Undaunted by the dangers, real and
imaginary, which beset the paths of the early navigators of the
Mediterranean, the little band of adventurers pursued their course,
steering westward, ever westward; away past Egypt, and past Libya, until
they came in sight of a peninsula on the northern coast of Africa
hitherto unknown to history, but ever afterward to be famous as the
landing-place of the heroic woman. At a point only a short distance from
the site of the present city of Tunis, Dido, with her followers,
established herself; not taking possession of the territory on which
she set her foot, as became the fashion some time later, but purchasing
it from the natives at a given price. According to the usage of the
times, she at once set about founding a city; and one hundred years
before the founding of Rome--its after rival and destroyer--the work of
building Carthage, or the New City, as Dido named it, began. The city
being advantageously situated for commerce, and the rule of Dido more
mild than that of Pygmalion, her brother, hundreds of the Tyrians
flocked to her standard. These men of Tyre brought with them their old
home-love of commercial enterprise and maritime adventure; and, in a
marvelously short time, Carthage took high rank among the nations of the
world; and it was conceded, by one of the most renowned philosophers of
Greece, that it enjoyed one of the most perfect governments of
antiquity.
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