ves drew back
and formed a large circle around them; Giddenem was frantically kissing
his sandals; Hamilcar stood upright with his arms raised above him.

But with his understanding as clear as in the sternest of his battles,
he recalled a thousand odious things, ignominies from which he had
turned aside; and in the gleaming of his wrath he could once more see
all his disasters simultaneously as in the lightnings of a storm.
The governors of the country estates had fled through terror of the
soldiers, perhaps through collusion with them; they were all deceiving
him; he had restrained himself too long.

"Bring them here!" he cried; "and brand them on the forehead with
red-hot irons as cowards!"

Then they brought and spread out in the middle of the garden, fetters,
carcanets, knives, chains for those condemned to the mines, cippi for
fastening the legs, numellae for confining the shoulders, and scorpions
or whips with triple thongs terminating in brass claws.

All were placed facing the sun, in the direction of Moloch the Devourer,
and were stretched on the ground on their stomachs or on their backs,
those, however, who were sentenced to be flogged standing upright
against the trees with two men beside them, one counting the blows and
the other striking.

In striking he used both his arms, and the whistling thongs made the
bark of the plane-trees fly. The blood was scattered like rain upon the
foliage, and red masses writhed with howls at the foot of the trees.
Those who were under the iron tore their faces with their nails.
The wooden screws could be heard creaking; dull knockings resounded;
sometimes a sharp cry would suddenly pierce the air. In the direction of
the kitchens, men were brisking up burning coals with fans amid
tattered garments and scattered hair, and a smell of burning flesh was
perceptible. Those who were under the scourge, swooning, but kept in
their positions by the bonds on their arms, rolled their heads upon
their shoulders and closed their eyes. The others who were watching
them began to shriek with terror, and the lions, remembering the feast
perhaps, stretched themselves out yawning against the edge of the dens.

Then Salammbo was seen on the platform of her terrace. She ran wildly
about it from left to right. Hamilcar perceived her. It seemed to him
that she was holding up her arms towards him to ask for pardon; with a
gesture of horror he plunged into the elephants' park.

These animal