be thereby encouraged to fight more chearfully in defence of their country. When the affembly broke up, the Syracufians, upon fecond thoughts, began to repent of what they had done, being fenfible they had acted imprudently in putting the whole power into the hands of one man, which was, in effect, giving themselves a mafter, who might, if he pleased, lord it over them without controul. Dionyfius therefore, to prevent the change of the people's minds, began to contrive how he might procure a guard for his perfon: if he could but gain this point, he concluded he might eafily ufurp the fovereignty. With this view he commanded all that were able to bear arms, and under forty years of age, to march with thirty days provifions to the city of Leontini, which belonged to the Syracufians, and was full of foreigners and exiles, perfons very fit for the execution of his defign. He encamped the first night on the plains of Leontini, where he caufed a great noife and clamour to be made in the dead of the night by his fervants and attendants, as if his enemies had attempted to affaffinate him in his tent. In this alarm he fled to the caftle of Leontini, where he paffed the rest of the night, after having caufed a great many fires to be lighted, and drawn off with him fuch of the troops as he most confided in. At break of day he acquainted the people of Leontini with the danger he pretended to have been in; and, feigning to be ftill under great apprehenfion, he demanded leave to choose himself a guard of 600 men for the security of his perfon. His demand feemed very reasonable, and was accordingly complied with. He chofe out a thousand men for his guard upon the fpot, armed them completely, and encouraged them with great promifes. He alfo attached the mercenaries to his intereft in a peculiar manner, by addreffing them with great freedom and affability. He then made feve ral alterations and removals in the troops, giving commiffions to fuch as he could rely upon, and turning out those whom he diftrufted. Among the latter was Dexippus the Lacedamonian, whom he fent back into Greece, not doubting but the Syracufans would choose him for their general, if they fhould attempt the recovery of their liberty; for he was an officer of great experience, and could not, by any offers, be prevailed upon to fall in with Dionyfius. At the fame time he fent orders to the garifon of Gela to join him, and affembled from all quarters fugitives, exiles, debtors, and criminals c. WITH this train he returned to Syracufe, which trembled at his approach. But the people were no longer in a condiIdem ibid. & ARISTIDES in Panathen. B 4 tion Seizes on the citadel, and tion to oppofe his defigns, or difpute his authority; the city being full of mercenaries, who were in arms, and the Carthaginians with a mighty army on the frontiers. The first declares thing he did, after his return to Syracufe, was to poffefs bimfelf himfelf of the citadel, where the arms and provifions were king of lodged; which he no fooner faw himself mafter of, than, Syracufe. bidding defiance to his oppofers, he publicly declared himself Year of king of Syracufe, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. To the flood ftrengthen himself the more in the tyranny, he married the Bef. Chr. daughter of Hermocrates, whofe family was the most powerful of Syracufe, and gave his own fifter in marriage to Polyenus, brother-in-law to Hermocrates. Afterwards he called an affembly, in which he caufed Daphneus and Demarchus, who had been the moft active in oppofing him, to be condemned. Thus Dionyfius from a fimple notary, as Diodorus informs us, raised himfelf to the fovereignty of the greatest and moft opulent city of Sicily . 1944. 404. Gela be- In the mean time, the Carthaginians under the command fieged by of Amilcar, having, on the return of the fpring, rafed the the Car- city of Agrigentum, marched with all their forces againft Gethaginians la; and, fitting down before that place, fortified their camp with a deep ditch and a wall, not doubting but Dionyfius would come to the relief of the befieged with a powerful army. The Geleans, in the beginning of the fiege, were for fendidg their wives and children to fome place of fafety; but not one of them could be prevailed upon to retire; they all protefting, that they would undergo the fame fate as their hufbands and parents. This refolution encouraged the Geleans to exert themfelves in the defence of perfons fo dear to them, and to whom they were fo dear. They made feveral fallies, and cut great numbers of the enemy in pieces. No fooner was a breach opened in the wall, but the inhabitants repaired it, being indefatigable night and day on the ramparts, where their wives and children chearfully fhared with them the labour and danger. Thus they held out a long time, though their city was but very indifferently fortified, against an army of above three hundred thousand men, without receiving any aid from their allies. At length Dionyfius advanced to their relief, at the head of fifty thoufand foot, and a thousand horse; but, after fome unfuccefsful attempts, not caring to put all to the iffue The inba of a battle, he perfuaded the inhabitants to abandon their country, as the only means to fave their lives; and covered their retreat with the forces he had brought to relieve the place. The the city. Carthaginians immediately entered the city, and either put to the fword, or crucified, all thofe they found in it. From Gela bitants abandon * Idem ibid. Dionyfius. they advanced to Camarina, whither the Geleans had retired; and Dionyfius, being informed of their march, obliged the Camarincans likewife to remove from their native city, and withdraw, with their wives and children, to Syracufe. The moving fight of aged perfons, matrons, and tender infants, hurried on beyond their ftrength from two feveral cities in ons and the fame country, and tripped of all their wealth and poffeffions, raifed compaffion in the breafts of Dionyfius's foldiers, and incenfed them against the tyrant. They fulpected The Syrahim to a& in concert with the Carthaginians; the more, be- cufians recaufe they did not offer to purfue him, and none of his mervolt from cenaries had been killed in the attacks he made on the enemy's camp before Gela. The Italians therefore left his camp in a body, and marched homewards through the heart of the country. The Syracufian cavalry, after having attempted to kill him on the march, clapped fpurs to their horfes, and rode full gallop. to Syracufe, where they entered the citadel without oppofition, the guards being quite ignorant of what had happened at Gela and Camarina. Upon their arrival, they forced his palace, ranfacked his treafures, carried off all his rich furniture, and abufed his wife fo cruelly, that through grief and fhame the poisoned herfelf. In the mean time Dionyfius, fufpecting their defign, followed them with all poffible expedition; and, having marched fifty miles without once halting,. arrived at midnight, with an hundred horfe, and five hundred foot, at the gate of Acradina, which he found fhut againft him. He immediately caufed the gate to be burnt down; and, He poffe having thus opened himself a way into the city, he cut in es himself pieces a body of the moft wealthy and noble citizens, who, of the city. without waiting for the people, had haftened to the defence of the gate. Being now mafter of the city, he fcoured the ftreets, putting all thofe to the fword that came in his way, and even entering the houfes of fuch as he took to be his enemies, and cutting them off with their whole families. Next morning at break of day the whole body of his troops arrived; but the unhappy fugitives from Gela and Camarina, incenfed against the tyrant, retired to Leontini. between the Cartha In the mean time a plague breaking out, in the Carthagi- A peace ginian camp, Amilcar, not finding himself in a condition to carry on the war, fent an herald to Syracufe, to offer terms of peace to the conquered. His unexpected arrival was very giniansand acceptable to Dionyfius; and a peace was immediately ftruck Dionyfius. up on the following terms: That the Carthaginians, befides their antient acquifitions in Sicily, fhould ftill poffefs the countries of the Sicani, and the difmantled cities of Selinus, Agrigentum, and Himera, with their territories; that the Geleans and Camarinians should be fuffered to return to their respective countries, He fortifies the ifland. countries, and live there, paying an annual tribute to the Carthaginians; that the Leontines, Meffenians, and all the other inhabitants of Sicily, fhould live according to their own laws, and enjoy their liberties, except the Syracufians, who fhould continue fubject to Dionyfius. Thefe articles being agreed to by both parties, Amilcar embarked his troops, and fet fail for Carthage, after having loft above the half of his army by the plague, which afterwards made a dreadful haVock in Africa. DIONYSIUS, foreseeing that the Syracufians would. not fail to take advantage of the peace with the Carthaginians to attempt the recovery of their liberty, neglected nothing on his fide in fupport of his power. He fortified the ifland, which was very ftrong by nature, and divided it from the reft of the city with an high and thick wall, which was at due diftances flanked with ftrong towers. He built likewise at a vaft expence a caftle, which commanded the city, to ferve him for a retreat, in cafe of any fudden commotion. As to the lands, he chofe the moft fertile for himself and his friends: the reft he equally diftributed among the citizens, including in that number the flaves, whom he made free, and called Neopolites, or new citizens. In the fame manner he divided the houfes, except thofe in the island, which he bestowed on his mercenaries, and fuch friends as he could confide in f. The Syra- HAVING taken these precautions for his own fecurity, and cufians re- deeming his authority fufficiently established, he began to colt anew. think of extending his dominions, and fubjecting feveral free ftates of Sicily, which had fided with the Carthaginians. He marched first against the city of Herbeffus; but, while he was employed in the fiege of that place, the Syracufians, who had been inlifted for that expedition, feeing their fwords restored to them, thought it their duty to employ them in the recovery of their liberty. One of the tyrant's officers, endeavouring to prevent their meeting together in private cabals, was killed on the spot; and his death ferved as a fignal for the reft to take up arms, and join in the common caufe. They fent immediately to Etna for the horfe; for they had retired thither, and poffeffed themselves of that caftle, when Dionyfius first ufurped the fovereignty. Dionyfius, alarmed at these commotions, broke up the fiege; and, haftening to Syracufe, made himself mafter of that city, before the news of the revolt in the army had reached it. The revolters, being joined by the cavalry from Etna, followed him clofe; and, encamping on Dionyfius Epipole, cut off all communication with the country. At the befieged in fame time they dispatched meffengers to Rhegium and Messana, the island. e DIOD. SICUL. ibid. f Idem ibid. foliciting foliciting their aid by fea for the recovery of their liberty. The meffengers were kindly received in both places; and fourfcore gallies, well-manned, fent with all poffible expedition to fupport fo good a caufe. Being thus reinforced, they promised, by the common crier, a great reward to any one that should kill the tyrant; and the freedom of the city to all foreigners, who fhould abandon him, and come over to them. A great number of Dionyfius's mercenaries, allured by these promises, forfook him, and were immediately made free of Syracufe; and, befides, rewarded with large fums; which fo encouraged them, that, in a few days, the tyrant faw himself quite abandoned by thofe in whom he chiefly confided. And now the Syracufans, having prepared engines for the battering down of the wall, with repeated affaults fo haraffed thofe few that ftill kept with the tyrant, that they were foon reduced to the And reutmoft extremity. In this defperate condition Dionyfius af-duced to fembled his friends, to confult with them rather by what great kind of death he should put an end to his career, than by freights. what means he might fave his life, or maintain the fovereignty. They were divided in their opinions. Heloris advised him to lay violent hands on himself, before he was forced to refign the fovereign power; telling him, that the royal title would be the greateft ornament of his fepulcre. Polyxenus would have had him attempt to break through the enemy's camp, on the fwifteft horse he had; and, retiring to thofe places which were fubject to the Carthaginians, implore the affiftance of the Campanians, whom Amilcar had left to defend his conquests in Sicily. But Philiftus the hiftorian oppofed this advice; telling Dionyfius, that he ought not to fly from the crown, but hold it, to the laft gafp, with both his hands. Dionyfius clofed with this advice; and refolved to part with his life, rather than with the power he had acquired. However, to gain time, Obtains he fent deputies to the Syracufians, demanding permiffion to leave to depart the city with his friends and adherents: which was depart the granted; and five fhips were allowed him to tranfport his men city. and effects. In the mean time he fent privately difpatches to the Campanians, who garifoned the places in the poffeffion of the Carthaginians, with great offers, if they would haften to his relief %. THE Syracufians, believing they had now got the better of the tyrant, and trufting to the treaty, difarmed part of their troops, and fuffered the others to rove about in the fields, as if there were nothing further to be feared. In the mean time the Campanians, encouraged by Dionyfius's generous promises, arrived unexpectedly at Syracufe; and, having killed all who |