Nepos: LIBER DE EXCELLENTIBUS DVCIBUS EXTERARVM GENTIVM

[1] DION, Hipparini filius, Syracusanus, nobili genere natus, utraque implicatus tyrannide Dionysiorum. Namque ille superior Aristomachen, sororem Dionis, habuit in matrimonio; ex qua duos filios, Hipparinum et Nisaeum, procreavit totidemque filias, nomine Sophrosynen et Areten; quarum priorem Dionysio filio, eidem, cui regnum reliquit, nuptum dedit, alteram, Areten, Dioni.

[1] DION, son of Hipparinus, a Syracusan, born of noble lineage, was entangled in both tyrannies of the Dionysii. For the elder of them had Aristomache, Dion’s sister, in marriage; from her he begot two sons, Hipparinus and Nisaeus, and just as many daughters, named Sophrosyne and Arete; of these he gave the former, Sophrosyne, in marriage to his son Dionysius—the same to whom he left the kingdom—and the latter, Arete, to Dion.

2 Dion autem praeter nobilem propinquitatem generosamque maiorum famam multa alia ab natura habuit bona, in his ingenium docile, come, aptum ad artes optimas, magnam corporis dignitatem quae non minimum commendat, magnas praeterea divitias a patre relictas, quas ipse tyranni muneribus auxerat.

2 Dion, however, besides noble kinship and the noble renown of his ancestors, had many other goods from nature: among these, a docile natural talent, affable, apt for the best arts; a great dignity of body, which commends not a little; and, moreover, great riches left by his father, which he himself had augmented by the tyrant’s gifts.

3 Erat intimus Dionysio priori, neque minus propter mores quam affinitatem. Namque etsi Dionysii crudelitas ei displicebat, tamen salvum propter necessitudinem, magis etiam suorum causa studebat. Aderat in magnis rebus, eiusque consilio multum movebatur tyrannus, nisi qua in re maior ipsius cupiditas intercesserat.

3 He was most intimate with Dionysius the elder, no less on account of his character than of the affinity. For although the cruelty of Dionysius displeased him, nevertheless, because of the kinship—and even more for the sake of his own people—he strove that he should be kept safe. He was present in great affairs, and by his counsel the tyrant was much moved, unless in some matter a greater desire of his own had intervened.

4 Legationes vero omnes, quae essent illustriores, per Dionem administrabantur; quas quidem ille diligenter obeundo, fideliter administrando crudelissimum nomen tyranni sua humanitate leniebat.

4 All the legations, in fact, which were more illustrious, were administered through Dion; and by diligently undertaking them and by administering them faithfully, he softened the tyrant’s most cruel name by his own humanity.

5 Hunc a Dionysio missum Carthaginienses suspexerunt, ut neminem umquam Graeca lingua loquentem magis sint admirati.

5 The Carthaginians esteemed him, sent by Dionysius, so that they have never admired anyone speaking the Greek tongue more.

[2] Neque vero haec Dionysium fugiebant; nam quanto esset sibi ornamento, sentiebat. Quo fiebat, ut uni huic maxime indulgeret neque eum secus diligeret ac filium;

[2] Nor indeed did these things escape Dionysius; for he perceived how much he was an ornament to himself. Whence it came about that he indulged this one most of all and loved him no otherwise than as a son;

2 qui quidem, cum Platonem Tarentum venisse fama in Siciliam esset perlata, adulescenti negare non potuerit, quin eum accerseret, cum Dion eius audiendi cupiditate flagraret. Dedit ergo huic veniam magnaque eum ambitione Syracusas perduxit.

2 who indeed, when the report had been conveyed into Sicily that Plato had come to Tarentum, could not refuse the young man to have him summoned, since Dion was blazing with the desire of hearing him. He therefore granted this man leave, and Dion, with great ostentation, conducted him to Syracuse.

3 Quem Dion adeo admiratus est atque adamavit, ut se ei totum traderet. Neque vero minus ipse Plato delectatus est Dione. Itaque cum a tyranno crudeliter violatus esset, quippe quem venum dari iussisset, tamen eodem rediit eiusdem Dionis precibus adductus.

3 Whom Dion so admired and so loved that he surrendered himself wholly to him. Nor indeed was Plato himself any less delighted with Dion. And so, although he had been cruelly outraged by the tyrant—for he had ordered him to be sold—nevertheless he returned to the same place, induced by the entreaties of that same Dion.

4 Interim in morbum incidit Dionysius. Quo cum gravi conflictaretur, quaesivit a medicis Dion, quemadmodum se haberet, simulque ab his petiit, si forte maiori inesset periculo, ut sibi faterentur: nam velle se cum eo colloqui de partiendo regno, quod sororis suae filios ex illo natos partem regni putabat debere habere.

4 Meanwhile Dionysius fell into an illness. As he was being afflicted with a severe one, Dion inquired from the physicians how he was faring, and at the same time asked of them, if by chance he were in the greater danger, that they would confess it to him: for he wished to confer with him about partitioning the kingdom, because he thought that his sister’s sons born from him ought to have a share of the kingdom.

5 Id medici non tacuerunt at ad Dionysium filium sermonem rettulerunt. Quo ille commotus, ne agendi esset Dioni potestas, patri soporem medicos dare coegit. Hoc aeger sumpto ut somno sopitus diem obiit supremum.

5 The physicians did not keep that quiet, but reported the conversation to Dionysius the son. Stirred by this, lest Dion should have the power of acting, he forced the physicians to administer soporific sleep to his father. Having taken this, the patient, as though lulled by sleep, met his final day.

[3] Tale initium fuit Dionis et Dionysii simultatis, eaque multis rebus aucta est. Sed tamen primis temporibus aliquamdiu simulata inter eos amicitia mansit. Cum Dion non desisteret obsecrare Dionysium, ut Platonem Athenis arcesseret et eius consiliis uteretur, ille, qui in aliqua re vellet patrem imitari, morem ei gessit.

[3] Such was the beginning of the feud between Dion and Dionysius, and it was augmented by many things. Yet in the first period, for some time, a feigned friendship remained between them. Since Dion did not cease to entreat Dionysius to summon Plato from Athens and to use his counsels, he—who wished in some respect to imitate his father—deferred to him.

2 Eodemque tempore Philistum historicum Syracusas reduxit, hominem amicum non magis tyranno quam tyrannidi. Sed de hoc in eo libro plura sunt exposita, qui de historicis Graecis conscriptus est.

2 And at the same time he brought back Philistus the historian to Syracuse, a man a friend not so much to the tyrant as to tyranny. But more about this is set forth in that book which has been composed on Greek historians.

3 Plato autem tantum apud Dionysium auctoritate potuit valuitque eloquentia, ut ei persuaserit tyrannidis facere finem libertatemque reddere Syracusanis; a qua voluntate Philisti consilio deterritus aliquanto crudelior esse coepit.

3 But Plato had such authority with Dionysius and so prevailed by eloquence that he persuaded him to make an end of the tyranny and to restore liberty to the Syracusans; from which intention, deterred by the counsel of Philistus, he began to be somewhat more cruel.

[4] Qui quidem cum a Dione se superari videret ingenio, auctoritate, amore populi, verens, ne, si eum secum haberet, aliquam occasionem sui daret opprimendi, navem ei triremem dedit, qua Corinthum deveheretur, ostendens se id utriusque facere causa, ne, cum inter se timerent, alteruter alterum praeoccuparet.

[4] He indeed, when he saw that he was being surpassed by Dion in ingenuity, authority, and the love of the people, fearing lest, if he had him with him, he might give some occasion for his being oppressed, gave him a trireme, by which he might be conveyed to Corinth, declaring that he did this for the sake of both, lest, since they feared one another, either should forestall the other.

2 Id cum factum multi indignarentur magnaeque esset invidiae tyranno, Dionysius omnia, quae moveri poterant Dionis, in navis imposuit ad eumque misit. Sic enim existimari volebat, id se non odio hominis, sed suae salutis fecisse causa.

2 When many were indignant that this had been done and it was a great odium to the tyrant, Dionysius put on board ships all of Dion’s possessions that could be moved and sent them to him. For he wished it to be thought thus, that he had done this not from hatred of the man, but for the sake of his own safety.

3 Postea vero quam audivit eum in Peloponneso manum comparare sibique bellum facere conari, Areten, Dionis uxorem, alii nuptum dedit filiumque eius sic educari iussit, ut indulgendo turpissimis imbueretur cupiditatibus.

3 Afterwards, when he heard that he, in the Peloponnesus, was collecting a force and trying to make war upon him, he gave Arete, Dion’s wife, in marriage to another, and ordered that his son be so educated that, by indulging him, he would be imbued with the most shameful desires.

4 Nam puero, priusquam pubes esset, scorta adducebantur, vino epulisque obruebatur, neque ullum tempus sobrio relinquebatur.

4 For the boy, before he was of puberty, harlots were brought in; he was overwhelmed with wine and banquets, and no time was left him sober.

5 Is usque eo vitae statum commutatum ferre non potuit, postquam in patriam rediit pater - namque appositi erant custodes, qui eum a pristino victu deducerent -, ut se de superiore parte aedium deiecerit atque ita interierit. Sed illuc revertor.

5 He could not bear the state of life so changed, after his father returned to the fatherland — for custodians had been set, to lead him away from his former mode of living — to the point that he threw himself from the upper part of the house and thus perished. But I return to that.

[5] Postquam Corinthum pervenit Dion et eodem perfugit Heraclides ab eodem expulsus Dionysio, qui praefectus fuerat equitum, omni ratione bellum comparare coeperunt.

[5] After Dion reached Corinth, and to the same place fled Heraclides—expelled by that same Dionysius, who had been prefect of the cavalry—they began to prepare for war by every method.

2 Sed non multum proficiebant, quod multorum annorum tyrannis magnarum opum putabatur. Quam ob causam pauci ad societatem periculi perducebantur.

2 But they were not advancing much, because the tyranny of many years was thought to be of great resources. For which cause, few were being brought to a partnership in peril.

3 Sed Dion, fretus non tam suis copiis quam odio tyranni, maximo animo duabus onerariis navibus quinquaginta annorum imperium, munitum quingentis longis navibus, decem equitum centumque peditum milibus, profectus oppugnatum quod omnibus gentibus admirabile est visum, adeo facile perculit, ut post diem tertium, quam Siciliam attigerat, Syracusas introierit. Ex quo intellegi potest nullum esse imperium tutum nisi benevolentia munitum.

3 But Dion, relying not so much on his own forces as on the hatred of the tyrant, with the greatest spirit, with two cargo-ships, set out to attack an imperium of fifty years’ standing, fortified with 500 long ships, 10 thousand horse and 100 thousand foot—a deed which seemed admirable to all nations—and he struck it down so easily that, on the third day after he had reached Sicily, he entered Syracuse. From which it can be understood that no dominion is safe unless fortified by goodwill.

4 Eo tempore aberat Dionysius et in Italia classem opperiebatur adversariorum, ratus neminem sine magnis copiis ad se venturum.

4 At that time Dionysius was absent and in Italy was awaiting the fleet of his adversaries, thinking that no one would come to him without great forces.

5 Quae res eum fefellit. Nam Dion iis ipsis, qui sub adversarii fuerant potestate, regios spiritus repressit totiusque eius partis Siciliae potitus est, quae sub Dionysii fuerat potestate, parique modo urbis Syracusarum praeter arcem et insulam adiunctam oppido,

5 This matter deceived him. For Dion, by means of those very men who had been under the adversary’s power, repressed the regal spirits and got possession of that whole part of Sicily which had been under Dionysius’s power, and in a like manner of the city of Syracuse, except the citadel and the island adjoining the town,

6 eoque rem perduxit, ut talibus pactionibus pacem tyrannus facere vellet: Siciliam Dion obtineret, Italiam Dionysius, Syracusas Apollocrates, cui maximam fidem uni habebat Dionysius.

6 and he brought the matter to this point, that the tyrant was willing to make peace on such terms: Dion should hold Sicily, Dionysius Italy, Apollocrates Syracuse, in whom alone Dionysius placed his greatest trust.

[6] Has tam prosperas tamque inopinatas res consecuta est subita commutatio, quod fortuna sua mobilitate, quem paulo ante extulerat, demergere est adorta.

[6] A sudden change followed these affairs so prosperous and so unexpected, since Fortune, by her mobility, set about to submerge him whom a little before she had lifted up.

2 Primum in filio, de quo commemoravi supra, suam vim exercuit. Nam cum uxorem reduxisset, quae alii fuerat tradita filiumque vellet revocare ad virtutem a perdita luxuria, accepit gravissimum parens vulnus morte filii.

2 First upon his son, of whom I have made mention above, Fortune exercised her force. For when he had taken back his wife—who had been handed over to another—and wished to recall his son to virtue from ruinous luxury, the parent received a most grievous wound in the death of his son.

3 Deinde orta dissensio est inter eum et Heraclidem; qui, quod ei principatum non concedebat, factionem comparavit. Neque is minus valebat apud optimates, quorum consensu praeerat classi, cum Dion exercitum pedestrem teneret.

3 Then a dissension arose between him and Heraclides; who, because he did not concede to him the primacy, organized a faction. Nor was he less powerful among the optimates, by whose consensus he was in command of the fleet, while Dion held the infantry force.

4 Non tulit hoc animo aequo Dion et versum illum Homeri rettulit ex secunda rhapsodia, in quo haec sententia est: non posse bene geri rem publicam multorum imperiis. Quod dictum magna invidia consecuta est. Namque aperuisse videbatur omnia in sua potestate esse velle.

4 Dion did not bear this with an even mind, and he cited that verse of Homer from the second rhapsody, in which this is the sententia: that a republic cannot be conducted well under the commands of many. This dictum was followed by great ill-will. For he seemed to have laid bare that he wished all things to be in his own power.

5 Hanc ille non lenire obsequio, sed acerbitate opprimere studuit Heraclidemque, cum Syracusas venisset, interficiundum curavit.

5 He did not seek to mitigate this by compliance, but to crush it by acerbity, and he arranged that Heraclides, when he had come to Syracuse, be put to death.

[7] Quod factum omnibus maximum timorem iniecit: nemo enim illo interfecto se tutum putabat. Ille autem adversario remoto licentius eorum bona, quos sciebat adversus se sensisse, militibus dispertivit.

[7] This deed injected the greatest fear into all: for with that man slain, no one thought himself safe. He, however, with his adversary removed, more licentiously distributed to the soldiers the goods of those whom he knew had felt adversarially against himself.

2 Quibus divisis, cum cotidiani maximi fierent sumptus, celeriter pecunia deesse coepit; neque, quo manus porrigeret, suppetebat nisi in amicorum possessiones. Id eiusmodi erat, ut, cum milites reconciliasset, amitteret optimates.

2 With these divided, since the daily expenses became very great, money quickly began to be lacking; nor was anything forthcoming, to which he might extend his hand, except into the estates of his friends. This was of such a kind that, when he had reconciled the soldiers, he would lose the optimates.

3 Quarum rerum cura frangebatur et insuetus male audiendi non animo aequo ferebat de se ab iis male existimari, quorum paulo ante in caelum fuerat elatus laudibus. Vulgus autem offensa in eum militum voluntate liberius loquebatur et tyrannum non ferendum dictitabat.

3 By the concern for these matters he was being crushed, and, unaccustomed to hearing ill, he did not with an even mind endure to be ill-judged about himself by those by whom a little before he had been lifted to heaven with praises. The populace, however, with the soldiers’ goodwill toward him having been offended, spoke more freely and kept calling him an intolerable tyrant.

[8] Haec ille intuens cum, quemadmodum sedaret, nesciret et, quorsum evaderent, timeret, Callicrates quidam, civis Atheniensis, qui simul cum eo ex Peloponneso in Siciliam venerat, homo et callidus et ad fraudem acutus, sine ulla religione ac fide, adit ad Dionem et ait:

[8] Observing these things, since he did not know how to calm them and feared to what outcome they would turn, a certain Callicrates, an Athenian citizen, who had come into Sicily together with him from the Peloponnese—a man both crafty and sharp for fraud, without any scruple or good faith—approaches Dion and says:

2 eum magno in periculo esse propter offensionem populi et odium militum, quod nullo modo evitare posset, nisi alicui suorum negotium daret, qui se simularet illi inimicum. Quem si invenisset idoneum, facile omnium animos cogniturum adversariosque sublaturum, quod inimici eius dissidenti suos sensus aperturi forent.

2 that he was in great danger on account of the offense of the populace and the hatred of the soldiers, which he could in no way avoid, unless he should give the business to someone of his own, who would feign himself an enemy to him. If he should find someone suitable, he would easily come to know the minds of all and remove the adversaries, because his enemies, supposing there was a dissension, would lay open their sentiments.

3 Tali consilio probato excepit has partes ipse Callicrates et se armat imprudentia Dionis; ad eum interficiundum socios conquirit, adversarios eius convenit, coniuratione confirmat.

3 With such a counsel approved, Callicrates himself took on this role and armed himself with Dion’s imprudence; to kill him he gathers associates, meets with his adversaries, and confirms it by a conspiracy.

4 Res, multis consciis quae gereretur, elata defertur ad Aristomachen, sororem Dionis, uxoremque Areten. Illae timore perterritae conveniunt, cuius de periculo timebant. At ille negat a Callicrate fieri sibi insidias, sed illa, quae agerentur, fieri praecepto suo.

4 The matter, being carried on with many conscious of it and brought to light, is reported to Aristomache, Dion’s sister, and to his wife Arete. They, thoroughly terrified with fear, go to meet him whose danger they dreaded. But he denies that ambushes are being laid for him by Callicrates, and says that those things which were being done were being done by his own precept.

5 Mulieres nihilo setius Callicratem in aedem Proserpinae deducunt ac iurare cogunt nihil ab illo periculi fore Dioni. Ille hac religione non modo non est deterritus, sed ad maturandum concitatus est, verens, ne prius consilium aperiretur suum quam conata perfecisset.

5 The women nonetheless lead Callicrates into the temple of Proserpina and compel him to swear that there would be no danger to Dion from him. He, by this religion (oath), was not only not deterred, but was stirred to hasten, fearing lest his plan be revealed before he had completed what he had undertaken.

[9] Hac mente proximo die festo, cum a conventu se remotum Dion domi teneret atque in conclavi edito recubuisset, consciis facinoris loca munitiora oppidi tradit, domum custodiis saepit, a foribus qui non discedant, certos praeficit:

[9] With this intention, on the next feast day, when Dion, keeping himself removed from the assembly, held himself at home and had reclined in an elevated chamber, he assigns to the accomplices of the deed the more fortified places of the town, encircles his house with guards, and sets certain men in charge at the doors, that they not depart:

2 navem triremem armatis ornat Philostratoque, fratri suo, tradit eamque in portu agitari iubet, ut si exercere remiges vellet, cogitans, si forte consiliis obstitisset fortuna, ut haberet, qua fugeret ad salutem.

2 he equips a trireme with armed men and hands it over to Philostratus, his brother, and orders it to be maneuvered in the harbor, as if he wished to exercise the rowers, thinking that, if perchance Fortune had opposed his counsels, he might have that by which he could flee to safety.

3 Suorum autem e numero Zacynthios adulescentes quosdam eligit, cum audacissimos tum viribus maximis, hisque dat negotium, ad Dionem eant inermes, sic ut conveniendi eius gratia viderentur venire.

3 Moreover, from the number of his own he selects certain Zacynthian young men, both the boldest and of the greatest strength, and gives them a commission to go to Dion unarmed, so that they might seem to be coming for the sake of meeting him.

4 Hi propter notitiam sunt intromissi. At illi, ut limen eius intrarant, foribus obseratis in lecto cubantem invadunt, colligant: fit strepitus, adeo ut exaudiri possit foris.

4 These, on account of acquaintance, were admitted. But they, as soon as they had crossed his threshold, with the doors bolted, rush upon him as he lies in bed, and bind him: a commotion arises, to such a degree that it could be heard outside.

5 Hic autem, sicut ante saepe dictum est, quam invisa sit singularis potentia et miseranda vita, qui se metui quam amari malunt, cuivis facile intellecta fuit.

5 Here, however, as has often been said before, it was easily understood by anyone how odious singular power is and how pitiable the life is of those who prefer to be feared rather than loved.

6 Namque illi ipsi custodes, si prompta fuissent voluntate, foribus effractis servare eum potuissent, quod illi inermes telum foris flagitantes vivum tenebant. Cui cum succurreret nemo, Lyco quidam Syracusanus per fenestras gladium dedit, quo Dion interfectus est.

6 For indeed those very guards themselves, if they had had a ready will, could have saved him by breaking open the doors, because those men, unarmed, begging for a weapon from outside, were holding him alive. As no one came to succor him, a certain Syracusan, Lyco, handed a sword through the windows, by which Dion was slain.

10] Confecta caede, cum multitudo visendi gratia introisset, nonnulli ab insciis pro noxiis conciduntur. Nam celeri rumore dilato, Dioni vim allatam, multi concurrerant, quibus tale facinus displicebat. Hi falsa suspicione ducti immerentes ut sceleratos occidunt.

10] The slaughter finished, when a multitude had entered for the sake of seeing, several are cut down by the uninformed as if guilty. For, with a swift rumor spread that violence had been brought upon Dion, many had run together, to whom such a deed was displeasing. These, led by false suspicion, kill the undeserving as though criminals.

2 Huius de morte ut palam factum est, mirabiliter vulgi mutata est voluntas. Nam qui vivum eum tyrannum vocitarant, eidem liberatorem patriae tyrannique expulsorem praedicabant. Sic subito misericordia odio successerat, ut eum suo sanguine ab Acherunte, si possent, cuperent redimere.

2 As soon as his death was made public, the will of the crowd was marvelously changed. For those who had been calling him a tyrant while alive were proclaiming this same man the liberator of the fatherland and the expeller of the tyrant. Thus suddenly mercy had succeeded to hatred, so that they wished, if they could, to ransom him from Acheron with their own blood.

3 Itaque in urbe celeberrimo loco, elatus publice, sepulcri monumento donatus est. Diem obiit circiter annos LV natus, quartum post annum, quam ex Peloponneso in Siciliam redierat.

3 Therefore, in the most celebrated place in the city, he was borne out publicly and was bestowed a sepulchral monument. He died at about 55 years of age, in the fourth year after he had returned from the Peloponnese to Sicily.