A Manual of Ancient History. M. E. Thalheimer
194. These conquests were made chiefly by means of foreign mercenaries drawn both from Europe and Africa. South and west of Carthage were the barbarous but usually friendly tribes of Numid´ia and Mauritania; and her merchants in their journeys had frequent dealings with the warlike races of Spain, Gaul, and northern Italy. It is said that the Carthaginians mingled these various nations in their armies in such a manner that difference of language might prevent their plotting together.
195. The navy of Carthage was of great importance in protecting her commerce from the swarms of pirates which infested the Mediterranean. The galleys were propelled by oars in the hands of slaves, but the officers and sailors were usually native Carthaginians. With these land and naval forces, Carthage became for several centuries undisputed mistress of the central and western Mediterranean.
BC 509.
196. Toward the middle of the sixth century BC, a great commercial rival appeared in the western waters. The Greeks had begun their system of colonization; had opened a trade with Tartes´sus, multiplied their settlements in Sicily and Corsica, and built Massil´ia near the mouth of the Rhone. Near the close of our First Period, the two powers came into fierce collision, and the Grecian fleet was destroyed by that of Carthage, aided by her Etruscan allies. At the same time Rome, which had grown powerful under her kings, became free by their expulsion; and the Carthaginians, hitherto on friendly terms with the Italians, made a treaty of alliance with the new Republic which was to prove their most unrelenting foe.
197. The government of Carthage, under the forms of a republic, was really an aristocracy of wealth. The two chief officers were the Suffe´tes, who at first, like the Hebrew rulers from Joshua to Samuel, led the people in war and judged them in peace. In later times their office became exclusively civil, and generals were appointed for military command. The Suffetes were elected only from certain families, and probably for life.
198. Next came the Council of several hundreds of citizens, from which committees of five were chosen to administer the various departments of state. At a later period, when the house of Mago had risen to a degree of military power which was thought to endanger the public safety, a Council of One Hundred was added to these, before which all generals returning from war were obliged to present themselves and render an account of their actions. So severe were the judgments of this tribunal, that an unsuccessful general often preferred suicide upon the field of battle to meeting their awards. With the two judges and the two high priests, this council constituted the Supreme Court of the Republic.
199. The larger Council, or Senate, received foreign embassadors, deliberated upon all matters of state, and decided questions of war or peace, with a certain deference to the authority of the Suffetes. If the judges and the senate could not agree, appeal was made to the people.
200. The religion of Carthage was the same as that of Tyre, with the addition of the worship of two or three Grecian divinities, whom the Carthaginians thought it necessary to appease by sacrifices after destroying their temples in Sicily. Every army was accompanied by a prophet or diviner, without whose direction nothing could be done. Generals frequently offered sacrifices, even during the progress of a battle. There was no hereditary priesthood, as in Egypt, but the priestly offices were filled by the highest persons in the state, sometimes even by the sons of the kings or judges. In every new settlement a sanctuary was erected, that the religion of the mother country might grow together with her government and commerce. Every year a fleet left Carthage, laden with rich offerings and bearing a solemn embassy to the shrine of the Tyrian Hercules. The human sacrifices and other hideous rites of Phœnician worship prevailed at Carthage; and though these features were somewhat softened by advancing civilization, we shall find traces enough, in future pages of her history, of that cruelty which makes so dark a blemish in the character of the whole race.
201. The trade of Carthage was carried on both by land and sea. Her caravans crossed the Great Desert by routes still traveled, and exchanged the products of northern countries for those of Upper Egypt, Ethiopia, Fezzan, and, perhaps, the far interior regions of Nigri´tia. The manufactures of Carthage included fine cloths, hardware, pottery, and harness of leather; but beside the exchange of her own products, she possessed almost exclusively the carrying-trade between the nations of Africa and western Europe.
202. The ships of Carthage penetrated all the then known seas; and though confined to coast navigation, they explored the Atlantic from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. Hanno, the son of Hamil´car, conducted sixty ships bearing 30,000 colonists to the western shores of Africa, where he planted a chain of six colonies between the Straits and the island of Cer´ne. He then went southward with some of his ships as far as the River Gambia, and visited the Gold Coast, with which his countrymen thenceforth carried on a regular traffic. On his return he placed an inscription, commemorative of this voyage, on a brazen tablet in the temple of Kro´nos, at Carthage. Himilco, his brother, led another expedition the same year to the western coast of Europe, but of this the history is lost.
203. These extensive voyages in the interest of trade brought the products of the world into the Carthaginian markets. There might be seen muslins from Malta; oil and wine from Italy; wax and honey from Corsica; iron from Elba; gold, silver, and iron from Spain; tin from Cornwall and the Scilly Isles; amber from the Baltic; gold, ivory, and slaves from Senegam´bia.
204. While commerce was so abundant a source of wealth, agriculture was the favorite pursuit of nobles and people. The fertile soil of Libya yielded a hundred-fold to the farmer. So fond were wealthy Carthaginians of the healthful toils of the field, that one of their great men wrote a work, in twenty-eight volumes, on methods of husbandry; and this alone, of all the treasures of their literature, was thought by their Roman conquerors worthy of preservation.
205. We have slightly anticipated the course of events, in order to present a connected account of the government, religion, and trade of Carthage. Of her wars with the Sicilian Greeks, from the disastrous defeat of Hamilcar at Him´era, BC 480, to the peace of BC 304, we have no space for the details. The final period of Carthaginian history, comprising the Roman wars and the destruction of the city, will be found in Book V.
RECAPITULATION.
Carthage, a colony of Tyre, became sovereign of the shores and islands of the western Mediterranean, a rival of Greece, and an ally of Rome. Her army and navy were largely composed of European and African mercenaries. Her government was republican, with two judges at its head, foreign affairs being transacted by a council of citizens. Religious ceremonies claimed a large share of attention, both in war and peace. Commerce extended by land to the interior of Africa; by sea, from the Baltic to the Indian Ocean; and products of all the world filled the Carthaginian markets. Agriculture was a favorite employment with nobles and common people.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW.
Book I.—Part II.
| 1. | What is remarkable in the early history of Egypt? | §§ 126–128. |
| 2. | Describe the first monarch of the united empire. | 129. |
| 3. | His successors in the same dynasty. | 130. |
| 4. | How many dynasties before the Persian Conquest? |
163.
|