He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself
that he was beside her.
Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over
the sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon
a horse on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in
Spendius's tent.
At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease
his sorrow by talking about Salammbo. Spendius exhorted him to be
prudent.
"Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them!
Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if Carthage
is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces. We shall become
kings!"
But how was it that the possession of the zaimph did not give them the
victory? According to Spendius they must wait.
Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race
exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself:
"The zaimph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have lost
it, it will do nothing for them."
Afterwards a scruple troubled him. He was afraid of offending Moloch
by worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked
Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a man.
Pages:
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146