When these conditions were brought to Rome, the people, not approving of them, sent ten commissioners to Sicily, to terminate the affair. These made no alteration as to the substance of the treaty;[697] only shortening the time appointed for the payment, reducing it to ten years: a thousand talents were added to the sum that had been stipulated, which were to be paid immediately; and the Carthaginians were required to depart out of all the islands situated between Italy and Sicily. Sardinia was not comprehended in this treaty; but they gave it up by another treaty which was made some years afterwards.
A.M. 3763. A. Carth. 605. A. Rom. 507. Ant. J.C. 241.
Such was the conclusion of a war, one of the longest mentioned in history, since it continued twenty-four years without intermission. The obstinacy, in disputing for empire, was equal on either side: the same resolution, the same greatness of soul, in forming as well as in executing of projects, being conspicuous on both sides. The Carthaginians had the superiority in their acquaintance with naval affairs; in their skill in the construction of their vessels; the working of them; the experience and capacity of their pilots; the knowledge of coasts, shallows, roads, and winds; and in the inexhaustible fund of wealth, which furnished all the expenses of so long and obstinate a war. The Romans had none of these advantages; but their courage, zeal for the public good, love of their country, and a noble emulation of glory, supplied all other deficiencies. We are astonished to see a nation, so raw and inexperienced in naval affairs, not only making head against a people who were better skilled in them, and more powerful than any that had ever been before; but even gaining several victories over them at sea. No difficulties or calamities could discourage them. They certainly would not have thought of peace, in the circumstances under which the Carthaginians demanded it. One [pg 178] unfortunate campaign dispirits the latter; whereas the Romans are not shaken by a succession of them.
As to soldiers, there was no comparison between those of Rome and Carthage, the former being infinitely superior in point of courage. Among the generals who commanded in this war, Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, was, doubtless, the most conspicuous for his bravery and prudence.
The Libyan War; or against the Mercenaries.[698]—The war which the Carthaginians waged against the Romans, was succeeded immediately by another,[699] which, though of much shorter continuance, was infinitely more dangerous; as it was carried on in the very heart of the republic, and attended with such cruelty and barbarity, as is scarce to be paralleled in history; I mean the war which the Carthaginians were obliged to sustain against their mercenary troops, who had served under them in Sicily, and which is commonly called the African or Libyan war.[700] It continued only three years and a half, but was a very bloody one. The occasion of it was this:
As soon as the treaty was concluded with the Romans,[701] Hamilcar, having carried to Lilybæum the forces which were in Eryx, resigned his commission; and left to Gisgo, governor of the place, the care of transporting these forces into Africa. Gisgo, as though he had foreseen what would happen, did not ship them all off at once, but in small and separate parties, in order that those who came first might be paid off, and sent home, before the arrival of the rest. This conduct evinced great forecast and wisdom, but was not seconded equally at Carthage. As the republic had been exhausted by the expense of a long war, and the payment of near one hundred and thirty thousand pounds to the Romans on signing the peace, the forces were not paid off in proportion as they arrived; but it was thought proper to wait for the rest, in the hopes of obtaining from them (when they should be all together) a remission of some part of their arrears. This was the first oversight.
Here we discover the genius of a state composed of merchants, who know the full value of money, but are little [pg 179] acquainted with that of the services of soldiers; who bargain for blood, as though it were an article of trade, and always go to the cheapest market. In such a republic, when an exigency is once answered, the merit of services is no longer remembered.
These soldiers, most of whom came to Carthage, having been long accustomed to a licentious life, caused great disturbances in the city; to remedy which, it was proposed to their officers, to march them all to a little neighbouring town called Sicca, and there supply them with whatever was necessary for their subsistence, till the arrival of the rest of their companions; and that then they should all be paid off, and sent home. This was a second oversight.
A third was, the refusing to let them leave their baggage, their wives, and children in Carthage, as they desired; and the forcing them to remove these to Sicca; whereas, had they staid in Carthage, they would have been in a manner so many hostages.
Being all met together at Sicca, they began (having little else to do) to compute the arrears of their pay, which they made amount to much more than was really due to them. To this computation, they added the mighty promises which had been made them, at different times, as an encouragement for them to do their duty; and pretended that these likewise ought to be brought into the account. Hanno, who was then governor of Africa, and had been sent to them from the magistrates of Carthage, proposed to them to consent to some abatement of their arrears; and to content themselves with receiving a part, in consideration of the great distress to which the commonwealth was reduced, and its present unhappy circumstances. The reader will easily guess how such a proposal was received. Complaints, murmurs, seditious and insolent clamours, were every where heard. These troops being composed of different nations, who were strangers to one another's language, were incapable of hearing reason when they once mutinied. Spaniards, Gauls, Ligurians; inhabitants of the Balearic isles; Greeks, the greatest part of them slaves or deserters, and a very great number of Africans, composed these mercenary forces. Transported with rage, they immediately [pg 180] break up, march towards Carthage, (being upwards of twenty thousand,) and encamp at Tunis, not far from that metropolis.