Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/190

 164 HISTORY OF GREECE to stand forth as a new Dionysius. Many friends and partisans would strenuously recommend it. They would even deride him as an idiot (as Solon had been called in his time 1 ) for not taking the boon which the gods set before him, and for not hauling up the net when the fish were already caught in it. There would not btf wanting other advisers to insinuate the like recommendation un- der the pretence of patriotic disinterestedness, and regard for the people whom he had come to liberate. The Syracusans (it would be contended), unfit for a free constitution, must be supplied with liberty in small doses, of which Timoleon was the best judge : their best interests require that Timoleon should keep in his hands the anti-popular power with little present diminution, in or- der to restrain their follies, and ensure to them benefits which they would miss if left to their own free determination. Considerations of this latter character had doubtless greatly weighed with Dion in the hour of his victory, over and above mere naked ambition, so as to plunge him into that fatal misjudg- ment and misconduct out of which he never recovered. But the lesson deducible from the last sad months of Dion's career was not lost upon Timoleon. He was found proof, not merely against seductions within his own bosom, but against provocations or plau sibilities from without. Neither for self-regarding purposes, nor for beneficent purposes, would he be persuaded to grasp and per- petuate the anti-popular power. The moment of trial was that in which the genuine heroism and rectitude of judgment united in his character, first shone forth with its full brightness. Master as he now was of all Syracuse, with its fivefold aggre- gate, Ortygia, Achradina, Tycha, Neapolis, and Epipolae he determined to strike down at once that great monument of servi- tude which the elder Dionysius had imposed upon his fellow citi- zens. Without a moment's delay, he laid his hand to the work. He invited by proclamation every Syracusan who chose, to come with iron instruments, and cooperate with him in demolishing th Solon, Eragm. 26, ett. Schncid. ; Plutarch, Solon, c. 14. OVK i(j>v 267iuv pativQpuv, ov6e povArjeif avrjp yup deov 6i66vTOf, avrbf OVK kde^aro. 6' uypav, uyaadelf oiic uveairaaev /leya &IKTVOV, dv^oH $' hftapTT] not