XLII. While the city was in this condition, and the danger began to menace Achradina also, all men thought of him who was their last and only hope, but no one spoke of Dion, as they were all ashamed of the folly and ingratitude with which they had treated him. Sheer necessity, however, forced some of the auxiliary troops and the knights[494] to cry out that they must send for Dion and his Peloponnesians from Leontini. As soon as any were found bold enough to raise this cry, the Syracusans shouted aloud, and rejoiced with tears, for they prayed that Dion would come, they longed to see him, and they remembered his courage and strength in time of danger, in which he not only remained calm and unmoved, but gave them confidence by his demeanour and caused them fearlessly and bravely to attack their enemies. They therefore at once sent off to him Archonides and Telesides, as representatives of the allies, and Hellanikus, with four others, of the knights. These men rode at full gallop to Leontini, arriving there late in the afternoon. When they dismounted, the first person they met was Dion, and with tears in their eyes they told him of the misfortunes which had befallen the Syracusans. Soon some of the citizens of Leontini fell in with them, and many of the Peloponnesians gathered round Dion, suspecting from the earnest and supplicatory tones and gestures of the ambassadors that something important had happened. Dion at once led the way to the public assembly, where all the people soon met together. Archonides and Hellanikus in a few words informed them of the great misfortune which had befallen the Syracusans, and besought the stranger mercenaries to help them and not to bear malice for the treatment which they had received, since the Syracusans had been more terribly punished for their misconduct than even the soldiers could have wished them to be.