CHAPTER XII. FOREIGN CONQUEST. ROME AND CARTHAGE. - FIRST PUNIC
WAR. (264-241.) [Footnote: The word "Punic" is derived from
Phoenici. The Carthaginians were said to have come originally
from PHOENICIA, on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. Their
first ruler was Dido. The Latin student is of course familiar
with Virgil's story of Dido and Aenéas.] While Rome was
gradually enlarging her territory from Latium to the Straits of
Messána, on the other shore of the Mediterranean, opposite Italy
and less than one hundred miles from Sicily, sprang up, through
industry and commerce, the Carthaginian power. Like Rome,
Carthage had an obscure beginning. As in the case of Rome, it
required centuries to gain her power. It was the policy of
Carthage to make a successful revolt of her subdued allies an
impossibility, by consuming all their energies in the support of
her immense population and the equipment of her numerous fleets
and armies. Hence all the surrounding tribes, once wandering
nomads, were forced to become t