The Young Carthaginian: A Story of The Times of Hannibal

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER VI: A CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN

  Among the young officers who had followed Hannibal on board weresome who had left Carthage only a few months before and were known toMalchus. From them he learned with delight that the troops would takethe field at once.

  "We are going on a campaign against the Vacaei," one of them said. "Thearmy marched out two days since. Hannibal has been waiting here for yourarrival, for a fast sailing ship which started a few hours after youbrought the news that you were on your way, and you will set off to jointhe rest without delay. It is going to be a hard campaign."

  "Where is the country of the Vacaei?" Malchus asked.

  "A long way off," the other replied. "The marches will be long andtiresome. Their country lies somewhat to the northwest of the greatplateau in the centre of Iberia. We shall have to ascend the mountainson this side, to cross the plateau, to follow the rivers which flow tothe great ocean."

  The Vacaei, in fact, dwelt in the lands bordered by the upper Duero,their country comprising a portion of old Castille, Leon, and the Basqueprovinces. The journey would indeed be a long and difficult one; andHannibal was undertaking the expedition not only to punish the turbulentVacaei, who had attacked some of the tribes which had submitted toCarthage, but to accustom the troops to fatigues and hardships, and toprepare them for the great expedition which he had in view. No time wasindeed lost, for as soon as the troops were landed they were formed upand at once started on their march.

  "This is more than we bargained for," Trebon, a young guardsman whoseplace in the ranks was next to Malchus, said to him. "I thought weshould have had at least a month here before we set out. They say thecity is as gay as Carthage; and as I have many friends here I havelooked forward to a month of jollity before starting. Every night when Ilay down on the hard planks of the deck I have consoled myself with thethought that a soft bed awaited me here; and now we have to take at onceto the bare ground, with nothing but this skin strapped on the pommel ofmy saddle to sleep on, and my bernous to cover me. It is colder alreadya great deal than it was at Carthage; and if that is so here, what willit be on the tops of those jagged mountains we see before us? Why, as Ilive, that highest one over there is of dazzling white! That must be thesnow we have heard of--the rain turned solid by cold, and which they saycauses a pain to the naked limbs something like hot iron. Fancy havingto sleep in such stuff!"

  Malchus laughed at the complaints of his comrade.

  "I confess I am glad we are off at once," he said, "for I was sick ofdoing nothing but idling away my time at Carthage; and I suppose itwould be just the same here. How busy are the streets of the town!Except for the sight of the mountains which we see through the breaks ofthe houses, one might believe one's self still at home."

  The aspect of Carthagena, indeed, closely resembled that of the mothercity, and the inhabitants were of the same race and blood.

  Carthagena had in the first place been formed by a great colony ofLibyans. The inhabitants of that province inhabiting the seaports andcoasts near Carthage were a mixture of Phoenician and native blood. Theywere ever impatient of the supremacy of Carthage, and their rebellionswere frequent and often dangerous. After the suppression of theseinsurrections, Carthage, sensible of the danger arising from theturbulence of her neighbours, deported great numbers of them to formcolonies. Vast numbers were sent up into the Soudan, which was then oneof the most important possessions of the republic. The most extensive,however, of these forced emigrations was the great colony sent to foundCarthagena, which had thus in a very few years, under the fosteringgenius of the great Hamilcar, become a great and prosperous city.

  Carthage itself had thus suddenly sprung into existence. After manyinternal troubles the democracy of Tyre had gained the upper hand inthat city; and finding their position intolerable, the whole of thearistocracy decided to emigrate, and, sailing with a great fleet undertheir queen Dido or Elisa--for she was called by both names--foundedCarthage. This triumph of the democracy in Tyre, as might be expected,proved the ruin of that city. Very rapidly she fell from the loftyposition she had held, and her place in the world and her proud positionas Queen of the Seas was very speedily taken by Carthage.

  The original Libyan colony of Carthagena had been very largely increasedby subsequent emigration, and the populace presented an appearance verysimilar to that of the mother city, save that instead of the swarthydesert tribesmen, with their passive face and air of proud indifference,mingling with the population of the town, there was in Carthagena alarge admixture of native Iberians, who, belonging to the tribes firstsubdued by Carthage, had either been forced to settle here to supplymanual labour needed for the rising city, or who had voluntarilyabandoned their wandering life and adopted the more settled habitudesand more assured comforts of existence in a great town.

  Skirting the lower part of the city, Hamilcar's force marched along theisthmus and crossed the bridge over the canal cut through it, andwas soon in the country beyond. The ground rose gradually, and aftermarching for six miles the brigade was halted at a spot to whichHannibal had, when the fleet was first discerned approaching along thecoast, despatched some bullocks and other provisions for their use. Themarch was a short one, but after a week's confinement on board shipthe men were little fitted for a long journey. The bullocks and otherrations were served out to the various companies, and the work ofpreparing the repast began. Malchus was amused, although ratherdisgusted at his first experience in a real campaign. When with Hamilcaron the expedition against the Atarantes he had formed part of hisfather's suite and had lived in luxury. He was now a simple soldier, andwas called upon to assist to cut up the bullock which had fallen to theshare of the Carthaginian cavalry.

  Some of the party went out to cut and bring in wood for the fires andcooking; others moistened the flour and made dough for the flat cakeswhich would be baked in the hot embers and eaten with the meat.Loud shouts of laughter rose as the young soldiers worked at theirunaccustomed tasks, superintended by the officers, who, having all madeseveral campaigns, were able to instruct them as to their duties. Froma culinary point of view the meal could not be pronounced a success,and was, indeed, a contrast to the food to which the young nobles wereaccustomed. The march, however, and the keen bracing air had given themgood appetites, and the novelty and strangeness of the experience gavea zest to the food; and in spite of the roughness of the meal, alldeclared that they had never dined better. Many fires were now lit; andround these, as the evening closed in, the men gathered in groups, allclosely wrapped in their bernouses, which were worn alike by officersand men of the whole of the nationalities serving in the Carthaginianarmy, serving as a cloak by day and a blanket at night. Presently atrampling of horses was heard, and Hannibal and his personal staff rodeinto the encampment.

  He had not started until several hours after them, when, having givenhis last orders and made all final arrangements for the managementof affairs during his absence, he had ridden on to join the army.Dismounting, he went at once on foot among the troops, chatting gailywith them and inquiring how they fared. After visiting all the otherdetachments he came to the bivouac of the Carthaginian horse, and for anhour sat talking by their fires.

  "Ah!" he said as he rose to go, "the others will sleep well enoughtonight; but you sybarites, accustomed to your soft couches and yourluxuries, will fare badly. I remember my first night on the hard ground,although 'tis now sixteen years back, how my limbs ached and how Ilonged for morning. Now, let me give you a hint how to make your bedscomfortable. Mind, this is not for the future, but till your limbs getaccustomed to the ground you may indulge in luxuries. Before you tryto go off to sleep note exactly where your hip bones and shoulders willrest; take your daggers and scoop out the earth at these points so asto make depressions in which they may lie. Then spread your lion skinsabove them and lie down. You will sleep as comfortably as if on a softcouch."

  Many of the young soldiers followed Hannibal's advice; others, amongwhom was Malchus, determined to accustom themse
lves at once to the hardground. Malchus was not long in getting to sleep, his last thought beingthat the precaution advised by Hannibal to ensure repose was altogetherunnecessary. But he changed his opinion when, two or three hours later,he woke up with acute pains in his hip and shoulder. After tryingvainly, by changing his position, again to go off to sleep, he rose,rolled up the skin, and set to work to make the excavations recommendedby the general. Then spreading out the skin again he lay down, and wasastonished to find how immense was the relief afforded by this simpleexpedient.

  At daybreak the party were in motion. Their march was a long one; forHannibal wished to come up with the main army as soon as possible, andno less than thirty miles were encompassed before they halted for thenight. They were now far up on the slopes of the Sierras. The latterpart of the journey had been exceedingly toilsome. The route was mostlybare rock, which sorely tried the feet of the soldiers, these beingin most cases unprotected even by sandals. Malchus and his mountedcompanions did not of course suffer in their feet. But they were almostas glad as the infantry when the camping place was reached, for nothingis more fatiguing to a horseman than to be obliged to travel in thesaddle for ten hours at the pace of footmen. The halting place thistime was near the upper edge of the forest which then clothed the lowerslopes of the mountains.

  Enough meat had been killed on the previous evening for three days'rations for the troops, and there was therefore no loss of time inpreparing the meal. Wood, of course, was in abundance, and the potswere soon hanging from thick poles placed above the fires. The night wasexceedingly cold, and the soldiers were grateful for the shelter whichthe trees afforded from the piercing wind which blew across the snowcovered peaks of the higher range of mountains.

  "What is that noise?" Malchus asked one of the officers as, after themeal was finished and silence began to reign in the camp, a deep soundwas heard in the forest.

  "That is the howling of a pack of wolves," the officer said. "They aresavage brutes, and when in company will not hesitate to attack smallparties of men. They abound in the mountains, and are a scourge tothe shepherds of the plains, especially in the cold weather, when theydescend and commit terrible damage among the flocks."

  "I thought I did not know the sound," Malchus said. "The nights werenoisy enough sometimes at the southern edge of the desert. The packsof jackals, with their sharp yelping cry, abounded; then there was thedeeper note of the hyenas, and the barking cry of troops of monkeys, andthe thundering roar of the lions. They were unpleasant enough, and atfirst used to keep one awake; but none of them were so lugubriousas that mournful howl I hear now. I suppose sometimes, when there isnothing else to do, we get up hunting parties?"

  "Yes," the officer replied; "it is the chief amusement of our garrisonsin winter among the wild parts of the country. Of course, nearCarthagena these creatures have been eradicated; but among the mountainsthey abound, and the carcass of a dead horse is sure to attract plentyof them. It is a sport not without danger; and there are many instanceswhere parties of five or six have gone out, taking with them a carcassto attract the wolves, and have never returned; and a search hasresulted in the discovery of their weapons, injured and perhaps broken,of stains of blood and signs of a desperate struggle, but of them not somuch as a bone has remained behind."

  "I thought lion hunting was an exciting sport but the lions, althoughthey may move and hunt in companies, do not fight in packs, as thesefierce brutes seem to do. I hope some day to try it. I should like tosend back two of their heads to hang on the wall by the side of that ofthe lion I killed up in the desert."

  "Next winter you may do so," the officer said. "The season is nearlyover now, and you may be sure that Hannibal will give us enough to dowithout our thinking of hunting wolves. The Vacaei are fierce enough.Perhaps two of their heads would do instead of those of wolves."

  "I do not think my mother and sisters would approve of that," Malchuslaughed; "so I must wait for the winter."

  The night did not pass so quietly as that which had preceded it. Thedistant howling of the wolves, as they hunted in the forest, kept thehorses in a tremor of terror and excitement, and their riders wereobliged over and over again to rise and go among them, and by speakingto and patting them, to allay their fear. So long as their masters werenear them the well trained horses were quiet and tractable, and wouldat a whispered order lie down and remain in perfect quiet; but no soonerhad they left them and again settled to sleep than, at the first howlwhich told that the pack were at all approaching, the horses would lifttheir heads, prick their ears in the direction of the sound, and riseto their feet and stand trembling, with extended nostrils snuffing theunknown danger, pawing the ground, and occasionally making desperateefforts to break loose from their picket ropes.

  The work of soothing had then to be repeated, until at last most of theriders brought their lions' skins and lay down by the prostrate horses,with their heads upon their necks. The animals, trained thus to sleepwith their riders by their side, and reassured by the presence of theirmasters, were for the most part content to lie quiet, although the packsof wolves, attracted by the scent of the meat that had been cooked,approached close to the camp and kept up a dismal chorus round it untilmorning.

  Day by day the march was continued. The country was wild and rugged,foaming torrents had to be crossed, precipices surmounted, barren tractstraversed. But after a week's hard marching the column had overcome thegreater part of the difficulty, had crossed the Sierras and gained theplateau, which with a gradual fall slopes west down to the Atlantic, andwas for the most part covered with a dense growth of forests. They nowto their satisfaction overtook the main body of the army, and theirmarches would be somewhat less severe, for hitherto they had each daytraversed extra distances to make up for the two days' loss in starting.Here Malchus for the first time saw the bands of Gaulish mercenaries.

  The Spanish troops had excited the admiration and astonishment of theCarthaginians by their stature and strength; but the Gauls were a stillmore powerful race. They belonged to the tribes which had poured downover the Apennines, and occupied the northern portion of Spain longanterior to the arrival of the Carthaginians. Their countenances wererugged, and as it seemed to Malchus, savage. Their colour was muchlighter than that of any people he had yet seen. Their eyes were blue,their hair, naturally fair or brown, was dyed with some preparationwhich gave it a red colour.

  Some wore their long locks floating over their shoulders, others tiedit in a knot on the top of their heads. They wore a loose short trouserfastened at the knee, resembling the baggy trousers of the modern Turks.A shirt with open sleeves came halfway down their thighs, and overit was a blouse or loose tunic decorated with ornaments of everydescription, and fastened at the neck by a metal brooch. Their helmetswere of copper, for the most part ornamented with the horns of stags orbulls. On the crest of the helmet was generally the figure of a birdor wild beast. The whole was surmounted by immense tufts of feathers,something like those of our Highland bonnets, adding greatly to theheight and apparent stature of the wearers.

  The Gauls had a passion for ornaments, and adorned their persons with aprofusion of necklaces, bracelets, rings, baldricks, and belts of gold.Their national arms were long heavy pikes--these had no metal heads,but the points were hardened by fire; javelins of the samedescription--these before going into battle they set fire to, and hurledblazing at the enemy--lighter darts called mat ras saunions, pikeswith curved heads, resembling the halberds of later times; and straightswords. Hannibal, however, finding the inconvenience of this diversityof weapons, had armed his Gaulish troops only with their long straightswords. These were without point, and made for cutting only, and werein the hands of these powerful tribesmen terrible weapons. These swordswere not those they had been accustomed to carry, which were made ofcopper only, and often bent at the first blow, but were especially madefor them in Carthage of heavy steel, proof against all accident.

  The march was conducted with all military precautions, althoughthey
were still traversing a country which had been already subdued.Nevertheless they moved as if expecting an instant attack. The lighthorse scoured the country. The lithe and active soldiers furnished bythe desert tribes formed the advanced guard of the army, and marchedalso on its flanks, while the heavy armed soldiery marched in solidcolumn ready for battle. Behind them came the long train of baggageprotected by a strong rear guard.

  At last they reached a fertile country, and were now in the land of theVacaei and their allies. Arbocala, now called Tordesillas, was capturedwithout much difficulty. The siege was then laid to Salamanca, the chieftown of the enemy. In the actual siege operations the Carthaginianhorse took no part. The place resisted vigourously, but the machinesof Hannibal effected a breach in the walls, and the inhabitants,seeing that further resistance was impossible, offered to capitulate,stipulating that they should be allowed to depart unharmed, leavingbehind them all their arms and their treasure.

  The Carthaginian army were drawn up in readiness to march into the townas the Vacaei came out. As they filed past the Carthaginians they wereinspected to see that they had carried out the terms of the agreement.It was found that they had done so rigidly--not an arm of any kind wasfound upon them. Their necklaces, bracelets, and ornaments had all beenleft behind.

  "What a savage looking race!" Malchus remarked to Trebon; "they look atus as if they would gladly spring on us, unarmed as they are, andtear us with their hands. They are well nigh as dark skinned as theNumidians."

  "Here come their women!" Trebon said; "verily I would as soon fight themen as these creatures. Look how they glare at us! You see they haveall had to give up their ornaments, so they have each their privategrievance as well as their national one."

  When the whole of the population had filed out, the Carthaginian armyentered the town, with the exception of a body of light horse who wereordered to remain without and keep an eye on the doings of the lategarrison. Malchus was amused at the scene within. The members of theCarthaginian horse disdained to join in the work of plunder, and were,therefore, free to watch with amusement their comrades at work. Theamount of booty was large, for the number of gold ornaments found inevery house, deposited there by the inhabitants on departing, was verygreat; but not satisfied with this the soldiers dug up the floors insearch of buried treasure, searched the walls for secret hiding places,and rummaged the houses from top to bottom. Besides the rich booty, thesoldiers burdened themselves with a great variety of articles which itwould be impossible for them to carry away.

  Men were seen staggering under the weight of four or five heavy skins.Some had stuck feathers in their helmets until their heads were scarcevisible. Some had great bundles of female garments, which they hadcollected with a vague idea of carrying them home to their families.The arms had in the first place been collected and placed under astrong guard, and picked troops were placed as sentries over the publictreasury, whose contents were allotted to the general needs of the army.

  Night fell soon after the sack commenced. Malchus with a number of hiscomrades took possession of one of the largest houses in the place, and,having cleared it of the rubbish with which it was strewn, preparedto pass the night there. Suddenly a terrible uproar was heard--shouts,cries, the clashing of arms, the yells of the enemy, filled the air. Thecavalry charged to watch the Vacaei, believing that these had departedquietly, had abandoned their post, and had entered the town to join inthe work of plunder.

  As the garrison had marched out the men had been rigidly searched; butthe women had been allowed to pass out without any close inspection.This carelessness cost the Carthaginians dear, for under their garmentsthey had hidden the swords and daggers of the men. Relying upon thedisorder which would reign in the city, the Vacaei had returned, and nowpoured in through the gates, slaying all whom they met.

  For a short time a terrible panic reigned among the Carthaginians, greatnumbers were cut down, and it seemed as if the whole force would bedestroyed. Hannibal and his generals rode about trying to get thescattered men to form and oppose the enemy; but the panic was toogeneral, and had it not been for the Carthaginian legion all would havebeen lost. The horse and foot, however, of this body, having abstainedfrom joining in the pillage, had, for the most part, kept together inbodies, and these now sallied out in close and regular order, and fellupon the attacking enemy.

  The streets were too narrow for cavalry to act, and Malchus and hiscomrades fought on foot. The enemy, who had scattered on their work ofslaughter, were in their turn taken at a disadvantage, and were unableto withstand the steady attack of the solid bodies. These, in the firstplace, cut their way to the square in the centre of the town, and thereunited. Hannibal, seeing he had now a solid body of troops under hiscommand, at once broke them up into parties and advanced down all thestreets leading from the central square. The hand-to-hand fight whichwas going on all over the town was soon terminated. The Carthaginiansfell in in good order behind the ranks of their comrades, and the smallbodies soon became columns which swept the enemy before them.

  The enemy fought desperately, firing the houses, hurling stones from theroofs upon the columns, and throwing themselves with reckless braveryupon the spears, but their efforts were in vain. Foot by foot theywere driven back, until they were again expelled from the town. Keepingtogether, and ever showing front to the Carthaginians, the Vacaei, nowreduced to less than half their number, retired to an eminence near thetown, and there prepared to sell their lives dearly. The Carthaginiansnow fell into their regular ranks, and prepared to storm the enemy'sposition; but Hannibal rode forward alone towards the Vacaei, beingplainly visible to them in the broad blaze of light from the burningcity.

  From his long residence in Spain he was able to speak the Iberian tonguewith fluency, and indeed could converse with all the troops of thevarious nationalities under the banner of Carthage in their ownlanguage.

  "Men of Salamanca," he said, "resist no longer. Carthage knows how tohonour a brave enemy, and never did men fight more valiantly in defenceof their homes than you have done, and although further resistance wouldbe hopeless, I will press you no further. Your lives are spared. You mayretain the arms you know so well how to wield, and tomorrow my army willevacuate your town and leave you free to return to it."

  Hannibal's clemency was politic. He would have lost many more men beforehe finally overcame the desperate band, and he was by no means desirousof exciting a deep feeling of hate among any of the tribes, just ashe was meditating withdrawing the greater portion of the army for hisenterprise against Rome. With the fall of Salamanca the resistance ofthe Vacaei ceased, and Hannibal prepared to march back to Carthagena.

  A storm, however, had gathered in his rear. Great numbers of the Vacaeihad sought refuge among the Olcades, who had been subdued the previousautumn, and together they had included the whole of the fierce tribesknown as the Carpatans, who inhabited the country on the right bank ofthe upper Tagus, to make common cause with them against the invaders. AsHannibal approached their neighbourhood they took up their position onthe right bank of the river near Toledo. Here the stream is rapid anddifficult of passage, its bed being thickly studded with great bouldersbrought down in time of flood from the mountains. The country on eachside of the river is sandy, free from forests or valleys, which wouldcover the movements of an army.

  The host gathered to oppose the Carthaginians were fully one hundredthousand strong, and Hannibal saw at once that his force, weakened as itwas with its loss at Salamanca, and encumbered by the great train ladenwith the booty they had gathered from the Vacaei, would have no chancewhatever in a battle with so vast a body. The enemy separated as heapproached the river, their object being evidently to fall upon his rearwhen engaged in the difficult operation of crossing. The Carthaginiansmoved in two heavy columns, one on each side of their baggage, andHannibal's orders were stringent that on no account should they engagewith the enemy.

  The natives swarmed around the columns, hurling darts and javelins; butthe Carthaginians moved forwar
d in solid order, replying only withtheir arrows and slings, and contenting themselves with beating off theattacks which the bolder of their foes made upon them. Night was fallingwhen they arrived on the bank of the river. The enemy then desisted fromtheir attack, believing that in the morning the Carthaginians would beat their mercy, encumbered by their vast booty on one side and cut offfrom retreat by a well nigh impassable river on the other.

  As soon as the army reached the river Hannibal caused the tents of allthe officers to be erected. The baggage wagons were arranged in order,and the cattle unharnessed. The troops began to throw up intrenchments,and all seemed to show that the Carthaginians were determined to fighttill the last on the ground they held. It was still light enough for theenemy to perceive what was being done, and, secure of their prey in themorning, they drew off to a short distance for the night. Hannibal hadlearned from a native that morning of a ford across the river, and itwas towards this that he had been marching. As soon as it was perfectlydark a number of men entered the river to search for the ford. This wassoon discovered.

  Then the orders were passed noiselessly round to the soldiers, andthese, in regular order and in the most perfect quiet, rose to theirfeet and marched down to the ford. A portion of the infantry firstpassed, then the wagons were taken over, the rest of the infantryfollowed, and the cavalry and the elephants brought up the rear. Thepoint where the river was fordable was at a sharp angle, and Hannibalnow occupied its outer side. As daylight approached he placed hisarchers on the banks of the river where, owing to the sharp bend, theirarrows would take in flank an enemy crossing the ford, and would alsosweep its approaches.

  The cavalry were withdrawn some distance, and were ordered not to chargeuntil the Spaniards had got across the river. The elephants, fortyin number, were divided into two bodies. One of these was allotted toprotect each of the bodies of infantry on the bank from attack, shouldthe Spaniards gain a strong footing on the left bank. When day brokethe enemy perceived that the Carthaginians had made the passage of theriver. Believing that they had been too much alarmed to risk a battle,and were retreating hastily, the natives thronged down in a multitude tothe river without waiting for their leaders or for orders to be given,and rushing forward, each for himself, leaped into the river.

  Numbers were at once swept away by the stream, but the crowd who hadstruck upon the ford pressed forward. When they were in midstream in atumultuous mass Hannibal launched his cavalry upon them, and a desperateconflict ensued in the river. The combat was too unequal to lastlong. The Spaniards, waist deep in the rapid stream, had difficultyin retaining their feet, they were ignorant of the width or precisedirection of the ford, and were hampered by their own masses; thecavalry, on the other hand, were free to use their weapons, and theweight and impetus of their charge was alone sufficient to sweep theSpanish from their footing into deep water.

  Many were drowned, many more cut down, and the rest driven in disorderback across the river. But fresh hordes had now arrived; Hannibalsounded the retreat, and the cavalry retired as the Spaniards againthrew themselves into the stream. As the confused mass poured across theford the two divisions of infantry fell upon them, while the arrowsof the archers swept the struggling mass. Without order or discipline,bewildered at this attack by a foe whom they had regarded as flying, theSpaniards were driven back across the river, the Carthaginians crossingin their rear.

  The flying Iberians scattered terror among their comrades still flockingdown to the bank, and as the Carthaginian infantry in solid column fellupon them, a panic seized the whole host and they scattered over theplain. The Carthaginian cavalry followed close behind the infantry, andat once dashed forward among the broken masses, until the Spanish army,lately so confident of victory, was but a broken mass of panic strickenfugitives.

  The victory of Toledo was followed at once by the submission of thewhole of the tribes of Spain south of the Ebro, and Hannibal, havingseen that the country was everywhere pacified, marched back with hisarmy to Carthagena to pass the winter there (220-219 B.C.).