Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/437

 TERROR AMONG THE GREEKS. 415 The iijera naries whom he had got together were alike terrible from their bravery and ferocity ; encouraging Carthaginian ambi- tion to follow up its late rapid successes by attacks against the other cities of the island. JSTo such prospects indeed were at once real- ized. Hannibal, having completed his revenge at Himera, and extended the Carthaginian dominion all across the north-west cor- ner of Sicily (from Selinus on the southern sea to the site of Him- era or Therma on the northern), dismissed his mercenary troops and returned home. Most of them were satiated with plunder as well as pay, though the Campanians, who had been foremost at the capture of Selinus, thought themselves unfairly stinted, and retired in disgust. 1 Hannibal carried back a rich spoil, with glorious trophies, to Carthage, where he was greeted with enthusiastic wel- come and admiration. 2 Never was there a time when the Greek cities in Sicily, and Syracuse especially, upon whom the others would greatly rest in the event of a second Carthaginian invasion, had stronger mo- tives for keeping themselves in a condition of efficacious defence. Unfortunately, it was just at this moment that a new cause of intestine discord burst upon Syracuse; fatally impairing her strength, and proving in its consequences destructive to her lib- erty. The banished Syracusan general Hermokrates had recently arrived at Messene in Sicily ; where he appears to have been, at the time when the fugitives came from Himera. It has already been mentioned that he, with two colleagues, had commanded the Syracusan contingent serving with the Peloponnesians under Miii darus in Asia. After the disastrous defeat of Kyzikus, in which Mindarus was slain and every ship in the fleet taken or destroyed, sentence of banishment was passed at Syracuse against the three admirals. Hermokrates was exceedingly popular among the trie- rarchs and the officers ; he had stood conspicuous for incorrupti- bility, and had conducted himself (so far as we have means of judging) with energy and ability in his command. The sentence, unmerited by his behavior, was dictated by acute vexation for the loss of the fleet, and for the disappointment of those expectations which Hermokrates had held out ; combined with the fact that Diokles and the opposite party were now in the ascendant at Sy- 1 Diodor. xiii, 62-80. * Diodor. xiii, 62.