Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/242

 218 HISTORY OF GREECE. and we may well assume such general superiority to be substan- tially true, though the numbers above mentioned may be an empty boast rather than a reality. Owing to the great power of Gelo, we now for the first time trace an incipient tendency in Sicily to combined and central operations. It appears that Gelo had formed the plan of uniting the Greek forces in Sicily for the purpose of expelling the Car- thaginians and Egesteeans, either wholly or partially, from their maritime possessions in the western corner of the island, and of avenging the death of the Spartan prince, Dorieus ; — that he even attempted, though in vain, to induce the Spartans and other central Greeks to cooperate in this plan, — and that, upon their refusal, he had in part executed it with the Sicilian forces alone.i We have nothing but a brief and vague allusion to this exploit, wherein Gelo appears as the chief and champion of Hellenic against barbaric interests in Sicily, — the forerunner of Diony- sius, Timoleon, and Agathokles. But he had already begun to conceive himself, and had already been recognized by others, in this commanding position, when the envoys of Sparta, Athens, Corinth, etc., reached him from the isthmus of Corinth, in 481 ' Herodot. vii, 158. Gelo says to the envoys from Peloponnesr^ : — "kvt^per 'Ea/.tjuec, byov Ixovteq 7TAeoveKT7]v, eTo'/.fij/aaTs e/xe avput^ov sttI tov ftapiSapov irapaKO/xovTE^ t'A^telv. AvtoI 6e, ifiev nporepov deri'&ivTo^ ^apiSa- piKov CTpa-oi) avvE7Taipa(rdai, ore /loi npvg Kapxv^oviovc veIkoc (jvvijtzto, enta- KijTZTovTog TE TOV AupiEOC TOV ^Ava^avdpidEoj ^pdc 'Eycorai'tuv ^ovov f,i7rp^f. aa^ai, inroTEivovroq te ra i/i-opia cvvE/^EV&Epovv, uif uv iiilv jxeyuXai Uij>E?Uai. TE KOl kiraVpEGUQ JEyOVaCl • OVTslftEV ECVEKa-^X-&ET£ jSojJ'&rjaOVTEC, OVTE TOV Aupuor (povov EKTrpr}^6fj.evoi- to 6e kqt' v/^Eag, rude unavra vtto (3ap^a- poiat, vifiETai. 'APt/la ev yap iijiiv koX ettI to ufiEivov KaTsaTT] • vvv 61, ETiEidrj ■KEpiE7.r}Av&£ TTo^EyLoq Kal (imKTai Ig vfiiac, oiiTu 6^ TeXuvoc /xvTJaTic yeyovs. It is much to be regretted that we have no farther information respecting the events which these words glance at. They seem to indicate that the Carthaginians and Egestseans had made some encroachments, and threat- ened to make more: that Gelo had repelled them by actual and successful war. I think it strange, however, that he should be made to say : " You (the Peloponnesians) have derived great and signal advantages from these seaports;" — the profit derived from the latter hj the Peloponnesians can never have been so great as to be singled out in this pointed manner. I should rather have expected, a;r' uv Tip.lv (and not utv' uv vjilv), — which must have been true in point of fact, and will be found to read quite consistently with the general Durport of Gelo's speech.