Long silent he, and wondering long,
Gazed on the pair. "In peace depart,
Victors, ye have subdued my heart!
Truth is no dream! its power is strong.
Give grace to him who owns his wrong!
'Tis mine your suppliant now to be:
Ah, let the band of Love--be THREE!"
--Trans. by BULWER.
Dionysius the Younger succeeded to the government of Syracuse
in 367, but he was incompetent to the task; and his tyranny and
debauchery brought about his temporary overthrow, ten years later,
by Dion, his father's brother-in-law. Dion had enjoyed unusual
favors under Dionysius the Elder, and was now a man of wealth
and high position, as well as of great energy and marked mental
capacities. For his talents he was largely indebted to Plato,
under whose teachings he became imbued "with that sense of
regulated polity, and submission of individual will to fixed
laws, which floated in the atmosphere of Grecian talk and
literature, and stood so high in Grecian morality." In one of
his letters Plato says, "When I explained the principles of
philosophy and humanity to Dion, I little thought that I was
insensibly opening a way to the subversion of tyranny!"
Long before the death of Dionysius the Elder, Dion had conceived
the idea of liberating Syracuse from despotism and establishing
an improved constitutional policy, originated by himself; and,
on becoming the chief adviser of the young Dionysius, he tried
to convince the latter of the necessity of reforming himself
and his government. Although at first favorably impressed with
the plans of Dion, the young monarch subsequently became jealous
of his adviser and expelled him from the country. Gathering a
few troops from various quarters, Dion returned to Sicily ten
years after, and, aided by a revolt in Syracuse, he soon made
himself master of the city. Dionysius had meanwhile retired to
Ortyg'ia, and soon left Sicily for Italy. But the success of
Dion was short-lived. "Too good for a despot, and yet unfit for
a popular leader, he could not remain long in the precarious
position he occupied." Both his dictatorship and his life came
to an end in 354. He became the victim of a conspiracy originating
with his most intimate friend, and was assassinated in his own
dwelling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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