egulus, captured by the Carthaginians and sent by them to Rome to
urge his countrymen to surrender, urged them to go on fighting, though
he knew he must pay the penalty for such words with his life. Had the
Carthaginians been made of the same metal they might have used the hour
to strike the fatal blow; but they were not. On land they did not trust
the one really great general whom they had--Hamilcar Barca. For six
years nothing serious was done in Sicily. On sea they let the fleet fall
into disrepair because they were confident that the Romans, after their
tremendous losses, could do nothing much. They did not know the Roman
temper. In the coffers of the State there was no money to build ships.
But there were rich men in Rome who put their country's needs before
their own comfort. A number of them sold all they had and gave the money
for shipbuilding. Shipwrights and carpenters worked night and day, and
in a wonderfully short time a fleet of 250 vessels was constructed and
given to the State. And this fleet ended the war. Every man in it was
alive with enthusiasm, ready to die for Rome. The Consul Lutatius
Catulus, who was put in command of it, utterly defeated the Carthaginian
navy in a great battle off the Aegatian Islands (241). In Sicily
Hamilcar could do nothing; no supplies could reach him. With bitterness
in his heart he had to make a peace which gave Sicily to Rome. The real
heroes are the Roman people who, whether in the armies or the navies or
at home, never yielded or lost courage in spite of defeat and disaster
but held on to the end. They won the victory. They defeated Hamilcar. In
this, the first Punic War, the Carthaginian Government was glad to make
peace; Hamilcar was not. He was determined that Carthage should defeat
Rome yet: he made his young son Hannibal swear never to be friends with
Rome.

[Illustration: --OF A MIMIC NAVAL BATTLE]

Hannibal

This son of Hamilcar was the most dangerous enemy the Romans ever had to
face. He was not only, like Pyrrhus, a brilliant soldier and general: he
was much more than this. He was a genius in all the arts of war, and in
the leadership of men; great as Napoleon and Julius Caesar were great.
He had the power to fill the hearts of his followers with a devotion
that asked no questions; they were ready to die for him, to endure any
and every hardship. No Roman general of the time was a match for him:
few in any time. Yet he was defeated. The reason was simple.