As long as both the consuls were present, the conflicts were even. Pestilence and famine, however, came to harass them and these caused one of them with the soldiers of his division to return home. Hamilcar then took courage and made sorties in which he would set fire to the engines and slay the men defending them; his cavalry, starting from Drepanum, prevented the Romans from getting provisions and overran the territory of their allies; and Adherbal ravaged the shores now of Sicily, now of Italy, so that the Romans fell into perplexity. [Sidenote: B.C. 249 (_a.u._ 505)] Meantime, however, Lucius Junius was making ready a fleet, and Claudius Pulcher made haste to reach Lilybaeum, where he manned ships of war. With these he overhauled Hanno the Carthaginian as he was leaving harbor on a five-banked ship. The prize craft served the Romans as a model in shipbuilding. The interests of their fleet were so frequently endangered that the Romans were disheartened by the constant destruction of their ships. In these they lost numbers of men and vast sums of money. Yet they would not give up; nay, they even executed a man who in the senate opened his mouth about reconciliation with the Carthaginians, and they voted that a dictator should be named. Collatinus[26] was therefore named dictator and Metellus became master of the horse, but they accomplished nothing worthy of remembrance. While Collatinus[27] was being named dictator, Junius had won over Eryx, and Carthalo had occupied AEgithallus and taken Junius alive. [Footnote 26: _A. Atilius Calatinus_ once more.] [Footnote 27: [See previous footnote.]] [Sidenote: B.C. 248 (_a.u._ 506)] VIII, 16.--The next year Gaius Aurelius and Publius Servilius took office and spent their time in harrying Lilybaeum and Drepanum, in keeping the Carthaginians off the land, and in devastating the region that was in alliance with them. Carthalo undertook many different kinds of enterprises against them, but, as he accomplished nothing, he started for Italy with the object of thus attracting the consuls to that country or, in any case, of injuring the district and capturing cities. Yet he made no headway even there and on learning that the praetor urbanus was approaching sailed back to Sicily. His mercenaries now rebelled about a question of pay, whereupon he put numbers ashore on desert islands and left them there, and sent many more off to Carthage. When the rest heard this, they became indignant and were on the point of an uprising. Hamilcar, Carthalo's successor, cut down numbers of them one night and had numerous others drowned. In the meantime the Romans had concluded a perpetual friendship with Hiero and they furthermore remitted all the dues which they were accustomed to receive from him annually.