firmness of character, by opposing himself singly to those persons who had determined to quit the city; and an anecdote of his generosity while in Spain, has been the subject of many poets, painters, and engravers."

"Oh pray relate it, manima."

"I will leave Philip to do that, for I am engaged on business now."

Philip accordingly commenced." At the taking of New Carthage, or Carthagena, Scipio showed his humanity by preventing his soldiers from killing those who submitted to them and begged for mercy."

"But could any man be so cruel as to do otherwise, brother?"

"Indeed they could, Anne; the more they destroyed, enemies I mean, remember, the braver they were thought; so Scipio acted differently to others. Amongst the prisoners brought before him was a very beautiful princess, engaged to be married to a prince of that country, who was very fond of her. Scipio sent to desire that both her parents and lover would come to him, at which they were all much distressed, thinking that the conqueror wished to marry her himself. They arrived with a large sum of money, which the parents offered in exchange

for their daughter, while the prince begged that he might be accepted as a slave in the place of the woman he loved. You may imagine the astonishment of the whole party, when Scipio desired the prince to take his bride, for that all he wanted was his friendship. happy parents begged him to accept the money for the ransom of their daughter, which he obliged them by doing, but immediately made a present of it to the young lady as a marriage gift."

The

"How delighted they must have been with him, Philip; that is a very interesting anecdote."

"On leaving Scipio, all but the princess talked with delight of his goodness, generosity, and pleasing manners; but she said nothing. Her lover at last asked her what she thought of him ; I did not notice him, she answered. Then what could you be thinking of? asked the astonished prince. I could only think of the generous man who offered his own liberty for mine."

"Oh, that was himself, of course; well, she had reason to think much of him; but she might have had a little gratitude and notice to bestow upon the other generous man, who was making them all happy, Thank you, Philip."

CHAPTER X.

"WELL Anne, did Philip's account of Scipio make you wish for further particulars of him or not?"

"It did indeed, pray begin."

'Scipio, at this part of his history, was twenty-four years of age, and at twenty-nine he returned from Spain, and was made consul. He immediately determined to carry the war into Africa, where he was joined by Masinissa, who had been driven from his own kingdom of Numidia, by the usurping Syphax. Upon this the Carthaginians recalled Hannibal, whose disappointment was extreme at being obliged to leave Italy, of whose most fertile parts he had been master for above fifteen years. He obeyed the order, it is said, with tears of sorrow, know

ing it to be the only place where the Roman power could effectually be resisted. Landing in Africa, he soon reached Zama, where Scipio met him. Hannibal was well aware that his troops were much less in number than those of the Romans, he therefore determined, if possible, to end the war, without coming to an engagement; for this purpose, he requested an interview with Scipio. The two greatest generals of the age met, and are said to have looked at each other for some time without speaking, each being anxious to examine the man who had made himself so celebrated for courage and conduct."

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"But their feelings must have been very different, mamma; they were such different men." They were different in every way, Anne. Scipio was young, and is described as very handsome; full of warm youthful feelings, we may suppose that he could not look at the successful, but ill-used old general, whose worn appearance showed how much he had done and suffered for his ungrateful country, without respect, mingled with pity at what was likely to be his fate. Hannibal, on the other hand, however cold he had become, could not behold the noble appearance of the young soldier, without

thinking of what he had been himself. I must not make my story too long by relating their conversation, it is sufficient to say that they could not come to any agreement, and the battle of Zama took place, in which, although Hannibal is said to have shown more skill than in any of his former exploits, he was totally defeated; and after doing all that a great general and good soldier could do, he fled to Admetum. A peace followed, by the Carthaginians submitting to the terms required by the Romans. They were much harder than before; they were to pay 10,000 talents in fifty years, to give up all their ships and elephants, to resign Spain and all the islands in the Mediterranean Sea, and not to make war in Africa without the consent of the Romans. Thus ended the second Punic War, which had lasted seventeen years. Scipio returned in triumph to Rome, and was surnamed Africanus.-We are now to behold a change in the Roman character which you will grieve for. By the conquest of so many countries, great riches and many slaves had been brought into Rome; they acquired a taste for pleasures which they had not known before. Their wealth purchased those articles of luxury or necessity, which formerly they had either not