SECT. I. The Birth and Infancy of Philip. Beginning of his Reign. His firft Conquefs. The II. The Sacred War. Sequel of the Hiftory of III. Demofthenes, upon Philip's attempting Ther- mopyle, harangues the Athenians, and ani- mates them against that Prince. Little Re- gard is paid to his Oration. Olynthus, upon the Point of being befieged by Philip, ad- dreffes the Athenians for Succour. Demof- thenes endeavours, by his Orations, to rouse them out of their Lethargy, They send but a very weak Succour, and Philip at length IV. Philip declares in Favour of Thebes against the Phocæans, and thereby engages in the Sacred War. He lulls the Athenians, not- withstanding the Remonftrances of Demof- thenes into Security, by a pretended Peace and falfe Promifes. He feizes on Thermo- pylæ, fubjects the Phocæans, and puts an End to the Sacred War. He is admitted into the Council of the Amphyctions V. Philip being returned to Macedonia, extends his Conquefts into Illyria and Thrace. He projects a league with the Thebans, the Meffenians, and the Argives, to invade Pe- loponnefus in concert with them. Athens declaring in Favour of the Lacedæmonians, this League is diffolved. He again attempts Euboea, but Phocion drives him out of it. Character of that celebrated Athenian. Philip befieges Perinthus and Byzantium. Page Cities, under the Conduct of Phocion, who forces him to raise the Siege of thofe Places 290 SECT. VI. Philip, by his Intrigues, gets himself ap- pointed Generaliffimo of the Greeks, in the Council of the Amphyctions. He poffeffes himself of Elatea. The Athe- nians and Thebans, alarmed at the Con- queft of this City, unite against Philip. He makes Overtures of Peace, which, upon the Remonftrances of Demofthenes, are rejected. A Battle is fought at Che- ronæa, where Philip gains a fignal Vic- tory. Demofthenes is accufed and brought to a Trial by Æfchines. The latter is banished and goes to Rhodes VII. Philip, in the Affembly of the AmphyЯtions, is declared General of the Greeks against the Perfians, and prepares for that Ex- pedition. Domeftic Troubles in his Houfehold. He divorces Olympias, and marries another Lady. He folemnizes the Marriage of Cleopatra his Daugh- THE HISTORY OF DIONYSIUS THE ELDER AND YOUNGER, TYRANTS OF SYRACUSE. SY YRACUSE had regained its liberty about fixty years, by the expulfion of the family of Gelon. The events which paffed in that interval, except the invafion of the Athenians, are of no great importance, and little known; but those which follow are of a dif ferent nature, and make amends for the chafm; I mean the reigns of Dionyfius the father and fon, tyrants of Syracufe; the first of whom governed thirty-eight, and the other twelve, in all fifty years. As this hiftory is entirely foreign to what paffed in Greece at the fame time, I fhall relate it in this place altogether and by itfelf; obferving only that the first twenty years of it, upon which I am now entering, agree alinoft in point of time with the laft twenty of the preceding volume. * The history will prefent to our view a feries of the most odious and horrid crimes, though it abounds, at *After having been expelled for more than ten years, he reafcended the throne, and reigned two or three years. B VOL. V. the the fame time with inftruction. When on the one fide we behold a prince, the declared enemy of liberty, juftice, and laws, treading under his feet the most facred rights of nature and religion, inflicting the most cruel torments upon his fubjects, beheading fome, burning others for a flight word, delighting and feafting himfelf with human blood, and gratifying his favage inhumanity with the fufferings and miferies of every age and condition: I fay, when we behold fuch an object, can we deny a truth, which the pagan world itfelf hath confeffed, and Plutarch takes occasion to obferve in speaking of the tyrants of Sicily; that God in his anger gives fuch princes to a people, and makes ufe of the impious and the wicked to punish the guilty and the criminal. On the other fide, when the fame prince, the dread and terror of Syracufe, is perpetually anxious and trembling for his own life, and, abandoned to remorfe and regret, can find no perfon in his whole ftate, not even his wives or children, in whom he can confide; who will not think with Tacitus, + That it is not without reafon the oracle of wisdom has declared that if the hearts of tyrants could be feen, we fhould find them torn in pieces with a thousand evils; it being certain, that the body does not fuffer more from inflictions and torments, than the minds of fuch wretches from their crimes, cruelties, and the injuftice and violence of their proceedings. The condition of a good prince is quite different. He loves his people, and is beloved by them, he enjoys a perfect tranquillity within himfelf, and lives with his fubjects as a father with his children. Though he knows that the fword of juftice is in his hands, he ap *Erit Dionyfius illic tyrannus libertatis, juftitiæ, legum exitium Alios uret, alius verberabit, alios ob levem offenfam jubebit detruncari. SENEC. de confol. ad Marc. c. xvii. Sanguine humano non tantùm gaudet, fed pafcitur; fed et fuppliciis omnium ætatum crudelitatem infatiabilem explet. Id. de Benef. 1. vii. c. 19. + Neque fruftra præftantiffimus fapientice firmare folitus eft, fi recludantur tyrannorum mentes, poffe afpici lamiatus et ictus; quando, ut corpora verberibus, ita fævitia, libidine, malis confultis animus dilaceraretur. TACIT. Annal. 1. vi. c. 6. prehends prehends the use of it. He loves to turn afide its edge, and can never refolve to evidence his power, but with extreme reluctance, in the last extremity, and with all the forms and fanction of the * laws. A týránt punishes only from caprice and paffion; and believes, fays Plutarch upon Dionyfius, that he is not really + master, and does not act with fupreme authority, but as he fets himself above all laws, has no other but his will and pleasure, and fees himself obeyed implicitly. Whereas, continues the fame author, he that can do whatever he will, is in great danger of doing what he ought not. Befides thefe characteristics of cruelty and tyranny, which particularly distinguish the first Dionyfius, we fhall fee in his hiftory, whatever unbounded ambition, fustained by great valour, extenfive abilities, and the neceffary talents for acquiring the confidence of a people, is capable of undertaking for the attainment of fovereignty; the various means he had the addrefs to employ for the maintaining himself in it against the oppofition of his enemies, and the odium of the public; and lastly, the tyrant's fuccefs in efcaping, during a reign of thirty-eight years, the many confpiracies formed against him, and in tranfmitting peaceably the tyranny to his fon, as a legitimate poffeffion, and a right of inheritance. * Hæc eft in maxima poteftate veriffima animi temperantia, non cupiditate aliqua, non temeritate incendi; non priorum principum exemplis corruptum, quantum in cives fuos liceat, experiendo tentare; fed hebetare aciem imperii fuiQuid intereft inter tyrannum et regem, (fpecies enim ipfa fortune ac licentia par eft nifi quod tyranni in voluptate fa viunt, reges non nifi ex caufa et neceffitate ? SENEC. de Clem. lib. i. c. 11. + Εφη απολαύειν μάλιςα της αρχής στην ταχίως α βαλεται ποιή. Meyes αν ο κίνδυνος βαλέσθαι α μη δει, τον α βελεύται ποιειν δυνάμενον. Ad. Princ. indoct. p. 7 782. |