Editing Simonides of Ceos (section)

===Final years: Sicily===
The last years of the poet's life were spent in Sicily, where he became a friend and confidant of Hieron of Syracuse. According to a [[scholia]]st on Pindar, he once acted as peace-maker between Hieron and another Sicilian tyrant, [[Theron of Acragas]], thus ending a war between them.<ref>Scholiast on Pindar, ''Ol.'' 2.29d, cited by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 345</ref> Scholiasts are the only authority for stories about the rivalry between Simonides and Pindar at the court of Hieron, traditionally used to explain some of the meanings in Pindar's victory odes<ref>Geoffrey S. Conway, ''The Odes of Pindar'', John Dent and Sons (1972), pages 10, 88–89</ref> (see the articles on [[Bacchylides]] and [[Pindar]]). If the stories of rivalry are true, it may be surmised that Simonides's experiences at the courts of the tyrants, Hipparchus and Scopas, gave him a competitive edge over the proud Pindar and enabled him to promote the career of his nephew, Bacchylides, at Pindar's expense.<ref>Jebb, ''Bacchylides: the poems and fragments'', Cambridge University Press (1905), pages 12–26</ref> However, Pindar scholiasts are generally considered unreliable,<ref>Ian Rutherford, ''Pindar's Paeans'', Oxford University Press (2001), pages 321–322</ref> and there is no reason to accept their account.<ref>D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric IV: Bacchylides, Corinna and Others'', Loeb Classical Library (1992), page 6</ref> The Hellenistic poet [[Callimachus]] revealed in one of his poems that Simonides was buried outside [[Agrigento|Acragas]], and that his tombstone was later misused in the construction of a tower.<ref>Callim. fr.64.1–14, cited by D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), pages 345–346</ref>