A.M. 3600. A. Carth. 412. A. Rom. 344. Ant. J.C. 404.
Dionysius had concluded the late peace with the Carthaginians with no other view than to get time to establish his new authority, and make the necessary preparations for the war which he meditated against them.[619] As he was very sensible how formidable the power of this state was, he used his utmost endeavours to enable himself to invade them with success; and his design was wonderfully well seconded by the zeal of his subjects. The fame of this prince, the strong desire he had to distinguish himself, the charms of gain, and the prospect of the rewards which he promised those who should show the greatest industry; invited, from all quarters, into Sicily, the most able artists and workmen at that time in the world. All Syracuse now became in a manner an immense workshop, in every part of which men were seen making swords, helmets, shields, and military engines; and preparing all things necessary for building ships and fitting out fleets. The invention of vessels with five benches of oars (or Quinqueremes) was at that time very recent; for, till then, those with three alone[620] had been used. Dionysius animated the workmen by his presence, and by the applauses he gave, and the bounty which he bestowed seasonably; but chiefly by his popular and engaging behaviour, which excited, more strongly than any other conduct, the industry and ardour of the workmen;[621] and he frequently allowed those of them who most excelled in their respective arts the honour to dine with him.
When all things were ready, and a great number of forces had been levied in different countries, he called the Syracusans together, laid his design before them, and represented to them that the Carthaginians were the professed enemies to the Greeks; that they had no less in view than the invasion of all Sicily; the subjecting all the Grecian cities; and that, in case their progress was not checked, the Syracusans themselves would soon be attacked: that the reason why the Carthaginians [pg 134] did not attempt any enterprise, and continued unactive, was owing entirely to the dreadful havoc made by the plague among them; which (he observed) was a favourable opportunity, of which the Syracusans ought to take advantage. Though the tyranny and the tyrant were equally odious to Syracuse, yet the hatred the people bore to the Carthaginians prevailed over all other considerations; and every one, guided more by the views of an interested policy than by the dictates of justice, received the speech with applause. Upon this, without the least complaint made, or any declaration of war, Dionysius gave up to the fury of the populace the persons and possessions of the Carthaginians. Great numbers of them resided at that time in Syracuse, and traded there on the faith of treaties. The common people ran to their houses, plundered their effects, and pretended they were sufficiently authorized to exercise every ignominy, and inflict every kind of punishment on them, for the cruelties they had exercised against the natives of the country. And this horrid example of perfidy and inhumanity was followed throughout the whole island of Sicily. This was the bloody signal of the war which was declared against them. Dionysius having thus begun to do himself justice, (in his way,) sent deputies to Carthage, to require them to restore all the Sicilian cities to their liberties; and that otherwise, all the Carthaginians found in them should be treated as enemies. This news spread a general alarm in Carthage, especially when they reflected on the sad condition to which they were reduced.
Dionysius opened the campaign with the siege of Motya, which was the magazine of the Carthaginians in Sicily; and he pushed on the siege with so much vigour, that it was impossible for Imilcon, the Carthaginian admiral, to relieve it. He brought forward his engines, battered the place with his battering-rams, advanced to the wall towers, six stories high (rolled upon wheels,) and of an equal height with their houses; and from these he greatly annoyed the besieged, with his Catapultæ, an engine[622] then recently invented, which hurled, with great violence, numerous volleys of arrows and stones against the enemy. At last, the city, after a long and vigorous defence, [pg 135] was taken by storm, and all the inhabitants of it put to the sword, those excepted who took sanctuary in the temples. The plunder of it was abandoned to the soldiers, and Dionysius, leaving a strong garrison and a trusty governor in it, returned to Syracuse.
The following year Imilcon being appointed one of the Suffetes, returned to Sicily with a far greater army than before.[623] He landed at Palermo,[624] recovered Motya by force, and took several other cities. Animated by these successes, he advanced towards Syracuse, with design to besiege it; marching his infantry by land, whilst his fleet, under the command of Mago, sailed along the coast.
The arrival of Imilcon threw the Syracusans into great consternation. Above two hundred ships laden with the spoils of the enemy, and advancing in good order, entered in a kind of triumph the great harbour, being followed by five hundred barks. At the same time, the land army, consisting, according to some authors, of three hundred thousand foot,[625] and three thousand horse, was seen marching forward on the other side of the city. Imilcon pitched his tent in the very temple of Jupiter; and the rest of the army encamped at twelve furlongs, or about a mile and a half from the city. Marching up to it, Imilcon offered battle to the inhabitants, who did not care to accept the challenge. Imilcon, satisfied at his having extorted from the Syracusans this confession of their own weakness and his superiority, returned to his camp; not doubting but he should soon be master of the city, considering it already as a certain prey which could not possibly escape him. For thirty days together, he laid waste the neighbourhood about Syracuse, and ruined the whole country. He possessed himself of the suburb of Acradina, and plundered the temples of Ceres and Proserpine. To fortify his camp, he beat down the tombs which stood round the city; and, among others, that of Gelon and his wife Demarata, which was prodigiously magnificent.
But these successes were not lasting. All the splendour of this anticipated triumph vanished in a moment, and taught [pg 136] mankind, says the historian,[626] that the proudest mortal, blasted sooner or later by a superior power, shall be forced to confess his own weakness. Whilst Imilcon, now master of almost all the cities of Sicily, expected to crown his conquests by the reduction of Syracuse, a contagious distemper seized his army, and made dreadful havoc in it. It was now the midst of summer, and the heat that year was excessive. The infection began among the Africans, multitudes of whom died, without any possibility of their being relieved. At first, care was taken to inter the dead; but the number increasing daily, and the infection spreading very fast, the dead lay unburied, and the sick could have no assistance. This plague was attended with very uncommon symptoms, such as violent dysenteries, raging fevers, burning entrails, acute pains in every part of the body. The infected were even seized with madness and fury, so that they would fall upon any persons that came in their way, and tear them to pieces.
Dionysius did not suffer to escape so favourable an opportunity for attacking the enemy. Being more than half conquered by the plague, they made but a feeble resistance. The Carthaginian ships were almost all either taken or burnt. The inhabitants in general of Syracuse, old men, women, and children, came pouring out of the city to behold an event which to them appeared miraculous. With hands lifted up to heaven, they thanked the tutelar gods of their city, for having avenged the sanctity of the temples and tombs, which had been so brutally violated by these barbarians. Night coming on, both parties retired; when Imilcon, taking the opportunity of this short suspension of hostilities, sent to Dionysius, requesting leave to carry back with him the small remains of his shattered army, with an offer of three hundred talents,[627] which was all the specie he had then left. But this permission could only be obtained for the Carthaginians, with whom Imilcon stole away in the night, and left the rest to the mercy of the conqueror.
Such was the condition in which this Carthaginian general, who a few days before had been so proud and haughty, retired [pg 137] from Syracuse. Bitterly bewailing his own fate, and still more that of his country, he, with the most insolent fury, accused the gods as the sole authors of his misfortunes. “The enemy,” continued he, “may indeed rejoice at our misery, but have no reason to glory in it. We return victorious over the Syracusans, and are defeated by the plague alone.” His greatest subject of grief, and that which most keenly distressed him, was his having survived so many gallant soldiers, who had died in arms. “But,” added he, “the sequel shall make it appear, whether it is through fear of death, or from the desire of leading back to their native country the miserable remains of my fellow-citizens, that I have survived the loss of so many brave comrades.” And in fact, on his arrival at Carthage, which he found overwhelmed with grief and despair, he entered his house, shut his doors against the citizens, and even his own children; and then gave himself the fatal stroke, in compliance with a practice to which the heathens falsely gave the name of courage, though it was, in reality, no other than a cowardly despair.
But the calamities of this unhappy city did not stop here; for the Africans, who had ever borne an implacable hatred to the Carthaginians, but were now exasperated to fury, because their countrymen had been left behind, and exposed to the murdering sword of the Syracusans, assemble in the most frantic manner, sound the alarm, take up arms, and, after seizing upon Tunis, march directly to Carthage, to the number of more than two hundred thousand men. The citizens now gave themselves up for lost. This new incident was considered by them as the sad effect of the wrath of the gods, which pursued the guilty wretches even to Carthage. As its inhabitants, especially in all public calamities, carried their superstition to the greatest excess, their first care was to appease the offended gods. Ceres and Proserpine were deities who, till that time, had never been heard of in Africa. But now, to atone for the outrage which had been done them in the plundering of their temples, magnificent statues were erected to their honour; priests were selected from among the most distinguished families of the city; sacrifices and victims, according to the Greek ritual, (if I may use that expression,) were offered up to them; in a word, nothing was omitted which could be thought [pg 138] conducive in any manner to appease and propitiate the angry goddesses. After this, the defence of the city was the next object of their care. Happily for the Carthaginians, this numerous army had no leader, but was like a body uninformed with a soul; no provisions nor military engines; no discipline nor subordination, was seen among them: every man setting himself up for a general, or claiming an independence on the rest. Divisions therefore arising in this rabble of an army, and the famine increasing daily, the individuals of it withdrew to their respective homes, and delivered Carthage from a dreadful alarm.