Ruins of Ancient Cities Part 12

Livy thinks that Hannibal's stay at Capua is a reproach to his conduct; and pretends that he there was guilty of an infinitely greater error than when he neglected to march directly to Rome after the battle of Cannae:--"For this delay," says Livy, "might seem only to have r.e.t.a.r.ded his victory; whereas this last misconduct rendered him absolutely incapable of ever defeating the enemy. In a word, as Marcellus observed judiciously afterwards, Capua was to the Carthaginians and their general, what Cannae had been to the Romans. There their martial genius, their love of discipline, were lost; there their former fame, and their almost certain hopes of future glory, vanished at once, and, indeed, from thenceforth, the affairs of Hannibal advanced to their decline by swift steps; fortune declared in favour of prudence, and victory seemed now reconciled to the Romans." It is doubted, however, whether Livy has reason to impute all these fatal consequences to the agreeable abode at Capua. It might, indeed, have been one cause, but this would be a very inconsiderable one; and the bravery with which the forces of Hannibal afterwards defeated the armies of consuls and praetors; the towns they took even in sight of the Romans; their maintaining their conquests so vigorously, and staying fourteen years after this in Italy in spite of the Romans; all these circ.u.mstances may induce us to believe that Livy lays too much stress on the delights of Capua. In fact, the chief cause of the decay of Hannibal's affairs was his want of necessary supplies and succours from Carthage.

The revolt of Capua to the Carthaginians proved its ruin; for when taken by the consuls Fulvius and Claudius, it was punished for its perfidy.

Genseric, the Vandal, however, was more cruel than the Romans had been; for he ma.s.sacred the inhabitants and burned the town to the ground.

Na.r.s.es rebuilt it; but in 841 it was totally destroyed by an army of Saracens, and the inhabitants driven to the mountains[170]. Some time after the retreat of these savage invaders, the Lombards ventured down again into the plain; but not deeming their force adequate to the defence of so great a circuit as the large city, they built themselves a smaller one on the river, and called it Capua.

In 1501 this new city was taken by storm by the French, who, according to Guicciardini and Giannone, committed the most flagitious acts of rapine, l.u.s.t, and enormity.

"The amphitheatre of Old Capua," says Mr. Forsyth, "recals to us the sublime image of Spartacus. It resembles the Coliseum in its form and in its fate. Both were raised on magnificent designs--negligently executed.

Both have suffered from barbarians and from modern builders; but the solitude of the Campanian ruin has exposed it to greater dilapidation than the Roman has yet undergone. Part of its materials has emigrated to modern Capua; a part is buried in its own arena. The first order of columns is half interred; the second has none entire."

Though much defaced by the loss of its marble[171], this structure offers many ornaments peculiar to itself. It is considerably smaller than the Flavian amphitheatre at Rome; but worthy of the first among the second cities of the empire: the monuments still to be seen on the spot are certainly of a date long posterior to Capua's independence, and even to that of Roman liberty. The lower order of the amphitheatre is Tuscan; the second Doric. What the upper ones were cannot be ascertained: on the keystone of each arcade was the bust of a deity of a colossal size and coa.r.s.e execution, much too ma.s.sive for the rest of the work. It had four entrances, and was built of brick, faced with stone or marble. The little value set upon brick has preserved it; while the other materials have been torn down to mend roads and build cottages.

"From Caserta," says Mr. Forsyth, "it is but half an hour's ride to the remains of ancient Capua[172]. Some tombs on the road, though ruined and enc.u.mbered with bushes, display a variety of sepulchral forms, unknown during the Roman republic. Most of the Campanian tombs, anterior to Caesar, had been demolished by his soldiers, while searching for painted vases; for Capua, though late in learning the ceramic art, was more productive than the rest of Campania." Vases have lately been discovered here in great variety, and antiquaries find out purposes for them all; either in the form, or the size, or the painting, or their own imagination[173].

NO. XXIII.--CARTHAGE.

Carthage was founded by the Tyrians about the year of the world 3158, and 846 before Christ; that is, at the period in which Joash was king of Judah. Its empire lasted about seven hundred years.

The Carthaginians were indebted to the Tyrians not only for their origin, but their manners, customs, laws, religion, and their general application to commerce. They spoke the same language with the Tyrians, and these the same with the Canaanites and Israelites; that is, the Hebrew; or at least a language entirely derived from it.

The strict union, which always subsisted between the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, is remarkable. When Cambyses had resolved to make war upon the latter, the Phoenicians, who formed the chief strength of his fleet, told him plainly, that they could not serve him against their countrymen: and this declaration obliged that prince to lay aside his design. The Carthaginians, on their side, were never forgetful of the country from whence they came, and to which they owed their origin. They sent regularly every year to Tyre a ship freighted with presents, as a quit-rent or acknowledgment, paid to their ancient country; and its tutelar G.o.ds had an annual sacrifice offered to them by the Carthaginians, who considered them as their protectors. They never failed to send thither the first fruits of their revenues, nor the t.i.the of the spoils taken from their enemies, or offerings to Hercules, one of the princ.i.p.al G.o.ds of Tyre and Carthage.

The foundation of Carthage is ascribed to Elisa, a Tyrian princess, better known by the name of Dido. She married her relation, whose name was Sichaeus. Her brother was Pigmalion, king of Tyre. Sichaeus being extremely rich, Pigmalion put him to death in order to seize upon his wealth; but the plan did not succeed; for Dido managed to elude his avarice, by withdrawing from the city with all her husband's possessions. Taking all these out to sea, she wandered about for some time; till, coming to the gulf, on the borders of which Utica stood, about fifteen miles from Tunis, then but too well known for its corsairs, she landed for the purpose of considering what plan it would be proper to pursue. Invited by the hope of profit, the people of the neighbouring country soon began to frequent the new settlement; and those brought others from more distant parts, and the town soon began to wear an air of importance.

Utica having also been raised by a colony from Tyre, its inhabitants entered into friendship with the new comers. They deputed envoys with considerable presents and exhorted them to build a city. This exhortation was seconded by the natives of the country. All things conspiring to so great an object, Dido immediately entered into a treaty with the natives for a certain portion of land, and having agreed to pay an annual tribute to the Africans for the ground on which the town was to stand, she built that celebrated city, so universally known, and gave it the name of Carthada, or Carthage, a word signifying the "New City[174]."

Dido was soon sought in marriage by the king of Getulia, named Iarbus.

Having determined on never marrying again, out of compliment to her lost husband, Sichaeus, she desired time for consideration. We must now follow the true history, and neglect the false one; that is, we must follow Justin, and altogether disregard Virgil; since, to answer the purposes of his poem, as well as those of a political nature, he has fixed the building of Carthage no less than three hundred years before the period in which it actually occurred.

Justin's account is this[175]:--"Iarbus, king of the Mauritanians, sending for ten of the princ.i.p.al Carthaginians, demanded Dido in marriage, threatening to declare war against her in case of refusal. The amba.s.sadors, being afraid to deliver the message of Iarbus, told her, with punic honesty, that he wanted to have some person sent him, who was capable of civilizing and polishing himself and his Africans; but there was no possibility of finding any Carthaginian, who would be willing to quit his native place and kindred, for the conversation of barbarians, who were as savage as the wildest beasts. Here the queen, with indignation, interrupted them, asking if they were not ashamed to refuse living in any manner which might be beneficial to their country, to which they owed their lives. They then delivered the king's message, and bade her set them a pattern, and sacrifice herself to her country's welfare. Dido, being thus ensnared, called on Sichaeus, with tears and lamentations, and answered that she would go where the fate of her city called her. At the expiration of three months she ascended the fatal pile, and with her last breath told the spectators, that she was going to her husband, as they had ordered her."

The first war made by the Carthaginians was against the Africans, in order to free themselves from the tribute they had engaged to pay. In this, however, they were foiled. They afterwards carried their arms against the Moors and Numidians, and won conquest from both. They had then a dispute with Cyrene, on account of their respective limits. This quarrel was settled without much trouble. They soon after conquered Sardinia, Majorca, and Minorca. Then they added many cities in Spain to their conquests; though it is not known at what period they entered that country, nor how far they extended their conquests. Their conquests were slow at the first; but in the process of time, they subjugated nearly the whole country. They became soon after masters of nearly all Sicily. This excited the jealousy of the Romans; and Sicily became an arena for the trial of their respective strength. "What a fine field of battle," said Pyrrhus, as he left that island, "do we leave the Carthaginians and Romans!"

The wars between Rome and Carthage were three, and they are called, in the history of the former city, "Punic" wars. The first lasted twenty-four years; then there was an interval of peace, but that expired at the end of twenty-four years more. The second Punic war took up seventeen years; and then ensued another interval of forty-nine years; followed by the third Punic war, which terminated, after a contest of four years and some months, in the total destruction of Carthage.

The first was terminated in a treaty to the following effect[176], that "there shall be peace between the Carthaginians and Romans, on the following conditions:--The Carthaginians shall evacuate all Sicily; shall no longer make war against the Syracusans or their allies; shall restore to the Romans, without ransom, all the prisoners whom they shall have taken from them; pay one thousand talents of silver immediately; and two thousand two hundred talents of silver within the s.p.a.ce of ten years; and, also, depart out of all the islands situated between Italy and Sicily." Sardinia was not comprehended in this treaty; but they gave it up in a treaty some years after. This was the longest war that had then been known in any country; it having lasted four-and-twenty years.

"The obstinacy in disputing for empire," says the historian, "was equal on both sides; the same resolution, the same greatness of soul, in forming as well as in executing of projects being equal on both sides.

The Carthaginians had the superiority over the Romans, with regard to naval affairs; the strength and swiftness of their vessels; the working of them; the skill and capacity of their pilots; the knowledge of coasts, shallows, roads and winds; and in the inexhaustible fund of wealth which furnished all the expenses of so long and obstinate a war.

The qualities and capabilities of the Romans were of a different character. They had none of the advantages above stated; but their courage, and regard for the public good, are said to have supplied all of them; and their soldiers were greatly superior to those of Carthage, not only in skill but in courage.

The Carthaginians had scarcely closed the war with the Romans, than they were engaged in another against the mercenaries who had served under them in Sicily. This was a short but a very sanguinary war. These mercenaries being returned to the neighbourhood of Carthage, were unjustly treated, in not being paid the wages they had earned by the a.s.sistance they had given. Complaints, seditious and insolent murmurs, were heard on every side. These troops being composed of different nations, who were strangers to one another's language, were incapable of hearing reason when they once mutinied. They consisted of Gauls, Ligurians, Spaniards, and natives of the Balearic islands; a great number of Greek slaves and deserters; and a large number of Africans.

These troops having been trifled with by the Carthaginian government, the members of which attempted to defraud them of no small share of what they had earned, broke out into ungovernable fury, and being twenty thousand strong, marched towards Carthage, and encamped at Tunis, a city not far from the metropolis.

The insurgents now began to act the part their employers had set them the example of. They rose in their demands far above what was due to them; and the Carthaginians at length saw the error of having given way to a dishonest policy. The points at issue, however, were at last, in a great measure, arranged, when two soldiers among the mercenaries found means to raise the whole of their comrades into mutiny, and engaged several cities to take up their cause. Their army amounted, after a while, to seventy thousand men. Carthage had never been in such urgent danger before. The command of the army was given to Hanno. Troops were levied by land and sea; horse as well as foot. All the citizens capable of bearing arms were mustered; all their ships were refitted; and mercenaries were enlisted from all parts. On the other hand, the insurgents hara.s.sed them with perpetual alarms, advancing to their walls by night as well as by day.

When the mercenaries, who had been left in Sardinia, heard of what their comrades had effected in Africa, they shook off their yoke in imitation, murdered the general who commanded them, and all the Carthaginians who served under him; and a successor, who was sent from Carthage, also the forces which had accompanied him, went over to the rebels. They hung the new general on a cross, and put all the Carthaginians then in Sardinia to the sword, after making them suffer inexpressible torments. They then besieged all the cities one after another, and soon got possession of the whole country.

When they had effected this, they quarrelled among themselves; and the natives taking advantage of that, became soon enabled to drive them out of the island. They took refuge in Italy, where, after some scruples on the part of the Romans, they induced that people to sail over to Sardinia, and render themselves masters of it. When the Carthaginians heard of this, they were highly indignant; and the matter terminated, at length, in what is called the Second Punic war.

This war had many remote causes besides the one we have just stated: but for these, as well as its astonishing variety of incidents and fortunes, we must refer to the various histories of the two states. We can only state the issue. We cannot, however, deny ourselves the satisfaction of quoting what Rollin says with regard to the general subject:--"Whether we consider the boldness of the enterprises; the wisdom employed in the execution; the obstinate efforts of the two rival nations, and the ready resources they found in their lowest ebb of fortune; the variety of uncommon events, and the uncertain issue of so long and b.l.o.o.d.y a war; or, lastly, the a.s.semblage of the most perfect models in every kind of merit; we cannot but consider them as the most instructive lessons that occur in history, either with regard to war, policy, or government.

Neither did two more powerful, or, at least, more warlike states or nations make war against each other; and never had those in question seen themselves raised to a more exalted pitch of power and glory."

Though, as we have already hinted, there were many remote causes for this war, the more immediate one was the taking of Saguntum by the Carthaginian general, Hannibal. We shall speak of the fall of this city when we come to describe its ruins, which still remain.

Words, we are told, could never express the grief and consternation with which the news of the taking of Saguntum was received at Rome. The senate sent immediately deputies to Carthage to inquire whether Saguntum had been besieged by order of the republic; and, if so, to declare war: or, in case the siege had been undertaken solely by the authority of Hannibal, that he should be delivered up to the Romans. The senate not giving any answer to this demand, one of the deputies took up the folded lappet of his robe, and said in a proud voice, "I bring here either peace or war; the choice is left to yourselves." To this the senate answered, "We leave the choice to you." The deputy then declared, "I give you war then." "And we," answered the senate, "as heartily accept it; and we are resolved to prosecute it with the same cheerfulness."

Such was the beginning of the second Punic war.

During this war Hannibal made his celebrated march over the Alps. He entered Italy, and fought the battles of Ticinus, Trebia, Thrasymene, and Cannae. He besieged Capua, and then Rome. In the mean time Scipio conquers all Spain; and having been appointed consul, he sets sail for Africa, and carries the war into the bosom of the Carthaginian state.

Success attended him every where.

When the council of "one hundred" found this, they deputed thirty of their body to the tent of the Roman general, when they all threw themselves prostrate upon the earth, such being the custom of the country, spoke to him in terms of great submission, and accused Hannibal of being the author of all their calamities, and promised, in the name of the senate, implicit obedience to whatever the Romans should be pleased to ordain.

Scipio answered, that though he was come into Africa for conquest, and not for peace, he would, nevertheless, grant them one, upon condition, that they should deliver up all the Roman prisoners and deserters; that they should recal their armies out of Gaul and Italy; that they should never set foot again in Spain; that they should retire out of all the islands between Italy and Africa; that they should deliver up all their ships except twenty; give the Romans five hundred thousand bushels of wheat; three hundred thousand of barley; and, moreover, pay to the Romans fifteen thousand talents.

These terms the Carthaginians consented to; but their compliance was only in appearance: their design being to gain time to recal Hannibal.

That general was then in Italy. Rome was almost within his grasp. He had, perhaps, seized it, had he marched thither immediately on gaining the battle of Cannae. The order to return home overwhelmed him with indignation and sorrow. "Never banished man," says Livy, "showed so much regret at leaving his native country as Hannibal did in going out of that of an enemy." He was exasperated almost to madness to see himself thus forced to quit his prey. Arriving in his own country--for we must hasten our narrative--that celebrated meeting between the two generals at Zama took place, which makes so conspicuous a figure in Roman and Carthaginian history.

The issue of this meeting was a battle, in which the Carthaginians, after an obstinate engagement, took to flight, leaving ten thousand men on the field of battle. Hannibal escaped in the tumult, and entering Carthage, owned that he was overthrown; that the disaster was irrecoverable; and that the citizens had no other choice left but to accept whatever terms the conqueror chose to impose.

After some difficulty and opposition in the Carthaginian senate, peace was agreed upon. The terms were exceedingly hard. They were these:--that the Carthaginians should continue free and preserve their laws, territories, and the cities they possessed in Africa during the war.

That they should deliver up to the Romans all deserters, slaves, and captives belonging to them; all their ships, except ten triremes; all their tame elephants; and that they should not train up any more for war. That they should not make war out of Africa, nor even in that country, without obtaining leave for that purpose of the Roman people; should restore to Masinissa all they had dispossessed either him or his ancestors of; should furnish money and corn to the Roman auxiliaries, till their amba.s.sadors should be returned from Rome; should pay to the Romans ten thousand Euboic talents[177] of silver in fifty annual payments, and give one hundred hostages, who should be nominated by Scipio.

These were hard terms indeed; and when Scipio burnt all the ships, to the amount of five hundred in the harbour of Carthage, these ships which had been the cause of all the power of Carthage, Carthage appeared to its inhabitants as if it never could recover; nor, indeed, did it ever do so. The blow was fatal.

This war lasted seventeen years: the peace which succeeded, fifty[178].

Twenty-five years after it was concluded, Hannibal poisoned himself at the court of Prusias.

We must now pa.s.s to the war, which soon after occurred between the Carthaginians and Masinissa, king of Numidia. In this war the Carthaginians were, in the end, worsted. Scipio the younger, who afterwards destroyed Carthage, was present at the battle. He had been sent by Lucullus, who commanded in Spain, to Masinissa to desire some elephants. During the whole engagement, he is represented as standing upon a neighbouring hill; and was greatly surprised to see Masinissa, then eighty-eight years of age, mounted, agreeably to the custom of his country, on a horse without a saddle, flying from rank to rank like a young officer, and sustaining the most arduous toils. The fight was very obstinate, and continued all day; but at last the Carthaginians gave way, and Masinissa afterwards turned their camp into a blockade, so that no provisions could reach them. A famine ensued, and then the plague.

They were, in consequence, reduced to agreeing to the king's terms, which were no other than these:--to deliver up all deserters; to pay five thousands talents of silver in fifty years, and restore all exiles. They were, also, made to suffer the ignominy of pa.s.sing under the yoke; and dismissed with only one suit of clothes for each. Nor did their misfortunes terminate here. Gulussa, the son of Masinissa, whom the Carthaginians had treated in a disrespectful manner, intercepted them with a body of cavalry. They could neither resist nor escape. The consequence of which was, that out of fifty-eight thousand men only a very few returned to Carthage.

During the latter part of the second Punic war, it was stated in the Roman senate, that Rome could never be in safety while Carthage was permitted to exist:--"Carthage," said Cato, at the close of all his speeches, "must be destroyed." The time soon came, in which the threat was to be carried into execution: and this brings us to the commencement of the third and last Punic war. It lasted only four years; and yet it terminated in the total ruin and destruction of Carthage.

This war arose out of that which the Carthaginians had waged against Masinissa; that prince being an ally of the Romans. The vanquished party sent to Rome to justify their proceedings. When the matter came to be debated in the senate, Cato and Scipio were of different opinions.

Nasica desired the preservation of Carthage, in order that the people might, who were grown excessively insolent, have something to fear.

Cato, on the other hand, thought, that as the people had become what Nasica represented them, it was highly dangerous that so powerful an enemy as Carthage should be allowed to remain. "They may one day conquer us, so great is our prosperity." He was but lately returned from Africa; and he represented in the senate, that he had not found Carthage exhausted either of men or money. On the contrary, that it was full of vigorous young men, and abounded with immense quant.i.ties of gold and silver, and prodigious magazines of arms and all warlike stores; and was, moreover, so haughty and confident on account of all this, that their hopes and ambition had no bounds. On saying this, he took from the lappet of his coat a few figs, and, throwing them on the table, and the senators admiring them--he called out, "Know, this; it is but three days those figs were gathered; so short is the distance between the enemy and us."

The Carthaginians not having made good their cause in regard to their conduct towards Masinissa, war was declared against them, and the generals[179], who were charged with the command, received strict injunctions not to end the war but with the destruction of Carthage.

These instructions the Carthaginians did not become acquainted with till some time after. They, therefore, sent deputies to make all manner of submission. They were even instructed to declare, if necessity required, that they were willing to give themselves up, with all they possessed, to the will and pleasure of the Romans. On arriving at Rome, the deputies found that the war had been, before their arrival, already proclaimed, and that the army had actually sailed. They therefore returned to Carthage with certain proposals, in complying with which the Romans declared they would be satisfied. Amongst the terms demanded were three hundred hostages, the flower and the last hopes of the n.o.blest families in Carthage. No spectacle, we are told, was ever more moving: nothing was heard but cries; nothing seen but tears; and all places echoed with groans and lamentations. Above all, the unhappy mothers, bathed in tears, tore their dishevelled hair, beat their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and expressed their grief in terms so moving, that even savage beasts might have been moved to compa.s.sion. But the scene is stated to have been much more moving when the fatal moment arrived when, after having accompanied their children to the ship, they bade them a long and last farewell, persuaded that they should never see them again. They wept a flood of tears over them, embraced them with the utmost fondness, clasped them eagerly in their arms, and could not be prevailed upon to part with them, till they were forced away.

When the hostages arrived at Rome, the deputies were informed that when they should arrive at Utica, the consuls would acquaint them with the orders of the republic. The deputies, therefore, repaired to Utica, where they received orders to deliver up, without delay, all their arms.

This command was put immediately in execution; and a long train of waggons soon after arrived at the Roman camp, laden with two hundred thousand complete sets of armour, a numberless mult.i.tude of darts and javelins, with two thousand engines for shooting darts and stones. Then followed the deputies, and a great number of the most venerable senators and priests, who came with the hope of moving the Romans to compa.s.sion.