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-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.
-
-
-
-
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