Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/117

MARCH OF DION. 91 Anapus ; which he had the good fortune to occupy without any opposition, before daybreak. Dion was now within no more than a mile and a quarter of the walls of Syracuse. The rising sun disclosed his army to the view of the Syracusan population, who were doubtless impatiently watch- ing for him. He was seen offering sacrifice to the river Anapus, and putting up a solemn prayer to the god Helios, then just showing himself above the horizon. He wore the wreath habit- ual with those who were thus employed; while his soldiers, animated by the confident encouragement of the prophets, had taken wreaths also. 1 Elate and enthusiastic, they passed the Anapus (seemingly at the bridge which formed part of the He- lorine way), advanced at a running pace across the low plain which divided the southern cliff of Epipolae from the Great Har- bor, and approached the gates of the quarter of Syracuse called Neapolis the Temenitid Gates, near the chapel of Apollo Te- menites. 2 Dion was at their head, in resplendent armor, with a body-guard near him composed of one hundred of his Pelopon- nesians. His brother Megakles was on one side of him, his friend the Athenian Kallippus on the other ; all three, and a large proportion of the soldiers also, still crowned with their sacri- 1 Plutarch, Dion, c. 27. These picturesque details about the march of Dion are the more worthy of notice, as Plutarch had before him the narra- tive of Timonides, a companion of Dion, and actually engaged in the ex- pedition. Timonides wrote an account of what passed to Speusippus at Athens, doubtless for the information of Plato and their friends in the Academy (Plutarch, Dion, c. 31-35). Diogenes Laertius mentions also a person named Simonides who wrote to Spcusippus, ruf iaTopias kv alf Kararerdxet ruf Trpufeif Ai'wvof re /ca2 Biuvof (iv. 1, 5). Probably Simonides may be a misnomer for Timonides. Arrian, the author of the Anabasis of Alexander, had written narratives of the exploits both of Dion and Timoleon. Unfortunately these have not been preserved ; indeed Photius himself seems never to have seen them (Photius, Codex, 92). 2 Plutarch, Dion, c. 29. 'Enel <5' eiafjM.ev 6 &iuv Kara ruf Mevmdaj trvAaf, etc. Most of the best critics here concur in thinking, that the reading ought to be rdf Tefj.eviTi6a irMaf. The statue and sacred ground of Apollc Temenites was the most remarkable feature in thia portion of Syracuse, and would naturally be selected to furnish a name for the gates. No mean- Ing can be assigned for the phrase Mevmdaf.