territorial possessions. Our great historian, Josephus, tells us, that when the mother kingdom, Tyre, was besieged by the Babylonian army, the African colonists had the audacity to send aid to the besieged, both by sea and by land. The great wealth and prosperity of Carthage at last moved the envy and jealousy of the Roman Republic. The latter picked a quarrel with the former about an insignificant affair respecting Messina; a war ensued, which lasted, with little interruption, upwards of one hundred years. This great war is known in history as the Punic Wars.

Rome was determined on the destruction of Carthage, unable to bear the idea that her arms were not invincible as far as the Tyrian colony was concerned. Just to give you an idea of the real greatness of this republic in the days of yore, is to tell you that Napoleon used to compare Englishmen to the Carthaginians; both being distinguished by their success in commerce, their command of the sea, and their numerous colonies.* Virgil, one of the most celebrated of the Latin, or Roman poets, thus describes the Bay of Carthage, which is by no means incorrect:

"Within a long recess there lies a bay,
An island shades it from the rolling sea,
And forms a port secure for ships to ride,
Broke by the jutting land on either side,
In double streams the briny waters glide
Betwixt two rows of rocks: a sylvan scene
Appears above, and groves for ever green :
A grot is form'd beneath, with mossy seat,
To rest the Nereïds, and exclude the heat :
Down through the crannies of the living walls
The crystal streams descend in murm'ring falls.

*This French Emperor added, moreover, that a similar fate, originating in similar causes, would at no distant time befall Great Britain.

No halsers need to bind the vessels here,

Nor bearded anchors; for no storms they fear."*

One of the Roman senators, Cato by name, urged constantly upon his countrymen the necessity of the destruction of Carthage as absolutely essential to the establishing Roman power and greatness on an unrivalled, firm, and permanent footing. That statesman, whenever he addressed the senate, concluded with these emphatic words: "And finally, I seriously remind you, that Carthage must be destroyed." And ancient Rome acted with a degree of treachery and cowardice, to effect the doom of this once mighty republic, which is worthy of modern Rome.

Without any cause, the Romans, for a third time, declared war against the Carthaginians, upon which ambassadors were sent to Rome with full power to come to any treaty of peace. Peace was granted on the following terms that three hundred sons of the first families of the nobility should be delivered as hostages within thirty days. When the young men were in the possession of the Romans, the Carthaginians were told that they would receive farther orders as soon as the Roman army arrived at Africa, which was already embarking. The second demand of the Romans was, that the Carthaginians should deliver all their arms to their soldiery, engaging to defend them against rising enemies. The arms were scarcely delivered, when the Roman consuls made a third and last demand, viz.: to leave Carthage, which they had orders to destroy, but gave them at the same time permission to build another city at a considerable distance from the sea-shore.

When the Carthaginian ambassadors brought the last message of Roman treachery, indescribable horror and con

* Dryden's translation of the " Æneid," book 1, line 228, &c.

fusion overwhelmed the Carthaginian people. Desperate resolution, was the consequence, on their part. They determined rather to die one by one than to survive the destruction of their ancient city. But what were they to do? Stripped of arms, destitute of provisions, surrounded on sea and land by the enemy, ruin stared them in the face. Under such circumstances they could not measure weapons with Rome, or rather they had no weapons to measure; but "necessity is the mother of invention." Despair stimulated their courage, and taught them new expedients. Heaps of stones were brought to the ramparts, which secured them for the moment against an intended siege. Asdrubal, who was under the sentence of death to please the Romans, was released and put at the head of an army of 20,000 men. Temples, porticos, and all public buildings were opened and changed into workshops, where men and women, children and aged, were day and night occupied in manufacturing arms. When iron and brass fell short, silver and gold of private families, and public statues and vases supplied the want. When no more flax could be found to supply the bow with its string, the females cut off their long hair and willingly worked it into cords for the purpose.

Asdrubal with his men supplied the inhabitants with abundance of provisions from his camp before Carthage, and had once nearly routed the Roman armies during his excursions abroad. Thus Carthage-with all the disadvantages which Roman treachery entailed upon its inhabitants-stood firm for upwards of two years. In the third year, Scipio the younger was put in charge of the blockade; after desperate resistance he ascended the walls, and opened the gates of Carthage. In advancing, however, towards the castle, he found the high houses filled with Cartha

ginians who overwhelmed them with darts and stones. House for house, street for street, was to be conquered, and for seven days the slaughter continued uninterrupted. At last the proconsul ordered fire to be set to the houses nearest the castle. Of the 700,000 Carthaginians 5,000 only survived, 4,000 of which surrendered themselves to the mercy of the Romans, and about 1,000 retired into the fortified temple of Esculapius-on the site of which I am penning this, and of which anon-and buried themselves under its flames and ruins. Six days and six nights were required to clear the houses and the streets of the dead and the dying, who were all thrown into large ditches. The high walls and fortifications were then levelled to the ground, the town was given over to plunder, according to the Roman law, and afterwards burnt. The extent of the city may be estimated from the fact that although fire was set to it at all quarters at the same time, it required no less than seventeen days to reduce it to ashes. Carthage in its meridian glory, occupied a territory of twenty-three miles in circumference, fortified by a triple wall of lofty towers, which contained chambers and stalls for three hundred elephants, stables for upwards of four thousand horses, and lodgings for a numerous army besides provisions for many months. Notwithstanding the enormous sums the Carthaginians had previously expended, during the Punic wars, and notwithstanding the pillage of the Roman soldiers, Scipio collected, after the great and general conflagration, precious objects which were estimated to amount to the value of a million and a half of pounds sterling.

Scipio, while beholding the conflagration of Carthage, from an eminent position, is said to have expressed a dread presentiment against Rome, he is even said to

have shed tears for the fate of the city, which he himself had destroyed. The following lines of Homer he is said to have recited, in allusion to the future destinies of Rome, which the great Greek poet sang respecting ancient Troy :

"Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates;

(How my heart trembles, while my tongue relates!)
The day when thou, imperial Troy, must bend,
And see thy warriors fall, thy glories end." *

Immediately after the total destruction of Carthage, the Romans ordered a medal to be struck, having on it the Carthaginian coat of arms, consisting of a horse and datetree, and the following Latin inscription: "Delenda est Carthago," that is, Carthage is destroyed, in allusion to old Cato's severe denunciation, of which the accompanying is a facsimile.

* Εἶμὲν γὰρ τόδέ διδα κατα φρένα και κατα θυμὸν
Εσσεται ἦμαρ, ότ ̓ ἄνποτ ̓ ὀλῳλῃ Ιλιοςἱρή,

Και πριαμος, καὶ λαὸς ἐϋμελιω πριαμοιο.

This dark vision, if applied to Rome, was signally realized A.D. 455, and it never rose again. Since that fatal year, its government has been living upon the purses of other nations alone; and its total ruin is, at present, only delayed by the armies of foreigners, and most of its inhabitants live chiefly upon the money brought by the admirers of its former splendour.