Summarize What Polybius Says About The Background

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Campanian mercenaries took possession of Messana by pretending to be allies. When others saw how easily and quickly they had taken over the city, they were quick to do the same. The people of Rhegium (Rhegium faces Messana across the Sicilian Straits) feared an attack by Pyrrhus and invasion by the Carthaginians so they sought help from Rome. Rome gave them a garrison of 4,000 to protect the city. Soon they garrison turned against the people of Rhegium and took over. When the people of Rome found out they laid siege to the city and attacked them as soon as they could, capturing and beheading over 300 survivors of the garrison to restore the good name of Rome. Control of Rhegium is given back to the inhabitants. Hiero became the general of the Syracusan armed forces. He thought that the veteran mercenaries were a potential threat, so he had them go to the city of Messana to attack the Campanians. While they advanced he had the rest of the army withdraw while they were slaughtered. He led the army to defeat the enemy in the plain of Mylae, capturing their leaders and ending the aggressive behavior of the Mamertines. Hiero went back to Syracruse and was seen by the allies as king. Mamertimes were defeated on their territory, so they appealed to Rome and to the Carthaginians. Because Rome feared that the Carthaginians were gaining too much power and threatened them (especially if they gained control of Sicily), they did not want to abandon Messana. Harris says that the two motives of the Romans were anxiety about the increasing power of Carthage, and the other was the gain they would get from it. They would not only get the booty, but also be able to expand Roman power. They aimed to get rid of the Carthaginians. They did not want them to be able to raid the coast of Italy. Roman’s aims could be seen as an over-reaction to the ‘danger’ of the Carthaginians. He
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