Dionysius had been slow to come to Gela when that city first came under Carthaginian attack, and at the battle his most loyal soldiers, the mercenaries, did not suffer any loss while the other detachments were mauled.
The Greeks were convinced that Dionysius had made a secret pact with Carthage and intended to rule over Syracuse using the fear of Carthage as his cause and his mercenaries as his tool.