Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/472

 450 HISTORY OF GRELCK. near Himeia, and as Daphnaeus and the other Syracusan generals before Agrigentum, after the capture of their provision-fleet by the Carthaginians. He felt constrained to abandon Gela, taking the best means in his power for protecting the escape of the inhabitants. Accordingly, to keep the intention of flight secret, he sent a herald to Imilkon to solicit a burial-truce for the ensuing day ; he also set apart a body of two thousand light troops, with orders to make noises in front of the enemy throughout the whole night, and to keep the lights and fires burning, so as to prevent any suspicion on the part of the Carthaginians. 1 Under cover of these precau- tions, he caused the Geloan population to evacuate their city in mass at the commencement of night, while he himself with his main army followed at midnight to protect them. All hurried for- ward on their march to Syracuse, turning to best account the hours of darkness. On their way thither lay Kamarina, Kamarina the immovable, 2 as it was pronounced by an ancient oracle or legend, yet on that fatal night seeming to falsify the epithet. Not thinking himself competent to defend this city, Dionysius forced all the Kamarinaean population to become partners in the flight of the Geloans. The same heart-rending scene, which has already been recounted at Agrigentum and Himera, was now seen repeated on the road from Gela to Syracuse : a fugitive multitude, of all ages and of both sexes, free as well as slave, destitute and terror-stricken, hurrying they knew not whither, to get beyond the reach of a merciless enemy. The flight to Syracuse, however, was fortunately not molested by any pursuit. At daybreak the Carthaginians, dis- covering the abandonment of the city, immediately rushed in and took possession of it. As very little of the valuable property with- in it had been removed, a rich plunder fell into the hands of the conquering host, whose barbarous hands massacred indiscriminately the miserable remnant left behind : old men, sick, and children, unable to accompany a flight so sudden and so rapid. Some of the conquerors farther satiated their ferocious instincts by crucifying cr mutilating these unhappy prisoners. 3 1 Diodor. xiii, 111. 5 Mi? KIVEI Kafiapivav, UKIVTJTOV trep kovoav " fatis nunquam concessa moveri Apparet Camarina procul." Virgil, JEneid, iii, 701.
 * Diodor. xii', 111. Ovdefua ydpfyv irap' curotf <pfidu rwv ul