The government of Carthage,[530] like that of Sparta and Rome, united three different authorities, which counterpoised and gave mutual assistance to one another. These authorities were, that of the two supreme magistrates, called Suffetes;[531] [pg 099] that of the Senate; and that of the people. There afterwards was added the tribunal of One Hundred, which had great credit and influence in the republic.
The Suffetes.—The power of the Suffetes was only annual, and their authority in Carthage answered to that of the consuls at Rome.[532] In authors they are frequently called kings, dictators, consuls, because they exercised the functions of all three. History does not inform us of the manner of their election. They were empowered to assemble the senate;[533] in which they presided, proposed subjects for deliberation, and collected the votes;[534] and they likewise presided in all debates on matters of importance. Their authority was not limited to the city, nor confined to civil affairs: they sometimes had the command of the armies. We find, that when their employment of Suffetes expired, they were made prætors, which was a considerable office, since, besides conferring upon them the privilege of presiding in some causes, it also empowered them to propose and enact new laws, and call to account the receivers of the public revenues, as appears from what Livy relates[535] concerning Hannibal on this head, and which I shall take notice of in the sequel.
The Senate.—The Senate, composed of persons who were venerable on account of their age, their experience, their birth, their riches, and especially their merit, formed the council of state; and were, if I may use that expression, the soul of the public deliberations. Their number is not exactly known: it must, however, have been very great, since a hundred were selected from it to form a separate assembly, of which I shall immediately have occasion to speak. In the senate, all affairs of consequence were debated, the letters from generals read, the complaints of provinces heard, ambassadors admitted to audience, and peace or war determined, as is seen on many occasions.
When the sentiments and votes were unanimous, the senate [pg 100] decided supremely, and there lay no appeal from it.[536] When there was a division, and the senate could not be brought to an agreement, the affair was then laid before the people, on whom the power of deciding thereby devolved. The reader will easily perceive the great wisdom of this regulation: and how happily it was adapted to crush factions, to produce harmony, and to enforce and corroborate good counsels; such an assembly being extremely jealous of its authority, and not easily prevailed upon to let it pass into other hands. Of this we have a memorable instance in Polybius.[537] When after the loss of the battle fought in Africa, at the end of the second Punic war, the conditions of peace offered by the victor were read in the senate; Hannibal, observing that one of the senators opposed them, represented in the strongest terms, that as the safety of the republic lay at stake, it was of the utmost importance for the senators to be unanimous in their resolutions, to prevent such a debate from coming before the people; and he carried his point. This, doubtless, laid the foundation, in the infancy of the republic, of the senate's power, and raised its authority to so great a height. And the same author observes, in another place,[538] that whilst the senate had the administration of affairs, the state was governed with great wisdom, and was successful in all its enterprises.
The People.—It appears from every thing related hitherto, that even so low as Aristotle's time, who gives so beautiful a picture, and bestows so noble an eulogium on the government of Carthage, the people spontaneously left the care of public affairs, and the chief administration of them, to the senate: and this it was which made the republic so powerful. But things changed afterwards. For the people, grown insolent by their wealth and conquests, and forgetting that they owed these blessings to the prudent conduct of the senate, were desirous of having a share in the government, and arrogated to themselves almost the whole power. From that period, the public affairs were transacted wholly by cabals and factions: and this Polybius assigns as one of the chief causes of the ruin of Carthage.
The Tribunal of the Hundred.—This was a body composed [pg 101] of a hundred and four persons; though often, for brevity's sake, they are called only, the Hundred. These, according to Aristotle, were the same in Carthage, as the Ephori in Sparta; whence it appears, that they were instituted to balance the power of the nobles and senate: but with this difference, that the Ephori were but five in number, and continued in office but a year; whereas these were perpetual, and were upwards of a hundred.
A.M. 3609. A. Carth. 487.
It is believed, that these Centumviri are the same with the hundred judges mentioned by Justin,[539] who were taken out of the senate, and appointed to inquire into the conduct of their generals. The exorbitant power of Mago's family, which, by its engrossing the chief employments both of the state and the army, had thereby the sole direction and management of all affairs, gave occasion to this establishment. It was intended as a curb to the authority of their generals, which, whilst the armies were in the field, was almost boundless and absolute; but, by this institution, it became subject to the laws, by the obligation their generals were under, of giving an account of their actions before these judges on their return from the campaign: Ut hoc metu ita in bello imperia cogitarent, ut domi judicia legesque respicerent.[540] Of these hundred and four judges, five had a particular jurisdiction superior to that of the rest; but it is not known how long their authority lasted. This council of five was like the council of ten in the Venetian senate. A vacancy in their number could be filled by none but themselves. They also had the power of choosing those who composed the council of the hundred. Their authority was very great, and for that reason none were elected into this office but persons of uncommon merit; and it was not judged proper to annex any salary or reward to it; the single motive of the public good, being thought a tie sufficient to engage honest men to a conscientious and faithful discharge of their duty. Polybius, in his account of the taking of New Carthage by Scipio,[541] distinguishes clearly two orders of magistrates established in Old Carthage; for he says, that among the prisoners taken at New Carthage, were two magistrates belonging to the body or assembly of old men, ἐκ τῆς Γερουσίας: so he calls the council of the hundred; [pg 102] and fifteen of the senate, ἐκ τῆς Συγκλήτου. Livy mentions[542] only the fifteen of the senators; but, in another place, he names the old men; and tells us, that they formed the most venerable council of the government, and had great authority in the senate. Carthaginenses—Oratores ad pacem petendam mittunt triginta seniorum principes. Id erat sanctius apud illos concilium, maximaque ad ipsum senatum regendum vis.[543]
Establishments, though constituted with the greatest wisdom and the justest harmony of parts, degenerate, however insensibly, into disorder and the most destructive licentiousness. These judges, who by the lawful execution of their power were a terror to transgressors, and the great pillars of justice, abusing their almost unlimited authority, became so many petty tyrants.
A.M. 3082. A. Carth. 682.