Hamilcar Barca

“ A small gun, shorter and thicker than a falconet, which was formerly used on board ship.
Barcelona. An ancient maritime city in Northeastern Spain, said to have been rebuilt by Hamilcar Barca, father of the great Hannibal, about 233 B.C. The city has suffered much by war. The siege by the French, in 1694, was relieved by the approach of the English fleet commanded by Admiral Russell; but the city was taken by the Earl of Peterborough in 1706; bombarded and taken by the Duke of Berwick and the French in 1714 ”

“ Barca (500) , a Turkish province in the N. of Africa, between Tripoli and Egypt; produces maize, figs, dates, and olives.
Barca, name of a Carthaginian family to which Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, and Hannibal belonged, and determinedly opposed to the ascendency of Rome; known as the Barcine faction.
Barcelo`na (280) , the largest town in Spain next to Madrid, on the Mediterranean, and its chief port, with a naval arsenal, and its largest manufacturing town, called the "Spanish Manchester," the staple manufacture being cotton; is the seat of a bishopric and a university ”

“ Narr’ Havas perceived him; he crossed the shore of the lake, and came to warn Hanno to dispatch men to Hamilcar’s assistance. Did he believe Barca too weak to resist the Mercenaries? Was it a piece of treachery or folly? No one could ever learn.
Hanno, desiring to humiliate his rival, did not hesitate. He shouted orders to sound the trumpets, and his whole army rushed upon the Barbarians. The latter returned, and ran straight against the Carthaginians ”

“ From the beginning of the year 502 to 511; from the contest for Lilibæum and Drepana, to the victory near the Ægatian isles. The ten years’ struggle is confined to an exceedingly narrow space, being important rather in a military than in an historical point of view. The diversion of Hamilcar [Pg 10] Barcas, of which, unfortunately, we know so little, is, owing to the taking of Hercta and Eryx, one of the most remarkable in the military history of any age; it shows a great man, who creates new resources for himself, and avails himself of them. ”

“ Entrances right and left of parapet. Midway down, right, the door to a chamber.
Charilus stands on parapet and looks down toward Avesta. Barca waits within the hall.
Char. O, sea-washed city, must the hail of fire
Crimson thy milky walls, and salt winds strive
In vain to sweeten ditches dark with blood
From thy tapped heart? Come, Barca, be my eyes,
Who climbs the heights?
[Barca advances and looks over]
Barca. Lords Vigard and Biondel
Are on the pass.
Char. My sons so soon returned!
No other?
Barca. Farther down, my lord, I see
The knight, Sir Vairdelan. ”

“ My Ardia.
Ard. You love me, yet would die. Thou'rt mine!
And I will hold thee, yea, on this warm earth,
Not in some strange and tearless world!
[While they speak Barca moves up the pass and listens]
Barca. My lord?
Ber. Ay, Barca?
Barca. Men are on the pass. ”

“ On their acknowledging the act, he set his army in motion, and gave the command of it to Amasis, while a fleet at the same time was entrusted to Badres, and both proceeded to take vengeance of the assassins. After a long and ineffectual siege, Barca was entered by treachery: and Amasis, who had passed his word to spare the lives of the Barceans, gave them over to the vengeance of Pheretime; by whom all who were concerned in the murder of her son were put to death in the most inhuman manner. ”

“ Barca. God gave her eyes, and Sir Vairdelan is good to see. When I look at him I feel somehow as if the sun were just up and everybody had another chance.
Gaina. A man who lets his sword rust at home while he goes about tootle-de-rooling on a flute! And she could be the princess of Avesta if she'd look in the right place. Well, if she had my eyes!
Barca. What! You would have your mistress marry Banissat? An unbeliever?
Gaina. A prince is a prince,—and I'd say the same if my mistress were my own daughter.
Barca. And you a Christian!
Gaina. A Christian of Corinth, I'd have you know. ”

“ The ship reeled to and fro like a drunken man, and the passengers, as usual in such cases, performed various involuntary evolutions, cutting right angles, sliding, spinning round, and rolling over, as if Oberon's magic horn were playing an occasional blast amidst the roaring winds; whilst the stewards alone, like Horace's good man, walked serene amidst the wreck of crockery and the fall of plates. Driven from our strong hold on deck, indiscriminately crammed in below like figs in a drum ”

“ Barca. Will you walk on?
Ard. Yes, come.
Barca. [Listening] What's that?
A noise below!
Ard. Some one from Banissat!
I'll not be taken!
Barca. Come aside, my lady.
Here is good hiding.
[They go behind a great rock half hidden by cedars. Bertrand enters below. Ardia steps out and stands before him. He kneels]
Ber. Spirit, hast come for me? I'll join thee, love,
When I have climbed this peak and met the sword
That sets my honor free.
Ard. Nay, rise, my lord.
Ber. [Rising] Thy living self? Here in the night alone?
Ard. Barca is here, and Gaina. ”

“ It will be impossible to overtake him to-day. The mules can go about so far; and at six o’clock we shall reach the place where Raymond stopped to dine. That will be Barca de Cuenca; and that will be the place for us to stop over night.”
“Over night! I don’t want to stop anywhere till we come up with Raymond,” replied Bark.
“You won’t say that when you get to Barca,” laughed [377] Lobo. “You will be tired enough to go to bed without your supper. Besides, the mules will want rest, if you do not; for the distance will be twenty miles from Algeciras. Raymond stopped over night at San Roque.” ”

“ Meanwhile, some men despatched by the Suffet arrived in the streets with shouts. The Great Council were roused by them, and contrived to make them disappear.
It was an unnecessary precaution; every one accused Barca of having behaved with slackness. He ought to have annihilated the Mercenaries after his victory. Why had he ravaged the tribes? The sacrifices already imposed had been heavy enough! and the patricians deplored their contributions of fourteen shekels, and the Syssitia their two hundred and twenty-three thousand gold kikars; those who had given nothing lamented like the rest. ”

“ The Señora, indignant at the merchant's treachery, instantly repaired to the palace of the Vice-King, hoping for justice from this Western Solomon, though unable to conceive how it could be obtained. She was instantly received by Revillagigedo, who listened attentively to her account of the circumstances. "Had you no witnesses?" said the Count. "None," replied she. "Did no servant pass in or out during the transaction?" "No one." The Viceroy reflected a moment. "Does your compadre smoke?" ”

“ Understanding that Barca could not be taken by force, he set about doing this. He dug by night a wide ditch, on which he laid planks of little strength, and above the planks he heaped on earth in such a way that the surface was level with the rest of the soiL At daybreak he invited the men of Barca to a conference. At last, sacrificing over the hidden ditch, the leaders on both sides said that the oath should remain while that earth remained firm; that the men of Barca promised to pay money to the Great King: the Persians, that they would do nothing fresh against the men of Barca. ”

“ We are in a deuce of a fix, between the devil and the deep sea, so to speak. On one hand, Barcelo, sulky and savage, and threatening to blow the British fleet off the map. On the other hand, Fairbanks so scrupulous he's ready to throw the gifts of the gods back into their arms, at the slightest excuse. When I left you yesterday at Miramonte's I hurried south to run down rumors. I've caught up with the rumors but haven't accomplished anything else. I have men watching Barcelo's movements. ”

“ A norther, not a very severe one, but what they call a Norte chocolatero, that is, its shock tore a sail in two, as I tear this sheet of paper. The most ingenious person I see is the "master of the sails." He sews most excessively quick and well. Towards evening the wind calmed, but the ship, tossed upon a horribly swelled sea, became a mortal purgatory. Still the wind is lulled, though Humboldt and others say that a Norte must last forty-eight hours, and we have only had it for twenty-four. ”

“ Is the Barca harbor shallow?"
"Ten, fifteen feet at low tide," she informed him. "We're having a sort of dredge made there. Something to go down into the sea, take pictures, get samples of the bottom, and then come up again. There's an oceanographic ship due in Manila shortly, by the way. ”

“ Barcarolle, in G Major
Strictly speaking, the “barcarolle” is an Italian boat-song—“barca” being the Italian word for boat. But in musical terminology it has been localized and signifies distinctly a Neapolitan boat-song associated as exclusively with the Vesuvian bay as is the gondoliera with the lagoons and canals of Venice. In each case it is the song of the local boatman, sung to the rhythmical accompaniment of the swinging oar, and enhanced in poetic charm by the beauty and romantic atmosphere of the surroundings. ”

“ Having made his dispositions, Hamilcar passed down the fleet in his barge, and reminded his countrymen of their ancestral renown at sea, and assured them that their former defeat was due, not to the nautical ability of the Romans, but to the rash valor of the Carthaginians against a warlike people not ever to be despised. “Avoid the prows of the Roman galleys,” he continued, “and strike them amidships, or on the quarter. Sink them, or disable their oars, and endeavor to render their military machines, on which they greatly rely, wholly inoperative.” ”

“ At day-light next morning the Spaniards were indulged with the sight of both ships standing off shore, and the Harmoine with a British ensign and pennant over the Spanish colours. The prisoners were put on board of a schooner, that was captured during the day, and sent ashore; and [84] the Surprise, with her prize, stood for Jamaica, where she arrived seven days afterwards, and brought up at Port Royal.
“You may be sure, messmates, Captain Hamilton was well received; the Parliament-men at the island gave him a beautiful sword that cost three hundred guineas ”

“ The man was a stranger to him; for the fugitives had not employed a guide in Malaga, and therefore Jacob Lobo was all unknown to him. Neither the Prince nor her consorts were in Gibraltar; and it was plain enough to the Spaniard that Bark and his companion had come in the steamer he had seen going into Algeciras two hours before. They had come from [354] Cadiz, and they could have no other errand in Gibraltar than to find him. Had Bark become a traitor? or, what was more likely, had he been required by the principal to conduct this man in search of him? ”

“ All that day I hunted about, trying to get a passage across to the islands; needless to remark, without success. The mail steamers run there from Valencia and Barcelona only, and though there are occasional orange boats passing between Soller in North Mallorca and Marseille, they aren't to be depended on. By a singular irony of fate, I did come across an old white—painted barque which had just come out of Palma in ballast; but her skipper only told what I knew full well in my own heart, that I might very likely wait three years before I found a craft going the other way. ”

“ Vera Cruz, 18th. This morning, the sanguine hoped and the desponding feared, for the wind, though inclining to la brisa, seemed unlikely to prove sufficiently strong to enable us to reach Vera Cruz—this being the twenty-fifth day since we left Havana; a voyage that, with a steamer, might be performed in three days, and with a sailing vessel and a fair wind, is made in six or seven. About noon, the aspect of things became more favorable. The breeze grew stronger, and with it our hopes. ”

“ It is not our purpose to follow the fugitives into Africa. They reached Oran the next day, and remained there two weeks, until a steamer left for Malaga, when they returned to Spain.
“That’s the American Prince, as true as you live!” exclaimed Bark, as the vessel in which they sailed was approaching Malaga; and both of them had been observing her for an hour.
“She is on her way from Lisbon back to Barcelona; and she will not be in Malaga for a week or more,” replied Raymond. ”

“ When the Spaniards saw that the ship was actually under way with sail on her, and the boarding parties cutting down all afore ’em, a great number jumped overboard and some ran below, whilst the killed and wounded lay in all directions. About this time Captain Hamilton received such a tremendous crack on the head from the butt end of a musket, as brought a general illumination into his eyes and stretched him senseless on the deck. ”

“ The soldiers of the escort came riding back to the diligence, and the captain, galloping up to the window, gave himself great credit for having "frightened away the robbers."
We arrived at Perote when it was nearly dusk—supped, and started again at eleven o'clock at night. We passed a horrible night in the diligence, and were thankful when daybreak showed us the beautiful environs of Jalapa. It is singular that on a second impression, returning by this road, the houses appear handsomer than they did before, and nature less beautiful. ”

“ At all events, General Valencia, at the head of the government troops, is about to attack the pronunciados, who are in possession of the palace. . . . .
The firing has begun! People come running up the street. The Indians are hurrying back to their villages in double-quick trot. As we are not in the centre of the city, our position for the present is very safe, all the cannon being directed towards the palace. All the streets near the square are planted with cannon, and it is pretended that the revolutionary party are giving arms to the léperos. The cannon are roaring now. ”