Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/352

 336 JIESSANA. nians are mentioned as sending assistance to Dion acr.ainst the younger Dionysius; and after the death of Dion, they repulsed an attempt of Callippus to make himself master of theif city. (Diod. xvi. 9 ; Plut. Dion, 58.) At a somewhat later period, however, they fell under the yoke of a tyrant named Hippon, from whom they were freed by Timoleon, (b. c. 339), and at the same time detached from the alliance of Carthasre, to which they had been for a time compelled to adhere. (Diod. xvi. 69; Plut. Timol. 20, 34.) But Messana did not long enjoy her newly re- covered freedom. Soon after the establishment of Agathocles at Syracuse, that monarch turned liis arms against Messana, and, though his first attempts, in B.C. 315, were unsuccessful, and he was even compelled to restore the fortress of Mylae, of which he had for a time made himself master, a few years later, B. c. 312, lie succeeded in establishing his power at Messana itself. (Diod. xix. 65, 102.) But the severities which he exercised against the party which had opposed him completely alienated the minds of the Jlessanians, and they readily embraced the opportunity of the defeat of the tyrant at Ecnomus in the following year, b. c. 311, to throw off his yoke and declare in favour of the Car- thaginian alliance. (Id. xix. 110.) The death of Asrathocles, soon after, brought upon the Sfes- senians even heavier calamities than his enmity had done. The numerous bands of mercenary troops, chiefly of Campanian, or at least Oscan, extraction, which the despot had assembled in Sicily, were, after his death, compelled by the Syracusans, with the support of the Carthaginians, to quit the island. But, having arrived with that object at Messana, where they vvere hospitably received by the citizens, and quartered in their houses, they suddenly turned against them, massacred the male inhabitants, made themselves masters of their wives, houses, and pro- perty, and thus established themselves in undisputed possession of the city. (Pol. i. 7; Diod. xxi. 18, Exc. H. p. 493; Strab. vi. p. 268.) They now as- sumed the name of Majiertini (Mo/xepTiroi), or " the children of Mars," from Mamei-s, an Oscan name of that deity, which is found also in old Latin. (Diod. I. c. Varr. L. L. v. 73.) The city, however, continued to be called Messana, though they at- tempted to change its name to Mamertina : Cicero, indeed, in several instances calls it " ]Iamertina civitas" (Cic. Verr. ii. 5,46, iii. 6, iv. 10, &c.), but much more frequently Messana, though the in- habitants were in his time universally called Ma- mertini. The precise period of the occupation of Messana by the Mamertines is nowhere stated. Polybius tells us that it occurred not long before that of Rhegium by the Campanians under Decius, which may be referred to the year 280 b. c., while it must have taken place some time after the death of Agathocles in b. c. 289 : the year 282 is that commonly assigned, but within the above limits this .is meiely conjectural. The JIamertines now rapidly extended their power over the whole NE. angle of Sicily, and made them- selves masters of several fortresses and towns. The occupation of Rhegium by the Campanians, under very sindlar circumstances, contributed to strengthen their position and they became one of the most formidable powers in Sicily. The arrival of Pyrrhus in the island (b. c. 278) for a time gave a check to their aggrandisement: they in vain combined with the Carthaginians to prevent his landing ; but, MESSAN-. though he defeated their forces in a battle and tixik several of their fortresses, he did not attack Jlessana itself ; and on his return to Italy the Mamertines sent a large force across the straits which attacked the army of the king on its march, and inflicted on him severe losses. (Plut. Pyrrh. 23, 24; Diod. xxi. 7. p. 495.) The Mamertines, however, soon found a more formidable enemy in Hieron of Syracuse, who, shortly after the departure of Pyrrhus from Sicily, estabhshed himself in the possession of the chief power in that city. His ett'orts were early directed against the Mamertines; and after the fall of Rhegium, which was taken by the Romans in B.C. 271, he invaded their territory with a great army, reduced the fortress of Mylae, and defeated the Mamertines in a battle on the banks of the river Longanus, with such slaughter that they were on the point of surrendering Messana itself without a blow; and the city was saved only by the inter- vention of a Carthaginian force under Hannibal. (Poh i. 8, 9; Diod. xsii. 13. pp. 499, 500.) The events which followed are obscurely known to us, and their chronology is very uncertain ; but the Mamertines seem to have found that they were no longer able to stand alone against the power of Hieron ; and, while one party was disposed to throw them- selves into the arms of the Carthaginians, another sought protection from the power of Rome. The latter ultimately prevailed, and an embassy sent by the Mamertines, to invoke the alliance of the Romans, first gave occasion to the intervention of that people in the affairs of Sicily, and became the origin of the First Punic War, b. c. 264. (j'ol. i. 10; Diod.xxiii. 1 ; Zonar. viii. 8 ; Oros. iv. 7 ; Liv. Epit. xvi.) Before the arrival of the promised aid from Rome the Carthaginian party had again prevailed, and the citadel was occupied by a Carthaginian garrison; but this was expelled by the Mamertines themselves on the arrival of C. Claudius; and soon after the consul Appius Claudius landed at Me.ssana, and drove oiF in succession the Carthaginians and Hieron, who had just before concluded an alliance against the Mamertines, and laid siege to the city with tbeii combined forces. (Pol. i. 11, 12; Diod. xxiii. 1, 3 p. 501 ; Zonar. viii. 8, 9 ; Dion Cass. Exc. Vat. 58 — 60.) Messana was now protected by a Roman gar- rison, and, during the whole course of the war which followed, continued to be one of their chief strong- holds .and the principal station of their fleets. The importance of its harbour, as well as its ready com- munication with Italy, rendered it a point of vital importance to the Romans ; and the Mamertines eithei continued steadily faithful or were kept under by the constant presence of a Roman force. (Pol. i. 21, 25, 38, 52; Diod. xxiii. 18. p. 505, xxiv. 1. p. 508; Zonar, viii. 10, 12.) At the close of the war the Mamertines obtained a renewal of their treaty, and continued to enjoy henceforth the nominal privileges of an allied city (foederata civitas), while they in reality passed under the dominion of Rome. ((Jic. Verr. iii. 6.) Even in the time of Cicero we find them still retaining this privileged condition; and though this alone would not have sufliiced to protect them against the exactions of Verres, the Mamertines appear to have adopted the safer policy of supporting the praetor in all his oppressions and conciliating him by bribes, so that they are represented by the orator as the accomplices, as well as defenders, of uU his iniquities. (Cic. Ih. ii. 5, 46, iv. 8, 67, &c.) Jlessana was certainly at this time one of the most populous and flourishing places in Sicily. Cicero