coins.’
Hannibal arched an eyebrow at the thought of the mountain of money that this man was willing to spend, and he listened attentively, without allowing his expression to betray was he was thinking. He then replied: ‘The crime that the Selinuntians committed against us deserves no pardon. They challenged me, although they had been given the opportunity to surrender, causing the death of many of my men. It is only right and fitting that they live in slavery for the rest of their days. As a sign of my generosity of spirit, I will free any of your relatives who may be among the prisoners. Consider this my gift to you; you need not pay me for them.
‘My informers tell me that a certain number of them fled the city. I shall allow the survivors, if they so desire, to return and rebuild their homes, to cultivate the fields and to live in their city, as long as they do not reconstruct the walls, and pay an annual tribute to our tax collectors. I have no intention of discussing these decisions.’ Having said thus, he dismissed the envoy.
Empedius declared that some of the prisoners were his relatives, and they were duly released: a young couple with two children were the only ones among six thousand prisoners who he was able to bring back to Syracuse with him. But even such a meagre result had given meaning to his undertaking, and he felt that he had not acted in vain. On his return journey, he stopped at Acragas to inform the Selinuntian refugees about the outcome of his mission and of the conditions laid down by Hannibal should they want to resettle in their city.
None of them accepted, and their hate mounted beyond measure when they heard about the cruel sufferings of their fellow citizens and relatives, condemned to perpetual slavery, outrage and humiliation. The insolence of that barbarian! He had dared to refuse the ransom which he was bound to accept in accordance with the will of the gods and the rights of the people.
The surviving heads of family assembled in the temple of the chthonic gods – the faceless divinities who rule over the gloomy world of the dead – and swore that they would live only for revenge, and that when the moment came, no Carthaginian would be spared: not a man, nor a woman, nor a child. They promised the heads of their enemies to the infernal gods, and laid a curse upon them that would endure from generation to generation until that abhorrent race was wiped off the face of the earth.
Empedius returned to Syracuse then, to report to Diocles.
In the meantime, Hannibal had turned east and it was soon clear that he was headed for Himera, the city where his grandfather Hamilcar had perished seventy years before. His army was sixty thousand men strong, and they were joined by contingents of natives, lured by the promise of plunder and slaves. Terror spread rapidly, and the Himerans readied to defend themselves to the death. Selinus’s fate left no doubt as to the intentions of the enemy, and their only hope lay in their bravery and their arms.
The high command met in Syracuse with Diocles at their head. They decided to send an expeditionary force to assist Himera. If Himera should fall, the other Greeks of the West would lose all faith in Syracuse, and their cities would be wiped out as if they had never existed.
This time as well, however, Hannibal moved faster than the government of Syracuse, and before Diocles’s decision could be finalized, his army was already at the gates of Himera. He pitched camp on the high plains overlooking the city, to ward off unexpected sorties, and he set his moving towers and rams to work on the city walls. Twenty thousand of his assault troops laid siege to the city, reinforced by a numerous contingent of seasoned, belligerent native Sicels and Sicans.
Himera was a symbol for the Greeks of the motherland and the colonies because, seventy years earlier, as the Hellenes of the continent were defeating the Persians at Salamina, the Greeks of Sicily were
Hannibal arched an eyebrow at the thought of the mountain of money that this man was willing to spend, and he listened attentively, without allowing his expression to betray was he was thinking. He then replied: ‘The crime that the Selinuntians committed against us deserves no pardon. They challenged me, although they had been given the opportunity to surrender, causing the death of many of my men. It is only right and fitting that they live in slavery for the rest of their days. As a sign of my generosity of spirit, I will free any of your relatives who may be among the prisoners. Consider this my gift to you; you need not pay me for them.
‘My informers tell me that a certain number of them fled the city. I shall allow the survivors, if they so desire, to return and rebuild their homes, to cultivate the fields and to live in their city, as long as they do not reconstruct the walls, and pay an annual tribute to our tax collectors. I have no intention of discussing these decisions.’ Having said thus, he dismissed the envoy.
Empedius declared that some of the prisoners were his relatives, and they were duly released: a young couple with two children were the only ones among six thousand prisoners who he was able to bring back to Syracuse with him. But even such a meagre result had given meaning to his undertaking, and he felt that he had not acted in vain. On his return journey, he stopped at Acragas to inform the Selinuntian refugees about the outcome of his mission and of the conditions laid down by Hannibal should they want to resettle in their city.
None of them accepted, and their hate mounted beyond measure when they heard about the cruel sufferings of their fellow citizens and relatives, condemned to perpetual slavery, outrage and humiliation. The insolence of that barbarian! He had dared to refuse the ransom which he was bound to accept in accordance with the will of the gods and the rights of the people.
The surviving heads of family assembled in the temple of the chthonic gods – the faceless divinities who rule over the gloomy world of the dead – and swore that they would live only for revenge, and that when the moment came, no Carthaginian would be spared: not a man, nor a woman, nor a child. They promised the heads of their enemies to the infernal gods, and laid a curse upon them that would endure from generation to generation until that abhorrent race was wiped off the face of the earth.
Empedius returned to Syracuse then, to report to Diocles.
In the meantime, Hannibal had turned east and it was soon clear that he was headed for Himera, the city where his grandfather Hamilcar had perished seventy years before. His army was sixty thousand men strong, and they were joined by contingents of natives, lured by the promise of plunder and slaves. Terror spread rapidly, and the Himerans readied to defend themselves to the death. Selinus’s fate left no doubt as to the intentions of the enemy, and their only hope lay in their bravery and their arms.
The high command met in Syracuse with Diocles at their head. They decided to send an expeditionary force to assist Himera. If Himera should fall, the other Greeks of the West would lose all faith in Syracuse, and their cities would be wiped out as if they had never existed.
This time as well, however, Hannibal moved faster than the government of Syracuse, and before Diocles’s decision could be finalized, his army was already at the gates of Himera. He pitched camp on the high plains overlooking the city, to ward off unexpected sorties, and he set his moving towers and rams to work on the city walls. Twenty thousand of his assault troops laid siege to the city, reinforced by a numerous contingent of seasoned, belligerent native Sicels and Sicans.
Himera was a symbol for the Greeks of the motherland and the colonies because, seventy years earlier, as the Hellenes of the continent were defeating the Persians at Salamina, the Greeks of Sicily were
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