Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/943

Rh MARCELLUS. unable to defend the town against Marcelliis, who took it by storm, and though he spared the in- habitants, executed in cold blood 2000 Roman deserters whom he found among the troops that had formed the garrison. This sanguinary act at once alienated the minds of the Sicilians, and alarmed the mercenary troops in the service of Syracuse. The latter immediately joined Hippo- crates and Epicydes, who had made their escape to Herbessus ; the gates of Syracuse were opened to them by their partisans within the walls, and the party hostile to Rome thus established in the un- disputed command of that city. (Liv. xxiv. 27 — 32 ; Plut. Marc. 13, 14; Appian, Sic. 3.) Marcellus, whose severities had given rise to this revolution, now appeared before Syracuse at the head of his army, and after a fruitless summons to the inhabitants, proceeded to lay siege to the city both by sea and land. His attacks were vigorous and unremitting, and were directed espe- cially against the quarter of Achradina from the side of the sea ; but though he brought many pow- erful military engines against the walls, these were rendered wholly unavailing by the superior skill and science of Archimedes, who directed those of the besieged. All the efforts of the assailants were baffled, and the Roman soldiers inspired with so great a dread of Archimedes and his engines, that Marcellus was compelled to give up all hopes of carrying the city by open force, and to turn the siege into a blockade. (Liv. xxiv. 33, 34 ; Plut. Marc. 14—17 ; Polyb. viii. 3, 5 — 9 ; Zonar. ix. 4 ; Tzetz. Chil. ii. 35.) During the continuance of this, he himself with a part of his army carried on operations in the other parts of the island, leaving A pp. Claudius to keep watch before Sy- racuse. In this manner he took Helorus and IIerl)essus, and utterly destroyed Megara ; and though he failed in preventing the Carthaginian general Himilco from making himself master of Agrigentum, he defeated Hippocrates near Acrae. The advance of Himilco compelled Marcellus to retreat to his camp before Syracuse ; but here the Carthaginian general was unable to molest bun, and the war was again reduced to a series of de- sultory and irregular operations in different parts of the island. These were by no means all favour- al)le to the Romans: Murgantia, an important town, where they had established large magazines, surrendered to the Carthaginians, and the strong fortress of Enna was only prevented from following its example by the barbarous massacre of its in- habitants by order of the Roman governor, L. Pi- narius [Pinarius], an act of cruelty which had the effect of alienating the minds of all the other Sicilians. (Liv. xxiv. 35—39 ; Plut. M<irc. 18.) Meanwhile, the blockade of Syracuse had been prolonged far on into the summer of 212, nor did there appear any prospect of its termination, as the communications of the besieged by sea were almost entirely open. In this state of things Marcellus fortunately discovered a part of the walls more accessible than the rest, and having prepared scaling ladders, effected an entrance at this point during the night which followed a great festival, and thus made himself master of the p]pipolae. The two quarters called Tyche and Neapolis were now at his mercy, and were given up to plunder ; but Epicydes still held the island citadel, and the important quarter of Achradina, which formed two .separate and strong fortresses. Marcellus, how- VOL. u. MARCELLUS. 929 ever, made himself master of the fort of Euryalus, and now closely beset Achradina, when the Car- thaginian army under Himilco and Hippocrates advanced to the relief of the city. Their efforts were, however, in vain : all their attacks on the camp of Marcellus were repulsed, and they w'ere unable to effect a junction with Epicydes and the Syracusan garrison. The unhealthiness of the country soon gave rise to a pestilence, which committed frightful ravages in both armies, but especially in that of the Carthaginians, where it carried off both their generals, and led to the entire break-up of the army. Thus freed from all appre- hensions from without, Marcellus renewed his attacks upon those quarters of the city which still held out ; but though the officers on whom the command devolved after the departure of Epicydes made several attempts at negotiation, nothing was effected. At length the treachery of Mericus, a leader of Spanish mercenaries in the Syracusan service, opened to Marcellus the gates of Achradina, and in the general attack that ensued he made himself master of the island of Ortygia also. The city was given up to plunder, and though the lives of the free inhabitants were spared, they were reduced to such distress, that many of them were compelled to sell themselves as slaves, in order to obtain the means of existence. (Diod. Em. Vat. p. 60.) Yet the clemency and liberality of Mar- cellus have been extolled by almost all the writers of antiquity. The booty found in the captured city was immense : besides the money in the royal treasury, which was set apart for the coffers of the state, Marcellus carried off many of the works of art with which the city had been adorned, to grace his own triumph and the temples at Rome. This was the first instance of a practice which afterwards became so general ; and it gave great offence not only to the Greeks of Sicily,^ but to a large party at Rome itself, who drew unfavourable comparisons between the conduct of Marcellus in this instance and that of Fabius at Tarentum. ( Liv. xxv. 23 —31, 40 ; Plut. Marc. 18, 19, 21 ; Polyb. viii. 37, ix. 10 ; Zonar. ix. 5.) But though Syracuse had fallen, the war in Sicily was not yet at an end. A considerable Carthaginian force still occupied Agrigentum under Epicydes and Hanno ; and Mutines, with a body of Numidian cavalry, carried his incursions fai' into the interior. Marcellus now turned his arms against these remaining enemies, attacked Epicydes and Hanno in the absence of Mutines, and totally defeated them, after which he returned to Syracuse. (Liv. xxv. 40, 41.) The early part of the follow- ing year (211 ) seems to have been devoted to the settlement of affairs in Sicily ; but it is strange that Marcellus does not seem to have made any efforts to put an end altogether to the war in that island before he returned to" Rome, and when towai-ds the close of the summer he resigned the command of the province to the praetor M. Cor- nelius, Mutines was still in arms, and Agrigentum still in the possession of the Carthaginians. On this account the senate refused him the honours of a triumph, notwithstanding his great successes, and he vas obliged to content himself with the inferior distmction of an ovation. Previous to this, how- ever, he celebrated with great magnificence a tri- umphal procession to the temple of Jupiter on the Alban Mount, and even his ovation was rendered more coiispicuous than most triiunphs by the uuxu- 3 o