Timoleon

Among these were Timoleon the Corinthian and Aemilius Paulus, whose Lives I have now undertaken to lay before my readers;

the men were alike not only in the good principles which they adopted, but also in the good fortune which they enjoyed in their conduct of affairs,

and they will make it hard for my readers to decide whether the greatest of their successful achievements were due to their good fortune or their wisdom.[*](In the MSS. this Introduction stands as the first chapter of the Aemilius Paulus.)

The state of affairs in Syracuse, before the expedition of Timoleon into Sicily, was as follows.

After Dion had driven out Dionysius the tyrant, he was at once treacherously slain,[*](See the Dion, chapter lvii. This was in 354 B.C.) and those who had helped him to free Syracuse were divided among themselves. The city, therefore, was continually exchanging one tyrant for another, and owing to a multitude of ills was almost abandoned,