into burning Furnaces! Sentiments fo unnatural, fo barbarous, and yet adopted by whole Nations, and those too govern'd by the fineft Policy; by the Phenicians, the Carthaginians, the Gauls, the Scythians, the very Greeks and Romans; and confecrated by the Practice of fucceffive Ages, can, have been only infpired by him who was a Murderer from the begin ning, and is only pleas'd with them the begin Mifery, and Ruin of Man. SECT. III. Form of the Government of De Rep. HE Government of Carthage was founded up on Principles of great Wifdom, and AriftoL. 2. c. 11.tle with Reafon places this Republick in the Number of thofe of the firft Efteem amongst the Antients, and fit to be a Model and a Pattern for others. He builds his Sentiment upon a Reflection which does Honour to Carthage, by remarking that down to his Time from its Foundation, a Space of more than five hundred Years, no confiderable Sedition had dif turb'd the Peace, nor any Tyrant oppress'd the Liberty of Carthage. Indeed mix'd Governments, fuch as was that of Carthage, where the Power was divided betwixt the Nobles and the People, are fubject to two Inconveniencies, either of degenerating into an Abuse of Liberty by Seditions of the Rabble, as was often the Fate of Athens and all the Gre cian Republicks, or into the Oppreffion of the publick Liberty by the Tyranny of the Nobles, as befel Athens, Syracufe, Corinth, Thebes, Rome atfelf in the Time of Sylla and Cefar. It is therefore a noble Elogy of Carthage, that fhe knew by the Wif dom of her Laws, and the happy Union of her Parties, how to preserve herself, for fo long a Succeffion of Years, from fplitting upon two Rocks, fo dange rous, and withal fo common. IT might be. wish'd that fome antient Author i had left us an exact and continued Treatife of the Customs and Laws of this famous Republick. For want of fuch Affiftance, we can only give our Reader a confus'd and impartial Idea thereof, by col- imperfec lecting the feveral Paffages that lie fcatter'd up and down in Authors. THE Government of Carthage united, like that of Sparta and Rome, three different Authorities, which balanc'd and mutually affifted, one another. These Authorities, were that of the two fupreme Magiftrates call'd Suffetes; that of the Senate; and that of the People. Afterwards was added the Tribunal of One Hundred, which had a great Influence in the Republick. The SUFFETES. THE Power of the Suffetes was only annual, and in Carthage answer'd to the Authority of the Confuls at Rome. In Authors they are frequently call'd Kings, Dictators, Confuls, because they fuftain'd the Dignity of all three. Hiftory leaves us in the Dark as to the Manner of their Election. They had a Power committed to them of affembling the Senate in which they prefided, propos'd Affairs, and collected the Suffrages; they prefided likewife in all emergent Debates. Their Authority was not fhut up within the City, nor confin'd to Civil Affairs: They had fometimes the Command of the a This Name is deriv'd from a Word which with the Hebrews and Phenicians fignifies Judges, Shophetim. Ut Romæ Confules fic Carthagine quotannis annui bini Reges creabantur. Nepos in vita Annibalis, The great Annibal once fuftain'd the Office of one of c Senatum itaque Suffetes, Cum Suffetes ad jus dicendum confediffent. Id. L. 34. n.61. Armies. Armies. It appears that in laying down the Dignity of Suffetes, they had the Name of Prætors, an Office of Confideration, as it gave them a Right of prefiding in fome Caufes; and not only fo, but a Power of propofing and enacting new Laws, and of calling to Account the Receivers of the Publick Revenues, as is feen in what Livy relates of Hannibal L. 33. n. on this Subject, and which will be afterwards re46, 47. membered. The SENATE. THE Senate, compos'd of Perfons venerable by their Years, their Experience, their Birth, their Riches, and above all by their Merit, form'd the Council of State, and were, as one may lay, the Soul of the publick Deliberations. Their Number is not precifely known: It must however have been very large, fince a hundred were taken out of it to form a separate Affembly, of which I fhall immediately have occafion to speak. In the Senate all Affairs of Confequence were treated, Letters from Generals were read, the Complaints of Provinces were heard, Ambaffadors were receiv'd to Audience, and Peace or War was decreed, as is feen on many Occafions. WHEN the Sentiments and Voices were united, then the Senate decided foveraignly, and no Appeal lay from it. When there was a Difference, and the Senate could not come to Agreement, the Affair was brought before the People, on whom the Power of deciding, in fuch Cafe, was devolv'd. It is easy to comprehend the Wisdom of this Regulation and its Fitness to crush Cabals, to foften Men's Resentments, to fupport and give a Pre-eminence to good Counfels; fuch an Affembly being extremely jea lous of its Authority, and not eafily brought to let it pafs into other Hands. A memorable Inftance L. IS. P. 983. Edit. of this is feen in Polybius. When upon the Lofs of Gronov. the the Battle, fought in Africk in the Conclufion of the fecond Punic War, the Conditions of Peace, offer'd by the Victor, were read in the Senate, Hannibal, obferving the Oppofition of one Senator, reprefented in the most lively manner, that the Safety of the Republick lying at stake, the Union of the Senate was of the laft Importance to prevent fuch a Debate from coming before the People; and he carried his Point. This doubtless laid the Foundation of the Senate's Power and great Authority in the Beginnings of that Republick: And the fame Author remarks in another place, that whilft the Senate continued Mafter of Affairs, the State was governed with great Wisdom, and fuccefsful in all its Undertakings. The PEOPLE. IT appears from every thing hitherto faid, that fo low as the Time of Ariftotle, who gives us fo fine a Draught, fo magnificent an Elogy of the Government of Carthage, the People willingly repofed the publick Care in the Senate, and left to it the chief Administration: And this it was which gave fuch Power to the Republick. It was not fo afterwards. The People, infolent by a Flow of Riches and Conquefts, and forgetting that these Bleffings were owing to the prudent Conduct of the Senate, were for having fhare in the Government, and arrogated to themselves almoft the whole Power. Publick Affairs from this Time were wholly managed by Cabals and Factions, and Polybius affigns this as one principal Caufe of the Ruin of the State. The TRIBUNAL of the HUNDRED. THEY were a Society compos'd of a Hundred and four Perfons; tho' often for brevity they are only called the Hundred. They were, according to Ariftotle, Ariftotle, at Carthage, what the Ephori were at Sparta. From which it appears, that they were inftituted to balance the Power of the Nobles and Senate: But with this Difference betwixt them and the Ephori, that the latter were only five in number, and annually elected, whereas thefe were perpetual, and exceeded a hundred in number. It is believ'd that thefe Centumvirs are the fame with the L. 19. c.2. hundred Judges mention'd by Juftin, who were A. M. 3609. 487th drawn out of the Senate, and created to bring the Generals to account for their Conduct. The exorTear of bitant Power of Mago's Family, which had enCarthage. grofs'd the first Employs of the State and the Army, and render'd itself Master of all Affairs, gave Rife to this Establishment. It was intended to curb the Authority of the Generals, which, while Armies were in the Field, was almoft boundless and abfolute; but by this Inftitution it became subject to the Laws by a Neceffity thus impos'd upon the Generals of rendering an Account of their Actions before thefe Judges on their Return from Juftin. the Campaign, Ut hoc metu ita in bello imperia coloco cita- gitarent, ut domi Judicia Legefque refpicerent. Of to. thefe Hundred Judges Five had a particular and fuperior Jurifdiction to the reft: It is not known how long their Authority lafted. This Council of Five resembled the Council of Ten in the Venetian Senate. A Vacancy in their Number could only be fill'd up by themfelves. They had likewife a Power of choofing thofe who compos'd the Council of the Hundred. An Authority fo great made the Electors careful to put in none but Perfons of uncommon Merit: Nor was it thought proper to annex any Salary or Reward to the Office, the fingle Motive of the publick Good being thought a Tie fufficient to engage honeft Men to a confciL. 10. p. entious and faithful Difcharge of their Duty. Po824. Edit.lybius, in his Account of the taking of New Car Gronov. thage by Scipio, diftinguishes clearly two Orders of Magistrates |