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Contents of the Thirteenth 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 95chapter 96chapter 97chapter 98chapter 99chapter 100chapter 101chapter 102chapter 103chapter 104chapter 105chapter 106chapter 107chapter 108chapter 109chapter 110chapter 111chapter 112chapter 113chapter 114
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Consequently the Syracusans elected lawgivers from such of their citizens as excelled in
judgement, the most distinguished of them being Diocles. For he so far excelled the rest in
understanding and renown that, although the writing of the code was a task of all in common,
they were called "The Laws of Diocles."
[2]
And not only did the
Syracusans admire this man during his lifetime, but also, when he died, they rendered him the
honours accorded to heroes and built a temple in his honour at public expense—the one
which was torn down by Dionysius at a later time when the walls of the city were being
constructed.1 And this man was held in high esteem among the other Sicilian Greeks as
well;
[3]
indeed many cities of the island continued to use his
laws down to the time when the Sicilian Greeks as a body were granted Roman citizenship.2 Accordingly, when in later times laws were
framed for the Syracusans by Cephalus3 in the time of Timoleon and by Polydorus
in the time of King Hiero,4 they called neither one of these men a "lawgiver," but rather an "interpreter of
the lawgiver," since men found the laws of Diocles, written as they were in an ancient style,
difficult to understand.
[4]
Profound reflection is displayed in
his legislation, the lawmaker showing himself to be a hater of evil, since he sets heavier
penalties against all wrongdoers than any other legislator, just, in that more precisely than
by any predecessor the punishment of each man is fixed according to his deserts, and both
practical and widely experienced, in that he judges every complaint and every dispute, whether
it concerns the state or the individual, to be deserving of a fixed penalty. He is also concise
in his style and leaves much for the readers to reflect upon.
[5]
And the dramatic manner of his death5 bore witness to the uprightness and austerity of his soul.Now these qualities of Diocles I have been moved to set forth in considerable detail
by reason of the fact that most historians have rather slighted him in their treatises.
1 In 402 B.C.; cp. Book 14.18.
2 Cicero (Cic. ad Att. 14.12), writing in April, 43 B.C., states that this was an act of Antony, based upon a law of Caesar's presumably passed by the Roman people. Nothing can have come of it, since Sextus Pompeius held the island by late 43 B.C. and lost it to Augustus, who showed no interest in extending Roman citizenship to the provinces on such a wholesale scale. Pliny in his sketch of Sicily (3.88-91) lists, shortly before A.D. 79, several different degrees of civic status for the cities of the island.
3 In 339 B.C.; cp. Book 16.82.
4 Hiero was given the title of "King" in 270 B.C. and probably bore it until his death in 216.
5 Cp. chap. 33.
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 (5 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(2):
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SYRACU´SAE
- Smith's Bio, Di'ocles
- Cross-references in notes from this page
(1):
- Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 14.12
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(2):
- LSJ, ἀναθεώρ-ησις
- LSJ, τειχοποι-ία
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