osition to war, and
more danger to be apprehended among themselves; for the deserters,
thinking that they were delivered up to the Romans, induced the
mercenary auxiliaries to entertain the same apprehension; and hastily
seizing their arms, they first put the praetors to death, and then ran
through the city to massacre the Syracusans. In their rage they slew
all whom chance threw in their way, and plundered every thing which
presented itself; and then, lest they should have no leaders, they
elected six praetors, so that three might have the command in the
Achradina, and three in the island. At length, the tumult having
subsided, and the mercenary troops having ascertained, by inquiry,
what had been negotiated with the Romans, it began to appear, as was
really the case, that their cause and that of the deserters were
different.

30. The ambassadors returned from Marcellus very opportunely. They
informed them that they had been influenced by groundless suspicions,
and that the Romans saw no reason why they should inflict punishment
upon them. Of the three praefects of the Achradina one was a Spaniard,
named Mericus. To him one of the Spanish auxiliaries was designedly
sent, among those who accompanied the ambassadors. Having obtained an
interview with Mericus in the absence of witnesses, he first explained
to him the state in which he had left Spain, from which he had lately
returned: "That there every thing was in subjection to the Roman arms;
that it was in his power, by doing the Romans a service, to become the
first man among his countrymen, whether he might be inclined to serve
with the Romans, or to return to his country. On the other hand, if he
persisted in preferring to hold out against the siege, what hope could
he have, shut up as he was by sea and land?" Mericus was moved by
these suggestions, and when it was resolved upon to send ambassadors
to Marcellus, he sent his brother among them; who, being brought into
the presence of Marcellus, apart from the rest, by means of the same
Spaniard, after receiving an assurance of protection, arranged the
method of carrying their object into effect, and then returned to the
Achradina. Mericus then, in order to prevent any one from conceiving a
suspicion of treachery, declared, that he did not like that deputies
should be passing to and fro; he thought that they should neither
admit nor send any; and in order that the guards might be kept more
strictly, that such parts a