§25.25.1tenebant Achradinae portas murosque maxume transfugae, quibus nulla erat per condiciones veniae spes; ei nec adire muros nec adloqui quemquam passi.
The gates and walls of Achradina were held chiefly by deserters, to whom there was no hope of pardon under any terms of surrender; they allowed no one either to approach the walls or to speak to anyone.
§25.25.2itaque Marcellus postquam id inceptum inritum fuit, ad Euryalum signa referri iussit.
Therefore Marcellus, after that attempt proved fruitless, ordered the standards to be marched back to Euryalus.
tumulus est in extrema parte urbis aversus a mari viaeque imminens ferenti in agros mediterraneaque insulae, percommode situs ad commeatus excipiendos.
This is a hill at the extreme part of the city, facing away from the sea and commanding the road that leads into the fields and the interior of the island, extremely well situated for receiving supplies.
§25.25.3praeerat huic arci Philodemus Argius ab Epicyde impositus; ad quem missus a Marcello Sosis, unus ex interfectoribus tyranni cum longo sermone habito dilatus per frustrationem esset, rettulit Marcello tempus eum ad deliberandum sumpsisse.
This fort was commanded by Philodemus the Argive, appointed by Epicydes; to him Sosis, one of the slayers of the tyrant, was sent by Marcellus, and after being put off with delays during a long conversation, he reported to Marcellus that Philodemus had taken time to deliberate.
§25.25.4cum is diem de die differret, dum Hippocrates atque Himilco admoverent castra legionesque, haud dubius, si in arcem accepisset eos, deleri Romanum exercitum inclusum muris posse Marcellus, §25.25.5ut Euryalum neque tradi neque capi vidit posse, inter Neapolim et Tycham — nomina ea partium urbis et instar urbium sunt — posuit castra timens, ne, si frequentia intrasset loca, contineri ab discursu miles avidus praedae non posset.
While he was putting off the matter from day to day, waiting for Hippocrates and Himilco to bring up their camps and legions, Marcellus, in no doubt that if Philodemus received them into the fort, the Roman army, shut in by the walls, could be destroyed, when he saw that Euryalus could neither be surrendered nor captured, pitched his camp between Neapolis and Tycha—these are the names of parts of the city and are like cities themselves—fearing lest, if he entered crowded places, the soldier, eager for plunder, could not be restrained from running about.
§25.25.6legati eo ab Tycha et Neapoli cum infulis et velamentis venerunt precantes, ut a caedibus et ab incendiis parceretur.
Envoys came there from Tycha and Neapolis with sacred wool-bandages and olive branches, praying that they might be spared from slaughter and fires.
§25.25.7de quorum precibus quam postulatis magis consilio habito Marcellus ex omnium sententia edixit militibus, ne quis liberum corpus violaret: §25.25.8cetera praedae futura.
After holding a council concerning their prayers rather than their demands, Marcellus, in accordance with the opinion of all, proclaimed to the soldiers that no one should violate a free person; other things were to be plunder.
castra testis parietum pro muro saepta; portis regione platearum patentibus stationes praesidiaque disposuit, ne quis in discursu militum impetus in castra fieri posset.
The camp was enclosed with the walls of private houses serving as a rampart; at the gates that lay open in the direction of the streets, he stationed guards and outposts, lest any attack on the camp could be made during the dispersion of the soldiers.
§25.25.9inde signo dato milites discurrerunt; refractisque foribus cum omnia terrore ac tumultu streperent, a caedibus tamen temperatum est; rapinis nullus ante modus fuit, quam omnia diuturna felicitate cumulata bona egesserunt.
Then, the signal having been given, the soldiers dispersed; and though, when doors were broken open, everything resounded with terror and tumult, they nevertheless refrained from slaughter; there was no limit to the plundering until they had carried off all the goods accumulated through long prosperity.
§25.25.10inter haec et Philodemus, cum spes, uxilii nulla esset, fide accepta, ut inviolatus ad Epicyden rediret, deducto praesidio tradidit tumulum Romanis.
Meanwhile Philodemus also, since there was no hope of help, having received a pledge that he might return unharmed to Epicydes, withdrew his garrison and surrendered the hill to the Romans.
§25.25.11aversis omnibus ad tumultum ex parte captae urbis Bomilcar noctem eam nactus, qua propter, vi tempestatis stare ad ancoram in salo Romana classis non posset, §25.25.12cum triginta quinque navibus ex portu Syracusano profectus libero mari vela in altum dedit quinque et quinquaginta navibus Epicydae et Syracusanis relictis; §25.25.13edoctisque Carthaginiensibus, in quanto res Syracusana discrimine esset, cum centum navibus post paucos dies redit, multis, ut fama est, donis ex Hieronis gaza ab Epicyde donatus.
While all were distracted by the tumult from the direction of the captured part of the city, Bomilcar, finding a night in which, owing to the force of a storm, the Roman fleet could not ride at anchor in the open sea nearby, set out from the harbor of Syracuse with thirty-five ships and spread his sails for the deep on an open sea, leaving fifty-five ships for Epicydes and the Syracusans; and having informed the Carthaginians in how great a peril the Syracusan cause was, he returned after a few days with a hundred ships, having been presented by Epicydes, as the report is, with many gifts from the treasury of Hiero.