5. Circulating Medium and Revenue of Carthage. however, were defeated at Himera by Gelon, king of rebuild it. This new city of Carthage was conquered Syracuse, and obliged to sue for peace, and to abstain from the Romans by the arms of Genseric, A.D. 439, from offering human sacrifices. In the war with and it was for more than a century the seat of the Hiero, the next king, the Carthaginians conquered the Vandal empire in Africa. It was at last destroyed by cities Selinus, Himera, and Agrigentum. Dionysius the Saracens, during the califate of Abdel Melek, tothe elder obtained a temporary peace. But, after Ti-wards the end of the 7th century, and few traces of it moleon had delivered Syracuse and Sicily from the now remain except an aqueduct. According to Livy, yoke of tyranny, the Carthaginians were peculiarly Carthage was twelve miles from Tunetum or Tunis, unfortunate. Contagious diseases and frequent muti- a distance which still subsists between that city and nies reduced the strength of the city. When Sicily a fragment of the western wall of Carthage. (Heeren, suffered under the tyranny of Agathocles, Carthage Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 270, seqq.—Encyclop. Americ., engaged in a war with him, and was soon attacked vol. 2, p. 543, seqq.) and severely pressed by the usurper. After the death of Agathocles, Carthage once more took part in the commerce of Sicily, when difficulties broke out there The precious metals were probably early used in with their auxiliaries the Mamertines. The Romans Carthage, as a medium of exchange as well as an artook advantage of these troubles to expel the Cartha- ticle of luxury; but whether the state stamped coin ginians from Sicily, although they had previously re- for the use of the community is a question still undeceived assistance from them in the war against Pyr- cided. That gold and silver coin was in circulation rhus, king of Epirus, in Sicily and Lower Italy. Here we cannot doubt; the dispute is about the existence begins the third period of Carthaginian history, em- of real Carthaginian coins. But we read of a substi bracing the thrice-repeated struggle for dominion be- tute that the Carthaginians had for gold and silver, tween Rome and Carthage, in the interval between which renders it probable that the precious metal in 264 and 146 B.C. The first Punic war continued 23 circulation was often inadequate to the wants of the years. The fleets and armies of Carthage were van- community. It is likely that the conquest of Spain quished. By the peace (B.C. 241) the Carthaginians materially supplied this deficiency. Several writers lost all their possessions in Sicily. Upon this, the speak of a leather circulating medium: this was a mercenary forces, whose wages could not be paid by piece of leather with a state-stamp on it, probably dethe exhausted treasury of the city, took up arms. noting its value. In this leather a small piece of Hamilcar Barcas conquered them, and restored the metal was enclosed, the precise nature of which, Carthaginian power in Africa. Notwithstanding the whether it was a compound, or had some peculiar peace with Carthage, the Romans took possession of nark upon it, we cannot now ascertain. The best Sardinia in 228, where the mercenary troops of Car- account of this substitute, which we may presume was thage had revolted. Hamilcar, who was at the head not used beyond the city, is found in a dialogue on of the democratic party, now undertook the conquest wealth in Eschines Socraticus (2, 24, p. 78, ed. Fisof Spain, whose rich mines tempted his countrymen. | cher.-Compare Aristid., Orat. Plat., 2, p. 241.For the success of this enterprise, within 17 years, Salmas., de Us., p. 463). The revenue of Carthage Carthage was indebted to the family of Barcas, which was derived from various sources: that from the agricould boast of the glorious names of Hamilcar, Has-cultural colonies within the African territory of Cardrubal, and Hannibal. To secure the possession of thage, consisted of a tax paid in raw commodities. this acquisition, Hasdrubal founded New Carthage The duties on imported goods, both in the metropolis (Carthagena), the most powerful of all the Carthagin- and the colonies, were another abundant source of pubian colonies. The second Punic war (from 218 to lic income. We learn from Aristotle (Polit., 3, 5), 201 B.C.), notwithstanding the abilities of the gen- that there were treaties between the Carthaginians and eral, ended with the subjugation of Carthage. Han- Etrurians, by which the commodities that might be nibal, neglected by his countrymen, and weakened by carried by each nation into the ports of the other were a victory that cost him so much blood, was obliged to accurately described: this is an indication of commerleave Italy, in order to hasten to the assistance of Car- cial restrictions, mutual jealousies, and high duties. thage, which was threatened by the Romans. The bat- The produce of the mines of Spain, which at that time tle of Zama resulted in favour of the Romans. Scipio were rich in gold, silver, and iron, must be added to granted the city peace under the severest conditions. the public revenues of the state. The richest mines Carthage ceded Spain, delivered up all her ships ex- were in the neighbourhood of New Carthage. It 18 cept ten, paid 10,000 talents (about $10,000,000), probable that they were worked by slaves, both native and promised to engage in no war without the con- and imported, while they were in the possession of the sent of the Romans. Besides this, Masinissa, the Carthaginians, as they were afterward when the Roally of Rome and implacable enemy of Carthage, was mans were masters of Spain. In times of difficulty placed on the Numidian throne. This king, under the Carthage occasionally applied for loans to foreign protection of Rome, deprived the Carthaginians of the countries. In the Punic war, the impoverished repubbest part of their possessions, and destroyed their trade lic asked as a favour from the rich Ptolemy Philadelin the interior of Africa. The third war with the Ro-phus, king of Egypt, the loan of 2000 talents, which mans was a desperate contest. The disarmed Carthaginians were obliged to demolish part of their own walls. Then, taking up arms anew, they fought for death or life. After three years, the younger Scipio ended this war by the destruction of the city, B.C. 146. Only 5000 persons are said to have been found within its walls. It was 23 miles in circumference; and when it was set on fire by the Romans, it burned incessantly for 17 days. After the overthrow of Carthage Utica became powerful. Cæsar planted a small colony on the ruins of Carthage. Augustus sent 3000 men thither, and built a city at a small distance from the spot on which ancient Carthage stood, thus avoiding the ill effects of the imprecations which had been pronounced by the Romans, according to custom, at the time of its destructi n, against those who should the prudent Greek declined. It cannot be considered that this was one of the ordinary sources of revenue, because the only profit that could arise from it would be the use of the money and the non-payment of the interest and principal; and this kind of profit would necessarily cease, as in the case of some modern states, when the character of the borrower was known. (Heeren, Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 148.-Long's Anc. Geogr., p. 98.) 6. Naval Commerce, and Naval and Military force of Carthage. The district of Byzacium, in the province called Africa Propria by the Romans, and the island of Sardinia, were the grain countries of Carthage: this commercial town derived its supply of bread from remote parts, like Athens, Corinth, and other large cities of place a quantity of gold near the commodities, and reGreece. Sicily was much frequented by the Punic tire. The Carthaginians then would leave the ship, merchants; and the rich emporium of Syracuse, in and examine what the natives had left in exchange: times of peace, saw its port crowded with African if it was sufficient, they would take the gold, leaving vessels. Oil and wine were imported from Sicily; their own merchandise in its stead; if they were not both of these articles were produced in Africa, but it satisfied, they gave the gold-possessors an opportuniis probable that the supply was insufficient. Strabo ty of adding to the deposite of precious metals by re(836) speaks of a contraband trade carried on by Car-tiring again to their ship. This was repeated till the thage with the Cyrenæans, through the port of Charax; bargain was closed, and, it is added, neither party the Punic merchant brought wine, and received in ex- ever wronged the other. This story of the Carthaginchange the precious silphium. The treaties with Rome ians must not be considered as a mere fiction: it preserved in Polybius, and the remarks of Aristotle in may have received some slight alterations, but the his Politica, prove the active commerce of the Car- outline of it bears the marks of truth. A modern thaginians and their jealousy of foreign rivals. The traveller (Höst), quoted by Heeren (Ideen, vol. 2, pt. Etrurians, who had built towns in Campania, were 1, p. 182), describes in a similar way the mode of exprobably rather pirates than merchants; they procured changing commodities between the people of Morocco the wares which they had to exchange for other com- and the negroes on the borders of Negroland. A carmodities by robbing vessels on the sea, or the towns avan goes once a year from Sus, one of the four diof the coast. The Carthaginians, as has already been visions of the empire of Morocco, across the terrific remarked, had commercial treaties with the Etrurians, waste of the western Sahara: tobacco, salt, wool, with who, from the nature of their profession, could furnish woollen and silken cloths, are the articles which they them with most of the articles that the Mediterranean carry. Gold-dust, negroes, and ostrich-feathers are produced. In return, their African friends gave them given in exchange by the blacks. The Moors do not slaves, precious stones, ivory, and gold, the produce enter the Negroland, but meet the blacks at a place of the vast continent behind their city. Malta, and on the frontiers, and conclude the bargain without the small adjoining island of Gaulus (Gozo), were Car- speaking a word. The mutual ignorance of each thaginian possessions: cloth for wearing apparel was other's language renders this the only mode of conmanufactured in Malta, and probably from a native ducting their mercantile transactions.-Carthage, in cotton. The wax of Corsica was also an article of time of war, maintained a large army and navy: nay, commerce the natives of the island were prized for even when she was not engaged in foreign strugmaking excellent servants. (Diod. Sic., 5, 13.) The gles, her distant colonies required the residence of little island of Athalia or Ilva, now Elba, has fur- a garrison and the occasional visits of a navy. The nished iron ore from the remotest historical period; the writers on the Punic wars have left us informaforeign trader and the merchant of Carthage purcha- tion on the military and naval force of the republic, sed the ore when it was smelted, and deposited it in which is in general satisfactory. The principal dockthe hands of their countrymen for farther improve- yard was in the city of Carthage. (Appian, Bell. ment. Majorca and Minorca exchanged mules and Pun., 96.) There were two ports or havens, an out fruit for wine and female slaves; the latter article er one, intended for merchant ships, and an inner bathese ride islanders were always ready to purchase. sin, which was separated from the other by a double The precious metals of Spain have been frequently wall. A small but elevated island in the centre of alluded to; some of the mines appear to have been the inner haven commanded a view of the sea. The public property, while in other cases the merchant pro- admiral of the navy resided here. Two hundred and cured gold-dust from the natives by an exchange of twenty ships of war were generally laid up in this dockcommodities. There is no impossibility involved in yard, with all the necessary stores for fitting them out supposing that the Phoenicians or the Carthaginians on a short notice. In the wars with Syracuse, the visited the northern shores of Europe; but, as direct ships of Carthage were only triremes (Diod. Sic., 2, evidence is wanting, it is not necessary to assume 16), but they afterward built vessels of a much larger that the tin and the amber which they sold to the size, in imitation of the Macedonian Greeks. The world were brought by their own ships from the Scilly war-ships of the Romans and the Carthaginians in the islands (Cassiterides) or the coast of the Baltic. The first Punic war (Polyb., 1, 2) carried nearly five huntrading towns established on the shores of Mauritania dred men: each Roman vessel contained one hunseem to have been intended to form a commercial dred and twenty soldiers and three hundred seamen. connexion with central Africa: the carriers of the des- The Carthaginian ships had about the same number ert would bring the products of Soudan to the small of men on board. In one engagement the Carthaginisland of Cerne, the most southern of the colonies es- ians collected a fleet of three hundred and fifty ships, tablished by Hanno. The Carthaginians supplied manned, according to the computation of Polybius them from the stores in Cerne with earthen vessels, himself, by more than one hundred and fifty thousand trinkets, and ornaments of various kinds. There was sailors and soldiers. We find extravagant and apalso a fishery on this coast, according to the book of parently improbable estimates of numbers in all the wonders ascribed to Aristotle (c. 148). The fish was Carthaginian wars in Sicily, and in their sea-fights salted and carried to Carthage, where it commanded a with the Romans. The sailors or rowers were slaves, high price. As regards the discovery-voyage of Han- purchased by the state for this service: the compleno, we feel some curiosity to know whether it was usement of a quinquereme was about three hundred slaves ful in establishing a trade on the gold coast of Africa; and one hundred and twenty fighters. In ancient naand our admiration of the extensive knowledge of He-val tactics, to move in any direction with celerity, to rodotus is increased, by finding in his history the only break through the enemy's line, and to disable or sink extant information on this obscure subject. In the his ships, were the evolutions on which victory defourth book (c. 146), he tells us, on the authority of pended. Sometimes a number of ships were wedged some Carthaginians, that merchants from that renown-together, and the soldiers fought on the decks as if it ed trading town, after passing through the straits, were a land battle, but with this important difference, visited a remote place on the Libyan coast, where that an escape was not so easy. The slaughter in they procured gold from the natives by barter. When their naval engagements was prodigious, sometimes they landed at the spot which the natives frequented, it was their practice to lay their wares on the shore and return to their vessel after raising a smoke. The inhabitants, seeing this, would come down to the coast, amounting to ten, twenty, or even thirty thousand men. The sea-fights described by Thucydides and Polybius, particularly in the first book, are minute, and, we believe, generally faithful accounts by the es. peace, it was necessary to support a force sufficient to meet the probable danger of war. Three hundred elephants were kept in the citadel of Carthage, which contained, also, stalls for four thousand horses, with accommodations for their riders, and for forty thousand foot soldiers besides. (Heeren, Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 250, seqq.-Long's Anc. Geogr., p. 98, segg.) 6. Inland Commerce of Carthage. Writers who have discussed the commercial relations of Carthage, seem scarcely to have supposed the existence of an extensive caravan-trade with central Africa and other parts of the continent. But if we compare the position of the modern towns of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, with that of Carthage, and consider the nature of their commerce at the present day, we cannot doubt that similar circumstances would, in ancient times, produce corresponding results. This probability is increased and strengthened by a few passages in the works of Herodotus. The commodities of Central Africa, of the desert, and of the region of Beledulgerid, must necessarily create a caravan trade, extending from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Niger. These commodities are black slaves, male and female, from the countries south of the Sahara; salt from the great saline deposites in the desert; and dates from the region bordering on the north side of the great sandy waste. These three things have in all ages been considered articles of necessity by the inhabitants of the Tripoli and Tunis coasts, or those connected with them by commercial relations. Gold is seldom found in north Africa; it is principally procured by washing the earths in the neighbourhood of the Kong, or Mountains of the Moon, south of the great river Niger. Ivory is also another article of luxury, which the central countries furnish to the merchants of the seacoast. The native tribes of the Sahara are the car two great historians of antiquity. The command of | from the numerical estimates of Diodorus, which he the fleet was usually separated from that of the land took from the careless and credulous Ephorus, or from force, but we find instances in which a single person Timæus (Polyb., 12, exc. 8), whose authority is not possessed the direction of both. The military force much better. To form some idea of the naval and miliof Carthage consisted principally of hired troops, col-tary force of Carthage, even in time of peace, we must lected from all the nations with which the state had recollect that their foreign trading ports were maincommercial connexions. Only a small part of the cit-tained by garrisons, and that, in the short interval of izens of Carthage could be employed in military service. The mercantile occupations of the majority would not allow them to neglect their business for foreign conquests, or the defence of remote possessions. It was found to be a more economical plan, to make a bargain with nations who had nothing to dispose of but their bodies, and with this saleable commodity to provide for the defence of their colonies or to acquire new possessions. But the distinguished families of Carthage served in the armies of the state, and from this class all the commanders were chosen. In times of danger, all the citizens would necessarily arm themselves to repel an attack on the metropolis; but we are now speaking of the ordinary constitution of a Carthaginian army, and this neither admitted nor required a large number of Carthaginian citizens. A Punic army was like a congregration of nations: the half-naked savage of Gaul stood by the side of the wild Iberian; the cunning Ligurian, from the Alpine or Ap. ennine mountains, met with the Lotophagi of Libya; and the Nasamones, the explorers and guides in the great desert, half-bred Greeks, runaways, and slaves, found themselves mingled in this strange assembly. Troops of Carthaginian and Liby-Phoenician origin were in the centre of the army: on the flank the numerous Nomadic tribes of western Africa wheeled about on unsaddled horses guided by a bridle of rushThe Balearic slingers formed the vanguard, and the elephants of Ethiopia, with their black conductors, were the moveable castles that protected the front lines. According to Polybius (1, 6), it was considered politic to form an army of such materials, that difference of language might prevent union between several nations, and remove all danger of a general conspiracy: but there are disadvantages also, which arise from the want of a medium of communication, and these were developed in the later periods of the republic. When Xerxes led the nations of Asia against the Greeks of the land of Hellas, a Carthagin-riers of the desert, for which occupation they are pe ian armament was despatched to subjugate the western colonies in Sicily. The muster-roll of the Asiatic force (Herodot., 7, 61, seqq.) contained the names of all the nations in his extensive empire, and even some beyond it, who served for money. The Punic army was composed of the tribes of the western world and of the African desert, and the two armies combined would have exhibited specimens of nearly all the tribes of men that were then known. We become intimately acquainted with the nature of a Carthaginian army from the extant narrative of Polybius. In the opinion of this soldier and historian, the cavalry of Numidia formed the strongest part of the army, and to their quick evolutions, their sudden retreat, and their rapid return to the charge, he attributes the success of Hannibal in his great victories. (Polyb., 3, 12.) Another cause may be assigned for the losses of the Romans, without at all impeaching the opinion of Polybius on the Numidian cavalry. The Romans frequently had two consuls at the head of their armies, and when both happened to be together in the field, they commanded alternately, day by day. At the fatal battle of Cannæ, the ignorance and presumption of Varro were associated with the better judgment and calm valour of Æmilius; the single unshackled energy of the great Hannibal was more than a match for this unfortunate combination. We can readily admit the possibility of the large armaments which the rich commercial city of Carthage is said to have equipped, but we perhaps shall find it necessary to detract something culiarly adapted by their nomadic life, and the posses- tions of Central Africa, we do not mean to say that it was a direct commerce, though it is possible it might be so in some degree. The tribes between the two Syrtes travelled to Garama, and, as every great resting-place might be a depôt for commodities, they could procure from this town the products of remote lands which the Carthaginians desired to possess. The towns on the coast of Byzacium would be the market for the caravans of Garama, and places of the greatest importance for the commerce of Carthage. It does not appear that the wares and products of Central Africa were carried by the caravans any farther than the towns near the Syrtes, on the edge of the desert: thus the connexion of Carthage with the nations of the interior appears to have attracted little attention. (Heeren, Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 185, seqq.-Long's Anc. Geogr., p. 104, seqq.) CARTHAGO NOVA, a well-known city of Hispania Tarraconensis, situate on the coast, a little distance above the boundary line between Tarraconensis and Bætion. It was founded by Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian, who succeeded Barcas, the father of Hannibal, B.C. 242. (Polyb., 2, 3.—Mela, 2, 6.-Strab., 158.) It was taken by Scipio Africanus during the second Punic war, and, on falling into the hands of the Romans, it became a colony, under the title of Colonia Victrix Julia Nova Carthago (Florez, Med. de Esp., vol. 1, p. 316.) The situation of this place was very favourable for commerce, since it lay almost in the middle of the southern coast of Spain, which had hardly any good harbours besides this along its whole extent. (Polyb., 10, 10-Id., 3, 39.-Strab., 156.) In Strabo's time it was a very important place, and carried on an extensive commerce, and in the mountains not far to the north of it were the richest silver mines of all Spain. The governor of the province of Tarraconensis spent the winter either in this city or Tarraco. (Strab., 167.) The modern Carthagena occupies the site of the ancient city. (Ukert, Geogr., vol. 2, p. 400, seqq.) Car.-Id., Prob., c. 24.-Id., Carin., c. 16, seq.-Bastie, Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript., &c., vol. 13, p. 437, seqq.) CARYE, I. a village of Arcadia, near the sources of the Aroanius. (Pausan., 8, 14.)-II. A small town of Laconia, to the north of Sellasia. (Pausan., 3, 10.) It appears from Pausanias (8, 45), that the Caryata were formerly attached to the territory of Tegea; and it is clear from Xenophon (Hist. Gr., 6, 5, 25), that it was a border-town. At the latter of these two places a festival was observed in honour of Diana Caryatis. (Vid. Caryatæ.) CARYATE, the inhabitants of Carya (II.). It is said, that they joined the Persians upon their invading Greece, and that, after the expulsion of the invaders, the Greeks made war upon the Caryatæ, took their city, slew all the males, carried the women into slavery, and decreed, by way of ignominy, that their images should be used as supporters for public edifices. Hence the Caryatides of ancient architecture. No trace of this story, however, is to be found in any Greek historian, and no small argument against its credibility may be deduced from the situation of the Caryate, within the Peloponnesus. A writer in the Museum Criticum (vol. 2, p. 402) suggests, that these figures were so called from their resembling the statue of Aprepiç Kapvüris, or else the Laconian virgins, who celebrated their annual dance in her temple; and he refers to Pausan., 3, 10.—Lucian, Salt., 10.—Plut., Vit. Artax. (Compare Winckelmann, Gesch. der Kunst. des Alterthums, vol. 4, pt. 1, p. 225.-Visconti, Mus-Pio-Clement., vol. 2, p. 42.-Bähr, ad Cies., p. 239.) CARYSTUS, I. a city of Euboea, on the seacoast, at the foot of Mount Oche. It is now known by the name of Castel-Rosso, and was founded, as we are told, by some of the Dryopes, who had been driven from their country by Hercules. (Thucyd., 7, 57.) This place was principally celebrated for its marble, which was highly esteemed, and much used by the CARVILIUS, I. one of the four kings of Cantium Romans in the embellishment of both public and pri(Kent), who, at the command of Cassivelaunus, made vate edifices. (Tibull., 3, 13-Compare Plin., 4, 12. an attack on Cæsar's naval camp, in which they were-Id., 36, 7.) We learn from Strabo (446), that the repulsed and lost a great number of men. (Cas., spot which furnished this valuable material was named B. G., 5, 22.)—II. The first Roman who divorced Marmarium, and that a temple had been erected there his wife during the space of six hundred years. This was for barrenness, B.C. 231. (Val. Max., 2, 1, 4.) —III. A grammarian of this name, according to Plutarch (de quæst. Rom., n. 54), first introduced the G into the Roman alphabet, C having been previously used for it. This was nearly 500 years after the building of the city. (Compare Quintilian, 1, 7, 23.Terent. Maur., p. 2402.—Id., p. 2410.-Mar. Vict., p. 2469.-Diom., p. 417.-Serv. ad Virg., Georg., 1, 194-Schneider, L. G., vol. 1, p. 233, seqq.) CARUS, a Roman emperor, who succeeded Probus. He was first appointed, by the latter, Prætorian prefect, and after his death was chosen by the army to be his successor, A.D. 282. Carus created his two sons, Carinus and Numerianus, Cæsars, as soon as he was elevated to the empire, and, some time after, gave them each the title of Augustus. On the news of the death of Probus, the barbarians put themselves in motion, and Carus, sending his son Carinus into Gaul, depart ed with Numerianus for Illyricum, in order to oppose the Sarmata, who threatened Thrace and Itaiv. He slew 16,000, and made 20,000 prisoners. Proceeding after this against the Persians, he made himself master of Mesopotamia, and of the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and took in consequence the surnames of Persicus and Parthicus. He died, however, in the midst of his successes, A.D. 283. (Vid. Aper.) His whole reign was one of not more than sixteen or seventeen months. Carus was deified after his death. According to Vopiscus, he held a middle rank between good and bad princes. (Vopisc., to Apollo Marmarius.-II. A town of Laconia, belonging to the territory of Ægys. Its wine was celebrated by the poet Alcman, as we are informed by Strabo (446.-Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p 224). CASCA, P. Servilius, one of the conspirators against Cæsar, and the individual who inflicted the first blow He had been attached to the party of Pompey, but had submitted, and received a pardon from Cesar. Plutarch states, that Casca gave Cæsar a stroke upon the neck, but that the wound was not dangerous, as he was probably in some trepidation at the time. Cæsar, turning around, caught hold of his dagger, crying out at the same time, "Villain! Casca! what art thou doing?" (Plut., Vit. Cæs.. c. 66.) CASCELLIUS AULUS, a lawyer of great erudition and talent in the time of Augustus. (Horat., Ep. ad Pis., 371.-Val. Max., 8, 12, 1.) CASILINUM, a city of Campania, on the river Vulturnus and the Appian Way. It is celebrated in history for the obstinate defence which it made against Hannibal after the battle of Canna. It appears from Livy, that the river Vulturnus divided the town into two parts, and that the one on the right bank was occupied by the Roman garrison, while the other was in possession of the Carthaginian army, which was thus enabled to cut off all supplies, except such as might be conveyed down the stream; by this means the brave handful of soldiers who defended the town were at last forced to surrender. (Liv., 23. 17, seqq.-Val. Max., 7, 6.) This town appears to have been still in existence in the time of Strabo (249); but Pliny, who wrote some 309 time after, speaks of it as being reduced to the lowest state of insignificance. (Plin., 3, 5.) It is, however, mentioned by Ptolemy (p. 66). The modern Capua is generally supposed to occupy the site of Casilinum. (Pratilli, Via Appia, 2, 12, p. 257.-Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, P, 199.) CASINUM, the last town of Latium on the Latin Way, according to Strabo (238). It was a large and populous place, and its site is now partly occupied by the modern town of San Germang. According to Varro, its name was derived from Cascum, an Oscan word, answering to the Latin Vetus. The same writer informs us, that Casinum originally belonged to the Samnites, from whom it was conquered by the Romans. (Varr., L. L, 6.) CASIUS, I. a mountain on the coast of Africa, near the Palus Serbonis (Herodot., 2, 6), and, according to Strabo (758), three hundred stadia from Pelusium. The Itin. Antonin., however, makes the distance between it and the latter place 320 stadia. (Compare Larcher, Hist. d'Herodote, Table Géographique, vol. 8 p. 101.) On this mountain reposed the remains of Pompey, and here also Jupiter, surnamed Casius, had a temple. (Compare remarks under the article Asi.) Mount Casius forms a promontory called at the present day Cape El-Cas.-II. Another in Syria, below Antiochia. It is a very lofty mountain. Pliny, in a style of exaggeration, asserts, that at the fourth watch (three o'clock A.M.), the rising sun could be seen from its top, while the base was enveloped in darkness. (Plin., 5, 22.) The African appears to have been named after the Syrian mountain. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 10, p. 493.) As regards the etymology of the name Casius, consult Riller, Vorhalle, p. 465, and compare remarks under the article Asi. width is 113, and its greatest width 275 miles. The situation of this sea, though now well known, was not ascertained a hundred years ago. The ancients laboured under a general mistake of its being a gulf of the Northern Ocean, and this was not corrected till the second century of our era. Ptolemy re-established the fact, which had been known to Herodotus, and perhaps to Aristotle. The Caspian Sea was then restored in the maps to the form of a lake or inland sea, separate on all sides from the northern and every other ocean. But, instead of having its longest diameter in a direction from north to south, it was described as longest from east to west. One reason for this view of it was, that the Northern Ocean was still thought to come much nearer to it than it did, and not to leave room in a northerly direction for the dimensions of this sea, the total extent of which was pretty well known. Besides this, the Sea of Aral, being imperfectly known, was considered as a part of the Caspian Sea. This notion is shown to have been entertained by the opinion which the ancients had of the mouth of the river Oxus. (Vid. Oxus.)-The level of the Caspian Sea is much lower than that of the ocean or the Black Sea. Olivier makes a difference of 64 feet. Lowitz, whose researches seem to have been unknown to that learned traveller, makes it only 53. The north and south winds, acquiring strength from the elevation of the shore, added to the facility of their motion along the surface of the water, exercise a powerful influence in varying the level of the water at the opposite extremities. Hence its variations have a range of from four to eight feet, and powerful currents are generated both with the rising and subsiding of the winds. It has also been said to be subject to another variation, which observes very distant periods. We are told, that since 1556, the waters of the sea have encroached on the Russian territory to the north. This is a fact which might deserve to be better ascertained. The depth of this sea is inconsiderable, except at the southern extremity, where bottom has not been found at a depth of 2400 feet. (Sainte-Croix, Examen des historiens d'Alexandre, p. 701.) Pallas and others have indulged in the geological speculation first ad CASPLE PORTE or PYLE, the Caspian gates or pass, a name belonging properly to a defile near Teheran, in ancient Media. Morier (Second Journey through Persia, &c., chap. 23) names it the pass of Charvar. (Compare Sainte-Croix, Examen des Hist. d'Alex., p. 688, seqq., and 862, ed. 2d.) It is vaguely applied by Tacitus and some other ancient writers to different passes of Mount Caucasus. (Malte-Brun, Geogr., vol. 2, p. 13, Brussels ed.) For the Cauca-vanced by Varenius, of the former existence of a much sian and Albanian gates, vid. Caucasus. CASPIL, a nation dwelling along the southern borders of the Caspian Sea, and giving name to it, according to Ritter. (Erdkunde, vol. 2, p. 899, seqq.) They appear to have been at one time a powerful commercial people, and to have occupied, in the time of the Persian dominion, the country answering to Ghilan and Derbend. Their name is supposed to have been derived from the term Casp, signifying "a mountain." (Ritter, l. c.) Gatterer is wrong in placing them between the Sea of Aral and the northeastern shore of the Caspian, from which quarter, according to him, they advanced into the country of the Sarmata, and afterward, in the first century of our era, emigrated into Europe. (Consult Bähr, ad Herod., 3, 95, and compare Ptol., 7, 1.—Mela, 3, 5.) greater extension of this sea to the northwest, and a union of it with the Palus Mæotis, or Sea of Azof, along the low grounds, abounding in shells and saline plants. But of such an extension not the slightest historical trace is to be found in any creditable author. The ideas of the ancient geographers respecting a great extension of this sea to the east have no relation to this supposed strait. The voyage of the Argonauts would not be at all explained by such a strait, and requires no such explanation.-But what becomes, it may be asked, of all the water which so many rivers pour into the Caspian Sea? Do they flow into two subterranean communications, which connect this sea with the Persian Gulf, and which some travellers pretend to have seen? (Struy's Travels, p. 126-Avril, Voyages, &c., p. 73.) Tunnels of this kind have at CASPIUM MARE, a celebrated inland sea of Upper all times been considered by the judicious as purely Asia, deriving its name either from the Caspii along imaginary. (Kaempfer, Amanit. Exot., p. 254) its southern shores (vid. Caspii), or from Casp, a The willow-leaves found in the Persian Gulf do not mountain," in allusion to its vicinity to Caucasus. require to come from Ghilan, or any other part of the According to the latest astronomical observations and Caspian shore, the banks of the Euphrates being suflocal measurements, it extends from north to south, in ficient to furnish them. The waters of the Caspian a longitudinal direction, nearly all of equal width, ex- Sea, like those of the ocean, give off their superfluity cepting a contraction which occurs at the encroach- by evaporation. This evaporation has been considered ment made by the peninsula of Apsheron. The nor- as established by the extreme humidity of the air in thern end forms a large bay, turning round from the Daghistan, Shirwan, Ghilan, and Mazanderan; but north to the northeast, and approaching to the basin no such phenomena as these are required for the demof the Sea of Aral. The length of the Caspian mayonstration.-Round the mouths of the rivers the wabe estimated at 760 miles, in a line drawn from north ter is fresh, but becomes moderately salt towards the to south, that is, from he bay of Kolpinskom, on the middle of the sea, though less so than that of the west of the river Ural, to Balfoosh. This line, how- ocean. In addition to the usual ingredients of seaever, crosses the peninsula of Karagan. Its smallest water, it contains a considerable quantity of sulphuric |