there hung what looked -like greenish strips; and the tears streaming through the tubercles on -his cheeks gave to his face an expression of frightful sadness, for -they seemed to take up more room than on another human face. His royal -fillet, which was half unfastened, trailed with his white hair in the -dust. - -They thought that they had no ropes strong enough to haul him up to the -top of the cross, and they nailed him upon it, after the Punic fashion, -before it was erected. But his pride awoke in his pain. He began to -overwhelm them with abuse. He foamed and twisted like a marine monster -being slaughtered on the shore, and predicted that they would all end -more horribly still, and that he would be avenged. - -He was. On the other side of the town, whence there now escaped jets of -flame with columns of smoke, the ambassadors from the Mercenaries were -in their last throes. - -Some who had swooned at first had just revived in the freshness of the -wind; but their chins still rested upon their breasts, and their bodies -had fallen somewhat, in spite of the nails in their arms, which were -fastened higher than their heads; from their heels and hands blood -fell in big, slow drops, as ripe fruit falls from the branches of a -tree,—and Carthage, gulf, mountains, and plains all appeared to them -to be revolving like an immense wheel; sometimes a cloud of dust, rising -from the ground, enveloped them in its eddies; they burned with horrible -thirst, their tongues curled in their mouths, and they felt an icy sweat -flowing over them with their departing souls. - -Nevertheless they had glimpses, at an infinite depth, of streets, -marching soldiers, and the swinging of swords; and the tumult of battle -reached them dimly like the noise of the sea to shipwrecked men dying -on the masts of a ship. The Italiotes, who were sturdier than the rest, -were still shrieking. The Lacedæmonians were silent, with eyelids -closed; Zarxas, once so vigorous, was bending like a broken reed; the -Ethiopian beside him had his head thrown back over the arms of the -cross; Autaritus was motionless, rolling his eyes; his great head of -hair, caught in a cleft in the wood, fell straight upon his forehead, -and his death-rattle seemed rather to be a roar of anger. As to -Spendius, a strange courage had come to him; he despised life now in -the certainty which he possessed of an almost immediate and an eternal -emancipation, and he awaited death with impassibility. - -Amid their swooning, they sometimes started at the brushing of feathers -passing across their lips. Large wings swung shadows around them, -croakings sounded in the air; and as Spendius’s cross was the highest, -it was upon his that the first vulture alighted. Then he turned his face -towards Autaritus, and said slowly to him with an unaccountable smile: - -“Do you remember the lions on the road to Sicca?” - -“They were our brothers!” replied the Gaul, as he expired. - -The Suffet, meanwhile, had bored through the walls and reached -the citadel. The smoke suddenly disappeared before a gust of wind, -discovering the horizon as far as the walls of Carthage; he even thought -that he could distinguish people watching on the platform of Eschmoun; -then, bringing back his eyes, he perceived thirty crosses of extravagant -size on the shore of the Lake, to the left. - -In fact, to render them still more frightful, they had been constructed -with tent-poles fastened end to end, and the thirty corpses of the -Ancients appeared high up in the sky. They had what looked like white -butterflies on their breasts; these were the feathers of the arrows -which had been shot at them from below. - -A broad gold ribbon shone on the summit of the highest; it hung down -to the shoulder, there being no arm on that side, and Hamilcar had some -difficulty in recognising Hanno. His spongy bones had given way under -the iron pins, portions of his limbs had come off, and nothing was left -on the cross but shapeless remains, like the fragments of animals that -are hung up on huntsmen’s doors. - -The Suffet could not have known anything about it; the town in front of -him masked everything that was beyond and behind; and the captains who -had been successively sent to the two generals had not re-appeared. Then -fugitives arrived with the tale of the rout, and the Punic army halted. -This catastrophe, falling upon them as it did in the midst of their -victory, stupefied them. Hamilcar’s orders were no longer listened to. - -Matho took advantage of this to continue his ravages among the -Numidians. - -Hanno’s camp having been overthrown, he had returned against them. -The elephants came out; but the Mercenaries advanced through the plain -shaking about flaming firebrands, which they had plucked from the walls, -and the great beasts, in fright, ran headlong into the gulf, where -they killed one another in their struggles, or were drowned beneath -the weight of their cuirasses. Narr’ Havas had already launched his -cavalry; all threw themselves face downwards upon the ground; then, when -the horses were within three paces of them, they sprang beneath their -bellies, ripped them open with dagger-strokes, and half the Numidians -had perished when Barca came up. - -The exhausted Mercenaries could not withstand his troops. They retired -in good order to the mountain of the Hot Springs. The Suffet was prudent -enough not to pursue them. He directed his course to the mouths of the -Macaras. - -Tunis was his; but it was now nothing but a heap of smoking rubbish. The -ruins fell through the breaches in the walls to the centre of the plain; -quite in the background, between the shores of the gulf, the corpses of -the elephants drifting before the wind conflicted, like an archipelago -of black rocks floating on the water. - -Narr’ Havas had drained his forests of these animals, taking young and -old, male and female, to keep up the war, and the military force of -his kingdom could not repair the loss. The people who had seen them -perishing at a distance were grieved at it; men lamented in the -streets, calling them by their names like deceased friends: “Ah! the -Invincible! the Victory! the Thunderer! the Swallow!” On the first -day, too, there was no talk except of the dead citizens. But on the -morrow the tents of the Mercenaries were seen on the mountain of the -Hot Springs. Then so deep was the despair that many people, especially -women, flung themselves headlong from the top of the Acropolis. - - -Hamilcar’s designs were not known. He lived alone in his tent with -none near him but a young boy, and no one ever ate with them, not even -excepting Narr’ Havas. Nevertheless he showed great deference to the -latter after Hanno’s defeat; but the king of the Numidians had too -great an interest in becoming his son not to distrust him. - -This inertness veiled skilful manouvres. Hamilcar seduced the heads of -the villages by all sorts of artifices; and the Mercenaries were hunted, -repulsed, and enclosed like wild beasts. As soon as they entered a wood, -the trees caught fire around them; when they drank of a spring it was -poisoned; the caves in which they hid in order to sleep were walled up. -Their old accomplices, the populations who had hitherto defended them, -now pursued them; and they continually recognised Carthaginian armour in -these bands. - -Many had their faces consumed with red tetters; this, they thought, had -come to them through touching Hanno. Others imagined that it was because -they had eaten Salammbô’s fishes, and far from repenting of it, they -dreamed of even more abominable sacrileges, so that the abasement of -the Punic Gods might be still greater. They would fain have exterminated -them. - -In this way they lingered for three months along the eastern coast, and -then behind the mountain of Selloum, and as far as the first sands of -the desert. They sought for a place of refuge, no matter where. -Utica and Hippo-Zarytus alone had not betrayed them; but Hamilcar was -encompassing these two towns. Then they went northwards at haphazard -without even knowing the various routes. Their many miseries had -confused their understandings. - -The only feeling left them was one of exasperation, which went on -developing; and one day they found themselves again in the gorges of -Cobus and once more before Carthage! - -Then the actions multiplied. Fortune remained equal; but both sides were -so wearied that they would willingly have exchanged these skirmishes for -a great battle, provided that it were really the last. - -Matho was inclined to carry this proposal himself to the Suffet. One of -his Libyans devoted himself for the purpose. All were convinced as they -saw him depart that he would not return. - -He returned the same evening. - -Hamilcar accepted the challenge. The encounter should take place the -following day at sunrise, in the plain of Rhades. - -The Mercenaries wished to know whether he had said anything more, and -the Libyan added: - -“As I remained in his presence, he asked me what I was waiting for. -‘To be killed!’ I replied. Then he rejoined: ‘No! begone! that -will be to-morrow with the rest.’” - -This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some were terrified by it, -and Matho regretted that the emissary had not been killed. - - -He had still remaining three thousand Africans, twelve hundred -Greeks, fifteen hundred Campanians, two hundred Iberians, four hundred -Etruscans, five hundred Samnites, forty Gauls, and a troop of Naffurs, -nomad bandits met with in the date region—in all seven thousand two -hundred and nineteen soldiers, but not one complete syntagmata. They -had stopped up the holes in their cuirasses with the shoulder-blades of -quadrupeds, and replaced their brass cothurni with worn sandals. Their -garments were weighted with copper or steel plates; their coats of -mail hung in tatters about them, and scars appeared like purple threads -through the hair on their arms and faces. - -The wraiths of their dead companions came back to their souls and -increased their energy; they felt, in a confused way, that they were the -ministers of a god diffused in the hearts of the oppressed, and were the -pontiffs, so to speak, of universal vengeance! Then they were enraged -with grief at what was extravagant injustice, and above all by the sight -of Carthage on the horizon. They swore an oath to fight for one another -until death. - -The beasts of burden were killed, and as much as possible was eaten so -as to gain strength; afterwards they slept. Some prayed, turning towards -different constellations. - -The Carthaginians arrived first in the plain. They rubbed the edges of -their shields with oil to make the arrows glide off them easily; the -foot-soldiers who wore long hair took the precaution of cutting it on -the forehead; and Hamilcar ordered all bowls to be inverted from the -fifth hour, knowing that it is disadvantageous to fight with the stomach -too full. His army amounted to fourteen thousand men, or about double -the number of the Barbarians. Nevertheless, he had never felt such -anxiety; if he succumbed it would mean the annihilation of the Republic, -and he would perish on the cross; if, on the contrary, he triumphed, he -would reach Italy by way of the Pyrenees, the Gauls, and the Alps, and -the empire of the Barcas would become eternal. Twenty times during the -night he rose to inspect everything himself, down to the most trifling -details. As to the Carthaginians, they were exasperated by their -lengthened terror. Narr’ Havas suspected the fidelity of his -Numidians. Moreover, the Barbarians might vanquish them. A strange -weakness had come upon him; every moment he drank large cups of water. - -But a man whom he did not know opened his tent and laid on the ground a -crown of rock-salt, adorned with hieratic designs formed with sulphur, -and lozenges of mother-of-pearl; a marriage crown was sometimes sent to -a betrothed husband; it was a proof of love, a sort of invitation. - -Nevertheless Hamilcar’s daughter had no tenderness for Narr’ Havas. - -The recollection of Matho disturbed her in an intolerable manner; it -seemed to her that the death of this man would unburden her thoughts, -just as people to cure themselves of the bite of a viper crush it upon -the wound. The king of the Numidians was depending upon her; he awaited -the wedding with impatience, and, as it was to follow the victory, -Salammbô made him this present to stimulate his courage. Then his -distress vanished, and he thought only of the happiness of possessing so -beautiful a woman. - -The same vision had assailed Matho; but he cast it from him immediately, -and his love, that he thus thrust back, was poured out upon his -companions in arms. He cherished them like portions of his own person, -of his hatred,—and he felt his spirit higher, and his arms stronger; -everything that he was to accomplish appeared clearly before him. If -sighs sometimes escaped him, it was because he was thinking of Spendius. - -He drew up the Barbarians in six equal ranks. He posted the Etruscans -in the centre, all being fastened to a bronze chain; the archers were -behind, and on the wings he distributed the Naffurs, who were mounted on -short-haired camels, covered with ostrich feathers. - -The Suffet arranged the Carthaginians in similar order. He placed the -Clinabarians outside the infantry next to the velites, and the Numidians -beyond; when day appeared, both sides were thus in line face to face. -All gazed at each other from a distance, with round fierce eyes. There -was at first some hesitation; at last both armies moved. - -The Barbarians advanced slowly so as not to become out of breath, -beating the ground with their feet; the centre of the Punic army formed -a convex curve. Then came the burst of a terrible shock, like the crash -of two fleets in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians had quickly -opened up, and the marksmen, hidden behind the others, discharged their -bullets, arrows, and javelins. The curve of the Carthaginians, however, -flattened by degrees, became quite straight, and then bent inwards; upon -this, the two sections of the velites drew together in parallel lines, -like the legs of a compass that is being closed. The Barbarians, who -were attacking the phalanx with fury, entered the gap; they were being -lost; Matho checked them,—and while the Carthaginian wings continued -to advance, he drew out the three inner ranks of his line; they soon -covered his flanks, and his army appeared in triple array. - -But the Barbarians placed at the extremities were the weakest, -especially those on the left, who had exhausted their quivers, and the -troop of velites, which had at last come up against them, was cutting -them up greatly. - -Matho made them fall back. His right comprised Campanians, who were -armed with axes; he hurled them against the Carthaginian left; the -centre attacked the enemy, and those at the other extremity, who were -out of peril, kept the velites at a distance. - -Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites -between them, and sent them against the Mercenaries. - -Those cone-shaped masses presented a front of horses, and their broader -sides were filled and bristling with lances. The Barbarians found it -impossible to resist; the Greek foot-soldiers alone had brazen armour, -all the rest had cutlasses on the end of poles, scythes taken from the -farms, or swords manufactured out of the fellies of wheels; the -soft blades were twisted by a blow, and while they were engaged in -straightening them under their heels, the Carthaginians massacred them -right and left at their ease. - -But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not stir; those who were -dead, being prevented from falling, formed an obstruction with their -corpses; and the great bronze line widened and contracted in turn, as -supple as a serpent, and as impregnable as a wall. The Barbarians would -come to re-form behind it, pant for a minute, and then set off again -with the fragments of their weapons in their hands. - -Many already had none left, and they leaped upon the Carthaginians, -biting their faces like dogs. The Gauls in their pride stripped -themselves of the sagum; they showed their great white bodies from a -distance, and they enlarged their wounds to terrify the enemy. The voice -of the crier announcing the orders could no longer be heard in the -midst of the Punic syntagmata; their signals were being repeated by the -standards, which were raised above the dust, and every one was swept -away in the swaying of the great mass that surrounded him. - -Hamilcar commanded the Numidians to advance. But the Naffurs rushed to -meet them. - -Clad in vast black robes, with a tuft of hair on the top of the skull, -and a shield of rhinoceros leather, they wielded a steel which had no -handle, and which they held by a rope; and their camels, which bristled -all over with feathers, uttered long, hoarse cluckings. Each blade fell -on a precise spot, then rose again with a smart stroke carrying off a -limb with it. The fierce beasts galloped through the syntagmata. Some, -whose legs were broken, went hopping along like wounded ostriches. - -The Punic infantry turned in a body upon the Barbarians, and cut them -off. Their maniples wheeled about at intervals from one another. The -more brilliant Carthaginian weapons encircled them like golden crowns; -there was a swarming movement in the centre, and the sun, striking down -upon the points of the swords, made them glitter with white flickering -gleams. However, files of Clinabarians lay stretched upon the plain; -some Mercenaries snatched away their armour, clothed themselves in it, -and then returned to the fray. The deluded Carthaginians were several -times entangled in their midst. They would stand stupidly motionless, -or else would back, surge again, and triumphant shouts rising in the -distance seemed to drive them along like derelicts in a storm. Hamilcar -was growing desperate; all was about to perish beneath the genius of -Matho and the invincible courage of the Mercenaries. - -But a great noise of tabourines burst forth on the horizon. It was a -crowd of old men, sick persons, children of fifteen years of age, and -even women, who, being unable to withstand their distress any longer, -had set out from Carthage, and, for the purpose of placing themselves -under the protection of something formidable, had taken from -Hamilcar’s palace the only elephant that the Republic now -possessed,—that one, namely, whose trunk had been cut off. - -Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their country, forsaking its -walls, was coming to command them to die for her. They were seized with -increased fury, and the Numidians carried away all the rest. - -The Barbarians had set themselves with their backs to a hillock in -the centre of the plain. They had no chance of conquering, or even of -surviving; but they were the best, the most intrepid, and the strongest. - -The people from Carthage began to throw spits, larding-pins and hammers, -over the heads of the Numidians; those whom consuls had feared died -beneath sticks hurled by women; the Punic populace was exterminating the -Mercenaries. - -The latter had taken refuge on the top of the hill. Their circle closed -up after every fresh breach; twice it descended to be immediately -repulsed with a shock; and the Carthaginians stretched forth their arms -pell-mell, thrusting their pikes between the legs of their companions, -and raking at random before them. They slipped in the blood; the steep -slope of the ground made the corpses roll to the bottom. The elephant, -which was trying to climb the hillock, was up to its belly; it seemed to -be crawling over them with delight; and its shortened trunk, which was -broad at the extremity, rose from time to time like an enormous leech. - -Then all paused. The Carthaginians ground their teeth as they gazed at -the hill, where the Barbarians were standing. - -At last they dashed at them abruptly, and the fight began again. The -Mercenaries would often let them approach, shouting to them that they -wished to surrender; then, with frightful sneers, they would kill -themselves at a blow, and as the dead fell, the rest would mount upon -them to defend themselves. It was a kind of pyramid, which grew larger -by degrees. - -Soon there were only fifty, then only twenty, only three, and lastly -only two—a Samnite armed with an axe, and Matho who still had his -sword. - -The Samnite with bent hams swept his axe alternately to the right and -left, at the same time warning Matho of the blows that were being aimed -at him. “Master, this way! that way! stoop down!” - -Matho had lost his shoulder-pieces, his helmet, his cuirass; he was -completely naked, and more livid than the dead, with his hair quite -erect, and two patches of foam at the corners of his lips,—and his -sword whirled so rapidly that it formed an aureola around him. A -stone broke it near the guard; the Samnite was killed and the flood of -Carthaginians closed in, they touched Matho. Then he raised both his -empty hands towards heaven, closed his eyes, and, opening out his arms -like a man throwing himself from the summit of a promontory into the -sea, hurled himself among the pikes. - -They moved away before him. Several times he ran against the -Carthaginians. But they always drew back and turned their weapons aside. - -His foot struck against a sword. Matho tried to seize it. He felt -himself tied by the wrists and knees, and fell. - -Narr’ Havas had been following him for some time, step by step, -with one of the large nets used for capturing wild beasts, and, taking -advantage of the moment when he stooped down, had involved him in it. - -Then he was fastened on the elephants with his four limbs forming a -cross; and all those who were not wounded escorted him, and rushed with -great tumult towards Carthage. - -The news of the victory had arrived in some inexplicable way at the -third hour of the night; the clepsydra of Khamon had just completed the -fifth as they reached Malqua; then Matho opened his eyes. There were so -many lights in the houses that the town appeared to be all in flames. - -An immense clamour reached him dimly; and lying on his back he looked at -the stars. - -Then a door closed and he was wrapped in darkness. - -On the morrow, at the same hour, the last of the men left in the Pass of -the Hatchet expired. - -On the day that their companions had set out, some Zuaeces who were -returning had tumbled the rocks down, and had fed them for some time. - -The Barbarians constantly expected to see Matho appear,—and from -discouragement, from languor, and from the obstinacy of sick men who -object to change their situation, they would not leave the mountain; -at last the provisions were exhausted and the Zuaeces went away. It was -known that they numbered scarcely more than thirteen hundred men, and -there was no need to employ soldiers to put an end to them. - -Wild beasts, especially lions, had multiplied during the three years -that the war had lasted. Narr’ Havas had held a great battue, -and—after tying goats at intervals—had run upon them and so driven -them towards the Pass of the Hatchet;—and they were now all living in -it when a man arrived who had been sent by the Ancients to find out what -there was left of the Barbarians. - -Lions and corpses were lying over the tract of the plain, and the dead -were mingled with clothes and armour. Nearly all had the face or an arm -wanting; some appeared to be still intact; others were completely dried -up, and their helmets were filled with powdery skulls; feet which had -lost their flesh stood out straight from the knemides; skeletons still -wore their cloaks; and bones, cleaned by the sun, made gleaming spots in -the midst of the sand. - -The lions were resting with their breasts against the ground and both -paws stretched out, winking their eyelids in the bright daylight, which -was heightened by the reflection from the white rocks. Others were -seated on their hind-quarters and staring before them, or else were -sleeping, rolled into a ball and half hidden by their great manes; they -all looked well fed, tired, and dull. They were as motionless as the -mountain and the dead. Night was falling; the sky was striped with broad -red bands in the west. - -In one of the heaps, which in an irregular fashion embossed the plain, -something rose up vaguer than a spectre. Then one of the lions set -himself in motion, his monstrous form cutting a black shadow on the -background of the purple sky, and when he was quite close to the man, he -knocked him down with a single blow of his paw. - -Then, stretching himself flat upon him, he slowly drew out the entrails -with the edge of his teeth. - -Afterwards he opened his huge jaws, and for some minutes uttered a -lengthened roar which was repeated by the echoes in the mountain, and -was finally lost in the solitude. - -Suddenly some small gravel rolled down from above. The rustling of rapid -steps was heard, and in the direction of the portcullis and of the gorge -there appeared pointed muzzles and straight ears, with gleaming, tawny -eyes. These were the jackals coming to eat what was left. - -The Carthaginian, who was leaning over the top of the precipice to look, -went back again. - - - - - -CHAPTER XV MATHO - -There were rejoicings at Carthage,—rejoicings deep, universal, -extravagant, frantic; the holes of the ruins had been stopped up, the -statues of the gods had been repainted, the streets were strewn with -myrtle branches, incense smoked at the corners of the crossways, and the -throng on the terraces looked, in their variegated garments, like heaps -of flowers blooming in the air. - -The shouts of the water-carriers watering the pavement rose above the -continual screaming of voices; slaves belonging to Hamilcar offered -in his name roasted barley and pieces of raw meat; people accosted one -another, and embraced one another with tears; the Tyrian towns were -taken, the nomads dispersed, and all the Barbarians annihilated. -The Acropolis was hidden beneath coloured velaria; the beaks of the -triremes, drawn up in line outside the mole, shone like a dyke of -diamonds; everywhere there was a sense of the restoration of order, the -beginning of a new existence, and the diffusion of vast happiness: it -was the day of Salammbô’s marriage with the King of the Numidians. - -On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables -laden with gigantic plate, at which the priests, Ancients, and the rich -were to sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar, -Narr’ Havas, and Salammbô; for as she had saved her country by the -restoration of the zaïmph, the people turned her wedding day into a -national rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she should -appear. - -But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing: -Matho’s death has been promised for the ceremony. - -It had been proposed at first to flay him alive, to pour lead into his -entrails, to kill him with hunger; he should be tied to a tree, and -an ape behind him should strike him on the head with a stone; he had -offended Tanith, and the cynocephaluses of Tanith should avenge her. -Others were of opinion that he should be led about on a dromedary after -linen wicks, dipped in oil, had been inserted in his body in several -places;—and they took pleasure in the thought of the large animal -wandering through the streets with this man writhing beneath the fires -like a candelabrum blown about by the wind. - -But what citizens should be charged with his torture, and why disappoint -the rest? They would have liked a kind of death in which the whole -town might take part, in which every hand, every weapon, everything -Carthaginian, to the very paving-stones in the streets and the waves in -the gulf, could rend him, and crush him, and annihilate him. Accordingly -the Ancients decided that he should go from his prison to the square of -Khamon without any escort, and with his arms fastened to his back; it -was forbidden to strike him to the heart, in order that he might live -the longer; to put out his eyes, so that he might see the torture -through; to hurl anything against his person, or to lay more than three -fingers upon him at a time. - -Although he was not to appear until the end of the day, the people -sometimes fancied that he could be seen, and the crowd would rush -towards the Acropolis, and empty the streets, to return with lengthened -murmurings. Some people had remained standing in the same place since -the day before, and they would call on one another from a distance and -show their nails which they had allowed to grow, the better to bury them -into his flesh. Others walked restlessly up and down; some were as pale -as though they were awaiting their own execution. - -Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian -district. It was Salammbô leaving her palace; a sigh of relief found -vent. - -But the procession was long in coming; it marched with deliberation. - -First there filed past the priests of the Patæc Gods, then those of -Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other colleges in succession, with -the same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the -time of the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent, -and the multitude stood aside from them in a kind of remorse. But the -priests of Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in their -hands; the priestesses followed them in transparent robes of yellow -or black, uttering cries like birds and writhing like vipers, or else -whirling round to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of the stars, -while their light garments wafted puffs of delicate scents through the -streets. - -The Kedeschim, with painted eyelids, who symbolised the hermaphrodism of -the Divinity, received applause among these women, and, being perfumed -and dressed like them, they resembled them in spite of their flat -breasts and narrower hips. Moreover, on this day the female principle -dominated and confused all things; a mystic voluptuousness moved in the -heavy air; the torches were already lighted in the depths of the sacred -woods; there was to be a great celebration there during the night; three -vessels had brought courtesans from Sicily, and others had come from the -desert. - -As the colleges arrived they ranged themselves in the courts of the -temples, on the outer galleries, and along double staircases which rose -against the walls, and drew together at the top. Files of white robes -appeared between the colonnades, and the architecture was peopled with -human statues, motionless as statues of stone. - -Then came the masters of the exchequer, the governors of the provinces, -and all the rich. A great tumult prevailed below. Adjacent streets were -discharging the crowd, hierodules were driving it back with blows of -sticks; and then Salammbô appeared in a litter surmounted by a purple -canopy, and surrounded by the Ancients crowned with their golden tiaras. - -Thereupon an immense shout arose; the cymbals and crotala sounded more -loudly, the tabourines thundered, and the great purple canopy sank -between the two pylons. - -It appeared again on the first landing. Salammbô was walking slowly -beneath it; then she crossed the terrace to take her seat behind on a -kind of throne cut out of the carapace of a tortoise. An ivory stool -with three steps was pushed beneath her feet; two Negro children knelt -on the edge of the first step, and sometimes she would rest both arms, -which were laden with rings of excessive weight, upon their heads. - -From ankle to hip she was covered with a network of narrow meshes which -were in imitation of fish scales, and shone like mother-of-pearl; her -waist was clasped by a blue zone, which allowed her breasts to be -seen through two crescent-shaped slashings; the nipples were hidden by -carbuncle pendants. She had a headdress made of peacock’s feathers -studded with gems; an ample cloak, as white as snow, fell behind -her,—and with her elbows at her sides, her knees pressed together, -and circles of diamonds on the upper part of her arms, she remained -perfectly upright in a hieratic attitude. - -Her father and her husband were on two lower seats, Narr’ Havas -dressed in a light simar and wearing his crown of rock-salt, from which -there strayed two tresses of hair as twisted as the horns of Ammon; and -Hamilcar in a violet tunic figured with gold vine branches, and with a -battle-sword at his side. - -The python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on the ground amid pools of -pink oil in the space enclosed by the tables, and, biting its tail, -described a large black circle. In the middle of the circle there was a -copper pillar bearing a crystal egg; and, as the sun shone upon it, rays -were emitted on every side. - -Behind Salammbô stretched the priests of Tanith in linen robes; on her -right the Ancients, in their tiaras, formed a great gold line, and -on the other side the rich with their emerald sceptres a great green -line,—while quite in the background, where the priests of Moloch were -ranged, the cloaks looked like a wall of purple. The other colleges -occupied the lower terraces. The multitude obstructed the streets. It -reached to the house-tops, and extended in long files to the summit of -the Acropolis. Having thus the people at her feet, the firmament -above her head, and around her the immensity of the sea, the gulf, the -mountains, and the distant provinces, Salammbô in her splendour was -blended with Tanith, and seemed the very genius of Carthage, and its -embodied soul. - -The feast was to last all night, and lamps with several branches were -planted like trees on the painted woollen cloths which covered the low -tables. Large electrum flagons, blue glass amphoras, tortoise-shell -spoons, and small round loaves were crowded between the double row of -pearl-bordered plates; bunches of grapes with their leaves had been -rolled round ivory vine-stocks after the fashion of the thyrsus; blocks -of snow were melting on ebony trays, and lemons, pomegranates, gourds, -and watermelons formed hillocks beneath the lofty silver plate; boars -with open jaws were wallowing in the dust of spices; hares, covered with -their fur, appeared to be bounding amid the flowers; there were shells -filled with forcemeat; the pastry had symbolic shapes; when the covers -of the dishes were removed doves flew out. - -The slaves, meanwhile, with tunics tucked up, were going about on -tiptoe; from time to time a hymn sounded on the lyres, or a choir of -voices rose. The clamour of the people, continuous as the noise of -the sea, floated vaguely around the feast, and seemed to lull it in a -broader harmony; some recalled the banquet of the Mercenaries; they gave -themselves up to dreams of happiness; the sun was beginning to go down, -and the crescent of the moon was already rising in another part of the -sky. - -But Salammbô turned her head as though some one had called her; the -people, who were watching her, followed the direction of her eyes. - -The door of the dungeon, hewn in the rock at the foot of the temple, on -the summit of the Acropolis, had just opened; and a man was standing on -the threshold of this black hole. - -He came forth bent double, with the scared look of fallow deer when -suddenly enlarged. - -The light dazzled him; he stood motionless awhile. All had recognised -him, and they held their breath. - -In their eyes the body of this victim was something peculiarly theirs, -and was adorned with almost religious splendour. They bent forward to -see him, especially the women. They burned to gaze upon him who had -caused the deaths of their children and husbands; and from the bottom -of their souls there sprang up in spite of themselves an infamous -curiosity, a desire to know him completely, a wish mingled with remorse -which turned to increased execration. - -At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared. -Numbers of arms were raised, and he was lost to sight. - -The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as -though he were rolled down in a torrent from the top of a mountain; -three times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his feet. - -His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks; -and he made such efforts to burst his bonds that his arms, which were -crossed on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent. - -Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which he -found himself. In each of them a triple row of bronze chains fastened to -the navels of the Patæc gods extended in parallel lines from one end -to the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, and servants, -belonging to the Ancients, walked in the middle brandishing thongs. - -One of them drove him forward with a great blow; Matho began to move. - -They thrust their arms over the chains shouting out that the road had -been left too wide for him; and he passed along, felt, pricked, and -slashed by all those fingers; when he reached the end of one street -another appeared; several times he flung himself to one side to bite -them; they speedily dispersed, the chains held him back, and the crowd -burst out laughing. - -A child rent his ear; a young girl, hiding the point of a spindle in her -sleeve, split his cheek; they tore handfuls of hair from him and strips -of flesh; others smeared his face with sponges steeped in filth and -fastened upon sticks. A stream of blood started from the right side of -his neck, frenzy immediately set in. This last Barbarian was to them a -representative of all the Barbarians, and all the army; they were taking -vengeance on him for their disasters, their terrors, and their shame. -The rage of the mob developed with its gratification; the curving chains -were over-strained, and were on the point of breaking; the people did -not feel the blows of the slaves who struck at them to drive them back; -some clung to the projections of the houses; all the openings in the -walls were stopped up with heads; and they howled at him the mischief -that they could not inflict upon him. - -It was atrocious, filthy abuse mingled with ironical encouragements and -imprecations; and, his present tortures not being enough for them, they -foretold to him others that should be still more terrible in eternity. - -This vast baying filled Carthage with stupid continuity. Frequently -a single syllable—a hoarse, deep, and frantic intonation—would -be repeated for several minutes by the entire people. The walls would -vibrate with it from top to bottom, and both sides of the street would -seem to Matho to be coming against him, and carrying him off the ground, -like two immense arms stifling him in the air. - -Nevertheless he remembered that he had experienced something like it -before. The same crowd was on the terraces, there were the same looks -and the same wrath; but then he had walked free, all had then dispersed, -for a god covered him;—and the recollection of this, gaining precision -by degrees, brought a crushing sadness upon him. Shadows passed before -his eyes; the town whirled round in his head, his blood streamed from a -wound in his hip, he felt that he was dying; his hams bent, and he sank -quite gently upon the pavement. - -Some one went to the peristyle of the temple of Melkarth, took thence -the bar of a tripod, heated red hot in the coals, and, slipping it -beneath the first chain, pressed it against his wound. The flesh was -seen to smoke; the hootings of the people drowned his voice; he was -standing again. - -Six paces further on, and he fell a third and again a fourth time; but -some new torture always made him rise. They discharged little drops of -boiling oil through tubes at him; they strewed pieces of broken glass -beneath his feet; still he walked on. At the corner of the street of -Satheb he leaned his back against the wall beneath the pent-house of a -shop, and advanced no further. - -The slaves of the Council struck him with their whips of hippopotamus -leather, so furiously and long that the fringes of their tunics were -drenched with sweat. Matho appeared insensible; suddenly he started -off and began to run at random, making a noise with his lips like one -shivering with severe cold. He threaded the street of Boudes, and the -street of Soepo, crossed the Green Market, and reached the square of -Khamon. - -He now belonged to the priests; the slaves had just dispersed the crowd, -and there was more room. Matho gazed round him and his eyes encountered -Salammbô. - -At the first step that he had taken she had risen; then, as he -approached, she had involuntarily advanced by degrees to the edge of the -terrace; and soon all external things were blotted out, and she saw -only Matho. Silence fell in her soul,—one of those abysses wherein -the whole world disappears beneath the pressure of a single thought, a -memory, a look. This man who was walking towards her attracted her. - -Excepting his eyes he had no appearance of humanity left; he was a long, -perfectly red shape; his broken bonds hung down his thighs, but they -could not be distinguished from the tendons of his wrists, which were -laid quite bare; his mouth remained wide open; from his eye-sockets -there darted flames which seemed to rise up to his hair;—and the -wretch still walked on! - -He reached the foot of the terrace. Salammbô was leaning over the -balustrade; those frightful eyeballs were scanning her, and there rose -within her a consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. Although -he was in his death agony she could see him once more kneeling in his -tent, encircling her waist with his arms, and stammering out gentle -words; she thirsted to feel them and hear them again; she did not want -him to die! At this moment Matho gave a great start; she was on the -point of shrieking aloud. He fell backwards and did not stir again. - -Salammbô was borne back, nearly swooning, to her throne by the priests -who flocked about her. They congratulated her; it was her work. All -clapped their hands and stamped their feet, howling her name. - -A man darted upon the corpse. Although he had no beard he had the cloak -of a priest of Moloch on his shoulder, and in his belt that species -of knife which they employed for cutting up the sacred meat, and which -terminated, at the end of the handle, in a golden spatula. He cleft -Matho’s breast with a single blow, then snatched out the heart and -laid it upon the spoon; and Schahabarim, uplifting his arm, offered it -to the sun. - -The sun sank behind the waves; his rays fell like long arrows upon the -red heart. As the beatings diminished the planet sank into the sea; and -at the last palpitation it disappeared. - -Then from the gulf to the lagoon, and from the isthmus to the pharos, in -all the streets, on all the houses, and on all the temples, there was -a single shout; sometimes it paused, to be again renewed; the buildings -shook with it; Carthage was convulsed, as it were, in the spasm of -Titanic joy and boundless hope. - -Narr’ Havas, drunk with pride, passed his left arm beneath -Salammbô’s waist in token of possession; and taking a gold patera in -his right hand, he drank to the Genius of Carthage. - -Salammbô rose like her husband, with a cup in her hand, to drink -also. She fell down again with her head lying over the back of the -throne,—pale, stiff, with parted lips,—and her loosened hair hung to -the ground. - -Thus died Hamilcar’s daughter for having touched the mantle of Tanith. - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALAMMBÔ *** diff --git a/old/old-2025-04-16/1290-h/1290-h.htm b/old/old-2025-04-16/1290-h/1290-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 8cc15ed..0000000 --- a/old/old-2025-04-16/1290-h/1290-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13584 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salammbô, by Gustave Flaubert</title> - -<style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> - -body { margin-left: 20%; - margin-right: 20%; - text-align: justify; } - -h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: -normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} - -h1 {font-size: 300%; - margin-top: 0.6em; - margin-bottom: 0.6em; - letter-spacing: 0.12em; - word-spacing: 0.2em; - text-indent: 0em;} -h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} -h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} -h4 {font-size: 120%;} -h5 {font-size: 110%;} - -.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} - -hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} - -p {text-indent: 1em; - margin-top: 0.25em; - margin-bottom: 0.25em; } - -a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} -a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} -a:hover {color:red} - -</style> - </head> - <body> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALAMMBÔ ***</div> - - <h1> - Salammbô - </h1> - - <h2 class="no-break"> - By Gustave Flaubert - </h2> - - <hr /> - - <p> - <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a> - </p> - <p> - <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a> - </p> - - <hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"></a> - CHAPTER I - </h2> - <h3> - THE FEAST - </h3> - <p> - It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar. The - soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily were having a great feast to - celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Eryx, and as the master was - away, and they were numerous, they ate and drank with perfect freedom. - </p> - <p> - The captains, who wore bronze cothurni, had placed themselves in the - central path, beneath a gold-fringed purple awning, which reached from the - wall of the stables to the first terrace of the palace; the common - soldiers were scattered beneath the trees, where numerous flat-roofed - buildings might be seen, wine-presses, cellars, storehouses, bakeries, and - arsenals, with a court for elephants, dens for wild beasts, and a prison - for slaves. - </p> - <p> - Fig-trees surrounded the kitchens; a wood of sycamores stretched away to - meet masses of verdure, where the pomegranate shone amid the white tufts - of the cotton-plant; vines, grape-laden, grew up into the branches of the - pines; a field of roses bloomed beneath the plane-trees; here and there - lilies rocked upon the turf; the paths were strewn with black sand mingled - with powdered coral, and in the centre the avenue of cypress formed, as it - were, a double colonnade of green obelisks from one extremity to the - other. - </p> - <p> - Far in the background stood the palace, built of yellow mottled Numidian - marble, broad courses supporting its four terraced stories. With its - large, straight, ebony staircase, bearing the prow of a vanquished galley - at the corners of every step, its red doors quartered with black crosses, - its brass gratings protecting it from scorpions below, and its trellises - of gilded rods closing the apertures above, it seemed to the soldiers in - its haughty opulence as solemn and impenetrable as the face of Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - The Council had appointed his house for the holding of this feast; the - convalescents lying in the temple of Eschmoun had set out at daybreak and - dragged themselves thither on their crutches. Every minute others were - arriving. They poured in ceaselessly by every path like torrents rushing - into a lake; through the trees the slaves of the kitchens might be seen - running scared and half-naked; the gazelles fled bleating on the lawns; - the sun was setting, and the perfume of citron trees rendered the - exhalation from the perspiring crowd heavier still. - </p> - <p> - Men of all nations were there, Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearians, - Negroes, and fugitives from Rome. Beside the heavy Dorian dialect were - audible the resonant Celtic syllables rattling like chariots of war, while - Ionian terminations conflicted with consonants of the desert as harsh as - the jackal’s cry. The Greek might be recognised by his slender - figure, the Egyptian by his elevated shoulders, the Cantabrian by his - broad calves. There were Carians proudly nodding their helmet plumes, - Cappadocian archers displaying large flowers painted on their bodies with - the juice of herbs, and a few Lydians in women’s robes, dining in - slippers and earrings. Others were ostentatiously daubed with vermilion, - and resembled coral statues. - </p> - <p> - They stretched themselves on the cushions, they ate squatting round large - trays, or lying face downwards they drew out the pieces of meat and sated - themselves, leaning on their elbows in the peaceful posture of lions - tearing their prey. The last comers stood leaning against the trees - watching the low tables half hidden beneath the scarlet coverings, and - awaiting their turn. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s kitchens being insufficient, the Council had sent them - slaves, ware, and beds, and in the middle of the garden, as on a - battle-field when they burn the dead, large bright fires might be seen, at - which oxen were roasting. Anise-sprinkled loaves alternated with great - cheeses heavier than discuses, crateras filled with wine, and cantharuses - filled with water, together with baskets of gold filigree-work containing - flowers. Every eye was dilated with the joy of being able at last to gorge - at pleasure, and songs were beginning here and there. - </p> - <p> - First they were served with birds and green sauce in plates of red clay - relieved by drawings in black, then with every kind of shell-fish that is - gathered on the Punic coasts, wheaten porridge, beans and barley, and - snails dressed with cumin on dishes of yellow amber. - </p> - <p> - Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their horns, - peacocks with their feathers, whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, haunches - of she-camels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried grasshoppers, and - preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in the midst of saffron in - bowls of Tamrapanni wood. Everything was running over with wine, truffles, - and asafotida. Pyramids of fruit were crumbling upon honeycombs, and they - had not forgotten a few of those plump little dogs with pink silky hair - and fattened on olive lees,—a Carthaginian dish held in abhorrence - among other nations. Surprise at the novel fare excited the greed of the - stomach. The Gauls with their long hair drawn up on the crown of the head, - snatched at the water-melons and lemons, and crunched them up with the - rind. The Negroes, who had never seen a lobster, tore their faces with its - red prickles. But the shaven Greeks, whiter than marble, threw the - leavings of their plates behind them, while the herdsmen from Brutium, in - their wolf-skin garments, devoured in silence with their faces in their - portions. - </p> - <p> - Night fell. The velarium, spread over the cypress avenue, was drawn back, - and torches were brought. - </p> - <p> - The apes, sacred to the moon, were terrified on the cedar tops by the - wavering lights of the petroleum as it burned in the porphyry vases. They - uttered screams which afforded mirth to the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - Oblong flames trembled in cuirasses of brass. Every kind of scintillation - flashed from the gem-incrusted dishes. The crateras with their borders of - convex mirrors multiplied and enlarged the images of things; the soldiers - thronged around, looking at their reflections with amazement, and - grimacing to make themselves laugh. They tossed the ivory stools and - golden spatulas to one another across the tables. They gulped down all the - Greek wines in their leathern bottles, the Campanian wine enclosed in - amphoras, the Cantabrian wines brought in casks, with the wines of the - jujube, cinnamomum and lotus. There were pools of these on the ground that - made the foot slip. The smoke of the meats ascended into the foliage with - the vapour of the breath. Simultaneously were heard the snapping of jaws, - the noise of speech, songs, and cups, the crash of Campanian vases - shivering into a thousand pieces, or the limpid sound of a large silver - dish. - </p> - <p> - In proportion as their intoxication increased they more and more recalled - the injustice of Carthage. The Republic, in fact, exhausted by the war, - had allowed all the returning bands to accumulate in the town. Gisco, - their general, had however been prudent enough to send them back severally - in order to facilitate the liquidation of their pay, and the Council had - believed that they would in the end consent to some reduction. But at - present ill-will was caused by the inability to pay them. This debt was - confused in the minds of the people with the 3200 Euboic talents exacted - by Lutatius, and equally with Rome they were regarded as enemies to - Carthage. The Mercenaries understood this, and their indignation found - vent in threats and outbreaks. At last they demanded permission to - assemble to celebrate one of their victories, and the peace party yielded, - at the same time revenging themselves on Hamilcar who had so strongly - upheld the war. It had been terminated notwithstanding all his efforts, so - that, despairing of Carthage, he had entrusted the government of the - Mercenaries to Gisco. To appoint his palace for their reception was to - draw upon him something of the hatred which was borne to them. Moreover, - the expense must be excessive, and he would incur nearly the whole. - </p> - <p> - Proud of having brought the Republic to submit, the Mercenaries thought - that they were at last about to return to their homes with the payment for - their blood in the hoods of their cloaks. But as seen through the mists of - intoxication, their fatigues seemed to them prodigious and but - ill-rewarded. They showed one another their wounds, they told of their - combats, their travels and the hunting in their native lands. They - imitated the cries and the leaps of wild beasts. Then came unclean wagers; - they buried their heads in the amphoras and drank on without interruption, - like thirsty dromedaries. A Lusitanian of gigantic stature ran over the - tables, carrying a man in each hand at arm’s length, and spitting - out fire through his nostrils. Some Lacedæmonians, who had not taken off - their cuirasses, were leaping with a heavy step. Some advanced like women, - making obscene gestures; others stripped naked to fight amid the cups - after the fashion of gladiators, and a company of Greeks danced around a - vase whereon nymphs were to be seen, while a Negro tapped with an ox-bone - on a brazen buckler. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly they heard a plaintive song, a song loud and soft, rising and - falling in the air like the wing-beating of a wounded bird. - </p> - <p> - It was the voice of the slaves in the ergastulum. Some soldiers rose at a - bound to release them and disappeared. - </p> - <p> - They returned, driving through the dust amid shouts, twenty men, - distinguished by their greater paleness of face. Small black felt caps of - conical shape covered their shaven heads; they all wore wooden shoes, and - yet made a noise as of old iron like driving chariots. - </p> - <p> - They reached the avenue of cypress, where they were lost among the crowd - of those questioning them. One of them remained apart, standing. Through - the rents in his tunic his shoulders could be seen striped with long - scars. Drooping his chin, he looked round him with distrust, closing his - eyelids somewhat against the dazzling light of the torches, but when he - saw that none of the armed men were unfriendly to him, a great sigh - escaped from his breast; he stammered, he sneered through the bright tears - that bathed his face. At last he seized a brimming cantharus by its rings, - raised it straight up into the air with his outstretched arms, from which - his chains hung down, and then looking to heaven, and still holding the - cup he said: - </p> - <p> - “Hail first to thee, Baal-Eschmoun, the deliverer, whom the people - of my country call Æsculapius! and to you, genii of the fountains, light, - and woods! and to you, ye gods hidden beneath the mountains and in the - caverns of the earth! and to you, strong men in shining armour who have - set me free!” - </p> - <p> - Then he let fall the cup and related his history. He was called Spendius. - The Carthaginians had taken him in the battle of Æginusæ, and he thanked - the Mercenaries once more in Greek, Ligurian and Punic; he kissed their - hands; finally, he congratulated them on the banquet, while expressing his - surprise at not perceiving the cups of the Sacred Legion. These cups, - which bore an emerald vine on each of their six golden faces, belonged to - a corps composed exclusively of young patricians of the tallest stature. - They were a privilege, almost a sacerdotal distinction, and accordingly - nothing among the treasures of the Republic was more coveted by the - Mercenaries. They detested the Legion on this account, and some of them - had been known to risk their lives for the inconceivable pleasure of - drinking out of these cups. - </p> - <p> - Accordingly they commanded that the cups should be brought. They were in - the keeping of the Syssitia, companies of traders, who had a common table. - The slaves returned. At that hour all the members of the Syssitia were - asleep. - </p> - <p> - “Let them be awakened!” responded the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - After a second excursion it was explained to them that the cups were shut - up in a temple. - </p> - <p> - “Let it be opened!” they replied. - </p> - <p> - And when the slaves confessed with trembling that they were in the - possession of Gisco, the general, they cried out: - </p> - <p> - “Let him bring them!” - </p> - <p> - Gisco soon appeared at the far end of the garden with an escort of the - Sacred Legion. His full, black cloak, which was fastened on his head to a - golden mitre starred with precious stones, and which hung all about him - down to his horse’s hoofs, blended in the distance with the colour - of the night. His white beard, the radiancy of his head-dress, and his - triple necklace of broad blue plates beating against his breast, were - alone visible. - </p> - <p> - When he entered, the soldiers greeted him with loud shouts, all crying: - </p> - <p> - “The cups! The cups!” - </p> - <p> - He began by declaring that if reference were had to their courage, they - were worthy of them. - </p> - <p> - The crowd applauded and howled with joy. - </p> - <p> - <i>He</i> knew it, he who had commanded them over yonder, and had returned - with the last cohort in the last galley! - </p> - <p> - “True! True!” said they. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless, Gisco continued, the Republic had respected their national - divisions, their customs, and their modes of worship; in Carthage they - were free! As to the cups of the Sacred Legion, they were private - property. Suddenly a Gaul, who was close to Spendius, sprang over the - tables and ran straight up to Gisco, gesticulating and threatening him - with two naked swords. - </p> - <p> - Without interrupting his speech, the General struck him on the head with - his heavy ivory staff, and the Barbarian fell. The Gauls howled, and their - frenzy, which was spreading to the others, would soon have swept away the - legionaries. Gisco shrugged his shoulders as he saw them growing pale. He - thought that his courage would be useless against these exasperated brute - beasts. It would be better to revenge himself upon them by some artifice - later; accordingly, he signed to his soldiers and slowly withdrew. Then, - turning in the gateway towards the Mercenaries, he cried to them that they - would repent of it. - </p> - <p> - The feast recommenced. But Gisco might return, and by surrounding the - suburb, which was beside the last ramparts, might crush them against the - walls. Then they felt themselves alone in spite of their crowd, and the - great town sleeping beneath them in the shade suddenly made them afraid, - with its piles of staircases, its lofty black houses, and its vague gods - fiercer even than its people. In the distance a few ships’-lanterns - were gliding across the harbour, and there were lights in the temple of - Khamon. They thought of Hamilcar. Where was he? Why had he forsaken them - when peace was concluded? His differences with the Council were doubtless - but a pretence in order to destroy them. Their unsatisfied hate recoiled - upon him, and they cursed him, exasperating one another with their own - anger. At this juncture they collected together beneath the plane-trees to - see a slave who, with eyeballs fixed, neck contorted, and lips covered - with foam, was rolling on the ground, and beating the soil with his limbs. - Some one cried out that he was poisoned. All then believed themselves - poisoned. They fell upon the slaves, a terrible clamour was raised, and a - vertigo of destruction came like a whirlwind upon the drunken army. They - struck about them at random, they smashed, they slew; some hurled torches - into the foliage; others, leaning over the lions’ balustrade, - massacred the animals with arrows; the most daring ran to the elephants, - desiring to cut down their trunks and eat ivory. - </p> - <p> - Some Balearic slingers, however, who had gone round the corner of the - palace, in order to pillage more conveniently, were checked by a lofty - barrier, made of Indian cane. They cut the lock-straps with their daggers, - and then found themselves beneath the front that faced Carthage, in - another garden full of trimmed vegetation. Lines of white flowers all - following one another in regular succession formed long parabolas like - star-rockets on the azure-coloured earth. The gloomy bushes exhaled warm - and honied odours. There were trunks of trees smeared with cinnabar, which - resembled columns covered with blood. In the centre were twelve pedestals, - each supporting a great glass ball, and these hollow globes were - indistinctly filled with reddish lights, like enormous and still - palpitating eyeballs. The soldiers lighted themselves with torches as they - stumbled on the slope of the deeply laboured soil. - </p> - <p> - But they perceived a little lake divided into several basins by walls of - blue stones. So limpid was the wave that the flames of the torches - quivered in it at the very bottom, on a bed of white pebbles and golden - dust. It began to bubble, luminous spangles glided past, and great fish - with gems about their mouths, appeared near the surface. - </p> - <p> - With much laughter the soldiers slipped their fingers into the gills and - brought them to the tables. They were the fish of the Barca family, and - were all descended from those primordial lotes which had hatched the - mystic egg wherein the goddess was concealed. The idea of committing a - sacrilege revived the greediness of the Mercenaries; they speedily placed - fire beneath some brazen vases, and amused themselves by watching the - beautiful fish struggling in the boiling water. - </p> - <p> - The surge of soldiers pressed on. They were no longer afraid. They - commenced to drink again. Their ragged tunics were wet with the perfumes - that flowed in large drops from their foreheads, and resting both fists on - the tables, which seemed to them to be rocking like ships, they rolled - their great drunken eyes around to devour by sight what they could not - take. Others walked amid the dishes on the purple table covers, breaking - ivory stools, and phials of Tyrian glass to pieces with their feet. Songs - mingled with the death-rattle of the slaves expiring amid the broken cups. - They demanded wine, meat, gold. They cried out for women. They raved in a - hundred languages. Some thought that they were at the vapour baths on - account of the steam which floated around them, or else, catching sight of - the foliage, imagined that they were at the chase, and rushed upon their - companions as upon wild beasts. The conflagration spread to all the trees, - one after another, and the lofty mosses of verdure, emitting long white - spirals, looked like volcanoes beginning to smoke. The clamour redoubled; - the wounded lions roared in the shade. - </p> - <p> - In an instant the highest terrace of the palace was illuminated, the - central door opened, and a woman, Hamilcar’s daughter herself, - clothed in black garments, appeared on the threshold. She descended the - first staircase, which ran obliquely along the first story, then the - second, and the third, and stopped on the last terrace at the head of the - galley staircase. Motionless and with head bent, she gazed upon the - soldiers. - </p> - <p> - Behind her, on each side, were two long shadows of pale men, clad in - white, red-fringed robes, which fell straight to their feet. They had no - beard, no hair, no eyebrows. In their hands, which sparkled with rings, - they carried enormous lyres, and with shrill voice they sang a hymn to the - divinity of Carthage. They were the eunuch priests of the temple of - Tanith, who were often summoned by Salammbô to her house. - </p> - <p> - At last she descended the galley staircase. The priests followed her. She - advanced into the avenue of cypress, and walked slowly through the tables - of the captains, who drew back somewhat as they watched her pass. - </p> - <p> - Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the form - of a tower, after the fashion of the Chanaanite maidens, added to her - height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell to the - corners of her mouth, which was as rosy as a half-open pomegranate. On her - breast was a collection of luminous stones, their variegation imitating - the scales of the murena. Her arms were adorned with diamonds, and issued - naked from her sleeveless tunic, which was starred with red flowers on a - perfectly black ground. Between her ankles she wore a golden chainlet to - regulate her steps, and her large dark purple mantle, cut of an unknown - material, trailed behind her, making, as it were, at each step, a broad - wave which followed her. - </p> - <p> - The priests played nearly stifled chords on their lyres from time to time, - and in the intervals of the music might be heard the tinkling of the - little golden chain, and the regular patter of her papyrus sandals. - </p> - <p> - No one as yet was acquainted with her. It was only known that she led a - retired life, engaged in pious practices. Some soldiers had seen her in - the night on the summit of her palace kneeling before the stars amid the - eddyings from kindled perfuming-pans. It was the moon that had made her so - pale, and there was something from the gods that enveloped her like a - subtle vapour. Her eyes seemed to gaze far beyond terrestrial space. She - bent her head as she walked, and in her right hand she carried a little - ebony lyre. - </p> - <p> - They heard her murmur: - </p> - <p> - “Dead! All dead! No more will you come obedient to my voice as when, - seated on the edge of the lake, I used to throw seeds of the watermelon - into your mouths! The mystery of Tanith ranged in the depths of your eyes - that were more limpid than the globules of rivers.” And she called - them by their names, which were those of the months—“Siv! - Sivan! Tammouz, Eloul, Tischri, Schebar! Ah! have pity on me, goddess!” - </p> - <p> - The soldiers thronged about her without understanding what she said. They - wondered at her attire, but she turned a long frightened look upon them - all, then sinking her head beneath her shoulders, and waving her arms, she - repeated several times: - </p> - <p> - “What have you done? what have you done? - </p> - <p> - “Yet you had bread, and meats and oil, and all the malobathrum of - the granaries for your enjoyment! I had brought oxen from Hecatompylos; I - had sent hunters into the desert!” Her voice swelled; her cheeks - purpled. She added, “Where, pray, are you now? In a conquered town, - or in the palace of a master? And what master? Hamilcar the Suffet, my - father, the servant of the Baals! It was he who withheld from Lutatius - those arms of yours, red now with the blood of his slaves! Know you of any - in your own lands more skilled in the conduct of battles? Look! our palace - steps are encumbered with our victories! Ah! desist not! burn it! I will - carry away with me the genius of my house, my black serpent slumbering up - yonder on lotus leaves! I will whistle and he will follow me, and if I - embark in a galley he will speed in the wake of my ship over the foam of - the waves.” - </p> - <p> - Her delicate nostrils were quivering. She crushed her nails against the - gems on her bosom. Her eyes drooped, and she resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! poor Carthage! lamentable city! No longer hast thou for thy - protection the strong men of former days who went beyond the oceans to - build temples on their shores. All the lands laboured about thee, and the - sea-plains, ploughed by thine oars, rocked with thy harvests.” Then - she began to sing the adventures of Melkarth, the god of the Sidonians, - and the father of her family. - </p> - <p> - She told of the ascent of the mountains of Ersiphonia, the journey to - Tartessus, and the war against Masisabal to avenge the queen of the - serpents: - </p> - <p> - “He pursued the female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead - leaves like a silver brook, into the forest, and came to a plain where - women with dragon-croups were round a great fire, standing erect on the - points of their tails. The blood-coloured moon was shining within a pale - circle, and their scarlet tongues, cloven like the harpoons of fishermen, - reached curling forth to the very edge of the flame.” - </p> - <p> - Then Salammbô, without pausing, related how Melkarth, after vanquishing - Masisabal, placed her severed head on the prow of his ship. “At each - throb of the waves it sank beneath the foam, but the sun embalmed it; it - became harder than gold; nevertheless the eyes ceased not to weep, and the - tears fell into the water continually.” - </p> - <p> - She sang all this in an old Chanaanite idiom, which the Barbarians did not - understand. They asked one another what she could be saying to them with - those frightful gestures which accompanied her speech, and mounted round - about her on the tables, beds, and sycamore boughs, they strove with open - mouths and craned necks to grasp the vague stories hovering before their - imaginations, through the dimness of the theogonies, like phantoms wrapped - in cloud. - </p> - <p> - Only the beardless priests understood Salammbô; their wrinkled hands, - which hung over the strings of their lyres, quivered, and from time to - time they would draw forth a mournful chord; for, feebler than old women, - they trembled at once with mystic emotion, and with the fear inspired by - men. The Barbarians heeded them not, but listened continually to the - maiden’s song. - </p> - <p> - None gazed at her like a young Numidian chief, who was placed at the - captains’ tables among soldiers of his own nation. His girdle so - bristled with darts that it formed a swelling in his ample cloak, which - was fastened on his temples with a leather lace. The cloth parted asunder - as it fell upon his shoulders, and enveloped his countenance in shadow, so - that only the fires of his two fixed eyes could be seen. It was by chance - that he was at the feast, his father having domiciled him with the Barca - family, according to the custom by which kings used to send their children - into the households of the great in order to pave the way for alliances; - but Narr’ Havas had lodged there for six months without having - hitherto seen Salammbô, and now, seated on his heels, with his head - brushing the handles of his javelins, he was watching her with dilated - nostrils, like a leopard crouching among the bamboos. - </p> - <p> - On the other side of the tables was a Libyan of colossal stature, and with - short black curly hair. He had retained only his military jacket, the - brass plates of which were tearing the purple of the couch. A necklace of - silver moons was tangled in his hairy breast. His face was stained with - splashes of blood; he was leaning on his left elbow with a smile on his - large, open mouth. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô had abandoned the sacred rhythm. With a woman’s subtlety - she was simultaneously employing all the dialects of the Barbarians in - order to appease their anger. To the Greeks she spoke Greek; then she - turned to the Ligurians, the Campanians, the Negroes, and listening to her - each one found again in her voice the sweetness of his native land. She - now, carried away by the memories of Carthage, sang of the ancient battles - against Rome; they applauded. She kindled at the gleaming of the naked - swords, and cried aloud with outstretched arms. Her lyre fell, she was - silent; and, pressing both hands upon her heart, she remained for some - minutes with closed eyelids enjoying the agitation of all these men. - </p> - <p> - Matho, the Libyan, leaned over towards her. Involuntarily she approached - him, and impelled by grateful pride, poured him a long stream of wine into - a golden cup in order to conciliate the army. - </p> - <p> - “Drink!” she said. - </p> - <p> - He took the cup, and was carrying it to his lips when a Gaul, the same - that had been hurt by Gisco, struck him on the shoulder, while in a jovial - manner he gave utterance to pleasantries in his native tongue. Spendius - was not far off, and he volunteered to interpret them. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - “The gods protect you; you are going to become rich. When will the - nuptials be?” - </p> - <p> - “What nuptials?” - </p> - <p> - “Yours! for with us,” said the Gaul, “when a woman gives - drink to a soldier, it means that she offers him her couch.” - </p> - <p> - He had not finished when Narr’ Havas, with a bound, drew a javelin - from his girdle, and, leaning his right foot upon the edge of the table, - hurled it against Matho. - </p> - <p> - The javelin whistled among the cups, and piercing the Lybian’s arm, - pinned it so firmly to the cloth, that the shaft quivered in the air. - </p> - <p> - Matho quickly plucked it out; but he was weaponless and naked; at last he - lifted the over-laden table with both arms, and flung it against Narr’ - Havas into the very centre of the crowd that rushed between them. The - soldiers and Numidians pressed together so closely that they were unable - to draw their swords. Matho advanced dealing great blows with his head. - When he raised it, Narr’ Havas had disappeared. He sought for him - with his eyes. Salammbô also was gone. - </p> - <p> - Then directing his looks to the palace he perceived the red door with the - black cross closing far above, and he darted away. - </p> - <p> - They saw him run between the prows of the galleys, and then reappear along - the three staircases until he reached the red door against which he dashed - his whole body. Panting, he leaned against the wall to keep himself from - falling. - </p> - <p> - But a man had followed him, and through the darkness, for the lights of - the feast were hidden by the corner of the palace, he recognised Spendius. - </p> - <p> - “Begone!” said he. - </p> - <p> - The slave without replying began to tear his tunic with his teeth; then - kneeling beside Matho he tenderly took his arm, and felt it in the shadow - to discover the wound. - </p> - <p> - By a ray of the moon which was then gliding between the clouds, Spendius - perceived a gaping wound in the middle of the arm. He rolled the piece of - stuff about it, but the other said irritably, “Leave me! leave me!” - </p> - <p> - “Oh no!” replied the slave. “You released me from the - ergastulum. I am yours! you are my master! command me!” - </p> - <p> - Matho walked round the terrace brushing against the walls. He strained his - ears at every step, glancing down into the silent apartments through the - spaces between the gilded reeds. At last he stopped with a look of - despair. - </p> - <p> - “Listen!” said the slave to him. “Oh! do not despise me - for my feebleness! I have lived in the palace. I can wind like a viper - through the walls. Come! in the Ancestor’s Chamber there is an ingot - of gold beneath every flagstone; an underground path leads to their tombs.” - </p> - <p> - “Well! what matters it?” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - Spendius was silent. - </p> - <p> - They were on the terrace. A huge mass of shadow stretched before them, - appearing as if it contained vague accumulations, like the gigantic - billows of a black and petrified ocean. - </p> - <p> - But a luminous bar rose towards the East; far below, on the left, the - canals of Megara were beginning to stripe the verdure of the gardens with - their windings of white. The conical roofs of the heptagonal temples, the - staircases, terraces, and ramparts were being carved by degrees upon the - paleness of the dawn; and a girdle of white foam rocked around the - Carthaginian peninsula, while the emerald sea appeared as if it were - curdled in the freshness of the morning. Then as the rosy sky grew larger, - the lofty houses, bending over the sloping soil, reared and massed - themselves like a herd of black goats coming down from the mountains. The - deserted streets lengthened; the palm-trees that topped the walls here and - there were motionless; the brimming cisterns seemed like silver bucklers - lost in the courts; the beacon on the promontory of Hermæum was beginning - to grow pale. The horses of Eschmoun, on the very summit of the Acropolis - in the cypress wood, feeling that the light was coming, placed their hoofs - on the marble parapet, and neighed towards the sun. - </p> - <p> - It appeared, and Spendius raised his arms with a cry. - </p> - <p> - Everything stirred in a diffusion of red, for the god, as if he were - rending himself, now poured full-rayed upon Carthage the golden rain of - his veins. The beaks of the galleys sparkled, the roof of Khamon appeared - to be all in flames, while far within the temples, whose doors were - opening, glimmerings of light could be seen. Large chariots, arriving from - the country, rolled their wheels over the flagstones in the streets. - Dromedaries, baggage-laden, came down the ramps. Money-changers raised the - pent-houses of their shops at the cross ways, storks took to flight, white - sails fluttered. In the wood of Tanith might be heard the tabourines of - the sacred courtesans, and the furnaces for baking the clay coffins were - beginning to smoke on the Mappalian point. - </p> - <p> - Spendius leaned over the terrace; his teeth chattered and he repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! yes—yes—master! I understand why you scorned the - pillage of the house just now.” - </p> - <p> - Matho was as if he had just been awaked by the hissing of his voice, and - did not seem to understand. Spendius resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! what riches! and the men who possess them have not even the - steel to defend them!” - </p> - <p> - Then, pointing with his right arm outstretched to some of the populace who - were crawling on the sand outside the mole to look for gold dust: - </p> - <p> - “See!” he said to him, “the Republic is like these - wretches: bending on the brink of the ocean, she buries her greedy arms in - every shore, and the noise of the billows so fills her ear that she cannot - hear behind her the tread of a master’s heel!” - </p> - <p> - He drew Matho to quite the other end of the terrace, and showed him the - garden, wherein the soldiers’ swords, hanging on the trees, were - like mirrors in the sun. - </p> - <p> - “But here there are strong men whose hatred is roused! and nothing - binds them to Carthage, neither families, oaths nor gods!” - </p> - <p> - Matho remained leaning against the wall; Spendius came close, and - continued in a low voice: - </p> - <p> - “Do you understand me, soldier? We should walk purple-clad like - satraps. We should bathe in perfumes; and I should in turn have slaves! - Are you not weary of sleeping on hard ground, of drinking the vinegar of - the camps, and of continually hearing the trumpet? But you will rest - later, will you not? When they pull off your cuirass to cast your corpse - to the vultures! or perhaps blind, lame, and weak you will go, leaning on - a stick, from door to door to tell of your youth to pickle-sellers and - little children. Remember all the injustice of your chiefs, the campings - in the snow, the marchings in the sun, the tyrannies of discipline, and - the everlasting menace of the cross! And after all this misery they have - given you a necklace of honour, as they hang a girdle of bells round the - breast of an ass to deafen it on its journey, and prevent it from feeling - fatigue. A man like you, braver than Pyrrhus! If only you had wished it! - Ah! how happy will you be in large cool halls, with the sound of lyres, - lying on flowers, with women and buffoons! Do not tell me that the - enterprise is impossible. Have not the Mercenaries already possessed - Rhegium and other fortified places in Italy? Who is to prevent you? - Hamilcar is away; the people execrate the rich; Gisco can do nothing with - the cowards who surround him. Command them! Carthage is ours; let us fall - upon it!” - </p> - <p> - “No!” said Matho, “the curse of Moloch weighs upon me. I - felt it in her eyes, and just now I saw a black ram retreating in a - temple.” Looking around him he added: “But where is she?” - </p> - <p> - Then Spendius understood that a great disquiet possessed him, and did not - venture to speak again. - </p> - <p> - The trees behind them were still smoking; half-burned carcases of apes - dropped from their blackened boughs from time to time into the midst of - the dishes. Drunken soldiers snored open-mouthed by the side of the - corpses, and those who were not asleep lowered their heads dazzled by the - light of day. The trampled soil was hidden beneath splashes of red. The - elephants poised their bleeding trunks between the stakes of their pens. - In the open granaries might be seen sacks of spilled wheat, below the gate - was a thick line of chariots which had been heaped up by the Barbarians, - and the peacocks perched in the cedars were spreading their tails and - beginning to utter their cry. - </p> - <p> - Matho’s immobility, however, astonished Spendius; he was even paler - than he had recently been, and he was following something on the horizon - with fixed eyeballs, and with both fists resting on the edge of the - terrace. Spendius crouched down, and so at last discovered at what he was - gazing. In the distance a golden speck was turning in the dust on the road - to Utica; it was the nave of a chariot drawn by two mules; a slave was - running at the end of the pole, and holding them by the bridle. Two women - were seated in the chariot. The manes of the animals were puffed between - the ears after the Persian fashion, beneath a network of blue pearls. - Spendius recognised them, and restrained a cry. - </p> - <p> - A large veil floated behind in the wind. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"></a> - CHAPTER II - </h2> - <h3> - AT SICCA - </h3> - <p> - Two days afterwards the Mercenaries left Carthage. - </p> - <p> - They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they should - go into camp at Sicca, and they had been told with all sorts of caresses: - </p> - <p> - “You are the saviours of Carthage! But you would starve it if you - remained there; it would become insolvent. Withdraw! The Republic will be - grateful to you later for all this condescension. We are going to levy - taxes immediately; your pay shall be in full, and galleys shall be - equipped to take you back to your native lands.” - </p> - <p> - They did not know how to reply to all this talk. These men, accustomed as - they were to war, were wearied by residence in a town; there was - difficulty in convincing them, and the people mounted the walls to see - them go away. - </p> - <p> - They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, pell-mell, - archers with hoplites, captains with soldiers, Lusitanians with Greeks. - They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy cothurni on the paving - stones. Their armour was dented by the catapult, and their faces blackened - by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse cries issued from their thick beards, - their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the pommels of their swords, and - through the holes in the brass might be seen their naked limbs, as - frightful as engines of war. Sarissæ, axes, spears, felt caps and bronze - helmets, all swung together with a single motion. They filled the street - thickly enough to have made the walls crack, and the long mass of armed - soldiers overflowed between the lofty bitumen-smeared houses six storys - high. Behind their gratings of iron or reed the women, with veiled heads, - silently watched the Barbarians pass. - </p> - <p> - The terraces, fortifications, and walls were hidden beneath the crowd of - Carthaginians, who were dressed in garments of black. The sailors’ - tunics showed like drops of blood among the dark multitude, and nearly - naked children, whose skin shone beneath their copper bracelets, - gesticulated in the foliage of the columns, or amid the branches of a palm - tree. Some of the Ancients were posted on the platform of the towers, and - people did not know why a personage with a long beard stood thus in a - dreamy attitude here and there. He appeared in the distance against the - background of the sky, vague as a phantom and motionless as stone. - </p> - <p> - All, however, were oppressed with the same anxiety; it was feared that the - Barbarians, seeing themselves so strong, might take a fancy to stay. But - they were leaving with so much good faith that the Carthaginians grew bold - and mingled with the soldiers. They overwhelmed them with protestations - and embraces. Some with exaggerated politeness and audacious hypocrisy - even sought to induce them not to leave the city. They threw perfumes, - flowers, and pieces of silver to them. They gave them amulets to avert - sickness; but they had spit upon them three times to attract death, or had - enclosed jackal’s hair within them to put cowardice into their - hearts. Aloud, they invoked Melkarth’s favour, and in a whisper, his - curse. - </p> - <p> - Then came the mob of baggage, beasts of burden, and stragglers. The sick - groaned on the backs of dromedaries, while others limped along leaning on - broken pikes. The drunkards carried leathern bottles, and the greedy - quarters of meat, cakes, fruits, butter wrapped in fig leaves, and snow in - linen bags. Some were to be seen with parasols in their hands, and parrots - on their shoulders. They had mastiffs, gazelles, and panthers following - behind them. Women of Libyan race, mounted on asses, inveighed against the - Negresses who had forsaken the lupanaria of Malqua for the soldiers; many - of them were suckling children suspended on their bosoms by leathern - thongs. The mules were goaded out at the point of the sword, their backs - bending beneath the load of tents, while there were numbers of serving-men - and water-carriers, emaciated, jaundiced with fever, and filthy with - vermin, the scum of the Carthaginian populace, who had attached themselves - to the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - When they had passed, the gates were shut behind them, but the people did - not descend from the walls. The army soon spread over the breadth of the - isthmus. - </p> - <p> - It parted into unequal masses. Then the lances appeared like tall blades - of grass, and finally all was lost in a train of dust; those of the - soldiers who looked back towards Carthage could now only see its long - walls with their vacant battlements cut out against the edge of the sky. - </p> - <p> - Then the Barbarians heard a great shout. They thought that some from among - them (for they did not know their own number) had remained in the town, - and were amusing themselves by pillaging a temple. They laughed a great - deal at the idea of this, and then continued their journey. - </p> - <p> - They were rejoiced to find themselves, as in former days, marching all - together in the open country, and some of the Greeks sang the old song of - the Mamertines: - </p> - <p> - “With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of the - house! The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and Great King.” - </p> - <p> - They shouted, they leaped, the merriest began to tell stories; the time of - their miseries was past. As they arrived at Tunis, some of them remarked - that a troop of Balearic slingers was missing. They were doubtless not far - off; and no further heed was paid to them. - </p> - <p> - Some went to lodge in the houses, others camped at the foot of the walls, - and the townspeople came out to chat with the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - During the whole night fires were seen burning on the horizon in the - direction of Carthage; the light stretched like giant torches across the - motionless lake. No one in the army could tell what festival was being - celebrated. - </p> - <p> - On the following day the Barbarians passed through a region that - was covered with cultivation. The domains of the patricians succeeded one - another along the border of the route; channels of water flowed through - woods of palm; there were long, green lines of olive-trees; rose-coloured - vapours floated in the gorges of the hills, while blue mountains reared - themselves behind. A warm wind was blowing. Chameleons were crawling on - the broad leaves of the cactus. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians slackened their speed. - </p> - <p> - They marched on in isolated detachments, or lagged behind one another at - long intervals. They ate grapes along the margin of the vines. They lay on - the grass and gazed with stupefaction upon the large, artificially twisted - horns of the oxen, the sheep clothed with skins to protect their wool, the - furrows crossing one another so as to form lozenges, and the ploughshares - like ships’ anchors, with the pomegranate trees that were watered - with silphium. Such wealth of the soil and such inventions of wisdom - dazzled them. - </p> - <p> - In the evening they stretched themselves on the tents without unfolding - them; and thought with regret of Hamilcar’s feast, as they fell - asleep with their faces towards the stars. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the following day they halted on the bank of a river, - amid clumps of rose-bays. Then they quickly threw aside lances, bucklers - and belts. They bathed with shouts, and drew water in their helmets, while - others drank lying flat on their stomachs, and all in the midst of the - beasts of burden whose baggage was slipping from them. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, who was seated on a dromedary stolen in Hamilcar’s parks, - perceived Matho at a distance, with his arm hanging against his breast, - his head bare, and his face bent down, giving his mule drink, and watching - the water flow. Spendius immediately ran through the crowd calling him, - “Master! master!” - </p> - <p> - Matho gave him but scant thanks for his blessings, but Spendius paid no - heed to this, and began to march behind him, from time to time turning - restless glances in the direction of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - He was the son of a Greek rhetor and a Campanian prostitute. He had at - first grown rich by dealing in women; then, ruined by a shipwreck, he had - made war against the Romans with the herdsmen of Samnium. He had been - taken and had escaped; he had been retaken, and had worked in the - quarries, panted in the vapour-baths, shrieked under torture, passed - through the hands of many masters, and experienced every frenzy. At last, - one day, in despair, he had flung himself into the sea from the top of a - trireme where he was working at the oar. Some of Hamilcar’s sailors - had picked him up when at the point of death, and had brought him to the - ergastulum of Megara, at Carthage. But, as fugitives were to be given back - to the Romans, he had taken advantage of the confusion to fly with the - soldiers. - </p> - <p> - During the whole of the march he remained near Matho; he brought him food, - assisted him to dismount, and spread a carpet in the evening beneath his - head. Matho at last was touched by these attentions, and by degrees - unlocked his lips. - </p> - <p> - He had been born in the gulf of Syrtis. His father had taken him on a - pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon. Then he had hunted elephants in the - forests of the Garamantes. Afterwards he had entered the service of - Carthage. He had been appointed tetrarch at the capture of Drepanum. The - Republic owed him four horses, twenty-three medimni of wheat, and a winter’s - pay. He feared the gods, and wished to die in his native land. - </p> - <p> - Spendius spoke to him of his travels, and of the peoples and temples that - he had visited. He knew many things: he could make sandals, boar-spears - and nets; he could tame wild beasts and could cook fish. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes he would interrupt himself, and utter a hoarse cry from the - depths of his throat; Matho’s mule would quicken his pace, and - others would hasten after them, and then Spendius would begin again though - still torn with agony. This subsided at last on the evening of the fourth - day. - </p> - <p> - They were marching side by side to the right of the army on the side of a - hill; below them stretched the plain lost in the vapours of the night. The - lines of soldiers also were defiling below, making undulations in the - shade. From time to time these passed over eminences lit up by the moon; - then stars would tremble on the points of the pikes, the helmets would - glimmer for an instant, all would disappear, and others would come on - continually. Startled flocks bleated in the distance, and a something of - infinite sweetness seemed to sink upon the earth. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, with his head thrown back and his eyes half-closed, inhaled the - freshness of the wind with great sighs; he spread out his arms, moving his - fingers that he might the better feel the cares that streamed over his - body. Hopes of vengeance came back to him and transported him. He pressed - his hand upon his mouth to check his sobs, and half-swooning with - intoxication, let go the halter of his dromedary, which was proceeding - with long, regular steps. Matho had relapsed into his former melancholy; - his legs hung down to the ground, and the grass made a continuous rustling - as it beat against his cothurni. - </p> - <p> - The journey, however, spread itself out without ever coming to an end. At - the extremity of a plain they would always reach a round-shaped plateau; - then they would descend again into a valley, and the mountains which - seemed to block up the horizon would, in proportion as they were - approached, glide as it were from their positions. From time to time a - river would appear amid the verdure of tamarisks to lose itself at the - turning of the hills. Sometimes a huge rock would tower aloft like the - prow of a vessel or the pedestal of some vanished colossus. - </p> - <p> - At regular intervals they met with little quadrangular temples, which - served as stations for the pilgrims who repaired to Sicca. They were - closed like tombs. The Libyans struck great blows upon the doors to have - them opened. But no one inside responded. - </p> - <p> - Then the cultivation became more rare. They suddenly entered upon belts of - sand bristling with thorny thickets. Flocks of sheep were browsing among - the stones; a woman with a blue fleece about her waist was watching them. - She fled screaming when she saw the soldiers’ pikes among the rocks. - </p> - <p> - They were marching through a kind of large passage bordered by two chains - of reddish coloured hillocks, when their nostrils were greeted with a - nauseous odour, and they thought that they could see something - extraordinary on the top of a carob tree: a lion’s head reared - itself above the leaves. - </p> - <p> - They ran thither. It was a lion with his four limbs fastened to a cross - like a criminal. His huge muzzle fell upon his breast, and his two - fore-paws, half-hidden beneath the abundance of his mane, were spread out - wide like the wings of a bird. His ribs stood severally out beneath his - distended skin; his hind legs, which were nailed against each other, were - raised somewhat, and the black blood, flowing through his hair, had - collected in stalactites at the end of his tail, which hung down perfectly - straight along the cross. The soldiers made merry around; they called him - consul, and Roman citizen, and threw pebbles into his eyes to drive away - the gnats. - </p> - <p> - But a hundred paces further on they saw two more, and then there suddenly - appeared a long file of crosses bearing lions. Some had been so long dead - that nothing was left against the wood but the remains of their skeletons; - others which were half eaten away had their jaws twisted into horrible - grimaces; there were some enormous ones; the shafts of the crosses bent - beneath them, and they swayed in the wind, while bands of crows wheeled - ceaselessly in the air above their heads. It was thus that the - Carthaginian peasants avenged themselves when they captured a wild beast; - they hoped to terrify the others by such an example. The Barbarians ceased - their laughter, and were long lost in amazement. “What people is - this,” they thought, “that amuses itself by crucifying lions!” - </p> - <p> - They were, besides, especially the men of the North, vaguely uneasy, - troubled, and already sick. They tore their hands with the darts of the - aloes; great mosquitoes buzzed in their ears, and dysentry was breaking - out in the army. They were weary at not yet seeing Sicca. They were afraid - of losing themselves and of reaching the desert, the country of sands and - terrors. Many even were unwilling to advance further. Others started back - to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - At last on the seventh day, after following the base of a mountain for a - long time, they turned abruptly to the right, and there then appeared a - line of walls resting on white rocks and blending with them. Suddenly the - entire city rose; blue, yellow, and white veils moved on the walls in the - redness of the evening. These were the priestesses of Tanith, who had - hastened hither to receive the men. They stood ranged along the rampart, - striking tabourines, playing lyres, and shaking crotala, while the rays of - the sun, setting behind them in the mountains of Numidia, shot between the - strings of their lyres over which their naked arms were stretched. At - intervals their instruments would become suddenly still, and a cry would - break forth strident, precipitate, frenzied, continuous, a sort of barking - which they made by striking both corners of the mouth with the tongue. - Others, more motionless than the Sphynx, rested on their elbows with their - chins on their hands, and darted their great black eyes upon the army as - it ascended. - </p> - <p> - Although Sicca was a sacred town it could not hold such a multitude; the - temple alone, with its appurtenances, occupied half of it. Accordingly the - Barbarians established themselves at their ease on the plain; those who - were disciplined in regular troops, and the rest according to nationality - or their own fancy. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks ranged their tents of skin in parallel lines; the Iberians - placed their canvas pavilions in a circle; the Gauls made themselves huts - of planks; the Libyans cabins of dry stones, while the Negroes with their - nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in. Many, not knowing - where to go, wandered about among the baggage, and at nightfall lay down - in their ragged mantles on the ground. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The plain, which was wholly bounded by mountains, expanded around them. - Here and there a palm tree leaned over a sand hill, and pines and oaks - flecked the sides of the precipices: sometimes the rain of a storm would - hang from the sky like a long scarf, while the country everywhere was - still covered with azure and serenity; then a warm wind would drive before - it tornadoes of dust, and a stream would descend in cascades from the - heights of Sicca, where, with its roofing of gold on its columns of brass, - rose the temple of the Carthaginian Venus, the mistress of the land. She - seemed to fill it with her soul. In such convulsions of the soil, such - alternations of temperature, and such plays of light would she manifest - the extravagance of her might with the beauty of her eternal smile. The - mountains at their summits were crescent-shaped; others were like women’s - bosoms presenting their swelling breasts, and the Barbarians felt a - heaviness that was full of delight weighing down their fatigues. - </p> - <p> - Spendius had bought a slave with the money brought him by his dromedary. - The whole day long he lay asleep stretched before Matho’s tent. - Often he would awake, thinking in his dreams that he heard the whistling - of the thongs; with a smile he would pass his hands over the scars on his - legs at the place where the fetters had long been worn, and then he would - fall asleep again. - </p> - <p> - Matho accepted his companionship, and when he went out Spendius would - escort him like a lictor with a long sword on his thigh; or perhaps Matho - would rest his arm carelessly on the other’s shoulder, for Spendius - was small. - </p> - <p> - One evening when they were passing together through the streets in the - camp they perceived some men covered with white cloaks; among them was - Narr’ Havas, the prince of the Numidians. Matho started. - </p> - <p> - “Your sword!” he cried; “I will kill him!” - </p> - <p> - “Not yet!” said Spendius, restraining him. Narr’ Havas - was already advancing towards him. - </p> - <p> - He kissed both thumbs in token of alliance, showing nothing of the anger - which he had experienced at the drunkenness of the feast; then he spoke at - length against Carthage, but did not say what brought him among the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - “Was it to betray them, or else the Republic?” Spendius asked - himself; and as he expected to profit by every disorder, he felt grateful - to Narr’ Havas for the future perfidies of which he suspected him. - </p> - <p> - The chief of the Numidians remained amongst the Mercenaries. He appeared - desirous of attaching Matho to himself. He sent him fat goats, gold dust, - and ostrich feathers. The Libyan, who was amazed at such caresses, was in - doubt whether to respond to them or to become exasperated at them. But - Spendius pacified him, and Matho allowed himself to be ruled by the slave, - remaining ever irresolute and in an unconquerable torpor, like those who - have once taken a draught of which they are to die. - </p> - <p> - One morning when all three went out lion-hunting, Narr’ Havas - concealed a dagger in his cloak. Spendius kept continually behind him, and - when they returned the dagger had not been drawn. - </p> - <p> - Another time Narr’ Havas took them a long way off, as far as the - boundaries of his kingdom. They came to a narrow gorge, and Narr’ - Havas smiled as he declared that he had forgotten the way. Spendius found - it again. - </p> - <p> - But most frequently Matho would go off at sunrise, as melancholy as an - augur, to wander about the country. He would stretch himself on the sand, - and remain there motionless until the evening. - </p> - <p> - He consulted all the soothsayers in the army one after the other,—those - who watch the trail of serpents, those who read the stars, and those who - breathe upon the ashes of the dead. He swallowed galbanum, seseli, and - viper’s venom which freezes the heart; Negro women, singing - barbarous words in the moonlight, pricked the skin of his forehead with - golden stylets; he loaded himself with necklaces and charms; he invoked in - turn Baal-Khamon, Moloch, the seven Kabiri, Tanith, and the Venus of the - Greeks. He engraved a name upon a copper plate, and buried it in the sand - at the threshold of his tent. Spendius used to hear him groaning and - talking to himself. - </p> - <p> - One night he went in. - </p> - <p> - Matho, as naked as a corpse, was lying on a lion’s skin flat on his - stomach, with his face in both his hands; a hanging lamp lit up his - armour, which was hooked on to the tent-pole above his head. - </p> - <p> - “You are suffering?” said the slave to him. “What is the - matter with you? Answer me?” And he shook him by the shoulder - calling him several times, “Master! master!” - </p> - <p> - At last Matho lifted large troubled eyes towards him. - </p> - <p> - “Listen!” he said in a low voice, and with a finger on his - lips. “It is the wrath of the Gods! Hamilcar’s daughter - pursues me! I am afraid of her, Spendius!” He pressed himself close - against his breast like a child terrified by a phantom. “Speak to - me! I am sick! I want to get well! I have tried everything! But you, you - perhaps know some stronger gods, or some resistless invocation?” - </p> - <p> - “For what purpose?” asked Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Striking his head with both his fists, he replied: - </p> - <p> - “To rid me of her!” - </p> - <p> - Then speaking to himself with long pauses he said: - </p> - <p> - “I am no doubt the victim of some holocaust which she has promised - to the gods?—She holds me fast by a chain which people cannot see. - If I walk, it is she that is advancing; when I stop, she is resting! Her - eyes burn me, I hear her voice. She encompasses me, she penetrates me. It - seems to me that she has become my soul! - </p> - <p> - “And yet between us there are, as it were, the invisible billows of - a boundless ocean! She is far away and quite inaccessible! The splendour - of her beauty forms a cloud of light around her, and at times I think that - I have never seen her—that she does not exist—and that it is - all a dream!” - </p> - <p> - Matho wept thus in the darkness; the Barbarians were sleeping. Spendius, - as he looked at him, recalled the young men who once used to entreat him - with golden cases in their hands, when he led his herd of courtesans - through the towns; a feeling of pity moved him, and he said— - </p> - <p> - “Be strong, my master! Summon your will, and beseech the gods no - more, for they turn not aside at the cries of men! Weeping like a coward! - And you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much suffering?” - </p> - <p> - “Am I a child?” said Matho. “Do you think that I am - moved by their faces and songs? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our - stables. I have embraced them amid assaults, beneath falling ceilings, and - while the catapult was still vibrating!—But she, Spendius, she!—” - </p> - <p> - The slave interrupted him: - </p> - <p> - “If she were not Hanno’s daughter—” - </p> - <p> - “No!” cried Matho. “She has nothing in common with the - daughters of other men! Have you seen her great eyes beneath her great - eyebrows, like suns beneath triumphal arches? Think: when she appeared all - the torches grew pale. Her naked breast shone here and there through the - diamonds of her necklace; behind her you perceived as it were the odour of - a temple, and her whole being emitted something that was sweeter than wine - and more terrible than death. She walked, however, and then she stopped.” - </p> - <p> - He remained gaping with his head cast down and his eyeballs fixed. - </p> - <p> - “But I want her! I need her! I am dying for her! I am transported - with frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms, and yet I - hate her, Spendius! I should like to beat her! What is to be done? I have - a mind to sell myself and become her slave! <i>You</i> have been that! You - were able to get sight of her; speak to me of her! Every night she ascends - to the terrace of her palace, does she not? Ah! the stones must quiver - beneath her sandals, and the stars bend down to see her!” - </p> - <p> - He fell back in a perfect frenzy, with a rattling in his throat like a - wounded bull. - </p> - <p> - Then Matho sang: “He pursued into the forest the female monster, - whose tail undulated over the dead leaves like a silver brook.” And - with lingering tones he imitated Salammbô’s voice, while his - outspread hands were held like two light hands on the strings of a lyre. - </p> - <p> - To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he repeated the same words; - their nights were spent in these wailings and exhortations. - </p> - <p> - Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine. After his fits of drunkenness - he was more melancholy still. He tried to divert himself at huckle-bones, - and lost the gold plates of his necklace one by one. He had himself taken - to the servants of the Goddess; but he came down the hill sobbing, like - one returning from a funeral. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, on the contrary, became more bold and gay. He was to be seen in - the leafy taverns discoursing in the midst of the soldiers. He mended old - cuirasses. He juggled with daggers. He went and gathered herbs in the - fields for the sick. He was facetious, dexterous, full of invention and - talk; the Barbarians grew accustomed to his services, and he came to be - loved by them. - </p> - <p> - However, they were awaiting an ambassador from Carthage to bring them - mules laden with baskets of gold; and ever beginning the same calculation - over again, they would trace figures with their fingers in the sand. Every - one was arranging his life beforehand; they would have concubines, slaves, - lands; others intended to bury their treasure, or risk it on a vessel. But - their tempers were provoked by want of employment; there were constant - disputes between horse-soldiers and foot-soldiers, Barbarians and Greeks, - while there was a never-ending din of shrill female voices. - </p> - <p> - Every day men came flocking in nearly naked, and with grass on their heads - to protect them from the sun; they were the debtors of the rich - Carthaginians and had been forced to till the lands of the latter, but had - escaped. Libyans came pouring in with peasants ruined by the taxes, - outlaws, and malefactors. Then the horde of traders, all the dealers in - wine and oil, who were furious at not being paid, laid the blame upon the - Republic. Spendius declaimed against it. Soon the provisions ran low; and - there was talk of advancing in a body upon Carthage, and calling in the - Romans. - </p> - <p> - One evening, at supper-time, dull cracked sounds were heard approaching, - and something red appeared in the distance among the undulations of the - soil. - </p> - <p> - It was a large purple litter, adorned with ostrich feathers at the - corners. Chains of crystal and garlands of pearls beat against the closed - hangings. It was followed by camels sounding the great bells that hung at - their breasts, and having around them horsemen clad from shoulder to heel - in armour of golden scales. - </p> - <p> - They halted three hundred paces from the camp to take their round - bucklers, broad swords, and Boeotian helmets out of the cases which they - carried behind their saddles. Some remained with the camels, while the - others resumed their march. At last the ensigns of the Republic appeared, - that is to say, staves of blue wood terminated in horses’ heads or - fir cones. The Barbarians all rose with applause; the women rushed towards - the guards of the Legion and kissed their feet. - </p> - <p> - The litter advanced on the shoulders of twelve Negroes who walked in step - with short, rapid strides; they went at random to right or left, being - embarrassed by the tent-ropes, the animals that were straying about, or - the tripods where food was being cooked. Sometimes a fat hand, laden with - rings, would partially open the litter, and a hoarse voice would utter - loud reproaches; then the bearers would stop and take a different - direction through the camp. - </p> - <p> - But the purple curtains were raised, and a human head, impassible and - bloated, was seen resting on a large pillow; the eyebrows, which were like - arches of ebony, met each other at the points; golden dust sparkled in the - frizzled hair, and the face was so wan that it looked as if it had been - powdered with marble raspings. The rest of the body was concealed beneath - the fleeces which filled the litter. - </p> - <p> - In the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, he whose - slackness had assisted to lose the battle of the Ægatian islands; and as - to his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans, even if he did behave - with clemency, thought the Barbarians, it was owing to cupidity, for he - had sold all the captives on his own account, although he had reported - their deaths to the Republic. - </p> - <p> - After seeking for some time a convenient place from which to harangue the - soldiers, he made a sign; the litter stopped, and Hanno, supported by two - slaves, put his tottering feet to the ground. - </p> - <p> - He wore boots of black felt strewn with silver moons. His legs were - swathed in bands like those wrapped about a mummy, and the flesh crept - through the crossings of the linen; his stomach came out beyond the - scarlet jacket which covered his thighs; the folds of his neck fell down - to his breast like the dewlaps of an ox; his tunic, which was painted with - flowers, was bursting at the arm-pits; he wore a scarf, a girdle, and an - ample black cloak with laced double-sleeves. But the abundance of his - garments, his great necklace of blue stones, his golden clasps, and heavy - earrings only rendered his deformity still more hideous. He might have - been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in a block of stone; for a pale - leprosy, which was spread over his whole body, gave him the appearance of - an inert thing. His nose, however, which was hooked like a vulture’s - beak, was violently dilated to breathe in the air, and his little eyes, - with their gummed lashes, shone with a hard and metallic lustre. He held a - spatula of aloe-wood in his hand wherewith to scratch his skin. - </p> - <p> - At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided, and - Hanno commenced to speak. - </p> - <p> - He began with an eulogy of the gods and the Republic; the Barbarians ought - to congratulate themselves on having served it. But they must show - themselves more reasonable; times were hard, “and if a master has - only three olives, is it not right that he should keep two for himself?” - </p> - <p> - The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and apologues, - nodding his head the while to solicit some approval. - </p> - <p> - He spoke in Punic, and those surrounding him (the most alert, who had - hastened thither without their arms), were Campanians, Gauls, and Greeks, - so that no one in the crowd understood him. Hanno, perceiving this, - stopped and reflected, swaying himself heavily from one leg to the other. - </p> - <p> - It occurred to him to call the captains together; then his heralds shouted - the order in Greek, the language which, from the time of Xanthippus, had - been used for commands in the Carthaginian armies. - </p> - <p> - The guards dispersed the mob of soldiers with strokes of the whip; and the - captains of the Spartan phalanxes and the chiefs of the Barbarian cohorts - soon arrived with the insignia of their rank, and in the armour of their - nation. Night had fallen, a great tumult was spreading throughout the - plain; fires were burning here and there; and the soldiers kept going from - one to another asking what the matter was, and why the Suffet did not - distribute the money? - </p> - <p> - He was setting the infinite burdens of the Republic before the captains. - Her treasury was empty. The tribute to Rome was crushing her. “We - are quite at a loss what to do! She is much to be pitied!” - </p> - <p> - From time to time he would rub his limbs with his aloe-wood spatula, or - perhaps he would break off to drink a ptisan made of the ashes of a weasel - and asparagus boiled in vinegar from a silver cup handed to him by a - slave; then he would wipe his lips with a scarlet napkin and resume: - </p> - <p> - “What used to be worth a shekel of silver is now worth three shekels - of gold, while the cultivated lands which were abandoned during the war - bring in nothing! Our purpura fisheries are nearly gone, and even pearls - are becoming exhorbitant; we have scarcely unguents enough for the service - of the gods! As for the things of the table, I shall say nothing about - them; it is a calamity! For want of galleys we are without spices, and it - is a matter of great difficulty to procure silphium on account of the - rebellions on the Cyrenian frontier. Sicily, where so many slaves used to - be had, is now closed to us! Only yesterday I gave more money for a bather - and four scullions than I used at one time to give for a pair of - elephants!” - </p> - <p> - He unrolled a long piece of papyrus; and, without omitting a single - figure, read all the expenses that the government had incurred; so much - for repairing the temples, for paving the streets, for the construction of - vessels, for the coral-fisheries, for the enlargement of the Syssitia, and - for engines in the mines in the country of the Cantabrians. - </p> - <p> - But the captains understood Punic as little as the soldiers, although the - Mercenaries saluted one another in that language. It was usual to place a - few Carthaginian officers in the Barbarian armies to act as interpreters; - after the war they had concealed themselves through fear of vengeance, and - Hanno had not thought of taking them with him; his hollow voice, too, was - lost in the wind. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks, girthed in their iron waist-belts, strained their ears as they - strove to guess at his words, while the mountaineers, covered with furs - like bears, looked at him with distrust, or yawned as they leaned on their - brass-nailed clubs. The heedless Gauls sneered as they shook their lofty - heads of hair, and the men of the desert listened motionless, cowled in - their garments of grey wool; others kept coming up behind; the guards, - crushed by the mob, staggered on their horses; the Negroes held out - burning fir branches at arm’s length; and the big Carthaginian, - mounted on a grassy hillock, continued his harangue. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians, however, were growing impatient; murmuring arose, and - every one apostrophized him. Hanno gesticulated with his spatula; and - those who wished the others to be quiet shouted still more loudly, thereby - adding to the din. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly a man of mean appearance bounded to Hanno’s feet, snatched - up a herald’s trumpet, blew it, and Spendius (for it was he) - announced that he was going to say something of importance. At this - declaration, which was rapidly uttered in five different languages, Greek, - Latin, Gallic, Libyan and Balearic, the captains, half laughing and half - surprised, replied: “Speak! Speak!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius hesitated; he trembled; at last, addressing the Libyans who were - the most numerous, he said to them: - </p> - <p> - “You have all heard this man’s horrible threats!” - </p> - <p> - Hanno made no exclamation, therefore he did not understand Libyan; and, to - carry on the experiment, Spendius repeated the same phrase in the other - Barbarian dialects. - </p> - <p> - They looked at one another in astonishment; then, as by a tacit agreement, - and believing perhaps that they had understood, they bent their heads in - token of assent. - </p> - <p> - Then Spendius began in vehement tones: - </p> - <p> - “He said first that all the Gods of the other nations were but - dreams besides the Gods of Carthage! He called you cowards, thieves, - liars, dogs, and the sons of dogs! But for you (he said that!) the - Republic would not be forced to pay excessive tribute to the Romans; and - through your excesses you have drained it of perfumes, aromatics, slaves, - and silphium, for you are in league with the nomads on the Cyrenian - frontier! But the guilty shall be punished! He read the enumeration of - their torments; they shall be made to work at the paving of the streets, - at the equipment of the vessels, at the adornment of the Syssitia, while - the rest shall be sent to scrape the earth in the mines in the country of - the Cantabrians.” - </p> - <p> - Spendius repeated the same statements to the Gauls, Greeks, Campanians and - Balearians. The Mercenaries, recognising several of the proper names which - had met their ears, were convinced that he was accurately reporting the - Suffet’s speech. A few cried out to him, “You lie!” but - their voices were drowned in the tumult of the rest; Spendius added: - </p> - <p> - “Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horse-soldiers - outside the camp? At a given signal they will hasten hither to slay you - all.” - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians turned in that direction, and as the crowd was then - scattering, there appeared in the midst of them, and advancing with the - slowness of a phantom, a human being, bent, lean, entirely naked, and - covered down to his flanks with long hair bristling with dried leaves, - dust and thorns. About his loins and his knees he had wisps of straw and - linen rags; his soft and earthy skin hung on his emaciated limbs like - tatters on dried boughs; his hands trembled with a continuous quivering, - and as he walked he leaned on a staff of olive-wood. - </p> - <p> - He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches. His pale gums were - displayed in a sort of idiotic titter; his large, scared eyes gazed upon - the crowd of Barbarians around him. - </p> - <p> - But uttering a cry of terror he threw himself behind them, shielding - himself with their bodies. “There they are! There they are!” - he stammered out, pointing to the Suffet’s guards, who were - motionless in their glittering armour. Their horses, dazzled by the light - of the torches which crackled in the darkness, were pawing the ground; the - human spectre struggled and howled: - </p> - <p> - “They have killed them!” - </p> - <p> - At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, some Balearians came up - and recognised him; without answering them he repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Yes, all killed, all! crushed like grapes! The fine young men! the - slingers! my companions and yours!” - </p> - <p> - They gave him wine to drink, and he wept; then he launched forth into - speech. - </p> - <p> - Spendius could scarcely repress his joy, as he explained the horrors - related by Zarxas to the Greeks and Libyans; he could not believe them, so - appropriately did they come in. The Balearians grew pale as they learned - how their companions had perished. - </p> - <p> - It was a troop of three hundred slingers who had disembarked the evening - before, and had on that day slept too late. When they reached the square - of Khamon the Barbarians were gone, and they found themselves defenceless, - their clay bullets having been put on the camels with the rest of the - baggage. They were allowed to advance into the street of Satheb as far as - the brass sheathed oaken gate; then the people with a single impulse had - sprung upon them. - </p> - <p> - Indeed, the soldiers remembered a great shout; Spendius, who was flying at - the head of the columns, had not heard it. - </p> - <p> - Then the corpses were placed in the arms of the Patæc gods that fringed - the temple of Khamon. They were upbraided with all the crimes of the - Mercenaries; their gluttony, their thefts, their impiety, their disdain, - and the murder of the fishes in Salammbô’s garden. Their bodies were - subjected to infamous mutilations; the priests burned their hair in order - to torture their souls; they were hung up in pieces in the meat-shops; - some even buried their teeth in them, and in the evening funeral-piles - were kindled at the cross-ways to finish them. - </p> - <p> - These were the flames that had gleamed from a distance across the lake. - But some houses having taken fire, any dead or dying that remained were - speedily thrown over the walls; Zarxas had remained among the reeds on the - edge of the lake until the following day; then he had wandered about - through the country, seeking for the army by the footprints in the dust. - In the morning he hid himself in caves; in the evening he resumed his - march with his bleeding wounds, famished, sick, living on roots and - carrion; at last one day he perceived lances on the horizon, and he had - followed them, for his reason was disturbed through his terrors and - miseries. - </p> - <p> - The indignation of the soldiers, restrained so long as he was speaking, - broke forth like a tempest; they were going to massacre the guards - together with the Suffet. A few interposed, saying that they ought to hear - him and know at least whether they should be paid. Then they all cried: - “Our money!” Hanno replied that he had brought it. - </p> - <p> - They ran to the outposts, and the Suffet’s baggage arrived in the - midst of the tents, pressed forward by the Barbarians. Without waiting for - the slaves, they very quickly unfastened the baskets; in them they found - hyacinth robes, sponges, scrapers, brushes, perfumes, and antimony pencils - for painting the eyes—all belonging to the guards, who were rich men - and accustomed to such refinements. Next they uncovered a large bronze tub - on a camel: it belonged to the Suffet who had it for bathing in during his - journey; for he had taken all manner of precautions, even going so far as - to bring caged weasels from Hecatompylos, which were burnt alive to make - his ptisan. But, as his malady gave him a great appetite, there were also - many comestibles and many wines, pickle, meats and fishes preserved in - honey, with little pots of Commagene, or melted goose-fat covered with - snow and chopped straw. There was a considerable supply of it; the more - they opened the baskets the more they found, and laughter arose like - conflicting waves. - </p> - <p> - As to the pay of the Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass - baskets; there were even visible in one of them some of the leathern discs - which the Republic used to economise its specie; and as the Barbarians - appeared greatly surprised, Hanno told them that, their accounts being - very difficult, the Ancients had not had leisure to examine them. - Meanwhile they had sent them this. - </p> - <p> - Then everything was in disorder and confusion: mules, serving men, litter, - provisions, and baggage. The soldiers took the coin in the bags to stone - Hanno. With great difficulty he was able to mount an ass; and he fled, - clinging to its hair, howling, weeping, shaken, bruised, and calling down - the curse of all the gods upon the army. His broad necklace of precious - stones rebounded up to his ears. His cloak which was too long, and which - trailed behind him, he kept on with his teeth, and from afar the - Barbarians shouted at him, “Begone coward! pig! sink of Moloch! - sweat your gold and your plague! quicker! quicker!” The routed - escort galloped beside him. - </p> - <p> - But the fury of the Barbarians did not abate. They remembered that several - of them who had set out for Carthage had not returned; no doubt they had - been killed. So much injustice exasperated them, and they began to pull up - the stakes of their tents, to roll up their cloaks, and to bridle their - horses; every one took his helmet and sword, and instantly all was ready. - Those who had no arms rushed into the woods to cut staves. - </p> - <p> - Day dawned; the people of Sicca were roused, and stirring in the streets. - “They are going to Carthage,” said they, and the rumour of - this soon spread through the country. - </p> - <p> - From every path and every ravine men arose. Shepherds were seen running - down from the mountains. - </p> - <p> - Then, when the Barbarians had set out, Spendius circled the plain, riding - on a Punic stallion, and attended by his slave, who led a third horse. - </p> - <p> - A single tent remained. Spendius entered it. - </p> - <p> - “Up, master! rise! we are departing!” - </p> - <p> - “And where are you going?” asked Matho. - </p> - <p> - “To Carthage!” cried Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held at the door. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"></a> - CHAPTER III - </h2> - <h3> - SALAMMBÔ - </h3> - <p> - The moon was rising just above the waves, and on the town which was still - wrapped in darkness there glittered white and luminous specks:—the - pole of a chariot, a dangling rag of linen, the corner of a wall, or a - golden necklace on the bosom of a god. The glass balls on the roofs of the - temples beamed like great diamonds here and there. But ill-defined ruins, - piles of black earth, and gardens formed deeper masses in the gloom, and - below Malqua fishermen’s nets stretched from one house to another - like gigantic bats spreading their wings. The grinding of the hydraulic - wheels which conveyed water to the highest storys of the palaces, was no - longer heard; and the camels, lying ostrich fashion on their stomachs, - rested peacefully in the middle of the terraces. The porters were asleep - in the streets on the thresholds of the houses; the shadows of the - colossuses stretched across the deserted squares; occasionally in the - distance the smoke of a still burning sacrifice would escape through the - bronze tiling, and the heavy breeze would waft the odours of aromatics - blended with the scent of the sea and the exhalation from the sun-heated - walls. The motionless waves shone around Carthage, for the moon was - spreading her light at once upon the mountain-circled gulf and upon the - lake of Tunis, where flamingoes formed long rose-coloured lines amid the - banks of sand, while further on beneath the catacombs the great salt - lagoon shimmered like a piece of silver. The blue vault of heaven sank on - the horizon in one direction into the dustiness of the plains, and in the - other into the mists of the sea, and on the summit of the Acropolis, the - pyramidal cypress trees, fringing the temple of Eschmoun, swayed murmuring - like the regular waves that beat slowly along the mole beneath the - ramparts. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô ascended to the terrace of her palace, supported by a female - slave who carried an iron dish filled with live coals. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the terrace there was a small ivory bed covered with lynx - skins, and cushions made with the feathers of the parrot, a fatidical - animal consecrated to the gods; and at the four corners rose four long - perfuming-pans filled with nard, incense, cinnamomum, and myrrh. The slave - lit the perfumes. Salammbô looked at the polar star; she slowly saluted - the four points of heaven, and knelt down on the ground in the azure dust - which was strewn with golden stars in imitation of the firmament. Then - with both elbows against her sides, her fore-arms straight and her hands - open, she threw back her head beneath the rays of the moon, and said: - </p> - <p> - “O Rabetna!—Baalet!—Tanith!” and her voice was - lengthened in a plaintive fashion as if calling to some one. “Anaïtis! - Astarte! Derceto! Astoreth! Mylitta! Athara! Elissa! Tiratha!—By the - hidden symbols, by the resounding sistra,—by the furrows of the - earth,—by the eternal silence and by the eternal fruitfulness,—mistress - of the gloomy sea and of the azure shores, O Queen of the watery world, - all hail!” - </p> - <p> - She swayed her whole body twice or thrice, and then cast herself face - downwards in the dust with both arms outstretched. - </p> - <p> - But the slave nimbly raised her, for according to the rites someone must - catch the suppliant at the moment of his prostration; this told him that - the gods accepted him, and Salammbô’s nurse never failed in this - pious duty. - </p> - <p> - Some merchants from Darytian Gætulia had brought her to Carthage when - quite young, and after her enfranchisement she would not forsake her old - masters, as was shown by her right ear, which was pierced with a large - hole. A petticoat of many-coloured stripes fitted closely on her hips, and - fell to her ankles, where two tin rings clashed together. Her somewhat - flat face was yellow like her tunic. Silver bodkins of great length formed - a sun behind her head. She wore a coral button on the nostril, and she - stood beside the bed more erect than a Hermes, and with her eyelids cast - down. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô walked to the edge of the terrace; her eyes swept the horizon for - an instant, and then were lowered upon the sleeping town, while the sigh - that she heaved swelled her bosom, and gave an undulating movement to the - whole length of the long white simar which hung without clasp or girdle - about her. Her curved and painted sandals were hidden beneath a heap of - emeralds, and a net of purple thread was filled with her disordered hair. - </p> - <p> - But she raised her head to gaze upon the moon, and murmured, mingling her - speech with fragments of hymns: - </p> - <p> - “How lightly turnest thou, supported by the impalpable ether! It - brightens about thee, and ’tis the stir of thine agitation that - distributes the winds and fruitful dews. According as thou dost wax and - wane the eyes of cats and spots of panthers lengthen or grow short. Wives - shriek thy name in the pangs of childbirth! Thou makest the shells to - swell, the wine to bubble, and the corpse to putrefy! Thou formest the - pearls at the bottom of the sea! - </p> - <p> - “And every germ, O goddess! ferments in the dark depths of thy - moisture. - </p> - <p> - “When thou appearest, quietness is spread abroad upon the earth; the - flowers close, the waves are soothed, wearied man stretches his breast - toward thee, and the world with its oceans and mountains looks at itself - in thy face as in a mirror. Thou art white, gentle, luminous, immaculate, - helping, purifying, serene!” - </p> - <p> - The crescent of the moon was then over the mountain of the Hot Springs, in - the hollow formed by its two summits, on the other side of the gulf. Below - it there was a little star, and all around it a pale circle. Salammbô went - on: - </p> - <p> - “But thou art a terrible mistress!—Monsters, terrifying - phantoms, and lying dreams come from thee; thine eyes devour the stones of - buildings, and the apes are ever ill each time thou growest young again. - </p> - <p> - “Whither goest thou? Why dost thou change thy forms continually? - Now, slender and curved thou glidest through space like a mastless galley; - and then, amid the stars, thou art like a shepherd keeping his flock. - Shining and round, thou dost graze the mountain-tops like the wheel of a - chariot. - </p> - <p> - “O Tanith! thou dost love me? I have looked so much on thee! But no! - thou sailest through thine azure, and I—I remain on the motionless - earth. - </p> - <p> - “Taanach, take your nebal and play softly on the silver string, for - my heart is sad!” - </p> - <p> - The slave lifted a sort of harp of ebony wood, taller than herself, and - triangular in shape like a delta; she fixed the point in a crystal globe, - and with both hands began to play. - </p> - <p> - The sounds followed one another hurried and deep, like the buzzing of - bees, and with increasing sonorousness floated away into the night with - the complaining of the waves, and the rustling of the great trees on the - summit of the Acropolis. - </p> - <p> - “Hush!” cried Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - “What ails you, mistress? The blowing of the breeze, the passing of - a cloud, everything disquiets you just now!” - </p> - <p> - “I do not know,” she said. - </p> - <p> - “You are wearied with too long prayers!” - </p> - <p> - “Oh! Tanaach, I would fain be dissolved in them like a flower in - wine!” - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps it is the smoke of your perfumes?” - </p> - <p> - “No!” said Salammbô; “the spirit of the gods dwells in - fragrant odours.” - </p> - <p> - Then the slave spoke to her of her father. It was thought that he had gone - towards the amber country, behind the pillars of Melkarth. “But if - he does not return,” she said, “you must nevertheless, since - it was his will, choose a husband among the sons of the Ancients, and then - your grief will pass away in a man’s arms.” - </p> - <p> - “Why?” asked the young girl. All those that she had seen had - horrified her with their fallow-deer laughter and their coarse limbs. - </p> - <p> - “Sometimes, Tanaach, from the depths of my being there exhale as it - were hot fumes heavier than the vapours from a volcano. Voices call me, a - globe of fire rolls and mounts within my bosom, it stifles me, I am at the - point of death; and then, something sweet, flowing from my brow to my - feet, passes through my flesh—it is a caress enfolding me, and I - feel myself crushed as if some god were stretched upon me. Oh! would that - I could lose myself in the mists of the night, the waters of the - fountains, the sap of the trees, that I could issue from my body, and be - but a breath, or a ray, and glide, mount up to thee, O Mother!” - </p> - <p> - She raised her arms to their full length, arching her form, which in its - long garment was as pale and light as the moon. Then she fell back, - panting, on the ivory couch; but Taanach passed an amber necklace with - dolphin’s teeth about her neck to banish terrors, and Salammbô said - in an almost stifled voice: “Go and bring me Schahabarim.” - </p> - <p> - Her father had not wished her to enter the college of priestesses, nor - even to be made at all acquainted with the popular Tanith. He was - reserving her for some alliance that might serve his political ends; so - that Salammbô lived alone in the midst of the palace. Her mother was long - since dead. - </p> - <p> - She had grown up with abstinences, fastings and purifications, always - surrounded by grave and exquisite things, her body saturated with - perfumes, and her soul filled with prayers. She had never tasted wine, nor - eaten meat, nor touched an unclean animal, nor set her heels in the house - of death. - </p> - <p> - She knew nothing of obscene images, for as each god was manifested in - different forms, the same principle often received the witness of - contradictory cults, and Salammbô worshipped the goddess in her sidereal - presentation. An influence had descended upon the maiden from the moon; - when the planet passed diminishing away, Salammbô grew weak. She - languished the whole day long, and revived at evening. During an eclipse - she nearly died. - </p> - <p> - But Rabetna, in jealousy, revenged herself for the virginity withdrawn - from her sacrifices, and she tormented Salammbô with possessions, all the - stronger for being vague, which were spread through this belief and - excited by it. - </p> - <p> - Unceasingly was Hamilcar’s daughter disquieted about Tanith. She had - learned her adventures, her travels, and all her names, which she would - repeat without their having any distinct signification for her. In order - to penetrate into the depths of her dogma, she wished to become - acquainted, in the most secret part of the temple, with the old idol in - the magnificent mantle, whereon depended the destinies of Carthage, for - the idea of a god did not stand out clearly from his representation, and - to hold, or even see the image of one, was to take away part of his - virtue, and in a measure to rule him. - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô turned around. She had recognised the sound of the golden - bells which Schahabarim wore at the hem of his garment. - </p> - <p> - He ascended the staircases; then at the threshold of the terrace he - stopped and folded his arms. - </p> - <p> - His sunken eyes shone like the lamps of a sepulchre; his long thin body - floated in its linen robe which was weighted by the bells, the latter - alternating with balls of emeralds at his heels. He had feeble limbs, an - oblique skull and a pointed chin; his skin seemed cold to the touch, and - his yellow face, which was deeply furrowed with wrinkles, was as if it - contracted in a longing, in an everlasting grief. - </p> - <p> - He was the high priest of Tanith, and it was he who had educated Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” he said. “What will you?” - </p> - <p> - “I hoped—you had almost promised me—” She - stammered and was confused; then suddenly: “Why do you despise me? - what have I forgotten in the rites? You are my master, and you told me - that no one was so accomplished in the things pertaining to the goddess as - I; but there are some of which you will not speak. Is it so, O father?” - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim remembered Hamilcar’s orders, and replied: - </p> - <p> - “No, I have nothing more to teach you!” - </p> - <p> - “A genius,” she resumed, “impels me to this love. I have - climbed the steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I - have slept beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian - colonies; I have pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener and - fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the gods of - woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand? they are all - too far away, too high, too insensible, while she—I feel her mingled - in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward startings, as - though she were leaping in order to escape. Methinks I am about to hear - her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and then I sink back - again into the darkness.” - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim was silent. She entreated him with suppliant looks. At last he - made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of Chanaanitish - race. Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one arm in the air, - began: - </p> - <p> - “Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull - and indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream. It contracted, - creating Desire and Cloud, and from Desire and Cloud there issued - primitive Matter. This was a water, muddy, black, icy and deep. It - contained senseless monsters, incoherent portions of the forms to be born, - which are painted on the walls of the sanctuaries. - </p> - <p> - “Then Matter condensed. It became an egg. It burst. One half formed - the earth and the other the firmament. Sun, moon, winds and clouds - appeared, and at the crash of the thunder intelligent creatures awoke. - Then Eschmoun spread himself in the starry sphere; Khamon beamed in the - sun; Melkarth thrust him with his arms behind Gades; the Kabiri descended - beneath the volcanoes, and Rabetna like a nurse bent over the world - pouring out her light like milk, and her night like a mantle.” - </p> - <p> - “And then?” she said. - </p> - <p> - He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from - sublimer prospects; but the maiden’s desire kindled again at his - last words, and Schahabarim, half yielding resumed: - </p> - <p> - “She inspires and governs the loves of men.” - </p> - <p> - “The loves of men!” repeated Salammbô dreamily. - </p> - <p> - “She is the soul of Carthage,” continued the priest; “and - although she is everywhere diffused, it is here that she dwells, beneath - the sacred veil.” - </p> - <p> - “O father!” cried Salammbô, “I shall see her, shall I - not? you will bring me to her! I had long been hesitating; I am devoured - with curiosity to see her form. Pity! help me! let us go?” - </p> - <p> - He repulsed her with a vehement gesture that was full of pride. - </p> - <p> - “Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals - are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in - weakness. Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge that - you possess!” - </p> - <p> - She fell upon her knees placing two fingers against her ears in token of - repentance; and crushed by the priest’s words, and filled at once - with anger against him, with terror and humiliation, she burst into sobs. - Schahabarim remained erect, and more insensible than the stones of the - terrace. He looked down upon her quivering at his feet, and felt a kind of - joy on seeing her suffer for his divinity whom he himself could not wholly - embrace. The birds were already singing, a cold wind was blowing, and - little clouds were drifting in the paling sky. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly he perceived on the horizon, behind Tunis, what looked like - slight mists trailing along the ground; then these became a great curtain - of dust extending perpendicularly, and, amid the whirlwinds of the - thronging mass, dromedaries’ heads, lances and shields appeared. It - was the army of the Barbarians advancing upon Carthage. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"></a> - CHAPTER IV - </h2> - <h3> - BENEATH THE WALLS OF CARTHAGE - </h3> - <p> - Some country people, riding on asses or running on foot, arrived in the - town, pale, breathless, and mad with fear. They were flying before the - army. It had accomplished the journey from Sicca in three days, in order - to reach Carthage and wholly exterminate it. - </p> - <p> - The gates were shut. The Barbarians appeared almost immediately; but they - stopped in the middle of the isthmus, on the edge of the lake. - </p> - <p> - At first they made no hostile announcement. Several approached with palm - branches in their hands. They were driven back with arrows, so great was - the terror. - </p> - <p> - In the morning and at nightfall prowlers would sometimes wander along the - walls. A little man carefully wrapped in a cloak, and with his face - concealed beneath a very low visor, was especially noticed. He would - remain whole hours gazing at the aqueduct, and so persistently that he - doubtless wished to mislead the Carthaginians as to his real designs. - Another man, a sort of giant who walked bareheaded, used to accompany him. - </p> - <p> - But Carthage was defended throughout the whole breadth of the isthmus: - first by a trench, then by a grassy rampart, and lastly by a wall thirty - cubits high, built of freestone, and in two storys. It contained stables - for three hundred elephants with stores for their caparisons, shackles, - and food; other stables again for four thousand horses with supplies of - barley and harness, and barracks for twenty thousand soldiers with armour - and all materials of war. Towers rose from the second story, all provided - with battlements, and having bronze bucklers hung on cramps on the - outside. - </p> - <p> - This first line of wall gave immediate shelter to Malqua, the sailors’ - and dyers’ quarter. Masts might be seen whereon purple sails were - drying, and on the highest terraces clay furnaces for heating the pickle - were visible. - </p> - <p> - Behind, the lofty houses of the city rose in an ampitheatre of cubical - form. They were built of stone, planks, shingle, reeds, shells, and beaten - earth. The woods belonging to the temples were like lakes of verdure in - this mountain of diversely-coloured blocks. It was levelled at unequal - distances by the public squares, and was cut from top to bottom by - countless intersecting lanes. The enclosures of the three old quarters - which are now lost might be distinguished; they rose here and there like - great reefs, or extended in enormous fronts, blackened, half-covered with - flowers, and broadly striped by the casting of filth, while streets passed - through their yawning apertures like rivers beneath bridges. - </p> - <p> - The hill of the Acropolis, in the centre of Byrsa, was hidden beneath a - disordered array of monuments. There were temples with wreathed columns - bearing bronze capitals and metal chains, cones of dry stones with bands - of azure, copper cupolas, marble architraves, Babylonian buttresses, - obelisks poised on their points like inverted torches. Peristyles reached - to pediments; volutes were displayed through colonnades; granite walls - supported tile partitions; the whole mounting, half-hidden, the one above - the other in a marvellous and incomprehensible fashion. In it might be - felt the succession of the ages, and, as it were, the memorials of - forgotten fatherlands. - </p> - <p> - Behind the Acropolis the Mappalian road, which was lined with tombs, - extended through red lands in a straight line from the shore to the - catacombs; then spacious dwellings occurred at intervals in the gardens, - and this third quarter, Megara, which was the new town, reached as far as - the edge of the cliff, where rose a giant pharos that blazed forth every - night. - </p> - <p> - In this fashion was Carthage displayed before the soldiers quartered in - the plain. - </p> - <p> - They could recognise the markets and crossways in the distance, and - disputed with one another as to the sites of the temples. Khamon’s, - fronting the Syssitia, had golden tiles; Melkarth, to the left of - Eschmoun, had branches of coral on its roofing; beyond, Tanith’s - copper cupola swelled among the palm trees; the dark Moloch was below the - cisterns, in the direction of the pharos. At the angles of the pediments, - on the tops of the walls, at the corners of the squares, everywhere, - divinities with hideous heads might be seen, colossal or squat, with - enormous bellies, or immoderately flattened, opening their jaws, extending - their arms, and holding forks, chains or javelins in their hands; while - the blue of the sea stretched away behind the streets which were rendered - still steeper by the perspective. - </p> - <p> - They were filled from morning till evening with a tumultuous people; young - boys shaking little bells, shouted at the doors of the baths; the shops - for hot drinks smoked, the air resounded with the noise of anvils, the - white cocks, sacred to the Sun, crowed on the terraces, the oxen that were - being slaughtered bellowed in the temples, slaves ran about with baskets - on their heads; and in the depths of the porticoes a priest would - sometimes appear, draped in a dark cloak, barefooted, and wearing a - pointed cap. - </p> - <p> - The spectacle afforded by Carthage irritated the Barbarians; they admired - it and execrated it, and would have liked both to annihilate it and to - dwell in it. But what was there in the Military Harbour defended by a - triple wall? Then behind the town, at the back of Megara, and higher than - the Acropolis, appeared Hamilcar’s palace. - </p> - <p> - Matho’s eyes were directed thither every moment. He would ascend the - olive trees and lean over with his hand spread out above his eyebrows. The - gardens were empty, and the red door with its black cross remained - constantly shut. - </p> - <p> - More than twenty times he walked round the ramparts, seeking some breach - by which he might enter. One night he threw himself into the gulf and swam - for three hours at a stretch. He reached the foot of the Mappalian quarter - and tried to climb up the face of the cliff. He covered his knees with - blood, broke his nails, and then fell back into the waves and returned. - </p> - <p> - His impotence exasperated him. He was jealous of this Carthage which - contained Salammbô, as if of some one who had possessed her. His - nervelessness left him to be replaced by a mad and continual eagerness for - action. With flaming cheek, angry eyes, and hoarse voice, he would walk - with rapid strides through the camp; or seated on the shore he would scour - his great sword with sand. He shot arrows at the passing vultures. His - heart overflowed into frenzied speech. - </p> - <p> - “Give free course to your wrath like a runaway chariot,” said - Spendius. “Shout, blaspheme, ravage and slay. Grief is allayed with - blood, and since you cannot sate your love, gorge your hate; it will - sustain you!” - </p> - <p> - Matho resumed the command of his soldiers. He drilled them pitilessly. He - was respected for his courage and especially for his strength. Moreover he - inspired a sort of mystic dread, and it was believed that he conversed at - night with phantoms. The other captains were animated by his example. The - army soon grew disciplined. From their houses the Carthaginians could hear - the bugle-flourishes that regulated their exercises. At last the - Barbarians drew near. - </p> - <p> - To crush them in the isthmus it would have been necessary for two armies - to take them simultaneously in the rear, one disembarking at the end of - the gulf of Utica, and the second at the mountain of the Hot Springs. But - what could be done with the single sacred Legion, mustering at most six - thousand men? If the enemy bent towards the east they would join the - nomads and intercept the commerce of the desert. If they fell back to the - west, Numidia would rise. Finally, lack of provisions would sooner or - later lead them to devastate the surrounding country like grasshoppers, - and the rich trembled for their fine country-houses, their vineyards and - their cultivated lands. - </p> - <p> - Hanno proposed atrocious and impracticable measures, such as promising a - heavy sum for every Barbarian’s head, or setting fire to their camp - with ships and machines. His colleague Gisco, on the other hand, wished - them to be paid. But the Ancients detested him owing to his popularity; - for they dreaded the risk of a master, and through terror of monarchy - strove to weaken whatever contributed to it or might re-establish it. - </p> - <p> - Outside the fortification there were people of another race and of unknown - origin, all hunters of the porcupine, and eaters of shell-fish and - serpents. They used to go into caves to catch hyenas alive, and amuse - themselves by making them run in the evening on the sands of Megara - between the stelæ of the tombs. Their huts, which were made of mud and - wrack, hung on the cliff like swallows’ nests. There they lived, - without government and without gods, pell-mell, completely naked, at once - feeble and fierce, and execrated by the people of all time on account of - their unclean food. One morning the sentries perceived that they were all - gone. - </p> - <p> - At last some members of the Great Council arrived at a decision. They came - to the camp without necklaces or girdles, and in open sandals like - neighbours. They walked at a quiet pace, waving salutations to the - captains, or stopped to speak to the soldiers, saying that all was - finished and that justice was about to be done to their claims. - </p> - <p> - Many of them saw a camp of Mercenaries for the first time. Instead of the - confusion which they had pictured to themselves, there prevailed - everywhere terrible silence and order. A grassy rampart formed a lofty - wall round the army immovable by the shock of catapults. The ground in the - streets was sprinkled with fresh water; through the holes in the tents - they could perceive tawny eyeballs gleaming in the shade. The piles of - pikes and hanging panoplies dazzled them like mirrors. They conversed in - low tones. They were afraid of upsetting something with their long robes. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers requested provisions, undertaking to pay for them out of the - money that was due. - </p> - <p> - Oxen, sheep, guinea fowl, fruit and lupins were sent to them, with smoked - scombri, that excellent scombri which Carthage dispatched to every port. - But they walked scornfully around the magnificent cattle, and disparaging - what they coveted, offered the worth of a pigeon for a ram, or the price - of a pomegranate for three goats. The Eaters of Uncleanness came forward - as arbitrators, and declared that they were being duped. Then they drew - their swords with threats to slay. - </p> - <p> - Commissaries of the Great Council wrote down the number of years for which - pay was due to each soldier. But it was no longer possible to know how - many Mercenaries had been engaged, and the Ancients were dismayed at the - enormous sum which they would have to pay. The reserve of silphium must be - sold, and the trading towns taxed; the Mercenaries would grow impatient; - Tunis was already with them; and the rich, stunned by Hanno’s - ragings and his colleague’s reproaches, urged any citizens who might - know a Barbarian to go to see him immediately in order to win back his - friendship, and to speak him fair. Such a show of confidence would soothe - them. - </p> - <p> - Traders, scribes, workers in the arsenal, and whole families visited the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers allowed all the Carthaginians to come in, but by a single - passage so narrow that four men abreast jostled one another in it. - Spendius, standing against the barrier, had them carefully searched; - facing him Matho was examining the multitude, trying to recognise some one - whom he might have seen at Salammbô’s palace. - </p> - <p> - The camp was like a town, so full of people and of movement was it. The - two distinct crowds mingled without blending, one dressed in linen or - wool, with felt caps like fir-cones, and the other clad in iron and - wearing helmets. Amid serving men and itinerant vendors there moved women - of all nations, as brown as ripe dates, as greenish as olives, as yellow - as oranges, sold by sailors, picked out of dens, stolen from caravans, - taken in the sacking of towns, women that were jaded with love so long as - they were young, and plied with blows when they were old, and that died in - routs on the roadsides among the baggage and the abandoned beasts of - burden. The wives of the nomads had square, tawny robes of dromedary’s - hair swinging at their heels; musicians from Cyrenaica, wrapped in violet - gauze and with painted eyebrows, sang, squatting on mats; old Negresses - with hanging breasts gathered the animals’ dung that was drying in - the sun to light their fires; the Syracusan women had golden plates in - their hair; the Lusitanians had necklaces of shells; the Gauls wore wolf - skins upon their white bosoms; and sturdy children, vermin-covered, naked - and uncircumcised, butted with their heads against passers-by, or came - behind them like young tigers to bite their hands. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians walked through the camp, surprised at the quantities of - things with which it was running over. The most miserable were melancholy, - and the rest dissembled their anxiety. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers struck them on the shoulder, and exhorted them to be gay. As - soon as they saw any one, they invited him to their amusements. If they - were playing at discus, they would manage to crush his feet, or if at - boxing to fracture his jaw with the very first blow. The slingers - terrified the Carthaginians with their slings, the Psylli with their - vipers, and the horsemen with their horses, while their victims, addicted - as they were to peaceful occupations, bent their heads and tried to smile - at all these outrages. Some, in order to show themselves brave, made signs - that they should like to become soldiers. They were set to split wood and - to curry mules. They were buckled up in armour, and rolled like casks - through the streets of the camp. Then, when they were about to leave, the - Mercenaries plucked out their hair with grotesque contortions. - </p> - <p> - But many, from foolishness or prejudice, innocently believed that all the - Carthaginians were very rich, and they walked behind them entreating them - to grant them something. They requested everything that they thought fine: - a ring, a girdle, sandals, the fringe of a robe, and when the despoiled - Carthaginian cried—“But I have nothing left. What do you want?” - they would reply, “Your wife!” Others even said, “Your - life!” - </p> - <p> - The military accounts were handed to the captains, read to the soldiers, - and definitively approved. Then they claimed tents; they received them. - Next the polemarchs of the Greeks demanded some of the handsome suits of - armour that were manufactured at Carthage; the Great Council voted sums of - money for their purchase. But it was only fair, so the horsemen pretended, - that the Republic should indemnify them for their horses; one had lost - three at such a siege, another, five during such a march, another, - fourteen in the precipices. Stallions from Hecatompylos were offered to - them, but they preferred money. - </p> - <p> - Next they demanded that they should be paid in money (in pieces of money, - and not in leathern coins) for all the corn that was owing to them, and at - the highest price that it had fetched during the war; so that they exacted - four hundred times as much for a measure of meal as they had given for a - sack of wheat. Such injustice was exasperating; but it was necessary, - nevertheless, to submit. - </p> - <p> - Then the delegates from the soldiers and from the Great Council swore - renewed friendship by the Genius of Carthage and the gods of the - Barbarians. They exchanged excuses and caresses with oriental - demonstrativeness and verbosity. Then the soldiers claimed, as a proof of - friendship, the punishment of those who had estranged them from the - Republic. - </p> - <p> - Their meaning, it was pretended, was not understood, and they explained - themselves more clearly by saying that they must have Hanno’s head. - </p> - <p> - Several times a day, they left their camp, and walked along the foot of - the walls, shouting a demand that the Suffet’s head should be thrown - to them, and holding out their robes to receive it. - </p> - <p> - The Great Council would perhaps have given way but for a last exaction, - more outrageous than the rest; they demanded maidens, chosen from - illustrious families, in marriage for their chiefs. It was an idea which - had emanated from Spendius, and which many thought most simple and - practicable. But the assumption of their desire to mix with Punic blood - made the people indignant; and they were bluntly told that they were to - receive no more. Then they exclaimed that they had been deceived, and that - if their pay did not arrive within three days, they would themselves go - and take it in Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The bad faith of the Mercenaries was not so complete as their enemies - thought. Hamilcar had made them extravagant promises, vague, it is true, - but at the same time solemn and reiterated. They might have believed that - when they disembarked at Carthage the town would be abandoned to them, and - that they should have treasures divided among them; and when they saw that - scarcely their wages would be paid, the disillusion touched their pride no - less than their greed. - </p> - <p> - Had not Dionysius, Pyrrhus, Agathocles, and the generals of Alexander - furnished examples of marvellous good fortune? Hercules, whom the - Chanaanites confounded with the sun, was the ideal which shone on the - horizon of armies. They knew that simple soldiers had worn diadems, and - the echoes of crumbling empires would furnish dreams to the Gaul in his - oak forest, to the Ethiopian amid his sands. But there was a nation always - ready to turn courage to account; and the robber driven from his tribe, - the patricide wandering on the roads, the perpetrator of sacrilege pursued - by the gods, all who were starving or in despair strove to reach the port - where the Carthaginian broker was recruiting soldiers. Usually the - Republic kept its promises. This time, however, the eagerness of its - avarice had brought it into perilous disgrace. Numidians, Libyans, the - whole of Africa was about to fall upon Carthage. Only the sea was open to - it, and there it met with the Romans; so that, like a man assailed by - murderers, it felt death all around it. - </p> - <p> - It was quite necessary to have recourse to Gisco, and the Barbarians - accepted his intervention. One morning they saw the chains of the harbour - lowered, and three flat-bottomed boats passing through the canal of Tænia - entered the lake. - </p> - <p> - Gisco was visible on the first at the prow. Behind him rose an enormous - chest, higher than a catafalque, and furnished with rings like hanging - crowns. Then appeared the legion of interpreters, with their hair dressed - like sphinxes, and with parrots tattooed on their breasts. Friends and - slaves followed, all without arms, and in such numbers that they - shouldered one another. The three long, dangerously-loaded barges advanced - amid the shouts of the onlooking army. - </p> - <p> - As soon as Gisco disembarked the soldiers ran to him. He had a sort of - tribune erected with knapsacks, and declared that he should not depart - before he had paid them all in full. - </p> - <p> - There was an outburst of applause, and it was a long time before he was - able to speak. - </p> - <p> - Then he censured the wrongs done to the Republic, and to the Barbarians; - the fault lay with a few mutineers who had alarmed Carthage by their - violence. The best proof of good intention on the part of the latter was - that it was he, the eternal adversary of the Suffet Hanno, who was sent to - them. They must not credit the people with the folly of desiring to - provoke brave men, nor with ingratitude enough not to recognise their - services; and Gisco began to pay the soldiers, commencing with the - Libyans. As they had declared that the lists were untruthful, he made no - use of them. - </p> - <p> - They defiled before him according to nationality, opening their fingers to - show the number of their years of service; they were marked in succession - with green paint on the left arm; the scribes dipped into the yawning - coffer, while others made holes with a style on a sheet of lead. - </p> - <p> - A man passed walking heavily like an ox. - </p> - <p> - “Come up beside me,” said the Suffet, suspecting some fraud; - “how many years have you served?” - </p> - <p> - “Twelve,” replied the Libyan. - </p> - <p> - Gisco slipped his fingers under his chin, for the chin-piece of the helmet - used in course of time to occasion two callosities there; these were - called carobs, and “to have the carobs” was an expression used - to denote a veteran. - </p> - <p> - “Thief!” exclaimed the Suffet, “your shoulders ought to - have what your face lacks!” and tearing off his tunic he laid bare - is back which was covered with a bleeding scab; he was a labourer from - Hippo-Zarytus. Hootings were raised, and he was decapitated. - </p> - <p> - As soon as night fell, Spendius went and roused the Libyans, and said to - them: - </p> - <p> - “When the Ligurians, Greeks, Balearians, and men of Italy are paid, - they will return. But as for you, you will remain in Africa, scattered - through your tribes, and without any means of defence! It will be then - that the Republic will take its revenge! Mistrust the journey! Are you - going to believe everything that is said? Both the Suffets are agreed, and - this one is imposing on you! Remember the Island of Bones, and Xanthippus, - whom they sent back to Sparta in a rotten galley!” - </p> - <p> - “How are we to proceed?” they asked. - </p> - <p> - “Reflect!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - The two following days were spent in paying the men of Magdala, Leptis, - and Hecatompylos; Spendius went about among the Gauls. - </p> - <p> - “They are paying off the Libyans, and then they will discharge the - Greeks, the Balearians, the Asiatics and all the rest! But you, who are - few in number, will receive nothing! You will see your native lands no - more! You will have no ships, and they will kill you to save your food!” - </p> - <p> - The Gauls came to the Suffet. Autaritus, he whom he had wounded at - Hamilcar’s palace, put questions to him, but was repelled by the - slaves, and disappeared swearing he would be revenged. - </p> - <p> - The demands and complaints multiplied. The most obstinate penetrated at - night into the Suffet’s tent; they took his hands and sought to move - him by making him feel their toothless mouths, their wasted arms, and the - scars of their wounds. Those who had not yet been paid were growing angry, - those who had received the money demanded more for their horses; and - vagabonds and outlaws assumed soldiers’ arms and declared that they - were being forgotten. Every minute there arrived whirlwinds of men, as it - were; the tents strained and fell; the multitude, thick pressed between - the ramparts of the camp, swayed with loud shouts from the gates to the - centre. When the tumult grew excessively violent Gisco would rest one - elbow on his ivory sceptre and stand motionless looking at the sea with - his fingers buried in his beard. - </p> - <p> - Matho frequently went off to speak with Spendius; then he would again - place himself in front of the Suffet, and Gisco could feel his eyes - continually like two flaming phalaricas darted against him. Several times - they hurled reproaches at each other over the heads of the crowd, but - without making themselves heard. The distribution, meanwhile, continued, - and the Suffet found expedients to remove every obstacle. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks tried to quibble about differences in currency, but he - furnished them with such explanations that they retired without a murmur. - The Negroes demanded white shells such as are used for trading in the - interior of Africa, but when he offered to send to Carthage for them they - accepted money like the rest. - </p> - <p> - But the Balearians had been promised something better, namely, women. The - Suffet replied that a whole caravan of maidens was expected for them, but - the journey was long and would require six moons more. When they were fat - and well rubbed with benjamin they should be sent in ships to the ports of - the Balearians. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly Zarxas, now handsome and vigorous, leaped like a mountebank upon - the shoulders of his friends and cried: - </p> - <p> - “Have you reserved any of them for the corpses?” at the same - time pointing to the gate of Khamon in Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The brass plates with which it was furnished from top to bottom shone in - the sun’s latest fires, and the Barbarians believed that they could - discern on it a trail of blood. Every time that Gisco wished to speak - their shouts began again. At last he descended with measured steps, and - shut himself up in his tent. - </p> - <p> - When he left it at sunrise his interpreters, who used to sleep outside, - did not stir; they lay on their backs with their eyes fixed, their tongues - between their teeth, and their faces of a bluish colour. White mucus - flowed from their nostrils, and their limbs were stiff, as if they had all - been frozen by the cold during the night. Each had a little noose of - rushes round his neck. - </p> - <p> - From that time onward the rebellion was unchecked. The murder of the - Balearians which had been recalled by Zarxas strengthened the distrust - inspired by Spendius. They imagined that the Republic was always trying to - deceive them. An end must be put to it! The interpreters should be - dispensed with! Zarxas sang war songs with a sling around his head; - Autaritus brandished his great sword; Spendius whispered a word to one or - gave a dagger to another. The boldest endeavoured to pay themselves, while - those who were less frenzied wished to have the distribution continued. No - one now relinquished his arms, and the anger of all combined into a - tumultuous hatred of Gisco. - </p> - <p> - Some got up beside him. So long as they vociferated abuse they were - listened to with patience; but if they tried to utter the least word in - his behalf they were immediately stoned, or their heads were cut off by a - sabre-stroke from behind. The heap of knapsacks was redder than an altar. - </p> - <p> - They became terrible after their meal and when they had drunk wine! This - was an enjoyment forbidden in the Punic armies under pain of death, and - they raised their cups in the direction of Carthage in derision of its - discipline. Then they returned to the slaves of the exchequer and again - began to kill. The word <i>strike</i>, though different in each language, - was understood by all. - </p> - <p> - Gisco was well aware that he was being abandoned by his country; but in - spite of its ingratitude he would not dishonour it. When they reminded him - that they had been promised ships, he swore by Moloch to provide them - himself at his own expense, and pulling off his necklace of blue stones he - threw it into the crowd as the pledge of his oath. - </p> - <p> - Then the Africans claimed the corn in accordance with the engagements made - by the Great Council. Gisco spread out the accounts of the Syssitia traced - in violet pigment on sheep skins; and read out all that had entered - Carthage month by month and day by day. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly he stopped with gaping eyes, as if he had just discovered his - sentence of death among the figures. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients had, in fact, fraudulently reduced them, and the corn sold - during the most calamitous period of the war was set down at so low a rate - that, blindness apart, it was impossible to believe it. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” they shouted. “Louder! Ah! he is trying to lie, - the coward! Don’t trust him.” - </p> - <p> - For some time he hesitated. At last he resumed his task. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers, without suspecting that they were being deceived, accepted - the accounts of the Syssitia as true. But the abundance that had prevailed - at Carthage made them furiously jealous. They broke open the sycamore - chest; it was three parts empty. They had seen such sums coming out of it, - that they thought it inexhaustible; Gisco must have buried some in his - tent. They scaled the knapsacks. Matho led them, and as they shouted - “The money! the money!” Gisco at last replied: - </p> - <p> - “Let your general give it to you!” - </p> - <p> - He looked them in the face without speaking, with his great yellow eyes, - and his long face that was paler than his beard. An arrow, held by its - feathers, hung from the large gold ring in his ear, and a stream of blood - was trickling from his tiara upon his shoulder. - </p> - <p> - At a gesture from Matho all advanced. Gisco held out his arms; Spendius - tied his wrists with a slip knot; another knocked him down, and he - disappeared amid the disorder of the crowd which was stumbling over the - knapsacks. - </p> - <p> - They sacked his tent. Nothing was found in it except things indispensable - to life; and, on a closer search, three images of Tanith, and, wrapped up - in an ape’s skin, a black stone which had fallen from the moon. Many - Carthaginians had chosen to accompany him; they were eminent men, and all - belonged to the war party. - </p> - <p> - They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for the - reception of filth. They were tied with iron chains around the body to - solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the javelin. - </p> - <p> - Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but being - quite ignorant of his language they made no reply; and the Gaul from time - to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army. Now that their - anger was over they were seized with anxiety. Matho was suffering from - vague melancholy. It seemed to him that Salammbô had indirectly been - insulted. These rich men were a kind of appendage to her person. He sat - down in the night on the edge of the pit, and recognised in their - groanings something of the voice of which his heart was full. - </p> - <p> - All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid. But while - national antipathies revived, together with personal hatreds, it was felt - that it would be perilous to give way to them. Reprisals after such an - outrage would be formidable. It was necessary, therefore, to anticipate - the vengeance of Carthage. Conventions and harangues never ceased. Every - one spoke, no one was listened to; Spendius, usually so loquacious, shook - his head at every proposal. - </p> - <p> - One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs in - the interior of the town. - </p> - <p> - “Not one!” replied Matho. - </p> - <p> - The next day Spendius drew him aside to the bank of the lake. - </p> - <p> - “Master!” said the former slave, “If your heart is - dauntless, I will bring you into Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - “How?” repeated the other, panting. - </p> - <p> - “Swear to execute all my commands and to follow me like a shadow!” - </p> - <p> - Then Matho, raising his arm towards the planet of Chabar, exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “By Tanith, I swear!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius resumed: - </p> - <p> - “To-morrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the - aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades. Bring with you an iron pick, - a crestless helmet, and leathern sandals.” - </p> - <p> - The aqueduct of which he spoke crossed the entire isthmus obliquely,—a - considerable work, afterwards enlarged by the Romans. In spite of her - disdain of other nations, Carthage had awkwardly borrowed this novel - invention from them, just as Rome herself had built Punic galleys; and - five rows of superposed arches, of a dumpy kind of architecture, with - buttresses at their foot and lions’ heads at the top, reached to the - western part of the Acropolis, where they sank beneath the town to incline - what was nearly a river into the cisterns of Megara. - </p> - <p> - Spendius met Matho here at the hour agreed upon. He fastened a sort of - harpoon to the end of a cord and whirled it rapidly like a sling; the iron - instrument caught fast, and they began to climb up the wall, the one after - the other. - </p> - <p> - But when they had ascended to the first story the cramp fell back every - time that they threw it, and in order to discover some fissure they had to - walk along the edge of the cornice. At every row of arches they found that - it became narrower. Then the cord relaxed. Several times it nearly broke. - </p> - <p> - At last they reached the upper platform. Spendius stooped down from time - to time to feel the stones with his hand. - </p> - <p> - “Here it is,” he said; “let us begin!” And leaning - on the pick which Matho had brought they succeeded in dislodging one of - the flagstones. - </p> - <p> - In the distance they perceived a troop of horse-men galloping on horses - without bridles. Their golden bracelets leaped in the vague drapings of - their cloaks. A man could be seen in front crowned with ostrich feathers, - and galloping with a lance in each hand. - </p> - <p> - “Narr’ Havas!” exclaimed Matho. - </p> - <p> - “What matter?” returned Spendius, and he leaped into the hole - which they had just made by removing the flagstone. - </p> - <p> - Matho at his command tried to thrust out one of the blocks. But he could - not move his elbows for want of room. - </p> - <p> - “We shall return,” said Spendius; “go in front.” - Then they ventured into the channel of water. - </p> - <p> - It reached to their waists. Soon they staggered, and were obliged to swim. - Their limbs knocked against the walls of the narrow duct. The water flowed - almost immediately beneath the stones above, and their faces were torn by - them. Then the current carried them away. Their breasts were crushed with - air heavier than that of a sepulchre, and stretching themselves out as - much as possible with their heads between their arms and their legs close - together, they passed like arrows into the darkness, choking, gurgling, - and almost dead. Suddenly all became black before them, and the speed of - the waters redoubled. They fell. - </p> - <p> - When they came to the surface again, they remained for a few minutes - extended on their backs, inhaling the air delightfully. Arcades, one - behind another, opened up amid large walls separating the various basins. - All were filled, and the water stretched in a single sheet throughout the - length of the cisterns. Through the air-holes in the cupolas on the - ceiling there fell a pale brightness which spread upon the waves discs, as - it were, of light, while the darkness round about thickened towards the - walls and threw them back to an indefinite distance. The slightest sound - made a great echo. - </p> - <p> - Spendius and Matho commenced to swim again, and passing through the - opening of the arches, traversed several chambers in succession. Two other - rows of smaller basins extended in a parallel direction on each side. They - lost themselves; they turned, and came back again. At last something - offered a resistance to their heels. It was the pavement of the gallery - that ran along the cisterns. - </p> - <p> - Then, advancing with great precautions, they felt along the wall to find - an outlet. But their feet slipped, and they fell into the great - centre-basins. They had to climb up again, and there they fell again. They - experienced terrible fatigue, which made them feel as if all their limbs - had been dissolved in the water while swimming. Their eyes closed; they - were in the agonies of death. - </p> - <p> - Spendius struck his hand against the bars of a grating. They shook it, it - gave way, and they found themselves on the steps of a staircase. A door of - bronze closed it above. With the point of a dagger they moved the bar, - which was opened from without, and suddenly the pure open air surrounded - them. - </p> - <p> - The night was filled with silence, and the sky seemed at an extraordinary - height. Clusters of trees projected over the long lines of walls. The - whole town was asleep. The fires of the outposts shone like lost stars. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, who had spent three years in the ergastulum, was but imperfectly - acquainted with the different quarters. Matho conjectured that to reach - Hamilcar’s palace they ought to strike to the left and cross the - Mappalian district. - </p> - <p> - “No,” said Spendius, “take me to the temple of Tanith.” - </p> - <p> - Matho wished to speak. - </p> - <p> - “Remember!” said the former slave, and raising his arm he - showed him the glittering planet of Chabar. - </p> - <p> - Then Matho turned in silence towards the Acropolis. - </p> - <p> - They crept along the nopal hedges which bordered the paths. The water - trickled from their limbs upon the dust. Their damp sandals made no noise; - Spendius, with eyes that flamed more than torches, searched the bushes at - every step;—and he walked behind Matho with his hands resting on the - two daggers which he carried on his arms, and which hung from below the - armpit by a leathern band. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"></a> - CHAPTER V - </h2> - <h3> - TANITH - </h3> - <p> - After leaving the gardens Matho and Spendius found themselves checked by - the rampart of Megara. But they discovered a breach in the great wall and - passed through. - </p> - <p> - The ground sloped downwards, forming a kind of very broad valley. It was - an exposed place. - </p> - <p> - “Listen,” said Spendius, “and first of all fear nothing! - I shall fulfil my promise—” - </p> - <p> - He stopped abruptly, and seemed to reflect as though searching for words,—“Do - you remember that time at sunrise when I showed Carthage to you on - Salammbô’s terrace? We were strong that day, but you would listen to - nothing!” Then in a grave voice: “Master, in the sanctuary of - Tanith there is a mysterious veil, which fell from heaven and which covers - the goddess.” - </p> - <p> - “I know,” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - Spendius resumed: “It is itself divine, for it forms part of her. - The gods reside where their images are. It is because Carthage possesses - it that Carthage is powerful.” Then leaning over to his ear: “I - have brought you with me to carry it off!” - </p> - <p> - Matho recoiled in horror. “Begone! look for some one else! I will - not help you in this execrable crime!” - </p> - <p> - “But Tanith is your enemy,” retorted Spendius; “she is - persecuting you and you are dying through her wrath. You will be revenged - upon her. She will obey you, and you will become almost immortal and - invincible.” - </p> - <p> - Matho bent his head. Spendius continued: - </p> - <p> - “We should succumb; the army would be annihilated of itself. We have - neither flight, nor succour, nor pardon to hope for! What chastisement - from the gods can you be afraid of since you will have their power in your - own hands? Would you rather die on the evening of a defeat, in misery - beneath the shelter of a bush, or amid the outrages of the populace and - the flames of funeral piles? Master, one day you will enter Carthage among - the colleges of the pontiffs, who will kiss your sandals; and if the veil - of Tanith weighs upon you still, you will reinstate it in its temple. - Follow me! come and take it.” - </p> - <p> - Matho was consumed by a terrible longing. He would have liked to possess - the veil while refraining from the sacrilege. He said to himself that - perhaps it would not be necessary to take it in order to monopolise its - virtue. He did not go to the bottom of his thought but stopped at the - boundary, where it terrified him. - </p> - <p> - “Come on!” he said; and they went off with rapid strides, side - by side, and without speaking. - </p> - <p> - The ground rose again, and the dwellings were near. They turned again into - the narrow streets amid the darkness. The strips of esparto-grass with - which the doors were closed, beat against the walls. Some camels were - ruminating in a square before heaps of cut grass. Then they passed beneath - a gallery covered with foliage. A pack of dogs were barking. But suddenly - the space grew wider and they recognised the western face of the - Acropolis. At the foot of Byrsa there stretched a long black mass: it was - the temple of Tanith, a whole made up of monuments and galleries, courts - and fore-courts, and bounded by a low wall of dry stones. Spendius and - Matho leaped over it. - </p> - <p> - This first barrier enclosed a wood of plane-trees as a precaution against - plague and infection in the air. Tents were scattered here and there, in - which, during the daytime, depilatory pastes, perfumes, garments, - moon-shaped cakes, and images of the goddess with representations of the - temple hollowed out in blocks of alabaster, were on sale. - </p> - <p> - They had nothing to fear, for on nights when the planet did not appear, - all rites were suspended; nevertheless Matho slackened his speed, and - stopped before the three ebony steps leading to the second enclosure. - </p> - <p> - “Forward!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Pomegranate, almond trees, cypresses and myrtles alternated in regular - succession; the path, which was paved with blue pebbles, creaked beneath - their footsteps, and full-blown roses formed a hanging bower over the - whole length of the avenue. They arrived before an oval hole protected by - a grating. Then Matho, who was frightened by the silence, said to - Spendius: - </p> - <p> - “It is here that they mix the fresh water and the bitter.” - </p> - <p> - “I have seen all that,” returned the former slave, “in - Syria, in the town of Maphug”; and they ascended into the third - enclosure by a staircase of six silver steps. - </p> - <p> - A huge cedar occupied the centre. Its lowest branches were hidden beneath - scraps of material and necklaces hung upon them by the faithful. They - walked a few steps further on, and the front of the temple was displayed - before them. - </p> - <p> - Two long porticoes, with their architraves resting on dumpy pillars, - flanked a quadrangular tower, the platform of which was adorned with the - crescent of a moon. On the angles of the porticoes and at the four corners - of the tower stood vases filled with kindled aromatics. The capitals were - laden with pomegranates and coloquintidas. Twining knots, lozenges, and - rows of pearls alternated on the walls, and a hedge of silver filigree - formed a wide semicircle in front of the brass staircase which led down - from the vestibule. - </p> - <p> - There was a cone of stone at the entrance between a stela of gold and one - of emerald, and Matho kissed his right hand as he passed beside it. - </p> - <p> - The first room was very lofty; its vaulted roof was pierced by numberless - apertures, and if the head were raised the stars might be seen. All round - the wall rush baskets were heaped up with the first fruits of adolescence - in the shape of beards and curls of hair; and in the centre of the - circular apartment the body of a woman issued from a sheath which was - covered with breasts. Fat, bearded, and with eyelids downcast, she looked - as though she were smiling, while her hands were crossed upon the lower - part of her big body, which was polished by the kisses of the crowd. - </p> - <p> - Then they found themselves again in the open air in a transverse corridor, - wherein there was an altar of small dimensions leaning against an ivory - door. There was no further passage; the priests alone could open it; for - the temple was not a place of meeting for the multitude, but the private - abode of a divinity. - </p> - <p> - “The enterprise is impossible,” said Matho. “You had not - thought of this! Let us go back!” Spendius was examining the walls. - </p> - <p> - He wanted the veil, not because he had confidence in its virtue (Spendius - believed only in the Oracle), but because he was persuaded that the - Carthaginians would be greatly dismayed on seeing themselves deprived of - it. They walked all round behind in order to find some outlet. - </p> - <p> - Aedicules of different shapes were visible beneath clusters of turpentine - trees. Here and there rose a stone phallus, and large stags roamed - peacefully about, spurning the fallen fir-cones with their cloven hoofs. - </p> - <p> - But they retraced their steps between two long galleries which ran - parallel to each other. There were small open cells along their sides, and - tabourines and cymbals hung against their cedar columns from top to - bottom. Women were sleeping stretched on mats outside the cells. Their - bodies were greasy with unguents, and exhaled an odour of spices and - extinguished perfuming-pans; while they were so covered with tattooings, - necklaces, rings, vermilion, and antimony that, but for the motion of - their breasts, they might have been taken for idols as they lay thus on - the ground. There were lotus-trees encircling a fountain in which fish - like Salammbô’s were swimming; and then in the background, against - the wall of the temple, spread a vine, the branches of which were of glass - and the grape-bunches of emerald, the rays from the precious stones making - a play of light through the painted columns upon the sleeping faces. - </p> - <p> - Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere pressed down upon him by the - cedar partitions. All these symbols of fecundation, these perfumes, - radiations, and breathings overwhelmed him. Through all the mystic - dazzling he kept thinking of Salammbô. She became confused with the - goddess herself, and his love unfolded itself all the more, like the - great lotus-plants blooming upon the depths of the waters. - </p> - <p> - Spendius was calculating how much money he would have made in former days - by the sale of these women; and with a rapid glance he estimated the - weight of the golden necklaces as he passed by. - </p> - <p> - The temple was impenetrable on this side as on the other, and they - returned behind the first chamber. While Spendius was searching and - ferreting, Matho was prostrate before the door supplicating Tanith. He - besought her not to permit the sacrilege, and strove to soften her with - caressing words, such as are used to an angry person. - </p> - <p> - Spendius noticed a narrow aperture above the door. - </p> - <p> - “Rise!” he said to Matho, and he made him stand erect with his - back against the wall. Placing one foot in his hands, and then the other - upon his head, he reached up to the air-hole, made his way into it and - disappeared. Then Matho felt a knotted cord—that one which Spendius - had rolled around his body before entering the cisterns—fall upon - his shoulders, and bearing upon it with both hands he soon found himself - by the side of the other in a large hall filled with shadow. - </p> - <p> - Such an attempt was something extraordinary. The inadequacy of the means - for preventing it was a sufficient proof that it was considered - impossible. The sanctuaries were protected by terror more than by their - walls. Matho expected to die at every step. - </p> - <p> - However a light was flickering far back in the darkness, and they went up - to it. It was a lamp burning in a shell on the pedestal of a statue which - wore the cap of the Kabiri. Its long blue robe was strewn with diamond - discs, and its heels were fastened to the ground by chains which sank - beneath the pavement. Matho suppressed a cry. “Ah! there she is! - there she is!” he stammered out. Spendius took up the lamp in order - to light himself. - </p> - <p> - “What an impious man you are!” murmured Matho, following him - nevertheless. - </p> - <p> - The apartment which they entered had nothing in it but a black painting - representing another woman. Her legs reached to the top of the wall, and - her body filled the entire ceiling; a huge egg hung by a thread from her - navel, and she fell head downwards upon the other wall, reaching as far as - the level of the pavement, which was touched by her pointed fingers. - </p> - <p> - They drew a hanging aside, in order to go on further; but the wind blew - and the light went out. - </p> - <p> - Then they wandered about, lost in the complications of the architecture. - Suddenly they felt something strangely soft beneath their feet. Sparks - crackled and leaped; they were walking in fire. Spendius touched the - ground and perceived that it was carefully carpeted with lynx skins; then - it seemed to them that a big cord, wet, cold, and viscous, was gliding - between their legs. Through some fissures cut in the wall there fell thin - white rays, and they advanced by this uncertain light. At last they - distinguished a large black serpent. It darted quickly away and - disappeared. - </p> - <p> - “Let us fly!” exclaimed Matho. “It is she! I feel her; - she is coming.” - </p> - <p> - “No, no,” replied Spendius, “the temple is empty.” - </p> - <p> - Then a dazzling light made them lower their eyes. Next they perceived all - around them an infinite number of beasts, lean, panting, with bristling - claws, and mingled together one above another in a mysterious and - terrifying confusion. There were serpents with feet, and bulls with wings, - fishes with human heads were devouring fruit, flowers were blooming in the - jaws of crocodiles, and elephants with uplifted trunks were sailing - proudly through the azure like eagles. Their incomplete or multiplied - limbs were distended with terrible exertion. As they thrust out their - tongues they looked as though they would fain give forth their souls; and - every shape was to be found among them as if the germ-receptacle had been - suddenly hatched and had burst, emptying itself upon the walls of the - hall. - </p> - <p> - Round the latter were twelve globes of blue crystal, supported by monsters - resembling tigers. Their eyeballs were starting out of their heads like - those of snails, with their dumpy loins bent they were turning round - towards the background where the supreme Rabbet, the Omnifecund, the last - invented, shone splendid in a chariot of ivory. - </p> - <p> - She was covered with scales, feathers, flowers, and birds as high as the - waist. For earrings she had silver cymbals, which flapped against her - cheeks. Her large fixed eyes gazed upon you, and a luminous stone, set in - an obscene symbol on her brow, lighted the whole hall by its reflection in - red copper mirrors above the door. - </p> - <p> - Matho stood a step forward; but a flag stone yielded beneath his heels and - immediately the spheres began to revolve and the monsters to roar; music - rose melodious and pealing, like the harmony of the planets; the - tumultuous soul of Tanith was poured streaming forth. She was about to - arise, as lofty as the hall and with open arms. Suddenly the monsters - closed their jaws and the crystal globes revolved no more. - </p> - <p> - Then a mournful modulation lingered for a time through the air and at last - died away. - </p> - <p> - “And the veil?” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Nowhere could it be seen. Where was it to be found? How could it be - discovered? What if the priests had hidden it? Matho experienced anguish - of heart and felt as though he had been deceived in his belief. - </p> - <p> - “This way!” whispered Spendius. An inspiration guided him. He - drew Matho behind Tanith’s chariot, where a cleft a cubit wide ran - down the wall from top to bottom. - </p> - <p> - Then they penetrated into a small and completely circular room, so lofty - that it was like the interior of a pillar. In the centre there was a big - black stone, of semispherical shape like a tabourine; flames were burning - upon it; an ebony cone, bearing a head and two arms, rose behind. - </p> - <p> - But beyond it seemed as though there were a cloud wherein were twinkling - stars; faces appeared in the depths of its folds—Eschmoun with the - Kabiri, some of the monsters that had already been seen, the sacred beasts - of the Babylonians, and others with which they were not acquainted. It - passed beneath the idol’s face like a mantle, and spread fully out - was drawn up on the wall to which it was fastened by the corners, - appearing at once bluish as the night, yellow as the dawn, purple as the - sun, multitudinous, diaphanous, sparkling light. It was the mantle of the - goddess, the holy zaïmph which might not be seen. - </p> - <p> - Both turned pale. - </p> - <p> - “Take it!” said Matho at last. - </p> - <p> - Spendius did not hesitate, and leaning upon the idol he unfastened the - veil, which sank to the ground. Matho laid his hand upon it; then he put - his head through the opening, then he wrapped it about his body, and he - spread out his arms the better to view it. - </p> - <p> - “Let us go!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Matho stood panting with his eyes fixed upon the pavement. Suddenly he - exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “But what if I went to her? I fear her beauty no longer! What could - she do to me? I am now more than a man. I could pass through flames or - walk upon the sea! I am transported! Salammbô! Salammbô! I am your master!” - </p> - <p> - His voice was like thunder. He seemed to Spendius to have grown taller and - transformed. - </p> - <p> - A sound of footsteps drew near, a door opened, and a man appeared, a - priest with lofty cap and staring eyes. Before he could make a gesture - Spendius had rushed upon him, and clasping him in his arms had buried both - his daggers in his sides. His head rang upon the pavement. - </p> - <p> - Then they stood for a while, as motionless as the corpse, listening. - Nothing could be heard but the murmuring of the wind through the - half-opened door. - </p> - <p> - The latter led into a narrow passage. Spendius advanced along it, Matho - followed him, and they found themselves almost immediately in the third - enclosure, between the lateral porticoes, in which were the dwellings of - the priests. - </p> - <p> - Behind the cells there must be a shorter way out. They hastened along. - </p> - <p> - Spendius squatted down at the edge of the fountain and washed his - bloodstained hands. The women slept. The emerald vine shone. They resumed - their advance. - </p> - <p> - But something was running behind them under the trees; and Matho, who bore - the veil, several times felt that it was being pulled very gently from - below. It was a large cynocephalus, one of those which dwelt at liberty - within the enclosure of the goddess. It clung to the mantle as though it - had been conscious of the theft. They did not dare to strike it, however, - fearing that it might redouble its cries; suddenly its anger subsided, and - it trotted close beside them swinging its body with its long hanging arms. - Then at the barrier it leaped at a bound into a palm tree. - </p> - <p> - When they had left the last enclosure they directed their steps towards - Hamilcar’s palace, Spendius understanding that it would be useless - to try to dissuade Matho. - </p> - <p> - They went by the street of the Tanners, the square of Muthumbal, the green - market and the crossways of Cynasyn. At the angle of a wall a man drew - back frightened by the sparkling thing which pierced the darkness. - </p> - <p> - “Hide the zaïmph!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Other people passed them, but without perceiving them. - </p> - <p> - At last they recognised the houses of Megara. - </p> - <p> - The pharos, which was built behind them on the summit of the cliff, lit up - the heavens with a great red brightness, and the shadow of the palace, - with its rising terraces, projected a monstrous pyramid, as it were, upon - the gardens. They entered through the hedge of jujube-trees, beating down - the branches with blows of the dagger. - </p> - <p> - The traces of the feast of the Mercenaries were everywhere still manifest. - The parks were broken up, the trenches drained, the doors of the - ergastulum open. No one was to be seen about the kitchens or cellars. They - wondered at the silence, which was occasionally broken by the hoarse - breathing of the elephants moving in their shackles, and the crepitation - of the pharos, in which a pile of aloes was burning. - </p> - <p> - Matho, however, kept repeating: - </p> - <p> - “But where is she? I wish to see her! Lead me!” - </p> - <p> - “It is a piece of insanity!” Spendius kept saying. “She - will call, her slaves will run up, and in spite of your strength you will - die!” - </p> - <p> - They reached thus the galley staircase. Matho raised his head, and thought - that he could perceive far above a vague brightness, radiant and soft. - Spendius sought to restrain him, but he dashed up the steps. - </p> - <p> - As he found himself again in places where he had already seen her, the - interval of the days that had passed was obliterated from his memory. But - now had she been singing among the tables; she had disappeared, and he had - since been continually ascending this staircase. The sky above his head - was covered with fires; the sea filled the horizon; at each step he was - surrounded by a still greater immensity, and he continued to climb upward - with that strange facility which we experience in dreams. - </p> - <p> - The rustling of the veil as it brushed against the stones recalled his new - power to him; but in the excess of his hope he could no longer tell what - he was to do; this uncertainty alarmed him. - </p> - <p> - From time to time he would press his face against the quadrangular - openings in the closed apartments, and he thought that in several of the - latter he could see persons asleep. - </p> - <p> - The last story, which was narrower, formed a sort of dado on the summit of - the terraces. Matho walked round it slowly. - </p> - <p> - A milky light filled the sheets of talc which closed the little apertures - in the wall, and in their symmetrical arrangement they looked in the - darkness like rows of delicate pearls. He recognised the red door with the - black cross. The throbbing of his heart increased. He would fain have - fled. He pushed the door and it opened. - </p> - <p> - A galley-shaped lamp hung burning in the back part of the room, and three - rays, emitted from its silver keel, trembled on the lofty wainscots, which - were painted red with black bands. The ceiling was an assemblage of small - beams, with amethysts and topazes amid their gilding in the knots of the - wood. On both the great sides of the apartment there stretched a very low - bed made with white leathern straps; while above, semi-circles like - shells, opened in the thickness of the wall, suffered a garment to come - out and hang down to the ground. - </p> - <p> - There was an oval basin with a step of onyx round it; delicate slippers of - serpent skin were standing on the edge, together with an alabaster flagon. - The trace of a wet footstep might be seen beyond. Exquisite scents were - evaporating. - </p> - <p> - Matho glided over the pavement, which was encrusted with gold, - mother-of-pearl, and glass; and, in spite of the polished smoothness of - the ground, it seemed to him that his feet sank as though he were walking - on sand. - </p> - <p> - Behind the silver lamp he had perceived a large square of azure held in - the air by four cords from above, and he advanced with loins bent and - mouth open. - </p> - <p> - Flamingoes’ wings, fitted on branches of black coral, lay about - among purple cushions, tortoiseshell strigils, cedar boxes, and ivory - spatulas. There were antelopes’ horns with rings and bracelets - strung upon them; and clay vases were cooling in the wind in the cleft of - the wall with a lattice-work of reeds. Several times he struck his foot, - for the ground had various levels of unequal height, which formed a - succession of apartments, as it were, in the room. In the background there - were silver balustrades surrounding a carpet strewn with painted flowers. - At last he came to the hanging bed beside an ebony stool serving to get - into it. - </p> - <p> - But the light ceased at the edge;—and the shadow, like a great - curtain, revealed only a corner of the red mattress with the extremity of - a little naked foot lying upon its ankle. Then Matho took up the lamp very - gently. - </p> - <p> - She was sleeping with her cheek in one hand and with the other arm - extended. Her ringlets were spread about her in such abundance that she - appeared to be lying on black feathers, and her ample white tunic wound in - soft draperies to her feet following the curves of her person. Her eyes - were just visible beneath her half-closed eyelids. The curtains, which - stretched perpendicularly, enveloped her in a bluish atmosphere, and the - motion of her breathing, communicating itself to the cords, seemed to rock - her in the air. A long mosquito was buzzing. - </p> - <p> - Matho stood motionless holding the silver lamp at arm’s length; but - on a sudden the mosquito-net caught fire and disappeared, and Salammbô - awoke. - </p> - <p> - The fire had gone out of itself. She did not speak. The lamp caused great - luminous moires to flicker on the wainscots. - </p> - <p> - “What is it?” she said. - </p> - <p> - He replied: - </p> - <p> - “’Tis the veil of the goddess!” - </p> - <p> - “The veil of the goddess!” cried Salammbô, and supporting - herself on both clenched hands she leaned shuddering out. He resumed: - </p> - <p> - “I have been in the depths of the sanctuary to seek it for you! - Look!” The zaïmph shone a mass of rays. - </p> - <p> - “Do you remember it?” said Matho. “You appeared at night - in my dreams, but I did not guess the mute command of your eyes!” - She put out one foot upon the ebony stool. “Had I understood I - should have hastened hither, I should have forsaken the army, I should not - have left Carthage. To obey you I would go down through the caverns of - Hadrumetum into the kingdom of the shades!—Forgive me! it was as - though mountains were weighing upon my days; and yet something drew me on! - I tried to come to you! Should I ever have dared this without the Gods!—Let - us go! You must follow me! or, if you do not wish to do so, I will remain. - What matters it to me!—Drown my soul in your breath! Let my lips be - crushed with kissing your hands!” - </p> - <p> - “Let me see it!” she said. “Nearer! nearer!” - </p> - <p> - Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with a - vinous colour. Salammbô leaned fainting against the cushions of the bed. - </p> - <p> - “I love you!” cried Matho. - </p> - <p> - “Give it!” she stammered out, and they drew closer together. - </p> - <p> - She kept advancing, clothed in her white trailing simar, and with her - large eyes fastened on the veil. Matho gazed at her, dazzled by the - splendours of her head, and, holding out the zaïmph towards her, was about - to enfold her in an embrace. She was stretching out her arms. Suddenly she - stopped, and they stood looking at each other, open-mouthed. - </p> - <p> - Then without understanding the meaning of his solicitation a horror seized - upon her. Her delicate eyebrows rose, her lips opened; she trembled. At - last she struck one of the brass pateras which hung at the corners of the - red mattress, crying: - </p> - <p> - “To the rescue! to the rescue! Back, sacrilegious man! infamous and - accursed! Help, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, Schaoul!” - </p> - <p> - And the scared face of Spendius, appearing in the wall between the clay - flagons, cried out these words: - </p> - <p> - “Fly! they are hastening hither!” - </p> - <p> - A great tumult came upwards shaking the staircases, and a flood of people, - women, serving-men, and slaves, rushed into the room with stakes, - tomahawks, cutlasses, and daggers. They were nearly paralysed with - indignation on perceiving a man; the female servants uttered funeral - wailings, and the eunuchs grew pale beneath their black skins. - </p> - <p> - Matho was standing behind the balustrades. With the zaïmph which was - wrapped about him, he looked like a sidereal god surrounded by the - firmament. The slaves were going to fall upon him, but she stopped them: - </p> - <p> - “Touch it not! It is the mantle of the goddess!” - </p> - <p> - She had drawn back into a corner; but she took a step towards him, and - stretched forth her naked arm: - </p> - <p> - “A curse upon you, you who have plundered Tanith! Hatred, vengeance, - massacre, and grief! May Gurzil, god of battles, rend you! may Mastiman, - god of the dead, stifle you! and may the Other—he who may not be - named—burn you!” - </p> - <p> - Matho uttered a cry as though he had received a sword-thrust. She repeated - several times: “Begone! begone!” - </p> - <p> - The crowd of servants spread out, and Matho, with hanging head, passed - slowly through the midst of them; but at the door he stopped, for the - fringe of the zaïmph had caught on one of the golden stars with which the - flagstones were paved. He pulled it off abruptly with a movement of his - shoulder and went down the staircases. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, bounding from terrace to terrace, and leaping over the hedges - and trenches, had escaped from the gardens. He reached the foot of the - pharos. The wall was discontinued at this spot, so inaccessible was the - cliff. He advanced to the edge, lay down on his back, and let himself - slide, feet foremost, down the whole length of it to the bottom; then by - swimming he reached the Cape of the Tombs, made a wide circuit of the salt - lagoon, and re-entered the camp of the Barbarians in the evening. - </p> - <p> - The sun had risen; and, like a retreating lion, Matho went down the paths, - casting terrible glances about him. - </p> - <p> - A vague clamour reached his ears. It had started from the palace, and it - was beginning afresh in the distance, towards the Acropolis. Some said - that the treasure of the Republic had been seized in the temple of Moloch; - others spoke of the assassination of a priest. It was thought, moreover, - that the Barbarians had entered the city. - </p> - <p> - Matho, who did not know how to get out of the enclosures, walked straight - before him. He was seen, and an outcry was raised. Every one understood; - and there was consternation, then immense wrath. - </p> - <p> - From the bottom of the Mappalian quarter, from the heights of the - Acropolis, from the catacombs, from the borders of the lake, the multitude - came in haste. The patricians left their palaces, and the traders left - their shops; the women forsook their children; swords, hatchets, and - sticks were seized; but the obstacle which had stayed Salammbô stayed - them. How could the veil be taken back? The mere sight of it was a crime; - it was of the nature of the gods, and contact with it was death. - </p> - <p> - The despairing priests wrung their hands on the peristyles of the temples. - The guards of the Legion galloped about at random; the people climbed upon - the houses, the terraces, the shoulders of the colossuses, and the masts - of the ships. He went on, nevertheless, and the rage, and the terror also, - increased at each of his steps; the streets cleared at his approach, and - the torrent of flying men streamed on both sides up to the tops of the - walls. Everywhere he could perceive only eyes opened widely as if to - devour him, chattering teeth and outstretched fists, and Salammbô’s - imprecations resounded many times renewed. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly a long arrow whizzed past, then another, and stones began to buzz - about him; but the missiles, being badly aimed (for there was the dread of - hitting the zaïmph), passed over his head. Moreover, he made a shield of - the veil, holding it to the right, to the left, before him and behind him; - and they could devise no expedient. He quickened his steps more and more, - advancing through the open streets. They were barred with cords, chariots, - and snares; and all his windings brought him back again. At last he - entered the square of Khamon where the Balearians had perished, and - stopped, growing pale as one about to die. This time he was surely lost, - and the multitude clapped their hands. - </p> - <p> - He ran up to the great gate, which was closed. It was very high, made - throughout of heart of oak, with iron nails and sheathed with brass. Matho - flung himself against it. The people stamped their feet with joy when they - saw the impotence of his fury; then he took his sandal, spit upon it, and - beat the immovable panels with it. The whole city howled. The veil was - forgotten now, and they were about to crush him. Matho gazed with wide - vacant eyes upon the crowd. His temples were throbbing with violence - enough to stun him, and he felt a numbness as of intoxication creeping - over him. Suddenly he caught sight of the long chain used in working the - swinging of the gate. With a bound he grasped it, stiffening his arms, and - making a buttress of his feet, and at last the huge leaves partly opened. - </p> - <p> - Then when he was outside he took the great zaïmph from his neck, and - raised it as high as possible above his head. The material, upborne by the - sea breeze, shone in the sunlight with its colours, its gems, and the - figures of its gods. Matho bore it thus across the whole plain as far as - the soldiers’ tents, and the people on the walls watched the fortune - of Carthage depart. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"></a> - CHAPTER VI - </h2> - <h3> - HANNO - </h3> - <p> - “I ought to have carried her off!” Matho said in the evening - to Spendius. “I should have seized her, and torn her from her house! - No one would have dared to touch me!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius was not listening to him. Stretched on his back he was taking - delicious rest beside a large jar filled with honey-coloured water, into - which he would dip his head from time to time in order to drink more - copiously. - </p> - <p> - Matho resumed: - </p> - <p> - “What is to be done? How can we re-enter Carthage?” - </p> - <p> - “I do not know,” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Such impassibility exasperated Matho and he exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “Why! the fault is yours! You carry me away, and then you forsake - me, coward that you are! Why, pray, should I obey you? Do you think that - you are my master? Ah! you prostituter, you slave, you son of a slave!” - He ground his teeth and raised his broad hand above Spendius. - </p> - <p> - The Greek did not reply. An earthen lamp was burning gently against the - tent-pole, where the zaïmph shone amid the hanging panoply. Suddenly Matho - put on his cothurni, buckled on his brazen jacket of mail, and took his - helmet. - </p> - <p> - “Where are you going?” asked Spendius. - </p> - <p> - “I am returning! Let me alone! I will bring her back! And if they - show themselves I will crush them like vipers! I will put her to death, - Spendius! Yes,” he repeated, “I will kill her! You shall see, - I will kill her!” - </p> - <p> - But Spendius, who was listening eagerly, snatched up the zaïmph abruptly - and threw it into a corner, heaping up fleeces above it. A murmuring of - voices was heard, torches gleamed, and Narr’ Havas entered, followed - by about twenty men. - </p> - <p> - They wore white woollen cloaks, long daggers, copper necklaces, wooden - earrings, and boots of hyena skin; and standing on the threshold they - leaned upon their lances like herdsmen resting themselves. Narr’ - Havas was the handsomest of all; his slender arms were bound with straps - ornamented with pearls. The golden circlet which fastened his ample - garment about his head held an ostrich feather which hung down behind his - shoulder; his teeth were displayed in a continual smile; his eyes seemed - sharpened like arrows, and there was something observant and airy about - his whole demeanour. - </p> - <p> - He declared that he had come to join the Mercenaries, for the Republic had - long been threatening his kingdom. Accordingly he was interested in - assisting the Barbarians, and he might also be of service to them. - </p> - <p> - “I will provide you with elephants (my forests are full of them), - wine, oil, barley, dates, pitch and sulphur for sieges, twenty thousand - foot-soldiers and ten thousand horses. If I address myself to you, Matho, - it is because the possession of the zaïmph has made you chief man in the - army. Moreover,” he added, “we are old friends.” - </p> - <p> - Matho, however, was looking at Spendius, who, seated on the sheep-skins, - was listening, and giving little nods of assent the while. Narr’ - Havas continued speaking. He called the gods to witness he cursed - Carthage. In his imprecations he broke a javelin. All his men uttered - simultaneously a loud howl, and Matho, carried away by so much passion, - exclaimed that he accepted the alliance. - </p> - <p> - A white bull and a black sheep, the symbols of day and night, were then - brought, and their throats were cut on the edge of a ditch. When the - latter was full of blood they dipped their arms into it. Then Narr’ - Havas spread out his hand upon Matho’s breast, and Matho did the - same to Narr’ Havas. They repeated the stain upon the canvas of - their tents. Afterwards they passed the night in eating, and the remaining - portions of the meat were burnt together with the skin, bones, horns, and - hoofs. - </p> - <p> - Matho had been greeted with great shouting when he had come back bearing - the veil of the goddess; even those who were not of the Chanaanitish - religion were made by their vague enthusiasm to feel the arrival of a - genius. As to seizing the zaïmph, no one thought of it, for the mysterious - manner in which he had acquired it was sufficient in the minds of the - Barbarians to justify its possession; such were the thoughts of the - soldiers of the African race. The others, whose hatred was not of such - long standing, did not know how to make up their minds. If they had had - ships they would immediately have departed. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, Narr’ Havas, and Matho despatched men to all the tribes on - Punic soil. - </p> - <p> - Carthage was sapping the strength of these nations. She wrung exorbitant - taxes from them, and arrears or even murmurings were punished with - fetters, the axe, or the cross. It was necessary to cultivate whatever - suited the Republic, and to furnish what she demanded; no one had the - right of possessing a weapon; when villages rebelled the inhabitants were - sold; governors were esteemed like wine-presses, according to the quantity - which they succeeded in extracting. Then beyond the regions immediately - subject to Carthage extended the allies roamed the Nomads, who might be - let loose upon them. By this system the crops were always abundant, the - studs skilfully managed, and the plantations superb. - </p> - <p> - The elder Cato, a master in the matters of tillage and slaves, was amazed - at it ninety-two years later, and the death-cry which he repeated - continually at Rome was but the exclamation of jealous greed. - </p> - <p> - During the last war the exactions had been increased, so that nearly all - the towns of Libya had surrendered to Regulus. To punish them, a thousand - talents, twenty thousand oxen, three hundred bags of gold dust, and - considerable advances of grain had been exacted from them, and the chiefs - of the tribes had been crucified or thrown to the lions. - </p> - <p> - Tunis especially execrated Carthage! Older than the metropolis, it could - not forgive her her greatness, and it fronted her walls crouching in the - mire on the water’s edge like a venomous beast watching her. - Transportation, massacres, and epidemics did not weaken it. It had - assisted Archagathas, the son of Agathocles, and the Eaters of Uncleanness - found arms there at once. - </p> - <p> - The couriers had not yet set out when universal rejoicing broke out in the - provinces. Without waiting for anything they strangled the comptrollers of - the houses and the functionaries of the Republic in the baths; they took - the old weapons that had been concealed out of the caves; they forged - swords with the iron of the ploughs; the children sharpened javelins at - the doors, and the women gave their necklaces, rings, earrings, and - everything that could be employed for the destruction of Carthage. Piles - of lances were heaped up in the country towns like sheaves of maize. - Cattle and money were sent off. Matho speedily paid the Mercenaries their - arrears, and owing to this, which was Spendius’s idea, he was - appointed commander-in-chief—the schalishim of the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - Reinforcements of men poured in at the same time. The aborigines appeared - first, and were followed by the slaves from the country; caravans of - Negroes were seized and armed, and merchants on their way to Carthage, - despairing of any more certain profit, mingled with the Barbarians. - Numerous bands were continually arriving. From the heights of the - Acropolis the growing army might be seen. - </p> - <p> - But the guards of the Legion were posted as sentries on the platform of - the aqueduct, and near them rose at intervals brazen vats, in which floods - of asphalt were boiling. Below in the plain the great crowd stirred - tumultuously. They were in a state of uncertainty, feeling the - embarrassment with which Barbarians are always inspired when they meet - with walls. - </p> - <p> - Utica and Hippo-Zarytus refused their alliance. Phonician colonies like - Carthage, they were self-governing, and always had clauses inserted in the - treaties concluded by the Republic to distinguish them from the latter. - Nevertheless they respected this strong sister of theirs who protected - them, and they did not think that she could be vanquished by a mass of - Barbarians; these would on the contrary be themselves exterminated. They - desired to remain neutral and to live at peace. - </p> - <p> - But their position rendered them indispensable. Utica, at the foot of the - gulf, was convenient for bringing assistance to Carthage from without. If - Utica alone were taken, Hippo-Zarytus, six hours further distant along the - coast, would take its place, and the metropolis, being revictualled in - this way, would be impregnable. - </p> - <p> - Spendius wished the siege to be undertaken immediately. Narr’ Havas - was opposed to this: an advance should first be made upon the frontier. - This was the opinion of the veterans, and of Matho himself, and it was - decided that Spendius should go to attack Utica, and Matho Hippo-Zarytus, - while in the third place the main body should rest on Tunis and occupy the - plain of Carthage, Autaritus being in command. As to Narr’ Havas, he - was to return to his own kingdom to procure elephants and to scour the - roads with his cavalry. - </p> - <p> - The women cried out loudly against this decision; they coveted the jewels - of the Punic ladies. The Libyans also protested. They had been summoned - against Carthage, and now they were going away from it! The soldiers - departed almost alone. Matho commanded his own companions, together with - the Iberians, Lusitanians, and the men of the West, and of the islands; - all those who spoke Greek had asked for Spendius on account of his - cleverness. - </p> - <p> - Great was the stupefaction when the army was seen suddenly in motion; it - stretched along beneath the mountain of Ariana on the road to Utica beside - the sea. A fragment remained before Tunis, the rest disappeared to - re-appear on the other shore of the gulf on the outskirts of the woods in - which they were lost. - </p> - <p> - They were perhaps eighty thousand men. The two Tyrian cities would offer - no resistance, and they would return against Carthage. Already there was a - considerable army attacking it from the base of the isthmus, and it would - soon perish from famine, for it was impossible to live without the aid of - the provinces, the citizens not paying contributions as they did at Rome. - Carthage was wanting in political genius. Her eternal anxiety for gain - prevented her from having the prudence which results from loftier - ambitions. A galley anchored on the Libyan sands, it was with toil that - she maintained her position. The nations roared like billows around her, - and the slightest storm shook this formidable machine. - </p> - <p> - The treasury was exhausted by the Roman war and by all that had been - squandered and lost in the bargaining with the Barbarians. Nevertheless - soldiers must be had, and not a government would trust the Republic! - Ptolemæus had lately refused it two thousand talents. Moreover the rape of - the veil disheartened them. Spendius had clearly foreseen this. - </p> - <p> - But the nation, feeling that it was hated, clasped its money and its gods - to its heart, and its patriotism was sustained by the very constitution of - its government. - </p> - <p> - First, the power rested with all, without any one being strong enough to - engross it. Private debts were considered as public debts, men of - Chanaanitish race had a monopoly of commerce, and by multiplying the - profits of piracy with those of usury, by hard dealings in lands and - slaves and with the poor, fortunes were sometimes made. These alone opened - up all the magistracies, and although authority and money were perpetuated - in the same families, people tolerated the oligarchy because they hoped - ultimately to share in it. - </p> - <p> - The societies of merchants, in which the laws were elaborated, chose the - inspectors of the exchequer, who on leaving office nominated the hundred - members of the Council of the Ancients, themselves dependent on the Grand - Assembly, or general gathering of all the rich. As to the two Suffets, the - relics of the monarchy and the less than consuls, they were taken from - distinct families on the same day. All kinds of enmities were contrived - between them, so that they might mutually weaken each other. They could - not deliberate concerning war, and when they were vanquished the Great - Council crucified them. - </p> - <p> - The power of Carthage emanated, therefore, from the Syssitia, that is to - say, from a large court in the centre of Malqua, at the place, it was - said, where the first bark of Phonician sailors had touched, the sea - having retired a long way since then. It was a collection of little rooms - of archaic architecture, built of palm trunks with corners of stone, and - separated from one another so as to accommodate the various societies - separately. The rich crowded there all day to discuss their own concerns - and those of the government, from the procuring of pepper to the - extermination of Rome. Thrice in a moon they would have their beds brought - up to the lofty terrace running along the wall of the court, and they - might be seen from below at table in the air, without cothurni or cloaks, - with their diamond-covered fingers wandering over the dishes, and their - large earrings hanging down among the flagons,—all fat and lusty, - half-naked, smiling and eating beneath the blue sky, like great sharks - sporting in the sea. - </p> - <p> - But just now they were unable to dissemble their anxiety; they were too - pale for that. The crowd which waited for them at the gates escorted them - to their palaces in order to obtain some news from them. As in times of - pestilence, all the houses were shut; the streets would fill and suddenly - clear again; people ascended the Acropolis or ran to the harbour, and the - Great Council deliberated every night. At last the people were convened in - the square of Khamon, and it was decided to leave the management of things - to Hanno, the conqueror of Hecatompylos. - </p> - <p> - He was a true Carthaginian, devout, crafty, and pitiless towards the - people of Africa. His revenues equalled those of the Barcas. No one had - such experience in administrative affairs. - </p> - <p> - He decreed the enrolment of all healthy citizens, he placed catapults on - the towers, he exacted exorbitant supplies of arms, he even ordered the - construction of fourteen galleys which were not required, and he desired - everything to be registered and carefully set down in writing. He had - himself conveyed to the arsenal, the pharos, and the treasuries of the - temples; his great litter was continually to be seen swinging from step to - step as it ascended the staircases of the Acropolis. And then in his - palace at night, being unable to sleep, he would yell out warlike - manouvres in terrible tones so as to prepare himself for the fray. - </p> - <p> - In their extremity of terror all became brave. The rich ranged themselves - in line along the Mappalian district at cockcrow, and tucking up their - robes practised themselves in handling the pike. But for want of an - instructor they had disputes about it. They would sit down breathless upon - the tombs and then begin again. Several even dieted themselves. Some - imagined that it was necessary to eat a great deal in order to acquire - strength, while others who were inconvenienced by their corpulence - weakened themselves with fasts in order to become thin. - </p> - <p> - Utica had already called several times upon Carthage for assistance; but - Hanno would not set out until the engines of war had been supplied with - the last screws. He lost three moons more in equipping the one hundred and - twelve elephants that were lodged in the ramparts. They were the - conquerors of Regulus; the people loved them; it was impossible to treat - such old friends too well. Hanno had the brass plates which adorned their - breasts recast, their tusks gilt, their towers enlarged, and caparisons, - edged with very heavy fringes, cut out of the handsomest purple. Finally, - as their drivers were called Indians (after the first ones, no doubt, who - came from the Indies) he ordered them all to be costumed after the Indian - fashion; that is to say, with white pads round their temples, and small - drawers of byssus, which with their transverse folds looked like two - valves of a shell applied to the hips. - </p> - <p> - The army under Autaritus still remained before Tunis. It was hidden behind - a wall made with mud from the lake, and protected on the top by thorny - brushwood. Some Negroes had planted tall sticks here and there bearing - frightful faces,—human masks made with birds’ feathers, and - jackals’ or serpents’ heads,—which gaped towards the - enemy for the purpose of terrifying him; and the Barbarians, reckoning - themselves invincible through these means, danced, wrestled, and juggled, - convinced that Carthage would perish before long. Any one but Hanno would - easily have crushed such a multitude, hampered as it was with herds and - women. Moreover, they knew nothing of drill, and Autaritus was so - disheartened that he had ceased to require it. - </p> - <p> - They stepped aside when he passed by rolling his big blue eyes. Then on - reaching the edge of the lake he would draw back his sealskin cloak, - unfasten the cord which tied up his long red hair, and soak the latter in - the water. He regretted that he had not deserted to the Romans along with - the two thousand Gauls of the temple of Eryx. - </p> - <p> - Often the sun would suddenly lose his rays in the middle of the day. Then - the gulf and the open sea would seem as motionless as molten lead. A cloud - of brown dust stretching perpendicularly would speed whirling along; the - palm trees would bend and the sky disappear, while stones would be heard - rebounding on the animals’ cruppers; and the Gaul, his lips glued - against the holes in his tent, would gasp with exhaustion and melancholy. - His thoughts would be of the scent of the pastures on autumn mornings, of - snowflakes, or of the bellowing of the urus lost in the fog, and closing - his eyelids he would in imagination behold the fires in long, straw-roofed - cottages flickering on the marshes in the depths of the woods. - </p> - <p> - Others regretted their native lands as well as he, even though they might - not be so far away. Indeed the Carthaginian captives could distinguish the - velaria spread over the courtyards of their houses, beyond the gulf on the - slopes of Byrsa. But sentries marched round them continually. They were - all fastened to a common chain. Each one wore an iron carcanet, and the - crowd was never weary of coming to gaze at them. The women would show - their little children the handsome robes hanging in tatters on their - wasted limbs. - </p> - <p> - Whenever Autaritus looked at Gisco he was seized with rage at the - recollection of the insult that he had received, and he would have killed - him but for the oath which he had taken to Narr’ Havas. Then he - would go back into his tent and drink a mixture of barley and cumin until - he swooned away from intoxication,—to awake afterwards in broad - daylight consumed with horrible thirst. - </p> - <p> - Matho, meanwhile, was besieging Hippo-Zarytus. But the town was protected - by a lake, communicating with the sea. It had three lines of - circumvallation, and upon the heights which surrounded it there extended a - wall fortified with towers. He had never commanded in such an enterprise - before. Moreover, he was beset with thoughts of Salammbô, and he raved in - the delight of her beauty as in the sweetness of a vengeance that - transported him with pride. He felt an acrid, frenzied, permanent want to - see her again. He even thought of presenting himself as the bearer of a - flag of truce, in the hope that once within Carthage he might make his way - to her. Often he would cause the assault to be sounded and waiting for - nothing rush upon the mole which it was sought to construct in the sea. He - would snatch up the stones with his hands, overturn, strike, and deal - sword-thrusts everywhere. The Barbarians would dash on pell-mell; the - ladders would break with a loud crash, and masses of men would tumble into - the water, causing it to fly up in red waves against the walls. Finally - the tumult would subside, and the soldiers would retire to make a fresh - beginning. - </p> - <p> - Matho would go and seat himself outside the tents, wipe his blood-splashed - face with his arm, and gaze at the horizon in the direction of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - In front of him, among the olives, palms, myrtles and planes, stretched - two broad ponds which met another lake, the outlines of which could not be - seen. Behind one mountain other mountains reared themselves, and in the - middle of the immense lake rose an island perfectly black and pyramidal in - form. On the left, at the extremity of the gulf, were sand-heaps like - arrested waves, large and pale, while the sea, flat as a pavement of - lapis-lazuli, ascended by insensible degrees to the edge of the sky. The - verdure of the country was lost in places beneath long sheets of yellow; - carobs were shining like knobs of coral; vine branches drooped from the - tops of the sycamores; the murmuring of the water could be heard; crested - larks were hopping about, and the sun’s latest fires gilded the - carapaces of the tortoises as they came forth from the reeds to inhale the - breeze. - </p> - <p> - Matho would heave deep sighs. He would lie flat on his face, with his - nails buried in the soil, and weep; he felt wretched, paltry, forsaken. - Never would he possess her, and he was unable even to take a town. - </p> - <p> - At night when alone in his tent he would gaze upon the zaïmph. Of what use - to him was this thing which belonged to the gods?—and doubt crept - into the Barbarian’s thoughts. Then, on the contrary, it would seem - to him that the vesture of the goddess was depending from Salammbô, and - that a portion of her soul hovered in it, subtler than a breath; and he - would feel it, breathe it in, bury his face in it, and kiss it with sobs. - He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself that he - was beside her. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over the - sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon a horse - on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in Spendius’s - tent. - </p> - <p> - At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease his - sorrow by talking about Salammbô. Spendius exhorted him to be prudent. - </p> - <p> - “Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them! - Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if Carthage - is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces. We shall become - kings!” - </p> - <p> - But how was it that the possession of the zaïmph did not give them the - victory? According to Spendius they must wait. - </p> - <p> - Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race - exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself: - “The zaïmph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have - lost it, it will do nothing for them.” - </p> - <p> - Afterwards a scruple troubled him. He was afraid of offending Moloch by - worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked - Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a man. - </p> - <p> - “Keep on sacrificing!” laughed Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek of - having a genius of whom he did not speak. - </p> - <p> - All modes of worship, as well as all races, were to be met with in these - armies of Barbarians, and consideration was had to the gods of others, for - they too, inspired fear. Many mingled foreign practices with their native - religion. It was to no purpose that they did not adore the stars; if a - constellation were fatal or helpful, sacrifices were offered to it; an - unknown amulet found by chance at a moment of peril became a divinity; or - it might be a name and nothing more, which would be repeated without any - attempt to understand its meaning. But after pillaging temples, and seeing - numbers of nations and slaughters, many ultimately ceased to believe in - anything but destiny and death;—and every evening these would fall - asleep with the placidity of wild beasts. Spendius had spit upon the - images of Jupiter Olympius; nevertheless he dreaded to speak aloud in the - dark, nor did he fail every day to put on his right boot first. - </p> - <p> - He reared a long quadrangular terrace in front of Utica, but in proportion - as it ascended the rampart was also heightened, and what was thrown down - by the one side was almost immediately raised again by the other. Spendius - took care of his men; he dreamed of plans and strove to recall the - stratagems which he had heard described in his travels. But why did Narr’ - Havas not return? There was nothing but anxiety. - </p> - <p> - Hanno had at last concluded his preparations. One night when there was no - moon he transported his elephants and soldiers on rafts across the Gulf of - Carthage. Then they wheeled round the mountain of the Hot Springs so as to - avoid Autaritus, and continued their march so slowly that instead of - surprising the Barbarians in the morning, as the Suffet had calculated, - they did not reach them until it was broad daylight on the third day. - </p> - <p> - Utica had on the east a plain which extended to the large lagoon of - Carthage; behind it a valley ran at right angles between two low and - abruptly terminated mountains; the Barbarians were encamped further to the - left in such a way as to blockade the harbour; and they were sleeping in - their tents (for on that day both sides were too weary to fight and were - resting) when the Carthaginian army appeared at the turning of the hills. - </p> - <p> - Some camp followers furnished with slings were stationed at intervals on - the wings. The first line was formed of the guards of the Legion in golden - scale-armour, mounted on their big horses, which were without mane, hair, - or ears, and had silver horns in the middle of their foreheads to make - them look like rhinoceroses. Between their squadrons were youths wearing - small helmets and swinging an ashen javelin in each hand. The long files - of the heavy infantry marched behind. All these traders had piled as many - weapons upon their bodies as possible. Some might be seen carrying an axe, - a lance, a club, and two swords all at once; others bristled with darts - like porcupines, and their arms stood out from their cuirasses in sheets - of horn or iron plates. At last the scaffoldings of the lofty engines - appeared: carrobalistas, onagers, catapults and scorpions, rocking on - chariots drawn by mules and quadrigas of oxen; and in proportion as the - army drew out, the captains ran panting right and left to deliver - commands, close up the files, and preserve the intervals. Such of the - Ancients as held commands had come in purple cassocks, the magnificent - fringes of which tangled in the white straps of their cothurni. Their - faces, which were smeared all over with vermilion, shone beneath enormous - helmets surmounted with images of the gods; and, as they had shields with - ivory borders covered with precious stones, they might have been taken for - suns passing over walls of brass. - </p> - <p> - But the Carthaginians manouvred so clumsily that the soldiers in derision - urged them to sit down. They called out that they were just going to empty - their big stomachs, to dust the gilding of their skin, and to give them - iron to drink. - </p> - <p> - A strip of green cloth appeared at the top of the pole planted before - Spendius’s tent: it was the signal. The Carthaginian army replied to - it with a great noise of trumpets, cymbals, flutes of asses’ bones, - and tympanums. The Barbarians had already leaped outside the palisades, - and were facing their enemies within a javelin’s throw of them. - </p> - <p> - A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets into - his thong, and swung round his arm. An ivory shield was shivered, and the - two armies mingled together. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by - pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. The slaves who - were to hurl stones had picked such as were too big, and they accordingly - fell close to them. The Punic foot-soldiers exposed the right side in - cutting with their long swords. The Barbarians broke their lines; they - slaughtered them freely; they stumbled over the dying and dead, quite - blinded by the blood that spurted into their faces. The confused heap of - pikes, helmets, cuirasses and swords turned round about, widening out and - closing in with elastic contractions. The gaps increased more and more in - the Carthaginian cohorts, the engines could not get out of the sand; and - finally the Suffet’s litter (his grand litter with crystal - pendants), which from the beginning might have been seen tossing among the - soldiers like a bark on the waves, suddenly foundered. He was no doubt - dead. The Barbarians found themselves alone. - </p> - <p> - The dust around them fell and they were beginning to sing, when Hanno - himself appeared on the top of an elephant. He sat bare-headed beneath a - parasol of byssus which was carried by a Negro behind him. His necklace of - blue plates flapped against the flowers on his black tunic; his huge arms - were compressed within circles of diamonds, and with open mouth he - brandished a pike of inordinate size, which spread out at the end like a - lotus, and flashed more than a mirror. Immediately the earth shook,—and - the Barbarians saw all the elephants of Carthage, with their gilt tusks - and blue-painted ears, hastening up in single line, clothed with bronze - and shaking the leathern towers which were placed above their scarlet - caparisons, in each of which were three archers bending large bows. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers were barely in possession of their arms; they had taken up - their positions at random. They were frozen with terror; they stood - undecided. - </p> - <p> - Javelins, arrows, phalaricas, and masses of lead were already being - showered down upon them from the towers. Some clung to the fringes of the - caparisons in order to climb up, but their hands were struck off with - cutlasses and they fell backwards upon the swords’ points. The pikes - were too weak and broke, and the elephants passed through the phalanxes - like wild boars through tufts of grass; they plucked up the stakes of the - camp with their trunks, and traversed it from one end to the other, - overthrowing the tents with their breasts. All the Barbarians had fled. - They were hiding themselves in the hills bordering the valley by which the - Carthaginians had come. - </p> - <p> - The victorious Hanno presented himself before the gates of Utica. He had a - trumpet sounded. The three Judges of the town appeared in the opening of - the battlements on the summit of a tower. - </p> - <p> - But the people of Utica would not receive such well-armed guests. Hanno - was furious. At last they consented to admit him with a feeble escort. - </p> - <p> - The streets were too narrow for the elephants. They had to be left - outside. - </p> - <p> - As soon as the Suffet was in the town the principal men came to greet him. - He had himself taken to the vapour baths, and called for his cooks. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Three hours afterwards he was still immersed in the oil of cinnamomum with - which the basin had been filled; and while he bathed he ate flamingoes’ - tongues with honied poppy-seeds on a spread ox-hide. Beside him was his - Greek physician, motionless, in a long yellow robe, directing the - re-heating of the bath from time to time, and two young boys leaned over - the steps of the basin and rubbed his legs. But attention to his body did - not check his love for the commonwealth, for he was dictating a letter to - be sent to the Great Council, and as some prisoners had just been taken he - was asking himself what terrible punishment could be devised. - </p> - <p> - “Stop!” said he to a slave who stood writing in the hollow of - his hand. “Let some of them be brought to me! I wish to see them!” - </p> - <p> - And from the bottom of the hall, full of a whitish vapour on which the - torches cast red spots, three Barbarians were thrust forward: a Samnite, a - Spartan, and a Cappadocian. - </p> - <p> - “Proceed!” said Hanno. - </p> - <p> - “Rejoice, light of the Baals! your Suffet has exterminated the - ravenous hounds! Blessings on the Republic! Give orders for prayers!” - He perceived the captives and burst out laughing: “Ah! ha! my fine - fellows of Sicca! You are not shouting so loudly to-day! It is I! Do you - recognise me? And where are your swords? What really terrible fellows!” - and he pretended to be desirous to hide himself as if he were afraid of - them. “You demanded horses, women, estates, magistracies, no doubt, - and priesthoods! Why not? Well, I will provide you with the estates, and - such as you will never come out of! You shall be married to gibbets that - are perfectly new! Your pay? it shall be melted in your mouths in leaden - ingots! and I will put you into good and very exalted positions among the - clouds, so as to bring you close to the eagles!” - </p> - <p> - The three long-haired and ragged Barbarians looked at him without - understanding what he said. Wounded in the knees, they had been seized by - having ropes thrown over them, and the ends of the great chains on their - hands trailed upon the pavement. Hanno was indignant at their - impassibility. - </p> - <p> - “On your knees! on your knees! jackals! dust! vermin! excrements! - And they make no reply! Enough! be silent! Let them be flayed alive! No! - presently!” - </p> - <p> - He was breathing like a hippopotamus and rolling his eyes. The perfumed - oil overflowed beneath the mass of his body, and clinging to the scales on - his skin, made it look pink in the light of the torches. - </p> - <p> - He resumed: - </p> - <p> - “For four days we suffered greatly from the sun. Some mules were - lost in crossing the Macaras. In spite of their position, the - extraordinary courage—Ah! Demonades! how I suffer! Have the bricks - reheated, and let them be red-hot!” - </p> - <p> - A noise of rakes and furnaces was heard. The incense smoked more strongly - in the large perfuming pans, and the shampooers, who were quite naked and - were sweating like sponges, crushed a paste composed of wheat, sulphur, - black wine, bitch’s milk, myrrh, galbanum and storax upon his - joints. He was consumed with incessant thirst, but the yellow-robed man - did not yield to this inclination, and held out to him a golden cup in - which viper broth was smoking. - </p> - <p> - “Drink!” said he, “that strength of sun-born serpents - may penetrate into the marrow of your bones, and take courage, O - reflection of the gods! You know, moreover, that a priest of Eschmoun - watches those cruel stars round the Dog from which your malady is derived. - They are growing pale like the spots on your skin, and you are not to die - from them.” - </p> - <p> - “Oh! yes, that is so, is it not?” repeated the Suffet, “I - am not to die from them!” And his violaceous lips gave forth a - breath more nauseous than the exhalation from a corpse. Two coals seemed - to burn in the place of his eyes, which had lost their eyebrows; a mass of - wrinkled skin hung over his forehead; both his ears stood out from his - head and were beginning to increase in size; and the deep lines forming - semicircles round his nostrils gave him a strange and terrifying - appearance, the look of a wild beast. His unnatural voice was like a roar; - he said: - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps you are right, Demonades. In fact there are many ulcers - here which have closed. I feel robust. Here! look how I am eating!” - </p> - <p> - And less from greediness than from ostentation, and the desire to prove to - himself that he was in good health, he cut into the forcemeats of cheese - and marjoram, the boned fish, gourds, oysters with eggs, horse-radishes, - truffles, and brochettes of small birds. As he looked at the prisoners he - revelled in the imagination of their tortures. Nevertheless he remembered - Sicca, and the rage caused by all his woes found vent in the abuse of - these three men. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! traitors! ah! wretches! infamous, accursed creatures! And you - outraged me!—me! the Suffet! Their services, the price of their - blood, say they! Ah! yes! their blood! their blood!” Then speaking - to himself:—“All shall perish! not one shall be sold! It would - be better to bring them to Carthage! I should be seen—but doubtless, - I have not brought chains enough? Write: Send me—How many of them - are there? go and ask Muthumbal! Go! no pity! and let all their hands be - cut off and brought to me in baskets!” - </p> - <p> - But strange cries at once hoarse and shrill penetrated into the hall above - Hanno’s voice and the rattling of the dishes that were being placed - around him. They increased, and suddenly the furious trumpeting of the - elephants burst forth as if the battle were beginning again. A great - tumult was going on around the town. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians had not attempted to pursue the Barbarians. They had - taken up their quarters at the foot of the walls with their baggage, - mules, serving men, and all their train of satraps; and they made merry in - their beautiful pearl-bordered tents, while the camp of the Mercenaries - was now nothing but a heap of ruins in the plain. Spendius had recovered - his courage. He dispatched Zarxas to Matho, scoured the woods, rallied his - men (the losses had been inconsiderable),—and they were re-forming - their lines enraged at having been conquered without a fight, when they - discovered a vat of petroleum which had no doubt been abandoned by the - Carthaginians. Then Spendius had some pigs carried off from the farms, - smeared them with bitumen, set them on fire, and drove them towards Utica. - </p> - <p> - The elephants were terrified by the flames and fled. The ground sloped - upwards, javelins were thrown at them, and they turned back;—and - with great blows of ivory and trampling feet they ripped up the - Carthaginians, stifled them, flattened them. The Barbarians descended the - hill behind them; the Punic camp, which was without entrenchments was - sacked at the first rush, and the Carthaginians were crushed against the - gates, which were not opened through fear of the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - Day broke, and Matho’s foot-soldiers were seen coming up from the - west. At the same time horsemen appeared; they were Narr’ Havas with - his Numidians. Leaping ravines and bushes they ran down the fugitives like - greyhounds pursuing hares. This change of fortune interrupted the Suffet. - He called out to be assisted to leave the vapour bath. - </p> - <p> - The three captives were still before him. Then a Negro (the same who had - carried his parasol in the battle) leaned over to his ear. - </p> - <p> - “Well?” replied the Suffet slowly. “Ah! kill them!” - he added in an abrupt tone. - </p> - <p> - The Ethiopian drew a long dagger from his girdle and the three heads fell. - One of them rebounded among the remains of the feast, and leaped into the - basin, where it floated for some time with open mouth and staring eyes. - The morning light entered through the chinks in the wall; the three bodies - streamed with great bubbles like three fountains, and a sheet of blood - flowed over the mosaics with their powdering of blue dust. The Suffet - dipped his hand into this hot mire and rubbed his knees with it: it was a - cure. - </p> - <p> - When evening had come he stole away from the town with his escort, and - made his way into the mountain to rejoin his army. - </p> - <p> - He succeeded in finding the remains of it. - </p> - <p> - Four days afterward he was on the top of a defile at Gorza, when the - troops under Spendius appeared below. Twenty stout lances might easily - have checked them by attacking the head of their column, but the - Carthaginians watched them pass by in a state of stupefaction. Hanno - recognised the king of the Numidians in the rearguard; Narr’ Havas - bowed to him, at the same time making a sign which he did not understand. - </p> - <p> - The return to Carthage took place amid all kinds of terrors. They marched - only at night, hiding in the olive woods during the day. There were deaths - at every halting-place; several times they believed themselves lost. At - last they reached Cape Hermæum, where vessels came to receive them. - </p> - <p> - Hanno was so fatigued, so desperate—the loss of the elephants in - particular overwhelmed him—that he demanded poison from Demonades in - order to put an end to it all. Moreover he could already feel himself - stretched upon the cross. - </p> - <p> - Carthage had not strength enough to be indignant with him. Its losses had - amounted to one hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy-two shekels of - silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three shekels of gold, - eighteen elephants, fourteen members of the Great Council, three hundred - of the rich, eight thousand citizens, corn enough for three moons, a - considerable quantity of baggage, and all the engines of war! The - defection of Narr’ Havas was certain, and both sieges were beginning - again. The army under Autaritus now extended from Tunis to Rhades. From - the top of the Acropolis long columns of smoke might be seen in the - country ascending to the sky; they were the mansions of the rich, which - were on fire. - </p> - <p> - One man alone could have saved the Republic. People repented that they had - slighted him, and the peace party itself voted holocausts for Hamilcar’s - return. - </p> - <p> - The sight of the zaïmph had upset Salammbô. At night she thought that she - could hear the footsteps of the goddess, and she would awake terrified and - shrieking. Every day she sent food to the temples. Taanach was worn out - with executing her orders, and Schahabarim never left her. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"></a> - CHAPTER VII - </h2> - <h3> - HAMILCAR BARCA - </h3> - <p> - The Announcer of the Moons, who watched on the summit of the temple of - Eschmoun every night in order to signal the disturbances of the planet - with his trumpet, one morning perceived towards the west something like a - bird skimming the surface of the sea with its long wings. - </p> - <p> - It was a ship with three tiers of oars and with a horse carved on the - prow. The sun was rising; the Announcer of the Moons put up his hand - before his eyes, and then grasping his clarion with outstretched arms - sounded a loud brazen cry over Carthage. - </p> - <p> - People came out of every house; they would not believe what was said; they - disputed with one another; the mole was covered with people. At last they - recognised Hamilcar’s trireme. - </p> - <p> - It advanced in fierce and haughty fashion, cleaving the foam around it, - the lateen-yard quite square and the sail bulging down the whole length of - the mast; its gigantic oars kept time as they beat the water; every now - and then the extremity of the keel, which was shaped like a plough-share, - would appear, and the ivory-headed horse, rearing both its feet beneath - the spur which terminated the prow, would seem to be speeding over the - plains of the sea. - </p> - <p> - As it rounded the promontory the wind ceased, the sail fell, and a man was - seen standing bareheaded beside the pilot. It was he, Hamilcar, the - Suffet! About his sides he wore gleaming sheets of steel; a red cloak, - fastened to his shoulders, left his arms visible; two pearls of great - length hung from his ears, and his black, bushy beard rested on his - breast. - </p> - <p> - The galley, however, tossing amid the rocks, was proceeding along the side - of the mole, and the crowd followed it on the flag-stones, shouting: - </p> - <p> - “Greeting! blessing! Eye of Khamon! ah! deliver us! ’Tis the - fault of the rich! they want to put you to death! Take care of yourself, - Barca!” - </p> - <p> - He made no reply, as if the loud clamour of oceans and battles had - completely deafened him. But when he was below the staircase leading down - from the Acropolis, Hamilcar raised his head, and looked with folded arms - upon the temple of Eschmoun. His gaze mounted higher still, to the great - pure sky; he shouted an order in a harsh voice to his sailors; the trireme - leaped forward; it grazed the idol set up at the corner of the mole to - stay the storms; and in the merchant harbour, which was full of filth, - fragments of wood, and rinds of fruit, it pushed aside and crushed against - the other ships moored to stakes and terminating in crocodiles’ - jaws. The people hastened thither, and some threw themselves into the - water to swim to it. It was already at the very end before the gate which - bristled with nails. The gate rose, and the trireme disappeared beneath - the deep arch. - </p> - <p> - The Military Harbour was completely separated from the town; when - ambassadors arrived, they had to proceed between two walls through a - passage which had its outlet on the left in front of the temple of Khamon. - This great expanse of water was as round as a cup, and was bordered with - quays on which sheds were built for sheltering the ships. Before each of - these rose two pillars bearing the horns of Ammon on their capitals and - forming continuous porticoes all round the basin. On an island in the - centre stood a house for the marine Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The water was so limpid that the bottom was visible with its paving of - white pebbles. The noise of the streets did not reach so far, and Hamilcar - as he passed recognised the triremes which he had formerly commanded. - </p> - <p> - Not more than twenty perhaps remained, under shelter on the land, leaning - over on their sides or standing upright on their keels, with lofty poops - and swelling prows, and covered with gildings and mystic symbols. The - chimaeras had lost their wings, the Patæc Gods their arms, the bulls their - silver horns;—and half-painted, motionless, and rotten as they were, - yet full of associations, and still emitting the scent of voyages, they - all seemed to say to him, like mutilated soldiers on seeing their master - again, “’Tis we! ’Tis we! and <i>you</i> too are - vanquished!” - </p> - <p> - No one excepting the marine Suffet might enter the admiral’s house. - So long as there was no proof of his death he was considered as still in - existence. In this way the Ancients avoided a master the more, and they - had not failed to comply with the custom in respect to Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet proceeded into the deserted apartments. At every step he - recognised armour and furniture—familiar objects which nevertheless - astonished him, and in a perfuming-pan in the vestibule there even - remained the ashes of the perfumes that had been kindled at his departure - for the conjuration of Melkarth. It was not thus that he had hoped to - return. Everything that he had done, everything that he had seen, unfolded - itself in his memory: assaults, conflagrations, legions, tempests, - Drepanum, Syracuse, Lilybæum, Mount Etna, the plateau of Eryx, five years - of battles,—until the fatal day when arms had been laid down and - Sicily had been lost. Then he once more saw the woods of citron-trees, and - herdsmen with their goats on grey mountains; and his heart leaped at the - thought of the establishment of another Carthage down yonder. His projects - and his recollections buzzed through his head, which was still dizzy from - the pitching of the vessel; he was overwhelmed with anguish, and, becoming - suddenly weak, he felt the necessity of drawing near to the gods. - </p> - <p> - Then he went up to the highest story of his house, and taking a - nail-studded staple from a golden shell, which hung on his arm, he opened - a small oval chamber. - </p> - <p> - It was softly lighted by means of delicate black discs let into the wall - and as transparent as glass. Between the rows of these equal discs, holes, - like those for the urns in columbaria, were hollowed out. Each of them - contained a round dark stone, which appeared to be very heavy. Only people - of superior understanding honoured these abaddirs, which had fallen from - the moon. By their fall they denoted the stars, the sky, and fire; by - their colour dark night, and by their density the cohesion of terrestrial - things. A stifling atmosphere filled this mystic place. The round stones - lying in the niches were whitened somewhat with sea-sand which the wind - had no doubt driven through the door. Hamilcar counted them one after - another with the tip of his finger; then he hid his face in a - saffron-coloured veil, and, falling on his knees, stretched himself on the - ground with both arms extended. - </p> - <p> - The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters of - black lattice-work. Arborescences, hillocks, eddies, and ill-defined - animals appeared in their diaphanous thickness; and the light came - terrifying and yet peaceful as it must be behind the sun in the dull - spaces of future creations. He strove to banish from his thoughts all - forms, and all symbols and appellations of the gods, that he might the - better apprehend the immutable spirit which outward appearances took away. - Something of the planetary vitalities penetrated him, and he felt withal a - wiser and more intimate scorn of death and of every accident. When he rose - he was filled with serene fearlessness and was proof against pity or - dread, and as his chest was choking he went to the top of the tower which - overlooked Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The town sank downwards in a long hollow curve, with its cupolas, its - temples, its golden roofs, its houses, its clusters of palm trees here and - there, and its glass balls with streaming rays, while the ramparts formed, - as it were, the gigantic border of this horn of plenty which poured itself - out before him. Far below he could see the harbours, the squares, the - interiors of the courts, the plan of the streets, and the people, who - seemed very small and but little above the level of the pavement. Ah! if - Hanno had not arrived too late on the morning of the Ægatian islands! He - fastened his eyes on the extreme horizon and stretched forth his quivering - arms in the direction of Rome. - </p> - <p> - The steps of the Acropolis were occupied by the multitude. In the square - of Khamon the people were pressing forwards to see the Suffet come out, - and the terraces were gradually being loaded with people; a few recognised - him, and he was saluted; but he retired in order the better to excite the - impatience of the people. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar found the most important men of his party below in the hall: - Istatten, Subeldia, Hictamon, Yeoubas and others. They related to him all - that had taken place since the conclusion of the peace: the greed of the - Ancients, the departure of the soldiers, their return, their demands, the - capture of Gisco, the theft of the zaïmph, the relief and subsequent - abandonment of Utica; but no one ventured to tell him of the events which - concerned himself. At last they separated, to meet again during the night - at the assembly of the Ancients in the temple of Moloch. - </p> - <p> - They had just gone out when a tumult arose outside the door. Some one was - trying to enter in spite of the servants; and as the disturbance was - increasing Hamilcar ordered the stranger to be shown in. - </p> - <p> - An old Negress made her appearance, broken, wrinkled, trembling, - stupid-looking, wrapped to the heels in ample blue veils. She advanced - face to face with the Suffet, and they looked at each other for some time; - suddenly Hamilcar started; at a wave of his hand the slaves withdrew. - Then, signing to her to walk with precaution, he drew her by the arm into - a remote apartment. - </p> - <p> - The Negress threw herself upon the floor to kiss his feet; he raised her - brutally. - </p> - <p> - “Where have you left him, Iddibal?” - </p> - <p> - “Down there, Master;” and extricating herself from her veils, - she rubbed her face with her sleeve; the black colour, the senile - trembling, the bent figure disappeared, and there remained a strong old - man whose skin seemed tanned by sand, wind, and sea. A tuft of white hair - rose on his skull like the crest of a bird; and he indicated his disguise, - as it lay on the ground, with an ironic glance. - </p> - <p> - “You have done well, Iddibal! ’Tis well!” Then piercing - him, as it were, with his keen gaze: “No one yet suspects?” - </p> - <p> - The old man swore to him by the Kabiri that the mystery had been kept. - They never left their cottage, which was three days’ journey from - Hadrumetum, on a shore peopled with turtles, and with palms on the dune. - “And in accordance with your command, O Master! I teach him to hurl - the javelin and to drive a team.” - </p> - <p> - “He is strong, is he not?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes, Master, and intrepid as well! He has no fear of serpents, or - thunder, or phantoms. He runs bare-footed like a herdsman along the brinks - of precipices.” - </p> - <p> - “Speak! speak!” - </p> - <p> - “He invents snares for wild beasts. Would you believe it, that last - moon he surprised an eagle; he dragged it away, and the bird’s blood - and the child’s were scattered in the air in large drops like driven - roses. The animal in its fury enwrapped him in the beating of its wings; - he strained it against his breast, and as it died his laughter increased, - piercing and proud like the clashing of swords.” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar bent his head, dazzled by such presages of greatness. - </p> - <p> - “But he has been for some time restless and disturbed. He gazes at - the sails passing far out at sea; he is melancholy, he rejects bread, he - inquires about the gods, and he wishes to become acquainted with Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - “No, no! not yet!” exclaimed the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The old slave seemed to understand the peril which alarmed Hamilcar, and - he resumed: - </p> - <p> - “How is he to be restrained? Already I am obliged to make him - promises, and I have come to Carthage only to buy him a dagger with a - silver handle and pearls all around it.” Then he told how, having - perceived the Suffet on the terrace, he had passed himself off on the - warders of the harbour as one of Salammbô’s women, so as to make his - way in to him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar remained for a long time apparently lost in deliberation; at last - he said: - </p> - <p> - “To-morrow you will present yourself at sunset behind the purple - factories in Megara, and imitate a jackal’s cry three times. If you - do not see me, you will return to Carthage on the first day of every moon. - Forget nothing! Love him! You may speak to him now about Hamilcar.” - </p> - <p> - The slave resumed his costume, and they left the house and the harbour - together. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar went on his way alone on foot and without an escort, for the - meetings of the Ancients were, under extraordinary circumstances, always - secret, and were resorted to mysteriously. - </p> - <p> - At first he went along the western front of the Acropolis, and then passed - through the Green Market, the galleries of Kinisdo, and the Perfumers’ - suburb. The scattered lights were being extinguished, the broader streets - grew still, then shadows glided through the darkness. They followed him, - others appeared, and like him they all directed their course towards the - Mappalian district. - </p> - <p> - The temple of Moloch was built at the foot of a steep defile in a sinister - spot. From below nothing could be seen but lofty walls rising indefinitely - like those of a monstrous tomb. The night was gloomy, a greyish fog seemed - to weigh upon the sea, which beat against the cliff with a noise as of - death-rattles and sobs; and the shadows gradually vanished as if they had - passed through the walls. - </p> - <p> - But as soon as the doorway was crossed one found oneself in a vast - quadrangular court bordered by arcades. In the centre rose a mass of - architecture with eight equal faces. It was surmounted by cupolas which - thronged around a second story supporting a kind of rotunda, from which - sprang a cone with a re-entrant curve and terminating in a ball on the - summit. - </p> - <p> - Fires were burning in cylinders of filigree-work fitted upon poles, which - men were carrying to and fro. These lights flickered in the gusts of wind - and reddened the golden combs which fastened their plaited hair on the - nape of the neck. They ran about calling to one another to receive the - Ancients. - </p> - <p> - Here and there on the flag-stones huge lions were couched like sphinxes, - living symbols of the devouring sun. They were slumbering with half-closed - eyelids. But roused by the footsteps and voices they rose slowly, came - towards the Ancients, whom they recognised by their dress, and rubbed - themselves against their thighs, arching their backs with sonorous yawns; - the vapour of their breath passed across the light of the torches. The - stir increased, doors closed, all the priests fled, and the Ancients - disappeared beneath the columns which formed a deep vestibule round the - temple. - </p> - <p> - These columns were arranged in such a way that their circular ranks, which - were contained one within another, showed the Saturnian period with its - years, the years with their months, and the months with their days, and - finally reached to the walls of the sanctuary. - </p> - <p> - Here it was that the Ancients laid aside their sticks of narwhal’s-horn,—for - a law which was always observed inflicted the punishment of death upon any - one entering the meeting with any kind of weapon. Several wore a rent - repaired with a strip of purple at the bottom of their garment, to show - that they had not been economical in their dress when mourning for their - relatives, and this testimony to their affliction prevented the slit from - growing larger. Others had their beards inclosed in little bags of violet - skin, and fastened to their ears by two cords. They all accosted one - another by embracing breast to breast. They surrounded Hamilcar with - congratulations; they might have been taken for brothers meeting their - brother again. - </p> - <p> - These men were generally thick-set, with curved noses like those of the - Assyrian colossi. In a few, however, the more prominent cheek-bone, the - taller figure, and the narrower foot, betrayed an African origin and nomad - ancestors. Those who lived continually shut up in their counting-houses - had pale faces; others showed in theirs the severity of the desert, and - strange jewels sparkled on all the fingers of their hands, which were - burnt by unknown suns. The navigators might be distinguished by their - rolling gait, while the men of agriculture smelt of the wine-press, dried - herbs, and the sweat of mules. These old pirates had lands under tillage, - these money-grubbers would fit out ships, these proprietors of cultivated - lands supported slaves who followed trades. All were skilled in religious - discipline, expert in strategy, pitiless and rich. They looked wearied of - prolonged cares. Their flaming eyes expressed distrust, and their habits - of travelling and lying, trafficking and commanding, gave an appearance of - cunning and violence, a sort of discreet and convulsive brutality to their - whole demeanour. Further, the influence of the god cast a gloom upon them. - </p> - <p> - They first passed through a vaulted hall which was shaped like an egg. - Seven doors, corresponding to the seven planets, displayed seven squares - of different colours against the wall. After traversing a long room they - entered another similar hall. - </p> - <p> - A candelabrum completely covered with chiselled flowers was burning at the - far end, and each of its eight golden branches bore a wick of byssus in a - diamond chalice. It was placed upon the last of the long steps leading to - a great altar, the corners of which terminated in horns of brass. Two - lateral staircases led to its flattened summit; the stones of it could not - be seen; it was like a mountain of heaped cinders, and something - indistinct was slowly smoking at the top of it. Then further back, higher - than the candelabrum, and much higher than the altar, rose the Moloch, all - of iron, and with gaping apertures in his human breast. His outspread - wings were stretched upon the wall, his tapering hands reached down to the - ground; three black stones bordered by yellow circles represented three - eyeballs on his brow, and his bull’s head was raised with a terrible - effort as if in order to bellow. - </p> - <p> - Ebony stools were ranged round the apartment. Behind each of them was a - bronze shaft resting on three claws and supporting a torch. All these - lights were reflected in the mother-of-pearl lozenges which formed the - pavement of the hall. So lofty was the latter that the red colour of the - walls grew black as it rose towards the vaulted roof, and the three eyes - of the idol appeared far above like stars half lost in the night. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients sat down on the ebony stools after putting the trains of - their robes over their heads. They remained motionless with their hands - crossed inside their broad sleeves, and the mother-of-pearl pavement - seemed like a luminous river streaming from the altar to the door and - flowing beneath their naked feet. - </p> - <p> - The four pontiffs had their places in the centre, sitting back to back on - four ivory seats which formed a cross, the high-priest of Eschmoun in a - hyacinth robe, the high-priest of Tanith in a white linen robe, the - high-priest of Khamon in a tawny woollen robe, and the high-priest of - Moloch in a purple robe. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar advanced towards the candelabrum. He walked all round it, looking - at the burning wicks; then he threw a scented powder upon them, and violet - flames appeared at the extremities of the branches. - </p> - <p> - Then a shrill voice rose; another replied to it, and the hundred Ancients, - the four pontiffs, and Hamilcar, who remained standing, simultaneously - intoned a hymn, and their voices—ever repeating the same syllables - and strengthening the sounds—rose, grew loud, became terrible, and - then suddenly were still. - </p> - <p> - There was a pause for some time. At last Hamilcar drew from his breast a - little three-headed statuette, as blue as sapphire, and placed it before - him. It was the image of Truth, the very genius of his speech. Then he - replaced it in his bosom, and all, as if seized with sudden wrath, cried - out: - </p> - <p> - “They are good friends of yours, are the Barbarians! Infamous - traitor! You come back to see us perish, do you not? Let him speak!—No! - no!” - </p> - <p> - They were taking their revenge for the constraint to which political - ceremonial had just obliged them; and even though they had wished for - Hamilcar’s return, they were now indignant that he had not - anticipated their disasters, or rather that he had not endured them as - well as they. - </p> - <p> - When the tumult had subsided, the pontiff of Moloch rose: - </p> - <p> - “We ask you why you did not return to Carthage?” - </p> - <p> - “What is that to you?” replied the Suffet disdainfully. - </p> - <p> - Their shouts were redoubled. - </p> - <p> - “Of what do you accuse me? I managed the war badly, perhaps! You - have seen how I order my battles, you who conveniently allow Barbarians—” - </p> - <p> - “Enough! enough!” - </p> - <p> - He went on in a low voice so as to make himself the better listened to: - </p> - <p> - “Oh! that is true! I am wrong, lights of the Baals; there are - intrepid men among you! Gisco, rise!” And surveying the step of the - altar with half-closed eyelids, as if he sought for some one, he repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Rise, Gisco! You can accuse me; they will protect you! But where is - he?” Then, as if he remembered himself: “Ah! in his house, no - doubt! surrounded by his sons, commanding his slaves, happy, and counting - on the wall the necklaces of honour which his country has given to him!” - </p> - <p> - They moved about raising their shoulders as if they were being scourged - with thongs. “You do not even know whether he is living or dead!” - And without giving any heed to their clamours he said that in deserting - the Suffet they had deserted the Republic. So, too, the peace with Rome, - however advantageous it might appear to them, was more fatal than twenty - battles. A few—those who were the least rich of the Council and were - suspected of perpetual leanings towards the people or towards tyranny—applauded. - Their opponents, chiefs of the Syssitia and administrators, triumphed over - them in point of numbers; and the more eminent of them had ranged - themselves close to Hanno, who was sitting at the other end of the hall - before the lofty door, which was closed by a hanging of hyacinth colour. - </p> - <p> - He had covered the ulcers on his face with paint. But the gold dust in his - hair had fallen upon his shoulders, where it formed two brilliant sheets, - so that his hair appeared whitish, fine, and frizzled like wool. His hands - were enveloped in linen soaked in a greasy perfume, which dripped upon the - pavement, and his disease had no doubt considerably increased, for his - eyes were hidden beneath the folds of his eyelids. He had thrown back his - head in order to see. His partisans urged him to speak. At last in a - hoarse and hideous voice he said: - </p> - <p> - “Less arrogance, Barca! We have all been vanquished! Each one - supports his own misfortune! Be resigned!” - </p> - <p> - “Tell us rather,” said Hamilcar, smiling, “how it was - that you steered your galleys into the Roman fleet?” - </p> - <p> - “I was driven by the wind,” replied Hanno. - </p> - <p> - “You are like a rhinoceros trampling on his dung: you are displaying - your own folly! be silent!” And they began to indulge in - recriminations respecting the battle of the Ægatian islands. - </p> - <p> - Hanno accused him of not having come to meet him. - </p> - <p> - “But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood - out from the coast; what prevented you? Ah! I forgot! all elephants are - afraid of the sea!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s followers thought this jest so good that they burst out - into loud laughter. The vault rang with it like the beating of tympanums. - </p> - <p> - Hanno denounced the unworthiness of such an insult; the disease had come - upon him from a cold taken at the siege of Hecatompylos, and tears flowed - down his face like winter rain on a ruined wall. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar resumed: - </p> - <p> - “If you had loved me as much as him there would be great joy in - Carthage now! How many times did I not call upon you! and you always - refused me money!” - </p> - <p> - “We had need of it,” said the chiefs of the Syssitia. - </p> - <p> - “And when things were desperate with me—we drank mules’ - urine and ate the straps of our sandals; when I would fain have had the - blades of grass soldiers and made battalions with the rottenness of our - dead, you recalled the vessels that I had left!” - </p> - <p> - “We could not risk everything,” replied Baat-Baal, who - possessed gold mines in Darytian Gætulia. - </p> - <p> - “But what did you do here, at Carthage, in your houses, behind your - walls? There are Gauls on the Eridanus, who ought to have been roused, - Chanaanites at Cyrene who would have come, and while the Romans send - ambassadors to Ptolemæus—” - </p> - <p> - “Now he is extolling the Romans to us!” Some one shouted out - to him: “How much have they paid you to defend them?” - </p> - <p> - “Ask that of the plains of Brutium, of the ruins of Locri, of - Metapontum, and of Heraclea! I have burnt all their trees, I have pillaged - all their temples, and even to the death of their grandchildren’s - grandchildren—” - </p> - <p> - “Why, you disclaim like a rhetor!” said Kapouras, a very - illustrious merchant. “What is it that you want?” - </p> - <p> - “I say that we must be more ingenious or more terrible! If the whole - of Africa rejects your yoke the reason is, my feeble masters, that you do - not know how to fasten it to her shoulders! Agathocles, Regulus, Copio, - any bold man has only to land and capture her; and when the Libyans in the - east concert with the Numidians in the west, and the Nomads come from the - south, and the Romans from the north”—a cry of horror rose—“Oh! - you will beat your breasts, and roll in the dust, and tear your cloaks! No - matter! you will have to go and turn the mill-stone in the Suburra, and - gather grapes on the hills of Latium.” - </p> - <p> - They smote their right thighs to mark their sense of the scandal, and the - sleeves of their robes rose like large wings of startled birds. Hamilcar, - carried away by a spirit, continued his speech, standing on the highest - step of the altar, quivering and terrible; he raised his arms, and the - rays from the candelabrum which burned behind him passed between his - fingers like javelins of gold. - </p> - <p> - “You will lose your ships, your country seats, your chariots, your - hanging beds, and the slaves who rub your feet! The jackal will crouch in - your palaces, and the ploughshare will upturn your tombs. Nothing will be - left but the eagles’ scream and a heap of ruins. Carthage, thou wilt - fall!” - </p> - <p> - The four pontiffs spread out their hands to avert the anathema. All had - risen. But the marine Suffet, being a sacerdotal magistrate under the - protection of the Sun, was inviolate so long as the assembly of the rich - had not judged him. Terror was associated with the altar. They drew back. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had ceased speaking, and was panting with eye fixed, his face as - pale as the pearls of his tiara, almost frightened at himself, and his - spirit lost in funereal visions. From the height on which he stood, all - the torches on the bronze shafts seemed to him like a vast crown of fire - laid level with the pavement; black smoke issuing from them mounted up - into the darkness of the vault; and for some minutes the silence was so - profound that they could hear in the distance the sound of the sea. - </p> - <p> - Then the Ancients began to question one another. Their interests, their - existence, were attacked by the Barbarians. But it was impossible to - conquer them without the assistance of the Suffet, and in spite of their - pride this consideration made them forget every other. His friends were - taken aside. There were interested reconciliations, understandings, and - promises. Hamilcar would not take any further part in any government. All - conjured him. They besought him; and as the word treason occurred in their - speech, he fell into a passion. The sole traitor was the Great Council, - for as the enlistment of the soldiers expired with the war, they became - free as soon as the war was finished; he even exalted their bravery and - all the advantages which might be derived from interesting them in the - Republic by donations and privileges. - </p> - <p> - Then Magdassin, a former provincial governor, said, as he rolled his - yellow eyes: - </p> - <p> - “Truly Barca, with your travelling you have become a Greek, or a - Latin, or something! Why speak you of rewards for these men? Rather let - ten thousand Barbarians perish than a single one of us!” - </p> - <p> - The Ancients nodded approval, murmuring:—“Yes, is there need - for so much trouble? They can always be had?” - </p> - <p> - “And they can be got rid of conveniently, can they not? They are - deserted as they were by you in Sardinia. The enemy is apprised of the - road which they are to take, as in the case of those Gauls in Sicily, or - perhaps they are disembarked in the middle of the sea. As I was returning - I saw the rock quite white with their bones!” - </p> - <p> - “What a misfortune!” said Kapouras impudently. - </p> - <p> - “Have they not gone over to the enemy a hundred times?” cried - the others. - </p> - <p> - “Why, then,” exclaimed Hamilcar, “did you recall them to - Carthage, notwithstanding your laws? And when they are in your town, poor - and numerous amid all your riches, it does not occur to you to weaken them - by the slightest division! Afterwards you dismiss the whole of them with - their women and children, without keeping a single hostage! Did you expect - that they would murder themselves to spare you the pain of keeping your - oaths? You hate them because they are strong! You hate me still more, who - am their master! Oh! I felt it just now when you were kissing my hands and - were all putting a constraint upon yourselves not to bite them!” - </p> - <p> - If the lions that were sleeping in the court had come howling in, the - uproar could not have been more frightful. But the pontiff of Eschmoun - rose, and, standing perfectly upright, with his knees close together, his - elbows pressed to his body, and his hands half open, he said: - </p> - <p> - “Barca, Carthage has need that you should take the general command - of the Punic forces against the Mercenaries!” - </p> - <p> - “I refuse,” replied Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - “We will give you full authority,” cried the chiefs of the - Syssitia. - </p> - <p> - “No!” - </p> - <p> - “With no control, no partition, all the money that you want, all the - captives, all the booty, fifty zereths of land for every enemy’s - corpse.” - </p> - <p> - “No! no! because it is impossible to conquer with you!” - </p> - <p> - “He is afraid!” - </p> - <p> - “Because you are cowardly, greedy, ungrateful, pusillanimous and - mad!” - </p> - <p> - “He is careful of them!” - </p> - <p> - “In order to put himself at their head,” said some one. - </p> - <p> - “And return against us,” said another; and from the bottom of - the hall Hanno howled: - </p> - <p> - “He wants to make himself king!” - </p> - <p> - Then they bounded up, overturning the seats and the torches: the crowd of - them rushed towards the altar; they brandished daggers. But Hamilcar dived - into his sleeves and drew from them two broad cutlasses; and half - stooping, his left foot advanced, his eyes flaming and his teeth clenched, - he defied them as he stood there beneath the golden candelabrum. - </p> - <p> - Thus they had brought weapons with them as a precaution; it was a crime; - they looked with terror at one another. As all were guilty, every one - became quickly reassured; and by degrees they turned their backs on the - Suffet and came down again maddened with humiliation. For the second time - they recoiled before him. They remained standing for some time. Several - who had wounded their fingers put them to their mouths or rolled them - gently in the hem of their mantles, and they were about to depart when - Hamilcar heard these words: - </p> - <p> - “Why! it is a piece of delicacy to avoid distressing his daughter!” - </p> - <p> - A louder voice was raised: - </p> - <p> - “No doubt, since she takes her lovers from among the Mercenaries!” - </p> - <p> - At first he tottered, then his eye rapidly sought for Schahabarim. But the - priest of Tanith had alone remained in his place; and Hamilcar could see - only his lofty cap in the distance. All were sneering in his face. In - proportion as his anguish increased their joy redoubled, and those who - were behind shouted amid the hootings: - </p> - <p> - “He was seen coming out of her room!” - </p> - <p> - “One morning in the month of Tammouz!” - </p> - <p> - “It was the thief who stole the zaïmph!” - </p> - <p> - “A very handsome man!” - </p> - <p> - “Taller than you!” - </p> - <p> - He snatched off the tiara, the ensign of his rank—his tiara with its - eight mystic rows, and with an emerald shell in the centre—and with - both hands and with all his strength dashed it to the ground; the golden - circles rebounded as they broke, and the pearls rang upon the pavement. - Then they saw a long scar upon the whiteness of his brow; it moved like a - serpent between his eyebrows; all his limbs trembled. He ascended one of - the lateral staircases which led on to the altar, and walked upon the - latter! This was to devote himself to the god, to offer himself as a - holocaust. The motion of his mantle agitated the lights of the - candelabrum, which was lower than his sandals, and the fine dust raised by - his footsteps surrounded him like a cloud as high as the waist. He stopped - between the legs of the brass colossus. He took up two handfuls of the - dust, the mere sight of which made every Carthaginian shudder with horror, - and said: - </p> - <p> - “By the hundred torches of your Intelligences! by the eight fires of - the Kabiri! by the stars, the meteors, and the volcanoes! by everything - that burns! by the thirst of the desert and the saltness of the ocean! by - the cave of Hadrumetum and the empire of Souls! by extermination! by the - ashes of your sons and the ashes of the brothers of your ancestors with - which I now mingle my own!—you, the Hundred of the Council of - Carthage, have lied in your accusation of my daughter! And I, Hamilcar - Barca, marine Suffet, chief of the rich and ruler of the people, in the - presence of bull-headed Moloch, I swear”—they expected - something frightful, but he resumed in a loftier and calmer tone—“that - I will not even speak to her about it!” - </p> - <p> - The sacred servants entered wearing their golden combs, some with purple - sponges and others with branches of palm. They raised the hyacinth curtain - which was stretched before the door; and through the opening of this angle - there was visible behind the other halls the great pink sky which seemed - to be a continuation of the vault and to rest at the horizon upon the blue - sea. The sun was issuing from the waves and mounting upwards. It suddenly - struck upon the breast of the brazen colossus, which was divided into - seven compartments closed by gratings. His red-toothed jaws opened in a - horrible yawn; his enormous nostrils were dilated, the broad daylight - animated him, and gave him a terrible and impatient aspect, as if he would - fain have leaped without to mingle with the star, the god, and together - traverse the immensities. - </p> - <p> - The torches, however, which were scattered on the ground, were still - burning, while here and there on the mother-of-pearl pavement was - stretched from them what looked like spots of blood. The Ancients were - reeling from exhaustion; they filled their lungs inhaling the freshness of - the air; the sweat flowed down their livid faces; they had shouted so much - that they could now scarcely make their voices heard. But their wrath - against the Suffet was not at all abated; they hurled menaces at him by - way of farewells, and Hamilcar answered them again. - </p> - <p> - “Until the next night, Barca, in the temple of Eschmoun!” - </p> - <p> - “I shall be there!” - </p> - <p> - “We will have you condemned by the rich!” - </p> - <p> - “And I you by the people!” - </p> - <p> - “Take care that you do not end on the cross!” - </p> - <p> - “And you that you are not torn to pieces in the streets!” - </p> - <p> - As soon as they were on the threshold of the court they again assumed a - calm demeanour. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Their runners and coachmen were waiting for them at the door. Most of them - departed on white mules. The Suffet leaped into his chariot and took the - reins; the two animals, curving their necks, and rhythmically beating the - resounding pebbles, went up the whole of the Mappalian Way at full gallop, - and the silver vulture at the extremity of the pole seemed to fly, so - quickly did the chariot pass along. - </p> - <p> - The road crossed a field planted with slabs of stone, which were painted - on the top like pyramids, and had open hands carved out in the centre as - if all the dead men lying beneath had stretched them out towards heaven to - demand something. Next there came scattered cabins built of earth, - branches, and bulrush-hurdles, and all of a conical shape. These - dwellings, which became constantly denser as the road ascended towards the - Suffet’s gardens, were irregularly separated from one another by - little pebble walls, trenches of spring water, ropes of esparto-grass, and - nopal hedges. But Hamilcar’s eyes were fastened on a great tower, - the three storys of which formed three monster cylinders—the first - being built of stone, the second of brick, and the third all of cedar—supporting - a copper cupola upon twenty-four pillars of juniper, from which slender - interlacing chains of brass hung down after the manner of garlands. This - lofty edifice overlooked the buildings—the emporiums and mercantile - houses—which stretched to the right, while the women’s palace - rose at the end of the cypress trees, which were ranged in line like two - walls of bronze. - </p> - <p> - When the echoing chariot had entered through the narrow gateway it stopped - beneath a broad shed in which there were shackled horses eating from heaps - of chopped grass. - </p> - <p> - All the servants hastened up. They formed quite a multitude, those who - worked on the country estates having been brought to Carthage through fear - of the soldiers. The labourers, who were clad in animals’ skins, had - chains riveted to their ankles and trailing after them; the workers in the - purple factories had arms as red as those of executioners; the sailors - wore green caps; the fishermen coral necklaces; the huntsmen carried nets - on their shoulders; and the people belonging to Megara wore black or white - tunics, leathern drawers, and caps of straw, felt or linen, according to - their service or their different occupations. - </p> - <p> - Behind pressed a tattered populace. They lived without employment remote - from the apartments, slept at night in the gardens, ate the refuse from - the kitchens,—a human mouldiness vegetating in the shadow of the - palace. Hamilcar tolerated them from foresight even more than from scorn. - They had all put a flower in the ear in token of their joy, and many of - them had never seen him. - </p> - <p> - But men with head-dresses like the Sphinx’s, and furnished with - great sticks, dashed into the crowd, striking right and left. This was to - drive back the slaves, who were curious to see their master, so that he - might not be assailed by their numbers or inconvenienced by their smell. - </p> - <p> - Then they all threw themselves flat on the ground, crying: - </p> - <p> - “Eye of Baal, may your house flourish!” And through these - people as they lay thus on the ground in the avenue of cypress trees, - Abdalonim, the Steward of the stewards, waving a white mitre, advanced - towards Hamilcar with a censer in his hand. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô was then coming down the galley staircases. All her slave women - followed her; and, at each of her steps, they also descended. The heads of - the Negresses formed big black spots on the line of the bands of the - golden plates clasping the foreheads of the Roman women. Others had silver - arrows, emerald butterflies, or long bodkins set like suns in their hair. - Rings, clasps, necklaces, fringes, and bracelets shone amid the confusion - of white, yellow, and blue garments; a rustling of light material became - audible; the pattering of sandals might be heard together with the dull - sound of naked feet as they were set down on the wood;—and here and - there a tall eunuch, head and shoulders above them, smiled with his face - in air. When the shouting of the men had subsided they hid their faces in - their sleeves, and together uttered a strange cry like the howling of a - she-wolf, and so frenzied and strident was it that it seemed to make the - great ebony staircase, with its thronging women, vibrate from top to - bottom like a lyre. - </p> - <p> - The wind lifted their veils, and the slender stems of the papyrus plant - rocked gently. It was the month of Schebaz and the depth of winter. The - flowering pomegranates swelled against the azure of the sky, and the sea - disappeared through the branches with an island in the distance half lost - in the mist. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar stopped on perceiving Salammbô. She had come to him after the - death of several male children. Moreover, the birth of daughters was - considered a calamity in the religions of the Sun. The gods had afterwards - sent him a son; but he still felt something of the betrayal of his hope, - and the shock, as it were, of the curse which he had uttered against her. - Salammbô, however, continued to advance. - </p> - <p> - Long bunches of various-coloured pearls fell from her ears to her - shoulders, and as far as her elbows. Her hair was crisped so as to - simulate a cloud. Round her neck she wore little quadrangular plates of - gold, representing a woman between two rampant lions; and her costume was - a complete reproduction of the equipment of the goddess. Her broad-sleeved - hyacinth robe fitted close to her figure, widening out below. The - vermilion on her lips gave additional whiteness to her teeth, and the - antimony on her eyelids greater length to her eyes. Her sandals, which - were cut out in bird’s plumage, had very high heels, and she was - extraordinarily pale, doubtless on account of the cold. - </p> - <p> - At last she came close to Hamilcar, and without looking at him, without - raising her head to him: - </p> - <p> - “Greeting, eye of Baalim, eternal glory! triumph! leisure! - satisfaction! riches! Long has my heart been sad and the house drooping. - But the returning master is like reviving Tammouz; and beneath your gaze, - O father, joyfulness and a new existence will everywhere prevail!” - </p> - <p> - And taking from Taanach’s hands a little oblong vase wherein smoked - a mixture of meal, butter, cardamom, and wine: “Drink freely,” - said she, “of the returning cup, which your servant has prepared!” - </p> - <p> - He replied: “A blessing upon you!” and he mechanically grasped - the golden vase which she held out to him. - </p> - <p> - He scanned her, however, with such harsh attention, that Salammbô was - troubled and stammered out: - </p> - <p> - “They have told you, O Master!” - </p> - <p> - “Yes! I know!” said Hamilcar in a low voice. - </p> - <p> - Was this a confession, or was she speaking of the Barbarians? And he added - a few vague words upon the public embarrassments which he hoped by his - sole efforts to clear away. - </p> - <p> - “O father!” exclaimed Salammbô, “you will not obliterate - what is irreparable!” - </p> - <p> - Then he drew back and Salammbô was astonished at his amazement; for she - was not thinking of Carthage but of the sacrilege in which she found - herself implicated. This man, who made legions tremble and whom she hardly - knew, terrified her like a god; he had guessed, he knew all, something - awful was about to happen. “Pardon!” she cried. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar slowly bowed his head. - </p> - <p> - Although she wished to accuse herself she dared not open her lips; and yet - she felt stifled with the need of complaining and being comforted. - Hamilcar was struggling against a longing to break his oath. He kept it - out of pride or from the dread of putting an end to his uncertainty; and - he looked into her face with all his might so as to lay hold on what she - kept concealed at the bottom of her heart. - </p> - <p> - By degrees the panting Salammbô, crushed by such heavy looks, let her head - sink below her shoulders. He was now sure that she had erred in the - embrace of a Barbarian; he shuddered and raised both his fists. She - uttered a shriek and fell down among her women, who crowded around her. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned on his heel. All the stewards followed him. - </p> - <p> - The door of the emporiums was opened, and he entered a vast round hall - form which long passages leading to other halls branched off like the - spokes from the nave of a wheel. A stone disc stood in the centre with - balustrades to support the cushions that were heaped up upon carpets. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet walked at first with rapid strides; he breathed noisily, he - struck the ground with his heel, and drew his hand across his forehead - like a man annoyed by flies. But he shook his head, and as he perceived - the accumulation of his riches he became calm; his thoughts, which were - attracted by the vistas in the passages, wandered to the other halls that - were full of still rarer treasures. Bronze plates, silver ingots, and iron - bars alternated with pigs of tin brought from the Cassiterides over the - Dark Sea; gums from the country of the Blacks were running over their bags - of palm bark; and gold dust heaped up in leathern bottles was insensibly - creeping out through the worn-out seams. Delicate filaments drawn from - marine plants hung amid flax from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane and Judæa; - mandrepores bristled like large bushes at the foot of the walls; and an - indefinable odour—the exhalation from perfumes, leather, spices, and - ostrich feathers, the latter tied in great bunches at the very top of the - vault—floated through the air. An arch was formed above the door - before each passage with elephants’ teeth placed upright and meeting - together at the points. - </p> - <p> - At last he ascended the stone disc. All the stewards stood with arms - folded and heads bent while Abdalonim reared his pointed mitre with a - haughty air. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He was an old pilot with - eyelids chafed by the wind, and white locks fell to his hips as if dashing - foam of the tempests had remained on his beard. - </p> - <p> - He replied that he had sent a fleet by Gades and Thymiamata to try to - reach Eziongaber by doubling the Southern Horn and the promontory of - Aromata. - </p> - <p> - Others had advanced continuously towards the west for four moons without - meeting with any shore; but the ships prows became entangled in weeds, the - horizon echoed continually with the noise of cataracts, blood-coloured - mists darkened the sun, a perfume-laden breeze lulled the crews to sleep; - and their memories were so disturbed that they were now unable to tell - anything. However, expeditions had ascended the rivers of the Scythians, - had made their way into Colchis, and into the countries of the Jugrians - and of the Estians, had carried off fifteen hundred maidens in the - Archipelago, and sunk all the strange vessels sailing beyond Cape - Oestrymon, so that the secret of the routes should not be known. King - Ptolemæus was detaining the incense from Schesbar; Syracuse, Elathia, - Corsica, and the islands had furnished nothing, and the old pilot lowered - his voice to announce that a trireme was taken at Rusicada by the - Numidians,—“for they are with them, Master.” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar knit his brows; then he signed to the Chief of the Journeys to - speak. This functionary was enveloped in a brown, ungirdled robe, and had - his head covered with a long scarf of white stuff which passed along the - edge of his lips and fell upon his shoulder behind. - </p> - <p> - The caravans had set out regularly at the winter equinox. But of fifteen - hundred men directing their course towards the extreme boundaries of - Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leathern bottles, and supplies of - painted cloth, but one had reappeared at Carthage—the rest having - died of fatigue or become mad through the terror of the desert;—and - he said that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing the Atarantes - and the country of the great apes, he had seen immense kingdoms, wherein - the pettiest utensils were all of gold, a river of the colour of milk and - as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees, hills of aromatics, monsters - with human faces vegetating on the rocks with eyeballs which expanded like - flowers to look at you; and then crystal mountains supporting the sun - behind lakes all covered with dragons. Others had returned from India with - peacocks, pepper, and new textures. As to those who go by way of the - Syrtes and the temple of Ammon to purchase chalcedony, they had no doubt - perished in the sands. The caravans from Gætulia and Phazzana had - furnished their usual supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, did not - venture to fit one out just now. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the country. He - leaned upon his other elbow with a hollow groan; and the Chief of Farms - was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in spite of his thick - shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which was as snub-nosed as a - mastiff’s, was surmounted by a net woven of threads of bark. He wore - a waist-belt of hairy leopard’s skin, wherein gleamed two formidable - cutlasses. - </p> - <p> - As soon as Hamilcar turned away he began to cry aloud and invoke all the - Baals. It was not his fault! he could not help it! He had watched the - temperature, the soil, the stars, had planted at the winter solstice and - pruned at the waning of the moon, had inspected the slaves and had been - careful of their clothes. - </p> - <p> - But Hamilcar grew angry at this loquacity. He clacked his tongue, and the - man with the cutlasses went on in rapid tones: - </p> - <p> - “Ah, Master! they have pillaged everything! sacked everything! - destroyed everything! Three thousand trees have been cut down at Maschala, - and at Ubada the granaries have been looted and the cisterns filled up! At - Tedes they have carried off fifteen hundred gomors of meal; at Marrazana - they have killed the shepherds, eaten the flocks, burnt your house—your - beautiful house with its cedar beams, which you used to visit in the - summer! The slaves at Tuburbo who were reaping barley fled to the - mountains; and the asses, the mules both great and small, the oxen from - Taormina, and the antelopes,—not a single one left! all carried - away! It is a curse! I shall not survive it!” He went on again in - tears: “Ah! if you knew how full the cellars were, and how the - ploughshares shone! Ah! the fine rams! ah! the fine bulls!—” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s wrath was choking him. It burst forth: - </p> - <p> - “Be silent! Am I a pauper then? No lies! speak the truth! I wish to - know all that I have lost to the last shekel, to the last cab! Abdalonim, - bring me the accounts of the ships, of the caravans, of the farms, of the - house! And if your consciences are not clear, woe be on your heads! Go - out!” - </p> - <p> - All the stewards went out walking backwards, with their fists touching the - ground. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim went up to a set of pigeon-holes in the wall, and from the midst - of them took out knotted cords, strips of linen or papyrus, and sheeps’ - shoulder-blades inscribed with delicate writing. He laid them at Hamilcar’s - feet, placed in his hands a wooden frame furnished on the inside with - three threads on which balls of gold, silver, and horn were strung, and - began: - </p> - <p> - “One hundred and ninety-two houses in the Mappalian district let to - the New Carthaginians at the rate of one bekah a moon.” - </p> - <p> - “No! it is too much! be lenient towards the poor people! and you - will try to learn whether they are attached to the Republic, and write - down the names of those who appear to you to be the most daring! What - next?” - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim hesitated in surprise at such generosity. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar snatched the strips of linen from his hands. - </p> - <p> - “What is this? three palaces around Khamon at twelve kesitahs a - month! Make it twenty! I do not want to be eaten up by the rich.” - </p> - <p> - The Steward of the stewards, after a long salutation, resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Lent to Tigillas until the end of the season two kikars at three - per cent., maritime interest; to Bar-Malkarth fifteen hundred shekels on - the security of thirty slaves. But twelve have died in the salt-marshes.” - </p> - <p> - “That is because they were not hardy,” said the Suffet, - laughing. “No matter! if he is in want of money, satisfy him! We - should always lend, and at different rates of interest, according to the - wealth of the individual.” - </p> - <p> - Then the servant hastened to read all that had been brought in by the - iron-mines of Annaba, the coral fisheries, the purple factories, the - farming of the tax on the resident Greeks, the export of silver to Arabia, - where it had ten times the value of gold, and the captures of vessels, - deduction of a tenth being made for the temple of the goddess. “Each - time I declared a quarter less, Master!” Hamilcar was reckoning with - the balls; they rang beneath his fingers. - </p> - <p> - “Enough! What have you paid?” - </p> - <p> - “To Stratonicles of Corinth, and to three Alexandrian merchants, on - these letters here (they have been realised), ten thousand Athenian - drachmas, and twelve Syrian talents of gold. The food for the crews, - amounting to twenty minæ a month for each trireme—” - </p> - <p> - “I know! How many lost?” - </p> - <p> - “Here is the account on these sheets of lead,” said the - Steward. “As to the ships chartered in common, it has often been - necessary to throw the cargo into the seas, and so the unequal losses have - been divided among the partners. For the ropes which were borrowed from - the arsenals, and which it was impossible to restore, the Syssitia exacted - eight hundred kesitahs before the expedition to Utica.” - </p> - <p> - “They again!” said Hamilcar, hanging his head; and he remained - for a time as if quite crushed by the weight of all the hatreds that he - could feel upon him. “But I do not see the Megara expenses?” - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim, turning pale, went to another set of pigeon-holes, and took - from them some planchettes of sycamore wood strung in packets on leathern - strings. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, curious about these domestic details, listened to him and grew - calm with the monotony of the tones in which the figures were enumerated. - Abdalonim became slower. Suddenly he let the wooden sheets fall to the - ground and threw himself flat on his face with his arms stretched out in - the position of a condemned criminal. Hamilcar picked up the tablets - without any emotion; and his lips parted and his eyes grew larger when he - perceived an exorbitant consumption of meat, fish, birds, wines, and - aromatics, with broken vases, dead slaves, and spoiled carpets set down as - the expense of a single day. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim, still prostrate, told him of the feast of the Barbarians. He - had not been able to avoid the command of the Ancients. Moreover, Salammbô - desired money to be lavished for the better reception of the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - At his daughter’s name Hamilcar leaped to his feet. Then with - compressed lips he crouched down upon the cushions, tearing the fringes - with his nails, and panting with staring eyes. - </p> - <p> - “Rise!” said he; and he descended. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim followed him; his knees trembled. But seizing an iron bar he - began like one distraught to loosen the paving stones. A wooden disc - sprang up and soon there appeared throughout the length of the passage - several of the large covers employed for stopping up the trenches in which - grain was kept. - </p> - <p> - “You see, Eye of Baal,” said the servant, trembling, “they - have not taken everything yet! and these are each fifty cubits deep and - filled up to the brim! During your voyage I had them dug out in the - arsenals, in the gardens, everywhere! your house is full of corn as your - heart is full of wisdom.” - </p> - <p> - A smile passed over Hamilcar’s face. “It is well, Abdalonim!” - Then bending over to his ear: “You will have it brought from - Etruria, Brutium, whence you will, and no matter at what price! Heap it - and keep it! I alone must possess all the corn in Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - Then when they were alone at the extremity of the passage, Abdalonim, with - one of the keys hanging at his girdle, opened a large quadrangular chamber - divided in the centre by pillars of cedar. Gold, silver, and brass coins - were arranged on tables or packed into niches, and rose as high as the - joists of the roof along the four walls. In the corners there were huge - baskets of hippopotamus skin supporting whole rows of smaller bags; there - were hillocks formed of heaps of bullion on the pavement; and here and - there a pile that was too high had given way and looked like a ruined - column. The large Carthaginian pieces, representing Tanith with a horse - beneath a palm-tree, mingled with those from the colonies, which were - marked with a bull, star, globe, or crescent. Then there might be seen - pieces of all values, dimensions, and ages arrayed in unequal amounts—from - the ancient coins of Assyria, slender as the nail, to the ancient ones of - Latium, thicker than the hand, with the buttons of Egina, the tablets of - Bactriana, and the short bars of Lacedæmon; many were covered with rust, - or had grown greasy, or, having been taken in nets or from among the ruins - of captured cities, were green with the water or blackened by fire. The - Suffet had speedily calculated whether the sums present corresponded with - the gains and losses which had just been read to him; and he was going - away when he perceived three brass jars completely empty. Abdalonim turned - away his head to mark his horror, and Hamilcar, resigning himself to it, - said nothing. - </p> - <p> - They crossed other passages and other halls, and at last reached a door - where, to ensure its better protection and in accordance with a Roman - custom lately introduced into Carthage, a man was fastened by the waist to - a long chain let into the wall. His beard and nails had grown to an - immoderate length, and he swayed himself from right to left with that - continual oscillation which is characteristic of captive animals. As soon - as he recognised Hamilcar he darted towards him, crying: - </p> - <p> - “Pardon, Eye of Baal! pity! kill me! For ten years I have not seen - the sun! In your father’s name, pardon!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, without answering him, clapped his hands and three men appeared; - and all four simultaneously stiffening their arms, drew back from its - rings the enormous bar which closed the door. Hamilcar took a torch and - disappeared into the darkness. - </p> - <p> - This was believed to be the family burying-place; but nothing would have - been found in it except a broad well. It was dug out merely to baffle - robbers, and it concealed nothing. Hamilcar passed along beside it; then - stooping down he made a very heavy millstone turn upon its rollers, and - through this aperture entered an apartment which was built in the shape of - a cone. - </p> - <p> - The walls were covered with scales of brass; and in the centre, on a - granite pedestal, stood the statue of one of the Kabiri called Aletes, the - discoverer of the mines in Celtiberia. On the ground, at its base, and - arranged in the form of a cross, were large gold shields and monster - close-necked silver vases, of extravagant shape and unfitted for use; it - was customary to cast quantities of metal in this way, so that - dilapidation and even removal should be almost impossible. - </p> - <p> - With his torch he lit a miner’s lamp which was fastened to the idol’s - cap, and green, yellow, blue, violet, wine-coloured, and blood-coloured - fires suddenly illuminated the hall. It was filled with gems which were - either in gold calabashes fastened like sconces upon sheets of brass, or - were ranged in native masses at the foot of the wall. There were callaides - shot away from the mountains with slings, carbuncles formed by the urine - of the lynx, glossopetræ which had fallen from the moon, tyanos, diamonds, - sandastra, beryls, with the three kinds of rubies, the four kinds of - sapphires, and the twelve kinds of emeralds. They gleamed like splashes of - milk, blue icicles, and silver dust, and shed their light in sheets, rays, - and stars. Ceraunia, engendered by the thunder, sparkled by the side of - chalcedonies, which are a cure for poison. There were topazes from Mount - Zabarca to avert terrors, opals from Bactriana to prevent abortions, and - horns of Ammon, which are placed under the bed to induce dreams. - </p> - <p> - The fires from the stones and the flames from the lamp were mirrored in - the great golden shields. Hamilcar stood smiling with folded arms, and was - less delighted by the sight of his riches than by the consciousness of - their possession. They were inaccessible, exhaustless, infinite. His - ancestors sleeping beneath his feet transmitted something of their - eternity to his heart. He felt very near to the subterranean deities. It - was as the joy of one of the Kabiri; and the great luminous rays striking - upon his face looked like the extremity of an invisible net linking him - across the abysses with the centre of the world. - </p> - <p> - A thought came which made him shudder, and placing himself behind the idol - he walked straight up to the wall. Then among the tattooings on his arm he - scrutinised a horizontal line with two other perpendicular ones which in - Chanaanitish figures expressed the number thirteen. Then he counted as far - as the thirteenth of the brass plates and again raised his ample sleeve; - and with his right hand stretched out he read other more complicated lines - on his arm, at the same time moving his fingers daintily about like one - playing on a lyre. At last he struck seven blows with his thumb, and an - entire section of the wall turned about in a single block. - </p> - <p> - It served to conceal a sort of cellar containing mysterious things which - had no name and were of incalculable value. Hamilcar went down the three - steps, took up a llama’s skin which was floating on a black liquid - in a silver vat, and then re-ascended. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim again began to walk before him. He struck the pavement with his - tall cane, the pommel of which was adorned with bells, and before every - apartment cried aloud the name of Hamilcar amid eulogies and benedictions. - </p> - <p> - Along the walls of the circular gallery, from which the passages branched - off, were piled little beams of algummim, bags of Lawsonia, cakes of - Lemnos-earth, and tortoise carapaces filled with pearls. The Suffet - brushed them with his robe as he passed without even looking at some - gigantic pieces of amber, an almost divine material formed by the rays of - the sun. - </p> - <p> - A cloud of odorous vapour burst forth. - </p> - <p> - “Push open the door!” - </p> - <p> - They went in. - </p> - <p> - Naked men were kneading pastes, crushing herbs, stirring coals, pouring - oil into jars, and opening and shutting the little ovoid cells which were - hollowed out all round in the wall, and were so numerous that the - apartment was like the interior of a hive. They were brimful of myrobalan, - bdellium, saffron, and violets. Gums, powders, roots, glass phials, - branches of filipendula, and rose-petals were scattered about everywhere, - and the scents were stifling in spite of the cloud-wreaths from the styrax - shrivelling on a brazen tripod in the centre. - </p> - <p> - The Chief of the Sweet Odours, pale and long as a waxen torch, came up to - Hamilcar to crush a roll of metopion in his hands, while two others rubbed - his heels with leaves of baccharis. He repelled them; they were Cyreneans - of infamous morals, but valued on account of the secrets which they - possessed. - </p> - <p> - To show his vigilance the Chief of the Odours offered the Suffet a little - malobathrum to taste in an electrum spoon; then he pierced three Indian - bezoars with an awl. The master, who knew the artifices employed, took a - horn full of balm, and after holding it near the coals inclined it over - his robe. A brown spot appeared; it was a fraud. Then he gazed fixedly at - the Chief of the Odours, and without saying anything flung the gazelle’s - horn full in his face. - </p> - <p> - However indignant he might be at adulterations made to his own prejudice, - when he perceived some parcels of nard which were being packed up for - countries beyond the sea, he ordered antimony to be mixed with it so as to - make it heavier. - </p> - <p> - Then he asked where three boxes of psagdas designed for his own use were - to be found. - </p> - <p> - The Chief of the Odours confessed that he did not know; some soldiers had - come howling in with knives and he had opened the boxes for them. - </p> - <p> - “So you are more afraid of them then of me!” cried the Suffet; - and his eyeballs flashed like torches through the smoke upon the tall, - pale man who was beginning to understand. “Abdalonim! you will make - him run the gauntlet before sunset: tear him!” - </p> - <p> - This loss, which was less than the others, had exasperated him; for in - spite of his efforts to banish them from his thoughts he was continually - coming again across the Barbarians. Their excesses were blended with his - daughter’s shame, and he was angry with the whole household for - knowing of the latter and for not speaking of it to him. But something - impelled him to bury himself in his misfortune; and in an inquisitorial - fit he visited the sheds behind the mercantile house to see the supplies - of bitumen, wood, anchors and cordage, honey and wax, the cloth warehouse, - the stores of food, the marble yard and the silphium barn. - </p> - <p> - He went to the other side of the gardens to make an inspection in their - cottages, of the domestic artisans whose productions were sold. There were - tailors embroidering cloaks, others making nets, others painting cushions - or cutting out sandals, and Egyptian workmen polished papyrus with a - shell, while the weavers’ shuttles rattled and the armourers’ - anvils rang. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar said to them: - </p> - <p> - “Beat away at the swords! I shall want them.” And he drew the - antelope’s skin that had been steeped in poisons from his bosom to - have it cut into a cuirass more solid than one of brass and unassailable - by steel or flame. - </p> - <p> - As soon as he approached the workmen, Abdalonim, to give his wrath another - direction, tried to anger him against them by murmured disparagement of - their work. “What a performance! It is a shame! The Master is indeed - too good.” Hamilcar moved away without listening to him. - </p> - <p> - He slackened his pace, for the paths were barred by great trees calcined - from one end to the other, such as may be met with in woods where - shepherds have encamped; and the palings were broken, the water in the - trenches was disappearing, while fragments of glass and the bones of apes - were to be seen amid the miry puddles. A scrap of cloth hung here and - there from the bushes, and the rotten flowers formed a yellow muck-heap - beneath the citron trees. In fact, the servants had neglected everything, - thinking that the master would never return. - </p> - <p> - At every step he discovered some new disaster, some further proof of the - thing which he had forbidden himself to learn. Here he was soiling his - purple boots as he crushed the filth under-foot; and he had not all these - men before him at the end of a catapult to make them fly into fragments! - He felt humiliated at having defended them; it was a delusion and a piece - of treachery; and as he could not revenge himself upon the soldiers, or - the Ancients, or Salammbô, or anybody, and his wrath required some victim, - he condemned all the slaves of the gardens to the mines at a single - stroke. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim shuddered each time that he saw him approaching the parks. But - Hamilcar took the path towards the mill, from which there might be heard - issuing a mournful melopoia. - </p> - <p> - The heavy mill-stones were turning amid the dust. They consisted of two - cones of porphyry laid the one upon the other—the upper one of the - two, which carried a funnel, being made to revolve upon the second by - means of strong bars. Some men were pushing these with their breasts and - arms, while others were yoked to them and were pulling them. The friction - of the straps had formed purulent scabs round about their armpits such as - are seen on asses’ withers, and the end of the limp black rag, which - scarcely covered their loins, hung down and flapped against their hams - like a long tail. Their eyes were red, the irons on their feet clanked, - and all their breasts panted rhythmically. On their mouths they had - muzzles fastened by two little bronze chains to render it impossible for - them to eat the flour, and their hands were enclosed in gauntlets without - fingers, so as to prevent them from taking any. - </p> - <p> - At the master’s entrance the wooden bars creaked still more loudly. - The grain grated as it was being crushed. Several fell upon their knees; - the others, continuing their work, stepped across them. - </p> - <p> - He asked for Giddenem, the governor of the slaves, and that personage - appeared, his rank being displayed in the richness of his dress. His - tunic, which was slit up the sides, was of fine purple; his ears were - weighted with heavy rings; and the strips of cloth enfolding his legs were - joined together with a lacing of gold which extended from his ankles to - his hips, like a serpent winding about a tree. In his fingers, which were - laden with rings, he held a necklace of jet beads, so as to recognise the - men who were subject to the sacred disease. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the muzzles. Then with the cries of - famished animals they all rushed upon the flour, burying their faces in - the heaps of it and devouring it. - </p> - <p> - “You are weakening them!” said the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - Giddenem replied that such treatment was necessary in order to subdue - them. - </p> - <p> - “It was scarcely worth while sending you to the slaves’ school - at Syracuse. Fetch the others!” - </p> - <p> - And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, and litter-carriers, the men - belonging to the vapour-baths, and the women with their children, all - ranged themselves in a single line in the garden from the mercantile house - to the deer park. They held their breath. An immense silence prevailed in - Megara. The sun was lengthening across the lagoon at the foot of the - catacombs. The peacocks were screeching. Hamilcar walked along step by - step. - </p> - <p> - “What am I to do with these old creatures?” he said. “Sell - them! There are too many Gauls: they are drunkards! and too many Cretans: - they are liars! Buy me some Cappadocians, Asiatics, and Negroes.” - </p> - <p> - He was astonished that the children were so few. “The house ought to - have births every year, Giddenem. You will leave the huts open every night - to let them mingle freely.” - </p> - <p> - He then had the thieves, the lazy, and the mutinous shown to him. He - distributed punishments, with reproaches to Giddenem; and Giddenem, - ox-like, bent his low forehead, with its two broad intersecting eyebrows. - </p> - <p> - “See, Eye of Baal,” he said, pointing out a sturdy Libyan, - “here is one who was caught with the rope round his neck.” - </p> - <p> - “Ah! you wish to die?” said the Suffet scornfully. - </p> - <p> - “Yes!” replied the slave in an intrepid tone. - </p> - <p> - Then, without heeding the precedent or the pecuniary loss, Hamilcar said - to the serving-men: - </p> - <p> - “Away with him!” - </p> - <p> - Perhaps in his thoughts he intended a sacrifice. It was a misfortune which - he inflicted upon himself in order to avert more terrible ones. - </p> - <p> - Giddenem had hidden those who were mutilated behind the others. Hamilcar - perceived them. - </p> - <p> - “Who cut off your arm?” - </p> - <p> - “The soldiers, Eye of Baal.” - </p> - <p> - Then to a Samnite who was staggering like a wounded heron: - </p> - <p> - “And you, who did that to you?” - </p> - <p> - It was the governor, who had broken his leg with an iron bar. - </p> - <p> - This silly atrocity made the Suffet indignant; he snatched the jet - necklace out of Giddenem’s hands. - </p> - <p> - “Cursed be the dog that injures the flock! Gracious Tanith, to - cripple slaves! Ah! you ruin your master! Let him be smothered in the - dunghill. And those that are missing? Where are they? Have you helped the - soldiers to murder them?” - </p> - <p> - His face was so terrible that all the women fled. The slaves drew back and - formed a large circle around them; Giddenem was frantically kissing his - sandals; Hamilcar stood upright with his arms raised above him. - </p> - <p> - But with his understanding as clear as in the sternest of his battles, he - recalled a thousand odious things, ignominies from which he had turned - aside; and in the gleaming of his wrath he could once more see all his - disasters simultaneously as in the lightnings of a storm. The governors of - the country estates had fled through terror of the soldiers, perhaps - through collusion with them; they were all deceiving him; he had - restrained himself too long. - </p> - <p> - “Bring them here!” he cried; “and brand them on the - forehead with red-hot irons as cowards!” - </p> - <p> - Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters, - carcanets, knives, chains for those condemned to the mines, cippi for - fastening the legs, numellæ for confining the shoulders, and scorpions or - whips with triple thongs terminating in brass claws. - </p> - <p> - All were placed facing the sun, in the direction of Moloch the Devourer, - and were stretched on the ground on their stomachs or on their backs, - those, however, who were sentenced to be flogged standing upright against - the trees with two men beside them, one counting the blows and the other - striking. - </p> - <p> - In striking he used both his arms, and the whistling thongs made the bark - of the plane-trees fly. The blood was scattered like rain upon the - foliage, and red masses writhed with howls at the foot of the trees. Those - who were under the iron tore their faces with their nails. The wooden - screws could be heard creaking; dull knockings resounded; sometimes a - sharp cry would suddenly pierce the air. In the direction of the kitchens, - men were brisking up burning coals with fans amid tattered garments and - scattered hair, and a smell of burning flesh was perceptible. Those who - were under the scourge, swooning, but kept in their positions by the bonds - on their arms, rolled their heads upon their shoulders and closed their - eyes. The others who were watching them began to shriek with terror, and - the lions, remembering the feast perhaps, stretched themselves out yawning - against the edge of the dens. - </p> - <p> - Then Salammbô was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly - about it from left to right. Hamilcar perceived her. It seemed to him that - she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a gesture - of horror he plunged into the elephants’ park. - </p> - <p> - These animals were the pride of the great Punic houses. They had carried - their ancestors, had triumphed in the wars, and they were reverenced as - being the favourites of the Sun. - </p> - <p> - Those of Megara were the strongest in Carthage. Before he went away - Hamilcar had required Abdalonim to swear that he would watch over them. - But they had died from their mutilations; and only three remained, lying - in the middle of the court in the dust before the ruins of their manger. - </p> - <p> - They recognised him and came up to him. One had its ears horribly slit, - another had a large wound in its knee, while the trunk of the third was - cut off. - </p> - <p> - They looked sadly at him, like reasonable creatures; and the one that had - lost its trunk tried by stooping its huge head and bending its hams to - stroke him softly with the hideous extremity of its stump. - </p> - <p> - At this caress from the animal two tears started into his eyes. He rushed - at Abdalonim. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! wretch! the cross! the cross!” - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim fell back swooning upon the ground. - </p> - <p> - The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue smoke - of which was ascending slowly into the sky; Hamilcar paused. - </p> - <p> - The thought of his son had suddenly calmed him like the touch of a god. He - caught a glimpse of a prolongation of his might, an indefinite - continuation of his personality, and the slaves could not understand - whence this appeasement had come upon him. - </p> - <p> - As he bent his steps towards the purple factories he passed before the - ergastulum, which was a long house of black stone built in a square pit - with a small pathway all round it and four staircases at the corners. - </p> - <p> - Iddibal was doubtless waiting until the night to finish his signal. - “There is no hurry yet,” thought Hamilcar; and he went down - into the prison. Some cried out to him: “Return”; the boldest - followed him. - </p> - <p> - The open door was flapping in the wind. The twilight entered through the - narrow loopholes, and in the interior broken chains could be distinguished - hanging from the walls. - </p> - <p> - This was all that remained of the captives of war! - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning over - the pit outside saw him resting one hand against the wall to keep himself - from falling. - </p> - <p> - But the jackal uttered its cry three times in succession. Hamilcar raised - his head; he did not speak a word nor make a gesture. Then when the sun - had completely set he disappeared behind the nopal hedge, and in the - evening he said as he entered the assembly of the rich in the temple of - Eschmoun: - </p> - <p> - “Luminaries of the Baalim, I accept the command of the Punic forces - against the army of the Barbarians!” - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"></a> - CHAPTER VIII - </h2> - <h3> - THE BATTLE OF THE MACARAS - </h3> - <p> - In the following day he drew two hundred and twenty-three thousand kikars - of gold from the Syssitia, and decreed a tax of fourteen shekels upon the - rich. Even the women contributed; payment was made in behalf of the - children, and he compelled the colleges of priests to furnish money—a - monstrous thing, according to Carthaginian customs. - </p> - <p> - He demanded all the horses, mules, and arms. A few tried to conceal their - wealth, and their property was sold; and, to intimidate the avarice of the - rest, he himself gave sixty suits of armour, and fifteen hundred gomers of - meal, which was as much as was given by the Ivory Company. - </p> - <p> - He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers - accustomed to fight with bears; they were paid for six moons in advance at - the rate of four minæ a day. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless an army was wanted. But he did not, like Hanno, accept all - the citizens. First he rejected those engaged in sedentary occupations, - and then those who were big-bellied or had a pusillanimous look; and he - admitted those of ill-repute, the scum of Malqua, sons of Barbarians, - freed men. For reward he promised some of the New Carthaginians complete - rights of citizenship. - </p> - <p> - His first care was to reform the Legion. These handsome young fellows, who - regarded themselves as the military majesty of the Republic, governed - themselves. He reduced their officers to the ranks; he treated them - harshly, made them run, leap, ascend the declivity of Byrsa at a single - burst, hurl javelins, wrestle together, and sleep in the squares at night. - Their families used to come to see them and pity them. - </p> - <p> - He ordered shorter swords and stronger buskins. He fixed the number of - serving-men, and reduced the amount of baggage; and as there were three - hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them in spite of - the pontiff’s protests. - </p> - <p> - He organised a phalanx of seventy-two elephants with those which had - returned from Utica, and others which were private property, and rendered - them formidable. He armed their drivers with mallet and chisel to enable - them to split their skulls in the fight if they ran away. - </p> - <p> - He would not allow his generals to be nominated by the Grand Council. The - Ancients tried to urge the laws in objection, but he set them aside; no - one ventured to murmur again, and everything yielded to the violence of - his genius. - </p> - <p> - He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances; and - as a precaution against accusations he demanded the Suffet Hanno as - examiner of his accounts. - </p> - <p> - He set to work upon the ramparts, and had the old and now useless inner - walls demolished in order to furnish stones. But difference of fortune, - replacing the hierarchy of race, still kept the sons of the vanquished and - those of the conquerors apart; thus the patricians viewed the destruction - of these ruins with an angry eye, while the plebeians, scarcely knowing - why, rejoiced. - </p> - <p> - The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till night; - every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed bearing - shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women engaged in - tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to another, and Hamilcar’s - soul filled the Republic. - </p> - <p> - He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place a - strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his files, - so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at once led and - pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand Ligurians, and - the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple phalanx of four thousand - and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze helmets, and handling ashen - sarissæ fourteen cubits long. - </p> - <p> - There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a dagger, - and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others armed with round - shields and Roman swords. - </p> - <p> - The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining guardsmen - of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like the Assyrian - Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted archers, of those that - were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel’s skin, two-edged axes, - and leathern tunics. Finally there were twelve hundred Negroes from the - quarter of the caravans, who were mingled with the Clinabarians, and were - to run beside the stallions with one hand resting on the manes. All was - ready, and yet Hamilcar did not start. - </p> - <p> - Often at night he would go out of Carthage alone and make his way beyond - the lagoon towards the mouths of the Macaras. Did he intend to join the - Mercenaries? The Ligurians encamped in the Mappalian district surrounded - his house. - </p> - <p> - The apprehensions of the rich appeared justified when, one day, three - hundred Barbarians were seen approaching the walls. The Suffet opened the - gates to them; they were deserters; drawn by fear or by fidelity, they - were hastening to their master. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s return had not surprised the Mercenaries; according to - their ideas the man could not die. He was returning to fulfil his promise;—a - hope by no means absurd, so deep was the abyss between Country and Army. - Moreover they did not believe themselves culpable; the feast was - forgotten. - </p> - <p> - The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. It was a triumph for the - bitter; even the lukewarm grew furious. Then the two sieges overwhelmed - then with weariness; no progress was being made; a battle would be better! - Thus many men had left the ranks and were scouring the country. But at - news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for joy. “At last! at - last!” he cried. - </p> - <p> - Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbô was turned against - Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as his - vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he had - realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was seized - with a loftier tenderness, and consumed by more acrid desire. He saw - himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing the Suffet’s - head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed, clasping the - maiden in his arms, covering her face with kisses, passing his hands over - her long, black hair; and the imagination of this, which he knew could - never be realised, tortured him. He swore to himself that, since his - companions had appointed him schalishim, he would conduct the war; the - certainty that he would not return from it urged him to render it a - pitiless one. - </p> - <p> - He came to Spendius and said to him: - </p> - <p> - “You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We - are lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do you understand me? Rise!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius was stupefied before such an air of authority. Matho usually - allowed himself to be led, and his previous transports had quickly passed - away. But just now he appeared at once calmer and more terrible; a superb - will gleamed in his eyes like the flame of sacrifice. - </p> - <p> - The Greek did not listen to his reasons. He was living in one of the - Carthaginian pearl-bordered tents, drinking cool beverages from silver - cups, playing at the cottabos, letting his hair grow, and conducting the - siege with slackness. Moreover, he had entered into communications with - some in the town and would not leave, being sure that it would open its - gates before many days were over. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas, who wandered about among the three armies, was at that - time with him. He supported his opinion, and even blamed the Libyan for - wishing in his excess of courage to abandon their enterprise. - </p> - <p> - “Go, if you are afraid!” exclaimed Matho; “you promised - us pitch, sulphur, elephants, foot-soldiers, horses! where are they?” - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas reminded him that he had exterminated Hanno’s last - cohorts;—as to the elephants, they were being hunted in the woods, - he was arming the foot-soldiers, the horses were on their way; and the - Numidian rolled his eyes like a woman and smiled in an irritating manner - as he stroked the ostrich feather which fell upon his shoulder. In his - presence Matho was at a loss for a reply. - </p> - <p> - But a man who was a stranger entered, wet with perspiration, scared, and - with bleeding feet and loosened girdle; his breathing shook his lean sides - enough to have burst them, and speaking in an unintelligible dialect he - opened his eyes wide as if he were telling of some battle. The king sprang - outside and called his horsemen. - </p> - <p> - They ranged themselves in the plain before him in the form of a circle. - Narr’ Havas, who was mounted, bent his head and bit his lips. At - last he separated his men into two equal divisions, and told the first to - wait; then with an imperious gesture he carried off the others at a gallop - and disappeared on the horizon in the direction of the mountains. - </p> - <p> - “Master!” murmured Spendius, “I do not like these - extraordinary chances—the Suffet returning, Narr’ Havas going - away—” - </p> - <p> - “Why! what does it matter?” said Matho disdainfully. - </p> - <p> - It was a reason the more for anticipating Hamilcar by uniting with - Autaritus. But if the siege of the towns were raised, the inhabitants - would come out and attack them in the rear, while they would have the - Carthaginians in front. After much talking the following measures were - resolved upon and immediately executed. - </p> - <p> - Spendius proceeded with fifteen thousand men as far as the bridge built - across the Macaras, three miles from Utica; the corners of it were - fortified with four huge towers provided with catapults; all the paths and - gorges in the mountains were stopped up with trunks of trees, pieces of - rock, interlacings of thorn, and stone walls; on the summits heaps of - grass were made which might be lighted as signals, and shepherds who were - able to see at a distance were posted at intervals. - </p> - <p> - No doubt Hamilcar would not, like Hanno, advance by the mountain of the - Hot Springs. He would think that Autaritus, being master of the interior, - would close the route against him. Moreover, a check at the opening of the - campaign would ruin him, while if he gained a victory he would soon have - to make a fresh beginning, the Mercenaries being further off. Again, he - could disembark at Cape Grapes and march thence upon one of the towns. But - he would then find himself between the two armies, an indiscretion which - he could not commit with his scanty forces. Accordingly he must proceed - along the base of Mount Ariana, then turn to the left to avoid the mouths - of the Macaras, and come straight to the bridge. It was there that Matho - expected him. - </p> - <p> - At night he used to inspect the pioneers by torch-light. He would hasten - to Hippo-Zarytus or to the works on the mountains, would come back again, - would never rest. Spendius envied his energy; but in the management of - spies, the choice of sentries, the working of the engines and all means of - defence, Matho listened docilely to his companion. They spoke no more of - Salammbô,—one not thinking about her, and the other being prevented - by a feeling of shame. - </p> - <p> - Often he would go towards Carthage, striving to catch sight of Hamilcar’s - troops. His eyes would dart along the horizon; he would lie flat on the - ground, and believe that he could hear an army in the throbbing of his - arteries. - </p> - <p> - He told Spendius that if Hamilcar did not arrive in three days he would go - with all his men to meet him and offer him battle. Two further days - elapsed. Spendius restrained him; but on the morning of the sixth day he - departed. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians were no less impatient for war than the Barbarians. In - tents and in houses there was the same longing and the same distress; all - were asking one another what was delaying Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - From time to time he would mount to the cupola of the temple of Eschmoun - beside the Announcer of the Moons and take note of the wind. - </p> - <p> - One day—it was the third of the month of Tibby—they saw him - descending from the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour arose in - the Mappalian district. Soon the streets were astir, and the soldiers were - everywhere beginning to arm themselves upon their breasts; then they ran - quickly to the square of Khamon to take their places in the ranks. No one - was allowed to follow them or even to speak to them, or to approach the - ramparts; for some minutes the whole town was silent as a great tomb. The - soldiers as they leaned on their lances were thinking, and the others in - the houses were sighing. - </p> - <p> - At sunset the army went out by the western gate; but instead of taking the - road to Tunis or making for the mountains in the direction of Utica, they - continued their march along the edge of the sea; and they soon reached the - Lagoon, where round spaces quite whitened with salt glittered like - gigantic silver dishes forgotten on the shore. - </p> - <p> - Then the pools of water multiplied. The ground gradually became softer, - and the feet sank in it. Hamilcar did not turn back. He went on still at - their head; and his horse, which was yellow-spotted like a dragon, - advanced into the mire flinging froth around him, and with great straining - of the loins. Night—a moonless light—fell. A few cried out - that they were about to perish; he snatched their arms from them, and gave - them to the serving-men. Nevertheless the mud became deeper and deeper. - Some had to mount the beasts of burden; others clung to the horses’ - tails; the sturdy pulled the weak, and the Ligurian corps drove on the - infantry with the points of their pikes. The darkness increased. They had - lost their way. All stopped. - </p> - <p> - Then some of the Suffet’s slaves went on ahead to look for the buoys - which had been placed at intervals by his order. They shouted through the - darkness, and the army followed them at a distance. - </p> - <p> - At last they felt the resistance of the ground. Then a whitish curve - became dimly visible, and they found themselves on the bank of the - Macaras. In spite of the cold no fires were lighted. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the night squalls of wind arose. Hamilcar had the - soldiers roused, but not a trumpet was sounded: their captain tapped them - softly on the shoulder. - </p> - <p> - A man of lofty stature went down into the water. It did not come up to his - girdle; it was possible to cross. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet ordered thirty-two of the elephants to be posted in the river a - hundred paces further on, while the others, lower down, would check the - lines of men that were carried away by the current; and holding their - weapons above their heads they all crossed the Macaras as though between - two walls. He had noticed that the western wind had driven the sand so as - to obstruct the river and form a natural causeway across it. - </p> - <p> - He was now on the left bank in front of Utica, and in a vast plain, the - latter being advantageous for his elephants, which formed the strength of - his army. - </p> - <p> - This feat of genius filled the soldiers with enthusiasm. They recovered - extraordinary confidence. They wished to hasten immediately against the - Barbarians; but the Suffet bade them rest for two hours. As soon as the - sun appeared they moved into the plain in three lines—first came the - elephants, and then the light infantry with the cavalry behind it, the - phalanx marching next. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians encamped at Utica, and the fifteen thousand about the - bridge were surprised to see the ground undulating in the distance. The - wind, which was blowing very hard, was driving tornadoes of sand before - it; they rose as though snatched from the soil, ascended in great - light-coloured strips, then parted asunder and began again, hiding the - Punic army the while from the Mercenaries. Owing to the horns, which stood - up on the edge of the helmets, some thought that they could perceive a - herd of oxen; others, deceived by the motion of the cloaks, pretended that - they could distinguish wings, and those who had travelled a good deal - shrugged their shoulders and explained everything by the illusions of the - mirage. Nevertheless something of enormous size continued to advance. - Little vapours, as subtle as the breath, ran across the surface of the - desert; the sun, which was higher now, shone more strongly: a harsh light, - which seemed to vibrate, threw back the depths of the sky, and permeating - objects, rendered distance incalculable. The immense plain expanded in - every direction beyond the limits of vision; and the almost insensible - undulations of the soil extended to the extreme horizon, which was closed - by a great blue line which they knew to be the sea. The two armies, having - left their tents, stood gazing; the people of Utica were massing on the - ramparts to have a better view. - </p> - <p> - At last they distinguished several transverse bars bristling with level - points. They became thicker, larger; black hillocks swayed to and fro; - square thickets suddenly appeared; they were elephants and lances. A - single shout went up: “The Carthaginians!” and without signal - or command the soldiers at Utica and those at the bridge ran pell-mell to - fall in a body upon Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - Spendius shuddered at the name. “Hamilcar! Hamilcar!” he - repeated, panting, and Matho was not there! What was to be done? No means - of flight! The suddenness of the event, his terror of the Suffet, and - above all, the urgent need of forming an immediate resolution, distracted - him; he could see himself pierced by a thousand swords, decapitated, dead. - Meanwhile he was being called for; thirty thousand men would follow him; - he was seized with fury against himself; he fell back upon the hope of - victory; it was full of bliss, and he believed himself more intrepid than - Epaminondas. He smeared his cheeks with vermilion in order to conceal his - paleness, then he buckled on his knemids and his cuirass, swallowed a - patera of pure wine, and ran after his troops, who were hastening towards - those from Utica. - </p> - <p> - They united so rapidly that the Suffet had not time to draw up his men in - battle array. By degrees he slackened his speed. The elephants stopped; - they rocked their heavy heads with their chargings of ostrich feathers, - striking their shoulders the while with their trunks. - </p> - <p> - Behind the intervals between them might be seen the cohorts of the - velites, and further on the great helmets of the Clinabarians, with steel - heads glancing in the sun, cuirasses, plumes, and waving standards. But - the Carthaginian army, which amounted to eleven thousand three hundred and - ninety-six men, seemed scarcely to contain them, for it formed an oblong, - narrow at the sides and pressed back upon itself. - </p> - <p> - Seeing them so weak, the Barbarians, who were thrice as numerous, were - seized with extravagant joy. Hamilcar was not to be seen. Perhaps he had - remained down yonder? Moreover what did it matter? The disdain which they - felt for these traders strengthened their courage; and before Spendius - could command a manouvre they had all understood it, and already executed - it. - </p> - <p> - They were deployed in a long, straight line, overlapping the wings of the - Punic army in order to completely encompass it. But when there was an - interval of only three hundred paces between the armies, the elephants - turned round instead of advancing; then the Clinabarians were seen to face - about and follow them; and the surprise of the Mercenaries increased when - they saw the archers running to join them. So the Carthaginians were - afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous hooting broke out from among the - Barbarian troops, and Spendius exclaimed from the top of his dromedary: - “Ah! I knew it! Forward! forward!” - </p> - <p> - Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously. The - elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop more - quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like shadows in a - cloud. - </p> - <p> - But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated by - the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously. The - space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full of eddies - and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it. Cohorts of - infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time all the rest saw - the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a gallop. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and the - elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals so as - to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he calculated - the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when they reached - him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long straight line. - </p> - <p> - In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full squares - having sixteen men on each side. All the leaders of all the files appeared - amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly around them, for - the first six ranks crossed their sarissæ, holding them in the middle, and - the ten lower ranks rested them upon the shoulders of their companions in - succession before them. Their faces were all half hidden beneath the - visors of their helmets; their right legs were all covered with bronze - knemids; broad cylindrical shields reached down to their knees; and the - horrible quadrangular mass moved in a single body, and seemed to live like - an animal and work like a machine. Two cohorts of elephants flanked it in - regular array; quivering, they shook off the splinters of the arrows that - clung to their black skins. The Indians, squatting on their withers among - the tufts of white feathers, restrained them with their spoon-headed - harpoons, while the men in the towers, who were hidden up to their - shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished with lighted tow on the - edges of their large bended bows. Right and left of the elephants hovered - the slingers, each with a sling around his loins, a second on his head, - and a third in his right hand. Then came the Clinabarians, each flanked by - a Negro, and pointing their lances between the ears of their horses, - which, like themselves, were completely covered with gold. Afterwards, at - intervals, came the light armed soldiers with shields of lynx skin, beyond - which projected the points of the javelins which they held in their left - hands; while the Tarentines, each having two coupled horses, relieved this - wall of soldiers at its two extremities. - </p> - <p> - The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to preserve - its line. Undulations and blanks were to be found through its extravagant - length; all were panting and out of breath with their running. - </p> - <p> - The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissæ; and the - too slender line of the Mercenaries soon yielded in the centre beneath the - enormous weight. - </p> - <p> - Then the Carthaginian wings expanded in order to fall upon them, the - elephants following. The phalanx, with obliquely pointed lances, cut - through the Barbarians; there were two enormous, struggling bodies; and - the wings with slings and arrows beat them back upon the phalangites. - There was no cavalry to get rid of them, except two hundred Numidians - operating against the right squadron of the Clinabarians. All the rest - were hemmed in, and unable to extricate themselves from the lines. The - peril was imminent, and the need of coming to some resolution urgent. - </p> - <p> - Spendius ordered attacks to be made simultaneously on both flanks of the - phalanx so as to pass clean through it. But the narrower ranks glided - below the longer ones and recovered their position, and the phalanx turned - upon the Barbarians as terrible in flank as it had just been in front. - </p> - <p> - They struck at the staves of the sarissæ, but the cavalry in the rear - embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx, supported by the elephants, - lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, a - cone, a rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid. A twofold internal movement went - on continually from its head to its rear; for those who were at the lowest - part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the latter, from - fatigue, or on account of the wounded, fell further back. The Barbarians - found themselves thronged upon the phalanx. It was impossible for it to - advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein leaped red crests and - scales of brass, while the bright shields rolled like silver foam. - Sometimes broad currents would descend from one extremity to the other, - and then go up again, while a heavy mass remained motionless in the - centre. The lances dipped and rose alternately. Elsewhere there was so - quick a play of naked swords that only the points were visible, while - turmæ of cavalry formed wide circles which closed again like whirlwinds - behind them. - </p> - <p> - Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the grating - of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds of clay whistled through the air, - dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the skull. The - wounded, sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their shields, pointed - their swords by resting the pommels on the ground, while others, lying in - pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels of those above them. The - multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, and the tumult so great that - it was impossible to distinguish anything; the cowards who offered to - surrender were not even heard. Those whose hands were empty clasped one - another close; breasts cracked against cuirasses, and corpses hung with - head thrown back between a pair of contracted arms. There was a company of - sixty Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their pikes before their eyes, - immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two syntagmata to recoil - simultaneously. Some Epirote shepherds ran upon the left squadron of the - Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the horses by the man; the - animals threw their riders and fled across the plain. The Punic slingers - scattered here and there stood gaping. The phalanx began to waver, the - captains ran to and fro in distraction, the rearmost in the files were - pressing upon the soldiers, and the Barbarians had re-formed; they were - recovering; the victory was theirs. - </p> - <p> - But a cry, a terrible cry broke forth, a roar of pain and wrath: it came - from the seventy-two elephants which were rushing on in double line, - Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed together in one - spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had goaded them so - vigorously that blood was trickling down their broad ears. Their trunks, - which were smeared with minium, were stretched straight out in the air - like red serpents; their breasts were furnished with spears and their - backs with cuirasses; their tusks were lengthened with steel blades curved - like sabres,—and to make them more ferocious they had been - intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, wine, and incense. They shook their - necklaces of bells, and shrieked; and the elephantarchs bent their heads - beneath the stream of phalaricas which was beginning to fly from the tops - of the towers. - </p> - <p> - In order to resist them the better the Barbarians rushed forward in a - compact crowd; the elephants flung themselves impetuously upon the centre - of it. The spurs on their breasts, like ships’ prows, clove through - the cohorts, which flowed surging back. They stifled the men with their - trunks, or else snatching them up from the ground delivered them over - their heads to the soldiers in the towers; with their tusks they - disembowelled them, and hurled them into the air, and long entrails hung - from their ivory fangs like bundles of rope from a mast. The Barbarians - strove to blind them, to hamstring them; others would slip beneath their - bodies, bury a sword in them up to the hilt, and perish crushed to death; - the most intrepid clung to their straps; they would go on sawing the - leather amid flames, bullets, and arrows, and the wicker tower would fall - like a tower of stone. Fourteen of the animals on the extreme right, - irritated by their wounds, turned upon the second rank; the Indians seized - mallet and chisel, applied the latter to a joint in the head, and with all - their might struck a great blow. - </p> - <p> - Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another. It was like a - mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous - elephant, called “The Fury of Baal,” which had been caught by - the leg in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in - its eye. - </p> - <p> - The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination, - overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged against the corpses and the <i>débris</i>. - To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they turned about on - their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual rotatory motion. The - Carthaginians felt their energy increase, and the battle begin again. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were growing weak; some Greek hoplites threw away all their - arms, and terror seized upon the rest. Spendius was seen stooping upon his - dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two javelins. Then they - all rushed away from the wings and ran towards Utica. - </p> - <p> - The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake - them. The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an advance - towards the river. But the Carthaginians, who were posted in the centre of - the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their feet with longing for - the vengeance which was flying from them; and they were already darting - forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when Hamilcar appeared. - </p> - <p> - He held in his spotted and sweat-covered horse with silver reins. The - bands fastened to the horns on his helmet flapped in the wind behind him, - and he had placed his oval shield beneath his left thigh. With a motion of - his triple-pointed pike he checked the army. - </p> - <p> - The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off right - and left towards the river and towards the town. - </p> - <p> - The phalanx exterminated all the remaining Barbarians at leisure. When the - swords appeared they would stretch out their throats and close their - eyelids. Others defended themselves to the last, and were knocked down - from a distance with flints like mad dogs. Hamilcar had desired the taking - of prisoners, but the Carthaginians obeyed him grudgingly, so much - pleasure did they derive from plunging their swords into the bodies of the - Barbarians. As they were too hot they set about their work with bare arms - like mowers; and when they desisted to take breath they would follow with - their eyes a horseman galloping across the country after a fleeing - soldier. He would succeed in seizing him by the hair, hold him thus for a - while, and then fell him with a blow of his axe. - </p> - <p> - Night fell. Carthaginians and Barbarians had disappeared. The elephants - which had taken to flight roamed in the horizon with their fired towers. - These burned here and there in the darkness like beacons nearly half lost - in the mist; and no movement could be discerned in the plain save the - undulation of the river, which was heaped with corpses, and was drifting - them away to the sea. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Two hours afterwards Matho arrived. He caught sight in the starlight of - long, uneven heaps lying upon the ground. - </p> - <p> - They were files of Barbarians. He stooped down; all were dead. He called - into the distance, but no voice replied. - </p> - <p> - That very morning he had left Hippo-Zarytus with his soldiers to march - upon Carthage. At Utica the army under Spendius had just set out, and the - inhabitants were beginning to fire the engines. All had fought - desperately. But, the tumult which was going on in the direction of the - bridge increasing in an incomprehensible fashion, Matho had struck across - the mountain by the shortest road, and as the Barbarians were fleeing over - the plain he had encountered nobody. - </p> - <p> - Facing him were little pyramidal masses rearing themselves in the shade, - and on this side of the river and closer to him were motionless lights on - the surface of the ground. In fact the Carthaginians had fallen back - behind the bridge, and to deceive the Barbarians the Suffet had stationed - numerous posts upon the other bank. - </p> - <p> - Matho, still advancing, thought that he could distinguish Punic engines, - for horses’ heads which did not stir appeared in the air fixed upon - the tops of piles of staves which could not be seen; and further off he - could hear a great clamour, a noise of songs, and clashing of cups. - </p> - <p> - Then, not knowing where he was nor how to find Spendius, assailed with - anguish, scared, and lost in the darkness, he returned more impetuously by - the same road. The dawn as growing grey when from the top of the mountain - he perceived the town with the carcases of the engines blackened by the - flames and looking like giant skeletons leaning against the walls. - </p> - <p> - All was peaceful amid extraordinary silence and heaviness. Among his - soldiers on the verge of the tents men were sleeping nearly naked, each - upon his back, or with his forehead against his arm which was supported by - his cuirass. Some were unwinding bloodstained bandages from their legs. - Those who were doomed to die rolled their heads about gently; others - dragged themselves along and brought them drink. The sentries walked up - and down along the narrow paths in order to warm themselves, or stood in a - fierce attitude with their faces turned towards the horizon, and their - pikes on their shoulders. Matho found Spendius sheltered beneath a rag of - canvas, supported by two sticks set in the ground, his knee in his hands - and his head cast down. - </p> - <p> - They remained for a long time without speaking. - </p> - <p> - At last Matho murmured: “Conquered!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius rejoined in a gloomy voice: “Yes, conquered!” - </p> - <p> - And to all questions he replied by gestures of despair. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile sighs and death-rattles reached them. Matho partially opened the - canvas. Then the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another disaster on - the same spot, and he ground his teeth: “Wretch! once already—” - </p> - <p> - Spendius interrupted him: “You were not there either.” - </p> - <p> - “It is a curse!” exclaimed Matho. “Nevertheless, in the - end I will get at him! I will conquer him! I will slay him! Ah! if I had - been there!—” The thought of having missed the battle rendered - him even more desperate than the defeat. He snatched up his sword and - threw it upon the ground. “But how did the Carthaginians beat you?” - </p> - <p> - The former slave began to describe the manouvres. Matho seemed to see - them, and he grew angry. The army from Utica ought to have taken Hamilcar - in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! I know!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - “You ought to have made your ranks twice as deep, avoided exposing - the velites against the phalanx, and given free passage to the elephants. - Everything might have been recovered at the last moment; there was no - necessity to fly.” - </p> - <p> - Spendius replied: - </p> - <p> - “I saw him pass along in his large red cloak, with uplifted arms and - higher than the dust, like an eagle flying upon the flank of the cohorts; - and at every nod they closed up or darted forward; the throng carried us - towards each other; he looked at me, and I felt the cold steel as it were - in my heart.” - </p> - <p> - “He selected the day, perhaps?” whispered Matho to himself. - </p> - <p> - They questioned each other, trying to discover what it was that had - brought the Suffet just when circumstances were most unfavourable. They - went on to talk over the situation, and Spendius, to extenuate his fault, - or to revive his courage, asserted that some hope still remained. - </p> - <p> - “And if there be none, it matters not!” said Matho; “alone, - I will carry on the war!” - </p> - <p> - “And I too!” exclaimed the Greek, leaping up; he strode to and - fro, his eyes sparkling, and a strange smile wrinkled his jackal face. - </p> - <p> - “We will make a fresh start; do not leave me again! I am not made - for battles in the sunlight—the flashing of swords troubles my - sight; it is a disease, I lived too long in the ergastulum. But give me - walls to scale at night, and I will enter the citadels, and the corpses - shall be cold before cock-crow! Show me any one, anything, an enemy, a - treasure, a woman,—a woman,” he repeated, “were she a - king’s daughter, and I will quickly bring your desire to your feet. - You reproach me for having lost the battle against Hanno, nevertheless I - won it back again. Confess it! my herd of swine did more for us than a - phalanx of Spartans.” And yielding to the need that he felt of - exalting himself and taking his revenge, he enumerated all that he had - done for the cause of the Mercenaries. “It was I who urged on the - Gaul in the Suffet’s gardens! And later, at Sicca, I maddened them - all with fear of the Republic! Gisco was sending them back, but I - prevented the interpreters speaking. Ah! how their tongues hung out of - their mouths! do you remember? I brought you into Carthage; I stole the - zaïmph. I led you to her. I will do more yet: you shall see!” He - burst out laughing like a madman. - </p> - <p> - Matho regarded him with gaping eyes. He felt in a measure uncomfortable in - the presence of this man, who was at once so cowardly and so terrible. - </p> - <p> - The Greek resumed in jovial tones and cracking his fingers: - </p> - <p> - “Evoe! Sun after rain! I have worked in the quarries, and I have - drunk Massic wine beneath a golden awning in a vessel of my own like a - Ptolemæus. Calamity should help to make us cleverer. By dint of work we - may make fortune bend. She loves politicians. She will yield!” - </p> - <p> - He returned to Matho and took him by the arm. - </p> - <p> - “Master, at present the Carthaginians are sure of their victory. You - have quite an army which has not fought, and your men obey <i>you</i>. - Place them in the front: mine will follow to avenge themselves. I have - still three thousand Carians, twelve hundred slingers and archers, whole - cohorts! A phalanx even might be formed; let us return!” - </p> - <p> - Matho, who had been stunned by the disaster, had hitherto thought of no - means of repairing it. He listened with open mouth, and the bronze plates - which circled his sides rose with the leapings of his heart. He picked up - his sword, crying: - </p> - <p> - “Follow me; forward!” - </p> - <p> - But when the scouts returned, they announced that the Carthaginian dead - had been carried off, that the bridge was in ruins, and that Hamilcar had - disappeared. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"></a> - CHAPTER IX - </h2> - <h3> - IN THE FIELD - </h3> - <p> - Hamilcar had thought that the Mercenaries would await him at Utica, or - that they would return against him; and finding his forces insufficient to - make or to sustain an attack, he had struck southwards along the right - bank of the river, thus protecting himself immediately from a surprise. - </p> - <p> - He intended first to wink at the revolt of the tribes and to detach them - all from the cause of the Barbarians; then when they were quite isolated - in the midst of the provinces he would fall upon them and exterminate - them. - </p> - <p> - In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised between Thouccaber and - Utica, with the towns of Tignicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others further - to the west. Zounghar built in the mountains, Assoura celebrated for its - temple, Djeraado fertile in junipers, Thapitis, and Hagour sent embassies - to him. The country people came with their hands full of provisions, - implored his protection, kissed his feet and those of the soldiers, and - complained of the Barbarians. Some came to offer him bags containing heads - of Mercenaries killed, so they said, by themselves, but which they had cut - off corpses; for many had lost themselves in their flight, and were found - dead here and there beneath the olive trees and among the vines. - </p> - <p> - On the morrow of his victory, Hamilcar, to dazzle the people, had sent to - Carthage the two thousand captives taken on the battlefield. They arrived - in long companies of one hundred men each, all with their arms fastened - behind their backs with a bar of bronze which caught them at the nape of - the neck, and the wounded, bleeding as they still were, running also - along; horsemen followed them, driving them on with blows of the whip. - </p> - <p> - Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six - thousand Barbarians killed; the others would not hold out, and the war was - finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed the faces - of the Patæc Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them. These, with - their big eyes, their big bodies, and their arms raised as high as the - shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, and to participate - in the cheerfulness of the people. The rich left their doors open; the - city resounded with the noise of the timbrels; the temples were - illuminated every night, and the servants of the goddess went down to - Malqua and set up stages of sycamore-wood at the corners of the - cross-ways, and prostituted themselves there. Lands were voted to the - conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred gold crowns to the - Suffet, and his partisans proposed to decree to him new prerogatives and - honours. - </p> - <p> - He had begged the Ancients to make overtures to Autaritus for exchanging - all the Barbarians, if necessary, for the aged Gisco, and the other - Carthaginians detained like him. The Libyans and Nomads composing the army - under Autaritus knew scarcely anything of these Mercenaries, who were men - of Italiote or Greek race; and the offer by the Republic of so many - Barbarians for so few Carthaginians, showed that the value of the former - was nothing and that of the latter considerable. They dreaded a snare. - Autaritus refused. - </p> - <p> - Then the Ancients decreed the execution of the captives, although the - Suffet had written to them not to put them to death. He reckoned upon - incorporating the best of them with his own troops and of thus instigating - defections. But hatred swept away all circumspection. - </p> - <p> - The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelæ of the tombs in the - Mappalian quarter; and traders, scullions, embroiderers, and even women,—the - widows of the dead with their children—all who would, came to kill - them with arrows. They aimed slowly at them, the better to prolong their - torture, lowering the weapon and then raising it in turn; and the - multitude pressed forward howling. Paralytics had themselves brought - thither in hand-barrows; many took the precaution of bringing their food, - and remained on the spot until the evening; others passed the night there. - Tents had been set up in which drinking went on. Many gained large sums by - hiring out bows. - </p> - <p> - Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so many - red statues on the tombs, and the excitement even spread to the people of - Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, and were - usually indifferent to the affairs of their country. Out of gratitude for - the pleasure it had been giving them they now interested themselves in its - fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and the Ancients thought - it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire people in a single act - of vengeance. - </p> - <p> - The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all - quarters of the sky. They wheeled in the air as they flew with loud hoarse - cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself. It was - seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermæum. Sometimes it - would suddenly burst asunder, its black spirals extending far away, as an - eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again; here and there on - the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, and the pediments of - the temples there were big birds holding human fragments in their reddened - beaks. - </p> - <p> - Owing to the smell the Carthaginians resigned themselves to unbind the - corpses. A few of them were burnt; the rest were thrown into the sea, and - the waves, driven by the north wind, deposited them on the shore at the - end of the gulf before the camp of Autaritus. - </p> - <p> - This punishment had no doubt terrified the Barbarians, for from the top of - Eschmoun they could be seen striking their tents, collecting their flocks, - and hoisting their baggage upon asses, and on the evening of the same day - the entire army withdrew. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs and - Hippo-Zarytus, and so debar the Suffet from approaching the Tyrian towns, - and from the possibility of a return to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile the two other armies were to try to overtake him in the south, - Spendius in the east, and Matho in the west, in such a way that all three - should unite to surprise and entangle him. Then they received a - reinforcement which they had not looked for: Narr’ Havas appeared - with three hundred camels laden with bitumen, twenty-five elephants, and - six thousand horsemen. - </p> - <p> - To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had judged it prudent to occupy his - attention at a distance in his own kingdom. From the heart of Carthage he - had come to an understanding with Masgaba, a Gætulian brigand who was - seeking to found an empire. Strengthened by Punic money, the adventurer - had raised the Numidian States with promises of freedom. But Narr’ - Havas, warned by his nurse’s son, had dropped into Cirta, poisoned - the conquerors with the water of the cisterns, struck off a few heads, set - all right again, and had just arrived against the Suffet more furious than - the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - The chiefs of the four armies concerted the arrangements for the war. It - would be a long one, and everything must be foreseen. - </p> - <p> - It was agreed first to entreat the assistance of the Romans, and this - mission was offered to Spendius, but as a fugitive he dared not undertake - it. Twelve men from the Greek colonies embarked at Annaba in a sloop - belonging to the Numidians. Then the chiefs exacted an oath of complete - obedience from all the Barbarians. Every day the captains inspected - clothes and boots; the sentries were even forbidden to use a shield, for - they would often lean it against their lance and fall asleep as they - stood; those who had any baggage trailing after them were obliged to get - rid of it; everything was to be carried, in Roman fashion, on the back. As - a precaution against the elephants Matho instituted a corps of cataphract - cavalry, men and horses being hidden beneath cuirasses of hippopotamus - skin bristling with nails; and to protect the horses’ hoofs boots of - plaited esparto-grass were made for them. - </p> - <p> - It was forbidden to pillage the villages, or to tyrannise over the - inhabitants who were not of Punic race. But as the country was becoming - exhausted, Matho ordered the provisions to be served out to the soldiers - individually, without troubling about the women. At first the men shared - with them. Many grew weak for lack of food. It was the occasion of many - quarrels and invectives, many drawing away the companions of the rest by - the bait or even by the promise of their own portion. Matho commanded them - all to be driven away pitilessly. They took refuge in the camp of - Autaritus; but the Gaulish and Libyan women forced them by their - outrageous treatment to depart. - </p> - <p> - At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the protection - of Ceres and Proserpine, for in Byrsa there was a temple with priests - consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the horrors formerly - committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, alleging their right to - waifs and strays, claimed the youngest in order to sell them; and some - fair Lacedæmonian women were taken by New Carthaginians in marriage. - </p> - <p> - A few persisted in following the armies. They ran on the flank of the - syntagmata by the side of the captains. They called to their husbands, - pulled them by the cloak, cursed them as they beat their breasts, and held - out their little naked and weeping children at arm’s length. The - sight of them was unmanning the Barbarians; they were an embarrassment and - a peril. Several times they were repulsed, but they came back again; Matho - made the horsemen belonging to Narr’ Havas charge them with the - point of the lance; and on some Balearians shouting out to him that they - must have women, he replied: “<i>I</i> have none!” - </p> - <p> - Just now he was invaded by the genius of Moloch. In spite of the rebellion - of his conscience, he performed terrible deeds, imagining that he was thus - obeying the voice of a god. When he could not ravage the fields, Matho - would cast stones into them to render them sterile. - </p> - <p> - He urged Autaritus and Spendius with repeated messages to make haste. But - the Suffet’s operations were incomprehensible. He encamped at - Eidous, Monchar, and Tehent successively; some scouts believed that they - saw him in the neighbourhood of Ischiil, near the frontiers of Narr’ - Havas, and it was reported that he had crossed the river above Tebourba as - though to return to Carthage. Scarcely was he in one place when he removed - to another. The routes that he followed always remained unknown. The - Suffet preserved his advantages without offering battle, and while pursued - by the Barbarians seemed to be leading them. - </p> - <p> - These marches and counter marches were still more fatiguing to the - Carthaginians, and Hamilcar’s forces, receiving no reinforcements, - diminished from day to day. The country people were now more backward in - bringing him provisions. In every direction he encountered taciturn - hesitation and hatred; and in spite of his entreaties to the Great Council - no succour came from Carthage. - </p> - <p> - It was said, perhaps it was believed, that he had need of none. It was a - trick, or his complaints were unnecessary; and Hanno’s partisans, in - order to do him an ill turn, exaggerated the importance of his victory. - The troops which he commanded he was welcome to; but they were not going - to supply his demands continually in that way. The war was quite - burdensome enough! it had cost too much, and from pride the patricians - belonging to his faction supported him but slackly. - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the tribes - all that he wanted for the war—grain, oil, wood, cattle, and men. - But the inhabitants were not long in taking flight. The villages passed - through were empty, and the cabins were ransacked without anything being - discerned in them. The Punic army was soon encompassed by a terrible - solitude. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians, who were furious, began to sack the provinces; they - filled up the cisterns and fired the houses. The sparks, being carried by - the wind, were scattered far off, and whole forests were on fire on the - mountains; they bordered the valleys with a crown of flames, and it was - often necessary to wait in order to pass beyond them. Then the soldiers - resumed their march over the warm ashes in the full glare of the sun. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes they would see what looked like the eyes of a tiger cat gleaming - in a bush by the side of the road. This was a Barbarian crouching upon his - heels, and smeared with dust, that he might not be distinguished from the - colour of the foliage; or perhaps when passing along a ravine those on the - wings would suddenly hear the rolling of stones, and raising their eyes - would perceive a bare-footed man bounding along through the openings of - the gorge. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile Utica and Hippo-Zarytus were free since the Mercenaries were no - longer besieging them. Hamilcar commanded them to come to his assistance. - But not caring to compromise themselves, they answered him with vague - words, with compliments and excuses. - </p> - <p> - He went up again abruptly into the North, determined to open up one of the - Tyrian towns, though he were obliged to lay siege to it. He required a - station on the coast, so as to be able to draw supplies and men from the - islands or from Cyrene, and he coveted the harbour of Utica as being the - nearest to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet therefore left Zouitin and turned the lake of Hippo-Zarytus - with circumspection. But he was soon obliged to lengthen out his regiments - into column in order to climb the mountain which separates the two - valleys. They were descending at sunset into its hollow, funnel-shaped - summit, when they perceived on the level of the ground before them bronze - she-wolves which seemed to be running across the grass. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly large plumes arose and a terrible song burst forth, accompanied - by the rhythm of flutes. It was the army under Spendius; for some - Campanians and Greeks, in their execration of Carthage, had assumed the - ensigns of Rome. At the same time long pikes, shields of leopard’s - skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders were seen on the left. These - were the Iberians under Matho, the Lusitanians, Balearians, and Gætulians; - the horses of Narr’ Havas were heard to neigh; they spread around - the hill; then came the loose rabble commanded by Autaritus—Gauls, - Libyans, and Nomads; while the Eaters of Uncleanness might be recognised - among them by the fish bones which they wore in their hair. - </p> - <p> - Thus the Barbarians, having contrived their marches with exactness, had - come together again. But themselves surprised, they remained motionless - for some minutes in consultation. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet had collected his men into an orbicular mass, in such a way as - to offer an equal resistance in every direction. The infantry were - surrounded by their tall, pointed shields fixed close to one another in - the turf. The Clinabarians were outside and the elephants at intervals - further off. The Mercenaries were worn out with fatigue; it was better to - wait till next day; and the Barbarians feeling sure of their victory - occupied themselves the whole night in eating. - </p> - <p> - They lighted large bright fires, which, while dazzling themselves, left - the Punic army below them in the shade. Hamilcar caused a trench fifteen - feet broad and ten cubits deep to be dug in Roman fashion round his camp, - and the earth thrown out to be raised on the inside into a parapet, on - which sharp interlacing stakes were planted; and at sunrise the - Mercenaries were amazed to perceive all the Carthaginians thus entrenched - as if in a fortress. - </p> - <p> - They could recognise Hamilcar in the midst of the tents walking about and - giving orders. His person was clad in a brown cuirass cut in little - scales; he was followed by his horse, and stopped from time to time to - point out something with his right arm outstretched. - </p> - <p> - Then more than one recalled similar mornings when, amid the din of - clarions, he passed slowly before them, and his looks strengthened them - like cups of wine. A kind of emotion overcame them. Those, on the - contrary, who were not acquainted with Hamilcar, were mad with joy at - having caught him. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless if all attacked at once they would do one another mutual - injury in the insufficiency of space. The Numidians might dash through; - but the Clinabarians, who were protected by cuirasses, would crush them. - And then how were the palisades to be crossed? As to the elephants, they - were not sufficiently well trained. - </p> - <p> - “You are all cowards!” exclaimed Matho. - </p> - <p> - And with the best among them he rushed against the entrenchment. They were - repulsed by a volley of stones; for the Suffet had taken their abandoned - catapults on the bridge. - </p> - <p> - This want of success produced an abrupt change in the fickle minds of the - Barbarians. Their extreme bravery disappeared; they wished to conquer, but - with the smallest possible risk. According to Spendius they ought to - maintain carefully the position that they held, and starve out the Punic - army. But the Carthaginians began to dig wells, and as there were - mountains surrounding the hill, they discovered water. - </p> - <p> - From the summit of their palisade they launched arrows, earth, dung, and - pebbles which they gathered from the ground, while the six catapults - rolled incessantly throughout the length of the terrace. - </p> - <p> - But the springs would dry up of themselves; the provisions would be - exhausted, and the catapults worn out; the Mercenaries, who were ten times - as numerous, would triumph in the end. The Suffet devised negotiations so - as to gain time, and one morning the Barbarians found a sheep’s skin - covered with writing within their lines. He justified himself for his - victory: the Ancients had forced him into the war, and to show them that - he was keeping his word, he offered them the pillaging of Utica or - Hippo-Zarytus at their choice; in conclusion, Hamilcar declared that he - did not fear them because he had won over some traitors, and thanks to - them would easily manage the rest. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were disturbed: this proposal of immediate booty made them - consider; they were apprehensive of treachery, not suspecting a snare in - the Suffet’s boasting, and they began to look upon one another with - mistrust. Words and steps were watched; terrors awaked them in the night. - Many forsook their companions and chose their army as fancy dictated, and - the Gauls with Autaritus went and joined themselves with the men of - Cisalpine Gaul, whose language they understood. - </p> - <p> - The four chiefs met together every evening in Matho’s tent, and - squatting round a shield, attentively moved backwards and forwards the - little wooden figures invented by Pyrrhus for the representation of - manouvres. Spendius would demonstrate Hamilcar’s resources, and with - oaths by all the gods entreat that the opportunity should not be wasted. - Matho would walk about angry and gesticulating. The war against Carthage - was his own personal affair; he was indignant that the others should - interfere in it without being willing to obey him. Autaritus would divine - his speech from his countenance and applaud. Narr’ Havas would - elevate his chin to mark his disdain; there was not a measure he did not - consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs would escape him as - though he were thrusting back sorrow for an impossible dream, despair for - an abortive enterprise. - </p> - <p> - While the Barbarians deliberated in uncertainty, the Suffet increased his - defences: he had a second trench dug within the palisades, a second wall - raised, and wooden towers constructed at the corners; and his slaves went - as far as the middle of the outposts to drive caltrops into the ground. - But the elephants, whose allowances were lessened, struggled in their - shackles. To economise the grass he ordered the Clinabarians to kill the - least strong among the stallions. A few refused to do so, and he had them - decapitated. The horses were eaten. The recollection of this fresh meat - was a source of great sadness to them in the days that followed. - </p> - <p> - From the bottom of the ampitheatre in which they were confined they could - see the four bustling camps of the Barbarians all around them on the - heights. Women moved about with leathern bottles on their heads, goats - strayed bleating beneath the piles of pikes; sentries were being relieved, - and eating was going on around tripods. In fact, the tribes furnished them - abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves suspect how much - their inaction alarmed the Punic army. - </p> - <p> - On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three hundred - men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads. These were the rich who - had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war. Some Libyans - ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their station behind them, - and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart of their bodies. The - wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised, so completely were their - faces covered with vermin and filth. Their hair had been plucked out in - places, leaving bare the ulcers on their heads, and they were so lean and - hideous that they were like mummies in tattered shrouds. A few trembled - and sobbed with a stupid look; the rest cried out to their friends to fire - upon the Barbarians. There was one who remained quite motionless with face - cast down, and without speaking; his long white beard fell to his - chain-covered hands; and the Carthaginians, feeling as it were the - downfall of the Republic in the bottom of their hearts, recognised Gisco. - Although the place was a dangerous one they pressed forward to see him. On - his head had been placed a grotesque tiara of hippopotamus leather - incrusted with pebbles. It was Autaritus’s idea; but it was - displeasing to Matho. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar in exasperation, and resolved to cut his way through in one way - or another, had the palisades opened; and the Carthaginians went at a - furious rate half way up the hill or three hundred paces. Such a flood of - Barbarians descended upon them that they were driven back to their lines. - One of the guards of the Legion who had remained outside was stumbling - among the stones. Zarxas ran up to him, knocked him down, and plunged a - dagger into his throat; he drew it out, threw himself upon the wound—and - gluing his lips to it with mutterings of joy, and startings which shook - him to the heels, pumped up the blood by breastfuls; then he quietly sat - down upon the corpse, raised his face with his neck thrown back the better - to breathe in the air, like a hind that has just drunk at a mountain - stream, and in a shrill voice began to sing a Balearic song, a vague - melody full of prolonged modulations, with interruptions and alternations - like echoes answering one another in the mountains; he called upon his - dead brothers and invited them to a feast;—then he let his hands - fall between his legs, slowly bent his head, and wept. This atrocious - occurrence horrified the Barbarians, especially the Greeks. - </p> - <p> - From that time forth the Carthaginians did not attempt to make any sally; - and they had no thought of surrender, certain as they were that they would - perish in tortures. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless the provisions, in spite of Hamilcar’s carefulness, - diminished frightfully. There was not left per man more than ten k’hommers - of wheat, three hins of millet, and twelve betzas of dried fruit. No more - meat, no more oil, no more salt food, and not a grain of barley for the - horses, which might be seen stretching down their wasted necks seeking in - the dust for blades of trampled straw. Often the sentries on vedette upon - the terrace would see in the moonlight a dog belonging to the Barbarians - coming to prowl beneath the entrenchment among the heaps of filth; it - would be knocked down with a stone, and then, after a descent had been - effected along the palisades by means of the straps of a shield, it would - be eaten without a word. Sometimes horrible barkings would be heard and - the man would not come up again. Three phalangites, in the fourth dilochia - of the twelfth syntagmata, killed one another with knives in a dispute - about a rat. - </p> - <p> - All regretted their families, and their houses; the poor their hive-shaped - huts, with the shells on the threshold and the hanging net, and the - patricians their large halls filled with bluish shadows, where at the most - indolent hour of the day they used to rest listening to the vague noise of - the streets mingled with the rustling of the leaves as they stirred in - their gardens;—to go deeper into the thought of this, and to enjoy - it more, they would half close their eyelids, only to be roused by the - shock of a wound. Every minute there was some engagement, some fresh - alarm; the towers were burning, the Eaters of Uncleanness were leaping - across the palisades; their hands would be struck off with axes; others - would hasten up; an iron hail would fall upon the tents. Galleries of - rushen hurdles were raised as a protection against the projectiles. The - Carthaginians shut themselves up within them and stirred out no more. - </p> - <p> - Every day the sun coming over the hill used, after the early hours, to - forsake the bottom of the gorge and leave them in the shade. The grey - slopes of the ground, covered with flints spotted with scanty lichen, - ascended in front and in the rear, and above their summits stretched the - sky in its perpetual purity, smoother and colder to the eye than a metal - cupola. Hamilcar was so indignant with Carthage that he felt inclined to - throw himself among the Barbarians and lead them against her. Moreover, - the porters, sutlers, and slaves were beginning to murmur, while neither - people, nor Great Council, nor any one sent as much as a hope. The - situation was intolerable, especially owing to the thought that it would - become worse. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - At the news of the disaster Carthage had leaped, as it were, with anger - and hate; the Suffet would have been less execrated if he had allowed - himself to be conquered from the first. - </p> - <p> - But time and money were lacking for the hire of other Mercenaries. As to a - levy of soldiers in the town, how were they to be equipped? Hamilcar had - taken all the arms! and then who was to command them? The best captains - were down yonder with him! Meanwhile, some men despatched by the Suffet - arrived in the streets with shouts. The Great Council were roused by them, - and contrived to make them disappear. - </p> - <p> - It was an unnecessary precaution; every one accused Barca of having - behaved with slackness. He ought to have annihilated the Mercenaries after - his victory. Why had he ravaged the tribes? The sacrifices already imposed - had been heavy enough! and the patricians deplored their contributions of - fourteen shekels, and the Syssitia their two hundred and twenty-three - thousand gold kikars; those who had given nothing lamented like the rest. - The populace was jealous of the New Carthaginians, to whom he had promised - full rights of citizenship; and even the Ligurians, who had fought with - such intrepidity, were confounded with the Barbarians and cursed like - them; their race became a crime, the proof of complicity. The traders on - the threshold of their shops, the workmen passing plumb-line in hand, the - vendors of pickle rinsing their baskets, the attendants in the vapour - baths and the retailers of hot drinks all discussed the operations of the - campaign. They would trace battle-plans with their fingers in the dust, - and there was not a sorry rascal to be found who could not have corrected - Hamilcar’s mistakes. - </p> - <p> - It was a punishment, said the priests, for his long-continued impiety. He - had offered no holocausts; he had not purified his troops; he had even - refused to take augurs with him; and the scandal of sacrilege strengthened - the violence of restrained hate, and the rage of betrayed hopes. People - recalled the Sicilian disasters, and all the burden of his pride that they - had borne for so long! The colleges of the pontiffs could not forgive him - for having seized their treasure, and they demanded a pledge from the - Great Council to crucify him should he ever return. - </p> - <p> - The heats of the month of Eloul, which were excessive in that year, were - another calamity. Sickening smells rose from the borders of the Lake, and - were wafted through the air together with the fumes of the aromatics that - eddied at the corners of the streets. The sounds of hymns were constantly - heard. Crowds of people occupied the staircases of the temples; all the - walls were covered with black veils; tapers burnt on the brows of the - Patæc Gods, and the blood of camels slain for sacrifice ran along the - flights of stairs forming red cascades upon the steps. Carthage was - agitated with funereal delirium. From the depths of the narrowest lanes, - and the blackest dens, there issued pale faces, men with viper-like - profiles and grinding their teeth. The houses were filled with the women’s - piercing shrieks, which, escaping through the gratings, caused those who - stood talking in the squares to turn round. Sometimes it was thought that - the Barbarians were arriving; they had been seen behind the mountain of - the Hot Springs; they were encamped at Tunis; and the voices would - multiply and swell, and be blended into one single clamour. Then universal - silence would reign, some remaining where they had climbed upon the - frontals of the buildings, screening their eyes with their open hand, - while the rest lay flat on their faces at the foot of the ramparts - straining their ears. When their terror had passed off their anger would - begin again. But the conviction of their own impotence would soon sink - them into the same sadness as before. - </p> - <p> - It increased every evening when all ascended the terraces, and bowing down - nine times uttered a loud cry in salutation of the sun, as it sank slowly - behind the lagoon, and then suddenly disappeared among the mountains in - the direction of the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - They were waiting for the thrice holy festival when, from the summit of a - funeral pile, an eagle flew heavenwards as a symbol of the resurrection of - the year, and a message from the people to their Baal; they regarded it as - a sort of union, a method of connecting themselves with the might of the - Sun. Moreover, filled as they now were with hatred, they turned frankly - towards homicidal Moloch, and all forsook Tanith. In fact, Rabetna, having - lost her veil, was as if she had been despoiled of part of her virtue. She - denied the beneficence of her waters, she had abandoned Carthage; she was - a deserter, an enemy. Some threw stones at her to insult her. But many - pitied her while they inveighed against her; she was still beloved, and - perhaps more deeply than she had been. - </p> - <p> - All their misfortunes came, therefore, from the loss of the zaïmph. - Salammbô had indirectly participated in it; she was included in the same - ill will; she must be punished. A vague idea of immolation spread among - the people. To appease the Baalim it was without doubt necessary to offer - them something of incalculable worth, a being handsome, young, virgin, of - old family, a descendant of the gods, a human star. Every day the gardens - of Megara were invaded by strange men; the slaves, trembling on their own - account, dared not resist them. Nevertheless, they did not pass beyond the - galley staircase. They remained below with their eyes raised to the - highest terrace; they were waiting for Salammbô, and they would cry out - for hours against her like dogs baying at the moon. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"></a> - CHAPTER X - </h2> - <h3> - THE SERPENT - </h3> - <p> - These clamourings of the populace did not alarm Hamilcar’s daughter. - She was disturbed by loftier anxieties: her great serpent, the black - python, was drooping; and in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the serpent - was at once a national and a private fetish. It was believed to be the - offspring of the dust of the earth, since it emerges from its depths and - has no need of feet to traverse it; its mode of progression called to mind - the undulations of rivers, its temperature the ancient, viscous, and - fecund darkness, and the orbit which it describes when biting its tail the - harmony of the planets, and the intelligence of Eschmoun. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô’s serpent had several times already refused the four live - sparrows which were offered to it at the full moon and at every new moon. - Its handsome skin, covered like the firmament with golden spots upon a - perfectly black ground, was now yellow, relaxed, wrinkled, and too large - for its body. A cottony mouldiness extended round its head; and in the - corners of its eyelids might be seen little red specks which appeared to - move. Salammbô would approach its silver-wire basket from time to time, - and would draw aside the purple curtains, the lotus leaves, and the bird’s - down; but it was continually rolled up upon itself, more motionless than a - withered bind-weed; and from looking at it she at last came to feel a kind - of spiral within her heart, another serpent, as it were, mounting up to - her throat by degrees and strangling her. - </p> - <p> - She was in despair of having seen the zaïmph, and yet she felt a sort of - joy, an intimate pride at having done so. A mystery shrank within the - splendour of its folds; it was the cloud that enveloped the gods, and the - secret of the universal existence, and Salammbô, horror-stricken at - herself, regretted that she had not raised it. - </p> - <p> - She was almost always crouching at the back of her apartment, holding her - bended left leg in her hands, her mouth half open, her chin sunk, her eye - fixed. She recollected her father’s face with terror; she wished to - go away into the mountains of Phonicia, on a pilgrimage to the temple of - Aphaka, where Tanith descended in the form of a star; all kinds of - imaginings attracted her and terrified her; moreover, a solitude which - every day became greater encompassed her. She did not even know what - Hamilcar was about. - </p> - <p> - Wearied at last with her thoughts she would rise, and trailing along her - little sandals whose soles clacked upon her heels at every step, she would - walk at random through the large silent room. The amethysts and topazes of - the ceiling made luminous spots quiver here and there, and Salammbô as she - walked would turn her head a little to see them. She would go and take the - hanging amphoras by the neck; she would cool her bosom beneath the broad - fans, or perhaps amuse herself by burning cinnamomum in hollow pearls. At - sunset Taanach would draw back the black felt lozenges that closed the - openings in the wall; then her doves, rubbed with musk like the doves of - Tanith, suddenly entered, and their pink feet glided over the glass - pavement, amid the grains of barley which she threw to them in handfuls - like a sower in a field. But on a sudden she would burst into sobs and lie - stretched on the large bed of ox-leather straps without moving, repeating - a word that was ever the same, with open eyes, pale as one dead, - insensible, cold; and yet she could hear the cries of the apes in the - tufts of the palm trees, with the continuous grinding of the great wheel - which brought a flow of pure water through the stories into the porphyry - centre-basin. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes for several days she would refuse to eat. She could see in a - dream troubled stars wandering beneath her feet. She would call - Schahabarim, and when he came she had nothing to say to him. - </p> - <p> - She could not live without the relief of his presence. But she rebelled - inwardly against this domination; her feeling towards the priest was one - at once of terror, jealousy, hatred, and a species of love, in gratitude - for the singular voluptuousness which she experienced by his side. - </p> - <p> - He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, being skilful to discern the - gods who send diseases; and to cure Salammbô he had her apartment watered - with lotions of vervain, and maidenhair; she ate mandrakes every morning; - she slept with her head on a cushion filled with aromatics blended by the - pontiffs; he had even employed baaras, a fiery-coloured root which drives - back fatal geniuses into the North; lastly, turning towards the polar - star, he murmured thrice the mysterious name of Tanith; but Salammbô still - suffered and her anguish deepened. - </p> - <p> - No one in Carthage was so learned as he. In his youth he had studied at - the College of the Mogbeds, at Borsippa, near Babylon; had then visited - Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judæa, and the temples of the - Nabathæ, which are lost in the sands; and had travelled on foot along the - banks of the Nile from the cataracts to the sea. Shaking torches with - veil-covered face, he had cast a black cock upon a fire of sandarach - before the breast of the Sphinx, the Father of Terror. He had descended - into the caverns of Proserpine; he had seen the five hundred pillars of - the labyrinth of Lemnos revolve, and the candelabrum of Tarentum, which - bore as many sconces on its shaft as there are days in the year, shine in - its splendour; at times he received Greeks by night in order to question - them. The constitution of the world disquieted him no less than the nature - of the gods; he had observed the equinoxes with the armils placed in the - portico of Alexandria, and accompanied the bematists of Evergetes, who - measure the sky by calculating the number of their steps, as far as - Cyrene; so that there was now growing in his thoughts a religion of his - own, with no distinct formula, and on that very account full of - infatuation and fervour. He no longer believed that the earth was formed - like a fir-cone; he believed it to be round, and eternally falling through - immensity with such prodigious speed that its fall was not perceived. - </p> - <p> - From the position of the sun above the moon he inferred the predominance - of Baal, of whom the planet itself is but the reflection and figure; - moreover, all that he saw in terrestrial things compelled him to recognise - the male exterminating principle as supreme. And then he secretly charged - Rabbet with the misfortune of his life. Was it not for her that the - grand-pontiff had once advanced amid the tumult of cymbals, and with a - patera of boiling water taken from him his future virility? And he - followed with a melancholy gaze the men who were disappearing with the - priestesses in the depths of the turpentine trees. - </p> - <p> - His days were spent in inspecting the censers, the gold vases, the tongs, - the rakes for the ashes of the altar, and all the robes of the statues - down to the bronze bodkin that served to curl the hair of an old Tanith in - the third aedicule near the emerald vine. At the same hours he would raise - the great hangings of the same swinging doors; would remain with his arms - outspread in the same attitude; or prayed prostrate on the same - flag-stones, while around him a people of priests moved barefooted through - the passages filled with an eternal twilight. - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô was in the barrenness of his life like a flower in the cleft - of a sepulchre. Nevertheless he was hard upon her, and spared her neither - penances nor bitter words. His condition established, as it were, the - equality of a common sex between them, and he was less angry with the girl - for his inability to possess her than for finding her so beautiful, and - above all so pure. Often he saw that she grew weary of following his - thought. Then he would turn away sadder than before; he would feel himself - more forsaken, more empty, more alone. - </p> - <p> - Strange words escaped him sometimes, which passed before Salammbô like - broad lightnings illuminating the abysses. This would be at night on the - terrace when, both alone, they gazed upon the stars, and Carthage spread - below under their feet, with the gulf and the open sea dimly lost in the - colour of the darkness. - </p> - <p> - He would set forth to her the theory of the souls that descend upon the - earth, following the same route as the sun through the signs of the - zodiac. With outstretched arm he showed the gate of human generation in - the Ram, and that of the return to the gods in Capricorn; and Salammbô - strove to see them, for she took these conceptions for realities; she - accepted pure symbols and even manners of speech as being true in - themselves, a distinction not always very clear even to the priest. - </p> - <p> - “The souls of the dead,” said he, “resolve themselves - into the moon, as their bodies do into the earth. Their tears compose its - humidity; ’tis a dark abode full of mire, and wreck, and tempest.” - </p> - <p> - She asked what would become of her then. - </p> - <p> - “At first you will languish as light as a vapour hovering upon the - waves; and after more lengthened ordeals and agonies, you will pass into - the forces of the sun, the very source of Intelligence!” - </p> - <p> - He did not speak, however, of Rabbet. Salammbô imagined that it was - through some shame for his vanquished goddess, and calling her by a common - name which designated the moon, she launched into blessings upon the soft - and fertile planet. At last he exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “No! no! she draws all her fecundity from the other! Do you not see - her hovering about him like an amorous woman running after a man in a - field?” And he exalted the virtue of light unceasingly. - </p> - <p> - Far from depressing her mystic desires, he sought, on the contrary, to - excite them, and he even seemed to take joy in grieving her by the - revelation of a pitiless doctrine. In spite of the pains of her love - Salammbô threw herself upon it with transport. - </p> - <p> - But the more that Schahabarim felt himself in doubt about Tanith, the more - he wished to believe in her. At the bottom of his soul he was arrested by - remorse. He needed some proof, some manifestation from the gods, and in - the hope of obtaining it the priest devised an enterprise which might save - at once his country and his belief. - </p> - <p> - Thenceforward he set himself to deplore before Salammbô the sacrilege and - the misfortunes which resulted from it even in the regions of the sky. - Then he suddenly announced the peril of the Suffet, who was assailed by - three armies under the command of Matho—for on account of the veil - Matho was, in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the king, as it were, of the - Barbarians,—and he added that the safety of the Republic and of her - father depended upon her alone. - </p> - <p> - “Upon me!” she exclaimed. “How can I—?” - </p> - <p> - But the priest, with a smile of disdain said: - </p> - <p> - “You will never consent!” - </p> - <p> - She entreated him. At last Schahabarim said to her: - </p> - <p> - “You must go to the Barbarians and recover the zaïmph!” - </p> - <p> - She sank down upon the ebony stool, and remained with her arms stretched - out between her knees and shivering in all her limbs, like a victim at the - altar’s foot awaiting the blow of the club. Her temples were - ringing, she could see fiery circles revolving, and in her stupor she had - lost the understanding of all things save one, that she was certainly - going to die soon. - </p> - <p> - But if Rabbetna triumphed, if the zaïmph were restored and Carthage - delivered, what mattered a woman’s life? thought Schahabarim. - Moreover, she would perhaps obtain the veil and not perish. - </p> - <p> - He stayed away for three days; on the evening of the fourth she sent for - him. - </p> - <p> - The better to inflame her heart he reported to her all the invectives - howled against Hamilcar in open council; he told her that she had erred, - that she owed reparation for her crime, and that Rabbetna commanded the - sacrifice. - </p> - <p> - A great uproar came frequently across the Mappalian district to Megara. - Schahabarim and Salammbô went out quickly, and gazed from the top of the - galley staircase. - </p> - <p> - There were people in the square of Khamon shouting for arms. The Ancients - would not provide them, esteeming such an effort useless; others who had - set out without a general had been massacred. At last they were permitted - to depart, and as a sort of homage to Moloch, or from a vague need of - destruction, they tore up tall cypress trees in the woods of the temples, - and having kindled them at the torches of the Kabiri, were carrying them - through the streets singing. These monstrous flames advanced swaying - gently; they transmitted fires to the glass balls on the crests of the - temples, to the ornaments of the colossuses and the beaks of the ships, - passed beyond the terraces and formed suns as it were, which rolled - through the town. They descended the Acropolis. The gate of Malqua opened. - </p> - <p> - “Are you ready?” exclaimed Schahabarim, “or have you - asked them to tell your father that you abandoned him?” She hid her - face in her veils, and the great lights retired, sinking gradually the - while to the edge of the waves. - </p> - <p> - An indeterminate dread restrained her; she was afraid of Moloch and of - Matho. This man, with his giant stature, who was master of the zaïmph, - ruled Rabbetna as much as did Baal, and seemed to her to be surrounded by - the same fulgurations; and then the souls of the gods sometimes visited - the bodies of men. Did not Schahabarim in speaking of him say that she was - to vanquish Moloch? They were mingled with each other; she confused them - together; both of them were pursuing her. - </p> - <p> - She wished to learn the future, and approached the serpent, for auguries - were drawn from the attitudes of serpents. But the basket was empty; - Salammbô was disturbed. - </p> - <p> - She found him with his tail rolled round one of the silver balustrades - beside the hanging bed, which he was rubbing in order to free himself from - his old yellowish skin, while his body stretched forth gleaming and clear - like a sword half out of the sheath. - </p> - <p> - Then on the days following, in proportion as she allowed herself to be - convinced, and was more disposed to succour Tanith, the python recovered - and grew; he seemed to be reviving. - </p> - <p> - The certainty that Salammbô was giving expression to the will of the gods - then became established in her conscience. One morning she awoke resolved, - and she asked what was necessary to make Matho restore the veil. - </p> - <p> - “To claim it,” said Schahabarim. - </p> - <p> - “But if he refuses?” she rejoined. - </p> - <p> - The priest scanned her fixedly with a smile such as she had never seen. - </p> - <p> - “Yes, what is to be done?” repeated Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - He rolled between his fingers the extremities of the bands which fell from - his tiara upon his shoulders, standing motionless with eyes cast down. At - last seeing that she did not understand: - </p> - <p> - “You will be alone with him.” - </p> - <p> - “Well?” she said. - </p> - <p> - “Alone in his tent.” - </p> - <p> - “What then?” - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim bit his lips. He sought for some phrase, some circumlocution. - </p> - <p> - “If you are to die, that will be later,” he said; “later! - fear nothing! and whatever he may undertake to do, do not call out! do not - be frightened! You will be humble, you understand, and submissive to his - desire, which is ordained of heaven!” - </p> - <p> - “But the veil?” - </p> - <p> - “The gods will take thought for it,” replied Schahabarim. - </p> - <p> - “Suppose you were to accompany me, O father?” she added. - </p> - <p> - “No!” - </p> - <p> - He made her kneel down, and keeping his left hand raised and his right - extended, he swore in her behalf to bring back the mantle of Tanith into - Carthage. With terrible imprecations she devoted herself to the gods, and - each time that Schahabarim pronounced a word she falteringly repeated it. - </p> - <p> - He indicated to her all the purifications and fastings that she was to - observe, and how she was to reach Matho. Moreover, a man acquainted with - the routes would accompany her. - </p> - <p> - She felt as if she had been set free. She thought only of the happiness of - seeing the zaïmph again, and she now blessed Schahabarim for his - exhortations. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - It was the period at which the doves of Carthage migrated to Sicily to the - mountain of Eryx and the temple of Venus. For several days before their - departure they sought out and called to one another so as to collect - together; at last one evening they flew away; the wind blew them along, - and the big white cloud glided across the sky high above the sea. - </p> - <p> - The horizon was filled with the colour of blood. They seemed to descend - gradually to the waves; then they disappeared as though swallowed up, and - falling of themselves into the jaws of the sun. Salammbô, who watched them - retiring, bent her head, and then Taanach, believing that she guessed her - sorrow, said gently to her: - </p> - <p> - “But they will come back, Mistress.” - </p> - <p> - “Yes! I know.” - </p> - <p> - “And you will see them again.” - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps!” she said, sighing. - </p> - <p> - She had not confided her resolve to any one; in order to carry it out with - the greater discretion she sent Taanach to the suburb of Kinisdo to buy - all the things that she required instead of requesting them from the - stewards: vermilion, aromatics, a linen girdle, and new garments. The old - slave was amazed at these preparations, without daring, however, to ask - any questions; and the day, which had been fixed by Schahabarim, arrived - when Salammbô was to set out. - </p> - <p> - About the twelfth hour she perceived, in the depths of the sycamore trees, - a blind old man with one hand resting on the shoulder of a child who - walked before him, while with the other he carried a kind of cithara of - black wood against his hip. The eunuchs, slaves, and women had been - scrupulously sent away; no one might know the mystery that was preparing. - </p> - <p> - Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cardamomum in the - corners of the apartment; then she unfolded large Babylonian hangings, and - stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbô did not wish to - be seen even by the walls. The kinnor-player squatted behind the door and - the young boy standing upright applied a reed flute to his lips. In the - distance the roar of the streets was growing feebler, violet shadows were - lengthening before the peristyles of the temples, and on the other side of - the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of olive-trees, and the vague - yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and were blended together in a bluish - haze; not a sound was to be heard, and an unspeakable depression weighed - in the air. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; she - raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and began - her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred rites. - </p> - <p> - Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an alabaster - phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren women on a - winter’s night amid the rubbish of a sepulchre. She rubbed it upon - her ears, her heels, and the thumb of her right hand, and even her nail - remained somewhat red, as if she had crushed a fruit. - </p> - <p> - The moon rose; then the cithara and the flute began to play together. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her - long white simar; she unknotted the band in her hair, shaking the latter - for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by thus - scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three notes ever - the same, hurried and frenzied; the strings grated, the flute blew; - Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbô, with a swaying of her - whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one after another - around her. - </p> - <p> - The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python’s head appeared above - the cord that supported it. The serpent descended slowly like a drop of - water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and then, - gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his eyes, more - brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame, at first made her - hesitate. But she recalled Schahabarim’s orders and advanced; the - python turned downwards, and resting the centre of its body upon the nape - of her neck, allowed its head and tail to hang like a broken necklace with - both ends trailing to the ground. Salammbô rolled it around her sides, - under her arms and between her knees; then taking it by the jaw she - brought the little triangular mouth to the edge of her teeth, and half - shutting her eyes, threw herself back beneath the rays of the moon. The - white light seemed to envelop her in a silver mist, the prints of her - humid steps shone upon the flag-stones, stars quivered in the depth of the - water; it tightened upon her its black rings that were spotted with scales - of gold. Salammbô panted beneath the excessive weight, her loins yielded, - she felt herself dying, and with the tip of its tail the serpent gently - beat her thigh; then the music becoming still it fell off again. - </p> - <p> - Taanach came back to her; and after arranging two candelabra, the lights - of which burned in crystal balls filled with water, she tinged the inside - of her hands with Lawsonia, spread vermilion upon her cheeks, and antimony - along the edge of her eyelids, and lengthened her eyebrows with a mixture - of gum, musk, ebony, and crushed legs of flies. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the - attentions of the slave. But the touchings, the odour of the aromatics, - and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. She became so - pale that Taanach stopped. - </p> - <p> - “Go on!” said Salammbô, and bearing up against herself, she - suddenly revived. Then she was seized with impatience; she urged Taanach - to make haste, and the old slave grumbled: - </p> - <p> - “Well! well! Mistress!—Besides, you have no one waiting for - you!” - </p> - <p> - “Yes!” said Salammbô, “some one is waiting for me.” - </p> - <p> - Taanach drew back in surprise, and in order to learn more about it, said: - </p> - <p> - “What orders to you give me, Mistress? for if you are to remain away—” - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô was sobbing; the slave exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “You are suffering! what is the matter? Do not go away! take me! - When you were quite little and used to cry, I took you to my heart and - made you laugh with the points of my breasts; you have drained them, - Mistress!” She struck herself upon her dried-up bosom. “Now I - am old! I can do nothing for you! you no longer love me! you hide your - griefs from me, you despise the nurse!” And tears of tenderness and - vexation flowed down her cheeks in the gashes of her tattooing. - </p> - <p> - “No!” said Salammbô, “no, I love you! be comforted!” - </p> - <p> - With a smile like the grimace of an old ape, Taanach resumed her task. In - accordance with Schahabarim’s recommendations, Salammbô had ordered - the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her mistress with - barbaric taste full at once of refinement and ingenuity. - </p> - <p> - Over a first delicate and vinous-coloured tunic she passed a second - embroidered with birds’ feathers. Golden scales clung to her hips, - and from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silver-starred - trousers. Next Taanach put upon her a long robe made of the cloth of the - country of Seres, white and streaked with green lines. On the edge of her - shoulder she fastened a square of purple weighted at the hem with grains - of sandastrum; and above all these garments she placed a black mantle with - a flowing train; then she gazed at her, and proud of her work could not - help saying: - </p> - <p> - “You will not be more beautiful on the day of your bridal!” - </p> - <p> - “My bridal!” repeated Salammbô; she was musing with her elbow - resting upon the ivory chair. - </p> - <p> - But Taanach set up before her a copper mirror, which was so broad and high - that she could see herself completely in it. Then she rose, and with a - light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was falling too - low. - </p> - <p> - Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung down - behind over her back in long twists ending in pearls. The brightness of - the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the gold on her - garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, and on her - arms, hands and toes, she had such a wealth of gems that the mirror sent - back rays upon her like a sun;—and Salammbô, standing by the side of - Taanach, who leaned over to see her, smiled amid this dazzling display. - </p> - <p> - Then she walked to and fro embarrassed by the time that was still left. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded. She quickly pinned a long yellow - veil upon her hair, passed a scarf around her neck, thrust her feet into - blue leather boots, and said to Taanach: - </p> - <p> - “Go and see whether there is not a man with two horses beneath the - myrtles.” - </p> - <p> - Taanach had scarcely re-entered when she was descending the galley - staircase. - </p> - <p> - “Mistress!” cried the nurse. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for - discretion and immobility. - </p> - <p> - Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, and from - a distance she could distinguish by the light of the moon a gigantic - shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of Salammbô, a - sign which presaged death. - </p> - <p> - Taanach went up again into the chamber. She threw herself upon the ground - tearing her face with her nails; she plucked out her hair, and uttered - piercing shrieks with all her might. - </p> - <p> - It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent, - sobbing quite softly with her head in the hands and her face on the - pavement. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"></a> - CHAPTER XI - </h2> - <h3> - IN THE TENT - </h3> - <p> - The man who guided Salammbô made her ascend again beyond the pharos in the - direction of the Catacombs, and then go down the long suburb of Molouya, - which was full of steep lanes. The sky was beginning to grow grey. - Sometimes palm-wood beams jutting out from the walls obliged them to bend - their heads. The two horses which were at the walk would often slip; and - thus they reached the Teveste gate. - </p> - <p> - Its heavy leaves were half open; they passed through, and it closed behind - them. - </p> - <p> - At first they followed the foot of the ramparts for a time, and at the - height of the cisterns they took their way along the Tænia, a narrow strip - of yellow earth separating the gulf from the lake and extending as far as - Rhades. - </p> - <p> - No one was to be seen around Carthage, whether on the sea or in the - country. The slate-coloured waves chopped softly, and the light wind - blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with white rents. In - spite of all her veils, Salammbô shivered in the freshness of the morning; - the motion and the open air dazed her. Then the sun rose; it preyed on the - back of her head, and she involuntarily dozed a little. The two animals - rambled along side by side, their feet sinking into the silent sand. - </p> - <p> - When they had passed the mountain of the Hot Springs, they went on at a - more rapid rate, the ground being firmer. - </p> - <p> - But although it was the season for sowing and ploughing, the fields were - as empty as the desert as far as the eye could reach. Here and there were - scattered heaps of corn; at other places the barley was shedding its - reddened ears. The villages showed black upon the clear horizon, with - shapes incoherently carved. - </p> - <p> - From time to time a half-calcined piece of wall would be found standing on - the edge of the road. The roofs of the cottages were falling in, and in - the interiors might be distinguished fragments of pottery, rags of - clothing, and all kinds of unrecognisable utensils and broken things. - Often a creature clothed in tatters, with earthy face and flaming eyes - would emerge from these ruins. But he would very quickly begin to run or - would disappear into a hole. Salammbô and her guide did not stop. - </p> - <p> - Deserted plains succeeded one another. Charcoal dust which was raised by - their feet behind them, stretched in unequal trails over large spaces of - perfectly white soil. Sometimes they came upon little peaceful spots, - where a brook flowed amid the long grass; and as they ascended the other - bank Salammbô would pluck damp leaves to cool her hands. At the corner of - a wood of rose-bays her horse shied violently at the corpse of a man which - lay extended on the ground. - </p> - <p> - The slave immediately settled her again on the cushions. He was one of the - servants of the Temple, a man whom Schahabarim used to employ on perilous - missions. - </p> - <p> - With extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the - horses; he would whip the animals with the end of a leathern lace wound - round his arm, or would perhaps take balls made of wheat, dates, and yolks - of eggs wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against his breast, - and offer them to Salammbô without speaking, and running all the time. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the day three Barbarians clad in animals’ skins - crossed their path. By degrees others appeared wandering in troops of ten, - twelve, or twenty-five men; many were driving goats or a limping cow. - Their heavy sticks bristled with brass points; cutlasses gleamed in their - clothes, which were savagely dirty, and they opened their eyes with a look - of menace and amazement. As they passed some sent them a vulgar - benediction; others obscene jests, and Schahabarim’s man replied to - each in his own idiom. He told them that this was a sick youth going to be - cured at a distant temple. - </p> - <p> - However, the day was closing in. Barkings were heard, and they approached - them. - </p> - <p> - Then in the twilight they perceived an enclosure of dry stones shutting in - a rambling edifice. A dog was running along the top of the wall. The slave - threw some pebbles at him and they entered a lofty vaulted hall. - </p> - <p> - A woman was crouching in the centre warming herself at a fire of - brushwood, the smoke of which escaped through the holes in the ceiling. - She was half hidden by her white hair which fell to her knees; and - unwilling to answer, she muttered with idiotic look words of vengeance - against the Barbarians and the Carthaginians. - </p> - <p> - The runner ferreted right and left. Then he returned to her and demanded - something to eat. The old woman shook her head, and murmured with her eyes - fixed upon the charcoal: - </p> - <p> - “I was the hand. The ten fingers are cut off. The mouth eats no - more.” - </p> - <p> - The slave showed her a handful of gold pieces. She rushed upon them, but - soon resumed her immobility. - </p> - <p> - At last he placed a dagger which he had in his girdle beneath her throat. - Then, trembling, she went and raised a large stone, and brought back an - amphora of wine with fish from Hippo-Zarytus preserved in honey. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô turned away from this unclean food, and fell asleep on the horses’ - caparisons which were spread in a corner of the hall. - </p> - <p> - He awoke her before daylight. - </p> - <p> - The dog was howling. The slave went up to it quietly, and struck off its - head with a single blow of his dagger. Then he rubbed the horses’ - nostrils with blood to revive them. The old woman cast a malediction at - him from behind. Salammbô perceived this, and pressed the amulet which she - wore above her heart. - </p> - <p> - They resumed their journey. - </p> - <p> - From time to time she asked whether they would not arrive soon. The road - undulated over little hills. Nothing was to be heard but the grating of - the grasshoppers. The sun heated the yellowed grass; the ground was all - chinked with crevices which in dividing formed, as it were, monstrous - paving-stones. Sometimes a viper passed, or eagles flew by; the slave - still continued running. Salammbô mused beneath her veils, and in spite of - the heat did not lay them aside through fear of soiling her beautiful - garments. - </p> - <p> - At regular distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the - purpose of keeping watch upon the tribes. They entered these for the sake - of the shade, and then set out again. - </p> - <p> - For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before. But they met - with no one just now; the region being a sterile one, the Barbarians had - not passed that way. - </p> - <p> - Gradually the devastation began again. Sometimes a piece of mosaic would - be displayed in the centre of a field, the sole remnant of a vanished - mansion; and the leafless olive trees looked at a distance like large - bushes of thorns. They passed through a town in which houses were burnt to - the ground. Human skeletons might be seen along the walls. There were - some, too, of dromedaries and mules. Half-gnawed carrion blocked the - streets. - </p> - <p> - Night fell. The sky was lowering and cloudy. - </p> - <p> - They ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction, when suddenly - they perceived a quantity of little flames before them. - </p> - <p> - These were shining at the bottom of an ampitheatre. Gold plates, as they - displaced one another, glanced here and there. These were the cuirasses of - the Clinabarians in the Punic camp; then in the neighbourhood they - distinguished other and more numerous lights, for the armies of the - Mercenaries, now blended together, extended over a great space. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô made a movement as though to advance. But Schahabarim’s man - took her further away, and they passed along by the terrace which enclosed - the camp of the Barbarians. A breach became visible in it, and the slave - disappeared. - </p> - <p> - A sentry was walking upon the top of the entrenchment with a bow in his - hand and a pike on his shoulder. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô drew still nearer; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow pierced - the hem of her cloak. Then as she stood motionless and shrieking, he asked - her what she wanted. - </p> - <p> - “To speak to Matho,” she replied. “I am a fugitive from - Carthage.” - </p> - <p> - He gave a whistle, which was repeated at intervals further away. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô waited; her frightened horse moved round and round, sniffing. - </p> - <p> - When Matho arrived the moon was rising behind her. But she had a yellow - veil with black flowers over her face, and so many draperies about her - person, that it was impossible to make any guess about her. From the top - of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up like a phantom in - the penumbræ of the evening. - </p> - <p> - At last she said to him: - </p> - <p> - “Lead me to your tent! I wish it!” - </p> - <p> - A recollection which he could not define passed through his memory. He - felt his heart beating. The air of command intimidated him. - </p> - <p> - “Follow me!” he said. - </p> - <p> - The barrier was lowered, and immediately she was in the camp of the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng. Bright fires were - burning beneath hanging pots; and their purpled reflections illuminating - some places left others completely in the dark. There was shouting and - calling; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid the tents; the - latter were round and square, of leather or of canvas; there were huts of - reeds, and holes in the sand such as are made by dogs. Soldiers were - carting faggots, resting on their elbows on the ground, or wrapping - themselves up in mats and preparing to sleep; and Salammbô’s horse - sometimes stretched out a leg and jumped in order to pass over them. - </p> - <p> - She remembered that she had seen them before; but their beards were longer - now, their faces still blacker, and their voices hoarser. Matho, who - walked before her, waved them off with a gesture of his arm which raised - his red mantle. Some kissed his hands; others bending their spines - approached him to ask for orders, for he was now veritable and sole chief - of the Barbarians; Spendius, Autaritus, and Narr’ Havas had become - disheartened, and he had displayed so much audacity and obstinacy that all - obeyed him. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô followed him through the entire camp. His tent was at the end, - three hundred feet from Hamilcar’s entrenchments. - </p> - <p> - She noticed a wide pit on the right, and it seemed to her that faces were - resting against the edge of it on a level with the ground, as decapitated - heads might have done. However, their eyes moved, and from these - half-opened mouths groanings escaped in the Punic tongue. - </p> - <p> - Two Negroes holding resin lights stood on both sides of the door. Matho - drew the canvas abruptly aside. She followed him. - </p> - <p> - It was a deep tent with a pole standing up in the centre. It was lighted - by a large lamp-holder shaped like a lotus and full of a yellow oil - wherein floated handfuls of burning tow, and military things might be - distinguished gleaming in the shade. A naked sword leaned against a stool - by the side of a shield; whips of hippopotamus leather, cymbals, bells, - and necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of esparto-grass; a felt - rug lay soiled with crumbs of black bread; some copper money was - carelessly heaped upon a round stone in a corner, and through the rents in - the canvas the wind brought the dust from without, together with the smell - of the elephants, which might be heard eating and shaking their chains. - </p> - <p> - “Who are you?” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - She looked slowly around her without replying; then her eyes were arrested - in the background, where something bluish and sparkling fell upon a bed of - palm-branches. - </p> - <p> - She advanced quickly. A cry escaped her. Matho stamped his foot behind - her. - </p> - <p> - “Who brings you here? why do you come?” - </p> - <p> - “To take it!” she replied, pointing to the zaïmph, and with - the other hand she tore the veils from her head. He drew back with his - elbows behind him, gaping, almost terrified. - </p> - <p> - She felt as if she were leaning on the might of the gods; and looking at - him face to face she asked him for the zaïmph; she demanded it in words - abundant and superb. - </p> - <p> - Matho did not hear; he was gazing at her, and in his eyes her garments - were blended with her body. The clouding of the stuffs, like the splendour - of her skin, was something special and belonging to her alone. Her eyes - and her diamonds sparkled; the polish of her nails continued the delicacy - of the stones which loaded her fingers; the two clasps of her tunic raised - her breasts somewhat and brought them closer together, and he in thought - lost himself in the narrow interval between them whence there fell a - thread holding a plate of emeralds which could be seen lower down beneath - the violet gauze. She had as earrings two little sapphire scales, each - supporting a hollow pearl filled with liquid scent. A little drop would - fall every moment through the holes in the pearl and moisten her naked - shoulder. Matho watched it fall. - </p> - <p> - He was carried away by ungovernable curiosity; and, like a child laying - his hand upon a strange fruit, he tremblingly and lightly touched the top - of her chest with the tip of his finger: the flesh, which was somewhat - cold, yielded with an elastic resistance. - </p> - <p> - This contact, though scarcely a sensible one, shook Matho to the very - depths of his nature. An uprising of his whole being urged him towards - her. He would fain have enveloped her, absorbed her, drunk her. His bosom - was panting, his teeth were chattering. - </p> - <p> - Taking her by the wrists he drew her gently to him, and then sat down upon - a cuirass beside the palm-tree bed which was covered with a lion’s - skin. She was standing. He looked up at her, holding her thus between his - knees, and repeating: - </p> - <p> - “How beautiful you are! how beautiful you are!” - </p> - <p> - His eyes, which were continually fixed upon hers, pained her; and the - uncomfortableness, the repugnance increased in so acute a fashion that - Salammbô put a constraint upon herself not to cry out. The thought of - Schahabarim came back to her, and she resigned herself. - </p> - <p> - Matho still kept her little hands in his own; and from time to time, in - spite of the priest’s command, she turned away her face and tried to - thrust him off by jerking her arms. He opened his nostrils the better to - breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person. It was a fresh, - indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, like the smoke - from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense, roses, with - another odour still. - </p> - <p> - But how was she thus with him in his tent, and at his disposal? Some one - no doubt had urged her. She had not come for the zaïmph. His arms fell, - and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie. - </p> - <p> - To soften him Salammbô said to him in a plaintive voice: - </p> - <p> - “What have I done to you that you should desire my death?” - </p> - <p> - “Your death!” - </p> - <p> - She resumed: - </p> - <p> - “I saw you one evening by the light of my burning gardens amid - fuming cups and my slaughtered slaves, and your anger was so strong that - you bounded towards me and I was obliged to fly! Then terror entered into - Carthage. There were cries of the devastation of the towns, the burning of - the country-seats, the massacre of the soldiery; it was you who had ruined - them, it was you who had murdered them! I hate you! Your very name gnaws - me like remorse! You are execrated more than the plague, and the Roman - war! The provinces shudder at your fury, the furrows are full of corpses! - I have followed the traces of your fires as though I were travelling - behind Moloch!” - </p> - <p> - Matho leaped up; his heart was swelling with colossal pride; he was raised - to the stature of a god. - </p> - <p> - With quivering nostrils and clenched teeth she went on: - </p> - <p> - “As if your sacrilege were not enough, you came to me in my sleep - covered with the zaïmph! Your words I did not understand; but I could see - that you wished to drag me to some terrible thing at the bottom of an - abyss.” - </p> - <p> - Matho, writhing his arms, exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “No! no! it was to give it to you! to restore it to you! It seemed - to me that the goddess had left her garment for you, and that it belonged - to you! In her temple or in your house, what does it matter? are you not - all-powerful, immaculate, radiant and beautiful even as Tanith?” And - with a look of boundless adoration he added: - </p> - <p> - “Unless perhaps you are Tanith?” - </p> - <p> - “I, Tanith!” said Salammbô to herself. - </p> - <p> - They left off speaking. The thunder rolled in the distance. Some sheep - bleated, frightened by the storm. - </p> - <p> - “Oh! come near!” he went on, “come near! fear nothing! - </p> - <p> - “Formerly I was only a soldier mingled with the common herd of the - Mercenaries, ay, and so meek that I used to carry wood on my back for the - others. Do I trouble myself about Carthage! The crowd of its people move - as though lost in the dust of your sandals, and all its treasures, with - the provinces, fleets, and islands, do not raise my envy like the - freshness of your lips and the turn of your shoulders. But I wanted to - throw down its walls that I might reach you to possess you! Moreover, I - was revenging myself in the meantime! At present I crush men like shells, - and I throw myself upon phalanxes; I put aside the sarissæ with my hands, - I check the stallions by the nostrils; a catapult would not kill me! Oh! - if you knew how I think of you in the midst of war! Sometimes the memory - of a gesture or of a fold of your garment suddenly seizes me and entwines - me like a net! I perceive your eyes in the flames of the phalaricas and on - the gilding of the shields! I hear your voice in the sounding of the - cymbals. I turn aside, but you are not there! and I plunge again into the - battle!” - </p> - <p> - He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one another like ivy on the - branches of a tree. Sweat flowed down his breast between his square - muscles; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze girdle all - garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees, which were firmer than - marble. Salammbô, who was accustomed to eunuchs, yielded to amazement at - the strength of this man. It was the chastisement of the goddess or the - influence of Moloch in motion around her in the five armies. She was - overwhelmed with lassitude; and she listened in a state of stupor to the - intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they answered one another. - </p> - <p> - The flames of the lamp kindled in the squalls of hot air. There came at - times broad lightning flashes; then the darkness increased; and she could - only see Matho’s eyeballs like two coals in the night. However, she - felt that a fatality was surrounding her, that she had reached a supreme - and irrevocable moment, and making an effort she went up again towards the - zaïmph and raised her hands to seize it. - </p> - <p> - “What are you doing?” exclaimed Matho. - </p> - <p> - “I am going back to Carthage,” she placidly replied. - </p> - <p> - He advanced folding his arms and with so terrible a look that her heels - were immediately nailed, as it were, to the spot. - </p> - <p> - “Going back to Carthage!” He stammered, and, grinding his - teeth, repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Going back to Carthage! Ah! you came to take the zaïmph, to conquer - me, and then disappear! No, no! you belong to me! and no one now shall - tear you from here! Oh! I have not forgotten the insolence of your large - tranquil eyes, and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of your beauty! - ’Tis my turn now! You are my captive, my slave, my servant! Call, if - you like, on your father and his army, the Ancients, the rich, and your - whole accursed people! I am the master of three hundred thousand soldiers! - I will go and seek them in Lusitania, in the Gauls, and in the depths of - the desert, and I will overthrow your town and burn all its temples; the - triremes shall float on the waves of blood! I will not have a house, a - stone, or a palm tree remaining! And if men fail me I will draw the bears - from the mountains and urge on the lions! Seek not to fly or I kill you!” - </p> - <p> - Pale and with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are - about to burst. Suddenly sobs stifled him, and he sank down upon his hams. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! forgive me! I am a scoundrel, and viler than scorpions, than - mire and dust! Just now while you were speaking your breath passed across - my face, and I rejoiced like a dying man who drinks lying flat on the edge - of a stream. Crush me, if only I feel your feet! curse me, if only I hear - your voice! Do not go! have pity! I love you! I love you!” - </p> - <p> - He was on his knees on the ground before her; and he encircled her form - with both his arms, his head thrown back, and his hands wandering; the - gold discs hanging from his ears gleamed upon his bronzed neck; big tears - rolled in his eyes like silver globes; he sighed caressingly, and murmured - vague words lighter than a breeze and sweet as a kiss. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all consciousness of - herself. Something at once inward and lofty, a command from the gods, - obliged her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and she fell back - swooning upon the bed amid the lion’s hair. The zaïmph fell, and - enveloped her; she could see Matho’s face bending down above her - breast. - </p> - <p> - “Moloch, thou burnest me!” and the soldier’s kisses, - more devouring than flames, covered her; she was as though swept away in a - hurricane, taken in the might of the sun. - </p> - <p> - He kissed all her fingers, her arms, her feet, and the long tresses of her - hair from one end to the other. - </p> - <p> - “Carry it off,” he said, “what do I care? take me away - with it! I abandon the army! I renounce everything! Beyond Gades, twenty - days’ journey into the sea, you come to an island covered with gold - dust, verdure, and birds. On the mountains large flowers filled with - smoking perfumes rock like eternal censers; in the citron trees, which are - higher than cedars, milk-coloured serpents cause the fruit to fall upon - the turf with the diamonds in their jaws; the air is so mild that it keeps - you from dying. Oh! I shall find it, you will see. We shall live in - crystal grottoes cut out at the foot of the hills. No one dwells in it - yet, or I shall become the king of the country.” - </p> - <p> - He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter of a - pomegranate between her lips; he heaped up garments behind her head to - make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and to humble - himself, and he even spread the zaïmph over her feet as if it were a mere - rug. - </p> - <p> - “Have you still,” he said, “those little gazelle’s - horns on which your necklaces hang? You will give them to me! I love them!” - For he spoke as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from - him. The Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The - moon was gliding between two clouds. They could see it through an opening - in the tent. “Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed - to me like a veil that hid your face; you would look at me through her; - the memory of you was mingled with her beams; then I could no longer - distinguish you!” And with his head between her breasts he wept - copiously. - </p> - <p> - “And this,” she thought, “is the formidable man who - makes Carthage tremble!” - </p> - <p> - He fell asleep. Then disengaging herself from his arm she put one foot to - the ground, and she perceived that her chainlet was broken. - </p> - <p> - The maidens of the great families were accustomed to respect these - shackles as something that was almost religious, and Salammbô, blushing, - rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles. - </p> - <p> - Carthage, Megara, her house, her room, and the country that she had passed - through, whirled in tumultuous yet distinct images through her memory. But - an abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an infinite distance from - her. - </p> - <p> - The storm was departing; drops of water splashing rarely, one by one, made - the tent-roof shake. - </p> - <p> - Matho slept like a drunken man, stretched on his side, and with one arm - over the edge of the couch. His band of pearls was raised somewhat, and - uncovered his brow; his teeth were parted in a smile; they shone through - his black beard, and there was a silent and almost outrageous gaiety in - his half-closed eyelids. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô looked at him motionless, her head bent and her hands crossed. - </p> - <p> - A dagger was displayed on the table of cypress-wood at the head of the - bed; the sight of the gleaming blade fired her with a sanguinary desire. - Mournful voices lingered at a distance in the shade, and like a chorus of - geniuses urged her on. She approached it; she seized the steel by the - handle. At the rustling of her dress Matho half opened his eyes, putting - forth his mouth upon her hands, and the dagger fell. - </p> - <p> - Shouts arose; a terrible light flashed behind the canvas. Matho raised the - latter; they perceived the camp of the Libyans enveloped in great flames. - </p> - <p> - Their reed huts were burning, and the twisting stems burst in the smoke - and flew off like arrows; black shadows ran about distractedly on the red - horizon. They could hear the shrieks of those who were in the huts; the - elephants, oxen, and horses plunged in the midst of the crowd crushing it - together with the stores and baggage that were being rescued from the - fire. Trumpets sounded. There were calls of “Matho! Matho!” - Some people at the door tried to get in. - </p> - <p> - “Come along! Hamilcar is burning the camp of Autaritus!” - </p> - <p> - He made a spring. She found herself quite alone. - </p> - <p> - Then she examined the zaïmph; and when she had viewed it well she was - surprised that she had not the happiness which she had once imagined to - herself. She stood with melancholy before her accomplished dream. - </p> - <p> - But the lower part of the tent was raised, and a monstrous form appeared. - Salammbô could at first distinguish only the two eyes and a long white - beard which hung down to the ground; for the rest of the body, which was - cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment, trailed along the earth; and - with every forward movement the hands passed into the beard and then fell - again. Crawling in this way it reached her feet, and Salammbô recognised - the aged Gisco. - </p> - <p> - In fact, the Mercenaries had broken the legs of the captive Ancients with - a brass bar to prevent them from taking to flight; and they were all - rotting pell-mell in a pit in the midst of filth. But the sturdiest of - them raised themselves and shouted when they heard the noise of platters, - and it was in this way that Gisco had seen Salammbô. He had guessed that - she was a Carthaginian woman by the little balls of sandastrum flapping - against her cothurni; and having a presentiment of an important mystery he - had succeeded, with the assistance of his companions, in getting out of - the pit; then with elbows and hands he had dragged himself twenty paces - further on as far as Matho’s tent. Two voices were speaking within - it. He had listened outside and had heard everything. - </p> - <p> - “It is you!” she said at last, almost terrified. - </p> - <p> - “Yes, it is I!” he replied, raising himself on his wrists. - “They think me dead, do they not?” - </p> - <p> - She bent her head. He resumed: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy!” He - approached so close he was touching her. “They would have spared me - the pain of cursing you!” - </p> - <p> - Salammbô sprang quickly back, so much afraid was she of this unclean - being, who was as hideous as a larva and nearly as terrible as a phantom. - </p> - <p> - “I am nearly one hundred years old,” he said. “I have - seen Agathocles; I have seen Regulus and the eagles of the Romans passing - over the harvests of the Punic fields! I have seen all the terrors of - battles and the sea encumbered with the wrecks of our fleets! Barbarians - whom I used to command have chained my four limbs like a slave that has - committed murder. My companions are dying around me, one after the other; - the odour of their corpses awakes me in the night; I drive away the birds - that come to peck out their eyes; and yet not for a single day have I - despaired of Carthage! Though I had seen all the armies of the earth - against her, and the flames of the siege overtop the height of the - temples, I should have still believed in her eternity! But now all is - over! all is lost! The gods execrate her! A curse upon you who have - quickened her ruin by your disgrace!” - </p> - <p> - She opened her lips. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! I was there!” he cried. “I heard you gurgling with - love like a prostitute; then he told you of his desire, and you allowed - him to kiss your hands! But if the frenzy of your unchastity urged you to - it, you should at least have done as do the fallow deer, which hide - themselves in their copulations, and not have displayed your shame beneath - your father’s very eyes!” - </p> - <p> - “What?” she said. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! you did not know that the two entrenchments are sixty cubits - from each other and that your Matho, in the excess of his pride, has - posted himself just in front of Hamilcar. Your father is there behind you; - and could I climb the path which leads to the platform, I should cry to - him: ‘Come and see your daughter in the Barbarian’s arms! She - has put on the garment of the goddess to please him; and in yielding her - body to him she surrenders with the glory of your name the majesty of the - gods, the vengeance of her country, even the safety of Carthage!’” - The motion of his toothless mouth moved his beard throughout its length; - his eyes were riveted upon her and devoured her; panting in the dust he - repeated: - </p> - <p> - “Ah! sacrilegious one! May you be accursed! accursed! accursed!” - </p> - <p> - Salammbô had drawn back the canvas; she held it raised at arm’s - length, and without answering him she looked in the direction of Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - “It is this way, is it not?” she said. - </p> - <p> - “What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face - against the earth! It is a holy spot which would be polluted by your gaze!” - </p> - <p> - She threw the zaïmph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils, - mantle, and scarf. “I hasten thither!” she cried; and making - her escape Salammbô disappeared. - </p> - <p> - At first she walked through the darkness without meeting any one, for all - were betaking themselves to the fire; the uproar was increasing and great - flames purpled the sky behind; a long terrace stopped her. - </p> - <p> - She turned round to right and left at random, seeking for a ladder, a - rope, a stone, something in short to assist her. She was afraid of Gisco, - and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were pursuing her. Day was - beginning to break. She perceived a path in the thickness of the - entrenchment. She took the hem of her robe, which impeded her, in her - teeth, and in three bounds she was on the platform. - </p> - <p> - A sonorous shout burst forth beneath her in the shade, the same which she - had heard at the foot of the galley staircase, and leaning over she - recognised Schahabarim’s man with his coupled horses. - </p> - <p> - He had wandered all night between the two entrenchments; then disquieted - by the fire, he had gone back again trying to see what was passing in - Matho’s camp; and, knowing that this spot was nearest to his tent, - he had not stirred from it, in obedience to the priest’s command. - </p> - <p> - He stood up on one of the horses. Salammbô let herself slide down to him; - and they fled at full gallop, circling the Punic camp in search of a gate. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Matho had re-entered his tent. The smoky lamp gave but little light, and - he also believed that Salammbô was asleep. Then he delicately touched the - lion’s skin on the palm-tree bed. He called but she did not answer; - he quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some light; the - zaïmph was gone. - </p> - <p> - The earth trembled beneath thronging feet. Shouts, neighings, and clashing - of armour rose in the air, and clarion flourishes sounded the charge. It - was as though a hurricane were whirling around him. Immoderate frenzy made - him leap upon his arms, and he dashed outside. - </p> - <p> - The long files of the Barbarians were descending the mountain at a run, - and the Punic squares were advancing against them with a heavy and regular - oscillation. The mist, rent by the rays of the sun, formed little rocking - clouds which as they rose gradually discovered standards, helmets, and - points of pikes. Beneath the rapid evolutions portions of the earth which - were still in the shadow seemed to be displaced bodily; in other places it - looked as if huge torrents were crossing one another, while thorny masses - stood motionless between them. Matho could distinguish the captains, - soldiers, heralds, and even the serving-men, who were mounted on asses in - the rear. But instead of maintaining his position in order to cover the - foot-soldiers, Narr’ Havas turned abruptly to the right, as though - he wished himself to be crushed by Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - His horsemen outstripped the elephants, which were slackening their speed; - and all the horses, stretching out their unbridled heads, galloped at so - furious a rate that their bellies seemed to graze the earth. Then suddenly - Narr’ Havas went resolutely up to a sentry. He threw away his sword, - lance, and javelins, and disappeared among the Carthaginians. - </p> - <p> - The king of the Numidians reached Hamilcar’s tent, and pointing to - his men, who were standing still at a distance, he said: - </p> - <p> - “Barca! I bring them to you. They are yours.” - </p> - <p> - Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage, and to prove his fidelity - recalled all his conduct from the beginning of the war. - </p> - <p> - First, he had prevented the siege of Carthage and the massacre of the - captives; then he had taken no advantage of the victory over Hanno after - the defeat at Utica. As to the Tyrian towns, they were on the frontiers of - his kingdom. Finally he had not taken part in the battle of the Macaras; - and he had even expressly absented himself in order to evade the - obligation of fighting against the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had in fact wished to aggrandise himself by - encroachments upon the Punic provinces, and had alternately assisted and - forsaken the Mercenaries according to the chances of victory. But seeing - that Hamilcar would ultimately prove the stronger, he had gone over to - him; and in his desertion there was perhaps something of a grudge against - Matho, whether on account of the command or of his former love. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet listened without interrupting him. The man who thus presented - himself with an army where vengeance was his due was not an auxiliary to - be despised; Hamilcar at once divined the utility of such an alliance in - his great projects. With the Numidians he would get rid of the Libyans. - Then he would draw off the West to the conquest of Iberia; and, without - asking Narr’ Havas why he had not come sooner, or noticing any of - his lies, he kissed him, striking his breast thrice against his own. - </p> - <p> - It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that he had fired the - camp of the Libyans. This army came to him like a relief from the gods; - dissembling his joy he replied: - </p> - <p> - “May the Baals favour you! I do not know what the Republic will do - for you, but Hamilcar is not ungrateful.” - </p> - <p> - The tumult increased; some captains entered. He was arming himself as he - spoke. - </p> - <p> - “Come, return! You will use your horsemen to beat down their - infantry between your elephants and mine. Courage! exterminate them!” - </p> - <p> - And Narr’ Havas was rushing away when Salammbô appeared. - </p> - <p> - She leaped down quickly from her horse. She opened her ample cloak and - spreading out her arms displayed the zaïmph. - </p> - <p> - The leathern tent, which was raised at the corners, left visible the - entire circuit of the mountain with its thronging soldiers, and as it was - in the centre Salammbô could be seen on all sides. An immense shouting - burst forth, a long cry of triumph and hope. Those who were marching - stopped; the dying leaned on their elbows and turned round to bless her. - All the Barbarians knew now that she had recovered the zaïmph; they saw - her or believed that they saw her from a distance; and other cries, but - those of rage and vengeance, resounded in spite of the plaudits of the - Carthaginians. Thus did the five armies in tiers upon the mountain stamp - and shriek around Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, who was unable to speak, nodded her his thanks. His eyes were - directed alternately upon the zaïmph and upon her, and he noticed that her - chainlet was broken. Then he shivered, being seized with a terrible - suspicion. But soon recovering his impassibility he looked sideways at - Narr’ Havas without turning his face. - </p> - <p> - The king of the Numidians held himself apart in a discreet attitude; on - his forehead he bore a little of the dust which he had touched when - prostrating himself. At last the Suffet advanced towards him with a look - full of gravity. - </p> - <p> - “As a reward for the services which you have rendered me, Narr’ - Havas, I give you my daughter. Be my son,” he added, “and - defend your father!” - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas gave a great gesture of surprise; then he threw himself - upon Hamilcar’s hands and covered them with kisses. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô, calm as a statue, did not seem to understand. She blushed a - little as she cast down her eyelids, and her long curved lashes made - shadows upon her cheeks. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in indissoluble betrothal. A - lance was placed in Salammbô’s hands and by her offered to Narr’ - Havas; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of ox-leather; then - corn was poured upon their heads, and the grains that fell around them - rang like rebounding hail. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"></a> - CHAPTER XII - </h2> - <h3> - THE AQUEDUCT - </h3> - <p> - Twelve hours afterwards all that remained of the Mercenaries was a heap of - wounded, dead, and dying. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had suddenly emerged from the bottom of the gorge, and again - descended the western slope that looked towards Hippo-Zarytus, and the - space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the Barbarians - into it. Narr’ Havas had encompassed them with his horse; the Suffet - meanwhile drove them back and crushed them. Then, too, they were conquered - beforehand by the loss of the zaïmph; even those who cared nothing about - it had experienced anguish and something akin to enfeeblement. Hamilcar, - not indulging his pride by holding the field of battle, had retired a - little further off on the left to some heights, from which he commanded - them. - </p> - <p> - The shape of the camps could be recognised by their sloping palisades. A - long heap of black cinders was smoking on the side of the Libyans; the - devastated soil showed undulations like the sea, and the tents with their - tattered canvas looked like dim ships half lost in the breakers. - Cuirasses, forks, clarions, pieces of wood, iron and brass, corn, straw, - and garments were scattered about among the corpses; here and there a - phalarica on the point of extinction burned against a heap of baggage; in - some places the earth was hidden with shields; horses’ carcasses - succeeded one another like a series of hillocks; legs, sandals, arms, and - coats of mail were to be seen, with heads held in their helmets by the - chin-pieces and rolling about like balls; heads of hair were hanging on - the thorns; elephants were lying with their towers in pools of blood, with - entrails exposed, and gasping. The foot trod on slimy things, and there - were swamps of mud although no rain had fallen. - </p> - <p> - This confusion of dead bodies covered the whole mountain from top to - bottom. - </p> - <p> - Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting in unequal - groups they looked at one another scared and without speaking. - </p> - <p> - The lake of Hippo-Zarytus shone at the end of a long meadow beneath the - setting sun. To the right an agglomeration of white houses extended beyond - a girdle of walls; then the sea spread out indefinitely; and the - Barbarians, with their chins in their hands, sighed as they thought of - their native lands. A cloud of grey dust was falling. - </p> - <p> - The evening wind blew; then every breast dilated, and as the freshness - increased, the vermin might be seen to forsake the dead, who were colder - now, and to run over the hot sand. Crows, looking towards the dying, - rested motionless on the tops of the big stones. - </p> - <p> - When night had fallen yellow-haired dogs, those unclean beasts which - followed the armies, came quite softly into the midst of the Barbarians. - At first they licked the clots of blood on the still tepid stumps; and - soon they began to devour the corpses, biting into the stomachs first of - all. - </p> - <p> - The fugitives reappeared one by one like shadows; the women also ventured - to return, for there were still some of them left, especially among the - Libyans, in spite of the dreadful massacre of them by the Numidians. - </p> - <p> - Some took ropes’ ends and lighted them to use as torches. Others - held crossed pikes. The corpses were placed upon these and were conveyed - apart. - </p> - <p> - They were found lying stretched in long lines, on their backs, with their - mouths open, and their lances beside them; or else they were piled up - pell-mell so that it was often necessary to dig out a whole heap in order - to discover those they were wanting. Then the torch would be passed slowly - over their faces. They had received complicated wounds from hideous - weapons. Greenish strips hung from their foreheads; they were cut in - pieces, crushed to the marrow, blue from strangulation, or broadly cleft - by the elephants’ ivory. Although they had died at almost the same - time there existed differences between their various states of corruption. - The men of the North were puffed up with livid swellings, while the more - nervous Africans looked as though they had been smoked, and were already - drying up. The Mercenaries might be recognised by the tattooing on their - hands: the old soldiers of Antiochus displayed a sparrow-hawk; those who - had served in Egypt, the head of the cynocephalus; those who had served - with the princes of Asia, a hatchet, a pomegranate, or a hammer; those who - had served in the Greek republics, the side-view of a citadel or the name - of an archon; and some were to be seen whose arms were entirely covered - with these multiplied symbols, which mingled with their scars and their - recent wounds. - </p> - <p> - Four great funeral piles were erected for the men of Latin race, the - Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and Bruttians. - </p> - <p> - The Greeks dug pits with the points of their swords. The Spartans removed - their red cloaks and wrapped them round the dead; the Athenians laid them - out with their faces towards the rising sun; the Cantabrians buried them - beneath a heap of pebbles; the Nasamonians bent them double with - ox-leather thongs, and the Garamantians went and interred them on the - shore so that they might be perpetually washed by the waves. But the - Latins were grieved that they could not collect the ashes in urns; the - Nomads regretted the heat of the sands in which bodies were mummified, and - the Celts, the three rude stones beneath a rainy sky at the end of an - islet-covered gulf. - </p> - <p> - Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened silence. This was to - oblige the souls to return. Then the shouting was resumed persistently at - regular intervals. - </p> - <p> - They made excuses to the dead for their inability to honour them as the - rites prescribed: for, owing to this deprivation, they would pass for - infinite periods through all kinds of chances and metamorphoses; they - questioned them and asked them what they desired; others loaded them with - abuse for having allowed themselves to be conquered. - </p> - <p> - The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks of armour showed - pale in the light of the great funeral-pile; tears provoked tears, the - sobs became shriller, the recognitions and embracings more frantic. Women - stretched themselves on the corpses, mouth to mouth and brow to brow; it - was necessary to beat them in order to make them withdraw when the earth - was being thrown in. They blackened their cheeks; they cut off their hair; - they drew their own blood and poured it into the pits; they gashed - themselves in imitation of the wounds that disfigured the dead. Roarings - burst forth through the crashings of the cymbals. Some snatched off their - amulets and spat upon them. The dying rolled in the bloody mire biting - their mutilated fists in their rage; and forty-three Samnites, quite a - “sacred spring,” cut one another’s throats like - gladiators. Soon wood for the funeral-piles failed, the flames were - extinguished, every spot was occupied; and weary from shouting, weakened, - tottering, they fell asleep close to their dead brethren, those who still - clung to life full of anxieties, and the others desiring never to wake - again. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - In the greyness of the dawn some soldiers appeared on the outskirts of the - Barbarians, and filed past with their helmets raised on the points of - their pikes; they saluted the Mercenaries and asked them whether they had - no messages to send to their native lands. - </p> - <p> - Others approached, and the Barbarians recognised some of their former - companions. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet had proposed to all the captives that they should serve in his - troops. Several had fearlessly refused; and quite resolved neither to - support them nor to abandon them to the Great Council, he had sent them - away with injunctions to fight no more against Carthage. As to those who - had been rendered docile by the fear of tortures, they had been furnished - with the weapons taken from the enemy; and they were now presenting - themselves to the vanquished, not so much in order to seduce them as out - of an impulse of pride and curiosity. - </p> - <p> - At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from the - Suffet; the Barbarians listened to them with jealousy although they - despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards fell into a - passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords and cuirasses - and invited them with abuse to come and take them. The Barbarians picked - up flints; all took to flight; and nothing more could be seen on the - summit of the mountain except the lance-points projecting above the edge - of the palisades. - </p> - <p> - Then the Barbarians were overwhelmed with a grief that was heavier than - the humiliation of the defeat. They thought of the emptiness of their - courage, and they stood with their eyes fixed and grinding their teeth. - </p> - <p> - The same thought came to them all. They rushed tumultuously upon the - Carthaginian prisoners. It chanced that the Suffet’s soldiers had - been unable to discover them, and as he had withdrawn from the field of - battle they were still in the deep pit. - </p> - <p> - They were ranged on the ground on a flattened spot. Sentries formed a - circle round them, and the women were allowed to enter thirty or forty at - a time. Wishing to profit by the short time that was allowed to them, they - ran from one to the other, uncertain and panting; then bending over the - poor bodies they struck them with all their might like washerwomen beating - linen; shrieking their husband’s names they tore them with their - nails and put out their eyes with the bodkins of their hair. The men came - next and tortured them from their feet, which they cut off at the ankles, - to their foreheads, from which they took crowns of skin to put upon their - own heads. The Eaters of Uncleanness were atrocious in their devices. They - envenomed the wounds by pouring into them dust, vinegar, and fragments of - pottery; others waited behind; blood flowed, and they rejoiced like - vintagers round fuming vats. - </p> - <p> - Matho, however, was seated on the ground, at the very place where he had - happened to be when the battle ended, his elbows on his knees, and his - temples in his hands; he saw nothing, heard nothing, and had ceased to - think. - </p> - <p> - At the shrieks of joy uttered by the crowd he raised his head. Before him - a strip of canvas caught on a flagpole, and trailing on the ground, - sheltered in confused fashion blankets, carpets, and a lion’s skin. - He recognised his tent; and he riveted his eyes upon the ground as though - Hamilcar’s daughter, when she disappeared, had sunk into the earth. - </p> - <p> - The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes passed - across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of a hand. It - was the hand of Narr’ Havas, the token of their alliance. Then Matho - rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and threw it - disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent. Then with the toe of his cothurn - he pushed the things which fell out back towards the flame so that nothing - might be left. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly, without any one being able to guess from what point he had - sprung up, Spendius reappeared. - </p> - <p> - The former slave had fastened two fragments of a lance against his thigh; - he limped with a piteous look, breathing forth complaints the while. - </p> - <p> - “Remove that,” said Matho to him. “I know that you are a - brave fellow!” For he was so crushed by the injustice of the gods - that he had not strength enough to be indignant with men. - </p> - <p> - Spendius beckoned to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, where - Zarxas and Autaritus were lying concealed. - </p> - <p> - They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the other - in spite of his bravery. But who, said they, could have expected the - treachery of Narr’ Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans, - the loss of the zaïmph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, his - manouvres which forced them to return to the bottom of the mountain - beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made no - acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that his leg - was broken. - </p> - <p> - At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what - decision should now be adopted. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught - between his soldiers and the provinces belonging to Narr’ Havas; the - Tyrian towns would join the conquerors; the Barbarians would find - themselves driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces - would crush them. This would infallibly happen. - </p> - <p> - Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly they - must prosecute it to the bitter end. But how were they to make the - necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these disheartened - people, who were still bleeding from their wounds. - </p> - <p> - “I will undertake that!” said Spendius. - </p> - <p> - Two hours afterwards a man who came from the direction of Hippo-Zarytus - climbed the mountain at a run. He waved some tablets at arm’s - length, and as he shouted very loudly the Barbarians surrounded him. - </p> - <p> - The tablets had been despatched by the Greek soldiers in Sardinia. They - recommended their African comrades to watch over Gisco and the other - captives. A Samian trader, one Hipponax, coming from Carthage, had - informed them that a plot was being organised to promote their escape, and - the Barbarians were urged to take every precaution; the Republic was - powerful. - </p> - <p> - Spendius’s stratagem did not succeed at first as he had hoped. This - assurance of the new peril, so far from exciting frenzy, raised fears; and - remembering Hamilcar’s warning, lately thrown into their midst, they - expected something unlooked for and terrible. The night was spent in great - distress; several even got rid of their weapons, so as to soften the - Suffet when he presented himself. - </p> - <p> - But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner appeared, - still more breathless, and blackened with dust. The Greek snatched from - his hand a roll of papyrus covered with Phonician writing. The Mercenaries - were entreated not to be disheartened; the brave men of Tunis were coming - with large reinforcements. - </p> - <p> - Spendius first read the letter three times in succession; and held up by - two Cappadocians, who bore him seated on their shoulders, he had himself - conveyed from place to place and re-read it. For seven hours he harangued. - </p> - <p> - He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises of the Great Council; the - Africans of the cruelties of the stewards, and all the Barbarians of the - injustice of Carthage. The Suffet’s mildness was only a bait to - capture them; those who surrendered would be sold as slaves, and the - vanquished would perish under torture. As to flight, what routes could - they follow? Not a nation would receive them. Whereas by continuing their - efforts they would obtain at once freedom, vengeance, and money! And they - would not have long to wait, since the people of Tunis, the whole of - Libya, was rushing to relieve them. He showed the unrolled papyrus: - “Look at it! read! see their promises! I do not lie.” - </p> - <p> - Dogs were straying about with their black muzzles all plastered with red. - The men’s uncovered heads were growing hot in the burning sun. A - nauseous smell exhaled from the badly buried corpses. Some even projected - from the earth as far as the waist. Spendius called them to witness what - he was saying; then he raised his fists in the direction of Hamilcar. - </p> - <p> - Matho, moreover, was watching him, and to cover his cowardice he displayed - an anger by which he gradually found himself carried away. Devoting - himself to the gods he heaped curses upon the Carthaginians. The torture - of the captives was child’s play. Why spare them, and be ever - dragging this useless cattle after one? “No! we must put an end to - it! their designs are known! a single one might ruin us! no pity! Those - who are worthy will be known by the speed of their legs and the force of - their blows.” - </p> - <p> - Then they turned again upon the captives. Several were still in the last - throes; they were finished by the thrust of a heel in the mouth or a stab - with the point of a javelin. - </p> - <p> - Then they thought of Gisco. Nowhere could he be seen; they were disturbed - with anxiety. They wished at once to convince themselves of his death and - to participate in it. At last three Samnite shepherds discovered him at a - distance of fifteen paces from the spot where Matho’s tent lately - stood. They recognised him by his long beard and they called the rest. - </p> - <p> - Stretched on his back, his arms against his hips, and his knees close - together, he looked like a dead man laid out for the tomb. Nevertheless - his wasted sides rose and fell, and his eyes, wide-opened in his pallid - face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians looked at him at first with great astonishment. Since he - had been living in the pit he had been almost forgotten; rendered uneasy - by old memories they stood at a distance and did not venture to raise - their hands against him. - </p> - <p> - But those who were behind were murmuring and pressed forward when a - Garamantian passed through the crowd; he was brandishing a sickle; all - understood his thought; their faces purpled, and smitten with shame they - shrieked: - </p> - <p> - “Yes! yes!” - </p> - <p> - The man with the curved steel approached Gisco. He took his head, and, - resting it upon his knee, sawed it off with rapid strokes; it fell; to - great jets of blood made a hole in the dust. Zarxas leaped upon it, and - lighter than a leopard ran towards the Carthaginians. - </p> - <p> - Then when he had covered two thirds of the mountain he drew Gisco’s - head from his breast by the beard, whirled his arm rapidly several times,—and - the mass, when thrown at last, described a long parabola and disappeared - behind the Punic entrenchments. - </p> - <p> - Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards, the - customary sign for claiming a corpse. - </p> - <p> - Then four heralds, chosen for their width of chest, went out with great - clarions, and speaking through the brass tubes declared that henceforth - there would be between Carthaginians and Barbarians neither faith, pity, - nor gods, that they refused all overtures beforehand, and that envoys - would be sent back with their hands cut off. - </p> - <p> - Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to Hippo-Zarytus to procure - provisions; the Tyrian city sent them some the same evening. They ate - greedily. Then when they were strengthened they speedily collected the - remains of their baggage and their broken arms; the women massed - themselves in the centre, and heedless of the wounded left weeping behind - them, they set out along the edge of the shore like a herd of wolves - taking its departure. - </p> - <p> - They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, resolved to take it, for they had - need of a town. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, as he perceived them at a distance, had a feeling of despair in - spite of the pride which he experienced in seeing them fly before him. He - ought to have attacked them immediately with fresh troops. Another similar - day and the war was over! If matters were protracted they would return - with greater strength; the Tyrian towns would join them; his clemency - towards the vanquished had been of no avail. He resolved to be pitiless. - </p> - <p> - The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden with - bracelets collected from the dead, and with horrible threats ordered - another army to be despatched. - </p> - <p> - All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his victory - they felt a stupefaction which was almost terror. The vaguely announced - return of the zaïmph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and the might of - Carthage seemed now to belong to him. - </p> - <p> - None of his enemies ventured upon complaint or recrimination. Owing to the - enthusiasm of some and the pusillanimity of the rest, an army of five - thousand men was ready before the interval prescribed had elapsed. - </p> - <p> - This army promptly made its way to Utica in order to support the Suffet’s - rear, while three thousand of the most notable citizens embarked in - vessels which were to land them at Hippo-Zarytus, whence they were to - drive back the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - Hanno had accepted the command; but he intrusted the army to his - lieutenant, Magdassin, so as to lead the troops which were to be - disembarked himself, for he could no longer endure the shaking of the - litter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils, and had hollowed - out a large hole in his face; the back of his throat could be seen at a - distance of ten paces, and he knew himself to be so hideous that he wore a - veil over his head like a woman. - </p> - <p> - Hippo-Zarytus paid no attention to his summonings nor yet to those of the - Barbarians; but every morning the inhabitants lowered provisions to the - latter in baskets, and shouting from the tops of the towers pleaded the - exigencies of the Republic and conjured them to withdraw. By means of - signs they addressed the same protestations to the Carthaginians, who were - stationed on the sea. - </p> - <p> - Hanno contented himself with blockading the harbour without risking an - attack. However, he permitted the judges of Hippo-Zarytus to admit three - hundred soldiers. Then he departed to the Cape Grapes, and made a long - circuit so as to hem in the Barbarians, an inopportune and even dangerous - operation. His jealousy prevented him from relieving the Suffet; he - arrested his spies, impeded him in all his plans, and compromised the - success of the enterprise. At last Hamilcar wrote to the Great Council to - rid himself of Hanno, and the latter returned to Carthage furious at the - baseness of the Ancients and the madness of his colleague. Hence, after so - many hopes, the situation was now still more deplorable; but there was an - effort not to reflect upon it and even not to talk about it. - </p> - <p> - As if all this were not sufficient misfortune at one time, news came that - the Sardinian Mercenaries had crucified their general, seized the - strongholds, and everywhere slaughtered those of Chanaanitish race. The - Roman people threatened the Republic with immediate hostilities unless she - gave twelve hundred talents with the whole of the island of Sardinia. They - had accepted the alliance of the Barbarians, and they despatched to them - flat-bottomed boats laden with meal and dried meat. The Carthaginians - pursued these, and captured five hundred men; but three days afterwards a - fleet coming from Byzacena, and conveying provisions to Carthage, - foundered in a storm. The gods were evidently declaring against her. - </p> - <p> - Upon this the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, under pretence of an alarm, made - Hanno’s three hundred men ascend their walls; then coming behind - them they took them by the legs, and suddenly threw them over the - ramparts. Some who were not killed were pursued, and went and drowned - themselves in the sea. - </p> - <p> - Utica was enduring the presence of soldiers, for Magdassin had acted like - Hanno, and in accordance with his orders and deaf to Hamilcar’s - prayers, was surrounding the town. As for these, they were given wine - mixed with mandrake, and were then slaughtered in their sleep. At the same - time the Barbarians arrived; Magdassin fled; the gates were opened, and - thenceforward the two Tyrian towns displayed an obstinate devotion to - their new friends and an inconceivable hatred to their former allies. - </p> - <p> - This abandonment of the Punic cause was a counsel and a precedent. Hopes - of deliverance revived. Populations hitherto uncertain hesitated no - longer. Everywhere there was a stir. The Suffet learnt this, and he had no - assistance to look for! He was now irrevocably lost. - </p> - <p> - He immediately dismissed Narr’ Havas, who was to guard the borders - of his kingdom. As for himself, he resolved to re-enter Carthage in order - to obtain soldiers and begin the war again. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians posted at Hippo-Zarytus perceived his army as it descended - the mountain. - </p> - <p> - Where could the Carthaginians be going? Hunger, no doubt, was urging them - on; and, distracted by their sufferings, they were coming in spite of - their weakness to give battle. But they turned to the right: they were - fleeing. They might be overtaken and all be crushed. The Barbarians dashed - in pursuit of them. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians were checked by the river. It was wide this time and the - west wind had not been blowing. Some crossed by swimming, and the rest on - their shields. They resumed their march. Night fell. They were out of - sight. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians did not stop; they went higher to find a narrower place. - The people of Tunis hastened thither, bringing those of Utica along with - them. Their numbers increased at every bush; and the Carthaginians, as - they lay on the ground, could hear the tramping of their feet in the - darkness. From time to time Barca had a volley of arrows discharged behind - him to check them, and several were killed. When day broke they were in - the Ariana Mountains, at the spot where the road makes a bend. - </p> - <p> - Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could - distinguish something green on the horizon on the summit of an eminence. - Then the ground sank, and obelisks, domes, and houses appeared! It was - Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself from falling, so - rapidly did his heart beat. - </p> - <p> - He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the last - time that he had passed that way! It was an infinite surprise, it stunned - him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing Salammbô - again. The reasons which he had for execrating her returned to his - recollection, but he very quickly rejected them. Quivering and with - straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace above the - palm trees beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy lighted his face as if some - great light had reached him; he opened his arms, and sent kisses on the - breeze, and murmured: “Come! come!” A sigh swelled his breast, - and two long tears like pearls fell upon his beard. - </p> - <p> - “What stays you?” cried Spendius. “Make haste! Forward! - The Suffet is going to escape us! But your knees are tottering, and you - are looking at me like a drunken man!” - </p> - <p> - He stamped with impatience and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at the - approach of an object long aimed at. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!” - </p> - <p> - He had so convinced and triumphant an air that Matho was surprised from - his torpor, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, coming when - his distress was at its height, drove his despair to vengeance, and - pointed to food for his wrath. He bounded upon one of the camels that were - among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and with the long rope, struck - the stragglers with all his might, running right and left alternately, in - the rear of the army, like a dog driving a flock. - </p> - <p> - At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame hurried - their steps; the intervening space lessened in the middle of the isthmus. - The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust raised by the - Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and were on the point of - touching. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, and the great gate of - Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square divided; three columns - were swallowed up, and eddied beneath the porches. Soon the mass, being - too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed in the air, - and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the walls. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round and - shouted to his men to move aside. He dismounted from his horse; and - pricking it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it against the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend - its knees to allow its master to mount. Why was he sending it away? Was - this a sacrifice? - </p> - <p> - The noble horse galloped into the midst of the lances, knocked down men, - and, entangling its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose again with - furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to stop it, or - looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united again; they - entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them. - </p> - <p> - It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it;—and for - some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which became - weaker and weaker, and at last ceased. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to hurl - stones, balls, and beams. Spendius represented that it would be best not - to persist. The Barbarians went and posted themselves further off, all - being quite resolved to lay siege to Carthage. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The rumour of the war, however, had passed beyond the confines of the - Punic empire; and from the pillars of Hercules to beyond Cyrene shepherds - mused on it as they kept their flocks, and caravans talked about it in the - light of the stars. This great Carthage, mistress of the seas, splendid as - the sun, and terrible as a god, actually found men who were daring enough - to attack her! Her fall even had been asserted several times; and all had - believed it for all wished it: the subject populations, the tributary - villages, the allied provinces, the independent hordes, those who - execrated her for her tyranny or were jealous of her power, or coveted her - wealth. The bravest had very speedily joined the Mercenaries. The defeat - at the Macaras had checked all the rest. At last they had recovered - confidence, had gradually advanced and approached; and now the men of the - eastern regions were lying on the sandhills of Clypea on the other side of - the gulf. As soon as they perceived the Barbarians they showed themselves. - </p> - <p> - They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long - composed the third army, but nomads from the tableland of Barca, bandits - from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Dernah, from Phazzana and - Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish wells - walled in with camels’ bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering of - ostrich feathers, had come on quadrigæ; the Garamantians, masked with - black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were mounted on - asses, onagers, zebras, and buffaloes; while some dragged after them the - roofs of their sloop-shaped huts together with their families and idols. - There were Ammonians with limbs wrinkled by the hot water of the springs; - Atarantians, who curse the sun; Troglodytes, who bury their dead with - laughter beneath branches of trees; and the hideous Auseans, who eat - grass-hoppers; the Achyrmachidæ, who eat lice; and the vermilion-painted - Gysantians, who eat apes. - </p> - <p> - All were ranged along the edge of the sea in a great straight line. - Afterwards they advanced like tornadoes of sand raised by the wind. In the - centre of the isthmus the throng stopped, the Mercenaries who were posted - in front of them, close to the walls, being unwilling to move. - </p> - <p> - Then from the direction of Ariana appeared the men of the West, the people - of the Numidians. In fact, Narr’ Havas governed only the Massylians; - and, moreover, as they were permitted by custom to abandon their king when - reverses were sustained, they had assembled on the Zainus, and then had - crossed it at Hamilcar’s first movement. First were seen running up - all the hunters from Malethut-Baal and Garaphos, clad in lions’ - skins, and with the staves of their pikes driving small lean horses with - long manes; then marched the Gætulians in cuirasses of serpents’ - skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of wax and resin; and - the Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each holding two javelins and a - round shield of hippopotamus leather. They stopped at the foot of the - Catacombs among the first pools of the Lagoon. - </p> - <p> - But when the Libyans had moved away, the multitude of the Negroes appeared - like a cloud on a level with the ground, in the place which the others had - occupied. They were there from the White Harousch, the Black Harousch, the - desert of Augila, and even from the great country of Agazymba, which is - four months’ journey south of the Garamantians, and from regions - further still! In spite of their red wooden jewels, the filth of their - black skin made them look like mulberries that had been long rolling in - the dust. They had bark-thread drawers, dried-grass tunics, fallow-deer - muzzles on their heads; they shook rods furnished with rings, and - brandished cows’ tails at the end of sticks, after the fashion of - standards, howling the while like wolves. - </p> - <p> - Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gætulians pressed the yellowish - men, who are spread through the cedar forests beyond Taggir. They had - cat-skin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they led in leashes - enormous dogs, which were as high as asses, and did not bark. - </p> - <p> - Finally, as though Africa had not been sufficiently emptied, and it had - been necessary to seek further fury in the very dregs of the races, men - might be seen behind the rest, with beast-like profiles and grinning with - idiotic laughter—wretches ravaged by hideous diseases, deformed - pigmies, mulattoes of doubtful sex, albinos whose red eyes blinked in the - sun; stammering out unintelligible sounds, they put a finger into their - mouths to show that they were hungry. - </p> - <p> - The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples. - There was not a deadly invention that was not present—from wooden - daggers, stone hatchets and ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed like - saws, slender, and formed of a yielding copper blade. They handled - cutlasses which were forked into several branches like antelopes’ - horns, bills fastened to the ends of ropes, iron triangles, clubs and - bodkins. The Ethiopians from the Bambotus had little poisoned darts hidden - in their hair. Many had brought pebbles in bags. Others, empty handed, - chattered with their teeth. - </p> - <p> - This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell. Dromedaries, smeared - all over with tar-like streaks, knocked down the women, who carried their - children on their hips. The provisions in the baskets were pouring out; in - walking, pieces of salt, parcels of gum, rotten dates, and gourou nuts - were crushed underfoot; and sometimes on vermin-covered bosoms there would - hang a slender cord supporting a diamond that the Satraps had sought, an - almost fabulous stone, sufficient to purchase an empire. Most of them did - not even know what they desired. They were impelled by fascination or - curiosity; and nomads who had never seen a town were frightened by the - shadows of the walls. - </p> - <p> - The isthmus was now hidden by men; and this long surface, whereon the - tents were like huts amid an inundation, stretched as far as the first - lines of the other Barbarians, which were streaming with steel and were - posted symmetrically upon both sides of the aqueduct. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their - arrival when they perceived the siege-engines sent by the Tyrian towns - coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildings—with - their masts, arms, ropes, articulations, capitals and carapaces, sixty - carroballistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions, fifty tollenos, twelve - rams, and three gigantic catapults which hurled pieces of rock of the - weight of fifteen talents. Masses of men clinging to their bases pushed - them on; at every step a quivering shook them, and in this way they - arrived in front of the walls. - </p> - <p> - But several days were still needed to finish the preparations for the - siege. The Mercenaries, taught by their defeats, would not risk themselves - in useless engagements; and on both sides there was no haste, for it was - well known that a terrible action was about to open, and that the result - of it would be complete victory or complete extermination. - </p> - <p> - Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a - series of re-entrant and projecting angles, an advantageous arrangement - for repelling assaults. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless a portion had fallen down in the direction of the Catacombs, - and on dark nights lights could be seen in the dens of Malqua through the - disjointed blocks. These in some places overlooked the top of the - ramparts. It was here that the Mercenaries’ wives, who had been - driven away by Matho, were living with their new husbands. On seeing the - men again their hearts could stand it no longer. They waved their scarfs - at a distance; then they came and chatted in the darkness with the - soldiers through the cleft in the wall, and one morning the Great Council - learned that they had all fled. Some had passed through between the - stones; others with greater intrepidity had let themselves down with - ropes. - </p> - <p> - At last Spendius resolved to accomplish his design. - </p> - <p> - The war, by keeping him at a distance, had hitherto prevented him; and - since the return to before Carthage, it seemed to him that the inhabitants - suspected his enterprise. But soon they diminished the sentries on the - aqueduct. There were not too many people for the defence of the walls. - </p> - <p> - The former slave practised himself for some days in shooting arrows at the - flamingoes on the lake. Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho to - light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all his men - were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he went away - along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis. - </p> - <p> - When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the - aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of the - pillars. - </p> - <p> - The sentries on the platform were walking quietly up and down. - </p> - <p> - Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette, - believing that there was an assault, rushed away in the direction of - Carthage. - </p> - <p> - One man had remained. He showed black against the background of the sky. - The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of extravagant - size, looked in the distance like an obelisk proceeding across the plain. - </p> - <p> - They waited until he was in position just before them. Zarxas seized his - sling, but whether from prudence or from ferocity Spendius stopped him. - “No, the whiz of the bullet would make a noise! Let me!” - </p> - <p> - Then he bent his bow with all his strength, resting the lower end of it - against the great toe of his left foot; he took aim, and the arrow went - off. - </p> - <p> - The man did not fall. He disappeared. - </p> - <p> - “If he were wounded we should hear him!” said Spendius; and he - mounted quickly from story to story as he had done the first time, with - the assistance of a rope and a harpoon. Then when he had reached the top - and was beside the corpse, he let it fall again. The Balearian fastened a - pick and a mallet to it and turned back. - </p> - <p> - The trumpets sounded no longer. All was now quiet. Spendius had raised one - of the flag-stones and, entering the water, had closed it behind him. - </p> - <p> - Calculating the distance by the number of his steps, he arrived at the - exact spot where he had noticed an oblique fissure; and for three hours - until morning he worked in continuous and furious fashion, breathing with - difficulty through the interstices in the upper flag-stones, assailed with - anguish, and twenty times believing that he was going to die. At last a - crack was heard, and a huge stone ricocheting on the lower arches rolled - to the ground,—and suddenly a cataract, an entire river, fell from - the skies onto the plain. The aqueduct, being cut through in the centre, - was emptying itself. It was death to Carthage and victory for the - Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - In an instant the awakened Carthaginians appeared on the walls, the - houses, and the temples. The Barbarians pressed forward with shouts. They - danced in delirium around the great waterfall, and came up and wet their - heads in it in the extravagance of their joy. - </p> - <p> - A man in a torn, brown tunic was perceived on the summit of the aqueduct. - He stood leaning over the very edge with both hands on his hips, and was - looking down below him as though astonished at his work. - </p> - <p> - Then he drew himself up. He surveyed the horizon with a haughty air which - seemed to say: “All that is now mine!” The applause of the - Barbarians burst forth, while the Carthaginians, comprehending their - disaster at last, shrieked with despair. Then he began to run about the - platform from one end to the other,—and like a chariot-driver - triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, raised - his arms aloft. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"></a> - CHAPTER XIII - </h2> - <h3> - MOLOCH - </h3> - <p> - The Barbarians had no need of a circumvallation on the side of Africa, for - it was theirs. But to facilitate the approach to the walls, the - entrenchments bordering the ditch were thrown down. Matho next divided the - army into great semicircles so as to encompass Carthage the better. The - hoplites of the Mercenaries were placed in the first rank, and behind them - the slingers and horsemen; quite at the back were the baggage, chariots, - and horses; and the engines bristled in front of this throng at a distance - of three hundred paces from the towers. - </p> - <p> - Amid the infinite variety of their nomenclature (which changed several - times in the course of the centuries) these machines might be reduced to - two systems: some acted like slings, and the rest like bows. - </p> - <p> - The first, which were the catapults, was composed of a square frame with - two vertical uprights and a horizontal bar. In its anterior portion was a - cylinder, furnished with cables, which held back a great beam bearing a - spoon for the reception of projectiles; its base was caught in a skein of - twisted thread, and when the ropes were let go it sprang up and struck - against the bar, which, checking it with a shock, multiplied its power. - </p> - <p> - The second presented a more complicated mechanism. A cross-bar had its - centre fixed on a little pillar, and from this point of junction there - branched off at right angles a short of channel; two caps containing - twists of horse-hair stood at the extremities of the cross-bar; two small - beams were fastened to them to hold the extremities of a rope which was - brought to the bottom of the channel upon a tablet of bronze. This metal - plate was released by a spring, and sliding in grooves impelled the - arrows. - </p> - <p> - The catapults were likewise called onagers, after the wild asses which - fling up stones with their feet, and the ballistas scorpions, on account - of a hook which stood upon the tablet, and being lowered by a blow of the - fist, released the spring. - </p> - <p> - Their construction required learned calculations; the wood selected had to - be of the hardest substance, and their gearing all of brass; they were - stretched with levers, tackle-blocks, capstans or tympanums; the direction - of the shooting was changed by means of strong pivots; they were moved - forward on cylinders, and the most considerable of them, which were - brought piece by piece, were set up in front of the enemy. - </p> - <p> - Spendius arranged three great catapults opposite the three principle - angles; he placed a ram before every gate, a ballista before every tower, - while carroballistas were to move about in the rear. But it was necessary - to protect them against the fire thrown by the besieged, and first of all - to fill up the trench which separated them from the walls. - </p> - <p> - They pushed forward galleries formed of hurdles of green reeds, and oaken - semicircles like enormous shields gliding on three wheels; the workers - were sheltered in little huts covered with raw hides and stuffed with - wrack; the catapults and ballistas were protected by rope curtains which - had been steeped in vinegar to render them incombustible. The women and - children went to procure stones on the strand, and gathered earth with - their hands and brought it to the soldiers. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians also made preparations. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had speedily reassured them by declaring that there was enough - water left in the cisterns for one hundred and twenty-three days. This - assertion, together with his presence, and above all that of the zaïmph - among them, gave them good hopes. Carthage recovered from its dejection; - those who were not of Chanaanitish origin were carried away by the passion - of the rest. - </p> - <p> - The slaves were armed, the arsenals were emptied, and every citizen had - his own post and his own employment. Twelve hundred of the fugitives had - survived, and the Suffet made them all captains; and carpenters, - armourers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths were intrusted with the engines. - The Carthaginians had kept a few in spite of the conditions of the peace - with Rome. These were repaired. They understood such work. - </p> - <p> - The two northern and eastern sides, being protected by the sea and the - gulf, remained inaccessible. On the wall fronting the Barbarians they - collected tree-trunks, mill-stones, vases filled with sulphur, and vats - filled with oil, and built furnaces. Stones were heaped up on the - platforms of the towers, and the houses bordering immediately on the - rampart were crammed with sand in order to strengthen it and increase its - thickness. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians grew angry at the sight of these preparations. They wished - to fight at once. The weights which they put into the catapults were so - extravagantly heavy that the beams broke, and the attack was delayed. - </p> - <p> - At last on the thirteenth day of the month of Schabar,—at sunrise,—a - great blow was heard at the gate of Khamon. - </p> - <p> - Seventy-five soldiers were pulling at ropes arranged at the base of a - gigantic beam which was suspended horizontally by chains hanging from a - framework, and which terminated in a ram’s head of pure brass. It - had been swathed in ox-hides; it was bound at intervals with iron - bracelets; it was thrice as thick as a man’s body, one hundred and - twenty cubits long, and under the crowd of naked arms pushing it forward - and drawing it back, it moved to and fro with a regular oscillation. - </p> - <p> - The other rams before the other gates began to be in motion. Men might be - seen mounting from step to step in the hollow wheels of the tympanums. The - pulleys and caps grated, the rope curtains were lowered, and showers of - stones and showers of arrows poured forth simultaneously; all the - scattered slingers ran up. Some approached the rampart hiding pots of - resin under their shields; then they would hurl these with all their - might. This hail of bullets, darts, and flames passed above the first - ranks in the form of a curve which fell behind the walls. But long cranes, - used for masting vessels, were reared on the summit of the ramparts; and - from them there descended some of those enormous pincers which terminated - in two semicircles toothed on the inside. They bit the rams. The soldiers - clung to the beam and drew it back. The Carthaginians hauled in order to - pull it up; and the action was prolonged until the evening. - </p> - <p> - When the Mercenaries resumed their task on the following day, the tops of - the walls were completely carpeted with bales of cotton, sails, and - cushions; the battlements were stopped up with mats; and a line of forks - and blades, fixed upon sticks, might be distinguished among the cranes on - the rampart. A furious resistance immediately began. - </p> - <p> - Trunks of trees fastened to cables fell and rose alternately and battered - the rams; cramps hurled by the ballistas tore away the roofs of the huts; - and streams of flints and pebbles poured from the platforms of the towers. - </p> - <p> - At last the rams broke the gates of Khamon and Tagaste. But the - Carthaginians had piled up such an abundance of materials on the inside - that the leaves did not open. They remained standing. - </p> - <p> - Then they drove augers against the walls; these were applied to the joints - of the blocks, so as to detach the latter. The engines were better - managed, the men serving them were divided into squads, and they were - worked from morning till evening without interruption and with the - monotonous precision of a weaver’s loom. - </p> - <p> - Spendius returned to them untiringly. It was he who stretched the skeins - of the ballistas. In order that the twin tensions might completely - correspond, the ropes as they were tightened were struck on the right and - left alternately until both sides gave out an equal sound. Spendius would - mount upon the timbers. He would strike the ropes softly with the - extremity of his foot, and strain his ears like a musician tuning a lyre. - Then when the beam of the catapult rose, when the pillar of the ballista - trembled with the shock of the spring, when the stones were shooting in - rays, and the darts pouring in streams, he would incline his whole body - and fling his arms into the air as though to follow them. - </p> - <p> - The soldiers admired his skill and executed his commands. In the gaiety of - their work they gave utterance to jests on the names of the machines. Thus - the plyers for seizing the rams were called “wolves,” and the - galleries were covered with “vines”; they were lambs, or they - were going to gather the grapes; and as they loaded their pieces they - would say to the onagers: “Come, pick well!” and to the - scorpions: “Pierce them to the heart!” These jokes, which were - ever the same, kept up their courage. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless the machines did not demolish the rampart. It was formed of - two walls and was completely filled with earth. The upper portions were - beaten down, but each time the besieged raised them again. Matho ordered - the construction of wooden towers which should be as high as the towers of - stone. They cast turf, stakes, pebbles and chariots with their wheels into - the trench so as to fill it up the more quickly; but before this was - accomplished the immense throng of the Barbarians undulated over the plain - with a single movement and came beating against the foot of the walls like - an overflowing sea. - </p> - <p> - They moved forward the rope ladders, straight ladders, and sambucas, the - latter consisting of two poles from which a series of bamboos terminating - in a moveable bridge were lowered by means of tackling. They formed - numerous straight lines resting against the wall, and the Mercenaries - mounted them in files, holding their weapons in their hands. Not a - Carthaginian showed himself; already two thirds of the rampart had been - covered. Then the battlements opened, vomiting flames and smoke like - dragon jaws; the sand scattered and entered the joints of their armour; - the petroleum fastened on their garments; the liquid lead hopped on their - helmets and made holes in their flesh; a rain of sparks splashed against - their faces, and eyeless orbits seemed to weep tears as big as almonds. - There were men all yellow with oil, with their hair in flames. They began - to run and set fire to the rest. They were extinguished in mantles steeped - in blood, which were thrown from a distance over their faces. Some who had - no wounds remained motionless, stiffer than stakes, their mouths open and - their arms outspread. - </p> - <p> - The assault was renewed for several days in succession, the Mercenaries - hoping to triumph by extraordinary energy and audacity. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes a man raised on the shoulders of another would drive a pin - between the stones, and then making use of it as a step to reach further, - would place a second and a third; and, protected by the edge of the - battlements, which stood out from the wall, they would gradually raise - themselves in this way; but on reaching a certain height they always fell - back again. The great trench was full to overflowing; the wounded were - massed pell-mell with the dead and dying beneath the footsteps of the - living. Calcined trunks formed black spots amid opened entrails, scattered - brains, and pools of blood; and arms and legs projecting half way out of a - heap, would stand straight up like props in a burning vineyard. - </p> - <p> - The ladders proving insufficient the tollenos were brought into - requisition,—instruments consisting of a long beam set transversely - upon another, and bearing at its extremity a quadrangular basket which - would hold thirty foot-soldiers with their weapons. - </p> - <p> - Matho wished to ascend in the first that was ready. Spendius stopped him. - </p> - <p> - Some men bent over a capstan; the great beam rose, became horizontal, - reared itself almost vertically, and being overweighted at the end, bent - like a huge reed. The soldiers, who were crowded together, were hidden up - to their chins; only their helmet-plumes could be seen. At last when it - was twenty cubits high in the air it turned several times to the right and - to the left, and then was depressed; and like a giant arm holding a cohort - of pigmies in its hand, it laid the basketful of men upon the edge of the - wall. They leaped into the crowd and never returned. - </p> - <p> - All the other tollenos were speedily made ready. But a hundred times as - many would have been needed for the capture of the town. They were - utilised in a murderous fashion: Ethiopian archers were placed in the - baskets; then, the cables having been fastened, they remained suspended - and shot poisoned arrows. The fifty tollenos commanding the battlements - thus surrounded Carthage like monstrous vultures; and the Negroes laughed - to see the guards on the rampart dying in grievous convulsions. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar sent hoplites to these posts, and every morning made them drink - the juice of certain herbs which protected them against the poison. - </p> - <p> - One evening when it was dark he embarked the best of his soldiers on - lighters and planks, and turning to the right of the harbour, disembarked - on the Tænia. Then he advanced to the first lines of the Barbarians, and - taking them in flank, made a great slaughter. Men hanging to ropes would - descend at night from the top of the wall with torches in their hands, - burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then mount up again. - </p> - <p> - Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which led - him into terrible extravagances. He mentally summoned Salammbô to an - interview; then he waited. She did not come; this seemed to him like a - fresh piece of treachery,—and henceforth he execrated her. If he had - seen her corpse he would perhaps have gone away. He doubled the outposts, - he planted forks at the foot of the rampart, he drove caltrops into the - ground, and he commanded the Libyans to bring him a whole forest that he - might set it on fire and burn Carthage like a den of foxes. - </p> - <p> - Spendius went on obstinately with the siege. He sought to invent terrible - machines such as had never before been constructed. - </p> - <p> - The other Barbarians, encamped at a distance on the isthmus, were amazed - at these delays; they murmured, and they were let loose. - </p> - <p> - Then they rushed with their cutlasses and javelins, and beat against the - gates with them. But the nakedness of their bodies facilitating the - infliction of wounds, the Carthaginians massacred them freely; and the - Mercenaries rejoiced at it, no doubt through jealousy about the plunder. - Hence there resulted quarrels and combats between them. Then, the country - having been ravaged, provisions were soon scarce. They grew disheartened. - Numerous hordes went away, but the crowd was so great that the loss was - not apparent. - </p> - <p> - The best of them tried to dig mines, but the earth, being badly supported, - fell in. They began again in other places, but Hamilcar always guessed the - direction that they were taking by holding his ear against a bronze - shield. He bored counter-mines beneath the path along which the wooden - towers were to move, and when they were pushed forward they sank into the - holes. - </p> - <p> - At last all recognised that the town was impregnable, unless a long - terrace was raised to the same height as the walls, so as to enable them - to fight on the same level. The top of it should be paved so that the - machines might be rolled along. Then Carthage would find it quite - impossible to resist. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The town was beginning to suffer from thirst. The water which was worth - two kesitahs the bath at the opening of the siege was now sold for a - shekel of silver; the stores of meat and corn were also becoming - exhausted; there was a dread of famine, and some even began to speak of - useless mouths, which terrified every one. - </p> - <p> - From the square of Khamon to the temple of Melkarth the streets were - cumbered with corpses; and, as it was the end of the summer, the - combatants were annoyed by great black flies. Old men carried off the - wounded, and the devout continued the fictitious funerals for their - relatives and friends who had died far away during the war. Waxen statues - with clothes and hair were displayed across the gates. They melted in the - heat of the tapers burning beside them; the paint flowed down upon their - shoulders, and tears streamed over the faces of the living, as they - chanted mournful songs beside them. The crowd meanwhile ran to and fro; - armed bands passed; captains shouted orders, while the shock of the rams - beating against the rampart was constantly heard. - </p> - <p> - The temperature became so heavy that the bodies swelled and would no - longer fit into the coffins. They were burned in the centre of the courts. - But the fires, being too much confined, kindled the neighbouring walls, - and long flames suddenly burst from the houses like blood spurting from an - artery. Thus Moloch was in possession of Carthage; he clasped the - ramparts, he rolled through the streets, he devoured the very corpses. - </p> - <p> - Men wearing cloaks made of collected rags in token of despair, stationed - themselves at the corners of the cross-ways. They declaimed against the - Ancients and against Hamilcar, predicted complete ruin to the people, and - invited them to universal destruction and license. The most dangerous were - the henbane-drinkers; in their crisis they believed themselves wild - beasts, and leaped upon the passers-by to rend them. Mobs formed around - them, and the defence of Carthage was forgotten. The Suffet devised the - payment of others to support his policy. - </p> - <p> - In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images had - been covered with chains. Black veils were placed upon the Patæc gods, and - hair-cloths around the altars; and attempts were made to excite the pride - and jealousy of the Baals by singing in their ears: “Thou art about - to suffer thyself to be vanquished! Are the others perchance more strong? - Show thyself! aid us! that the peoples may not say: ‘Where are now - their gods?’” - </p> - <p> - The colleges of the pontiffs were agitated by unceasing anxiety. Those of - Rabbetna were especially afraid—the restoration of the zaïmph having - been of no avail. They kept themselves shut up in the third enclosure - which was as impregnable as a fortress. Only one among them, the high - priest Schahabarim, ventured to go out. - </p> - <p> - He used to visit Salammbô. But he would either remain perfectly silent, - gazing at her with fixed eyeballs, or else would be lavish of words, and - the reproaches that he uttered were harder than ever. - </p> - <p> - With inconceivable inconsistency he could not forgive the young girl for - carrying out his commands; Schahabarim had guessed all, and this haunting - thought revived the jealousies of his impotence. He accused her of being - the cause of the war. Matho, according to him, was besieging Carthage to - recover the zaïmph; and he poured out imprecations and sarcasms upon this - Barbarian who pretended to the possession of holy things. Yet it was not - this that the priest wished to say. - </p> - <p> - But just now Salammbô felt no terror of him. The anguish which she used - formerly to suffer had left her. A strange peacefulness possessed her. Her - gaze was less wandering, and shone with limpid fire. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile the python had become ill again; and as Salammbô, on the - contrary, appeared to be recovering, old Taanach rejoiced in the - conviction that by its decline it was taking away the languor of her - mistress. - </p> - <p> - One morning she found it coiled up behind the bed of ox-hides, colder than - marble, and with its head hidden by a heap of worms. Her cries brought - Salammbô to the spot. She turned it over for a while with the tip of her - sandal, and the slave was amazed at her insensibility. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s daughter no longer prolonged her fasts with so much - fervour. She passed whole days on the top of her terrace, leaning her - elbows against the balustrade, and amusing herself by looking out before - her. The summits of the walls at the end of the town cut uneven zigzags - upon the sky, and the lances of the sentries formed what was like a border - of corn-ears throughout their length. Further away she could see the - manouvres of the Barbarians between the towers; on days when the siege was - interrupted she could even distinguish their occupations. They mended - their weapons, greased their hair, and washed their bloodstained arms in - the sea; the tents were closed; the beasts of burden were feeding; and in - the distance the scythes of the chariots, which were all ranged in a - semicircle, looked like a silver scimitar lying at the base of the - mountains. Schahabarim’s talk recurred to her memory. She was - waiting for Narr’ Havas, her betrothed. In spite of her hatred she - would have liked to see Matho again. Of all the Carthaginians she was - perhaps the only one who would have spoken to him without fear. - </p> - <p> - Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the - cushions, and gaze at her with an almost tender look, as if he found some - rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes questioned her - about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He even asked her - whether any one had urged her to it; and with a shake of the head she - answered, No,—so proud was Salammbô of having saved the zaïmph. - </p> - <p> - But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making military - inquiries. He could not understand how the hours which she had spent in - the tent had been employed. Salammbô, in fact, said nothing about Gisco; - for as words had an effective power in themselves, curses, if reported to - any one, might be turned against him; and she was silent about her wish to - assassinate, lest she should be blamed for not having yielded to it. She - said that the schalischim appeared furious, that he had shouted a great - deal, and that he had then fallen asleep. Salammbô told no more, through - shame perhaps, or else because she was led by her extreme ingenuousness to - attach but little importance to the soldier’s kisses. Moreover, it - all floated through her head in a melancholy and misty fashion, like the - recollection of a depressing dream; and she would not have known in what - way or in what words to express it. - </p> - <p> - One evening when they were thus face to face with each other, Taanach came - in looking quite scared. An old man with a child was yonder in the courts, - and wished to see the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned pale, and then quickly replied: - </p> - <p> - “Let him come up!” - </p> - <p> - Iddibal entered without prostrating himself. He held a young boy, covered - with a goat’s-hair cloak, by the hand, and at once raised the hood - which screened his face. - </p> - <p> - “Here he is, Master! Take him!” - </p> - <p> - The Suffet and the slave went into a corner of the room. - </p> - <p> - The child remained in the centre standing upright, and with a gaze of - attention rather than of astonishment he surveyed the ceiling, the - furniture, the pearl necklaces trailing on the purple draperies, and the - majestic maiden who was bending over towards him. - </p> - <p> - He was perhaps ten years old, and was not taller than a Roman sword. His - curly hair shaded his swelling forehead. His eyeballs looked as if they - were seeking for space. The nostrils of his delicate nose were broad and - palpitating, and upon his whole person was displayed the indefinable - splendour of those who are destined to great enterprises. When he had cast - aside his extremely heavy cloak, he remained clad in a lynx skin, which - was fastened about his waist, and he rested his little naked feet, which - were all white with dust, resolutely upon the pavement. But he no doubt - divined that important matters were under discussion, for he stood - motionless, with one hand behind his back, his chin lowered, and a finger - in his mouth. - </p> - <p> - At last Hamilcar attracted Salammbô with a sign and said to her in a low - voice: - </p> - <p> - “You will keep him with you, you understand! No one, even though - belonging to the house, must know of his existence!” - </p> - <p> - Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal whether he was quite sure - that they had not been noticed. - </p> - <p> - “No!” said the slave, “the streets were empty.” - </p> - <p> - As the war filled all the provinces he had feared for his master’s - son. Then, not knowing where to hide him, he had come along the coasts in - a sloop, and for three days Iddibal had been tacking about in the gulf and - watching the ramparts. At last, that evening, as the environs of Khamon - seemed to be deserted, he had passed briskly through the channel and - landed near the arsenal, the entrance to the harbour being free. - </p> - <p> - But soon the Barbarians posted an immense raft in front of it in order to - prevent the Carthaginians from coming out. They were again rearing the - wooden towers, and the terrace was rising at the same time. - </p> - <p> - Outside communications were cut off and an intolerable famine set in. - </p> - <p> - The besieged killed all the dogs, all the mules, all the asses, and then - the fifteen elephants which the Suffet had brought back. The lions of the - temple of Moloch had become ferocious, and the hierodules no longer durst - approach them. They were fed at first with the wounded Barbarians; then - they were thrown corpses that were still warm; they refused them, and they - all died. People wandered in the twilight along the old enclosures, and - gathered grass and flowers among the stones to boil them in wine, wine - being cheaper than water. Others crept as far as the enemy’s - outposts, and entered the tents to steal food, and the stupefied - Barbarians sometimes allowed them to return. At last a day arrived when - the Ancients resolved to slaughter the horses of Eschmoun privately. They - were holy animals whose manes were plaited by the pontiffs with gold - ribbons, and whose existence denoted the motion of the sun—the idea - of fire in its most exalted form. Their flesh was cut into equal portions - and buried behind the altar. Then every evening the Ancients, alleging - some act of devotion, would go up to the temple and regale themselves in - secret, and each would take away a piece beneath his tunic for his - children. In the deserted quarters remote from the walls, the inhabitants, - whose misery was not so great, had barricaded themselves through fear of - the rest. - </p> - <p> - The stones from the catapults, and the demolitions commanded for purposes - of defence, had accumulated heaps of ruins in the middle of the streets. - At the quietest times masses of people would suddenly rush along with - shouts; and from the top of the Acropolis the conflagrations were like - purple rags scattered upon the terraces and twisted by the wind. - </p> - <p> - The three great catapults did not stop in spite of all these works. Their - ravages were extraordinary: thus a man’s head rebounded from the - pediment of the Syssitia; a woman who was being confined in the street of - Kinisdo was crushed by a block of marble, and her child was carried with - the bed as far as the crossways of Cinasyn, where the coverlet was found. - </p> - <p> - The most annoying were the bullets of the slingers. They fell upon the - roofs, and in the gardens, and in the middle of the courts, while people - were at table before a slender meal with their hearts big with sighs. - These cruel projectiles bore engraved letters which stamped themselves - upon the flesh;—and insults might be read on corpses such as “pig,” - “jackal,” “vermin,” and sometimes jests: “Catch - it!” or “I have well deserved it!” - </p> - <p> - The portion of the rampart which extended from the corner of the harbours - to the height of the cisterns was broken down. Then the people of Malqua - found themselves caught between the old enclosure of Byrsa behind, and the - Barbarians in front. But there was enough to be done in thickening the - wall and making it as high as possible without troubling about them; they - were abandoned; all perished; and although they were generally hated, - Hamilcar came to be greatly abhorred. - </p> - <p> - On the morrow he opened the pits in which he kept stores of corn, and his - stewards gave it to the people. For three days they gorged themselves. - </p> - <p> - Their thirst, however, only became the more intolerable, and they could - constantly see before them the long cascade formed by the clear falling - water of the aqueduct. A thin vapour, with a rainbow beside it, went up - from its base, beneath the rays of the sun, and a little stream curving - through the plain fell into the gulf. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar did not give way. He was reckoning upon an event, upon something - decisive and extraordinary. - </p> - <p> - His own slaves tore off the silver plates from the temple of Melkarth; - four long boats were drawn out of the harbour, they were brought by means - of capstans to the foot of the Mappalian quarter, the wall facing the - shore was bored, and they set out for the Gauls to buy Mercenaries there - at no matter what price. Nevertheless, Hamilcar was distressed at his - inability to communicate with the king of the Numidians, for he knew that - he was behind the Barbarians, and ready to fall upon them. But Narr’ - Havas, being too weak, was not going to make any venture alone; and the - Suffet had the rampart raised twelve palms higher, all the material in the - arsenals piled up in the Acropolis, and the machines repaired once more. - </p> - <p> - Sinews taken from bulls’ necks, or else stags’ hamstrings, - were commonly employed for the twists of the catapults. However, neither - stags nor bulls were in existence in Carthage. Hamilcar asked the Ancients - for the hair of their wives; all sacrificed it, but the quantity was not - sufficient. In the buildings of the Syssitia there were twelve hundred - marriageable slaves destined for prostitution in Greece and Italy, and - their hair, having been rendered elastic by the use of unguents, was - wonderfully well adapted for engines of war. But the subsequent loss would - be too great. Accordingly it was decided that a choice should be made of - the finest heads of hair among the wives of the plebeians. Careless of - their country’s needs, they shrieked in despair when the servants of - the Hundred came with scissors to lay hands upon them. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were animated with increased fury. They could be seen in - the distance taking fat from the dead to grease their machines, while - others pulled out the nails and stitched them end to end to make - cuirasses. They devised a plan of putting into the catapults vessels - filled with serpents which had been brought by the Negroes; the clay pots - broke on the flag-stones, the serpents ran about, seemed to multiply, and, - so numerous were they, to issue naturally from the walls. Then the - Barbarians, not satisfied with their invention, improved upon it; they - hurled all kinds of filth, human excrements, pieces of carrion, corpses. - The plague reappeared. The teeth of the Carthaginians fell out of their - mouths, and their gums were discoloured like those of camels after too - long a journey. - </p> - <p> - The machines were set up on the terrace, although the latter did not as - yet reach everywhere to the height of the rampart. Before the twenty-three - towers on the fortification stood twenty-three others of wood. All the - tollenos were mounted again, and in the centre, a little further back, - appeared the formidable helepolis of Demetrius Poliorcetes, which Spendius - had at last reconstructed. Of pyramidical shape, like the pharos of - Alexandria, it was one hundred and thirty cubits high and twenty-three - wide, with nine stories, diminishing as they approached the summit, and - protected by scales of brass; they were pierced with numerous doors and - were filled with soldiers, and on the upper platform there stood a - catapult flanked by two ballistas. - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar planted crosses for those who should speak of surrender, and - even the women were brigaded. The people lay in the streets and waited - full of distress. - </p> - <p> - Then one morning before sunrise (it was the seventh day of the month of - Nyssan) they heard a great shout uttered by all the Barbarians - simultaneously; the leaden-tubed trumpets pealed, and the great - Paphlagonian horns bellowed like bulls. All rose and ran to the rampart. - </p> - <p> - A forest of lances, pikes, and swords bristled at its base. It leaped - against the wall, the ladders grappled them; and Barbarians’ heads - appeared in the intervals of the battlements. - </p> - <p> - Beams supported by long files of men were battering at the gates; and, in - order to demolish the wall at places where the terrace was wanting, the - Mercenaries came up in serried cohorts, the first line crawling, the - second bending their hams, and the others rising in succession to the last - who stood upright; while elsewhere, in order to climb up, the tallest - advanced in front and the lowest in the rear, and all rested their shields - upon their helmets with their left arms, joining them together at the - edges so tightly that they might have been taken for an assemblage of - large tortoises. The projectiles slid over these oblique masses. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians threw down mill-stones, pestles, vats, casks, beds, - everything that could serve as a weight and could knock down. Some watched - at the embrasures with fisherman’s nets, and when the Barbarian - arrived he found himself caught in the meshes, and struggled like a fish. - They demolished their own battlements; portions of wall fell down raising - a great dust; and as the catapults on the terrace were shooting over - against one another, the stones would strike together and shiver into a - thousand pieces, making a copious shower upon the combatants. - </p> - <p> - Soon the two crowds formed but one great chain of human bodies; it - overflowed into the intervals in the terrace, and, somewhat looser at the - two extremities, swayed perpetually without advancing. They clasped one - another, lying flat on the ground like wrestlers. They crushed one - another. The women leaned over the battlements and shrieked. They were - dragged away by their veils, and the whiteness of their suddenly uncovered - sides shone in the arms of the Negroes as the latter buried their daggers - in them. Some corpses did not fall, being too much pressed by the crowd, - and, supported by the shoulders of their companions, advanced for some - minutes quite upright and with staring eyes. Some who had both temples - pierced by a javelin swayed their heads about like bears. Mouths, opened - to shout, remained gaping; severed hands flew through the air. Mighty - blows were dealt, which were long talked of by the survivors. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile arrows darted from the towers of wood and stone. The tollenos - moved their long yards rapidly; and as the Barbarians had sacked the old - cemetery of the aborigines beneath the Catacombs, they hurled the - tombstones against the Carthaginians. Sometimes the cables broke under the - weight of too heavy baskets, and masses of men, all with uplifted arms, - would fall from the sky. - </p> - <p> - Up to the middle of the day the veterans had attacked the Tænia fiercely - in order to penetrate into the harbour and destroy the fleet. Hamilcar had - a fire of damp straw lit upon the roofing of Khamon, and as the smoke - blinded them they fell back to left, and came to swell the horrible rout - which was pressing forward in Malqua. Some syntagmata composed of sturdy - men, chosen expressly for the purpose, had broken in three gates. They - were checked by lofty barriers made of planks studded with nails, but a - fourth yielded easily; they dashed over it at a run and rolled into a pit - in which there were hidden snares. At the south-west gate Autaritus and - his men broke down the rampart, the fissure in which had been stopped up - with bricks. The ground behind rose, and they climbed it nimbly. But on - the top they found a second wall composed of stones and long beams lying - quite flat and alternating like the squares on a chess-board. It was a - Gaulish fashion, and had been adapted by the Suffet to the requirements of - the situation; the Gauls imagined themselves before a town in their own - country. Their attack was weak, and they were repulsed. - </p> - <p> - All the roundway, from the street of Khamon as far as the Green Market, - now belonged to the Barbarians, and the Samnites were finishing off the - dying with blows of stakes; or else with one foot on the wall were gazing - down at the smoking ruins beneath them, and the battle which was beginning - again in the distance. - </p> - <p> - The slingers, who were distributed through the rear, were still shooting. - But the springs of the Acarnanian slings had broken from use, and many - were throwing stones with the hand like shepherds; the rest hurled leaden - bullets with the handle of a whip. Zarxas, his shoulders covered with his - long black hair, went about everywhere, and led on the Barbarians. Two - pouches hung at his hips; he thrust his left hand into them continually, - while his right arm whirled round like a chariot-wheel. - </p> - <p> - Matho had at first refrained from fighting, the better to command the - Barbarians all at once. He had been seen along the gulf with the - Mercenaries, near the lagoon with the Numidians, and on the shores of the - lake among the Negroes, and from the back part of the plain he urged - forward masses of soldiers who came ceaselessly against the ramparts. By - degrees he had drawn near; the smell of blood, the sight of carnage, and - the tumult of clarions had at last made his heart leap. Then he had gone - back into his tent, and throwing off his cuirass had taken his lion’s - skin as being more convenient for battle. The snout fitted upon his head, - bordering his face with a circle of fangs; the two fore-paws were crossed - upon his breast, and the claws of the hinder ones fell beneath his knees. - </p> - <p> - He had kept on his strong waist-belt, wherein gleamed a two-edged axe, and - with his great sword in both hands he had dashed impetuously through the - breach. Like a pruner cutting willow-branches and trying to strike off as - much as possible so as to make the more money, he marched along mowing - down the Carthaginians around him. Those who tried to seize him in flank - he knocked down with blows of the pommel; when they attacked him in front - he ran them through; if they fled he clove them. Two men leaped together - upon his back; he bounded backwards against a gate and crushed them. His - sword fell and rose. It shivered on the angle of a wall. Then he took his - heavy axe, and front and rear he ripped up the Carthaginians like a flock - of sheep. They scattered more and more, and he was quite alone when he - reached the second enclosure at the foot of the Acropolis. The materials - which had been flung from the summit cumbered the steps and were heaped up - higher than the wall. Matho turned back amid the ruins to summons his - companions. - </p> - <p> - He perceived their crests scattered over the multitude; they were sinking - and their wearers were about to perish; he dashed towards them; then the - vast wreath of red plumes closed in, and they soon rejoined him and - surrounded him. But an enormous crowd was discharging from the side - streets. He was caught by the hips, lifted up and carried away outside the - ramparts to a spot where the terrace was high. - </p> - <p> - Matho shouted a command and all the shields sank upon the helmets; he - leaped upon them in order to catch hold somewhere so as to re-enter - Carthage; and, flourishing his terrible axe, ran over the shields, which - resembled waves of bronze, like a marine god, with brandished trident, - over his billows. - </p> - <p> - However, a man in a white robe was walking along the edge of the rampart, - impassible, and indifferent to the death which surrounded him. Sometimes - he would spread out his right hand above his eyes in order to find out - some one. Matho happened to pass beneath him. Suddenly his eyeballs - flamed, his livid face contracted; and raising both his lean arms he - shouted out abuse at him. - </p> - <p> - Matho did not hear it; but he felt so furious and cruel a look entering - his heart that he uttered a roar. He hurled his long axe at him; some - people threw themselves upon Schahabarim; and Matho seeing him no more - fell back exhausted. - </p> - <p> - A terrible creaking drew near, mingled with the rhythm of hoarse voices - singing together. - </p> - <p> - It was the great helepolis surrounded by a crowd of soldiers. They were - dragging it with both hands, hauling it with ropes, and pushing it with - their shoulders,—for the slope rising from the plain to the terrace, - although extremely gentle, was found impracticable for machines of such - prodigious weight. However, it had eight wheels banded with iron, and it - had been advancing slowly in this way since the morning, like a mountain - raised upon another. Then there appeared an immense ram issuing from its - base. The doors along the three fronts which faced the town fell down, and - cuirassed soldiers appeared in the interior like pillars of iron. Some - might be seen climbing and descending the two staircases which crossed the - stories. Some were waiting to dart out as soon as the cramps of the doors - touched the walls; in the middle of the upper platform the skeins of the - ballistas were turning, and the great beam of the catapult was being - lowered. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was at that moment standing upright on the roof of Melkarth. He - had calculated that it would come directly towards him, against what was - the most invulnerable place in the wall, which was for that very reason - denuded of sentries. His slaves had for a long time been bringing leathern - bottles along the roundway, where they had raised with clay two transverse - partitions forming a sort of basin. The water was flowing insensibly along - the terrace, and strange to say, it seemed to cause Hamilcar no anxiety. - </p> - <p> - But when the helepolis was thirty paces off, he commanded planks to be - placed over the streets between the houses from the cisterns to the - rampart; and a file of people passed from hand to hand helmets and - amphoras, which were emptied continually. The Carthaginians, however, grew - indignant at this waste of water. The ram was demolishing the wall, when - suddenly a fountain sprang forth from the disjointed stones. Then the - lofty brazen mass, nine stories high, which contained and engaged more - than three thousand soldiers, began to rock gently like a ship. In fact, - the water, which had penetrated the terrace, had broken up the path before - it; its wheels stuck in the mire; the head of Spendius, with distended - cheeks blowing an ivory cornet, appeared between leathern curtains on the - first story. The great machine, as though convulsively upheaved, advanced - perhaps ten paces; but the ground softened more and more, the mire reached - to the axles, and the helepolis stopped, leaning over frightfully to one - side. The catapult rolled to the edge of the platform, and carried away by - the weight of its beam, fell, shattering the lower stories beneath it. The - soldiers who were standing on the doors slipped into the abyss, or else - held on to the extremities of the long beams, and by their weight - increased the inclination of the helepolis, which was going to pieces with - creakings in all its joints. - </p> - <p> - The other Barbarians rushed up to help them, massing themselves into a - compact crowd. The Carthaginians descended from the rampart, and, - assailing them in the rear, killed them at leisure. But the chariots - furnished with sickles hastened up, and galloped round the outskirts of - the multitude. The latter ascended the wall again; night came on; and the - Barbarians gradually retired. - </p> - <p> - Nothing could now be seen on the plain but a sort of perfectly black, - swarming mass, which extended from the bluish gulf to the purely white - lagoon; and the lake, which had received streams of blood, stretched - further away like a great purple pool. - </p> - <p> - The terrace was now so laden with corpses that it looked as though it had - been constructed of human bodies. In the centre stood the helepolis - covered with armour; and from time to time huge fragments broke off from - it, like stones from a crumbling pyramid. Broad tracks made by the streams - of lead might be distinguished on the walls. A broken-down wooden tower - burned here and there, and the houses showed dimly like the stages of a - ruined ampitheatre. Heavy fumes of smoke were rising, and rolling with - them sparks which were lost in the dark sky. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians, however, who were consumed by thirst, had rushed to the - cisterns. They broke open the doors. A miry swamp stretched at the bottom. - </p> - <p> - What was to be done now? Moreover, the Barbarians were countless, and when - their fatigue was over they would begin again. - </p> - <p> - The people deliberated all night in groups at the corners of the streets. - Some said that they ought to send away the women, the sick, and the old - men; others proposed to abandon the town, and found a colony far away. But - vessels were lacking, and when the sun appeared no decision had been made. - </p> - <p> - There was no fighting that day, all being too much exhausted. The sleepers - looked like corpses. - </p> - <p> - Then the Carthaginians, reflecting upon the cause of their disasters, - remembered that they had not dispatched to Phonicia the annual offering - due to Tyrian Melkarth, and a great terror came upon them. The gods were - indignant with the Republic, and were, no doubt, about to prosecute their - vengeance. - </p> - <p> - They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with - supplications and allowed themselves to be bribed with presents. All were - feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the very - flesh of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, the - Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it to him, which calmed his - fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape of the neck, - with woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal brought in much - money to the priests, they failed not to recommend it as being easier and - more pleasant. - </p> - <p> - This time, however, the Republic itself was at stake. But as every profit - must be purchased by some loss, and as every transaction was regulated - according to the needs of the weaker and the demands of the stronger, - there was no pain great enough for the god, since he delighted in such as - was of the most horrible description, and all were now at his mercy. He - must accordingly be fully gratified. Precedents showed that in this way - the scourge would be made to disappear. Moreover, it was believed that an - immolation by fire would purify Carthage. The ferocity of the people was - predisposed towards it. The choice, too, must fall exclusively upon the - families of the great. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients assembled. The sitting was a long one. Hanno had come to it. - As he was now unable to sit he remained lying down near the door, half - hidden among the fringes of the lofty tapestry; and when the pontiff of - Moloch asked them whether they would consent to surrender their children, - his voice suddenly broke forth from the shadow like the roaring of a - genius in the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he said, that he had none - of his own blood to give; and he gazed at Hamilcar, who faced him at the - other end of the hall. The Suffet was so much disconcerted by this look - that it made him lower his eyes. All successively bent their heads in - approval; and in accordance with the rites he had to reply to the high - priest: “Yes; be it so.” Then the Ancients decreed the - sacrifice in traditional circumlocution,—because there are things - more troublesome to say than to perform. - </p> - <p> - The decision was almost immediately known in Carthage, and lamentations - resounded. The cries of women might everywhere be heard; their husbands - consoled them, or railed at them with remonstrances. - </p> - <p> - But three hours afterwards extraordinary tidings were spread abroad: the - Suffet had discovered springs at the foot of the cliff. There was a rush - to the place. Water might be seen in holes dug in the sand, and some were - already lying flat on the ground and drinking. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar did not himself know whether it was by the determination of the - gods or through the vague recollection of a revelation which his father - had once made to him; but on leaving the Ancients he had gone down to the - shore and had begun to dig the gravel with his slaves. - </p> - <p> - He gave clothing, boots, and wine. He gave all the rest of the corn that - he was keeping by him. He even let the crowd enter his palace, and he - opened kitchens, stores, and all the rooms,—Salammbô’s alone - excepted. He announced that six thousand Gaulish Mercenaries were coming, - and that the king of Macedonia was sending soldiers. - </p> - <p> - But on the second day the springs diminished, and on the evening of the - third they were completely dried up. Then the decree of the Ancients - passed everywhere from lip to lip, and the priests of Moloch began their - task. - </p> - <p> - Men in black robes presented themselves in the houses. In many instances - the owners had deserted them under pretence of some business, or of some - dainty that they were going to buy; and the servants of Moloch came and - took the children away. Others themselves surrendered them stupidly. Then - they were brought to the temple of Tanith, where the priestesses were - charged with their amusement and support until the solemn day. - </p> - <p> - They visited Hamilcar suddenly and found him in his gardens. - </p> - <p> - “Barca! we come for that that you know of—your son!” - They added that some people had met him one evening during the previous - moon in the centre of the Mappalian district being led by an old man. - </p> - <p> - He was as though suffocated at first. But speedily understanding that any - denial would be in vain, Hamilcar bowed; and he brought them into the - commercial house. Some slaves who had run up at a sign kept watch all - round about it. - </p> - <p> - He entered Salammbô’s room in a state of distraction. He seized - Hannibal with one hand, snatched up the cord of a trailing garment with - the other, tied his feet and hands with it, thrust the end into his mouth - to form a gag, and hid him under the bed of the ox-hides by letting an - ample drapery fall to the ground. - </p> - <p> - Afterwards he walked about from right to left, raised his arms, wheeled - round, bit his lips. Then he stood still with staring eyelids, and panted - as though he were about to die. - </p> - <p> - But he clapped his hands three times. Giddenem appeared. - </p> - <p> - “Listen!” he said, “go and take from among the slaves a - male child from eight to nine years of age, with black hair and swelling - forehead! Bring him here! make haste!” - </p> - <p> - Giddenem soon entered again, bringing forward a young boy. - </p> - <p> - He was a miserable child, at once lean and bloated; his skin looked - greyish, like the infected rag hanging to his sides; his head was sunk - between his shoulders, and with the back of his hand he was rubbing his - eyes, which were filled with flies. - </p> - <p> - How could he ever be confounded with Hannibal! and there was no time to - choose another. Hamilcar looked at Giddenem; he felt inclined to strangle - him. - </p> - <p> - “Begone!” he cried; and the master of the slaves fled. - </p> - <p> - The misfortune which he had so long dreaded was therefore come, and with - extravagant efforts he strove to discover whether there was not some mode, - some means to escape it. - </p> - <p> - Abdalonim suddenly spoke from behind the door. The Suffet was being asked - for. The servants of Moloch were growing impatient. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar repressed a cry as though a red hot iron had burnt him; and he - began anew to pace the room like one distraught. Then he sank down beside - the balustrade, and, with his elbows on his knees, pressed his forehead - into his shut fists. - </p> - <p> - The porphyry basin still contained a little clear water for Salammbô’s - ablutions. In spite of his repugnance and all his pride, the Suffet dipped - the child into it, and, like a slave merchant, began to wash him and rub - him with strigils and red earth. Then he took two purple squares from the - receptacles round the wall, placed one on his breast and the other on his - back, and joined them together on the collar bones with two diamond - clasps. He poured perfume upon his head, passed an electrum necklace - around his neck, and put on him sandals with heels of pearl,—sandals - belonging to his own daughter! But he stamped with shame and vexation; - Salammbô, who busied herself in helping him, was as pale as he. The child, - dazzled by such splendour, smiled and, growing bold even, was beginning to - clap his hands and jump, when Hamilcar took him away. - </p> - <p> - He held him firmly by the arm as though he were afraid of losing him, and - the child, who was hurt, wept a little as he ran beside him. - </p> - <p> - When on a level with the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a voice was - raised, a mournful and supplicant voice. It murmured: “Master! oh! - master!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned and beside him perceived a man of abject appearance, one - of the wretches who led a haphazard existence in the household. - </p> - <p> - “What do you want?” said the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The slave, who trembled horribly, stammered: - </p> - <p> - “I am his father!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar walked on; the other followed him with stooping loins, bent hams, - and head thrust forward. His face was convulsed with unspeakable anguish, - and he was choking with suppressed sobs, so eager was he at once to - question him, and to cry: “Mercy!” - </p> - <p> - At last he ventured to touch him lightly with one finger on the elbow. - </p> - <p> - “Are you going to—?” He had not the strength to finish, - and Hamilcar stopped quite amazed at such grief. - </p> - <p> - He had never thought—so immense was the abyss separating them from - each other—that there could be anything in common between them. It - even appeared to him a sort of outrage, an encroachment upon his own - privileges. He replied with a look colder and heavier than an executioner’s - axe; the slave swooned and fell in the dust at his feet. Hamilcar strode - across him. - </p> - <p> - The three black-robed men were waiting in the great hall, and standing - against the stone disc. Immediately he tore his garments, and rolled upon - the pavement uttering piercing cries. - </p> - <p> - “Ah! poor little Hannibal! Oh! my son! my consolation! my hope! my - life! Kill me also! take me away! Woe! Woe!” He ploughed his face - with his nails, tore out his hair, and shrieked like the women who lament - at funerals. “Take him away then! my suffering is too great! begone! - kill me like him!” The servants of Moloch were astonished that the - great Hamilcar was so weak-spirited. They were almost moved by it. - </p> - <p> - A noise of naked feet became audible, with a broken throat-rattling like - the breathing of a wild beast speeding along, and a man, pale, terrible, - and with outspread arms appeared on the threshold of the third gallery, - between the ivory pots; he exclaimed: - </p> - <p> - “My child!” - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar threw himself with a bound upon the slave, and covering the man’s - mouth with his hand exclaimed still more loudly: - </p> - <p> - “It is the old man who reared him! he calls him ‘my child!’ - it will make him mad! enough! enough!” And hustling away the three - priests and their victim he went out with them and with a great kick shut - the door behind him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar strained his ears for some minutes in constant fear of seeing - them return. He then thought of getting rid of the slave in order to be - quite sure that he would see nothing; but the peril had not wholly - disappeared, and, if the gods were provoked at the man’s death, it - might be turned against his son. Then, changing his intention, he sent him - by Taanach the best from his kitchens—a quarter of a goat, beans, - and preserved pomegranates. The slave, who had eaten nothing for a long - time, rushed upon them; his tears fell into the dishes. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar at last returned to Salammbô, and unfastened Hannibal’s - cords. The child in exasperation bit his hand until the blood came. He - repelled him with a caress. - </p> - <p> - To make him remain quiet Salammbô tried to frighten him with Lamia, a - Cyrenian ogress. - </p> - <p> - “But where is she?” he asked. - </p> - <p> - He was told that brigands were coming to put him into prison. “Let - them come,” he rejoined, “and I will kill them!” - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar told him the frightful truth. But he fell into a passion - with his father, contending that he was quite able to annihilate the whole - people, since he was the master of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - At last, exhausted by his exertions and anger, he fell into a wild sleep. - He spoke in his dreams, his back leaning against a scarlet cushion; his - head was thrown back somewhat, and his little arm, outstretched from his - body, lay quite straight in an attitude of command. - </p> - <p> - When the night had grown dark Hamilcar lifted him up gently, and, without - a torch, went down the galley staircase. As he passed through the - mercantile house he took up a basket of grapes and a flagon of pure water; - the child awoke before the statue of Aletes in the vault of gems, and he - smiled—like the other—on his father’s arm at the - brilliant lights which surrounded him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar felt quite sure that his son could not be taken from him. It was - an impenetrable spot communicating with the beach by a subterranean - passage which he alone knew, and casting his eyes around he inhaled a - great draught of air. Then he set him down upon a stool beside some golden - shields. No one at present could see him; he had no further need for - watching; and he relieved his feelings. Like a mother finding her - first-born that was lost, he threw himself upon his son; he clasped him to - his breast, he laughed and wept at the same time, he called him by the - fondest names and covered him with kisses; little Hannibal was frightened - by this terrible tenderness and was silent now. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar returned with silent steps, feeling the walls around him, and - came into the great hall where the moonlight entered through one of the - apertures in the dome; in the centre the slave lay sleeping after his - repast, stretched at full length upon the marble pavement. He looked at - him and was moved with a sort of pity. With the tip of his cothurn he - pushed forward a carpet beneath his head. Then he raised his eyes and - gazed at Tanith, whose slender crescent was shining in the sky, and felt - himself stronger than the Baals and full of contempt for them. - </p> - <p> - The arrangements for the sacrifice were already begun. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Part of a wall in the temple of Moloch was thrown down in order to draw - out the brazen god without touching the ashes of the altar. Then as soon - as the sun appeared the hierodules pushed it towards the square of Khamon. - </p> - <p> - It moved backwards sliding upon cylinders; its shoulders overlapped the - walls. No sooner did the Carthaginians perceive it in the distance than - they speedily took to flight, for the Baal could be looked upon with - impunity only when exercising his wrath. - </p> - <p> - A smell of aromatics spread through the streets. All the temples had just - been opened simultaneously, and from them there came forth tabernacles - borne upon chariots, or upon litters carried by the pontiffs. Great plumes - swayed at the corners of them, and rays were emitted from their slender - pinnacles which terminated in balls of crystal, gold, silver or copper. - </p> - <p> - These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who - were returning to their first cause to humble themselves before his might - and annihilate themselves in his splendour. - </p> - <p> - Melkarth’s pavilion, which was of fine purple, sheltered a petroleum - flare; on Khamon’s, which was of hyacinth colour, there rose an - ivory phallus bordered with a circle of gems; between Eschmoun’s - curtains, which were as blue as the ether, a sleeping python formed a - circle with his tail, and the Patæc gods, held in the arms of their - priests, looked like great infants in swaddling clothes with their heels - touching the ground. - </p> - <p> - Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: Baal-Samin, god of - celestial space; Baal-Peor, god of the sacred mountains; Baal-Zeboub, god - of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and congenerous - races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldæa, the Kijun of the - Syrians; Derceto, with her virgin’s face, crept on her fins, and the - corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a catafalque among - torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the kings of the firmament - to the Sun, and prevent their particular influences from disturbing his, - diversely coloured metal stars were brandished at the end of long poles; - and all were there, from the dark Neblo, the genius of Mercury, to the - hideous Rahab, which is the constellation of the Crocodile. The Abbadirs, - stones which had fallen from the moon, were whirling in slings of silver - thread; little loaves, representing the female form, were born on baskets - by the priests of Ceres; others brought their fetishes and amulets; - forgotten idols reappeared, while the mystic symbols had been taken from - the very ships as though Carthage wished to concentrate herself wholly - upon a single thought of death and desolation. - </p> - <p> - Before each tabernacle a man balanced a large vase of smoking incense on - his head. Clouds hovered here and there, and the hangings, pendants, and - embroideries of the sacred pavilions might be distinguished amid the thick - vapours. These advanced slowly owing to their enormous weight. Sometimes - the axles became fast in the streets; then the pious took advantage of the - opportunity to touch the Baalim with their garments, which they preserved - afterwards as holy things. - </p> - <p> - The brazen statue continued to advance towards the square of Khamon. The - rich, carrying sceptres with emerald balls, set out from the bottom of - Megara; the Ancients, with diadems on their heads, had assembled in - Kinisdo, and masters of the finances, governors of provinces, sailors, and - the numerous horde employed at funerals, all with the insignia of their - magistracies or the instruments of their calling, were making their way - towards the tabernacles which were descending from the Acropolis between - the colleges of the pontiffs. - </p> - <p> - Out of deference to Moloch they had adorned themselves with the most - splendid jewels. Diamonds sparkled on their black garments; but their - rings were too large and fell from their wasted hands,—nor could - there have been anything so mournful as this silent crowd where earrings - tapped against pale faces, and gold tiaras clasped brows contracted with - stern despair. - </p> - <p> - At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His pontiffs - arranged an enclosure with trellis-work to keep off the multitude, and - remained around him at his feet. - </p> - <p> - The priests of Khamon, in tawny woollen robes, formed a line before their - temple beneath the columns of the portico; those of Eschmoun, in linen - mantles with necklaces of koukouphas’ heads and pointed tiaras, - posted themselves on the steps of the Acropolis; the priests of Melkarth, - in violet tunics, took the western side; the priests of the Abbadirs, - clasped with bands of Phrygian stuffs, placed themselves on the east, - while towards the south, with the necromancers all covered with - tattooings, and the shriekers in patched cloaks, were ranged the curates - of the Patæc gods, and the Yidonim, who put the bone of a dead man into - their mouths to learn the future. The priests of Ceres, who were dressed - in blue robes, had prudently stopped in the street of Satheb, and in low - tones were chanting a thesmophorion in the Megarian dialect. - </p> - <p> - From time to time files of men arrived, completely naked, their arms - outstretched, and all holding one another by the shoulders. From the - depths of their breasts they drew forth a hoarse and cavernous intonation; - their eyes, which were fastened upon the colossus, shone through the dust, - and they swayed their bodies simultaneously, and at equal distances, as - though they were all affected by a single movement. They were so frenzied - that to restore order the hierodules compelled them, with blows of the - stick, to lie flat upon the ground, with their faces resting against the - brass trellis-work. - </p> - <p> - Then it was that a man in a white robe advanced from the back of the - square. He penetrated the crowd slowly, and people recognised a priest of - Tanith—the high-priest Schahabarim. Hootings were raised, for the - tyranny of the male principle prevailed that day in all consciences, and - the goddess was actually so completely forgotten that the absence of her - pontiffs had not been noticed. But the amazement was increased when he was - seen to open one of the doors of the trellis-work intended for those who - intended to offer up victims. It was an outrage to their god, thought the - priests of Moloch, that he had just committed, and they sought with eager - gestures to repel him. Fed on the meat of the holocausts, clad in purple - like kings, and wearing triple-storied crowns, they despised the pale - eunuch, weakened with his macerations, and angry laughter shook their - black beards, which were displayed on their breasts in the sun. - </p> - <p> - Schahabarim walked on, giving no reply, and, traversing the whole - enclosure with deliberation, reached the legs of the colossus; then, - spreading out both arms, he touched it on both sides, which was a solemn - form of adoration. For a long time Rabbet had been torturing him, and in - despair, or perhaps for lack of a god that completely satisfied his ideas, - he had at last decided for this one. - </p> - <p> - The crowd, terrified by this act of apostasy, uttered a lengthened murmur. - It was felt that the last tie which bound their souls to a merciful - divinity was breaking. - </p> - <p> - But owing to his mutilation, Schahabarim could take no part in the cult of - the Baal. The men in the red cloaks shut him out from the enclosure; then, - when he was outside, he went round all the colleges in succession, and the - priest, henceforth without a god, disappeared into the crowd. It scattered - at his approach. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile a fire of aloes, cedar, and laurel was burning between the legs - of the colossus. The tips of its long wings dipped into the flame; the - unguents with which it had been rubbed flowed like sweat over its brazen - limbs. Around the circular flagstone on which its feet rested, the - children, wrapped in black veils, formed a motionless circle; and its - extravagantly long arms reached down their palms to them as though to - seize the crown that they formed and carry it to the sky. - </p> - <p> - The rich, the Ancients, the women, the whole multitude, thronged behind - the priests and on the terraces of the houses. The large painted stars - revolved no longer; the tabernacles were set upon the ground; and the - fumes from the censers ascended perpendicularly, spreading their bluish - branches through the azure like gigantic trees. - </p> - <p> - Many fainted; others became inert and petrified in their ecstasy. Infinite - anguish weighed upon the breasts of the beholders. The last shouts died - out one by one,—and the people of Carthage stood breathless, and - absorbed in the longing of their terror. - </p> - <p> - At last the high priest of Moloch passed his left hand beneath the - children’s veils, plucked a lock of hair from their foreheads, and - threw it upon the flames. Then the men in the red cloaks chanted the - sacred hymn: - </p> - <p> - “Homage to thee, Sun! king of the two zones, self-generating - Creator, Father and Mother, Father and Son, God and Goddess, Goddess and - God!” And their voices were lost in the outburst of instruments - sounding simultaneously to drown the cries of the victims. The - eight-stringed scheminiths, the kinnors which had ten strings, and the - nebals which had twelve, grated, whistled, and thundered. Enormous - leathern bags, bristling with pipes, made a shrill clashing noise; the - tabourines, beaten with all the players’ might, resounded with - heavy, rapid blows; and, in spite of the fury of the clarions, the - salsalim snapped like grasshoppers’ wings. - </p> - <p> - The hierodules, with a long hook, opened the seven-storied compartments on - the body of the Baal. They put meal into the highest, two turtle-doves - into the second, an ape into the third, a ram into the fourth, a sheep - into the fifth, and as no ox was to be had for the sixth, a tawny hide - taken from the sanctuary was thrown into it. The seventh compartment - yawned empty still. - </p> - <p> - Before undertaking anything it was well to make trial of the arms of the - god. Slender chainlets stretched from his fingers up to his shoulders and - fell behind, where men by pulling them made the two hands rise to a level - with the elbows, and come close together against the belly; they were - moved several times in succession with little abrupt jerks. Then the - instruments were still. The fire roared. - </p> - <p> - The pontiffs of Moloch walked about on the great flagstone scanning the - multitude. - </p> - <p> - An individual sacrifice was necessary, a perfectly voluntary oblation, - which was considered as carrying the others along with it. But no one had - appeared up to the present, and the seven passages leading from the - barriers to the colossus were completely empty. Then the priests, to - encourage the people, drew bodkins from their girdles and gashed their - faces. The Devotees, who were stretched on the ground outside, were - brought within the enclosure. A bundle of horrible irons was thrown to - them, and each chose his own torture. They drove in spits between their - breasts; they split their cheeks; they put crowns of thorns upon their - heads; then they twined their arms together, and surrounded the children - in another large circle which widened and contracted in turns. They - reached to the balustrade, they threw themselves back again, and then - began once more, attracting the crowd to them by the dizziness of their - motion with its accompanying blood and shrieks. - </p> - <p> - By degrees people came into the end of the passages; they flung into the - flames pearls, gold vases, cups, torches, all their wealth; the offerings - became constantly more numerous and more splendid. At last a man who - tottered, a man pale and hideous with terror, thrust forward a child; then - a little black mass was seen between the hands of the colossus, and sank - into the dark opening. The priests bent over the edge of the great - flagstone,—and a new song burst forth celebrating the joys of death - and of new birth into eternity. - </p> - <p> - The children ascended slowly, and as the smoke formed lofty eddies as it - escaped, they seemed at a distance to disappear in a cloud. Not one - stirred. Their wrists and ankles were tied, and the dark drapery prevented - them from seeing anything and from being recognised. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, in a red cloak, like the priests of Moloch, was beside the Baal, - standing upright in front of the great toe of its right foot. When the - fourteenth child was brought every one could see him make a great gesture - of horror. But he soon resumed his former attitude, folded his arms, and - looked upon the ground. The high pontiff stood on the other side of the - statue as motionless as he. His head, laden with an Assyrian mitre, was - bent, and he was watching the gold plate on his breast; it was covered - with fatidical stones, and the flame mirrored in it formed irisated - lights. He grew pale and dismayed. Hamilcar bent his brow; and they were - both so near the funeral-pile that the hems of their cloaks brushed it as - they rose from time to time. - </p> - <p> - The brazen arms were working more quickly. They paused no longer. Every - time that a child was placed in them the priests of Moloch spread out - their hands upon him to burden him with the crimes of the people, - vociferating: “They are not men but oxen!” and the multitude - round about repeated: “Oxen! oxen!” The devout exclaimed: - “Lord! eat!” and the priests of Proserpine, complying through - terror with the needs of Carthage, muttered the Eleusinian formula: - “Pour out rain! bring forth!” - </p> - <p> - The victims, when scarcely at the edge of the opening, disappeared like a - drop of water on a red-hot plate, and white smoke rose amid the great - scarlet colour. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless, the appetite of the god was not appeased. He ever wished for - more. In order to furnish him with a larger supply, the victims were piled - up on his hands with a big chain above them which kept them in their - place. Some devout persons had at the beginning wished to count them, to - see whether their number corresponded with the days of the solar year; but - others were brought, and it was impossible to distinguish them in the - giddy motion of the horrible arms. This lasted for a long, indefinite time - until the evening. Then the partitions inside assumed a darker glow, and - burning flesh could be seen. Some even believed that they could descry - hair, limbs, and whole bodies. - </p> - <p> - Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeral-pile, which was - flameless now, formed a pyramid of coals up to his knees; completely red - like a giant covered with blood, he looked, with his head thrown back, as - though he were staggering beneath the weight of his intoxication. - </p> - <p> - In proportion as the priests made haste, the frenzy of the people - increased; as the number of the victims was diminishing, some cried out to - spare them, others that still more were needful. The walls, with their - burden of people, seemed to be giving way beneath the howlings of terror - and mystic voluptuousness. Then the faithful came into the passages, - dragging their children, who clung to them; and they beat them in order to - make them let go, and handed them over to the men in red. The - instrument-players sometimes stopped through exhaustion; then the cries of - the mothers might be heard, and the frizzling of the fat as it fell upon - the coals. The henbane-drinkers crawled on all fours around the colossus, - roaring like tigers; the Yidonim vaticinated, the Devotees sang with their - cloven lips; the trellis-work had been broken through, all wished for a - share in the sacrifice;—and fathers, whose children had died - previously, cast their effigies, their playthings, their preserved bones - into the fire. Some who had knives rushed upon the rest. They slaughtered - one another. The hierodules took the fallen ashes at the edge of the - flagstone in bronze fans, and cast them into the air that the sacrifice - might be scattered over the town and even to the region of the stars. - </p> - <p> - The loud noise and great light had attracted the Barbarians to the foot of - the walls; they clung to the wreck of the helepolis to have a better view, - and gazed open-mouthed in horror. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"></a> - CHAPTER XIV - </h2> - <h3> - THE PASS OF THE HATCHET - </h3> - <p> - The Carthaginians had not re-entered their houses when the clouds - accumulated more thickly; those who raised their heads towards the - colossus could feel big drops on their foreheads, and the rain fell. - </p> - <p> - It fell the whole night plentifully, in floods; the thunder growled; it - was the voice of Moloch; he had vanquished Tanith; and she, being now - fecundated, opened up her vast bosom in heaven’s heights. Sometimes - she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched upon cushions of - cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as though she were still - too weary and wished to sleep again; the Carthaginians, all believing that - water is brought forth by the moon, shouted to make her travail easy. - </p> - <p> - The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in the - courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of the - streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big frothy - jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it seemed as though - whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the washed temple-roofs - shone black in the gleam of the lightning. Torrents descended from the - Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses suddenly gave way, and small beams, - plaster, rubbish, and furniture passed along in streams which ran - impetuously over the pavement. - </p> - <p> - Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the - torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of the - Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their mouths - to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their arms into - them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly with water - that they vomited it forth like buffaloes. The freshness gradually spread; - they breathed in the damp air with play of limb, and in the happiness of - their intoxication boundless hope soon arose. All their miseries were - forgotten. Their country was born anew. - </p> - <p> - They felt the need, as it were, of directing upon others the extravagant - fury which they had been unable to employ against themselves. Such a - sacrifice could not be in vain; although they felt no remorse they found - themselves carried away by the frenzy which results from complicity in - irreparable crimes. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians had encountered the storm in their ill-closed tents; and - they were still quite chilled on the morrow as they tramped through the - mud in search of their stores and weapons, which were spoiled and lost. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar went himself to see Hanno, and, in virtue of his plenary powers, - intrusted the command to him. The old Suffet hesitated for a few minutes - between his animosity and his appetite for authority, but he accepted - nevertheless. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar next took out a galley armed with a catapult at each end. He - placed it in the gulf in front of the raft; then he embarked his stoutest - troops on board such vessels as were available. He was apparently taking - to flight; and running northward before the wind he disappeared into the - mist. - </p> - <p> - But three days afterwards, when the attack was about to begin again, some - people arrived tumultuously from the Libyan coast. Barca had come among - them. He had carried off provisions everywhere, and he was spreading - through the country. - </p> - <p> - Then the Barbarians were indignant as though he were betraying them. Those - who were most weary of the siege, and especially the Gauls, did not - hesitate to leave the walls in order to try and rejoin him. Spendius - wanted to reconstruct the helepolis; Matho had traced an imaginary line - from his tent to Megara, and inwardly swore to follow it, and none of - their men stirred. But the rest, under the command of Autaritus, went off, - abandoning the western part of the rampart, and so profound was the - carelessness exhibited that no one even thought of replacing them. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas spied them from afar in the mountains. During the night - he led all his men along the sea-shore on the outer side of the Lagoon, - and entered Carthage. - </p> - <p> - He presented himself as a saviour with six thousand men all carrying meal - under their cloaks, and forty elephants laden with forage and dried meat. - The people flocked quickly around them; they gave them names. The sight of - these strong animals, sacred to Baal, gave the Carthaginians even more joy - than the arrival of such relief; it was a token of the tenderness of the - god, a proof that he was at last about to interfere in the war to defend - them. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas received the compliments of the Ancients. Then he - ascended to Salammbô’s palace. - </p> - <p> - He had not seen her again since the time when in Hamilcar’s tent - amid the five armies he had felt her little, cold, soft hand fastened to - his own; she had left for Carthage after the betrothal. His love, which - had been diverted by other ambitions, had come back to him; and now he - expected to enjoy his rights, to marry her, and take her. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô did not understand how the young man could ever become her - master! Although she asked Tanith every day for Matho’s death, her - horror of the Libyan was growing less. She vaguely felt that the hate with - which he had persecuted her was something almost religious,—and she - would fain have seen in Narr’ Havas’s person a reflection, as - it were, of that malice which still dazzled her. She desired to know him - better, and yet his presence would have embarrassed her. She sent him word - that she could not receive him. - </p> - <p> - Moreover, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit the King of the - Numidians to see her; by putting off his reward to the end of the war he - hoped to retain his devotion;—and, through dread of the Suffet, Narr’ - Havas withdrew. - </p> - <p> - But he bore himself haughtily towards the Hundred. He changed their - arrangements. He demanded privileges for his men, and placed them on - important posts; thus the Barbarians stared when they perceived Numidians - on the towers. - </p> - <p> - The surprise of the Carthaginians was greater still when three hundred of - their own people, who had been made prisoners during the Sicilian war, - arrived on board an old Punic trireme. Hamilcar, in fact, had secretly - sent back to the Quirites the crews of the Latin vessels, taken before the - defection of the Tyrian towns; and, to reciprocate the courtesy, Rome was - now sending him back her captives. She scorned the overtures of the - Mercenaries in Sardinian, and would not even recognise the inhabitants of - Utica as subjects. - </p> - <p> - Hiero, who was ruling at Syracuse, was carried away by this example. For - the preservation of his own States it was necessary that an equilibrium - should exist between the two peoples; he was interested, therefore, in the - safety of the Chanaanites, and he declared himself their friend, and sent - them twelve hundred oxen, with fifty-three thousand nebels of pure wheat. - </p> - <p> - A deeper reason prompted aid to Carthage. It was felt that if the - Mercenaries triumphed, every one, from soldier to plate-washer, would - rise, and that no government and no house could resist them. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile Hamilcar was scouring the eastern districts. He drove back the - Gauls, and all the Barbarians found that they were themselves in something - like a state of siege. - </p> - <p> - Then he set himself to harass them. He would arrive and then retire, and - by constantly renewing this manouvre, he gradually detached them from - their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and in the end - Matho yielded in like manner. - </p> - <p> - He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself up within its walls. This - persistence was full of wisdom, for soon Narr’ Havas was to be seen - issuing from the gate of Khamon with his elephants and soldiers. Hamilcar - was recalling him, but the other Barbarians were already wandering about - in the provinces in pursuit of the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - The latter had received three thousand Gauls from Clypea. He had horses - brought to him from Cyrenaica, and armour from Brutium, and began the war - again. - </p> - <p> - Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. For five moons he - dragged his enemies after him. He had an end to which he wished to guide - them. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians had at first tried to encompass him with small detachments, - but he always escaped them. They ceased to separate then. Their army - amounted to about forty thousand men, and several times they enjoyed the - sight of seeing the Carthaginians fall back. - </p> - <p> - The horsemen of Narr’ Havas were what they found most tormenting. - Often, at times of the greatest weariness, when they were advancing over - the plains, and dozing beneath the weight of their arms, a great line of - dust would suddenly rise on the horizon; there would be a galloping up to - them, and a rain of darts would pour from the bosom of a cloud filled with - flaming eyes. The Numidians in their white cloaks would utter loud shouts, - raise their arms, press their rearing stallions with their knees, and, - wheeling them round abruptly, would then disappear. They had always - supplies of javelins and dromedaries some distance off, and they would - return more terrible than before, howl like wolves, and take to flight - like vultures. The Barbarians posted at the extremities of the files fell - one by one; and this would continue until evening, when an attempt would - be made to enter the mountains. - </p> - <p> - Although they were perilous for elephants, Hamilcar made his way in among - them. He followed the long chain which extends from the promontory of - Hermæum to the top of Zagouan. This, they believed, was a device for - hiding the insufficiency of his troops. But the continual uncertainty in - which he kept them exasperated them at last more than any defeat. They did - not lose heart, and marched after him. - </p> - <p> - At last one evening they surprised a body of velites amid some big rocks - at the entrance of a pass between the Silver Mountain and the Lead - Mountain; the entire army was certainly in front of them, for a noise of - footsteps and clarions could be heard; the Carthaginians immediately fled - through the gorge. It descended into a plain, and was shaped like an iron - hatchet with a surrounding of lofty cliffs. The Barbarians dashed into it - in order to overtake the velites; quite at the bottom other Carthaginians - were running tumultuously amid galloping oxen. A man in a red cloak was to - be seen; it was the Suffet; they shouted this to one another; and they - were carried away with increased fury and joy. Several, from laziness or - prudence, had remained on the threshold of the pass. But some cavalry, - debouching from a wood, beat them down upon the rest with blows of pike - and sabre; and soon all the Barbarians were below in the plain. - </p> - <p> - Then this great human mass, after swaying to and fro for some time, stood - still; they could discover no outlet. - </p> - <p> - Those who were nearest to the pass went back again, but the passage had - entirely disappeared. They hailed those in front to make them go on; they - were being crushed against the mountain, and from a distance they - inveighed against their companions, who were unable to find the route - again. - </p> - <p> - In fact the Barbarians had scarcely descended when men who had been - crouching behind the rocks raised the latter with beams and overthrew - them, and as the slope was steep the huge blocks had rolled down pell-mell - and completely stopped up the narrow opening. - </p> - <p> - At the other extremity of the plain stretched a long passage, split in - gaps here and there, and leading to a ravine which ascended to the upper - plateau, where the Punic army was stationed. Ladders had been placed - beforehand in this passage against the wall of cliff; and, protected by - the windings of the gaps, the velites were able to seize and mount them - before being overtaken. Several even made their way to the bottom of the - ravine; they were drawn up with cables, for the ground at this spot was of - moving sand, and so much inclined that it was impossible to climb it even - on the knees. The Barbarians arrived almost immediately. But a portcullis, - forty cubits high, and made to fit the intervening space exactly, suddenly - sank before them like a rampart fallen from the skies. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet’s combinations had therefore succeeded. None of the - Mercenaries knew the mountain, and, marching as they did at the head of - their columns, they had drawn on the rest. The rocks, which were somewhat - narrow at the base, had been easily cast down; and, while all were - running, his army had raised shouts, as of distress, on the horizon. - Hamilcar, it is true, might have lost his velites, only half of whom - remained, but he would have sacrificed twenty times as many for the - success of such an enterprise. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians pressed forward until morning, in compact files, from one - end of the plain to the other. They felt the mountain with their hands, - seeking to discover a passage. - </p> - <p> - At last day broke; and they perceived all about them a great white wall - hewn with the pick. And no means of safety, no hope! The two natural - outcomes from this blind alley were closed by the portcullis and the heaps - of rocks. - </p> - <p> - Then they all looked at one another without speaking. They sank down in - collapse, feeling an icy coldness in their loins, and an overwhelming - weight upon their eyelids. - </p> - <p> - They rose, and bounded against the rocks. But the lowest were weighted by - the pressure of the others, and were immovable. They tried to cling to - them so as to reach the top, but the bellying shape of the great masses - rendered all hold impossible. They sought to cleave the ground on both - sides of the gorge, but their instruments broke. They made a large fire - with the tent poles, but the fire could not burn the mountain. - </p> - <p> - They returned to the portcullis; it was garnished with long nails as thick - as stakes, as sharp as the spines of a porcupine, and closer than the - hairs of a brush. But they were animated by such rage that they dashed - themselves against it. The first were pierced to the backbone, those - coming next surged over them, and all fell back, leaving human fragments - and bloodstained hair on those horrible branches. - </p> - <p> - When their discouragement was somewhat abated, they made an examination of - the provisions. The Mercenaries, whose baggage was lost, possessed - scarcely enough for two days; and all the rest found themselves destitute,—for - they had been awaiting a convoy promised by the villages of the South. - </p> - <p> - However, some bulls were roaming about, those which the Carthaginians had - loosed in the gorge to attract the Barbarians. They killed them with lance - thrusts and ate them, and when their stomachs were filled their thoughts - were less mournful. - </p> - <p> - The next day they slaughtered all the mules to the number of about forty; - then they scraped the skins, boiled the entrails, pounded the bones, and - did not yet despair; the army from Tunis had no doubt been warned, and was - coming. - </p> - <p> - But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger increased; they gnawed - their sword-belts, and the little sponges which bordered the bottom of - their helmets. - </p> - <p> - These forty thousand men were massed into the species of hippodrome formed - by the mountain about them. Some remained in front of the portcullis, or - at the foot of the rocks; the rest covered the plain confusedly. The - strong shunned one another, and the timid sought out the brave, who, - nevertheless, were unable to save them. - </p> - <p> - To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily buried; - and the position of the graves was no longer visible. - </p> - <p> - All the Barbarians lay drooping on the ground. A veteran would pass - between their lines here and there; and they would howl curses against the - Carthaginians, against Hamilcar, and against Matho, although he was - innocent of their disaster; but it seemed to them that their pains would - have been less if he had shared them. Then they groaned, and some wept - softly like little children. - </p> - <p> - They came to the captains and besought them to grant them something that - would alleviate their sufferings. The others made no reply; or, seized - with fury, would pick up a stone and fling it in their faces. - </p> - <p> - Several, in fact, carefully kept a reserve of food in a hole in the ground—a - few handfuls of dates, or a little meal; and they ate this during the - night, with their heads bent beneath their cloaks. Those who had swords - kept them naked in their hands, and the most suspicious remained standing - with their backs against the mountain. - </p> - <p> - They accused their chiefs and threatened them. Autaritus was not afraid of - showing himself. With the Barbaric obstinacy which nothing could - discourage, he would advance twenty times a day to the rocks at the - bottom, hoping every time to find them perchance displaced; and swaying - his heavy fur-covered shoulders, he reminded his companions of a bear - coming forth from its cave in springtime to see whether the snows are - melted. - </p> - <p> - Spendius, surrounded by the Greeks, hid himself in one of the gaps; as he - was afraid, he caused a rumour of his death to be spread. - </p> - <p> - They were now hideously lean; their skin was overlaid with bluish - marblings. On the evening of the ninth day three Iberians died. - </p> - <p> - Their frightened companions left the spot. They were stripped, and the - white, naked bodies lay in the sunshine on the sand. - </p> - <p> - Then the Garamantians began to prowl slowly round about them. They were - men accustomed to existence in solitude, and they reverenced no god. At - last the oldest of the band made a sign, and bending over the corpses they - cut strips from them with their knives, then squatted upon their heels and - ate. The rest looked on from a distance; they uttered cries of horror;—many, - nevertheless, being, at the bottom of their souls, jealous of such - courage. - </p> - <p> - In the middle of the night some of these approached, and, dissembling - their eagerness, asked for a small mouthful, merely to try, they said. - Bolder ones came up; their number increased; there was soon a crowd. But - almost all of them let their hands fall on feeling the cold flesh on the - edge of their lips; others, on the contrary, devoured it with delight. - </p> - <p> - That they might be led away by example, they urged one another on - mutually. Such as had at first refused went to see the Garamantians, and - returned no more. They cooked the pieces on coals at the point of the - sword; they salted them with dust, and contended for the best morsels. - When nothing was left of the three corpses, their eyes ranged over the - whole plain to find others. - </p> - <p> - But were they not in possession of Carthaginians—twenty captives - taken in the last encounter, whom no one had noticed up to the present? - These disappeared; moreover, it was an act of vengeance. Then, as they - must live, as the taste for this food had become developed, and as they - were dying, they cut the throats of the water-carriers, grooms, and all - the serving-men belonging to the Mercenaries. They killed some of them - every day. Some ate much, recovered strength, and were sad no more. - </p> - <p> - Soon this resource failed. Then the longing was directed to the wounded - and sick. Since they could not recover, it was as well to release them - from their tortures; and, as soon as a man began to stagger, all exclaimed - that he was now lost, and ought to be made use of for the rest. Artifices - were employed to accelerate their death; the last remnant of their foul - portion was stolen from them; they were trodden on as though by - inadvertence; those in the last throes wishing to make believe that they - were strong, strove to stretch out their arms, to rise, to laugh. Men who - had swooned came to themselves at the touch of a notched blade sawing off - a limb;—and they still slew, ferociously and needlessly, to sate - their fury. - </p> - <p> - A mist heavy and warm, such as comes in those regions at the end of - winter, sank on the fourteenth day upon the army. This change of - temperature brought numerous deaths with it, and corruption was developed - with frightful rapidity in the warm dampness which was kept in by the - sides of the mountain. The drizzle that fell upon the corpses softened - them, and soon made the plain one broad tract of rottenness. Whitish - vapours floated overhead; they pricked the nostrils, penetrated the skin, - and troubled the sight; and the Barbarians thought that through the - exhalations of the breath they could see the souls of their companions. - They were overwhelmed with immense disgust. They wished for nothing more; - they preferred to die. - </p> - <p> - Two days afterwards the weather became fine again, and hunger seized them - once more. It seemed to them that their stomachs were being wrenched from - them with tongs. Then they rolled about in convulsions, flung handfuls of - dust into their mouths, bit their arms, and burst into frantic laughter. - </p> - <p> - They were still more tormented by thirst, for they had not a drop of - water, the leathern bottles having been completely dried up since the - ninth day. To cheat their need they applied their tongues to the metal - plates on their waist-belts, their ivory pommels, and the steel of their - swords. Some former caravan-leaders tightened their waists with ropes. - Others sucked a pebble. They drank urine cooled in their brazen helmets. - </p> - <p> - And they still expected the army from Tunis! The length of time which it - took in coming was, according to their conjectures, an assurance of its - early arrival. Besides, Matho, who was a brave fellow, would not desert - them. “’Twill be to-morrow!” they would say to one - another; and then to-morrow would pass. - </p> - <p> - At the beginning they had offered up prayers and vows, and practised all - kinds of incantations. Just now their only feeling to their divinities was - one of hatred, and they strove to revenge themselves by believing in them - no more. - </p> - <p> - Men of violent disposition perished first; the Africans held out better - than the Gauls. Zarxas lay stretched at full length among the Balearians, - his hair over his arm, inert. Spendius found a plant with broad leaves - filled abundantly with juice, and after declaring that it was poisonous, - so as to keep off the rest, he fed himself upon it. - </p> - <p> - They were too weak to knock down the flying crows with stones. Sometimes - when a gypaëtus was perched on a corpse, and had been mangling it for a - long time, a man would set himself to crawl towards it with a javelin - between his teeth. He would support himself with one hand, and after - taking a good aim, throw his weapon. The white-feathered creature, - disturbed by the noise, would desist and look about in tranquil fashion - like a cormorant on a rock, and would then again thrust in its hideous, - yellow beak, while the man, in despair, would fall flat on his face in the - dust. Some succeeded in discovering chameleons and serpents. But it was - the love of life that kept them alive. They directed their souls to this - idea exclusively, and clung to existence by an effort of the will that - prolonged it. - </p> - <p> - The most stoical kept close to one another, seated in a circle here and - there, among the dead in the middle of the plain; and wrapped in their - cloaks they gave themselves up silently to their sadness. - </p> - <p> - Those who had been born in towns recalled the resounding streets, the - taverns, theatres, baths, and the barbers’ shops where there are - tales to be heard. Others could once more see country districts at sunset, - when the yellow corn waves, and the great oxen ascend the hills again with - the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers dreamed of cisterns, hunters - of their forests, veterans of battles; and in the somnolence that benumbed - them their thoughts jostled one another with the precipitancy and - clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came suddenly upon them; they sought - for a door in the mountain in order to flee, and tried to pass through it. - Others thought that they were sailing in a storm and gave orders for the - handling of a ship, or else fell back in terror, perceiving Punic - battalions in the clouds. There were some who imagined themselves at a - feast, and sang. - </p> - <p> - Many through a strange mania would repeat the same word or continually - make the same gesture. Then when they happened to raise their heads and - look at one another they were choked with sobs on discovering the horrible - ravages made in their faces. Some had ceased to suffer, and to while away - the hours told of the perils which they had escaped. - </p> - <p> - Death was certain and imminent to all. How many times had they not tried - to open up a passage! As to implore terms from the conqueror, by what - means could they do so? They did not even know where Hamilcar was. - </p> - <p> - The wind was blowing from the direction of the ravine. It made the sand - flow perpetually in cascades over the portcullis; and the cloaks and hair - of the Barbarians were being covered with it as though the earth were - rising upon them and desirous of burying them. Nothing stirred; the - eternal mountain seemed still higher to them every morning. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes flights of birds darted past beneath the blue sky in the freedom - of the air. The men closed their eyes that they might not see them. - </p> - <p> - At first they felt a buzzing in their ears, their nails grew black, the - cold reached to their breasts; they lay upon their sides and expired - without a cry. - </p> - <p> - On the nineteenth day two thousand Asiatics were dead, with fifteen - hundred from the Archipelago, eight thousand from Libya, the youngest of - the Mercenaries and whole tribes—in all twenty thousand soldiers, or - half of the army. - </p> - <p> - Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in - order to put an end to this state of things, when he thought he saw a man - on the top of the mountain in front of him. - </p> - <p> - Owing to his elevation this man did not appear taller than a dwarf. - However, Autaritus recognised a shield shaped like a trefoil on his left - arm. “A Carthaginian!” he exclaimed, and immediately - throughout the plain, before the portcullis and beneath the rocks, all - rose. The soldier was walking along the edge of the precipice; the - Barbarians gazed at him from below. - </p> - <p> - Spendius picked up the head of an ox; then having formed a diadem with two - belts, he fixed it on the horns at the end of a pole in token of pacific - intentions. The Carthaginian disappeared. They waited. - </p> - <p> - At last in the evening a sword-belt suddenly fell from above like a stone - loosened from the cliff. It was made of red leather covered with - embroidery, with three diamond stars, and stamped in the centre, it bore - the mark of the Great Council: a horse beneath a palm-tree. This was - Hamilcar’s reply, the safe-conduct that he sent them. - </p> - <p> - They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune brought with it the end of - their woes. They were moved with extravagant joy, they embraced one - another, they wept. Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas, four Italiotes, a - Negro and two Spartans offered themselves as envoys. They were immediately - accepted. They did not know, however, by what means they should get away. - </p> - <p> - But a cracking sounded in the direction of the rocks; and the most - elevated of them, after rocking to and fro, rebounded to the bottom. In - fact, if they were immovable on the side of the Barbarians—for it - would have been necessary to urge them up an incline plane, and they were, - moreover, heaped together owing to the narrowness of the gorge—on - the others, on the contrary, it was sufficient to drive against them with - violence to make them descend. The Carthaginians pushed them, and at - daybreak they projected into the plain like the steps of an immense ruined - staircase. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were still unable to climb them. Ladders were held out for - their assistance; all rushed upon them. The discharge of a catapult drove - the crowd back; only the Ten were taken away. - </p> - <p> - They walked amid the Clinabarians, leaning their hands on the horses’ - croups for support. - </p> - <p> - Now that their first joy was over they began to harbour anxieties. - Hamilcar’s demands would be cruel. But Spendius reassured them. - </p> - <p> - “<i>I</i> will speak!” And he boasted that he knew excellent - things to say for the safety of the army. - </p> - <p> - Behind all the bushes they met with ambushed sentries, who prostrated - themselves before the sword-belt which Spendius had placed over his - shoulder. - </p> - <p> - When they reached the Punic camp the crowd flocked around them, and they - thought that they could hear whisperings and laughter. The door of a tent - opened. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was at the very back of it seated on a stool beside a table on - which there shone a naked sword. He was surrounded by captains, who were - standing. - </p> - <p> - He started back on perceiving these men, and then bent over to examine - them. - </p> - <p> - Their pupils were strangely dilated, and there was a great black circle - round their eyes, which extended to the lower parts of their ears; their - bluish noses stood out between their hollow cheeks, which were chinked - with deep wrinkles; the skin of their bodies was too large for their - muscles, and was hidden beneath a slate-coloured dust; their lips were - glued to their yellow teeth; they exhaled an infectious odour; they might - have been taken for half-opened tombs, for living sepulchres. - </p> - <p> - In the centre of the tent, on a mat on which the captains were about to - sit down, there was a dish of smoking gourds. The Barbarians fastened - their eyes upon it with a shivering in all their limbs, and tears came to - their eyelids; nevertheless they restrained themselves. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar turned away to speak to some one. Then they all flung themselves - upon it, flat on the ground. Their faces were soaked in the fat, and the - noise of their deglutition was mingled with the sobs of joy which they - uttered. Through astonishment, doubtless, rather than pity, they were - allowed to finish the mess. Then when they had risen Hamilcar with a sign - commanded the man who bore the sword-belt to speak. Spendius was afraid; - he stammered. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar, while listening to him, kept turning round on his finger a big - gold ring, the same which had stamped the seal of Carthage upon the - sword-belt. He let it fall to the ground; Spendius immediately picked it - up; his servile habits came back to him in the presence of his master. The - others quivered with indignation at such baseness. - </p> - <p> - But the Greek raised his voice and spoke for a long time in rapid, - insidious, and even violent fashion, setting forth the crimes of Hanno, - whom he knew to be Barca’s enemy, and striving to move Hamilcar’s - pity by the details of their miseries and the recollection of their - devotion; in the end he became forgetful of himself, being carried away by - the warmth of his temper. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar replied that he accepted their excuses. Peace, then, was about to - be concluded, and now it would be a definitive one! But he required that - ten Mercenaries, chosen by himself, should be delivered up to him without - weapons or tunics. - </p> - <p> - They had not expected such clemency; Spendius exclaimed: “Ah! twenty - if you wish, master!” - </p> - <p> - “No! ten will suffice,” replied Hamilcar quietly. - </p> - <p> - They were sent out of the tent to deliberate. As soon as they were alone, - Autaritus protested against the sacrifice of their companions, and Zarxas - said to Spendius: - </p> - <p> - “Why did you not kill him? his sword was there beside you!” - </p> - <p> - “Him!” said Spendius. “Him! him!” he repeated - several times, as though the thing had been impossible, and Hamilcar were - an immortal. - </p> - <p> - They were so overwhelmed with weariness that they stretched themselves on - their backs on the ground, not knowing at what resolution to arrive. - </p> - <p> - Spendius urged them to yield. At last they consented, and went in again. - </p> - <p> - Then the Suffet put his hand into the hands of the ten Barbarians in turn, - and pressed their thumbs; then he rubbed it on his garment, for their - viscous skin gave a rude, soft impression to the touch, a greasy tingling - which induced horripilation. Afterwards he said to them: - </p> - <p> - “You are really all the chiefs of the Barbarians, and you have sworn - for them?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes!” they replied. - </p> - <p> - “Without constraint, from the bottom of your souls, with the - intention of fulfilling your promises?” - </p> - <p> - They assured him that they were returning to the rest in order to fulfil - them. - </p> - <p> - “Well!” rejoined the Suffet, “in accordance with the - convention concluded between myself, Barca, and the ambassadors of the - Mercenaries, it is you whom I choose and shall keep!” - </p> - <p> - Spendius fell swooning upon the mat. The Barbarians, as though abandoning - him, pressed close together; and there was not a word, not a complaint. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Their companions, who were waiting for them, not seeing them return, - believed themselves betrayed. The envoys had no doubt given themselves up - to the Suffet. - </p> - <p> - They waited for two days longer; then on the morning of the third, their - resolution was taken. With ropes, picks, and arrows, arranged like rungs - between strips of canvas, they succeeded in scaling the rocks; and leaving - the weakest, about three thousand in number, behind them, they began their - march to rejoin the army at Tunis. - </p> - <p> - Above the gorge there stretched a meadow thinly sown with shrubs; the - Barbarians devoured the buds. Afterwards they found a field of beans; and - everything disappeared as though a cloud of grasshoppers had passed that - way. Three hours later they reached a second plateau bordered by a belt of - green hills. - </p> - <p> - Among the undulations of these hillocks, silvery sheaves shone at - intervals from one another; the Barbarians, who were dazzled by the sun, - could perceive confusedly below great black masses supporting them; these - rose, as though they were expanding. They were lances in towers on - elephants terribly armed. - </p> - <p> - Besides the spears on their breasts, the bodkin tusks, the brass plates - which covered their sides, and the daggers fastened to their knee-caps, - they had at the extremity of their tusks a leathern bracelet, in which the - handle of a broad cutlass was inserted; they had set out simultaneously - from the back part of the plain, and were advancing on both sides in - parallel lines. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians were frozen with a nameless terror. They did not even try - to flee. They already found themselves surrounded. - </p> - <p> - The elephants entered into this mass of men; and the spurs on their - breasts divided it, the lances on their tusks upturned it like - ploughshares; they cut, hewed, and hacked with the scythes on their - trunks; the towers, which were full of phalaricas, looked like volcanoes - on the march; nothing could be distinguished but a large heap, whereon - human flesh, pieces of brass and blood made white spots, grey sheets and - red fuses. The horrible animals dug out black furrows as they passed - through the midst of it all. - </p> - <p> - The fiercest was driven by a Numidian who was crowned with a diadem of - plumes. He hurled javelins with frightful quickness, giving at intervals a - long shrill whistle. The great beasts, docile as dogs, kept an eye on him - during the carnage. - </p> - <p> - The circle of them narrowed by degrees; the weakened Barbarians offered no - resistance; the elephants were soon in the centre of the plain. They - lacked space; they thronged half-rearing together, and their tusks clashed - against one another. Suddenly Narr’ Havas quieted them, and wheeling - round they trotted back to the hills. - </p> - <p> - Two syntagmata, however, had taken refuge on the right in a bend of - ground, had thrown away their arms, and were all kneeling with their faces - towards the Punic tents imploring mercy with uplifted arms. - </p> - <p> - Their legs and hands were tied; then when they were stretched on the - ground beside one another the elephants were brought back. - </p> - <p> - Their breasts cracked like boxes being forced; two were crushed at every - step; the big feet sank into the bodies with a motion of the haunches - which made the elephants appear lame. They went on to the very end. - </p> - <p> - The level surface of the plain again became motionless. Night fell. - Hamilcar was delighting himself with the spectacle of his vengeance, but - suddenly he started. - </p> - <p> - He saw, and all saw, some more Barbarians six hundred paces to the left on - the summit of a peak! In fact four hundred of the stoutest Mercenaries, - Etruscans, Libyans, and Spartans had gained the heights at the beginning, - and had remained there in uncertainty until now. After the massacre of - their companions they resolved to make their way through the - Carthaginians; they were already descending in serried columns, in a - marvellous and formidable fashion. - </p> - <p> - A herald was immediately despatched to them. The Suffet needed soldiers; - he received them unconditionally, so greatly did he admire their bravery. - They could even, said the man of Carthage, come a little nearer, to a - place, which he pointed out to them, where they would find provisions. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians ran thither and spent the night in eating. Then the - Carthaginians broke into clamours against the Suffet’s partiality - for the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - Did he yield to these outbursts of insatiable hatred or was it a - refinement of treachery? The next day he came himself, without a sword and - bare-headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and announced to them that - having too many to feed he did not intend to keep them. Nevertheless, as - he wanted men and he knew of no means of selecting the good ones, they - were to fight together to the death; he would then admit the conquerors - into his own body-guard. This death was quite as good as another;—and - then moving his soldiers aside (for the Punic standards hid the horizon - from the Mercenaries) he showed them the one hundred and ninety-two - elephants under Narr’ Havas, forming a single straight line, their - trunks brandishing broad steel blades like giant arms holding axes above - their heads. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that made - them turn pale, but the horrible compulsion to which they found themselves - reduced. - </p> - <p> - The community of their lives had brought about profound friendship among - these men. The camp, with most, took the place of their country; living - without a family they transferred the needful tenderness to a companion, - and they would fall asleep in the starlight side by side under the same - cloak. And then in their perpetual wanderings through all sorts of - countries, murders, and adventures, they had contracted affections, one - for the other, in which the stronger protected the younger in the midst of - battles, helped him to cross precipices, sponged the sweat of fevers from - his brow, and stole food for him, and the weaker, a child perhaps, who had - been picked up on the roadside, and had then become a Mercenary, repaid - this devotion by a thousand kindnesses. - </p> - <p> - They exchanged their necklaces and earrings, presents which they had made - to one another in former days, after great peril, or in hours of - intoxication. All asked to die, and none would strike. A young fellow - might be seen here and there, saying to another whose beard was grey: - “No! no! you are more robust! you will avenge us, kill me!” - and the man would reply: “I have fewer years to live! Strike to the - heart, and think no more about it!” Brothers gazed on one another - with clasped hands, and friend bade friend eternal farewells, standing and - weeping upon his shoulder. - </p> - <p> - They threw off their cuirasses that the sword-points might be thrust in - the more quickly. Then there appeared the marks of the great blows which - they had received for Carthage, and which looked like inscriptions on - columns. - </p> - <p> - They placed themselves in four equal ranks, after the fashion of - gladiators, and began with timid engagements. Some had even bandaged their - eyes, and their swords waved gently through the air like blind men’s - sticks. The Carthaginians hooted, and shouted to them that they were - cowards. The Barbarians became animated, and soon the combat as general, - headlong, and terrible. - </p> - <p> - Sometimes two men all covered with blood would stop, fall into each other’s - arms, and die with mutual kisses. None drew back. They rushed upon the - extended blades. Their delirium was so frenzied that the Carthaginians in - the distance were afraid. - </p> - <p> - At last they stopped. Their breasts made a great hoarse noise, and their - eyeballs could be seen through their long hair, which hung down as though - it had come out of a purple bath. Several were turning round rapidly, like - panthers wounded in the forehead. Others stood motionless looking at a - corpse at their feet; then they would suddenly tear their faces with their - nails, take their swords with both hands, and plunge them into their own - bodies. - </p> - <p> - There were still sixty left. They asked for drink. They were told by - shouts to throw away their swords, and when they had done so water was - brought to them. - </p> - <p> - While they were drinking, with their faces buried in the vases, sixty - Carthaginians leaped upon them and killed them with stiletos in the back. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar had done this to gratify the instincts of his army, and, by means - of this treachery, to attach it to his own person. - </p> - <p> - The war, then, was ended; at least he believed that it was; Matho would - not resist; in his impatience the Suffet commanded an immediate departure. - </p> - <p> - His scouts came to tell him that a convoy had been descried, departing - towards the Lead Mountain. Hamilcar did not trouble himself about it. The - Mercenaries once annihilated, the Nomads would give him no further - trouble. The important matter was to take Tunis. He advanced by forced - marches upon it. - </p> - <p> - He had sent Narr’ Havas to Carthage with the news of his victory; - and the King of the Numidians, proud of his success, visited Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - She received him in her gardens under a large sycamore tree, amid pillows - of yellow leather, and with Taanach beside her. Her face was covered with - a white scarf, which, passing over her mouth and forehead, allowed only - her eyes to be seen; but her lips shone in the transparency of the tissue - like the gems on her fingers, for Salammbô had both her hands wrapped up, - and did not make a gesture during the whole conversation. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas announced the defeat of the Barbarians to her. She - thanked him with a blessing for the services which he had rendered to her - father. Then he began to tell her about the whole campaign. - </p> - <p> - The doves on the palm trees around them cooed softly, and other birds - fluttered amid the grass: ring-necked glareolas, Tartessus quails and - Punic guinea-fowl. The garden, long uncultivated, had multiplied its - verdure; coloquintidas mounted into the branches of cassias, the asclepias - was scattered over fields of roses, all kinds of vegetation formed - entwinings and bowers; and here and there, as in the woods, sun-rays, - descending obliquely, marked the shadow of a leaf upon the ground. - Domestic animals, grown wild again, fled at the slightest noise. Sometimes - a gazelle might be seen trailing scattered peacocks’ feathers after - its little black hoofs. The clamours of the distant town were lost in the - murmuring of the waves. The sky was quite blue, and not a sail was visible - on the sea. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had ceased speaking; Salammbô was looking at him without - replying. He wore a linen robe with flowers painted on it, and with gold - fringes at the hem; two silver arrows fastened his plaited hair at the - tips of his ears; his right hand rested on a pike-staff adorned with - circles of electrum and tufts of hair. - </p> - <p> - As she watched him a crowd of dim thoughts absorbed her. This young man, - with his gentle voice and feminine figure, captivated her eyes by the - grace of his person, and seemed to her like an elder sister sent by the - Baals to protect her. The recollection of Matho came upon her, nor did she - resist the desire to learn what had become of him. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas replied that the Carthaginians were advancing towards - Tunis to take it. In proportion as he set forth their chances of success - and Matho’s weaknesses, she seemed to rejoice in extraordinary hope. - Her lips trembled, her breast panted. When he finally promised to kill him - himself, she exclaimed: “Yes! kill him! It must be so!” - </p> - <p> - The Numidian replied that he desired this death ardently, since he would - be her husband when the war was over. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô started, and bent her head. - </p> - <p> - But Narr’ Havas, pursuing the subject, compared his longings to - flowers languishing for rain, or to lost travellers waiting for the day. - He told her, further, that she was more beautiful than the moon, better - than the wind of morning or than the face of a guest. He would bring for - her from the country of the Blacks things such as there were none in - Carthage, and the apartments in their house should be sanded with gold - dust. - </p> - <p> - Evening fell, and odours of balsam were exhaled. For a long time they - looked at each other in silence, and Salammbô’s eyes, in the depths - of her long draperies, resembled two stars in the rift of a cloud. Before - the sun set he withdrew. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients felt themselves relieved of a great anxiety, when he left - Carthage. The people had received him with even more enthusiastic - acclamations than on the first occasion. If Hamilcar and the King of the - Numidians triumphed alone over the Mercenaries it would be impossible to - resist them. To weaken Barca they therefore resolved to make the aged - Hanno, him whom they loved, a sharer in the deliverance of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - He proceeded immediately towards the western provinces, to take his - vengeance in the very places which had witnessed his shame. But the - inhabitants and the Barbarians were dead, hidden, or fled. Then his anger - was vented upon the country. He burnt the ruins of the ruins, he did not - leave a single tree nor a blade of grass; the children and the infirm, - that were met with, were tortured; he gave the women to his soldiers to be - violated before they were slaughtered. - </p> - <p> - Often, on the crests of the hills, black tents were struck as though - overturned by the wind, and broad, brilliantly bordered discs, which were - recognised as being chariot-wheels, revolved with a plaintive sound as - they gradually disappeared in the valleys. The tribes, which had abandoned - the siege of Carthage, were wandering in this way through the provinces, - waiting for an opportunity, or for some victory to be gained by the - Mercenaries, in order to return. But, whether from terror or famine, they - all took the roads to their native lands, and disappeared. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar was not jealous of Hanno’s successes. Nevertheless he was - in a hurry to end matters; he commanded him to fall back upon Tunis; and - Hanno, who loved his country, was under the walls of the town on the - appointed day. - </p> - <p> - For its protection it had its aboriginal population, twelve thousand - Mercenaries, and, in addition, all the Eaters of Uncleanness, for like - Matho they were riveted to the horizon of Carthage, and plebs and - schalischim gazed at its lofty walls from afar, looking back in thought to - boundless enjoyments. With this harmony of hatred, resistance was briskly - organised. Leathern bottles were taken to make helmets; all the palm-trees - in the gardens were cut down for lances; cisterns were dug; while for - provisions they caught on the shores of the lake big white fish, fed on - corpses and filth. Their ramparts, kept in ruins now by the jealousy of - Carthage, were so weak that they could be thrown down with a push of the - shoulder. Matho stopped up the holes in them with the stones of the - houses. It was the last struggle; he hoped for nothing, and yet he told - himself that fortune was fickle. - </p> - <p> - As the Carthaginians approached they noticed a man on the rampart who - towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that flew - about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of swallows. - Extraordinary to say, none of them touched him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar pitched his camp on the south side; Narr’ Havas, to his - right, occupied the plain of Rhades, and Hanno the shore of the lake; and - the three generals were to maintain their respective positions, so as all - to attack the walls simultaneously. - </p> - <p> - But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish - them like slaves. He had the ten ambassadors crucified beside one another - on a hillock in front of the town. - </p> - <p> - At the sight of this the besieged forsook the rampart. - </p> - <p> - Matho had said to himself that if he could pass between the walls and Narr’ - Havas’s tents with such rapidity that the Numidians had not time to - come out, he could fall upon the rear of the Carthaginian infantry, who - would be caught between his division and those inside. He dashed out with - his veterans. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas perceived him; he crossed the shore of the lake, and - came to warn Hanno to dispatch men to Hamilcar’s assistance. Did he - believe Barca too weak to resist the Mercenaries? Was it a piece of - treachery or folly? No one could ever learn. - </p> - <p> - Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesitate. He shouted - orders to sound the trumpets, and his whole army rushed upon the - Barbarians. The latter returned, and ran straight against the - Carthaginians; they knocked them down, crushed them under their feet, and, - driving them back in this way, reached the tent of Hanno, who was then - surrounded by thirty Carthaginians, the most illustrious of the Ancients. - </p> - <p> - He appeared stupefied by their audacity; he called for his captains. Every - one thrust his fist under his throat, vociferating abuse. The crowd - pressed on; and those who had their hands on him could scarce retain their - hold. However, he tried to whisper to them: “I will gave you - whatever you want! I am rich! Save me!” They dragged him along; - heavy as he was his feet did not touch the ground. The Ancients had been - carried off. His terror increased. “You have beaten me! I am your - captive! I will ransom myself! Listen to me, my friends!” and borne - along by all those shoulders which were pressed against his sides, he - repeated: “What are you going to do? What do you want? You can see - that I am not obstanite! I have always been good-natured!” - </p> - <p> - A gigantic cross stood at the gate. The Barbarians howled: “Here! - here!” But he raised his voice still higher; and in the names of - their gods he called upon them to lead him to the schalischim, because he - wished to confide to him something on which their safety depended. - </p> - <p> - They paused, some asserting that it was right to summon Matho. He was sent - for. - </p> - <p> - Hanno fell upon the grass; and he saw around him other crosses also, as - though the torture by which he was about to perish had been multiplied - beforehand; he made efforts to convince himself that he was mistaken, that - there was only one, and even to believe that there were none at all. At - last he was lifted up. - </p> - <p> - “Speak!” said Matho. - </p> - <p> - He offered to give up Hamilcar; then they would enter Carthage and both be - kings. - </p> - <p> - Matho withdrew, signing to the others to make haste. It was a stratagem, - he thought, to gain time. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarian was mistaken; Hanno was in an extremity when consideration - is had to nothing, and, moreover, he so execrated Hamilcar that he would - have sacrificed him and all his soldiers on the slightest hope of safety. - </p> - <p> - The Ancients were languishing on the ground at the foot of the crosses; - ropes had already been passed beneath their armpits. Then the old Suffet, - understanding that he must die, wept. - </p> - <p> - They tore off the clothes that were still left on him—and the horror - of his person appeared. Ulcers covered the nameless mass; the fat on his - legs hid the nails on his feet; from his fingers there hung what looked - like greenish strips; and the tears streaming through the tubercles on his - cheeks gave to his face an expression of frightful sadness, for they - seemed to take up more room than on another human face. His royal fillet, - which was half unfastened, trailed with his white hair in the dust. - </p> - <p> - They thought that they had no ropes strong enough to haul him up to the - top of the cross, and they nailed him upon it, after the Punic fashion, - before it was erected. But his pride awoke in his pain. He began to - overwhelm them with abuse. He foamed and twisted like a marine monster - being slaughtered on the shore, and predicted that they would all end more - horribly still, and that he would be avenged. - </p> - <p> - He was. On the other side of the town, whence there now escaped jets of - flame with columns of smoke, the ambassadors from the Mercenaries were in - their last throes. - </p> - <p> - Some who had swooned at first had just revived in the freshness of the - wind; but their chins still rested upon their breasts, and their bodies - had fallen somewhat, in spite of the nails in their arms, which were - fastened higher than their heads; from their heels and hands blood fell in - big, slow drops, as ripe fruit falls from the branches of a tree,—and - Carthage, gulf, mountains, and plains all appeared to them to be revolving - like an immense wheel; sometimes a cloud of dust, rising from the ground, - enveloped them in its eddies; they burned with horrible thirst, their - tongues curled in their mouths, and they felt an icy sweat flowing over - them with their departing souls. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless they had glimpses, at an infinite depth, of streets, marching - soldiers, and the swinging of swords; and the tumult of battle reached - them dimly like the noise of the sea to shipwrecked men dying on the masts - of a ship. The Italiotes, who were sturdier than the rest, were still - shrieking. The Lacedæmonians were silent, with eyelids closed; Zarxas, - once so vigorous, was bending like a broken reed; the Ethiopian beside him - had his head thrown back over the arms of the cross; Autaritus was - motionless, rolling his eyes; his great head of hair, caught in a cleft in - the wood, fell straight upon his forehead, and his death-rattle seemed - rather to be a roar of anger. As to Spendius, a strange courage had come - to him; he despised life now in the certainty which he possessed of an - almost immediate and an eternal emancipation, and he awaited death with - impassibility. - </p> - <p> - Amid their swooning, they sometimes started at the brushing of feathers - passing across their lips. Large wings swung shadows around them, - croakings sounded in the air; and as Spendius’s cross was the - highest, it was upon his that the first vulture alighted. Then he turned - his face towards Autaritus, and said slowly to him with an unaccountable - smile: - </p> - <p> - “Do you remember the lions on the road to Sicca?” - </p> - <p> - “They were our brothers!” replied the Gaul, as he expired. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet, meanwhile, had bored through the walls and reached the - citadel. The smoke suddenly disappeared before a gust of wind, discovering - the horizon as far as the walls of Carthage; he even thought that he could - distinguish people watching on the platform of Eschmoun; then, bringing - back his eyes, he perceived thirty crosses of extravagant size on the - shore of the Lake, to the left. - </p> - <p> - In fact, to render them still more frightful, they had been constructed - with tent-poles fastened end to end, and the thirty corpses of the - Ancients appeared high up in the sky. They had what looked like white - butterflies on their breasts; these were the feathers of the arrows which - had been shot at them from below. - </p> - <p> - A broad gold ribbon shone on the summit of the highest; it hung down to - the shoulder, there being no arm on that side, and Hamilcar had some - difficulty in recognising Hanno. His spongy bones had given way under the - iron pins, portions of his limbs had come off, and nothing was left on the - cross but shapeless remains, like the fragments of animals that are hung - up on huntsmen’s doors. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet could not have known anything about it; the town in front of - him masked everything that was beyond and behind; and the captains who had - been successively sent to the two generals had not re-appeared. Then - fugitives arrived with the tale of the rout, and the Punic army halted. - This catastrophe, falling upon them as it did in the midst of their - victory, stupefied them. Hamilcar’s orders were no longer listened - to. - </p> - <p> - Matho took advantage of this to continue his ravages among the Numidians. - </p> - <p> - Hanno’s camp having been overthrown, he had returned against them. - The elephants came out; but the Mercenaries advanced through the plain - shaking about flaming firebrands, which they had plucked from the walls, - and the great beasts, in fright, ran headlong into the gulf, where they - killed one another in their struggles, or were drowned beneath the weight - of their cuirasses. Narr’ Havas had already launched his cavalry; - all threw themselves face downwards upon the ground; then, when the horses - were within three paces of them, they sprang beneath their bellies, ripped - them open with dagger-strokes, and half the Numidians had perished when - Barca came up. - </p> - <p> - The exhausted Mercenaries could not withstand his troops. They retired in - good order to the mountain of the Hot Springs. The Suffet was prudent - enough not to pursue them. He directed his course to the mouths of the - Macaras. - </p> - <p> - Tunis was his; but it was now nothing but a heap of smoking rubbish. The - ruins fell through the breaches in the walls to the centre of the plain; - quite in the background, between the shores of the gulf, the corpses of - the elephants drifting before the wind conflicted, like an archipelago of - black rocks floating on the water. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had drained his forests of these animals, taking young - and old, male and female, to keep up the war, and the military force of - his kingdom could not repair the loss. The people who had seen them - perishing at a distance were grieved at it; men lamented in the streets, - calling them by their names like deceased friends: “Ah! the - Invincible! the Victory! the Thunderer! the Swallow!” On the first - day, too, there was no talk except of the dead citizens. But on the morrow - the tents of the Mercenaries were seen on the mountain of the Hot Springs. - Then so deep was the despair that many people, especially women, flung - themselves headlong from the top of the Acropolis. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar’s designs were not known. He lived alone in his tent with - none near him but a young boy, and no one ever ate with them, not even - excepting Narr’ Havas. Nevertheless he showed great deference to the - latter after Hanno’s defeat; but the king of the Numidians had too - great an interest in becoming his son not to distrust him. - </p> - <p> - This inertness veiled skilful manouvres. Hamilcar seduced the heads of the - villages by all sorts of artifices; and the Mercenaries were hunted, - repulsed, and enclosed like wild beasts. As soon as they entered a wood, - the trees caught fire around them; when they drank of a spring it was - poisoned; the caves in which they hid in order to sleep were walled up. - Their old accomplices, the populations who had hitherto defended them, now - pursued them; and they continually recognised Carthaginian armour in these - bands. - </p> - <p> - Many had their faces consumed with red tetters; this, they thought, had - come to them through touching Hanno. Others imagined that it was because - they had eaten Salammbô’s fishes, and far from repenting of it, they - dreamed of even more abominable sacrileges, so that the abasement of the - Punic Gods might be still greater. They would fain have exterminated them. - </p> - <p> - In this way they lingered for three months along the eastern coast, and - then behind the mountain of Selloum, and as far as the first sands of the - desert. They sought for a place of refuge, no matter where. Utica and - Hippo-Zarytus alone had not betrayed them; but Hamilcar was encompassing - these two towns. Then they went northwards at haphazard without even - knowing the various routes. Their many miseries had confused their - understandings. - </p> - <p> - The only feeling left them was one of exasperation, which went on - developing; and one day they found themselves again in the gorges of Cobus - and once more before Carthage! - </p> - <p> - Then the actions multiplied. Fortune remained equal; but both sides were - so wearied that they would willingly have exchanged these skirmishes for a - great battle, provided that it were really the last. - </p> - <p> - Matho was inclined to carry this proposal himself to the Suffet. One of - his Libyans devoted himself for the purpose. All were convinced as they - saw him depart that he would not return. - </p> - <p> - He returned the same evening. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar accepted the challenge. The encounter should take place the - following day at sunrise, in the plain of Rhades. - </p> - <p> - The Mercenaries wished to know whether he had said anything more, and the - Libyan added: - </p> - <p> - “As I remained in his presence, he asked me what I was waiting for. - ‘To be killed!’ I replied. Then he rejoined: ‘No! - begone! that will be to-morrow with the rest.’” - </p> - <p> - This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some were terrified by it, and - Matho regretted that the emissary had not been killed. - </p> - <p> - <br /> - </p> - <p> - He had still remaining three thousand Africans, twelve hundred Greeks, - fifteen hundred Campanians, two hundred Iberians, four hundred Etruscans, - five hundred Samnites, forty Gauls, and a troop of Naffurs, nomad bandits - met with in the date region—in all seven thousand two hundred and - nineteen soldiers, but not one complete syntagmata. They had stopped up - the holes in their cuirasses with the shoulder-blades of quadrupeds, and - replaced their brass cothurni with worn sandals. Their garments were - weighted with copper or steel plates; their coats of mail hung in tatters - about them, and scars appeared like purple threads through the hair on - their arms and faces. - </p> - <p> - The wraiths of their dead companions came back to their souls and - increased their energy; they felt, in a confused way, that they were the - ministers of a god diffused in the hearts of the oppressed, and were the - pontiffs, so to speak, of universal vengeance! Then they were enraged with - grief at what was extravagant injustice, and above all by the sight of - Carthage on the horizon. They swore an oath to fight for one another until - death. - </p> - <p> - The beasts of burden were killed, and as much as possible was eaten so as - to gain strength; afterwards they slept. Some prayed, turning towards - different constellations. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginians arrived first in the plain. They rubbed the edges of - their shields with oil to make the arrows glide off them easily; the - foot-soldiers who wore long hair took the precaution of cutting it on the - forehead; and Hamilcar ordered all bowls to be inverted from the fifth - hour, knowing that it is disadvantageous to fight with the stomach too - full. His army amounted to fourteen thousand men, or about double the - number of the Barbarians. Nevertheless, he had never felt such anxiety; if - he succumbed it would mean the annihilation of the Republic, and he would - perish on the cross; if, on the contrary, he triumphed, he would reach - Italy by way of the Pyrenees, the Gauls, and the Alps, and the empire of - the Barcas would become eternal. Twenty times during the night he rose to - inspect everything himself, down to the most trifling details. As to the - Carthaginians, they were exasperated by their lengthened terror. Narr’ - Havas suspected the fidelity of his Numidians. Moreover, the Barbarians - might vanquish them. A strange weakness had come upon him; every moment he - drank large cups of water. - </p> - <p> - But a man whom he did not know opened his tent and laid on the ground a - crown of rock-salt, adorned with hieratic designs formed with sulphur, and - lozenges of mother-of-pearl; a marriage crown was sometimes sent to a - betrothed husband; it was a proof of love, a sort of invitation. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless Hamilcar’s daughter had no tenderness for Narr’ - Havas. - </p> - <p> - The recollection of Matho disturbed her in an intolerable manner; it - seemed to her that the death of this man would unburden her thoughts, just - as people to cure themselves of the bite of a viper crush it upon the - wound. The king of the Numidians was depending upon her; he awaited the - wedding with impatience, and, as it was to follow the victory, Salammbô - made him this present to stimulate his courage. Then his distress - vanished, and he thought only of the happiness of possessing so beautiful - a woman. - </p> - <p> - The same vision had assailed Matho; but he cast it from him immediately, - and his love, that he thus thrust back, was poured out upon his companions - in arms. He cherished them like portions of his own person, of his hatred,—and - he felt his spirit higher, and his arms stronger; everything that he was - to accomplish appeared clearly before him. If sighs sometimes escaped him, - it was because he was thinking of Spendius. - </p> - <p> - He drew up the Barbarians in six equal ranks. He posted the Etruscans in - the centre, all being fastened to a bronze chain; the archers were behind, - and on the wings he distributed the Naffurs, who were mounted on - short-haired camels, covered with ostrich feathers. - </p> - <p> - The Suffet arranged the Carthaginians in similar order. He placed the - Clinabarians outside the infantry next to the velites, and the Numidians - beyond; when day appeared, both sides were thus in line face to face. All - gazed at each other from a distance, with round fierce eyes. There was at - first some hesitation; at last both armies moved. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians advanced slowly so as not to become out of breath, beating - the ground with their feet; the centre of the Punic army formed a convex - curve. Then came the burst of a terrible shock, like the crash of two - fleets in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians had quickly opened - up, and the marksmen, hidden behind the others, discharged their bullets, - arrows, and javelins. The curve of the Carthaginians, however, flattened - by degrees, became quite straight, and then bent inwards; upon this, the - two sections of the velites drew together in parallel lines, like the legs - of a compass that is being closed. The Barbarians, who were attacking the - phalanx with fury, entered the gap; they were being lost; Matho checked - them,—and while the Carthaginian wings continued to advance, he drew - out the three inner ranks of his line; they soon covered his flanks, and - his army appeared in triple array. - </p> - <p> - But the Barbarians placed at the extremities were the weakest, especially - those on the left, who had exhausted their quivers, and the troop of - velites, which had at last come up against them, was cutting them up - greatly. - </p> - <p> - Matho made them fall back. His right comprised Campanians, who were armed - with axes; he hurled them against the Carthaginian left; the centre - attacked the enemy, and those at the other extremity, who were out of - peril, kept the velites at a distance. - </p> - <p> - Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites between - them, and sent them against the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - Those cone-shaped masses presented a front of horses, and their broader - sides were filled and bristling with lances. The Barbarians found it - impossible to resist; the Greek foot-soldiers alone had brazen armour, all - the rest had cutlasses on the end of poles, scythes taken from the farms, - or swords manufactured out of the fellies of wheels; the soft blades were - twisted by a blow, and while they were engaged in straightening them under - their heels, the Carthaginians massacred them right and left at their - ease. - </p> - <p> - But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not stir; those who were - dead, being prevented from falling, formed an obstruction with their - corpses; and the great bronze line widened and contracted in turn, as - supple as a serpent, and as impregnable as a wall. The Barbarians would - come to re-form behind it, pant for a minute, and then set off again with - the fragments of their weapons in their hands. - </p> - <p> - Many already had none left, and they leaped upon the Carthaginians, biting - their faces like dogs. The Gauls in their pride stripped themselves of the - sagum; they showed their great white bodies from a distance, and they - enlarged their wounds to terrify the enemy. The voice of the crier - announcing the orders could no longer be heard in the midst of the Punic - syntagmata; their signals were being repeated by the standards, which were - raised above the dust, and every one was swept away in the swaying of the - great mass that surrounded him. - </p> - <p> - Hamilcar commanded the Numidians to advance. But the Naffurs rushed to - meet them. - </p> - <p> - Clad in vast black robes, with a tuft of hair on the top of the skull, and - a shield of rhinoceros leather, they wielded a steel which had no handle, - and which they held by a rope; and their camels, which bristled all over - with feathers, uttered long, hoarse cluckings. Each blade fell on a - precise spot, then rose again with a smart stroke carrying off a limb with - it. The fierce beasts galloped through the syntagmata. Some, whose legs - were broken, went hopping along like wounded ostriches. - </p> - <p> - The Punic infantry turned in a body upon the Barbarians, and cut them off. - Their maniples wheeled about at intervals from one another. The more - brilliant Carthaginian weapons encircled them like golden crowns; there - was a swarming movement in the centre, and the sun, striking down upon the - points of the swords, made them glitter with white flickering gleams. - However, files of Clinabarians lay stretched upon the plain; some - Mercenaries snatched away their armour, clothed themselves in it, and then - returned to the fray. The deluded Carthaginians were several times - entangled in their midst. They would stand stupidly motionless, or else - would back, surge again, and triumphant shouts rising in the distance - seemed to drive them along like derelicts in a storm. Hamilcar was growing - desperate; all was about to perish beneath the genius of Matho and the - invincible courage of the Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - But a great noise of tabourines burst forth on the horizon. It was a crowd - of old men, sick persons, children of fifteen years of age, and even - women, who, being unable to withstand their distress any longer, had set - out from Carthage, and, for the purpose of placing themselves under the - protection of something formidable, had taken from Hamilcar’s palace - the only elephant that the Republic now possessed,—that one, namely, - whose trunk had been cut off. - </p> - <p> - Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their country, forsaking its - walls, was coming to command them to die for her. They were seized with - increased fury, and the Numidians carried away all the rest. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians had set themselves with their backs to a hillock in the - centre of the plain. They had no chance of conquering, or even of - surviving; but they were the best, the most intrepid, and the strongest. - </p> - <p> - The people from Carthage began to throw spits, larding-pins and hammers, - over the heads of the Numidians; those whom consuls had feared died - beneath sticks hurled by women; the Punic populace was exterminating the - Mercenaries. - </p> - <p> - The latter had taken refuge on the top of the hill. Their circle closed up - after every fresh breach; twice it descended to be immediately repulsed - with a shock; and the Carthaginians stretched forth their arms pell-mell, - thrusting their pikes between the legs of their companions, and raking at - random before them. They slipped in the blood; the steep slope of the - ground made the corpses roll to the bottom. The elephant, which was trying - to climb the hillock, was up to its belly; it seemed to be crawling over - them with delight; and its shortened trunk, which was broad at the - extremity, rose from time to time like an enormous leech. - </p> - <p> - Then all paused. The Carthaginians ground their teeth as they gazed at the - hill, where the Barbarians were standing. - </p> - <p> - At last they dashed at them abruptly, and the fight began again. The - Mercenaries would often let them approach, shouting to them that they - wished to surrender; then, with frightful sneers, they would kill - themselves at a blow, and as the dead fell, the rest would mount upon them - to defend themselves. It was a kind of pyramid, which grew larger by - degrees. - </p> - <p> - Soon there were only fifty, then only twenty, only three, and lastly only - two—a Samnite armed with an axe, and Matho who still had his sword. - </p> - <p> - The Samnite with bent hams swept his axe alternately to the right and - left, at the same time warning Matho of the blows that were being aimed at - him. “Master, this way! that way! stoop down!” - </p> - <p> - Matho had lost his shoulder-pieces, his helmet, his cuirass; he was - completely naked, and more livid than the dead, with his hair quite erect, - and two patches of foam at the corners of his lips,—and his sword - whirled so rapidly that it formed an aureola around him. A stone broke it - near the guard; the Samnite was killed and the flood of Carthaginians - closed in, they touched Matho. Then he raised both his empty hands towards - heaven, closed his eyes, and, opening out his arms like a man throwing - himself from the summit of a promontory into the sea, hurled himself among - the pikes. - </p> - <p> - They moved away before him. Several times he ran against the - Carthaginians. But they always drew back and turned their weapons aside. - </p> - <p> - His foot struck against a sword. Matho tried to seize it. He felt himself - tied by the wrists and knees, and fell. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas had been following him for some time, step by step, with - one of the large nets used for capturing wild beasts, and, taking - advantage of the moment when he stooped down, had involved him in it. - </p> - <p> - Then he was fastened on the elephants with his four limbs forming a cross; - and all those who were not wounded escorted him, and rushed with great - tumult towards Carthage. - </p> - <p> - The news of the victory had arrived in some inexplicable way at the third - hour of the night; the clepsydra of Khamon had just completed the fifth as - they reached Malqua; then Matho opened his eyes. There were so many lights - in the houses that the town appeared to be all in flames. - </p> - <p> - An immense clamour reached him dimly; and lying on his back he looked at - the stars. - </p> - <p> - Then a door closed and he was wrapped in darkness. - </p> - <p> - On the morrow, at the same hour, the last of the men left in the Pass of - the Hatchet expired. - </p> - <p> - On the day that their companions had set out, some Zuaeces who were - returning had tumbled the rocks down, and had fed them for some time. - </p> - <p> - The Barbarians constantly expected to see Matho appear,—and from - discouragement, from languor, and from the obstinacy of sick men who - object to change their situation, they would not leave the mountain; at - last the provisions were exhausted and the Zuaeces went away. It was known - that they numbered scarcely more than thirteen hundred men, and there was - no need to employ soldiers to put an end to them. - </p> - <p> - Wild beasts, especially lions, had multiplied during the three years that - the war had lasted. Narr’ Havas had held a great battue, and—after - tying goats at intervals—had run upon them and so driven them - towards the Pass of the Hatchet;—and they were now all living in it - when a man arrived who had been sent by the Ancients to find out what - there was left of the Barbarians. - </p> - <p> - Lions and corpses were lying over the tract of the plain, and the dead - were mingled with clothes and armour. Nearly all had the face or an arm - wanting; some appeared to be still intact; others were completely dried - up, and their helmets were filled with powdery skulls; feet which had lost - their flesh stood out straight from the knemides; skeletons still wore - their cloaks; and bones, cleaned by the sun, made gleaming spots in the - midst of the sand. - </p> - <p> - The lions were resting with their breasts against the ground and both paws - stretched out, winking their eyelids in the bright daylight, which was - heightened by the reflection from the white rocks. Others were seated on - their hind-quarters and staring before them, or else were sleeping, rolled - into a ball and half hidden by their great manes; they all looked well - fed, tired, and dull. They were as motionless as the mountain and the - dead. Night was falling; the sky was striped with broad red bands in the - west. - </p> - <p> - In one of the heaps, which in an irregular fashion embossed the plain, - something rose up vaguer than a spectre. Then one of the lions set himself - in motion, his monstrous form cutting a black shadow on the background of - the purple sky, and when he was quite close to the man, he knocked him - down with a single blow of his paw. - </p> - <p> - Then, stretching himself flat upon him, he slowly drew out the entrails - with the edge of his teeth. - </p> - <p> - Afterwards he opened his huge jaws, and for some minutes uttered a - lengthened roar which was repeated by the echoes in the mountain, and was - finally lost in the solitude. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly some small gravel rolled down from above. The rustling of rapid - steps was heard, and in the direction of the portcullis and of the gorge - there appeared pointed muzzles and straight ears, with gleaming, tawny - eyes. These were the jackals coming to eat what was left. - </p> - <p> - The Carthaginian, who was leaning over the top of the precipice to look, - went back again. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div class="chapter"> - - <h2><a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"></a> - CHAPTER XV - </h2> - <h3> - MATHO - </h3> - <p> - There were rejoicings at Carthage,—rejoicings deep, universal, - extravagant, frantic; the holes of the ruins had been stopped up, the - statues of the gods had been repainted, the streets were strewn with - myrtle branches, incense smoked at the corners of the crossways, and the - throng on the terraces looked, in their variegated garments, like heaps of - flowers blooming in the air. - </p> - <p> - The shouts of the water-carriers watering the pavement rose above the - continual screaming of voices; slaves belonging to Hamilcar offered in his - name roasted barley and pieces of raw meat; people accosted one another, - and embraced one another with tears; the Tyrian towns were taken, the - nomads dispersed, and all the Barbarians annihilated. The Acropolis was - hidden beneath coloured velaria; the beaks of the triremes, drawn up in - line outside the mole, shone like a dyke of diamonds; everywhere there was - a sense of the restoration of order, the beginning of a new existence, and - the diffusion of vast happiness: it was the day of Salammbô’s - marriage with the King of the Numidians. - </p> - <p> - On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables laden - with gigantic plate, at which the priests, Ancients, and the rich were to - sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar, Narr’ - Havas, and Salammbô; for as she had saved her country by the restoration - of the zaïmph, the people turned her wedding day into a national - rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she should appear. - </p> - <p> - But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing: Matho’s - death has been promised for the ceremony. - </p> - <p> - It had been proposed at first to flay him alive, to pour lead into his - entrails, to kill him with hunger; he should be tied to a tree, and an ape - behind him should strike him on the head with a stone; he had offended - Tanith, and the cynocephaluses of Tanith should avenge her. Others were of - opinion that he should be led about on a dromedary after linen wicks, - dipped in oil, had been inserted in his body in several places;—and - they took pleasure in the thought of the large animal wandering through - the streets with this man writhing beneath the fires like a candelabrum - blown about by the wind. - </p> - <p> - But what citizens should be charged with his torture, and why disappoint - the rest? They would have liked a kind of death in which the whole town - might take part, in which every hand, every weapon, everything - Carthaginian, to the very paving-stones in the streets and the waves in - the gulf, could rend him, and crush him, and annihilate him. Accordingly - the Ancients decided that he should go from his prison to the square of - Khamon without any escort, and with his arms fastened to his back; it was - forbidden to strike him to the heart, in order that he might live the - longer; to put out his eyes, so that he might see the torture through; to - hurl anything against his person, or to lay more than three fingers upon - him at a time. - </p> - <p> - Although he was not to appear until the end of the day, the people - sometimes fancied that he could be seen, and the crowd would rush towards - the Acropolis, and empty the streets, to return with lengthened - murmurings. Some people had remained standing in the same place since the - day before, and they would call on one another from a distance and show - their nails which they had allowed to grow, the better to bury them into - his flesh. Others walked restlessly up and down; some were as pale as - though they were awaiting their own execution. - </p> - <p> - Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian - district. It was Salammbô leaving her palace; a sigh of relief found vent. - </p> - <p> - But the procession was long in coming; it marched with deliberation. - </p> - <p> - First there filed past the priests of the Patæc Gods, then those of - Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other colleges in succession, with the - same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the time of - the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent, and the - multitude stood aside from them in a kind of remorse. But the priests of - Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in their hands; the - priestesses followed them in transparent robes of yellow or black, - uttering cries like birds and writhing like vipers, or else whirling round - to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of the stars, while their - light garments wafted puffs of delicate scents through the streets. - </p> - <p> - The Kedeschim, with painted eyelids, who symbolised the hermaphrodism of - the Divinity, received applause among these women, and, being perfumed and - dressed like them, they resembled them in spite of their flat breasts and - narrower hips. Moreover, on this day the female principle dominated and - confused all things; a mystic voluptuousness moved in the heavy air; the - torches were already lighted in the depths of the sacred woods; there was - to be a great celebration there during the night; three vessels had - brought courtesans from Sicily, and others had come from the desert. - </p> - <p> - As the colleges arrived they ranged themselves in the courts of the - temples, on the outer galleries, and along double staircases which rose - against the walls, and drew together at the top. Files of white robes - appeared between the colonnades, and the architecture was peopled with - human statues, motionless as statues of stone. - </p> - <p> - Then came the masters of the exchequer, the governors of the provinces, - and all the rich. A great tumult prevailed below. Adjacent streets were - discharging the crowd, hierodules were driving it back with blows of - sticks; and then Salammbô appeared in a litter surmounted by a purple - canopy, and surrounded by the Ancients crowned with their golden tiaras. - </p> - <p> - Thereupon an immense shout arose; the cymbals and crotala sounded more - loudly, the tabourines thundered, and the great purple canopy sank between - the two pylons. - </p> - <p> - It appeared again on the first landing. Salammbô was walking slowly - beneath it; then she crossed the terrace to take her seat behind on a kind - of throne cut out of the carapace of a tortoise. An ivory stool with three - steps was pushed beneath her feet; two Negro children knelt on the edge of - the first step, and sometimes she would rest both arms, which were laden - with rings of excessive weight, upon their heads. - </p> - <p> - From ankle to hip she was covered with a network of narrow meshes which - were in imitation of fish scales, and shone like mother-of-pearl; her - waist was clasped by a blue zone, which allowed her breasts to be seen - through two crescent-shaped slashings; the nipples were hidden by - carbuncle pendants. She had a headdress made of peacock’s feathers - studded with gems; an ample cloak, as white as snow, fell behind her,—and - with her elbows at her sides, her knees pressed together, and circles of - diamonds on the upper part of her arms, she remained perfectly upright in - a hieratic attitude. - </p> - <p> - Her father and her husband were on two lower seats, Narr’ Havas - dressed in a light simar and wearing his crown of rock-salt, from which - there strayed two tresses of hair as twisted as the horns of Ammon; and - Hamilcar in a violet tunic figured with gold vine branches, and with a - battle-sword at his side. - </p> - <p> - The python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on the ground amid pools of pink - oil in the space enclosed by the tables, and, biting its tail, described a - large black circle. In the middle of the circle there was a copper pillar - bearing a crystal egg; and, as the sun shone upon it, rays were emitted on - every side. - </p> - <p> - Behind Salammbô stretched the priests of Tanith in linen robes; on her - right the Ancients, in their tiaras, formed a great gold line, and on the - other side the rich with their emerald sceptres a great green line,—while - quite in the background, where the priests of Moloch were ranged, the - cloaks looked like a wall of purple. The other colleges occupied the lower - terraces. The multitude obstructed the streets. It reached to the - house-tops, and extended in long files to the summit of the Acropolis. - Having thus the people at her feet, the firmament above her head, and - around her the immensity of the sea, the gulf, the mountains, and the - distant provinces, Salammbô in her splendour was blended with Tanith, and - seemed the very genius of Carthage, and its embodied soul. - </p> - <p> - The feast was to last all night, and lamps with several branches were - planted like trees on the painted woollen cloths which covered the low - tables. Large electrum flagons, blue glass amphoras, tortoise-shell - spoons, and small round loaves were crowded between the double row of - pearl-bordered plates; bunches of grapes with their leaves had been rolled - round ivory vine-stocks after the fashion of the thyrsus; blocks of snow - were melting on ebony trays, and lemons, pomegranates, gourds, and - watermelons formed hillocks beneath the lofty silver plate; boars with - open jaws were wallowing in the dust of spices; hares, covered with their - fur, appeared to be bounding amid the flowers; there were shells filled - with forcemeat; the pastry had symbolic shapes; when the covers of the - dishes were removed doves flew out. - </p> - <p> - The slaves, meanwhile, with tunics tucked up, were going about on tiptoe; - from time to time a hymn sounded on the lyres, or a choir of voices rose. - The clamour of the people, continuous as the noise of the sea, floated - vaguely around the feast, and seemed to lull it in a broader harmony; some - recalled the banquet of the Mercenaries; they gave themselves up to dreams - of happiness; the sun was beginning to go down, and the crescent of the - moon was already rising in another part of the sky. - </p> - <p> - But Salammbô turned her head as though some one had called her; the - people, who were watching her, followed the direction of her eyes. - </p> - <p> - The door of the dungeon, hewn in the rock at the foot of the temple, on - the summit of the Acropolis, had just opened; and a man was standing on - the threshold of this black hole. - </p> - <p> - He came forth bent double, with the scared look of fallow deer when - suddenly enlarged. - </p> - <p> - The light dazzled him; he stood motionless awhile. All had recognised him, - and they held their breath. - </p> - <p> - In their eyes the body of this victim was something peculiarly theirs, and - was adorned with almost religious splendour. They bent forward to see him, - especially the women. They burned to gaze upon him who had caused the - deaths of their children and husbands; and from the bottom of their souls - there sprang up in spite of themselves an infamous curiosity, a desire to - know him completely, a wish mingled with remorse which turned to increased - execration. - </p> - <p> - At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared. - Numbers of arms were raised, and he was lost to sight. - </p> - <p> - The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as - though he were rolled down in a torrent from the top of a mountain; three - times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his feet. - </p> - <p> - His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks; and - he made such efforts to burst his bonds that his arms, which were crossed - on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent. - </p> - <p> - Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which he - found himself. In each of them a triple row of bronze chains fastened to - the navels of the Patæc gods extended in parallel lines from one end to - the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, and servants, - belonging to the Ancients, walked in the middle brandishing thongs. - </p> - <p> - One of them drove him forward with a great blow; Matho began to move. - </p> - <p> - They thrust their arms over the chains shouting out that the road had been - left too wide for him; and he passed along, felt, pricked, and slashed by - all those fingers; when he reached the end of one street another appeared; - several times he flung himself to one side to bite them; they speedily - dispersed, the chains held him back, and the crowd burst out laughing. - </p> - <p> - A child rent his ear; a young girl, hiding the point of a spindle in her - sleeve, split his cheek; they tore handfuls of hair from him and strips of - flesh; others smeared his face with sponges steeped in filth and fastened - upon sticks. A stream of blood started from the right side of his neck, - frenzy immediately set in. This last Barbarian was to them a - representative of all the Barbarians, and all the army; they were taking - vengeance on him for their disasters, their terrors, and their shame. The - rage of the mob developed with its gratification; the curving chains were - over-strained, and were on the point of breaking; the people did not feel - the blows of the slaves who struck at them to drive them back; some clung - to the projections of the houses; all the openings in the walls were - stopped up with heads; and they howled at him the mischief that they could - not inflict upon him. - </p> - <p> - It was atrocious, filthy abuse mingled with ironical encouragements and - imprecations; and, his present tortures not being enough for them, they - foretold to him others that should be still more terrible in eternity. - </p> - <p> - This vast baying filled Carthage with stupid continuity. Frequently a - single syllable—a hoarse, deep, and frantic intonation—would - be repeated for several minutes by the entire people. The walls would - vibrate with it from top to bottom, and both sides of the street would - seem to Matho to be coming against him, and carrying him off the ground, - like two immense arms stifling him in the air. - </p> - <p> - Nevertheless he remembered that he had experienced something like it - before. The same crowd was on the terraces, there were the same looks and - the same wrath; but then he had walked free, all had then dispersed, for a - god covered him;—and the recollection of this, gaining precision by - degrees, brought a crushing sadness upon him. Shadows passed before his - eyes; the town whirled round in his head, his blood streamed from a wound - in his hip, he felt that he was dying; his hams bent, and he sank quite - gently upon the pavement. - </p> - <p> - Some one went to the peristyle of the temple of Melkarth, took thence the - bar of a tripod, heated red hot in the coals, and, slipping it beneath the - first chain, pressed it against his wound. The flesh was seen to smoke; - the hootings of the people drowned his voice; he was standing again. - </p> - <p> - Six paces further on, and he fell a third and again a fourth time; but - some new torture always made him rise. They discharged little drops of - boiling oil through tubes at him; they strewed pieces of broken glass - beneath his feet; still he walked on. At the corner of the street of - Satheb he leaned his back against the wall beneath the pent-house of a - shop, and advanced no further. - </p> - <p> - The slaves of the Council struck him with their whips of hippopotamus - leather, so furiously and long that the fringes of their tunics were - drenched with sweat. Matho appeared insensible; suddenly he started off - and began to run at random, making a noise with his lips like one - shivering with severe cold. He threaded the street of Boudes, and the - street of Soepo, crossed the Green Market, and reached the square of - Khamon. - </p> - <p> - He now belonged to the priests; the slaves had just dispersed the crowd, - and there was more room. Matho gazed round him and his eyes encountered - Salammbô. - </p> - <p> - At the first step that he had taken she had risen; then, as he approached, - she had involuntarily advanced by degrees to the edge of the terrace; and - soon all external things were blotted out, and she saw only Matho. Silence - fell in her soul,—one of those abysses wherein the whole world - disappears beneath the pressure of a single thought, a memory, a look. - This man who was walking towards her attracted her. - </p> - <p> - Excepting his eyes he had no appearance of humanity left; he was a long, - perfectly red shape; his broken bonds hung down his thighs, but they could - not be distinguished from the tendons of his wrists, which were laid quite - bare; his mouth remained wide open; from his eye-sockets there darted - flames which seemed to rise up to his hair;—and the wretch still - walked on! - </p> - <p> - He reached the foot of the terrace. Salammbô was leaning over the - balustrade; those frightful eyeballs were scanning her, and there rose - within her a consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. Although - he was in his death agony she could see him once more kneeling in his - tent, encircling her waist with his arms, and stammering out gentle words; - she thirsted to feel them and hear them again; she did not want him to - die! At this moment Matho gave a great start; she was on the point of - shrieking aloud. He fell backwards and did not stir again. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô was borne back, nearly swooning, to her throne by the priests who - flocked about her. They congratulated her; it was her work. All clapped - their hands and stamped their feet, howling her name. - </p> - <p> - A man darted upon the corpse. Although he had no beard he had the cloak of - a priest of Moloch on his shoulder, and in his belt that species of knife - which they employed for cutting up the sacred meat, and which terminated, - at the end of the handle, in a golden spatula. He cleft Matho’s - breast with a single blow, then snatched out the heart and laid it upon - the spoon; and Schahabarim, uplifting his arm, offered it to the sun. - </p> - <p> - The sun sank behind the waves; his rays fell like long arrows upon the red - heart. As the beatings diminished the planet sank into the sea; and at the - last palpitation it disappeared. - </p> - <p> - Then from the gulf to the lagoon, and from the isthmus to the pharos, in - all the streets, on all the houses, and on all the temples, there was a - single shout; sometimes it paused, to be again renewed; the buildings - shook with it; Carthage was convulsed, as it were, in the spasm of Titanic - joy and boundless hope. - </p> - <p> - Narr’ Havas, drunk with pride, passed his left arm beneath Salammbô’s - waist in token of possession; and taking a gold patera in his right hand, - he drank to the Genius of Carthage. - </p> - <p> - Salammbô rose like her husband, with a cup in her hand, to drink also. She - fell down again with her head lying over the back of the throne,—pale, - stiff, with parted lips,—and her loosened hair hung to the ground. - </p> - <p> - Thus died Hamilcar’s daughter for having touched the mantle of - Tanith. - </p> - -</div><!--end chapter--> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALAMMBÔ ***</div> - - </body> -</html> diff --git a/old/slmmb10.txt b/old/slmmb10.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 53857d8..0000000 --- a/old/slmmb10.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12108 +0,0 @@ -**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Salammbo, by Gustave Flaubert** -#2 in our series by Gustave Flaubert - - -Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check -the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! - -Please take a look at the important information in this header. -We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an -electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* - - - - - -Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz - - - - - -SALAMMBO - -BY - -GUSTAVE FLAUBERT - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE FEAST - -It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar. -The soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily were having a great feast -to celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Eryx, and as the master -was away, and they were numerous, they ate and drank with perfect -freedom. - -The captains, who wore bronze cothurni, had placed themselves in the -central path, beneath a gold-fringed purple awning, which reached from -the wall of the stables to the first terrace of the palace; the common -soldiers were scattered beneath the trees, where numerous flat-roofed -buildings might be seen, wine-presses, cellars, storehouses, bakeries, -and arsenals, with a court for elephants, dens for wild beasts, and a -prison for slaves. - -Fig-trees surrounded the kitchens; a wood of sycamores stretched away -to meet masses of verdure, where the pomegranate shone amid the white -tufts of the cotton-plant; vines, grape-laden, grew up into the -branches of the pines; a field of roses bloomed beneath the plane- -trees; here and there lilies rocked upon the turf; the paths were -strewn with black sand mingled with powdered coral, and in the centre -the avenue of cypress formed, as it were, a double colonnade of green -obelisks from one extremity to the other. - -Far in the background stood the palace, built of yellow mottled -Numidian marble, broad courses supporting its four terraced stories. -With its large, straight, ebony staircase, bearing the prow of a -vanquished galley at the corners of every step, its red doors -quartered with black crosses, its brass gratings protecting it from -scorpions below, and its trellises of gilded rods closing the -apertures above, it seemed to the soldiers in its haughty opulence as -solemn and impenetrable as the face of Hamilcar. - -The Council had appointed his house for the holding of this feast; the -convalescents lying in the temple of Eschmoun had set out at daybreak -and dragged themselves thither on their crutches. Every minute others -were arriving. They poured in ceaselessly by every path like torrents -rushing into a lake; through the trees the slaves of the kitchens -might be seen running scared and half-naked; the gazelles fled -bleating on the lawns; the sun was setting, and the perfume of citron -trees rendered the exhalation from the perspiring crowd heavier still. - -Men of all nations were there, Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearians, -Negroes, and fugitives from Rome. Beside the heavy Dorian dialect were -audible the resonant Celtic syllables rattling like chariots of war, -while Ionian terminations conflicted with consonants of the desert as -harsh as the jackal's cry. The Greek might be recognised by his -slender figure, the Egyptian by his elevated shoulders, the Cantabrian -by his broad calves. There were Carians proudly nodding their helmet -plumes, Cappadocian archers displaying large flowers painted on their -bodies with the juice of herbs, and a few Lydians in women's robes, -dining in slippers and earrings. Others were ostentatiously daubed -with vermilion, and resembled coral statues. - -They stretched themselves on the cushions, they ate squatting round -large trays, or lying face downwards they drew out the pieces of meat -and sated themselves, leaning on their elbows in the peaceful posture -of lions tearing their prey. The last comers stood leaning against the -trees watching the low tables half hidden beneath the scarlet -coverings, and awaiting their turn. - -Hamilcar's kitchens being insufficient, the Council had sent them -slaves, ware, and beds, and in the middle of the garden, as on a -battle-field when they burn the dead, large bright fires might be -seen, at which oxen were roasting. Anise-sprinkled loaves alternated -with great cheeses heavier than discuses, crateras filled with wine, -and cantharuses filled with water, together with baskets of gold -filigree-work containing flowers. Every eye was dilated with the joy -of being able at last to gorge at pleasure, and songs were beginning -here and there. - -First they were served with birds and green sauce in plates of red -clay relieved by drawings in black, then with every kind of shell-fish -that is gathered on the Punic coasts, wheaten porridge, beans and -barley, and snails dressed with cumin on dishes of yellow amber. - -Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their -horns, peacocks with their feathers, whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, -haunches of she-camels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried -grasshoppers, and preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in -the midst of saffron in bowls of Tamrapanni wood. Everything was -running over with wine, truffles, and asafoetida. Pyramids of fruit -were crumbling upon honeycombs, and they had not forgotten a few of -those plump little dogs with pink silky hair and fattened on olive -lees,--a Carthaginian dish held in abhorrence among other nations. -Surprise at the novel fare excited the greed of the stomach. The Gauls -with their long hair drawn up on the crown of the head, snatched at -the water-melons and lemons, and crunched them up with the rind. The -Negroes, who had never seen a lobster, tore their faces with its red -prickles. But the shaven Greeks, whiter than marble, threw the -leavings of their plates behind them, while the herdsmen from Brutium, -in their wolf-skin garments, devoured in silence with their faces in -their portions. - -Night fell. The velarium, spread over the cypress avenue, was drawn -back, and torches were brought. - -The apes, sacred to the moon, were terrified on the cedar tops by the -wavering lights of the petroleum as it burned in the porphyry vases. -They uttered screams which afforded mirth to the soldiers. - -Oblong flames trembled in cuirasses of brass. Every kind of -scintillation flashed from the gem-incrusted dishes. The crateras with -their borders of convex mirrors multiplied and enlarged the images of -things; the soldiers thronged around, looking at their reflections -with amazement, and grimacing to make themselves laugh. They tossed -the ivory stools and golden spatulas to one another across the tables. -They gulped down all the Greek wines in their leathern bottles, the -Campanian wine enclosed in amphoras, the Cantabrian wines brought in -casks, with the wines of the jujube, cinnamomum and lotus. There were -pools of these on the ground that made the foot slip. The smoke of the -meats ascended into the foliage with the vapour of the breath. -Simultaneously were heard the snapping of jaws, the noise of speech, -songs, and cups, the crash of Campanian vases shivering into a -thousand pieces, or the limpid sound of a large silver dish. - -In proportion as their intoxication increased they more and more -recalled the injustice of Carthage. The Republic, in fact, exhausted -by the war, had allowed all the returning bands to accumulate in the -town. Gisco, their general, had however been prudent enough to send -them back severally in order to facilitate the liquidation of their -pay, and the Council had believed that they would in the end consent -to some reduction. But at present ill-will was caused by the inability -to pay them. This debt was confused in the minds of the people with -the 3200 Euboic talents exacted by Lutatius, and equally with Rome -they were regarded as enemies to Carthage. The Mercenaries understood -this, and their indignation found vent in threats and outbreaks. At -last they demanded permission to assemble to celebrate one of their -victories, and the peace party yielded, at the same time revenging -themselves on Hamilcar who had so strongly upheld the war. It had been -terminated notwithstanding all his efforts, so that, despairing of -Carthage, he had entrusted the government of the Mercenaries to Gisco. -To appoint his palace for their reception was to draw upon him -something of the hatred which was borne to them. Moreover, the expense -must be excessive, and he would incur nearly the whole. - -Proud of having brought the Republic to submit, the Mercenaries -thought that they were at last about to return to their homes with the -payment for their blood in the hoods of their cloaks. But as seen -through the mists of intoxication, their fatigues seemed to them -prodigious and but ill-rewarded. They showed one another their wounds, -they told of their combats, their travels and the hunting in their -native lands. They imitated the cries and the leaps of wild beasts. -Then came unclean wagers; they buried their heads in the amphoras and -drank on without interruption, like thirsty dromedaries. A Lusitanian -of gigantic stature ran over the tables, carrying a man in each hand -at arm's length, and spitting out fire through his nostrils. Some -Lacedaemonians, who had not taken off their cuirasses, were leaping -with a heavy step. Some advanced like women, making obscene gestures; -others stripped naked to fight amid the cups after the fashion of -gladiators, and a company of Greeks danced around a vase whereon -nymphs were to be seen, while a Negro tapped with an ox-bone on a -brazen buckler. - -Suddenly they heard a plaintive song, a song loud and soft, rising and -falling in the air like the wing-beating of a wounded bird. - -It was the voice of the slaves in the ergastulum. Some soldiers rose -at a bound to release them and disappeared. - -They returned, driving through the dust amid shouts, twenty men, -distinguished by their greater paleness of face. Small black felt caps -of conical shape covered their shaven heads; they all wore wooden -shoes, and yet made a noise as of old iron like driving chariots. - -They reached the avenue of cypress, where they were lost among the -crowd of those questioning them. One of them remained apart, standing. -Through the rents in his tunic his shoulders could be seen striped -with long scars. Drooping his chin, he looked round him with distrust, -closing his eyelids somewhat against the dazzling light of the -torches, but when he saw that none of the armed men were unfriendly to -him, a great sigh escaped from his breast; he stammered, he sneered -through the bright tears that bathed his face. At last he seized a -brimming cantharus by its rings, raised it straight up into the air -with his outstretched arms, from which his chains hung down, and then -looking to heaven, and still holding the cup he said: - -"Hail first to thee, Baal-Eschmoun, the deliverer, whom the people of -my country call Aesculapius! and to you, genii of the fountains, -light, and woods! and to you, ye gods hidden beneath the mountains and -in the caverns of the earth! and to you, strong men in shining armour -who have set me free!" - -Then he let fall the cup and related his history. He was called -Spendius. The Carthaginians had taken him in the battle of Aeginusae, -and he thanked the Mercenaries once more in Greek, Ligurian and Punic; -he kissed their hands; finally, he congratulated them on the banquet, -while expressing his surprise at not perceiving the cups of the Sacred -Legion. These cups, which bore an emerald vine on each of their six -golden faces, belonged to a corps composed exclusively of young -patricians of the tallest stature. They were a privilege, almost a -sacerdotal distinction, and accordingly nothing among the treasures of -the Republic was more coveted by the Mercenaries. They detested the -Legion on this account, and some of them had been known to risk their -lives for the inconceivable pleasure of drinking out of these cups. - -Accordingly they commanded that the cups should be brought. They were -in the keeping of the Syssitia, companies of traders, who had a common -table. The slaves returned. At that hour all the members of the -Syssitia were asleep. - -"Let them be awakened!" responded the Mercenaries. - -After a second excursion it was explained to them that the cups were -shut up in a temple. - -"Let it be opened!" they replied. - -And when the slaves confessed with trembling that they were in the -possession of Gisco, the general, they cried out: - -"Let him bring them!" - -Gisco soon appeared at the far end of the garden with an escort of the -Sacred Legion. His full, black cloak, which was fastened on his head -to a golden mitre starred with precious stones, and which hung all -about him down to his horse's hoofs, blended in the distance with the -colour of the night. His white beard, the radiancy of his head-dress, -and his triple necklace of broad blue plates beating against his -breast, were alone visible. - -When he entered, the soldiers greeted him with loud shouts, all -crying: - -"The cups! The cups!" - -He began by declaring that if reference were had to their courage, -they were worthy of them. - -The crowd applauded and howled with joy. - -HE knew it, he who had commanded them over yonder, and had returned -with the last cohort in the last galley! - -"True! True!" said they. - -Nevertheless, Gisco continued, the Republic had respected their -national divisions, their customs, and their modes of worship; in -Carthage they were free! As to the cups of the Sacred Legion, they -were private property. Suddenly a Gaul, who was close to Spendius, -sprang over the tables and ran straight up to Gisco, gesticulating and -threatening him with two naked swords. - -Without interrupting his speech, the General struck him on the head -with his heavy ivory staff, and the Barbarian fell. The Gauls howled, -and their frenzy, which was spreading to the others, would soon have -swept away the legionaries. Gisco shrugged his shoulders as he saw -them growing pale. He thought that his courage would be useless -against these exasperated brute beasts. It would be better to revenge -himself upon them by some artifice later; accordingly, he signed to -his soldiers and slowly withdrew. Then, turning in the gateway towards -the Mercenaries, he cried to them that they would repent of it. - -The feast recommenced. But Gisco might return, and by surrounding the -suburb, which was beside the last ramparts, might crush them against -the walls. Then they felt themselves alone in spite of their crowd, -and the great town sleeping beneath them in the shade suddenly made -them afraid, with its piles of staircases, its lofty black houses, and -its vague gods fiercer even than its people. In the distance a few -ships'-lanterns were gliding across the harbour, and there were lights -in the temple of Khamon. They thought of Hamilcar. Where was he? Why -had he forsaken them when peace was concluded? His differences with -the Council were doubtless but a pretence in order to destroy them. -Their unsatisfied hate recoiled upon him, and they cursed him, -exasperating one another with their own anger. At this juncture they -collected together beneath the plane-trees to see a slave who, with -eyeballs fixed, neck contorted, and lips covered with foam, was -rolling on the ground, and beating the soil with his limbs. Some one -cried out that he was poisoned. All then believed themselves poisoned. -They fell upon the slaves, a terrible clamour was raised, and a -vertigo of destruction came like a whirlwind upon the drunken army. -They struck about them at random, they smashed, they slew; some hurled -torches into the foliage; others, leaning over the lions' balustrade, -massacred the animals with arrows; the most daring ran to the -elephants, desiring to cut down their trunks and eat ivory. - -Some Balearic slingers, however, who had gone round the corner of the -palace, in order to pillage more conveniently, were checked by a lofty -barrier, made of Indian cane. They cut the lock-straps with their -daggers, and then found themselves beneath the front that faced -Carthage, in another garden full of trimmed vegetation. Lines of white -flowers all following one another in regular succession formed long -parabolas like star-rockets on the azure-coloured earth. The gloomy -bushes exhaled warm and honied odours. There were trunks of trees -smeared with cinnabar, which resembled columns covered with blood. In -the centre were twelve pedestals, each supporting a great glass ball, -and these hollow globes were indistinctly filled with reddish lights, -like enormous and still palpitating eyeballs. The soldiers lighted -themselves with torches as they stumbled on the slope of the deeply -laboured soil. - -But they perceived a little lake divided into several basins by walls -of blue stones. So limpid was the wave that the flames of the torches -quivered in it at the very bottom, on a bed of white pebbles and -golden dust. It began to bubble, luminous spangles glided past, and -great fish with gems about their mouths, appeared near the surface. - -With much laughter the soldiers slipped their fingers into the gills -and brought them to the tables. They were the fish of the Barca -family, and were all descended from those primordial lotes which had -hatched the mystic egg wherein the goddess was concealed. The idea of -committing a sacrilege revived the greediness of the Mercenaries; they -speedily placed fire beneath some brazen vases, and amused themselves -by watching the beautiful fish struggling in the boiling water. - -The surge of soldiers pressed on. They were no longer afraid. They -commenced to drink again. Their ragged tunics were wet with the -perfumes that flowed in large drops from their foreheads, and resting -both fists on the tables, which seemed to them to be rocking like -ships, they rolled their great drunken eyes around to devour by sight -what they could not take. Others walked amid the dishes on the purple -table covers, breaking ivory stools, and phials of Tyrian glass to -pieces with their feet. Songs mingled with the death-rattle of the -slaves expiring amid the broken cups. They demanded wine, meat, gold. -They cried out for women. They raved in a hundred languages. Some -thought that they were at the vapour baths on account of the steam -which floated around them, or else, catching sight of the foliage, -imagined that they were at the chase, and rushed upon their companions -as upon wild beasts. The conflagration spread to all the trees, one -after another, and the lofty mosses of verdure, emitting long white -spirals, looked like volcanoes beginning to smoke. The clamour -redoubled; the wounded lions roared in the shade. - -In an instant the highest terrace of the palace was illuminated, the -central door opened, and a woman, Hamilcar's daughter herself, clothed -in black garments, appeared on the threshold. She descended the first -staircase, which ran obliquely along the first story, then the second, -and the third, and stopped on the last terrace at the head of the -galley staircase. Motionless and with head bent, she gazed upon the -soldiers. - -Behind her, on each side, were two long shadows of pale men, clad in -white, red-fringed robes, which fell straight to their feet. They had -no beard, no hair, no eyebrows. In their hands, which sparkled with -rings, they carried enormous lyres, and with shrill voice they sang a -hymn to the divinity of Carthage. They were the eunuch priests of the -temple of Tanith, who were often summoned by Salammbo to her house. - -At last she descended the galley staircase. The priests followed her. -She advanced into the avenue of cypress, and walked slowly through the -tables of the captains, who drew back somewhat as they watched her -pass. - -Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the -form of a tower, after the fashion of the Chanaanite maidens, added to -her height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell -to the corners of her mouth, which was as rosy as a half-open -pomegranate. On her breast was a collection of luminous stones, their -variegation imitating the scales of the murena. Her arms were adorned -with diamonds, and issued naked from her sleeveless tunic, which was -starred with red flowers on a perfectly black ground. Between her -ankles she wore a golden chainlet to regulate her steps, and her large -dark purple mantle, cut of an unknown material, trailed behind her, -making, as it were, at each step, a broad wave which followed her. - -The priests played nearly stifled chords on their lyres from time to -time, and in the intervals of the music might be heard the tinkling of -the little golden chain, and the regular patter of her papyrus -sandals. - -No one as yet was acquainted with her. It was only known that she led -a retired life, engaged in pious practices. Some soldiers had seen her -in the night on the summit of her palace kneeling before the stars -amid the eddyings from kindled perfuming-pans. It was the moon that -had made her so pale, and there was something from the gods that -enveloped her like a subtle vapour. Her eyes seemed to gaze far beyond -terrestrial space. She bent her head as she walked, and in her right -hand she carried a little ebony lyre. - -They heard her murmur: - -"Dead! All dead! No more will you come obedient to my voice as when, -seated on the edge of the lake, I used to through seeds of the -watermelon into your mouths! The mystery of Tanith ranged in the -depths of your eyes that were more limpid than the globules of -rivers." And she called them by their names, which were those of the -months--"Siv! Sivan! Tammouz, Eloul, Tischri, Schebar! Ah! have pity -on me, goddess!" - -The soldiers thronged about her without understanding what she said. -They wondered at her attire, but she turned a long frightened look -upon them all, then sinking her head beneath her shoulders, and waving -her arms, she repeated several times: - -"What have you done? what have you done? - -"Yet you had bread, and meats and oil, and all the malobathrum of the -granaries for your enjoyment! I had brought oxen from Hecatompylos; I -had sent hunters into the desert!" Her voice swelled; her cheeks -purpled. She added, "Where, pray, are you now? In a conquered town, or -in the palace of a master? And what master? Hamilcar the Suffet, my -father, the servant of the Baals! It was he who withheld from Lutatius -those arms of yours, red now with the blood of his slaves! Know you of -any in your own lands more skilled in the conduct of battles? Look! -our palace steps are encumbered with our victories! Ah! desist not! -burn it! I will carry away with me the genius of my house, my black -serpent slumbering up yonder on lotus leaves! I will whistle and he -will follow me, and if I embark in a galley he will speed in the wake -of my ship over the foam of the waves." - -Her delicate nostrils were quivering. She crushed her nails against -the gems on her bosom. Her eyes drooped, and she resumed: - -"Ah! poor Carthage! lamentable city! No longer hast thou for thy -protection the strong men of former days who went beyond the oceans to -build temples on their shores. All the lands laboured about thee, and -the sea-plains, ploughed by thine oars, rocked with thy harvests." -Then she began to sing the adventures of Melkarth, the god of the -Sidonians, and the father of her family. - -She told of the ascent of the mountains of Ersiphonia, the journey to -Tartessus, and the war against Masisabal to avenge the queen of the -serpents: - -"He pursued the female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead -leaves like a silver brook, into the forest, and came to a plain where -women with dragon-croups were round a great fire, standing erect on -the points of their tails. The blood-coloured moon was shining within -a pale circle, and their scarlet tongues, cloven like the harpoons of -fishermen, reached curling forth to the very edge of the flame." - -Then Salammbo, without pausing, related how Melkarth, after -vanquishing Masisabal, placed her severed head on the prow of his -ship. "At each throb of the waves it sank beneath the foam, but the -sun embalmed it; it became harder than gold; nevertheless the eyes -ceased not to weep, and the tears fell into the water continually." - -She sang all this in an old Chanaanite idiom, which the Barbarians did -not understand. They asked one another what she could be saying to -them with those frightful gestures which accompanied her speech, and -mounted round about her on the tables, beds, and sycamore boughs, they -strove with open mouths and craned necks to grasp the vague stories -hovering before their imaginations, through the dimness of the -theogonies, like phantoms wrapped in cloud. - -Only the beardless priests understood Salammbo; their wrinkled hands, -which hung over the strings of their lyres, quivered, and from time to -time they would draw forth a mournful chord; for, feebler than old -women, they trembled at once with mystic emotion, and with the fear -inspired by men. The Barbarians heeded them not, but listened -continually to the maiden's song. - -None gazed at her like a young Numidian chief, who was placed at the -captains' tables among soldiers of his own nation. His girdle so -bristled with darts that it formed a swelling in his ample cloak, -which was fastened on his temples with a leather lace. The cloth -parted asunder as it fell upon his shoulders, and enveloped his -countenance in shadow, so that only the fires of his two fixed eyes -could be seen. It was by chance that he was at the feast, his father -having domiciled him with the Barca family, according to the custom by -which kings used to send their children into the households of the -great in order to pave the way for alliances; but Narr' Havas had -lodged there fox six months without having hitherto seen Salammbo, and -now, seated on his heels, with his head brushing the handles of his -javelins, he was watching her with dilated nostrils, like a leopard -crouching among the bamboos. - -On the other side of the tables was a Libyan of colossal stature, and -with short black curly hair. He had retained only his military jacket, -the brass plates of which were tearing the purple of the couch. A -necklace of silver moons was tangled in his hairy breast. His face was -stained with splashes of blood; he was leaning on his left elbow with -a smile on his large, open mouth. - -Salammbo had abandoned the sacred rhythm. With a woman's subtlety she -was simultaneously employing all the dialects of the Barbarians in -order to appease their anger. To the Greeks she spoke Greek; then she -turned to the Ligurians, the Campanians, the Negroes, and listening to -her each one found again in her voice the sweetness of his native -land. She now, carried away by the memories of Carthage, sang of the -ancient battles against Rome; they applauded. She kindled at the -gleaming of the naked swords, and cried aloud with outstretched arms. -Her lyre fell, she was silent; and, pressing both hands upon her -heart, she remained for some minutes with closed eyelids enjoying the -agitation of all these men. - -Matho, the Libyan, leaned over towards her. Involuntarily she -approached him, and impelled by grateful pride, poured him a long -stream of wine into a golden cup in order to conciliate the army. - -"Drink!" she said. - -He took the cup, and was carrying it to his lips when a Gaul, the same -that had been hurt by Gisco, struck him on the shoulder, while in a -jovial manner he gave utterance to pleasantries in his native tongue. -Spendius was not far off, and he volunteered to interpret them. - -"Speak!" said Matho. - -"The gods protect you; you are going to become rich. When will the -nuptials be?" - -"What nuptials?" - -"Yours! for with us," said the Gaul, "when a woman gives drink to a -soldier, it means that she offers him her couch." - -He had not finished when Narr' Havas, with a bound, drew a javelin -from his girdle, and, leaning his right foot upon the edge of the -table, hurled it against Matho. - -The javelin whistled among the cups, and piercing the Lybian's arm, -pinned it so firmly to the cloth, that the shaft quivered in the air. - -Matho quickly plucked it out; but he was weaponless and naked; at last -he lifted the over-laden table with both arms, and flung it against -Narr' Havas into the very centre of the crowd that rushed between -them. The soldiers and Numidians pressed together so closely that they -were unable to draw their swords. Matho advanced dealing great blows -with his head. When he raised it, Narr' Havas had disappeared. He -sought for him with his eyes. Salammbo also was gone. - -Then directing his looks to the palace he perceived the red door with -the black cross closing far above, and he darted away. - -They saw him run between the prows of the galleys, and then reappear -along the three staircases until he reached the red door against which -he dashed his whole body. Panting, he leaned against the wall to keep -himself from falling. - -But a man had followed him, and through the darkness, for the lights -of the feast were hidden by the corner of the palace, he recognised -Spendius. - -"Begone!" said he. - -The slave without replying began to tear his tunic with his teeth; -then kneeling beside Matho he tenderly took his arm, and felt it in -the shadow to discover the wound. - -By a ray of the moon which was then gliding between the clouds, -Spendius perceived a gaping wound in the middle of the arm. He rolled -the piece of stuff about it, but the other said irritably, "Leave me! -leave me!" - -"Oh no!" replied the slave. "You released me from the ergastulum. I am -yours! you are my master! command me!" - -Matho walked round the terrace brushing against the walls. He strained -his ears at every step, glancing down into the silent apartments -through the spaces between the gilded reeds. At last he stopped with a -look of despair. - -"Listen!" said the slave to him. "Oh! do not despise me for my -feebleness! I have lived in the palace. I can wind like a viper -through the walls. Come! in the Ancestor's Chamber there is an ingot -of gold beneath every flagstone; an underground path leads to their -tombs." - -"Well! what matters it?" said Matho. - -Spendius was silent. - -They were on the terrace. A huge mass of shadow stretched before them, -appearing as if it contained vague accumulations, like the gigantic -billows of a black and petrified ocean. - -But a luminous bar rose towards the East; far below, on the left, the -canals of Megara were beginning to stripe the verdure of the gardens -with their windings of white. The conical roofs of the heptagonal -temples, the staircases, terraces, and ramparts were being carved by -degrees upon the paleness of the dawn; and a girdle of white foam -rocked around the Carthaginian peninsula, while the emerald sea -appeared as if it were curdled in the freshness of the morning. Then -as the rosy sky grew larger, the lofty houses, bending over the -sloping soil, reared and massed themselves like a herd of black goats -coming down from the mountains. The deserted streets lengthened; the -palm-trees that topped the walls here and there were motionless; the -brimming cisterns seemed like silver bucklers lost in the courts; the -beacon on the promontory of Hermaeum was beginning to grow pale. The -horses of Eschmoun, on the very summit of the Acropolis in the cypress -wood, feeling that the light was coming, placed their hoofs on the -marble parapet, and neighed towards the sun. - -It appeared, and Spendius raised his arms with a cry. - -Everything stirred in a diffusion of red, for the god, as if he were -rending himself, now poured full-rayed upon Carthage the golden rain -of his veins. The beaks of the galleys sparkled, the roof of Khamon -appeared to be all in flames, while far within the temples, whose -doors were opening, glimmerings of light could be seen. Large -chariots, arriving from the country, rolled their wheels over the -flagstones in the streets. Dromedaries, baggage-laden, came down the -ramps. Money-changers raised the pent-houses of their shops at the -cross ways, storks took to flight, white sails fluttered. In the wood -of Tanith might be heard the tabourines of the sacred courtesans, and -the furnaces for baking the clay coffins were beginning to smoke on -the Mappalian point. - -Spendius leaned over the terrace; his teeth chattered and he repeated: - -"Ah! yes--yes--master! I understand why you scorned the pillage of the -house just now." - -Matho was as if he had just been awaked by the hissing of his voice, -and did not seem to understand. Spendius resumed: - -"Ah! what riches! and the men who possess them have not even the steel -to defend them!" - -Then, pointing with his right arm outstretched to some of the populace -who were crawling on the sand outside the mole to look for gold dust: - -"See!" he said to him, "the Republic is like these wretches: bending -on the brink of the ocean, she buries her greedy arms in every shore, -and the noise of the billows so fills her ear that she cannot hear -behind her the tread of a master's heel!" - -He drew Matho to quite the other end of the terrace, and showed him -the garden, wherein the soldiers' swords, hanging on the trees, were -like mirrors in the sun. - -"But here there are strong men whose hatred is roused! and nothing -binds them to Carthage, neither families, oaths nor gods!" - -Matho remained leaning against the wall; Spendius came close, and -continued in a low voice: - -"Do you understand me, soldier? We should walk purple-clad like -satraps. We should bathe in perfumes; and I should in turn have -slaves! Are you not weary of sleeping on hard ground, of drinking the -vinegar of the camps, and of continually hearing the trumpet? But you -will rest later, will you not? When they pull off your cuirass to cast -your corpse to the vultures! or perhaps blind, lame, and weak you will -go, leaning on a stick, from door to door to tell of your youth to -pickle-sellers and little children. Remember all the injustice of your -chiefs, the campings in the snow, the marchings in the sun, the -tyrannies of discipline, and the everlasting menace of the cross! And -after all this misery they have given you a necklace of honour, as -they hang a girdle of bells round the breast of an ass to deafen it on -its journey, and prevent it from feeling fatigue. A man like you, -braver than Pyrrhus! If only you had wished it! Ah! how happy will you -be in large cool halls, with the sound of lyres, lying on flowers, -with women and buffoons! Do not tell me that the enterprise is -impossible. Have not the Mercenaries already possessed Rhegium and -other fortified places in Italy? Who is to prevent you? Hamilcar is -away; the people execrate the rich; Gisco can do nothing with the -cowards who surround him. Command them! Carthage is ours; let us fall -upon it!" - -"No!" said Matho, "the curse of Moloch weighs upon me. I felt it in -her eyes, and just now I saw a black ram retreating in a temple." -Looking around him he added: "But where is she?" - -Then Spendius understood that a great disquiet possessed him, and did -not venture to speak again. - -The trees behind them were still smoking; half-burned carcases of apes -dropped from their blackened boughs from time to time into the midst -of the dishes. Drunken soldiers snored open-mouthed by the side of the -corpses, and those who were not asleep lowered their heads dazzled by -the light of day. The trampled soil was hidden beneath splashes of -red. The elephants poised their bleeding trunks between the stakes of -their pens. In the open granaries might be seen sacks of spilled -wheat, below the gate was a thick line of chariots which had been -heaped up by the Barbarians, and the peacocks perched in the cedars -were spreading their tails and beginning to utter their cry. - -Matho's immobility, however, astonished Spendius; he was even paler -than he had recently been, and he was following something on the -horizon with fixed eyeballs, and with both fists resting on the edge -of the terrace. Spendius crouched down, and so at last discovered at -what he was gazing. In the distance a golden speck was turning in the -dust on the road to Utica; it was the nave of a chariot drawn by two -mules; a slave was running at the end of the pole, and holding them by -the bridle. Two women were seated in the chariot. The manes of the -animals were puffed between the ears after the Persian fashion, -beneath a network of blue pearls. Spendius recognised them, and -restrained a cry. - -A large veil floated behind in the wind. - - - -CHAPTER II - -AT SICCA - -Two days afterwards the Mercenaries left Carthage. - -They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they -should go into camp at Sicca, and they had been told with all sorts of -caresses: - -"You are the saviours of Carthage! But you would starve it if you -remained there; it would become insolvent. Withdraw! The Republic will -be grateful to you later for all this condescension. We are going to -levy taxes immediately; your pay shall be in full, and galleys shall -be equipped to take you back to your native lands." - -They did not know how to reply to all this talk. These men, accustomed -as they were to war, were wearied by residence in a town; there was -difficulty in convincing them, and the people mounted the walls to see -them go away. - -They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, -pell-mell, archers with hoplites, captains with soldiers, Lusitanians -with Greeks. They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy -cothurni on the paving stones. Their armour was dented by the -catapult, and their faces blackened by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse -cries issued from their thick bears, their tattered coats of mail -flapped upon the pommels of their swords, and through the holes in the -brass might be seen their naked limbs, as frightful as engines of war. -Sarissae, axes, spears, felt caps and bronze helmets, all swung -together with a single motion. They filled the street thickly enough -to have made the walls crack, and the long mass of armed soldiers -overflowed between the lofty bitumen-smeared houses six storys high. -Behind their gratings of iron or reed the women, with veiled heads, -silently watched the Barbarians pass. - -The terraces, fortifications, and walls were hidden beneath the crowd -of Carthaginians, who were dressed in garments of black. The sailors' -tunics showed like drops of blood among the dark multitude, and nearly -naked children, whose skin shone beneath their copper bracelets, -gesticulated in the foliage of the columns, or amid the branches of a -palm tree. Some of the Ancients were posted on the platform of the -towers, and people did not know why a personage with a long beard -stood thus in a dreamy attitude here and there. He appeared in the -distance against the background of the sky, vague as a phantom and -motionless as stone. - -All, however, were oppressed with the same anxiety; it was feared that -the Barbarians, seeing themselves so strong, might take a fancy to -stay. But they were leaving with so much good faith that the -Carthaginians grew bold and mingled with the soldiers. They -overwhelmed them with protestations and embraces. Some with -exaggerated politeness and audacious hypocrisy even sought to induce -them not to leave the city. They threw perfumes, flowers, and pieces -of silver to them. They gave them amulets to avert sickness; but they -had spit upon them three times to attract death, or had enclosed -jackal's hair within them to put cowardice into their hearts. Aloud, -they invoked Melkarth's favour, and in a whisper, his curse. - -Then came the mob of baggage, beasts of burden, and stragglers. The -sick groaned on the backs of dromedaries, while others limped along -leaning on broken pikes. The drunkards carried leathern bottles, and -the greedy quarters of meat, cakes, fruits, butter wrapped in fig -leaves, and snow in linen bags. Some were to be seen with parasols in -their hands, and parrots on their shoulders. They had mastiffs, -gazelles, and panthers following behind them. Women of Libyan race, -mounted on asses, inveighed against the Negresses who had forsaken the -lupanaria of Malqua for the soldiers; many of them were suckling -children suspended on their bosoms by leathern thongs. The mules were -goaded out at the point of the sword, their backs bending beneath the -load of tents, while there were numbers of serving-men and water- -carriers, emaciated, jaundiced with fever, and filthy with vermin, the -scum of the Carthaginian populace, who had attached themselves to the -Barbarians. - -When they had passed, the gates were shut behind them, but the people -did not descend from the walls. The army soon spread over the breadth -of the isthmus. - -It parted into unequal masses. Then the lances appeared like tall -blades of grass, and finally all was lost in a train of dust; those of -the soldiers who looked back towards Carthage could now only see its -long walls with their vacant battlements cut out against the edge of -the sky. - -Then the Barbarians heard a great shout. They thought that some from -among them (for they did not know their own number) had remained in -the town, and were amusing themselves by pillaging a temple. They -laughed a great deal at the idea of this, and then continued their -journey. - -They were rejoiced to find themselves, as in former days, marching all -together in the open country, and some of the Greeks sang the old song -of the Mamertines: - - "With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of the - house! The disarmed man falls at my feet and calls me Lord and - Great King." - -They shouted, they leaped, the merriest began to tell stories; the -time of their miseries was past. As they arrived at Tunis, some of -them remarked that a troop of Balearic slingers was missing. They were -doubtless not far off; and no further heed was paid to them. - -Some went to lodge in the houses, others camped at the foot of the -walls, and the townspeople came out to chat with the soldiers. - -During the whole night fires were seen burning on the horizon in the -direction of Carthage; the light stretched like giant torches across -the motionless lake. No one in the army could tell what festival was -being celebrated. - -On the following day the Barbarian's passed through a region that was -covered with cultivation. The domains of the patricians succeeded one -another along the border of the route; channels of water flowed -through woods of palm; there were long, green lines of olive-trees; -rose-coloured vapours floated in the gorges of the hills, while blue -mountains reared themselves behind. A warm wind was blowing. -Chameleons were crawling on the broad leaves of the cactus. - -The Barbarians slackened their speed. - -They marched on in isolated detachments, or lagged behind one another -at long intervals. They ate grapes along the margin of the vines. They -lay on the grass and gazed with stupefaction upon the large, -artificially twisted horns of the oxen, the sheep clothed with skins -to protect their wool, the furrows crossing one another so as to form -lozenges, and the ploughshares like ships' anchors, with the -pomegranate trees that were watered with silphium. Such wealth of the -soil and such inventions of wisdom dazzled them. - -In the evening they stretched themselves on the tents without -unfolding them; and thought with regret of Hamilcar's feast, as they -fell asleep with their faces towards the stars. - -In the middle of the following day they halted on the bank of a river, -amid clumps of rose-bays. Then they quickly threw aside lances, -bucklers and belts. They bathed with shouts, and drew water in their -helmets, while others drank lying flat on their stomachs, and all in -the midst of the beasts of burden whose baggage was slipping from -them. - -Spendius, who was seated on a dromedary stolen in Hamilcar's parks, -perceived Matho at a distance, with his arm hanging against his -breast, his head bare, and his face bent down, giving his mule drink, -and watching the water flow. Spendius immediately ran through the -crowd calling him, "Master! master!" - -Matho gave him but scant thanks for his blessings, but Spendius paid -no heed to this, and began to march behind him, from time to time -turning restless glances in the direction of Carthage. - -He was the son of a Greek rhetor and a Campanian prostitute. He had at -first grown rich by dealing in women; then, ruined by a shipwreck, he -had made war against the Romans with the herdsmen of Samnium. He had -been taken and had escaped; he had been retaken, and had worked in the -quarries, panted in the vapour-baths, shrieked under torture, passed -through the hands of many masters, and experienced every frenzy. At -last, one day, in despair, he had flung himself into the sea from the -top of a trireme where he was working at the oar. Some of Hamilcar's -sailors had picked him up when at the point of death, and had brought -him to the ergastulum of Megara, at Carthage. But, as fugitives were -to be given back to the Romans, he had taken advantage of the -confusion to fly with the soldiers. - -During the whole of the march he remained near Matho; he brought him -food, assisted him to dismount, and spread a carpet in the evening -beneath his head. Matho at last was touched by these attentions, and -by degrees unlocked his lips. - -He had been born in the gulf of Syrtis. His father had taken him on a -pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon. Then he had hunted elephants in the -forests of the Garamantes. Afterwards he had entered the service of -Carthage. He had been appointed tetrarch at the capture of Drepanum. -The Republic owed him four horses, twenty-three medimni of wheat, and -a winter's pay. He feared the gods, and wished to die in his native -land. - -Spendius spoke to him of his travels, and of the peoples and temples -that he had visited. He knew many things: he could make sandals, boar- -spears and nets; he could tame wild beasts and could cook fish. - -Sometimes he would interrupt himself, and utter a hoarse cry from the -depths of his throat; Matho's mule would quicken his pace, and others -would hasten after them, and then Spendius would begin again though -still torn with agony. This subsided at last on the evening of the -fourth day. - -They were marching side by side to the right of the army on the side -of a hill; below them stretched the plain lost in the vapours of the -night. The lines of soldiers also were defiling below, making -undulations in the shade. From time to time these passed over -eminences lit up by the moon; then stars would tremble on the points -of the pikes, the helmets would glimmer for an instant, all would -disappear, and others would come on continually. Startled flocks -bleated in the distance, and a something of infinite sweetness seemed -to sink upon the earth. - -Spendius, with his head thrown back and his eyes half-closed, inhaled -the freshness of the wind with great sighs; he spread out his arms, -moving his fingers that he might the better feel the cares that -streamed over his body. Hopes of vengeance came back to him and -transported him. He pressed his hand upon his mouth to check his sobs, -and half-swooning with intoxication, let go the halter of his -dromedary, which was proceeding with long, regular steps. Matho had -relapsed into his former melancholy; his legs hung down to the ground, -and the grass made a continuous rustling as it beat against his -cothurni. - -The journey, however, spread itself out without ever coming to an end. -At the extremity of a plain they would always reach a round-shaped -plateau; then they would descend again into a valley, and the -mountains which seemed to block up the horizon would, in proportion as -they were approached, glide as it were from their positions. From time -to time a river would appear amid the verdure of tamarisks to lose -itself at the turning of the hills. Sometimes a huge rock would tower -aloft like the prow of a vessel or the pedestal of some vanished -colossus. - -At regular intervals they met with little quadrangular temples, which -served as stations for the pilgrims who repaired to Sicca. They were -closed like tombs. The Libyans struck great blows upon the doors to -have them opened. But no one inside responded. - -Then the cultivation became more rare. They suddenly entered upon -belts of sand bristling with thorny thickets. Flocks of sheep were -browsing among the stones; a woman with a blue fleece about her waist -was watching them. She fled screaming when she saw the soldiers' pikes -among the rocks. - -They were marching through a kind of large passage bordered by two -chains of reddish coloured hillocks, when their nostrils were greeted -with a nauseous odour, and they thought that they could see something -extraordinary on the top of a carob tree: a lion's head reared itself -above the leaves. - -They ran thither. It was a lion with his four limbs fastened to a -cross like a criminal. His huge muzzle fell upon his breast, and his -two fore-paws, half-hidden beneath the abundance of his mane, were -spread out wide like the wings of a bird. His ribs stood severally out -beneath his distended skin; his hind legs, which were nailed against -each other, were raised somewhat, and the black blood, flowing through -his hair, had collected in stalactites at the end of his tail, which -hung down perfectly straight along the cross. The soldiers made merry -around; they called him consul, and Roman citizen, and threw pebbles -into his eyes to drive away the gnats. - -But a hundred paces further on they saw two more, and then there -suddenly appeared a long file of crosses bearing lions. Some had been -so long dead that nothing was left against the wood but the remains of -their skeletons; others which were half eaten away had their jaws -twisted into horrible grimaces; there were some enormous ones; the -shafts of the crosses bent beneath them, and they swayed in the wind, -while bands of crows wheeled ceaselessly in the air above their heads. -It was thus that the Carthaginian peasants avenged themselves when -they captured a wild beast; they hoped to terrify the others by such -an example. The Barbarians ceased their laughter, and were long lost -in amazement. "What people is this," they thought, "that amuses itself -by crucifying lions!" - -They were, besides, especially the men of the North, vaguely uneasy, -troubled, and already sick. They tore their hands with the darts of -the aloes; great mosquitoes buzzed in their ears, and dysentry was -breaking out in the army. They were weary at not yet seeing Sicca. -They were afraid of losing themselves and of reaching the desert, the -country of sands and terrors. Many even were unwilling to advance -further. Others started back to Carthage. - -At last on the seventh day, after following the base of a mountain for -a long time, they turned abruptly to the right, and there then -appeared a line of walls resting on white rocks and blending with -them. Suddenly the entire city rose; blue, yellow, and white veils -moved on the walls in the redness of the evening. These were the -priestesses of Tanith, who had hastened hither to receive the men. -They stood ranged along the rampart, striking tabourines, playing -lyres, and shaking crotala, while the rays of the sun, setting behind -them in the mountains of Numidia, shot between the strings of their -lyres over which their naked arms were stretched. At intervals their -instruments would become suddenly still, and a cry would break forth -strident, precipitate, frenzied, continuous, a sort of barking which -they made by striking both corners of the mouth with the tongue. -Others, more motionless than the Sphynx, rested on their elbows with -their chins on their hands, and darted their great black eyes upon the -army as it ascended. - -Although Sicca was a sacred town it could not hold such a multitude; -the temple alone, with its appurtenances, occupied half of it. -Accordingly the Barbarians established themselves at their ease on the -plain; those who were disciplined in regular troops, and the rest -according to nationality or their own fancy. - -The Greeks ranged their tents of skin in parallel lines; the Iberians -placed their canvas pavilions in a circle; the Gauls made themselves -huts of planks; the Libyans cabins of dry stones, while the Negroes -with their nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in. Many, -not knowing where to go, wandered about among the baggage, and at -nightfall lay down in their ragged mantles on the ground. - -The plain, which was wholly bounded by mountains, expanded around -them. Here and there a palm tree leaned over a sand hill, and pines -and oaks flecked the sides of the precipices: sometimes the rain of a -storm would hang from the sky like a long scarf, while the country -everywhere was still covered with azure and serenity; then a warm wind -would drive before it tornadoes of dust, and a stream would descend in -cascades from the heights of Sicca, where, with its roofing of gold on -its columns of brass, rose the temple of the Carthaginian Venus, the -mistress of the land. She seemed to fill it with her soul. In such -convulsions of the soil, such alternations of temperature, and such -plays of light would she manifest the extravagance of her might with -the beauty of her eternal smile. The mountains at their summits were -crescent-shaped; others were like women's bosoms presenting their -swelling breasts, and the Barbarians felt a heaviness that was full of -delight weighing down their fatigues. - -Spendius had bought a slave with the money brought him by his -dromedary. The whole day long he lay asleep stretched before Matho's -tent. Often he would awake, thinking in his dreams that he heard the -whistling of the thongs; with a smile he would pass his hands over the -scars on his legs at the place where the fetters had long been worn, -and then he would fall asleep again. - -Matho accepted his companionship, and when he went out Spendius would -escort him like a lictor with a long sword on his thigh; or perhaps -Matho would rest his arm carelessly on the other's shoulder, for -Spendius was small. - -One evening when they were passing together through the streets in the -camp they perceived some men covered with white cloaks; among them was -Narr' Havas, the prince of the Numidians. Matho started. - -"Your sword!" he cried; "I will kill him!" - -"Not yet!" said Spendius, restraining him. Narr' Havas was already -advancing towards him. - -He kissed both thumbs in token of alliance, showing nothing of the -anger which he had experienced at the drunkenness of the feast; then -he spoke at length against Carthage, but did not say what brought him -among the Barbarians. - -"Was it to betray them, or else the Republic?" Spendius asked himself; -and as he expected to profit by every disorder, he felt grateful to -Narr' Havas for the future perfidies of which he suspected him. - -The chief of the Numidians remained amongst the Mercenaries. He -appeared desirous of attaching Matho to himself. He sent him fat -goats, gold dust, and ostrich feathers. The Libyan, who was amazed at -such caresses, was in doubt whether to respond to them or to become -exasperated at them. But Spendius pacified him, and Matho allowed -himself to be ruled by the slave, remaining ever irresolute and in an -unconquerable torpor, like those who have once taken a draught of -which they are to die. - -One morning when all three went out lion-hunting, Narr' Havas -concealed a dagger in his cloak. Spendius kept continually behind him, -and when they returned the dagger had not been drawn. - -Another time Narr' Havas took them a long way off, as far as the -boundaries of his kingdom. They came to a narrow gorge, and Narr' -Havas smiled as he declared that he had forgotten the way. Spendius -found it again. - -But most frequently Matho would go off at sunrise, as melancholy as an -augur, to wander about the country. He would stretch himself on the -sand, and remain there motionless until the evening. - -He consulted all the soothsayers in the army one after the other,-- -those who watch the trail of serpents, those who read the stars, and -those who breathe upon the ashes of the dead. He swallowed galbanum, -seseli, and viper's venom which freezes the heart; Negro women, -singing barbarous words in the moonlight, pricked the skin of his -forehead with golden stylets; he loaded himself with necklaces and -charms; he invoked in turn Baal-Khamon, Moloch, the seven Kabiri, -Tanith, and the Venus of the Greeks. He engraved a name upon a copper -plate, and buried it in the sand at the threshold of his tent. -Spendius used to hear him groaning and talking to himself. - -One night he went in. - -Matho, as naked as a corpse, was lying on a lion's skin flat on his -stomach, with his face in both his hands; a hanging lamp lit up his -armour, which was hooked on to the tent-pole above his head. - -"You are suffering?" said the slave to him. "What is the matter with -you? Answer me?" And he shook him by the shoulder calling him several -times, "Master! master!" - -At last Matho lifted large troubled eyes towards him. - -"Listen!" he said in a low voice, and with a finger on his lips. "It -is the wrath of the Gods! Hamilcar's daughter pursues me! I am afraid -of her, Spendius!" He pressed himself close against his breast like a -child terrified by a phantom. "Speak to me! I am sick! I want to get -well! I have tried everything! But you, you perhaps know some stronger -gods, or some resistless invocation?" - -"For what purpose?" asked Spendius. - -Striking his head with both his fists, he replied: - -"To rid me of her!" - -Then speaking to himself with long pauses he said: - -"I am no doubt the victim of some holocaust which she has promised to -the gods?--She holds me fast by a chain which people cannot see. If I -walk, it is she that is advancing; when I stop, she is resting! Her -eyes burn me, I hear her voice. She encompasses me, she penetrates me. -It seems to me that she has become my soul! - -"And yet between us there are, as it were, the invisible billows of a -boundless ocean! She is far away and quite inaccessible! The splendour -of her beauty forms a cloud of light around her, and at times I think -that I have never seen her--that she does not exist--and that it is -all a dream!" - -Matho wept thus in the darkness; the Barbarians were sleeping. -Spendius, as he looked at him, recalled the young men who once used to -entreat him with golden cases in their hands, when he led his herd of -courtesans through the towns; a feeling of pity moved him, and he -said-- - -"Be strong, my master! Summon your will, and beseech the gods no more, -for they turn not aside at the cries of men! Weeping like a coward! -And you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much -suffering?" - -"Am I a child?" said Matho. "Do you think that I am moved by their -faces and songs? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our stables. I -have embraced them amid assaults, beneath falling ceilings, and while -the catapult was still vibrating!--But she, Spendius, she!--" - -The slave interrupted him: - -"If she were not Hanno's daughter--" - -"No!" cried Matho. "She has nothing in common with the daughters of -other men! Have you seen her great eyes beneath her great eyebrows, -like suns beneath triumphal arches? Think: when she appeared all the -torches grew pale. Her naked breast shone here and there through the -diamonds of her necklace; behind her you perceived as it were the -odour of a temple, and her whole being emitted something that was -sweeter than wine and more terrible than death. She walked, however, -and then she stopped." - -He remained gaping with his head cast down and his eyeballs fixed. - -"But I want her! I need her! I am dying for her! I am transported with -frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms, and yet I hate -her, Spendius! I should like to beat her! What is to be done? I have a -mind to sell myself and become her slave! YOU have been that! You were -able to get sight of her; speak to me of her! Every night she ascends -to the terrace of her palace, does she not? Ah! the stones must quiver -beneath her sandals, and the stars bend down to see her!" - -He fell back in a perfect frenzy, with a rattling in his throat like a -wounded bull. - -Then Matho sang: "He pursued into the forest the female monster, whose -tail undulated over the dead leaves like a silver brook." And with -lingering tones he imitated Salammbo's voice, while his outspread -hands were held like two light hands on the strings of a lyre. - -To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he repeated the same -words; their nights were spent in these wailings and exhortations. - -Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine. After his fits of -drunkenness he was more melancholy still. He tried to divert himself -at huckle-bones, and lost the gold plates of his necklace one by one. -He had himself taken to the servants of the Goddess; but he came down -the hill sobbing, like one returning from a funeral. - -Spendius, on the contrary, became more bold and gay. He was to be seen -in the leafy taverns discoursing in the midst of the soldiers. He -mended old cuirasses. He juggled with daggers. He went and gathered -herbs in the fields for the sick. He was facetious, dexterous, full of -invention and talk; the Barbarians grew accustomed to his services, -and he came to be loved by them. - -However, they were awaiting an ambassador from Carthage to bring them -mules laden with baskets of gold; and ever beginning the same -calculation over again, they would trace figures with their fingers in -the sand. Every one was arranging his life beforehand; they would have -concubines, slaves, lands; others intended to bury their treasure, or -risk it on a vessel. But their tempers were provoked by want of -employment; there were constant disputes between horse-soldiers and -foot-soldiers, Barbarians and Greeks, while there was a never-ending -din of shrill female voices. - -Every day men came flocking in nearly naked, and with grass on their -heads to protect them from the sun; they were the debtors of the rich -Carthaginians and had been forced to till the lands of the latter, but -had escaped. Libyans came pouring in with peasants ruined by the -taxes, outlaws, and malefactors. Then the horde of traders, all the -dealers in wine and oil, who were furious at not being paid, laid the -blame upon the Republic. Spendius declaimed against it. Soon the -provisions ran low; and there was talk of advancing in a body upon -Carthage, and calling in the Romans. - -One evening, at supper-time, dull cracked sounds were heard -approaching, and something red appeared in the distance among the -undulations of the soil. - -It was a large purple litter, adorned with ostrich feathers at the -corners. Chains of crystal and garlands of pearls beat against the -closed hangings. It was followed by camels sounding the great bells -that hung at their breasts, and having around them horsemen clad from -shoulder to heel in armour of golden scales. - -They halted three hundred paces from the camp to take their round -bucklers, broad swords, and Boeotian helmets out of the cases which -they carried behind their saddles. Some remained with the camels, -while the others resumed their march. At last the ensigns of the -Republic appeared, that is to say, staves of blue wood terminated in -horses' heads or fir cones. The Barbarians all rose with applause; the -women rushed towards the guards of the Legion and kissed their feet. - -The litter advanced on the shoulders of twelve Negroes who walked in -step with short, rapid strides; they went at random to right or left, -being embarrassed by the tent-ropes, the animals that were straying -about, or the tripods where food was being cooked. Sometimes a fat -hand, laden with rings, would partially open the litter, and a hoarse -voice would utter loud reproaches; then the bearers would stop and -take a different direction through the camp. - -But the purple curtains were raised, and a human head, impassible and -bloated, was seen resting on a large pillow; the eyebrows, which were -like arches of ebony, met each other at the points; golden dust -sparkled in the frizzled hair, and the face was so wan that it looked -as if it had been powdered with marble raspings. The rest of the body -was concealed beneath the fleeces which filled the litter. - -In the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, he -whose slackness had assisted to lose the battle of the Aegatian -islands; and as to his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans, even -if he did behave with clemency, thought the Barbarians, it was owing -to cupidity, for he had sold all the captives on his own account, -although he had reported their deaths to the Republic. - -After seeking for some time a convenient place from which to harangue -the soldiers, he made a sign; the litter stopped, and Hanno, supported -by two slaves, put his tottering feet to the ground. - -He wore boots of black felt strewn with silver moons. His legs were -swathed in bands like those wrapped about a mummy, and the flesh crept -through the crossings of the linen; his stomach came out beyond the -scarlet jacket which covered his thighs; the folds of his neck fell -down to his breast like the dewlaps of an ox; his tunic, which was -painted with flowers, was bursting at the arm-pits; he wore a scarf, a -girdle, and an ample black cloak with laced double-sleeves. But the -abundance of his garments, his great necklace of blue stones, his -golden clasps, and heavy earrings only rendered his deformity still -more hideous. He might have been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in -a block of stone; for a pale leprosy, which was spread over his whole -body, gave him the appearance of an inert thing. His nose, however, -which was hooked like a vulture's beak, was violently dilated to -breathe in the air, and his little eyes, with their gummed lashes, -shone with a hard and metallic lustre. He held a spatula of aloe-wood -in his hand wherewith to scratch his skin. - -At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided, -and Hanno commenced to speak. - -He began with an eulogy of the gods and the Republic; the Barbarians -ought to congratulate themselves on having served it. But they must -show themselves more reasonable; times were hard, "and if a master has -only three olives, is it not right that he should keep two for -himself?" - -The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and -apologues, nodding his head the while to solicit some approval. - -He spoke in Punic, and those surrounding him (the most alert, who had -hastened thither without their arms), were Campanians, Gauls, and -Greeks, so that no one in the crowd understood him. Hanno, perceiving -this, stopped and reflected, swaying himself heavily from one leg to -the other. - -It occurred to him to call the captains together; then his heralds -shouted the order in Greek, the language which, from the time of -Xanthippus, had been used for commands in the Carthaginian armies. - -The guards dispersed the mob of soldiers with strokes of the whip; and -the captains of the Spartan phalanxes and the chiefs of the Barbarian -cohorts soon arrived with the insignia of their rank, and in the -armour of their nation. Night had fallen, a great tumult was spreading -throughout the plain; fires were burning here and there; and the -soldiers kept going from one to another asking what the matter was, -and why the Suffet did not distribute the money? - -He was setting the infinite burdens of the Republic before the -captains. Her treasury was empty. The tribute to Rome was crushing -her. "We are quite at a loss what to do! She is much to be pitied!" - -From time to time he would rub his limbs with his aloe-wood spatula, -or perhaps he would break off to drink a ptisan made of the ashes of a -weasel and asparagus boiled in vinegar from a silver cup handed to him -by a slave; then he would wipe his lips with a scarlet napkin and -resume: - -"What used to be worth a shekel of silver is now worth three shekels -of gold, while the cultivated lands which were abandoned during the -war bring in nothing! Our purpura fisheries are nearly gone, and even -pearls are becoming exhorbitant; we have scarcely unguents enough for -the service of the gods! As for the things of the table, I shall say -nothing about them; it is a calamity! For want of galleys we are -without spices, and it is a matter of great difficulty to procure -silphium on account of the rebellions on the Cyrenian frontier. -Sicily, where so many slaves used to be had, is now closed to us! Only -yesterday I gave more money for a bather and four scullions than I -used at one time to give for a pair of elephants!" - -He unrolled a long piece of papyrus; and, without omitting a single -figure, read all the expenses that the government had incurred; so -much for repairing the temples, for paving the streets, for the -construction of vessels, for the coral-fisheries, for the enlargement -of the Syssitia, and for engines in the mines in the country of the -Cantabrians. - -But the captains understood Punic as little as the soldiers, although -the Mercenaries saluted one another in that language. It was usual to -place a few Carthaginian officers in the Barbarian armies to act as -interpreters; after the war they had concealed themselves through fear -of vengeance, and Hanno had not thought of taking them with him; his -hollow voice, too, was lost in the wind. - -The Greeks, girthed in their iron waist-belts, strained their ears as -they strove to guess at his words, while the mountaineers, covered -with furs like bears, looked at him with distrust, or yawned as they -leaned on their brass-nailed clubs. The heedless Gauls sneered as they -shook their lofty heads of hair, and the men of the desert listened -motionless, cowled in their garments of grey wool; others kept coming -up behind; the guards, crushed by the mob, staggered on their horses; -the Negroes held out burning fir branches at arm's length; and the big -Carthaginian, mounted on a grassy hillock, continued his harangue. - -The Barbarians, however, were growing impatient; murmuring arose, and -every one apostrophized him. Hanno gesticulated with his spatula; and -those who wished the others to be quiet shouted still more loudly, -thereby adding to the din. - -Suddenly a man of mean appearance bounded to Hanno's feet, snatched up -a herald's trumpet, blew it, and Spendius (for it was he) announced -that he was going to say something of importance. At this declaration, -which was rapidly uttered in five different languages, Greek, Latin, -Gallic, Libyan and Balearic, the captains, half laughing and half -surprised, replied: "Speak! Speak!" - -Spendius hesitated; he trembled; at last, addressing the Libyans who -were the most numerous, he said to them: - -"You have all heard this man's horrible threats!" - -Hanno made no exclamation, therefore he did not understand Libyan; -and, to carry on the experiment, Spendius repeated the same phrase in -the other Barbarian dialects. - -They looked at one another in astonishment; then, as by a tacit -agreement, and believing perhaps that they had understood, they bent -their heads in token of assent. - -Then Spendius began in vehement tones: - -"He said first that all the Gods of the other nations were but dreams -besides the Gods of Carthage! He called you cowards, thieves, liars, -dogs, and the sons of dogs! But for you (he said that!) the Republic -would not be forced to pay excessive tribute to the Romans; and -through your excesses you have drained it of perfumes, aromatics, -slaves, and silphium, for you are in league with the nomads on the -Cyrenian frontier! But the guilty shall be punished! He read the -enumeration of their torments; they shall be made to work at the -paving of the streets, at the equipment of the vessels, at the -adornment of the Syssitia, while the rest shall be sent to scrape the -earth in the mines in the country of the Cantabrians." - -Spendius repeated the same statements to the Gauls, Greeks, Campanians -and Balearians. The Mercenaries, recognising several of the proper -names which had met their ears, were convinced that he was accurately -reporting the Suffet's speech. A few cried out to him, "You lie!" but -their voices were drowned in the tumult of the rest; Spendius added: - -"Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horse-soldiers -outside the camp? At a given signal they will hasten hither to slay -you all." - -The Barbarians turned in that direction, and as the crowd was then -scattering, there appeared in the midst of them, and advancing with -the slowness of a phantom, a human being, bent, lean, entirely naked, -and covered down to his flanks with long hair bristling with dried -leaves, dust and thorns. About his loins and his knees he had wisps of -straw and linen rags; his soft and earthy skin hung on his emaciated -limbs like tatters on dried boughs; his hands trembled with a -continuous quivering, and as he walked he leaned on a staff of olive- -wood. - -He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches. His pale gums -were displayed in a sort of idiotic titter; his large, scared eyes -gazed upon the crowd of Barbarians around him. - -But uttering a cry of terror he threw himself behind them, shielding -himself with their bodies. "There they are! There they are!" he -stammered out, pointing to the Suffet's guards, who were motionless in -their glittering armour. Their horses, dazzled by the light of the -torches which crackled in the darkness, were pawing the ground; the -human spectre struggled and howled: - -"They have killed them!" - -At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, some Balearians came -up and recognised him; without answering them he repeated: - -"Yes, all killed, all! crushed like grapes! The fine young men! the -slingers! my companions and yours!" - -They gave him wine to drink, and he wept; then he launched forth into -speech. - -Spendius could scarcely repress his joy, as he explained the horrors -related by Zarxas to the Greeks and Libyans; he could not believe -them, so appropriately did they come in. The Balearians grew pale as -they learned how their companions had perished. - -It was a troop of three hundred slingers who had disembarked the -evening before, and had on that day slept too late. When they reached -the square of Khamon the Barbarians were gone, and they found -themselves defenceless, their clay bullets having been put on the -camels with the rest of the baggage. They were allowed to advance into -the street of Satheb as far as the brass sheathed oaken gate; then the -people with a single impulse had sprung upon them. - -Indeed, the soldiers remembered a great shout; Spendius, who was -flying at the head of the columns, had not heard it. - -Then the corpses were placed in the arms of the Pataec gods that -fringed the temple of Khamon. They were upbraided with all the crimes -of the Mercenaries; their gluttony, their thefts, their impiety, their -disdain, and the murder of the fishes in Salammbo's garden. Their -bodies were subjected to infamous mutilations; the priests burned -their hair in order to torture their souls; they were hung up in -pieces in the meat-shops; some even buried their teeth in them, and in -the evening funeral-piles were kindled at the cross-ways to finish -them. - -These were the flames that had gleamed from a distance across the -lake. But some houses having taken fire, any dead or dying that -remained were speedily thrown over the walls; Zarxas had remained -among the reeds on the edge of the lake until the following day; then -he had wandered about through the country, seeking for the army by the -footprints in the dust. In the morning he hid himself in caves; in the -evening he resumed his march with his bleeding wounds, famished, sick, -living on roots and carrion; at last one day he perceived lances on -the horizon, and he had followed them, for his reason was disturbed -through his terrors and miseries. - -The indignation of the soldiers, restrained so long as he was -speaking, broke forth like a tempest; they were going to massacre the -guards together with the Suffet. A few interposed, saying that they -ought to hear him and know at least whether they should be paid. Then -they all cried: "Our money!" Hanno replied that he had brought it. - -They ran to the outposts, and the Suffet's baggage arrived in the -midst of the tents, pressed forward by the Barbarians. Without waiting -for the slaves, they very quickly unfastened the baskets; in them they -found hyacinth robes, sponges, scrapers, brushes, perfumes, and -antimony pencils for painting the eyes--all belonging to the guards, -who were rich men and accustomed to such refinements. Next they -uncovered a large bronze tub on a camel: it belonged to the Suffet who -had it for bathing in during his journey; for he had taken all manner -of precautions, even going so far as to bring caged weasels from -Hecatompylos, which were burnt alive to make his ptisan. But, as his -malady gave him a great appetite, there were also many comestibles and -many wines, pickle, meats and fishes preserved in honey, with little -pots of Commagene, or melted goose-fat covered with snow and chopped -straw. There was a considerable supply of it; the more they opened the -baskets the more they found, and laughter arose like conflicting -waves. - -As to the pay of the Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass -baskets; there were even visible in one of them some of the leathern -discs which the Republic used to economise its specie; and as the -Barbarians appeared greatly surprised, Hanno told them that, their -accounts being very difficult, the Ancients had not had leisure to -examine them. Meanwhile they had sent them this. - -Then everything was in disorder and confusion: mules, serving men, -litter, provisions, and baggage. The soldiers took the coin in the -bags to stone Hanno. With great difficulty he was able to mount an -ass; and he fled, clinging to its hair, howling, weeping, shaken, -bruised, and calling down the curse of all the gods upon the army. His -broad necklace of precious stones rebounded up to his ears. His cloak -which was too long, and which trailed behind him, he kept on with his -teeth, and from afar the Barbarians shouted at him, "Begone coward! -pig! sink of Moloch! sweat your gold and your plague! quicker! -quicker!" The routed escort galloped beside him. - -But the fury of the Barbarians did not abate. They remembered that -several of them who had set out for Carthage had not returned; no -doubt they had been killed. So much injustice exasperated them, and -they began to pull up the stakes of their tents, to roll up their -cloaks, and to bridle their horses; every one took his helmet and -sword, and instantly all was ready. Those who had no arms rushed into -the woods to cut staves. - -Day dawned; the people of Sicca were roused, and stirring in the -streets. "They are going to Carthage," said they, and the rumour of -this soon spread through the country. - -From every path and every ravine men arose. Shepherds were seen -running down from the mountains. - -Then, when the Barbarians had set out, Spendius circled the plain, -riding on a Punic stallion, and attended by his slave, who led a third -horse. - -A single tent remained. Spendius entered it. - -"Up, master! rise! we are departing!" - -"And where are you going?" asked Matho. - -"To Carthage!" cried Spendius. - -Matho bounded upon the horse which the slave held at the door. - - - -CHAPTER III - -SALAMMBO - -The moon was rising just above the waves, and on the town which was -still wrapped in darkness there glittered white and luminous specks:-- -the pole of a chariot, a dangling rag of linen, the corner of a wall, -or a golden necklace on the bosom of a god. The glass balls on the -roofs of the temples beamed like great diamonds here and there. But -ill-defined ruins, piles of black earth, and gardens formed deeper -masses in the gloom, and below Malqua fishermen's nets stretched from -one house to another like gigantic bats spreading their wings. The -grinding of the hydraulic wheels which conveyed water to the highest -storys of the palaces, was no longer heard; and the camels, lying -ostrich fashion on their stomachs, rested peacefully in the middle of -the terraces. The porters were asleep in the streets on the thresholds -of the houses; the shadows of the colossuses stretched across the -deserted squares; occasionally in the distance the smoke of a still -burning sacrifice would escape through the bronze tiling, and the -heavy breeze would waft the odours of aromatics blended with the scent -of the sea and the exhalation from the sun-heated walls. The -motionless waves shone around Carthage, for the moon was spreading her -light at once upon the mountain-circled gulf and upon the lake of -Tunis, where flamingoes formed long rose-coloured lines amid the banks -of sand, while further on beneath the catacombs the great salt lagoon -shimmered like a piece of silver. The blue vault of heaven sank on the -horizon in one direction into the dustiness of the plains, and in the -other into the mists of the sea, and on the summit of the Acropolis, -the pyramidal cypress trees, fringing the temple of Eschmoun, swayed -murmuring like the regular waves that beat slowly along the mole -beneath the ramparts. - -Salammbo ascended to the terrace of her palace, supported by a female -slave who carried an iron dish filled with live coals. - -In the middle of the terrace there was a small ivory bed covered with -lynx skins, and cushions made with the feathers of the parrot, a -fatidical animal consecrated to the gods; and at the four corners rose -four long perfuming-pans filled with nard, incense, cinnamomum, and -myrrh. The slave lit the perfumes. Salammbo looked at the polar star; -she slowly saluted the four points of heaven, and knelt down on the -ground in the azure dust which was strewn with golden stars in -imitation of the firmament. Then with both elbows against her sides, -her fore-arms straight and her hands open, she threw back her head -beneath the rays of the moon, and said: - -"O Rabetna!--Baalet!--Tanith!" and her voice was lengthened in a -plaintive fashion as if calling to some one. "Anaitis! Astarte! -Derceto! Astoreth! Mylitta! Athara! Elissa! Tiratha!--By the hidden -symbols, by the resounding sistra,--by the furrows of the earth,--by -the eternal silence and by the eternal fruitfulness,--mistress of the -gloomy sea and of the azure shores, O Queen of the watery world, all -hail!" - -She swayed her whole body twice or thrice, and then cast herself face -downwards in the dust with both arms outstretched. - -But the slave nimbly raised her, for according to the rites someone -must catch the suppliant at the moment of his prostration; this told -him that the gods accepted him, and Salammbo's nurse never failed in -this pious duty. - -Some merchants from Darytian Gaetulia had brought her to Carthage when -quite young, and after her enfranchisement she would not forsake her -old masters, as was shown by her right ear, which was pierced with a -large hole. A petticoat of many-coloured stripes fitted closely on her -hips, and fell to her ankles, where two tin rings clashed together. -Her somewhat flat face was yellow like her tunic. Silver bodkins of -great length formed a sun behind her head. She wore a coral button on -the nostril, and she stood beside the bed more erect than a Hermes, -and with her eyelids cast down. - -Salammbo walked to the edge of the terrace; her eyes swept the horizon -for an instant, and then were lowered upon the sleeping town, while -the sigh that she heaved swelled her bosom, and gave an undulating -movement to the whole length of the long white simar which hung -without clasp or girdle about her. Her curved and painted sandals were -hidden beneath a heap of emeralds, and a net of purple thread was -filled with her disordered hair. - -But she raised her head to gaze upon the moon, and murmured, mingling -her speech with fragments of hymns: - -"How lightly turnest thou, supported by the impalpable ether! It -brightens about thee, and 'tis the stir of thine agitation that -distributes the winds and fruitful dews. According as thou dost wax -and wane the eyes of cats and spots of panthers lengthen or grow -short. Wives shriek thy name in the pangs of childbirth! Thou makest -the shells to swell, the wine to bubble, and the corpse to putrefy! -Thou formest the pearls at the bottom of the sea! - -"And every germ, O goddess! ferments in the dark depths of thy -moisture. - -"When thou appearest, quietness is spread abroad upon the earth; the -flowers close, the waves are soothed, wearied man stretches his breast -toward thee, and the world with its oceans and mountains looks at -itself in thy face as in a mirror. Thou art white, gentle, luminous, -immaculate, helping, purifying, serene!" - -The crescent of the moon was then over the mountain of the Hot -Springs, in the hollow formed by its two summits, on the other side of -the gulf. Below it there was a little star, and all around it a pale -circle. Salammbo went on: - -"But thou art a terrible mistress!--Monsters, terrifying phantoms, and -lying dreams come from thee; thine eyes devour the stones of -buildings, and the apes are ever ill each time thou growest young -again. - -"Whither goest thou? Why dost thou change thy forms continually? Now, -slender and curved thou glidest through space like a mastless galley; -and then, amid the stars, thou art like a shepherd keeping his flock. -Shining and round, thou dost graze the mountain-tops like the wheel of -a chariot. - -"O Tanith! thou dost love me? I have looked so much on thee! But no! -thou sailest through thine azure, and I--I remain on the motionless -earth. - -"Taanach, take your nebal and play softly on the silver string, for my -heart is sad!" - -The slave lifted a sort of harp of ebony wood, taller than herself, -and triangular in shape like a delta; she fixed the point in a crystal -globe, and with both hands began to play. - -The sounds followed one another hurried and deep, like the buzzing of -bees, and with increasing sonorousness floated away into the night -with the complaining of the waves, and the rustling of the great trees -on the summit of the Acropolis. - -"Hush!" cried Salammbo. - -"What ails you, mistress? The blowing of the breeze, the passing of a -cloud, everything disquiets you just now!" - -"I do not know," she said. - -"You are wearied with too long prayers!" - -"Oh! Tanaach, I would fain be dissolved in them like a flower in -wine!" - -"Perhaps it is the smoke of your perfumes?" - -"No!" said Salammbo; "the spirit of the gods dwells in fragrant -odours." - -Then the slave spoke to her of her father. It was thought that he had -gone towards the amber country, behind the pillars of Melkarth. "But -if he does not return," she said, "you must nevertheless, since it was -his will, choose a husband among the sons of the Ancients, and then -your grief will pass away in a man's arms." - -"Why?" asked the young girl. All those that she had seen had horrified -her with their fallow-deer laughter and their coarse limbs. - -"Sometimes, Tanaach, from the depths of my being there exhale as it -were hot fumes heavier than the vapours from a volcano. Voices call -me, a globe of fire rolls and mounts within my bosom, it stifles me, I -am at the point of death; and then, something sweet, flowing from my -brow to my feet, passes through my flesh--it is a caress enfolding me, -and I feel myself crushed as if some god were stretched upon me. Oh! -would that I could lose myself in the mists of the night, the waters -of the fountains, the sap of the trees, that I could issue from my -body, and be but a breath, or a ray, and glide, mount up to thee, O -Mother!" - -She raised her arms to their full length, arching her form, which in -its long garment was as pale and light as the moon. Then she fell -back, panting, on the ivory couch; but Taanach passed an amber -necklace with dolphin's teeth about her neck to banish terrors, and -Salammbo said in an almost stifled voice: "Go and bring me -Schahabarim." - -Her father had not wished her to enter the college of priestesses, nor -even to be made at all acquainted with the popular Tanith. He was -reserving her for some alliance that might serve his political ends; -so that Salammbo lived alone in the midst of the palace. Her mother -was long since dead. - -She had grown up with abstinences, fastings and purifications, always -surrounded by grave and exquisite things, her body saturated with -perfumes, and her soul filled with prayers. She had never tasted wine, -nor eaten meat, nor touched an unclean animal, nor set her heels in -the house of death. - -She knew nothing of obscene images, for as each god was manifested in -different forms, the same principle often received the witness of -contradictory cults, and Salammbo worshipped the goddess in her -sidereal presentation. An influence had descended upon the maiden from -the moon; when the planet passed diminishing away, Salammbo grew weak. -She languished the whole day long, and revived at evening. During an -eclipse she nearly died. - -But Rabetna, in jealousy, revenged herself for the virginity withdrawn -from her sacrifices, and she tormented Salammbo with possessions, all -the stronger for being vague, which were spread through this belief -and excited by it. - -Unceasingly was Hamilcar's daughter disquieted about Tanith. She had -learned her adventures, her travels, and all her names, which she -would repeat without their having any distinct signification for her. -In order to penetrate into the depths of her dogma, she wished to -become acquainted, in the most secret part of the temple, with the old -idol in the magnificent mantle, whereon depended the destinies of -Carthage, for the idea of a god did not stand out clearly from his -representation, and to hold, or even see the image of one, was to take -away part of his virtue, and in a measure to rule him. - -But Salammbo turned around. She had recognised the sound of the golden -bells which Schahabarim wore at the hem of his garment. - -He ascended the staircases; then at the threshold of the terrace he -stopped and folded his arms. - -His sunken eyes shone like the lamps of a sepulchre; his long thin -body floated in its linen robe which was weighted by the bells, the -latter alternating with balls of emeralds at his heels. He had feeble -limbs, an oblique skull and a pointed chin; his skin seemed cold to -the touch, and his yellow face, which was deeply furrowed with -wrinkles, was as if it contracted in a longing, in an everlasting -grief. - -He was the high priest of Tanith, and it was he who had educated -Salammbo. - -"Speak!" he said. "What will you?" - -"I hoped--you had almost promised me--" She stammered and was -confused; then suddenly: "Why do you despise me? what have I forgotten -in the rites? You are my master, and you told me that no one was so -accomplished in the things pertaining to the goddess as I; but there -are some of which you will not speak. Is it so, O father?" - -Schahabarim remembered Hamilcar's orders, and replied: - -"No, I have nothing more to teach you!" - -"A genius," she resumed, "impels me to this love. I have climbed the -steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I have slept -beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian colonies; I -have pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener and -fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the gods -of woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand? they -are all too far away, too high, too insensible, while she--I feel her -mingled in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward -startings, as though she were leaping in order to escape. Methinks I -am about to hear her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and -then I sink back again into the darkness." - -Schahabarim was silent. She entreated him with suppliant looks. At -last he made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of -Chanaanitish race. Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one -arm in the air, began: - -"Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull and -indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream. It contracted, -creating Desire and Cloud, and from Desire and Cloud there issued -primitive Matter. This was a water, muddy, black, icy and deep. It -contained senseless monsters, incoherent portions of the forms to be -born, which are painted on the walls of the sanctuaries. - -"Then Matter condensed. It became an egg. It burst. One half formed -the earth and the other the firmament. Sun, moon, winds and clouds -appeared, and at the crash of the thunder intelligent creatures awoke. -Then Eschmoun spread himself in the starry sphere; Khamon beamed in -the sun; Melkarth thrust him with his arms behind Gades; the Kabiri -descended beneath the volcanoes, and Rabetna like a nurse bent over -the world pouring out her light like milk, and her night like a -mantle." - -"And then?" she said. - -He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from -sublimer prospects; but the maiden's desire kindled again at his last -words, and Schahabarim, half yielding resumed: - -"She inspires and governs the loves of men." - -"The loves of men!" repeated Salammbo dreamily. - -"She is the soul of Carthage," continued the priest; "and although she -is everywhere diffused, it is here that she dwells, beneath the sacred -veil." - -"O father!" cried Salammbo, "I shall see her, shall I not? you will -bring me to her! I had long been hesitating; I am devoured with -curiosity to see her form. Pity! help me! let us go?" - -He repulsed her with a vehement gesture that was full of pride. - -"Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals -are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in -weakness. Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge -that you possess!" - -She fell upon her knees placing two fingers against her ears in token -of repentance; and crushed by the priest's words, and filled at once -with anger against him, with terror and humiliation, she burst into -sobs. Schahabarim remained erect, and more insensible than the stones -of the terrace. He looked down upon her quivering at his feet, and -felt a kind of joy on seeing her suffer for his divinity whom he -himself could not wholly embrace. The birds were already singing, a -cold wind was blowing, and little clouds were drifting in the paling -sky. - -Suddenly he perceived on the horizon, behind Tunis, what looked like -slight mists trailing along the ground; then these became a great -curtain of dust extending perpendicularly, and, amid the whirlwinds of -the thronging mass, dromedaries' heads, lances and shields appeared. -It was the army of the Barbarians advancing upon Carthage. - - - -CHAPTER IV - -BENEATH THE WALLS OF CARTHAGE - -Some country people, riding on asses or running on foot, arrived in -the town, pale, breathless, and mad with fear. They were flying before -the army. It had accomplished the journey from Sicca in three days, in -order to reach Carthage and wholly exterminate it. - -The gates were shut. The Barbarians appeared almost immediately; but -they stopped in the middle of the isthmus, on the edge of the lake. - -At first they made no hostile announcement. Several approached with -palm branches in their hands. They were driven back with arrows, so -great was the terror. - -In the morning and at nightfall prowlers would sometimes wander along -the walls. A little man carefully wrapped in a cloak, and with his -face concealed beneath a very low visor, was especially noticed. He -would remain whole hours gazing at the aqueduct, and so persistently -that he doubtless wished to mislead the Carthaginians as to his real -designs. Another man, a sort of giant who walked bareheaded, used to -accompany him. - -But Carthage was defended throughout the whole breadth of the isthmus: -first by a trench, then by a grassy rampart, and lastly by a wall -thirty cubits high, built of freestone, and in two storys. It -contained stables for three hundred elephants with stores for their -caparisons, shackles, and food; other stables again for four thousand -horses with supplies of barley and harness, and barracks for twenty -thousand soldiers with armour and all materials of war. Towers rose -from the second story, all provided with battlements, and having -bronze bucklers hung on cramps on the outside. - -This first line of wall gave immediate shelter to Malqua, the sailors' -and dyers' quarter. Masts might be seen whereon purple sails were -drying, and on the highest terraces clay furnaces for heating the -pickle were visible. - -Behind, the lofty houses of the city rose in an ampitheatre of cubical -form. They were built of stone, planks, shingle, reeds, shells, and -beaten earth. The woods belonging to the temples were like lakes of -verdure in this mountain of diversely-coloured blocks. It was levelled -at unequal distances by the public squares, and was cut from top to -bottom by countless intersecting lanes. The enclosures of the three -old quarters which are now lost might be distinguished; they rose here -and there like great reefs, or extended in enormous fronts, blackened, -half-covered with flowers, and broadly striped by the casting of -filth, while streets passed through their yawning apertures like -rivers beneath bridges. - -The hill of the Acropolis, in the centre of Byrsa, was hidden beneath -a disordered array of monuments. There were temples with wreathed -columns bearing bronze capitals and metal chains, cones of dry stones -with bands of azure, copper cupolas, marble architraves, Babylonian -buttresses, obelisks poised on their points like inverted torches. -Peristyles reached to pediments; volutes were displayed through -colonnades; granite walls supported tile partitions; the whole -mounting, half-hidden, the one above the other in a marvellous and -incomprehensible fashion. In it might be felt the succession of the -ages, and, as it were, the memorials of forgotten fatherlands. - -Behind the Acropolis the Mappalian road, which was lined with tombs, -extended through red lands in a straight line from the shore to the -catacombs; then spacious dwellings occurred at intervals in the -gardens, and this third quarter, Megara, which was the new town, -reached as far as the edge of the cliff, where rose a giant pharos -that blazed forth every night. - -In this fashion was Carthage displayed before the soldiers quartered -in the plain. - -They could recognise the markets and crossways in the distance, and -disputed with one another as to the sites of the temples. Khamon's, -fronting the Syssitia, had golden tiles; Melkarth, to the left of -Eschmoun, had branches of coral on its roofing; beyond, Tanith's -copper cupola swelled among the palm trees; the dark Moloch was below -the cisterns, in the direction of the pharos. At the angles of the -pediments, on the tops of the walls, at the corners of the squares, -everywhere, divinities with hideous heads might be seen, colossal or -squat, with enormous bellies, or immoderately flattened, opening their -jaws, extending their arms, and holding forks, chains or javelins in -their hands; while the blue of the sea stretched away behind the -streets which were rendered still steeper by the perspective. - -They were filled from morning till evening with a tumultuous people; -young boys shaking little bells, shouted at the doors of the baths; -the shops for hot drinks smoked, the air resounded with the noise of -anvils, the white cocks, sacred to the Sun, crowed on the terraces, -the oxen that were being slaughtered bellowed in the temples, slaves -ran about with baskets on their heads; and in the depths of the -porticoes a priest would sometimes appear, draped in a dark cloak, -barefooted, and wearing a pointed cap. - -The spectacle afforded by Carthage irritated the Barbarians; they -admired it and execrated it, and would have liked both to annihilate -it and to dwell in it. But what was there in the Military Harbour -defended by a triple wall? Then behind the town, at the back of -Megara, and higher than the Acropolis, appeared Hamilcar's palace. - -Matho's eyes were directed thither every moment. He would ascend the -olive trees and lean over with his hand spread out above his eyebrows. -The gardens were empty, and the red door with its black cross remained -constantly shut. - -More than twenty times he walked round the ramparts, seeking some -breach by which he might enter. One night he threw himself into the -gulf and swam for three hours at a stretch. He reached the foot of the -Mappalian quarter and tried to climb up the face of the cliff. He -covered his knees with blood, broke his nails, and then fell back into -the waves and returned. - -His impotence exasperated him. He was jealous of this Carthage which -contained Salammbo, as if of some one who had possessed her. His -nervelessness left him to be replaced by a mad and continual eagerness -for action. With flaming cheek, angry eyes, and hoarse voice, he would -walk with rapid strides through the camp; or seated on the shore he -would scour his great sword with sand. He shot arrows at the passing -vultures. His heart overflowed into frenzied speech. - -"Give free course to your wrath like a runaway chariot," said -Spendius. "Shout, blaspheme, ravage and slay. Grief is allayed with -blood, and since you cannot sate your love, gorge your hate; it will -sustain you!" - -Matho resumed the command of his soldiers. He drilled them pitilessly. -He was respected for his courage and especially for his strength. -Moreover he inspired a sort of mystic dread, and it was believed that -he conversed at night with phantoms. The other captains were animated -by his example. The army soon grew disciplined. From their houses the -Carthaginians could hear the bugle-flourishes that regulated their -exercises. At last the Barbarians drew near. - -To crush them in the isthmus it would have been necessary for two -armies to take them simultaneously in the rear, one disembarking at -the end of the gulf of Utica, and the second at the mountain of the -Hot Springs. But what could be done with the single sacred Legion, -mustering at most six thousand men? If the enemy bent towards the east -they would join the nomads and intercept the commerce of the desert. -If they fell back to the west, Numidia would rise. Finally, lack of -provisions would sooner or later lead them to devastate the -surrounding country like grasshoppers, and the rich trembled for their -fine country-houses, their vineyards and their cultivated lands. - -Hanno proposed atrocious and impracticable measures, such as promising -a heavy sum for every Barbarian's head, or setting fire to their camp -with ships and machines. His colleague Gisco, on the other hand, -wished them to be paid. But the Ancients detested him owing to his -popularity; for they dreaded the risk of a master, and through terror -of monarchy strove to weaken whatever contributed to it or might re- -establish it. - -Outside the fortification there were people of another race and of -unknown origin, all hunters of the porcupine, and eaters of shell-fish -and serpents. They used to go into caves to catch hyenas alive, and -amuse themselves by making them run in the evening on the sands of -Megara between the stelae of the tombs. Their huts, which were made of -mud and wrack, hung on the cliff like swallows' nests. There they -lived, without government and without gods, pell-mell, completely -naked, at once feeble and fierce, and execrated by the people of all -time on account of their unclean food. One morning the sentries -perceived that they were all gone. - -At last some members of the Great Council arrived at a decision. They -came to the camp without necklaces or girdles, and in open sandles -like neighbours. They walked at a quiet pace, waving salutations to -the captains, or stopped to speak to the soldiers, saying that all was -finished and that justice was about to be done to their claims. - -Many of them saw a camp of Mercenaries for the first time. Instead of -the confusion which they had pictured to themselves, there prevailed -everywhere terrible silence and order. A grassy rampart formed a lofty -wall round the army immovable by the shock of catapults. The ground in -the streets was sprinkled with fresh water; through the holes in the -tents they could perceive tawny eyeballs gleaming in the shade. The -piles of pikes and hanging panoplies dazzled them like mirrors. They -conversed in low tones. They were afraid of upsetting something with -their long robes. - -The soldiers requested provisions, undertaking to pay for them out of -the money that was due. - -Oxen, sheep, guinea fowl, fruit and lupins were sent to them, with -smoked scombri, that excellent scombri which Carthage dispatched to -every port. But they walked scornfully around the magnificent cattle, -and disparaging what they coveted, offered the worth of a pigeon for a -ram, or the price of a pomegranate for three goats. The Eaters of -Uncleanness came forward as arbitrators, and declared that they were -being duped. Then they drew their swords with threats to slay. - -Commissaries of the Great Council wrote down the number of years for -which pay was due to each soldier. But it was no longer possible to -know how many Mercenaries had been engaged, and the Ancients were -dismayed at the enormous sum which they would have to pay. The reserve -of silphium must be sold, and the trading towns taxed; the Mercenaries -would grow impatient; Tunis was already with them; and the rich, -stunned by Hanno's ragings and his colleague's reproaches, urged any -citizens who might know a Barbarian to go to see him immediately in -order to win back his friendship, and to speak him fair. Such a show -of confidence would soothe them. - -Traders, scribes, workers in the arsenal, and whole families visited -the Barbarians. - -The soldiers allowed all the Carthaginians to come in, but by a single -passage so narrow that four men abreast jostled one another in it. -Spendius, standing against the barrier, had them carefully searched; -facing him Matho was examining the multitude, trying to recognise some -one whom he might have seen at Salammbo's palace. - -The camp was like a town, so full of people and of movement was it. -The two distinct crowds mingled without blending, one dressed in linen -or wool, with felt caps like fir-cones, and the other clad in iron and -wearing helmets. Amid serving men and itinerant vendors there moved -women of all nations, as brown as ripe dates, as greenish as olives, -as yellow as oranges, sold by sailors, picked out of dens, stolen from -caravans, taken in the sacking of towns, women that were jaded with -love so long as they were young, and plied with blows when they were -old, and that died in routs on the roadsides among the baggage and the -abandoned beasts of burden. The wives of the nomads had square, tawny -robes of dromedary's hair swinging at their heels; musicians from -Cyrenaica, wrapped in violet gauze and with painted eyebrows, sang, -squatting on mats; old Negresses with hanging breasts gathered the -animals' dung that was drying in the sun to light their fires; the -Syracusan women had golden plates in their hair; the Lusitanians had -necklaces of shells; the Gauls wore wolf skins upon their white -bosoms; and sturdy children, vermin-covered, naked and uncircumcised, -butted with their heads against passers-by, or came behind them like -young tigers to bite their hands. - -The Carthaginians walked through the camp, surprised at the quantities -of things with which it was running over. The most miserable were -melancholy, and the rest dissembled their anxiety. - -The soldiers struck them on the shoulder, and exhorted them to be gay. -As soon as they saw any one, they invited him to their amusements. If -they were playing at discus, they would manage to crush his feet, or -if at boxing to fracture his jaw with the very first blow. The -slingers terrified the Carthaginians with their slings, the Psylli -with their vipers, and the horsemen with their horses, while their -victims, addicted as they were to peaceful occupations, bent their -heads and tried to smile at all these outrages. Some, in order to show -themselves brave, made signs that they should like to become soldiers. -They were set to split wood and to curry mules. They were buckled up -in armour, and rolled like casks through the streets of the camp. -Then, when they were about to leave, the Mercenaries plucked out their -hair with grotesque contortions. - -But many, from foolishness or prejudice, innocently believed that all -the Carthaginians were very rich, and they walked behind them -entreating them to grant them something. They requested everything -that they thought fine: a ring, a girdle, sandals, the fringe of a -robe, and when the despoiled Carthaginian cried--"But I have nothing -left. What do you want?" they would reply, "Your wife!" Others even -said, "Your life!" - -The military accounts were handed to the captains, read to the -soldiers, and definitively approved. Then they claimed tents; they -received them. Next the polemarchs of the Greeks demanded some of the -handsome suits of armour that were manufactured at Carthage; the Great -Council voted sums of money for their purchase. But it was only fair, -so the horsemen pretended, that the Republic should indemnify them for -their horses; one had lost three at such a siege, another, five during -such a march, another, fourteen in the precipices. Stallions from -Hecatompylos were offered to them, but they preferred money. - -Next they demanded that they should be paid in money (in pieces of -money, and not in leathern coins) for all the corn that was owing to -them, and at the highest price that it had fetched during the war; so -that they exacted four hundred times as much for a measure of meal as -they had given for a sack of wheat. Such injustice was exasperating; -but it was necessary, nevertheless, to submit. - -Then the delegates from the soldiers and from the Great Council swore -renewed friendship by the Genius of Carthage and the gods of the -Barbarians. They exchanged excuses and caresses with oriental -demonstrativeness and verbosity. Then the soldiers claimed, as a proof -of friendship, the punishment of those who had estranged them from the -Republic. - -Their meaning, it was pretended, was not understood, and they -explained themselves more clearly by saying that they must have -Hanno's head. - -Several times a day, they left their camp, and walked along the foot -of the walls, shouting a demand that the Suffet's head should be -thrown to them, and holding out their robes to receive it. - -The Great Council would perhaps have given way but for a last -exaction, more outrageous than the rest; they demanded maidens, chosen -from illustrious families, in marriage for their chiefs. It was an -idea which had emanated from Spendius, and which many thought most -simple and practicable. But the assumption of their desire to mix with -Punic blood made the people indignant; and they were bluntly told that -they were to receive no more. Then they exclaimed that they had been -deceived, and that if their pay did not arrive within three days, they -would themselves go and take it in Carthage. - -The bad faith of the Mercenaries was not so complete as their enemies -thought. Hamilcar had made them extravagant promises, vague, it is -true, but at the same time solemn and reiterated. They might have -believed that when they disembarked at Carthage the town would be -abandoned to them, and that they should have treasures divided among -them; and when they saw that scarcely their wages would be paid, the -disillusion touched their pride no less than their greed. - -Had not Dionysius, Pyrrhus, Agathocles, and the generals of Alexander -furnished examples of marvellous good fortune? Hercules, whom the -Chanaanites confounded with the sun, was the ideal which shone on the -horizon of armies. They knew that simple soldiers had worn diadems, -and the echoes of crumbling empires would furnish dreams to the Gaul -in his oak forest, to the Ethiopian amid his sands. But there was a -nation always ready to turn courage to account; and the robber driven -from his tribe, the patricide wandering on the roads, the perpetrator -of sacrilege pursued by the gods, all who were starving or in despair -strove to reach the port where the Carthaginian broker was recruiting -soldiers. Usually the Republic kept its promises. This time, however, -the eagerness of its avarice had brought it into perilous disgrace. -Numidians, Libyans, the whole of Africa was about to fall upon -Carthage. Only the sea was open to it, and there it met with the -Romans; so that, like a man assailed by murderers, it felt death all -around it. - -It was quite necessary to have recourse to Gisco, and the Barbarians -accepted his intervention. One morning they saw the chains of the -harbour lowered, and three flat-bottomed boats passing through the -canal of Taenia entered the lake. - -Gisco was visible on the first at the prow. Behind him rose an -enormous chest, higher than a catafalque, and furnished with rings -like hanging crowns. Then appeared the legion of interpreters, with -their hair dressed like sphinxes, and with parrots tattooed on their -breasts. Friends and slaves followed, all without arms, and in such -numbers that they shouldered one another. The three long, dangerously- -loaded barges advanced amid the shouts of the onlooking army. - -As soon as Gisco disembarked the soldiers ran to him. He had a sort of -tribune erected with knapsacks, and declared that he should not depart -before he had paid them all in full. - -There was an outburst of applause, and it was a long time before he -was able to speak. - -Then he censured the wrongs done to the Republic, and to the -Barbarians; the fault lay with a few mutineers who had alarmed -Carthage by their violence. The best proof of good intention on the -part of the latter was that it was he, the eternal adversary of the -Suffet Hanno, who was sent to them. They must not credit the people -with the folly of desiring to provoke brave men, nor with ingratitude -enough not to recognise their services; and Gisco began to pay the -soldiers, commencing with the Libyans. As they had declared that the -lists were untruthful, he made no use of them. - -They defiled before him according to nationality, opening their -fingers to show the number of their years of service; they were marked -in succession with green paint on the left arm; the scribes dipped -into the yawning coffer, while others made holes with a style on a -sheet of lead. - -A man passed walking heavily like an ox. - -"Come up beside me," said the Suffet, suspecting some fraud; "how many -years have you served?" - -"Twelve," replied the Libyan. - -Gisco slipped his fingers under his chin, for the chin-piece of the -helmet used in course of time to occasion two callosities there; these -were called carobs, and "to have the carobs" was an expression used to -denote a veteran. - -"Thief!" exclaimed the Suffet, "your shoulders ought to have what your -face lacks!" and tearing off his tunic he laid bare is back which was -covered with a bleeding scab; he was a labourer from Hippo-Zarytus. -Hootings were raised, and he was decapitated. - -As soon as night fell, Spendius went and roused the Libyans, and said -to them: - -"When the Ligurians, Greeks, Balearians, and men of Italy are paid, -they will return. But as for you, you will remain in Africa, scattered -through your tribes, and without any means of defence! It will be then -that the Republic will take its revenge! Mistrust the journey! Are you -going to believe everything that is said? Both the Suffets are agreed, -and this one is imposing on you! Remember the Island of Bones, and -Xanthippus, whom they sent back to Sparta in a rotten galley!" - -"How are we to proceed?" they asked. - -"Reflect!" said Spendius. - -The two following days were spent in paying the men of Magdala, -Leptis, and Hecatompylos; Spendius went about among the Gauls. - -"They are paying off the Libyans, and then they will discharge the -Greeks, the Balearians, the Asiatics and all the rest! But you, who -are few in number, will receive nothing! You will see your native -lands no more! You will have no ships, and they will kill you to save -your food!" - -The Gauls came to the Suffet. Autaritus, he whom he had wounded at -Hamilcar's palace, put questions to him, but was repelled by the -slaves, and disappeared swearing he would be revenged. - -The demands and complaints multiplied. The most obstinate penetrated -at night into the Suffet's tent; they took his hands and sought to -move him by making him feel their toothless mouths, their wasted arms, -and the scars of their wounds. Those who had not yet been paid were -growing angry, those who had received the money demanded more for -their horses; and vagabonds and outlaws assumed soldiers' arms and -declared that they were being forgotten. Every minute there arrived -whirlwinds of men, as it were; the tents strained and fell; the -multitude, thick pressed between the ramparts of the camp, swayed with -loud shouts from the gates to the centre. When the tumult grew -excessively violent Gisco would rest one elbow on his ivory sceptre -and stand motionless looking at the sea with his fingers buried in his -beard. - -Matho frequently went off to speak with Spendius; then he would again -place himself in front of the Suffet, and Gisco could feel his eyes -continually like two flaming phalaricas darted against him. Several -times they hurled reproaches at each other over the heads of the -crowd, but without making themselves heard. The distribution, -meanwhile, continued, and the Suffet found expedients to remove every -obstacle. - -The Greeks tried to quibble about differences in currency, but he -furnished them with such explanations that they retired without a -murmur. The Negroes demanded white shells such as are used for trading -in the interior of Africa, but when he offered to send to Carthage for -them they accepted money like the rest. - -But the Balearians had been promised something better, namely, women. -The Suffet replied that a whole caravan of maidens was expected for -them, but the journey was long and would require six moons more. When -they were fat and well rubbed with benjamin they should be sent in -ships to the ports of the Balearians. - -Suddenly Zarxas, now handsome and vigorous, leaped like a mountebank -upon the shoulders of his friends and cried: - -"Have you reserved any of them for the corpses?" at the same time -pointing to the gate of Khamon in Carthage. - -The brass plates with which it was furnished from top to bottom shone -in the sun's latest fires, and the Barbarians believed that they could -discern on it a trail of blood. Every time that Gisco wished to speak -their shouts began again. At last he descended with measured steps, -and shut himself up in his tent. - -When he left it at sunrise his interpreters, who used to sleep -outside, did not stir; they lay on their backs with their eyes fixed, -their tongues between their teeth, and their faces of a bluish colour. -White mucus flowed from their nostrils, and their limbs were stiff, as -if they had all been frozen by the cold during the night. Each had a -little noose of rushes round his neck. - -From that time onward the rebellion was unchecked. The murder of the -Balearians which had been recalled by Zarxas strengthened the distrust -inspired by Spendius. They imagined that the Republic was always -trying to deceive them. An end must be put to it! The interpreters -should be dispensed with! Zarxas sang war songs with a sling around -his head; Autaritus brandished his great sword; Spendius whispered a -word to one or gave a dagger to another. The boldest endeavoured to -pay themselves, while those who were less frenzied wished to have the -distribution continued. No one now relinquished his arms, and the -anger of all combined into a tumultuous hatred of Gisco. - -Some got up beside him. So long as they vociferated abuse they were -listened to with patience; but if they tried to utter the least word -in his behalf they were immediately stoned, or their heads were cut -off by a sabre-stroke from behind. The heap of knapsacks was redder -than an altar. - -They became terrible after their meal and when they had drunk wine! -This was an enjoyment forbidden in the Punic armies under pain of -death, and they raised their cups in the direction of Carthage in -derision of its discipline. Then they returned to the slaves of the -exchequer and again began to kill. The word "strike," though different -in each language, was understood by all. - -Gisco was well aware that he was being abandoned by his country; but -in spite of its ingratitude he would not dishonour it. When they -reminded him that they had been promised ships, he swore by Moloch to -provide them himself at his own expense, and pulling off his necklace -of blue stones he threw it into the crowd as the pledge of his oath. - -Then the Africans claimed the corn in accordance with the engagements -made by the Great Council. Gisco spread out the accounts of the -Syssitia traced in violet pigment on sheep skins; and read out all -that had entered Carthage month by month and day by day. - -Suddenly he stopped with gaping eyes, as if he had just discovered his -sentence of death among the figures. - -The Ancients had, in fact, fraudulently reduced them, and the corn -sold during the most calamitous period of the war was set down at so -low a rate that, blindness apart, it was impossible to believe it. - -"Speak!" they shouted. "Louder! Ah! he is trying to lie, the coward! -Don't trust him." - -For some time he hesitated. At last he resumed his task. - -The soldiers, without suspecting that they were being deceived, -accepted the accounts of the Syssitia as true. But the abundance that -had prevailed at Carthage made them furiously jealous. They broke open -the sycamore chest; it was three parts empty. They had seen such sums -coming out of it, that they thought it inexhaustible; Gisco must have -buried some in his tent. They scaled the knapsacks. Matho led them, -and as they shouted "The money! the money!" Gisco at last replied: - -"Let your general give it to you!" - -He looked them in the face without speaking, with his great yellow -eyes, and his long face that was paler than his beard. An arrow, held -by its feathers, hung from the large gold ring in his ear, and a -stream of blood was trickling from his tiara upon his shoulder. - -At a gesture from Matho all advanced. Gisco held out his arms; -Spendius tied his wrists with a slip knot; another knocked him down, -and he disappeared amid the disorder of the crowd which was stumbling -over the knapsacks. - -They sacked his tent. Nothing was found in it except things -indispensable to life; and, on a closer search, three images of -Tanith, and, wrapped up in an ape's skin, a black stone which had -fallen from the moon. Many Carthaginians had chosen to accompany him; -they were eminent men, and all belonged to the war party. - -They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for -the reception of filth. They were tied with iron chains around the -body to solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the -javelin. - -Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but -being quite ignorant of his language they made no reply; and the Gaul -from time to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out. - -The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army. Now that -their anger was over they were seized with anxiety. Matho was -suffering from vague melancholy. It seemed to him that Salammbo had -indirectly been insulted. These rich men were a kind of appendage to -her person. He sat down in the night on the edge of the pit, and -recognised in their groanings something of the voice of which his -heart was full. - -All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid. But -while national antipathies revived, together with personal hatreds, it -was felt that it would be perilous to give way to them. Reprisals -after such an outrage would be formidable. It was necessary, -therefore, to anticipate the vengeance of Carthage. Conventions and -harangues never ceased. Every one spoke, no one was listened to; -Spendius, usually so loquacious, shook his head at every proposal. - -One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs -in the interior of the town. - -"Not one!" replied Matho. - -The next day Spendius drew him aside to the bank of the lake. - -"Master!" said the former slave, "If your heart is dauntless, I will -bring you into Carthage." - -"How?" repeated the other, panting. - -"Swear to execute all my commands and to follow me like a shadow!" - -Then Matho, raising his arm towards the planet of Chabar, exclaimed: - -"By Tanith, I swear!" - -Spendius resumed: - -"To-morrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the -aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades. Bring with you an iron -pick, a crestless helmet, and leathern sandals." - -The aqueduct of which he spoke crossed the entire isthmus obliquely,-- -a considerable work, afterwards enlarged by the Romans. In spite of -her disdain of other nations, Carthage had awkwardly borrowed this -novel invention from them, just as Rome herself had built Punic -galleys; and five rows of superposed arches, of a dumpy kind of -architecture, with buttresses at their foot and lions' heads at the -top, reached to the western part of the Acropolis, where they sank -beneath the town to incline what was nearly a river into the cisterns -of Megara. - -Spendius met Matho here at the hour agreed upon. He fastened a sort of -harpoon to the end of a cord and whirled it rapidly like a sling; the -iron instrument caught fast, and they began to climb up the wall, the -one after the other. - -But when they had ascended to the first story the cramp fell back -every time that they threw it, and in order to discover some fissure -they had to walk along the edge of the cornice. At every row of arches -they found that it became narrower. Then the cord relaxed. Several -times it nearly broke. - -At last they reached the upper platform. Spendius stooped down from -time to time to feel the stones with his hand. - -"Here it is," he said; "let us begin!" And leaning on the pick which -Matho had brought they succeeded in dislodging one of the flagstones. - -In the distance they perceived a troop of horse-men galloping on -horses without bridles. Their golden bracelets leaped in the vague -drapings of their cloaks. A man could be seen in front crowned with -ostrich feathers, and galloping with a lance in each hand. - -"Narr' Havas!" exclaimed Matho. - -"What matter?" returned Spendius, and he leaped into the hole which -they had just made by removing the flagstone. - -Matho at his command tried to thrust out one of the blocks. But he -could not move his elbows for want of room. - -"We shall return," said Spendius; "go in front." Then they ventured -into the channel of water. - -It reached to their waists. Soon they staggered, and were obliged to -swim. Their limbs knocked against the walls of the narrow duct. The -water flowed almost immediately beneath the stones above, and their -faces were torn by them. Then the current carried them away. Their -breasts were crushed with air heavier than that of a sepulchre, and -stretching themselves out as much as possible with their heads between -their arms and their legs close together, they passed like arrows into -the darkness, choking, gurgling, and almost dead. Suddenly all became -black before them, and the speed of the waters redoubled. They fell. - -When they came to the surface again, they remained for a few minutes -extended on their backs, inhaling the air delightfully. Arcades, one -behind another, opened up amid large walls separating the various -basins. All were filled, and the water stretched in a single sheet -throughout the length of the cisterns. Through the air-holes in the -cupolas on the ceiling there fell a pale brightness which spread upon -the waves discs, as it were, of light, while the darkness round about -thickened towards the walls and threw them back to an indefinite -distance. The slightest sound made a great echo. - -Spendius and Matho commenced to swim again, and passing through the -opening of the arches, traversed several chambers in succession. Two -other rows of smaller basins extended in a parallel direction on each -side. They lost themselves; they turned, and came back again. At last -something offered a resistance to their heels. It was the pavement of -the gallery that ran along the cisterns. - -Then, advancing with great precautions, they felt along the wall to -find an outlet. But their feet slipped, and they fell into the great -centre-basins. They had to climb up again, and there they fell again. -They experienced terrible fatigue, which made them feel as if all -their limbs had been dissolved in the water while swimming. Their eyes -closed; they were in the agonies of death. - -Spendius struck his hand against the bars of a grating. They shook it, -it gave way, and they found themselves on the steps of a staircase. A -door of bronze closed it above. With the point of a dagger they moved -the bar, which was opened from without, and suddenly the pure open air -surrounded them. - -The night was filled with silence, and the sky seemed at an -extraordinary height. Clusters of trees projected over the long lines -of walls. The whole town was asleep. The fires of the outposts shone -like lost stars. - -Spendius, who had spent three years in the ergastulum, was but -imperfectly acquainted with the different quarters. Matho conjectured -that to reach Hamilcar's palace they ought to strike to the left and -cross the Mappalian district. - -"No," said Spendius, "take me to the temple of Tanith." - -Matho wished to speak. - -"Remember!" said the former slave, and raising his arm he showed him -the glittering planet of Chabar. - -Then Matho turned in silence towards the Acropolis. - -They crept along the nopal hedges which bordered the paths. The water -trickled from their limbs upon the dust. Their damp sandals made no -noise; Spendius, with eyes that flamed more than torches, searched the -bushes at every step;--and he walked behind Matho with his hands -resting on the two daggers which he carried on his arms, and which -hung from below the armpit by a leathern band. - - - -CHAPTER V - -TANITH - -After leaving the gardens Matho and Spendius found themselves checked -by the rampart of Megara. But they discovered a breach in the great -wall and passed through. - -The ground sloped downwards, forming a kind of very broad valley. It -was an exposed place. - -"Listen," said Spendius, "and first of all fear nothing! I shall -fulfil my promise--" - -He stopped abruptly, and seemed to reflect as though searching for -words,--"Do you remember that time at sunrise when I showed Carthage -to you on Salammbo's terrace? We were strong that day, but you would -listen to nothing!" Then in a grave voice: "Master, in the sanctuary -of Tanith there is a mysterious veil, which fell from heaven and which -covers the goddess." - -"I know," said Matho. - -Spendius resumed: "It is itself divine, for it forms part of her. The -gods reside where their images are. It is because Carthage possesses -it that Carthage is powerful." Then leaning over to his ear: "I have -brought you with me to carry it off!" - -Matho recoiled in horror. "Begone! look for some one else! I will not -help you in this execrable crime!" - -"But Tanith is your enemy," retorted Spendius; "she is persecuting you -and you are dying through her wrath. You will be revenged upon her. -She will obey you, and you will become almost immortal and -invincible." - -Matho bent his head. Spendius continued: - -"We should succumb; the army would be annihilated of itself. We have -neither flight, nor succour, nor pardon to hope for! What chastisement -from the gods can you be afraid of since you will have their power in -your own hands? Would you rather die on the evening of a defeat, in -misery beneath the shelter of a bush, or amid the outrages of the -populace and the flames of funeral piles? Master, one day you will -enter Carthage among the colleges of the pontiffs, who will kiss your -sandals; and if the veil of Tanith weighs upon you still, you will -reinstate it in its temple. Follow me! come and take it." - -Matho was consumed by a terrible longing. He would have liked to -possess the veil while refraining from the sacrilege. He said to -himself that perhaps it would not be necessary to take it in order to -monopolise its virtue. He did not go to the bottom of his thought but -stopped at the boundary, where it terrified him. - -"Come on!" he said; and they went off with rapid strides, side by -side, and without speaking. - -The ground rose again, and the dwellings were near. They turned again -into the narrow streets amid the darkness. The strips of esparto-grass -with which the doors were closed, beat against the walls. Some camels -were ruminating in a square before heaps of cut grass. Then they -passed beneath a gallery covered with foliage. A pack of dogs were -barking. But suddenly the space grew wider and they recognised the -western face of the Acropolis. At the foot of Byrsa there stretched a -long black mass: it was the temple of Tanith, a whole made up of -monuments and galleries, courts and fore-courts, and bounded by a low -wall of dry stones. Spendius and Matho leaped over it. - -This first barrier enclosed a wood of plane-trees as a precaution -against plague and infection in the air. Tents were scattered here and -there, in which, during the daytime, depilatory pastes, perfumes, -garments, moon-shaped cakes, and images of the goddess with -representations of the temple hollowed out in blocks of alabaster, -were on sale. - -They had nothing to fear, for on nights when the planet did not -appear, all rites were suspended; nevertheless Matho slackened his -speed, and stopped before the three ebony steps leading to the second -enclosure. - -"Forward!" said Spendius. - -Pomegranate, almond trees, cypresses and myrtles alternated in regular -succession; the path, which was paved with blue pebbles, creaked -beneath their footsteps, and full-blown roses formed a hanging bower -over the whole length of the avenue. They arrived before an oval hole -protected by a grating. Then Matho, who was frightened by the silence, -said to Spendius: - -"It is here that they mix the fresh water and the bitter." - -"I have seen all that," returned the former slave, "in Syria, in the -town of Maphug"; and they ascended into the third enclosure by a -staircase of six silver steps. - -A huge cedar occupied the centre. Its lowest branches were hidden -beneath scraps of material and necklaces hung upon them by the -faithful. They walked a few steps further on, and the front of the -temple was displayed before them. - -Two long porticoes, with their architraves resting on dumpy pillars, -flanked a quadrangular tower, the platform of which was adorned with -the crescent of a moon. On the angles of the porticoes and at the four -corners of the tower stood vases filled with kindled aromatics. The -capitals were laden with pomegranates and coloquintidas. Twining -knots, lozenges, and rows of pearls alternated on the walls, and a -hedge of silver filigree formed a wide semicircle in front of the -brass staircase which led down from the vestibule. - -There was a cone of stone at the entrance between a stela of gold and -one of emerald, and Matho kissed his right hand as he passed beside -it. - -The first room was very lofty; its vaulted roof was pierced by -numberless apertures, and if the head were raised the stars might be -seen. All round the wall rush baskets were heaped up with the first -fruits of adolescence in the shape of beards and curls of hair; and in -the centre of the circular apartment the body of a woman issued from a -sheath which was covered with breasts. Fat, bearded, and with eyelids -downcast, she looked as though she were smiling, while her hands were -crossed upon the lower part of her big body, which was polished by the -kisses of the crowd. - -Then they found themselves again in the open air in a transverse -corridor, wherein there was an altar of small dimensions leaning -against an ivory door. There was no further passage; the priests alone -could open it; for the temple was not a place of meeting for the -multitude, but the private abode of a divinity. - -"The enterprise is impossible," said Matho. "You had not thought of -this! Let us go back!" Spendius was examining the walls. - -He wanted the veil, not because he had confidence in its virtue -(Spendius believed only in the Oracle), but because he was persuaded -that the Carthaginians would be greatly dismayed on seeing themselves -deprived of it. They walked all round behind in order to find some -outlet. - -Aedicules of different shapes were visible beneath clusters of -turpentine trees. Here and there rose a stone phallus, and large stags -roamed peacefully about, spurning the fallen fir-cones with their -cloven hoofs. - -But they retraced their steps between two long galleries which ran -parallel to each other. There were small open cells along their sides, -and tabourines and cymbals hung against their cedar columns from top -to bottom. Women were sleeping stretched on mats outside the cells. -Their bodies were greasy with unguents, and exhaled an odour of spices -and extinguished perfuming-pans; while they were so covered with -tattooings, necklaces, rings, vermilion, and antimony that, but for -the motion of their breasts, they might have been taken for idols as -they lay thus on the ground. There were lotus-trees encircling a -fountain in which fish like Salammbo's were swimming; and then in the -background, against the wall of the temple, spread a vine, the -branches of which were of glass and the grape-bunches of emerald, the -rays from the precious stones making a play of light through the -painted columns upon the sleeping faces. - -Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere pressed down upon him by -the cedar partitions. All these symbols of fecundation, these -perfumes, radiations, and breathings overwhelmed him. Through all the -mystic dazzling he kept thinking of Salammbo. She became confused with -the goddess herself, and his loved unfolded itself all the more, like -the great lotus-plants blooming upon the depths of the waters. - -Spendius was calculating how much money he would have made in former -days by the sale of these women; and with a rapid glance he estimated -the weight of the golden necklaces as he passed by. - -The temple was impenetrable on this side as on the other, and they -returned behind the first chamber. While Spendius was searching and -ferreting, Matho was prostrate before the door supplicating Tanith. He -besought her not to permit the sacrilege, and strove to soften her -with caressing words, such as are used to an angry person. - -Spendius noticed a narrow aperture above the door. - -"Rise!" he said to Matho, and he made him stand erect with his back -against the wall. Placing one foot in his hands, and then the other -upon his head, he reached up to the air-hole, made his way into it and -disappeared. Then Matho felt a knotted cord--that one which Spendius -had rolled around his body before entering the cisterns--fall upon his -shoulders, and bearing upon it with both hands he soon found himself -by the side of the other in a large hall filled with shadow. - -Such an attempt was something extraordinary. The inadequacy of the -means for preventing it was a sufficient proof that it was considered -impossible. The sanctuaries were protected by terror more than by -their walls. Matho expected to die at every step. - -However a light was flickering far back in the darkness, and they went -up to it. It was a lamp burning in a shell on the pedestal of a statue -which wore the cap of the Kabiri. Its long blue robe was strewn with -diamond discs, and its heels were fastened to the ground by chains -which sank beneath the pavement. Matho suppressed a cry. "Ah! there -she is! there she is!" he stammered out. Spendius took up the lamp in -order to light himself. - -"What an impious man you are!" murmured Matho, following him -nevertheless. - -The apartment which they entered had nothing in it but a black -painting representing another woman. Her legs reached to the top of -the wall, and her body filled the entire ceiling; a huge egg hung by a -thread from her navel, and she fell head downwards upon the other -wall, reaching as far as the level of the pavement, which was touched -by her pointed fingers. - -They drew a hanging aside, in order to go on further; but the wind -blew and the light went out. - -Then they wandered about, lost in the complications of the -architecture. Suddenly they felt something strangely soft beneath -their feet. Sparks crackled and leaped; they were walking in fire. -Spendius touched the ground and perceived that it was carefully -carpeted with lynx skins; then it seemed to them that a big cord, wet, -cold, and viscous, was gliding between their legs. Through some -fissures cut in the wall there fell thin white rays, and they advanced -by this uncertain light. At last they distinguished a large black -serpent. It darted quickly away and disappeared. - -"Let us fly!" exclaimed Matho. "It is she! I feel her; she is coming." - -"No, no," replied Spendius, "the temple is empty." - -Then a dazzling light made them lower their eyes. Next they perceived -all around them an infinite number of beasts, lean, panting, with -bristling claws, and mingled together one above another in a -mysterious and terrifying confusion. There were serpents with feet, -and bulls with wings, fishes with human heads were devouring fruit, -flowers were blooming in the jaws of crocodiles, and elephants with -uplifted trunks were sailing proudly through the azure like eagles. -Their incomplete or multiplied limbs were distended with terrible -exertion. As they thrust out their tongues they looked as though they -would fain give forth their souls; and every shape was to be found -among them as if the germ-receptacle had been suddenly hatched and had -burst, emptying itself upon the walls of the hall. - -Round the latter were twelve globes of blue crystal, supported by -monsters resembling tigers. Their eyeballs were starting out of their -heads like those of snails, with their dumpy loins bent they were -turning round towards the background where the supreme Rabbet, the -Omnifecund, the last invented, shone splendid in a chariot of ivory. - -She was covered with scales, feathers, flowers, and birds as high as -the waist. For earrings she had silver cymbals, which flapped against -her cheeks. Her large fixed eyes gazed upon you, and a luminous stone, -set in an obscene symbol on her brow, lighted the whole hall by its -reflection in red copper mirrors above the door. - -Matho stood a step forward; but a flag stone yielded beneath his heels -and immediately the spheres began to revolve and the monsters to roar; -music rose melodious and pealing, like the harmony of the planets; the -tumultuous soul of Tanith was poured streaming forth. She was about to -arise, as lofty as the hall and with open arms. Suddenly the monsters -closed their jaws and the crystal globes revolved no more. - -Then a mournful modulation lingered for a time through the air and at -last died away. - -"And the veil?" said Spendius. - -Nowhere could it be seen. Where was it to be found? How could it be -discovered? What if the priests had hidden it? Matho experienced -anguish of heart and felt as though he had been deceived in his -belief. - -"This way!" whispered Spendius. An inspiration guided him. He drew -Matho behind Tanith's chariot, where a cleft a cubit wide ran down the -wall from top to bottom. - -Then they penetrated into a small and completely circular room, so -lofty that it was like the interior of a pillar. In the centre there -was a big black stone, of semispherical shape like a tabourine; flames -were burning upon it; an ebony cone, bearing a head and two arms, rose -behind. - -But beyond it seemed as though there were a cloud wherein were -twinkling stars; faces appeared in the depths of its folds--Eschmoun -with the Kabiri, some of the monsters that had already been seen, the -sacred beasts of the Babylonians, and others with which they were not -acquainted. It passed beneath the idol's face like a mantle, and -spread fully out was drawn up on the wall to which it was fastened by -the corners, appearing at once bluish as the night, yellow as the -dawn, purple as the sun, multitudinous, diaphanous, sparkling light. -It was the mantle of the goddess, the holy zaimph which might not be -seen. - -Both turned pale. - -"Take it!" said Matho at last. - -Spendius did not hesitate, and leaning upon the idol he unfastened the -veil, which sank to the ground. Matho laid his hand upon it; then he -put his head through the opening, then he wrapped it about his body, -and he spread out his arms the better to view it. - -"Let us go!" said Spendius. - -Matho stood panting with his eyes fixed upon the pavement. Suddenly he -exclaimed: - -"But what if I went to her? I fear her beauty no longer! What could -she do to me? I am now more than a man. I could pass through flames or -walk upon the sea! I am transported! Salammbo! Salammbo! I am your -master!" - -His voice was like thunder. He seemed to Spendius to have grown taller -and transformed. - -A sound of footsteps drew near, a door opened, and a man appeared, a -priest with lofty cap and staring eyes. Before he could make a gesture -Spendius had rushed upon him, and clasping him in his arms had buried -both his daggers in his sides. His head rang upon the pavement. - -Then they stood for a while, as motionless as the corpse, listening. -Nothing could be heard but the murmuring of the wind through the half- -opened door. - -The latter led into a narrow passage. Spendius advanced along it, -Matho followed him, and they found themselves almost immediately in -the third enclosure, between the lateral porticoes, in which were the -dwellings of the priests. - -Behind the cells there must be a shorter way out. They hastened along. - -Spendius squatted down at the edge of the fountain and washed his -bloodstained hands. The women slept. The emerald vine shone. They -resumed their advance. - -But something was running behind them under the trees; and Matho, who -bore the veil, several times felt that it was being pulled very gently -from below. It was a large cynocephalus, one of those which dwelt at -liberty within the enclosure of the goddess. It clung to the mantle as -though it had been conscious of the theft. They did not dare to strike -it, however, fearing that it might redouble its cries; suddenly its -anger subsided, and it trotted close beside them swinging its body -with its long hanging arms. Then at the barrier it leaped at a bound -into a palm tree. - -When they had left the last enclosure they directed their steps -towards Hamilcar's palace, Spendius understanding that it would be -useless to try to dissuade Matho. - -They went by the street of the Tanners, the square of Muthumbal, the -green market and the crossways of Cynasyn. At the angle of a wall a -man drew back frightened by the sparkling thing which pierced the -darkness. - -"Hide the zaimph!" said Spendius. - -Other people passed them, but without perceiving them. - -At last they recognised the houses of Megara. - -The pharos, which was built behind them on the summit of the cliff, -lit up the heavens with a great red brightness, and the shadow of the -palace, with its rising terraces, projected a monstrous pyramid, as it -were, upon the gardens. They entered through the hedge of jujube- -trees, beating down the branches with blows of the dagger. - -The traces of the feast of the Mercenaries were everywhere still -manifest. The parks were broken up, the trenches drained, the doors of -the ergastulum open. No one was to be seen about the kitchens or -cellars. They wondered at the silence, which was occasionally broken -by the hoarse breathing of the elephants moving in their shackles, and -the crepitation of the pharos, in which a pile of aloes was burning. - -Matho, however, kept repeating: - -"But where is she? I wish to see her! Lead me!" - -"It is a piece of insanity!" Spendius kept saying. "She will call, her -slaves will run up, and in spite of your strength you will die!" - -They reached thus the galley staircase. Matho raised his head, and -thought that he could perceive far above a vague brightness, radiant -and soft. Spendius sought to restrain him, but he dashed up the steps. - -As he found himself again in places where he had already seen her, the -interval of the days that had passed was obliterated from his memory. -But now had she been singing among the tables; she had disappeared, -and he had since been continually ascending this staircase. The sky -above his head was covered with fires; the sea filled the horizon; at -each step he was surrounded by a still greater immensity, and he -continued to climb upward with that strange facility which we -experience in dreams. - -The rustling of the veil as it brushed against the stones recalled his -new power to him; but in the excess of his hope he could no longer -tell what he was to do; this uncertainty alarmed him. - -From time to time he would press his face against the quadrangular -openings in the closed apartments, and he thought that in several of -the latter he could see persons asleep. - -The last story, which was narrower, formed a sort of dado on the -summit of the terraces. Matho walked round it slowly. - -A milky light filled the sheets of talc which closed the little -apertures in the wall, and in their symmetrical arrangement they -looked in the darkness like rows of delicate pearls. He recognised the -red door with the black cross. The throbbing of his heart increased. -He would fain have fled. He pushed the door and it opened. - -A galley-shaped lamp hung burning in the back part of the room, and -three rays, emitted from its silver keel, trembled on the lofty -wainscots, which were painted red with black bands. The ceiling was an -assemblage of small beams, with amethysts and topazes amid their -gilding in the knots of the wood. On both the great sides of the -apartment there stretched a very low bed made with white leathern -straps; while above, semi-circles like shells, opened in the thickness -of the wall, suffered a garment to come out and hang down to the -ground. - -There was an oval basin with a step of onyx round it; delicate -slippers of serpent skin were standing on the edge, together with an -alabaster flagon. The trace of a wet footstep might be seen beyond. -Exquisite scents were evaporating. - -Matho glided over the pavement, which was encrusted with gold, mother- -of-pearl, and glass; and, in spite of the polished smoothness of the -ground, it seemed to him that his feet sank as though he were walking -on sand. - -Behind the silver lamp he had perceived a large square of azure held -in the air by four cords from above, and he advanced with loins bent -and mouth open. - -Flamingoes' wings, fitted on branches of black coral, lay about among -purple cushions, tortoiseshell strigils, cedar boxes, and ivory -spatulas. There were antelopes' horns with rings and bracelets strung -upon them; and clay vases were cooling in the wind in the cleft of the -wall with a lattice-work of reeds. Several times he struck his foot, -for the ground had various levels of unequal height, which formed a -succession of apartments, as it were, in the room. In the background -there were silver balustrades surrounding a carpet strewn with painted -flowers. At last he came to the hanging bed beside an ebony stool -serving to get into it. - -But the light ceased at the edge;--and the shadow, like a great -curtain, revealed only a corner of the red mattress with the extremity -of a little naked foot lying upon its ankle. Then Matho took up the -lamp very gently. - -She was sleeping with her cheek in one hand and with the other arm -extended. Her ringlets were spread about her in such abundance that -she appeared to be lying on black feathers, and her ample white tunic -wound in soft draperies to her feet following the curves of her -person. Her eyes were just visible beneath her half-closed eyelids. -The curtains, which stretched perpendicularly, enveloped her in a -bluish atmosphere, and the motion of her breathing, communicating -itself to the cords, seemed to rock her in the air. A long mosquito -was buzzing. - -Matho stood motionless holding the silver lamp at arm's length; but on -a sudden the mosquito-net caught fire and disappeared, and Salammbo -awoke. - -The fire had gone out of itself. She did not speak. The lamp caused -great luminous moires to flicker on the wainscots. - -"What is it?" she said. - -He replied: - -"'Tis the veil of the goddess!" - -"The veil of the goddess!" cried Salammbo, and supporting herself on -both clenched hands she leaned shuddering out. He resumed: - -"I have been in the depths of the sanctuary to seek it for you! Look!" -The Zaimph shone a mass of rays. - -"Do you remember it?" said Matho. "You appeared at night in my dreams, -but I did not guess the mute command of your eyes!" She put out one -foot upon the ebony stool. "Had I understood I should have hastened -hither, I should have forsaken the army, I should not have left -Carthage. To obey you I would go down through the caverns of -Hadrumetum into the kingdom of the shades!--Forgive me! it was as -though mountains were weighing upon my days; and yet something drew me -on! I tried to come to you! Should I ever have dared this without the -Gods!--Let us go! You must follow me! or, if you do not wish to do so, -I will remain. What matters it to me!--Drown my soul in your breath! -Let my lips be crushed with kissing your hands!" - -"Let me see it!" she said. "Nearer! nearer!" - -Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with -a vinous colour. Salammbo leaned fainting against the cushions of the -bed. - -"I love you!" cried Matho. - -"Give it!" she stammered out, and they drew closer together. - -She kept advancing, clothed in her white trailing simar, and with her -large eyes fastened on the veil. Matho gazed at her, dazzled by the -splendours of her head, and, holding out the zaimph towards her, was -about to enfold her in an embrace. She was stretching out her arms. -Suddenly she stopped, and they stood looking at each other, open- -mouthed. - -Then without understanding the meaning of his solicitation a horror -seized upon her. Her delicate eyebrows rose, her lips opened; she -trembled. At last she struck one of the brass pateras which hung at -the corners of the red mattress, crying: - -"To the rescue! to the rescue! Back, sacrilegious man! infamous and -accursed! Help, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa, Micipsa, Schaoul!" - -And the scared face of Spendius, appearing in the wall between the -clay flagons, cried out these words: - -"Fly! they are hastening hither!" - -A great tumult came upwards shaking the staircases, and a flood of -people, women, serving-men, and slaves, rushed into the room with -stakes, tomahawks, cutlasses, and daggers. They were nearly paralysed -with indignation on perceiving a man; the female servants uttered -funeral wailings, and the eunuchs grew pale beneath their black skins. - -Matho was standing behind the balustrades. With the zaimph which was -wrapped about him, he looked like a sidereal god surrounded by the -firmament. The slaves were going to fall upon him, but she stopped -them: - -"Touch it not! It is the mantle of the goddess!" - -She had drawn back into a corner; but she took a step towards him, and -stretched forth her naked arm: - -"A curse upon you, you who have plundered Tanith! Hatred, vengeance, -massacre, and grief! May Gurzil, god of battles, rend you! may -Mastiman, god of the dead, stifle you! and may the Other--he who may -not be named--burn you!" - -Matho uttered a cry as though he had received a sword-thrust. She -repeated several times: "Begone! begone!" - -The crowd of servants spread out, and Matho, with hanging head, passed -slowly through the midst of them; but at the door he stopped, for the -fringe of the zaimph had caught on one of the golden stars with which -the flagstones were paved. He pulled it off abruptly with a movement -of his shoulder and went down the staircases. - -Spendius, bounding from terrace to terrace, and leaping over the -hedges and trenches, had escaped from the gardens. He reached the foot -of the pharos. The wall was discontinued at this spot, so inaccessible -was the cliff. He advanced to the edge, lay down on his back, and let -himself slide, feet foremost, down the whole length of it to the -bottom; then by swimming he reached the Cape of the Tombs, made a wide -circuit of the salt lagoon, and re-entered the camp of the Barbarians -in the evening. - -The sun had risen; and, like a retreating lion, Matho went down the -paths, casting terrible glances about him. - -A vague clamour reached his ears. It had started from the palace, and -it was beginning afresh in the distance, towards the Acropolis. Some -said that the treasure of the Republic had been seized in the temple -of Moloch; others spoke of the assassination of a priest. It was -thought, moreover, that the Barbarians had entered the city. - -Matho, who did not know how to get out of the enclosures, walked -straight before him. He was seen, and an outcry was raised. Every one -understood; and there was consternation, then immense wrath. - -From the bottom of the Mappalian quarter, from the heights of the -Acropolis, from the catacombs, from the borders of the lake, the -multitude came in haste. The patricians left their palaces, and the -traders left their shops; the women forsook their children; swords, -hatchets, and sticks were seized; but the obstacle which had stayed -Salammbo stayed them. How could the veil be taken back? The mere sight -of it was a crime; it was of the nature of the gods, and contact with -it was death. - -The despairing priests wrung their hands on the peristyles of the -temples. The guards of the Legion galloped about at random; the people -climbed upon the houses, the terraces, the shoulders of the -colossuses, and the masts of the ships. He went on, nevertheless, and -the rage, and the terror also, increased at each of his steps; the -streets cleared at his approach, and the torrent of flying men -streamed on both sides up to the tops of the walls. Everywhere he -could perceive only eyes opened widely as if to devour him, chattering -teeth and outstretched fists, and Salammbo's imprecations resounded -many times renewed. - -Suddenly a long arrow whizzed past, then another, and stones began to -buzz about him; but the missiles, being badly aimed (for there was the -dread of hitting the zaimph), passed over his head. Moreover, he made -a shield of the veil, holding it to the right, to the left, before him -and behind him; and they could devise no expedient. He quickened his -steps more and more, advancing through the open streets. They were -barred with cords, chariots, and snares; and all his windings brought -him back again. At last he entered the square of Khamon where the -Balearians had perished, and stopped, growing pale as one about to -die. This time he was surely lost, and the multitude clapped their -hands. - -He ran up to the great gate, which was closed. It was very high, made -throughout of heart of oak, with iron nails and sheathed with brass. -Matho flung himself against it. The people stamped their feet with joy -when they saw the impotence of his fury; then he took his sandal, spit -upon it, and beat the immovable panels with it. The whole city howled. -The veil was forgotten now, and they were about to crush him. Matho -gazed with wide vacant eyes upon the crowd. His temples were throbbing -with violence enough to stun him, and he felt a numbness as of -intoxication creeping over him. Suddenly he caught sight of the long -chain used in working the swinging of the gate. With a bound he -grasped it, stiffening his arms, and making a buttress of his feet, -and at last the huge leaves partly opened. - -Then when he was outside he took the great zaimph from his neck, and -raised it as high as possible above his head. The material, upborne by -the sea breeze, shone in the sunlight with its colours, its gems, and -the figures of its gods. Matho bore it thus across the whole plain as -far as the soldiers' tents, and the people on the walls watched the -fortune of Carthage depart. - - - -CHAPTER VI - -HANNO - -"I ought to have carried her off!" Matho said in the evening to -Spendius. "I should have seized her, and torn her from her house! No -one would have dared to touch me!" - -Spendius was not listening to him. Stretched on his back he was taking -delicious rest beside a large jar filled with honey-coloured water, -into which he would dip his head from time to time in order to drink -more copiously. - -Matho resumed: - -"What is to be done? How can we re-enter Carthage?" - -"I do not know," said Spendius. - -Such impassibility exasperated Matho and he exclaimed: - -"Why! the fault is yours! You carry me away, and then you forsake me, -coward that you are! Why, pray, should I obey you? Do you think that -you are my master? Ah! you prostituter, you slave, you son of a -slave!" He ground his teeth and raised his broad hand above Spendius. - -The Greek did not reply. An earthen lamp was burning gently against -the tent-pole, where the zaimph shone amid the hanging panoply. -Suddenly Matho put on his cothurni, buckled on his brazen jacket of -mail, and took his helmet. - -"Where are you going?" asked Spendius. - -"I am returning! Let me alone! I will bring her back! And if they show -themselves I will crush them like vipers! I will put her to death, -Spendius! Yes," he repeated, "I will kill her! You shall see, I will -kill her!" - -But Spendius, who was listening eagerly, snatched up the zaimph -abruptly and threw it into a corner, heaping up fleeces above it. A -murmuring of voices was heard, torches gleamed, and Narr' Havas -entered, followed by about twenty men. - -They wore white woollen cloaks, long daggers, copper necklaces, wooden -earrings, and boots of hyena skin; and standing on the threshold they -leaned upon their lances like herdsmen resting themselves. Narr' Havas -was the handsomest of all; his slender arms were bound with straps -ornamented with pearls. The golden circlet which fastened his ample -garment about his head held an ostrich feather which hung down behind -his shoulder; his teeth were displayed in a continual smile; his eyes -seemed sharpened like arrows, and there was something observant and -airy about his whole demeanour. - -He declared that he had come to join the Mercenaries, for the Republic -had long been threatening his kingdom. Accordingly he was interested -in assisting the Barbarians, and he might also be of service to them. - -"I will provide you with elephants (my forests are full of them), -wine, oil, barley, dates, pitch and sulphur for sieges, twenty -thousand foot-soldiers and ten thousand horses. If I address myself to -you, Matho, it is because the possession of the zaimph has made you -chief man in the army. Moreover," he added, "we are old friends." - -Matho, however, was looking at Spendius, who, seated on the sheep- -skins, was listening, and giving little nods of assent the while. -Narr' Havas continued speaking. He called the gods to witness he -cursed Carthage. In his imprecations he broke a javelin. All his men -uttered simultaneously a loud howl, and Matho, carried away by so much -passion, exclaimed that he accepted the alliance. - -A white bull and a black sheep, the symbols of day and night, were -then brought, and their throats were cut on the edge of a ditch. When -the latter was full of blood they dipped their arms into it. Then -Narr' Havas spread out his hand upon Matho's breast, and Matho did the -same to Narr' Havas. They repeated the stain upon the canvas of their -tents. Afterwards they passed the night in eating, and the remaining -portions of the meat were burnt together with the skin, bones, horns, -and hoofs. - -Matho had been greeted with great shouting when he had come back -bearing the veil of the goddess; even those who were not of the -Chanaanitish religion were made by their vague enthusiasm to feel the -arrival of a genius. As to seizing the zaimph, no one thought of it, -for the mysterious manner in which he had acquired it was sufficient -in the minds of the Barbarians to justify its possession; such were -the thoughts of the soldiers of the African race. The others, whose -hatred was not of such long standing, did not know how to make up -their minds. If they had had ships they would immediately have -departed. - -Spendius, Narr' Havas, and Matho despatched men to all the tribes on -Punic soil. - -Carthage was sapping the strength of these nations. She wrung -exorbitant taxes from them, and arrears or even murmurings were -punished with fetters, the axe, or the cross. It was necessary to -cultivate whatever suited the Republic, and to furnish what she -demanded; no one had the right of possessing a weapon; when villages -rebelled the inhabitants were sold; governors were esteemed like wine- -presses, according to the quantity which they succeeded in extracting. -Then beyond the regions immediately subject to Carthage extended the -allies roamed the Nomads, who might be let loose upon them. By this -system the crops were always abundant, the studs skilfully managed, -and the plantations superb. - -The elder Cato, a master in the matters of tillage and slaves, was -amazed at it ninety-two years later, and the death-cry which he -repeated continually at Rome was but the exclamation of jealous greed. - -During the last war the exactions had been increased, so that nearly -all the towns of Libya had surrendered to Regulus. To punish them, a -thousand talents, twenty thousand oxen, three hundred bags of gold -dust, and considerable advances of grain had been exacted from them, -and the chiefs of the tribes had been crucified or thrown to the -lions. - -Tunis especially execrated Carthage! Older than the metropolis, it -could not forgive her her greatness, and it fronted her walls -crouching in the mire on the water's edge like a venomous beast -watching her. Transportation, massacres, and epidemics did not weaken -it. It had assisted Archagathas, the son of Agathocles, and the Eaters -of Uncleanness found arms there at once. - -The couriers had not yet set out when universal rejoicing broke out in -the provinces. Without waiting for anything they strangled the -comptrollers of the houses and the functionaries of the Republic in -the baths; they took the old weapons that had been concealed out of -the caves; they forged swords with the iron of the ploughs; the -children sharpened javelins at the doors, and the women gave their -necklaces, rings, earrings, and everything that could be employed for -the destruction of Carthage. Piles of lances were heaped up in the -country towns like sheaves of maize. Cattle and money were sent off. -Matho speedily paid the Mercenaries their arrears, and owing to this, -which was Spendius's idea, he was appointed commander-in-chief--the -schalishim of the Barbarians. - -Reinforcements of men poured in at the same time. The aborigines -appeared first, and were followed by the slaves from the country; -caravans of Negroes were seized and armed, and merchants on their way -to Carthage, despairing of any more certain profit, mingled with the -Barbarians. Numerous bands were continually arriving. From the heights -of the Acropolis the growing army might be seen. - -But the guards of the Legion were posted as sentries on the platform -of the aqueduct, and near them rose at intervals brazen vats, in which -floods of asphalt were boiling. Below in the plain the great crowd -stirred tumultuously. They were in a state of uncertainty, feeling the -embarrassment with which Barbarians are always inspired when they meet -with walls. - -Utica and Hippo-Zarytus refused their alliance. Phoenician colonies -like Carthage, they were self-governing, and always had clauses -inserted in the treaties concluded by the Republic to distinguish them -from the latter. Nevertheless they respected this strong sister of -theirs who protected them, and they did not think that she could be -vanquished by a mass of Barbarians; these would on the contrary be -themselves exterminated. They desired to remain neutral and to live at -peace. - -But their position rendered them indispensable. Utica, at the foot of -the gulf, was convenient for bringing assistance to Carthage from -without. If Utica alone were taken, Hippo-Zarytus, six hours further -distant along the coast, would take its place, and the metropolis, -being revictualled in this way, would be impregnable. - -Spendius wished the siege to be undertaken immediately. Narr' Havas -was opposed to this: an advance should first be made upon the -frontier. This was the opinion of the veterans, and of Matho himself, -and it was decided that Spendius should go to attack Utica, and Matho -Hippo-Zarytus, while in the third place the main body should rest on -Tunis and occupy the plain of Carthage, Autaritus being in command. As -to Narr' Havas, he was to return to his own kingdom to procure -elephants and to scour the roads with his cavalry. - -The women cried out loudly against this decision; they coveted the -jewels of the Punic ladies. The Libyans also protested. They had been -summoned against Carthage, and now they were going away from it! The -soldiers departed almost alone. Matho commanded his own companions, -together with the Iberians, Lusitanians, and the men of the West, and -of the islands; all those who spoke Greek had asked for Spendius on -account of his cleverness. - -Great was the stupefaction when the army was seen suddenly in motion; -it stretched along beneath the mountain of Ariana on the road to Utica -beside the sea. A fragment remained before Tunis, the rest disappeared -to re-appear on the other shore of the gulf on the outskirts of the -woods in which they were lost. - -They were perhaps eighty thousand men. The two Tyrian cities would -offer no resistance, and they would return against Carthage. Already -there was a considerable army attacking it from the base of the -isthmus, and it would soon perish from famine, for it was impossible -to live without the aid of the provinces, the citizens not paying -contributions as they did at Rome. Carthage was wanting in political -genius. Her eternal anxiety for gain prevented her from having the -prudence which results from loftier ambitions. A galley anchored on -the Libyan sands, it was with toil that she maintained her position. -The nations roared like billows around her, and the slightest storm -shook this formidable machine. - -The treasury was exhausted by the Roman war and by all that had been -squandered and lost in the bargaining with the Barbarians. -Nevertheless soldiers must be had, and not a government would trust -the Republic! Ptolemaeus had lately refused it two thousand talents. -Moreover the rape of the veil disheartened them. Spendius had clearly -foreseen this. - -But the nation, feeling that it was hated, clasped its money and its -gods to its heart, and its patriotism was sustained by the very -constitution of its government. - -First, the power rested with all, without any one being strong enough -to engross it. Private debts were considered as public debts, men of -Chanaanitish race had a monopoly of commerce, and by multiplying the -profits of piracy with those of usury, by hard dealings in lands and -slaves and with the poor, fortunes were sometimes made. These alone -opened up all the magistracies, and although authority and money were -perpetuated in the same families, people tolerated the oligarchy -because they hoped ultimately to share in it. - -The societies of merchants, in which the laws were elaborated, chose -the inspectors of the exchequer, who on leaving office nominated the -hundred members of the Council of the Ancients, themselves dependent -on the Grand Assembly, or general gathering of all the rich. As to the -two Suffets, the relics of the monarchy and the less than consuls, -they were taken from distinct families on the same day. All kinds of -enmities were contrived between them, so that they might mutually -weaken each other. They could not deliberate concerning war, and when -they were vanquished the Great Council crucified them. - -The power of Carthage emanated, therefore, from the Syssitia, that is -to say, from a large court in the centre of Malqua, at the place, it -was said, where the first bark of Phoenician sailors had touched, the -sea having retired a long way since then. It was a collection of -little rooms of archaic architecture, built of palm trunks with -corners of stone, and separated from one another so as to accommodate -the various societies separately. The rich crowded there all day to -discuss their own concerns and those of the government, from the -procuring of pepper to the extermination of Rome. Thrice in a moon -they would have their beds brought up to the lofty terrace running -along the wall of the court, and they might be seen from below at -table in the air, without cothurni or cloaks, with their diamond- -covered fingers wandering over the dishes, and their large earrings -hanging down among the flagons,--all fat and lusty, half-naked, -smiling and eating beneath the blue sky, like great sharks sporting in -the sea. - -But just now they were unable to dissemble their anxiety; they were -too pale for that. The crowd which waited for them at the gates -escorted them to their palaces in order to obtain some news from them. -As in times of pestilence, all the houses were shut; the streets would -fill and suddenly clear again; people ascended the Acropolis or ran to -the harbour, and the Great Council deliberated every night. At last -the people were convened in the square of Khamon, and it was decided -to leave the management of things to Hanno, the conqueror of -Hecatompylos. - -He was a true Carthaginian, devout, crafty, and pitiless towards the -people of Africa. His revenues equalled those of the Barcas. No one -had such experience in administrative affairs. - -He decreed the enrolment of all healthy citizens, he placed catapults -on the towers, he exacted exorbitant supplies of arms, he even ordered -the construction of fourteen galleys which were not required, and he -desired everything to be registered and carefully set down in writing. -He had himself conveyed to the arsenal, the pharos, and the treasuries -of the temples; his great litter was continually to be seen swinging -from step to step as it ascended the staircases of the Acropolis. And -then in his palace at night, being unable to sleep, he would yell out -warlike manoeuvres in terrible tones so as to prepare himself for the -fray. - -In their extremity of terror all became brave. The rich ranged -themselves in line along the Mappalian district at cockcrow, and -tucking up their robes practised themselves in handling the pike. But -for want of an instructor they had disputes about it. They would sit -down breathless upon the tombs and then begin again. Several even -dieted themselves. Some imagined that it was necessary to eat a great -deal in order to acquire strength, while others who were -inconvenienced by their corpulence weakened themselves with fasts in -order to become thin. - -Utica had already called several times upon Carthage for assistance; -but Hanno would not set out until the engines of war had been supplied -with the last screws. He lost three moons more in equipping the one -hundred and twelve elephants that were lodged in the ramparts. They -were the conquerors of Regulus; the people loved them; it was -impossible to treat such old friends too well. Hanno had the brass -plates which adorned their breasts recast, their tusks gilt, their -towers enlarged, and caparisons, edged with very heavy fringes, cut -out of the handsomest purple. Finally, as their drivers were called -Indians (after the first ones, no doubt, who came from the Indies) he -ordered them all to be costumed after the Indian fashion; that is to -say, with white pads round their temples, and small drawers of byssus, -which with their transverse folds looked like two valves of a shell -applied to the hips. - -The army under Autaritus still remained before Tunis. It was hidden -behind a wall made with mud from the lake, and protected on the top by -thorny brushwood. Some Negroes had planted tall sticks here and there -bearing frightful faces,--human masks made with birds' feathers, and -jackals' or serpents' heads,--which gaped towards the enemy for the -purpose of terrifying him; and the Barbarians, reckoning themselves -invincible through these means, danced, wrestled, and juggled, -convinced that Carthage would perish before long. Any one but Hanno -would easily have crushed such a multitude, hampered as it was with -herds and women. Moreover, they knew nothing of drill, and Autaritus -was so disheartened that he had ceased to require it. - -They stepped aside when he passed by rolling his big blue eyes. Then -on reaching the edge of the lake he would draw back his sealskin -cloak, unfasten the cord which tied up his long red hair, and soak the -latter in the water. He regretted that he had not deserted to the -Romans along with the two thousand Gauls of the temple of Eryx. - -Often the sun would suddenly lose his rays in the middle of the day. -Then the gulf and the open sea would seem as motionless as molten -lead. A cloud of brown dust stretching perpendicularly would speed -whirling along; the palm trees would bend and the sky disappear, while -stones would be heard rebounding on the animals' cruppers; and the -Gaul, his lips glued against the holes in his tent, would gasp with -exhaustion and melancholy. His thoughts would be of the scent of the -pastures on autumn mornings, of snowflakes, or of the bellowing of the -urus lost in the fog, and closing his eyelids he would in imagination -behold the fires in long, straw-roofed cottages flickering on the -marshes in the depths of the woods. - -Others regretted their native lands as well as he, even though they -might not be so far away. Indeed the Carthaginian captives could -distinguish the velaria spread over the courtyards of their houses, -beyond the gulf on the slopes of Byrsa. But sentries marched round -them continually. They were all fastened to a common chain. Each one -wore an iron carcanet, and the crowd was never weary of coming to gaze -at them. The women would show their little children the handsome robes -hanging in tatters on their wasted limbs. - -Whenever Autaritus looked at Gisco he was seized with rage at the -recollection of the insult that he had received, and he would have -killed him but for the oath which he had taken to Narr' Havas. Then he -would go back into his tent and drink a mixture of barley and cumin -until he swooned away from intoxication,--to awake afterwards in broad -daylight consumed with horrible thirst. - -Matho, meanwhile, was besieging Hippo-Zarytus. But the town was -protected by a lake, communicating with the sea. It had three lines of -circumvallation, and upon the heights which surrounded it there -extended a wall fortified with towers. He had never commanded in such -an enterprise before. Moreover, he was beset with thoughts of -Salammbo, and he raved in the delight of her beauty as in the -sweetness of a vengeance that transported him with pride. He felt an -acrid, frenzied, permanent want to see her again. He even thought of -presenting himself as the bearer of a flag of truce, in the hope that -once within Carthage he might make his way to her. Often he would -cause the assault to be sounded and waiting for nothing rush upon the -mole which it was sought to construct in the sea. He would snatch up -the stones with his hands, overturn, strike, and deal sword-thrusts -everywhere. The Barbarians would dash on pell-mell; the ladders would -break with a loud crash, and masses of men would tumble into the -water, causing it to fly up in red waves against the walls. Finally -the tumult would subside, and the soldiers would retire to make a -fresh beginning. - -Matho would go and seat himself outside the tents, wipe his blood- -splashed face with his arm, and gaze at the horizon in the direction -of Carthage. - -In front of him, among the olives, palms, myrtles and planes, -stretched two broad ponds which met another lake, the outlines of -which could not be seen. Behind one mountain other mountains reared -themselves, and in the middle of the immense lake rose an island -perfectly black and pyramidal in form. On the left, at the extremity -of the gulf, were sand-heaps like arrested waves, large and pale, -while the sea, flat as a pavement of lapis-lazuli, ascended by -insensible degrees to the edge of the sky. The verdure of the country -was lost in places beneath long sheets of yellow; carobs were shining -like knobs of coral; vine branches drooped from the tops of the -sycamores; the murmuring of the water could be heard; crested larks -were hopping about, and the sun's latest fires gilded the carapaces of -the tortoises as they came forth from the reeds to inhale the breeze. - -Matho would heave deep sighs. He would lie flat on his face, with his -nails buried in the soil, and weep; he felt wretched, paltry, -forsaken. Never would he possess her, and he was unable even to take a -town. - -At night when alone in his tent he would gaze upon the zaimph. Of what -use to him was this thing which belonged to the gods?--and doubt crept -into the Barbarian's thoughts. Then, on the contrary, it would seem to -him that the vesture of the goddess was depending from Salammbo, and -that a portion of her soul hovered in it, subtler than a breath; and -he would feel it, breathe it in, bury his face in it, and kiss it with -sobs. He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself -that he was beside her. - -Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over -the sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring -upon a horse on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at -Utica in Spendius's tent. - -At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease -his sorrow by talking about Salammbo. Spendius exhorted him to be -prudent. - -"Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them! -Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if -Carthage is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces. We -shall become kings!" - -But how was it that the possession of the zaimph did not give them the -victory? According to Spendius they must wait. - -Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race -exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself: -"The zaimph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have -lost it, it will do nothing for them." - -Afterwards a scruple troubled him. He was afraid of offending Moloch -by worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked -Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a -man. - -"Keep on sacrificing!" laughed Spendius. - -Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek -of having a genius of whom he did not speak. - -All modes of worship, as well as all races, were to be met with in -these armies of Barbarians, and consideration was had to the gods of -others, for they too, inspired fear. Many mingled foreign practices -with their native religion. It was to no purpose that they did not -adore the stars; if a constellation were fatal or helpful, sacrifices -were offered to it; an unknown amulet found by chance at a moment of -peril became a divinity; or it might be a name and nothing more, which -would be repeated without any attempt to understand its meaning. But -after pillaging temples, and seeing numbers of nations and slaughters, -many ultimately ceased to believe in anything but destiny and death;-- -and every evening these would fall asleep with the placidity of wild -beasts. Spendius had spit upon the images of Jupiter Olympius; -nevertheless he dreaded to speak aloud in the dark, nor did he fail -every day to put on his right boot first. - -He reared a long quadrangular terrace in front of Utica, but in -proportion as it ascended the rampart was also heightened, and what -was thrown down by the one side was almost immediately raised again by -the other. Spendius took care of his men; he dreamed of plans and -strove to recall the stratagems which he had heard described in his -travels. But why did Narr' Havas not return? There was nothing but -anxiety. - -Hanno had at last concluded his preparations. One night when there was -no moon he transported his elephants and soldiers on rafts across the -Gulf of Carthage. Then they wheeled round the mountain of the Hot -Springs so as to avoid Autaritus, and continued their march so slowly -that instead of surprising the Barbarians in the morning, as the -Suffet had calculated, they did not reach them until it was broad -daylight on the third day. - -Utica had on the east a plain which extended to the large lagoon of -Carthage; behind it a valley ran at right angles between two low and -abruptly terminated mountains; the Barbarians were encamped further to -the left in such a way as to blockade the harbour; and they were -sleeping in their tents (for on that day both sides were too weary to -fight and were resting) when the Carthaginian army appeared at the -turning of the hills. - -Some camp followers furnished with slings were stationed at intervals -on the wings. The first line was formed of the guards of the Legion in -golden scale-armour, mounted on their big horses, which were without -mane, hair, or ears, and had silver horns in the middle of their -foreheads to make them look like rhinoceroses. Between their squadrons -were youths wearing small helmets and swinging an ashen javelin in -each hand. The long files of the heavy infantry marched behind. All -these traders had piled as many weapons upon their bodies as possible. -Some might be seen carrying an axe, a lance, a club, and two swords -all at once; others bristled with darts like porcupines, and their -arms stood out from their cuirasses in sheets of horn or iron plates. -At last the scaffoldings of the lofty engines appeared: carrobalistas, -onagers, catapults and scorpions, rocking on chariots drawn by mules -and quadrigas of oxen; and in proportion as the army drew out, the -captains ran panting right and left to deliver commands, close up the -files, and preserve the intervals. Such of the Ancients as held -commands had come in purple cassocks, the magnificent fringes of which -tangled in the white straps of their cothurni. Their faces, which were -smeared all over with vermilion, shone beneath enormous helmets -surmounted with images of the gods; and, as they had shields with -ivory borders covered with precious stones, they might have been taken -for suns passing over walls of brass. - -But the Carthaginians manoeuvred so clumsily that the soldiers in -derision urged them to sit down. They called out that they were just -going to empty their big stomachs, to dust the gilding of their skin, -and to give them iron to drink. - -A strip of green cloth appeared at the top of the pole planted before -Spendius's tent: it was the signal. The Carthaginian army replied to -it with a great noise of trumpets, cymbals, flutes of asses' bones, -and tympanums. The Barbarians had already leaped outside the -palisades, and were facing their enemies within a javelin's throw of -them. - -A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets -into his thong, and swung round his arm. An ivory shield was shivered, -and the two armies mingled together. - -The Greeks made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by -pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. The slaves -who were to hurl stones had picked such as were too big, and they -accordingly fell close to them. The Punic foot-soldiers exposed the -right side in cutting with their long swords. The Barbarians broke -their lines; they slaughtered them freely; they stumbled over the -dying and dead, quite blinded by the blood that spurted into their -faces. The confused heap of pikes, helmets, cuirasses and swords -turned round about, widening out and closing in with elastic -contractions. The gaps increased more and more in the Carthaginian -cohorts, the engines could not get out of the sand; and finally the -Suffet's litter (his grand litter with crystal pendants), which from -the beginning might have been seen tossing among the soldiers like a -bark on the waves, suddenly foundered. He was no doubt dead. The -Barbarians found themselves alone. - -The dust around them fell and they were beginning to sing, when Hanno -himself appeared on the top of an elephant. He sat bare-headed beneath -a parasol of byssus which was carried by a Negro behind him. His -necklace of blue plates flapped against the flowers on his black -tunic; his huge arms were compressed within circles of diamonds, and -with open mouth he brandished a pike of inordinate size, which spread -out at the end like a lotus, and flashed more than a mirror. -Immediately the earth shook,--and the Barbarians saw all the elephants -of Carthage, with their gilt tusks and blue-painted ears, hastening up -in single line, clothed with bronze and shaking the leathern towers -which were placed above their scarlet caparisons, in each of which -were three archers bending large bows. - -The soldiers were barely in possession of their arms; they had taken -up their positions at random. They were frozen with terror; they stood -undecided. - -Javelins, arrows, phalaricas, and masses of lead were already being -showered down upon them from the towers. Some clung to the fringes of -the caparisons in order to climb up, but their hands were struck off -with cutlasses and they fell backwards upon the swords' points. The -pikes were too weak and broke, and the elephants passed through the -phalanxes like wild boars through tufts of grass; they plucked up the -stakes of the camp with their trunks, and traversed it from one end to -the other, overthrowing the tents with their breasts. All the -Barbarians had fled. They were hiding themselves in the hills -bordering the valley by which the Carthaginians had come. - -The victorious Hanno presented himself before the gates of Utica. He -had a trumpet sounded. The three Judges of the town appeared in the -opening of the battlements on the summit of a tower. - -But the people of Utica would not receive such well-armed guests. -Hanno was furious. At last they consented to admit him with a feeble -escort. - -The streets were too narrow for the elephants. They had to be left -outside. - -As soon as the Suffet was in the town the principal men came to greet -him. He had himself taken to the vapour baths, and called for his -cooks. - -Three hours afterwards he was still immersed in the oil of cinnamomum -with which the basin had been filled; and while he bathed he ate -flamingoes' tongues with honied poppy-seeds on a spread ox-hide. -Beside him was his Greek physician, motionless, in a long yellow robe, -directing the re-heating of the bath from time to time, and two young -boys leaned over the steps of the basin and rubbed his legs. But -attention to his body did not check his love for the commonwealth, for -he was dictating a letter to be sent to the Great Council, and as some -prisoners had just been taken he was asking himself what terrible -punishment could be devised. - -"Stop!" said he to a slave who stood writing in the hollow of his -hand. "Let some of them be brought to me! I wish to see them!" - -And from the bottom of the hall, full of a whitish vapour on which the -torches cast red spots, three Barbarians were thrust forward: a -Samnite, a Spartan, and a Cappadocian. - -"Proceed!" said Hanno. - -"Rejoice, light of the Baals! your Suffet has exterminated the -ravenous hounds! Blessings on the Republic! Give orders for prayers!" -He perceived the captives and burst out laughing: "Ah! ha! my fine -fellows of Sicca! You are not shouting so loudly to-day! It is I! Do -you recognise me? And where are your swords? What really terrible -fellows!" and he pretended to be desirous to hide himself as if he -were afraid of them. "You demanded horses, women, estates, -magistracies, no doubt, and priesthoods! Why not? Well, I will provide -you with the estates, and such as you will never come out of! You -shall be married to gibbets that are perfectly new! Your pay? it shall -be melted in your mouths in leaden ingots! and I will put you into -good and very exalted positions among the clouds, so as to bring you -close to the eagles!" - -The three long-haired and ragged Barbarians looked at him without -understanding what he said. Wounded in the knees, they had been seized -by having ropes thrown over them, and the ends of the great chains on -their hands trailed upon the pavement. Hanno was indignant at their -impassibility. - -"On your knees! on your knees! jackals! dust! vermin! excrements! And -they make no reply! Enough! be silent! Let them be flayed alive! No! -presently!" - -He was breathing like a hippopotamus and rolling his eyes. The -perfumed oil overflowed beneath the mass of his body, and clinging to -the scales on his skin, made it look pink in the light of the torches. - -He resumed: - -"For four days we suffered greatly from the sun. Some mules were lost -in crossing the Macaras. In spite of their position, the extraordinary -courage-- Ah! Demonades! how I suffer! Have the bricks reheated, and -let them be red-hot!" - -A noise of rakes and furnaces was heard. The incense smoked more -strongly in the large perfuming pans, and the shampooers, who were -quite naked and were sweating like sponges, crushed a paste composed -of wheat, sulphur, black wine, bitch's milk, myrrh, galbanum and -storax upon his joints. He was consumed with incessant thirst, but the -yellow-robed man did not yield to this inclination, and held out to -him a golden cup in which viper broth was smoking. - -"Drink!" said he, "that strength of sun-born serpents may penetrate -into the marrow of your bones, and take courage, O reflection of the -gods! You know, moreover, that a priest of Eschmoun watches those -cruel stars round the Dog from which your malady is derived. They are -growing pale like the spots on your skin, and you are not to die from -them." - -"Oh! yes, that is so, is it not?" repeated the Suffet, "I am not to -die from them!" And his violaceous lips gave forth a breath more -nauseous than the exhalation from a corpse. Two coals seemed to burn -in the place of his eyes, which had lost their eyebrows; a mass of -wrinkled skin hung over his forehead; both his ears stood out from his -head and were beginning to increase in size; and the deep lines -forming semicircles round his nostrils gave him a strange and -terrifying appearance, the look of a wild beast. His unnatural voice -was like a roar; he said: - -"Perhaps you are right, Demonades. In fact there are many ulcers here -which have closed. I feel robust. Here! look how I am eating!" - -And less from greediness than from ostentation, and the desire to -prove to himself that he was in good health, he cut into the -forcemeats of cheese and marjoram, the boned fish, gourds, oysters -with eggs, horse-radishes, truffles, and brochettes of small birds. As -he looked at the prisoners he revelled in the imagination of their -tortures. Nevertheless he remembered Sicca, and the rage caused by all -his woes found vent in the abuse of these three men. - -"Ah! traitors! ah! wretches! infamous, accursed creatures! And you -outraged me!--me! the Suffet! Their services, the price of their -blood, say they! Ah! yes! their blood! their blood!" Then speaking to -himself:--"All shall perish! not one shall be sold! It would be better -to bring them to Carthage! I should be seen--but doubtless, I have not -brought chains enough? Write: Send me--How many of them are there? go -and ask Muthumbal! Go! no pity! and let all their hands be cut off and -brought to me in baskets!" - -But strange cries at once hoarse and shrill penetrated into the hall -above Hanno's voice and the rattling of the dishes that were being -placed around him. They increased, and suddenly the furious trumpeting -of the elephants burst forth as if the battle were beginning again. A -great tumult was going on around the town. - -The Carthaginians had not attempted to pursue the Barbarians. They had -taken up their quarters at the foot of the walls with their baggage, -mules, serving men, and all their train of satraps; and they made -merry in their beautiful pearl-bordered tents, while the camp of the -Mercenaries was now nothing but a heap of ruins in the plain. Spendius -had recovered his courage. He dispatched Zarxas to Matho, scoured the -woods, rallied his men (the losses had been inconsiderable),--and they -were re-forming their lines enraged at having been conquered without a -fight, when they discovered a vat of petroleum which had no doubt been -abandoned by the Carthaginians. Then Spendius had some pigs carried -off from the farms, smeared them with bitumen, set them on fire, and -drove them towards Utica. - -The elephants were terrified by the flames and fled. The ground sloped -upwards, javelins were thrown at them, and they turned back;--and with -great blows of ivory and trampling feet they ripped up the -Carthaginians, stifled them, flattened them. The Barbarians descended -the hill behind them; the Punic camp, which was without entrenchments -was sacked at the first rush, and the Carthaginians were crushed -against the gates, which were not opened through fear of the -Mercenaries. - -Day broke, and Matho's foot-soldiers were seen coming up from the -west. At the same time horsemen appeared; they were Narr' Havas with -his Numidians. Leaping ravines and bushes they ran down the fugitives -like greyhounds pursuing hares. This change of fortune interrupted the -Suffet. He called out to be assisted to leave the vapour bath. - -The three captives were still before him. Then a Negro (the same who -had carried his parasol in the battle) leaned over to his ear. - -"Well?" replied the Suffet slowly. "Ah! kill them!" he added in an -abrupt tone. - -The Ethiopian drew a long dagger from his girdle and the three heads -fell. One of them rebounded among the remains of the feast, and leaped -into the basin, where it floated for some time with open mouth and -staring eyes. The morning light entered through the chinks in the -wall; the three bodies streamed with great bubbles like three -fountains, and a sheet of blood flowed over the mosaics with their -powdering of blue dust. The Suffet dipped his hand into this hot mire -and rubbed his knees with it: it was a cure. - -When evening had come he stole away from the town with his escort, and -made his way into the mountain to rejoin his army. - -He succeeded in finding the remains of it. - -Four days afterward he was on the top of a defile at Gorza, when the -troops under Spendius appeared below. Twenty stout lances might easily -have checked them by attacking the head of their column, but the -Carthaginians watched them pass by in a state of stupefaction. Hanno -recognised the king of the Numidians in the rearguard; Narr' Havas -bowed to him, at the same time making a sign which he did not -understand. - -The return to Carthage took place amid all kinds of terrors. They -marched only at night, hiding in the olive woods during the day. There -were deaths at every halting-place; several times they believed -themselves lost. At last they reached Cape Hermaeum, where vessels -came to receive them. - -Hanno was so fatigued, so desperate--the loss of the elephants in -particular overwhelmed him--that he demanded poison from Demonades in -order to put an end to it all. Moreover he could already feel himself -stretched upon the cross. - -Carthage had not strength enough to be indignant with him. Its losses -had amounted to one hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy-two -shekels of silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three -shekels of gold, eighteen elephants, fourteen members of the Great -Council, three hundred of the rich, eight thousand citizens, corn -enough for three moons, a considerable quantity of baggage, and all -the engines of war! The defection of Narr' Havas was certain, and both -sieges were beginning again. The army under Autaritus now extended -from Tunis to Rhades. From the top of the Acropolis long columns of -smoke might be seen in the country ascending to the sky; they were the -mansions of the rich, which were on fire. - -One man alone could have saved the Republic. People repented that they -had slighted him, and the peace party itself voted holocausts for -Hamilcar's return. - -The sight of the zaimph had upset Salammbo. At night she thought that -she could hear the footsteps of the goddess, and she would awake -terrified and shrieking. Every day she sent food to the temples. -Taanach was worn out with executing her orders, and Schahabarim never -left her. - - - -CHAPTER VII - -HAMILCAR BARCA - -The Announcer of the Moons, who watched on the summit of the temple of -Eschmoun every night in order to signal the disturbances of the planet -with his trumpet, one morning perceived towards the west something -like a bird skimming the surface of the sea with its long wings. - -It was a ship with three tiers of oars and with a horse carved on the -prow. The sun was rising; the Announcer of the Moons put up his hand -before his eyes, and then grasping his clarion with outstretched arms -sounded a loud brazen cry over Carthage. - -People came out of every house; they would not believe what was said; -they disputed with one another; the mole was covered with people. At -last they recognised Hamilcar's trireme. - -It advanced in fierce and haughty fashion, cleaving the foam around -it, the lateen-yard quite square and the sail bulging down the whole -length of the mast; its gigantic oars kept time as they beat the -water; every now and then the extremity of the keel, which was shaped -like a plough-share, would appear, and the ivory-headed horse, rearing -both its feet beneath the spur which terminated the prow, would seem -to be speeding over the plains of the sea. - -As it rounded the promontory the wind ceased, the sail fell, and a man -was seen standing bareheaded beside the pilot. It was he, Hamilcar, -the Suffet! About his sides he wore gleaming sheets of steel; a red -cloak, fastened to his shoulders, left his arms visible; two pearls of -great length hung from his ears, and his black, bushy beard rested on -his breast. - -The galley, however, tossing amid the rocks, was proceeding along the -side of the mole, and the crowd followed it on the flag-stones, -shouting: - -"Greeting! blessing! Eye of Khamon! ah! deliver us! 'Tis the fault of -the rich! they want to put you to death! Take care of yourself, -Barca!" - -He made no reply, as if the loud clamour of oceans and battles had -completely deafened him. But when he was below the staircase leading -down from the Acropolis, Hamilcar raised his head, and looked with -folded arms upon the temple of Eschmoun. His gaze mounted higher -still, to the great pure sky; he shouted an order in a harsh voice to -his sailors; the trireme leaped forward; it grazed the idol set up at -the corner of the mole to stay the storms; and in the merchant -harbour, which was full of filth, fragments of wood, and rinds of -fruit, it pushed aside and crushed against the other ships moored to -stakes and terminating in crocodiles' jaws. The people hastened -thither, and some threw themselves into the water to swim to it. It -was already at the very end before the gate which bristled with nails. -The gate rose, and the trireme disappeared beneath the deep arch. - -The Military Harbour was completely separated from the town; when -ambassadors arrived, they had to proceed between two walls through a -passage which had its outlet on the left in front of the temple of -Khamon. This great expanse of water was as round as a cup, and was -bordered with quays on which sheds were built for sheltering the -ships. Before each of these rose two pillars bearing the horns of -Ammon on their capitals and forming continuous porticoes all round the -basin. On an island in the centre stood a house for the marine Suffet. - -The water was so limpid that the bottom was visible with its paving of -white pebbles. The noise of the streets did not reach so far, and -Hamilcar as he passed recognised the triremes which he had formerly -commanded. - -Not more than twenty perhaps remained, under shelter on the land, -leaning over on their sides or standing upright on their keels, with -lofty poops and swelling prows, and covered with gildings and mystic -symbols. The chimaeras had lost their wings, the Pataec Gods their -arms, the bulls their silver horns;--and half-painted, motionless, and -rotten as they were, yet full of associations, and still emitting the -scent of voyages, they all seemed to say to him, like mutilated -soldiers on seeing their master again, "'Tis we! 'tis we! and YOU too -are vanquished!" - -No one excepting the marine Suffet might enter the admiral's house. So -long as there was no proof of his death he was considered as still in -existence. In this way the Ancients avoided a master the more, and -they had not failed to comply with the custom in respect to Hamilcar. - -The Suffet proceeded into the deserted apartments. At every step he -recognised armour and furniture--familiar objects which nevertheless -astonished him, and in a perfuming-pan in the vestibule there even -remained the ashes of the perfumes that had been kindled at his -departure for the conjuration of Melkarth. It was not thus that he had -hoped to return. Everything that he had done, everything that he had -seen, unfolded itself in his memory: assaults, conflagrations, -legions, tempests, Drepanum, Syracuse, Lilybaeum, Mount Etna, the -plateau of Eryx, five years of battles,--until the fatal day when arms -had been laid down and Sicily had been lost. Then he once more saw the -woods of citron-trees, and herdsmen with their goats on grey -mountains; and his heart leaped at the thought of the establishment of -another Carthage down yonder. His projects and his recollections -buzzed through his head, which was still dizzy from the pitching of -the vessel; he was overwhelmed with anguish, and, becoming suddenly -weak, he felt the necessity of drawing near to the gods. - -Then he went up to the highest story of his house, and taking a nail- -studded staple from a golden shell, which hung on his arm, he opened a -small oval chamber. - -It was softly lighted by means of delicate black discs let into the -wall and as transparent as glass. Between the rows of these equal -discs, holes, like those for the urns in columbaria, were hollowed -out. Each of them contained a round dark stone, which appeared to be -very heavy. Only people of superior understanding honoured these -abaddirs, which had fallen from the moon. By their fall they denoted -the stars, the sky, and fire; by their colour dark night, and by their -density the cohesion of terrestrial things. A stifling atmosphere -filled this mystic place. The round stones lying in the niches were -whitened somewhat with sea-sand which the wind had no doubt driven -through the door. Hamilcar counted them one after another with the tip -of his finger; then he hid his face in a saffron-coloured veil, and, -falling on his knees, stretched himself on the ground with both arms -extended. - -The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters -of black lattice-work. Arborescences, hillocks, eddies, and ill- -defined animals appeared in their diaphanous thickness; and the light -came terrifying and yet peaceful as it must be behind the sun in the -dull spaces of future creations. He strove to banish from his thoughts -all forms, and all symbols and appellations of the gods, that he might -the better apprehend the immutable spirit which outward appearances -took away. Something of the planetary vitalities penetrated him, and -he felt withal a wiser and more intimate scorn of death and of every -accident. When he rose he was filled with serene fearlessness and was -proof against pity or dread, and as his chest was choking he went to -the top of the tower which overlooked Carthage. - -The town sank downwards in a long hollow curve, with its cupolas, its -temples, its golden roofs, its houses, its clusters of palm trees here -and there, and its glass balls with streaming rays, while the ramparts -formed, as it were, the gigantic border of this horn of plenty which -poured itself out before him. Far below he could see the harbours, the -squares, the interiors of the courts, the plan of the streets, and the -people, who seemed very small and but little above the level of the -pavement. Ah! if Hanno had not arrived too late on the morning of the -Aegatian islands! He fastened his eyes on the extreme horizon and -stretched forth his quivering arms in the direction of Rome. - -The steps of the Acropolis were occupied by the multitude. In the -square of Khamon the people were pressing forwards to see the Suffet -come out, and the terraces were gradually being loaded with people; a -few recognised him, and he was saluted; but he retired in order the -better to excite the impatience of the people. - -Hamilcar found the most important men of his party below in the hall: -Istatten, Subeldia, Hictamon, Yeoubas and others. They related to him -all that had taken place since the conclusion of the peace: the greed -of the Ancients, the departure of the soldiers, their return, their -demands, the capture of Gisco, the theft of the zaimph, the relief and -subsequent abandonment of Utica; but no one ventured to tell him of -the events which concerned himself. At last they separated, to meet -again during the night at the assembly of the Ancients in the temple -of Moloch. - -They had just gone out when a tumult arose outside the door. Some one -was trying to enter in spite of the servants; and as the disturbance -was increasing Hamilcar ordered the stranger to be shown in. - -An old Negress made her appearance, broken, wrinkled, trembling, -stupid-looking, wrapped to the heels in ample blue veils. She advanced -face to face with the Suffet, and they looked at each other for some -time; suddenly Hamilcar started; at a wave of his hand the slaves -withdrew. Then, signing to her to walk with precaution, he drew her by -the arm into a remote apartment. - -The Negress threw herself upon the floor to kiss his feet; he raised -her brutally. - -"Where have you left him, Iddibal?" - -"Down there, Master;" and extricating herself from her veils, she -rubbed her face with her sleeve; the black colour, the senile -trembling, the bent figure disappeared, and there remained a strong -old man whose skin seemed tanned by sand, wind, and sea. A tuft of -white hair rose on his skull like the crest of a bird; and he -indicated his disguise, as it lay on the ground, with an ironic -glance. - -"You have done well, Iddibal! 'Tis well!" Then piercing him, as it -were, with his keen gaze: "No one yet suspects?" - -The old man swore to him by the Kabiri that the mystery had been kept. -They never left their cottage, which was three days' journey from -Hadrumetum, on a shore peopled with turtles, and with palms on the -dune. "And in accordance with your command, O Master! I teach him to -hurl the javelin and to drive a team." - -"He is strong, is he not?" - -"Yes, Master, and intrepid as well! He has no fear of serpents, or -thunder, or phantoms. He runs bare-footed like a herdsman along the -brinks of precipices." - -"Speak! speak!" - -"He invents snares for wild beasts. Would you believe it, that last -moon he surprised an eagle; he dragged it away, and the bird's blood -and the child's were scattered in the air in large drops like driven -roses. The animal in its fury enwrapped him in the beating of its -wings; he strained it against his breast, and as it died his laughter -increased, piercing and proud like the clashing of swords." - -Hamilcar bent his head, dazzled by such presages of greatness. - -"But he has been for some time restless and disturbed. He gazes at the -sails passing far out at sea; he is melancholy, he rejects bread, he -inquires about the gods, and he wishes to become acquainted with -Carthage." - -"No, no! not yet!" exclaimed the Suffet. - -The old slave seemed to understand the peril which alarmed Hamilcar, -and he resumed: - -"How is he to be restrained? Already I am obliged to make him -promises, and I have come to Carthage only to buy him a dagger with a -silver handle and pearls all around it." Then he told how, having -perceived the Suffet on the terrace, he had passed himself off on the -warders of the harbour as one of Salammbo's women, so as to make his -way in to him. - -Hamilcar remained for a long time apparently lost in deliberation; at -last he said: - -"To-morrow you will present yourself at sunset behind the purple -factories in Megara, and imitate a jackal's cry three times. If you do -not see me, you will return to Carthage on the first day of every -moon. Forget nothing! Love him! You may speak to him now about -Hamilcar." - -The slave resumed his costume, and they left the house and the harbour -together. - -Hamilcar went on his way alone on foot and without an escort, for the -meetings of the Ancients were, under extraordinary circumstances, -always secret, and were resorted to mysteriously. - -At first he went along the western front of the Acropolis, and then -passed through the Green Market, the galleries of Kinisdo, and the -Perfumers' suburb. The scattered lights were being extinguished, the -broader streets grew still, then shadows glided through the darkness. -They followed him, others appeared, and like him they all directed -their course towards the Mappalian district. - -The temple of Moloch was built at the foot of a steep defile in a -sinister spot. From below nothing could be seen but lofty walls rising -indefinitely like those of a monstrous tomb. The night was gloomy, a -greyish fog seemed to weigh upon the sea, which beat against the cliff -with a noise as of death-rattles and sobs; and the shadows gradually -vanished as if they had passed through the walls. - -But as soon as the doorway was crossed one found oneself in a vast -quadrangular court bordered by arcades. In the centre rose a mass of -architecture with eight equal faces. It was surmounted by cupolas -which thronged around a second story supporting a kind of rotunda, -from which sprang a cone with a re-entrant curve and terminating in a -ball on the summit. - -Fires were burning in cylinders of filigree-work fitted upon poles, -which men were carrying to and fro. These lights flickered in the -gusts of wind and reddened the golden combs which fastened their -plaited hair on the nape of the neck. They ran about calling to one -another to receive the Ancients. - -Here and there on the flag-stones huge lions were couched like -sphinxes, living symbols of the devouring sun. They were slumbering -with half-closed eyelids. But roused by the footsteps and voices they -rose slowly, came towards the Ancients, whom they recognised by their -dress, and rubbed themselves against their thighs, arching their backs -with sonorous yawns; the vapour of their breath passed across the -light of the torches. The stir increased, doors closed, all the -priests fled, and the Ancients disappeared beneath the columns which -formed a deep vestibule round the temple. - -These columns were arranged in such a way that their circular ranks, -which were contained one within another, showed the Saturnian period -with its years, the years with their months, and the months with their -days, and finally reached to the walls of the sanctuary. - -Here it was that the Ancients laid aside their sticks of narwhal's- -horn,--for a law which was always observed inflicted the punishment of -death upon any one entering the meeting with any kind of weapon. -Several wore a rent repaired with a strip of purple at the bottom of -their garment, to show that they had not been economical in their -dress when mourning for their relatives, and this testimony to their -affliction prevented the slit from growing larger. Others had their -beards inclosed in little bags of violet skin, and fastened to their -ears by two cords. They all accosted one another by embracing breast -to breast. They surrounded Hamilcar with congratulations; they might -have been taken for brothers meeting their brother again. - -These men were generally thick-set, with curved noses like those of -the Assyrian colossi. In a few, however, the more prominent cheek- -bone, the taller figure, and the narrower foot, betrayed an African -origin and nomad ancestors. Those who lived continually shut up in -their counting-houses had pale faces; others showed in theirs the -severity of the desert, and strange jewels sparkled on all the fingers -of their hands, which were burnt by unknown suns. The navigators might -be distinguished by their rolling gait, while the men of agriculture -smelt of the wine-press, dried herbs, and the sweat of mules. These -old pirates had lands under tillage, these money-grubbers would fit -out ships, these proprietors of cultivated lands supported slaves who -followed trades. All were skilled in religious discipline, expert in -strategy, pitiless and rich. They looked wearied of prolonged cares. -Their flaming eyes expressed distrust, and their habits of travelling -and lying, trafficking and commanding, gave an appearance of cunning -and violence, a sort of discreet and convulsive brutality to their -whole demeanour. Further, the influence of the god cast a gloom upon -them. - -They first passed through a vaulted hall which was shaped like an egg. -Seven doors, corresponding to the seven planets, displayed seven -squares of different colours against the wall. After traversing a long -room they entered another similar hall. - -A candelabrum completely covered with chiselled flowers was burning at -the far end, and each of its eight golden branches bore a wick of -byssus in a diamond chalice. It was placed upon the last of the long -steps leading to a great altar, the corners of which terminated in -horns of brass. Two lateral staircases led to its flattened summit; -the stones of it could not be seen; it was like a mountain of heaped -cinders, and something indistinct was slowly smoking at the top of it. -Then further back, higher than the candelabrum, and much higher than -the altar, rose the Moloch, all of iron, and with gaping apertures in -his human breast. His outspread wings were stretched upon the wall, -his tapering hands reached down to the ground; three black stones -bordered by yellow circles represented three eyeballs on his brow, and -his bull's head was raised with a terrible effort as if in order to -bellow. - -Ebony stools were ranged round the apartment. Behind each of them was -a bronze shaft resting on three claws and supporting a torch. All -these lights were reflected in the mother-of-pearl lozenges which -formed the pavement of the hall. So lofty was the latter that the red -colour of the walls grew black as it rose towards the vaulted roof, -and the three eyes of the idol appeared far above like stars half lost -in the night. - -The Ancients sat down on the ebony stools after putting the trains of -their robes over their heads. They remained motionless with their -hands crossed inside their broad sleeves, and the mother-of-pearl -pavement seemed like a luminous river streaming from the altar to the -door and flowing beneath their naked feet. - -The four pontiffs had their places in the centre, sitting back to back -on four ivory seats which formed a cross, the high-priest of Eschmoun -in a hyacinth robe, the high-priest of Tanith in a white linen robe, -the high-priest of Khamon in a tawny woollen robe, and the high-priest -of Moloch in a purple robe. - -Hamilcar advanced towards the candelabrum. He walked all round it, -looking at the burning wicks; then he threw a scented powder upon -them, and violet flames appeared at the extremities of the branches. - -Then a shrill voice rose; another replied to it, and the hundred -Ancients, the four pontiffs, and Hamilcar, who remained standing, -simultaneously intoned a hymn, and their voices--ever repeating the -same syllables and strengthening the sounds--rose, grew loud, became -terrible, and then suddenly were still. - -There was a pause for some time. At last Hamilcar drew from his breast -a little three-headed statuette, as blue as sapphire, and placed it -before him. It was the image of Truth, the very genius of his speech. -Then he replaced it in his bosom, and all, as if seized with sudden -wrath, cried out: - -"They are good friends of yours, are the Barbarians! Infamous traitor! -You come back to see us perish, do you not? Let him speak!--No! no!" - -They were taking their revenge for the constraint to which political -ceremonial had just obliged them; and even though they had wished for -Hamilcar's return, they were now indignant that he had not anticipated -their disasters, or rather that he had not endured them as well as -they. - -When the tumult had subsided, the pontiff of Moloch rose: - -"We ask you why you did not return to Carthage?" - -"What is that to you?" replied the Suffet disdainfully. - -Their shouts were redoubled. - -"Of what do you accuse me? I managed the war badly, perhaps! You have -seen how I order my battles, you who conveniently allow Barbarians--" - -"Enough! enough!" - -He went on in a low voice so as to make himself the better listened -to: - -"Oh! that is true! I am wrong, lights of the Baals; there are intrepid -men among you! Gisco, rise!" And surveying the step of the altar with -half-closed eyelids, as if he sought for some one, he repeated: - -"Rise, Gisco! You can accuse me; they will protect you! But where is -he?" Then, as if he remembered himself: "Ah! in his house, no doubt! -surrounded by his sons, commanding his slaves, happy, and counting on -the wall the necklaces of honour which his country has given to him!" - -They moved about raising their shoulders as if they were being -scourged with thongs. "You do not even know whether he is living or -dead!" And without giving any heed to their clamours he said that in -deserting the Suffet they had deserted the Republic. So, too, the -peace with Rome, however advantageous it might appear to them, was -more fatal than twenty battles. A few--those who were the least rich -of the Council and were suspected of perpetual leanings towards the -people or towards tyranny--applauded. Their opponents, chiefs of the -Syssitia and administrators, triumphed over them in point of numbers; -and the more eminent of them had ranged themselves close to Hanno, who -was sitting at the other end of the hall before the lofty door, which -was closed by a hanging of hyacinth colour. - -He had covered the ulcers on his face with paint. But the gold dust in -his hair had fallen upon his shoulders, where it formed two brilliant -sheets, so that his hair appeared whitish, fine, and frizzled like -wool. His hands were enveloped in linen soaked in a greasy perfume, -which dripped upon the pavement, and his disease had no doubt -considerably increased, for his eyes were hidden beneath the folds of -his eyelids. He had thrown back his head in order to see. His -partisans urged him to speak. At last in a hoarse and hideous voice he -said: - -"Less arrogance, Barca! We have all been vanquished! Each one supports -his own misfortune! Be resigned!" - -"Tell us rather," said Hamilcar, smiling, "how it was that you steered -your galleys into the Roman fleet?" - -"I was driven by the wind," replied Hanno. - -"You are like a rhinoceros trampling on his dung: you are displaying -your own folly! be silent!" And they began to indulge in -recriminations respecting the battle of the Aegatian islands. - -Hanno accused him of not having come to meet him. - -"But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood out -from the coast; what prevented you? Ah! I forgot! all elephants are -afraid of the sea!" - -Hamilcar's followers thought this jest so good that they burst out -into loud laughter. The vault rang with it like the beating of -tympanums. - -Hanno denounced the unworthiness of such an insult; the disease had -come upon him from a cold taken at the siege of Hecatompylos, and -tears flowed down his face like winter rain on a ruined wall. - -Hamilcar resumed: - -"If you had loved me as much as him there would be great joy in -Carthage now! How many times did I not call upon you! and you always -refused me money!" - -"We had need of it," said the chiefs of the Syssitia. - -"And when things were desperate with me--we drank mules' urine and ate -the straps of our sandals; when I would fain have had the blades of -grass soldiers and made battalions with the rottenness of our dead, -you recalled the vessels that I had left!" - -"We could not risk everything," replied Baat-Baal, who possessed gold -mines in Darytian Gaetulia. - -"But what did you do here, at Carthage, in your houses, behind your -walls? There are Gauls on the Eridanus, who ought to have been roused, -Chanaanites at Cyrene who would have come, and while the Romans send -ambassadors to Ptolemaeus--" - -"Now he is extolling the Romans to us!" Some one shouted out to him: -"How much have they paid you to defend them?" - -"Ask that of the plains of Brutium, of the ruins of Locri, of -Metapontum, and of Heraclea! I have burnt all their trees, I have -pillaged all their temples, and even to the death of their -grandchildren's grandchildren--" - -"Why, you disclaim like a rhetor!" said Kapouras, a very illustrious -merchant. "What is it that you want?" - -"I say that we must be more ingenious or more terrible! If the whole -of Africa rejects your yoke the reason is, my feeble masters, that you -do not know how to fasten it to her shoulders! Agathocles, Regulus, -Coepio, any bold man has only to land and capture her; and when the -Libyans in the east concert with the Numidians in the west, and the -Nomads come from the south, and the Romans from the north"--a cry of -horror rose--"Oh! you will beat your breasts, and roll in the dust, -and tear your cloaks! No matter! you will have to go and turn the -mill-stone in the Suburra, and gather grapes on the hills of Latium." - -They smote their right thighs to mark their sense of the scandal, and -the sleeves of their robes rose like large wings of startled birds. -Hamilcar, carried away by a spirit, continued his speech, standing on -the highest step of the altar, quivering and terrible; he raised his -arms, and the rays from the candelabrum which burned behind him passed -between his fingers like javelins of gold. - -"You will lose your ships, your country seats, your chariots, your -hanging beds, and the slaves who rub your feet! The jackal will crouch -in your palaces, and the ploughshare will upturn your tombs. Nothing -will be left but the eagles' scream and a heap of ruins. Carthage, -thou wilt fall!" - -The four pontiffs spread out their hands to avert the anathema. All -had risen. But the marine Suffet, being a sacerdotal magistrate under -the protection of the Sun, was inviolate so long as the assembly of -the rich had not judged him. Terror was associated with the altar. -They drew back. - -Hamilcar had ceased speaking, and was panting with eye fixed, his face -as pale as the pearls of his tiara, almost frightened at himself, and -his spirit lost in funereal visions. From the height on which he -stood, all the torches on the bronze shafts seemed to him like a vast -crown of fire laid level with the pavement; black smoke issuing from -them mounted up into the darkness of the vault; and for some minutes -the silence was so profound that they could hear in the distance the -sound of the sea. - -Then the Ancients began to question one another. Their interests, -their existence, were attacked by the Barbarians. But it was -impossible to conquer them without the assistance of the Suffet, and -in spite of their pride this consideration made them forget every -other. His friends were taken aside. There were interested -reconciliations, understandings, and promises. Hamilcar would not take -any further part in any government. All conjured him. They besought -him; and as the word treason occurred in their speech, he fell into a -passion. The sole traitor was the Great Council, for as the enlistment -of the soldiers expired with the war, they became free as soon as the -war was finished; he even exalted their bravery and all the advantages -which might be derived from interesting them in the Republic by -donations and privileges. - -Then Magdassin, a former provincial governor, said, as he rolled his -yellow eyes: - -"Truly Barca, with your travelling you have become a Greek, or a -Latin, or something! Why speak you of rewards for these men? Rather -let ten thousand Barbarians perish than a single one of us!" - -The Ancients nodded approval, murmuring:--"Yes, is there need for so -much trouble? They can always be had?" - -"And they can be got rid of conveniently, can they not? They are -deserted as they were by you in Sardinia. The enemy is apprised of the -road which they are to take, as in the case of those Gauls in Sicily, -or perhaps they are disembarked in the middle of the sea. As I was -returning I saw the rock quite white with their bones!" - -"What a misfortune!" said Kapouras impudently. - -"Have they not gone over to the enemy a hundred times?" cried the -others. - -"Why, then," exclaimed Hamilcar, "did you recall them to Carthage, -notwithstanding your laws? And when they are in your town, poor and -numerous amid all your riches, it does not occur to you to weaken them -by the slightest division! Afterwards you dismiss the whole of them -with their women and children, without keeping a single hostage! Did -you expect that they would murder themselves to spare you the pain of -keeping your oaths? You hate them because they are strong! You hate me -still more, who am their master! Oh! I felt it just now when you were -kissing my hands and were all putting a constraint upon yourselves not -to bite them!" - -If the lions that were sleeping in the court had come howling in, the -uproar could not have been more frightful. But the pontiff of Eschmoun -rose, and, standing perfectly upright, with his knees close together, -his elbows pressed to his body, and his hands half open, he said: - -"Barca, Carthage has need that you should take the general command of -the Punic forces against the Mercenaries!" - -"I refuse," replied Hamilcar. - -"We will give you full authority," cried the chiefs of the Syssitia. - -"No!" - -"With no control, no partition, all the money that you want, all the -captives, all the booty, fifty zereths of land for every enemy's -corpse." - -"No! no! because it is impossible to conquer with you!" - -"He is afraid!" - -"Because you are cowardly, greedy, ungrateful, pusillanimous and mad!" - -"He is careful of them!" - -"In order to put himself at their head," said some one. - -"And return against us," said another; and from the bottom of the hall -Hanno howled: - -"He wants to make himself king!" - -Then they bounded up, overturning the seats and the torches: the crowd -of them rushed towards the altar; they brandished daggers. But -Hamilcar dived into his sleeves and drew from them two broad -cutlasses; and half stooping, his left foot advanced, his eyes flaming -and his teeth clenched, he defied them as he stood there beneath the -golden candelabrum. - -Thus they had brought weapons with them as a precaution; it was a -crime; they looked with terror at one another. As all were guilty, -every one became quickly reassured; and by degrees they turned their -backs on the Suffet and came down again maddened with humiliation. For -the second time they recoiled before him. They remained standing for -some time. Several who had wounded their fingers put them to their -mouths or rolled them gently in the hem of their mantles, and they -were about to depart when Hamilcar heard these words: - -"Why! it is a piece of delicacy to avoid distressing his daughter!" - -A louder voice was raised: - -"No doubt, since she takes her lovers from among the Mercenaries!" - -At first he tottered, then his eye rapidly sought for Schahabarim. But -the priest of Tanith had alone remained in his place; and Hamilcar -could see only his lofty cap in the distance. All were sneering in his -face. In proportion as his anguish increased their joy redoubled, and -those who were behind shouted amid the hootings: - -"He was seen coming out of her room!" - -"One morning in the month of Tammouz!" - -"It was the thief who stole the zaimph!" - -"A very handsome man!" - -"Taller than you!" - -He snatched off the tiara, the ensign of his rank--his tiara with its -eight mystic rows, and with an emerald shell in the centre--and with -both hands and with all his strength dashed it to the ground; the -golden circles rebounded as they broke, and the pearls rang upon the -pavement. Then they saw a long scar upon the whiteness of his brow; it -moved like a serpent between his eyebrows; all his limbs trembled. He -ascended one of the lateral staircases which led on to the altar, and -walked upon the latter! This was to devote himself to the god, to -offer himself as a holocaust. The motion of his mantle agitated the -lights of the candelabrum, which was lower than his sandals, and the -fine dust raised by his footsteps surrounded him like a cloud as high -as the waist. He stopped between the legs of the brass colossus. He -took up two handfuls of the dust, the mere sight of which made every -Carthaginian shudder with horror, and said: - -"By the hundred torches of your Intelligences! by the eight fires of -the Kabiri! by the stars, the meteors, and the volcanoes! by -everything that burns! by the thirst of the desert and the saltness of -the ocean! by the cave of Hadrumetum and the empire of Souls! by -extermination! by the ashes of your sons and the ashes of the brothers -of your ancestors with which I now mingle my own!--you, the Hundred of -the Council of Carthage, have lied in your accusation of my daughter! -And I, Hamilcar Barca, marine Suffet, chief of the rich and ruler of -the people, in the presence of bull-headed Moloch, I swear"--they -expected something frightful, but he resumed in a loftier and calmer -tone--"that I will not even speak to her about it!" - -The sacred servants entered wearing their golden combs, some with -purple sponges and others with branches of palm. They raised the -hyacinth curtain which was stretched before the door; and through the -opening of this angle there was visible behind the other halls the -great pink sky which seemed to be a continuation of the vault and to -rest at the horizon upon the blue sea. The sun was issuing from the -waves and mounting upwards. It suddenly struck upon the breast of the -brazen colossus, which was divided into seven compartments closed by -gratings. His red-toothed jaws opened in a horrible yawn; his enormous -nostrils were dilated, the broad daylight animated him, and gave him a -terrible and impatient aspect, as if he would fain have leaped without -to mingle with the star, the god, and together traverse the -immensities. - -The torches, however, which were scattered on the ground, were still -burning, while here and there on the mother-of-pearl pavement was -stretched from them what looked like spots of blood. The Ancients were -reeling from exhaustion; they filled their lungs inhaling the -freshness of the air; the sweat flowed down their livid faces; they -had shouted so much that they could now scarcely make their voices -heard. But their wrath against the Suffet was not at all abated; they -hurled menaces at him by way of farewells, and Hamilcar answered them -again. - -"Until the next night, Barca, in the temple of Eschmoun!" - -"I shall be there!" - -"We will have you condemned by the rich!" - -"And I you by the people!" - -"Take care that you do not end on the cross!" - -"And you that you are not torn to pieces in the streets!" - -As soon as they were on the threshold of the court they again assumed -a calm demeanour. - -Their runners and coachmen were waiting for them at the door. Most of -them departed on white mules. The Suffet leaped into his chariot and -took the reins; the two animals, curving their necks, and rhythmically -beating the resounding pebbles, went up the whole of the Mappalian Way -at full gallop, and the silver vulture at the extremity of the pole -seemed to fly, so quickly did the chariot pass along. - -The road crossed a field planted with slabs of stone, which were -painted on the top like pyramids, and had open hands carved out in the -centre as if all the dead men lying beneath had stretched them out -towards heaven to demand something. Next there came scattered cabins -built of earth, branches, and bulrush-hurdles, and all of a conical -shape. These dwellings, which became constantly denser as the road -ascended towards the Suffet's gardens, were irregularly separated from -one another by little pebble walls, trenches of spring water, ropes of -esparto-grass, and nopal hedges. But Hamilcar's eyes were fastened on -a great tower, the three storys of which formed three monster -cylinders--the first being built of stone, the second of brick, and -the third all of cedar--supporting a copper cupola upon twenty-four -pillars of juniper, from which slender interlacing chains of brass -hung down after the manner of garlands. This lofty edifice overlooked -the buildings--the emporiums and mercantile houses--which stretched to -the right, while the women's palace rose at the end of the cypress -trees, which were ranged in line like two walls of bronze. - -When the echoing chariot had entered through the narrow gateway it -stopped beneath a broad shed in which there were shackled horses -eating from heaps of chopped grass. - -All the servants hastened up. They formed quite a multitude, those who -worked on the country estates having been brought to Carthage through -fear of the soldiers. The labourers, who were clad in animals' skins, -had chains riveted to their ankles and trailing after them; the -workers in the purple factories had arms as red as those of -executioners; the sailors wore green caps; the fishermen coral -necklaces; the huntsmen carried nets on their shoulders; and the -people belonging to Megara wore black or white tunics, leathern -drawers, and caps of straw, felt or linen, according to their service -or their different occupations. - -Behind pressed a tattered populace. They lived without employment -remote from the apartments, slept at night in the gardens, ate the -refuse from the kitchens,--a human mouldiness vegetating in the shadow -of the palace. Hamilcar tolerated them from foresight even more than -from scorn. They had all put a flower in the ear in token of their -joy, and many of them had never seen him. - -But men with head-dresses like the Sphinx's, and furnished with great -sticks, dashed into the crowd, striking right and left. This was to -drive back the slaves, who were curious to see their master, so that -he might not be assailed by their numbers or inconvenienced by their -smell. - -Then they all threw themselves flat on the ground, crying: - -"Eye of Baal, may your house flourish!" And through these people as -they lay thus on the ground in the avenue of cypress trees, Abdalonim, -the Steward of the stewards, waving a white miter, advanced towards -Hamilcar with a censer in his hand. - -Salammbo was then coming down the galley staircases. All her slave -women followed her; and, at each of her steps, they also descended. -The heads of the Negresses formed big black spots on the line of the -bands of the golden plates clasping the foreheads of the Roman women. -Others had silver arrows, emerald butterflies, or long bodkins set -like suns in their hair. Rings, clasps, necklaces, fringes, and -bracelets shone amid the confusion of white, yellow, and blue -garments; a rustling of light material became audible; the pattering -of sandals might be heard together with the dull sound of naked feet -as they were set down on the wood;--and here and there a tall eunuch, -head and shoulders above them, smiled with his face in air. When the -shouting of the men had subsided they hid their faces in their -sleeves, and together uttered a strange cry like the howling of a she- -wolf, and so frenzied and strident was it that it seemed to make the -great ebony staircase, with its thronging women, vibrate from top to -bottom like a lyre. - -The wind lifted their veils, and the slender stems of the papyrus -plant rocked gently. It was the month of Schebaz and the depth of -winter. The flowering pomegranates swelled against the azure of the -sky, and the sea disappeared through the branches with an island in -the distance half lost in the mist. - -Hamilcar stopped on perceiving Salammbo. She had come to him after the -death of several male children. Moreover, the birth of daughters was -considered a calamity in the religions of the Sun. The gods had -afterwards sent him a son; but he still felt something of the betrayal -of his hope, and the shock, as it were, of the curse which he had -uttered against her. Salammbo, however, continued to advance. - -Long bunches of various-coloured pearls fell from her ears to her -shoulders, and as far as her elbows. Her hair was crisped so as to -simulate a cloud. Round her neck she wore little quadrangular plates -of gold, representing a woman between two rampant lions; and her -costume was a complete reproduction of the equipment of the goddess. -Her broad-sleeved hyacinth robe fitted close to her figure, widening -out below. The vermilion on her lips gave additional whiteness to her -teeth, and the antimony on her eyelids greater length to her eyes. Her -sandals, which were cut out in bird's plumage, had very high heels, -and she was extraordinarily pale, doubtless on account of the cold. - -At last she came close to Hamilcar, and without looking at him, -without raising her head to him: - -"Greeting, eye of Baalim, eternal glory! triumph! leisure! -satisfaction! riches! Long has my heart been sad and the house -drooping. But the returning master is like reviving Tammouz; and -beneath your gaze, O father, joyfulness and a new existence will -everywhere prevail!" - -And taking from Taanach's hands a little oblong vase wherein smoked a -mixture of meal, butter, cardamom, and wine: "Drink freely," said she, -"of the returning cup, which your servant has prepared!" - -He replied: "A blessing upon you!" and he mechanically grasped the -golden vase which she held out to him. - -He scanned her, however, with such harsh attention, that Salammbo was -troubled and stammered out: - -"They have told you, O Master!" - -"Yes! I know!" said Hamilcar in a low voice. - -Was this a confession, or was she speaking of the Barbarians? And he -added a few vague words upon the public embarrassments which he hoped -by his sole efforts to clear away. - -"O father!" exclaimed Salammbo, "you will not obliterate what is -irreparable!" - -Then he drew back and Salammbo was astonished at his amazement; for -she was not thinking of Carthage but of the sacrilege in which she -found herself implicated. This man, who made legions tremble and whom -she hardly knew, terrified her like a god; he had guessed, he knew -all, something awful was about to happen. "Pardon!" she cried. - -Hamilcar slowly bowed his head. - -Although she wished to accuse herself she dared not open her lips; and -yet she felt stifled with the need of complaining and being comforted. -Hamilcar was struggling against a longing to break his oath. He kept -it out of pride or from the dread of putting an end to his -uncertainty; and he looked into her face with all his might so as to -lay hold on what she kept concealed at the bottom of her heart. - -By degrees the panting Salammbo, crushed by such heavy looks, let her -head sink below her shoulders. He was now sure that she had erred in -the embrace of a Barbarian; he shuddered and raised both his fists. -She uttered a shriek and fell down among her women, who crowded around -her. - -Hamilcar turned on his heel. All the stewards followed him. - -The door of the emporiums was opened, and he entered a vast round hall -form which long passages leading to other halls branched off like the -spokes from the nave of a wheel. A stone disc stood in the centre with -balustrades to support the cushions that were heaped up upon carpets. - -The Suffet walked at first with rapid strides; he breathed noisily, he -struck the ground with his heel, and drew his hand across his forehead -like a man annoyed by flies. But he shook his head, and as he -perceived the accumulation of his riches he became calm; his thoughts, -which were attracted by the vistas in the passages, wandered to the -other halls that were full of still rarer treasures. Bronze plates, -silver ingots, and iron bars alternated with pigs of tin brought from -the Cassiterides over the Dark Sea; gums from the country of the -Blacks were running over their bags of palm bark; and gold dust heaped -up in leathern bottles was insensibly creeping out through the worn- -out seams. Delicate filaments drawn from marine plants hung amid flax -from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane and Judaea; mandrepores bristled like -large bushes at the foot of the walls; and an indefinable odour--the -exhalation from perfumes, leather, spices, and ostrich feathers, the -latter tied in great bunches at the very top of the vault--floated -through the air. An arch was formed above the door before each passage -with elephants' teeth placed upright and meeting together at the -points. - -At last he ascended the stone disc. All the stewards stood with arms -folded and heads bent while Abdalonim reared his pointed mitre with a -haughty air. - -Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He was an old pilot with -eyelids chafed by the wind, and white locks fell to his hips as if -dashing foam of the tempests had remained on his beard. - -He replied that he had sent a fleet by Gades and Thymiamata to try to -reach Eziongaber by doubling the Southern Horn and the promontory of -Aromata. - -Others had advanced continuously towards the west for four moons -without meeting with any shore; but the ships prows became entangled -in weeds, the horizon echoed continually with the noise of cataracts, -blood-coloured mists darkened the sun, a perfume-laden breeze lulled -the crews to sleep; and their memories were so disturbed that they -were now unable to tell anything. However, expeditions had ascended -the rivers of the Scythians, had made their way into Colchis, and into -the countries of the Jugrians and of the Estians, had carried off -fifteen hundred maidens in the Archipelago, and sunk all the strange -vessels sailing beyond Cape Oestrymon, so that the secret of the -routes should not be known. King Ptolemaeus was detaining the incense -from Schesbar; Syracuse, Elathia, Corsica, and the islands had -furnished nothing, and the old pilot lowered his voice to announce -that a trireme was taken at Rusicada by the Numidians,--"for they are -with them, Master." - -Hamilcar knit his brows; then he signed to the Chief of the Journeys -to speak. This functionary was enveloped in a brown, ungirdled robe, -and had his head covered with a long scarf of white stuff which passed -along the edge of his lips and fell upon his shoulder behind. - -The caravans had set out regularly at the winter equinox. But of -fifteen hundred men directing their course towards the extreme -boundaries of Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leathern bottles, -and supplies of painted cloth, but one had reappeared at Carthage--the -rest having died of fatigue or become mad through the terror of the -desert;--and he said that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing -the Atarantes and the country of the great apes, he had seen immense -kingdoms, wherein the pettiest utensils were all of gold, a river of -the colour of milk and as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees, -hills of aromatics, monsters with human faces vegetating on the rocks -with eyeballs which expanded like flowers to look at you; and then -crystal mountains supporting the sun behind lakes all covered with -dragons. Others had returned from India with peacocks, pepper, and new -textures. As to those who go by way of the Syrtes and the temple of -Ammon to purchase chalcedony, they had no doubt perished in the sands. -The caravans from Gaetulia and Phazzana had furnished their usual -supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, did not venture to fit -one out just now. - -Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the -country. He leaned upon his other elbow with a hollow groan; and the -Chief of Farms was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in -spite of his thick shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which -was as snub-nosed as a mastiff's, was surmounted by a net woven of -threads of bark. He wore a waist-belt of hairy leopard's skin, wherein -gleamed two formidable cutlasses. - -As soon as Hamilcar turned away he began to cry aloud and invoke all -the Baals. It was not his fault! he could not help it! He had watched -the temperature, the soil, the stars, had planted at the winter -solstice and pruned at the waning of the moon, had inspected the -slaves and had been careful of their clothes. - -But Hamilcar grew angry at this loquacity. He clacked his tongue, and -the man with the cutlasses went on in rapid tones: - -"Ah, Master! they have pillaged everything! sacked everything! -destroyed everything! Three thousand trees have been cut down at -Maschala, and at Ubada the granaries have been looted and the cisterns -filled up! At Tedes they have carried off fifteen hundred gomors of -meal; at Marrazana they have killed the shepherds, eaten the flocks, -burnt your house--your beautiful house with its cedar beams, which you -used to visit in the summer! The slaves at Tuburbo who were reaping -barley fled to the mountains; and the asses, the mules both great and -small, the oxen from Taormina, and the antelopes,--not a single one -left! all carried away! It is a curse! I shall not survive it!" He -went on again in tears: "Ah! if you knew how full the cellars were, -and how the ploughshares shone! Ah! the fine rams! ah! the fine -bulls!--" - -Hamilcar's wrath was choking him. It burst forth: - -"Be silent! Am I a pauper then? No lies! speak the truth! I wish to -know all that I have lost to the last shekel, to the last cab! -Abdalonim, bring me the accounts of the ships, of the caravans, of the -farms, of the house! And if your consciences are not clear, woe be on -your heads! Go out!" - -All the stewards went out walking backwards, with their fists touching -the ground. - -Abdalonim went up to a set of pigeon-holes in the wall, and from the -midst of them took out knotted cords, strips of linen or papyrus, and -sheeps' shoulder-blades inscribed with delicate writing. He laid them -at Hamilcar's feet, placed in his hands a wooden frame furnished on -the inside with three threads on which balls of gold, silver, and horn -were strung, and began: - -"One hundred and ninety-two houses in the Mappalian district let to -the New Carthaginians at the rate of one bekah a moon." - -"No! it is too much! be lenient towards the poor people! and you will -try to learn whether they are attached to the Republic, and write down -the names of those who appear to you to be the most daring! What -next?" - -Abdalonim hesitated in surprise at such generosity. - -Hamilcar snatched the strips of linen from his hands. - -"What is this? three palaces around Khamon at twelve kesitahs a month! -Make it twenty! I do not want to be eaten up by the rich." - -The Steward of the stewards, after a long salutation, resumed: - -"Lent to Tigillas until the end of the season two kikars at three per -cent., maritime interest; to Bar-Malkarth fifteen hundred shekels on -the security of thirty slaves. But twelve have died in the salt- -marshes." - -"That is because they were not hardy," said the Suffet, laughing. "No -matter! if he is in want of money, satisfy him! We should always lend, -and at different rates of interest, according to the wealth of the -individual." - -Then the servant hastened to read all that had been brought in by the -iron-mines of Annaba, the coral fisheries, the purple factories, the -farming of the tax on the resident Greeks, the export of silver to -Arabia, where it had ten times the value of gold, and the captures of -vessels, deduction of a tenth being made for the temple of the -goddess. "Each time I declared a quarter less, Master!" Hamilcar was -reckoning with the balls; they rang beneath his fingers. - -"Enough! What have you paid?" - -"To Stratonicles of Corinth, and to three Alexandrian merchants, on -these letters here (they have been realised), ten thousand Athenian -drachmas, and twelve Syrian talents of gold. The food for the crews, -amounting to twenty minae a month for each trireme--" - -"I know! How many lost?" - -"Here is the account on these sheets of lead," said the Steward. "As -to the ships chartered in common, it has often been necessary to throw -the cargo into the seas, and so the unequal losses have been divided -among the partners. For the ropes which were borrowed from the -arsenals, and which it was impossible to restore, the Syssitia exacted -eight hundred kesitahs before the expedition to Utica." - -"They again!" said Hamilcar, hanging his head; and he remained for a -time as if quite crushed by the weight of all the hatreds that he -could feel upon him. "But I do not see the Megara expenses?" - -Abdalonim, turning pale, went to another set of pigeon-holes, and took -from them some planchettes of sycamore wood strung in packets on -leathern strings. - -Hamilcar, curious about these domestic details, listened to him and -grew calm with the monotony of the tones in which the figures were -enumerated. Abdalonim became slower. Suddenly he let the wooden sheets -fall to the ground and threw himself flat on his face with his arms -stretched out in the position of a condemned criminal. Hamilcar picked -up the tablets without any emotion; and his lips parted and his eyes -grew larger when he perceived an exorbitant consumption of meat, fish, -birds, wines, and aromatics, with broken vases, dead slaves, and -spoiled carpets set down as the expense of a single day. - -Abdalonim, still prostrate, told him of the feast of the Barbarians. -He had not been able to avoid the command of the Ancients. Moreover, -Salammbo desired money to be lavished for the better reception of the -soldiers. - -At his daughter's name Hamilcar leaped to his feet. Then with -compressed lips he crouched down upon the cushions, tearing the -fringes with his nails, and panting with staring eyes. - -"Rise!" said he; and he descended. - -Abdalonim followed him; his knees trembled. But seizing an iron bar he -began like one distraught to loosen the paving stones. A wooden disc -sprang up and soon there appeared throughout the length of the passage -several of the large covers employed for stopping up the trenches in -which grain was kept. - -"You see, Eye of Baal," said the servant, trembling, "they have not -taken everything yet! and these are each fifty cubits deep and filled -up to the brim! During your voyage I had them dug out in the arsenals, -in the gardens, everywhere! your house is full of corn as your heart -is full of wisdom." - -A smile passed over Hamilcar's face. "It is well, Abdalonim!" Then -bending over to his ear: "You will have it brought from Etruria, -Brutium, whence you will, and no matter at what price! Heap it and -keep it! I alone must possess all the corn in Carthage." - -Then when they were alone at the extremity of the passage, Abdalonim, -with one of the keys hanging at his girdle, opened a large -quadrangular chamber divided in the centre by pillars of cedar. Gold, -silver, and brass coins were arranged on tables or packed into niches, -and rose as high as the joists of the roof along the four walls. In -the corners there were huge baskets of hippopotamus skin supporting -whole rows of smaller bags; there were hillocks formed of heaps of -bullion on the pavement; and here and there a pile that was too high -had given way and looked like a ruined column. The large Carthaginian -pieces, representing Tanith with a horse beneath a palm-tree, mingled -with those from the colonies, which were marked with a bull, star, -globe, or crescent. Then there might be seen pieces of all values, -dimensions, and ages arrayed in unequal amounts--from the ancient -coins of Assyria, slender as the nail, to the ancient ones of Latium, -thicker than the hand, with the buttons of Egina, the tablets of -Bactriana, and the short bars of Lacedaemon; many were covered with -rust, or had grown greasy, or, having been taken in nets or from among -the ruins of captured cities, were green with the water or blackened -by fire. The Suffet had speedily calculated whether the sums present -corresponded with the gains and losses which had just been read to -him; and he was going away when he perceived three brass jars -completely empty. Abdalonim turned away his head to mark his horror, -and Hamilcar, resigning himself to it, said nothing. - -They crossed other passages and other halls, and at last reached a -door where, to ensure its better protection and in accordance with a -Roman custom lately introduced into Carthage, a man was fastened by -the waist to a long chain let into the wall. His beard and nails had -grown to an immoderate length, and he swayed himself from right to -left with that continual oscillation which is characteristic of -captive animals. As soon as he recognised Hamilcar he darted towards -him, crying: - -"Pardon, Eye of Baal! pity! kill me! For ten years I have not seen the -sun! In your father's name, pardon!" - -Hamilcar, without answering him, clapped his hands and three men -appeared; and all four simultaneously stiffening their arms, drew back -from its rings the enormous bar which closed the door. Hamilcar took a -torch and disappeared into the darkness. - -This was believed to be the family burying-place; but nothing would -have been found in it except a broad well. It was dug out merely to -baffle robbers, and it concealed nothing. Hamilcar passed along beside -it; then stooping down he made a very heavy millstone turn upon its -rollers, and through this aperture entered an apartment which was -built in the shape of a cone. - -The walls were covered with scales of brass; and in the centre, on a -granite pedestal, stood the statue of one of the Kabiri called Aletes, -the discoverer of the mines in Celtiberia. On the ground, at its base, -and arranged in the form of a cross, were large gold shields and -monster close-necked silver vases, of extravagant shape and unfitted -for use; it was customary to cast quantities of metal in this way, so -that dilapidation and even removal should be almost impossible. - -With his torch he lit a miner's lamp which was fastened to the idol's -cap, and green, yellow, blue, violet, wine-coloured, and blood- -coloured fires suddenly illuminated the hall. It was filled with gems -which were either in gold calabashes fastened like sconces upon sheets -of brass, or were ranged in native masses at the foot of the wall. -There were callaides shot away from the mountains with slings, -carbuncles formed by the urine of the lynx, glossopetrae which had -fallen from the moon, tyanos, diamonds, sandastra, beryls, with the -three kinds of rubies, the four kinds of sapphires, and the twelve -kinds of emeralds. They gleamed like splashes of milk, blue icicles, -and silver dust, and shed their light in sheets, rays, and stars. -Ceraunia, engendered by the thunder, sparkled by the side of -chalcedonies, which are a cure for poison. There were topazes from -Mount Zabarca to avert terrors, opals from Bactriana to prevent -abortions, and horns of Ammon, which are placed under the bed to -induce dreams. - -The fires from the stones and the flames from the lamp were mirrored -in the great golden shields. Hamilcar stood smiling with folded arms, -and was less delighted by the sight of his riches than by the -consciousness of their possession. They were inaccessible, -exhaustless, infinite. His ancestors sleeping beneath his feet -transmitted something of their eternity to his heart. He felt very -near to the subterranean deities. It was as the joy of one of the -Kabiri; and the great luminous rays striking upon his face looked like -the extremity of an invisible net linking him across the abysses with -the centre of the world. - -A thought came which made him shudder, and placing himself behind the -idol he walked straight up to the wall. Then among the tattooings on -his arm he scrutinised a horizontal line with two other perpendicular -ones which in Chanaanitish figures expressed the number thirteen. Then -he counted as far as the thirteenth of the brass plates and again -raised his ample sleeve; and with his right hand stretched out he read -other more complicated lines on his arm, at the same time moving his -fingers daintily about like one playing on a lyre. At last he struck -seven blows with his thumb, and an entire section of the wall turned -about in a single block. - -It served to conceal a sort of cellar containing mysterious things -which had no name and were of incalculable value. Hamilcar went down -the three steps, took up a llama's skin which was floating on a black -liquid in a silver vat, and then re-ascended. - -Abdalonim again began to walk before him. He struck the pavement with -his tall cane, the pommel of which was adorned with bells, and before -every apartment cried aloud the name of Hamilcar amid eulogies and -benedictions. - -Along the walls of the circular gallery, from which the passages -branched off, were piled little beams of algummim, bags of Lawsonia, -cakes of Lemnos-earth, and tortoise carapaces filled with pearls. The -Suffet brushed them with his robe as he passed without even looking at -some gigantic pieces of amber, an almost divine material formed by the -rays of the sun. - -A cloud of odorous vapour burst forth. - -"Push open the door!" - -They went in. - -Naked men were kneading pastes, crushing herbs, stirring coals, -pouring oil into jars, and opening and shutting the little ovoid cells -which were hollowed out all round in the wall, and were so numerous -that the apartment was like the interior of a hive. They were brimful -of myrobalan, bdellium, saffron, and violets. Gums, powders, roots, -glass phials, branches of filipendula, and rose-petals were scattered -about everywhere, and the scents were stifling in spite of the cloud- -wreaths from the styrax shrivelling on a brazen tripod in the centre. - -The Chief of the Sweet Odours, pale and long as a waxen torch, came up -to Hamilcar to crush a roll of metopion in his hands, while two others -rubbed his heels with leaves of baccharis. He repelled them; they were -Cyreneans of infamous morals, but valued on account of the secrets -which they possessed. - -To show his vigilance the Chief of the Odours offered the Suffet a -little malobathrum to taste in an electrum spoon; then he pierced -three Indian bezoars with an awl. The master, who knew the artifices -employed, took a horn full of balm, and after holding it near the -coals inclined it over his robe. A brown spot appeared; it was a -fraud. Then he gazed fixedly at the Chief of the Odours, and without -saying anything flung the gazelle's horn full in his face. - -However indignant he might be at adulterations made to his own -prejudice, when he perceived some parcels of nard which were being -packed up for countries beyond the sea, he ordered antimony to be -mixed with it so as to make it heavier. - -Then he asked where three boxes of psagdas designed for his own use -were to be found. - -The Chief of the Odours confessed that he did not know; some soldiers -had come howling in with knives and he had opened the boxes for them. - -"So you are more afraid of them then of me!" cried the Suffet; and his -eyeballs flashed like torches through the smoke upon the tall, pale -man who was beginning to understand. "Abdalonim! you will make him run -the gauntlet before sunset: tear him!" - -This loss, which was less than the others, had exasperated him; for in -spite of his efforts to banish them from his thoughts he was -continually coming again across the Barbarians. Their excesses were -blended with his daughter's shame, and he was angry with the whole -household for knowing of the latter and for not speaking of it to him. -But something impelled him to bury himself in his misfortune; and in -an inquisitorial fit he visited the sheds behind the mercantile house -to see the supplies of bitumen, wood, anchors and cordage, honey and -wax, the cloth warehouse, the stores of food, the marble yard and the -silphium barn. - -He went to the other side of the gardens to make an inspection in -their cottages, of the domestic artisans whose productions were sold. -There were tailors embroidering cloaks, others making nets, others -painting cushions or cutting out sandals, and Egyptian workmen -polished papyrus with a shell, while the weavers' shuttles rattled and -the armourers' anvils rang. - -Hamilcar said to them: - -"Beat away at the swords! I shall want them." And he drew the -antelope's skin that had been steeped in poisons from his bosom to -have it cut into a cuirass more solid than one of brass and -unassailable by steel or flame. - -As soon as he approached the workmen, Abdalonim, to give his wrath -another direction, tried to anger him against them by murmured -disparagement of their work. "What a performance! It is a shame! The -Master is indeed too good." Hamilcar moved away without listening to -him. - -He slackened his pace, for the paths were barred by great trees -calcined from one end to the other, such as may be met with in woods -where shepherds have encamped; and the palings were broken, the water -in the trenches was disappearing, while fragments of glass and the -bones of apes were to be seen amid the miry puddles. A scrap of cloth -hung here and there from the bushes, and the rotten flowers formed a -yellow muck-heap beneath the citron trees. In fact, the servants had -neglected everything, thinking that the master would never return. - -At every step he discovered some new disaster, some further proof of -the thing which he had forbidden himself to learn. Here he was soiling -his purple boots as he crushed the filth under-foot; and he had not -all these men before him at the end of a catapult to make them fly -into fragments! He felt humiliated at having defended them; it was a -delusion and a piece of treachery; and as he could not revenge himself -upon the soldiers, or the Ancients, or Salammbo, or anybody, and his -wrath required some victim, he condemned all the slaves of the gardens -to the mines at a single stroke. - -Abdalonim shuddered each time that he saw him approaching the parks. -But Hamilcar took the path towards the mill, from which there might be -heard issuing a mournful melopoeia. - -The heavy mill-stones were turning amid the dust. They consisted of -two cones of porphyry laid the one upon the other--the upper one of -the two, which carried a funnel, being made to revolve upon the second -by means of strong bars. Some men were pushing these with their -breasts and arms, while others were yoked to them and were pulling -them. The friction of the straps had formed purulent scabs round about -their armpits such as are seen on asses' withers, and the end of the -limp black rag, which scarcely covered their loins, hung down and -flapped against their hams like a long tail. Their eyes were red, the -irons on their feet clanked, and all their breasts panted -rhythmically. On their mouths they had muzzles fastened by two little -bronze chains to render it impossible for them to eat the flour, and -their hands were enclosed in gauntlets without fingers, so as to -prevent them from taking any. - -At the master's entrance the wooden bars creaked still more loudly. -The grain grated as it was being crushed. Several fell upon their -knees; the others, continuing their work, stepped across them. - -He asked for Giddenem, the governor of the slaved, and that personage -appeared, his rank being displayed in the richness of his dress. His -tunic, which was slit up the sides, was of fine purple; his ears were -weighted with heavy rings; and the strips of cloth enfolding his legs -were joined together with a lacing of gold which extended from his -ankles to his hips, like a serpent winding about a tree. In his -fingers, which were laden with rings, he held a necklace of jet beads, -so as to recognise the men who were subject to the sacred disease. - -Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the muzzles. Then with the cries of -famished animals they all rushed upon the flour, burying their faces -in the heaps of it and devouring it. - -"You are weakening them!" said the Suffet. - -Giddenem replied that such treatment was necessary in order to subdue -them. - -"It was scarcely worth while sending you to the slaves' school at -Syracuse. Fetch the others!" - -And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, and litter-carriers, the men -belonging to the vapour-baths, and the women with their children, all -ranged themselves in a single line in the garden from the mercantile -house to the deer park. They held their breath. An immense silence -prevailed in Megara. The sun was lengthening across the lagoon at the -foot of the catacombs. The peacocks were screeching. Hamilcar walked -along step by step. - -"What am I to do with these old creatures?" he said. "Sell them! There -are too many Gauls: they are drunkards! and too many Cretans: they are -liars! Buy me some Cappadocians, Asiatics, and Negroes." - -He was astonished that the children were so few. "The house ought to -have births every year, Giddenem. You will leave the huts open every -night to let them mingle freely." - -He then had the thieves, the lazy, and the mutinous shown to him. He -distributed punishments, with reproaches to Giddenem; and Giddenem, -ox-like, bent his low forehead, with its two broad intersecting -eyebrows. - -"See, Eye of Baal," he said, pointing out a sturdy Libyan, "here is -one who was caught with the rope round his neck." - -"Ah! you wish to die?" said the Suffet scornfully. - -"Yes!" replied the slave in an intrepid tone. - -Then, without heeding the precedent or the pecuniary loss, Hamilcar -said to the serving-men: - -"Away with him!" - -Perhaps in his thoughts he intended a sacrifice. It was a misfortune -which he inflicted upon himself in order to avert more terrible ones. - -Giddenem had hidden those who were mutilated behind the others. -Hamilcar perceived them. - -"Who cut off your arm?" - -"The soldiers, Eye of Baal." - -Then to a Samnite who was staggering like a wounded heron: - -"And you, who did that to you?" - -It was the governor, who had broken his leg with an iron bar. - -This silly atrocity made the Suffet indignant; he snatched the jet -necklace out of Giddenem's hands. - -"Cursed be the dog that injures the flock! Gracious Tanith, to cripple -slaves! Ah! you ruin your master! Let him be smothered in the -dunghill. And those that are missing? Where are they? Have you helped -the soldiers to murder them?" - -His face was so terrible that all the women fled. The slaves drew back -and formed a large circle around them; Giddenem was frantically -kissing his sandals; Hamilcar stood upright with his arms raised above -him. - -But with his understanding as clear as in the sternest of his battles, -he recalled a thousand odious things, ignominies from which he had -turned aside; and in the gleaming of his wrath he could once more see -all his disasters simultaneously as in the lightnings of a storm. The -governors of the country estates had fled through terror of the -soldiers, perhaps through collusion with them; they were all deceiving -him; he had restrained himself too long. - -"Bring them here!" he cried; "and brand them on the forehead with red- -hot irons as cowards!" - -Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters, -carcanets, knives, chains for those condemned to the mines, cippi for -fastening the legs, numellae for confining the shoulders, and -scorpions or whips with triple thongs terminating in brass claws. - -All were placed facing the sun, in the direction of Moloch the -Devourer, and were stretched on the ground on their stomachs or on -their backs, those, however, who were sentenced to be flogged standing -upright against the trees with two men beside them, one counting the -blows and the other striking. - -In striking he used both his arms, and the whistling thongs made the -bark of the plane-trees fly. The blood was scattered like rain upon -the foliage, and red masses writhed with howls at the foot of the -trees. Those who were under the iron tore their faces with their -nails. The wooden screws could be heard creaking; dull knockings -resounded; sometimes a sharp cry would suddenly pierce the air. In the -direction of the kitchens, men were brisking up burning coals with -fans amid tattered garments and scattered hair, and a smell of burning -flesh was perceptible. Those who were under the scourge, swooning, but -kept in their positions by the bonds on their arms, rolled their heads -upon their shoulders and closed their eyes. The others who were -watching them began to shriek with terror, and the lions, remembering -the feast perhaps, stretched themselves out yawning against the edge -of the dens. - -Then Salammbo was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly -about it from left to right. Hamilcar perceived her. It seemed to him -that she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a -gesture of horror he plunged into the elephants' park. - -These animals were the pride of the great Punic houses. They had -carried their ancestors, had triumphed in the wars, and they were -reverenced as being the favourites of the Sun. - -Those of Megara were the strongest in Carthage. Before he went away -Hamilcar had required Abdalonim to swear that he would watch over -them. But they had died from their mutilations; and only three -remained, lying in the middle of the court in the dust before the -ruins of their manger. - -They recognised him and came up to him. One had its ears horribly -slit, another had a large wound in its knee, while the trunk of the -third was cut off. - -They looked sadly at him, like reasonable creatures; and the one that -had lost its trunk tried by stooping its huge head and bending its -hams to stroke him softly with the hideous extremity of its stump. - -At this caress from the animal two tears started into his eyes. He -rushed at Abdalonim. - -"Ah! wretch! the cross! the cross!" - -Abdalonim fell back swooning upon the ground. - -The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue -smoke of which was ascending slowly into the sky; Hamilcar paused. - -The thought of his son had suddenly calmed him like the touch of a -god. He caught a glimpse of a prolongation of his might, an indefinite -continuation of his personality, and the slaves could not understand -whence this appeasement had come upon him. - -As he bent his steps towards the purple factories he passed before the -ergastulum, which was a long house of black stone built in a square -pit with a small pathway all round it and four staircases at the -corners. - -Iddibal was doubtless waiting until the night to finish his signal. -"There is no hurry yet," thought Hamilcar; and he went down into the -prison. Some cried out to him: "Return"; the boldest followed him. - -The open door was flapping in the wind. The twilight entered through -the narrow loopholes, and in the interior broken chains could be -distinguished hanging from the walls. - -This was all that remained of the captives of war! - -Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning -over the pit outside saw him resting one hand against the wall to keep -himself from falling. - -But the jackal uttered its cry three times in succession. Hamilcar -raised his head; he did not speak a word nor make a gesture. Then when -the sun had completely set he disappeared behind the nopal hedge, and -in the evening he said as he entered the assembly of the rich in the -temple of Eschmoun: - -"Luminaries of the Baalim, I accept the command of the Punic forces -against the army of the Barbarians!" - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE BATTLE OF THE MACARAS - -In the following day he drew two hundred and twenty-three thousand -kikars of gold from the Syssitia, and decreed a tax of fourteen -shekels upon the rich. Even the women contributed; payment was made in -behalf of the children, and he compelled the colleges of priests to -furnish money--a monstrous thing, according to Carthaginian customs. - -He demanded all the horses, mules, and arms. A few tried to conceal -their wealth, and their property was sold; and, to intimidate the -avarice of the rest, he himself gave sixty suits of armour, and -fifteen hundred gomers of meal, which was as much as was given by the -Ivory Company. - -He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers -accustomed to fight with bears; they were paid for six moons in -advance at the rate of four minae a day. - -Nevertheless an army was wanted. But he did not, like Hanno, accept -all the citizens. First he rejected those engaged in sedentary -occupations, and then those who were big-bellied or had a -pusillanimous look; and he admitted those of ill-repute, the scum of -Malqua, sons of Barbarians, freed men. For reward he promised some of -the New Carthaginians complete rights of citizenship. - -His first care was to reform the Legion. These handsome young fellows, -who regarded themselves as the military majesty of the Republic, -governed themselves. He reduced their officers to the ranks; he -treated them harshly, made them run, leap, ascend the declivity of -Byrsa at a single burst, hurl javelins, wrestle together, and sleep in -the squares at night. Their families used to come to see them and pity -them. - -He ordered shorter swords and stronger buskins. He fixed the number of -serving-men, and reduced the amount of baggage; and as there were -three hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them in -spite of the pontiff's protests. - -He organised a phalanx of seventy-two elephants with those which had -returned from Utica, and others which were private property, and -rendered them formidable. He armed their drivers with mallet and -chisel to enable them to split their skulls in the fight if they ran -away. - -He would not allow his generals to be nominated by the Grand Council. -The Ancients tried to urge the laws in objection, but he set them -aside; no one ventured to murmur again, and everything yielded to the -violence of his genius. - -He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances; -and as a precaution against accusations he demanded the Suffet Hanno -as examiner of his accounts. - -He set to work upon the ramparts, and had the old and now useless -inner walls demolished in order to furnish stones. But difference of -fortune, replacing the hierarchy of race, still kept the sons of the -vanquished and those of the conquerors apart; thus the patricians -viewed the destruction of these ruins with an angry eye, while the -plebeians, scarcely knowing why, rejoiced. - -The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till -night; every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed -bearing shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women -engaged in tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to -another, and Hamilcar's soul filled the Republic. - -He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place -a strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his -files, so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at -once led and pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand -Ligurians, and the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple -phalanx of four thousand and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze -helmets, and handling ashen sarissae fourteen cubits long. - -There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a -dagger, and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others -armed with round shields and Roman swords. - -The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining -guardsmen of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like -the Assyrian Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted -archers, of those that were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel's -skin, two-edged axes, and leathern tunics. Finally there were twelve -hundred Negroes from the quarter of the caravans, who were mingled -with the Clinabarians, and were to run beside the stallions with one -hand resting on the manes. All was ready, and yet Hamilcar did not -start. - -Often at night he would go out of Carthage alone and make his way -beyond the lagoon towards the mouths of the Macaras. Did he intend to -join the Mercenaries? The Ligurians encamped in the Mappalian district -surrounded his house. - -The apprehensions of the rich appeared justified when, one day, three -hundred Barbarians were seen approaching the walls. The Suffet opened -the gates to them; they were deserters; drawn by fear or by fidelity, -they were hastening to their master. - -Hamilcar's return had not surprised the Mercenaries; according to -their ideas the man could not die. He was returning to fulfil his -promise;--a hope by no means absurd, so deep was the abyss between -Country and Army. Moreover they did not believe themselves culpable; -the feast was forgotten. - -The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. It was a triumph for -the bitter; even the lukewarm grew furious. Then the two sieges -overwhelmed then with weariness; no progress was being made; a battle -would be better! Thus many men had left the ranks and were scouring -the country. But at news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for -joy. "At last! at last!" he cried. - -Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbo was turned -against Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as -his vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he had -realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was -seized with a loftier tenderness, and consumed by more acrid desire. -He saw himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing -the Suffet's head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed, -clasping the maiden in his arms, covering her face with kisses, -passing his hands over her long, black hair; and the imagination of -this, which he knew could never be realised, tortured him. He swore to -himself that, since his companions had appointed him schalishim, he -would conduct the war; the certainty that he would not return from it -urged him to render it a pitiless one. - -He came to Spendius and said to him: - -"You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We -are lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do you understand me? Rise!" - -Spendius was stupefied before such an air of authority. Matho usually -allowed himself to be led, and his previous transports had quickly -passed away. But just now he appeared at once calmer and more -terrible; a superb will gleamed in his eyes like the flame of -sacrifice. - -The Greek did not listen to his reasons. He was living in one of the -Carthaginian pearl-bordered tents, drinking cool beverages from silver -cups, playing at the cottabos, letting his hair grow, and conducting -the siege with slackness. Moreover, he had entered into communications -with some in the town and would not leave, being sure that it would -open its gates before many days were over. - -Narr' Havas, who wandered about among the three armies, was at that -time with him. He supported his opinion, and even blamed the Libyan -for wishing in his excess of courage to abandon their enterprise. - -"Go, if you are afraid!" exclaimed Matho; "you promised us pitch, -sulphur, elephants, foot-soldiers, horses! where are they?" - -Narr' Havas reminded him that he had exterminated Hanno's last -cohorts;--as to the elephants, they were being hunted in the woods, he -was arming the foot-soldiers, the horses were on their way; and the -Numidian rolled his eyes like a woman and smiled in an irritating -manner as he stroked the ostrich feather which fell upon his shoulder. -In his presence Matho was at a loss for a reply. - -But a man who was a stranger entered, wet with perspiration, scared, -and with bleeding feet and loosened girdle; his breathing shook his -lean sides enough to have burst them, and speaking in an -unintelligible dialect he opened his eyes wide as if he were telling -of some battle. The king sprang outside and called his horsemen. - -They ranged themselves in the plain before him in the form of a -circle. Narr' Havas, who was mounted, bent his head and bit his lips. -At last he separated his men into two equal divisions, and told the -first to wait; then with an imperious gesture he carried off the -others at a gallop and disappeared on the horizon in the direction of -the mountains. - -"Master!" murmured Spendius, "I do not like these extraordinary -chances--the Suffet returning, Narr' Havas going away--" - -"Why! what does it matter?" said Matho disdainfully. - -It was a reason the more for anticipating Hamilcar by uniting with -Autaritus. But if the siege of the towns were raised, the inhabitants -would come out and attack them in the rear, while they would have the -Carthaginians in front. After much talking the following measures were -resolved upon and immediately executed. - -Spendius proceeded with fifteen thousand men as far as the bridge -built across the Macaras, three miles from Utica; the corners of it -were fortified with four huge towers provided with catapults; all the -paths and gorges in the mountains were stopped up with trunks of -trees, pieces of rock, interlacings of thorn, and stone walls; on the -summits heaps of grass were made which might be lighted as signals, -and shepherds who were able to see at a distance were posted at -intervals. - -No doubt Hamilcar would not, like Hanno, advance by the mountain of -the Hot Springs. He would think that Autaritus, being master of the -interior, would close the route against him. Moreover, a check at the -opening of the campaign would ruin him, while if he gained a victory -he would soon have to make a fresh beginning, the Mercenaries being -further off. Again, he could disembark at Cape Grapes and march thence -upon one of the towns. But he would then find himself between the two -armies, an indiscretion which he could not commit with his scanty -forces. Accordingly he must proceed along the base of Mount Ariana, -then turn to the left to avoid the mouths of the Macaras, and come -straight to the bridge. It was there that Matho expected him. - -At night he used to inspect the pioneers by torch-light. He would -hasten to Hippo-Zarytus or to the works on the mountains, would come -back again, would never rest. Spendius envied his energy; but in the -management of spies, the choice of sentries, the working of the -engines and all means of defence, Matho listened docilely to his -companion. They spoke no more of Salammbo,--one not thinking about -her, and the other being prevented by a feeling of shame. - -Often he would go towards Carthage, striving to catch sight of -Hamilcar's troops. His eyes would dart along the horizon; he would lie -flat on the ground, and believe that he could hear an army in the -throbbing of his arteries. - -He told Spendius that if Hamilcar did not arrive in three days he -would go with all his men to meet him and offer him battle. Two -further days elapsed. Spendius restrained him; but on the morning of -the sixth day he departed. - -The Carthaginians were no less impatient for war than the Barbarians. -In tents and in houses there was the same longing and the same -distress; all were asking one another what was delaying Hamilcar. - -From time to time he would mount to the cupola of the temple of -Eschmoun beside the Announcer of the Moons and take note of the wind. - -One day--it was the third of the month of Tibby--they saw him -descending from the Acropolis with hurried steps. A great clamour -arose in the Mappalian district. Soon the streets were astir, and the -soldiers were everywhere beginning to arm themselves upon their -breasts; then they ran quickly to the square of Khamon to take their -places in the ranks. No one was allowed to follow them or even to -speak to them, or to approach the ramparts; for some minutes the whole -town was silent as a great tomb. The soldiers as they leaned on their -lances were thinking, and the others in the houses were sighing. - -At sunset the army went out by the western gate; but instead of taking -the road to Tunis or making for the mountains in the direction of -Utica, they continued their march along the edge of the sea; and they -soon reached the Lagoon, where round spaces quite whitened with salt -glittered like gigantic silver dishes forgotten on the shore. - -Then the pools of water multiplied. The ground gradually became -softer, and the feet sank in it. Hamilcar did not turn back. He went -on still at their head; and his horse, which was yellow-spotted like a -dragon, advanced into the mire flinging froth around him, and with -great straining of the loins. Night--a moonless light--fell. A few -cried out that they were about to perish; he snatched their arms from -them, and gave them to the serving-men. Nevertheless the mud became -deeper and deeper. Some had to mount the beasts of burden; others -clung to the horses' tails; the sturdy pulled the weak, and the -Ligurian corps drove on the infantry with the points of their pikes. -The darkness increased. They had lost their way. All stopped. - -Then some of the Suffet's slaves went on ahead to look for the buoys -which had been placed at intervals by his order. They shouted through -the darkness, and the army followed them at a distance. - -At last they felt the resistance of the ground. Then a whitish curve -became dimly visible, and they found themselves on the bank of the -Macaras. In spite of the cold no fires were lighted. - -In the middle of the night squalls of wind arose. Hamilcar had the -soldiers roused, but not a trumpet was sounded: their captain tapped -them softly on the shoulder. - -A man of lofty stature went down into the water. It did not come up to -his girdle; it was possible to cross. - -The Suffet ordered thirty-two of the elephants to be posted in the -river a hundred paces further on, while the others, lower down, would -check the lines of men that were carried away by the current; and -holding their weapons above their heads they all crossed the Macaras -as though between two walls. He had noticed that the western wind had -driven the sand so as to obstruct the river and form a natural -causeway across it. - -He was now on the left bank in front of Utica, and in a vast plain, -the latter being advantageous for his elephants, which formed the -strength of his army. - -This feat of genius filled the soldiers with enthusiasm. They -recovered extraordinary confidence. They wished to hasten immediately -against the Barbarians; but the Suffet bade them rest for two hours. -As soon as the sun appeared they moved into the plain in three lines-- -first came the elephants, and then the light infantry with the cavalry -behind it, the phalanx marching next. - -The Barbarians encamped at Utica, and the fifteen thousand about the -bridge were surprised to see the ground undulating in the distance. -The wind, which was blowing very hard, was driving tornadoes of sand -before it; they rose as though snatched from the soil, ascended in -great light-coloured strips, then parted asunder and began again, -hiding the Punic army the while from the Mercenaries. Owing to the -horns, which stood up on the edge of the helmets, some thought that -they could perceive a herd of oxen; others, deceived by the motion of -the cloaks, pretended that they could distinguish wings, and those who -had travelled a good deal shrugged their shoulders and explained -everything by the illusions of the mirage. Nevertheless something of -enormous size continued to advance. Little vapours, as subtle as the -breath, ran across the surface of the desert; the sun, which was -higher now, shone more strongly: a harsh light, which seemed to -vibrate, threw back the depths of the sky, and permeating objects, -rendered distance incalculable. The immense plain expanded in every -direction beyond the limits of vision; and the almost insensible -undulations of the soil extended to the extreme horizon, which was -closed by a great blue line which they knew to be the sea. The two -armies, having left their tents, stood gazing; the people of Utica -were massing on the ramparts to have a better view. - -At last they distinguished several transverse bars bristling with -level points. They became thicker, larger; black hillocks swayed to -and fro; square thickets suddenly appeared; they were elephants and -lances. A single shout went up: "The Carthaginians!" and without -signal or command the soldiers at Utica and those at the bridge ran -pell-mell to fall in a body upon Hamilcar. - -Spendius shuddered at the name. "Hamilcar! Hamilcar!" he repeated, -panting, and Matho was not there! What was to be done? No means of -flight! The suddenness of the event, his terror of the Suffet, and -above all, the urgent need of forming an immediate resolution, -distracted him; he could see himself pierced by a thousand swords, -decapitated, dead. Meanwhile he was being called for; thirty thousand -men would follow him; he was seized with fury against himself; he fell -back upon the hope of victory; it was full of bliss, and he believed -himself more intrepid than Epaminondas. He smeared his cheeks with -vermilion in order to conceal his paleness, then he buckled on his -knemids and his cuirass, swallowed a patera of pure wine, and ran -after his troops, who were hastening towards those from Utica. - -They united so rapidly that the Suffet had not time to draw up his men -in battle array. By degrees he slackened his speed. The elephants -stopped; they rocked their heavy heads with their chargings of ostrich -feathers, striking their shoulders the while with their trunks. - -Behind the intervals between them might be seen the cohorts of the -velites, and further on the great helmets of the Clinabarians, with -steel heads glancing in the sun, cuirasses, plumes, and waving -standards. But the Carthaginian army, which amounted to eleven -thousand three hundred and ninety-six men, seemed scarcely to contain -them, for it formed an oblong, narrow at the sides and pressed back -upon itself. - -Seeing them so weak, the Barbarians, who were thrice as numerous, were -seized with extravagant joy. Hamilcar was not to be seen. Perhaps he -had remained down yonder? Moreover what did it matter? The disdain -which they felt for these traders strengthened their courage; and -before Spendius could command a manoeuvre they had all understood it, -and already executed it. - -They were deployed in a long, straight line, overlapping the wings of -the Punic army in order to completely encompass it. But when there was -an interval of only three hundred paces between the armies, the -elephants turned round instead of advancing; then the Clinabarians -were seen to face about and follow them; and the surprise of the -Mercenaries increased when they saw the archers running to join them. -So the Carthaginians were afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous -hooting broke out from among the Barbarian troops, and Spendius -exclaimed from the top of his dromedary: "Ah! I knew it! Forward! -forward!" - -Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously. -The elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop -more quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like -shadows in a cloud. - -But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated -by the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously. -The space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full of -eddies and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it. -Cohorts of infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time all -the rest saw the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a -gallop. - -Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and -the elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals -so as to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he -calculated the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when -they reached him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long -straight line. - -In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full -squares having sixteen men on each side. All the leaders of all the -files appeared amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly -around them, for the first six ranks crossed their sarissae, holding -them in the middle, and the ten lower ranks rested them upon the -shoulders of their companions in succession before them. Their faces -were all half hidden beneath the visors of their helmets; their right -legs were all covered with bronze knemids; broad cylindrical shields -reached down to their knees; and the horrible quadrangular mass moved -in a single body, and seemed to live like an animal and work like a -machine. Two cohorts of elephants flanked it in regular array; -quivering, they shook off the splinters of the arrows that clung to -their black skins. The Indians, squatting on their withers among the -tufts of white feathers, restrained them with their spoon-headed -harpoons, while the men in the towers, who were hidden up to their -shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished with lighted tow on the -edges of their large bended bows. Right and left of the elephants -hovered the slingers, each with a sling around his loins, a second on -his head, and a third in his right hand. Then came the Clinabarians, -each flanked by a Negro, and pointing their lances between the ears of -their horses, which, like themselves, were completely covered with -gold. Afterwards, at intervals, came the light armed soldiers with -shields of lynx skin, beyond which projected the points of the -javelins which they held in their left hands; while the Tarentines, -each having two coupled horses, relieved this wall of soldiers at its -two extremities. - -The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to -preserve its line. Undulations and blanks were to be found through its -extravagant length; all were panting and out of breath with their -running. - -The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissae; -and the too slender line of the Mercenaries soon yielded in the centre -beneath the enormous weight. - -Then the Carthaginian wings expanded in order to fall upon them, the -elephants following. The phalanx, with obliquely pointed lances, cut -through the Barbarians; there were two enormous, struggling bodies; -and the wings with slings and arrows beat them back upon the -phalangites. There was no cavalry to get rid of them, except two -hundred Numidians operating against the right squadron of the -Clinabarians. All the rest were hemmed in, and unable to extricate -themselves from the lines. The peril was imminent, and the need of -coming to some resolution urgent. - -Spendius ordered attacks to be made simultaneously on both flanks of -the phalanx so as to pass clean through it. But the narrower ranks -glided below the longer ones and recovered their position, and the -phalanx turned upon the Barbarians as terrible in flank as it had just -been in front. - -They struck at the staves of the sarissae, but the cavalry in the rear -embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx, supported by the elephants, -lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, -a cone, a rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid. A twofold internal movement -went on continually from its head to its rear; for those who were at -the lowest part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the -latter, from fatigue, or on account of the wounded, fell further back. -The Barbarians found themselves thronged upon the phalanx. It was -impossible for it to advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein -leaped red crests and scales of brass, while the bright shields rolled -like silver foam. Sometimes broad currents would descend from one -extremity to the other, and then go up again, while a heavy mass -remained motionless in the centre. The lances dipped and rose -alternately. Elsewhere there was so quick a play of naked swords that -only the points were visible, while turmae of cavalry formed wide -circles which closed again like whirlwinds behind them. - -Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the -grating of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds of clay whistled through -the air, dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the -skull. The wounded, sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their -shields, pointed their swords by resting the pommels on the ground, -while others, lying in pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels -of those above them. The multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, -and the tumult so great that it was impossible to distinguish -anything; the cowards who offered to surrender were not even heard. -Those whose hands were empty clasped one another close; breasts -cracked against cuirasses, and corpses hung with head thrown back -between a pair of contracted arms. There was a company of sixty -Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their pikes before their eyes, -immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two syntagmata to recoil -simultaneously. Some Epirote shepherds ran upon the left squadron of -the Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the horses by the -man; the animals threw their riders and fled across the plain. The -Punic slingers scattered here and there stood gaping. The phalanx -began to waver, the captains ran to and fro in distraction, the -rearmost in the files were pressing upon the soldiers, and the -Barbarians had re-formed; they were recovering; the victory was -theirs. - -But a cry, a terrible cry broke forth, a roar of pain and wrath: it -came from the seventy-two elephants which were rushing on in double -line, Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed -together in one spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had -goaded them so vigorously that blood was trickling down their broad -ears. Their trunks, which were smeared with mimium, were stretched -straight out in the air like red serpents; their breasts were -furnished with spears and their backs with cuirasses; their tusks were -lengthened with steel blades curved like sabres,--and to make them -more ferocious they had been intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, -wine, and incense. They shook their necklaces of bells, and shrieked; -and the elephantarchs bent their heads beneath the stream of -phalaricas which was beginning to fly from the tops of the towers. - -In order to resist them the better the Barbarians rushed forward in a -compact crowd; the elephants flung themselves impetuously upon the -centre of it. The spurs on their breasts, like ships' prows, clove -through the cohorts, which flowed surging back. They stifled the men -with their trunks, or else snatching them up from the ground delivered -them over their heads to the soldiers in the towers; with their tusks -they disembowelled them, and hurled them into the air, and long -entrails hung from their ivory fangs like bundles of rope from a mast. -The Barbarians strove to blind them, to hamstring them; others would -slip beneath their bodies, bury a sword in them up to the hilt, and -perish crushed to death; the most intrepid clung to their straps; they -would go on sawing the leather amid flames, bullets, and arrows, and -the wicker tower would fall like a tower of stone. Fourteen of the -animals on the extreme right, irritated by their wounds, turned upon -the second rank; the Indians seized mallet and chisel, applied the -latter to a joint in the head, and with all their might struck a great -blow. - -Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another. It was like a -mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous -elephant, called "The Fury of Baal," which had been caught by the leg -in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in its -eye. - -The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination, -overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged against the corpses and the -debris. To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they -turned about on their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual -rotatory motion. The Carthaginians felt their energy increase, and the -battle begin again. - -The Barbarians were growing weak; some Greek hoplites threw away all -their arms, and terror seized upon the rest. Spendius was seen -stooping upon his dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two -javelins. Then they all rushed away from the wings and ran towards -Utica. - -The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake -them. The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an -advance towards the river. But the Carthaginians, who were posted in -the centre of the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their -feet with longing for the vengeance which was flying from them; and -they were already darting forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when -Hamilcar appeared. - -He held in his spotted and sweat-covered horse with silver reins. The -bands fastened to the horns on his helmet flapped in the wind behind -him, and he had placed his oval shield beneath his left thigh. With a -motion of his triple-pointed pike he checked the army. - -The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off -right and left towards the river and towards the town. - -The phalanx exterminated all the remaining Barbarians at leisure. When -the swords appeared they would stretch out their throats and close -their eyelids. Others defended themselves to the last, and were -knocked down from a distance with flints like mad dogs. Hamilcar had -desired the taking of prisoners, but the Carthaginians obeyed him -grudgingly, so much pleasure did they derive from plunging their -swords into the bodies of the Barbarians. As they were too hot they -set about their work with bare arms like mowers; and when they -desisted to take breath they would follow with their eyes a horseman -galloping across the country after a fleeing soldier. He would succeed -in seizing him by the hair, hold him thus for a while, and then fell -him with a blow of his axe. - -Night fell. Carthaginians and Barbarians had disappeared. The -elephants which had taken to flight roamed in the horizon with their -fired towers. These burned here and there in the darkness like beacons -nearly half lost in the mist; and no movement could be discerned in -the plain save the undulation of the river, which was heaped with -corpses, and was drifting them away to the sea. - -Two hours afterwards Matho arrived. He caught sight in the starlight -of long, uneven heaps lying upon the ground. - -They were files of Barbarians. He stooped down; all were dead. He -called into the distance, but no voice replied. - -That very morning he had left Hippo-Zarytus with his soldiers to march -upon Carthage. At Utica the army under Spendius had just set out, and -the inhabitants were beginning to fire the engines. All had fought -desperately. But, the tumult which was going on in the direction of -the bridge increasing in an incomprehensible fashion, Matho had struck -across the mountain by the shortest road, and as the Barbarians were -fleeing over the plain he had encountered nobody. - -Facing him were little pyramidal masses rearing themselves in the -shade, and on this side of the river and closer to him were motionless -lights on the surface of the ground. In fact the Carthaginians had -fallen back behind the bridge, and to deceive the Barbarians the -Suffet had stationed numerous posts upon the other bank. - -Matho, still advancing, thought that he could distinguish Punic -engines, for horses' heads which did not stir appeared in the air -fixed upon the tops of piles of staves which could not be seen; and -further off he could hear a great clamour, a noise of songs, and -clashing of cups. - -Then, not knowing where he was nor how to find Spendius, assailed with -anguish, scared, and lost in the darkness, he returned more -impetuously by the same road. The dawn as growing grey when from the -top of the mountain he perceived the town with the carcases of the -engines blackened by the flames and looking like giant skeletons -leaning against the walls. - -All was peaceful amid extraordinary silence and heaviness. Among his -soldiers on the verge of the tents men were sleeping nearly naked, -each upon his back, or with his forehead against his arm which was -supported by his cuirass. Some were unwinding bloodstained bandages -from their legs. Those who were doomed to die rolled their heads about -gently; others dragged themselves along and brought them drink. The -sentries walked up and down along the narrow paths in order to warm -themselves, or stood in a fierce attitude with their faces turned -towards the horizon, and their pikes on their shoulders. Matho found -Spendius sheltered beneath a rag of canvas, supported by two sticks -set in the ground, his knee in his hands and his head cast down. - -They remained for a long time without speaking. - -At last Matho murmured: "Conquered!" - -Spendius rejoined in a gloomy voice: "Yes, conquered!" - -And to all questions he replied by gestures of despair. - -Meanwhile sighs and death-rattles reached them. Matho partially opened -the canvas. Then the sight of the soldiers reminded him of another -disaster on the same spot, and he ground his teeth: "Wretch! once -already--" - -Spendius interrupted him: "You were not there either." - -"It is a curse!" exclaimed Matho. "Nevertheless, in the end I will -get at him! I will conquer him! I will slay him! Ah! if I had been -there!--" The thought of having missed the battle rendered him even -more desperate than the defeat. He snatched up his sword and threw it -upon the ground. "But how did the Carthaginians beat you?" - -The former slave began to describe the manoeuvres. Matho seemed to see -them, and he grew angry. The army from Utica ought to have taken -Hamilcar in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge. - -"Ah! I know!" said Spendius. - -"You ought to have made your ranks twice as deep, avoided exposing the -velites against the phalanx, and given free passage to the elephants. -Everything might have been recovered at the last moment; there was no -necessity to fly." - -Spendius replied: - -"I saw him pass along in his large red cloak, with uplifted arms and -higher than the dust, like an eagle flying upon the flank of the -cohorts; and at every nod they closed up or darted forward; the throng -carried us towards each other; he looked at me, and I felt the cold -steel as it were in my heart." - -"He selected the day, perhaps?" whispered Matho to himself. - -They questioned each other, trying to discover what it was that had -brought the Suffet just when circumstances were most unfavourable. -They went on to talk over the situation, and Spendius, to extenuate -his fault, or to revive his courage, asserted that some hope still -remained. - -"And if there be none, it matters not!" said Matho; "alone, I will -carry on the war!" - -"And I too!" exclaimed the Greek, leaping up; he strode to and fro, -his eyes sparkling, and a strange smile wrinkled his jackal face. - -"We will make a fresh start; do not leave me again! I am not made for -battles in the sunlight--the flashing of swords troubles my sight; it -is a disease, I lived too long in the ergastulum. But give me walls to -scale at night, and I will enter the citadels, and the corpses shall -be cold before cock-crow! Show me any one, anything, an enemy, a -treasure, a woman,--a woman," he repeated, "were she a king's -daughter, and I will quickly bring your desire to your feet. You -reproach me for having lost the battle against Hanno, nevertheless I -won it back again. Confess it! my herd of swine did more for us than a -phalanx of Spartans." And yielding to the need that he felt of -exalting himself and taking his revenge, he enumerated all that he had -done for the cause of the Mercenaries. "It was I who urged on the Gaul -in the Suffet's gardens! And later, at Sicca, I maddened them all with -fear of the Republic! Gisco was sending them back, but I prevented the -interpreters speaking. Ah! how their tongues hung out of their mouths! -do you remember? I brought you into Carthage; I stole the zaimph. I -led you to her. I will do more yet: you shall see!" He burst out -laughing like a madman. - -Matho regarded him with gaping eyes. He felt in a measure -uncomfortable in the presence of this man, who was at once so cowardly -and so terrible. - -The Greek resumed in jovial tones and cracking his fingers: - -"Evoe! Sun after run! I have worked in the quarries, and I have drunk -Massic wine beneath a golden awning in a vessel of my own like a -Ptolemaeus. Calamity should help to make us cleverer. By dint of work -we may make fortune bend. She loves politicians. She will yield!" - -He returned to Matho and took him by the arm. - -"Master, at present the Carthaginians are sure of their victory. You -have quite an army which has not fought, and your men obey YOU. Place -them in the front: mine will follow to avenge themselves. I have still -three thousand Carians, twelve hundred slingers and archers, whole -cohorts! A phalanx even might be formed; let us return!" - -Matho, who had been stunned by the disaster, had hitherto thought of -no means of repairing it. He listened with open mouth, and the bronze -plates which circled his sides rose with the leapings of his heart. He -picked up his sword, crying: - -"Follow me; forward!" - -But when the scouts returned, they announced that the Carthaginian -dead had been carried off, that the bridge was in ruins, and that -Hamilcar had disappeared. - - - -CHAPTER IX - -IN THE FIELD - -Hamilcar had thought that the Mercenaries would await him at Utica, or -that they would return against him; and finding his forces -insufficient to make or to sustain an attack, he had struck southwards -along the right bank of the river, thus protecting himself immediately -from a surprise. - -He intended first to wink at the revolt of the tribes and to detach -them all from the cause of the Barbarians; then when they were quite -isolated in the midst of the provinces he would fall upon them and -exterminate them. - -In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised between Thouccaber -and Utica, with the towns of Tignicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others -further to the west. Zounghar built in the mountains, Assoura -celebrated for its temple, Djeraado fertile in junipers, Thapitis, and -Hagour sent embassies to him. The country people came with their hands -full of provisions, implored his protection, kissed his feet and those -of the soldiers, and complained of the Barbarians. Some came to offer -him bags containing heads of Mercenaries killed, so they said, by -themselves, but which they had cut off corpses; for many had lost -themselves in their flight, and were found dead here and there beneath -the olive trees and among the vines. - -On the morrow of his victory, Hamilcar, to dazzle the people, had sent -to Carthage the two thousand captives taken on the battlefield. They -arrived in long companies of one hundred men each, all with their arms -fastened behind their backs with a bar of bronze which caught them at -the nape of the neck, and the wounded, bleeding as they still were, -running also along; horsemen followed them, driving them on with blows -of the whip. - -Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six -thousand Barbarians killed; the others would not hold out, and the war -was finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed the -faces of the Pataec Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them. -These, with their big eyes, their big bodies, and their arms raised as -high as the shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, -and to participate in the cheerfulness of the people. The rich left -their doors open; the city resounded with the noise of the timbrels; -the temples were illuminated every night, and the servants of the -goddess went down to Malqua and set up stages of sycamore-wood at the -corners of the cross-ways, and prostituted themselves there. Lands -were voted to the conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred -gold crowns to the Suffet, and his partisans proposed to decree to him -new prerogatives and honours. - -He had begged the Ancients to make overtures to Autaritus for -exchanging all the Barbarians, if necessary, for the aged Gisco, and -the other Carthaginians detained like him. The Libyans and Nomads -composing the army under Autaritus knew scarcely anything of these -Mercenaries, who were men of Italiote or Greek race; and the offer by -the Republic of so many Barbarians for so few Carthaginians, showed -that the value of the former was nothing and that of the latter -considerable. They dreaded a snare. Autaritus refused. - -Then the Ancients decreed the execution of the captives, although the -Suffet had written to them not to put them to death. He reckoned upon -incorporating the best of them with his own troops and of thus -instigating defections. But hatred swept away all circumspection. - -The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelae of the tombs in -the Mappalian quarter; and traders, scullions, embroiderers, and even -women,--the widows of the dead with their children--all who would, -came to kill them with arrows. They aimed slowly at them, the better -to prolong their torture, lowering the weapon and then raising it in -turn; and the multitude pressed forward howling. Paralytics had -themselves brought thither in hand-barrows; many took the precaution -of bringing their food, and remained on the spot until the evening; -others passed the night there. Tents had been set up in which drinking -went on. Many gained large sums by hiring out bows. - -Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so -many red statues on the tombs, and the excitement even spread to the -people of Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, -and were usually indifferent to the affairs of their country. Out of -gratitude for the pleasure it had been giving them they now interested -themselves in its fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and -the Ancients thought it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire -people in a single act of vengeance. - -The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all -quarters of the sky. They wheeled in the air as they flew with loud -hoarse cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself. -It was seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermaeum. -Sometimes it would suddenly burst asunder, its black spirals extending -far away, as an eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again; -here and there on the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, -and the pediments of the temples there were big birds holding human -fragments in their reddened beaks. - -Owing to the smell the Carthaginians resigned themselves to unbind the -corpses. A few of them were burnt; the rest were thrown into the sea, -and the waves, driven by the north wind, deposited them on the shore -at the end of the gulf before the camp of Autaritus. - -This punishment had no doubt terrified the Barbarians, for from the -top of Eschmoun they could be seen striking their tents, collecting -their flocks, and hoisting their baggage upon asses, and on the -evening of the same day the entire army withdrew. - -It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs and -Hippo-Zarytus, and so debar the Suffet from approaching the Tyrian -towns, and from the possibility of a return to Carthage. - -Meanwhile the two other armies were to try to overtake him in the -south, Spendius in the east, and Matho in the west, in such a way that -all three should unite to surprise and entangle him. Then they -received a reinforcement which they had not looked for: Narr' Havas -appeared with three hundred camels laden with bitumen, twenty-five -elephants, and six thousand horsemen. - -To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had judged it prudent to occupy -his attention at a distance in his own kingdom. From the heart of -Carthage he had come to an understanding with Masgaba, a Gaetulian -brigand who was seeking to found an empire. Strengthened by Punic -money, the adventurer had raised the Numidian States with promises of -freedom. But Narr' Havas, warned by his nurse's son, had dropped into -Cirta, poisoned the conquerors with the water of the cisterns, struck -off a few heads, set all right again, and had just arrived against the -Suffet more furious than the Barbarians. - -The chiefs of the four armies concerted the arrangements for the war. -It would be a long one, and everything must be foreseen. - -It was agreed first to entreat the assistance of the Romans, and this -mission was offered to Spendius, but as a fugitive he dared not -undertake it. Twelve men from the Greek colonies embarked at Annaba in -a sloop belonging to the Numidians. Then the chiefs exacted an oath of -complete obedience from all the Barbarians. Every day the captains -inspected clothes and boots; the sentries were even forbidden to use a -shield, for they would often lean it against their lance and fall -asleep as they stood; those who had any baggage trailing after them -were obliged to get rid of it; everything was to be carried, in Roman -fashion, on the back. As a precaution against the elephants Matho -instituted a corps of cataphract cavalry, men and horses being hidden -beneath cuirasses of hippopotamus skin bristling with nails; and to -protect the horses' hoofs boots of plaited esparto-grass were made for -them. - -It was forbidden to pillage the villages, or to tyrannise over the -inhabitants who were not of Punic race. But as the country was -becoming exhausted, Matho ordered the provisions to be served out to -the soldiers individually, without troubling about the women. At first -the men shared with them. Many grew weak for lack of food. It was the -occasion of many quarrels and invectives, many drawing away the -companions of the rest by the bait or even by the promise of their own -portion. Matho commanded them all to be driven away pitilessly. They -took refuge in the camp of Autaritus; but the Gaulish and Libyan women -forced them by their outrageous treatment to depart. - -At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the -protection of Ceres and Proserpine, for in Byrsa there was a temple -with priests consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the -horrors formerly committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, -alleging their right to waifs and strays, claimed the youngest in -order to sell them; and some fair Lacedaemonian women were taken by -New Carthaginians in marriage. - -A few persisted in following the armies. They ran on the flank of the -syntagmata by the side of the captains. They called to their husbands, -pulled them by the cloak, cursed them as they beat their breasts, and -held out their little naked and weeping children at arm's length. The -sight of them was unmanning the Barbarians; they were an embarrassment -and a peril. Several times they were repulsed, but they came back -again; Matho made the horsemen belonging to Narr' Havas charge them -with the point of the lance; and on some Balearians shouting out to -him that they must have women, he replied: "I have none!" - -Just now he was invaded by the genius of Moloch. In spite of the -rebellion of his conscience, he performed terrible deeds, imagining -that he was thus obeying the voice of a god. When he could not ravage -the fields, Matho would cast stones into them to render them sterile. - -He urged Autaritus and Spendius with repeated messages to make haste. -But the Suffet's operations were incomprehensible. He encamped at -Eidous, Monchar, and Tehent successively; some scouts believed that -they saw him in the neighbourhood of Ischiil, near the frontiers of -Narr' Havas, and it was reported that he had crossed the river above -Tebourba as though to return to Carthage. Scarcely was he in one place -when he removed to another. The routes that he followed always -remained unknown. The Suffet preserved his advantages without offering -battle, and while pursued by the Barbarians seemed to be leading them. - -These marches and counter marches were still more fatiguing to the -Carthaginians, and Hamilcar's forces, receiving no reinforcements, -diminished from day to day. The country people were now more backward -in bringing him provisions. In every direction he encountered taciturn -hesitation and hatred; and in spite of his entreaties to the Great -Council no succour came from Carthage. - -It was said, perhaps it was believed, that he had need of none. It was -a trick, or his complaints were unnecessary; and Hanno's partisans, in -order to do him an ill turn, exaggerated the importance of his -victory. The troops which he commanded he was welcome to; but they -were not going to supply his demands continually in that way. The war -was quite burdensome enough! it had cost too much, and from pride the -patricians belonging to his faction supported him but slackly. - -Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the -tribes all that he wanted for the war--grain, oil, wood, cattle, and -men. But the inhabitants were not long in taking flight. The villages -passed through were empty, and the cabins were ransacked without -anything being discerned in them. The Punic army was soon encompassed -by a terrible solitude. - -The Carthaginians, who were furious, began to sack the provinces; they -filled up the cisterns and fired the houses. The sparks, being carried -by the wind, were scattered far off, and whole forests were on fire on -the mountains; they bordered the valleys with a crown of flames, and -it was often necessary to wait in order to pass beyond them. Then the -soldiers resumed their march over the warm ashes in the full glare of -the sun. - -Sometimes they would see what looked like the eyes of a tiger cat -gleaming in a bush by the side of the road. This was a Barbarian -crouching upon his heels, and smeared with dust, that he might not be -distinguished from the colour of the foliage; or perhaps when passing -along a ravine those on the wings would suddenly hear the rolling of -stones, and raising their eyes would perceive a bare-footed man -bounding along through the openings of the gorge. - -Meanwhile Utica and Hippo-Zarytus were free since the Mercenaries were -no longer besieging them. Hamilcar commanded them to come to his -assistance. But not caring to compromise themselves, they answered him -with vague words, with compliments and excuses. - -He went up again abruptly into the North, determined to open up one of -the Tyrian towns, though he were obliged to lay siege to it. He -required a station on the coast, so as to be able to draw supplies and -men from the islands or from Cyrene, and he coveted the harbour of -Utica as being the nearest to Carthage. - -The Suffet therefore left Zouitin and turned the lake of Hippo-Zarytus -with circumspection. But he was soon obliged to lengthen out his -regiments into column in order to climb the mountain which separates -the two valleys. They were descending at sunset into its hollow, -funnel-shaped summit, when they perceived on the level of the ground -before them bronze she-wolves which seemed to be running across the -grass. - -Suddenly large plumes arose and a terrible song burst forth, -accompanied by the rhythm of flutes. It was the army under Spendius; -for some Campanians and Greeks, in their execration of Carthage, had -assumed the ensigns of Rome. At the same time long pikes, shields of -leopard's skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders were seen on the -left. These were the Iberians under Matho, the Lusitanians, -Balearians, and Gaetulians; the horses of Narr' Havas were heard to -neigh; they spread around the hill; then came the loose rabble -commanded by Autaritus--Gauls, Libyans, and Nomads; while the Eaters -of Uncleanness might be recognised among them by the fish bones which -they wore in their hair. - -Thus the Barbarians, having contrived their marches with exactness, -had come together again. But themselves surprised, they remained -motionless for some minutes in consultation. - -The Suffet had collected his men into an orbicular mass, in such a way -as to offer an equal resistance in every direction. The infantry were -surrounded by their tall, pointed shields fixed close to one another -in the turf. The Clinabarians were outside and the elephants at -intervals further off. The Mercenaries were worn out with fatigue; it -was better to wait till next day; and the Barbarians feeling sure of -their victory occupied themselves the whole night in eating. - -They lighted large bright fires, which, while dazzling themselves, -left the Punic army below them in the shade. Hamilcar caused a trench -fifteen feet broad and ten cubits deep to be dug in Roman fashion -round his camp, and the earth thrown out to be raised on the inside -into a parapet, on which sharp interlacing stakes were planted; and at -sunrise the Mercenaries were amazed to perceive all the Carthaginians -thus entrenched as if in a fortress. - -They could recognise Hamilcar in the midst of the tents walking about -and giving orders. His person was clad in a brown cuirass cut in -little scales; he was followed by his horse, and stopped from time to -time to point out something with his right arm outstretched. - -Then more than one recalled similar mornings when, amid the din of -clarions, he passed slowly before them, and his looks strengthened -them like cups of wine. A kind of emotion overcame them. Those, on the -contrary, who were not acquainted with Hamilcar, were mad with joy at -having caught him. - -Nevertheless if all attacked at once they would do one another mutual -injury in the insufficiency of space. The Numidians might dash -through; but the Clinabarians, who were protected by cuirasses, would -crush them. And then how were the palisades to be crossed? As to the -elephants, they were not sufficiently well trained. - -"You are all cowards!" exclaimed Matho. - -And with the best among them he rushed against the entrenchment. They -were repulsed by a volley of stones; for the Suffet had taken their -abandoned catapults on the bridge. - -This want of success produced an abrupt change in the fickle minds of -the Barbarians. Their extreme bravery disappeared; they wished to -conquer, but with the smallest possible risk. According to Spendius -they ought to maintain carefully the position that they held, and -starve out the Punic army. But the Carthaginians began to dig wells, -and as there were mountains surrounding the hill, they discovered -water. - -From the summit of their palisade they launched arrows, earth, dung, -and pebbles which they gathered from the ground, while the six -catapults rolled incessantly throughout the length of the terrace. - -But the springs would dry up of themselves; the provisions would be -exhausted, and the catapults worn out; the Mercenaries, who were ten -times as numerous, would triumph in the end. The Suffet devised -negotiations so as to gain time, and one morning the Barbarians found -a sheep's skin covered with writing within their lines. He justified -himself for his victory: the Ancients had forced him into the war, and -to show them that he was keeping his word, he offered them the -pillaging of Utica or Hippo-Zarytus at their choice; in conclusion, -Hamilcar declared that he did not fear them because he had won over -some traitors, and thanks to them would easily manage the rest. - -The Barbarians were disturbed: this proposal of immediate booty made -them consider; they were apprehensive of treachery, not suspecting a -snare in the Suffet's boasting, and they began to look upon one -another with mistrust. Words and steps were watched; terrors awaked -them in the night. Many forsook their companions and chose their army -as fancy dictated, and the Gauls with Autaritus went and joined -themselves with the men of Cisalpine Gaul, whose language they -understood. - -The four chiefs met together every evening in Matho's tent, and -squatting round a shield, attentively moved backwards and forwards the -little wooden figures invented by Pyrrhus for the representation of -manoeuvres. Spendius would demonstrate Hamilcar's resources, and with -oaths by all the gods entreat that the opportunity should not be -wasted. Matho would walk about angry and gesticulating. The war -against Carthage was his own personal affair; he was indignant that -the others should interfere in it without being willing to obey him. -Autaritus would divine his speech from his countenance and applaud. -Narr' Havas would elevate his chin to mark his disdain; there was not -a measure he did not consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs -would escape him as though he were thrusting back sorrow for an -impossible dream, despair for an abortive enterprise. - -While the Barbarians deliberated in uncertainty, the Suffet increased -his defences: he had a second trench dug within the palisades, a -second wall raised, and wooden towers constructed at the corners; and -his slaves went as far as the middle of the outposts to drive caltrops -into the ground. But the elephants, whose allowances were lessened, -struggled in their shackles. To economise the grass he ordered the -Clinabarians to kill the least strong among the stallions. A few -refused to do so, and he had them decapitated. The horses were eaten. -The recollection of this fresh meat was a source of great sadness to -them in the days that followed. - -From the bottom of the ampitheatre in which they were confined they -could see the four bustling camps of the Barbarians all around them on -the heights. Women moved about with leathern bottles on their heads, -goats strayed bleating beneath the piles of pikes; sentries were being -relieved, and eating was going on around tripods. In fact, the tribes -furnished them abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves -suspect how much their inaction alarmed the Punic army. - -On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three -hundred men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads. These were -the rich who had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war. -Some Libyans ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their -station behind them, and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart -of their bodies. The wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised, -so completely were their faces covered with vermin and filth. Their -hair had been plucked out in places, leaving bare the ulcers on their -heads, and they were so lean and hideous that they were like mummies -in tattered shrouds. A few trembled and sobbed with a stupid look; the -rest cried out to their friends to fire upon the Barbarians. There was -one who remained quite motionless with face cast down, and without -speaking; his long white beard fell to his chain-covered hands; and -the Carthaginians, feeling as it were the downfall of the Republic in -the bottom of their hearts, recognised Gisco. Although the place was a -dangerous one they pressed forward to see him. On his head had been -placed a grotesque tiara of hippopotamus leather incrusted with -pebbles. It was Autaritus's idea; but it was displeasing to Matho. - -Hamilcar in exasperation, and resolved to cut his way through in one -way or another, had the palisades opened; and the Carthaginians went -at a furious rate half way up the hill or three hundred paces. Such a -flood of Barbarians descended upon them that they were driven back to -their lines. One of the guards of the Legion who had remained outside -was stumbling among the stones. Zarxas ran up to him, knocked him -down, and plunged a dagger into his throat; he drew it out, threw -himself upon the wound--and gluing his lips to it with mutterings of -joy, and startings which shook him to the heels, pumped up the blood -by breastfuls; then he quietly sat down upon the corpse, raised his -face with his neck thrown back the better to breathe in the air, like -a hind that has just drunk at a mountain stream, and in a shrill voice -began to sing a Balearic song, a vague melody full of prolonged -modulations, with interruptions and alternations like echoes answering -one another in the mountains; he called upon his dead brothers and -invited them to a feast;--then he let his hands fall between his legs, -slowly bent his head, and wept. This atrocious occurrence horrified -the Barbarians, especially the Greeks. - -From that time forth the Carthaginians did not attempt to make any -sally; and they had no thought of surrender, certain as they were that -they would perish in tortures. - -Nevertheless the provisions, in spite of Hamilcar's carefulness, -diminished frightfully. There was not left per man more than ten -k'hommers of wheat, three hins of millet, and twelve betzas of dried -fruit. No more meat, no more oil, no more salt food, and not a grain -of barley for the horses, which might be seen stretching down their -wasted necks seeking in the dust for blades of trampled straw. Often -the sentries on vedette upon the terrace would see in the moonlight a -dog belonging to the Barbarians coming to prowl beneath the -entrenchment among the heaps of filth; it would be knocked down with a -stone, and then, after a descent had been effected along the palisades -by means of the straps of a shield, it would be eaten without a word. -Sometimes horrible barkings would be heard and the man would not come -up again. Three phalangites, in the fourth dilochia of the twelfth -syntagmata, killed one another with knives in a dispute about a rat. - -All regretted their families, and their houses; the poor their hive- -shaped huts, with the shells on the threshold and the hanging net, and -the patricians their large halls filled with bluish shadows, where at -the most indolent hour of the day they used to rest listening to the -vague noise of the streets mingled with the rustling of the leaves as -they stirred in their gardens;--to go deeper into the thought of this, -and to enjoy it more, they would half close their eyelids, only to be -roused by the shock of a wound. Every minute there was some -engagement, some fresh alarm; the towers were burning, the Eaters of -Uncleanness were leaping across the palisades; their hands would be -struck off with axes; others would hasten up; an iron hail would fall -upon the tents. Galleries of rushen hurdles were raised as a -protection against the projectiles. The Carthaginians shut themselves -up within them and stirred out no more. - -Every day the sun coming over the hill used, after the early hours, to -forsake the bottom of the gorge and leave them in the shade. The grey -slopes of the ground, covered with flints spotted with scanty lichen, -ascended in front and in the rear, and above their summits stretched -the sky in its perpetual purity, smoother and colder to the eye than a -metal cupola. Hamilcar was so indignant with Carthage that he felt -inclined to throw himself among the Barbarians and lead them against -her. Moreover, the porters, sutlers, and slaves were beginning to -murmur, while neither people, nor Great Council, nor any one sent as -much as a hope. The situation was intolerable, especially owing to the -thought that it would become worse. - -At the news of the disaster Carthage had leaped, as it were, with -anger and hate; the Suffet would have been less execrated if he had -allowed himself to be conquered from the first. - -But time and money were lacking for the hire of other Mercenaries. As -to a levy of soldiers in the town, how were they to be equipped? -Hamilcar had taken all the arms! and then who was to command them? The -best captains were down yonder with him! Meanwhile, some men -despatched by the Suffet arrived in the streets with shouts. The Great -Council were roused by them, and contrived to make them disappear. - -It was an unnecessary precaution; every one accused Barca of having -behaved with slackness. He ought to have annihilated the Mercenaries -after his victory. Why had he ravaged the tribes? The sacrifices -already imposed had been heavy enough! and the patricians deplored -their contributions of fourteen shekels, and the Syssitia their two -hundred and twenty-three thousand gold kikars; those who had given -nothing lamented like the rest. The populace was jealous of the New -Carthaginians, to whom he had promised full rights of citizenship; and -even the Ligurians, who had fought with such intrepidity, were -confounded with the Barbarians and cursed like them; their race became -a crime, the proof of complicity. The traders on the threshold of -their shops, the workmen passing plumb-line in hand, the vendors of -pickle rinsing their baskets, the attendants in the vapour baths and -the retailers of hot drinks all discussed the operations of the -campaign. They would trace battle-plans with their fingers in the -dust, and there was not a sorry rascal to be found who could not have -corrected Hamilcar's mistakes. - -It was a punishment, said the priests, for his long-continued impiety. -He had offered no holocausts; he had not purified his troops; he had -even refused to take augurs with him; and the scandal of sacrilege -strengthened the violence of restrained hate, and the rage of betrayed -hopes. People recalled the Sicilian disasters, and all the burden of -his pride that they had borne for so long! The colleges of the -pontiffs could not forgive him for having seized their treasure, and -they demanded a pledge from the Great Council to crucify him should he -ever return. - -The heats of the month of Eloul, which were excessive in that year, -were another calamity. Sickening smells rose from the borders of the -Lake, and were wafted through the air together with the fumes of the -aromatics that eddied at the corners of the streets. The sounds of -hymns were constantly heard. Crowds of people occupied the staircases -of the temples; all the walls were covered with black veils; tapers -burnt on the brows of the Pataec Gods, and the blood of camels slain -for sacrifice ran along the flights of stairs forming red cascades -upon the steps. Carthage was agitated with funereal delirium. From the -depths of the narrowest lanes, and the blackest dens, there issued -pale faces, men with viper-like profiles and grinding their teeth. The -houses were filled with the women's piercing shrieks, which, escaping -through the gratings, caused those who stood talking in the squares to -turn round. Sometimes it was thought that the Barbarians were -arriving; they had been seen behind the mountain of the Hot Springs; -they were encamped at Tunis; and the voices would multiply and swell, -and be blended into one single clamour. Then universal silence would -reign, some remaining where they had climbed upon the frontals of the -buildings, screening their eyes with their open hand, while the rest -lay flat on their faces at the foot of the ramparts straining their -ears. When their terror had passed off their anger would begin again. -But the conviction of their own impotence would soon sink them into -the same sadness as before. - -It increased every evening when all ascended the terraces, and bowing -down nine times uttered a loud cry in salutation of the sun, as it -sank slowly behind the lagoon, and then suddenly disappeared among the -mountains in the direction of the Barbarians. - -They were waiting for the thrice holy festival when, from the summit -of a funeral pile, an eagle flew heavenwards as a symbol of the -resurrection of the year, and a message from the people to their Baal; -they regarded it as a sort of union, a method of connecting themselves -with the might of the Sun. Moreover, filled as they now were with -hatred, they turned frankly towards homicidal Moloch, and all forsook -Tanith. In fact, Rabetna, having lost her veil, was as if she had been -despoiled of part of her virtue. She denied the beneficence of her -waters, she had abandoned Carthage; she was a deserter, an enemy. Some -threw stones at her to insult her. But many pitied her while they -inveighed against her; she was still beloved, and perhaps more deeply -than she had been. - -All their misfortunes came, therefore, from the loss of the zaimph. -Salammbo had indirectly participated in it; she was included in the -same ill will; she must be punished. A vague idea of immolation spread -among the people. To appease the Baalim it was without doubt necessary -to offer them something of incalculable worth, a being handsome, -young, virgin, of old family, a descendant of the gods, a human star. -Every day the gardens of Megara were invaded by strange men; the -slaves, trembling on their own account, dared not resist them. -Nevertheless, they did not pass beyond the galley staircase. They -remained below with their eyes raised to the highest terrace; they -were waiting for Salammbo, and they would cry out for hours against -her like dogs baying at the moon. - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE SERPENT - -These clamourings of the populace did not alarm Hamilcar's daughter. -She was disturbed by loftier anxieties: her great serpent, the black -python, was drooping; and in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the -serpent was at once a national and a private fetish. It was believed -to be the offspring of the dust of the earth, since it emerges from -its depths and has no need of feet to traverse it; its mode of -progression called to mind the undulations of rivers, its temperature -the ancient, viscous, and fecund darkness, and the orbit which it -describes when biting its tail the harmony of the planets, and the -intelligence of Eschmoun. - -Salammbo's serpent had several times already refused the four live -sparrows which were offered to it at the full moon and at every new -moon. Its handsome skin, covered like the firmament with golden spots -upon a perfectly black ground, was now yellow, relaxed, wrinkled, and -too large for its body. A cottony mouldiness extended round its head; -and in the corners of its eyelids might be seen little red specks -which appeared to move. Salammbo would approach its silver-wire basket -from time to time, and would draw aside the purple curtains, the lotus -leaves, and the bird's down; but it was continually rolled up upon -itself, more motionless than a withered bind-weed; and from looking at -it she at last came to feel a kind of spiral within her heart, another -serpent, as it were, mounting up to her throat by degrees and -strangling her. - -She was in despair of having seen the zaimph, and yet she felt a sort -of joy, an intimate pride at having done so. A mystery shrank within -the splendour of its folds; it was the cloud that enveloped the gods, -and the secret of the universal existence, and Salammbo, horror- -stricken at herself, regretted that she had not raised it. - -She was almost always crouching at the back of her apartment, holding -her bended left leg in her hands, her mouth half open, her chin sunk, -her eye fixed. She recollected her father's face with terror; she -wished to go away into the mountains of Phoenicia, on a pilgrimage to -the temple of Aphaka, where Tanith descended in the form of a star; -all kinds of imaginings attracted her and terrified her; moreover, a -solitude which every day became greater encompassed her. She did not -even know what Hamilcar was about. - -Wearied at last with her thoughts she would rise, and trailing along -her little sandals whose soles clacked upon her heels at every step, -she would walk at random through the large silent room. The amethysts -and topazes of the ceiling made luminous spots quiver here and there, -and Salammbo as she walked would turn her head a little to see them. -She would go and take the hanging amphoras by the neck; she would cool -her bosom beneath the broad fans, or perhaps amuse herself by burning -cinnamomum in hollow pearls. At sunset Taanach would draw back the -black felt lozenges that closed the openings in the wall; then her -doves, rubbed with musk like the doves of Tanith, suddenly entered, -and their pink feet glided over the glass pavement, amid the grains of -barley which she threw to them in handfuls like a sower in a field. -But on a sudden she would burst into sobs and lie stretched on the -large bed of ox-leather straps without moving, repeating a word that -was ever the same, with open eyes, pale as one dead, insensible, cold; -and yet she could hear the cries of the apes in the tufts of the palm -trees, with the continuous grinding of the great wheel which brought a -flow of pure water through the stories into the porphyry centre-basin. - -Sometimes for several days she would refuse to eat. She could see in a -dream troubled stars wandering beneath her feet. She would call -Schahabarim, and when he came she had nothing to say to him. - -She could not live without the relief of his presence. But she -rebelled inwardly against this domination; her feeling towards the -priest was one at once of terror, jealousy, hatred, and a species of -love, in gratitude for the singular voluptuousness which she -experienced by his side. - -He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, being skilful to discern -the gods who send diseases; and to cure Salammbo he had her apartment -watered with lotions of vervain, and maidenhair; she ate mandrakes -every morning; she slept with her head on a cushion filled with -aromatics blended by the pontiffs; he had even employed baaras, a -fiery-coloured root which drives back fatal geniuses into the North; -lastly, turning towards the polar star, he murmured thrice the -mysterious name of Tanith; but Salammbo still suffered and her anguish -deepened. - -No one in Carthage was so learned as he. In his youth he had studied -at the College of the Mogbeds, at Borsippa, near Babylon; had then -visited Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judaea, and the -temples of the Nabathae, which are lost in the sands; and had -travelled on foot along the banks of the Nile from the cataracts to -the sea. Shaking torches with veil-covered face, he had cast a black -cock upon a fire of sandarach before the breast of the Sphinx, the -Father of Terror. He had descended into the caverns of Proserpine; he -had seen the five hundred pillars of the labyrinth of Lemnos revolve, -and the candelabrum of Tarentum, which bore as many sconces on its -shaft as there are days in the year, shine in its splendour; at times -he received Greeks by night in order to question them. The -constitution of the world disquieted him no less than the nature of -the gods; he had observed the equinoxes with the armils placed in the -portico of Alexandria, and accompanied the bematists of Evergetes, who -measure the sky by calculating the number of their steps, as far as -Cyrene; so that there was now growing in his thoughts a religion of -his own, with no distinct formula, and on that very account full of -infatuation and fervour. He no longer believed that the earth was -formed like a fir-cone; he believed it to be round, and eternally -falling through immensity with such prodigious speed that its fall was -not perceived. - -From the position of the sun above the moon he inferred the -predominance of Baal, of whom the planet itself is but the reflection -and figure; moreover, all that he saw in terrestrial things compelled -him to recognise the male exterminating principle as supreme. And then -he secretly charged Rabbet with the misfortune of his life. Was it not -for her that the grand-pontiff had once advanced amid the tumult of -cymbals, and with a patera of boiling water taken from him his future -virility? And he followed with a melancholy gaze the men who were -disappearing with the priestesses in the depths of the turpentine -trees. - -His days were spent in inspecting the censers, the gold vases, the -tongs, the rakes for the ashes of the altar, and all the robes of the -statues down to the bronze bodkin that served to curl the hair of an -old Tanith in the third aedicule near the emerald vine. At the same -hours he would raise the great hangings of the same swinging doors; -would remain with his arms outspread in the same attitude; or prayed -prostrate on the same flag-stones, while around him a people of -priests moved barefooted through the passages filled with an eternal -twilight. - -But Salammbo was in the barrenness of his life like a flower in the -cleft of a sepulchre. Nevertheless he was hard upon her, and spared -her neither penances nor bitter words. His condition established, as -it were, the equality of a common sex between them, and he was less -angry with the girl for his inability to possess her than for finding -her so beautiful, and above all so pure. Often he saw that she grew -weary of following his thought. Then he would turn away sadder than -before; he would feel himself more forsaken, more empty, more alone. - -Strange words escaped him sometimes, which passed before Salammbo like -broad lightnings illuminating the abysses. This would be at night on -the terrace when, both alone, they gazed upon the stars, and Carthage -spread below under their feet, with the gulf and the open sea dimly -lost in the colour of the darkness. - -He would set forth to her the theory of the souls that descend upon -the earth, following the same route as the sun through the signs of -the zodiac. With outstretched arm he showed the gate of human -generation in the Ram, and that of the return to the gods in -Capricorn; and Salammbo strove to see them, for she took these -conceptions for realities; she accepted pure symbols and even manners -of speech as being true in themselves, a distinction not always very -clear even to the priest. - -"The souls of the dead," said he, "resolve themselves into the moon, -as their bodies do into the earth. Their tears compose its humidity; -'tis a dark abode full of mire, and wreck, and tempest." - -She asked what would become of her then. - -"At first you will languish as light as a vapour hovering upon the -waves; and after more lengthened ordeals and agonies, you will pass -into the forces of the sun, the very source of Intelligence!" - -He did not speak, however, of Rabbet. Salammbo imagined that it was -through some shame for his vanquished goddess, and calling her by a -common name which designated the moon, she launched into blessings -upon the soft and fertile planet. At last he exclaimed: - -"No! no! she draws all her fecundity from the other! Do you not see -her hovering about him like an amorous woman running after a man in a -field?" And he exalted the virtue of light unceasingly. - -Far from depressing her mystic desires, he sought, on the contrary, to -excite them, and he even seemed to take joy in grieving her by the -revelation of a pitiless doctrine. In spite of the pains of her love -Salammbo threw herself upon it with transport. - -But the more that Schahabarim felt himself in doubt about Tanith, the -more he wished to believe in her. At the bottom of his soul he was -arrested by remorse. He needed some proof, some manifestation from the -gods, and in the hope of obtaining it the priest devised an enterprise -which might save at once his country and his belief. - -Thenceforward he set himself to deplore before Salammbo the sacrilege -and the misfortunes which resulted from it even in the regions of the -sky. Then he suddenly announced the peril of the Suffet, who was -assailed by three armies under the command of Matho--for on account of -the veil Matho was, in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the king, as it -were, of the Barbarians,--and he added that the safety of the Republic -and of her father depended upon her alone. - -"Upon me!" she exclaimed. "How can I--?" - -But the priest, with a smile of disdain said: - -"You will never consent!" - -She entreated him. At last Schahabarim said to her: - -"You must go to the Barbarians and recover the zaimph!" - -She sank down upon the ebony stool, and remained with her arms -stretched out between her knees and shivering in all her limbs, like a -victim at the altar's foot awaiting the blow of the club. Her temples -were ringing, she could see fiery circles revolving, and in her stupor -she had lost the understanding of all things save one, that she was -certainly going to die soon. - -But if Rabbetna triumphed, if the zaimph were restored and Carthage -delivered, what mattered a woman's life? thought Schahabarim. -Moreover, she would perhaps obtain the veil and not perish. - -He stayed away for three days; on the evening of the fourth she sent -for him. - -The better to inflame her heart he reported to her all the invectives -howled against Hamilcar in open council; he told her that she had -erred, that she owed reparation for her crime, and that Rabbetna -commanded the sacrifice. - -A great uproar came frequently across the Mappalian district to -Megara. Schahabarim and Salammbo went out quickly, and gazed from the -top of the galley staircase. - -There were people in the square of Khamon shouting for arms. The -Ancients would not provide them, esteeming such an effort useless; -others who had set out without a general had been massacred. At last -they were permitted to depart, and as a sort of homage to Moloch, or -from a vague need of destruction, they tore up tall cypress trees in -the woods of the temples, and having kindled them at the torches of -the Kabiri, were carrying them through the streets singing. These -monstrous flames advanced swaying gently; they transmitted fires to -the glass balls on the crests of the temples, to the ornaments of the -colossuses and the beaks of the ships, passed beyond the terraces and -formed suns as it were, which rolled through the town. They descended -the Acropolis. The gate of Malqua opened. - -"Are you ready?" exclaimed Schahabarim, "or have you asked them to -tell your father that you abandoned him?" She hid her face in her -veils, and the great lights retired, sinking gradually the while to -the edge of the waves. - -An indeterminate dread restrained her; she was afraid of Moloch and of -Matho. This man, with his giant stature, who was master of the zaimph, -ruled Rabbetna as much as did Baal, and seemed to her to be surrounded -by the same fulgurations; and then the souls of the gods sometimes -visited the bodies of men. Did not Schahabarim in speaking of him say -that she was to vanquish Moloch? They were mingled with each other; -she confused them together; both of them were pursuing her. - -She wished to learn the future, and approached the serpent, for -auguries were drawn from the attitudes of serpents. But the basket was -empty; Salammbo was disturbed. - -She found him with his tail rolled round one of the silver balustrades -beside the hanging bed, which he was rubbing in order to free himself -from his old yellowish skin, while his body stretched forth gleaming -and clear like a sword half out of the sheath. - -Then on the days following, in proportion as she allowed herself to be -convinced, and was more disposed to succour Tanith, the python -recovered and grew; he seemed to be reviving. - -The certainty that Salammbo was giving expression to the will of the -gods then became established in her conscience. One morning she awoke -resolved, and she asked what was necessary to make Matho restore the -veil. - -"To claim it," said Schahabarim. - -"But if he refuses?" she rejoined. - -The priest scanned her fixedly with a smile such as she had never -seen. - -"Yes, what is to be done?" repeated Salammbo. - -He rolled between his fingers the extremities of the bands which fell -from his tiara upon his shoulders, standing motionless with eyes cast -down. At last seeing that she did not understand: - -"You will be alone with him." - -"Well?" she said. - -"Alone in his tent." - -"What then?" - -Schahabarim bit his lips. He sought for some phrase, some -circumlocution. - -"If you are to die, that will be later," he said; "later! fear -nothing! and whatever he may undertake to do, do not call out! do not -be frightened! You will be humble, you understand, and submissive to -his desire, which is ordained of heaven!" - -"But the veil?" - -"The gods will take thought for it," replied Schahabarim. - -"Suppose you were to accompany me, O father?" she added. - -"No!" - -He made her kneel down, and keeping his left hand raised and his right -extended, he swore in her behalf to bring back the mantle of Tanith -into Carthage. With terrible imprecations she devoted herself to the -gods, and each time that Schahabarim pronounced a word she falteringly -repeated it. - -He indicated to her all the purifications and fastings that she was to -observe, and how she was to reach Matho. Moreover, a man acquainted -with the routes would accompany her. - -She felt as if she had been set free. She thought only of the -happiness of seeing the zaimph again, and she now blessed Schahabarim -for his exhortations. - -It was the period at which the doves of Carthage migrated to Sicily to -the mountain of Eryx and the temple of Venus. For several days before -their departure they sought out and called to one another so as to -collect together; at last one evening they flew away; the wind blew -them along, and the big white cloud glided across the sky high above -the sea. - -The horizon was filled with the colour of blood. They seemed to -descend gradually to the waves; then they disappeared as though -swallowed up, and falling of themselves into the jaws of the sun. -Salammbo, who watched them retiring, bent her head, and then Taanach, -believing that she guessed her sorrow, said gently to her: - -"But they will come back, Mistress." - -"Yes! I know." - -"And you will see them again." - -"Perhaps!" she said, sighing. - -She had not confided her resolve to any one; in order to carry it out -with the greater discretion she sent Taanach to the suburb of Kinisdo -to buy all the things that she required instead of requesting them -from the stewards: vermilion, aromatics, a linen girdle, and new -garments. The old slave was amazed at these preparations, without -daring, however, to ask any questions; and the day, which had been -fixed by Schahabarim, arrived when Salammbo was to set out. - -About the twelfth hour she perceived, in the depths of the sycamore -trees, a blind old man with one hand resting on the shoulder of a -child who walked before him, while with the other he carried a kind of -cithara of black wood against his hip. The eunuchs, slaves, and women -had been scrupulously sent away; no one might know the mystery that -was preparing. - -Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cadamomum in the -corners of the apartment; then she unfolded large Babylonian hangings, -and stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbo did not -wish to be seen even by the walls. The kinnor-player squatted behind -the door and the young boy standing upright applied a reed flute to -his lips. In the distance the roar of the streets was growing feebler, -violet shadows were lengthening before the peristyles of the temples, -and on the other side of the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of -olive-trees, and the vague yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and -were blended together in a bluish haze; not a sound was to be heard, -and an unspeakable depression weighed in the air. - -Salammbo crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; -she raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and -began her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred -rites. - -Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an -alabaster phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren -women on a winter's night amid the rubbish of a sepulchre. She rubbed -it upon her ears, her heels, and the thumb of her right hand, and even -her nail remained somewhat red, as if she had crushed a fruit. - -The moon rose; then the cithara and the flute began to play together. - -Salammbo unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her -long white simar; she unknotted the band in her hair, shaking the -latter for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by -thus scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three -notes ever the same, hurried and frenzied; the strings grated, the -flute blew; Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbo, with a -swaying of her whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one -after another around her. - -The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python's head appeared above the -cord that supported it. The serpent descended slowly like a drop of -water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and -then, gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his -eyes, more brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon Salammbo. - -A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame, at first made her -hesitate. But she recalled Schahabarim's orders and advanced; the -python turned downwards, and resting the centre of its body upon the -nape of her neck, allowed its head and tail to hang like a broken -necklace with both ends trailing to the ground. Salammbo rolled it -around her sides, under her arms and between her knees; then taking it -by the jaw she brought the little triangular mouth to the edge of her -teeth, and half shutting her eyes, threw herself back beneath the rays -of the moon. The white light seemed to envelop her in a silver mist, -the prints of her humid steps shone upon the flag-stones, stars -quivered in the depth of the water; it tightened upon her its black -rings that were spotted with scales of gold. Salammbo panted beneath -the excessive weight, her loins yielded, she felt herself dying, and -with the tip of its tail the serpent gently beat her thigh; then the -music becoming still it fell off again. - -Taanach came back to her; and after arranging two candelabra, the -lights of which burned in crystal balls filled with water, she tinged -the inside of her hands with Lawsonia, spread vermilion upon her -cheeks, and antimony along the edge of her eyelids, and lengthened her -eyebrows with a mixture of gum, musk, ebony, and crushed legs of -flies. - -Salammbo seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the -attentions of the slave. But the touchings, the odour of the -aromatics, and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. -She became so pale that Taanach stopped. - -"Go on!" said Salammbo, and bearing up against herself, she suddenly -revived. Then she was seized with impatience; she urged Taanach to -make haste, and the old slave grumbled: - -"Well! well! Mistress!--Besides, you have no one waiting for you!" - -"Yes!" said Salammbo, "some one is waiting for me." - -Taanach drew back in surprise, and in order to learn more about it, -said: - -"What orders to you give me, Mistress? for if you are to remain -away--" - -But Salammbo was sobbing; the slave exclaimed: - -"You are suffering! what is the matter? Do not go away! take me! When -you were quite little and used to cry, I took you to my heart and made -you laugh with the points of my breasts; you have drained them, -Mistress!" She struck herself upon her dried-up bosom. "Now I am old! -I can do nothing for you! you no longer love me! you hide your griefs -from me, you despise the nurse!" And tears of tenderness and vexation -flowed down her cheeks in the gashes of her tattooing. - -"No!" said Salammbo, "no, I love you! be comforted!" - -With a smile like the grimace of an old ape, Taanach resumed her task. -In accordance with Schahabarim's recommendations, Salammbo had ordered -the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her mistress -with barbaric taste full at once of refinement and ingenuity. - -Over a first delicate and vinous-coloured tunic she passed a second -embroidered with birds' feathers. Golden scales clung to her hips, and -from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silver-starred -trousers. Next Taanach put upon her a long robe made of the cloth of -the country of Seres, white and streaked with green lines. On the edge -of her shoulder she fastened a square of purple weighted at the hem -with grains of sandastrum; and above all these garments she placed a -black mantle with a flowing train; then she gazed at her, and proud of -her work could not help saying: - -"You will not be more beautiful on the day of your bridal!" - -"My bridal!" repeated Salammbo; she was musing with her elbow resting -upon the ivory chair. - -But Taanach set up before her a copper mirror, which was so broad and -high that she could see herself completely in it. Then she rose, and -with a light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was -falling too low. - -Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung -down behind over her back in long twists ending in pearls. The -brightness of the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the -gold on her garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, -and on her arms, hands and toes, she had such a wealth of gems that -the mirror sent back rays upon her like a sun;--and Salammbo, standing -by the side of Taanach, who leaned over to see her, smiled amid this -dazzling display. - -Then she walked to and fro embarrassed by the time that was still -left. - -Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded. She quickly pinned a long -yellow veil upon her hair, passed a scarf around her neck, thrust her -feet into blue leather boots, and said to Taanach: - -"Go and see whether there is not a man with two horses beneath the -myrtles." - -Taanach had scarcely re-entered when she was descending the galley -staircase. - -"Mistress!" cried the nurse. - -Salammbo turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for -discretion and immobility. - -Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, and -from a distance she could distinguish by the light of the moon a -gigantic shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of -Salammbo, a sign which presaged death. - -Taanach went up again into the chamber. She threw herself upon the -ground tearing her face with her nails; she plucked out her hair, and -uttered piercing shrieks with all her might. - -It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent, -sobbing quite softly with her head in the hands and her face on the -pavement. - - - -CHAPTER XI - -IN THE TENT - -The man who guided Salammbo made her ascend again beyond the pharos in -the direction of the Catacombs, and then go down the long suburb of -Molouya, which was full of steep lanes. The sky was beginning to grow -grey. Sometimes palm-wood beams jutting out from the walls obliged -them to bend their heads. The two horses which were at the walk would -often slip; and thus they reached the Teveste gate. - -Its heavy leaves were half open; they passed through, and it closed -behind them. - -At first they followed the foot of the ramparts for a time, and at the -height of the cisterns they took their way along the Taenia, a narrow -strip of yellow earth separating the gulf from the lake and extending -as far as Rhades. - -No one was to be seen around Carthage, whether on the sea or in the -country. The slate-coloured waves chopped softly, and the light wind -blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with white rents. -In spite of all her veils, Salammbo shivered in the freshness of the -morning; the motion and the open air dazed her. Then the sun rose; it -preyed on the back of her head, and she involuntarily dozed a little. -The two animals rambled along side by side, their feet sinking into -the silent sand. - -When they had passed the mountain of the Hot Springs, they went on at -a more rapid rate, the ground being firmer. - -But although it was the season for sowing and ploughing, the fields -were as empty as the desert as far as the eye could reach. Here and -there were scattered heaps of corn; at other places the barley was -shedding its reddened ears. The villages showed black upon the clear -horizon, with shapes incoherently carved. - -From time to time a half-calcined piece of wall would be found -standing on the edge of the road. The roofs of the cottages were -falling in, and in the interiors might be distinguished fragments of -pottery, rags of clothing, and all kinds of unrecognisable utensils -and broken things. Often a creature clothed in tatters, with earthy -face and flaming eyes would emerge from these ruins. But he would very -quickly begin to run or would disappear into a hole. Salammbo and her -guide did not stop. - -Deserted plains succeeded one another. Charcoal dust which was raised -by their feet behind them, stretched in unequal trails over large -spaces of perfectly white soil. Sometimes they came upon little -peaceful spots, where a brook flowed amid the long grass; and as they -ascended the other bank Salammbo would pluck damp leaves to cool her -hands. At the corner of a wood of rose-bays her horse shied violently -at the corpse of a man which lay extended on the ground. - -The slave immediately settled her again on the cushions. He was one of -the servants of the Temple, a man whom Schahabarim used to employ on -perilous missions. - -With extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the -horses; he would whip the animals with the end of a leathern lace -wound round his arm, or would perhaps take balls made of wheat, dates, -and yolks of eggs wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against -his breast, and offer them to Salammbo without speaking, and running -all the time. - -In the middle of the day three Barbarians clad in animals' skins -crossed their path. By degrees others appeared wandering in troops of -ten, twelve, or twenty-five men; many were driving goats or a limping -cow. Their heavy sticks bristled with brass points; cutlasses gleamed -in their clothes, which were savagely dirty, and they opened their -eyes with a look of menace and amazement. As they passed some sent -them a vulgar benediction; others obscene jests, and Schahabarim's man -replied to each in his own idiom. He told them that this was a sick -youth going to be cured at a distant temple. - -However, the day was closing in. Barkings were heard, and they -approached them. - -Then in the twilight they perceived an enclosure of dry stones -shutting in a rambling edifice. A dog was running along the top of the -wall. The slave threw some pebbles at him and they entered a lofty -vaulted hall. - -A woman was crouching in the centre warming herself at a fire of -brushwood, the smoke of which escaped through the holes in the -ceiling. She was half hidden by her white hair which fell to her -knees; and unwilling to answer, she muttered with idiotic look words -of vengeance against the Barbarians and the Carthaginians. - -The runner ferreted right and left. Then he returned to her and -demanded something to eat. The old woman shook her head, and murmured -with her eyes fixed upon the charcoal: - -"I was the hand. The ten fingers are cut off. The mouth eats no more." - -The slave showed her a handful of gold pieces. She rushed upon them, -but soon resumed her immobility. - -At last he placed a dagger which he had in his girdle beneath her -throat. Then, trembling, she went and raised a large stone, and -brought back an amphora of wine with fish from Hippo-Zarytus preserved -in honey. - -Salammbo turned away from this unclean food, and fell asleep on the -horses' caparisons which were spread in a corner of the hall. - -He awoke her before daylight. - -The dog was howling. The slave went up to it quietly, and struck off -its head with a single blow of his dagger. Then he rubbed the horses' -nostrils with blood to revive them. The old woman cast a malediction -at him from behind. Salammbo perceived this, and pressed the amulet -which she wore above her heart. - -They resumed their journey. - -From time to time she asked whether they would not arrive soon. The -road undulated over little hills. Nothing was to be heard but the -grating of the grasshoppers. The sun heated the yellowed grass; the -ground was all chinked with crevices which in dividing formed, as it -were, monstrous paving-stones. Sometimes a viper passed, or eagles -flew by; the slave still continued running. Salammbo mused beneath her -veils, and in spite of the heat did not lay them aside through fear of -soiling her beautiful garments. - -At regular distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the -purpose of keeping watch upon the tribes. They entered these for the -sake of the shade, and then set out again. - -For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before. But they -met with no one just now; the region being a sterile one, the -Barbarians had not passed that way. - -Gradually the devastation began again. Sometimes a piece of mosaic -would be displayed in the centre of a field, the sole remnant of a -vanished mansion; and the leafless olive trees looked at a distance -like large bushes of thorns. They passed through a town in which -houses were burnt to the ground. Human skeletons might be seen along -the walls. There were some, too, of dromedaries and mules. Half-gnawed -carrion blocked the streets. - -Night fell. The sky was lowering and cloudy. - -They ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction, when -suddenly they perceived a quantity of little flames before them. - -These were shining at the bottom of an ampitheatre. Gold plates, as -they displaced one another, glanced here and there. These were the -cuirasses of the Clinabarians in the Punic camp; then in the -neighbourhood they distinguished other and more numerous lights, for -the armies of the Mercenaries, now blended together, extended over a -great space. - -Salammbo made a movement as though to advance. But Schahabarim's man -took her further away, and they passed along by the terrace which -enclosed the camp of the Barbarians. A breach became visible in it, -and the slave disappeared. - -A sentry was walking upon the top of the entrenchment with a bow in -his hand and a pike on his shoulder. - -Salammbo drew still nearer; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow -pierced the hem of her cloak. Then as she stood motionless and -shrieking, he asked her what she wanted. - -"To speak to Matho," she replied. "I am a fugitive from Carthage." - -He gave a whistle, which was repeated at intervals further away. - -Salammbo waited; her frightened horse moved round and round, sniffing. - -When Matho arrived the moon was rising behind her. But she had a -yellow veil with black flowers over her face, and so many draperies -about her person, that it was impossible to make any guess about her. -From the top of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up -like a phantom in the penumbrae of the evening. - -At last she said to him: - -"Lead me to your tent! I wish it!" - -A recollection which he could not define passed through his memory. He -felt his heart beating. The air of command intimidated him. - -"Follow me!" he said. - -The barrier was lowered, and immediately she was in the camp of the -Barbarians. - -It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng. Bright fires -were burning beneath hanging pots; and their purpled reflections -illuminating some places left others completely in the dark. There was -shouting and calling; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid -the tents; the latter were round and square, of leather or of canvas; -there were huts of reeds, and holes in the sand such as are made by -dogs. Soldiers were carting faggots, resting on their elbows on the -ground, or wrapping themselves up in mats and preparing to sleep; and -Salammbo's horse sometimes stretched out a leg and jumped in order to -pass over them. - -She remembered that she had seen them before; but their beards were -longer now, their faces still blacker, and their voices hoarser. -Matho, who walked before her, waved them off with a gesture of his arm -which raised his red mantle. Some kissed his hands; others bending -their spines approached him to ask for orders, for he was now -veritable and sole chief of the Barbarians; Spendius, Autaritus, and -Narr' Havas had become disheartened, and he had displayed so much -audacity and obstinacy that all obeyed him. - -Salammbo followed him through the entire camp. His tent was at the -end, three hundred feet from Hamilcar's entrenchments. - -She noticed a wide pit on the right, and it seemed to her that faces -were resting against the edge of it on a level with the ground, as -decapitated heads might have done. However, their eyes moved, and from -these half-opened mouths groanings escaped in the Punic tongue. - -Two Negroes holding resin lights stood on both sides of the door. -Matho drew the canvas abruptly aside. She followed him. It was a deep -tent with a pole standing up in the centre. It was lighted by a large -lamp-holder shaped like a lotus and full of a yellow oil wherein -floated handfuls of burning tow, and military things might be -distinguished gleaming in the shade. A naked sword leaned against a -stool by the side of a shield; whips of hippopotamus leather, cymbals, -bells, and necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of esparto- -grass; a felt rug lay soiled with crumbs of black bread; some copper -money was carelessly heaped upon a round stone in a corner, and -through the rents in the canvas the wind brought the dust from -without, together with the smell of the elephants, which might be -heard eating and shaking their chains. - -"Who are you?" said Matho. - -She looked slowly around her without replying; then her eyes were -arrested in the background, where something bluish and sparkling fell -upon a bed of palm-branches. - -She advanced quickly. A cry escaped her. Matho stamped his foot behind -her. - -"Who brings you here? why do you come?" - -"To take it!" she replied, pointing to the zaimph, and with the other -hand she tore the veils from her head. He drew back with his elbows -behind him, gaping, almost terrified. - -She felt as if she were leaning on the might of the gods; and looking -at him face to face she asked him for the zaimph; she demanded it in -words abundant and superb. - -Matho did not hear; he was gazing at her, and in his eyes her garments -were blended with her body. The clouding of the stuffs, like the -splendour of her skin, was something special and belonging to her -alone. Her eyes and her diamonds sparkled; the polish of her nails -continued the delicacy of the stones which loaded her fingers; the two -clasps of her tunic raised her breasts somewhat and brought them -closer together, and he in thought lost himself in the narrow interval -between them whence there fell a thread holding a plate of emeralds -which could be seen lower down beneath the violet gauze. She had as -earrings two little sapphire scales, each supporting a hollow pearl -filled with liquid scent. A little drop would fall every moment -through the holes in the pearl and moisten her naked shoulder. Matho -watched it fall. - -He was carried away by ungovernable curiosity; and, like a child -laying his hand upon a strange fruit, he tremblingly and lightly -touched the top of her chest with the tip of his finger: the flesh, -which was somewhat cold, yielded with an elastic resistance. - -This contact, though scarcely a sensible one, shook Matho to the very -depths of his nature. An uprising of his whole being urged him towards -her. He would fain have enveloped her, absorbed her, drunk her. His -bosom was panting, his teeth were chattering. - -Taking her by the wrists he drew her gently to him, and then sat down -upon a cuirass beside the palm-tree bed which was covered with a -lion's skin. She was standing. He looked up at her, holding her thus -between his knees, and repeating: - -"How beautiful you are! how beautiful you are!" - -His eyes, which were continually fixed upon hers, pained her; and the -uncomfortableness, the repugnance increased in so acute a fashion that -Salammbo put a constraint upon herself not to cry out. The thought of -Schahabarim came back to her, and she resigned herself. - -Matho still kept her little hands in his own; and from time to time, -in spite of the priest's command, she turned away her face and tried -to thrust him off by jerking her arms. He opened his nostrils the -better to breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person. It was -a fresh, indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, -like the smoke from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, -incense, roses, with another odour still. - -But how was she thus with him in his tent, and at his disposal? Some -one no doubt had urged her. She had not come for the zaimph. His arms -fell, and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie. - -To soften him Salammbo said to him in a plaintive voice: - -"What have I done to you that you should desire my death?" - -"Your death!" - -She resumed: - -"I saw you one evening by the light of my burning gardens amid fuming -cups and my slaughtered slaves, and your anger was so strong that you -bounded towards me and I was obliged to fly! Then terror entered into -Carthage. There were cries of the devastation of the towns, the -burning of the country-seats, the massacre of the soldiery; it was you -who had ruined them, it was you who had murdered them! I hate you! -Your very name gnaws me like remorse! You are execrated more than the -plague, and the Roman war! The provinces shudder at your fury, the -furrows are full of corpses! I have followed the traces of your fires -as though I were travelling behind Moloch!" - -Matho leaped up; his heart was swelling with colossal pride; he was -raised to the stature of a god. - -With quivering nostrils and clenched teeth she went on: - -"As if your sacrilege were not enough, you came to me in my sleep -covered with the zaimph! Your words I did not understand; but I could -see that you wished to drag me to some terrible thing at the bottom of -an abyss." - -Matho, writhing his arms, exclaimed: - -"No! no! it was to give it to you! to restore it to you! It seemed to -me that the goddess had left her garment for you, and that it belonged -to you! In her temple or in your house, what does it matter? are you -not all-powerful, immaculate, radiant and beautiful even as Tanith?" -And with a look of boundless adoration he added: - -"Unless perhaps you are Tanith?" - -"I, Tanith!" said Salammbo to herself. - -They left off speaking. The thunder rolled in the distance. Some sheep -bleated, frightened by the storm. - -"Oh! come near!" he went on, "come near! fear nothing! - -"Formerly I was only a soldier mingled with the common herd of the -Mercenaries, ay, and so meek that I used to carry wood on my back for -the others. Do I trouble myself about Carthage! The crowd of its -people move as though lost in the dust of your sandals, and all its -treasures, with the provinces, fleets, and islands, do not raise my -envy like the freshness of your lips and the turn of your shoulders. -But I wanted to throw down its walls that I might reach you to possess -you! Moreover, I was revenging myself in the meantime! At present I -crush men like shells, and I throw myself upon phalanxes; I put aside -the sarissae with my hands, I check the stallions by the nostrils; a -catapult would not kill me! Oh! if you knew how I think of you in the -midst of war! Sometimes the memory of a gesture or of a fold of your -garment suddenly seizes me and entwines me like a net! I perceive your -eyes in the flames of the phalaricas and on the gilding of the -shields! I hear your voice in the sounding of the cymbals. I turn -aside, but you are not there! and I plunge again into the battle!" - -He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one another like ivy on -the branches of a tree. Sweat flowed down his breast between his -square muscles; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze -girdle all garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees, which were -firmer than marble. Salammbo, who was accustomed to eunuchs, yielded -to amazement at the strength of this man. It was the chastisement of -the goddess or the influence of Moloch in motion around her in the -five armies. She was overwhelmed with lassitude; and she listened in a -state of stupor to the intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they -answered one another. - -The flames of the lamp kindled in the squalls of hot air. There came -at times broad lightning flashes; then the darkness increased; and she -could only see Matho's eyeballs like two coals in the night. However, -she felt that a fatality was surrounding her, that she had reached a -supreme and irrevocable moment, and making an effort she went up again -towards the zaimph and raised her hands to seize it. - -"What are you doing?" exclaimed Matho. - -"I am going back to Carthage," she placidly replied. - -He advanced folding his arms and with so terrible a look that her -heels were immediately nailed, as it were, to the spot. - -"Going back to Carthage!" He stammered, and, grinding his teeth, -repeated: - -"Going back to Carthage! Ah! you came to take the zaimph, to conquer -me, and then disappear! No, no! you belong to me! and no one now shall -tear you from here! Oh! I have not forgotten the insolence of your -large tranquil eyes, and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of -your beauty! 'Tis my turn now! You are my captive, my slave, my -servant! Call, if you like, on your father and his army, the Ancients, -the rich, and your whole accursed people! I am the master of three -hundred thousand soldiers! I will go and seek them in Lusitania, in -the Gauls, and in the depths of the desert, and I will overthrow your -town and burn all its temples; the triremes shall float on the waves -of blood! I will not have a house, a stone, or a palm tree remaining! -And if men fail me I will draw the bears from the mountains and urge -on the lions! Seek not to fly or I kill you!" - -Pale and with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are -about to burst. Suddenly sobs stifled him, and he sank down upon his -hams. - -"Ah! forgive me! I am a scoundrel, and viler than scorpions, than mire -and dust! Just now while you were speaking your breath passed across -my face, and I rejoiced like a dying man who drinks lying flat on the -edge of a stream. Crush me, if only I feel your feet! curse me, if -only I hear your voice! Do not go! have pity! I love you! I love you!" - -He was on his knees on the ground before her; and he encircled her -form with both his arms, his head thrown back, and his hands -wandering; the gold discs hanging from his ears gleamed upon his -bronzed neck; big tears rolled in his eyes like silver globes; he -sighed caressingly, and murmured vague words lighter than a breeze and -sweet as a kiss. - -Salammbo was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all consciousness -of herself. Something at once inward and lofty, a command from the -gods, obliged her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and she fell -back swooning upon the bed amid the lion's hair. The zaimph fell, and -enveloped her; she could see Matho's face bending down above her -breast. - -"Moloch, thou burnest me!" and the soldier's kisses, more devouring -than flames, covered her; she was as though swept away in a hurricane, -taken in the might of the sun. - -He kissed all her fingers, her arms, her feet, and the long tresses of -her hair from one end to the other. - -"Carry it off," he said, "what do I care? take me away with it! I -abandon the army! I renounce everything! Beyond Gades, twenty days' -journey into the sea, you come to an island covered with gold dust, -verdure, and birds. On the mountains large flowers filled with smoking -perfumes rock like eternal censers; in the citron trees, which are -higher than cedars, milk-coloured serpents cause the fruit to fall -upon the turf with the diamonds in their jaws; the air is so mild that -it keeps you from dying. Oh! I shall find it, you will see. We shall -live in crystal grottoes cut out at the foot of the hills. No one -dwells in it yet, or I shall become the king of the country." - -He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter -of a pomegranate between her lips; he heaped up garments behind her -head to make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and -to humble himself, and he even spread the zaimph over her feet as if -it were a mere rug. - -"Have you still," he said, "those little gazelle's horns on which your -necklaces hang? You will give them to me! I love them!" For he spoke -as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from him. The -Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The moon -was gliding between two clouds. They could see it through an opening -in the tent. "Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed -to me like a veil that hid your face; you would look at me through -her; the memory of you was mingled with her beams; then I could no -longer distinguish you!" And with his head between her breasts he wept -copiously. - -"And this," she thought, "is the formidable man who makes Carthage -tremble!" - -He fell asleep. Then disengaging herself from his arm she put one foot -to the ground, and she perceived that her chainlet was broken. - -The maidens of the great families were accustomed to respect these -shackles as something that was almost religious, and Salammbo, -blushing, rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles. - -Carthage, Megara, her house, her room, and the country that she had -passed through, whirled in tumultuous yet distinct images through her -memory. But an abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an -infinite distance from her. - -The storm was departing; drops of water splashing rarely, one by one, -made the tent-roof shake. - -Matho slept like a drunken man, stretched on his side, and with one -arm over the edge of the couch. His band of pearls was raised -somewhat, and uncovered his brow; his teeth were parted in a smile; -they shone through his black beard, and there was a silent and almost -outrageous gaiety in his half-closed eyelids. - -Salammbo looked at him motionless, her head bent and her hands -crossed. - -A dagger was displayed on the table of cypress-wood at the head of the -bed; the sight of the gleaming blade fired her with a sanguinary -desire. Mournful voices lingered at a distance in the shade, and like -a chorus of geniuses urged her on. She approached it; she seized the -steel by the handle. At the rustling of her dress Matho half opened -his eyes, putting forth his mouth upon her hands, and the dagger fell. - -Shouts arose; a terrible light flashed behind the canvas. Matho raised -the latter; they perceived the camp of the Libyans enveloped in great -flames. - -Their reed huts were burning, and the twisting stems burst in the -smoke and flew off like arrows; black shadows ran about distractedly -on the red horizon. They could hear the shrieks of those who were in -the huts; the elephants, oxen, and horses plunged in the midst of the -crowd crushing it together with the stores and baggage that were being -rescued from the fire. Trumpets sounded. There were calls of "Matho! -Matho!" Some people at the door tried to get in. - -"Come along! Hamilcar is burning the camp of Autaritus!" - -He made a spring. She found herself quite alone. - -Then she examined the zaimph; and when she had viewed it well she was -surprised that she had not the happiness which she had once imagined -to herself. She stood with melancholy before her accomplished dream. - -But the lower part of the tent was raised, and a monstrous form -appeared. Salammbo could at first distinguish only the two eyes and a -long white beard which hung down to the ground; for the rest of the -body, which was cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment, trailed -along the earth; and with every forward movement the hands passed into -the beard and then fell again. Crawling in this way it reached her -feet, and Salammbo recognised the aged Gisco. - -In fact, the Mercenaries had broken the legs of the captive Ancients -with a brass bar to prevent them from taking to flight; and they were -all rotting pell-mell in a pit in the midst of filth. But the -sturdiest of them raised themselves and shouted when they heard the -noise of platters, and it was in this way that Gisco had seen -Salammbo. He had guessed that she was a Carthaginian woman by the -little balls of sandastrum flapping against her cothurni; and having a -presentiment of an important mystery he had succeeded, with the -assistance of his companions, in getting out of the pit; then with -elbows and hands he had dragged himself twenty paces further on as far -as Matho's tent. Two voices were speaking within it. He had listened -outside and had heard everything. - -"It is you!" she said at last, almost terrified. - -"Yes, it is I!" he replied, raising himself on his wrists. "They think -me dead, do they not?" - -She bent her head. He resumed: - -"Ah! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy!" He approached so -close he was touching her. "They would have spared me the pain of -cursing you!" - -Salammbo sprang quickly back, so much afraid was she of this unclean -being, who was as hideous as a larva and nearly as terrible as a -phantom. - -"I am nearly one hundred years old," he said. "I have seen Agathocles; -I have seen Regulus and the eagles of the Romans passing over the -harvests of the Punic fields! I have seen all the terrors of battles -and the sea encumbered with the wrecks of our fleets! Barbarians whom -I used to command have chained my four limbs like a slave that has -committed murder. My companions are dying around me, one after the -other; the odour of their corpses awakes me in the night; I drive away -the birds that come to peck out their eyes; and yet not for a single -day have I despaired of Carthage! Though I had seen all the armies of -the earth against her, and the flames of the siege overtop the height -of the temples, I should have still believed in her eternity! But now -all is over! all is lost! The gods execrate her! A curse upon you who -have quickened her ruin by your disgrace!" - -She opened her lips. - -"Ah! I was there!" he cried. "I heard you gurgling with love like a -prostitute; then he told you of his desire, and you allowed him to -kiss your hands! But if the frenzy of your unchastity urged you to it, -you should at least have done as do the fallow deer, which hide -themselves in their copulations, and not have displayed your shame -beneath your father's very eyes!" - -"What?" she said. - -"Ah! you did not know that the two entrenchments are sixty cubits from -each other and that your Matho, in the excess of his pride, has posted -himself just in front of Hamilcar. Your father is there behind you; -and could I climb the path which leads to the platform, I should cry -to him: 'Come and see your daughter in the Barbarian's arms! She has -put on the garment of the goddess to please him; and in yielding her -body to him she surrenders with the glory of your name the majesty of -the gods, the vengeance of her country, even the safety of Carthage!'" -The motion of his toothless mouth moved his beard throughout its -length; his eyes were riveted upon her and devoured her; panting in -the dust he repeated: - -"Ah! sacrilegious one! May you be accursed! accursed! accursed!" - -Salammbo had drawn back the canvas; she held it raised at arm's -length, and without answering him she looked in the direction of -Hamilcar. - -"It is this way, is it not?" she said. - -"What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face -against the earth! It is a holy spot which would be polluted by your -gaze!" - -She threw the zaimph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils, -mantle, and scarf. "I hasten thither!" she cried; and making her -escape Salammbo disappeared. - -At first she walked through the darkness without meeting any one, for -all were betaking themselves to the fire; the uproar was increasing -and great flames purpled the sky behind; a long terrace stopped her. - -She turned round to right and left at random, seeking for a ladder, a -rope, a stone, something in short to assist her. She was afraid of -Gisco, and it seemed to her that shouts and footsteps were pursuing -her. Day was beginning to break. She perceived a path in the thickness -of the entrenchment. She took the hem of her robe, which impeded her, -in her teeth, and in three bounds she was on the platform. - -A sonorous shout burst forth beneath her in the shade, the same which -she had heard at the foot of the galley staircase, and leaning over -she recognised Schahabarim's man with his coupled horses. - -He had wandered all night between the two entrenchments; then -disquieted by the fire, he had gone back again trying to see what was -passing in Matho's camp; and, knowing that this spot was nearest to -his tent, he had not stirred from it, in obedience to the priest's -command. - -He stood up on one of the horses. Salammbo let herself slide down to -him; and they fled at full gallop, circling the Punic camp in search -of a gate. - -Matho had re-entered his tent. The smoky lamp gave but little light, -and he also believed that Salammbo was asleep. Then he delicately -touched the lion's skin on the palm-tree bed. He called but she did -not answer; he quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some -light; the zaimph was gone. - -The earth trembled beneath thronging feet. Shouts, neighings, and -clashing of armour rose in the air, and clarion flourishes sounded the -charge. It was as though a hurricane were whirling around him. -Immoderate frenzy made him leap upon his arms, and he dashed outside. - -The long files of the Barbarians were descending the mountain at a -run, and the Punic squares were advancing against them with a heavy -and regular oscillation. The mist, rent by the rays of the sun, formed -little rocking clouds which as they rose gradually discovered -standards, helmets, and points of pikes. Beneath the rapid evolutions -portions of the earth which were still in the shadow seemed to be -displaced bodily; in other places it looked as if huge torrents were -crossing one another, while thorny masses stood motionless between -them. Matho could distinguish the captains, soldiers, heralds, and -even the serving-men, who were mounted on asses in the rear. But -instead of maintaining his position in order to cover the foot- -soldiers, Narr' Havas turned abruptly to the right, as though he -wished himself to be crushed by Hamilcar. - -His horsemen outstripped the elephants, which were slackening their -speed; and all the horses, stretching out their unbridled heads, -galloped at so furious a rate that their bellies seemed to graze the -earth. Then suddenly Narr' Havas went resolutely up to a sentry. He -threw away his sword, lance, and javelins, and disappeared among the -Carthaginians. - -The king of the Numidians reached Hamilcar's tent, and pointing to his -men, who were standing still at a distance, he said: - -"Barca! I bring them to you. They are yours." - -Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage, and to prove his -fidelity recalled all his conduct from the beginning of the war. - -First, he had prevented the siege of Carthage and the massacre of the -captives; then he had taken no advantage of the victory over Hanno -after the defeat at Utica. As to the Tyrian towns, they were on the -frontiers of his kingdom. Finally he had not taken part in the battle -of the Macaras; and he had even expressly absented himself in order to -evade the obligation of fighting against the Suffet. - -Narr' Havas had in fact wished to aggrandise himself by encroachments -upon the Punic provinces, and had alternately assisted and forsaken -the Mercenaries according to the chances of victory. But seeing that -Hamilcar would ultimately prove the stronger, he had gone over to him; -and in his desertion there was perhaps something of a grudge against -Matho, whether on account of the command or of his former love. - -The Suffet listened without interrupting him. The man who thus -presented himself with an army where vengeance was his due was not an -auxiliary to be despised; Hamilcar at once divined the utility of such -an alliance in his great projects. With the Numidians he would get rid -of the Libyans. Then he would draw off the West to the conquest of -Iberia; and, without asking Narr' Havas why he had not come sooner, or -noticing any of his lies, he kissed him, striking his breast thrice -against his own. - -It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that he had fired the -camp of the Libyans. This army came to him like a relief from the -gods; dissembling his joy he replied: - -"May the Baals favour you! I do not know what the Republic will do for -you, but Hamilcar is not ungrateful." - -The tumult increased; some captains entered. He was arming himself as -he spoke. - -"Come, return! You will use your horsemen to beat down their infantry -between your elephants and mine. Courage! exterminate them!" - -And Narr' Havas was rushing away when Salammbo appeared. - -She leaped down quickly from her horse. She opened her ample cloak and -spreading out her arms displayed the zaimph. - -The leathern tent, which was raised at the corners, left visible the -entire circuit of the mountain with its thronging soldiers, and as it -was in the centre Salammbo could be seen on all sides. An immense -shouting burst forth, a long cry of triumph and hope. Those who were -marching stopped; the dying leaned on their elbows and turned round to -bless her. All the Barbarians knew now that she had recovered the -zaimph; they saw her or believed that they saw her from a distance; -and other cries, but those of rage and vengeance, resounded in spite -of the plaudits of the Carthaginians. Thus did the five armies in -tiers upon the mountain stamp and shriek around Salammbo. - -Hamilcar, who was unable to speak, nodded her his thanks. His eyes -were directed alternately upon the zaimph and upon her, and he noticed -that her chainlet was broken. Then he shivered, being seized with a -terrible suspicion. But soon recovering his impassibility he looked -sideways at Narr' Havas without turning his face. - -The king of the Numidians held himself apart in a discreet attitude; -on his forehead he bore a little of the dust which he had touched when -prostrating himself. At last the Suffet advanced towards him with a -look full of gravity. - -"As a reward for the services which you have rendered me, Narr' Havas, -I give you my daughter. Be my son," he added, "and defend your -father!" - -Narr' Havas gave a great gesture of surprise; then he threw himself -upon Hamilcar's hands and covered them with kisses. - -Salammbo, calm as a statue, did not seem to understand. She blushed a -little as she cast down her eyelids, and her long curved lashes made -shadows upon her cheeks. - -Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in indissoluble betrothal. A -lance was placed in Salammbo's hands and by her offered to Narr' -Havas; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of ox-leather; -then corn was poured upon their heads, and the grains that fell around -them rang like rebounding hail. - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE AQUEDUCT - -Twelve hours afterwards all that remained of the Mercenaries was a -heap of wounded, dead, and dying. - -Hamilcar had suddenly emerged from the bottom of the gorge, and again -descended the western slope that looked towards Hippo-Zarytus, and the -space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the -Barbarians into it. Narr' Havas had encompassed them with his horse; -the Suffet meanwhile drove them back and crushed them. Then, too, they -were conquered beforehand by the loss of the zaimph; even those who -cared nothing about it had experienced anguish and something akin to -enfeeblement. Hamilcar, not indulging his pride by holding the field -of battle, had retired a little further off on the left to some -heights, from which he commanded them. - -The shape of the camps could be recognised by their sloping palisades. -A long heap of black cinders was smoking on the side of the Libyans; -the devastated soil showed undulations like the sea, and the tents -with their tattered canvas looked like dim ships half lost in the -breakers. Cuirasses, forks, clarions, pieces of wood, iron and brass, -corn, straw, and garments were scattered about among the corpses; here -and there a phalarica on the point of extinction burned against a heap -of baggage; in some places the earth was hidden with shields; horses' -carcasses succeeded one another like a series of hillocks; legs, -sandals, arms, and coats of mail were to be seen, with heads held in -their helmets by the chin-pieces and rolling about like balls; heads -of hair were hanging on the thorns; elephants were lying with their -towers in pools of blood, with entrails exposed, and gasping. The foot -trod on slimy things, and there were swamps of mud although no rain -had fallen. - -This confusion of dead bodies covered the whole mountain from top to -bottom. - -Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting in unequal -groups they looked at one another scared and without speaking. - -The lake of Hippo-Zarytus shone at the end of a long meadow beneath -the setting sun. To the right an agglomeration of white houses -extended beyond a girdle of walls; then the sea spread out -indefinitely; and the Barbarians, with their chins in their hands, -sighed as they thought of their native lands. A cloud of grey dust was -falling. - -The evening wind blew; then every breast dilated, and as the freshness -increased, the vermin might be seen to forsake the dead, who were -colder now, and to run over the hot sand. Crows, looking towards the -dying, rested motionless on the tops of the big stones. - -When night had fallen yellow-haired dogs, those unclean beasts which -followed the armies, came quite softly into the midst of the -Barbarians. At first they licked the clots of blood on the still tepid -stumps; and soon they began to devour the corpses, biting into the -stomachs first of all. - -The fugitives reappeared one by one like shadows; the women also -ventured to return, for there were still some of them left, especially -among the Libyans, in spite of the dreadful massacre of them by the -Numidians. - -Some took ropes' ends and lighted them to use as torches. Others held -crossed pikes. The corpses were placed upon these and were conveyed -apart. - -They were found lying stretched in long lines, on their backs, with -their mouths open, and their lances beside them; or else they were -piled up pell-mell so that it was often necessary to dig out a whole -heap in order to discover those they were wanting. Then the torch -would be passed slowly over their faces. They had received complicated -wounds from hideous weapons. Greenish strips hung from their -foreheads; they were cut in pieces, crushed to the marrow, blue from -strangulation, or broadly cleft by the elephants' ivory. Although they -had died at almost the same time there existed differences between -their various states of corruption. The men of the North were puffed -up with livid swellings, while the more nervous Africans looked as -though they had been smoked, and were already drying up. The -Mercenaries might be recognised by the tattooing on their hands: the -old soldiers of Antiochus displayed a sparrow-hawk; those who had -served in Egypt, the head of the cynosephalus; those who had served -with the princes of Asia, a hatchet, a pomegranate, or a hammer; those -who had served in the Greek republics, the side-view of a citadel or -the name of an archon; and some were to be seen whose arms were -entirely covered with these multiplied symbols, which mingled with -their scars and their recent wounds. - -Four great funeral piles were erected for the men of Latin race, the -Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and Bruttians. - -The Greeks dug pits with the points of their swords. The Spartans -removed their red cloaks and wrapped them round the dead; the -Athenians laid them out with their faces towards the rising sun; the -Cantabrians buried them beneath a heap of pebbles; the Nasamonians -bent them double with ox-leather thongs, and the Garamantians went and -interred them on the shore so that they might be perpetually washed by -the waves. But the Latins were grieved that they could not collect the -ashes in urns; the Nomads regretted the heat of the sands in which -bodies were mummified, and the Celts, the three rude stones beneath a -rainy sky at the end of an islet-covered gulf. - -Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened silence. This was to -oblige the souls to return. Then the shouting was resumed persistently -at regular intervals. - -They made excuses to the dead for their inability to honour them as -the rites prescribed: for, owing to this deprivation, they would pass -for infinite periods through all kinds of chances and metamorphoses; -they questioned them and asked them what they desired; others loaded -them with abuse for having allowed themselves to be conquered. - -The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks of armour -showed pale in the light of the great funeral-pile; tears provoked -tears, the sobs became shriller, the recognitions and embracings more -frantic. Women stretched themselves on the corpses, mouth to mouth and -brow to brow; it was necessary to beat them in order to make them -withdraw when the earth was being thrown in. They blackened their -cheeks; they cut off their hair; they drew their own blood and poured -it into the pits; they gashed themselves in imitation of the wounds -that disfigured the dead. Roarings burst forth through the crashings -of the cymbals. Some snatched off their amulets and spat upon them. -The dying rolled in the bloody mire biting their mutilated fists in -their rage; and forty-three Samnites, quite a "sacred spring," cut one -another's throats like gladiators. Soon wood for the funeral-piles -failed, the flames were extinguished, every spot was occupied; and -weary from shouting, weakened, tottering, they fell asleep close to -their dead brethren, those who still clung to life full of anxieties, -and the others desiring never to wake again. - -In the greyness of the dawn some soldiers appeared on the outskirts of -the Barbarians, and filed past with their helmets raised on the points -of their pikes; they saluted the Mercenaries and asked them whether -they had no messages to send to their native lands. - -Others approached, and the Barbarians recognised some of their former -companions. - -The Suffet had proposed to all the captives that they should serve in -his troops. Several had fearlessly refused; and quite resolved neither -to support them nor to abandon them to the Great Council, he had sent -them away with injunctions to fight no more against Carthage. As to -those who had been rendered docile by the fear of tortures, they had -been furnished with the weapons taken from the enemy; and they were -now presenting themselves to the vanquished, not so much in order to -seduce them as out of an impulse of pride and curiosity. - -At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from -the Suffet; the Barbarians listened to them with jealousy although -they despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards -fell into a passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords -and cuirasses and invited them with abuse to come and take them. The -Barbarians picked up flints; all took to flght; and nothing more could -be seen on the summit of the mountain except the lance-points -projecting above the edge of the palisades. - -Then the Barbarians were overwhelmed with a grief that was heavier -than the humiliation of the defeat. They thought of the emptiness of -their courage, and they stood with their eyes fixed and grinding their -teeth. - -The same thought came to them all. They rushed tumultuously upon the -Carthaginian prisoners. It chanced that the Suffet's soldiers had been -unable to discover them, and as he had withdrawn from the field of -battle they were still in the deep pit. - -They were ranged on the ground on a flattened spot. Sentries formed a -circle round them, and the women were allowed to enter thirty or forty -at a time. Wishing to profit by the short time that was allowed to -them, they ran from one to the other, uncertain and panting; then -bending over the poor bodies they struck them with all their might -like washerwomen beating linen; shrieking their husband's names they -tore them with their nails and put out their eyes with the bodkins of -their hair. The men came next and tortured them from their feet, which -they cut off at the ankles, to their foreheads, from which they took -crowns of skin to put upon their own heads. The Eaters of Uncleanness -were atrocious in their devices. They envenomed the wounds by pouring -into them dust, vinegar, and fragments of pottery; others waited -behind; blood flowed, and they rejoiced like vintagers round fuming -vats. - -Matho, however, was seated on the ground, at the very place where he -had happened to be when the battle ended, his elbows on his knees, and -his temples in his hands; he saw nothing, heard nothing, and had -ceased to think. - -At the shrieks of joy uttered by the crowd he raised his head. Before -him a strip of canvas caught on a flagpole, and trailing on the -ground, sheltered in confused fashion blankets, carpets, and a lion's -skin. He recognised his tent; and he riveted his eyes upon the ground -as though Hamilcar's daughter, when she disappeared, had sunk into the -earth. - -The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes -passed across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of -a hand. It was the hand of Narr' Havas, the token of their alliance. -Then Matho rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and -threw it disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent. Then with the toe -of his cothurn he pushed the things which fell out back towards the -flame so that nothing might be left. - -Suddenly, without any one being able to guess from what point he had -sprung up, Spendius reappeared. - -The former slave had fastened two fragments of a lance against his -thigh; he limped with a piteous look, breathing forth complaints the -while. - -"Remove that," said Matho to him. "I know that you are a brave -fellow!" For he was so crushed by the injustice of the gods that he -had not strength enough to be indignant with men. - -Spendius beckoned to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, -where Zarxas and Autaritus were lying concealed. - -They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the -other in spite of his bravery. But who, said they, could have expected -the treachery of Narr' Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans, -the loss of the zaimph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, -his manoeuvres which forced them to return to the bottom of the -mountain beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made -no acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that -his leg was broken. - -At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what -decision should now be adopted. - -Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught -between his soldiers and the provinces belonging to Narr' Havas; the -Tyrian towns would join the conquerors; the Barbarians would find -themselves driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces -would crush them. This would infallibly happen. - -Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly -they must prosecute it to the bitter end. But how were they to make -the necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these -disheartened people, who were still bleeding from their wounds. - -"I will undertake that!" said Spendius. - -Two hours afterwards a man who came from the direction of Hippo- -Zarytus climbed the mountain at a run. He waved some tablets at arm's -length, and as he shouted very loudly the Barbarians surrounded him. - -The tablets had been despatched by the Greek soldiers in Sardinia. -They recommended their African comrades to watch over Gisco and the -other captives. A Samian trader, one Hipponax, coming from Carthage, -had informed them that a plot was being organised to promote their -escape, and the Barbarians were urged to take every precaution; the -Republic was powerful. - -Spendius's stratagem did not succeed at first as he had hoped. This -assurance of the new peril, so far from exciting frenzy, raised fears; -and remembering Hamilcar's warning, lately thrown into their midst, -they expected something unlooked for and terrible. The night was spent -in great distress; several even got rid of their weapons, so as to -soften the Suffet when he presented himself. - -But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner -appeared, still more breathless, and blackened with dust. The Greek -snatched from his hand a roll of papyrus covered with Phoenician -writing. The Mercenaries were entreated not to be disheartened; the -brave men of Tunis were coming with large reinforcements. - -Spendius first read the letter three times in succession; and held up -by two Cappadocians, who bore him seated on their shoulders, he had -himself conveyed from place to place and re-read it. For seven hours -he harangued. - -He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises of the Great Council; the -Africans of the cruelties of the stewards, and all the Barbarians of -the injustice of Carthage. The Suffet's mildness was only a bait to -capture them; those who surrendered would be sold as slaves, and the -vanquished would perish under torture. As to flight, what routes could -they follow? Not a nation would receive them. Whereas by continuing -their efforts they would obtain at once freedom, vengeance, and money! -And they would not have long to wait, since the people of Tunis, the -whole of Libya, was rushing to relieve them. He showed the unrolled -papyrus: "Look at it! read! see their promises! I do not lie." - -Dogs were straying about with their black muzzles all plastered with -red. The men's uncovered heads were growing hot in the burning sun. A -nauseous smell exhaled from the badly buried corpses. Some even -projected from the earth as far as the waist. Spendius called them to -witness what he was saying; then he raised his fists in the direction -of Hamilcar. - -Matho, moreover, was watching him, and to cover his cowardice he -displayed an anger by which he gradually found himself carried away. -Devoting himself to the gods he heaped curses upon the Carthaginians. -The torture of the captives was child's play. Why spare them, and be -ever dragging this useless cattle after one? "No! we must put an end -to it! their designs are known! a single one might ruin us! no pity! -Those who are worthy will be known by the speed of their legs and the -force of their blows." - -Then they turned again upon the captives. Several were still in the -last throes; they were finished by the thrust of a heel in the mouth -or a stab with the point of a javelin. - -Then they thought of Gisco. Nowhere could he be seen; they were -disturbed with anxiety. They wished at once to convince themselves of -his death and to participate in it. At last three Samnite shepherds -discovered him at a distance of fifteen paces from the spot where -Matho's tent lately stood. They recognised him by his long beard and -they called the rest. - -Stretched on his back, his arms against his hips, and his knees close -together, he looked like a dead man laid out for the tomb. -Nevertheless his wasted sides rose and fell, and his eyes, wide-opened -in his pallid face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion. - -The Barbarians looked at him at first with great astonishment. Since -he had been living in the pit he had been almost forgotten; rendered -uneasy by old memories they stood at a distance and did not venture to -raise their hands against him. - -But those who were behind were murmuring and pressed forward when a -Garamantian passed through the crowd; he was brandishing a sickle; all -understood his thought; their faces purpled, and smitten with shame -they shrieked: - -"Yes! yes!" - -The man with the curved steel approached Gisco. He took his head, and, -resting it upon his knee, sawed it off with rapid strokes; it fell; to -great jets of blood made a hole in the dust. Zarxas leaped upon it, -and lighter than a leopard ran towards the Carthaginians. - -Then when he had covered two thirds of the mountain he drew Gisco's -head from his breast by the beard, whirled his arm rapidly several -times,--and the mass, when thrown at last, described a long parabola -and disappeared behind the Punic entrenchments. - -Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards, -the customary sign for claiming a corpse. - -Then four heralds, chosen for their width of chest, went out with -great clarions, and speaking through the brass tubes declared that -henceforth there would be between Carthaginians and Barbarians neither -faith, pity, nor gods, that they refused all overtures beforehand, and -that envoys would be sent back with their hands cut off. - -Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to Hippo-Zarytus to procure -provisions; the Tyrian city sent them some the same evening. They ate -greedily. Then when they were strengthened they speedily collected the -remains of their baggage and their broken arms; the women massed -themselves in the centre, and heedless of the wounded left weeping -behind them, they set out along the edge of the shore like a herd of -wolves taking its departure. - -They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, resolved to take it, for they -had need of a town. - -Hamilcar, as he perceived them at a distance, had a feeling of despair -in spite of the pride which he experienced in seeing them fly before -him. He ought to have attacked them immediately with fresh troops. -Another similar day and the war was over! If matters were protracted -they would return with greater strength; the Tyrian towns would join -them; his clemency towards the vanquished had been of no avail. He -resolved to be pitiless. - -The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden with -bracelets collected from the dead, and with horrible threats ordered -another army to be despatched. - -All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his -victory they felt a stupefaction which was almost terror. The vaguely -announced return of the zaimph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and -the might of Carthage seemed now to belong to him. - -None of his enemies ventured upon complaint or recrimination. Owing to -the enthusiasm of some and the pusillanimity of the rest, an army of -five thousand men was ready before the interval prescribed had -elapsed. - -This army promptly made its way to Utica in order to support the -Suffet's rear, while three thousand of the most notable citizens -embarked in vessels which were to land them at Hippo-Zarytus, whence -they were to drive back the Barbarians. - -Hanno had accepted the command; but he intrusted the army to his -lieutenant, Magdassin, so as to lead the troops which were to be -disembarked himself, for he could no longer endure the shaking of the -litter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils, and had -hollowed out a large hole in his face; the back of his throat could be -seen at a distance of ten paces, and he knew himself to be so hideous -that he wore a veil over his head like a woman. - -Hippo-Zarytus paid no attention to his summonings nor yet to those of -the Barbarians; but every morning the inhabitants lowered provisions -to the latter in baskets, and shouting from the tops of the towers -pleaded the exigencies of the Republic and conjured them to withdraw. -By means of signs they addressed the same protestations to the -Carthaginians, who were stationed on the sea. - -Hanno contented himself with blockading the harbour without risking an -attack. However, he permitted the judges of Hippo-Zarytus to admit -three hundred soldiers. Then he departed to the Cape Grapes, and made -a long circuit so as to hem in the Barbarians, an inopportune and even -dangerous operation. His jealousy prevented him from relieving the -Suffet; he arrested his spies, impeded him in all his plans, and -compromised the success of the enterprise. At last Hamilcar wrote to -the Great Council to rid himself of Hanno, and the latter returned to -Carthage furious at the baseness of the Ancients and the madness of -his colleague. Hence, after so many hopes, the situation was now still -more deplorable; but there was an effort not to reflect upon it and -even not to talk about it. - -As if all this were not sufficient misfortune at one time, news came -that the Sardinian Mercenaries had crucified their general, seized the -strongholds, and everywhere slaughtered those of Chanaanitish race. -The Roman people threatened the Republic with immediate hostilities -unless she gave twelve hundred talents with the whole of the island of -Sardinia. They had accepted the alliance of the Barbarians, and they -despatched to them flat-bottomed boats laden with meal and dried meat. -The Carthaginians pursued these, and captured five hundred men; but -three days afterwards a fleet coming from Byzacena, and conveying -provisions to Carthage, foundered in a storm. The gods were evidently -declaring against her. - -Upon this the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, under pretence of an alarm, -made Hanno's three hundred men ascend their walls; then coming behind -them they took them by the legs, and suddenly threw them over the -ramparts. Some who were not killed were pursued, and went and drowned -themselves in the sea. - -Utica was enduring the presence of soldiers, for Magdassin had acted -like Hanno, and in accordance with his orders and deaf to Hamilcar's -prayers, was surrounding the town. As for these, they were given wine -mixed with mandrake, and were then slaughtered in their sleep. At the -same time the Barbarians arrived; Magdassin fled; the gates were -opened, and thenceforward the two Tyrian towns displayed an obstinate -devotion to their new friends and an inconceivable hatred to their -former allies. - -This abandonment of the Punic cause was a counsel and a precedent. -Hopes of deliverance revived. Populations hitherto uncertain hesitated -no longer. Everywhere there was a stir. The Suffet learnt this, and he -had no assistance to look for! He was now irrevocably lost. - -He immediately dismissed Narr' Havas, who was to guard the borders of -his kingdom. As for himself, he resolved to re-enter Carthage in order -to obtain soldiers and begin the war again. - -The Barbarians posted at Hippo-Zarytus perceived his army as it -descended the mountain. - -Where could the Carthaginians be going? Hunger, no doubt, was urging -them on; and, distracted by their sufferings, they were coming in -spite of their weakness to give battle. But they turned to the right: -they were fleeing. They might be overtaken and all be crushed. The -Barbarians dashed in pursuit of them. - -The Carthaginians were checked by the river. It was wide this time and -the west wind had not been blowing. Some crossed by swimming, and the -rest on their shields. They resumed their march. Night fell. They were -out of sight. - -The Barbarians did not stop; they went higher to find a narrower -place. The people of Tunis hastened thither, bringing those of Utica -along with them. Their numbers increased at every bush; and the -Carthaginians, as they lay on the ground, could hear the tramping of -their feet in the darkness. From time to time Barca had a volley of -arrows discharged behind him to check them, and several were killed. -When day broke they were in the Ariana Mountains, at the spot where -the road makes a bend. - -Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could -distinguish something green on the horizon on the summit of an -eminence. Then the ground sank, and obelisks, domes, and houses -appeared! It was Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself -from falling, so rapidly did his heart beat. - -He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the -last time that he had passed that way! It was an infinite surprise, it -stunned him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing -Salammbo again. The reasons which he had for execrating her returned -to his recollection, but he very quickly rejected them. Quivering and -with straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace -above the palm trees beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy lighted his -face as if some great light had reached him; he opened his arms, and -sent kisses on the breeze, and murmured: "Come! come!" A sigh swelled -his breast, and two long tears like pearls fell upon his beard. - -"What stays you?" cried Spendius. "Make haste! Forward! The Suffet is -going to escape us! But your knees are tottering, and you are looking -at me like a drunken man!" - -He stamped with impatience and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at -the approach of an object long aimed at. - -"Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!" - -He had so convinced and triumphant an air that Matho was surprised -from his torpor, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, -coming when his distress was at its height, drove his despair to -vengeance, and pointed to food for his wrath. He bounded upon one of -the camels that were among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and -with the long rope, struck the stragglers with all his might, running -right and left alternately, in the rear of the army, like a dog -driving a flock. - -At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame -hurried their steps; the intervening space lessened in the middle of -the isthmus. The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust -raised by the Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and -were on the point of touching. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, -and the great gate of Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square -divided; three columns were swallowed up, and eddied beneath the -porches. Soon the mass, being too tightly packed, could advance no -further; pikes clashed in the air, and the arrows of the Barbarians -were shivering against the walls. - -Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round -and shouted to his men to move aside. He dismounted from his horse; -and pricking it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it -against the Barbarians. - -It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would -bend its knees to allow its master to mount. Why was he sending it -away? Was this a sacrifice? - -The noble horse galloped into the midst of the lances, knocked down -men, and, entangling its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose -again with furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to -stop it, or looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united -again; they entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them. - -It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it;--and for -some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which -became weaker and weaker, and at last ceased. - -The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to -hurl stones, balls, and beams. Spendius represented that it would be -best not to persist. The Barbarians went and posted themselves further -off, all being quite resolved to lay siege to Carthage. - -The rumour of the war, however, had passed beyond the confines of the -Punic empire; and from the pillars of Hercules to beyond Cyrene -shepherds mused on it as they kept their flocks, and caravans talked -about it in the light of the stars. This great Carthage, mistress of -the seas, splendid as the sun, and terrible as a god, actually found -men who were daring enough to attack her! Her fall even had been -asserted several times; and all had believed it for all wished it: the -subject populations, the tributary villages, the allied provinces, the -independent hordes, those who execrated her for her tyranny or were -jealous of her power, or coveted her wealth. The bravest had very -speedily joined the Mercenaries. The defeat at the Macaras had checked -all the rest. At last they had recovered confidence, had gradually -advanced and approached; and now the men of the eastern regions were -lying on the sandhills of Clypea on the other side of the gulf. As -soon as they perceived the Barbarians they showed themselves. - -They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long -composed the third army, but nomads from the tableland of Barca, -bandits from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Dernah, from Phazzana -and Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish -wells walled in with camels' bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering -of ostrich feathers, had come on quadrigae; the Garamantians, masked -with black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were -mounted on asses, onagers, zebras, and buffaloes; while some dragged -after them the roofs of their sloop-shaped huts together with their -families and idols. There were Ammonians with limbs wrinkled by the -hot water of the springs; Atarantians, who curse the sun; Troglodytes, -who bury their dead with laughter beneath branches of trees; and the -hideous Auseans, who eat grass-hoppers; the Achyrmachidae, who eat -lice; and the vermilion-painted Gysantians, who eat apes. - -All were ranged along the edge of the sea in a great straight line. -Afterwards they advanced like tornadoes of sand raised by the wind. In -the centre of the isthmus the throng stopped, the Mercenaries who were -posted in front of them, close to the walls, being unwilling to move. - -Then from the direction of Ariana appeared the men of the West, the -people of the Numidians. In fact, Narr' Havas governed only the -Massylians; and, moreover, as they were permitted by custom to abandon -their king when reverses were sustained, they had assembled on the -Zainus, and then had crossed it at Hamilcar's first movement. First -were seen running up all the hunters from Malethut-Baal and Garaphos, -clad in lions' skins, and with the staves of their pikes driving small -lean horses with long manes; then marched the Gaetulians in cuirasses -of serpents' skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of -wax and resin; and the Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each -holding two javelins and a round shield of hippopotamus leather. They -stopped at the foot of the Catacombs among the first pools of the -Lagoon. - -But when the Libyans had moved away, the multitude of the Negroes -appeared like a cloud on a level with the ground, in the place which -the others had occupied. They were there from the White Harousch, the -Black Harousch, the desert of Augila, and even from the great country -of Agazymba, which is four months' journey south of the Garamantians, -and from regions further still! In spite of their red wooden jewels, -the filth of their black skin made them look like mulberries that had -been long rolling in the dust. They had bark-thread drawers, dried- -grass tunics, fallow-deer muzzles on their heads; they shook rods -furnished with rings, and brandished cows' tails at the end of sticks, -after the fashion of standards, howling the while like wolves. - -Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gaetulians pressed the -yellowish men, who are spread through the cedar forests beyond Taggir. -They had cat-skin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they -led in leashes enormous dogs, which were as high as asses, and did not -bark. - -Finally, as though Africa had not been sufficiently emptied, and it -had been necessary to seek further fury in the very dregs of the -races, men might be seen behind the rest, with beast-like profiles and -grinning with idiotic laughter--wretches ravaged by hideous diseases, -deformed pigmies, mulattoes of doubtful sex, albinos whose red eyes -blinked in the sun; stammering out unintelligible sounds, they put a -finger into their mouths to show that they were hungry. - -The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples. -There was not a deadly invention that was not present--from wooden -daggers, stone hatchets and ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed -like saws, slender, and formed of a yielding copper blade. They -handled cutlasses which were forked into several branches like -antelopes' horns, bills fastened to the ends of ropes, iron triangles, -clubs and bodkins. The Ethiopians from the Bambotus had little -poisoned darts hidden in their hair. Many had brought pebbles in bags. -Others, empty handed, chattered with their teeth. - -This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell. Dromedaries, -smeared all over with tar-like streaks, knocked down the women, who -carried their children on their hips. The provisions in the baskets -were pouring out; in walking, pieces of salt, parcels of gum, rotten -dates, and gourou nuts were crushed underfoot; and sometimes on -vermin-covered bosoms there would hang a slender cord supporting a -diamond that the Satraps had sought, an almost fabulous stone, -sufficient to purchase an empire. Most of them did not even know what -they desired. They were impelled by fascination or curiosity; and -nomads who had never seen a town were frightened by the shadows of the -walls. - -The isthmus was now hidden by men; and this long surface, whereon the -tents were like huts amid an inundation, stretched as far as the first -lines of the other Barbarians, which were streaming with steel and -were posted symmetrically upon both sides of the aqueduct. - -The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their -arrival when they perceived the siege-engines sent by the Tyrian towns -coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildings--with -their masts, arms, ropes, articulations, capitals and carapaces, sixty -carroballistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions, fifty tollenos, -twelve rams, and three gigantic catapults which hurled pieces of rock -of the weight of fifteen talents. Masses of men clinging to their -bases pushed them on; at every step a quivering shook them, and in -this way they arrived in front of the walls. - -But several days were still needed to finish the preparations for the -siege. The Mercenaries, taught by their defeats, would not risk -themselves in useless engagements; and on both sides there was no -haste, for it was well known that a terrible action was about to open, -and that the result of it would be complete victory or complete -extermination. - -Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a -series of re-entrant and projecting angles, an advantageous -arrangement for repelling assaults. - -Nevertheless a portion had fallen down in the direction of the -Catacombs, and on dark nights lights could be seen in the dens of -Malqua through the disjointed blocks. These in some places overlooked -the top of the ramparts. It was here that the Mercenaries' wives, who -had been driven away by Matho, were living with their new husbands. On -seeing the men again their hearts could stand it no longer. They waved -their scarfs at a distance; then they came and chatted in the darkness -with the soldiers through the cleft in the wall, and one morning the -Great Council learned that they had all fled. Some had passed through -between the stones; others with greater intrepidity had let themselves -down with ropes. - -At last Spendius resolved to accomplish his design. - -The war, by keeping him at a distance, had hitherto prevented him; and -since the return to before Carthage, it seemed to him that the -inhabitants suspected his enterprise. But soon they diminished the -sentries on the aqueduct. There were not too many people for the -defence of the walls. - -The former slave practised himself for some days in shooting arrows at -the flamingoes on the lake. Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho -to light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all -his men were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he -went away along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis. - -When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards -the aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of -the pillars. - -The sentries on the platform were walking quietly up and down. - -Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette, -believing that there was an assault, rushed away in the direction of -Carthage. - -One man had remained. He showed black against the background of the -sky. The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of -extravagant size, looked in the distance like an obelisk proceeding -across the plain. - -They waited until he was in position just before them. Zarxas seized -his sling, but whether from prudence or from ferocity Spendius stopped -him. "No, the whiz of the bullet would make a noise! Let me!" - -Then he bent his bow with all his strength, resting the lower end of -it against the great toe of his left foot; he took aim, and the arrow -went off. - -The man did not fall. He disappeared. - -"If he were wounded we should hear him!" said Spendius; and he mounted -quickly from story to story as he had done the first time, with the -assistance of a rope and a harpoon. Then when he had reached the top -and was beside the corpse, he let it fall again. The Balearian -fastened a pick and a mallet to it and turned back. - -The trumpets sounded no longer. All was now quiet. Spendius had raised -one of the flag-stones and, entering the water, had closed it behind -him. - -Calculating the distance by the number of his steps, he arrived at the -exact spot where he had noticed an oblique fissure; and for three -hours until morning he worked in continuous and furious fashion, -breathing with difficulty through the interstices in the upper flag- -tones, assailed with anguish, and twenty times believing that he was -going to die. At last a crack was heard, and a huge stone ricocheting -on the lower arches rolled to the ground,--and suddenly a cataract, an -entire river, fell from the skies onto the plain. The aqueduct, being -cut through in the centre, was emptying itself. It was death to -Carthage and victory for the Barbarians. - -In an instant the awakened Carthaginians appeared on the walls, the -houses, and the temples. The Barbarians pressed forward with shouts. -They danced in delirium around the great waterfall, and came up and -wet their heads in it in the extravagance of their joy. - -A man in a torn, brown tunic was perceived on the summit of the -aqueduct. He stood leaning over the very edge with both hands on his -hips, and was looking down below him as though astonished at his work. - -Then he drew himself up. He surveyed the horizon with a haughty air -which seemed to say: "All that is now mine!" The applause of the -Barbarians burst forth, while the Carthaginians, comprehending their -disaster at last, shrieked with despair. Then he began to run about -the platform from one end to the other,--and like a chariot-driver -triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, -raised his arms aloft. - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -MOLOCH - -The Barbarians had no need of a circumvallation on the side of Africa, -for it was theirs. But to facilitate the approach to the walls, the -entrenchments bordering the ditch were thrown down. Matho next divided -the army into great semicircles so as to encompass Carthage the -better. The hoplites of the Mercenaries were placed in the first rank, -and behind them the slingers and horsemen; quite at the back were the -baggage, chariots, and horses; and the engines bristled in front of -this throng at a distance of three hundred paces from the towers. - -Amid the infinite variety of their nomenclature (which changed several -times in the course of the centuries) these machines might be reduced -to two systems: some acted like slings, and the rest like bows. - -The first, which were the catapults, was composed of a square frame -with two vertical uprights and a horizontal bar. In its anterior -portion was a cylinder, furnished with cables, which held back a great -beam bearing a spoon for the reception of projectiles; its base was -caught in a skein of twisted thread, and when the ropes were let go it -sprang up and struck against the bar, which, checking it with a shock, -multiplied its power. - -The second presented a more complicated mechanism. A cross-bar had its -centre fixed on a little pillar, and from this point of junction there -branched off at right angles a short of channel; two caps containing -twists of horse-hair stood at the extremities of the cross-bar; two -small beams were fastened to them to hold the extremities of a rope -which was brought to the bottom of the channel upon a tablet of -bronze. This metal plate was released by a spring, and sliding in -grooves impelled the arrows. - -The catapults were likewise called onagers, after the wild asses which -fling up stones with their feet, and the ballistas scorpions, on -account of a hook which stood upon the tablet, and being lowered by a -blow of the fist, released the spring. - -Their construction required learned calculations; the wood selected -had to be of the hardest substance, and their gearing all of brass; -they were stretched with levers, tackle-blocks, capstans or tympanums; -the direction of the shooting was changed by means of strong pivots; -they were moved forward on cylinders, and the most considerable of -them, which were brought piece by piece, were set up in front of the -enemy. - -Spendius arranged three great catapults opposite the three principle -angles; he placed a ram before every gate, a ballista before every -tower, while carroballistas were to move about in the rear. But it was -necessary to protect them against the fire thrown by the besieged, and -first of all to fill up the trench which separated them from the -walls. - -They pushed forward galleries formed of hurdles of green reeds, and -oaken semicircles like enormous shields gliding on three wheels; the -workers were sheltered in little huts covered with raw hides and -stuffed with wrack; the catapults and ballistas were protected by rope -curtains which had been steeped in vinegar to render them -incombustible. The women and children went to procure stones on the -strand, and gathered earth with their hands and brought it to the -soldiers. - -The Carthaginians also made preparations. - -Hamilcar had speedily reassured them by declaring that there was -enough water left in the cisterns for one hundred and twenty-three -days. This assertion, together with his presence, and above all that -of the zaimph among them, gave them good hopes. Carthage recovered -from its dejection; those who were not of Chanaanitish origin were -carried away by the passion of the rest. - -The slaves were armed, the arsenals were emptied, and every citizen -had his own post and his own employment. Twelve hundred of the -fugitives had survived, and the Suffet made them all captains; and -carpenters, armourers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths were intrusted with -the engines. The Carthaginians had kept a few in spite of the -conditions of the peace with Rome. These were repaired. They -understood such work. - -The two northern and eastern sides, being protected by the sea and the -gulf, remained inaccessible. On the wall fronting the Barbarians they -collected tree-trunks, mill-stones, vases filled with sulphur, and -vats filled with oil, and built furnaces. Stones were heaped up on the -platforms of the towers, and the houses bordering immediately on the -rampart were crammed with sand in order to strengthen it and increase -its thickness. - -The Barbarians grew angry at the sight of these preparations. They -wished to fight at once. The weights which they put into the catapults -were so extravagantly heavy that the beams broke, and the attack was -delayed. - -At last on the thirteenth day of the month of Schabar,--at sunrise,--a -great blow was heard at the gate of Khamon. - -Seventy-five soldiers were pulling at ropes arranged at the base of a -gigantic beam which was suspended horizontally by chains hanging from -a framework, and which terminated in a ram's head of pure brass. It -had been swathed in ox-hides; it was bound at intervals with iron -bracelets; it was thrice as thick as a man's body, one hundred and -twenty cubits long, and under the crowd of naked arms pushing it -forward and drawing it back, it moved to and fro with a regular -oscillation. - -The other rams before the other gates began to be in motion. Men might -be seen mounting from step to step in the hollow wheels of the -tympanums. The pulleys and caps grated, the rope curtains were -lowered, and showers of stones and showers of arrows poured forth -simultaneously; all the scattered slingers ran up. Some approached the -rampart hiding pots of resin under their shields; then they would hurl -these with all their might. This hail of bullets, darts, and flames -passed above the first ranks in the form of a curve which fell behind -the walls. But long cranes, used for masting vessels, were reared on -the summit of the ramparts; and from them there descended some of -those enormous pincers which terminated in two semicircles toothed on -the inside. They bit the rams. The soldiers clung to the beam and drew -it back. The Carthaginians hauled in order to pull it up; and the -action was prolonged until the evening. - -When the Mercenaries resumed their task on the following day, the tops -of the walls were completely carpeted with bales of cotton, sails, and -cushions; the battlements were stopped up with mats; and a line of -forks and blades, fixed upon sticks, might be distinguished among the -cranes on the rampart. A furious resistance immediately began. - -Trunks of trees fastened to cables fell and rose alternately and -battered the rams; cramps hurled by the ballistas tore away the roofs -of the huts; and streams of flints and pebbles poured from the -platforms of the towers. - -At last the rams broke the gates of Khamon and Tagaste. But the -Carthaginians had piled up such an abundance of materials on the -inside that the leaves did not open. They remained standing. - -Then they drove augers against the walls; these were applied to the -joints of the blocks, so as to detach the latter. The engines were -better managed, the men serving them were divided into squads, and -they were worked from morning till evening without interruption and -with the monotonous precision of a weaver's loom. - -Spendius returned to them untiringly. It was he who stretched the -skeins of the ballistas. In order that the twin tensions might -completely correspond, the ropes as they were tightened were struck on -the right and left alternately until both sides gave out an equal -sound. Spendius would mount upon the timbers. He would strike the -ropes softly with the extremity of his foot, and strain his ears like -a musician tuning a lyre. Then when the beam of the catapult rose, -when the pillar of the ballista trembled with the shock of the spring, -when the stones were shooting in rays, and the darts pouring in -streams, he would incline his whole body and fling his arms into the -air as though to follow them. - -The soldiers admired his skill and executed his commands. In the -gaiety of their work they gave utterance to jests on the names of the -machines. Thus the plyers for seizing the rams were called "wolves," -and the galleries were covered with "vines"; they were lambs, or they -were going to gather the grapes; and as they loaded their pieces they -would say to the onagers: "Come, pick well!" and to the scorpions: -"Pierce them to the heart!" These jokes, which were ever the same, -kept up their courage. - -Nevertheless the machines did not demolish the rampart. It was formed -of two walls and was completely filled with earth. The upper portions -were beaten down, but each time the besieged raised them again. Matho -ordered the construction of wooden towers which should be as high as -the towers of stone. They cast turf, stakes, pebbles and chariots with -their wheels into the trench so as to fill it up the more quickly; but -before this was accomplished the immense throng of the Barbarians -undulated over the plain with a single movement and came beating -against the foot of the walls like an overflowing sea. - -They moved forward the rope ladders, straight ladders, and sambucas, -the latter consisting of two poles from which a series of bamboos -terminating in a moveable bridge were lowered by means of tackling. -They formed numerous straight lines resting against the wall, and the -Mercenaries mounted them in files, holding their weapons in their -hands. Not a Carthaginian showed himself; already two thirds of the -rampart had been covered. Then the battlements opened, vomiting flames -and smoke like dragon jaws; the sand scattered and entered the joints -of their armour; the petroleum fastened on their garments; the liquid -lead hopped on their helmets and made holes in their flesh; a rain of -sparks splashed against their faces, and eyeless orbits seemed to weep -tears as big as almonds. There were men all yellow with oil, with -their hair in flames. They began to run and set fire to the rest. They -were extinguished in mantles steeped in blood, which were thrown from -a distance over their faces. Some who had no wounds remained -motionless, stiffer than stakes, their mouths open and their arms -outspread. - -The assault was renewed for several days in succession, the -Mercenaries hoping to triumph by extraordinary energy and audacity. - -Sometimes a man raised on the shoulders of another would drive a pin -between the stones, and then making use of it as a step to reach -further, would place a second and a third; and, protected by the edge -of the battlements, which stood out from the wall, they would -gradually raise themselves in this way; but on reaching a certain -height they always fell back again. The great trench was full to -overflowing; the wounded were massed pell-mell with the dead and dying -beneath the footsteps of the living. Calcined trunks formed black -spots amid opened entrails, scattered brains, and pools of blood; and -arms and legs projecting half way out of a heap, would stand straight -up like props in a burning vineyard. - -The ladders proving insufficient the tollenos were brought into -requisition,--instruments consisting of a long beam set transversely -upon another, and bearing at its extremity a quadrangular basket which -would hold thirty foot-soldiers with their weapons. - -Matho wished to ascend in the first that was ready. Spendius stopped -him. - -Some men bent over a capstan; the great beam rose, became horizontal, -reared itself almost vertically, and being overweighted at the end, -bent like a huge reed. The soldiers, who were crowded together, were -hidden up to their chins; only their helmet-plumes could be seen. At -last when it was twenty cubits high in the air it turned several times -to the right and to the left, and then was depressed; and like a giant -arm holding a cohort of pigmies in its hand, it laid the basketful of -men upon the edge of the wall. They leaped into the crowd and never -returned. - -All the other tollenos were speedily made ready. But a hundred times -as many would have been needed for the capture of the town. They were -utilised in a murderous fashion: Ethiopian archers were placed in the -baskets; then, the cables having been fastened, they remained -suspended and shot poisoned arrows. The fifty tollenos commanding the -battlements thus surrounded Carthage like monstrous vultures; and the -Negroes laughed to see the guards on the rampart dying in grievous -convulsions. - -Hamilcar sent hoplites to these posts, and every morning made them -drink the juice of certain herbs which protected them against the -poison. - -One evening when it was dark he embarked the best of his soldiers on -lighters and planks, and turning to the right of the harbour, -disembarked on the Taenia. Then he advanced to the first lines of the -Barbarians, and taking them in flank, made a great slaughter. Men -hanging to ropes would descend at night from the top of the wall with -torches in their hands, burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then -mount up again. - -Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which -led him into terrible extravagances. He mentally summoned Salammbo to -an interview; then he waited. She did not come; this seemed to him -like a fresh piece of treachery,--and henceforth he execrated her. If -he had seen her corpse he would perhaps have gone away. He doubled the -outposts, he planted forks at the foot of the rampart, he drove -caltrops into the ground, and he commanded the Libyans to bring him a -whole forest that he might set it on fire and burn Carthage like a den -of foxes. - -Spendius went on obstinately with the siege. He sought to invent -terrible machines such as had never before been constructed. - -The other Barbarians, encamped at a distance on the isthmus, were -amazed at these delays; they murmured, and they were let loose. - -Then they rushed with their cutlasses and javelins, and beat against -the gates with them. But the nakedness of their bodies facilitating -the infliction of wounds, the Carthaginians massacred them freely; and -the Mercenaries rejoiced at it, no doubt through jealousy about the -plunder. Hence there resulted quarrels and combats between them. Then, -the country having been ravaged, provisions were soon scarce. They -grew disheartened. Numerous hordes went away, but the crowd was so -great that the loss was not apparent. - -The best of them tried to dig mines, but the earth, being badly -supported, fell in. They began again in other places, but Hamilcar -always guessed the direction that they were taking by holding his ear -against a bronze shield. He bored counter-mines beneath the path along -which the wooden towers were to move, and when they were pushed -forward they sank into the holes. - -At last all recognised that the town was impregnable, unless a long -terrace was raised to the same height as the walls, so as to enable -them to fight on the same level. The top of it should be paved so that -the machines might be rolled along. Then Carthage would find it quite -impossible to resist. - -The town was beginning to suffer from thirst. The water which was -worth two kesitahs the bath at the opening of the siege was now sold -for a shekel of silver; the stores of meat and corn were also becoming -exhausted; there was a dread of famine, and some even began to speak -of useless mouths, which terrified every one. - -From the square of Khamon to the temple of Melkarth the streets were -cumbered with corpses; and, as it was the end of the summer, the -combatants were annoyed by great black flies. Old men carried off the -wounded, and the devout continued the fictitious funerals for their -relatives and friends who had died far away during the war. Waxen -statues with clothes and hair were displayed across the gates. They -melted in the heat of the tapers burning beside them; the paint flowed -down upon their shoulders, and tears streamed over the faces of the -living, as they chanted mournful songs beside them. The crowd -meanwhile ran to and fro; armed bands passed; captains shouted orders, -while the shock of the rams beating against the rampart was constantly -heard. - -The temperature became so heavy that the bodies swelled and would no -longer fit into the coffins. They were burned in the centre of the -courts. But the fires, being too much confined, kindled the -neighbouring walls, and long flames suddenly burst from the houses -like blood spurting from an artery. Thus Moloch was in possession of -Carthage; he clasped the ramparts, he rolled through the streets, he -devoured the very corpses. - -Men wearing cloaks made of collected rags in token of despair, -stationed themselves at the corners of the cross-ways. They declaimed -against the Ancients and against Hamilcar, predicted complete ruin to -the people, and invited them to universal destruction and license. The -most dangerous were the henbane-drinkers; in their crisis they -believed themselves wild beasts, and leaped upon the passers-by to -rend them. Mobs formed around them, and the defence of Carthage was -forgotten. The Suffet devised the payment of others to support his -policy. - -In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images -had been covered with chains. Black veils were placed upon the Pataec -gods, and hair-cloths around the altars; and attempts were made to -excite the pride and jealousy of the Baals by singing in their ears: -"Thou art about to suffer thyself to be vanquished! Are the others -perchance more strong? Show thyself! aid us! that the peoples may not -say: 'Where are now their gods?'" - -The colleges of the pontiffs were agitated by unceasing anxiety. Those -of Rabbetna were especially afraid--the restoration of the zaimph -having been of no avail. They kept themselves shut up in the third -enclosure which was as impregnable as a fortress. Only one among them, -the high priest Schahabarim, ventured to go out. - -He used to visit Salammbo. But he would either remain perfectly -silent, gazing at her with fixed eyeballs, or else would be lavish of -words, and the reproaches that he uttered were harder than ever. - -With inconceivable inconsistency he could not forgive the young girl -for carrying out his commands; Schahabarim had guessed all, and this -haunting thought revived the jealousies of his impotence. He accused -her of being the cause of the war. Matho, according to him, was -besieging Carthage to recover the zaimph; and he poured out -imprecations and sarcasms upon this Barbarian who pretended to the -possession of holy things. Yet it was not this that the priest wished -to say. - -But just now Salammbo felt no terror of him. The anguish which she -used formerly to suffer had left her. A strange peacefulness possessed -her. Her gaze was less wandering, and shone with limpid fire. - -Meanwhile the python had become ill again; and as Salammbo, on the -contrary, appeared to be recovering, old Taanach rejoiced in the -conviction that by its decline it was taking away the languor of her -mistress. - -One morning she found it coiled up behind the bed of ox-hides, colder -than marble, and with its head hidden by a heap of worms. Her cries -brought Salammbo to the spot. She turned it over for a while with the -tip of her sandal, and the slave was amazed at her insensibility. - -Hamilcar's daughter no longer prolonged her fasts with so much -fervour. She passed whole days on the top of her terrace, leaning her -elbows against the balustrade, and amusing herself by looking out -before her. The summits of the walls at the end of the town cut uneven -zigzags upon the sky, and the lances of the sentries formed what was -like a border of corn-ears throughout their length. Further away she -could see the manoeuvres of the Barbarians between the towers; on days -when the siege was interrupted she could even distinguish their -occupations. They mended their weapons, greased their hair, and washed -their bloodstained arms in the sea; the tents were closed; the beasts -of burden were feeding; and in the distance the scythes of the -chariots, which were all ranged in a semicircle, looked like a silver -scimitar lying at the base of the mountains. Schahabarim's talk -recurred to her memory. She was waiting for Narr' Havas, her -betrothed. In spite of her hatred she would have liked to see Matho -again. Of all the Carthaginians she was perhaps the only one who would -have spoken to him without fear. - -Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the -cushions, and gaze at her with an almost tender look, as if he found -some rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes -questioned her about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He -even asked her whether any one had urged her to it; and with a shake -of the head she answered, No,--so proud was Salammbo of having saved -the zaimph. - -But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making -military inquiries. He could not understand how the hours which she -had spent in the tent had been employed. Salammbo, in fact, said -nothing about Gisco; for as words had an effective power in -themselves, curses, if reported to any one, might be turned against -him; and she was silent about her wish to assassinate, lest she should -be blamed for not having yielded to it. She said that the schalischim -appeared furious, that he had shouted a great deal, and that he had -then fallen asleep. Salammbo told no more, through shame perhaps, or -else because she was led by her extreme ingenuousness to attach but -little importance to the soldier's kisses. Moreover, it all floated -through her head in a melancholy and misty fashion, like the -recollection of a depressing dream; and she would not have known in -what way or in what words to express it. - -One evening when they were thus face to face with each other, Taanach -came in looking quite scared. An old man with a child was yonder in -the courts, and wished to see the Suffet. - -Hamilcar turned pale, and then quickly replied: - -"Let him come up!" - -Iddibal entered without prostrating himself. He held a young boy, -covered with a goat's-hair cloak, by the hand, and at once raised the -hood which screened his face. - -"Here he is, Master! Take him!" - -The Suffet and the slave went into a corner of the room. - -The child remained in the centre standing upright, and with a gaze of -attention rather than of astonishment he surveyed the ceiling, the -furniture, the pearl necklaces trailing on the purple draperies, and -the majestic maiden who was bending over towards him. - -He was perhaps ten years old, and was not taller than a Roman sword. -His curly hair shaded his swelling forehead. His eyeballs looked as if -they were seeking for space. The nostrils of his delicate nose were -broad and palpitating, and upon his whole person was displayed the -indefinable splendour of those who are destined to great enterprises. -When he had cast aside his extremely heavy cloak, he remained clad in -a lynx skin, which was fastened about his waist, and he rested his -little naked feet, which were all white with dust, resolutely upon the -pavement. But he no doubt divined that important matters were under -discussion, for he stood motionless, with one hand behind his back, -his chin lowered, and a finger in his mouth. - -At last Hamilcar attracted Salammbo with a sign and said to her in a -low voice: - -"You will keep him with you, you understand! No one, even though -belonging to the house, must know of his existence!" - -Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal whether he was quite -sure that they had not been noticed. - -"No!" said the slave, "the streets were empty." - -As the war filled all the provinces he had feared for his master's -son. Then, not knowing where to hide him, he had come along the coasts -in a sloop, and for three days Iddibal had been tacking about in the -gulf and watching the ramparts. At last, that evening, as the environs -of Khamon seemed to be deserted, he had passed briskly through the -channel and landed near the arsenal, the entrance to the harbour being -free. - -But soon the Barbarians posted an immense raft in front of it in order -to prevent the Carthaginians from coming out. They were again rearing -the wooden towers, and the terrace was rising at the same time. - -Outside communications were cut off and an intolerable famine set in. - -The besieged killed all the dogs, all the mules, all the asses, and -then the fifteen elephants which the Suffet had brought back. The -lions of the temple of Moloch had become ferocious, and the hierodules -no longer durst approach them. They were fed at first with the wounded -Barbarians; then they were thrown corpses that were still warm; they -refused them, and they all died. People wandered in the twilight along -the old enclosures, and gathered grass and flowers among the stones to -boil them in wine, wine being cheaper than water. Others crept as far -as the enemy's outposts, and entered the tents to steal food, and the -stupefied Barbarians sometimes allowed them to return. At last a day -arrived when the Ancients resolved to slaughter the horses of Eschmoun -privately. They were holy animals whose manes were plaited by the -pontiffs with gold ribbons, and whose existence denoted the motion of -the sun--the idea of fire in its most exalted form. Their flesh was -cut into equal portions and buried behind the altar. Then every -evening the Ancients, alleging some act of devotion, would go up to -the temple and regale themselves in secret, and each would take away a -piece beneath his tunic for his children. In the deserted quarters -remote from the walls, the inhabitants, whose misery was not so great, -had barricaded themselves through fear of the rest. - -The stones from the catapults, and the demolitions commanded for -purposes of defence, had accumulated heaps of ruins in the middle of -the streets. At the quietest times masses of people would suddenly -rush along with shouts; and from the top of the Acropolis the -conflagrations were like purple rags scattered upon the terraces and -twisted by the wind. - -The three great catapults did not stop in spite of all these works. -Their ravages were extraordinary: thus a man's head rebounded from the -pediment of the Syssitia; a woman who was being confined in the street -of Kinisdo was crushed by a block of marble, and her child was carried -with the bed as far as the crossways of Cinasyn, where the coverlet -was found. - -The most annoying were the bullets of the slingers. They fell upon the -roofs, and in the gardens, and in the middle of the courts, while -people were at table before a slender meal with their hearts big with -sighs. These cruel projectiles bore engraved letters which stamped -themselves upon the flesh;--and insults might be read on corpses such -as "pig," "jackal," "vermin," and sometimes jests: "Catch it!" or "I -have well deserved it!" - -The portion of the rampart which extended from the corner of the -harbours to the height of the cisterns was broken down. Then the -people of Malqua found themselves caught between the old enclosure of -Byrsa behind, and the Barbarians in front. But there was enough to be -done in thickening the wall and making it as high as possible without -troubling about them; they were abandoned; all perished; and although -they were generally hated, Hamilcar came to be greatly abhorred. - -On the morrow he opened the pits in which he kept stores of corn, and -his stewards gave it to the people. For three days they gorged -themselves. - -Their thirst, however, only became the more intolerable, and they -could constantly see before them the long cascade formed by the clear -falling water of the aqueduct. A thin vapour, with a rainbow beside -it, went up from its base, beneath the rays of the sun, and a little -stream curving through the plain fell into the gulf. - -Hamilcar did not give way. He was reckoning upon an event, upon -something decisive and extraordinary. - -His own slaves tore off the silver plates from the temple of Melkarth; -four long boats were drawn out of the harbour, they were brought by -means of capstans to the foot of the Mappalian quarter, the wall -facing the shore was bored, and they set out for the Gauls to buy -Mercenaries there at no matter what price. Nevertheless, Hamilcar was -distressed at his inability to communicate with the king of the -Numidians, for he knew that he was behind the Barbarians, and ready to -fall upon them. But Narr' Havas, being too weak, was not going to make -any venture alone; and the Suffet had the rampart raised twelve palms -higher, all the material in the arsenals piled up in the Acropolis, -and the machines repaired once more. - -Sinews taken from bulls' necks, or else stags' hamstrings, were -commonly employed for the twists of the catapults. However, neither -stags nor bulls were in existence in Carthage. Hamilcar asked the -Ancients for the hair of their wives; all sacrificed it, but the -quantity was not sufficient. In the buildings of the Syssitia there -were twelve hundred marriageable slaves destined for prostitution in -Greece and Italy, and their hair, having been rendered elastic by the -use of unguents, was wonderfully well adapted for engines of war. But -the subsequent loss would be too great. Accordingly it was decided -that a choice should be made of the finest heads of hair among the -wives of the plebeians. Careless of their country's needs, they -shrieked in despair when the servants of the Hundred came with -scissors to lay hands upon them. - -The Barbarians were animated with increased fury. They could be seen -in the distance taking fat from the dead to grease their machines, -while others pulled out the nails and stitched them end to end to make -cuirasses. They devised a plan of putting into the catapults vessels -filled with serpents which had been brought by the Negroes; the clay -pots broke on the flag-stones, the serpents ran about, seemed to -multiply, and, so numerous were they, to issue naturally from the -walls. Then the Barbarians, not satisfied with their invention, -improved upon it; they hurled all kinds of filth, human excrements, -pieces of carrion, corpses. The plague reappeared. The teeth of the -Carthaginians fell out of their mouths, and their gums were -discoloured like those of camels after too long a journey. - -The machines were set up on the terrace, although the latter did not -as yet reach everywhere to the height of the rampart. Before the -twenty-three towers on the fortification stood twenty-three others of -wood. All the tollenos were mounted again, and in the centre, a little -further back, appeared the formidable helepolis of Demetrius -Poliorcetes, which Spendius had at last reconstructed. Of pyramidical -shape, like the pharos of Alexandria, it was one hundred and thirty -cubits high and twenty-three wide, with nine stories, diminishing as -they approached the summit, and protected by scales of brass; they -were pierced with numerous doors and were filled with soldiers, and on -the upper platform there stood a catapult flanked by two ballistas. - -Then Hamilcar planted crosses for those who should speak of surrender, -and even the women were brigaded. The people lay in the streets and -waited full of distress. - -Then one morning before sunrise (it was the seventh day of the month -of Nyssan) they heard a great shout uttered by all the Barbarians -simultaneously; the leaden-tubed trumpets pealed, and the great -Paphlagonian horns bellowed like bulls. All rose and ran to the -rampart. - -A forest of lances, pikes, and swords bristled at its base. It leaped -against the wall, the ladders grappled them; and Barbarians' heads -appeared in the intervals of the battlements. - -Beams supported by long files of men were battering at the gates; and, -in order to demolish the wall at places where the terrace was wanting, -the Mercenaries came up in serried cohorts, the first line crawling, -the second bending their hams, and the others rising in succession to -the last who stood upright; while elsewhere, in order to climb up, the -tallest advanced in front and the lowest in the rear, and all rested -their shields upon their helmets with their left arms, joining them -together at the edges so tightly that they might have been taken for -an assemblage of large tortoises. The projectiles slid over these -oblique masses. - -The Carthaginians threw down mill-stones, pestles, vats, casks, beds, -everything that could serve as a weight and could knock down. Some -watched at the embrasures with fisherman's nets, and when the -Barbarian arrived he found himself caught in the meshes, and struggled -like a fish. They demolished their own battlements; portions of wall -fell down raising a great dust; and as the catapults on the terrace -were shooting over against one another, the stones would strike -together and shiver into a thousand pieces, making a copious shower -upon the combatants. - -Soon the two crowds formed but one great chain of human bodies; it -overflowed into the intervals in the terrace, and, somewhat looser at -the two extremities, swayed perpetually without advancing. They -clasped one another, lying flat on the ground like wrestlers. They -crushed one another. The women leaned over the battlements and -shrieked. They were dragged away by their veils, and the whiteness of -their suddenly uncovered sides shone in the arms of the Negroes as the -latter buried their daggers in them. Some corpses did not fall, being -too much pressed by the crowd, and, supported by the shoulders of -their companions, advanced for some minutes quite upright and with -staring eyes. Some who had both temples pierced by a javelin swayed -their heads about like bears. Mouths, opened to shout, remained -gaping; severed hands flew through the air. Mighty blows were dealt, -which were long talked of by the survivors. - -Meanwhile arrows darted from the towers of wood and stone. The -tollenos moved their long yards rapidly; and as the Barbarians had -sacked the old cemetery of the aborigines beneath the Catacombs, they -hurled the tombstones against the Carthaginians. Sometimes the cables -broke under the weight of too heavy baskets, and masses of men, all -with uplifted arms, would fall from the sky. - -Up to the middle of the day the veterans had attacked the Taenia -fiercely in order to penetrate into the harbour and destroy the fleet. -Hamilcar had a fire of damp straw lit upon the roofing of Khamon, and -as the smoke blinded them they fell back to left, and came to swell -the horrible rout which was pressing forward in Malqua. Some -syntagmata composed of sturdy men, chosen expressly for the purpose, -had broken in three gates. They were checked by lofty barriers made of -planks studded with nails, but a fourth yielded easily; they dashed -over it at a run and rolled into a pit in which there were hidden -snares. At the south-west gate Autaritus and his men broke down the -rampart, the fissure in which had been stopped up with bricks. The -ground behind rose, and they climbed it nimbly. But on the top they -found a second wall composed of stones and long beams lying quite flat -and alternating like the squares on a chess-board. It was a Gaulish -fashion, and had been adapted by the Suffet to the requirements of the -situation; the Gauls imagined themselves before a town in their own -country. Their attack was weak, and they were repulsed. - -All the roundway, from the street of Khamon as far as the Green -Market, now belonged to the Barbarians, and the Samnites were -finishing off the dying with blows of stakes; or else with one foot on -the wall were gazing down at the smoking ruins beneath them, and the -battle which was beginning again in the distance. - -The slingers, who were distributed through the rear, were still -shooting. But the springs of the Acarnanian slings had broken from -use, and many were throwing stones with the hand like shepherds; the -rest hurled leaden bullets with the handle of a whip. Zarxas, his -shoulders covered with his long black hair, went about everywhere, and -led on the Barbarians. Two pouches hung at his hips; he thrust his -left hand into them continually, while his right arm whirled round -like a chariot-wheel. - -Matho had at first refrained from fighting, the better to command the -Barbarians all at once. He had been seen along the gulf with the -Mercenaries, near the lagoon with the Numidians, and on the shores of -the lake among the Negroes, and from the back part of the plain he -urged forward masses of soldiers who came ceaselessly against the -ramparts. By degrees he had drawn near; the smell of blood, the sight -of carnage, and the tumult of clarions had at last made his heart -leap. Then he had gone back into his tent, and throwing off his -cuirass had taken his lion's skin as being more convenient for battle. -The snout fitted upon his head, bordering his face with a circle of -fangs; the two fore-paws were crossed upon his breast, and the claws -of the hinder ones fell beneath his knees. - -He had kept on his strong waist-belt, wherein gleamed a two-edged axe, -and with his great sword in both hands he had dashed impetuously -through the breach. Like a pruner cutting willow-branches and trying -to strike off as much as possible so as to make the more money, he -marched along mowing down the Carthaginians around him. Those who -tried to seize him in flank he knocked down with blows of the pommel; -when they attacked him in front he ran them through; if they fled he -clove them. Two men leaped together upon his back; he bounded -backwards against a gate and crushed them. His sword fell and rose. It -shivered on the angle of a wall. Then he took his heavy axe, and front -and rear he ripped up the Carthaginians like a flock of sheep. They -scattered more and more, and he was quite alone when he reached the -second enclosure at the foot of the Acropolis. The materials which had -been flung from the summit cumbered the steps and were heaped up -higher than the wall. Matho turned back amid the ruins to summons his -companions. - -He perceived their crests scattered over the multitude; they were -sinking and their wearers were about to perish; he dashed towards -them; then the vast wreath of red plumes closed in, and they soon -rejoined him and surrounded him. But an enormous crowd was discharging -from the side streets. He was caught by the hips, lifted up and -carried away outside the ramparts to a spot where the terrace was -high. - -Matho shouted a command and all the shields sank upon the helmets; he -leaped upon them in order to catch hold somewhere so as to re-enter -Carthage; and, flourishing his terrible axe, ran over the shields, -which resembled waves of bronze, like a marine god, with brandished -trident, over his billows. - -However, a man in a white robe was walking along the edge of the -rampart, impassible, and indifferent to the death which surrounded -him. Sometimes he would spread out his right hand above his eyes in -order to find out some one. Matho happened to pass beneath him. -Suddenly his eyeballs flamed, his livid face contracted; and raising -both his lean arms he shouted out abuse at him. - -Matho did not hear it; but he felt so furious and cruel a look -entering his heart that he uttered a roar. He hurled his long axe at -him; some people threw themselves upon Schahabarim; and Matho seeing -him no more fell back exhausted. - -A terrible creaking drew near, mingled with the rhythm of hoarse -voices singing together. - -It was the great helepolis surrounded by a crowd of soldiers. They -were dragging it with both hands, hauling it with ropes, and pushing -it with their shoulders,--for the slope rising from the plain to the -terrace, although extremely gentle, was found impracticable for -machines of such prodigious weight. However, it had eight wheels -banded with iron, and it had been advancing slowly in this way since -the morning, like a mountain raised upon another. Then there appeared -an immense ram issuing from its base. The doors along the three fronts -which faced the town fell down, and cuirassed soldiers appeared in the -interior like pillars of iron. Some might be seen climbing and -descending the two staircases which crossed the stories. Some were -waiting to dart out as soon as the cramps of the doors touched the -walls; in the middle of the upper platform the skeins of the ballistas -were turning, and the great beam of the catapult was being lowered. - -Hamilcar was at that moment standing upright on the roof of Melkarth. -He had calculated that it would come directly towards him, against -what was the most invulnerable place in the wall, which was for that -very reason denuded of sentries. His slaves had for a long time been -bringing leathern bottles along the roundway, where they had raised -with clay two transverse partitions forming a sort of basin. The water -was flowing insensibly along the terrace, and strange to say, it -seemed to cause Hamilcar no anxiety. - -But when the helepolis was thirty paces off, he commanded planks to be -placed over the streets between the houses from the cisterns to the -rampart; and a file of people passed from hand to hand helmets and -amphoras, which were emptied continually. The Carthaginians, however, -grew indignant at this waste of water. The ram was demolishing the -wall, when suddenly a fountain sprang forth from the disjointed -stones. Then the lofty brazen mass, nine stories high, which contained -and engaged more than three thousand soldiers, began to rock gently -like a ship. In fact, the water, which had penetrated the terrace, had -broken up the path before it; its wheels stuck in the mire; the head -of Spendius, with distended cheeks blowing an ivory cornet, appeared -between leathern curtains on the first story. The great machine, as -though convulsively upheaved, advanced perhaps ten paces; but the -ground softened more and more, the mire reached to the axles, and the -helepolis stopped, leaning over frightfully to one side. The catapult -rolled to the edge of the platform, and carried away by the weight of -its beam, fell, shattering the lower stories beneath it. The soldiers -who were standing on the doors slipped into the abyss, or else held on -to the extremities of the long beams, and by their weight increased -the inclination of the helepolis, which was going to pieces with -creakings in all its joints. - -The other Barbarians rushed up to help them, massing themselves into a -compact crowd. The Carthaginians descended from the rampart, and, -assailing them in the rear, killed them at leisure. But the chariots -furnished with sickles hastened up, and galloped round the outskirts -of the multitude. The latter ascended the wall again; night came on; -and the Barbarians gradually retired. - -Nothing could now be seen on the plain but a sort of perfectly black, -swarming mass, which extended from the bluish gulf to the purely white -lagoon; and the lake, which had received streams of blood, stretched -further away like a great purple pool. - -The terrace was now so laden with corpses that it looked as though it -had been constructed of human bodies. In the centre stood the -helepolis covered with armour; and from time to time huge fragments -broke off from it, like stones from a crumbling pyramid. Broad tracks -made by the streams of lead might be distinguished on the walls. A -broken-down wooden tower burned here and there, and the houses showed -dimly like the stages of a ruined ampitheatre. Heavy fumes of smoke -were rising, and rolling with them sparks which were lost in the dark -sky. - -The Carthaginians, however, who were consumed by thirst, had rushed to -the cisterns. They broke open the doors. A miry swamp stretched at the -bottom. - -What was to be done now? Moreover, the Barbarians were countless, and -when their fatigue was over they would begin again. - -The people deliberated all night in groups at the corners of the -streets. Some said that they ought to send away the women, the sick, -and the old men; others proposed to abandon the town, and found a -colony far away. But vessels were lacking, and when the sun appeared -no decision had been made. - -There was no fighting that day, all being too much exhausted. The -sleepers looked like corpses. - -Then the Carthaginians, reflecting upon the cause of their disasters, -remembered that they had not dispatched to Phoenicia the annual -offering due to Tyrian Melkarth, and a great terror came upon them. -The gods were indignant with the Republic, and were, no doubt, about -to prosecute their vengeance. - -They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with -supplications and allowed themselves to be bribed with presents. All -were feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the -very flesh of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, -the Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it to him, which -calmed his fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape -of the neck, with woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal -brought in much money to the priests, they failed not to recommend it -as being easier and more pleasant. - -This time, however, the Republic itself was at stake. But as every -profit must be purchased by some loss, and as every transaction was -regulated according to the needs of the weaker and the demands of the -stronger, there was no pain great enough for the god, since he -delighted in such as was of the most horrible description, and all -were now at his mercy. He must accordingly be fully gratified. -Precedents showed that in this way the scourge would be made to -disappear. Moreover, it was believed that an immolation by fire would -purify Carthage. The ferocity of the people was predisposed towards -it. The choice, too, must fall exclusively upon the families of the -great. - -The Ancients assembled. The sitting was a long one. Hanno had come to -it. As he was now unable to sit he remained lying down near the door, -half hidden among the fringes of the lofty tapestry; and when the -pontiff of Moloch asked them whether they would consent to surrender -their children, his voice suddenly broke forth from the shadow like -the roaring of a genius in the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he -said, that he had none of his own blood to give; and he gazed at -Hamilcar, who faced him at the other end of the hall. The Suffet was -so much disconcerted by this look that it made him lower his eyes. All -successively bent their heads in approval; and in accordance with the -rites he had to reply to the high priest: "Yes; be it so." Then the -Ancients decreed the sacrifice in traditional circumlocution,--because -there are things more troublesome to say than to perform. - -The decision was almost immediately known in Carthage, and -lamentations resounded. The cries of women might everywhere be heard; -their husbands consoled them, or railed at them with remonstrances. - -But three hours afterwards extraordinary tidings were spread abroad: -the Suffet had discovered springs at the foot of the cliff. There was -a rush to the place. Water might be seen in holes dug in the sand, and -some were already lying flat on the ground and drinking. - -Hamilcar did not himself know whether it was by the determination of -the gods or through the vague recollection of a revelation which his -father had once made to him; but on leaving the Ancients he had gone -down to the shore and had begun to dig the gravel with his slaves. - -He gave clothing, boots, and wine. He gave all the rest of the corn -that he was keeping by him. He even let the crowd enter his palace, -and he opened kitchens, stores, and all the rooms,--Salammbo's alone -excepted. He announced that six thousand Gaulish Mercenaries were -coming, and that the king of Macedonia was sending soldiers. - -But on the second day the springs diminished, and on the evening of -the third they were completely dried up. Then the decree of the -Ancients passed everywhere from lip to lip, and the priests of Moloch -began their task. - -Men in black robes presented themselves in the houses. In many -instances the owners had deserted them under pretence of some -business, or of some dainty that they were going to buy; and the -servants of Moloch came and took the children away. Others themselves -surrendered them stupidly. Then they were brought to the temple of -Tanith, where the priestesses were charged with their amusement and -support until the solemn day. - -They visited Hamilcar suddenly and found him in his gardens. - -"Barca! we come for that that you know of--your son!" They added that -some people had met him one evening during the previous moon in the -centre of the Mappalian district being led by an old man. - -He was as though suffocated at first. But speedily understanding that -any denial would be in vain, Hamilcar bowed; and he brought them into -the commercial house. Some slaves who had run up at a sign kept watch -all round about it. - -He entered Salammbo's room in a state of distraction. He seized -Hannibal with one hand, snatched up the cord of a trailing garment -with the other, tied his feet and hands with it, thrust the end into -his mouth to form a gag, and hid him under the bed of the ox-hides by -letting an ample drapery fall to the ground. - -Afterwards he walked about from right to left, raised his arms, -wheeled round, bit his lips. Then he stood still with staring eyelids, -and panted as though he were about to die. - -But he clapped his hands three times. Giddenem appeared. - -"Listen!" he said, "go and take from among the slaves a male child -from eight to nine years of age, with black hair and swelling -forehead! Bring him here! make haste!" - -Giddenem soon entered again, bringing forward a young boy. - -He was a miserable child, at once lean and bloated; his skin looked -greyish, like the infected rag hanging to his sides; his head was sunk -between his shoulders, and with the back of his hand he was rubbing -his eyes, which were filled with flies. - -How could he ever be confounded with Hannibal! and there was no time -to choose another. Hamilcar looked at Giddenem; he felt inclined to -strangle him. - -"Begone!" he cried; and the master of the slaves fled. - -The misfortune which he had so long dreaded was therefore come, and -with extravagant efforts he strove to discover whether there was not -some mode, some means to escape it. - -Abdalonim suddenly spoke from behind the door. The Suffet was being -asked for. The servants of Moloch were growing impatient. - -Hamilcar repressed a cry as though a red hot iron had burnt him; and -he began anew to pace the room like one distraught. Then he sank down -beside the balustrade, and, with his elbows on his knees, pressed his -forehead into his shut fists. - -The porphyry basin still contained a little clear water for Salammbo's -ablutions. In spite of his repugnance and all his pride, the Suffet -dipped the child into it, and, like a slave merchant, began to wash -him and rub him with strigils and red earth. Then he took two purple -squares from the receptacles round the wall, placed one on his breast -and the other on his back, and joined them together on the collar -bones with two diamond clasps. He poured perfume upon his head, passed -an electrum necklace around his neck, and put on him sandals with -heels of pearl,--sandals belonging to his own daughter! But he stamped -with shame and vexation; Salammbo, who busied herself in helping him, -was as pale as he. The child, dazzled by such splendour, smiled and, -growing bold even, was beginning to clap his hands and jump, when -Hamilcar took him away. - -He held him firmly by the arm as though he were afraid of losing him, -and the child, who was hurt, wept a little as he ran beside him. - -When on a level with the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a voice was -raised, a mournful and supplicant voice. It murmured: "Master! oh! -master!" - -Hamilcar turned and beside him perceived a man of abject appearance, -one of the wretches who led a haphazard existence in the household. - -"What do you want?" said the Suffet. - -The slave, who trembled horribly, stammered: - -"I am his father!" - -Hamilcar walked on; the other followed him with stooping loins, bent -hams, and head thrust forward. His face was convulsed with unspeakable -anguish, and he was choking with suppressed sobs, so eager was he at -once to question him, and to cry: "Mercy!" - -At last he ventured to touch him lightly with one finger on the elbow. - -"Are you going to--?" He had not the strength to finish, and Hamilcar -stopped quite amazed at such grief. - -He had never thought--so immense was the abyss separating them from -each other--that there could be anything in common between them. It -even appeared to him a sort of outrage, an encroachment upon his own -privileges. He replied with a look colder and heavier than an -executioner's axe; the slave swooned and fell in the dust at his feet. -Hamilcar strode across him. - -The three black-robed men were waiting in the great hall, and standing -against the stone disc. Immediately he tore his garments, and rolled -upon the pavement uttering piercing cries. - -"Ah! poor little Hannibal! Oh! my son! my consolation! my hope! my -life! Kill me also! take me away! Woe! Woe!" He ploughed his face with -his nails, tore out his hair, and shrieked like the women who lament -at funerals. "Take him away then! my suffering is too great! begone! -kill me like him!" The servants of Moloch were astonished that the -great Hamilcar was so weak-spirited. They were almost moved by it. - -A noise of naked feet became audible, with a broken throat-rattling -like the breathing of a wild beast speeding along, and a man, pale, -terrible, and with outspread arms appeared on the threshold of the -third gallery, between the ivory pots; he exclaimed: - -"My child!" - -Hamilcar threw himself with a bound upon the slave, and covering the -man's mouth with his hand exclaimed still more loudly: - -"It is the old man who reared him! he calls him 'my child!' it will -make him mad! enough! enough!" And hustling away the three priests and -their victim he went out with them and with a great kick shut the door -behind him. - -Hamilcar strained his ears for some minutes in constant fear of seeing -them return. He then thought of getting rid of the slave in order to -be quite sure that he would see nothing; but the peril had not wholly -disappeared, and, if the gods were provoked at the man's death, it -might be turned against his son. Then, changing his intention, he sent -him by Taanach the best from his kitchens--a quarter of a goat, beans, -and preserved pomegranates. The slave, who had eaten nothing for a -long time, rushed upon them; his tears fell into the dishes. - -Hamilcar at last returned to Salammbo, and unfastened Hannibal's -cords. The child in exasperation bit his hand until the blood came. He -repelled him with a caress. - -To make him remain quiet Salammbo tried to frighten him with Lamia, a -Cyrenian ogress. - -"But where is she?" he asked. - -He was told that brigands were coming to put him into prison. "Let -them come," he rejoined, "and I will kill them!" - -Then Hamilcar told him the frightful truth. But he fell into a passion -with his father, contending that he was quite able to annihilate the -whole people, since he was the master of Carthage. - -At last, exhausted by his exertions and anger, he fell into a wild -sleep. He spoke in his dreams, his back leaning against a scarlet -cushion; his head was thrown back somewhat, and his little arm, -outstretched from his body, lay quite straight in an attitude of -command. - -When the night had grown dark Hamilcar lifted him up gently, and, -without a torch, went down the galley staircase. As he passed through -the mercantile house he took up a basket of grapes and a flagon of -pure water; the child awoke before the statue of Aletes in the vault -of gems, and he smiled--like the other--on his father's arm at the -brilliant lights which surrounded him. - -Hamilcar felt quite sure that his son could not be taken from him. It -was an impenetrable spot communicating with the beach by a -subterranean passage which he alone knew, and casting his eyes around -he inhaled a great draught of air. Then he set him down upon a stool -beside some golden shields. No one at present could see him; he had no -further need for watching; and he relieved his feelings. Like a mother -finding her first-born that was lost, he threw himself upon his son; -he clasped him to his breast, he laughed and wept at the same time, he -called him by the fondest names and covered him with kisses; little -Hannibal was frightened by this terrible tenderness and was silent -now. - -Hamilcar returned with silent steps, feeling the walls around him, and -came into the great hall where the moonlight entered through one of -the apertures in the dome; in the centre the slave lay sleeping after -his repast, stretched at full length upon the marble pavement. He -looked at him and was moved with a sort of pity. With the tip of his -cothurn he pushed forward a carpet beneath his head. Then he raised -his eyes and gazed at Tanith, whose slender crescent was shining in -the sky, and felt himself stronger than the Baals and full of contempt -for them. - -The arrangements for the sacrifice were already begun. - -Part of a wall in the temple of Moloch was thrown down in order to -draw out the brazen god without touching the ashes of the altar. Then -as soon as the sun appeared the hierodules pushed it towards the -square of Khamon. - -It moved backwards sliding upon cylinders; its shoulders overlapped -the walls. No sooner did the Carthaginians perceive it in the distance -than they speedily took to flight, for the Baal could be looked upon -with impunity only when exercising his wrath. - -A smell of aromatics spread through the streets. All the temples had -just been opened simultaneously, and from them there came forth -tabernacles borne upon chariots, or upon litters carried by the -pontiffs. Great plumes swayed at the corners of them, and rays were -emitted from their slender pinnacles which terminated in balls of -crystal, gold, silver or copper. - -These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who -were returning to their first cause to humble themselves before his -might and annihilate themselves in his splendour. - -Melkarth's pavilion, which was of fine purple, sheltered a petroleum -flare; on Khamon's, which was of hyacinth colour, there rose an ivory -phallus bordered with a circle of gems; between Eschmoun's curtains, -which were as blue as the ether, a sleeping python formed a circle -with his tail, and the Pataec gods, held in the arms of their priests, -looked like great infants in swaddling clothes with their heels -touching the ground. - -Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: Baal-Samin, god of -celestial space; Baal-Peor, god of the sacred mountains; Baal-Zeboub, -god of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and -congenerous races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldaea, -the Kijun of the Syrians; Derceto, with her virgin's face, crept on -her fins, and the corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a -catafalque among torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the -kings of the firmament to the Sun, and prevent their particular -influences from disturbing his, diversely coloured metal stars were -brandished at the end of long poles; and all were there, from the dark -Neblo, the genius of Mercury, to the hideous Rahab, which is the -constellation of the Crocodile. The Abbadirs, stones which had fallen -from the moon, were whirling in slings of silver thread; little -loaves, representing the female form, were born on baskets by the -priests of Ceres; others brought their fetishes and amulets; forgotten -idols reappeared, while the mystic symbols had been taken from the -very ships as though Carthage wished to concentrate herself wholly -upon a single thought of death and desolation. - -Before each tabernacle a man balanced a large vase of smoking incense -on his head. Clouds hovered here and there, and the hangings, -pendants, and embroideries of the sacred pavilions might be -distinguished amid the thick vapours. These advanced slowly owing to -their enormous weight. Sometimes the axles became fast in the streets; -then the pious took advantage of the opportunity to touch the Baalim -with their garments, which they preserved afterwards as holy things. - -The brazen statue continued to advance towards the square of Khamon. -The rich, carrying sceptres with emerald balls, set out from the -bottom of Megara; the Ancients, with diadems on their heads, had -assembled in Kinisdo, and masters of the finances, governors of -provinces, sailors, and the numerous horde employed at funerals, all -with the insignia of their magistracies or the instruments of their -calling, were making their way towards the tabernacles which were -descending from the Acropolis between the colleges of the pontiffs. - -Out of deference to Moloch they had adorned themselves with the most -splendid jewels. Diamonds sparkled on their black garments; but their -rings were too large and fell from their wasted hands,--nor could -there have been anything so mournful as this silent crowd where -earrings tapped against pale faces, and gold tiaras clasped brows -contracted with stern despair. - -At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His -pontiffs arranged an enclosure with trellis-work to keep off the -multitude, and remained around him at his feet. - -The priests of Khamon, in tawny woollen robes, formed a line before -their temple beneath the columns of the portico; those of Eschmoun, in -linen mantles with necklaces of koukouphas' heads and pointed tiaras, -posted themselves on the steps of the Acropolis; the priests of -Melkarth, in violet tunics, took the western side; the priests of the -Abbadirs, clasped with bands of Phrygian stuffs, placed themselves on -the east, while towards the south, with the necromancers all covered -with tattooings, and the shriekers in patched cloaks, were ranged the -curates of the Pataec gods, and the Yidonim, who put the bone of a -dead man into their mouths to learn the future. The priests of Ceres, -who were dressed in blue robes, had prudently stopped in the street of -Satheb, and in low tones were chanting a thesmophorion in the Megarian -dialect. - -From time to time files of men arrived, completely naked, their arms -outstretched, and all holding one another by the shoulders. From the -depths of their breasts they drew forth a hoarse and cavernous -intonation; their eyes, which were fastened upon the colossus, shone -through the dust, and they swayed their bodies simultaneously, and at -equal distances, as though they were all affected by a single -movement. They were so frenzied that to restore order the hierodules -compelled them, with blows of the stick, to lie flat upon the ground, -with their faces resting against the brass trellis-work. - -Then it was that a man in a white robe advanced from the back of the -square. He penetrated the crowd slowly, and people recognised a priest -of Tanith--the high-priest Schahabarim. Hootings were raised, for the -tyranny of the male principle prevailed that day in all consciences, -and the goddess was actually so completely forgotten that the absence -of her pontiffs had not been noticed. But the amazement was increased -when he was seen to open one of the doors of the trellis-work intended -for those who intended to offer up victims. It was an outrage to their -god, thought the priests of Moloch, that he had just committed, and -they sought with eager gestures to repel him. Fed on the meat of the -holocausts, clad in purple like kings, and wearing triple-storied -crowns, they despised the pale eunuch, weakened with his macerations, -and angry laughter shook their black beards, which were displayed on -their breasts in the sun. - -Schahabarim walked on, giving no reply, and, traversing the whole -enclosure with deliberation, reached the legs of the colossus; then, -spreading out both arms, he touched it on both sides, which was a -solemn form of adoration. For a long time Rabbet had been torturing -him, and in despair, or perhaps for lack of a god that completely -satisfied his ideas, he had at last decided for this one. - -The crowd, terrified by this act of apostasy, uttered a lengthened -murmur. It was felt that the last tie which bound their souls to a -merciful divinity was breaking. - -But owing to his mutilation, Schahabarim could take no part in the -cult of the Baal. The men in the red cloaks shut him out from the -enclosure; then, when he was outside, he went round all the colleges -in succession, and the priest, henceforth without a god, disappeared -into the crowd. It scattered at his approach. - -Meanwhile a fire of aloes, cedar, and laurel was burning between the -legs of the colossus. The tips of its long wings dipped into the -flame; the unguents with which it had been rubbed flowed like sweat -over its brazen limbs. Around the circular flagstone on which its feet -rested, the children, wrapped in black veils, formed a motionless -circle; and its extravagantly long arms reached down their palms to -them as though to seize the crown that they formed and carry it to the -sky. - -The rich, the Ancients, the women, the whole multitude, thronged -behind the priests and on the terraces of the houses. The large -painted stars revolved no longer; the tabernacles were set upon the -ground; and the fumes from the censers ascended perpendicularly, -spreading their bluish branches through the azure like gigantic trees. - -Many fainted; others became inert and petrified in their ecstasy. -Infinite anguish weighed upon the breasts of the beholders. The last -shouts died out one by one,--and the people of Carthage stood -breathless, and absorbed in the longing of their terror. - -At last the high priest of Moloch passed his left hand beneath the -children's veils, plucked a lock of hair from their foreheads, and -threw it upon the flames. Then the men in the red cloaks chanted the -sacred hymn: - -"Homage to thee, Sun! king of the two zones, self-generating Creator, -Father and Mother, Father and Son, God and Goddess, Goddess and God!" -And their voices were lost in the outburst of instruments sounding -simultaneously to drown the cries of the victims. The eight-stringed -scheminiths, the kinnors which had ten strings, and the nebals which -had twelve, grated, whistled, and thundered. Enormous leathern bags, -bristling with pipes, made a shrill clashing noise; the tabourines, -beaten with all the players' might, resounded with heavy, rapid blows; -and, in spite of the fury of the clarions, the salsalim snapped like -grasshoppers' wings. - -The hierodules, with a long hook, opened the seven-storied -compartments on the body of the Baal. They put meal into the highest, -two turtle-doves into the second, an ape into the third, a ram into -the fourth, a sheep into the fifth, and as no ox was to be had for the -sixth, a tawny hide taken from the sanctuary was thrown into it. The -seventh compartment yawned empty still. - -Before undertaking anything it was well to make trial of the arms of -the god. Slender chainlets stretched from his fingers up to his -shoulders and fell behind, where men by pulling them made the two -hands rise to a level with the elbows, and come close together against -the belly; they were moved several times in succession with little -abrupt jerks. Then the instruments were still. The fire roared. - -The pontiffs of Moloch walked about on the great flagstone scanning -the multitude. - -An individual sacrifice was necessary, a perfectly voluntary oblation, -which was considered as carrying the others along with it. But no one -had appeared up to the present, and the seven passages leading from -the barriers to the colossus were completely empty. Then the priests, -to encourage the people, drew bodkins from their girdles and gashed -their faces. The Devotees, who were stretched on the ground outside, -were brought within the enclosure. A bundle of horrible irons was -thrown to them, and each chose his own torture. They drove in spits -between their breasts; they split their cheeks; they put crowns of -thorns upon their heads; then they twined their arms together, and -surrounded the children in another large circle which widened and -contracted in turns. They reached to the balustrade, they threw -themselves back again, and then began once more, attracting the crowd -to them by the dizziness of their motion with its accompanying blood -and shrieks. - -By degrees people came into the end of the passages; they flung into -the flames pearls, gold vases, cups, torches, all their wealth; the -offerings became constantly more numerous and more splendid. At last a -man who tottered, a man pale and hideous with terror, thrust forward a -child; then a little black mass was seen between the hands of the -colossus, and sank into the dark opening. The priests bent over the -edge of the great flagstone,--and a new song burst forth celebrating -the joys of death and of new birth into eternity. - -The children ascended slowly, and as the smoke formed lofty eddies as -it escaped, they seemed at a distance to disappear in a cloud. Not one -stirred. Their wrists and ankles were tied, and the dark drapery -prevented them from seeing anything and from being recognised. - -Hamilcar, in a red cloak, like the priests of Moloch, was beside the -Baal, standing upright in front of the great toe of its right foot. -When the fourteenth child was brought every one could see him make a -great gesture of horror. But he soon resumed his former attitude, -folded his arms, and looked upon the ground. The high pontiff stood on -the other side of the statue as motionless as he. His head, laden with -an Assyrian mitre, was bent, and he was watching the gold plate on his -breast; it was covered with fatidical stones, and the flame mirrored -in it formed irisated lights. He grew pale and dismayed. Hamilcar bent -his brow; and they were both so near the funeral-pile that the hems of -their cloaks brushed it as they rose from time to time. - -The brazen arms were working more quickly. They paused no longer. -Every time that a child was placed in them the priests of Moloch -spread out their hands upon him to burden him with the crimes of the -people, vociferating: "They are not men but oxen!" and the multitude -round about repeated: "Oxen! oxen!" The devout exclaimed: "Lord! eat!" -and the priests of Proserpine, complying through terror with the needs -of Carthage, muttered the Eleusinian formula: "Pour out rain! bring -forth!" - -The victims, when scarcely at the edge of the opening, disappeared -like a drop of water on a red-hot plate, and white smoke rose amid the -great scarlet colour. - -Nevertheless, the appetite of the god was not appeased. He ever wished -for more. In order to furnish him with a larger supply, the victims -were piled up on his hands with a big chain above them which kept them -in their place. Some devout persons had at the beginning wished to -count them, to see whether their number corresponded with the days of -the solar year; but others were brought, and it was impossible to -distinguish them in the giddy motion of the horrible arms. This lasted -for a long, indefinite time until the evening. Then the partitions -inside assumed a darker glow, and burning flesh could be seen. Some -even believed that they could descry hair, limbs, and whole bodies. - -Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeral-pile, which -was flameless now, formed a pyramid of coals up to his knees; -completely red like a giant covered with blood, he looked, with his -head thrown back, as though he were staggering beneath the weight of -his intoxication. - -In proportion as the priests made haste, the frenzy of the people -increased; as the number of the victims was diminishing, some cried -out to spare them, others that still more were needful. The walls, -with their burden of people, seemed to be giving way beneath the -howlings of terror and mystic voluptuousness. Then the faithful came -into the passages, dragging their children, who clung to them; and -they beat them in order to make them let go, and handed them over to -the men in red. The instrument-players sometimes stopped through -exhaustion; then the cries of the mothers might be heard, and the -frizzling of the fat as it fell upon the coals. The henbane-drinkers -crawled on all fours around the colossus, roaring like tigers; the -Yidonim vaticinated, the Devotees sang with their cloven lips; the -trellis-work had been broken through, all wished for a share in the -sacrifice;--and fathers, whose children had died previously, cast -their effigies, their playthings, their preserved bones into the fire. -Some who had knives rushed upon the rest. They slaughtered one -another. The hierodules took the fallen ashes at the edge of the -flagstone in bronze fans, and cast them into the air that the -sacrifice might be scattered over the town and even to the region of -the stars. - -The loud noise and great light had attracted the Barbarians to the -foot of the walls; they clung to the wreck of the helepolis to have a -better view, and gazed open-mouthed in horror. - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE PASS OF THE HATCHET - -The Carthaginians had not re-entered their houses when the clouds -accumulated more thickly; those who raised their heads towards the -colossus could feel big drops on their foreheads, and the rain fell. - -It fell the whole night plentifully, in floods; the thunder growled; -it was the voice of Moloch; he had vanquished Tanith; and she, being -now fecundated, opened up her vast bosom in heaven's heights. -Sometimes she could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched -upon cushions of cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as -though she were still too weary and wished to sleep again; the -Carthaginians, all believing that water is brought forth by the moon, -shouted to make her travail easy. - -The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in -the courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of -the streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big -frothy jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it -seemed as though whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the -washed temple-roofs shone black in the gleam of the lightning. -Torrents descended from the Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses -suddenly gave way, and small beams, plaster, rubbish, and furniture -passed along in streams which ran impetuously over the pavement. - -Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the -torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of -the Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their -mouths to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their -arms into them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly -with water that they vomited it forth like buffaloes. The freshness -gradually spread; they breathed in the damp air with play of limb, and -in the happiness of their intoxication boundless hope soon arose. All -their miseries were forgotten. Their country was born anew. - -They felt the need, as it were, of directing upon others the -extravagant fury which they had been unable to employ against -themselves. Such a sacrifice could not be in vain; although they felt -no remorse they found themselves carried away by the frenzy which -results from complicity in irreparable crimes. - -The Barbarians had encountered the storm in their ill-closed tents; -and they were still quite chilled on the morrow as they tramped -through the mud in search of their stores and weapons, which were -spoiled and lost. - -Hamilcar went himself to see Hanno, and, in virtue of his plenary -powers, intrusted the command to him. The old Suffet hesitated for a -few minutes between his animosity and his appetite for authority, but -he accepted nevertheless. - -Hamilcar next took out a galley armed with a catapult at each end. He -placed it in the gulf in front of the raft; then he embarked his -stoutest troops on board such vessels as were available. He was -apparently taking to flight; and running northward before the wind he -disappeared into the mist. - -But three days afterwards, when the attack was about to begin again, -some people arrived tumultuously from the Libyan coast. Barca had come -among them. He had carried off provisions everywhere, and he was -spreading through the country. - -Then the Barbarians were indignant as though he were betraying them. -Those who were most weary of the siege, and especially the Gauls, did -not hesitate to leave the walls in order to try and rejoin him. -Spendius wanted to reconstruct the helepolis; Matho had traced an -imaginary line from his tent to Megara, and inwardly swore to follow -it, and none of their men stirred. But the rest, under the command of -Autaritus, went off, abandoning the western part of the rampart, and -so profound was the carelessness exhibited that no one even thought of -replacing them. - -Narr' Havas spied them from afar in the mountains. During the night he -led all his men along the sea-shore on the outer side of the Lagoon, -and entered Carthage. - -He presented himself as a saviour with six thousand men all carrying -meal under their cloaks, and forty elephants laden with forage and -dried meat. The people flocked quickly around them; they gave them -names. The sight of these strong animals, sacred to Baal, gave the -Carthaginians even more joy than the arrival of such relief; it was a -token of the tenderness of the god, a proof that he was at last about -to interfere in the war to defend them. - -Narr' Havas received the compliments of the Ancients. Then he ascended -to Salammbo's palace. - -He had not seen her again since the time when in Hamilcar's tent amid -the five armies he had felt her little, cold, soft hand fastened to -his own; she had left for Carthage after the betrothal. His love, -which had been diverted by other ambitions, had come back to him; and -now he expected to enjoy his rights, to marry her, and take her. - -Salammbo did not understand how the young man could ever become her -master! Although she asked Tanith every day for Matho's death, her -horror of the Libyan was growing less. She vaguely felt that the hate -with which he had persecuted her was something almost religious,--and -she would fain have seen in Narr' Havas's person a reflection, as it -were, of that malice which still dazzled her. She desired to know him -better, and yet his presence would have embarrassed her. She sent him -word that she could not receive him. - -Moreover, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit the King of the -Numidians to see her; by putting off his reward to the end of the war -he hoped to retain his devotion;--and, through dread of the Suffet, -Narr' Havas withdrew. - -But he bore himself haughtily towards the Hundred. He changed their -arrangements. He demanded privileges for his men, and placed them on -important posts; thus the Barbarians stared when they perceived -Numidians on the towers. - -The surprise of the Carthaginians was greater still when three hundred -of their own people, who had been made prisoners during the Sicilian -war, arrived on board an old Punic trireme. Hamilcar, in fact, had -secretly sent back to the Quirites the crews of the Latin vessels, -taken before the defection of the Tyrian towns; and, to reciprocate -the courtesy, Rome was now sending him back her captives. She scorned -the overtures of the Mercenaries in Sardinian, and would not even -recognise the inhabitants of Utica as subjects. - -Hiero, who was ruling at Syracuse, was carried away by this example. -For the preservation of his own States it was necessary that an -equilibrium should exist between the two peoples; he was interested, -therefore, in the safety of the Chanaanites, and he declared himself -their friend, and sent them twelve hundred oxen, with fifty-three -thousand nebels of pure wheat. - -A deeper reason prompted aid to Carthage. It was felt that if the -Mercenaries triumphed, every one, from soldier to plate-washer, would -rise, and that no government and no house could resist them. - -Meanwhile Hamilcar was scouring the eastern districts. He drove back -the Gauls, and all the Barbarians found that they were themselves in -something like a state of siege. - -Then he set himself to harass them. He would arrive and then retire, -and by constantly renewing this manoeuvre, he gradually detached them -from their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and in -the end Matho yielded in like manner. - -He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself up within its walls. -This persistence was full of wisdom, for soon Narr' Havas was to be -seen issuing from the gate of Khamon with his elephants and soldiers. -Hamilcar was recalling him, but the other Barbarians were already -wandering about in the provinces in pursuit of the Suffet. - -The latter had received three thousand Gauls from Clypea. He had -horses brought to him from Cyrenaica, and armour from Brutium, and -began the war again. - -Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. For five moons he -dragged his enemies after him. He had an end to which he wished to -guide them. - -The Barbarians had at first tried to encompass him with small -detachments, but he always escaped them. They ceased to separate then. -Their army amounted to about forty thousand men, and several times -they enjoyed the sight of seeing the Carthaginians fall back. - -The horsemen of Narr' Havas were what they found most tormenting. -Often, at times of the greatest weariness, when they were advancing -over the plains, and dozing beneath the weight of their arms, a great -line of dust would suddenly rise on the horizon; there would be a -galloping up to them, and a rain of darts would pour from the bosom of -a cloud filled with flaming eyes. The Numidians in their white cloaks -would utter loud shouts, raise their arms, press their rearing -stallions with their knees, and, wheeling them round abruptly, would -then disappear. They had always supplies of javelins and dromedaries -some distance off, and they would return more terrible than before, -howl like wolves, and take to flight like vultures. The Barbarians -posted at the extremities of the files fell one by one; and this would -continue until evening, when an attempt would be made to enter the -mountains. - -Although they were perilous for elephants, Hamilcar made his way in -among them. He followed the long chain which extends from the -promontory of Hermaeum to the top of Zagouan. This, they believed, was -a device for hiding the insufficiency of his troops. But the continual -uncertainty in which he kept them exasperated them at last more than -any defeat. They did not lose heart, and marched after him. - -At last one evening they surprised a body of velites amid some big -rocks at the entrance of a pass between the Silver Mountain and the -Lead Mountain; the entire army was certainly in front of them, for a -noise of footsteps and clarions could be heard; the Carthaginians -immediately fled through the gorge. It descended into a plain, and was -shaped like an iron hatchet with a surrounding of lofty cliffs. The -Barbarians dashed into it in order to overtake the velites; quite at -the bottom other Carthaginians were running tumultuously amid -galloping oxen. A man in a red cloak was to be seen; it was the -Suffet; they shouted this to one another; and they were carried away -with increased fury and joy. Several, from laziness or prudence, had -remained on the threshold of the pass. But some cavalry, debouching -from a wood, beat them down upon the rest with blows of pike and -sabre; and soon all the Barbarians were below in the plain. - -Then this great human mass, after swaying to and fro for some time, -stood still; they could discover no outlet. - -Those who were nearest to the pass went back again, but the passage -had entirely disappeared. They hailed those in front to make them go -on; they were being crushed against the mountain, and from a distance -they inveighed against their companions, who were unable to find the -route again. - -In fact the Barbarians had scarcely descended when men who had been -crouching behind the rocks raised the latter with beams and overthrew -them, and as the slope was steep the huge blocks had rolled down pell- -mell and completely stopped up the narrow opening. - -At the other extremity of the plain stretched a long passage, split in -gaps here and there, and leading to a ravine which ascended to the -upper plateau, where the Punic army was stationed. Ladders had been -placed beforehand in this passage against the wall of cliff; and, -protected by the windings of the gaps, the velites were able to seize -and mount them before being overtaken. Several even made their way to -the bottom of the ravine; they were drawn up with cables, for the -ground at this spot was of moving sand, and so much inclined that it -was impossible to climb it even on the knees. The Barbarians arrived -almost immediately. But a portcullis, forty cubits high, and made to -fit the intervening space exactly, suddenly sank before them like a -rampart fallen from the skies. - -The Suffet's combinations had therefore succeeded. None of the -Mercenaries knew the mountain, and, marching as they did at the head -of their columns, they had drawn on the rest. The rocks, which were -somewhat narrow at the base, had been easily cast down; and, while all -were running, his army had raised shouts, as of distress, on the -horizon. Hamilcar, it is true, might have lost his velites, only half -of whom remained, but he would have sacrificed twenty times as many -for the success of such an enterprise. - -The Barbarians pressed forward until morning, in compact files, from -one end of the plain to the other. They felt the mountain with their -hands, seeking to discover a passage. - -At last day broke; and they perceived all about them a great white -wall hewn with the pick. And no means of safety, no hope! The two -natural outcomes from this blind alley were closed by the portcullis -and the heaps of rocks. - -Then they all looked at one another without speaking. They sank down -in collapse, feeling an icy coldness in their loins, and an -overwhelming weight upon their eyelids. - -They rose, and bounded against the rocks. But the lowest were weighted -by the pressure of the others, and were immovable. They tried to cling -to them so as to reach the top, but the bellying shape of the great -masses rendered all hold impossible. They sought to cleave the ground -on both sides of the gorge, but their instruments broke. They made a -large fire with the tent poles, but the fire could not burn the -mountain. - -They returned to the portcullis; it was garnished with long nails as -thick as stakes, as sharp as the spines of a porcupine, and closer -than the hairs of a brush. But they were animated by such rage that -they dashed themselves against it. The first were pierced to the -backbone, those coming next surged over them, and all fell back, -leaving human fragments and bloodstained hair on those horrible -branches. - -When their discouragement was somewhat abated, they made an -examination of the provisions. The Mercenaries, whose baggage was -lost, possessed scarcely enough for two days; and all the rest found -themselves destitute,--for they had been awaiting a convoy promised by -the villages of the South. - -However, some bulls were roaming about, those which the Carthaginians -had loosed in the gorge to attract the Barbarians. They killed them -with lance thrusts and ate them, and when their stomachs were filled -their thoughts were less mournful. - -The next day they slaughtered all the mules to the number of about -forty; then they scraped the skins, boiled the entrails, pounded the -bones, and did not yet despair; the army from Tunis had no doubt been -warned, and was coming. - -But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger increased; they -gnawed their sword-belts, and the little sponges which bordered the -bottom of their helmets. - -These forty thousand men were massed into the species of hippodrome -formed by the mountain about them. Some remained in front of the -portcullis, or at the foot of the rocks; the rest covered the plain -confusedly. The strong shunned one another, and the timid sought out -the brave, who, nevertheless, were unable to save them. - -To avoid infection, the corpses of the velites had been speedily -buried; and the position of the graves was no longer visible. - -All the Barbarians lay drooping on the ground. A veteran would pass -between their lines here and there; and they would howl curses against -the Carthaginians, against Hamilcar, and against Matho, although he -was innocent of their disaster; but it seemed to them that their pains -would have been less if he had shared them. Then they groaned, and -some wept softly like little children. - -They came to the captains and besought them to grant them something -that would alleviate their sufferings. The others made no reply; or, -seized with fury, would pick up a stone and fling it in their faces. - -Several, in fact, carefully kept a reserve of food in a hole in the -ground--a few handfuls of dates, or a little meal; and they ate this -during the night, with their heads bent beneath their cloaks. Those -who had swords kept them naked in their hands, and the most suspicious -remained standing with their backs against the mountain. - -They accused their chiefs and threatened them. Autaritus was not -afraid of showing himself. With the Barbaric obstinacy which nothing -could discourage, he would advance twenty times a day to the rocks at -the bottom, hoping every time to find them perchance displaced; and -swaying his heavy fur-covered shoulders, he reminded his companions of -a bear coming forth from its cave in springtime to see whether the -snows are melted. - -Spendius, surrounded by the Greeks, hid himself in one of the gaps; as -he was afraid, he caused a rumour of his death to be spread. - -They were now hideously lean; their skin was overlaid with bluish -marblings. On the evening of the ninth day three Iberians died. - -Their frightened companions left the spot. They were stripped, and the -white, naked bodies lay in the sunshine on the sand. - -Then the Garamantians began to prowl slowly round about them. They -were men accustomed to existence in solitude, and they reverenced no -god. At last the oldest of the band made a sign, and bending over the -corpses they cut strips from them with their knives, then squatted -upon their heels and ate. The rest looked on from a distance; they -uttered cries of horror;--many, nevertheless, being, at the bottom of -their souls, jealous of such courage. - -In the middle of the night some of these approached, and, dissembling -their eagerness, asked for a small mouthful, merely to try, they said. -Bolder ones came up; their number increased; there was soon a crowd. -But almost all of them let their hands fall on feeling the cold flesh -on the edge of their lips; others, on the contrary, devoured it with -delight. - -That they might be led away by example, they urged one another on -mutually. Such as had at first refused went to see the Garamantians, -and returned no more. They cooked the pieces on coals at the point of -the sword; they salted them with dust, and contended for the best -morsels. When nothing was left of the three corpses, their eyes ranged -over the whole plain to find others. - -But were they not in possession of Carthaginians--twenty captives -taken in the last encounter, whom no one had noticed up to the -present? These disappeared; moreover, it was an act of vengeance. -Then, as they must live, as the taste for this food had become -developed, and as they were dying, they cut the throats of the water- -carriers, grooms, and all the serving-men belonging to the -Mercenaries. They killed some of them every day. Some ate much, -recovered strength, and were sad no more. - -Soon this resource failed. Then the longing was directed to the -wounded and sick. Since they could not recover, it was as well to -release them from their tortures; and, as soon as a man began to -stagger, all exclaimed that he was now lost, and ought to be made use -of for the rest. Artifices were employed to accelerate their death; -the last remnant of their foul portion was stolen from them; they were -trodden on as though by inadvertence; those in the last throes wishing -to make believe that they were strong, strove to stretch out their -arms, to rise, to laugh. Men who had swooned came to themselves at the -touch of a notched blade sawing off a limb;--and they still slew, -ferociously and needlessly, to sate their fury. - -A mist heavy and warm, such as comes in those regions at the end of -winter, sank on the fourteenth day upon the army. This change of -temperature brought numerous deaths with it, and corruption was -developed with frightful rapidity in the warm dampness which was kept -in by the sides of the mountain. The drizzle that fell upon the -corpses softened them, and soon made the plain one broad tract of -rottenness. Whitish vapours floated overhead; they pricked the -nostrils, penetrated the skin, and troubled the sight; and the -Barbarians thought that through the exhalations of the breath they -could see the souls of their companions. They were overwhelmed with -immense disgust. They wished for nothing more; they preferred to die. - -Two days afterwards the weather became fine again, and hunger seized -them once more. It seemed to them that their stomachs were being -wrenched from them with tongs. Then they rolled about in convulsions, -flung handfuls of dust into their mouths, bit their arms, and burst -into frantic laughter. - -They were still more tormented by thirst, for they had not a drop of -water, the leathern bottles having been completely dried up since the -ninth day. To cheat their need they applied their tongues to the metal -plates on their waist-belts, their ivory pommels, and the steel of -their swords. Some former caravan-leaders tightened their waists with -ropes. Others sucked a pebble. They drank urine cooled in their brazen -helmets. - -And they still expected the army from Tunis! The length of time which -it took in coming was, according to their conjectures, an assurance of -its early arrival. Besides, Matho, who was a brave fellow, would not -desert them. "'Twill be to-morrow!" they would say to one another; and -then to-morrow would pass. - -At the beginning they had offered up prayers and vows, and practised -all kinds of incantations. Just now their only feeling to their -divinities was one of hatred, and they strove to revenge themselves by -believing in them no more. - -Men of violent disposition perished first; the Africans held out -better than the Gauls. Zarxas lay stretched at full length among the -Balearians, his hair over his arm, inert. Spendius found a plant with -broad leaves filled abundantly with juice, and after declaring that it -was poisonous, so as to keep off the rest, he fed himself upon it. - -They were too weak to knock down the flying crows with stones. -Sometimes when a gypaetus was perched on a corpse, and had been -mangling it for a long time, a man would set himself to crawl towards -it with a javelin between his teeth. He would support himself with one -hand, and after taking a good aim, throw his weapon. The white- -feathered creature, disturbed by the noise, would desist and look -about in tranquil fashion like a cormorant on a rock, and would then -again thrust in its hideous, yellow beak, while the man, in despair, -would fall flat on his face in the dust. Some succeeded in discovering -chameleons and serpents. But it was the love of life that kept them -alive. They directed their souls to this idea exclusively, and clung -to existence by an effort of the will that prolonged it. - -The most stoical kept close to one another, seated in a circle here -and there, among the dead in the middle of the plain; and wrapped in -their cloaks they gave themselves up silently to their sadness. - -Those who had been born in towns recalled the resounding streets, the -taverns, theatres, baths, and the barbers' shops where there are tales -to be heard. Others could once more see country districts at sunset, -when the yellow corn waves, and the great oxen ascend the hills again -with the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers dreamed of cisterns, -hunters of their forests, veterans of battles; and in the somnolence -that benumbed them their thoughts jostled one another with the -precipitancy and clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came suddenly -upon them; they sought for a door in the mountain in order to flee, -and tried to pass through it. Others thought that they were sailing in -a storm and gave orders for the handling of a ship, or else fell back -in terror, perceiving Punic battalions in the clouds. There were some -who imagined themselves at a feast, and sang. - -Many through a strange mania would repeat the same word or continually -make the same gesture. Then when they happened to raise their heads -and look at one another they were choked with sobs on discovering the -horrible ravages made in their faces. Some had ceased to suffer, and -to while away the hours told of the perils which they had escaped. - -Death was certain and imminent to all. How many times had they not -tried to open up a passage! As to implore terms from the conqueror, by -what means could they do so? They did not even know where Hamilcar -was. - -The wind was blowing from the direction of the ravine. It made the -sand flow perpetually in cascades over the portcullis; and the cloaks -and hair of the Barbarians were being covered with it as though the -earth were rising upon them and desirous of burying them. Nothing -stirred; the eternal mountain seemed still higher to them every -morning. - -Sometimes flights of birds darted past beneath the blue sky in the -freedom of the air. The men closed their eyes that they might not see -them. - -At first they felt a buzzing in their ears, their nails grew black, -the cold reached to their breasts; they lay upon their sides and -expired without a cry. - -On the nineteenth day two thousand Asiatics were dead, with fifteen -hundred from the Archipelago, eight thousand from Libya, the youngest -of the Mercenaries and whole tribes--in all twenty thousand soldiers, -or half of the army. - -Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in -order to put an end to this state of things, when he thought he saw a -man on the top of the mountain in front of him. - -Owing to his elevation this man did not appear taller than a dwarf. -However, Autaritus recognised a shield shaped like a trefoil on his -left arm. "A Carthaginian!" he exclaimed, and immediately throughout -the plain, before the portcullis and beneath the rocks, all rose. The -soldier was walking along the edge of the precipice; the Barbarians -gazed at him from below. - -Spendius picked up the head of an ox; then having formed a diadem with -two belts, he fixed it on the horns at the end of a pole in token of -pacific intentions. The Carthaginian disappeared. They waited. - -At last in the evening a sword-belt suddenly fell from above like a -stone loosened from the cliff. It was made of red leather covered with -embroidery, with three diamond stars, and stamped in the centre, it -bore the mark of the Great Council: a horse beneath a palm-tree. This -was Hamilcar's reply, the safe-conduct that he sent them. - -They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune brought with it the -end of their woes. They were moved with extravagant joy, they embraced -one another, they wept. Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas, four -Italiotes, a Negro and two Spartans offered themselves as envoys. They -were immediately accepted. They did not know, however, by what means -they should get away. - -But a cracking sounded in the direction of the rocks; and the most -elevated of them, after rocking to and fro, rebounded to the bottom. -In fact, if they were immovable on the side of the Barbarians--for it -would have been necessary to urge them up an incline plane, and they -were, moreover, heaped together owing to the narrowness of the gorge-- -on the others, on the contrary, it was sufficient to drive against -them with violence to make them descend. The Carthaginians pushed -them, and at daybreak they projected into the plain like the steps of -an immense ruined staircase. - -The Barbarians were still unable to climb them. Ladders were held out -for their assistance; all rushed upon them. The discharge of a -catapult drove the crowd back; only the Ten were taken away. - -They walked amid the Clinabarians, leaning their hands on the horses' -croups for support. - -Now that their first joy was over they began to harbour anxieties. -Hamilcar's demands would be cruel. But Spendius reassured them. - -"I will speak!" And he boasted that he knew excellent things to say -for the safety of the army. - -Behind all the bushes they met with ambushed sentries, who prostrated -themselves before the sword-belt which Spendius had placed over his -shoulder. - -When they reached the Punic camp the crowd flocked around them, and -they thought that they could hear whisperings and laughter. The door -of a tent opened. - -Hamilcar was at the very back of it seated on a stool beside a table -on which there shone a naked sword. He was surrounded by captains, who -were standing. - -He started back on perceiving these men, and then bent over to examine -them. - -Their pupils were strangely dilated, and there was a great black -circle round their eyes, which extended to the lower parts of their -ears; their bluish noses stood out between their hollow cheeks, which -were chinked with deep wrinkles; the skin of their bodies was too -large for their muscles, and was hidden beneath a slate-coloured dust; -their lips were glued to their yellow teeth; they exhaled an -infectious odour; they might have been taken for half-opened tombs, -for living sepulchres. - -In the centre of the tent, on a mat on which the captains were about -to sit down, there was a dish of smoking gourds. The Barbarians -fastened their eyes upon it with a shivering in all their limbs, and -tears came to their eyelids; nevertheless they restrained themselves. - -Hamilcar turned away to speak to some one. Then they all flung -themselves upon it, flat on the ground. Their faces were soaked in the -fat, and the noise of their deglutition was mingled with the sobs of -joy which they uttered. Through astonishment, doubtless, rather than -pity, they were allowed to finish the mess. Then when they had risen -Hamilcar with a sign commanded the man who bore the sword-belt to -speak. Spendius was afraid; he stammered. - -Hamilcar, while listening to him, kept turning round on his finger a -big gold ring, the same which had stamped the seal of Carthage upon -the sword-belt. He let it fall to the ground; Spendius immediately -picked it up; his servile habits came back to him in the presence of -his master. The others quivered with indignation at such baseness. - -But the Greek raised his voice and spoke for a long time in rapid, -insidious, and even violent fashion, setting forth the crimes of -Hanno, whom he knew to be Barca's enemy, and striving to move -Hamilcar's pity by the details of their miseries and the recollection -of their devotion; in the end he became forgetful of himself, being -carried away by the warmth of his temper. - -Hamilcar replied that he accepted their excuses. Peace, then, was -about to be concluded, and now it would be a definitive one! But he -required that ten Mercenaries, chosen by himself, should be delivered -up to him without weapons or tunics. - -They had not expected such clemency; Spendius exclaimed: "Ah! twenty -if you wish, master!" - -"No! ten will suffice," replied Hamilcar quietly. - -They were sent out of the tent to deliberate. As soon as they were -alone, Autaritus protested against the sacrifice of their companions, -and Zarxas said to Spendius: - -"Why did you not kill him? his sword was there beside you!" - -"Him!" said Spendius. "Him! him!" he repeated several times, as though -the thing had been impossible, and Hamilcar were an immortal. - -They were so overwhelmed with weariness that they stretched themselves -on their backs on the ground, not knowing at what resolution to -arrive. - -Spendius urged them to yield. At last they consented, and went in -again. - -Then the Suffet put his hand into the hands of the ten Barbarians in -turn, and pressed their thumbs; then he rubbed it on his garment, for -their viscous skin gave a rude, soft impression to the touch, a greasy -tingling which induced horripilation. Afterwards he said to them: - -"You are really all the chiefs of the Barbarians, and you have sworn -for them?" - -"Yes!" they replied. - -"Without constraint, from the bottom of your souls, with the intention -of fulfilling your promises?" - -They assured him that they were returning to the rest in order to -fulfil them. - -"Well!" rejoined the Suffet, "in accordance with the convention -concluded between myself, Barca, and the ambassadors of the -Mercenaries, it is you whom I choose and shall keep!" - -Spendius fell swooning upon the mat. The Barbarians, as though -abandoning him, pressed close together; and there was not a word, not -a complaint. - -Their companions, who were waiting for them, not seeing them return, -believed themselves betrayed. The envoys had no doubt given themselves -up to the Suffet. - -They waited for two days longer; then on the morning of the third, -their resolution was taken. With ropes, picks, and arrows, arranged -like rungs between strips of canvas, they succeeded in scaling the -rocks; and leaving the weakest, about three thousand in number, behind -them, they began their march to rejoin the army at Tunis. - -Above the gorge there stretched a meadow thinly sown with shrubs; the -Barbarians devoured the buds. Afterwards they found a field of beans; -and everything disappeared as though a cloud of grasshoppers had -passed that way. Three hours later they reached a second plateau -bordered by a belt of green hills. - -Among the undulations of these hillocks, silvery sheaves shone at -intervals from one another; the Barbarians, who were dazzled by the -sun, could perceive confusedly below great black masses supporting -them; these rose, as though they were expanding. They were lances in -towers on elephants terribly armed. - -Besides the spears on their breasts, the bodkin tusks, the brass -plates which covered their sides, and the daggers fastened to their -knee-caps, they had at the extremity of their tusks a leathern -bracelet, in which the handle of a broad cutlass was inserted; they -had set out simultaneously from the back part of the plain, and were -advancing on both sides in parallel lines. - -The Barbarians were frozen with a nameless terror. They did not even -try to flee. They already found themselves surrounded. - -The elephants entered into this mass of men; and the spurs on their -breasts divided it, the lances on their tusks upturned it like -ploughshares; they cut, hewed, and hacked with the scythes on their -trunks; the towers, which were full of phalaricas, looked like -volcanoes on the march; nothing could be distinguished but a large -heap, whereon human flesh, pieces of brass and blood made white spots, -grey sheets and red fuses. The horrible animals dug out black furrows -as they passed through the midst of it all. - -The fiercest was driven by a Numidian who was crowned with a diadem of -plumes. He hurled javelins with frightful quickness, giving at -intervals a long shrill whistle. The great beasts, docile as dogs, -kept an eye on him during the carnage. - -The circle of them narrowed by degrees; the weakened Barbarians -offered no resistance; the elephants were soon in the centre of the -plain. They lacked space; they thronged half-rearing together, and -their tusks clashed against one another. Suddenly Narr' Havas quieted -them, and wheeling round they trotted back to the hills. - -Two syntagmata, however, had taken refuge on the right in a bend of -ground, had thrown away their arms, and were all kneeling with their -faces towards the Punic tents imploring mercy with uplifted arms. - -Their legs and hands were tied; then when they were stretched on the -ground beside one another the elephants were brought back. - -Their breasts cracked like boxes being forced; two were crushed at -every step; the big feet sank into the bodies with a motion of the -haunches which made the elephants appear lame. They went on to the -very end. - -The level surface of the plain again became motionless. Night fell. -Hamilcar was delighting himself with the spectacle of his vengeance, -but suddenly he started. - -He saw, and all saw, some more Barbarians six hundred paces to the -left on the summit of a peak! In fact four hundred of the stoutest -Mercenaries, Etruscans, Libyans, and Spartans had gained the heights -at the beginning, and had remained there in uncertainty until now. -After the massacre of their companions they resolved to make their way -through the Carthaginians; they were already descending in serried -columns, in a marvellous and formidable fashion. - -A herald was immediately despatched to them. The Suffet needed -soldiers; he received them unconditionally, so greatly did he admire -their bravery. They could even, said the man of Carthage, come a -little nearer, to a place, which he pointed out to them, where they -would find provisions. - -The Barbarians ran thither and spent the night in eating. Then the -Carthaginians broke into clamours against the Suffet's partiality for -the Mercenaries. - -Did he yield to these outbursts of insatiable hatred or was it a -refinement of treachery? The next day he came himself, without a sword -and bare-headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and announced to them -that having too many to feed he did not intend to keep them. -Nevertheless, as he wanted men and he knew of no means of selecting -the good ones, they were to fight together to the death; he would then -admit the conquerors into his own body-guard. This death was quite as -good as another;--and then moving his soldiers aside (for the Punic -standards hid the horizon from the Mercenaries) he showed them the one -hundred and ninety-two elephants under Narr' Havas, forming a single -straight line, their trunks brandishing broad steel blades like giant -arms holding axes above their heads. - -The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that -made them turn pale, but the horrible compulsion to which they found -themselves reduced. - -The community of their lives had brought about profound friendship -among these men. The camp, with most, took the place of their country; -living without a family they transferred the needful tenderness to a -companion, and they would fall asleep in the starlight side by side -under the same cloak. And then in their perpetual wanderings through -all sorts of countries, murders, and adventures, they had contracted -affections, one for the other, in which the stronger protected the -younger in the midst of battles, helped him to cross precipices, -sponged the sweat of fevers from his brow, and stole food for him, and -the weaker, a child perhaps, who had been picked up on the roadside, -and had then become a Mercenary, repaid this devotion by a thousand -kindnesses. - -They exchanged their necklaces and earrings, presents which they had -made to one another in former days, after great peril, or in hours of -intoxication. All asked to die, and none would strike. A young fellow -might be seen here and there, saying to another whose beard was grey: -"No! no! you are more robust! you will avenge us, kill me!" and the -man would reply: "I have fewer years to live! Strike to the heart, and -think no more about it!" Brothers gazed on one another with clasped -hands, and friend bade friend eternal farewells, standing and weeping -upon his shoulder. - -They threw off their cuirasses that the sword-points might be thrust -in the more quickly. Then there appeared the marks of the great blows -which they had received for Carthage, and which looked like -inscriptions on columns. - -They placed themselves in four equal ranks, after the fashion of -gladiators, and began with timid engagements. Some had even bandaged -their eyes, and their swords waved gently through the air like blind -men's sticks. The Carthaginians hooted, and shouted to them that they -were cowards. The Barbarians became animated, and soon the combat as -general, headlong, and terrible. - -Sometimes two men all covered with blood would stop, fall into each -other's arms, and die with mutual kisses. None drew back. They rushed -upon the extended blades. Their delirium was so frenzied that the -Carthaginians in the distance were afraid. - -At last they stopped. Their breasts made a great hoarse noise, and -their eyeballs could be seen through their long hair, which hung down -as though it had come out of a purple bath. Several were turning round -rapidly, like panthers wounded in the forehead. Others stood -motionless looking at a corpse at their feet; then they would suddenly -tear their faces with their nails, take their swords with both hands, -and plunge them into their own bodies. - -There were still sixty left. They asked for drink. They were told by -shouts to throw away their swords, and when they had done so water was -brought to them. - -While they were drinking, with their faces buried in the vases, sixty -Carthaginians leaped upon them and killed them with stiletos in the -back. - -Hamilcar had done this to gratify the instincts of his army, and, by -means of this treachery, to attach it to his own person. - -The war, then, was ended; at least he believed that it was; Matho -would not resist; in his impatience the Suffet commanded an immediate -departure. - -His scouts came to tell him that a convoy had been descried, departing -towards the Lead Mountain. Hamilcar did not trouble himself about it. -The Mercenaries once annihilated, the Nomads would give him no further -trouble. The important matter was to take Tunis. He advanced by forced -marches upon it. - -He had sent Narr' Havas to Carthage with the news of his victory; and -the King of the Numidians, proud of his success, visited Salammbo. - -She received him in her gardens under a large sycamore tree, amid -pillows of yellow leather, and with Taanach beside her. Her face was -covered with a white scarf, which, passing over her mouth and -forehead, allowed only her eyes to be seen; but her lips shone in the -transparency of the tissue like the gems on her fingers, for Salammbo -had both her hands wrapped up, and did not make a gesture during the -whole conversation. - -Narr' Havas announced the defeat of the Barbarians to her. She thanked -him with a blessing for the services which he had rendered to her -father. Then he began to tell her about the whole campaign. - -The doves on the palm trees around them cooed softly, and other birds -fluttered amid the grass: ring-necked glareolas, Tartessus quails and -Punic guinea-fowl. The garden, long uncultivated, had multiplied its -verdure; coloquintidas mounted into the branches of cassias, the -asclepias was scattered over fields of roses, all kinds of vegetation -formed entwinings and bowers; and here and there, as in the woods, -sun-rays, descending obliquely, marked the shadow of a leaf upon the -ground. Domestic animals, grown wild again, fled at the slightest -noise. Sometimes a gazelle might be seen trailing scattered peacocks' -feathers after its little black hoofs. The clamours of the distant -town were lost in the murmuring of the waves. The sky was quite blue, -and not a sail was visible on the sea. - -Narr' Havas had ceased speaking; Salammbo was looking at him without -replying. He wore a linen robe with flowers painted on it, and with -gold fringes at the hem; two silver arrows fastened his plaited hair -at the tips of his ears; his right hand rested on a pike-staff adorned -with circles of electrum and tufts of hair. - -As she watched him a crowd of dim thoughts absorbed her. This young -man, with his gentle voice and feminine figure, captivated her eyes by -the grace of his person, and seemed to her like an elder sister sent -by the Baals to protect her. The recollection of Matho came upon her, -nor did she resist the desire to learn what had become of him. - -Narr' Havas replied that the Carthaginians were advancing towards -Tunis to take it. In proportion as he set forth their chances of -success and Matho's weaknesses, she seemed to rejoice in extraordinary -hope. Her lips trembled, her breast panted. When he finally promised -to kill him himself, she exclaimed: "Yes! kill him! It must be so!" - -The Numidian replied that he desired this death ardently, since he -would be her husband when the war was over. - -Salammbo started, and bent her head. - -But Narr' Havas, pursuing the subject, compared his longings to -flowers languishing for rain, or to lost travellers waiting for the -day. He told her, further, that she was more beautiful than the moon, -better than the wind of morning or than the face of a guest. He would -bring for her from the country of the Blacks things such as there were -none in Carthage, and the apartments in their house should be sanded -with gold dust. - -Evening fell, and odours of balsam were exhaled. For a long time they -looked at each other in silence, and Salammbo's eyes, in the depths of -her long draperies, resembled two stars in the rift of a cloud. Before -the sun set he withdrew. - -The Ancients felt themselves relieved of a great anxiety, when he left -Carthage. The people had received him with even more enthusiastic -acclamations than on the first occasion. If Hamilcar and the King of -the Numidians triumphed alone over the Mercenaries it would be -impossible to resist them. To weaken Barca they therefore resolved to -make the aged Hanno, him whom they loved, a sharer in the deliverance -of Carthage. - -He proceeded immediately towards the western provinces, to take his -vengeance in the very places which had witnessed his shame. But the -inhabitants and the Barbarians were dead, hidden, or fled. Then his -anger was vented upon the country. He burnt the ruins of the ruins, he -did not leave a single tree nor a blade of grass; the children and the -infirm, that were met with, were tortured; he gave the women to his -soldiers to be violated before they were slaughtered. - -Often, on the crests of the hills, black tents were struck as though -overturned by the wind, and broad, brilliantly bordered discs, which -were recognised as being chariot-wheels, revolved with a plaintive -sound as they gradually disappeared in the valleys. The tribes, which -had abandoned the siege of Carthage, were wandering in this way -through the provinces, waiting for an opportunity, or for some victory -to be gained by the Mercenaries, in order to return. But, whether from -terror or famine, they all took the roads to their native lands, and -disappeared. - -Hamilcar was not jealous of Hanno's successes. Nevertheless he was in -a hurry to end matters; he commanded him to fall back upon Tunis; and -Hanno, who loved his country, was under the walls of the town on the -appointed day. - -For its protection it had its aboriginal population, twelve thousand -Mercenaries, and, in addition, all the Eaters of Uncleanness, for like -Matho they were riveted to the horizon of Carthage, and plebs and -schalischim gazed at its lofty walls from afar, looking back in -thought to boundless enjoyments. With this harmony of hatred, -resistance was briskly organised. Leathern bottles were taken to make -helmets; all the palm-trees in the gardens were cut down for lances; -cisterns were dug; while for provisions they caught on the shores of -the lake big white fish, fed on corpses and filth. Their ramparts, -kept in ruins now by the jealousy of Carthage, were so weak that they -could be thrown down with a push of the shoulder. Matho stopped up the -holes in them with the stones of the houses. It was the last struggle; -he hoped for nothing, and yet he told himself that fortune was fickle. - -As the Carthaginians approached they noticed a man on the rampart who -towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that -flew about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of -swallows. Extraordinary to say, none of them touched him. - -Hamilcar pitched his camp on the south side; Narr' Havas, to his -right, occupied the plain of Rhades, and Hanno the shore of the lake; -and the three generals were to maintain their respective positions, so -as all to attack the walls simultaneously. - -But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish -them like slaves. He had the ten ambassadors crucified beside one -another on a hillock in front of the town. - -At the sight of this the besieged forsook the rampart. - -Matho had said to himself that if he could pass between the walls and -Narr' Havas's tents with such rapidity that the Numidians had not time -to come out, he could fall upon the rear of the Carthaginian infantry, -who would be caught between his division and those inside. He dashed -out with his veterans. - -Narr' Havas perceived him; he crossed the shore of the lake, and came -to warn Hanno to dispatch men to Hamilcar's assistance. Did he believe -Barca too weak to resist the Mercenaries? Was it a piece of treachery -or folly? No one could ever learn. - -Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesitate. He shouted -orders to sound the trumpets, and his whole army rushed upon the -Barbarians. The latter returned, and ran straight against the -Carthaginians; they knocked them down, crushed them under their feet, -and, driving them back in this way, reached the tent of Hanno, who was -then surrounded by thirty Carthaginians, the most illustrious of the -Ancients. - -He appeared stupefied by their audacity; he called for his captains. -Every one thrust his fist under his throat, vociferating abuse. The -crowd pressed on; and those who had their hands on him could scarce -retain their hold. However, he tried to whisper to them: "I will gave -you whatever you want! I am rich! Save me!" They dragged him along; -heavy as he was his feet did not touch the ground. The Ancients had -been carried off. His terror increased. "You have beaten me! I am your -captive! I will ransom myself! Listen to me, my friends!" and borne -along by all those shoulders which were pressed against his sides, he -repeated: "What are you going to do? What do you want? You can see -that I am not obstanite! I have always been good-natured!" - -A gigantic cross stood at the gate. The Barbarians howled: "Here! -here!" But he raised his voice still higher; and in the names of their -gods he called upon them to lead him to the schalischim, because he -wished to confide to him something on which their safety depended. - -They paused, some asserting that it was right to summon Matho. He was -sent for. - -Hanno fell upon the grass; and he saw around him other crosses also, -as though the torture by which he was about to perish had been -multiplied beforehand; he made efforts to convince himself that he was -mistaken, that there was only one, and even to believe that there were -none at all. At last he was lifted up. - -"Speak!" said Matho. - -He offered to give up Hamilcar; then they would enter Carthage and -both be kings. - -Matho withdrew, signing to the others to make haste. It was a -stratagem, he thought, to gain time. - -The Barbarian was mistaken; Hanno was in an extremity when -consideration is had to nothing, and, moreover, he so execrated -Hamilcar that he would have sacrificed him and all his soldiers on the -slightest hope of safety. - -The Ancients were languishing on the ground at the foot of the -crosses; ropes had already been passed beneath their armpits. Then the -old Suffet, understanding that he must die, wept. - -They tore off the clothes that were still left on him--and the horror -of his person appeared. Ulcers covered the nameless mass; the fat on -his legs hid the nails on his feet; from his fingers there hung what -looked like greenish strips; and the tears streaming through the -tubercles on his cheeks gave to his face an expression of frightful -sadness, for they seemed to take up more room than on another human -face. His royal fillet, which was half unfastened, trailed with his -white hair in the dust. - -They thought that they had no ropes strong enough to haul him up to -the top of the cross, and they nailed him upon it, after the Punic -fashion, before it was erected. But his pride awoke in his pain. He -began to overwhelm them with abuse. He foamed and twisted like a -marine monster being slaughtered on the shore, and predicted that they -would all end more horribly still, and that he would be avenged. - -He was. On the other side of the town, whence there now escaped jets -of flame with columns of smoke, the ambassadors from the Mercenaries -were in their last throes. - -Some who had swooned at first had just revived in the freshness of the -wind; but their chins still rested upon their breasts, and their -bodies had fallen somewhat, in spite of the nails in their arms, which -were fastened higher than their heads; from their heels and hands -blood fell in big, slow drops, as ripe fruit falls from the branches -of a tree,--and Carthage, gulf, mountains, and plains all appeared to -them to be revolving like an immense wheel; sometimes a cloud of dust, -rising from the ground, enveloped them in its eddies; they burned with -horrible thirst, their tongues curled in their mouths, and they felt -an icy sweat flowing over them with their departing souls. - -Nevertheless they had glimpses, at an infinite depth, of streets, -marching soldiers, and the swinging of swords; and the tumult of -battle reached them dimly like the noise of the sea to shipwrecked men -dying on the masts of a ship. The Italiotes, who were sturdier than -the rest, were still shrieking. The Lacedaemonians were silent, with -eyelids closed; Zarxas, once so vigorous, was bending like a broken -reed; the Ethiopian beside him had his head thrown back over the arms -of the cross; Autaritus was motionless, rolling his eyes; his great -head of hair, caught in a cleft in the wood, fell straight upon his -forehead, and his death-rattle seemed rather to be a roar of anger. As -to Spendius, a strange courage had come to him; he despised life now -in the certainty which he possessed of an almost immediate and an -eternal emancipation, and he awaited death with impassibility. - -Amid their swooning, they sometimes started at the brushing of -feathers passing across their lips. Large wings swung shadows around -them, croakings sounded in the air; and as Spendius's cross was the -highest, it was upon his that the first vulture alighted. Then he -turned his face towards Autaritus, and said slowly to him with an -unaccountable smile: - -"Do you remember the lions on the road to Sicca?" - -"They were our brothers!" replied the Gaul, as he expired. - -The Suffet, meanwhile, had bored through the walls and reached the -citadel. The smoke suddenly disappeared before a gust of wind, -discovering the horizon as far as the walls of Carthage; he even -thought that he could distinguish people watching on the platform of -Eschmoun; then, bringing back his eyes, he perceived thirty crosses of -extravagant size on the shore of the Lake, to the left. - -In fact, to render them still more frightful, they had been -constructed with tent-poles fastened end to end, and the thirty -corpses of the Ancients appeared high up in the sky. They had what -looked like white butterflies on their breasts; these were the -feathers of the arrows which had been shot at them from below. - -A broad gold ribbon shone on the summit of the highest; it hung down -to the shoulder, there being no arm on that side, and Hamilcar had -some difficulty in recognising Hanno. His spongy bones had given way -under the iron pins, portions of his limbs had come off, and nothing -was left on the cross but shapeless remains, like the fragments of -animals that are hung up on huntsmen's doors. - -The Suffet could not have known anything about it; the town in front -of him masked everything that was beyond and behind; and the captains -who had been successively sent to the two generals had not re- -appeared. Then fugitives arrived with the tale of the rout, and the -Punic army halted. This catastrophe, falling upon them as it did in -the midst of their victory, stupefied them. Hamilcar's orders were no -longer listened to. - -Matho took advantage of this to continue his ravages among the -Numidians. - -Hanno's camp having been overthrown, he had returned against them. The -elephants came out; but the Mercenaries advanced through the plain -shaking about flaming firebrands, which they had plucked from the -walls, and the great beasts, in fright, ran headlong into the gulf, -where they killed one another in their struggles, or were drowned -beneath the weight of their cuirasses. Narr' Havas had already -launched his cavalry; all threw themselves face downwards upon the -ground; then, when the horses were within three paces of them, they -sprang beneath their bellies, ripped them open with dagger-strokes, -and half the Numidians had perished when Barca came up. - -The exhausted Mercenaries could not withstand his troops. They retired -in good order to the mountain of the Hot Springs. The Suffet was -prudent enough not to pursue them. He directed his course to the -mouths of the Macaras. - -Tunis was his; but it was now nothing but a heap of smoking rubbish. -The ruins fell through the breaches in the walls to the centre of the -plain; quite in the background, between the shores of the gulf, the -corpses of the elephants drifting before the wind conflicted, like an -archipelago of black rocks floating on the water. - -Narr' Havas had drained his forests of these animals, taking young and -old, male and female, to keep up the war, and the military force of -his kingdom could not repair the loss. The people who had seen them -perishing at a distance were grieved at it; men lamented in the -streets, calling them by their names like deceased friends: "Ah! the -Invincible! the Victory! the Thunderer! the Swallow!" On the first -day, too, there was no talk except of the dead citizens. But on the -morrow the tents of the Mercenaries were seen on the mountain of the -Hot Springs. Then so deep was the despair that many people, especially -women, flung themselves headlong from the top of the Acropolis. - -Hamilcar's designs were not known. He lived alone in his tent with -none near him but a young boy, and no one ever ate with them, not even -excepting Narr' Havas. Nevertheless he showed great deference to the -latter after Hanno's defeat; but the king of the Numidians had too -great an interest in becoming his son not to distrust him. - -This inertness veiled skilful manoeuvres. Hamilcar seduced the heads -of the villages by all sorts of artifices; and the Mercenaries were -hunted, repulsed, and enclosed like wild beasts. As soon as they -entered a wood, the trees caught fire around them; when they drank of -a spring it was poisoned; the caves in which they hid in order to -sleep were walled up. Their old accomplices, the populations who had -hitherto defended them, now pursued them; and they continually -recognised Carthaginian armour in these bands. - -Many had their faces consumed with red tetters; this, they thought, -had come to them through touching Hanno. Others imagined that it was -because they had eaten Salammbo's fishes, and far from repenting of -it, they dreamed of even more abominable sacrileges, so that the -abasement of the Punic Gods might be still greater. They would fain -have exterminated them. - -In this way they lingered for three months along the eastern coast, -and then behind the mountain of Selloum, and as far as the first sands -of the desert. They sought for a place of refuge, no matter where. -Utica and Hippo-Zarytus alone had not betrayed them; but Hamilcar was -encompassing these two towns. Then they went northwards at haphazard -without even knowing the various routes. Their many miseries had -confused their understandings. - -The only feeling left them was one of exasperation, which went on -developing; and one day they found themselves again in the gorges of -Cobus and once more before Carthage! - -Then the actions multiplied. Fortune remained equal; but both sides -were so wearied that they would willingly have exchanged these -skirmishes for a great battle, provided that it were really the last. - -Matho was inclined to carry this proposal himself to the Suffet. One -of his Libyans devoted himself for the purpose. All were convinced as -they saw him depart that he would not return. - -He returned the same evening. - -Hamilcar accepted the challenge. The encounter should take place the -following day at sunrise, in the plain of Rhades. - -The Mercenaries wished to know whether he had said anything more, and -the Libyan added: - -"As I remained in his presence, he asked me what I was waiting for. -'To be killed!' I replied. Then he rejoined: 'No! begone! that will be -to-morrow with the rest.'" - -This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some were terrified by it, -and Matho regretted that the emissary had not been killed. - -He had still remaining three thousand Africans, twelve hundred Greeks, -fifteen hundred Campanians, two hundred Iberians, four hundred -Etruscans, five hundred Samnites, forty Gauls, and a troop of Naffurs, -nomad bandits met with in the date region--in all seven thousand two -hundred and nineteen soldiers, but not one complete syntagmata. They -had stopped up the holes in their cuirasses with the shoulder-blades -of quadrupeds, and replaced their brass cothurni with worn sandals. -Their garments were weighted with copper or steel plates; their coats -of mail hung in tatters about them, and scars appeared like purple -threads through the hair on their arms and faces. - -The wraiths of their dead companions came back to their souls and -increased their energy; they felt, in a confused way, that they were -the ministers of a god diffused in the hearts of the oppressed, and -were the pontiffs, so to speak, of universal vengeance! Then they were -enraged with grief at what was extravagant injustice, and above all by -the sight of Carthage on the horizon. They swore an oath to fight for -one another until death. - -The beasts of burden were killed, and as much as possible was eaten so -as to gain strength; afterwards they slept. Some prayed, turning -towards different constellations. - -The Carthaginians arrived first in the plain. They rubbed the edges of -their shields with oil to make the arrows glide off them easily; the -foot-soldiers who wore long hair took the precaution of cutting it on -the forehead; and Hamilcar ordered all bowls to be inverted from the -fifth hour, knowing that it is disadvantageous to fight with the -stomach too full. His army amounted to fourteen thousand men, or about -double the number of the Barbarians. Nevertheless, he had never felt -such anxiety; if he succumbed it would mean the annihilation of the -Republic, and he would perish on the cross; if, on the contrary, he -triumphed, he would reach Italy by way of the Pyrenees, the Gauls, and -the Alps, and the empire of the Barcas would become eternal. Twenty -times during the night he rose to inspect everything himself, down to -the most trifling details. As to the Carthaginians, they were -exasperated by their lengthened terror. Narr' Havas suspected the -fidelity of his Numidians. Moreover, the Barbarians might vanquish -them. A strange weakness had come upon him; every moment he drank -large cups of water. - -But a man whom he did not know opened his tent and laid on the ground -a crown of rock-salt, adorned with hieratic designs formed with -sulphur, and lozenges of mother-of-pearl; a marriage crown was -sometimes sent to a betrothed husband; it was a proof of love, a sort -of invitation. - -Nevertheless Hamilcar's daughter had no tenderness for Narr' Havas. - -The recollection of Matho disturbed her in an intolerable manner; it -seemed to her that the death of this man would unburden her thoughts, -just as people to cure themselves of the bite of a viper crush it upon -the wound. The king of the Numidians was depending upon her; he -awaited the wedding with impatience, and, as it was to follow the -victory, Salammbo made him this present to stimulate his courage. Then -his distress vanished, and he thought only of the happiness of -possessing so beautiful a woman. - -The same vision had assailed Matho; but he cast it from him -immediately, and his love, that he thus thrust back, was poured out -upon his companions in arms. He cherished them like portions of his -own person, of his hatred,--and he felt his spirit higher, and his -arms stronger; everything that he was to accomplish appeared clearly -before him. If sighs sometimes escaped him, it was because he was -thinking of Spendius. - -He drew up the Barbarians in six equal ranks. He posted the Etruscans -in the centre, all being fastened to a bronze chain; the archers were -behind, and on the wings he distributed the Naffurs, who were mounted -on short-haired camels, covered with ostrich feathers. - -The Suffet arranged the Carthaginians in similar order. He placed the -Clinabarians outside the infantry next to the velites, and the -Numidians beyond; when day appeared, both sides were thus in line face -to face. All gazed at each other from a distance, with round fierce -eyes. There was at first some hesitation; at last both armies moved. - -The Barbarians advanced slowly so as not to become out of breath, -beating the ground with their feet; the centre of the Punic army -formed a convex curve. Then came the burst of a terrible shock, like -the crash of two fleets in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians -had quickly opened up, and the marksmen, hidden behind the others, -discharged their bullets, arrows, and javelins. The curve of the -Carthaginians, however, flattened by degrees, became quite straight, -and then bent inwards; upon this, the two sections of the velites drew -together in parallel lines, like the legs of a compass that is being -closed. The Barbarians, who were attacking the phalanx with fury, -entered the gap; they were being lost; Matho checked them,--and while -the Carthaginian wings continued to advance, he drew out the three -inner ranks of his line; they soon covered his flanks, and his army -appeared in triple array. - -But the Barbarians placed at the extremities were the weakest, -especially those on the left, who had exhausted their quivers, and the -troop of velites, which had at last come up against them, was cutting -them up greatly. - -Matho made them fall back. His right comprised Campanians, who were -armed with axes; he hurled them against the Carthaginian left; the -centre attacked the enemy, and those at the other extremity, who were -out of peril, kept the velites at a distance. - -Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites -between them, and sent them against the Mercenaries. - -Those cone-shaped masses presented a front of horses, and their -broader sides were filled and bristling with lances. The Barbarians -found it impossible to resist; the Greek foot-soldiers alone had -brazen armour, all the rest had cutlasses on the end of poles, scythes -taken from the farms, or swords manufactured out of the fellies of -wheels; the soft blades were twisted by a blow, and while they were -engaged in straightening them under their heels, the Carthaginians -massacred them right and left at their ease. - -But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not stir; those who -were dead, being prevented from falling, formed an obstruction with -their corpses; and the great bronze line widened and contracted in -turn, as supple as a serpent, and as impregnable as a wall. The -Barbarians would come to re-form behind it, pant for a minute, and -then set off again with the fragments of their weapons in their hands. - -Many already had none left, and they leaped upon the Carthaginians, -biting their faces like dogs. The Gauls in their pride stripped -themselves of the sagum; they showed their great white bodies from a -distance, and they enlarged their wounds to terrify the enemy. The -voice of the crier announcing the orders could no longer be heard in -the midst of the Punic syntagmata; their signals were being repeated -by the standards, which were raised above the dust, and every one was -swept away in the swaying of the great mass that surrounded him. - -Hamilcar commanded the Numidians to advance. But the Naffurs rushed to -meet them. - -Clad in vast black robes, with a tuft of hair on the top of the skull, -and a shield of rhinoceros leather, they wielded a steel which had no -handle, and which they held by a rope; and their camels, which -bristled all over with feathers, uttered long, hoarse cluckings. Each -blade fell on a precise spot, then rose again with a smart stroke -carrying off a limb with it. The fierce beasts galloped through the -syntagmata. Some, whose legs were broken, went hopping along like -wounded ostriches. - -The Punic infantry turned in a body upon the Barbarians, and cut them -off. Their maniples wheeled about at intervals from one another. The -more brilliant Carthaginian weapons encircled them like golden crowns; -there was a swarming movement in the centre, and the sun, striking -down upon the points of the swords, made them glitter with white -flickering gleams. However, files of Clinabarians lay stretched upon -the plain; some Mercenaries snatched away their armour, clothed -themselves in it, and then returned to the fray. The deluded -Carthaginians were several times entangled in their midst. They would -stand stupidly motionless, or else would back, surge again, and -triumphant shouts rising in the distance seemed to drive them along -like derelicts in a storm. Hamilcar was growing desperate; all was -about to perish beneath the genius of Matho and the invincible courage -of the Mercenaries. - -But a great noise of tabourines burst forth on the horizon. It was a -crowd of old men, sick persons, children of fifteen years of age, and -even women, who, being unable to withstand their distress any longer, -had set out from Carthage, and, for the purpose of placing themselves -under the protection of something formidable, had taken from -Hamilcar's palace the only elephant that the Republic now possessed,-- -that one, namely, whose trunk had been cut off. - -Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their country, forsaking its -walls, was coming to command them to die for her. They were seized -with increased fury, and the Numidians carried away all the rest. - -The Barbarians had set themselves with their backs to a hillock in the -centre of the plain. They had no chance of conquering, or even of -surviving; but they were the best, the most intrepid, and the -strongest. - -The people from Carthage began to throw spits, larding-pins and -hammers, over the heads of the Numidians; those whom consuls had -feared died beneath sticks hurled by women; the Punic populace was -exterminating the Mercenaries. - -The latter had taken refuge on the top of the hill. Their circle -closed up after every fresh breach; twice it descended to be -immediately repulsed with a shock; and the Carthaginians stretched -forth their arms pell-mell, thrusting their pikes between the legs of -their companions, and raking at random before them. They slipped in -the blood; the steep slope of the ground made the corpses roll to the -bottom. The elephant, which was trying to climb the hillock, was up to -its belly; it seemed to be crawling over them with delight; and its -shortened trunk, which was broad at the extremity, rose from time to -time like an enormous leech. - -Then all paused. The Carthaginians ground their teeth as they gazed at -the hill, where the Barbarians were standing. - -At last they dashed at them abruptly, and the fight began again. The -Mercenaries would often let them approach, shouting to them that they -wished to surrender; then, with frightful sneers, they would kill -themselves at a blow, and as the dead fell, the rest would mount upon -them to defend themselves. It was a kind of pyramid, which grew larger -by degrees. - -Soon there were only fifty, then only twenty, only three, and lastly -only two--a Samnite armed with an axe, and Matho who still had his -sword. - -The Samnite with bent hams swept his axe alternately to the right and -left, at the same time warning Matho of the blows that were being -aimed at him. "Master, this way! that way! stoop down!" - -Matho had lost his shoulder-pieces, his helmet, his cuirass; he was -completely naked, and more livid than the dead, with his hair quite -erect, and two patches of foam at the corners of his lips,--and his -sword whirled so rapidly that it formed an aureola around him. A stone -broke it near the guard; the Samnite was killed and the flood of -Carthaginians closed in, they touched Matho. Then he raised both his -empty hands towards heaven, closed his eyes, and, opening out his arms -like a man throwing himself from the summit of a promontory into the -sea, hurled himself among the pikes. - -They moved away before him. Several times he ran against the -Carthaginians. But they always drew back and turned their weapons -aside. - -His foot struck against a sword. Matho tried to seize it. He felt -himself tied by the wrists and knees, and fell. - -Narr' Havas had been following him for some time, step by step, with -one of the large nets used for capturing wild beasts, and, taking -advantage of the moment when he stooped down, had involved him in it. - -Then he was fastened on the elephants with his four limbs forming a -cross; and all those who were not wounded escorted him, and rushed -with great tumult towards Carthage. - -The news of the victory had arrived in some inexplicable way at the -third hour of the night; the clepsydra of Khamon had just completed -the fifth as they reached Malqua; then Matho opened his eyes. There -were so many lights in the houses that the town appeared to be all in -flames. - -An immense clamour reached him dimly; and lying on his back he looked -at the stars. - -Then a door closed and he was wrapped in darkness. - -On the morrow, at the same hour, the last of the men left in the Pass -of the Hatchet expired. - -On the day that their companions had set out, some Zuaeces who were -returning had tumbled the rocks down, and had fed them for some time. - -The Barbarians constantly expected to see Matho appear,--and from -discouragement, from languor, and from the obstinacy of sick men who -object to change their situation, they would not leave the mountain; -at last the provisions were exhausted and the Zuaeces went away. It -was known that they numbered scarcely more than thirteen hundred men, -and there was no need to employ soldiers to put an end to them. - -Wild beasts, especially lions, had multiplied during the three years -that the war had lasted. Narr' Havas had held a great battue, and-- -after tying goats at intervals--had run upon them and so driven them -towards the Pass of the Hatchet;--and they were now all living in it -when a man arrived who had been sent by the Ancients to find out what -there was left of the Barbarians. - -Lions and corpses were lying over the tract of the plain, and the dead -were mingled with clothes and armour. Nearly all had the face or an -arm wanting; some appeared to be still intact; others were completely -dried up, and their helmets were filled with powdery skulls; feet -which had lost their flesh stood out straight from the knemides; -skeletons still wore their cloaks; and bones, cleaned by the sun, made -gleaming spots in the midst of the sand. - -The lions were resting with their breasts against the ground and both -paws stretched out, winking their eyelids in the bright daylight, -which was heightened by the reflection from the white rocks. Others -were seated on their hind-quarters and staring before them, or else -were sleeping, rolled into a ball and half hidden by their great -manes; they all looked well fed, tired, and dull. They were as -motionless as the mountain and the dead. Night was falling; the sky -was striped with broad red bands in the west. - -In one of the heaps, which in an irregular fashion embossed the plain, -something rose up vaguer than a spectre. Then one of the lions set -himself in motion, his monstrous form cutting a black shadow on the -background of the purple sky, and when he was quite close to the man, -he knocked him down with a single blow of his paw. - -Then, stretching himself flat upon him, he slowly drew out the -entrails with the edge of his teeth. - -Afterwards he opened his huge jaws, and for some minutes uttered a -lengthened roar which was repeated by the echoes in the mountain, and -was finally lost in the solitude. - -Suddenly some small gravel rolled down from above. The rustling of -rapid steps was heard, and in the direction of the portcullis and of -the gorge there appeared pointed muzzles and straight ears, with -gleaming, tawny eyes. These were the jackals coming to eat what was -left. - -The Carthaginian, who was leaning over the top of the precipice to -look, went back again. - - - -CHAPTER XV - -MATHO - -There were rejoicings at Carthage,--rejoicings deep, universal, -extravagant, frantic; the holes of the ruins had been stopped up, the -statues of the gods had been repainted, the streets were strewn with -myrtle branches, incense smoked at the corners of the crossways, and -the throng on the terraces looked, in their variegated garments, like -heaps of flowers blooming in the air. - -The shouts of the water-carriers watering the pavement rose above the -continual screaming of voices; slaves belonging to Hamilcar offered in -his name roasted barley and pieces of raw meat; people accosted one -another, and embraced one another with tears; the Tyrian towns were -taken, the nomads dispersed, and all the Barbarians annihilated. The -Acropolis was hidden beneath coloured velaria; the beaks of the -triremes, drawn up in line outside the mole, shone like a dyke of -diamonds; everywhere there was a sense of the restoration of order, -the beginning of a new existence, and the diffusion of vast happiness: -it was the day of Salammbo's marriage with the King of the Numidians. - -On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables -laden with gigantic plate, at which the priests, Ancients, and the -rich were to sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar, -Narr' Havas, and Salammbo; for as she had saved her country by the -restoration of the zaimph, the people turned her wedding day into a -national rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she -should appear. - -But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing: -Matho's death has been promised for the ceremony. - -It had been proposed at first to flay him alive, to pour lead into his -entrails, to kill him with hunger; he should be tied to a tree, and an -ape behind him should strike him on the head with a stone; he had -offended Tanith, and the cynocephaluses of Tanith should avenge her. -Others were of opinion that he should be led about on a dromedary -after linen wicks, dipped in oil, had been inserted in his body in -several places;--and they took pleasure in the thought of the large -animal wandering through the streets with this man writhing beneath -the fires like a candelabrum blown about by the wind. - -But what citizens should be charged with his torture, and why -disappoint the rest? They would have liked a kind of death in which -the whole town might take part, in which every hand, every weapon, -everything Carthaginian, to the very paving-stones in the streets and -the waves in the gulf, could rend him, and crush him, and annihilate -him. Accordingly the Ancients decided that he should go from his -prison to the square of Khamon without any escort, and with his arms -fastened to his back; it was forbidden to strike him to the heart, in -order that he might live the longer; to put out his eyes, so that he -might see the torture through; to hurl anything against his person, or -to lay more than three fingers upon him at a time. - -Although he was not to appear until the end of the day, the people -sometimes fancied that he could be seen, and the crowd would rush -towards the Acropolis, and empty the streets, to return with -lengthened murmurings. Some people had remained standing in the same -place since the day before, and they would call on one another from a -distance and show their nails which they had allowed to grow, the -better to bury them into his flesh. Others walked restlessly up and -down; some were as pale as though they were awaiting their own -execution. - -Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian -district. It was Salammbo leaving her palace; a sigh of relief found -vent. - -But the procession was long in coming; it marched with deliberation. - -First there filed past the priests of the Pataec Gods, then those of -Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other colleges in succession, with -the same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the -time of the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent, -and the multitude stood aside from them in a kind of remorse. But the -priests of Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in -their hands; the priestesses followed them in transparent robes of -yellow or black, uttering cries like birds and writhing like vipers, -or else whirling round to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of -the stars, while their light garments wafted puffs of delicate scents -through the streets. - -The Kedeschim, with painted eyelids, who symbolised the hermaphrodism -of the Divinity, received applause among these women, and, being -perfumed and dressed like them, they resembled them in spite of their -flat breasts and narrower hips. Moreover, on this day the female -principle dominated and confused all things; a mystic voluptuousness -moved in the heavy air; the torches were already lighted in the depths -of the sacred woods; there was to be a great celebration there during -the night; three vessels had brought courtesans from Sicily, and -others had come from the desert. - -As the colleges arrived they ranged themselves in the courts of the -temples, on the outer galleries, and along double staircases which -rose against the walls, and drew together at the top. Files of white -robes appeared between the colonnades, and the architecture was -peopled with human statues, motionless as statues of stone. - -Then came the masters of the exchequer, the governors of the -provinces, and all the rich. A great tumult prevailed below. Adjacent -streets were discharging the crowd, hierodules were driving it back -with blows of sticks; and then Salammbo appeared in a litter -surmounted by a purple canopy, and surrounded by the Ancients crowned -with their golden tiaras. - -Thereupon an immense shout arose; the cymbals and crotala sounded more -loudly, the tabourines thundered, and the great purple canopy sank -between the two pylons. - -It appeared again on the first landing. Salammbo was walking slowly -beneath it; then she crossed the terrace to take her seat behind on a -kind of throne cut out of the carapace of a tortoise. An ivory stool -with three steps was pushed beneath her feet; two Negro children knelt -on the edge of the first step, and sometimes she would rest both arms, -which were laden with rings of excessive weight, upon their heads. - -From ankle to hip she was covered with a network of narrow meshes -which were in imitation of fish scales, and shone like mother-of- -pearl; her waist was clasped by a blue zone, which allowed her breasts -to be seen through two crescent-shaped slashings; the nipples were -hidden by carbuncle pendants. She had a headdress made of peacock's -feathers studded with gems; an ample cloak, as white as snow, fell -behind her,--and with her elbows at her sides, her knees pressed -together, and circles of diamonds on the upper part of her arms, she -remained perfectly upright in a hieratic attitude. - -Her father and her husband were on two lower seats, Narr' Havas -dressed in a light simar and wearing his crown of rock-salt, from -which there strayed two tresses of hair as twisted as the horns of -Ammon; and Hamilcar in a violet tunic figured with gold vine branches, -and with a battle-sword at his side. - -The python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on the ground amid pools of -pink oil in the space enclosed by the tables, and, biting its tail, -described a large black circle. In the middle of the circle there was -a copper pillar bearing a crystal egg; and, as the sun shone upon it, -rays were emitted on every side. - -Behind Salammbo stretched the priests of Tanith in linen robes; on her -right the Ancients, in their tiaras, formed a great gold line, and on -the other side the rich with their emerald sceptres a great green -line,--while quite in the background, where the priests of Moloch were -ranged, the cloaks looked like a wall of purple. The other colleges -occupied the lower terraces. The multitude obstructed the streets. It -reached to the house-tops, and extended in long files to the summit of -the Acropolis. Having thus the people at her feet, the firmament above -her head, and around her the immensity of the sea, the gulf, the -mountains, and the distant provinces, Salammbo in her splendour was -blended with Tanith, and seemed the very genius of Carthage, and its -embodied soul. - -The feast was to last all night, and lamps with several branches were -planted like trees on the painted woollen cloths which covered the low -tables. Large electrum flagons, blue glass amphoras, tortoise-shell -spoons, and small round loaves were crowded between the double row of -pearl-bordered plates; bunches of grapes with their leaves had been -rolled round ivory vine-stocks after the fashion of the thyrsus; -blocks of snow were melting on ebony trays, and lemons, pomegranates, -gourds, and watermelons formed hillocks beneath the lofty silver -plate; boars with open jaws were wallowing in the dust of spices; -hares, covered with their fur, appeared to be bounding amid the -flowers; there were shells filled with forcemeat; the pastry had -symbolic shapes; when the covers of the dishes were removed doves flew -out. - -The slaves, meanwhile, with tunics tucked up, were going about on -tiptoe; from time to time a hymn sounded on the lyres, or a choir of -voices rose. The clamour of the people, continuous as the noise of the -sea, floated vaguely around the feast, and seemed to lull it in a -broader harmony; some recalled the banquet of the Mercenaries; they -gave themselves up to dreams of happiness; the sun was beginning to go -down, and the crescent of the moon was already rising in another part -of the sky. - -But Salammbo turned her head as though some one had called her; the -people, who were watching her, followed the direction of her eyes. - -The door of the dungeon, hewn in the rock at the foot of the temple, -on the summit of the Acropolis, had just opened; and a man was -standing on the threshold of this black hole. - -He came forth bent double, with the scared look of fallow deer when -suddenly enlarged. - -The light dazzled him; he stood motionless awhile. All had recognised -him, and they held their breath. - -In their eyes the body of this victim was something peculiarly theirs, -and was adorned with almost religious splendour. They bent forward to -see him, especially the women. They burned to gaze upon him who had -caused the deaths of their children and husbands; and from the bottom -of their souls there sprang up in spite of themselves an infamous -curiosity, a desire to know him completely, a wish mingled with -remorse which turned to increased execration. - -At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared. -Numbers of arms were raised, and he was lost to sight. - -The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as -though he were rolled down in a torrent from the top of a mountain; -three times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his -feet. - -His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks; -and he made such efforts to burst his bonds that his arms, which were -crossed on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent. - -Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which -he found himself. In each of them a triple row of bronze chains -fastened to the navels of the Pataec gods extended in parallel lines -from one end to the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, -and servants, belonging to the Ancients, walked in the middle -brandishing thongs. - -One of them drove him forward with a great blow; Matho began to move. - -They thrust their arms over the chains shouting out that the road had -been left too wide for him; and he passed along, felt, pricked, and -slashed by all those fingers; when he reached the end of one street -another appeared; several times he flung himself to one side to bite -them; they speedily dispersed, the chains held him back, and the crowd -burst out laughing. - -A child rent his ear; a young girl, hiding the point of a spindle in -her sleeve, split his cheek; they tore handfuls of hair from him and -strips of flesh; others smeared his face with sponges steeped in filth -and fastened upon sticks. A stream of blood started from the right -side of his neck, frenzy immediately set in. This last Barbarian was -to them a representative of all the Barbarians, and all the army; they -were taking vengeance on him for their disasters, their terrors, and -their shame. The rage of the mob developed with its gratification; the -curving chains were over-strained, and were on the point of breaking; -the people did not feel the blows of the slaves who struck at them to -drive them back; some clung to the projections of the houses; all the -openings in the walls were stopped up with heads; and they howled at -him the mischief that they could not inflict upon him. - -It was atrocious, filthy abuse mingled with ironical encouragements -and imprecations; and, his present tortures not being enough for them, -they foretold to him others that should be still more terrible in -eternity. - -This vast baying filled Carthage with stupid continuity. Frequently a -single syllable--a hoarse, deep, and frantic intonation--would be -repeated for several minutes by the entire people. The walls would -vibrate with it from top to bottom, and both sides of the street would -seem to Matho to be coming against him, and carrying him off the -ground, like two immense arms stifling him in the air. - -Nevertheless he remembered that he had experienced something like it -before. The same crowd was on the terraces, there were the same looks -and the same wrath; but then he had walked free, all had then -dispersed, for a god covered him;--and the recollection of this, -gaining precision by degrees, brought a crushing sadness upon him. -Shadows passed before his eyes; the town whirled round in his head, -his blood streamed from a wound in his hip, he felt that he was dying; -his hams bent, and he sank quite gently upon the pavement. - -Some one went to the peristyle of the temple of Melkarth, took thence -the bar of a tripod, heated red hot in the coals, and, slipping it -beneath the first chain, pressed it against his wound. The flesh was -seen to smoke; the hootings of the people drowned his voice; he was -standing again. - -Six paces further on, and he fell a third and again a fourth time; but -some new torture always made him rise. They discharged little drops of -boiling oil through tubes at him; they strewed pieces of broken glass -beneath his feet; still he walked on. At the corner of the street of -Satheb he leaned his back against the wall beneath the pent-house of a -shop, and advanced no further. - -The slaves of the Council struck him with their whips of hippopotamus -leather, so furiously and long that the fringes of their tunics were -drenched with sweat. Matho appeared insensible; suddenly he started -off and began to run at random, making a noise with his lips like one -shivering with severe cold. He threaded the street of Boudes, and the -street of Soepo, crossed the Green Market, and reached the square of -Khamon. - -He now belonged to the priests; the slaves had just dispersed the -crowd, and there was more room. Matho gazed round him and his eyes -encountered Salammbo. - -At the first step that he had taken she had risen; then, as he -approached, she had involuntarily advanced by degrees to the edge of -the terrace; and soon all external things were blotted out, and she -saw only Matho. Silence fell in her soul,--one of those abysses -wherein the whole world disappears beneath the pressure of a single -thought, a memory, a look. This man who was walking towards her -attracted her. - -Excepting his eyes he had no appearance of humanity left; he was a -long, perfectly red shape; his broken bonds hung down his thighs, but -they could not be distinguished from the tendons of his wrists, which -were laid quite bare; his mouth remained wide open; from his eye- -sockets there darted flames which seemed to rise up to his hair;--and -the wretch still walked on! - -He reached the foot of the terrace. Salammbo was leaning over the -balustrade; those frightful eyeballs were scanning her, and there rose -within her a consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. -Although he was in his death agony she could see him once more -kneeling in his tent, encircling her waist with his arms, and -stammering out gentle words; she thirsted to feel them and hear them -again; she did not want him to die! At this moment Matho gave a great -start; she was on the point of shrieking aloud. He fell backwards and -did not stir again. - -Salammbo was borne back, nearly swooning, to her throne by the priests -who flocked about her. They congratulated her; it was her work. All -clapped their hands and stamped their feet, howling her name. - -A man darted upon the corpse. Although he had no beard he had the -cloak of a priest of Moloch on his shoulder, and in his belt that -species of knife which they employed for cutting up the sacred meat, -and which terminated, at the end of the handle, in a golden spatula. -He cleft Matho's breast with a single blow, then snatched out the -heart and laid it upon the spoon; and Schahabarim, uplifting his arm, -offered it to the sun. - -The sun sank behind the waves; his rays fell like long arrows upon the -red heart. As the beatings diminished the planet sank into the sea; -and at the last palpitation it disappeared. - -Then from the gulf to the lagoon, and from the isthmus to the pharos, -in all the streets, on all the houses, and on all the temples, there -was a single shout; sometimes it paused, to be again renewed; the -buildings shook with it; Carthage was convulsed, as it were, in the -spasm of Titanic joy and boundless hope. - -Narr' Havas, drunk with pride, passed his left arm beneath Salammbo's -waist in token of possession; and taking a gold patera in his right -hand, he drank to the Genius of Carthage. - -Salammbo rose like her husband, with a cup in her hand, to drink also. -She fell down again with her head lying over the back of the throne,-- -pale, stiff, with parted lips,--and her loosened hair hung to the -ground. - -Thus died Hamilcar's daughter for having touched the mantle of Tanith. - - - - - -End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Salammbo, by Gustave Flaubert - |