Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/348

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Maximus (54) states, that when all the Syracusans desired the death of Dionysius, king of Sicily, a single woman every morning entreated the Gods to continue his life and his sovereignty. Dionysius, surprised at this solitary exception, inquired the reason. She answered, "When I was a girl, and governed by a tyrant, I wished for his removal, and presently we obtained a worse instead. Having got rid of him, a worse still succeeded; and therefore, under the justifiable apprehension that your place may be filled up by a very devil, I pray earnestly for your