24.31
"Be of
good heart," came back the answering shout, "we will share all your
fortunes." During this colloquy the standards had halted and the whole army
was stopped, but the generals had not yet learnt the cause of the delay. As
soon as the rumour spread that Hippocrates and Epicydes were there, and
cries of joy from the whole army showed unmistakably how glad they were
that they had come, the praetors rode up to the front and sternly demanded:
"What is the meaning of this conduct? What audacity is this on the part of
the Cretans, that they should dare to hold interviews with an enemy and
admit him against orders into their ranks? "They ordered Hippocrates to be
arrested and thrown into chains. At this order such angry protests were made
by the Cretans, and then by others, that the praetors saw that if they went
any further their lives would be in danger. Perplexed and anxious they issued
orders to return to Megara, and sent messengers to Syracuse to report as to
the situation they were in. Upon men who were ready to suspect everybody
Hippocrates practiced a fresh deceit. He sent some of the Cretans to lurk
near the roads, and read a despatch which he had put together himself,
giving out that it had been intercepted. It bore the address, "The praetors of
Syracuse to the consul Marcellus," and after the usual salutation went on to
say, "You have acted rightly and properly in not sparing a single Leontine,
but all the mercenaries are making common cause and Syracuse will never be
at peace as long as there are any foreign auxiliaries either in the city or in our
army. Do your best, therefore, to get into your power those who are with
our praetors in camp at Megara and by their punishment secure liberty at last
for Syracuse." After the reading of this letter there was a general rush to
arms and such angry shouts were raised that the praetors, appalled by the
tumult, rode off to Syracuse. Not even their flight quieted the disturbance,
and the Syracusan soldiers were being attacked by the mercenaries, nor
would a single man have escaped their violence had not Epicydes and
Hippocrates withstood their rage, not from any feeling of pity or humanity,
but the fear of cutting off all hopes of their return. Besides, by thus
protecting the soldiers they would have them as faithful adherents as well as
hostages, and they would at the same time win over their friends and
relations in the first place by doing so great a service and afterwards by
keeping them as guarantees of loyalty. Having learnt by experience how easy
it is to excite the senseless mob, they got hold of one of the men who had
been in Leontini when it was captured, and bribed him to carry intelligence
to Syracuse similar to what they had been told at Myla, and to rouse the
passions of the populace by personally vouching for the truth of his story and
silencing all doubts by declaring that he had been an eyewitness of what he
narrated.
