Destroy Carthage by Alan Lloyd Page A

gathered. The delay in fielding his Spaniards and Africans - a year had passed before all were assembled - demonstrated a major problem of reliance on mercenaries. Selinus was now besieged with grim efficiency.
    Raising wooden assault towers and wielding battering-rams equipped with metal heads, Hannibal's troops breached the walls and poured into the city, robbing, raping and slaying indiscriminately. If this were a tragic concomitant of em­ploying 'barbaric' troops (the Greeks attributed the worst to the Iberians), their commander showed no remorse. Begged to ransom the citizens who had escaped death, Hannibal re­torted that those who could not defend their freedom must try their hands at slavery. As for the temples, shamelessly looted, the fall of the city was evidence, claimed the general, that these had been deserted by the gods.
    Joined by hordes of Sicels eager to witness Greek discom­fiture, the victorious army next marched to avenge the humili­ation of Himera. A small force of Syracusans had reinforced the city, but the magnitude of the assault was overwhelming. About half the population contrived to escape by sea; of the rest, the women and children were seized as prizes by the foreign troops. About 3,000 male prisoners were led to the spot where Hamilcar had met his death and butchered, on Hannibal's orders, as a sacrifice to his dead relative.
    Having perpetrated this odious deed and razed Himera, the Punic general abstemiously refrained from the further con­quests his success might have warranted, returning promptly to Carthage and loud applause. Laboriously recruited, his host dispersed in quick time. When circumstances soon demanded a new campaign, recruiting officers had to set out for foreign parts once again.
    Within a short time of its sack, Selinus had been occupied by a Syracusan leader named Hermocrates as a base for raids on Phoenician land. Amid mounting tension, both Carthage and Syracuse sought Sicilian and Italian allies, and appealed to Greece. Athens backed Carthage; Sparta, Syracuse. But the great states of Hellas were too fiercely engaged in their own fight to send material help west. Hannibal was commissioned to lead a second expedition, this time with the overthrow of Syracuse as its aim.
    Disembarking in southwest Sicily, the Punic army secured the region of Selinus then marched east toward Syracuse. The first place of size on the route was Acragas, a prosperous trad­ing city celebrated for its public buildings, the richness of its arts, its general opulence. Shutting their gates on the advanc­ing host, the Acragantines declined either to join Hannibal or pledge their neutrality. Independence was a local trait. A natural stronghold perched upon rocky slopes, Acragas in­spired its residents with confidence.
    The investment of the city is interesting for a number of phenomena featuring persistently in the wars:
    Pestilence. A danger commonly associated with the con­ditions of ancient and medieval field camps, epidemic was perhaps the most crucial of Carthage's enemies in Sicily. Diodorus described the symptoms as dysentry, delirium, swelling of the throat and body pustules - conceivably typhoid. Though not as disastrous at Acragas as elsewhere, the disease killed Hannibal early in the siege leaving his lieutenant, Himilco, in command.
    Corruption. While chronic inter-state and internecine rivalries among the Siceliots advises caution in accepting charges of treason and bribery too readily, the frequency with which they are imputed against politicians and generals suggests the adept use of Carthaginian wealth in subverting the opposing cause.
    In a bid by Syracuse to relieve Acragas, a powerful force from the eastern city defeated a Carthaginian contingent a short distance from the beleaguered walls. For a moment, the town garrison had a chance to sally effectively against a shaken enemy. The failure of the Acragantine captains to do so raised accusations of bribery against them, and