impending danger from the
invasion
of Xerxes.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
F.
Gronovius,
12mo. Amst, L. Elzev. , 1651, and D. Elzev. , 1665,
A. GEʻLLIUS, not Agellius as Lipsius and of which the latter is the superior. The Octavo
others have imagined, a Latin grammarian, with Variorums (Lug. Bat. 1666, 1687) exhibit the text
regard to whose history we possess no source of of J. F, Gronovius, with some additional matter by
information except his own book. From this we Thysius and Oiselius ; but these are not equal in
gather that he was of good family and connections, value to the Quarto Variorum of Jac. Gronovius,
a native probably of Rome ; that he had travelled Lug. Bat. 1706 (reprinted, with some dissertations,
much, especially in Greece, and had resided for a by Conradi, &vo. Leips. 1762), which must be
considerable period at Athens ; that he had studied regarded as the best edition, for the most recent,
rhetoric under T. Castricius and Sulpicius Apolli- that of Lion, 2 vols. 8vo. Gotting. 1824, 1825, is
naris, philosophy under Calvisius Taurus and a slovenly and incorrect performance.
Peregrinus Proteus, enjoying also the friendship We have translations into English by Beloe,
and instructions of Favorinus, Herodes Atticus, and 3 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1795; into French by the Abbé
Cornelius Fronto ; that while yet a youth he had de Verteuil, 3 vols. 12mo. Par. 1776, 1789, and
been appointed by the praetor to act as an umpire by Victor Verger, 3 vols. Par. 1820, 1830; into
in civil causes; and that subsequently much of the German (of those portions only, which illustrate
time which he would gladly have devoted to literary ancient history and philosophy) by A. H. W. von
pursuits had been occupied by judicial duties of a Walterstern, 8vo. Lemgo, 1785. (W. R. )
similar description. The precise date of his birth, CN. GE'LLIUS, a contemporary of the Gracchi,
as of his death, is unknown ; but from the names was the author of a history of Rome from the
of his preceptors and companions we conclude that earliest epoch, extending, as we gather from Cen-
he must have lived under Hadrian, Antoninus sorinus, down to the year B. c. 145 at least. We
Pias, and M. Aurelius, A. D. 117–180.
know that the Rape of the Sabines was commemo-
His well-known work entitled Noctes Atticae, rated in the second book; the reign of Titus Tatius
because it was composed in a country-house near in the third ; the death of Postumius during the
Athens during the long nights of winter, is a sort second Punic war, and the purpose to which his
of miscellany, containing numerous extracts from skull was applied by the Boii (Liv. xxiii. 24), in
Greek and Roman writers, on a great variety of the thirty-third ; and we find a quotation in Cho-
topics connected with history, antiquities, philo- risius from the ninety-seventh, if we can trust the
sophy, and philology, interspersed with original number. Hence it is manifest that a considerable
remarks, dissertations, and discussions, the whole space was devoted to the legends connected with
thrown together ints twenty books, without any the origin of the nation ; and that if these books
attempt at order or arrangement. We here find were in general equal in length to the similar
preserved a multitude of curious and interesting divisions in Livy, the compilation of Gellius must
passages from authors whose works have perished, have been exceedingly voluminons, and the details
and a vast fund of information elucidating questions more ample than those contained in the great work
## p. 236 (#252) ############################################
236
GELLIUS.
GELON.
9
of his successor, by whom, as well as by Plutarch, I was praetor peregrinus in B. C. 69. (Cic. pro
he seems to have been altogether neglected, al Cluent. 45).
though occasionally cited by Dionysius, and appa- (Bertrandus, de Jurisp. ii. 16; Guil. Grotius,
rently both an accurate chronologer and a diligent vitae Jurisc. i. 11, $ 15–18; Maiansius, ad as:
investigator of ancient usages.
ICtorum Frag. Comment, vol. ii. p. 151–161;
Krause, in his Vitae et Fragmenta Historicorum Zimmern, R. R. G. vol. i. $ 79; Hugo, R. R. G.
Romanorum, has enumerated no less than three ed. 1832, p. 535. )
(J. T. G. )
Gellii, Cnaeus, Sextus, and Aulus ; but although GE'LLIUS STATIUS. (GELLIA Gens. ]
“ Gellius" is frequently named as an annalist with- GELON (réaww). I. Son of Deinomenes tre
out any distinguishing praenomen, the two latter rant of Gela, and afterwards of Syracuse. He was
personages are in all probability imaginary. The descended from one of the most illustrious families
only direct testimony to the existence of Sextus is in his native city, his ancestors having been among
contained in the tmci De Origine gentis Romanae the original founders of Gela, and having subse-
(c. 16), which is a modern forgery; the argument quently held an important hereditary priesthood.
derived from the use of the plural réanco. by Dio- (Herod. vii. 153. ) Gelon himself is first mentioned
nysius (i. 7) will be found, upon consulting the as one of the body-guards in the service of Hippo-
passage, to be altogether inconclusive (Niebuhır, crates, at that time tyrant of Gelm and distin-
Rom. Hist. vol. ii. note 11); and the word Gellii guished himself greatly in the wars carried on by
adduced from Cicero (de Leg. i. 2) is a conjectural that monarch, so as to be promoted to the chief
emendation. As to Aulus, we find in Nonius, it command of his cavalry. On the death of Hippo-
is true (s. v. Bulo), a reference to " A. Gellius crates, the people of Gela rose in revolt against his
historiarum libr. primo;” and in Vopiscus (Prob. sons, and aitempted to throw off their yoke.
sub init. ) some MSS. have “ M. Cato Agellius Gelon espoused the cause of the young princes,
quoque," instead of the received reading, “ M. and defeated the insurgents ; but took advantage
Cato et Gellius historici ;” but it is clear that such of his victory to set aside the sons of Hippocrates,
evidence cannot be admitted with any confidence. and retain the chief power for himself, B. C. 491.
(Cic. de Divin. i. 26 ; comp. de Leg. i. 2; Dionys. (Herod. vii. 154, 155 ; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. in.
i. 7, ii. 31, 72, 76, iv. 6, vi. l), vii. 1; Plin. 95. ) He appears to have held undisturbed rule over
H. N. vii. 56 ; Solin. Polyk. 2, where one of the Gela for some years, until the internal dissensions
best MSS. has Gellius for Cuelius; Gell. xiü. 22, of Syracuse afforded him an opportunity to inter-
xviii. 12; Censorin. de Die Nat. 17; Macrob. fere in the concerns of that city. The oligarchical
Sit. i. 8, 16, ii. 13; Charisius, pp. 39, 40, 50, 55; party (called the Geomori, or Gamori) had been
Serv. ad Virg. Aen. iv. 390, viii. 638 ; Marius expelled from Syracuse by the populace, and taken
Victorin. p. 2468. )
(W. R. ) refuge at Casmenae. Gelon espoused their cause,
GE'LLIUS EGNATIUS. [Egnatius, No. 1. ] and proceeded to restore them by force of arms.
GELLIUS FUSCUS. (Fuscus. ]
On his approach the popular party opened the gates
GE'LLIUS, PUBLI’CIUS, a jurist, one of the to him, and submitted without opposition to his
disciples of Servius Sulpicius. [T. CAESIUS. ) From power (B. C. 485). From this time he neglected
the unusual combination of two apparently gentile Gela, and bent all his efforts to the aggrandisenent
names, conjectural alterations of the passage in of his new sovereignty; he eren destroyed Cama-
the Digest where Publicius Gellius is mentioned rina (which had been rebuilt by Hippocrates not
by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. $44) have long before), in order to remove the inhabitants to
been attempted by several critics. Rutilius (Vi Syracuse, whither he also transferred above half of
tas ICtorum, c. 45) reads Publius Caecilius, and those of Gela. In like manner, having taken the
Hotomann reads Publicola Gellius. Accordingly, cities of Euboea and the Hyblaean Megara, he
the jurist has been attempted to be identified settled all the wealthier citizens of them at Syra-
with the L. Gellius Publicola who is spoken cuse, while he sold the lower classes into slavery.
of by Cicero (Brut. 47) as a second-rate orator, (Herod. vii. 155, 156 ; Thuc. vi. 4, 5. ) By these
contemporary with L. Crassus and M. Anto- means Syracuse was raised to an unexampled
nius ; but the disciple of Servius must have been height of wealth and prosperity, and Gelon found
of rather later date. Maiansius makes Pub- himself possessed of such power as no Greek bad
licius and Gellius distinct jurists, and alters the previously held, when his assistance was requested
text of Pomponius by reading duodecim instead of by the Lacedaemonians and Athenians against the
decem, as the number of the disciples of Servius.
impending danger from the invasion of Xerxes.
There is no necessity for alteration, for Publicius is He offered to support them with a fleet of 200 tri-
used as a fictitious praenomen by Paulus, in Dig. remes, and a land force of 28,000 men, on con-
36. tit. 2. 8. 24; and the jurist Publicius is cited, dition of being entrusted with the chief command
along with Africanus, by Ulpian (Dig. 38. tit. 17. of the allied forces, or at least with that of their
8. 2. $8); and is also cited by Modestinos (Dig. Reet. But both these proposals being rejected, he
35. tit. 1. 8. 51. $ 1), and by Marcellus (Dig. 31. dismissed the envoys with the remark, that the
8. 50. & 2).
Greeks had lost the spring out of their year.
There was a praetor Publicius, who introduced (Herod. vii. 157–162 ; Timaeus, Frag. 87, ed.
into the edict a celebrated clause (Dig. 6. tit. 2. Paris, 1841. )
8. 1. pr. ), which gave origin to the Publiciana in
There is some uncertainty with regard to the
rem actio. By this action a bona fide possessor conduct that he actually pursued. According to
was enabled, by the fiction of usucaption, to re- Herodotus, he sent Cadmus of Cos with a sum of
cover the lost possession of a thing, although he money to await at Delphi the issue of the ap-
was not dominus ex jure Quiritium. (Inst. 4. tit. 6. proaching contest, and should it prove unfavourable
§ 45. ) It is not unlikely that this Publicins was to the Greeks, to make offers of submission to the
the jurist cited in the Digest; and there is some Persian monarch. But the same historian adds,
ground for identifying him with Q. Publicius, who that the Sicilian Greeks asserted him to have bera
## p. 237 (#253) ############################################
GELON.
237
GELON.
soners.
actually preparing to join the allied armament to have now thought himself sufficiently secure of
when he was prevented by the news of the Car- his power to make a show of resigning it, and ac-
thaginian invasion of Sicily (Herod. vii. 163–cordingly presented himself unarmed and thinly
165), and this appears to have been also the ac- clad before the assembled army and populace of
count of the matter given by Ephorus (ap. Schol. Syracuse. He then entered into an elaborate re-
ad Pind. Pyth. i. 146). The expedition of the view of his past conduct, and concluded with offer-
Carthaginians is attributed by the last-mentioned ing to surrender his power into the hands of the
historian (l. c. ), as well as by Diodorus (xi. 1,20), people-a proposal which was of course rejected,
to an alliance concluded by them with Xerxes: and he was hailed by the acclamations of the
Herodotus, with more probability, represents them multitude as their preserver and sovereign. (Diod.
as called in by Terillus, tyrant of Himera, who had xi. 26 ; Polyaen. i. 27. Ø 1; Ael. V. H. vi. 11. )
been expelled from that city by Theron of Agri- He did not, however, long survive to enjoy his ho
gentuin. The circumstances of their expedition nours, having been carried off by a dropsy in B. C.
are variously related, and may be suspected of much 478, only two years after his victory at Himem,
exaggeration (see Niebuhr, Lect. on Rom. Hist. and seven from the commencement of his reign
vol. i. p. 105, ed. Schmitz), but the leading facts over Syracuse, (Diod. xi. 38 , Arist. Pol. v. 9 ;
are unquestionable. The Carthaginian general Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. i. 89 ; Plut. de Pyth. Orac. p.
Hamilcer arrived at Panormus with an army, as it 403. ) It appears from Aristotle (Pol. v. 10 ; sce
is said, of 300,000 men, and advancing without also Schol. ad Pind. Nem. ix. 95) that he left an
opposition as far as Himera, laid siege to that place, infant son, notwithstanding which, according to
which was, however, vigorously defended by The | Diodorus, he on his deathbed appointed his brother
ron of Agrigentum. Gelon had previously formed Hieron to be his successor.
an alliance and matrimonial connection with Theron, We know very little of the internal adminis-
having married his daughter Demarete (Schol. ad tration or personal character of Gelon: it is not
Pind. Ol. j. 1, 29): no sooner, therefore, did he unlikely that his brilliant success at Himera shed
hear of his danger than he advanced to his succour a lustre over his name which was extended to the
at the head of a force of 50,000 foot and 5000 horse. rest of his conduct also. But he is represented
In the battle that ensued the Carthaginians were by late writers as a man of singular leniency and
totally defeated, with a loss, as it is pretended, of moderation, and as seeking in every way to pro-
150,000 men, while nearly the whole of the re- mote the welfare of his subjects ; and his name even
mainder fell into the hands of the enemy as pri- appears to have become almost proverbial as an
Hamilcar himself was among the slain, instance of a good monarch. (Diod. xi. 38, 67, xiii.
and a few ships, which had made their escape with 22, xiv. 66 ; Plut. Dion. 5, de ser. Num. vind. p.
a number of fugitives on board, perished in a storm, 551. ) He was, however, altogether illiterate (Ael.
80 that scarcely a messenger returned to bear the v. H. iv. 15); and perhaps this circumstance may
disastrous news to Carthage. (Herod. vii. 165, 166 ; account for the silence of Pindar concern his al-
Diod. xi. 20—24 ; xiii. 39 ; Ephorus, ap. Schol. leged virtues, which would otherwise appear some-
Pind. Pyth. i. 146 ; Polyaen. i. 27. 2. ) This what suspicious. But even if his good qualities as
victory was gained, according to the accounts re- a ruler have been exaggerated, his popularity at the
ported by Herodotus, on the very same day as time of his death is attested by the splendid tomb
that of Salamis, while Diodorus asserts it to have erected to him by the Syracusans at the public ex-
been the same day with Thermopylae : the exact pense, and by the heroic honours decreed to his me-
synchronism may in either case be erroneous, but mory. (Diod. xi. 38. ) Nearly a century and a half
the existence of such a belief so early as the time afterwards, when Timoleon sought to extirpate as
of Herodotus must be admitted as conclusive evi- far as possible all records of the tyrants that had
dence of the expedition of the Carthaginians having ruled in Sicily, the statue of Gelon alone was
been contemporary with that of Xerxes; hence spared. (Plut. Timol. 23. )
the battle of Himera must have been fought in Concerning the chronology of the reign of Gelon
the autumn of 480 B. C. Comp. Aristot. Poet. 23. see Clinton (F. H. vol. ii. p. 266, &c. ), Pausanias
§ 3. )
(vi. 9. § 4, 5, viii. 42. $ 8), Dionysius (vii. 1), and
So great a victory naturally raised Gelon to the Niebuhr (Rom. Hist. vol. ii. p. 97, note 201). The
highest pitch of power and reputation : his friend last writer adopts the date of the Parian chronicle,
ship was courted even by those states of Sicily which he supposes to be taken from Timaeus, ac-
which had been before opposed to him, and, if we cording to which Gelon did not begin to reign at
may believe the accounts transmitted to us, a Syracuse until B. c. 478; but it seems incredible that
solemn treaty of peace was concluded between him Herodotus should have been mistaken in a matter
and the Carthaginians, by which the latter repaid of such public notoriety as the contemporaneity of
him the expenses of the war. (Diod. xi. 26 ; Ti- the battle of Himera with the expedition of
maeus, ap. Schol. Pind. Pyth. ii. 3. ) A stipu- Xerxes.
lation is said by some writers to have been inserted 2. Son of Hieron II. , king of Syracuse, who
that the Carthaginians should refrain for the future died before his father, at the age of more than 50
from human sacrifices, but there can be little doubt years. Very little is known concerning him, but
that this is a mere fiction of later times. (Theophrast. he appears to have inherited the quiet and prudent
ap. Schol. Pmd. 1. c. ; Plut. Apophth.
12mo. Amst, L. Elzev. , 1651, and D. Elzev. , 1665,
A. GEʻLLIUS, not Agellius as Lipsius and of which the latter is the superior. The Octavo
others have imagined, a Latin grammarian, with Variorums (Lug. Bat. 1666, 1687) exhibit the text
regard to whose history we possess no source of of J. F, Gronovius, with some additional matter by
information except his own book. From this we Thysius and Oiselius ; but these are not equal in
gather that he was of good family and connections, value to the Quarto Variorum of Jac. Gronovius,
a native probably of Rome ; that he had travelled Lug. Bat. 1706 (reprinted, with some dissertations,
much, especially in Greece, and had resided for a by Conradi, &vo. Leips. 1762), which must be
considerable period at Athens ; that he had studied regarded as the best edition, for the most recent,
rhetoric under T. Castricius and Sulpicius Apolli- that of Lion, 2 vols. 8vo. Gotting. 1824, 1825, is
naris, philosophy under Calvisius Taurus and a slovenly and incorrect performance.
Peregrinus Proteus, enjoying also the friendship We have translations into English by Beloe,
and instructions of Favorinus, Herodes Atticus, and 3 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1795; into French by the Abbé
Cornelius Fronto ; that while yet a youth he had de Verteuil, 3 vols. 12mo. Par. 1776, 1789, and
been appointed by the praetor to act as an umpire by Victor Verger, 3 vols. Par. 1820, 1830; into
in civil causes; and that subsequently much of the German (of those portions only, which illustrate
time which he would gladly have devoted to literary ancient history and philosophy) by A. H. W. von
pursuits had been occupied by judicial duties of a Walterstern, 8vo. Lemgo, 1785. (W. R. )
similar description. The precise date of his birth, CN. GE'LLIUS, a contemporary of the Gracchi,
as of his death, is unknown ; but from the names was the author of a history of Rome from the
of his preceptors and companions we conclude that earliest epoch, extending, as we gather from Cen-
he must have lived under Hadrian, Antoninus sorinus, down to the year B. c. 145 at least. We
Pias, and M. Aurelius, A. D. 117–180.
know that the Rape of the Sabines was commemo-
His well-known work entitled Noctes Atticae, rated in the second book; the reign of Titus Tatius
because it was composed in a country-house near in the third ; the death of Postumius during the
Athens during the long nights of winter, is a sort second Punic war, and the purpose to which his
of miscellany, containing numerous extracts from skull was applied by the Boii (Liv. xxiii. 24), in
Greek and Roman writers, on a great variety of the thirty-third ; and we find a quotation in Cho-
topics connected with history, antiquities, philo- risius from the ninety-seventh, if we can trust the
sophy, and philology, interspersed with original number. Hence it is manifest that a considerable
remarks, dissertations, and discussions, the whole space was devoted to the legends connected with
thrown together ints twenty books, without any the origin of the nation ; and that if these books
attempt at order or arrangement. We here find were in general equal in length to the similar
preserved a multitude of curious and interesting divisions in Livy, the compilation of Gellius must
passages from authors whose works have perished, have been exceedingly voluminons, and the details
and a vast fund of information elucidating questions more ample than those contained in the great work
## p. 236 (#252) ############################################
236
GELLIUS.
GELON.
9
of his successor, by whom, as well as by Plutarch, I was praetor peregrinus in B. C. 69. (Cic. pro
he seems to have been altogether neglected, al Cluent. 45).
though occasionally cited by Dionysius, and appa- (Bertrandus, de Jurisp. ii. 16; Guil. Grotius,
rently both an accurate chronologer and a diligent vitae Jurisc. i. 11, $ 15–18; Maiansius, ad as:
investigator of ancient usages.
ICtorum Frag. Comment, vol. ii. p. 151–161;
Krause, in his Vitae et Fragmenta Historicorum Zimmern, R. R. G. vol. i. $ 79; Hugo, R. R. G.
Romanorum, has enumerated no less than three ed. 1832, p. 535. )
(J. T. G. )
Gellii, Cnaeus, Sextus, and Aulus ; but although GE'LLIUS STATIUS. (GELLIA Gens. ]
“ Gellius" is frequently named as an annalist with- GELON (réaww). I. Son of Deinomenes tre
out any distinguishing praenomen, the two latter rant of Gela, and afterwards of Syracuse. He was
personages are in all probability imaginary. The descended from one of the most illustrious families
only direct testimony to the existence of Sextus is in his native city, his ancestors having been among
contained in the tmci De Origine gentis Romanae the original founders of Gela, and having subse-
(c. 16), which is a modern forgery; the argument quently held an important hereditary priesthood.
derived from the use of the plural réanco. by Dio- (Herod. vii. 153. ) Gelon himself is first mentioned
nysius (i. 7) will be found, upon consulting the as one of the body-guards in the service of Hippo-
passage, to be altogether inconclusive (Niebuhır, crates, at that time tyrant of Gelm and distin-
Rom. Hist. vol. ii. note 11); and the word Gellii guished himself greatly in the wars carried on by
adduced from Cicero (de Leg. i. 2) is a conjectural that monarch, so as to be promoted to the chief
emendation. As to Aulus, we find in Nonius, it command of his cavalry. On the death of Hippo-
is true (s. v. Bulo), a reference to " A. Gellius crates, the people of Gela rose in revolt against his
historiarum libr. primo;” and in Vopiscus (Prob. sons, and aitempted to throw off their yoke.
sub init. ) some MSS. have “ M. Cato Agellius Gelon espoused the cause of the young princes,
quoque," instead of the received reading, “ M. and defeated the insurgents ; but took advantage
Cato et Gellius historici ;” but it is clear that such of his victory to set aside the sons of Hippocrates,
evidence cannot be admitted with any confidence. and retain the chief power for himself, B. C. 491.
(Cic. de Divin. i. 26 ; comp. de Leg. i. 2; Dionys. (Herod. vii. 154, 155 ; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. in.
i. 7, ii. 31, 72, 76, iv. 6, vi. l), vii. 1; Plin. 95. ) He appears to have held undisturbed rule over
H. N. vii. 56 ; Solin. Polyk. 2, where one of the Gela for some years, until the internal dissensions
best MSS. has Gellius for Cuelius; Gell. xiü. 22, of Syracuse afforded him an opportunity to inter-
xviii. 12; Censorin. de Die Nat. 17; Macrob. fere in the concerns of that city. The oligarchical
Sit. i. 8, 16, ii. 13; Charisius, pp. 39, 40, 50, 55; party (called the Geomori, or Gamori) had been
Serv. ad Virg. Aen. iv. 390, viii. 638 ; Marius expelled from Syracuse by the populace, and taken
Victorin. p. 2468. )
(W. R. ) refuge at Casmenae. Gelon espoused their cause,
GE'LLIUS EGNATIUS. [Egnatius, No. 1. ] and proceeded to restore them by force of arms.
GELLIUS FUSCUS. (Fuscus. ]
On his approach the popular party opened the gates
GE'LLIUS, PUBLI’CIUS, a jurist, one of the to him, and submitted without opposition to his
disciples of Servius Sulpicius. [T. CAESIUS. ) From power (B. C. 485). From this time he neglected
the unusual combination of two apparently gentile Gela, and bent all his efforts to the aggrandisenent
names, conjectural alterations of the passage in of his new sovereignty; he eren destroyed Cama-
the Digest where Publicius Gellius is mentioned rina (which had been rebuilt by Hippocrates not
by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. $44) have long before), in order to remove the inhabitants to
been attempted by several critics. Rutilius (Vi Syracuse, whither he also transferred above half of
tas ICtorum, c. 45) reads Publius Caecilius, and those of Gela. In like manner, having taken the
Hotomann reads Publicola Gellius. Accordingly, cities of Euboea and the Hyblaean Megara, he
the jurist has been attempted to be identified settled all the wealthier citizens of them at Syra-
with the L. Gellius Publicola who is spoken cuse, while he sold the lower classes into slavery.
of by Cicero (Brut. 47) as a second-rate orator, (Herod. vii. 155, 156 ; Thuc. vi. 4, 5. ) By these
contemporary with L. Crassus and M. Anto- means Syracuse was raised to an unexampled
nius ; but the disciple of Servius must have been height of wealth and prosperity, and Gelon found
of rather later date. Maiansius makes Pub- himself possessed of such power as no Greek bad
licius and Gellius distinct jurists, and alters the previously held, when his assistance was requested
text of Pomponius by reading duodecim instead of by the Lacedaemonians and Athenians against the
decem, as the number of the disciples of Servius.
impending danger from the invasion of Xerxes.
There is no necessity for alteration, for Publicius is He offered to support them with a fleet of 200 tri-
used as a fictitious praenomen by Paulus, in Dig. remes, and a land force of 28,000 men, on con-
36. tit. 2. 8. 24; and the jurist Publicius is cited, dition of being entrusted with the chief command
along with Africanus, by Ulpian (Dig. 38. tit. 17. of the allied forces, or at least with that of their
8. 2. $8); and is also cited by Modestinos (Dig. Reet. But both these proposals being rejected, he
35. tit. 1. 8. 51. $ 1), and by Marcellus (Dig. 31. dismissed the envoys with the remark, that the
8. 50. & 2).
Greeks had lost the spring out of their year.
There was a praetor Publicius, who introduced (Herod. vii. 157–162 ; Timaeus, Frag. 87, ed.
into the edict a celebrated clause (Dig. 6. tit. 2. Paris, 1841. )
8. 1. pr. ), which gave origin to the Publiciana in
There is some uncertainty with regard to the
rem actio. By this action a bona fide possessor conduct that he actually pursued. According to
was enabled, by the fiction of usucaption, to re- Herodotus, he sent Cadmus of Cos with a sum of
cover the lost possession of a thing, although he money to await at Delphi the issue of the ap-
was not dominus ex jure Quiritium. (Inst. 4. tit. 6. proaching contest, and should it prove unfavourable
§ 45. ) It is not unlikely that this Publicins was to the Greeks, to make offers of submission to the
the jurist cited in the Digest; and there is some Persian monarch. But the same historian adds,
ground for identifying him with Q. Publicius, who that the Sicilian Greeks asserted him to have bera
## p. 237 (#253) ############################################
GELON.
237
GELON.
soners.
actually preparing to join the allied armament to have now thought himself sufficiently secure of
when he was prevented by the news of the Car- his power to make a show of resigning it, and ac-
thaginian invasion of Sicily (Herod. vii. 163–cordingly presented himself unarmed and thinly
165), and this appears to have been also the ac- clad before the assembled army and populace of
count of the matter given by Ephorus (ap. Schol. Syracuse. He then entered into an elaborate re-
ad Pind. Pyth. i. 146). The expedition of the view of his past conduct, and concluded with offer-
Carthaginians is attributed by the last-mentioned ing to surrender his power into the hands of the
historian (l. c. ), as well as by Diodorus (xi. 1,20), people-a proposal which was of course rejected,
to an alliance concluded by them with Xerxes: and he was hailed by the acclamations of the
Herodotus, with more probability, represents them multitude as their preserver and sovereign. (Diod.
as called in by Terillus, tyrant of Himera, who had xi. 26 ; Polyaen. i. 27. Ø 1; Ael. V. H. vi. 11. )
been expelled from that city by Theron of Agri- He did not, however, long survive to enjoy his ho
gentuin. The circumstances of their expedition nours, having been carried off by a dropsy in B. C.
are variously related, and may be suspected of much 478, only two years after his victory at Himem,
exaggeration (see Niebuhr, Lect. on Rom. Hist. and seven from the commencement of his reign
vol. i. p. 105, ed. Schmitz), but the leading facts over Syracuse, (Diod. xi. 38 , Arist. Pol. v. 9 ;
are unquestionable. The Carthaginian general Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. i. 89 ; Plut. de Pyth. Orac. p.
Hamilcer arrived at Panormus with an army, as it 403. ) It appears from Aristotle (Pol. v. 10 ; sce
is said, of 300,000 men, and advancing without also Schol. ad Pind. Nem. ix. 95) that he left an
opposition as far as Himera, laid siege to that place, infant son, notwithstanding which, according to
which was, however, vigorously defended by The | Diodorus, he on his deathbed appointed his brother
ron of Agrigentum. Gelon had previously formed Hieron to be his successor.
an alliance and matrimonial connection with Theron, We know very little of the internal adminis-
having married his daughter Demarete (Schol. ad tration or personal character of Gelon: it is not
Pind. Ol. j. 1, 29): no sooner, therefore, did he unlikely that his brilliant success at Himera shed
hear of his danger than he advanced to his succour a lustre over his name which was extended to the
at the head of a force of 50,000 foot and 5000 horse. rest of his conduct also. But he is represented
In the battle that ensued the Carthaginians were by late writers as a man of singular leniency and
totally defeated, with a loss, as it is pretended, of moderation, and as seeking in every way to pro-
150,000 men, while nearly the whole of the re- mote the welfare of his subjects ; and his name even
mainder fell into the hands of the enemy as pri- appears to have become almost proverbial as an
Hamilcar himself was among the slain, instance of a good monarch. (Diod. xi. 38, 67, xiii.
and a few ships, which had made their escape with 22, xiv. 66 ; Plut. Dion. 5, de ser. Num. vind. p.
a number of fugitives on board, perished in a storm, 551. ) He was, however, altogether illiterate (Ael.
80 that scarcely a messenger returned to bear the v. H. iv. 15); and perhaps this circumstance may
disastrous news to Carthage. (Herod. vii. 165, 166 ; account for the silence of Pindar concern his al-
Diod. xi. 20—24 ; xiii. 39 ; Ephorus, ap. Schol. leged virtues, which would otherwise appear some-
Pind. Pyth. i. 146 ; Polyaen. i. 27. 2. ) This what suspicious. But even if his good qualities as
victory was gained, according to the accounts re- a ruler have been exaggerated, his popularity at the
ported by Herodotus, on the very same day as time of his death is attested by the splendid tomb
that of Salamis, while Diodorus asserts it to have erected to him by the Syracusans at the public ex-
been the same day with Thermopylae : the exact pense, and by the heroic honours decreed to his me-
synchronism may in either case be erroneous, but mory. (Diod. xi. 38. ) Nearly a century and a half
the existence of such a belief so early as the time afterwards, when Timoleon sought to extirpate as
of Herodotus must be admitted as conclusive evi- far as possible all records of the tyrants that had
dence of the expedition of the Carthaginians having ruled in Sicily, the statue of Gelon alone was
been contemporary with that of Xerxes; hence spared. (Plut. Timol. 23. )
the battle of Himera must have been fought in Concerning the chronology of the reign of Gelon
the autumn of 480 B. C. Comp. Aristot. Poet. 23. see Clinton (F. H. vol. ii. p. 266, &c. ), Pausanias
§ 3. )
(vi. 9. § 4, 5, viii. 42. $ 8), Dionysius (vii. 1), and
So great a victory naturally raised Gelon to the Niebuhr (Rom. Hist. vol. ii. p. 97, note 201). The
highest pitch of power and reputation : his friend last writer adopts the date of the Parian chronicle,
ship was courted even by those states of Sicily which he supposes to be taken from Timaeus, ac-
which had been before opposed to him, and, if we cording to which Gelon did not begin to reign at
may believe the accounts transmitted to us, a Syracuse until B. c. 478; but it seems incredible that
solemn treaty of peace was concluded between him Herodotus should have been mistaken in a matter
and the Carthaginians, by which the latter repaid of such public notoriety as the contemporaneity of
him the expenses of the war. (Diod. xi. 26 ; Ti- the battle of Himera with the expedition of
maeus, ap. Schol. Pind. Pyth. ii. 3. ) A stipu- Xerxes.
lation is said by some writers to have been inserted 2. Son of Hieron II. , king of Syracuse, who
that the Carthaginians should refrain for the future died before his father, at the age of more than 50
from human sacrifices, but there can be little doubt years. Very little is known concerning him, but
that this is a mere fiction of later times. (Theophrast. he appears to have inherited the quiet and prudent
ap. Schol. Pmd. 1. c. ; Plut. Apophth.
