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DION. 291 Though they thus huuibly addressed him, his friends advised him not to pardon these turbulent and ill condi- tioned men, but to yield them to the desires of his sol- diers, and uttei'ly root out of the commonwealth the ambitious affectation of popularity, a disea.se as pestilent and pernicious as the passion for tyranny itself Dion endeavored to satisfy them, telling them that other gen- erals exercised and trained themselves for the most part in the practices of war and arms ; but that he had long studied in the Academy how to conquer anger, and not let emulation and envy conquer him ; that to do this it is not sufficient that a man be obliging and kind to his friends, and those that have deserved well of him, but rather, gentle and ready to forgive in the case of those who do wrong; that he wished to let the world see that he valued not himself so much upon excelling Hera- clides in ability and conduct, as he did in outdoing him in justice and clemency ; herein to have the advantage is to excel indeed; whereas the honor of success in war is never entire ; fortune will be sure to dispute it, though no man should pretend to have a claim. What if Hera- elides be perfidious, malicious, and base, must Dion there- fore sully or injure his virtue by passionate concern for it ? For, though the laws determine it juster to revenge an injury than to do an injury, yet it is evident that both, in the nature of things, originally proceed from the same deficiency and weakness. The malicious humor of men, though perverse and refractoiy, is not so savage and invincible but it may be wrought upon by kindness, axid altered by repeated obligations. Dion, making use of these arguments, pardoned and dismissed Heraclides and Theodotes. And now, resolving to repair the blockade about the castle, he commanded all the S3'racusans to cut each man a stake and bring it to the works ; and then, dismissing