# Second Treaty of Rome-Carthage

The Second Roman–Carthaginian Treaty was signed between Carthage and the Roman Republic in 348. In the First Roman–Carthaginian Treaty, dating to 508/507 BC, the spheres of influence of Rome and Carthage were defined, excluding Carthaginian interventions in Latium. The second treaty is essentially a copy of the first, with a few additional cities. On the Carthaginian side, Tyre and Utica were added to the list.

## Background

After 150 years of campaigning, Rome had conquered a good portion of Etruria, destroyed Veii and repelled the Gallic invasion of 390 BC although it felt threatened by the second Gallic invasion of 360 BC. Rome had been and still was shaken by internal strife, especially between the patricians and the plebeians for access to public office and therefore to political activity and the management of land and spoils of the incessant wars. Rome was also fighting the Ernici, the Volsci, the Tiburtini and the Etruscans and was preparing for battle with the Samnites, who were beginning to raid rich Campania, which Rome also desired.
In Sicily and in southern Italy, where Dionysius the Great had created the beginnings of a unified state, Dionysius the Younger, his son, tried to enlarge his inheritance, but met with resistance from other Greek forces. A flurry of alliances, including some with the Carthaginians, led to the disintegration of Dionysius' power and his deposition in 345 BC. Taranto, which had been left out of the fighting, grew in power, and other forces arrived from Greece. Rome was beginning to assert its influence in these struggles.
Carthage, after ending its war with Cyrenaica, thus stabilizing the eastern boundary of their territory, had been always at war with the Greeks, in particular with Syracuse, for control of Sicily. It was also in conflict with the Etruscans, who, blocked by the Gauls from northern Italy and by the Romans from Latium, applied themselves aggressively to the Tyrrhenian Sea to control traffic there.

## Terms of the treaty

The second treaty was an attempt to copy the first treaty, with the addition of some cities. The Carthaginians added Tyre and Utica and promised not to attack the coastal cities of Latium that had allied themselves with Rome. Similar to the first treaty, the new treaty stated that there "shall be friendship between the Romans and their allies, and the Carthaginians, Tyrians, and [the] township of Utica" on the conditions listed, and that Romans were allowed to trade and do business in the Carthaginian province of Sicily and in Carthage, and Carthaginians were allowed to trade and do business in Rome.

### Conditions on Rome and her allies

* The Romans were not to maraud, traffic or found a city east of "the Fair Promontory, Mastia, Tarseium."
* If the Romans took prisoners, "between whom and Carthage a peace has been made in writing, though they be not subject to them", the Romans were not to bring them to any Carthaginian harbor. Additionally, if such a prisoner were brought ashore, and any Carthaginian lay claim to him, he was to be released.
* If a Roman took water or provisions from any district within the jurisdiction of Carthage, he was not to injure, while so doing, any between whom and Carthage there was peace and friendship. Violation of this rule was to be a public misdemeanor.
* A Roman was not to traffic or found a city in Sardinia and Libya, and could only take provisions and refit his ship. If a storm had driven him to one of those coasts, he was to depart within five days.

### Conditions on Carthage, Tyre and Utica

* If the Carthaginians conquered any city in Latium that was not subject to Rome, they may keep the prisoners and the goods but were to deliver the town to Rome.
* If the Carthaginians took prisoners, "between whom and Rome a peace has been made in writing, though they be not subject to them", the Carthaginians were not to bring them to any Roman harbor. Additionally, if such a prisoner were brought ashore, and any Roman lay claim to him, he was to be released. In like manner shall the Romans be bound towards the Carthaginians.
* If a Carthaginian took water or provisions from any district within the jurisdiction of Rome, he was not to injure, while so doing, any between whom and Rome there was peace and friendship. Violation of this rule was to be a public misdemeanor.

## Implications

Carthage saw Rome as a possible adversary that had resisted invasion and in war was proving itself potentially dangerous. Rome also controlled a large amount of territory that was larger, if not richer, than its perennial rival Syracuse. Moreover, the fact that Carthage allowed Phoenician merchants to operate in Rome shows that Carthage did not fear commercial competition from Rome and that it could operate its own territories and treated Rome as an upcoming potential client that should be put under its political control.
It is therefore to the credit of Carthaginian diplomacy that the revision to the 509 BC treaty imposed additional restrictions on Rome. It was written while Carthage was heavily engaged in military and therefore financial obligations. Additionally, the prohibition against Rome's founding of cities did not appear in the first treaty and shows that Carthage may have caught on to the method of Roman expansion; commerce did not interest Rome as much as the control and the exploitation of its territory. To the Romans, if an area was deserted it would be substantially occupied. If the area was inhabited, it would be conquered and forced to pay in assets and troops and eventually to accept Roman or Latin colonies.