by Mika Waltari
When I returned to Rome I had only good news for Xenodotos and felt certain that the Etruscans would support Carthage as decisively as possible despite their old doubts. From Arnth I had received a copy of the secret list of commitments. Xenodotos was highly pleased to see it and declared that it exceeded his highest hopes.
“And all this you bring as a gift to me!” he exclaimed. “Now what shall I do with the golden bull’s-heads that I have transported with me with such effort?”
He had brought with him some bull’s-heads molded in the ancient Cretan manner which weighed a talent and were used as currency in Carthage. They had been hidden at the mouth of the river lest the Senate’s suspicions be roused by such immense wealth, and I laughingly urged him to take them back with him and said proudly that this was the Etruscans’ own war and that no one was bribing or compelling them to participate in it.
But Xenodotos declared that he would be suspect and his information considered worthless if he were to return the bull’s-heads. “This wealth is a sheer burden to me now that I have accomplished my task,” he lamented. “It is troublesome to transport and might even subject me to robbery. I could not have believed that everything would proceed so smoothly.”
Realizing that no benefit would be derived from awkwardly transporting the gold back to Susa, I suggested that we purchase a few shiploads of iron from Populonia, have it made into weapons, and hire someone to smuggle them to the Siccani. True, Hiuls was but a half-grown. boy and I had heard nothing about him during all these years, but the iron would strengthen his position among the Siccani and as the son of Dorieus he would know best how to use it. The Siccani might either serve the Carthaginian army as guides or tie up the Greeks by attacking Agrigentum. I suggested that Xenodotos might also send a few bull’sheads to Lars Arnth, who was an intelligent youth and could use the money to build several modern warships.
That was our decision, but he insisted that I accept one talent of gold as a present, if only to provide for unexpected expenses. So, after a night of drinking to the Etruscans and the Persian king, we parted as friends.
The council of Carthage had chosen Hamilcar as its military leader and bestowed upon him the powers of an autocrat for the period of the war. The son of that famous seafarer Hanno under whose direction expeditions had explored the ocean beyond the Pillars of Herakles, Hamilcar was an ambitious man. He also possessed the ability to plan, and during the winter he had recruited forces from the backwoods of all the Carthaginian colonies and even from Iberia, so that many lands and skin colors were represented in his army. Further, each nation was accustomed to fighting in its own manner and with its own weapons, and this, together with the various languages and eating habits, caused great confusion.
The Greeks’ equipment, on the other hand, was uniform, they were trained to fight in an open field as a moving front, and their heavily-armored soldiers had metal cuirasses and metal shields. And all during the winter Gelon and Theron vied with each other in building new triremes. We heard that Syracuse alone had almost one hundred triremes at sea that spring on maneuvers.
The worst surprise, however, was that the Roman Senate unexpectedly broke its agreement with Veil and had a bloody spear thrown into Veian territory. The Roman emissaries mentioned certain border violations, but that was merely a pretext, for agreement could have been reached just as it was every spring in the litigations between shepherds. Rome’s attack on Veil and its threatening movements near Caere and Tarquinia were the greatest misfortunes that could have befallen the Etruscan cause, for it made it necessary to cut the Sicilian expedition to an insignificant size. We sailed for Sicily only when we realized that in one way or another the Greeks had succeeded in inciting Rome to war against the Etruscans and that the Romans were deliberately engaged in raids to tie up Veian troops. We were forty light warships, two triremes and a number of cargo vessels with several thousand men, most of them heavily armored and trained to use a sword, shield and spear in the Greek manner. But we had no cavalry whatsoever and Lars Arnth was unable to accompany us. Tarquinia needed its cavalry to guard its borders against Rome.
It was late summer when we sighted the Sicilian shore but the Carthaginian fleet which we had joined at sea managed so well that we made directly for Himera without being bothered by the Greeks and softly pulled our vessels ashore. Hamilcar had seized the harbor and the mouth of the river and laid siege to the city, thus sparing his disgruntled mercenaries an exhausting march through the land of Eryx to Himera by way of the Siccanian mountains and forest. There were more than thirty thousand Carthaginian mercenaries and their encampment stretched around Himera as far as the eye could see.
Off from the others, in the woods, were a thousand Siccanians and, leaving the Etruscan chiefs to confer with Hamilcar, T hastened to their camp. My heart melted at my first sight of the black-, red- and white-striped faces and arms. The Siccanians were greatly surprised when I spoke to them in their own language and brought me quickly to their sacred rock. Around it were gathered the chiefs of the various tribes with their wooden masks. Among them I saw a stalwart boy carrying my own shield and, recognizing him immediately despite his mask, I ran to embrace him.
Hiuls was not yet thirteen, and his youth made him suspicious. He retreated before me and the Siccanian chiefs shouted angrily at me for so disrespectfully daring to lay hands on their Erkle. But when he realized who I was Hiuls took off his mask, asked to have meat and fat brought for me, and thanked me for the weapons that I had sent him.
He explained, “Hamilcar of Carthage is a mighty warrior and with him are powerful Baal and many other gods. We Siccanians are leaving our forest as an organized army for the first time to support him against, the Greeks. But we worship only our own gods and are not bound to the Carthaginian or Elymian gods. The battles will benefit my people by teaching them how to fight in a real war, and we shall grow wealthy from the booty. But after the war we will return to our forests and mountains and have nothing to do with the Carthaginians or Elymians.”
“You are Erkle,” I said. “You must decide for your people. Whatsoever happens, think only of the good of your people. I will not thrust my advice upon you, for you are the king, not I.”
Seeing that I did not attempt to advise him or demand gifts for the weapons I had sent, Hiuls relented and seated himself cross-legged on his shield. He sent his men running by with their weapons, ten at a time, and contentedly observed how accurately they could toss their spears.
Meeting the Siccani warmed my heart. I even drank a drop of the poisonous potion with their chiefs and was once again able to see through tree trunks and rocks. I spent the night with them on the bare ground, but my body had grown flabby and accustomed to the comforts of life, with the result that I caught a bad cold. Thereafter I thought it best to spend the night on an Etruscan vessel.
We had to conquer Himera first and thereafter decide whether we should turn upon the Greeks in terrain of our choice or fortify ourselves in Himera and wait for them to attack. The only disturbing factor was that the Carthaginian vessels at the mouth of the strait had not yet made contact with the Syracusan fleet. The Greek triremes had disappeared from the sea and’^1 Hamilcar feared that they would attempt to cut his supply line. He declared that he dreaded that more than a battle with the small Greek land forces.
Although he respected the Etruscans’ fame as soldiers so highly that he asked us to form the center of his front, he reproached us for being so few that we broke the Etruscans’ promise concerning the number of troops they would send. And he had reason to censure us, for our forces no doubt were more troublesome than helpful. But what had happened had happened and could not be changed. For our part we asked the Etruscan chiefs to express our amazement at Hamilcar’s purple tent, ivory couches, gold and silver dishes, images of deities and great number of slaves, all of which had taken up most of the space on several cargo vessels. I myself said that the Carthaginians appeared to have devoted more time and effort to making thei
r lives comfortable than to fortifying the camp.
Hamilcar called on Baal and other gods, shouted that his Negroes and Libyans were not accustomed to digging pits in the ground, and said it was far better for his troops to trust to the Carthaginian gods with full bellies and happy minds.
When I explained that the Romans were in the habit of digging trenches as soon as they had made camp, Hamilcar said stiffly, “My way of waging war is the Carthaginian way. I think that I understand my own troops better than you, stranger.”
In talking to the brutal and belligerent mercenaries who were tired of their inactivity I realized that they were completely ready to storm Himera. They burned with desire for loot and were prepared to risk their lives for the chance to plunder and rape as much as they pleased in a Greek city. Slowly I began to suspect that Hamilcar had a political reason for hesitating outside Himera’s wall.
This reason became apparent at a banquet the Carthaginian arrranged for us. Suddenly the purple drapes at the rear of the tent parted and in stepped Kydippe, leading her two small sons while the two older boys clung to her robe with grave eyes.
As a matured woman Kydippe was more beautiful than she had ever been as a maiden. Gold dust was sprinkled in her Aphrodite hairdress, and her neck, arms and ankles were weighted with heavy jeweled ornaments. Her lips still smiled temptingly and although she had given birth to four sons her waist was still slender and she wore her Phoenician robe tightly belted. We cried out in amazement upon sight of her and leaped from our couches to drink to her honor.
Hamilcar greatly enjoyed our surprise and said with a smile, “Our hostage, Kydippe, has accompanied us from Carthage with her children to guard the interests of Himera. We left Terillos in Carthage since he is politically incompetent. Indeed it might be best to leave Himera to Anaxilaos until one of the boys becomes old enough to rule the city.”
Even as he spoke I saw that Hamilcar’s face and expression betrayed his obvious infatuation for Kydippe. Who would not have become enchanted with that beautiful and ambitious woman who even as a young girl knew cold-bloodedly how to take advantage of men’s senses to gain her own ends? With a bright voice she urged us to continue our banquet and began moving slowly from one couch to another, addressing the Carthaginian leaders by name. We forgot our conversation and followed her with our eyes.
Finally she sat on the edge of my couch and began to talk to the Etruscan leaders. “I speak your language poorly, you incomparable warriors, but as civilized men you undoubtedly speak Greek. I was born and reared in Himera and in this river I swam as a maiden. That is why I am horrified by the thought that its houses will go up in smoke and its wealth will be destroyed. It has suffered enough already at the hands of the Syracusan soldiers. If you overcome the Greeks, Himera will drop into your lap without resistance.”
Hamilcar confirmed her words. “Anaxilaos of Rhegion asked for our assistance and left his wife and sons as hostages, binding himself to fight for Carthage and his own cause to the last man. We will benefit nothing if we destroy Himera but will only lose a prosperous trading center.”
I rose onto my elbow and said vehemently, “I also pity Himera and its residents, but the laws of war are merciless. The commander who deliberately places himself between two fires is mad. If we wage an open battle with the Greeks here, the Himeran garrison will attack our rear at the decisive moment.”
Kydippe raised her white hand to her mouth, turned to look at me, pretended to recognize me only then and exclaimed joyously, “You, Turms! How I rejoice to see your face once more. Let us drink a cup of wine together and not talk nonsense.”
She pressed the edge of her golden goblet to my lips and poured strong wine down my throat. As I coughed and swallowed she explained to the others, “Don’t be offended, but this fair man was my first love and I think I even kissed him once when I was a thoughtless girl. That is why I still feel a certain weakness toward him and all my girlhood memories return when I drink wine with him.”
When I still tried to say something she made her sons hug me and kiss my cheeks and placed her own hand on my neck so cleverly that a tremor passed through my body.
Hamilcar did not like it. His face darkened and he bit his lip. “Let us bar the gates of Himera with branches and logs and if need be set fire to them to prevent the garrison from attacking us. I have made preparations for all eventualities and the gods of Carthage still offer me favorable omens. The power of decision is mine and I will endure no criticism of my decision.”
Since Hamilcar was interested only in talk that pleased him, I ceased speaking and was content to watch Kydippe. She fingered my braid and whispered, “Truly, Turms, I still remember vividly how your mouth kissed mine and your hand caressed my body. I was certainly not indifferent although I pretended to be. At my age and as the mother of four boys I confess that I have never been able to forget you. Once on a moonlit night you even appeared beside my bed and I awakened with a start, but it was only a dream.”
As I held Kydippe’s hand and drank from her goblet, Hamilcar could no longer control himself but leaped from the couch of honor and declared in a trembling voice that Kydippe had already said enough for a hostage and a woman and bade her return to the protection of the eunuchs. I alone knew that Kydippe had deliberately encouraged his jealousy to demonstrate to herself her influence over him, for as she led her sons away, she glanced around the tent in triumph.
5.
I was filled with a deep foreboding and life at Hamilcar’s encampment did not please me. The Etruscan commanders spent their days training the soldiers to fight breast to breast in a closed column, and although the mercenaries at first gathered around us to laugh and jeer at our efforts, their commanders soon became ambitious and ordered their own troops into training. We saw Libyans who linked their man-high shields to one another to form a wall of shields, and other troops who had iron bands around their waists by which they were fettered to one another to prevent a break in the line.
Then one day Hamilcar’s scouts galloped into camp with lathered horses and shouted that the Greeks were but a day’s march away, their numbers were countless and their shields and armor flashed dazzlingly in the sunlight as they rolled over the inland hills like the waves of the sea. The news created such a panic in the camp that many ran to the shore and fought their way onto the cargo vessels. Indeed, some were crushed to death and a number were drowned before Hamilcar managed to subdue them with whip and truncheon.
From the Siccanians we learned the exact size of the combined Syra-cusan and Agrigentian forces as well as the number of their heavily armored troops, their stone-slingers and their cavalrymen, for the Siccani could move through the forest on horny soles faster than the cavalry. It was not the number of the Greeks that was alarming but rather their order and the uniformity of their weapons. In fact, it became apparent that Hamilcar’s forces numbered at least three times those of the Greeks. He was certain of victory, had giant bonfires lighted before the images of the gods that had been erected in various parts of the camp, and circulated among his troops, encouraging them and sacrificing rams to the gods.
The paucity of the Greeks was, however, compensated for by their strategy. A half day’s march from Himera they paused to scout our camp and to establish contact with the Himeran garrison by means of Egyptian doves. Now Hamilcar thought they hesitated because of his overwhelming superiority and planned to send his troops against them. But it became apparent why they waited when the combined fleets of Syracuse and Agrigentum, totaling over two hundred modern triremes, rowed out of the morning haze, filling the entire sea. Moreover, the fleet arrived from the west, from the direction of Panormos and not from the strait to the east where Hamilcar had stationed half his fleet. Thus we could not believe our eyes at first and thought that the vessels were Carthaginian until we recognized them as triremes and distinguished “ the Greek emblems.
When the warships had closed the sea we learned that the Greek land forces had begun to move and were q
uick-marching toward Himera. Without hesitation Hamilcar took the necessary action and sent numerous warnings to his fleet at the strait by both sea and land. But only two Siccanians were able to get through and Hamilcar’s commanders at first refused to believe them, thinking it a Greek stratagem. Only when the fishermen on the shore confirmed the incredible fact that the Greek fleet had circled Sicily did the commanders obey the order. But by then it was too late.
For on the following morning the Greek forces spread themselves in battle formation before Himera, supporting their flank on one side with the river, on the other with the forest and slopes. Contrary to custom, they had placed their cavalry in the center to try to break through Hamilcar’s front and establish contact with Himera during the battle. The mournful drums of the Siccani began to sound in the forest and for once our camp was afoot in the gray of dawn as the troops marched in good order to their indicated positions.
Immediately he saw the position of the Greek cavalry Hamilcar changed his battle plan at the last moment and withdrew forces from both wings to support the center. These consisted of the heavily armored Iberians and the Libyans who were linked together, for Hamilcar did not intend to permit his foe to break through his center. His lack of confidence in us Etruscans angered us, nor were we pleased by the fact that fettered barbarians would drive us ahead once the battle started and thus isolate us from our ships. But the ceaseless clatter of the Carthaginians’ rattles and the sound of their long horns prevented any further thinking. Nor did the Greeks pause to await our attack but sent their cavalry forward and resolutely advanced toward us.
When he saw that the battle was beginning Hamilcar gave the order to set fire to the logs piled before the gates of Himera to prevent an attack by the garrison. Also at the last moment we managed to strike sharp piles and stakes into the ground before us while the war machines catapulted boulders into the cavalry. But otherwise we remained in the path of the hoofs.
