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As soon as the death of Hieronymus was known at Syracuse, Andranadorus seized the Isle, which was part of the city, with the citadel, and such other places as were most proper for his defence in it, putting good garrisons into them. Theodotus and Sosis, heads of the conspiracy, having left their accomplices with the army, to keep the soldiers quiet, arrived soon after at the city. They made themselves masters of the quarter Achradina, where, by showing the tyrant's bloody robe, with his diadem, to the people, and exhorting them to take arms for the defence of their liberty, they soon saw themselves at the head of a numerous body.

The whole city was in confusion. The next day at sunrise, all the people, armed and unarmed, ran to the quarter Achradina, where the senate was assem bled, which had neither sat, nor been consulted upon any affair, since Hiero's death. Polyænus, one of the senators, spoke to the people with great freedom and moderation. He represented, "that having experienced the indignities and miseries of slavery, they were most sensibly affected with them; but that as to the evils occasioned by civil discord, they had rather heard them spoken of by their fathers, than been acquainted with them themselves; that he com mended their readiness in taking arms, and should praise them still more, if they did not proceed to use them till the last extremity: that at present, it was his advice, to send deputies to Andranadorus, and to let him know he must submit to the senate, open the gates of the isle, and withdraw his garrisons; that if he persisted in his usurpation, it would be necessary to treat him with more rigour than Hieronymus had experienced."

This deputation at first made some impression upon him; whether he still retained a respect for the senate, and was moved with the unanimous concur rence of the citizens; or because the best fortified part of the isle having been taken from him by treachery, and surrendered to the Syracusans, that loss gave him just apprehensions. But his wife Demarata, Hiero's daughter, a haughty and ambitious princess, having taken him aside, put him in mind of the famous saying of Dionysius the tyrant," that it was never proper to quit the saddle, i.e. the tyranny, till pulled off the horse by the heels ;* that a great fortune might be renounced in a moment; but that it would cost much time and pains to attain it that it was therefore necessary to endeavour to gain time; and while he amused the senate with ambiguous answers, to treat privately with the sol diers at Leontium, whom it was easy to bring over to his interest, by the attrac tion of the king's treasures in his possession."

Andranadorus did not entirely reject this counsel, nor think proper to follow it implicitly. He chose a mean between both. He promised to submit to the senate, in expectation of a more favourable opportunity; and the next day, having thrown open the gates of the isle, repaired to the quarter Achradina: and there, after having excused his delay and resistance, from the fear he had been in of being involved in the tyrant's punishment, as his uncle, he declared, that he was come to put his person and interests into the hands of the senate. Then turning toward the tyrant's murderers, and addressing himself to Theodotus and Sosis, “you have done,” said he, a memorable action. But, believe me, your glory is only begun, and has not yet attained the height of which it is capable. If you do not take care to establish peace and union among the citizens, the state is in great danger of expiring, and of being destroyed at the very moment she begins to taste the blessings of liberty.'

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After this discourse, he laid the keys of the isle and of the king's treasures at their feet. The whole city was highly rejoiced on this occasion, and their temples were thronged during the rest of the day with infinite numbers of people, who went thither to return thanks to the gods for so happy a change of affairs. The next day the senate being assembled, according to the ancient custom, magistrates were appointed, among the principal of whom Andranadorus was

Sed evocatum eum ab legatis Demarata uxor, filia Hieronis, inflata adhuc regiis animis ac muliebri spiritu, admonet sæpe usurpatæ Dyonysii tyranai vocis; quæ pedibus tractum, non insidentem equo, rella quere tyrannidem dixerit debere.

elected with Theodotus and Sosis, and some others of the conspirators who were absent.

On the other side, Hippocrates and Epycides, whom Hieronymus had sent at the head of two thousand men, to endeavour to excite troubles in the cities which continued to adhere to the Romans, seeing themselves, upon the news of the tyrant's death, abandoned by the soldiers under their command, returned to Syracuse, where they demanded to be escorted in safety to Hannibal, having no longer any business in Sicily after the death of him to whom they had been sent by that general. The Syracusans were not sorry to part with those two strangers, who were of a turbulent factious disposition, and well experienced in military affairs. There is in most affairs a decisive moment, which never returns after having been once suffered to pass by. The negligence in assigning the time of their departure, gave them opportunity to insinuate themselves into the favour of the soldiers, who esteemed them on account of their abilities, and to give them a disgust for the senate, and the better inclined part of the citizens.

Andranadorus whose wife's ambition would never let him rest, and who till then had covered his designs with smooth dissimulation, believing it a proper time to disclose them, conspired with Themistus, Gelon's son-in-law, to seize the sovereignty. He communicated his views to a comedian named Ariston, from whom he kept nothing secret. That profession was not at all dishonourable among the Greeks, and was exercised by persons of no ignoble condition. Ariston, believing it his duty, as it really was, to sacrifice his friend to his country, discovered the conspiracy. Andranadorus and Themistus were immediately slain by order of the other magistrates, as they entered the senate. The people rose, and threatened to revenge their death; but were deterred from it, by the sight of the dead bodies of the two conspirators, which were thrown out of the senate house. They were then informed of their pernicious designs; to which all the misfortunes of Sicily were ascribed, rather than to the wickedness of Hieronymus, who being only a youth, had acted entirely by their counsels. They insinuated that his guardians and tutors had reigned in his name: that they ought to have been cut off before Hieronymus, or at least with him that impunity had carried them on to commit new crimes, and to aspire to the tyranny; that not being able to succeed in their design by force, they had employed dissimulation and perfidy: that neither favours and honours, nor the electing him, who was the declared enemy of liberty, one of the supreme magistrates, among the deliverers of their country, had been able to overcome the wicked disposition of Andranadorus; that as to the rest, they had been inspired with their ambition of reigning by the princesses of the royal blood, whom they had married, the one Hiero's, the other Gelon's daughter. At these words, the whole assembly cried out, that not one of them ought to be suffered to live, and that it was necessary to extirpate entirely the race of the tyrants, without any reserve or exception. Such is the nature of the multitude. It either abjectly abandons itself to slavery, or lords it with insolence. But with regard to liberty, which holds the mean between those extremes, it neither knows how to be without it, or to use it; and has always too many flatterers ready to enter into its passions, inflame its rage, and hurry it on to excessive violences, and the most inhuman cruelties, to which it is but too much inclined of itself, as was the case at that time.* At the request of the magistrates, which was almost sooner accepted than proposed, they decreed that the royal family should be entirely destroyed.

Demarata, daughter of Hiero, and Harmonia, daughter of Gelon, the first married to Andrañadorus, and the other to Themistus, were first killed. From thence they went to the house of Heraclea, wife of Zoippus, who having been sent on an embassy to Ptolemy king of Egypt, remained there in voluntary

* Hæc natura multitudinis est; aut servit humiliter, aut superbe dominatur; libertatem, quæ media est, nec spernere modice, nec habere sciunt. Et non ferme desunt irarum indulgentes ministri qui avidos atque intemperantes plebiorum animos ad sanguinem et cædes irritant.-Liv.

banishment, to avoid being witness of the miseries of his country. Having been apprised that they were coming to her, that unfortunate princess had taken refuge with her two daughters in the most remote part of the house, near her household gods. When the assassins arrived there, with her hair loose and disordered, her face bathed in tears, and in a condition most proper to excite compassion, she conjured them, in a faultering voice, interrupted with sighs, in the name of Hiero her father, and Gelon her brother, "not to involve an innocent princess in the guilt and misfortunes of Hieronymus." She represented to them, that her husband's banishment had been to her the sole fruit of that reign: that not having had any share in the fortunes and designs of her sister Demarata, she ought to have none in her punishment. Besides, what was there to fear either from her, in the forlorn condition and almost widowhood to which she was reduced, or from her daughters, unhappy orphans, without influence or support? That if the royal family were become so odious to Syracuse, that it could not bear the sight of them, they might be banished to Alexandria, the wife to her husband, the daughters to their father." When she saw them inflexible to her remonstrances, forgetting herself, she implored them at least to save the lives of the princesses her daughters, both of an age to inspire the most inveterate and furious enemies with compassion; but her discourse made no impression upon the minds of those barbarians. Having torn her in a manner from the arms of her household gods, they stabbed her to death in the sight of her two daughters, and soon after cut their throats, already stained and covered with the blood of their mother. What was still more deplorable in their destiny was, that immediately after their death, an order of the people came for sparing their lives.

From compassion, the people, in a moment, proceeded to rage and fury against those who had been so hasty in the execution, and had not left them time for reflection or repentance. They demanded that magistrates should be nominated in the room of Andranadorus and Themistus. They were a long time in suspense upon this choice. At length some person in the crowd of the people happened to name Epicydes; another immediately mentioned Hippocrates. Those two persons were demanded with so much ardour by the mul titude, which consisted of citizens and soldiers, that the senate could not prevent their being created.

The new magistrates did not immediately discover the design they had in view of reinstating Syracuse in the interests of Hannibal; but they had seen with pain the measures which had been taken before they were in office. For immediately after the re-establishment of liberty, ambassadors had been sent to Appius, to propose renewing the alliance broken by Hieronymus. He had referred them to Marcellus, who was lately arrived in Sicily with an authority superior to his own. Marcellus, in his turn, sent deputies to the magistrates of Syracuse, to treat of peace.

On arriving there, they found the state of affairs much altered. Hippocrates and Epicydes, at first by secret practices, and afterwards by open complaints, had inspired the people with great aversion to the Romans; giving out, that designs were formed for putting Syracuse into their hands. The behaviour of Appius, who had approached the entrance of the port with his fleet, to encourage the party in the Roman interest, strengthened those suspicions and accusations so much, that the people ran tumultuously to prevent the Romans from landing, in case they should have that design.

In this trouble and confusion, it was thought proper to summon the assembly of the people. Opinions differed very much in it; and the heat of debates giving reason to fear some sedition, Apollonides, one of the principal senators, made a discourse very suitable to the conjuncture. He intimated," that no city was ever nearer its destruction or preservation than Syracuse actually was at that time: that if they all with unanimous consent should join either the Ro mans or Carthaginians, their condition would be happy that if they were divided, the war would not be more arduous nor more dangerous between the Ro

mans and Carthaginians, than between the Syracusans themselves against each other; as both parties must necessarily have, within the circumference of their own walls, their own troops, armies, and generals: that it was therefore absolutely requisite to make their agreement and union among themselves their sole care and application; and that to know which of the two alliances was to be preferred, was now the most important question: that for the rest, the authority of Hiero, in his opinion, ought to carry it against that of Hieronymus; and that the amity of the Romans, happily experienced for fifty years together, seemed preferable to that of the Carthaginians, upon which they could not much rely for the present, and with which they had as little reason to be satisfied with regard to the past. He added a last motive, of no little force, which was, that in declaring against the Romans, they would have the war immediately upon their hands; whereas, on the side of Carthage, the danger was more remote."

The less passionate this discourse appeared, the more effect it had. It induced them to desire the opinion of the several bodies of the state; and the principal officers of the troops, as well natives as foreigners, were requested to confer together. The affair was long discussed with great warmth. At length, as it appeared that there was no present means for supporting the war against the Romans, a peace with them was resolved on, and ambassadors sent to conclude it.

Some days after this resolution had been taken, the Leontines sent to demand aid of Syracuse, for the defence of their frontiers. This deputation seemed to come very seasonably for relieving the city from a turbulent, unruly multitude, and removing their no less dangerous leaders. Four thousand men were ordered to march under the command of Hippocrates, of whom they were glad to be rid, and who was not sorry himself for the occasion they gave him to embroil affairs: for he no sooner arrived upon the frontier of the Roman province, than he plundered it, and cut in pieces a body of troops sent by Appius to its defence. Marcellus complained to the Syracusans of this act of hostility, and demanded that this stranger should be banished from Sicily, with his brother Epicydes, who having repaired about the same time to Leontium, had endeavoured to embroil the inhabitants with the people of Syracuse, by exhorting them to resume their liberty as well as the Syracusans. The city of the Leontines was dependent on Syracuse, but pretended at this time to throw off the yoke, and to act independently of the Syracusans, as an entirely free city. Hence, when the Syracusans sent to complain of the hostilities committed against the Romans, and to demand the expulsion of the two Carthaginian brothers, the Leontines replied, that they had not empowered the Syracusans to make peace for them with the Romans.

The deputies of Syracuse related to Marcellus this answer from the Leontines, who were no longer at the disposal of their city, and left him at liberty to declare war against them, without any infraction of the treaty made with them. He marched immediately to Leontium, and made himself master of it at the first attack. Hippocrates and Epicydes fled. All the deserters found in the place, to the number of two thousand, were put to the sword; but as soon as the city was taken, all the Leontines and other soldiers were spared, and even every thing taken from them was restored, except what was lost in the first tumult of a city carried by storm.

Eight thousand troops, sent by the magistrates of Syracuse to the aid of Marcellus, met a man on their march, who gave them a false account of what had passed at the taking of Leontium; exaggerating with artful malice the cruelty of the Romans, who, he falsely affirmed, had put all the inhabitants to the sword, as well as the troops sent thither by the Syracusans.

This artful falsehood, which they fully believed, inspired them with compassion for their companions. They expressed their indignation by their murmurs. Hippocrates and Epicydes, who were before well known to these troops, appeared at the very instant of this trouble and tumult, and put themselves under their protection, not having any other resource. They were received with joy

and acclamations. The report soon reached the rear of the army, where the commanders, Dinomenes and Sosis were. When they were informed of the cause of the tumult, they advanced hastily, blamed the soldiers for having received Hippocrates and Epicydes, the enemies of their country, and gave or ders for their being seized and bound. The soldiers opposed this with violent menaces; and the two generals sent expresses to Syracuse, to inform the senate of what had passed.

The army, however, continued its march toward Megara; and upon the way met a courier prepared by Hippocrates, who was charged with a letter, which seemed to be written by the magistrates of Syracuse to Marcellus. They praised him for the slaughter he had made at Leontium, and exhorted him to treat all the mercenary soldiers in the same manner, in order that Syracuse might at length be restored to its liberty. The reading of this forged letter enraged the mercenaries, who composed nearly the whole of this body of troops. They were for falling upon the few Syracusans among them, but were prevented from that violence by Hippocrates and Epicydes; not from motives of pity or humanity, but that they might not entirely lose their hopes of re-entering Syracuse. They sent a man thither, whom they had gained by bribes, who related the storming of Leontium conformable to the first account. Those reports were favourably received by the multitude, who cried out that the gates should be shut against the Romans. Hippocrates and Epicydes arrived about the same time before the city, which they entered, partly by force, and partly by the assistance of the friends they had within it. They killed the magistrates, and took possession of the city. The next day the slaves were made free, the prisoners set at liberty, and Hippocrates and Epicydes elected into the highest offices, in a tumultuous assembly. Syracuse in this manner, after a short irradiation of liberty, sunk again into its former slavery.

SECTION II.-MARCELLUS BESIEGES SYRACUSE. THE DREADFUL MACHINES OF ARCHIMEDES, WHO IS KILLED.

AFFAIRS being in this state, Marcellus thought proper to quit the country of the Leontines, and advance toward Syracuse. When he was near it, he sent deputies to inform the inhabitants, that he came to restore liberty to the Syracusans, and not with intent to make war upon them. They were not permitted to enter the city. Hippocrates and Epicydes went out to meet them; and hav ing heard their proposals, replied haughtily, that if the Romans intended to besiege their city, they should soon be made sensible of the difference between attacking Syracuse and attacking Leontium. Marcellus therefore determined to besiege the place by sea and land:* by land on the side of Hexapyla; and by sea, on that of the quarter Achradina, the walls of which were washed by the waves.t

He gave Appius the command of the land forces, and reserved that of the fleet to himself. It consisted of sixty galleys of five benches of oars, which were full of soldiers, armed with bows, slings, and darts, to clear the walls. There were a great number of vessels, laden with all sorts of machines used in attacking places.

The Romans carrying on their attacks at two different places, Syracuse was in great consternatior and apprehended that nothing could resist so terrible a power, and such mighty efforts: and it would indeed have been impossible to have resisted them, without the assistance of Archimedes, whose wonderful industry was every thing to the Syracusans. He had taken care to supply the walls with all things necessary to a good defence. As soon as his machines began to play on the land side, they discharged upon the infantry all sorts of darts, and stones of enormous weight, which were thrown with so much noise, force, and rapidity, that nothing could oppose their shock. They beat down The description of Syracuse may be seen in Book VIII. Chap. 2. Sect. 1. Ant. J. C. 214. Liv. 1. xxiv. n. 33 34. Plut. in Marcel. p. 305-307. Polyb. 1. viž p

†A. M. 3790. 515-518.

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