hastened thither with some ships of his own and some Roman vessels. When the Carthaginians arrived they found Lilybæum on guard, so drew up in battle order off the harbour. Here, attacked by Romans using the corvi, they lost seven ships: the rest gained the open sea.
Meanwhile the main Carthaginian fleet of seventy ships was ravaging the coast of Bruttium (Calabria). Sempronius was preparing to deal with these, when the news of Hannibal's descent into Italy arrived, and he was at once recalled, leaving only a few ships for the defence of Sicily,—an instance of the influence of Land Power on naval history.
At Carthagena in Spain[1] the Carthaginians had forty ships, which the Romans under Scipio surprised while the crews were ashore; and shortly afterwards a Roman fleet a hundred strong dispersed the main Carthaginian fleet off Italy, compelling it to retire to Africa. This, however, does not seem to have inconvenienced Hannibal.
In B.C. 214 Rome raised 150 ships, but found some difficulty in manning them. The defection of Syracuse to Carthage occupied the attention of these vessels till the famous siege was over. Naval operations on a small scale were also conducted against Macedonia; but nothing further of importance occurred till Scipio invaded Africa, after the battle of the Metaurus. At the time of Scipio' s invasion the Roman fleet
- ↑ Polybius, III. 95-96.
