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1

When Timosthenes was archon at Athens, in Rome Caeso Fabius and Lucius Aemilius Mamercus succeeded to the consulship. During this year throughout Sicily an almost complete peace pervaded the island, the Carthaginians having finally been humbled, and Gelon had established a beneficent rule over the Sicilian Greeks and was providing their cities with a high degree of orderly government and an abundance of every necessity of life. [2] And since the Syracusans had by law put an end to costly funerals and done away with the expense which customarily had been incurred for the dead, and there had been specified in the law even the altogether inexpensive obsequies, King Gelon, desiring to foster and maintain the people's interest in all matters, kept the law regarding burials intact in his own case; [3] for when he fell ill and had given up hope of life, he handed over the kingship to Hieron, his eldest brother, and respecting his own burial he gave orders that the prescriptions of the law should be strictly observed. Consequently at his death his funeral was held by his successor to the throne just as he had ordered it. [4] His body was buried on the estate of his wife in the Nine Towers, as it is called, which is a marvel to men by reason of its strong construction. And the entire populace accompanied his body from the city, although the place was two hundred stades distant. [5] Here he was buried, and the people erected a noteworthy tomb and accorded Gelon the honours which belong to heroes; but at a later time the monument was destroyed by the Carthaginians in the course of a campaign against Syracuse, while the towers were thrown down by Agathocles2 out of envy. Nevertheless, neither the Carthaginians out of enmity nor Agathocles out of his native baseness, nor any other man has ever been able to deprive Gelon of his glory; [6] for the just witness of history has guarded his fair fame, heralding it abroad with piercing voice for evermore. It is indeed both just and beneficial to society that history should heap imprecations upon base men who have held positions of authority, but should accord immortal remembrance to those who have been beneficent rulers; for in this way especially, it will be found, many men of later generations will be impelled to work for the general good of mankind. [7]

Now Gelon reigned for seven years, and Hieron his brother succeeded him in the rule and reigned over the Syracusans eleven years and eight months.3

1 478 B.C.

2 Tyrant of Syracuse, 317-289 B.C. Diodorus (Books 19, 21, 22) is the chief source on his career.

3 485-478 and 478-467 B.C. respectively.

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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