New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-30

carefully kept from mcdiing With any matt'l
within the island. 4 closer lie bound together al
| the Greek Inhabitants OF Sicily than could bird
them 10 any city people ont OF Sicily. Trey bod
! common country, an island country wi'hal
parted by In" sra from otapr lands. And from
| that island country they had taken common
name. Sicily for tho Siceiots. a possession II
which none but Scclios have any r'rt or lot
. In his eyes Sicily was IA world by itself,
! world Of Independent commemorative which might
have their disputes and even their wars among
themselves hut which should at least agree in onC
great principle All differences hewccn one Size
lot city and another were 10 DO argued
or fought ont among themselves. without allowina
any power ont OF Sicily 10 step in" II was add.
Mr.. Freeman graphically, a Monroe doctrine that
Icrmocra,cs preached 10 The Greeks of Sicily. Sc
il was and it in strange contrast 10 the ideas
that formed the basis Of Athenan power Almost
without exception the cities Of the island agreed
in forming such n league IIermocrates aGvO-
Gated Blrring the difference in the dimensions
of the States this achievement could only be par
a1clcd now if n man Of great political capacity
should persuade the Portuguese and Spanish re-
pubcs Of South America TO form c0nfcdcracy.
The war between Athens and Syracuse was then
more than mere war Of conquest or sclf-delencc
1t object lesson in statecraft for all coming
ages 10 him who had the wisdom TO read IT Alright.
1t would have been n calamity if Athens had won
the victory because in that case. the lesson might
have been forever misunderstood Yet nj the ont
set everything pointed to victory for the older
power and for the discrcdited ideas OF the past Had
the immediate attack advocated by the most capable
military expert on the Athcnan side been made, a
single battle might have dissolved the Siceliot
union and converted the island or the Greek por-
ton of il into q tributary group OF States. Had
tho senior general, Nicas been man Of pcrsever-
ing action, had Lis heart been in his work, SYRIA
cuse might have fallen almost any day before the
one great day that was 70 mark step in civiliza-
ton. This great day was not day Of battle
II was day first of boundlcSs despair, then Of
boundless hope In the morning the Syracusans
rose with heavy hearts. Famine stared them in
the face The bcsicgers controlled almost every
approach to the city and apparently could afford
to wait for the result The popular assembly was
ON the verge of vote in favor of surrender
when ship was seen coming across the sea. Her
captain must have n tale TO tell, men thought,
Judging by the way she lcapcd over the water
at every dip of the long oars The assembly, the
danger of the city, the pressing possibility of
starvation all were forgotten. The people lookcd
anXiousy, no doubt to see if the daring
visitor would be arrested by the Athenian block
adcrs But the latter were careless and so
Gongylus of Corinth one nj those men who max"
themselves immortal by being just where they
are needed at the exact moment when they arc
needed landed on the shore Of the Little llarbor.
and before his galley could be drawn from the
water had told the men Of Syracuse that help
was near. The assembly forgotten, surrender
was no longer thought Of. and from that moment
until the wretched Athenan fugitives were finally
slaughtered like sheep in the waters Of the As
sinarus River, the only purpose Of Sicily was
vengeance.
One almost regrets that the story OF the Athcn-
ian invasion and that Of the Carthagnan invasons
under the elder Hannibal are bracketed together
in the same volume. II creates feeling OF mel
ancholy anti-climax. Sicily triumphant IS CON
verted into Sicily mourning her ruined cities
her tortured and slaughtered people. While the
defeat Of the Athenians was 20 Sicily source
II Joy, and TO the world sign OF progress the
victory of Carthage, partial though II was.
seemed like renewal Of strength for that cruel
Temitism which before the coming OF the Persian
Aryans had ruled Asia. The day Of reckoning
for Carthage was not yet come, nor did IL dawn
until Cato began in the Roman Senate his studied
and persistent iteration of the sentence, Carthage
must be DESTROYED Then, rs always where
Orientalism got the upper hand. despotism took
the place Of freedom, and the very device in
vented by Hcrmocratcs for the preservation Of
Sicily seemed likely TO aid in her destruction.
Dionysius was hard master for Syracuse. But
he helped TO forge the hammer that was
to break Asia in pieces His discoveries in mill
tary science were the ones which Alexander found
most useful for his own study. In later when
freedom impossible and tyrants were neccs
sity capable rulers profted by the example OF Di-
onysius. That he was great man az well a
great criminal is shown not merely by his re-
sourcefulness in action, but by his skill in pcrsua-
sion The people who had murdered Hcrmocrates
because they feared that he might become "
rant gave to Dionysius every privilege he asked.
stripped themselves of every liberty he condemned.
until they had no more privileges TO grant nor lib
critics to lose. The only excuse they had was
that they were threatened with n peril which no
man could measure AS Mr.. Freeman writes I'VE
have an analogy in very recent times in the vast
powers which we have seen the greatest common
wealth of modern days intrust TO its chief in time
of danger. The dictatorship. we may call il.
Of Dionysus came practically TO the same thing as
the dictatorship less formally conferred on Abra-
ham Lincoln during the great American Civil War
The difference lay wholly in the personal charac-
ters of the men concerned Neither Nicas nor
Lincoln, nor Alcihiades either. yet any Fabius
or Marcus who carried tho axe in his fasces was
the least likely 10 make himself tyrant. With
Dionysius every step that he gained was n step
toward the Tyranny and nothing else
The two chapters that constitute this volume
are worthy of the fame Of the lamented author.
They are models in the modern historical method.
Nothing has escaped the writer's attention that
could serve TO illuminate his study. The tcs'i-
mony Of coins. the minute study Of Sicilian topog
raphy not merely in books but in person. the Ia
borous criticism Of the text Of Thucyddcs and Of
the authors whose work can here and there be cX-
from the writing Of Diodorns. and the
weighing of modern opinions. all contribute 10
narrative which is wonderfully lucid and easy
-eading One thing would be evident throughout.
wen though Freeman had failed 10 put il on rec |
,rd in his notes, namely, his dislike for tcytua
discussion aside from the points that affect
Io,lo o,ft 1,o fact i'm oiv 10