alone
belonged a more familiar access to the palace, Andranodorus and
Zoippus, sons-in-law of Hiero, and one Thraso, were not much attended
to upon other subjects, but the two former exerting themselves in
favour of the Carthaginians, while Thraso argued for the Roman
alliance, they sometimes engaged the attention of the young king by
their zeal and earnestness. It was at this time that a conspiracy
formed against the life of the tyrant was discovered by a certain
servant, of the same age as Hieronymus, who from his very childhood
had associated with him on entirely familiar terms. The informer was
able to name one of the conspirators, Theodotus, by whom he himself
had been solicited. He was immediately seized, and delivered to
Andranodorus to be subjected to torture, when, without hesitation, he
confessed as to himself, but concealed his accomplices. At last, when
racked with every species of torture, beyond the power of humanity to
bear, pretending to be overcome by his sufferings, he turned his
accusation from the guilty to the innocent, and feigned that Thraso
was the originator of the plot, without whose able guidance, he said,
they never would have been bold enough to attempt so daring a deed, he
threw the guilt upon such innocent men, near the king's person, as
appeared to him to be the most worthless, while fabricating his story
amid groans and agonies. The naming of Thraso gave the highest degree
of credibility to the story in the mind of the tyrant. Accordingly he
was immediately given up to punishment, and others were added who were
equally innocent. Not one of the conspirators, though their associate
in the plot was for a long time subjected to torture, either concealed
himself or fled, so great was their confidence in the fortitude and
fidelity of Theodotus, and so great was his firmness in concealing
their secret.

6. Thus on the removal of Thraso, who formed the only bond which held
together the alliance with the Romans, immediately affairs clearly
indicated defection. Ambassadors were sent to Hannibal, who sent back
in company with a young man of noble birth named Hannibal, Hippocrates
and Epicydes, natives of Carthage, and of Carthaginian extraction on
their mother's side, but whose grandfather was an exile from Syracuse.
Through their means an alliance was formed between Hannibal and the
tyrant of Syracuse; and, with the consent of Hannibal, they remained
with the tyrant. As soon as Appius Claudius, t