only
because they thought he was not able to execute them. They had no
confidence whatever in Carthaginian faith or honesty, and, of course,
there could be no real harmony or stable peace.

There arose gradually, also, another source of dissension. By
referring to the map, the reader will perceive that there lies, to the
westward of Carthage, a country called Numidia. This country was a
hundred miles or more in breadth, and extended back several hundred
miles into the interior. It was a very rich and fertile region, and
contained many powerful and wealthy cities. The inhabitants were
warlike, too, and were particularly celebrated for their cavalry. The
ancient historians say that they used to ride their horses into the
field without saddles, and often without bridles, guiding and
controlling them by their voices, and keeping their seats securely by
the exercise of great personal strength and consummate skill. These
Numidian horsemen are often alluded to in the narratives of Hannibal's
campaigns, and, in fact, in all the military histories of the times.

Among the kings who reigned in Numidia was one who had taken sides
with the Romans in the second Punic war. His name was Masinissa. He
became involved in some struggle for power with a neighboring monarch
named Syphax, and while he, that is, Masinissa, had allied himself to
the Romans, Syphax had joined the Carthaginians, each chieftain
hoping, by this means, to gain assistance from his allies in
conquering the other. Masinissa's patrons proved to be the strongest,
and at the end of the second Punic war, when the conditions of peace
were made, Masinissa's dominions were enlarged, and the undisturbed
possession of them confirmed to him, the Carthaginians being bound by
express stipulations not to molest him in any way.

In commonwealths like those of Rome and Carthage, there will always be
two great parties struggling against each other for the possession of
power. Each wishes to avail itself of every opportunity to oppose and
thwart the other, and they consequently almost always take different
sides in all the great questions of public policy that arise. There
were two such parties at Rome, and they disagreed in respect to the
course which should be pursued in regard to Carthage, one being
generally in favor of peace, the other perpetually calling for war. In
the same manner there was at Carthage a similar dissension, the one
side in the contest being desirous to prop