No More Learning

Speusippus, as Timon, in his poems called Syllis, in-
forms us, was a facetious companion, and had a turn for
raillery; and Plato was desirous that Dion's severity
of manners might be softened by the pleasantry of his
conversation. When Plato exhibited a cborus of boys
at Athens, Dion took on himself the management, and
defrayed the expense. Plato was desirous that this
munificence might procure him popularity, and on that
account he readily gave up the honor of conducting the
affair himself.
Dion likewise visited other cities, and conversed
with the principal statesmen, by whom he was publicly
entertained. In his manners there was now no longer
any thing pompous or affected; there was nothing that
savored of the dissolute luxury of a tyrant's court; his
behavior was modest, discreet, and manly; and his phi-
losophical discourses were learned and ingenious. This
procured him popular favor and public honors; and
the Lacedaemonians, without regard to the resentment
of Dionysius, though at the very time they had received
succors from him against the Thebans, made him free
of their city. We are told that Dion accepted an invi-
tation from Ptoeodorus, the Megarensian, who was a
man of considerable power and fortune; and when he
found his door crowded with people on business, and
that it was difficult to have access to him, he said to
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103
his friends, who expressed their dissatisfaction on the
occasion, ' Why should this affront us? we did this,
and more than this, at Syracuse. '
Dion's popularity in Greece soon excited the jealousy
of Dionysius, who therefore stopped his remittances,
and put his estate in the hands of his own stewards.
However, that his reputation might not suffer, through
Plato's means, amongst the philosophers, he retained
a number of learned men in his court; and being de-
sirous to outshine them all in disputation, he frequently
was under a necessity of introducing, without the least
propriety, the arguments he had learnt from Plato. He
now wished for that philosopher again, and repented
that he had so ill availed himself of his instructions.
Like a tyrant, therefore, whose desires, however ex-
travagant, are immediately to be complied with, he was
violently bent on recalling him. To effect this, he thought
of every expedient, and at length prevailed on Archy-
tas, and the rest of the Pythagorean philosophers, to
pledge themselves for the performance of his promises,
and to persuade him to return to Sicily; for it was Plato
that first introduced those philosophers to Dionysius.
On their part, they sent Archidemus to Plato, and
Dionysius, at the same time, sent some galleys with
several of his friends to join in their request. The
tyrant likewise wrote to him, and told him in plain
terms, that Dion must expect no favor from him, if
Plato should not come into Sicily; but on his arrival,
he might depend on every thing he desired. Dion was
also solicited by his sister and wife to prevail with
Plato to gratify the tyrant, that he might no longer
have an apology for the severity of his treatment.
Plato, therefore, as he says himself, set sail the third
time for Sicily:
To brave Charybdis' dreadful gulf once more!
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PLUTARCH.
His arrival was not only a satisfaction to Dionysius,
but to all Sicily; the inhabitants of which did not fail
to implore the gods that Plato might overcome Phi-
listus, and that the tyranny might expire under the
influence of his philosophy. Plato was in high favor
with the women in particular, and with Dionysius he
had such credit as no other person could boast; for he
was allowed to come to him without being searched.
When Aristippus, the Cyrenean, observed that the
king frequently offered Plato money, and that Plato
as constantly refused it, he said, 'that Dionysius was
liberal without danger of exhausting his treasury; for
to those who wanted, and would take money, he was
sparing in his offers, but profuse where he knew it
would be refused. '
After the first civilities were over, Plato took an op-
portunity to mention Dion ; but the tyrant put him off,
till, at last, expostulations and animosities took place.
These, however, Dionysius was industrious to conceal,
and endeavored to bring over Plato from the interest
of Dion by repeated favors and studied civilities. The
philosopher, on the other hand, did not immediately
publish his perfidy, but dissembled his resentment.
While things were thus circumstanced, Helicon of
Cyzicus, one of Plato's followers, foretold an eclipse
of the sun; and as it happened, according to his pre-
diction, the king, in admiration of his learning, re-
warded him with a talent of silver. On this Aristip-
pus, jesting among the rest of the philosophers, told
them he had something extraordinary, likewise, to
prognosticate. Being intreated to make it known, ' I
foresee,' said he, ' that in a short time there will be a
quarrel between Dionysius and Plato. ' Soon after this
Dionysius sold Dion's estate, and converted the money
to his own use. Plato was removed from his apart-
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105
merit in the palace gardens, and placed within the pur-
lieus of the guards, who had long hated, and even
sought to kill him, on a supposition that he advised
the tyrant to lay d own his government, and disband
his army.
Archytas, who had engaged for Plato's safety, when
he understood his danger, sent a galley to demand
him ; and the tyrant, to palliate his enmity, previous
to his departure made pompous entertainments. At
one of them, however, he could not help saying, ' I
suppose, Plato, when you return to your companions
in the academy, my faults will often be the subject of
your conversation. '--' I hope,' answered Plato, ' we
shall never he so much at a loss for subjects in the
academy, as to talk of you. ' Such are the circum-
stances which have been mentioned concerning Plato's
departure; but they are not perfectly consistent with
Plato's own account.
Dion being offended, not only with these things,
but with some intelligence he had before received con-
cerning his wife, which is alluded to in Plato's letter
to Dionysius, openly declared himself his enemy. The
affair was this: Plato, on his return to Greece, was
desired by Dionysius privately to consult Dion, whether
he would be averse to his wife's marrying another man;
for there was a report, whether true, or the invention
of his enemies, that his matrimonial state was not agree-
able to him, and that there was a coolness betwixt him
and Arete. After Plato had consulted Dion on the
affair, he wrote to Dionysius, and though he spoke in
plain terms of other matters, he mentioned this in a
manner that could only be intelligible to the king. He
told him that he had talked with Dion on the business,
and that he would certainly resent it if any such at-
tempt were made.
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PLUTARCH.
While any prospect of an accommodation remained
Dionysius took no farther steps in the affair; but when
that prospect was gone, and Plato once more had left
Sicily in displeasure, he compelled Arete to marry Ti-
mocrates; and, in this instance, he fell short even of
the justice and lenity of his father. When Philoxenus,
who had married his sister Theste, was declared his
enemy, and fled through fear out of Sicily, Dionysius
sent for his sister, and reproached her with being privy
to her husband's escape, without letting him know it.
Theste answered without fear or hesitation, ' Do you
think me, Dionysius, so bad a wife, or so weak a wo-
man, that if I had known of my husband's flight, I
would not have accompanied him, and shared in the
worst of his fortunes? Indeed I was ignorant of it.
And I assure you, that I should esteem it a higher
honor to be called the wife of Philoxenus the exile,
than the sister of Dionysius the tyrant. ' The king, it
is said, admired her spirited answer; and the Syra-
cusans honored her so much, that she retained her
princely retinue after the dissolution of the tyranny;
and the citizens, by public decree, attended the so-
lemnity of her funeral. This is a digression, but it
may have its use.
Dion now thought of nothing but war. Plato, how-
ever, was against it; partly on account of the hospi-
table favors he had received from Dionysius, and partly
because of the advanced age of Dion. Speusippus,
and the rest of his friends, on the other hand, en-
couraged him to rescue from slavery his native Si-
cily, that stretched forth her hands towards him, and
would certainly receive him with every expression of
joy. Speusippus, when he attended Plato into Sicily,
had mixed more with the people, and learnt their sen-
timents with regard to the government. At first, id. t
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? DIoN.
deed, they were reserved, and suspected him for an
emissary of the tyrant*s: but by degrees he obtained
their confidence. In short, it was the voice, the prayer
of the people, that Dion would come, though without
either army or navy, to their relief, and lend them
only his name and his presence against the tyrant.
Dion was encouraged by these representations; and
the more effectually to conceal his intentions, he raised
what forces he was able by means of his friends. He
was assisted in this by many statesmen and philoso-
phers, amongst whom was Endemus, the Cyprian, (on
occasion of whose death Aristotle wrote his dialogue
on the soul,) and Timonides, the Leucadian. These
engaged in his interest Miltas the Thessalian, who was
skilled in divination, and had been his fellow-acade-
mician. But of all those whom the tyrant had banished,
which were no fewer than a thousand, no more than
twenty-five gave in their names for the service. The
rest, for want of spirit, would not engage in the cause.
The general rendezvous was in the island of Zacyn-
thus; and here, when the little army was assembled,
it did not amount to eight hundred men. But they
were men who had signalised themselves in the greatest
engagements; they were in perfect discipline, and
inured to hardship; in courage and conduct they had
no superiors in the army: in short, they were such
men as were likely to serve the cause of Dion, in ani-
mating, by their example, those who came to his stan-
dard in Sicily.
Yet these men, when they understood that they were
to be led against Dionysius, were disheartened, and
condemned the rash resentment of Dion ; the conse-
quence of which they looked on as certain ruin. Nor
were they less offended with their commanders, and
those who had enlisted them, because they had con^
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PLUTARCH.
cealed the design of the service. But when Dion, in
a public speech, after showing them the feeble state of
Dionysius' government, told them that he considered
them rather as so many officers whom he carried to
head the people of Sicily, already prepared to revolt,
than as private men; and when Alcimenes, who, in
birth and reputation, was the principal man in Achaia,
had concurred in the address of Dion, and joined in
the expedition, they then were satisfied.
It was now about midsummer, the Etesian winds
prevailed at sea, and the moon was at the full, when
Dion prepared a magnificent sacrifice to Apollo, and
marched in procession to the temple, with his men
under arms. After the sacrifice he gave them a feast
in the race-ground of the Zacynthians. They were
astonished at the quantity of gold and silver plate that
was exhibited on this occasion, so far above the ordi-
nary fortunes of a private man; and they concluded
that a person of such opulence would not, at a late
period of life, expose himself to dangers without a
fair prospect of success, and the certain support of
friends. After the usual prayers and libations the
moon was eclipsed. This was nothing strange to Dion,
who khew the variations of the ecliptic, and that this
defection of the moon's light was caused by the inter-
position of the earth between her and the sun. But
as the soldiers were troubled about it, Miltas, the di-
viner, took on him to give it a proper turn, and assured
them that it portended the sudden obscurity of some-
thing that was at present glorious; that this glorious
object could be no other than Dionysius, whose lustre
would be extinguished on their arrival in Sicily. This
interpretation he communicated in as public a manner
as possible: but from the prodigy of the bees, a swarm
of which settled on the stern of Dion's ship, he inti-
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109
mated to his friends bis apprehensions that the great
affairs which Dion was then prosecuting, after florish-
ing a while, would come to nothing. Dionysius too,
they said, had many prodigies on this occasion. An
eagle snatched a javelin from one of his guards, and,
after flying aloft with it, dropt it in the sea. The
waters of the sea, at the foot of the citadel, were fresh
for one whole day, as plainly appeared to every one
who tasted them. He had pigs farrowed perfect in all
their other parts, but without ears. The diviners in-
terpreted this as an omen of rebellion and revolt: the
people, they said, would no longer give ear to the
mandates of the tyrant. The freshness of the sea-
water imported that the Syracusans, after their harsh
and severe treatment, would enjoy milder and better
times. 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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