Hieronymus of Syracuse

He was at this time only fifteen years old, and he ascended the throne at a crisis full of peril, for the Battle of Cannae had given a shock to the power of the Roman Republic, the influence of which had been felt in Sicily; and though it had not shaken the fidelity of the aged Hiero, yet a large party at Syracuse was already disposed to abandon the alliance of Rome for that of Carthage.

But the objects of this arrangement were quickly frustrated by the ambition of Andranodorus, who, in order to get rid of the interference of his colleagues, persuaded the young king to assume the reins of government, and himself set the example of resigning his office, which was followed by the other guardians.

The Carthaginians readily promised everything, in order to secure his alliance for the moment, and he assembled an army of fifteen thousand men, with which he was preparing to take the field, having previously dispatched Hippocrates and Epicydes to sound the disposition of the cities subject to Rome, when his schemes were suddenly brought to a close.

Those writers, perhaps seeking to ingratiate themselves with the Roman victors, accused the young monarch of allowing himself to be seduced by the corrupting influences at court, and reputed to him a naturally bad disposition, at once weak and violent, and possessing the temperament of a childish tyrant.

They wrote that from the moment of his accession he gave himself up to the influence of flatterers, who urged him to the vilest excesses: he assumed at once all the external pomp of royalty which Hiero had so studiously avoided; and while he plunged in the most shameless manner into every species of luxury and debauchery, he displayed the most unrelenting cruelty towards all those who became objects of his suspicion.