About this time a really great man was placed at the head of the Carthaginian army--a man who, at an earlier period of the war, might have brought the struggle to a very different termination. This was the celebrated Hamilcar Barca,[29] the father of the still more celebrated Hannibal. He was still a young man at the time of his appointment to the command in Sicily (B.C. 247). His very first operations were equally daring and successful. Instead of confining himself to the defense of Lilybaeum and Drepanum, with which the Carthaginian commanders had been hitherto contented, he made descents upon the coast of Italy, and then suddenly landed on the north of Sicily, and established himself, with his whole army, on a mountain called Hercte (the modern _Monte Pellegrino_), which overhung the town of Panormus (the modern _Palermo_), one of the most important of the Roman possessions. Here he maintained himself for nearly three years, to the astonishment alike of friends and foes, and from hence he made continual descents into the enemy's country, and completely prevented them from making any vigorous attacks either upon Lilybaeum or Drepanum. All the efforts of the Romans to dislodge him were unsuccessful; and he only quitted Hercte in order to seize Eryx, a town situated upon the mountain of this name, and only six miles from Drepanum. This position he held for two years longer; and the Romans, despairing of driving the Carthaginians out of Sicily so long as they were masters of the sea, resolved to build another fleet. In B.C. 242 the Consul Lutatius Catulus put to sea with a fleet of 200 ships, and in the following year he gained a decisive victory over the Carthaginian fleet, commanded by Hanno, off the group of islands called the AEgates. [Illustration: Plan of Mount Ercta. A. Ercta, now _Monte Pellegrino_. B. Panormus, the modern _Palermo_.] This victory gave the Romans the supremacy by sea. Lilybaeum, Drepanum, and Eryx might now be reduced by famine. The Carthaginians were weary of the war, and indisposed to make any farther sacrifices. They therefore sent orders to Hamilcar to make peace on the best terms he could. It was at length concluded on the following conditions: that Carthage should evacuate Sicily and the adjoining islands; that she should restore the Roman prisoners without ransom, and should pay the sum of 3200 talents within the space of ten years (B.C. 241). All Sicily, with the exception of the territory of Hiero, now became a portion of the Roman dominions, and was formed into a Province, governed by a Praetor, who was sent annually from Rome. [Footnote 26: The Phoenicians were called by the Latins _Poeni_, whence the adjective _punicus_, like _munire_ from _moenia_, and _punire_ from _poena_.] [Footnote 27: Probably the same as the Hebrew _Shofetim_, i.e., Judges.] [Footnote 28: The inscription upon this column, or, at any rate, a very ancient copy of it, is still preserved in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]