SECT. III. Defects in the government of Carthage IV. Trade of Carthage, the first source of its wealth and power 100 VIII. The character, manners, and qualities, of the Carthaginians 98 PART II. The history of the Carthaginians CHAP. I. The foundation of Carthage, and its aggrandizement, till The Libyan war; or against the mercenaries The remote and more immediate causes of the second Punic war 161 The interval between the second and third Punic war. SECT. I. Continuation of the history of Hannibal Hannibal undertakes and completes the reformation of the courts of justice, and the treasury of Carthage Hannibal's retreat and death PREFACE. The Usefulness of Profane History, especially with What is to be ob besides the events and chronology. THE study of profane history would little deserve to have a serious attention, and a considerable served in history, length of time bestowed upon it, if it were confined to the bare knowledge of ancient transactions, and an uninteresting inquiry into the æras when each of them happened. It little concerns us to know that there were once such men as Alexander, Cæsar, Aristides, or Cato, and that they lived in this or that period; that the empire of the Assyrians made way for that of the Babylonians, and the latter for the empire of the Medes and Persians, who were themselves subjected by the Macedonians, as these were afterwards by the Romans. 1. The causes of the rise and fall of empires. But it highly concerns us to know by what methods those empires were founded; by what steps they rose to that exalted pitch of grandeur which we so much admire; what it was that constituted their true glory and felicity; and what were the causes of their declension and fall. 2. The genius and character of na great persons that governed them. It is of no less importance to study attentively the manners of different nations; their genius, tions, and of the laws, and customs; and especially to acquaint ourselves with the character and disposition, the talents, virtues, and even vices, of those by whom they were governed; and whose good or bad qualities contributed to the grandeur or decay of the states over which they presided. Such are the great objects which ancient history presents; causing to pass, as it were, in review before us, all the kingdoms and empires of the world; and at the same time, all the great men who were any ways conspicuous: thereby instructing us, by example rather than precept, in the arts of empire and war, the principles of government, the rules of policy, the maxims of civil society, and the conduct of life that suits all ages and conditions. 3. The origin and progress of arts and sciences. We acquire, at the same time, another knowledge, which cannot but excite the attention of all persons who have a taste and inclination for polite learning; I mean the manner in which arts and sciences were invented, cultivated, and improved. We there dis VOL. I. b cover, and trace as it were with the eye, their origin and progress; and perceive, with admiration, that the nearer we approach those countries which were once inhabited by the sons of Noah, in the greater perfection we find the arts and sciences; whereas they seem to be either neglected or forgotten, in proportion to the remoteness of nations from them; so that, when men attempted to revive those arts and sciences, they were obliged to go back to the source from whence they originally flowed. I give only a transient view of these objects, though so very important, in this place, because I have already treated them at some length elsewhere." 4. The connexion between sacred and profane his tory, is especially to be observed. But another object of infinitely greater importance claims our attention. For although profane history treats only of nations who had imbibed all the absurdities of a superstitious worship, and abandoned themselves to all the irregularities of which human nature, after the fall of the first man, became capable; it nevertheless proclaims universally the greatness of the Almighty, his power, his justice, and, above all, the admirable wisdom with which his providence governs the universe. If the inherent conviction of this last truth raised, according to Cicero's observation, the Romans above all other nations; we may, in like manner, affirm, that nothing gives history a greater superiority to many branches of literature, than to see in a manner imprinted, in almost every page of it, the precious footsteps and shining proofs of this great truth, viz. that God disposes all events as supreme Lord and Sovereign; that he alone determines the fate of kings and the duration of empires; and that he transfers the government of kingdoms from one nation to another, because of the unrighteous dealings and wickedness committed therein. He presided at the dispersion of men, after the flood. We discover this important truth in going back to the most remote antiquity, and the origin of profane history; I mean, to the dispersion of the posterity of Noah into the several countries of the earth where they settled. Liberty, chance, views of interest, a love for certain countries, and similar motives, were, in outward appearance, the only causes of the different choice which men made in these various migrations. But the Scriptures inform us, that amidst the trouble and confusion that followed the sudden change in the language of Noah's descendants, God presided invisibly over all their counsels and deliberations; that nothing was transacted but by the Almighty's appointment; and that he alone guided and settled all mankind, agreeably to the dictates of his mercy and a Ecclus. x. 8. * Vol. iii. and iv. Of the Method of teaching and studying the Belles Lettres, &c. + Pietate ac religione, atque hác und sapientiâ quòd deorum immortalium numine omnia regi gubernarique perspeximus, omnes gentes nationesque superavimus. Orat. de Arusp. resp. n. 19. The ancients themselves, according to Pindar, (Olymp. Od. vii.) had retained some idea, that the dispersion of men was not the effect of chance, but that they had been settled in different countries by the appointment of Providence. justice: The Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth. It is true, indeed, that God, even in those early ages, had a peculiar regard for that people, whom he was one day to consider as his own. He pointed out the country which he designed for them; he caused it to be possessed by another laborious nation, who applied themselves to cultivate and adorn it; and to improve the future inheritance of the Israelites. He then fixed, in that country, the like number of families as were to be settled in it, when the sons of Israel should, at the appointed time, take possession of it; and did not suffer any of the nations, which were not subject to the curse pronounced by Noah against Canaan, to enter upon an inheritance that was to be given up entirely to the Israelites. * Quan do dividebat Altissimus gentes, quando separabat filios Adam, constituit terminos populorum juxta numerum filiorum Israel. But this peculiar regard of God to his future people, does not interfere with that which he had for the rest of the nations of the earth, as is evident from the many passages of Scripture, which teach us, that the entire succession of ages is present to him; that nothing is transacted in the whole universe, but by his appointment; and that he directs the several events of it from age to age. c Tu es Deus conspector seculorum. A seculo usque in seculum respicis. We must therefore consider, as an indisputable principle, and as the basis and foundation of the study of profane history, that the providence of the Almighty has, from all eternity, appointed the establishment, duration, and destruction of kingdoms and empires, as well in regard to the general plan of the whole universe, known only to God, who constitutes the order and wonderful harmony of its several parts; as particularly with respect to the people of Israel, and still more with regard to the Messiah, and the establishment of the Church, which is his great work, the end and design of all his other works, and ever present to his sight; Notum à seculo est Domino opus suum. God alone has all empires, both fixed the fate of with respect to his own people, and the reign of his Son. d God has vouchsafed to discover to us, in Holy Scripture, a part of the relation of the several nations of the earth to his own people; and the little so discovered, diffuses great light over the history of those nations, of whom we shall have but a very imperfect idea, unless we have recourse to the inspired writers. They alone display, and bring to light, the secret thoughts of princes, their incoherent projects, their foolish pride, their impious and cruel ambition they reveal the true causes and hidden springs of victories and overthrows; of the grandeur and declension of nations; the rise and ruin of states; and teach us, what indeed is the principal benefit to be derived from history, the judgment which the Al c Ecclus. xxxvi. 17. xxxix. 19. d Acts xv. 18. b Gen. xi. 8, 9. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (whom he had in view). This is one of the interpretations given to this passage. Vide Bp. Mant's Bible. Deut. xxxii. 8. |