The Young Carthaginian: A Story of The Times of Hannibal Read online

  Produced by Martin Robb

  THE YOUNG CARTHAGINIAN

  A STORY OF THE TIMES OF HANNIBAL,

  By G. A. Henty

  PREFACE.

  MY DEAR LADS,

  When I was a boy at school, if I remember rightly, our sympathies weregenerally with the Carthaginians as against the Romans. Why they wereso, except that one generally sympathizes with the unfortunate, I donot quite know; certainly we had but a hazy idea as to the merits ofthe struggle and knew but little of its events, for the Latin and Greekauthors, which serve as the ordinary textbooks in schools, do not treatof the Punic wars. That it was a struggle for empire at first, andlatterly one for existence on the part of Carthage, that Hannibal was agreat and skilful general, that he defeated the Romans at Trebia, LakeTrasimenus, and Cannae, and all but took Rome, and that the Romansbehaved with bad faith and great cruelty at the capture of Carthage,represents, I think, pretty nearly the sum total of our knowledge.

  I am sure I should have liked to know a great deal more about thisstruggle for the empire of the world, and as I think that most of youwould also like to do so, I have chosen this subject for my story.Fortunately there is no lack of authentic material from which to gleanthe incidents of the struggle. Polybius visited all the passes of theAlps some forty years after the event, and conversed with tribesmen whohad witnessed the passage of Hannibal, and there can be no doubt thathis descriptions are far more accurate than those of Livy, who wrotesomewhat later and had no personal knowledge of the affair. Numbers ofbooks have been written as to the identity of the passes traversed byHannibal. The whole of these have been discussed and summarized byMr. W. J. Law, and as it appears to me that his arguments are quiteconclusive I have adopted the line which he lays down as that followedby Hannibal.

  In regard to the general history of the expedition, and of the manners,customs, religion, and politics of Carthage, I have followed M.Hennebert in his most exhaustive and important work on the subject. Ithink that when you have read to the end you will perceive that althoughour sympathies may remain with Hannibal and the Carthaginians, it wasnevertheless for the good of the world that Rome was the conqueror inthe great struggle for empire. At the time the war began Carthage wasalready corrupt to the core, and although she might have enslaved manynations she would never have civilized them. Rome gave free institutionsto the people she conquered, she subdued but she never enslaved them,but rather strove to plant her civilization among them and to raise themto her own level. Carthage, on the contrary, was from the first a cruelmistress to the people she conquered. Consequently while all the peoplesof Italy rallied round Rome in the days of her distress, the tribessubject to Carthage rose in insurrection against her as soon as thepresence of a Roman army gave them a hope of escape from their bondage.

  Had Carthage conquered Rome in the struggle she could never haveextended her power over the known world as Rome afterwards did, butwould have fallen to pieces again from the weakness of her institutionsand the corruption of her people. Thus then, although we may feelsympathy for the failure and fate of the noble and chivalrous Hannibalhimself, we cannot regret that Rome came out conqueror in the strife,and was left free to carry out her great work of civilization.

  Yours sincerely,

  G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER I: THE CAMP IN THE DESERT

  It is afternoon, but the sun's rays still pour down with great powerupon rock and sand. How great the heat has been at midday may be seenby the quivering of the air as it rises from the ground and blurs alldistant objects. It is seen, too, in the attitudes and appearance of alarge body of soldiers encamped in a grove. Their arms are thrown aside,the greater portion of their clothing has been dispensed with. Somelie stretched on the ground in slumber, their faces protected from anychance rays which may find their way through the foliage above by littleshelters composed of their clothing hung on two bows or javelins. Some,lately awakened, are sitting up or leaning against the trunks of thetrees, but scarce one has energy to move.

  The day has indeed been a hot one even for the southern edge of theLibyan desert. The cream coloured oxen stand with their heads down,lazily whisking away with their tails the flies that torment them. Thehorses standing near suffer more; the lather stands on their sides,their flanks heave, and from time to time they stretch out theirextended nostrils in the direction from which, when the sun sinks alittle lower, the breeze will begin to blow.

  The occupants of the grove are men of varied races, and, although thereis no attempt at military order, it is clear at once that they aredivided into three parties. One is composed of men more swarthy thanthe others. They are lithe and active in figure, inured to hardship,accustomed to the burning sun. Light shields hang against the trees withbows and gaily painted quivers full of arrows, and near each man arethree or four light short javelins. They wear round caps of metal, witha band of the skin of the lion or other wild animal, in which are stuckfeathers dyed with some bright colour. They are naked to the waist, savefor a light breastplate of brass. A cloth of bright colours is woundround their waist and drops to the knees, and they wear belts of leatherembossed with brass plates; on their feet are sandals. They are thelight armed Numidian horse.

  Near them are a party of men lighter in hue, taller and stouter instature. Their garb is more irregular, their arms are bare, but theywear a sort of shirt, open at the neck and reaching to the knees, andconfined at the waist by a leather strap, from which hangs a pouch ofthe same material. Their shirts, which are of roughly made flannel, aredyed a colour which was originally a deep purple, but which has faded,under the heat of the sun, to lilac. They are a company of Iberianslingers, enlisted among the tribes conquered in Spain by theCarthaginians. By them lie the heavy swords which they use in closequarters.

  The third body of men are more heavily armed. On the ground near thesleepers lie helmets and massive shields. They have tightly fittingjerkins of well-tanned leather, their arms are spears and battleaxes.They are the heavy infantry of Carthage. Very various is theirnationality; fair skinned Greeks lie side by side with swarthy negroesfrom Nubia. Sardinia, the islands of the Aegean, Crete and Egypt, Libyaand Phoenicia are all represented there.

  They are recruited alike from the lower orders of the great city andfrom the tribes and people who own her sway.

  Near the large grove in which the troops are encamped is a smaller one.A space in the centre has been cleared of trees, and in this a largetent has been erected. Around this numerous slaves are moving to andfro.

  A Roman cook, captured in a sea fight in which his master, a wealthytribune, was killed, is watching three Greeks, who are under hissuperintendence, preparing a repast. Some Libyan grooms are rubbing downthe coats of four horses of the purest breed of the desert, whiletwo Nubians are feeding, with large flat cakes, three elephants, who,chained by the leg to trees, stand rocking themselves from side to side.

  The exterior of the tent is made of coarse white canvas; this is thicklylined by fold after fold of a thin material, dyed a dark blue, to keepout the heat of the sun, while the interior is hung with silk, purpleand white. The curtains at each end are looped back with gold cord toallow a free passage of the air.

  A carpet from the looms of Syria covers the ground, and on it are spreadfour couches, on which, in a position half sitting half reclining,repose the principal personages of the party. The elder of these is aman some fifty years of age, of commanding figure, and features whichexpress energy and resolution. His body is bare to the waist, save fora light short sleeved tunic of the finest muslin embroidered round theneck and sleeves with gold.

  A gold belt encircles
his waist, below it hangs a garment resembling themodern kilt, but reaching halfway between the knee and the ankle. Itis dyed a rich purple, and three bands of gold embroidery run roundthe lower edge. On his feet he wears sandals with broad leather lacingscovered with gold. His toga, also of purple heavily embroidered withgold, lies on the couch beside him; from one of the poles of the tenthang his arms, a short heavy sword, with a handle of solid gold in ascabbard incrusted with the same metal, and a baldrick, covered withplates of gold beautifully worked and lined with the softest leather, bywhich it is suspended over his shoulder.

  Two of his companions are young men of three or four and twenty, bothfair like himself, with features of almost Greek regularity of outline.Their dress is similar to his in fashion, but the colours are gayer.The fourth member of the party is a lad of some fifteen years old. Hisfigure, which is naked to the waist, is of a pure Grecian model, themuscles, showing up clearly beneath the skin, testify to hard exerciseand a life of activity.

  Powerful as Carthage was, the events of the last few years had shownthat a life and death struggle with her great rival in Italy wasapproaching. For many years she had been a conquering nation. Heraristocracy were soldiers as well as traders, ready at once to embark onthe most distant and adventurous voyages, to lead the troops of Carthageon toilsome expeditions against insurgent tribes of Numidia and Libya,or to launch their triremes to engage the fleets of Rome.

  The severe checks which they had lately suffered at the hands of thenewly formed Roman navy, and the certainty that ere long a tremendousstruggle between the two powers must take place, had redoubled themilitary ardour of the nobles. Their training to arms began from theirvery childhood, and the sons of the noblest houses were taught, at theearliest age, the use of arms and the endurance of fatigue and hardship.

  Malchus, the son of Hamilcar, the leader of the expedition in thedesert, had been, from his early childhood, trained by his father in theuse of arms. When he was ten years old Hamilcar had taken him with himon a campaign in Spain; there, by a rigourous training, he had learnedto endure cold and hardships.

  In the depth of winter his father had made him pass the nights uncoveredand almost without clothing in the cold. He had bathed in the icy waterof the torrents from the snow clad hills, and had been forced to keepup with the rapid march of the light armed troops in pursuit of theIberians. He was taught to endure long abstinence from food and to bearpain without flinching, to be cheerful under the greatest hardships,to wear a smiling face when even veteran soldiers were worn out anddisheartened.

  "It is incumbent upon us, the rulers and aristocracy of this greatcity, my son, to show ourselves superior to the common herd. They mustrecognize that we are not only richer and of better blood, but that weare stronger, wiser, and more courageous than they. So, only, can weexpect them to obey us, and to make the sacrifices which war entailsupon them. It is not enough that we are of pure Phoenician blood, thatwe come of the most enterprising race the world has ever seen, whilethey are but a mixed breed of many people who have either submitted toour rule or have been enslaved by us.

  "This was well enough in the early days of the colony when it wasPhoenician arms alone that won our battles and subdued our rivals. Inour days we are few and the populace are many. Our armies are composednot of Phoenicians, but of the races conquered by us. Libya and Numidia,Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, all in turn conquered by us, now furnish uswith troops.

  "Carthage is a mighty city, but it is no longer a city of Phoenicians.We form but a small proportion of the population. It is true that allpower rests in our hands, that from our ranks the senate is chosen, thearmy officered, and the laws administered, but the expenses of the stateare vast. The conquered people fret under the heavy tributes which theyhave to pay, and the vile populace murmur at the taxes.

  "In Italy, Rome looms greater and more powerful year by year. Her peopleare hardy and trained to arms, and some day the struggle between usand her will have to be fought out to the death. Therefore, my son,it behooves us to use every effort to make ourselves worthy of ourposition. Set before yourself the example of your cousin Hannibal,who, young as he is, is already viewed as the greatest man in Carthage.Grudge no hardship or suffering to harden your frame and strengthen yourarms.

  "Some day you too may lead armies in the field, and, believe me, theywill follow you all the better and more cheerfully if they know that instrength and endurance, as well as in position, their commander is theforemost man in his army."

  Malchus had been an apt pupil, and had done justice to the pains whichhis father had bestowed upon him and to the training he had undergone.He could wield the arms of a man, could swim the coldest river, endurehardship and want of food, traverse long distances at the top of hisspeed, could throw a javelin with unerring aim, and send an arrow to themark as truly as the best of the Libyan archers.

  "The sun is going down fast, father," the lad said, "the shadows arelengthening and the heat is declining."

  "We have only your word for the decline of the heat, Malchus," one ofthe younger men laughed; "I feel hotter than ever. This is the fifteenthtime that you have been to the door of the tent during the last halfhour. Your restlessness is enough to give one the fever."

  "I believe that you are just as eager as I am, Adherbal," the boyreplied laughing. "It's your first lion hunt as well as mine, and I amsure you are longing to see whether the assault of the king of beasts ismore trying to the nerves than that of the Iberian tribesmen."

  "I am looking forward to it, Malchus, certainly," the young man replied;"but as I know the lions will not quit their coverts until afternightfall, and as no efforts on my part will hasten the approach of thathour, I am well content to lie quiet and to keep myself as cool as maybe."

  "Your cousin is right," the general said, "and impatience is a fault,Malchus. We must make allowances for your impatience on the presentoccasion, for the lion is a foe not to be despised, and he is trulyas formidable an antagonist when brought to bay as the Iberians on thebanks of the Ebro--far more so than the revolted tribesmen we have beenhunting for the past three weeks."

  "Giscon says nothing," Adherbal remarked; "he has a soul above eventhe hunting of lions. I warrant that during the five hours we have beenreclining here his thoughts have never once turned towards the hunt weare going to have tonight."

  "That is true enough," Giscon said, speaking for the first time. "Iown that my thoughts have been of Carthage, and of the troubles thatthreaten her owing to the corruption and misgovernment which are sappingher strength."

  "It were best not to think too much on the subject, Giscon," the generalsaid; "still better not to speak of it. You know that I lament, as youdo, the misgovernment of Carthage, and mourn for the disasters whichhave been brought upon her by it. But the subject is a dangerous one;the council have spies everywhere, and to be denounced as one hostile tothe established state of things is to be lost."

  "I know the danger," the young man said passionately. "I know thathitherto all who have ventured to raise their voices against theauthority of these tyrants have died by torture--that murmuring has beenstamped out in blood. Yet were the danger ten times as great," and thespeaker had risen now from his couch and was walking up and down thetent, "I could not keep silent. What have our tyrants brought us to?Their extravagance, their corruption, have wasted the public funds andhave paralyzed our arms. Sicily and Sardinia have been lost; our alliesin Africa have been goaded by their exactions again and again intorebellion, and Carthage has more than once lately been obliged to fighthard for her very existence. The lower classes in the city are utterlydisaffected; their earnings are wrung from them by the tax gatherers.Justice is denied them by the judges, who are the mere creatures of thecommittee of five. The suffetes are mere puppets in their hands. Ourvessels lie unmanned in our harbours, because the funds which should paythe sailors are appropriated by our tyrants to their own purposes. Howcan a Carthaginian who loves his country remain silent?"

  "All you say is tru
e, Giscon," the general said gravely, "though Ishould be pressed to death were it whispered in Carthage that I said so;but at present we can do nothing. Had the great Hamilcar Barca lived Ibelieve that he would have set himself to work to clear out this Augeanstable, a task greater than that accomplished by our great hero, thedemigod Hercules; but no less a hand can accomplish it. You know howevery attempt at revolt has failed; how terrible a vengeance fell onMatho and the mercenaries; how the down trodden tribes have again andagain, when victory seemed in their hands, been crushed into the dust.

  "No, Giscon, we must suffer the terrible ills which you speak of untilsome hero arises--some hero whose victories will bind not only the armyto him, but will cause all the common people of Carthage--all her alliesand tributaries--to look upon him as their leader and deliverer.

  "I have hopes, great hopes, that such a hero may be found in my nephew,Hannibal, who seems to possess all the genius, the wisdom, and thetalent of his father. Should the dream which he cherished, and of whichI was but now speaking to you, that of leading a Carthaginian armyacross the Ebro, over the Apennines, through the plains of lower Gaul,and over the Alps into Italy, there to give battle to the cohorts ofRome on their own ground,--should this dream be verified I say, shouldsuccess attend him, and Rome be humbled to the dust, then Hannibal wouldbe in a position to become the dictator of Carthage, to overthrow thecorrupt council, to destroy this tyranny--misnamed a republic--and toestablish a monarchy, of which he should be the first sovereign, andunder which Carthage, again the queen of the world, should be worthyof herself and her people. And now let us speak of it no more. The verywalls have ears, and I doubt not but even among my attendants there aremen who are spies in the pay of the council. I see and lament as muchas any man the ruin of my country; but, until I see a fair hope ofdeliverance, I am content to do the best I can against her enemies, tofight her battles as a simple soldier."

  There was silence in the tent. Malchus had thrown himself down on hiscouch, and for a time forgot even the approaching lion hunt in theconversation to which he had listened.

  The government of Carthage was indeed detestable, and was the chiefcause both of the misfortunes which had befallen her in the past, andof the disasters which were in the future to be hers. The scheme ofgovernment was not in itself bad, and in earlier and simpler times hadacted well. Originally it had consisted of three estates, which answeredto the king, lords, and commons. At the head of affairs were twosuffetes chosen for life. Below them was the senate, a very numerousbody, comprising all the aristocracy of Carthage. Below this was thedemocracy, the great mass of the people, whose vote was necessary toratify any law passed by the senate.

  In time, however, all authority passed from the suffetes, the generalbody of the senate and the democracy, into the hands of a committee ofthe senate, one hundred in number, who were called the council, the realpower being invested in the hands of an inner council, consisting offrom twenty to thirty of the members. The deliberations of this bodywere secret, their power absolute. They were masters of the life andproperty of every man in Carthage, as afterwards were the council of tenin the republic of Venice. For a man to be denounced by his secretenemy to them as being hostile to their authority was to ensure hisdestruction and the confiscation of his property.

  The council of a hundred was divided into twenty subcommittees, eachcontaining five members. Each of these committees was charged with thecontrol of a department--the army, the navy, the finances, the roadsand communications, agriculture, religion, and the relations with thevarious subject tribes, the more important departments being entirely inthe hands of the members of the inner council of thirty.

  The judges were a hundred in number. These were appointed by thecouncil, and were ever ready to carry out their behest, consequentlyjustice in Carthage was a mockery. Interest and intrigue were paramountin the law courts, as in every department of state. Every prominentcitizen, every successful general, every man who seemed likely, by hisability or his wealth, to become a popular personage with the masses,fell under the ban of the council, and sooner or later was certain to bedisgraced. The resources of the state were devoted not to the needs ofthe country but to aggrandizement and enriching of the members of thecommittee.

  Heavy as were the imposts which were laid upon the tributary peoples ofAfrica for the purposes of the state, enormous burdens were added by thetax gatherers to satisfy the cupidity of their patrons in the council.Under such circumstances it was not to be wondered at that Carthage,decaying, corrupt, ill governed, had suffered terrible reverses at thehands of her young and energetic rival Rome, who was herself some day,when she attained the apex of her power, to suffer from abuses noless flagrant and general than those which had sapped the strength ofCarthage.

  With the impetuosity of youth Malchus naturally inclined rather to theaspirations of his kinsman Giscon than to the more sober counsels of hisfather. He had burned with shame and anger as he heard the tale of thedisasters which had befallen his country, because she had made moneyher god, had suffered her army and her navy to be regarded as secondaryobjects, and had permitted the command of the sea to be wrested from herby her wiser and more far seeing rival.

  As evening closed in the stir in the neighbouring camp aroused Malchusfrom his thoughts, and the anticipation of the lion hunt, in which hewas about to take part, again became foremost.

  The camp was situated twenty days' march from Carthage at the foot ofsome hills in which lions and other beasts of prey were known to abound,and there was no doubt that they would be found that evening.

  The expedition had been despatched under the command of Hamilcar tochastise a small tribe which had attacked and plundered some ofthe Carthaginian caravans on their way to Ethiopia, then a rich andprosperous country, wherein were many flourishing colonies, which hadbeen sent out by Carthage.

  The object of the expedition had been but partly successful. The lightlyclad tribesmen had taken refuge far among the hills, and, although bydint of long and fatiguing marches several parties had been surprisedand slain, the main body had evaded all the efforts of the Carthaginiangeneral.

  The expedition had arrived at its present camping place on the previousevening. During the night the deep roaring of lions had been heardcontinuously among the hills, and so bold and numerous were they thatthey had come down in such proximity to the camp that the troops hadbeen obliged to rise and light great fires to scare them from making anattack upon the horses.

  The general had therefore consented, upon the entreaties of his nephewAdherbal, and his son, to organize a hunt upon the following night. Assoon as the sun set the troops, who had already received their orders,fell into their ranks. The full moon rose as soon as the sun dippedbelow the horizon, and her light was ample for the object they had inview.

  The Numidian horse were to take their station on the plain; the infantryin two columns, a mile apart, were to enter the mountains, and havingmarched some distance, leaving detachments behind them, they were tomove along the crest of the hills until they met; then, forming a greatsemicircle, they were to light torches, which they had prepared duringthe day, and to advance towards the plain shouting and dashing theirarms, so as to drive all the wild animals inclosed in the arc down intothe plain.

  The general with the two young officers and his son, and a party offifty spearmen, were to be divided between the two groves in which thecamps were pitched, which were opposite the centre of the space facingthe line inclosed by the beaters. Behind the groves the Numidian horsewere stationed, to give chase to such animals as might try to make theirescape across the open plain. The general inspected the two bodiesof infantry before they started, and repeated his instructions to theofficers who commanded them, and enjoined them to march as noiselesslyas possible until the semicircle was completed and the beat began inearnest.

  The troops were to be divided into groups of eight, in order to be ableto repel the attacks of any beasts which might try to break through theline. When the two columns had marched
away right and left towards thehills, the attendants of the elephants and baggage animals were orderedto remove them into the centre of the groves. The footmen who remainedwere divided into two parties of equal strength. The general withMalchus remained in the grove in which his tent was fixed with one ofthese parties, while Adherbal and Giscon with the others took up theirstation in the larger grove.

  "Do you think the lions are sure to make for these groves?" Malchusasked his father as, with a bundle of javelins lying by his side, hisbow in his hand, and a quiver of arrows hung from his belt in readiness,he took his place at the edge of the trees.

  "There can be no certainty of it, Malchus; but it seems likely that thelions, when driven out of their refuges among the hills, will makefor these groves, which will seem to offer them a shelter from theirpursuers. The fires here will have informed them of our presence lastnight; but as all is still and dark now they may suppose that the grovesare deserted. In any case our horses are in readiness among the treesclose at hand, and if the lions take to the plains we must mount andjoin the Numidians in the chase."

  "I would rather meet them here on foot, father."

  "Yes, there is more excitement, because there is more danger in it,Malchus; but I can tell you the attack of a wounded lion is no joke,even for a party of twenty-five well armed men. Their force and fury areprodigious, and they will throw themselves fearlessly upon a clump ofspears in order to reach their enemies. One blow from their paws iscertain death. Be careful, therefore, Malchus. Stir not from my side,and remember that there is a vast difference between rashness andbravery."