Diodorus Siculus, Library 8-40

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§ 11.71.6 The Athenians, therefore, with great enthusiasm set about the preparation of the expedition. As for Artaxerxes, when he learned of the revolt of the Egyptians and their preparations for war, he concluded that he must surpass the Egyptians in the size of his armaments. So he at once began to enrol soldiers from all the satrapies, build ships, and give his attention to every other kind of preparation. These were the events of this year in Asia and Egypt.
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§ 11.72.1 In Sicily, as soon as the tyranny of Syracuse had been overthrown and all the cities of the island had been liberated, the whole of Sicily was making great strides toward prosperity. For the Sicilian Greeks were at peace, and the land they cultivated was fertile, so that the abundance of their harvests enabled them soon to increase their estates and to fill the land with slaves and domestic animals and every other accompaniment of prosperity, taking in great revenues on the one hand and spending nothing upon the wars to which they had been accustomed.
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§ 11.72.2 But later on they were again plunged into wars and civil strife for the following reasons. After the Syracusans had overthrown the tyranny of Thrasybulus, they held a meeting of the Assembly, and after deliberating on forming a democracy of their own they all voted unanimously to make a colossal statue of Zeus Eleutherios (Liberator) and each year to celebrate with sacrifices the Festival of Liberation and hold games of distinction on the day on which they had overthrown the tyrant and liberated their native city; and they also voted to sacrifice to the gods, in connection with the games, four hundred and fifty bulls and to use them for the citizens' feast.
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§ 11.72.3 As for all the magistracies, they proposed to assign them to the original citizens, but the aliens who had been admitted to citizenship under Gelon they did not see fit to allow to share in this dignity, either because they judged them to be unworthy or because they were suspicious lest men who had been brought up in the way of tyranny and had served in war under a monarch might attempt a revolution. And that is what actually happened. For Gelon had enrolled as citizens more than ten thousand foreign mercenaries, and of these there were left at the time in question more than seven thousand.
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§ 11.73.1 These aliens resented their being excluded from the dignity attending magistracies and with one accord revolted from the Syracusans, and they seized in the city both Achradine and the Island, both these places having their own well-built fortifications.
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§ 11.73.2 The Syracusans, who were again plunged into disorder, held possession of the rest of the city; and that part of it which faced Epipolae they blocked off by a wall and made their own position very secure; for they anyone easily cut off the rebels from access to the countryside and soon caused them to be in want of provisions.
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§ 11.73.3 But though in number the mercenaries were inferior to the Syracusans, yet in experience of warfare they were far superior; consequently, when attacks took place here and there throughout the city and isolated encounters, the mercenaries regularly had the upper hand in the combats, but since they were shut off from the countryside, they were in want of equipment and short of food. Such were the events in Sicily of this year.
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§ 11.74.1 When Conon was archon in Athens, in Rome the consulship was held by Quintus Fabius Vibulanus and Tiberius Aemilius Mamercus. This year Artaxerxes, the king of the Persians, appointed Achaemenes, who was a son of Darius and his own uncle, to be commander in the war against the Egyptians; and turning over to him more than three hundred thousand soldiers, counting both cavalry and infantry, he commanded them to subdue the Egyptians.
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§ 11.74.2 Now Achaemenes, when he had entered Egypt, pitched his camp near the Nile, and when he had rested his army after the march, he made ready for battle; but the Egyptians, having gathered their army from Libya and Egypt, were awaiting the auxiliary force of the Athenians.
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§ 11.74.3 After the Athenians had arrived in Egypt with two hundred ships and had been drawn up with the Egyptians in battle order against the Persians, a mighty struggle took place. And for a time the Persians with their superior numbers maintained the advantage, but later, when the Athenians seized the offensive, put to flight the forces opposing them, and slew many of them, the remainder of the barbarians turned to flight en masse.
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§ 11.74.4 There was much slaughter in the course of the flight, and finally the Persians, after losing the larger part of their army, found refuge in the white Fortress, as it is called, while the Athenians, who had won the victory by their own deeds of valour, pursued the barbarians as far as the aforesaid stronghold and did not hesitate to besiege it.
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§ 11.74.5 Artaxerxes, on learning of the defeat of his troops, at first sent some of his friends with a large sum of money to Lacedemon and asked the Lacedemonians to make war upon the Athenians, thinking that if they complied the Athenian troops who had won the victory in Egypt would sail back to Athens in order to defend their native city.
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§ 11.74.6 When the Lacedemonians, however, neither accepted money nor paid any attention whatever to the requests of the Persians, Artaxerxes despaired of getting any aid from the Lacedemonians and set about preparing other armaments. In command of them he placed Artabazus and Megabyzus, men of outstanding merit, and dispatched them to make war upon the Egyptians.
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§ 11.75.1 When Euthippus was archon in Athens, the Romans chose as consuls Quintus Servilius and Spurius Postumius Albinus. During this year, in Asia Artabazus and Megabyzus, who had been dispatched to the war against the Egyptians, set out from Persia with more than three hundred thousand soldiers, counting both cavalry and infantry.
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§ 11.75.2 When they arrived in Cilicia and Phoenicia, they rested their land forces after the journey and commanded the Cyprians and Phoenicians and Cilicians to supply ships. And when the triremes had been made ready, they fitted them out with the ablest marines and arms and missiles and everything else that is useful in naval warfare.
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§ 11.75.3 So these leaders were busy with their preparations and with giving their soldiers training and accustoming every man to the practice of warfare, and they spent almost this entire year in this way.
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§ 11.75.4 Meanwhile the Athenians in Egypt were besieging the troops which had taken refuge near Memphis in the White Fortress; but since the Persians were putting up a stout defence, they were unable to take the stronghold and so spent the year in the siege.
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§ 11.76.1 In Sicily the Syracusans, in their war upon the mercenaries who had revolted, kept launching attack after attack upon both Achradine and the Island, and they defeated the rebels in a sea-battle, but on land they were unable to expel them from the city because of the strength of these two places.
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§ 11.76.2 Later, however, after an open battle had been fought on land, the soldiers engaged on both sides fighting spiritedly, finally, although both armies suffered not a few casualties, victory lay with the Syracusans. And after the battle the Syracusans honoured with the prize of valour the elite troops, six hundred in number, who were responsible for the victory, giving them each a mina of silver.
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§ 11.76.3 While these events were taking place, Ducetius, the leader of the Siceli, harbouring a grudge against the inhabitants of Catana because they had robbed the Siceli of their land, led an army against them. And since the Syracusans had likewise sent an army against Catana, they and the Siceli joined in portioning out the land in allotments among themselves and made war upon the settlers who had been sent by Hieron when he was ruler of Syracuse. The Catanians opposed them with arms, but were defeated in a number of engagements and were expelled from Catana, and they took possession of what is now Aetna, which was formerly called Inessa; and the original inhabitants of Catana, after a long period, got back their native city.
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§ 11.76.4 After these events the peoples who had been expelled from their own cities while Hieron was king, now that they had assistance it struggle, returned to their fatherlands and expelled from their cities the men who had wrongfully seized for themselves the habitations of others; among these were inhabitants of Gela, Acragas, and Himera.
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§ 11.76.5 In like manner Rhegians along with Zanclians expelled the sons of Anaxilas, who were ruling over them, and liberated their fatherlands. Later on Geloans, who had been the original settlers of Camarina, portioned that land out in allotments. And practically all the cities, being eager to make an end of the wars, came to a common decision, whereby they made terms with the mercenaries in their midst; they then received back the exiles and restored the cities to the original citizens, but to the mercenaries who because of the former tyrannical governments were in possession of the cities belonging to others, they gave permission to take with them their own goods and to settle one and all in Messenia.
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§ 11.76.6 In this manner, then, an end was put to the civil wars and disorders which had prevailed throughout the cities of Sicily, and the cities, after driving out the forms of government which aliens had introduced, with almost no exceptions portioned out their lands in allotments among all their citizens.
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§ 11.77.1 When Phrasicleides was archon in Athens, the Eightieth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Toryllas the Thessalian won the “stadion”; and the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius and Titus Quinctius Capitolinus. During this year, in Asia the Persian generals who had passed over to Cilicia made ready three hundred ships, which they fitted out fully for warfare, and then with their land force they advanced overland through Syria and Phoenicia; and with the fleet accompanying the army along the coast, they arrived at Memphis in Egypt.
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§ 11.77.2 At the outset they broke the siege of the White Fortress, having struck the Egyptians and the Athenians with terror; but later on, adopting a prudent course, they avoided any frontal encounters and strove to bring the war to an end by the use of stratagems. Accordingly, since the Attic ships lay moored at the island known as Prosopitis, they diverted by means of canals the river which flowed around the island, and thus made the island a part of the mainland.
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§ 11.77.3 When the ships thus all of a sudden came to rest on the dry land, the Egyptians in alarm left the Athenians in the lurch and came to terms with the Persians. The Athenians, being now without allies and seeing that their ships had become useless, set fire to them to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, and then themselves, undismayed at the alarming plight they were in, fell to exhorting one to do nothing unworthy of the fights they had won in the past.
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§ 11.77.4 Consequently, with a display of deeds of valour surpassing in heroism the men who perished in Thermopylae in defence of Greece, they stood ready to fight it out with the enemy. But the Persian generals, Artabazus and Megabyzus, taking note of the exceptional courage of their foes and reasoning that they would be unable to annihilate such men without sacrificing many myriads of their own, made a truce with the Athenians whereby they should with impunity depart from Egypt.
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§ 11.77.5 So the Athenians, having saved their lives by their courage, departed from Egypt, and making their way through Libya to Cyrene got safely back, as by a miracle, to their native land.
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§ 11.77.6 While these events were taking place, in Athens Ephialtes the son of Sophonides, who, being a popular leader, had provoked the masses to anger against the Areopagites, persuaded the Assembly to vote to curtail the power of the Council of the Areopagus and to destroy the renowned customs which their fathers had followed. Nevertheless, he did not escape the punishment for attempting such lawlessness, but he was done to death by night and none ever knew how he lost his life.
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§ 11.78.1 At the conclusion of this year Philocles was archon in Athens, and in Rome Aulus Postumius Regulus and Spurius Furius Mediolanus succeeded to the consulship. During this year a war arose between the Corinthians and Epidaurians on the one hand and the Athenians on the other, and the Athenians took the field against them and after a sharp battle were victorious.
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§ 11.78.2 With a large fleet they put in at a place called Halieis, landed on the Peloponnesus, and slew not a few of the enemy. But the Peloponnesians rallied and gathered a strong force, and it came to a battle with the Athenians near the place called Cecryphaleia in which the Athenians were again victorious.
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§ 11.78.3 After such successes the Athenians, seeing that the Aeginetans were not only puffed up over their former achievements but also hostile to Athens, decided to reduce them by war.
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§ 11.78.4 Therefore the Athenians dispatched a strong fleet against them. The inhabitants of Aegina, however, who had great experience in fighting at sea and enjoyed a great reputation therefor, were not dismayed at the superiority of the Athenians, but since they had a considerable number of triremes and had built some new ones, they engaged the Athenians in battle, but were defeated with the loss of seventy ships; and, their spirits crushed by so great a disaster, they were forced to enroll as tributaries of the Athenians. This was accomplished for the Athenians by their general Leocrates, who was engaged in the war with the Aeginetans nine months in all.
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§ 11.78.5 While these events were taking place, in Sicily the king of the Siceli, Ducetius, a man of famous family and influential at this time, founded the city of Menaenum and distributed the neighbouring territory among the settlers, and making a campaign against the strong city of Morgantina and reducing it, he won fame among his own people.
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§ 11.79.1 At the close of the year Bion was archon in Athens, and in Rome Publius Servilius Structus and Lucius Aebutius Albas succeeded to the consulship. During this year a quarrel arose between the Corinthians and Megarians over land on their borders and the cities went to war.
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§ 11.79.2 At first they kept making raids on each other's territory and engaging in clashes of small parties; but as the quarrel increased, the Megarians, who were increasingly getting the worse of it and stood in fear of the Corinthians, made allies of the Athenians.
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§ 11.79.3 As a result the cities were again equal in military strength, and when the Corinthians together with Peloponnesians advanced into Megaris with a strong army, the Athenians sent troops to the aid of the Megarians under the command of Myronides, a man who was admired for his valour. A fierce engagement took place which lasted a long time and each side matched the other in deeds of courage, but at last victory lay with the Athenians, who slew many of the enemy.
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§ 11.79.4 And after a few days there was another fierce battle at Cimolia, as it is called, and again the Athenians were victorious and slew many of the enemy.
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§ 11.79.5 The Phocians went to war with the Dorians, who are the original stock of the Lacedemonians and dwell in the three cities, Cytinium, Boeum and Erineus, which lie at the base of Mt. Parnassus. Now at first they subdued the Dorians by force of arms and occupied their cities; but after this the Lacedemonians, because of their kinship, dispatched Nicomedes, the son of Cleomenes, to the aid of the Dorians. He had fifteen hundred Lacedemonians and ten thousand men from the rest of the Peloponnesians.
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§ 11.79.6 So Nicomedes, who was the guardian of Pleistonax the king, who was still a child, came to the aid of the Dorians with this large army, and after inflicting a defeat upon the Phocians and recovering the cities they had seized, he made peace between the Phocians and the Dorians.
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§ 11.80.1 When the Athenians learned that the Lacedemonians had concluded the war against the Phocians and were about to make their return home, they decided to attack the Lacedemonians while on the march. Accordingly they dispatched an army against them, including in it Argives and Thessalians; and with the intention of falling upon them with fifty ships and fourteen thousand men, they occupied the passes about Mt. Geraneia.
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§ 11.80.2 But the Lacedemonians, having information of the plans of the Athenians, took the route to Tanagra in Boeotia. The Athenians advanced into Boeotia and formed in line of battle, and a fierce struggle took place; and although in the fighting the Thessalians deserted to the Lacedemonians, nonetheless the Athenians and the Argives fought the battle through and not a few fell in both armies before night put an end to the struggle.
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§ 11.80.3 After this, when a large supply-train was on its way from Attica for the Athenians, the Thessalians decided to attack it, and taking their evening meal at once, they intercepted by night the supply-train.
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§ 11.80.4 The Athenians who were guarding the train were unaware that the Thessalians had changed sides and received them as friends, so that many conflicts of various kinds broke out around the convoy. For at first the Thessalians, who had been welcomed by the enemy in their ignorance, kept cutting down all whom they met, and being an organized band engaging with men who had fallen into confusion they slew many of the guards.
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§ 11.80.5 But the Athenians in the camp, when they learned of the attack of the Thessalians, came up with all speed, and routing the Thessalians at the first charge, they were making a great slaughter of them.
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§ 11.80.6 The Lacedemonians, however, now came to the rescue of the Thessalians with their army in battle order, and a pitched battle between the two armies ensued, and such was their rivalry that many were slain on both sides. And finally, since the battle ended in a tie, both the Lacedemonians and the Athenians laid claim to the victory. However, since night intervened and the victory was still a matter of dispute, each sent envoys to the other and they concluded a truce of four months.
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§ 11.81.1 When the year ended, in Athens Mnesitheides was archon, and in Rome the consuls elected were Lucius Lucretius and Titus Veturius Cicurinus [461 BCE]. During this year the Thebans, who had been humbled because of their alliance with Xerxes, sought a way by which they might recover both their ancient influence and reputation.
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§ 11.81.2 Consequently, since all the Boeotians held the Thebans in disdain and no longer paid any attention to them, the Thebans asked the Lacedemonians to aid them in winning for their city the hegemony over all Boeotia; and they promised that in return for this favour they would make war by themselves upon the Athenians, so that it would no longer be necessary for the Spartans to lead troops beyond the border of the Peloponnesus.
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§ 11.81.3 And the Lacedemonians assented, judging the proposal to be to their advantage and believing that, if Thebes should grow in strength, she would be a kind of counterweight to the increasing power of the Athenians; consequently, since they had at the time a large army in readiness at Tanagra, they increased the extent of the circuit wall of Thebes and compelled the cities of Boeotia to subject themselves to the Thebans.
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§ 11.81.4 The Athenians, however, being eager to break up the plan of the Lacedemonians, made ready a large army and elected as general Myronides the son of Callias. He enrolled the required number of citizens and gave them orders, announcing a day on which he planned to march forth from the city.
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§ 11.81.5 And when the appointed time arrived and some of the soldiers had not put in appearance at the specified rendezvous, he took those who had reported and advanced into Boeotia. And when certain of his officers and friends said that he should wait for the tardy men, Myronides, who was not only a sagacious general but energetic as well, replied that he would not do so; for, he declared, men of their own choice are late for the departure will in battle also play an ignoble and cowardly part, and will therefore not withstand the perils of war in defence of their country either, whereas the men who presented themselves ready for service on the appointed day gave clear evidence that they would not desert their posts in the war.
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§ 11.81.6 And this is what actually took place; for leading forth soldiers who were few in number but the bravest in courage, he drew them up in Boeotia against a vastly superior force and utterly defeated his opponents.
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§ 11.82.1 In my opinion this action was in no way inferior to any of the battles fought by the Athenians in former times; for neither the victory at Marathon nor the success over the Persians at Plataea nor the other renowned exploits of the Athenians seem in any way to surpass the victory which Myronides won over the Boeotians.
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§ 11.82.2 For of those other battles, some were fought against barbarians and others were gained with the aid of allies, but this struggle was won by the Athenians single-handed in pitched battle, and they were pitted against the bravest warriors to be found among the Greeks.
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§ 11.82.3 For in staunchness in the face of perils and in the fierce contests of war the Boeotians are generally believed to be surpassed by no other people; at any rate, sometime after this the Thebans at Leuctra and Mantineia, when they unaided confronted all the Lacedemonians and their allies, won for themselves the highest reputation for courage, and contrary to expectation became the leading nation of all Greece.
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§ 11.82.4 And yet, although the battle of Myronides has become famous, none of our historians has described either the way it was fought or the disposition of the troops engaged in it. Myronides, then, after defeating the Boeotians in a remarkable battle, came to rival the reputations of the most renowned commanders before his time, namely, Themistocles, Miltiades, and Cimon.5 Myronides after this victory took Tanagra by siege, levelled its walls, and then he passed through all Boeotia, breaking it up and destroying it, and dividing the booty among his soldiers he loaded them all down with spoil in abundance.
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§ 11.83.1 The Boeotians, exasperated by the wasting of their land, sprang to arms as a nation and when they had taken the field constituted a great army. A battle took place at Oenophyta in Boeotia, and since both sides withstood the stress of the conflict with stout hearts, they spent the day in fighting; but after a severe struggle the Athenians put the Boeotians to flight and Myronides became master of all the cities of Boeotia with the exception of Thebes.
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§ 11.83.2 After this he marched out of Boeotia and led his army against the Locrians who are known as Opuntian. These he overpowered at the first attack, and taking hostages from them he then entered Parnasia.
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§ 11.83.3 In like manner as he had done with the Locrians, he also subdued the Phocians, and after taking hostages he marched into Thessaly, finding fault with the Thessalians for their act of treachery and ordering them to receive back their exiles; and when the Pharsalians would not open their gates to him, he laid siege to the city.
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§ 11.83.4 But since he could not master the city by force and the Pharsalians held out for a long time against the siege, for the purpose he gave up his designs regarding Thessaly and returned to Athens. Thus Myronides, who had performed great deeds in a short space of time, won among his fellow citizens the renown which was so widely acclaimed. These, then, were the events of this year.
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§ 11.84.1 While Callias was archon in Athens, in Elis the Eighty-first Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Polymnastus of Cyrene won the “stadion,” and in Rome the consuls were Servius Sulpicius and Publius Volumnius Amentinus.
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§ 11.84.2 During this year Tolmides, who was commander of the naval forces and vied with both the valour and fame of Myronides, was eager to accomplish a memorable deed.
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§ 11.84.3 Consequently, since in those times no one had ever yet laid waste Laconia, he urged the Athenian people to ravage the territory of the Spartans, and he promised that by taking eleven thousand hoplites aboard the triremes he would with them lay waste Laconia and dim the fame of the Spartans.
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§ 11.84.4 When the Athenians acceded to his request, he then, wishing to take with him secretly a larger number of hoplites, had recourse to the following cunning subterfuge. The citizens thought that he would enrol for the force the young men in the prime of youth and most vigorous in body; but Tolmides, determined to take with him in the campaign not merely the stipulated one thousand, approached every young man of exceptional hardihood and told him that he was going to enrol him; it would be better, however, he added, for him to go as a volunteer than be thought to have been compelled to serve under compulsion by enrolment.
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§ 11.84.5 When by this scheme he had persuaded more than three thousand to enrol voluntarily and saw that the rest of the youth showed no further interest, he then enrolled the thousand he had been promised from all who were left.
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§ 11.84.6 When all the other preparations for his expedition had been made, Tolmides set out to sea with fifty triremes and four thousand hoplites, and putting in at Methone in Laconia, he took the place; and when the Lacedemonians came to defend it, he withdrew, and cruising along the coast to Gytheium, which was a seaport of the Lacedemonians, he seized it, burned the city and also the dockyards of the Lacedemonians, and ravaged its territory.
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§ 11.84.7 From here he set out to sea and sailed to Zacynthos which belonged to Cephallenia; he took the island and won over all the cities on Cephallenia, and then sailed across to the opposite mainland and put in at Naupactus. This city he likewise seized at the first assault and in it he settled the prominent Messenians whom the Lacedemonians had allowed to go free under a truce.
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§ 11.84.8 At this time, it may be explained, the Lacedemonians had finally overcome both the Helots and Messenians, with whom they had been at war over a long period, and the Messenians they had allowed to depart from Ithome under a truce, as we have said, but of the Helots they had punished those who were responsible for the revolt and had enslaved the rest.
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§ 11.85.1 When Sosistratus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Publius Valerius Publicola and Gaius Clodius Regillus. In this year Tolmides was occupied in Boeotia and the Athenians elected as general a man of the aristocracy, Pericles the son of Xanthippus, and giving him fifty triremes and a thousand hoplites, sent him against the Peloponnesus.
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§ 11.85.2 He ravaged a large part of the Peloponnesus, and then sailed across to Acarnania and won over to Athens all the cities with the exception of Oeniadae. So the Athenians during this year controlled a very large number of cities and won great fame for valour and generalship.
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§ 11.86.1 When Ariston was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius Vibulanus and Lucius Cornelius Curitinus. This year the Athenians and Peloponnesians agreed to a truce of five years, Cimon the Athenian having conducted the negotiations.
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§ 11.86.2 In Sicily a war arose between the peoples of Egesta and Lilybaeum over the land on the Mazarus River, and in a sharp battle which ensued both cities lost heavily but did not slacken their rivalry.
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§ 11.86.3 And after the enrolment of citizens which had taken place in the cities and the redistribution of the lands, since many had been added to the roll of citizens without plan and in a haphazard fashion, the cities were in an unhealthy state and falling back again into civil strife and disorders; and it was especially in Syracuse that this malady prevailed.
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§ 11.86.4 For a man by the name of Tyndarides, a rash fellow full of effrontery, began by gathering about him many of the poor, and organizing them into an armed unit he proceeded to make of them a personal bodyguard ready for an attempt to set up a tyranny. Not after this, when it was evident that he was grasping after supreme power, he was brought to trial and condemned to death.
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§ 11.86.5 But while he was being led off to prison, the men upon whom he had lavished his favours rushed together and laid hands upon those who were arresting him. And in the confusion which arose throughout the city the most respectable citizens, who had organized themselves, seized the revolutionists and put them to death along with Tyndarides. And since this sort of thing kept happening time and again and there were men whose hearts were set on a tyranny, the people were led to imitate the Athenians and to establish a law very similar to the one they had passed on ostracism.
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§ 11.87.1 Now among the Athenians each citizen was required to write on a potsherd (ostracon) the name of the man who, in his opinion, was most able through his influence to tyrannize over his fellow citizens; but among the Syracusans the name of the most influential citizen had to be written on an olive leaf, and when the leaves were counted, the man who received the largest number of leaves had to go into exile for five years.
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§ 11.87.2 For by this means they thought that they would humble the arrogance of the most powerful men in these two cities; for, speaking generally, they were not exacting from violators of the law a punishment for a crime committed, but were effecting a diminution of the influence and growing power of the men in question.
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§ 11.87.3 Now while the Athenians called this kind of legislation ostracism, from the way it was done, the Syracusans used the name petalism. This law remained in force among the Athenians for a long time, but among the Syracusans it was soon repealed for the following reasons.
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§ 11.87.4 Since the most influential men were being sent into exile, the most respectable citizens and such as had it in their power, by reason of their high personal character, to effect many reforms in the affairs of the commonwealth were taking no part in public affairs, but consistently remained in private life because of their fear of the law, attending to their personal fortunes and leaning towards a life of luxury; whereas it was the basest citizens and such as excelled in effrontery who were giving their attention to public affairs and inciting the masses to disorder and revolution.
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§ 11.87.5 Consequently, since factional quarrels were again arising the masses were turning to wrangling, the city fell back into continuous and serious disorders. For a multitude of demagogues and sycophants was arising, the youth were cultivating cleverness in oratory, and, in a word, many were exchanging the ancient and sober way of life for the ignoble pursuits; wealth was increasing because of the peace, but there was little if any concern for concord and honest conduct.
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§ 11.87.6 As a result the Syracusans changed their minds and repealed the law of petalism, having used it only a short while. Such, then, was the state of affairs in Sicily.
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§ 11.88.1 When Lysicrates was archon in Athens, in Rome the consuls elected were Gaius Nautius Rutilus and Lucius Minucius Carutianus. During this year Pericles, the general of the Athenians, landed in the Peloponnesus and ravaged the territory of the Sicyonians.
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§ 11.88.2 And when the Sicyonians came out against him in full force and a battle was fought, Pericles was victorious, slew many as they fled, and shut them up in their city, to which he laid siege. But when he was unable by making assaults upon the walls to take the city, and when, besides, the Lacedemonians sent aid to the besieged, he withdrew from Sicyon; then he sailed to Acarnania, where he overran the territory of Oeniadae, amassed much booty, and then sailed away from Acarnania.
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§ 11.88.3 After this he arrived at the Cherronesus and portioned out the land in allotments to one thousand citizens. While these events were taking place, Tolmides, the other general, passed over into Euboea and divided it and the land of the Naxians among another thousand citizens.
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§ 11.88.4 As for the events in Sicily, since the Tyrrhenians were practising piracy at sea, the Syracusans chose Phayllus as admiral and sent him to Tyrrhenia. He sailed at first to the island known as Aethaleia and ravaged it, but he secretly accepted a bribe of money from the Tyrrhenians and sailed back to Sicily without having accomplished anything worthy of mention.
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§ 11.88.5 The Syracusans found him guilty of treachery and exiled him, and choosing another general, Apelles, they dispatched him with sixty triremes against the Tyrrhenians. He overran the coast of Tyrrhenia and then passed over to Cyrnus, which was held at those times by the Tyrrhenians, and after sacking many places in this island and subduing Aethaleia, he returned to Syracuse accompanied by a multitude of captives and not a little other spoil.
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§ 11.88.6 And after this Ducetius, the leader of the Siceli, gathered all the cities which were of the same race, with the exception of Hybla, into one and a common federation; and being an energetic man, he was always grasping after innovations, and so he gathered a large army from the Sicilian League and removed the city of Menae, which was his native state, and planted it in the plain. Also near the sacred precinct of the Palici, as they are called, he founded an important city, which he named Palice after the gods just mentioned.
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§ 11.89.1 Since we have spoken of these gods, we should not omit to mention both the antiquity and the incredible nature of the shrine, and, in a word, the peculiar phenomenon of The Craters, as they are called. The myth relates that this sacred area surpasses all others in antiquity and the reverence paid to it, and many marvels there are reported by tradition.
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§ 11.89.2 For first of all there are craters which are not at all large in size, but they throw up extraordinary streams of water from a depth beyond telling and have very much the nature of cauldrons which are heated by a strong fire and throw up boiling water.
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§ 11.89.3 Now the water that is thrown up gives the impression of being boiling hot, but this is not known for certain because of the fact that no man dares touch it; for the amazement caused by the spout of water is so great that men believe the phenomenon to be due to some divine power.
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§ 11.89.4 For not only does the water give out a strongly sulphurous smell but the yawning mouth emits a mighty and terrifying roar; and what is still more astonishing than this, the water neither pours over nor recedes, but has a motion and force in its current that lifts it to a marvellous height.
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§ 11.89.5 Since so divine a majesty pervades the sacred area, the most sacred oaths are taken there and men who swear falsely are immediately overtaken by the punishment of heaven; thus certain men have lost their sight when they depart from the sacred precinct.
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§ 11.89.6 And so great is the awe of the deities of this shrine, that men who are pressing claims, when, for instance, they are being overborne by a person of superior dignity, have their claims adjudicated on the strength of the preliminary examination of the witnesses supported by oaths taken in the name of these deities. This sacred area has also been recognized for some time as a place of sanctuary and has been a source of great aid to luckless slaves who have fallen into the hands of brutal masters;
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§ 11.89.7 for if they have fled there for refuge, their masters have no power to remove them by force, and they remain there protected from harm until their masters, having gained their consent upon conditions of humane treatment and having given pledges, supported by such oaths, to fulfil their agreements, lead them away.
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§ 11.89.8 And history records no case, out of all who have given slaves such a pledge as this, of a violation; so faithful to their slaves does the awe in which these gods are held make those who have taken the oath. And the sacred area, which lies on a plain meet for a god, has been appropriately embellished with colonnades and every other kind of lounging-place. — But let what we have said suffice for this subject, and we shall return to the narrative at the point where our history broke off.
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§ 11.90.1 Ducetius, after founding Palice and enclosing it with strong walls, portioned out the neighbouring countryside in allotments. And it came to pass that this city, on account of the fertility of the soil and the multitude of the colonists, enjoyed a rapid growth.
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§ 11.90.2 It did not, however, prosper for long, but was razed to the ground and has remained without habitation until our of which day; regarding this we shall give a detailed account in connection with the appropriate period of time.
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§ 11.90.3 Such, then, was the state of affairs in Sicily. In Italy, fifty-eight years after the Crotoniates had destroyed Sybaris, a Thessalian gathered together the Sybarites who remained and founded Sybaris anew; it lay between two rivers, the Sybaris and the Crathis.
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§ 11.90.4 And since the settlers possessed a fertile land they quickly advanced in wealth. But they had possessed the city only a few years when they were again driven out of Sybaris, regarding which event we shall undertake to give a detailed account in the following Book. (The year 452 B.C. is lacking.)
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§ 11.91.1 When Antidotus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Lucius Postumius and Marcus Horatius. During this year Ducetius, who held the leadership of the Siceli, seized the city of Aetna, having treacherously slain its leader, and then he moved with an army into the territory of the Acragantini and laid siege to Motyum, which was held by a garrison of Acragantini; and when the Acragantini and the Syracusans came to the aid of the city, he joined battle with them, was successful, and drove them both out of their camps.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by George Booth (1635-1719) and J.C. Ferdinand Hoefer (1811-1878). Composed ca. 49 BCE. Licence: public domain. Source.