Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/489

Rh HIMILCO at- the same time that thoj- attacked the walls on the land side with battering rams and other en- gines. Pliniiico, on his side, though he had to contend with disaffection among the mercenaries under his own command, as well as with the enemy without the walls, was not less active ; but he was unable to prevent the progress of the Roman works on the land : a great storm, however, swept away the mole that the Romans were constructing ; and Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, succeeded in run- ning into the port with 50 ships and a force of ] 0,000 men, in the very teeth of the Roman fleet. Thus reinforced, Himilco renewed his attacks upon the works of the besiegers ; and though repulsed in a first sally, he ultimately succeeded in burning all the battering engines and other works of the Romans. This decisive blow compelled the con- suls to turn the siege into a blockade : nor were they able to make even this effectual, as they could not succeed in cutting off the besieged alto- gether from their communications by sea. The next year ( c. c. 249) the great victory of Adherbal at Drepanura rendered the Carthaginians once more masters of the sea; and Himilco is again mentioned as co-operating with Carthalo after that event, in the attempt to destroy the Roman squa- dron, which still kept guard before Lilybaeum. The enterprise was only partially successful ; but from tliis time the communications of the city by sea appear to have been perfectly open. The name of Himilco occurs once more in the following year as opposing the operations of the consuls Caecilius and Fabius, but this is the last we hear of him ; and we have no means of judging how long he continued to hold the comniand of Lilybaeum, or when he was succeeded by Gisco, whom we find in that situation at the conclusion of the war. (Polyb. i. 41— 48, 53; Biod. Eivc. IJocschel. xxiv. 1 ; Zonar. viii. 15, 16.) 6. A Carthaginian, who commanded the fleet of Hasdnibal in Spain in 217 B. c. He was at- tacked by Cn. Scipio at the mouth of the Iberus, and completely defeated, twenty-five ships out of forty taken, and the rest driven to the shore, where the crews with difficulty made their escape. (Liv. xxii. 19, 20 ; Polyb. iii. 95, by whom he is called Hamilcar. See Hamilcar, No. 10.) 7. A Carthaginian senator, who is represented by Livy (xxiii, 12) as a warm supporter of the Barcine party, and as upbraiding Hanno with his opposition, when Mago brought to Carthage the tidings of the victory at Cannae. It is possible that he is the same who was soon after sent to Spain with an army to hold that province, while Hasdrubal advanced into Italy (Liv. xxiii. 28) ; but this is a mere conjecture. It is remarkable that the Himilco just referred to, though entrusted with so important a command, is not again men- tioned in history ; at least there are no sufficient grounds for identifying him with any of those here- after enumerated. 8. An officer in the army of Hannibal, who re- duced the town of Petelia in Bruttiiim (b. c. 216), after a siege of several months' duration, during which the inhabitants had suffered the greatest extremities of famine. (Liv. xxiii. 20, 30.) This conquest is ascribed by Appian {Amiih. 29) to Hanno, who, in fact, held the chief command in Bruttium at this time. 9. Commander of the Carthaginian forces in Sicily during a part of the second Punic war. He HIMILCO. 475 is first mentioned as commanding the fleet which was sent over from Carthage in B. c. 214, about the time that Marcellus first arrived in Sicily ; but he appears to have remained inactive at Cape Pachynus, watching the operations of the enem}-, but without effecting any thing decisive (Liv. xxiv. 27, 35). From thence he returned to Carthage; and having received from the government there, who were now determined to prosecute the war in Sicil}'- with energy, an army of 25,000 foot and 3000 horse, he landed with this force at Heraclea Minoa, and quickly made himself master of Agri- gentum. Here he was joined by Hippocrates from Syracuse ; and folloAving Marcellus, who retreated before him, he advanced to the banks of the Anapus. But the Roman camp was too strong to be forced, and Himilco, feeling confident that the Syracusans could be left to their own resources, turned his attention to the other cities of Sicily. The spirit of hostility to Rome was rapidly spread- ing among these, and several openly declared in favour of the Carthaginians. Murgantia, where great part of the Roman magazines had been col- lected, was betrayed into the hands of Himilco ; and the still more important fortress of Enna was only prevented from following its example by the barbarous massacre of its inhabitants by the orders of the Roman governor, Pinarius. [Pinarius.] Bttt in the following spring (212) the surprise of the Epipolae by Marcellus, which put him in pos- session of three out of the five quarters of Syracuse, more than counterbalanced all these advantages of the Carthaginians. Himilco saw the necessity of an immediate effort to relieve Syracuse, and again advanced thither in conjunction with Hippocrates. But their attacks on the Roman lines were re- pulsed; and a pestilence, caused by the marshy ground on which they were encamped, broke out in their army, which carried off Himilco, as well as his colleague, Hippocrates. (Liv. xxiv. 35 — 39, XXV. 23, 26 ; Zonar. ix. 4.) 10. A Carthaginian officer, who commanded the Punic garrison at Castulo in 206 b. c, when that city was betrayed into the hands of Scipio by the Spaniard Cerdubellus. (Liv. xxviii. 20.) 11. Surnamed Phamaeas or Phameas (*a- fj-alas, Appian ; ^a/xeas, Zonar.), commander of the Carthaginian cavalry in the third Punic war. Being young, active, and daring, and finding him- self at the head of an indefatigable and hardy body of troops,. he continually harassed the Roman generals, prevented their soldiers from leaving the camp for provisions or forage, and frequently at- tacked their detachments with success, except, it is said, when they were commanded by Scipio. By these means he became an object of terror to the Romans, and contributed greatly to the success of the Carthaginian army under Hasdrubal, especially on occasion of the march of Manilius upon Ne- pheris. But in the course of this irregular warfare having accidentally fallen in with Scipio (at that time one of the tribunes in the Roman army), he was led by that officer into a conference, in which Scipio induced hira to abandon the cause of Car- thage as hopeless, and desert to the Romans. This resolution he put in execution on occasion of the second expedition of Manilius against Nepheris (b. c. 148), when he went over to the enemy, car- rying with him the greater part of the troops under his command. He was sent by Manilius with Scipio to Rome, where the senate rewarded him