h she appears to be sunk. It is impossible for me to
leave the army, nor can I well spare Mago. The cavalry are devoted to
him, and losing him would be like losing my right hand; yet it is clear
that someone must go to Carthage who can speak in my name, and can
represent the true situation here.

"Will you undertake the mission? It is one of great danger. In the first
place you will have to make your way by sea to Greece, and thence take
ship for Carthage. When you arrive there you will be bitterly opposed by
Hanno and his faction, who are now all powerful, and it may be that your
mission may cost you your life; for not only do these men hate me and
all connected with me, but, like most demagogues, they place their
own selfish aims and ends, the advantage of their own faction, and the
furtherance of their own schemes far above the general welfare of the
state, the loss of all the colonies of Carthage, and the destruction
of her imperial power. The loss of national prestige and honour are to
these men as nothing in comparison with the question whether they can
retain their places and emoluments as rulers of Carthage.

"Rome is divided as we are, her patricians and plebeians are ever
bitterly opposed to each other; but at present patriotism rises above
party, and both sink their disputes when the national cause is at
stake. The time will doubtless come--that is, unless we cut her course
short--that as Rome increases in wealth and in luxury she will suffer
from the like evils that are destroying Carthage. Party exigencies will
rise above patriotic considerations, and Rome will fall to pieces unless
she finds some man strong and vigourous enough to grasp the whole power
of the state, to silence the chattering of the politicians, and to rule
her with a rod of iron. But I am wandering from my subject. Will you
undertake this mission?"

"I will," Malchus replied firmly, "if you think me worthy of it. I
have no eloquence as a speaker, and know nothing of the arts of the
politician."

"There will be plenty of our friends there who will be able to harangue
the multitude," Hannibal replied. "It is your presence there as the
representative of the army, as my kinsman, and as the son of the general
who did such good service to the state that will profit our cause.

"It is your mission to tell Carthage that now is her time or never; that
Rome already totters from the blows I have struck her, and that another
blow only is requisit