Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/289

Rh as in Agrigentum and other cities, there had been many changes of government. Troublous times had generally resulted in the establishment of some despot. Gelo (B.C. 485–476) and Hiero (B.C. 478–467) had not only repulsed Carthaginians, but had raised the power and prestige of the city to a great height. The democracy which followed the expulsion of its last despot Thrasybulus (B.C. 466) was overthrown by Dionysius in B.C. 405. He retained power till his death in B.C. 367. After a struggle of fourteen years he was able to make a treaty which confined the Carthaginians to the part of the island west of the River Halycus (B.C. 383). His reign was a period of great glory for Syracuse. He possessed a powerful fleet; the city was adorned with splendid buildings; he encouraged literature and art, and welcomed philosophers and men of learning to his court. Yet it was not a happy time for Western Greece. Dionysius and his fleets, indeed, were able to suppress Etruscan and Illyrian pirates, and to keep safe both the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas; but he used them also to force the cities of Southern Italy to submit to him. The special object of his enmity was Rhegium, against which he supported Locri as a centre of his influence. This, and the constant danger from the neighbouring Lucanians, forced the Greek cities in Italy to combine against him. But he won a great victory over their united forces, and thenceforth, though they were not annexed, his will was paramount among them. Perhaps this might have had the same counterbalancing advantages, in securing peace and rest, as in some way made up to cities