HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 33 



cuse, long inveterate enemies, desisted from mutual hostilities, and uniting 

 their forces, besieged Messana. The Mtniiertines applied fur assistance to 

 the Romans, who granted it, took possession of the place, vanquished Iliero, 

 king of Syracuse, and the Carthaginians, and then marched their forces upon 

 Syracuse. But Iliero i)referred an alliance with Rome to the impending 

 contest, and their united strength was now directed against the Cartha- 

 ginian cities in Sicily, 263 B.C. 



Hitherto the Romans knew nothing of naval warfare. After the capture 

 of Agrigentum, however, they began building their first fleet under Duilius, 

 and gained a victory at sea, 259 B.C. The war was now prosecuted with 

 spirit and vigor in Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. Another victory opened 

 the way to Carthage. Regulus penetrated to the very gates of the city 

 (256 B.C.), but was defeated and taken prisoner by Xantippus, and for a time 

 fortune seemed to desert the Roman arms. Several fleets were lost in war or 

 by tempests. Nevertheless, Rome continued the war by land and sea, and 

 was at length victorious under the consul Lutatius Catulus, by whose success 

 Carthage had to yield possession of Sicily and the smaller islands, and to 

 submit to other humiliating terms. Thus ended the First Punic Wae. 



Carthage, however, soon recovered strength by fresh conquests in a 

 diftereut direction, and had especially found in Spain a new source of power 

 and wealth. Hamilcar Barcas commenced the subjugation of Spain, but 

 fell in the effort, 229 B.C. He was succeeded by his son in-law, Asdrubal, 

 and at length, 221 B.C., the supreme command was assumed by his son 

 Hannibal. He laid siege to Saguntum, a city of Spain, which was under 

 the protection of Rome, in spite of remonstrances on the part of that 

 power, which, in consequence, immediately declared war. Hannibal longed 

 for an opportunity to redeem an early vow of perpetual hostility to Rome, 

 and was desirous of making it the theatre of his martial exploits. The 

 Romans had already sent one army to Spain and another to Africa, when 

 Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees, marched through Gallia, passed the 

 Rhone, and then the Alps, in spite of the season (it was the month of 

 Kovember), and appeared on the plains of Upper Italy, a terror to Rome. 

 This forced march cost him the lives of 30,000 men, and many horses and 

 elephants ; the remnant of his forces consisted only of 26,000 men. In 

 three engagements he was victorious, and then proceeded towards Rome. 

 But conscious of his diminished strength, and feeling how imprudent it 

 would be with such reduced forces to attack the citv, Hannibal retired over 

 the Apennines, and through the morasses of the Arno and Apulia to 

 Lower Italy. 



In the meantime, the Dictator, Fabius Maximus, hung upon the flanks of 

 the enemy, harassing all his movements, but avoiding a general engagement. 

 He would infallibly have taken the Carthaginian army captive, had not 

 Hannibal, by a cunningly devised stratagem, deceived the Romans as to 

 his movements, and thus gained time to escape from the toils which were 

 closing around him. 



The senate, wearied with the procrastination of Fabius, and distrustful 

 of him, appointed Minucius, who had the command of the hoi-semen, to 



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