Carthage was rebuilt, under Julius and Augustus Cæsars, on a very magnificent scale, which formed for a length of time a considerable Roman colony. A.D. 439, Genseric, King of the Vandals, wrested it from the hands of the Romans, and made it the seat of the Vandal empire. It is said that Genseric, whilst plundering Rome in the year of our Lord 455, carried off with him the sacred vessels of our beautiful temple, which Titus, after he was permitted to destroy that sanctuary, took with him as trophies to Rome, and graced his triumphal procession on his return thither. It is said, moreover, that the Vandal King brought those holy relics with him to Africa. Here they remained till Belisarius reconquered Carthage from the Vandals, when that brave General sent them to his Emperor, Justinian, to Constantinople. The Emperor being told by some Jewish Rabbi, that the keeping them away from Jerusalem was the cause of the discomfiture of the Romans before the Vandals, and the Vandals before the Greeks, the Emperor took the hint, and sent the hallowed utensils to Jerusalem to be deposited in a church he ordered to be built there, where they remained till the Persians carried them off with them. Towards the close of the seventh century, Carthage was totally destroyed by the Saracens, from which blow it never recovered. It gives one the idea that the magnificent palaces, temples, fanes, walls, in short all the splendid edifices which once covered this melancholy site, were gathered together, and crowded into a monster mill, and ground to powder. Such is the ruinous state of once mighty Carthage. The following moral of the immortal Tasso forces itself nolens volens upon my mind whilst I am penning this epistle : "Giace l'alta Cartago: appena i segni O nostra mente cupida e superbe!" * The present inhabitants, or rather tramplers, of the soil are ignorant that a grand and magnificent city was once the covering of this extensive plot of ground, and that Carthage was its name. The Bedouin Arabs think that the two little villages, which are at present to be seen on the shore, were there from time immemorial. I have thus given you, dear Miriam, a bird's-eye view of the annals of the once-renowned Carthage, which I trust will inspire you with a desire to read some large history on the same subject. I prefer history-straightforward, matter-of-fact, true, unvarnished history-to all the rubbishy novels, which have no other effect than to smother a regard of truth in the hearts of their readers. And if you contemplate a little on the idolatrous condition of ancient Carthage, and on the judgments which were denounced against Tyre, you will have reason to admire the truthfulness of the Sacred Historian and Prophet. intended to have told you something about the Ecclesias *Which it pleased John Hoole thus to translate: "Now to the knights the damsel-pilot show'd I tical, or Church History, as connected with this place, as I am anxious that you should cultivate a taste for that branch of literature; but it is beginning to be very late; I must, therefore, draw to a rapid conclusion. I hinted, however, that I was writing on the site and on the ruins of the ancient temple of Esculapius. You may be wondering how I know that I am sitting on the identical spot. I have in my portfolio a couple of drawings of this place, a copy of which shall accompany this letter. It has been excavated by Sir Thomas Reade, the British ConsulGeneral for this regency. Among the many Corinthian capitols which were laid bare, there are two of a very different and superior style from the rest; they lie in the foreground of this, and one of which serves me now as a table. These capitols are adorned by entwined snakes. dare say you are aware that serpents were sacred, in days of yore, to that god of medicine, and you will therefore probably consider that there is slight ground to conclude that the capitols are fragments of a temple dedicated to that deified quack. We also learn from ancient writers that a temple in honour of that deity was erected in Carthage, not far from the shore, and that steps conducted from it to the sea. At present the sea is but within a stone's throw from the entrance into the temple. Many beautiful columns, not very thick, about two feet in diameter, and of red-grained marble, are to be seen on every side, and I am thus convinced that I sit amidst desolated greatness. I To my right in the distance, on a hill, I behold the little fort, built by the French under the name of a church, dedicated to Louis IX., King of France, who died before Tunis, and was interred in this immediate vicinity. On my left are the ancient cisterns, having been the reservoirs of water in ancient days; and magnificent relics these cisterns are. I could tell you a great deal more about this spot, were I more conveniently situated. It is no easy matter to write in the open field, exposed to the raging winds. I will only add for the present, that Carthage suffered about six or seven destructions. I cannot be certain about my date, as I have no books to refer to here; but I may be able to tell you more about this place at some future period.* God bless you, dearest Miriam, Prays your affectionate papa, &c. LETTER XXII. TO JOHN M. BROWN, ESQ., T. C. D. On a broken pillar on the Ruins of Carthage, My dear Friend, That you may not have an opportunity of finding fault with me, as you had occasion to do with our dear friend, Mr. D, I take one of the earliest opportunities for gratifying your roving, romantic thoughts, and write to you a few lines, according to promise, from "the Ruins of Carthage." It would be folly to attempt to give you in a hasty note, written with every inconvenience and discomfort, a full account of all the association of ideas this place * For a few sketches of some fragmentary relics, see Appendix. suggests. Your ideas of Carthage at present, during your college drudgery, must be, to a great extent, Virgilian. The poet of Andes, by his prolific imagination and fictitious turn of mind, gave a bewitching charm, in some persons' estimation, to the history of Carthage. Not so with me, I prefer fact to fiction any time; and I am, moreover, of opinion that the real history of Carthage possesses more and greater charms than the noble verse of Virgil, or the romances of modern novelists can bestow upon it. A thinking man finds enough on this spot to rivet his thoughts, as with magic spell, by the association of ideas of positive facts, in connection with Carthage's history, without having recourse to fable. The history of Carthage stands associated with the annals of Phoenicia, Greece, Rome, Marseilles, Etruria, Sardinia, Sicily, Arabia, &c. It is invested with more thrilling interest, by matters of fact, than wild fancy could possibly have bestowed upon its chronicles. To a student of theology, this spot has an additional charm. This was one of the earliest bishopricks, and not less a personage than Cyprian was one of its first Bishops. From here a voice went forth, protesting, at an early period, against the pretensions of the Roman Pontiff. Many a faithful soldier did the early Church of Carthage add to the noble army of martyrs; but I must not extend my remarks, in this desert place nor attempt any lengthened dissertation on Ecclesiastical History. I doubt not, that when you view its history with the eye of a Mosheim, a Fleury, a Milner, a Bingham, a Jamieson, or of any other Christian chronicler, many interesting incidents will be recalled to your mind, especially about Cyprian, who justly obtained the enviable appellation, “a star of the first magnitude." Alas! how is the glory of Carthage gone! The Lord has completely removed |