Hamilcar had suddenly emerged from the bottom of the gorge1, and again descended2 the western slope that looked towards Hippo-Zarytus, and the space being broader at this spot he had taken care to draw the Barbarians3 into it. Narr’ Havas had encompassed4 them with his horse; the Suffet meanwhile drove them back and crushed them. Then, too, they were conquered beforehand by the loss of the zaimph; even those who cared nothing about it had experienced anguish6 and something akin7 to enfeeblement. Hamilcar, not indulging his pride by holding the field of battle, had retired8 a little further off on the left to some heights, from which he commanded them.
The shape of the camps could be recognised by their sloping palisades. A long heap of black cinders9 was smoking on the side of the Libyans; the devastated10 soil showed undulations like the sea, and the tents with their tattered11 canvas looked like dim ships half lost in the breakers. Cuirasses, forks, clarions, pieces of wood, iron and brass14, corn, straw, and garments were scattered15 about among the corpses16; here and there a phalarica on the point of extinction18 burned against a heap of baggage; in some places the earth was hidden with shields; horses’ carcasses succeeded one another like a series of hillocks; legs, sandals, arms, and coats of mail were to be seen, with heads held in their helmets by the chin-pieces and rolling about like balls; heads of hair were hanging on the thorns; elephants were lying with their towers in pools of blood, with entrails exposed, and gasping19. The foot trod on slimy things, and there were swamps of mud although no rain had fallen.
This confusion of dead bodies covered the whole mountain from top to bottom.
Those who survived stirred as little as the dead. Squatting20 in unequal groups they looked at one another scared and without speaking.
The lake of Hippo-Zarytus shone at the end of a long meadow beneath the setting sun. To the right an agglomeration21 of white houses extended beyond a girdle of walls; then the sea spread out indefinitely; and the Barbarians, with their chins in their hands, sighed as they thought of their native lands. A cloud of grey dust was falling.
The evening wind blew; then every breast dilated22, and as the freshness increased, the vermin might be seen to forsake23 the dead, who were colder now, and to run over the hot sand. Crows, looking towards the dying, rested motionless on the tops of the big stones.
When night had fallen yellow-haired dogs, those unclean beasts which followed the armies, came quite softly into the midst of the Barbarians. At first they licked the clots24 of blood on the still tepid25 stumps26; and soon they began to devour27 the corpses, biting into the stomachs first of all.
The fugitives28 reappeared one by one like shadows; the women also ventured to return, for there were still some of them left, especially among the Libyans, in spite of the dreadful massacre29 of them by the Numidians.
Some took ropes’ ends and lighted them to use as torches. Others held crossed pikes. The corpses were placed upon these and were conveyed apart.
They were found lying stretched in long lines, on their backs, with their mouths open, and their lances beside them; or else they were piled up pell-mell so that it was often necessary to dig out a whole heap in order to discover those they were wanting. Then the torch would be passed slowly over their faces. They had received complicated wounds from hideous30 weapons. Greenish strips hung from their foreheads; they were cut in pieces, crushed to the marrow31, blue from strangulation, or broadly cleft32 by the elephants’ ivory. Although they had died at almost the same time there existed differences between their various states of corruption33. The men of the North were puffed34 up with livid swellings, while the more nervous Africans looked as though they had been smoked, and were already drying up. The Mercenaries might be recognised by the tattooing36 on their hands: the old soldiers of Antiochus displayed a sparrow-hawk; those who had served in Egypt, the head of the cynosephalus; those who had served with the princes of Asia, a hatchet37, a pomegranate, or a hammer; those who had served in the Greek republics, the side-view of a citadel38 or the name of an archon; and some were to be seen whose arms were entirely39 covered with these multiplied symbols, which mingled40 with their scars and their recent wounds.
Four great funeral piles were erected41 for the men of Latin race, the Samnites, Etruscans, Campanians, and Bruttians.
The Greeks dug pits with the points of their swords. The Spartans42 removed their red cloaks and wrapped them round the dead; the Athenians laid them out with their faces towards the rising sun; the Cantabrians buried them beneath a heap of pebbles43; the Nasamonians bent44 them double with ox-leather thongs45, and the Garamantians went and interred46 them on the shore so that they might be perpetually washed by the waves. But the Latins were grieved that they could not collect the ashes in urns47; the Nomads48 regretted the heat of the sands in which bodies were mummified, and the Celts, the three rude stones beneath a rainy sky at the end of an islet-covered gulf49.
Vociferations arose, followed by the lengthened50 silence. This was to oblige the souls to return. Then the shouting was resumed persistently51 at regular intervals53.
They made excuses to the dead for their inability to honour them as the rites54 prescribed: for, owing to this deprivation55, they would pass for infinite periods through all kinds of chances and metamorphoses; they questioned them and asked them what they desired; others loaded them with abuse for having allowed themselves to be conquered.
The bloodless faces lying back here and there on wrecks56 of armour57 showed pale in the light of the great funeral-pile; tears provoked tears, the sobs58 became shriller, the recognitions and embracings more frantic59. Women stretched themselves on the corpses, mouth to mouth and brow to brow; it was necessary to beat them in order to make them withdraw when the earth was being thrown in. They blackened their cheeks; they cut off their hair; they drew their own blood and poured it into the pits; they gashed60 themselves in imitation of the wounds that disfigured the dead. Roarings burst forth61 through the crashings of the cymbals62. Some snatched off their amulets63 and spat64 upon them. The dying rolled in the bloody65 mire66 biting their mutilated fists in their rage; and forty-three Samnites, quite a “sacred spring,” cut one another’s throats like gladiators. Soon wood for the funeral-piles failed, the flames were extinguished, every spot was occupied; and weary from shouting, weakened, tottering68, they fell asleep close to their dead brethren, those who still clung to life full of anxieties, and the others desiring never to wake again.
In the greyness of the dawn some soldiers appeared on the outskirts69 of the Barbarians, and filed past with their helmets raised on the points of their pikes; they saluted70 the Mercenaries and asked them whether they had no messages to send to their native lands.
Others approached, and the Barbarians recognised some of their former companions.
The Suffet had proposed to all the captives that they should serve in his troops. Several had fearlessly refused; and quite resolved neither to support them nor to abandon them to the Great Council, he had sent them away with injunctions to fight no more against Carthage. As to those who had been rendered docile71 by the fear of tortures, they had been furnished with the weapons taken from the enemy; and they were now presenting themselves to the vanquished72, not so much in order to seduce73 them as out of an impulse of pride and curiosity.
At first they told of the good treatment which they had received from the Suffet; the Barbarians listened to them with jealousy74 although they despised them. Then at the first words of reproach the cowards fell into a passion; they showed them from a distance their own swords and cuirasses and invited them with abuse to come and take them. The Barbarians picked up flints; all took to flght; and nothing more could be seen on the summit of the mountain except the lance-points projecting above the edge of the palisades.
Then the Barbarians were overwhelmed with a grief that was heavier than the humiliation75 of the defeat. They thought of the emptiness of their courage, and they stood with their eyes fixed76 and grinding their teeth.
The same thought came to them all. They rushed tumultuously upon the Carthaginian prisoners. It chanced that the Suffet’s soldiers had been unable to discover them, and as he had withdrawn77 from the field of battle they were still in the deep pit.
They were ranged on the ground on a flattened78 spot. Sentries79 formed a circle round them, and the women were allowed to enter thirty or forty at a time. Wishing to profit by the short time that was allowed to them, they ran from one to the other, uncertain and panting; then bending over the poor bodies they struck them with all their might like washerwomen beating linen80; shrieking81 their husband’s names they tore them with their nails and put out their eyes with the bodkins of their hair. The men came next and tortured them from their feet, which they cut off at the ankles, to their foreheads, from which they took crowns of skin to put upon their own heads. The Eaters of Uncleanness were atrocious in their devices. They envenomed the wounds by pouring into them dust, vinegar, and fragments of pottery82; others waited behind; blood flowed, and they rejoiced like vintagers round fuming83 vats84.
Matho, however, was seated on the ground, at the very place where he had happened to be when the battle ended, his elbows on his knees, and his temples in his hands; he saw nothing, heard nothing, and had ceased to think.
At the shrieks85 of joy uttered by the crowd he raised his head. Before him a strip of canvas caught on a flagpole, and trailing on the ground, sheltered in confused fashion blankets, carpets, and a lion’s skin. He recognised his tent; and he riveted86 his eyes upon the ground as though Hamilcar’s daughter, when she disappeared, had sunk into the earth.
The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes passed across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of a hand. It was the hand of Narr’ Havas, the token of their alliance. Then Matho rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and threw it disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent. Then with the toe of his cothurn he pushed the things which fell out back towards the flame so that nothing might be left.
Suddenly, without any one being able to guess from what point he had sprung up, Spendius reappeared.
The former slave had fastened two fragments of a lance against his thigh87; he limped with a piteous look, breathing forth complaints the while.
“Remove that,” said Matho to him. “I know that you are a brave fellow!” For he was so crushed by the injustice88 of the gods that he had not strength enough to be indignant with men.
Spendius beckoned89 to him and led him to a hollow of the mountain, where Zarxas and Autaritus were lying concealed90.
They had fled like the slave, the one although he was cruel, and the other in spite of his bravery. But who, said they, could have expected the treachery of Narr’ Havas, the burning of the camp of the Libyans, the loss of the zaimph, the sudden attack by Hamilcar, and, above all, his manoeuvres which forced them to return to the bottom of the mountain beneath the instant blows of the Carthaginians? Spendius made no acknowledgement of his terror, and persisted in maintaining that his leg was broken.
At last the three chiefs and the schalischim asked one another what decision should now be adopted.
Hamilcar closed the road to Carthage against them; they were caught between his soldiers and the provinces belonging to Narr’ Havas; the Tyrian towns would join the conquerors91; the Barbarians would find themselves driven to the edge of the sea, and all those united forces would crush them. This would infallibly happen.
Thus no means presented themselves of avoiding the war. Accordingly they must prosecute92 it to the bitter end. But how were they to make the necessity of an interminable battle understood by all these disheartened people, who were still bleeding from their wounds.
“I will undertake that!” said Spendius.
Two hours afterwards a man who came from the direction of Hippo-Zarytus climbed the mountain at a run. He waved some tablets at arm’s length, and as he shouted very loudly the Barbarians surrounded him.
The tablets had been despatched by the Greek soldiers in Sardinia. They recommended their African comrades to watch over Gisco and the other captives. A Samian trader, one Hipponax, coming from Carthage, had informed them that a plot was being organised to promote their escape, and the Barbarians were urged to take every precaution; the Republic was powerful.
Spendius’s stratagem94 did not succeed at first as he had hoped. This assurance of the new peril95, so far from exciting frenzy96, raised fears; and remembering Hamilcar’s warning, lately thrown into their midst, they expected something unlooked for and terrible. The night was spent in great distress97; several even got rid of their weapons, so as to soften98 the Suffet when he presented himself.
But on the following day, at the third watch, a second runner appeared, still more breathless, and blackened with dust. The Greek snatched from his hand a roll of papyrus99 covered with Phoenician writing. The Mercenaries were entreated100 not to be disheartened; the brave men of Tunis were coming with large reinforcements.
Spendius first read the letter three times in succession; and held up by two Cappadocians, who bore him seated on their shoulders, he had himself conveyed from place to place and re-read it. For seven hours he harangued101.
He reminded the Mercenaries of the promises of the Great Council; the Africans of the cruelties of the stewards102, and all the Barbarians of the injustice of Carthage. The Suffet’s mildness was only a bait to capture them; those who surrendered would be sold as slaves, and the vanquished would perish under torture. As to flight, what routes could they follow? Not a nation would receive them. Whereas by continuing their efforts they would obtain at once freedom, vengeance103, and money! And they would not have long to wait, since the people of Tunis, the whole of Libya, was rushing to relieve them. He showed the unrolled papyrus: “Look at it! read! see their promises! I do not lie.”
Dogs were straying about with their black muzzles104 all plastered with red. The men’s uncovered heads were growing hot in the burning sun. A nauseous smell exhaled105 from the badly buried corpses. Some even projected from the earth as far as the waist. Spendius called them to witness what he was saying; then he raised his fists in the direction of Hamilcar.
Matho, moreover, was watching him, and to cover his cowardice106 he displayed an anger by which he gradually found himself carried away. Devoting himself to the gods he heaped curses upon the Carthaginians. The torture of the captives was child’s play. Why spare them, and be ever dragging this useless cattle after one? “No! we must put an end to it! their designs are known! a single one might ruin us! no pity! Those who are worthy107 will be known by the speed of their legs and the force of their blows.”
Then they turned again upon the captives. Several were still in the last throes; they were finished by the thrust of a heel in the mouth or a stab with the point of a javelin108.
Then they thought of Gisco. Nowhere could he be seen; they were disturbed with anxiety. They wished at once to convince themselves of his death and to participate in it. At last three Samnite shepherds discovered him at a distance of fifteen paces from the spot where Matho’s tent lately stood. They recognised him by his long beard and they called the rest.
Stretched on his back, his arms against his hips12, and his knees close together, he looked like a dead man laid out for the tomb. Nevertheless his wasted sides rose and fell, and his eyes, wide-opened in his pallid110 face, gazed in a continuous and intolerable fashion.
The Barbarians looked at him at first with great astonishment111. Since he had been living in the pit he had been almost forgotten; rendered uneasy by old memories they stood at a distance and did not venture to raise their hands against him.
But those who were behind were murmuring and pressed forward when a Garamantian passed through the crowd; he was brandishing112 a sickle113; all understood his thought; their faces purpled, and smitten114 with shame they shrieked115:
“Yes! yes!”
The man with the curved steel approached Gisco. He took his head, and, resting it upon his knee, sawed it off with rapid strokes; it fell; to great jets of blood made a hole in the dust. Zarxas leaped upon it, and lighter116 than a leopard117 ran towards the Carthaginians.
Then when he had covered two thirds of the mountain he drew Gisco’s head from his breast by the beard, whirled his arm rapidly several times — and the mass, when thrown at last, described a long parabola and disappeared behind the Punic entrenchments.
Soon at the edge of the palisades there rose two crossed standards, the customary sign for claiming a corpse17.
Then four heralds118, chosen for their width of chest, went out with great clarions, and speaking through the brass tubes declared that henceforth there would be between Carthaginians and Barbarians neither faith, pity, nor gods, that they refused all overtures119 beforehand, and that envoys120 would be sent back with their hands cut off.
Immediately afterwards, Spendius was sent to Hippo-Zarytus to procure122 provisions; the Tyrian city sent them some the same evening. They ate greedily. Then when they were strengthened they speedily collected the remains123 of their baggage and their broken arms; the women massed themselves in the centre, and heedless of the wounded left weeping behind them, they set out along the edge of the shore like a herd109 of wolves taking its departure.
They were marching upon Hippo-Zarytus, resolved to take it, for they had need of a town.
Hamilcar, as he perceived them at a distance, had a feeling of despair in spite of the pride which he experienced in seeing them fly before him. He ought to have attacked them immediately with fresh troops. Another similar day and the war was over! If matters were protracted124 they would return with greater strength; the Tyrian towns would join them; his clemency125 towards the vanquished had been of no avail. He resolved to be pitiless.
The same evening he sent the Great Council a dromedary laden126 with bracelets127 collected from the dead, and with horrible threats ordered another army to be despatched.
All had for a long time believed him lost; so that on learning his victory they felt a stupefaction which was almost terror. The vaguely128 announced return of the zaimph completed the wonder. Thus the gods and the might of Carthage seemed now to belong to him.
None of his enemies ventured upon complaint or recrimination. Owing to the enthusiasm of some and the pusillanimity129 of the rest, an army of five thousand men was ready before the interval52 prescribed had elapsed.
This army promptly130 made its way to Utica in order to support the Suffet’s rear, while three thousand of the most notable citizens embarked131 in vessels132 which were to land them at Hippo-Zarytus, whence they were to drive back the Barbarians.
Hanno had accepted the command; but he intrusted the army to his lieutenant133, Magdassin, so as to lead the troops which were to be disembarked himself, for he could no longer endure the shaking of the litter. His disease had eaten away his lips and nostrils134, and had hollowed out a large hole in his face; the back of his throat could be seen at a distance of ten paces, and he knew himself to be so hideous that he wore a veil over his head like a woman.
Hippo-Zarytus paid no attention to his summonings nor yet to those of the Barbarians; but every morning the inhabitants lowered provisions to the latter in baskets, and shouting from the tops of the towers pleaded the exigencies135 of the Republic and conjured136 them to withdraw. By means of signs they addressed the same protestations to the Carthaginians, who were stationed on the sea.
Hanno contented137 himself with blockading the harbour without risking an attack. However, he permitted the judges of Hippo-Zarytus to admit three hundred soldiers. Then he departed to the Cape93 Grapes, and made a long circuit so as to hem5 in the Barbarians, an inopportune and even dangerous operation. His jealousy prevented him from relieving the Suffet; he arrested his spies, impeded138 him in all his plans, and compromised the success of the enterprise. At last Hamilcar wrote to the Great Council to rid himself of Hanno, and the latter returned to Carthage furious at the baseness of the Ancients and the madness of his colleague. Hence, after so many hopes, the situation was now still more deplorable; but there was an effort not to reflect upon it and even not to talk about it.
As if all this were not sufficient misfortune at one time, news came that the Sardinian Mercenaries had crucified their general, seized the strongholds, and everywhere slaughtered139 those of Chanaanitish race. The Roman people threatened the Republic with immediate121 hostilities140 unless she gave twelve hundred talents with the whole of the island of Sardinia. They had accepted the alliance of the Barbarians, and they despatched to them flat-bottomed boats laden with meal and dried meat. The Carthaginians pursued these, and captured five hundred men; but three days afterwards a fleet coming from Byzacena, and conveying provisions to Carthage, foundered141 in a storm. The gods were evidently declaring against her.
Upon this the citizens of Hippo-Zarytus, under pretence142 of an alarm, made Hanno’s three hundred men ascend143 their walls; then coming behind them they took them by the legs, and suddenly threw them over the ramparts. Some who were not killed were pursued, and went and drowned themselves in the sea.
Utica was enduring the presence of soldiers, for Magdassin had acted like Hanno, and in accordance with his orders and deaf to Hamilcar’s prayers, was surrounding the town. As for these, they were given wine mixed with mandrake, and were then slaughtered in their sleep. At the same time the Barbarians arrived; Magdassin fled; the gates were opened, and thenceforward the two Tyrian towns displayed an obstinate144 devotion to their new friends and an inconceivable hatred145 to their former allies.
This abandonment of the Punic cause was a counsel and a precedent146. Hopes of deliverance revived. Populations hitherto uncertain hesitated no longer. Everywhere there was a stir. The Suffet learnt this, and he had no assistance to look for! He was now irrevocably lost.
He immediately dismissed Narr’ Havas, who was to guard the borders of his kingdom. As for himself, he resolved to re-enter Carthage in order to obtain soldiers and begin the war again.
The Barbarians posted at Hippo-Zarytus perceived his army as it descended the mountain.
Where could the Carthaginians be going? Hunger, no doubt, was urging them on; and, distracted by their sufferings, they were coming in spite of their weakness to give battle. But they turned to the right: they were fleeing. They might be overtaken and all be crushed. The Barbarians dashed in pursuit of them.
The Carthaginians were checked by the river. It was wide this time and the west wind had not been blowing. Some crossed by swimming, and the rest on their shields. They resumed their march. Night fell. They were out of sight.
The Barbarians did not stop; they went higher to find a narrower place. The people of Tunis hastened thither147, bringing those of Utica along with them. Their numbers increased at every bush; and the Carthaginians, as they lay on the ground, could hear the tramping of their feet in the darkness. From time to time Barca had a volley of arrows discharged behind him to check them, and several were killed. When day broke they were in the Ariana Mountains, at the spot where the road makes a bend.
Then Matho, who was marching at the head, thought that he could distinguish something green on the horizon on the summit of an eminence148. Then the ground sank, and obelisks150, domes151, and houses appeared! It was Carthage. He leaned against a tree to keep himself from falling, so rapidly did his heart beat.
He thought of all that had come to pass in his existence since the last time that he had passed that way! It was an infinite surprise, it stunned152 him. Then he was transported with joy at the thought of seeing Salammbo again. The reasons which he had for execrating153 her returned to his recollection, but he very quickly rejected them. Quivering and with straining eyeballs he gazed at the lofty terrace of a palace above the palm trees beyond Eschmoun; a smile of ecstasy154 lighted his face as if some great light had reached him; he opened his arms, and sent kisses on the breeze, and murmured: “Come! come!” A sigh swelled155 his breast, and two long tears like pearls fell upon his beard.
“What stays you?” cried Spendius. “Make haste! Forward! The Suffet is going to escape us! But your knees are tottering, and you are looking at me like a drunken man!”
He stamped with impatience156 and urged Matho, his eyes twinkling as at the approach of an object long aimed at.
“Ah! we have reached it! We are there! I have them!”
He had so convinced and triumphant157 an air that Matho was surprised from his torpor158, and felt himself carried away by it. These words, coming when his distress was at its height, drove his despair to vengeance, and pointed159 to food for his wrath160. He bounded upon one of the camels that were among the baggage, snatched up its halter, and with the long rope, struck the stragglers with all his might, running right and left alternately, in the rear of the army, like a dog driving a flock.
At this thundering voice the lines of men closed up; even the lame67 hurried their steps; the intervening space lessened161 in the middle of the isthmus162. The foremost of the Barbarians were marching in the dust raised by the Carthaginians. The two armies were coming close, and were on the point of touching163. But the Malqua gate, the Tagaste gate, and the great gate of Khamon threw wide their leaves. The Punic square divided; three columns were swallowed up, and eddied164 beneath the porches. Soon the mass, being too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed in the air, and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the walls.
Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon. He turned round and shouted to his men to move aside. He dismounted from his horse; and pricking165 it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it against the Barbarians.
It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend its knees to allow its master to mount. Why was he sending it away? Was this a sacrifice?
The noble horse galloped166 into the midst of the lances, knocked down men, and, entangling167 its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose again with furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to stop it, or looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united again; they entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them.
It would not yield. The Barbarians came crushing against it; — and for some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which became weaker and weaker, and at last ceased.
The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to hurl168 stones, balls, and beams. Spendius represented that it would be best not to persist. The Barbarians went and posted themselves further off, all being quite resolved to lay siege to Carthage.
The rumour169 of the war, however, had passed beyond the confines of the Punic empire; and from the pillars of Hercules to beyond Cyrene shepherds mused170 on it as they kept their flocks, and caravans171 talked about it in the light of the stars. This great Carthage, mistress of the seas, splendid as the sun, and terrible as a god, actually found men who were daring enough to attack her! Her fall even had been asserted several times; and all had believed it for all wished it: the subject populations, the tributary172 villages, the allied173 provinces, the independent hordes174, those who execrated175 her for her tyranny or were jealous of her power, or coveted176 her wealth. The bravest had very speedily joined the Mercenaries. The defeat at the Macaras had checked all the rest. At last they had recovered confidence, had gradually advanced and approached; and now the men of the eastern regions were lying on the sandhills of Clypea on the other side of the gulf. As soon as they perceived the Barbarians they showed themselves.
They were not Libyans from the neighbourhood of Carthage, who had long composed the third army, but nomads from the tableland of Barca, bandits from Cape Phiscus and the promontory177 of Dernah, from Phazzana and Marmarica. They had crossed the desert, drinking at the brackish178 wells walled in with camels’ bones; the Zuaeces, with their covering of ostrich179 feathers, had come on quadrigae; the Garamantians, masked with black veils, rode behind on their painted mares; others were mounted on asses13, onagers, zebras, and buffaloes180; while some dragged after them the roofs of their sloop-shaped huts together with their families and idols181. There were Ammonians with limbs wrinkled by the hot water of the springs; Atarantians, who curse the sun; Troglodytes182, who bury their dead with laughter beneath branches of trees; and the hideous Auseans, who eat grass-hoppers; the Achyrmachidae, who eat lice; and the vermilion-painted Gysantians, who eat apes.
All were ranged along the edge of the sea in a great straight line. Afterwards they advanced like tornadoes183 of sand raised by the wind. In the centre of the isthmus the throng184 stopped, the Mercenaries who were posted in front of them, close to the walls, being unwilling185 to move.
Then from the direction of Ariana appeared the men of the West, the people of the Numidians. In fact, Narr’ Havas governed only the Massylians; and, moreover, as they were permitted by custom to abandon their king when reverses were sustained, they had assembled on the Zainus, and then had crossed it at Hamilcar’s first movement. First were seen running up all the hunters from Malethut-Baal and Garaphos, clad in lions’ skins, and with the staves of their pikes driving small lean horses with long manes; then marched the Gaetulians in cuirasses of serpents’ skin; then the Pharusians, wearing lofty crowns made of wax and resin186; and the Caunians, Macarians, and Tillabarians, each holding two javelins187 and a round shield of hippopotamus188 leather. They stopped at the foot of the Catacombs among the first pools of the Lagoon189.
But when the Libyans had moved away, the multitude of the Negroes appeared like a cloud on a level with the ground, in the place which the others had occupied. They were there from the White Harousch, the Black Harousch, the desert of Augila, and even from the great country of Agazymba, which is four months’ journey south of the Garamantians, and from regions further still! In spite of their red wooden jewels, the filth190 of their black skin made them look like mulberries that had been long rolling in the dust. They had bark-thread drawers, dried-grass tunics191, fallow-deer muzzles on their heads; they shook rods furnished with rings, and brandished193 cows’ tails at the end of sticks, after the fashion of standards, howling the while like wolves.
Then behind the Numidians, Marusians, and Gaetulians pressed the yellowish men, who are spread through the cedar194 forests beyond Taggir. They had cat-skin quivers flapping against their shoulders, and they led in leashes195 enormous dogs, which were as high as asses, and did not bark.
Finally, as though Africa had not been sufficiently196 emptied, and it had been necessary to seek further fury in the very dregs of the races, men might be seen behind the rest, with beast-like profiles and grinning with idiotic197 laughter — wretches198 ravaged199 by hideous diseases, deformed200 pigmies, mulattoes of doubtful sex, albinos whose red eyes blinked in the sun; stammering201 out unintelligible202 sounds, they put a finger into their mouths to show that they were hungry.
The confusion of weapons was as great as that of garments and peoples. There was not a deadly invention that was not present — from wooden daggers203, stone hatchets204 and ivory tridents, to long sabres toothed like saws, slender, and formed of a yielding copper205 blade. They handled cutlasses which were forked into several branches like antelopes’ horns, bills fastened to the ends of ropes, iron triangles, clubs and bodkins. The Ethiopians from the Bambotus had little poisoned darts206 hidden in their hair. Many had brought pebbles in bags. Others, empty handed, chattered207 with their teeth.
This multitude was stirred with a ceaseless swell35. Dromedaries, smeared208 all over with tar-like streaks209, knocked down the women, who carried their children on their hips. The provisions in the baskets were pouring out; in walking, pieces of salt, parcels of gum, rotten dates, and gourou nuts were crushed underfoot; and sometimes on vermin-covered bosoms210 there would hang a slender cord supporting a diamond that the Satraps had sought, an almost fabulous211 stone, sufficient to purchase an empire. Most of them did not even know what they desired. They were impelled212 by fascination213 or curiosity; and nomads who had never seen a town were frightened by the shadows of the walls.
The isthmus was now hidden by men; and this long surface, whereon the tents were like huts amid an inundation214, stretched as far as the first lines of the other Barbarians, which were streaming with steel and were posted symmetrically upon both sides of the aqueduct.
The Carthaginians had not recovered from the terror caused by their arrival when they perceived the siege-engines sent by the Tyrian towns coming straight towards them like monsters and like buildings — with their masts, arms, ropes, articulations, capitals and carapaces215, sixty carroballistas, eighty onagers, thirty scorpions216, fifty tollenos, twelve rams217, and three gigantic catapults which hurled218 pieces of rock of the weight of fifteen talents. Masses of men clinging to their bases pushed them on; at every step a quivering shook them, and in this way they arrived in front of the walls.
But several days were still needed to finish the preparations for the siege. The Mercenaries, taught by their defeats, would not risk themselves in useless engagements; and on both sides there was no haste, for it was well known that a terrible action was about to open, and that the result of it would be complete victory or complete extermination219.
Carthage might hold out for a long time; her broad walls presented a series of re-entrant and projecting angles, an advantageous220 arrangement for repelling221 assaults.
Nevertheless a portion had fallen down in the direction of the Catacombs, and on dark nights lights could be seen in the dens222 of Malqua through the disjointed blocks. These in some places overlooked the top of the ramparts. It was here that the Mercenaries’ wives, who had been driven away by Matho, were living with their new husbands. On seeing the men again their hearts could stand it no longer. They waved their scarfs at a distance; then they came and chatted in the darkness with the soldiers through the cleft in the wall, and one morning the Great Council learned that they had all fled. Some had passed through between the stones; others with greater intrepidity223 had let themselves down with ropes.
At last Spendius resolved to accomplish his design.
The war, by keeping him at a distance, had hitherto prevented him; and since the return to before Carthage, it seemed to him that the inhabitants suspected his enterprise. But soon they diminished the sentries on the aqueduct. There were not too many people for the defence of the walls.
The former slave practised himself for some days in shooting arrows at the flamingoes on the lake. Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho to light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all his men were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he went away along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis.
When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of the pillars.
The sentries on the platform were walking quietly up and down.
Towering flames appeared; clarions rang; and the soldiers on vedette, believing that there was an assault, rushed away in the direction of Carthage.
One man had remained. He showed black against the background of the sky. The moon was shining behind him, and his shadow, which was of extravagant224 size, looked in the distance like an obelisk149 proceeding225 across the plain.
They waited until he was in position just before them. Zarxas seized his sling226, but whether from prudence227 or from ferocity Spendius stopped him. “No, the whiz of the bullet would make a noise! Let me!”
Then he bent his bow with all his strength, resting the lower end of it against the great toe of his left foot; he took aim, and the arrow went off.
The man did not fall. He disappeared.
“If he were wounded we should hear him!” said Spendius; and he mounted quickly from story to story as he had done the first time, with the assistance of a rope and a harpoon228. Then when he had reached the top and was beside the corpse, he let it fall again. The Balearian fastened a pick and a mallet229 to it and turned back.
The trumpets230 sounded no longer. All was now quiet. Spendius had raised one of the flag-stones and, entering the water, had closed it behind him.
Calculating the distance by the number of his steps, he arrived at the exact spot where he had noticed an oblique231 fissure232; and for three hours until morning he worked in continuous and furious fashion, breathing with difficulty through the interstices in the upper flag-tones, assailed233 with anguish, and twenty times believing that he was going to die. At last a crack was heard, and a huge stone ricocheting on the lower arches rolled to the ground — and suddenly a cataract234, an entire river, fell from the skies onto the plain. The aqueduct, being cut through in the centre, was emptying itself. It was death to Carthage and victory for the Barbarians.
In an instant the awakened235 Carthaginians appeared on the walls, the houses, and the temples. The Barbarians pressed forward with shouts. They danced in delirium236 around the great waterfall, and came up and wet their heads in it in the extravagance of their joy.
A man in a torn, brown tunic192 was perceived on the summit of the aqueduct. He stood leaning over the very edge with both hands on his hips, and was looking down below him as though astonished at his work.
Then he drew himself up. He surveyed the horizon with a haughty237 air which seemed to say: “All that is now mine!” The applause of the Barbarians burst forth, while the Carthaginians, comprehending their disaster at last, shrieked with despair. Then he began to run about the platform from one end to the other — and like a chariot-driver triumphant at the Olympic Games, Spendius, distraught with pride, raised his arms aloft.
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收听单词发音
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1
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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encompassed
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| v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 )；包围；包含；包括 | |
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hem
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| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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devastated
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| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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11
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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12
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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13
asses
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| n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
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14
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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15
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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20
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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21
agglomeration
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| n.结聚，一堆 | |
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22
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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24
clots
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| n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
tepid
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| adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的 | |
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26
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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27
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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28
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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29
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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30
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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31
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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32
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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33
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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34
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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35
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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36
tattooing
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| n.刺字，文身v.刺青，文身( tattoo的现在分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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37
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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38
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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39
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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40
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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41
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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42
spartans
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| n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式） | |
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43
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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44
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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45
thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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46
interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
urns
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| n.壶( urn的名词复数 )；瓮；缸；骨灰瓮 | |
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48
nomads
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| n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活 | |
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49
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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50
lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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52
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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53
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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54
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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55
deprivation
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| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
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56
wrecks
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| n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉 | |
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57
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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58
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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59
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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60
gashed
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| v.划伤，割破( gash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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62
cymbals
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| pl.铙钹 | |
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63
amulets
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| n.护身符( amulet的名词复数 ) | |
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64
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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65
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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66
mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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67
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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68
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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69
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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70
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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71
docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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72
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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73
seduce
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| vt.勾引，诱奸，诱惑，引诱 | |
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74
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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75
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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76
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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77
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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78
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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79
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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80
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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81
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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82
pottery
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| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
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83
fuming
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| 愤怒( fume的现在分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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84
vats
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| varieties 变化，多样性，种类 | |
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85
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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86
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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87
thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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88
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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89
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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91
conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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92
prosecute
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| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
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93
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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94
stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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95
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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96
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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97
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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98
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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99
papyrus
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| n.古以纸草制成之纸 | |
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100
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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101
harangued
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| v.高谈阔论( harangue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
stewards
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| （轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家 | |
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103
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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104
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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105
exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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106
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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107
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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108
javelin
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| n.标枪，投枪 | |
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109
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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110
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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111
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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112
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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113
sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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114
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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115
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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117
leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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118
heralds
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| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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119
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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120
envoys
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| 使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份 | |
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121
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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122
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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123
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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124
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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125
clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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126
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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127
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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128
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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129
pusillanimity
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| n.无气力，胆怯 | |
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130
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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131
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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132
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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133
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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134
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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135
exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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136
conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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137
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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138
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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139
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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140
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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141
foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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142
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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143
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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144
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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145
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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146
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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147
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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148
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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149
obelisk
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| n.方尖塔 | |
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150
obelisks
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| n.方尖石塔，短剑号，疑问记号( obelisk的名词复数 ) | |
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151
domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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152
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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153
execrating
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| v.憎恶( execrate的现在分词 )；厌恶；诅咒；咒骂 | |
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154
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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155
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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156
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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157
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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158
torpor
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| n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠 | |
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159
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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160
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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161
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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162
isthmus
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| n.地峡 | |
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163
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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164
eddied
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| 起漩涡，旋转( eddy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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165
pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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166
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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167
entangling
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| v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的现在分词 ) | |
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168
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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169
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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170
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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171
caravans
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| （可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队） | |
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172
tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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173
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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174
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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175
execrated
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| v.憎恶( execrate的过去式和过去分词 )；厌恶；诅咒；咒骂 | |
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176
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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177
promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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178
brackish
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| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
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179
ostrich
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| n.鸵鸟 | |
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180
buffaloes
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| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
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181
idols
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| 偶像( idol的名词复数 )； 受崇拜的人或物； 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物； 神像 | |
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182
troglodytes
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| n.类人猿( troglodyte的名词复数 )；隐居者；穴居者；极端保守主义者 | |
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183
tornadoes
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| n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 ) | |
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184
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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185
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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186
resin
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| n.树脂，松香，树脂制品；vt.涂树脂 | |
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187
javelins
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| n.标枪( javelin的名词复数 ) | |
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188
hippopotamus
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| n.河马 | |
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189
lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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190
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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191
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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192
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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193
brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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194
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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195
leashes
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| n.拴猎狗的皮带( leash的名词复数 ) | |
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196
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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197
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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198
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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199
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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200
deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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201
stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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202
unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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203
daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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204
hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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205
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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206
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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207
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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208
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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209
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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210
bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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211
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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212
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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213
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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214
inundation
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| n.the act or fact of overflowing | |
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215
carapaces
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| n.（龟、蟹等的）硬壳( carapace的名词复数 ) | |
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216
scorpions
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| n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 ) | |
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217
rams
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| n.公羊( ram的名词复数 )；(R-)白羊（星）座；夯；攻城槌v.夯实（土等）( ram的第三人称单数 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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218
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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221
repelling
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| v.击退( repel的现在分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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222
dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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223
intrepidity
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| n.大胆，刚勇；大胆的行为 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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226
sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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228
harpoon
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| n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获 | |
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mallet
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| n.槌棒 | |
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230
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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fissure
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| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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236
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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