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Salammbo-Part24_Gustave Flaubert(1821-1880)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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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 manoeuvre they had all understood it,



and already executed it.

They were deployed in a long, straight line, overlapping the wings of



the Punic army in order to completely encompass it. But when there was

an interval of only three hundred paces between the armies, the



elephants turned round instead of advancing; then the Clinabarians

were seen to face about and follow them; and the surprise of the



Mercenaries increased when they saw the archers running to join them.

So the Carthaginians were afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous



hooting broke out from among the Barbarian troops, and Spendius

exclaimed from the top of his dromedary: "Ah! I knew it! Forward!



forward!"

Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously.



The elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop

more quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like



shadows in a cloud.

But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated



by the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously.

The space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full of



eddies and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it.

Cohorts of infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time all



the rest saw the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a

gallop.



Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and

the elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals



so as to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he

calculated the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when



they reached him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long

straight line.



In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full

squares having sixteen men on each side. All the leaders of all the



files appeared amid long, sharp lanceheads, which jutted out unevenly

around them, for the first six ranks crossed their 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 spoon-headed



harpoons, while the men in the towers, who were hidden up to their

shoulders, moved about iron distaffs furnished with lighted tow on the



edges of their large bended bows. Right and left of the elephants

hovered the slingers, each with a sling around his loins, a second on



his head, and a third in his right hand. Then came the Clinabarians,

each flanked by a Negro, and pointing their lances between the ears of



their horses, which, like themselves, were completely covered with

gold. Afterwards, at intervals, came the light armed soldiers with



shields of lynx skin, beyond which projected the points of the

javelins which they held in their left hands; while the Tarentines,



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

two extremities.



The army of the Barbarians, on the contrary, had not been able to

preserve its line. Undulations and blanks were to be found through its



extravagant length; all were panting and out of breath with their

running.



The phalanx moved heavily along with thrusts from all its sarissae;

and the too slender line of the Mercenaries soon yielded in the centre



beneath the enormous weight.

Then the Carthaginian wings expanded in order to fall upon them, the



elephants following. The phalanx, with obliquely pointed lances, cut

through the Barbarians; there were two enormous, struggling bodies;



and the wings with slings and arrows beat them back upon the

phalangites. There was no cavalry to get rid of them, except two



hundred Numidians operating against the right squadron of the

Clinabarians. All the rest were hemmed in, and unable to extricate



themselves from the lines. The peril was imminent, and the need of

coming to some resolutionurgent.



Spendius ordered attacks to be made simultaneously on both flanks of




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