The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians Part 24

An excessive thirst for ama.s.sing wealth, and an inordinate love of gain, generally gave occasion in Carthage to the committing base and unjust actions. One single example will prove this. During a truce, granted by Scipio to the earnest entreaties of the Carthaginians, some Roman vessels, being driven by a storm on the coasts of Carthage, were seized by order of the senate and people,(562) who could not suffer so tempting a prey to escape them. They were resolved to get money, though the manner of acquiring it were ever so scandalous.(563) The inhabitants of Carthage, even in St. Austin's time, (as that Father informs us,) showed on a particular occasion, that they still retained part of this characteristic.

But these were not the only blemishes and faults of the Carthaginians.(564) They had something austere and savage in their disposition and genius, a haughty and imperious air, a sort of ferocity, which, in the first transports of pa.s.sion, was deaf to both reason and remonstrances, and plunged brutally into the utmost excesses of violence.

The people, cowardly and grovelling under apprehensions, were proud and cruel in their transports; at the same time that they trembled under their magistrates, they were dreaded in their turn by their miserable va.s.sals.

In this we see the difference which education makes between one nation and another. The Athenians, whose city was always considered as the centre of learning, were naturally jealous of their authority, and difficult to govern; but still, a fund of good nature and humanity made them compa.s.sionate the misfortunes of others, and be indulgent to the errors of their leaders. Cleon one day desired the a.s.sembly, in which he presided, to break up, because, as he told them, he had a sacrifice to offer, and friends to entertain. The people only laughed at the request, and immediately separated. Such a liberty, says Plutarch, at Carthage, would have cost a man his life.

Livy makes a like reflection with regard to Terentius Varro.(565) That general on his return to Rome after the battle of Cannae, which had been lost by his ill conduct, was met by persons of all orders of the state, at some distance from Rome; and thanked by them, for his not having despaired of the commonwealth; who, says the historian, had he been a general of the Carthaginians, must have expected the most severe punishment: _Cui, si Carthaginensium ductor fuisset, nihil recusandum supplicii foret._ Indeed, a court was established at Carthage, where the generals were obliged to give an account of their conduct; and they all were made responsible for the events of the war. Ill success was punished there as a crime against the state; and whenever a general lost a battle, he was almost sure, at his return, of ending his life upon a gibbet. Such was the furious, cruel, and barbarous disposition of the Carthaginians, who were always ready to shed the blood of their citizens as well as of foreigners. The unheard-of tortures which they made Regulus suffer, are a manifest proof of this a.s.sertion; and their history will furnish us with such instances of it, as are not to be read without horror.

Part The Second. The History of the Carthaginians.

The interval of time between the foundation of Carthage and its ruin, included seven hundred years, and may be divided into two parts. The first, which is much the longest and the least known, (as is ordinary with the beginnings of all states,) extends to the first Punic war, and takes up five hundred and eighty-two years. The second, which ends at the destruction of Carthage, contains but a hundred and eighteen years.

Chapter I. The Foundation of Carthage and its Aggrandizement till the Time of the first Punic War.

Carthage in Africa was a colony from Tyre, the most renowned city at that time for commerce in the world. Tyre had long before transplanted into that country another colony, which built Utica,(566) made famous by the death of the second Cato, who, for this reason, is generally called Cato Uticensis.

Authors disagree very much with regard to the aera of the foundation of Carthage.(567) It is a difficult matter, and not very material, to reconcile them; at least, agreeably to the plan laid down by me, it is sufficient to know, within a few years, the time in which that city was built.

Carthage existed a little above seven hundred years.(568) It was destroyed under the consulate of Cn. Lentulus, and L. Mummius, the 603d year of Rome, 3859th of the world, and 145 before Christ. The foundation of it may therefore be fixed in the year of the world 3158, when Joash was king of Judah, 98 years before the building of Rome, and 846 before our Saviour.

The foundation of Carthage is ascribed to Elisa, a Tyrian princess, better known by the name of Dido.(569) Ithobal, king of Tyre, and father of the famous Jezebel, called in Scripture Ethbaal, was her great-grandfather.

She married her near relation Acerbas, called otherwise Sicharbas and Sichaeus, an extremely rich prince, and Pygmalion, king of Tyre, was her brother. This prince having put Sichaeus to death, in order that he might have an opportunity of seizing his immense wealth, Dido eluded the cruel avarice of her brother, by withdrawing secretly with all her dead husband's treasures. After having long wandered, she at last landed on the coast of the Mediterranean, in the gulf where Utica stood, and in the country of Africa, properly so called, distant almost fifteen(570) miles from Tunis, so famous at this time for its corsairs; and there settled with her few followers, after having purchased some lands from the inhabitants of the country.(571)

Many of the neighbouring people, invited by the prospect of lucre, repaired thither to sell these new comers the necessaries of life; and shortly after incorporated themselves with them. These inhabitants, who had been thus gathered from different places, soon grew very numerous. The citizens of Utica, considering them as their countrymen, and as descended from the same common stock, deputed envoys with very considerable presents, and exhorted them to build a city in the place where they had first settled. The natives of the country, from the esteem and respect frequently shown to strangers, did as much on their part. Thus all things conspiring with Dido's views, she built her city, which was charged with the payment of an annual tribute to the Africans for the ground it stood upon; and called Carthada,(572) or Carthage, a name that, in the Phoenician and Hebrew tongues, (which have a great affinity,) signifies the New City. It is said, that when the foundations were dug, a horse's head was found, which was thought a good omen, and a presage of the future warlike genius of that people.(573)

This princess was afterwards courted by Iarbas king of Getulia, and threatened with a war in case of refusal. Dido, who had bound herself by an oath not to consent to a second marriage, being incapable of violating the faith she had sworn to Sichaeus, desired time for deliberation, and for appeasing the manes of her first husband by sacrifice. Having therefore ordered a pile to be raised, she ascended it; and drawing out a dagger which she had concealed under her robe, stabbed herself with it.(574)

Virgil has made a great alteration in this history, by supposing that aeneas, his hero, was contemporary with Dido, though there was an interval of near three centuries between the one and the other; Carthage being built three hundred years after the destruction of Troy. This liberty is very excusable in a poet, who is not tied to the scrupulous accuracy of an historian; and we admire, with great reason, the judgment which he has shown in his plan, when, to interest the Romans (for whom he wrote) in his subject, he has the art of introducing into it the implacable hatred which subsisted between Carthage and Rome, and ingeniously deduces the original of it from the very remote foundation of those two rival cities.

Carthage, whose beginnings, as we have observed, were very weak at first, grew larger by insensible degrees, in the country where it was founded.

But its dominion was not long confined to Africa. This ambitious city extended her conquests into Europe, invaded Sardinia, made herself mistress of a great part of Sicily, and reduced to her subjection almost the whole of Spain; and having sent out powerful colonies into all quarters, enjoyed the empire of the seas for more than six hundred years; and formed a state which was able to dispute preeminence with the greatest empires of the world, by her wealth, her commerce, her numerous armies, her formidable fleets, and, above all, by the courage and ability of her captains. The dates and circ.u.mstances of many of these conquests are little known. I shall take but a transient notice of them, in order to enable my readers to form some idea of the countries, which will be often mentioned in the course of this history.

_Conquests of the Carthaginians in Africa._-The first wars made by the Carthaginians were to free themselves from the annual tribute which they had engaged to pay the Africans, for the territory which had been ceded to them.(575) This conduct does them no honour, as the settlement was granted them upon condition of their paying a tribute. One would be apt to imagine, that they were desirous of covering the obscurity of their original, by abolis.h.i.+ng this proof of it. But they were not successful on this occasion. The Africans had justice on their side, and they prospered accordingly; the war being terminated by the payment of the tribute.

The Carthaginians afterwards carried their arms against the Moors and Numidians, and gained many conquests over both.(576) Being now emboldened by these happy successes, they shook off entirely the tribute which gave them so much uneasiness,(577) and possessed themselves of a great part of Africa.

About this time there arose a great dispute between Carthage and Cyrene, on the subject of their respective limits. Cyrene was a very powerful city, situated on the Mediterranean, towards the greater Syrtis, and had been built by Battus the Lacedaemonian.(578)

It was agreed on each side, that two young men should set out at the same time, from either city; and that the place of their meeting should be the common boundary of both states. The Carthaginians (these were two brothers named Philaeni) made the most haste; and their antagonists pretending that foul play had been used, and that the two brothers had set out before the time appointed, refused to stand to the agreement unless the two brothers (to remove all suspicion of unfair dealing) would consent to be buried alive in the place where they had met. They acquiesced with the proposal; and the Carthaginians erected, on that spot, two altars to their memories, and paid them divine honours in their city; and from that time the place was called the altars of the Philaeni, Arae Philaenorum,(579) and served as the boundary of the Carthaginian empire, which extended from thence to the pillars of Hercules.

_Conquests of the Carthaginians in Sardinia, &c._-History does not inform us exactly, either of the time when the Carthaginians entered Sardinia, or of the manner in which they got possession of it. This island was of great use to them; and during all their wars supplied them abundantly with provisions.(580) It is separated from Corsica only by a strait of about three leagues in breadth. The metropolis of the southern and most fertile part of it, was Caralis or Calaris, now called Cagliari. On the arrival of the Carthaginians, the natives withdrew to the mountains in the northern parts of the island, which are almost inaccessible, and whence the enemy could not dislodge them.

The Carthaginians seized likewise on the Balearic isles, now called Majorca and Minorca. Port Mahon, (_Portus Magonis_,) in the latter island, was so called from Mago, a Carthaginian general, who first made use of, and fortified it. It is not known who this Mago was; but it is very probable that he was Hannibal's brother.(581) This harbour is, at this day, one of the most considerable in the Mediterranean.

These isles furnished the Carthaginians with the most expert slingers in the world, who did them great service in battles and sieges.(582) They slang large stones of above a pound weight; and sometimes threw leaden bullets,(583) with so much violence, that they would pierce even the strongest helmets, s.h.i.+elds, and cuira.s.ses; and were so dexterous in their aim, that they scarce ever missed the mark. The inhabitants of these islands were accustomed, from their infancy, to handle the sling; for which purpose their mothers placed on the bough of a high tree, the piece of bread designed for their children's breakfast, who were not allowed a morsel till they had brought it down with their slings. From this practice, these islands were called Baleares and Gymnasiae, by the Greeks,(584) because the inhabitants used to exercise themselves so early in slinging of stones.(585)

_Conquests of the Carthaginians in Spain._-Before I enter on the relation of these conquests, I think it proper to give my readers some idea of Spain.

Spain is divided into three parts, Btica, Lusitania, Tarraconensis.(586)

Btica, so called from the river Btis,(587) was the southern division of it, and comprehended the present kingdom of Granada, Andalusia, part of New Castile, and Estremadura. Cadiz, called by the ancients Gades and Gadira, is a town situated in a small island of the same name, on the western coast of Andalusia, about nine leagues from Gibraltar. It is well known that Hercules, having extended his conquests to this place, halted, from the supposition that he was come to the extremity of the world.(588) He here erected two pillars, as monuments of his victories, pursuant to the custom of that age. The place has always retained the name, though time has quite destroyed these pillars. Authors are divided in opinion, with regard to the place where these pillars were erected. Btica was the most fruitful, the wealthiest, and most populous part of Spain.(589) It contained two hundred cities, and was inhabited by the t.u.r.detani, or t.u.r.duli. On the banks of the Btis stood three large cities, Castulo towards the source, Corduba lower down, the native place of Lucan and the two Senecas, lastly, Hispalis.(590)

Lusitania is bounded on the west by the Ocean, on the north by the river Durius,(591) and on the south by the river Anas.(592) Between these two rivers is the Tagus. Lusitania was what is now called Portugal, with part of Old and New Castile.

Tarraconensis comprehended the rest of Spain, that is, the kingdoms of Murcia and Valentia, Catalonia, Arragon, Navarre, Biscay, the Asturias, Gallicia, the kingdom of Leon, and the greatest part of the two Castiles.

Tarraco,(593) a very considerable city, gave its name to this part of Spain. Pretty near it lay Barcino.(594) Its name gives rise to the conjecture, that it was built by Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, father of the great Hannibal. The most renowned nations of Tarraconensis were the Celtiberi, beyond the river Iberus;(595) the Cantabri, where Biscay now lies; the Carpetani, whose capital was Toledo; the Oretani, &c.

Spain, abounding with mines of gold and silver, and peopled with a martial race of men, had sufficient to excite both the avarice and ambition of the Carthaginians, who were more of a mercantile than of a warlike disposition, from the very genius and const.i.tution of their republic. They doubtless knew that their Phnician ancestors, (as Diodorus relates,)(596) taking advantage of the happy ignorance of the Spaniards, with regard to the immense riches which were hid in the bowels of their lands, first took from them these precious treasures, in exchange for commodities of little value. They likewise foresaw, that if they could once subdue this country, it would furnish them abundantly with well-disciplined troops for the conquest of other nations, as actually happened.

The occasion of the Carthaginians first landing in Spain, was to a.s.sist the inhabitants of Cadiz, who were invaded by the Spaniards.(597) That city was a colony from Tyre, as well as Utica and Carthage, and even more ancient than either of them. The Tyrians having built it, established there the wors.h.i.+p of Hercules, and erected, in his honour, a magnificent temple, which became famous in after ages. The success of this first expedition of the Carthaginians made them desirous of carrying their arms into Spain.

It is not exactly known in what period they entered Spain, nor how far they extended their first conquests. It is probable that these were slow in the beginning, as the Carthaginians had to do with very warlike nations, who defended themselves with great resolution and courage. Nor could they ever have accomplished their design, as Strabo observes,(598) had the Spaniards (united in a body) formed but one state, and mutually a.s.sisted one another. But as every district, every people, were entirely detached from their neighbours, and had not the least correspondence nor connection with them, the Carthaginians were forced to subdue them one after another. This circ.u.mstance occasioned, on one hand, the loss of Spain; but on the other, protracted the war, and made the conquest of the country much more difficult.(599) Accordingly it has been observed, that though Spain was the first province which the Romans invaded on the continent, it was the last they subdued;(600) and was not entirely subjected to their power, till after having made a vigorous opposition for upwards of 200 years.

It appears from the accounts given by Polybius and Livy, of the wars of Hamilcar, Asdrubal, and Hannibal in Spain, which will soon be mentioned, that the arms of the Carthaginians had not made any considerable progress in that country before that period, and that the greatest part of Spain was then unconquered. But in twenty years' time they completed the conquest of almost the whole country.

At the time that Hannibal set out for Italy, all the coast of Africa, from the Philaenorum Arae, by the great Syrtis, to the pillars of Hercules, was subject to the Carthaginians.(601) Pa.s.sing through the straits, they had conquered all the western coast of Spain, along the ocean, as far as the Pyrenean hills. The coast, which lies on the Mediterranean, had been almost wholly subdued by them; and it was there they had built Carthagena; and they were masters of all the country, as far as the river Iberus, which bounded their dominions. Such was, at that time, the extent of their empire. In the centre of the country, some nations had indeed held out against all their efforts, and could not be subdued by them.

_Conquests of the Carthaginians in Sicily._-The wars which the Carthaginians carried on in Sicily are more known. I shall here relate those which were waged from the reign of Xerxes, who first prompted the Carthaginians to carry their arms into Sicily, till the first Punic war.

This period includes near two hundred and twenty years; _viz._ from the year of the world 3520 to 3738. At the breaking out of these wars, Syracuse, the most considerable as well as most powerful city of Sicily, had invested Gelon, Hiero, and Thrasybulus, (three brothers who succeeded one another,) with the sovereign power. After their deaths, a democracy or popular government was established in that city, and subsisted above sixty years. From this time, the two Dionysius's, Timoleon, and Agathocles, bore the sway in Syracuse. Pyrrhus was afterwards invited into Sicily, but he kept possession of it only a few years. Such was the government of Sicily during the wars of which I am going to treat. They will give us great light with regard to the power of the Carthaginians, at the time that they began to be engaged in war with the Romans.

Sicily is the largest and most considerable island in the Mediterranean.

It is of a triangular form, and for that reason was called Trinacria and Triquetra. The eastern side, which faces the Ionian or Grecian sea, extends from Cape Pachynum(602) to Pelorum.(603) The most celebrated cities on this coast are Syracuse, Tauromenium, and Messana. The northern coast, which looks towards Italy, reaches from Cape Pelorum to Cape Lilybaeum.(604) The most noted cities on this coast are Mylae, Hymera, Panormus, Eryx, Motya, Lilybaeum. The southern coast, which lies opposite to Africa, extends from Cape Lilybaeum to Pachynum. The most remarkable cities on this coast are Selinus, Agrigentum, Gela, and Camarina. This island is separated from Italy by a strait, which is not more than a mile and a half over, and called the Faro or strait of Messina, from its contiguity to that city. The pa.s.sage from Lilybaeum to Africa is but 1500 furlongs,(605) that is, about seventy-five leagues.(606)

(M99) The period in which the Carthaginians first carried their arms into Sicily is not exactly known.(607) All we are certain of is, that they were already possessed of some part of it, at the time that they entered into a treaty with the Romans; the same year that the kings were expelled, and consuls appointed in their room, _viz._ twenty-eight years before Xerxes invaded Greece. This treaty, which is the first we find mentioned to have been made between these two nations, speaks of Africa and Sardinia as possessed by the Carthaginians; whereas the conventions with regard to Sicily, relate only to those parts of the island which were subject to them. By this treaty it is expressly stipulated, that neither the Romans nor their allies shall sail beyond the Fair Promontory,(608) which was very near Carthage; and that such merchants, as shall resort to this city for traffic, shall pay only certain duties which are settled in it.(609)

It appears by the same treaty, that the Carthaginians were particularly careful to exclude the Romans from all the countries subject to them; as well as from the knowledge of what was transacting in them; as though the Carthaginians, even at that time, had taken umbrage at the rising power of the Romans; and already harboured in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s the secret seeds of that jealousy and distrust, that were one day to burst out in long and cruel wars, and a mutual hatred and animosity, which nothing could extinguish but the ruin of one of the contending powers.

(M100) Some years after the conclusion of this first treaty, the Carthaginians made an alliance with Xerxes king of Persia.(610) This prince, who aimed at nothing less than the total extirpation of the Greeks, whom he considered as his irreconcilable enemies, thought it would be impossible for him to succeed in his enterprise without the a.s.sistance of Carthage, whose power was formidable even at that time. The Carthaginians, who always kept in view the design they entertained of seizing upon the remainder of Sicily, greedily s.n.a.t.c.hed the favourable opportunity which now presented itself for their completing the reduction of it. A treaty was therefore concluded; wherein it was agreed that the Carthaginians were to invade, with all their forces, those Greeks who were settled in Sicily and Italy, while Xerxes should march in person against Greece itself.

The preparations for this war lasted three years. The land army amounted to no less than three hundred thousand men. The fleet consisted of two thousand s.h.i.+ps of war, and upwards of three thousand small vessels of burden. Hamilcar, the most experienced captain of his age, sailed from Carthage with this formidable army. He landed at Palermo;(611) and, after refres.h.i.+ng his troops, he marched against Hymera, a city not far distant from Palermo, and laid siege to it. Theron, who commanded in it, seeing himself very much straitened, sent to Gelon, who had possessed himself of Syracuse. He flew immediately to his relief, with fifty thousand foot, and five thousand horse. His arrival infused new courage into the besieged, who, from that time, made a very vigorous defence.

Gelon was an able warrior, and excelled in stratagems. A courier was brought to him, who had been despatched from Selinus, a city of Sicily, with a letter for Hamilcar, to inform him of the day when he might expect the cavalry which he had demanded of them. Gelon drew out an equal number of his own troops, and sent them from his camp about the time agreed on.

These being admitted into the enemy's camp, as coming from Selinus, rushed upon Hamilcar, killed him, and set fire to his s.h.i.+ps. In this critical conjuncture, Gelon attacked, with all his forces, the Carthaginians, who at first made a gallant resistance. But when the news of their general's death was brought them, and they saw their fleet in a blaze, their courage failed them, and they fled. And now a dreadful slaughter ensued; upwards of a hundred and fifty thousand being slain. The rest of the army, having retired to a place where they were in want of every thing, could not make a long defence, and were forced to surrender at discretion. This battle was fought the very day of the famous action of Thermopylae, in which three hundred Spartans,(612) with the sacrifice of their lives, disputed Xerxes's entrance into Greece.

When the sad news was brought to Carthage of the entire defeat of the army, consternation, grief, and despair, threw the whole city into such a confusion and alarm as are not to be expressed. It was imagined that the enemy was already at the gates. The Carthaginians, in great reverses of fortune, always lost their courage, and sunk into the opposite extreme.

Immediately they sent a deputation to Gelon, by which they desired peace upon any terms. He heard their envoys with great humanity. The complete victory he had gained, so far from making him haughty and untractable, had only increased his modesty and clemency even towards the enemy. He therefore granted them a peace, without any other condition, than their paying two thousand(613) talents towards the expense of the war. He likewise required them to build two temples, where the treaty of this peace should be deposited, and exposed at all times to public view. The Carthaginians did not think this a dear purchase of a peace, that was so absolutely necessary to their affairs, and which they hardly durst hope for. Gisgo, the son of Hamilcar, pursuant to the unjust custom of the Carthaginians, of ascribing to the general the ill success of a war, and making him bear the blame of it, was punished for his father's misfortune, and sent into banishment. He pa.s.sed the remainder of his days at Selinus, a city of Sicily.

Gelon, on his return to Syracuse, convened the people, and invited all the citizens to appear under arms. He himself entered the a.s.sembly, unarmed and without his guards, and there gave an account of the whole conduct of his life. His speech met with no other interruption, than the public testimonies which were given him of grat.i.tude and admiration. So far from being treated as a tyrant, and the oppressor of his country's liberty, he was considered as its benefactor and deliverer; all, with an unanimous voice, proclaimed him king; and the crown was bestowed, after his death, on his two brothers.

(M101) After the memorable defeat of the Athenians before Syracuse, where Nicias perished with his whole fleet;(614) the Segestans, who had declared in favour of the Athenians against the Syracusans, fearing the resentment of their enemies, and being attacked by the inhabitants of Selinus, implored the aid of the Carthaginians, and put themselves and city under their protection. At Carthage the people debated some time, what course it would be proper for them to take, the affair meeting with great difficulties. On one hand, the Carthaginians were very desirous to possess themselves of a city which lay so convenient for them; on the other, they dreaded the power and forces of Syracuse, which had so lately cut to pieces a numerous army of the Athenians; and become, by so s.h.i.+ning a victory, more formidable than ever. At last, the l.u.s.t of empire prevailed, and the Segestans were promised succours.

The conduct of this war was committed to Hannibal, who at that time was invested with the highest dignity of the state, being one of the Suffetes.

He was grandson to Hamilcar, who had been defeated by Gelon, and killed before Himera; and son to Gisgo, who had been condemned to exile. He left Carthage, animated with an ardent desire of revenging his family and country, and of wiping away the disgrace of the last defeat. He had a very great army as well as fleet under his command. He landed at a place called the _Well of Lilybaeum_, which gave its name to a city afterwards built on the same spot. His first enterprise was the siege of Selinus. The attack and defence were equally vigorous, the very women showing a resolution and bravery above their s.e.x. The city, after making a long resistance, was taken by storm, and the plunder of it abandoned to the soldiers. The victor exercised the most horrid cruelties, without showing the least regard to either age or s.e.x. He permitted such inhabitants as had fled, to continue in the city after it had been dismantled; and to till the lands, on condition of their paying a tribute to the Carthaginians. This city had been built two hundred and forty-two years.