He would cover his shoulders with it in order to delude himself that he was beside her.
Sometimes he would suddenly steal away, stride in the starlight over the sleeping soldiers as they lay wrapped in their cloaks, spring upon a horse on reaching the camp gates, and two hours later be at Utica in Spendius's tent.
At first he would speak of the siege, but his coming was only to ease his sorrow by talking about Salammbo.

Spendius exhorted him to be prudent.
"Drive away these trifles from your soul, which is degraded by them! Formerly you were used to obey; now you command an army, and if Carthage is not conquered we shall at least be granted provinces.

We shall become kings!" But how was it that the possession of the zaimph did not give them the victory?
According to Spendius they must wait.
Matho fancied that the veil affected people of Chanaanitish race exclusively, and, in his Barbarian-like subtlety, he said to himself: "The zaimph will accordingly do nothing for me, but since they have lost it, it will do nothing for them." Afterwards a scruple troubled him.

He was afraid of offending Moloch by worshipping Aptouknos, the god of the Libyans, and he timidly asked Spendius to which of the gods it would be advisable to sacrifice a man.
"Keep on sacrificing!" laughed Spendius.
Matho, who could not understand such indifference, suspected the Greek of having a genius of whom he did not speak.
All modes of worship, as well as all races, were to be met with in these armies of Barbarians, and consideration was had to the gods of others, for they too, inspired fear.

Many mingled foreign practices with their native religion.