CHAPTER XIV.
THE MEGARA.
Courteous, and even generous, as Scipio had showed himself in the matterof the exchange of prisoners, he was not a man to let slip a singleadvantage that might fall into his hands, or, when he delivered a blow,to hesitate to strike with all his force. He allowed a short time forhis army to get used to the new condition of things. This he could wellafford, for the season was yet early. When he found his army restored toa sound condition, physical and moral, at once hardened to labour andamenable to discipline, in a word, thoroughly efficient, he proceeded toact. It was as a keen, well-tempered sword in his hands, and he struckwith promptitude and energy.
His first plan was to follow the line of attack which Mancinus hadinitiated. The weak spot in the defences of a wealthy city is commonlyfound in the buildings which are allowed to grow up in times of peaceoutside the fortifications. Life in a walled city is often both irksomeand unhealthy. The poor, always compelled to put up with a narrow spacewhether within walls or without them, is indifferent, but the rich manwants his garden and his playground, wants room for the health of hisfamily or his own entertainment. In this way a suburb, mainly consistingof residences of the wealthy, had grown up outside the northern walls ofthe city. It presented, only on a larger scale, much the same featuresas the locality which Mancinus had fixed upon as his point of attack.But it had a fortified wall of its own. This had in process of timebecome a necessity. For more than four centuries after its foundationCarthage had never seen a foreign invader on its soil. But there came atime when its enemies discovered that it might be most effectuallyattacked at home. Therefore, splendid houses which offered a rich prizeto the plunderer could no longer be left without a defence, and theMegara had to be surrounded with a fortification, which started from thecity wall and joined it again. But the space which had to be inclosedwas great, and the new wall was neither so strong, so well furnishedwith towers, nor so adequately garrisoned as the old. It was meant, infact, rather for a protection against a sudden attack than as apermanent defence.
Scipio resolved on a night assault, an operation possible only to athoroughly well-disciplined army. He divided his force into two columns,taking personal command of the one which was actually to attack. Theother was to make a demonstration, which was not to be developed into anassault except the officer at its head saw a particularly favourableopportunity. As the two points threatened were more than a couple ofmiles apart--so great was the circuit of the Megara wall--the attentionof the garrison was effectually distracted. Scipio's column succeeded inreaching its destination unobserved, and its sudden approach, coupledwith the alarm simultaneously raised on the other side, threw thegarrison into confusion.
But the assault received a check. A deserter had indicated the spotwhere the wall might be most easily scaled. It had been used as a shortcut by marauders, stragglers, and others who did not care to go in orout by the gate. Some stones had been broken down at the top of thewall, while at the bottom there was a natural rise in the ground whichdiminished the height. But the place had not escaped the vigilance ofthe officer whose business it was to inspect this portion of thefortification. The stones had been replaced and the rise in the groundlevelled. A determined attempt was then made at various points with thescaling-ladders. But an assailant who is mounting a ladder is at aconsiderable disadvantage when matched with an antagonist who has a firmfooting on the wall above. Here and there, indeed, especially where abit of the wall lay in shadow, the ladder could be applied and the wallscaled unobserved by the guard. But these successes could not befollowed up. The soldiers who thus made good their footing on the topwere few and far between; unable to help each other, they could not holdthe ground that they had won. The only decided advantage obtained inthis direction was the capture of one of the small towers disposed atintervals along the wall. This tower had been deserted by its guard,who had hurried to repel a scaling-party, and was occupied by the Romansin their absence.
Scipio saw that he was losing men to no purpose, and ordered the retreatto be sounded. But his quick eye had detected a place which seemed topromise better. Some resident in Megara had felt the same impatience ofbeing kept within walls to which the whole suburb itself owed its firstexistence, and had built, in a spot which commanded a wide view over thesea, one of those towers which we now commonly call "follies". The placewas of course deserted when the war broke out, but it was not destroyed,as it ought to have been, for it was dangerously near the wall. So near,indeed, was it that it was quite possible to throw a bridge across theintervening space; fortunately, too, it was not very far from the towermentioned above as having been occupied by the assailants. Aconsiderable force of archers and slingers was brought up to the spot,and they kept up so vigorous a discharge of missiles that this portionof the wall, some fifty paces or so in length, was absolutely cleared ofits defenders. Two scaling-ladders, hastily lashed together, servedsufficiently well for a bridge. Across this two or three scores ofactive young soldiers, picked out for their courage and strength, madetheir way in rapid succession, and descending from the wall on theinner side, hastened to open one of the gates. Before an hour hadpassed, Scipio, with nearly four thousand men, was within the walls ofthe Megara.
For a time the panic was as great as if Carthage itself, and not asuburb, which never could have been seriously defended, had been taken.The garrison of the Megara fled in wild confusion to the inner city, thegates of which were blocked with a crowd of frantic fugitives. Cleanor,who had joined the flying division as a volunteer, found himself carriedback towards the city walls by a quite irresistible torrent ofpanic-stricken men.
Then a rally took place. In the first place the fugitives were compelledto halt, if for no other reason than because they could not get throughthe gates. Then the old instinct of obedience and discipline reasserteditself, especially in the mercenaries, among whom the panic had beenmost severe. Little by little the officers were able to restore somekind of order, and even to recover some of the lost ground. Thedefenders had the inestimable advantage of knowing the locality. To themercenaries, indeed, most of whom had never been inside Carthage, theplace was as strange as it was to the Romans; but the flying divisionconsisted entirely of native troops, and these were thoroughly at homeamong the lanes and alleys of the Megara, where indeed most of them hadtheir family residences.
Cleanor had an hour or so of very lively adventure in the company of anofficer of the division, and could not help feeling a certain regretwhen he heard the Roman bugles sound the recall. Scipio, in truth, hadfound that his position was not by any means desirable. The Megara wasalmost covered with detached houses, each surrounded by its gardens andorchards, these again being intersected by running streams, some ofwhich were of considerable depth, and had branches winding in alldirections. Any adequate military occupation of such a region wouldrequire a much larger force than he had at hand, and would serve nouseful purpose. And he could not quite trust his men. They had acceptedhis reforms with wonderful docility, but here they were in the presenceof almost overpowering temptations. Many of the houses in the Megarawere full of the accumulated wealth of centuries. A few minutes amongsuch possessions would enrich a soldier with more than he could hope toacquire in twenty campaigns. In fact, it was only too probable that themen would take to plundering, and quite certain that, if they did, theywould be destroyed in detail. There were abundant reasons, therefore,why the Roman general should order a retreat. Even as it was, hislosses were not inconsiderable.
"I wonder whether anyone has been paying a visit here?" said Cleanor'scompanion to him as they approached one of the houses in the Megara."This is my father's place."
It should be explained that the non-combatant population had fled fromthe Megara as soon as it was attacked. Even before that many persons haddeserted their houses for safer quarters within the city itself.
"It is a very likely place," the Carthaginian continued, "for a man tolose his way in. Perhaps we may lay our hands on a prize. Come this way
;I know the best place for waiting."
The two young men, taking a couple of soldiers with them, made their waydown a narrow lane which skirted the garden of the house. The moon hadset by this time, but there was a dim light of dawn. After a few minutesof waiting, the party could plainly hear that someone was approaching.
"There must be two men at least," whispered the Carthaginian; "and theyhave missed the path, for they are crashing through the shrubs. ByDagon! we have them, for there is a bit of deep water that they must getover. Let us come a little further on. Mago, you know the hand-bridge;go as quick as you can and secure it."
He had scarcely finished speaking when the party for which they werewatching came in sight. It consisted of three persons, and there was nowenough light to distinguish them. One was a Roman officer. He wore theornaments of a tribune, and might have been some twenty years ofage.[35] His two companions were private soldiers, and light-armed. Thethree, forcing their way through the shrubbery, which here wasparticularly dense, came upon the water. It was evidently an entirelyunexpected obstacle.
"Caius," said the officer, addressing one of the men, "how is this to bemanaged?"
"We can jump it," the man answered, "with the help of our spears. Whenwe are on the further side, you, sir, must do the best you can, and wewill help you out."
"Very good," said the officer, "jump!"
"Let them go," whispered the Carthaginian to Cleanor, "we don't wantthem; but the officer will be a prize worth having."
Each of the two soldiers planted his spear in the bed of the stream, andswung himself across without much difficulty. The tribune, having firstthrown his sword to the other side, jumped his furthest. No run waspossible, for the shrubs were thick on the bank; still it was a goodleap--excellent, indeed, considering the weight of the young Roman'sarmour. The breadth of the water was about twenty-four feet, and thetribune had cleared eighteen. His companions were in the act of reachingout one of their spears for him to grasp when the Carthaginian and hisparty showed themselves. The young Roman understood the situation in amoment.
"Save yourselves," he gasped, as soon as he could speak, "I am lost!"
After a moment's hesitation the men obeyed. To stay would have been auseless sacrifice, for they must have been inevitably cut down whilethey were attempting to save their companion.
"Speak to him," said the Carthaginian. "Try him with Greek; the Romangentlemen mostly know it. But perhaps we had better help him out of thewater first."
"DO YOU YIELD?" SAID CLEANOR WHEN THE ROMAN HAD REACHEDTHE SHORE.]
"Do you yield?" said Cleanor in Greek, when the Roman had reached theshore.
"I see no choice," replied the young man in the same language.
Giving his promise that he would not attempt to escape, he received hissword, and accompanied his captors to the city. A few inquiries, madeand answered in Greek, satisfied them that they had indeed, as theCarthaginian had anticipated, secured a prize. The tribune was aScipio, a kinsman not very distantly related to the commander.
"Let him be your prisoner," said Cleanor's companion to him. "He maybring you promotion, which I am pretty sure of in any case. Though,indeed," he added after a pause, "I strongly suspect that it will be allthe same for most of us, promotion or no promotion, a year hence."
FOOTNOTE:
35: Scipio was a tribune at this age. Young men of good birth were appointed to the office without previous service. Soldiers of lower origin who distinguished themselves were promoted to it, but, of course, at a later age. The great Marius was not a tribune till he was between thirty and forty.
Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth Page 16
