122 ARMY OF CARTHAGE. 



The Romans were a people of warriors and small 

 farmers, quaint in their habits, and simple in their tastes. 

 Some Carthaginian ambassadors were much amused at 

 the odd fashion of their banquets, where the guests sang 

 old ballads in turn, while the piper played, and they dis- 

 covered that there was only one service of plate in 

 Rome, and that each senator borrowed it "when he 

 gave a dinner. Yet there were already signs that 

 Rome was inhabited by a giant race : the vast aque- 

 ducts had been constructed ; the tunnel-like sewers 

 had been hollowed out : the streets were paved with 

 smooth and massive slabs. There were many temples 

 and statues to be seen ; each temple was the monument 

 of a great victory ; each statue was the memorial of 

 a hero who had died for Rome. 



The Carthaginian army was composed entirely of 

 mercenary troops. Africa, Spain, and Gaul were their 

 recruiting grounds, an inexhaustible treasury of war- 

 riors as long as the money lasted, which they received 

 as pay. The Berbers were a splendid Cossack cavalry ; 

 they rode without saddle or bridle, a weapon in each 

 hand ; on foot they were merely a horde of savages 

 with elephant-hide shields, long spears, and bear skins 

 floating from their shoulders. The troops of Spain 

 were the best infantry that the Carthaginians pos- 

 sessed ; they wore a white uniform with purple facings ; 

 they fought with pointed swords. The Gauls were 

 brave troops, but were badly armed ; they were 

 naked to the waist ; their cutlasses were made of soft 

 iron, and had to be straightened after every blow. 

 The Balearic islands supplied a regiment of slingers, 

 whose balls of hardened clay whizzed through the air 

 bike bullets, broke armour, and shot men dead. We 

 read much of the Sacred Legion in the Sicilian wars. 



