THE GAME PRESERVES. 157 



the fields, the sturdy beggars of Byzantium and Rome 

 were amusing themselves at the circus, or basking on 

 marble in the sun. 



But Africa was not only a plantation of corn and oil 

 for their imperial majesties, the Italian lazzaroni. It 

 also contained the preserves of Rome. The lion was a 

 royal beast ; it was licensed to feed upon the flock of 

 the shepherd, and upon the shepherd himself if it 

 preferred him. The unfortunate Moor could not de- 

 fend his life without a violation of the game laws, 

 which were quite as ferocious as the lion. It will 

 easily be imagined that the Roman rule was not agree- 

 able to the native population. They had fallen be- 

 neath a power compared with which that of the Car- 

 thaginians was feeble and kind ; which possessed the 

 strength of civilization without its mercy. But when 

 that power began to decline they lifted up their heads, 

 and joined the foreign invaders as soon as they 

 appeared, as their fathers had joined the Romans in 

 the ancient days. 



These invaders were the Vandals, a tribe of Ger- 

 mans from the North, who had conquered Spain and 

 who, now pouring over the Gibraltar Straits, took 

 Carthage and ruled there a hundred years. The 

 Romans struggled hard to regain their corn-fields, and 

 the old duel of Rome and Carthage was resumed. 

 This time it was Carthage that was triumphant. It 

 repelled the Romans when they invaded Africa. It 

 became a naval power, scoured the Mediterranean, 

 reconquered Sicily and Sardinia, plundered the shores 

 of Italy, and encamped beneath the mouldering walls 

 of Rome. The gates of the city were opened ; and 

 the bishop of Rome, attended by bis clergy, came 

 forth in solemn procession to offer the submission of 



