A noble old Roman, eighty-four years of age, had just finished a stirring speech in the Forum, or great market place of Rome, and these were his closing words:“Delenda est Carthago!” (Carthage must be destroyed!)
His words were repeated by his hearers; they were carried into the street; they were discussed by excited men in every part of the city.
“Who says that Carthage must be destroyed?” asked one citizen of another.
“Cato the Censor says so,” was the answer.“He says that two such cities as Rome and Carthage cannot long exist under the same sun. One must soon submit to the other. If Rome does not destroy Carthage, then Carthage will destroy Rome.”
“Then every Roman must join with Cato and cry, ‘Delenda est Carthago!’ ”
Cato was dreadfully in earnest about the matter. Rome had already had two long wars with the great city on the other side of the Mediterranean. Cato, when a young man of eighteen, had served as a soldier in one of these wars. In his old age, when the cities were at peace, he had been sent as an ambassador to Carthage. He was astonished at what he saw there. He had supposed that Rome was the richest and most powerful city in the world; but now he feared that he was mistaken.
He saw the harbor of Carthage swarming with ships from all parts of the world; the wharfs were piled with the wealth of many countries; the shops were filled with rich and rare merchandise; the market place was thronged with buyers and sellers; the beauty of the public buildings and the strength of the city walls surpassed anything of which Rome could boast; the wealth and power of Carthage were too great to be estimated.
And so when stern old Cato returned home he felt that there was but one way to save Rome. He must arouse his countrymen to a sense of their danger. Carthage must be destroyed.
When he had finished his speech in the Forum, he wrapped his toga about him and went down into the street. Every one who saw him knew by the broad purple border on his white homespun toga that he was one of Rome’s great men—that he had held some of the highest offices in the gift of the city. A narrower border denoted a citizen of less renown; no border at all signified that its wearer had not yet been honored with an office. But in those days to be a Roman even of the humblest rank was better than to be a king.
In the street Cato met many of his friends; and no matter on what subject they might talk, his last words when parting with them were, “Delenda est Carthago!”
He had been a Roman censor, and for a time had been the most powerful man in Rome. He had had the oversight of the m