§24.4.1in Sicilia Romanis omnia mutaverat mors Hieronis regnumque ad Hieronymum nepotem eius translatum, puerum vixdum libertatem, nedum dominationem modice laturum.
In Sicily, the death of Hiero and the transfer of the kingdom to his grandson Hieronymus had changed everything for the Romans—a boy who was scarcely yet ready to bear liberty with moderation, let alone sovereignty.
§24.4.2eam aetatem, id ingenium tutores atque amici ad praecipitandum in omnia vitia acceperunt.
This age and this temperament of his, the guardians and friends took in hand so as to plunge him into every vice.
quae ita futura cernens Hiero ultima senecta voluisse dicitur liberas Syracusas relinquere, ne sub dominatu puerili per ludibrium bonis artibus partum firmatumque interiret regnum.
Hiero, seeing that these things would turn out so, is said in his extreme old age to have wished to leave Syracuse free, lest the kingdom, acquired and strengthened by honorable means, should perish in mockery under a boyish rule.
§24.4.3huic consilio eius summa ope obstitere filiae, nomen regium penes puerum futurum ratae, regimen rerum omnium penes se virosque suos Adranodorum et Zoippum, qui Syracusanorum primi relinquebantur.
His daughters opposed this plan of his with all their might, thinking that the royal title would belong to the boy, but the direction of all affairs would be in the hands of themselves and their husbands, Adranodorus and Zoippus, who were left as the chief men among the Syracusans.
§24.4.4non facile erat nonagesimum iam agenti annum, circumsesso dies noctesque muliebribus blanditiis, liberare animum et convertere ad publicam a privata curam.
It was not easy for one who was already in his ninetieth year, beset day and night by female flatteries, to free his mind and turn his attention from private to public concern.
§24.4.5itaque tutores modo quindecim puero relinquit, quos precatus est moriens, ut fidem erga populum Romanum quinquaginta annos ab se cultam inviolatam servarent iuvenemque suis potissimum vestigiis insistere vellent et disciplinae, in qua eductus esset.
Therefore, he left only fifteen guardians for the boy, whom on his deathbed he implored to keep inviolate the alliance with the Roman people which he had cultivated for fifty years, and to wish the young man to follow above all his own footsteps and the discipline in which he had been brought up.
§24.4.6haec mandata.
These were his instructions.
cum expirasset, tutores testamento prolato pueroque in contionem producto — erat autem quindecim tum ferme annorum — §24.4.7paucis, qui per contionem ad excitandos clamores dispositi erant, adprobantibus testamentum, ceteris velut patre amisso in orba civitate omnia timentibus munus suscipiunt.
When he had expired, the guardians, having produced the will and brought the boy forward into the assembly—he was then indeed about fifteen years of age— while only a few, who had been stationed throughout the assembly to raise shouts, approved the will, and the rest were fearing everything in a bereaved state as if they had lost a father, they undertook their office.
funus fit regium, §24.4.8magis amore civium et caritate quam cura suorum celebre.
A royal funeral was held, distinguished more by the love and affection of the citizens than by the care of his relatives.
§24.4.9brevi deinde ceteros tutores summovet Adranodorus, iuvenem iam esse dictitans Hieronymum ac regni potentem; deponendoque tutelam ipse, quae cum pluribus communis erat, in se unum omnium vires convertit.
Shortly afterwards, Adranodorus removed the other guardians, repeatedly declaring that Hieronymus was now a young man and capable of ruling; and by resigning the guardianship himself, which was shared with several others, he turned the power of all into himself alone.