The Carthaginians were not discouraged by their late disaster, but continued their enterprises on Sicily. Mago, their general, and one of the Suffetes, lost a great battle, in which he was slain. The Carthaginian chiefs demanded a peace, which was granted, on condition of their evacuating all Sicily, and defraying the expenses of the war. They pretended to accept the terms; but representing that it was not in their power to deliver up the cities, without first obtaining an order from their republic, they obtained so long a truce, as gave them time sufficient for sending to Carthage. They took advantage of this interval, to raise and discipline new troops, over which Mago, son of him who had been lately killed, was appointed general. He was very young, but of great abilities and reputation. As soon as he arrived in Sicily, at the expiration of the truce, he gave Dionysius battle; in which Leptines,[628] one of the generals of the latter, was killed, and upwards of fourteen thousand Syracusans left dead in the field. By this victory the Carthaginians obtained an honourable peace, which left them in the possession of all they had in Sicily, with even the addition of some strong-holds; besides a thousand talents,[629] which were paid to them towards defraying the expenses of the war.
About this time a law was enacted at Carthage, by which its inhabitants were forbid to learn to write or speak the Greek language;[630] in order to deprive them of the means of corresponding [pg 139] with the enemy, either by word of mouth, or in writing. This was occasioned by the treachery of a Carthaginian, who had written in Greek to Dionysius, to give him advice of the departure of the army from Carthage.
Carthage had, soon after, another calamity to struggle with.[631] The plague spread in the city, and made terrible havoc. Panic terrors, and violent fits of frenzy, seized on a sudden the unhappy sufferers; who sallying, sword in hand, out of their houses, as if the enemy had taken the city, killed or wounded all who came in their way. The Africans and Sardinians would very willingly have taken this opportunity to shake off a yoke which was so hateful to them; but both were subjected, and reduced to their allegiance. Dionysius formed at this time an enterprise, in Sicily, with the same views, which was equally unsuccessful. He died[632] some time after, and was succeeded by his son of the same name.
We have already taken notice of the first treaty which the Carthaginians concluded with the Romans. There was another, which, according to Orosius, was concluded in the 402d year of the foundation of Rome, and consequently about the time we are now speaking of. This second treaty was very near the same with the first, except that the inhabitants of Tyre and Utica were expressly comprehended in it, and joined with the Carthaginians.
A.M. 3656. A. Carth. 498. A. Rom. 400. Ant. J.C. 348.
After the death of the elder Dionysius, Syracuse was involved in great troubles.[633] Dionysius the younger, who had been expelled, restored himself by force of arms, and exercised great cruelties there. One part of the citizens implored the aid of Icetes, tyrant of the Leontines, and by descent a Syracusan. This seemed a [pg 140] very favourable opportunity for the Carthaginians to seize upon all Sicily, and accordingly they sent a mighty fleet thither. In this extremity, such of the Syracusans as loved their country best, had recourse to the Corinthians, who had often assisted them in their dangers; and were, besides, of all the Grecian nations, the most professed enemies of tyranny, and the most avowed and most generous assertors of liberty. Accordingly, the Corinthians sent over Timoleon, a man of great merit, who had signalized his zeal for the public welfare, by freeing his country from tyranny, at the expense of his own family. He set sail with only ten ships, and arriving at Rhegium, he eluded, by a happy stratagem, the vigilance of the Carthaginians; who having been informed, by Icetes, of his voyage and design, wanted to intercept him in his passage to Sicily.
Timoleon had scarce above a thousand soldiers under his command; and yet, with this handful of men, he marched boldly to the relief of Syracuse. His small army increased in proportion as he advanced. The Syracusans were now in a desperate condition, and quite hopeless. They saw the Carthaginians masters of the port; Icetes of the city; and Dionysius of the citadel. Happily, on Timoleon's arrival, Dionysius having no refuge left, put the citadel into his hands, with all the forces, arms, and ammunition in it, and escaped, by his assistance, to Corinth.[634] Timoleon had, by his emissaries, artfully represented to the foreign soldiers, who (by that error in the constitution of Carthage, which we have before taken notice of) formed the principal strength of Mago's army, and the greatest part of whom were Greeks; that it was astonishing to see Greeks using their endeavours to make barbarians masters of Sicily, from whence they, in a very little time, would pass over into Greece. For could they imagine, that the Carthaginians [pg 141] were come so far, with no other view than to establish Icetes tyrant of Syracuse? Such discourses being spread among Mago's soldiers, gave this general very great uneasiness; and, as he wanted only a pretence to retire, he was glad to have it believed, that his forces were going to betray and desert him; and upon this, he sailed with his fleet out of the harbour, and steered for Carthage. Icetes, after his departure, could not hold out long against the Corinthians; so that they now got entire possession of the whole city.
Mago, on his arrival at Carthage, was impeached, but he prevented the execution of the sentence passed upon him, by a voluntary death. His body was hung upon a gallows, and exposed as a public spectacle to the people. New forces were levied at Carthage, and a greater and more powerful fleet than the former was sent to Sicily.[635] It consisted of two hundred ships of war, besides a thousand transports; and the army amounted to upwards of seventy thousand men. They landed at Lilybæum, under the command of Hamilcar and Hannibal, and resolved to attack the Corinthians first. Timoleon did not wait for, but marched out to meet them. But such was the consternation of Syracuse, that, of all the forces which were in that city, only three thousand Syracusans and four thousand mercenaries followed him; and even of these latter a thousand deserted upon the march, through fear of the danger they were going to encounter. Timoleon, however, was not discouraged; but exhorting the remainder of his forces to exert themselves courageously for the safety and liberties of their allies, he led them against the enemy, whose rendezvous he had been informed was on the banks of the little river Crimisus. It appeared, at the first reflection, madness to attack an army so numerous as that of the enemy, with only four or five thousand foot, and a thousand horse; but Timoleon, who knew that bravery, conducted by prudence, is superior to number, relied on the courage of his soldiers, who seemed resolved to die rather than yield, and with ardour demanded to be led against the enemy. The event justified his views and hopes. A battle was fought; the Carthaginians were routed, and upwards of ten thousand of them slain, full three thousand of [pg 142] whom were Carthaginian citizens, which filled their city with mourning and the greatest consternation. Their camp was taken, and with it immense riches, and a great number of prisoners.
Timoleon, at the same time that he despatched the news of this victory to Corinth, sent thither the finest arms found among the plunder.[636] For he was desirous of having his city applauded and admired by all men, when they should see that Corinth alone, among all the Grecian cities, adorned its finest temples, not with the spoils of Greece, and offerings dyed in the blood of its citizens, the sight of which could tend only to preserve the sad remembrance of their losses, but with those of barbarians, which, by fine inscriptions, displayed at once the courage and religious gratitude of those who had won them. For these inscriptions imported, “That the Corinthians, and Timoleon their general, after having freed the Greeks, settled in Sicily, from the Carthaginian yoke, had hung up these arms in their temples, as an eternal acknowledgment of the favour and goodness of the gods.”
After this, Timoleon, leaving the mercenary troops in the Carthaginian territories to waste and destroy them, returned to Syracuse. On his arrival there, he banished the thousand soldiers who had deserted him; and took no other revenge than the commanding them to leave Syracuse before sun-set.