281

they destroyed these things; however, they did not give in, but they even killed someone in the senate who spoke about reconciliation with the Carthaginians, and voted that a dictator be named. And so Collatinus was named dictator, and Metellus was master of the horse; but they did nothing worthy of mention. While Collatinus was being named dictator, at this time Junius took Eryx, and Carthalo occupied Aegithallus and took Junius prisoner. 2.219

In the following year, Gaius Aurelius and Publius Servilius, having taken office, harassed both Lilybaeum and Drepanum and kept the Carthaginians from the land and ravaged their allied territory. Carthalo therefore, having attempted many things against them, since he accomplished nothing, set out for Italy, so that he might either draw the consuls over there or in the meantime ravage the country and capture cities. But not even there did anything succeed for him; for, learning that the praetor urbanus was approaching, he sailed back to Sicily. There, when the mercenaries mutinied over their pay, he disembarked many on deserted islands and left them, and sent many also to Carthage. When the rest learned of this, they were enraged and were about to revolt. Of these, Hamilcar, succeeding Carthalo, cut down many by night, and drowned many. In the meantime the Romans made a perpetual treaty of friendship with Hiero, and they remitted all the annual payments they had been receiving from him.

In the following year the Romans as a state refrained from naval warfare on account of their misfortunes and expenses, but certain private individuals, having requested ships on the condition that they would restore them but appropriate the plunder, both did other damage to the enemy, and sailing into Hippo, a Libyan city, burned all the boats and many of the buildings. When the inhabitants blocked the mouth of the harbor with chains, they found themselves in a difficult situation, but overcame it through wisdom and luck. For rushing at the chains, when the rams of the 2.220 ships were about to touch them, the crew members moved to the sterns, and so the prows, being lightened, passed over the chains, and then, when they jumped back to the prows, the sterns of the vessels were lifted up. And they got through, and after this they defeated the Carthaginians with their ships near Panormus.

As for the consuls, Caecilius Metellus was around Lilybaeum, while Numerius Fabius was besieging Drepanum and made a plot against the islet called Pelias, which had been previously occupied by the Carthaginians, by sending soldiers at night, who killed the guards and took the island. When Hamilcar learned this, at dawn he attacked those who had crossed over; as Fabius was unable to help them, he approached Drepanum, intending either to capture the city due to its being deserted or to draw Hamilcar away from the island. And the one thing was accomplished; for Hamilcar, in fear, withdrew to the fortress. And Fabius took possession of Pelias, and by filling in the strait between it and the mainland, which happened to be narrow and shallow, he made it part of the mainland, and more easily waged war against the wall, which was weaker there. And the Carthaginians frequently harassed them, both by sailing around Sicily and by crossing over to Italy. They exchanged their prisoners with one another, man for man; but the remainder, since they were not equal in number, the Carthaginians ransomed for money.

From then on, various men served as consuls, but they did nothing worthy of record; for the Romans were making the greatest mistake in that year by year they would send out some commanders, and then others, and they would remove them from command just as they were learning generalship, as if choosing them for practice, but not for use.

The Gauls who were allied with the Carthaginians, 2.221 and hating them because they treated them badly, having been entrusted with the guard of a certain fort, betrayed it to the Romans for money. The Romans hired as mercenaries the Gauls who had deserted from the Carthaginians and certain others of their own allies, having never before maintained a foreign contingent. Elated by these things, therefore, and because the private citizens who had the ships had ravaged Libya,

281

ταύταις ἀπώλλυσαν· οὐ μέντοι γε καὶ ἐνέδοσαν, ἀλλὰ καί τινα φθεγξάμενον περὶ καταλλαγῶν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους ἐν τῇ βουλῇ διεχρήσαντο, καὶ λεχθῆναι δικτάτωρα ἐψηφίσαντο. καὶ δικτάτωρ μὲν ὁ Κολλατῖνος ἐλέχθη, ἱππάρχησε δέ γε ὁ Μέτελλος· οὐδὲν δὲ μνήμης επραξαν αξιον. ἐν ῳ δ' ὁ Κολλατῖνος δικτάτωρ ἐλέγετο, ἐν τούτῳ τὸν Ερυκα παρεστήσατο ὁ ̓Ιούνιος, καὶ ὁ Καρθάλων κατέσχεν Αἰγίθαλλον καὶ ἐζώγρησε τὸν ̓Ιούνιον. 2.219 Τῷ δ' ἑξῆς ετει Αὐρήλιος Γάιος καὶ Σερουίλιος Πούπλιος τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβόντες τό τε Λιλύβαιον καὶ τὸ ∆ρέπανον ἐλύπουν καὶ τοὺς Καρχηδονίους τῆς γῆς ἀπεῖργον καὶ τὴν αὐτῶν συμμαχίδα κατέκειρον. ὁ ουν Καρθάλων πολυτρόπως ἐπιχειρήσας κατ' αὐτῶν, ὡς οὐδὲν ηνυσεν, εἰς ̓Ιταλίαν ωρμησεν, ιν' ουτω τοὺς ὑπάτους μεταγάγῃ ἐκεῖ η τέως τὴν χώραν κακώσῃ καὶ πόλεις αἱρήσῃ. ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐνταῦθά τι αὐτῷ προεχώρησε· τὸν γὰρ στρατηγὸν τὸν ἀστυνόμον μαθὼν πλησιάζοντα, εἰς Σικελίαν ἀνέπλευσεν. ενθα τῶν μισθοφόρων στασιασάντων διὰ τὸν μισθόν, συχνοὺς μὲν ἐς νήσους ἐρήμους ἐκβιβάσας κατέλιπε, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν Καρχηδόνα ἀπέστειλεν. ο γνόντες οἱ λοιποὶ ἠγανάκτησαν καὶ νεωτερίσειν εμελλον. ων ̓Αμίλκας, διαδεξάμενος τὸν Καρθάλωνα, πολλοὺς μὲν νυκτὸς κατέκοψε, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ κατεπόντωσεν. ἐν τοσούτῳ δ' οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι φιλίαν ἀίδιον πρὸς ̔Ιέρωνα διεπράξαντο, καὶ προσαφῆκαν οσα παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐπετείως ἐλάμβανον. Τῷ δ' ἑξῆς ετει τοῦ θαλαττίου πολέμου δημοσίᾳ μὲν οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι ἀπέσχοντο διὰ τὰς ἀτυχίας καὶ διὰ τὰ ἀναλώματα, ἰδίᾳ δέ τινες νῆας αἰτήσαντες, ωστ' ἐκείνας μὲν ἀποκαταστῆσαι, τὴν λείαν δὲ οἰκειώσασθαι, αλλα τε τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκάκωσαν, καὶ ἐς ̔Ιππῶνα Λιβυκὴν πόλιν εἰσπλεύσαντες τά τε πλοῖα πάντα καὶ πολλὰ τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων κατέπρησαν. τῶν δ' ἐπιχωρίων τὸ στόμα τοῦ λιμένος διαλαβόντων ἁλύσεσιν, ἐν περιστάσει ἐγένοντο, σοφίᾳ δὲ καὶ τύχῃ περιεγένοντο. σπουδῇ γὰρ ταῖς ἁλύσεσι προσπεσόντες, ἐπεὶ προσάψασθαι αὐτῶν εμελλον οἱ εμβολοι τῶν 2.220 νηῶν, μετέστησαν ἐς τὰς πρύμνας οἱ τοῦ πληρώματος, καὶ ουτως αἱ πρῷραι κουφισθεῖσαι ὑπερῆραν τὰς ἁλύσεις, αυθις δ' ἐς τὰς πρῴρας αὐτῶν μεταπηδησάντων αἱ πρύμναι τῶν σκαφῶν ἐμετεωρίσθησαν. καὶ διεξέδραμον, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο περὶ τὸ Πάνορμον ναυσὶ Καρχηδονίους ἐνίκησαν. Οἱ δ' υπατοι, Μέτελλος μὲν Καικίλιος περὶ τὸ Λιλύβαιον ην, Νουμέριος δὲ Φάβιος τῷ ∆ρεπάνῳ προσήδρευε καὶ ἐπεβούλευσε τῇ νησῖδι τῇ Πελιάδι καλουμένῃ, προκατειλημμένῃ παρὰ Καρχηδονίων, στρατιώτας πέμψας νυκτός, οι τοὺς φρουροὺς κτείναντες τὴν νῆσον ειλον. ο μαθὼν ̓Αμίλκας εωθεν τοῖς διαβεβηκόσιν ἐπέθετο· οις οὐκ εχων ἀμῦναι ὁ Φάβιος τῷ ∆ρεπάνῳ προσέμιξεν, ὡς η τὴν πόλιν δι' ἐρημίαν αἱρήσων η τῆς νήσου τὸν ̓Αμίλκαν ἀπάξων. καὶ ἠνύσθη τὸ εν· φοβηθεὶς γὰρ ὁ ̓Αμίλκας ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς τὸ τεῖχος. καὶ ὁ Φάβιος τὴν Πελιάδα κατέσχε, καὶ τὸ μεταξὺ ταύτης καὶ τῆς ἠπείρου στενὸν καὶ τεναγῶδες τυγχάνον συγχώσας ἠπείρωσε, καὶ ῥᾷον προσεπολέμει τοῦ τείχους ἐκεῖ οντος ἀσθενεστέρου. καὶ οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι συχνὰ παρελύπουν αὐτοὺς εἰς Σικελίαν τε περιπλέοντες καὶ εἰς τὴν ̓Ιταλίαν περαιούμενοι. τοὺς δ' αἰχμαλώτους ἀλλήλων ανδρα ἀντ' ἀνδρὸς ἠλλάξαντο· τοὺς δὲ λοιπούς, ἐπεὶ μὴ ησαν ἰσοπληθεῖς, ἀργυρίου οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι ἐκομίσαντο. Εκτοτε δὲ διάφοροι μὲν ὑπάτευσαν, οὐδὲν δὲ ἱστορίας επραξαν αξιον· μέγιστον γὰρ οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι ἐσφάλλοντο οτι κατ' ἐνιαυτὸν αλλους, ειθ' ἑτέρους αρχοντας επεμπον, αρτι δὲ τὴν στρατηγίαν μανθάνοντας τῆς ἀρχῆς επαυον, ωσπερ εἰς ασκησιν σφᾶς, ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς χρῆσιν αἱρούμενοι. Οἱ Γαλάται δὲ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις συμμαχοῦντες, 2.221 καὶ μισοῦντες αὐτοὺς οτι κακῶς μετεχειρίζοντο σφᾶς, φρουρίου τινὸς φυλακὴν ἐμπιστευθέντες, τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις αὐτὸ προήκαντο ἐπὶ χρήμασι. μεταστάντας δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν Καρχηδονίων Γαλάτας καὶ αλλους τῶν σφῶν συμμάχων τινὰς οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι ἐπὶ μισθοφορᾷ προσελάβοντο, μήπω πρότερον τρέφοντες ξενικόν. τούτοις ουν ἐπαιρόμενοι, καὶ οτι οἱ τὰς ναῦς εχοντες ἰδιῶται τὴν Λιβύην ἐπόρθησαν,