PHILISTUS

A Greek historian, of Syracuse, born about 435 B.C. He encouraged the elder Dionysius, by advice and assistance, in securing and maintaining the position of despot in his native state; but was himself banished by Dionysius in 386, and lived a long while at Adria in Epirus, busied with historical studies. Recalled by Dionysius the younger, he counteracted the salutary influence of Dion and Plato at that tyrant's court, and brought about the banishment of both. As commander of the fleet against Dion and the revolted Syracusans, he lost a naval battle, and in consequence either committed suicide or was cruelly murdered by the angry populace (356). He left an historical work, begun in his exile, called Sicelica, a history of Sicily in thirteen books. Books i-vii dealt with the events of the earliest times to the capture of Agrigentum by the Carthaginians in 406; viii-xi, with the rule of the elder Dionysius; xii and xiii, with that of the younger. The last portion, which remained incomplete owing to his death, was finished by his countryman Athanas. Only unimportant fragments of this have survived. According to the judgment of the ancients, he imitated Thucydides somewhat unsuccessfully, and betrayed in his work the one-sided attitude natural to his political views [Plutarch, Dion 36; Dionysius Halic., Ad Cn. Pompeium, 5].