A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

380 The First and Second Punic Wars
Tlie
embassy of
Regulus.
Appian,
Punic
Wars, 4.
Not long afterward the Carthaginians, weary with
fighting, sent him in company with other ambassadors to
Rome to obtain peace, or to return if it were not granted.
But Regulus in private strongly urged the chief magistrates
of Rome to continue the war, and then went back
to certain torture; for the Carthaginians shut him up in a
cage full of spikes and in this way put him to death.
II.
Hamilcar Barca
Hamilcar
Barca (the
Lightning).
Polybius i.
56.
(For the
places here
mentioned,
see map,
Rome, i;
Ancient
World, 313.)
In the eighteenth year of the war the Carthaginians
appointed Hamilcar Barca general, and put the management
of the fleet in his hands. He took over the command
and began to ravage the Italian coast. After devastating
the district of Locri and the rest of Bruttium, he sailed
away with his whole fleet to the coast of Panormus and
seized a place called Ercte, which lies between Eryx and
Panormus on the coast, and is reputed the best situation in
the district for a safe and permanent camp. For it is a
mountain rising sheer on every side, standing out above
the surrounding country to a considerable height. The
tableland on its summit has a circumference of not less
than a hundred stades, within which the soil is rich in
pasture and suitable for agriculture. The sea breezes
render it healthful, and it is entirely free from dangerous
animals.
On the side which looks toward the sea, as well as that
which faces the interior of the island, it is enclosed by inaccessible
precipices; while the spaces between these parts
require only slight fortifications, and of no great extent, to
make them secure. On it is an eminence which serves at
once as an acropolis and as a convenient tower of observation,
commanding the surrounding district.
It is also sup-