. oyed the town becausethey saw that they should be unable to main-tain so distant a possession against the powerof Dionysius of Syracuse (Diod. xiv. 56-58).Dionysius began to rebuild it in the same year,and besides collecting the remains of the formerpopulation, he added a number of Locrians,Messenians, and others, so that its inhabitantswere of a very mixed kind. After the banish-ment of the younger Dionysius, Messana a short time free, but it fell into the powerof Agathocles about 312 (Diod. xix. 65, 102).Among the mercena
. oyed the town becausethey saw that they should be unable to main-tain so distant a possession against the powerof Dionysius of Syracuse (Diod. xiv. 56-58).Dionysius began to rebuild it in the same year,and besides collecting the remains of the formerpopulation, he added a number of Locrians,Messenians, and others, so that its inhabitantswere of a very mixed kind. After the banish-ment of the younger Dionysius, Messana a short time free, but it fell into the powerof Agathocles about 312 (Diod. xix. 65, 102).Among the mercenaries of this tyrant were anumber of Mamertini, an Oscan people fromCampania, who had been sent from home underthe protection of the god Mamers or Mars toseek their fortune in other lands. TheseMamertini were quartered in Messana; andafter the death of Agathocles (282) they madethemselves masters of the town, killed the maleinhabitants, and took possession of their wives,their children, and their property. The townwas now called Mamertina, and the inhabitants. Obv., ME22ANION; hare, dolphin below; rev., biga drawnby mules ; charioteer crowned by Victory. (Anaxilauswon a victory with mules at Olympia, and introducedhares into Sicily.) Mamertini; but its ancient name of Messanacontinued to be in more general use (Pol. i. 7 ;Diod. xxi. 18; Cic. Verr. ii. 5, 46, iii. 6). Thenew inhabitants could not lay aside their oldpredatory habits, and in consequence becameinvolved in a war with Hiero of Syracuse, whodefeated them in several battles, and wouldprobably have conquered the town, had not theCarthaginians come in to the aid of the Mamer-tini, and, under the pretext of assisting them,taken possession of their citadel. The Mamer-tini had at the same time applied to the Romansfor help, who gladly availed themselves of theopportunity to obtain a footing in Sicily. ThusMessana was the immediate cause of the firstPunic war, 264. (Pol. i. 10; Diod. xxiii. 1 : 16.) The Mamertini expe
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