Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/417

 COLONIES OF CARTHAGK. 395 sometimes stripping the tax-payer of all that he possessed, and even tearing him from his family to be sold in person for a slave. Accordingly the general sentiment among the dependencies to- wards Carthage was one of mingled fear and hatred, which ren- dered them eager to revolt on the landing of any foreign invader. In some cases the Carthaginians seem to have guarded against such contingencies by paid garrisons ; but they also provided a species of garrison from among their own citizens ; by sending out from Carthage poor men, and assigning to them lots of land with the cultivators attached. This provision for poor citizens as emi- grants (mainly analogous to the Roman colonies), was a standing feature in the Carthaginian political system, serving the double purpose of obviating discontent among their own town population at home, and of keeping watch over their dependencies abroad. 2 In the fifth century B. c., the Carthaginians had no apprehen- sion of any foreign enemy invading them from seaward ; an en- terprise first attempted in 316 B. c., to the surprise of every one, by the boldness of the Syracusan Agathokles. Nor were their en- emies on the land side formidable as conquerors, though they were extremely annoying as plunderers. The Numidians and other na- tive tribes, half-naked and predatory horsemen, distinguished for speed as well as for indefatigable activity, so harassed the individ- 1 Polybius, i, 72 ; Livy, xxxiv, 62. Movers (Geschichte der Phcenizier, ii, 2, p. 455) assigns this large assess- ment to Leptis Magna ; but the passage of Livy can relate only to Leptis Parva, in the region called Emporia. Leptis Magna was at a far greater distance from Carthage, near the Great Syrtis. Dr. Earth ("Wanderungen durch die Kiistenlander des Mittellandischen Meers, p. 81-146) has given a recent and valuable examination of the site of Carthage and of the neighboring regions. On his map, however, the territory called Emporia is marked near the Lesser Syrtis, two hundred miles from Cartilage (Pliny, H. N. v, 3). Yet it seems certain that the name Emporia must have comprised the territory south of Carthage and approaching very near to the city ; for Scipio African us, in his expedition, from Sicily, directed his pilots to steer for Emporia. He intended to land very near Carthage ; and he actually did land on the White Cape, near to that city, but on the north side, and still nearer to Utica. This region north of Carthage was probably not incluc.ed in the name Emporia (Liry, xxix, 25-27). 3 Aristotel. Politic, ii, 8, 9 ; vi, 3. 5