that the others should
interfere in it without being willing to obey him. Autaritus would
divine his speech from his countenance and applaud. Narr' Havas would
elevate his chin to mark his disdain; there was not a measure he did not
consider fatal; and he had ceased to smile. Sighs would escape him as
though he were thrusting back sorrow for an impossible dream, despair
for an abortive enterprise.

While the Barbarians deliberated in uncertainty, the Suffet increased
his defences: he had a second trench dug within the palisades, a second
wall raised, and wooden towers constructed at the corners; and his
slaves went as far as the middle of the outposts to drive caltrops into
the ground. But the elephants, whose allowances were lessened, struggled
in their shackles. To economise the grass he ordered the Clinabarians to
kill the least strong among the stallions. A few refused to do so, and
he had them decapitated. The horses were eaten. The recollection of
this fresh meat was a source of great sadness to them in the days that
followed.

From the bottom of the ampitheatre in which they were confined they
could see the four bustling camps of the Barbarians all around them on
the heights. Women moved about with leathern bottles on their heads,
goats strayed bleating beneath the piles of pikes; sentries were being
relieved, and eating was going on around tripods. In fact, the tribes
furnished them abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves
suspect how much their inaction alarmed the Punic army.

On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three
hundred men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads. These were
the rich who had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war.
Some Libyans ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their
station behind them, and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart
of their bodies. The wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised,
so completely were their faces covered with vermin and filth. Their hair
had been plucked out in places, leaving bare the ulcers on their
heads, and they were so lean and hideous that they were like mummies in
tattered shrouds. A few trembled and sobbed with a stupid look; the rest
cried out to their friends to fire upon the Barbarians. There was one
who remained quite motionless with face cast down, and without
speaking; his long white beard fell to his chain-covered hands; and the
Carthaginians, feeling as it were