CARTHAGE. 



iv. 



form of 

 govern- 

 ment. 



' :ira, or Malaria ; af "l t)'.- Cothon, or 

 Tin- quarter called Uyrsa is said to have been 

 || t \\vuty-t\vo stadia in circumference, and was situated 

 '.in ntiv of the city: its highest point was a 

 - steep rock, on which stood a temple of JEtctttepiM. 

 This part of the town was thought to have been 

 built by Dido herself: its name is a Greek corrup- 

 tion of the true Punic or Phoenician word Bosra, or 

 i a, i. r. a fortress or citadel. The name of the 

 second division of the town, Megara, or Magaria, 

 may also, according to Bochart, be traced to the 

 Phoenician, in which language it signifies houses or 

 a town. It was situated no as to encircle the Byrsa. 

 The name of the third quarter, Cothon, has also been 

 derived from the Phoenician word which expresses 

 an " artificial harbour." The entrance to the port 

 was seventy feet broad, and was contrived so that it 

 might be shut up with chains. The harbour was 

 double ; the outer part appropriated exclusively to 

 the use of merchants, the inner fitted for the recep- 

 tion of ships of war. In the midst of the inner har- 

 bour was an island, which, as well as the harbour it- 

 self, was lined with large quays, in which were dis- 

 tinct receptacles (y-<ug<) for laying up 220 ships of 

 war : over these was a range of store-houses, for the 

 necessary articles of naval equipment. The entrance 

 into each of these docks was adorned with pillars of 

 the Ionic order, so that the harbour and the island 

 had the appearance of a magnificent gallery (is t- 

 xtvet <rr#j). The merchants' harbour was complete- 

 ly Separated from the arsenal, and had a distinct com- 

 munication with the town, (Appian, de Bell. Punic.) 

 As to the extent of the city, Livy intimates, (lib. li. 

 in cpitom.) that it was twenty-three miles in circum- 

 ference ; the number of inhabitants was roundly es- 

 timated at 700.000. This is the number given by 

 Strabo, (lib. xvii.); and if we consider, that Car- 

 thage united " extensive commerce and middling 

 empire," the circumstances which Hume expressly 

 mentions, ( Essay xi.) as the obvious causes of the 

 growth of large cities, it may perhaps be thought, 

 that this statement is not so much overcharged as 

 some of those which have come down to us, of the 

 populousness of ancient nations. 



At no period of their history did the Carthagi- 

 nians lose sight of their Canaanitish origin. Plautus 

 (in Pocnulo, act. v. sc. 3.) expressly alludes to it; 

 and St Augustin says, that the tradition was even in 

 his days preserved. Their language appears to have 

 been formed by a mixture of Hebrew or Phoenician 

 with the peculiar dialect used by the more ancient in- 

 habitants of Africa. Hence the epithets in Plautus 

 of mitrdilybs and bisx/scilhigtia, ( Poen act. v. sc. ii.) 

 But some authors have imagined, that the Libo-Phos- 

 nicians were a people distinct both from the Cartha- 

 ginians and Libyans, in the same way as the mixed 

 race bordering on the respective frontiers of Syria 

 and Phoenicia were called Syro-Phcemcian. 



The government of Carthago was, at its origin, 

 probably monarchical. Justin expressly assigns the 

 regal character to Dido, (lib. xviii. c. 7.) A very 



short time, however, could ha\e cluj/.rd before it <' 

 was changed into a republic : Its exact form cannot *~~ ~~*~ 

 he ascertained. Arutotlc, in a minute but somewhat 

 c account, describes it as a mixed government, 

 (l)c Ih'jnth. lib. ii. c. 11.) consisting of an aristocra- 

 cy, and of what he calls jtoHtcw ; by which word, as 

 he himself explains it, (Kth. Nicom. lib. viii. c. 12.) 

 he meane an oligarchy, a government in which wealth 

 formed the only title to office. * Polybius says, that 

 the monarchical, the aristocrat ical, and the democra- 

 tical forms were all united in it. But Isocrates (Ito- 

 crates in Nicocl. vol. i. p. 96.) -items to have had a 

 more practical view of it, when he says, that the civi! 

 government was oligarchical, and the military mo- 

 narchical ; that is, in modern language, the legisla- 

 tive an oligarchy, and the executive a monarchy. 

 For though the appointment and the functions of 

 the Suffetes give to the constitution something of a 

 monarchical air, the principle of the whole was oli- 

 garchical ; all offices were elective, and all elections 

 had reference to property. We will proceed to 

 give some account of the constitution in its three 

 branches. 



The chief magistrates, two in number, called Suf- chief ma- 

 fetes^ were elected annually from the noblest fami- gistrwe*. 

 lies, and always supposed to be chosen for their 

 wealth and talents. Their province was to assemble 

 the senate, (Lz'r. 34-. 62. ) in which they presided, in 

 order to propose the subjects of deliberation, and to 

 receive the suffrages. If the suffetes concurred with 

 the senate, the decision was final ; if otherwise, the 

 matter was referred to the people, (Arist. ubi supra). 

 It will be evident, that the suffetes answered in some 

 degree to the kings of Lacedaemon, and to the con- 

 suls of Rome ; consequently, in some authors, we 

 find them indifferently called either kings or consuls, 

 (Justin, xxxi. 3.) But they differ from the former 

 in as much as they were elective ; and from the lat- 

 ter, as they were confined to civil affairs. It is not 

 ascertained by whom the suffetes were elected, pro- 

 bably by the people, as an office similar to theirs ex- 

 isted in all the towns of note throughout the Car- 

 thaginian dominions. 



The senatorial dignity was elective, as appears from Of the <- 

 Aristotle, but it is not known in whom the election nate. 

 lay. There does not appear to have been any specific 

 qualification, as birth, riches, and individual merit are, 

 in their turns, mentioned as supplying sufficient claims. 

 We are ignorant of the number which composed the 

 senate, though probably it was very large ; tor Justin 

 mentions, (lib. xix. c. 2.) that on one occasion a hun- 

 dred were selected to investigate some alleged mis- 

 conduct of their generals, in this great council, 

 every thing relating to peace and war, negociations 

 and alliaiices, in a word, all affairs of consequence, 

 whether foreign or domestic, were debated, and for 

 the most part determined. There was, however, in 

 its constitution one provision, which is obviously ano- 

 malous to evt- ry pnuciple of good government. The 

 decision of the senate was not final, unless the vote were 

 unanimous, and received the sanction of the suffetes. 



The authors of The Univertal History observe, that in the et^i<rrox^Tuc men were supposed to be divided into the rich, 

 the poor, and the virtuous ; in the T<JA;TI* only into rich and poor. 



t This name is evidently borrowed from the Hebrew D'nstV, aopAefiw, th appellation of the judget of Israel. 

 VOL. V. PART II. 4, B 



