Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/556

 wars with the Greek colonies, which are the chief eventS in the second period of the Carthaginian history, fully occupied their armies until Rome had acquired strength to engage in that contest which deprived Carthage not only of Sicily, but at last of her own existence. [.]

(4.) The Balearic and smaller islands, most of which had been colonized by the Phoenicians, were all occupied by the Carthaginians as emporia or factories. []. Among the smaller islands referred to, were Melita (Malta), Gaulos (Gozo), and Cercina (Karkenah), besides others of less importance, as, for example, Lipara. (Polyb. i. 24.) These islands afforded naval stations of importance, and some of them furnished valuable articles of produce. Malta was made the seat of flourishing manufactories, especially of fine cloth. In fine, we are distinctly told by Polybius that all the islands of the Western Mediterranean belonged to Carthage at the commencement of the Punic Wars. (Polyb. i. 10.)

(5.) Spain was long an object of peaceful commerce, rather than of conquest, to the Carthaginians. Phoenician settlements had existed on its shores from a time earlier than history records; and to these Carthage added colonies of her own; but her relations with the natives were peaceful, and she does not appear to have attempted the subjugation of the country till after the loss of Sardinia and Sicily. But around her colonies and marts she doubtless obtained possession of considerable tracts of land; and hence Polybius (l. c.) tells us that "many parts of Spain" belonged to her when she entered on her contest with Rome. The Spanish mines were a most important source of wealth to the republic.

Of the general character of the rule of Carthage over her foreign possessions, we have very little information, beyond the fad that the oppressions of their governors disposed them continually to revolt In this respect their sufferings seem to have been far less than those of the Roman provinces; but they were likewise borne with far less patience at the hands of a state whose authority was sustained only by a mercenary soldiery, who were themselves in a condition of chronic discontent.

8. Foreign Colonies. — Beyond the limits of the countries or districts of which Carthage took possession, she established many, colonies on distant shores, to serve as harbours for her ships, marts for her commerce, and outlets for her surplus population. These settlements occupied many points on the coasts of the W. Mediterranean, not only in Africa, the islands, and Spain, but also in Gaul and Liguria (see above); and beyond the Pillars of Hercules they extended far both N. and S. along the shores of Europe and Africa, and into some of the islands of the Atlantic. Of the colonies in Africa we have had occasion to speak in describing the Carthaginian empire in that continent Especial interest attaches to those founded on the W. coast of Africa by Hanno, on account of the Greek translation which we still possess of the narrative of his voyage, which he suspended, on his return, in the temple of Cronos at Carthage (Hudson, Geographi Graeci Minores, vol. i. Oxon. 1798). Simultaneously with this expedition, another was sent out under Himilco to explore the western shores of Europe. The narrative of this voyage, which the ancient geographers possessed, has been lost to us; but several particulars of it are preserved in the Ora Maritima of Festus Avienus, and some of the chief points have been noticed under. Of the colonieswhich Himilco, like Hanno, doubtless planted, no traces have come down to us: the supposition that they reached as far as the British islands can neither be positively accepted nor rejected without more evidence than we possess. As to the time of these two great expeditions, there seems good reason to believe that their leaders were the Hanno and Himilco who are mentioned by Justin (vid. supra) as sons of Hamilcar, and that the date is therefore about the end of the 6th century B.C.

9. Relations to Foreign States. — The points of connection or collision between Carthage and other states during this first period, though few, are very interesting.

(1.) Greeks.— The sea-fight with the Phocaeans off the coasts of Corsica, and her wars with the Greeks of Sicily, have already been noticed.

(2.) Persians. — The time of her great enterprise in Sicily coincided so remarkably with the attacks of Persia upon Greece, as to cause some of the ancient writers to ascribe it to an understanding with the Persian kings. Justin (xix. 1) tells of an embassy, which Darius I. sent to the Carthaginians, in the assumption of that supreme authority which he was at the same time claiming over Greece, requiring them to discontinue the offering of human sacrifices and the practice of burying their dead instead of burning them, and also demanding aid in his war against the Greeks. The wars of Carthage with the neighbouring tribes furnished her with a reason, or pretext, for refusing the desired military aid; but, not to offend the king, she readily complied with his other requests. (The well-ascertained inaccuracy of this last statement is an example of the care required in following the authority of Justin.) The Persian claim of supremacy over Carthage, as a colony of Tyre, is one very likely to have been made; and Ephorus represents the Phoenicians as united with the Persians in another embassy which Xerxes sent to the Carthaginians, to induce them to fit out a great fleet against the Greeks of Sicily and Italy, and so to disable those colonies from affording to the mother-country that aid which she was at the same time seeking at the hands of Gelon. (Ephor. ap. Schol. Pind. Pyth. i. 146, Fr. 111, ed. Didot; Diod. xi. 1, 2, 20.) Doubts are raised respecting the whole transaction by the silence of Herodotus; but, at all events, it would seem that a direct request from Persia was not needed to induce the Carthaginians to seize the opportunity of pushing her schemes in Sicily when the Greek colonies could receive no aid from the mother-country. That the first wars did not originate in the agreement with Xerxes is clear from the narrative of Justin, and from the allusion made by Gelon, in his reply to the Greek ambassadors, to a war in which be had already been engaged with Carthage (Herod, vii. 158). The war thus alluded to would seem to be the "grave bellum" (Justin, xix. 1), in which the Greek cities made a united application for assistance to the Spartans; but we have no information of any collision from this cause between Carthage and Sparta.

(3.) Cyrene. — Another Grecian state, Cyrene, was the only civilized neighbour of Carthage in Africa; but they were almost separated naturally by the deserts which come down to the sea-coast between the Svrtes; and the only collision between them was the obscure and petty war which led to the settlement of their frontier at the bottom of the Great Syrtis. [.]

