Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos

by Cornelius Nepos

  In the meantime Dionysius fell ill of some disease, and when he was labouring under the severity of it, Dion inquired of the physicians “how he was,” and begged them, at the same time, “if he should happen to be in extreme danger, to acquaint him of it; for he wished to speak to him about a division of the realm, as he thought that the sons of his sister by him ought to have a share in the dominions.” This request the physicians did not keep secret, but reported the words to Dionysius the younger, who, taking alarm at it, compelled the physicians to give his father a sleeping potion, that Dion might have no opportunity of addressing him. The sick man, having taken the draught, ended his life like one buried in deep sleep.

  3. Tale initium fuit Dionis et Dionysii simultatis, eaque multis rebus aucta est. sed tamen primis temporibus aliquamdiu simulata inter eos amicitia mansit. sicut, cum Dion non desisteret obsecrare Dionysium, ut Platonem Athenis arcesseret et eius consiliis uteretur, ille, qui in aliqua re vellet patrem imitari, morem ei gessit. [2] eodemque tempore Philistum historicum Syracusas reduxit, hominem amicum non magis tyranno quam tyrannidi. sed de hoc in eo libro plura sunt exposita, qui de historicis Graecis conscriptus est. [3] Plato autem tantum apud Dionysium auctoritate potuit valuitque eloquentia, ut ei persuaserit tyrannidis facere finem libertatemque reddere Syracusanis. a qua voluntate Philisti consilio deterritus aliquanto crudelior esse coepit.

  III. Such was the commencement of the dissension between Dion and Dionysius; and it was increased by many circumstances; yet in the beginning of his reign there subsisted for a time an assumed friendship between them; and as Dion persisted in soliciting Dionysius to send for Plato from Athens, and follow his counsels, he, who was willing to imitate his father in something, complied with his wishes. At the same time, also, he brought back Philistus the historian to Syracuse, a man not more friendly to the tyrant than to tyranny itself. But of this author more has been said in the work of mine which is written “On Historians.” Plato, however, had so much influence over Dionysius by his authority, and produced such an effect on him by his eloquence, that he persuaded him to put an end to his tyranny, and to restore liberty to the Syracusans; but being dissuaded from his intention by the representations of Philistus, he began to grow somewhat more cruel.

  4. Qui quidem cum a Dione se superari videret ingenio, auctoritate, amore populi, verens ne, si eum secum haberet, aliquam occasionem sui daret opprimendi, navem ei triremem dedit, qua Corinthum deveheretur, ostendens se id utriusque facere causa, ne, cum inter se timerent, alteruter alterum praeoccuparet. [2] id cum factum multi indignarentur magnaeque esset invidiae tyranno, Dionysius omnia, quae moveri poterant Dionis, in naves imposuit ad eumque misit. sic enim existimari volebat, id se non odio hominis, sed suae salutis fecisse causa. [3] postea vero quam audivit eum in Peloponneso manum comparare sibique bellum facere conari, Areten, Dionis uxorem, alii nuptum dedit filiumque eius sic educari iussit, ut indulgendo turpissimis imbueretur cupiditatibus. [4] nam puero prius quam pubes esset scorta adducebantur, vino epulisque obruebatur, neque ullum tempus sobrio relinquebatur. [5] is usque eo vitae statum commutatum ferre non potuit, postquam in patriam rediit pater (namque appositi erant custodes, qui eum a pristino victu deducerent), ut se de superiore parte aedium deiecerit atque ita interierit. sed illuc revertor.

  IV. Being conscious that he was surpassed by Dion in ability, influence, and in the affection of the people, and fearing that, if he kept Dion with him, he might give him some opportunity of overthrowing him, he gave him a trireme to sail to Corinth, declaring that he did so for both their sakes, lest, as they were afraid of each other, one of them might take the other by surprise. As many people were indignant at this proceeding, and as it was the cause of great hatred to the tyrant, Dionysius put on board some vessels all the property of Dion that could be removed, and sent it after him; for he wished it to be thought that he had adopted that course, not from hatred of the man, but for the sake of his own safety. But when he heard that Dion was levying troops in the Peloponnesus, and endeavouring to raise a war against him, he gave Arete, Dion’s wife, in marriage to another man, and caused his son to be brought up in such a manner, that he might, through indulgence, be imbued with the most disgraceful propensities; for mistresses were brought him when but a boy, before he was full grown; he was overwhelmed with wine and luxuries, nor was any time allowed him to be sober. He was so little able to bear such a change in his way of life, which was altered after his father returned to his country (for keepers were set over him to draw him from his former mode of living), that he threw himself from the top of a house and so perished. But I return to the point from whence I digressed.

  5. Postquam Corinthum pervenit Dion et eodem perfugit Heraclides ab eodem expulsus Dionysio, qui praefectus fuerat equitum, omni ratione bellum comparare coeperunt. [2] sed non multum proficiebant, quod multorum annorum tyrannis magnarum opum putabatur: quam ob causam pauci ad societatem periculi perducebantur. [3] sed Dion, fretus non tam suis copiis quam odio tyranni, maximo animo duabus onerariis navibus quinquaginta annorum imperium, munitum quingentis longis navibus, decem equitum centumque peditum milibus, profectus oppugnatum, quod omnibus gentibus admirabile est visum, adeo facile perculit, ut post diem tertium, quam Siciliam attigerat, Syracusas introierit. ex quo intellegi potest nullum esse imperium tutum nisi benivolentia munitum. [4] eo tempore aberat Dionysius et in Italia classem opperiebatur adversariorum, ratus neminem sine magnis copiis ad se venturum. [5] quae res eum fefellit. nam Dion iis ipsis, qui sub adversarii fuerant potestate, regios spiritus repressit totiusque eius partis Siciliae potitus est, quae sub Dionysii fuerat potestate, parique modo urbis Syracusarum praeter arcem et insulam adiunctam oppido, [6] eoque rem perduxit, ut talibus pactionibus pacem tyrannus facere vellet: Siciliam Dion obtineret, Italiam Dionysius, Syracusas Apollocrates, cui maximam fidem uni habebat. Dion ...

  V. When Dion had arrived at Corinth, and Heraclides, who had been commander of the cavalry, had also come thither (having been likewise banished by Dionysius), they began to prepare for war in every possible way; but they made but little progress; for a tyranny of many years’ standing was thought to be of great strength, and for that reason few were induced to join in so perilous an undertaking. But Dion, who trusted not so much to his troops as to the general hatred towards the tyrant, setting out, with the greatest courage, in two transport vessels, to attack a power of fifty years’ growth, defended by five hundred ships of war, ten thousand cavalry, and a hundred thousand infantry, so easily made an impression upon it (what seemed wonderful to all people), that he entered Syracuse the third day after he touched the coast of Sicily. Hence it may be understood that no government is safe, unless guarded by the love of its subjects. Dionysius at that time was absent, and waiting for his fleet in Italy, supposing that none of his enemies would come against him without a great force; a supposition which deceived him; for Dion curbed the tyrant’s pride with those very men that had been under the rule of his adversary, and gained possession of all that part of Sicily which had been under the government of Dionysius; and with like success he secured the city of Syracuse, except the citadel and the island adjoining the town, and brought matters to such a state, that the tyrant consented to make peace on such terms as these: that Dion should have Sicily, Dionysius Italy, and Apollocrates, in whom alone Dionysius had great confidence, Syracuse.

  6. Has tam prosperas tamque inopinatas res consecuta est subita commutatio, quod fortuna sua mobilitate, quem paulo ante extulerat, demergere est adorta. [2] primum in filio, de quo commemoravi supra, suam vim exercuit. nam cum uxorem reduxisset, quae alii fuerat tradita, filiumque vellet revocare ad virtutem a perdita luxuria, accepit gravissimum parens vulnus morte filii. [3] deinde orta dissensio est inter eum et Heraclidem, qui, quod ei principatum non concedebat, factionem comparavit. neque is minus valebat apud optimates, quorum consensu praeerat classi, cum Dion exercitum pedestrem teneret. [4] non tulit hoc animo aequo Dion, et versum illum Homeri rettulit ex secunda rhapsodia, in quo haec sententia est: non
posse bene geri rem publicam multorum imperiis. quod dictum magna invidia consecuta est: namque aperuisse videbatur omnia in sua potestate esse velle. [5] hanc ille non lenire obsequio, sed acerbitate opprimere studuit, Heraclidemque, tum Syracusas venisset, interficiundum curavit.

  VI. A sudden change followed close upon such eminent and unexpected success, for fortune, through her fickleness, endeavoured to sink him whom she had just before exalted. In the first place she exercised her power over his son, of whom I have previously made mention; for after he had taken back his wife, who had been given to another, and wished to recall his son, from his abandoned course of sensuality, to habits of virtue, he received, as a father, a most severe affliction in the death of that son. A disagreement next arose between him and Heraclides, who, refusing to yield the supremacy to Dion, organized a party against him; nor had he indeed less influence than Dion among the aristocracy, with whose sanction he commanded the fleet, while Dion had the direction of the land forces. Dion could not endure this opposition patiently, but retorted with that verse of Homer in the second book of the Iliad, in which is this sentiment, “That a state cannot be managed well by the government of many.” Much ill feeling, on the part of the people, followed this remark; for he appeared to have let it escape him that he wished everything to be under his own authority. This feeling he did not try to soften by conciliation, but to overcome by severity, and caused Heraclides, when he came to Syracuse, to be put to death.

  7. Quod factum omnibus maximum timorem iniecit: nemo enim illo interfecto se tutum putabat. ille autem adversario remoto licentius eorum bona, quos sciebat adversus se sensisse, militibus dispertivit. [2] quibus divisis cum cottidiani maximi fierent sumptus, celeriter pecunia deesse coepit, neque, quo manus porrigeret, suppetebat nisi in amicorum possessiones. id eius modi erat, ut, cum milites reconciliasset, amitteret optimates. [3] quarum rerum cura angebatur et insuetus male audiendi non animo aequo ferebat, de se ab iis male existimari, quorum paulo ante in caelum fuerat elatus laudibus. vulgus autem offensa in eum militum voluntate liberius loquebatur et tyrannum non ferendum dictitabat.

  VII. This act struck extreme terror into every one; for nobody, after Heraclides was killed, considered himself safe. Dion, when his adversary was removed, distributed among his soldiers, with greater freedom, the property of those whom he knew to have been unfavourable to him. But after this division had taken place, money, as his daily expenses grew very great, began to fail him; nor was there anything on which he could lay his hands but the property of his friends; a circumstance which was attended with this effect, that while he gained the soldiery, he lost the aristocracy. At this state of things he was overcome with anxiety, and, being unaccustomed to be ill spoken of, he could not patiently endure that a bad opinion of him should be entertained by those by whose praises he had just before been extolled to the skies. The common people, however, when the feelings of the soldiers were rendered unfavourable towards him, spoke with less restraint, and said that “he was a tyrant not to be endured.”

  8. Haec ille intuens cum quem ad modum sedaret nesciret et quorsum evaderent timeret, Callicrates quidam, civis Atheniensis, qui simul cum eo ex Peloponneso in Siciliam venerat, homo et callidus et ad fraudem acutus, sine ulla religione ac fide, adiit ad Dionem et ait: [2] eum magno in periculo esse propter offensionem populi et odium militum, quod nullo modo evitare posset, nisi alicui suorum negotium daret, qui se simularet illi inimicum. quem si invenisset idoneum, facile omnium animos cogniturum adversariosque sublaturum, quod inimici eius dissidenti suos sensus aperturi forent. [3] tali consilio probato excepit has partes ipse Callicrates et se armat imprudentia Dionis. ad eum interficiundum socios conquirit, adversarios eius convenit, coniuratione confirmat. [4] res, multis consciis quae ageretur, elata defertur ad Aristomachen, sororem Dionis, uxoremque Areten. illae timore perterritae conveniunt, cuius de periculo timebant. at ille negat a Callicrate fieri sibi insidias, sed illa, quae agerentur, fieri praecepto suo. [5] mulieres nihilo setius Callicratem in aedem Proserpinae deducunt ac iurare cogunt, nihil ab illo periculi fore Dioni. ille hac religione non modo non est deterritus, sed ad maturandum concitatus est, verens ne prius consilium aperiretur suum, quam cogitata perfecisset.

  VIII. While he knew not, as he contemplated this state of things, how he should put a stop to it, and was apprehensive as to what it might end in, a certain Callicrates, a citizen of Athens, who had accompanied him from the Peloponnesus to Sicily, a man of address, subtle enough for any artifice, and without any regard for religion or honour, went to him, and told him that “he was in great danger on account of the disaffection of the people and the hostile feelings of the soldiers; which danger he could by no means escape, unless he commissioned some one of his friends to pretend that he was an enemy to him; and that, if he found him fit for the undertaking, he would learn the feelings of every one, and cut off his enemies, as his opponents would readily disclose their thoughts to any one disaffected towards him.” This suggestion being approved, Callicrates himself undertook this part, and armed himself through the unsuspiciousness of Dion; he sought for accomplices to join in killing him; he held meetings with his enemies, and formed an actual conspiracy against him. But these proceedings, as many were privy to what was going on, became known, and were communicated to Aristomache, Dion’s sister, and his wife Arete; who, being struck with alarm, sought an interview with him for whose danger they were concerned. Dion assured them that no plot was concerted against him by Callicrates, but that what was done, was done by his own directions. The women, notwithstanding, took Callicrates into the temple of Proserpine, and obliged him to swear that “there should be no danger to Dion from him.” But Callicrates, by this oath, was not only not deterred from his design, but was stimulated to hasten the execution of it, fearing that his plot might be laid open before he had effected his purpose.

  9. Hac mente proximo die festo, cum a conventu se remotum Dion domi teneret atque in conclavi edito recubuisset, consciis facinoris loca munitiora oppidi tradit, domum custodiis saepit, a foribus qui non discedant, [2] certos praeficit, navem triremem armatis ornat Philostratoque, fratri suo, tradit eamque in portu agitare iubet, ut si exercere remiges vellet, cogitans, si forte consiliis obstitisset fortuna, ut haberet, qua aufugeret ad salutem. [3] suorum autem e numero Zacynthios adulescentes quosdam eligit cum audacissimos tum viribus maximis, iisque dat negotium, ad Dionem eant inermes, sic ut conveniendi eius gratia viderentur venire. ii propter notitiam sunt intromissi. [4] at illius ut limen intrarant, foribus obseratis in lecto cubantem invadunt, colligant: fit strepitus, adeo ut exaudiri posset foris. [5] hic, sicut ante saepe dictum est, quam invisa sit singularis potentia et miseranda vita, qui se metui quam amari malunt, cuivis facile intellectu fuit. [6] namque illi ipsi custodes, si prompta fuissent voluntate, foribus effractis servare eum potuissent, quoad illi inermes telum foris flagitantes vivum tenebant. cui cum succurreret nemo, Lyco quidam Syracusanus per fenestram gladium dedit, quo Dion interfectus est.

  IX. With this resolution, on the next festival day, while Dion was keeping himself at home, secluded from the assembly of the people, and was reposing in an upper room, he committed to his accomplices the stronger parts of the city, surrounded Dion’s house with guards, and stationed trusty persons at the door, who were not to leave it; he also manned a trireme with an armed force, entrusted it to his brother Philocrates, and gave directions that it should be rowed about in the harbour, as if he wished to exercise the rowers, with a view, if fortune should baffle his attempts, to have a vessel in which he might flee to a place of safety. He then chose from among his followers some young men of Zacynthus, of great courage and extraordinary strength, whom he ordered to go to Dion’s house unarmed, so that they might seem to have come for the sake of speaking with him. These youths, as being well known, were admitted, but as soon as they had crossed the threshold, they bolted the door, seized him as he lay on his couch, and bound him. A great noise ensued, so that it was distinctly heard out of doors. And here it was easy to
be understood, as has often been said before, how unpopular absolute power is, and how unhappy the life of those who had rather be feared than loved; for those very guards, if they had been favourably inclined towards him, might have saved him by breaking open the door, as the Zacynthians, who were unarmed, were holding him still alive, calling to those without for a weapon. Nobody coming to his rescue, one Lyco, a Syracusan, gave them a sword through the window, with which Dion was slain.

  10. Confecta caede, cum multitudo visendi gratia introisset, nonnulli ab insciis pro noxiis conciduntur. nam celeri rumore dilato, Dioni vim allatam, multi concurrerant, quibus tale facinus displicebat. ii falsa suspicione ducti immerentes ut sceleratos occidunt. [2] huius de morte ut palam factum est, mirabiliter vulgi mutata est voluntas. nam qui vivum eum tyrannum vocitarant, eidem liberatorem patriae tyrannique expulsorem praedicabant. sic subito misericordia odio successerat, ut eum suo sanguine ab Acherunte, si possent, cuperent redimere. [3] itaque in urbe celeberrimo loco, elatus publice, sepulcri monumento donatus est. diem obiit circiter annos quinquaginta natus, quartum post annum, quam ex Peloponneso in Siciliam redierat.

  X. When the murder was consummated, and the people came in to view the scene, some were killed as guilty by those who were ignorant of the real actors; for a report being soon spread abroad that violence had been offered to Dion, many, to whom such a deed was detestable, ran together to the spot; and these persons, prompted by a false suspicion, killed the innocent as if they had been the delinquents. But as soon as his death became publicly known, the feeling of the populace was wonderfully altered, for those who had called him a tyrant while he was alive, called him now the deliverer of his country and the expeller of a tyrant. So suddenly had pity succeeded to hatred, that they wished to redeem him from Acheron, if they could, with their own blood. He was therefore honoured with a sepulchral monument in the city, in the most frequented part of it, after having been interred at the public expense. He died at the age of about fifty-five years, four years after he had returned from the Peloponnesus into Sicily.