Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/206

 190 LILYBAEUM. thaginians from all their other strongholds. But they continued to tlirow in supplies and reinforce- ments by sea to Lilybaeum, so that the king, after a siege of iwo months, was compelled to abandon the enterprise as hopeless. (Diod. xxii. 10. Exc. Hoesch. pp. 498, 499.) But it is the memorable siege of Lilybaeum by the Romans in the First Punic War which has given to that city its chief historical celebrity. When the Romans first com- menced the siege in the fifteenth year of the war, B. c. 250, they were already masters of the whole of Sicily, with the exception of Lilybaeum and Dre- panum; and hence they were able to concentrate all their efforts and employ the armies of both consuls in the attack of the former city, while the Cartha- ginians on their side exerted all their energies in its defence. They had just before removed thither all the inhabitants of Selinus (Diod. xxiv. 1. p. 506), anil in addition to the citizens there was a garrison in the place of 10,000 men. (Pol. i. 42.) The city appears to have occupied the whole of the pro- montory, and was fortified on the land side by a wall flanked with towers and protected by a deep ditch. The Romans at first attacked this vigorously, but all their efforts were frustrated by the courage and activity of the Carthaginian commander Himilco ; their battering engines were burnt by a sally of the besieged, and on the approach of winter the consuls were compelled to convert the siege into a blockade. This was easily maintained on the land side, but the Romans in vain endeavoured to exclude the besieged fro'n succours by sea. A Carthaginian fleet under Hannibal succeeded in making good its entrance into the port ; and the skilful Carthaginian captains were able to elude the vigilance of the Roman cruisers, and keep up free communications with the besieged. The Roman consuls next tried to block up the entrance of the port with a mound, but this was soon carried away by the violence of the vraves ; and soon after, Adherbal, the Carthaginian com- mander-in-chief, wlio lay with a large fleet at Dre- panum, totally defeated the Roman fleet under the consul P. Claudius, b. c. 249. This disaster was followed by the almost total loss of two Roman fleets in succession by shipwreck, and these accu- mulated misfortunes compelled the Romans to aban- don the very attempt to contest the dominion of the sea. But though they could not in consequence maintain any efficient blockade, they still continued to hem in Lilybaeum on the land side, and their armies continued encamped before the city for several years in succession. It was not till the tenth year of the siege that the victory of C. Lutatius Catulus at the Aegates, b. c. 241, compelled the Cartha- ginians to conclude peace, and to abandon the pos- session of Lilybaeum and Drepanum, which up to that time the continued efforts of the Romans had failed in wresting from their hands. (Pol. i. 41 — 54, 59 -62 ; Diod. xxiv. 1, 3, 11, Exc. H. pp. 506 — 509, Exc. Vales, p. 565 ; Zonar. viii. 15 — 17 ; Oro.s. iv. 10.) Lilybaeum now passed into the condition of a Roman provincial town : but it continued to be a flourishing and populous place. Its position rendered it now as important a point to the Romans for the invasion of Africa, as it had previously been to the Carthaginians for that of Sicily; and hence its name is one of frequent occurrence during almost all periods of Roman history. Thus, at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, B.C. 218, Lilybaeum was the station of the Roman fleet under the praetor M. LILYBAEUM. Aemilius, who defeated a Carthaginian force that had attempted to surprise that important post. (Liv. xxi. 49, 50.) During the course of the same war it was the point from whence Roman com- manders repeatedly made predatory descents with small squadrons upon the coast of Africa; and towards the close of the same memorable contest, B.C. 204, it was from thence that Scipio sailed with the fleet and army which were destined for the con- quest of Africa. (Liv. xxv. 31, xxvii. 5, xxix. 24.) In like manner it was at Lilybaeum that the younger Scipio Africanus assembled his fleet and army in b. c. 149, preparatory to passing over into Africa (Diod. xxxii. "6); and in the Civil Wars Caesar made it his head-quarters when preparing for his African campaign against Scipio and Juba, B. c. 47. (Hirt. B. Afr. 1, 2, 37; Appian, £. C. ii. 95.) It was also one of the chief naval stations of Sextus Pompeius in his war with Augustus, b. c. 36. (Appian, B. C. v. 97, 122; Dion Cass. xlix. 8.) Nor was the importance of Lilybaeum confined to these warlike occasions: it is evident that it was the habitual port of communication between Sicily and Africa, and must have derived the greatest pros- perity from the constant traffic wiiich arose from this circumstance. Hence we find it selected as the habitual place of residence of one of the two quaes- tors of Sicily (Pseud. Ascon. in Verr. p, 100); and Cicero, who had himself held that office at Lily- baeum, calls it " splendidissima civitas" (^Verr. V. 5.) It was one of the few cities of Sicily which still retained some importance in the time of Strabo. (Strab. vi. p. 272.) Its continued prosperity under the Roman Empire is sufliciently attested by inscrip- tions : from one of these we learn that its population was divided into twelve tribes; a rare mode of muni- cipal organisation. (Torremuzza Inscr. Sicil. pp. 7, 15, 49; Orell. Inscr. 151, 1691, 3718.) In another inscription it bears the title of a colonia: the time when it became such is uncertain; but probably not till the reign of Hadrian, as Pliny does not mention- it among the five colonies founded by Augustus in Sicily. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 5; Jtin. Ant. pp, 86, 89, 96; Zumpt, de Colon. p. 409.) After the fall of the Roman Empire Lilybaeum m still continued to be one of the most important W cities of Sicily. It is mentioned as such under the successive dominion of the Goths and Vandals (Pro- cop. B. V. i. 8, ii. 5); and during the period of the Arabian dominion in Sicily, that people attached so much value to its port, that they gave it the name of Marsa Alia, — the port of God, — from whence has come its modern appellation of Marsala. It was not till the 16th century that this celebrated port was blocked up with a mole or mound of sunken stones by order of the Emperor Charles V., in order to pro- tect it from the attacks of the Barbary corsairs. From that period Trapani has taken its place as the principal port in the W. of Sicily ; but Marsala is still a considerable town, and a place of some trade, especially in wine. (Smyth's Sicily, p. 232.) Very few vestiges of the ancient city remain, but numerous fragments of sculpture, vases, and other relics, as well as coins, have been discovered on the site; and some portions of an ancient aqueduct are still visible. The site of the ancient port, though now filled with mud, may be distinctly traced, but it is of small extent, and could never liave had a depth of more than 12 or 14 feet. The rocks and shoals, which even in ancient times rendered it difficult of