DION. 257 acquaintance, had so far transformed and altered the young man's mind, longer converse and greater intimacy •would give him such influence and authority, that it would be impossible to withstand him. Therefore, no longer privately and apart, but jointlv and in public, all of them, they began to slander Dion, noising it about that he had charmed and bewitched Dionysius by Plato's sophistry, to the end that when he was persuaded voluntarily to part with his power, and lay down his authority, Dion might take it up, and settle it upon his sister Aristomache's children. Others jjrofessed to be indignant that the Athenians, who formerly had come to Sicily with a great fleet and a numerous land- army, and perished miserably without being able to take the city of Syracuse, should now, by means of one sophis- tei", overturn the sovereignty of Dionysius ; inveigling him to cashier his guard of ten thousand lances, dismiss a navy of four hundred galleys, disband an army of ten thousand horse and many times over that number of foot, and go seek in the schools an unlinown and imagin- ary bliss, and learn by the mathematics how to be happy ; while, in the mean time, the substantial enjoyments of absolute power, riches, and pleasure would be handed over to Dion and his sister's children. By these means, Dion began to incur at first suspicion, and by degrees more apparent displeasure and hostility. A letter, also, was intercepted and brought to the young prince, which Dion had written to the Carthaginian agents, advising them, that, when they treated with Dionysius concerning the peace, they should not come to their audience without communicating with him : they would not fail to obtain by this means all that they wanted. When Dionysius had shown this to Philistus, and consulted ■ with him, as Timoeus relates, about it, he overreached Dion by a feigned reconciliation, professing, VOL. v. 17
