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The Siceli, who had hated Dionysius from of old and now had an opportunity to revolt, went over in a body, with the exception of the people of Assorus, to the Carthaginians. In Syracuse Dionysius set free the slaves and manned sixty ships from their numbers; he also summoned over a thousand mercenaries from the Lacedaemonians, and went about the countryside strengthening the fortresses and storing them with provisions. He was most concerned, however, to fortify the citadels of the Leontines and to store in them the harvest from the plains. [2] He also persuaded the Campanians who were dwelling in Catane to move to Aetne, as it is now called, since it was an exceptionally strong fortress. After this he led forth his entire army one hundred and sixty stades from Syracuse and encamped near Taurus, as it is called. He had at that time thirty thousand infantry, more than three thousand cavalry, and one hundred and eighty ships of war, of which only a few were triremes. [3]

Himilcon threw down the walls of Messene and issued orders to his soldiers to raze to the ground the dwellings, and to leave not a tile or timber or anything else but either to burn or break them. When the many hands of the soldiers speedily accomplished this task, no one would have known that the site had been occupied [4] For, reflecting that the place was far separated from the cities which were his allies and yet was the most strategically situated of any in Sicily, he had determined that he would see either that it was kept uninhabited or that it was an arduous and prolonged task to rebuild it.

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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  • Cross-references to this page (7):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AETNA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ASSO´RUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CA´TANA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LEONTI´NI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MESSA´NA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), NAXOS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TAUROME´NIUM
  • Cross-references in notes to this page (1):
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