Timoleon

Timoleon of Corinth. Without doubt this man stood out as great in the judgement of all. For to him alone it fell — what perhaps to none other — both to free his country, in which he was born, oppressed by a tyrant, and to drive from the Syracusans, to whom he had been sent as a helper, an already long-established servitude, and to restore to its former state, by his coming, all Sicily, which for many years had been harassed by war and oppressed by barbarians. But in these matters he struggled with no simple fortune, and — what is reckoned the harder — he bore prosperity much more wisely than adversity. For when his brother Timophanes, chosen leader by the Corinthians, had seized the tyranny by means of mercenary soldiers, and Timoleon himself might have been a partner in the rule, he was so far from a share in the crime that he set the liberty of his fellow-citizens above his brother's life, and thought it better to obey the laws than to rule his country. With this mind, through a soothsayer and a common kinsman by marriage, to whom a sister born of the same parents had been wedded, he saw to it that his brother the tyrant was put to death. He himself not only laid no hand upon him, but was unwilling even to look upon a brother's blood. For while the deed was being done, he was at a distance, on guard, lest any attendant could come to the rescue. This most glorious deed of his was not approved by all in like manner: for some thought that natural affection had been wronged by him, and out of envy belittled the praise of his valour. His mother indeed, after that deed, neither admitted her son into her house nor looked upon him, but, cursing him as a fratricide and impious, reviled him. By these things he was so moved that sometimes he wished to make an end of his life and to withdraw by death from the sight of ungrateful men.

Meanwhile, Dion having been slain at Syracuse, Dionysius once more gained possession of Syracuse. His adversaries sought help of the Corinthians and demanded a leader whom they might employ in the war. Timoleon, sent thither, with incredible good fortune drove Dionysius out of all Sicily. Though he could have killed him, he was unwilling, and saw to it that he reached Corinth safely, because the Corinthians had often been aided by the resources of both the Dionysii, and he wished the memory of that kindness to survive; and he counted that a glorious victory in which there should be more of clemency than of cruelty; lastly, that it might not only be received by the ears but also discerned by the eyes from how great a kingdom and to what fortune he had brought him. After the departure of Dionysius he warred with Hicetas, who had been an adversary of Dionysius: that he had differed from him not out of hatred of tyranny but out of ambition was made plain by the fact that he himself, when Dionysius had been driven out, was unwilling to lay down his command. Hicetas being overcome, Timoleon routed the greatest forces of the Carthaginians at the river Crimisus and forced them to be content if it were allowed them to hold Africa — they who had now for several years held possession of Sicily. He also captured Mamercus, an Italian leader, a man warlike and powerful, who had come into Sicily to aid the tyrants.

These things accomplished, when, on account of the long duration of the war, he saw not only the regions but even the cities deserted, he sought out whom he could, first Sicilians, then he summoned colonists from Corinth, because by them Syracuse had at the first been founded. To the old citizens he restored their own; to the new he divided the possessions left empty by war; he repaired the overthrown walls of the cities and the unroofed temples; to the states he gave back laws and liberty: from a most grievous war he procured such peace for the whole island that he seemed the founder of those cities, rather than those who had at the first established them. The citadel at Syracuse, which Dionysius had fortified to hold the city in subjection, he tore down from its foundations, and demolished the other bulwarks of tyranny, and took pains that as few traces of slavery as possible should remain. Although he was of such power that he could have ruled even the unwilling, and had so great a love of all the Sicilians that, with none opposing, he might have held the kingship, yet he preferred to be loved rather than feared. And so, as soon as he could, he laid down his command and lived as a private man at Syracuse for the remainder of his life. Nor indeed did he do this unskilfully: for what other kings could effect by power, he held by good will. No honour was wanting to him, nor was any public matter afterwards transacted at Syracuse concerning which a decree was passed before the opinion of Timoleon had been learned. No man's counsel was ever not only set before his, but not even compared with it. And this came about no more by his good will than by his prudence.

When he was now advanced in age, without any sickness he lost the light of his eyes. This calamity he bore so moderately that no one ever heard him complain, nor did he the less take part in private and public affairs. He came to the theatre, when there a council of the people was held, conveyed on account of his ill-health in a vehicle drawn by yoked beasts, and so from the carriage spoke what seemed good. Nor did anyone impute this to him as arrogance: for nothing ever, either insolent or boastful, came from his mouth. And he indeed, when he heard his own praises proclaimed, never said anything else than that in this matter he gave most thanks and was most grateful to the gods, because, when they had resolved to restore Sicily, they had especially willed that he should be the leader. For he thought that nothing of human affairs is carried on without the divine will; and so in his own house he had set up a shrine to Automatia (Chance) and worshipped it most reverently.

To this surpassing goodness of the man marvellous strokes of fortune had been added. For he fought all his greatest battles on his own birthday, by which it came about that all Sicily kept his birthday as a festival. When a certain Laphystius, an insolent and ungrateful man, wished to serve a summons upon him, because he said he would proceed against him at law, and many had run together who tried to check the man's effrontery by force, Timoleon begged them not to do so. For it was to make this possible to Laphystius and to anyone he wished that he had undertaken the greatest toils and faced the utmost perils. For this was the very form of liberty: if it were permitted to all to seek their rights by law in whatever they wished. The same man, when one like Laphystius, named Demaenetus, in an assembly of the people had begun to disparage his exploits and inveighed somewhat against Timoleon, said that now at last he was discharged of his vow: for this he had always prayed of the immortal gods, that he might restore to the Syracusans such liberty in which it should be permitted to anyone to say with impunity, of whomsoever he wished, whatever he wished. When he had met his last day, he was buried at public expense by the Syracusans in the gymnasium which is called the Timoleonteum, all Sicily attending.