e existed
among his former comrades of the Carthaginian horse, for although it
was considered as a matter of course in Carthage that generals should
appoint their near relatives to posts of high command, human nature was
then the same as now, and men not possessed of high patronage could not
help grumbling a little at the promotion of those more fortunate than
themselves. Henceforth, however, no voice was ever raised against the
promotion of Malchus, and had he at once been appointed to a command of
importance none would have deemed such a favour undeserved by the youth
who had saved the life of Hannibal.

CHAPTER IX: THE SIEGE OF SAGUNTUM

A few days later the Carthaginian army were astonished by the issue
of an order that the whole were to be in readiness to march upon the
following day. The greatest excitement arose when the news got abroad.
None knew against whom hostilities were to be directed. No one had heard
aught of the arrival of messengers announcing fresh insurrection among
the recently conquered tribes, and all sorts of surmises were indulged
in as to the foe against whom this great force, the largest which had
ever been collected by Carthage, were about to get in motion.

The army now gathered around Carthagena amounted, indeed, to a hundred
and fifty thousand men, and much surprise had for some time existed
at the continual arrival of reinforcements from home, and at the large
number of troops which had during the winter been raised and disciplined
from among the friendly tribes.

Simultaneously with the issue of the order long lines of wagons, laden
with military stores, began to pour out from the arsenals, and all day
long a procession of carts moved across the bridge over the canal in the
isthmus to the mainland. The tents were struck at daylight, the baggage
loaded up into the wagons told off to accompany the various bodies of
soldiers, and the troops formed up in military order.

When Hannibal rode on to the ground, surrounded by his principal
officers, a shout of welcome rose from the army; and he proceeded to
make a close inspection of the whole force. The officers then placed
themselves at the head of their respective commands, the trumpets gave
the signal, and the army set out on a march, as to whose direction and
distance few present had any idea, and from which few, indeed, were ever
destined to return.

There was no longer any occasion for secrecy as to the object of the
expeditio