278 HISTORICAL TALES.

ments flocked to his ranks, and several towns sought
alliance with him. He now, with a large and confi-
dent army, marched to Syracuse, and defied his foe
to meet him in the field.

Hicetas was master of all Syracuse except the
istronghold of Ortygia, which was held by Dionysius,
and which Hicetas had blockaded by sea and land.
Timoleon had no means of capturing it, and as the
enemy would not come out from behind its walls, he
would soon have had to retire had not fortune again
helped her favorite son, and this time in an extraor-
dinary manner.

As it happened, Dionysius was growing short
of provisions, was beginning to despair of holding
Ortygia, and was withal a man of indolent and
drunken habits, without a tithe of his father's-spirit
and energy. He was like a fox driven to bay, and
having heard of the victory of Timoleon, it occurred
to him that he would be better off in yielding the
city to these Corinthians than losing it to his Sicilian
foe. All he wished was the promise of a safe asylum
and comfortable maintenance in the future. He
therefore agreed with Timoleon to surrender the
city, with the sole proviso that he should be taken
safely with his property to Corinth and given free-
dom of residence in that city. This Timoleon in-
stantly and gladly granted, the city was yielded, and
Dionysius passed into Timoleon’s camp with a few
companions.

We can imagine the astonishment of the people of
Corinth when a trireme came into their harbor with
tidings of the remarkable success of their towns-