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Salammbo-Part34_Gustave Flaubert(1821-1880)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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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 were urged to take every precaution; the

Republic was powerful.



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 their weapons, so as to

soften the Suffet when he presented himself.



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 reinforcements.

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 re-read it. For seven hours



he harangued.

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 it! read! see their promises! I do not lie."

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 raised his fists in the direction



of Hamilcar.

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 of a heel in the mouth

or a stab with the point of a javelin.



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 long beard and

they called the rest.



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, wide-opened

in his pallid face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion.



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 hands against him.



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

they shrieked:



"Yes! yes!"

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 than a leopard ran towards the Carthaginians.

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 disappeared behind the Punic entrenchments.

Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards,



the customary sign for claiming a corpse.




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