In the midst of the battle there
was, say the Roman historians, an "earthquake;" the earth reeled under
the feet of the soldiers, a tremendous crash was heard, a fog or smoke
covered the scene, the earth broke open, and the rocks fell upon the
beads of the Romans. This reads very much as if the Carthaginians had
decoyed the Romans into a pass where they had already planted a mine,
and had exploded it at the proper moment to throw them into a panic.
Earthquakes do not cast rocks up in the air to fall on men's heads!
And that this is not all surmise is shown by the fact that a city of
India, in the time of Alexander the Great, defended itself by the use of
gunpowder: it was said to be a favorite of the gods, because thunder and
lightning came from its walls to resist the attacks of its assailants.
As the Hebrews were a branch of the Phoenician race, it is not
surprising that we find some things in their history which look very
much like legends of gunpowder.
When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram led a rebellion against Moses, Moses
separated the faithful from the unfaithful, and thereupon "the ground
clave asunder that was under them: and the earth opened her mouth, and
swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained
unto Korah, and all their goods.
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