TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 
2J9 
historian) when the Carthaginians ruled over a great part of Africa, 
the people of Cyrene were also powerful and opulent. A sandy 
plain was on the frontiers of the two countries, the surface of which 
was uniform and unbroken, and neither mountain nor river appeared 
in it, by which the boundary of these kingdoms might be deter- 
mined ; a circumstance which occasioned many frequent and bloody 
wars between them. After various alternate successes and defeats, 
they entered into the following agreement; that certain persons 
deputed by each state should leave their home on an appointed day, 
and that the place where the parties might meet should be consi- 
dered as the boundary of the kingdoms. 
“ Two brothers, named Philaeni, were appointed on the part of Car- 
thage, who contrived to travel faster than the deputies from Cyrene, 
but whether this was occasioned by accident, or the indolence of the 
Cyreneans, I have not been able (says the historian) to ascertain. 
“ Stormy weather (he adds) might undoubtedly occasion delays 
in such a country, as well as it is known to do at sea : for 
when violent winds prevail in level and barren tracts, the sand which 
is raised by them is driven so forcibly into the faces and eyes of 
those who cross them, that their progress is considerably impeded. 
So soon as the people of Cyrene were aw^are of the ground which 
they had lost, and reflected on the punishment which would await 
them, in consequence, on their return, they began to accuse the Car 
thaginians of having set out before the appointed time ; and when a 
dispute arose on the subject, they determined to brave everything 
rather than return home defeated. In this state of affairs, the Car- 
thaginians desired the Greeks to name some conditions of accommo- 
2 F 2 
