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Conquests
of the Carthaginians in Sicily._—The
wars which the
Carthaginians
carried on in Sicily are more known. I shall here relate
those
which were waged from the reign of Xerxes, who first prompted the
Carthaginians
to carry their arms into Sicily, till the first Punic war.
This
period includes near two hundred and twenty years; _viz._ from
the
year
of the world 3520 to 3738. At the breaking out of these wars,
Syracuse,
the most considerable as well as most powerful city of Sicily,
had
invested Gelon, Hiero, and Thrasybulus, (three brothers who
succeeded
one
another,) with the sovereign power. After their deaths, a democracy
or
popular
government was established in that city, and subsisted above
sixty
years.
From this time, the two Dionysius’s, Timoleon, and Agathocles,
bore
the
sway in Syracuse. Pyrrhus was afterwards invited into Sicily, but
he
kept
possession of it only a few years. Such was the government of
Sicily
during
the wars of which I am going to treat. They will give us great
light
with regard to the power of the Carthaginians, at the time that
they
began
to be engaged in war with the Romans.
Sicily
is the largest and most considerable island in the Mediterranean.
It
is of a triangular form, and for that reason was called Trinacria
and
Triquetra.
The eastern side, which faces the Ionian or Grecian sea,
extends
from Cape Pachynum(602) to Pelorum.(603) The most celebrated
cities
on this coast are Syracuse, Tauromenium, and Messana. The
northern
coast,
which looks towards Italy, reaches from Cape Pelorum to Cape
Lilybæum.(604)
The most noted cities on this coast are Mylæ, Hymera,
Panormus,
Eryx, Motya, Lilybæum. The southern coast, which lies opposite
to
Africa, extends from Cape Lilybæum to Pachynum. The most
remarkable
cities
on this coast are Selinus, Agrigentum, Gela, and Camarina. This
island
is separated from Italy by a strait, which is not more than a
mile
and
a half over, and called the Faro or strait of Messina, from its
contiguity
to that city. The passage from Lilybæum to Africa is but 1500
furlongs,(605)
that is, about seventy-five leagues.(606)
(M99)
The period in which the Carthaginians first carried their arms
into
Sicily
is not exactly known.(607) All we are certain of is, that they
were
already
possessed of some part of it, at the time that they entered into
a
treaty
with the Romans; the same year that the kings were expelled, and
consuls
appointed in their room, _viz._ twenty-eight years before Xerxes
invaded
Greece. This treaty, which is the first we find mentioned to have
been
made between these two nations, speaks of Africa and Sardinia as
possessed
by the Carthaginians; whereas the conventions with regard to
Sicily,
relate only to those parts of the island which were subject to
them.
By this treaty it is expressly stipulated, that neither the
Romans
nor
their allies shall sail beyond the Fair Promontory,(608) which
was
very
near Carthage; and that such merchants, as shall resort to this
city
for
traffic, shall pay only certain duties which are settled in
it.(609)
It
appears by the same treaty, that the Carthaginians were
particularly
careful
to exclude the Romans from all the countries subject to them; as
well
as from the knowledge of what was transacting in them; as though
the
Carthaginians,
even at that time, had taken umbrage at the rising power of
the
Romans; and already harboured in their breasts the secret seeds
of
that
jealousy and distrust, that were one day to burst out in long and
cruel
wars, and a mutual hatred and animosity, which nothing could
extinguish
but the ruin of one of the contending powers.
(M100)
Some years after the conclusion of this first treaty, the
Carthaginians
made an alliance with Xerxes king of Persia.(610) This
prince,
who aimed at nothing less than the total extirpation of the
Greeks,
whom he considered as his irreconcilable enemies, thought it
would
be
impossible for him to succeed in his enterprise without the
assistance
of
Carthage, whose power was formidable even at that time. The
Carthaginians,
who always kept in view the design they entertained of
seizing
upon the remainder of Sicily, greedily snatched the favourable
opportunity
which now presented itself for their completing the reduction
of
it. A treaty was therefore concluded; wherein it was agreed that
the
Carthaginians
were to invade, with all their forces, those Greeks who were
settled
in Sicily and Italy, while Xerxes should march in person against
Greece
itself.
The
preparations for this war lasted three years. The land army
amounted
to
no less than three hundred thousand men. The fleet consisted of
two
thousand
ships of war, and upwards of three thousand small vessels of
burden.
Hamilcar, the most experienced captain of his age, sailed from
Carthage
with this formidable army. He landed at Palermo;(611) and, after
refreshing
his troops, he marched against Hymera, a city not far distant
from
Palermo, and laid siege to it. Theron, who commanded in it,
seeing
himself
very much straitened, sent to Gelon, who had possessed himself of
Syracuse.
He flew immediately to his relief, with fifty thousand foot, and
five
thousand horse. His arrival infused new courage into the
besieged,
who,
from that time, made a very vigorous defence.
Gelon
was an able warrior, and excelled in stratagems. A courier was
brought
to him, who had been despatched from Selinus, a city of Sicily,
with
a letter for Hamilcar, to inform him of the day when he might
expect
the
cavalry which he had demanded of them. Gelon drew out an equal
number
of
his own troops, and sent them from his camp about the time agreed
on.
These
being admitted into the enemy’s camp, as coming from Selinus,
rushed
upon
Hamilcar, killed him, and set fire to his ships. In this critical
conjuncture,
Gelon attacked, with all his forces, the Carthaginians, who
at
first made a gallant resistance. But when the news of their
general’s
death
was brought them, and they saw their fleet in a blaze, their
courage
failed
them, and they fled. And now a dreadful slaughter ensued; upwards
of
a hundred and fifty thousand being slain. The rest of the army,
having
retired
to a place where they were in want of every thing, could not make
a
long defence, and were forced to surrender at discretion. This
battle
was
fought the very day of the famous action of Thermopylæ, in which
three
hundred
Spartans,(612) with the sacrifice of their lives, disputed
Xerxes’s
entrance into Greece.
When
the sad news was brought to Carthage of the entire defeat of the
army,
consternation, grief, and despair, threw the whole city into such
a
confusion
and alarm as are not to be expressed. It was imagined that the
enemy
was already at the gates. The Carthaginians, in great reverses of
fortune,
always lost their courage, and sunk into the opposite extreme.
Immediately
they sent a deputation to Gelon, by which they desired peace
upon
any terms. He heard their envoys with great humanity. The
complete
victory
he had gained, so far from making him haughty and untractable,
had
only
increased his modesty and clemency even towards the enemy. He
therefore
granted them a peace, without any other condition, than their
paying
two thousand(613) talents towards the expense of the war. He
likewise
required them to build two temples, where the treaty of this
peace
should be deposited, and exposed at all times to public view. The
Carthaginians
did not think this a dear purchase of a peace, that was so
absolutely
necessary to their affairs, and which they hardly durst hope
for.
Gisgo, the son of Hamilcar, pursuant to the unjust custom of the
Carthaginians,
of ascribing to the general the ill success of a war, and
making
him bear the blame of it, was punished for his father’s
misfortune,
and
sent into banishment. He passed the remainder of his days at
Selinus,
a
city of Sicily.
Gelon,
on his return to Syracuse, convened the people, and invited all
the
citizens
to appear under arms. He himself entered the assembly, unarmed
and
without his guards, and there gave an account of the whole conduct
of
his
life. His speech met with no other interruption, than the public
testimonies
which were given him of gratitude and admiration. So far from
being
treated as a tyrant, and the oppressor of his country’s liberty,
he
was
considered as its benefactor and deliverer; all, with an
unanimous
voice,
proclaimed him king; and the crown was bestowed, after his death,
on
his two brothers.
(M101)
After the memorable defeat of the Athenians before Syracuse,
where
Nicias
perished with his whole fleet;(614) the Segestans, who had
declared
in
favour of the Athenians against the Syracusans, fearing the
resentment
of
their enemies, and being attacked by the inhabitants of Selinus,
implored
the aid of the Carthaginians, and put themselves and city under
their
protection. At Carthage the people debated some time, what course
it
would
be proper for them to take, the affair meeting with great
difficulties.
On one hand, the Carthaginians were very desirous to possess
themselves
of a city which lay so convenient for them; on the other, they
dreaded
the power and forces of Syracuse, which had so lately cut to
pieces
a numerous army of the Athenians; and become, by so shining a
victory,
more formidable than ever. At last, the lust of empire prevailed,
and
the Segestans were promised succours.
The
conduct of this war was committed to Hannibal, who at that time
was
invested
with the highest dignity of the state, being one of the Suffetes.
He
was grandson to Hamilcar, who had been defeated by Gelon, and
killed
before
Himera; and son to Gisgo, who had been condemned to exile. He
left
Carthage,
animated with an ardent desire of revenging his family and
country,
and of wiping away the disgrace of the last defeat. He had a very
great
army as well as fleet under his command. He landed at a place
called
the
_Well of Lilybæum_, which gave its name to a city afterwards built
on
the
same spot. His first enterprise was the siege of Selinus. The
attack
and
defence were equally vigorous, the very women showing a resolution
and
bravery
above their sex. The city, after making a long resistance, was
taken
by storm, and the plunder of it abandoned to the soldiers. The
victor
exercised the most horrid cruelties, without showing the least
regard
to either age or sex. He permitted such inhabitants as had fled,
to
continue
in the city after it had been dismantled; and to till the lands,
on
condition of their paying a tribute to the Carthaginians. This city
had
been
built two hundred and forty-two years.
Himera,
which he next besieged and took likewise by storm, after being
more
cruelly treated than Selinus, was entirely razed, two hundred and
forty
years after its foundation. He forced three thousand prisoners to
undergo
every kind of ignominious punishments; and at last murdered them
all
on the very spot where his grandfather had been killed by Gelon’s
cavalry,
to appease and satisfy his manes by the blood of these unhappy
victims.
These
expeditions being ended, Hannibal returned to Carthage, on which
occasion
the whole city came out to meet him, and received him amidst the
most
joyful acclamations.
These
successes reinflamed the desire, and revived the design, which
the
Carthaginians
had ever entertained, of making themselves masters of the
whole
of Sicily.(615) Three years after, they appointed Hannibal their
general
a second time; and on his pleading his great age, and refusing
the
command
of this war, they gave him for lieutenant, Imilcon, son of Hanno,
of
the same family. The preparations for this war were proportioned to
the
great
design which the Carthaginians had formed. The fleet and army
were
soon
ready, and set out for Sicily. The number of their forces,
according
to
Timæus, amounted to above six-score thousand; and, according to
Ephorus,
to three hundred thousand men. The enemy, on their side, were
prepared
to give the Carthaginians a warm reception. The Syracusans had
sent
to all their allies, in order to levy forces among them; and to
all
the
cities of Sicily, to exhort them to exert themselves vigorously
in
defence
of their liberties.
Agrigentum
expected to feel the first fury of the enemy. This city was
prodigiously
rich,(616) and strongly fortified. It was situated, as was
also
Selinus, on that coast of Sicily which faces Africa. Accordingly,
Hannibal
opened the campaign with the siege of this city. Imagining that
it
was impregnable except on one side, he directed his whole force to
that
quarter.
He threw up banks and terraces as high as the walls: and made
use,
on this occasion, of the rubbish and fragments of the tombs
standing
round
the city, which he had demolished for that purpose. Soon after,
the
plague
infected the army, and swept away a great number of the soldiers,
and
the general himself. The Carthaginians interpreted this disaster as
a
punishment
inflicted by the gods, who revenged in this manner the injuries
done
to the dead, whose ghosts many fancied they had seen stalking
before
them
in the night. No more tombs were therefore demolished, prayers
were
ordered
to be made according to the practice of Carthage; a child was
sacrificed
to Saturn, in compliance with a most inhuman superstitious
custom;
and many victims were thrown into the sea in honour of Neptune.
The
besieged, who at first had gained several advantages, were at last
so
pressed
by famine, that all hopes of relief seeming desperate, they
resolved
to abandon the city. The following night was fixed on for this
purpose.
The reader will naturally image to himself the grief with which
these
miserable people must be seized, on their being forced to leave
their
houses, their rich possessions, and their country; but life was
still
dearer to them than all these. Never was a more melancholy
spectacle
seen.
To omit the rest, a crowd of women, bathed in tears, were seen
dragging
after them their helpless infants, in order to secure them from
the
brutal fury of the victor. But the most grievous circumstance was,
the
necessity
they were under of leaving behind them the aged and sick, who
were
unable either to fly or to make the least resistance. The unhappy
exiles
arrived at Gela, which was the nearest city, and there received
all
the
comforts they could expect in the deplorable condition to which
they
were
reduced.
In
the mean time, Imilcon entered the city, and murdered all who
were
found
in it. The plunder was immensely rich, and such as might be
expected
from
one of the most opulent cities of Sicily, which contained two
hundred
thousand
inhabitants, and had never been besieged, nor consequently
plundered,
before. A numberless multitude of pictures, vases, and statues
of
all kinds, were found here; the citizens having an exquisite taste
for
the
polite arts. Among other curiosities was the famous bull(617) of
Phalaris,
which was sent to Carthage.
The
siege of Agrigentum had lasted eight months. Imilcon made his
forces
take
up their winter-quarters in it, to give them the necessary
refreshment;
and left this city (after laying it entirely in ruins) in the
beginning
of the spring. He afterwards besieged Gela, and took it,
notwithstanding
the succours which were brought by Dionysius the Tyrant,
who
had seized upon the government of Syracuse. Imilcon ended the war by
a
treaty
with Dionysius. The conditions of it were, that the
Carthaginians,
besides
their ancient acquisitions in Sicily, should still possess the
country
of the Sicanians,(618) Selinus, Agrigentum, and Himera; as
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