Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/213

 RENOVATION OF SICILY. 137 was now a land restored to Hellenism and freedom, but requiring new colonists as well to partake, as to guard, these capital privi- leges. The example of colonization, under the auspices of Co- rinth, had been set at Syracuse, and was speedily followed else* where, especially at Agrigentum, Gela, and Kamarina. All these three cities had suffered cruelly during those formidable Cartha- ginian invasions which immediately preceded the despotism of Dionysius at Syracuse. They had had no opportunity, during the continuance of the Dionysian dynasty, even to make up what they had then lost ; far less to acquire accessions from without. At the same time, all three (especially Agrigentum) recollected their former scale of opulence and power, as it had stood prior to 407 B. c. It was with eagerness therefore that they availed them- selves of the new l/ and security imparted to Sicily by the ca- reer of Timoleon 10 replenish their exhausted numbers; by recalling those whom former suffering had driven away, and by inviting fresh colonists besides. Megellus and Pheristus, citizens of Elea on the southern coast of Italy (which was probably at this time distressed by the pressure of Lucanians from the interior), conducted a colony to Agrigentum : Gorgus, from Keos, went with another band to Gela : in both cases, a proportion of expa- triated citizens returned among them. Kamarina, too, and Agyr- ium received large accessions of inhabitants. The inhabitants of Leontini are said to have removed their habitations to Syracuse ; M statement difficult to understand, and probably only partially (rue, as the city and its name still continued to exist. 1 Unfortunately the proceedings of Timoleon come before us (through Diodorus and Plutarch) in a manner so vague and con- fused, that we can rarely trace the sequence or assign the date of particular facts. 3 But about the general circumstances, with their character and bearing, there is no room either for mistake or 1 Diodor. xvi. 65, 82; Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 35. 2 Eight years elapsed from the time when Timoleon departed with his expedition from Corinth to the time of his death ; from 345-344 B. c. to 337-336 B. c. (Diodorus, xvi. 90; Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 37). The hattle of the Krimesus is assigned by Diodorus to 340 B. c. But as to the other military achievements of Timoleon in Sicily, Diodorus and Plutarch are neither precise, nor in accordance with each other.