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on their necks. Four soldiers with their bows and arrows took their

places on the back of each, the general with the rest of the fighting

men followed closely behind.

At the orders of their drivers the well trained animals broke into a

trot, and the party advanced from the shadow of the grove. The natives

scattered between it and the wood fired a volley of arrows and then

broke as the elephants charged down upon them. Trained to warfare

the elephants dashed among them, catching some up in their trunks and

dashing them lifeless to the ground, knocking down and trampling upon

others, scattering terror wherever they went, while the archers on their

backs kept up a deadly fire. As soon as the way was open Hamilcar led

the little party on foot at full speed towards the wood.

As he entered it he ordered his trumpeter to blow his horn. The well

known signal revived the hopes and courage of the sorely pressed troops,

who, surprised and discouraged, had been losing ground, great numbers

falling before the arrows and javelins of their swarming and active

foes. The natives, surprised at the trumpet sound in the rear, paused

a moment, and before they could turn round to face their unexpected

adversaries, Hamilcar with his little band burst his way through them

and joined his soldiers, who, gathered now in a close body in the centre

of the grove, received their leader with a shout of welcome.

Hamilcar's measures were promptly taken. He saw that if stationary his

band must melt away under the shower of missiles which was being poured

upon them. He gave the command and the troops rapidly formed into three

groups, the men of each corps gathering together. Adherbal, who was in

command of the Numidians, placed himself at their head, Giscon led the

Iberians, and Hamilcar headed the heavily armed troops, Malchus taking

his place at his side. Hamilcar had already given his orders to the

young officers. No response was to be made to the fire of the arrows and

javelins, but with spear, sword, and battleaxe the troops were to fall

upon the natives.

"Charge!" he shouted in a voice that was heard above the yells of the

barbarians. "Clear the wood of these lurking enemies, they dare not face

you. Sweep them before your path."

With an answering shout the three bodies of men sprang forward, each in

a different direction. In vain the natives poured in volleys of arrows

and javelins; many fell, more were wounded, but all who could keep their

feet rushed forward with fury upon their assailants.

The charge was irresistible. The natives, fighting each for himself,

were unable for a moment to withstand the torrent, and, vastly superior

in numbers as they were, were driven headlong before it. When they

reached the edge of the wood each of the bodies broke into two. The

Numidians had directed their course towards their horses, which a party

of their own men were still defending desperately against the attacks of

a large body of natives. Through these they cut their way, and springing

upon their steeds dashed out into the plain, and sweeping round the

grove fell upon the natives there, and cut down the parties of men who

emerged in confusion from its shelter, unable to withstand the assaults

of Hamilcar and his infantry within.

The heavy infantry and the Iberians, when they gained the edge of the

wood, had swept to the right and left, cleared the edge of the grove of

their enemies until they met, then joining they again plunged into the

centre. Thus they traversed the wood in every direction until they had

completely cleared it of foes.

When the work was done the breathless and exhausted troops gathered

outside, in the light of the moon. More than half their number had

fallen; scarce one but was bleeding from wounds of arrow or javelin. The

plain beyond was thickly dotted to the foot of the hills with the bodies

of the natives who had been cut up by the Numidian horse or trampled

by the elephants, while the grove within was thickly strewn with their

bodies.

As there was no fear of a renewal of the attack, Hamilcar ordered the

men to fall out of ranks, and the hours until daybreak were passed in

extracting arrows and binding up wounds, and in assisting their comrades

who were found to be still living in the grove. Any natives still

breathing were instantly slain.

Hamilcar found that a party of the enemy had made their way into his own

camp. His tent had been hastily plundered, but most of the effects were

found in the morning scattered over the ground between the groves and

the hills, having been thrown away in their flight by the natives

when the horsemen burst out of the wood in pursuit. Of the slaves and

attendants several had been killed, but the greater portion had, when

Hamilcar left the grove with the troops, climbed up into trees, and

remained there concealed until the rout of the assailants.

It was found in the morning that over one hundred and fifty of the three

hundred Carthaginian troops had fallen, and that four hundred of the

natives had been slain either in the grove or in the pursuit by cavalry.

The following day two envoys arrived from the hostile tribe offering the

submission of their chief.

As pursuit in the hills would be useless Hamilcar offered them

comparatively easy terms. A heavy fine in horses and cattle was to be

paid to the republic, and ten of the principal members of the tribe were

to be delivered up as hostages for their future good behaviour. The

next day the hostages were brought into the camp with a portion of the

ransom; and Hamilcar, having thus accomplished the mission he had been

charged to perform, marched away with his troops to Carthage.

As they approached the coast the whole character of the scenery changed.

The desert had been left behind them, and they entered a fertile tract

of country which had been literally turned into a garden by the skill

and industry of the Carthaginian cultivators, at that time celebrated

throughout the world for their knowledge of the science of agriculture.

The rougher and more sterile ground was covered with groves of olive

trees, while rich vineyards and orchards of fig and other fruit trees

occupied the better soil. Wherever it was possible little canals leading

water from reservoirs and dammed up streams crossed the plains, and

every foot of the irrigated ground was covered with a luxuriant crop.

The villages were scattered thickly, and when the troops arrived within

a day's march of Carthage they came upon the country villas and mansions

of the wealthy inhabitants. These in the richness of their architecture,

the perfection and order of their gardens, and the beauty and taste of

the orchards and grounds which surrounded them, testified alike to the

wealth and taste of their occupants.

Fountains threw their water into the air, numerous waterfalls splashed

with a cool, soothing sound over artificial rocks. Statues wrought

by Greek sculptors stood on the terraces, shady walks offered a cool

retreat during the heat of the day, the vine, the pomegranate, and the

fig afforded refreshment to the palate as well as pleasure to the eye.

Palm trees with their graceful foliage waved gently in the passing

breezes. All the countries with which the Carthaginians traded had

supplied their contingent of vegetation to add to the beauty and

production of these gardens, which were the admiration and envy of the

civilized world.

Crossing the brow of a low range of hills the detachment came in sight

of Carthage. The general and his three companions, who were riding

in the rear of the column, drew in their horses and sat for a while

surveying the scene. It was one which, familiar as it might be, it was

impossible to survey without the deepest feeling of admiration.

In the centre stood the great rock of Byrsa, a flat topped eminence

with almost perpendicular sides rising about two hundred feet above the

surrounding plain. This plateau formed the seat of the ancient Carthage,

the Phoenician colony which Dido had founded. It was now the acropolis

of Carthage. Here stood the temples of the chief deities of the town;

here were immense magazines and storehouses capable of containing

provisions for a prolonged siege for the fifty thousand men whom the

place could contain. The craggy sides of the rock were visible but in

few places. Massive fortifications rising from its foot to its summit

defended every point where the rock was not absolutely perpendicular.

These walls were of enormous thickness, and in casemates or recesses in

their thickness were the stables for the elephants, horses, and cattle

of the garrison.

Round the upper edge of the rock extended another massive wall, above

which in picturesque outline rose the temple and other public edifices.

At the foot of this natural citadel stretched the lower town, with its

crowded population, its dense mass of houses, its temples and forum.

The style of architecture was peculiar to the city. The Carthaginians

abhorred straight lines, and all their buildings presented curves. The

rooms were for the most part circular, semicircular, or oval, and all

exterior as well as interior angles were rounded off. The material used

in their construction was an artificial stone composed of pieces of

rock cemented together with fine sand and lime, and as hard as natural

conglomerate. The houses were surmounted by domes or cupolas. Their

towers were always round, and throughout the city scarce an angle

offended the eye of the populace.

Extending into the bay lay the isthmus, known as the Tana, some three

miles in length, communicating with the mainland by a tongue of land a

hundred yards wide.

This was the maritime quarter of Carthage; here were the extensive docks

in which the vessels which bore the commerce of the city to and from the

uttermost parts of the known world loaded and unloaded. Here were the

state dockyards where the great ships of war, which had so long made

Carthage the mistress of the sea, were constructed and fitted out. The

whole line of the coast was deeply indented with bays, where rode at

anchor the ships of the mercantile navy. Broad inland lakes dotted

the plain; while to the north of Byrsa, stretching down to the sea and

extending as far as Cape Quamart, lay Megara, the aristocratic suburb of

Carthage.

Here, standing in gardens and parks, were the mansions of the wealthy

merchants and traders, the suburb presenting to the eye a mass of green

foliage dotted thickly with white houses. Megara was divided from the

lower town by a strong and lofty wall, but lay within the outer wall

which inclosed Byrsa and the whole of Carthage and stretched from sea to

sea.

The circumference of the inclosed space was fully twenty miles; the

population contained within it amounted to over eight hundred

thousand. On the north side near the sea, within the line of the outer

fortifications, rose a low hill, and here on the face which sloped

gently down to the sea was the great necropolis--the cemetery of

Carthage, shaded by broad spreading trees, dotted with the gorgeous

mausoleums of the wealthy and the innumerable tombs of the poorer

families, and undermined by thousands of great sepulchral chambers,

which still remain to testify to the vastness of the necropolis of

Carthage, and to the pains which her people bestowed upon the burying

places of their dead.

Beyond all, from the point at which the travellers viewed it, stretched

the deep blue background of the Mediterranean, its line broken only in

the foreground by the lofty citadel of Byrsa, and far out at sea by the

faint outline of the Isle of Zinbre.

For some minutes the party sat immovable on their horses, then Hamilcar

broke the silence:

"`Tis a glorious view," he said; "the world does not contain a site

better fitted for the seat of a mighty city. Nature seems to have marked

it out. With the great rock fortress, the splendid bays and harbours,

the facilities for commerce, the fertile country stretching away on

either hand; give her but a government strong, capable, and honest, a

people patriotic, brave, and devoted, and Carthage would long remain the

mistress of the world."

"Surely she may yet remain so," Adherbal exclaimed.

"I fear not," Hamilcar said gravely, shaking his head. "It seems to be

the fate of all nations, that as they grow in wealth so they lose their

manly virtues. With wealth comes corruption, indolence, a reluctance

to make sacrifices, and a weakening of the feeling of patriotism. Power

falls into the hands of the ignorant many. Instead of the destinies of

the country being swayed by the wisest and best, a fickle multitude,

swayed by interested demagogues, assumes the direction of affairs, and

the result is inevitable--wasted powers, gross mismanagement, final

ruin."

So saying Hamilcar set his horse in motion and, followed silently by

his companions, rode with a gloomy countenance after his little columns

towards the capital.

CHAPTER III: CARTHAGE

Carthage was at that time divided between two factions, the one led by

the relatives and friends of the great Hamilcar Barca and known as the

Barcine party. The other was led by Hanno, surnamed the Rich. This man

had been the rival of Hamilcar, and the victories and successes of the

latter had been neutralized by the losses and defeats entailed upon

the republic by the incapacity of the former. Hanno, however, had the

support of the greater part of the senate, of the judges, and of the

lower class, which he attached to himself by a lavish distribution of

his vast wealth, or by the common tie of wholesale corruption.

The Barcine party were very inferior in numbers, but they comprised

among them the energy, the military genius, and the patriotism of the

community. They advocated sweeping reforms, the purification of the

public service, the suppression of the corruption which was rampant in

every department, the fair administration of justice, the suppression of

the tyranny of the committee, the vigourous prosecution of the struggle

with Rome. They would have attached to Carthage the but half subdued