Passage 1.12.5
Πύρρον δὲ ἐς Σικελίαν ἀπήγαγε πρεσβεία Συρακουσίων· Καρχηδόνιοι γὰρ διαβάντες τὰς Ἑλληνίδας τῶν πόλεων ἐποίουν ἀναστάτους, ἣ δὲ ἦν λοιπή, Συρακούσαις πολιορκοῦντες προσεκάθηντο. ἃ τῶν πρέσβεων Πύρρος ἀκούων Τάραντα μὲν εἴα καὶ τοὺς τὴν ἀκτὴν ἔχοντας Ἰταλιωτῶν, ἐς δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν διαβὰς Καρχηδονίους ἠνάγκασεν ἀπαναστῆναι Συρακουσῶν. φρονήσας δὲ ἐφʼ αὑτῷ Καρχηδονίων, οἳ θαλάσσης τῶν τότε βαρβάρων μάλιστα εἶχον ἐμπείρως Τύριοι Φοίνικες τὸ ἀρχαῖον ὄντες, τούτων ἐναντία ἐπήρθη ναυμαχῆσαι τοῖς Ἠπειρώταις χρώμενος, οἳ μηδὲ ἁλούσης Ἰλίου θάλασσαν οἱ πολλοὶ μηδὲ ἁλσὶν ἠπίσταντό πω χρῆσθαι. μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι καὶ Ὁμήρου ἔπος ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ· οἳ οὐκ ἴσασι θάλασσαν ἀνέρες, οὐδέ θʼ ἅλεσσι μεμιγμένον εἶδαρ ἔδουσιν. Hom. Od. 11.122
An embassy from Syracuse drew Pyrrhus away into Sicily. For the Carthaginians, having crossed over, laid waste to the Greek cities there and, besieging Syracuse, the only place still remaining, pressed it closely. When Pyrrhus heard the ambassadors' request, he left Tarentum and the other cities of southern Italy, and crossed into Sicily, where he compelled the Carthaginians to abandon their siege of Syracuse. But filled with proud confidence against the Carthaginians, who among the barbarians of that time were most skilled on the sea—which was natural, since they were originally Tyrian Phoenicians—he rashly determined to fight a naval battle against them, relying upon his Epirotes, most of whom, even at the time of Troy's fall, neither knew the sea nor how to use salt. And the line of Homer from the Odyssey testifies to this point for me: "Men who do not know the sea, nor do they eat food seasoned with salt." (Hom. Od. 11.122)