Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/75

 CHARACTER OF DIONYSIUS. 49 He was forced to retire with as much disgrace as those previous generals whom he had so bitterly vituperated ; and apparently even with greater disgrace since there are strong grounds for believing that he entered into traitorous collusion with the Car- thaginians. The salvation of Syracuse, at that moment of peril, arose not from the energy or ability of Dionysius, but from the opportune epidemic which disabled Imilkon in the midst of a victorious career. Dionysius had not only talents to organize, and boldness to make good, a despotism more formidable than anything known to contemporary Greeks, but also systematic prudence to keep it un- impaired for thirty-eight years. He maintained carefully those two precautions which Thucydides specifies as the causes of per- manence to the Athenian Hippias, under similar circumstances intimidation over the citizens, and careful organization, with lib- eral pay among his mercenaries. 1 He was temperate in indul- gencies ; never led by any of his appetites into the commission of violence. 2 This abstinence contributed materially to prolong his life, since many a Grecian despot perished through desperate feel- ings of individual vengeance provoked by his outrages. With Dionysius, all other appetites were merged in the love of domin- ion, at home and abroad ; and of money as a means of dominion. To die service of this master-passion all his energies were de- voted, together with those vast military resources which an un- scrupulous ability served both to accumulate and to recruit. How his treasury was supplied, with the large exigencies continually 1 Thucyd. vi. 55. u/Uu Kal 6iii rb irporepov fw^tfff, rotf uev poftepbv, rolf de eiriKovpoif uKpiflef, 7ro/U nepioi-Ti rov da i-Kparrjae (Hippias). On the liberality of the elder Dionysius to his mercenaries, see an alln sion in Plato, Epistol. vii. p. 348 A. The extension and improvement of engines for warlike purposes, under Dionysius, was noticed as a sort of epoch (Athenaeus de Machinis ap. Mathemat. Vcteres, ed. Paris, p. 3. 2 Cornelius Nepos, De Regibus, c. 2. " Dionysius prior, et manu fortis, et belli peritus fuit, et, id quod in tyranno non facile reperitur, minimo libidinosus, non luxuriosus, non avarus, nullius rei denique cupidus, nisi singularis perpetuique imperil, ob eamque rem crudelis. Nam dum id Btuduit munire, nullius pepercit vitse, qucm ejus insidiatorem putaret." Tc the same purpose Cicero, Tusc. Disp. v. 20. VOL. XI. 5