At First The Senate Refused To Occupy It; But They Soon
Changed Their Mind, And Accepted The Offer, And Moreover Obliged The
Carthaginians To Pay The Expence Of The Armament By Which It Was Occupied,
And The Further Sum Of 1200 Talents.
Sicily, which immediately after the conclusion of the Punic war, was made a
Roman province, and Sardinia, were the first territories which the Romans
possessed out of Italy.
In conformity with our plan, we shall enquire into
the advantages they brought to the commerce of the Romans, before we
proceed to the naval occurrences of the second Punic war.
Sicily was anciently called Sicania, Trinacria, and Triquetra; its three
promontories are particularly celebrated in the classic authors; viz.
Lilibaeum on the side of Africa; Pachynum on the side of Greece, and Pelorum
towards Italy. Its vicinity to the continent of Italy, and the resemblance
of their opposite shores, gave rise to an opinion among the ancients that
it was originally joined to Italy. Pliny particularly mentions their
separation, as a circumstance beyond all doubt. The dangers which were
supposed to beset mariners in their passage through the narrow strait which
divides it from Italy, on one side of which was Sylla, and on the other
Charybdis, sufficiently point out the ignorance and inexperience of the
ancients in the construction and management of their ships.
The principal town on the eastern coast of Sicily, opposite Greece, was
Messana, now called Messina: it was the first which the Romans possessed in
the island: it was one of the most wealthy and powerful cities in ancient
Sicily. Taurominium stood near Mount Taurus, on the river Taurominius; the
coast in its vicinity was anciently called Coproea, because the sea was
supposed to throw up there the wrecks of such vessels as were swallowed up
by Charybdis. The hills near this city were famous for the excellent grapes
they produced. On a gulph in the Ionian Sea, called Catana, stood a city of
the same name; it was one of the richest and most powerful cities in the
island.
But by far the most celebrated city in this island for its advantageous
situation, the magnificence of its buildings, its commerce, and the wealth
of its inhabitants, was Syracuse. According to Thucydides, in his time it
might justly be compared to Athens, even when that city was at the height
of its glory; and Cicero describes it as the greatest and most wealthy of
all the cities possessed by the Greeks. Its walls were eighteen miles in
circumference, and within them were in fact four cities united into one. It
seems also to have possessed three harbours: the great harbour was nearly
five thousand yards in circumference, and the entrance to it five hundred
yards across; it was formed on one side by a point of the island Ortygia,
and on the other by another small island, on each of which were forts. The
second harbour was divided from the greater by an island of inconsiderable
extent; both these were surrounded with warehouses, arsenals, and other
buildings of great magnificence.
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