History. SYRACUSE. 35. Route. 293
who, notwithstanding his army of 15,000 mercenaries, was banished from
the city. A Democracy was now established. In the conflicts with the Si¬
kelian prince Ducetius and the Acragantines the army of Syracuse main¬
tained its superiority, but the city was enfeebled by subsequent dissensions
between the original Syracusans and the inhabitants transplanted thither
from the towns destroyed by Gelon and Hiero. Petalismus here took the
place of the Athenian ostracism. Syracuse was reduced to great extremities
by the Athenians, especially when in 414, under Nicias and Lamachus (who
soon fell), they stormed the Epipolfe, and almost entirely surrounded the
city with a double wall, extending from the Trogilus to the great harbour.
The Lacedaemonian Gylippus, however, saved the city, which gradually re¬
covered strength and gafVied possession of the Ptemmyrion, the promontory
situated at the entrance to the harbour opposite Ortygia, and occupied
by Nicias. Once more, indeed, the nautical skill of the Athenians enabled
them to overpower the Syracusan fleet off the harbour , and they erected a
trophy on the small island of La Galera below Plemmyrion ; but this was
their last success. In another naval battle the Syracusans were victorious,
and the arrival of Demosthenes with auxiliaries ameliorated the position of
the Athenians only temporarily. An impetuous attack made by him on the
Syracusan intrenchments was repulsed in a fierce struggle during the night.
Disease broke out among the Athenians . and their misfortunes were aggra¬
vated by dissensions among their generals. The retreat was finally deter¬
mined on, but was frustrated by an eclipse of the moon (Aug. 27th, 413).
The Syracusans then resolved to endeavour to annihilate their enemy. They
were again victorious in a naval battle and enclosed their harbour by a
series of vessels, anchored and connected by chains, across the entrance,
8 stadia (1 SI.) in width. And now the decisive naval battle approached.
The two land-armies were stationed on the bank of the harbour and en¬
couraged the combatants by loud shouts , whilst the fluctuating tide of suc¬
cess elicited alternate expressions of joy and grief, resembling the surging
of a dramatic chorus , which has been so graphically described by Thucy-
dides. The Athenians were overpowered. On the following day the crews
refused to attempt again to force a passage, and on the third day the uetreat
was commenced by land in the direction of the interior of the island. At
Floridia, however, the pass was obstructed and the ill-fated Athenians were
compelled to return to the coast. Here they were overtaken by the Syracu¬
sans. Demosthenes with 6000 men was compelled to surrender, and afler a
fearful struggle on the Asmaros, near Xoto , Xicias met with the same fate.
But few escaped. The generals were executed and the prisoners languished
for 8 months in the Latomiae, after which the survivors were sold as slaves,
with the exception of a few who are said to have been set at liberty on
account of their skill in reciting the verses of Euripides. "Thus it happe¬
ned", says Thucydides, "that this event was the most important which betel
the Greeks during this war (the Peloponnesian), or indeed in any other in
Greek history which is known to us."
A few years after the deliverance of the city from these extremities the
Carthaginians overran the island. This new and imminent danger was the
occasion of the rise of Dionysius I., who presided over the fortunes of the
city with great ability from 406 to 367. Himilcn. who besieged the city
from the Plemmyrium and the Olympieum, was fortunately driven away by
o pestilence. Dionysius then chastised the allies of the Carthaginians and
fortified, extended and embellished the city so greatly as to merit the title
of its "second founder". He converted the island of Ortygia into the seat
of government, there erecting temples, treasuries , arsenals and forts. His
son Dionysius II. possessed the vices without the virtues of his father. In
356 he was banished bv his uncle Dion, and again on his return to the city
bv Timoleon in 343. The latter re established the tottering state and intro¬
duced 40,000 new colonists. He appointed Amphipolus, priest of Zeus Olym-
pius . and 1000 senators to conduct the government, but after his death in
336 this constitution was unable to maintain itself. The tyrant Agalhocles
from Thermae (Termini) usurped the supreme power in 31 ( and retained it
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