f out of sheer
malevolence to man, for the poisonous elements of their nature are then
let loose and dispersed abroad, and create a pestilence; and they manage
to destroy many more by their death than in their life.

Such are the locusts. And now they are rushing upon a considerable tract
of that beautiful region of which we have spoken with such admiration.
The swarm to which Juba pointed grew and grew till it became a compact
body, as much as a furlong square; yet it was but the vanguard of a
series of similar hosts, formed one after another out of the hot mould
or sand, rising into the air like clouds, enlarging into a dusky canopy,
and then discharged against the fruitful plain. At length the huge
innumerous mass was put into motion, and began its career, darkening the
face of day. As became an instrument of divine power, it seemed to have
no volition of its own; it was set off, it drifted, with the wind, and
thus made northwards, straight for Sicca. Thus they advanced, host after
host, for a time wafted on the air, and gradually declining to the
earth, while fresh broods were carried over the first, and neared the
earth, after a longer flight, in their turn. For twelve miles did they
extend from front to rear, and their whizzing and hissing could be heard
for six miles on every side of them. The bright sun, though hidden by
them, illumined their bodies, and was reflected from their quivering
wings; and as they heavily fell earthward, they seemed like the
innumerable flakes of a yellow-colored snow. And like snow did they
descend, a living carpet, or rather pall, upon fields, crops, gardens,
copses, groves, orchards, vineyards, olive woods, orangeries, palm
plantations, and the deep forests, sparing nothing within their reach,
and where there was nothing to devour, lying helpless in drifts, or
crawling forward obstinately, as they best might, with the hope of prey.
They could spare their hundred thousand soldiers twice or thrice over,
and not miss them; their masses filled the bottoms of the ravines and
hollow ways, impeding the traveller as he rode forward on his journey
and trampled by thousands under his horse-hoofs. In vain was all this
overthrow and waste by the roadside, in vain their loss in river, pool,
and watercourse. The poor peasants hastily dug pits and trenches as
their enemy came on; in vain they filled them from the wells or with
lighted stubble. Heavily and thickly did the locusts fall; they were
la