Timoleon

Moreover, the people of Adranum threw open their gates and joined Timoleon, reporting to him with terror and amazement that at the beginning of the battle the sacred portals of their temple flew open of their own accord, and the spear of the god was seen to be trembling to the tip of its point, while copious sweat ran down his face.

These prodigies, as it would seem, were a sign not only of the victory which was then won, but also of the achievements succeeding them, to which that struggle afforded a propitious beginning.

For cities at once sent envoys to Timoleon and espoused his cause, and particularly Mamercus, the tyrant of Catana, a warlike and wealthy man, presented himself as an ally.

And what was most important, Dionysius himself, now grown desperate and almost forced to surrender, despised Hicetas for his shameful defeat, and in admiration of Timoleon sent to him and his Corinthians offering to surrender himself and the citadel to them. Timoleon accepted this unexpected good fortune,

and sent Eucleides and Telemachus, men of Corinth, into the acropolis, and with them four hundred soldiers, not all at once, nor openly, for this was impossible when an enemy was blockading the harbour; but they made their way in secretly and in small companies.

These soldiers, then, took over the acropolis and the castle of the tyrant, together with his equipment and stores for the war;

for there were many horses there, all sorts of engines of war, and a great quantity of missiles, and armour for seventy thousand men had been stored up there for a long time.

Dionysius also had with him two thousand soldiers; these, as well as the supplies, he turned over to Timoleon, while he himself, with his treasure and a few of his friends, sailed off without the knowledge of Hicetas.