Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/51

 DIONYSIUS AS A POET. ^5 Korkyra ; where we have already recognized him, in a former chapter, as having oecome the dependent of Jason of Pherae ic Thessaly. Another enterprise undertaken by Dionysius about this time was a maritime expedition along the coasts of Latium, Etruria, and Corsica ; partly under color of repressing the piracies com- mitted from their maritime cities ; but partly also, for the purpose of pillaging the rich and holy temple of Leukothea, at Agylla or its sea-port Pyrgi. In this Le succeeded, stripping it of money and precious ornaments to the amount of one thousand talents. The Agyllasans came forth to defend their temple, but were com- pletely worsted, and lost so much both in plunder and in prisoners, that Dionysius, after returning to Syracuse and selling the pris- oners, obtained an additional profit of five hundred talents. 1 Such was the military celebrity now attained by Dionysius, 9 that the Gauls from Northern Italy, who had recently sacked Rome, sent to proffer their alliance and aid. He accepted the proposi- tion ; from whence perhaps the Gallic mercenaries whom we afterwards find in his service as mercenaries, may take their date. His long arms now reached from Lissus on one side to Agylla on the other. Master of most of Sicily and much of Southern Italy, as well as of the most powerful standing army in Greece the unscrupulous plunderer of the holiest temples everywhere 3 he inspired much terror and dislike throughout Central Greece. He was the more vulnerable to this sentiment, as he was not only a triumphant prince, but also a tragic poet ; competitor, as such, for that applause and admiration which no force can extort. Since none of his tragedies have been preserved, we can form no judgment of our own respecting them. Yet when we learn that he had stood 1 Diodor. xv. 14 ; Strabo, v. p. 226 ; Servius ad Virgil. JEncid. x. 184. 3 See Psendo-Aristotcl. (Economic, ii. 20-41 ; Cicero, De Natur. Deor. iii. 34, 82, 85 : in which passages, however, there must be several incorrect assertions as to the actual temples pillaged ; for Dionysius could not have been in Peloponnesus to rob the temple of Zeus at Olympia, or of JEscula- pius at Epidaums. Athenaeus (xv. p. 693} recounts an anecdote that Dionysius plundered the temple ol ^Esculapius at Syracuse of a valuable golden table; which is far more orobublo. VOL. XI. JJ
 * Justin, xx. 5 ; Xcnoph. Hellcn. vii. 1, 20.