The Romans now directed their efforts once more against Sicily. In 254 they carried the important fortress of Panormus (Palermo) by an attack from the sea; but when Carthage threw reinforce ments into the island the war again came to a standstill. In 251 at last the Roman general L. Metellus brought about a pitched battle near Panormus in which the enemy's force was effectively crippled. This victory was followed by an investment of the chief Punic base at Lilybaeum by land and sea. The besiegers met with a gallant resistance, and in 249 were com pelled to withdraw by the loss of their fleet in a surprise attack upon the neighbouring harbour of Drepanum (Trapani), in which the admiral Claudius Pulcher was repulsed with a loss of 93 ships. Meanwhile other losses in storms on the high seas so reduced the Roman fleet that the attack upon Sicily had to be suspended. At the same time the Carthaginians, who felt no less severely the financial strain of the prolonged struggle and had a war in Africa on their hands, reduced their armaments and made no attempt to deliver a counter-attack. The only noteworthy feature of the ensuing compaigns is the skilful guerilla war waged by a new Carthaginian commander, Hamilcar Barca, from his strong positions on Mt. Ercte (247-244) and Mt. Eryx (244-242) in western Sicily, by which he effectually screened Lilybaeum from the Roman land army.
In 242 Rome resumed operations on sea. By a magnificent effort on the part of private citizens a fleet of 200 warships was equipped and sent out to renew the blockade of Lilybaeum. The Carthaginians hastily collected a relief force, but in a battle fought off the Aegates or Aegusae islands (west of Drepana) their fleet was caught at a disadvantage and mostly sunk or captured (March 1o, 241). This victory, by giving the Romans undisputed command of the sea, rendered certain the ultimate fall of the Punic strongholds in Sicily. The Carthaginians accord ingly opened negotiations and consented to a peace by which they ceded Sicily and the Lipari islands to Rome and paid an in demnity of 3,200 talents (about i800,000).
The Interval Between the First and Second Wars (241 218 B.C.).—The loss of naval supremacy not only deprived Car thage of her predominance in the western Mediterranean, but exposed her oversea empire to disintegration under renewed at tacks by Rome. The temper of the Roman people was soon made manifest during a conflict which broke out between the Cartha ginians and their discontented mercenaries. Italian traders were allowed to traffic in munitions of war with the mutineers, and a gross breach of the treaty was perpetrated when a Roman force was sent to occupy Sardinia, whose insurgent garrison had offered to surrender the island (239). To the remonstrances of Carthage the Romans replied with a direct declaration of war, and only with held their attack upon the formal cession of Sardinia and Corsica and the payment of a further indemnity.
From this episode it became clear that Rome intended to use her victory to the utmost. To avoid complete humiliation Carthage had no resource but to humiliate her adversary. The recent com plications of foreign and internal strife had indeed so weakened the Punic power that the prospect of renewing the war under favourable circumstances seemed remote enough. But the scheme of preparing for a fresh conflict found a worthy champion in Hamilcar Barca, who sought to compensate for the loss of Sicily by acquiring a dominion in Spain where Carthage might gain new wealth and form a fresh base of operations against Rome. In vested with an unrestricted foreign command, he spent the rest of his life in founding a Spanish empire (236-228). His work was continued by his son-in-law Hasdrubal and his son Hannibal, who was placed at the head of the army in 220. These conquests aroused the suspicions of Rome, which in a treaty with Hasdrubal confined the Carthaginians to the south of the Ebro, and also guar anteed the independence of Saguntum, a town on the east coast which pretended to a Greek origin. In 219 Hannibal laid siege to Saguntum and carried the town in spite of a stubborn defence. It has always been a debatable point whether his attack contravened the new treaty. The Romans certainly took this view and sent to Carthage to demand Hannibal's surrender. But his defiant policy was too popular to be disavowed; the Carthaginian council upheld Hannibal's action, and drew upon itself a declaration of war.