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maxims and measures. Athens was more lively and active, and the people too much masters. Their laws and philosophy had indeed the most happy effects upon such exquisite natural parts as theirs, but reason alone was not capable of keeping them within due bounds. * A wise Athenian, who knew admirably the genius of his country, informs us, that fear was necessary to those too ardent and free spirits, and that it was impossible to govern them after the victory at Salamin had removed their fears of the Persians.

Two things then ruined them, the glory of their great actions, and the supposed security of their present condition. The magistrates were no longer heard, and as Persia was afflicted with excessive slavery, so Athens, says Plato, experienced all the evils of excessive liberty.

Those two great republics, so contrary in their manners and conduct, interfered with each other in the design they had each formed of subjecting all Greece; so that they were always enemies, more from the contrariety of their interests, than the incompatibility of their humours.

The Grecian cities were against submitting to the dominion of either the one or the other; for, besides the desire of preserving their liberty, they found the empire of those two republics too grievous to bear. That of the Lacedæmonians was severe. That people were observed to have something almost brutal in their character. † A government too rigid, and a life too laborious, rendered their tempers too haughty, austere, and imperious in power; besides which, they could never expect to live in peace under the influence of a city, which, being formed for war, could not support itself but by continuing perpetually in arms. So that the Lacedæmonians were capable of attaining the command, and all the world were afraid they should do so.

The Athenians were naturally obliging and agreeable. Nothing was more delightful to behold than their city, in which feasts and games were perpetual, where wit, liberty, and the various passions of men, daily exhibited new objects. But the inequality of their conduct disgusted their allies, and was still more insupportable to their own subjects. It was impossible for them not to experience the extravagance and caprice of a flattered people, that is to say, according to Plato, something more dangerous than the same excesses in a prince vitiated by flattery.

These two cities did not permit Greece to continue in repose. We have seen the Peloponnesian and other wars, which were always occasioned or fomented by the jealousy of Lacedæmon and Athens. But the same jealousies which involved Greece in troubles, supported it in some measure, and prevented its falling into the dependance of either the one or the other of those republics.

The Persians soon perceived this condition of Greece, and accordingly the whole mystery of their politics consisted in keeping up those jealousies, and fomenting those divisions. Lacedæmon, which was the most ambitious, was the first that gave them occasion to enter into the quarrels of the Greeks. They engaged in them from a sole view of making themselves masters of the whole nation; and industrious to weaken the Greeks by their own arms, they waited only the opportunity to crush them altogether. The states of Greece in their wars, already regarded only the

*Plat. 1. iii. de Leg.

f Arist. Polit. l. i. p. 4.

Plat. de rep. 1. vii.

Plut. 1. iii. de Leg. Isocrat. Panegyr.

VOL. II.

49

Xenoph. de rep. Lacon:

the King," by

king of Persia, whom they called the Great King, or way of eminence, as if they had already been of the number of his subjects. But it was impossible that the ancient spirit of Greece should not revive, when they were upon the point of falling into slavery and the hands of the barbarians.

The petty kings of Greece undertook to oppose this great king, and to ruin his empire. With a small army, but bred in the discipline we have related, Agesilaus, king of Sparta, made the Persians tremble in Asia Minor, and showed it was not impossible to subvert their power. The divisions of Greece alone put a stop to his conquests. The famous retreat of the 10,000, who, after the death of young Cyrus, made their way in a hostile manner, through the whole Persian empire, and returned into their own country; that action, I say, demonstrated to Greece more than ever, that their soldiery was invincible, and superior to all opposers; and that only their domestic divisions could subject them to an enemy too weak to resist their united force.

We shall see in the series of this history by what methods Philip king of Macedon, taking advantage of these divisions, came at length, between address and force, to make himself little less than the sovereign of Greece, and to oblige the whole nation to march under his colours against the common enemy. What he had only planned, his son Alexander brought to perfection, and showed the wondering world how much ability and va lour avail against the most numerous armies and the most formidable preparations.

* Polyb. l. ii.

BOOK XI.

THE

HISTORY

OF

DIONYSIUS THE ELDER AND YOUNGER,

TYRANTS OF SYRACUSE.

SYRACUS

YRACUSE had regained its liberty about 60 years, by the expulsion of the family of Gelon. The events which passed in that interval, except the invasion of the Athenians, are of no great importance, and little known; but those which follow are of a different nature, and make amends for the chasm ; I mean the reigns of Dionysius the father and son, tyrants of Syracuse; the first of whom governed 38, and the other 12, in all 50 years.

*

As this history is entirely foreign to what passed in Greece at the same time, I shall relate it in this place all together, and by itself; observing only, that the first 20 years of it, upon which I am now entering, agree almost in point of time with the last preceding 20 years.

This history will present to our view a series of the most odious and horrid crimes, though it abounds at the same time with instruction. When † on the one side we behold a prince, the declared enemy of liberty, justice, and laws, treading under his feet the most sacred rights of nature and religion, inflicting the most cruel torments upon his subjects, beheading some, burning others for a slight word, delighting and feasting himself with human blood, and gratifying his savage inhumanity with the sufferings and miseries of every age and condition; I say, when we behold such an object, can we deny a truth which the pagan world itself hath confessed, and Plutarch takes occasion to observe in speaking of the tyrants of Sicily, that God in his anger gives such princes to a people, and makes use of the impious and the wicked to punish the guilty and the criminal? On the other side, when the same prince, the dread and terror of Syracuse, is perpetually anxious and trembling for his own life, and abandoned to re

*After having been expelled for more than ten years, he reascended the throne, and reigned two or three years.

Erit Dionysius illic tyrannus, libertatis, justitie, legum exitium. Alios uret, alios verberabit, alios ob levem offensam jubebit detruncari. Senec. de consul. ad Marc. c xvii.

Sanguine humano non tantum gaudet, sed pascitur; sed ut suppliciis omnium ætatum crudelitatem insatiabilem explet. Id. de benef. 1. vii. c. 19.

morse and regret, can find no person in his whole state, not even his wives or children, in whom he can confide, who will not think with Tacitus, "That it is not without reason the oracle of wisdom has declared, that if "the hearts of tyrants could be seen, we should find them torn in pieces "with a thousand evils; it being certain that the body does not suffer more "from inflictions and torments, than the minds of such wretches from "their crimes, cruelties, and the injustice and violence of their proceed“ings ?"

The condition of a good prince is quite different. He loves his people, and is beloved by them; he enjoys a perfect tranquility within himself, and lives with his subjects as a father with his children. Though he knows that the sword of justice is in his hands, he apprehends the use of it. He loves to turn aside its edge, and can never resolve to evidence his power but with extreme reluctance, in the last extremity, and with all the forms and sanction of the † laws. A tyrant punishes only from caprice and passion, and believes, says Plutarch upon Dionysius, that he is not really master, and does not act with supreme authority, but as he sets himself above all laws, has no other but his will and pleasure, and sees himself obeyed implicitly: whereas, continues the same author, he that can do whatever he will, is in great danger of doing what he ought not.

Besides these characteristics of cruelty and tyranny which particularly distinguish the first Dionysius, we shall see in his history whatever unbounded ambition, sustained by great valour, extensive abilities, and the necessary talents for acquiring the confidence of a people, is capable of undertaking for the attainment of sovereignty; the various means he had the address to employ for the maintaining himself in it against the opposition of his enemies and the odium of the public; and lastly the tyrant's success in escaping, during a reign of 38 years, the many conspiracies formed against him, and in transmitting peaceably the tyranny to his son, as a legitimate possession and a right of inheritance.

CHAPTER I.

THIS chapter contains the history of Dionysius the elder, who reigned

38 years.

*

Neque frustra præstantissimus sapientiæ firmare solitus est si recludantur tyrannorum mentes, posse aspici laniatus et ictus: quando, ut corpora verberibus, ita sævitia, libidine, malis consultis animus dilaceraretur. Tacit. Annal 1. vi. c. 6. + Hæc est in maxima potesta te verissima animi temperantia, non cupiditate aliqua, non temeritate incendi; non priorum principum exemplis corruptum, quantum in cives suos liceat, experiendo tentare; sed hebetare aciem imperii suiQuid interest inter tyrannum et regem, species enim ipsa fortunæ ac licentia par est, nisi quod tyranni in voluptate sæviunt, reges non nisi ex causa et necessitate? Senec. de Clem lib. i. c. 11.

- Εφη απολαύειν μάλιςα της ωςχης α βέλεται ποιη. Μεγας 8, ο κίνδυνος βαλεσθαι αν μη δει, τον α βέλεται ποιειν δυναμενον. Ad princ. indoct. p. 782.

SECTION I.

MEANS MADE USE OF BY DIONYSIUS THE ELDER TO POSSESS HIMSELF OF THE TYRANNY.

DIONYSIUS was a native of Syracuse,* of noble and illustrious extraction according to some; but others say his birth was base and obscure. However it was, he distinguished himself by his valour, and acquired great reputation in a war with the Carthaginians. He was one of those who accompanied Hermocrates when he attempted to re-enter Syracuse by force of arms, after having been banished through the intrigues of his enemies. The event of that enterprise was not happy. Hermocrates was killed. The Syracusans did not spare his accomplices, several of whom were publicly executed. Dionysius was left among the wounded. The report of his death, designedly given out by his relations, saved his life. Providence had spared Syracuse an infinity of misfortunes, had he expired either in the fight or by the executioner.

The Carthaginians had made several attempts to establish themselves in Sicily, and to possess themselves of the principal towns of that island, as we have observed elsewhere. Its happy situation for their maritime commerce, the fertility of its soil, and the riches of its inhabitants, were powerful inducements to such an enterprise. We may form an idea of the wealth of its cities from Diodorus Siculus' account of Agrigentum. The temples were of extraordinary magnificence, especially that of Jupiter Olympius, which was 340 feet in length, 60 in breadth, and 120 in height. The piazzas or galleries, in their extent and beauty, answered to the rest of the building. On one side was represented the battle of the giants, on the other the taking of Troy, in figures as large as life. Without the city was an artificial lake, which was seven stadia, above a quarter of a league in circumference. It was full of all kinds of fish, covered with swans and other water fowls, and afforded the most agreeable prospect imaginable.

It was about the time of which we speak that Exenetus, victor in the Olympic games, entered the city in triumph in a magnificent chariot, attended by 300 more, all drawn by white horses. Their habits were adorned with gold and silver, and nothing was ever more splendid than their appearance. Gellias, the most wealthy of the citizens of Agrigentum, erected several large apartments in his house for the reception and entertainment of his guests. Servants waited by his order at the gates of the city to invite all strangers to lodge at their master's house, whither they conducted them. Hospitality was much practised and esteemed by the generality of that city. A violent storm having obliged 500 horsemen to take shelter there, Gellias entertained them all in his house, and supplied them immediately with dry clothes, of which he had always a great quantity in his wardrobe. This is understanding how to make a noble use of riches. His cellar is much talked of by historians, in which he had 300 reservoirs hewn out of the rock, each of which contained 100 || amphora.

This great and opulent city was besieged, and at length taken by the

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t Diod. L. xiii. p. 203, 206.

An amphora contained about seven gallons; one hundred consequently consisted of seven hundred gallons, or eleven hogsheads seven gallons.

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