CARTHAGE. 



563 



hip extended over the coasts of Africa as far 

 where he had a temple : * he waa supposed 

 to preside over gold and silver, and all torts of 

 treasure?. Alsculapius, also, was a very popular 

 .1 Ind a temple on the summit of the 

 Byrsa. A list of several other names is given, but 

 little ib kno\M :.g them; some are supposed 



to have been celebrated persons, to whom divine 

 honours were paid. In the preamble to a trea- 

 ty made with Philip of Macedon, ( Pulyh. lib. vii.) 

 there is an enumeration of many deities; among the 

 n-.st the Axifta, or genius of Carthage. We cannot 

 deteiiniiit wiio isjneant by this title: it is sufficient 

 only to notice the fact, and to add, that the heathen 

 wi.rld looked upon these daemons as intelligences of a 

 middle nature between gods and men, as beings to 

 whom the administration of the affairs of the world 

 was committed. 



aguage. Originally, the Carthaginian language was the 

 same as the Phoenician or Hebrew ; and notwith- 

 standing some little variations, caused by the distance 

 from the mother country, and the incorporation with 

 the neighbouring nations, it ever continued in sub- 

 stance the same. An attempt has been made in mo- 

 dern times, to trace in the Maltese dialect the remains 

 of the ancient Punic, and with some appearance of 

 probability. As to the visions of the antiquarians of 

 our own day, they are much too fanciful, and found- 

 ed on much too narrow a basis, to detain us with a 

 consideration of them. 



ue of li- Literature and science appear, during every period 

 ature. of their history, to have been at a very low ebb among 

 the Carthaginians. Even the names of their writers 

 have perished with their works, f However, it should 

 be remembered, that the Romans exercised the most 

 severe cruelty, in destroying not only the public ar- 

 chives, but almost every thing which the Punic writers 

 had produced r which bore any appearance of general li- 

 terature or history. But though this is sufficient to 

 account for the total disappearance of the works of 

 Carthaginian writers, we are not authorised to con- 

 clude, on the other hand, that they ever were very 

 numerous, or very celebrated. In fact, it does not 

 tional appear that the Carthaginians at any time were a re- 

 ractcr. fined or a literary people. In the first ages of their 

 history, their character is stained by traits of the 

 grossest barbarism ; and this was afterwards modified, 

 rather than subdued, by commerce and its attendant 

 luxury. Plutarch represents them as uniformly of a 

 morose and saturnine disposition, utterly averse to 

 any thing which had the appearance of wit, raillery, 

 or refinement. They seem to have been deeply tinc- 

 tured with all the worst vices of a trading nation. 



Constitu- 

 tion of their 

 military 

 force. 



They were tyrannical and cruel ; sordid, and prover- C*rtiuge : 

 bially faithlets; and though we mut be inclined to ^T" 1 ^ 

 receive with caution the accounts which their impla- 

 cable enemies, the Romans, have left us, yet the 

 whole tenor of their history is so uniform in this re- 

 presentation of them, that we are compelled to be- 

 it, or to suppose the historians guilty of incre- 

 dible malice, united with the most successful ingenui- 

 ty. In turning to the brighter parts of their charac- 

 ter, we are first attracted by their acknowledged skill 

 in the mechanical arts. This, in all probability, they 

 derived from their Tyrian ancestors ; and we require 

 no farther proof of their very great excellence, than 

 the fact that, even at Rome, any singular invention, 

 or curious piece of workmanship, was called, by way 

 of eminence, Punic. Thus we find Valerius Maxi- 

 mus (lib. vii. c. 5.) speaking of the Leciuli Punic .///, 

 Plautus of the LaUrnce Piniicce, and Cato (de lie 

 llustica} applies the epithet to a great number of 

 things. 



Their army was composed entirely of mercenaries. 

 Polybius (lib. i.) ^ives a most sensible and eloquent 

 enumeration of the evils of this system ; and the 

 acute historian of the Roman republic remarks, 

 " That the Carthaginians were among the few na- 

 tionu of the world who had the ingenuity, or rather 

 the misfortune, to make war without becoming mili- 

 tary; and who could be successful abroad while they 

 were liable to become a prey to the meanest invader 

 at home." Hannibal stands almost a solitary ex- 

 ample of a Carthaginian possessing superior know- 

 ledge in military science ; only a short time before, 

 his countrymen had been compelled to have recourse 

 to the Grecian skill and discipline. 



Their marine was most deservedly celebrated. Marine. 

 Polybius (lib. vi.) does not hesitate to prefer it to 

 that of any other nation in the world. The extreme 

 attention which was paid to it, may be inferred from 

 the description of the naval arsenal which we have 

 given above. There are no means of ascertaining 

 exactly the number of ships at any time actually fit 

 for service ; probably the Cothon was capable of re- 

 ceiving their whole navy. 



In commerce and navigation they were, beyond 

 all question, unrivalled. Their mariners were per- 

 fectly acquainted with all the ports of the Mediter- 

 ranean. To the East their discoveries were extend- 

 ed as far as any other nation, and to the West they 

 seem to have penetrated farther than their rivals pre- 

 sumed to follow them. In addition to their own ex- 

 port of staple manufactures, utensils, naval stores, 

 and the purple dye \_ which is so celebrated, they 

 appear to have possessed the carrying trade of the 



Navigation 

 and com- 

 merce. 



For an account of this deity, and his name, Melcartes, see Newton's Chronology, .p. 110, 111. 



j- The great Hannibal is said to have been skilled in the Greek language, and to have written a history of Manlius Vulso's 

 prnoonsulship in AMU. 



Mugo, another celebrated general, wrote a treatise on agriculture, in 28 books. Cicero speaks of him with praise. (De 

 Orurnr. lib. i. 219.) Varro relates that they were translated into Greek by Dionysius Uticensis; and Columellu, that the 

 seni'U. l>\ a pul.lu: dvm-e, flhvtted the translation of them into Latin. 



rtiiliitu.1, though born at Ap-i^eiitum in Sicily, is spoken of us a Carthaginian historian. Polybius complains greatly of his 

 want ,f fidelity. To Urn ilco and Ilanno, both Carthaginian commander*, the ancients were indebted for the best account* 

 of the \\i-uin .shoiv, ui Kin-ope anil Afrieii. 



inaclins. the MUTO tor of C.irncaites i:i the philosophical chair at Athens, was a Carthaginian by birth: Cicero speaks 

 Highly of him. (.I-,,,! yvrv' lib. iv 99 7Wu/. Qu<p A f. lib. iii. 51.) 



TIi.- rartlr-gmi,!!! purple differed from the Tyrian; it was of a deeper tint; the Tvrian was of the colour of an unrinr 

 VuL Salintu. ad AVa. p. 1330, et tey. 



date. 





