. By the waters of Carthage. feel sure that pilgrimages to the hero cities of theworld must do us good—even the most ignorant ofus—for here at Carthage you are baptized in the greatreligion of veneration. Here you stand face to facewith the immortality of greatness. Here you learn howtrue it is that nothing that is truly great ever dies. Because of its ancient greatness, I said to myself, because of the glory of things which passeth not away,this desolate sun-parched strip of land on the shores ofNorth Africa will ever be a magic name. For the civilisedof all nations, Carthage will be
. By the waters of Carthage. feel sure that pilgrimages to the hero cities of theworld must do us good—even the most ignorant ofus—for here at Carthage you are baptized in the greatreligion of veneration. Here you stand face to facewith the immortality of greatness. Here you learn howtrue it is that nothing that is truly great ever dies. Because of its ancient greatness, I said to myself, because of the glory of things which passeth not away,this desolate sun-parched strip of land on the shores ofNorth Africa will ever be a magic name. For the civilisedof all nations, Carthage will be Carthage until theworld has sHpped behind the sea like the ball of fire atsunset. But the fact that this frankly pagan Carthage—that compelling name which makes every mind soar upand every knee bow down; that name that rings outhigh over all others, even high above great Romeitself—that it should be a mere ash-heap of buildersruins, a mere yellow mound against an horizon of blue,is incredible until you have seen Chapter XII 265 You may read how little there is of the realCarthage (all that the Library of the British Museumcontains on the subject), but you will never believehow little until you yourself have stood on her ruinsbathed in that fierce African light ; until you yourselfhave felt her desolation. For who, dear, has not aCarthage of his own imagining, and what man hasnot a Helen of Troy ? Something inside me keeps on saying, / have seenCarthage, / have seen Carthage. It is like the refrainof some haunting song. Then the privilege of the fact faces me, and I askmyself, But why should / have seen Carthage .^ Whatfreak has the great god Chance played on me, that I,whose whimsical knowledge of her story—which holds,but for Troy, the most affecting of all city sieges—goesscarcely deeper than a long familiarity with her name,should have been amongst her pilgrims } It does seem incredible that I should have gonealone to Carthage—the great Carthage which in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1906
