See Chronology, No. 31.

Dionysius I., from a private secretary became general and tyrant of Syracuse and all Sicily. He was likewise a poet; and having, by bribes, gained the tragedy prize at Athens, he indulged himself so immoderately at table from excess of joy, that he died of the debauch, 386 B.C., but some authors relate that he was poisoned by his physicians.

Dionysius II. (his son and successor) was a greater tyrant than his father; his subjects were obliged to apply to the Corinthians for succour; and Timoleon their general having conquered the tyrant, he fled to Athens, where he was obliged to keep a school for subsistence. He died 343 B.C.

Dionysius Halicarnassus, a celebrated historian, and one of the most judicious critics of antiquity, was born at Halicarnassus; and went to Rome after the battle of Actium, where he laid 22 years under the reign of Augustus. He there composed in Greek his History of the Roman Antiquities, in 20 books, of which the first 11 only are now remaining. There are also still extant several of his critical works. The best edition of the works of this author is that of Oxford, in 1704, in Greek and Latin, by Dr Hudson.