Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/252

 228 mSTOEY OF GREECE. these two powerful despots, proved the cause of sorrow and ruin at Himera. That citj, under the dominion of the Agrigentine There, was administered by his son Thrasydseus, — a youth whose oppressive conduct speedily excited the strongest antipa- thy. The Himeraeans, knowing that they had little chance of rfcdress from Thero against his son, took advantage of the quar- rel between him and Hiero to make propositions to the latter, and to entreat his aid for the expulsion of Thrasydaeus, tendering themselves as subjects of Syracuse. It appears that Kapys and Hippokrates, cousins of Thero, but at variance with him, and also candidates for the protection of Hiero, were concerned in this scheme for detaching Himera from the dominion of Thero. But so soon as peace had been concluded, Hiero betrayed to Thero both the schemes and the malcontents at Himera. We seem to make out that Kapys and Hippokrates collected some forces to resist Thero, but were defeated by him at the river Himera:' his victory was followed by seizing and putting to death a large number of Himersean citizens. So great was the number slain, coupled with the loss of others who fled for fear of being slain, that the population of the city was sensibly and inconveniently diminished. Thero invited and enrolled a large addition of new citizens, chiefly of Dorian blood.2 The power of Hiero, now reconciled both with Thero and with his brother Polyzelus, is marked by several circumstances as noway inferior to that of Gelo, and probably the greatest not merely in Sicily, but throughout the Grecian world. The citi- zens of the distant city of Cumse, on the coast of Italy, harassed by Carthaginian and Tyrrhenian fleets, entreated his aid, and received from him a squadron which defeated and drove off their enemies : 3 he even settled a Syracusan colony in the neighbor- ' Schol. ad Pindar. Olymp. ii, 173. For the few facts which can be made out respecting the family and genealogy of Thero, see Goller, De Situ et Origine Syracusanim, ch. vii, pp. 19-22. The Scholiasts of Pindar are cccasionally useful in explaining his brief historical allusions ; but they seem to have had very few trustworthy materials before them for so doing. ^ Diodor. xi, 48, 49. ' The brazen helmet, discovered near the site of Olympia, with the name of Hiero and the victory at Cumae inscribed on it, yet remains as an inter- esting relic to commemorate this event: it was among the offerings pre-