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Dionysius, seeing that the mercenaries were most hostile to him and fearing that they might depose him, first of all arrested Aristotle, their commander. [2] At this, when the body of them ran together under arms and demanded their pay with some sharpness, Dionysius declared that he was sending Aristotle to Lacedaemon to face trial among his fellow citizens, and offered to the mercenaries, who numbered about ten thousand, in lieu of their pay the city and territory of the Leontines. [3] To this they gladly agreed because the territory was good land, and after portioning it out in allotments they made their home in Leontini. Dionysius then recruited other mercenaries and trusted in them and his freedmen to maintain the government. [4]

After the disaster which the Carthaginians had suffered, the survivors from the cities of Sicily that had been enslaved gathered together, gained back their native lands, and revived their strength. [5] Dionysius settled in Messene a thousand Locrians, four thousand Medmaeans,1 and six hundred Messenians from the Peloponnesus who were exiles from Zacynthus and Naupactus. But when he observed that the Lacedaemonians were offended that the Messenians whom they had driven out were settled in a renowned city, he removed them from Messene, and giving them a place on the sea, he cut off some of the area of Abacaene and annexed it to their territory. [6] The Messenians named their city Tyndaris, and by living in concord together and admitting many to citizenship, they speedily came to number more than five thousand citizens. [7]

After this Dionysius waged a number of campaigns against the territory of the Siceli, in the course of which he took Menaenum and Morgantinum and struck a treaty with Agyris, the tyrant of the Agyrinaeans, and Damon, the lord of the Centoripans, as well as with the Herbitaeans and the Assorini. He also gained by treachery Cephaloedium, Solus, and Enna, and made peace besides with the Herbessini.

Such was the state of affairs in Sicily at this time.

1 From Medma, a city of Bruttium, founded by the Locrians (Strabo 6.1.5).

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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hide References (11 total)
  • Cross-references to this page (10):
    • Harper's, Abacænum
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ABACAENUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AGY´RIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ASSO´RUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HE´RBITA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MEDMA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MENAENUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MESSA´NA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MORGA´NTIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TY´NDARIS
  • Cross-references in notes from this page (1):
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