Zama

by Dan Armstrong

  I needed two types of measurements, distances and angles. I sighted straight lines to five different landmarks, then used my compass and a straight edge to approximate the angles between them. I had a thirty-foot length of chain with me for measuring stretches of ground. I used the chain to measure several much longer pieces of rope that I gathered from the Numidians. I then sent teams of riders to each of the five landmarks. Using these lengths of rope, stretched out end to end, they made rough approximations of the distances between the landmarks and also from the landmarks back to where I sited the angles.

  We went to several locations to measure additional sets of angles and distances. What might have been two weeks of work for me alone had been completed in one day. We planned for more of this work the next day, but when we awoke in the morning, and the sun illuminated the African plains and Carthage in the distance, Masinissa noticed an increased amount of activity in the harbor. He interpreted this as a sign that a Carthaginian fleet was preparing to leave, quite possibly the one he had warned Laelius about. I used the spyglass to look for myself and concluded the same. By the time we had eaten, we could see the warships leaving the harbor one at a time. I counted forty triremes.

  Instead of making more measurements, we decided to ride back to the Roman camp to tell Laelius he was running out of time. The voyage along the coast from Carthage to Bizerta was about seventy-five miles into the wind. The warships would have to stop once for the night before reaching Laelius’ camp. Riding fast we were there before sunset. Laelius had the men work through the night loading the ships with plunder so that we could leave at dawn the next morning.

  Masinissa and his men stayed the night, giving me a brief chance in the morning to thank him for his help. “I will be returning with Scipio at the time of the invasion,” I said after a parting embrace with this man whose friendship had come so easily.

  “Then you will see me again, Timon. As I said, what I want most,” his eyes sparked with his desire for Sophonisba, “can only be achieved with the assistance of the Romans. Impress Scipio of this and that he must act soon.”

  Once at sea, I joined Laelius at the bow of the ship taking turns with the spyglass to scan the eastern horizon. Almost immediately we spotted the lead ships in the Carthaginian fleet, meaning they were close but not yet aware of us. Laelius changed our course to a westward direction to assure that they didn’t see us. By midday he adjusted that to north by northeast, headed to Lilybaeum.

  The trip from Syracuse to Lilybaeum to the coast of Africa had taken seven and a half days. The voyage back was slowed by a steady easterly wind. The trip took ten days. Laelius went straight to headquarters when we landed. I didn’t accompany him, but I learned later that Scipio was particularly interested in what Laelius had learned from Masinissa. The consul had met the young prince before and had also recognized the man’s intelligence and talent. He was pleased that Masinissa had offered to take part in the invasion, but he dismissed the warning that Syphax would break his alliance with Rome. It was mid August. Scipio set a goal of leaving for Africa in four weeks.

  PART IV

  SOPHONISBA

  “It was those nuptial torches which had set Syphax’s palace aflame; she was the poison in his blood, the avenging fury, who with her soft words and caresses had alienated his wits and sent him astray.”

  -Livy, The War with Hannibal

  CHAPTER 42

  Even knowing of Syphax’s commitment to Scipio, Hasdrubal Gisgo had not given up his effort to court the Masaesyli king, now undeniably the most powerful tribal leader in the region. Hasdrubal had coaxed him into taking advantage of King Gala’s death and wresting the Maesulii kingdom from Masinissa. But this was only the beginning of the courtship. Hasdrubal had become desperate and was now willing to do what he had resisted before. He knew that Syphax had a weakness for women and that he had expressed interest in Sophonisba, though he had only seen her once, when she was but a child. With all Carthage quaking with fear of an invasion, Hasdrubal sailed to Siga, and during a long evening meal, offered Syphax his daughter’s hand in marriage to change sides in the war. The proposition threw Syphax into deep moral anguish, forcing him to weigh his word to Scipio against the pleasures of a woman who would make him the envy of all men. After one sleepless night of turmoil, he chose lust over loyalty.

  Upon returning to Carthage, Hasdrubal went to his new home in Megara, where he had moved Sophonisba and his house slaves when Laelius’ arrival on the African coast was mistaken for a Roman invasion. He immediately informed Sophonisba of the arrangement he had made with Syphax. She responded in the same way she had when he had first told her that her marriage was likely to be political. There were no tears, no pleas to be released from the arrangement. She told her father that following his wishes was her only desire and that she was honored to give herself in marriage for the security of Carthage and the Carthaginian people.

  Sophonisba rose from her bed late that night and slipped out of the house to go into the garden. Wearing a thin, white sleeping gown, she glided like a ghost past the neatly arranged flower beds to a circular temple at the rear of the garden. The limestone temple to Tanit, mistress of the moon, had been built by Hasdrubal specifically for his deeply devout daughter.

  Sophonisba climbed the temple’s seven stairs and entered the internal chamber, where an alabaster statue of the goddess stood with its arms lifted to the heavens. Sophonisba recited a short salutation to Tanit, then prostrated herself on the stone floor and prayed for the strength to endure a marriage without love.

  Sophonisba had learned a month earlier that the young prince, who in one brief encounter had stolen her heart, had been tracked down and killed by one of Syphax’s henchmen. His head, she’d heard, had been delivered to Syphax in a glass jar. She cried for a week afterward and expected from that day onward to be promised to the man who had ordered Masinissa’s murder.

  Sophonisba remained prostrate in the temple until daybreak. After her prayers for strength, she had prayed that her life would be short so that she could soon join the young Numidian warrior in the spirit world. Only then would she know peace.

  On returning to her room, she threw herself on her bed and began to cry. Her cheetah, now a year old, leapt up on the bed and lay down beside her. Sophonisba looked into the cat’s big yellow eyes and stroked her head. “I don’t want to be married to a barbarian like Syphax, Felicia. I don’t want to live alone in desolate Numidia.”

  Sophonisba heard the door to her bedroom open. She immediately sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. Felicia jumped from the bed and swayed across the room in long easy strides to greet Zanthia as she came in. The handmaiden sat beside Sophonisba and used the hem of her dress to dry the tears that Sophonisba had missed.

  “My dear Sophie, why the tears after the strong face you showed yesterday afternoon?”

  “You know the reason as well as I, Zanthia. My life has come to an end only days before my eighteenth birthday.”

  Zanthia wrapped her arms around the young woman to comfort her. After a moment, she released Sophonisba and touched her cheek. “You may want to mourn your fate and live behind a mask, but the other choice is to know your fate and make the most of it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “More often than not women are left to the mercy of men in this world, but that does not mean they are without influence in their lives.”

  Sophonisba’s face remained a question.

  “If true love is not to be part of your life, Sophie, you must make use of the power your beauty provides. Subtle guile can often surmount ten thousand lances. You may recall that I spent several years in Syphax’s court through three of his five marriages. He let no woman who struck his fancy go untouched. I was younger, and I was delivered to his bedroom on more than one occasion.”

  Across the room, Felicia had found a slipper to chew on. Sophonisba snapped her fingers. The beautiful spotted cat let go of the slipper and came over to the bed to lie down at th
e her mistress’ feet. “Go on, Zanthia.”

  “Part of the reason Syphax sent me to your father was his interest in you. He sought to gain favor with your father on the off chance it might lead to a marriage—just as it has. But what you must realize is that when a man, especially a Numidian, reveals that kind of interest in a woman, it puts the woman in a position of power.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Even should Syphax chain you to his bed, remember, at bottom, it is how you treat him in bed that determines who’s in control.”

  Sophonisba’s eyes narrowed with interest. “Tell me more.”

  “You are an intelligent and cultured woman, Sophie, but there are things to be known that are not taught by Greek tutors.” Zanthia paused to glance around the room, as though someone might be listening. “A woman as smart and beautiful as you can wrap any man around her finger if she has the courage to learn the art.” Zanthia nodded and a little grin crept over her face.

  “Were your situation anything but what it is, I would never dare to tell you the secrets I’m about to divulge. However, the circumstances are what they are. Innocence can longer be the way of your world. And if anyone can tell you the wants of Numidian men, particularly Syphax, it is I. I spent enough time pleasing Syphax to know exactly what he likes. There are some things that you may find difficult to do at first, but if you learn to do these things with skill and with passion, he will be at your beck and call.”

  “Truly?”

  Zanthia nodded very slowly. “Truly.”

  CHAPTER 43

  A fleet of warships took Hasdrubal and Sophonisba to Siga three weeks after the agreement with King Syphax had been made. Siga, as most large cities of the time, was designed as a fortress. It was built on an elevated site a mile from the coast and was protected by precipitous cliffs on the north and east sides and massive stone walls on the south and west. When the Carthaginian flotilla entered the harbor at Siga, a welcoming party was already there to greet the ships and escort the bride and her attendants to Syphax’s palace. Two columns of Numidian soldiers, wearing ceremonial armor, led the procession into the city. Hasdrubal rode in a curtained cedar litter carried by eight slaves. Sophonisba and her three attendants followed in a second litter. A squadron of cavalry in brilliant white tunics trimmed in red, riding four abreast, brought up the rear. The entire populace came out to watch, filling the streets all the way to the palace, hoping to get a glimpse of their new queen.

  As Sophonisba’s litter entered the city gates and made its way through the crowd, Zanthia pulled back the edge of the curtain so that Sophonisba could get a view of the city.

  “Soon this city and the rest of Syphax’s kingdom will be yours, Sophie. The king has a palace here and has acquired another in Cirta. Yours is not the worst of fates.”

  Sophonisba, who had maintained a stoic face throughout the journey from Carthage, made no acknowledgment of the splendor of the city and simply said, “All is politics.”

  Zanthia smiled. “I hope it’s a little more than that. Syphax may believe he’s a god, but he’s a good king, a valiant warrior, and a passionate man with a heart.”

  “Then at least one of us will have one,” replied Sophonisba, pulling back the curtain.

  When the two columns of soldiers reached the palace, they paraded into the great hall, split into individual files, and stood at parade rest on opposite sides of the vast chamber with their javelins at their sides. A red carpet ran between them from the vestibule to the throne, where the bearded Syphax sat bare-chested, wearing a vest of gold chain, blue silk pantaloons, and an ornate crown in the shape of a cobra’s hood. On either side of the throne were galleries filled with the king’s family and his guests.

  Hasdrubal was met in the vestibule by Bucar, who had gained prominence in Syphax’s court since chasing down Masinissa. Two slaves helped Hasdrubal from his litter, and it was carried away to make room for the bride’s arrival. Bucar did the honors of pulling back her litter’s curtain. Zanthia came out first, then Nycea and Gaia, and finally Sophonisba, wearing a white wedding dress and veil. Bucar, reacting to her beauty, offered her his hand as she stepped out of the litter.

  Syphax’s palace was luxurious in the style of the partially civilized Numidians, a peculiar mix of tribal hunting trophies and oriental wealth. The hides of zebras, wildebeests, and leopards hung on the walls between the stuffed heads of elephants and lions. Shields covered with the skins of hyena or jaguar, extravagant leather headdresses, long wooden spears festooned with ostrich feathers and talismanic bones provided the central theme throughout the palace, all intermixed with wall hangings of richly-colored cloth, embroidered with precious gems or threaded with strands of gold.

  Sophonisba’s three attendants, dressed in high-necked, white chitons and carrying bouquets of flowers, led the procession down the center of the hall. Hasdrubal, with his daughter on his arm, followed ten steps behind. Looking like a fashionable bear with his full beard and head of curled hair, he wore a long maroon robe with black fringe at the hem. Sophonisba’s wedding gown was made of a dense white lace. It was cut tight at her waist to accent her figure and billowed out at her knees with so many layers of cloth she appeared to be walking on a cloud. Her veil was of a finer white lace, transparent enough that Sophonisba’s face could be seen behind, but only vaguely. An honor guard of twelve, wearing white tunics trimmed in red, vermillion chainmail vests, and red plumed helmets, marched up the aisle two by two to complete the procession.

  Syphax, a well-chiseled man of forty-plus years with dark penetrating eyes, rose from his throne as the entourage proceeded up the red carpet, drawn in by the mystery and allure of his bride’s appearance. When the attendants reached the throne, Zanthia and Gaia turned to the right, Nycea to the left. Syphax descended the three stairs from his throne’s elevated platform to receive Sophonisba. Hasdrubal presented his daughter to the king by offering him her hand. Syphax, staring into the face behind the veil, reached out, almost as though he were afraid to touch the fairy creature before him, and gently touched her fingers.

  A Numidian priest, who had been standing beside the throne with his arms folded within the wide sleeves of his purple robe, came forward with a jewel encrusted silver goblet and stood before the couple, now side by side and holding hands.

  The priest recited a long traditional Numidian marriage poem, then concluded by saying, “Of all the gods of the Numidian people, of all the gods of the Carthaginian people, we ask the blessing and protection of the union of King Syphax of the Masaesyli tribe and Sophonisba, daughter of Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo.”

  The priest presented the goblet to Syphax. Syphax took a sip, then held it out to Sophonisba. She took it in both of her hands, and Syphax lifted her veil so that she could drink. Sophonisba wore no paint or makeup so that the bloom of her youth was not diminished and the subtle colors of her skin were not dimmed. Syphax went down on one knee as though her beauty had commanded it. He lifted her right hand and slid a ring on her finger with a diamond so large it seemed to be a source of light in itself.

  Syphax then stood and embraced Sophonisba. They kissed and the priest pronounced them husband and wife. A slave came forward with a red pillow, carrying a golden diadem set with emeralds and rubies. Syphax lifted the diadem from the pillow and placed it on his queen’s head. The soldiers on either side of the red carpet raised their javelins and held them out, touching the tips of the javelins opposite them, forming an arched pathway from the throne to the vestibule. Syphax, beaming with pleasure, took Sophonisba’s hand and walked her down the aisle with the soldiers falling in behind as they passed. The guests followed the soldiers out of the palace to a huge outdoor feast that was open to the entire populace of Siga.

  While Sophonisba maintained a smile throughout the proceedings and seemed to enjoy the celebration, Syphax glowed with joy. He could not have been more pleased with himself or the woman he had married.

  CHAPTER 44

  When the sun sank behind t
he mountains west of the city, Sophonisba left the feast that would go on all night. Four guards accompanied the bride and her attendants back to the palace. The guards directed Sophonisba to the royal chambers on the palace’s second floor and the bedroom where the marriage would be consummated.

  Gaia and Nycea both gasped upon entering the vast bedroom that had been decorated specifically for that night. Ten oil lamps on gold stands provided the light. A four-poster bed dominated the room. Curtains of gauze hung on three sides. The fourth side was a black maple headboard, carved with the images of birds and wild animals. Huge bouquets of flowers covered the bed and overflowed from ceramic vases all around the room. Along with the king’s spears, shields, and hunting trophies, tapestries embroidered with landscapes of Africa hung over the stone walls. Gold necklaces, earrings of silver or gold or ivory, and two more jewel encrusted diadems were set out on the bride’s dressing table as gifts from the king. Royal robes, evening gowns, ornamental dresses, and other clothing accessories filled a black maple cabinet set against the wall adjacent to the bed.

  While Nycea and Gaia spun around the room overwhelmed by the jewelry and artwork, Sophonisba stood at one of the room’s two large windows and watched the sunset transform from brilliant orange into purples and reds. Zanthia instructed Nycea to turn down the bed and arrange the pillows, then told Gaia to help Sophonisba change from her wedding dress into her nightgown.