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What we do to our enemies in war is done of necessity, but the evil we say of them seems to spring from an excess of spite. XXXIII. On Timoleon's return the Syracusans brought the family and daughters of Hiketes before the public assembly for trial, and condemned them to death.
Yet it seemed impossible that they should overcome both the fleet of the barbarians which was riding there, double their own in number, and also the forces under Hiketes at Syracuse, of which they had expected to be put in command.
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.
Hiketes and his son were put to death as despots and traitors; nor did Euthymus meet with compassion, though he was a man of renown in athletic contest, and of great personal bravery, because of a scoffing speech of which he was accused against the Corinthians.
For their proposals were plausible, though their plan was base, being that Timoleon, if he chose, should come as an adviser to Hiketes and partake of his conquests; but that he should send his ships and soldiers back to Corinth, as the war was within a little of being finished, and as the Carthaginians were determined to oppose his passage by force if he attempted it.
But Mamercus, the despot of Catana, and Hiketes, either through disgust at Timoleon's successes, or else fearing him as a man not likely to keep faith with despots, made an alliance with Carthage, as they said that the Carthaginians, unless they wished to be utterly driven out of Sicily, must send a competent force and a general.
Wherefore, although Hiketes begged him to remain, and pointed out how far superior he was to the enemy, yet he, thinking that Timoleon's army surpassed his in courage and good fortune as much as his did in numbers, weighed anchor at once and sailed to Africa, letting Sicily slip through his fingers, to his great disgrace, for no assignable reason.
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.
And by some chance it happened that as each party strove to get there first, they both arrived at the same time; Hiketes with five thousand soldiers, whereas Timoleon altogether had no more than twelve hundred. Starting with these men from Tauromenium, which is forty-two miles from Adranum, he made but a short march on the first day, and then encamped.
Nevertheless, Hiketes still showed a bold front, and did not relax his hold on the city, and, as the part which was in his possession was strong and hard of access, Timoleon divided his army, and himself led the assault on the most difficult side of the position, by the river Anapus, ordering another body, under Isias the Corinthian, to attack from Achradina.
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