Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/503

MARRIAGE OF DIONYSILH. 481 in state to Ortygia. Aristornache was also brought to his house in a splendid chariot with four white horses. 1 He celebrated his nuptials with both of them in his house on the same day ; no one knew which bed-chamber he visited first ; and both cf them con- tinued constantly to live with him at the same table, with equal dignity, for many years. He had three children by Doris, the eldest of whom was Dionysius the Younger ; and four by Aris- tomache ; but the latter was for a considerable time childless ; which greatly chagrined Dionysius. Ascribing her barrenness to magical incantations, he put to death the mother of his other wife Doris, as the alleged worker of these mischievous influences. 2 It was the rumor at Syracuse that Aristomache was the most beloved 3f the two. But Dionysius treated both of them well, and both of them equally; moreover his son by Doris succeeded him, though he had two sons by the other. His nuptials were celebrated with banquets and festive recreations, wherein all the Syracusan citizens as well as the soldiers partook. The scene was probably the more grateful to Dionysius, as he seems at this moment, when every man's mind was full of vindictive impulse and expected victory against Carthage, to have enjoyed a real short-lived popularity, and to have been able to move freely among the people ; without that fear of assassination which habitually tormented his life even in his inmost privacy and bedchamber and that extremity of suspicion which did not except either his wives or his daughters .- After a few days devoted to such fellowship and festivity, Dio- nysius convoked a public assembly, for the purpose of formally announcing the intended war. He reminded the Syracusans thai the Carthaginians were common enemies to Greeks in general, but most of all to the Sicilian Greeks as recent events but too plainly testified. He appealed to their generous sympathies on behalf of the five Hellenic cities, in the southern part of the island, which had lately undergone the miseries of capture by the generals of Carthage, and were still groaning under her yoke. Nothing pre- vented Carthage (he added) from attempting to extend her dominion over the rest of the island, except the pestilence under which she had herself been suffering in Africa. To the Syracusans 1 Diodor. xiv, 4 4 ; xvi, 6. 2 Plutarch, Dion. c. 3. 3 Cicero, Tusc. Disp. v, 20, 57-63; Valer. Maxim, ix, 13; Diodor. xiv, 2 VOL. x. 21 31oc.