There was in the city one Sosis, infamous for his
insolence and villany, who thought the perfection of ,
liberty was the licentiousness of speech.
insolence and villany, who thought the perfection of ,
liberty was the licentiousness of speech.
Plutarch - Lives - v7
The eagle was the minister of Jove, and the
javelin an ensign of power and government: thus the
father of the gods had destined the overthrow and
abolition of the tyranny. These things we have from
Theopompus.
Dion's soldiers were conveyed in two transports.
These were accompanied by another smaller vessel,
and two more of thirty oars. Besides the arms of
those who attended him, he took with him two thou-
sand shields, a large quantity of darts and javelins,
and a considerable supply of provisions, that nothing
might be wanting in the expedition; for they put off
to the main sea, because they did not think it safe to
coast it along, being informed that Philistus was sta-
tioned off Japygia to watch their motions. Having
sailed with a gentle wind about twelve days, on the
thirteenth they arrived at Pachynus, a promontory in
Sicily. There the pilot advised Dion to land his men
immediately; for if they once doubled the cape, they
might continue at sea a long time before they could
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PLUTARCH.
have a gale from the south at that season of the year.
But Dion, who was afraid of making a descent too
near the enemy, and chose rather to make good his
landing in some remoter part of the island, doubled
the cape notwithstanding. They had not sailed far
before a strong gale from the north, and a high sea,
drove them quite off Sicily. At the same time there
was a violent storm of thunder and lightning, for it
was about the rising of Arcturus; and it was accom-
panied with such dreadful rains, and the weather was
in every respect so tempestuous, that the affrighted
sailors knew not where they were, till they found
themselves driven by the violence of the storm to Cer-
cina, on the coast of Africa. This craggy island was
surrounded with such dangerous rocks, that they nar-
rowly escaped being dashed to pieces ; but by working
hard with their poles they kept clear, with much diffi-
culty, till the storm abated. They were then informed
by a vessel, which accidentally came up with them,
that they were at the head of what is called the Great
Syrtis. 1 In this horrible situation they were farther
disheartened by finding themselves becalmed; but,
after beating about for some time, a gale sprung iip
suddenly from the south. On this unexpected change,
as the wind increased on them, they made all their
sail, and, imploring the assistance of the gods, once
more put off to sea in quest of Sicily. After an easy
passage of five days, they arrived at Minoa, a small
town in Sicily,2 belonging to the Carthaginians. Sy-
nalus, a friend of Dion's, was then governor of the
place; and, as he knew not that this little fleet be-
longed to Dion, he attempted to prevent the landing
of his men. The soldiers leapt out of the vessels in
1 Not far from Tripoli. >> On the south coast.
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? DIoN,
111
arms, but killed none that opposed them; for Dion,
on account of his friendship with Synalus, had for-
bidden them. However, they ran in one body with
the fugitives into the town, and thus made themselves
masters of it. When Dion and the governor met, mu-
tual salutations passed between them, and the former
restored him his town unhurt. Synalus, in return,
entertained his soldiers, and supplied him with neces-
saries.
It happened that Dionysius, a little before this, had
sailed with eighty ships for Italy, and this absence of
his gave them no small encouragement; insomuch,
that when Dion invited his men to refresh themselves
for some time after their fatigues at sea, they thought
of nothing but making a proper use of the present mo-
ment, and called on him, with one voice, to lead them
to Syracuse. He therefore left his useless arms and
baggage with Synalus, and, having engaged him to
transmit them to him at a proper opportunity, marched
for Syracuse. Two hundred of the Agrigentine ca*
valry, who inhabited the country about Ecnomus, im-
mediately revolted, and joined him in his march, and
these were followed by the inhabitants of Gela.
The news of his arrival soon reaching Syracuse, Ti-
mocrates, who had married Dion's wife, and was ap-
pointed regent in the absence of Dionysius, immedi-
ately despatched letters to acquaint him with the event.
In the mean while he applied himself to prevent all
tumults in the city; for the people were greatly ani-
mated on the report of Dion's arrival, though the un-
certainty they were under as yet kept them quiet. A
singular accident happened to the courier who was
despatched with letters for Dionysius. As he was
passing through the territory of Rhegium to Caulonia,
where the tyrant then was, he met an acquaintance of
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? 112 PLUTARCH.
his returning home with a newly offered sacrifice; and
having taken a little of the flesh for his own use,1 he
made the best of his way. At night, however, he found
it necessary to take a little rest, and retired to sleep in
a wood by the side of the road. A wolf, allured by
the smell of the flesh, came up while he was asleep,
and carried it off, together with the bag of letters to
which it was fastened. When the courier awaked, he
sought a long time to no purpose for his dispatches;
and, being determined not to face Dionysius without
them, he absconded. Thus it was a considerable time
after, and from other hands, that Dionysius was in-
formed of Dion's arrival in Sicily.
Dion, in his march, was joined by the Camarinaeans,
and many revolters from the territory of Syracuse.
The Leontines and Campanians, who, with Timocrates,
guarded the Epipolae, being misled by a report design-
edly propagated by Dion, that he intended to attack
their cities first, quitted their present station, and went
to take care of their own concerns. Dion being in-
formed of this, while he lay near Acrae, decamped in
the night, and came to the river Anapus, which is at
the distance of ten furlongs from the city. There he
halted, and sacrificed by the river, addressing his pray-
ers to the rising sun. The diviners informed him that
the gods gave a promise of victory; and as he had
himself assumed a garland at the sacrifice, all that
were present immediately did the same. He was now
joined by about five thousand, who were indeed ill
furnished with arms; but their courage supplied that
deficiency. When he gave orders to march, Liberty
was the word ; and they rushed forward with the high-
est acclamations of joy. The most considerable citi-
? To carry home part of the victim, and to give part of it to
any person that the bearer met, were acts of religion.
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? DIoN.
113
zens of Syracuse, dressed all in white, met him at the
gates. The populace fell with great fury on Diony-
sius' party; but, in particular, they seized his spies;
a set of wretches bated by gods and men, who went
about the city to collect the sentiments of the inha-
bitants, in order to communicate them to the tyrant.
These were the first that suffered, being knocked down
wherever they were met. When Dimocrates found
that he could not join the garrison in the citadel, he
fled on horseback out of the city, and spread a general
terror and dismay where he passed ; magnifying all the
while the forces of Dion, that it might not appear a
slight effort against which he was unable to defend the
place.
Dion now made his public entry info the town: he
was dressed in a magnificent suit of armor, his brother
Megacles marching on the right hand, and Calippus
the Athenian on the left, with garlands on their heads.
He was followed by a hundred foreign soldiers, who
were his body guard; and after these marched the
rest of the army in proper order, under the conduct of
their respective officers. The Syracusans looked on
this procession as sacred. They considered it as the
triumphal entry of Liberty, which would once more
establish the popular government, after a suppression
of forty-eight years.
When Dion entered at the Menitidian gate silence
was commanded by sound of trumpet, and he ordered
freedom to be proclaimed to the Syracusans and the
rest of the Sicilians, in the name of Dion and Me-
gacles, who came to abolish tyranny. Being desirous
to address the people in a speech, he marched up to
the Acradina. As he passed through the streets, the
people prepared their victims on tables placed before
their doors, scattered flowers on his head, and offered
PLUT. VoL. Ml. H
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? 114
PLUTARCH.
up their prayers to him as to their tutelar deity. At
the foot of the citadel, under the pentapylae, there
was a lofty sun-dial,1 which had been placed there
by Dionysius. From the eminence of this building
he addressed the citizens, and exhorted them earnestly
to assert their liberties. The people, in their turn,
nominated Dion and his brother pretors of the city,
and, at their request, appointed them twenty col-
leagues, half of whom were of those who returned
with Dion from exile.
At first it was considered by the soothsayers as a
good omen that Dion, when he addressed the people,
had under his feet the stately edifice which Dionysius
had erected ; but on reflection that this edifice, on which
he had been declared general, was a sun-dial, they
were apprehensive that his present power and grandeur
might be subject to decline.
Dion, in the next place, took the castle of Epipolae,
released the prisoners who were confined there, and in-
vested it with a strong wall. Seven days after this
event Dionysius arrived from Italy, and entered the
citadel from the sea. Dion, at the same time, received
from Synalus the arms and ammunition he had left
with him. These he distributed amongst the citizens,
as far as they would go; the rest armed themselves as
well as they were able; and all expressed the utmost
alacrity for the service. Dionysius, at first, sent
agents in a private manner to Dion, to try what terms
might be made with them. Dion refused to hear any
overtures in private. The Syracusans, he told them,
were now a free people; and what they had to offer
1 Pherecydes was the first who invented dials to mark the
hour of the day, about three hundred years after the time of
Homer: but before his time the Phoenicians had contrived a
dial in the isle of Scyros, which described the solstices.
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? DIoN,
115
must be addressed to them in public. On this they
made specious proposals to the citizens, promised them
an abatement of their taxes, and an exemption from
serving in the wars, even though those wars should be
undertaken by their own approbation. The Syracu-
sans held these proposals in derision; and Dion an-
swered, that it would be in vain for Dionysius to speak
of terms without resigning, in the first place, the regal
government; and that if he took this measure, he
might depend on all the good offices so near a relation
might be iuclined to do him; at least in every thing
that was just and reasonable. Dionysius seemed to
consent to these terms; and again sent his agents to
desire that a deputation of the Syracusans would attend
him in the citadel, in order to settle articles for the
public tranquillity. He assured them that he had such
to offer them as they could not but accept; and that,
on the other hand, he was equally willing to come into
such as they had to offer him. Dion therefore se-
lected a number of the citizens for this deputation;
and the general report from the citadel was, that
Dionysius would resign his authority in a voluntary
manner.
This however was no more than a stratagem to
amuse the Syracusans. The deputies no sooner ar-
rived than they were imprisoned; and early next
morning, after he had plied the mercenaries with wine,
he ordered them to sally out and attack the wall which
had been built by Dion. This unexpected assault was
carried on with great vigor by the barbarians. They
broke through the works, and falling with great impe-
tuosity, and loud shouts, on the Syracusans, soon put
them to flight. Dion's foreign troops took the alarm,
and hastened to their relief; but the precipitate flight
of the citizens disordered their ranks, and rendered it
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? 110
PLUTARCH.
difficult for them to give any effectual assistance. Dion
perceiving that in this tumult his orders could not be
heard, instructed them by his example, and charged
the thickest of the enemy. The battle, where he fought
in person, was fierce and bloody. He was known to
the enemy as well as to his own party; and they rushed
with the utmost violence to the quarter where he
fought. His age, indeed, rendered him unfit for such
an engagement, but he maintained the fight with great
vigor, and cut in pieces many of the enemy that at-
tacked him. At length he was wounded in the head
with a lance; his shield was pierced through in many
places with the darts and spears that were levelled
against him; and his armor no longer resisting the
blows he received in this close engagement, he fell to
the ground. He was immediately carried off by his
soldiers, and leaving the command to Timonides, he
rode about the city to rally the fugitives. Soon after
he brought a detachment of foreign soldiers, which he
had left to guard the Acradina, as a fresh reserve
against the enemy. This however was unnecessary:
they had placed their whole hopes of retaking the city
in their first sally, and finding so powerful a resistance,
fatigued with the action, they retreated into the ci-
tadel. As soon as they began to fall back the Greek.
soldiers bore hard on them, and pursued them to the
walls. Dion lost seventy-four men, and a very great
number of the enemy fell in this action. The victory
was so important, that the Syracusans rewarded each
of the foreign soldiers with a hundred minae, and Dion
was presented by his army with a crown of gold.
Soon after this messengers came from Dionysius with
letters to Dion from the women of his family. Be-
sides these, there was one inscribed 'Hipparinus to
his father Dion:' for this was the name of Dion's son.
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? DIoN.
117
Timaeus says, indeed, that he was called Aretaeus, from
his mother Arete; but I think credit is rather to be
given to Timonides, who was his friend and fellow
soldier. The rest of the letters, which were read
openly before the Syracusans, contained various soli-
citations and in treaties from the women. The letter'
which appeared to come from Hipparinus, the people,
out of respect to the father, would not have sufferml
to be opened in public; but Dion insisted that it
should be so. It proved to be a letter from Dionysins
himself, directed indeed to Dion, but in reality ad-
dressed to the people of Syracuse; for though it car-
ried the air of request and apology, it had an obvious
tendency to render Dion obnoxious to the citizens.
He reminded him of the zeal he had formerly shown
for his service; he threatened him through his dearest
connexions, his sister, his son, and his wife; and his
menaces were followed by the most passionate in-
treaties, and the most abject lamentations. But the
most trying part of his address was that where he in-
treated Dion not to destroy the government, and give
that freedom to his inveterate enemies by means of
which they would prosecute him to death, but to retain
the regal power himself, for the protection of his fa-
mily and friends.
This letter did not produce those sentiments in the
people which it should naturally have done. Instead
of exciting admiration of that noble firmness and mag-
nanimity, which could prefer the public utility to the
tenderest private connexions, it occasioned jealousies
and fears. The people saw, or thought they saw, that
Dion was under an absolute necessity of being favorable
to Dionysius. They already began to wish for another
general, and it was with peculiar satisfaction they heard
of the arrival of Heraclides. This Heraclides, who bad
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? 118
PLUTARCH.
been banished by the tyrant, had once a distinguished
command in the army, and was a man of considerable
military abilities, but irresolute, inconstant, and parti-
cularly unsteady when he had a colleague in command.
He had, some time before, had a difference with Dion
in Peloponnesus, and therefore resolved on his own
strength to make war on Dionysius. When he arrived
at Syracuse, he found the tyrant close besieged, and
the Syracusans elated with their success. His first
object therefore was to court the people, and for thia
purpose he had all the necessary talents; an insinuat-
ing address, and that kind of flattery which is so grate-
ful to the multitude. This business was the more easy
to him, as the forbidding gravity of Dion was thought
too haughty for a popular state: besides, the Syracu-
sans, already insolent with success, assumed the spirit
of a free people, though they had not, in reality, their
freedom. Thus they convened themselves without any
summons, and appointed Heraclides their admiral:
indeed, when Dion remonstrated against that proceed-
ing, and showed them that by thus constituting Hera-
clides admiral, they superseded the office of general,
which they had before conferred on him, with some
reluctance they deprived Heraclides of the commission
they had given him. When this affair was settled,
Dion invited Heraclides to his house, and gently ex-
postulated with him on the impropriety of attending
to a punctilio of honor, at a time when the least inat-
tention to the common cause might be the ruin of the
whole. He then called an assembly, appointed Hera-
clides admiral, and prevailed with the citizens to allow
him such a guard as they had before granted to him-
self. Heraclides treated Dion with all the appearance
of respect, acknowleged his obligations to him, and
seemed attentive to his commands; but in private, he
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? DIoN.
119
corrupted the people, aud encouraged a spirit of mu\
tiny and dissatisfaction; so that Dion was involved in
continual disturbances and disquiet. If he advised
that Dionysius should be permitted to make his retreat
in safety, he was censured as designing to favor and
protect him; if, to avoid those suspicions, he was for
continuing the siege, he was accused of protracting the
war, that he might the longer retain his command, and
keep the citizens in subjection.
There was in the city one Sosis, infamous for his
insolence and villany, who thought the perfection of ,
liberty was the licentiousness of speech. This fellow
openly attacked Dion, and told the people in public
assembly that they had only changed the inattention
of a drunken and dissolute tyrant for the crafty vigi-
lance of a sober master. Immediately after this he left
the assembly, and next day was seen running naked
through the streets, as if from somebody that pursued
him, with his head and face covered with blood. In
this condition he ran into the market-place, and told
the people that he had been assaulted by Dion's foreign
soldiers; at the same time showing them a wound in
his head, which, he said, they had given him. Dion,
on this, was generally condemned, and accused of si-
lencing the people by sanguinary methods: he came,
however, before this irregular and tumultuous assem-
bly, in his own vindication, and made it appear that
this Sosis was brother to one of Dionysius' guards,
and that he had been engaged by him to raise a tumult
in the city; the only resource the tyrant had now left
being that of exciting dissensions amongst the people.
The surgeons also, who examined the wound, found
that it was not occasioned by any violent blow. The
wounds made by weapons are generally deepest in the
middle; but this was both superficial, and of an equal
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PLUTARCH.
depth from one end to the other: besides, being dis-
continuous, it did not appear to be the effect of one
incision, but to have been made at different times, pro-
bably as he was best able to endure the pain. At the
same time there were some who deposed, that having
seen Sosis running naked and wounded, and being in-
formed by him that he was flying from the pursuit of
Dion's foreign soldiers, who had just then wounded
him, they hasted to take the pursuers; that, however,
they could meet with no such persons, but found a
razor lying under a hollow stone, near the place from
whence they had observed him come. All these cir-
cumstances made strongly against him: but when his
own servants gave evidence, that he went out of his
house alone before daylight, with a razor in his hand,
Dion's accusers withdrew. The people, by a general
vote, condemned Sosis to die, and were once more re-
conciled to Dion.
Nevertheless, their jealousy of his soldiers remained;
and as the war was now principally carried on by sea,
Philistus being come to the support of Dionysius, with
a considerable fleet from Japygia, they did not see the
necessity of retaining in their service those Greeks
who were no seamen, and must depend for protection
on the naval force. Their confidence in their own
strength was likewise greatly increased by an advan-
tage they had gained at sea against Philistus, whom
they used in a very barbarous manner. Ephorus
relates that, after his ship was taken, he slew him-
self. But Timonides, who attended Dion from the
beginning of the war, writing to Speusippus the philo-
sopher, gives the story thus: Philistus' galley having
run aground, he was taken prisoner alive; and after
being disarmed and stripped, was exposed naked, though
an old man, to every kind of insult. They afterwards
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? DIoN.
121
cut off his head, and ordered their children to drag
his body through the Acradina, and throw it into the
quarry. Timsus represents the indignity offered his
remains to he still greater. 'The boys,' he says, 'tied
a rope about his lame leg, and so dragged him through
the city; the Syracusans, in the mean while, insulting
over his carcass, when they saw him tied by the leg who
had said, 'It would ill become Dionysius to fly from
his throne by the swiftness of his horse, which he ought
never to quit till he was dragged from it by the heels. "
Philistus, however, tells us that this was not said to
Dionysius by himself, but by another. It is plain, at
the same time, that Timaeus takes every occasion, from
Philistus' known adherence to arbitrary power, to
load him with the keenest reproaches. Those whom
he injured are in some degree excusable, if, in their
resentment, they treated him with indignities after
death. But wherefore should his biographers, whom
he never injured, and who have had the benefit of his
works; wherefore should they exhibit him, with all
the exaggerations of scurrility, in those scenes of dis-
tress to which fortune sometimes reduces the best of
men? On the other hand, Ephorus is no less extrava-
gant in his encomiums on Philistus. He knows well
how to throw into shades the foibles of the human cha-
racter, and to give an air of plausibility to the most
indefensible conduct; but, with all his eloquence, with
all his art, he cannot rescue Philistus from the impu-
tation of being the most strenuous assertor of arbitrary
power, of being the fondest follower and admirer of
the luxury, the magnificence, the alliance of tyrants.
On the whole, he who neither defends the principles of
Philistus, nor insults over his misfortunes, will best
discharge the duty of the historian.
After the death of Philistus, Dionysius offered to
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PLUTARCH.
surrender the citadel to Dion, together with the arms,
provisions, and soldiers, and an advance of five months'
pay, on condition that he might be permitted to retire
into Italy, and there enjoy the revenues of Gyata, a
fruitful tract of country in the territory of Syracuse,
reaching from the sea to the middle of the country.
Dion refusing to negotiate on his own account, re-
ferred the ambassadors to the Syracusans; and, as
they expected that Dionysius would shortly come alive
into their hands, they were dismissed without audieuce.
On this the tyrant, leaving his eldest son Apollocrates
to defend the citadel, embarked with his most valuable
treasures and a few select friends, and, sailing with a
fair wind, escaped Heraclides the admiral.
The tyrant's escape greatly exasperated the people
against Heraclides; and, in order to appease them, he
proposed by Hippo, one of the orators, that there
should be an equal division of lands; alleging, that
equality was the first foundation of civil liberty, and
that poverty and slavery were synonymous terms. At
the same time that he supported Hippo in the promo-
tion of this scheme, he encouraged the faction against
Dion, who opposed it. At length he prevailed with
the people not only to pass this law, but to make a
decree that the pay of the foreign soldiers should be
stopped, and new commanders chosen, that they might
no longer be subject to the severe discipline of Dion.
Thus, like the patient who, after a lingering sickness,
makes too rash a use of the first returns of health, and
rejects the sober and gradual regimen of his physician,
the citizens, who had long labored under the yoke of
slavery, took too precipitate steps to freedom, and re-
fused the salutary counsels and conduct of their deli-
verer.
It was about the midst of summer when the assembly
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? DIoN.
123
was summoned for the election of new officers; and,
for the space of fifteen days, there were the most
dreadful thunders, and the most alarming prodigies.
The religious fears that these prodigies excited made
these people decline the choosing of officers. When
the weather grew more serene the orators again ex-
horted them to proceed to the business; but no sooner
had they begun than a draught-ox, which had neither
received any provocation from the driver, nor could be
terrified by the crowds and noise to which he had been
accustomed, suddenly broke from his yoke, and run-
ning furiously into the assembly, drove the people in
great disorder before him: from thence, throwing down
all that stood in his way, he ran over that part of the
city which afterwards fell into the enemy's hands.
The Syracusans, however, regardless of these things,
elected five-and-twenty officers, among whom was He-
raclides. At the same time they privately endeavored
to draw off Dion's men; promising, if they would de-
sert him, to make them citizens of Syracuse. But the
soldiers were faithful to their general, and, placing
him in the middle of a battalion, marched out of the
city. They did not, on this occasion, offer any vio-
lence to the inhabitants, but they severely reproached
them for their baseness and ingratitude. The small-
ness of their number, and their declining to act offen-
sively, put the citizens on the view of cutting them off
before they escaped out of the city; and with this de-
sign they fell on their rear. Dion was here in a great
dilemma: he was under the necessity either of fighting
against his countrymen, or of suffering himself and his
faithful soldiers to be cut in pieces. He therefore in-
treated the Syracusans to desist: he stretched forth
his hands to them, and pointed to the citadel full of
soldiers, who were happy in being spectators of these
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? PLUTARCH.
dissensions amongst their enemies. But the torrent of
the populace, agitated and driven forward by the se-
ditious breath of the orators, was not to be stopped by
persuasion. He therefore commanded his men to ad-
vance with shouts and clashing of arms, but not to
attack them. The Syracusans, on this, fled immedi-
ately through the streets, though no one pursued them;
for Dion retreated with his men into the territories of
the Leontines.
The very women laughed at the new officers for this
cowardly flight; and the latter, to recover their repu-
tation, ordered the citizens to arms, pursued Dion,
and came up with him as he was passing a river. A
skirmish began between the cavalry; but when they
found Dion no longer disposed to bear these indigni-
ties with his usual paternal patience; when they ob-
served him drawing up his men for battle, with all the
eagerness of strong resentment, they once more turned
their backs, and with the loss of some few men, fled to
the city in a more disgraceful and more cowardly man-
ner than before.
The Leontines received Dion in a very honorable
manner, gave money to his soldiers, and made them
free of their city. They also sent messengers to Syra-
cuse with requisitions that his men might have justice
done them, and receive their pay. The Syracusans,
in return, sent other messengers, with impeachments
against Dion: but when the matter was debated at
Leontium, in full assembly of the allies, they evidently
appeared to be in fault. They refused, nevertheless,
to stand to the award of this assembly; for the recent
recovery of their liberties had made them insolent, and
the popular power was without control; their very
commanders being no more than servile dependents on
the multitude.
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? DIoN.
About this time Dionysius sent a fleet tinder Nyp-
sius, the Neapolitan, with provisions and pay for the
garrison in the citadel. The Syracusans overcame him,
and took four of his ships; but they made an ill use
of their success. Destitute of all discipline, they cele-
brated the victory with the most riotous extravagance;
and at a time when they thought themselves secure of
taking the citadel, they lost the city. Nypsius ob-
serving their disorder, their night revels and debauches,
in which their commanders, either from inclination, or
through fear of offending them, were as deeply engaged
as themselves, took advantage of this opportunity, broke
through their walls, and exposed the city to the violence
and depredation of his soldiers.
The Syracusans at once perceived their folly and
their misfortune: but the latter, in their present con-
fusion, was not easy to be redressed. The soldiers
made dreadful havoc in the city: they demolished the
fortifications, put the men to the sword, and dragged
the women and children shrieking to the citadel. The
Syracusan officers being unable to separate the citizens
from the enemy, or to draw them up in any order, gave
up all for lost. In this situation, while the Acradina
itself was in danger of being taken, they naturally
turned their thoughts on Dion; but none had the
courage to mention a man whom all had injured. In
this emergency a voice was heard from the cavalry of
the allies, crying, 'send for Dion and his Peloponne-
sians from Leontium. ' His name was no sooner men-
tioned than the people shouted for joy. With tears
they implored that he might once more be at their
head: they remembered his intrepidity in the most
trying dangers: they remembered the courage that he
showed himself, and the confidence with which he in-
spired them when he led them against the enemy.
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PLUTARCH.
Archonides and Telesidea from the auxiliaries, and Hel-
lanicus, with four more from the cavalry, were imme-
diately despatched to Leontium, where, making the
best of their way, they arrived in the close of the
evening. They instantly threw themselves at the feet
of Dion, and related, with tears, the deplorable con-
dition of the Syracusans. The Leontines and Pelopon-
nesians soon gathered about them, conjecturing from
their haste, and the manner of their address, that their
business had something extraordinary in it.
Dion immediately summoned an assembly, and the
people being soon collected, Archonides and Hellanicus
briefly related the distress of the Syracusans, intreated
the foreign soldiers to forget the injuries they had done
them, and once more to assist that unfortunate people,
who had already suffered more for their ingratitude
than even they whom they had injured would have in-
flicted on them. When they had thus spoken, a pro-
found silence ensued; on which Dion arose, and at-
tempted to speak, but was prevented by his tears. His
soldiers, who were greatly affected with their general's
sorrow, intreated him to moderate his grief, and pro-
ceed. After he had recovered himself a little, he spoke
to the following purpose: ' Peloponnesians and con-
federates, I have called you together, that you may
consult on your respective affairs. My measures are
taken: I cannot hesitate what to do when Syracuse is
perishing. If I cannot save it, I will, at least, hasten
thither, and fall beneath the ruins of my country: for
you, if you can yet persuade yourselves to assist the
most unfortunate and inconsiderate of men, it may be
in your power to save from destruction a city which
was the work of your own hands. But if your pity
for the Syracusans be sacrificed to your resentment,
may the gods reward your fidelity, your kindness to
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? DIoN.
Dion! And remember, that as he would not desert
you, when you were injured, so neither could he aban-
don his falling country! '
He had hardly , ended when the soldiers signified
their readiness for the service by loud acclamations,
and called on him to march directly to the relief of
Syracuse. The messengers embraced them, and in-
treated the gods to shower their blessings on Dion and
the Peloponnesians. When the noise subsided Dion
gave orders that the men should repair to their quarters,
and, after the necessary refreshments, assemble in the
same place completely armed; for he intended to march
that very night.
The soldiers of Dionysius, after ravaging the city
during the whole day, retired at night, with the loss of
a few men, into the citadel. This small respite once
more encouraged the demagogues of the city, who, pre-
suming that the enemy would not repeat their hostili-
ties, dissuaded the people from admitting Dion and his
foreign soldiers. They advised them not to give up the
honor of saving the city to strangers, but to defend their
liberty themselves. On this the generals sent other
messengers to Dion to countermand his march; while,
on the other hand, the cavalry, and many of the prin-
cipal citizens, sent their requests that he would hasten
it. Thus invited by one party, and rejected by another,
he came forward but slowly; and, at night, the faction
that opposed him set a guard on the gates to prevent
his entering.
Nypsius now made a fresh sally from the citadel,
with still greater numbers, and greater fury than be-
fore. After totally demolishing the remaining part of
the fortification, he fell to ravaging the city. The
slaughter was dreadful; men, women, and children,
fell indiscriminately by the sword: for the object of
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? 128
PLUTARCH.
the enemy was not so much plunder as destruction.
Dionysius despaired of regaining his lost empire, and,
in his mortal hatred of the Syracusans, he determined
to hury it in the ruins of their city. It was resolved
therefore that, before Dion's succors could arrive, they
should destroy it the quickest way, by laying it in
ashes. Accordingly they set fire to those parts that
were at hand by brands and torches, and to the re-
moter parts by shooting flaming arrows. The citizens,
in the utmost consternation, fled every where before
them. Those who, to avoid the fire, had fled from
their houses, were put to the sword in the streets;
and they who sought for refuge in their houses were
again driven out by the flames: many were burnt to
death, and many perished beneath the ruins of the
houses.
This terrible distress, by universal consent, opened
the gates for Dion. After being informed that the
enemy had retreated into the citadel, he had made no
great haste: but early in the morning some horsemen
carried him the news of a fresh assault. These were
followed by some, even of those who had recently op-
posed his coming, but who now implored him to fly to
their relief. As the conflagration and destruction in-
creased, Heraclides despatched his brother, and after
him his uncle Theodotes, to intreat the assistance of
Dion; for they were now no longer in a capacity of op-
posing the enemy: he was wounded himself, and great
part of the city was laid in ashes.
When Dion received this news he was about sixty
furlongs from the city. After he had acquainted his
soldiers with the dreadful exigency, and exhorted them
to behave with resolution, they no longer marched, but
ran ; and in their way they were met by numbers, who
intreated them, if possible, to go still faster. By the
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? DIoN.
eager and vigorous speed of the soldiers, Dion quickly-
arrived at the city; and, entering by the part called
Hecatompedon, he ordered his light troops immediately
to charge the enemy, that the Syracusans might take
courage at the sight of them. In the mean while he
drew up his heavy-armed men, with such of the citi-
zens as had joined him, and divided them into several
small bodies, of greater depth than breadth, that he
might intimidate the enemy, by attacking them in seve-
ral quarters at once. He advanced to the engagement
at the head of his men, amidst a confused noise of shouts,
plaudits, prayers, and vows, which the Syracusans of-
fered up for their deliverer, their tutelary deity; for
so they termed him now; and his foreign soldiers they
called their brethren and fellow-citizens. At this time,
perhaps, there was not one wretch so selfishly fond of
life, that he did not hold Dion's safety dearer than his
own, or that of all his fellow-citizens, while they saw
him advancing first in the front of danger, through
blood and fire, and over heaps of the slain.
There was, indeed, something terrible in the appear-
ance of the enemy, who, animated by rage and despair,
had posted themselves in the ruins of the ramparts, so
that it was extremely dangerous and difficult to ap-
proach them. But the apprehensions of fire discouraged
Dion's men the most, and distressed them in their
march. They were surrounded by flames that raged
on every side; and while they walked over burning
ruins, through clouds of ashes and smoke, they were
every moment in danger of being burned beneath the
fall of half consumed buildings. In all these diffi-
culties they took infinite pains to keep close together,
and maintain their ranks. When they came up to the
enemy, a few only could engage at a time, on account
of the narrowness and inequality of the ground. They
. ^LUT. VoL. VII. I
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javelin an ensign of power and government: thus the
father of the gods had destined the overthrow and
abolition of the tyranny. These things we have from
Theopompus.
Dion's soldiers were conveyed in two transports.
These were accompanied by another smaller vessel,
and two more of thirty oars. Besides the arms of
those who attended him, he took with him two thou-
sand shields, a large quantity of darts and javelins,
and a considerable supply of provisions, that nothing
might be wanting in the expedition; for they put off
to the main sea, because they did not think it safe to
coast it along, being informed that Philistus was sta-
tioned off Japygia to watch their motions. Having
sailed with a gentle wind about twelve days, on the
thirteenth they arrived at Pachynus, a promontory in
Sicily. There the pilot advised Dion to land his men
immediately; for if they once doubled the cape, they
might continue at sea a long time before they could
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? 110
PLUTARCH.
have a gale from the south at that season of the year.
But Dion, who was afraid of making a descent too
near the enemy, and chose rather to make good his
landing in some remoter part of the island, doubled
the cape notwithstanding. They had not sailed far
before a strong gale from the north, and a high sea,
drove them quite off Sicily. At the same time there
was a violent storm of thunder and lightning, for it
was about the rising of Arcturus; and it was accom-
panied with such dreadful rains, and the weather was
in every respect so tempestuous, that the affrighted
sailors knew not where they were, till they found
themselves driven by the violence of the storm to Cer-
cina, on the coast of Africa. This craggy island was
surrounded with such dangerous rocks, that they nar-
rowly escaped being dashed to pieces ; but by working
hard with their poles they kept clear, with much diffi-
culty, till the storm abated. They were then informed
by a vessel, which accidentally came up with them,
that they were at the head of what is called the Great
Syrtis. 1 In this horrible situation they were farther
disheartened by finding themselves becalmed; but,
after beating about for some time, a gale sprung iip
suddenly from the south. On this unexpected change,
as the wind increased on them, they made all their
sail, and, imploring the assistance of the gods, once
more put off to sea in quest of Sicily. After an easy
passage of five days, they arrived at Minoa, a small
town in Sicily,2 belonging to the Carthaginians. Sy-
nalus, a friend of Dion's, was then governor of the
place; and, as he knew not that this little fleet be-
longed to Dion, he attempted to prevent the landing
of his men. The soldiers leapt out of the vessels in
1 Not far from Tripoli. >> On the south coast.
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? DIoN,
111
arms, but killed none that opposed them; for Dion,
on account of his friendship with Synalus, had for-
bidden them. However, they ran in one body with
the fugitives into the town, and thus made themselves
masters of it. When Dion and the governor met, mu-
tual salutations passed between them, and the former
restored him his town unhurt. Synalus, in return,
entertained his soldiers, and supplied him with neces-
saries.
It happened that Dionysius, a little before this, had
sailed with eighty ships for Italy, and this absence of
his gave them no small encouragement; insomuch,
that when Dion invited his men to refresh themselves
for some time after their fatigues at sea, they thought
of nothing but making a proper use of the present mo-
ment, and called on him, with one voice, to lead them
to Syracuse. He therefore left his useless arms and
baggage with Synalus, and, having engaged him to
transmit them to him at a proper opportunity, marched
for Syracuse. Two hundred of the Agrigentine ca*
valry, who inhabited the country about Ecnomus, im-
mediately revolted, and joined him in his march, and
these were followed by the inhabitants of Gela.
The news of his arrival soon reaching Syracuse, Ti-
mocrates, who had married Dion's wife, and was ap-
pointed regent in the absence of Dionysius, immedi-
ately despatched letters to acquaint him with the event.
In the mean while he applied himself to prevent all
tumults in the city; for the people were greatly ani-
mated on the report of Dion's arrival, though the un-
certainty they were under as yet kept them quiet. A
singular accident happened to the courier who was
despatched with letters for Dionysius. As he was
passing through the territory of Rhegium to Caulonia,
where the tyrant then was, he met an acquaintance of
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? 112 PLUTARCH.
his returning home with a newly offered sacrifice; and
having taken a little of the flesh for his own use,1 he
made the best of his way. At night, however, he found
it necessary to take a little rest, and retired to sleep in
a wood by the side of the road. A wolf, allured by
the smell of the flesh, came up while he was asleep,
and carried it off, together with the bag of letters to
which it was fastened. When the courier awaked, he
sought a long time to no purpose for his dispatches;
and, being determined not to face Dionysius without
them, he absconded. Thus it was a considerable time
after, and from other hands, that Dionysius was in-
formed of Dion's arrival in Sicily.
Dion, in his march, was joined by the Camarinaeans,
and many revolters from the territory of Syracuse.
The Leontines and Campanians, who, with Timocrates,
guarded the Epipolae, being misled by a report design-
edly propagated by Dion, that he intended to attack
their cities first, quitted their present station, and went
to take care of their own concerns. Dion being in-
formed of this, while he lay near Acrae, decamped in
the night, and came to the river Anapus, which is at
the distance of ten furlongs from the city. There he
halted, and sacrificed by the river, addressing his pray-
ers to the rising sun. The diviners informed him that
the gods gave a promise of victory; and as he had
himself assumed a garland at the sacrifice, all that
were present immediately did the same. He was now
joined by about five thousand, who were indeed ill
furnished with arms; but their courage supplied that
deficiency. When he gave orders to march, Liberty
was the word ; and they rushed forward with the high-
est acclamations of joy. The most considerable citi-
? To carry home part of the victim, and to give part of it to
any person that the bearer met, were acts of religion.
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? DIoN.
113
zens of Syracuse, dressed all in white, met him at the
gates. The populace fell with great fury on Diony-
sius' party; but, in particular, they seized his spies;
a set of wretches bated by gods and men, who went
about the city to collect the sentiments of the inha-
bitants, in order to communicate them to the tyrant.
These were the first that suffered, being knocked down
wherever they were met. When Dimocrates found
that he could not join the garrison in the citadel, he
fled on horseback out of the city, and spread a general
terror and dismay where he passed ; magnifying all the
while the forces of Dion, that it might not appear a
slight effort against which he was unable to defend the
place.
Dion now made his public entry info the town: he
was dressed in a magnificent suit of armor, his brother
Megacles marching on the right hand, and Calippus
the Athenian on the left, with garlands on their heads.
He was followed by a hundred foreign soldiers, who
were his body guard; and after these marched the
rest of the army in proper order, under the conduct of
their respective officers. The Syracusans looked on
this procession as sacred. They considered it as the
triumphal entry of Liberty, which would once more
establish the popular government, after a suppression
of forty-eight years.
When Dion entered at the Menitidian gate silence
was commanded by sound of trumpet, and he ordered
freedom to be proclaimed to the Syracusans and the
rest of the Sicilians, in the name of Dion and Me-
gacles, who came to abolish tyranny. Being desirous
to address the people in a speech, he marched up to
the Acradina. As he passed through the streets, the
people prepared their victims on tables placed before
their doors, scattered flowers on his head, and offered
PLUT. VoL. Ml. H
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? 114
PLUTARCH.
up their prayers to him as to their tutelar deity. At
the foot of the citadel, under the pentapylae, there
was a lofty sun-dial,1 which had been placed there
by Dionysius. From the eminence of this building
he addressed the citizens, and exhorted them earnestly
to assert their liberties. The people, in their turn,
nominated Dion and his brother pretors of the city,
and, at their request, appointed them twenty col-
leagues, half of whom were of those who returned
with Dion from exile.
At first it was considered by the soothsayers as a
good omen that Dion, when he addressed the people,
had under his feet the stately edifice which Dionysius
had erected ; but on reflection that this edifice, on which
he had been declared general, was a sun-dial, they
were apprehensive that his present power and grandeur
might be subject to decline.
Dion, in the next place, took the castle of Epipolae,
released the prisoners who were confined there, and in-
vested it with a strong wall. Seven days after this
event Dionysius arrived from Italy, and entered the
citadel from the sea. Dion, at the same time, received
from Synalus the arms and ammunition he had left
with him. These he distributed amongst the citizens,
as far as they would go; the rest armed themselves as
well as they were able; and all expressed the utmost
alacrity for the service. Dionysius, at first, sent
agents in a private manner to Dion, to try what terms
might be made with them. Dion refused to hear any
overtures in private. The Syracusans, he told them,
were now a free people; and what they had to offer
1 Pherecydes was the first who invented dials to mark the
hour of the day, about three hundred years after the time of
Homer: but before his time the Phoenicians had contrived a
dial in the isle of Scyros, which described the solstices.
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? DIoN,
115
must be addressed to them in public. On this they
made specious proposals to the citizens, promised them
an abatement of their taxes, and an exemption from
serving in the wars, even though those wars should be
undertaken by their own approbation. The Syracu-
sans held these proposals in derision; and Dion an-
swered, that it would be in vain for Dionysius to speak
of terms without resigning, in the first place, the regal
government; and that if he took this measure, he
might depend on all the good offices so near a relation
might be iuclined to do him; at least in every thing
that was just and reasonable. Dionysius seemed to
consent to these terms; and again sent his agents to
desire that a deputation of the Syracusans would attend
him in the citadel, in order to settle articles for the
public tranquillity. He assured them that he had such
to offer them as they could not but accept; and that,
on the other hand, he was equally willing to come into
such as they had to offer him. Dion therefore se-
lected a number of the citizens for this deputation;
and the general report from the citadel was, that
Dionysius would resign his authority in a voluntary
manner.
This however was no more than a stratagem to
amuse the Syracusans. The deputies no sooner ar-
rived than they were imprisoned; and early next
morning, after he had plied the mercenaries with wine,
he ordered them to sally out and attack the wall which
had been built by Dion. This unexpected assault was
carried on with great vigor by the barbarians. They
broke through the works, and falling with great impe-
tuosity, and loud shouts, on the Syracusans, soon put
them to flight. Dion's foreign troops took the alarm,
and hastened to their relief; but the precipitate flight
of the citizens disordered their ranks, and rendered it
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? 110
PLUTARCH.
difficult for them to give any effectual assistance. Dion
perceiving that in this tumult his orders could not be
heard, instructed them by his example, and charged
the thickest of the enemy. The battle, where he fought
in person, was fierce and bloody. He was known to
the enemy as well as to his own party; and they rushed
with the utmost violence to the quarter where he
fought. His age, indeed, rendered him unfit for such
an engagement, but he maintained the fight with great
vigor, and cut in pieces many of the enemy that at-
tacked him. At length he was wounded in the head
with a lance; his shield was pierced through in many
places with the darts and spears that were levelled
against him; and his armor no longer resisting the
blows he received in this close engagement, he fell to
the ground. He was immediately carried off by his
soldiers, and leaving the command to Timonides, he
rode about the city to rally the fugitives. Soon after
he brought a detachment of foreign soldiers, which he
had left to guard the Acradina, as a fresh reserve
against the enemy. This however was unnecessary:
they had placed their whole hopes of retaking the city
in their first sally, and finding so powerful a resistance,
fatigued with the action, they retreated into the ci-
tadel. As soon as they began to fall back the Greek.
soldiers bore hard on them, and pursued them to the
walls. Dion lost seventy-four men, and a very great
number of the enemy fell in this action. The victory
was so important, that the Syracusans rewarded each
of the foreign soldiers with a hundred minae, and Dion
was presented by his army with a crown of gold.
Soon after this messengers came from Dionysius with
letters to Dion from the women of his family. Be-
sides these, there was one inscribed 'Hipparinus to
his father Dion:' for this was the name of Dion's son.
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? DIoN.
117
Timaeus says, indeed, that he was called Aretaeus, from
his mother Arete; but I think credit is rather to be
given to Timonides, who was his friend and fellow
soldier. The rest of the letters, which were read
openly before the Syracusans, contained various soli-
citations and in treaties from the women. The letter'
which appeared to come from Hipparinus, the people,
out of respect to the father, would not have sufferml
to be opened in public; but Dion insisted that it
should be so. It proved to be a letter from Dionysins
himself, directed indeed to Dion, but in reality ad-
dressed to the people of Syracuse; for though it car-
ried the air of request and apology, it had an obvious
tendency to render Dion obnoxious to the citizens.
He reminded him of the zeal he had formerly shown
for his service; he threatened him through his dearest
connexions, his sister, his son, and his wife; and his
menaces were followed by the most passionate in-
treaties, and the most abject lamentations. But the
most trying part of his address was that where he in-
treated Dion not to destroy the government, and give
that freedom to his inveterate enemies by means of
which they would prosecute him to death, but to retain
the regal power himself, for the protection of his fa-
mily and friends.
This letter did not produce those sentiments in the
people which it should naturally have done. Instead
of exciting admiration of that noble firmness and mag-
nanimity, which could prefer the public utility to the
tenderest private connexions, it occasioned jealousies
and fears. The people saw, or thought they saw, that
Dion was under an absolute necessity of being favorable
to Dionysius. They already began to wish for another
general, and it was with peculiar satisfaction they heard
of the arrival of Heraclides. This Heraclides, who bad
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PLUTARCH.
been banished by the tyrant, had once a distinguished
command in the army, and was a man of considerable
military abilities, but irresolute, inconstant, and parti-
cularly unsteady when he had a colleague in command.
He had, some time before, had a difference with Dion
in Peloponnesus, and therefore resolved on his own
strength to make war on Dionysius. When he arrived
at Syracuse, he found the tyrant close besieged, and
the Syracusans elated with their success. His first
object therefore was to court the people, and for thia
purpose he had all the necessary talents; an insinuat-
ing address, and that kind of flattery which is so grate-
ful to the multitude. This business was the more easy
to him, as the forbidding gravity of Dion was thought
too haughty for a popular state: besides, the Syracu-
sans, already insolent with success, assumed the spirit
of a free people, though they had not, in reality, their
freedom. Thus they convened themselves without any
summons, and appointed Heraclides their admiral:
indeed, when Dion remonstrated against that proceed-
ing, and showed them that by thus constituting Hera-
clides admiral, they superseded the office of general,
which they had before conferred on him, with some
reluctance they deprived Heraclides of the commission
they had given him. When this affair was settled,
Dion invited Heraclides to his house, and gently ex-
postulated with him on the impropriety of attending
to a punctilio of honor, at a time when the least inat-
tention to the common cause might be the ruin of the
whole. He then called an assembly, appointed Hera-
clides admiral, and prevailed with the citizens to allow
him such a guard as they had before granted to him-
self. Heraclides treated Dion with all the appearance
of respect, acknowleged his obligations to him, and
seemed attentive to his commands; but in private, he
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? DIoN.
119
corrupted the people, aud encouraged a spirit of mu\
tiny and dissatisfaction; so that Dion was involved in
continual disturbances and disquiet. If he advised
that Dionysius should be permitted to make his retreat
in safety, he was censured as designing to favor and
protect him; if, to avoid those suspicions, he was for
continuing the siege, he was accused of protracting the
war, that he might the longer retain his command, and
keep the citizens in subjection.
There was in the city one Sosis, infamous for his
insolence and villany, who thought the perfection of ,
liberty was the licentiousness of speech. This fellow
openly attacked Dion, and told the people in public
assembly that they had only changed the inattention
of a drunken and dissolute tyrant for the crafty vigi-
lance of a sober master. Immediately after this he left
the assembly, and next day was seen running naked
through the streets, as if from somebody that pursued
him, with his head and face covered with blood. In
this condition he ran into the market-place, and told
the people that he had been assaulted by Dion's foreign
soldiers; at the same time showing them a wound in
his head, which, he said, they had given him. Dion,
on this, was generally condemned, and accused of si-
lencing the people by sanguinary methods: he came,
however, before this irregular and tumultuous assem-
bly, in his own vindication, and made it appear that
this Sosis was brother to one of Dionysius' guards,
and that he had been engaged by him to raise a tumult
in the city; the only resource the tyrant had now left
being that of exciting dissensions amongst the people.
The surgeons also, who examined the wound, found
that it was not occasioned by any violent blow. The
wounds made by weapons are generally deepest in the
middle; but this was both superficial, and of an equal
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PLUTARCH.
depth from one end to the other: besides, being dis-
continuous, it did not appear to be the effect of one
incision, but to have been made at different times, pro-
bably as he was best able to endure the pain. At the
same time there were some who deposed, that having
seen Sosis running naked and wounded, and being in-
formed by him that he was flying from the pursuit of
Dion's foreign soldiers, who had just then wounded
him, they hasted to take the pursuers; that, however,
they could meet with no such persons, but found a
razor lying under a hollow stone, near the place from
whence they had observed him come. All these cir-
cumstances made strongly against him: but when his
own servants gave evidence, that he went out of his
house alone before daylight, with a razor in his hand,
Dion's accusers withdrew. The people, by a general
vote, condemned Sosis to die, and were once more re-
conciled to Dion.
Nevertheless, their jealousy of his soldiers remained;
and as the war was now principally carried on by sea,
Philistus being come to the support of Dionysius, with
a considerable fleet from Japygia, they did not see the
necessity of retaining in their service those Greeks
who were no seamen, and must depend for protection
on the naval force. Their confidence in their own
strength was likewise greatly increased by an advan-
tage they had gained at sea against Philistus, whom
they used in a very barbarous manner. Ephorus
relates that, after his ship was taken, he slew him-
self. But Timonides, who attended Dion from the
beginning of the war, writing to Speusippus the philo-
sopher, gives the story thus: Philistus' galley having
run aground, he was taken prisoner alive; and after
being disarmed and stripped, was exposed naked, though
an old man, to every kind of insult. They afterwards
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? DIoN.
121
cut off his head, and ordered their children to drag
his body through the Acradina, and throw it into the
quarry. Timsus represents the indignity offered his
remains to he still greater. 'The boys,' he says, 'tied
a rope about his lame leg, and so dragged him through
the city; the Syracusans, in the mean while, insulting
over his carcass, when they saw him tied by the leg who
had said, 'It would ill become Dionysius to fly from
his throne by the swiftness of his horse, which he ought
never to quit till he was dragged from it by the heels. "
Philistus, however, tells us that this was not said to
Dionysius by himself, but by another. It is plain, at
the same time, that Timaeus takes every occasion, from
Philistus' known adherence to arbitrary power, to
load him with the keenest reproaches. Those whom
he injured are in some degree excusable, if, in their
resentment, they treated him with indignities after
death. But wherefore should his biographers, whom
he never injured, and who have had the benefit of his
works; wherefore should they exhibit him, with all
the exaggerations of scurrility, in those scenes of dis-
tress to which fortune sometimes reduces the best of
men? On the other hand, Ephorus is no less extrava-
gant in his encomiums on Philistus. He knows well
how to throw into shades the foibles of the human cha-
racter, and to give an air of plausibility to the most
indefensible conduct; but, with all his eloquence, with
all his art, he cannot rescue Philistus from the impu-
tation of being the most strenuous assertor of arbitrary
power, of being the fondest follower and admirer of
the luxury, the magnificence, the alliance of tyrants.
On the whole, he who neither defends the principles of
Philistus, nor insults over his misfortunes, will best
discharge the duty of the historian.
After the death of Philistus, Dionysius offered to
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? 122
PLUTARCH.
surrender the citadel to Dion, together with the arms,
provisions, and soldiers, and an advance of five months'
pay, on condition that he might be permitted to retire
into Italy, and there enjoy the revenues of Gyata, a
fruitful tract of country in the territory of Syracuse,
reaching from the sea to the middle of the country.
Dion refusing to negotiate on his own account, re-
ferred the ambassadors to the Syracusans; and, as
they expected that Dionysius would shortly come alive
into their hands, they were dismissed without audieuce.
On this the tyrant, leaving his eldest son Apollocrates
to defend the citadel, embarked with his most valuable
treasures and a few select friends, and, sailing with a
fair wind, escaped Heraclides the admiral.
The tyrant's escape greatly exasperated the people
against Heraclides; and, in order to appease them, he
proposed by Hippo, one of the orators, that there
should be an equal division of lands; alleging, that
equality was the first foundation of civil liberty, and
that poverty and slavery were synonymous terms. At
the same time that he supported Hippo in the promo-
tion of this scheme, he encouraged the faction against
Dion, who opposed it. At length he prevailed with
the people not only to pass this law, but to make a
decree that the pay of the foreign soldiers should be
stopped, and new commanders chosen, that they might
no longer be subject to the severe discipline of Dion.
Thus, like the patient who, after a lingering sickness,
makes too rash a use of the first returns of health, and
rejects the sober and gradual regimen of his physician,
the citizens, who had long labored under the yoke of
slavery, took too precipitate steps to freedom, and re-
fused the salutary counsels and conduct of their deli-
verer.
It was about the midst of summer when the assembly
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? DIoN.
123
was summoned for the election of new officers; and,
for the space of fifteen days, there were the most
dreadful thunders, and the most alarming prodigies.
The religious fears that these prodigies excited made
these people decline the choosing of officers. When
the weather grew more serene the orators again ex-
horted them to proceed to the business; but no sooner
had they begun than a draught-ox, which had neither
received any provocation from the driver, nor could be
terrified by the crowds and noise to which he had been
accustomed, suddenly broke from his yoke, and run-
ning furiously into the assembly, drove the people in
great disorder before him: from thence, throwing down
all that stood in his way, he ran over that part of the
city which afterwards fell into the enemy's hands.
The Syracusans, however, regardless of these things,
elected five-and-twenty officers, among whom was He-
raclides. At the same time they privately endeavored
to draw off Dion's men; promising, if they would de-
sert him, to make them citizens of Syracuse. But the
soldiers were faithful to their general, and, placing
him in the middle of a battalion, marched out of the
city. They did not, on this occasion, offer any vio-
lence to the inhabitants, but they severely reproached
them for their baseness and ingratitude. The small-
ness of their number, and their declining to act offen-
sively, put the citizens on the view of cutting them off
before they escaped out of the city; and with this de-
sign they fell on their rear. Dion was here in a great
dilemma: he was under the necessity either of fighting
against his countrymen, or of suffering himself and his
faithful soldiers to be cut in pieces. He therefore in-
treated the Syracusans to desist: he stretched forth
his hands to them, and pointed to the citadel full of
soldiers, who were happy in being spectators of these
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? PLUTARCH.
dissensions amongst their enemies. But the torrent of
the populace, agitated and driven forward by the se-
ditious breath of the orators, was not to be stopped by
persuasion. He therefore commanded his men to ad-
vance with shouts and clashing of arms, but not to
attack them. The Syracusans, on this, fled immedi-
ately through the streets, though no one pursued them;
for Dion retreated with his men into the territories of
the Leontines.
The very women laughed at the new officers for this
cowardly flight; and the latter, to recover their repu-
tation, ordered the citizens to arms, pursued Dion,
and came up with him as he was passing a river. A
skirmish began between the cavalry; but when they
found Dion no longer disposed to bear these indigni-
ties with his usual paternal patience; when they ob-
served him drawing up his men for battle, with all the
eagerness of strong resentment, they once more turned
their backs, and with the loss of some few men, fled to
the city in a more disgraceful and more cowardly man-
ner than before.
The Leontines received Dion in a very honorable
manner, gave money to his soldiers, and made them
free of their city. They also sent messengers to Syra-
cuse with requisitions that his men might have justice
done them, and receive their pay. The Syracusans,
in return, sent other messengers, with impeachments
against Dion: but when the matter was debated at
Leontium, in full assembly of the allies, they evidently
appeared to be in fault. They refused, nevertheless,
to stand to the award of this assembly; for the recent
recovery of their liberties had made them insolent, and
the popular power was without control; their very
commanders being no more than servile dependents on
the multitude.
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? DIoN.
About this time Dionysius sent a fleet tinder Nyp-
sius, the Neapolitan, with provisions and pay for the
garrison in the citadel. The Syracusans overcame him,
and took four of his ships; but they made an ill use
of their success. Destitute of all discipline, they cele-
brated the victory with the most riotous extravagance;
and at a time when they thought themselves secure of
taking the citadel, they lost the city. Nypsius ob-
serving their disorder, their night revels and debauches,
in which their commanders, either from inclination, or
through fear of offending them, were as deeply engaged
as themselves, took advantage of this opportunity, broke
through their walls, and exposed the city to the violence
and depredation of his soldiers.
The Syracusans at once perceived their folly and
their misfortune: but the latter, in their present con-
fusion, was not easy to be redressed. The soldiers
made dreadful havoc in the city: they demolished the
fortifications, put the men to the sword, and dragged
the women and children shrieking to the citadel. The
Syracusan officers being unable to separate the citizens
from the enemy, or to draw them up in any order, gave
up all for lost. In this situation, while the Acradina
itself was in danger of being taken, they naturally
turned their thoughts on Dion; but none had the
courage to mention a man whom all had injured. In
this emergency a voice was heard from the cavalry of
the allies, crying, 'send for Dion and his Peloponne-
sians from Leontium. ' His name was no sooner men-
tioned than the people shouted for joy. With tears
they implored that he might once more be at their
head: they remembered his intrepidity in the most
trying dangers: they remembered the courage that he
showed himself, and the confidence with which he in-
spired them when he led them against the enemy.
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PLUTARCH.
Archonides and Telesidea from the auxiliaries, and Hel-
lanicus, with four more from the cavalry, were imme-
diately despatched to Leontium, where, making the
best of their way, they arrived in the close of the
evening. They instantly threw themselves at the feet
of Dion, and related, with tears, the deplorable con-
dition of the Syracusans. The Leontines and Pelopon-
nesians soon gathered about them, conjecturing from
their haste, and the manner of their address, that their
business had something extraordinary in it.
Dion immediately summoned an assembly, and the
people being soon collected, Archonides and Hellanicus
briefly related the distress of the Syracusans, intreated
the foreign soldiers to forget the injuries they had done
them, and once more to assist that unfortunate people,
who had already suffered more for their ingratitude
than even they whom they had injured would have in-
flicted on them. When they had thus spoken, a pro-
found silence ensued; on which Dion arose, and at-
tempted to speak, but was prevented by his tears. His
soldiers, who were greatly affected with their general's
sorrow, intreated him to moderate his grief, and pro-
ceed. After he had recovered himself a little, he spoke
to the following purpose: ' Peloponnesians and con-
federates, I have called you together, that you may
consult on your respective affairs. My measures are
taken: I cannot hesitate what to do when Syracuse is
perishing. If I cannot save it, I will, at least, hasten
thither, and fall beneath the ruins of my country: for
you, if you can yet persuade yourselves to assist the
most unfortunate and inconsiderate of men, it may be
in your power to save from destruction a city which
was the work of your own hands. But if your pity
for the Syracusans be sacrificed to your resentment,
may the gods reward your fidelity, your kindness to
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? DIoN.
Dion! And remember, that as he would not desert
you, when you were injured, so neither could he aban-
don his falling country! '
He had hardly , ended when the soldiers signified
their readiness for the service by loud acclamations,
and called on him to march directly to the relief of
Syracuse. The messengers embraced them, and in-
treated the gods to shower their blessings on Dion and
the Peloponnesians. When the noise subsided Dion
gave orders that the men should repair to their quarters,
and, after the necessary refreshments, assemble in the
same place completely armed; for he intended to march
that very night.
The soldiers of Dionysius, after ravaging the city
during the whole day, retired at night, with the loss of
a few men, into the citadel. This small respite once
more encouraged the demagogues of the city, who, pre-
suming that the enemy would not repeat their hostili-
ties, dissuaded the people from admitting Dion and his
foreign soldiers. They advised them not to give up the
honor of saving the city to strangers, but to defend their
liberty themselves. On this the generals sent other
messengers to Dion to countermand his march; while,
on the other hand, the cavalry, and many of the prin-
cipal citizens, sent their requests that he would hasten
it. Thus invited by one party, and rejected by another,
he came forward but slowly; and, at night, the faction
that opposed him set a guard on the gates to prevent
his entering.
Nypsius now made a fresh sally from the citadel,
with still greater numbers, and greater fury than be-
fore. After totally demolishing the remaining part of
the fortification, he fell to ravaging the city. The
slaughter was dreadful; men, women, and children,
fell indiscriminately by the sword: for the object of
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? 128
PLUTARCH.
the enemy was not so much plunder as destruction.
Dionysius despaired of regaining his lost empire, and,
in his mortal hatred of the Syracusans, he determined
to hury it in the ruins of their city. It was resolved
therefore that, before Dion's succors could arrive, they
should destroy it the quickest way, by laying it in
ashes. Accordingly they set fire to those parts that
were at hand by brands and torches, and to the re-
moter parts by shooting flaming arrows. The citizens,
in the utmost consternation, fled every where before
them. Those who, to avoid the fire, had fled from
their houses, were put to the sword in the streets;
and they who sought for refuge in their houses were
again driven out by the flames: many were burnt to
death, and many perished beneath the ruins of the
houses.
This terrible distress, by universal consent, opened
the gates for Dion. After being informed that the
enemy had retreated into the citadel, he had made no
great haste: but early in the morning some horsemen
carried him the news of a fresh assault. These were
followed by some, even of those who had recently op-
posed his coming, but who now implored him to fly to
their relief. As the conflagration and destruction in-
creased, Heraclides despatched his brother, and after
him his uncle Theodotes, to intreat the assistance of
Dion; for they were now no longer in a capacity of op-
posing the enemy: he was wounded himself, and great
part of the city was laid in ashes.
When Dion received this news he was about sixty
furlongs from the city. After he had acquainted his
soldiers with the dreadful exigency, and exhorted them
to behave with resolution, they no longer marched, but
ran ; and in their way they were met by numbers, who
intreated them, if possible, to go still faster. By the
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? DIoN.
eager and vigorous speed of the soldiers, Dion quickly-
arrived at the city; and, entering by the part called
Hecatompedon, he ordered his light troops immediately
to charge the enemy, that the Syracusans might take
courage at the sight of them. In the mean while he
drew up his heavy-armed men, with such of the citi-
zens as had joined him, and divided them into several
small bodies, of greater depth than breadth, that he
might intimidate the enemy, by attacking them in seve-
ral quarters at once. He advanced to the engagement
at the head of his men, amidst a confused noise of shouts,
plaudits, prayers, and vows, which the Syracusans of-
fered up for their deliverer, their tutelary deity; for
so they termed him now; and his foreign soldiers they
called their brethren and fellow-citizens. At this time,
perhaps, there was not one wretch so selfishly fond of
life, that he did not hold Dion's safety dearer than his
own, or that of all his fellow-citizens, while they saw
him advancing first in the front of danger, through
blood and fire, and over heaps of the slain.
There was, indeed, something terrible in the appear-
ance of the enemy, who, animated by rage and despair,
had posted themselves in the ruins of the ramparts, so
that it was extremely dangerous and difficult to ap-
proach them. But the apprehensions of fire discouraged
Dion's men the most, and distressed them in their
march. They were surrounded by flames that raged
on every side; and while they walked over burning
ruins, through clouds of ashes and smoke, they were
every moment in danger of being burned beneath the
fall of half consumed buildings. In all these diffi-
culties they took infinite pains to keep close together,
and maintain their ranks. When they came up to the
enemy, a few only could engage at a time, on account
of the narrowness and inequality of the ground. They
. ^LUT. VoL. VII. I
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