At last they came beneath the walls of Carthage to implore the
protection of Ceres and Proserpine, for in Byrsa there was a temple
with priests consecrated to these goddesses in expiation of the horrors
formerly committed at the siege of Syracuse. The Syssitia, alleging
their right to waifs and strays, claimed the youngest in order to sell
them; and some fair Lacedaemonian women were taken by New Carthaginians
in marriage.
A few persisted in following the armies. They ran on the flank of the
syntagmata by the side of the captains. They called to their husbands,
pulled them by the cloak, cursed them as they beat their breasts, and
held out their little naked and weeping children at arm's length. The
sight of them was unmanning the Barbarians; they were an embarrassment
and a peril. Several times they were repulsed, but they came back again;
Matho made the horsemen belonging to Narr' Havas charge them with the
point of the lance; and on some Balearians shouting out to him that they
must have women, he replied: "I have none!"
Just now he was invaded by the genius of Moloch. In spite of the
rebellion of his conscience, he performed terrible deeds, imagining that
he was thus obeying the voice of a god. When he could not ravage the
fields, Matho would cast stones into them to render them sterile.
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