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Salammbo-Part20_Gustave Flaubert(1821-1880)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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silver ingots, and iron bars alternated with pigs of tin brought from

the Cassiterides over the Dark Sea; gums from the country of the



Blacks were running over their bags of palm bark; and gold dust heaped

up in leathern bottles was insensibly creeping out through the worn-



out seams. Delicate filaments drawn from marine plants hung amid flax

from Egypt, Greece, Taprobane and Judaea; mandrepores bristled like



large bushes at the foot of the walls; and an indefinable odour--the

exhalation from perfumes, leather, spices, and ostrich feathers, the



latter tied in great bunches at the very top of the vault--floated

through the air. An arch was formed above the door before each passage



with elephants' teeth placed upright and meeting together at the

points.



At last he ascended the stone disc. All the stewards stood with arms

folded and heads bent while Abdalonim reared his pointed mitre with a



haughty air.

Hamilcar questioned the Chief of the Ships. He was an old pilot with



eyelids chafed by the wind, and white locks fell to his hips as if

dashing foam of the tempests had remained on his beard.



He replied that he had sent a fleet by Gades and Thymiamata to try to

reach Eziongaber by doubling the Southern Horn and the promontory of



Aromata.

Others had advancedcontinuously towards the west for four moons



without meeting with any shore; but the ships prows became entangled

in weeds, the horizon echoed continually with the noise of cataracts,



blood-coloured mists darkened the sun, a perfume-laden breeze lulled

the crews to sleep; and their memories were so disturbed that they



were now unable to tell anything. However, expeditions had ascended

the rivers of the Scythians, had made their way into Colchis, and into



the countries of the Jugrians and of the Estians, had carried off

fifteen hundred maidens in the Archipelago, and sunk all the strange



vessels sailing beyond Cape Oestrymon, so that the secret of the

routes should not be known. King Ptolemaeus was detaining the incense



from Schesbar; Syracuse, Elathia, Corsica, and the islands had

furnished nothing, and the old pilot lowered his voice to announce



that a trireme was taken at Rusicada by the Numidians,--"for they are

with them, Master."



Hamilcar knit his brows; then he signed to the Chief of the Journeys

to speak. This functionary was enveloped in a brown, ungirdled robe,



and had his head covered with a long scarf of white stuff which passed

along the edge of his lips and fell upon his shoulder behind.



The caravans had set out regularly at the winter equinox. But of

fifteen hundred men directing their course towards the extreme



boundaries of Ethiopia with excellent camels, new leathern bottles,

and supplies of painted cloth, but one had reappeared at Carthage--the



rest having died of fatigue or become mad through the terror of the

desert;--and he said that far beyond the Black Harousch, after passing



the Atarantes and the country of the great apes, he had seen immense

kingdoms, wherein the pettiest utensils were all of gold, a river of



the colour of milk and as broad as the sea, forests of blue trees,

hills of aromatics, monsters with human faces vegetating on the rocks



with eyeballs which expanded like flowers to look at you; and then

crystal mountains supporting the sun behind lakes all covered with



dragons. Others had returned from India with peacocks, pepper, and new

textures. As to those who go by way of the Syrtes and the temple of



Ammon to purchase chalcedony, they had no doubt perished in the sands.

The caravans from Gaetulia and Phazzana had furnished their usual



supplies; but he, the Chief of the Journeys, did not venture to fit

one out just now.



Hamilcar understood; the Mercenaries were in occupation of the

country. He leaned upon his other elbow with a hollow groan; and the



Chief of Farms was so afraid to speak that he trembled horribly in

spite of his thick shoulders and his big red eyeballs. His face, which



was as snub-nosed as a mastiff's, was surmounted by a net woven of

threads of bark. He wore a waist-belt of hairy leopard's skin, wherein



gleamed two formidable cutlasses.

As soon as Hamilcar turned away he began to cry aloud and invoke all



the Baals. It was not his fault! he could not help it! He had watched

the temperature, the soil, the stars, had planted at the winter



solstice and pruned at the waning of the moon, had inspected the

slaves and had been careful of their clothes.



But Hamilcar grew angry at this loquacity. He clacked his tongue, and

the man with the cutlasses went on in rapid tones:



"Ah, Master! they have pillaged everything! sacked everything!

destroyed everything! Three thousand trees have been cut down at



Maschala, and at Ubada the granaries have been looted and the cisterns




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