the war.* The first war between Rome and Carthage arose
out of the political situation in the island of Sicily. There the town of
Messana was occupied by the Mamertini, a band of Campanian mercenaries,
who had been in the service of Syracuse but who had deserted and seized
this town about 284 B. C. Because of their perpetual acts of brigandage
they were a menace to their neighbors, the Syracusans. The latter, now
under an energetic ruler, Hiero, who had assumed the title of king, in 265
succeeded in blockading Messana and its ultimate capture seemed certain.
In despair the Mamertini sought help from the Carthaginians who sent a
garrison to Messana, for they looked with jealousy upon any extension of
Syracusan territory. However, the majority of the Mamertini sought to be
taken under the protection of Rome and appealed to the Roman Senate for
aid. The senators on the one hand saw that to espouse the cause of the
Mamertini would be to provoke a war with Carthage, an eventuality before
which they shrank, but on the other hand they recognized that the
Carthaginian occupation of Messana would give them the control of the
Straits of Messana and constitute a perpetual threat against southern
Italy. The strength of these conflicting considerations made them
unwilling to assume responsibility for a decision and they referred the
matter to the Assembly of the Centuries. Here the people, elated,
apparently, by their recent victorious wars in Italy, and led on by hopes
of pecuniary advantage to be derived from the war, decided to admit the
Mamertini to the Roman alliance. One consul, Appius Claudius, was sent
with a small force to relieve the town (264).

The Mamertini induced the Carthaginian garrison to withdraw, and then
admitted the Roman force which crossed the straits with the aid of vessels
furnished by their Greek allies in Italy. Thereupon the Carthaginians made
an alliance with the Syracusans, but the Romans defeated each of them.

*Alliance of Rome and Syracuse.* In the next year the Romans sent a larger
army into Sicily to attack Syracuse and met with such success that Hiero
became alarmed, and, making peace upon easy terms, concluded an alliance
with them for fifteen years.(5) Aided by Hiero the Romans now began an
attack upon Agrigentum, the Carthaginian stronghold which threatened
Syracuse. When this was taken in 262, they determined to drive the
Carthaginians from the whole island.

*Rome builds a fleet.* However,