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Contents of the Sixteenth Book of Diodorus
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95
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1When Cephisodotus was archon at Athens,
the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Licinius and Gaius Sulpicius. During their term of office
Dion, son of Hipparinus and the most distinguished of the Syracusans, escaped from Sicily2
and by his nobility of spirit set free the Syracusans and the other Sicilian Greeks in the
following manner.
[2]
Dionysius the Elder had begotten children of
two wives, of the first, who was a Locrian by birth, Dionysius, who succeeded to the tyranny,
and of the second, who was the daughter of Hipparinus, a Syracusan of great renown, two sons
Hipparinus and Nysaeus.
[3]
It chanced that the brother of the
second wife was Dion, a man who had great proficiency in philosophy3 and, in
the matter of courage and skill in the art of war, far surpassed the other Syracusans of his
time.
[4]
Dion, because of his high birth and nobility of spirit,
fell under suspicion with the tyrant, for he was considered powerful enough to overthrow the
tyranny. So, fearing him, Dionysius decided to get him out of the way by arresting him on a
charge involving the death penalty. But Dion, becoming aware of this, was at first concealed in
the homes of some of his friends, and then escaped from Sicily to the Peloponnese in the
company of his brother Megacles and of Heracleides who had been appointed commandant of the
garrison by the tyrant.
[5]
When he landed at Corinth, he besought
the Corinthians4 to collaborate with him in setting free the Syracusans, and he himself
began to gather mercenary troops and to collect suits of armour.5 Soon many gave ear to his pleas and he gradually
accumulated large supplies of armour and many mercenaries,6 then,
hiring two merchantmen, he loaded on board arms and men, while he himself with these transports
sailed from Zacynthus, which is near Cephallenia, to Sicily, but he left Heracleides behind to
bring up later some triremes as well as merchantmen to Syracuse.
1 358/7 B.C.
2 According to Plut. Dion 14.5, Dion was placed on a boat by Dionysius and sent to Italy (Nepos says to Corinth, Nepos Dion 3 f.). This must have happened considerably earlier as Plat. L. 7.329c) says that it happened three months after his arrival in 367. Diodorus has evidently compressed the earlier details into this year.
3 For the association of Plato and Dion see Plat. L. 7.327a; Anth. Pal. 7.99 (L.C.L. 2.60).
4 Corinth was probably selected, not only because of its favourable location, but because it was the mother-city of Syracuse and very possibly favoured the oligarchy Dion planned to set up (see Plut. Dion 53).
5 Dion spent about ten years in Greece, 366-357 (Hackforth, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.275), in close touch with the Academy. For preparations see Nepos Dion 5.
6 Diodorus says 1000 (chap. 9.5), to which if 1500 under Heracleides (chap. 16.2) are added the number 3000 is approximated (chap. 17.3 and Anaximenes De Rhetorica ad Alexandrum 8.3.1429b). For other details of the expedition see Plut. Dion 22-24. For a critical account see Beloch, Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.1.257 and note 3, followed by Hackforth, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.277.
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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References (17 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(7):
- Harper's, Dion
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ZACYNTHUS
- Smith's Bio, Aristo'mache
- Smith's Bio, Dion
- Smith's Bio, Heracleides
- Smith's Bio, Me'gacles
- Smith's Bio, Nysaeus
- Cross-references in notes from this page (7):
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(3):
- LSJ, φορτ-ίς
- LSJ, παιδοποι-έω
- LSJ, προ-κοπή
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