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[4] He had decided to set fire to the ships of the enemy; and while Hamilcar was occupied in the naval camp with the preparation of a magnificent sacrifice to Poseidon,1 cavalrymen came from the countryside bringing to Gelon a letter-carrier who was conveying dispatches from the people of Selinus, in which was written that they would send the cavalry for that day for which Hamilcar had written to dispatch them.

1 Although Diodorus states below that Hamilcar was slain in battle, Hdt. 7.179 says that he threw himself into the fire on which he was pouring libations and offering whole victims in order to bring victory. If this self-immolation is authentic, the god to whom he was sacrificing was in all probability the Phoenician Melcarth, the Biblical Moloch.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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