Duodequadraginta annos tyrannus Syracusanorum fuit Dionysius, cum quinque et viginti natus annos dominatum occupavisset. qua pulchritudine urbem, quibus autem opibus praeditam servitute oppressam tenuit civitatem! atqui de hoc homine a bonis auctoribus sic scriptum accepimus, summam fuisse eius in victu temperantiam in rebusque gerundis virum acrem et industrium, eundem tamen maleficum natura et iniustum; ex quo omnibus bene veritatem intuentibus videri necesse est miserrimum.[…] ita propter iniustam dominatus cupiditatem in carcerem quodam modo ipse se incluserat. quin etiam ne tonsori collum committeret, tondere filias suas docuit. Ita sordido ancillarique artificio regiae virgines ut tonstriculae tondebant barbam et capillum patris. et tamen ab is ipsis, cum iam essent adultae, ferrum removit. […]

Dionysius was the tyrant of the Syracusans for forty-two years, when he had seized the dominion at the age of twenty-five. with what beauty he held the city oppressed by servitude endowed with what riches! and we have received thus written of this man from good authors, that his utmost temperance in diet and in the affairs of his conduct was a sharp and industrious man, yet the same evil by nature and unjust; from which it must appear to all those who look well at the truth to be very miserable.[…] thus, because of the lust for unjust domination, he had in some way shut himself up in prison. without even entrusting their necks to the barber, he taught his daughters to shave. Thus, with the sordid art of the handmaids, the royal maidens cut their father's beard and hair like clippers. and yet, when they were already grown up, he removed the iron from them. […]