sent ambassadors to Rome. The answer given them was obscure. They were
requested to make reparation to Rome, and at the same time they were
assured that nothing should be undertaken against Carthage herself.
But in 149 the Consuls crossed with a large army into Sicily, where the
troops were organized, and Carthaginian ambassadors were expected.

When they appeared, the Consuls declared that the Senate did not wish to
encroach upon the freedom of the people, but only desired some security;
for this purpose it demanded that, within thirty days, three hundred
children of the noblest families should be delivered into their hands
as hostages. This demand was met. The Romans then coolly crossed over
to Africa, and informed the Carthaginians that they were ready to treat
with them on any question not previously settled.

When the ambassadors again appeared before the Consuls, they were told
that Carthage must deliver over all her arms and artillery; for, they
said, as Rome was able to protect her, there was no need of Carthage
possessing arms. Hard as was this command, it was obeyed. They were then
told that Carthage had indeed shown her good will, but that Rome had no
control over the city so long as it was fortified. The preservation of
peace, therefore, required that the people should quit the city, give
up their navy, and build a new town without walls at a distance of ten
miles from the sea. The indignation and fury which this demand excited
were intense. The gates were instantly closed, and all the Romans and
Italians who happened to be within the city were massacred.

The Romans, who expected to find a defenceless population, imagined
that the storming of the place would be an easy matter. But despair had
suggested to the Carthaginians means of defence in every direction.
All assaults were repelled. Everybody was engaged day and night in the
manufacture of arms. Nothing can be more heartrending than this last
struggle of despair. Every man and every woman labored to the uttermost
for the defence of the city with a furious enthusiasm.

Two years after the siege began, PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS,
the Younger, was elected Consul while but thirty-seven (under the legal
age), for the express purpose of giving him charge of the siege. After
two years of desperate fighting and splendid heroism on the part of the
defenders, the famished garrison could hold out no longer.

Carthage fell in 146, and the ruins of the c