Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/554

 for her poor citizens, they were all on or near the coast. The most important of them were those on the E. coast of Byzacium, and along the shores from the Lesser to the Greater Sjrtis, which were called pre-eminently the ( or  Polyb. i. 82, iii. 23; Appian, Pun. 72; Liv. xxxiv. 62), and which were so numerous as to give the Carthaginians complete commercial possession of the region of the Syrtes, the proper territorial possession of which was comparatively worthless from the physical character of the region. The colonies on the W. portion of the coast, known as the Urbes, were more thinly scattered: their number and positions are noticed under  and. Besides their commercial importance, these colonies formed so many points of command, in a greater or less degree according to their strength or skill, over the nomad tribes; they contributed regularly to the revenue of the mother city, and bore the chief expense of her wars. They contributed 4000 men to the armies of the republic; but, on the other hand, they often needed aid from tho mother city in their contests with the neighbouring barbarians. Many of the cities on this coast were colonies, not of Carthage, but of Phoenicia, and their submission to Carthage seems never to have been with much good will. None of them seem to have had a territory of any considerable extent. The colonies in the neighbourhood of Carthage were in stricter subjection to her, as is denoted by the application of them of the significant Greek term, the colonies in general being called at : they were kept unfortified, and hence fell an easy prey to the invader: Regulus and Agathocles, for example, whose operations did not extend beyond Zeugitana, are said each to have taken about 200 of them; and a single district, that on the Tusca, is mentioned as containing 50 towns. (Diod. xx. 17; Appian, Pun. 3, 68.)

6. Extent of the Carthaginian Empire in Africa. — Thus, at a period little subsequent to her first distinct appearance on the stage of recorded history, Carthage possessed an imperial authority, in a greater or less degree, over the N. coast of Africa, from the Pillars of Hercules to the bottom of the Great Syrtis, a space reckoned by Polybias at 16,000 stadia, or 160 geographical miles. (Polyb. iii. 39; comp. Scylax. pp. 51, 52: ). On the W. her power extended over her colonies on the Atlantic coast at least as far as the end of the Atlas range; and on the E., after a long contest with Cyrene, the only foreign power with which she came into contact in Africa, the boundary was fixed at the bottom of the Great Syrtis, at a period so early that the transaction had already acquired a mythic character in the age of Herodotus. [.]

But of all this extensive empire, it should be carefully remembered, the only part immediately and entirely subject to the dominion of Carthage was the territory which extended S. of the city to a distance of about 80 geographical miles, and the boundaries of which were about the same as those of ; and further S. the strip of coast along which lay and the. These two districts comprised nearly all the reliable resources of the state. Their fertile plains were cultivated to the highest pitch under the eyes of the nobles, who were always famous for their devotion to agriculture;and they supplied the greater part of the corn required for the consumption of the city.

7. Earliest Foreign Conquest. — Like every other great commercial state, both in ancient and modern times, Carthage found that her maritime enterprise led her on, by an inevitable chain of circumstances, to engage in foreign conquests; for effecting which she possessed remarkable opportunities. Surrounded by coasts and islands, which afforded an ample scope for her ambition; supplied with armies from her Libyan subjects and nomad mercenaries, she had likewise the advantage of that systematic traditional policy, which is always followed by governments composed of a few noble families, and in which the very steadfastness with which the end is kept in view is a motive for moderation in its pursuit. The end was the dominion of the western seas for the purposes of her commerce; and to it the means employed were admirably adapted.

Next to an insular position, like that of England, no object is of more consequence to a great maritime power than the possession of islands in the great highways of maritime intercourse; affording, as they do, stations for her fleets and Victories, cut off from those attacks of powerful neighbours, and those incursions of vast and warlike peoples, to which continental settlements arc exposed. Sensible of this, the Carthaginians turned their first efforts at conquest upon the islands of the W. Mediterranean, resisting the temptation presented by Spain to effect territorial aggrandisement on a much larder scale. Of these enterprises a very brief notice will suffice here, further details belonging rather to the articles on the respective countries.

It should be observed that these expeditions were naturally attended by a development of the military power of the Carthaginians, which manifested itself in successful wars with the Africans at home; and also that they brought Carthage into collision with foreign powers, and gradually involved her in the wars which ended in her ruin.

Of the earliest of these conquests we possess no other information than the brief notices in Justin, according to whom expeditions were undertaken both to Kelly and Sardinia, about the first half of the 6th century B.C., under a general whom he calls (which is simply the Phoenician for king), who had also performed great exploits against the Africans. After considerable successes in Sicily, Malchus transported his forces to Sardinia, where he suffered a great defeat, and was in consequence banished. Upon this he led his army against Carthage, and took the city, but made a moderate use of his victory. It was not long, however, before he was accused of a design to make himself king, and was put to death. It is worthy of notice that the first foreign wars of Carthage are associated with the first attempt to overthrow her constitution. (Justin, xviii. 7.)

The enterprise of Malchus was resumed with more success, in the latter half of the same century, by, the head of a family to whom the Carthaginians were indebted at the same time for the earliest organization of their military resources, and the foundation of their foreign empire. (Justin, xviii. 7: "Huic [Malcho] Mago imperator successit, cujus industria et opes Carthaginiensium, et imperii fines, et bellicae gloriae laudes crevenunt;" and directly after, "Mago, ... cum primus omnium, ordinata disciplina militari, imperium Poenorum condi