24.33
When
the Romans received information of what was going on they at once broke
their camp at Leontini and marched to Syracuse. Some envoys had been sent
by Appius to pass through the harbour on board a quinquereme, and a
quadrireme which had sailed in advance of them was captured, the envoys
themselves making their escape with great difficulty. It soon became
apparent that not only the laws of peace but even the laws of war were no
longer respected. The Roman army had encamped at the Olympium -a
temple of Jupiter -about a mile and a half from the city. It was decided to
send envoys again from there; and Hippocrates and Epicydes met them with
their attendants outside the gate, to prevent them from entering the city. The
spokesman of the Romans said they were not bringing war to the Syracusans
but help and succour, both for those who had been cowed by terror and for
those who were enduring a servitude worse than exile, worse even than
death itself. "The Romans," he said, "will not allow the infamous massacre of
their allies to go unavenged. If, therefore, those who have taken refuge with
us are at liberty to return home unmolested, if the ringleaders of the
massacre are given up and if Syracuse is allowed once more to enjoy her
liberty and her laws, there is no need of arms; but if these things are not done
we shall visit with all the horrors of war those, whoever they are, who stand
in the way of our demands being fulfilled." To this Epicydes replied: "If we
had been the persons to whom your demands are addressed we should have
replied to them; when the government of Syracuse is in the hands of those to
whom you were sent, then you can return again. If you provoke us to war
you will learn by experience that to attack Syracuse is not quite the same
thing as attacking Leontini." With these words he left the envoys and closed
the gates. Then a simultaneous attack by sea and land was commenced on
Syracuse. The land attack was directed against the Hexapylon; that by sea
against Achradina, the walls of which are washed by the waves. As they had
carried Leontini at the first assault owing to the panic they created, so the
Romans felt confident that they would find some point where they could
penetrate into the wide and scattered city, and they brought up the whole of
their siege artillery against the walls.