yoke; that there shou.d be a renewal of the ancient equal alliance between Rome and Samnium, and a restoration of all places that had been dependent upon Samnium before the war. For the fulfil ment of these stipulations the consuls gave their oaths in the name of the republic, and Pontius retained six hundred Roman knights as hostages.

38. But notwithstanding the recent disaster, and the hard fate that might be anticipated for the hostages, the Roman senate imme diately declared the peace null and void, and decreed that those who had sworn to it should be given up to the Samnites, as persons who had deceived them. In vain did Pontius demand either that the whole army should be again placed in his power, or that the terms of capitulation should be strictly fulfilled; but he showed magnanimity of soul in refusing to accept the consuls and other officers whom the Romans would have given up to his vengeance. Not long after, the six hundred hostages were restored, but on what conditions is unknown.

XV. THIRD
SAMNITE

WAR.

39. The war, being again renewed, was continued with brief intervals of truce, during a period of thirty years; and although the Sam nites were at times aided by Umbrians,' Etrus' cans and Gauls, the desperate valor of the Romans repeatedly triumphed over all opposition. The last great battle which occurred fifty-one years from the commencement of the first Samnite war, and which decided the contest between Rome and Samnium, has not name in history, and the place where it was fought is unknown, but its importance is gathered from the common statement that twenty thousand Samnites were left dead on the field and four thousand taken prisoners, and that among the latter was Pontius himself. (B. C. 292.) He was led in chains to grace the triumph of the Roman general, but the senate tarnished its honor by ordering the old man to execution. (291 B. C.) One year after the defeat of Pontius, the Samnites submitted to the terms dictated by the conquerors. (290 B. C.)

40. The Samnite wars had made the Romans acquainted with the Grecian cities on the eastern coast, and it was not long before they found a pretext for war with Taren' tum, the wealthiest of the Greek towns of Italy. The Tarentines, abandoned to ease and luxury, had often employed mercenary Gre

XVI. WAR

WITH THE TALENTINES.

i. Um' bria, the territory of the Umbrians, was east of Etruria on the left bank of the Tiber and north of the Sabine territory. (Maps Nos. VIII, and X.)

cian troops in their wars with the rude tribes by which they were surrounded, and now, when pressed by the Romans, they again had recourse to foreign aid, and applied for protection to Pyr' rhus, king of Epirus, who has previously been brought under our notice in ccnnection with events in Grecian history. (See p. 105.)

41. Pyr' rhus, ambitious, of military fame, accepted the invitation of the Tarentines, and passed over to Taren' tum at the head of an army of nearly thirty thousand men, having among his forces twenty elephants, the first of those animals that had been seen in Italy. In the first battle, which was fought with the consul Lævínus, seven times was Pyr' rhus beaten back, and to his elephants he was finally indebted for his victory. (280 B. C.) The valor and military skill of the Romans astonished Pyr' rhus, who had expected to encounter only a horde of barbarians. As he passed over the field of battle after the fight, and marked the bodies of the Romans who had fallen in their ranks without turning their backs, and observed their countenances, stern even in death, he is said to have exclaimed in admiration: "With what ease I could conquer the world had I the Romans for soldiers, or had they me for their king."

42. Pyr' rhus now tried the arts of negotiation, and for this purpose sent to Rome his friend Cineas, the orator, who is said to have won more towns by his eloquence than Pyr' rhus by his arms; but all his proposals of peace were rejected, and Cineas returned filled with admiration of the Romans, whose city he said, was a temple, and their senate an assembly of kings. The war was renewed, and in a second battle Pyr' rhus gained a dearly-bought victory, for he left the flower of his troops on the field. "One more such victory," he replied to those who congratulated him, "and I am undone " 279 B. C.)

43. It is related that while the armies were facing cach other the third time, a letter was brought to Fabricius, the Roman consul and commander, from the physician of Pyr' rhus, offering, for a suitable reward, to poison the king, and that Fabricius thereupon nobly informed Pyrrhus of the treachery that was plotted against him. When the message was brought to Pyr' rhus, he was astonished at the generosity of his enemy, and exclaimed, "It would be easier to turn the sun from his course than Fabricius from the path of honor." Not to be outdone in magnanimity he released all his prisoners without ransom, and soon after, withdrawing his forces, passed over into Sicily, where his aid had been requested by the

Greek cities against the Carthaginians. (276 B. C. See p 121.) Ke turning to Italy after an absence of three years, he renewed hostilities with the Romans, but was defeated in a great battle by the consul Curius Dentatus, after which he left Italy with precipitation, and sought to renew his broken fortunes in the Grecian wars. The de parture of Pyr' rhus was soon followed, by the fall of Taren' tum and the establishment of Roman supremacy over all Italy, from the Rubicon' and the Arnus, on the northern frontier of Umbria and Etruria, to the Sicilian straits, and from the Tuscan sea to the Adriat' ic.

44. Sovereigns of all Italy, the Romans now began to extend their Influence abroad. Two years after the defeat of Pyr' rhus, Ptol' emy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, sought the friendship and alliance of Rome by embassy, and the Roman senate honored the proposal by sending ambassadors in return, with rich presents, to Alexandria. An interference with the affairs of Sicily, soon after, brought on a war with Carthage, at this time a powerful republic, superior in strength and resources to the Roman. From this period the Roman annals begin to embrace the histories of surrounding nations, and the circle rapidly enlarges until all the then known world is drawn within the vortex of Roman ambition.

X

SECTION III.

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, FROM THE BEGINNING OF LE CARTHAGINIAN WARS, 263 B. C, TO THE REDUCTION OF GREECE AND CARTHAGE TO THE CONDITION OF ROMAN PROVINCES: 146 B. C. 117 YEARS.

ANALYSIS. 1. Geographical account of CARTHAGE. [Tunis.]-2. African dominions of Carthage. Foreign possessions. Trade. [Sardinia. Corsica. Balearic Isles. Malta.-3 Circumstances of Roman interference in the affairs of Sicily.-4. Commencement of the FIRST PUNIC WAR. The Carthaginians driven from Sicily. The Romans take Agrigentum.-5. The Carthaginians ravage Italy. Building of the first Roman fleet. First naval encounter with the

1. The Rubicon, which formed in part the boundary between Italy proper and Cisalpine Gaul, is a small stream which falls into the Adriat' ic, eighteen or twenty miles south of Rav enna. (Map No. VIII.)

2. The river Arnus (now the Arno) was the boundary of Etruria on the north until the time of Augustus. On both its banks stood Florentia, the modern Florence; and eight tiles from Its mouth, on its right bank, stood Pisa, the modern Pisa. (Map No. VIII.)

3. The Tuscan Sea was that part of the Mediterranean which extended along the coat of Etruria or Tuscany. (Map No. VIII.)

Car'hagin ans.-6. Roman design of carrying the war into Africa. Second defeat of the Car haginians.-7. Regulus invades the Carthaginian territory. His first successes, and final defeat. [Hermæan promontory. Clypea.]-8. Roman disasters on the sea. Reduction of he Roman fleet. Roman victory in Sicily.-9. Regulus is sent to Rome with proposals of place. His return to Carthage, and subsequent fate.-10. Subsequent events of the war. Conditions of the peace, and extension of the Roman dominion.

11. General peace. Circumstances that led to the ILLYRIAN WAR. [Illyrians.]-12. Re eults of the war. Gratitude of the Greeks. WAR WITH THE GAULS. [Clastidium.]--13. Ham'. ucar's designs upon Spain. His enmity to the Romans. [Spain.]-14. Progress of the Cartha ginians in Spain. Hannibal's conquests there. Roman embassy to Carthage. [Saguntum, Iberus. Catalonia.]

15. Opening of the SECOND PUNIC WAR. Plans of the opposing generals. Hannibal's march tc Italy. Battles on the Ticinus and the Trebia. [Gaul. Marseilles. Turin. Ticinus. Numidia. R. Po. Trebia.]-16. Battles of Trasimenus and Cannæ. [Trasimenus. Cannæ.}-17, Defection from the cause of Rome. Courage, and renewed efforts, of the Romans.--18. Hannibal at Capua. Successful tactics of Fabius Maximus. Hasdrubal. Fall of Syracuse. [Metaurus. Archimèdes.]--19. Scipio carries the war into Africa. His successes. Recal of Hannibal, Yom Italy. [Utica.]-20. Confidence of the Carthaginians in Hannibal. Battle of Zama. The erins of peace. Triumph of Scipio. [Zama.]

21. The distresses which the war had brought upon the Romans. Their unconquerable spirit, and renewed prosperity.-22. State of the world-favorable to the advancement of the Roman republic.-23. A GRECIAN WAR.-24. SYRIAN WAR. Terms of the peace. Disposal of the conquered provinces. [Magnesia. Pergamus.]-25. The fate of Hannibal and Scipio.-26 Reduction of Greece. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. Relations of the Carthaginians and Romans since the battle of Zama.-27. Condition of Carthage. Roman armament. Demands of the Romans.-28. The exasperated Carthaginians prepare for war.-29. Events and results of the rontest. Destruction of Carthage, 146 B. C.

1. Carthage, believed to have been founded by a Phoenician colony from Tyre in the ninth century before the Christian era, was situated on a peninsula of the northern coast of Africa, about I. CARTHAGE twelve miles, according to Livy, north-east from the

modern city of Tunis,' but, according to some modern writers, only three or four miles. Probably the city extended over a great part of the space between Tunis and Cape Carthage. Its harbor was southward from the city, and was entered from what is now the Gulf of Tunis. 2

2. The Carthaginians early assumed and maintained a dominion over the surrounding Libyan tribes. 3 Their territory was bounded on the east by the Grecian Cyrenáica; their trading posts extended westward along the coast to the pillars of Hercules; and among their foreign possessions may be enumerated their depen

Tunis is about four miles from the sea, and three miles south-west from the ruins of ancient Carthage. Among these ruins have been discovered numerous reservoirs or large cisterns, and the remains of a grand aqueduct which brought water to the city from a distance of at least fifty miles. According to Strabo, Tunis, or Tunes, existed before the foundation of Carthago The chief events in the history of Tunis are its numerous seiges and captures Bee pp 335-510. Map No. VIII.)

dencies in south-western Spain, in Sicily, and in Sardinia,' Corsica,' the Balearic Isles, and Malta.* 4 It is believed that they carried on an extensive caravan trade with the African nations as far as the Niger; and it is known that they entered into a commercial treaty with Rome in the latter part of the sixth century; yet few details of their history are known to us previous to the beginning of the first Carthaginian war with Syracuse, about 480 B. C. ~

3. At the time to which we have brought down the details of Ro an history, the Mamertines, a band of Campanian mercenaries, who had been employed in Sicily by a former king, having established themselves in the island, and obtained possession of Messána, by fraud and injustice, quarrelled among themselves, one party seeking the protection of Carthage, and the other that of Rome. The Greck towns of Sicily were for the most part already in friendly alliance with the Carthaginians, who had long been aiming at the com. plete possession of the island; and the Romans did not hesitate to avail themselves of the most trifling pretexts to defeat the ambitious designs of their rivals. 7

4. The first Punica war commenced 263 years B. C., eight years after the surrender of Taren' tum, when the Romans PUNIC WAR. made a descent upon Sicily with a large army under the

II. FIRST

1. Sardinia is a hilly but fertile island of the Mediterranean, about one hundred and thirty miles south-west from the nearest Italian coast. At an early period the Carthaginians formed settlements there, but the shores of the island fell into the hands of the Romans in the interval between the first and second Punic wars, 237 B. C. The inhabitants of the interior bravely defended themselves, and were never completely subdued by the Roman arms. (Map No. VIII.) 2. Corsica lies directly north of Sardinia, from which it is separated by the strait of Bonifacio, len miles in width in the narrowest part. Some Greeks from Phócis settled here at an early period, but were driven out by the Carthaginians. The Romans took the island from the .stler 231 B. C. (Map No. VIII.)

3. The Balearic Isles were those now known as Majorca and Minorca, the former of which is one hundred and ten miles east from the coast of Spain. By some the ancient Ebusus, now foca, is ranked among the Baleares. The term Balearic is derived from the Greek word ballein, "to throw,”—alluding to the remarkable skill of the inhabitants in using the sling At an early date the Phoenicians formed settlements in the Baleares. They were succeeded by he Carthaginians, from whom the Romans, under Q. Metellus, conquered these islands 123 B. C. (Map No. IX.)

4. Malta, whose ancient name was Melita, is an island of the Mediterranean, sixty miles south from Sicily. The Phoenicians early planted a colony here. It fell into the hands of the Carthaginians about four hundred years before the Christian era, and in the second Punic war t was conquered by the Romans, who made it an appendage of their province of Sicily. See als p. 469. (Map No. VIII.)

a. The term Punic means simply 'Carthaginian." It is a word of Greek origin, phoinikes, In its sense of purple, which the Greeks applied to Phoenicians and Carthaginians, in allusion to the famous purple or crimson of Tyre, the parent city of Carthage. The Romans, adapting the word to the analogy of the Latin tongue, changed it to Punicus, whence the English we Punic.