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Contents of the Fifteenth 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 95
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It is not out of keeping with the present narrative to recount the cause
of his death and the events which befell this dynast toward the end of his life. Now Dionysius
had produced a tragedy at the Lenaea1 at Athens2 and had won the
victory, and one of those who sang in the chorus, supposing that he would be rewarded
handsomely if he were the first to give news of the victory, set sail to Corinth. There,
finding a ship bound for Sicily, he transferred to it, and obtaining favouring winds, speedily
landed at Syracuse and gave the tyrant news of the victory.
[2]
Dionysius did reward him, and was himself so overjoyed that he sacrificed to the gods for the
good tidings and instituted a drinking bout and great feasts. As he entertained his friends
lavishly and during the bout applied himself overzealously to drink, he fell violently ill from
the quantity of liquor he had consumed.
[3]
Now he had an oracle
the gods had given him that he should die when he had conquered "his betters," but he
interpreted the oracle as referring to the Carthaginians, assuming that these were "his
betters." So in the wars that he had many times waged against them he was accustomed to
withdraw in the hour of victory and accept defeat willingly, in order that he might not appear
to have proved himself "better" than the stronger foe.
[4]
For all
that, however, he could not in the end by his chicanery outwit the destiny Fate had in store
for him; on the contrary, though a wretched poet and though judged on this occasion in a
competition at Athens,3 he defeated "better" poets than himself. So in verbal consistency with the decree
of the oracle he met his death as a direct consequence of defeating "his betters."
[5]
Dionysius the younger on his succession
to the tyranny first gathered the populace in an assembly and urged them in appropriate words
to maintain toward him the loyalty that passed to him with the heritage that he had received
from his father; then, having buried his father with magnificent obsequies in the citadel by
the gates called royal, he made secure for himself the administration of the government.
1 The "Wine Press Festival" of January or February at which both comedies and tragedies were presented. By unanimous consent (see Niese, P.-W. Realencyclopädie, 5.901 top for references) the poetry of Dionysius was wretched and boring, but he never ceased to aspire. For one humiliating experience see Book 14.109. See also Book 15.6. The name of the play presented on this occasion was the Ransom of Hector (Nauck, Trag. gr. fr. （2）, 794).
2 It is to be noted that Athens was now, through Sparta, an ally of Dionysius I. (Xen. Hell. 7.1.28-29.) Athens honoured Dionysius and his sons with public praises and crowns in 369/8. See Hicks and Hill, Greek Historical Inscriptions （3）, 108. For the formal alliance see ibid. 112. See also Bury, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.134 and 132.
3 Though Diodorus has just said above that Dionysius was producing at Athens (sect. 1), he seems by his repetition to wish to stress the fact that the judgement was rendered by the most critical and authoritative city of the time.
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 (4 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(3):
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SYRACU´SAE
- Smith's Bio, Diony'sius or Diony'sius the Elder or the Elder Diony'sius
- Smith's Bio, Diony'sius or Diony'sius the Younger or the Younger Diony'sius
- Cross-references in notes from this page
(1):
- Xenophon, Hellenica, 7.1.28
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