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

DIONYSIUS.
assailed Corsica (Strab. 1. c.), but probably did not
form any permanent establishment there. The
sovereignty of the Adriatic seems to have been a
favourite object of his ambition. He endeavoured
to secure it by establishing a colony on the island
of Lissa, or, according to other accounts, at Lissus
in Epeirus (comp. Scymn. Chius, 1. 412; Diod.
xv. 13, 14), where he kept up a considerable naval
force, and another at Adria in Picenum. (Etym.
Magn. s. v., A8ptas.) Ancona too was probably
founded by him at the same time. (Plin. H. N.
iii. 13; Strab. v. p. 241; Arnold's Rome, vol. i.
p. 437.) With the same view he sent a squadron
to assist the Lacedaemonians in preventing the
Athenians from establishing themselves at Corcyra,
B. c. 373. (Xen. Hell. vi. 2. ~~ 4, 33.) The extent of his commercial relations may be inferred
from his importing horses for his chariots from the
Venetian tribes at the head of the Adriatic. (Strab.
v. p. 212.) As early as B. c. 402 he is mentioned
as sending large supplies of corn to relieve a scarcity
at Rome. (Liv. iv. 52; Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. ii.
p. 564.) At the same time he took every opportunity of extending his relations with foreign
powers, and strengthening himself by alliances.
Thus we find him assisting the Illyrians against
their neighbours the Molossians (Diod. xiv. 13),
and concluding a treaty with the Gauls, who had
lately made their appearance in Italy, and who
continued from this time to furnish a considerable
part of his mercenary troops. (Justin, xx. 5; Xen.
ell. vii. 1. ~ 20,31.) In Greece itself he cultivated
the friendship of the Lacedaemonians, to whose
support he had been greatly indebted in the earlier
days of his rule (Diod. xiv. 10, 70); and among
the last acts of his reign was the sending an
auxiliary force in two successive years to support
them against the increasing power of the Thebans.
(Xen. Hell, vii. 1. ~~ 20, 28; Diod. xv. 70.)
He also conciliated, but by what means we know
not, the favour of the Athenians, so that they bestowed upon him the freedom of their city. (Epist.
Philipp. ap. Dem. p. 176, ed. Bekk.)
The peace with Carthage did not remain uninterrupted during the whole of this period, but the
wars were not of any great importance, and are
not known to us in detail. In B. c. 383 the intrigues of Dionysius with the subject allies of Carthage led to a renewal of hostilities. Two greal
battles, the sites of both of which are uncertain
decided the fortune of the war. In the first Diony
sius was completely victorious, and Mago, the Car
thaginian general, fell; but in the second thE
Syracusans were defeated with great slaughter
Peace was concluded soon after, by which the rive:
Halycus was fixed as the boundary of the tw(
powers. (Diod. xv. 15-17.) Dionysius seem
to have been again the aggressor in a fresh wa
which broke out in B. c. 368, and in which he
second time advanced with his army to the extremi
western point of Sicily, and laid siege to Lily
baeum. Hostilities were however suspended or
the approach of winter, and before they could b
resumed Dionysius died at Syracuse, B. C. 367. Hi
last illness is said to have been brought on by ex
cessive feasting; but according to some accounts
his death was hastened by his medical attendants
in order to secure the succession for his son
(Diod. xv. 74; Plut. Dion, 6; Corn. Nep. Dion, 2.
After the death of his first wife, Dionysius hal
married almost exactly at the same time-som

DIONYSIUS. 1035
said even on the same day-Doris, a Locrian ot
distinguished birth, and Aristomache, a Syracusan,
the daughter of his old patron and supporter Hipparinus. (Diod. xiv. 44; Plut. Dion, 3.) By the
former he had three children, of which the eldest
was his successor, Dionysius. Aristomache bore
him two sons, Hipparinus and Nysaeus, and two
daughters, Sophrosyne and Arete. (Plut. Dion, 6;
Corn. Nep. Dion, 1; Athen. x. pp. 435-6.)
The character of Dionysius has been drawn in
the blackest colours by many ancient writers; he
appears indeed to have become a sort of type of a
tyrant, in its worst sense, and it is probable that
many of the anecdotes of him related by Cicero,
Aelian, Polyaenus, and other later writers, are
grossly exaggerated; but the very circumstance
that he was so regarded in opposition to Gelon and
others of the older tyrants (see Plut. Dion, 5) is in
itself a proof that the opprobrium was not altogether undeserved. He was undoubtedly a man
of great energy and activity of mind, as well as
great personal courage; but he was altogether unscrupulous in the means which he employed to
attain his ends, and had no thought beyond his
own personal aggrandizement. Thus while he
boasted that he left to his son an empire held together with bonds of iron (Plut. Dion, 7), he
exhausted his subjects by excessive taxation, and
was obliged to have recourse to every kind of expedient to amass money. (Aristot. Pol. v. 11;
Pseud.-Aristot. Oeconom. ii. 2. The statements of
the latter must be received with caution, but they
are conclusive as to the general fact.) Diodorus
Stells us that, when his power became firmly established, he abated much of his former severity (xiv.
45), and he gave a signal instance of clemency in
t his treatment of the Italian Greeks who had fallen
~ into his power at the battle of the Helorus. (Diod.
xiv. 105.) But it is probable that the long pos* session of absolute power had an injurious effect
- upon his character, and much apparent inconsistSency may be accounted for in this manner. In his
latter years he became extremely suspicious, and
- apprehensive of treachery even from his nearest? friends, and is said to have adopted the most exE cessive precautions to guard against it. Many of
- these stories have however an air of great exagge- ration. (Cic. Tusc. v. 20; Plut. Dion. 9.)
t Though his government was oppressive in a, financial point of view, Dionysius seems to have
- contributed much to the greatness of Syracuse itself, both by increasing the population with the
e inhabitants removed from many conquered cities,
". and by adorning it with splendid temples and other
r public edifices, so as to render it unquestionably
o the greatest of all Greek cities. (Diod. xv. 13;
s Isocrat. Panegyr. ~ 145.) At the same time he
r displayed his magnificence by sending splendid
a deputations to the Olympic games, and rich pree sents both to Olympia and Delphi. (Diod. xiv.
- 109, xvi. 57.), Nor was he without literary amn bition. In the midst of his political and military
e cares he devoted himself assiduously to poetry, and
s not only caused his poems to be publicly recited at
- the Olympic games, but repeatedly contended for
3, the prize of tragedy at Athens. Here he several, times obtained the second and third prizes; and,
i. finally, just before his death, bore away the first
) prize at the Lenaea, with a play called "The Rand som of Hector." These honours seem to prove
e that his poetry could not have been altogether so