Carthage had become, by the political and commercial energy of her
citizens, the leading Phœnician state, ruling over Utica, Hippo, Leptis,
and other cities of Phœnician origin in northern Africa. The
Carthaginians paid also great attention to agriculture, and the whole of
their territory was cultivated like a garden, supplying the population
with abundance of food. This fact, taken with the wealth derived from
her commerce, explains how it was that a city with no large extent of
territory was enabled to hold out so long against the utmost efforts of
Rome, and at one period to bring her, as it seemed, to the verge of
ruin.
The political constitution of Carthage was that of an oligarchical
republic, and her aristocracy is famed for the number of able men that
came from its ranks. On the other hand, she was weakened by being
dependent on mercenary troops in her wars, subject to revolts at home
among the native populations whom she oppressed, and hampered by the
factious spirit prevalent among her leading men.
She had a great commercial genius, but no gift for assimilating
conquered peoples, or for establishing an empire on a solid and enduring
basis, and therefore, in the end, she succumbed to Rome, whose aim it
was to bring the nations under one wide, enduring sway. The struggle of
Carthage against Rome became, in fact, the contest of a man of the
greatest abilities--Hannibal--against a nation of the utmost energy and
determination, and the nation, in the long run, won the day.