When the Romans received information of what was going on they at once broke their camp at Leontini and marched to Syracuse. [2] Some envoys had been sent by Appius to pass through the harbour on board a quinquereme, and a quadrireme which had sailed in advance of them was captured, the envoys themselves making their escape with great difficulty. [3] It soon became apparent that not only the laws of peace but even the laws of war were no longer respected. The Roman army had encamped at the Olympium-a temple of Jupiter-about a mile and a half from the city. [4] It was decided to send envoys again from there; and Hippocrates and Epicydes met them with their attendants outside the gate, to prevent them from entering the city. [5] The spokesman of the Romans said they were not bringing war to the Syracusans but help and succour, both for those who had been cowed by terror and for those who were enduring a servitude worse than exile, worse even than death itself. "The Romans," he said, "will not allow the infamous massacre of their allies to go unavenged. [6] If, therefore, those who have taken refuge with us are at liberty to return home unmolested, if the ringleaders of the massacre are given up and if Syracuse is allowed once more to enjoy her liberty and her laws, there is no need of arms; but if these things are not done we shall visit with all the horrors of war those, whoever they are, who stand in the way of our demands being fulfilled." [7] To this Epicydes replied: "If we had been the persons to whom your demands are addressed we should have replied to them; when the government of Syracuse is in the hands of those to whom you were sent, then you can return again. If you provoke us to war you will learn by experience that to attack Syracuse is not quite the same thing as attacking Leontini." [8] With these words he left the envoys and closed the gates. Then a simultaneous attack by sea and land was commenced on Syracuse. The land attack was directed against the Hexapylon; that by sea against Achradina, the walls of which are washed by the waves. [9] As they had carried Leontini at the first assault owing to the panic they created, so the Romans felt confident that they would find some point where they could penetrate into the wide and scattered city, and they brought up the whole of their siege artillery against the walls.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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