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In Greece the Lacedaemonians, now that they had brought the Peloponnesian War to an end, held the supremacy by common acknowledgement both on land and on sea. Appointing Lysander admiral, they ordered him to visit the cities and set up in each the magistrates they call harmosts1; for the Lacedaemonians, who had a dislike for the democracies, wished the cities to have oligarchic governments. [2] They also levied tribute upon the peoples they had conquered, and although before this time they had not used coined money, they now collected yearly from the tribute more than a thousand talents.2

When the Lacedaemonians had settled the affairs of Greece to their own taste, they dispatched Aristus,3 one of their distinguished men, to Syracuse, ostensibly pretending that they would overthrow the government, but in truth with intent to increase the power of the tyranny; for they hoped that by helping to establish the rule of Dionysius they would obtain his ready service because of their benefactions to him. [3] Aristus, after having put ashore at Syracuse and discussed secretly with the tyrant the matters we have mentioned, kept stirring up the Syracusans and promised to restore their liberty; then he slew Nicoteles the Corinthian, a leader of the Syracusans, made strong the tyrant by betraying those who put their faith in him, and by such conduct brought disgrace both upon himself and upon his native land. [4] Dionysius, sending the Syracusans out to harvest their crops,4 entered their homes and carried off the arms of them all; after this he built a second wall about the acropolis, constructed war vessels, and also collected a great number of mercenaries; and he made every other provision to safeguard the tyranny, since he had learned by experience that the Syracusans would endure anything to escape slavery.

1 Governors from Sparta. After Aegospotami Lysander had appointed boards of ten citizens in each conquered city to form an oligarchic government. See Xen. Hell. 3.4.2.

2 Diodorus is the only authority for such a figure, which can scarcely be credited.

3 Named Aretes in chap. 70.3.

4 Wurm suggests "sending them to the theatre."

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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