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

Hamilcar 381
plied with a harbor, conveniently situated for the passage
from Drepana and Lilybaeum to Italy, in which is always
an abundant depth of water.
Finally the height can be
reached by three ways only—two from the land side and
one from the sea, and all of them difl&cult.
Here Hamilcar intrenched himself. It was a bold meas- His wonderdeeds,
ure;
.
, , ,
but he had no city
1 .
, 1 11 ,
which he could count upon as
ful
friendly, and no other hope on which he could rely; and
though by so doing he placed himself in the very midst of
the enemy, he nevertheless managed to involve the Romans
in many struggles and dangers. To begin with, he would
start from this place and ravage the seaboard of Italy as
far as Cumae; and again on shore, when the Romans had
pitched a camp to overawe him, in front of the city of
Panormus within about five stades of him, he harassed
them in every way, and forced them to engage in numerous
skirmishes for the space of nearly three years.
Of these
combats it is impossible to give a detailed account in
writing.
Presently however Fortune, acting like a good umpire in
the games, transferred him by a bold stroke from the Eryx.
locahty just described and from the contest in which he
was engaged, to a struggle of greater danger and to a locality
of narrower dimensions. The Romans were occupying
the summit of Er>'x, and had a guard stationed at its foot.
But Hamilcar managed to seize the town which lay between
these two spots.
There ensued a siege by the Romans who were on the
summit, supported by them with extraordinary hardihood
and adventurous daring. The Carthaginians found themselves
between two hostile armies, and their supplies
brought to them with difficulty because they communicated
with the sea at only one point and by one road; yet
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Poiybiusi.
^^