ZANCLE, afterwards MESSENE or MESSANA; the cause of this change of name is obscure. The story about Gorgus, the son of Aristomenes, and Manticlus, is untenable and chronologically impossible. Still, however, there must have been a mixture of Messenians which gave rise to the name. Samians, who had fled from their own country, treacherously took possession of the town in which they had been hospitably received. More than two hundred years later, their descendants were punished for the deed by the Campanian mercenaries of Agathocles, who butchered the inhabitants who had allowed them a passage through their town. After this time the place was always called Messana, while the inhabitants bore the name of Mamertines, which was the general designation for Oscan mercenaries. These Mamertines retained their Italian character, without becoming hellenised in any way; and even as late as the time of Verres we find them mentioned with their Oscan names, the praenomen and the nomen gentilicium. Their coins, however, have inscriptions in Greek characters, and I have no doubt that in the course of time the Mamertines also became hellenised. The Roman element in the western countries was powerful in regard to the Celts, Iberians and others; but it was unable to cope with the Greeks, against whom the Romans did not gain one inch; no Greek town ever became Latinised, unless all its inhabitants perished. Among non-Greek nations, such as the Pannonians, Dardanians, and the other tribes in those countries, the Latin language became predominant within an extremely short period. The name Mamertines remained in use until the time of the Roman emperors, but it then disappears, and the name Messana is again generally employed. CATANA, likewise a considerable Chalcidian town, was situated near the river Simaethus, at the foot of mount Aetna. Hiero I. carried away the inhabitants, and founded a new town; but after his death everything was restored. After the time of the Athenian expedition, Catana was nearly always under the influence of Syracuse.