Is it all just chance? Carthage was at the height of its power at about the time Romulus and Remus began suckling at the teat of the wolf. And so it goes.

The laden ships, the Inland Sea
Mighty Baal, thy kingdom be
Bestride the world, thy ships for hire
Adventurers who left old Tyre
To start anew in western lands
And carve a city with bare hands
And now you call the west your home
Still knowing not the infant Rome
The Punic language spoke by all
The Latin still an infant’s squall
And yet the scales were trembling now
The Carthage gods with troubled brow
For they foresaw the future clear
The end of Carthage drawing near
The universe is never still
Who climbs the mountain, crests the hill
Will find that on the other side
The slope is steeper, and the ride
From top to bottom’s but a blink
No time to act, no time to think
And so it is with tide and time
The world doth speak, and speak in rhyme
To tell of others who before
Laid up their riches, filled their store
With goods and gold and heady wine
And saw each day as good and fine
That all must end, the circle made
And time to rest in blessed shade