now lasted eight years, from 250 to 241 B.C., and it appeared no nearer its conclusion than at first. All sacrifices must be made. A fleet must be built. And it was built. At the beginning of the year 241 B.C., the Patrician Consul, Q. Lutatius Catulus, put to sea with more than two hundred sail.m

This was the fourth navy which the Romans had created. Three times had they lost the whole by storms or by mismanagement. It is impossible not to admire this iron determination; impossible not to feel satisfaction at seeing it rewarded.

§ 21. The Consul, with his new fleet, sailed very early in the year. He immediately blockaded Drepanum by sea and land, hoping to take it at once and so deprive the Carthaginians of the harbour in which their fleet commonly lay to watch the Romans at Lilybæum. He also took great pains to train his seamen in naval tactics. In an action which took place at Drepanum he was severely wounded.

On the other hand, the Carthaginians, exhausted by the heavy outlay required by the war and deeming that the Romans had relinquished the sea, had of late neglected their navy; and it was not till early in the following year (241) that a fleet was dispatched to the relief of Drepanum. It was heavily freighted with provisions and stores. Hanno, its commander, touched at Hiera, a small island, about twenty or twenty-five miles from the port of Drepanum. Of this (it appears) Catulus was informed. He was still suffering from his wound, but he at once embarked and put to sea, hoping to intercept the enemy before they unloaded their ships. On the evening of the 9th of March, he lay to at Ægusa, another small island, not above ten miles distant from Hiera. Next morning the Carthaginians put to sea and endeavoured to run into Drepanum. But they were intercepted by the Roman fleet, and obliged to give battle. They fought under great disadvantages, and the Romans gained an easy victory. Fifty of the enemy's ships were sunk, seventy taken; the rest escaped to Hiera.

§ 22. This battle, called the battle of the Ægatian islands (for this was the general name of the group), decided the war. It was plain that Lilybæum must now surrender; and that though Polybius says 200; Justin and others say 300.

m

Hamilcar might yet stand at bay, he could not recover Sicily for the present. The merchants of Carthage were eager for the conclusion of the war; and the government sent orders to Hamilcar to make a peace on the best terms he could obtain. Catulus at first required, as a preliminary to all negociations, that Hamilcar should lay down his arms, and give up all Roman deserters in his service. But when the Carthaginian disdainfully refused this condition, the Consul prudently waived it, and a treaty was finally agreed on by the two commanders to the following effect:-that the Carthaginians should evacuate Sicily; should give up all Roman prisoners without ransom; and should pay 2,200 talents in twenty years, towards the expenses of the war. This treaty, however, was subject to the approval of the Roman people, and the Tribes refused to ratify it without inquiry. Accordingly the Senate sent over ten envoys, who confirmed the treaty of Catulus, except that they raised the sum to 3,200 talents, and required this larger sum to be paid in ten years, instead of twenty. They also insisted on the cession of all the small islands between Italy and Sicily.

The treaty was immediately executed. Lilybæum, Drepanum, Eryx, and the other places still held by the Carthaginians, were surrendered, and Hamilcar embarked his troops for Carthage.

§ 23. Thus ended the first Punic War. The issue of this long struggle was altogether in favour of Rome. She had performed few brilliant exploits, she had sent few eminent men to conduct the war; but she had done great things on the whole. She had beaten the Mistress of the Sea upon her own element. She had gained possession of a large and fertile island; an island nearly twice as large as Yorkshire, and fertile beyond the example of other lands." Her losses indeed had been enormous; for she had lost seven hundred ships, a vast number of men, and large sums of money. But Carthage had suffered still more. For though she had lost not more than five hundred ships, yet the interruption to her trade, and the loss of her

n

Sicily became the first Province. But as it was lost again a few years after, and all the known rules of government date from the second conquest, all notice of the provincial system of Rome shall be deferred. See Chapt. xxxvi.

great commercial emporiums of Lilybæum and Drepanum, not only crippled the resources of the State, but largely diminished the fortunes of many individual citizens. The Romans and Italians, who fought in this war, were mostly agricultural; and the losses of such a people are small, and soon repaired, whereas similar injuries suffered by a great commercial state are often irreparable.

This war was only the prelude to a more fierce and deadly contest. Carthage had withdrawn discomfited from Sicily, and her empty treasury and ruined trade forbade her to continue the conflict at that time. But it was not yet decided whether Rome or Carthage was to rule the coasts of the Mediterranean. The great Hamilcar left Eryx without despair. He foresaw that by patience and prudence he might shake off the control of his jealous Government, and train up an army in his own interest, with which he might defy the Roman legions. Unfortunate circumstances prevented him from the execution of this project for the next four years. After that (as we shall see) he entered the bold and far-sighted policy which was so successfully carried out by his celebrated son.

See Polyb., i. 60.

CHAPTER XXX.

EVENTS BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND PUNIC WARS.

§ 1. Origin and progress of the MERCENARY WAR at Carthage: Spendius and Matho. § 2. Hamilcar commissioned to check it: thwarted by Hanno. §3. Hamilcar made sole commander: he compels Spendius to surrender. § 4. Obstinate resistance of Matho: he murders Gisgo and other prisoners: end of War. §5. Ungenerous conduct of Rome. § 6. Hamilcar goes to Spain. § 7. Affairs of Rome: Temple of Janus closed. § 8. ILLYRIAN WAR: Piratical tribes of Illyrian coast: Queen Teuta murders a Roman Envoy. § 9. Demetrius of Pharos, Teuta's governor of Corcyra, treacherously joins Rome: Teuta obliged to consent to hard terms. § 10. Honour paid to Romans in Greece. § 11. GALLIC WAR: Gauls provoked to war by proposal of Flaminius to plant settlements in Picenum and Umbria. § 12. Enormous forces at disposal of Rome: plan of campaign. § 13. Great defeat of Gauls at Telamon in Etruria. § 14. Invasion of Transpadane Gaul. § 15. Marcellus wins spolia opima. § 16. Colonies planted at Placentia and Cremona. § 17. Revolt of Demetrius of Pharos, easily subdued by Emilius Paullus. § 18. Hamilcar's operations in Spain: Hannibal's oath.

§ 1. THE first Punic War lasted three-and-twenty years; and the interval between the end of this war and the beginning of the next was of nearly the same duration. In the course of this period (from 240 to 218 B.C.) both Rome and Carthage, notwithstanding their exhausted condition, were involved in perilous wars. In the next three years Carthage was brought to the very brink of destruction by a general mutiny of her mercenary troops. This Mercenary War arose in the following

manner.

As soon as peace was concluded, it was necessary for Carthage to withdraw all her troops from Sicily, and pay them their arrears. The general who was entrusted with the charge of shipping off these troops, Gisgo, executed his trust with judgment and dexterity. He foresaw the danger that might arise, if the whole army, consisting of adventurers without country or law, were landed all at once on the shores of Africa. They might make war on their own account, like the Campanians of Rhegium, or the Mamertines of Messana. Gisgo therefore sent

home the troops in small detachments, so that each detachment might be paid off and disbanded before the next arrived. But he was ill seconded by the Government at home. The treasury was exhausted. No doubt money for defraying the arrears of pay was to be raised on loans at high interest; and perhaps the Council imagined that, by delaying payment, they might induce the soldiers to be content with a smaller sum than was their due. They therefore allowed the whole army to collect at Sicca, in the neighbourhood of the capital, before any measures were taken for payment. The consequence was the reverse of what was expected. The reckless adventurers who commanded these mercenaries saw the weakness of the Government, and coveted the wealth and luxury of the great city, which seemed now within their grasp. They at once declared that they must have their full arrears of pay; and presently added that now they would not be content even with this. To enforce these demands they encamped at Tunis, almost within sight of Carthage. The Government became frightened, and offered to concede all demands. But with the fears of the Government rose the demands of the soldiers; it soon became clear that the whole army was in open revolt, and their leaders bent on nothing less than conquering their masters. Their Carthaginian officers and commanders were discarded: two desperate and abandoned men gained supreme power over the whole army. These were Spendius, a runaway Campanian slave, who feared to be given up to the Romans; and Matho, a Libyan, who had been too forward in urging the demands of the army to hope for forgiveness from the Carthaginian Government. Led on by these desperadoes, the soldiers gave a full loose to their ferocity; they seized Gisgo, who had been sent to treat with them, as a hostage; plundered the country round about; raised the subject Africans in rebellion; besieged the fortified towns of Utica and Hippo; and cut off all communication by land with the promontory upon which Carthage stands.

§ 2. In this desperate crisis, the Government turned their eyes on Hamilcar, and charged him with the office of saving his country. He promptly obeyed. The civic force of Carthage itself must have formed his chief force. By skilful persuasion he induced the Numidian cavalry to desert and join his standard.