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1 In Sicily the people of Rhegium, bringing the charge against Dionysius that in fortifying Messene he was making preparations against them, first of all offered asylum to those who were expelled by Dionysius and were active against him, and then settled in Mylae the surviving Naxians and Catanians, prepared an army, and dispatched as its general Heloris2 to lay siege to Messene. [2] When Heloris made a reckless attack upon the acropolis, the Messenians and the mercenaries of Dionysius, who were holding the city, closed ranks and advanced against him. In the battle that followed the Messenians were victorious and slew more than five hundred of their opponents. [3] Marching straightway against Mylae, they seized the city and let the Naxians who had been settled there go free under a truce. These, accordingly, departed to the Siceli and the Greek cities and made their dwelling some in one place and others in another. [4] Dionysius, now that the regions about the Straits had been brought to friendly terms with him, planned to lead an army against Rhegium, but he had trouble with the Siceli who held Tauromenium. [5] Deciding, therefore, that it would be to his advantage to attack them first, he led out his forces against them, pitched a camp on the side toward Naxos, and persisted in the siege during the winter, in the belief that the Siceli would desert the hill since they had not been dwelling there long.

1 The narrative is resumed from chapter 78.

2 Heloris had been exiled from Syracuse by Dionysius (chap. 103.5; cp. chap. 8.5).

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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