His sunken eyes shone like the lamps of a sepulchre; his long thin body floated in its linen robe which was weighted by the bells, the latter alternating with balls of emeralds at his heels.He had feeble limbs, an oblique skull and a pointed chin; his skin seemed cold to the touch, and his yellow face, which was deeply furrowed with wrinkles, was as if it contracted in a longing, in an everlasting grief.
He was the high priest of Tanith, and it was he who had educated Salammbo.
"Speak!" he said."What will you?"
"I hoped--you had almost promised me--" She stammered and was confused; then suddenly: "Why do you despise me? what have I forgotten in the rites? You are my master, and you told me that no one was so accomplished in the things pertaining to the goddess as I; but there are some of which you will not speak.Is it so, O father?"Schahabarim remembered Hamilcar's orders, and replied:
"No, I have nothing more to teach you!"
"A genius," she resumed, "impels me to this love.I have climbed the steps of Eschmoun, god of the planets and intelligences; I have slept beneath the golden olive of Melkarth, patron of the Tyrian colonies; Ihave pushed open the doors of Baal-Khamon, the enlightener and fertiliser; I have sacrificed to the subterranean Kabiri, to the gods of woods, winds, rivers and mountains; but, can you understand? they are all too far away, too high, too insensible, while she--I feel her mingled in my life; she fills my soul, and I quiver with inward startings, as though she were leaping in order to escape.Methinks Iam about to hear her voice, and see her face, lightnings dazzle me and then I sink back again into the darkness."Schahabarim was silent.She entreated him with suppliant looks.At last he made a sign for the dismissal of the slave, who was not of Chanaanitish race.Taanach disappeared, and Schahabarim, raising one arm in the air, began:
"Before the gods darkness alone was, and a breathing stirred dull and indistinct as the conscience of a man in a dream.It contracted, creating Desire and Cloud, and from Desire and Cloud there issued primitive Matter.This was a water, muddy, black, icy and deep.It contained senseless monsters, incoherent portions of the forms to be born, which are painted on the walls of the sanctuaries.
"Then Matter condensed.It became an egg.It burst.One half formed the earth and the other the firmament.Sun, moon, winds and clouds appeared, and at the crash of the thunder intelligent creatures awoke.
Then Eschmoun spread himself in the starry sphere; Khamon beamed in the sun; Melkarth thrust him with his arms behind Gades; the Kabiri descended beneath the volcanoes, and Rabetna like a nurse bent over the world pouring out her light like milk, and her night like a mantle.""And then?" she said.
He had related the secret of the origins to her, to divert her from sublimer prospects; but the maiden's desire kindled again at his last words, and Schahabarim, half yielding resumed:
"She inspires and governs the loves of men.""The loves of men!" repeated Salammbo dreamily.
"She is the soul of Carthage," continued the priest; "and although she is everywhere diffused, it is here that she dwells, beneath the sacred veil.""O father!" cried Salammbo, "I shall see her, shall I not? you will bring me to her! I had long been hesitating; I am devoured with curiosity to see her form.Pity! help me! let us go?"He repulsed her with a vehement gesture that was full of pride.
"Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in weakness.Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge that you possess!"She fell upon her knees placing two fingers against her ears in token of repentance; and crushed by the priest's words, and filled at once with anger against him, with terror and humiliation, she burst into sobs.Schahabarim remained erect, and more insensible than the stones of the terrace.He looked down upon her quivering at his feet, and felt a kind of joy on seeing her suffer for his divinity whom he himself could not wholly embrace.The birds were already singing, a cold wind was blowing, and little clouds were drifting in the paling sky.
Suddenly he perceived on the horizon, behind Tunis, what looked like slight mists trailing along the ground; then these became a great curtain of dust extending perpendicularly, and, amid the whirlwinds of the thronging mass, dromedaries' heads, lances and shields appeared.
It was the army of the Barbarians advancing upon Carthage.
