Acragas

So the year ended, being the year in which the Carthaginians made an expedition to Sicily with one hundred and twenty triremes and an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and although defeated in battle, starved Acragas into submission after besieging it for seven months.

So the year ended, in the middle of which Dionysius of Syracuse, the son of Hermocrates, became tyrant, after the Carthaginians had been defeated in battle by the Syracusans, but had captured Acragas by famine, the Siceliots abandoning the city.

" It is said, then, that from the mountain of Acragas, a wind once blowing heavy and sickly upon the inhabitants — and the cause too of barrenness in their women — he stopped the wind;

Here they besieged the town of Camicus, where in my day the men of Acragas dwelt, for five years.

This man, who had been expelled from Himera by Theron son of Aenesidemus, sovereign ruler of Acragas, at this very time brought against Gelon three hundred thousand Phoenicians, Libyans, Iberians, Ligyes, Elisyci, Sardinians, and Cyrnians, led by Amilcas son of Annon, the king of the Carchedonians.

As first Empedocles of Acragas,

I sing the Isthmian victory with horses, not unrecognized, which Poseidon granted to Xenocrates, and sent him a garland of Dorian wild celery for his hair, to have himself crowned, thus honoring the man of the fine chariot, the light of the people of Acragas.

I will aim at Acragas, and speak with true intent a word sworn by oath:

I pray that I may be pleasing to the hospitable sons of Tyndareus and to Helen of the beautiful hair while I honor renowned Acragas by raising my song in praise of Theron’s victory at Olympia, won by the choicest of horses with untiring feet.

and Theron must be proclaimed because of his victorious four-horse chariot, Theron who is just in his regard for guests, and is the bulwark of Acragas, the strength of the city, the choicest bloom of illustrious ancestors, who labored much with their spirits, and won a sacred home by the river, and were the eye of Sicily;

I beseech you, splendor-loving city, most beautiful on earth, home of Persephone;

where, for the prosperous Emmenids and Acragas on the river, and especially for Xenocrates, a Pythian victor’s treasure-house of songs has been built and is ready in the glen of Apollo, rich in gold.

And moreover, if Theages here does despise the instruction of our statesmen, and is looking for some other persons who profess to be able to educate young people, we have here Prodicus of Ceos, Gorgias of Leontini, Polus of Acragas, and many more, who are so wise that they go to our cities and persuade the noblest and wealthiest of our young men—who have the choice of learning from any citizen the …

and though Sicanus had failed in winning Acragas, (for while he was still at Gela, the party friendly to the Syracusans had been driven out;

After this, the Syracusans being again, as before, restored to confidence on the strength of such unexpected good fortune, despatched Sicanus with fifteen ships to Acragas, which was torn by factions, to induce the city to join them, if he could: