486 HISTORY OF GREECi;. fessed engineer as being directly and deliberately called on to ad- vise the best mode of proceeding. ! Having formed his plans, he left his admiral Leptines with a portion of the army to begin the necessary works, while he him- self with the remainder laid waste the neighboring territory de- pendent on or allied with Carthage. The Sikani and others sub- mitted to him ; but Ankyrce, Soloeis, Panormus, Egesta, and En- tella, all held out, though the citizens were confined to their Avails, and obliged to witness, without being able to prevent, the destruc- tion of their lands. 2 Returning from this march, Dionysius pressed the siege of Metye with the utmost ardor, and with all the appliances which his engineers could devise. Having moored his transports along the beach, and hauled his ships of war ashore in the harbor, he undertook the laborious task of filling up the strait (probably of no great depth) which divided Motye from the main island; 3 or at least as much of the length of the strait as was sufficient to march across both with soldiers and with batter ing engines, and to bring them up close against the walls of the city. The numbers under his command enabled him to achieve this enterprise, though not without a long period of effort, during which the Carthaginians tried more than once to interrupt his pro- ceedings. Not having a fleet capable of contending in pitched bat- tle against the besiegers, the Carthaginian general Imilkon tried two successive manreuvres. He first sent a squadron of ten ships of war to sail suddenly into the harbor of Syracuse, in hopes that the diversion thus operated would constrain Dionysius to detach a portion of his fleet from Motye. Though the attack, however, was so far successful as to destroy many merchantmen in the har- bor, yet the assailants were beaten off without making any more serious impression, or creating the diversion intended. 4 Imilkon next made an attempt to surprise the armed ships of Dionysius,
- Diodor. xiv, 48. Aiovvowe 6e uerd ruv upxireKTovuv KaraaKetpuuevoi
rot)f TOTtovf, etc. Artemon the engineer was c insulted by Perikles at the siege of Samos (Plutarch, Perikles, c. 27).
- Diodor. xiv, 48, 49.
3 Diodor. xiv, 49. i^uvvve rbv fiera^i) nopov, Kal raf (j.r)%avu<; in rov ar3 "wyov u/na ry rov ^wparof avt-jjosi xpoarjyaye rolf retreat.
- Diodor. xiv, 50.
