aid in his campaigns, they had also occasioned him an infinite deal of
trouble by their turbulent and ungovernable spirit; and now, as they
were withdrawing from the island, the inhabitants of the country
through which they passed on the way regarded them every where with
terror and dread. The people of Messana, anxious to avoid a quarrel
with them, and disposed to facilitate their peaceable departure from
the land by every means in their power, received them into the city,
and hospitably entertained them there. Instead, however, of quietly
withdrawing from the city in proper time, as the Messanians had
expected them to do, they rose suddenly and unexpectedly upon the
people, at a concerted signal, took possession of the city, massacred
without mercy all the men, seized the women and children, and then,
each one establishing himself in the household that choice or chance
assigned him, married the wife and adopted the children whose husband
and father he had murdered. The result was the most complete and
extraordinary overturning that the history of the world can afford. It
was a political, a social, and a domestic revolution all in one.

This event took place many years before the time of Pyrrhus's
expedition; and though during the interval the Sicilians had made many
efforts to dispossess the intruders and to recover possession of
Messana, they had not been able to accomplish the work. The Mamertines
maintained their ground in Messana, and from that city, as their
fortress and stronghold, they extended their power over a considerable
portion of the surrounding country.

This territory of the Mamertines was in the northeastern part of the
island. In the northwestern part, on the other hand, there was a large
province in the hands of the Carthaginians. Their chief city was Eryx;
though there was another important city and port, called Lilybaeum,
which was situated to the southward of Eryx, on the sea-shore. Here
the Carthaginians were accustomed to land their re-enforcements and
stores; and by means of the ready and direct communication which they
could thus keep up with Carthage itself, they were enabled to resist
all the efforts which the Sicilians had made to dispossess them.

There were thus three objects to be accomplished by Pyrrhus in Sicily
before his dominion over the island could be complete--namely, the
Sicilians themselves, in the southern and central parts of the island,
were to be conciliated and combine