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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: their children, his voice suddenly broke forth from the shadow like
the roaring of a genius in the depths of a cavern. He regretted, he
said, that he had none of his own blood to give; and he gazed at
Hamilcar, who faced him at the other end of the hall. The Suffet was
so much disconcerted by this look that it made him lower his eyes. All
successively bent their heads in approval; and in accordance with the
rites he had to reply to the high priest: "Yes; be it so." Then the
Ancients decreed the sacrifice in traditional circumlocution,--because
there are things more troublesome to say than to perform.
The decision was almost immediately known in Carthage, and
lamentations resounded. The cries of women might everywhere be heard;
Salammbo |
