Spendius was seen stooping
upon his dromedary, and spurring it on the shoulders with two javelins.
Then they all rushed away from the wings and ran towards Utica.
The Clinabarians, whose horses were exhausted, did not try to overtake
them. The Ligurians, who were weakened by thirst, cried out for an
advance towards the river. But the Carthaginians, who were posted in the
centre of the syntagmata, and had suffered less, stamped their feet
with longing for the vengeance which was flying from them; and they
were already darting forward in pursuit of the Mercenaries when Hamilcar
appeared.
He held in his spotted and sweat-covered horse with silver reins. The
bands fastened to the horns on his helmet flapped in the wind behind
him, and he had placed his oval shield beneath his left thigh. With a
motion of his triple-pointed pike he checked the army.
The Tarentines leaped quickly upon their spare horses, and set off right
and left towards the river and towards the town.
The phalanx exterminated all the remaining Barbarians at leisure. When
the swords appeared they would stretch out their throats and close their
eyelids. Others defended themselves to the last, and were knocked down
from a distance with flints like mad dogs. Hamilcar had desired the
taking of prisoners, but the Carthaginians obeyed him grudgingly, so
much pleasure did they derive from plunging their swords into the bodies
of the Barbarians.
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