Arepublic is a government run
a) generals.
b) kings and queens.
c) representatives of the people.
d) religious leaders.

the romans were initially interested in expansion via sicily (which at that time was a cultural melting pot), part of which lay under carthaginian control. at the start of the first punic war (264-241 bc), carthage was the dominant power of the western mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire