s, much
of her former maritime power, and succeeded in retaking the Chersonese.
But another great character now arises to our view--Philip of Macedon, who
succeeded in overturning the liberties of Greece. But before we present
his career, that of Dionysius of Syracuse, demands a brief notice, and the
great power of Sicily, as a Grecian State, during his life.

CHAPTER XXIII.

DIONYSIUS AND SICILY.

We have already seen how the Athenian fleet was destroyed at the siege of
Syracuse, where Nicias and Demosthenes were so lamentably defeated, which
defeat resulted in the humiliation of Athens and the loss of her power as
the leading State of Greece.

The destruction of this great Athenian armament in September, B.C. 413,
created an intoxication of triumph in the Sicilian cities. Nearly all of
them had joined Syracuse, except Naxos and Catana, which sided with
Athens. Agrigentum was neutral.

(M654) The Syracusans were too much exhausted by the contest to push their
victory to the loss of the independence of these cities, but they assisted
their allies, the Lacedaemonians, with twenty triremes against Athens,
under Hermocrates, while Rhodes furnished a still further re-enforcement,
under Dorieus. But the Peloponnesian war was not finished as soon as the
Syracusans anticipated. Even the combined Peloponnesian and Syracusan
fleets sustained two defeats in the Hellespont. The battle of Cyxicus was
even still more calamitous, since the Spartan admiral Mindarus was slain,
and the whole of his fleet was captured and destroyed. The Syracusans
suffered much by this latter defeat, and all their triremes were burned to
prevent them falling into the hands of their enemies, and the seamen were
left destitute on the Propontis, in the satrapy of Pharnabazus. These
adverse events led to the disgrace of Hermocrates, who stimulated the
movement and promised what he could not perform. But his conduct had been
good, and his treatment was unjust and harsh. War recognizes only success,
whatever may be the virtues and talents of the commanders; and this is one
of the worst phases of war, when accident and circumstances contribute
more to military rewards than genius itself.

(M655) The banishment of Hermocrates was followed by the triumph of the
democratical party, and Diocles, an influential citizen, was named, with a
commission of ten, to revise the constitution and the laws. The laws of
Diocles did