§24.32.1huic non apud volgum modo fides fuit, sed senatum quoque in curiam introductus movit.
This man not only found belief among the crowd, but also, having been introduced into the senate house, moved the senate.
haud vani quidam homines palam ferre perbene detectam in Leontinis esse avaritiam et crudelitatem Romanorum.
Certain men by no means untrustworthy openly declared that the covetousness and cruelty of the Romans had been very well exposed in Leontini.
eadem, si intrassent Syracusas, aut foediora etiam, quo maius ibi avaritiae praemium esset, facturos fuisse.
They asserted that, if they had entered Syracuse, they would have done the same or even more foul things, inasmuch as the reward of covetousness was greater there.
§24.32.2itaque claudendas cuncti portas et custodiendam urbem censere.
And so everyone proposed that the gates should be closed and the city guarded.
sed non ab iisdem omnis timere nec eosdem odisse, ad militare genus omne partemque magnam plebis invisum esse nomen Romanum; §24.32.3praetores optimatiumque pauci, quamquam inflati vano nuntio erant, tamen ad propius praesentiusque malum cautiores esse.
But not all feared the same people, nor hated the same people; to the entire military class and a great part of the common people, the Roman name was hateful; the praetors and a few of the nobles, although they were stirred up by the false message, were nevertheless more cautious against a nearer and more present evil.
§24.32.4et iam ad Hexapylum erant Hippocrates atque Epicydes, serebanturque conloquia per propinquos popularium, qui in exercitu erant, ut portas aperirent sinerentque communem patriam defendi ab impetu Romanorum.
And now Hippocrates and Epicydes were at Hexapylum, and conversations were being held through the relatives of the citizens who were in the army, urging them to open the gates and allow their common fatherland to be defended from the attack of the Romans.
§24.32.5iam unis foribus Hexapyli apertis coepti erant recipi, cum praetores intervenerunt.
Already, one gate of Hexapylum having been opened, they had begun to be received, when the praetors intervened.
et primo imperio minisque, deinde auctoritate deterrendo, postremo, ut omnia vana erant, obliti maiestatis precibus agebant, ne proderent patriam tyranni ante satellitibus et tum corruptoribus exercitus.
And at first with command and threats, then by deterring with their authority, and finally, since all things were in vain, forgetting their dignity, they pleaded with prayers that they should not betray their country to those who were formerly the henchmen of the tyrant and then the corrupters of the army.
§24.32.6sed surdae ad ea omnia aures concitatae multitudinis erant, nec minore intus vi quam foris portae effringebantur, effractisque omnibus toto Hexapylo agmen receptum est.
But the ears of the excited crowd were deaf to all those things, and the gates were being broken open from within with no less force than from without, and, all of them having been broken open, the column was admitted through the whole of Hexapylum.
§24.32.7praetores in Achradinam cum iuventute popularium confugiunt.
The praetors fled into Achradina with the youth of the citizens.
mercennarii milites perfugaeque et quidquid regiorum militum Syracusis erat agmen hostium augent.
The mercenary soldiers, the deserters, and whatever of the king's soldiers were in Syracuse increased the column of the enemy.
§24.32.8ita Achradina quoque primo impetu capitur, praetorumque nisi qui inter tumultum effugerunt omnes interficiuntur.
Thus Achradina also was captured at the first assault, and all of the praetors, except those who escaped during the tumult, were killed.
§24.32.9nox caedibus finem fecit.
Night put an end to the slaughter.
postero die servi ad pilleum vocati et carcere vincti emissi, confusaque haec omnis multitudo Hippocraten atque Epicyden creant praetores; Syracusaeque, cum breve tempus libertas adfulsisset, in antiquam servitutem reciderant.
On the following day, the slaves were called to the pilleus and those bound in prison were released, and this entire mixed crowd created Hippocrates and Epicydes as praetors; and Syracuse, although liberty had shone upon it for a brief time, had fallen back into its ancient servitude.