. Rome and Carthage, the Punic wars; . e farthest outpost of theRoman alliance. For more than a century past Greeksand Carthaginians had been contending, with varyingsuccess, for the possession of the island. Few towns ofany importance within its limits had escaped destruction,fewer still had escaped a ^iege, and many had beentaken and retaken almost as many times as there hadbeen campaigns. On the whole, in spite of the effortsof able leaders like Dionysius the Tyrant, Timoleon, andAgathocles, fortune had favored the Carthaginians ; andthe power of Syracuse, the head of the Greek states, wasn
. Rome and Carthage, the Punic wars; . e farthest outpost of theRoman alliance. For more than a century past Greeksand Carthaginians had been contending, with varyingsuccess, for the possession of the island. Few towns ofany importance within its limits had escaped destruction,fewer still had escaped a ^iege, and many had beentaken and retaken almost as many times as there hadbeen campaigns. On the whole, in spite of the effortsof able leaders like Dionysius the Tyrant, Timoleon, andAgathocles, fortune had favored the Carthaginians ; andthe power of Syracuse, the head of the Greek states, wasnow confined to the south-eastern corner of the island. But there was one town in the island, and that an all-important one from its geographical position, which hadby a strange destiny ceased to be Greek without becom-ing Carthaginian, and, after outraging Greek and Car-thaginian alike, and rousing their active hostility, hadnow, to make matters better, appealed for aid to a thirdpower which was destined to prove mightier than ^ ^ ^^ ^ S ?« U ^a. •s s .§ M 3 1^ t r/? o .- y-*- History and Importance of Sicily. 31 When Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, died, his mer-cenary troops were disbanded, and a body of them, ontheir way back to Campania, their native , , • J TVT Mamertines country, treacherously seized Messana, at Messanawhich had entertained them hospitably. ^- ^* ^^9They expelled or slew the male inhabitants, dividedtheir wives and children, and, calling themselves thechildren of Mamers, or Mars, proceeded to justify theirname by plundering or harrying all the surroundingcountry. Such outrages could not be overlooked by theCarthaginians. Still less could they pass unnoticed bythe young king Hiero, who had lately obtained the va-cant throne of Syracuse by the best of titles, the freechoice alike of his comrades in arms and of his fellow-citizens ; and he proceeded to lay siege to the Mamertine councils were divided. It was clear thatwithout allies t
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