Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/473

 INDIGNATION AGAINST MONYSIUS. 45] Amidst the sufferings of this distressed multitude, however, and -*_>; compassion of the protecting army, other feelings also were pc werfully aroused. Dionysius, who had been so unmeasured and so effective in calumniating unsuccessful generals before, was now himself exposed to the same arrows. Fierce were the bursts of wtith and hatred against him, both among the fugitives and among th- army. He was accused of having betrayed to the Carthagi- nians, not only the army, but also Gela and Kamarina, in order that the Syracusans, intimidated by these formidable neighbors so clc>se to their boders, might remain in patient servitude under his dominion. It was remarked that his achievements for the relief of Gela had been unworthy of the large force which he brought with him ; that the loss sustained in the recent battle had been nowise sufficient to compel, or even to excuse, a disgraceful flight ; that the mercenaries, especially, the force upon which he most relied, had not only sustained no loss, but had never been brought into action ; that while his measures taken against the enemy had thus been partial and inefficient, they on their side had manifested no disposition to pursue him in his flight, thus affording a strong presumption of connivance between them. Dionysius was de- nounced as a traitor by all, except his own mercenaries, whom he always kept near him for security. The Italiot allies, who had made the attack and sustained the main loss during the recent bat- tle, were so incensed against him for having left them thus unsup- ported, that they retired in a body, and marched across the centre of the island home to Italy. But the Syracusans in the army, especially the horsemen, the principal persons in the city, had a double ground of anger against Dionysius ; partly from his misconduct or supposed treachery in this recent enterprise, but still more from the despotism which he had just erected over his fellow-citizens. This despotism, having been commenced in gross fraud and consummated by violence, was now deprived of the only plausible color which it had ever worn, since Dionysius had been just as disgracefully unsuccessful against the Carthaginians as those other generals whom he had denounced and superseded. Determined to rid themselves of one whom they opr}Ti yov v3pei(.