登陆注册
15401800000056

第56章

They struck at the staves of the sarissae, but the cavalry in the rear embarrassed their attack; and the phalanx, supported by the elephants, lengthened and contracted, presenting itself in the form of a square, a cone, a rhombus, a trapezium, a pyramid.A twofold internal movement went on continually from its head to its rear; for those who were at the lowest part of the files hastened up to the first ranks, while the latter, from fatigue, or on account of the wounded, fell further back.

The Barbarians found themselves thronged upon the phalanx.It was impossible for it to advance; there was, as it were, an ocean wherein leaped red crests and scales of brass, while the bright shields rolled like silver foam.Sometimes broad currents would descend from one extremity to the other, and then go up again, while a heavy mass remained motionless in the centre.The lances dipped and rose alternately.Elsewhere there was so quick a play of naked swords that only the points were visible, while turmae of cavalry formed wide circles which closed again like whirlwinds behind them.

Above the voices of the captains, the ringing of clarions and the grating of tyres, bullets of lead and almonds of clay whistled through the air, dashing the sword from the hand or the brain out of the skull.The wounded, sheltering themselves with one arm beneath their shields, pointed their swords by resting the pommels on the ground, while others, lying in pools of blood, would turn and bite the heels of those above them.The multitude was so compact, the dust so thick, and the tumult so great that it was impossible to distinguish anything; the cowards who offered to surrender were not even heard.

Those whose hands were empty clasped one another close; breasts cracked against cuirasses, and corpses hung with head thrown back between a pair of contracted arms.There was a company of sixty Umbrians who, firm on their hams, their pikes before their eyes, immovable and grinding their teeth, forced two syntagmata to recoil simultaneously.Some Epirote shepherds ran upon the left squadron of the Clinabarians, and whirling their staves, seized the horses by the man; the animals threw their riders and fled across the plain.The Punic slingers scattered here and there stood gaping.The phalanx began to waver, the captains ran to and fro in distraction, the rearmost in the files were pressing upon the soldiers, and the Barbarians had re-formed; they were recovering; the victory was theirs.

But a cry, a terrible cry broke forth, a roar of pain and wrath: it came from the seventy-two elephants which were rushing on in double line, Hamilcar having waited until the Mercenaries were massed together in one spot to let them loose against them; the Indians had goaded them so vigorously that blood was trickling down their broad ears.Their trunks, which were smeared with mimium, were stretched straight out in the air like red serpents; their breasts were furnished with spears and their backs with cuirasses; their tusks were lengthened with steel blades curved like sabres,--and to make them more ferocious they had been intoxicated with a mixture of pepper, wine, and incense.They shook their necklaces of bells, and shrieked;and the elephantarchs bent their heads beneath the stream of phalaricas which was beginning to fly from the tops of the towers.

In order to resist them the better the Barbarians rushed forward in a compact crowd; the elephants flung themselves impetuously upon the centre of it.The spurs on their breasts, like ships' prows, clove through the cohorts, which flowed surging back.They stifled the men with their trunks, or else snatching them up from the ground delivered them over their heads to the soldiers in the towers; with their tusks they disembowelled them, and hurled them into the air, and long entrails hung from their ivory fangs like bundles of rope from a mast.

The Barbarians strove to blind them, to hamstring them; others would slip beneath their bodies, bury a sword in them up to the hilt, and perish crushed to death; the most intrepid clung to their straps; they would go on sawing the leather amid flames, bullets, and arrows, and the wicker tower would fall like a tower of stone.Fourteen of the animals on the extreme right, irritated by their wounds, turned upon the second rank; the Indians seized mallet and chisel, applied the latter to a joint in the head, and with all their might struck a great blow.

Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another.It was like a mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous elephant, called "The Fury of Baal," which had been caught by the leg in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in its eye.

The others, however, like conquerors, delighting in extermination, overthrew, crushed, stamped, and raged against the corpses and the debris.To repel the maniples in serried circles around them, they turned about on their hind feet as they advanced, with a continual rotatory motion.The Carthaginians felt their energy increase, and the battle begin again.

The Barbarians were growing weak; some Greek hoplites threw away all their arms, and terror seized upon the rest.Spendius was seen stooping upon his dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two javelins.Then they all rushed away from the wings and ran towards Utica.

The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake them.The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an advance towards the river.But the Carthaginians, who were posted in the centre of the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their feet with longing for the vengeance which was flying from them; and they were already darting forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when Hamilcar appeared.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 妖玉卖玉

    妖玉卖玉

    她是上天的宠儿,不管是现代还是在这修仙的朝代。现代,她是商场上的凤凰,展翅间让众人只余心惊和无以言诉的钦佩。古代,她拥有着傲人的天资,天下都能为她所用,呼风唤雨,保护她爱的男人,建立了自己的商业王朝,仅为这一世家族。亲们,亲爱的亲亲们~文的名字更为《妖玉诉离殇》,小的更喜欢这个名字捏~暂时改不了了,亲爱的亲亲们,先将就着看~敬礼~
  • 炼气巅峰

    炼气巅峰

    生死轮回皆一念之间,大陆第一天才刘毅还未崛起便身死逍遥,携上古秘宝转世重生为废柴少爷。看他如何一步步与群雄争霸,脚踩敌人血骨强势回归,笑傲天下。
  • 穿越特种兵:本宫要当兵

    穿越特种兵:本宫要当兵

    一朝红颜一朝醉,千年只为千年恋。???一朝穿越,她成了人人喊打的小乞丐?!身为二十一世纪的特种兵,她怎会埋没自己的才能?????她是特种兵,以前是,现在是,将来也会是。不过在这古代嘛,没关系,变个装束当将军!哈哈!????什么?被发现了女扮男装的事情?没关系,姐用美人计,轻轻松松俘获你的心。????什么?那个是王爷?那之前和姐拜堂的是谁?糟糕,赶紧跑!俗话说:“一入候门深似海”她可得躲到远远的。????哎哟,王爷相公,放过小女子吧。人家只是打酱油滴~
  • 重生之武道涅槃

    重生之武道涅槃

    武道即是吾道!重生非吾意,吾道即人生。化人生之混沌,修吾道之真意。什么是真?什么是假?什么是道?道是我的人生,不论过去现在未来,不论真实虚幻轮回。
  • 银河大帝

    银河大帝

    曾今身为富家子弟的严布帆,因不欲参与家庭的权利斗争而走上了从军的道路,不想在建国百年特许放假跟家人团聚时,却引发了一系列难以想象的故事···,为了替家人报仇他苦练武技,却不想无意中发现了一份天大的奇遇,但这是福还是祸?从此布帆的命运似乎被命运之神安排好一般,走上了宇宙强者之路。那是一条不归之路···
  • 第一主母:霸少的小宠妻

    第一主母:霸少的小宠妻

    2111年未来世间的三姐妹,去发明家爷爷家度假时,大姐叶惜洛,二姐叶惜雨好奇心驱使,阴差阳错的开启了爷爷的最新发明,空间旅行器,被传送到了另一个空间。小妹叶雨欣只好深入异时空去营救,却遇上了这么一个大变态,抢了她的装备,强了她的人,还要让她给生个胖娃娃,这什么世道啊。
  • 惑乱江山:妃本轻狂

    惑乱江山:妃本轻狂

    特么姐姐我不就控诉了一下那老家伙的恶行麽?怎么就那么凄惨遭罪受!意外事件,降临异世!“哎,那个谁,你离我远点,我有传染病啊~”“爷愿做那花下风流鬼”“这位大爷啊,我天生克夫”“朕乃九五之尊,可降得住,且为了我朝男子的幸福着张,朕愿牺牲”我去!,特么老娘我造了啥孽哦,招来那么多烂桃花,好吧,其实个个是美男!
  • 不死的魔

    不死的魔

    杨天成了这个世界上最危险的五中黑魔,而且是不死的黑魔,被凡人恐惧,被修仙者追杀,无处安身立命,从一个安静的学生到一个人见人怕的杀手,他不得不选择这条道路。
  • 百鬼夜行之东山再起

    百鬼夜行之东山再起

    2015年洛阳上空出现空间裂缝,无数人放下手中的活,抬头仰望那天空的巨型建筑物,它浮在洛阳上空,将整个洛阳完全覆盖!世人皆称它为“天宫!”据传说当“天宫”再次降临时,轮回者就会出现,他会带领炎黄子孙,走向复兴!然,魔神一族,妖神一族,天神一族,三族不希望人族再一次得到强大的力量,然,派出家族精英击杀轮回者!且看轮回者如何抵挡三族刺杀,他的到来人间又有什么样的变化?
  • 重生之最强游戏

    重生之最强游戏

    陈浩拿出手机,输入“英雄联盟”,跳出了“您输入的英雄联盟词条不存在”,“穿越火线”,“你输入的穿越火线词条不存在”,dota,逆战,DNF,魔兽,炉石……去哪儿了?都去哪儿了?陈浩发现世界莫名其妙就变了样子,曾经玩过的游戏,听过的歌曲,看过的电影,好像一夜之间发生了混乱,征程从这里开始……