The silence grew more oppressive. The multitude divined in the terror of the absent Alcon the frightful demands of the conqueror which made all hearts beat fast with dread even before hearing them. Fresh groups of people kept straggling in to the Forum. Even the defenders of the city abandoned the walls, attracted by the event, and stood at the entrances of the streets around the quadrangle, the flames from the bonfire glinting on their bronze helmets and on their shields of varied shapes, round, rectangular, and oval. Actæon also saw Sónnica make her way through the crowd and seat herself near the group formed by the elegant young gallants who admired her. Alorcus continued speaking: "You know me well. A moment ago I heard threats, I saw menacing gestures when you recognized me. I understand your indignation at seeing me before you. Perhaps I am an ingrate; but remember that I was born in other lands, and that my father's death placed me at the head of a people whom I have to obey and to lead in their alliances. Never have I forgotten that I was the guest of Saguntum; I cherish the memory of your hospitality, and I am as interested in the fate of this city as if it were my native land. Ponder well your situation, Saguntines! Valor has its limits, and no matter how much you exert yourselves the gods have decreed the ruin of heroic Saguntum. They show it by having forsaken you, and your courage is all in vain before their immutable will." The vague words of Alorcus augmented the dread of the people. They feared the conditions set by Hannibal, and they read their harshness in the Celtiberian's hesitation in pronouncing them. "The conditions! Tell us the conditions!" they shouted from all sides of the Forum. "The proof that I have come in your sole interests," continued Alorcus, as if he did not hear their cries, "lies in the fact that as long as you were able to resist with your own strength, and while you expected assistance from the Romans, never did I come to counsel your submission. But your walls can no longer defend you; every day hundreds of Saguntines perish from hunger; the Romans will not come; they are far away, and occupied with other wars; in place of sending you legions they send you legates, and thus I, seeing that Alcon hesitated to return, face your indignation to bring you a peace rather necessary than advantageous." "The conditions! The conditions!" demanded the multitude, with a formidable howl which shook the Forum. "Remember," said Alorcus, "that what the conqueror offers you is a gift, for to-day he is master of everything you possess--your lives and your estates."