nt on by
land and sea all over and around Sicily, till at the end of twenty-four
years peace was made, just after another great sea-fight, in which Rome
had the victory. She made the Carthaginians give up all they held in
Sicily, restore their prisoners, make a large payment, and altogether
humble their claims; thus beginning a most bitter hatred towards the
conquerors, who as greatly hated and despised them. Thus ended the First
Punic War.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XVIII.

CONQUEST OF CISALPINE GAUL.

240-219.

After the end of the Punic war, Carthage fell into trouble with her
hired soldiers, and did not interfere with the Romans for a long time,
while they went on to arrange the government of Sicily into what they
called a province, which was ruled by a propraetor for a year after his
magistracy at home. The Greek kingdom of Syracuse indeed still remained
as an ally of Rome, and Messina and a few other cities were allowed to
choose their own magistrates and govern themselves.

Soon after, Sardinia and Corsica were given up to the Romans by the
hired armies of the Carthaginians, and as the natives fought hard
against Rome, when they were conquered they were for the most part sold
as slaves. These two islands likewise had a propraetor.

The Romans now had all the peninsula south of themselves, and as far
north as Ariminim (now shortened into Rimini), but all beyond belonged
to the Gauls--the Cisalpine Gauls, or Gauls on this side the Alps, as
the Romans called them; while those on the other side were called
Transalpine Gauls, or Gauls across the Alps. These northern Gauls were
gathering again for an inroad on the south, and in the midst of the
rumors of this danger there was a great thunderstorm at Rome, and the
Capitol was struck by lightning. The Sybilline books were searched into
to see what this might mean, and a warning was found, "Beware of the
Gauls." Moreover, there was a saying that the Greeks and Gauls should
one day enjoy the Forum; but the Romans fancied they could satisfy this
prophecy by burying a man and woman of each nation, slaves, in the
middle of the Forum, and then they prepared to attack the Gauls in their
own country before the inroad could be made. There was a great deal of
hard fighting, lasting for years; and in the course of it the consul,
Caius Flaminius, began the great road which has since been called after
him the Flaminian Way, and was the great northern road from Rome, as