Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
the abuse that was put upon them, and felt a general indignation
against Hicetes, and great apprehensions for the Siceliots, whom they
now plainly perceived to be as it were a prize and recompense to
Hicetes on one side for his perfidy, and to the Carthaginians on the
other for the sovereign power they secured to him. For it seemed
utterly impossible to force and overbear the Carthaginian ships that
lay before them and were double their number, as also to vanquish the
victorious troops which Hicetes had with him in Syracuse, to take the
lead of which very troops they had undertaken their voyage.
The case being thus, Timoleon, after some conference with the envoys
of Hicetes and the Carthaginian captains, told them he should readily
submit to their proposals (to what purpose would it be to refuse
compliance?): he was desirous only, before his return to Corinth,
that what had passed between them in private might be solemnly
declared before the people of Rhegium, a Greek city, and a common
friend to the parties; this, he said, would very much conduce to his
own security and discharge; and they likewise would more strictly
observe articles of agreement, on behalf of the Syracusans, which
they had obliged themselves to in the presence of so many witnesses.
The design of all which was, only to divert their attention, while he
got an opportunity of slipping away from their fleet: a contrivance
that all the principal Rhegians were privy and assisting to, who had
a great desire that the affairs of Sicily should fall into Corinthian
hands, and dreaded the consequences of having barbarian neighbors.
An assembly was therefore called, and the gates shut, that the
citizens might have no liberty to turn to other business; and a
succession of speakers came forward, addressing the people at great
length, to the same effect, without bringing the subject to any
conclusion, making way each for another and purposely spinning out
the time, till the Corinthian galleys should get clear of the haven;
the Carthaginian commanders being detained there without any
suspicion, as also Timoleon still remained present, and gave signs as
if he were just preparing to make an oration. But upon secret notice
that the rest of the galleys were already gone on, and that his alone
remained waiting for him, by the help and concealment of those
Rhegians that were about the hustings and favored his departure, he
made shift to slip away through the crowd, and, running down to the
port, set sail with all speed; and having reached his other vessels,
they came all safe to Tauromenium in Sicily, whither they had been
formerly invited, and where they were now kindly received by
Andromachus, then ruler of the city. This man was father of Timaeus
the historian, and incomparably the best of all those that bore sway
in Sicily at that time, governing his citizens according to law and
justice, and openly professing an aversion and enmity to all tyrants;
upon which account he gave Timoleon leave to muster up his troops
there, and to make that city the seat of war, persuading the
inhabitants to join their arms with the Corinthian forces, and assist
them in the design of delivering Sicily.
But the Carthaginians who were left in Rhegium perceiving, when the
assembly was dissolved, that Timoleon had given them the go by, were
not a little vexed to see themselves outwitted, much to the amusement
of the Rhegians, who could not but smile to find Phoenicians complain
of being cheated. However, they dispatched a messenger aboard one of
their galleys to Tauromenium, who, after much blustering in the
insolent barbaric way, and many menaces to Andromachus if he did not
forthwith send the Corinthians off, stretched out his hand with the
inside upward, and then turning it down again, threatened he would
handle their city even so, and turn it topsy-turvy in as little time,
and with as much ease. Andromachus, laughing at the man's
confidence, made no other reply, but, imitating his gesture, bid him
hasten his own departure, unless he had a mind to see that kind of
dexterity practiced first upon the galley which brought him thither.
Hicetes, informed that Timoleon had made good his passage, was in
great fear of what might follow, and sent to desire the Carthaginians
that a large number of galleys might be ordered to attend and secure
the coast. And now it was that the Syracusans began wholly to
despair of safety, seeing the Carthaginians possessed of their haven,
Hicetes master of the town, and Dionysius supreme in the citadel;
while Timoleon had as yet but a slender hold of Sicily, as it were by
the fringe or border of it, in the small city of the Tauromenians,
with a feeble hope and a poor company; having but a thousand soldiers
at the most, and no more provisions, either of corn or money, than
were just necessary for the maintenance and the pay of that
inconsiderable number. Nor did the other towns of Sicily confide in
him, overpowered as they were with violence and outrage, and
embittered against all that should offer to lead armies, by the
treacherous conduct chiefly of Callippus, an Athenian, and Pharax, a
Lacedaemonian captain, both of whom, after giving out that the design
of their coming was to introduce liberty and depose tyrants, so
tyrannized themselves, that the reign of former oppressors seemed to
be a golden age in comparison, and the Sicilians began to consider
those more happy who had expired in servitude, than any that had
lived to see such a dismal freedom.
Looking, therefore, for no better usage from the Corinthian general,
but imagining that it was only the same old course of things once
more, specious presences and false professions to allure them by fair
hopes and kind promises into the obedience of a new master, they all,
with one accord, unless it were the people of Adranum, suspected the
exhortations, and rejected the overtures that were made them in his
name. These were inhabitants of a small city, consecrated to
Adranus, a certain god that was in high veneration throughout Sicily,
and, as it happened, they were then at variance among themselves,
insomuch that one party called in Hicetes and the Carthaginians to
assist them, while the other sent proposals to Timoleon. It so fell
out that these auxiliaries, striving which should be soonest, both
arrived at Adranum about the same time; Hicetes bringing with him at
least five thousand fighting men, while all the force Timoleon could
make did not exceed twelve hundred. With these he marched out of
Tauromenium, which was about three hundred and forty furlongs distant
from that city. The first day he moved but slowly, and took up his
quarters betimes after a short journey; but the day following he
quickened his pace, and, having passed through much difficult ground,
towards evening received advice that Hicetes was just approaching
Adranum, and pitching his camp before it; upon which intelligence,
his captains and other officers caused the vanguard to halt, that the
army being refreshed, and having reposed a while, might engage the
enemy with better heart. But Timoleon, coming up in haste, desired
them not to stop for that reason, but rather use all possible
diligence to surprise the enemy, whom probably they would now find in
disorder, as having lately ended their march, and being taken up at
present in erecting tents and preparing supper; which he had no
sooner said, but laying hold of his buckler and putting himself in
the front, he led them on as it were to certain victory. The
braveness of such a leader made them all follow him with like courage
and assurance. They were now within less than thirty furlongs of
Adranum, which they quickly traversed, and immediately fell in upon
the enemy, who were seized with confusion, and began to retire at
their first approaches; one consequence of which was that amidst so
little opposition, and so early and general a flight, there were not
many more than three hundred slain, and about twice the number made
prisoners. Their camp and baggage, however, was all taken. The
fortune of this onset soon induced the Adranitans to unlock their
gates, and embrace the interest of Timoleon, to whom they recounted,
with a mixture of affright and admiration, how, at the very minute of
the encounter, the doors of their temple flew open of their own
accord, that the javelin also, which their god held in his hand, was
observed to tremble at the point, and that drops of sweat had been
seen running down his face: prodigies that not only presaged the
victory then obtained, but were an omen, it seems, of all his future
exploits, to which this first happy action gave the occasion.
For now the neighboring cities and potentates sent deputies, one upon
another, to seek his friendship and make offer of their service.
Among the rest, Mamercus, the tyrant of Catana, an experienced
warrior and a wealthy prince, made proposals of alliance with him,
and, what was of greater importance still, Dionysius himself being
now grown desperate, and wellnigh forced to surrender, despising
Hicetes who had been thus shamefully baffled, and admiring the valor
of Timoleon, found means to advertise him and his Corinthians that he
should be content to deliver up himself and the citadel into their
hands. Timoleon, gladly embracing this unlooked for advantage, sends
away Euclides and Telemachus, two Corinthian captains, with four
hundred men, for the seizure and custody of the castle, with
directions to enter not all at once, or in open view, that being
impracticable so long as the enemy kept guard, but by stealth, and in
small companies. And so they took possession of the fortress, and
the palace of Dionysius, with all the stores and ammunition he had
prepared and laid up to maintain the war. They found a good number
of horses, every variety of engines, a multitude of darts, and
weapons to arm seventy thousand men (a magazine that had been formed
from ancient time), besides two thousand soldiers that were then with
him, whom he gave up with the rest for Timoleon's service. Dionysius
himself, putting his treasure aboard, and taking a few friends,
sailed away unobserved by Hicetes, and being brought to the camp of
Timoleon, there first appeared in the humble dress of a private
person, and was shortly after sent to Corinth with a single ship and
a small sum of money. Born and educated in the most splendid court
and the most absolute monarchy that ever was, which he held and kept
up for the space of ten years succeeding his father's death, he had,
after Dion's expedition, spent twelve other years in a continual
agitation of wars and contests, and great variety of fortune, during
which time all the mischiefs he had committed in his former reign
were more than repaid by the ills he himself then suffered; since he
lived to see the deaths of his sons in the prime and vigor of their
age, and the rape of his daughters in the flower of their virginity,
and the wicked abuse of his sister and his wife, who, after being
first exposed to all the lawless insults of the soldiery, was then
murdered with her children, and cast into the sea; the particulars of
which are more exactly given in the life of Dion.
Upon the news of his landing at Corinth, there was hardly a man in
Greece who had not the curiosity to come and view the late formidable
tyrant, and say some words to him; part, rejoicing at his disasters,
were led thither out of mere spite and hatred, that they might have
the pleasure of trampling, as it were, on the ruins of his broken
fortune; but others, letting their attention and their sympathy turn
rather to the changes and revolutions of his life, could not but see
in them a proof of the strength and potency with which divine and