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[5] The Syracusans, accordingly, elated with hopes, dispatched as envoys the most important of their men; but Dionysius, having placed them under guard, postponed the conference and, observing that the Syracusans because of their hope of peace were lax in the matter of garrisons and unprepared for a battle, suddenly opened the gates of the citadel on the Island,1 and issued forth with his army in battle array.

1 The island of Ortygia, which is actually attached to the mainland, stretches south, leaving a narrow passage of twelve hundred yards as the mouth of the Great Harbour between itself and Plemmyrium. Ortygia had been strongly fortified by Dionysius the Elder.

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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