280 HISTORICAL TALES,

narrow strait of Messina, that separated Italy from
Sicily. They found this unguarded,—the Carthagin-
ian ships being away on their mission of alarm to
Ortygia. And, by good fortune, several days of
stormy weather had been followed by a sudden and
complete calm, so that the Corinthians were enabled
to cross in fishing and other boats and reach Sicily
in safety. Thus by a new favor of fortune Timoleon
gained this valuable addition to his small army.

Timoleon now marched against Syracuse, where
fortune once more came to his aid. For Magon, the
Cathaginian admiral, had begun to doubt Hicetas,
He doubted him the more when he saw the men of
Timoleon and those of Hicetas engaged in fishing
for eels together in the marshy grounds between the
armies, and seemingly on very friendly terms. Think-
ing he was betrayed, he put all his troops on board
ship and sailed away for Africa.

It may well be imagined that Timoleon and his
men saw with surprise and joy this sudden flight of
the Carthaginian ships. With shouts of encourage-
ment they attacked the city on all sides. To their
astonishment scarcely any defence was made. In
fact, the army of Hicetas, many of them Greeks,
were largely in favor of Timoleon, while the talk of
the eel-catching soldiers in the marshes had won
many more over. As a result Timoleon took the
great city of Syracuse, on which the Athenians had
vainly sacrificed hundreds of ships and thousands of
men, without the loss of a single man, killed or
wounded.

Such a succession of astonishing favors of fortune