As Dion was young and inexperienced, observing the facility with which Plato had changed his taste and inclinations, he imagined, with simplicity enough, that the same reasons would have the same effects upon the mind of Dionysius; and with this view could not rest till he had prevailed upon the tyrant to hear and converse with him. Dionysius consented: but the lust of tyrannic power had taken too deep a root in his heart to be ever eradicated from it. It was like an indelible dye, that had penetrated his inmost soul, from whence it was impossible ever to efface it.

Though the stay of Plato at the court made no alteration in Dionysius, the latter still continued to give Dion the same marks of his esteem and confidence, and even to endure, without taking offence, the freedom with which he spoke to him. Dionysius, ridiculing one day the government of Gelon, formerly king of Syracuse, and saying, in allusion to his name, that he had been the laughing-stock of Sicily, the whole court greatly admired, and took no small pains to praise the quaintness and delicacy of the conceit, insipid and flat as it was, and, indeed, as puns and quibbles generally are. Dion took it in a serious sense, and was so bold as to represent to him that he was in the wrong to talk in that manner of a prince whose wise and equitable conduct had been the model of a perfect government, and given the Syracusans a favourable opinion of monarchical power. "You reign," added he, "and are trusted, for Gelon's sake; but for your sake, no man will ever be trusted after you." It was much that a tyrant should suffer himself to be talked to in such a manner with impunity.

SECTION III.-DIONYSIUS DECLARES WAR AGAINST
SY-
RACUSE REDUCED TO EXTREMITIES, AND SOON AFTER
DELIVERED. NEW COMMOTIONS AGAINST DIONYSIUS.
DEFEAT OF IMILCO, AND AFTERWARDS OF MAGO.

THE CARTHAGINIANS. VARIOUS SUCCESS OF IT.

UNHAPPY FATE OF THE CITY OF RHEGIUM.

A. M. 3607. Ant. J. C. 397

fects. They met with the same treatment throughout
Sicily; and murders and massacres were added to this
pillage, by way of reprisal for the many cruelties com-
mitted by the Barbarians upon those they conquered,
and to show them what they had to expect if they con-
tinued to make war with the same inhumanity.
After this bloody execution, Diony-
sius sent a letter by a herald to Car-
thage, in which he signified that the
Syracusans declared war against the Carthaginians,
if they did not withdraw their garrisons from all the
Grecian cities held by them in Sicily. The reading
of this letter, which took place first in the senate and
afterwards in the assembly of the people, occasioned
an uncommon alarm, as the pestilence had reduced
the city to a deplorable condition. However, they
were not dismayed, and prepared for a vigorous de-
fence. They raised troops with the utmost diligence,
and Imilco set out immediately to put himself at the
head of the Carthaginian army in Sicily.

Dionysius, on his side, lost no time, and took the field with his army, which daily increased by the arrival of new troops, who came to join him from all parts. It amounted to 80,000 foot and 3000 horse. The fleet consisted of 200 galleys, and 500 barks laden with provisions and machines of war. He opened the campaign with the siege of Motya, a fortified town belonging to the Carthaginians near mount Eryx, in a little island something more than a quarter of a league from the continent, to which it was joined by a small neck of land, which the besieged immediately cut through, to prevent the approaches of the enemy on

that side.

Dionysius having left the care of the siege to Leptines, who commanded the fleet, went with his land forces to attack the places in alliance with the Carthaginians. Terrified by the approach of so numerous an army, they all surrendered except five; which were Ancyra, Solos, Palermo, Segesta, and Entella. The last two places he besieged.

DIONYSIUS Seeing his great preparations were now complete, and that he was in a condition to take the Imilco, however, to make a diversion, detached ten field, publicly opened his design to the Syracusans, in galleys of his fleet, with orders to attack and surprise order to interest them the more in the success of the in the night all the vessels which remained in the port enterprise, and told them that it was his intention to of Syracuse. The commander of this expedition enmake war against the Carthaginians. He represented tered the port according to his orders, without meeting that people as the perpetual and inveterate enemy of with resistance; and after having sunk a great part the Greeks, and especially of those who inhabited of the vessels which he found there, retired well satisSicily; that the plague which had lately wasted Car-fied with the success of his enterprise. thage, afforded a favourable opportunity, which ought not to be neglected; that the people in subjection to such severe masters, waited only the signal to declare against them; that it would be glorious for Syracuse 5 reinstate the Grecian cities in their liberty, after aving so long groaned under the yoke of the Barbarians; that, in declaring war at present against the Carthaginians, they only anticipated them by a short time; since as soon as they had retrieved their losses, they would not fail to attack Syracuse with all their forces.

The assembly were unanimous in opinion. Their ancient and natural hatred of the Barbarians; their anger and resentment against them for having given Syracuse a master; and the hope that with arms in their hands they might find some occasion of recovering their liberty, united them in their suffrages. The war was resolved without any opposition, and it began that very instant. There were at Syracuse, as well in the city as the port, a great number of Carthaginians, who, relying upon the faith of treaties and the peace, exercised traffic, and thought themselves in security. The populace, by Dionysius's authority, upon the breaking up of the assembly, ran to their houses and ships, plundered their goods, and carried off their ef

* Τὴν βαφὴν οὐκ ἀνίεντα τῆς τυραννίδος, ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ δευσοποιὸν οὖσαν καὶ δυσέκπλυτον. Δρομαίους δὲ ὄντας ἔτι dei Tův xpnotŵv dvridaμßávéolai λóywv. Plut. in Moral.

p.

779.

Dionysius, after having wasted the enemy's country, returned, and sat down with his whole army before Motya: and having employed a great number of hands in making causeways and moles, he restored the neck of land, and brought forward his engines on that side. The place was attacked with the utmost vigour, and equally well defended. After the besiegers had passed the breach and entered the city, the besieged persisted a great while in defending themselves with incredible valour; so that it was necessary to pursue and drive them from house to house. The soldiers, enraged at so obstinate a defence, put all before them to the sword; age, youth, women, children, nothing was spared, except those who had taken refuge in the temples. The town was abandoned to the soldiers' discretion; Dionysius being pleased with an occasion of attaching the troops to his service by the allurement and hope of gain.

The Carthaginians made an extraordinary effort the next year, and raised an army of 300,000 foot and 4000 horse. The fleet under Mago's command consisted of 400 galleys, and upwards of 600 vessels laden with provisions and engines of war. Imilco had given the captains of the fleet his orders sealed up, which were not to be opened till they were out at sea. He had taken this precaution, that his designs might be kept secret, and to prevent spies from sending information of themn to Sicily. The rendezvous was at Palermo; where the fleet arrived without much loss in their passage.

in danger. Many of their vessels were sunk, and others almost entirely disabled, and a mach greater number destroyed by fire. The old men, women, and children, ran in crowds to the walls to be witnesses of that scene of horror, and lifted up their hands towards heaven, returning thanks to the gods for so signal a protection of their city. The slaughter within and without the camp, and on board the vessels, was great and dreadful, and ended only with the day. Imilco, reduced to despair, offered Dionysius senight with the remains of his army and fleet. The tyrant, who was not displeased with leaving the Car. thaginians some resource, to keep his subjects in continual awe, gave his consent; but only for the citizens of Carthage. Upon which Imilco, four days after, set out with forty ships, filled with Carthaginians alone; leaving the rest of his troops behind. The Corinthians, discovering from the noise and motion of the galleys that Imilco was making off, sent to inform Dionysius of his flight, who affected ignorance of it, and gave immediate orders to pursue him; but as they saw that those orders were but slowly executed, they followed the enemy themselves, and sunk several vessels of their rear guard.

Dionysius then marched out with his troops; but before their arrival, the Sicilians in the Carthaginian service had retired to their several countries. Hav ing first posted troops in all the passes, he advanced directly to the enemy's camp, though it was not quite day. The barbarians, who saw themselves cruelly abandoned and betrayed by Imilco and the Sicilians, lost courage and fled. Some of them were taken by the troops in the passes; others laid down their arms and asked quarter. The Iberians alone drew up, and sent a herald to capitulate with Dionysius, who incorporated them into his guards. The rest were all made prisoners.

it with such strong walls and high towers, and has called in for his guard that tribe of strangers and barbarians who insult us with impunity? How long, O Syracusans, shall we suffer such indignities, more insupportable to the brave and generous than death itself? Bold and intrepid against the enemy abroad, shall we always tremble like cowards in the presence of a tyrant? Providence, which has again put arms into our hands, directs us what use to make of them! Sparta, and the other cities in our alliance, who glory in being free and independent, would deem us unwor-cretly 300,000 crowns for permission to retire in the thy of the Grecian name if we had any other sentiments. Let us show that we do not degenerate from our ancestors. If Dionysius consents to retire from amongst us, let us open him our gates, and let him take along with him whatever he pleases; but if he persists in the tyranny, let him experience what effects the love of liberty has upon the brave and resolute." After this speech, all the Syracusans, in suspense betwixt hope and fear, looked earnestly upon their allies, and particularly upon the Spartans. Pharacides, who commanded their fleet, rose up to speak. It was expected that a citizen of Sparta would declare in favour of liberty; but he did quite the reverse: and told them that his republic had sent him to aid the Syracusans and Dionysius against the Carthaginians, and not to make war upon Dionysius, or to subvert his authority. This answer confounded the Syracusans, and the tyrant's guard arriving at the same time, the assembly broke up. Dionysius perceiving more than ever what he had to fear, used all his endeavours to ingratiate himself with the people, and to attach the citizens to his interests; making presents to some, inviting others to eat with him, and affecting upon all occasions to treat them with kindness and familiarity. It was probably about this time, that Polyxenus, Dionysius's brother-in-law, who had married his sister Thesta, having without doubt declared against him in this conspiracy, fled from Sicily for the preservation of his life, and to avoid falling into the tyrant's hands. Dionysius sent for his sister, and bitterly reproached her for not apprising him of her husband's intended flight, as she could not be ignorant of it. She replied without expressing the least surprise or fear, "Have I then appeared to you so bad a wife, and of so mean a soul, as to have abandoned my husband in his flight, had I been acquainted with his design, and not to have desired to share in his dangers and misfortunes? No! I knew nothing of it; or I should have been much happier in being called in all places the wife of Polyxenus the exile, than, in Syracuse, the sister of the tyrant." Dionysius could not but admire an answer so full of spirit and generosity; and the Syracusans in general were so charmed with her virtue, that after the tyranny was suppressed, the same honours, equipage, and train of a queen, which she had before, were continued to her during her life; and after her death, the whole people attended her body to the tomb, and honoured her funeral with an extraordinary concourse. On the side of the Carthaginians, affairs began to take a new appearance on a sudden. They had committed an irretrievable error in not attacking Syracuse upon their arrival, and in not taking advantage of the consternation which the sight of their fleet and army, equally formidable, had occasioned. At present the plague, which was looked upon as a punishment sent from heaven for their plundering of temples and demolishing of tombs, had destroyed great numbers of their army in a short time. I have described the extraordinary symptoms of it in the history of the Carthaginians. To add to that misfortune, the Syracusans, being informed of their unhappy condition, attacked them in the night by sea and land. The surprise, and terror, and even haste they were in, to put themselves into a posture of defence, threw them into new difficulty and confusion. They knew not on which side to send relief; all being equally

1 Plut. in Dion. p. 966.

Such was the fate of the Carthaginians; which shows, says the historian, that humiliation treads upon the heels of pride, and that those who are too much puffed up with their power and success, are soon forced to confess their weakness and vanity. Those haughty victors, masters of almost all Sicily, who looked upon Syracuse as already their own, and had already entered triumphant into the great port, insulting the citizens, are now reduced to fly shamefully under the covert of the night; dragging away with them the sad ruins and miserable remains of their fleet and army, and trembling for the fate of their native country. Imilco, who had neither regarded the sacred refuge of temples, nor the inviolable sanctity of tombs, after having left 150,000 men unburied in the enemy's country, returns, to perish miserably at Carthage, avenging upon himself by his death the contempt he had expressed for gods and men.

Dionysius, who was suspicious of the strangers in his service, removed 10,000 of them, and, under the pretence of rewarding their merit, gave them the city of Leontium, which was in reality very commodiously situated, and an advantageous settlement. He confided the guard of his person to other foreigners, and the slaves whom he had made free. He made several attempts upon places in Sicily, and in the neighbouring country, especially against Rhegium. The people of Italy, seeing themselves in danger, entered into a powerful alliance to put a stop to his conquests. The success was tolerably equal on both sides.

About this time, the Gauls, who some months before had burnt Rome, sent deputies to Dionysius to make an alliance with him. He was at that time in Italy. The advices he had received of the great preparations making by the Carthaginians for war, obliged him to return to Sicily.

Three hundred talents.
Diodorus Siculus,
Justin. 1. xx. c. 5

⚫ Diod. 1. xiv. p. 304, 310.

such a discourse drew tears from all eyes, and even from the soldiers of Dionysius. He was afraid his prisoner would be taken from him before he had satiated his revenge, and ordered him to be flung into the sea directly.

SECTION IV-VIOLENT PASSION OF DIONYSIUS FOR

POESY.

REFLECTIONS UPON THAT TASTE OF THE TYRANT. FLATTERY OF HIS COURTIERS. GENEROUS FREEDOM OF PHILOXENUS. DEATH OF DIONYSIUS. HIS BAD QUALITIES.

sirous of glory of every kind, and piqued himself upon the excellence of his genius, sent his brother Thearides to Olympia, to dispute in his name the prizes of the chariot-race and poetry.

In fact, the Carthaginians having set on foot a numerous army under the conduct of Mago, made new efforts against Syracuse, but with no better success than the former. They terminated in an accommodation with Dionysius. He attacked Rhegium again, and A. M. 3615. at first received no inconsiderable Ant. J. C. 399. check. But having gained a great victory against the Greeks of Italy, in which he took more than 10,000 prisoners, he dismissed them all without ransom, contrary to their expectation; with a view of detaching the Italians from Ar an interval of leisure which his success against the interests of Rhegium, and of dissolving a power-Rhegium had left Dionysius, the tyrant, who was deful league, which might have defeated his designs against that city. Having by this act of favour and generosity acquired the good opinion of all the inhabitants of the country, and from enemies made them his friends and allies, he returned against Rhegium. He was extremely incensed against that city, upon account of their refusing to give him one of their citizens in marriage, and the insolent answer with which that refusal was attended. The besieged, finding themselves incapable of resisting so numerous an army as that of Dionysius's, and expecting no quarter if the city were taken by assault, began to talk of capitulating; to which he hearkened not unwillingly. He made them pay 300,000 crowns, deliver up all their vessels to the number of seventy, and put 100 hostages into his hands; after which he raised the siege. It was not out of favour or clemency that he acted in this manner, but to make their destruction sure, after having first reduced their power.

The circumstance which I am now going to treat, and which regards the taste or rather passion of Dionysius for poetry and polite learning, being one of his peculiar characteristics, and having besides a mixture of good and bad in itself, makes it requisite, in order to form an equitable judgment upon this point, to distinguish wherein this taste of his is either laudable or worthy of blame.

I say the same of the tyrant's total character, with whose vices of ambition and tyranny many great qualities were united, which ought not to be disguised or misrepresented; the veracity of history requiring, that justice should be done to the most wicked, as they are not so in every respect. We have seen several things in his character that certainly deserve praise; I mean in regard to his manners and behaviour: the mildness with which he suffered the freedom of young Dion, the admiration he expressed of the bold and generous answer of his sister Thesta upon the occasion of her husband's flight, his gracious and insinuating deportment upon several other occasions to the Syracusans, the familiarity with which he conversed with the meanest citizens and even workmen, the equality he observed between his two wives, and his kindness and respect for them; all which imply that Dionysius had more equity, moderation, affability, and generosity, than is commonly ascribed to him. He is not such a tyrant as Phalaris, Alexander of Pheræ, Caligula, Nero, or Caracalla.

Accordingly the next year, under the false pretext, and with the reproach of their having violated the treaty, he besieged them again with all his forces, having first sent back their hostages. Both parties acted with the utmost vigour. The desire of revenge on one side, and the fear of the most cruel torments on the other, animated the troops. Those of the city were commanded by Phyto, a brave and intrepid man, whom the danger of his country rendered more courageous. He made frequent and vigorous sallies, in one of which Dionysius received a wound, of which he recovered with great difficulty. The siege went on slowly, and had already continued eleven months, when a cruel famine reduced the city to the last extremities. A measure of wheat (of about six bushels) But to return to Dionysius's taste for poetry. In his was sold for about ten pounds. After having con- intervals of leisure, he loved to unbend in the conversumed all their horses and beasts of burden, they sation of persons of wit, and in the study of the arts were reduced to support themselves with leather and and sciences. He was particularly fond of versifying hides, which they boiled; and at last to feed upon the and employed himself in the composition of poems, grass of the fields like beasts; a resource of which especially of tragedies. Thus far this passion of his Dionysius soon deprived them, by making his horse may be excused, having something undoubtedly laudaeat up all the herbage around the city. Necessity at ble in it; I mean in his taste for polite learning, the length reduced them to surrender at discretion, and esteem he expressed for learned men, his inclination Dionysius entered the place, which he found covered to do them good offices, and the employment to which with dead bodies. Those who survived were rather he devoted his leisure hours. Was it not better to skeletons than men. He took above 6000 prisoners, employ them in exercising his mind and the cultivawhom he sent to Syracuse. Such as could pay about tion of science, than in feasting, dancing, theatrical two pounds he dismissed, and sold the rest for slaves. amusements, gaming, frivolous company, and other Dionysius let fall the whole weight of his resent-pleasures still more pernicious? This is the wise rement and revenge upon Phyto. He began with or-flection which Dionysius the younger made when at dering his son to be thrown into the sea. The next Corinth. Philip of Macedon being at table with day he ordered the father to be fastened to the extremity of the highest of his engines for a spectacle to the whole army, and in that condition he sent to tell him that his son had been thrown into the sea. "Then he is happier than I by a day," replied that unfortunate parent. He afterwards caused him to be led through the whole city, to be scourged with rods, and to suffer a thousand other indignities, whilst a herald proclaimed, "that the perfidious traitor was treated in that manner, for having inspired the people of Rhegium with rebellion."-"Say rather," answered that generous defender of his country's liberty, "that a faithful citizen is so used, for having refused to sacrifice his country to a tyrant." Such an object and

him, spoke of the odes and tragedies his father had left behind him with an air of raillery and contempt, and seemed to be under some difficulty to comprehend at what time of his life he had leisure for such compositions. Dionysius smartly and wittily replied, "The difficulty is very great indeed! Why, he composed them at those hours which you and I, and an infinity of others, who have so high an opinion of ourselves, pass in drinking, and other diversions."

Julius Cæsar and the emperor Augustus cultivated poetry, and composed tragedies. Lucullus intended

Diod. 1. xiv. p. 318.

Plut. in Timol. p. 243. c. lxxxv.

Suet. in Cæs. c. lvi. in August. c. lxxxy. Plut, in Lucul. p. 492.

held.

to have written the memoirs of his military actions in | rous, musical voices, who might be heard far and disverse. The comedies of Terence were attributed to tinctly, and who knew how to give a just emphasis Lælius and Scipio, both great captains, especially the and cadence to the verses they repeated. At first this latter; and that report, which generally prevailed at had a very happy effect, and the whole audience were Rome was so far from lessening their reputation, that deceived by the art and sweetness of the pronunciait added to the general esteem in which they were tion. But that charm was soon at an end, and the mind not long seduced by the ears. The verses then These relaxations, therefore, were not blameable in appeared in their absurdity. The audience were their own nature; this taste for poetry was rather ashamed of having applauded them, and their praise laudable, if kept within due bounds; but Dionysius was turned into laughter, scorn, and insult. Their was ridiculous for pretending to excel all others in it. contempt and indignation rose to such a pitch, that He could not endure either a superior or competitor they tore Dionysius's rich pavilion in pieces. Lysias, in any thing. From being in the sole possession of the celebrated orator, who was come to the Olympic supreme authority, he had accustomed himself to ima-games to dispute the prize of eloquence, which he gine that he possessed the same paramount rank in had carried several times before, undertook to prove, the empire of wit: in a word, he was in every thing a that it was inconsistent with the honour of Greece, tyrant. His immoderate estimation of his own merit the friend and assertor of liberty, to admit an impious flowed, in some measure, from the overbearing turn tyrant to share in the celebration of the sacred games, of mind which empire and command had given him. who had no other thoughts than of subjecting all The continual applauses of a court, and the flatteries Greece to his power. Dionysius was not affronted in of those who knew how to recommend themselves by that manner then; but the event proved as little in soothing his darling foible, were another source of this his favour. His chariots having entered the lists, were vain conceit. And of what will not a great man, a all of them either carried out of the course by a headminister, a prince, think himself capable, who has long impetuosity, or dashed in pieces against one such incense and adoration continually paid to him? another. And to complete the misfortune, the galley It is well known that Cardinal Richelieu in the midst which was bringing back the persons Dionysius had of his important business, not only composed dra- sent to the games, met with a violent storm, and did matic pieces, but piqued himself on his excellence in not return to Syracuse without great difficulty. When that talent; and what is more, his jealousy in that the pilots arrived there, out of hatred and contempt point rose so high as to use his authority in causing for the tyrant, they reported throughout the city, that criticisms to be directed against the compositions of it was his vile poems which had occasioned so many those to whom the public, a just and incorruptible misfortunes to the readers, racers, and even the ship judge in the question, had given the preference against itself. This bad success did not at all discourage him. Dionysius, nor make him abate in the least the high opinion which he entertained of his poetic vein. The flatterers, who abounded in his court, did not fail to insinuate, that such injurious treatment of his poems could proceed only from envy, which always fastens upon what is most excellent; and that sooner or later, the invidious themselves would be compelled by de monstration to do justice to his merit, and acknowledge his superiority to all other poets.

Dionysius did not reflect, that there are things, estimable in themselves, and conferring honour upon private persons, in which it does not become a prince to desire to excel. I have mentioned elsewhere Philip of Macedon's expression to his son Alexander, upon his having shown too much skill in music at a public entertainment: Are you not ashamed," said he, "to sing so well?" It was acting inconsistently with the dignity of his rank. If Cæsar and Augustus, when they wrote tragedies, had taken it into their heads to equal or excel Sophocles, it had not only been ridiculous, but a reproach to them. And the reason is, because a prince being obliged by an essential and indispensable duty to apply himself incessantly to the affairs of government, and having an infinitude of various business perpetually flowing in upon him, he can make no other use of the sciences, than to divert him at such short intervals, as will not admit such progress in them, as is requisite in order to excel those who make them their particular study. Hence when the public sees a prince affect the first rank in this kind of merit, they have a right to conclude that he neglects his more important duties, and what he owes to his people's happiness, to give himself up to an employment which wastes his time and mental energy ineffectually.

9

We must, however, do Dionysius the justice to own, that he was never reproached for letting poetry interfere to the prejudice of his great affairs, or that it made him less active and diligent on any important occasion.

2

I have already said, that this prince, in an interval of peace, had sent his brother Thearides to Olympia, to dispute the prizes of poetry and the chariot-race in his name. When he arrived in the assembly, the beauty as well as number of his chariots, and the magnificence of his pavilion, embroidered with gold and silver, attracted the eyes and admiration of all the spectators. The ear was no less charmed when the poems of Dionysius began to be read. He had chosen expressly for the occasion readers with sonoNihil est quod credere de se

1

Juvenal.

Non possit, cùm laudatur diis æqua potestas. * Diod. 1. xiv. p. 318.

The infatuation of Dionysius on this subject was inconceivable. He was undoubtedly a great warriot, and an excellent captain; but he fancied himself a much better poet, and believed that his verses were a far greater honour to him than all his victories. To endeavour to undeceive him in an opinion so favoura ble to himself, to say nothing of the absolute hope lessness of the attempt, would have been an ill way of making court to him; so that all the learned men and poets, who ate at his table in great numbers, seemed to be in an ecstacy of admiration whenever he read them his poems. Never, according to them, was any thing comparable to them: all was great, all noble in his poetry: all was majestic, or, to speak more properly, all divine.

Philoxenus was the only one of all the tribe who did not suffer himself to be hurried away by this torrent of excessive praise and flattery. He was a man of great reputation, and excelled in Dithyrambic poetry. There is a story told of him, which La Fontaine has known how to apply admirably. Being at table with Dionysius, and seeing a very small fish set before him, and a huge one before the king, the whim took him, to lay his ear close to the little fish. He was asked what he meant by that pleasantry: "I was inquiring," said he, "into some affairs that happened in the reign of Nereus, but this young native of the floods can give me no information: yours is elder, and without doubt knows something of the matter."

Dionysius having read one day some of his verses to Philoxenus, and having pressed him to give him his opinion of them, he answered with entire freedom, and told him plainly his real sentiments. Dionysius, who was not accustomed to such language, was er

These readers were called 'Paywool.
Diod. l. xv. p. 331.