Plutarch wrote that Thoenon and Sosistratus, the leading men in Syracuse, were the first to persuade Pyrrhus to go to Sicily. Diodorus Siculus wrote that "Thoenon controlled the island Syracuse, while Sosistratus ruled Syracuse. They had ten thousand soldiers Syracuse, and carried on war with each other. But both, becoming exhausted in the war, sent ambassadors to Pyrrhus." While Pyrrhus was preparing to set sail, the Carthaginians were besieging Syracuse. They blockaded her port with a fleet. They conducted operations near the city walls and pillaged the countryside with 50,000 men. The Syracusans pinned their hopes on Pyrrhus because he had married Lanassa. When Pyrrhus set sail from Tarentum, he stopped over at Locris.