A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1028 DION.
thus with only two merchant ships and less than
1000 mercenary troops. The absence of Dionysius
and of his chief supporter Philistus, who were
both in Italy at the time, favoured his enterprise;
he landed at Minoa in the Carthaginian territory,
and being speedily joined by volunteers from all
parts, advanced without opposition to Syracuse,
which he entered in triumph, the whole city being
abandoned by the forces of Dionysius, except the
citadel on the island. (Diod. xvi. 9, 10; Plut.
Dion, 22-28.) Dion and his brother Megacles
were now appointed by the Syracusans generals-inchief, and they proceeded to invest the citadel.
Dionysius meanwhile returned, but having failed
in a sally from the island, his overtures for peace
being rejected, and Philistus, on whom he mainly
depended, having been defeated and slain in a seafight, he determined to quit the city, and sailed
away to Italy, leaving his son Apollocrates with a
mercenary force in charge of the citadel. (B. c. 356.)
But dissensions now broke out among the besiegers: Heracleides, who had lately arrived from
the Peloponnese with a reinforcement of triremes,
and had been appointed commander of the Syracusan fleet, sought to undermine the power of
Dion; and the latter, whose mercenary troops were
discontented for want of pay, withdrew with them
to Leontini. The disasters of the Syracusans,
however, arising from the incapacity of their new
leaders, soon led to the recall of Dion, who was
appointed sole general autocrator. Not long after,
Apollocrates was compelled by famine to surrender the citadel. (Diod. xvi. 11-13, 16-20;
Plut. Dion, 29-50.)
Dion was now sole master of Syracuse: whether
he intended, as he was accused by his enemies, to
retain the sovereign power in his own hands, or to
establish an oligarchy with the assistance of the
Corinthians, as asserted by Plutarch, we have no
means of judging; but his government seems to
have been virtually despotic enough. He caused
his chief opponent, Heracleides, to be put to death,
and confiscated the property of his adversaries;
but these measures only aggravated the discontent,
which seems to have spread even to his own immediate followers. One of them, Callippus, an
Athenian who had accompanied him from Greece,
was induced by his increasing unpopularity to form
a conspiracy against him, and having gained over
some of his Zacynthian guards, caused him to be
assassinated in his own house, B. c. 353. (Plut.
Dion, 52-57; Corn. Nep. Dion, 6-9; Diod.
xvi. 31.) According to Cornelius Nepos, he was
about 55 years old at the time of his death.
There can be no doubt that the character of
Dion has been immoderately praised by some ancient writers, especially by Plutarch. It is admitted
even by his admirers that he was a man of a harsh
and unyielding disposition, qualities which would
easily degenerate into despotism when he found
himself at the head of affairs. Even if he was
sincere in the first instance in his intention of restoring liberty to Syracuse, he seems to have afterwards abandoned the idea, and there can be little
doubt that the complaints of the people, that they
had only exchanged one tyrant for another, were
well founded. (Plutarch, Dion; comp. Timol. c.
P. Aemil. 2; Athen. xi. p. 508, e.) [E. H. B.]
DION (Alcy). 1. Of Alexandria, an Academic
philosopher and a friend of Antiochus. He was
sent by his fellow-citizens as ambassador to Rome,

DION.

to complain of the conduct of their king, Ptolemy
Auletes. On his arrival at Rome he was poisoned
by the king's secret agents, and the strongest suspicion of the murder fell upon M. Caelius. (Cic.
Acad. iv. 4, pro Cael. 10, 21; Strab. xvii. p. 796.)
2. Of Alexandria, apparently a writer on proverbs, who is mentioned by Zenobius (v. 54) and
Apostolius. (xix. 24; comp. Suid. s. v. rd Aiwvos
ypd; Apostol. xv. 3; Suid. s. v. omvo 'HpaKhA;
Schneidewin, Corp. Paroemiogr. i. pp. 119, 142.)
3. Of Chios, a flute player, who is said to have
been the first who played the Bacchic spondee on
the flute. (Athen. xiv. p. 638.) It may be that
he is the same as Dion, the a3'oTrot's, who is
mentioned by Varro. (Fragm. p. 198, ed. Bipont.)
4. Of Colophon, is mentioned by Varro (de R.
R. i. 1), Columella (i. 1), and Pliny among the
Greek writers on agriculture; but he is otherwise
unknown.
5. Of Halesa in Sicily. Through the favour of
Q. Metellus, he obtained the Roman franchise and
the name of Q. Metellus Dion. His son had a
large fortune left him, which incited the avarice of
Verres, who annoyed him in various ways, and
robbed him of his property. Dion is described as
a very honest and trustworthy man. (Cic. in Verr.
i. 10, ii. 7, 8.)
6. Of Pergamus, is mentioned as the accuser of
Polemocrates. (Cic. pro Flace. 30.) A few more
persons of the name of Dion are enumerated by
Reimarus. (De Vit., ýc., CassiiDion. ~ 2.) [L. S.]
DION CA'SSIUS COCCEIA'NUS, the celebrated historian of Rome. He probably derived
the gentile name of Cassius from one of his ancestors, who, on receiving the Roman franchise, had
been adopted into the Cassia gens; for his father,
Cassius Apronianus, had already borne it. He appears to have adopted the cognomen of Cocceianus
from Dion Chrysostomus Cocceianus, the orator,
who, according to Reimarus, was his grandfather
on his mother's side. Dion Cassius Cocceianus, or
as he is more commonly called Dion Cassius, was
born, about A. D. 155, at Nicaea in Bithynia. He
was educated with great care, and was trained in
the rhetorical schools of the time, and in the study
of the classical writers of ancient Greece. After
the completion of his literary studies, he appears
to have accompanied his father to Cilicia, of which
he had the administration, and after his father's
death, about A. D. 180, he went to Rome; so that
he arrived there either in the last year of the reign
of M. Aurelius, or in the first of that of Commodus.
He had then attained the senatorial age of twentyfive, and was raised to the rank of a Roman senator; but he did not obtain any honours under
Commodus, except the aedileship and quaestorship,
and it was not till A. D. 193, in the reign of Pertinax, that he gained the office of praetor. During
the thirteen years of the reign of Commodus, Dion
Cassius remained at Rome, and devoted his time
partly to pleading in the courts of justice, and thus
assisting his friends, and partly in collecting materials for a history of Commodus, of whose actions he
was a constant eye-witness. After the fall of this
emperor, Dion, with the other senators, voted for
the elevation of Pertinax, A. D. 193, who was his
friend, and who immediately promoted him to the
praetorship, which however he did not enter upon
till the year following, the first of the reign of Septimius Severus. During the short reign of Pertinax
Dion Cassius enjoyed the emperor's friendship, and