I deferred making any detailed examination of the spoils until the morrow, and tired as we were, I should have been glad of repose for myself and my men; but it was absolutely necessary that we should at once wash the decks, collect the scattered armour, and do something to repair the disorder inevitable after so hard a conflict. The corpses of the Hellenes who had been killed and about twelve of the wounded were thrown overboard. Of our own men, twenty-three had been wounded and eleven killed; the bodies of these were wrapped in cloth and laid side by side on the fore-deck, that they might be committed to the sea in the morning, with the rites and invocations of their religion.
As the Dagon had sustained less injury than any of our ships, I had all the captives, including my own fifteen, sent on board her and fastened securely in the hold.
Our losses were very serious. The Cabiros had eight killed and ten wounded; the Dagon, three killed and seven wounded; making, with the casualties on my own ship, a total of twenty-three dead, and forty wounded. Here was a melancholy proof that we had been matched with no mean opponents; and to confess the truth, their courage and energy were such, that if they had had any practical notion of naval tactics, and if their boats had been more manageable, and their weapons not so ill-adapted for this character of warfare, our chances of success would have been very small.
Both Hamilcar and Gisgo had sustained serious though by no means dangerous wounds. Hanno had a gash across his shoulder, Chamai a lance-cut in the arm, and Himilco a large bruise on the head, but neither of the three was incapacitated from going on with his accustomed duty. Our senior seaman, Hadlai, was among the killed. Jonah had five lance-wounds, which he regarded as mere scratches; and after he had smeared himself all over with ointment, he declared that the day's proceedings had not only given him a tremendous appetite, but had made him desperately thirsty.
It was impossible accurately to estimate the losses of the Hellenes; but they must have amounted to several hundred; thirty-six dead bodies had been found lying on the deck of the Ashtoreth alone, and the Cabiros had thrown overboard thirty-eight more.
We contrived to get some brief repose before morning, but it was still quite early when under a fair east wind we started again on our way to Italy. The eight prizes were all taken in tow, and in order to make our progress more easy I sent a few men into each of them, either to put up a sail or to work them with oars.
Our ships were hung with black in honour of the dead, and the usual invocations were made to the gods of the departed. There were several bullocks amongst the booty we had captured, and I ordered one of them to be hoisted upon each vessel and slain for a sacrifice. On board the Ashtoreth, Hanno recited the prescribed petitions to the goddess, and after the slaughter of our beast, the fat and a portion of the flesh were set apart to be smoked and dried, the rest being allotted to the funeral feast. The children of Israel, meanwhile, after their own fashion, were sacrificing a sheep to their God, El-Adonai. As soon as the sacrifices were finished, I made a distribution of wine; but before this was allowed to be tasted, the trumpets were sounded, and the bodies of the dead solemnly committed to the deep. The black hangings were then removed; and we gathered together for the general repast. Every one's spirits revived under the influence of food and drink. Weariness and wounds were soon forgotten, and the men, one to the other, were cheerfully recounting their own experiences of the fight.
"Hannibal," I said, "you, as captain of the guard, and your men under you, have acquitted yourselves admirably and, according to the covenants of the charter-party, you are entitled to a share of the spoil."
"For my part," said Hannibal, "I am quite ready to give up all further claim if I can only have a new set of armour; my cuirass is terribly battered about, and my helmet has lost both crest and plume. I have no doubt there is a good suit of Lydian armour on board; let me have that and I shall ask no more."
"With all my heart!" I answered: "and in addition I shall give you a flask of fine Sareptan wine."