§6.1Has tam prosperas tamque inopinatas res consecuta est subita commutatio, quod fortuna sua mobilitate, quem paulo ante extulerat, demergere est adorta.
A sudden change followed these so prosperous and unexpected events, because Fortune, by her own instability, attempted to submerge the very man whom she had elevated shortly before.
§6.2primum in filio, de quo commemoravi supra, suam vim exercuit.
First, she exercised her power on his son, whom I mentioned above.
nam cum uxorem reduxisset, quae alii fuerat tradita, filiumque vellet revocare ad virtutem a perdita luxuria, accepit gravissimum parens vulnus morte filii.
For when he had brought back his wife, who had been given to another, and wished to recall his son from ruined luxury to virtue, the parent received a most grievous wound by the death of his son.
§6.3deinde orta dissensio est inter eum et Heraclidem, qui, quod ei principatum non concedebat, factionem comparavit.
Next, a dissension arose between him and Heraclides, who, because Dion did not yield the leadership to him, formed a faction.
neque is minus valebat apud optimates, quorum consensu praeerat classi, cum Dion exercitum pedestrem teneret.
Nor did he have less influence among the optimates, by whose consensus he was in command of the fleet, while Dion held the land army.
§6.4non tulit hoc animo aequo Dion, et versum illum Homeri rettulit ex secunda rhapsodia, in quo haec sententia est: non posse bene geri rem publicam multorum imperiis. quod dictum magna invidia consecuta est: namque aperuisse videbatur omnia in sua potestate esse velle.
Dion did not bear this with an equal mind, and quoted that famous verse of Homer from the second rhapsody, in which this sentiment is expressed: "that a state cannot be well governed by the rule of many." A great envy followed this saying, for he seemed to have made it clear that he wished all things to be under his own power.
§6.5hanc ille non lenire obsequio, sed acerbitate opprimere studuit, Heraclidemque, tum Syracusas venisset, interficiundum curavit.
This envy he did not study to mitigate by compliance, but to crush by severity, and when Heraclides had come to Syracuse, he took care that he should be put to death.