Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/66

46 HISTORY OF ART IN PIKKNICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. From a colony Massilia rose to be a metropolis j 1 fugitives from Phoauu, energetic men and skilful sailors, took refuge with the wealth they had saved, some in Massilia, others at Aleria. The effect of this reinforcement was soon felt. The Ionian colonists captured and destroyed the stations established by the Phoenicians on the coasts of Liguria and north-eastern Spain, while in more than one encounter their squadrons defeated those of Carthage. The superiority thus won they enjoyed for some time. 2 The Greeks were, then, in a fair way to gather the trade with Spain into their own hands, and, tempted by the mines of Sardinia, they would be likely in time to wish to add that island to the colony they had begun to form in Corsica. Carthage could not be indifferent to such ambitions as these, and she determined to resume, if possible, her ascendency in the north, as she had resumed it in Betica and Sicily ; and in the new enterprise she had the good fortune to rind allies. At this moment the Etruscans, that strange people whose origin and language are still a mystery, were at the height of their prosperity. Their nation as a whole had its seat in Tuscany, but Campania also had a few Etruscan cities, and as these two groups of a single people were separated by Latium, where the power of Rome was gradually extending itself, they required the com- mand of the sea to enable them to communicate freely with one another. This freedom was compromised by the existence of the Ionian colony on the opposite coast of Corsica. It was natural then that Carthaginians and Etruscans, in both of whom similar apprehensions had been awakened by a single foe, should unite their forces against him. In 536 an Etruscan fleet sailed from Populonia, the chief port of Etruria, and, being joined by a fleet from Carthage, the combined squadrons turned their heads to- wards Aleria. The ensuing battle was won by the lonians, but their numbers were so scanty that even victory was fatal. They abandoned Aleria and fled, some to Massilia, others to southern Italy, where they founded the colony of Velia. 3 Corsica had neither the fertile plains nor the mineral wealth of Sardinia. The Carthaginians, after establishing a few naval 1 LENORMANT, Histoire ancienne, vol. iii. p. 191. THUCYDIDES, i. 13; PAUSANIAS, x. viii. 4. 3 HERODOTUS, i. 165-7 ; DIODORUS, v. xiii. 4.