<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_LXXXIV">CHAPTER LXXXIV<br/> <span class="subhead">THE TWO BROTHERS</span></h2></div>
<p class="in0"><span class="firstword">The</span> city of Corinth stood upon the narrow isthmus that
joined the mainland of Greece to the Peloponnesian peninsula.
She had two harbours, a large fleet, and she carried
on a prosperous trade with other countries.</p>
<p>As the city grew strong and populous, she began to plant
colonies in other lands. One of the wealthiest of these
colonies was the town of Syracuse in Sicily.</p>
<p>In 346 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> Syracuse was in the power of a tyrant named
Dionysius. The other cities in Sicily would have been in
the same plight had their inhabitants not fled to a neighbouring
town, and sought the aid of a powerful prince named
Icetes. Icetes had a large army, and with its help they
hoped to be able to overthrow Dionysius.</p>
<p>But trouble after trouble overtook the people, for the
Carthaginians had sailed from Africa and had reached their
shores. Sicily was in despair lest they should conquer the
island and make it their own.</p>
<p>In their distress, the Sicilians sent messengers to Corinth,
their mother-city, to beg her to help them to get rid of both
the Carthaginians and Dionysius.</p>
<p>Icetes pretended to approve of this, but no sooner had
the ambassadors set out for Corinth than he made friends
with the Carthaginians. He hoped that if they drove
Dionysius away, he himself would become tyrant of Sicily.</p>
<p>In Corinth, about twenty years earlier, there dwelt two
brothers of noble birth—one was named Timophanes, the
other Timoleon. Never were two brothers more unlike<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">287</span>
save that both were brave. Timophanes was cruel and
ambitious, while Timoleon was gentle and content. Yet
under his quiet ways Timoleon had one strong passion and
that was the love he bore his country.</p>
<p>Timophanes was a captain in the Corinthian army; his
brother served in the ranks.</p>
<p>Once when the captain was sent against a neighbouring
state, he was thrown from his horse, which had been wounded.
He fell close to the enemy and his men fled, leaving him in
danger of being taken prisoner.</p>
<p>Timoleon saw what had happened, and rushing from the
ranks, he stood over Timophanes with his shield, and defended
him from the spears which were being hurled at him by the
enemy. Although he himself was sorely wounded, he never
flinched. But at length his comrades rushed to his aid and
drove off the foe. Timoleon had saved his brother’s life.</p>
<p>Not long after this, Timophanes was given the command
of four hundred foreign soldiers. This pleased the captain,
but to the dismay of the citizens he used the troops to make
himself tyrant of the city.</p>
<p>All who dared to oppose him he put to death, while he
ruled so harshly that he was hated and feared by everyone.</p>
<p>Timoleon was ashamed of his brother’s behaviour. He
begged him to treat the people more kindly, and if he must
rule at least to rule with justice. But Timophanes first
mocked at his brother’s words, and then he grew angry and
refused to listen to them.</p>
<p>Gentle as Timoleon was, he could be strong when there
was need to be so. In a short time he went again to his
brother, taking with him two friends who used to admire
Timophanes.</p>
<p>Together the three men besought the tyrant to give up
the power he had so wrongfully seized, and to serve his
country in an upright way.</p>
<p>Again Timophanes laughed at his friends, but when they
persisted in their entreaties he grew angry, and rudely bade<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">288</span>
them begone. Then Timoleon hid his face in his cloak and
wept, while the others put his brother to death.</p>
<p>The Corinthians, for the most part, praised Timoleon
because he loved his country so well that he sacrificed his
brother for her sake. But there were some citizens who
blamed Timoleon for allowing his brother to be put to death
before his eyes. His mother refused to see him and called
down upon him the curses of the gods. This pained Timoleon
more than anything else, and he begged her to see him, if it
were but once. But she would not allow him to enter her house.</p>
<p>Timoleon loved his mother, and her treatment made him so
sad that he refused either to eat or to drink. He resolved to
starve himself to death rather than endure his mother’s
reproaches.</p>
<p>His friends did all they could to comfort him, and at
length they succeeded in persuading him to eat. But his
sorrow was too great to let him stay in Corinth, so he left
the city, and for several years he lived by himself. Even
when he returned to Corinth, he still refused to take part in
any public business.</p>
<p>Timoleon was fifty years old when in 346 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> the Syracusans
sent to the Corinthians to beg for help against the
Carthaginians.</p>
<p>The Corinthians determined to send an army to Sicily
to help their fellow-countrymen, but they could find no one
willing to go at its head.</p>
<p>Some one proposed that Timoleon should be made commander
of the force that had been raised, and he was at once
appointed.</p>
<p>Perhaps Timoleon thought that it was now time that he
should do something for his country; in any case he undertook
the task that was given him with goodwill.</p>
<p>One worthy citizen bade Timoleon act ‘like a man of
worth and gallantry. For,’ said he, ‘if you do bravely in
this service we shall believe that you delivered us from a
tyrant; but if otherwise, that you killed your brother.’</p>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">289</span></p>
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