Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth

by Alfred John Church

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  HELP FROM THE HILLS.

  One day shortly after the events related in my last chapter, Cleanor'ssomewhat melancholy musings on the prospects of the future wereinterrupted by the arrival of his friend Gisco, who had been absent fromhis duty for several weeks.

  "You have been wondering, I dare say," said the Carthaginian, "what hasbecome of me the last month or so."

  "Yes, indeed," replied Cleanor; "I asked the officers of your battalionabout you, but could find out nothing. However, I noticed once or twicejust a suspicion of hesitation in their answers, and so I came to theconclusion that there was a secret."

  "Well," said Gisco, "there was what you may call a secret. Anyhow, wethought it best not to say anything about the business I had on hand. Itwas to be a little surprise to our friends outside, and that is not soeasy to manage as things are now. There is very little that goes on inCarthage but is known the next day in Scipio's tent. This time,however, we have managed, I hope, better."

  "Is it a secret still?" asked Cleanor.

  "No, no," said Gisco, "everyone may know it now, and, besides, you arenot one of those that a man has to keep secrets from. But now for mystory. I left Carthage just thirty days ago--it was, I remember, the daybefore the new moon. It was no easy matter, I can tell you, to get away.One of the Roman sentinels caught sight of me, and I had to take to thelagoon. Happily the water was deep enough for diving, and I am a goodhand at that business, but when I came up to breathe I was all but hitby an arrow. However, I got safely to the place I was bound for. ThereBithyas met me--Bithyas, you remember, was Gulussa's master of thehorse--with two or three troopers and a spare horse for me. Our errandwas to go to the tribes that live far up in the country, and gatherrecruits for a campaign against Rome. Bithyas, who knows the wholeregion and the tribes better than any man living, was to introduce me,and I was to make engagements on the part of Carthage. We carried withus a sort of talisman which Bithyas had got hold of, I don't exactlyknow how. Anyhow, it seemed to be respected everywhere, and as soon asit was produced we never failed to get a hearing, and we must have goneto not less than fifteen chiefs."

  "You say a 'hearing'," Cleanor put in; "but how did you contrive to makeyourselves understood?"

  "Well, in this way. We took new interpreters when they were wanted. Wefound that a man could always make himself understood by the people ofthe next tribe. Sometimes the same man served for two or three. When hecame to the last place where he could be of use, he picked out somelikely man, and instructed him in what he was to say. This, after all,was very simple. It was chiefly that they were wanted to fight, and thata chief was to get so many gold pieces, an under-chief so many, and acommon man so many. It does not take much talking to explain so much. Itmight almost be done by signs. Of course we could not carry the moneyabout with us, but we made a present to each of the chiefs, andcommonly, when the tribe was a strong one, to one or more of thesub-chiefs. Promises, you may be sure, we did not spare. Even if allgoes well, I don't see how Carthage is ever to pay her debts."

  "And did you have much success?" inquired Cleanor.

  "Yes, we had," replied Gisco. "If all the promises that were made to usare kept, we shall have a hundred thousand men. But that is, of course,too much to expect. If three-fourths, or even a half, let us say, areput into the field, it will be a very great thing, and with what we cando to help by a sortie from the city, we ought to give a good account ofthe Romans."

  "And how soon is this to be?"

  "Very soon now; the tribes were beginning to move when we left toreturn. It took us ten days' hard riding to get back from the lastsettlement that we visited. They can't come as quickly as that, but theydon't linger on the march. Remember that they are all horsemen, though,when it comes to a battle, some of them dismount."

  "Well," said Cleanor, "you have been into a new country. Did you seeanything strange? There are marvellous tales told about these regionsand the people who live in them. What has your experience been?"

  "Well," replied Gisco, "I saw some very curious things. And as to thethings I heard, and heard too from people who swore that they had seenthem with their own eyes, they pass all belief. I never saw such treesas there are on the lower slopes of the hills. You know those tablesmade of one piece of wood? Well, they come from that region. I saw somethat were being sawn off, and others that were being polished. Then thevines were enormously large. I came across some with stems as big as anordinary-sized column of a temple, and I heard of others--one never seesthings quite as wonderful as one hears of--that two men could hardlyencompass with their arms. I saw crocodiles, just like those one hasheard of in the Nile, and I was told of leeches that were ten feetlong--that is pretty good, but then the ear can take in more than theeye. In one place that we came to there was a whole colony of monkeys,just like so many men and women, mothers nursing their children, and oldones with white heads, some chattering peaceably together like friends,and some quarrelling ever so fiercely. As for lions, there were troopsof them. Hardly a night passed without an alarm, and though we picketedour horses close to our tents, we had several carried off at night."

  "And what," asked Cleanor, "do you think of these people as soldiers?"

  "Well," replied Gisco, "I can hardly judge. They are marvellously goodhorsemen, and have their animals trained to obey them in a mostwonderful way. A man may leave his horse standing, not tethered, youunderstand, as long as he chooses, and when he is riding on one, he willhave another following him like a dog. But whether they will be able tostand against the Romans is another matter. If it were not for theirnumbers, I should not expect much. But with four or five to one theymust do something; let them only go on charging, and they must break theline at last."

  As Gisco had predicted, the native forces did not linger on the march.They had none of the _impedimenta_ of an army, carrying only their armsand their food,--of this last but a few days' supply,--and they were allmounted. On the third day after the conversation related above theiradvanced guard could be seen on the summit of the hills which formed thesky-line to the south. It had been arranged that they should make theirway to the rock-fortress of Nepheris, now almost the only place, someremote spots in the hills excepted, which Carthage still possessedoutside its own city walls. Nepheris was held by a strong garrison ofmercenaries, under the command of a skilful soldier, Diogenes by name.Scipio had never been able to spare a sufficient force to invest it, butit had been masked by a considerable body of troops under the command ofKing Gulussa, strengthened by a small Roman contingent under theleadership of C. Lælius.[38] This force was to be attacked by the nativearmy, while Diogenes with his mercenaries was to make a sally from thefortress. Another sally, timed as nearly as possible for the samemoment, was to be made from the city. Everyone, besiegers as well asbesieged, recognized the fact that the critical moment had come. If thiseffort succeeded, the fate of Carthage would be postponed almostindefinitely; if it failed, the capture of the city could be only aquestion of time. If it did not yield to force, it would certainlysuccumb to famine.

  Hasdrubal himself was roused by the gravity of the situation from hisusual self-indulgence and lethargy. He was not wholly without thefeelings of a patriot and a soldier, and in this supreme effort of hiscountry he did his best to rise to the occasion. The chief object of hisenergies was the formation of what may be called a Sacred Phalanx. Itwas to consist entirely of native Carthaginians, a class of troopsseldom used except in cases of grave necessity. These were to be chosenby a method which Hasdrubal borrowed from the practice of Rome. He beganby selecting a hundred men of tried courage. Each of the hundred chosenine comrades; and each of these nine, again, chose nine more. Theresult was a hundred companies, numbering each a hundred men, all boundtogether by the special obligation of a common tie. The legion wassplendidly equipped with richly gilded armour, and arms of the veryfinest quality. Each company had its own badge.

  It was a fine force, but it was all that the citizen population ofCarth
age could do to raise it. Indeed so reduced were the numbers on theroll of military effectives that some recruits had to be enfranchised inorder that they might be enrolled in the legion. Cleanor, not a littleto his surprise, found himself attached to Hasdrubal's own staff. Thegeneral, indeed, said a few gracious words to the young man when hereported himself. If there had been any difference between them, saidHasdrubal, it might now be forgotten. A chance such as might never berepeated had occurred of saving Carthage. The city would not beungrateful to those who used this occasion energetically.

  Cleanor could not banish his recollections of the past, and thesuspicions which persistently followed them; but his pride was naturallyflattered, and he hoped for the best.

  FOOTNOTE:

  38: Lælius was as close a friend to the Younger as his father had been to the Elder Scipio. The two were born in the same year (B.C. 185), as were also the elder pair of friends (B.C. 234). It should be remembered that the Younger Scipio was _nephew by marriage_, though _grandson by adoption_, to the Elder. He was the younger son of Æmilius Paullus, whose sister was married to the Elder Scipio, and he was adopted by his sister's son, who had no children of his own.