Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/373

 FORTIFIED WALLS. ^i J -J merchants and sailors to live in safety so many hundreds of miles away from that native city which they enriched by their self- sacrifice. If the Punic engineers were able to carry out such considerable works as these in Sicily, and on the distant shores of the Atlantic, it stands to reason that they would spare no pains to fortify the capital of the Empire. At a very early period Carthage became alive to the necessity of being on her guard against the jealousy of other Phoenician cities on the same coast, against the ill-will of her Libyan subjects, and against the feelings of envy and covetousness which her wealth and industrial success could not fail to excite. The ancients speak with wonder of the wall of Carthage, which must, after the suburb of Megara was included ^^w^^^m^- '- /' X;^V* v '; W^'' FIG. 247. The wall of Lixus. From an unpublished drawing by Charles Tissot. in it. have been from six to seven leagues in total leno-th o (Fig. 248). l Every captain who ventured to attack the Cartha- 1 OROSIUS says the enceinte of Carthage was 20 miles in circumference, EUTROPJUS says 22, LIVY 23 (Epitome of book li.). STRABO says 360 stades, or 72,810 yards (41 miles 650 yards), a figure we can hardly accept ; there must be some mistake either by the author or his copyist. Upon the plan of Carthage drawn up by DAUX, in which all the remains of ancient walls are laid down with the greatest care, the total length of the wall, according to M. Tissot, is 28,300 metres (about 31.200 yards). Daux's plan will be published by M. Tissot in the great work he has in preparation upon Carthaginian and Roman Africa. [Since these words were written M. Tissot has died and left his great work incomplete. The first volume, however, is in print, and the manuscript of the rest in such a condition that its publication may be surely expected. ED.] On the whole, it agrees with that of Falbe, the best