[Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert]@TWC D-Link book
Salammbo

CHAPTER XIII
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But Narr' Havas, being too weak, was not going to make any venture alone; and the Suffet had the rampart raised twelve palms higher, all the material in the arsenals piled up in the Acropolis, and the machines repaired once more.
Sinews taken from bulls' necks, or else stags' hamstrings, were commonly employed for the twists of the catapults.

However, neither stags nor bulls were in existence in Carthage.

Hamilcar asked the Ancients for the hair of their wives; all sacrificed it, but the quantity was not sufficient.

In the buildings of the Syssitia there were twelve hundred marriageable slaves destined for prostitution in Greece and Italy, and their hair, having been rendered elastic by the use of unguents, was wonderfully well adapted for engines of war.

But the subsequent loss would be too great.


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