Exhausted Carthage could now do no more than sue for peace on any terms that Rome was willing to grant. In the hour of defeat she still trusted her mighty soldier, and it was Hannibal who conducted the final negotiations. The conditions of peace were severe enough. The Carthaginians gave up Spain and all their ships except ten triremes. They were saddled with a huge indemnity and bound to engage in no war without the consent of Rome. Carthage thus became a dependent ally of the Roman city. VICTORIOUS ROME In describing the course and outcome of the Second Punic War our sympathies naturally go out to the heroic figure of Hannibal, who fought so long and so bravely for his native land. It is clear, however, that Rome's victory in the gigantic struggle was essential to the continued progress of classical civilization. The triumph of Carthage in the third century, like that of Persia in the fifth century, [6] must have resulted in the spread of Oriental ideas and customs throughout the Mediterranean. From this fate Rome saved Europe. 58. ROMAN SUPREMACY IN THE WEST AND IN THE EAST, 201-133 B.C. THIRD PUNIC WAR BEGUN, 148 B.C. Carthage had been humbled, but not destroyed. She still enjoyed the advantages of her magnificent situation and continued to be a competitor of Rome for the trade of the Mediterranean. The Romans watched with jealousy the reviving strength of the Punic city and at last determined to blot it out of existence. In 149 B.C. a large army was landed in Africa, and the inhabitants of Carthage were ordered to remove ten miles from the sea. They resolved to perish in the ruins of their capital, rather than obey such a cruel command. [Illustration: A TESTUDO A relief from the Column of Trajan, Rome. The name _testudo_ a tortoise (shell) was applied to the covering made by a body of soldiers who placed their shields over their heads The shields fitted so closely together that men could walk on them and even horses and chariots could be driven over them.] [Illustration: Map, THE EXPANSION OF ROMAN DOMINIONS 264-133 B. C.] DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE, 146 B.C. Carthage held out for three years. The doubtful honor of its capture belonged to Scipio Aemilianus, grandson, by adoption, of the victor of Zama. For seven days the legionaries fought their way, street by street, house by house, until only fifty thousand inhabitants were left to surrender to the tender mercies of the Romans. The Senate ordered that the city should be burned and that its site should be plowed up and dedicated to the infernal gods. Such was the end of the most formidable rival Rome ever met in her career of conquest. [7] SICILY