CHAPTER VII.

THE SECOND SLAVE WAR IN SICILY.

B.C. 105-99.

THE chief authority for the second slave war in Sicily is Diodorus, whose narrative is very sober and circumstantial. He connects the origin of this insurrection with the execution by the governor P. Licinius Nerva of the senate's order (chap. iii.) made on the occasion of the answer of king Nicomedes II. to the demand for soldiers to assist the Romans. Diodorus was a native of Sicily, and he may have had good opportunities of getting information about both the slave

wars.

It is certain that he took some pains with this part of his general history.

Dion Cassius says nothing about the order of the senate, but he makes another and a very improbable statement in his own peculiar style. P. Licinius Nerva hearing that the slaves were not fairly treated in some matters, or being moved by a desire of gain, for he was not above taking a bribe, sent round notice to all the slaves who had any cause of complaint against their masters, and promised that he would relieve them. The slaves came in great numbers, some to complain of their wrongs, and others to make charges against their masters, for they all thought that the time was arrived for safely accomplishing what they wished. The masters combined to resist the slaves and did not yield. Nerva being afraid of both parties, and seeing that he might be in danger from those who were defeated in the appeal to him, refused to listen to any of the slaves. He sent them away with some assurance or comfort that they should suffer no wrong for the future, or with the hope that when they were dispersed,

But the slaves

they could make no further disturbance. now feared their masters against whom they had made charges, and forming themselves into bands they turned to robbery. Whatever truth may be hid under this statement of the origin of the insurrection we cannot determine. The following is the more simple and probable story of Diodorus. When the senate had passed the decree that no ally of the Romans should be kept in slavery and that the governors of the provinces should look after this matter, the governor of Sicily P. Licinius Nerva released many men from servitude after inquiring into their case. In a few days more than eight hundred men were declared free.

This gave

all the slaves in Sicily hopes of recovering their freedom, though the grounds on which a few were released could not apply to all. Those slave-owners who had influence urged the governor to stop his proceedings; and either because he was bribed, or for other better reasons, Nerva put a stop to all further investigation into the cases of those who claimed their freedom, and told the men to go back to their masters. Upon this the slaves left Syracuse, where we must suppose that the governor was then residing, and flying to the asylum of the Palici began to think of revolt. The lake of the Palici is a small pond, once probably a volcanic crater, in the interior of Sicily and west of Leontini, sacred to the Sicilian deities named Palici. The lake is now the Lago di Naftia. There was here a consecrated piece of ground with a temple, to which slaves used to fly when they were badly used, and the masters could not forcibly take them away. Accordingly runaway slaves stayed there, and were of course maintained by the guardians of the temple, until the masters came to reasonable terms with the slaves and confirmed the agreement by a solemn oath, which no master was ever known to have violated. The fear of the deities of the place secured the performance of the oath; for divine vengeance soon followed an act of perjury. Some perjurers had been deprived of their sight on the spot. Thus superstition had its uses. The rising began with thirty slaves belonging to two brothers who were rich. The insurgents were headed by a slave named Oarius. The men murdered their masters by

night in their sleep, and then went to the neighbouring plantations to stir up the other slaves. In this first night the number of the insurgents was increased to one hundred and twenty. They seized a strong place, which they made still more secure, and they gained an accession of eighty armed men. Nerva was soon on the spot, but as he was not strong enough to take the place, he employed C. Titinius Gadaeus to deceive the slaves. This fellow had been condemned to death two years before, but he escaped and became a robber. He had killed many free men, but harmed none of the slaves. Nerva promised Titinius a pardon, if he would help him in his designs. The robber, with some slaves whom he could. trust, came up to the place professing his wish to join the rebels. He was let in, chosen the leader of the slaves, and he betrayed them. Some of the insurgents fought till they were killed, and others threw themselves down the precipices. This was the end of the first rising.

As soon as the soldiers of Nerva had returned to their homes, news came that the slaves of a Roman Eques P. Clonius had murdered their master and were forming a large body of insurgents. The governor misled by advice and having his men dispersed gave the slaves time to strengthen themselves. However with such force as he could collect he set out, crossed a river which Diodorus names Alba, and passing by the rebels who were posted on a hill named Caprianus he came to Heraclea, a town on the south coast near the mouth of the river Halycus (Platani). The river Alba is not mentioned, I believe, by any other writer, but it is very probably the river Allava in the Antonine Itinerary. If the governor crossed this river before reaching Heraclea, it must be a stream east of Heraclea, but some geographers have identified the Allava with a river west of Heraclea. As the governor did not attack the slaves, they thought that he was afraid, and they stirred up others to join them, and soon mustered two thousand. The governor, who still shut himself up in Heraclea, hearing of this increase of the insurgents appointed M. Titinius to command six hundred men taken from the garrison of Henna. Titinius attacked the slaves, but they had the advantage of numbers and position. Many

of the men of Titinius were killed, and the rest threw away their arms, which the rebels picked up. This success brought on a general rising, and in a few days there were above six thousand slaves in arms.

The rebels elected for their king a slave named Salvius, who was supposed to be skilled in divination. He had also been accustomed to accompany the women in their Bacchic ceremonials. The king kept his men away from the towns. for fear of their being corrupted by idleness and luxury. He made three divisions of his troops with a commander for each, and he ordered them to scour the country and meet at a certain place and time. Salvius was thus supplied with beasts and horses, and he was able to muster above two thousand mounted men, and twenty thousand foot soldiers trained to military exercise. With this force Salvius suddenly fell on the strong town of Morgantine or Morgantia. The situation of this place is not certainly known, but it was probably somewhere in the valley of the Symaethus (Simeto). The governor advanced by night to the relief of the place with about ten thousand men, Italian Greeks and Sicilians. Finding the rebels engaged about Morgantia he attacked their camp, which was guarded by a few rebels, and filled with captured women and booty. He easily got possession of the camp and then moved on to Morgantia. But the rebels, who were in a strong position, attacked the governor with great fury, and his army was routed. Salvius made proclamation that no enemy should be killed, if he threw down. his arms. This stratagem was successful. The governor's men threw away their weapons, and Salvius not only recovered his camp, but got a great supply of arms. The governor lost about six hundred men, and four thousand were made prisoners. This success brought Salvius many fresh recruits, and he was now master of all the open country. He again began the siege of Morgantia, and made proclamation that he would give liberty to all the slaves in it. But the masters in Morgantia made the same promise to their slaves, if they would fight in defence of the town, and the slaves accepted the offer of their masters, and bravely repelled the rebels. The Roman governor however revoked the promise of freedom which had

been made to the slaves of Morgantia, and many of them went over to the insurgents.

There was also a rising of the slaves in the west part of the island, about Segeste and Lilybaeum (Marsala), and other neighbouring parts. The leader was Athenion, a Cilician born, and the bailiff of two rich brothers. He was a man of courage and could read the stars. He first persuaded the slaves who were under him, about two hundred, to rise, and then the slaves on adjoining farms. In five days he had above a thousand men. Athenion was chosen king and he assumed the diadem. His conduct was different from that of all the other rebels. He made soldiers only of the best of his men. He compelled the rest to remain at their work and supply the wants of the fighters. He pretended to learn from the stars that he should be king of all Sicily, and he told his men that they must spare the land with the animals and the produce on it, for every thing was theirs. When he had got together above ten thousand men, he began the siege of Lilybaeum, but as he made no progress in the siege he determined to withdraw, and he told his men that he was obeying the command of the gods, who said that if they persisted in the siege, they would have bad luck. While Athenion was preparing to retire, some vessels arrived at Lilybaeum bringing a picked body of Mauri, who had been sent to relieve the town under a commander named Gomon. As Athenion's soldiers were making their retreat by night, Gomon and his Mauri suddenly fell upon them, and killed and wounded many of the rebels, who were amazed at the accuracy of Athenion's predictions.

Sicily was in a most wretched condition. It was overrun by revolted slaves, and plundered by the poor freemen, who had no means of subsistence, for the insurrection had deranged all regular industry. These people formed bands and spread all over the country: they drove off the cattle, robbed the granaries, and murdered all who came in their way, both free and slave, that there might be none to give evidence against them. There was anarchy literally, for the Romans did not maintain the authority of the law, and every man did just what he liked. Those, who were once the rich and