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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §14.112.1-14.112.5

Execution of Phyton and His Noble Death

Passage 406 of 723 · Greek

Summary

It describes how Dionysius brutally tortured and executed Phyton, the general of Rhegium, along with his family, while Phyton's noble and courageous end won the sympathy of enemy soldiers and the lament of later poets.

§14.112.1Φύτωνα δὲ τὸν τῶν Ῥηγίνων στρατηγὸν συλλαβών, τὸν μὲν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ κατεπόντισεν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔδησε πρὸς τὰς ὑψηλοτάτας μηχανάς, οἱονεὶ τραγικήν τινα τιμωρίαν λαμβάνων, προσέπεμψε δέ τινα τῶν ὑπηρετῶν ἐροῦντα πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς ἐχθὲς αὐτοῦ τὸν υἱὸν Διονύσιος κατεπόντισε· πρὸς ὃν εἶπε Φύτων, διότι γέγονεν εὐτυχέστερος τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ.
Having arrested Phyton, the general of the Rhegians, Dionysius drowned his son, and as for Phyton himself, at first he bound him to the highest engines, as if taking some tragic vengeance, and sent one of his servants to tell him that Dionysius had drowned his son yesterday; to whom Phyton said that his son had become more fortunate than his father by one day.
§14.112.2μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περιῆγεν αὐτὸν Διονύσιος τὴν πόλιν μαστίζων καὶ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον αἰκιζόμενος, ἅμα κήρυκος συνακολουθοῦντος ὅτι τὸν ἄνδρα Διονύσιος τιμωρεῖται παρηλλαγμένως, ὅτι τὴν πόλιν ἔπεισεν ἑλέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον.
After this, Dionysius led him around the city, scourging him and maltreating him in every way, while a herald accompanied them proclaiming that Dionysius was punishing the man in an extraordinary manner because he had persuaded the city to choose war.
§14.112.3ὁ δὲ Φύτων κατὰ τὴν πολιορκίαν στρατηγὸς ἀγαθὸς γεγενημένος καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἄλλον βίον ἐπαινούμενος, οὐκ ἀγεννῶς ὑπέμενε τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς τιμωρίαν, ἀλλʼ ἀκατάπληκτον τὴν ψυχὴν φυλάξας καὶ βοῶν ὅτι τὴν πόλιν οὐ βουληθεὶς προδοῦναι Διονυσίῳ τυγχάνει τῆς τιμωρίας, ἣν αὐτῷ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐκείνῳ συντόμως ἐπιστήσει· ὥστε τὴν ἀρετὴν τἀνδρὸς καὶ παρὰ τοῖς στρατιώταις τοῦ Διονυσίου κατελεεῖσθαι καί τινας ἤδη θορυβεῖν.
But Phyton, who had proven himself a brave general during the siege and was praised in the rest of his life, endured the punishment at his death not ignobly, but keeping his soul undaunted and crying out that he was receiving this punishment because he had refused to betray the city to Dionysius, and that the divine power would soon bring the same punishment upon him; so that the virtue of the man was pitied even among the soldiers of Dionysius, and some of them were already beginning to mutter.
§14.112.4ὁ δὲ Διονύσιος εὐλαβηθείς, μή τινες τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποτολμήσωσιν ἐξαρπάζειν τὸν Φύτωνα, παυσάμενος τῆς τιμωρίας κατεπόντισε τὸν ἀτυχῆ μετὰ τῆς συγγενείας.
Dionysius, fearing lest some of the soldiers should make bold to rescue Phyton, stopped the torture and drowned the unfortunate man along with his kindred.
§14.112.5οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἀναξίως τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐκνόμοις περιέπεσε τιμωρίαις, καὶ πολλοὺς ἔσχε καὶ τότε τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς ἀλγήσαντας τὴν συμφορὰν καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ποιητὰς τοὺς θρηνήσαντας τὸ τῆς περιπετείας ἐλεεινόν.
Thus, then, undeserving of his virtue, he met with unlawful punishments, and had many of the Greeks even at that time who grieved over his misfortune, and afterwards poets who lamented the pitiful nature of his reversal of fortune.

Notes

  1. 14.112.1διότι γέγονεν εὐτυχέστερος τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ — Interpreted as "his son had become more fortunate than his father by one day." Here the conjunction διότι functions similarly to ὅτι introducing indirect discourse. The subject of the perfect verb γέγονεν is "his son" (τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ) mentioned just before. It means that by dying one day earlier, the son was spared from witnessing the horrific torture and humiliation that his father (Phyton) was about to suffer, or was freed from suffering one day earlier.
  2. 14.112.3ἣν αὐτῷ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐκείνῳ συντόμως ἐπιστήσει — Meaning "which the divine power would soon bring upon him (Dionysius)." The relative pronoun ἣν refers back to the antecedent τῆς τιμωρίας and serves as the direct object of the future verb ἐπιστήσει (future of ἐφίστημι). The pronoun αὐτῷ, functioning as a dative of disadvantage, is reinforced and emphasized appositively by the demonstrative pronoun ἐκείνῳ referring to Dionysius.
  3. 14.112.5τοὺς ἀλγήσαντας τὴν συμφορὰν — The verb ἀλγέω (to feel pain, grieve), which is generally used as an intransitive verb in the classical period, is used transitively here, taking the accusative τὴν συμφορὰν (the misfortune) as its direct object.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §14.112.1-14.112.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:14.112.1-14.112.5

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