Description
Salammbo
I
FEAST
It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar.
The soldiers he had commanded in Sicily were giving themselves a big
feast to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Eryx, and
as the master was absent and they were numerous, they
ate and drank in complete freedom.
The captains, wearing bronze buskins, had placed themselves in
the middle path, under a veil of purple with gold fringes, which
extended from the wall of the stables to the first terrace of the
palace; the common soldiers were scattered under the trees, where one
distinguished a number of buildings with flat roofs, presses, cellars,
shops, bakeries and arsenals, with a yard for elephants,
pits for ferocious beasts, a prison for slaves.
Fig trees surrounded the kitchens; a sycamore wood
extended to masses of greenery, where grenades
shone among the white tufts of cotton trees; vineyards,
charged with bunches, mounted in the branches of the pines; a field
roses blossomed under plane trees; from place to place on
lawns swayed lilies; black sand, mixed with gunpowder
coral, strewed the paths; and, in the middle, the cypress avenue
from one end to the other like a double colonnade of obelisks
green.
Product ID: 9781776774081
Sku: 9781776774081
