s lay a
ship of war, a Liburnian galley, high of stern, the prow a sheep's head,
the great square sail furled, an armored fore-castle near the mast, and
on the gunwales, forming a double row, the shields of the _classiarii_,
soldiers destined for marine combats. It was a Roman vessel which at
daybreak next morning was to set sail, bearing the ambassadors sent by
the great Republic to settle the political disorders which agitated
Saguntum.

In the second basin, a tranquil square of water where boats were
constructed and repaired, sounded the hammers of the calkers striking
against the wood. The dismasted galleys lay on the bank like sick
monsters, showing through their lacerated flanks their strong frames and
their pitch-blackened interiors. In the third and smallest, a lake of
filthy waters, the fishermen's barks were anchored. Flocks of gulls
whirled around them, darting down upon the spoils which floated on the
water, while along the bank crowded women, old men, and boys, awaiting
the arrival of the barks with fish from the Sucronian Gulf, which were
sold in the interior to the more advanced tribes of Celtiberia.

The arrival of the Saguntine ship had drawn all the people of the port
away from their tasks. The slaves worked lazily while their overseers
were preoccupied by the entrance of the trireme, and even phlegmatic
citizens seated on the mole, rod in hand, trying to capture corpulent
eels which abounded in the basin, forgot their fishing while they
watched the advance of the Victoriata. She had by this time come into
the canal. Her hull could not be seen. The mast, with its motionless
sail, rose above the tall reeds which bordered the entrance to the port.

The afternoon silence was interrupted by the hoarse cry of innumerable
frogs croaking in the marshes and the chattering of birds which
fluttered in the olive trees near the fane of Aphrodite. The
hammer-blows of the arsenal rung more and more slowly; the people of the
port were silent, watching the progress of the ship of Polyanthus. As
the Victoriata rounded the sharp bend of the canal the gilded image of
the prow hove into sight, and then the first oars quickly followed, like
enormous red talons, clutching the glossy surface of the water with a
force which flung aloft the white spray.

The crowd, amid which chafed the eagerly watching families of the
mariners, burst into acclamations as the ship swung into the port.

"Greeting, Polyanthus! Welcome, son