A.M. 3592. A. Carth. 434. A. Rom. 336. Ant. J.C. 412.
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 [pg 130] 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, [pg 131] 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 [pg 132] 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 likewise that of Gela and Camarina, with leave for the inhabitants to reside in their respective dismantled cities, on condition of their paying a tribute to Carthage; that the Leontines, the Messenians, and all the Sicilians, should retain their own laws, and preserve their [pg 133] liberty and independence: lastly, that the Syracusans should still continue subject to Dionysius. After this treaty was concluded, Imilcon returned to Carthage, where the plague still made dreadful havoc.