Sometimes she
could be seen in a clear and luminous spot stretched upon cushions of
cloud; and then the darkness would close in again as though she were
still too weary and wished to sleep again; the Carthaginians, all
believing that water is brought forth by the moon, shouted to make her
travail easy.
The rain beat upon the terraces and overflowed them, forming lakes in
the courts, cascades on the staircases, and eddies at the corners of the
streets. It poured in warm heavy masses and urgent streams; big frothy
jets leaped from the corners of all the buildings; and it seemed
as though whitish cloths hung dimly upon the walls, and the washed
temple-roofs shone black in the gleam of the lightning. Torrents
descended from the Acropolis by a thousand paths; houses suddenly gave
way, and small beams, plaster, rubbish, and furniture passed along in
streams which ran impetuously over the pavement.
Amphoras, flagons, and canvases had been placed out of doors; but the
torches were extinguished; brands were taken from the funeral-pile of
the Baal, and the Carthaginians bent back their necks and opened their
mouths to drink. Others by the side of the miry pools, plunged their
arms into them up to the armpits, and filled themselves so abundantly
with water that they vomited it forth like buffaloes.
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