Rome Seizes Sardinia and Corsica; Extra Indemnity Imposed

Carthage staggered out of the mercenary revolt just in time to face a Roman demand. While the city restored order from Utica to Hippo Regius, Rome advanced a claim over Sardinia and Corsica. Exhausted, Carthage could not fight at sea or in the Senate house. It yielded the islands and accepted a fresh 1,200-talent penalty [1], [2]. Polybius’ verdict is cutting: “it is impossible to discover any reasonable pretext or cause.” He adds that the Carthaginians “were forced to evacuate Sardinia and pay the additional sum” [1], [2]. The language matters. “Forced” evokes not law but leverage. In the cothon at Carthage, the clink of counted silver grew louder, month by month. The islands were more than prizes on a map. At Caralis in Sardinia and Aleria in Corsica, anchorages and grain tied into Tyrrhenian circuits that Carthage had long plied. Now Roman oarlocks creaked in those harbors. The color on the horizon shifted from Carthaginian purple to Roman scarlet. For the Barcids, this was the insult that stuck. Hamilcar, already thinking in Iberian silver and recruits, now had anger to match his arithmetic. The route from Gades along the Baetis, past New Carthage, looked like a ledger’s solution—and revenge delayed [1]. In Rome, the Senate learned a lesson it would apply again: present a legal face on opportunistic force, and the weakened rival will swallow it. In Carthage, the elders learned that obeying the treaty did not guarantee safety. The path to future strength now ran through Spain, not the Tyrrhenian Sea.