The troops defiled under arms through the streets from morning till
night; every moment the sound of trumpets was heard; chariots passed
bearing shields, tents, and pikes; the courts were full of women engaged
in tearing up linen; the enthusiasm spread from one to another, and
Hamilcar's soul filled the Republic.
He had divided his soldiers into even numbers, being careful to place
a strong man and a weak one alternately throughout the length of his
files, so that he who was less vigorous or more cowardly might be at
once led and pushed forward by two others. But with his three thousand
Ligurians, and the best in Carthage, he could form only a simple phalanx
of four thousand and ninety-six hoplites, protected by bronze helmets,
and handling ashen sarissae fourteen cubits long.
There were two thousand young men, each equipped with a sling, a dagger,
and sandals. He reinforced them with eight hundred others armed with
round shields and Roman swords.
The heavy cavalry was composed of the nineteen hundred remaining
guardsmen of the Legion, covered with plates of vermilion bronze, like
the Assyrian Clinabarians. He had further four hundred mounted archers,
of those that were called Tarentines, with caps of weasel's skin,
two-edged axes, and leathern tunics.
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