§14.111.1Διονυσίου δὲ σχεδὸν ἑνδέκατον μῆνα Ῥήγιον πολιορκοῦντος καὶ τὰς πανταχόθεν βοηθείας ἀποκεκλεικότος, εἰς δεινὴν σπάνιν τῶν ἀναγκαίων οἱ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν παρεγενήθησαν· φασὶ γὰρ παρὰ τοῖς Ῥηγίνοις κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν πέντε μνῶν γενέσθαι τὸν μέδιμνον τοῦ σίτου.
While Dionysius was besieging Rhegium for nearly eleven months and had cut off aid from all sides, the people in the city fell into a terrible scarcity of provisions; for it is said that among the Rhegians at that time the medimnos of wheat rose to five minae.
§14.111.2καταπονούμενοι δὲ τῇ σιτοδείᾳ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τούς τε ἵππους καὶ τἄλλα ὑποζύγια κατέφαγον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δέρματα καθέψοντες ἐσιτοῦντο, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξιόντες τὴν πρὸς τοῖς τείχεσι βοτάνην ἤσθιον καθαπερεί τινα θρέμματα· οὕτως ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἀνάγκη τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην δίαιταν εἰς ἀλόγων ζῴων τροφὰς καταφυγεῖν ἐβιάζετο.
Being hard pressed by the food shortage, they first ate up their horses and other beasts of burden, after that they boiled and fed on skins, and finally, going out of the city, they ate the grass near the walls like beasts; thus the necessity of nature forced human diet to seek refuge in the food of irrational animals.
§14.111.3ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος πυθόμενος τὸ γινόμενον, οὐχ ὅπως ἠλέησε τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον πάσχειν ἀναγκαζομένους, ἀλλὰ πᾶν τοὐναντίον ἐπαγαγὼν ζεύγη εἷλε τὴν πόαν τοῦ τόπου, ὥστε τὴν ὕλην ἅπασαν ἀφανισθῆναι.
But Dionysius, having learned of what was happening, not only did not pity those who were forced to suffer beyond human endurance, but quite on the contrary, bringing in draft-animals, he cleared away the grass of the place, so that all the vegetation disappeared.
§14.111.4διόπερ ταῖς ὑπερβολαῖς τῶν κακῶν νικώμενοι παρέδωκαν τὴν πόλιν οἱ Ῥηγῖνοι τῷ τυράννῳ, τὴν πᾶσαν καθʼ αὐτῶν ἐπιτρέψαντες ἐξουσίαν.
Therefore, overcome by the excess of their miseries, the Rhegians surrendered the city to the tyrant, committing to him all authority over themselves.
ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος κατὰ μὲν τὴν πόλιν εὗρε σωροὺς νεκρῶν, οἳ διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν τῆς τροφῆς ἐτετελευτήκεισαν· καὶ τοὺς ζῶντας δὲ νεκρῶν ἔχοντας διάθεσιν καὶ παρειμένους τὰ σώματα καταλαβών, ἤθροισεν αἰχμαλώτους πλείους τῶν ἑξακισχιλίων.
And Dionysius, in the city, found heaps of dead who had died because of the lack of food; and finding the living as well having the appearance of dead men and wasted in their bodies, he gathered more than six thousand captives.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πλῆθος ἀποστείλας εἰς Συρακούσας ἐκέλευσε τοὺς δόντας ἀργυρίου μνᾶν ἀπολυτροῦσθαι, τοὺς δʼ εὐπορῆσαι μὴ δυνηθέντας ἐλαφυροπώλησε.
Sending the multitude to Syracuse, he ordered that those who paid a mina of silver should be ransomed, and those who were unable to find the means, he sold as booty.