ity prepared to make a last stand against an
inexorable enemy. The most violent feelings of hatred and rage, added to
those of despair, at last animated the people of Carthage. It was the same
passion which arrayed Tyre against Alexander, and Jerusalem against Titus.
It was a wild patriotic frenzy which knew no bounds, inspired by the
instinct of self-preservation, and aside from all calculation of success
or failure. As the fall of the city was inevitable, wisdom might have
counseled an unreserved submission. Resistance should have been thought of
before. In fact, Carthage should not have yielded to the first Africanus.
And when she had again become rich and populous, she should have defied
the Romans when their spirit was perceived--should have made a more gallant
defense against Masinissa, and concentrated all her energies for a last
stand upon her own territories. But why should we thus speculate? The doom
of Carthage had been pronounced by the decrees of fate. The fall has all
the mystery and solemnity of a providential event, like the fall of all
empires, like the defeat of Darius by Alexander, like the ruin of
Jerusalem, like the melting away of North American Indians, like the final
overthrow of the "Eternal City" itself.

(M898) The desperation of the city in her last conflict proves, however,
that, with proper foresight and patriotism, her fall might have been
delayed, for it took the Romans three years to subdue her. The disarmed
city withstood the attack of the Romans for a period five times as long as
it required Vespasian and Titus to capture Jerusalem. The city resounded
day and night with the labors of men and women on arms and catapults. One
hundred and forty shields, three hundred swords, five hundred spears, and
one thousand missiles were manufactured daily, and even a fleet of one
hundred and fifty ships was built during the siege. The land side of the
city was protected by a triple wall, and the rocks of Cape Camast and Cape
Carthage sheltered it from all attacks by sea, except one side protected
by fortified harbors and quays. Hasdrubal, with the remnant of his army,
was still in the field, and took up his station at Nephesis, on the
opposite side of the lake of Tunis, to harass the besiegers. Masinissa
died at the age of ninety, soon after hostilities began.

(M899) The first attack on Carthage was a failure, and the army of the
Consuls Censorinus and Manius Manilius would have been cut to pieces,