nate yielded to them; cabals and factions took place
among those who were anxious to please, for the purpose of guiding the
people; rash measures were adopted, the councils and the power of Carthage
became distracted and weak, and its ruin was precipitated and completed.

But though to this defect in the constitution of Carthage its ruin may
partly be ascribed, there can be little doubt that commerce flourished by
means of the popular form of its government. Commerce was the pursuit of
all ranks and classes, as well as the main concern and object of the
government The most eminent persons in the state for power, talents, birth,
and riches, applied themselves to it with as much ardour and perseverance
as the meanest citizens; and this similarity and equality of pursuit, as it
sprang in some measure from the republican equality of the constitution, so
also it tended to preserve it.

The notices which we possess respecting the political institutions of the
Carthaginians are very scanty, and are almost entirely derived from
Aristotle: according to him they had a custom, which must at once have
relieved the state from those whom it could not well support, and have
tended to enlarge the sphere of their commercial enterprize. They sent, as
occasion required, colonies to different parts, and these colonies, keeping
up their connection with the mother country, not only drew off her
superabundant trade, but also supplied her with many articles she could not
otherwise have procured at so easy and cheap a rate.

The fertility and high state of cultivation of those parts of Africa which
adjoined Carthage, has already been alluded to; and their exports consisted
either of the produce of those parts, or of their own manufactures. Of the
former there were all kinds of provisions; wax, oil, honey, skins, fruits,
&c.; their principal manufactures were cables, especially those fit for
large vessels, made of the shrub _spartum_; all other kinds of naval
stores; dressed leather; the particular dye or colour, called from them
punic, the preparation of which seems not to be known; toys, &c. &c. From
Egypt they imported flax, papyrus, &c.; from the Red Sea, spices, drugs,
perfumes, gold, pearls, &c.; from the countries on the Levant, silk stuffs,
scarlet and purple dyes, &c.; and from the west of Europe their principal
imports seem to have been iron, lead, tin, and the other useful metals.

Such was the commerce by sea, as far as the imperfec