editerranean, from Spain to the Black Sea,
wherever a country had mines, wool, dyes, spices, or men to trade with;
and their sailors were the boldest to be found anywhere, and were the
only ones who had passed beyond the Pillars of Hercules, namely, the
Straits of Gibraltar, in the Atlantic Ocean. They built handsome cities,
and country houses with farms and gardens round them, and had all tokens
of wealth and luxury--ivory, jewels, and spices from India, pearls from
the Persian Gulf, gold from Spain, silver from the Balearic Isles, tin
from the Scilly Isles, amber from the Baltic; and they had forts to
protect their settlements. They generally hired the men of the
countries, where they settled, to fight their battles, sometimes under
hired Greek captains, but often under generals of their own.

[Illustration: ROMAN SHIP.]

The first place where they did not have everything their own way was
Sicily. The old inhabitants of the island were called Sicels, a rough
people; but besides these there were a great number of Greek
settlements, also of Carthaginian ones, and these two hated one another.
The Carthaginians tried to overthrow the Greeks, and Pyrrhus, by
coming to help his countrymen, only made them more bitter against one
another. When he went away he exclaimed, "What an arena we leave for the
Romans and Carthaginians to contend upon!" so sure was he that these two
great nations must soon fight out the struggle for power.

The beginning of the struggle was, however, brought on by another cause.
Messina, the place founded long ago by the brave exiles of Messene, when
the Spartans had conquered their state, had been seized by a troop of
Mamertines, fierce Italians from Mamertum; and these, on being
threatened by Xiero, king of Syracuse, sent to offer to become subjects
to the Romans, thus giving them the command of the port which secured
the entrance of the island. The Senate had great scruples about
accepting the offer, and supporting a set of mere robbers; but the two
consuls and all the people could not withstand the temptation, and it
was resolved to assist the Mamertines. Thus began what was called the
First Punic War. The difficulty was, however, want of ships. The Romans
had none of their own, and though they collected a few from their Greek
allies in Italy, it was not in time to prevent some of the Mamertines
from surrendering the citadel to Xanno, the Carthaginian general, who
thought himself secure, and came