Soon the mass, being too tightly packed, could advance no further; pikes clashed in the air, and the arrows of the Barbarians were shivering against the walls.
Hamilcar was to be seen on the threshold of Khamon.

He turned round and shouted to his men to move aside.

He dismounted from his horse; and pricking it on the croup with the sword which he held, sent it against the Barbarians.
It was a black stallion, which was fed on balls of meal, and would bend its knees to allow its master to mount.

Why was he sending it away?
Was this a sacrifice?
The noble horse galloped into the midst of the lances, knocked down men, and, entangling its feet in its entrails, fell down, then rose again with furious leaps; and while they were moving aside, trying to stop it, or looking at it in surprise, the Carthaginians had united again; they entered, and the enormous gate shut echoing behind them.
It would not yield.

The Barbarians came crushing against it;--and for some minutes there was an oscillation throughout the army, which became weaker and weaker, and at last ceased.
The Carthaginians had placed soldiers on the aqueduct, they began to hurl stones, balls, and beams.