Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/454

 432 HISTOR CF GREECE. the Carthaginian camp and famine in Agrigentum. 1 The efficiency of Dexippus and the other generals, in defending Agrigentum (as depicted by Diodorus), stands sadly inferior to the vigor and ability displayed by Gylippus before Syracuse, as described by Thucydi- des : and we can hardly wonder that by men in the depth of misery, like the Agrigentines, or in extreme alarm, like the other Sicilian Greeks these generals, incompetent or treasonable, should be regarded as the cause of the ruin. Such a state of sentiment, under ordinary circumstances, would have led to the condemnation of the generals and to the nomination of others, with little farther result. But it became of far graver import, when combined with the actual situation of parties in Syra- cuse. The Hermokratean opposition party, repelled during the preceding year with the loss of its leader, yet nowise crushed, now re-appeared more formidable than ever, under a new leader more aggressive even than Hermokrates himself. Throughout ancient as well as modern history, defeat and embarrassment in the foreign relations have proved fruitful causes of change in the internal government. Such auxiliaries had been wanting to the success of Hermokrates in the preceding year ; but alarms of every kind now overhung the city in terrific magnitude, and when the first Syracusan assembly was convoked on returning from Agri- gentum, a mournful silence reigned ; 2 as in the memorable descrip- tion given by Demosthenes of the Athenian assembly held imme- diately after the taking of Elateia. 3 The generals had lost the confidence of their fellow-citizens ; yet no one else was forward, at a juncture so full of peril, to assume their duty, by proffering fit counsel for the future conduct of the war. Now was the time for the Hermokratean party to lay their train for putting down the government. Dionysius, though both young and of mean family, was adopted as leader in consequence of that audacity and bravery 1 Diodor. xiii, 88. Xenophon confirms the statement of Diodorus, that Agrigentum was taken by famine (Hellen. i, 5, 21 ; ii, 2, 24). 3 Demosthenes de Corona, p. 286. o. 220. This comparison is made by M. Brunei de Presle, in his valuable histori- cal work (Recherches sur 'es Establissemens des Grecs en Sidle, Partii, a 39, p. 219).
 * Diodor. xiii, 91.