superior organization, which, in its development, gave rise to a
character of firmness, energy, and force, both of body and mind, which
has justly excited the admiration of mankind. The Carthaginians had
sagacity--the Romans called it cunning--and activity, enterprise and
wealth. Their rivals, on the other hand, were characterized by genius,
courage, and strength, giving rise to a certain calm and indomitable
resolution and energy, which has since, in every age, been strongly
associated, in the minds of men, with the very word Roman.

The progress of nations was much more slow in ancient days than now,
and these two rival empires continued their gradual growth and
extension, each on its own side of the great sea which divided them,
for _five hundred years_, before they came into collision. At last,
however, the collision came. It originated in the following way:

By looking at the map, the reader will see that the island of Sicily
is separated from the main land by a narrow strait called the Strait
of Messina. This strait derives its name from the town of Messina,
which is situated upon it, on the Sicilian side. Opposite Messina, on
the Italian side, there was a town named Rhegium. Now it happened that
both these towns had been taken possession of by lawless bodies of
soldiery. The Romans came and delivered Rhegium, and punished the
soldiers who had seized it very severely. The Sicilian authorities
advanced to the deliverance of Messina. The troops there, finding
themselves thus threatened, sent to the Romans to say that if they,
the Romans, would come and protect them, they would deliver Messina
into their hands.

The question, what answer to give to this application, was brought
before the Roman senate, and caused them great perplexity. It seemed
very inconsistent to take sides with the rebels of Messina, when they
had punished so severely those of Rhegium. Still the Romans had been,
for a long time, becoming very jealous of the growth and extension of
the Carthaginian power. Here was an opportunity of meeting and
resisting it. The Sicilian authorities were about calling for direct
aid from Carthage to recover the city, and the affair would probably
result in establishing a large body of Carthaginian troops within
sight of the Italian shore, and at a point where it would be easy for
them to make hostile incursions into the Roman territories. In a word,
it was a case of what is called political necessity; that is t