Disagree. Neither Rome, nor Carthage were outright democracies. But both had, over the course of time, various popular assemblies either electing magistrates or passing legislation. Of course ancient states were much different from modern ones, but that also goes for monarchies and oligarchies. On a continuum between monarchical tyranny on one side (I only say diadochi kingdoms...) and radical democracy on the other, both Rome and Carthage were (the former at least to the 2nd century BCE) somewhere in the centre, at times leaning more towards autocracy and at others more towards democracy. Throughout the 1st century BCE, of course, this changed, and throughout the Principate and then into the Dominate, Rome (and later Byzantium) gradually became absolute monarchies (but, again, not in the Enlightenment Age meaning of the word).