Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/439

 WAR WITH THE CAETHAGIKIAXS. 407 the captive crew ; for which, in a few clays, retaliation was exer- cised upon the crews of some of their own ships, taken by the cruisers of Agathokles.^ The defence of Agrigentum now rested principally on the Carthaginians in Sicily, who took up a position on the hill called Eknomus — in the territory of Gela, a little to the west of the Agrigentine border. Here Agathokles approached to offer them battle — having been emboldened by two important successes obtained over Deinokrates and the Syracusan exiles, near Ken- toripa and Gallaria.*^ So superior was his force, however, that the Carthaginians thought it prudent to remain in their camp ; and Agathokles returned in triumph to Syracuse, where he adorned the temples with his recently acquired spoils. The bal- ance of force was soon altered by the despatch of a large arma- ment from Carthage under Hamilkar, consisting of 130 ships of war, with numerous other transport ships, carrying many sol- diers — 2000 native Carthaginians, partly men of rank — 10,000 Africans — 1000 Campanian heavy-armed and 1000 Balearic slingers. The fleet underwent in its passage so terrific a storm, that many of the vessels sunk with all on board, and it arrived with very diminished numbers in Sicily. The loss fell upon the native Carthaginian soldiers with peculiar severity ; insomuch that when the news reached Carthage, a public mourning was proclaimed, and the city walls were hung with black serge. Those who reached Sicily, however, were quite sufficient to place Hamilkar in an imposing superiority of number as com- pared with Agathokles. He encamped on or. near Eknomus, summoned all the reinforcements that his Sicilian allies could furnish, and collected additional mercenaries ; so that he was soon at the head of 40,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry.^ At the same time, a Carthaginian armed squadron, detached to the strait of Messene, fell in with twenty armed ships belonging to Agath- okles, and captured them all with their crews. The Sicilian cit- ies were held to Agathokles principally by terror, and were likely 1 Diodor. xix. 103. It must be noticed, however, that even Jtilius Caesar, in Ins wars in Gaul, sometimes cut oft' the hands of his Gallic prisoners taken in arms, whom he called rebels (Bell. Gall. viii. 44).
 * Diodor. xix. 103, 104. ^ Diodor xix. 106.