CARTHAGE. 



571 



: -.vent success against Pyrrhus. That expert 



~ - ciin..l i-iimnuiuler ton-haw the collision which was 



about to take place bi-iwi-i-n these powtrtul rivals, 



anJ i| saiil. upon leaving Sicily, to have pointed out 



:nl as the Mih'i'. it and tin- 6ltt tCefiC of tbc 



u-st. (Plutuich. in lit. I'yrr/ii.) 



Notwithstanding the Carthaginians had been thus 

 [ r successful in dislodging the Kpirots from Sicily, they 

 ^till two poweiful enemies to contend with, the 

 irrrhus. Syracusans and the Mamertmes. The former had re- 

 cently appointed Hiero for their leader, who is uni- 

 formly represented by the ancient historians as a con- 

 summate hero, and most amiable prince : under his 

 command the SyrtCUMH forces obtained several con- 

 siderable advantages over the Carthaginians. (See 

 Justin, lib. xxiii. c. 4. ; Theocrit. in Idyllio. 1(J. ; 

 find, in O/;//;/y>. 1.) 



The Mamertines were originally a body of Cam- 

 panian mercenaries, which Agathocles had retained 

 in his service. They were afterwards invclved in a 

 dispute with the citi/ens of Syracuse, as to their 

 right of giving votes in the election of magistrates ; 

 the consequence of which was, an agreement that 

 the Campanians should evacuate Sicily within a li- 

 mited time. Under pretence of embarking for their 

 native country, they retired to Messina, of which 

 town they took possession by treachery, expelling 

 or assassinating all the inhabitants, and assuming to 

 themselves the name of Mamertini, a word which, 

 in the ancient language of southern Italy, is used 

 to signify a warlike people. 



In this horrid action they soon found imitators : 

 Some Roman troops, to the number of about 4000, 

 had been posted at Rhegium, during the late wars 

 in Italy, under the command of one Decius, a Cam- 

 panian : these, assisted by the Mamertines, murder- 

 ed the citizens, and seized their property ; but they 

 were speedily punished by the Romans with exem- 

 plary vigour. The Mamertines, on their side, were 

 closely pressed by Hiero, who was eager to retaliate 

 upon them the injuries they had committed. They 

 were at length reduced to such distress, that they 

 resolved to surrender themselves to the first power 

 that could afford them protection ; but being divid- 

 ed in their choice, one party made an offer of sub- 

 lission to the Carthaginians, another to the Ro- 

 mans. The latter scrupled to avow themselves the 

 arotectors of a crime which they had so lately punish- 

 ed ; but while they hesitated, the Carthaginians, a 

 /ailing themselves of the delay, and of the neigh- 

 bourhood of their own military stations, got the start 

 of their rivals, and were received into Messina. * 

 This unexpected advantage, gained by a power of 

 which they had so much reason to be jealous, roused 

 the Romans : they instantly sent orders to the con- 

 sul Appius Claudius, who had charge of the forces 

 in the neighbourhood of Rhegium, to assemble all 

 the shipping which could be found on the coast, from 

 Tarcntum to Naples, and to pass with his army into 

 Sicily. As soon as his fleet appeared, the party in 

 the city which had favoured the admission of the 



Romans took arms, and forced the Carthaginians to Carthage. 

 evacuate the place. (Palyb. lib. i.) ~*^*(*~* 



Thus commenced t i'umc war. The first Firu Punk 



object of either party was no more than to command w r- 

 the passage of the straits, by securing the possession 

 of Messina ; but their views were gradually extend- 

 ed, and the contest quickly assumed its real form, a 

 struggle for the sovereignty of the whole island and 

 the dominion of the seas. Unfitted as the Romans 

 were, both by their habits and by the nature of their 

 resources, fora naval war, yet the commanding aspect 

 of their first descent on Sicily, induced Huro to 

 unite with them. The small force which Appius had 

 so hastily transported, was replaced by two consular 

 armies; these were sufficiently powerful to make 

 Hiero tremble in his capital ; he had also grounds 

 for suspecting the intentions of the Carthaginians 

 towards him, and he was influenced perhaps by that 

 hereditary animosity which the people of Syracuse 

 must have felt ag..inst the Carthaginian name. All Reason* 

 or any of these reasons may be sufficient to account for . Hiero'* 

 for the line of conduct pursued by him. The ac- ^'{"if 

 cession of Hiero to the Roman cause, altered the w 

 whole character of the war. It enabled the Romans 

 to plan and to execute designs which, under other 

 circumstances, must have been impossible. The 

 Carthaginians were not dispirited by this sudden 

 change ; they made new levies in Gaul and Liguria ; 

 reinforced their armies ; and fixing on Agrigentum 

 as their principal military station, they appointed 

 Hanno commander of their forces. The Roman 

 army was engaged in the siege of Agrigentum when 

 Hanno assumed the command ; he immediately led 

 his troops to the relief of the place. A severely 

 contested battle ensued, in which the Romans were 

 victorious. The possession of Agrigentum was the Capture of 

 first fruit of their victory ; it served also to establish Agrigen- 

 the wavering fidelity of Hiero, and confirm his ad- tunu 

 herence to the cause he had espoused. (Polyb. lib. i 

 p. 29. Edit.Casaub.) 



The Romans perceiving that, notwithstanding their 

 success by land, their coasts of Italy still continued 

 open to the depredations of the Carthaginian fleets ; 

 resolved at once to equip a fleet which might enable The Ro- 

 them to cope with their foe, even on his own peculiar mans equip 

 element. This attempt, so bold in its conception, '* fleet, 

 and so important in its ultimate consequences, indu- 

 ced Poly bias, (as he himself states,) to write the history 

 of this war, ' in order that the circumstances which 

 attended the first formation of the Roman niirine 

 might never be forgotten." A Carthaginian vessel, 

 which had been accidentally stranded at Messina, ser- 

 ved them for a model, and within the short period of 

 sixty days, they had fitted out, and manned for sea, 

 100 gallies of five benches of oars and twenty triremes. 

 These vessels were extremely rude, both in their ma- 

 terials and construction, yet the labour of building 

 them mu&t have been immense, as a qu nquereme was 

 capable of carrying 300 rowers and 200 righting men. 

 While the gallies were building, the Romai.s exer- 

 cised their rowers on benches erected on the beach. 



No expression can be stronger than that used by Polybius, 



K;n?nt*j tttm ytVvwcu TV K'S ' 



