hem others from Corinth and the
rest of Greece. When by this means they had raised their numbers to not
less than ten thousand, they sailed to Syracuse. Many citizens from
Italy and Sicily had already joined Timoleon, who, when he found their
numbers (according to Athanis) amount to sixty thousand, divided the
country among them, and sold the houses for a thousand talents,
affording the original citizens the option of purchasing their own
houses. At the same time, to relieve the financial distress of the
State, with a view to the approaching war, he even sold all the
statues. A vote of the assembly was taken about each one, and he was
condemned, like a criminal on his trial. On this occasion they say that
the Syracusans, though they condemned all the rest, decided on keeping
that of the ancient prince Gelo, because they admired and respected him
for his victory over the Carthaginians at Himera.

XXIV. The life of Syracuse being rekindled by this influx of citizens
from all quarters, Timoleon determined to set free the other cities
also, and to exterminate the despots in Sicily. In the course of his
campaigns against them he compelled Hiketes to renounce his alliance
with the Carthaginians, to demolish his castle, and to live in Leontini
as a private citizen. Leptines, the despot of Apollonia and of several
smaller towns, fearing to be taken by him, surrendered. Timoleon spared
his life, and sent him to Corinth, as he thought that it reflected
credit upon his native city, that the despots of Sicily should be seen
by all Greece living there as humble exiles. As for the soldiers whom he
had in his pay, he determined not to keep them idle, but to support them
by the plunder of an enemy's country. So while he himself returned to
Syracuse, to superintend the reconstruction of the constitution, and to
assist the lawgivers Kephalus and Dionysius in framing the best form of
polity, he sent the troops under Deinarchus and Demaretus to subdue the
western portion of the island, which had fallen into the hands of the
Carthaginians. Here they induced several cities to revolt from the
barbarians, and not only gained abundant pay and plunder for themselves
from their conquests, but were able to furnish funds for the approaching
war.

XXV. During this time the Carthaginian forces sailed to Lilybaeum with
seventy thousand men, two hundred ships of war, and a thousand
transports carrying engines of war, four horse chariots, provisions, a