third was cut off.

They looked sadly at him, like reasonable creatures; and the one that
had lost its trunk tried by stooping its huge head and bending its

hams to stroke him softly with the hideousextremity of its stump.
At this caress from the animal two tears started into his eyes. He

rushed at Abdalonim.
"Ah! wretch! the cross! the cross!"

Abdalonim fell back swooning upon the ground.
The bark of a jackal rang from behind the purple factories, the blue

smoke of which was ascending slowly into the sky; Hamilcar paused.
The thought of his son had suddenly calmed him like the touch of a

god. He caught a glimpse of a prolongation of his might, an indefinite
continuation of his personality, and the slaves could not understand

whence this appeasement had come upon him.
As he bent his steps towards the purple factories he passed before the

ergastulum, which was a long house of black stone built in a square
pit with a small pathway all round it and four staircases at the

corners.
Iddibal was doubtlesswaiting until the night to finish his signal.

"There is no hurry yet," thought Hamilcar; and he went down into the
prison. Some cried out to him: "Return"; the boldest followed him.

The open door was flapping in the wind. The twilight entered through
the narrow loopholes, and in the interior broken chains could be

distinguished hanging from the walls.
This was all that remained of the captives of war!

Then Hamilcar grew extraordinarily pale, and those who were leaning
over the pit outside saw him resting one hand against the wall to keep

himself from falling.
But the jackal uttered its cry three times in succession. Hamilcar

raised his head; he did not speak a word nor make a gesture. Then when
the sun had completely set he disappeared behind the nopal hedge, and

in the evening he said as he entered the assembly of the rich in the
temple of Eschmoun:

"Luminaries of the Baalim, I accept the command of the Punic forces
against the army of the Barbarians!"

CHAPTER VIII
THE BATTLE OF THE MACARAS

In the following day he drew two hundred and twenty-three thousand
kikars of gold from the Syssitia, and decreed a tax of fourteen

shekels upon the rich. Even the women contributed; payment was made in
behalf of the children, and he compelled the colleges of priests to

furnish money--a monstrous thing, according to Carthaginian customs.
He demanded all the horses, mules, and arms. A few tried to conceal

their wealth, and their property was sold; and, to intimidate the
avarice of the rest, he himself gave sixty suits of armour, and

fifteen hundred gomers of meal, which was as much as was given by the
Ivory Company.

He sent into Liguria to buy soldiers, three thousand mountaineers
accustomed to fight with bears; they were paid for six moons in

advance at the rate of four minae a day.
Nevertheless an army was wanted. But he did not, like Hanno, accept

all the citizens. First he rejected those engaged in sedentary
occupations, and then those who were big-bellied or had a

pusillanimous look; and he admitted those of ill-repute, the scum of
Malqua, sons of Barbarians, freed men. For reward he promised some of

the New Carthaginians complete rights of citizenship.
His first care was to reform the Legion. These handsome young fellows,

who regarded themselves as the military majesty of the Republic,
governed themselves. He reduced their officers to the ranks; he

treated them harshly, made them run, leap, ascend the declivity of
Byrsa at a single burst, hurl javelins, wrestle together, and sleep in

the squares at night. Their families used to come to see them and pity
them.

He ordered shorter swords and stronger buskins. He fixed the number of
serving-men, and reduced the amount of baggage; and as there were

three hundred Roman pila kept in the temple of Moloch, he took them in
spite of the pontiff's protests.

He organised a phalanx of seventy-two elephants with those which had
returned from Utica, and others which were private property, and

rendered them formidable. He armed their drivers with mallet and
chisel to enable them to split their skulls in the fight if they ran

away.
He would not allow his generals to be nominated by the Grand Council.

The Ancients tried to urge the laws in objection, but he set them
aside; no one ventured to murmur again, and everything yielded to the

violence of his genius.
He assumed sole charge of the war, the government, and the finances;

and as a precaution against accusations he demanded the Suffet Hanno
as examiner of his accounts.

He set to work upon the ramparts, and had the old and now useless
inner walls demolished in order to furnish stones. But difference of

fortune, replacing the hierarchy of race, still kept the sons of the
vanquished and those of the conquerors apart; thus the patricians

viewed the destruction of these ruins with an angry eye, while the
plebeians, scarcely knowing why, rejoiced.

The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till
night; every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed

bearing shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women
engaged in tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to

another, and Hamilcar's soul filled the Republic.
He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place

a strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his
files, so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at

once led and pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand
Ligurians, and the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple

phalanx of four thousand and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze
helmets, and handling ashen sarissae fourteen cubits long.

There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a
dagger, and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others

armed with round shields and Roman swords.
The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining

guardsmen of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like
the Assyrian Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted

archers, of those that were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel's
skin, two-edged axes, and leathern tunics. Finally there were twelve

hundred Negroes from the quarter of the caravans, who were mingled
with the Clinabarians, and were to run beside the stallions with one

hand resting on the manes. All was ready, and yet Hamilcar did not
start.

Often at night he would go out of Carthage alone and make his way
beyond the lagoon towards the mouths of the Macaras. Did he intend to

join the Mercenaries? The Ligurians encamped in the Mappalian district
surrounded his house.

The apprehensions of the rich appeared justified when, one day, three
hundred Barbarians were seen approaching the walls. The Suffet opened

the gates to them; they were deserters; drawn by fear or by fidelity,
they were hastening to their master.

Hamilcar's return had not surprised the Mercenaries; according to
their ideas the man could not die. He was returning to fulfil his

promise;--a hope by no means absurd, so deep was the abyss between
Country and Army. Moreover they did not believe themselves culpable;

the feast was forgotten.
The spies whom they surprised undeceived them. It was a triumph for

the bitter; even the lukewarm grew furious. Then the two sieges
overwhelmed then with weariness; no progress was being made; a battle

would be better! Thus many men had left the ranks and were scouring
the country. But at news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for

joy. "At last! at last!" he cried.
Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbo was turned

against Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as