The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-11-02

perial Rome once held sway
and where various races and
civilizations have contended
for supremacy. Italy. the mod
ern successor to the Rome of the
Caesars, is seeking to establish her
sovereignty.
Only yesterday, as history measures
the life of nations. Italy sprang into
pationhood and now this puny sue
cessor to the world -conquering Rome
Of the consuls and the Caesars Is
reaching out for part Of that terri
tory over which imperial Rome exer-
cised her authority from the Red sea
to the Pillars Of Hercules.
But of all that vast region there is
little now that is not pre-empted.
Egypt Is securely anchored to British
authority-securely at least for the
present generation. Far to the west
lies Morocco, where French dominance
is assured. East of it lies Algeria and
further east. Tunis, both as securely
French as Egypt is British. And then
lying in between Tunis and Egypt and
extending southernward into the sands
Of the desert lies Tripoli. with its de-
pendencies Of Barca and Fezzan. the
particular region which modern Italy
covets and over which the Turkish
crescent floats in impotent protection.
When Carthage Was Supreme.
Tripoli formed portion of the an
cient empire of Carthage. which had
Its beginning. according to legend, in
the city founded by Queen Dido. near
the modern city of Tunis. The Car
thaginians. like the Romans, were
empire builders and gradually came
into possession of the rich cities and
colonies founded by the adventurous
Phoenicians on the African coast,
ultimately controlling the whole ter
-itory extending from the Pillars of
Hercules to the Great Syrtis-a dis
lance of 1000 miles. At the height Of
aer power Carthage was the greatest
maritime nation in the world. as then
constituted and her enterprises on
The sea led her on almost Inevitably
20 engage in foreign conquests In
Ter colonization schemes in Sicily she
irst came into contact with Roman
power and the first Punic war. in
which the Carthaginians suffered de-
'eat. was the result. This war began
n 264 and ended in 241 B. c. and
Carthage was compelled to cede Sicily
and Sardinia to the Romans. The
second Punic war. provoked by Car
:haginian conquests in Spain, broke
put in 218, when the great Hannibal
ed his soldiers across the Alps and
oy vigorous campaigns and several
bloody battles brought Rome almost
20 the brink Of ruin. But Rome tri-
implied in the end. breaking the
| power # Carthage in Spain and de-
| 'eating Hannibal in the decisive battle
If Zama. in Africa. The third Punic
war. begun in $50 B. c. by Rome.
ended In the destruction of Carthage
md the Roman absorption of the rich
African territories. including Tripoli.
| which for centuries had been under
Carthaginian sway.
Northern Africa remained in
| Roman or Byzantine, possession until
he fierce nroads of the Vandals
early in the fifth century of the Chris
tian era. These savage warriers had
swept short time before across the
Pyrenees Into Spain and had estab-
lished an Independent Kingdom
Vandalatia, the modern Andalusia.
The hordes which crossed with their
great general. Genseric, into Africa,
loon overran the country and occu-
pied it until 533, when their power
was broken by Belisarius, the famous
commander of Justinian the Great,
the emperor of Constantinople.
| But disintegration had well begun
in the provinces of northern Africa
and soon the power of Rome as we'll
as of the Byzantine empire, founded
by Constantine, was restricted to the
ncighborhood Of Carthage and other
points on the coast. The Barbary
states thus became an easy prey for
the fierce and fanatical Arabs, who
swept from Egypt into the region in
the middle of the seventh century and
who soon established their supremacy.