Timoleon Timoleon ( Greek : Τιμολέων ) , son of Timodemus , of Corinth ( c . 411 – 337 BCE ) was a Greek statesman and general . As the champion of Greece against Carthage he is closely connected with the history of Sicily , especially Syracuse . Early life . When his brother Timophanes , whose life he had saved in battle , took possession of the acropolis of Corinth and made himself master of the city , Timoleon , after an ineffectual protest , tacitly acquiesced while the friends who accompanied him put Timophanes to death . Public opinion approved his conduct as patriotic ; but the curses of his mother and the indignation of some of his kinsfolk drove him into retirement for twenty years . Sicily . Because of the political problems of Syracuse and the threat from Sparta , a group of Syracusans sent an appeal for help to Corinth which reached Corinth in 344 BCE . Corinth could not refuse help , though her chief citizens declined the responsibility of attempting to establish a settled government in factious and turbulent Syracuse . Timoleon , being named by an unknown voice in the popular assembly , was chosen by a unanimous vote to undertake the mission , and set sail for Sicily with a few of the leading citizens of Corinth and a small troop of Greek mercenaries . He eluded a Carthaginian squadron and landed at Tauromenium ( now Taormina ) , where he met with a friendly reception . At this time Hicetas , tyrant of Leontini , was master of Syracuse , with the exception of the island of Ortygia , which was occupied by Dionysius , still nominally tyrant . Hicetas was defeated at Adranum , an inland town , and driven back to Syracuse . In 343 Dionysius surrendered Ortygia on condition of being granted a safe conduct to Corinth . Hicetas now received help from Carthage ( 60 , 000 men ) , but ill - success roused mutual suspicion ; the Carthaginians abandoned Hicetas , who was besieged in Leontini , and who was then compelled to surrender . Timoleon was thus master of Syracuse . He at once began the work of restoration , bringing new settlers from the mother - city and from Greece generally , and establishing a popular government on the basis of the democratic laws of Diocles . The citadel was razed to the ground , and a court of justice erected on its site . The " amphi - polos " , or priest of Olympian Zeus , who was annually chosen by lot out of three clans , was invested with the chief magistracy . The impress of Timoleon ' s reforms seems to have lasted to the days of Augustus . Hicetas again induced Carthage to send ( 340 – 339 ) a great army ( 70 , 000 ) , which landed at Lilybaeum ( now Marsala ) . With a miscellaneous levy of about 12 , 000 men , most of them mercenaries , Timoleon marched westwards across the island into the neighbourhood of Selinus and won a great and decisive victory on the Crimissus . The general himself led his infantry , and the enemy ' s discomfiture was completed by a blinding storm of rain and hail . This victory gave the Greeks of Sicily many years of peace and safety from Carthage . Carthage made , however , one more effort and despatched some mercenaries to prolong the conflict between Timoleon and the tyrants . But it ended in the defeat of Hicetas , who was taken prisoner and put to death . Carthage then agreed to a treaty in 338 BCE by which , in Sicily , Carthage was confined to the west of the Halycus ( Platani ) and undertook to give no further help to tyrants . Retirement . Timoleon then retired into private life without assuming any title or office , though he remained practically supreme , not only at Syracuse , but throughout the island . Notwithstanding the many elements of discord Sicily seems to have been during Timoleon ' s lifetime tranquil and contented . He became blind some time before his death , but when important issues were under discussion he was carried to the assembly to give his opinion , which was usually accepted . He was buried at the cost of the citizens of Syracuse , who erected a monument to his memory in their market - place , afterwards surrounded with porticoes , and a gymnasium called Timoleonteum . Tyrant or democrat ? The ancient historian Timaeus gave Timoleon high accolades in his work ; however , Polybius criticized Timaeus for bias in favor of Timoleon and many modern historians have sided with Polybius . Peter Green shares this skepticism but thinks it has gone too far . While he concedes that Timoleon tended to play the democrat while using the methods of a tyrant ( albeit benevolent ) , he did make an effort to maintain the outward forms of democracy . Further , he reformed Syracuse in a democratic direction and demolished the stronghold of the island that had been so useful to tyrants in the past .