At the quietest times masses of people would suddenly rush
along with shouts; and from the top of the Acropolis the conflagrations
were like purple rags scattered upon the terraces and twisted by the
wind.
The three great catapults did not stop in spite of all these works.
Their ravages were extraordinary: thus a man's head rebounded from the
pediment of the Syssitia; a woman who was being confined in the street
of Kinisdo was crushed by a block of marble, and her child was carried
with the bed as far as the crossways of Cinasyn, where the coverlet was
found.
The most annoying were the bullets of the slingers. They fell upon the
roofs, and in the gardens, and in the middle of the courts, while people
were at table before a slender meal with their hearts big with sighs.
These cruel projectiles bore engraved letters which stamped themselves
upon the flesh;--and insults might be read on corpses such as "pig,"
"jackal," "vermin," and sometimes jests: "Catch it!" or "I have well
deserved it!"
The portion of the rampart which extended from the corner of the
harbours to the height of the cisterns was broken down. Then the people
of Malqua found themselves caught between the old enclosure of Byrsa
behind, and the Barbarians in front. But there was enough to be done in
thickening the wall and making it as high as possible without troubling
about them; they were abandoned; all perished; and although they were
generally hated, Hamilcar came to be greatly abhorred.
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