The war was quite
burdensome enough! it had cost too much, and from pride the patricians
belonging to his faction supported him but slackly.
Then Hamilcar, despairing of the Republic, took by force from the tribes
all that he wanted for the war--grain, oil, wood, cattle, and men. But
the inhabitants were not long in taking flight. The villages passed
through were empty, and the cabins were ransacked without anything being
discerned in them. The Punic army was soon encompassed by a terrible
solitude.
The Carthaginians, who were furious, began to sack the provinces; they
filled up the cisterns and fired the houses. The sparks, being carried
by the wind, were scattered far off, and whole forests were on fire on
the mountains; they bordered the valleys with a crown of flames, and
it was often necessary to wait in order to pass beyond them. Then the
soldiers resumed their march over the warm ashes in the full glare of
the sun.
Sometimes they would see what looked like the eyes of a tiger cat
gleaming in a bush by the side of the road. This was a Barbarian
crouching upon his heels, and smeared with dust, that he might not be
distinguished from the colour of the foliage; or perhaps when passing
along a ravine those on the wings would suddenly hear the rolling of
stones, and raising their eyes would perceive a bare-footed man bounding
along through the openings of the gorge.
Pages:
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249