The Mamertini induced the Carthaginian garrison to withdraw, and then admitted the Roman force which crossed the straits with the aid of vessels furnished by their Greek allies in Italy. Thereupon the [pg 73]Carthaginians made an alliance with the Syracusans, but the Romans defeated each of them.
Alliance of Rome and Syracuse. In the next year the Romans sent a larger army into Sicily to attack Syracuse and met with such success that Hiero became alarmed, and, making peace upon easy terms, concluded an alliance with them for fifteen years.[5] Aided by Hiero the Romans now began an attack upon Agrigentum, the Carthaginian stronghold which threatened Syracuse. When this was taken in 262, they determined to drive the Carthaginians from the whole island.
Rome builds a fleet. However, Roman operations in Sicily could only be conducted at considerable risk and the coasts of Italy remained exposed to continued raids as long as Carthage had undisputed control of the sea. Consequently the Romans decided to build a fleet that would put an end to the Carthaginian naval supremacy. They constructed 120 vessels, of which 100 were of the type called quinquiremes, the regular first class battleships of the day. The complement of each was three hundred rowers and one hundred and twenty fighting men.[6] With this armament, and some vessels from the Roman allies, the consul, Gaius Duilius, put to sea in 260 B. C. and won a decisive battle off Mylae on the north coast of Sicily. As a result of this battle in the next year the Romans were able to occupy Corsica and attack Sardinia, and finding it impossible to force a decision in Sicily, they were in a position to attack Carthage in Africa itself.
The Roman invasion of Africa, 256 B. C. Another naval victory, off Ecnomus, on the south coast of Sicily, cleared the way for the successful landing of an army under the consul Marcus Atilius Regulus. He defeated the Carthaginians in battle and reduced them to such extremities that they sought to make peace. But the terms which Atilius proposed were so harsh that in desperation they resumed hostilities. At this juncture there arrived at Carthage, with other mercenaries, a Spartan soldier of fortune, Xantippus, who reorganized the Carthaginian army. By the skilful use of cavalry and war elephants he inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Romans and took Atilius prisoner. A Roman fleet rescued the remnants of the expedition, but was almost totally lost in a storm off the southern Sicilian coast (255).
The war in Sicily, 254–241 B. C. The Romans again concentrated their efforts against the Carthaginian strongholds in Sicily, which they attacked from land and sea. In 254 they took the important city of Panormus, and the Carthaginians were soon confined to the western extremity of the island. There, however, they successfully maintained themselves in Drepana and Lilybaeum. Meantime the Romans encountered a series of disasters on the sea. In 253 they lost a number of ships on the voyage from Lilybaeum to Rome, in 250 the consul Publius Clodius suffered a severe defeat in a naval battle at Drepana, and in the next year a third fleet was destroyed by a storm off Phintias in Sicily.
In 247 a new Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, took command in Sicily and infused new life into the Carthaginian forces. From the citadel of Hercte first, and later from Eryx, he continually harassed the Romans not only in Sicily but even on the coast of Italy. Finally, in 242 B. C., when their public treasury was too exhausted to build another fleet, the Romans by private subscription equipped 200 vessels, which undertook the blockade of Lilybaeum and Drepana. A Carthaginian relief expedition was destroyed off the Aegates Islands, and it was impossible for their forces, now completely cut off in Sicily, to prolong the struggle. Carthage was compelled to conclude peace in 241 B. C.
The terms of peace. Carthage surrendered to Rome her remaining possessions in Sicily, with the islands between Sicily and Italy, besides agreeing to pay an indemnity of 3200 talents (about $3,500,000) in twenty years. For the Romans the long struggle had been very costly. At sea alone they had lost in the neighborhood of 500 ships and 200,000 men. But again the Roman military system had proven its worth against a mercenary army, and the excellence of the Roman soldiery had more than compensated for the weakness in the custom of annually changing commanders. Moreover, the military federation which Rome had created in Italy had stood the test of a long and weary war, without any disloyalty being manifest among her allies. On the other hand, the losses of Carthage had been even more heavy, and, most serious of all, her sea power was broken and Rome controlled the western Mediterranean.
The revolt of the Carthaginian mercenaries. Weakened as she was after the contest with Rome, Carthage became immediately thereafter involved in a life and death struggle with her mercenary troops. [pg 75]These, upon their return from Sicily, made demands upon the state which the latter found hard to meet and consequently refused. Thereupon the mercenaries mutinied and, joining with the native Libyans and the inhabitants of the subject Phoenician cities (Libyphoenicians), entered upon a war for the destruction of Carthage. After a struggle of more than three years, in which the most shocking barbarities were practised on either side and in which they were brought face to face with utter ruin, the Carthaginians under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca stamped out the revolt (238 B. C.).
Rome acquires Sardinia. Up to this point Rome had looked on without interference, but now, when Carthage sought to recover Sardinia from the mutinous garrison there, she declared war. Carthage could not think of accepting the challenge and bought peace at the price of Sardinia and Corsica and 1200 talents ($1,500,000). This unjustifiable act of the Romans rankled sore in the memories of the Carthaginians.