ss patient in
undergoing fatigues, than ingenious in finding expedients. By pumps, which
Archimedes had invented when in Egypt, the Romans afterwards threw up the
water out of these pits, and quite drained them. Numberless multitudes of
slaves perished in these mines, which were dug to enrich their masters;
who treated them with the utmost barbarity, forced them by heavy stripes
to labour, and gave them no respite either day or night.

Polybius, as quoted by Strabo,(547) says, that, in his time, upwards of
forty thousand men were employed in the mines near _Nova Carthago_; and
furnished the Romans every day with twenty-five thousand drachmas, or
eight hundred fifty-nine pounds seven shillings and sixpence.(548)

We must not be surprised to see the Carthaginians, soon after the greatest
defeats, sending fresh and numerous armies again into the field; fitting
out mighty fleets, and supporting, at a great expense, for many years,
wars carried on by them in far-distant countries. But it must appear
surprising to us that the Romans should be capable of doing the same; they
whose revenues were very inconsiderable before those great conquests which
subjected to them the most powerful nations; and who had no resources,
either from trade, to which they were absolute strangers, or from gold or
silver mines, which were very rarely found in Italy, in case there were
any; and the expenses of which must, for that very reason, have swallowed
up all the profit. The Romans, in the frugal and simple life they led, in
their zeal for the public welfare, and their love for their country,
possessed funds which were not less ready or secure than those of
Carthage, but at the same time were far more honourable to their nation.

SECT. VI. WAR.--Carthage must be considered as a trading, and, at the same
time, a warlike republic. Its genius and the nature of its government led
it to traffic; and it became warlike, first, from the necessity the
Carthaginians were under of defending themselves against the neighbouring
nations, and afterwards from a desire of extending their commerce and
empire. This double idea gives us, in my opinion, the true plan and
character of the Carthaginian republic. We have already spoken of its
commerce.

The military power of the Carthaginians consisted in their alliances with
kings; in tributary nations, from which they drew both men and money; in
some troops raised from among their own citizens; and in mercenary
so