gly, all he did was to leave fifteen guardians over his son,
whom he entreated, on his death-bed, to preserve inviolate that
alliance with the Romans, which he had himself cultivated for fifty
years, and to take care that the young king should, above all things,
tread in the steps of his father, and in that course of conduct in
which he had been educated. Such were his injunctions. On the death of
the king, the will was brought forward by the guardians, and the young
king, who was now about fifteen, introduced into the public assembly,
where a few persons, who had been placed in different parts on purpose
to raise acclamations, expressed their approbation of the will; while
all the rest were overwhelmed with apprehensions, in the destitute
condition of the state, which had lost as it were its parent. The
funeral of the king was then performed, which was honoured more by the
love and affection of his citizens than the attentions of his kindred.
Andranodorus next effected the removal of the other guardians, giving
out that Hieronymus had now attained the years of manhood, and was
competent to assume the government; and thus, by voluntarily resigning
the guardianship which he shared with several others, united the
powers of all in himself.

5. It would scarcely have been easy even for any good and moderate
king, succeeding one so deeply rooted in their affections as Hiero
was, to obtain the favour of the Syracusans. But Hieronymus, forsooth,
as if he was desirous of exciting regret for the loss of his
grandfather by his own vices, showed, immediately on his first
appearance, how completely every thing was changed. For those who for
so many years had seen Hiero and his son Gelon differing from the rest
of the citizens neither in the fashion of their dress nor any other
mark of distinction, now beheld the purple, the diadem, and armed
guards, and their king sometimes proceeding from his palace in a
chariot drawn by four white horses, according to the custom of the
tyrant Dionysius. This costliness in equipage and appearance was
accompanied by corresponding contempt of everybody, capricious airs,
insulting expressions, difficulty of access, not to strangers only,
but even to his guardians also, unheard of lusts, inhuman cruelty.
Terror so great took possession of every body therefore, that some of
his guardians, either by a voluntary death, or by exile, anticipated
the tenor of his inflictions. Three of those persons to whom