burning sun he was afterwards thrust into a barrel, the inner sides of which were set with iron spikes, where he remained till he expired.

9. A peace was at last concluded between Rome and Carthage. The doors of the temple of Janus, at Rome, had not been shut for five hundred years; for they always stood open while the Romans were at war. But now they were closed and barred; for Rome was at peace with all the world.

QUESTIONS. 1. Did Rome continue to increase in power?2. What befell the city 389 years before Christ ?Brennus? What happened in the senate-house? size of Rome at this time?- -4. Of the Capitol? Capitol saved?- 5. Who conquered the Gauls ?

-3. What of What of the How was the 6. What of

the Romans? What of the war with the Samnites? -7. What of the kingdoms of Italy? Situation of Carthage? How far was it from Rome? Direction from Rome ? Athens? Sparta ?- -8. When did the first Punic war begin? How long did it last? What of the Carthaginians? Of Regulus ?- -9. Of the temple of Janus ? How long had the doors been open? Why were they now closed? When was the temple of Janus open? When shut?

CHAPTER LXX.

EUROPE Continued.- -Second and third Punic Wars.

1. THE doors of the temple of Janus did not long remain closed; for a war speedily broke out between the Romans and a tribe of Gauls, which ended in the defeat of the latter.

2. In the year 218 before the Christian era, another war with Carthage began, which was called the second Punic war. The Carthaginians were commanded by Hannibal, who proved himself one of the greatest generals that ever lived.

3. Hannibal transported his army across the Mediterranean Sea to Spain, and thence marched toward Italy. In his progress it was necessary that he should cross the Alps. The summits of these mountains are many thousand

feet in height, and were covered with ice and snow; in some places Hannibal had to cut a passage through the solid rock.

Passage of the Alps, by Hannibal.

4. After crossing these mountains, several battles were won by the Carthaginians. At length, the two Roman consuls, with a large army, encountered Hannibal and his soldiers at Cannæ. Here the Romans were defeated with dreadful slaughter; one of the consuls fled; the other was slain, and fifty thousand men were left dead on the field.

5. Rome had now no army to protect it; and if Hannibal had marched thither immediately, it is probable that he might have taken the city; but he delayed too long, and the Romans had time to make preparations to defend themselves.

6. Hannibal never won such another victory as that at Cannæ, for the Romans soon enlisted new armies, and

were more successful than before. After some years, Scipio, their best general, was sent to Africa, in order to attack Carthage; and Hannibal, after having had possession of a large part of Italy for seventeen years, was obliged to return to defend his country. A battle was

fought between him and Scipio at Zama. The Carthaginians had a multitude of elephants. These animals were wounded by the Roman darts, and the pain made them rush through the field, trampling down whole ranks of Hannibal's army. The Carthaginians were entirely defeated, and Hannibal himself barely escaped amid the rout and confusion. This battle put an end to the second Punic war.

7. But a third war between Rome and Carthage broke out in about fifty years; for the Romans had determined on the entire destruction of their rivals. Their army was commanded by another Scipio, who was as valiant as the first; but the Carthaginians had no longer a Hannibal. They were defeated, Carthage was set on fire, and continued to burn during seventeen days, and many of the inhabitants perished in the flames. This happened in the year 146 before the Christian era.

8. Scipio returned to Rome, and was rewarded with a triumph. As this was the highest honour that a Roman general could attain, and as such rewards were often given to successful commanders, I will describe, in the next chapter, what the triumph was.

QUESTIONS. 1. What war now broke out? Which side was victorious?- 2. When did the second Punic war begin? By whom were the Carthaginians led ?- 3. What did Hannibal do? How did his army cross the Alps?- -4. Describe the battle of Cannæ. -5. What of Rome at this time? 6. Of Scipio? Where was a battle fought? What of elephants?- Which side was defeated? What of Hannibal ?- -7. Who led the Romans in the third Punic war? What of the Carthaginians? When was Carthage burnt ?- -8. How was Scipio rewarded?

CHAPTER LXXI. EUROPE continued.

Triumph.

1. THE victorious general, on reaching Rome, stopped at the Campus Martius, which was a plain on the outside of the city, and from thence was escorted to the Capitol by a grand procession.

2. First came a band of musicians, playing their loudest

-A Roman

strains on various instruments. Then followed oxen for sacrifice; their horns were gilded, and garlands were wreathed around their heads.

3. The spoils of the vanquished were next borne along, the crown or the armour of the enemy's general or king being exalted high above the rest; and when Titus entered Rome in triumph, after his conquest of Jerusalem, which I have already told you of, the golden candlesticks, the ark of the covenant, and the rest of the spoils of the temple, were carried before him. During the wars against Antiochus, Mithridates, and other eastern monarchs, camels, elephants, lions, tigers, and other wild animals, were frequently led in the procession, or appeared in the amphitheatre, at the games with which the rejoicings for victory were usually concluded.

4. After the spoils appeared a melancholy band, composed of the prisoners who had been taken, often including kings, their wives and children, all loaded with heavy chains, who, after being thus paraded amidst the insults of the populace, were mercilessly put to death, or lingered out the remainder of their days in a state of bondage worse than death itself; for they were commonly delivered over to those of the Romans who had themselves lost friends or relatives in the war, by whom they were treated with the most shocking barbarity.

5. Behind the sad troop came another loud band of music, drowning the groans of the captives with the uproar of a hundred instruments. There were likewise dancers, and buffoons in grotesque dresses.

6. Then came a splendid chariot, drawn generally by horses, but sometimes by other animals, as camels or elephants. In this chariot stood the victorious general, dressed in a purple robe, covered with gold embroidery; his face was painted with vermilion, he had a crown of laurel on his head, and in his right hand he held an ivory sceptre, with a golden eagle on the top.