Then the
Carthaginians broke into clamours against the Suffet's partiality for
the Mercenaries.
Did he yield to these outbursts of insatiable hatred or was it a
refinement of treachery? The next day he came himself, without a sword
and bare-headed, with an escort of Clinabarians, and announced to
them that having too many to feed he did not intend to keep them.
Nevertheless, as he wanted men and he knew of no means of selecting the
good ones, they were to fight together to the death; he would then admit
the conquerors into his own body-guard. This death was quite as good as
another;--and then moving his soldiers aside (for the Punic standards
hid the horizon from the Mercenaries) he showed them the one hundred and
ninety-two elephants under Narr' Havas, forming a single straight line,
their trunks brandishing broad steel blades like giant arms holding axes
above their heads.
The Barbarians looked at one another silently. It was not death that
made them turn pale, but the horrible compulsion to which they found
themselves reduced.
The community of their lives had brought about profound friendship among
these men. The camp, with most, took the place of their country; living
without a family they transferred the needful tenderness to a companion,
and they would fall asleep in the starlight side by side under the
same cloak.
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