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Now at the time when Dionysius was still master of Syracuse, Hicetas had taken the field against it with a large force,1 and at first constructing a stockaded camp at the Olympieium carried on war against the tyrant in the city, [2] but as the siege dragged on and provisions ran out, he started back to Leontini, for that was the city which served as his base. Dionysius set out in hot pursuit and overtook his rear, attacking it at once, [3] but Hicetas wheeled upon him, joined battle, and having slain more than three thousand of the mercenaries, put the rest to flight. Pursuing sharply and bursting into the city with the fugitives, he got possession of all Syracuse except the Island.2

Such was the situation as regards Hicetas and Dionysius. [4]

Three days after the capture of Syracuse, Timoleon put in at Rhegium and anchored off the city.3 [5] The Carthaginians promptly turned up with twenty triremes, but the people of Rhegium helped Timoleon to escape the trap. They called a general assembly in the city and staged a formal debate on the subject of a settlement. The Carthaginians expected that Timoleon would be prevailed upon to sail back to Corinth and kept a careless watch. He, however, giving no hint of an intention to slip away, remained close to the tribunal, but secretly ordered nine of his ships to put to sea immediately. [6] Then, while the Carthaginians concentrated their attention on the intentionally long-winded Rhegians, Timoleon stole away unnoticed to his remaining ship and quickly sailed out of the harbour. The Carthaginians, though outmanoeuvred, set out in pursuit, [7] but his fleet had gained a substantial lead, and as night fell it was able to reach Tauromenium before being overtaken. [8] Andromachus,4 who was the leading man of this city and had constantly favoured the Syracusan cause, welcomed the fugitives hospitably and did much to ensure their safety. [9]

Hicetas now put himself at the head of five thousand of his best soldiers and marched against the Adranitae, who were hostile to him, encamping near their city. Timoleon added to his force some soldiers from Tauromenium and marched out of that city, having all told no more than a thousand men. [10] Setting out at nightfall, he reached Adranum on the second day, and made a surprise attack on Hicetas's men while they were at dinner. Penetrating their defences he killed more than three hundred men, took about six hundred prisoners, and became master of the camp.5 [11] Capping this manoeuvre with another, he proceeded forthwith to Syracuse. Covering the distance at full speed, he fell on the city without warning, having made better time than those who were routed and fleeing.6

Such were the events that took place in this year.

1 Plut. Timoleon 1.3.

2 Plut. Timoleon 9.2.

3 The same story is told by Plut. Timoleon 9.2-10.5.

4 This was the father of the historian Timaeus, who may have been tyrant of the city, although Plutarch also (Plut. Timoleon 10.4) describes his position by the same non-technical term as is used here.

5 Plut. Timoleon 12.3-5, give the same figures for Hicetas's casualties but states that Timoleon had "no more than 1200 men," and adds that one faction in Adranum had invited him. It is possible that Timoleon's success in the surprise attack was due in part to the circumstance that Hicetas was fooled because he still regarded Timoleon as an ally (H. D. Westlake, Timoleon and his Relations with Tyrants (1952), 15 f.). Plutarch gives the road distance between Tauromenium and Adranum as three hundred and forty furlongs.

6 According to Plut. Timoleon 13.2-3, Timoleon got his first foothold in Syracuse only when Dionysius voluntarily surrendered his holdings to him.

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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