Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/119

RISING AT SYRACUSE. 9J even curb the internal insurrection. So thoroughly was he intimi- dated by the reports of his terrified police, and by the violent and unanimous burst of wrath among a people whom every Dionysian partisan had long been accustomed to treat as disarmed slaves that he did not think himself safe even in Epipolag. But he could not find means of getting to Ortygia, since the intermediate city was in the hands of his enemies, while Dion and his troops were crossing the low plain between Epipoke and the Great Har- bor. It only remained for him therefore to evacuate Syracuse altogether, and to escape from Epipolae either by the northern or the western side. To justify his hasty flight, he spread the mo<" terrific reports respecting the army of Dion, and thus contribu ted still farther to paralyze the discouraged partisans of Dio- nysius. 1 Already had Dion reached the Temenitid gate, where the principal citizens, clothed in their best attire, and the multitude pouring forth loud and joyous acclamations, were assembled to meet him. Halting at the gate, he caused his trumpet to sound, and entreated silence ; after which he formally proclaimed, that he and his brother Megakles were come for the purpose of putting down the Dionysian despotism, and of giving liberty both to the Syracusans and the other Sicilian Greeks. The acclamations re- doubled as he and his soldiers entered the city, first through N eapolis, next by the ascent up to Achradina ; the main street of which (broad, continuous, and straight, as was rare in a Grecian city 2 ) was decorated as on a day of jubilee, with victims under sacrifice to the gods, tables, and bowls of wine ready prepared for festival. As Dion advanced at the head of his soldiers through a lane formed in the midst of this crowd, from each side wreaths were cast upon him as upon an Olympic victor, and grateful prayers addressed to him, as it were to a god. 3 Every house was a scene 1 Plutarch, Dion, c. 28; Diodor. xvi. 10. 2 Cicero in Verr. iv. 53. " Altera autem est urbs Syracusis, cui nomen Acradina est : in qu forum maximum, pulcherrimae porticus, ornatissi- mum prytaneum, amplissima est curia, templumque egregium Jovis Olym- pii ; coetcrseque urhis partes, und totd vid perpetbA, multisque transversis, divisa;, privatis sedificiis continentur." 3 Plutarch, Dion, c. 29; Diodor.xvi.il. Compare the manifestations of t'.ie inhabitants of Skionu towards Brasidas (Thtuyd. iv. 121).