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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 Chalcidians1 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 Carthaginians2 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.

1 Of Sicily.

2 More accurately, the Libyan mercenaries mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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  • Cross-references to this page (4):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CAMPA´NIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SEGESTA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SELI´NUS
    • Smith's Bio, Ha'nnibal
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