Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/95

 THE RISE OF ROME 83 theirs. The Romans set about building a fleet, but seaman- ship could not be acquired offhand. They perceived that they could only achieve success at sea by making sea-fights as like land-fights as possible; by making them depend not on the skilful manoeuvring of ships, but on boarding and a New hand-to-hand fighting. They supplied their new Navy. ships with machinery which had the single object of grappling the enemy's ships and making the fight one not between sailors but between soldiers. The novel tactics were successful, and when the Romans could succeed in forcing an engagement they were generally victorious. But their lack of seamanship caused their fleets repeatedly to meet destruction from the winds and waves, so that for a very long time they were unable to obtain decisive command of the sea. Hence the great fortified ports of Carthage were able to defy their efforts. It was resolved to invade Carthaginian territory. The army under the command of Regulus at first overran the country; but when the Carthaginians set a Lacedaemonian soldier of fortune at the head of their troops, the Romans met with a great disaster, and Regulus with a large part of his army fell a prisoner. The story runs that envoys were later sent to Rome taking Regulus with them, with offers to restore the prisoners on terms ; but that Regulus advised the Senate to refuse the offer, choosing rather to return and face what he knew must be a cruel doom than to let his countrymen lose anything by saving his life. In the closing years of the war the Carthaginians in Sicily found a brilliant leader in Hamilcar Barca. At length, how- ever, a final naval victory enabled the Romans to dictate terms under which the Carthaginians were to evacuate Sicily and to pay a heavy indemnity. Hamilcar resolved to devote his own life and that of his sons to the struggle with Rome, which he saw would have to be fought out, until either Rome or Carthage should utterly perish. Hamilcar To bring such a struggle to a successful end, he in Spain, saw that a power must be built up which would be able to act independently of the faction-ridden government of Carthage. To this end he proposed to organise a Carthaginian dominion