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With such a throng of men, women, and children deserting the city, at once endless lamentation and tears pervaded all homes. For while they were panic-stricken from fear of the enemy, at the same time they were also under necessity, because of their haste, of leaving behind as booty for the barbarians the possessions on which they had based their happiness; for when Fortune was robbing them of the comforts they enjoyed in their homes, they thought that they should be content that at least they were preserving their lives. [2] And one could see the abandonment not only of the opulence of so wealthy a city but also of a multitude of human beings. For the sick were neglected by their relatives, everyone taking thought for his own safety, and those who were already far advanced in years were abandoned because of the weakness of old age; and many, reckoning even separation from their native city to be the equivalent of death, laid hands upon themselves in order that they might breathe their last in the dwellings of their ancestors. [3] However, the multitude which left the city was given armed escort by the soldiers to Gela; and the highway and all parts of the countryside which led away toward the territory of the Geloans were crowded with women and children intermingled with maidens, who, changing from the pampered life to which they had been accustomed to a strenuous journey by foot and extreme hardship, held out to the end, since fear nerved their souls. [4] Now these got safely to Gela1 and at a later time made their home in Leontini, the Syracusans having given them this city for their dwelling-place.

1 A little over 40 miles from Acragas.

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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