Hamilcar Besieges the Romans at Eryx
Presently however Fortune, acting like a good umpire in
note
the games, transferred them by a bold stroke from
the locality just described, and the contest in
which they were engaged, to a struggle of greater
danger and a locality of narrower dimensions. The Romans,
as we have said, were in occupation of the summit of Eryx,
and had a guard stationed at its foot. But Hamilcar managed
to seize the town which lay between these two spots. There
ensued a siege of the Romans who were on the summit,
supported by them with extraordinary hardihood and adventurous daring: while the Carthaginians, finding themselves
between two hostile armies, and their supplies brought to them
with difficulty, because they were in communication with the
sea at only one point and by one road, yet held out with a
determination that passes belief. Every contrivance which
skill or force could sustain did they put in use against each
other, as before; every imaginable privation was submitted
to; surprises and pitched battles were alike tried: and
finally they left the combat a drawn one, not, as Fabius says,
from utter weakness and misery, but like men still unbroken
and unconquered. The fact is that before either party had got
completely the better of the other, though they had maintained
the conflict for another two years, the war happened to be decided in quite a different manner. note
Such was the state of affairs at Eryx and with the forces note
employed there. The two nations engaged
were like well-bred game-cocks that fight to
their last gasp. You may see them often, when
too weak to use their wings, yet full of pluck to
the end, and striking again and again. Finally, chance brings
them the opportunity of once more grappling, and they hold
on until one or other of them drops down dead.
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