CHAPTER IX
THE HUNGRY CITY
The trireme conveying the Roman legates had been on her voyage more thanfifteen days.
She had sailed up the coasts of the Tyrrhenian Sea; she had then crossedthe Sea of Liguria, bound by abrupt coasts, and had passed beforeMassilia, the prosperous Grecian colony, also allied to Rome. Then,audaciously crossing the broad gulf, she had turned her prow towardEmporion, and had skirted the coasts of Iberia.
The ambassadors from Rome were the patricians Valerius Flaccus, one ofthose who desired to maintain the peace with prudent words, and BaebiusTamphilus who enjoyed the love of the Roman plebs because of hissympathy for their sufferings.
Actaeon displayed impatience to reach Saguntum. He wished to confer withhis friends and avoid the useless sacrifice of the city, explaining tothem the mood of Rome so that they should not persist in a uselessdefense. For seven months Saguntum had held out in strenuous resistance.Autumn had not yet commenced when Hannibal's army had appeared beforethe city, and it was now near the end of winter.
The Greek reflected sadly upon the fond illusions he had cherished whilemaking his adventurous and perilous way to Rome. He had hoped that hispresence in the great city, and his story of the sufferings of thefaithful ally, would arouse the Romans, and that the legions would shoutfor vengeance----but he was returning without soldiers, in a ship withambassadors feigning interest in Saguntum but not deeply moved by hermisfortunes----returning without other support than high-sounding,impotent words, and a bronze wolf on the end of a staff proclaiming thedignity of the embassy.
What of the enthusiastic and credulous multitude fighting on the walls,filling the yawning breach with their unflinching breasts, and who togather fresh courage only needed to imagine the coming of theRomans!----What would they say? Then, with a sudden turn of thought,what of Sonnica, she so brave, sending him that he might save the city!How could she, accustomed to a life of luxury and ease, live in themisery and horror of that siege, which had endured until the stores ofthe city must be consumed, and the energy of its defenders exhausted!
The ship left the mouth of the Ebro, and struggling against contrarywinds, at length, one morning, sighted the Acropolis of Saguntum. Fromthe tall tower of Hercules shot up a cloud of smoke in greeting! Theyhad recognized the vessel by the square rigging of the Roman men-of-war.
The sun was in the zenith when the ship, with reefed sails, and drivenby the triple bank of oars, stood into the channel which gave entranceto the port of Saguntum. Within the harbor, above the reeds waving inthe marshes, rose the masts of Carthaginian vessels anchored in thetriple port.
The crew of the Roman ship beheld great troops of horsemen gallopingalong the beach. They were squadrons of Numidians and Mauritanians,waving their lances and uttering war cries as when charging in battle.
One horseman, with bronze armor and uncovered head, had called to themto heave to. Advancing alone, he urged his horse into the channel,approaching the ship until the waters rose to the animal's belly.
Actaeon recognized him.
"That is Hannibal," he said to the two legates standing beside him onthe poop, who were watching with astonishment the bellicose character oftheir reception before they had even cast anchor in the port ofSaguntum.
Fresh squadrons continued to arrive, as if the news of the coming shiphad spread alarm through the camp, attracting all the troops to theport. Behind the cavalry came the fierce Celtiberians at full speed, theBalearic slingers, all the foot-soldiers, of diverse races who figuredin the besieging army.
Hannibal, even at the risk of drowning, pressed his horse forward intothe waters of the channel to make himself heard on the ship, andordering them to stop he held up his hand so imperiously that in aninstant the oars dropped motionless along the hull.
"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked in Greek.
Actaeon interpreted between the Romans and the Carthaginian chief.
"They are legates from Rome, coming to see you in the name of theRepublic."
"Who are you, speaking to me in a voice that I seem to know?"
He shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked keenly until he recognizedthe Greek.
"Is it you, Actaeon? Always you, restless Athenian! I thought you werewithin the city, yet you have managed to slip away to bring these men tome. Well and good! Tell them it is too late. Why waste words? Achieftain who lays siege to a city only receives ambassadors after he isinside the walls."
The Greek repeated Hannibal's words to the Romans, translating theirreplies.
"Listen, African!" said Actaeon to Hannibal. "The envoys from Rome remindyou of the friendship which they have contracted with Saguntum. In thename of the Senate and the Roman people they call upon you to raise thesiege and to respect the city."
"Tell them that Saguntum has offended me, and that she was first indeclaring war by sacrificing my friends and by refusing to respect myallies, the Turdetani."
"That is not true, Hannibal."
"Greek, repeat what I say to the Romans."
"The legates wish to land. They must speak to you in the name of Rome."
"It is useless. They cannot make me desist from my enterprise. Moreover,the siege has lasted long, the troops are excited and a camp like mine,composed of ferocious peoples from many countries, who are onlyrestrained when in my presence, is no safe place for ambassadors fromRome. We had a battle only a few hours ago, and they are still fumingwith wrath."
As he said this he turned toward his troops, and, as if taking themovement for an order, or perhaps divining in the eyes of theirchieftain his hidden purpose, they advanced into the water as if toattack by swimming against the ship. Horsemen threatened with lancesstill dyed in the blood of recent battle; they raised their shields, onwhich the more savage Africans had hung as trophies the scalps ofSaguntines killed in the last sally. The Balearians showed their whiteteeth in stupid grins, and taking clay balls from their pouches, theydirected sling-shots against the Roman vessel.
"Do you see?" shouted Hannibal with satisfaction. "It is impossible toreceive the legates in my camp. It is too late to talk. There is nothingleft but for Saguntum to give herself up to me in punishment for hercrimes."
The legates, scorning the projectiles from the slings, leaned over theside of the ship, thrusting forward their bodies covered by their togas,with an arrogance which seemed to defy the savage warriors.
Indignation at being received with such scorn blanched their cheeks.
"African!" shouted one of the legates in Latin, heedless that Hannibalcould not understand, "since you will not receive the envoys from Romewe shall go on to Carthage to demand that they turn your person over tous for breaking the treaties of Hasdrubal. Rome will punish you when youbecome our prisoner!"
"What does he say? What does he say?" growled Hannibal enraged at theincomprehensible words in which he surmised a threat.
When Actaeon explained, the chieftain burst into a loud laugh ofderision.
"Go, Romans!" he shouted. "Go thither! The rich hate me and they wouldbe glad to grant your demands and turn me over to the enemy; but thepeople love me, and there is no man in Carthage who dares to come intothe bosom of my army to make me prisoner."
Arrows rained around the ship; clay balls rebounded from her sides, andthe Roman pilot gave the order to recede. The oars moved and the vesselslowly began to put about, and dropped down the channel.
"But are we going to Carthage?" asked the Greek.
"Yes, in Carthage they will hear us better," replied one of the legates."After what has taken place, either the Senate there will turn Hannibalover to us, or Rome will declare war on Carthage."
"You may go, Romans, but my duty lies here."
Before the two senators and the legates from Saguntum, who had witnessedthe former scene with astonishment, could interfere, the Athenian flungone leg over the rail and sprang head first into the channel. He swamunder water for some time, then came up, floating near the bank, towhich the cavalry and fo
ot-soldiers had rushed to take him prisoner.
Before his feet touched ground Actaeon was surrounded by a horde ofslingers who rushed into the water up to their middles to takepossession of his clothing without having to divide it among theircomrades. In an instant they tore off his Celtiberian sword, the pouchhanging from his belt, and a gold chain which he wore on his breast inmemory of Sonnica. They were about to strip him of his traveling tunic,leaving him naked, and he had begun to receive blows from the barbarousand cruel crowd, when Hannibal rode up and recognized him.
"You have preferred to stay! I am glad of that. After having wrought meso much damage from the walls of Saguntum you have repented and you havecome to join with me. I ought to leave you in the hands of thesebarbarians who would rend you to pieces; I ought to crucify you outsidemy camp so that that Greek woman whom you love could shudder at you; butI remember the promise I made you, and I shall keep it, and welcome youas a friend."
He ordered one of his officials to cover the Greek's wet garments withan _endromis_, a military cloak of long hair with a hood, worn bysoldiers over their armor in winter. Then he bade him mount a Numidian'shorse.
They took up their march toward the camp. The troops who had rushed tothe entrance of the port slowly returned, while the ship fast droppedthe land, spreading her glowing sails. On the Acropolis the smoke haddissipated, leaving only a few light clouds floating in the breeze. Fromafar one could guess the disappointment felt in the city by theunexpected flight of the Roman ship. With her seemed to vanish the lasthope of the besieged. Hannibal's troops, as they retired, commented onthe scene at the entrance to the port between their chief and the envoysfrom Rome. They did not understand the words which had been exchanged;but the energetic accent of the Roman as he spoke to Hannibal seemed tothem a threat. Some, pretending that they had understood the ambassador,repeated an imaginary discourse in which the threat was made in the nameof Rome to cut the throats of the whole army and to stretch Hannibal ona cross. They repeated these threats, each swelling them with inventionsof his own, and when the troops met other detachments on the Road ofthe Serpent or in different parts of the valley, all declared they hadseen the chains which the Roman legates displayed from the ship, and inwhich they expected to take their chieftain prisoner, and a howl of ragearose from the hosts of Hannibal.
The African was flattered at the flood-tide of indignation surgingaround him. The soldiers, barring his way, acclaimed him with greaterenthusiasm; he heard voices in every tongue crying death to Rome,calling upon the chieftain to make the final assault upon the city, totake possession of it before the ambassadors should reach Carthage andplot the downfall of the youthful hero.
"Take care of yourself, Hannibal!" said an old Celtiberian plantinghimself before his horse. "Your enemies in Carthage, Hanno's faction,will unite with Rome to work your ruin."
"The people love me," said the chieftain, arrogantly. "Before theCarthaginian Senate hears the Romans, Saguntum will be ours, and theCarthaginians will acclaim our triumph."
With saddened heart Actaeon beheld the desolation of the fields whichused to be so joyous and so fertile. There were no other ships in theport but men-of-war from New Carthage. The seamen slept in the fane ofAphrodite after having rifled the temple of its valuables. Thewarehouses had been pillaged and destroyed; the wharves covered withfilth; in the fields not a vestige of the ancient villas remained. Theferocity of the barbarian tribes from the interior, their hatred for theGreeks of the coast, had incited them to even tear up the multicolorpavements and to scatter the fragments. The whole valley was an immense,desolated plain. Not a tree was standing. To combat the cold of winterthey had felled the groves of fig trees, the broad plantations ofolives, the stocks of the grapevines of the vineyards, destroying eventhe houses to warm themselves with the rafters from the roofs. Nothingremained standing but ruined walls and low shrubbery. A fungoidvegetation which grew rapidly, fertilized by bodies of men and animals,extended over the valley, obliterating the ancient roads, creeping upthe ruins, and choking the beds of the streams which, their irrigatingditches broken, scattered their waters until the low fields wereconverted into ponds.
It was the devastating work of a continually swelling army composed of ahundred and eighty thousand men and of many thousands of horses. In ashort time they had devoured the Saguntine domain. The soldiers afterdestroying all that was not of immediate use, extended their rapacity tosurrounding zones, constantly broadening their radius of destruction asthe siege was prolonged.
Supplies now came from a distance of many days' journey; sent by remotetribes in the hope of a reward of booty which Hannibal knew how toinstill into their minds, telling them of the riches of Saguntum. Theelephants had been sent to New Carthage some months before, as they wereuseless in the siege and difficult to maintain in this devastatedregion.
Over the domain flew crows in undulating black clouds. From the thicketrose the stench of rotting horses and mules. By the roadsides, theirmembers pinned to the ground by rocks, lay the bodies of barbarians putto death because of hopeless wounds, and whose bodies their compatriots,according to the customs of their race, left abandoned to the birds ofprey. The immense agglomeration had vitiated the atmosphere of thevalley. They lived in the open, and yet, the filth of the multitude, andthe vapors of death, seemed disseminated between the mountains and thesea as a heavy atmosphere replete with sickness and death.
Actaeon, coming from a distance, was the more sensitive to this stench ofthe camp, and he thought of the beleaguered people with sadness. Lookingtoward the city he guessed the horrors hidden behind those reddish wallsafter a resistance of seven months.
They approached the camp. The Greek saw that this concentration ofmilitary forces had assumed the aspect of a permanent city. Few tents ofcanvas or of skins were left. The winter, which now was drawing to aclose, had compelled the besiegers to construct stone huts with thatchedroofs, and wooden houses which looked like towers and served as supportsto the earthworks thrown up roundabout the camp.
Hannibal, as if reading Actaeon's thought, smiled savagely while his eyesswept the work of destruction wrought by his army outside the city.
"You find all this greatly changed, eh, Actaeon?"
"I see that your troops have not been idle while you were off punishingthe rebels in Celtiberia."
"Maherbal, my chief of cavalry, is an excellent aide. When I returned heshowed me two of the walls of Saguntum destroyed, and a part of thecity in our power. Do you see that citadel near the Acropolis, insidethe walled district? Well, that is ours. The catapults, which you cansee from here, shoot into Saguntum, which has become reduced to half itsformer size--and they still dream of defending themselves! They stillhope for auxiliaries from Rome! Stubborn brutes! They have constructed aline of walls for the third time, and thus they have gone on losingground and persisting in the defense until nothing is left to them butthe Forum, where I shall knife every man, woman, and child whom I findalive--O, proud and indomitable city! I will make you my slave!"
The African turned to his old-time companion and changed theconversation.
"Your eyes are opened at last, and you have come to me. Are you going tofollow me with enthusiasm? Will you join me in that series ofenterprises of which I spoke to you one day at sunrise here on this veryroad? Perhaps you will become a king because of having followedHannibal, as did Ptolemy following Alexander. Are you resolved?"
Actaeon hesitated a moment before replying, and Hannibal read indecisionin his eyes--the desire to deceive.
"Do not lie, Greek; lies are for enemies, or for preserving life. I amyour friend, and I have promised to respect your safety. Can it be thatyou do not mean to follow me?"
"Well, of a truth, I do not," said the Greek with resolution. "I wish toreturn to the city, and if you truly have affection for the companion ofyour youth, let me go."
"But you will perish inside that city! Do not expect mercy if we forceour entrance through the breach!"
"I shall die," said
the Athenian simply, "but there, inside those walls,are men who received me as a compatriot when I was wandering hungry overthe world; there is a woman who took me in when I was poor, and gave melove and riches. They sent me to Rome that I might bring them a word ofhope, and I must return, even though it be only to give them sorrow andpain. What does it matter if you set me free? To-morrow perhaps you cankill me. I shall be one more mouth to feed, and surely hunger must reignin Saguntum. Perhaps when I tell them the truth, when they see me returnwithout assistance, their courage may weaken and they may give up thetown to you. Let me pass through the lines, Hannibal; with this, it maybe that without desiring to do so, I shall forward your plans."
Hannibal looked at him in surprise.
"Madman! I never believed an Athenian capable of such a sacrifice. Youare such a light-hearted people, so given to perfidy, so false when youwish to satisfy your egoism! You are the first Greek I ever foundfaithful to the city which adopted him. Carthage had worse luck with themercenaries from your country! It is impossible to make anything of you;you are only half a man! Love overmasters you; you are not satisfied asI am with the woman who wanders around the camp, or whom one takes whena city is assaulted and afterwards turns over to the soldiers. You bindyourself to a woman, you become her slave, and you seek an ingloriousdeath in a dark corner of the world, like a mercenary in the service ofa handful of merchants, merely for the sake of seeing her again. Go,madman, go! I give you your liberty--I wish to hear no more about you. Iwas ready to make you a hero and you answer me like a slave. Go in toSaguntum, but know that the protection of Hannibal abandons you fromthis moment. If you fall into my hands inside the city you will be myprisoner, never my friend!"
Digging his heels into his horse's ribs, Hannibal dashed into his camp,contemptuously turning his back upon the Greek. In a moment a youngCarthaginian approached, who, without a word, nor even a glance at him,grasped his bridle-reins and proceeded toward Saguntum.
As they gained the outposts of the besieging army the Carthaginianpronounced a word and Actaeon passed on amid the hostile gaze of thesoldiers who had heard of the scene at the port, and were clamoring withrage, thinking of the chains which the legates from Rome had theinsolence to show to their chief. That Greek who was about to enter thebesieged city must have been a companion of the legates, and many placedan arrow in the bow to shoot at him, but were restrained by a cold andhaughty glance from the young Carthaginian who spoke in the name ofHannibal.
They arrived at the ruins of the first walled quarter. The van of thebesieging army was within the shelter of the walls. The Greekdismounted, and breaking a thorny branch from a bush he walked on,holding it aloft as a signal of peace.
He stood before the wall which had been built under his direction onenight to hold back the invader. Upon it he saw the helmets of only a fewdefenders. The besieger was directing his attacks against the upperpart. That side of the city where the early battles had taken place wasalmost abandoned. The guardians on the wall greeted Actaeon with loudshouts of surprise and joy, and they lowered a rope of esparto to helphim climb up by means of the rough places on the wall, until he couldenter through a crenel near the top. All surrounded the Greek eagerly.It seemed as if he were in the presence of spectres. Their bodiesappeared ready to slip out of their ample armor; their faces, sad,yellow, parchment-like, were hidden beneath the visors of their helmets;their fleshless, wrinkled hands could barely sustain their weapons, anda strange, golden effulgence glowed in their eyes.
Actaeon parried their flood of questions with kind words ofencouragement. He would speak opportunely; he must first render anaccount of his mission to the Elders of the Senate. They must be calm;before night they should know all. Filled with commiseration in thepresence of these heroes, he lied mercifully, declaring that Rome wouldnot forget Saguntum, and that he had come in advance of the legions sentby the allies.
From the houses nearby, from the streets close to the wall, issued menand women drawn by news of the arrival of the Greek. They surroundedhim, they questioned him; all wished to be first to receive the news toscatter it through the city. Defending himself from them, Actaeon gazedwith horror at their lean, yellow faces, their earthy skin outlining theprominent sutures of their skulls; their sunken eyes in their blackorbits shining with an unearthly light, like fading stars reflected inthe depths of a well, and their emaciated arms, which creaked likecanes as they moved them with nervous emotion.
He started onward, escorted by the multitude, preceded by boysabsolutely nude, horrible to look at, with skins ready to break from thepressure of their ribs outlined one above the other, with enormouslylarge heads above their fleshless necks. They staggered painfully, as iftheir tottering, thread-like limbs could not bear the weight of theirbodies; some, to lessen their suffering, dragged themselves along theground, lacking the strength to stand.
Actaeon beheld a deserted corpse lying in a corner, the face covered withstrange flies which glinted in the sunshine with metallic reflections.Farther on at a cross street, some women were trying to raise to hisfeet a naked youth beside whom lay his abandoned bow. The Greek notedwith horror his sunken, inward-curving abdomen, a palpitating whirlpoolof skin between the protruding hip bones which threatened to burst fromthe body. It was a mummy still showing a flickering spark of life in theeyes, opening and shutting its parched and blackened lips as if feedingon the unnourishing air.
He continued on his way down the lengthy streets, but no more peoplejoined the group. The doors of many houses remained closed, despite theclamor of the crowd, and Actaeon contrasted this solitude with the greatmultitude of people during the early days of the siege. Dead dogs lyingin the gullies, as emaciated as the people themselves, polluted theatmosphere. At street crossings lay skeletons of horses and mules, cleanand white, holding not even a scrap of flesh to satisfy the repugnantinsects buzzing in the atmosphere of the doomed city.
With his gift of keen observation, the Greek's attention was fixed bythe warriors' weapons. He saw only cuirasses of metal; those made ofleather had disappeared. The shields displayed their texture of osier orbull-tendon, destitute of their coverings of hide. In one corner he sawtwo old men fighting over a black and stringy morsel; it was a bit ofcrow boiled in water. Many two-storied houses had been demolished toobtain stones for use in the new wall which barred the advance of theenemy.
Desolating hunger had swept everything with cruel touch. Even the mostfetid and repugnant matter had been turned to account. It was as if thebesiegers had already broken into the city and had carried offeverything of worth, leaving nothing but the buildings behind as silentwitnesses to their rapine. Hunger and death stalked hand in hand besidethe desperate Saguntines.
On approaching the Forum a woman pushed her way through the peopletoward the Greek and flung her arms around his neck.
"Actaeon, my love!" cried Sonnica.
The privations of the siege had left deep marks upon her. She did notpresent the appearance of extreme emaciation as did most, but she wasthin and pale, her nose sharpened, her cheeks transmitting an interiorlight, the arms which clung to him thin and hot with fever. A bluecircle surrounded her eyes, and her rich tunic hung loose in emptyfolds; her body, in growing thinner, seemed to have gained in height.
"Actaeon----my love!" she cried again, "I had lost hope of ever seeingyou! Bless you, bless you for coming back!"
She walked beside him, one of her arms around his neck. The multitudelooked upon Sonnica with veneration; she had sacrificed herself for thepoor, sharing with them each day the shrinking supplies of herstore-houses.
Actaeon recognized Euphobias the philosopher in the crowd, his garmentsmore ragged than ever, almost naked, but with an appearance of relativevigor which contrasted strangely with the starving appearance of themajority. Lachares and the elegant young friends of Sonnica bowed to himfrom a distance with a distraught expression. They had the look ofstarving men, but they concealed their pallor beneath rouge and othercosmetics, and they wore their richest vestmen
ts as if to consolethemselves for their privations with the pomp of useless luxury. Theyoung slave boys who accompanied them moved their emaciated limbs,covered by gold-embroidered garments, and gazing at their pendants ofpearls, they yawned painfully. The crowd halted in the Forum. The Eldershad gathered in the temple near the quadrangle. Above, on the Acropolis,the Carthaginians who occupied a part of the hill, kept up a continualbombardment, and great stones from the catapults fell constantly. Someof these reached the Forum, and the roofs of many houses and walls werepierced and shattered by the enormous projectiles.
Actaeon entered the temple alone. The number of Ancients had diminished.Some had died, victims of hunger and pestilence; others, with juvenileardor, had rushed forth to defend the walls, and there encountereddeath. The prudent Alcon seemed to enjoy great ascendancy, and hefigured at the head of the assembly. Events had justified the prudencewhich had caused him in other days to declare against the warlikeenterprises of the city and their fondness for alliances.
"Speak, Actaeon," said Alcon. "Tell us the truth, the whole truth! Afterthe misfortunes the gods have already sent us, we can bear evengreater."
The Greek looked at the men, wrapped in their flowing mantles, holdingtheir tall staves of authority, awaiting his words with an anxiety whichthey made an effort to conceal behind majestic calmness.
He related his audience by the Roman Senate; he told of the cautionwhich had impelled it to favor conciliatory measures; of the arrival ofthe legates off Saguntum; of their extraordinary reception by Hannibal,and of the departure of the ambassadors for Carthage to demand thepunishment of the chieftain and desistance from the siege of Saguntum.
As the sad tale proceeded the calmness of the Elders graduallydissipated. Some, more violent, arose to their feet and rent theirgarments, crying aloud with grief; others, in their excitement, beattheir foreheads with clenched fists, raging with fury on hearing thatRome had not sent her legions; and the eldest among them, withoutsacrificing their dignity, wept unashamed, allowing their tears tostream down their fleshless cheeks into their snowy beards.
"They have forsaken us!"
"It will be too late when help arrives!"
"Saguntum will perish before the Romans can reach Carthage!"
The assemblage remained long in a state of desperation. Some, motionlessin their seats from weakness, implored the gods to let them die ere theyshould behold the downfall of their people.
It seemed as if the hordes of Hannibal were already clamoring at thetemple doors.
"Restrain yourselves, Elders!" admonished Alcon. "Remember that thecitizens of Saguntum stand waiting outside these walls. If they suspectyour despair, discouragement will spread abroad, and this very night wewill become the slaves of Hannibal!"
Slowly the Elders recovered their composure, and silence reigned. Allawaited the counsel of Alcon the Prudent. He spoke.
"You do not entertain the thought of immediate surrender of the city, doyou?"
A roar of indignation from the Senate answered him.
"Never, never!"
"Then, in order to keep hearts beating with hope, to prolong the defensea few more days, you must lie; you must inspire in the Saguntines adeceptive confidence. Provisions are exhausted; those who man the walls,weapons in hand, have eaten the flesh of the last horses that remainedin the city. The plebs are perishing of hunger. Every night hundreds ofcorpses are gathered and burned on the Acropolis for fear of their beingdevoured by wandering dogs pressed by hunger, which have turned intoveritable wild beasts that attack even the living. There is a complaintthat some of the foreigners sheltered in the city, in company withslaves and mercenaries, lie in wait by night near the walls to eatwhatever bodies they find. The cisterns of the city are almost dry;there is but little water left, and that is thick with mud; and yet noone in Saguntum talks of surrender, and the defense must be continued.We all know what awaits us if we fall into the hands of Hannibal."
"I have talked with him," said Actaeon, "and he is inexorable. If heenters Saguntum every man of us will become his slave!"
The assembly stirred again with indignation.
"We will die first!" shouted the Elders.
Hastily they agreed upon what must be said to the people. They swore bythe gods to conceal the truth. They would prolong the sacrifice in thehope that aid from Rome might come in time. Composing their countenancesso that none should divine their despair, the Elders walked out of thetemple. Swiftly the news flashed through the city. The legates hadproceeded to Carthage to waste no time in the camp; there they woulddemand the punishment of Hannibal. The legions which Rome was sending tothe support of the Saguntines would arrive at any moment.
The crowd received this specious fabrication with cold insensibility.The sufferings of the siege had deadened their feelings. Besides, theyhad been fired so many times with hope of the coming of the Romans thatthey doubted and would not believe until they saw the fleet itself.
Actaeon mingled with the starving crowd searching for Sonnica. He foundher surrounded by Lachares and the young gallants. Near them stoodEuphobias, smiling at Sonnica, but not venturing to approach.
"The gods have protected you on your journey, Actaeon," said theparasite. "You look better than we who have remained in the city. Onecan plainly see that you have fed."
"But you, philosopher," said the Greek, "are not so lean and emaciatedas the others. Who maintains you?"
"My poverty. I was so accustomed to hunger in times of plenty that now Iscarcely notice the famine. Observe the advantages of being aphilosopher and a beggar!"
"Trust not the words of that monster," said Lachares with repugnance."He is as beastly as a Celtiberian. He eats daily; but he should becrucified in the middle of the Forum as a warning. He has been seen atnight wandering near the walls with a band of slaves in search of dyingmen."
The Greek turned from the parasite with disgust.
"Do not believe it, Actaeon," said Euphobias. "Now they envy me mybeggar's parsimony, as in other times they jeered at it. Hunger is myancient companion, and she respects me."
All drew away from the parasite, and Actaeon followed Sonnica to herhouse. The beautiful Greek woman was living almost alone. Many of herservants had been killed on the walls; others had perished in thestreets, victims of pestilence. Some slaves, unable to resist thetorments of hunger, had run away to the besieging camp. Two agedslave-women lay groaning in a corner, amidst stacks of luxuriousfurniture and chests filled with riches. The great warehouses in thelower story were empty. A gang of boys had taken possession, and passedthe time watching cat-like in hopes of some stray rat issuing from acorner, that they might fall upon it as an animal of inestimable value.
"Tell me of Rhanto!" the Greek said to his beloved.
"Poor child! I see her only occasionally. She will not stay here; I haveher brought to me so that I can watch over her, but at the firstopportunity she slips away. Grief over Erotion's death has caused her tolose her reason. Day and night she wanders along the walls. She goeswhere the battle rages fiercest, and she passes among flying missiles asif she does not see them. By night I hear from afar the strange dirgeswhich she chants to her Erotion; sometimes she appears crowned with awreath of those flowers which grow on the walls, and she asks for theson of Mopsus, as if he were hidden among the defenders. The peoplebelieve that she is in communication with the gods, and they look uponher with awe and ask her what will be the fate of Saguntum."
The two spent the night amidst the piled up riches in the warehousewrapped in costly tapestries, insensible to their surroundings, as ifthey were still in the rich villa on the domain, at the end of one ofthose banquets which had so scandalized many of the Saguntines.
Days passed. The city was growing weaker, but the people, still firm intheir resolution, continued the defense, with stomachs faint fromstarvation. The besiegers made no violent assaults. Hannibal guessed thecondition of the city, and, desirous of avoiding further shedding ofthe blood of his troops, he allowed time to pass, mai
ntaining only arigid blockade, waiting for hunger and pestilence to complete histriumph.
The mortality in the streets increased. There was no longer any one leftto gather up the dead; the crematory fire on the Acropolis had gone out.Corpses, abandoned in the doorways of their homes, were covered withloathsome insects, and birds of rapine audaciously came down by nightinto the heart of the city disputing the prey of vagabond dogs whichprowled the streets with lolling tongues and flaming eyes.
Vile smelling people of savage aspect, possessed by the delirium ofstarvation, dragged themselves cautiously through the streets armed withclubs, stones, and missiles. They went foraging as soon as night fell.Euphobias guided them, giving counsel with majestic emphasis, as if hewere a great captain commanding his army. When they managed to kill acrow or a savage dog they carried it to the Forum and roasted it over abonfire, quarreling violently over the noisome morsels, while the richcitizens stood aloof, faint with hunger but nauseated by such horrors.
Spring had set in. It was a gloomy springtime, revealed to the besiegersby little flowers growing up among the weeds in the crevices of thetowers and on the roofs of the houses. Winter was over, and yet it wascold in Saguntum, with a tomb-like chill which the besieged felt in thevery marrow of their bones. The sun shone, but the city seemed obscuredby a fetid mist which imparted to people and to houses a leaden color.
One morning, on his way to the upper part of the mount where the defensecontinued, Actaeon met the prudent Alcon in the Forum. This loyalcitizen revealed discouragement in his dejected appearance.
"Athenian," he said, with a mysterious expression, "I am resolved thatthis must end. The city can resist no further. She has waited longenough for aid from Rome. Let Saguntum fall, and let Rome be filled withshame because of her infidelity to her allies. This day I shall go toHannibal's camp and sue for peace."
"Have you considered it carefully?" exclaimed the Greek. "Do you notfear the indignation of your people when they see you treating with theenemy?"
"I love my city well, and I cannot remain impassive and witness itssacrifice, its interminable agony. Few are aware of the actualconditions, but I can tell you, Actaeon, because you are discreet. We aremuch worse off than the people realize. There is not a scrap of meatleft for those who are defending our walls. This morning there wasnothing but mud in the bottom of the cisterns. We have no water. A fewdays more of resistance and we shall be forced to eat dead bodies likethose soulless creatures who feed by night. We shall have to kill thechildren to placate our thirst with their blood."
Alcon was silent for a moment; he passed his hand over his forehead witha gesture of pain as if to obliterate terrible recollections.
"No one knows better than we Elders what occurs in the city," hecontinued. "The gods must shudder with horror when they see the deedsdone in Saguntum since they abandoned her. Listen and forget, Actaeon,"he said in a low voice and with an accent of fear. "Yesterday two women,maddened by hunger, drew lots to choose which one of their childrenthey should devour. We Elders have closed our eyes and our ears; we havenot desired to see nor to hear, understanding that punishment would onlyserve to increase the horrors. The men who are fighting on the walls arechewing the leather from their weapons to deceive hunger. Their flesh isloosened from their bones, they weaken and fall as if wounded by aninvisible stroke from the gods. We have resisted for nearly eightmonths; two-thirds of the city no longer exists. We have done enough todemonstrate before heaven and before man how Saguntum fulfills heroaths."
The Greek bowed his head, convinced by Alcon's arguments.
"Moreover the valor of the city is breaking down," continued the Elder."Faith is dying. The omens are all against us. There are people who,during the night, have seen globes of fire rise from the Acropolis andfly toward the sea, plunging into the waters like shooting stars whichcut through the blue of heaven with a stream of light. The peoplebelieve that they are the penates of the city, who, divining the comingdestruction of Saguntum, are abandoning it to go and establishthemselves on the other side of the sea whence they came. Last night,those who were watching up there in the temple of Hercules saw a serpentglide from beneath the tomb of Zacynthus, hissing as if it were wounded.It was blue, with golden stars--the serpent which bit Zacynthus and wasthe cause of the foundation of the city around the tomb of the hero. Hecrawled between the feet of the astonished watchers; he fled down themount, and crept off across the plain in the direction of the sea. Healso has abandoned us; the sacred reptile which was like the tutelarygod of Saguntum."
"It may not be true," said the Greek. "It may be the hallucinations of apeople tormented by hunger."
"That may be; but observe the women and you will find them weeping; inaddition to their misery they are lamenting the flight of the serpent ofZacynthus. They believe the city defenseless, and many men on the wallswill feel weaker to-day when they hear of the strange disappearance.Faith is the staff on which the people lean."
The two men remained silent for a while.
"Go," said the Greek, at last: "Speak to Hannibal, and may the godsincline his heart toward clemency!"
"Why do you not come with me--you who have traveled so much, and whopossess the eloquence of conviction? You can help me."
"Hannibal knows me. I have refused his friendship, and he hates me. Goand save the city. My fate is sealed. The African will never abate hisanger. He will pardon anyone but me. I will die rather than become hisslave, or suffer myself to be put to death on a cross."
CHAPTER X
THE LAST NIGHT
Fighting on the walls with the defenders of the upper part of the citylate in the afternoon Actaeon saw Rhanto coming down a street near theramparts.
He had not seen the shepherdess since his return to Saguntum, and now henoticed the changes wrought by the sufferings of the siege, and by thegrief which was breaking her reason.
She walked absorbed, with bowed head, unconscious of her surroundings,and in her tangled hair were little faded flowers which at every stepdropped their withered petals. Her torn and dirty tunic gave glimpses ofher emaciated body, which still preserved the grace and freshnessadmired by the Greek. Her breasts had developed somewhat, as if pain hadmatured her figure; her eyes dilated by dementia, seemed to fill herwhole face, shedding a mysterious light about her, an aureole of fever.
She advanced slowly, raising her head at times, looking up at the men onthe wall, and finally stopping at the foot of the stone steps shemurmured in a supplicating voice, like the convulsive sobbing of achild:
"Erotion! Erotion!"
Behind the mantelets of the besiegers the defenders noticed freshactivity, as if a new attack against the city were being attempted, butin spite of it the Greek came down from the wall in his eagerness to seethe girl.
"Rhanto, shepherdess, do you know me?"
He addressed her tenderly, taking one of her hands, but she tried tospring away from him, as if she had been startled from a sleep. Then shegrew faint, and fixing her enormous, frightened eyes on the Greek, sheexclaimed:
"You! Is it you?"
"Do you recognize me?"
"Yes, you are the Athenian; you are my master; the lover of Sonnica therich. Tell me, where is Erotion?"
The Greek did not know how to answer, but Rhanto continued speakingwithout awaiting his reply.
"They tell me he is dead; even I saw him lying at the foot of the walls;but it is not true; it was a bad dream. It was his father, Mopsus thearcher, who died. Since then he runs away from me as if he wishes toweep alone for his father's death. He hides from me by day. I see himfrom afar, upon the walls, among the defenders, but when I climb up tosearch for him I find none but armed men, and Erotion disappears. He isonly faithful to me at night. Then he seeks me, he comes to me. Scarcelydo I conceal myself at the foot of the stairway and rest my head upon myknees than I see him coming, looking for me in the darkness, strong andloving, with his quiver at his side and his bow slung across hisshoulders. When he comes the ferocious dogs which slin
k through theshadows, sniffing in my face and staring at me with their gloomy eyes,are frightened away. He comes to me, he sits beside me; he smiles, buthe is ever silent. I speak to him and he answers me with a tenderglance, but never with a word. I seek his shoulder, to lean my head uponit as in other days, and he flees, he disappears as if dissolved inshadow. What does it mean, good Greek? If you see him, ask him why hehides from me. Tell him not to run away!----He loves you so much, somuch! How often has he talked to me of you and of your country!"
She was silent a moment, as if these words had aroused within her awhole past of recollections. With a painful effort, which was reflectedin her face, she caught at them and arranged them in her mind. Slowlysurged through her memory again the image of those happy days before thesiege when she and Erotion ran hand in hand through the valley and hadfor their house all the groves of the Saguntine domain.
She smiled at Actaeon, looking at him affectionately, and she recalledtheir several meetings; their first interview on the Road of the Serpentwhen he had just disembarked, poor and unknown. Then, the touch ofpaternal protection with which he greeted them when he found them in thefields climbing the cherry trees and quarreling playfully over the redfruit, and that surprise beneath the leafy fig trees, when she, in hervirginal beauty, was acting as a model for the young sculptor. Did heremember? Had the Greek forgotten those days of peace and joy?
Actaeon did indeed cherish them in his memory. He still retained theimpression caused by the vision of the lovely shepherdess, and at thesame moment his eyes searched the tattered tunic, seeking with anartist's delight the warm tones of her amber skin.
But Rhanto's mind, after evoking these recollections, began again towander. Where was Erotion? Had Actaeon seen him? Was he up there with thedefenders? The Greek held her back catching her by the hand to preventher climbing to the top of the wall.
The defenders were shouting wildly, shooting their arrows and throwingdarts and stones. The besiegers had begun the attack. Projectiles camehurtling from outside the walls, passing over the merlons likedark-colored birds, as if the Africans were covering an assault withbattering-rams and pickaxes to open a breach.
Actaeon, who since his return to Saguntum had again assumed control ofthe work of defense, must go up on the wall.
"Run away, Rhanto," he said hastily. "You will be killed here. Go toSonnica's house----I will take you to Erotion. But fly! Hide yourself!See how the missiles are falling around us!"
He shoved her from the stairway with an energetic push which nearlydrove her to her knees.
The Greek ran up hastily, hearing the ceaseless and deadly hissesrending the air about his head. Before he reached the merlons he heard afaint groan at his back, a gentle cry which recalled to Actaeon's mindthe bleating of a fawn when pierced by the huntsman's arrow. Turning hesaw Rhanto half way up the steps, wavering, ready to fall backward, herbreast covered with blood and pierced by a long feather-tipped shaft,still quivering from the swiftness of its flight.
She had started to follow him up the wall, but an arrow had caught her.
"Rhanto! Poor Rhanto!"
Obeying an impulse of grief which he could not explain to himself, butwhich was stronger than his will, he forgot the defense of the wall, theattack of the enemy, everything, to run toward the girl, who sank downwith the gentle flutter of a wounded bird.
He took her in his strong arms and laid her at the foot of the steps.Rhanto sighed, moving her head as if trying to rid herself of the painwhich had taken possession of her.
The Greek supported her by the shoulders, calling tenderly:
"Rhanto! Rhanto!"
In her eyes, enlarged by pain, the light seemed to condense. Theexpression of her face had now become sane; it lost, at moments, thevagueness of dementia. Pain seemed to have restored her reason, and inthis supreme moment of lucidity the whole past arose clear in her mind.
"Do not die, Rhanto," murmured the Greek, impulsively, "wait; I willdraw out that iron; I will carry you on my back to the Forum so thatthey shall cure you."
But the girl shook her head sadly. No, she wished to die. She wished tojoin Erotion, near the gods, among the clouds of rose and gold wherewandered the Mother of Love, followed by those who had loved each otherdevotedly on earth. She had roamed for weeks like a shadow among thehorrors of the besieged city, believing that Erotion still lived,searching for him everywhere; but Erotion was dead; she remembered itwell now; she herself had seen his corpse.
"Since he is dead why should I live?"
"Live for me!" cried Actaeon, stung with grief, unconscious of hissurroundings, deaf to the cries of the defenders on the wall and to thefootsteps of someone approaching on the street.
"Rhanto, shepherdess, listen to me! Now I understand why I longed to seeyou; why your memory came to me so often in Rome whenever I thought ofSaguntum. Live and be to Actaeon the last spring of his existence! I loveyou, Rhanto! You are my last love; the flower which blooms in the winterof my life! I love you, Rhanto! I have loved you since that day when Isaw you revealed like a goddess. Live and let me be your Erotion!"
The girl, her face clouded by the shadow of death, smiled, murmuring:
"Actaeon, good Greek, thank you, thank you!"
Her head slipped from between Actaeon's hands and fell heavily on theground. The Athenian remained motionless, mutely gazing at the body ofthe girl. The silence which suddenly fell on the wall seemed to arousehim from his painful stupor. The besiegers had suspended the attack. TheGreek stood up, but he knelt again to press kisses on the still warmmouth of the shepherdess and upon her unquivering wide-open eyes, inwhich the red splendor of the setting sun was reflected as in quietwaters.
As he arose he was startled by Sonnica standing quietly before him, withcold, ironic stare.
"Sonnica! You!"
"I came to tell you to hasten to the Forum. A messenger from the hostilecamp has presented himself at the gates of the city asking to speak tothe Elders. The people are gathered in the Forum."
Despite the importance of the news Actaeon did not stir. He wastransfixed by Sonnica's cold rigidity.
"How long have you been here?"
"Long enough to see how you bade my slave farewell forever!"
She was silent for a moment, then as if impelled by a sentiment strongerthan her will, she approached him with flashing eyes and withoutstretched hands.
"Did you really love her?" she asked bitterly.
"Yes," he replied, faintly, as if ashamed of the confession. "I know nowthat I loved her----but I love you also."
They stood motionless, their eyes fixed upon the body which lay betweenthem. It was like a cold intervening wall, suddenly risen and separatingthem forever.
Actaeon was shamed by the grief which his words caused her who had soloved him. Sonnica seemed stunned by his immense deception, and shegazed frigidly at the body of the slave with the eyes of an implacableNemesis.
"Go, Actaeon!" she said. "They are waiting for you in the Forum. TheElders are calling for you to serve as interpreter for the messengerfrom Hannibal."
The Athenian advanced a few steps, and then stopped, gently imploringmercy for the body.
"It will be deserted. Night is coming on, and----the hungry dogs----thesoulless men who look for corpses----"
He chilled with horror to think that the beautiful body which hadthrilled him with admiration might be devoured by the beasts.
Sonnica replied with a gesture. He might go. She would stay on guard,and, mastered by her chill hauteur, he turned and hastened toward theForum.
As he reached the quadrangle it was growing dark. In the centre burnedthe great fire which was lighted every night to combat the mortalspringtime chill.
The Elders brought their ivory chairs to the foot of the temple steps toreceive Hannibal's messenger in the presence of the populace. The newshad circulated throughout the city, and the people flocked to the Forum,eager to hear the propositions of the besieger. New groups poured ineach moment along the streets
leading to the great square where thewaning life of the city was concentrated.
Actaeon placed himself near the Elders. He glanced around for Alcon, butfailed to see him. The aged senator was still in the hostile camp, andthe coming of this emissary must be in consequence of his interview withHannibal.
A senator explained the circumstances. An unarmed enemy had presentedhimself before the walls, waving an olive branch. He asked to speak tothe Senate in the name of the besiegers, and the assembly of Eldersthought it wise to summon the whole city to participate in this supremedeliberation.
Orders to admit the messenger had been given, and soon an armed groupwas seen approaching, making its way through the crowd, conducting a manwith uncovered head, unarmed, and carrying a branch in his right hand asa symbol of peace.
As he passed before the fire the ruddy glow of the flames fell full uponhis face and the Forum reverberated with a clamor of indignation. Theyhad recognized him:
"Alorcus! It is Alorcus!"
"Traitor!"
"Ingrate!"
Many hands reached for their swords to fall upon him; above the heads ofthe multitude menacing arms brandished spears; but the presence of theElders, and the sad smile of the Celtiberian restrained them. Moreover,the people felt the weakness of hunger; they had little strength leftfor indignation, and they were eager to hear the messenger, to learn thefate reserved for them by the enemy.
Alorcus advanced until he stood before the Elders, and the greatconcourse subsided into profound silence, interrupted only by thecrackling of the wood in the fire. All eyes were fixed on theCeltiberian.
"Alcon the prudent is not with you?" he began.
They glanced around in surprise. It was true; until then the absence ofthe man who was first in all public acts, had not been noticed.
"You look for him in vain," continued the Celtiberian. "Alcon is in thecamp of Hannibal. Heart-broken over the condition of the city, realizingthat it is impossible to persist longer in the defense, he hassacrificed himself for you, and at the risk of his life he came toHannibal's tent a few hours ago to beg him, with tears, to havecompassion upon you."
"And why has he not returned with you?" asked one of the Elders.
"He was afraid and ashamed to repeat Hannibal's words to you----theconditions which he imposed for the surrender of the city."
The silence grew more oppressive. The multitude divined in the terror ofthe absent Alcon the frightful demands of the conqueror which made allhearts beat fast with dread even before hearing them.
Fresh groups of people kept straggling in to the Forum. Even thedefenders of the city abandoned the walls, attracted by the event, andstood at the entrances of the streets around the quadrangle, the flamesfrom the bonfire glinting on their bronze helmets and on their shieldsof varied shapes, round, rectangular, and oval. Actaeon also saw Sonnicamake her way through the crowd and seat herself near the group formed bythe elegant young gallants who admired her.
Alorcus continued speaking:
"You know me well. A moment ago I heard threats, I saw menacing gestureswhen you recognized me. I understand your indignation at seeing mebefore you. Perhaps I am an ingrate; but remember that I was born inother lands, and that my father's death placed me at the head of apeople whom I have to obey and to lead in their alliances. Never have Iforgotten that I was the guest of Saguntum; I cherish the memory of yourhospitality, and I am as interested in the fate of this city as if itwere my native land. Ponder well your situation, Saguntines! Valor hasits limits, and no matter how much you exert yourselves the gods havedecreed the ruin of heroic Saguntum. They show it by having forsakenyou, and your courage is all in vain before their immutable will."
The vague words of Alorcus augmented the dread of the people. Theyfeared the conditions set by Hannibal, and they read their harshness inthe Celtiberian's hesitation in pronouncing them.
"The conditions! Tell us the conditions!" they shouted from all sides ofthe Forum.
"The proof that I have come in your sole interests," continued Alorcus,as if he did not hear their cries, "lies in the fact that as long as youwere able to resist with your own strength, and while you expectedassistance from the Romans, never did I come to counsel your submission.But your walls can no longer defend you; every day hundreds ofSaguntines perish from hunger; the Romans will not come; they are faraway, and occupied with other wars; in place of sending you legions theysend you legates, and thus I, seeing that Alcon hesitated to return,face your indignation to bring you a peace rather necessary thanadvantageous."
"The conditions! The conditions!" demanded the multitude, with aformidable howl which shook the Forum.
"Remember," said Alorcus, "that what the conqueror offers you is a gift,for to-day he is master of everything you possess--your lives and yourestates."
This terrible truth, falling upon the multitude, produced silence."Saguntum, which, for the greater part is already in ruins, and whoseextremes his troops already occupy, he takes from you as a punishment;but Hannibal will permit you to build a new city in the place which hewill designate. All your riches, those in the public treasury as well asthose in your houses, shall be turned over to the conqueror. Hannibalwill respect your lives and those of your wives and children, but youmust depart from Saguntum to a place which he will indicate, unarmed,and with but two garments each. I understand that these terms are stern,but your misfortune commends them to you, for it is worse to die, and tohave your families fall as booty of war into the hands of a triumphantarmy."
Alorcus ceased speaking, but still the Forum remained in silence, asilence profound, threatening, like the leaden calm which precedes thetempest.
"No, Saguntines! No!" shouted a woman.
Actaeon recognized the voice of Sonnica.
"No, no!" answered the multitude, with a thundering echo.
They swayed and surged from place to place; compact masses crowdedagainst each other, possessed with fury, as if they would rendthemselves in pieces to give vent to the wrath produced by theconditions of the conqueror.
Sonnica had disappeared; but Actaeon saw her return to the Forum followedby a cordon of people, slaves, women, soldiers, bearing upon their backsthe rich furniture from the villa which had been stored in thewarehouse; the chests of jewels, the sumptuous tapestries, ingots ofsilver, and boxes of gold dust. The multitude observed this processionof riches without guessing Sonnica's purpose.
"No! No!" repeated the Greek woman, as if talking to herself.
She was infuriated at the conqueror's proposals. She imagined herselfdeparting from the city with no other fortune than the tunic she woreand another over her arm, compelled to beg along the highway, or tolabor in the fields as a slave, persecuted by the fierce soldiers ofmany nations!
"No! No!" she repeated energetically, making her way through the crowdto the fire in the centre of the Forum.
She was magnificent with her auburn hair loosened in her excitement, hertunic rent by struggling through the multitude, her eyes flashing withthe expression of a Fury who found an acrid satisfaction in destruction.Of what use were riches? Of what use was life? Her desperate energy wasspurred by the bitterness which she had tasted an hour ago before thebody of her slave.
She gave the signal by hurling into the bonfire an image of Venus injasper and silver which she carried in her arms, and which disappearedin the flames as if it were a clod. The wretched and starving crowdwhich followed imitated her with intense relish. The destruction of somany riches made them howl with joy, and they danced in theirgladness--they, so poor, who had passed their lives in the deprivationof slavery! Into the flames fell dainty caskets of ivory, cedar, andebony, and as they clashed against the firewood they burst open,spilling treasures within--collars of pearls, clusters of topazes andemeralds, diamond earrings, the whole scale of precious stones, whichsparkled for an instant against the half-burnt wood like gleamingsalamanders. Then came the tapestries, the silver-embroidered veils,the tunics of spun-gold flowers, the golden sandals, the chairs
withlion claws, the couches with metal clamps, mirrors, lamps, bottles ofperfume, rich inlaid marble tables, all the splendors of Sonnica therich. The poverty-stricken multitude, transported by this sacrifice,applauded with bellowing enthusiasm as it saw the fire grow and growwith so much fuel, until the flames mounted to a great height andscattered ashes and sparks over the roofs of the houses.
"Hannibal wants riches!" shouted Sonnica in a hoarse voice whichresembled a howl. "Come, pile here your treasures, and let the Africanlay siege to the fire for them!"
No need of urging them to imitate her! Many of the Elders who hadwithdrawn at the first moment of confusion now returned to the Forumcarrying chests beneath their white mantles, and flung them into thefire. They were the hoarded treasures from their houses.
Above the heads of the multitude furniture and rich fabrics passed fromhand to hand until they tumbled into the immense furnace, which whirledits flames higher and higher, crowned by a white and luminous smoke.
It was a holocaust in honor of the dead and silent gods on theAcropolis. Houses seemed to turn themselves inside out to fling theiradornments and riches upon the fire. The men pursued their work ofdestruction silently and gloomily; but the women seemed mad, and theydanced around the huge bonfire, disheveled, screaming, their eyesbulging from their sockets, hypnotized, caressing the flames with theirgarments, intoxicated by the glare, scratching their faces unconsciousof their acts, and bellowing curses with mouths foaming with rage.Crazed by the infernal round, unable to resist the fascination of thelambent flames, one of them sprang and fell into the fire. Her hair andclothing blazed for an instant like a torch, and she sank among thewhite-hot coals. Another hurled into the roaring crematory, as if itwere a ball, the babe she had borne in her arms clinging to her emptybreast, and then, as if repentant for her crime, she followed the childinto the burning pile.
The conflagration had extended to the wooden roofs of the houses aroundthe Forum. A chaplet of flame began to inwreathe the square. The heatand smoke were stifling, and the furniture seemed to travelautomatically above the heads of the crowd toward the incandescent kilnthrough the dense sooty atmosphere. Lachares and his elegant friendsbegan to talk of death. Those effeminate beings discussed with sublimetranquility the manner of their end. They did not wish to followSonnica, who had just armed herself with sword and shield to sally forthagainst the besieging camp and die fighting. It was repugnant to them tothink of struggling with rude, half-savage soldiers, to inhale theirwild-beast odors, and to fall with their painted faces cleft by a blow,covered with blood, and wallowing in gore like a beheaded ox; neitherdid it please them to stab themselves--that was a means reserved forheroes. They preferred to die in the flames; they recollected thesacrifice of the Asiatic queens who perished in a fire of perfumedwoods. What a pity that this fire smelled so ill! But it was not amoment for refinements; drawing their mantles over their eyes, shovingtheir little slaveboys before them with their depilated and perfumedarms, one after the other the elegant young gallants walked into thefire with tranquil step, as if still dwelling in those days of peacewhen they strolled through the Forum, gratified by the scandal caused bytheir feminine adornments.
Sonnica gathered her tunic around her waist in order to run with greaterfreedom, leaving disclosed the resplendent whiteness of her limbs.
"We are going to die, Euphobias," she said to the philosopher, who stoodabsorbed in contemplation before this spectacle of destruction.
For the first time the philosopher failed to display his insolent andironic manner. He was grave and frowning; gazing at the people whom hehad so often ridiculed, beholding the heroism of their death.
"Die?" he exclaimed. "Must we die? Do you think so, Sonnica?"
"Yes; he who is not willing to be a slave must die. Get a sword andfollow me!"
"No, if I must die I will avoid the fatigue of running and the exertionof striking blows. I will die placidly in the sweet indolence which everembellished my life."
Slowly, deliberately, he walked over to the fire, covered his face withhis patched and mended mantle, and laid himself in the flames as calmlyas he used to drop down on the porticos of the Forum in the old days ofpeace.
On the steps of the temple the Elders were stabbing themselves in theirbreasts with a dagger. Before breathing his last, each passed the weaponon to his nearest companion, and they died trying to maintainthemselves erect in their chairs of state. Groups of women caught uptorches lighted at the great fire, and scattered like furious bacchantesthroughout Saguntum, setting fire to doors, and flinging burning brandsupon the wooden roofs.
Suddenly from the direction of the citadel where the attacks of thebesiegers had been concentrated, arose an appalling commotion, as ifhalf a mountain had toppled over. The walls had been abandoned by thedefenders who had gathered in the Forum, and a tower which theCarthaginians had undermined some days before had fallen. A cohort ofHannibal's army, seeing the city destitute of the usual outposts andguards, rushed through the breach, and made a signal for Hannibal toenter with his hosts.
"Come on! come on!" shouted Sonnica with a hoarse voice. "This is ourlast night! I will not die in the fire! I choose to die fighting! I wantblood!"
She flew from the Forum like a Fury, followed by Actaeon who ran besideher calling her name, trying to gain a look from her. But the beautifulGreek woman was insensible in her rage, as if she had at her sidesomeone she had never seen before. They were followed by a discordantcrowd, armed citizens, women brandishing knives and darts, naked youthswith no other defense than a spear. They poured out like a stampededherd, their bronze corselets and their helmets with broken crestsshimmering in the firelight, their weapons dyed in blood, and displayingthrough the tatters of their clothing emaciated limbs which seemed todance in their loose skin, dried and wrinkled by hunger.
They passed out of Saguntum on the lower side, marching in the glare ofthe burning city straight upon the camp of the besieger.
A cohort of Celtiberians hurrying toward Saguntum was routed, put indisorder, harried by this troop of desperate beings who ran with loweredhead, striking blindly at everything before them. Farther on theyencountered other troops who advanced in battle form to meet the sally,and they collided with the line of shields, unable to stand in astruggle hand to hand.
The Saguntines, debilitated by the long siege, their strength exhaustedby hunger and sickness, could not withstand the clash. The Celtiberianswounded mercilessly with their two edged swords, and the company of sickmen, women, and children, fell rapidly beneath their blows.
Actaeon, fighting with his shield before his face and his sword raisedagainst two vigorous soldiers, saw Sonnica receive a stab in the headand drop her weapons, doubling up in agony.
"Actaeon! Actaeon!" she cried, forgetting her bitterness, the fire of herold love returning to her with death.
She fell face downward on the ground. The Greek started toward her, butat the same instant his ears buzzed as if an immense mass had crashedupon his head; in his side he felt the chill of the steel perforatinghis flesh; everything turned black, and he sank to the ground, as iffalling into a dark and gloomy pit the bottom of which he would neverreach.
* * * * *
The Greek awoke. His chest was weighted down by a form as heavy as amountain. He was not sure whether he really existed. His members refusedto obey him. Only with a painful effort could he open his eyes andunderstand confusedly why he was there.
Gradually he realized that the something which oppressed his breast wasthe corpse of a gigantic soldier. Actaeon thought he remembered havingplunged his sword into the body of the warrior the instant that he fellinto the dense and mysterious night.
He looked around. A ruddy glow, as of an endless aurora, scintillated onthe abandoned weapons and outlined silhouettes of the bodies lying inheaps or scattered over the field contracted in weird postures by theirfinal convulsions.
In the background a city was burning. The blackened and shapelessstructures
stood out against the curtain of flames, and through theirrestless splendor the walls of the Acropolis trembled.
Actaeon remembered all that had happened. That city was Saguntum; theconquerors could be heard howling through the streets; they were coveredwith blood; setting fire to the houses still untouched; cursing a peoplewhich only gave itself up after consuming its riches; killing in theirfury whatever living thing they encountered in their way, and stabbingthe wounded.
As he realized this he knew that he was not dead, but that he was goingto die. He knew it by the terrible weakness which overpowered him, bythe mortal cold creeping up to his heart; by his mind which was growingdull, and was now but a flickering light.
What of Sonnica? Where could he find Sonnica? His last thought was toreach her body, which must be near. He wished to kiss her as her slave;to render her that tribute before he died. But as he made a supremeexertion, raising his head from the ground, a wave of warm and stickyliquid covered his face. It was his last blood.
Then he seemed to see, with the vagueness of a vanishing dream, a kindof black centaur, galloping over the slain, and looking at the blazingcity, laughing with malevolent joy.
He passed near. His horse's hoofs ploughed into the body of theCeltiberian lying on his breast. The dying Greek recognized the horsemanby the light of the conflagration.
It was Hannibal, his head uncovered, possessed by the fury of triumph,galloping on his jet-black horse which seemed to have caught theferocity of the rider, whinnying, treading on the fallen bodies, lashinghis tail above the litter of battle. To the Greek he appeared aninfernal demon coming for his soul.
Dimly, like a blurred vision, he saw the face of Hannibal animated by asmile of pride, of cruel satisfaction--the majestic and ferocious visageof one of those gods of Carthage who showed clemency only when humansacrifices were smoking upon their altars.
Hannibal laughed on seeing that at last the city which had detained himeight months before her walls, was his. Now he was free to go on workingout his audacious dreams!
The Greek saw no more. He sank finally into eternal night.
Hannibal galloped on around the city, and beholding the purplish glow ofthe coming day breaking over the sea, he reined in his horse, he lookedinto the East, and extending his arm, impatient to stretch it across theblue expanse bounded by the horizon, he shouted threateningly, as ifchallenging an invisible enemy before falling upon it:
"Rome!----Rome!"
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