regarded as the best authorities on the latter subject
both by the Greeks and Romans, and were followed,
among the Greeks by Mnaseas and Paxamus, ¹
among the Romans by Varro and Columella. ² So
highly was the work of Mago, which ran to twenty-
eight books, esteemed, that, on the taking of Carthage,
it was translated into Latin by order of the Roman
Senate. ³ After the fall of Carthage, Tyre and Sidon once
more became seats of learning; but the Phœnician lan-
guage was discarded, and Greek adopted in its place.
The Tyrian, Sidonian, Byblian and Berytian authors,
of whom we hear, bear Greek names: ⁴ and it is im-
possible to say whether they belonged, in any true
sense, to the Phœnician race. Philo of Byblus and
Marinus of Tyre are the only two authors of this
later period who held to Phœnician traditions, and,
presumably, conveyed on to later ages Phœnician
ideas and accumulations. If neither literature nor
science gained much from the work of the former,
that of the latter had considerable value, and, as the
basis of the great work of Ptolemy, must ever hold
an honourable place in the history of geographical
progress.

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