Poly'xenus
（*Polu/cenos).1. A Syracusan of noble birth, whose sister was married to the illustrious HERMOCRATES. When Dionysius, after his elevation to the despotism of his native country B. C. 406, became desirous to strengthen himself by connection with noble families, he gave his sister in marriage to Polyxenus at the same time that he himself married the daughter of Hermocrates (Diod. 13.96). From this time we find Polyxenus closely attached to the fortunes of the tyrant. During the rebellion of the Syracusans in B. C. 404, which threatened to overthrow the power of Dionysius, his brother-in-law was one of those who assisted him with their counsels; and again, in B. C. 395, when the Carthaginians were preparing to form the siege of Syracuse, Polyxenus was despatched to implore assistance from the Italian Greeks, as well as from the Corinthians and Lacedaemonians. This object he fully accomplished, and returned to Sicily with a fleet of thirty ships furnished by the allies, and commanded by the Lacedaemonian Pharacidas ; a reinforcement which contributed essentially to the liberation of Syracuse. (Id. 14.8, 62, 63.)