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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §14.63.1-14.63.4

Desecration of Temples and the Return of Polyxenus

Passage 357 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The Carthaginian general Himilcon captures Achradina and plunders its temples, but suffers from panics and plague within his camp as divine punishment. While Himilcon fortifies his camp for a long siege, Polyxenus returns with allied reinforcements to support Syracuse.

§14.63.1κατελάβετο δὲ καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀχραδινῆς προάστειον, καὶ τοὺς νεὼς τῆς τε Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης ἐσύλησεν· ὑπὲρ ὧν ταχὺ τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον ἀσεβείας ἀξίαν ὑπέσχε τιμωρίαν.
He also seized the suburb of Achradina, and plundered the temples of both Demeter and Kore; for which things he soon paid a fitting penalty for his impiety towards the divine.
ταχὺ γὰρ αὐτῷ τὰ πράγματα καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐγίνετο χείρω, καὶ τοῦ Διονυσίου θαρροῦντος ἀκροβολισμοὺς συνίστασθαι συνέβαινε προτερεῖν τοὺς Συρακοσίους.
For his affairs quickly grew worse day by day, and, with Dionysius taking courage to engage in skirmishes, it happened that the Syracusans had the upper hand.
§14.63.2ἐγίνοντο δὲ καὶ τὰς νύκτας ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ παράλογοι ταραχαί, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων συνέτρεχον, ὡς τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιθεμένων τῷ χάρακι.
And during the nights there also occurred unexpected panics in the camp, and they would rush to arms, as if the enemy had attacked the stockade.
ἐπεγενήθη δὲ καὶ νόσος, ἣ πάντων αὐτοῖς αἰτία κακῶν κατέστη· περὶ ἧς μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν, ἵνα μὴ προλαμβάνωμεν τῇ γραφῇ τοὺς καιρούς.
And there also broke out a plague, which became the cause of all their evils; concerning which we shall speak a little later, so that we may not anticipate the proper times in our narrative.
§14.63.3Ἰμίλκων μὲν οὖν τεῖχος περιβαλὼν τῇ παρεμβολῇ, τοὺς τάφους σχεδὸν πάντας τοὺς σύνεγγυς καθεῖλεν, ἐν οἷς τόν τε Γέλωνος καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Δημαρέτης, πολυτελῶς κατεσκευασμένους.
Himilcon, therefore, having thrown a wall around his camp, demolished almost all the tombs nearby, among which were those of Gelon and his wife Demarete, which had been sumptuously constructed.
ᾠκοδόμησε δὲ καὶ τρία φρούρια παρὰ θάλατταν, τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ Πλημμυρίου, τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ μέσου τοῦ λιμένος, τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Διός· εἰς δὲ ταῦτα τόν τε οἶνον καὶ τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων κατεκόμιζε, νομίζων χρονιωτέραν ἔσεσθαι τὴν πολιορκίαν.
He also built three forts along the sea, one at Plemmyrium, another at the middle of the harbor, and the third by the temple of Zeus; and into these he brought down the wine, the grain, and the rest of the provisions, thinking that the siege would be of longer duration.
§14.63.4ἀπέστειλε δὲ καὶ τὰς ὁλκάδας ναῦς ἔς τε Σαρδῶνα καὶ Λιβύην, ὅπως σῖτον καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τροφὰς παρακομίζωσιν.
And he also dispatched the merchant ships to Sardinia and Libya, so that they might bring back grain and other provisions.
Πολύξενος δὲ ὁ Διονυσίου κηδεστὴς ἔκ τε Πελοποννήσου καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας παρεγενήθη ναῦς μακρὰς ἄγων τριάκοντα παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων καὶ ναύαρχον Φαρακίδαν Λακεδαιμόνιον.
Meanwhile Polyxenus, the brother-in-law of Dionysius, arrived from the Peloponnese and Italy, bringing thirty warships from the allies, and the Lacedaemonian admiral Pharacidas.

Notes

  1. 14.63.1τοῦ Διονυσίου θαρροῦντος ἀκροβολισμοὺς συνίστασθαι — The genitive absolute construction τοῦ Διονυσίου θαρροῦντος (as Dionysius took courage) has the supplementary infinitive συνίστασθαι (to engage in) depending on it, which in turn takes ἀκροβολισμοὺς (skirmishes) as its direct object. This entire unit functions as a circumstantial clause of cause or time for the main clause's accusative and infinitive construction προτερεῖν τοὺς Συρακοσίους (that the Syracusans had the upper hand), which depends on the impersonal verb συνέβαινε (it happened).
  2. 14.63.2ὡς τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιθεμένων — The conjunction ὡς combined with the genitive absolute τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιθεμένων (the enemy having attacked) expresses a subjective belief or appearance rather than an objective fact ('as if the enemy had attacked'). The participle ἐπιθεμένων is the aorist middle participle of ἐπιτίθημι in the sense of 'making an attack'.
  3. 14.63.3ἐν οἷς τόν τε Γέλωνος καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Δημαρέτης — Following the relative clause ἐν οἷς (among which), the masculine accusative singular article τόν implies the ellipsis of the noun τάφον (tomb), modified by the genitives Γέλωνος (of Gelon) and τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Δημαρέτης (of his wife Demarete). This accusative singular τόν [τάφον] functions as an appositive detailing specific instances of the plural object τοὺς τάφους (the tombs) of the main verb καθεῖλεν (demolished).

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §14.63.1-14.63.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:14.63.1-14.63.4

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