Gisco of Lilybaeum

Gisco was one of Carthage's most capable and honorable field commanders in Sicily, holding the fortress of Lilybaeum with resolute discipline. When the war ended in 241 BC, Hamilcar Barca entrusted Gisco with the delicate task of demobilizing the 20,000 foreign mercenaries in small detachments to Carthage.

When the Carthaginian government failed to pay their arrears, sparking the Truceless Mercenary War, Gisco was sent into their camp at Tunis with silver to negotiate. Instead, rebel agitators Mathos and Spendius seized him, cut off his hands and feet, broke his limbs, and threw him alive into a ditch, igniting a war of extermination.