Читать книгу Art of War - Sun-tzu - Страница 22

The Romans, jealous of the power of their rivals, commenced the third Punic war with the determination that it should end only with the total ruin and destruction of their beautiful city. No words can express the terror and dismay which filled the hearts of the people of Carthage, when they learned the immovable determination of the Romans to destroy their city. As they had delivered all their weapons to the Romans they now applied themselves to the making of arms with incredible dexterity and expedition. Palaces, temples, markets, and squares were all turned into so many arsenals.

The Romans at length advanced toward the city in order to besiege it. The Carthaginians met the assaults of the Romans with the utmost vigour. They made frequent and bold sallies on the besiegers, endeavouring to burn their engines and to harass their foragers. The Roman tribune Scipio, afterward surnamed Africanus, distinguished himself above all the rest of the Roman officers. His great ability won him such a lofty reputation that many officers his equal in rank, were at first jealous of his achievements; but his modesty and reserve at length changed their envy into esteem and respect, so that when deputies were sent from Rome to inquire into the state of the siege, the whole army unanimously commended him. Having ordered his troops to provide themselves with axes, levers, and scaling-ladders, he led them, in the dead of the night, to the district of the city called Megara. The Carthaginians, surprised at this sudden attack, at first made but feeble resistance, but soon recovering from their terror, they defended themselves so vigorously, that the Romans were unable to scale the walls. Scipio, at this juncture, perceived a tower that had been abandoned, and which stood without the city, very near the walls. He immediately detached thither a party of bold and daring soldiers. They then hastened to the gates and broke them down. Scipio and his troops instantly entered, and drove the Carthaginians from that quarter of the city. The conflict was long and obstinate. The Romans fought with the valour of conquerors, while the Carthaginians, fighting for home and country, were inspired with the desperate courage of despair.

During the winter, Scipio endeavored to overpower the enemy’s troops without the city. He accordingly attacked a neighbouring fort called Nepheris. After sustaining a siege for twenty-four days the fort was carried, with great bloodshed on both sides, and contributed greatly to the taking old Carthage itself, as after that time it was almost impossible to convey provisions into the city.

Early in the spring, Scipio attacked, at one and the same time, the harbour called Cothon and the citadel. The Romans, after gaining the walls which surrounded this port, threw themselves into the great square of the city that was over it. For six days the combat was carried on in every part of the houses, from top to bottom. The slaughter which occurred during those six days was most terrible. At length, the Carthaginians, appalled by the sight of this bloodshed, determined to surrender. Carthage had fallen. The Roman soldiers eager for plunder, and heated with victory, pillaged the city, and laid it in ruins. When the news of the fall of Carthage reached Rome, the whole city rejoiced. Rome now stood without a rival.

(adapted from: The Battle Roll by E. Perce)

Roman Turtle Formation, detail of a casting of Trajan’s Column.

Plaster cast, 152.1 cm (height of drum segments), 369.5 cm (diameter).

The National Museum of Romanian History, Bucharest. Photographer: Cristian Chirita.

Lionel Noël Royer, Vercingetorix Throws Down his Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar, 1899.

Oil on canvas, 321 × 482 cm.

Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay.