CARTHAGE. 
852 
dies of men fought their way every Hep, one above on the 
roofs of the houfes, the other below in the ftreets. The 
daughter was inexpreifibly great and dreadful. The air 
Tung with Ihrieks and lamentations. Thoufands were cut 
in pieces, and others threw themfelves down from the 
tops of the houfes ; fo that the ftreets were filled with 
dead and mangled bodies. But the deftrudlion was yet 
greater, when the proconful commanded fire to be let to 
that quarter of the town which lay next the citadel. In¬ 
credible multitudes, who had efcaped the Twords of the 
enemy, perilhed in the flames, or by the fall of the houfes. 
After the fire, which laded fix days, had demolilhed a 
fnfficient number of buildings, /Emilianus ordered the 
rubbifli to be removed, and a large area to be made, 
where all his troops might have room to a£t. He then 
appeared with his whole army before the citadel Byrfa, 
which fo terrified thofe who had fled thither for refuge, 
that firft, 25,000 women, and then 30,000 men, came out 
of the gates in fuch a pitiable condition, as excited the 
companion of dEmilianus. They threw themfelves prof- 
trate before the Roman general, alking no favour but 
life. This was granted, not only to them, but to all that 
were in Byrfa, except the Roman deferters, whofe num¬ 
ber amounted to 900. Afdrubal’s wife earneftly intreat- 
ed her hulband to fuff'er her to join the fuppliants, and 
carry her two Ions, who were yet very young ; but he de¬ 
nied her requeft, and rejected her remonftrances with 
threats. The Roman deferters, finding themfelves ex¬ 
cluded from mercy, refolvcd to die fvvord in hand, ra¬ 
ther than deliver themfelves up to the vengeance of their 
countrymen. Then Aldrubal, feeing them refolved to 
defend themfelves to the laft, committed to their care his 
w ife and children, after which, he in a molt cowardly 
manner privately threw himfelf at the conqueror’s feet. 
The Carthaginians in the citadel no fooner underftood 
that their commander had abandoned them, than they 
threw open the gates, and put the Romans in poffeflion 
of Byrfa. They had now no enemy to contend with but 
the 900 deferters, who, being reduced to defpair, retreat¬ 
ed into the temple of vElculapius, which was a fecond 
temple within the firft. There the proconful purfued 
them ; and thefe unhappy wretches, finding there was 
no way to efcape, let fire to the temple. As the flames 
encreafed, they retreated from one part of the building to 
another, till they got to the roof. There Afdrubal’s 
wife appeared in her belt apparel, and having uttered the 
mold bitter imprecations againft her hulband, w hom fhe 
law Handing below with ^smilianus, “ Bale coward (faid 
file), the mean things thou haft done to lave thy life (hall 
not avail thee : thou (halt die this inftant in thy two chil¬ 
dren.” Having thus fpoken, (lie dabbed both the infants 
with a dagger; and, while they were yet ftruggling for 
life, threw them from the top of the temple, and then 
leaped down after them into the flames. 
yEmilianus delivered up the city to be plundered, but 
in the manner prefcribed by the Roman law. The fol- 
diers were allowed to appropriate to themfelves all the 
furniture, utenfils, and brafs money ; but the gold and 
lilver, the ftatues, pictures, &c. were referved to be put 
into tlie hands of the quasftors. As /Emilianus was great¬ 
ly inclined to fparewdiat remained of this (lately metropo¬ 
lis, he wrote to the fenate on the fubjert, from whom he 
received the following orders : 1. The city of Carthage, 
with Byrfa, and Megalia, (hall be entirely deftroyed, and 
no traces of them left. 2. All the cities that have lent 
Carthage any afliftance, fitall be difmantled. 3. The ter¬ 
ritories of thofe cities which have declared for the Ro¬ 
mans, (hall be enlarged with lands taken from the enemy. 
4. All the lands between Hippo and Carthage (ball be di¬ 
vided among the inhabitants of Utica. 5. All the Afri¬ 
cans of the Carthaginian date, both men and women, 
(hall pay an annual tribute to the Romans at fo much per 
head. 6. The whole country, which was fubjedt to the 
Carthaginian (late, filial 1 be turned into a Roman pro¬ 
vince, and be governed by a praetor, in the fame .man¬ 
ner as Sicily. Laftly, Rome fliall fend commiflioners into 
Africa, there to fettle the date of the neiv province. Be¬ 
fore .dEmilianus deftroyed Carthage, he performed thofe 
religious ceremonies which were required on fuch occa- 
fions : he firft facrificed to the gods, and then caufed a plow 
to be drawn round the walls of the city. After this, the 
towers, ramparts, walls, and all the works which the Car¬ 
thaginians had railed in the coitrfe of many ages, and at a 
vaft expence, were levelled with the ground ; and laftly, 
fire was fet to the remaining edifices, which confumed 
them all, not a Engle houfe efcapingthe flames. Though 
the fire began in all quarters at the fame time, and burnt 
with incredible fury, it continued for feventeen days be¬ 
fore the whole was confumed. 
Thus fell Carthage, at the end of the third punic war, 
about 146 years before the birth of Chrift. The treafure 
./iEmilianus carried away, even after the city had been 
plundered by the foldiers, was immenfe, Pliny making it 
amount to 4,470,000 pounds weight of filver. The Ro¬ 
mans ordered Carthage never to be inhabited again, 
denouncing dreadful imprecations againft thofe who, 
contrary to this prohibition, fhould ever attempt to re¬ 
build any part of it, efpecially Byrfa and Megalia. Not- 
vvithftanding this, about 24 years after, C. Gracchus, tri¬ 
bune of the people, in order to ingratiate himfelf in their 
favour, undertook to rebuild it; and, to that end, con¬ 
ducted thither a colony of 6000 Roman citizens. The 
workmen, according to Plutarch, were terrified by many 
unlucky omens at the time they were tracing the limits 
and laying the foundations of the new city ; which the 
fenate being informed of, would have fufpended the at¬ 
tempt. But the tribune, little affe 61 ed with fuch pre- 
fages, continued to carry on the work. From hence it is 
probable that only a flight kind of huts were erected; but 
whether Gracchus executed his defign, or the work was 
entirely difeontinued, it is certain that Carthage was the 
firft Roman colony ever fent out of Italy. According to 
fome authors, Carthage was rebuilt by Julius Cxfar ; and 
Strabo, who flourilhed in the reign of Tiberius, affirms it 
in his time to have been equal, if not fuperior, to any 
other city in Africa. It was looked upon as the capital of 
Africa for feveral centuries after the commencement of 
the Chriftian tcra. Maxentius laid it in allies about the 
fixth year of Conftantine’s reign. Genferic, king of the 
Vandals, took it A. D. 439 ; but about a century after¬ 
wards it was re annexed to the Roman empire by the re¬ 
nowned Belifarius. At laft the Saracens, under Moham¬ 
med’s fucceflors, towards the clofe of the feventh century, 
fo completely deftroyed it, that there are now fcarcely any 
traces remaining. 
At the commencement of the third punic war, Car¬ 
tilage appears to have been one of the 1110ft magnificent 
cities in the world. It was feared on a peninfula 360 ftadia 
or forty-five miles in circumference, joined to the conti¬ 
nent by an ifthnius twenty-three ftadia, or three miles'and 
a furlong in breadth. O11 the weft fide there projected 
from it a long trail of land half a ftadium broad ; which 
running into the fea, feparated it from a lake or moral's, 
and was ftrongly fortified on all Tides by rocks and a-An¬ 
gle wall. In the 111 id It of the city ftood the citadel of 
Byrfa, having on the top of it a temple facred to /Efcu- 
lapius, feated upon rocks on a very high hill, to which 
the afeent was by fixtv Iteps. On the fouth fide the city 
was furroutided by a triple wall, thirty cubits high ; flank¬ 
ed all round by parapets and towers, placed at equal dif- 
tances of 480 feet. Every tower had its foundation funk 
thirty-two feet deep, and was four dories high, though the 
walls were but two : they w-ere arched ; and in the lower 
part, correfponding in depth with the foundations above 
mentioned, were Halls large enough to hold 300 elephants, 
witli their fodder, &c. Over thefe were Halls and other 
conveniences for 4000 horfes; and there was like-wife 
room for lodging 20,000 foot and 4000 cavalry, without 
in the lead: incommoding the inhabitants. There were 
two harbours, fo difpoled as to have a communication 
with one another. They had one common entrance fe~ 
venty 
