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Contents of the Fourteenth Book of Diodorus
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95chapter 96chapter 97chapter 98chapter 99chapter 100chapter 101chapter 102chapter 103chapter 104chapter 105chapter 106chapter 107chapter 108chapter 109chapter 110chapter 111chapter 112chapter 113chapter 114chapter 115chapter 116chapter 117
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1When this year had come to an end, Ithycles was archon in
Athens and in Rome five military tribunes were established in place of the consuls, Lucius
Julius, Marcus Furius, Marcus Aemilius, Gaius Cornelius, and Caeso Fabius. Dionysius, the
tyrant of the Syracusans, as soon as the major part of the task of making arms and building a
fleet was completed, turned at once to the gathering of soldiers.
[2]
From the Syracusans he enrolled those who were fit for military service in companies
and from the cities subject to him he summoned their able men. He also gathered mercenaries
from Greece, and especially from the Lacedaemonians, for they, in order to aid him in building
up his power, gave him permission to enlist as many mercenaries from them as he might wish.
And, speaking generally, since he made a point of gathering his mercenary force from many
nations and promised high pay, he found men who were responsive.
[3]
Since Dionysius was going to raise up a great war, he
addressed himself to the cities of Sicily with courtesy, eliciting their goodwill. He saw that
the Rhegians and Messenians who dwelt on the Strait2 had a strong army mobilized and he feared that, when the
Carthaginians crossed over to Sicily, they would join the Carthaginians; for these cities would
add no little weight to the side with which they allied themselves for the war.
[4]
Since these considerations were the cause of great concern to Dionysius,
he made a present to the Messenians of a large piece of territory on their borders, binding
them to him by such a benefaction; and to the Rhegians he dispatched ambassadors, urging them
to form a connection by marriage and to give him in marriage a maiden who was a citizen of
theirs; and he promised that he would win for them a large section of neighbouring territory
and do all that was in his power to add to the strength of their city.
[5]
For since his wife, the daughter of Hermocrates, had been slain at the
time the cavalry revolted,3 he
was eager to beget children, in the belief that the loyalty of his offspring would be the
strongest safeguard of his tyrannical power. Nevertheless, when an assembly of the people was
held in Rhegium to consider Dionysius' proposal, after much discussion the Rhegians voted not
to accept the marriage connection.4
[6]
Now that Dionysius had failed of this design, he dispatched
his ambassadors for the same purpose to the people of the Locrians.5 When they voted to
approve the marriage connection, Dionysius sued for the hand of Doris, the daughter of Xenetus,
who at that time was their most esteemed citizen.
[7]
A few days
before the marriage he sent to Locri a quinquereme, the first one he had built, embellished
with silver and gold furnishings; on this he had the maiden conveyed to Syracuse, where he led
her into the acropolis.
[8]
And he also sought in marriage from
among the people of his city the most notable maiden among them, Aristomache,6 for whom he dispatched a chariot drawn by four white horses to bring her to his
own home.
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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References (10 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(7):
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LOCRI
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MAGNA GRAE´CIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MESSA´NA
- Smith's Bio, Aristo'mache
- Smith's Bio, Diony'sius or Diony'sius the Elder or the Elder Diony'sius
- Smith's Bio, Doris
- Smith's Bio, Julus
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(1):
- Strabo, Geography, Strab. 6.1
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (2):
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