Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/90

64 HISTORY OF GREECE. the young prince with cordial sincerity, dropping altogether those views, whatever they were, on behalf of the children of Aristo- mache, which had induced him to solicit the last interview with the sick man. While exerting himself to strengthen and facili- tate the march of the government, he tried to gain influence and ascendency over the mind of the young Dionysius. At the first meeting of council which took place after the accession, Dion stood conspicuous not less for his earnest adhesion than for his dig- nified language and intelligent advice. The remaining council- lors accustomed, under the self-determining despot who had just quitted the scene, to the simple function of hearing, applaud- ing, and obeying, his directions exhausted themselves in phrases and compliments, waiting to catch the tone of the young prince before they ventured to pronounce any decided opinion. But Dion, to whose freedom of speech even the elder Dionysius had partially submitted, disdained all such tampering, entered at once into a full review of the actual situation, and suggested the posi tive measures proper to be adopted. We cannot doubt that, in the transmission of an authority which had rested so much on the in dividual spirit of the former possessor, there were many precau- tions to be taken, especially in regard to the mercenary troops both at Syracuse and in the outlying dependencies. All these necessities of the moment Dion set forth, together with suitable advice. But the most serious of all the difficulties arose out of the war with Carthage still subsisting, which it was foreseen that the Carthaginians were likely to press more vigorously, calculating on the ill-assured tenure and inexperienced management of the new prince. This difficulty Dion took upon himself. If the council should think it wise to make peace, he engaged to go to Carthage and negotiate peace a task in which he had been more than once employed under the elder Dionysius. If, on the other hand, it were resolved to prosecute the war, he advised that imposing forces should be at once put in equipment, promising to furnish, out of his own large property, a sum sufficient for the outfit of fif- ty triremes. 1 The young Dionysius was not only profoundly impressed with the superior wisdom and suggestive resource of Dion, but als* 1 Plutarch Dion, c. fi.