Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/251

Rh GELON. Bctually preparing to join the allied armament when he was prevented by the news of the Car- thaginian invasion of Sicily (Herod, vii. 163 — 165), and this appears to have been also the ac- count of the matter given by Ephorus (ap. Schol. ad Find. Fyth. i. 146). The expedition of the Carthaginians is attributed by the last-mentioned historian {I. c), as well as by Diodorus (xi. 1,2.0), to an alliance concluded by them with Xerxes : Herodotus, with more probability, represents them as called in by Terillus, tyrant of Himera, who had been expelled from that city by Theron of Agri- geiitum. The circumstances of their expedition are variously related, and may be suspected of much exaggeration (see Niebuhr, Led. on Horn. Hist vol. i. p. 105, ed. Schmitz), but the leading facts are unquestionable. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar arrived at Panormus with an army, as it is said, of 300,000 men, and advancing without opposition as far as Himera, laid siege to that place, which was, however, vigorously defended by The- ron of Agrigentum. Gelon had previously formed an alliance and matrimonial connection with Theron, having married his daughter Demarete (Schol. ad Find. 01. ii. 1, 29) : no sooner, therefore, did he hear of his danger than he advanced to his succour at the head of a force of 50,000 foot and 5000 horse. In the battle that ensued the Carthaginians were totally defeated, with a loss, as it is pretended, of 150,000 men, while nearly the whole of the re- mainder fell into the hands of the enemy as pri- soners. Hamilcar himself was among the slain, and a few ships, which had made their escape with a number of fugitives on board, perished in a storm, 80 that scarcely a messenger returned to bear the disastrous news to Carthage. (Herod, vii. 165, 166 ; Diod. xi. 20—24 ; xiii. 59 ; Ephorus, ajt, Schol. Find. Fyth. i. 146 ; Polyaen. i. 27. $ 2.) This victory was gained, according to the accounts re- ported by Herodotus, on the very same day as that of Salamis, while Diodorus asserts it to have been the same day with Thermopylae : the exact synchronism may in either case be erroneous, but the existence of such a belief so early as the time of Herodotus must be admitted as conclusive evi- dence of the expedition of the Carthaginians having been contemporary with that of Xerxes ; hence the battle of Himera must have been fought in the autumn of480B.c. (Comp. Aristot. Poe^23. §3.) So great a victory naturally raised Gelon to the highest pitch of power and reputation : his friend- ship was courted even by those states of Sicily which had been before opposed to him, and, if we may believe the accounts transmitted to us, a solemn treaty of peace was concluded between him and the Carthaginians, by which the latter repaid him the expenses of the war. (Diod. xi. 26 ; Ti- maeus, ap. Schol. Find. Fyth. ii. 3.) A stipu- lation is said by some writers to have been inserted that the Carthaginians should refrain for the future from human sacrifices, but there can be little doubt that this is a mere fiction of later times. (Theophrast. ap. Schol. Find. I. c. ; Plut. Apophth. p. 175, de ser. Num. vind. p. 552.) Gelon applied the large suras thus received, as well as the spoils taken in the war, to the erection of several splendid temples to adorn his favoured city, at the same time that he sent magnificent offerings to Delphi, and the other sanctuaries in Greece itself. (Diod. xi. 26 ; Pau3. vi. 19. § 7 ; Athen. vi. p. 231.) He seems GELON. 237 to have now thought himself sufficiently secure of his power to make a show of resigning it, and ac- cordingly presented himself unarmed and thinly clad before the assembled army and populace of Syracuse. He then entered into an elaborate re- view of his past conduct, and concluded with offer- ing to surrender his power into the hands of the people — a proposal which was of course rejected, and he was hailed by the acclamations of the multitude as their preserver and sovereign. (Diod. xi. 26; Polyaen. i. 27. § 1 ; Ael. V. H. vi. 11.) He did not, however, long survive to enjoy his ho- nours, having been carried off by a dropsy in B.C. 478, only two years after his victory at Himera, and seven from the commencement of his reign over Syracuse, (Diod. xi. 38 ; Arist. Fol. v. 9 ; Schol. ad Find. Fyth. i. 89 ; Plut. de Fyth. Orac. p. 403.) It appears from Aristotle {Fol. v. 10 ; see also Schol. ad Find. Nem. ix. 95) that he left an infant son, notwithstanding which, according to Diodorus, he on his deathbed appointed his brother Hieron to be his successor. We know very little of the internal adminis- tration or personal character of Gelon: it is not unlikely that his brilliant success at Himera shed a lustre over his name which was extended to the rest of his conduct also. But he is represented by late writers as a man of singular leniency and moderation, and as seeking in every way to pro- mote the welfare of his subjects ; and his name even appears to have become almost proverbial as an instance of a good monarch. (Diod. xi. 38, 67, xiii. 22, xiv. 6(i ; Plut. Dion. 5, de ser. Num. vind. p. 551.) He was, however, altogether illiterate (Ael. V.H. iv. 15); and perhaps this circumstance ma^' account for the silence of Pindar concerning his al- leged virtues, which would otherwise appear some- what suspicious. But even if his good qualities as a ruler have been exaggerated, his popularity at the time of his death is attested by the splendid tomb erected to him by the Syracusans at the public ex- pense, and by the heroic honours decreed to his me- mory. (Diod. xi. 38.) Nearly a century and a half afterwards, when Timoleon sought to extirpate as far as possible all records of the tyrants that had ruled in Sicily, the statue of Gelon alone was spared. (Plut. 7VmoZ. 23.) Concerning the chronology of the reign of Gelon see Clinton {F. H. vol. ii. p. 266, &c.), Pausanias (vi. 9. § 4, 5, viii. 42. § 8), Dionysius (vii. 1), and Niebuhr {Rom. Hist. vol. ii. p. 97, note 201). The last writer adopts the date of the Parian chronicle, which he supposes to be taken from Timaeus, ac- cording to which Gelon did not begin to reign at Syracuse until B. c. 478; but it seems incredible that Herodotus should have been mistaken in a matter of such public notoriety as the contemporaneity of the battle of Himera with the expedition of Xerxes. 2. Son of Hieron II., king of Syracuse, who died before his father, at the age of more than 50 years. Very little is known concerning him, but he appears to have inherited the quiet and prudent character of Hieron himself; and it is justly re- corded to his praise, by Polybius, that he sacrificed all objects of personal ambition to the duty of obedience and reverence to his parents. (Polvb. vii. 8.) It seems clear, however, that he was associated by Hieron with himself in the govern ment, and that he even received the title of king. (Schweighiiuser, ad Folyh. v. 88 ; Diod. EiC