§24.30.1Marcellus cum omni exercitu profectus in Leontinos, Appio quoque accito, ut altera parte adgrederetur, tanto ardore militum est usus ab ira inter condiciones pacis interfectae stationis, ut primo impetu urbem expugnarent.
Marcellus, having set out for Leontini with his entire army, and having also summoned Appius so that he might attack from another side, made use of such great ardor on the part of the soldiers, arising from their anger at the slaughter of the outpost during the negotiations for peace, that they took the city by storm at the first onset.
§24.30.2Hippocrates atque Epicydes, postquam capi muros refringique portas videre, in arcem sese cum paucis recepere; inde clam nocte Herbesum perfugiunt.
Hippocrates and Epicydes, after they saw the walls being taken and the gates being broken down, retreated into the citadel with a few men; thence they fled secretly by night to Herbesus.
§24.30.3Syracusanis octo milium armatorum agmine profectis domo ad Mylan flumen nuntius occurrit captam urbem esse, cetera falsa mixta veris ferens: §24.30.4caedem promiscuam militum atque oppidanorum factam, nec quicquam puberum arbitrari superesse; direptam urbem, bona locupletium donata.
As the Syracusans were marching from home in a column of eight thousand armed men, a messenger met them at the river Mylas, bringing the news that the city had been taken, and carrying other reports, a mixture of truth and falsehood: that a indiscriminate slaughter of soldiers and townsfolk had been made, and that they believed not one of the youths survived; that the city had been plundered, and the property of the wealthy given away.
§24.30.5ad nuntium tam atrocem constitit agmen, concitatisque omnibus duces — erant autem Sosis ac Dinomenes —, quid agerent, consultabant.
At such an atrocious report the column halted, and, everyone being highly excited, the leaders—who were Sosis and Dinomenes—consulted as to what they should do.
§24.30.6terroris speciem haud vanam mendacio praebuerant verberati ac securi percussi transfugae ad duo milia hominum; §24.30.7ceterum Leontinorum militumque aliorum nemo post captam urbem violatus fuerat, suaque omnia eis, nisi quae primus tumultus captae urbis absumpserat, restituebantur.
The scourged and beheaded deserters, to the number of about two thousand men, had given to the falsehood a appearance of terror that was by no means groundless; nevertheless, not one of the Leontines or of the other soldiers had been harmed after the capture of the city, and all their property was being restored to them, except what the first tumult of the captured city had destroyed.
§24.30.8nec ut Leontinos irent, proditos ad caedem commilitones querentes, perpelli potuere, nec ut eodem loco certiorem nuntium expectarent.
And they could not be persuaded either to go to Leontini, complaining that their fellow-soldiers had been betrayed to slaughter, or to wait for more certain news in the same place.
§24.30.9cum ad defectionem inclinatos animos cernerent praetores, sed eum motum haud diuturnum fore, si duces amentiae sublati essent, exercitum ducunt Megara, §24.30.10ipsi cum paucis equitibus Herbesum proficiscuntur spe territis omnibus per proditionem urbis potiundae.
When the praetors saw that the minds of the men were inclined to defection, but thought that this movement would not last long if the leaders of their madness were removed, they led the army to Megara, while they themselves, with a few horsemen, set out for Herbesus, in the hope of gaining possession of the city through treachery while everyone was terrified.
§24.30.11quod ubi frustra eis fuit inceptum, vi agendum rati postero die Megaris castra movent, ut Herbesum omnibus copiis oppugnarent.
When this attempt proved in vain for them, thinking they must act by force, they moved their camp from Megara the next day, in order to attack Herbesus with all their forces.
§24.30.12Hippocrates et Epicydes, non tam tutum prima specie quam unum spe undique abscisa consilium esse rati, ut se militibus permitterent et adsuetis magna ex parte sibi et tura fama caedis commilitonum accensis, obviam agmini procedunt.
Hippocrates and Epicydes, thinking that a plan which was not so safe at first sight was the only one left since hope was cut off on all sides, namely, to entrust themselves to the soldiers—who were for the most part accustomed to them and incited by the rumor of the slaughter of their fellow-soldiers—went out to meet the column.
§24.30.13prima forte signa sescentorum Cretensium erant, qui apud Hieronymum meruerant sub eis et Hannibalis beneficium habebant, capti ad Trasumennum inter Romanorum auxilia dimissique.
It happened that the first standards were those of six hundred Cretans, who had served under them in the army of Hieronymus and had received kindness from Hannibal, having been captured at Lake Trasimene among the Roman auxiliaries and dismissed.
§24.30.14quos ubi ex signis armorumque habitu cognovere, Hippocrates atque Epicydes ramos oleae ac velamenta alia supplicum porrigentes orare, ut reciperent sese, receptos tutarentur, neu proderent Syracusanis, a quibus ipsi mox trucidandi populo Romano dederentur.
When they recognized them by their standards and the fashion of their arms, Hippocrates and Epicydes, holding out olive branches and other insignia of suppliants, implored them to receive them, and, having received them, to protect them, and not to betray them to the Syracusans, by whom they themselves would soon be delivered up to the Roman people to be butchered.