Part of the coast of Granada was likewise occupied by Punians, for MALACCA (the royal city) also was a Punic colony. Before the dominion of the Carthaginians, the inhabitants were called _Bastuli_. Here, as well as in Africa, the facility with which the Phoenicians became amalgamated with foreign nations is very striking. CARTHAGO (the modern _Carthagena_, properly _Cartha Chadta_ or New Town) was the real capital of the Carthaginians in Spain, and its name is as common as the Greek Neapolis. Notwithstanding its importance and strength, the town was not as large as we are inclined to imagine; at the time of its capture by Scipio, it appears small both in population and circumference, if we compare it with other maritime cities and capitals. It was founded by Hamilcar Barcas, who first established the dominion of the Carthaginians in Spain, which, however, was not of long duration. Though Gades and the towns on the coast of Granada were Punic, we must not, on that account imagine that, previously to the time of Hamilcar Barcas, the Carthaginians had a province there. Their influence, indeed, was great even before; their commerce was extensive and lucrative, the Spanish mines may have been chiefly worked by Punians, and Spain was the recruiting place for their armies; but no part of Spain was a Carthaginian province before the end of the first Punic war. It was the great idea of Hamilcar Barcas richly to indemnify his country for the loss of Sardinia and Sicily, an idea which no one was better qualified to realise than he, by paralysing the Romans with determination, cunning, and skill. The lately-discovered precious fragments from Diodorus throw great light upon the admirable manner in which he carried this plan into effect. Turdetania was subdued first, Hannibal then carried the war almost as far as Salamanca, and the modern New Castile and Valencia were subdued by him. These acquisitions, however, must not be regarded as permanent conquests, the object of the Carthaginians being rather to terrify the Spaniards and to accustom them to a feeling of dependence. The Carthaginians were otherwise hard and hated masters, but the great Hamilcar, his great successor Hasdrubal, and the great sons of Hamilcar, founded the Carthaginian dominion in Spain in such a manner as to secure to Carthage the attachment of the natives, a point in which the Romans never succeeded. Much depended upon circumstances, the Carthaginians, e.g., were less rigorous in observing the connubium than the Romans, and Hannibal himself married a Spanish woman of Castulo, which shows what liberty was allowed in this respect: when the commander-in-chief of a province did this, we may easily imagine in what manner persons of inferior rank acted. The Romans had no connubium at all with the natives.