XVII.  When Hiketes failed in this attempt on Timoleon, and saw that many were joining him, he began to blame himself for only using the great Carthaginian force that was present by stealth, and as if he was ashamed of it, concealing his alliance and using them clandestinely, and he sent for Mago, their General, to come with all the force at his disposal.  He sailed in with a formidable fleet of a hundred and fifty ships, and took possession of the harbour, disembarked sixty thousand troops, and encamped with them in the city of Syracuse, so that all men thought that the long-talked-of and expected subjugation of Sicily to the barbarian was imminent.  For the Carthaginians during their endless wars in Sicily had never before taken Syracuse, but now, by the invitation of the traitor Hiketes, the city was turned into a barbarian camp.  The Corinthians in the citadel were in a position of great danger and difficulty, as they no longer had sufficient provisions, because the harbours were blockaded, and they perpetually had to divide their forces for skirmishes and battles at the walls, and to repel every device and method of attack known in sieges.

XVIII.  Timoleon, however, relieved them by sending corn from Katana in small fishing-smacks and boats, which, chiefly in stormy weather, stole in through the triremes of the barbarians when they were scattered by the roughness of the sea.  Mago and Hiketes, perceiving this, determined to take Katana, from which place the besieged drew their supplies, and they sailed from Syracuse with the best of their troops.  The Corinthian Neon, the General in command of the besieged force, observing from the citadel that those of the enemy who were left behind kept careless guard, suddenly fell upon them, and, slaying some and routing the rest he made himself master of Achradina, which is the strongest and least assailable part of the city of Syracuse, which, as it were, consists of several towns.

Being now in possession of abundance of provisions and money, he did not leave the place, and go back to the citadel on the promontory, but fortified the circuit of Achradina and held it conjointly with the Acropolis, with which he connected its fortifications.  A horseman from Syracuse brought the news of the capture of Achradina to Mago and Hiketes when they were close to Katana.  Alarmed at the news they returned with all speed, having neither taken the city they went to take, nor kept the one which they had taken.

XIX.  It may be doubted whether these actions owe more to fortune than to courage and conduct; but the next event can only be ascribed to fortune.  The Corinthian troops at Thurii were in fear of the Carthaginian triremes under Hanno which were watching them, and as the sea had for many days been excessively rough, in consequence of a gale, determined to march on foot through the Bruttii.  Partly by persuasion and partly by force they made their way to Rhegium, while the sea was still very stormy.  The Carthaginian