A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. A son of Dion, and grandson of the preceding, who fell into the power of the younger Dionysius, together with the wife and sister of Dion, when the latter quitted Sicily. He was still in the hands of the tyrant when he was shut up and besieged by Dion in the island citadel (B. C. 356), a circumstance of which Dionysius took advantage to endeavour to open secret negotiations with his adversary, but without effect. (Plut. Dio 31.) While in the power of the tyrant, Hipparinus had been purposely accustomed by him to dissolute and luxurious habits; of which Dion, as soon as he had become completely master of Syracuse, endeavoured to cure him by restraint and severity, but the boy, unable to endure the sudden change, threw himself from the roof of a house, and was killed on the spot. (Plut. Dio 55; Corn. Nep. Dion, 4, 6; Ael. VH 3.4.) According to Timacus (apud Plut. l.c.), his name was Aretaeus.