that the young princes were extremely urgent with him to continue to preside in the administration, as he had hitherto done. However, the wise tutor, preferring the sweets of ease to the splendour of authority, and persuaded, at the same time, that it would be for the interest of the state, if the young princes took the government into their own hands, resolved to retire from business. Hiero died after having reigned eleven years. III. Thrasybulus. He was succeeded by Thrasybulus his brother, who, by his evil conduct, contributed very much to the making him be regretted. Swelled with pride and a brutal haughtiness, he considered men as mere worms; vainly fancying they were created for him to trample upon, and that he was of a quite different nature from them. He abandoned himself implicitly to the flattering counsels of the giddy young courtiers who surrounded him. He treated all his subjects with the utmost severity; banishing some, confiscating the possessions of others, and putting great numbers to death. So severe a slavery soon grew insupportable to the Syracusans, and therefore they implored the succour of the neighbouring cities, whose interest it was also to throw off the tyrant's yoke. Thrasybulus was besieged even in Syracuse, the sovereignty of part of which he had reserved to himself, viz. Achradina, and the island, which was very well fortified; but the third quarter of the city, called Tyche, was possessed by the enemy. After making a feeble resistance, and demanding to capitulate, he left the city, and withdrew into banishment among the Locrians. He had reigned but a year. In this manner the Syracusans recovered their liberty. They also delivered the rest of the cities of Sicily from tyrants; established a popular government in all places, and maintained that form by themselves during threescore years, till the reign of Dionysius the tyrant, who again enslaved them. A. M. 3544. After Sicily had been delivered from the goAnt. J C. 460. vernment of tyrants, and all the cities of it were restored to their liberty; as the country was extremely fruitful in itself, and the peace which all places enjoyed gave the inhabitants of this island an opportunity of cultivating their lands, and feeding their flocks; the people grew very powerful, and amassed great riches. To perpetuate to latest posterity the remembrance of the happy day in which they had thrown off the yoke of slavery, by the banishment of Thrasybulus, it was decreed in the general assembly of the nation, that a colossal statue should be set up to Jupiter the Deliverer; that on the anniversary of this day a festival should be solemnized, • Diod. 1. xi. p. 51, 52. Ibid. p. 55, &c. by way of thanksgiving, for the restoration of their liberty: and that there should be sacrificed, in honour of the gods, 450 bulls, with which the people should be entertained at a common feast. There nevertheless lay concealed in the minds of many, a certain secret leaven of tyranny, which frequently disturbed the harmony of this peace, and occasioned several tumults and commotions in Sicily, the particulars of which I shall omit. To prevent the evil consequences of them," the Syracusans established the Petalism, which differed very little from the Athenian Ostracism; and was so called from the Greek Téradov, signifying a leaf, because the votes were then given on an oliveleaf. This judgment was put in force against those citizens whose great power made the people apprehensive that they aspired at the tyranny, and it banished them for ten years; however, it did not long continue in force, and was soon abolished; because the dread of falling under its censure, having prompted the most virtuous men to retire, and renounce the government, the chief employments were now filled by such citizens only as had the least merit. Deucetius, according to Diodorus,* was chief over the people who were properly called Sicilians. Having united all (the inhabitants of Hybla excepted) into one body, he became very powerful, and formed several great enterprises. It was he who built the city Palica, near the temple of the gods called Palici. This temple was very famous on account of some wonders which are related of it; and still more from the sacred nature of the oaths which were then taken, the violation whereof was said to be always followed by a sudden and exemplary punishment. This was a secure asylum for all persons who were oppressed by superior power; and especially for slaves who were unjustly abused, or too cruelly treated by their masters. They continued in safety in this temple, till certain arbiters and mediators had made their peace; and there was not a single instance of a master's having ever broken the promise he had made of pardoning his slaves; so famous were the gods who presided over this temple, for the severe vengeance they took on those who violated their oaths. This Deucetius, after having been successful on a great many occasions, and gained several victories, particularly over the Syracusans, saw his fortune change on a sudden by the loss of a battle, and was abandoned by the greatest part of his forces. In the consternation and despondency into which so general and sudden a desertion threw him, he formed such a resolution as despair only could suggest. He withdrew in the night to Syracuse, advanced so far as the great square of the city, and there falling prostrate at the foot of the altar, abandoned his Diod. 1. xi. p. 65. x Ibid. p. 67-70. life and dominions to the mercy of the Syracusans, that is, to his professed enemies. The singularity of this spectacle attracted great numbers of people. The magistrates immediately convened the people, and debated on the affair. They first heard the orators, whose business was generally to address the people with great violence; and these animated them against Deucetius, as a public enemy, whom providence seemed to throw into their way, to revenge and punish, by his death, all the injuries he had done the republic. A speech of this tendency struck all the virtuous part of the assembly with horror. The most ancient and wisest of the senators represented, That they were not now to consider what punishment Deucetius deserved, but how it behoved the Syracusans to act on that occasion; that they ought not to look upon him any longer as an enemy, but as a suppliant, a character by which his person was become sacred and inviolable. That there was a goddess (Nemesis) who took vengeance of crimes, especially of cruelty and impiety, who doubtless would not suffer that to go unpunished: that besides the baseness and inhumanity there is in insulting the unfortunate, and in crushing those who are already under one's foot; it was worthy the grandeur and good-nature of the Syracusans, to exert their clemency even to those who least deserved it. All the people came into this opinion, and with one consent spared Deucetius's life. He was ordered to reside in Corinth, the mother city and foundress of Syracuse; and the Syracusans engaged to furnish Deucetius with all things necessary for his subsisting honourably there. What reader, who compares these two different opinions, does not perceive which of them was the noblest and most generous! SECT. II. Of some famous persons and cities in Græcia Magna. Pythagoras, Charondas, A. M. 3480. Ant. J. C. 524. I. Pythagoras. In treating of what relates to Græcia Magna in Italy, I must not omit Pythagoras, who was the glory of it. He was born in Samos. After having travelled into a great many regions, and enriched his mind with much uncommon and excellent learning, he returned to his native country, but did not make a long stay in it, because of the tyrannical government which Polycrates had established in it, who however had the highest regard for him, and showed him all the esteem due to his rare merit. But the study of the sciences, and particularly of philosophy, is by no means compatible with slavery, though of the mildest and most y Diog. Laert. in vit. Pythag. honourable kind. He therefore went into Italy, and resided usually either at Crotona, Metapontum, Heraclea, or Tarentum. Servius Tullius," or Tarquinius Superhus, reigned in Rome at that time; which absolutely refutes the opinion of those who imagined that Numa Pompilius, the second king of the Romans, who lived upwards of 100 years before, had been Pythagoras's disciple; an opinion that very probably was grounded on the resemblance of their manners, disposition, and principles. The whole country soon felt very happy effects from the presence of this excellent philosopher. An inclination for study, and a love of wisdom, diffused themselves almost universally in a very short time. Multitudes flocked from all the neighbouring cities to get a sight of Pythagoras, to hear him, and to profit by his salutary counsels. The several princes of the country took a pleasure in inviting him to their courts, which they thought honoured by his presence; and all were delighted with his conversation, and glad to learn from him the art of governing nations with wisdom. His school became the most famous that had ever been till that age. He had no less than 4 or 500 disciples. Before he admitted them in that quality, he kept them in a state of noviciate, as it were, and probation for five years, during which time he obliged them to keep the strictest silence; thinking it proper for them to be instructed, before they should attempt to speak. It is well known that the metempsychosis or transmigration of souls was one of the chief of his tenets. His disciples had the greatest reverence for every word he uttered; and, if he did but barely aver a thing, that alone, without farther examination, was sufficient to gain credit to his assertion and to confirm the truth of any thing, they used to express themselves in this manner, The master said it. However, the disciples carried their deference and docility too far, in thus waving all inquiry, and in sacrificing implicitly their reason and understanding; a sacrifice that is due only to the divine authority, which is infinitely superior to our reason and all our knowledge; and which, consequently, is authorized to prescribe laws to us, and dictate absolute obedience. The school of Pythagoras bred a great number of illustrious disciples, who did infinite honour to their master; as wise legislators, great politicians, persons skilled in all the sciences, and capable of governing states, and being the ministers of the greatest princes. A long time after his death, that part of z Liv. 1. i. n. 18. • Pythagoras, cùm in Italiam venisset, exornavit eam Græciam, quæ magna dicta est, et privatim et publicè, præstantissimis et institutis, et artibus. Cic. Tuscul. Quæst. 1. v. n. 10. * Αὐτὸς ἔφα. C Pythagoras tenuit magnam illam Græciam cum honore, et disciplinâ, tum etiam auctoritate, multaque secula postea sic viguit Pythagoreorum nomen, ut nulli alii docti viderentur. Tusc. Quæst. 1. i. n. 38. Italy which he had cultivated and improved by his instructions, was still considered as the nursery and seat of men skilled in all kinds of literature, and maintained that glorious character for several ages. The Romans certainly entertained a high opinion of Pythagoras's virtue and merit, since the oracle of Delphi having commanded that people, during the war with the Samnites, to erect two statues in the most conspicuous part of Rome, the one to the wisest, and the other to the most valiant among the Greeks, they accordingly set up two in the place where the Comitia were held, representing Pythagoras and Themistocles. We have no certain information with respect to the time and place of Pythagoras's death. A. M. 3295. Ant. J. C. 709. II. Crotona. Sybaris. Thurium. e Crotona was founded by Myscellus, chief of the Achæans, the third year of the seventeenth Olympiad. This Myscellus being come to Delphi to consult the oracle of Apollo about the spot on which he should build his city, met Archias the Corinthian there, who was arrived upon the same account. The god gave them a favourable audience and after having determined them with regard to the place that would best suit their new settlements, he proposed different advantages to them, and left them, among other particulars, the choice of riches or health. The offer of riches struck Archias, but Myscellus desired health; and, if history is to be credited, Apollo performed his promise faithfully to both. Archias founded Syracuse, which soon became the most opulent city of Greece. Myscellus laid the foundations of Crotona,f which became so famous for the long life and innate strength of its inhabitants, that its name was used proverbially to signify a very healthy spot, whose air was extremely pure. The natives of this city signalized themselves in a great number of victories in the Grecian games; and Strabo relates that, in one and the same Olympiad, seven Crotonians were crowned in the Olympic games, and carried off all the prizes of the stadium. Sybaris was ten leagues (200 stadia) from Crotona, and had also been founded by the Achæans, but before the other. This city became afterwards very powerful. Four neighbouring states, and twenty-five cities, were subject to it, so that it was alone able to raise an army of 300,000 men. The opulence of Sybaris was soon followed by luxury, and such a dissoluteness of manners as is scarcely credible. The citizens employed themselves in nothing but banquets, games, shows, d Plin. l. xxxiv. c. 6. eStrab. 1. vi. p. 262 et 269. Dionys. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. 1. ii. p. 1 Κρότωνος ὑγιέστερος. 121. s Strab. 1. vi. p. 263. Athen. 1. xii. p. 518–520. |
