The impetuosity of the soldier thus checked gave the defectors who were in the Achradine the time and the means to escape; and the Syracusans, delivered at last from all fear, opened the gates and sent deputies to Marcellus, who asked only for life for themselves and for their children. Marcellus, after holding a council to which were admitted those of the Syracusans whom the troubles had forced to seek asylum in the Roman camp, replied that for fifty years Rome had received fewer services from Hieron than she had, in three years, suffered outrages from the tyrants of Syracuse:that, moreover, most of these evils had fallen on the culprits, and that those who had violated the treaties had punished themselves more cruelly than any other. the Roman people could have demanded it. If he had kept Syracuse besieged for three years, it was not so that the Romans should have a slave city, but to deliver it from the yoke and oppression of the leaders of the defectors. Syracuse could have learned its duty from the example of those of its inhabitants who had taken refuge in the midst of the Roman army; in that of the Spanish chief Moericus, who had surrendered the post where he commanded; finally in the belated but strong resolution of the Syracusans themselves. All the work and all the dangers that such a long resistance had made him bear around the ramparts of Syracuse, on land and at sea, were only slightly compensated by the capture of this city.
Then he sent his quaestor to the island to seize the treasury of the kings, and to protect it from all violence. The city was abandoned to pillage; but care was taken to place safeguards at the gates of those of the Syracusans who had passed over to the side of the Romans. In the midst of all the excesses of fury, avarice and cruelty, it is said that Archimedes, despite the tumult of a city taken by assault and the sound of soldiers dispersing to plunder, was found the eyes fixed on figures he had traced on the sand, and killed by a soldier who did not know him. Marcellus gave regret to this death, took care of his funeral, and sent for his parents, to whom his name and his memory won safety and honors. Such were the principal events of the capture of Syracuse. The booty that was taken there almost equaled that which could have been found in Carthage, against which they fought with equal forces.
A few days before the submission of this city, T. Otacilius, at the head of eighty quinqueremes, sailed from Lilybea to Utica, entered the port before daybreak, captured transport vessels there filled with corn, made a descent to ravage the territory around Utica, and re-embarked after removing a huge loot. He returned to Lilybea, three days after leaving, with one hundred and thirty transport ships laden with corn and provisions. He immediately sent this help to Syracuse, where it arrived very timely, the victors and the vanquished alike being threatened with the horrors of famine.