Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 24
Frank Gardener Moore, Professor Emeritus in Columbia University, Ed.

32. This man was not only believed by the common people, but on being admitted to the Senate House, he stirred the senate as well. Some men of consequence openly declared it was very well that the avarice and cruelty of the Romans had been revealed at Leontini; that if they had entered Syracuse they would have done the same things or even more terrible, in proportion to the greater prize for avarice there. [2] Accordingly, they all voted that the gates should be closed and the city guarded. But not all were afraid of the same persons or hated the same men. Among the whole military class and a large part of the common people the Roman name was hated. [3] As for the generals and a few of the best citizens, although they had been misled by the false news, they were nevertheless more circumspect in the face of a danger more immediately impending. [4] And already Hippocrates [p. 279]and Epicydes were at the Hexapylon, and there were¹ communications through intermediaries who were relatives of citizens in the army: that they should open the gates and allow the defence of the city, their common home, against attack by the Romans. [5] By this time one of the gates of the Hexapylon had been opened, and by it they had begun to be admitted, when the generals intervened. And at first by their military authority and by threats, then by using their personal influence to restrain them, finally, when all was without affect, disregarding dignity they prayed them not to betray their native city to former minions of the tyrant and present seducers of the army. [6] But the ears of the excited crowd were deaf to all that; and the gates were being forced with no less violence from within than from without, and when all had been forced, the column was admitted through the whole breadth of the Hexapylon. [7] The generals with the younger citizens flee for refuge to Achradina. The mercenary soldiers and deserters and such royal troops as were at Syracuse swell the column of the enemy. [8] Thus Achradina also is taken by assault, and all the magistrates, except those who escaped in the midst of the uproar, are slain. Night put an end to the slaughter. [9] On the next day slaves were called to wear the cap of freedom² and criminals in chains released from prison; and all this assorted multitude elected Hippocrates and Epicydes generals. And Syracuse, after the light of liberty had shone upon it for a short time, had fallen back into its old-time servitude.