His nose, however, which was hooked like
a vulture's beak, was violently dilated to breathe in the air, and his
little eyes, with their gummed lashes, shone with a hard and metallic
lustre. He held a spatula of aloe-wood in his hand wherewith to scratch
his skin.
At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided, and
Hanno commenced to speak.
He began with an eulogy of the gods and the Republic; the Barbarians
ought to congratulate themselves on having served it. But they must show
themselves more reasonable; times were hard, "and if a master has only
three olives, is it not right that he should keep two for himself?"
The old Suffet mingled his speech in this way with proverbs and
apologues, nodding his head the while to solicit some approval.
He spoke in Punic, and those surrounding him (the most alert, who
had hastened thither without their arms), were Campanians, Gauls, and
Greeks, so that no one in the crowd understood him. Hanno, perceiving
this, stopped and reflected, swaying himself heavily from one leg to the
other.
It occurred to him to call the captains together; then his heralds
shouted the order in Greek, the language which, from the time of
Xanthippus, had been used for commands in the Carthaginian armies.
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