Salammbo............................................................................................................................................................1

Gustave Flaubert......................................................................................................................................1

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,

The captains, who wore bronze cothurni, had placed themselves in the central path, beneath a goldfringed

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 flatroofed buildings might be seen, winepresses,

cellars, storehouses, bakeries, and arsenals, with a court for elephants, dens for wild beasts, and a prison for

Figtrees surrounded the kitchens; a wood of sycamores stretched away to meet masses of verdure, where the

pomegranate shone amid the white tufts of the cottonplant; vines, grapeladen, 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

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 halfnaked; 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

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

Hamilcar's kitchens being insufficient, the Council had sent them slaves, ware, and beds, and in the middle of

the garden, as on a battlefield when they burn the dead, large bright fires might be seen, at which oxen were

roasting. Anisesprinkled loaves alternated with great cheeses heavier than discuses, crateras filled with

wine, and cantharuses filled with water, together with baskets of gold filigreework containing flowers.

Every eye was dilated with the joy of being able at last to gorge at pleasure, and songs were beginning here

First they were served with birds and green sauce in plates of red clay relieved by drawings in black, then

with every kind of shellfish that is gathered on the Punic coasts, wheaten porridge, beans and barley, and

Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their horns, peacocks with their feathers,

whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, haunches of shecamels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried

grasshoppers, and preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in the midst of saffron in bowls of

Tamrapanni wood. Everything was running over with wine, truffles, and asafoetida. Pyramids of fruit were

crumbling upon honeycombs, and they had not forgotten a few of those plump little dogs with pink silky hair

and fattened on olive lees,a Carthaginian dish held in abhorrence among other nations. Surprise at the

novel fare excited the greed of the stomach. The Gauls with their long hair drawn up on the crown of the

head, snatched at the watermelons 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 wolfskin garments,

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 gemincrusted

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 illwill 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

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 illrewarded. They showed one

another their wounds, they told of their combats, their travels and the hunting in their native lands. They

imitated the cries and the leaps of wild beasts. Then came unclean wagers; they buried their heads in the

amphoras and drank on without interruption, like thirsty dromedaries. A Lusitanian of gigantic stature ran

over the tables, carrying a man in each hand at arm's length, and spitting out fire through his nostrils. Some

Lacedaemonians, who had not taken off their cuirasses, were leaping with a heavy step. Some advanced like

women, making obscene gestures; others stripped naked to fight amid the cups after the fashion of gladiators,

and a company of Greeks danced around a vase whereon nymphs were to be seen, while a Negro tapped with

Suddenly they heard a plaintive song, a song loud and soft, rising and falling in the air like the wingbeating

It was the voice of the slaves in the ergastulum. Some soldiers rose at a bound to release them and

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

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, BaalEschmoun, the deliverer, whom the people of my country call Aesculapius! and to

you, genii of the fountains, light, and woods! and to you, ye gods hidden beneath the mountains and in the

caverns of the earth! and to you, strong men in shining armour who have set me free!"

Then he let fall the cup and related his history. He was called Spendius. The Carthaginians had taken him in

the battle of Aeginusae, and he thanked the Mercenaries once more in Greek, Ligurian and Punic; he kissed

their hands; finally, he congratulated them on the banquet, while expressing his surprise at not perceiving the

cups of the Sacred Legion. These cups, which bore an emerald vine on each of their six golden faces,

belonged to a corps composed exclusively of young patricians of the tallest stature. They were a privilege,

almost a sacerdotal distinction, and accordingly nothing among the treasures of the Republic was more

coveted by the Mercenaries. They detested the Legion on this account, and some of them had been known to

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

After a second excursion it was explained to them that the cups were shut up in a temple.

And when the slaves confessed with trembling that they were in the possession of Gisco, the general, they

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 headdress, and his triple necklace of broad blue plates beating against his breast, were alone visible.

He began by declaring that if reference were had to their courage, they were worthy of them.

HE knew it, he who had commanded them over yonder, and had returned with the last cohort in the last

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,

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

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

planetrees 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 lockstraps 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

starrockets on the azurecoloured 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

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

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 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 deathrattle 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

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, redfringed robes, which fell

straight to their feet. They had no beard, no hair, no eyebrows. In their hands, which sparkled with rings, they

carried enormous lyres, and with shrill voice they sang a hymn to the divinity of Carthage. They were the

eunuch priests of the temple of Tanith, who were often summoned by Salammbo to her house.

At last she descended the galley staircase. The priests followed her. She advanced into the avenue of cypress,

and walked slowly through the tables of the captains, who drew back somewhat as they watched her pass.

Her hair, which was powdered with violet sand, and combined into the form of a tower, after the fashion of

the Chanaanite maidens, added to her height. Tresses of pearls were fastened to her temples, and fell to the

corners of her mouth, which was as rosy as a halfopen 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 perfumingpans. 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.

"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

"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

Her delicate nostrils were quivering. She crushed her nails against the gems on her bosom. Her eyes drooped,

"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

seaplains, ploughed by thine oars, rocked with thy harvests." Then she began to sing the adventures of

She told of the ascent of the mountains of Ersiphonia, the journey to Tartessus, and the war against Masisabal

"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 dragoncroups were round a great fire, standing erect on the points of

their tails. The bloodcoloured moon was shining within a pale circle, and their scarlet tongues, cloven like

the harpoons of fishermen, reached curling forth to the very edge of the flame."

Then Salammbo, without pausing, related how Melkarth, after vanquishing Masisabal, placed her severed

head on the prow of his ship. "At each throb of the waves it sank beneath the foam, but the sun embalmed it;

it became harder than gold; nevertheless the eyes ceased not to weep, and the tears fell into the water

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,

Only the beardless priests understood Salammbo; their wrinkled hands, which hung over the strings of their

lyres, quivered, and from time to time they would draw forth a mournful chord; for, feebler than old women,

they trembled at once with mystic emotion, and with the fear inspired by men. The Barbarians heeded them

None gazed at her like a young Numidian chief, who was placed at the captains' tables among soldiers of his

own nation. His girdle so bristled with darts that it formed a swelling in his ample cloak, which was fastened

on his temples with a leather lace. The cloth parted asunder as it fell upon his shoulders, and enveloped his

countenance in shadow, so that only the fires of his two fixed eyes could be seen. It was by chance that he

was at the feast, his father having domiciled him with the Barca family, according to the custom by which

kings used to send their children into the households of the great in order to pave the way for alliances; but

Narr' Havas had lodged there fox six months without having hitherto seen Salammbo, and now, seated on his

heels, with his head brushing the handles of his javelins, he was watching her with dilated nostrils, like a

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

Salammbo had abandoned the sacred rhythm. With a woman's subtlety she was simultaneously employing all

the dialects of the Barbarians in order to appease their anger. To the Greeks she spoke Greek; then she turned

to the Ligurians, the Campanians, the Negroes, and listening to her each one found again in her voice the

sweetness of his native land. She now, carried away by the memories of Carthage, sang of the ancient battles

against Rome; they applauded. She kindled at the gleaming of the naked swords, and cried aloud with

outstretched arms. Her lyre fell, she was silent; and, pressing both hands upon her heart, she remained for

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.

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

"The gods protect you; you are going to become rich. When will the nuptials be?"

"Yours! for with us," said the Gaul, "when a woman gives drink to a soldier, it means that she offers him her

He had not finished when Narr' Havas, with a bound, drew a javelin from his girdle, and, leaning his right

The javelin whistled among the cups, and piercing the Lybian's arm, pinned it so firmly to the cloth, that the

Matho quickly plucked it out; but he was weaponless and naked; at last he lifted the overladen 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

Then directing his looks to the palace he perceived the red door with the black cross closing far above, and he

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

But a man had followed him, and through the darkness, for the lights of the feast were hidden by the corner of

The slave without replying began to tear his tunic with his teeth; then kneeling beside Matho he tenderly took

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

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

"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

They were on the terrace. A huge mass of shadow stretched before them, appearing as if it contained vague

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 palmtrees that topped the walls here and there were motionless; the

brimming cisterns seemed like silver bucklers lost in the courts; the beacon on the promontory of Hermaeum

was beginning to grow pale. The horses of Eschmoun, on the very summit of the Acropolis in the cypress

wood, feeling that the light was coming, placed their hoofs on the marble parapet, and neighed towards the

Everything stirred in a diffusion of red, for the god, as if he were rending himself, now poured fullrayed

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, baggageladen, came down the ramps. Moneychangers raised the penthouses 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

"Ah! yesyesmaster! 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.

"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

"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

He drew Matho to quite the other end of the terrace, and showed him the garden, wherein the soldiers'

"But here there are strong men whose hatred is roused! and nothing binds them to Carthage, neither families,

Matho remained leaning against the wall; Spendius came close, and continued in a low voice:

"Do you understand me, soldier? We should walk purpleclad 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 picklesellers 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

"No!" said Matho, "the curse of Moloch weighs upon me. I felt it in her eyes, and just now I saw a black ram

Then Spendius understood that a great disquiet possessed him, and did not venture to speak again.

The trees behind them were still smoking; halfburned carcases of apes dropped from their blackened boughs

from time to time into the midst of the dishes. Drunken soldiers snored openmouthed 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

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.

They had each received a piece of gold on the condition that they should go into camp at Sicca, and they had

"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

They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, pellmell, archers with hoplites, captains with

soldiers, Lusitanians with Greeks. They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy cothurni on the paving

stones. Their armour was dented by the catapult, and their faces blackened by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse

cries issued from their thick bears, their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the pommels of their swords, and

through the holes in the brass might be seen their naked limbs, as frightful as engines of war. Sarissae, axes,

spears, felt caps and bronze helmets, all swung together with a single motion. They filled the street thickly

enough to have made the walls crack, and the long mass of armed soldiers overflowed between the lofty

bitumensmeared houses six storys high. Behind their gratings of iron or reed the women, with veiled heads,

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

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 servingmen and water carriers, emaciated, jaundiced with

fever, and filthy with vermin, the scum of the Carthaginian populace, who had attached themselves to the

When they had passed, the gates were shut behind them, but the people did not descend from the walls. The

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

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

They were rejoiced to find themselves, as in former days, marching all together in the open country, and

"With my lance and sword I plough and reap; I am master of the house! The disarmed man falls at my feet

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

Some went to lodge in the houses, others camped at the foot of the walls, and the townspeople came out to

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

On the following day the Barbarian's passed through a region that was covered with cultivation. The domains

of the patricians succeeded one another along the border of the route; channels of water flowed through

woods of palm; there were long, green lines of olivetrees; rosecoloured vapours floated in the gorges of the

hills, while blue mountains reared themselves behind. A warm wind was blowing. Chameleons were crawling

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

In the middle of the following day they halted on the bank of a river, amid clumps of rosebays. 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

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

vapourbaths, 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

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

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,

twentythree 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

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

Spendius, with his head thrown back and his eyes halfclosed, 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 halfswooning 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 roundshaped 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

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

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 forepaws, halfhidden 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

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

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

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

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 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 crescentshaped; others

were like women's bosoms presenting their swelling breasts, and the Barbarians felt a heaviness that was full

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

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

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.

"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

"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,

One morning when all three went out lionhunting, 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

BaalKhamon, 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

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 tentpole above his head.

"You are suffering?" said the slave to him. "What is the matter with you? Answer me?" And he shook him by

"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

"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

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

"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

"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

"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

"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

He fell back in a perfect frenzy, with a rattling in his throat like a wounded bull.

Then Matho sang: "He pursued into the forest the female monster, whose tail undulated over the dead leaves

like a silver brook." And with lingering tones he imitated Salammbo's voice, while his outspread hands were

To all the consolations offered by Spendius, he repeated the same words; their nights were spent in these

Matho sought to drown his thoughts in wine. After his fits of drunkenness he was more melancholy still. He

tried to divert himself at hucklebones, 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

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 horsesoldiers and footsoldiers, Barbarians and Greeks, while there was a

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

One evening, at suppertime, dull cracked sounds were heard approaching, and something red appeared in

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

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 tentropes, 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

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

In the man so reclining the soldiers recognised the Suffet Hanno, he whose slackness had assisted to lose the

battle of the Aegatian islands; and as to his victory at Hecatompylos over the Libyans, even if he did behave

with clemency, thought the Barbarians, it was owing to cupidity, for he had sold all the captives on his own

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 armpits; he wore a scarf, a girdle, and an

ample black cloak with laced doublesleeves. 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 roughhewn 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 aloewood 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

The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and apologues, nodding his head the while to

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,

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

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 aloewood 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

"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

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 coralfisheries, for the enlargement of the Syssitia, and for engines in the mines in the

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

The Greeks, girthed in their iron waistbelts, 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

brassnailed 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 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,

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,

Spendius hesitated; he trembled; at last, addressing the Libyans who were the most numerous, he said to

Hanno made no exclamation, therefore he did not understand Libyan; and, to carry on the experiment,

They looked at one another in astonishment; then, as by a tacit agreement, and believing perhaps that they

"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

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

"Have you not seen that he has left a reserve of his horsesoldiers outside the camp? At a given signal they

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

He reached the Negroes who were bearing the torches. His pale gums were displayed in a sort of idiotic titter;

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

At these words, which were screamed in Balearic, some Balearians came up and recognised him; without

"Yes, all killed, all! crushed like grapes! The fine young men! the slingers! my companions and yours!"

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

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

Indeed, the soldiers remembered a great shout; Spendius, who was flying at the head of the columns, had not

Then the corpses were placed in the arms of the Pataec gods that fringed the temple of Khamon. They were

upbraided with all the crimes of the Mercenaries; their gluttony, their thefts, their impiety, their disdain, and

the murder of the fishes in Salammbo's garden. Their bodies were subjected to infamous mutilations; the

priests burned their hair in order to torture their souls; they were hung up in pieces in the meatshops; some

even buried their teeth in them, and in the evening funeralpiles were kindled at the crossways to finish

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

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

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 eyesall

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

goosefat 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 espartograss 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

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

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

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

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 illdefined 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 sunheated walls. The motionless waves shone

around Carthage, for the moon was spreading her light at once upon the mountaincircled gulf and upon the

lake of Tunis, where flamingoes formed long rosecoloured lines amid the banks of sand, while further on

beneath the catacombs the great salt lagoon shimmered like a piece of silver. The blue vault of heaven sank

on the horizon in one direction into the dustiness of the plains, and in the other into the mists of the sea, and

on the summit of the Acropolis, the pyramidal cypress trees, fringing the temple of Eschmoun, swayed

murmuring like the regular waves that beat slowly along the mole beneath the ramparts.

Salammbo ascended to the terrace of her palace, supported by a female slave who carried an iron dish filled

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

perfumingpans filled with nard, incense, cinnamomum, and myrrh. The slave lit the perfumes. Salammbo

looked at the polar star; she slowly saluted the four points of heaven, and knelt down on the ground in the

azure dust which was strewn with golden stars in imitation of the firmament. Then with both elbows against

her sides, her forearms straight and her hands open, she threw back her head beneath the rays of the moon,

"O Rabetna!Baalet!Tanith!" and her voice was lengthened in a plaintive fashion as if calling to some

one. "Anaitis! Astarte! Derceto! Astoreth! Mylitta! Athara! Elissa! Tiratha!By the hidden symbols, by the

resounding sistra,by the furrows of the earth,by the eternal silence and by the eternal

fruitfulness,mistress of the gloomy sea and of the azure shores, O Queen of the watery world, all hail!"

She swayed her whole body twice or thrice, and then cast herself face downwards in the dust with both arms

But the slave nimbly raised her, for according to the rites someone must catch the suppliant at the moment of

his prostration; this told him that the gods accepted him, and Salammbo's nurse never failed in this pious

Some merchants from Darytian Gaetulia had brought her to Carthage when quite young, and after her

enfranchisement she would not forsake her old masters, as was shown by her right ear, which was pierced

with a large hole. A petticoat of manycoloured 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

Salammbo walked to the edge of the terrace; her eyes swept the horizon for an instant, and then were lowered

upon the sleeping town, while the sigh that she heaved swelled her bosom, and gave an undulating movement

to the whole length of the long white simar which hung without clasp or girdle about her. Her curved and

painted sandals were hidden beneath a heap of emeralds, and a net of purple thread was filled with her

But she raised her head to gaze upon the moon, and murmured, mingling her speech with fragments of

"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

"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.

"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 mountaintops 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

"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 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

"What ails you, mistress? The blowing of the breeze, the passing of a cloud, everything disquiets you just

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 fallowdeer laughter

"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

fleshit is a caress enfolding me, and I feel myself crushed as if some god were stretched upon me. Oh!

would that I could lose myself in the mists of the night, the waters of the fountains, the sap of the trees, that I

could issue from my body, and be but a breath, or a ray, and glide, mount up to thee, O Mother!"

She raised her arms to their full length, arching her form, which in its long garment was as pale and light as

the moon. Then she fell back, panting, on the ivory couch; but Taanach passed an amber necklace with

dolphin's teeth about her neck to banish terrors, and Salammbo said in an almost stifled voice: "Go and bring

Her father had not wished her to enter the college of priestesses, nor even to be made at all acquainted with

the popular Tanith. He was reserving her for some alliance that might serve his political ends; so that

Salammbo lived alone in the midst of the palace. Her mother was long since dead.

She had grown up with abstinences, fastings and purifications, always surrounded by grave and exquisite

things, her body saturated with perfumes, and her soul filled with prayers. She had never tasted wine, nor

eaten meat, nor touched an unclean animal, nor set her heels in the house of death.

She knew nothing of obscene images, for as each god was manifested in different forms, the same principle

often received the witness of contradictory cults, and Salammbo worshipped the goddess in her sidereal

presentation. An influence had descended upon the maiden from the moon; when the planet passed

diminishing away, Salammbo grew weak. She languished the whole day long, and revived at evening. During

But Rabetna, in jealousy, revenged herself for the virginity withdrawn from her sacrifices, and she tormented

Salammbo with possessions, all the stronger for being vague, which were spread through this belief and

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

But Salammbo turned around. She had recognised the sound of the golden bells which Schahabarim wore at

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.

"I hopedyou 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

"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 BaalKhamon, 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 sheI 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

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

"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

"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

He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from sublimer prospects; but the maiden's desire

"She is the soul of Carthage," continued the priest; "and although she is everywhere diffused, it is here that

"O father!" cried Salammbo, "I shall see her, shall I not? you will bring me to her! I had long been hesitating;

"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

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

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

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

The gates were shut. The Barbarians appeared almost immediately; but they stopped in the middle of the

At first they made no hostile announcement. Several approached with palm branches in their hands. They

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

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

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

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 diverselycoloured 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, halfcovered with flowers, and broadly striped by the casting of filth, while streets passed through

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, halfhidden, 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

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

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

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

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

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,

His impotence exasperated him. He was jealous of this Carthage which contained Salammbo, as if of some

one who had possessed her. His nervelessness left him to be replaced by a mad and continual eagerness for

action. With flaming cheek, angry eyes, and hoarse voice, he would walk with rapid strides through the camp;

or seated on the shore he would scour his great sword with sand. He shot arrows at the passing vultures. His

"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 bugleflourishes that regulated their exercises. At last the

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 countryhouses, their vineyards

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 shellfish and serpents. They used to go into caves to catch hyenas alive, and amuse

themselves by making them run in the evening on the sands of Megara between the stelae of the tombs. Their

huts, which were made of mud and wrack, hung on the cliff like swallows' nests. There they lived, without

government and without gods, pellmell, 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

At last some members of the Great Council arrived at a decision. They came to the camp without necklaces

or girdles, and in open sandles like neighbours. They walked at a quiet pace, waving salutations to the

captains, or stopped to speak to the soldiers, saying that all was finished and that justice was about to be done

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

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.

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

Traders, scribes, workers in the arsenal, and whole families visited the Barbarians.

The soldiers allowed all the Carthaginians to come in, but by a single passage so narrow that four men abreast

jostled one another in it. Spendius, standing against the barrier, had them carefully searched; facing him

Matho was examining the multitude, trying to recognise some one whom he might have seen at Salammbo's

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 fircones, 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, vermincovered, naked and

uncircumcised, butted with their heads against passersby, or came behind them like young tigers to bite their

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.

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

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

Their meaning, it was pretended, was not understood, and they explained themselves more clearly by saying

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

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

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

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 flatbottomed boats passing through the canal of

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

As soon as Gisco disembarked the soldiers ran to him. He had a sort of tribune erected with knapsacks, and

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

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

"Come up beside me," said the Suffet, suspecting some fraud; "how many years have you served?"

Gisco slipped his fingers under his chin, for the chinpiece 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

"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 HippoZarytus.

"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,

The two following days were spent in paying the men of Magdala, Leptis, and Hecatompylos; Spendius went

"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

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

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

"Have you reserved any of them for the corpses?" at the same time pointing to the gate of Khamon in

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

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

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

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,"

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

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

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."

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

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

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

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

They were dragged outside the tents and thrown into the pit used for the reception of filth. They were tied

with iron chains around the body to solid stakes, and were offered food at the point of the javelin.

Autaritus overwhelmed them with invectives as he inspected them, but being quite ignorant of his language

they made no reply; and the Gaul from time to time threw pebbles at their faces to make them cry out.

The next day a sort of languor took possession of the army. Now that their anger was over they were seized

with anxiety. Matho was suffering from vague melancholy. It seemed to him that Salammbo had indirectly

been insulted. These rich men were a kind of appendage to her person. He sat down in the night on the edge

of the pit, and recognised in their groanings something of the voice of which his heart was full.

All, however, upbraided the Libyans, who alone had been paid. But while national antipathies revived,

together with personal hatreds, it was felt that it would be perilous to give way to them. Reprisals after such

an outrage would be formidable. It was necessary, therefore, to anticipate the vengeance of Carthage.

Conventions and harangues never ceased. Every one spoke, no one was listened to; Spendius, usually so

One evening he asked Matho carelessly whether there were not springs in the interior of the town.

"Master!" said the former slave, "If your heart is dauntless, I will bring you into Carthage."

"Tomorrow after sunset you will wait for me at the foot of the aqueduct between the ninth and tenth arcades.

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

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

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

At last they reached the upper platform. Spendius stooped down from time to time to feel the stones with his

"Here it is," he said; "let us begin!" And leaning on the pick which Matho had brought they succeeded in

In the distance they perceived a troop of horsemen 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

"What matter?" returned Spendius, and he leaped into the hole which they had just made by removing the

Matho at his command tried to thrust out one of the blocks. But he could not move his elbows for want of

"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

airholes 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

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

Then, advancing with great precautions, they felt along the wall to find an outlet. But their feet slipped, and

they fell into the great centrebasins. 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.

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,

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

"Remember!" said the former slave, and raising his arm he showed him the glittering planet of Chabar.

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

After leaving the gardens Matho and Spendius found themselves checked by the rampart of Megara. But they

The ground sloped downwards, forming a kind of very broad valley. It was an exposed place.

"Listen," said Spendius, "and first of all fear nothing! I shall fulfil my promise"

He stopped abruptly, and seemed to reflect as though searching for words,"Do you remember that time at

sunrise when I showed Carthage to you on Salammbo's terrace? We were strong that day, but you would

listen to nothing!" Then in a grave voice: "Master, in the sanctuary of Tanith there is a mysterious veil, which

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

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."

"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,

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 espartograss 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 forecourts, and bounded by a low wall of dry stones.

This first barrier enclosed a wood of planetrees 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,

moonshaped cakes, and images of the goddess with representations of the temple hollowed out in blocks of

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.

Pomegranate, almond trees, cypresses and myrtles alternated in regular succession; the path, which was

paved with blue pebbles, creaked beneath their footsteps, and fullblown 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

"I have seen all that," returned the former slave, "in Syria, in the town of Maphug"; and they ascended into

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

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

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

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

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

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 fircones 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 perfumingpans; 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 lotustrees encircling a fountain in which fish

like Salammbo's were swimming; and then in the background, against the wall of the temple, spread a vine,

the branches of which were of glass and the grapebunches of emerald, the rays from the precious stones

Matho felt suffocated in the warm atmosphere pressed down upon him by the cedar partitions. All these

symbols of fecundation, these perfumes, radiations, and breathings overwhelmed him. Through all the mystic

dazzling he kept thinking of Salammbo. She became confused with the goddess herself, and his loved

unfolded itself all the more, like the great lotusplants 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

"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 airhole, made his way into it and disappeared.

Then Matho felt a knotted cordthat one which Spendius had rolled around his body before entering the

cisternsfall upon his shoulders, and bearing upon it with both hands he soon found himself by the side of

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.

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

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,

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

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 germreceptacle had been suddenly hatched and had

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

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.

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

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

But beyond it seemed as though there were a cloud wherein were twinkling stars; faces appeared in the

depths of its foldsEschmoun with the Kabiri, some of the monsters that had already been seen, the sacred

beasts of the Babylonians, and others with which they were not acquainted. It passed beneath the idol's face

like a mantle, and spread fully out was drawn up on the wall to which it was fastened by the corners,

appearing at once bluish as the night, yellow as the dawn, purple as the sun, multitudinous, diaphanous,

sparkling light. It was the mantle of the goddess, the holy zaimph which might not be seen.

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

Matho stood panting with his eyes fixed upon the pavement. Suddenly he exclaimed:

"But what if I went to her? I fear her beauty no longer! What could she do to me? I am now more than a man.

I could pass through flames or walk upon the sea! I am transported! Salammbo! Salammbo! I am your

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

Then they stood for a while, as motionless as the corpse, listening. Nothing could be heard but the murmuring

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

Spendius squatted down at the edge of the fountain and washed his bloodstained hands. The women slept.

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

When they had left the last enclosure they directed their steps towards Hamilcar's palace, Spendius

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

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 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.

"It is a piece of insanity!" Spendius kept saying. "She will call, her slaves will run up, and in spite of your

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

The rustling of the veil as it brushed against the stones recalled his new power to him; but in the excess of his

From time to time he would press his face against the quadrangular openings in the closed apartments, and he

The last story, which was narrower, formed a sort of dado on the summit of the terraces. Matho walked round

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 galleyshaped 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, semicircles

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

Matho glided over the pavement, which was encrusted with gold, mother ofpearl, 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

Behind the silver lamp he had perceived a large square of azure held in the air by four cords from above, and

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 latticework 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

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

halfclosed 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

Matho stood motionless holding the silver lamp at arm's length; but on a sudden the mosquitonet caught fire

The fire had gone out of itself. She did not speak. The lamp caused great luminous moires to flicker on the

"The veil of the goddess!" cried Salammbo, and supporting herself on both clenched hands she leaned

"I have been in the depths of the sanctuary to seek it for you! Look!" The Zaimph shone a mass of rays.

"Do you remember it?" said Matho. "You appeared at night in my dreams, but I did not guess the mute

command of your eyes!" She put out one foot upon the ebony stool. "Had I understood I should have

hastened hither, I should have forsaken the army, I should not have left Carthage. To obey you I would go

down through the caverns of Hadrumetum into the kingdom of the shades!Forgive me! it was as though

mountains were weighing upon my days; and yet something drew me on! I tried to come to you! Should I

ever have dared this without the Gods!Let us go! You must follow me! or, if you do not wish to do so, I

will remain. What matters it to me!Drown my soul in your breath! Let my lips be crushed with kissing

Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with a vinous colour. Salammbo leaned

She kept advancing, clothed in her white trailing simar, and with her large eyes fastened on the veil. Matho

gazed at her, dazzled by the splendours of her head, and, holding out the zaimph towards her, was about to

enfold her in an embrace. She was stretching out her arms. Suddenly she stopped, and they stood looking at

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

"To the rescue! to the rescue! Back, sacrilegious man! infamous and accursed! Help, Taanach, Kroum, Ewa,

And the scared face of Spendius, appearing in the wall between the clay flagons, cried out these words:

A great tumult came upwards shaking the staircases, and a flood of people, women, servingmen, 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

Matho was standing behind the balustrades. With the zaimph which was wrapped about him, he looked like a

sidereal god surrounded by the firmament. The slaves were going to fall upon him, but she stopped them:

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 Otherhe who may not be

Matho uttered a cry as though he had received a swordthrust. She repeated several times: "Begone!

The crowd of servants spread out, and Matho, with hanging head, passed slowly through the midst of them;

but at the door he stopped, for the fringe of the zaimph had caught on one of the golden stars with which the

flagstones were paved. He pulled it off abruptly with a movement of his shoulder and went down the

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

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

Matho, who did not know how to get out of the enclosures, walked straight before him. He was seen, and an

outcry was raised. Every one understood; and there was consternation, then immense wrath.

From the bottom of the Mappalian quarter, from the heights of the Acropolis, from the catacombs, from the

borders of the lake, the multitude came in haste. The patricians left their palaces, and the traders left their

shops; the women forsook their children; swords, hatchets, and sticks were seized; but the obstacle which had

stayed Salammbo stayed them. How could the veil be taken back? The mere sight of it was a crime; it was of

The 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

Suddenly a long arrow whizzed past, then another, and stones began to buzz about him; but the missiles,

being badly aimed (for there was the dread of hitting the zaimph), passed over his head. Moreover, he made a

shield of the veil, holding it to the right, to the left, before him and behind him; and they could devise no

expedient. He quickened his steps more and more, advancing through the open streets. They were barred with

cords, chariots, and snares; and all his windings brought him back again. At last he entered the square of

Khamon where the Balearians had perished, and stopped, growing pale as one about to die. This time he was

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,

Then when he was outside he took the great zaimph from his neck, and raised it as high as possible above his

head. The material, upborne by the sea breeze, shone in the sunlight with its colours, its gems, and the figures

of its gods. Matho bore it thus across the whole plain as far as the soldiers' tents, and the people on the walls

"I ought to have carried her off!" Matho said in the evening to Spendius. "I should have seized her, and torn

Spendius was not listening to him. Stretched on his back he was taking delicious rest beside a large jar filled

with honeycoloured water, into which he would dip his head from time to time in order to drink more

"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!"

The Greek did not reply. An earthen lamp was burning gently against the tentpole, where the zaimph shone

amid the hanging panoply. Suddenly Matho put on his cothurni, buckled on his brazen jacket of mail, and

"I am returning! Let me alone! I will bring her back! And if they show themselves I will crush them like

vipers! I will put her to death, Spendius! Yes," he repeated, "I will kill her! You shall see, I will kill her!"

But Spendius, who was listening eagerly, snatched up the zaimph abruptly and threw it into a corner, heaping

up fleeces above it. A murmuring of voices was heard, torches gleamed, and Narr' Havas entered, followed

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

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 footsoldiers and ten thousand horses. If I address myself to you, Matho, it is

because the possession of the zaimph has made you chief man in the army. Moreover," he added, "we are old

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

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

Matho had been greeted with great shouting when he had come back bearing the veil of the goddess; even

those who were not of the Chanaanitish religion were made by their vague enthusiasm to feel the arrival of a

genius. As to seizing the zaimph, no one thought of it, for the mysterious manner in which he had acquired it

was sufficient in the minds of the Barbarians to justify its possession; such were the thoughts of the soldiers

of the African race. The others, whose hatred was not of such long standing, did not know how to make up

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

The elder Cato, a master in the matters of tillage and slaves, was amazed at it ninetytwo years later, and the

deathcry 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

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

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 commanderinchiefthe

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

Utica and HippoZarytus refused their alliance. Phoenician colonies like Carthage, they were selfgoverning,

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

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, HippoZarytus, six hours further distant

along the coast, would take its place, and the metropolis, being revictualled in this way, would be

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 HippoZarytus, 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

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 reappear 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

The treasury was exhausted by the Roman war and by all that had been squandered and lost in the bargaining

with the Barbarians. Nevertheless soldiers must be had, and not a government would trust the Republic!

Ptolemaeus had lately refused it two thousand talents. Moreover the rape of the veil disheartened them.

But the nation, feeling that it was hated, clasped its money and its gods to its heart, and its patriotism was

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

The power of Carthage emanated, therefore, from the Syssitia, that is to say, from a large court in the centre

of Malqua, at the place, it was said, where the first bark of Phoenician sailors had touched, the sea having

retired a long way since then. It was a collection of little rooms of archaic architecture, built of palm trunks

with corners of stone, and separated from one another so as to accommodate the various societies separately.

The rich crowded there all day to discuss their own concerns and those of the government, from the procuring

of pepper to the extermination of Rome. Thrice in a moon they would have their beds brought up to the lofty

terrace running along the wall of the court, and they might be seen from below at table in the air, without

cothurni or cloaks, with their diamond covered fingers wandering over the dishes, and their large earrings

hanging down among the flagons,all fat and lusty, halfnaked, smiling and eating beneath the blue sky,

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

He was a true Carthaginian, devout, crafty, and pitiless towards the people of Africa. His revenues equalled

He decreed the enrolment of all healthy citizens, he placed catapults on the towers, he exacted exorbitant

supplies of arms, he even ordered the construction of fourteen galleys which were not required, and he

desired everything to be registered and carefully set down in writing. He had himself conveyed to the arsenal,

the pharos, and the treasuries of the temples; his great litter was continually to be seen swinging from step to

step as it ascended the staircases of the Acropolis. And then in his palace at night, being unable to sleep, he

would yell out warlike manoeuvres in terrible tones so as to prepare himself for the fray.

In their extremity of terror all became brave. The rich ranged themselves in line along the Mappalian district

at cockcrow, and tucking up their robes practised themselves in handling the pike. But for want of an

instructor they had disputes about it. They would sit down breathless upon the tombs and then begin again.

Several even dieted themselves. Some imagined that it was necessary to eat a great deal in order to acquire

strength, while others who were inconvenienced by their corpulence weakened themselves with fasts in order

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

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

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

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,

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

Matho, meanwhile, was besieging HippoZarytus. But the town was protected by a lake, communicating

with the sea. It had three lines of circumvallation, and upon the heights which surrounded it there extended a

wall fortified with towers. He had never commanded in such an enterprise before. Moreover, he was beset

with thoughts of Salammbo, and he raved in the delight of her beauty as in the sweetness of a vengeance that

transported him with pride. He felt an acrid, frenzied, permanent want to see her again. He even thought of

presenting himself as the bearer of a flag of truce, in the hope that once within Carthage he might make his

way to her. Often he would cause the assault to be sounded and waiting for nothing rush upon the mole which

it was sought to construct in the sea. He would snatch up the stones with his hands, overturn, strike, and deal

swordthrusts everywhere. The Barbarians would dash on pellmell; 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

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 sandheaps like arrested waves, large and pale, while the sea, flat as a pavement

of lapislazuli, 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

Matho would heave deep sighs. He would lie flat on his face, with his nails buried in the soil, and weep; he

felt wretched, paltry, forsaken. Never would he possess her, and he was unable even to take a town.

At night when alone in his tent he would gaze upon the zaimph. Of what use to him was this thing which

belonged to the gods?and doubt crept into the Barbarian's thoughts. Then, on the contrary, it would seem

to him that the vesture of the goddess was depending from Salammbo, and that a portion of her soul hovered

in it, subtler than a breath; and he would feel it, breathe it in, bury his face in it, and kiss it with sobs. He

would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself that he was beside her.

Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over the sleeping soldiers as they lay

wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon a horse on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in

At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease his sorrow by talking about Salammbo.

"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

But how was it that the possession of the zaimph did not give them the victory? According to Spendius they

Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race exclusively, and, in his Barbarianlike

subtlety, he said to himself: "The zaimph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have lost it, it

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.

Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek of having a genius of whom he did

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

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 scalearmour, mounted on their big horses, which were without

mane, hair, or ears, and had silver horns in the middle of their foreheads to make them look like rhinoceroses.

Between their squadrons were youths wearing small helmets and swinging an ashen javelin in each hand. The

long files of the heavy infantry marched behind. All these traders had piled as many weapons upon their

bodies as possible. Some might be seen carrying an axe, a lance, a club, and two swords all at once; others

bristled with darts like porcupines, and their arms stood out from their cuirasses in sheets of horn or iron

plates. At last the scaffoldings of the lofty engines appeared: carrobalistas, onagers, catapults and scorpions,

rocking on chariots drawn by mules and quadrigas of oxen; and in proportion as the army drew out, the

captains ran panting right and left to deliver commands, close up the files, and preserve the intervals. Such of

the Ancients as held commands had come in purple cassocks, the magnificent fringes of which tangled in the

white straps of their cothurni. Their faces, which were smeared all over with vermilion, shone beneath

enormous helmets surmounted with images of the gods; and, as they had shields with ivory borders covered

with precious stones, they might have been taken for suns passing over walls of brass.

But the Carthaginians manoeuvred so clumsily that the soldiers in derision urged them to sit down. They

called out that they were just going to empty their big stomachs, to dust the gilding of their skin, and to give

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

A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets into his thong, and swung round his arm.

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 footsoldiers 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 bareheaded 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 bluepainted 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

The soldiers were barely in possession of their arms; they had taken up their positions at random. They were

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 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 wellarmed guests. Hanno was furious. At last they

As soon as the Suffet was in the town the principal men came to greet him. He had himself taken to the

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 poppyseeds on a spread oxhide. Beside him

was his Greek physician, motionless, in a long yellow robe, directing the reheating 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

And from the bottom of the hall, full of a whitish vapour on which the torches cast red spots, three Barbarians

"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 today! 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 longhaired 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

"On your knees! on your knees! jackals! dust! vermin! excrements! And they make no reply! Enough! be

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.

"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

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 yellowrobed man did not yield to this inclination, and held out to him a golden cup

"Drink!" said he, "that strength of sunborn 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

"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

"Perhaps you are right, Demonades. In fact there are many ulcers here which have closed. I feel robust. Here!

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, horseradishes,

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

"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

seenbut doubtless, I have not brought chains enough? Write: Send meHow 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 pearlbordered 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 reforming 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

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

Day broke, and Matho's footsoldiers 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

The three captives were still before him. Then a Negro (the same who had carried his parasol in the battle)

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

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 haltingplace; several times they believed themselves lost.

Hanno was so fatigued, so desperatethe loss of the elephants in particular overwhelmed himthat he

demanded poison from Demonades in order to put an end to it all. Moreover he could already feel himself

Carthage had not strength enough to be indignant with him. Its losses had amounted to one hundred thousand

nine hundred and seventytwo shekels of silver, fifteen thousand six hundred and twentythree 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

The sight of the zaimph had upset Salammbo. At night she thought that she could hear the footsteps of the

goddess, and she would awake terrified and shrieking. Every day she sent food to the temples. Taanach was

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

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

People came out of every house; they would not believe what was said; they disputed with one another; the

It advanced in fierce and haughty fashion, cleaving the foam around it, the lateenyard 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 ploughshare, would appear, and the

ivoryheaded horse, rearing both its feet beneath the spur which terminated the prow, would seem to be

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,

The galley, however, tossing amid the rocks, was proceeding along the side of the mole, and the crowd

"Greeting! blessing! Eye of Khamon! ah! deliver us! 'Tis the fault of the rich! they want to put you to death!

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

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

The water was so limpid that the bottom was visible with its paving of white pebbles. The noise of the streets

did not reach so far, and Hamilcar as he passed recognised the triremes which he had formerly commanded.

Not more than twenty perhaps remained, under shelter on the land, leaning over on their sides or standing

upright on their keels, with lofty poops and swelling prows, and covered with gildings and mystic symbols.

The chimaeras had lost their wings, the Pataec Gods their arms, the bulls their silver horns;and

halfpainted, 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!

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

The Suffet proceeded into the deserted apartments. At every step he recognised armour and

furniturefamiliar objects which nevertheless astonished him, and in a perfumingpan in the vestibule there

even remained the ashes of the perfumes that had been kindled at his departure for the conjuration of

Melkarth. It was not thus that he had hoped to return. Everything that he had done, everything that he had

seen, unfolded itself in his memory: assaults, conflagrations, legions, tempests, Drepanum, Syracuse,

Lilybaeum, Mount Etna, the plateau of Eryx, five years of battles,until the fatal day when arms had been

laid down and Sicily had been lost. Then he once more saw the woods of citrontrees, 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

Then he went up to the highest story of his house, and taking a nail studded staple from a golden shell,

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 seasand 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 saffroncoloured veil, and, falling on his knees, stretched himself on the

The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters of black latticework. 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

The town sank downwards in a long hollow curve, with its cupolas, its temples, its golden roofs, its houses,

its clusters of palm trees here and there, and its glass balls with streaming rays, while the ramparts formed, as

it were, the gigantic border of this horn of plenty which poured itself out before him. Far below he could see

the harbours, the squares, the interiors of the courts, the plan of the streets, and the people, who seemed very

small and but little above the level of the pavement. Ah! if Hanno had not arrived too late on the morning of

the Aegatian islands! He fastened his eyes on the extreme horizon and stretched forth his quivering arms in

The steps of the Acropolis were occupied by the multitude. In the square of Khamon the people were pressing

forwards to see the Suffet come out, and the terraces were gradually being loaded with people; a few

recognised him, and he was saluted; but he retired in order the better to excite the impatience of the people.

Hamilcar found the most important men of his party below in the hall: Istatten, Subeldia, Hictamon, Yeoubas

and others. They related to him all that had taken place since the conclusion of the peace: the greed of the

Ancients, the departure of the soldiers, their return, their demands, the capture of Gisco, the theft of the

zaimph, the relief and subsequent abandonment of Utica; but no one ventured to tell him of the events which

concerned himself. At last they separated, to meet again during the night at the assembly of the Ancients in

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, stupidlooking, 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

The Negress threw herself upon the floor to kiss his feet; he raised her brutally.

"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

"You have done well, Iddibal! 'Tis well!" Then piercing him, as it were, with his keen gaze: "No one yet

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."

"Yes, Master, and intrepid as well! He has no fear of serpents, or thunder, or phantoms. He runs barefooted

"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

"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

The old slave seemed to understand the peril which alarmed Hamilcar, and he resumed:

"How is he to be restrained? Already I am obliged to make him promises, and I have come to Carthage only

to buy him a dagger with a silver handle and pearls all around it." Then he told how, having perceived the

Suffet on the terrace, he had passed himself off on the warders of the harbour as one of Salammbo's women,

Hamilcar remained for a long time apparently lost in deliberation; at last he said:

"Tomorrow 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

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

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

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 deathrattles and sobs; and the

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 reentrant curve and

Fires were burning in cylinders of filigreework 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 flagstones huge lions were couched like sphinxes, living symbols of the devouring

sun. They were slumbering with halfclosed 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

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

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

These men were generally thickset, 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 countinghouses 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 winepress, dried herbs, and the sweat of mules. These old pirates had lands under

tillage, these moneygrubbers 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

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

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 motherofpearl 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 motherofpearl 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 highpriest of Eschmoun in a hyacinth robe, the highpriest of Tanith in a white linen robe, the

highpriest of Khamon in a tawny woollen robe, and the highpriest 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 voicesever repeating the same syllables and

strengthening the soundsrose, 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 threeheaded statuette, as

blue as sapphire, and placed it before him. It was the image of Truth, the very genius of his speech. Then he

"They are good friends of yours, are the Barbarians! Infamous traitor! You come back to see us perish, do

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

"Of what do you accuse me? I managed the war badly, perhaps! You have seen how I order my battles, you

"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 halfclosed 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

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 fewthose who were the least rich of the Council and

were suspected of perpetual leanings towards the people or towards tyrannyapplauded. 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,

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?"

"You are like a rhinoceros trampling on his dung: you are displaying your own folly! be silent!" And they

began to indulge in recriminations respecting the battle of the Aegatian islands.

"But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood out from the coast; what prevented you?

Hamilcar's followers thought this jest so good that they burst out into loud laughter. The vault rang with it

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.

"If you had loved me as much as him there would be great joy in Carthage now! How many times did I not

"And when things were desperate with mewe 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

"We could not risk everything," replied BaatBaal, who possessed gold mines in Darytian Gaetulia.

"But what did you do here, at Carthage, in your houses, behind your walls? There are Gauls on the Eridanus,

who ought to have been roused, Chanaanites at Cyrene who would have come, and while the Romans send

"Now he is extolling the Romans to us!" Some one shouted out to him: "How much have they paid you to

"Ask that of the plains of Brutium, of the ruins of Locri, of Metapontum, and of Heraclea! I have burnt all

their trees, I have pillaged all their temples, and even to the death of their grandchildren's grandchildren"

"Why, you disclaim like a rhetor!" said Kapouras, a very illustrious merchant. "What is it that you want?"

"I say that we must be more ingenious or more terrible! If the whole of Africa rejects your yoke the reason is,

my feeble masters, that you do not know how to fasten it to her shoulders! Agathocles, Regulus, Coepio, any

bold man has only to land and capture her; and when the Libyans in the east concert with the Numidians in

the west, and the Nomads come from the south, and the Romans from the north"a cry of horror

rose"Oh! you will beat your breasts, and roll in the dust, and tear your cloaks! No matter! you will have to

go and turn the millstone 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

"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

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

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

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

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

"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

"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

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

"Barca, Carthage has need that you should take the general command of the Punic forces against the

"With no control, no partition, all the money that you want, all the captives, all the booty, fifty zereths of land

"And return against us," said another; and from the bottom of the hall Hanno howled:

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

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

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

He snatched off the tiara, the ensign of his rankhis tiara with its eight mystic rows, and with an emerald

shell in the centreand 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

"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 bullheaded 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 redtoothed 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

motherofpearl 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

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 bulrushhurdles,

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 espartograss, and nopal hedges. But Hamilcar's eyes were fastened on a great tower, the three

storys of which formed three monster cylindersthe first being built of stone, the second of brick, and the

third all of cedarsupporting a copper cupola upon twentyfour pillars of juniper, from which slender

interlacing chains of brass hung down after the manner of garlands. This lofty edifice overlooked the

buildingsthe emporiums and mercantile houseswhich 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

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

But men with headdresses 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

"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

Salammbo was then coming down the galley staircases. All her slave women followed her; and, at each of

her steps, they also descended. The heads of the Negresses formed big black spots on the line of the bands of

the golden plates clasping the foreheads of the Roman women. Others had silver arrows, emerald butterflies,

or long bodkins set like suns in their hair. Rings, clasps, necklaces, fringes, and bracelets shone amid the

confusion of white, yellow, and blue garments; a rustling of light material became audible; the pattering of

sandals might be heard together with the dull sound of naked feet as they were set down on the wood;and

here and there a tall eunuch, head and shoulders above them, smiled with his face in air. When the shouting

of the men had subsided they hid their faces in their sleeves, and together uttered a strange cry like the

howling of a she wolf, and so frenzied and strident was it that it seemed to make the great ebony staircase,

The wind lifted their veils, and the slender stems of the papyrus plant rocked gently. It was the month of

Schebaz and the depth of winter. The flowering pomegranates swelled against the azure of the sky, and the

sea disappeared through the branches with an island in the distance half lost in the mist.

Hamilcar stopped on perceiving Salammbo. She had come to him after the death of several male children.

Moreover, the birth of daughters was considered a calamity in the religions of the Sun. The gods had

afterwards sent him a son; but he still felt something of the betrayal of his hope, and the shock, as it were, of

the curse which he had uttered against her. Salammbo, however, continued to advance.

Long bunches of variouscoloured 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 broadsleeved 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

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,

And taking from Taanach's hands a little oblong vase wherein smoked a mixture of meal, butter, cardamom,

and wine: "Drink freely," said she, "of the returning cup, which your servant has prepared!"

He replied: "A blessing upon you!" and he mechanically grasped the golden vase which she held out to him.

He scanned her, however, with such harsh attention, that Salammbo was troubled and stammered out:

Was this a confession, or was she speaking of the Barbarians? And he added a few vague words upon the

Then he drew back and Salammbo was astonished at his amazement; for she was not thinking of Carthage but

of the sacrilege in which she found herself implicated. This man, who made legions tremble and whom she

hardly knew, terrified her like a god; he had guessed, he knew all, something awful was about to happen.

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

By degrees the panting Salammbo, crushed by such heavy looks, let her head sink below her shoulders. He

was now sure that she had erred in the embrace of a Barbarian; he shuddered and raised both his fists. She

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

The Suffet walked at first with rapid strides; he breathed noisily, he struck the ground with his heel, and drew

his hand across his forehead like a man annoyed by flies. But he shook his head, and as he perceived the

accumulation of his riches he became calm; his thoughts, which were attracted by the vistas in the passages,

wandered to the other halls that were full of still rarer treasures. Bronze plates, silver ingots, and iron bars

alternated with pigs of tin brought from the Cassiterides over the Dark Sea; gums from the country of the

Blacks were running over their bags of palm bark; and gold dust heaped up in leathern bottles was insensibly

creeping out through the worn out seams. Delicate filaments drawn from marine plants hung amid flax from

Egypt, Greece, Taprobane and Judaea; mandrepores bristled like large bushes at the foot of the walls; and an

indefinable odourthe exhalation from perfumes, leather, spices, and ostrich feathers, the latter tied in great

bunches at the very top of the vaultfloated 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

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

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,

bloodcoloured mists darkened the sun, a perfumeladen breeze lulled the crews to sleep; and their memories

were so disturbed that they were now unable to tell anything. However, expeditions had ascended the rivers

of the Scythians, had made their way into Colchis, and into the countries of the Jugrians and of the Estians,

had carried off fifteen hundred maidens in the Archipelago, and sunk all the strange vessels sailing beyond

Cape Oestrymon, so that the secret of the routes should not be known. King Ptolemaeus was detaining the

incense from Schesbar; Syracuse, Elathia, Corsica, and the islands had furnished nothing, and the old pilot

lowered his voice to announce that a trireme was taken at Rusicada by the Numidians,"for they are with

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

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 Carthagethe rest having died of fatigue or become mad through

the terror of the desert;and he said that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing the Atarantes and the

country of the great apes, he had seen immense kingdoms, wherein the pettiest utensils were all of gold, a

river of the colour of milk and as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees, hills of aromatics, monsters with

human faces vegetating on the rocks with eyeballs which expanded like flowers to look at you; and then

crystal mountains supporting the sun behind lakes all covered with dragons. Others had returned from India

with peacocks, pepper, and new textures. As to those who go by way of the Syrtes and the temple of Ammon

to purchase chalcedony, they had no doubt perished in the sands. The caravans from Gaetulia and Phazzana

had furnished their usual supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, did not venture to fit one out just now.

Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the country. He leaned upon his other elbow

with a hollow groan; and the Chief of Farms was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in spite of his

thick shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which was as snubnosed as a mastiff's, was surmounted

by a net woven of threads of bark. He wore a waistbelt of hairy leopard's skin, wherein gleamed two

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

"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 houseyour 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

"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!

All the stewards went out walking backwards, with their fists touching the ground.

Abdalonim went up to a set of pigeonholes in the wall, and from the midst of them took out knotted cords,

strips of linen or papyrus, and sheeps' shoulderblades 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

"One hundred and ninetytwo houses in the Mappalian district let to the New Carthaginians at the rate of one

"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?"

"What is this? three palaces around Khamon at twelve kesitahs a month! Make it twenty! I do not want to be

"Lent to Tigillas until the end of the season two kikars at three per cent., maritime interest; to BarMalkarth

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

Then the servant hastened to read all that had been brought in by the ironmines 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;

"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,

"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

"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 pigeonholes, and took from them some planchettes of

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,

Abdalonim, still prostrate, told him of the feast of the Barbarians. He had not been able to avoid the

command of the Ancients. Moreover, Salammbo desired money to be lavished for the better reception of the

At his daughter's name Hamilcar leaped to his feet. Then with compressed lips he crouched down upon the

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

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 palmtree, 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

amountsfrom the ancient coins of Assyria, slender as the nail, to the ancient ones of Latium, thicker than

the hand, with the buttons of Egina, the tablets of Bactriana, and the short bars of Lacedaemon; many were

covered with rust, or had grown greasy, or, having been taken in nets or from among the ruins of captured

cities, were green with the water or blackened by fire. The Suffet had speedily calculated whether the sums

present corresponded with the gains and losses which had just been read to him; and he was going away when

he perceived three brass jars completely empty. Abdalonim turned away his head to mark his horror, and

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

"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

This was believed to be the family buryingplace; 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

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 closenecked 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

With his torch he lit a miner's lamp which was fastened to the idol's cap, and green, yellow, blue, violet,

winecoloured, and blood coloured fires suddenly illuminated the hall. It was filled with gems which were

either in gold calabashes fastened like sconces upon sheets of brass, or were ranged in native masses at the

foot of the wall. There were callaides shot away from the mountains with slings, carbuncles formed by the

urine of the lynx, glossopetrae which had fallen from the moon, tyanos, diamonds, sandastra, beryls, with the

three kinds of rubies, the four kinds of sapphires, and the twelve kinds of emeralds. They gleamed like

splashes of milk, blue icicles, and silver dust, and shed their light in sheets, rays, and stars. Ceraunia,

engendered by the thunder, sparkled by the side of chalcedonies, which are a cure for poison. There were

topazes from Mount Zabarca to avert terrors, opals from Bactriana to prevent abortions, and horns of

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

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

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

Along the walls of the circular gallery, from which the passages branched off, were piled little beams of

algummim, bags of Lawsonia, cakes of Lemnosearth, 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

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 rosepetals were scattered about

everywhere, and the scents were stifling in spite of the cloud wreaths from the styrax shrivelling on a brazen

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

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

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

"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

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'

"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

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

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

muckheap beneath the citron trees. In fact, the servants had neglected everything, thinking that the master

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 underfoot; and he had not all

these men before him at the end of a catapult to make them fly into fragments! He felt humiliated at having

defended them; it was a delusion and a piece of treachery; and as he could not revenge himself upon the

soldiers, or the Ancients, or Salammbo, or anybody, and his wrath required some victim, he condemned all

Abdalonim shuddered each time that he saw him approaching the parks. But Hamilcar took the path towards

The heavy millstones were turning amid the dust. They consisted of two cones of porphyry laid the one

upon the otherthe 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

At the master's entrance the wooden bars creaked still more loudly. The grain grated as it was being crushed.

Several fell upon their knees; the others, continuing their work, stepped across them.

He asked for Giddenem, the governor of the slaved, and that personage appeared, his rank being displayed in

the richness of his dress. His tunic, which was slit up the sides, was of fine purple; his ears were weighted

with heavy rings; and the strips of cloth enfolding his legs were joined together with a lacing of gold which

extended from his ankles to his hips, like a serpent winding about a tree. In his fingers, which were laden with

rings, he held a necklace of jet beads, so as to recognise the men who were subject to the sacred disease.

Hamilcar signed to him to unfasten the muzzles. Then with the cries of famished animals they all rushed upon

"It was scarcely worth while sending you to the slaves' school at Syracuse. Fetch the others!"

And the cooks, butlers, grooms, runners, and littercarriers, the men belonging to the vapourbaths, 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

"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

He then had the thieves, the lazy, and the mutinous shown to him. He distributed punishments, with

reproaches to Giddenem; and Giddenem, oxlike, bent his low forehead, with its two broad intersecting

"See, Eye of Baal," he said, pointing out a sturdy Libyan, "here is one who was caught with the rope round

Then, without heeding the precedent or the pecuniary loss, Hamilcar said to the servingmen:

Perhaps in his thoughts he intended a sacrifice. It was a misfortune which he inflicted upon himself in order

Giddenem had hidden those who were mutilated behind the others. Hamilcar perceived them.

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

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

"Bring them here!" he cried; "and brand them on the forehead with red hot irons as cowards!"

Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters, carcanets, knives, chains for those

condemned to the mines, cippi for fastening the legs, numellae for confining the shoulders, and scorpions or

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 planetrees 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

Then Salammbo was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly about it from left to right. Hamilcar

perceived her. It seemed to him that she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a

These animals were the pride of the great Punic houses. They had carried their ancestors, had triumphed in

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,

They recognised him and came up to him. One had its ears horribly slit, another had a large wound in its

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.

The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue smoke of which was ascending slowly

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

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

Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning over the pit outside saw him resting

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!"

In the following day he drew two hundred and twentythree 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 moneya monstrous thing, according to

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

He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers accustomed to fight with bears; they were

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 bigbellied or had a pusillanimous look; and he

admitted those of illrepute, the scum of Malqua, sons of Barbarians, freed men. For reward he promised

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 servingmen, and reduced the

amount of baggage; and as there were three hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them

He organised a phalanx of seventytwo 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

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

He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances; and as a precaution against accusations

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,

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 ninetysix hoplites, protected by bronze helmets, and

There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a dagger, and sandals. He reinforced them

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, twoedged 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

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

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,

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

Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbo was turned against Hamilcar. His hate could now

perceive a definite prey; and as his vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he had

realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was seized with a loftier tenderness, and

consumed by more acrid desire. He saw himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing the

Suffet's head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed, clasping the maiden in his arms, covering

her face with kisses, passing his hands over her long, black hair; and the imagination of this, which he knew

could never be realised, tortured him. He swore to himself that, since his companions had appointed him

schalishim, he would conduct the war; the certainty that he would not return from it urged him to render it a

"You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We are lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do

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

The Greek did not listen to his reasons. He was living in one of the Carthaginian pearlbordered 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

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, footsoldiers, horses!

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 footsoldiers, 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

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

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

"Master!" murmured Spendius, "I do not like these extraordinary chancesthe Suffet returning, Narr' Havas

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

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

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

At night he used to inspect the pioneers by torchlight. He would hasten to HippoZarytus or to the works on

the mountains, would come back again, would never rest. Spendius envied his energy; but in the management

of spies, the choice of sentries, the working of the engines and all means of defence, Matho listened docilely

to his companion. They spoke no more of Salammbo,one not thinking about her, and the other being

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

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

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

One dayit was the third of the month of Tibbythey 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

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

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 yellowspotted like a dragon,

advanced into the mire flinging froth around him, and with great straining of the loins. Nighta moonless

lightfell. A few cried out that they were about to perish; he snatched their arms from them, and gave them

to the servingmen. 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

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 thirtytwo 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

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

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 lightcoloured 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

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

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

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 ninetysix 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

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 slingbullets 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

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 footsoldiers 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

In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full squares having sixteen men on each side. All

the leaders of all the files appeared amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly around them, for

the first six ranks crossed their sarissae, holding them in the middle, and the ten lower ranks rested them upon

the shoulders of their companions in succession before them. Their faces were all half hidden beneath the

visors of their helmets; their right legs were all covered with bronze knemids; broad cylindrical shields

reached down to their knees; and the horrible quadrangular mass moved in a single body, and seemed to live

like an animal and work like a machine. Two cohorts of elephants flanked it in regular array; quivering, they

shook off the splinters of the arrows that clung to their black skins. The Indians, squatting on their withers

among the tufts of white feathers, restrained them with their spoonheaded harpoons, while the men in the

towers, who were hidden up to their shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished with lighted tow on the

edges of their large bended bows. Right and left of the elephants hovered the slingers, each with a sling

around his loins, a second on his head, and a third in his right hand. Then came the Clinabarians, each flanked

by a Negro, and pointing their lances between the ears of their horses, which, like themselves, were

completely covered with gold. Afterwards, at intervals, came the light armed soldiers with shields of lynx

skin, beyond which projected the points of the javelins which they held in their left hands; while the

Tarentines, each having two coupled horses, relieved this wall of soldiers at its two extremities.

The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to preserve its line. Undulations and blanks

were to be found through its extravagant length; all were panting and out of breath with their running.

The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissae; and the too slender line of the

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

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

They struck at the staves of the sarissae, but the cavalry in the rear embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx,

supported by the elephants, lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, a cone, a

rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid. A twofold internal movement went on continually from its head to its rear;

for those who were at the lowest part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the latter, from fatigue,

or on account of the wounded, fell further back. The Barbarians found themselves thronged upon the phalanx.

It was impossible for it to advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein leaped red crests and scales of

brass, while the bright shields rolled like silver foam. Sometimes broad currents would descend from one

extremity to the other, and then go up again, while a heavy mass remained motionless in the centre. The

lances dipped and rose alternately. Elsewhere there was so quick a play of naked swords that only the points

were visible, while turmae of cavalry formed wide circles which closed again like whirlwinds behind them.

Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the grating of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds

of clay whistled through the air, dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the skull. The wounded,

sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their shields, pointed their swords by resting the pommels on the

ground, while others, lying in pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels of those above them. The

multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, and the tumult so great that it was impossible to distinguish

anything; the cowards who offered to surrender were not even heard. Those whose hands were empty clasped

one another close; breasts cracked against cuirasses, and corpses hung with head thrown back between a pair

of contracted arms. There was a company of sixty Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their pikes before their

eyes, immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two syntagmata to recoil simultaneously. Some Epirote

shepherds ran upon the left squadron of the Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the horses by the

man; the animals threw their riders and fled across the plain. The Punic slingers scattered here and there stood

gaping. The phalanx began to waver, the captains ran to and fro in distraction, the rearmost in the files were

pressing upon the soldiers, and the Barbarians had reformed; 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 seventytwo elephants which

were rushing on in double line, Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed together in one

spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had goaded them so vigorously that blood was trickling down

their broad ears. Their trunks, which were smeared with mimium, were stretched straight out in the air like

red serpents; their breasts were furnished with spears and their backs with cuirasses; their tusks were

lengthened with steel blades curved like sabres,and to make them more ferocious they had been

intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, wine, and incense. They shook their necklaces of bells, and shrieked;

and the elephantarchs bent their heads beneath the stream of phalaricas which was beginning to fly from the

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

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

The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination, overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged

against the corpses and the debris. To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they turned about on

their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual rotatory motion. The Carthaginians felt their energy

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.

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

He held in his spotted and sweatcovered 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

The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off right and left towards the river and towards

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

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

Two hours afterwards Matho arrived. He caught sight in the starlight of long, uneven heaps lying upon the

They were files of Barbarians. He stooped down; all were dead. He called into the distance, but no voice

That very morning he had left HippoZarytus 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

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

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

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.

Meanwhile sighs and deathrattles 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

"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

The former slave began to describe the manoeuvres. Matho seemed to see them, and he grew angry. The

army from Utica ought to have taken Hamilcar in the rear instead of hastening to the bridge.

"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

"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."

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

"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

"We will make a fresh start; do not leave me again! I am not made for battles in the sunlightthe 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 cockcrow! Show me any one,

anything, an enemy, a treasure, a woman,a woman," he repeated, "were she a king's daughter, and I will

quickly bring your desire to your feet. You reproach me for having lost the battle against Hanno, nevertheless

I won it back again. Confess it! my herd of swine did more for us than a phalanx of Spartans." And yielding

to the need that he felt of exalting himself and taking his revenge, he enumerated all that he had done for the

cause of the Mercenaries. "It was I who urged on the Gaul in the Suffet's gardens! And later, at Sicca, I

maddened them all with fear of the Republic! Gisco was sending them back, but I prevented the interpreters

speaking. Ah! how their tongues hung out of their mouths! do you remember? I brought you into Carthage; I

stole the zaimph. I led you to her. I will do more yet: you shall see!" He burst out laughing like a madman.

Matho regarded him with gaping eyes. He felt in a measure uncomfortable in the presence of this man, who

"Evoe! Sun after run! I have worked in the quarries, and I have drunk Massic wine beneath a golden awning

in a vessel of my own like a Ptolemaeus. Calamity should help to make us cleverer. By dint of work we may

"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

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

But when the scouts returned, they announced that the Carthaginian dead had been carried off, that the bridge

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

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

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

Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six thousand Barbarians killed; the others

would not hold out, and the war was finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed the faces

of the Pataec Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them. These, with their big eyes, their big bodies,

and their arms raised as high as the shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, and to participate

in the cheerfulness of the people. The rich left their doors open; the city resounded with the noise of the

timbrels; the temples were illuminated every night, and the servants of the goddess went down to Malqua and

set up stages of sycamorewood at the corners of the crossways, and prostituted themselves there. Lands

were voted to the conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred gold crowns to the Suffet, and his

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

The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelae of the tombs in the Mappalian quarter; and traders,

scullions, embroiderers, and even women,the widows of the dead with their childrenall 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 handbarrows; 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

Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so many red statues on the tombs, and the

excitement even spread to the people of Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, and

were usually indifferent to the affairs of their country. Out of gratitude for the pleasure it had been giving

them they now interested themselves in its fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and the Ancients

thought it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire people in a single act of vengeance.

The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all quarters of the sky. They wheeled in

the air as they flew with loud hoarse cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself. It was

seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermaeum. Sometimes it would suddenly burst asunder,

its black spirals extending far away, as an eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again; here and there

on the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, and the pediments of the temples there were big birds

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

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

It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs and HippoZarytus, 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

To weaken the Mercenaries the Suffet had judged it prudent to occupy his attention at a distance in his own

kingdom. From the heart of Carthage he had come to an understanding with Masgaba, a Gaetulian brigand

who was seeking to found an empire. Strengthened by Punic money, the adventurer had raised the Numidian

States with promises of freedom. But Narr' Havas, warned by his nurse's son, had dropped into Cirta,

poisoned the conquerors with the water of the cisterns, struck off a few heads, set all right again, and had just

The chiefs of the four armies concerted the arrangements for the war. It would be a long one, and everything

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

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

At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the protection of Ceres and Proserpine, for in

Byrsa there was a temple with priests consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the horrors formerly

committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, alleging their right to waifs and strays, claimed the

youngest in order to sell them; and some fair Lacedaemonian women were taken by New Carthaginians in

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

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,

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

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

Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the tribes all that he wanted for the

wargrain, 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

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 barefooted man bounding along through

Meanwhile Utica and HippoZarytus 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

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 HippoZarytus 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, funnelshaped summit, when they perceived on the

level of the ground before them bronze shewolves which seemed to be running across the grass.

Suddenly large plumes arose and a terrible song burst forth, accompanied by the rhythm of flutes. It was the

army under Spendius; for some Campanians and Greeks, in their execration of Carthage, had assumed the

ensigns of Rome. At the same time long pikes, shields of leopard's skin, linen cuirasses, and naked shoulders

were seen on the left. These were the Iberians under Matho, the Lusitanians, Balearians, and Gaetulians; the

horses of Narr' Havas were heard to neigh; they spread around the hill; then came the loose rabble

commanded by AutaritusGauls, Libyans, and Nomads; while the Eaters of Uncleanness might be

Thus the Barbarians, having contrived their marches with exactness, had come together again. But themselves

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

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

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

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,

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

And with the best among them he rushed against the entrenchment. They were repulsed by a volley of stones;

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 HippoZarytus 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

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

The four chiefs met together every evening in Matho's tent, and squatting round a shield, attentively moved

backwards and forwards the little wooden figures invented by Pyrrhus for the representation of manoeuvres.

Spendius would demonstrate Hamilcar's resources, and with oaths by all the gods entreat that the opportunity

should not be wasted. Matho would walk about angry and gesticulating. The war against Carthage was his

own personal affair; he was indignant that the others should interfere in it without being willing to obey him.

Autaritus would divine his speech from his countenance and applaud. Narr' Havas would elevate his chin to

mark his disdain; there was not a measure he did not consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs would

escape him as though he were thrusting back sorrow for an impossible dream, despair for an abortive

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

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 chaincovered 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

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 woundand 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,

From that time forth the Carthaginians did not attempt to make any sally; and they had no thought of

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

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

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 twentythree 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 plumbline 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 battleplans with their fingers in the dust, and there was not a sorry rascal to be found who

It was a punishment, said the priests, for his longcontinued 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

The heats of the month of Eloul, which were excessive in that year, were another calamity. Sickening smells

rose from the borders of the Lake, and were wafted through the air together with the fumes of the aromatics

that eddied at the corners of the streets. The sounds of hymns were constantly heard. Crowds of people

occupied the staircases of the temples; all the walls were covered with black veils; tapers burnt on the brows

of the Pataec Gods, and the blood of camels slain for sacrifice ran along the flights of stairs forming red

cascades upon the steps. Carthage was agitated with funereal delirium. From the depths of the narrowest

lanes, and the blackest dens, there issued pale faces, men with viperlike 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

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

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

All their misfortunes came, therefore, from the loss of the zaimph. Salammbo had indirectly participated in it;

she was included in the same ill will; she must be punished. A vague idea of immolation spread among the

people. To appease the Baalim it was without doubt necessary to offer them something of incalculable worth,

a being handsome, young, virgin, of old family, a descendant of the gods, a human star. Every day the

gardens of Megara were invaded by strange men; the slaves, trembling on their own account, dared not resist

them. Nevertheless, they did not pass beyond the galley staircase. They remained below with their eyes raised

to the highest terrace; they were waiting for Salammbo, and they would cry out for hours against her like

These clamourings of the populace did not alarm Hamilcar's daughter. She was disturbed by loftier anxieties:

her great serpent, the black python, was drooping; and in the eyes of the Carthaginians, the serpent was at

once a national and a private fetish. It was believed to be the offspring of the dust of the earth, since it

emerges from its depths and has no need of feet to traverse it; its mode of progression called to mind the

undulations of rivers, its temperature the ancient, viscous, and fecund darkness, and the orbit which it

describes when biting its tail the harmony of the planets, and the intelligence of Eschmoun.

Salammbo's serpent had several times already refused the four live sparrows which were offered to it at the

full moon and at every new moon. Its handsome skin, covered like the firmament with golden spots upon a

perfectly black ground, was now yellow, relaxed, wrinkled, and too large for its body. A cottony mouldiness

extended round its head; and in the corners of its eyelids might be seen little red specks which appeared to

move. Salammbo would approach its silverwire 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 bindweed; and from looking at it she at last came to feel a kind of spiral within her heart,

another serpent, as it were, mounting up to her throat by degrees and strangling her.

She was in despair of having seen the zaimph, and yet she felt a sort of joy, an intimate pride at having done

so. A mystery shrank within the splendour of its folds; it was the cloud that enveloped the gods, and the

secret of the universal existence, and Salammbo, horror stricken at herself, regretted that she had not raised

She was almost always crouching at the back of her apartment, holding her bended left leg in her hands, her

mouth half open, her chin sunk, her eye fixed. She recollected her father's face with terror; she wished to go

away into the mountains of Phoenicia, on a pilgrimage to the temple of Aphaka, where Tanith descended in

the form of a star; all kinds of imaginings attracted her and terrified her; moreover, a solitude which every

day became greater encompassed her. She did not even know what Hamilcar was about.

Wearied at last with her thoughts she would rise, and trailing along her little sandals whose soles clacked

upon her heels at every step, she would walk at random through the large silent room. The amethysts and

topazes of the ceiling made luminous spots quiver here and there, and Salammbo as she walked would turn

her head a little to see them. She would go and take the hanging amphoras by the neck; she would cool her

bosom beneath the broad fans, or perhaps amuse herself by burning cinnamomum in hollow pearls. At sunset

Taanach would draw back the black felt lozenges that closed the openings in the wall; then her doves, rubbed

with musk like the doves of Tanith, suddenly entered, and their pink feet glided over the glass pavement,

amid the grains of barley which she threw to them in handfuls like a sower in a field. But on a sudden she

would burst into sobs and lie stretched on the large bed of oxleather 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

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

He had recognised the influence of Rabbet, being skilful to discern the gods who send diseases; and to cure

Salammbo he had her apartment watered with lotions of vervain, and maidenhair; she ate mandrakes every

morning; she slept with her head on a cushion filled with aromatics blended by the pontiffs; he had even

employed baaras, a fierycoloured root which drives back fatal geniuses into the North; lastly, turning

towards the polar star, he murmured thrice the mysterious name of Tanith; but Salammbo still suffered and

No one in Carthage was so learned as he. In his youth he had studied at the College of the Mogbeds, at

Borsippa, near Babylon; had then visited Samothrace, Pessinus, Ephesus, Thessaly, Judaea, and the temples

of the Nabathae, which are lost in the sands; and had travelled on foot along the banks of the Nile from the

cataracts to the sea. Shaking torches with veilcovered 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

fircone; he believed it to be round, and eternally falling through immensity with such prodigious speed that

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 grandpontiff 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

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

flagstones, while around him a people of priests moved barefooted through the passages filled with an

But Salammbo was in the barrenness of his life like a flower in the cleft of a sepulchre. Nevertheless he was

hard upon her, and spared her neither penances nor bitter words. His condition established, as it were, the

equality of a common sex between them, and he was less angry with the girl for his inability to possess her

than for finding her so beautiful, and above all so pure. Often he saw that she grew weary of following his

thought. Then he would turn away sadder than before; he would feel himself more forsaken, more empty,

Strange words escaped him sometimes, which passed before Salammbo like broad lightnings illuminating the

abysses. This would be at night on the terrace when, both alone, they gazed upon the stars, and Carthage

spread below under their feet, with the gulf and the open sea dimly lost in the colour of the darkness.

He would set forth to her the theory of the souls that descend upon the earth, following the same route as the

sun through the signs of the zodiac. With outstretched arm he showed the gate of human generation in the

Ram, and that of the return to the gods in Capricorn; and Salammbo strove to see them, for she took these

conceptions for realities; she accepted pure symbols and even manners of speech as being true in themselves,

"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."

"At first you will languish as light as a vapour hovering upon the waves; and after more lengthened ordeals

and agonies, you will pass into the forces of the sun, the very source of Intelligence!"

He did not speak, however, of Rabbet. Salammbo imagined that it was through some shame for his

vanquished goddess, and calling her by a common name which designated the moon, she launched into

"No! no! she draws all her fecundity from the other! Do you not see her hovering about him like an amorous

woman running after a man in a field?" And he exalted the virtue of light unceasingly.

Far from depressing her mystic desires, he sought, on the contrary, to excite them, and he even seemed to

take joy in grieving her by the revelation of a pitiless doctrine. In spite of the pains of her love Salammbo

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

Thenceforward he set himself to deplore before Salammbo the sacrilege and the misfortunes which resulted

from it even in the regions of the sky. Then he suddenly announced the peril of the Suffet, who was assailed

by three armies under the command of Mathofor 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

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

But if Rabbetna triumphed, if the zaimph were restored and Carthage delivered, what mattered a woman's

life? thought Schahabarim. Moreover, she would perhaps obtain the veil and not perish.

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

A great uproar came frequently across the Mappalian district to Megara. Schahabarim and Salammbo went

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

"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

An indeterminate dread restrained her; she was afraid of Moloch and of Matho. This man, with his giant

stature, who was master of the zaimph, ruled Rabbetna as much as did Baal, and seemed to her to be

surrounded by the same fulgurations; and then the souls of the gods sometimes visited the bodies of men. Did

not Schahabarim in speaking of him say that she was to vanquish Moloch? They were mingled with each

She wished to learn the future, and approached the serpent, for auguries were drawn from the attitudes of

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

Then on the days following, in proportion as she allowed herself to be convinced, and was more disposed to

The certainty that Salammbo was giving expression to the will of the gods then became established in her

conscience. One morning she awoke resolved, and she asked what was necessary to make Matho restore the

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:

"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

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

He indicated to her all the purifications and fastings that she was to observe, and how she was to reach

She felt as if she had been set free. She thought only of the happiness of seeing the zaimph again, and she

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 horizon was filled with the colour of blood. They seemed to descend gradually to the waves; then they

disappeared as though swallowed up, and falling of themselves into the jaws of the sun. Salammbo, who

watched them retiring, bent her head, and then Taanach, believing that she guessed her sorrow, said gently to

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

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

Taanach kindled four tripods filled with strobus and cadamomum in the corners of the apartment; then she

unfolded large Babylonian hangings, and stretched them on cords all around the room, for Salammbo did not

wish to be seen even by the walls. The kinnorplayer 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 olivetrees, and the vague yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and were blended together

in a bluish haze; not a sound was to be heard, and an unspeakable depression weighed in the air.

Salammbo crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin; she raised her ample sleeves,

fastening them behind her shoulders, and began her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred

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

Salammbo unfastened her earrings, her necklace, her bracelets, and her long white simar; she unknotted the

band in her hair, shaking the latter for a few minutes softly over her shoulders to cool herself by thus

scattering it. The music went on outside; it consisted of three notes ever the same, hurried and frenzied; the

strings grated, the flute blew; Taanach kept time by striking her hands; Salammbo, with a swaying of her

whole body, chanted prayers, and her garments fell one after another around her.

The heavy tapestry trembled, and the python's head appeared above the cord that supported it. The serpent

descended slowly like a drop of water flowing along a wall, crawled among the scattered stuffs, and then,

gluing its tail to the ground, rose perfectly erect; and his eyes, more brilliant than carbuncles, darted upon

A horror of cold, or perhaps a feeling of shame, at first made her hesitate. But she recalled Schahabarim's

orders and advanced; the python turned downwards, and resting the centre of its body upon the nape of her

neck, allowed its head and tail to hang like a broken necklace with both ends trailing to the ground.

Salammbo rolled it around her sides, under her arms and between her knees; then taking it by the jaw she

brought the little triangular mouth to the edge of her teeth, and half shutting her eyes, threw herself back

beneath the rays of the moon. The white light seemed to envelop her in a silver mist, the prints of her humid

steps shone upon the flagstones, stars quivered in the depth of the water; it tightened upon her its black rings

that were spotted with scales of gold. Salammbo panted beneath the excessive weight, her loins yielded, she

felt herself dying, and with the tip of its tail the serpent gently beat her thigh; then the music becoming still it

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,

Salammbo seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the attentions of the slave. But the

touchings, the odour of the aromatics, and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. She became

"Go on!" said Salammbo, and bearing up against herself, she suddenly revived. Then she was seized with

"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 driedup 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

With a smile like the grimace of an old ape, Taanach resumed her task. In accordance with Schahabarim's

recommendations, Salammbo had ordered the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her

Over a first delicate and vinouscoloured tunic she passed a second embroidered with birds' feathers. Golden

scales clung to her hips, and from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silverstarred 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

"My bridal!" repeated Salammbo; she was musing with her elbow resting upon the ivory chair.

But Taanach set up before her a copper mirror, which was so broad and high that she could see herself

completely in it. Then she rose, and with a light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was falling

Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung down behind over her back in long twists

ending in pearls. The brightness of the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the gold on her

garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, and on her arms, hands and toes, she had such a

wealth of gems that the mirror sent back rays upon her like a sun;and Salammbo, standing by the side of

Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded. She quickly pinned a long yellow veil upon her hair, passed a scarf

Salammbo turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for discretion and immobility.

Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, and from a distance she could distinguish by

the light of the moon a gigantic shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of Salammbo, a

Taanach went up again into the chamber. She threw herself upon the ground tearing her face with her nails;

It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent, sobbing quite softly with her head in the

The man who guided Salammbo made her ascend again beyond the pharos in the direction of the Catacombs,

and then go down the long suburb of Molouya, which was full of steep lanes. The sky was beginning to grow

grey. Sometimes palmwood beams jutting out from the walls obliged them to bend their heads. The two

horses which were at the walk would often slip; and thus they reached the Teveste gate.

Its heavy leaves were half open; they passed through, and it closed behind them.

At first they followed the foot of the ramparts for a time, and at the height of the cisterns they took their way

along the Taenia, a narrow strip of yellow earth separating the gulf from the lake and extending as far as

No one was to be seen around Carthage, whether on the sea or in the country. The slatecoloured waves

chopped softly, and the light wind blowing their foam hither and thither spotted them with white rents. In

spite of all her veils, Salammbo shivered in the freshness of the morning; the motion and the open air dazed

her. Then the sun rose; it preyed on the back of her head, and she involuntarily dozed a little. The two

When they had passed the mountain of the Hot Springs, they went on at a more rapid rate, the ground being

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 halfcalcined 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

Deserted plains succeeded one another. Charcoal dust which was raised by their feet behind them, stretched

in unequal trails over large spaces of perfectly white soil. Sometimes they came upon little peaceful spots,

where a brook flowed amid the long grass; and as they ascended the other bank Salammbo would pluck damp

leaves to cool her hands. At the corner of a wood of rosebays her horse shied violently at the corpse of a

The slave immediately settled her again on the cushions. He was one of the servants of the Temple, a man

With extreme precaution he now went on foot beside her and between the horses; he would whip the animals

with the end of a leathern lace wound round his arm, or would perhaps take balls made of wheat, dates, and

yolks of eggs wrapped in lotus leaves from a scrip hanging against his breast, and offer them to Salammbo

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 twentyfive 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

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

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 HippoZarytus preserved in honey.

Salammbo turned away from this unclean food, and fell asleep on the horses' caparisons which were spread in

The dog was howling. The slave went up to it quietly, and struck off its head with a single blow of his

dagger. Then he rubbed the horses' nostrils with blood to revive them. The old woman cast a malediction at

him from behind. Salammbo perceived this, and pressed the amulet which she wore above her heart.

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 pavingstones. Sometimes a viper

passed, or eagles flew by; the slave still continued running. Salammbo mused beneath her veils, and in spite

of the heat did not lay them aside through fear of soiling her beautiful garments.

At regular distances stood towers built by the Carthaginians for the purpose of keeping watch upon the tribes.

For prudence sake they had made a wide detour the day before. But they met with no one just now; the region

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. Halfgnawed carrion

They ascended again for two hours in a westerly direction, when suddenly they perceived a quantity of little

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,

Salammbo made a movement as though to advance. But Schahabarim's man took her further away, and they

passed along by the terrace which enclosed the camp of the Barbarians. A breach became visible in it, and the

A sentry was walking upon the top of the entrenchment with a bow in his hand and a pike on his shoulder.

Salammbo drew still nearer; the Barbarian knelt and a long arrow pierced the hem of her cloak. Then as she

When Matho arrived the moon was rising behind her. But she had a yellow veil with black flowers over her

face, and so many draperies about her person, that it was impossible to make any guess about her. From the

top of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up like a phantom in the penumbrae of the evening.

A recollection which he could not define passed through his memory. He felt his heart beating. The air of

It was filled with a great tumult and a great throng. Bright fires were burning beneath hanging pots; and their

purpled reflections illuminating some places left others completely in the dark. There was shouting and

calling; shackled horses formed long straight lines amid the tents; the latter were round and square, of leather

or of canvas; there were huts of reeds, and holes in the sand such as are made by dogs. Soldiers were carting

faggots, resting on their elbows on the ground, or wrapping themselves up in mats and preparing to sleep; and

Salammbo's horse sometimes stretched out a leg and jumped in order to pass over them.

She remembered that she had seen them before; but their beards were longer now, their faces still blacker,

and their voices hoarser. Matho, who walked before her, waved them off with a gesture of his arm which

raised his red mantle. Some kissed his hands; others bending their spines approached him to ask for orders,

for he was now veritable and sole chief of the Barbarians; Spendius, Autaritus, and Narr' Havas had become

disheartened, and he had displayed so much audacity and obstinacy that all obeyed him.

Salammbo followed him through the entire camp. His tent was at the end, three hundred feet from Hamilcar's

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

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 lampholder

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 pellmell 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

She looked slowly around her without replying; then her eyes were arrested in the background, where

"To take it!" she replied, pointing to the zaimph, and with the other hand she tore the veils from her head. He

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

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

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

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

Taking her by the wrists he drew her gently to him, and then sat down upon a cuirass beside the palmtree

bed which was covered with a lion's skin. She was standing. He looked up at her, holding her thus between

His eyes, which were continually fixed upon hers, pained her; and the uncomfortableness, the repugnance

increased in so acute a fashion that Salammbo put a constraint upon herself not to cry out. The thought of

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 perfumingpan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense,

But how was she thus with him in his tent, and at his disposal? Some one no doubt had urged her. She had

not come for the zaimph. His arms fell, and he bent his head whelmed in sudden reverie.

"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 countryseats, 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

Matho leaped up; his heart was swelling with colossal pride; he was raised to the stature of a god.

"As if your sacrilege were not enough, you came to me in my sleep covered with the zaimph! Your words I

did not understand; but I could see that you wished to drag me to some terrible thing at the bottom of an

"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

allpowerful, immaculate, radiant and beautiful even as Tanith?" And with a look of boundless adoration he

They left off speaking. The thunder rolled in the distance. Some sheep bleated, frightened by the storm.

"Formerly I was only a soldier mingled with the common herd of the Mercenaries, ay, and so meek that I

used to carry wood on my back for the others. Do I trouble myself about Carthage! The crowd of its people

move as though lost in the dust of your sandals, and all its treasures, with the provinces, fleets, and islands,

do not raise my envy like the freshness of your lips and the turn of your shoulders. But I wanted to throw

down its walls that I might reach you to possess you! Moreover, I was revenging myself in the meantime! At

present I crush men like shells, and I throw myself upon phalanxes; I put aside the sarissae with my hands, I

check the stallions by the nostrils; a catapult would not kill me! Oh! if you knew how I think of you in the

midst of war! Sometimes the memory of a gesture or of a fold of your garment suddenly seizes me and

entwines me like a net! I perceive your eyes in the flames of the phalaricas and on the gilding of the shields! I

hear your voice in the sounding of the cymbals. I turn aside, but you are not there! and I plunge again into the

He raised his arms whereon his veins crossed one another like ivy on the branches of a tree. Sweat flowed

down his breast between his square muscles; and his breathing shook his sides with his bronze girdle all

garnished with thongs hanging down to his knees, which were firmer than marble. Salammbo, who was

accustomed to eunuchs, yielded to amazement at the strength of this man. It was the chastisement of the

goddess or the influence of Moloch in motion around her in the five armies. She was overwhelmed with

lassitude; and she listened in a state of stupor to the intermittent shouts of the sentinels as they answered one

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

He advanced folding his arms and with so terrible a look that her heels were immediately nailed, as it were, to

"Going back to Carthage! Ah! you came to take the zaimph, to conquer me, and then disappear! No, no! you

belong to me! and no one now shall tear you from here! Oh! I have not forgotten the insolence of your large

tranquil eyes, and how you crushed me with the haughtiness of your beauty! 'Tis my turn now! You are my

captive, my slave, my servant! Call, if you like, on your father and his army, the Ancients, the rich, and your

whole accursed people! I am the master of three hundred thousand soldiers! I will go and seek them in

Lusitania, in the Gauls, and in the depths of the desert, and I will overthrow your town and burn all its

temples; the triremes shall float on the waves of blood! I will not have a house, a stone, or a palm tree

remaining! And if men fail me I will draw the bears from the mountains and urge on the lions! Seek not to fly

Pale and with clenched fists he quivered like a harp whose strings are about to burst. Suddenly sobs stifled

"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

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

Salammbo was invaded by a weakness in which she lost all consciousness of herself. Something at once

inward and lofty, a command from the gods, obliged her to yield herself; clouds uplifted her, and she fell

back swooning upon the bed amid the lion's hair. The zaimph fell, and enveloped her; she could see Matho's

"Moloch, thou burnest me!" and the soldier's kisses, more devouring than flames, covered her; she was as

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, milkcoloured 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

He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter of a pomegranate between her lips; he

heaped up garments behind her head to make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and to

humble himself, and he even spread the zaimph over her feet as if it were a mere rug.

"Have you still," he said, "those little gazelle's horns on which your necklaces hang? You will give them to

me! I love them!" For he spoke as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from him. The

Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The moon was gliding between two clouds.

They could see it through an opening in the tent. "Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed to

me like a veil that hid your face; you would look at me through her; the memory of you was mingled with her

beams; then I could no longer distinguish you!" And with his head between her breasts he wept copiously.

He fell asleep. Then disengaging herself from his arm she put one foot to the ground, and she perceived that

The maidens of the great families were accustomed to respect these shackles as something that was almost

religious, and Salammbo, blushing, rolled the two pieces of the golden chain around her ankles.

Carthage, Megara, her house, her room, and the country that she had passed through, whirled in tumultuous

yet distinct images through her memory. But an abyss had yawned and thrown them far back to an infinite

The storm was departing; drops of water splashing rarely, one by one, made the tentroof 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 halfclosed eyelids.

A dagger was displayed on the table of cypresswood 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

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!"

Then she examined the zaimph; and when she had viewed it well she was surprised that she had not the

happiness which she had once imagined to herself. She stood with melancholy before her accomplished

But the lower part of the tent was raised, and a monstrous form appeared. Salammbo could at first distinguish

only the two eyes and a long white beard which hung down to the ground; for the rest of the body, which was

cumbered with the rags of a tawny garment, trailed along the earth; and with every forward movement the

hands passed into the beard and then fell again. Crawling in this way it reached her feet, and Salammbo

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 pellmell in a pit in the midst of filth. But the sturdiest of them

raised themselves and shouted when they heard the noise of platters, and it was in this way that Gisco had

seen Salammbo. He had guessed that she was a Carthaginian woman by the little balls of sandastrum flapping

against her cothurni; and having a presentiment of an important mystery he had succeeded, with the

assistance of his companions, in getting out of the pit; then with elbows and hands he had dragged himself

twenty paces further on as far as Matho's tent. Two voices were speaking within it. He had listened outside

"Yes, it is I!" he replied, raising himself on his wrists. "They think me dead, do they not?"

"Ah! why have the Baals not granted me this mercy!" He approached so close he was touching her. "They

Salammbo sprang quickly back, so much afraid was she of this unclean being, who was as hideous as a larva

"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

"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

"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

Salammbo had drawn back the canvas; she held it raised at arm's length, and without answering him she

"What matters it to you? Turn away! Begone! Rather crush your face against the earth! It is a holy spot which

She threw the zaimph about her waist, and quickly picked up her veils, mantle, and scarf. "I hasten thither!"

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,

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

He stood up on one of the horses. Salammbo let herself slide down to him; and they fled at full gallop,

Matho had reentered his tent. The smoky lamp gave but little light, and he also believed that Salammbo was

asleep. Then he delicately touched the lion's skin on the palmtree bed. He called but she did not answer; he

quickly tore away a strip of the canvas to let in some light; the zaimph was gone.

The earth trembled beneath thronging feet. Shouts, neighings, and clashing of armour rose in the air, and

clarion flourishes sounded the charge. It was as though a hurricane were whirling around him. Immoderate

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 servingmen, 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

The king of the Numidians reached Hamilcar's tent, and pointing to his men, who were standing still at a

Then he prostrated himself in token of bondage, and to prove his fidelity recalled all his conduct from the

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

It was to bring matters to an end and in despair that he had fired the camp of the Libyans. This army came to

"May the Baals favour you! I do not know what the Republic will do for you, but Hamilcar is not ungrateful."

"Come, return! You will use your horsemen to beat down their infantry between your elephants and mine.

She leaped down quickly from her horse. She opened her ample cloak and spreading out her arms displayed

The leathern tent, which was raised at the corners, left visible the entire circuit of the mountain with its

thronging soldiers, and as it was in the centre Salammbo could be seen on all sides. An immense shouting

burst forth, a long cry of triumph and hope. Those who were marching stopped; the dying leaned on their

elbows and turned round to bless her. All the Barbarians knew now that she had recovered the zaimph; they

saw her or believed that they saw her from a distance; and other cries, but those of rage and vengeance,

resounded in spite of the plaudits of the Carthaginians. Thus did the five armies in tiers upon the mountain

Hamilcar, who was unable to speak, nodded her his thanks. His eyes were directed alternately upon the

zaimph and upon her, and he noticed that her chainlet was broken. Then he shivered, being seized with a

terrible suspicion. But soon recovering his impassibility he looked sideways at Narr' Havas without turning

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

"As a reward for the services which you have rendered me, Narr' Havas, I give you my daughter. Be my son,"

Narr' Havas gave a great gesture of surprise; then he threw himself upon Hamilcar's hands and covered them

Salammbo, calm as a statue, did not seem to understand. She blushed a little as she cast down her eyelids, and

Hamilcar wished to unite them immediately in indissoluble betrothal. A lance was placed in Salammbo's

hands and by her offered to Narr' Havas; their thumbs were tied together with a thong of oxleather; then

corn was poured upon their heads, and the grains that fell around them rang like rebounding hail.

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 HippoZarytus, and the space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the

Barbarians into it. Narr' Havas had encompassed them with his horse; the Suffet meanwhile drove them back

and crushed them. Then, too, they were conquered beforehand by the loss of the zaimph; even those who

cared nothing about it had experienced anguish and something akin to enfeeblement. Hamilcar, not indulging

his pride by holding the field of battle, had retired a little further off on the left to some heights, from which

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 chinpieces 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.

Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting in unequal groups they looked at one another

The lake of HippoZarytus 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

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,

When night had fallen yellowhaired 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

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

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 pellmell 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 sparrowhawk; 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 sideview 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

Four great funeral piles were erected for the men of Latin race, the Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and

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 oxleather 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

Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened silence. This was to oblige the souls to return. Then the

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

The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks of armour showed pale in the light of the great

funeralpile; 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 fortythree Samnites, quite a "sacred spring," cut one another's throats like gladiators. Soon

wood for the funeralpiles 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

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

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

At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from the Suffet; the Barbarians listened to

them with jealousy although they despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards fell into a

passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords and cuirasses and invited them with abuse to

come and take them. The Barbarians picked up flints; all took to flght; and nothing more could be seen on the

summit of the mountain except the lancepoints 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 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,

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

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

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

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,

"Remove that," said Matho to him. "I know that you are a brave fellow!" For he was so crushed by the

Spendius beckoned to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, where Zarxas and Autaritus were lying

They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the other in spite of his bravery. But who,

said they, could have expected the treachery of Narr' Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans, the loss

of the zaimph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, his manoeuvres which forced them to return to

the bottom of the mountain beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made no

acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that his leg was broken.

At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what decision should now be adopted.

Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught between his soldiers and the provinces

belonging to Narr' Havas; the Tyrian towns would join the conquerors; the Barbarians would find themselves

driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces would crush them. This would infallibly happen.

Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly they must prosecute it to the bitter

end. But how were they to make the necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these disheartened

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

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

But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner appeared, still more breathless, and blackened

with dust. The Greek snatched from his hand a roll of papyrus covered with Phoenician writing. The

Mercenaries were entreated not to be disheartened; the brave men of Tunis were coming with large

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 reread it. For seven hours he

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

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

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

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

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, wideopened in his pallid face,

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

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

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

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

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

Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to HippoZarytus 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

They were marching upon HippoZarytus, 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

The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden with bracelets collected from the dead, and

All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his victory they felt a stupefaction which was

almost terror. The vaguely announced return of the zaimph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and the

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 HippoZarytus, whence they were to

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

HippoZarytus 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

Hanno contented himself with blockading the harbour without risking an attack. However, he permitted the

judges of HippoZarytus 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

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 flatbottomed 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

Upon this the citizens of HippoZarytus, 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

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

He immediately dismissed Narr' Havas, who was to guard the borders of his kingdom. As for himself, he

resolved to reenter Carthage in order to obtain soldiers and begin the war again.

The Barbarians posted at HippoZarytus 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

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

Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could distinguish something green on the

horizon on the summit of an eminence. Then the ground sank, and obelisks, domes, and houses appeared! It

was Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself from falling, so rapidly did his heart beat.

He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the last time that he had passed that way! It was

an infinite surprise, it stunned him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing Salammbo

again. The reasons which he had for execrating her returned to his recollection, but he very quickly rejected

them. Quivering and with straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace above the palm trees

beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy lighted his face as if some great light had reached him; he opened his

arms, and sent kisses on the breeze, and murmured: "Come! come!" A sigh swelled his breast, and two long

"What stays you?" cried Spendius. "Make haste! Forward! The Suffet is going to escape us! But your knees

He stamped with impatience and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at the approach of an object long aimed

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

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

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

It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend its knees to allow its master to mount.

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

It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it;and for some minutes there was an oscillation

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

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

They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long composed the third army, but

nomads from the tableland of Barca, bandits from Cape Phiscus and the promontory of Dernah, from

Phazzana and Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish wells walled in with camels'

bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering of ostrich feathers, had come on quadrigae; the Garamantians,

masked with black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were mounted on asses, onagers, zebras,

and buffaloes; while some dragged after them the roofs of their sloopshaped 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 grasshoppers; the Achyrmachidae, who eat lice; and the vermilionpainted Gysantians,

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

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 MalethutBaal and Garaphos, clad in lions' skins,

and with the staves of their pikes driving small lean horses with long manes; then marched the Gaetulians in

cuirasses of serpents' skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of wax and resin; and the

Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each holding two javelins and a round shield of hippopotamus leather.

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 barkthread

drawers, dried grass tunics, fallowdeer muzzles on their heads; they shook rods furnished with rings, and

brandished cows' tails at the end of sticks, after the fashion of standards, howling the while like wolves.

Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gaetulians pressed the yellowish men, who are spread through

the cedar forests beyond Taggir. They had catskin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they led in

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 beastlike profiles and grinning with

idiotic laughterwretches 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

The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples. There was not a deadly invention

that was not presentfrom 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

This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell. Dromedaries, smeared all over with tarlike 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 vermincovered 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

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

The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their arrival when they perceived the

siegeengines sent by the Tyrian towns coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildingswith

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

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

Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a series of reentrant and projecting

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

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

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

When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the aqueduct; the place was unprotected:

Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette, believing that there was an assault,

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

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

"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 flagstones and, entering

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

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

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

chariotdriver triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, raised his arms aloft.

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

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

The second presented a more complicated mechanism. A crossbar 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

horsehair stood at the extremities of the crossbar; 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

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,

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, tackleblocks, 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

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

Hamilcar had speedily reassured them by declaring that there was enough water left in the cisterns for one

hundred and twentythree days. This assertion, together with his presence, and above all that of the zaimph

among them, gave them good hopes. Carthage recovered from its dejection; those who were not of

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

The two northern and eastern sides, being protected by the sea and the gulf, remained inaccessible. On the

wall fronting the Barbarians they collected treetrunks, millstones, 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

At last on the thirteenth day of the month of Schabar,at sunrise,a great blow was heard at the gate of

Seventyfive 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 oxhides; 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The assault was renewed for several days in succession, the Mercenaries hoping to triumph by extraordinary

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 pellmell 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

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

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 helmetplumes 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

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

Hamilcar sent hoplites to these posts, and every morning made them drink the juice of certain herbs which

One evening when it was dark he embarked the best of his soldiers on lighters and planks, and turning to the

right of the harbour, disembarked on the Taenia. Then he advanced to the first lines of the Barbarians, and

taking them in flank, made a great slaughter. Men hanging to ropes would descend at night from the top of

the wall with torches in their hands, burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then mount up again.

Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which led him into terrible extravagances. He

mentally summoned Salammbo to an interview; then he waited. She did not come; this seemed to him like a

fresh piece of treachery,and henceforth he execrated her. If he had seen her corpse he would perhaps have

gone away. He doubled the outposts, he planted forks at the foot of the rampart, he drove caltrops into the

ground, and he commanded the Libyans to bring him a whole forest that he might set it on fire and burn

Spendius went on obstinately with the siege. He sought to invent terrible machines such as had never before

The other Barbarians, encamped at a distance on the isthmus, were amazed at these delays; they murmured,

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 countermines beneath the path along which the wooden towers were to move, and when

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

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

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

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

crossways. 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

henbanedrinkers; in their crisis they believed themselves wild beasts, and leaped upon the passersby to

rend them. Mobs formed around them, and the defence of Carthage was forgotten. The Suffet devised the

In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images had been covered with chains. Black

veils were placed upon the Pataec gods, and haircloths 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

The colleges of the pontiffs were agitated by unceasing anxiety. Those of Rabbetna were especially

afraidthe restoration of the zaimph having been of no avail. They kept themselves shut up in the third

enclosure which was as impregnable as a fortress. Only one among them, the high priest Schahabarim,

He used to visit Salammbo. But he would either remain perfectly silent, gazing at her with fixed eyeballs, or

else would be lavish of words, and the reproaches that he uttered were harder than ever.

With inconceivable inconsistency he could not forgive the young girl for carrying out his commands;

Schahabarim had guessed all, and this haunting thought revived the jealousies of his impotence. He accused

her of being the cause of the war. Matho, according to him, was besieging Carthage to recover the zaimph;

and he poured out imprecations and sarcasms upon this Barbarian who pretended to the possession of holy

But just now Salammbo felt no terror of him. The anguish which she used formerly to suffer had left her. A

strange peacefulness possessed her. Her gaze was less wandering, and shone with limpid fire.

Meanwhile the python had become ill again; and as Salammbo, on the contrary, appeared to be recovering,

old Taanach rejoiced in the conviction that by its decline it was taking away the languor of her mistress.

One morning she found it coiled up behind the bed of oxhides, colder than marble, and with its head hidden

by a heap of worms. Her cries brought Salammbo to the spot. She turned it over for a while with the tip of her

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 cornears throughout their length. Further away she could see the

manoeuvres of the Barbarians between the towers; on days when the siege was interrupted she could even

distinguish their occupations. They mended their weapons, greased their hair, and washed their bloodstained

arms in the sea; the tents were closed; the beasts of burden were feeding; and in the distance the scythes of

the chariots, which were all ranged in a semicircle, looked like a silver scimitar lying at the base of the

mountains. Schahabarim's talk recurred to her memory. She was waiting for Narr' Havas, her betrothed. In

spite of her hatred she would have liked to see Matho again. Of all the Carthaginians she was perhaps the

Her father often came into her room. He would sit down panting on the cushions, and gaze at her with an

almost tender look, as if he found some rest from her fatigues in the sight of her. He sometimes questioned

her about her journey to the camp of the Mercenaries. He even asked her whether any one had urged her to it;

and with a shake of the head she answered, No,so proud was Salammbo of having saved the zaimph.

But the Suffet always came back to Matho under pretence of making military inquiries. He could not

understand how the hours which she had spent in the tent had been employed. Salammbo, in fact, said

nothing about Gisco; for as words had an effective power in themselves, curses, if reported to any one, might

be turned against him; and she was silent about her wish to assassinate, lest she should be blamed for not

having yielded to it. She said that the schalischim appeared furious, that he had shouted a great deal, and that

he had then fallen asleep. Salammbo told no more, through shame perhaps, or else because she was led by her

extreme ingenuousness to attach but little importance to the soldier's kisses. Moreover, it all floated through

her head in a melancholy and misty fashion, like the recollection of a depressing dream; and she would not

One evening when they were thus face to face with each other, Taanach came in looking quite scared. An old

Iddibal entered without prostrating himself. He held a young boy, covered with a goat'shair cloak, by the

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

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.

"You will keep him with you, you understand! No one, even though belonging to the house, must know of his

Then, behind the door, he again asked Iddibal whether he was quite sure that they had not been noticed.

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.

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 sunthe 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

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

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

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

On the morrow he opened the pits in which he kept stores of corn, and his stewards gave it to the people. For

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

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 flagstones, 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

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 twentythree towers on the fortification stood twentythree 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 twentythree 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.

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 leadentubed trumpets pealed, and the great Paphlagonian

A forest of lances, pikes, and swords bristled at its base. It leaped against the wall, the ladders grappled them;

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 millstones, 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

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

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

Up to the middle of the day the veterans had attacked the Taenia fiercely in order to penetrate into the

harbour and destroy the fleet. Hamilcar had a fire of damp straw lit upon the roofing of Khamon, and as the

smoke blinded them they fell back to left, and came to swell the horrible rout which was pressing forward in

Malqua. Some syntagmata composed of sturdy men, chosen expressly for the purpose, had broken in three

gates. They were checked by lofty barriers made of planks studded with nails, but a fourth yielded easily;

they dashed over it at a run and rolled into a pit in which there were hidden snares. At the southwest 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 chessboard. 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

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 forepaws were crossed upon his breast, and the claws of the hinder ones

He had kept on his strong waistbelt, wherein gleamed a twoedged axe, and with his great sword in both

hands he had dashed impetuously through the breach. Like a pruner cutting willowbranches 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

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 reenter 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;

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

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

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

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 brokendown 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 Carthaginians, however, who were consumed by thirst, had rushed to the cisterns. They broke open the

What was to be done now? Moreover, the Barbarians were countless, and when their fatigue was over they

The people deliberated all night in groups at the corners of the streets. Some said that they ought to send

away the women, the sick, and the old men; others proposed to abandon the town, and found a colony far

away. But vessels were lacking, and when the sun appeared no decision had been made.

There was no fighting that day, all being too much exhausted. The sleepers looked like corpses.

Then the Carthaginians, reflecting upon the cause of their disasters, remembered that they had not dispatched

to Phoenicia the annual offering due to Tyrian Melkarth, and a great terror came upon them. The gods were

indignant with the Republic, and were, no doubt, about to prosecute their vengeance.

They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with supplications and allowed themselves to be

bribed with presents. All were feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the very flesh

of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, the Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it

to him, which calmed his fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape of the neck, with

woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal brought in much money to the priests, they failed not to

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 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

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

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

He gave clothing, boots, and wine. He gave all the rest of the corn that he was keeping by him. He even let

the crowd enter his palace, and he opened kitchens, stores, and all the rooms,Salammbo's alone excepted.

He announced that six thousand Gaulish Mercenaries were coming, and that the king of Macedonia was

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

"Barca! we come for that that you know ofyour 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

He entered Salammbo's room in a state of distraction. He seized Hannibal with one hand, snatched up the

cord of a trailing garment with the other, tied his feet and hands with it, thrust the end into his mouth to form

a gag, and hid him under the bed of the oxhides 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

"Listen!" he said, "go and take from among the slaves a male child from eight to nine years of age, with black

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,

How could he ever be confounded with Hannibal! and there was no time to choose another. Hamilcar looked

The misfortune which he had so long dreaded was therefore come, and with extravagant efforts he strove to

Abdalonim suddenly spoke from behind the door. The Suffet was being asked for. The servants of Moloch

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

The porphyry basin still contained a little clear water for Salammbo's ablutions. In spite of his repugnance

and all his pride, the Suffet dipped the child into it, and, like a slave merchant, began to wash him and rub

him with strigils and red earth. Then he took two purple squares from the receptacles round the wall, placed

one on his breast and the other on his back, and joined them together on the collar bones with two diamond

clasps. He poured perfume upon his head, passed an electrum necklace around his neck, and put on him

sandals with heels of pearl,sandals belonging to his own daughter! But he stamped with shame and

vexation; Salammbo, who busied herself in helping him, was as pale as he. The child, dazzled by such

splendour, smiled and, growing bold even, was beginning to clap his hands and jump, when Hamilcar took

He held him firmly by the arm as though he were afraid of losing him, and the child, who was hurt, wept a

When on a level with the ergastulum, under a palm tree, a voice was raised, a mournful and supplicant voice.

Hamilcar turned and beside him perceived a man of abject appearance, one of the wretches who led a

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

"Are you going to?" He had not the strength to finish, and Hamilcar stopped quite amazed at such grief.

He had never thoughtso immense was the abyss separating them from each otherthat 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 three blackrobed men were waiting in the great hall, and standing against the stone disc. Immediately

"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 weakspirited. They were almost moved by it.

A noise of naked feet became audible, with a broken throatrattling 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

Hamilcar threw himself with a bound upon the slave, and covering the man's mouth with his hand exclaimed

"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

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 kitchensa 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

Hamilcar at last returned to Salammbo, and unfastened Hannibal's cords. The child in exasperation bit his

To make him remain quiet Salammbo tried to frighten him with Lamia, a Cyrenian ogress.

He was told that brigands were coming to put him into prison. "Let them come," he rejoined, "and I will kill

Then Hamilcar told him the frightful truth. But he fell into a passion with his father, contending that he was

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

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 smiledlike the otheron his

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

firstborn 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

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

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

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

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

These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who were returning to their first cause to

Melkarth's pavilion, which was of fine purple, sheltered a petroleum flare; on Khamon's, which was of

hyacinth colour, there rose an ivory phallus bordered with a circle of gems; between Eschmoun's curtains,

which were as blue as the ether, a sleeping python formed a circle with his tail, and the Pataec gods, held in

the arms of their priests, looked like great infants in swaddling clothes with their heels touching the ground.

Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: BaalSamin, god of celestial space; BaalPeor, god of the

sacred mountains; BaalZeboub, god of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and

congenerous races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldaea, the Kijun of the Syrians; Derceto, with

her virgin's face, crept on her fins, and the corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a catafalque

among torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the kings of the firmament to the Sun, and prevent their

particular influences from disturbing his, diversely coloured metal stars were brandished at the end of long

poles; and all were there, from the dark Neblo, the genius of Mercury, to the hideous Rahab, which is the

constellation of the Crocodile. The Abbadirs, stones which had fallen from the moon, were whirling in slings

of silver thread; little loaves, representing the female form, were born on baskets by the priests of Ceres;

others brought their fetishes and amulets; forgotten idols reappeared, while the mystic symbols had been

taken from the very ships as though Carthage wished to concentrate herself wholly upon a single thought of

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

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

At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His pontiffs arranged an enclosure with

The priests of Khamon, in tawny woollen robes, formed a line before their temple beneath the columns of the

portico; those of Eschmoun, in linen mantles with necklaces of koukouphas' heads and pointed tiaras, posted

themselves on the steps of the Acropolis; the priests of Melkarth, in violet tunics, took the western side; the

priests of the Abbadirs, clasped with bands of Phrygian stuffs, placed themselves on the east, while towards

the south, with the necromancers all covered with tattooings, and the shriekers in patched cloaks, were ranged

the curates of the Pataec gods, and the Yidonim, who put the bone of a dead man into their mouths to learn

the future. The priests of Ceres, who were dressed in blue robes, had prudently stopped in the street of

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

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 Taniththe highpriest 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 trelliswork 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 triplestoried 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

The crowd, terrified by this act of apostasy, uttered a lengthened murmur. It was felt that the last tie which

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

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

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

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, selfgenerating 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 eightstringed 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 sevenstoried compartments on the body of the Baal. They put

meal into the highest, two turtledoves 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

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

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

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 funeralpile 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

The victims, when scarcely at the edge of the opening, disappeared like a drop of water on a redhot plate,

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

Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeralpile, 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 instrumentplayers 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 henbanedrinkers crawled on all fours around the colossus, roaring like tigers; the Yidonim vaticinated,

the Devotees sang with their cloven lips; the trelliswork 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

The loud noise and great light had attracted the Barbarians to the foot of the walls; they clung to the wreck of

The Carthaginians had not reentered 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

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 templeroofs 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

Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the torches were extinguished; brands

were taken from the funeralpile 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 illclosed 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

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

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

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

Narr' Havas spied them from afar in the mountains. During the night he led all his men along the seashore

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

Narr' Havas received the compliments of the Ancients. Then he ascended to Salammbo's palace.

He had not seen her again since the time when in Hamilcar's tent amid the five armies he had felt her little,

cold, soft hand fastened to his own; she had left for Carthage after the betrothal. His love, which had been

diverted by other ambitions, had come back to him; and now he expected to enjoy his rights, to marry her,

Salammbo did not understand how the young man could ever become her master! Although she asked Tanith

every day for Matho's death, her horror of the Libyan was growing less. She vaguely felt that the hate with

which he had persecuted her was something almost religious,and she would fain have seen in Narr' Havas's

person a reflection, as it were, of that malice which still dazzled her. She desired to know him better, and yet

his presence would have embarrassed her. She sent him word that she could not receive him.

Moreover, Hamilcar had forbidden his people to admit the King of the Numidians to see her; by putting off

his reward to the end of the war he hoped to retain his devotion;and, through dread of the Suffet, Narr'

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

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

A deeper reason prompted aid to Carthage. It was felt that if the Mercenaries triumphed, every one, from

soldier to platewasher, 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

Then he set himself to harass them. He would arrive and then retire, and by constantly renewing this

manoeuvre, he gradually detached them from their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and

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

The latter had received three thousand Gauls from Clypea. He had horses brought to him from Cyrenaica, and

Never had his genius been so impetuous and fertile. For five moons he dragged his enemies after him. He had

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

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

Although they were perilous for elephants, Hamilcar made his way in among them. He followed the long

chain which extends from the promontory of Hermaeum to the top of Zagouan. This, they believed, was a

device for hiding the insufficiency of his troops. But the continual uncertainty in which he kept them

exasperated them at last more than any defeat. They did not lose heart, and marched after him.

At last one evening they surprised a body of velites amid some big rocks at the entrance of a pass between the

Silver Mountain and the Lead Mountain; the entire army was certainly in front of them, for a noise of

footsteps and clarions could be heard; the Carthaginians immediately fled through the gorge. It descended

into a plain, and was shaped like an iron hatchet with a surrounding of lofty cliffs. The Barbarians dashed into

it in order to overtake the velites; quite at the bottom other Carthaginians were running tumultuously amid

galloping oxen. A man in a red cloak was to be seen; it was the Suffet; they shouted this to one another; and

they were carried away with increased fury and joy. Several, from laziness or prudence, had remained on the

threshold of the pass. But some cavalry, debouching from a wood, beat them down upon the rest with blows

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

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

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

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

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

Then they all looked at one another without speaking. They sank down in collapse, feeling an icy coldness in

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

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

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

But on the evening of the fifth day their hunger increased; they gnawed their swordbelts, and the little

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

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.

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 grounda 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

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 furcovered shoulders,

he reminded his companions of a bear coming forth from its cave in springtime to see whether the snows are

Spendius, surrounded by the Greeks, hid himself in one of the gaps; as he was afraid, he caused a rumour of

They were now hideously lean; their skin was overlaid with bluish marblings. On the evening of the ninth

Their frightened companions left the spot. They were stripped, and the white, naked bodies lay in the

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

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

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

But were they not in possession of Carthaginianstwenty 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 servingmen belonging to the Mercenaries. They killed some of them

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 waistbelts, their ivory pommels, and the steel of their swords. Some former caravanleaders 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 tomorrow!" they would say to one another; and then tomorrow 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

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

They were too weak to knock down the flying crows with stones. Sometimes when a gypaetus was perched

on a corpse, and had been mangling it for a long time, a man would set himself to crawl towards it with a

javelin between his teeth. He would support himself with one hand, and after taking a good aim, throw his

weapon. The white feathered creature, disturbed by the noise, would desist and look about in tranquil

fashion like a cormorant on a rock, and would then again thrust in its hideous, yellow beak, while the man, in

despair, would fall flat on his face in the dust. Some succeeded in discovering chameleons and serpents. But

it was the love of life that kept them alive. They directed their souls to this idea exclusively, and clung to

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

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

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

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

Sometimes flights of birds darted past beneath the blue sky in the freedom of the air. The men closed their

At first they felt a buzzing in their ears, their nails grew black, the cold reached to their breasts; they lay upon

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 tribesin all twenty thousand soldiers, or

Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in order to put an end to this state of things,

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;

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 swordbelt 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 palmtree. This was Hamilcar's reply, the safeconduct that he sent

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,

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 Barbariansfor 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

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

"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 swordbelt

When they reached the Punic camp the crowd flocked around them, and they thought that they could hear

Hamilcar was at the very back of it seated on a stool beside a table on which there shone a naked sword. He

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

slatecoloured dust; their lips were glued to their yellow teeth; they exhaled an infectious odour; they might

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

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 swordbelt to speak. Spendius was

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 swordbelt. 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

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,

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

They had not expected such clemency; Spendius exclaimed: "Ah! twenty if you wish, master!"

They were sent out of the tent to deliberate. As soon as they were alone, Autaritus protested against the

"Him!" said Spendius. "Him! him!" he repeated several times, as though the thing had been impossible, and

They were so overwhelmed with weariness that they stretched themselves on their backs on the ground, not

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

"Without constraint, from the bottom of your souls, with the intention of fulfilling your promises?"

"Well!" rejoined the Suffet, "in accordance with the convention concluded between myself, Barca, and the

Spendius fell swooning upon the mat. The Barbarians, as though abandoning him, pressed close together; and

Their companions, who were waiting for them, not seeing them return, believed themselves betrayed. The

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

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 kneecaps, 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

The Barbarians were frozen with a nameless terror. They did not even try to flee. They already found

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

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

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 halfrearing together, and their tusks

clashed against one another. Suddenly Narr' Havas quieted them, and wheeling round they trotted back to the

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

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

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

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

The Barbarians ran thither and spent the night in eating. Then the Carthaginians broke into clamours against

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 bareheaded, 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 bodyguard. 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 ninetytwo elephants under Narr' Havas, forming a single straight line, their trunks brandishing

The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that made them turn pale, but the horrible

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

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,

They threw off their cuirasses that the swordpoints 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

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

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

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

There were still sixty left. They asked for drink. They were told by shouts to throw away their swords, and

While they were drinking, with their faces buried in the vases, sixty Carthaginians leaped upon them and

Hamilcar had done this to gratify the instincts of his army, and, by means of this treachery, to attach it to his

The war, then, was ended; at least he believed that it was; Matho would not resist; in his impatience the

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

She received him in her gardens under a large sycamore tree, amid pillows of yellow leather, and with

Taanach beside her. Her face was covered with a white scarf, which, passing over her mouth and forehead,

allowed only her eyes to be seen; but her lips shone in the transparency of the tissue like the gems on her

fingers, for Salammbo had both her hands wrapped up, and did not make a gesture during the whole

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: ringnecked

glareolas, Tartessus quails and Punic guineafowl. 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, sunrays, 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

Narr' Havas had ceased speaking; Salammbo was looking at him without replying. He wore a linen robe with

flowers painted on it, and with gold fringes at the hem; two silver arrows fastened his plaited hair at the tips

of his ears; his right hand rested on a pikestaff 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

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

The Numidian replied that he desired this death ardently, since he would be her husband when the war was

But Narr' Havas, pursuing the subject, compared his longings to flowers languishing for rain, or to lost

travellers waiting for the day. He told her, further, that she was more beautiful than the moon, better than the

wind of morning or than the face of a guest. He would bring for her from the country of the Blacks things

such as there were none in Carthage, and the apartments in their house should be sanded with gold dust.

Evening fell, and odours of balsam were exhaled. For a long time they looked at each other in silence, and

Salammbo's eyes, in the depths of her long draperies, resembled two stars in the rift of a cloud. Before the

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

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

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 chariotwheels, 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

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

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

palmtrees 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

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.

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

But Hamilcar wished first to show the Mercenaries that he would punish them like slaves. He had the ten

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

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 goodnatured!"

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

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.

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

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 himand 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

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

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

Nevertheless they had glimpses, at an infinite depth, of streets, marching soldiers, and the swinging of

swords; and the tumult of battle reached them dimly like the noise of the sea to shipwrecked men dying on

the masts of a ship. The Italiotes, who were sturdier than the rest, were still shrieking. The Lacedaemonians

were silent, with eyelids closed; Zarxas, once so vigorous, was bending like a broken reed; the Ethiopian

beside him had his head thrown back over the arms of the cross; Autaritus was motionless, rolling his eyes;

his great head of hair, caught in a cleft in the wood, fell straight upon his forehead, and his deathrattle

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

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

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 tentpoles 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

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.

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 daggerstrokes, and half the

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

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

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

This inertness veiled skilful manoeuvres. Hamilcar seduced the heads of the villages by all sorts of artifices;

and the Mercenaries were hunted, repulsed, and enclosed like wild beasts. As soon as they entered a wood,

the trees caught fire around them; when they drank of a spring it was poisoned; the caves in which they hid in

order to sleep were walled up. Their old accomplices, the populations who had hitherto defended them, now

pursued them; and they continually recognised Carthaginian armour in these bands.

Many had their faces consumed with red tetters; this, they thought, had come to them through touching

Hanno. Others imagined that it was because they had eaten Salammbo's fishes, and far from repenting of it,

they dreamed of even more abominable sacrileges, so that the abasement of the Punic Gods might be still

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

HippoZarytus 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

The only feeling left them was one of exasperation, which went on developing; and one day they found

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

Hamilcar accepted the challenge. The encounter should take place the following day at sunrise, in the plain of

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

This generosity astonished the Barbarians; some were terrified by it, and Matho regretted that the emissary

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 regionin all seven thousand two hundred and nineteen soldiers, but not one

complete syntagmata. They had stopped up the holes in their cuirasses with the shoulderblades 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 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

The beasts of burden were killed, and as much as possible was eaten so as to gain strength; afterwards they

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 footsoldiers 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

But a man whom he did not know opened his tent and laid on the ground a crown of rocksalt, adorned with

hieratic designs formed with sulphur, and lozenges of motherofpearl; a marriage crown was sometimes

The recollection of Matho disturbed her in an intolerable manner; it seemed to her that the death of this man

would unburden her thoughts, just as people to cure themselves of the bite of a viper crush it upon the wound.

The king of the Numidians was depending upon her; he awaited the wedding with impatience, and, as it was

to follow the victory, Salammbo made him this present to stimulate his courage. Then his distress vanished,

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

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

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

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

Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites between them, and sent them against the

Those coneshaped 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 footsoldiers 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

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 reform 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

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

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

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, lardingpins 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 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

pellmell, 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

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

Soon there were only fifty, then only twenty, only three, and lastly only twoa Samnite armed with an axe,

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 shoulderpieces, 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

They moved away before him. Several times he ran against the Carthaginians. But they always drew back and

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

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

An immense clamour reached him dimly; and lying on his back he looked at the stars.

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,

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 intervalshad 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

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

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 hindquarters 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

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

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,

The Carthaginian, who was leaning over the top of the precipice to look, went back again.

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

The shouts of the watercarriers watering the pavement rose above the continual screaming of voices; slaves

belonging to Hamilcar offered in his name roasted barley and pieces of raw meat; people accosted one

another, and embraced one another with tears; the Tyrian towns were taken, the nomads dispersed, and all the

Barbarians annihilated. The Acropolis was hidden beneath coloured velaria; the beaks of the triremes, drawn

up in line outside the mole, shone like a dyke of diamonds; everywhere there was a sense of the restoration of

order, the beginning of a new existence, and the diffusion of vast happiness: it was the day of Salammbo's

On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables laden with gigantic plate, at which the

priests, Ancients, and the rich were to sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar, Narr' Havas,

and Salammbo; for as she had saved her country by the restoration of the zaimph, the people turned her

wedding day into a national rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she should appear.

But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing: Matho's death has been promised for the

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

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 pavingstones 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

Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian district. It was Salammbo leaving her

First there filed past the priests of the Pataec Gods, then those of Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other

colleges in succession, with the same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the time of the

sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent, and the multitude stood aside from them in a kind

of remorse. But the priests of Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in their hands; the

priestesses followed them in transparent robes of yellow or black, uttering cries like birds and writhing like

vipers, or else whirling round to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of the stars, while their light

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

As the colleges arrived they ranged themselves in the courts of the temples, on the outer galleries, and along

double staircases which rose against the walls, and drew together at the top. Files of white robes appeared

between the colonnades, and the architecture was peopled with human statues, motionless as statues of stone.

Then came the masters of the exchequer, the governors of the provinces, and all the rich. A great tumult

prevailed below. Adjacent streets were discharging the crowd, hierodules were driving it back with blows of

sticks; and then Salammbo appeared in a litter surmounted by a purple canopy, and surrounded by the

Thereupon an immense shout arose; the cymbals and crotala sounded more loudly, the tabourines thundered,

It appeared again on the first landing. Salammbo was walking slowly beneath it; then she crossed the terrace

to take her seat behind on a kind of throne cut out of the carapace of a tortoise. An ivory stool with three steps

was pushed beneath her feet; two Negro children knelt on the edge of the first step, and sometimes she would

rest both arms, which were laden with rings of excessive weight, upon their heads.

From ankle to hip she was covered with a network of narrow meshes which were in imitation of fish scales,

and shone like motherof pearl; her waist was clasped by a blue zone, which allowed her breasts to be seen

through two crescentshaped 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

Her father and her husband were on two lower seats, Narr' Havas dressed in a light simar and wearing his

crown of rocksalt, 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 battlesword at his side.

The python of the temple of Eschmoun lay on the ground amid pools of pink oil in the space enclosed by the

tables, and, biting its tail, described a large black circle. In the middle of the circle there was a copper pillar

bearing a crystal egg; and, as the sun shone upon it, rays were emitted on every side.

Behind Salammbo stretched the priests of Tanith in linen robes; on her right the Ancients, in their tiaras,

formed a great gold line, and on the other side the rich with their emerald sceptres a great green line,while

quite in the background, where the priests of Moloch were ranged, the cloaks looked like a wall of purple.

The other colleges occupied the lower terraces. The multitude obstructed the streets. It reached to the

housetops, and extended in long files to the summit of the Acropolis. Having thus the people at her feet, the

firmament above her head, and around her the immensity of the sea, the gulf, the mountains, and the distant

provinces, Salammbo in her splendour was blended with Tanith, and seemed the very genius of Carthage, and

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, tortoiseshell spoons, and

small round loaves were crowded between the double row of pearlbordered plates; bunches of grapes with

their leaves had been rolled round ivory vinestocks 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

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

But Salammbo turned her head as though some one had called her; the people, who were watching her,

The door of the dungeon, hewn in the rock at the foot of the temple, on the summit of the Acropolis, had just

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

At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared. Numbers of arms were raised, and he was

The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as though he were rolled down in a torrent

from the top of a mountain; three times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his feet.

His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks; and he made such efforts to burst his

bonds that his arms, which were crossed on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent.

Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which he found himself. In each of them a

triple row of bronze chains fastened to the navels of the Pataec gods extended in parallel lines from one end

to the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, and servants, belonging to the Ancients, walked in the

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

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 overstrained, 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

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 syllablea hoarse, deep, and

frantic intonationwould 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

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

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;

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 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

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

He reached the foot of the terrace. Salammbo was leaning over the balustrade; those frightful eyeballs were

scanning her, and there rose within her a consciousness of all that he had suffered for her. Although he was in

his death agony she could see him once more kneeling in his tent, encircling her waist with his arms, and

stammering out gentle words; she thirsted to feel them and hear them again; she did not want him to die! At

this moment Matho gave a great start; she was on the point of shrieking aloud. He fell backwards and did not

Salammbo was borne back, nearly swooning, to her throne by the priests who flocked about her. They

congratulated her; it was her work. All clapped their hands and stamped their feet, howling her name.

A man darted upon the corpse. Although he had no beard he had the cloak of a priest of Moloch on his

shoulder, and in his belt that species of knife which they employed for cutting up the sacred meat, and which

terminated, at the end of the handle, in a golden spatula. He cleft Matho's breast with a single blow, then

snatched out the heart and laid it upon the spoon; and Schahabarim, uplifting his arm, offered it to the sun.

The sun sank behind the waves; his rays fell like long arrows upon the red heart. As the beatings diminished

Then from the gulf to the lagoon, and from the isthmus to the pharos, in all the streets, on all the houses, and

on all the temples, there was a single shout; sometimes it paused, to be again renewed; the buildings shook

with it; Carthage was convulsed, as it were, in the spasm of Titanic joy and boundless hope.

Narr' Havas, drunk with pride, passed his left arm beneath Salammbo's waist in token of possession; and

Salammbo rose like her husband, with a cup in her hand, to drink also. She fell down again with her head

lying over the back of the throne, pale, stiff, with parted lips,and her loosened hair hung to the ground.