adly,
"just as he was beginning to see his dreams realized in a great army
with which to enter anew into strife with Rome, with riches of his own
to carry on the war without need of assistance from the African
merchants. Hasdrubal, the handsome husband of my sister, frittered away
eight years on succeeding to his authority. He was a good governor, but
a timid commander. Perhaps it was Baal, our savage god, who guided the
arm of his assassin that he might be succeeded by another capable of
exterminating the eternal enemy of Carthage. That one shall be I! Listen
well, Greek! You are the only one who shares my thought. The moment for
fighting the final battle has come. Soon shall Rome know that there
exists a Hannibal who defies her by taking possession of Saguntum."

"You have scant power for that, African. Saguntum is strong, and I, who
come from New Carthage, have seen there nothing but the elephants, the
fragments of the army which your father brought, and the Numidian
cavalry which your friends have sent from Africa."

"You forget the Iberians and the Celtiberians, the whole Peninsula,
which will rise bodily and flock to the taking of Saguntum. The country
is poor, and the city is overstocked with riches. I have noted it well.
There is enough in it to pay an army for entire years, and even the
Lusitanian tribes from the coast of the Great Sea will come attracted by
the hope of loot and urged on by the hatred of rude natives for a city,
opulent and civilized, where dwell their exploiters. It will be no great
task for Hannibal to take possession of a republic of farmers and
merchants."

"And after you become master, what then?"

The African answered nothing, but shrugged his shoulders with an
enigmatic smile.

"You are silent, Hannibal. But after you are master of Saguntum you will
have gained nothing. Rome will hurl her thunder at you for violating her
treaties, and the Carthaginian Senate will curse you; it will set a
price upon your head; it will order your soldiers to disobey you; and
you will die crucified, or you will wander about the world like a
fugitive slave."

"No! Fire of Baal!" shouted the chief arrogantly. "Carthage will attempt
nothing against me; she will accept war with Rome, even though to-day
she may not wish it. I have there innumerable partisans of the Barcas;
the populace which loves war, because it yields cargoes of loot for
distribution; the people of the out-lying districts, whose enthusi