a dense body of men was seen issuing from the street, with shouts
of "Hanno forever!" They were headed by the butchers and tanners,
an important and powerful body, for Carthage did a vast trade in
leather.

For a time they bore all before them, but the resistance increased
every foot they advanced. The shouts on both sides became louder
and more angry. Blows were soon exchanged, and ere long a pitched
battle was raging. The fishermen and sailors threw themselves into
the thick of it, and for ten minutes a desperate fight raged in
the forum. Soon the battle extended, as bodies of men belonging
to either faction encountered each other as they hurried towards
the forum.

Street frays were by no means unusual in Carthage, but this was a
veritable battle. Hanno had at its commencement, accompanied by a
strong body of his friends, ridden to Byrsa, and had called upon the
soldiers to come out and quell the tumult They, however, listened
in sullen silence, their sympathies were entirely with the
supporters of Hannibal, and they had already received orders from
their officers on no account to move, whosoever might command them
to do so, until Hamilcar placed himself at their head.

The general delayed doing this until the last moment. Hannibal's
friends had hoped to carry their object without the intervention
of the troops, as it was desirable in every way that the election
should appear to be a popular one, and that Hannibal should seem
to have the suffrages of the people as well as of the army. That
the large majority of the people were with them they knew, but the
money which Hanno's friends had lavishly spent among the butchers,