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$Title{Rollin's Ancient History: Ancient History Of The Carthaginians
Section II.}
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Title:       Rollin's Ancient History: Ancient History Of The Carthaginians
Book:        Chapter II.
Author:      Rollin, Charles
Date:        1731

Section II.

Conquests Of The Carthaginians In Sicily

     The wars which the Carthaginians carried on in Sicily are more known. I
shall here relate those which were waged from the reign of Xerxes, who first
prompted the Carthaginians to carry their arms into Sicily, till the first
Punic war.  This period includes near two hundred and twenty years, viz.: from
the year of the world 3520 to 3738.  At the breaking out of these wars,
Syracuse, the most considerable as well as most powerful city of Sicily, had
invested Gelon, Hiero, and Thrasybulus, three brothers who succeeded one
another, with a sovereign power.  After their deaths, a democracy, or popular
government was established in that city, and subsisted above sixty years.
From this time the two Dionysiuses, Timoleon and Agathocles, bore the sway in
Syracuse.  Pyrrhus was afterwards invited into Sicily, but he kept possession
of it only a few years.  Such was the government of Sicily during the wars of
which I am about to treat.  They will give us great light with regard to the
power of the Carthaginians at the time that they began to be engaged in war
with the Romans.

     Sicily is the largest and most considerable island in the Mediterranean.
It is of a triangular form, and for that reason was called Trinacria and
Triquetra.  The eastern side, which faces the Ionian or Grecian sea, extends
from Cape Pachynum ^671 to Pelorum. ^672 The most celebrated cities on this
coast are Syracuse, Tauromenium, and Messana. The northern coast, which looks
towards Italy, reaches from Cape Pelorum to Cape Lilybaeum. ^673 The most
noted cities on this coast are Mylae, Hymera, Panormus, Eryx, Motya,
Lilybaeum.  The southern coast, which lies opposite to Africa, extends from
Cape Lilybaeum to Pachynum.  The most remarkable cities on this coast are
Selinus, Agrigentum, Gela, and Camarina.  This island is separated from Italy
by a strait, which is not more than a mile and a half over, and called the
Faro, or Strait of Messina, from its contiguity to that city.  The passage
from Lilybaeum to Africa ^674 is about 1500 furlongs, that is about
seventy-five leagues. ^675

[Footnote 671: Passaro.]

[Footnote 672: Il Faro.]

[Footnote 673: Cape Boeo.]

[Footnote 674: Strabo, l. vi. p. 267.]

[Footnote 675: This is Strabo's calculation; but there must be a mistake in
the numeral characters, and what he immediately subjoins, is a proof of this
mistake.  He says, that a man, whose eyesight was good, might, from the coast
of Sicily, count the vessels that came out of the port of Carthage.  Is it
possible that the eye can carry so far as 60 or 75 leagues?  This passage of
Strabo, therefore, must be thus corrected.  The passage from Lilybaeum to
Africa, is only 25 leagues.]

     The period in which the Carthaginians first carried their arms into
Sicily is not exactly known. ^676 All we are certain of is, that they were
already possessed of some part of it at the time that they entered into a
treaty with the Romans; the same year that the kings were expelled, and
consuls appointed in their room, viz.: twenty-eight years before Xerxes
invaded Greece.  This treaty, which is the first we find mentioned to have
been made between these two nations, speaks of Africa and Sardinia as
possessed by the Carthaginians; whereas the conventions, with regard to
Sicily, relate only to those parts of the island which were subject to them.
By this treaty it is expressly stipulated, that neither the Romans nor their
allies shall sail beyond the Fair Promontory, ^677 which was very near
Carthage; and that such merchants as shall resort to this city for traffic,
shall pay only certain duties, as are settled in it. ^678

[Footnote 676: A. M. 3501.  A. Carth. 343.  Rome, 245.  Ant. J. C. 503. Polyb.
l. ii, p. 945 et seq.  Edit. Gronov.]

[Footnote 677: The reason of this restraint, according to Polybius, was, the
unwillingness of the Carthaginians to let the Romans have any knowledge of the
countries which lay more to the south, in order that this enterprising people
might not hear of their fertility. - Polyb. l. iii. p. 247.  Edit. Gronov.]

[Footnote 678: Polyb. l. iii. p. 246.]

     It appears by the same treaty, that the Carthaginians were particularly
careful to exclude the Romans from all the countries subject to them, as well
as from the knowledge of what was transacting in them; as though the
Carthaginians, even at that time, had taken umbrage at the rising power of the
Romans, and already harbored in their breasts the secret seeds of jealousy and
distrust, that were one day to burst out in long and cruel wars, and a mutual
hatred and animosity, which nothing could extinguish but the ruin of one of
the contending powers.

     Some years after the conclusion of this first treaty, the Carthaginians
made an alliance with Xerxes king of Persia. ^679 This prince, who aimed at
nothing less than the total extirpation of the Greeks, whom he considered as
his irreconcilable enemies, thought it would be impossible for him to succeed
in his enterprise without the assistance of Carthage, whose power was
formidable even at that time.  The Carthaginians, who always kept in view the
design they entertained of seizing upon the remainder of Sicily eagerly
embraced the favorable opportunity which now presented itself for completing
the reduction of it. A treaty was therefore concluded, wherein it was agreed
that the Carthaginians were to invade, with all their forces, those Greeks who
were settled in Sicily and Italy, while Xerxes should march in person against
Greece itself.

[Footnote 679: A. M. 3520.  Ant. J. C. 484.  Diod. l. xi. pp. 1, 16, 22.]

     The preparations for this war lasted three years.  The land army amounted
to no less than three hundred thousand men.  The fleet consisted of two
thousand ships of war, and upwards of three thousand small vessels of burden.
Hamilcar, the most experienced captain of his age, sailed from Carthage with
this formidable army.  He landed at Palermo, ^680 and, after refreshing his
troops, he marched against Hymera, a city not far distant from Palermo, and
laid siege to it.  Thereon, who commanded in it, seeing himself very much
straitened, sent to Gelon, who had possessed himself of Syracuse.  He flew
immediately to his relief with fifty thousand foot and five thousand horse.
His arrival infused new courage into the besieged, who, from that time, made a
very vigorous defence.

[Footnote 680: This city is called in Latin Panormus]

     Gelon was an able warrior, and excelled in stratagems.  A courier was
brought to him, who had been despatched from Selinuntum, a city of Sicily,
with a letter for Hamilcar, to inform him of the day when he might expect the
cavalry, which he had requested.  Gelon drew out an equal number of his own
troops, and sent them from his camp about the time agreed on.  These being
admitted into the enemy's camp, as coming from Selinuntum, rushed upon
Hamilcar, killed him, and set fire to his ships. In this critical conjuncture,
Gelon attacked with all his forces the Carthaginians, who at first made a
gallant resistance.  But when the news of their general's death was brought
them, and they saw all their fleet in a blaze, their courage failed them, and
they fled.  And now a dreadful slaughter ensued; upwards of a hundred and
fifty thousand being slain. The rest of the army, having retired to a place
where they were in want of every thing, could not make a long defence, and
were forced to surrender at discretion.  This battle was fought on the very
day of the famous action of Thermopylae, in which three hundred Spartans, ^681
with the sacrifice of their lives, disputed Xerxes's entrance into Greece.

[Footnote 681: Besides the 300 Spartans, the Thessians, a people of Boeotia,
to the number of 700, fought and died with Leonidas in this memorable battle.
- Herod. l. vii. c 202-222.]

     When the sad news was brought to Carthage of the entire defeat of the
army, consternation, grief, and despair, threw the whole city into such a
confusion and alarm as are not to be expressed.  It was imagined that the
enemy was already at the gates.  The Carthaginians, in great reverses of
fortune, always lost their courage, and sunk into the opposite extreme.
Immediately they sent a deputation to Gelon, by which they desired peace upon
any terms.  He heard their envoys with great humanity.  The complete victory
he had gained, so far from making him haughty and untractable, had only
increased his modesty and elemency even towards the enemy.  He therefore
granted them a peace without any other condition than their paying two
thousand talents ^682 towards the expense of the war.  He likewise required
them to build two temples, where the treaty of this peace should be deposited,
and exposed at all times to public view.  The Carthaginians did not think this
a dear purchase of a peace, that was so absolutely necessary to their affairs,
and which they hardly durst hope for.  Gisco, the son of Hamilcar, pursuant to
the unjust custom of the Carthaginians, of ascribing to the general the ill
success of a war, and making him bear the blame of it, was punished for his
father's misfortune, and sent into banishment.  He passed the remainder of his
days at Selinuntum, a city of Sicily.

[Footnote 682: An Attic silver talent, according to Dr. Bernard, is 206l. 5s.
consequently 2000 talents is 412,500l., or $1,831,500.]

     Gelon, on his return to Syracuse, convened the people, and invited all
the citizens to appear under arms.  He himself entered the assembly, unarmed,
and without his guards, and there gave an account of the whole conduct of his
life.  His speech met with no other interruption than the public testimonies
which were given him of gratitude and admiration.  So far from being treated
as a tyrant, and the oppressor of his country's liberty, he was considered as
its benefactor and deliverer; all, with a unanimous voice, proclaimed him
king; and the crown was bestowed, after his death, on his two brothers.

     After the memorable defeat of the Athenians before Syracuse, ^683 where
Nicias perished with his whole fleet, the Segestans, who had declared in favor
of the Athenians against the Syracusans, fearing the resentment of their
enemies, and being attacked by the inhabitants of Selinuntum, implored the aid
of the Carthaginians, and put themselves and city under their protection.  At
Carthage, the people debated some time what course would be proper for them to
take, the affair meeting with great difficulties.  On one hand, the
Carthaginians were very desirous to possess themselves of a city, which lay so
convenient for them; on the other, they dreaded the powers and forces of
Syracuse, which had so lately cut to pieces a numerous army of the Athenians,
and become, by so splendid a victory, more formidable than ever.  At last the
lust of empire prevailed, and the Segestans were promised succors. [Footnote
683: A. M. 3592.  A. Carth. 434.  A. Rome, 336.  Ant. J. C. 412. Diod. l.
xiii. p 169-171, 179-186.]

     The conduct of this war was committed to Hannibal, who at that time was
invested with the highest dignity of the state, being one of the suffetes.  He
was grandson of Hamilcar, who had been defeated by Gelon, and killed before
Hymera, and son of Gisco, who had been condemned to exile.  He left Carthage,
animated with an ardent desire of revenging his family and country, and of
wiping away the disgrace of the last defeat. He had a very great army, as well
as fleet, under his command.  He landed at a place called the Well of
Lilyboeum, which gave its name to a city, afterwards built on the same spot.
His first enterprise was the siege of Selinuntum.  The attack and defence were
equally vigorous, the very women showing a resolution and bravery above their
sex.  The city, after making a long resistance, was taken by storm, and the
plunder of it abandoned to the soldiers.  The victor exercised the most horrid
cruelties, without showing the least regard either to age or sex.  He
permitted such inhabitants as had fled, to return to the city after it had
been dismantled, and to till the lands, on condition of their paying a tribute
to the Carthaginians.  This city had been built two hundred and forty-two
years.

     Hymera, which he next besieged and took likewise by storm, after being
more cruelly treated than Selinuntum, was entirely razed, two hundred and
forty years from its foundation.  He forced three thousand prisoners to
undergo every kind of ignominious punishment, and at last murdered them on the
very spot, where his grandfather had been killed by Gelon's cavalry, to
appease and satisfy his manes by the blood of these unhappy victims.

     These expeditions being ended, Hannibal returned to Carthage, on which
occasion the whole city came out to him, and received him with the most joyful
acclamations.

     These successes re-inflamed the desire, and revived the design which the
Carthaginians had ever entertained, of making themselves masters of all
Sicily. ^684 Three years after, they appointed Hannibal their general a second
time, and on his pleading his great age, and refusing the command of this war,
they gave him for lieutenant, Imilcon, son of Hanno, of the same family.  The
preparations for this war were proportioned to the great design which the
Carthaginians had formed.  The fleet and army were soon ready, and set out for
Sicily.  The number of their forces, according to Timaeus, amounted to above
one hundred and twenty thousand, and according to Ephorus, to three hundred
thousand men.  The enemy, on their side, were prepared to give the
Carthaginians a warm reception.  The Syracusans had sent to all their allies,
in order to levy forces among them, and to all the cities of Sicily to exhort
them to exert themselves vigorously in defence of their liberties.

[Footnote 684: Diod. l. xiii. p. 201-203, 206-211, 226-231.]

     Agrigentum expected to feel the first fury of the enemy.  This city was
immensely rich, ^685 and strongly fortified.  It was situated, as were Hymera,
and Selinuntum, on that coast of Sicily which faces Africa. Accordingly,
Hannibal opened the campaign with the siege of this city. Imagining that it
was impregnable except on one side, he directed his whole force to that
quarter.  He threw up banks and terraces as high as the walls, and made use,
on this occasion, of the rubbish and fragments of the tombs standing round the
city, which he had demolished for that purpose.  Soon after, the plague
infected the army, and swept away a great number of the soldiers, and the
general himself.  The Carthaginians interpreted this disaster as a punishment
inflicted by the gods, who revenged in this manner the injuries done to the
dead, whose ghosts many fancied they had seen stalking before them in the
night.  No more tombs were therefore demolished; prayers were ordered to be
made, according to the practice of Carthage; a child was sacrificed to Saturn,
in compliance with a most inhumanly superstitious custom; and many victims
were thrown into the sea in honor of Neptune.

[Footnote 685: The very sepulchral monuments showed the magnificence and
luxury of this city, they being adorned with statues of birds and horses. But
the wealth and boundless generosity of Gelliar, one of its inhabitants, is
almost incredible.  He entertained the people with spectacles and feasts; and,
during a famine, prevented the citizens from dying with hunger; he gave
portions to poor maidens, and rescued the unfortunate from want and despair;
he had built houses in the city and country, purposely for the accommodation
of strangers, whom he usually dismissed with handsome presents.  Five hundred
shipwrecked citizens of Gela, applying to him, were bountifully relieved, and
every man supplied with a cloak and coat out of his wardrobe. - Diod. l. xiii.
Valer. Max. l, iv. c. ult. Empedocles, the philosopher, born in Agrigentum,
has a memorable saying concerning his fellow-citizens, that the Agrigentines
squandered their money so excessively every day, as if they expected it could
never be exhausted; and built with such solidity and magnificence, as if they
thought they should live for ever.]

     The besieged, who at first had gained several advantages, were at last so
pressed by famine, that all hopes of relief seeming desperate, they resolved
to abandon the city.  The following night was fixed on for this purpose.  The
reader will naturally imagine to himself the grief with which these miserable
people must be seized, on their being forced to leave their houses, their rich
possessions, and their country; but life was still dearer to them than all
these.  Never was a more melancholy spectacle seen.  To omit the rest, a crowd
of women, bathed in tears, were seen dragging after them their helpless
infants, in order to secure them from the brutal fury of the victor.  But the
most grievous circumstance, was the necessity they were under of leaving
behind them the aged and sick, who were unable either to fly or to make the
least resistance.  The unhappy exiles arrived at Gela, which was the nearest
city in their way, and there received all the comforts they could expect in
the deplorable condition to which they were reduced.

     In the mean time Imilcon entered the city, and murdered all who were
found in it.  The plunder was immense, and such as might be expected from one
of the most opulent cities of Sicily, which contained two hundred thousand
inhabitants, and had never been besieged, nor consequently plundered before.
A numberless multitude of pictures, vases and statues of all kinds were found
here, the citizens having an exquisite taste for the polite arts.  Among other
curiosities, was the famous bull ^686 of Phalaris, which was sent to Carthage.

[Footnote 686: This bull, with other spoils here taken, was afterwards
restored to the Agrigentines by Scipio, when he took Carthage, in the third
Punic war. - Cic. l. iv. in Verrom, c. 33.]

     The siege of Agrigentum had lasted eight months.  Imilcon made his forces
take up their winter-quarters in it, to give them the necessary refreshment;
and left this city, after laying it entirely in ruins, in the beginning of the
spring.  He afterwards besieged Gela, and took it, notwithstanding the succors
which were brought by Dionysius the Tyrant, who had seized upon the government
of Syracuse.  Imilcon ended the war by a treaty with Dionysius.  The
conditions of it were, that the Carthaginians, besides their ancient
acquisitions in Sicily, should still possess the country of the Sicanians,
^687 Selinuntum, Agrigentum, and Hymera; as likewise that of Gela and
Camarina, with leave for the inhabitants to reside in their respective
dismantled cities, on condition of their paying a tribute to Carthage: that
the Leontines, the Messenians, and all the Sicilians should retain their own
laws, and preserve their liberty and independence; lastly, that the Syracusans
should still continue subject to Dionysius.  After this treaty was concluded,
Imilcon returned to Carthage, where the plague still made dreadful havoc.

[Footnote 687: The Sicanians and Sicilians were anciently two distinct
people.]

     Dionysius had concluded the late peace with the Carthaginians, with no
other view than to get time to establish his new authority, and make the
necessary preparations for the war which he meditated against them. ^688 As he
was very sensible how formidable these people were, he used his utmost
endeavors to enable himself to invade them with success, and his design was
wonderfully well seconded by the zeal of his subjects. The fame of this
prince, the strong desire he had to distinguish himself, the charms of gain,
and the prospect of the rewards which he promised those who should show the
greatest industry, invited from all quarters into Sicily, the most able
artists and workmen at that time in the world. All Syracuse now became in a
manner an immense work-shop, in every part of which men were seen making
swords, helmets, shields, and military engines; and preparing all things
necessary for building ships and fitting out fleets.  The invention of vessels
with five benches of oars (or quinqueremes), was at that time very recent;
for, till then, those with three alone had been used. ^689

[Footnote 688: A. M. 3600.  A. Carth. 442.  A. Rome, 344.  Ant. J. C. 404.
Diod. l. xiv. p. 268-278.]

[Footnote 689: Triremes.]

     Dionysius animated the workmen by his presence, and by the applauses he
gave, and the bounty which he bestowed seasonably; but chiefly by his popular
and engaging behavior, which excited, more strongly than any other conduct,
the industry and ardor of the workmen, ^690 the most excellent of whom, in
every art, had frequently the honor to dine with him.

[Footnote 690: Honos alit artes.]

     When all things were ready, and a great number of forces had been levied
in different countries, he called the Syracusans together, laid his designs
before them, and represented to them that the Carthaginians were the professed
enemies of the Greeks: that they had no less in view than the invasion of all
Sicily; the subjecting of all the Grecian cities; and that, in case their
progress was not checked, the Syracusans themselves would soon be attacked;
that the reason why the Carthaginians did not attempt any enterprise, and
continued inactive, was owing entirely to the dreadful havoc made by the
plague among them, which, he observed, was a favorable opportunity for the
Syracusans.  Though the tyranny and the tyrant were equally odious to
Syracuse, yet the hatred the people bore to the Carthaginians prevailed over
all other considerations, and every one, guided more by the views of an
interested policy than by the dictates of justice, received the speech with
applause.  Upon this, without the least complaint made, or any declaration of
war, Dionysius gave up to the fury of the populace the persons and possessions
of the Carthaginians.  Great numbers of them resided at that time in Syracuse,
and traded there on the faith of treaties.  The common people ran to their
houses, plundered their effects, and pretended they were sufficiently
authorized to exercise every ignominy, and inflict every kind of punishment on
them, for the cruelties they had exercised against the natives of the country.
And this horrid example of perfidy and inhumanity was followed throughout the
whole island of Sicily.  This was the bloody signal of the war which was
declared against them.  Dionysius having thus begun to do himself justice (in
his way), sent deputies to Carthage, to require them to restore all the
Sicilian cities to their liberties; and that otherwise all the Carthaginians
found in them should be treated as enemies.  This news spread a general alarm
in Carthage, especially when they reflected on the sad condition to which they
were reduced.

     Dionysius opened the campaign with the siege of Motya, which was the
magazine of the Carthaginians in Sicily; and pushed the siege on with so much
vigor that it was impossible for Imilcon, the Carthaginian admiral, to relieve
it.  He brought forward his engines, battered the place with his battering
rams, advanced towers six stories high to the wall, rolled upon wheels, and of
an equal height with their houses; and from these he greatly annoyed the
besieged with furious volleys of arrows and stones sent from his catapultas,
an engine at that time of late invention. ^691 At last the city, after a long
and vigorous defence, was taken by storm, and all the inhabitants of it put to
the sword, those excepted who took sanctuary in the temples.  The plunder of
it was abandoned to the soldiers; and Dionysius, leaving a strong garrison and
a trusty governor in it, returned to Syracuse.

[Footnote 691: The curious reader will find a very particular account of it in
a subsequent part of this work.]

     The following year Imilcon, being appointed one of the suffetes, returned
to Sicily with a far greater army than before. ^692 He landed at Palermo, ^693
took several cities, and recovered Motya by force of arms. Animated by these
successes, he advanced towards Syracuse, with a design to besiege it; marching
his infantry by land, while his fleet, under the command of Mago, sailed along
the coast.

[Footnote 692: Diod. l. xiv. p. 279-295.  Justin. l. xix. c. 2, 3.]

[Footnote 693: Panoramus.]

     The arrival of Imilcon threw the Syracusans into great consternation.
Above two hundred ships laden with the spoils of the enemy, and advancing in
good order, entered in a kind of triumph the great harbor, being followed by
five hundred barks.  At the same time the land army, consisting, according to
some authors, of three hundred thousand foot, ^694 and three thousand horse,
was seen marching forward on the other side of the city.  Imilcon pitched his
tent in the very temple of Jupiter, and the rest of the army encamped at
twelve furlongs, or about a mile and a half from the city.  Marching up to it,
Imilcon offered battle to the inhabitants, who did not care to accept the
challenge.  Imilcon, satisfied at his having extorted from the Syracusans this
confession of their own weakness and his superiority, returned to his camp,
not doubting but he should soon be master of the city, considering it already
as a certain prey, which could not possibly escape him.  For thirty days
together, he laid waste the neighborhood about Syracuse, and ruined the whole
country. He possessed himself of the suburb of Acradina, and plundered the
temples of Ceres and Proserpine.  To fortify his camp, he beat down the tombs
which stood round the city; and among others, that of Gelon, and his wife
Demarata, which was exceeding magnificent.

[Footnote 694: Some authors say but thirty thousand foot, which is the more
probable account, as the fleet which blocked up the town by sea was so
formidable.]

     But these successes were not lasting.  All the splendor of this
anticipated triumph vanished in a moment, and taught mankind, says Diodorus,
that the proudest mortal, blasted sooner or later by a superior power, shall
be forced to confess his own weakness.  While Imilcon, now master of almost
all the cities of Sicily, expected to finish his conquests by the reduction of
Syracuse, a contagious distemper seized his army, and made dreadful havoc in
it.  It was now the midst of summer, and the heat that year was excessive.
The infection began among the Africans, multitudes of whom died, without any
possibility of their being relieved. Care was taken at first to inter the
dead; but the number increased daily, and the infection spreading very fast,
the dead lay unburied and the sick could have no assistance.  This plague was
attended with very uncommon symptoms, such as violent dysenteries, raging
fevers, burning entrails, acute pains in every part of the body.  The infected
were even seized with madness and fury, so that they would fall upon any
person that came in their way and tear them to pieces.

     Dionysius did not lose this favorable opportunity for attacking the
enemy.  Imilcon's army, being more than half conquered by the plague, could
make but a feeble resistance.  The Carthaginian ships were almost all either
taken or burnt.  The inhabitants in general of Syracuse, their old men, women,
and children, came pouring out of the city to behold an event which to them
appeared miraculous.  With hands lifted up to heaven, they thanked the tutelar
gods of their city for having revenged the sanctity of temples and tombs,
which had been so brutally violated by these barbarians.  Night coming on,
both parties retired, when Imilcon, taking the opportunity of this short
suspension of hostilities, sent to Dionysius for leave to carry back with him
the small remains of his shattered army, with an offer of three hundred
talents, ^695 which was all the specie he had then left.  Permission only
could be obtained for the Carthaginians, with whom Imilcon stole away in the
night, and left the rest to the mercy of the conqueror.

[Footnote 695: About $274,390.]

     In such unhappy circumstances did the Carthaginian general, who a few
days before had been so proud and haughty, retire from Syracuse.  Bitterly
bewailing his own fate, but most of all that of his country, he with the most
insolent fury, accused the gods as the sole authors of his misfortunes.  "The
enemy," continued he, "may indeed rejoice at our misery, but have no reason to
glory in it.  We return victorious over the Syracusans, and are defeated by
the plague alone.  No part," added he, "of the disaster touches me so much as
my surviving so many gallant men, and being reserved, not for the comforts of
life, but to be the sport of so dire a calamity; however, since I brought back
the miserable remains of an army which have been committed to my care, I now
have nothing to do but to follow the brave soldiers who lie dead before
Syracuse, and show my country, that I did not survive them out of a fondness
of life, but merely to preserve the troops which had escaped the plague from
the fury of the enemy, to which my more early death would have abandoned
them."

     Being now arrived in Carthage, which he found overwhelmed with grief and
despair, he entered his house, shut the doors against the citizens, and even
his own children; and then gave himself the fatal stroke, in compliance with a
practice to which the heathens falsely gave the name of courage, though it
was, in reality, no other than cowardly despair.

     But the calamities of this unhappy city did not stop here; for the
Africans, who from time immemorial, had borne an implacable hatred to the
Carthaginians, being now exasperated to fury, because their countrymen had
been left behind, and exposed to the murdering sword of the Syracusans,
assemble in the most frantic manner, sound the the alarm, take up arms, and,
after seizing upon Tunis, march directly to Carthage, to the number of more
than two hundred thousand men.  The citizens now gave themselves up for lost.
This new incident was considered by them as the sad effect of the wrath of the
gods, which pursued the guilty wretches even to Carthage.  As its inhabitants,
especially in all public calamities, carried their superstition to the
greatest excess, their first care was to appease the offended gods.  Ceres and
Proserpine were deities, who, till that time, had never been heard of in
Africa.  But now, to atone for the outrage which had been done them, in the
plundering of their temples, magnificent statues were erected to their honor;
priests were selected from among the most distinguished families of the city;
sacrifices and victims, according to the Greek ritual, if I may use the
expression, were offered up to them; in a word, nothing was omitted which
could be thought conducive in any manner, to appease those angry goddesses,
and to merit their favor.  After this, the defence of the city was the next
object of their care.  Happily for the Carthaginians, this numerous army had
no leader, but was like a body uninformed with a soul; no provisions or
military engines; no discipline or subordination were seen among them, every
man setting himself up for a general, or claiming an independence from the
rest.  Divisions, therefore, arising in this rabble of an army, and the famine
increasing daily, the individuals of it withdrew to their respective homes,
and delivered Carthage from a dreadful alarm.