(), a Syracusan, son of Hipparinus. His father had
been from the first a constant friend and supporter of the elder Dionysius, who had
subsequently married his daughter Aristomache. These circumstances naturally brought Dion into
friendly relations with Dionysius, and the latter having conceived a high opinion of his
character and abilities, treated him with the greatest distinction, and employed him in many
services of the utmost trust and confidence. Among others he sent him on an embassy to the
Carthaginians, by whom he was received with the greatest distinction. (Plut. Dio 3-5; Corn. Nep. Dion, 1.)
Dion also married, during the lifetime of her father, Arete, the daughter of Dionysius by
Aristomache. Of this close connexion and favour with the tyrant he seems to have availed
himself to amass great wealth, so that on the death of Dionysius he offered to equip and
maintain 50 triremes at his own cost to assist in the war against Carthage. (Plut. Dio 6.) He made no opposition to the succession of the younger
Dionysius to all his father's power, but his near relationship to the sons of the latter by
his wife Aristomache, as well as his dangerous pre-eminence in wealth and influence, rendered
him an object of suspicion and jealousy to the youthful tyrant, to whom he also made himself
personally disagreeable by the austerity of his manners. Dion appears to have been naturally a
man of a proud and stern character, and having become an ardent disciple of Plato when that
philosopher visited Syracuse in the reign of the elder Dionysius, he carried to excess the
austerity of a philosopher, and viewed with undisguised contempt the debaucheries and
dissolute pleasures of his nephew. From these he endeavoured to withdraw him by persuading him
to invite Plato a second time to Syracuse; but the philosopher, though received at first with
the utmost distinction, filed in obtaining a permanent hold on the mind of Dionysius; and the
intrigues of the opposite party, headed by Philistus, were successful in procuring the
banishment of Dion. (Plut. Dio 7_14; Corn. Nep. Dion, 3, 4; Diod.
16.6.) The circumstances attending this are variously reported, but it seems to have
been at first merely an honourable exile, and he was allowed to receive the produce of his
vast wealth. According to Plutarch, he retired to Athens, where he lived in habitual
intercourse with Plato and his disciples, at times also visiting the other cities of Greece,
and displaying his magnificence on all public occasions. But Plato having failed in procuring
his recall (for which purpose he had a third time visited Syracuse), and Dionysius having at
length confiscated his property and compelled his wife to marry another person, he finally
determined on attempting the expulsion of the tyrant by force. (Plut.
Dio 15-21; Pseud._Plat. Epist.6;
but compare Diod. 16.6.)
His knowledge of the general unpopularity of Dionysius and the disaffection of his subjects
encouraged him to undertake this with forces apparently very insufficient. Very few of the
numerous Syracusan exiles then in Greece could be induced to join him, and he sailed from
Zacynthus with only two merchant ships and less than 1000 mercenary troops. The
absence of Dionysius and of his chief supporter Philistus, who were both in Italy at the time,
favoured his enterprise ; he landed at Minoa in the Carthaginian territory, and being speedily
joined by volunteers from all parts, advanced without opposition to Syracuse, which he entered
in triumph, the whole city being abandoned by the forces of Dionysius, except the citadel on
the island. (Diod. 16.9, 10; Plut. Dio 22_28.) Dion and his brother
Megacles were now appointed by the Syracusans generals-in-chief, and they proceeded to invest
the citadel. Dionysius meanwhile returned, but having failed in a sally from the island, his
overtures for peace being rejected, and Philistus, on whom he mainly depended, having been
defeated and slain in a seafight, he determined to quit the city, and sailed away to Italy,
leaving his son Apollocrates with a mercenary force in charge of the citadel. (B. C. 356.) But dissensions now broke out among the besiegers :
Heracleides, who had lately arrived from the Peloponnese with a reinforcement of triremes, and
had been appointed commander of the Syracusan fleet, sought to undermine the power of Dion;
and the latter, whose mercenary troops were discontented for want of pay, withdrew with them
to Leontini. The disasters of the Syracusans, however, arising from the incapacity of their
new leaders, soon led to the recall of Dion, who was appointed sole general autocrator. Not
long after, Apollocrates was compelled by famine to surrender the citadel. (Diod. 16.11_13, 16-20 ; Plut. Dio 29-50.)
Dion was now sole master of Syracuse : whether he intended, as he was accused by his
enemies, to retain the sovereign power in his own hands, or to establish an oligarchy with the
assistance of the Corinthians, as asserted by Plutarch, we have no means of judging; but his
government seems to have been virtually despotic enough. He caused his chief opponent,
Heracleides, to be put to death, and confiscated the property of his adversaries ; but these
measures only aggravated the discontent, which seems to have spread even to his own immediate
followers. One of them, Callippus, an Athenian who had accompanied him from Greece, was
induced by his increasing unpopularity to form a conspiracy against him, and having gained
over some of his Zacynthian guards, caused him to be assassinated in his own house, B. C. 353. (Plut. Dio 52-57; Corn. Nep. Dion, 6_9; Diod. 16.31.) According to Cornelius Nepos, he was about 55 years old at the time of
his death.
There can be no doubt that the character of Dion has been immoderately praised by some
ancient writers, especially by Plutarch. It is admitted even by his admirers that he was a man
of a harsh and unyielding disposition, qualities which would easily degenerate into despotism
when he found himself at the head of affairs. Even if he was sincere in the first instance in
his intention of restoring liberty to Syracuse, he seems to have afterwards abandoned the
idea, and there can be little doubt that the complaints of the people, that they had only
exchanged one tyrant for another, were well founded. (Plutarch, Dion ;
comp. Timol.c. P. Aemil. 2; Athen. 11.508e.)