Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/200

 174 HISTORY OF GREECE. employed for the wreaths deposited on tombstones. But Timo- leon, taking a handful of it and weaving a wreath for his own head, exclaimed, " This is our Corinthian symbol of victory : it is the sacred herb with which we decorate our victors at the Isth- mian festival. It comes to us here spontaneously, as an earnest of our approaching success." Insisting emphatically on this theme, and crowning himself as well as his officers with the parsley, he rekindled the spirits of the army, and conducted them forward to the top of the eminence, immediately above the course of the Krimesus. 1 It was just at that moment that the Carthaginian army were passing the river, on their march to meet him. The confused noise and clatter of their approach were plainly heard ; though the mist of a May morning, 2 overhanging the valley, still con- cealed from the eye the army crossing. Presently the mist ascended from the lower ground to the hill tops around, leaving the river and the Carthaginians beneath in conspicuous view. Formidable was the aspect which they presented. The war-chariots-and- four,3 which formed their front, had already crossed the river, and appear to have been halting a little way in advance. Next to them followed the native Carthaginians, ten thousand chosen hop- lites with white shields, who had also in part crossed and were still crossing ; while the main body of the host, the foreign mercen- aries, were pressing behind in a disorderly mass to get to the bank, which appears to have been in part rugged. Seeing how favorable was the moment for attacking them, while thus disar- rayed and bisected by the river, Timoleon, after a short exhorta- 1 The anecdote about the parsley is given both in Plutarch ( Timol. c. 26) and Diodorus (xvi. 79). The upper portion of the river Krimesus, near which this battle was fought, was in the mountainous region called by Diodorus rj ZehvovvTia Ava^upia : through which lay the road between Selinus and Panormua (Diodor. xxiii. Frag. p. 333, ed. Wess.). 8 Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 27. iarapevov -&epovc upav M/yovn pr/vl QapyrjAiuvi, etc. 3 Of these war-chariots they are said to have had not less than two thousand, in the unsuccessful battle which they fought against Agathoklei in Africa, near Carthage (Diodor. xx. 10). After the time of Pyrrhus, they came to employ tame elephants trained for war.