, the youngest
of the Mercenaries and whole tribes--in all twenty thousand soldiers, or
half of the army.

Autaritus, who had only fifty Gauls left, was going to kill himself in
order to put an end to this state of things, when he thought he saw a
man on the top of the mountain in front of him.

Owing to his elevation this man did not appear taller than a dwarf.
However, Autaritus recognised a shield shaped like a trefoil on his
left arm. "A Carthaginian!" he exclaimed, and immediately throughout
the plain, before the portcullis and beneath the rocks, all rose. The
soldier was walking along the edge of the precipice; the Barbarians
gazed at him from below.

Spendius picked up the head of an ox; then having formed a diadem with
two belts, he fixed it on the horns at the end of a pole in token of
pacific intentions. The Carthaginian disappeared. They waited.

At last in the evening a sword-belt suddenly fell from above like a
stone loosened from the cliff. It was made of red leather covered with
embroidery, with three diamond stars, and stamped in the centre, it bore
the mark of the Great Council: a horse beneath a palm-tree. This was
Hamilcar's reply, the safe-conduct that he sent them.

They had nothing to fear; any change of fortune brought with it the end
of their woes. They were moved with extravagant joy, they embraced one
another, they wept. Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas, four Italiotes,
a Negro and two Spartans offered themselves as envoys. They were
immediately accepted. They did not know, however, by what means they
should get away.

But a cracking sounded in the direction of the rocks; and the most
elevated of them, after rocking to and fro, rebounded to the bottom. In
fact, if they were immovable on the side of the Barbarians--for it would
have been necessary to urge them up an incline plane, and they were,
moreover, heaped together owing to the narrowness of the gorge--on the
others, on the contrary, it was sufficient to drive against them with
violence to make them descend. The Carthaginians pushed them, and at
daybreak they projected into the plain like the steps of an immense
ruined staircase.

The Barbarians were still unable to climb them. Ladders were held out
for their assistance; all rushed upon them. The discharge of a catapult
drove the crowd back; only the Ten were taken away.

They walked amid the Clinabarians, leaning their hands on the horses'
croups for support.

Now that their fi