And being very conversant in the writings of Homer, he added, that, till his time, there were but two more who had the pleasure of being spectators of such an action, viz. Jupiter from mount Ida, and Neptune from Samothrace, when the Greeks and Trojans fought before Troy. I know not whether the sight of an hundred thousand men (for so many there were) butchering one another, can administer a real pleasure; or whether such a pleasure is consistent with the sentiments of humanity, so natural to mankind. "The Carthaginians, after the battle was over, entreated Scipio to terminate their contests with Masinissa. Accordingly, he heard both parties, and the Carthaginians consented to yield up the territory of Emporium, * which had been the first cause of the dispute, to pay Masinissa two hundred talents of silver down, and eight hundred more, at such times as should be agreed. But Masinissa insisting on the return of the exiles, they did not come to any decision. Scipio, after having paid his compliments, and returned thanks to Masinissa, set out with the elephants, for which he had been sent. The king, immediately after the battle was over, had blocked up the enemy's camp, which was pitched upon a hill, whither neither troops nor provisions could come to them. During this interval, there arrived deputies from Rome, with orders from the senate to decide the quarrel, in case the king should be defeated; otherwise, to leave it undetermined, and to give the king the strongest assurances of the *The Emporium, or Emporia, was a country of Africa, on the Lesser Syrtis, in which Leptis stood. No part of the Carthaginian dominions was more fruitful than this. Polybius, 1. i. says, that the revenue that arose from this place was so considerable, that all their hopes were almost founded on it, ir as (viz. their revenues from Emporia) είχον τὰς μεγίσας ἐλπίδας. Το this was wing their care and state-jealousy above mentioned, lest the Romans should sail beyond the Fair Promontory, that lay before Carthage; and become acquainted with a country, which might induce them to attempt the conquest of it. 7 A. M. 3855. 697. continuation of their friendship; and they complied with the latter injunction. In the mean time, the famine daily increased in the enemy's camp, and to add to their calamity, it was followed by a plague, which made dreadful havock. Being now reduced to the last extremity, they surrendered to Masinissa, promising to deliver up the deserters, to pay him five thousand talents of silver in fifty years, and restore the exiles, notwithstanding their oaths to the contrary. They all submitted to the ignominious ceremony of passing under the yoke, and were dismissed, with only one suit of clothes for each. Gulussa, to satiate his vengeance for the ill treatment, which, as we before observed, he had met with; sent out against them a body of cavalry, whom, from their great weakness, they could neither escape nor resist. So that of fiftyeight thousand men, very few returned to Carthage. eight_thousand * The Third Punic War. The third Punic war, which was less considerable A. Carth, than either of the two former, with regard to the number and greatness of the battles, and its conA. Rom. tinuance, which was only four years, was still more remarkable with respect to the success and event of it, as it ended in the total ruin and destruction of Carthage. 599. Ant. J.C. 149. • The inhabitants of this city, from their last defeat, knew what they might naturally fear from the Romans, from whom they had always met with the most rigorous treatment, as often as they had addressed them upon their disputes with Masinissa. To prevent the consequences of it, the Carthaginians, by a decree of the senate, impeached Asdrubal, general of the army, and Carthalo commander † of the auxiliary forces, as • Appian. p. 41, 42. Ils furent tous passés sous le joug: Sub jugum missi; a kind of gallows (made by two forked sticks, standing upright) was erected, and a spear laid across, under which vanquished enemies were obliged to pass. Festus. + The foreign forces were commanded by leaders of their respective nations, who were all under the command of a Carthaginian officer, called by Appian Bolzex. guilty of high treason, for being the authors of the war against the king of Numidia. They then sent a deputation to Rome, to inquire what opinion that republick entertained of their late proceedings, and what was desired of them. The deputies were coldly answered, that it was the business of the senate and people of Carthage to know, what satisfaction was due to the Romans. A second deputation bringing them no clearer answer, they fell into the greatest dejection; and being seized with the strongest terrors, upon recollecting their past sufferings, they fancied the enemy was already at their gates, and imagined to themselves all the dismal consequences of a long siege, and of a city taken sword in hand. "In the mean time, the senate debated at Rome on the measures it would be proper for them to take; and the disputes between Cato the elder and Scipio Nasica, who entertained totally different opinions on this subject, were renewed. The former, on his return from Africa, had declared, in the strongest terms, that he had not found Carthage, as the Romans supposed it to be, exhausted of men or money, or in a weak and humble state; but, on the contrary, that it was crowded with vigorous young men, abounded with immense quantities of gold and silver, and prodigious magazines of arms and all warlike stores; and was so haughty and confident on account of this force, that their hopes and ambition had no bounds. It is farther said, that after he had ended his speech, he threw, out of the lappet of his robe, in the midst of the senate, some African figs; and, as the senators admired their beauty and size,' Know, says he, that it is but three days since these figs were gathered. Such is the distance between the enemy and us. Cato and Nasica had each of them their reasons, for voting as they did. Nasica, observing that the people had risen to such a height of insolence, as threw Plut.in vit. Cat. p. 352. Plin. 1. xv. c. 18. 9 10 them into excesses of every kind; that their prosperity had swelled them with a pride which the senate itself was not able to check; and that their power was become so enormous, that they were able to draw the city, by force, into every mad design they might undertake; Nasica, I say, observing this, was desirous that they should continue in fear of Carthage, in order that this might serve as a curb to restrain, and check their audacious conduct. For it was his opinion, that the Carthaginians were too weak to subdue the Romans; and at the same time so powerful, that it was not for the interest of the Romans, to consider them in a contemptible light. With regard to Cato, he thought that as his countrymen were become haughty and insolent by success, and plunged headlong into profligacy of every kind; nothing could be more dangerous, than for them to have a rival city, (to whom the Romans were odious;) a city that till now had been powerful, but was become, even by its misfortunes, more wise and provident than ever; and not to remove the fears of the inhabitants entirely with regard to a foreign power; since they had, within their own walls, all the opportunities of indulging themselves in excesses of every kind. To lay aside, for one instant, the laws of equity, I leave the reader to determine which of these two great men reasoned most justly, according to the maxims of sound policy, and the true interest of a state. One undoubted circumstance is, that all historians have observed that there was a sensible change in the conduct and government of the Romans, immediately after the ruin of Carthage: That vice no longer made its way into Rome with a timorous pace, and as * Ubi Carthago, & æmula imperii Romani ab stirpe interiit, Fortuna sævire ac miscere omnia cæpit. Sallust. in bell. Catilin. Ante Carthaginem deletam populus & senatus Romanus placidè modest éque inter se Remp. tractabant.—Metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat. Sed ubi formido illa mentibus decessit, illicet ea, que secundæ res amant, lascivia atque superbia incessere. Idem in bello Jugurthino. it were by stealth, but appeared barefaced, and seized, with astonishing rapidity, upon all orders of the republick: That the senators, plebeians, in a word, all conditions abandoned themselves to luxury and voluptuousness, without moderation, or sense of decency, which occasioned, as it must necessarily, the ruin of the state. "The first Scipio, says Paterculus, speaking of the Romans, "had laid the founda"tions of their future grandeur; and the last, by his conquests, opened a door to all manner of luxury "and dissoluteness. For, after Carthage, which ob liged Rome to stand for ever on its guard, by dis"puting empire with that city, had been totally de"stroyed; the depravity of manners was no longer slow in its progress, but swelled at once into the "utmost excess of corruption." 'Be this as it will, the senate resolved to declare war against the Carthaginians; and the reasons or pretences urged for it were, their keeping up ships, contrary to the tenor of the treaty; their sending an army out of their territories, against a prince who was in alliance with Rome, and whose son they treated ill, at the time that he was accompanied by a Roman ambassador. "An event, that chance occasioned to happen very fortunately, at the time that the senate of Rome was debating on the affair of Carthage, doubtless, contributed very much to make them take that resolution. This was the arrival of deputies from Utica, who came to surrender up themselves, their effects, their lands, and their city, into the hands of the Romans. Nothing could have happened more seasonably. Utica was the second city of Africa, vastly rich, and had a port equally spacious and commodious; it stood within sixty furlongs of Carthage, so that it might serve as a place of arms in the attack of that city. The Romans App. p. 42. u Ibid. *Potentiæ Romanorum prior Scipio viam aperuerat, luxuriæ posterior aperuit. Quippe remoto Carthaginis metu, sublatâque imperii æmulá, non gradu, sed precipiti cursu à virtute descitum, ød vitia transcursum. Vel. Paterc. l. ii. c. 1. |