Carthage, the Phenician colony in Africa, which became so famous and
powerful, was very near the site of the modern city of Tunis. It has
been a point of interest for twenty centuries. Long after the Phenician
sway had passed away, and the Arab and Saracen had become lords of the
soil, Louis XI, of France, in the Crusade of 1270, took possession
of the site of the ancient city, only to give up his last breath
there, and add another to the many legends of the spot. The Spaniards
afterwards conquered Tunis and held it for a time; and, in our own day,
the French have again repossessed themselves of the country, and may
retain it long after the events of our time have passed into history.
As soon as Rome rose to assured power, and began her course of
conquest, trouble with the powerful State of Carthage ensued. Their
clashing interests soon involved them in war, and Sicily and the
Sicilian waters, being necessary to both, soon became their battle
ground.
The Carthaginians had obtained a footing in Sicily, by assisting
Roman renegades and freebooters of all nations who had taken refuge
there. The Romans therefore passed a decree directing the Consul,
Appius Claudius, to cross over to Messina and expel the Carthaginians
who, from that strong point, controlled the passage of the great
thoroughfare, the strait of the same name. Thus commenced the first
Punic war. The Romans were almost uniformly successful upon land,
but the Carthaginians, deriving nautical skill from their Phenician
ancestors, overawed, with their fleet, the whole coast of Sicily, and
even made frequent and destructive descents upon the Italian shores
themselves.
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