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"The Melkarth and the Egyptians beyond a doubt!" I cried.

The Phocian looked astonished at my agitation.

I soon recovered my composure, and asked whether there were any men amongst the captives upon whose courage and discretion he could rely. He informed me that his own brother was one, and that five of the others were his cousins; he added, moreover, that the wife of one of the cousins had been carried off on board the Phœnician ship.

"Call them forward!" I said; and in a few minutes six young men, all apparently strong and active, stood before me.

"You would like to see your son again?"

"My son!" echoed the man. "Restore my son, and you shall be counted divine indeed."

I informed him that the Phœnician who had borne him off was my avowed and mortal enemy. "But serve me with fidelity," I added, "and you may recover your son even yet."

Turning to Hannibal, I ordered him to provide the seven men with kitonets and arms, and to take them into his own force; the remainder I sent to assist the rowers. It would be easy, I knew, to dispose of them all at Utica or Carthage, where there is a constant demand both for oarsmen and for mercenaries.

The seven Phocians kissed my hands, and wept for joy; the remainder went below with lighter hearts than they had brought on board.

CHAPTER IX
THE LAND OF OXEN

On the third morning after the battle we sighted the mountains of Italy,³² and having entered the gulf,³³ along the north of which extends the Iapygian Peninsula, we soon came to the mouth of a river that meandered along a fine plain, in which the broad pastures were diversified by groves of pines and oleanders. Inland, about a hundred stadia from the shore, rose a range of grey mountains, partially wooded, and crowned by a ridge of ragged peaks. The anchorage was tolerably good, and as we required fresh water and provender for the cattle, I determined to lay to at once. I had all the animals sent on shore. This was a work of some difficulty; Bichri with a few armed men was put in charge of them, and he was to employ the prisoners to drive them where they could find proper pasturage; my intention in doing this was that the animals should follow the ships along the coast as far as the Sicilian Straits, where, unless I succeeded meanwhile in disposing of them, they should be re-embarked.

"Not much chance of selling them here," said Himilco; "we are in Vitalia, the land of oxen. If we could have brought them some goats now, like those we let the Ionians have, we might have found a market. Of cattle such as these they have more than enough already."

"Probably so," I answered; "but first of all we must find some inhabited spot amidst all this desolation; we must try and meet with some of these Italians or Vitalians, whichever they are called. There must be some Iapygians here too in the south, as well as in the north. Do you know the Iapygian dialect?"

Himilco said that, although he was not acquainted with that dialect, he had some knowledge of the language of the Vitalians, as well as of that which was spoken by the Opsci, the Marsians, the Volscians, the Samnites, the Umbrians, the Sabellians of the eastern coast, and the Latins of the western. He mentioned also that Gisgo was tolerably familiar with the tongue of the Rasennæ, away to the north-west.

The spokesman of my seven Phocian prisoners now approached me somewhat timidly, as if he had something to ask. His name was Aminocles. He began by addressing me:

"King of the Phœnicians!"

I stopped him and told him that my proper appellation was not king but captain.

"Captain of the Phœnicians," he said; "will you please to tell me what country we are in?"

"Italy," I answered; "Italy, the land of herds."

"But in what part of it?" he asked.

"In that part," I replied, "which is inhabited by various tribes of Vitalians; south and north-east dwell the Iapygians; far away to the north are the Rasennæ, who build great cities, and have a king in the fertile vales beyond the mountains."

"We know nothing of them," said Aminocles.

"Patience!" interposed Himilco; "perhaps we can refresh his memory. Phocian, listen to me. Have you ever heard of Opsci?"

"Of Opici? yes," he answered; "our ancestors have left it upon record that long ages back, before we built Dodona, nay, before we settled by the Achelous, while we still were dwelling in the cold regions beyond Thrace, we were in association with a people called the Opici. At that time mainland and islands both were inhabited by Leleges, Pelasgians, giants, dwarfs, and monsters; but the gods slew them all and made way for us. If your Opsci are the same as those Opici, I suppose I ought to have heard of them before."

"It is of no use perplexing the man," I said; "you see he does not understand you."

"Wait a bit," Himilco remonstrated; "perhaps I shall succeed even yet. Tell me, Aminocles, did you ever hear of Tyrsenians?"

"No," said the Phocian.

"Strange!" muttered Himilco to himself. "Again and again I have heard the Hellenes speak of Vitalia, and call the natives Tyrsenians or Tyrrhenians; I must try again. Do you know the Siculians, the Cyclopes, the Lœstrigonians?" he asked aloud.

The man's countenance changed in an instant.

"What! do you mean" – he exclaimed, in a voice agitated with alarm – "that we have come to the land of such people as those?"

"Aye, that we have," said Himilco, with a chuckle of satisfaction; "this is the country of the Lœstrigonians; and down there is the island of the Cyclopes, the Siculians, and all the rest of them. We are going to pay them a visit, when we have steered safely between Scylla and Charybdis."

And he laughed outright when he heard Aminocles, wringing his hands, groan out:

"Oh! better, better far to have perished in the fight than to have come to this land of monsters. Oh!"

We all laughed. The ridiculousness of the fellow's terror was irresistible.

"Silence, simpleton!" I said; "the Lœstrigonians will not hurt you; we shall see plenty of them, but they will not eat you up."

While I was speaking, my attention was directed by the man on watch to a party of about fifty men, who were advancing across the plain. Their attitude was far from confident, and they halted on the edge of a wood, apparently in indecision whether they would come on or retreat. At length I took upon myself to encourage them to come forward, and, according to my custom, went alone towards them, making them every sign of good-will. Presently two of them advanced to meet me. They were stout, thick-set men, square-shouldered, and of middle height; they had light complexions, thick beards, and frizzly hair, that overhung low brows and wide faces. Their legs and arms were quite bare, and their heads uncovered, but they wore a kind of coarse woollen kitonet, with another loose garment thrown crosswise over one shoulder. They were all well armed, having two short copper-headed lances and a poignard; most of them carried knives or swords in their girdles, and about a dozen had slings or bows.

One of the two who had come on in advance shouted in Italian:

"Who are you? and what have you come for?"

Himilco, who had followed me, shouted back in the same language that we were merchants who had come from distant lands, and that we wanted to open a trade with them.

"But are you not Rasennæ? and is it not your design to rob us our cattle?"

"Nothing of the sort," we answered; "we are Phœnicians from the east. Come down to the shore, and you shall see our merchandise."

Both the men retired to their comrades, and appeared to deliberate; but very shortly they returned, and one of them called out:

"You see these two trees on each side of me; these must be our boundary."

And, driving his lance firmly into the ground midway between them, he continued:

"If you advance one step beyond this lance, I take it up, and we declare ourselves your foes."

Himilco repeated his assurance that we had no wish to do them the slightest injury, and they came up close to where we were. The leader told us that they were Sabelline Samnites, and that they wanted to know what payment we were going to make them for the pasturage of our cattle. I made Himilco satisfy them that they should have a proper remuneration.

It was now my turn to erect a barrier. This I did by driving stakes into the earth, and stretching a cord across, beyond which I made the Samnites understand that I should not permit them to pass. They raised no objection to my measure of precaution, but crowded up to inspect our goods, their curiosity meanwhile extending to our ships, ourselves, and our costume. They were rougher in manners than the Hellenes, and more suspicious, and I had some trouble in inducing them to negotiate with us at all; but after a time I succeeded in securing their confidence to a certain degree, and they informed me that they were not an agricultural people, and had no cereals nor vegetables to bring us, but could supply us with any number of sheep and oxen. They subsequently brought several half-wild pigs, which particularly attracted the attention of Chamai and Bichri, neither of whom had seen animals of the kind before. Not understanding the art of making bread, the Samnites ordinarily eat a kind of pulp called "masa;" but, as they had on previous visits of other Phœnicians tasted some loaves, they were now very anxious to be shown how to make them; they made a number of inquiries likewise about our wine, but for this they did not seem to care to the same extent as the Hellenes.

Next morning they came to us again in considerable numbers. I had observed that during the night they had lighted a good many beacon-fires over the land, and naturally conjectured that they were signalling for a gathering of their countrymen, and I accordingly doubled my ordinary guard. I soon found, however, that there was no cause for alarm, and that they had no hostile intentions; on the contrary, they were quite content to follow my injunctions that they should not approach our boundary line in groups of more than fifty; they awaited their turn with the utmost patience, and altogether were far less noisy and demonstrative than we had found the Dorians.

Amongst other things they brought a great quantity of coral, which after rough weather is washed up on their coasts, but which they also procure by diving from frail rafts of their own construction; for although they are very indifferent navigators, they are for the most part excellent swimmers. The most expert coral-divers are the Iapygians, those who dwell amongst the Samnites and the Bretians, as well as the natives of Iapygia proper. Some few of them were to be noticed amongst our Samnite visitors; they were generally tall and wore no beards; they had round heads and brown skins, being in many respects very like the Cydonians: in their manners they were more polished and in their conversation more communicative than the other Italians. They seemed to me to bear a marked resemblance to the Siculians; and I cannot help thinking that the Iapygians, the Siculians, the Cydonians, and the natives discovered by our forefathers in Malta, are the aborigines of their respective countries. Afterwards, from the coast of Asia came the Leleges and the Pelasgians (tribes that bear a strong likeness to the Lydians, Lycians, and Carians), and these settled in Dodanim and the isles, being succeeded by the Hellenes and Italians, who came southward from the confines of Thrace. Of the origin of the Rasennæ I am perfectly ignorant: all I know is that Phœnicians who have visited the mountains whence the rock-crystal is obtained, and which lie north of the Eridanus, at the head of the Iapygian Gulf, have reported that they have fallen in with a people who call themselves Rhœtians, and who speak a language in many respects identical with that spoken by the Rasennæ.

Two days were spent in bartering my cumbersome booty for coral, which could be compactly stored away. As the captured boats were emptied, I had all but two of them broken up. I reserved only the planking, which was sure to be useful, and the masts, which might be of service if we should require extra spars. After the spoil had been all exchanged away, I commenced paying for what I purchased with glass-beads, lance-heads, and sword-blades; the last of these articles were so eagerly coveted, that for four blades, worth about a shekel apiece, I obtained at least four hundred shekels' worth of the finest coral. When I expressed my surprise at the quantity of coral in their possession, they explained that it was the accumulation of a very long time, adding that they had intended disposing of it at one of the emporiums which the Phœnicians had established on the western coast, but that our arrival had saved them the trouble of the journey. They told me that they should have been glad if I could supply them with goats, and stated that those which had been brought over by our countrymen, and purchased by the Marsians and Volscians, were rapidly spreading in the mountains of the north.

The Samnites have no regular towns, but live in small scattered hamlets, consisting generally of a few thatched huts built of boughs of trees cemented with mud. They have very little notion of agriculture, and the Latins of the west coast (especially those of the valley of the Tiber) are far superior husbandmen; the Latins, however, have a city named Alba, occupying a secure position between a mountain and a lake. Along the coast I know only of a single sea-port, and that belongs to the Rasennæ, and is named Populonia. These Rasennæ are no contemptible sailors; that they were bold and unscrupulous pirates, I had long known by hearsay, but here on the Samnite coast I was destined to have a confirmation of the fact from my own experience.

Having completed all the business that was practicable, I was preparing to renew our voyage, when one of the Samnites came running up to his associates, and shouted something which appeared to throw them into a state of great excitement.

"What ails the fellows?" said Himilco; "they seem going mad. Is the cock-head Nergal at their heels?"

The commotion was soon explained.

"Pirates! Pirates!" shouted a number of the Samnites in a breath. "Quick, Phœnicians, on your guard! The Tyrrhenians are coming! They are rounding the point! they will be on us directly! Away! Away to the mountains!"

Without losing a minute, I made Jonah sound an alarm and summon our men to their ships. Hannibal donned his helmet and marshalled his men, including the seven Phocians; the overlooker of the rowers, scourge in hand, hurried the oarsmen to their benches, and in a short time we were three stadia from the shore and ready for action. Chamai congratulated himself that although his right arm was disabled he was still capable of doing good execution with his left.

"What new friends are we to have the pleasure of seeing to-day?" asked Bichri, with a smile, as he fastened on his quiver and strung his bow.

I told him that they were Tyrrhenians, or Rasennæ, from the north-west of Italy, who traded a little, but did a good deal more in the way of privateering along the coast; and that, although I was not aware of their having ever hitherto come into collision with Phœnicians, I had very little doubt they carried freight enough to make it worth our while to risk an engagement with them.

"Yes, they are new to me," said Hannibal; "and perhaps we can give them some new lessons in the art of fighting; they may like a taste of the Chaldean mace that King David gave me."

Anxious to understand the true position of things, I sent the Cabiros ahead to reconnoitre, ordering her to keep as close as possible to the shore until she reached the extremity of the headland, whence she could command a view of the whole line of coast; she returned with the intelligence that there were five ships, which seemed of a long build, advancing leisurely towards us by making short tacks to catch the wind, and that in about half an hour they would be in sight.

Whilst I was pondering in my mind what line of action I should follow, my eye fell upon the two boats of the Hellenes which had been spared in the general demolition, and it occurred to me that I could make them of service.

"How about our soundings, Himilco?" I said.

"Ten cubits, and a rocky bottom," was the pilot's prompt reply.

Gisgo was on board the Ashtoreth. He had come to bring the report of the Cabiros.

"Tell me, Gisgo," I said, "how much water do those Tyrrhenian privateers draw? Is it six cubits?"

"Aye, six at the very least; they look low upon the water, but they sink very deep; it is their excessive weight that keeps them from lurching."

"Very well; now go to those two boats, scuttle them, and sink them there, right in front of my ship. There!" I said, pointing with my hand.

Himilco and Gisgo chuckled again with delight as they went to do as they were ordered, and in the course of twenty minutes the boats were both sunk, and formed a regular stockade about three cubits below the surface of the water.

My next proceeding was to direct the Cabiros to lower her sail, and to pretend to be dragging herself with difficulty towards the headland, as though she had sustained some serious injury. I then made the Dagon sheer off about two stadia out to sea, ordering her to make her way back to the Ashtoreth by short tacks, as if she were coming to her assistance. Meanwhile I gave my ship the appearance of being a disabled merchantman; I lowered my sail, made my rowers struggle with their oars without propelling the vessel, and told all my soldiers to slip their shields, and to lie down flat upon the deck so as not to be seen.

"What's up now, Captain?" said Chamai raising his head, with a merry grin.

I told him that I was giving a sprat to catch a mackerel; and that if he would have patience I hoped he would be satisfied with the haul.

It was a very short time now before the Rasennæ caught sight of us. Immediately one of the five ships bore down directly upon the Cabiros; two of them started off in pursuit of the Dagon, which was still out to sea, and the remaining two steered for the Ashtoreth, which, as though perfectly helpless, exhibited no sign of resistance.

When they had come within a stadium of me I had ample opportunity of examining the details of their boats and equipments. Although the boats were long, they were very ill-constructed; they had only a single deck, and were each manned by thirty rowers; the stern was somewhat raised, but the deck was almost level with the sea; on the prow was painted a pair of huge red and white eyes which seemed to stare fixedly at the waves. The men on board were very tall; they had large heads, wide flat faces, reddish complexions and thin beards; although their limbs were muscular and well-developed, their gait was very awkward. They were armed with ponderous lances, hatchets, bucklers, and round helmets which had no crests; whilst their legs were protected either by sandals or by pointed gaiters. Most of them wore tunics of some dark colour, which, though longer than our kitonets, were shorter than those worn by the Syrians. On their arms and throats was a profusion of bracelets and necklaces, and their girdles, which were very wide, were ornamented with plates of polished bronze. After looking at them steadily for a time, Abigail declared that she would rather die than fall into the hands of such revolting creatures.

Coming within hail, the Rasennæ began shouting furiously at us, but we took no heed. Finding that their challenge was unanswered, they sent one of their boats in front of me, whilst the other passed round the stern intending to cut me off from the shore; but they reckoned without their host. The former boat dashed itself violently against the stockade of concealed boats, and after two or three ineffectual efforts to disengage herself, heeled over on her side, and remained with her stern considerably sunk below the sea.

My trumpet sounded, my oars dipped, my warriors started to their feet, and a shout of triumph rang through the air.

Thoroughly taken aback by our sudden revival, the other boat endeavoured to tack about to get out of our way; but so clumsily did she set about the manœuvre, that she only succeeded in running her stern aground, and being thus entirely at my mercy, I poured into her such a shower of missiles as probably her commander and crew had never before conceived possible.

"Here, Tyrrhenians, Rasennæ, or whatever you call yourselves," shouted Hannibal, as he worked away at his scorpions; "here is a heavenly shower of manna for you! If these arrows and Cretan pebbles are not to your taste, we can find you a nice little lot of spiked stakes."

Bichri, too, was quite in his element. With such an immovable mark within bowshot, he selected his victims just as he pleased, and was careful to choose those who wore any article of apparel or any ornament that particularly struck his fancy.

"Look at that fellow," I heard him say, "with the necklace of gold beads inlaid with blue and enamelled with white: I must have him; but I must hit him on the head, or I shall be spoiling that charming bit of embroidery he is wearing."

As our deck was several cubits higher than that of our antagonists, their archers were comparatively powerless; and in order to protect themselves under the incessant discharge of our missiles, they took refuge in their hold. Observing their retreat, Hannibal, Chamai and Bichri, with a few followers, leaped down upon their deck; Jonah, in his impetuous haste to go after them, came sprawling down headlong with a tremendous thud, but rising rapidly to his feet, caught hold of the heels of an unhappy Tyrrhenian who had not had time to make his escape, twirled him round and round in the air like a sling, and dashed out his brains against the side of the vessel. Short work was made with the few who still remained above board, and in a few minutes more, our people, who had forced their way down the hatchway, reappeared, bringing with them twenty men, of whom, to my surprise I found that no less than eleven were Phœnicians. Their costume and physiognomy revealed this at a glance.

Free now to turn my attention from the shore to the sea, I found that the Dagon had already sunk one of the privateers, and in concert with the Cabiros was driving the remaining two fast inland. I joined in the pursuit, and after a short chase, one of the boats, overwhelmed by the volleys of stones which we threw from our engines, found all further resistance useless, and made signs of surrender. The capture of this vessel cost us the lives of two of our men, and while we were engaged in securing our prize, the remaining boat took advantage of our occupation to effect an escape.

We lost as little time as possible in making our way back to the coast towards the prizes we had left there. We were only just in time. The Samnites had been watching the issue of the contest, and were hastening down from the heights to pillage the abandoned vessels; but as I sent some detachments of men to keep guard, they had for the present to keep their distance, and to be content to bide their time before they could enjoy the crumbs of the expected feast.

Our first business now was to empty the boat that had struck upon the sunken stockade; it had already nearly two cubits of water in its hold, and was consequently liable to sink at any moment. There were no prisoners to be made here; during our engagement with the other vessels some of the men had escaped in a small boat, and the rest had swum to shore, but only to be captured by the Samnites. The Cabiros and Dagon, however, had thirty-three prisoners, making, with the nine I had myself taken, a total of forty-two, who were first stripped of everything of any value that was found belonging to them, and then distributed amongst our three crews, who would be entitled to dispose of them to our colonists on the coast of Libya, where no doubt they would be in demand either for soldiers or artisans.

The eleven Phœnicians were highly delighted at what had befallen them; their capture was really a deliverance. They told me that they had formed part of the crew of a Sidonian gaoul which had been wrecked off the coast of Sardinia, and that they had escaped in one of the small boats. They had attempted to reach one of our settlements in the island, but tempestuous weather had frustrated their plan, and they had been carried out to sea, and finally drifted to the mainland. They had next tried to make their way northward to one of the Phœnician marts, established on the coast; and it was more than a week ago since they had fallen into the hands of the Rasennæ, who had sent them to serve on board their privateers. All of them were ragged, and more than half-starved; and their rejoicing seemed unbounded, when I not only provided them with clothes and food, but allowed them to enter my service on an equal footing with the rest of my crews. Amongst them was an experienced helmsman and a master mariner; so that all our losses were to a great extent replaced, especially as the whole of the wounded were in a fair way of recovery.

Stripping the dead, collecting the booty, conveying it on board, and making lists of it all, occupied us till the close of the day, and it was past sunset before we were at liberty to avail ourselves of the wind, which was quite favourable for our coasting along towards the Straits of Sicily. We left the captured boats, and whatever plunder was too heavy or too valueless to be worth carrying away, to the Samnites, who, with shouts of joy, rushed forward to take possession of their unexpected prize.

The evening meal was merry. Our successful negotiations, our victorious skirmish, our release of our countrymen, our valuable booty, were all topics of mutual congratulation. Hannibal was loud in his praises of my stratagem of the stockade.

"Ah! that's an old trick," said Himilco; "we once played it off upon the Carians of Rhodes, and took eleven of their ships and no end of plunder. Old Tarshish mariners are adepts at schemes of that sort."

Chamai held up a pair of twisted bracelets, and a necklace of a similar pattern, ornamented with a large flat crescent.

"Are these solid gold, captain?" he asked me.

"Aye, and of the finest sort," I answered; "it is the gold they get from the Eridanus and the Rhone; you are to be congratulated on your lucky prize."

"Not one man did I either kill or catch," said Hanno; "and I suppose I shall have to be content with my share-and-share-alike portion of the plunder; but I confess I should be very pleased if I might have a vase which I discovered amongst the captured goods; it is exquisitely painted, and I have no doubt that these Rasennæ, ugly as they are themselves, are highly-skilled as artists."

I told him that I saw no difficulty in yielding to his wish, and requested him to submit to me his inventory of the spoil. Casting my eye at it, I was not surprised to find that the articles made of gold were considerably larger in number than those made of silver. I knew that the Tyrrhenians had little or no communication with Tarshish and the other silver-producing countries, whilst they have free access to the sands of the Eridanus, and that by the road made by the Ligurian convicts they could cross the mountains to the Rhone. There were a good many articles of copper which came from Lower Vitalia, and amongst them some figures, which were evidently images of gods.

I sent for Gisgo to come on board and interrogate the prisoners in their own language. In their peculiar muffled accent they informed us that they had come from Populonia, and were subjects of King Tarchnas, who ruled over twenty Tyrrhenian cities. Populonia, they said, was their only sea-port, and thence they always set sail upon their cruises, their ships being manned with Ligurians as oarsmen and sailors, whilst their fighting men were nearly all Rasennæ. Two of their chiefs they mentioned as having been killed in the fight, whose names were Vivenna and Spurinna; Himilco gave it as his opinion that these names were identical with the Vitalian Vibius and Spurius.

Upon being shown the copper images of the gods which had been found amongst the plunder, the prisoners recognised them at once, and told us the names. There were Turms, the Hermes of the Hellenes; Turan, whom I believed to be our Ashtoreth; Sethlans, the same as our Khousor Phtah; Fouflouns the Dionysus of the Hellenes; and another called Menvra, of whom I had never heard, but whom Himilco declared to the Vitalian goddess Minerva.

The Tyrrhenians went on to say that they were allies of the Latins and of the Opsci, or Occi, a name which in our language signifies "workmen;" and that the semi-barbarous Samnites, although of the same race and speaking the same tongue as the Opsci, had committed depredations against them on the river Volturnus, or "the rolling stream;" and had likewise attacked the Latin settlement of Novla, or "the new city." In defence of their allies, the Rasennæ had declared war against the Samnites, and were on their way to attack them when they encountered us, and fell into our power. This was all the information they had to give me, and I sent the men back to the care of the crew, and we all retired to rest.

The day had hardly dawned when I rose, and looking a little to the left, I could see behind us the light, the flames, and the lurid smoke that issued from the crater of Mount Etna. The two women and all the men, who had never before seen such a spectacle, looked on, some in astonishment, some in downright terror. Hannibal was as surprised as anyone, and declared that except he knew to the contrary, he should have taken it for the mouth of hell; adding, that he thought it a great pity that all that mighty force of fire could not be utilised; it would make a splendid apparatus for reducing an obstinate city in a siege. To my inquiry whether he had never seen the burning mountain in Cilicia, he replied that, although he had passed several times, it had never been his good fortune to be there at the time of an eruption.