There was little difficulty in arranging terms. Dionysius stipulated
only for a safe transit with his movable property to Corinth, and
for an undisturbed residence in that city; tendering in exchange
the unconditional surrender of Ortygia with all its garrison, arms,
and magazines. The convention was concluded forthwith, and three
Corinthian officers—Telemachus, Eukleides and Neon—were sent in with
four hundred men to take charge of the place. Their entrance was
accomplished safely, though they were obliged to elude the blockade
by stealing in at several times, and in small companies. Making over
to them the possession of Ortygia with the command of its garrison,
Dionysius passed, with some money and a small number of companions,
into the camp of Timoleon; who conveyed him away, leaving at the same
time the neighborhood of Syracuse.[323]
[323] Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 13; Diodor. xvi. 70. Diodorus
appears to me to misdate these facts; placing the capitulation of
Dionysius and the surrender of Ortygia to Timoleon, _after_ the
capture of the other portion of Syracuse by Timoleon. I follow
Plutarch’s chronology, which places the capitulation of Ortygia
first.
Conceive the position and feelings of Dionysius, a prisoner in the
camp of Timoleon, traversing that island over which his father as
well as himself had reigned all-powerful, and knowing himself to
be the object of either hatred or contempt to every one,—except so
far as the immense boon which he had conferred, by surrendering
Ortygia, purchased for him an indulgent forbearance! He was doubtless
eager for immediate departure to Corinth, while Timoleon was no
less anxious to send him thither, as the living evidence of triumph
accomplished. Although not fifty days[324] had yet elapsed, since
Timoleon’s landing in Sicily, he was enabled already to announce a
decisive victory, a great confederacy grouped around him, and the
possession of the inexpugnable position of Ortygia, with a garrison
equal in number to his own army; the despatches being accompanied
by the presence of that very despot, bearing the terrific name
of Dionysius, against whom the expedition had been chiefly aimed!
Timoleon sent a special trireme[325] to Corinth, carrying Dionysius,
and communicating important events, together with the convention
which guaranteed to the dethroned ruler an undisturbed residence in
that city.
[324] Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 16.
[325] Theopompus stated that Dionysius had gone from Sicily to
Corinth in a merchant ship (νηῒ στρογγύλῃ). Timæus contradicted
this assertion seemingly with his habitual asperity, and stated
that Dionysius had been sent in a ship of war (νηῒ μακρᾷ). See
Timæus, Fragment 133; Theopompus, Fragm. 216, ed. Didot.
Diodorus (xvi. 70) copies Theopompus.
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