--The narrative must here be interrupted by
an account of the political and religious development of Phoenician
Carthage. Carthage was an aristocratic republic based on wealth rather
than on birth. Indeed, the popular party, which included certain noble
families such as the Barcidae, was always powerful, and thus
government by demagogues was not infrequent. So Aristotle, writing
about 330, emphasizes the importance of great wealth in Carthaginian
politics. The government was in fact a plutocracy. The aristocratic
party was represented by the two suffetes and the senate; the
democratic by the popular assembly. The suffetes (_Sofetim_) presided
in the senate and controlled the civil administration; the office was
annual, but there was no limit to re-election. Hannibal was elected
for twenty-two years. The senate, which, like that of Tyre, was
composed of 300 members, exercised ultimate control over all public
affairs, decided on peace and war, nominated the Commission of Ten,
which was charged with aiding and controlling the suffetes. This
commission was subsequently replaced, by a council of one hundred,
called by the Greeks _gerousia_. This tribunal, which maintained law
and order and called the generals to account, gradually became a
tyrannical inquisition. Frequently it met at night in the Temple of
Eshmun On Byrsa, in secret sessions described by Aristotle as [Greek:
sussitia ton hetairion].

The popular assembly was composed, not of all the citizens, but of the
_timuchi_ (Gr. [Greek: time, echein]), i.e. those who possessed a
certain property-qualification. The election of the suffetes had to be
ratified by this assembly. The two bodies were almost always in
opposition, and this was one of the chief causes of the ruin of
Carthage.

The army was recruited externally by senators who were sent to the
great _emporia_ or trade-centres, even to the most remote, to contract
with local princes for men and officers. The payments, agreed upon in
this way, were frequently in arrears; hence the terrible revolts such
as that of the "bellum inexpiabile." It was not till the 3rd century
that Carthage, in imitation of the kings of Syria and Egypt, began to
make use of elephants in war. The elephant used was the African type
(_elephas capensis_), which was smaller than the Asiatic (_elephas
indicus_), though with longer ears. In addition to the mercenaries,