by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER IV: A POPULAR RISING
Day after day Malchus went down to the port. His father was well pleasedwith his report of what he had done and provided him with ample fundsfor paying earnest money to his various agents, as a proof that theirexertions would be well rewarded. He soon had the satisfaction of seeingthat the agitation was growing.
Work was neglected, the sailors and labourers collected on the quays andtalked among themselves, or listened to orators of their own class, whotold them of the dangers which threatened their trade from the hatred ofHanno and his friends the tax collectors for Hannibal, whose father andbrother-in-law had done such great things for Carthage by conqueringSpain and adding to her commerce by the establishment of Carthagena andother ports. Were they going to stand tamely by and see trade ruined,and their families starving, that the tyrants who wrung from them thetaxes should fatten at ease?
Such was the tenor of the orations delivered by scores of men to theircomrades on the quays. A calm observer might have noticed a certainsameness about the speeches, and might have come to the conclusion thatthe orators had received their instructions from the same person, butthis passed unnoticed by the sailors and workmen, who were soon rousedinto fury by the exhortations of the speakers. They knew nothing eitherof Hannibal or of Hanno, but they did know that they were ground downto the earth with taxation, and that the conquest of Spain and the tradethat had arisen had been of enormous benefit to them. It was, then,enough to tell them that this trade was threatened, and that it wasthreatened in the interest of the tyrants of Carthage, for them to enterheart and soul into the cause.
During these four days the Barcine Club was like the headquarters ofan army. Night and day the doors stood open, messengers came and wentcontinually, consultations of the leading men of the city were heldalmost without a break. Every man belonging to it had his appointedtask. The landed proprietors stirred up the cultivators of the soil, themanufacturers were charged with the enlightenment of their hands as tothe dangers of the situation, the soldiers were busy among thetroops; but theirs was a comparatively easy task, for these naturallysympathized with their comrades in Spain, and the name of the greatHamilcar was an object of veneration among them.
Hanno's faction was not idle. The Syssite which was composed of hisadherents was as large as its rival. Its orators harangued the people inthe streets on the dangers caused to the republic by the ambition ofthe family of Barca, of the expense entailed by the military and navalestablishments required to keep up the forces necessary to carry outtheir aggressive policy, of the folly of confiding the principal army ofthe state to the command of a mere youth. They dilated on the wealth andgenerosity of Hanno, of his lavish distribution of gifts among the poor,of his sympathy with the trading community. Each day the excitementrose, business was neglected, the whole population was in a fever ofexcitement.
On the evening of the fourth day the agents of the Barcine Clubdiscovered that Hanno's party were preparing for a public demonstrationon the following evening. They had a certainty of a majority in thepublic vote, which, although nominally that of the people, was, as hasbeen said, confined solely to what would now be called the middle class.
Hitherto the Barcine party had avoided fixing any period for their owndemonstration, preferring to wait until they knew the intention of theiropponents. The council now settled that it should take place on thefollowing day at eleven o'clock, just when the working classes wouldhave finished their morning meal.
The secret council, however, determined that no words should bewhispered outside their own body until two hours before the time, inorder that it should not be known to Hanno and his friends until toolate to gather their adherents to oppose it. Private messengers were,however, sent out late to all the members to assemble early at the club.
At nine o'clock next morning the Syssite was crowded, the doors wereclosed, and the determination of the council was announced to themembers, each of whom was ordered to hurry off to set the train inmotion for a popular outbreak for eleven o'clock. It was not until anhour later that the news that the Barcine party intended to forestallthem reached Hanno's headquarters. Then the most vigourous effortswere made to get together their forces, but it was too late. At eleveno'clock crowds of men from all the working portions of the townwere seen making their way towards the forum, shouting as they went,"Hannibal for general!" "Down with Hanno and the tax gatherers!"
Conspicuous among them were the sailors and fishermen from the port,armed with oars, and the gang of stevedores with heavy clubs. Hanno anda large number of his party hurried down to the spot and tried to pacifythe crowd, but the yells of execration were so loud and continuous thatthey were forced to leave the forum. The leaders of the Barcine partynow appeared on the scene, and their most popular orator ascended therostrum. When the news spread among the crowd that he was a friend ofHannibal and an opponent of Hanno, the tumult was stayed in order thatall might hear his words.
"My friends," he said, "I am glad to see that Carthage is still true toherself, and that you resent the attempt made by a faction to remove thegeneral of the army's choice, the son of the great Hamilcar Barca. Tohim and to Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, you owe the conquest of Spain, youowe the wealth which has of late years poured into Carthage, you owe thetrade which is already doing so much to mitigate your condition. Whathave Hanno and his friends done that you should listen to him? It istheir incapacity which has lost Carthage so many of its possessions. Itis their greed and corruption which place such burdens on your backs.They claim that they are generous. It is easy to be generous with themoney of which they have plundered you; but let them know your will, andthey must bend before it. Tell them that you will have Hannibal and noneother as the general of your armies, and Spain is secure, and year byyear your commerce with that country will increase and flourish."
A roar of assent arose from the crowd. At the same instant a tumult washeard at the lower entrance to the forum, and the head of a dense bodyof men was seen issuing from the street, with shouts of "Hanno forever!"They were headed by the butchers and tanners, an important and powerfulbody, for Carthage did a vast trade in leather.
For a time they bore all before them, but the resistance increased everyfoot they advanced. The shouts on both sides became louder and moreangry. Blows were soon exchanged, and ere long a pitched battle wasraging. The fishermen and sailors threw themselves into the thick ofit, and for ten minutes a desperate fight raged in the forum. Soonthe battle extended, as bodies of men belonging to either factionencountered each other as they hurried towards the forum.
Street frays were by no means unusual in Carthage, but this was averitable battle. Hanno had at its commencement, accompanied by a strongbody of his friends, ridden to Byrsa, and had called upon the soldiersto come out and quell the tumult. They, however, listened in sullensilence, their sympathies were entirely with the supporters of Hannibal,and they had already received orders from their officers on no accountto move, whosoever might command them to do so, until Hamilcar placedhimself at their head.
The general delayed doing this until the last moment. Hannibal's friendshad hoped to carry their object without the intervention of the troops,as it was desirable in every way that the election should appear to be apopular one, and that Hannibal should seem to have the suffrages of thepeople as well as of the army. That the large majority of the peoplewere with them they knew, but the money which Hanno's friends hadlavishly spent among the butchers, skinners, tanners, and smiths hadraised up a more formidable opposition than they had counted upon.
Seeing that their side was gaining but little advantage, that alreadymuch blood had been shed, and that the tumult threatened to involve allCarthage, Hamilcar and a number of officers rode to the barracks. Thetroops at once got under arms, and, headed by the elephants, moved outfrom Byrsa. Being desirous to avoid bloodshed, Hamilcar bade his menleave their weapons behind them, and armed them with headless spearshafts, of which, with all other things needed for war, there was alarge st
ore in the citadel. As the column sallied out it broke up intosections. The principal body marched toward the forum, while others,each led by officers, took their way down the principal streets.
The appearance of the elephants and troops, and the loud shouts of thelatter for Hannibal, quickly put an end to the tumult. Hanno's hiredmob, seeing that they could do nothing against such adversaries, at oncebroke up and fled to their own quarters of the city, and Hanno and hisadherents sought their own houses. The quiet citizens, seeing that thefight was over, issued from their houses, and the forum was soon againcrowded.
The proceedings were now unanimous, and the shouts raised that thesenate should assemble and confirm the vote of the army were loud andstrenuous. Parties of men went out in all directions to the houses ofthe senators to tell them the people demanded their presence at theforum. Seeing the uselessness of further opposition, and fearing theconsequences if they resisted, Hanno and his friends no longer offeredany opposition.
The senate assembled, and, by a unanimous vote the election of Hannibalas one of the suffetes in place of Hasdrubal, and as commander-in-chiefof the army in Spain, was carried, and was ratified by that of thepopular assembly, the traders and manufacturers of Hanno's party notventuring to oppose the will of the mass of mechanics and seafaringpopulation.
"It has been a victory," Hamilcar said, when, accompanied by a number ofhis friends, he returned to his home that evening, "but Hanno will notforget or forgive the events of this day. As long as all goes well inSpain we may hope for the support of the people, but should any disasterbefall our arms it will go hard with all who have taken a prominent partin this day's proceedings. Hanno's friends have so much at stake thatthey will not give up the struggle. They have at their back all themoneys which they wring from the people and the tributaries of Carthage,and they will work night and day to strengthen their party and to buyover the lower classes. We are the stronger at present; but to carrythe popular vote on a question which would put a stop to the frightfulcorruption of our administration, to suppress the tyranny of thecouncil, to sweep away the abuses which prevail in every class in thestate--for that we must wait till Hannibal returns victorious. Let himbut humble the pride of Rome, and Carthage will be at his feet."
The party were in high spirits at the result of the day's proceedings.Not only had they succeeded in their principal object of electingHannibal, but they had escaped from a great personal danger; for,assuredly, had Hanno and his party triumphed, a stern vengeance wouldhave been taken upon all the leading members of the Barcine faction.
After the banquet, while Hamilcar and his companions reclined on theircouches at tables, a Greek slave, a captive in war, sang songs of hisnative land to the accompaniment of the lyre. A party of dancing girlsfrom Ethiopia performed their rhythmical movements to the sound of thetinkling of a little guitar with three strings, the beating of a smalldrum, the clashing of cymbals, and the jingling of the ornaments andlittle metal bells on their arms and ankles. Perfumes were burned incensers, and from time to time soft strains of music, played by a partyof slaves among the trees without, floated in through the casements.
Malchus was in wild spirits, for his father had told him that it wassettled that he was to have the command of a body of troops which werevery shortly to proceed to Spain to reinforce the army under Hannibal,and that he should allow Malchus to enter the band of Carthaginian horsewhich was to form part of the body under his command.
The regular Carthaginian horse and foot formed but a very small portionof the armies of the republic. They were a corps d'elite, composedentirely of young men of the aristocratic families of Carthage, on whomit was considered as almost a matter of obligation to enter thisforce. They had the post of honour in battle, and it was upon them theCarthaginian generals relied principally to break the ranks of the enemyin close battle. All who aspired to distinguish themselves in the eyesof their fellow citizens, to rise to power and position in the state, toofficer the vast bodies of men raised from the tributary nations, and tocommand the armies of the country, entered one or other of these bodies.The cavalry was the arm chosen by the richer classes. It was seldom thatit numbered more than a thousand strong. The splendour of their armourand appointments, the beauty of their horses, the richness of thegarments of the cavaliers, and the trappings of their steeds, causedthis body to be the admiration and envy of Carthage. Every man in it wasa member of one of the upper ranks of the aristocracy; all were nearlyrelated to members of the senate, and it was considered the highesthonour that a young Carthaginian could receive to be admitted into it.
Each man wore on his wrist a gold band for each campaign which he hadundertaken. There was no attempt at uniformity as to their appointments.Their helmets and shields were of gold or silver, surmounted with plumesor feathers, or with tufts of white horsehair. Their breastplates wereadorned with arabesques or repousse work of the highest art. Their beltswere covered with gold and studded with gems. Their short kilted skirtswere of rich Tyrian purple embroidered with gold.
The infantry were composed of men of good but less exalted families.They wore a red tunic without a belt. They carried a great circularbuckler of more than a yard in diameter, formed of the tough hide of theriver horse, brought down from the upper Nile, with a central boss ofmetal with a point projecting nearly a foot in front of the shield,enabling it to be used as an offensive weapon in a close fight. Theycarried short heavy swords similar to those of the Romans, and wentbarefooted. Their total strength seldom exceeded two thousand.
These two bodies constituted the Carthaginian legion, and formed buta small proportion indeed of her armies, the rest of her forces beingentirely drawn from the tributary states. The fact that Carthage, withher seven hundred thousand inhabitants, furnished so small a contingentof the fighting force of the republic, was in itself a proof of theweakness of the state. A country which relies entirely for its defenceupon mercenaries is rapidly approaching decay.
She may for a time repress one tributary with the soldiers of theothers; but when disaster befalls her she is without cohesion and fallsto pieces at once. As the Roman orator well said of Carthage: "She wasa figure of brass with feet of clay"--a noble and imposing object tothe eye, but whom a vigourous push would level in the dust. Rome, on thecontrary, young and vigourous, was a people of warriors. Every one ofher citizens who was capable of bearing arms was a soldier. The manlyvirtues were held in the highest esteem, and the sordid love of wealthhad not as yet enfeebled her strength or sapped her powers. Her citizenswere men, indeed, ready to make any sacrifice for their country; andsuch being the case, her final victory over Carthage was a matter ofcertainty.
The news which afforded Malchus such delight was not viewed with thesame unmixed satisfaction by the members of his family. Thyra had forthe last year been betrothed to Adherbal, and he, too, was to accompanyHamilcar to Spain, and none could say how long it might be before theywould return.
While the others were sitting round the festive board, Adherbal andThyra strolled away among the groves in the garden.
"I do not think you care for me, Adherbal," she said reproachfully as hewas speaking of the probabilities of the campaign. "You know wellthat this war may continue in Spain for years, and you seem perfectlyindifferent to the fact that we must be separated for that time."
"I should not be indifferent to it, Thyra, if I thought for a momentthat this was to be the case. I may remain, it is true, for years inSpain; but I have not the most remote idea of remaining there alone. Atthe end of the first campaign, when our army goes into winter quarters,I shall return here and fetch you."
"That's all very well," the girl said, pouting; "but how do you knowthat I shall be willing to give up all the delights of Carthage to goamong the savage Iberians, where they say the ground is all white inwinter and even the rivers stop in their courses?"
Adherbal laughed lightly. "Then it is not for you to talk aboutindifference, Thyra; but it won't be so bad as you fear. At Carthagenayou will have all the luxu
ries of Carthage. I do not say that your villashall be equal to this; but as you will have me it should be a thousandtimes dearer to you."
"Your conceit is superb, Adherbal," Thyra laughed. "You get worseand worse. Had I ever dreamed of it I should never have consentedso submissively when my father ordered me to regard you as my futurehusband."
"You ought to think yourself a fortunate girl, Thyra," Adherbal said,smiling; "for your father might have taken it into his head to havedone as Hamilcar Barca did, and married his daughters to Massilian andNumidian princes, to become queens of bands of nomad savages."
"Well, they were queens, that was something, even if only of nomads."
"I don't think that it would have suited you, Thyra--a seat on horsebackfor a throne, and a rough tent for a palace, would not be in your way atall. I think a snug villa on the slopes of the bay of Carthagena, willsuit you better, not to mention the fact that I shall make an infinitelymore pleasant and agreeable master than a Numidian chief would do."
"You are intolerable, Adherbal, with your conceit and your mastership.However, I suppose when the time comes I shall have to obey my father.What a pity it is we girls cannot choose our husbands for ourselves!Perhaps the time may come when we shall do so."
"Well, in your case, Thyra," Adherbal said, "it would make nodifference, because you know you would have chosen me anyhow; but mostgirls would make a nice business of it. How are they to know what menreally are? They might be gamesters, drunkards, brutal and cruelby nature, idle and spendthrift. What can maidens know of a man'sdisposition? Of course they only see him at his best. Wise parentscan make careful inquiries, and have means of knowing what a man'sdisposition and habits really are."
"You don't think, Adherbal," Thyra said earnestly, "that girls are suchfools that they cannot read faces; that we cannot tell the differencebetween a good man and a bad one."
"Yes, a girl may know something about every man save the one she loves,Thyra. She may see other's faults clearly enough; but she is blind tothose of the man she loves. Do you not know that the Greeks depict Cupidwith a bandage over his eyes?"
"I am not blind to your faults," Thyra said indignantly. "I know thatyou are a great deal more lazy than becomes you; that you are notsufficiently earnest in the affairs of life; that you will never rise tobe a great general like my cousin Hannibal."
"That is all quite true," Adherbal laughed; "and yet you see you loveme. You perceive my faults only in theory and not in fact, and you donot in your heart wish to see me different from what I am. Is it notso?"
"Yes," the girl said shyly, "I suppose it is. Anyhow, I don't like thethought of your going away from me to that horrid Iberia."
Although defeated for the moment by the popular vote, the party of Hannowere not discouraged. They had suffered a similar check when they hadattempted to prevent Hannibal joining Hasdrubal in Spain.
Not a moment was lost in setting to work to recover their lost ground.Their agents among the lower classes spread calumnies against theBarcine leaders. Money was lavishly distributed, and the judges, whowere devoted to Hanno's party, set their machinery to work to striketerror among their opponents. Their modes of procedure were similar tothose which afterwards made Venice execrable in the height of her power.Arrests were made secretly in the dead of night. Men were missing fromtheir families, and none knew what had become of them.
Dead bodies bearing signs of strangulation were found floating in theshallow lakes around Carthage; and yet, so great was the dread inspiredby the terrible power of the judges, that the friends and relations ofthose who were missing dared make neither complaint nor inquiry. It wasnot against the leaders of the Barcine party that such measures weretaken. Had one of these been missing the whole would have flown to arms.The dungeons would have been broken open, and not only the captivesliberated, but their arrest might have been made the pretext for anattack upon the whole system under which such a state of things couldexist.
It was chiefly among the lower classes that the agents of Hanno'svengeance operated. Among these the disappearance of so many men whowere regarded as leaders among the rest spread a deep and mysteriousfear. Although none dared to complain openly, the news of thesemysterious disappearances was not long in reaching the leaders of theBarcine party.
These, however, were for the time powerless to act. Certain as theymight be of the source whence these unseen blows descended, they had noevidence on which to assail so formidable a body as the judges. Itwould be a rash act indeed to accuse such important functionaries of thestate, belonging, with scarcely an exception, to powerful families, ofarbitrary and cruel measures against insignificant persons.
The halo of tradition still surrounded the judges, and added to the fearinspired by their terrible and unlimited power. In such an attack theBarcine party could not rely upon the population to side with them; for,while comparatively few were personally affected by the arrests whichhad taken place, the fear of future consequences would operate upon all.
Among the younger members of the party, however, the indignation arousedby these secret blows was deep. Giscon, who was continually broodingover the tyranny and corruption which were ruining his country, was oneof the leaders of this section of the party; with him were other spiritsas ardent as himself. They met in a house in a quiet street in the lowertown, and there discussed all sorts of desperate projects for freeingthe city of its tyrants.
One day as Giscon was making his way to this rendezvous he met Malchusriding at full speed from the port.
"What is it, Malchus, whither away in such haste?"
"It is shameful, Giscon, it is outrageous. I have just been down to theport to tell the old fisherman with whom I often go out that I wouldsail with him tomorrow, and find that four days ago he was missing, andhis body was yesterday found by his sons floating in the lagoon. Hehad been strangled. His sons are as much overpowered with terror as bygrief, they believe that he has suffered for the part he took in rousingthe fishermen to declare for Hannibal a fortnight since, and they fearlest the terrible vengeance of Hanno should next fall upon them.
"How it happened they know not. A man arrived late in the evening andsaid that one of their father's best customers wanted a supply of fishfor a banquet he was to give next day, and that he wanted to speakto him at once to arrange about the quantity and quality of fish herequired. Suspecting nothing the old man left at once, and was neverheard of afterwards. Next morning, seeing that he had not returned, oneof his sons went to the house to which he had been fetched, but foundthat its owner knew nothing of the affair, and denied that he had sentany message whatever to him. Fearing that something was wrong theysearched everywhere, but it was not until last night that his body was,as I have told you, found.
"They are convinced that their father died in no private feud. He hadnot, as far as they know, an enemy in the world. You may imagine how lfeel this; not only did I regard him as a friend, but I feel that it wasowing to his acting as I led him that he has come to his death."
"The tyrants!" Giscon exclaimed in a low voice. "But what can you do,Malchus?"
"I am going to my father," Malchus replied, "to ask him to take thematter up."
"What can he do?" Giscon said with a bitter laugh. "What can he prove?Can he accuse our most noble body of judges, without a shadow of proof,of making away with this unknown old fisherman. No, Malchus, if you arein earnest to revenge your friend come with me, I will introduce you tomy friends, who are banded together against this tyranny, and who aresworn to save Carthage. You are young, but you are brave and full ofardour; you are a son of General Hamilcar, and my friends will gladlyreceive you as one of us."
Malchus did not hesitate. That there would be danger in joining sucha body as Giscon spoke of he knew, but the young officer's talk duringtheir expedition had aroused in him a deep sense of the tyranny andcorruption which were sapping the power or his country, and this blowwhich had struck him personally rendered him in a mood to adopt anydangerous move.
"I will
join you, Giscon," he said, "if you will accept me. I am young,but I am ready to go all lengths, and to give my life if needs be tofree Carthage."