By The Same Law, The Scribes, And The Clerks, And Attendants Of
The Quaestors, Were Prohibited From Trading; And Thus The Liberty Of
Commerce Was Exclusively Confined To The Plebeians.
Whilst Hannibal threatened the Romans in the vicinity of Rome itself, they
had neither leisure, inclination, or means, to cope with the Carthaginians
by sea; at length, however, Marcellus, having checked the enemy in Italy,
maritime affairs were again attended to.
Scipio, who had been successful in
Spain, resolved to attempt the reduction of New Carthage: this place was
situated, like Old Carthage, on a peninsula betwixt a port and a lake: its
harbour was extremely commodious, and large enough to receive and shelter
any fleet. As it was the capital of the Carthaginian dominions in Spain,
here were deposited all their naval stores, machines used in war, besides
immense treasures. It was on this account extremely well fortified, and to
attempt to take it by a regular siege seemed to Scipio impracticable: he,
therefore, formed a plan to take it by surprise, and this plan he
communicated to C. Laelius, the commander of the fleet, who was his intimate
friend. The Roman fleet was to block up the port by sea, while Scipio was
to blockade it by land. The ignorance of the Romans with regard to one of
the most common and natural phenomena of the sea, is strongly marked in the
course of this enterprise. Scipio knew that when the tide ebbed, the port
of New Carthage would become dry and accessible by land; but his soldiers,
and even his officers, were ignorant of the nature of the tides, and they
firmly believed that Neptune had wrought a miracle in their favour, when,
according to Scipio's prediction, the tide retired, and the army was thus
enabled to capture the town, the walls of which on that side were extremely
low, the Carthaginians having directed all their attention and efforts to
the opposite side.
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