. His
figure, which is naked to the waist, is of a pure Grecian model, the
muscles, showing up clearly beneath the skin, testify to hard exercise
and a life of activity.

Powerful as Carthage was, the events of the last few years had shown
that a life and death struggle with her great rival in Italy was
approaching. For many years she had been a conquering nation. Her
aristocracy were soldiers as well as traders, ready at once to embark on
the most distant and adventurous voyages, to lead the troops of Carthage
on toilsome expeditions against insurgent tribes of Numidia and Libya,
or to launch their triremes to engage the fleets of Rome.

The severe checks which they had lately suffered at the hands of the
newly formed Roman navy, and the certainty that ere long a tremendous
struggle between the two powers must take place, had redoubled the
military ardour of the nobles. Their training to arms began from their
very childhood, and the sons of the noblest houses were taught, at the
earliest age, the use of arms and the endurance of fatigue and hardship.

Malchus, the son of Hamilcar, the leader of the expedition in the
desert, had been, from his early childhood, trained by his father in the
use of arms. When he was ten years old Hamilcar had taken him with him
on a campaign in Spain; there, by a rigourous training, he had learned
to endure cold and hardships.

In the depth of winter his father had made him pass the nights uncovered
and almost without clothing in the cold. He had bathed in the icy water
of the torrents from the snow clad hills, and had been forced to keep
up with the rapid march of the light armed troops in pursuit of the
Iberians. He was taught to endure long abstinence from food and to bear
pain without flinching, to be cheerful under the greatest hardships,
to wear a smiling face when even veteran soldiers were worn out and
disheartened.

"It is incumbent upon us, the rulers and aristocracy of this great
city, my son, to show ourselves superior to the common herd. They must
recognize that we are not only richer and of better blood, but that we
are stronger, wiser, and more courageous than they. So, only, can we
expect them to obey us, and to make the sacrifices which war entails
upon them. It is not enough that we are of pure Phoenician blood, that
we come of the most enterprising race the world has ever seen, while
they are but a mixed breed of many people who have either submitted to
our rule or