Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/48

22 HISTORY OF GREECE. Calabrian peninsula south of the Gulf of Squillace. To th Ttaliot Greeks generally, these victories of Dionysius were fatally ruinous, because the political union formed among them, for the purpose of resisting the pressure of the Lucanians from the in- terior, was overthrown, leaving each city to its own weakness and isolation. 1 The year 387, in which Rhegium surrendered, was also dis tinguished for two other memorable events ; the general peace in Central Greece under the dictation of Persia and Sparta, com monly called the peace of Antalkidas ; and the capture of Rome by the Gauls/* The two great ascendant powers in the Grecian world were now, Sparta in Peloponnesus, and Dionysius in Sicily; each res- pectively fortified by alliance with the other. I have already in a former chapter 3 described the position of Sparta after the peace of Antalkidas ; how greatly she gained by making herself the champion of that Persian rescript and how she purchased, by surrendering the Asiatic Greeks to Artaxerxes, an empire on land equal to that which she had enjoyed before the defeat of Knidus, though without recovering the maritime empire fortified by that defeat. To this great imperial state, Dionysius in the west formed a suitable counterpart. His recent victories in Southern Italy had already raised his power to a magnitude transcending all the far- famed recollections of Gelon ; but he now still farther extended it by sending an expedition against Kroton. This city, the largest in Magna Graecia, fell under his power ; and he succeeded in cap- Hiring, by surprise or bribery, even its strong citadel ; on a rock overhanging the sea. 4 He seems also to have advanced yet far ' Polybius, ii- 39, G7. * Polybius, i. 6. 3 Chap. LXXVI. Vol. X. 4 Livy has preserved the mention of this important acquisition of Diony sius (xxiv. 3). " Sed arx Crotonis, una parte imminens mari, altera vergente in agniip, fiitu tantum natural! quondam munita, postea ct muro cincta est, qua per aversas rupes ab Dionysio Sicilian tyranno per dolum fuerat capta." Justin also (xx. 5) mentions the attack of Dionysius upon Kroton. We may, with tolerable certainty, refer the capture to the present part ot the career of Dionysius. See also JElian, V. II. xii. 61.