them to send an embassy to demand that he should be delivered up to them. Hannibal secretly fled to Antiochus the Great, at whose court he became the chief fomentor of the war against Rome, 195 B. C.

10. From this time, the power of Carthage began rapidly to decline. The influence of Rome was completely established at Carthage; and by their intrigues with Masinissa, who had been elevated to the dignity of king of Numidia, disputes were kept up which led to the gradual dismemberment of the Carthaginian territory. And when the time arrived for the interference of the Romans, the senate, urged by the elder Cato, came to the resolution of totally destroying Carthage. The Carthaginians, to remove the pretext for war, resolved to obey every command. They gave three hundred of their noblest youths as hostages; they surrendered their ships of war and their magazines of arms: but after all these concessions, they were ordered to abandon their city, when they took courage from despair, and refused to obey. War was immediately declared against them, which continued for about four years, when Carthage was taken by storm, in 146 B. C., by P. Scipio Emilianus, who levelled it with the ground.]

SECTION XLII.

THE HISTORY OF SICILY.

1. THE early periods of the history of Sicily are no less unknown than those of Carthage. The Phoenicians had sent colonies thither before the Trojan war. The Greeks, in after times, made considerable settlements in the island. The Corinthians founded Syracuse about 734 B. C., which became the most illustrious of the Greek cities of Sicily; and from Syracuse arose afterwards Agrigentum, Acra, Casmene, Camarina and several other flourishing towns.

2. The government of Syracuse was monarchical, and might long have remained so, had all its sovereigns inherited the abilities and virtues of Gelon, its first monarch (485-478). But his successors, exercising the worst of tyranny, compelled their subjects at length to abolish the regal government (466); and their example was speedily followed by all the Grecian states of Sicily.

3. The monarchy of Syracuse, however, was revived about sixty years after, in the person of Dionysius, a man of obscure origin, but of signal ability. Twice expelled for a tyrannical . exercise of dominion, he as often found means to overpower his enemies, and re-establish himself in the throne. At his death, the crown passed, without opposition, to his son, Dionysius the Younger, a weak and capricious tyrant, whom his subjects,

judging unworthy to reign, dethroned and banished, 357 B. C. The crown was conferred on Dion, his brother-in-law: but this prince, whose amiable character rendered him the delight of his people, after a short reign, fell a victim to treason. Aided by the distractions of Syracuse consequent on this event, Dionysius remounted the throne, ten years after his expulsion; but his tyrannical disposition, heightened by his misfortunes, became at length so intolerable, that he was expelled a second time, and banished to Corinth, where he ended his days in poverty and obscurity. The author of this revolution was the illustrious Timoleon, to whose abilities and virtues his country owed equally its liberty and its subsequent happiness and prosperity, 343 B. C. [The Syracusans had not virtue enough to retain their recovered freedom. Agathocles, a man of splendid talents, seized the supreme power. Besieged by the Carthaginians in Syracuse, he adopted the bold resolution of carrying the war into Africa; and appearing before the walls of Carthage, defeated their army, and nearly subverted their empire. But suffering a severe reverse of fortune, he meanly abandoned his army to the mercy of the enemy, and returned to Sicily, where he was shortly after poisoned by Manon, who seized the government, 289.

4. On the death of Agathocles, Syracuse fell into confusion; and the Carthaginians, intent on the acquisition of Sicily, now invaded the city with a large fleet and an army of 50,000 men. The Syracusans, unable to resist this force, invited to their assistance Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who, as we have before seen, withdrew his troops from Italy for this purpose. Pyrrhus was for some time successful; but he was at length overcome by the Carthaginians, and forced to evacuate Sicily. This war involved Carthage in hostilities with Rome, which immediately led to the first Punic war, and ultimately caused her ruin.]

The signal opposition of national character between the Romans and Carthaginians may be easily accounted for, when we attend to the effects of a commercial life on the genius and manners of a nation. The vices of a commercial people are considered to be selfishness, cunning, avarice, with an absence of every heroic and patriotic virtue. The favourable effects of commerce are, industry, frugality, respect to mutual contracts and obligations, general courtesy of manners, the cultivation of science, and its application to improvement in the useful arts. Attending to these consequences of the prevalence of the commercial spirit, we shall see the principal features of the Carthaginian character opposed to the Roman.

SECTION XLIII.

THE PUNIC WARS, 264-146 B.C.

1. THE triumph which the Romans had obtained over Pyrrhus seemed to give assurance of success in any enterprise in which they should engage. The Mamertines, a people of Campania, who had been in the pay of Agathocles, and who were desirous of settling in Sicily, obtained aid from the Romans in an unjustifiable attempt which they made to seize Messina, a Sicilian town allied to Syracuse. The Syracusans, at first assisted by the Carthaginians, opposed this invasion; but their united forces were defeated by the Romans. The Syracusans having never felt the power of the Roman arms, and being more alarmed by the ambitious encroachments of the Carthaginians on Sicily, soon repented of this rash alliance, and joined the Romans in the purpose of expelling the Carthaginians entirely from the island, 263. In fact, the Sicilians seemed to have had only the desperate choice of final submission either to Rome or Carthage. They chose the former, as the alternative less dishonourable: the Romans had ever been their friends; the Carthaginians their enemies.

2. Agrigentum, possessed by the Carthaginians, was taken after a long seige, by the joint forces of Rome and Syracuse. [The Romans, encouraged by this success, and conscious of the great advantage which the enemy derived from their superiority at sea, determined to have a fleet. A Carthaginian ship of war, that was stranded on the coast of Italy, is said to have served as a model; and by a wonderful effort of industry, the Romans equipped in a few weeks, 120 similar vessels-the first fleet they ever had, 260 B. C. Inferior to their enemy in the art of manoeuvring their vessels, they invented machines for boarding,* and bringing a sea-fight to resemble a land-fight. By this means, the consul Duilius gained a complete victory off Mylæ, over the fleet of the Carthaginians.] Carthage at this time was the greatest maritime power in the world. These successes were followed by the reduction of Corsica and Sardinia. In a second naval engagement off the Liparæan Islands, in 257, the Romans took from the Carthaginians sixty of their ships of war, and now resolutely prepared for the invasion of Africa. The consul Regulus commanded the expedition. He advanced to the gates of Carthage; and such was the general consternation, that the enemy proposed a capitulation. Inspirited, however, by a timely aid of Greek troops under Xantippus, the Carthaginians made a desperate effort, and totally defeating the Roman army, made Regulus

* Each ship had what may be called a long drawbridge, thirty-six feet long by four wide, with a low parapet on each side of it. This bridge was attached by a rope to a mast at the ship's prow, and so formed that it could be moved freely round, and let fall on the enemy's ships in any direction. The soldiers then rushed on board, and came to close quarters with their opponents.

their prisoner. But repeatedly defeated in Sicily, they were at length seriously desirous of a peace; and the Roman general was sent with their ambassadors to Rome to aid the negotiation, under a sɔlemn oath to return to Carthage as a prisoner, should the treaty fail. It was rejected, at the urgent desire of Regulus himself, who returned to Carthage, and soon after died,* 250 B. C. 3. The war still continued, and Lilybæum, the strongest of the Sicilian towns belonging to Carthage, was taken after a siege of nine years. After some alternate successes, two naval battles won by the Romans terminated the war; and Carthage at last obtained a peace, on the humiliating terms of abandoning to the Romans all her possessions in Sicily, the payment of 3,200 talents of silver, the restitution of all prisoners without ransom, and a solemn engagement never to make war against Syracuse or her allies. The island of Sicily was now declared a Roman province, with the exception of Syracuse, which still maintained her independent government (year of Rome 513, and B. C. 241). Thus terminated the first Punic war,† after a contest of nearly twentythree years. The temple of Janus was then shut, an event which had not happened since the reign of Numa, a period of nearly 500 years. In a few years it was again opened, and never shut

till the reign of Augustus.

4. The peace between Rome and Carthage was of twentythree years' duration. The latter power was recruiting her strength, and meditated to revenge her losses and disgrace. The second Punic war began on the part of the Carthaginians, who beseiged Saguntum, a city of Spain in alliance with the Romans. The young Hannibal took Saguntum, after a siege of seven months; the desperate inhabitants setting fire to the town, and perishing amidst the flames (B. C. 219). Hannibal now formed the bold design of carrying the war into Italy. He provided against every difficulty; gained to his interest a part of the Gallic tribes; passed the Pyrenees, and finally the Alps, in a toilsome march of five months and a-half from his leaving Carthagena; and arrived in Italy with 20,000 foot and 6,000 horse. This expedition is deservedly reckoned one of the most remarkable exploits of antiquity.

5. In the first engagement, the Romans were defeated; and they lost two other important battles at Trebia and the lake Thrasymenus. In the latter of these, the consul Flaminius was killed, and his army cut to pieces. Hannibal advanced to Cannæ, in Apulia; and the Romans there opposing him with their whole

*The story runs, that the Carthaginians put him to a lingering death; but there is no more reason to believe that it was so, than that the wife and sons of Regulus, according to a similar story, made it their pretext for wreaking their cruelty upon two noble Carthaginian prisoners, who were placed in their hands as hostages. When the Carthaginians sued for peace, Regulus proposed the most intolerable terms, which were rejected; and being afterwards defeated, his army destroyed, except about 500 men, it is more probable that he died of mortificatlon, shame, and a pining after his country.

So called from Punic, the name of the ancient language of the Carthaginians.

N

force, a memorable defeat ensued, in which 40,000 were left dead upon the field, and amongst these the consul Æmilius, and almost the whole body of the Roman knights, 215 B.C. Had Hannibal taken advantage of this great victory, by instantly attacking Rome, the fate of the republic was inevitable; but he deliberated, and the occasion was lost. The Romans concentrated all their strength; even the slaves armed in the common cause; and victory once more attended the standards of the republic. Philip II., king of Macedon, joined his forces to the Carthaginians, but, defeated by Lævinus, speedily withdrew his assistance. Hannibal retreated before the brave Marcellus. Syracuse had now taken part with Carthage, and thus paved the way for the loss of her own liberty. Marcellus beseiged the city, which was long defended by the inventive genius of Archimedes, the greatest mechanic of antiquity, but taken in the third year by escalade in the night. This event put an end to the kingdom of Syracuse, which now became a part of the Roman province of Sicily (year of Rome 542, B. c. 212).

6. While the war in Italy was prosperously conducted by the great Fabius, who, by constantly avoiding a general engagement, found the true method of weakening his enemy, the younger Scipio accomplished the entire reduction of Spain. Asdrubal was sent into Italy to the aid of his brother Hannibal, but was defeated by the consul Claudius Nero, and slain in battle. This fatal defeat destroyed the prospects of Hannibal, and encouraged the efforts of the Romans. Scipio, triumphant in Spain, now passed over into Africa, and carried havoc and devastation to the gates of Carthage. Alarmed for the fate of their empire, the Carthaginians hastily recalled Hannibal from Italy, after having retained possession of the fairest portions of it for seventeen years. The battle of Zama decided the fate of the war. Hannibal was defeated for the first time, and with difficulty escaped from the field; and arriving at Carthage, brought the account of the total destruction of his army. The Carthaginians entreated a peace, which the Romans granted on these conditions: that the Carthaginians should abandon Spain, Sicily, and all the islands lying between Italy and Africa; surrender all their prisoners, Roman deserters, fugitive slaves, and give up the whole of their fleet except ten galleys; pay within the period of fifty years 10,000 talents; undertake in future no war without the consent of the Romans; and assist them both by sea and land, whenever they were called upon to do so. Thus ended the second Punic war, which had continued for twenty years (year of Rome 552, B. C. 202). The Carthaginian power was now completely broken; and the treaty, by interdicting them from repelling force by force without the consent of the Romans, left them at the mercy of their neighbours, particularly Masinissa, the ally of the Romans.

7. Everything now concurred to swell the pride of the conquerors, and to extend their dominion. Their arms for the