Shortly after the accession of Agathocles, the Agrigentines, becoming apprehensive that he was aspiring to the dominion of the whole island, entered into a league with the Geloans and Messenians to oppose his power, and obtained from Sparta the assistance of Acrotatus the son of Cleomenes as their general: but the character of that prince frustrated all their plans, and after his expulsion they were compelled to purchase peace from Syracuse by the acknowledgement of the Hegemony or supremacy of that city, B.C. 314. (Diod. xix. 70,71.) Some years afterwards, in B.C. 309, the absence of Agathocles in Africa, and the reverses sustained by his partisans in Sicily, appeared again to offer a favourable opening to the ambition of the Agrigentines, who chose Xenodocus for their general, and openly aspired to the Hegemony of Sicily, proclaiming at the same time the independence of the several cities. They were at first very successful: the powerful cities of Gela and Enna joined their cause, Herbessus and Echetla were taken by force; but when Xenodocus ventured on a pitched battle with Leptines and Demophilus, the generals of Agathocles, he sustained a severe defeat, and was compelled to shut himself up within the walls of Agrigentum. Agathocles himself shortly afterwards returned from Africa, and quickly recovered almost all that he had lost: his general Leptines invaded the territory of Agrigentum, totally defeated Xenodocus, and compelled the Agrigentines once more to sue for peace. (Diod. xx. 31, 32, 56, 62.) After the death of Agathocles, Agrigentum fell under the yoke of Phintias, who became despot of the city, and assumed the title of king. We have very little information concerning the period of his rule, but he appears to have attained to great power, as we find Agyrium and other cities of the interior subject to his dominion, as well as Gela, which he destroyed, in order to found a new city named after himself. [Gela.] The period of his expulsion is unknown, but at the time when Pyrrhus landed in Sicily we find Agrigentum occupied by Sosistratus with a strong force of mercenary troops, who however hastened to make his submission to the king of Epeirus. (Diod. xxii. Exc. Hoesch. p. 495—497.) On the commencement of the First Punic War, Agrigentum espoused the cause of the Carthaginians, and even permitted their general Hannibal to fortify their citadel, and occupy the city with a Carthaginian garrison. Hence after the Romans had secured the alliance of Hieron of Syracuse, their principal efforts were directed to the reduction of Agrigentum, and in {smaller|B.C.}} 262 the two consuls L. Postumius and Q. Mamilius laid siege to it with their whole force. The siege lasted nearly as long |
From this time we hear no more of Agrigentum till the end of the First Punic War, when it passed under the dominion of Rome: but it must have in some degree recovered from its late calamities, as it plays no unimportant part when the contest between Rome and Carthage was renewed in the Second Punic War. On this occasion it continued steadfast in its adherence to the Romans, but was surprised and taken by Himilco, before Marcellus could arrive to its support (Liv. xxiv. 35.): and from henceforth became the chief stronghold of the Carthaginians in Sicily, and held out against the Roman consul Laevinus long after the other cities in the island had submitted. At length the Numidian Mutines, to whose courage and skill the Carthaginians owed their protracted defence, having been offended by their general Hanno, betrayed the city into the hands of Laevinus, B.C. 210. The leading citizens were put to death, and the rest sold as slaves. (Liv. xxv. 40, 41, xxvi. 40.) Agrigentum now became, in common with the rest of the Sicilian cities, permanently subject to Rome: but it was treated with much favour and enjoyed many privileges. Three years after its capture a number of new citizens from other parts of Sicily were established there by the praetor Mamilius, and two years after this the municipal rights and privileges of the citizens were determined by Scipio Africanus in a manner so satisfactory that they continued unaltered till the time of Verres. Cicero repeatedly mentions Agrigentum as one of the most wealthy and populous cities of Sicily, the fertility of its territory and the convenience of its port rendering it one of the chief emporiums for the trade in com. (Cic. Verr. ii. 50, 62, iii. 43, iv. 33, 43.) It is certain, however, that it did not in his day rank as a Roman colony, and it is very doubtful whether it ever attained this distinction, though we find that it was allowed to strike coins, with the Latin inscription Agrigentum, as late as the time of Augustus.(Eckhel, D. N. vol. i. p. 193,)* If it really obtained the title and privileges of a colony under that emperor, it must have soon lost them, as neither Pliny
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