person
Dionysius II of Syracuse
Dionysius II
also: Dionysius tyrannus, Dionysius the younger, the younger Dionysius
Tyrant of Syracuse (r. 367-357 and 346-344 BC), son of Dionysius I, twice expelled from power; tradition held that after his final fall he supported himself as a schoolmaster of boys at Corinth. Cicero adduces him as an example of a man who could not bear to live without rule.
Reading notes
- Tusculan Disputations §3.27 Dionysius the tyrant, indeed, driven out of Syracuse, taught boys at Corinth
Dionysius II of Syracuse, twice deposed, was said to have ended as a schoolmaster at Corinth. The anecdote was proverbial for a fallen tyrant who could not give up the habit of command.