Pygmalion, cognita sororis fuga, cum impio bello fugientem persequi
pararet, aegre precibus matris deorumque minis victus quievit. . . .
Itaque Elissa delata in Africae sinum incolas eius loci adventu
peregrinorum mutuarumque rerum commercio {5} gaudentes in amicitiam
sollicitat. Dein empto loco, qui corio bovis tegi posset, in quo fessos
longa navigatione socios, quoad proficisceretur, reficere posset, corium
in tenuissimas partes secari iubet atque ita maius loci spatium, quam
petierat, occupat: unde {10} postea ei loco Byrsae nomen fuit.
Confluentibus deinde vicinis locorum, qui spe lucri multa hospitibus
venalia inferebant, sedesque ibi statuentibus ex frequentia hominum
velut instar civitatis effectum. est. . . . Itaque consentientibus
omnibus Carthago {15} conditur, statuto annuo vectigali pro solo urbis.
In primis fundamentis caput bubulum inventum est, quod auspicium
fructuosae quidem, sed laboriosae perpetuoque servae urbis fuit; propter
quod in alium locum urbs translata. Ibi quoque equi caput repertum, {20}
bellicosum potentemque populum futurum significans, urbi auspicatam
sedem dedit. Tunc ad opinionem novae urbis concurrentibus gentibus brevi
et populus et civitas magna facta.
JUSTINUS, xviii. 5.
[Linenotes:
1. +Pygmalion+, King of Tyre, murdered Sychaeus, husband of Elissa
(Dido).
4. +sinum+ = Gulf of Tunis. (See Murray’s Classical Atlas.)
5. +peregrinorum+ = _of strangers_. +per + ager+. Cf. _pilgrim_.
Fr. _pèlerin_.
+mutuarum rerum commercio+ = _barter_.
11. +Byrsae+, i.e., later, the Citadel quarter, as if from βύρσα =
a _hide_, prob. corrupted from Phoen. _Bozra_ (= a _fort_). So
_Carthage_ = _Kirjath (city)_; cp. _Kirjath-Arba_ (Hebron), and
_Hannibal_ (= Hanniel) = _the grace of Baal_.
14. +velut instar c.+ = _as if the semblance of a state_; cf.
‘instar montis equus,’ Verg. --Post.
17. +bubulum+ = _of an ox_, adj. from _bos_.
22. +auspicatam+ = _auspicious_, in active sense.]
+Parallel Passages.+ Verg. _Aen._ i. 336-368, 418-438, and _Aen._ iv.
21-22.
+References.+ Bosworth Smith, _Carthage and the Carthaginians_. --Ihne,
_Hist. of Rome_, vol. ii. pp. 3-21.
C3
FIRST PUNIC WAR, 264-241 B.C.
_Aeneas views the Building of Carthage, circ. 878 B.C._
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