Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1046

Rh 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. Dtow, 22 — 28.) Dion and his brother Megacles were now appointed by the Syracusans generals-in- chief, 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 sea- fight, he detennined 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 be- siegers : Heracleides, who had lately arrived from the Peloponnese with a reinforcement of triremes, and had been appointed commander of the Syra- cusan fleet, sought to undermine the power of Dion ; and the latter, whose mercenary troops were discontented for want of pay, withdrew with them to Leon tin i. 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 surren- der 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 im- mediate 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; C(jm. Nep. Dion, ^—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 an- cient 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 re- storing liberty to Syracuse, he seems. to have after- wards 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 {Aiojv). 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 sus- picion of the murder fell upon M. Caelius. (Cic. Acad. iv. 4, pro Gael. 10, 21; Strab. xvii. p. 796.) 2. Of Alexandria, apparently a writer on pro- verbs, who is mentioned by Zenobius (v. 54) and Apostolius. (xix. 24 ; comp. Suid. s. v. to Mwvos ypv ; Apostol. XV. 3 ; Suid. s. v. ou8e 'Hpo»cJs ; 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 avKoiroL6s, 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 Place. 30.) A few more persons of the name of Dion are enume^dted by Reimanis. {De Vii.,^c., CassiiDion. §2.) [L, S.] DION CA'SSIUS COCCEIA'NUS, the cele- brated historian of Rome. He probably derived the gentile name of Cassius from one of his ances- tors, who, on receiving the Roman franchise, had been adopted into the Cassia gens ; for his father, Cassius Apronianus, had already bome it. He ap- pears to have adopted the cognomen of Cocceianug 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 bom, 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. Aftej 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. n. 1 80, 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 twenty- five, and was raised to the rank of a Roman sena- tor; 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 Perti- nax, 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 mate- rials 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 Septi- mius Sevenis. During the short reign of Pertinax Dion Cassius enjoyed the emperor's friendship, and