The power of Carthage, to the men of the age of Pyrrhus, seemed
infinitely greater than that of Rome. Rome at that time was but a single
city whose rule did not extend even over the whole of Italy. Carthage
was the head of an empire, built up on a trade which spread its name
over the whole of the known world. The Punic or Phoenician people, as
the ruling race in Carthage was called because of their dark skins, came
from the East. Their earliest homes were in Arabia and Syria. It was
from Tyre and Sidon, great and rich towns when Rome was hardly a
village, that the traders came and settled in North Africa. Their ships,
laden with woven stuffs in silk and cotton, dyed in rich colours, with
perfumes and spices, ivory and gold, ornaments and implements in metal,
sailed all the navigable seas, and brought home from distant places the
goods and raw materials of different lands. At a time when the Romans
had hardly begun to sail the seas at all, their vessels passed out of
the Mediterranean, through the Straits and up to the little-known lands
of the Atlantic. They brought home tin from distant Cornwall, silver
from Spain, iron from Elba, copper from Cyprus. Carthage itself was a
magnificent city and the richest in the world. Its citizens lived in
wealth and idleness on the labour of others. Trade supplied them with
riches: the hardy tribes of Africa, Numidians and Libyans, were their
slaves, manned their fleets and armies. Their navy ruled the seas. They
had settlements in Spain; Corsica and Sardinia were owned by Carthage;
all the west of Sicily was in their hands.
[Illustration: THE DESOLATION OF CARTHAGE TO-DAY]
In Sicily the Carthaginians and the Romans first met. The eastern part
of the island was ruled by King Hiero of Syracuse; but raids on it were
constantly made by the people of Messina. After one of these Hiero
attacked Messina. His force was driven off by the Carthaginians who then
occupied the citadel. The people of the town looked round for assistance
and finally appealed to Rome (265).
Messina was not a Roman city; but the Romans saw that if the
Carthaginians were left in possession they would hold a bridge from
which they could easily cross into Italy. That was the question that had
to be faced when the Senate met to consider whether they should help the
people of Messina. To do so meant war with Carthage at once. Not to do
so might mean war with Carthage later on. The Senate called upon the
people to decide. The people voted for war now.
[Illustration: CARTHAGINIAN PRIESTESS]
No man could then have foreseen how long and severe the war was going to
be. It lasted three and twenty years (264-241); and at the beginning all
the advantage seemed to be on the Carthaginian side. In the first place
Carthage had the strongest navy in the world. The Carthaginian army was
much the larger, though it was composed of paid soldiers of foreign
race. There was no outstanding leader on the Roman side equal to
Hamilcar, who commanded the Carthaginians in its later stages.
When the war began the Romans had no fleet. They had never had more than
a few transport vessels: no fighting ships. They did not know how they
were constructed. This did not daunt them, however. A Carthaginian
man-of-war was driven ashore. Roman carpenters and shipwrights at once
set to work, studying how it was put together, and thinking out devices
by which it could be improved. While the shipwrights were busy the men
practised rowing on dry land. The most famous improvement invented by
the Romans was the 'crow'. This was an attachment to the prow, worked by
a pulley, consisting of a long pole with a sharp and strong curved iron
spike at the end. As soon as an enemy ship came within range this pole
was swung round so that the spike caught the vessel and held it in an
iron grip. A bridge was fastened to the pole: the soldiers ran along and
boarded, forcing a hand-to-hand fight. To this the Carthaginian sailors
were not used. They were better navigators than the Romans, but not such
good fighters. In hand-to-hand encounters the Romans got the best of it.
But they did not know so much of wind and weather, and again and again
the storms made havoc with them. Four great fleets were destroyed or
captured in the first sixteen years of the war, which lasted for
twenty-three. In the year 249 Claudius the Consul lost 93 vessels at a
stroke in the disastrous battle of Drepana and killed himself rather
than live on under the disgrace. Later in the same year another great
fleet was dashed to pieces in a storm.
[Illustration: PICTURES FROM POMPEII--]
The year ended with the Carthaginians masters of the seas and on land.
Four Roman armies had been lost almost to a man. In five years one man
in every six of the population of Rome had perished in battle or on the
sea. After sixteen years' hard fighting and extraordinary efforts the
end of the war seemed further off than ever, unless the Romans were to
admit defeat. But it was no part of their character to admit defeat. As
Polybius, the great Greek historian who knew them well, said some years
later, 'The Romans are never so dangerous as when they seem to be
reduced to desperation.' So it proved. No one had any thought of giving
in. Regulus, captured by the Carthaginians and sent by them to Rome to
urge his countrymen to surrender, urged them to go on fighting, though
he knew he must pay the penalty for such words with his life. Had the
Carthaginians been made of the same metal they might have used the hour
to strike the fatal blow; but they were not. On land they did not trust
the one really great general whom they had--Hamilcar Barca. For six
years nothing serious was done in Sicily. On sea they let the fleet fall
into disrepair because they were confident that the Romans, after their
tremendous losses, could do nothing much. They did not know the Roman
temper. In the coffers of the State there was no money to build ships.
But there were rich men in Rome who put their country's needs before
their own comfort. A number of them sold all they had and gave the money
for shipbuilding. Shipwrights and carpenters worked night and day, and
in a wonderfully short time a fleet of 250 vessels was constructed and
given to the State. And this fleet ended the war. Every man in it was
alive with enthusiasm, ready to die for Rome. The Consul Lutatius
Catulus, who was put in command of it, utterly defeated the Carthaginian
navy in a great battle off the Aegatian Islands (241). In Sicily
Hamilcar could do nothing; no supplies could reach him. With bitterness
in his heart he had to make a peace which gave Sicily to Rome. The real
heroes are the Roman people who, whether in the armies or the navies or
at home, never yielded or lost courage in spite of defeat and disaster
but held on to the end. They won the victory. They defeated Hamilcar. In
this, the first Punic War, the Carthaginian Government was glad to make
peace; Hamilcar was not. He was determined that Carthage should defeat
Rome yet: he made his young son Hannibal swear never to be friends with
Rome.
[Illustration: --OF A MIMIC NAVAL BATTLE]