Hanno

“ The clear treble, sustained by the deeper voices, soared up in pure, exultant, glorifying tones, bearing all hearts along with them: softening the smiles of the spinsters, making the old folk look in upon themselves and back upon the past; easing [139] the hearts of those still in the midst of life’s tribulations, and helping them to forget for a little while.
Hanno unclasped his hands from about his knees. ”

“ At eleven o'clock crowds of men from all the working portions of the town were seen making their way towards the forum, shouting as they went, “Hannibal for general!” “Down with Hanno and the tax gatherers!”
Conspicuous among them were the sailors and fishermen from the port, armed with oars, and the gang of stevedores with heavy clubs. Hanno and a large number of his party hurried down to the spot and tried to pacify the crowd, but the yells of execration were so loud and continuous that they were forced to leave the forum. ”

“ Hannibal ventured to ask whether some provisions were not to be had, and in an instant Hanno went to the door and uttered a few syllables that sounded something like the croaking of an old crow.
"I have told them," he said, "that Jono wants something to eat. They know what his appetite is; I daresay they will bring enough for you all."
Very shortly there was a knocking at the entrance of the temple; some savages had brought platters of boiled fish and roast venison, and several large horns full of drink, the whole of which Hanno took from their hands at the door and passed on to us. ”

“ Hanno accused him of not having come to meet him.
“But that would have left Eryx undefended. You ought to have stood out from the coast; what prevented you? Ah! I forgot! all elephants are afraid of the sea!”
Hamilcar’s followers thought this jest so good that they burst out into loud laughter. The vault rang with it like the beating of tympanums.
Hanno denounced the unworthiness of such an insult; the disease had come upon him from a cold taken at the siege of Hecatompylos, and tears flowed down his face like winter rain on a ruined wall. ”

“ While Althea, as the goddess of Victory, held the wreath aloft, and loud applause hailed her, Hanno was thinking of the treasures which he had garnered since his father had allowed him a share of the booty, and of the future. ”

“ The box she was seeking was among the last and, while handing it to Bias, she muttered: "Oh, yes, certainly—it does one good to destroy a foe, but no less to make her foe happy!"
Turning to the freedman, she went on in a louder tone: "You, slave, shall inform Hanno's wife that old Tabus gave the sculptor, whose blindness she caused, the remedy which restored the sight of black Psoti, whom she knew." Here she paused, gazed upward, and murmured almost unintelligibly: "Satabus, Hanno! If this is the last act of the old mother, it will give ye pleasure." ”

“ But to his father’s annoyance, Hanno showed a distinct distaste for the manly sports—a silent, pronounced, almost haughty opposition. Why was it that he cared so little for playmates of his own class and age, with whom he would have to live, and was for ever sticking about with this little unwashed Kai, who was a good child, of course, but not precisely a proper friend for the future? Somehow or other a boy must know from the beginning how to gain the confidence and respect of his comrades, upon whose good opinion of him he will be dependent for the rest of his life! ”

“ Hanno coloured: the King laughed, and turning to me said that I had an excellent scribe.
"Ah, my lord and King," said Hanno, "we are going where eloquence can avail us nothing. The winds and waves of the Great Sea will not listen to the smooth speech of Canaan. The barbarians of the West will demand a language of a rougher, sterner sort. Compliments will not move the men of Tarshish."
The King was evidently much pleased with Hanno, and told him that he should be gratified if he would bring him back a written description of whatever he might see in the course of his voyage ”

“ I marked Colchus hungering for it—last night.”
Hamilcar swallowed hard.
“Any man would wish to have Hanno's sword,” he said stiffly.
“Humph! An honest man. But there are four of you.”
“Mago says the sword is no weapon of his,” replied Hamilcar. “We others— Well, when three men desire the same thing there is always a way to settle it.”
Hanno's head shook ever so gently; his bloodless lips quirked into a smile.
“No man gains anything by fighting for this sword; it goes where it will. It is a wanderer.” ”

“ What I would say is that Hanno's life ebbs fast. By morning he will have no more need for his sword, and then—”
“Why, then,” rasped Norgon, “the best man who claims it will have it.”
“Something like that,” agreed the Greek. “But by Hercules, three claimants are enough. We shall do nobody a service if we spread the news. Now, I suggest that we tarry patiently against the morning's coming, and when the gods have accepted Hanno's spirit we poor mortals, betwixt us, one way or another, can arrange who shall inherit Hanno's sword.” ”

“ Hanno and Kai met at the door and went down the stairs together, and across the architecturally correct vestibule. They were silent. Hanno looked pathetically unwell, and Kai was deep in thought. They reached the courtyard and began to stroll up and down across the wet red tiles, among school companions of all ages and sizes.
A youthful looking man with a blond pointed beard kept order down here: Dr. Goldener, the “dressy one.” ”

“ He looked with loving anxiety into Hanno’s face and said, “Please forgive, Hanno, for translating. It would have been better to keep still and get a mark. It’s so cheap—”
“Didn’t I say what ‘patula Jovis arbore’ meant?” answered Hanno. “Don’t mind, Kai. That doesn’t matter. One just mustn’t mind.”
“I suppose that’s true. Well, the Lord God is going to ruin your career. You may as well resign yourself, Hanno, because if it is His inscrutable will—. Career—what a lovely word ‘career’ is! Herr Modersohn’s career is spoilt too. He will never get to be a master, poor chap! ”

“ The regency given up by Agnes was instantly assumed by the ambitious churchman, and a decree to that effect was quickly passed by the lords of the diet, on the grounds that Hanno was the bishop of the diocese in which the emperor resided. The character of Hanno is variously represented by historians. While some accuse him of acts of injustice and cruelty, others speak of him as a man of energy, yet one whose holy life, his paternal care for his see, and his zealous reformation of monasteries and foundation of churches, gained him the character of a saint. ”

“ HANNO, the name of a large number of Carthaginian soldiers and statesmen. Of the majority little is known; the most important are the following [1] :—
1. Hanno, Carthaginian navigator, who probably flourished about 500 B.C. It has been conjectured that he was the son of the Hamilcar who was killed at Himera (480) , but there is nothing to prove this. He was the author of an account of a coasting voyage on the west coast of Africa, undertaken for the purpose of exploration and colonization. ”

“ To Hanno, who stood clinging to a rope, gazing out upon the sea, I said:
"Keep up your courage, Hanno."
"I have courage enough for Chryseis and for myself as well," he answered, cheerily; "but I confess," he added, "I have never seen weather so bad as this."
At this moment we were startled by the voice of Himilco, shouting vehemently:
"The sail! the sail! look to the sail!"
The sailors flew to the yard. We were all but capsized; an immense wave had turned the ship's side to the wind, and the sail was driven tight to the mast. ”

“ In his mind was a picture which he longed to reproduce: it was a [129] picture of Hanno’s great-grandfather, whom he himself had known as a boy: a clear-sighted man, jovial, simple, sturdy, humorous—why could not little Johann grow up like that? If only he could suppress or forbid the music, which was surely not good for the lad’s physical development, absorbed his powers, and took his mind from the practical affairs of life! ”

“ The signs of festivity increased. Ever since the first Sunday in Advent a great gaily coloured picture of a certain Ruprecht had been hanging on the wall in grandmama’s dining-room. And one morning Hanno found his covers and the rug beside his bed sprinkled with gold tinsel. A few days later, as Papa was lying with his newspaper on the living-room sofa, and Hanno was reading “The Witch of Endor” out of Gerock’s “Palm Leaves,” an “old man” was announced. This had happened every year since Hanno was a baby—and yet was always a surprise. ”

“ Men expressed their wonder at the concourse of our sailors and the quality of our oxen; women admired our attire and the carriage of our officers, being especially lavish in their praise of Hanno; the children ran after the procession, attracted equally by the glittering crest in Hannibal's helmet, by the glowing red of the trumpeters' tunics, and the swelling notes of their martial music. Every one was unanimous in declaring that never before had so magnificent a retinue left a Phœnician city on a distant enterprise. ”

“ Hanno, too, was summoned to fight the Moslems, but he stayed behind, vowing that now he would have his revenge, and unless I married him he would put me into prison and kill my children.
“The castle of my lord was strong, but there was no one to defend it after he and his train went away, and Hanno [237] brought many men and began a siege. My good Kuno, who knew a secret passage, aided me to escape and brought me across the mountains to your village, where I have felt safe. But today he saw Hanno in the city, asking people if a lady with two children and an old domestic had passed that way.” ”

“ Every breath of air that stirred the trees stirred the pieces of tinsel too, and made them give out a delicate metallic whisper. It was still enough to hear the hand-organ again, sounding through the frosty air from a distant street.
Hanno abandoned himself to the enjoyment of the Christmas sounds and smells. He propped his head on his hand and read in his mythology book, munching mechanically the while, because that was proper to the day: marzipan, sweetmeats, almond cream, and plum-cake ”

“ He saw Herr Brecht, with the forceps in his sleeve, bend over him, and noticed that little beads were standing out on his bald brow, and that his mouth was twisted. When it was all over, and Hanno, pale and trembling, spat blood into the blue basin at his side, Herr Brecht too had to sit down, and wipe his forehead and take a drink of water.
[122] They assured little Johann that this man would do him good and save him suffering in the end. But when Hanno weighed his present pains against the positive good that had accrued from them, he felt that the former far outweighed the latter ”

“ I stood dumb with bewilderment; but Hanno, with whom neither patience nor reticence were prevailing virtues, laid his hand upon the hilt of his sword, and said:—
"This sword was given me by Melek David, and whoever demands its surrender shall first know the feel of its point in his bosom."
White with passion, the old man started to his feet. In an instant a couple of guards had laid their hands upon the shoulders of my impetuous scribe.
"Let him alone!" he bawled; "I can defend myself." ”

“ Then spoke up Mago. “Brother, thou art the Commander-in-chief. It is not meet that thou shouldst go upon this hazardous expedition by night upon these unknown mountain passes. What will the army do if thou shouldst fall either by the hand of the enemy, or over some precipice? General Hanno is, indeed, most worthy of all trust, but it is not to him that the whole force looks for confidence. Therefore, I pray thee, send me forward in thy stead this night, and stay thou here. ”

“ Mühsam addressed Hanno as Herr Buddenbrook, and, second, that about the copy-book. Hanno continued to brood over his book, and handed it in almost empty when he went out with Kai.
The difficulties were now over with for the day. The fortunate ones who had come through without marks, had light and easy consciences, and life seemed like play to them as they betook themselves to the large well-lighted room where they might sit and draw under the supervision of Herr Drägemüller. ”

“ You will find the crab in musicians of all ages. But exercises like that are the scorn of the mediocre and the superficial musician. Humility, Hanno, humility—is the feeling one should have. Don’t forget it.”
On his eighth birthday, April 15th, 1869, Hanno played before the assembled family a fantasy of his own composition. It was a simple affair, a motif entirely of his own invention, which he had slightly developed. When he showed it to Herr Pfühl, the organist, of course, had some criticism to make.
“What sort of theatrical ending is that, Johann? ”

“ It was natural that the power of the empire should decline abroad—in Italy, in Hungary, and over the Wends; and the fact was laid to the charge of the empress, together with the accusation that she was bringing up her son too effeminately. In brief a criminal project was maturing in Hanno’s heart as in the hearts of the princes, his allies. The empress was then at Kaiserwerth on the Rhine with her twelve-year-old son, when Hanno appeared at her court, and after a festive banquet invited the young king to take an excursion on the Rhine in his beautiful boat. ”