should be remembered, that among the deliverers of their country this treacherous conspirator against its liberty was chosen a pretor. But the spirit of royalty has been infused into these men by their royal consorts, Hiero's daughter married to one, Gelon's to the other." At these words a shout was heard from every part of the assembly, that "none of the race of the tyrants ought to live." Such is the nature of the populace; they are either abject slaves or tyrannic masters. Liberty, which consists in a mean between these, they either undervalue, or know not how to enjoy with moderation; and, in general, there are not wanting agents disposed to foment their passions, who, working on minds which delight in cruelty, and know no restraint in the practice of it, exasperate them to acts of blood and slaughter. Thus, on the present occasion, the pretors instantly proposed the passing of an order, and it was hardly proposed before it was passed, that all the royal family should be put to death; whereon persons sent by these magistrates executed the sentence on Demarata, daughter of Hiero, and Harmonia, daughter of Gelon, the wives of Andranodorus and Themistus.

26. There was another daughter of Hiero, called Heraclea, wife to Zoippus; who, having been sent by Hieronymus ambassador to king Ptolemy, had continued abroad in voluntary exile. On getting notice that the executioners were coming to her also, she fled for refuge into the chapel of her household gods, taking with her two maiden daughters, with their hair dishevelled, and their appearance in every other particular calculated to excite compassion: to this she added prayers, beseeching the executioners, "by the memory of her father Hiero, and of her brother Gelon, not to suffer her, an innocent woman, to be involved in ruin under the hatred incurred by Hieronymus. To her nothing had accrued from his being on the throne but the exile of her husband; neither, during the life of Hieronymus, was her situation the same with that of her sister, nor since his death was her cause the same. Must it not be allowed that if Andranodorus had succeeded in his projects, her sister would have reigned with him, whereas she must have been in servitude with the rest? If any one should tell Zoippus that Hieronymus was killed and Syracuse free, who could doubt but he would instantly get on board a ship and return to his country? How deceitful were the hopes of men! Could he imagine that in his native soil, restored to liberty, his wife and children were struggling to preserve their lives; and in what respect did they obstruct the cause of liberty or the laws? What danger could arise from them, a solitary, and, in a manner, widowed woman, and her poor orphan children? But, though no

LIV. VOL. III.-D

danger was apprehended from them, yet the whole royal race was detested. Let herself and children be banished far from Syracuse and from Sicily; let them be conveyed to Alexandria; a wife to her husband, the daughters to their father." Finding them still inexorable, and wishing to make the best use of the time, (for she saw some even drawing their swords,) she desisted from farther entreaties for herself, and continued to beseech them "to spare, at least, her daughters, who were children of an age which even enraged enemies would refrain from injuring; and not, while they pursued their revenge against tyrants, to imitate themselves the crimes which had raised their hatred." While she was speaking they dragged her from the sanctuary, and slew her; and then turned their weapons against the children, who were sprinkled with the blood of their mother. But they, deprived of reason by grief and fear together, rushed cut of the chapel with such quickness, that had a passage been open to the public street, they would have filled the whole city with tumult: even as it was, though the extent of the house was not great, they several times made their way through the midst of many armed men without receiving a wound, and extricated themselves from those that took hold of them, notwithstanding the number and strength of the hands with which they had to struggle: but, at length, being reduced to the last weakness by wounds, after covering every place with their blood, they fell and expired. This scene, piteous in itself, was rendered yet more so by an incident that ensued; for shortly after arrived a message countermanding their execution, the sentiments of the people having suddenly turned to the side of compassion; and this compassion was soon converted into anger, on account of the precipitancy with which the sentence had been hurried on, so as to leave no time for reconsideration, or the subsiding of passion. The populace, therefore, expressed much discontent, and insisted on an assembly of election to fill up the places of Andranodorus and Themistus, for both had been pretors; and this election was not at all likely to terminate in a manner agreeable to the present pretors.

27. A day was appointed for the election, when, to the surprise of all, some person in the remotest part of the crowd named Epicydes; then another, in the same quarter, Hippocrates; which names were afterward the most frequently repeated, with the manifest approbation of the multitude. The assembly itself was an irregular one; for, not the commons alone, but also great numbers of the soldiery, and even of deserters, who wished to overturn every present establishment, composed the disorderly crowd. The magistrates, at first, pretended ignorance of what was going forward, think

ing to protract the business; but, at last, overcome by the united voice of so very many, and dreading an insurrection, they declared those men pretors: who, however, did not immediately unveil their sentiments, though greatly chagrined, -first, at ambassadors having gone to Appius Claudius to conclude a truce of ten days, and then, when that was obtained, on others being sent to negotiate a renewal of the old alliance. At this time the Romans had a fleet of a hundred sail at Murgantia, watching what might be the result of the commotions of Syracuse in consequence of the death of the tyrants, and to what points the view of the people might be directed by the late acquisition of liberty, to which they had so long been strangers. Meanwhile, the Syracusan ambassadors had been sent by Appius to Marcellus on his arriving in Sicily; who, when he heard the terms on which they proposed the alliance, conceiving expectations that the business might be adjusted to mutual satisfaction, sent ambassadors on his part to Syracuse to treat with the pretors in person. Here was no longer the same quiet and tranquillity: on news being received that a Carthaginian fleet had arrived at Pachynum, Hippocrates and Epicydes, freed from apprehension, now began, sometimes among the mercenary soldiers, at others among the deserters, to spread insinuations that there was a design of betraying Syracuse to the Romans. And when Appius came and kept his fleet stationed at the mouth of the harbour, with intention to raise the spirits of the other party, this gave the utmost appearance of credibility to their ill-grounded suggestions, insomuch that the populace at first ran down in a tumultuous manner to oppose the landing of his men, if such an attempt should be made.

28. In this troubled state of affairs it was judged necessary to call a general assembly. Here, while opposite parties drew contrary ways, and a civil war was on the point of breaking out, one of the leading nobles, named Apollonides, addressed them in a discourse of very salutary tendency at such a juncture; telling them that "no state ever had a nearer prospect either of safety or of ruin. If all would unanimously incline either on the side of the Romans, or to that of the Carthaginians, their prosperity and happiness would equal that of any other nation whatever. If separate parties laboured to counteract each other, the war between the Carthaginians and the Romans was not more furious than would be that which must follow between the Syracusans themselves, when each party should have its own troops, its own arms, its own leaders, within the same walls. The most effectual endeavours ought to be used to bring all to unanimity in opinion. Which of the alliances might be the more profitable was a question of a very inferior nature, and of

much less moment. Nevertheless, on the choice of allies, they ought rather to follow the judgment of Hiero than that of Hieronymus, and give the preference to a friendship, of which they had a happy experience for fifty years, before one which would be at the present new to them, and was formerly found deceitful. Another consideration ought to be allowed some weight in their resolves; that it was in their power to decline a treaty of friendship with the Carthaginians, and yet not to enter, immediately at least, into a war with them; whereas with the Romans they must instantly have either peace or war." The less of party spirit and warmth this speech contained, the greater was its influence on the hearers. To the pretors, and a select number of senators, a military council was joined; and even the commanders of companies, and the prefects of the allies, were ordered to share in their consultations. After the affair had been frequently debated with great heat, they at last resolved, because they could discover no plan on which war could be maintained against the Romans, that a treaty of peace should be formed with them, and that ambassadors should be sent with those of that nation, then in Syracuse, to ratify it.

29. Not many days had passed when deputies from the Leontines arrived, requesting aid for the defence of their country; and this application was considered as coming most seasonably for ridding the city of a disorderly turbulent rabble, and removing their leaders out of the way. The pretor, Hippocrates, was ordered to conduct the deserters thither; and these were accompanied by great numbers of mercenary auxiliaries, so that the whole amounted to four thousand soldiers. This expedition was highly pleasing, both to the persons employed, and to their employers; the former gaining what they had long wished for, an opportunity for disturbing the government; the latter rejoicing at such a nuisance being removed the sink, as it were, of the city. However, this proved only like giving a sick person presen ease, that he might relapse with an aggravation of his disorder: for Hippocrates began at first, by secret excursions, to ravage the nearest parts of the Roman province; but afterward, when Appius had sent a body of troops to protect the territories of the allies, he attacked, with his entire force, a detachment posted in his way, and killed a great number. When Marcellus was informed of these transactions, he instantly despatched ambassadors to Syracuse, to complain of this infraction of the treaty, and to represent that occasions of quarrel would never be wanting, unless Hippocrates and Epicydes were banished, not only from Syracuse, but far from every part of Sicily. Epicydes not choosing, by re maining where he was, either to face the charge of being a

Confederate in his absent brother's crime, or to omit contributing his share toward effecting a rupture, went off to his seceding countrymen at Leontini, where finding the inhabitants filled with a sufficient degree of animosity against the Roman people, he undertook to detach them from the Syracusans also: for "the latter," he said, "had stipulated in their treaty with Rome, that every state which had been subject to their kings should for the future be subject to them; and they were not now content with liberty, unless they possessed along with it regal and arbitrary power over other nations. The proper answer, therefore, to be given to any requisition from them was, that the Leontines deemed themselves entitled to freedom no less than themselves, if it were only because their city was the spot where the tyrant fell; that there liberty was first proclaimed, where the troops had abandoned the king's generals, and flocked to Syracuse. Wherefore that article must be expunged from the treaty, or a treaty containing such an article should not be admitted." The multitude were easily persuaded; and when ambassadors from Syracuse complained of their cutting off the Roman detachment, and delivered an order that Hippocrates and Epicydes should depart either to Locri, or to any other place which they chose, provided they retired out of Sicily, the Leontines roughly answered, that "they had not commissioned the Syracusans to make a treaty of peace with the Romans for them, neither were they bound by other people's treaties." This answer the Syracusans laid before the Romans, declaring that "the Leontines were not under their direction; that, therefore, the Romans might make war on that people without any violation of the treaty with Syracuse; and that they would not fail to give their assistance in it, on condition that the others, when reduced to submission, should be again subjected to their government."

30. Marcellus marched against Leontini with his whole force, sending also for Appius, that he might attack it on another quarter; and so great was the ardour of the soldiers on that occasion, inspired by their resentment for the detachment being cut off while a treaty of peace was depending, that, at the first assault, they carried the town. Hippocrates and Epicydes, when they saw the enemy in possession of the walls, and breaking open the gates, retired with a few others into the citadel, from whence they made their escape secretly during the night to Herbessus. The Syracusans having marched from home in a body, eight thousand in number, were met at the river Myla by a messenger, who acquainted them that Leontini was taken, and who mixed several falsehoods with the truth, saying, that both soldiers and townsmen had been put to the sword without distinction; nor did he believe that any one, above