Re: CHAT: Punic sources

On Tue, 12 Dec 2000, Nik Taylor wrote:

> David Stokes wrote:
> > what is the language of a conquered Rome?
>
> Probably wouldn't be any Rome.  The Romans completely annihilated
> Carthage, I don't see any reason why the Carthaginians wouldn't've done
> the same to Rome if they'd won.
Because they had better sense.  The Romans wiped out Carthage, planted
the fields with salt, yada yada, and what was the effect?  They had
to start a new Carthage several miles down the coast.  It was needed
for trade.

The Carthaginians lived and died by trade, unlike the Romans, who lived
and died (mostly died) by war.  They would have had no reason to wipe
out Rome.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter