 Chapter 15. Part 1 of A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great. Volume 2. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Paul Sutton. A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great. Volume 2. By John Bagnell Burry. Chapter 15. Part 1. Chapter 15. The Syracusean Empire and the Struggle with Carthage. We have seen how the war in Greece, in its last stage, after the collapse of the Sicilian expedition, ceased to be a mere domestic struggle among Greek states and became a part of the greater struggle between Greek and barbarian. We have now to see how the strife of Greek and barbarian was renewed at the same moment in the West. It is indeed remarkable how these two episodes, and the great conflict between Asia and Europe, run parallel through separate courses in the 5th century. The victory of Himera, which beat back the Carthaginian invader from the shores of Sicily, was one in the same year which saw the repulsion of the Persian invader from the shores of Attica. After these triumphs of Hellas, both Persia and Carthage had long laying quiescent and left the Greek cities of East and West to live undisturbed at war or in peace among themselves. It was not till the mightiest city of Eastern and the mightiest city of Western Hellas came to blows and wore one another out in the conflict that the barbarian foes, discerning the propituous hour, once more made their voices heard in the Grecian world. Sicily, with an exhausted Syracuse, the Aegean, with an exhausted Athens, invited Carthage and Persia alike to make an attempt to enlarge their borders at the expense of the Greek. Section 1. Carthaginian destruction of Salinas and Himera After she had achieved the repulse and utter confusion of Athens, it might have seemed likely that Syracuse would succeed in founding a Sicilian Empire. Her first task would be to reduce Catane and Naxos, and when this was done, the other cities, including Luxurius and Cragus, would hardly be able to resist. This prospect was disappointed by the intervention of a foreign enemy. But though the victory of Syracuse over Athens did not lead to a Syracusean Empire, as the victory of Athens over Persia had led to an Athenian Empire, it was followed, as in the case of Athens, by a further advance in the development of democracy. Had Hermocrates remained in Syracuse, in possession of his old influence, a change in this direction would hardly have come to pass. But he was appointed to command the auxiliary fleet, which Syracuse sent to spart his help in the Aegean. And when he had gone, the democratic mood of the citizens, excited by their recent efforts, vented itself in a decree pronouncing the deposition and banishment of Hermocrates. This was the work of his political opponent, Diocles, who was thoroughgoing Democrat. Diocles bore the same name as a far earlier lawgiver, belonging to the same class and age as Charandis and Zaluchus, who had drawn up the laws on which the Syracusean constitution rested. The accidental identity of name led in subsequent ages to a confusion, and we later find writers ascribing to the democratic reformer who rose into prominence now the legislation of his ancient namesake. In his popular innovations, Diocles borrowed ideas from the enemy, whom his country had just overthrown. The Athenian use of lot in the appointment of magistrates was adopted. Hitherto, the generals were also the presidents of the Sovereign Assembly, and had the unrestricted power of dismissing it at discretion. Diocles seems to have taken away this political function from the generals and assigned the presidency of the assembly to the new magistrates, but with much smaller powers. The presidents, as we shall presently see, were able only to find a speaker who was out of order. They could not silence him or break up the assembly. Such was the position of the greatest Sicilian city, a full-blown democracy, but without her chief citizen, to whom above all others she owed the deliverance from her danger. When the island was exposed for the second time to a Carthaginian invasion, the occasion of the war was the same, which had brought about the Athenian invasion, the feud between Salinas and Segesta concerning some fields on their common frontier. In both cases, the dispute of these towns was a pretext, not the deeper cause. As Athens thought that the time had come for extending her commerce in the west, so Carthage deemed that the day had dawned for asserting anew her power in Sicily. And there were those who had not let fade the memory of the humiliation endured at Haimara 70 years before and longed to take a late revenge. Segesta, with no Athens to protect her now, ceded the disputed lands, but Salinas went on to exact further sessions, and the Aleemian city appealed to Carthage. One of the two shoppets or judges in that republic was Hannibal, the grandson of Hamilcar, who had been slain at Haimara. The desire of vengeance long deferred, dominated Hannibal, now almost an old man, and his influence persuaded the Senate to accept Segesta's offer to become a Carthaginian dependency in return for Carthaginian help. A grand expedition was fitted out, and Hannibal was named commander. 60 warships were got ready, 1500 transports, 100,000 foot, 4,000 horse. The fleet was not intended to take part in the offensive warfare. It was stationed at Moica to be a protection for the Phoenician Sicily, and a security in case of discomforture. The army landed at Lillibium and marched straight to Salinas. The city had never been besieged before within the memory of its folk. Immunity had made it secure. The fortifications had been neglected. The Salinitines were engaged in building a temple of vast proportions to Apollo, or perhaps Olympian Zeus, when they were brought face to face with a sudden danger from Carthage. The House of the God was never completed. Of the Pillars of the Giants, which were to support the massive roof, some stand in their places on the eastern hill, but the great drums and the capitals of others must be looked for some miles away, and the quarries from which they were hewn, left there when the Carthaginian destroyer came. There was no time to repair adequately the walls of the Acropolis on the central hill. Hannibal surrounded it, and a breach was soon made, but the place was not in the foe's hands for nine days, owing to the stubborn resistance which the inhabitants were able to offer in the narrow streets. The Sicilian sister cities were not prompt in aid. Syracuse promised to come to the rescue and sent a force under Diocles, which arrived too late. Salinas was the first Sicilian city, which was stormed and sacked by the barbarian. She was not to be the last. The people were slaughtered without mercy. Only some women and children who took refuge in the temples were spared, not from any respect of the holy places, and carried into bondage. Those who escaped from the sack fled to Acragus. Thus Salinas fell after a brief life of two centuries and a half. Hannibal had now done the work which Carthage had given him to do, but he had still to do the work which he had imposed upon himself. His real motive in undertaking the public duty of the Salinentine war was to carry out the private duty of ancestral vengeance. Against Salinas he had no personal grudge, and there he did not carry the work of destruction further than military considerations required. The buildings on the western hill where he had pitched his camp suffered much. But the injuries sustained by the temples on the Acropolis and on the eastern hill are due not to Hannibal's army, but to the earthquakes of later ages. It was to be a different case in the city which he now turned to attack. At Salinas, Hannibal was merely the general of Carthage. At Himera, he was the grandson of Hamelcar. Hannibal designed to capture Himera by his land force alone. And in this absence of a Carthaginian fleet, Hannibal's siege of Himera differs from Hamelcar's. The Greeks of Sicily were now bestowing themselves. The terrible fate of one of their chief cities had aroused them to a sense of their peril. The naval power which was supporting Sparta in the Aegean had been long ago recalled, and a force of 5,000, including 3,000 Syracusans under Diocles, came to the relief of Himera. This city had time to prepare for the danger which she must have foreseen. But the besiegers, by means of mines, opened a breach in the wall. And although they were repelled and the defenders made a successful sally, the prospects of Himera looked black. When the fleet of 25 ships which had returned from the Aegean appeared in front of the city, Hannibal saved the situation by a strategy. He spread abroad a report that he intended to march on Syracuse and to take it unprepared. Diocles, thoroughly deceived, decided to return home and carry off the citizens of Himera, leaving the empty town to its fate. He induced half the population to embark in the ships, which as soon as they had set the passengers in safety at Massana were to return for the rest. Diocles and his army departed in haste, not even waiting to ask Hannibal for the dead bodies of those who had fallen in the fight outside the walls. And for this neglect he was greatly blamed. When Hannibal saw that half his prey had escaped him, he pressed the siege more vehemently, determined to force an early entry before the ships returned. The fate of thousands, the vengeance of Hannibal, might turn on the event of a few minutes. On the third day, the vessels of safety bowed in sight of the straining eyes of the Himerans. It seemed that Hannibal was to be balked of his revenge. But the gods of Canaan prevailed in that hour of suspense. Before the ships of rescue could reach the harbor, the Spanish troops of Hannibal burst through the breach. And the town was in the hands of the Avenger. On the spot where Hamilcar, according to story, had offered up his life to the gods of his country, a solemn right was held. Three thousand men who had survived the first indiscriminate slaughter were sacrificed with torture to appease his shade. Hamara, the offending city, was swept utterly out of the world, and its place knew it no more. Having thus accomplished his duty to his country and his gods, Hannibal returned triumphant to Africa, the position which Carthage won in Sicily by this year's work, and her new policy of activity there are reflected in the coinage of Segesta and Pinormous. The transformation of Segesta into a Carthaginian dependency was displayed by the fact that she had ceased to coin her own money. But Carthage also showed that she intended to keep a firmer hand on her Phoenician dependencies. These cities had hitherto paid homage to Hellenic influences by adopting a coinage of Hellenic character. With Hellenic inscriptions, the coinage now comes to an end at Pinormous and is replaced by a coinage of Greek type, indeed. But with a Phoenician legend. The words is, the change seems to have been made just before the invasion, and it was significant of an anti-Greek movement. But the curious thing is that Hamara, the city which was to be one of the first victims of the new policy, heralded in this numismatic reform, abandoned her old coinage with the cock and struck a new coinage with a seahorse on the Punic model of Pinormous. Are we to suppose that Hamara, aware of the peril which menaced her, thought to avert it by a timely approach of friendship to her Phoenician neighbor, and that this coinage was part of a policy of punicism intended to be only temporary. Syracuse, although she had sought to do something for Salinas and had done something for Hamara, felt no call to come forward as a champion against the new aggressive policy of Carthage. It was reserved for one of her citizens to attempt on his private responsibility, the warfare which she declined to undertake against the Phoenician foe. The exile, Hermocrates returned to Sicily, enriched by the gifts of the Satrap Farnabasus. His own city refused to withdraw the sentence of banishment for a man of his views and abilities seemed dangerous to the democratic constitution. Hermocrates then resolved to earn his recall by performing conspicuous services to the Hellenic cause in Sicily, by winning back the Greek territory which the Phoenician had taken by carrying Greek arms into Phoenician territory itself. He had built five triremes. He had hired 1,000 mercenaries and he was joined by 1,000 Haimeran fugitives. With these he marked to the spot where Salinas had once been and made the place a center for a crusade against the Phoenician. He repaired the fortifications of the Acropolis on the central hill and the remains of the well-built wall betray. By the capitals of columns used in the building, the circumstances of his erection, the adventure prospered, the band of Hermocrates soon increased to 6,000 and he was able to devastate the lands of Moicit and Ponomis and to drive back the forces which came out to meet him. In the same way he ravaged the territory of Solis and the new Carthaginian Segesta. These successes of Hermocrates were of no greater significance than the actual injury dealt to the enemy. He had done what had not been done before since the days of Darius. He had broken into the precincts of Phoenician Sicily and set an example to many subsequent leaders. Hermocrates was bent, above all things, leading his own country. Dockleys and his political opponents were still powerful in the city and able to hinder the revulsion of feeling which his successes caused from having any practical effect. Accordingly, he made another attempt to soften the hearts of his fellow citizens. It was a well-calculated move. He marched to the ruins of Haimara, collected the unburied bones of the soldiers of Dockleys, which Dockleys had neglected and sent them on wagons to Syracuse, himself remaining as an exile outside the Syracuse and borders. He hoped to awaken the religious sentiment of the citizens in his own favor and at the same time to turn it against his rival. The bones were received and Dockleys was banished, but Hermocrates was not recalled. Having failed to compass his restoration by persuasion, the exile resolved to compass it by force, and he was encouraged by his numerous partisans in Syracuse. He was admitted with a small band at the gate of Agridina and posted himself in the adjacent Agora, awaiting for the rest of his forces to arrive, but they tarried too long. The people learning that Hermocrates was in the city rushed to the marketplace. The small band was soon overcome and Hermocrates was slain. The Syracusans in these days were inspired with an instinctive rather than well-founded dread of tyranny, and this dread was stronger than admiration for Hermocrates. Their instinct was right. Tyranny was approaching, but he was not the man. They little guessed that their future master was an obscure follower of Hermocrates, who was wounded that day in the Agora and left for dead. End of Chapter 15, Part 1 Chapter 15, Part 2 Carthaginian Conquest of Acragas The private warfare of Hermocrates in western Sicily had naturally provoked the wrath of the Carthaginians. Embassies passed between Carthage and Syracuse. Carthage regarding Syracuse is answerable for the acts of a Syracusan, but diplomacy was merely a matter of form. The African Republic has resolved to make all Greek Sicily subject to her sway. She made ready another great expedition, as great as if not greater than that which had been sent against Salinas, and at the same time she took the novel step of founding a colony on Sicilian soil. If Hermocrates had lived, Haimara might have been partially restored like Salinas, but the destroyers of Haimara now founded a city in the neighborhood which was to take Haimara's place. On the hill above the hot bass of the Nymphs, where of Pindar's Sings the Carthaginian colonists built their town, but it was not destined to retain its Phoenician character. The Greek strangers who were admitted to Dwellin had transformed it before long into a Greek city. The Thermite of Haimara preserved the memories of Haimara, and the people were known as Thermites, or Haemarians, indifferently. Acragas, the city which faces Carthage, was the first object of attack to the invaders who now came to conquer and enslave all Greek Sicily. Since the days of Theron, Acragas had held aloof from all struggles in the island and was now at the height of her prosperity, she was innervated by peace and luxury, and when the day of trial came, she was found wanting. How far her citizens were prepared to endure the hardships of military life may be inferred from the law, passed with a view to the present peril, that none of the men in the watchtowers should have more than a mattress, two pillows, and a quilt. Such were the austerities of the men of Acragas, but at least they paid homage to the different discipline of Sparta. They invited Dexapus, a Spartan who was then at Gela, to undertake the conduct of the defense, a body of Campanian mercenaries was hired and they could rely on the assistance of their old rivals, the Syracusans, as well as of the other Greek cities who were fully conscious that the peril of Acragas was their own, and Acragas herself behaved well. Notwithstanding her habits of ease and her old practice of holding aloof, she refused attempting offer of the invader that she should now purchase immunity by remaining neutral. She was true to her own race, she might remain indifferent when it was a struggle between Dorian and Ionian, but it was another case when the whole of Sicilian Hellas was threatened by the Phoenician. The army of Carthage was again under the command of Hannibal, who felt that he was too old for the work and was assisted by his husband, Himilco. They pitched their main camp on the right bank of the river Hipsis, southwest of the city, and stationed some forces in another small camp on the eastern hill beyond the river Acragas to act against Greek age for coming from the east. The point of attack was the part of the western wall close to the chief western gate, but the ground, though lower here, was still difficult for a besieger, and Hannibal determined to raise an immense causeway from which the wall could be more effectively attacked. The tombs of the neighboring necropolis supplied stones for the work, but as the tomb of Theron was being broken down, it was shaken by a thunderbolt, and the seers advised that it must be spared. Then a pestilence broke out in the Carthaginian camp and carried off Hannibal himself. It seemed that the gods were wroth and demanded a victim. Himilco lit the fires of Moloch and sacrificed a boy. The way was then completed, but no further injury was done to the sepulchres. An army was already on its way to the relief of Acragas, 30,000 foot and 5,000 horse from Syracuse, Gala, and Camarena. When they approached the city, they were met by the forces, which had been placed for this purpose on the eastern hill. A battle was fought, a victory gained, and the Greek army took possession of the lesser Carthaginian camp. Meanwhile, the routed barbarians fled for the refuge of the main camp, and their flight lay along the road to the city. There was a general cry at a sally forth and cut them off, but the generals refused. The moment was lost, but presently, the people, yielding to an impulse which the generals could not resist, went forth from the eastern gate to meet their victorious allies. A strange seed followed. The tumultuous assembly was held outside the walls. The Acragan team commanders were accused of failing in their duty, and when they essayed to defend themselves, the fury of the people burst out and it seems now to have been shared by Dexapus within the city and Daphneus, the commander of the Syracusan troops, without. Though the hostile camp was too strong to be attacked, the prospect looked favorable for Acragas. The Punic army, diminished though it had been by the plague, was sore bested for lack of supplies, and it seemed certain that hunger and mutinous soldiers would soon force Himilco to raise the siege. But he learned that the provisionships were coming from Syracuse to Acragas. They were used for the Carthaginian vessels at Penormus and Moitia, put out to sea with 40 triremes and intercepted the supplies. This not only saved his league, but even reversed the situation. The besieged city now began to suffer from scarcity of food, and as soon as supplies began to run short, the weak point in the position of the Acragateans was displayed. They had found it needful to allow mercenaries, and hirelings were not likely to serve long when rations ran short. They were not likely to serve from Acragas to Carthage, but this was not all. It was commonly believed that Dexapus, like most Spartans abroad, incapable of resisting a bribe, received 15 talents from Himilco and induced the Italia and Sicilia allies to desert Acragas as a sinking ship. But whatever the conduct of Dexapus may have been, the discredit of this desertion cannot rest entirely with him. The defense which had been maintained for eight months with foreign aid was now left to the men of Acragas alone. They showed at once that they were shaped of different stuff from the men of Selenus. Overcome with despair, they resolved to save their lives, and abandon their city and their gods. Such a resolution taken by the people of a great city is unique in Greek history. It did not befit the men who had rejected the overtures of Hannibal, but it was what we might expect from the men who murdered their generals. They marched forth at night, men, women, and children without lot or hindrance from the foe. They were compelled to leave their experience to pillage, those things which made their lives happy. The old and sick could not be sent out on the long journey to Gela, the place of refuge, and were left behind. Some too remained who chose to perish at Acragas, rather than live in another place. The army of Himilko entered the city in the morning and sacked it, slaying all whom they found, and despoiling and burning the temples. The great house of Olympian Zeus, the largest Greek temple in Europe, was still unfinished, and the sack of Himilko decided it should never be completed. But Acragas was not to be destroyed. Like Salinas, it was intended to be a Carthaginian city and a Carthaginian Sicily. Himilko made the place his winter quarters. Gela would be the next object of his attack when spring came round. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Paul Sutton. A History of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great. Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 15 Part 3 For the catastrophe of Acragas, the chief blame was laid upon the Syracuse and Generals who deserted her in the critical hour. The Acragan teams were not slow to make them responsible for their own unheroic flight. At Syracuse itself there was a feeling that these Generals were hardly the men to meet the great jeopardy in which Sicily now stood. And there was one man who saw in the jeopardy the opportunity of his own ambition. It was Dionysus, a man of obscure birth, who had been a clerk in a public office. He had been a partisan of Hermocrates by whose side he had stood in the last fatal fray, and had been wounded and left for dead. Recently, he had marked himself out by his energy and bravery before the walls of Acragas. He saw the incompetence of the Democratic government of his city. He saw that in the present peril it might be overthrown and he determined to overthrow it. An assembly was held to consider the situation. Dionysus arose and in a violent harangue accused the Generals of treachery. His language was intended to stir up the hearers to fury. He called upon the people to rise up themselves and destroy the traitors without trial. His violence transgressed the constitutional rules of the assembly, but the generals had no power to bridle him. They imposed a fine, the only resource they had, but a wealthy friend, Philistus the historian, came forward and paid the fine, bidding the speaker to go on. For as often as a fine was imposed, he would pay it. Dionysus carried his point. The Generals were deposed and a new board was appointed, of which Dionysus was won. This was only the first step on the road which was to lead to the tyrannous. His next success was to procure the recall of the partisans of Hermocrates who had been condemned to exile. These old comrades might be useful to him in his designs. At the same time he sought to discredit his colleagues. He kept entirely apart from them and spread reports that they were disloyal to Syracuse. Presently he openly accused them and the people elected him sole general with the sovereign powers to meet the instant danger. This office held before as we have reason to think by Gellin and Hero did not set him above the laws, nor was the office illegal, though extraordinary. It may be compared to the Roman dictatorship, but it was the second step to the tyranny. The next step, as history taught him, the story of Pizzastratus, for instance, was to procure a bodyguard. The assembly at Syracuse which had perhaps begun to repent already of having placed so much power in the hands of one man would certainly not have granted such an instrument of tyranny, but Dionysus was ingenious. He saw that the thing might be done elsewhere. He ordered the Syracusan army to march to Lyontani, which it will be remembered was now a Syracusan dependency. He encamped near the town and during the night a rumor was spread abroad that the general's life had been attempted and he had been compelled to seek refuge in the Acropolis. An assembly was held next day, nominally an assembly of Syracusan citizens, which, when Dionysus laid bare the designs of his enemies, voted him a bodyguard of Syracuse. This he soon increased to 1,000 and he had won over the mercenaries to his cause. These were the three steps in the despatch progress which rendered Dionysus lord and master of Syracuse. His intrigues had won him first a generalship, then sole generalship with unlimited military powers and finally a bodyguard. Syracuse, unwilling and embarrassed, submitted with evidence to Grann, but was dominated by the double dread of the mercenaries and the Carthaginians. The democracy of course was not formally overthrown. Dionysus held no office that upset the constitution. Things went on, as that happens, under Pizzastratus. The assembly met and passed decrees and elected magistrates. The justification of the power of Dionysus lay in the need of an able champion to oppose Carthage and his partisans represented him as a second galone. But though Dionysus was in later years to prove himself among the chief champions of Hellenic Sicily against the Greek powers, his conduct at this crisis did not fulfill the hopes of those who thought to compare him with the hero of Hymeria. The Carthaginians were already encamped at Gela. Their first act was to remove a colossal brazen statue of Apollo which stood, looking over the sea, on the hill to the west of the city. The Galoans defended their walls with courage and zeal and when Dionysus arrived with an army of Italians and Siciliots and a fleet of 50 ironclad ships to cooperate, it seemed as if Gela would escape the doom of Acragus. An excellent plan was arranged for a combined attack on the Carthaginian camp which lay on the west side of the town. The plan failed because the concert was not accurately carried out. The Siciliots who were to assault the eastern side of the camp arrived late on the spot and found the enemy who had already repelled the attack of the Italians and the fleet on the southern and western sides free to meet them in full force. This hitch in the execution of the plan was hardly a mere blunder. Dionysus with his mercenaries had undertaken to issue from the western gate of Gela and drive away the besiegers while the rest of his army were attacking the camp. It seems, however, that Dionysus took no part in the fighting and alleged that he was retarded by difficulties in crossing the town from the eastern to western gate. We shall probably do no injustice to Dionysus if we conclude that it was through this disposition that the Siciliots failed to act in concert with the Italians. The action which he took after the defeat shows that he was half-hearted in the work. He decided, in a private council, as Dockleys had decided at Hamara, that the defense must be abandoned and the whole people of Gela removed. At the first watch of the night he sent the multitude forth from the city and followed himself at midnight. His way to Syracuse led by Camarena and here, too, Dionysus ruled that the whole people must forsake their home. The road to Syracuse was full of the crowds of helpless fugitives from the two cities. It was presently thought that these strange proceedings of Dionysus were carried out in collusion with the barbarians that he had deliberately betrayed to them, Gela, which might have been defended. Camarena, which had not yet been attacked, the Italian allies showed not their disgust only, but their apprehension that the war was practically over by marching immediately home. The horsemen of Syracuse seized the occasion for a desperate attempt to subvert the new tyrant. They rode rapidly to the city, plundered the house of Dionysus and maltreated his wife, although she was the daughter of Hermocrates. When Dionysus heard the news he hastened to Syracuse with a small force. He reached the gate of Accordina by night and being refused admittance burned it down with a fire of reeds supplied by the neighboring marsh. In the marketplace he easily overmastered a handful of opponents. The remnant fled to Etna, which now became, in a better cause, what a lucis was to Athens after an overthrow of the 30. In what concerns the charge that the Syracuse and tyrant had a secret understanding with Carthage, there is a strong case against him. The events are scarcely intelligible on any other view, but it was no more than a temporary disloyalty to the cause of Hellas in Europe for which he was hereafter to do great feats. His first motive was the selfish motive of a tyrant. He wanted Tom to lay stable foundations for his still precarious power as Syracuse, and he judged that it would be a strong support to obtain a recognition of his power from the Carthaginian Republic. The punicism of the Lord of Syracuse was not more unscrupulous than the medism of the Ephors of Sparta, to which it is the western parallel. The treaty, which was now agreed upon between Himilco and Dionysus, was drawn up on the basis of Utiposidetes. Each party retained what it actually held at the time. Syracuse acknowledged Carthage as a mistress of all Greek states on the northern and southern coasts and also of the Seekin communities. Acragas, what was left of Salinas, Gela and Camarena were all to be hence forward under punic sway. And on the north coast, Carthage had advanced her frontier to include the territory of Himera in which she had planted her first colony. But all these cities were not to hold the same relation to their mistress. Acragas and Salinas, like Thermae, were subjects in the full sense of the word. But Gela and Camarena were to be only tributary and unwalled cities. The Aleemian towns are not mentioned, but we have seen how Sigesta became a subject of Carthage by her own act, and we can hardly doubt that Erics was forced into the same condition. The terms of the treaty provided for the independence of the Sicil communities and the city of Messana. But it provided also for the independence of Leonitini. And this was a point in which it departed Ute Pesaditas, Leonitoni being a dependency of Syracuse. It was clearly a provision extorted from Dionysus and intended by Himelco to be a source of embarrassment to Syracuse. On the other hand, as a counter concession, nothing was said about the dependence of Naxos or Catang, so that Syracuse might have a free hand to deal with her old enemies without fear of violating the treaty. Such was the new arrangement of the map of Sicily at the end of the 2nd Carthaginian invasion. An accidental consequence of that invasion had been to establish Dionysus as a tyrant of Syracuse. This consequence enabled Himelco to bring his work to a conclusion more easily and quickly than he had hoped. He could not foresee that the underdoing of his work would be the ultimate result. The Carthaginians guaranteed to maintain the rule of Dionysus, who assumed to prove one of their most powerful foes. For Dionysus, this guarantee, the Syracusan shall be subject to Dionysus, was the most important clause in the treaty. Some suppose it was a secret clause. It was for the sake of this recognition and the implied promise of support that he stooped to betray Sicilian Hellas. We shall see how he redeemed this unscrupulous act of expediency by creating the most powerful Hellenic state in the Europe of his day. End of Chapter 15, Part 3, Recording by Paul Sutton A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great, Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry, Chapter 15, Part 4 First Years of Dionysus For half a century after the fall of Athens, it seemed likely that the destinies of Europe would be decided by a Greek city in the western Mediterranean under her new lord Dionysus. Syracuse had become a great power, a greater power than any that had yet arisen in Europe. In strength and dominion and influence and promise she outstripped all the cities of the mother country, and in a general survey of the Mediterranean coast she stands out clearly as the leading European power. The Greek states to which the Persian king sent down his peace were now flanked on either side by two great powers, and a political prophet might have been tempted to foretell that the communities of old Greece were doomed to perish between the monarchies of Sousa and Syracuse, which threatened their freedom on the east and on the west. Those who were tempted to spy into the future might have conjectured that the ultimate conflict with Persia was reserved for a Sicilian conqueror who should one day extend his dominion over eastern Greece and the Aegean and as autocrat of Europe, oppose the autocrat of Asia. Though this war was not to be, though the expansion of Sicily was arrested and the power which was to subdue Asia arose on the borders of old Greece, yet we shall see that in many ways the monarchy of Dionysus foreshadowed the monarchy of Philip and Alexander. It is in Sicily, not in old Greece, that we see the first signs of a new epoch in which large states are to take the place of small and monarchy is to supersede free institutions. The tyranny of Dionysus lasted for 38 years, till the end of his life. All that time it was maintained by force. All that time it was recognized as a violation of the constitution and an outrage on the freedom of the people. The forms of the constitution were still maintained. The folks still met and gathered in the assembly and Dionysus was either annually erected or permanently appointed general with absolute powers. But all this was pure form. His position was a fact which had no constitutional name and which made the constitution of none effect and it was by the compulsion and not of their free will that the massive citizens continued to obey him. His bodyguard of foreign mercenaries was the support of his power. More than one attempt was made to throw off the yoke, but the fact and energy defeated the most termed efforts of his adversaries. Yet the unusual ability of Dionysus would not have availed more than the spearmen who were within call. To extend his unlawful reign to a length which a tyrant's reign seldom reached if he had not discovered and laid to heart what may be called a secret of tyranny. While he did cruel and oppressive deeds for political purposes he never committed outrages to gratify personal desires of his own. He scrupulously avoided all those acts which have brought the reins of greek tyrants into such ill repute. Many a despot had fallen by the hand of fathers or lovers whom the dishonor of their nearest and dearest had spurred to the pursuit of vengeance at the risk of their own lives. Dionysus eschewed this mistake. His crimes and his enemies were political. When his son seduced a married woman the discreet tyrant rebuked him. It is well for you to chide me. Said the young man but you had not a tyrant for your father and if you go on doing this sort of thing retorted Dionysus you will not have a tyrant for your son. This notable moderation of Dionysus in private life was perhaps the chief cause of the duration of his tyranny. Beyond the common motive of patriotism men had no burning personal wrongs to spur them to encounter the danger of driving a dagger to the despot's heart. But besides this discretion which made his government tolerable his success is abroad counted for something and it was more than once born that his rule was necessary to protect her against her enemies. And we shall see that Dionysus was fully conscious that it conduced his own safety that there should be enemies against whom she needed to protect her. The first concern of the new tyrant was to establish himself in a stronghold. As we have seen the Acropolis of Syracuse was not as in other cities the hill but the island. And it was the island which Dionysus made his fortress. He built a turreted wall on the north side of the isthmus of the island off from the mainland. And he built two castles one close to if not on the isthmus the other at the southern point of the island. Whoever entered the island from Acrodina had to pass under five successive gates and no one was allowed to dwell within the island fortress except those whom Dionysus regarded as his own friends and supporters. The scheme of fortifications took in the lesser harbor which with its new docks became under Dionysus the chief arsenal of the Syracuse and naval power. The mouth of this port was entirely closed by a mole. The galleys passing in and out through a gate which was only wide enough to allow one to pass at a time. Besides these defenses of stone Dionysus strengthened his position by dealing with ritual wards to confirm in their allegiance his friends in Highlands and by forming a class of new citizens out of enfranchised slaves. The forfeited estates of his enemies supplied him with the means of carrying out both these acts of policy. It was not long before he had an unwelcome occasion to the test both the walls of his fortress and the hearts of his followers. The most favorable opportunity for any attempt to overthrow the tyrant was when the Syracuse and army was in the field. When the citizens had arms in their hands and were formed in military ranks the word of a patriot could more easily kindle them to action than when they were engaged in their peaceable occupations at home. Dionysus let out the army against her beses, one of the cities of the Sicils. Mutinous talk passed from mouth to mouth and the disaffected citizens slew one of the tyrant's officers who rebuked them. Then the mutiny broke out loud and free. Dionysus hastened to Syracuse and shut himself up in his fastness. The revolted citizens followed and laid siege to their own city. They sent messages to Masana and Regium asking these cities to help them to win back their freedom. In a succor of 80 triremes came an answer to their help. By sea and land they pressed Dionysus so hard in his island fortress that his case seemed desperate and some of his mercenary troops went over to the enemy. Dionysus called a council his most trusted friends. Some bade him flee on a swift horse others counseled him to stay till he was driven out. Dolores used a phrase which became famous Sovereign power is a fair winding sheen. Dionysus followed the council of these who bade him stay, but he resorted to a piece of craft which was more successful than he could have well hoped. He entered into negotiations with his besiegers with permission to quit Syracuse with his own goods. They willingly agreed to the proposal and allowed him five triremes and they were so convinced of his good faith that they dismissed a company of cavalry which had come to their aid from Etna. But meanwhile Dionysus had sent a secret message to the Campanian mercenaries of Carthage who had been left by Himilco in some part of Sicily. 1200 in number they were permitted to come to the help of the tyrant whose lordship had been recognized and guaranteed by Carthage in the recent treaty. The besiegers thinking that the struggle was over had half broken up their leader and were in complete disorder. The Campanians occupied the hills of Apopoli without resistance. Dionysus sallied forth and decisively though without much shedding of blood defeating the rebels in their neighborhood of the theater. A quarter of the city which we now find for the first time called Neopolis. Dionysus used his victory mildly. Many of the rebels fled to Etna and refused to return to Syracuse but those who returned were received kindly punished. As for the Campanians to whom Dionysus owed his rescue they did not return to the service of Carthage but made a new home in the west of Sicily in the psychentown of Antella. They induced the inhabitants to admit them as new citizens and one night they arose and slew all the men and married the women. Thus was formed the first Italian settlement on Sicilian soil. When the revolt broke out we saw Dionysus aiming an attack at a Sicil city. The first step in the expansion of Syracuse which was the object of the tyrant's ambition was the reduction of the Greek cities of the eastern coast and the neighboring Sicil towns. The Sicil towns were putting on more and more of a Hellenic character and the reign of Dionysus marks a stage of progress in their Hellenization. We get a glimpse of political parties striving in Sicil just as in Greek cities and we find Henna ruled by a tyrant of Greek name. To attack the Sicils was indeed a breach of the treaty with Carthage but for the present Dionysus gained no success which obliged Carthage to intervene. He entered Henna indeed but only to overthrow the local tyrant and leave the inhabitants to enjoy their freedom. He attacked Urbita but his attack was fruitless. With the Greek cities which stood in his way he was more successful. First of all he captured Etna the refuge of Syracuse and exiles and malcontents and these dangerous enemies dispersed we know not wither. Then he turned against the two Ionian cities and in such an attack Cotaine had taken the precaution of allying herself with Syracuse's former vassal Leontini. The sole record we have of this alliance is a beautiful little silver coin with a laurel head of Apollo in the names of the two cities. One of an issue which was struck in the token of the treaty but the support of Leontini did not avail. Both Cotaine and Naxus were won by gold not by sword. Traders opened the gates to the Dorian tyrant. In his treatment of these cities Dionysus showed himself in his worst life. All the inhabitants of Naxus and Cotaine alike were sold as slaves in the Syracuse and slave market. Cotaine was given over to Campani and mercenaries as a dwelling place and thus became the second Italian town in Sicily. But the city of Naxus the most ancient of all the Sicilian cities was not even given to a stranger to dwell in. The walls and the houses were destroyed the territory was bestowed upon the Sicils the descendants of the original possessors. And a small settlement near the old site barely maintained the memory of the name. Dionysus was one of the ableist champions of Greek Sicily against the Phoenician. Yet here he appears in the character of a destroyer. Dealing to Greek civilization blows such as we should expect only from the Phoenician foe. It is certain indeed that the severity of the doom which he meted out to these cities was meant to serve a purpose. For once in severity was never practiced by Dionysus. We may suspect what that purpose was. The conquest of Naxus and Cotaine was a far less consequence to the lord of Syracuse than the recovery of Leontini. To win back this lost Syracuse in possession was the first object of all in the eyes of a Syracuse and ruler. Dionysus had already called upon the Leontines to surrender but in vain and perhaps he thought that the siege of the place would be long and tedious. When he pronounced the doom of Naxus and Cotaine he was in truth besieging Leontini with his most effectual engines and when he approached with his army and summoned the Leontines to migrate to Syracuse and become his subjects under the name of Syracuse and citizens they did not hesitate to prefer that unwelcome change to the risk of faring still worse than the folks of Cotaine and Naxus. If we glance over Sicily at this moment it comes upon us as a shock to discover that all of the cities of Greek Sicily which enjoyed sovereign powers at the time of the Athenian invasion there remained now not a single independent community outside Syracuse herself with the exception of Messana who watched upon her strength the Carthaginians and Dionysus between them had swept all away the recovery of the Leontine territory was a success which probably gratified the Syracusans as well as their master it was indeed a direct defiance of Carthage for the treaty had guaranteed the independence of Leontini but Dionysus knew that a struggle with Carthage must come and was not unwilling that it should come soon he determined to equip Syracuse against all enemies who should come against her and engage in fortifying the city of an enormous scale the fortification of the island had been intended mainly for his own safety against domestic enemies but the works which he now undertook were for the city and not for the tyrant the Athenian siege of Syracuse taught him lessons which he had taken to heart it taught him that the commanding heights of Epipoli must not be left for an enemy to seize and therefore that it must become part of the Syracusean city enclosed within the circuit of the Syracusean walls it taught too the decisive importance of the western corner of Uralos and the necessity of constructing a strong fortress at that point which has been called the key of Epipoli and of all Syracuse these walls were built in an incredibly short space of time by 60,000 freemen under the supervision of Dionysus himself he seems to have inspired the citizens with the ambition of making their city the most strongly fortified place in the whole Greek world the northern wall from Taicha to Uralos a distance more than 3 miles was completed in 20 days the striking ruins of the massive castle of Uralos with its curious underground chambers are a memorial indeed of a tyrant's rule but there are more than that there are a monument of Greek Syracuse at the period of her greatest might when she became for a moment the greatest power in Europe it was no small thing to have carried out this enormous system of fortifications which made Syracuse the vastest of all Greek cities but Dionysus showed his surpassing energy and resource and preparing for an offensive as well as for defensive warfare in military innovations he is the forerunner of the great Macedonians and the originator of the methods which they employed he first thought out and taught how the heterogeneous parts of a military armament the army and the navy the cavalry and the infantry the heavy and the light troops might be closely and systematically coordinated so as to act as if they were a single organic body he first introduced his engineers first invented the catapult which if it did not revolutionize warfare in general like the discovery of gunpowder certainly revolutionized siege warfare and introduced a new element into military operations an engine which hurled a stone of two or three hundred weight for a distance of two or three hundred yards was extremely formidable in close quarters in naval warfare he was also an innovator he constructed ships of huge size that had ever been built before with five banks of oars which counting vessels of both the larger and the smaller con seems to have numbered about three hundred galleys end of chapter 15 part 4 recording by Paul Sutton chapter 15 part 5 of a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great volume 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Paul Sutton the history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry chapter 15 part 5 first Punic War of Dionysus when his preparations were complete Dionysus went forth to do what no Greek leader in Sicily had ever done before he went forth not merely to deliver Greek cities from Phoenician rule but to conquer Phoenician Sicily itself marching along the south coast he was hailed as a deliverer by the Greek dependencies both by the tributary towns Gela and Camarena and the subject town of Acragas Thermite on the northern coast likewise joined him and of the two Aleemian towns Eryx received his overtures while Sigesta remained faithful to her Punic mistress at the head of a host which for a Greek army seems immense 80,000 foot it is said and more than 3,000 horse Dionysus advanced to test his new siege engines on the walls of Moitia this city which now the first and for the last time becomes the center of a memorable episode in history was like the original Syracuse an island town but though it was joined to the mainland by a causeway the town did not like Syracuse spread to the mainland it was surrounded entirely by a wall of which traces still remained and the bay in which it lay was protected on the seaside by a long spit of land the men of Moitia were determined to withstand the invader to the uttermost measure they took was to insulate themselves completely by breaking down the causeway which bound them to the mainland thus they hoped that Dionysus would have to trust entirely to his ships to conduct the siege and that he would be unable to make use of his artillery but they knew not the enterprise of Dionysus nor the excellence of his engineer department the tyrant was determined to assault the city from solid ground and to bring his terrible engines close to the walls he set the crews of his ships to the work of building a mole far greater than the causeway which the Moitians had destroyed the ships themselves which he did not destined to play any part in the business of the siege he drew up on the northern coast of the bay the mole of Dionysus at Moitia forestalls a more famous mole which we shall hear after sea erected by a greater than Dionysus at another Phoenician island town older and more illustrious than Moitia while the mole was being built Dionysus made expeditions in the neighborhood he won over the citizens from their Carthaginian legions and he laid siege to a Leman Segesta and Campanian Antella both these cities repelled his attacks and leaving them under blockade he returned to Moitia when the solid bridge was completed in the meantime Carthage was preparing an effort to rescue the menace city she tried to cause a diversion by sending a few galleys to Syracuse and some damage was caused to ships that were lying in the great harbor but Dionysus was not to be diverted from his enterprise he had doubtless foreseen such an attempt to lure him away and knew that there was no real danger Himilco, the Carthaginian general seeing that Dionysus was immovable sailed with a large force to Moitia and entered the bay with the purpose of destroying the Syracusan fleet which was drawn up on the shore Dionysus seems to have been taken by surprise for whatever reason he made no attempt to launch his galleys he merely placed archers and slingers on those ships which would be first attacked but he brought his army round to the peninsula which forms the western side of the bay and on the shores of this strip of land he placed his new engines the catapults hurled deadly volleys of stones upon Himilco's ships and the novelty of these crushing missiles which they were quite unprepared to meet utterly disconcerted the Punic sailors and the Carthaginians retreated then Dionysus who was no less ready to treat earth as water than to turn sea into land laid wooden rollers across the neck of land which formed the northern side of the bay and hauled his whole fleet into the open sea but Himilco did not tarry to give him battle there he went back to Carthage and the men of Moitia were left unaided to abide their fate as the site of the island city required a special road of approach so its architecture demanded a special device of assault since the space in the city was limited its wealthy inhabitants had to seek dwelling room by raising high towers into the air and to attack these towers Dionysus constructed siege towers of corresponding heights which he moved up to near the walls and wheels these wooden bell freeze as they were called in the middle ages were not a new invention but they had never perhaps been built to such a height before and it is not till the Macedonian age which Dionysus in so many ways foreshadows that they came into common use it was a strange sight to see the battle waged in mid air the defenders of the stone towers had one advantage they were able to damage some of the wooden towers of the enemy by lighted brands and pitch the arrangements of Dionysus were so well ordered that this device wrought little effect and the Phoenicians could not stand on the wall which was swept by his catapults while the rams battered it below presently a breach was made and the struggle began in earnest the Moitians had no thought of surrender Dauntless to the end they defended their streets and houses inch by inch missiles rained on the heads of the Greeks who thronged through and each of the lofty houses had to be besieged like a miniature town the wooden towers were wheeled within the walls from their top most stories bridges were flung across to the upper stories of the houses and in the face of the desperate inhabitants the Greek soldiers rushed across these dizzy ways often to be flung down into the street below at night the combat ceased both besiegers and besieged rested the issue was indeed certain for however bravely the Moitians might fight they were far outnumbered but day after day the fighting went on in the same way and Moitia was not taken the losses on the Greek side were great and Dionysus became impatient accordingly he planned a night assault which the Moitians did not look for and this was successful by means of ladders a small band entered the part of the town which was still defended and then admitted the rest of the army through a gate there was a short and sharp struggle which soon became a massacre the Greeks had no thought of plunder they thought only of vengeance now for the first time a Phoenician town had fallen into their hands and they resolved to do it as the Phoenicians had done to Greek cities they remembered how Hannibal had dealt with Haimara at length Dionysus stayed the slaughter which was not to his mind since every corpse was a captive less to be sold then the victors turned to spoil the city and its wealth was abandoned to them without any reserve all the prisoners were sold into slavery except some Greek mercenaries whose treachery to the Hellenic cause was expiated by the death of crucifixion a Sicil garrison was left in the captured city after this achievement Moich had not been wrought before in Sicilian history Dionysus retired for the winter to Syracuse next spring he marched forth again to press the siege of Segesta which was still under blockade in the meantime the fall of Moich had awakened Carthage into action she saw that she must be stir herself if she was not to let her whole Sicilian dominion slip out of her hands Himilco was appointed Shafik and entrusted with the work of saving Punic Sicily he collected a force at least as large as that which Dionysus had brought into the field and set sail with sealed orders for Pinarmus a small portion of the armament was sunk by leptines brother of Dionysus who was in command of the Syracuse and fleet but the main part disembarked in safety and then events happened in rapid succession which are hard to explain Himilco first gains possession of Erich by treason then he marches to Moicha and captures it and then Moich is lost Dionysus raises the siege of Segesta and returns to Syracuse the loss of Erichs could not be provided against but it is hard to discern why Dionysus should have made no attempt to relieve Moicha whose capture had cost him so much the year before or why he should have allowed the Carthaginian army to march from Pinarmus to Erichs and Moicha without attempting to intercept it he could not have more effectually pressed the siege of Segesta than by dealing a decided check to Himilco not knowing the exact circumstances and even the number of the two armies we can hardly judge his action but it may be suspected that Dionysus was by nature a man who did not care to risk a pitched battle unless the advantage were distinctly on his own side it is to be remembered that he won nearly all his successes by sieges and surprises by diplomacy and craft and that the names of his great military innovator is not associated with a single famous battle in the open field when he had once allowed Moicha to be taken his retreat is not surprising for he had no base in the western part of the island and we are told that his supplies were failing he had now lost all that he had won in his first campaign Moicha, however, was wiped out as a Phoenician city though it was not to be a Greek or Sicil stronghold Himilco, instead of restoring the old colony, founded a new city hard by to take its place on the promontory of the island which forms the south side of the Moichan bay arose the city of Lilibeum which was henceforth to be the great stronghold of Carthaginian power in the west of the island the sea washed two sides of the town and the walls of the other two sides were protected by enormous ditches cut in the rock the history of Lilibeum is the continuation of the history of Moicha but it was not destined to be taken either by a Greek or a Roman besieger having driven the invader from Phoenician Sicily and having laid the foundation of a new city Himilco resolved to carry his arms into the lands of the enemy to attack Syracuse itself but he did not go directly against Syracuse before he attempted that mighty fortress he would try the easier task of capturing Messena the fall of this city would be a grievous blow to Hellas and it would be no mean vengeance for the fall of Moicha the walls of Messena had been allowed to fall into decay and the place was an easy prey for the Carthaginians but the greater part of the inhabitants escaped into fortresses in the neighboring hills the Carthaginian general had to wreak his vengeance on the stones he raised the walls in the edifices and the work was done so well that no man we are told would have recognized the site if the triumphant demolition of the Sicilian city which watched the strait was a sore blow to the Hellenic cause Himilco sought at the same moment to deal another blow to that cause by the foundation of a new Sicilian city in another place it was his policy to cultivate the friendship of the Sicils and to formant the dislike which they felt towards the lord of Syracuse Dionysus II had sought to win influence over the native race and we saw how he gave them the territory of Naxus the Carthaginian general grasped at that idea of erecting a new town for these very Sicils of Naxus on the heights of the Taurus which rise above the old site such was the strange origin of the strong city of Torumenian with its two rock citadels one of the Pharisees sites in Sicily it was the second foundation of Himilco in the same year and both his foundations were destined signally to prosper Lilibeum became more famous than Moetje and Torumenian has had a greater place in history than Naxus as a founder of cities, Himilco was a high title to fame he was like Dionysus a creator as well as a destroyer the creation of new cities and the destruction of old by Greeks and Phoenicians alike was a characteristic feature of this epic Dionysus was preparing in the meantime to protect Syracuse which appears to have been now about 200 strong to his brother Leptines and fleet and army together moved northward to Cotain in the waters near the shore of Cotain a naval battle was fought and the Greek armament was defeated with great loss it was indeed far outnumbered by the fleet of the Phoenicians who also used their transport vessels as warships but the cause of the disaster was the bad generalship of Leptines who did not keep his ships together the route was witnessed by Dionysus from the shore and it might have been retrieved by a victory on the land Hamilco and his army had not yet arrived on the scene for an eruption of Etna had made their direct road impassable and forced them to make a long detour Dionysus again shrank from risking a battle though the men of Sicily were eager to fight he retreated to the walls of Syracuse this city was the last bulwark of Greek Sicily and with it the cause of Greek civilization was in jeopardy it was a moment at which the Sicilyots might well sue for help from their fellow Greeks beyond the sea Dionysus dispatched messages to Italy to Corinth and to Sparta imploring urgently for Secor it was not long before the victorious Carthaginian fleet sailed into the great harbour and the Carthaginian army encamped hard by along the banks of the Anaphas the mass of the host encamped as well as it could in a swamp but the general pitched his tent on the high ground of Pelicna within the precinct of the Olympian Zeus this insult to the religion of Hellas was followed up by a more awful sacrilege when Himilco pillaged the temple of Demeter and core on the southern slope of Epopoli when the barbarians began to perish in the plague-stricken marsh the pestilence was imputed to the divine vengeance for these acts of outrage the besiegers must have sat for no brief space before the walls of Syracuse the messengers of Dionysus had time to reach the Peloponnesus and return with Secor thirty ships under Alassadonian admiral Himilco had time to build three forts to protect his army and his fleet one near his own quarters at Pelicna one at Descan on the western shore of the harbor and one at Plumerian after the arrival of the auxiliaries the capture of a Punic corn ship was the occasion of a small naval combat in the harbor only a few of the Carthaginian ships were engaged and the Syracusans were victorious within the town there was deep dissatisfaction with Dionysus and his conduct of the war and the citizens thought that they might have taken on the sympathy of their Peloponnesian allies with an attempt to cast off the tyrant's yoke at an assembly which the tyrant convened the feeling of dissatisfaction broke openly forth and the lord of Syracuse could not only read in the faces but hear in the words of the citizens the depth of their hatred but the movement of the revolution was checked by the Peloponnesians who said that their business was to help Dionysus against the Carthaginians not to help the Syracusans against Dionysus the danger passed over but the tyrant had a warning and he put on winning manners and accorded popularity the deadly airs of the swamp and the burning heat of summer were doing their work the army of Humilco was ravaged by pestilence soon the soldiers fell so fast that they could not be buried the hour had now come for the men of the city to complete the destruction which their fends had begun it was just such a case as called forth the energy and craft of the ruler of Syracuse and showed him at his best with great skill 80 galleys under leptines and the Spartan captain were to attack the Carthaginian fleet which was anchored off the shore of Descones he himself led the land forces marching by a roundabout road on a moonless night and suddenly appeared at dawn on the west side of the Punic camp he ordered his horsemen and a thousand mercenaries to attack the camp here but the horsemen had secret commands to abandon the hired soldiers once they were in the thick of the fight and ride rapidly round to the east of the camp the real attack was to be made the attack on the west was only a faint to distract the attention of the enemy from the other side and for this purpose Dionysus sacrificed the lives of the hirelings whom he did not trust the real attack on the east was made on the forts of Descones and Polykna Descones was assailed by the horsemen along with a special force of triremes which had been sent across the bay Dionysus himself went round to lead the attack on Polykna the plan was carried out with perfect success the hirelings were cut to pieces the forts were captured and the victory on the land was crowned by the destruction of the Carthaginian fleet the Syracuse and Gallies bore down upon the enemy before they had time, fully to man their vessels much less to row well out to sea and the beaks of the triremes crashed into the defenseless timber there was slaughter but hardly a fight and then the land troops fresh from their victory rushed down to the beach and set fire to the transports and all vessels which had not left the shore a wild scene followed the high wind propagated the flames and the cables were burnt asunder and the bay of Descones was filled with drifting fire ships while amid the waters despairing swimmers were making for the shore fate had indeed delivered the barbarians into the hands of the Greeks and the Greeks were determined to wreak their vengeance to the uttermost an extirpate, the destroyers of Masana Dionysus had approved himself the successor of Gelen the double victory of Descones he set beside the victory of Himera but Dionysus was not capable of absolute sincerity in the part he played as the champion of Hellas he could not act to the end as a Syracuse and Patriot was singleness of heart this was the fatality of his position as a tyrant conscious that his autocracy rested on unstable foundations he fought against Carthage but it was always with the resolve that the power of the Carthaginians should not be annihilated in Sicily the Punic peril was a security for his tyranny by making him necessary to Syracuse the Syracusans must look to him as their protector against the ever present barbarian foe this was another secret of tyranny discovered by Dionysus the Punic subtlety of Himilco enlightened by passages of the tyrant's past career formed no doubt a shrewd idea of this side of his policy the Carthaginians saw that his hope of safety lay in bargaining with Dionysus secret messages passed and Dionysus agreed to allow Himilco along with all those who were Carthaginian citizens to sail away at night and payment for this collusion he received 300 talents Dionysus recalled his reluctant army from their assault on the camp and left it in pieces for three days on the fourth night Himilco set sail with 40 triremes leaving his allies and his mercenaries to their fate it was an act of desertion which was likely to repel mercenary soldiers from the Carthaginian service in the future and this was doubtless foreseen by the crafty tyrant but the squadron of fugitive triremes did not escape untouched the noise of their oars as they sailed out of the harbor was detected by the Carthaginian allies and they gave the alarm to Dionysus but Dionysus was purposely slow in his preparations to pursue and the impatient Carthaginian sailed out without his orders and sank some of the hind most of the Punic vessels having connived at the escape of Himilco the tyrant was energetic in dealing with the remnant of Himilco's host the Sicil allies had escaped to their own homes and only the mercenaries were left these were slain or made slaves with the exception of a band of strong and valiant Iberians who were taken into the service of the tyrant thus ended the first struggle of Dionysus with Carthage and it ended in a complete triumph for the Greek cause the dominion of the African city was now circumscribed in its old western corner and the greater part of the rest of Sicily was subject directly or indirectly to the rule of the Lord of Syracuse both from Greek and from Barbarian Sicily a famous city had been blotted out but Moetje had been revived in Lilibeum and Massana was soon to rise again upon her ruins End of Chapter 15 Part 5 Recording by Paul Sutton A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 15 Part 6 Second Punic War and Sicil Conquest of Dionysus The equivocal policy of Dionysus in his hostilities to Carthage was manifested clearly enough in the course which he pursued after his great victory It was the most favorable moment that had yet come in the struggle of centuries for driving the Barbarians out and making Sicily a Greek island from the eastern to the western shore Carthage could not readily gather together such another armament as that which had been destroyed No patriot leader who was devoted to the Greek cause and his heart and soul with singleness of aim would have failed to follow up the great success by an invasion of western Sicily But the preservation of his own precarious despotism was the guiding principle of Dionysus and he saw in the Barbarian corner of the island a palladium of his power The next Punic War broke out five years later and part of the meantime had been occupied by Dionysus and extending his power over the Sicils He annexed to his dominion Thodian and Hena itself He made treaties with the tyrants of Agirian and Centauripa and with other places But among all the Sicil towns that which it was most important for him to win was the new foundation of the Carthaginian on the heights of Taurus He laid siege to Taramenium in the depth of winter Operations of war in the winter season are one of the features of the reign of Dionysus which separated from the habits of older Greece and linked it to the age of the Macedonian monarchy The tyrant himself led his men on a wild and moonless night of the steep ascent to the town One of the citadels was taken and the assailants entered the place But the Syracusan band was outnumbered and surrounded 600 were killed and the rest were driven down the cliffs Of these Dionysus was won He reached the bottom, barely alive after the precipitous descent In the course of the extension of his power on the northern coast, Dionysus had advanced to the limits of the Phoenician corner In one possession, through domestic treachery of Solis, the most easterly of the three Phoenician cities Of the circumstances we know nothing but the conquest would seem to have been rather a piece of luck than part of any deliberate plan of aggression on the part of the Greek tyrant No treaty appears to have been concluded between Carthage and Syracuse after the defeat of Hemoko so that the capture of Solis was not a violation of the peace but only an occasion for the reawakening of hostilities which had been permitted to sleep in a fantastic consent At all events, it must have had something to do with the renewal of the war A renewal for which our records assign no causes At the opening of the Second War we find a Carthaginian general commanding the Phoenician forces of the island but without any troops, so far as we know from Africa The general was Mago, who in the previous war had been commander of the fleet His army was doubtless, considerably inferior to the forces which Dionysus could muster Certain it is that on this occasion Dionysus did not hesitate to give him battle and did not fail to defeat him Carthage saw that she must make a more vigorous effort and she gave Mago a large army 80,000 men, it is said to retrieve his ill success To meet the invader, Dionysus entered into a close league with the strongest Cissel power in the land His fellow tyrant, Agiris of Agirion This is a special feature of the Second Punic War The cause of Europe is upheld by a federation of the two European powers of the island Cissel and Greek The Carthaginian army advanced into Cissel territory seeking to win the Cissel towns But Agiris and his men waged a most effectual manner of warfare cutting off all the foraging parties of the enemy and thus starving them by degrees This they were able to do from their knowledge of their native hills But it seems that the Syracusans were dissatisfied with this slow method which was thoroughly to the taste of Dionysus What happened is not clear but we learned that the Syracusan marched away from the camp and Dionysus replaced them by arming the slaves Then the Greeks and the Cissels must have won some unrecorded success or the Carthaginian host must have been already terribly replenished Then the Greeks and the Cissels must have won some unrecorded success or the Carthaginian host must have been already terribly replenished by the want of the food For we next find Mago suing for peace This peace although it is said to have been based on the treaty which Dionysus had made 12 years before they were different For the parts of the two powers were reversed All the Greek communities of Sicily were now placed under the direct or indirect power of Syracuse The Carthaginian power was confined to the western corner Nothing is set of solace It must have been now handed over to Carthage If Mago had not already recovered it by arms But the most striking provision of the treaty is that which placed the Cissels under the rule of Dionysus Nothing is set of Agirium We would hear any treachery to Agirus of whom we hear nothing further But there was a special clause touching Toreminium And acting on this clause Dionysus immediately took possession of the town, expelled the Cissels and established the fortress of those mercenary settlements which were characteristic of his age Such was the end of two Punic wars which were in truth rather but a single war broken by an interval of quiescence End of chapter 15 part 6 Recording by Paul Sutton Chapter 15 part 7 of a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Paul Sutton A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 15 part 7 The Empire of Dionysus Having made himself master of all Greek Sicily the Lord of Syracuse began to extend the compass of his ambition beyond the bounds of the island He began to plan the conquest of Greek Italy Hitherto the Sicilian cities though they had constant dealings with the colonies of the Italian mainland had never sought there or anywhere out of their own island a field for conquest or aggression The restriction of Sicilian ambition to Sicilian territory was the other side of the doctrine preached by Hermocrates that the Siciliots should not allow Greeks from beyond the sea to interfere in the affairs of Sicily We are reminded of the policy which has been followed on a greater scale by the United States on the American continent Here, as in other things, Dionysus was an innovator He set the example of enterprises of conquest beyond the sea Into the enterprise of Italian conquest he was naturally led on by his dealings with the capital of cities of the strait, Massana, and Regium For Massana was a city once more It had been rebuilt by Dionysus himself He settled in at colonists from Locri and Medma in Italy and 600 Missenians from old Greece who had been wandering about homeless since Sparta had driven them from Napactus But this favor to the Missenians displeased the Spartans and as Dionysus claved to the friendship of Sparta he yielded to their protests He removed the exiles from Massana but he made for them a secure though less illustrious home He founded the city of Tindaris on a high hill to the west of Mylae and fortified it strongly The walls and towers, which still remain are a good specimen of the fortifications of Dionysus The restoration of Massana and the foundation of Tindaris were no pleasant sight to the Ionian city across the strait These new cities seemed to Regium as Syracuse and Menace The men of Regium sought to make a counter move by founding a city themselves between Tindaris and Massana They gathered together the exiles from Cotain and Naxos and settled them on the peninsula of Mylae But the settlement lasted only for a moment Almost immediately the town of Mylae was captured by its neighbors of Massana and the exiles were driven out to resume their wanderings Apart from his political hostility to Regium Dionysus is said to have born at a private grudge He had asked the men of Regium to give their maidens to wife and they had answered that they would give him none but the hangman's daughter Locri, Regium's neighbor then granted him the request which Regium refused Locri was his faithful ally and now, when the conclusion of peace with Carthage had left him free to pursue his Italian designs it was Locri that he made his base of operations The first object was to capture Regium Its position on the strait dictated this Apart from all motives of revenge or hatred Accordingly starting from Locri with an army and fleet he laid siege to Regium by land and sea But the Confederate cities of the Italian coast came to the assistance of a member of their league The Italian armament worsted the fleet of Dionysus in or near the strait and Dionysus escaped with difficulty to the opposite coast Regium was thus relieved and Dionysus now directed his hostilities against the Italian Federation He made an alliance with the Lucanians to the intent that they and he would carry on a war in common against the Italian cities They by land and he by sea In accordance with this treaty the Lucanians invaded the land of Thurai The men of Thurai retorted by invading Locania in considerable force But they sustained a crushing defeat at the hands of the barbarians Most of the Thurians were slain But some escaped to the shore and swam out to ships which they described coasting along By a curious chance the ships were the fleet of Syracuse The leptines, the tyrant's brother was once more the commander He received the fugitives and did more He landed and ransomed them from the Lucanians He did even more than this He arranged an armistice between the Lucanians and the Italians And acting thus he clearly went beyond his powers He had been sent to cooperate with the Lucanians against the Italians and he had no right to conclude an armistice in such circumstances without consulting his brother It is not surprising that Dionysus deposed him from the command In the following year Dionysus took the field himself He opened the campaign by laying seeds to Colonia, the northern neighbor of Lopri The Italians, under the active lead of Croton, collected an army of 15,000 foot and 2,000 horse and entrusted the command to Heloris, a brave exile of Syracuse, who burned with hatred against the tyrant who had banished him The federal army marched forth from Croton to relieve Colonia And when Dionysus learned of its approach he decided to go forth to meet it For his own forces 20,000 foot and 3,000 horse were considerably superior Luc favored him Near the river Eloporus, which flows into the sea between Colonia and Croton the tyrant heard that the enemy were encamped within a distance of 5 miles and he drew up his men in battle array Heloris, less well informed rode forward in front of his main army with a company of 500 men and suddenly found himself in the presence of the Syracuse and host He did not quail or flee sending back a message to hasten the rest of his army he and his little band stood firm against the onset of the invaders Heloris fell himself and the main army coming up company by company in hasten disorder was easily routed by Dionysus 10,000 fugitives escaped to a high hill but it was a poor hill of refuge where there was no spring of water and they could not hold out the next morning they besought Dionysus who kept watch around the hill throughout the night to set them free for a ransom Dionysus refused he would accept only unreserved surrender but he was cruel only to grant them a greater mercy than they could themselves have dared to ask when they came down the hill Dionysus himself told their number with a wand as they filed past him and each man deemed that his doom would be bondage if not death but Dionysus let them all depart even without exacting a ransom this act of mercy which was notable as compared not only with other acts of the tyrant but with the ordinary practice of the age produced a great sensation there is no reason for imputing it to a magnanimous impulse it was a deliberate act of policy Dionysus did not wish to be generous but he wished to be regarded as generous and win over the Italian cities for this purpose he made up his mind to sacrifice 10,000 ransoms his wisdom was soon approved the communities to which the captives belong gratefully voted him golden crowns and made separate treaties with him in this way he accomplished his purpose with Regium, Colonia and Hipponian he still remained at war but these states were now isolated and the league was broken up Regium bought off his hostilities for the time by surrendering its fleet Colonia was captured and abolished and its territory given to Lowkrie Hipponian was likewise taken and destroyed but the peoples of both these cities were transplanted to Syracuse and became Syracusan citizens but Dionysus had not yet finished with Regium he created a pretext for renewing hostilities and he laid siege to the city the men of Regium had now no friends to help them but under their general Phytan whom the tyrant vainly endeavored to bribe they held out for 10 months and ended in the end by starvation Dionysus accepted ransoms for those who could find the money the rest of the inhabitants were sold Phytan was selected for special vengeance he was scourged through the army and then drowned with all his kin thus Dionysus gained what hitherto had been one of his most pressing desires possession of the city which had so long hated and defied him he was now master of both sides of the strait and held the fortress which was the bulwark of Greek Italy 8 years later he captured Crotan and his power in Italy reached its greatest height but in the meanwhile the unresting lord of Syracuse had turned his eyes to a region of enterprise further afield the needs of his treasury if nothing else bent his attention to commerce we touch here upon that side of ancient enterprise which has been persistently and provokingly withdrawn from our vision because the writers of antiquity never thought of lingering on the ordinary business transactions which were happening every day before their eyes many things that are now dark would be cleared up if we had more knowledge of the operations of Greek trade Dionysus saw an opening for Sicilian commerce along the eastern and western coast of the Hadriatic sea in whose waters the ships of Corsera Athens and Therys hitherto had chiefly plot he set about making the Hadriatic a Syracuse in lake by means of settlements and alliances he founded settlements in Apulia which he probably hoped ultimately to incorporate in his dominion he settled a colony and fixed a naval station in the island of Issa whose importance as a strategic post has been more than once illustrated in subsequent history he took part with the Perians in colonizing pharaohs on an island not far from Issa a Syracuse in colony was planted at Ancon and even if the colonists were as they are said to have been exiles and foes of Dionysus they be sure that the merchant ships of Syracuse were welcome at the warps of Ancon the northern goal of these merchant ships was near the mouth of the post at a spot where there was already a mark for diffusing Greek merchandise into Cis Alpine Gaul and beyond the Alps into northern Europe this was the Venetian Hadria city of marshes and canals which was now colonized by Dionysus to be in some sort as has been aptly observed a forerunner of Venice itself it was in one of these outlying posts of the Hellenic world that the historian to whom we owe our best knowledge of the Sicilian history of this time probably wrote his works Philistus had held posts of high trust under Dionysus and had even been the commandant of the Syracuse in Citadel but in later years he incurred his master's displeasure or suspicion and shows as his place of banishment some city on the Hadriatic possibly Padria in connection with these Hadriatic designs touching which we have only the most fragmentary records Dionysus formed an alliance with Alcetus of Milotia whose unstable position in his own kingdom made him willing to be a dependent on the strong ruler of Syracuse thus Dionysus made his influence predominant at the gates of the Hadriatic the Syracuse an empire we may survey it when it reached its widest extent consisted like most other empires partly of immediate dominion and partly of dependent communities the immediate dominion was both insular and continental it included the greater portion of Sicily and the southern peninsula of Italy perhaps as far north as the river Crathus but this dominion was not homogeneous and the relations of its various parts to the government of Syracuse there was first of all the old territory of the Syracuse in Republic there were secondly a number of military settlements an institution of Dionysus which has been compared to the military colonies of Rome such for example was Croton on the mainland such in Sicily were Hena and Messena such was Issa in the Hadriatic outside these direct subjects was the third class of the allied cities which though absolutely subject to the power of Dionysus had still the management of their less important affairs in their own hands to this class belong the old Greek cities of Sicily Ligela and Camarena new colonies like Tindaris some Sicil states like Agirium and Arbita beyond the sphere of direct dominion stretched the sphere of dependencies the allies whose bond of dependence was rather implied than formally expressed here belong the cities of the Italian league Thurai and the rest north of the Crathus river here belong some of the Iopegian communities in the heel of Italy here the kingdom of Melosia beyond the Ionian sea and some Illyrian places on the Hadriatic coast the Crathus may be regarded as the line between the two the outer and the inner divisions of the empire of Dionysus but it is remarkable that at one time he planned a wall and a ditch which should run across the Isthmus from Scalaceon to the nearest point on the other sea a distance of about 20 miles and thus sever as it were the toe of Italy from the mainland and make it a sort of second Sicily the acquisition and maintenance of this empire the building of ships and ship sheds the payment of mercenary soldiers the vast fortifications of Syracuse both of the island and of the hill all this along with the ordinary expenses of government and the state of a despots court demanded an enormous outlay to meet this outlay Dionysus was forced to resort to extraordinary expedience in the first place he oppressed the Syracusans by a burdensome taxation he imposed special taxes for war special taxes for building ships and he introduced an honorious tax on cattle it is said that the citizens paid yearly into the treasury at the rate of 20% of their capital in the second place he had recourse to a various expedience affecting the coinage thus he issued the base fordruck them pieces of tin instead of silver and in one case of financial need he paid a debt by placing on each coin an official mark which rendered it worth double of its true value but such expedience were not enough Dionysus was an unscrupulous rifler of temples thus when he took Croton he carried off the treasures of a temple of Hera and an earlier year he sailed like a pirate to Etruria swooped down on a rich temple at the port of Aguila and bore off booty which amounted to the value of 1500 dollars. The plunder of a sanctuary on distant barbarian shores might seem a small thing but no awe of divine displeasure restrained Dionysus from planning a raid upon the holiest place of Hellenic worship he formed the design of robbing the treasury of Delphi itself with Illyrian and Milotian help but the plan miscarried it is little wonder that the tyrant had an evil repute in the mother country End of Chapter 15 Part 7 Recording by Paul Sutton a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great Volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry Chapter 15 Part 8 Death of Dionysus Estimate of his work It was only for a moment that the dominion of the Syracuse and despot reached its extreme limits he had hardly won the city and lands of Croton when his borders fell back in the west of his own island a new war with Carthage had broken out and this time if Dionysus was not to destroy all the sword he at least provoked hostilities he entered into alliances with some of the cities depended on Carthage possibly Segesta or Erics of the campaigns we know almost nothing except their result first we find Carthage helping the Italians with whom the tyrant was at war next we find a Carthaginian force in Sicily commanded by Mago in a battle fought at Cabala a place unknown the Syracusans won a great victory and Mago was killed one negotiations for peace were proceeding another battle was fought at Cronian near Ponomous and fate reversed her award Dionysus was defeated with terrible loss and compelled to make a disadvantageous peace the boundary of Greek against Punic Sicily was withdrawn from the river Mazarus to the river Helesis this meant that the deliverer of Salinas and Thermae gave back those cities to the mercies of the barbarians at the mouth of the Helesis the old foundation of Heraclea Manoa now became under the corresponding Punic name Ross Melcharch one of the chief strongholds of the Punic power just 10 years later 10 years in which the history of Sicily is a blank Dionysus essay to retrieve the losses which the disastrous battle of Cronian had brought upon him he made war once more upon Carthage and for the second time he invaded Punic Sicily he delivered Greek Salinas he won campaign Tala and captured Elimion Erichs along with its haven for Panin he then attempted we may almost say to repeat the great exploit of his first war there was no more a Moetja to capture but he laid siege to Lilibeum which had taken Moetja's place but he was compelled to abandon the attempt the fortress was too strong and his ill success was soon crowned by the loss of a large part of his fleet which was carried out of the harbor of Dreponen by an enterprising Carthaginian it was the last undertaking of the great ruler of Sicily he did not live to conclude the peace which probably confirmed the Helesis as the boundary between Greek and Barbarian his death was connected with the side of his character which has not yet come before us the tyrant of Syracuse has a place though it is a small place in literary history he was a dramatic poet and he frequently competed with his tragedies in the Athenian theater he won third he won even second prizes but his dearest ambition was to be awarded a first place that desire was at length fulfilled his failure at Lilibeum and the loss of his ships at Dreponen were compensated by the tidings that the first prize had been assigned to his ransom of Hektor at the Linnaean Festival he celebrated his joy by an unwanted corral his intemperance was followed by a fever and a soropithic drought was administered to him which induced the sleep of death and this did not stand wholly aloof from the politics of elder greece his alliance with Sparta and the help which he received from her at the siege of Syracuse involved him in obligations to her which he fulfilled on more than one occasion and in the regions of Corsera his empire came into direct contact with the spheres of some of the states of the mother country but these political relations are an unimportant part of his reign his reign as a whole lies apart from the contemporary politics of elder greece yet from some points of view it possesses more significance in greece and in european history than the contemporary history of Sparta and Athens in the first place Dionysus stands out as one of the most prominent champions of Europe in the long struggle between the asiatic and the european for the possession of Sicily he did what no champion had done before he carried the war into the enemy's precinct he well nigh achieved what it was reserved for an Italian commonwealth to achieve actually the reclaiming of the whole island for Europe the complete expulsion of the Semitic intruder in the second place he stands out as the man who raised his own city not only to dominion over all greek Sicily but to a trans marine dominion which made her the most powerful city in the greek world the most potent state in Europe the purely Sicilian policy is flung aside and Syracuse becomes a continental power laying one hand on that peninsula to which her own island geographically belongs and stretching out the other to the lands beyond the Hadrianic and thirdly this empire though it is thinly disguised like the later empire of Rome under constitutional forms is really a monarchical realm which is a foreshadowing of the Macedonian monarchies and an anticipation of a new period in european history again in the art of war Dionysus inaugurated methods which did not come into general use till more than half a century later some of his military operations seemed to transport us to the age of Alexander the Great and his successors Dionysus anticipated the age of those monarchs statues were set up representing him in the guise of Dionysus the god by whose name he was called here indeed he did not stand alone among his contemporaries the Spartan Lysander also had been invested with attributes of divinity but in one respect Dionysus was far from being a forerunner of the Macedonian monarchs he was not an active or deliberate diffuser of Hellenic civilization on the contrary he appears rather as an undoer of Hellenic civilization he destroys Hellenic towns and he replaces Hellenic by Italian communities he cultivates the friendship of Gauls and Lucanians to use them against Greeks not to make them Greeks this side of the policy of Dionysus the establishment of Italian settlements in Sicily points unintentionally indeed so far as he was concerned to the expansion of Italy it points to the Italian conquest of Sicily which was to be accomplished more than a century after his death Dionysus then has the significance of a pioneer but there is something else to be said original and successful as he was great things as he did we cannot help feeling that he ought to have done greater things still a master of political wisdom a man of endless energy remarkably temperate in the habits of his life he was hampered throughout by his unconstitutional position the nature of tyranny imposed limitations on his work he had always to consider first the security of his own uncharted rule he could never forget the fact that he was a hated master he could therefore never devote himself to the accomplishment of any object or the solution of any problem with the undivided zeal which may animate a constitutional prince who need never turn aside to examine the sure foundations of his power we saw how the tyrant's warfare against Carthage was affected by these personal calculations the Syracuse and tyranny accomplished indeed far more than could have been accomplished by the Syracuse and democracy Dionysus as a tyrant wrought what he could never have wrought as a mere statesman governing by legitimate influence the councils of a free assembly but he illustrates and all the more strikingly as a pioneer of the great monarchies of the future the truth to which attention has been called before that the tyrannies and democracies of Greek cities were in their nature not adapted to create and maintain large empires end of chapter 15 part 8 recording by Paul Sutton a history of Greece to the death of Alexander the great volume 2 by John Bagnell Burry chapter 15 part 9 Dionysus the Younger the empire of Dionysus which he had made fast to use his own expression by chains of adamant a strong army a strong navy and strong walls descended to his son Dionysus a youth of feeble character not without amiable qualities but of the nature that is easily swayed to good or evil and is always dependent on advisors at first he was under the influence of Dion who had been the most trusted minister of the elder Dionysus in the later part of his reign holding the office of admiral and allied by a double marriage with the tyrant's family the tyrant had espoused Dion's sister Aristomachy and Dion married one of the daughters of this marriage Ereti his own niece the other daughter was given to Dionysus her half brother another man possessing the pride wealth and ability of Dion might have sought to fling aside Dionysus and if he did not seize the tyranny himself at all events to secure it for the sons of his sister the brothers of his wife Hipporinus and Nicaeus but Dion was not like other men his aspirations were loftier and less selfish his object was not to secure tyranny for any man but to get rid of tyranny altogether but this was not to be done by a revolution the democracy which would have risen on the ruins of the despotism would have been in Dion's eyes as evil a thing for Syracuse as the despotism itself for Dion had embod and thoroughly believed in the political teachings of his friend Plato the philosopher his darling project was to establish at Syracuse a constitution which would so far as possible conform to the theoretical views of Plato and which would probably have taken the shape of a limited kingship with some resemblance to the constitution of Sparta and this could never have been brought about by a pure vote of the Syracusean people the ideal constitution must be imposed upon them for their own good the sole chance lay in persuading a tyrant to impose limitations on his own absolute power and introduce the required constitution give me says Plato himself a city governed by a tyranny and let the tyrant be young with good brains brave and generous and let fortune bring in his way a good law giver then a state has a chance of being well governed Dion saw in young Dionysus a nature which might be molded as he wished a nature perhaps which he missed in his own nephews Hipporinas and Naceus he devoted himself loyally to Dionysus who looked up to his virtue and experience and he set himself to interest the young ruler in philosophy and make him to take a serious view of his duties but his chief hope lay in bringing the tyrant under the attraction of the same powerful personality which had exercised a decisive and abiding influence over him Plato must come to Syracuse and make the tyrant a philosopher the treatment which Plato had experienced on the occasion of a previous visit to Sicily at the hands of the elder Dionysus was not indeed such as to encourage him to return but he yielded reluctantly to the pressing invitation of the young ruler and the urgent solicitations of Dion who represented that now at last the moment had come to call an ideal state into actual existence it was the vision of a dreamer dreaming greatly and that a statesman of Dion's practical experience and knowledge of human nature should have allowed himself to be guided by such a dream may seem strange to us to us to whom the history of hundreds of societies throughout a period of more than 2,000 years has brought disillusion it has indeed seemed so curious that some have concluded that Dion was throughout plotting to dethrone Dionysus that the philosophical scheme was part of the plot and Plato was an unconscious tool of the conspiracy but the good faith of Dion seems assured we must remember that a state founded on philosophical principles was a new idea which was not at all likely to seem for doomed to failure to anyone who was enamored of philosophy for such a state had never been tried and consequently there was no example of a previous failure on the contrary there was the example of Sparta as a success the political speculators of those days always turned with special predilection to Sparta as a well balanced state and it was believed that her constitution and discipline had been called into being and established for all time by the will and fiat of a single extraordinarily wise lawgiver why then should not Dionysus and Dion under the direction of Plato do for Syracuse what Lyserges had done for Lysa Daemon and Dion doubtless thought that his own experience would enable him to take the demands of speculation to the rude realities of existence no welcome could have been more honorable and flattering than that which Plato received he engaged the respect and admiration of Dionysus and the young tyrant was easily brought to regard tyranny as a vile thing and to cherish the plan of building up a new constitution the experiment would probably have been tried if Plato in dealing with his pupil had acted otherwise than he did the nature of Dionysus was one of those natures which are susceptible of impression and capable of enthusiasm but incapable of persevering application if Plato had contended himself with incalculating the general principles which he has expounded with such charm in his republic Dionysus would in all likelihood have attempted to create at Syracuse a dim a dumberation of the ideal state it is hardly likely that it would have been long maintained still it would at least have been an essay but Plato insisted on imparting to his pupil a systematic course of philosophical training and began with a science of geometry the tyrant took up the study with eagerness his court was absorbed in geometry but he presently worried of it and then influences which were opposed to the scheme of Dion and Plato began to tell one of the first acts of the new reign had been to recall from exile the historian Philistus he was entirely adverse to the proposed reforms and wished that the tyranny should continue on its old lines he and his friends insinuated that the true object of Dion was to secure the tyranny for one of his own nephews as soon as Dionysus had laid it down they did everything to turn Dionysus against Dion and at last an indiscreet letter of Dion gave them the means of success Syracuse and Carthage were negotiating peace and Dion wrote to the Carthaginian judges not to act without first consulting him the letter was intercepted and though its motive was doubtless perfectly honest it was interpreted as treason Dion was banished from Sicily but was allowed to retain his property and the party of Philistus won the upper hand Plato remained for a while in the island Dionysus was jealous of the esteem which he felt for Dion and desired above all things to win the same esteem for himself but the philosopher's visit had been a failure he yearned to get back to Athens and at length Dionysus let him go so ended the notable scheme of founding an ideal state the realization of which would have involved the disbandment of the mercenary troops and thereby the collapse of the Syracuse and Empire it is easy to ridicule Plato for want of tact in his treatment of the young tyrant it is easy to flout him as a pedant for not distinguishing between an academy and a court but Plato was perfectly right the only motive which had brought him to Sicily was to prepare the way for founding a new state fashioned more or less according to his own ideals now the first condition of the life of such a state was that a king should be a philosopher therefore as Dionysus not Plato was to be king in the new state it was indispensable that Dionysus should become a philosopher Plato had not the smallest interest in imparting to the tyrant a superficial smattering of philosophy enough to begile him into framing a platonic state would have been stillborn since it lacked the first condition of life a true philosopher at its head if Dionysus had not the stuff of a true but only of a sham philosopher it was useless to make the experiment Plato adopted the only reasonable course he was true to his own ideal End of Chapter 15 part 9 Recording by Paul Sutton