Timoleon

Plutarch

Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. VI. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1918.

but that not one of the Corinthians was killed or even wounded, this the good fortune of Timoleon showed to be her own work, vying emulously, as it were, with his valour, in order that those who hear his story may wonder at his happy successes more than at his laudable efforts.

For his fame not only filled at once all Sicily and Italy, but within a few days Greece echoed with his great success, so that the city of Corinth, which was in doubt whether his armament had got across the sea, heard at one and the same time that it had safely crossed, and that it was victorious.

So prosperous was the course of his enterprises, and such was the speed with which Fortune crowned the beauty of his achievements.

When he had become master of the citadel, he did not repeat the experience of Dion,[*](See the Dion, chapter liii. 1. ) nor did he spare the place on account of the beauty and great cost of its architecture, but guarding against the suspicions which had brought calumny and then destruction upon his predecessor, he made proclamation that all Syracusans who wished should come with implements of iron and help in the demolition of the tyrants’ bulwarks.

And when they had all come up, considering that day with its proclamation to be a most secure beginning of freedom, they overthrew and demolished, not only the citadel, but also the palaces and the tombs of the tyrants.

Then, as soon as he had levelled off the place, Timoleon built the courts of justice there, thus gratifying the citizens by making their democracy triumphant over tyranny.

But the city which he had taken had not citizens enough, since some had perished in their wars and seditions, while others had gone into exile from tyrannical governments. Indeed, for lack of population the market place of Syracuse had produced such a quantity of dense herbage that horses were pastured in it, while their grooms lay down in the grass;