Dion

But Dionysius privily requested Pollis to kill Plato on the voyage, if it were in any way possible, but if not, at all events to sell him into slavery; for he would take no harm, but would be quite as happy, being a just man, even if he should become a slave.

Pollis, therefore, as we are told, carried Plato to Aegina and there sold him; for the Aeginetans were at war with the Athenians and had made a decree that any Athenian taken on the island should be put up for sale.

In spite of all this, Dion stood in no less honour and credit with Dionysius than before, but had the management of the most important embassies, as, for instance, when he was Bent to Carthage and won great admiration.

The tyrant also bore with his freedom of speech, and Dion was almost the only one who spoke his mind fearlessly, as, for example, when he rebuked Dionysius for what he said about Gelon. The tyrant was ridiculing the government of Gelon,[*](Gelon had been tyrant of Syracuse 485-478 B.C.) and when he said that Gelon himself, true to his name, became the laughing-stock (gelos) of Sicily, the rest of his hearers pretended to admire the joke, but Dion was disgusted and said: Indeed, thou art now tyrant because men trusted thee for Gelon’s sake; but no man hereafter will be trusted for thy sake.

For, as a matter of fact, Gelon seems to have made a city under absolute rule a very fair thing to look upon, but Dionysius a very shameful thing.