登陆注册
15401800000059

第59章

IN THE FIELD

Hamilcar had thought that the Mercenaries would await him at Utica, or that they would return against him; and finding his forces insufficient to make or to sustain an attack, he had struck southwards along the right bank of the river, thus protecting himself immediately from a surprise.

He intended first to wink at the revolt of the tribes and to detach them all from the cause of the Barbarians; then when they were quite isolated in the midst of the provinces he would fall upon them and exterminate them.

In fourteen days he pacified the region comprised between Thouccaber and Utica, with the towns of Tignicabah, Tessourah, Vacca, and others further to the west.Zounghar built in the mountains, Assoura celebrated for its temple, Djeraado fertile in junipers, Thapitis, and Hagour sent embassies to him.The country people came with their hands full of provisions, implored his protection, kissed his feet and those of the soldiers, and complained of the Barbarians.Some came to offer him bags containing heads of Mercenaries killed, so they said, by themselves, but which they had cut off corpses; for many had lost themselves in their flight, and were found dead here and there beneath the olive trees and among the vines.

On the morrow of his victory, Hamilcar, to dazzle the people, had sent to Carthage the two thousand captives taken on the battlefield.They arrived in long companies of one hundred men each, all with their arms fastened behind their backs with a bar of bronze which caught them at the nape of the neck, and the wounded, bleeding as they still were, running also along; horsemen followed them, driving them on with blows of the whip.

Then there was a delirium of joy! People repeated that there were six thousand Barbarians killed; the others would not hold out, and the war was finished; they embraced one another in the streets, and rubbed the faces of the Pataec Gods with butter and cinnamomum to thank them.

These, with their big eyes, their big bodies, and their arms raised as high as the shoulder, seemed to live beneath their freshened paint, and to participate in the cheerfulness of the people.The rich left their doors open; the city resounded with the noise of the timbrels;the temples were illuminated every night, and the servants of the goddess went down to Malqua and set up stages of sycamore-wood at the corners of the cross-ways, and prostituted themselves there.Lands were voted to the conquerors, holocausts to Melkarth, three hundred gold crowns to the Suffet, and his partisans proposed to decree to him new prerogatives and honours.

He had begged the Ancients to make overtures to Autaritus for exchanging all the Barbarians, if necessary, for the aged Gisco, and the other Carthaginians detained like him.The Libyans and Nomads composing the army under Autaritus knew scarcely anything of these Mercenaries, who were men of Italiote or Greek race; and the offer by the Republic of so many Barbarians for so few Carthaginians, showed that the value of the former was nothing and that of the latter considerable.They dreaded a snare.Autaritus refused.

Then the Ancients decreed the execution of the captives, although the Suffet had written to them not to put them to death.He reckoned upon incorporating the best of them with his own troops and of thus instigating defections.But hatred swept away all circumspection.

The two thousand Barbarians were tied to the stelae of the tombs in the Mappalian quarter; and traders, scullions, embroiderers, and even women,--the widows of the dead with their children--all who would, came to kill them with arrows.They aimed slowly at them, the better to prolong their torture, lowering the weapon and then raising it in turn; and the multitude pressed forward howling.Paralytics had themselves brought thither in hand-barrows; many took the precaution of bringing their food, and remained on the spot until the evening;others passed the night there.Tents had been set up in which drinking went on.Many gained large sums by hiring out bows.

Then all these crucified corpses were left upright, looking like so many red statues on the tombs, and the excitement even spread to the people of Malqua, who were the descendants of the aboriginal families, and were usually indifferent to the affairs of their country.Out of gratitude for the pleasure it had been giving them they now interested themselves in its fortunes, and felt that they were Carthaginians, and the Ancients thought it a clever thing to have thus blended the entire people in a single act of vengeance.

The sanction of the gods was not wanting; for crows alighted from all quarters of the sky.They wheeled in the air as they flew with loud hoarse cries, and formed a huge cloud rolling continually upon itself.

It was seen from Clypea, Rhades, and the promontory of Hermaeum.

Sometimes it would suddenly burst asunder, its black spirals extending far away, as an eagle clove the centre of it, and then departed again;here and there on the terraces the domes, the peaks of the obelisks, and the pediments of the temples there were big birds holding human fragments in their reddened beaks.

Owing to the smell the Carthaginians resigned themselves to unbind the corpses.A few of them were burnt; the rest were thrown into the sea, and the waves, driven by the north wind, deposited them on the shore at the end of the gulf before the camp of Autaritus.

This punishment had no doubt terrified the Barbarians, for from the top of Eschmoun they could be seen striking their tents, collecting their flocks, and hoisting their baggage upon asses, and on the evening of the same day the entire army withdrew.

It was to march to and fro between the mountain of the Hot Springs and Hippo-Zarytus, and so debar the Suffet from approaching the Tyrian towns, and from the possibility of a return to Carthage.

同类推荐
  • 广客谈

    广客谈

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 五相智识颂

    五相智识颂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 重阳真人金阙玉锁诀

    重阳真人金阙玉锁诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 鼓掌绝尘

    鼓掌绝尘

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Ponkapog Papers

    Ponkapog Papers

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 山之南水之北

    山之南水之北

    他们沿着川河左岸浩浩荡荡,手里拿着水草或者青麦,叽叽喳喳不停地说笑
  • 碧落黄泉之灵宠

    碧落黄泉之灵宠

    爱恨痴嗔,世间五味,她是收集五味的仙,人魔仙三界,她上天入地,耗尽灵力,只为了那个出尘的身影。女主是猫仙,代替自己的主人成为新一代仙灵,集齐人间五味。所谓仙灵,就是每千年用来祭祀天地,维持三界平衡的仙魄,最终会湮没,成为三界太极(可以净化灵魂的物质)。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 闯荡江湖十年

    闯荡江湖十年

    是一位16岁少年闯荡江湖的故事。······
  • 时光缩影

    时光缩影

    “叮铃铃......”一阵阵放学声响起,同学们一个个背着书包,有的骑着单车,有的走着,走在回家的路上,“紫语,今天是伯母的生日,我跟你一起去给伯母过生日吧!”夏奈辰拉着柳紫语的手,边走边说道,“好啊!但你妈妈知道吗?”“没事,我妈早就知道,”“那我们去前面的礼品店给妈妈买个礼物吧!”夏奈辰点了点头,俩人就往礼品店走去。
  • The Seven Poor Travellers

    The Seven Poor Travellers

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 全景天津

    全景天津

    《全景天津》是天津电视台于2008年拍摄的以空中视角俯瞰天津的航拍纪录片,并荣获中国电视艺术家协会颁发的2009年度全国城市形象片一等奖等多个奖项,是天津电视台的天津航拍系列题材纪录片之一。
  • 血赐之锋

    血赐之锋

    七岁就于生死边缘游荡,身背弑父夺母之恨,却不知道该往何处寻仇。有强悍的身手,没有坚韧的内心,又有何用?摆脱被人手一把的器具拒绝的阴影,才发现原来它们不是拒绝他,而是惧怕他!竞争、修炼、追逐爱情、寻找仇敌、最终发现,自己身负大陆的命运!且看少年段云沧如何一步一步从被人唾弃走向被人敬仰,全新的淬器系统何不一睹为快?来吧,兄弟,我在这儿等你,陪我征战在这与众不同的世界!等级:炼体境、刻体境、雕体境、重铸境、衍生期、归原期、淬出期、赋神期、大成器力:炼力、刻力、雕力、铸力、生力、归力、淬力。
  • 无双大天尊

    无双大天尊

    传说世界由三个天尊创造,不是宇宙大爆炸来的。但是很可惜,三个本来是相亲相爱的造物主相互背叛了对方。