7. That we may not disturb the order of the Corinthian colonies, we will immediately proceed to consider the state of SYRACUSE. In the Syracusan constitution the following were the chief epochs. In the _first_, the government was in the hands of the gamori,(703) originally together with a king,(704) whose office was afterwards abolished. These we have already stated(705) to have been the original colonists, who took possession of the large estates cultivated by native bondslaves, and exercised the chief governing power. It is probable that the magistrates, and the members of the council,(706) who were leaders of the people in the assembly (ἁλία), were chosen from this body; in the same manner as the geomori of Samos formed a council, which after the subversion of the royalty governed the state.(707) Against these authorities, the people, having gradually become more pressing in their demands, at length rebelled, and expelled them, by combining with their slaves the Cyllyrii (before B.C. 492.(708)); but the democracy which succeeded was so irregular and lawless, that it was of very short duration;(709) the people therefore voluntarily opened the gates to Gelon, when he came to restore the gamori, and gave themselves entirely into his power,(710) in 485 B.C. The rule of Gelon, and of his successor, was, although monarchical, yet not oppressive, and upon the whole beneficial to the state: as the former allowed an extraordinary assembly of the people to decide concerning his public administration,(711) it may be perhaps supposed that he wished to be considered an Æsymnetes, to whom the city, overcome by difficulties, intrusted the unlimited disposal of its welfare. With the overthrow of this dynasty, the _second_ period begins, during which there was upon the whole a moderate constitution, called by most writers democracy,(712) and by Aristotle distinguished from democracy as a _politeia_, in his peculiar sense of the word.(713) Immediately after the downfall of Thrasybulus an assembly was convened, in which it was debated concerning the constitution. The public offices were only to be filled by the ancient citizens; while those who had been admitted by Gelon from other cities, together with the naturalized mercenaries,(714) were not to enjoy the complete rights of citizenship:(715) measures which occasioned a war within the walls of Syracuse. Lastly, in this, as well as in the other states of Sicily, peace was re-established by the restoration of the ancient citizens, a separation of the foreigners, who found a settlement at Messana, and a new allotment of the lands,(716) in which the estates of the nobles were probably divided anew. At the same time, by the violence of these proceedings, the states of Sicily were reduced to a feeble condition, which occasioned numerous attempts to set up a tyranny. As a security against this danger, the people (in 454 B.C.) established the institution called _petalism_, in imitation of the ostracism of Athens;