After
the return of their ambassadors the Carthaginians dispatched to the Aegestaeans five thousand
Libyans and eight hundred Campanians.
[
2]
These troops had been
hired by the Chalcidians
1 to aid the Athenians in the war against the Syracusans, and on
their return after its disastrous conclusion they found no one to hire their services; but the
Carthaginians purchased horses for them all, gave them high pay, and sent them to Aegesta.
[
3]
The Selinuntians, who were
prosperous in those days and whose city was heavily populated, held the Aegestaeans in
contempt. And at first, deploying in battle order, they laid waste the land which touched their
border, since their armies were far superior, but after this, despising their foe, they
scattered everywhere over the countryside.
[
4]
The generals of the
Aegestaeans, watching their opportunity, attacked them with the aid of the Carthaginians
2 and Campanians. Since the attack was not expected, they easily put
the Selinuntians to flight, killing about a thousand of the soldiers and capturing all their
loot. And after the battle both sides straightway dispatched ambassadors, the Selinuntians to
the Syracusans and the Aegestaeans to the Carthaginians, asking for help.
[
5]
Both parties promised their assistance and the Carthaginian War thus had
its beginning. The Carthaginians, foreseeing the magnitude of the war, entrusted the
responsibility for the size of their armament to Hannibal as their general and enthusiastically
rendered him every assistance.
[
6]
And Hannibal during the summer
and the following winter enlisted many mercenaries from
Iberia and also enrolled not a few from among the citizens; he also visited
Libya, choosing the stoutest men from every city, and
he made ready ships, planning to convey the armies across with the opening of spring.
Such, then, was the state of affairs in
Sicily.