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As for Gelon, after his victory he not only honoured with gifts the horsemen who had slain Hamilcar but also decorated with rewards for prowess all others who had played the part of men. The fairest part of the booty he put to one side, since he wished to embellish the temples of Syracuse with the spoils; as for the rest of the booty, much of it he nailed to the most notable of the temples in Himera, and the rest of it, together with the captives, he divided among the allies, apportioning it in accordance with the number who had served with him. [2] The cities put the captives allotted to them in chains and used them for building their public works. A very great number was received by the Acragantini, who embellished their city and countryside; for so great was the multitude of prisoners at their disposal that many private citizens had five hundred captives in their homes. A contributing reason for the vast number of the captives among them was not only that they had sent many soldiers into the battle, but also that, when the flight took place, many of the fugitives turned into the interior, especially into the territory of the Acragantini, and since every man of them was taken captive by the Acragantini, the city was crammed full of the captured. [3] Most of these were handed over to the state, and it was these men who quarried the stones of which not only the largest temples of the gods were constructed but also the underground conduits were built to lead off the waters from the city; these are so large that their construction is well worth seeing, although it is little thought of since they were built at slight expense. The builder in charge of these works, who bore the name of Phaeax, brought it about that, because of the fame of the construction, the underground conduits got the name "Phaeaces" from him. [4] The Acragantini also built an expensive kolumbethra,1 seven stades in circumference and twenty cubits deep. Into it the waters from rivers and springs were conducted and it became a fish-pond, which supplied fish in great abundance to be used for food and to please the palate; and since swans also in the greatest numbers settled down upon it, the pool came to be a delight to look upon. In later years, however, the pool became choked up through neglect and was destroyed by the long passage of time; [5] but the entire site, which was fertile, the inhabitants planted in vines and in trees of every description placed close together, so that they derived from it great revenues.

Gelon, after dismissing the allies, led the citizens of Syracuse back home, and because of the magnitude of his success he was enthusiastically received not only among his fellow citizens but also throughout the whole of Sicily; for he brought with him such a multitude of captives that it looked as if the island had made the whole of Libya captive.

1 "Swimming-bath."

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