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 doubtless waiting 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.
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