§13.90.1ὁ δʼ Ἰμίλκας ἅμα τῷ φωτὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν παρεισαγαγὼν σχεδὸν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐγκαταλειφθέντας ἀνεῖλεν· ὅτε δὴ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ναοῖς καταπεφευγότας ἀποσπῶντες οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι ἀνῄρουν.
And Imilkas, having led his army inside the walls at dawn, slew almost all those who had been left behind; at which time indeed the Carthaginians, dragging away even those who had fled to the temples, put them to death.
§13.90.2λέγεται δὲ τὸν Τελλίαν τὸν πρωτεύοντα τῶν πολιτῶν πλούτῳ καὶ καλοκἀγαθίᾳ συνατυχῆσαι τῇ πατρίδι, βουληθέντα καταφυγεῖν σύν τισιν ἑτέροις εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερόν, νομίζοντα τῆς εἰς θεοὺς παρανομίας ἀφέξεσθαι τοὺς Καρχηδονίους· θεωροῦντα δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν ἀσέβειαν, ἐμπρῆσαι τὸν νεὼν καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐν τούτῳ ἀναθημάτων ἑαυτὸν συγκατακαῦσαι.
And it is said that Tellias, who was first among the citizens in wealth and nobility, shared the misfortune of his homeland. For he wished to flee with certain others to the temple of Athena, thinking that the Carthaginians would refrain from lawlessness against the gods; but when he saw their impiety, he set fire to the temple and burned himself together with the votive offerings in it.
μιᾷ γὰρ πράξει διελάμβανεν ἀφελέσθαι θεῶν ἀσέβειαν, πολεμίων ἁρπαγὰς πολλῶν χρημάτων, μέγιστον ἑαυτοῦ τὴν εἰς τὸ σῶμα ἐσομένην ὕβριν.
For he calculated that by a single deed he would prevent the impiety against the gods, the plunder of much wealth by the enemy, and, most of all, the outrage that would be done to his own body.
§13.90.3ὁ δὲ Ἰμίλκας τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ τὰς οἰκίας συλήσας καὶ φιλοτίμως ἐρευνήσας, τοσαύτην ὠφέλειαν συνήθροισεν ὅσην εἰκός ἐστιν ἐσχηκέναι πόλιν οἰκουμένην ὑπὸ ἀνδρῶν εἴκοσι μυριάδων, ἀπόρθητον δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς κτίσεως γεγενημένην, πλουσιωτάτην δὲ σχεδὸν τῶν τότε Ἑλληνίδων πόλεων γεγενημένην, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ φιλοκαλησάντων εἰς παντοίων κατασκευασμάτων πολυτέλειαν·
But Imilkas, having pillaged the temples and the houses and having searched them thoroughly, gathered so much plunder as was natural for a city to have had which was inhabited by two hundred thousand people, had been unravaged from its founding, was almost the richest of the Greek cities of that time, and this especially because its inhabitants had vied with one another in the luxury of all kinds of furnishings.
§13.90.4καὶ γὰρ γραφαὶ παμπληθεῖς ηὑρέθησαν εἰς ἄκρον ἐκπεπονημέναι καὶ παντοίων ἀνδριάντων φιλοτέχνως δεδημιουργημένων ὑπεράγων ἀριθμός.
For indeed exceedingly many paintings finished to the highest degree were found, and an extraordinary number of all kinds of statues artistically crafted.
τὰ μὲν οὖν πολυτελέστατα τῶν ἔργων ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Καρχηδόνα, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸν Φαλάριδος συνέβη κομισθῆναι ταῦρον, τὴν δʼ ἄλλην ὠφέλειαν ἐλαφυροπώλησεν.
Therefore, he sent the most costly of the works to Carthage, among which it happened that the bull of Phalaris was also carried, and the rest of the plunder he sold as booty.
§13.90.5τοῦτον δὲ τὸν ταῦρον ὁ Τίμαιος ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις διαβεβαιωσάμενος μὴ γεγονέναι τὸ σύνολον, ὑπʼ αὐτῆς τῆς τύχης ἠλέγχθη· Σκιπίων γὰρ ὕστερον ταύτης τῆς ἁλώσεως σχεδὸν ἑξήκοντα καὶ διακοσίοις ἔτεσιν ἐκπορθήσας Καρχηδόνα τοῖς Ἀκραγαντίνοις μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν διαμεινάντων παρὰ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις ἀποκατέστησε τὸν ταῦρον, ὃς καὶ τῶνδε τῶν ἱστοριῶν γραφομένων ἦν ἐν Ἀκράγαντι.
As for this bull, Timaeus, who in his history asserted that it had not existed at all, was refuted by fortune itself; for Scipio, when about two hundred and sixty years after this capture he sacked Carthage, restored the bull to the Agrigentines along with the other things that had remained among the Carthaginians, which bull was still in Agrigentum when this history was being written.
§13.90.6περὶ δὲ τούτου φιλοτιμότερον εἰπεῖν προήχθην, διότι Τίμαιος ὁ τῶν πρό γε αὐτοῦ συγγραφέων πικρότατα κατηγορήσας καὶ συγγνώμην οὐδεμίαν τοῖς ἱστοριογράφοις ἀπολιπὼν αὐτὸς εὑρίσκεται σχεδιάζων, ἐν οἷς μάλιστα ἑαυτὸν ἀποπέφαγκεν ἀκριβολογούμενον.
And I have been led to speak of this in greater detail because Timaeus, who most bitterly accused the writers before him and left no pardon for historians, is himself found making false assertions, and that especially in those matters where he claimed to be most accurate.
§13.90.7δεῖ γάρ, οἶμαι, τοὺς συγγραφεῖς ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἀγνοήμασι τυγχάνειν συγγνώμης, ὡς ἂν ἀνθρώπους ὄντας καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς παροιχομένοις χρόνοις ἀληθείας οὔσης δυσευρέτου, τοὺς μέντοι γε κατὰ προαίρεσιν οὐ τυγχάνοντας τοῦ ἀκριβοῦς προσηκόντως κατηγορίας τυγχάνειν, ὅταν κολακεύοντές τινας ἢ διʼ ἔχθραν πικρότερον προσβάλλοντες ἀποσφάλλωνται τῆς ἀληθείας.
For, I think, writers ought to meet with pardon for errors of ignorance, since they are human and the truth concerning past times is hard to find; however, those who intentionally fail of accuracy should properly meet with accusation, when, either to flatter some or out of hostility attacking others too bitterly, they err from the truth.