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previous: XVI.40‑65 This webpage reproduces a portion of The Library of History of Diodorus Siculus published in Vol. VIII of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1963 The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: XVII.1‑16

(Vol. VIII) Diodorus Siculus
Library of History

Book XVI, 66‑95 (end)

 p23  66 1 When Eubulus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Fabius and Servius Sulpicius.​1 In this year Timoleon the Corinthian, who had been chosen by his fellow-citizens to command in Syracuse, made ready for his expedition to Sicily. 2 He enrolled seven hundred mercenaries and, putting his men aboard four triremes and three fast-sailing ships, set sail from Corinth. As he coasted along he picked up three additional ships from the Leucadians and the Corcyraeans, and so with ten ships he crossed the Ionian Gulf.2

3 During this voyage, a peculiar and strange event  p25 happened to Timoleon. Heaven came to the support of his venture and foretold his coming fame and the glory of his achievements, for all through the night he was preceded by a torch blazing in the sky up to the moment when the squadron made harbour in Italy. 4 Now Timoleon had heard already in Corinth from the priestesses of Demeter and Persephonê​3 that, while they slept, the goddesses had told them that they would accompany Timoleon on his voyage to their sacred island. 5 He and his companions were, in consequence, delighted, recognizing that the goddesses were in fact giving them their support. He dedicated his best ship to them, calling it "The Sacred Ship of Demeter and Persephonê."4

Encountering no hazards, the squadron put in at Metapontum in Italy, and so, shortly after, did a Carthaginian trireme also bringing Carthaginian ambassadors. 6 Accosting Timoleon, they warned him solemnly not to start a war or even to set foot in Sicily. But the people of Rhegium were calling him and promised to join him as allies, and so Timoleon quickly put out from Metapontum hoping to outstrip the report of his coming. 7 Since the Carthaginians controlled the seas, he was afraid that they would prevent his crossing over to Sicily. He was, then, hastily completing his passage to Rhegium.

67 1 Shortly before this, the Carthaginians on their part had come to see that there would be a serious war in Sicily and began making friendly representations to the cities in the island which were their allies. Renouncing their opposition to the tyrants  p27 throughout the island, they established friendship with them, and particularly they addressed themselves to Hicetas, the most powerful of these, because he had the Syracusans under his control.​5 2 They prepared and transported to Sicily a large sea and land force of their own, and appointed Hanno to the command as general. They had one hundred and fifty battle­ships, fifty thousand infantry, three hundred war chariots, over two thousand extra teams of horses,​6 and besides all this, armour and missiles of every description, numerous siege engines, and an enormous supply of food and other materials of war.

3 Advancing first on Entella, they devastated the countryside and blockaded the country people inside the city. The Campanians who occupied the city were alarmed at the odds against them and appealed for help to the other cities that were hostile to the Carthaginians. Of these, none responded except the city of Galeria. These people sent them a thousand hoplites, but the Phoenicians intercepted them, overwhelmed them with a large force, and cut them all down. 4 The Campanians who dwelt in Aetna were at first also ready to send reinforcements to Entella because of kinship, but when they heard of the disaster to the troops from Galeria, they decided to make no move.

68 1 Now at the time when Dionysius was still master  p29 of Syracuse, Hicetas had taken the field against it with a large force,​7 and at first constructing a stockaded camp at the Olympiaeum carried on war against the tyrant in the city, 2 but as the siege dragged on and provisions ran out, he started back to Leontini, for that was the city which served as his base. Dionysius set out in hot pursuit and overtook his rear, attacking it at once, 3 but Hicetas wheeled upon him, joined battle, and having slain more than three thousand of the mercenaries, put the rest to flight. Pursuing sharply and bursting into the city with the fugitives, he got possession of all Syracuse except the Island.8

Such was the situation as regards Hicetas and Dionysius.

4 Three days after the capture of Syracuse, Timoleon put in at Rhegium and anchored off the city.​9 The Carthaginians promptly turned up with twenty triremes, but the people of Rhegium helped Timoleon to escape the trap. 5 They called a general assembly in the city and staged a formal debate on the subject of a settlement. The Carthaginians expected that Timoleon would be prevailed upon to sail back to Corinth and kept a careless watch. He, however, giving no hint of an intention to slip away, remained close to the tribunal, but secretly ordered nine of his ships to put to sea immediately. 6 Then, while the Carthaginians concentrated their attention on the intentionally long-winded Rhegians, Timoleon stole  p31 away unnoticed to his remaining ship and quickly sailed out of the harbour. 7 The Carthaginians, though outmanoeuvred, set out in pursuit, but his fleet had gained a substantial lead, and as night fell it was able to reach Tauromenium before being overtaken. 8 Andromachus,​10 who was the leading man of this city and had constantly favoured the Syracusan cause, welcomed the fugitives hospitably and did much to ensure their safety.

9 Hicetas now put himself at the head of five thousand of his best soldiers and marched against the Adranitae, who were hostile to him, encamping near their city. Timoleon added to his force some soldiers from Tauromenium and marched out of that city, having all told no more than a thousand men. 10 Setting out at nightfall, he reached Adranum on the second day, and made a surprise attack on Hicetas's men while they were at dinner. Penetrating their defences he killed more than three hundred men, took about six hundred prisoners, and became master of the camp.​11 11 Capping this manoeuvre with another, he proceeded forthwith to Syracuse. Covering the distance at full speed, he fell on the city without  p33 warning, having made better time than those who were routed and fleeing.12

Such were the events that took place in this year.

69 1 When Lyciscus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius and Marcus Publius, and the one hundred and ninth Olympiad was celebrated, in which Aristolochus the Athenian won the foot-race.​13 In this year the first treaty was concluded between the Romans and the Carthaginians.​14 2 In Caria, Idrieus, the ruler of the Carians, died after ruling seven years, and Ada, his sister and wife, succeeding him, ruled for four years.15

3 In Sicily, Timoleon took the Adranitae and the Tyndaritae into his alliance and received not a few reinforcements from them. Great confusion reigned in Syracuse, where Dionysius held the Island, Hicetas Achradina and Neapolis, and Timoleon the rest of the city, while the Carthaginians had put in to the Great Harbour with a hundred and fifty triremes and encamped with fifty thousand men on the shore.​16 Timoleon and his men viewed the odds against them with dismay, but the prospect took a sudden and surprising change for the better. 4 First Marcus,​17 the  p35 tyrant of Catania, came over to Timoleon with a considerable army, and then many of the outlying Syracusan forts declared for him in a move to gain their independence. On top of all this, the Corinthians manned ten ships, supplied them with money, and dispatched them to Syracuse.​18 5 Thereupon Timoleon plucked up courage but the Carthaginians took alarm and unaccountably sailed out of the harbour, returning with all their forces to their own territory.​19 6 Hicetas was left isolated, while Timoleon victoriously occupied Syracuse.​20 Then he proceeded to recover Messana, which had gone over to the Carthaginians.21

Such was the state of affairs in Sicily.

7 In Macedonia, Philip had inherited from his father a quarrel with the Illyrians and found no means of reconciling the disagreement. He therefore invaded Illyria with a large force, devastatedº the countryside, captured many towns, and returned to Macedonia laden with booty.​22 8 Then he marched into Thessaly, and by expelling tyrants from the cities won over the Thessalians through gratitude. With them as his allies, he expected that the Greeks too would easily be won over also to his favour; and that is just what happened. The neighbouring Greeks straightway associated  p37 themselves with the decision of the Thessalians and became his enthusiastic allies.23

70 1 When Pythodotus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Plautius and Titus Manlius.​24 In this year​25 Timoleon frightened the tyrant Dionysius into surrendering the citadel, resigning his office and retiring under a safe-conduct to the Peloponnese, but retaining his private possessions. 2 Thus, through cowardice and meanness, he lost that celebrated tyranny which had been, as people said, bound with fetters of steel,​26 and spent the remaining years of his life in poverty at Corinth, furnishing in his life and misfortune an example to all who vaunt themselves unwisely on their successes. 3 He who had possessed four hundred triremes​27 arrived shortly after in Corinth in a small tub of a freighter,​28 conspicuously displaying the enormity of the change in his fortunes.

4 Timoleon took over the Island and the forts which had formerly belonged to Dionysius. He razed the citadel and the tyrant's palace on the Island, and restored the independence of the fortified towns. 5 Straightway he set to work on a new code of laws, converting the city into a democracy, and specified  p39 in exact detail the law of contracts and all such matters, paying special attention to equality.​29 6 He instituted also the annual office that is held in highest honour, which the Syracusans call the "amphipoly" of Zeus Olympius.​30 To this, the first priest elected was Callimenes, the son of Alcadas, and henceforth the Syracusans continued to designate the years by these officials down to the time of my writing this history and of the change in their form of government. For when the Romans shared their citizen­ship with the Greeks of Sicily, the office of these priests became insignificant, after having been important for over three hundred years.31

Such was the condition of affairs in Sicily.

71 1 In Macedonia, Philip conceived a plan to win over the Greek cities in Thrace to his side, and marched into that region.​32 Cersobleptes, who was the king of the Thracians, had been following a policy of reducing the Hellespontine cities bordering on his territory and of ravaging their territories. 2 With the aim of putting a stop to the barbarian attacks Philip moved against them with a large force. He overcame the Thracians in several battles and imposed on the conquered barbarians the payment of a tithe to the Macedonians, and by founding strong cities at key  p41 places made it impossible for the Thracians to commit any outrages in the future. So the Greek cities were freed from this fear and gladly joined Philip's alliance.

3 Theopompus of Chios, the historian, in his History of Philip, included three books dealing with affairs in Sicily.​33 Beginning with the tyranny of Dionysius the Elder he covered a period of fifty years, closing with the expulsion of the younger Dionysius. These three books are XLI‑XLIII.

72 1 When Sosigenes was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius and Marcus Gnaeus Publius.​34 In this year, Arymbas king of the Molossians died after a rule of ten years,​35 leaving a son Aeacides, Pyrrhus's father, but Alexander the brother of Olympias succeeded to the throne with the backing of Philip of Macedon.

2 In Sicily, Timoleon made an expedition against Leontini, for this was the city where Hicetas had taken refuge with a substantial army.​36 He launched an assault on the part called Neapolis, but since the soldiers in the city were numerous and had an advantage in fighting from the walls, he accomplished nothing and broke off the siege. 3 Passing on to the  p43 city Engyum, which was controlled by the tyrant Leptines,​37 he assailed it with repeated attacks in the hope of expelling Leptines and restoring to the city its freedom. 4 Taking advantage of his preoccupation, Hicetas led out his entire force and attempted to lay siege to Syracuse, but lost many of his men and hastily retreated back to Leontini. 5 Leptines was frightened into submission, and Timoleon shipped him off to the Peloponnese under a safe-conduct, giving the Greeks tangible evidence of the results of his programme of defeating and expelling tyrants.

The city of Apollonia had also been under Leptines. On taking it, Timoleon restored its autonomy as well as that of the city of Engyum.

73 1 Lacking funds to pay his mercenaries, he sent a thousand men with his best officers into the part of Sicily ruled by the Carthaginians.​38 They pillaged a large area, and, carrying off a large amount of plunder, delivered it to Timoleon. Selling this and realizing a large sum of money, he paid his mercenaries for a long term of service. 2 He took Entella also and, after putting to death the fifteen persons who were the strongest supporters of the Carthaginians, restored the rest to independence. As his strength and military reputation grew, all the Greek cities in Sicily began to submit themselves voluntarily to him, thanks to his policy of restoring to all their autonomy. Many too of the cities of the Sicels and the Sicanians and the rest who were subject to  p45 the Carthaginians approached him through embassies in a desire to be included in his alliance.

3 The Carthaginians recognized that their generals in Sicily were conducting the war in a spiritless manner and decided to send out new ones, together with heavy reinforcements.​39 Straightway they made a levy for the campaign from among their noblest citizens​40 and made suitable drafts among the Libyans. Furthermore, appropriating a large sum of money, they enlisted mercenaries from among the Iberians, Celts, and Ligurians.​41 They were occupied also with the construction of battle­ships. They assembled many freighters and manufactured other supplies in enormous quantities.

74 1 When Nicomachus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Marcius and Titus Manlius Torquatus.​42 In this year, Phocion the Athenian defeated and expelled Cleitarchus, the tyrant of Eretria who had been installed by Philip. 2 In Caria, Pizodarus,​43 the younger of the brothers, ousted Ada from her rule as dynast and held sway for five years until Alexander's crossing over into Asia.

Philip, whose fortunes were constantly on the increase, made an expedition against Perinthus, which had resisted him and inclined toward the Athenians.​44 He instituted a siege and advancing engines to the city assailed the walls in relays day after day. 3 He  p47 built towers eighty cubits high, which far overtopped the towers of Perinthus, and from a superior height kept wearing down the besieged. He rocked the walls with battering rams and undermined them with saps, and cast down a long stretch of the wall. The Perinthians fought stoutly in their own defence and quickly threw up a second wall; many admirable feats were performed in the open and on the fortifications. 4 Both sides displayed great determination. The king, for his part, rained destruction with numerous and varied catapults upon the men fighting steadfastly along the battlements, while the Perinthians, although their daily losses were heavy, received reinforcements of men, missiles, and artillery from Byzantium. 5 When they had again become a match for the enemy, they took courage and resolutely bore the brunt of battle for their homeland. Still the king persevered in his determination. He divided his forces into several divisions and with frequent reliefs kept up a continuous attack on the walls both day and night. He had thirty thousand men and a store of missiles and siege engines besides other machines in plenty, and kept up a steady pressure against the besieged people.

75 1 So the siege dragged on. The numbers mounted of dead and wounded in the city and provisions were running short. The capture of the city was imminent. Fortune, however, did not neglect the safety of those in danger but brought them an unexpected deliverance. Philip's growth to power had been reported in Asia, and the Persian king, viewing this power with alarm, wrote to his satraps on the  p49 coast to give all possible assistance to the Perinthians. 2 They consequently took counsel and sent off to Perinthus a force of mercenaries, ample funds, and sufficient stocks of food, missiles, and other materials required for operations.

Similarly the people of Byzantium also sent them their best officers and soldiers. So the armies were again well matched, and as the fighting was resumed, the siege was waged with supreme determination. 3 Philip constantly battered the walls with his rams, making breaches in them, and as his catapults cleared the battlements of defenders, he would at the same moment drive through the breached walls with his soldiers in close formation and assail with scaling ladders the portions of the walls which he had cleared. Then hand-to‑hand combat ensued and some were slain outright, others fell under many wounds. 4 The rewards of victory challenged the daring of the contestants, for the Macedonians hoped to have a wealthy city to sack and to be rewarded by Philip with gifts, the hope of profit steeling them against danger, while the Perinthians had before their eyes the horrors of capture and sustained with great courage the battle for their deliverance.

76 1 The natural setting of the city greatly aided the besieged Perinthians towards a decisive victory. It lies by the sea on a sort of high peninsula with an isthmus one furlong across, and its houses are packed close together and very high. 2 In their construction  p51 along the slope of the hill they overtop one another and thus give the city the general aspect of a theatre. In spite of the constant breaches in the fortifications, consequently, the Perinthians were not defeated, for they blocked up the alley-ways and utilized the lowest tier of houses each time as though it were a wall of defence. 3 When Philip with much labour and hard fighting mastered the city wall, he found that the houses afforded a stronger one, ready made by Fortune. Since, in addition, the city's every need was promptly met by supplies coming to Perinthus from Byzantium, he split his forces in two, and leaving one division under his best officers to continue the operations before Perinthus, marched himself with the other and, making a sudden attack on Byzantium, enclosed that city also in a tight siege. 4 Since their men and weapons and war equipment were all at Perinthus, the people of Byzantium found themselves seriously embarrassed.

Such was the situation at Perinthus and Byzantium.45

5 Ephorus of Cymê, the historian, closed his history at this point with the siege of Perinthus, having included in his work the deeds of both the Greeks and the barbarians from the time of the return of the Heracleidae. He covered a period of almost seven hundred and fifty years,​46 writing thirty books and  p53 prefacing each with an introduction. 6 Diyllus​47 the Athenian began the second section of his history with the close of Ephorus's and made a connected narrative of the history of Greeks and barbarians from that point to the death of Philip.48

77 1 When Theophrastus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius and Aulus Cornelius, and the one hundred and tenth Olympiad was celebrated, in which Anticles the Athenian won the foot-race.​49 2 In this year, seeing that Philip was besieging Byzantium, the Athenians voted that he had broken his treaty with them and promptly dispatched a formidable fleet to aid that city. Besides them, the Chians, Coans, Rhodians, and some others of the Greeks sent reinforcements also. 3 Philip was frightened by this joint action, broke off the siege of the two cities, and made a treaty of peace with the Athenians and the other Greeks who opposed him.50

4 In the west, the Carthaginians prepared great stores of war materials and transported their forces to Sicily.​51 They had all told, including the forces  p55 previously on the island, more than seventy thousand infantry; cavalry, war-chariots, and extra teams of horses amounting to not less than ten thousand; two hundred battle­ships; and more than a thousand freighters carrying the horses, weapons, food and everything else. 5 Timoleon was not daunted, however, although he learned the size of the hostile force while he himself was reduced to a handful of soldiers. He was still at war with Hicetas, but came to terms with him and took over his troops, thus materially increasing his own army.52

78 1 He decided to commence the struggle with the Carthaginians in their own territory so as to keep intact the land of his allies while wasting that which was subject that barbarians. 2 He assembled his mercenaries immediately, together with the Syracusans and his allies, called a general assembly, and encouraged his audience with appropriate words to face the decisive struggle. When all applauded and shouted, urging him to lead them immediately against the barbarians, he took the field with not more than twelve thousand men in all.53

3 He had reached the territory of Agrigentum when unexpected confusion and discord broke out in his army. One of his mercenaries named Thrasius, who had been with the Phocians when they plundered the shrine at Delphi and was remarkable for his mad recklessness, now perpetrated an act that matched  p57 his former outrages. 4 While almost all the rest who had participated in the sacrilege against the oracle had received from the deity their due punishment, as we reported a little earlier,​54 he who alone had eluded divine vengeance attempted to incite the mercenaries to desert. He said that Timoleon was out of his mind and was leading his men to certain destruction. 5 The Carthaginians were six times their number and were immeasurably superior in every sort of equipment, but Timoleon was nevertheless promising that they would win, gambling with the lives of the mercenaries whom for a long time because of lack of funds he had not even been able to pay. 6 Thrasius recommended that they should return to Syracuse and demand their pay, and not follow Timoleon any further on a hopeless campaign.

79 1 The mercenaries received his speech with enthusiasm and were on the point of mutiny, but Timoleon with some difficulty quieted the disturbance by urgent pleading and the offer of gifts. Even so, a thousand men did go off with Thrasius,​55 but he put off their punishment till a later time, and by writing to his friends in Syracuse to receive them kindly and to pay them their arrears he brought the unrest to an end, but also stripped the disobedient men of all credit for the victory. 2 With the rest, whose loyalty he had regained by tactful handling, he marched against the enemy who were encamped not far away. Calling an assembly of the troops, he encouraged them with an address, describing the  p59 cowardice of the Phoenicians and recalling the success of Gelon.56

3 Just at the moment when all as with one voice were clamouring to attack the barbarians and to begin the battle, it chanced that pack animals came carrying wild celery​57 for their bedding, and Timoleon declared that he accepted the omen of his victory, for the crown at the Isthmian games is woven of this. 4 On his suggestion, the soldiers plaited crowns out of celery and with their heads wreathed advanced cheerfully in the confidence that the god foretold their victory. 5 And that, as a matter of fact, is how it was, for unpredictably, incredible to tell, they got the better of the enemy not only through their own valour but also through the gods' specific assistance.

Timoleon deployed his forces and advanced down from a line of little hills to the river Crimisus,​58 where ten thousand of the enemy had already crossed. These he shattered at the first outset, taking his own position in the centre of his line.​59 6 There was a sharp fight, but as the Greeks were superior both in bravery and in skill, there was great slaughter of the barbarians. The rest began to flee, but the main body of the Carthaginians crossed the river in the mean time and restored the situation.

 p61  80 1 As the battle was renewed, the Phoenicians were overwhelming the Greeks with their superior numbers when, suddenly, from the heavens sheets of rain broke and a storm of great hailstones, while lightning flashed and thunder roared and the wind blew in fierce gusts. All of this tempest buffeted the backs of the Greeks but struck the faces of the barbarians, so that, though Timoleon's soldiers were not much inconvenienced by the affair, the Phoenicians could not stand the force of circumstances, and as the Greeks continued to attack them, they broke into flight.

2 As all sought the river together — horse and foot intermingled, while the chariots added to the confusion — some perished helplessly trodden under foot or pierced by the swords or lances of their comrades, while others were herded by Timoleon's cavalry into the bed of the river and were struck down from behind. Many died without an enemy's stroke as the bodies piled up in the panic. 3 There was crowding and it was difficult to keep one's feet in the stream. Worst of all, as the rain came down heavily, the river swept downstream as a raging torrent and carried the men with it, drowning them as they struggled to swim in their heavy armour.

4 In the end, even the Carthaginians who composed the Sacred Battalion,​60 twenty-five hundred in number and drawn from the ranks of those citizens who were distinguished for valour and reputation as well as for wealth, were all cut down after a gallant struggle. 5 In the other elements of their army, more than ten  p63 thousand soldiers were killed and no less than fifteen thousand were taken captive.​61 Most of the chariots were destroyed in the battle but two hundred were taken. The baggage train, with the draught animals and most of the wagons, fell into the hands of the Greeks. 6 Most of the armour was lost in the river, but a thousand breastplates and more than ten thousand shields were brought to the tent of Timoleon. Of these, some were dedicated later in the temples at Syracuse, some were distributed among the allies, and some were sent home by Timoleon to Corinth with instructions to dedicate them in the temple of Poseidon.62

81 1 The battle yielded a great store of wealth also, because the Carthaginians had with them an abundance of silver and gold drinking vessels; these, as well as the rest of the personal property which was very numerous because of the wealth of the Carthaginians, Timoleon allowed the soldiers to keep as rewards for their gallantry.​63 2 For their part, the Carthaginians who escaped from the battle made their way with difficulty to safety at Lilybaeum. Such consternation and terror possessed them that they did not dare embark in their ships and sail to Libya, persuaded that they would be swallowed up by the Libyan Sea because their gods had forsaken them.

3 In Carthage itself, when news of the extent of the disaster had come, all were crushed in spirit and took it for granted that Timoleon would come against  p65 them directly with his army. They wasted no time in recalling from exile Gisco​64 the son of Hanno and appointing him general, for they thought that he best combined the qualities of boldness and military skill. 4 They voted not to risk the lives of citizens in the future but to enlist foreign mercenaries, especially Greeks​65 who, they thought, would answer the call in large numbers because of the high rate of pay and the wealth of Carthage; and they sent skilled envoys to Sicily with instructions to make peace on whatever terms proved possible.

82 1 At the end of this year, Lysimachides became archon at Athens, and in Rome there were elected as consuls Quintus Servilius and Marcus Rutilius.​66 In this year, Timoleon returned to Syracuse and promptly expelled from the city as traitors all the mercenaries who had abandoned him under the leader­ship of Thrasius. 2 These crossed over into Italy, and coming upon a coastal town in Bruttium, sacked it. The Bruttians, incensed, immediately marched against them with a large army, stormed the place, and shot them all down with javelins.​67 Those who had abandoned Timoleon were rewarded by such misfortune for their own wickedness.

3 Timoleon himself seized and put to death Postumius the Etruscan,​68 who had been raiding sea traffic  p67 with twelve corsairs, and had put in at Syracuse as a friendly city. He received the new settlers sent out by the Corinthians kindly, to the number of five thousand. Then, when the Carthaginians sent envoys and pleaded with them urgently, he granted them peace on the terms that all the Greek cities should be free,​69 that the river Lycus​70 should be the boundary of their respective territories, and that the Carthaginians might not give aid to the tyrants who were at war with Syracuse.

4 After this, he concluded his war with Hicetas and put him to death,​71 and then attacked the Campanians in Aetna and wiped them out.​72 Likewise he overbore Nicodemus, tyrant of Centuripae, and ousted him from that city; and putting an end to the tyranny of Apolloniades in Agyrium​73 he gave Syracusan citizen­ship to its freed inhabitants. In a word, all of the tyrants throughout the island were uprooted and the cities were set free and taken into his alliance. 5 He made proclamation in Greece that the Syracusans would give land and houses to those who wished to come and share in their state, and many Greeks came to receive their allotments.​74 Ultimately forty thousand settlers were assigned to  p69 the vacant land of Syracuse and ten thousand to that of Agyrium, because of its extent and quality.

6 At this time, also, Timoleon revised the existing laws of Syracuse, which Diocles had composed.​75 Those concerning private contracts and inheritance he allowed to remain unaltered, but he amended those concerned with public affairs in whatever way seemed advantageous to his own concept. 7 Chairman and director of this legislative programme was Cephalus the Corinthian, a man distinguished for education and intelligence. When his hands were free of this matter, Timoleon transferred the people of Leontini to Syracuse, but sent additional settlers to Camarina and enlarged the city.

83 1 So, having established peaceful conditions everywhere throughout Sicily, he caused the cities to experience a vast growth of prosperity.​76 For many years, because of domestic troubles and border wars, and still more because of the numbers of tyrants who kept constantly appearing, the cities had become destitute of inhabitants and the open country had become a wilderness for lack of cultivation, producing no useful crops. But now new settlers streamed into the land in great numbers, and as a long period of peace set in, the fields were reclaimed for cultivation and bore abundant crops of all sorts. These the Siceliot Greeks sold to merchants at good prices and rapidly increased their wealth.

2 It was by reason of the funds so acquired that many  p71 large constructions were completed in that period. There was, first, the structure in Syracuse on the Island called the "Hall of the Sixty Couches," which surpassed all the other buildings of Sicily in size and grandeur.​77 This was built by Agathocles the despot, and since, in its pretentiousness, it went beyond the temples of the gods, so it received a mark of Heaven's displeasure in being struck by lightning. Then there were the towers along the shore of the Little Harbour with their mosaic inscriptions of varicoloured stones, proclaiming the name of their founder, Agathocles. Comparable to these but a little later, in the time of Hiero the king, there was built the Olympieium in the market and the altar beside the theatre, a stade in length and proportionally high and broad.78

3 Among the lesser cities is to be reckoned Agyrium, but since it shared in the increase of settlers due to this agricultural prosperity, it built the finest theatre in Sicily after that of Syracuse, together with temples of the gods, a council chamber, and a market. There were also memorable towers, as well as pyramidal monuments of architectural distinction marking graves, many and great.

84 1 When Charondes was archon at Athens, Lucius Aemilius and Gaius Plautius succeeded to the consul­ship.​79 In this year, Philip the king, having won most of the Greeks over to friendship with him, was  p73 ambitious to gain the uncontested leader­ship of Greece by terrifying the Athenians into submission.​80 2 Therefore he suddenly seized the city of Elateia, concentrated his forces there and adopted a policy of war with Athens. He expected to have no trouble in defeating them, since their reliance on the existing peace treaty​81 made them unprepared for hostilities; and that is how it worked out. For after Elateia had been occupied, persons came at night to Athens reporting the occupation and stating that Philip would march immediately into Attica with his army.​82 3 Taken aback by this unexpected development, the Athenian generals summoned the trumpeters and ordered them to keep blowing the alarm signal the whole night through.

The news spread into every household and the city was tense with terror, and at dawn the whole people flocked to the theatre even before the archons had made their customary proclamation. 4 When the generals came and introduced the messenger and he had told his story, silence and terror gripped the assembly and none of the usual speakers dared propose a course of action. Again and again the herald called for someone to speak for the common safety, but no one came forward with a proposal. 5 In utter perplexity and dismay, the crowd kept their eyes on Demosthenes. Finally he came down from his seat, and bidding the people take heart gave it as his opinion that they must straightway send envoys to Thebes  p75 and invite the Boeotians to join them to make a struggle for freedom. There was no time to send envoys to their other allies​83 invoking the treaties of alliance, since in two days the king could be expected to enter Attica. As his way led through Boeotia, the support of the Boeotians was their only recourse, especially since Philip was at that time the friend and ally of the Boeotians and would evidently try to take them along as he marched past to the war against Athens.

85 1 When the people accepted the proposal and the decree authorizing the embassy had been drafted by Demosthenes, they turned to the search for their most eloquent representative. Demosthenes willingly answered the call to service. He carried out the mission vigorously and returned to Athens at last having secured the adhesion of the Thebans.

Now that they had doubled their existing armed forces by the foreign alliance, the Athenians recovered their confidence. 2 At once they designated Chares and Lysicles as generals and sent forth their entire army under arms into Boeotia. All their youth reported eager for battle and advanced with forced marches as far as Chaeroneia in Boeotia. Impressed by the promptness of the Athenian arrival and themselves no less ready to act decisively, the Boeotians joined them with their weapons and, brigaded together, all awaited the approach of the enemy. 3 Philip's first move was to send envoys to the Boeotian  p77 League, the most eminent of whom was Pytho.​84 He was celebrated for his eloquence, but judged by the Boeotians in this contest for their allegiance against Demosthenes, he surpassed all the other speakers, to be sure, but was clearly inferior to him. 4 And Demosthenes himself in his speeches parades his success against this orator as a great accomplishment, where he says: "I did not then give ground before Pytho in spite of his confidence and his torrent of words against you."85

5 So Philip failed to get the support of the Boeotians, but nevertheless decided to fight both of the allies together. He waited for the last of his laggard confederates to arrive, and then marched into Boeotia. His forces came to more than thirty thousand infantry and no less than two thousand cavalry. 6 Both sides were on the edge for the battle, high-spirited and eager, and were well matched in courage, but the king had the advantage in numbers and in general­ship. 7 He had fought many battles of different sorts and had been victorious in most cases, so that he had a wide experience in military operations. On the Athenian side, the best of their generals were dead — Iphicrates, Chabrias, and Timotheüs too — and the best of those who were left, Chares, was no better than any average soldier in the energy and discretion required of a commander.86

 p79  86 1 The armies deployed​87 at dawn, and the king stationed his son Alexander, young in age but noted for his valour and swiftness of action, on one wing, placing beside him his most seasoned generals, while he himself at the head of picked men exercised the command over the other; individual units were stationed where the occasion required.​88 2 On the other side, dividing the line according to nationality, the Athenians assigned one wing to the Boeotians and kept command of the other themselves. Once joined, the battle was hotly contested for a long time and many fell on both sides, so that for a while the struggle permitted hopes of victory to both.

3 Then Alexander, his heart set on showing his father his prowess and yielding to none in will to win, ably seconded by his men, first succeeded in rupturing the solid front of the enemy line and striking down many he bore heavily on the troops opposite him. As the same success was won by his companions, gaps in the front were constantly opened. 4 Corpses piled up, until finally Alexander forced his way through the line and put his opponents to flight. Then the king also in person advanced, well in front and not conceding credit for the victory even to Alexander; he first forced back the troops stationed  p81 before him and then by compelling them to flee became the man responsible for the victory. 5 More than a thousand Athenians fell in the battle and no less than two thousand were captured. 6 Likewise, many of the Boeotians were killed and not a few taken prisoners. After the battle Philip raised a trophy of victory, yielded the dead for burial, gave sacrifices to the gods for victory, and rewarded according to their deserts those of his men who had distinguished themselves.

87 1 The story is told that in the drinking after dinner Philip downed a large amount of unmixed wine and forming with his friends a comus in celebration of the victory paraded through the midst of his captives, jeering all the time at the misfortunes of the luckless men.​89 Now Demades, the orator, who was then one of the captives, spoke out boldly​90 and made a remark able to curb the king's disgusting exhibition. 2 He is said to have remarked: "O King, when Fortune has cast you in the rôle of Agamemnon, are you not ashamed to act the part of Thersites?" Stung by this well-aimed shaft of rebuke, Philip altered his whole demeanour completely. He cast off his garland, brushed aside the symbols of pride that marked the comus, expressed admiration for the man who dared to speak so plainly, freed him from  p83 captivity and gave him a place in his own company with every mark of honour. 3 Addressed by Demades with Attic charm, he ended by releasing all of the Athenian prisoners without ransom and, altogether abandoning the arrogance of victory, sent envoys to the people of Athens and concluded with them a treaty of friendship and alliance. With the Boeotians heº concluded peace but maintained a garrison in Thebes.

88 1 After this defeat, the Athenians condemned to death the general Lysicles on the accusation of Lycurgus, the orator. Lycurgus had the highest repute of the politicians of his time, and since he had won praise for his conduct of the city's finances over a period of twelve​91 years and lived in general a life renowned for rectitude, he proved to be a very stern prosecutor. 2 One can judge of his character and austerity in the passage in his accusation where he says: "You were general, Lysicles. A thousand citizens have perished and two thousand were taken captive. A trophy stands over your city's defeat, and all of Greece is enslaved. All of this happened under your leader­ship and command, and yet you dare to live and to look on the sun and even to intrude into the market, a living monument of our country's shame and disgrace."

3 There was an odd coincidence in the period under review. At the same time as the battle took place at Chaeroneia, another battle occurred in Italy on the  p85 same day and at the same hour between the people of Tarentum and the Lucanians.​92 In the service of Tarentum was Archidamus, the Lacedaemonian king, and it happened that he was himself killed. 4 He had ruled the Lacedaemonians for twenty-three years; his son Agis succeeded to the throne and ruled for nine years.93

5 At this time, also, Timotheüs the tyrant of Heracleia-Pontica died after having been in power for fifteen years. His brother Dionysius succeeded to the tyranny and ruled for thirty-two years.94

89 1 When Phrynichus was archon at Athens, the Romans installed as consuls Titus Manlius Torquatus and Publius Decius.​95 In this year King Philip, proudly conscious of his victory at Chaeroneia and seeing that he had dashed the confidence of the leading Greek cities, conceived of the ambition to become the leader of all Greece. 2 He spread the word that he wanted to make war on the Persians in the Greeks' behalf and to punish them for the profanation of the temples,​96 and this won for him the loyal support of the Greeks. He showed a kindly face to all in private and in public, and he represented to the cities that he wished to discuss with them matters of common advantage. 3 A general congress was, accordingly, convened at Corinth. He spoke about the war against Persia and by raising great expectations won the  p87 representatives over to war. The Greeks elected him the general plenipotentiary of Greece, and he began accumulating supplies for the campaign. He prescribed the number of soldiers that each city should send for the joint effort, and then returned to Macedonia.

This was the state of affairs as regards Philip.

90 1 In Sicily, Timoleon the Corinthian died; he had put in order all the affairs of the Syracusans and the other Siceliot Greeks, and had been their general for eight years.​97 The Syracusans revered him greatly because of his ability and the extent of his services to them and gave him a magnificent funeral. As the body was borne out in the presence of all the people the following decree was proclaimed by that Demetrius who had the most powerful voice of all the criers of his time:​98 "The people of Syracuse have voted to bury this Timoleon son of Timaenetus, of Corinth, at a cost of two hundred minas, and to honour him to the end of time with musical, equestrian, and gymnastic games, because he destroyed the tyrants, defeated the barbarians, and resettled the mightiest of Greek cities, and so became the author of freedom for the Greeks of Sicily."

2 In this year, also, Ariobarzanes died after ruling for twenty-six years and Mithridates, succeeding him,  p89 ruled for thirty-five.​99 The Romans were victorious in a battle against the Latins and Campanians in the vicinity of Suessa and annexed part of the territory of the vanquished. Manlius, the consul who had won the victory, celebrated a triumph.100

91 1 When Pythodorus was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Publius and Tiberius Aemilius Mamercus, and the one hundred and eleventh celebration of the Olympic Games took place, in which Cleomantis of Cleitor won the foot-race.​101 2 In this year, King Philip, installed as leader by the Greeks, opened the war with Persia by sending into Asia as an advance party Attalus and Parmenion,​102 assigning to them a part of his forces and ordering them to liberate the Greek cities, while he himself, wanting to enter upon the war with the god's approval, asked the Pythia whether he would conquer the king of the Persians. She gave him the following response:

3 Now Philip found this response ambiguous but accepted it in a sense favourable to himself, namely that the oracle foretold that the Persian would be slaughtered like a sacrificial victim. Actually, however, it was not so, and it meant that Philip himself in the midst of a festival and holy sacrifices, like the  p91 bull, would be stabbed to death while decked with a garland. 4 In any event, he thought that the gods supported him and was very happy to think that Asia would be made captive under the hands of the Macedonians.

Straightway he set in motion plans for gorgeous sacrifices to the gods joined with the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra, whose mother was Olympias; he had given her in marriage to Alexander king of Epirus, Olympias' own brother.​104 5 He wanted as many Greeks as possible to take part in the festivities in honour of the gods, and so planned brilliant musical contests and lavish banquets for his friends and guests. 6 Out of all Greece he summoned his personal guest-friends and ordered the members of his court to bring along as many as they could of their acquaintances from abroad. He was determined to show himself to the Greeks as an amiable person and to respond to the honours conferred when he was appointed to the supreme command with appropriate entertainment.

92 1 So great numbers of people flocked together from all directions to the festival, and the games and the marriage were celebrated in Aegae in Macedonia.​a Not only did individual notables crown him with golden crowns but most of the important cities as well, and among them Athens. 2 As this award was being announced by the herald, he ended with the declaration that if anyone plotted against King Philip and fled to Athens for refuge, he would be delivered  p93 up.​105 The casual phrase seemed like an omen sent by Providence to let Philip know that a plot was coming. 3 There were other like words also spoken, seemingly divinely inspired, which forecast the king's death.

At the state banquet, Philip ordered the actor Neoptolemus, matchless in the power of his voice and in his popularity, to present some well-received pieces, particularly such as bore on the Persian campaign. The artist thought that his piece would be taken as appropriate to Philip's crossing and intended to rebuke the wealth of the Persian king, great and famous as it was, (suggesting) that it could some day be overturned by fortune. Here are the words that he first sang:

 p95  He continued with the rest of the song, all of it dealing with the same theme. 4 Philip was enchanted with the message and was completely occupied with the thought of the overthrow of the Persian king, for he remembered the Pythian oracle which bore the same meaning as the words quoted by the tragic actor.

5 Finally the drinking was over and the start of the games set for the following day. While it was still dark, the multitude of spectators hastened into the theatre and at sunrise the parade formed. Along with lavish display of every sort, Philip included in the procession statues of the twelve gods wrought with great artistry and adorned with a dazzling show of wealth to strike awe in the beholder, and along with these was conducted a thirteenth statue, suitable for a god, that of Philip himself, so that the king exhibited himself enthroned among the twelve gods.107

93 1 Every seat in the theatre was taken when Philip appeared wearing a white cloak, and by his express orders his bodyguard held away from him and followed only at a distance, since he wanted to show publicly that he was protected by the goodwill of all the Greeks, and had no need of a guard of spearmen.​108 2 Such was the pinnacle of success that he had attained, but as the praises and congratulations of all rang in his ears, suddenly without warning the plot against the king was revealed as death struck. 3 We shall set forth the reasons for this in order that our story may be clear.

There was a Macedonian Pausanias who came of a  p97 family from the district Orestis.​109 He was a bodyguard of the king and was beloved of him because of his beauty. 4 When he saw that the king was becoming enamoured of another Pausanias (a man of the same name as himself), he addressed him with abusive language, accusing him of being a hermaphrodite and prompt to accept the amorous advances of any who wished. 5 Unable to endure such an insult, the other kept silent for the time, but, after confiding to Attalus, one of his friends, what he proposed to do, he brought about his own death voluntarily and in a spectacular fashion. 6 For a few days after this, as Philip was engaged in battle with Pleurias, king of the Illyrians,​110 Pausanias stepped in front of him and, receiving on his body all the blows directed at the king, so met his death.

7 The incident was widely discussed and Attalus, who was a member of the court circle and influential with the king, invited the first Pausanias to dinner and when he had plied him till drunk with unmixed wine, handed his unconscious body over to the muleteers to abuse in drunken licentiousness. 8 So he presently recovered from his drunken stupor and, deeply resenting the outrage to his person, charged Attalus before the king with the outrage. Philip shared his anger at the barbarity of the act but did not wish to punish Attalus at that time because of their relation­ship, and because Attalus's services were needed urgently. 9 He was the nephew​111 of the Cleopatra  p99 whom the king had just married as a new wife and he had been selected as a general of the advanced force being sent into Asia, for he was a man valiant in battle. For these reasons, the king tried to mollify the righteous anger of Pausanias at his treatment, giving him substantial presents and advancing him in honour among his bodyguards.

94 1 Pausanias, nevertheless, nursed his wrath implacably,​112 and yearned to avenge himself, not only on the one who had done him wrong, but also on the one who failed to avenge him. In this design he was encouraged especially by the sophist Hermocrates.​113 He was his pupil, and when he asked in the course of his instruction how one might become most famous, the sophist replied that it would be by killing the one who had accomplished most, for just as long as he was remembered, so long his slayer would be remembered also. Pausanias connected this saying with his private resentment, and admitting no delay in his plans because of his grievance he determined to act under cover of the festival in the following manner. 2 He posted horses at the gates of the city and came to the entrance of the theatre carrying a Celtic dagger under his cloak. 3 When Philip directed his attending friends to precede him into the theatre, while the guards kept their distance, he saw that the king was  p101 left alone, rushed at him, pierced him through his ribs, and stretched him out dead;​114 then ran for the gates and the horses which he had prepared for his flight. 4 Immediately one group of the bodyguards hurried to the body of the king while the rest poured out in pursuit of the assassin; among these last were Leonnatus and Perdiccas and Attalus.​115 Having a good start, Pausanias would have mounted his horse before they could catch him had he not caught his boot in a vine and fallen. As he was scrambling to his feet, Perdiccas and the rest came up with him and killed him with their javelins.

95 1 Such was the end of Philip, who had made himself the greatest of the kings in Europe in his time, and because of the extent of his kingdom had made himself a throned companion of the twelve gods.116  p103 He had ruled twenty-four years. 2 He is known to fame as one who with but the slenderest resources to support his claim to a throne won for himself the greatest empire in the Greek world, while the growth of his position was not due so much to his prowess in arms as to his adroitness and cordiality in diplomacy. 3 Philip himself is said to have been prouder of his grasp of strategy and his diplomatic successes than of his valour in actual battle. 4 Every member of his army shared in the successes which were won in the field but he alone got credit for victories won through negotiation.117

5 Now that we have come to the death of Philip, we shall conclude this book here according to our original statement.​118 Beginning the next one with Alexander's accession as king we shall try to include all of his career in one book.

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The Loeb Editor's Notes:

1 Eubulus was archon from July 345 to June 344 B.C. Broughton (1.131) gives the consuls of 345 B.C. as M. Fabius Dorsuo and Servius Sulpicius Camerinus Rufus.

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2 The narrative is continued from chap. 65. There is a parallel but often differing account of these events in Plutarch, Timoleon, wherein (7.1‑3; 8.3) the ten ships are itemized as seven Corinthian, one Leucadian, and two Corcyraean. This distinction between triremes and "fast-sailing ships" is artificial.

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3 Plutarch, Timoleon, 8.1.

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4 Plutarch, Timoleon, 8.1, states that this dedication was made by Corinthians before the departure of the flotilla.

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5 This anticipates the action described in chap. 68, but according to Plutarch's account (Timoleon, 7.3; 9.2) Hicetas had become an ally of the Carthaginians even before Timoleon left Corinth.

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6 The charioteer receipts of P. Petrie, 2.25, dated in the 21st year of Ptolemy Philadelphius (265/4 B.C.), show that it was customary for chariots to be accompanied by spare horses, trained to work in pairs. This account of Carthaginian operations is not given by Plutarch.

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7 Plutarch, Timoleon, 1.3.

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8 Plutarch, Timoleon, 9.2.

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9 The same story is told by Plutarch, Timoleon, 9.2‑10.5.

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10 This was the father of the historian Timaeus, who may have been tyrant of the city, although Plutarch also (Timoleon, 10.4) describes his position by the same non-technical term as is used here.

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11 Plutarch, Timoleon, 12.3‑5, givesº the same figures for Hicetas's casualties but states that Timoleon had "no more than 1200 men," and adds that one faction in Adranum had invited him. It is possible that Timoleon's success in the surprise attack was due in part to the circumstance that Hicetas was fooled because he still regarded Timoleon as an ally (H. D. Westlake, Timoleon and his Relations with Tyrants (1952), 15 f.). Plutarch gives the road distance between Tauromenium and Adranum as three hundred and forty furlongs.

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12 According to Plutarch, Timoleon, 13.2‑3, Timoleon got his first foothold in Syracuse only when Dionysius voluntarily surrendered his holdings to him.

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13 Lyciscus was archon at Athens from July 344 to June 343 B.C. The Olympic Games were celebrated in mid-summer of 344 B.C. M. Valerius Corvus and M. Popilius Laenas were consuls in 348 B.C. (Broughton, 1.129).

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14 This treaty is mentioned also by Livy, 7.27.2, and Polybius, 3.24. Diodorus does not know of the earlier treaty given by Polybius, 3.22 (cp. H. M. Last, Cambridge Ancient History, 7 (1928), 859 f.; A. Aymard, Revue des Études Anciennes, 59 (1957), 277‑293).

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15 Continued from chap. 45.7.

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16 Plutarch, Timoleon, 17.2, gives the same number of ships, but 60,000 men. Tyndaris was a city on the north coast of Sicily •thirty miles from Tauromenium.

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17 Plutarch, Timoleon, 13.1, and elsewhere, calls him "Mamercus," and Diodorus's name may be due to a scribal error. On the other hand, as an Italian, Mamercus may well have borne the praenomen Marcus.

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18 According to Plutarch, Timoleon, 16.1‑2, the Corinthians sent 2000 hoplites and 200 cavalry to Thurii, but the force made its way to Sicily only somewhat later (Timoleon, 19).

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19 Plutarch, Timoleon, 20, tells a different and more circumstantial and picturesque account of the Carthaginian withdrawal.

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20 Plutarch, Timoleon, 21.3.

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21 Plutarch, Timoleon, 20.1, places this event earlier.

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22 This campaign may be the one referred to below, chap. 93.6. The narrative of Philip's activities continued from chap. 60.

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23 This operation continued earlier movements of Philip in Thessaly (chaps. 35.1; 38.1; 52.9). For Philip's relations with the tyrants of Pherae cp. H. D. Westlake, Thessaly in the Fourth Century B.C. (1935), 191‑193; Marta Sordi, La Lega Tessala fino adº Alessandro Magno (1958), 275‑293.

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24 Pythodotus was archon at Athens from July 343 to June 342 B.C. C. Plautius Venno and T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus were the consuls of 347 B.C. (Broughton, 1.130).

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25 Plutarch, Timoleon, 13.2‑5.

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26 This was an oft-quoted metaphor credited to the elder Dionysius; cp. above, chap. 5.4; Plutarch, Dion, 7.3 and 10.3.

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27 The same figure in chap. 9.2; Plutarch, Dion, 14. 2. Nepos, Dion, 5.3, mentions five hundred.

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28 This term is traceable to Theopompus (Polybius, 12.4a.2; Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, no. 115, F 341), where Timaeus used ναῦς.

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29 Plutarch, Timoleon, 22.1‑2; Nepos, Timoleon, 3.3.

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30 This priesthood is not mentioned by Plutarch, and may be a personal observation of Diodorus himself.

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31 This humbling of the amphipolate probably consisted in making it no longer eponymous; instead of a local priesthood, the Syracusans thereafter dated by the Roman consuls. The reference may be to the grant of jus Latii to the Sicilians by Caesar (by 44 B.C.: Cicero, Ad Atticum, 14.12.1), or to later grants by Augustus (A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman citizen­ship (1939), 175).

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32 Continued from chap. 69. Justin's account (9.1.1) of these operations is drawn from a source hostile to Philip.

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33 Similar references to literary figures are a recurring feature of Diodorus's narrative (E. Schwartz, Real-Encyclopädie, 5 (1905), 668 f.). Cp. also chap. 76.5‑6 below. These are usually, although not always, historians, and we must suppose that Diodorus was familiar with their writings. To what extent they are to be taken as his specific sources is unknown. Diodorus referred to the beginning of Theopompus's Philippica above, chap. 3.8.

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34 Sosigenes was archon at Athens from July 342 to June 341 B.C. The consuls of 346 B.C. were M. Valerius Corvus and C. Poetelius Libo Visolus (Broughton, 1.131).

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35 His accession is not mentioned by Diodorus under the year 351/0 B.C. Alexander's accession is otherwise known from Demosthenes, 7.32.

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36 Continued from chap. 70. Cp. Plutarch, Timoleon, 24.1‑2.

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37 Probably the Leptines mentioned in chap. 45.9, and probably the nephew of the elder Dionysius (T. Lenschau, Real-Encyclopädie, 12 (1925), 2073).

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38 Plutarch, Timoleon, 24.4; 25.2.

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39 Plutarch, Timoleon, 25.1.

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40 Plutarch, Timoleon, 27.3.

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41 Plutarch, Timoleon, 28.6, mentions Libyans, Iberians, and Numidians.

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42 Nicomachus was archon at Athens from July 341 to June 340 B.C. The consuls of 344 B.C. were C. Marcius Rutilius and T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus (Broughton, 1.132).

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43 Above, chap. 69.2.

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44 These events in Philip's career are barely noticed by Justin, 9.1.2‑5, and only casual references to them occur elsewhere.

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45 The sieges were given under the year 340/39 B.C. by Philochorus (Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, no. 328, T 54); they may well have extended over more than one archon year.

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46 Diodorus nowhere mentions the beginning of Ephorus's history, perhaps because it began as far back as his own. In chap. 14.3 he referred to its continuation by his son Demophilus. According to Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis, 1.139.4), Ephorus reckoned 735 years between the return of the Heracleidae and the archon­ship of Evaenetus, 335/4 B.C. On that basis, B. ten Brinck (Philologus, 6 (1851), 589) suggested correcting "fifty" here to "thirty."

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47 His history was referred to above, chap. 14.5.

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48 That is, Philip the son of Cassander, who died in 297/6 B.C.

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49 Theophrastus was archon at Athens from July 340 to June 339 B.C. The Olympic Games were celebrated in mid-summer of 340 B.C. Broughton (1.132) lists the consul of 343 B.C. as M. Valerius Corvus and A. Cornelius Cossus Arvina.

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50 This account of Diodorus differs from the presumably correct one given elsewhere, going back over Philochorus to Theopompus (in Didymus: Jacoby, Fragmente deer griechischen Historiker, no. 115, F 292). Byzantium was assisted by Chios, Cos, and Rhodes, her old allies in the Social War, as well as by the Persians. The Athenian fleet under Chares arrived only to ensure the safe passage of the grain fleet from the Black Sea. Philip's capture of this fleet was a major factor in Athens' decision to abrogate the peace treaty; the result was war, not peace. Cp. Demosthenes, 18 (De Corona) 87‑94; Plutarch, Phocion, 14.

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51 Continued from chap. 73. Plutarch, Timoleon, 25.1, gives the same figures, but fails to mention the cavalry and the chariots.

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52 Plutarch does not mention the support furnished Timoleon by Hicetas at this time.

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53 Plutarch, Timoleon, 25.2‑3, states that there were 3000 Syracusans and 4000 mercenaries, of whom 1000 deserted before the battle; the remainder were 5000 foot and 1000 horse.

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54 Chap. 58.6.

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55 Plutarch, Timoleon, 25.3‑4.

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56 That is, at the battle of Himera, 480 B.C. Polybius reproaches Timaeus for this placing in the mouth of Timoleon derogatory remarks concerning the Carthaginians, but not advancing proof that Timoleon did not actually speak in this way (12.26a; Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, no. 566, F 31).

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57 This was the apium graveolens which is also frequently called parsley. It is fragrant (cp. Olck, Real-Encyclopädie, 6 (1909), 255 f.). This anecdote was told by Timaeus (Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, no. 566, F 118) and appears in Plutarch, Timoleon, 26.

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58 The river is variously spelled Crimesus (Plutarch, Timoleon, 25.6)º and Crimissus (Nepos, Timoleon, 2.4).º

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59 The story of the battle is told more circumstantially in Plutarch, Timoleon, 27‑29. The time was just before the summer solstice of 339 B.C. (Plutarch, Timoleon, 27.1).

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60 This unit is mentioned again by Diodorus in another connection, Book 20.10.6.

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61 Plutarch, Timoleon, 28.5‑6, gives the number of dead as 10,000, including 3000 Carthaginians.

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62 Plutarch, Timoleon, 29.

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63 Plutarch, Timoleon, 30.1, states only that Timoleon allowed his mercenaries to plunder the territory of the Carthaginians (cp. chap. 73.1).

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64 Plutarch, Timoleon, 30.3.

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65 Plutarch, Timoleon, 30.3.

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66 Lysimachides was archon at Athens from July 339 to June 338 B.C. The consuls of 342 B.C. were Q. Servilius Ahala and C. Marcius Rutilus (Broughton, 1.133).

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67 Plutarch, Timoleon, 30.1‑2. Another group of the impious mercenaries is mentioned also in 30.4.

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68 This story does not appear in Plutarch.

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69 "Freedom" in Greek political terminology did not exclude the possibility of an over­lord, Carthage or Syracuse. Plutarch, Timoleon, 34.1, does not mention this feature of the treaty.

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70 Diodorus usually calls this river Halycus (Books  15.17.5; 23.9.5; 24.1.8).

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71 Plutarch, Timoleon, 31.2‑32. Since Timoleon had just accepted the aid of Hicetas against the Carthaginians (chap. 77.5), this change of policy suggests some duplicity on his part (Westlake, Timoleon and his Relations with Tyrants, 15 f.).

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72 This is not mentioned by Plutarch.

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73 This was Diodorus's own native city.

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74 Plutarch, Timoleon, 22.3‑5; 23 (where the invitation was issued when Timoleon first became master of Syracuse); 35. According to the historian Athanis, quoted by Plutarch (Timoleon, 23.4;º Jacoby, Fragm. der gr. Hist. no. 562, F 2), there were 60,000 who came. Cp. further Book 19.2.8.

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75 Cp. Book 13.33 and 35.

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76 Nepos, Timoleon, 3.1‑2. These observations are probably Diodorus's own, based on his personal experience and knowledge. Note the reference to his city, Agyrium, in chap. 83.3. Kokalos, 4 (1958) is devoted exclusively to articles concerned with the effect of Timoleon on Sicily.

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77 This was a great banqueting hall. Cp. the tent of one hundred couches employed by Alexander the Great (Book 17.16.4).

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78 These monuments are mentioned by Cicero, In Verrem, 2.4.53.

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79 Chaerondes was archon at Athens from July 338 to June 337 B.C. The consuls of 341 B.C. were L. Aemilius Mamercinus Privernas and C. Plautius Venno (Broughton, 1.134).

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80 Continued from chap. 77.3. These events are briefly noted in Justin, 9.3.

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81 This is consistent with Diodorus's statement in chap. 77.3, that peace was concluded on the abandonment of the siege of Byzantium. Actually, the situation seems to have been just the reverse: Athens denounced the peace of Philocrates at that time.

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82 This narrative follows and must ultimately derive from Demosthenes, 18 (De Corona) 169‑178.

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83 These are listed by Demosthenes (De Corona, 237) as Euboea, Achaia, Corinth, Megara, Leucas, and Corcyra. Aeschines (In Ctesiphontem, 97) mentions Acarnania also.

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84 The famous orator, a native of Byzantium, had long been in the service of Philip. Strabo (9.2.37) states that the Corinthians also sent troops.

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85 Demosthenes (De Corona, 136) refers to an early encounter between the two, which took place in Athens in 343 B.C.; cp. also De Halonneso, 20.

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86 Diodorus writes disparagingly of Chares also in Book 15.95.3. Here he has much compressed the narrative, since ten or eleven months elapsed between the occupation of Elateia and the battle of Chaeroneia.

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87 According to Plutarch, Camillus, 19.5, this was the 9th of Metageitnion, the second month of the Attic year, which began after the summer solstice; so perhaps 4th August, since a new moon was visible at Athens on 27th July.

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88 Diodorus's account of the battle is vague, and much is uncertain in the reconstruction of events from scattered and partial references. It seems certain that Philip, on the Macedonian right, did not engage the Athenians until the Thebans, on the allied right, had been shattered by Alexander. Since, in his later battles, Alexander normally commanded the cavalry guard on his own right, Philip here must have occupied the traditional position of the Macedonian king. But Diodorus does not say who these "picked men" were.

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89 Plutarch, Demosthenes, 20.3, tells of Philip's revelling and reciting the beginning of the decree introduced by his rival as if it were verse:

Justin (9.5.1), in contrast,º speaks of Philip as bearing his victory modestly. Cp. also Plutarch, Moralia, 715C. See Addenda.

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90 Philostratus (Vita Apollonii Tyanensis, 7.2) names Diogenes of Sinopê as the hero of this anecdote. Demades (Duod. Ann. 9‑10) gives his own report of these events.

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91 Diodorus has got ahead of himself. Lycurgus's service as finance minister belongs to the years 338/7‑327/6 B.C. (Kunst, Real-Encyclopädie, 13 (1927), 2448 f.). He was, however, almost fifty years old at this time, so a mature statesman.

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92 This battle has already been mentioned, chaps. 62.4‑63.1.

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93 For Archidamus see chap. 63.2; for Agis, Book 17.63.2‑4.

❦

94 See chap. 36.3 and Book 20.77.1.

❦

95 Phrynichus was archon at Athens from July 337 to June 336 B.C. The consuls of 340 B.C. were T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus and P. Decius Mus (Broughton, 1.135).

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96 Cp. Books 11.29.3 and 17.72.6. For the events at Corinth cp. Justin, 9.5.1‑2.

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97 Continued from chap. 83.

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98 Nepos, Timoleon, 5.4. Plutarch, Timoleon, 39.1‑3, gives the same text of the decree except at the end, where instead of mentioning freedom, he has: "he restored their laws to the Syracusans." These threefold agones were the highest form of "heroic" honours; cp. C. Habicht, Gottmenschentum und griechische Städte (1956), p150.

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99 This is the dynasty of Cius in Mysia which later provided the kings of Pontus. Cp. Books 15.90.3 and note; 20.111.4.

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100 Livy (8.11.11) states that the battle took place "inter Sinuessam Minturnasque." For the events see Broughton, 1.135.

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101 The archon's name was Pythodelus, and his term ran from July 336 to June 335 B.C. The Olympic Games were held in midsummer, 336. The consuls of 399 B.C. were Ti. Aemilius Mamercinus and Q. Publilius Philo (Broughton, 1.137).

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102 Continued from chap. 89. For these events cp. Justin, 9.5.8‑9.

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103 The oracle is cited in the same form by Pausanias, 8.7.6.

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104 Justin, 9.6.1.

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105 Such protective decrees were common (cp. Demosthenes, C. Aristocr. 95), the most famous being the decree of Aristocrates proposed in honour of Cersobleptes in 353 B.C.

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106 Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag.2, Adesp. 127; Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec.2 3.744‑745. The idea has been thought Aeschylean. Lines 8‑9 are quoted, with slight grammatical change, by Philodemus, De Morte, col. 38.12‑14 (D. Bassi, Papiri Ercolanesi, 1; Milan, 1914).

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107 Cp. p101, note 3.

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108 He walked between the two Alexanders, his son and his son-in‑law (Justin, 9.6.3‑4), and so between those who had most reason to wish his death.

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109 Justin, 9.6.4‑8. The Orestis was a district in western Macedonia bordering on Illyria.

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110 This battle can hardly be identified, in view of the many wars fought by Philip against the Illyrians. The last one mentioned by Diodorus was in chap. 69.7.

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111 This is the usually stated relation­ship. In Book 17.2.3, Attalus is called Cleopatra's brother, but otherwise, with more probability, her uncle.

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112 These events cannot be dated exactly, but they must have occurred some years before the assassination of Philip, perhaps as early as 344 B.C. (Berve, Alexanderreich, 2, p308). Pausanias waited a long time for his revenge, and it is curious that he chose the occasion most advantageous for Alexander.

❦

113 No sophist Hermocrates is otherwise known at this time, but it may be possible to identify this man with the grammarian of the same name who is best known to fame as the teacher of Callimachus. For the latter cp. F. Susemihl, Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit, 2 (1893), 668; O. Stählin, W. Schmid, W. von Christs Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur6, 2.1 (1920), 126; Funaioli, Real-Encyclopädie, 8 (193), 887 f.

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114 The date of Philip's death is discussed by K. J. Beloch, Griechische Geschichte2, 3.2 (1923), 59. The news had not yet reached Athens by the end of the civil year 337/6 B.C.; IG II2.1.240 in the tenth prytany does not know of it. On the other hand, the time must be early in the summer, for Philip was busy with preparations for an invasion of Asia Minor. A possible clue to the date is furnished by the statement of Plutarch, Alexander, 16.2, concerning the battle of the Granicus: this would have taken place in the month Daesius, but as that was unlucky, Alexander ordered the intercalation of a second Artemisius. Since there is some evidence that the intercalary month was the last month of the regnal year, this establishes a certain presumption that Philip died and Alexander came to the throne in Daesius; and this squares well enough with the evidence of the Attic inscription. Since Alexander died in Daesius, the Oxyrhynchus chronologist was correct in crediting him thirteen years of reign. See below on Book 17.117.5, p467, note 1.

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115 This is presumably the son of Andromenes, who like Leonnatus and Perdiccas was a close friend and contemporary of Alexander; probably they were his bodyguards and not Philip's (the term may be used loosely; Attalus was never one of Alexander' seven or eight bodyguards proper in Asia, and Leonnatus not until 332/1, Perdiccas not until 330; Berve, Alexanderreich, 1.27). Pausanias was from Orestis, and so were two of his slayers, while Attalus was Perdiccas's brother-in‑law. It is tempting to suppose that they knew of Pausanias's plan and then killed him to silence him. U. Wilcken (SB Ak. Berlin, 1923, 151 ff.) would find in P. Oxy. 1798 evidence that Pausanias was tried and executed, but the text is fragmentary and obscure, and the theory is not, to mind, supported by Justin 11.2.1.

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116 The implication of this claim on Philip's part was that he was in some fashion the equal of the Twelve and entitled like them to worship; σύνθρονος is an equivalent to σύνναος. What precisely this meant to Philip and his contemporaries is unknown; cp. Habicht, Gottesmenschentum, 14, note 3; L. Cerfaux, J. Tondriau, Le Culte des souverains dans la civilization gréco-romaine (1956), 123‑125.

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117 Diodorus mentions none of the suspicion which attended to Olympias and Alexander concerning the assassination of Philip, and his judgement on Philip is more favourable than that of others. Cp. Justin, 9.7‑8, and for the suspicion, Plutarch, Alexander, 9‑10; Arrian, 3.6.5.

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118 Stated in chap. 1.1‑3.

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Thayer's Note:

a Aegae, now Vergina, is the site of the Macedonian royal tombs, some of which were discovered intact in 1977 with the bodies of Alexander the Great's son and Philip III (or maybe Philip II): see this photogazetteer page at Livius.

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