The Carthaginians were kept at the assembly without suspecting
anything, because Timoleon himself was present and gave them to
understand that he was just upon the point of rising and making them a
speech. But when news was secretly conveyed to him that the fleet was
under way, and that his ship alone was left behind waiting for him, he
slipped through the crowd, the Rhegines who stood round the bema[A]
helping to conceal him, and, gaining the seashore, sailed off with all
haste.
[Footnote A: Bema, the tribune from which the orators spoke.]
They reached Tauromenium in Sicily, where they were hospitably received
by Andromachus, the ruler and lord of that city, who had long before
invited them thither. This Andromachus was the father of Timaeus, the
historian, and being as he was by far the most powerful of the
legitimate princes of Sicily, ruled his subjects according to law and
justice, and never concealed his dislike and hatred of the despots. For
this reason he permitted Timoleon to make his city his headquarters, and
prevailed on the citizens to cast in their lot with the Syracusans and
free their native land.
XI. At Rhegium meanwhile, the Carthaginians, when the assembly broke up
and Timoleon was gone, were infuriated at being outwitted, and became a
standing joke to the people of Rhegium, because they, although they were
Phoenicians, yet did not seem to enjoy a piece of deceit when it was at
their own expense.
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