ページの画像
PDF
ePub

of the most splendid achievements in the Carthaginian hero, but it is also one of the most splendid achievements recorded in the history of warfare. The whole army of Hannibal did not exceed 50,000; but so well directed were all his movements, that no less than 40,000 Romans were slain. This victory, although complete, proved of little use to the Carthaginians. The Romans, to free themselves from Hannibal, determined on invading his own dominions. When Carthage saw her coasts invaded, she recalled Hannibal, as it had been calculated by the Romans that she would.

7. Hannibal left Italy, which he had kept under perpetual alarms for sixteen years, with the greatest reluctance. He seemed aware of the reverse of fortune that soon awaited him. Shortly after his return to Africa, the two hostile armies met at Zama, where was a general engagement. The Roman victory was complete-23,000 Carthaginians were slain, and as many more taken prisoners. After this decisive battle, Hannibal seemed convinced of his own inability to revenge his country's wrongs; and therefore employed himself in persuading the neighboring princes to make war against the Romans. But not succeeding in his attempts, and the Roman senate being apprised of his designs, and sending to Bithynia to demand him of Prusias, Hannibal terminated his own life by poison.

8. The city and republic of Carthage were destroyed by the termination of the third Punic war, 147 years before Christ. The city was in flames during seventeen days; and the news of its destruction caused the greatest joy at Rome. The Roman senate immediately appointed commissioners, not only to raze the walls of Carthage, but even to demolish and burn the very materials of which they were made; and in a few days, that city, which had once been the seat of commerce, the model of magnificence, the common storehouse of the wealth of nations, and one of the most powerful states in the world, left behind no traces of its splendor, of its power, or even of its existence. The history of Carthage is one of the many proofs that we have of the transitory nature of worldly glory; for of all her grandeur, not a

How many of the Romans were killed in the battle of Cannæ ?How many of the Carthaginians were slain and taken prisoners in the battle of Zama?-What were the circumstances of Hannibal's death? When was the city of Carthage destroyed?

wreck remains. Her own walls, like the calm ocean, that conceals for ever the riches hid in its unsearchable abyss, now obscure all her magnificence.

THE WARRIOR'S WREATH.

BEHOLD the wreath which decks the warrior's brow.
Breathes it a balmy fragrance sweet? Ah, no!
It rankly savors of the grave!

'Tis red-but not with roseate hues ;
"Tis crimson'd o'er

With human gore!

'Tis wet-but not with heavenly dews;

'Tis drench'd in tears by widows, orphans shed.
Methinks in sable weeds I see them clad,
And mourn in vain, for husbands slain,
Children belov'd, or brothers dear,
The fatherless

In deep distress,

Despairing, shed the scalding tear.

I hear, 'mid dying groans, the cannon's crash,
I see, 'mid smoke, the musket's horrid flash-
Here famine walks-there carnage stalks→→
Hell in her fiery eye, she stains

With purple blood,

The crystal flood,

Heaven's altars and the verdant plains!

Scenes of domestic peace and social bliss
Are chang'd to scenes of wo and wretchedness,
The votaries of vice increase-

Towns sack'd, whole cities wrapt in flame!
Just Heaven! say,

Is this the bay

Which warriors gain-is this call'd FAME!

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LANOX AND

TILEEN FOUNDATIONS

[graphic][subsumed][ocr errors]

1

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.

1. THE peace and prosperity of Solomon's reign were well adapted to the prosecution of that work which David had designed, but which was to be accomplished by his successor. The king, therefore, took advantage of the time, and made preparations for building the house of the Lord. In the first place, he sent messengers to Hiram, king of Tyre, who had been the friend of his father, informing him of his intentions, and requesting from him a supply of cedar and fir. This was readily and cheerfully bestowed, and the two kings entered into a covenant of perpetual peace and friendship. Solomon then levied thirty thousand workmen, and arranged them in three companies of ten thousand each, giving to Adoniram, one of his officers, the oversight and command of the whole.

2. These laborers were to be employed, with the servants of Hiram, in Mount Lebanon; but only one company was sent out at a time, which remained for a month, and then returned home, and was succeeded by another. In carrying on the work, there were, also, seventy thousand whose duty it was to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were employed as hewers of stone in the mountains. The number of overseers amounted to thirty-three thousand. This mag nificent undertaking was commenced in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, four hundred and forty years from the time of the settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan; and the building was completed, in all its parts, in seven years, during which, the sound of axe, or hammer, or any tool of iron, was not heard upon it, the timber being all made ready in the forest, and the stones in the quarries.

3. Solomon, also, built for himself two very superb and costly palaces, together with a house of equal beauty and splendor for the queen. In completing the temple, a distinguished artisan from Tyre, by the name of Hiram, had been employed, who cast two pillars of brass, each eighteen cubits in height, upon which were raised chapiters, adorned with lily work, net work, and pomegranates. These pillars were

What in Solomon's reign was well suited to the building of the temple ?-Who assisted Solomon in building the temple ?-How many persons were employed in the building of the temple?-How long time was spent in it?

« 前へ次へ »