“thispEriodofmErCilEss
atroCityandCountEr-atroCity,
inWhiCh noquartErWasgivEn,
EarnEd thE ConfliCt thEtitlE
oftruCElEss War”
commander who had recently been the victor at
the Aegates. Hamilcar agreed to his demands
that Carthage withdraw from all of Sicily, return
all Roman prisoners of war, and pay an onerous
indemnity of 2,200 talents (a talent was about
57 pounds of silver) over 20 years. These were
made more onerous once the Romans back
in Italy learned of the terms. The indemnity
demand was revised to include a provision of
1,000 talents to be paid at once, and the 2,200
talents were now to be paid across just ten
years’ time. Also tacked on was a provision that
Carthage evacuate all of the islands that lay
between it and the Italian peninsula.The mercenary revolt
Hamilcar quickly resigned his command
and left the unenviable task of evacuating
his mercenaries from Sicily to Gisgo, the
Carthaginian general who had held out defiantly
in Lilybaeum against the Romans for many
years. This abandonment of his army would
come back to haunt him and Carthage. Hisabsence meant that his steadying hand was
not readily available to avoid what came next.
Gisgo cannily sent the soldiers home in
packets, thinking that it would be easier for
his home government to pay off and then
demobilise a succession of smaller groups. The
Carthaginian government, however, thought that
it might be able to convince the mercenaries,
who had gone unpaid for years, to accept less
than the full amount that was due them if they
could be dealt with all at once.
This plan backfired. The mercenaries,
inhabiting the city in huge numbers, some
20,000 of them, became the cause of a crime
wave that frightened the Carthaginians. The
government convinced the mercenaries to
depart the city and move to the distant town
of Sicca. Enjoying a high degree of security in
Sicca, they kept on increasing the demands that
they made on the Carthaginians. Negotiations
floundered and then failed completely.
In 240 BCE, some of the mercenaries,
especially two who emerged as leaders –Spendius, a Campaniandeserterfromthe
Roman army, and Mathos,a Libyanfrom
North Africa, feared RomanandCarthaginian
vengeance respectivelyif thearmyof
mercenaries was disbanded– instigateda
revolt. They seized Gisgo,whohadcometo
them in good faith to negotiatewiththemon
behalf of Carthage.
They then invited otherNorthAfricancities,
which had suffered longunderCarthaginian
domination, to join theirrevolt.Manyof these
people, amounting to some70,000Libyans,
were happy to join the mercenariesagainst
their arrogant overlords,withtheexceptionof
the cities Utica and HippouAcra,bothof which
were besieged by the rebels.
Carthage now faced anightmarescenario.
In addition to owing theRomansa gargantuan
indemnity, they were atwarwiththeirformer
soldiers. These men, nowbasedat Tunis,
having been trained andledbyHamilcarhimself
in Sicily, were highly effectivesoldiers,and
would not be easy to defeat.Theirexamplewasthe thunderbolt of carthage