Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 23, 2025
But he raised his voice still higher; and in the names of their gods he called upon them to lead him to the schalischim, because he wished to confide to him something on which their safety depended. They paused, some asserting that it was right to summon Matho. He was sent for.
The priests who died this year, and those who were put in their places, were Tiberius Veturius Philo, flamen of Mars, elected and inaugurated in the room of Marcus Aemilius Regillus, who died the year before: in the room of Marcus Pomponius Matho, augur and decemvir, were elected Marcus Aurelius Cotta, decemvir, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, augur, being then a very young man; an instance of very rare occurrence in the disposal of the priests' offices in those times.
Spendius met Matho here at the hour agreed upon. He fastened a sort of harpoon to the end of a cord and whirled it rapidly like a sling; the iron instrument caught fast, and they began to climb up the wall, the one after the other.
Men hanging to ropes would descend at night from the top of the wall with torches in their hands, burn the works of the Mercenaries, and then mount up again. Matho was exasperated; every obstacle strengthened his wrath, which led him into terrible extravagances. He mentally summoned Salammbo to an interview; then he waited.
Then one moonlight evening he begged Matho to light a great fire of straw in the middle of the night, while all his men were to shout at the same time; and taking Zarxas with him, he went away along the edge of the gulf in the direction of Tunis. When on a level with the last arches they returned straight towards the aqueduct; the place was unprotected: they crawled to the base of the pillars.
The torn canvas flapped in the wind; the long rags of it sometimes passed across his mouth, and he perceived a red mark like the print of a hand. It was the hand of Narr' Havas, the token of their alliance. Then Matho rose. He took a firebrand which was still smoking, and threw it disdainfully upon the wrecks of his tent.
Matho in Flaubert's Salammbô was beaten to a jelly but his eyes still flamed with love for his princess But when she saw him as this revolting mass, did her love flame for him? Or was she exalted only by the incense to her vanity and a pity for his sufferings?
He would arrive and then retire, and by constantly renewing this manoeuvre, he gradually detached them from their encampments. Spendius was obliged to follow them, and in the end Matho yielded in like manner. He did not pass beyond Tunis. He shut himself up within its walls.
The people stamped their feet with joy when they saw the impotence of his fury; then he took his sandal, spit upon it, and beat the immovable panels with it. The whole city howled. The veil was forgotten now, and they were about to crush him. Matho gazed with wide vacant eyes upon the crowd.
The same vision had assailed Matho; but he cast it from him immediately, and his love, that he thus thrust back, was poured out upon his companions in arms. He cherished them like portions of his own person, of his hatred, and he felt his spirit higher, and his arms stronger; everything that he was to accomplish appeared clearly before him.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking