CUSTOMS AND MANNERS. 



221 



were founded. The parched Carthaginian, and the naked 

 Lybian, saw certain virtues, which had hitherto been un- 

 known, flourish in their soil. 



*' The rigid integrity which is charadleristic of a republican 

 heart, shone* in these colonies as at Rome. Proud of the glo- 

 jious title of a Roman, each individual, whatever might be 

 his age or condition, sought to merit, by his heroical exploits, 

 the honour which that name conferred on him. The matron, 

 content in the retirement of a disabused time of life, looked 

 forward with anxiety to the relation of the military prowess of 

 her sons. The wedded female had no other delight than that 

 of rearing the fruits of her conjugal tenderness, and moulding 

 them- into good citizens. The damsel, full of innocence, was 

 a stranger 'to love until the happy moment when Hymen re- 

 vealed to her its mysterious secrets. She fancied that this sen- 

 timent was merely a recompense due to the valour of some 

 youthful lover, who viewed her with impassioned eyes when 

 he returned from the war laden with the spoils of the enemy. 



" The frailty and inconstancy inherent in our miserable spe- 

 cies, were too powerful for the virtue even of the Romans, 

 and operated a change in these fine principles. Riches and 

 voluptuousness were the fatal instruments ; and the degene- 

 racy of the colonies found its punishment in the moral and 

 physical calamities which supervened. 



*' Enriched by the treasures of Annon, Amilcar, Syphax, 

 and the other subjugated kings and generals, the Romans be- 

 gan to view with disgust the severity of the ancient customs 

 they had brought from Europe. Frankness, sobriety, valour, 

 and constancy, were virtues which gradually became relaxed^ 

 and yielded at length to dissimulation, rioting, frivolity, and 



sloth o 



/ 



