the wont, but Tauromenium, or the Abiding-place of
the Bull. A few years later Andromachus performed
the signal action of his life by befriending Timoleon,
as great a character, in my eyes, as Plutarch records
the glory of. Timoleon had set out from Corinth,
at the summons of his Greek countrymen, to restore
the liberty of Syracuse, then tyrannized over by the
second Dionysius; and because Andromachus, in his
stronghold of Taormina, hated tyranny, Plutarch says,
he “gave Timoleon leave to muster up his troops
there and to make that city the seat of war, persuading
the inhabitants to join their arms with the Corinthian
forces and to assist them in the design of delivering
Sicily.” It was on our beach that Timoleon
disembarked, and from our city he went forth to the
conquest foretold, by the wreath that fell upon his
head as he prayed at Delphi, and by the prophetic
fire that piloted his ship over the sea. The
Carthaginians came quickly after him from Reggio, where
he had eluded them, for they were in alliance with
the tyrant; and from their vessels they parleyed with
Andromachus in the port. With an insolent gesture,
the envoy, raising his hand, palm up, and turning it
lightly over, said that even so, and with such ease,
would he overturn the little city; and Andromachus,
mocking his hand-play, answered that if he did not
leave the harbour, even so would he upset his galley.
The Carthaginians sailed away. The city remained
firm-perched. Timoleon prospered, brought back
liberty to Syracuse, ruled wisely and nobly, and gave
to Sicily those twenty years of peace which were the
flower of her Greek annals. Then, we must believe,
rose the little temple on our headland, the Greek
theatre where the tongue of Athens lived, the gymnasium
where the youths grew fair and strong. Then Taormina
struck her coins: Apollo with the laurel, with
the lyre, with the grape; Dionysus with the ivy, and
Zeus with the olive; for the gods and temples of the
Naxians had become ours, and were religiously cherished;
and with the rest was struck a coin with the Minotaur,
our symbol. But of Andromachus, the founder of
the well-built and fairly adorned Greek city that
then rose, we hear no more—a hero, I think,
one of the true breed of the founders of states.
But alas for liberty! A new tyrant, Agathocles,
was soon on the Syracusan throne, and he won this city
by friendly professions, only to empty it by treachery
and murder; and he drove into exile Timaeus, the son
of Andromachus. Timaeus? He, evidently,
of my Casa Timeo. I know him now, the once famed
historian whom Cicero praises as the most erudite
in history of all writers up to his time, most copious
in facts and various in comment, not unpolished in
style, eloquent, and distinguished by terse and charming
expression. Ninety years he lived in the Greek
world, devoted himself to history, and produced many
works, now lost. The ancient writers read him,
and from their criticism it is clear that he was marked