first the Carthaginians were compelled to pay tribute to the neighboring barbarian princes; but when their riches and strength increased, they shook of this degrading yoke, and extended their dominion by the subjection of the nearest native tribes in the interior, and by new establishments along the coasts. The more ancient Phoenician colonies, such as Utica and Lep'tis, far from feeling jealous of the rising power of Carthage, joined in a federation, of which the new city was recognised as the head. The Greek settlers at Cyréne, whose state had attained great commercial prosperity, viewed the Carthaginians with more jealousy, and war soon broke out between the rival cities.

While the Persian empire was rising into importance in the east, Carthage was fast acquiring supremacy over the western world, chiefly by means of the family of Mágo-a family that held the chief power of the state for more than a century. But just as they were rising into eminence, they had to encounter a formidable enemy in the western Mediterranean, whose proved skill and courage threatened dangerous rivalry. This led to one of the first naval engagements recorded in history, and arose from the following circumstances :—

After Cy'rus had overthrown Croe'sus, he intrusted the subjugation of the Greek colonies in Asia Minor to Har'pagus, one of his generals, and returned to complete the conquest of Babylónia. One of the first places against which Har'pagus directed his efforts was Phocæ'a, the most northern city of Iónia (B. c. 589). Its inhabitants were celebra ted for their commercial enterprise and skill in navigation; they had frequently visited the coast of Spain, and ventured beyond the pillars of Hercules. But they had not strength to resist the myriads of Persia; and when summoned by Har'pagus, they begged for a short interval to deliberate on his proposals. During this period, they embarked their wives, children, and moveable property, on board their galleys, and abandoned the naked walls of their city to the Persians. They proceeded to the island of Cor'sica, part of which was already occupied by the Carthaginians, and prepared to establish themselves on its coasts, The Carthaginians and the Tyrrhenians, or Tuscans, dreading the rivalry of the enterprising Phocæans, entered into an alliance for their destruction, and sent a fleet of one hundred and twenty sail to drive them from Corsica. The Phocæans, with half the number of vessels, gained a brilliant victory; but, conscious that their numbers were too weak to sustain repeated attacks, they abandoned Cor'sica for the shores of Gaul, where they founded the city of Marseilles.

In the year that the Tarquins were expelled, a treaty was concluded between the republics of Rome and Carthage (B. c. 509); from the terms of which it appears that the Carthaginians were already supreme masters of the northern coast of Africa and the island of Sardinia, and that they possessed the Balearic islands, and a considerable portion of Sicily and Spain.

Ever since the seafight off Cor'sica, the Carthaginians had a jealous dread of Grecian valor and enterprise, which was naturally aggravated by the increasing wealth and power of the Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy. When Xerxes, therefore, was preparing to invade Hellas, they readily entered into alliance with the Persian monarch, and agreed to attack the colonies, while he waged war against

the parent state. An armament was accordingly prepared, whose mag nitude shows the extensive power, and resources of Carthage. It consisted of two thousand ships of war, three thousand transports and vessels of burden, and a land army amounting to three hundred thousand men. The command of the whole was intrusted to Hamil'car, the head of the illustrious family of Mágo. This immense army consisted chiefly of African mercenaries, and was composed of what are called light troops. They were, however, wholly undisciplined, and if defeated in the first onset could rarely be persuaded to renew the attack. A landing was effected, without loss, at Panor'mus (the modern Palermo); and when the troops were refreshed, Hamil'car advanced and laid close siege to Himéra. The governor Théron, made a vigorous defence, though pressed not only by the overwhelming forces of the enemy, but by the still more grievous pressure of famine. Foreseeing, however, that the town, unless speedily relieved, must be forced to surrender, he sent an urgent request for assistance to Syracuse.

Gélon, king of Syracuse, could only collect about five thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot. With this very disproportionate force he marched against the Carthaginians, to take advantage of any opportunity that fortune might offer. On his road he fortunately captured a messenger from the Selinuntines to Hamil'car, promising on a certain day to join him with the auxiliary force of cavalry that he had demanded. Though his forces were formidable, in point of numbers, Hamil'car was too prudent to trust such undisciplined hordes, unless aided by regular soldiers, and had therefore offered large bribes to win over some of the Grecian states in Sicily to his side. The Selinuntines alone listened to his terms, and promised to aid him against their old enemies the Syracusans. Gélon sent the letter forward to Hamil'car; and having taking measures to intercept the treacherous Selinuntines, he despatched a chosen body of his own troops to the Carthaginian camp in their stead at the specified time. The Syracusans being admitted without any suspicion, suddenly galloped to the general's tent, slew Hamil'car and his principal officers, and then, hurrying to the harbor, set fire to the fleet. The blaze of the burning vessels, the cries of Hamil'car's servants, and the shouts of the Syracusans, threw the whole Carthaginian army into confusion; in the midst of which they were attacked by Gélon with the rest of his forces. Without leaders and without command, the Carthaginians could make no effective resistance; more than half of the invaders fell in the field; the remainder, without arms and without provisions, sought shelter in the interior of the country, where most of them perished. It is remarkable that this great victory was won on the same day that the battle of Thermop'yle was fought, and the Persian fleet defeated at Artemis'ium; three of the noblest triumphs obtained in the struggle for Grecian freedom (B. c. 480).

The miserable remnant of the Carthaginian troops rallied under Gis'gon, the son of Hamil'car; but the new general found it impossible to remedy the disorganization occasioned by the late defeat, and was forced to surrender at discretion.

For seventy years after this defeat, little is known of the history of Carthage, except that during that period the state greatly extended its power over the native tribes of Africa, and gained important acquisi

tions of territory from the Cyrenians. Sicily was, in the meantime, the scene of a war which threatened total annihilation to Syracuse, the Athenians having invaded the island, and laid siege to that city. But when the Athenians were totally defeated (B. c. 416), the Carthaginians had their attention once more directed to Sicilian politics by an embassy from the Segestans, seeking their protection against the Syracusans, whose wrath they had provoked by their alliance with the Athenians.

SECTION IV.-History of Carthage during the Sicilian Wars.

FROM B. C. 416 To B. c. 264.

THE Carthaginians gladly seized the pretext afforded them by the Segestan embassy; and a new expedition was sent against Sicily, under the command of Han'nibal, the son of Gis'gon. This new invasion was crowned with success; Selinun'tum and Himéra were taken by storm, and their inhabitants put to the sword. The Sicilians solicited a truce, which was granted on terms extremely favorable to the Carthaginians.

So elated was the state at this success, that nothing less than the entire subjugation of Sicily was contemplated. In'ules, the son of Han'no, and Han'nibal, at the head of a powerful armament, proceeded to besiege Agrigen'tum, the second city of the island. During the siege, which lasted eight months, the assailants suffered severely from pestilential disease, and the garrison. from famine. After having endured with wonderful patience the severest extremities of famine, the Agrigentines forced their way through the enemies' lines by night, and retreated to Géla, abandoning the aged, the sick, and the wounded, to the mercy of the Carthaginians. Himil'co, who had succeeded to the chief command on the death of his father Han'nibal, ordered these helpless victims to be massacred. Géla soon shared the fate of Agrigen'tum; and Diony'sius I., the king of Syracuse, who had taken the command of the confederated Sicilians, deemed it prudent to open negotiations for peace. A treaty was concluded (B. c. 405), which neither party intended to observe longer than the necessary preparations for a more decisive contest would require. Scarcely were the Carthaginians withdrawn, when Diony'sius sent deputies to all the Greek states in Sicily, exhorting them by a simultaneous effort to expel all intruders, and secure their future independence. His machinations were successful; the Carthaginian merchants who, on the faith of the late treaty, had settled in the principal commercial town, were perfidiously massacred; while Diony'sius, at the head of a powerful army, captured several of the most important Carthaginian fortresses.

All the forces that the wealth of Carthage could procure were speedily collected to punish this treachery; and Himil'co advanced against Syracuse, and laid siege to it with the fairest prospects of success. But a plague of such uncommon virulence broke out in the Carthaginian camp, that the living were unable to bury the dead, and information of this state of things being conveyed to Sy'racuse, Diony'sius sallied forth with all his forces, and assaulted the Carthaginian camp. Scarce

any attempt was made at resistance: night alone put an end to the slaughter; and when morning dawned, Himil'co found that nothing but a speedy surrender could save him and his followers from total ruin. He stipulated only for the lives of himself and the Carthaginians, abandoning all his auxiliaries to the vengeance of the Syracusans.

The Carthaginians sent another armament, commanded by Mágo, a nobleman of high rank, to retrieve their losses in Sicily; but their forces were routed with great slaughter, and the leader slain. The younger Mágo, son of the late general, having received a strong reinforcement from Africa, hazarded a second engagement, in which the Syracusans were totally defeated. Diony'sius was induced by this overthrow to solicit a peace, which was concluded on terms honorable to both parties.

The conclusion of the Sicilian war was followed by a plague, which destroyed multitudes of the citizens of Carthage (B. c. 347); and scarcely had this visitation passed away, when insurrections broke out in the African provinces, and in the colonies of Sicily and Sardinia.) But the Carthaginian senate showed itself equal to the crisis; by a course of policy in which firmness was tempered by conciliation, these dangers were averted, and the state restored to its former vigor and prosperity.

In the meantime, Sy'racuse was weakened by the death of Diony'sius I., who, though stigmatized as a tyrant by the Greek historians, appears to have been a wise and prudent sovereign. "No one," said Scip'io Africanus, "ever concerted his schemes with more wisdom, or executed them with more energy, than the elder Diony'sius." His son, Diony'sius II., was a profligate prince, whose excesses filled the state with tumult and distraction. The Carthaginians eagerly embraced the opportunity of accomplishing the favorite object of their policy, the conquest of Sicily; and a great armament was prepared, of which Mágo was appointed the chief commander.

Mágo, at the very first attack, made himself master of the harbor of Syracuse. The Syracusans, destitute of money, of arms, and almost of hope, solicited the aid of the Corinthians; and Timóleon, one of the greatest generals and purest patriots of antiquity, was sent to their assistance. A great portion of the Carthaginian army had been levied in the Greek colonies; Timóleon, hoping to work on their patriotic feelings, addressed letters to the leaders of these mercenaries, expostulating with them on the disgrace of bearing arms against their countrymen and though he did not prevail on any to desert, yet Mágo, having heard of these intrigues, felt such distrust of his followers, that he at once abandoned Sy'racuse, and returned home.

Great was the indignation of the Carthaginians at this unexpected termination of the campaign; Mágo committed suicide to escape their wrath. New forces were raised to retrieve their losses in Sicily; two generals, Han'nibal and Hamil'car were appointed to the command, and were intrusted with an army of seventy thousand men, and a fleet consisting of two hundred war-galleys, and a thousand ships of burden. Timóleon hasted to meet the invaders, though his forces barely amounted to seven thousand men. He unexpectedly attacked the Carthaginian army on its march, near the river Crimisus; and the confu

sion produced by the surprise terminated in a total rout. The Syracusans captured town after town, until at length the senate of Carthage was forced to solicit peace, and accept the terms dictated by the conqueror.

While Carthage was thus unfortunate abroad, her liberties at home narrowly escaped destruction. Han'no, one of the principal leaders of the state, resolved to make himself master of his country by poisoning the leaders of the senate at a banquet. This diabolical plot was frustrated by a timely discovery, and the exasperated traitor resolved to hazard an open rebellion. Having armed his slaves, to the number of twenty thousand, he took the field, and invited the native African tribes to join his standard. This appeal was disregarded; and before Han'no could levy fresh forces, he was surrounded by an army hastily raised, his followers routed, and himself made prisoner. He was put to death with the most cruel tortures; and, according to the barbarous custom of Carthage, his children and nearest relatives shared the same fate.

New dissensions in Syracuse afforded the Carthaginians a fresh pretext for meddling in the affairs of Sicily. Agathoc'les, an intriguing demagogue of mean birth, had acquired great influence among his countrymen, and, finally, by the secret aid of the Carthaginians, became master of the state. But he soon showed little regard for the ties of gratitude, and declared his resolution to expel his benefactors from the island. The Carthaginian senate immediately sent Hamil'car with a powerful army against this new enemy. Agathoc'les was completely defeated, and forced to shut himself up within the walls of Sy'racuse. The city was soon closely invested, and everything seemed to promise Hamil'car complete success at no distant day, when Agathoc'les suddenly baffled all his calculations, by adopting one of the most extraordinary measures recorded in history. Having assembled the Syracusans, he declared that he could liberate them from all dangers, if an army and a small sum of money were placed at his disposal; adding, that his plan would be instantly defeated, if its nature was divulged. An army of liberated slaves was hastily levied, the sum of fifty talents intrusted to his discretion, and a fleet prepared in secret; when all was ready, Agathoc'les announced his design of transporting his forces into Africa, and compelling the Carthaginians, by the dread of a nearer danger, to abandon Sicily.

Having eluded the vigilance of the blockading squadron, Agathocles arrived safely in Africa before the Carthaginians had received the slightest notion of his intention (B. c. 309). To inspire his soldiers with a resolution to conquer or die, he cut off all chance of retreat by burning his transports; then fearlessly advancing, he stormed Túnis and several other cities, the plunder of which he divided among his soldiers, and instigated the African princes to throw off the yoke of Carthage. Han'no and Bomil'car were sent to check the progress of this daring invader, with forces nearly four times as great as the Sicilian army; but Agathoc'les did not decline the engagement. His valor was rewarded by a decisive victory. Following up his success, Agathoc/les stormed the enemies' camp, where were found heaps of fetters and chains, which the Carthaginians, confident of success, had prepared for the invading army.