and the Phenician power was partially broken at its source in the
East.

It is with thrilling interest that we read Isaiah's prophecy of the
destruction of Tyre, which was written at this very time. For the
Phenicians were the _Canaanites_ of Bible history, and "Hiram King of
Tyre" was their king; and his "navy," which, together with Solomon's
"came once in three years from _Tarshish_," was their navy; and
_Tarshish_ was none other than _Tartessus_, their own province, just
beyond Gibraltar on the Spanish coast. Nor is it at all improbable
that Spanish gold was used to adorn the temple which the great Solomon
was building. (I Kings ix., x.) Shakspere, who says all things
better than anyone else, makes Othello find in the fatal handkerchief
"confirmation strong as proofs from holy writ." Where can be found
"confirmation" stronger than these "proofs from holy writ"? And where
a more magnificent picture of the luxury, the sumptuous Oriental
splendor of this nation at that period, than in Ezekiel, chapters
xxvii., xxviii.? What an eloquent apostrophe to Tyre--"thou that art
situate at the entry of the sea, a merchant of the people, for _many
isles_."--"With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast
gotten thee riches," and, "by thy great wisdom and by thy _traffick_
hast thou increased, and thine heart is lifted up." And then follows
the terrible arraignment--"because of the iniquity of thy _traffick_."
And then the final prediction of ruin--"I will bring thee to ashes
upon the earth"; "thou shalt be a terror, and _never_ shalt thou be
any more." Where in any literature can we find such lurid splendor
of description, and such a powerful appeal to the imagination of the
reader! And where could the student of history find a more graphic and
accurate picture of a vanished civilization!

In 850 B.C., the same year in which the Assyrians partly subjugated
the Phenicians in the East, the city of Carthage was founded upon the
north coast of Africa, and there commenced a movement, with that city
as its center, which drew together all their scattered possessions
into a Punic confederacy. This was composed of the islands of
Sardinia, Corsica, part of Sicily, the Balearic Isles, and the cities
and colonies upon the Spanish Peninsula and African coast. As the
power of this confederacy expands, the name Phenician passes away and
that of _Carthaginian_ takes its place in history.

Carthage became a mighty city, and controll