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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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When Dion was on the borders of the Syracusan territory, there came to meet him a host
of men without arms both from the countryside and from the city; for Dionysius, being
suspicious of the Syracusans, had disarmed many of them.
[2]
About
this time the tyrant was sojourning in the newly founded cities1 along the Adriatic with
large forces, and the commanders who had been left in charge of the garrison of Syracuse at
first attempted to summon back the Syracusans from their revolt, but when the impulse of the
mobs could not be checked they gave up in despair and gathered mercenaries and those who
favoured the cause of the tyrant, and having filled their ranks decided to attack the
insurgents.
[3]
Dion distributed the five thousand suits of
armour2 to such of the Syracusans as
were unarmed, and equipped the rest as well as he could with weapons that came to hand. Then
having brought them all to a general assembly, he disclosed that he had come for the liberation
of the Greeks of Sicily, and he urged them to elect as generals those men who were well
qualified to effect the restoration of their independence and the dissolution of the entire
tyranny. The crowd as with one voice cried out that it chose Dion and his brother Megacles3 as generals with absolute power.4
[4]
Accordingly he drew up his army in line of battle immediately
at the close of the assembly and advanced upon the city. Since no one disputed with him the
open country, he entered fearlessly within the walls, and making his way through Achradina5 encamped in the
market-place, no one daring to come out against him.
[5]
The whole
number of the soldiers with Dion was not less than fifty thousand.6 All of these with garlands on their
heads came down to the city under the leadership of Dion and Megacles and with them thirty7 Syracusans who alone of the exiles in the Peloponnese were
willing to share the battles with their fellow Syracusans.
1 That Dionysius was in Italy is attested by Plut. Dion 26.1 and Nepos Dion 5.4. If Plutarch is correct in placing him at Caulonia Plut. Dion 26.4) as Diodorus does in chap. 11.3, he could not have been by the Adriatic. Caulonia, on the east coast of Bruttium, was destroyed by Dionysius the Elder in 389 B.C., its inhabitants removed to Syracuse, and its territory given to the Locrians for settlement (see Book 14.106.3). In this sense it might be called a new foundation.
2 See chap. 6.5.
3 See chap. 6.4.
4 See the interpretation of this manoeuvre by Hackforth, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.279.
5 See Plutarch's account in Plut. Dion 28-29. Achradina (Plut. Dion 29.1) is an extension of the city, covering the eastern part of the plateau of Epipolae.
6 See Plut. Dion 27.3, who says five thousand, which is undoubtedly too low an estimate as Diodorus' is too high. See Hackforth, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.278.
7 Twenty-five is the number given by Plut. Dion 22.4.
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 (9 total)
- Cross-references to this page
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- Smith's Bio, Dion
- Cross-references in notes from this page (7):
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
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- LSJ, μετακα^λέω
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