|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: about to perish beneath the genius of Matho and the invincible courage
of the Mercenaries.
But a great noise of tabourines burst forth on the horizon. It was a
crowd of old men, sick persons, children of fifteen years of age, and
even women, who, being unable to withstand their distress any longer,
had set out from Carthage, and, for the purpose of placing themselves
under the protection of something formidable, had taken from
Hamilcar's palace the only elephant that the Republic now possessed,--
that one, namely, whose trunk had been cut off.
Then it seemed to the Carthaginians that their country, forsaking its
walls, was coming to command them to die for her. They were seized
Salammbo |
