Plutarch's Lives, Volume 4 (of 4)

by Plutarch

XXIII. These men, when they heard that the expedition was directed against Sicily and Dionysius, were at first scared and refused to go, declaring that only the frenzy excited by some personal quarrel, or the failure of all reasonable hopes of success, could have led Dion to embark upon such a desperate enterprise, and they were incensed with their own officers and those who had enlisted them for not having at the outset informed them of the object of the war. When, however, Dion addressed them, pointing out the rottenness of the monarchy, and informing them that he was taking them, not so much as soldiers as in order to use them as leaders for the Syracusans and other peoples of Sicily, who had long been ripe for revolt, and when, after Dion’s speech, Alkimenes, one of the expedition, who was one of the most celebrated of the Achæans both by birth and merit, spoke to the same effect, they consented to go. The time was midsummer and the Etesian[484] winds were blowing over the sea. The moon was at the full. Dion prepared a magnificent sacrifice to Apollo and marched in solemn procession to the temple with his soldiers, all arrayed in complete armour. After the sacrifice he feasted them in the stadium or race-course of the people of Zakynthus, where they had an opportunity of admiring the splendour of his gold and silver plate, and reflected that a man past middle life, as he was, and possessed of such wealth, would never attempt an extravagant enterprise without reasonable expectation of success, or unless his friends upon the spot had promised to furnish him with abundant resources.

XXIV. Just after the libations[485] and customary prayers, the moon became eclipsed. Dion and his friends saw nothing remarkable in this, as they could calculate the periods of eclipses, and knew how the shadow was produced upon the moon by the interposition of the earth between it and the sun. As, however, the soldiers were alarmed at the portent and required some encouragement, Miltas the soothsayer came into the midst of them and addressed them, bidding them be of good cheer and expect the most complete success; for the gods, he declared, foretold by this sign that something brilliant would be extinguished. Now there was nothing more brilliant than the monarchy of Dionysius, whose light was fated to be quenched by them as soon as they arrived at Sicily. This interpretation Miltas told to them all; but when a swarm of bees was seen to settle on the sterns of the ships, he privately told Dion and his friends that he feared lest this might portend that at first they would be very properous, but that after blooming for a short time their prosperity would wither away. It is said, too, that many ominous signs were vouchsafed by Heaven to Dionysius. An eagle snatched up a spear from one of the life-guards, soared aloft with it, and let it fall into the sea; and one day the sea-water which washes the walls of the citadel became quite sweet and drinkable, so that all men noticed it. Swine also were born without ears, though perfect in all other parts. This was interpreted by the soothsayers to be a sign of insurrection and disobedience, and to mean that the people would no longer hearken to the commands of the despot, while the portent of the sea-water meant that after bitter miseries sweet and pleasant times were in store for the people of Syracuse. The eagle, they said, is the servant of Zeus, and the spear is the symbol of power and sovereignty; wherefore the greatest of the gods must intend to sink and destroy the monarchy. These incidents we are told by Theopompus.

XXV. The soldiers of Dion were contained in two merchant-ships, which were accompanied by another small vessel and two galleys of thirty oars.[486] Besides the arms carried by the soldiers, Dion took with him two thousand shields, many spears and missiles, and sufficient provisions to supply them during the whole voyage, which was to be performed entirely under canvass and over the open sea, because they feared to approach the land, and had learned that Philistus was cruising off the Iapygian Cape with a squadron to intercept them. Sailing with a light and gentle wind for twelve days, on the thirteenth they reached Pachynus, the southern extremity of Sicily. Here Protus their pilot bade them make haste to disembark, warning them that if they left the land and steered away from the cape, they would be obliged to spend many days and nights at sea during the summer season, when a southerly gale might be expected. Dion, however, feared to disembark so near his foes, and, wishing to land further away, sailed along the coast past Cape Pachynus. Hereupon a violent northerly wind, accompanied by a high sea, drove the ships away from Sicily, while at the rising of Arcturus a storm of thunder and lightning burst upon them with furious rain. At this the sailors became dismayed, and lost their reckoning, but suddenly found that the ships were being carried by the waves towards the rockiest and most precipitous cliffs of the island Kerkina,[487] off the coast of Libya. They narrowly escaped being dashed to pieces upon the rocks, but struggled along, keeping themselves off the land with punting-poles,[488] until at length the storm abated and they learned from a vessel which they fell in with that they were near what are called the “Heads” of the Great Syrtis. It now fell calm and they became disheartened and quarrelled with one another; but soon an off-shore wind sprang up from the south, though they, not expecting a southerly wind, could scarcely believe in the change. The wind gradually increased in force, and they, setting all the sail they were able, and commending themselves in prayer to the gods, crossed the open sea from Libya to Sicily before the wind. They made a quick passage, and on the fifth day came to an anchor at Minoa, a small city in that part of Sicily which belonged to the Carthaginians. The Carthaginian commander, Synalus, who was a friend of Dion, happened to be present in the town. Not knowing what the expedition was, or that Dion, was with it, he attempted to prevent the soldiers from landing; but they poured out of their ships fully armed, and though in accordance with Dion’s order they killed no one, because of his friendship with the Carthaginian leader, yet they routed the Minoans, entered their city with the fugitives, and captured it. When the two chiefs met, they embraced one another, and Dion restored the city to Synalus without doing it any hurt, while Synalus showed hospitality to the soldiers and provided Dion with the supplies which he needed.

XXVI. What specially encouraged them was the absence of Dionysius from Syracuse, although they had no hand in bringing it about; for he had just started on a voyage to the coast of Italy with a fleet of eighty ships. Although Dion begged his soldiers to wait and recruit their strength after the hardships of their long sea voyage, they would not remain there, but in their eagerness to seize this favourable opportunity bade Dion lead them to Syracuse. Dion now left behind his surplus arms and baggage at Minoa, and, begging Synalus to send them on to him when he should have need of them, set out on his march to Syracuse. On the road, he was first joined by two hundred horsemen, citizens of Agrigentum, dwelling near Eknomon. After these, some of the people of Gela also joined his army.

The news of Dion’s march soon reached Syracuse, and Timokrates, the husband of Dion’s late wife, the sister of Dionysius, who was left in charge of the garrison, sent a messenger in great haste to Dionysius with a letter telling of Dion’s arrival. He himself endeavoured to maintain order and put down all insurrections in the city, for all the people were excited at the news, but remained quiet as yet, through fear and doubt. Meantime a strange mischance befel the bearer of the letter to Dionysius. He crossed the straits to Italy, passed through the city of Rhegium, and as he hurried on towards Kaulonia, where Dionysius was, he fell in with one of his friends, carrying a newly slaughtered victim. He was given a piece of meat by the man, and went on in haste. He walked some part of the night, but being forced by fatigue to take a little sleep, he lay down, just as he was, in a wood by the road-side. While he slept, a wolf, attracted by the smell, snatched up the meat, which he had tied to his wallet, and ran off with it, carrying away with it the wallet in which the man had placed the letter. When the man woke and discovered his loss, after much vain searching, as he could not find it, he decided not to go to the despot without the letter, but to make off and keep out of the way.

XXVII. In consequence of this Dionysius only heard of the war in Sicily much later and from other persons, and meanwhile Dion had been joined on his march by the people of Kamarina, and by a considerable number of the Syracusans who lived in the country. The Leontines and Campanians, who formed the garrison of Epipolæ, in consequence of Dion’s sending them a false report that he intended to attack their city first, left Timokrates, and went away thither to defend their own property. When news of this reached Dion, who was encamped near Akræ, he aroused his soldiers while it was yet night and marched to the river Anapus, which is ten stadia distant from the city. There he halted and offered sacrifice beside the river, praying to the rising sun, and at the same time the soothsayers declared that the gods would give him the victory. Observing that Dion wore a garland because he was sacrificing, all those who were present at the sacrifice with one impulse crowned themselves with flowers. No less than five thousand men had joined him on his march. They were badly armed in a make-shift fashion, but their zeal supplied the deficiencies of their equipment, and when Dion led the way they all started at a run, shouting for joy, and encouraging one another to recover their freedom.

XXVIII. Of the Syracusans within the walls, the chief men and upper classes in their most splendid raiment met Dion at the gates, while the populace attacked the friends of the despot, and seized upon the spies, a wicked and hateful class of men, who used to live among the people of the city and report their opinions and conversations to the despot. These men were the first to suffer for their crimes, as they were beaten to death by any of the citizens who fell in with them. Timokrates, unable to reach the garrison of the citadel, mounted his horse and rode away from the city, spreading alarm and confusion everywhere as he fled by exaggerating the numbers of Dion’s army, that he might not be thought to have surrendered the city through fear to a small force.

Meanwhile Dion could already be seen plainly, as he marched first of all his men, clad in splendid armour. On one side of him was his brother Megakles, and on the other the Athenian Kallippus, both crowned with garlands. Next marched a hundred of the mercenary soldiers, as a body-guard for Dion, while the rest of the men were led on by their officers in battle array. The entire procession was looked upon and welcomed as though it were sacred by the citizens of Syracuse, who, after forty-two years of tyranny, saw liberty and a popular constitution restored to their city.

XXIX. When Dion had entered by the Temenitid[489] gate, he caused his trumpet to sound to obtain silence; and then a herald made proclamation that Dion and Megakles were come to put down the monarchy, and that they set free from the despot both the Syracusans and the other Sicilian Greeks.

As Dion wished to address the people in person, he proceeded through Achradina, while the Syracusans placed animals for sacrifice, tables and bowls of wine on each side of the street,[490] and each, as Dion passed them, strewed flowers in his path and addressed prayers to him as if to a god. In front of the citadel, with its Pentapyla, or Five Gates, stood a sundial, a conspicuous and lofty work, erected by Dionysius. Dion mounted upon this, and addressed the citizens, encouraging them to hold fast the freedom which they had obtained. The people, in joy and gratitude to them, elected them both generals, with unlimited powers, and at their earnest request chose twenty more as their colleagues, half of whom were taken from the exiles who had returned with Dion. The prophets considered it to be an excellent omen that Dion, while addressing the people, should have trodden under his feet the building which the despot had reared in his pride; but they augured ill from his having been chosen general while standing upon a sundial, lest his fortunes should soon experience some revolution. After this he captured Epipolae, released the citizens who were imprisoned there and cut off the citadel by a palisade.[491] On the seventh day after this, Dionysius returned to the citadel by sea, and waggons arrived bringing to Dion the arms and armour which he had left with Synalus. These he distributed among the citizens, and of the others, each man equipped himself as well as he was able, and eagerly offered his services as a soldier.