ame the burst of a terrible shock, like the crash
of two fleets in collision. The first rank of the Barbarians had quickly
opened up, and the marksmen, hidden behind the others, discharged their
bullets, arrows, and javelins. The curve of the Carthaginians, however,
flattened by degrees, became quite straight, and then bent inwards; upon
this, the two sections of the velites drew together in parallel lines,
like the legs of a compass that is being closed. The Barbarians, who
were attacking the phalanx with fury, entered the gap; they were being
lost; Matho checked them,--and while the Carthaginian wings continued
to advance, he drew out the three inner ranks of his line; they soon
covered his flanks, and his army appeared in triple array.

But the Barbarians placed at the extremities were the weakest,
especially those on the left, who had exhausted their quivers, and the
troop of velites, which had at last come up against them, was cutting
them up greatly.

Matho made them fall back. His right comprised Campanians, who were
armed with axes; he hurled them against the Carthaginian left; the
centre attacked the enemy, and those at the other extremity, who were
out of peril, kept the velites at a distance.

Then Hamilcar divided his horsemen into squadrons, placed hoplites
between them, and sent them against the Mercenaries.

Those cone-shaped masses presented a front of horses, and their broader
sides were filled and bristling with lances. The Barbarians found it
impossible to resist; the Greek foot-soldiers alone had brazen armour,
all the rest had cutlasses on the end of poles, scythes taken from the
farms, or swords manufactured out of the fellies of wheels; the
soft blades were twisted by a blow, and while they were engaged in
straightening them under their heels, the Carthaginians massacred them
right and left at their ease.

But the Etruscans, riveted to their chain, did not stir; those who were
dead, being prevented from falling, formed an obstruction with their
corpses; and the great bronze line widened and contracted in turn, as
supple as a serpent, and as impregnable as a wall. The Barbarians would
come to re-form behind it, pant for a minute, and then set off again
with the fragments of their weapons in their hands.

Many already had none left, and they leaped upon the Carthaginians,
biting their faces like dogs. The Gauls in their pride stripped
themselves of the sagum; they showed their great white bodi