410 THE DECLINE AND FALL pendence."'^ These difficulties were p-adu;illy subdued by the spirit, the perseverance, and the cruelty of Genseric, who alter- nately applied the arts of peace and war to the establishment of his African kin*rdoni. He subscribed a solemn treaty, with the ho])e of derivin<r some advanta<re from the term of its continu- ance and the moment of its violation. The vigilance of his enemies was relaxed by the protestations of friendship which concealed his hostile approach ; and Carthage was at length sur- prised by the V^andals, five hundred and eighty-five years after the destruction of the city and republic by the younger Scipio.**-* They smrriiie A new city had arisen from its ruins, with the title of a A. D. «i*6cto- colony ; and, though Carthage might yield tt) the royal preroga fives of Constantinople, and perhaps to the trade of Alexandria or the splendour of Antioch, she still maintained the second rank in the West; as the Rome (if we may use the style of con- temporaries) of the Afi'ican world. That wealthy and opulent metropolis ^"^ displayed, in a dependent condition, the image of a flourishing republic. Carthage contained the manufactures, the arms, and the treasures of the six provinces. A regular subordination of civil honours gradually ascended from the pro- cui-ators of the streets and quarters of the city to the tribunal of the supreme magistrate, who, with the title of proconsul, repre- sented the state and dignity of a consul of ancient Rome. Schools and gij»i)ia.si(i were instituted for the education of the African youth, and the liberal arts and manners, grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy, were publicly taught in the (ireek and Latin languages. The buildings of Carthage were uniform and magnificent ; a shady grove was planted in the midst of the capital ; the iieiv port, a secure and capacious harbour, was sub- servient to the commercial industry of citizens and strangers ; and the splendid games of the circus and theatre were exhibited almost in the presence of the Barbarians. The reputation of the Carthaginians was not equal to that of their countrj-, and the reproach of Punic faith still adhered to their subtle and faithless 38Possidius, in Vit. Augustin. c. 28, apud Ruinart, p. 428. •'9 See the Chronicles of Idatius, Isidore, Prosper, and Marcellinus [and Chron. Pasch.]. They mark the same year, but different days, for the surprisal of Car- thage. ••^The picture of Carthage, as it flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries, is taken from the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 17, 18, in the third volume of Hudson's Minor Geographers, from Ausonius de Claris L'rbibus, p. 22S, 229; and principally from Salvian, de Gubernatione Dei, 1. vii. p. 257, 258 [§ 67 i^./.]. I am surprised that the No/ifia should not place either a mint or an arsenal at Carthage, but only a gynasceum or female manufacture.
