Dion

a king in Laconia and husband of Iphitea, the daughter of Prognaus. Apollo, who had been kindly received by Iphitea, rewarded her by conferring upon her three daughters, Orphe, Lyco, and Carya, the gift of prophecy, on condition, however. that they shuld not betray the gods nor search after forbidden things. Afterwards Dionysus also came to the house of Dion; he was not only well received, like Apollo, but won the love of Carya, and therefore soon paid Dion a second visit, under the pretext of consecrating a temple, which the king had erected to him. Orphe and Lyco, however, guarded their sister, and when Dionysus had reminded them, in vain, of the command of Apollo, they were seized with raging madness, and having gone to the heights of Taygetus, they were metamorphosed into rocks. Carya, the beloved of Dionysus, was changed into a nut tree, and the Lacedaemonians, on being informed of it by Artemis, dedicated a temple to Artemis Caryatis. (Serv. ad Virg. Ecl. 8.30; Caryatis.) [L.S]

(Δίων), a Syracusan, son of Hipparinus. His father had been from the first a constant friend and supporter of the elder Dionysius, who had subsequently married his daughter Aristomache. These circumstances naturally brought Dion into friendly relations with Dionysius, and the latter having conceived a high opinion of his character and abilities, treated him with the greatest distinction, and employed him in many services of the utmost trust and confidence. Among others he sent him on an embassy to the Carthaginians, by whom he was received with the greatest distinction. (Plut. Dio 3-5; Corn. Nep. Dion, 1.) Dion also married, during the lifetime of her father, Arete, the daughter of Dionysius by Aristomache. Of this close connexion and favour with the tyrant he seems to have availed himself to amass great wealth, so that on the death of Dionysius he offered to equip and maintain 50 triremes at his own cost to assist in the war against Carthage. (Plut. Dio 6.) He made no opposition to the succession of the younger Dionysius to all his father's power, but his near relationship to the sons of the latter by his wife Aristomache, as well as his dangerous pre-eminence in wealth and influence, rendered him an object of suspicion and jealousy to the youthful tyrant, to whom he also made himself personally disagreeable by the austerity of his manners. Dion appears to have been naturally a man of a proud and stern character, and having become an ardent disciple of Plato when that philosopher visited Syracuse in the reign of the elder Dionysius, he carried to excess the austerity of a philosopher, and viewed with undisguised contempt the debaucheries and dissolute pleasures of his nephew. From these he endeavoured to withdraw him by persuading him to invite Plato a second time to Syracuse; but the philosopher, though received at first with the utmost distinction, filed in obtaining a permanent hold on the mind of Dionysius; and the intrigues of the opposite party, headed by Philistus, were successful in procuring the banishment of Dion. (Plut. Dio 7_14; Corn. Nep. Dion, 3, 4; Diod. 16.6.) The circumstances attending this are variously reported, but it seems to have been at first merely an honourable exile, and he was allowed to receive the produce of his vast wealth. According to Plutarch, he retired to Athens, where he lived in habitual intercourse with Plato and his disciples, at times also visiting the other cities of Greece, and displaying his magnificence on all public occasions. But Plato having failed in procuring his recall (for which purpose he had a third time visited Syracuse), and Dionysius having at length confiscated his property and compelled his wife to marry another person, he finally determined on attempting the expulsion of the tyrant by force. (Plut. Dio 15-21; Pseud._Plat. Epist.6; but compare Diod. 16.6.)

His knowledge of the general unpopularity of Dionysius and the disaffection of his subjects encouraged him to undertake this with forces apparently very insufficient. Very few of the numerous Syracusan exiles then in Greece could be induced to join him, and he sailed from Zacynthus with only two merchant ships and less than 1000 mercenary troops. The absence of Dionysius and of his chief supporter Philistus, who were both in Italy at the time, favoured his enterprise ; he landed at Minoa in the Carthaginian territory, and being speedily joined by volunteers from all parts, advanced without opposition to Syracuse, which he entered in triumph, the whole city being abandoned by the forces of Dionysius, except the citadel on the island. (Diod. 16.9, 10; Plut. Dio 22_28.) Dion and his brother Megacles were now appointed by the Syracusans generals-in-chief, and they proceeded to invest the citadel. Dionysius meanwhile returned, but having failed in a sally from the island, his overtures for peace being rejected, and Philistus, on whom he mainly depended, having been defeated and slain in a seafight, he determined to quit the city, and sailed away to Italy, leaving his son Apollocrates with a mercenary force in charge of the citadel. (B. C. 356.) But dissensions now broke out among the besiegers : Heracleides, who had lately arrived from the Peloponnese with a reinforcement of triremes, and had been appointed commander of the Syracusan fleet, sought to undermine the power of Dion; and the latter, whose mercenary troops were discontented for want of pay, withdrew with them to Leontini. The disasters of the Syracusans, however, arising from the incapacity of their new leaders, soon led to the recall of Dion, who was appointed sole general autocrator. Not long after, Apollocrates was compelled by famine to surrender the citadel. (Diod. 16.11_13, 16-20 ; Plut. Dio 29-50.)

Dion was now sole master of Syracuse : whether he intended, as he was accused by his enemies, to retain the sovereign power in his own hands, or to establish an oligarchy with the assistance of the Corinthians, as asserted by Plutarch, we have no means of judging; but his government seems to have been virtually despotic enough. He caused his chief opponent, Heracleides, to be put to death, and confiscated the property of his adversaries ; but these measures only aggravated the discontent, which seems to have spread even to his own immediate followers. One of them, Callippus, an Athenian who had accompanied him from Greece, was induced by his increasing unpopularity to form a conspiracy against him, and having gained over some of his Zacynthian guards, caused him to be assassinated in his own house, B. C. 353. (Plut. Dio 52-57; Corn. Nep. Dion, 6_9; Diod. 16.31.) According to Cornelius Nepos, he was about 55 years old at the time of his death.

There can be no doubt that the character of Dion has been immoderately praised by some ancient writers, especially by Plutarch. It is admitted even by his admirers that he was a man of a harsh and unyielding disposition, qualities which would easily degenerate into despotism when he found himself at the head of affairs. Even if he was sincere in the first instance in his intention of restoring liberty to Syracuse, he seems to have afterwards abandoned the idea, and there can be little doubt that the complaints of the people, that they had only exchanged one tyrant for another, were well founded. (Plutarch, Dion ; comp. Timol.c. P. Aemil. 2; Athen. 11.508e.) [E.H.B]

(Δίων).

1. Of Alexandria, an Academic philosopher and a friend of Antiochus. He was sent by his fellow-citizens as ambassador to Rome, to complain of the conduct of their king, Ptolemy Auletes. On his arrival at Rome he was poisoned by the king's secret agents, and the strongest suspicion of the murder fell upon M. Caelius. (Cic. Ac. 4.4, pro Cael. 10, 21; Strab. xvii. p.796.)

2. Of Alexandria, apparently a writer on proverbs, who is mentioned by Zenobius (5.54) and Apostolius. (19.24; comp. Suid. s. v. τὸ Δίωνος γρύ; Apostol. 15.3; Suid. s. v. οὐδὲ Ἡρακλῆς ; Schneidewin, Corp. Paroemiogr. i. pp. 119, 142.)

3. Of Chios, a flute player, who is said to have been the first who played the Bacchic spondee on the flute. (Athen. 14.638.) It may be that he is the same as Dion, the αὐλοποιός, who is mentioned by Varro. (Fragm. p. 198, ed. Bipont.)

4. Of Colophon, is mentioned by Varro (de R. R. 1.1), Columella (1.1), and Pliny among the Greek writers on agriculture; but he is otherwise unknown.

5. Of Halesa in Sicily. Through the favour of Q. Metellus, he obtained the Roman franchise and the name of Q. Metellus Dion. His son had a large fortune left him, which incited the avarice of Verres, who annoyed him in various ways, and robbed him of his property. Dion is described as a very honest and trustworthy man. (Cic. in Verr. 1.10, 2.7, 8.)

6. Of Pergamus, is mentioned as the accuser of Polemocrates. (Cic. pro Flacc. 30.) A few more persons of the name of Dion are enumerated by Reimarus. (De Vit., &c., Cassii Dion. § 2.) [L.S]

the celebrated historian of Rome. He probably derived the gentile name of Cassius from one of his ancestors, who, on receiving the Roman franchise, had been adopted into the Cassia gens; for his father, Cassius Apronianus, had already borne it. He appears to have adopted the cognomen of Cocceianus from Dion Chrysostomus Cocceianus, the orator, who, according to Reimarus, was his grandfather on his mother's side. Dio Cassius Cocceianus, or as he is more commonly called Dio Cassius, was born, about A. D. 155, at Nicaea in Bithynia. He was educated with great care, and was trained in the rhetorical schools of the time, and in the study of the classical writers of ancient Greece. After the completion of his literary studies, he appears to have accompanied his father to Cilicia, of which he had the administration, and after his father's death, about A. D. 180, he went to Rome; so that he arrived there either in the last year of the reign of M. Aurelius, or in the first of that of Commodus. He had then attained the senatorial age of twentyfive, and was raised to the rank of a Roman senator ; but he did not obtain any honours under Commodus, except the aedileship and quaestorship, and it was not till A. D. 193, in the reign of Pertinax, that he gained the office of praetor. During the thirteen years of the reign of Commodus, Dio Cassius remained at Rome, and devoted his time partly to pleading in the courts of justice, and thus assisting his friends, and partly in collecting materials for a history of Commodus, of whose actions he was a constant eye-witness. After the fall of this emperor, Dion, with the other senators, voted for the elevation of Pertinax, A. D. 193, who was his friend, and who immediately promoted him to the praetorship, which however he did not enter upon till the year following, the first of the reign of Septimius Severus. During the short reign of Pertinax Dio Cassius enjoyed the emperor's friendship, and conducted himself on all occasions as nn upright and virtuous man. The accession of Septimius Severus raised great hopes in Dion of being further promoted; but these hopes were not realized, notwithstanding the favour which Severus shewed him in the beginning of his reign. Soon after the accession of Severus, Dion wrote a work on the dreams and prodigies which had announced the elevation of this emperor, and which he presented to Severus, who thanked him for it in a long epistle. The night after he had received this epistle, Dion was called upon in a dream to write the history of his own time, which induced him to work out the materials he had already collected for a history of Commodus. A similar dream or vision afterwards led him to write the history of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. When the history of Commodus was completed, Dion read it to the emperor, who received it with so much approbation. that Dion was encouraged to write a history of Rome from the earliest times, and to insert in it what he had already written about the reign of Commodus. The next ten years, therefore, were spent in making the preparatory studies and collecting materials, and twelve years more, during the greater part of which he lived in quiet retirement at Capua, were employed in composing the work. It was his intention to carry the history as far down as possible, and to add an account of the reigns of the emperors succeeding Severus, so far as he might witness them. Reimarus conceives that Dion began collecting his materials in A. D. 201, and that after the death of Severus, in A. D. 211, he commenced the composition of his work, which would thus have been completed in A. D. 222.

The reason why Severus did not promote Dion is probably owing to the emperor's change of opinion respecting Commodus; for, during the latter part of his reign, he admired Commodus as much as he had before detested him; and what Dion had written about him could not be satisfactory to an admirer of the tyrant. Dion thus remained in Italy for many years, without any new dignity being conferred upon him. In the reign of Caracalla it became customary for a select number of senators to accompany the emperor in his expeditions and travels, and Dion was one of them. He bitterly complains of having been compelled in consequence to spend immense sums of money, and not only to witness the tyrant's disgraceful conduct, but to some extent to be an accomplice in it. In the company of the emperor, Dion thus visited Nicomedeia; but he does not appear to have gone any further; for of the subsequent events in Asia and Egypt he does not speak as an eye-witness, but only appeals to reports. Macrinus, however, appears to have again called him to Asia, and to have entrusted to him the administration of the free cities of Pergamus and Smyrna, which had shortly before revolted. Dion went to this post about A. D. 218, and seems to have remained there for about three years, on account of the various points which had to be settled. At the expiration of his office, however, he did not return to Rome, but went to Nicaea in Bithynia. On his arrival there he was taken ill, but notwithstanding was raised, during his absence, to the consulship, either A. D. 219 or 220. After this he obtained the proconsulship of Africa, which, however, cannot have been earlier than A. D. 224. After his return to Italy, he was sent, in A. D. 226, as legate to Dalmatia, and the year after to Pannonia. In the latter province he restored strict discipline among the troops; and on his return to Rome, the praetorians began to fear lest he should use his influence for the purpose of interfering with their conduct likewise, and in order to prevent this, they demanded of the emperor Alexander Severus to put him to death. But the emperor not only disregarded their clamour, but raised Dion, A. D. 229, to his second consulship, in which Alexander himself was his colleague. Alexander also conferred other distinctions upon him, and undertook out of his own purse to defray the expenses which the dignity of consul demanded of Dion. However, as Dion could not feel safe at Rome under these circumstances, the emperor requested him to take up his residence somewhere in Italy at a distance from the city. After the expiration of his consulship, Dion returned to Rome, and spent some time with the emperor in Campania ; but he appears at length to have become tired of the precarious life at Rome, and under the pretext of suffering from a bad foot, he asked and obtained permission to return to his native place, and there to spend the remainder of his life in quiet retirement. At Nicaea Dion completed his history, and there he also died. The time of his death is unknown. Respecting his family nothing is recorded, except that in two passages he just mentions his wife and children; and it may be that the Dio Cassius whom we find consul in A. D. 291 was a grandson of our historian. The account we have here given of the life of Dio Cassius is derived from scattered passages of his own work, and from a short article in Suidas. Works

The following list contains the works which are attributed by the ancients to Dio Cassius: 1. On Dreams and Prodigies

The work on dreams and prodigies, which we mentioned above, is lost. Dion had probably written it only to please the emperor, and he seems afterwards to have regretted its publication; for, although he is otherwise rather credulous and fond of relating prodigies, yet in his history he mentions those which have reference to Septimius Severus only very cursorily. 2. The history of the reign of Commodus

He afterwards incorporated this in his history of Rome. 3. On the reign of the emperor Trajan.

This work is mentioned only by Suidas; and, if it really was a distinct work, the substance of it was incorporated in his Roman history. 4. A history of Persia

A history of Persia is likewise mentioned only by Suidas, but is probably a mistake, and Suidas confounds Dion with Deinon, who is known to have written a work on Persia. 5. Ἐνόδια (Itineraries)

Ἐνόδια, that is, Itineraries, is mentioned by Suidas ; but it is very doubtful whether it was a work of Dio Cassius, or of his grandfather, Dion Chrysostomus, whose extensive travels may have led him to write such a work. 6. life of Arrian

A life of Arrian is altogether unknown, except through the mention of Suidas. 7. Getica

Getica is attributed to Dio Cassius by Suidas, Jornandes, and Freculphus; while from Philostratus (Vit. Soph. 1.7) we might infer, that Dion Chrysostomus was its author. 8. The History of Rome (Ῥωμαικὴ ἱστορία)

The History of Rome (Ῥωμαικὴ ἱστορία), the great work of Dio Cassius, consisted of 80 books, and was further divided into decads, like Livy's Roman history. It embraced the whole history of Rome from the earliest times, that is, from the landing of Aeneas in Italy down to A. D. 229, the year in which Dion quitted Italy and returned to Nicaea. The excerpta, which A. Mai has published from a Vatican MS., and which belonged to a work containing the history from the time of Valerian down to the time of Constantine the Great, bear indeed the name of Dio Cassius, but are in all probability taken from the work of a Christian writer, who continued the work of Dion, and A. Mai is inclined to think that this continuation was the work of Joannes Antiochenus. Dio Cassius himself (72.18) intimates, that he treated the history of republican Rome briefly, but that he endeavoured to give a more minute and detailed account of those events of which he had himself been an eyewitness. Unfortunately, only a comparatively small portion of this work has come down to us entire. Of the first thirtyfour books we possess only fragments, and the Excerpta, which Ursinus Valesius, and A. Mai have successively published from the collections made by the command of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. A few more fragments have recently been published by F. Haase (Dionis Cassii librorum deperditorum Fragmenta, Bonn, 1840, 8vo.), who found them in a Paris MS. It must further be observed, that Zonaras, in his Annals, chiefly, though not solely, followed the authority of Dio Cassius, so that, to some extent, his Annals may be regarded as an epitome of Dio Cassius. There is a considerable fragment commonly considered as a part of the 35th book, which however more probably belongs to the 36th, and from this book onward to the 54th the work is extant complete, and embraces the history from the wars of Lucullus and Cn. Pompey against Mithridates, down to the death of Agrippa, B. C. 10. The subsequent books, from 55 to 60, have not come to us in their original form, for there are several passages quoted from these books which are not now to be found in them; and we therefore have in all probability only an abridment made by some one either before or after the time of Xiphilinus. From book 61 to 80 we have only the abridgment made by Xiphilinus in the eleventh century, and some other epitomes which were probably made by the same person who epitomized the portion front the 55th to the 60th book. A considerable fragment of the 71st book was found by A. Mai in a Latin translation in the Vatican library, of which a German version was published anonymously Braunschweig, 1832, 8vo,); but its genuineness is not quite established. Another important fragment of the 75th book was discovered by J. Morelli, and printed first at Bassano, and afterwards (1800) at Paris, in folio, uniform with Reimarus's edition of Dio Cassius.

Notwithstanding these great losses, we possess a sufficient portion of the work to enable us to form a correct estimate of its value. It contains an abundance of materials for the later history of the republic and for a considerable period of the empire, for some portions of which it is our only source of information. In the first of the fragments published by A. Mai, Dion distinctly states, that he had read nearly everything which had been written on the history of Rome, and that he did not, like a mere compiler, put together what he found in other writers, but that he weighed his authorities, and exercised his judgment in selecting what he thought fit for a place in his work. This assertion of the author himself is perfectly justified by the nature and character of his history , for it is manifest everywhere that he had acquired a thorough knowledge of his subject, and that his notions of Roman life and Roman institutions were far more correct than those of some of his predecessors, such as Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Whenever he is led into error, it is generally owing to his not having access to authentic sources, and to his being obliged to satisfy himself with secondary ones. It must also be borne in mind, as Dion himself observes (53.19), that the history of the empire presented much more difficulties to the historian than that of the republic. In those parts in which he relates contemporary events, his work forms a sort of medium between real history and mere memoirs of the emperors. His object was to give a record as complete and as accurate as possible of all the important events; but his work is not on that account a dry chronological catalogue of events, for he endeavours, like Thucydides, Polybius, and Tacitus, to trace the events to their causes, and to make us see the motives of men's actions. In his endeavours to make us see the connexions of occurrences he sometimes even neglects the chronological order, like his great models. But with all these excellences, Dio Cassius is the equal neither of Thucydides nor of Tacitus, though we may admit that his faults are to a great extent rather those of his age than of his individual character as an historian. He had been trained in the schools of the rhetoricians, and the consequences of it are visible in his history, which is not free from a rhetorical tinge, especially in the speeches which are introduced in it. They may not be pure inventions, and may have an historical groundwork, but their form is rhetorical; though we must own that they are among the best rhetorical productions of the time. In the formation of his style he appears to have endeavoured to imitate the classic writers of ancient Greece; but his language is nevertheless full of peculiarities, barbarisms, and Latinisms, probably the consequence of his long residence in Italy; and the praise which Photius (Bibl. Cod. 71) bestows upon him for the clearness of his style, must be greatly modified, for it is often harsh and heavy, and Dion seems to have written as he spoke, without any attempt at elegance or refinement. Further Information

See the excellent essay of Reimarus, De Vita et Scriptis Cassii Dionis, appended to his edition; R. Wilmans, De Fontibus et Auctoritate Dionis Cassii, Berlin, 1835, 8vo.; Schlosser, in a dissertation prefixed to Lorenz's German translation of Dion, Jena, 1826. 3 vols. 8vo.; and the brief but admirable characteristic of Dion by Niebahr in his "Lectures on Roman Hist." edited by Dr. Schmitz, i. pp. 72-78.) Editions Latin Edition

The work of Dio Cassius was first published in a Latin translation by N. Leonicenus, Venice, 1526. Greek Editions

The first edition of the Greek original is that of R. Stephens (Paris, 1548, fol.), which contains front book 35 to 60. H. Stephens then gave a new edition with a Latin translation by Xylander. (Geneva, 1591, fol.) The epitome of Xiphilinus from book 60 to 80 was first printed in the edition of Leunclavius. (Frankfurt, 1592, and Hanau, 1606, fol.) After the fragments and eclogae collected by Ursinus and Valesius had been published, J. A. Fabricius formed the plan of preparing a complete and comprehensive edition of Dio Cassius; but his death prevented the completion of his plan, which was carried out by his son-in-law, H. S. Reimarus, who published his edition at Hamburg, 1750-52, in 2 vols. fol. The Greek text is not much improved is this cdition, but the commentary and the indexes are of very great value. The Latin translation which it contains is made up of those of Xylander and Leunclavius. A more recent edition is that of Sturz, in 9 vols. (Leipzig, 1824, 8vo.), the ninth volume of which (published in 1843) contains the " Excerpta Vaticana," which had first been discovered and published by A. Mai. (Script. Vet. Nov. Collect. ii. p. 135, &c., p. 527, &c.) [L.S]

that is, Dion the golden-mouthed, a surname which he owed to his great talents as an orator. He bore also the surname Cocceianu (Plin. Epist 10.85, 86), which he derived from the emperor Cocceius Nerva, with whom he was connected by intimate friendship. (Orat. xlv. p. 513.) Dion Chrysostomus was born at Prusa in Bithynia, about the middle of the first century of our era, and belonged to a distinguished equestrian family. Reimarus has rendered it very probable that a daughter of his was the mother of Dio Cassius, the historian. His father,Pasicrates, seems to have bestowed great care on his son Dion's education and the early training of his mind; but he appears to have acquired part of his knowledge in travels, for we know that he visited Egypt at an early period of his life. At first he occupied himself in his native place, where he held important offices, with the composition of speeches and other rhetorico-sophistical essays, but on perceiving the futility of such pursuits he abandoned them, and devoted himself with great zeal to the study of philosophy : he did not, however, confine give himself up to any profound speculations, his object being rather to apply the doctrines of philosophy to the purposes of practical life, and more especially to the administration of public affairs, and thus to bring about a better state of things. The Stoic and Platonic philosophies, however, appear to have had the greatest charms for hilm. Notwithstanding these useful and peaceful pursuits, he was looked upon in his native place with suspicion and hostility (Orat. xlvi. p. 212, &c.), which induced him to go to Rome Here he drew upon himself the hatred of Domitian, who had so great an aversion to philosophers, that by a senatus-consultum all were expelled from Rome and Italy, and Dion found himself obliged to quit Rome in secret. (Orat. xlvi. p. 215, xiii. p. 418.) On the advice of the Delphic oracle, it is said, he put on the attire of a beggar, and with nothing in his pocket but a copy of Plato's Phaedon and Demosthenes's oration on the Embassy, he undertook a journey to the countries in the north and east of the Roman empire. He thus visited Thrace, Mysia, Scythia, and the country of the Getae, and owing to the power and wisdom of his orations, he met everywhere with a kindly reception, and did much good. (Orat. xxxvi. p. 74; comp. xiii. p. 418.) In A. D. 96, when Domitian was murdered, Dion used his influence with the army stationed on the frontier in favour of his friend Nerva, and seems to have returned to Rome immediately after his accession. (Orat. xlv. p. 202.) Nerva's successor, Trajan, entertained the highest esteem for Dion, and shewed hint the most marked favour, for he is said to have often visited hill, and even to have allowed him to ride by his side in his golden triumphal car. Having thus received the most ample satisfaction for the unjust treatment he had experienced before, he returned to Prusa about A. D. 100. But the petty spirit he found prevailing there, which was jealous of his merits and distinctions, and attributed his good actions to impure motives (Orat. l. p. 254, &c.), soon disgusted him with his fellow-citizens, and he again went to Rome. Trajan continued to treat him with the greatest distinction: his kindly disposition gained him many eminent friends, such as Apollonius of Tyana and Euphrates of Tyre, and his oratory the admiration of all. In this manner he spent his last years, and died at Rome about A. D. 117. Works

Dion Chrysostomus is one of the most eminent among the Greek rhetoricians and sophists. Orations

This is the opinion not only of the ancients who have written about him, such as Philostratus, Synesius, and Photius, but it is also confirmed by the eighty orations of his which are still extant, and which were the only ones known in the time of Photius, who, however, enumerates them in a somewhat different order from that in which they now stand. These orations are for the most part the productions of his later years, and there are very few, if any, among them that can with certainty be at tributed to the early period of his life. They are more like essays on political, moral, and philosophical subjects than real orations, of which they have only the form. We find among them λόγοι περὶ βασιλείας or λόγοι βασιλικοί, four orations addressed to Trajan on the virtues of a sovereign ; Διογένης σἢ περὶ τυραννίδος, on the troubles to which men expose themselves by deserting the path of nature, and on the difficulties which a sovereign has to encounter; essavs on slavery and freedom; on the means of attaining eminence as an orator; further, political discourses addressed to various towns which he sometimes praises and sometimes blames, but always with great moderation and wisdom; on subjects of ethics and practical philosophy, which he treats in a popular and attractive manner; and lastly, orations on mythical subjects and show-speeches. Besides these eighty orations we have fragments of fifteen others. Suidas, in enumerating the works of Dio Cassius, mentions one on the Getae, which Casaubon was inclined to attribute to Dion Chrysostomus, on account of a passage in Philostratus ( Vit. Soph. 1.7), who says, " how fit Dion (Chrysostomus) was for writing history, is evident from his Getica." Letters

There are extant also five letters under the name of Dion, and addressed to one Rufus. They are published in Boissonade's Ad Marini Vit. Procl. p. 85, &c., and some critics are inclined to consider them as productions of Dion Chrysostolmus. All the extant orations of Dion are distinguished for their refined and elegant style; the author most successflly imitated the classic writers of Greece, such as Plato, Demosthenes, Hyperides, and Aeschines. His ardent study of those models, combined with his own eminent talents, his firm and pleasing voice, and his skill in extempore speaking, raised him at once above all contemporary rhetoricians. His style is throughout clear, and, generally speaking, free from artificial embellishment, though he is not always able to escape from the influence of the Asiatic school of rhetoric. His sentences are often interrupted by the insertion of parenthetical clauses, and his prooemia are frequently too long in proportion to the other parts of his discourses. " Dion Chrysostomus," says Niebuhr (Lecturses. on Rom. Hist. ii. p. 263, ed. Schmitz), " was an author of u ncommon talent, and it is much to be regretted that he belonged to the rhetoricians of that unfortunate age. It makes one sad to see him waste his brilliant oratorical powers on insignificant subjects. Some of his works are written in an excellent and beautiful language, which is pure Attic Greek and without affectation : it is clear that he had made the classical language of Athens his own, and he handled it as a master. He appears in all he wrote as a man of an amiable character, and free from the vanity of the ordinary rhetoricians, though one perceives the silent consciousness of his powers. He was an unaffected Platonic philosopher, and lived world, and which made him forget Rome, its emperor, and everything else. All this forms a very charming feature in his character. Whenever he touches upon the actual state of things in which he lived, he shews his master-mind. He was the first writer after Tiberius that greatly contributed towards the revival of Greek literature." (Comp. Philostratus. Vit. Soph. 1.7; Photius, Bibl. Cod. 209; Synnesius, Δίων ἢ περὶ τῆς κατʼ διαγωγῆς; Suid. s. v. Δίων; Westermann, Gesch. d. Griech. Bereds. § 87, &c., and Beilage x. p. 317, &c.; Emperius, de Exilio Dionis Chrisostomi, Braunschweig, 1840, 8vo.) Editions

Passing over the editions of separate orations of Dion Chrysostomus, we mention only those which contain all of them. The first was edited by D. Paravisinus at Milan (1476, 4to.), and was followed by that of Aldus Manutius. (Venice, 1511, 8vo.) The next edition of importance is that of Cl. Morel (Paris, 1601), which was reprinted in 1623 with a Latin translation of Naogeorgius and notes by Morel. A very good critical edition is that of Reiske, Leipzig, 1784, 2 vols. 8vo. The first volume of a new critical edition by Emperius appeared in 1844. [L.S]

(Δίων). (1) An inhabitant of Syracuse, who became a disciple of Plato, invited to the court of Syracuse by the elder Dionysius. He was nearly connected with Dionysius by having married his daughter, and because his sister was one of his wives; and he was also much esteemed by him, so as to be employed on several embassies. At the accession of the younger Dionysius, Plato was again, at Dion's request, invited to Syracuse. (See Plato.) In order, however, to counteract his influence, the courtiers obtained the recall of Philistus, a man notorious for his adherence to arbitrary principles. This faction determined to supplant Dion, and availed themselves of a real or supposititious letter to fix on him the charge of treason. Dion, precluded from defence, was transported to Italy, and from thence proceeded to Greece, where he was received with great honour. Dionysius became jealous of his popularity in Greece, especially at Athens, stopped his remittances, confiscated his estates, and compelled his wife, who had been left at Syracuse as an hostage, to marry another person. Dion, incensed at this treatment, determined to expel the tyrant. Plato resisted his intentions; but, encouraged by other friends, he assembled a body of troops, and with a small force sailed to Sicily, took advantage of the absence of Dionysius in Italy, and freed the people from his control. Dionysius returned; but, after some conflicts, was compelled to escape to Italy. The austere and philosophic manners of Dion, however, soon lost him the favour of his countrymen, and he was supplanted by Heraclides, a Syracusan exile, and obliged to make his retreat to Leontini. He afterwards regained the ascendency and caused Heraclides to be assassinated, which robbed him ever after of his peace of mind. An Athenian, an intimate friend, formed a conspiracy against his life, and Dion was assassinated in the fifty-fifth year of his age, B.C. 354 (Diod. Sic.xvi. 6 foll.; Dion.; Corn. Nep. Dion).

(2) Dio Cassius Cocceiānus, son of Cassius Apronianus, a Roman senator, born A.D. 155, at Nicaea, in Bithynia. His true name was Cassius, but he assumed the other two names, as being descended on the mother's side from Dion Chrysostom. Thus, though he was on his mother's side of Greek descent, and though, in his writings, he adopted the prevailing language—Greek—of his native province, he must be considered as a Roman. Dio Cassius passed the greater part of his life in public employments. He was a senator under Commodus and governor of Smyrna after the death of Septimius Severus; and afterwards consul, as also proconsul in Africa and Pannonia. Alexander Severus entertained the highest esteem for him, and made him consul for the second time, with himself, though the Praetorian Guards, irritated against him on account of his severity, had demanded his life. When advanced in years (about A.D. 229), he returned to his native country. Dio published a Roman history, in eighty books, the fruit of his researches and labours for the space of twenty-two years. It embraced a period of 983 years, extending from the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, and the subsequent founding of Rome, to A.D. 229. Down to the time of Iulius Caesar, he only gives a summary of events; after this, he enters somewhat more into details; and from the time of Commodus he is very circumstantial in relating what passed under his own eyes. We have fragments remaining of the first thirty-six books: but there is a considerable portion of the thirtyfifth book, on the war of Lucullus against Mithridates, and of the thirty-sixth, on the war with the pirates and the expedition of Pompey against the king of Pontus. The books that follow, to the fifty-fourth inclusive, are nearly all entire: they comprehend a period from B.C. 65 to B.C. 12, or from the eastern campaign of Pompey and the death of Mithridates to the death of Agrippa. The fifty-fifth book has a considerable gap in it. The fifty-sixth to the sixtieth, both included, which comprehend the period from A.D. 9 to A.D. 54, are complete, and contain the events from the defeat of Varus in Germany to the death of Claudius. Of the following twenty books we have only fragments and the meagre abridgment of Xiphilinus. The eightieth or last book comprehends the period from A.D. 222 to A.D. 229, in the reign of Alexander Severus. The abridgment of Xiphilinus, as now extant, commences with the thirty-fifth and continues to the end of the eightieth book. It is a very indifferent performance, and was made by order of the emperor Michael VII., Parapinaces. The abbreviator, Xiphilinus, was a monk of the eleventh century.

The fragments of the first thirty-six books, as now collected, are of four kinds: (a) Fragmenta Valesiāna, such as were dispersed throughout various writers, scholiasts, grammarians, lexicographers, etc., and were collected by Henri de Valois. (b) Fragmenta Peiresciāna, comprising large extracts, found in the section entitled “Of Virtues and Vices,” in the great collection or portative library compiled by order of Constantine VII., Porphyrogenitus. The manuscript of this belonged to Peiresc. (c) The fragments of the first thirty-four books, preserved in the second section of the same work of Constantine's, entitled “Of Embassies.” These are known under the name of Fragmenta Ursiniāna, because the manuscript containing them was found in Sicily by Fulvio Orsini. (d) Excerpta Vaticāna, by Mai, which contain fragments of books i.-xxxv. and lxi.-lxxx. To these are added the fragments of an unknown continuator of Dio , which go down to the time of Constantine. Other fragments from Dio belonging chiefly to the first thirtyfive books were found by Mai in two Vatican MSS., which contain a collection made by Maximus Planudes. The annals of Zonaras also contain numerous extracts from Dion.

Dio has taken Thucydides for his model; but the imitator is comparable with his original neither in arrangement and the distribution of materials nor in soundness of view and just and accurate reasoning. His style is generally clear, where there appears to be no corruption of the text, though full of Latinisms. His diligence is unquestionable, and, from his opportunities, he was well acquainted with the circumstances of the Empire during the period for which he is a contemporary authority; and, indeed, we may assign a high value to his history of the whole period from the time of Augustus to his own age. Nor is his work without value for the earlier periods of Roman history, in which, though he has fallen into errors, like all the Greek and Roman writers who have handled the same obscure subject, he still enables us to correct some erroneous statements of Livy and Dionysius. The best editions are those of Fabricius, completed by Reimar, 2 vols. (Hamb. 1751); of Sturz, 8 vols. (Leipzig, 1824-25); of Bekker (1849); and especially of L. Dindorf (revised by Melber, 1890 foll.). The small Tauchnitz edition, 4 vols. 16mo, contains all the fragments.

(3) Surnamed Chrysostŏmus, or the Goldenmouthed, on account of the beauty of his style, was a native of Prusa in Bithynia, born about A.D. 50. He was a sophist and Being in Egypt when Vespasian, who had been proclaimed emperor by his own army, came there, he was consulted by that prince on the proper course to be adopted under the circumstances. Dion had the candour to advise him to restore the Republic. Afterwards he resided for years at Rome, till, one of his friends having engaged in a conspiracy against Domitian, Dion, fearing for himself, fled to what is now Moldavia, where he remained till the tyrant's death, labouring for his subsistence with his own hands. Domitian having been assassinated, the legions quartered on the Danube were about to revolt, when Dion got upon an altar and harangued them so effectually that they submitted to the decision of the Senate. Dion was in high favour with Nerva and Trajan, and when the latter triumphed after his Dacian victories the orator sat in the emperor's car in the procession. He returned to Bithynia, where he spent the remainder of his life. Accusations of peculation and treason were brought against him, but rejected as frivolous. He died at an advanced age, but it is not known in what year. We have eighty orations attributed to him, which are very neatly written in pure Attic Greek, but are not of much intrinsic value. The best editions are those of Reiske, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1784); Emper (1844); and L. Dindorf (1857).

A town of Pieria at the S entrance into Macedonia, named for its proximity to a shrine of Olympian Zeus (Steph. Byz.); local tradition (Paus. 9.3) held that Orpheus died and was buried there. Town and shrine were brought into prominence by King Archelaos (Diod., 17.16.3; schol. Dem. 19.192), who instituted a dramatic festival in honor of Zeus and the Muses. Philip celebrated the destruction of Olynthos at Dion (Diod. 16.15). Alexander held a nine-day festival there (Diod. 17.16.3-4; Arr. Anab. 1.11.1) before the campaign into Persia, and later commissioned Lysippos' statues of the Macedonian Companions who fell at the Graniko (ibid. 1.16.4). Dion was fostered by the Antigonids, and prospered until the Aitolians sacked it in 219 B.C. (Polyb. 4.2). It had recovered by 169 B.C. (Livy 44.7), and Metellus Macedonicus found Lysippos statues still there in 147 (Vell. Pat. 1.1 1.3; Plin., HN 34.64). In Imperial times it was resettled as Colonia Julia Diensis, and flourished while its neighbor Pydna declined. It was sacked in the late 4th c. A.D., recovered briefly in the next century, but was soon abandoned altogether.

The town lies on a gentle slope between the Aegean shore and the abrupt slopes of Mount Olympos. Until recently a dense forest and unhealthful swamps impeded serious investigation, but the site has now been cleared and drained. The first excavations concentrated on two lines of paved roadway, on a basilical church building NW of their intersection, and on several Macedonian chamber tombs in the vicinity.

The city forms a rectangle, crossed by roads running roughly N-S and E-W (actually E-NE—W-SW). The more important axis, paved with large slabs and 5-5.6 m wide, runs straight from the N to the S wall, and may continue into the sanctuary area. To the W of this road the circuit wall stands out over a large moat, which may have protected the city from flooding more than from siege. The wall is difficult to trace E of the road. The foundation courses of the S wall date from the late 4th c. It is solidly built of large rectangular blocks with numerous rectangular towers at regular intervals. In the center of the W wall, a structure that may once have served for a gate was subsequently converted into a sort of Nymphaion.

On the W side of the N-S road, towards the center of the city, there is an ornamental facade with a relief depicting shields and body armor on alternate panels. Farther S the W side is lined by shops and a bath, the latter near the passage through the S wall.

The sanctuary area extends S of the city wall, apparently along the line of the N-S road. Well to the W, towards Mt. Olympos, is a theater built on an artificial embankment, an odeion, and a stadium. Between the theater and the line of the road, near a spring, inscriptional and other evidence suggests the existence of cults of Dionysos, Athena, and Kybele. On the E side of the road excavations have brought to light naiskoi of Demeter and Asklepios, along with evidence of the cults of Baubo, Artemis, Hermes, and the Muses; farther out along the line of the road inscriptions mentioning Olympian Zeus have been found.

Finds are in a small museum in the adjacent village of Malathria (officially Dion): numerous funerary monuments, cult statues, and architectural fragments. A piece of Ionic molding dated to the 5th c. B.C. gives evidence of the embellishment of the city in the time of Archelaos.

The most impressive of the Macedonian chamber tombs in the vicinity of the theater was dated to the 4th c. B.C. but is now thought to be later. Tombs have also been found at Karitsa, N of Malathria.

W. M. Leake, Travels in Northern Greece III (1835) 408-13; L. Heuzey, Le Mont Olympe (1860) 113-28M; id. & H. Daumet, Mission en Macédoine (1876) 267-72; G. Soteriades, Excavation reports, Praktika (1928) 59; (1929) 69-82I; (1930) 36-51 (tomb) I; (1931) 43-55I; C. Mabreveas, “Neai Eidēseis ek Diou tou Pierikou, Ē Thesis tou ierou tou Dios,” ArchEph (1937) II 527-33; id., Excavation report, Praktika (1956) 13 1-38I; G. Bakalakis, Excavation reports, ArchDelt 19, 2 (1964) 344-49PI; 21, 2 (1966) 346-49I; 23, 2 (1968) 342-44I; “Chronique des Fouilles,” BCH 52 (1928) 490; 53 (1929) 510; 54 (1930) 498-500; 55 (1931) 494-95; 58 (1934) 256; 80 (1956) 311-13; 81 (1957) 597-98; 90 (1966) 862-64P; 94 (1970) 1060; Ergon (1955) 48-50, 123-25; (1956) 50-52.

• helps Lysander to win battle of Aegospotami: Paus. 10.9.10