Diogenes of Sinope, when he first met him, said, "How unworthily you
live, Dionysius." Dionysius answered him, "Thank you, Diogenes, for
sympathising with my misfortunes." "Why," said Diogenes; "do you suppose
that I sympathise with you, and am not rather grieved that a slave like
you, a man fit, like your father, to grow old and die on a miserable
throne, should be living in luxury and enjoyment amongst us?" So, when I
compare with these sayings of his the lamentations which Philistius
pours forth over the daughters of Leptines, that they had fallen from
the glories of sovereign power into a humble station, they seem to me
like the complainings of a woman who has lost her perfumes, her purple
dresses, or her jewels.
These details, I think, for readers who are at leisure, are not foreign
to the design of biography, and not without value.
XVI. If the fall of Dionysius seems strange, the good fortune of
Timoleon was no less wonderful. Within fifty days of his landing in
Sicily, he was master of the citadel of Syracuse, and sent back
Dionysius to Peloponnesus. Encouraged by his success, the Corinthians
sent him a reinforcement of two thousand hoplites and two hundred horse.
These men reached Thurii, but there found it impossible to cross over
into Sicily, as the Carthaginians held the sea with a great fleet. As it
was necessary for them to remain there for a time, they made use of
their leisure to perform a most excellent action. For the Thurians made
an expedition against the Bruttii,[A] and meanwhile these men took
charge of their city, and guarded it carefully and trustily as if it had
been their own.
[Footnote A: The natives of Southern Italy.]
Hiketes meanwhile was besieging the citadel of Syracuse, and preventing
corn from being brought by sea to the Corinthians. He also obtained two
strangers, whom he sent to assassinate Timoleon, who, trusting in the
favour shown him by the gods, was living carelessly and unsuspectingly
among the people of Adranum. These men, hearing that he was about to
offer sacrifice, came into the temple with daggers under their cloaks,
and mingling with the crowd round the altar, kept edging towards him.
They were just on the point of arranging their attack, when a man struck
one of them on the head with his sword, and he fell. Neither the
assailant nor the accomplice of the fallen man stood his ground, but the
one with his sword still in his hand ran and took refuge on a high rock,
while the other laid hold of the altar, and begged for pardon at
Timoleon's hands if he revealed the whole plot. When assured of his
safety he confessed that he and the man who had been killed had been
sent thither to assassinate Timoleon. Meanwhile others brought back the
man from the rock, who loudly declared that he had done no wrong, but
had justly slain him in vengeance for his father, whom this wretch had
killed at Leontini. Several of those present bore witness to the truth
of his story, and they marvelled much at the ways of Fortune, how she
makes the most incongruous elements work together to accomplish her
purposes. The Corinthians honoured the man with a present of ten minae,
because he had co-operated with the guardian angel of Timoleon, and had
put off the satisfaction of his private wrong until a time when it saved
the life of the general. This good fortune excited men's feelings so
that they guarded and reverenced Timoleon as a sacred person sent by
heaven to restore the liberties of Sicily.
XVII. When Hiketes failed in this attempt on Timoleon, and saw that many
were joining him, he began to blame himself for only using the great
Carthaginian force that was present by stealth, and as if he was ashamed
of it, concealing his alliance and using them clandestinely, and he sent
for Mago, their General, to come with all the force at his disposal. He
sailed in with a formidable fleet of a hundred and fifty ships, and took
possession of the harbour, disembarked sixty thousand troops, and
encamped with them in the city of Syracuse, so that all men thought that
the long-talked-of and expected subjugation of Sicily to the barbarian
was imminent. For the Carthaginians during their endless wars in Sicily
had never before taken Syracuse, but now, by the invitation of the
traitor Hiketes, the city was turned into a barbarian camp. The
Corinthians in the citadel were in a position of great danger and
difficulty, as they no longer had sufficient provisions, because the
harbours were blockaded, and they perpetually had to divide their forces
for skirmishes and battles at the walls, and to repel every device and
method of attack known in sieges.
XVIII. Timoleon, however, relieved them by sending corn from Katana in
small fishing-smacks and boats, which, chiefly in stormy weather, stole
in through the triremes of the barbarians when they were scattered by
the roughness of the sea. Mago and Hiketes, perceiving this, determined
to take Katana, from which place the besieged drew their supplies, and
they sailed from Syracuse with the best of their troops. The Corinthian
Neon, the General in command of the besieged force, observing from the
citadel that those of the enemy who were left behind kept careless
guard, suddenly fell upon them, and, slaying some and routing the rest
he made himself master of Achradina, which is the strongest and least
assailable part of the city of Syracuse, which, as it were, consists of
several towns.
Being now in possession of abundance of provisions and money, he did not
leave the place, and go back to the citadel on the promontory, but
fortified the circuit of Achradina and held it conjointly with the
Acropolis, with which he connected its fortifications. A horseman from
Syracuse brought the news of the capture of Achradina to Mago and
Hiketes when they were close to Katana. Alarmed at the news they
returned with all speed, having neither taken the city they went to
take, nor kept the one which they had taken.
XIX. It may be doubted whether these actions owe more to fortune than to
courage and conduct; but the next event can only be ascribed to fortune.
The Corinthian troops at Thurii were in fear of the Carthaginian
triremes under Hanno which were watching them, and as the sea had for
many days been excessively rough, in consequence of a gale, determined
to march on foot through the Bruttii. Partly by persuasion and partly
by force they made their way to Rhegium, while the sea was still very
stormy. The Carthaginian Admiral, who no longer expected the
Corinthians, and thought that he was waiting there to no purpose,
persuaded himself that he had invented a masterpiece of deceit. He
ordered his sailors to crown themselves with garlands, decked out his
triremes with Greek shields and wreaths of palm, and set out for
Syracuse. As he passed the citadel they cheered loudly, and with
uproarious merriment called out to the garrison that they had come back
after a complete victory over the Corinthians, hoping by this means to
dispirit the besieged. But while he was playing these silly tricks the
Corinthians had reached Rhegium, and as no one disputed their passage,
and the cessation of the gale had made the straits singularly smooth and
calm, they embarked in the passage boats and what fishing-smacks were to
be found, and crossed over into Sicily, so easily and in such calm
weather that they were able to make their horses swim alongside of the
vessels and tow them by their halters.
XX. As soon as they had crossed, Timoleon met them, and at once obtained
possession of Messina, and, after reviewing them, marched on Syracuse at
once, confiding more in his good fortune and his former successes than
in the number of his troops, which amounted to no more than four
thousand. When Mago heard of this march, he was much disquieted, and his
suspicions of his allies were increased by the following circumstance.
In the marshes round the city, into which runs much fresh water from
springs and rivers which find their way into the sea, there was a great
quantity of eels, which afforded plenty of sport for those who cared to
fish for them; and the mercenary soldiers on both sides used to meet and
fish whenever there was a cessation of hostilities. As they were all
Greeks, and had no private grounds for hatred, they would cheerfully
risk their lives in battle against each other, but during times of truce
they conversed freely. So then, while engaged in fishing, they talked to
one another, and admired the beauty of the sea, and the fine situation
of the city. Then one of the Corinthian garrison said, "Can it be that
you, Greeks as you are, should be endeavouring to betray to the
barbarian so great and beautiful a city as this, and that you should be
trying to establish these base and cruel Carthaginians nearer to our
country? Rather ought you to wish that there were more Sicilies to act
as bulwarks of Greece. Do you suppose that these men have gathered
together their host from the pillars of Herakles and the Atlantic coast,
and risked their lives at sea, merely to support the dynasty of Hiketes?
He, if he had the spirit of a real prince, never would have turned out
his brethren, and invited the enemy into his native land, but would have
made terms with Timoleon and the Corinthians, and been honoured
accordingly." These words were noised abroad in the camp by the
mercenaries, and gave Mago the pretext which he had long been waiting
for, to abandon their cause on the plea of suspecting their fidelity.
Wherefore, although Hiketes begged him to remain, and pointed out how
far superior he was to the enemy, yet he, thinking that Timoleon's army
surpassed his in courage and good fortune as much as his did in numbers,
weighed anchor at once and sailed to Africa, letting Sicily slip through
his fingers, to his great disgrace, for no assignable reason.
XXI. On the next day appeared Timoleon with his troops in battle array.
As soon as they learned their departure, and saw the harbour, they
proceeded to mock at the cowardice of Mago, and they sent a crier round
the city offering a reward to any one who would tell them to what place
the Carthaginian force had run away. Nevertheless, Hiketes still showed
a bold front, and did not relax his hold on the city, and, as the part
which was in his possession was strong and hard of access, Timoleon
divided his army, and himself led the assault on the most difficult side
of the position, by the river Anapus, ordering another body, under Isias
the Corinthian, to attack from Achradina. A third corps, consisting of
the newly arrived reinforcement under Deinarchus and Demaretus were to
attack Epipolae. The assault took place simultaneously on all sides. The
speedy rout of Hiketes and capture of the city may be justly ascribed to
the skill of the General; but the fact that not one of the Corinthians
was killed or wounded is due to Timoleon's good fortune, which seemed to
vie with his courage and try to make those who read of his exploits
wonder at their good luck more than their merit.
In a few days not only was all Sicily and Italy ringing with his fame,
but throughout Greece his great successes were known, and the city of
Corinth, which scarcely thought that the expedition had reached Sicily,
heard at the same time that the troops were safe and victorious, so
prosperously did affairs turn out, and with such speed did fortune
publish the glory of his deeds.
XXII. Timoleon, having thus gained possession of the fortified citadel
on the promontory, did not fall into the same snare as Dion, and was not
moved to spare the place for the sake of its beautiful and costly
architecture. Dion's jealousy of the people led him to distrust them,
and proved his ruin; but Timoleon took a very different course. He made
proclamation that any Syracusan who chose might come with a crowbar and
take part in the destruction of the despot's castle. When they had all
assembled, in order to mark that day and that proclamation as the real
beginning of liberty, they not only destroyed and subverted the castle,
but also the houses and tombs of the despots. Timoleon at once had the
place levelled, and built upon it courts of justice, delighting the
citizens by substituting a republic for a tyranny.
Having taken the city, he was now at a loss for citizens, for some had
been killed in the wars and revolutions, and some had gone into exile to
avoid the despots, so that the market-place of Syracuse was overrun with
herbage so deep and thick that horses were pastured on it, while the
grooms lay on the grass near them. The other cities, except a very few,
had become the haunts of deer and wild boars, and persons at leisure
used to hunt them with dogs in the suburbs and round the walls. None of
those who had taken refuge in the various forts and castles would return
to the city, as they all felt a dread and hatred of public assemblies
and politics, which had produced the greater part of the tyrants under
whom they had suffered. In this difficulty it occurred to Timoleon and
the Syracusans to apply to the Corinthians, and ask them to send out
fresh colonists from Greece. Otherwise, they said, the land must lie
uncultivated, and, above all, they were looking forward to a great war
with Africa, as they heard that on Mago's return the Carthaginians were
so enraged at his failure, that, though he committed suicide to avoid a
worse fate, they had crucified his dead body, and were collecting a
great force, meaning next summer to invade Sicily.
XXIII. When these letters from Timoleon reached them, together with
ambassadors from the Syracusans, who besought them to take upon them the
care of this their poor city, and once again become the founders of it,
the Corinthians were not tempted by greed to take unfair advantages and
seize the city for themselves, but first sent heralds to all the games
held in honour of the gods throughout Greece, and to all places where
people assembled, to proclaim that the Corinthians, having abolished
despotism at Syracuse and driven out the despot, invite all Syracusans
and other Sicilian Greeks who choose to go and dwell in the city under
free institutions, receiving an equal and just share of the land. Next
they sent messengers to Asia Minor and the islands, wherever they heard
that most of the scattered bands of exiles had settled, and invited them
all to come to Corinth, as the Corinthians would at their own expense
furnish them with vessels and commanders and a safe convoy to Syracuse.
By these proclamations Corinth gained great and well-deserved renown,
seeing that she had forced Syracuse from its tyrants, saved it from the
barbarians, and given back the country to its own citizens. The exiles,
however, when assembled at Corinth found their numbers too small, and
begged to be allowed to receive among them others from Corinth and the
rest of Greece. When by this means they had raised their numbers to not
less than ten thousand, they sailed to Syracuse. Many citizens from
Italy and Sicily had already joined Timoleon, who, when he found their
numbers (according to Athanis) amount to sixty thousand, divided the
country among them, and sold the houses for a thousand talents,
affording the original citizens the option of purchasing their own
houses. At the same time, to relieve the financial distress of the
State, with a view to the approaching war, he even sold all the
statues. A vote of the assembly was taken about each one, and he was
condemned, like a criminal on his trial. On this occasion they say that
the Syracusans, though they condemned all the rest, decided on keeping
that of the ancient prince Gelo, because they admired and respected him
for his victory over the Carthaginians at Himera.
XXIV. The life of Syracuse being rekindled by this influx of citizens
from all quarters, Timoleon determined to set free the other cities
also, and to exterminate the despots in Sicily. In the course of his
campaigns against them he compelled Hiketes to renounce his alliance
with the Carthaginians, to demolish his castle, and to live in Leontini
as a private citizen. Leptines, the despot of Apollonia and of several
smaller towns, fearing to be taken by him, surrendered. Timoleon spared
his life, and sent him to Corinth, as he thought that it reflected
credit upon his native city, that the despots of Sicily should be seen
by all Greece living there as humble exiles. As for the soldiers whom he
had in his pay, he determined not to keep them idle, but to support them
by the plunder of an enemy's country. So while he himself returned to
Syracuse, to superintend the reconstruction of the constitution, and to
assist the lawgivers Kephalus and Dionysius in framing the best form of
polity, he sent the troops under Deinarchus and Demaretus to subdue the
western portion of the island, which had fallen into the hands of the
Carthaginians. Here they induced several cities to revolt from the
barbarians, and not only gained abundant pay and plunder for themselves
from their conquests, but were able to furnish funds for the approaching
war.
XXV. During this time the Carthaginian forces sailed to Lilybaeum with
seventy thousand men, two hundred ships of war, and a thousand
transports carrying engines of war, four horse chariots, provisions, and
other war material, as they meant no longer to use half measures, but at
one swoop to drive the Greeks out of Sicily. Their force indeed was
sufficient for the conquest of the Sikeliot Greeks even if they had not
been weakened by their internal strife.
Hearing that their own part of the island was being ravaged, they at
once in great anger marched to attack the Corinthians, under the command
of Hasdrubal and Hamilcar. News of this quickly reached Syracuse, and
the great numbers of the enemy caused such panic among the citizens,
that, numerous as they were, Timoleon could only induce three thousand
to get under arms and follow him. Besides these, there was the paid
force, four thousand in number; and of these again about a thousand were
overcome by their fears on the march, and went back, declaring that
Timoleon could not be in his right senses, but must be insane to march
with five thousand foot and a thousand horse to attack seventy thousand
men, and to separate his force eight days' journey from Syracuse, in a
place where there was no hope of shelter for the fugitives or of
honourable burial for the dead. Timoleon treated it as an advantage that
these men disclosed their cowardice before the day of battle. He
encouraged the rest, and led them with all haste to the river Krimesus,
where he heard that the Carthaginians were concentrating.
XXVI. As he was mounting a hill, beyond which he expected to see the
camp and army of the enemy, there met him some mules loaded with
parsley. It occurred to the soldiers that this was a bad omen, for we
generally use parsley for wreathing tombs; indeed from this practice
arises the proverb, when a man is dangerously ill, that he is ready for
his parsley. Wishing to rid them from this superstition and to stop
their fears, Timoleon halted them, and made a suitable speech, pointing
out that their crown of victory had come of its own accord into their
hands before the battle, for this is the herb with which the Corinthians
crown the victors at the Isthmian games, accounting it sacred and
peculiar to their own country. For then parsley was used for the crown
at the Isthmian games, as it is even to this day at those of Nemea, and
the pine has only been lately introduced. So Timoleon, having addressed
his soldiers, as has been said, first crowned himself with the parsley,
and then his officers and men did so likewise. But the prophets
perceiving two eagles flying towards them, one of whom carried a snake
in its talons, while the other flew along with loud and inspiriting
cries, pointed them out to the soldiers, who all began to pray and
invoke the gods.
XXVII. The time of year was the beginning of summer, near the solstice
at the end of the month Thargelion.[A] A thick mist rose from the river,
and all the plain was concealed in fog, so that nothing could be seen of
the enemy, but only a confused murmur from the movement of that great
host reached the hill. The Corinthians, when they had reached the
summit, paused and piled their arms. Now the sun shone out, and the mist
rose from the valley. Gathering together, it hung in clouds about the
hill-tops, while below, the river Krimesus appeared, with the enemy
crossing it.
[Footnote A: About May.]
First went the four-horse chariots in terrible pomp, all drawn up in
battle array, while next to them followed ten thousand hoplites with
white shields. These they conjectured to be native Carthaginians by the
splendour of their equipments and their slow and orderly march.
Following these came the other nations, turbulently and confusedly
struggling across. Timoleon, seeing that the river kept off the mass of
the enemy, and allowed them to fight with just so many as they chose,
pointed out to his soldiers how the enemy's array was broken by the
stream, some having crossed, and some being still crossing. He ordered
Demaretus to take the cavalry and charge the Carthaginians, to prevent
their having time to form in order of battle. But he himself marched
down to the plain, having drawn up his force with the other Sicilian
Greeks and a few strangers on each of the wings, but with his Syracusans
and the best of the paid force under his own command in the centre.
For a short time he held back, watching the effect of the cavalry
charge; but seeing that they were unable to come to blows with the
Carthaginians because of the chariots which careered about in front of
their ranks, and that they constantly had to fall back to avoid their
array being broken, and then to make short rushes as occasion served, he
himself took his shield, and called to the infantry to follow him and be
of good cheer. It seemed to them that his voice was more than man's,
and louder than was his wont, either from their faculties being strained
by the excitement of the contest, or else because, as most of them
believed, some god shouted with him. Quickly they raised their war-cry
in answer, and begged him to lead them on and wait no longer. Ordering
the cavalry to ride round the line of chariots and attack the infantry
in flank, he closed up the foremost ranks, and with the trumpet sounding
the charge, attacked the Carthaginians.
XXVIII. They manfully encountered his first assault, and being armed
with iron cuirasses and brass helmets, and protected with large shields,
they were able to withstand the thrust of the Greek spears. But when the
struggle came to be decided with swords, where skill as well as strength
was employed, there suddenly broke upon them from the mountains a
terrible storm of thunder with vivid flashes of lightning. The mist,
which had hitherto hung about the mountain peaks, now rolled down on to
the field of battle, with violent gusts, hail, and rain. The Greeks
received it on their backs, while the rain beat into the faces of the
barbarians, and the lightning dazzled their eyes, as the storm swept
violently along with frequent flashes from the clouds. These were great
disadvantages, especially to inexperienced men, as the thunder and the
pattering of the rain and hail on their armour prevented their hearing
the commands of their officers. The Carthaginians, not being lightly
equipped, but, as has been narrated, in complete armour, slipped on the
muddy ground and were encumbered by the wet folds of their dress, which
rendered them less active in the fight, and easily overcome by the
Greeks, since when they fell in the slippery mud they could not rise
again with their shields. The river Krimesus, which had been held up by
the multitudes that were crossing it, was now swollen to a torrent by
the rain, and the plain through which it runs, lying as it does under
many steep glens and ravines, was now covered with streams not running
in the ordinary channels, in which the Carthaginians stumbled and were
hard bested.
At last, from the violence of the storm, and the Greeks having cut to
pieces their front rank, a chosen body of four hundred men, the great
mass turned and fled. Many were overtaken and slain on the plain, and
many more perished in the river, while the light-armed troops prevented
most of them from gaining the shelter of the mountains. It was said that
among the myriads of slain there were three thousand citizens of
Carthage--a great loss and grief to that city, for they belonged to the
noblest and richest classes; nor do we ever hear of so many native
Carthaginians having perished in any one battle before this, as they
generally make use of Libyan, Spanish and Numidian troops, so that in
case of defeat the loss falls upon other nations.