Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/214

 188 HISTORY OF GKEKCi:. doubt. That which rhetors and sophists like Lysias had preached in their panegyrical harangues 1 that for which Plato sighed, ic the epistles of his old age commending it, after Dion's death, to the surviving partisans of Dion, as having been the unexecuted purpose of their departed leader the renewal of freedom and Hellenism throughout the island was now made a reality under the auspices of Timoleon. The houses, the temples, the walls, were rescued from decay ; the lands from comparative barren- ness. For it was not merely his personal reputation and achieve- ments which constituted the main allurement to new colonists, but also his superintending advice which regulated their destination when they arrived. Without the least power of constraint, or even official dignity, he was consulted as a sort of general (Ekist or Patron-Founder, by the affectionate regard of the settlers in every part of Sicily. The distribution or sale of lands, the mod- ification required in existing laws and customs, the new political constitutions, etc., were all submitted to his review. No settle- ment gave satisfaction, except such as he had pronounced or ap- proved ; none which he had approved was contested.2 In the situation in which Sicily was now placed, it is clear that numberless matters of doubt and difficulty would inevitably arise ; that the claims and interests of pre-existing residents, returning exiles and new immigrants, would often be conflicting ; that the rites and customs of different fractions composing the new whole, might have to be modified for the sake of mutual harmony ; that the settlers, coming from oligarchies as well as democracies might bring with them different ideas as to the proper features of a political constitution ; that the apportionment or sale of land-, 1 Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 37. /jovoc, e$' <2f ol aoi.oral 6i& TUV "koyuv TU navqyvpiKuv uel -napeKakovv irpd^eig roi)f EA/b;yaf, tv avTalf upiarEvaaf, etc. TOV Kal yakrjvriv i6pvo(ievoig napei^ev, uXXii Kal TaXTia irapaaKsvaaaf Kal ovfiTrpodvuTidelf ucrrrep O'IKIOTTJC jj-yaTruTO. Kal TUV iM.uv 6s diaKetpivuv duoiuf irptic avTbv, ov kotefiov rif livcif, ov vdfiuv tieaif, oil x^a f KOTOI- Kiafibf, ov TToTureiae Jtaraf/f, ifionei xa/lwf f^etv, j?f tKEivof fir/ irpoauil airc pr/de KaraKoafir/aetev, ucnep epyy avvTs^ovftevt,) 6rj/j.i:voyoc liri&eif nvt %dpiv fteofyLhri Kal irpiirovaav- Compare Cornelius Nepos, Timoleon, c. 3.
 * Plutarch, Timoleon, c. 35. OZf ov fiovov ua^afaiav eic iroheftov roaov-