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DIO tone of virtue, and into his government the stability that arises from free institutions. But the manner of the instruction proved annoying to the royal pupil; and the partisans of the old regime, with the historian Philistus at their head, succeeded in procuring the banishment of Dion, 366 ., which was followed in a few years by the departure of Plato. The attempts of the latter to obtain the recall of his friend having proved unsuccessful, and the ill-will of Dionysius having shown itself in insults to the relatives of the exile, Dion mustered a force at Zacynthus, with which he attacked Syracuse in the absence of Dionysius, and took possession of the city. The efforts of the monarch to recover it were unsuccessful, though his partisans continued the struggle from Ortygia and some adjacent fastnesses. Faction, however, arose to disturb the projects of Dion; he was compelled to retire to Leontini, and though he was speedily recalled to the chief power, his delay in granting the free institutions of which he had spoken so much, led to a conspiracy in which he was assassinated 353 .—W. B.  DIONYSIUS, Tyrant of Syracuse, was born in 431 or 430. Nothing is known of his family. He began life in the capacity of a clerk in a public office, but soon took a prominent part in the troubled politics of Sicily. He sided with Hermocrates, whose daughter he afterwards married, against Diocles. It was the great war between Sicily and Carthage, however, that carried Dionysius to the summit of his ambition. The reduction of Selinus, Himera, and Agrigentum by Hannibal, the son of Gisco, in the second Carthaginian invasion of Sicily, alarmed beyond measure the Syracusans and their allies. Of this general terror Dionysius availed himself for the purpose of inducing the popular assembly to dismiss the existing generals. His intrigue was completely successful. New leaders, of whom he himself was one, were immediately appointed. This was one step towards obtaining supreme authority; the next was to disgrace his colleagues. After his return from Gela, whither he had been sent with a body of auxiliaries, he boldly accused them of corruption and treachery before an assembly of the people. The accusation met with a ready credence in the minds of the citizens; the colleagues of Dionysius were dismissed, and the whole power of the state committed into his hands. He was created general-autocrator, an office less absolute but more permanent than that of Roman dictator, and corresponding to something like a combination of the office of governor-general and commander-in-chief. His appointment to this office may be regarded as the commencement of his tyranny, which lasted for the long period of thirty-eight years. To confirm his newly-acquired power, Dionysius ingratiated himself with the military, by inducing the assembly to double their pay. He assured the people that the revenue of the state could easily afford this augmentation of the soldier's stipend, and it is probable that the original pay was now found insufficient for his comfort. On the ground of an attempt on his life, whether real or pretended is not known, Dionysius also resorted to the invidious protection of a body-guard; a measure which, as might have been expected, was universally reprobated throughout Greece. In the same year in which he became tyrannus, he attacked the Carthaginians at Gela, but was defeated and forced to retire. His adversaries at Syracuse took advantage of this reverse to attempt the overthrow of his power, and his unfortunate wife perished in the tumult before he could return to restore order and peace. A deadly pestilence breaking out in the Carthaginian army, Hamilco concluded a peace with Dionysius, who had now some leisure to strengthen and consolidate his power at home. He placed the marine upon a footing of unprecedented strength and magnificence, surrounded the island of Ortygia, in which he took up his residence, with a lofty wall surmounted with numerous turrets, and strongly fortified both entrances to the Laccian port. He conciliated the favour of the populace, which he wisely reckoned an indispensable element of power, by assigning them lands and houses; and by such means consolidating his authority at home, prepared to extend it abroad. He directed his arms against the Chalcidian cities of Sicily, many of which fell into his power. In 397 ., having again declared war against the Carthaginians, he advanced victoriously into the western parts of the island, where there were several Punic settlements. But the conclusion of the struggle proved a second time unfavourable to Dionysius. His brother Leptines lost a great naval battle, and he himself was compelled to retire and shut himself up within the walls of Syracuse, where he was besieged by the Carthaginians both by sea and land. But the pestilence, so common at that time, again ravaged the Carthaginian camp, and reduced it to such a weak condition that the Syracusans on their first sally dispersed the enemy. The war was renewed in 393 ., but the Syracusans, who had secured the alliance of Agyris, tyrant of Agyrium, soon obliged the Carthaginians, this time commanded by Mago, to sue for peace. Secure for the time from the attacks of his Punic enemy, Dionysius turned his eye upon the Greek cities in Italy. He had already secured the alliance of the Locrians by his marriage with Doris, the daughter of one of their most influential citizens. But his arms seem to have conquered him no advantage in the peninsula beyond the alliance of several of its free cities. Over these he never possessed any direct dominion. Dionysius had set his heart upon obtaining the sovereignty of the Adriatic. He maintained an enormous fleet, founded colonies, conciliated the friendship of the Lacedæmonians, and by such means raised himself into such power as no Greek before the time of Alexander had ever possessed. During this time the war with Carthage had not been very vigorously prosecuted. Hostilities had, however, broken out in 383. Two great battles were fought, in the former of which victory remained with Dionysius, and in the latter with the Carthaginians. Arms were again taken up in 368. Dionysius, who was the aggressor, marched into the extreme west of the island, and laid siege to Lilybæum. But the approach of winter put a period for the time to hostilities, and Dionysius was carried off by death before they could be renewed. He died in 367. His death has been by some reported to have ensued from a debauch; by others he is said to have been poisoned by his physician, at the instigation of his son. The character of Dionysius has been variously estimated. It cannot be denied that he was an able statesman and a brave soldier. But for the prudence and courage which he displayed in the early years of his reign Sicily would undoubtedly have become a dependency of Carthage. His enterprises were generally successful. The Syracusans, under his administration, attained such a height of power and splendour as excited the admiration of surrounding nations. But he was unscrupulous and vindictive, and, though he preserved the forms of popular government, he undoubtedly made good use of his powerful bands of trained and faithful mercenaries. Dionysius affected the society of learned men. His invitation of Plato to Syracuse, which was soon followed by the philosopher's departure in disgrace, is well known.—R. M., A.  DIONYSIUS, Tyrant of Syracuse, son of the preceding by Doris the Locrian, succeeded his father in 367 . His accession was attended with the show of popular election. Dionysius the Younger had not attained his thirtieth year when he became tyrannus. He succeeded to his father's influence in the south of Italy, and for some time pursued his policy in regard to the Adriatic; but he had been suffered to grow up in idleness and luxury, and purposely kept in entire ignorance of affairs. The natural consequence of this wretched training, or rather want of training, soon became apparent. He was dissolute and indolent, and shortly exhausted the slender stock of popularity with which he commenced his reign. The banishment of Dion (See of Syracuse) so enraged the Syracusans that when the exile returned during the absence of Dionysius from the city, they rose in insurrection to defend the philosopher and repulse the tyrant. Dionysius, failing in his attempt to quell the disturbance, turned away to Locri, the native city of his mother. He craftily seized the citadel of that place, and for several years ruled over the Locrians as tyrant. They got rid of him when in the tenth year after his expulsion from Syracuse he again became master of that city by treachery. The Syracusans bore his oppressive rule till the arrival of Timoleon in Sicily, when he was obliged to surrender the citadel of Ortygia on condition of being allowed to depart in safety to Corinth. His departure took place in 343. The remainder of his dissolute and inglorious life was spent at Corinth. Some writers represent him as obliged to support himself by keeping a school; by others he is said to have become one of the mendicant priests attached to the worship of Cybele. These stories are probably exaggerations, as we know that he carried away immense wealth from Syracuse, and that he was admitted to familiar intercourse with Philip of Macedon.—R. M., A.  DIONYSIUS, bishop of Alexandria, surnamed , was a worthy pupil of Origen. In 247 he succeeded Heraclas as bishop of Alexandria. When the Decian persecution broke 