It was for these reasons that the hatred against Dionysius was flaring up,
since men assumed that he had so acted from this definite plan: by using the dread of the
Carthaginians to be lord of the remaining cities of Sicily without risk.
[
2]
For they reckoned up his delay in bringing aid
1; the fact that none of his mercenaries had fallen; that he
had retreated without reason, since he had suffered no serious reverse; and, most important of
all, that not a single one of the Carthaginians had pursued them. Consequently, for those who
before this were eager to seize an opportunity to revolt, all things, as if by the
foreknowledge of the gods, were working toward the overthrow of the tyrannical power.
[
3]
Now the Italian Greeks,
deserting Dionysius, made their way home through the interior of the island, and the Syracusan
cavalry at first kept watch in the hope that they might be able to slay the tyrant along the
road; but when they saw that the mercenaries were not deserting him, they rode off with one
accord to Syracuse.
[
4]
And finding the guards of the
dockyards
2 knew nothing of the events at Gela, they entered these without hindrance,
plundered the house of Dionysius which was filled with silver and gold and all other costly
things, and seizing his wife left her so ill-used
3 as to ensure the tyrant's keeping his anger fiercely alive, acting
as they did in the belief that the vengeance they wreaked on Dionysius' wife would be the
surest guarantee of their holding by each other in their attack upon him.
[
5]
And Dionysius, guessing while on the way what had taken place, picked
out the most trustworthy of his cavalry and infantry, with whom he pressed toward the city
without checking speed; for he reasoned that he could overcome the cavalry by no other means
than by speedy action, and he acted accordingly. For if he should make his arrival even more of
a surprise than theirs had been, he had hope that he would easily carry out his design; and
that is what happened.
[
6]
For the cavalry assumed that Dionysius
would now neither return to Syracuse nor remain with his army; consequently, in the belief that
they had carried out their design, they said that he had pretended that in leaving Gela he was
giving the slip to the Carthaginians whereas the truth in fact was that he had given the slip
to the Syracusans.