Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/290

260 in Greece for the loss of their independence under Macedonian rule. But whatever advantages were thus gained disappeared under the troubled reign of his son (B.C. 367–344), twice interrupted as it was by revolutions. The other cities in Sicily shook off the supremacy of Syracuse, but generally fell under the rule of incompetent tyrants. The Carthaginians reappeared and even got possession of the greater part of the city of Syracuse (B.C. 345).

The state of the island was exceedingly miserable, when Timoleon of Corinth arrived in B.C. 345 with the express purpose of putting down tyranny in the cities and checking the encroachments of the Carthaginians. He came in answer to a petition from Syracuse and in a spirit of knight-errantry which makes the story read like a romance. He was eagerly welcomed at Rhegium as well as by the Sicilian cities. The Carthaginians were driven from Syracuse, the tyrants were deposed in the cities, and the Carthaginian side of the island even was invaded and their army crushed in a great battle on the banks of the Cremisus (B.C. 340). Unlike other so-called deliverers, Timoleon did not use his success to establish power for himself, but lived in Syracuse as a private citizen, beloved and honoured till his death in B.C. 336. Free institutions now prevailed in the Greek cities and a few years of prosperity followed; deserted cities became populous again, and the land which had been lying fallow was once more cultivated. The cities were also once more adorned with splendid buildings and fine works of art.

Agathocles, whom the necessity of fighting the