Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/185

FLIGHT OF MAGON. 155 the seeds of disunion between him and Hiketas. The alliance be tween Carthaginians and Greeks was one unnatural to both par- ties, and liable to be crossed, at every mischance, by mutual distrust, growing out >f antipathy which each party felt in itself and knew to subsist in the other. The unfortunate scheme of march- ing to Katana, with the capital victory gained by Neon in conse- quence of that absence, made Magon believe that Hiketas was betraying him. Such apprehensions were strengthened, when he saw in his front the army of Timoleon, posted on the river Ana- pus and when he felt that he was in a Greek city generally disaffected to him, while Neon was at his rear in Ortygia and Achradina. Under such circumstances, Magon conceived the whole safety of his Carthaginians as depending on the zealous and faithful cooperation of Hiketas, in whom he had now ceased to con- fide. And his mistrust, once suggested, was aggravated by the friend- ly communication which he saw going on between the soldiers of Timoleon and those of Hiketas. These soldiers, all Greeks and mercenaries fighting for a country not their own, encountered each other, on the field of battle, like enemies, but conversed in a pacific and amicable way, during intervals, in their respective camps. Both were now engaged, without disturbing each other, in catching eels amidst the marshy and watery ground between Epipolse and the Anapus. Interchanging remarks freely, they were admiring the splendor and magnitude of Syracuse with its great maritime convenience, when one of Timoleon's soldiers observed to the opposite party " And this magnificent city, you, Greeks as you are, are striving to barbarise, planting these Car- thaginian cut-throats nearer to us than they now are ; though our first anxiety ought to be, to keep them as far off as possible from Greece. Do you really suppose that they have brought up this host from the Atlantic and the pillars of Herakles, all for the sake of Hiketas and his rule ? Why, if Hiketas took measure of affairs like a true ruler, he would not thus turn out his brethren, and bring in an enemy to his country ; he would ensure to himself an honorable sway, by coming to an understanding with the Co- rinthians and Timoleon." Such was the colloquy passing between the soldiers of Timoleon and those of Hiketas, and speedily mack known to the Carthaginians. Having made apparently strong impression on those to whom it was addressed, it justified alarm