But at news of the arming they returned; Matho leaped for joy. "At last!
at last!" he cried.
Then the resentment which he cherished against Salammbo was turned
against Hamilcar. His hate could now perceive a definite prey; and as
his vengeance grew easier of conception he almost believed that he
had realised it and he revelled in it already. At the same time he was
seized with a loftier tenderness, and consumed by more acrid desire.
He saw himself alternately in the midst of the soldiers brandishing
the Suffet's head on a pike, and then in the room with the purple bed,
clasping the maiden in his arms, covering her face with kisses, passing
his hands over her long, black hair; and the imagination of this, which
he knew could never be realised, tortured him. He swore to himself that,
since his companions had appointed him schalishim, he would conduct the
war; the certainty that he would not return from it urged him to render
it a pitiless one.
He came to Spendius and said to him:
"You will go and get your men! I will bring mine! Warn Autaritus! We are
lost if Hamilcar attacks us! Do you understand me? Rise!"
Spendius was stupefied before such an air of authority. Matho usually
allowed himself to be led, and his previous transports had quickly
passed away.
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