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  Thereafter he worshipped at the altars of the god who bears the club, and loaded them with offerings lately snatched by the conqueror from the fire and smoke of the citadel of Saguntum. Men said — and it was no idle tale — that the timber, of which the temple was built at first, never decayed, and for ages never felt the handiwork of any others than the first builders. Hence men take pleasure in the belief that the god has taken up his abode there and defends his temple from decay. Further, those who are permitted and privileged to have access to the inner shrine forbid the approach of women, and are careful to keep bristly swine away from the threshold. The dress worn before the altars is the same for all: linen covers their limbs, and their foreheads are adorned with a head-band of Pelusian flax. It is their custom to offer incense with robes ungirt; and, following their fathers’ rule, they adorn the garment of sacrifice with a broad stripe. Their feet are bare and their heads shaven, and their bed admits no partner; the fires on the hearth-stones keep the altars alight perpetually. But no statues or familiar images of the gods filled the place with solemnity and sacred awe.

  The doors displayed the Labours of Hercules. The Hydra of Lerna lay there with her snakes lopped off, and the strangled head of the Nemean lion was carved there with jaws agape. There too the doorkeeper of the Styx, who terrifies the dead by his savage barking, raged at his bonds, when dragged for the first time from his everlasting cavern; and Megaera stood by, fearing to be fettered too. Near by were the Thracian horses, and the bane of Erymanthus, and the antlers of the brazen-footed stag that rose above tall trees. And the child of the Libyan land, no easy conquest when he stood upon his mother, lay low, and low lay the ungainly race of Centaurs, half men and half horses, and the river of Acarnania, now robbed of one horn. Amid these figures Oeta shines with sacred fires, and the flames carry the hero’s soul up to Heaven.

  When Hannibal’s eyes were sated with the picture of all that valour, he saw next a marvellous sight — the sea suddenly flung upon the land with the mass of the rising deep, and no encircling shores, and the fields inundated by the invading waters. For, where Nereus rolls forth from his blue caverns and churns up the waters of Neptune from the bottom, the sea rushes forward in flood, and Ocean, opening his hidden springs, rushes on with furious waves. Then the water, as if stirred to the depths by the fierce trident, strives to cover the land with the swollen sea. But soon the water turns and glides back with ebbing tide; and then the ships, robbed of the sea, are stranded, and the sailors, lying on their benches, await the waters’ return. It is the Moon that stirs this realm of wandering Cymothoe and troubles the deep; the Moon, driving her chariot through the sky, draws the sea this way and that, and Tethys follows with ebb and flow.

  Hannibal viewed these things in haste; for he had much to trouble him. His first anxiety was to remove from war the sharer of his bed and their little son, an infant at his mother’s breast. She was a maiden and he a youth, when they first were wedded; and she clung to him with a love full of memories. But the child, born in front of besieged Saguntum, had not yet completed twelve circuits of the moon. When he had resolved to send off mother and child and remove them from the army, Hannibal addressed them thus: “O my son, hope of high Carthage, and dread, no less, of the Aeneadae, may you, I pray, be more glorious than your father and make a name for yourself by works of war which shall surpass your grandsire’s. Rome, sick with fear, already reckons up your years — years that shall make mothers weep. If my prophetic soul does not deceive my feeling, vast suffering for the world is growing up in you; I recognize my father’s countenance, and the defiant eyes beneath a frowning brow; I note the depth of your infant cries and the beginnings of a fierceness like my own. If haply some god shall check my great career and nip my glory in the bud by death, then be it your task, my wife, to keep safe this pledge of war. And, when he is able to speak, lead him through the scenes of my childhood: let him lay his baby hands on the altar of Elissa, and vow to his father’s ashes that he will fight against Rome. Then, when his riper age shall put on the down of youth, let him rush forth to war, treading the treaty under foot; and let him, when victorious, demand a tomb for me upon the Capitoline hill. But you, whose love deserves my worship, you who can look forward to the glory and happiness of so mighty a son, depart from the dangers and uncertainty of war, and turn away from hardship. We men must face heights barred by snow, and crags that reach the sky; we must face the labour that brought the sweat to the brow of Alcides and made his stepmother marvel; we must face the Alps, a sharper ordeal than war. But, if Fortune withhold her promised favour and frown on my enterprise, I should wish you long life and peaceful old age; your youth deserves that the unhasting Fates should prolong your threads beyond my span.”

  Thus he spoke, and Imilce answered him. She was descended from Castalius, a man of Cirrha, who named his city, Castulo, after his mother, and it still keeps the name of Apollo’s priest. Thus Imilce traced her pedigree to a sacred stock. When Bacchus was conquering the Spanish peoples and attacking Calpe with the staves and spears of his Maenads, Milichus was born of a lustful Satyr and the nymph Myrice, and had held wide dominion in his native land; and horns, like those of his father, grew upon his forehead. From him Imilce drew her nationality and noble blood; but the name of Milichus had suffered a slight corruption in the native speech. Thus she then began with slowly dropping tears: “Do you forget that my life depends on yours? Do you reject me as a partner of your enterprise? Does our union, do our first nuptial joys, make you believe that I, your wife, would fall back when climbing with you the frozen mountains? Doubt not a woman’s hardihood; no danger is too great for wedded love to face. But if you judge me by sex alone, and are determined to leave me, I yield indeed and will not stay the course of destiny. I pray God to bless you.

  Go and prosper! Go with favouring gods and prayers! And amid the battles and the blaze of arms, remember to keep in mind the wife and child whom you leave behind. For I fear the Romans, with their weapons and their firebrands, less than I fear you: you rush fiercely right upon the swords, and expose your life to the missiles, nor does any successful feat of arms content you; your ambition, unlike that of other men, knows no bounds; and you think a peaceful death an inglorious end for a soldier. Trembling takes hold of my limbs; and yet I dread no man who shall meet you in single combat. But thou, O Father of battles, have pity, and turn away evil from us, and preserve that life from all assaults of the Trojans!”

  And now they had gone forth and stood upon the shore-line. The ship, rowed forward, was slowly trimming her sails to the wind, and the sailors dangled from the mast, when Hannibal, eager to allay her fears and relieve her mind, sick with frantic anxieties, thus began: “Have done with forebodings and with tears, my faithful wife. In war, as in peace, the end of each man’s life is fixed, and the first day leads but to the last; few there are whom a soul of fire permits to be for ever famous on the lips of men; and such the Divine Father marks out to dwell in heaven. Shall I endure the yoke of Rome, and not resent the slavery of Carthage? I am driven on by the spirit of my father that rebukes me in the darkness of night; that altar and that dreadful sacrifice stand clear before my sight; and my brief and changeful span forbids me to defer the date. Am I to sit still, in order that Carthage alone may know my name? And is all the world to be ignorant of my quality?

  Am I, from fear of death, to abandon the heights of glory? How little does an obscure life differ from death! Yet fear not rashness in my ardour for renown: I too value life, and the hero finds pleasure in old age, when he is famed for great deeds in the autumn of life. You too may look for great rewards from the war now begun: if only Heaven favours us, all Tiber and the Roman women and the Dardans, rich in gold, shall be at your feet.” While they conversed together thus and mingled their tears, the steersman, feeling that he could trust the sea, hailed the unwilling wife from his high seat on the stern. Torn’ from her husband’s arms she is carried away. Her eager eyes still cling to him and watch the shore, until
the sea made sight impossible and the land fell back, as the swift ship sped on its watery way.

  But Hannibal sought to drown his love in the business of war: he went back quickly to the walls of Gades; and, while he went round them and surveyed every part again and again, the ceaseless toil proved too much at last for that strong heart, and he was able to rest his warlike mind in sleep.

  Then the Almighty Father, purposing to test the Roman people by peril, to raise their fame to heaven by victory in fierce warfare, and to repeat their ancient ordeal, urged on Hannibal’s design by breaking his peaceful rest and sending terrors to disturb his sleep. Quickly the god of Cyllene, flying through the dewy darkness of the night, carried the message of his sire. At once he accosted Hannibal, where he lay at ease in untroubled sleep, and upbraided him with sharp reproof: “Ruler of Libya, it becomes not a leader to pass the whole night in slumber: war prospers when the commander wakes. You will see ships swarm forth ere long to plough the sea, and Roman warriors speeding all over the deep, while you, slow to begin, stand idle in the land of Spain. Is it glory enough for you, and a memorable feat of arms, to have overthrown Greek Saguntum with so great an effort? Arise! and if aught in your heart is capable of bold action, then go quickly along with me and accompany my summons (I forbid you to look back: such is the command of Jupiter) and I will set you victorious before the lofty walls of Rome.”

  And now he dreamed that Mercury laid a hand upon him and drew him in joy and haste to the land of Saturn, when he was startled by a sudden noise about him and a hissing of fierce tongues behind him that hurtled through the sky. Stricken with intense fear, he forgot the divine command, and looked behind him in his dismay. Behold! a black serpent, sweeping along in its huge embrace woods, and forest-trees torn from the hills, and rocks dragged along a pathless track, was hissing with deadly blast. Huge as the Serpent which moves with its coils round the Great and Little Bear and encompasses both constellations in its course, so huge it parts its jaws with cavernous yawn, and raises its crest to the height of rain-swept mountains. And the fury of the bursting heavens redoubled the noise and discharged a storm of rain mixed with hail. Terrified by this portent (for his sleep was not real sleep, and the power of night was waning, because the god whose rod dispels darkness had mingled night with day) Hannibal asked what this terrible monster was, and whither it was bearing that body which weighed down the earth, and what nations were demanded by its open jaws. The god who was born in the cold caverns of fostering Cyllene made reply: “You see the war you have prayed for: mighty wars follow in your train, and falling forests, and fierce storms in an angry sky, and slaughter of men, with mighty destruction and doleful doom to the people of Ida. All this is your doing. As that huge serpent with scaly hide laid waste the mountains and hurled the uprooted forests over the plains and wetted the whole earth with its foaming slaver, so you, as huge, will rush down from the conquered Alps and wrap Italy in a black cloud of war; and with a noise like the serpents you will shatter the walls of towns and root out cities and dash them to the ground.”

  The god and slumber then left him, disturbed by these incitements. A cold sweat broke out on his body, while he turned over the promises of the dream with a fearful joy and reviewed the night once more. Soon was honour paid to the King of Heaven and Mars, because of the favourable omen; and first of all the god of Cyllene, in reward for his counsel, was propitiated with the sacrifice of a snow-white bull. At once Hannibal ordered that the standards should be plucked up, and a sudden shout shook the camp filled with a babel of discordant tongues.

  Hand down to fame, Calliope, the peoples summoned forth by this fell enterprise and borne against the realm of Latinus! Name the cities of warlike Spaniards whom Carthage armed, and the squadrons that she mustered on the shore of Africa, when she dared to claim for herself the reins of government, and to give a new ruler to mankind. Never at any time did a fiercer tempest rage, driven on by furious winds; not even that dreadful war that swept along a thousand ships raged with more violence or appalled more utterly a terror-stricken world.

  Foremost in the ranks were the soldiers from Tyrian Carthage. Light of limb were they, and the glory of lofty stature was denied them; but they were readily taught to deceive, and never slow to lay secret traps for the enemy. They carried then a primitive shield, and fought with a short sword; their feet were bare, nor was it their custom to wear a belt; their dress was red, and they had skill to hide under its covering the blood shed in battle. Their leader was Mago, Hannibal’s brother, and his purple-clad figure overtopped them all while he drove his chariot along, rejoicing in its clattering noise and bold as his brother in the fray.

  Next to the men of Carthage, Utica poured forth her people — Utica hoary with age, that was founded before the citadel of ancient Byrsa. Next came Aspis, which borders the sea with a wall built by the Sicilian, and whose ramparts form a crescent in the shape of a shield. But all eyes were turned upon their leader, Sychaeus, a son of Hasdrubal, who was filled with vainglory on the score of his mother’s blood; and the name of his uncle, Hannibal, came ever proudly from his lips.

  The warlike sons of Berenicis by the sea were present; nor was Barce backward, a dry land of thirsty springs, whose men are armed for battle with long smooth pikes; and Cyrene too roused to arms the sons of Battus, treacherous men, descendants from a Peloponnesian stock. They were led by Ilertes whom old Hamilcar praised long ago, active still in council but slow in war.

  Then Sabratha and Phoenician Leptis sent their Tyrian folk, and Oea sent Sicilian colonists mixed with Africans, and the river Lixus sent the men of Tingis from the stormy shore. Next came Vaga, and Hippo dear to kings of old, and Ruspina, which guards herself by distance against sea-floods; and, with Zama, Thapsus, now made more fertile by Roman blood. All these peoples were led by Antaeus, a giant in giant armour; by his deeds as by his name he kept alive the fame of Hercules, and towered above the heads of his soldiers.

  The Ethiopians came, a race whom the Nile knows well, who dig the loadstone from the earth; they alone have the power to attract the iron of the mine without the use of tools by placing the stone beside it. Together with them came the burnt-up Nubae, whose bodies show the fierce heat of their sun; they wear no helmet of brass nor tough cuirass of steel; nor do they bend the bow. It is their custom to protect their heads with many folds of linen, and with linen to cover their bodies, and to throw javelins steeped in noxious juices, thus disgracing the steel with poison. Then first the Macae, from the river Cinyps, learned how to pitch tents in their camp in Phoenician fashion — shaggy bearded men, whose backs are covered with the bristling hide of a wild goat, and the weapon they carry is a curved javelin. But the Adyrmachidae bear a target of many colours, and a sword fashioned by the smith in the shape of a sickle, and wear greaves on the left leg. Rough was this people’s fare, and scanty their diet; for their sorry meals are roasted on the burning sand. The Massyli also brought thither their glittering standards, the most remote inhabitants of earth, coming from the groves of the Hesperides. Fierce Bocchus was their leader; from his head the hair fell down in close curls; and he had seen the sacred trees beside the sea, and the glittering gold among the green leaves.

  The Gaetulians also, who are wont to live among packs of wild beasts, and by their speech to allay the fierceness of untamed lions, left their settlements for the camp of Hannibal. Houseless men, they dwell in wagons; their custom is to stray from place to place and to carry with them their moving household gods. Of these a thousand wing-footed squadrons came speeding to the camp; their horses are swifter than the wind and taught to obey the switch. So, when the speedy Spartan dog fills the thickets with his roving bark, or the Umbrian hound by his keen scent drives wild beasts forth from a mountain path, the flying deer in their terror rush headlong in their herds far and wide. Acherras led the Gaetulians; but his face was not joyful, nor his brow serene; for he was the brother of Asbyte so lately slain.

  Then came the Marmaridae with a sound of
clashing arms, a people of magical powers, at whose spells the snake forgot its poison, and at whose touch horned serpents lay still and harmless. Next came the hardy warriors of Baniura; having little iron they are content to harden their spear-points over a scanty flame; eager for battle they uttered wild cries together with fierce speech. The Autololes also came, a fiery race of nimble runners: no horse nor flooded river could match their pace, so great their speed. They vie with the birds; and, when they have scoured the plain in their flight, you would look in vain for their footprints. There were seen also in the army the people who feed on the tree famous for its juices — on the sweet berries of the lotus, too friendly to the stranger. The Garamantes were there, who dread the furious serpents that pour out black venom in their boundless deserts. Legend tells that, when Perseus slew the Gorgon and carried off her head, the horrid gore dripped over Libya, and from that time the land has abounded with the snakes of Medusa. These thousands were led by Choaspes, a proved warrior, native of Meninx, an Ithacan island; his right arm, swift as the lightning, ever bore a javelin, his renowned weapon. Hither came the Nasamones from the sea, men who fear not to attack wrecked ships upon the water, and to snatch their booty from the deep; and hither came the dwellers by the deep pools of Lake Tritonis, where the Maiden Warrior sprang, as legend tells, from the water and anointed Libya, before other lands, with the olive-oil which she herself had discovered.

  Moreover, all the West with its remote nations was present too. First of all were the Cantabrians, proof against cold and heat and hunger, and victorious over every hardship. This people, when disabled by white old age, find a strange pleasure in cutting short the years of weakness by an instant death, and they refuse life except in arms. For war is their only reason for living, and they scorn a peaceful existence.