CARTHAGINIAN CIVILIZATION
Before the opening of the Punic wars Carthage had been much enlarged by emigrants from Tyre, after the capture of that city by Alexander. [2] The Phoenician colonists kept their own language, customs, and beliefs and did not mingle with the native African peoples. Carthage in form was a republic, but the real power lay in the hands of one hundred men, selected from the great merchant families. It was a government by capitalists who cared very little for the welfare of the poor freemen and slaves over whom they ruled. The wealth of Carthage enabled her to raise huge armies of mercenary soldiers and to build warships which in size, number, and equipment surpassed those of any other Mediterranean state. Mistress of a wide realm, strong both by land and sea, Carthage was now to prove herself Rome's most dangerous foe.
[Illustration: COLUMN OF DUILIUS (RESTORED) The Roman admiral, Duilius, who won a great victory in 260 B.C., was honored by a triumphal column set up in the Forum. The monument was adorned with the brazen beaks of the captured Carthaginian vessels. Part of the inscription, reciting the achievements of the Roman fleet, has been preserved.]
ORIGIN OF THE FIRST PUNIC WAR
The First Punic War was a contest for Sicily. The Carthaginians aimed to establish their rule over that island, which from its situation seems to belong almost as much to Africa as to Italy. But Rome, having become supreme in Italy, also cast envious eyes on Sicily. She believed, too, that the Carthaginians, if they should conquer Sicily, would sooner or later invade southern Italy. The fear for her possessions, as well as the desire to gain new ones, led Rome to fling down the gage of battle.
COURSE AND RESULTS OF THE WAR, 264-241 B.C.
The contest between the two rival states began in 264 B.C. and lasted nearly twenty-four years. The Romans overran Sicily and even made an unsuccessful invasion of Africa, but the main struggle was on the sea. Here at first the Romans were at a disadvantage, for they had no ships as large and powerful as those of the Carthaginians. With characteristic energy, however, they built several great war fleets and finally won a complete victory over the enemy. The treaty of peace provided that Carthage should abandon Sicily, return all prisoners without ransom, and pay a heavy indemnity.
THE INTERVAL OF PREPARATION, 241-218 B.C.
Carthage, though beaten, had not been humbled. She had lost Sicily and the commercial monopoly of the Mediterranean. But she was not ready to abandon all hope of recovering her former supremacy. The peace amounted to no more than an armed truce. Both parties were well aware that the real conflict was yet to come. The war, however, was delayed for nearly a quarter of a century. During this interval Rome strengthened her military position by seizing the islands of Sardinia and Corsica from Carthage and by conquering the Gauls in the Po valley. The Carthaginians, meanwhile, began to create a new empire in Spain, whose silver mines would supply fresh means for another contest and whose hardy tribes would furnish soldiers as good as the Roman legionaries.