Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/170

 144 HISTORY OF GREECE. which was usually carried in the Eleusinian mysteries, ran along with the ship and guided the pilot to the proper landing place at Metapontum. Such manifestations of divine presence and en- couragement, properly certified and commented upon by the prophets, rendered the voyage one of universal hopefulness to the armament. 1 These hopes, however, were sadly damped, when after disre- garding a formal notice from a Carthaginian man-of-war, they sailed down the coast of Italy and at last reached Rhegium. This city, having been before partially revived under the name of Phoebia, by the younger Dionysius, appears now as reconsti- tuted under its old name and with its full former autonomy, since the overthrow of his rule at Lokri and in Italy generally. Twenty Carthaginian triremes, double the force of Timoleon, were found at Rhegium awaiting his arrival with envoys from Hiketas aboard. These envoys came with what they pretended to be good news. " Hiketas had recently gained a capital victory over Dionysius, whom he had expelled from most part of Syra- cuse, and was now blocking up in Ortygia ; with hopes of soon starving him out, by the aid of a Carthaginian fleet. The com- mon enemy being thus at the end of his resources, the war could not be prolonged. Hiketas therefore trusted that Timoleon would send back to Corinth his fleet and troops, now become superfluous. If Timoleon would do this, he (Hiketas) would be delighted to see him personally at Syracuse, and would gladly consult him in the resettlement of that unhappy city. But he could not admit the Corinthian armament into the island ; moreover, even had he been willing, the Carthaginians peremptorily forbade it, and were prepared, in case of need, to repel it with their superior naval force now in the strait." 2 The game which Hiketas Was playing with the Carthaginians now stood plainly revealed, to the vehement indignation of the armament. Instead of being their friend, or even neutral, he was nothing less than a pronounced enemy, emancipating Syracuse from Dionysius only to divide it between himself and the Car- thaginians. Yet with all the ardor of the armament, it was im- 1 Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 8 ; Diodor. xvi. 66.
 * 1'lutarch, Timoleon, c. 9 ; Diodor. xvi. R8.