s into his fortress, and saved Syracuse. He also
magnanimously pardoned Heraclides, and prosecuted the blockade of Ortygia,
and was again named general. Still Heraclides, who was allowed to command
the fleet, continued his intrigues, and frustrated the operations against
Dionysius. At last, Ortygia surrendered to Dion, who entered the fortress,
where he found his wife and sister, from whom he had been separated twelve
years. At first, Arete, his wife, who had consented to marry Timocrates,
was afraid to approach him, but he received her with the tenderest emotion
and affection. His son, however, soon after died, having fallen into the
drunken habits of Dionysius.

(M690) Dion was now master of Syracuse, and on the pinnacle of power. His
enterprise had succeeded against all probabilities. But prosperity, which
the Greeks were never able to bear, poisoned all his good qualities and
exaggerated his bad ones. He did not fall into the luxury of his
predecessors. He still wore the habit of a philosopher, and lived with
simplicity, but he made public mistakes. His manners, always haughty,
became repulsive. He despised popularity. He conferred no real liberty. He
retained his dictatorial power. He preserved the fortifications of
Ortygia. He did not meditate a permanent despotism, but meant to make
himself king, with a modified constitution, like that of Sparta. He had no
popular sympathies, and sought to make Syracuse, like Corinth, completely
oligarchial. He took no step to realize any measure of popular freedom,
and, above all, refused to demolish the fortress, behind whose
fortifications the tyrants of Syracuse had intrenched themselves in
danger. He also caused Heraclides to be privately assassinated, so that
the Syracusans began to hate him as cordially as they had hated Dionysius.
This unpopularity made him irritable, and suspicious and disquieted. A
conspiracy, headed by Callippus, put an end to his reign. He was slain by
the daggers of assassins. Thus perished one of the noblest of the Greeks,
but without sufficient virtue to bear success. His great defect was
inexperience in government, and it may be doubted whether Plato himself
could have preserved liberty in so corrupt a city as Syracuse. The
character of Dion also changed greatly by his banishment, since vindictive
sentiments were paramount in his soul. He had a splendid opportunity of
becoming a benefactor to his country, but this was thrown away, and
instead of gi