NO. XXIII.—CARTHAGE.
Carthage was founded by the Tyrians about the year of the world 3158, and 846 before Christ; that is, at the period in which Joash was king of Judah. Its empire lasted about seven hundred years.
The Carthaginians were indebted to the Tyrians not only for their origin, but their manners, customs, laws, religion, and their general application to commerce. They spoke the same language with the Tyrians, and these the same with the Canaanites and Israelites; that is, the Hebrew; or at least a language entirely derived from it.
The strict union, which always subsisted between the Phœnicians and Carthaginians, is remarkable. When Cambyses had resolved to make war upon the latter, the Phœnicians, who formed the chief strength of his fleet, told him plainly, that they could not serve him against their countrymen: and this declaration obliged that prince to lay aside his design. The Carthaginians, on their side, were never forgetful of the country from whence they came, and to which they owed their origin. They sent regularly every year to Tyre a ship freighted with presents, as a quit-rent or acknowledgment, paid to their ancient country; and its tutelar gods had an annual sacrifice offered to them by the Carthaginians, who considered them as their protectors. They never failed to send thither the first fruits of their revenues, nor the tithe of the spoils taken from their enemies, or offerings to Hercules, one of the principal gods of Tyre and Carthage.
The foundation of Carthage is ascribed to Elisa, a Tyrian princess, better known by the name of Dido. She married her relation, whose name was Sichæus. Her brother was Pigmalion, king of Tyre. Sichæus being extremely rich, Pigmalion put him to death in order to seize upon his wealth; but the plan did not succeed; for Dido managed to elude his avarice, by withdrawing from the city with all her husband's possessions. Taking all these out to sea, she wandered about for some time; till, coming to the gulf, on the borders of which Utica stood, about fifteen miles from Tunis, then but too well known for its corsairs, she landed for the purpose of considering what plan it would be proper to pursue. Invited by the hope of profit, the people of the neighbouring country soon began to frequent the new settlement; and those brought others from more distant parts, and the town soon began to wear an air of importance.
Utica having also been raised by a colony from Tyre, its inhabitants entered into friendship with the new comers. They deputed envoys with considerable presents and exhorted them to build a city. This exhortation was seconded by the natives of the country. All things conspiring to so great an object, Dido immediately entered into a treaty with the natives for a certain portion of land, and having agreed to pay an annual tribute to the Africans for the ground on which the town was to stand, she built that celebrated city, so universally known, and gave it the name of Carthada, or Carthage, a word signifying the "New City[174]."
Dido was soon sought in marriage by the king of Getulia, named Iarbus. Having determined on never marrying again, out of compliment to her lost husband, Sichæus, she desired time for consideration. We must now follow the true history, and neglect the false one; that is, we must follow Justin, and altogether disregard Virgil; since, to answer the purposes of his poem, as well as those of a political nature, he has fixed the building of Carthage no less than three hundred years before the period in which it actually occurred.
Justin's account is this[175]:—"Iarbus, king of the Mauritanians, sending for ten of the principal Carthaginians, demanded Dido in marriage, threatening to declare war against her in case of refusal. The ambassadors, being afraid to deliver the message of Iarbus, told her, with punic honesty, that he wanted to have some person sent him, who was capable of civilizing and polishing himself and his Africans; but there was no possibility of finding any Carthaginian, who would be willing to quit his native place and kindred, for the conversation of barbarians, who were as savage as the wildest beasts. Here the queen, with indignation, interrupted them, asking if they were not ashamed to refuse living in any manner which might be beneficial to their country, to which they owed their lives. They then delivered the king's message, and bade her set them a pattern, and sacrifice herself to her country's welfare. Dido, being thus ensnared, called on Sichæus, with tears and lamentations, and answered that she would go where the fate of her city called her. At the expiration of three months she ascended the fatal pile, and with her last breath told the spectators, that she was going to her husband, as they had ordered her."