A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

246 Sicily : the Tyrant and the Liberator
fle is to be
worshipped
as a hero.
It was customary
thus
to worship
the founder
of a city.
their praises of the deceased, showed that they were not
performing this ceremony as a matter of mere outward
respect and compKance with a decree, but that they expressed
real sorrow and loving gratitude. At last, when
the body was placed upon the pyre, Demetrius, the loudestvoiced
of the heralds at that time, read aloud the following
decree:
"The Syracusan people solemnise, at the cost of two
hundred minae, the funeral of this man, the Corinthian
Timoleon, son of Timodemus. They have passed a vote
to honor him for all future time with festival matches in
music, horse and chariot races,
and gymnastics, because
after having put down the despots, subdued the foreign
enemy, and recolonized the greatest among the ruined
cities, he restored to the Sicilian Greeks their constitution
and laws."
STUDIES
1. From this selection what preparations seem to have been
necessary for any great war? What did Dionysius have that had
never been used before? How could old ships be refitted? How did
the Syracusans show their zeal for the war? How can you account
for this feeling and for the popularity of Dionysius? What was at
stake in the war? When did the writer of this selection live and from
what source did he draw his information?
2. Why was Timoleon so highly honored? Enumerate the kinds of
How
work in which he had a hand after the establishment of peace.
did they repay him for his services? What do you infer as to his
character?