682 



DION CASSIUS DIONYSIUS. 



ten inches high, and bears a corymb of white flowers, 

 analogous in their structure to those of the sun-dew. 



DION CASSIUS, born about A. D. 155, at Nice, 

 in Bithynia, is sometimes called a Roman, because 

 he was made a Roman ritizt-n, and filled many hon- 

 ourable offices in Koine under 1'ertinax and his three 

 successors. He wrote the Roman history in eighty 

 books, of which only those from the thirty-sixth to 

 the fifiy-fotirlii arc extant complete ; the remainder 

 we have only in the epitome of Xijihilinus. It be- 

 gan with the arrival of ./Eneas in Italy, and extended 

 to A. D. 228. He devoted twenty-two years to this 

 work, in which the events are arranged chronologi- 

 cally, and gives an impartial account of those occur- 

 rences of which he was himself a witness. He often 

 exhibits, however, a spirit of jealousy towards great 

 men, and appears superstitious, flattering, and ser- 

 vile. His style is too rhetorical for history. 



DIONE ; the mother of Venus, who therefore bears 

 the surname of Dionaea, or is called by this name alone. 



DIONYSIA ; the same as Bacchanalia, from 

 Dionysos or Bacchus. See Bacchus. 



DIONYSIUS the Elder raised himself from a low 

 condition to the rank of general,and afterwards to that 

 of tyrant (i. e., ruler) of Syracuse (about 406 B. C. 

 The Agrigentuu's, who had escaped when Agrigen- 

 tum was taken by the Carthaginians, accused the Syr- 

 acusan generals of treachery. Dionysius supported 

 their complaints, and contrived that the enraged 

 people should choose other leaders, of whom he was 

 one. He soon found means to render his colleagues 

 suspected also, and to have himself appointed com- 

 mander-in-chief. In this post, it was no difficult 

 task for him, by the assistance of the troops, whom 

 he had drawn over to his interest, to make himself 

 master of the citadel of Syracuse, together with all 

 the arms and provisions contained in it, and finally 

 to declare himself king, at the age of twenty-five 

 years. The more firmly to establish his power, he 

 married the daughter of Hermocrates, whose family 

 was the most distinguished in Syracuse. After hav- 

 ing finished a short war against the Carthaginians, 

 and successfully quelled several seditions, in which 

 he reduced some other cities on the island under his 

 authority, he made preparations for a great war 

 against Carthage. The fortune of arms, which, in 

 the beginning, had favoured him, soon turned against 

 him. The Carthaginians had already laid siege to 

 Syracuse, when the plague made great ravages 

 among them. Dionysius, having just received a re- 

 inforcement of thirty ships, took advantage of the 

 discouraged state of the enemies, attacked them at 

 once by land and water, and gained a complete 

 victory, which was soon followed by an advan- 

 tageous peace. In his expeditions into Lower Italy, 

 he reduced the city of Rhegium by famine. After 

 another short war with Carthage, he lived some time 

 in peace, occupied with making verses, and imagin- 

 ing himself, in spite of the poorness of his produc- 

 tions, as great a luminary in the poetical, as in the 

 political world. Nay, he even ventured to contend 

 for the prize in the Olympic games, and sent for 

 that purpose a solemn embassy, accompanied by a 

 number of the best declaimers, to read his poems ; 

 but, with all their art, they were not able to prevent 

 the tents of Dionysius from being torn down and 

 plundered by the multitude. A second embassy, 

 which he sent four years afterwards, was received 

 still more unfavourably. He became almost distracted 

 at these disgraces, yet would not relinquish the 

 high opinion which he had conceived of his own 

 genius, and used to torture the poets and philo- 

 sophers of his time with reading his verses before 

 them. In -his bad humour, he commenced a new 

 war against the Cartliaginians, intending to drive 



them entirely out of Sicily. He did not, however, 

 succeed in this attempt, and was obliged to conclude 

 a disadvantageous peace. For this misfortune, he 

 was indemnified by the success of one of his trage- 

 dies at Athens. The news of this event filled him 

 with such immoderate joy, that he fell sick. At the 

 instigation of his son, the physicians administered to 

 him a fatal potion. Thus perished Dionysius, after 

 a reign of twenty-five years. 



DIONYSIUS the Younger succeeded his father, 

 Dionysius the Elder. For the purpose of recalling 

 him from the excesses to which he was addicted, 

 Dion (q. v.) directed his attention to the doctrines of 

 Plato, representing to him that this great philosopher 

 alone was able to teach him the art of government, 

 and the means of rendering his subjects happy. In 

 consequence of this advice, Dionysius invited Plato 

 to his court. The latter, complying with his urgent 

 invitations, succeeded in tempting him into the path 

 of virtue and knowledge, and in giving a new charac- 

 ter to his whole court. An opposite party, however, 

 headed by the historian Philistus, awakened the 

 king's suspicions against Dion, and caused his ban- 

 islunent. Plato in vain endeavoured to effect his re- 

 call, and, after having been long retained by force, 

 finally left Syracuse himself, when Dionysius Was en- 

 gaged in a war in another part of the island. After 

 Die restoration of peace, Plato, at the repeated re- 

 quest of the king, returned to his court, and again 

 endeavoured, though hi vain, to effect Dion's recall. 

 He therefore insisted upon his own dismissal. 

 Dionysius at last appeased him by promising to re- 

 store Dion his fortune, on condition that he would 

 undertake nothing against the throne. But he violat- 

 ed his promise, and Plato, after experiencing many 

 mortifications, finally left him. Dion then appeared, 

 and made himself master of the city of Syracuse, to 

 which Dionysius did not return until after the murder 

 of Dion. His misfortunes, however, had no other 

 effect than to render him more cruel. The first fami- 

 lies of the city fled from his tyranny. Meantime, the 

 Carthaginians commenced a new war with Syracuse, 

 and entered into a secret union with Icetas, whose 

 intention it was to make himself master of the city. 

 He, however, disguised his purpose, and even ap- 

 proved of the measure of calling upon Corinth for 

 assistance. Timoleon appeared with a fleet before 

 Syracuse, and expelled, not only the enemies, but also 

 the tyrant. Dionysius, who had surrendered himself, 

 was carried to Corinth, where he gained a scanty living 

 by giving lessons in grammar, and died in the con- 

 tempt which he had brought upon himself by his 

 excesses. 



DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, in Caria, a learn- 

 ed critic and teacher of eloquence, went to Rome 

 about thirty B. C., where, for the instruction of his 

 countrymen, he wrote his Roman Antiquities, hi 

 twenty books, in which he relates the early history 

 of Rome, and its government up to the times of the 

 first Punic war. We have the eleven first books of 

 this work, and some fragments of the others. His 

 residence in Rome during twenty-two years, his in- 

 tercourse with the most learned Romans, and his 

 knowledge of the ancient annalists, render him very 

 important to the critical historian, though he has 

 given his own colouring to the Roman traditions. 

 Dionysius is also valuable as a critical and rhetorical 

 writer. It is difficult to pronounce, however, on the 

 genuineness of the writings attributed to him in tliis 

 department, without a critical examination. The 

 Rhetoric (Schott, Leips., 1804), for instance, be- 

 longs only in part to Dionysius, and probably re- 

 ceived its present form in the third century, A.D. 



DIONYSIUS the Areopagite (i. e., one of the 

 judges of the Areopagus, at Atheas), converted to 



