Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/446

 424 HISTORY OF GREECE. Antisthenes, and others, was carried even to profusion. The surrounding territory was celebrated for its breed of horses, 1 which the rich Agrigentineij vied with each other in training and equip- ping for the chariot-race. At the last Olympic games immediately preceding this fatal Carthaginian invasion (that is at the 93rd Olympiad, 408 B. c.), the Agrigentine Exaenetus gained the prize in a chariot-nice. On returning to Sicily after his victory, he was welcomed by many of his friends, who escorted him home in procession with three hundred chariots, each drawn by a pair of white horses, and all belonging to native Agrigentines. Of the festival by which the wealthy Antisthenes celebrated the nuptials of his daughter, we read an account almost fabulous. Amidst all this wealth and luxury, it is not surprising to hear that the rough duties of military exercise were imperfectly kept up, and that indulgences, not very consistent with soldierlike efficiency, were allowed to the citizens on guard. Such was Agrigentum in May 406 B. c., when Hannibal and Imilkon approached it with their powerful army. Their first prop- ositions, however were not of a hostile character. They invited the Agrigentines to enter into alliance with Carthage ; or if this were not acceptable, at any rate to remain neutral and at peace. Both propositions were declined.' 2 Besides having taken engagements with Gela and Syracuse, the Agrigentines also felt a confidence, not unreasonable, in the strength of their own walls and situation. Agrigentum with its citadel was placed on an aggregate of limestone hills, immediately above the confluence of two rivers, both flowing from the north ; the river Akragas on the eastern and southern sides of the city, and the Hypsas on its western side. Of this aggregate of hills, separ- ated from each other by clefts and valleys, the northern half is the loftiest, being about eleven hundred feet above the level of the sea the southern half is less lofty. But on all sides, except on the south- west, it rises by a precipitous ascent ; on the side towards the sea, it springs immediately out of the plain, thus presenting a fine pros- pect to ships passing along the coast. The whole of this aggregate of hills was encompassed by a continuous wall, built round the de- clivity, and in some parts hewn out of the solid rock. The town Virgil JEneid. iii 704. * Diudor. xiii, 85.