Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/453

 TERROR THROUGHOUT SICILY. 431 I have described, as far as the narrative of Diodorus permits us to know, this momentous and tragical portion of Sicilian history ; a suitable preface to the long despotism of Dionysius. It is evi- dent that the seven or eight months (the former of these numbers is authenticated by Xenophon, while the latter is given by Diodo- rus) of the siege or blockade must have contained matters of the greatest importance which are not mentioned, and that even of the main circumstances which brought about the capture, we are most imperfectly informed. But though we cannot fully comprehend its causes, its effects are easy to understand. They were terror- striking and harrowing in the extreme. When the storm which had beaten down Selinus and Himera was now perceived to have ex- tended its desolation to a city so much more conspicuous, among the wealthiest and most populous in the Grecian world, when the surviving Agrigentine population, including women and chil- dren, and the great proprietors of chariots whose names stood re- corded as victors at Olympia, were seen all confounded hi one common fate of homeless flight and nakedness when the victo- rious host and its commanders took up their quarters in the de- serted houses, ready to spread their conquests farther after a win- ter of repose, there was hardly a Greek in Sicily who did not tremble for his life and property. 1 Several of them sought shelter at Syracuse, while others even quitted the island altogether, emi- grating to Italy. Amidst so much anguish, humiliation, and terror, there were loud complaints against the conduct of the Syracusan generals under whose command the disaster had occurred. The censure which had been cast upon them before, for not having vigorously pursued the defeated Iberians, was now revived, and aggravated tenfold by the subsequent misfortune. To their inefficiency the capture of Agri- gentum was ascribed, and apparently not without substantial cause ; for the town was so strongly placed as to defy assault, and could only be taken by blockade ; now we discern no impediments ade- quate to hinder the Syracusan generals from procuring supplies of provisions ; and it seems clear that the surprise of the Syracusan store-ships might have baen prevented by proper precautions ; upon which surprise the whole question turned, between famine in Diodor. xiii, 91.