Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1053

DIONYSIUS. nssaiU'd Corsica (Strab. /. c), b»it probably did not form any permanont cstabliahnient there. The Boveri'ignty of the Adriatic Bcems to have been a favourite ol)ject of his ambition. He endeavoured to secure it by establishing a colony on the island of Lissa, or, according to other accounts, at Lissus in Kpcirus (comp. Scymn. Chius, 1. 412; Diod. xv. 13, 14), where he kept up a considerable navsU force, and another at Adria in Picenum. ( Etyra. Magn. s. 1'., ABplas.) Ancona too was probably founded by him at the same time. (Plin. H. N. iii. l.'i; Strab. v. p. 241 ; Arnold's 7^»i^, vol. i. p. 437.) With the same view he sent a squadron to assist the Lacedaemonians in preventing the Athenians from establishing themselves at Corcyra, n. c. 373. (Xen. Hell. vi. 2. §§ 4, 33.) The ex- tent of his commerci.al relations may be inferred from his importing horses for his chariots from the Venetian tribes at the head of the Adriatic. (Strab. V. p. 212.) As early as b. c. 402 he is mentioned as sending large supplies of corn to relieve a scarcity at Rome. (Liv. iv. 52 ; Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. ii. p. 5f)4.) At the same time he took every oppor- tunity of extending his relations with foreign powers, and strengthening himself by alliances. Thus we find him assisting the Illynans against their neighbours the Molossians (Diod. xiv. 13), and concluding a treaty with the Gauls, who had lately made their appearance in Italy, and who continued from this time to furnish a considerable part of his mercenary troops. (Justin, xx. 5 ; Xen. flell. xil 1. ^^ 20,31.) In Greece itself he cultivated the friendship of the Lacedaemonians, to whose support he had been greatly indebted in the earlier days of his rule (Diod. xiv. 10, 70); and among the last acts of his reign was the sending an auxiliary force in two successive years to support them against the increasing power of the Thebans. (Xen. Hell. vii. 1. ^$ 20, 28; Diod. xv. 70.) He also conciliated, but by what means we know not, the favour of the Athenians, so that they be- stowed upon him the freedom of their city. (Epist. Philipp. ap. Dem. p. 176, ed. Bekk.) The peace with Carthage did not remain unin- ternipted during the whole of this period, but the wars were not of any great importance, and are not known to us in detail. In B. c. 383 the in- trigues of Dionysius with the subject allies of Car- thage led to a renewal of hostilities. Two great battles, the sites of both of which are uncertain, decided the fortune of the war. In the first Diony- sius was completely victorious, and Mago, the Car- thaginian general, fell ; but in the second the Syracusans were defeated with great slaughter. Peace was concluded soon after, by which the river Halycus was fixed as the boundary of the two powers. (Diod. xv. 15 — 17.) Dionysius seems to have been again the aggressor in a fresh war which broke out in b, c. 368, and in which he a second time advanced with his army to the extreme western point of Sicilj', and laid siege to Lily- baeum. Hostilities were however suspended on the approach of winter, and before they could be resumed Dionysius died at Syracuse, b. c. 367. His last illness is said to have been brought on by ex- cessive feasting ; but according to some accounts, his death was hastened by his medical attendants, in order to secure the succession for his son. (Diod. XV. 74 ; Plut. Z>io«, 6 ; Corn. Nep. Dioji, 2.) After the death of his first wife, Dionysius had married almost exactly at the same time — some DIONYSIUS. 1035 said oven on the same day — Doris, a Locrian of distinguished birth, and Aristom.-iche, a Syracusan, the daughter of his old patron and supporter Hip- parinua. (Diod. xiv. 44 ; Plut. Z>«m, 3.) By the former he had three children, of which the eldest ■was his successor, Dionysius. Aristomache bore him two sons, Ilipparinus and Nyweus, and two daughters, Sophrosyne and Arete. (Plut. Dion, 6 ; Com. Nep. IHon, 1 ; Athen. x. pp. 435 — 6.) The character of Dionysius has been drawn in the blackest colours by many ancient writers ; he appears indeed to have become a sort of type of a tyrant, in its worst sense, and it is probable that many of the anecdotes of him related by Cicero, Aelian, Polyaenus, and other later writers, are grossly exaggerated ; but the very circumstJince that he was so regarded in opposition to Gelon and others of the older tyrants (see Plut. Diow, 5) is in itself a proof that the opprobrium was not alto- gether undeserved. He was undoubtedly a man of great energy and activity of mind, as well as great personal courage ; but he was altogether un- scrupulous in the means which he employed to attain his ends, and had no thought beyond his own personal aggrandizement. Thus while he boasted that he left to his son an empire held to- gether with bonds of iron (Plut. Dion, 7), he exhausted his subjects by excessive taxation, and was obliged to have recourse to every kind of ex- pedient to amass money. ( Aristot. Pol. v. 1 1 ; Pseud.- Aristot. Oeconom. ii. 2. The statements of the latter must be received with caution, but they are conclusive as to the general fact.) Diodorus tells us that, when his power became firmly esta- blished, he abated much of his former severity (xiv. 45), and he gave a signal instance of clemency in his treatment of the Italian Greeks who had fallen into his power at the battle of the Helorus. (Diod. xiv. 105.) But it is probable that the long pos- session of absolute power had an injurious effect upon his character, and much apparent inconsist- ency may be accounted for in this manner. In his latter years he became extremely suspicious, and apprehensive of treachery even from his nearest friends, and is said to have adopted the most ex- cessive precautions to guard against it. Many of these stories have however an air of great exagge- ration. (Cic. Tusc. v. 20 ; Plut. Dion. 9.) Though his government was oppressive in a financial point of view, Dionysius seems to have contributed much to the greatness of Syracuse it- self, both by increasing the population with the inhabitants removed from many conquered cities, and by adorning it with splendid temples and other public edifices, so as to render it unquestionably the greatest of all Greek cities. (Diod. xv. 13; Isocrat. Pancgyr. § 145.) At the same time he displayed his magnificence by sending splendid deputations to the Olympic games, and rich pre- sents both to Olympia and Delphi. (Diod. xiv.. 109, xvi. 57.) , Nor was he without literary am- bition. In the midst of his political and military cares he devoted himself assiduously to poetry, and not only caused his poems to be publicly recited at the Olympic games, but repeatedly contended for the prize of tragedy at Athens. Here he several times obtained the second and third prizes ; and, , finally, just before his death, bore away the first prize at the Lenaea, with a play cjilled "The Ran- som of Hector." These honours seem to prove that his poetry could not have been altogether »a