§25.31.1suppresso impetu militum ut iis, qui in Achradina erant, transfugis spatium locusque fugae datus est, §25.31.2Syracusani tandem liberi metu portis Achradinae apertis oratores ad Marcellum mittunt nihil petentis aliud quam incolumitatem sibi liberisque suis.
The onset of the soldiers having been suppressed, so that time and place for flight were given to the deserters who were in Achradina, the Syracusans, at last freed from fear, opened the gates of Achradina and sent envoys to Marcellus, seeking nothing other than safety for themselves and their children.
§25.31.3Marcellus consilio advocato §25.31.4et adhibitis etiam Syracusanis qui per seditiones pulsi ab domo intra praesidia Romana fuerant, respondit non plura per annos quinquaginta benefacta Hieronis quam paucis his annis maleficia eorum, qui Syracusas tenuerint, erga populum Romanum esse.
Marcellus, having called a council and having also admitted those Syracusans who, driven from home by seditions, had been within the Roman lines, replied that the good deeds of Hiero over fifty years toward the Roman people were not more than the evil deeds of those who had held Syracuse in these few years.
sed pleraque eorum quo debuerint reccidisse, foederumque ruptorum ipsos ab se graviores multo, quam populus Romanus voluerit, poenas exegisse.
But most of their deeds had fallen back where they ought, and they themselves had exacted from themselves much heavier penalties for the broken treaties than the Roman people had wished.
§25.31.5se quidem tertium annum circumsedere Syracusas, non ut populus Romanus servam eam civitatem haberet, sed ne transfugarum mercennariorumque duces captam et oppressam tenerent.
He indeed was besieging Syracuse for the third year, not so that the Roman people might have that state as a slave, but lest the leaders of the deserters and mercenaries should hold it captured and oppressed.
§25.31.6quid potuerint Syracusani facere, exemplo vel eos esse Syracusanorum, qui intra praesidia Romana fuerint, vel Hispanum ducem Moericum, qui praesidium tradiderit, vel ipsorum Syracusanorum postremo serum quidera, sed forte consilium.
As to what the Syracusans could have done, either those Syracusans who had been within the Roman lines, or the Spanish leader Moericus, who had handed over the garrison, or finally the late indeed, but resolute counsel of the Syracusans themselves, served as an example.
§25.31.7sibi omnium laborum periculorumque circa moenia Syracusana terra marique tam diu exhaustorum nequaquam tanti eum fructum esse, quod capere Syracusas potuisset.
To him, the fruit of all the labors and dangers exhausted for so long around the walls of Syracuse by land and sea was by no means of such value, merely because he had been able to capture Syracuse.
§25.31.8inde quaestor cum praesidio Nasum ad accipiendam pecuniam regiam custodiendamque missus.
Then the quaestor was sent with a garrison to Nasos to receive and guard the royal money.
Achradina diripienda militi data est custodibus divisis per domos eorum, qui intra praesidia Romana fuerant.
Achradina was given to the soldiers to be plundered, after guards had been distributed through the homes of those who had been within the Roman lines.
§25.31.9cum multa irae, multa avaritiae foeda exempla ederentur, Archimeden memoriae proditum est in tanto tumultu, quantum pavor captae urbis in discursu diripientium militum ciere poterat, intentum formis, quas in pulvere descripserat, ab ignaro milite, quis esset, interfectum; §25.31.10aegre id Marcellum tulisse sepulturaeque curam habitam, et propinquis etiam inquisitis honori praesidioque nomen ac memoriam eius fuisse.
While many foul examples of anger and avarice were being exhibited, it is recorded that Archimedes, in so great a tumult as the fear of a captured city could arouse in the running about of plundering soldiers, intent upon the diagrams which he had drawn in the dust, was killed by a soldier who did not know who he was; that Marcellus took this heavily and that care was taken for his burial, and his name and memory, when his relatives had also been sought out, were an honor and a protection to them.
§25.31.11hoc maxume modo Syracusae captae; in quibus praedae tantum fuit, quantum vix capta Carthagine tum fuisset, cum qua viribus aequis certabatur.
In this manner chiefly was Syracuse captured; in which there was so much booty as would scarcely have been if Carthage, with which they were then contending with equal strength, had been captured.
§25.31.12paucis ante diebus quam Syracusae caperentur, T. Otacilius cum quinqueremibus octoginta Uticam ab Lilybaeo transmisit et, §25.31.13cum ante lucem portum intrasset, onerarias frumento onustas cepit egressusque in terram depopulatus est aliquantum agri circa Uticam praedamque omnis generis retro ad navis egit.
A few days before Syracuse was captured, Titus Otacilius crossed over from Lilybaeum to Utica with eighty quinqueremes, and, having entered the harbor before light, captured transport ships loaded with grain, and having gone ashore, devastated a considerable amount of the land around Utica and drove booty of every kind back to the ships.
§25.31.14Lilybaeum tertio die, quam inde profectus erat, cum centum triginta onerariis navibus frumento praedaque onustis rediit idque frumentum extemplo Syracusas misit; §25.31.15quod ni tam in tempore subvenisset, victoribus victisque pariter perniciosa fames instabat
On the third day from when he had set out from there, he returned to Lilybaeum with a hundred and thirty transport ships loaded with grain and booty, and immediately sent that grain to Syracuse; and if this had not come to their aid so opportunely, a ruinous famine was threatening victors and vanquished alike.