I UvwM£v >*JX, 1-1 JBgina Temple of Olympian Jo The Students Greece. HISTORY OF GEEECE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE ROMAN CONQUEST. WITH SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS ON THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE AND ART. BY WILLIAM SMITH, D.C.L., LL.D., Editor of the Diction ariea of •■ Greek and Roman Antiquities," "Biography and Mythology," and "Geography." NEW EDITION. WITH COLOURED MAPS AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1885. The right of Translation is reserved. MURRAY'S STUDENTS' MANUALS. THE STUDENT'S HUME: A History ok England from the Rari.if.si Times to the revolution in l«8». Baaed on the Ulster? of david Home. /;. .;...< ron'inued t.> the Treaty oe merlin, 1878. liv J. s. Buewkr. M.a , hue uf tbi Willi 7 Maps and 70 Woodcuts (830 pp.), 7s. Sd. May also be obtained in Three Parts, 2s. 6d. each. Part I. — From ihb Karlirst Pkriod to the Dbatu op Kichakd III. B C. 55-1485. Part II, — From the Accession of Hen by VII. to the REVOLOTIOH of 1683. A 1). 1485-1688. Pakt III. — FROM tiik tt.EV0i.im0M ok 1688 TO tiieTreaiy OF I'.KKI.IN, 1878. Also the following Volumes, Is. Gd. each. STUDENTS' MODERN EUROPE. From the Fall of Constantinople to the Treaty of Berlin. By K. Loooe. STUDENTS* HLSTORY OF EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. By hENBY HALLAM. STi: I »K\TS' CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Henry VII.- UI.OUGE II. By HkNkY Haei.am. STUDENTS' OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. By Philip Smith. With Maps aud Woudcnta. STUDENTS' NEW TESTAMENT HIsTORY. By Philip Smith. With Maps and Woodcuts. STUDENTS' ANCIENT HISTORY. To the Conquests of Alkxandkr tiik Ubeat. By 1'hilip Smith. With Wooden.' s. STUDENTS' ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 2 Vols.: I. a.d. 30-1003. 11. luu3-lt)U. by Philip imitu. With Woodouia. STUDENTS' ENGLISH CHURCH HISTORY. 2 Vols. : I. 596-1509. II. 1509- 1 1 17. B. LA.NO.N PEBBY. STUDENTS' HISTORY OF ROME. To the Establishment ok the Empire. By I ean Liddelu With Coloured Aiajj and Woodcut*. STUDENTS' DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By Edwaiid GIBBON. Willi Wooucuh). STUDENTS' HISTORY OF FRANCE. To the Fall of the Second Empire. By W. U. JKBVIS. WitL Coloured Maps and WoudcU'a. STUDENTS' ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. By Canon Bevan. With Woodcuts. STUDENTS' MODERN GEOGRAPHY. MATHEStAHCAL, Physical, and De- sobiptive. By Canon Bevan. With xoodcuU. STUDENTS' GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH INDIA. Physical and Political. By Dr. Geobge Smith. With Maps. STUDENTS' ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Its Origin and Growth. By George P. Maosh. STUDENTS' ENGLISH LITERATURE. With Biographical Notices ok the AOTHuBS, by T. B. SHAW. STUDENTS' SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. By T. B. Shaw. STUDENTS' MORAL PHILOSOPHY. By Dr. Fleming. PRIMED BY WILLIAM CLOWES ANI> BONSj LIMITED, STAMFORD STRI-.tr AND CHARING CROSS. PREFACE. The following work ia intended principally for schools. It was commenced several years ago, at a time when the Grecian histories used in schools were either the super- ficial and inaccurate compilations of Goldsmith and older writers, or the meagre abridgments of more recent scholars, in which the facts were presented in so brief a manner as to leave hardly any recollection of them in the minds of the readers. Since that time one or two school histories of Greece of a superior kind have appeared, but they have not been written from the same point of view which I had proposed to myself; and in the best of them the history of literature and art, as well as several other subjects which seemed to me of importance, have been almost entirely omitted. I have therefore seen no reason to abandon my original design, which now requires a few words of explanation. My object has been to give the vouthful reader as vivid a picture of the main facts of Grecian history, and of the leading characteristics of the political institutions, literature, and art of the people, as could be comprised within the limits of a volume of moderate size. "With this view I have omitted entirely, or dismissed in a few paragraphs, many circumstances recorded in similar works, and have thus gamed space for nar- rating at length the more important events, and for bringing out prominently the characters and lives of the great men of Gr. b 2098644 \n TKEFACE. the nation. It is only in this way that a school history can be made instructive and interesting, since a brief and tedioua enumeration of every event, whether great or small, important or unimportant, confuses the reader and leaves no permanent impression upon his memory. Considerable space has been given to the history of literature and art, since they form the most durable evidences of a nation's growth in civilization and in social progress. A knowledge of these subjects is of far more importance to a pupil at the commencement of his classical studies than an acquaintance with every insignifi- cant battle in the Pcloponnesian war, or with the theories of modern scholars respecting the early population of Greece ; and as it cannot be expected that a schoolboy should read special treatises upon Grecian literature and art, these sub- jects find their appropriate place in a work Like the present. It is perhaps hardly necessary to observe that I have availed myself of the researches of the eminent scholars, both in this country and in Germany, whose writings have thrown so much light upon the history of Greece ; but the obbgations I am under to Mr. Grote require a more particular acknowledgment. It is not too much to say that his work forms as great an epoch in the study of the history of Greece as Niebuhr's has done in the study of the history of Eome, and that Mr. Grote' s contributions to historical science are some of the most valuable that have been made within the present generation. As my own studies have led me over the same ground as Mr. Grote, I have carefully weighed his opinions and tested his statements by a reference to his authorities ; and in almost all cases I have been compelled to adopt his con- clusions, even where they were in opposition to generally received opinions and prejudices, as, for instance, in hia views respecting the legendary history of Greece, the legis- lation of Lycurgus, the object of ostracism, the general PREFACE, vii working of the Athenian constitution, and the character of the Sophists. Indeed it will be admitted by the most compe- tent judges, that any school history of Greece, which aspires to represent the present state of knowledge upon the subject, must necessarily be founded to a great extent upon Mr. Grote's history; but I have derived such valuable assistance from his researches, that I am anxious to express, in the fullest manner, the great obligations this work is under to that masterpiece of historical literature. In a brief outline of Grecian history, original research is of course out of place ; all that can be expected from the writer is a clear and accurate account of the most recent results at which the best modern scholars have arrived ; and in this respect it is hoped that the intelligent reader will not be disappointed. Of the many other modern works which I have consulted, it is only necessary to refer to Colonel Mure's ' Critical History of Greek Literature,' from which I have derived valuable assistance in the chapters of the work devoted to that subject. As a general rule, references to ancient and modern works are not given, since they are useless to the pupil and occupy valuable space, while the scholar will look for the authorities elsewhere. The illustrations, of which the majority have been drawn by my friend Mr. George Scharf, consist of maps of different districts, plans of battles and places, views of public buildings, works of art and other objects, the re- presentation of which renders the descriptions in the history more intelligible and interesting to the reader. In this New Edition two new coloured maps have been introduced, in addition to the other maps and plans, a list of which is given on the back of this page. W. S. London, July 1881. LIST OF MAPS. Page ^.snred Map of Greece and the adjoining coasts, with the march of Xerxes to face 161 Coloured Map to illustrate the campaigns of Alexander the Great to face 529 Map of Greece, showing the direction of the mountain ranges 3 Map of the chief Greek colonies in Asia Minor .. .. 37 Map of the chief Greek colonies in Sicily 119 Map of the chief Greek colonies in Southern Italy .. .. 122 Plan of the battle of Marathon 17G Plan of Thermopylae 193 Plan of the battle of Salamis 210 Plan of the battle of Plataea 221 BayofPylus 309 Plan of the neighbourhood of Amphijiulis 317 Plan of Syracuse 337 Plan of Athens 383 Athens and its Port Towns 385 Plan of the Acropolis XLVII. History of Grecian Art from the end of the Pelo- ponnesian War to its decline 579 — XLVIII. Grecian Literature from the end of the Pelopon- nesian War to the latest period 587 Chronological Table .. .. 604 Index 617 Coin of Syracuse. The Boma of the Pnyx at Athens. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. View of Athens Theatre of Dionysus at Athens Pagb Greek and Persian combatants. From the Frieze of the Temple of Nike' Apteros is Coin of Syracuse xii The Bema of the Pnyx at Athens siii Coin of Acarnania xiv Vale of Tempe in Thessaly . . 1 ArchofTiryns 10 Head of Olympian Jove .. .. 11 Paris from the jEginetan Sculp- tures 1G Ajax, from the iEginetan Sculp- tures 17 Gate of Mycenas 25 Hercules and Bull 31 Homer enthroned 39 Bust of Homer 46 Primitive Vessels from Athens and Argos 47 View of Mount Taygetus from the site of Sparta 56 Early Greek Armour, from Vase- paintings 72 Leaden Sling-bcllets and Arrow- heads, found at Athens, Mara- thon, and Leontini . . . . 79 Coin of Corinth 86 Croesus on the Funeral Pile . . 87 Ruins of the Temple of the Olym- pian Jove at Athens .. ,. . 102 Coin of Athena 113 Gr. Frontispiece. Title Page. Pagh Ancient Sculptures from Selinus 114 Coin of Cyrene, representing on the leverse the Silphium .. 125 Alca;us and Sappho. From a Painting on a vase .. .. 126 Temple at ^Egina, restored .. 140 Wall at Tiryns 141 Wall of the Citadel of Argos . . 142 Wooden Hut in Asia Minor . . 143 Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Columns 144 Doric Architecture 145 Ionic Architecture ib. Corinthian Architecture .. .. 146 Cyrus 151 Behistun rock on which are in- scribed the exploits of Darius 163 Piuins of an Ionic Temple in Lycia 170 The Plain and tumulus of Mara- thon 171 Bust of Miltiades 184 View of Thermopylae .. .. 185 A Greek Warrior 201 Temple of Nike' Apteros, on the Acropolis at Athens .. .. 210 Bust of Pindar 229 Bust of Herodotus 238 The Theseum at Athens . . . . 239 Pericles and Aspasia 251 The Acropolis restorec .. .. 265 c XIV LIS'l OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Bust of the poet Sophocles .. 272 The PropyLxa of the Acropolis 273 Bust of the historian Thucydides 284 The Parthenon '. . . 285 Statue of Theseus, from the Pe.Ii- ment of the Parthenon .. .. 296 From the Frieze of the Parthenon. Panathenaic Procession . . . . 306 Coin of Amphipolis 320 Centaur from the Metopes of the Parthenon 321 Bust of Alcibiades 332 Street of the Tripods at Athens, from a bas-relief 346 One of the Caryatides supporting the southern portico of the Erechtheum 357 Bust of the Poet Euripides .. 368 View ofPhyle 369 Clio, the Muse of History .. .. 380 The Erechtheum restored, viewed from the S.W. angle .. .. 381 Coin showing the Parthenon, Athena Promaohus, and the Cave of Pan 396 Theatre of Dionysus, from coin 397 Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy 400 Thalia the Muse of Comedy .. ib. Bust of Socrates 418 The Pactolus at Sardis .. .. 419 Choragic Monument of Lysicrates 434 View of Corinth and the Acro- corinthus 443 Adventures of Dionysus, from the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates 45E Ditto, ditto 456 The Wind Boreas, from the Horologium of Andronicus Cyrrhestes 4G8 Ithome, from the Stadium of Messene 469 Bust of Plato 487 View of Delphi and Mount Par- nassus 499 The Plain of Chrcronea .. .. 514 Bust of Demosthenes . . . . 524 Battle of Issus 525 Apollo Citharoedus 551 The Group of Niobe 552 Group of Dirce 564 Group of the Laocoon .. .. 579 Bust of Aristotle 587 Bust of Menander 603 Colonial Coin of Corinth .. .. 61> Coin of Acarnanla. HISTORY OF GREECE. Vale of Tempe in Thessaly. INTRODUCTION. OUTLINES OF GRECIAN GEOGRAPHY. § 1. The three peninsulas of Southern Europe. § 2. Position and boundaries of Greece. § 3. Size of the country. § 4. Name. § 5. Xerthern Greece'- Thessaly and Epirus. § 6. Central Greece: its principal divisions and mountains. § 7. Eastern half of Central Greece: Doris, Phocis, Locris, Bceotia, Attica, Megaris. § 8. Western half of Central Greece: Ozolian Locris, JEtolia, Acarnania. § 9. Peloponnesus: Arcadia. § 10. Achaia, Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, Elis. §11. The Grecian Islands. § 12. Influence of the physical geography of Greece upon the political destinies of the people. § 13. Likewise upon their intellectual character. § 14. Rivers and chief productions. § 15. Climate. § 1. Three peninsulas, very different in form, project from the south of Europe into the Mediterranean sea. The most westerly, that of Spain and Portugal, is a quadrangular figure united to the mainland by an isthmus. The central one, that of Italy, is a long tongue of land, down which runs from north to south the back-bone of the Apennines. The most easterly, of which Greece On. b 2 HISTORY OF GREECE. Introd. forms the southern part, is in the shape of a triangle with its base extending from the top of the Adriatic to the mouths of the river Danube, and having its two sides washed by the sea. § 2. At the fortieth degree of latitude a chain of mountains called the Cambunian, and continued under the name of Lingon, runs across the peninsula from east to west, and forms the northern boundary of Greece. At a time when the Mediterra- nean was the great highway of commerce and civilization, no position could be more favourable than that of Greece. The yEgean sea, which bathes its eastern shores, is studded with numerous islands, inviting the timid mariner from one to the other, and thus establishing an easy communication between Asia and Greece. Towards the south it faces one of the most fertile portions of Africa ; and on the west it is divided from Italy by a narrow channel, which in one part is not more than thirty miles in breadth. § 3. Greece, which commences at the fortieth degree of lati- tude, does not extend farther than the thirty-sixth. Its greatest length from Mount Olympus to Cape Toenaruni is not more than 250 English miles ; its greatest breadth from the western coast of Acarnania to Marathon in Attica is only 180 miles. Its sur- face is considerably less than that of Portugal. This small area was divided among a number of independent states, many of them containing a territory of only a few square miles, and none of them larger than an English county. But it is not the magni- tude of their territory which constitutes the greatness of a people ; and the heroism and genius of the Greeks have given an interest to the insignificant spot of earth bearing their name, which the vast empires of Russia and China have never equalled. § 4. The name of Greece was never used by the inhabitants of the country. They called their land JleJIus, and themselves 110- lenes. It is from the Romans that we have derived the name of Greece ; though why the Romans gave it a different appellation from th-it used by the natives cannot be determined. It is however a well known fact that foreigners frequently call a people byaname different from the one in use among themselves. Thus the nation called Germans by us, bear the appellation of Deutschen among themselves ; and the people whom the Romans named Etruscans or Tuscans, were known in their own language by that of Ihisena. The word Hellas signified at first only a small district in Thes- Baly, the original abode of the Hellenes. From this district the people, and along with them their name, gradually spread over the whole country south of the Cambunian mountains. The rude tribes of Epirus, however, were not reckoned among the Hellenes, and the northern boundary of Hellas proper was a line Introd. OUTLINES OF GRECIAN GEOGRAPHY. drawn from the Ambracian gulf to the mouth of the river Pe- neus. The term Hellas was also employed in a more extended sense to signify the abode of the Hellenes, wherever they might be settled ; and accordingly the Grecian cities of Cyrene in Africa, of Syracuse in Sicily, and of Tarentum in Italy, were as much parts of Hellas as Athens, Sparta, and Corinth. Map of Greece, snowing the general direction of the Mountain Ranges I. Thessaly. i. Epirus. 8. I>.n». 4. Fhoois. 6. Locn Epicnemidii. H. Locn Opimti* 7. Bceotia. 8. Attica. 9. MegariB. 10. Locri Ozolae. 11. i€tolia. It. Acaramln. 13. Arcadia. 14. Achaia. 15. Ar?olis. 16- Lnronift. 17. KesFenla. Eub«a. Salami?. Cyxhen. 4 HISTORY OF GREECE Introd. § 5. Midway between the Ionian and iEgean seas th«. chain of mountains forming the northern boundary of Greece is intersected at right angles by the long and lofty range of Pindns, running from north to south, like the Apennines of the Italian penin- sula. From Mount Pindus two lateral branches stretch towards the eastern sea, running parallel to one another at the distance of sixty miles, and enclosing the plain of Thessaiy, the richest and largest in Greece. The southern of these two branches bore the name of Othrys ; the northern, which has been already men- tioned under the name of the Cambunian mountains, terminates upon the coast in the lofty summit of Olympus, the highest in all Greece, being 9700 feet above the level of the sea, and scarcely ever free from snow. South of Olympus another range, known under the successive names of Ossa and Pelion, stretches along the coast parallel to that of Pindus. Thus Thessaiy is enclosed between four natural ramparts, which are only broken at the north-eastern extremity by the celebrated vale of Tempe, between Olympus and Ossa, through which the river Peneus finds its way into the sea. Pindus forms the boundary between Thessaiy and Epirus, The latter country contains no enclosed plain like that of Thes- saiy, but is covered by rugged ranges of mountains running from north to south, through which the Achelous, the largest river of Greece, flows towards the Corinthian gulf. § 6. At about the thirty-ninth degree of latitude Greece is contracted into a kind of isthmus by two opposite gulfs, the Ani- bracian on the west and the Malian on the east. This isthmus separates the peninsula of central Greece from the mainland of Thessaiy and Epirus. Central Greece again may be divided into two unequal halves, the eastern half containing the countries of Doris, Phocis, Locri. . Boeotia, Attica, and Megaris, the western roniprising Ozolian Locris, iEtolia, and Acarnania. A little above the thirty-ninth degree of latitude there is a summit in the range of Pindus, called Mount Tymphrestus, from which ranges of mountains radiate, as from a centre, in all direc- tions. On the east two gigantic arms branch off towards the sea : the one which runs nearly due east under the name of Othrys has been already mentioned ; the other, which bears the name of OZta, has a south-easterly direction, and forms the northern barrier of central Greece. The only entrance into cen- tral Greece from the north is through the narrow opening left between Mount 02ta and the sea, immortalized in history under the name ofThermopylffi. South of Tymphrestus thj chain of Pindus divides into two great Introd. OUTLINES OF GRECIAN GEOGRAPHY. 5 branches, and no longer bears the same name : one strikes to the south-east under the names of Parnassus, Helicon, Cithseron, and Hymettus, and finally reaches the sea at Sunium, the south- ernmost point of Attica ; the other diverges to the south-west under the names of Corax and the Ozolian mountains, and joins the sea near the entrance of the Corinthian gulf. § 7. In the highlands between (Eta and Parnassus is a narrow plain called Doris, from which the Dorians are said to have issued to the conquest of Peloponnesus. Here rises the river Cephissus, which flows into Phocis. The greater part of Phocis is occupied by Parnassus, which rises to the height of S000 feet, but between this mountain and those of eastern Locris is a fertile plain drained by the Cephissus. From the eastern extremity of Mount (Eta a range of moun- tains runs southwards along the coast. It passes through the country of the Locriuns, called respectively Epicnemidian, from Mount Cnemis, and Opuntian, from the town of Opus, Baotia extends from sea to sea, but it is separated from the Euboean channel by a continuation of the Locrian mountains and from the Corinthian gulf by the lofty range of Helicon, celebrated in poetry as the abode of the Muses. On its northern frontier the offshoots of Parnassus and the Locrian mountains leave only a narrow opening through which the Cephissus flows ; and on the south the country is shut in by the lofty barrier of Cithseron and Parnes, which separate it from Attica. Bceotia is thus a large hollow basin, enclosed on every side by mountains, and contain- ing a considerable quantity of very fertile land. The Ce- phissus, and the streams which descend from the surrounding hills, form in the centre of the country the lake Copa'is, which finds an outlet for its waters through subterraneous channels in the limestone mountains. Attica is in the form of a triangle, having two of its sides washed by the sea and its base united to the land. The range of Cithseron and Parnes, which forms its northern boundary, shuts off this peninsula from the rest of Greece. Cithseron is prolonged towards the south-west, skirting the shores of the Corinthian gulf and forming the mountainous country of Megaris. Here it rises into a new chain under the name of the Geranean mountains, which stretch across Megaris from west to east, parallel to Cithseron. These mountains sink down southwards towards the Isthmus, which separates central Greece from Pelo- ponnesus. Here the Corinthian gulf on the west and the Saronic gulf on the east penetrate so far inland as to leave only a narrow neck of land between them, not more than four miles across at its narrowest part. The Isthmus is comparatively level, but im- 6 HISTORY OF GREECE. Introd, mediately to the south rise the Onean hills, protecting Pelopon- nesus from invasion by land. § 8. The western half of central Greece consists, as already said, of Locris, iEtolia, and Acarnania. Locris, called Ozvlian to distinguish it from the eastern district of this name, lies upon the Corinthian gulf, and is a wild and mountainous country, nearly covered by the offshoots of the Phocian Parnassus and the iEtolian Corax. JEtolia and Acarnania, separated by the river Achelous, are also mountainous, the greater part of their surface being occupied by a continuation of the hills of Epirus, but at the same time containing a few fertile plains upon the banks of the Achelous. All three countries were the haunts of rude robber tribes even as late as the Peloponnesian war. § 9. The Isthmus which connects central Greece with tho southern peninsula is so small in comparison with the outspread form of the latter, that the ancients regarded the peninsula as an island, and gave to it the name of Peloponnesus, or the island of Pelops, from the mythical hero of this name. Its form was compared in antiquity to the leaf of the plane tree or the vine, and its modern name, the Morea, was bestowed upon it from its resemblance to the leaf of the mulberry. The mountains of Peloponnesus have their roots in the centre of the country, from which they branch out towards the sea. This central region, called Arcadia, is the Switzerland of the peninsula. It is surrounded by a ring of mountains, forming a kind of natural wall, which separates it from the other Peloponnesian states. These mountains are unbroken on the northern, eastern, and southern frontiers, and it is only on the western side that the waters of the Alpheus, the chief river in the peninsula, find their way through a narrow opening towards the Ionian sea. It is on the northern frontier that the Arcadian mountains are the loftiest and most massive ; and at the north- eastern extremity of the country Mount Cyllene rises to tho height of 7788 feet above the level of the sea, a grand and majestic object as seen from the isthmus and tho Corinthian gulf. § 10. The other chief divisions of Peloponnesus were Achaia, Argolis, Laconia, Messcnia, and Elis. Achaia was a narrow slip of country lying between the northern barrier of Arcadia and the Corinthian gulf. It is intersected by numerous ranges of hills, which descend from the Arcadian mountains, and either run out into the sea in the form of bold promontories, or subside beforo reaching the shore. The plains thus left on the coast, and the valleys between the mountains, are foi the most port very fertile. Intbod. OUTLINES OF GRECIAN GEOGRAPHY. 7 Argolis was used as a collective term to signify the territories of several independent states. Of these the most important were Corinth and Sicyon, near the eastern extremity of the Corinthian gulf, and Argos, situated at the head of the Argolic gulf, in a plain ten or twelve miles in length and from four to five in breadth. The remainder of Argolis consisted of a rocky penin- sula between the Saronic and Argolic gulfs, containing at its eastern extremity the territories of Epidaurus, Trcezen. and Her- mione. Laconia and Messenia occupied the whole of the south of Pelo- ponnesus from sea to sea. They were separated by the lofty range of Taygetus, running from north to south and terminating in the promontory of Tsenaruni (now Cape Matapan), the south- ernmost point of Greece and Europe. Along the eastern side of Laconia the range of Mount Parnon extends from north to south parallel to that of Taygetus, and terminates in the promontory of Malea. Between these two ranges is the valley of the Eurotas, in which Sparta stood, and which south of this city opens out into a plain of considerable extent towards the Laconian gulf. Messenia in like manner was drained by the Pamisus, whose plain is still more extensive and fertile than that of the Eurotas. EUs was the region between the western barrier of Arcadia and the Ionian sea. It is covered to a great extent with the offshoots of the Arcadian mountains, but contains several plains. In the centre of the country is the memorable plain of Olympia, through which the Alpheus flows, and in which the city of Pisa stood. § 11. The numerous islands which line the Grecian shores were occupied in historical times by the Grecian race. Of these the most important was Euboea, ninety miles in length, stretch- ing along the coasts of Bceotia and Attica. Through it ran from north to south a long chain of mountains, which may be regarded as a continuation of the range of Ossa and Pelion. South of Eubcea was the group of islands called the Cyclades, lying round Delos as a centre ; and east of these were the Sporades, near the Asiatic coast. South of these groups lay the two large islands of Crete and Rliodes. In the Saronic gulf between Attica and Argolis were the celebrated islands of Salamis and JEyiua i the former reckoned as part of Attica, and the latter long the rival and eye-sore of Athens. Off the western coast of Greece, in the Ionian sea, we find Corcyra opposite Epirus, Cephallenia and Ithaca opposite Acarnania, and Zacynthus near the coast of Elia in Peloponnesus. C'ythera was separated by a narrow channel from the southern extremity of Laconia. § 12. The physical features of the country exercised an im- portant influence upon the political destinies of the people. 8 HISTORY OF GREECE. Introd. Greece is one of the most mountainous countries of Europe. Its surface is occupied by a number of small plains either entirely surrounded by limestone mountains or open only to the sea. Mountains, not rivers, have in all ages proved the greatest bar- riers to intercourse between neighbouring tribes. This was the case in Greece, and thus the very nature of the land tended to produce that large number of independent states which in one of the most striking phrenornena in Grecian history. Each of the principal Grecian cities was founded in one of the small plains already described ; and as the mountains which separated it from its neighbours were lofty and rugged, it grew up in solitary inde- pendence, and formed its own character before it could be affected by any external influence. The mountainous nature of the country also protected it from foreign invasion, as well as rendered it difficult for one section of the Grecian race to subdue the rest. The vale of Tempe between Mounts Ossa and Olympus, the pass of Thermopylae between northern and central Greece, the passes over Mount Cithaeron between Bceotia and Attica, and those over the Geranean and Onean mountains on either side of the Isthmus, coidd easily be defended by a handful of resolute men against vastly superior numbers. But, while the Grecian states were separated from their nearest neighbours by their mountains, the sea afforded them easy inter- course with one another and with the rest of the world. One of the most striking peculiarities of the geography of Greece is the wonderful extent of its sea coast. In this respect it has the advantage over every other country of Europe. Although its surface is not so great as that of Portugal, its line of coast exceeds that of the whole peninsula of Portugal and Spain. Not only is it surrounded by the sea on every side except on its northern frontier, but its coast is also broken by a number of bays and gulfs running far into the land. Thus almost every Gre- cian state had ready and easy access to the sea, and Arcadia was almost the only political division that did not possess some ter- ritory upon the coast. § 13. Of all natural objects the mountains and the sea have ever been the most powerful instruments in moulding the intel- lectual character of a people. The Greeks were both mountaineers and mariners, and as such they possessed the susceptibility to external impressions, the love of freedom, and the spirit of adventure, which have always characterized, more or less, the inhabitants of mountainous and maritime districts. The poetical beauty of the Grecian mountains has often called forth the admiration of modern travellers. Their craggy, biokcn Lntrod. OUTLINES OF GRECIAN GEOGRAPHY. 9 forms and rich silver}'- colour give to the Grecian landscape a peculiar charm, and justify the description of the poet Gray, when he speaks of Greece as a land, " Where each old poetic mountain Inspiration breathes around." The beauty of the scenery is still further enhanced by the gorge- ous atmosphere in which every object is bathed. To a native of the northern latitudes of Europe nothing is more striking in the Grecian climate than the transparent clearness of the air and the brilliant colouring of the sky. "When Euripides represents the Athenians as " Ever delicately marching Through most pellucid air," * he is guilty of no poetical exaggeration, and the violet colour which the Roman poet assigns to the hills of Hymettusf is literally true. § 14. Greece is deficient in a regular supply of water. During the autumnal and winter months the rain, which falls in large quantities, fills the crevices in the limestone of the hills and is carried off by torrents. In summer rain is almost unknown and the beds of the torrents full of water in the winter then become ravines, perfectly dry and overgrown with shrubs. Even the rivers, which are partly supplied by springs, dwindle in the sum- mer into very insignificant streams. None of the Grecian rivers are navigable, and the Achelous, which is the most considerable of all, has a course of only 130 miles. The chief productions of Greece in ancient times were wheat, barley, flax, wine, and oil. The hills afforded excellent pasture for cattle, and in antiquity were covered with forests, though they are at present nearly destitute of wood. In ahnost every part of Greece there were rich veins of marble, affording materials for the architect and the sculptor, such as hardly any other country in the world possesses. The limestone, of which most of its mountains is composed, is well adapted for military architecture ; and it is to this hard and intractable stone that we owe those massive polygonal walls, of which the remains still crown the summits of so many Grecian hills. Laurium near the southern extremity of Attica yielded a considerable quantity of silver, but otherwise Greece was poor in the precious metals. * ael 8ia Xau/Kporarrov fSuivovres a&puis alQepos. — Eurip. Med. 829. f " Est prope purpureos colles florentis Hymetti Fons sacer." — Ovid. Art. Amat. 3, 637. 10 HISTORY OF GREECE. bmtOD. Iron was found in the range of Taygetus in Laconia, and copper us well as iron near Chalcis in Eubcea. § ] 5. The climate of Greece appears to have been more healthy in ancient times than it is at present. The malaria which now poisons the atmosphere in the summer months, could not have existed to the same extent when the land was more thickly peo- pled and more carefully cultivated. Owing to the inequalities of its surface, to its lofty mountains and depressed valleys, the cli- mate varies greatly in different districts. In the highlands in the interior the winter is often long and rigorous, the snow lying upon the ground till late in the spring, while in the lowlands open to the sea, severe weather is almost unknown. The rigour of winter is frequently experienced in the highlands of Mantinea and Tegea in the month of March, while at the same time the genial warmth of spring is felt in the plains of Argos and Laco- nia, and almost the heat of summer in the low grounds at the head of the Messenian gulf. To this difference in climate the ancients attributed the difference in the intellectual character of the natives of various districts. Thus the dulness of the Boeo- tians was ascribed to the dampness and thickness of their atmos- phere, while the dry and clear air of Attica was supposed to sharpen the faculties of its inhabitants. m Ar«h of Tiryns. Head of Olympian Jove. BOOK I. THE MYTHICAL AGE. — •— ■ CHAPTER I. THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF GREECE. § 1. Legendary character of early Grecian history. § 2. Legends of the Greeks respecting their origin. § 3. The Hellenes and their- diffusion in Greece. § 4. Connexion of the Hellenes with the Indo-European stem. § 5. The Pelasgians. § 6. Foreign settlers in Greece. § 7. Egyptian colonies of Cecrops and Danaus. § 8. Phrygian colony of Pelops. § 9. Phoenician colony of Cadmus. § 1. The clouds which envelope the early history of Greece are lighted up by the brilliant hues of Grecian fable ; but the reader must carefully guard against believing in the reality of the per- sonages or of the events commemorated by these beautiful legends. Some of them, it is true, probably sprang out of events which actually occurred, and may therefore contain a kernel of historical truth ; but we have no means of distinguishing be- tween what is true and what is false, between the historical facts and their subsequent embellishments. Till events are recorded in written documents, no materials exist for a trustworthy his- tory ; and it was not till the epoch known by the name of the 12 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. I. first Olympiad, corresponding to the year 77G before Christ, that the Greeks began to employ writing as a means for perpetuating the memory of any historical facts. Before that period every- thing is vague and uncertain ; and for two centuries afterwards we meet with only a few isolated events, and possess nothing in the form of a continuous history. But even the mythical age must not be passed over entirely. In all cases the traditions of a people are worthy of record ; and this is especially true of the Greeks, whose legends moulded their faith and influenced their conduct down to the latest times. § 2. Few nations have paid more attention to their genealogy than the Greeks. In modern times families are ambitious of tracing back their origin to some illustrious ancestor ; but in Greece this feeling was not confined to families, but pervaded alike all associations of men. Every petty tribe or clan claimed descent from a common ancestor, whose name was borne by each member of the community. This ancestor was usually represented as the son or immediate descendant of a god, or else as sprung from the earth,* which was in such cases regarded as a divine being. Thus the Greek people considered themselves the children of one common father, in whose name they gloried as the symbol of fraternity. This ancestor was Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, from whom the people derived the name of Hellenes. Hellen had three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and iEolus. Of these Dorus and ^Eolus gave their names to the Dorians and ^Eohans ; and Xuthus, through his two sons, Ion and Achseus, became the forefather of the Ionians and Achacans. In this way the four great divisions of the Greek race, the Dorians, ^Eolians, Ionians, and Achaeans, were supposed to bo the descendants of the patriarch Hellen. § 3. The descent of the Hellenes from a common ancestor, Hellen, was a fundamental article in the popular faith. It was a general practice in antiquity to invent fictitious persons for the purpose of explaining names of which the origin was buried in obscurity. It is in this way that Hellen and his sons came into being. But though they never had any real existence, their his- tory may be regarded as the traditional history of the races to whom they gave their names. Thus when we are told that Hellen reigned in the south of Thessaly, near the foot of Mount Othrys, which was the part of Greece first called Hellas, we may conclude that the Greeks believed this district to be the original abode of their race. In like manner the migrations of the sons of Hellen from the south of Thessaly, and their settlements in the different parts of Greece, represent the current belief * Hence called an Autochthon (Avti'ixOuv). Oiiap. I. THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS. 13 respecting the early history of the four great divisions of the race. iEolus succeeded his father Helleu as king of Hellas in Thes- saly, but his descendants occupied a great part of central Greece, as far as the isthmus of Corinth, and also took possession of the western coast of Peloponnesus. The iEolians were the most widely diffused of all the descendants of Hellen. Many of their towns, such as Corinth and lolcus in Thessaly, were situated upon the coast, and the worship of Poseidon (Neptune), the god of the sea, prevailed extensively among them. The Achteans appear in the latter part of the Heroic age as the most warlike of the Grecian races. At that time they are repre- sented as inhabiting the original abode of the Hellenes in Thes- saly, and also the cities of Mycence, Argos, and Sparta, in the Peloponnesus. The most distinguished of the Grecian heroes in the Trojan war were Achaeans ; and such was the celebrity of the race at that period that Homer frequently gives their name to the whole body of the Greeks. The Dorians and Ionians are of far less importance in the ancient legends, though they afterwards became the two leading races in Greece, to whom the Spartans and Athenians respec- tively belonged. The Dorians were almost confined to the small mountainous district named after them, lying between Thessaly and Phocis ; the Ionians were found chiefly in Attica and along the narrow slip of coast in the north of Peloponnesus, which in historical times was known by the name of Achaia. § 4. Such was the general belief of the Greeks respecting the early diffusion of their race. But it is natural for us to go far- ther back, and to endeavour to ascertain the real origin of the people. Now the only sure and certain means of ascertaining the origin of any people is a knowledge of its language. Tra- dition misleads as often as it guides the inquirer ; and the indi- cations afforded by mythology, manners and customs, are fre- quently deceptive and always vague. Language, on the other hand, is an enduring memorial ; and, whatever changes it may have undergone in the course of ages, it rarely loses those funda- mental elements which proclaim its origin and affinities. If then we conduct our inquiry into the origin of the Greek people by means of their language, we have no difficulty in coming to a satisfactory conclusion. The Greek language is a member of that great family of languages to which modern scholars have given the name of Indo-European. The various nations speaking the different varieties of this language were originally one people, inhabiting the high table-land of central Asia. At some period, long antecedent to all profane history, they issued from their 14 HISTORY CF GREECE. Chap. I. primeval seats, and spread over a considerable portion both of Asia and of Europe. In Asia the ancient Hindoos, who spoke Sanscrit, and the Medes and Persians, whose language was the Zend, were the two principal branches of this people. In Europe the Germans, Pelasgians, Slavonians, and Celts were the four chief varieties. It is foreign to our present purpose to give any account of the other branches of the Indo-European family ; but a few remarks must be made upon the Pelasgians, from whom the Greeks derived their origin. § 5. The Pelasgians are represented by the Greeks themselves a3 the most ancient inhabitants of their land. The primitive name of Greece is said to have been Pelasgia. In the historical period, those parts of Greece which had been subject to the fewest changes of inhabitants were supposed to be peopled by the descendants of the Pelasgians. This was especially the case with Arcadia and Attica, which claimed to have been inhabited by the same tribes from time immemorial. The Pelasgians were spread over the Italian as well as the Grecian peninsula ; and the Pelasgic language thus formed the basis of the Latin as well as of the Greek. It is true that Herodotus speaks of the Pelasgic as a foreign language, totally distinct from the Greek ; but his testimony on such a subject is not entitled to any weight, since the ancients were lamentably deficient in philological knowledge, and had no notion of the affinity of languages. Of the Pelasgians themselves our information is scanty. They were not mere barbarians. They are represented as tilling the ground and dwelling in walled cities.* Their religion appears to have been essentially the same as the religion of the Hellenes. Their great divinity was Jove, the national Hellenic god, and the chief seat of his worship was Dodona in Epirus. Ilenco Homer gives to the Dodonrean Jove the title of Pelasgic ; and his oracle at Dodona was always regarded as the most ancient in Greece. The Pelasgians were divided into several tribes, such as the Hellenes, Lelcges, Caucones, and others. In what respects the Hellenes were superior to the other Pelasgic tribes we do not know ; but they appear at the first dawn of history as the domi- nant race in Greece. The rest of the Pelasgians disappeared before them or were incorporated with them ; their dialect of the Pelasgic tongue became the language of Greece ; and their worship of the Olympian Jove gradually supplanted the more ancient worship of the Dodoncean god. §6. The civilization of the Greeks and the development. of their language bear all the marks of home growth, and probably • A fortified town was called Larissa by the Pelasgians. Chap. I. THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS. 15 were little affected by foreign influence. The traditions, how- ever, of the Greeks would point to a contrary conclusion. It was a general belief among them that the Pelasgians were re- claimed from barbarism by Oriental strangers, who settled in the country and introduced among the rude inhabitants the first elements of civilization. Many of these traditions, however, are not ancient legends, but owe their origin to the philosophical speculations of a later age, which loved to represent an imaginary progress of society from the time when men fed on acorns and ran wild in woods, to the time when they became united into political communities and owned the supremacy of law and reason. The speculative Greeks who visited Egypt in the sixth and fifth centuries before the Christian era were profoundly im- pressed with the monuments of the old Egyptian monarchy, which even in that early age of the world indicated a gray and hoary antiquity. The Egyptian priests were not slow to avail themselves of the impression made upon their visitors, and told the latter many a wondrous tale to prove that the civilization, the arts, and even the religion of the Greeks, all came from the land of the Nile. These tales found easy believers ; they were carried back to Greece, and repeated with various modifications and embellishments ; and thus no doubt arose the greater num- ber of the traditions respecting Egyptian colonies in Greece. § 7. Although we may therefore reject with safety the tra- ditions respecting these Egyjrtian colonies, two are of so much celebrity that they cannot be passed over entirely in an account of the early ages of Greece. Attica is said to have been indebted for the arts of civilized life to Cecrops, a native of Sais in Egypt. To him is ascribed the foundation of the city of Athens, the institution of marriage, and the introduction of religious rites and ceremonies. The Acropolis or citadel of Athens, to which the original city was confined, continued to bear the name of Cecropia even in later times. Argos, in like manner, is said to have been founded by the Egyptian Danaus, who fled to Greece with his fifty daughters to escape from the persecution of their suitors, the fifty sons of his brother iEgyptus. The Egyptian stranger was elected king by the natives, and from him the tribe of the Danai derived their name, which Homer fre- quently uses as a general appellation for the Greeks. The only fact which lends any countenance to the existence of an Egyptian colony in Greece is the discovery of the remains of two pyramids at no great distance from Argos ; but this form of building is not confined to Egypt. Pyramids are found in India, Babylonia, and Mexico, and may therefore have been erected by the early Inhabitants of Greece independently of any connexion with Egypt. 16 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. I. § 8. Another colony, not less celebrated anl not more credible than the two just mentioned, is the one led from Asia by Pelops, from whom the southern peninsula of Greece derived its name of Peloponnesus. Pelops is usually represented as a native of Sipylus in Pbrygia, and the son of the wealthy king Tantalus. By means of his riches, whieb he brought with him into Greece, ho became king of Mycenae and the founder of a powerful dynasty, one of the most renowned in the Heroic age of Greece. From him was descended Agamemnon, who led the Grecian host against Troy. § 9. The case is different with the Phoenician colony, which is said to have been founded by Cadmus at Thebes in Bceotia. We have decisive evidence that the Phoenicians planted colonies at an early period in the islands of Greece ; and it is only natural to believe that they also settled upon the shores of the mainland. Whether there was such a person as the Phoenician Cadmus, and whether he built the town called Cadmea, which afterwards became the citadel of Thebes, as the ancient legends relate, can- not be determined ; but, setting aside all tradition on the subject, there is one fact which proves indisputably an early intercourse between Phoenicia and Greece. It was to the Phoenicians that the Greeks were indebted for the art of writing ; for both the names and the forms of the letters in the Greek alphabet are evidently derived from the Phoenician. With this exception the Oriental strangers left no permanent traces of their settlements in Greece ; and the population of the country continued to be essentially Grecian, uncoutaminated by any foreign elements. Talis, from tie .EginetAn Sculptures. Ajax, from the jEginetan Sculptures. CHAPTER II. THE GRECIAX HEROES. § 1. Mythical character of the Heroic Age. § 2. Hercules. § 3. Theseus. § i. Minos. § 5. Voyage of the Argonauts. § 6. The Seven against Thebes and the Epigoni. § 7. The Trojan War as related in the Iliad. § 8. Later additions. § 9. Return of the Grecian heroes from Troy. § 10. Date of the fall of Troy. § 11. Whether the Heroic legends contain any historical facts. § 12. The Homeric poems present a picture of a real state of society. § 1. It was universally believed by the Greeks that their native land was in the earlier ages ruled by a noble race of beings, pos- sessing a superhuman though not a divine nature, and superior to ordinary men in strength of body and greatness of soul. These are the Heroes of Grecian mythology, whose exploits and adven- tures form the great mine from which the Greeks derived in- exhaustible materials for their poetry — " Presenting Thebes or Pelops' line, Or the tale of Troy divine." Ga, ^ 18 HISTORY OF GREECE. Cuap. 11. According to mythical chronology the Heroic age constitutes a period of about two hundred years, from the first appearance of the Hellenes in Thessaly to the return of the Greeks from Troy. Since the legends of this period belong to mythology and not to history, they find their proper place in a work devoted to the former subject. But some of them are so closely interwoven with the historical traditions of Greece that it is impossible to pass them by entirely. Among the heroes three stand con- spicuously forth : Hercules, the national hero of Greece ; Theseus, the hero of Attica ; and Minos, king of Crete, the principal founder of Grecian law and civilization. § 2. Of all the Heroic families none was more celebrated than that of Danaus, king of Argos. In the fifth generation we find it personified in Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, whom Jove wooed in a shower of gold, and became by her the father of Perseus, the celebrated conqueror of Medusa. Perseus was the ancestor of Hercules, being the great-grandfather both of Alc- mena and of her husband Amphitryon. According to the well- known legend, Jove, enamoured of Alcmena, assumed the form of Amphitryon in his absence, and became by her the father of Hercules. To the son thus begotten Jove had destined the sovereignty of Argos ; but the jealous anger of Hera (Juno) raised up against him an opponent and a master in the person of Eurystheus, another descendant of Perseus, at whose bidding the greatest of all heroes was to achieve those wonderful labours which filled the whole world with his fame. In these are realized, on a magnificent scale, the two great objects of ancient heroism —the destruction of physical and moral evil, and the acquisition of wealth and power. Such, for instance, are the labours, in which he destroys the terrible Nemean lion and Lernean hydra, carries off the girdle of Arcs from Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, and seizes the golden apples of the Hesperides, guarded by a hundred-headed dragon. At the same time, however, we perceive, as is the case with all the Grecian heroes, that the extraordinary endowments of Hereules did not preserve him from human weakness and error, and the consequent expiation which they demanded. After slaying in his ungovernable rage his friend and companion Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, he is seized with sickness, becomes the slave of the Lydian queen Omphal6, devotes himself to effeminate occupations, and sinks into luxury and wantonness. At a subsequent period another crime pro- duces his death. The rape of Iole, the daughter of the same Eurytus whose son he had slain, incites his wife Deianira to send him the fatal shirt, poisoned with the blood of the centaur Nossius. Unable to endure the torments it occasions, he repairs Chap. II. THE GRECIAN HEROES. 19 to Mount (Eta, which becomes the scene of his apotheosis, is he lies on the funeral pile there erected for him by Hyllus, his eldest son by Deianira, a cloud descends and bears him off amidst thunder and lightning to Olympus, where he is received among the immortal gods, and, being reconciled to Hera, receives in marriage her daughter Hebe, the goddess of youth. § 3. Theseus was the son of iEgeus, king of Athens, and of iEthra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Trcezen. On his return to Athens iEgeus left iEthra behind him at Trcezen, enjoining her not to send their son to Athens till he was strong enough to lift from beneath a stone of prodigious weight his father's sword and sandals, which would serve as tokens of recognition. Theseus, when grown to manhood, accomplished the appointed feat with ease, and took the road to Athens over'the isthmus of Corinth, a journey beset with many dangers from robbers who barbarously mutilated or killed the unhappy wayfarers who fell into their hands. But Theseus overcame them all, and arrived in safety at Athens, where he was recognised by ^Egeus, and declared his successor. Among his many memorable achievements the most famous was his deliverance of Athens from the frightful tribute imposed upon it by Minos for the murder of his son. This con- sisted of seven youths and seven maidens, whom the Athenians were compelled to send every nine years to Crete, there to be devoured by the Minotaur, a monster with a human body and a bull's head, which Minos kept concealed in an inextricable labyrinth. The third ship was already on the point of sailing with its cargo of innocent victims, when Theseus offered to go with them, hoping to put an end for ever to the horrible tribute. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, became enamoured of the hero, and having supplied him with a clue to trace the windings of the labyrinth, Theseus succeeded in killing the monster, and in tracking his way out of the mazy lair. As he returned towards Athens, the pilot forgot to hoist the white sail, agreed on as the signal of success, in place of the black sail usually carried by the vessel which bore that melancholy tribute, where- upon iEgeus, thinking that his son had perished, threw himself into the sea which afterwards bore his name. Theseus, having now ascended the throne, proceeded to lay the foundations of the future greatness of Athens. He united into one political body the twelve independent states into which Cecrops had divided Attica, and made Athens the capital of the new kingdom. In order to accommodate the increased popula- tion of the city, he covered with buildings the ground lying to the south of the Cecropian citadel ; and in commemoration of the union, ho instituted the festivals of the Panathcnoea and c 2 20 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. II. Synoikia in honour of Athena (Minerva), the patron goddess of the city. He then divided the citizens into three classes, namely, Eupatrida; or nobles, Geomori, or husbandmen, and Demiurgi, or artisans. He is further said to have established a constitutional government, retaining in his own hands only certain definite powers and privileges, so that he was regarded in a later age as the founder of civil equality at Athens. He also extended the Attic territory to the confines of Peloponnesus, and established the games in honour of Poseidon (Neptune), which were cele- brated on the isthmus. He subsequently engaged in a variety of adventures in conjunction with Hercules and Pirithous, king of the Lapithse. But on his return to Athens after these exploits, the Athenians refused to obey him any longer, whereupon he retired to the island of Scyros, and was there murdered through the treachery of king Lycornedes. § 4. Minos, king of Crete, whose stoiy is connected with that of Theseus, appears, like him, the representative of an historical and civil state of life. Minos is said to have received the laws of Crete immediately from Jove ; and traditions uniformly represent him as king of the sea. Possessing a numerous fleet, he reduced the surrounding islands, especially the Cyclades, under his domi- nion, and cleared the sea of pirates. A later legend recognizes two heroes of the name of Minos ; one, the son of Jove and Europa, who after his death became a judge in the lower world, and the other his grandson, who held the dominion of the sea. § 5. If, turning from the exploits of individual heroes, we examine the enterprises undertaken by a collective body of chiefs, we shall again find three expeditions more celebrated than the rest. These ai-e the Voyage of the Argonauts, the War of the Seven against Thebes, and the Siege of Troy. In the Voyage of the Argonauts the iEolids play the principal part. Pelias, a descendant of iEolus, had deprived his half- brother iEson of his dominion over the kingdom of Iolcus in Thessaly. When Jason, son of zEson, had grown up to manhood, he appeared before his uncle and demanded back his throne. Pelias consented only on condition that Jason should first fetch the golden fleece from yEa,* a region in the farthest east, ruled by JSetes, offspring of the Sun-god. Here it was preserved in the grove of Ares (Mars), suspended upon a tree, and under the guardianship of a sleepless dragon. The Argo, a ship built for the expedition, gave its name to the adventurers, who, under the conduct of Jason, embarked in the harbour of Iolcus, for the purpose of bringing back the fleece. They consisted of the most renowned heroes of the time. Her- * Identified hy the Gi ks of a later age with Coichie. Chap. II. THE GRECIAN HEROES. 21 cules and Theseus are mentioned among them, as well as the principal leaders in the Trojan war. Jason, however, is the central figure and the real hero of the enterprise. When he and his companions arrived, after many adventures, at Ma, king iEetes promised to deliver to him the golden fleece, provided he yoked two fire-breathing oxen with brazen feet, ploughed with them a piece of land, sowed in the furrows thus made the remain- der of the teeth of the dragon slain by Cadmus, and vanquished the armed men that would start from the seed. Here, also, as in the legend of Theseus, love played a prominent part. Medea, the daughter of iEetes, who was skilled in magic and supernatural arts, furnished Jason with the means of accomplishing the labours imposed upon him ; and as her father still delayed to surrender the fleece, she cast the dragon asleep during the night, seized the fleece, and set sail in the Argo with her beloved Jason and his companions. iEetes pursued them ; but after many long and strange wanderings, they at length reached Iolcus in safety. § 6. In the Heroic age Thebes was already one of the principal cities of Greece. Towards the close of this period it became the scene of the last struggles of a fated race, whose legendary his- tory is so full of human crime, of the obscure warnings of the gods, and of the inevitable march of fate, as to render it one of the favourite subjects of the tragic poets of Athens. Lai'us, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle to beget no children, or he would be murdered by his son. He neglected the prediction, but to obviate its effects caused his son CEdipus by Jocasta to be exposed to death. The infant, however, was saved and carried to Corinth, where king Polybus reared him as his own. Grown up to manhood, and stung by the reproaches which he heard cast upon his birth, GMipus consulted the Delphic oracle respecting his parentage, and was warned by it not to re- turn to his native land, as he was there destined to slay his father and commit incest with his mother. (Edipus, believing Polybus to be his real father, now avoided Corinth and took the road to Thebes, but by so doing incurred the very fate which he sought to avoid. Meeting La'ius in a narrow road he slew him in a quarrel, and then proceeding to Thebes obtained the hand of his mother, queen Jocasta, promised as a reward to the man who should solve a riddle propounded by the sphinx, a monster which had long infested the land, but which was driven to slay itself by the solution of its enigma. Two sons and two daughters were the fruit of the incestuous marriage. These horrors drew down a pestilence on the land, and in order to avert it, an oracle com- manded the banishment of the murderer of La'ius. The inquiries instituted to discover the faulty man revealed the fatal truth. 22 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. IT. Jocasta hangs herself ; (Edipus, unable any longer to bear the light of day, puts out his eyes, and being expelled from the city by his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, pronounces upon them a curse which speedily takes effect. In a struggle for undivided dominion, Polynices is driven out of Thebes by his brother, and repairing to Argos obtains the aid of king Adrastus to reinstate him in his rights. Besides that monarch and Polynices five other heroes join the expedition, making the confederacy known under the name of the " Seven against Thebes." All of them except Adrastus are slain, whilst Polynices and Eteocles fall by each other's hands. Ten years later the sons of the allied princes undertake another expedition against Thebes in order to avenge their fathers' fate, hence called the war of the Epvjoni, or the Descendants. It proved successful. Thebes was taken and razed to the ground after the greater part of its inhabitants had left the city on the advice of the prophet Tiresias. § 7. In mythological chronology the war of the Epigoni im- mediately precedes the expedition against Troy, whose legend forms the termination of the Heroic age. While it was the last, it was also the greatest of all the heroic achievements. It formed the subject of innumerable epic poems, and has been immortal- ised by the genius of Homer. Paris, son of Priam, king of Ilium or Troy, abused the hospi- tality of Menelaus, king of Sparta, by canying off his wife Helen, the most beautiful woman of the age. All the Grecian princes looked upon the outrage as one committed against themselves. Responding to the call of Menelaus, they assemble in arms, elect his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, leader of the expedi- tion, and sail across the /Egean in nearly 1200 ships to recover the faithless fair one. Several of the confederate heroes excel Agamemnon in fame. Among them Achilles, chief of the Thes- sahan Myrmidons, stands pre-eminent in strength, beauty, and valour, whilst Ulysses, king of Ithaca, surpasses all the rest in the mental qualities of counsel, subtilty, and eloquence. Thus, though by opposite endowments, these two heroes form the centre of the group. Next to them we observe the aged Nestor, king of Pylus, distinguished for his wisdom and experience ; the valiant Diomedcs, king of Argos, son of Tydcus, slain at Thebes, and one of the Epigoni ; the Telamonian Ajax of Sa- lamis, who, though somewhat heavy and unwieldy, is next to Achilles in person and fighting power ; and lastly, Idomeneus of Crete, a grandson of Minos. Among the Trojans, Hector, one of the sons of Priam, is most distinguished for heroic qualities, and forms a striking contrast Chap. II. THE GRECIAN HEROES, 23 to his handsome, but effeminate brother Paris. Next to Hector in valour istands iEneas, son of Anchisesand Aphrodite (Venus). Even the gods take part in the contest, encouraging their favourite heroes, and sometimes fighting by their side or in their stead. It is not till the tenth year of the war that Ilium yields to the inevitable decree of fate, and it is this year which forms the sub- ject of the Iliad. Achilles, offended by Agamemnon, abstains from the war, and even entreats his mother Thetis to obtain from Jove victory for the Trojans. In his absence the Greeks are no match for Hector. The Trojans drive them back into their camp and are already setting fire to their ships, when Achilles gives his armour to his friend Patroclns, and allows him to charge at the head of the Myrmidons. Patroclus repulses the Trojans from the ships, but the god Apollo is against him, and he falls under the spear of Hector. Desire to avenge the death of his friend proves more powerful in the breast of Achilles than anger against Agamemnon. He appears again in the field in new and gorgeous armour, forged for him by the god Hephaestus (Vulcan) at the prayer of Thetis. The Trojans fly before him, and although Achilles is aware that his own death must speedily follow that of the Trojan hero, he slays him in single combat. § 8. The Iliad closes with the burial of Hector. The death of Achilles and the capture of Troy were related in later poems, as well as his victories over Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, and Memnon, king of ^Ethiopia. The hero of so many achievements perishes by an arrow shot by the unwarlike Paris, but directed by the hand of Apollo. The noblest combatants had now fallen on either side, and force of arms had proved unable to accom- plish what stratagem at length effects. It is Ulysses who now steps into the foreground and becomes the real conqueror of Troy. By his advice a wooden horse is built, in whose inside he and other heroes conceal themselves. The infatuated Trojans admit the horse within their walls. In the dead of night the Greeks rush out and open the gates to their comrades. Ilium is delivered over to the sword, and its glory sinks in ashes. § 9. The return of the Grecian leaders from Troy forms ano- ther series of poetical legends. Several meet with tragical ends. Agamemnon is murdered, on his arrival at Mycense, by his wife Clyta3mnestra, and her paramour iEgisthus. Diomedes, who also finds his house defiled, is driven from Argos and settles in Italy. But of these wanderings the most celebrated and in- teresting are those of Ulysses, which form the subject of the Odyssey. After twenty years' absence he arrives at length in Ithaca, where he slays the numerous suitors who devoured his substance and contended for the hand of his wife Penelope. 24 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. II. § 10. It has been already stated that the Trojan war closes the Heroic age, and the poet Hesiod relates that the divine race of heroes was exhausted before the walls of Thebes and on tl e plain of Ilium. As the Trojan war was thus supposed to mark an epoch in Grecian history, great pains were taken in the later periods of antiquity to fix its date. That of Eratosthenes, n gi'ammarian at Alexandria, enjoyed most credit, which placed the fall of the city 407 years before the first Olympiad, and con- sequently in the year 1184 b.c. § 11. In relating the legends of the Heroic age we have made no attempt to examine their origin, or to deduce from them any historical facts. All such attempts are in our opinion vain and fruitless. Whether there were real persons of the name of Her- cules, Theseus, and Minos can neither be affirmed nor denied. Our only reason for believing in their existence is the tradition of the Greeks respecting them ; and knowing how worthless is tradition, especially when handed down by a rude and unlettered people, we cannot accept the Grecian heroes as real personages upon such evidence. It has been supposed by many modern writers that the wonderful story of the Argonauts took its rise from the adventurous voyages of early Greek mariners to the coasts of the Euxine ; that the expeditions of the "Seven against Thebes" and their descendants represented in a legendary form an actual contest between Argos and Thebes ; and that the Ho- meric tale of the Trojan war was based upon historical facts. But for such statements we have no authority. They are at the best only probable conjectures. While therefore we do not deny the possibility of an historical Trojan war, we cannot accept it as a fact supported by trustworthy evidence, since Homer is our sole authority for it. § 12. Although the Homeric poems cannot be received as a re- cord of historical persons and events, yet they present a valuable picture of the institutions and manners of a real state of society. Homer lived in an age in which antiquarian research was un- known ; his poems were addressed to unlettered hearers, and any description of life and manners which did not correspond to the state of things around them would have been unintelligible and uninteresting to his contemporaries. In addition to this, there is an artless simplicity in his descriptions which forces upon every reader the conviction that the poet drew his pictures from real life, and not from an antiquated past or from imaginary ideas of his own. The description which he gives of the govern- ment, manners, society, and customs of his age demands our attentive consideration, since with it cur knowledge of the Greek people commences. !32lj Gate of Mycena:. CHAPTER III. STATE OF SOCIETY OF TIIE HEROIC AGE. § 1. Political condition of Greece — the Kings. §2. The Boul€, or Council of Chiefs. § 3. The Agora, or general assembly of freemen. § 4. The con- dition of common freemen and slaves. § 5. State of social and moral feeling. §6. Simplicity of manners. § 7. Advances made in civilization. § 8. Commerce and the arts. § 9. The physical sciences. § 10. The art of war. § 1. In the Heroic age Greece was already divided into a num- ber of independent states, each governed by its own king. The authority of the king was not limited by any laws ; his power resembled that of the patriarchs in the Old Testament ; and for the exercise of it he was responsible only to Jove, and not to his people. It was from the Olympian god that his ancestors had received the supremacy, and he transmitted it, as a divine inheritance, to his son. He had the sole command of his people in war, he administered to them justice in peace, and he offered up on their behalf prayers and sacrifices to the gods. He was the general, judge, and priest of his people. They looked up to him with reverence as a being of divine descent and divine appointment ; but at the same time he was obliged to possess personal superiority, both of body and mind, to keep alive this feeling in his subjects. It was necessary that he should be brave 26 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. III. in "war, wise in counsel, and eloquent in debate. If a king became weak in body or feeble in mind, he could not easily retain his position ; but as long as his personal qualities commanded the respect of his subjects, they quietly submitted to acts of vio- lence and caprice. An ample domain was assigned to him for his support, and he received frequent presents to avert his enmity and gain his favour. Although the king was not restrained in the exercise of his power by any positive laws, there were, even in the Heroic age, two bodies which must practically have limited his authority, and which became in republican Greece the sole depositaries of political power. These were the Boule', or council of chiefs, and the Agora, or general assembly of freemen. § 2. The king was surrounded by a limited number of nobles or chiefs, to whom the title of Basileus was given, as well as to the monarch himself. Like the king they traced their descent from the gods, and formed his Boule, or Council, to which he announced the resolutions he had already formed and from which he asked advice. The Boule possessed no veto upon the measures of the king, and far less could it originate any measure itself. This is strikingly shown by the submissive manner in which Nestor tenders his advice to Agamemnon, to be adopted or rejected, as the " king of men " might choose,* and by the de- scription which Homer frequently gives of the meetings of the gods in Olynipus, which are evidently taken from similar meetings of men upon earth. In heaven, Jove, like the Homeric king, pre- sides in the council of the gods and listens to their advice, but forms his own resolutions, which he then communicates to them. § 3. When the king had announced his determination to the Council, he proceeded with his nobles to the Agora The king occupied the most important seat in the assembly with the nobles by his side, while the people sat in a circle around them. The king opened the meeting by announcing his intentions, and the nobles wero then allowed to address the people. But no one else had the right to speak ; no vote was taken ; the people simply hstened to the debate between the chiefs ; and the as • sembly served only as a means for promulgating the intentions of the king. It is true that this assembly formed a germ, out of which the sovereignty of the people subsequently sprang ; but in the Heroic age the king was the only person who pos- sessed any political power, and Homer expresses the general feeling of his time in the memorable lines — " The rule of many is not a good thing : let us have only one ruler, one king — him ♦ Iliad, ix. 95-101. Chap. III. SOCIETY OF THE HEROIC AGE. 27 to whom Jove has given the sceptre and the authority."* There was another important purpose for which the Agora was sum- moned. It was in the Agora that justice was administered by the king, sometimes alone and sometimes with the assistance of his nobles. It may be remarked in passing that this public administration of justice must have had a powerful tendency to check corruption and secure righteous judgments. § 4. The Greeks in the Heroic age were divided into the three classes of nobles, common freemen,f and slaves. J The nobles were raised far above the rest of the community in honour power, aud wealth. They were distinguished by their warlike prowess, their large estates, and their numerous slaves. The condition of the general mass of freemen is rarely mentioned. They possessed portions of land as their own property, which they cultivated themselves : but there was another class of poor free- men, called Thetes, who had no land of their own, and who worked for hire on the estates of others. Among the freemen we find certain professional persons, whose acquirements and knowledge raised them above their class, and procured for them the respect of the nobles. Such were the seer, the bard, the herald, and like- wise the smith and the carpenter, since in that age a knowledge of the mechanical arts was confined to a few. Slavery was not so prevalent in the Heroic age as in republican Greece, and it appears in a less odious aspect. The nobles alone possessed slaves, and they treated them with a degree of kind- ness, which frequently secured for the masters their affectionate attachment. § 5. The state of social and moral feeling in the Heroic age presents both bright aud dark features. Among the Greeks, as among every people which has just emerged from bar- barism, the family relations are the grand sources of lasting union and devoted attachment. The paternal authority was highly reverenced, and nothing was so much dreaded as the curse of an offended father. All the members of a family or a clan were connected by the closest ties, and were bound to revenge with their united strength an injury offered to any indi- vidual of the race. The women were allowed greater liberty than they possessed in republican Greece ; and to Penelope, Andromache, and other women of the Heroic age there ia an interest attaching, which we never feel in the women of the historical period. The wife occupied a station of great dig- nity and influence in the family, but was purchased by her husband from her parents by valuable presents,§ a custom which * Iliad, ii. 203-206. f Srjy-os, \aol. X 5u««y. § Called USva, or 'iSwa. 28 HISTOKY OF GREECE. Chap. in. prevailed among the ancient Jews and the barbarous nations of Germany. In the Heroic age, as in other early stages of society, we find the stranger treated with generous hospitality. The chief welcomes him to his house, and does not inquire his name nor the object of his journey till he has placed before him his best cheer. If the stranger comes as a suppliant, he has a still greater claim upon his host — although this tie may expose the latter to difficulty and danger, and may even bring upon him the hostility of a more powerful neighbour ; for Jove punishes with- out mercy the man who disregards the prayer of a suppliant. The three facts we have mentioned — the force of the family relations, hospitality to the stranger, and protection to the sup pliant — form the bright features in the social and moral feelings of the age. "We now turn to the darker side of the picture. The poems of Homer represent a state of society in which the protection of law is practically unknown. The chief who cannot defend himself is plundered and maltreated by his more power- ful neighbour. The occupation of a pirate is reckoned honour- able ; homicides are of frequent occurrence ; and war is conducted with the most ferocious cruelty. Quarter is rarely given ; the fallen foe is stripped of his armour, which becomes the spod of his conqueror, and if the naked corpse remains in the power of the latter, it is cast out to beasts of prey. The poet ascribes to his greatest heroes savage brutalities. Achilles sacrifices twelve human victims on the tomb of Patroclus, and drags the corpse of Hector around the walls of Troy, while the Greek chiefs pierce it with their spears. § 6. The society of the Heroic age was marked by simplicity of manners. The kings and nobles did not consider it derogatory to their dignity to acquire skill in the manual arts. Ulysses is represented as building his own bed-chamber and constructing his own raft, and he boasts of being an excellent mower and ploughman. Like Esau, who made savoury meat for his father Isaac, the Heroic chiefs prepared their own meals and prided themselves on their skill in cookery. Kings and private persons partook of the same food, which was of the simplest kind. Beef, mutton, and goat's flesh were the ordinary meats, and cheese, flour, and sometimes fruits, also formed part of the banquet. Bread was brought on in baskets, and the guests were supplied with wine diluted with water. Before drinking, some of the wine was poured on the ground as a libation to the gods, and the guests then pledged each other with their cups. But their en- tertainments were never disgraced by intemperance, like those of our northern ancestors, llie enjoyment of the banquet was heightened by the song and the dance, and the chiefs took more Chap. III. SOCIETY OF THE HEROIC AGE. 29 delight in the lays of the minstrel than in the exciting influence of the wine. The wives and daughters of the chiefs, in like manner, did not tleem it beneath them to discharge various duties which were afterwards regarded as menial. Not only do we find them con- stantly employed in weaving, spinning, and embroidery, but like the daughters of the patriarchs they fetch water from the well and assist their slaves in washing garments in the river. § 7. Although the Heroic age is strongly marked by martial ferocity and simplicity of habits, it would be an error to regard it as one essentially rude and barbarous. On the contrary, the Greeks in this early period had already made considerable ad- vances in civilization, and had successfully cultivated many of the arts which contribute to the comfort and refinement of life. Instead of living in scattered villages like the barbarians of Gaul and Germany, they were collected in fortified towns, which were surrounded by walls and adorned with palaces and temples. The houses of the nobles were magnificent and costly, glittering with gold, silver, and bronze, while the nobles themselves wei*e clothed in elegant garments and protected by highly wrought armour. From the Phoenician merchants they obtained the finest products of the Sidonian loom, as well as tin, iron, and electrum. They travelled with rapidity in chariots drawn by high-bred steeds, and they navigated the sea with ease in fifty- oared galleys. Property in land was transmitted from father to son ; agriculture was extensively practised, and vineyards care- fully cultivated. It is true that Homer may have occasionally drawn upon his imagination in his brilliant pictures of the palaces of the chiefs and of their mode of living, but the main features must have been taken from life, and we possess even in the pre- sent day memorials of the Heroic age which strikingly attest its graudeur. The remains of Mycenae and Tiryns and the emissa- ries of the lake Copais belong to this period. The massive ruins of these two cities, and the sculptured lions on the gate of My- cense, still excite the wonder of the beholder.* The emissaries or tunnels which the inhabitants of Orchomenus constructed to carry off the waters of the lake Copais in Bceotia, are even more striking proofs of the civilization of the age. A people who felt the necessity of such works, and who possessed sufficient industry and skill to execute them, must have already made great advances in social life.t § 8. Commerce, however, was little cultivated, and was not * See drawings on pp. 10, 25. t One of these tunnels is nearly four English miles in length, with nume- rous shafts let down into it. One shaft is about 150 feet deep. 30 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap, in much esteemed. It was deemtd more honourable for a man to enrich himself by robbery and piracy than by the arts of peace. The trade of the Mediterranean was then exclusively in the hands of the Phoenicians, who exchanged the commodities of the East for the landed produce and slaves of the Greek chiefs. Com- merce was carried on by barter ; for coined money is not men- tioned in the poems of Homer. Statuary was already cultivated in this age, as we see from the remains of Mycenrc, already men- tioned ; and although no paintings are spoken of in Homer, yet his descriptions of the works of embroidery prove that his con- temporaries must have been acquainted with the art of design. Whether the Greeks were acquainted at this early period with the art of writing is a question that has given rise to much dis- pute, and which will demand our attention when we come to speak of the origin of the Homeric poems. Poetry, however, was cultivated with success, though yet confined to epic strains, or the narration of the exploits and adventures of the Heroic chiefs. The bard sung his own song, and was always received with welcome and honour in the palaces of the nobles. § 9. In the state of society already described, men had not yet begun to study those phamomena of nature which form the basis of the physical sciences. They conceived the earth to be a plane surface surrounded by an ever-flowing river called Oceanus, from which every other river and sea derived their waters. The sky was regarded as a solid vault supported by Atlas, who kept heaven and earth asunder. Their geographical knowledge was confined to the shores of Greece and Asia Minor and the prin- cipal islands of the iEgean sea. Beyond these limits all was uncertain and obscure. Italy appears to have been unknown to Homer, and Sicily he peoples with the fabulous Cyclops. Libya, Egypt, and Phoenicia were known only by vague hearsay, while the Euxine is not mentioned at all. § 10. In the battles of the Heroic age, as depicted in the poems of Homer, the chiefs are the only important combatants, while the people are introduced as an almost useless mass, fre- quently put to rout by the prowess of a single hero. The chief is mounted in a war-chariot drawn by two horses, and stands by the side of his charioteer, who is frequently a friend. He carries into battle two long spears, and wears a long sword and a short dagger ; his person is protected by shield, helmet, breast- plate, and greaves. In the wars, as in the political system, of the Heroic age, the chiefs are everything and the people nothing r W&f j07f2Ly )m ^ ud Phocis. They now appear for the first time in Grecian history. They had no share in the glories of the Heroic age ; their name does not occur in the Iliad, and they are only once mentioned in the Odyssey as a small portion of the many tribes of Crete : but they were destined to form in historical. times one of the most important elements of the Greek nation. Issuing from their mountain fastnesses, they overran the greater part of Pelc • ponnesus, destroyed the ancient Achaean monarchies, and expelled or reduced to subjection the original inhabitants of tli6 land, of which they became the undisputed masters. This brief statement contains all that we know for certain respecting this celebrated event. We now proceed to give the mythical account. § 4. The Dorians were led to the conquest of Peloponnesus by tho Heraclidse, or descendants of the mighty hero Herculos. Chap IV. RETURN OF THE HERACLID-E. 33 Hence this migration is called the Return of the Heraclidae. The children of Hercules had long been fugitives upon the eaiih. They had made many attempts to regain possession of the domi- nions in the Peloponnesus, of which their great sire had been deprived by Eurystheus, but hitherto without success. In their last attempt Hyllus, the son of Hercules, had perished in single combat with Echemus of Tegea ; and the Heraclidae had become bound by a solemn compact to renounce their enterprise for a hundred years. This period had now expired ; and the great- grandsons of Hyllus — Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus — resolved to make a fresh attempt to recover their birthright. They were assisted in the enterprise by the Dorians. This people, espoused their cause in consequence of the aid which Hercules himself had rendered to the Dorian king, ^Egimius, when the latter was hard pressed in a contest with the Lapithae. The invaders were warned by an oracle not to enter Peloponnesus by the Isthmus of Corinth, but across the mouth of the Corinthian gulf. The inhabitants of the northern coast of the gulf were favourable to their enterprise. Oxylus, king of the ^Etolians, became their guide ; and the Ozolian Locrians granted them a port for building their fleet, from which memorable circumstance the harbour was soon afterwards called Naupactus.* Here Aris- todemus was struck with lightning and died, leaving twin sone, Eurysthenes and Procles ; but his remaining brothers crossed over the gulf in safety, landed in Achaia, and marched against Tisa- menus, son of Orestes, then the most powerful monarch in Pelo- ponnesus. A single battle decided the contest. Tisamenus was defeated, and retired with a portion of his Achaean subjects to the northern coast of Peloponnesus, then occupied by the Ionians. He expelled the Ionians, and took possession of the country, which continued henceforth to be inhabited by the Achceans, and to be called after them. The Ionians withdrew to Attica, and the greater part of them afterwards emigrated to Asia Minor. § 5. The Heraclidae and the Dorians now divided between them the dominions of Tisamenus and of the other Achaean princes. The kingdom of Elis was given to Oxylus as a recompense for his services as their guide ; and it was agreed that Temenus, Cresphontes, and the infant sons of Aristodemus should draw lots for Argos, Sparta, and Messenia. Argos fell to Temenus, Sparta to the sons of Aristodemus, and Messenia to Cresphontes. The settlement of the conquerors in their new territories is said to have been made with scarcely any opposition. The Epeans, who inhabited Ehs, submitted to Oxylus and his iEto- * From vavs, "a snip," .and the root to-/, which occurs in irfiyw/ut, "fasten," " build." Or. d 34 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. IV, liana after their king had been killed in single combat by one of the iEtolian chiefs. From this time the Epeans disappear from history, and their place is supplied by the Eleans, who are re- presented as descendants of the jEtolian conquerors. The share of Temenus originally comprehended only Argos and its immediate neighbourhood ; but his sons and sons-in-law successively occupied Trcezen, Epidaurus, iEgina, Sicyon, and Phlius, which thus became Doric states. The sons of Aristodemus obtained possession of Sparta by the treason of an Achaean named Philonomus, who received as a recompense the neighbouring town and territory of Amycke. The towns are said to have submitted without resistance, with the exception of Helos, the inhabitants of which were, as a punishment, reduced to slavery, thus giving rise to the class of slaves or serfs called Helots. Messenia yielded to Cresphontes without a struggle. Me- lanthus, who ruled over the country as the representative of the race of the Pylian Nestor, withdrew to Attica with a portion of his subjects. Corinth was not conquered by the Dorians till the next gene- ration. One of the descendants of Hercules, named Hippotes, had put to death the seer Carnus, when the Heraclidae were on the point of embarking at Naupactus. He had in consequence been banished for ten years, and was not allowed to take part in the enterprise. His son Aletes, who derived his name from his long wanderings, subsequently attacked Corinth at the head of a body of Dorians. The mighty dynasty of the Sisyphids was expelled, and many of the iEolian inhabitants emigrated to foreign lands. § 6. Such are the main features of the legend of the Return of the Heraclidae. In order to make the story more striking and im- pressive, it compresses into a single epoch events which probably occupied several generations. It is in itself improbable that the brave Achseans quietly submitted to the Dorian invaders after a momentary struggle. "We have, moreover, many indications that such was not the fact, and that it was only gradually and after a long protracted contest that the Dorians became undisputed masters of the greater part of Peloponnesus. The imagination loves to assign to one cause the results of numerous and different actions. Thus in our own history we used to read that the con- quest of England by the Normans was completed by the battle of Hastings, in which Harold fell, whereas we now know that the Saxons long continued to offer a formidable resistance to the Norman invaders, and that the latter did not become undisputed masters of the country for two or three generations. Chap. IV. COLONIES IN ASIA MINOR. 35 That portion of the tradition which makes the Dorians con- ducted into Peloponnesus by princes of Achaean blood, may safely be rejected, notwithstanding the general belief of the fact in ancient times. The Dorians, as we have already seen, were poor in mythical renown ; and it would appear that the royal family at Sparta, though of Dorian origin, claimed Hercules as their founder in order to connect themselves with the ancient glories of the Achaean race. They thus became the representa- tives of Agamemnon and Orestes ; and in the Persian war the Spartans on one occasion laid claim to the supreme command of the Grecian forces in consequence of this connexion. We cannot err in supposing the story to be a fabrication of later times, seeing that there are such obvious reasons for its forgery, and such inherent improbability in its truth. § 7. The foundation of the Greek colonies in Asia Minor is closely connected in the legends with the conquest of Pelopon- nesus by the Dorians. There is nothing improbable in the statement, that the original inhabitants, who had been dislodged by the invaders, sought new homes on the coasts of Asia Minor ; but in this case, as in the conquest of Peloponnesus, many separate occurrences are unquestionably grouped into one. The stream of migration probably continued to flow across the jEgean from Greece to Asia Minor for several generations. New adven- turers constantly joined the colonists who were already settled in the country, and thus in course of time the various Greek cities were founded, which were spread over the western coast of Asia Minor, from the Propontis on the north to Lycia on the south. These cities were divided among the three great races of jEolians, Ionians, and Dorians, — the iEolians occupying the northern portion of the coast, together with the islands of Lesbos and Tenedos, the Ionians the central part, with the islands of Chios, Samos, and the Cyclades, and the Dorians the south-western corner, with the islands of Ehodes and Cos. § 8. The iEolic colonies are said to have been the earliest. Achreans, who had been driven out of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, were led by their native princes, the descendants of Orestes, to seek new homes in the East. In Bceotia they were joined by a part both of the original inhabitants of the country a ad of their Boeotian conquerors. From the latter, who were .ZEoiians, the migration is called the iEolic, but sometimes also the Boeotian. The united body of emigrants, however, still continued under the command of the Achaean princes. They embarked at the port of Aulis, from which Agamemnon had sailed against Troy. They first occupied Lesbos, where they founded six cities ; and a detachment of them settled on the d 2 36 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. IV. opposite coast of Asia Minor, from the foot of Mount Ida to the mouth of the river Hermus. Smyrna was originally an iEolic city, but it afterwards passed into the hands of the Ionians. In the historical times there were eleven .<£olic cities on the mainland, but of these Cyme was the only one which rose to importance.* § 9. The Ionic migration was more important than the pre- ceding one, and gave rise to some of the most flourishing cities in the Hellenic world. It derived its name from the Ionians, who had been expelled by the Achaeans from their homes on the Corinthian gulf, and had taken refuge in Attica. The Ionians, however, appear to have formed only a small part of the emi- grants. Inhabitants from many other parts of Greece, who had been driven out of their native countries, had also fled to Attica, which is said to have afforded protection and welcome to all these fugitives. The small territory of Attica could not per- manently support this increase of 2>opulation ; and accordingly these strangers resolved to follow the example of the iEoliana and seek new settlements in the East. They were led by princes of the family of Codrus, the last king of Attica. In their pas- sage across the iEgean sea they colonized most of the Cyclades ; and in Adia Minor they took possession of the fertile country from the Hermus to the Maeander, which was henceforth called Ionia, and also of the neighbouring islands of Chios and Samos. In this district we find twelve independent states in later times, all of which adopted the Ionic name, notwithstanding the diver- sity of their origin, and were united by the common worship of the god Poseidon (Neptune) at the great Pan-Ionic festival.! There can be no doubt that these cities were really founded at different periods and by different emigrants, although their origin is ascribed to the great legendary migration of which we have been speaking, and which is referred by chronologists to one special year, 140 years after the Trojan war. § 10. The Doric colonies in the south-western corner of Asia Minor and in the neighbouring islands may be traced in like manner to the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. In the general change of population and consequent emigrations caused by this important event, some of the Doric chiefs were also in- duced to quit the country they had recently subdued, and to lead bodies of their own countrymen and of the conquered * The names of the eleven .Eolic cities were — Cyme, Temnos, Larissa, Neon-Tichos, MgBZ, Myrina, Grynium, Cilia, Notium, jEgirofissa, Pitane. f The names of the twelve Ionic cities, enumerated from south to north, were Miletus, Myus, Priene, Samos, Ephgsus, Col5phon, LebCdus, Tedc, Erytkrae, Chios, ClazomJSnae. Phocaca. To these twelve Smyrna was after- wards added. Chap. IV. COLONIES IN ASIA MINOR. 37 Achseans to Asia. The most celebrated of the Doric migrations was that conducted by the Argive Altheemenes, a descendant of Temenus, who, after leaving some of his followers at Crete, proceeded with the remainder to the island of Khodes, where he founded the three cities of Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus. About the same time Dorians settled in the neighbouring island of Cos, and founded the cities of Halicarnassus and Cnidus on the main- land. These six colonies formed a confederation, usually called the Doric Hexapolis. Map of the chief Greek Colonies in Asia Minor 38 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. IV. § 11. Doric colonies were also founded in mythical times in the islands of Crete, Melos, and Thera. The colonization of Crete more particularly deserves our attention, on account of the similarity of the institutions of its Doric cities to those of Sparta. There were Dorians in Crete in the time of the Odyssey, but their chief migrations to this island took place in the third gene- ration after their conquest of Peloponnesus. Of these two aro expressly mentioned, one conducted under the auspices of Sparta, and the other by the Argive Althaemenes. Of the latter we have already spoken ; the former consisted chiefly of Minyans, who had been settled at Aniyclae by the Achaean Philonomus, to whom the Spartans had granted this city on account of his treachery, as has been already related. These Minyans having revolted against Sparta, were sent out of the country as emigrants, but accompanied by many Spartans. They sailed towards Crete, and in their passage settled some of their number in the island of Melos, which remained faithful to Lacedajmon, even in the time of the Peloponnesian war. In Crete they founded Gortyn and Lyctus, which are mentioned as Spartan colonies. The Doric colonists in Crete were anxious to connect themselves with the mythical glories of Minos, and consequently ascribed then* political and social institutions to this celebrated hero. Hence the tra- dition arose that the Spartan institutions were borrowed by Lycurgus from those of Crete ; but it seems more probable that their similarity was owing to their common origin, and that the Dorians of Crete brought from the mother-country usages which they sought to hallow by the revered name of Minos. § 12. The Return of the Heraclidae and the foundation of the above-mentioned colonies form the conclusion of the Mythical Age. From this time to the commencement of authentic history in the first Olympiad, there is a period of nearly three hundred years, according to the common chronology. Of this long period we have scarcely any record. But this ought not to excite our surprise. The subjects of mythical narrative are drawn, not from recent events, but from an imaginary past, which is sup- posed to be separated from the present by an indefinite number of years. Originally no attempt was made to assign any par- ticular date to the grand events of the Mythical Age. It was sufficient for the earlier Greeks to believe that their gods and heroes were removed from them by a vast number of generations • and it was not till a later time that the literary men of Greece endeavoured to count backwards to the Mythical Age, and to affix dates to the chief events in legendary Greece. i KQYM E N H X P Q NOSIAIAZQAYIECIAOMHPOZ MYQ 1 Homer enthroned. CHAPTER V. THE POEMS OF HOSIER. § 1. Importance of the subject. § 2. Rise of Poetry in Greece. Epic ballads preparatory to the Epopee. § 3. The poems of the Epic Cycle, in which the Iliad and the Odyssey were included. § 4. Diversity of opi- nions respecting the life and date of Homer. § 5. Iliad and Odyssey recited to public companies by the Rhapsodists. § 6. A standard text of the poems first formed by Pisistratus. § 7. Modern controversy respecting the origin of the Homeric poems. Prolegomena of Wolf. § 8. The Iliad and the Odyssey were originally not committed to writing. § 9. They were preserved by the Rhapsodists. § 10. They did not consist originally of separate lays, but were composed by one poet, as is shown by their poetical unity. § 1. No history of Greece would be complete without some account of the poems of Homer, and of the celebrated contro- versy to which they have given rise in modern times. Homer was called by the Greeks themselves TJie Poet. The Iliad and the Odyssey were the Greek Bible. They were the ultimate standard of appeal on all matters of religions doctrine and early 40 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. V. history. They were learnt by boys at school, they were the study of men in their riper years, and even in the time of Socrates there were Athenian gentlemen who could repeat both poems by heart. In whatever part of the ancient world a Greek settled, he carried with him a love for the great poet ; and loug after the Greek people had lost their independence the Ihad and the Odyssey continued to maintain an undiminished hold upon their affections. No production of profane literature has exer- cised so wide and long continued an influence, and consequently the history of these poems demands and deserves our careful attention. § 2. The origin of the Iliad and the Odyssey cannot be under- stood without a short account of the rise of poetry in Greece. Among the Greeks, as among all other nations, poetry was cul- tivated before prose. The first poetical compositions appear to have been hymns addressed to the gods, or simple ballads recounting the adventures and exploits of some favourite hero. We have already seen that the Greeks of the Heroic age were passionately fond of poetry, and that the entertainments of the nobles were enlivened by the songs of the bard. Originally these songs appear to have been short unconnected lays. They may be regarded as epic poems in the more indefinite sense of the term, since they perpetuated and adorned the memory of great men or great deeds. The next important step in the progress of popular poetry was to combine these separate epi- cal songs into one comprehensive whole. Such a poem may be called an Epopee, and presents a much more advanced state of the art. It requires genius of a far higher order, a power of combination and construction, not needed in poem? of the former class. Short epical poems appear to have existed before the time of Homer, as we may infer from the Lay of the Trojan Horse, sung by the bard Demodocus in the Odyssey ; but the construction of the epopee, or the epic poem in the nobler sense, is probably to be attributed to the genius of Homer. S 3. There was a large number of these epic poems extant in antiquity. We know the titles of more than thirty of them. Thoir subjects were all taken from the Greek legends. They were arranged by the grammarians of Alexandria, about the second century before the Christian era, in a chronological series, beginning with the intermarriage of Heaven and Earth, and con- cluding with the death of Ulysses by the hands of his son Tele- gonus. This collection was known by the name of the Epic Cycle, and the poets whose works formed part of it were called Cyclic poets. The Iliad and the Odyssey were comprised in the Cycle, aud coi'sequently the name of Cyclic poet did uot originally Ghap.V. POEMS OF HOMER. 41 carry with it any association of contempt. But as the best poems in the Cycle were spoken of by themselves or by the titles of their separate authors, the general name of Cyclic poets came to be applied only to the worst, especially as many of the inferior poems in the Cycle appear to have been anonymous. Hence we can understand why Horace * and others speak in such disparaging terms of the Cyclic writers, and how the infe- riority of the Cyclic poems is contrasted with the excellence of the Iliad and the Odyssey, although the latter had been originally included among them. § 4. All these poems are now lost with the exception of the Iliad and the Odyssey, which stood out prominently above all the others. Throughout the flourishing period of Greek litera- ture these unrivalled works were universally regarded as the pro- ductions of a single mind. At a later time some of the Alex- andrine grammarians attributed the Iliad and the Odyssey to two different authors, but this innovation in the popular belief was never regarded with much favour, and obtained few converts.! Although antiquity was nearly unanimous in ascribing the Iliad and Odyssey to Homer, there was very little agreement respect- ing the place of his birth, the details of his life, or the time in which he lived. Nor is this surprising. His poems were the productions of an age in which writing was either totally unknown or at all events little practised, and which was un- accustomed to anything like historical investigation. Seven cities laid claim to his birth,:): and most of them had legends to tell respecting his romantic parentage, his alleged blindness, and his life of an itinerant bard acquainted with poverty and sorrow. It cannot be disputed that he was an Asiatic Greek ; but this is the only fact in his life which can be regarded as certain. Several of the best writers of antiquity supposed him to have been a native of the island of Chios, where there existed a poetical gens or fraternity of Homerids, who traced their descent from a divine progenitor of this name. Most modern scholars believe Smyrna to have been his birth-place. The discrepancies respecting his date are no less worthy of remark. The different epochs assigned to him offer a diversity of nearly 500 years. Herodotus places Homer 400 years before himself, according to which he would have lived about B.C. 850. This date, or a little * " Nee sic incipies, ut scriptor cyclicus olim." — Hon Ars Poet. 137. + The grammarians, who maintained the separate origin of the Iliad and Odyssey, were called Chorizontes (x&>p/£bpTts) or Separatists. X Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Saiamis, Rhodos, Argos, Athenac, Orbis de patrii vertat, Homere, tua. 42 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. V. later, appears more probable than any other. He must be placed before the first Olympiad, or B.C. 776 ; while if we suppose him to have lived very long before that epoch, it becomes still more wonderful that his poems should have come down from such an age and society to historical times. § 5. The mode in which these poems were preserved has occa- sioned great controversy in modern times. On this point wo shall speak presently ; but even if they were committed to writing by the poet himself, and were handed down to posterity in this manner, it is certain that they were rarely read. Wo must endeavour to realize the difference between ancient Greeco and our own times. During the most flourishing period of Athenian literature manuscripts were indifferently written, with- out division into parts and without marks of punctuation. They were scarce and costly, could only be obtained by the wealthy and only read by those who had had considerable literary train- ing. Under these circumstances the Greeks could never become a reading people ; and thus the great mass even of the Athenians became acquainted with the productions of the leading poets of Greece only by hearing them recited at their solemn festivals and on other public occasions. This was more strikingly the case at an earlier period. The Iliad and the Odyssey were not read by individuals in private, but were sung or recited at festivals or to assembled companies. They were addressed to the ear and feelings of a sympathizing multitude ; and much of the impression which they produced must have been owing to the talent of the reciter, and would have disappeared altogether in solitary reading. The bard originally sung his own lays to the accompaniment of his lyre. He was succeeded by a body of pro- fessional reciters, called Rhapsodists,* who rehearsed the poems of others. They employed no musical accompaniment, and de- pended solely for effect upon voice and manner. They travelled from town to town, bearing in their hands a laurel branch or wand as their badge of office ; and many of them seem to have acquired great excellence in their art. We do not know at what time the rhapsodist succeeded to the bard ; but the class of pro- fessional reciters must have arisen as epic poetry ceased to bo produced ; and it is certain that before the time of Solon the epic poems were recited exclusively by the Rhapsodists, either * The etymology of the word Rhapsodist (f>86s) is uncertain ; some deriving it from the staff or wand of office (fxxfSSos, or fsairls), and others from fra-KTftv aoi5j)V to denote the coupling together of verses without any considerable pauses, — the even, unbroken flow of the epic pnom as contrasted Tvith lyric verses. Chap. V. POEMS OF HOMER. 43 in short fragments before private companies, or as continuous poems at public festivals. § 6. In early times the Rhapsodists appear to have had ex- clusive possession of the Homeric poems. But in the seventh century before the Christian era literary culture began to prevail among the Greeks ; and men of education and wealth were naturally desirous of objuring copies of the great poet of the nation. From this cause copies came to be circulated among the Greeks ; but most of them contained only separate portions of the poems, or single rhapsodes, as they were called. Entire copies of such extensive works must have been very rare at this early period of literature. The way in which the separate parts should be arranged seems to have given rise to some dispute ; and it was found that there were numerous variations in the text of different copies. The very popularity and wide extension of the poems contributed to the corruption of the text. Since the Iliad and the Odyssey were the recognised standard of early history and mythology, each tribe was anxious that honourable mention should be made of their heroes and their race in these poems, and endeavoured to supply such omissions by interpo- lating passages favourable to themselves. The Rhapsodists also introduced alterations, and in order to gratify their vanity in- serted Lnes of their own composition. From these causes, as well as from others, we can easily account for the variations found in the text by the reading class which began to be formed in the seventh century. The discovery of these varieties na- turally led to measures for establishing a standard text of the national poet. Solon is said to have introduced improved regu- lations for the public recitations of the poems at the Athenian festivals ; but it is to Pisistratus, the tyrant or despot of Athens, that the great merit is ascribed of collecting and arranging the poems in their present form, in order that they might be recited at the great Panathenaic festival at Athens. It is expressly stated by Cicero * that Pisistratus is " reputed to have arranged the books of Homer, previously in a state of confusion, in the form in which we now possess them ;" and this statement is supported by the testimony of other ancient writers. From this time therefore (about B.C. 530) we may conclude that the Greeks possessed a standard text of their great poet, which formed the basis of all subsequent editions. § 7. We have already seen that the whole of antiquity, with scarcely an exception, regarded the Iliad and the Odyssey as the productions of the one poet, called Homer. This opinion con- tinued to bo held by almost all modern scholars down to the *-L)e Oratovo, iu. 34. 14 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. V. year 1795, when tho celebrated German Professor, F. A. "Wolf published his Prolegomena, or Prefatory Essay to the Iliad. In this 'work he maintained the startling hypothesis that neither the Iliad nor the ( Vlyssey was composed as a distinct whole, but that they originally consisted of separate epical ballads, each con- stituting a single poem, and that these separate lays, which had no common purpose nor fixed arrangement, were for the first time reduced to writing and formed into the two great poems of the Iliad and the Odyssey by Pisistratus and his friends. Strange and startling as this theory seems, it was not entirely new. Tho substance of it had been already propounded by Vico, a Neapo- litan writer of great originahty, and by our own great country- man Bentley ;* but their opinions had not been supported by arguments, and were soon forgotten. Accordingly the publica- tion of Wolf's Essay took the whole literary world by sur- prise, and scarcely any book in modern times has effected so complete a revolution in the opinions of scholars. Even those who were the most opposed to his views have had their own opinions to some extent modified by the arguments which he brought forward, and no one has been able to establish the old doctrine in its original integrity. It is impossible in tho present work to enter into the details of the controversy to which Wolf's Essay has given rise. We can only endeavour to give a sketch of his principal arguments and of the chief objections of his opponents, stating at the same time the opinion which seems to us the most probable. § 8. The first argument which Wolf brought forward to sup- port his position was, that no written copies of the Iliad and the Odyssey could be shown to have existed during the earlier times to which their composition is referred, and that without writing such long and complicated works could neither have been composed nor transmitted to posterity. In order to prove this he entered into a minute discussion concerning the age of tho art of writing. It is sufficient to state here a few of the more im- portant results at which he arrived. In early times the Greeks had no easy and convenient materials for writing, such as must have been indispensable for long manuscripts like the Iliad and the Odyssey. Moreover the traces of writing in Greece are exceedingly rare, even in the seventh century before the Christian era, and we have no remaining inscriptions earlier than the 40th Olympiad * Vico died in 1744. The words of Bentley are: — "Homer wrote R sequel of songs and rhapsodies, to be sung by himself, for small earnings and good cheer, at festivals and other days of merriment ; the Iliad he made for the men, the Odysseis for the other sex. These loose songs were not collected together into the form of an epic poem uuti) 500 years after." Chai\ v POEMS OF HOMER. 45 (b.c. 62C'). In the Homeric poems thenise.ves there is not a single trace of the art of writing.* "We find no mention of any epitaph or inscription ; coins are unknown, and even the super- cargo of a ship has no written list of his cargo, hut is obliged to remember it.t In addition to this the absence of the letter called Digamma in the text of the poems is a strong proof that they were not originally committed to writing. This letter existed at the time of the composition of the poems, and was constantly employed by the poet, but it had entirely vanished from the language when they were first written. § 9. It seems therefore necessary to admit the former part of Wolf's first argument, that the Iliad and Odyssey were originally not written -, but does it therefore follow that without this means such long poems could neither have been composed nor handed down to posterity ? These two questions are not necessarily connected, though they have been usually discussed toge- ther. Those who have maintained the original unity of the Iliad and Odyssey in opposition to Wolf have generally thought it incumbent upon them to prove that the poems were written from the beginning. But this appears to us quite unnecessary. In the present day the memory has become so much weakened by the artificial aid of writing that it may be difficult for us to conceive of the production of a long work without such assistance. But there is nothing impossible in it. Even modern poets have composed long poems and have preserved them faithfully in their memories before committing them to writing. It must also be recollected that poetry was the profession of the ancient bards ; that it was not the amusement of their leisure hours, but that they devoted to it all the energies of their hearts and souls. The poems which they thus composed were treasured up in the me- mories of their faithful disciples, and were handed down to pos- terity by the Rhapsodists, whose lives were also devoted to this object. The recollection of these poems was rendered easier by the simple nature of the story, by the easy structure of the verse, by the frequent recurrence of the same words, phrases, and similes, and by the absence of abstract ideas and reflective thoughts. Accordingly we believe that the Iliad and the Odys- sey might have been composed and might have been handed down to posterity without being written. § 10. The second argument employed by Wolf to maintain his hypothesis was derived from an examination of the Iliad and • The only passage in which letters are supposed to be mentioned is in the Iliad, vi. 168, but here the arifxara \vypd are supposed by Wolf and others to signify pictorial and not alphabetical characters. + H« is r\na>v. Odyss. viii. 164. 46 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. V. Odyssey themselves. Hn endeavoured to show thar the only unity of the poems arises from their subjects, and that the nu- merous contradictions found in them plainly prove that they could not have been the productions of a single mind. The Trojan war and the wanderings of Ulysses, he remarks, had formed the subjects of numerous epic ballads, and it was only because they had happened to fit into one another that they were combined into two comprehensive poems by Pisistratus and his literary friends. A modern disciple of his school has gone so far as to attempt to resolve the Iliad into the original independent lays out of which he supposes the poem to have been formed. Now it is evident that this question can only be settled by a minute examination of the structure of the poems, for which there is no space in the present work. "We can only state that the best modern scholars, with very few exceptions, have come to a conclusion directly contrary to Wolf's daring theory. Some of the ablest critics in modern times have directed their attention to this subject, and while they have not denied the existence o' interpolations, more or less extensive, in both poems, the general result has been to establish their poetical unity, -snd to viudecate their claim to be the greatest models of the epic art. Bust of ii. met Primitive Vessels from Athens and Argos. BOOK IT. GEOWTH OF THE GKECIAN STATES. B.C. 77G— 500. CHAPTER VI. GENERAL SURVEY OF THE GREEK PEOPLE. §1. Nature of the subject. § 2. The chief ties winch bound the Greeks together. Community of blood and of language. § 3. Community of religious rites and festivals. § 4. The Amphictyonic Council. § 5. The Olympic games. § G. The Pythian, Kemean, and Isthmian games. § 7. The influence of these festivals. § 8. Influence of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. § 9. Community of manners and character. § 10. The independent sovereignty of each city a settled maxim in the Greek mind. § 1. The present Book will contain the History of Greece from the first Olympiad, or the year 77G B.C., to the commencement of the revolt of the Ionic Greeks from Persia, in the year 500 B.C. Our knowledge of the early part of this period is very scanty, and consists of only a small number of solitary facts, which have little or no connexion with one another. The division of Greece into a number of small' independent states is a circumstance 48 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VL that causes great difficulties to the historian. Unlike the history of Rome, which is confined to an account of the origin and deve- lopment of a single people, the history of Greece from its commencement to its close suffers to a greater or a less extent from a want of unity in its subject. This is strikingly the case with the first two centuries of the period narrated in the present Book ; and it is not till we come to its close that we are able to present a connected history of the Grecian nation. It was the Persian invasions of Greece which first impressed the leading Greek states with the necessity of uniting together against the common foe ; and since the military resources of Sparta were then confessedly superior to those of all the other Greeks, they naturally intrusted to her the conduct of the war. In this waj Grecian history acquires a unity of interest which is altogether wanting in the earlier times. There are, however, some facts during the earlier period which claim our attention. Of these the most important are the growth of Sparta and Athens ; the number of despots who arose in the various Grecian cities ; the foundation and progress of the numerous colonies planted on the coasts of the Mediterranean and its connected seas ; and, last of all, the origin and progress of literature and art. Before we proceed to give an account of these events, it may be useful to take a general survey of the Greeks in the earlier period of their history, and to point out the various causes which united them as a people, notwithstanding their separation into so many independent communities. § 2. The chief ties, which bound together the Grecian world, were community of blood and language — community of re- ligious rites and festivals — and community of manners and cha- racter. Of these the first and the most important was the possession of a common descent and a common language. The Greeks were all of the same race and parentage ; they all con- sidered themselves descendants of Hellen ; and they all described men and cities which were not Grecian by the term Bcarba This word has passed into our own language, but with a very different idea ; for the Greeks applied it indiscriminately to every foreigner, to the civilized inhabitants of Egypt and Persia, as well as to the rude tribes of Scythia and Gaul. Originally it seems to have expressed repugnance to one using a foreign lan- guage ; but as the Greeks became in course of time superior in intelligence to the surrounding nations, it conveyed also a notion of contempt. Notwithstanding the various dialects employed in different parts, there was, throughout the Grecian world, sufficient uniformity in the language to render it every- where intelligible to a Greek ; and there can be no doubt that Chap. VI. AMPHICTYONIC COUNCIL. 49 the wide-spread popularity of the Homeric poems in early times powerfully assisted in maintaining the same type of language among the different Greek races. § 3. The second bond of union was a community of religious rites and festivals. From the earliest times the Greeks appear to have worshipped the same gods ; but originally there were no religious meetings common to the whole nation. Such meetings were of gradual growth. They were either formed by a number of neighbouring towns, which entered into an association for the periodical celebration of certain religious rites, or they grew out of a festival originally confined to a single state, but which was gradually extended to the inhabitants of other cities till at length it became open to the whole Grecian world. Of the former class we have an example in the Amphictyonies, of the latter in the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games. § 4. The word Amplrictyony is usually derived from the mythical hero Amphictyon ; but the name probably signifies only residents around and neighbours,* and was used to designate a religious association of neighbouring tribes or cities, who were accustomed to meet at fixed times to offer sacrifices to the god of a particular temple, which was supposed to be the common property and under the common protection of all There were many religious associations of this kind in Greece ; but there was one of so much celebrity, that it threw all the others into the shade, and came to be called the Amphictyonic Council. This assembly seems to have been originally of small importance ; and it ac- quired its superiority over other similar associations by the wealth and grandeur of the Delphian temple, of which it was the appointed guardian. It held two meetings every year, one in the spring at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and the other in the autumn at the temple of Demeter (Ceres) at Thermopylae. Its members, who were called The Amphictyons,f consisted of sacred deputies sent from twelve tribes, each of which contained several independent cities or states. The deputies were composed of two classes of representatives from each tribe ; a chief called Hieromnemon, and subordinates named Pylagorae. The names of these twelve tribes are not the same in all accounts, but they were probably as follows : — Thessalians, Boeotians, Dorians, lonians, Perrhpebians, Magnetes, Locrians, GEtoeans, Achoeans, Phocians, Dolopes, and Malians. These names are of themselves sufficient to prove the great antiquity of the Council. Severs of the tribes here mentioned scarcely ever occur in the historica * The original form of the name seems to have been 'A/j.cpiKTt.ovta., not AfiQiKTvoi'.a. The word dfuptKriovts signifies those that dwell round oi UCdI. f Oi 'AlUptKTVOVfS. Gh. E 50 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VI. period ; and the fact of the Dorians standing on an equality with the Dolopes and the Malians, shows that the Council must have existed before the Dorian conquest of Peloponnesus. The tribuB represented in it stood on a footing of perfect equality, two votes being given by the deputies from each of the twelve. Of the duties of the Amphictyonic Council nothing will give ua a better idea than the oath taken by its members. It ran thus — u We will not destroy any Amphictyonic town, nor cut it off from running water in war or peace : if any one shall do so, we wiil march against him and destroy his city. If any one shall plun- der the property of the god, or shall be cognizant thereof, or shah take treacherous counsel against the things in his temple at Delphi, we will punish him with foot, and hand, and voice, and by every means in our power." We thus see that the main duties of the Council were to restrain acts of aggression against its mem- bers, and to preserve the rights and dignity of the temple of Delphi. It is true that the Amphictyons sometimes took a larger view of their functions ; but these were only employed for political purposes when they could be made subservient to the views of one of the leading Grecian states. They were never considered as a national congress, whose duty it was to protect and defend the common interests of Greece. If such a congress had ever existed, and its edicts had commanded the obedience of the Greeks, the history of the nation would have had a different course ; the Macedonian kings would probably have remained in their subordinate condition, and united Greece might even have defied the legions of conquering Eome. The Amphictyonic Council is rarely mentioned, except in con- nexion with the Delphian temple ; but when the rights of the god had been violated, it invoked the aid of the different mem- bers of the league. Of this we have a memorable instance in the earlier period of Greek history. The Phocian town of Crissa was situated on the heights of Mount Parnassus, near the sanctuary of the god, which belonged to this town in the most ancient times. It possessed a fertile and valuable territory, extending down to the Corinthian Gulf, on which it had a port called Cirrha. Gradually the port seems to have grown into import- ance at the expense of the town ; while at the same time the sanctuary of the god fell into the hands of the Dorian tribe of the Delphians, and expanded into a town under the name of Delphi. It was at the port of Cirrha that most of the strangers landed who came to consult the god ; and the inhabitants of this place availed themselves of their position to levy exorbitant tolls upon the pilgrims, and to ill-use them in other ways. In consequence of these outrages the Amphictyons resolved to punish the Chap. VI. NATIONAL FESTIVALS. 51 Cirrhseans ; and after waging war against them for ten years (B.C. 595-585), the Council at length succeeded, chiefly by the as- sistance of the Thessalians and Athenians, in taking the guilty city. It is related, but on rather suspicious authority, that the city was taken by a stratagem of Solon, who poisoned the waters of the river Plistus, which flowed through the place. Cirrha was razed to the ground, and its territory — the rich Cirrhsean or Crisstean plain — was consecrated to the god, and curses impre- cated upon any one who should cultivate it. Thus ended the First Sacred War, as it is usually called ; and the spoils of the city were employed by the victorious alhes in founding the Pythian games. § 5. The four great festivals of the Olympic, Pythian, Isth- mian, and Nemean games were of greater efficacy than the Am- phictyonic Council in promoting a spirit of union among the various branches of the Greek race, and in keeping alive a feeling of their common origin. They were open to all persons who could prove their Hellenic blood, and were frequented by spec- tators from aU parts of the Grecian world. The most ancient as well as the most famous of these festivals was that celebrated at Olympia, on the banks of the Alpheus, in the territory of Ehs, and near an ancient temple of the Olympian Jove. The origin of this festival is lost in the Mythical ages. It is said to have been revived by Iphitus king of Elis, and Ly- curgus the Spartan legislator, in the year 776 B.C. ; and, accord- ingly, when the Greeks at a later time began to use the Olympic contest as a chronological era, this year was regarded as the first Olympiad. It continued to maintain its celebrity for many centuries after the extinction of Greek freedom ; and it was not till 394 a.d. that it was finally abolished by the emperor Theo- dosius. It was celebrated at the end of every four years,* and the interval which elapsed between each celebration was called an Olympiad. The whole festival was under the management of the Eleans, who appointed some of their own number to preside as judges, under the name of the Hellanodicsc.t During the month in which it was celebrated all hostilities were sus- pended throughout Greece. The territory of Elis itself was considered especially sacred during its continuance, and no armed force could enter it without incurring the guilt of sacrilege. The number of spectators was very great ; and consisted not only of those who were attracted by private interest or curiosity, but of * The festival was called by the Greeks a Pentaeteris (TrevTaeT-qpU), tacaase it was celebrated eveiy fifth year, according to the ancient mode of reckoning. In the same manner a festival, which occurred at the end of every two years, was said to be celebrated every third year, and was called a Trieteris (TpitTTipis). t 'EAAoroSiKoz. k 2 52 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VI. deputies * from the different Greek states, who vied with one another in the number of their offerings and the splendour of their general appearance, in order to support the honour of their native cities. At first the festival was confined to a single day, and consisted of nothing more than a match of runners in the sta- dium ; but in course of time so many other contests were intro- duced, that the games occupied five days. They comprised various trials of strength and skill, such as wrestling, boxing, the Pancratium (boxing and wrestling combined) and the compli- cated Pentathlum (including jumping, running, the quoit, the javelin, and wrestling), but no combats with any kind of weapons. There were also horse-races and chariot-races ; and the chariot- race, with four full-grown horses, became one of the most popular and celebrated of all the matches. The only prize given to the conqueror was a garland of wild olive ; but this was valued as one of the dearest distinctions in life. To have his name proclaimed as victor before assembled Hellas was an object of ambition with the noblest and the wealthiest of the Greeks. Such a person was considered to have conferred everlasting glory upon his family and his country, and was rewarded by his fellow-citizens with distinguished honours. His statue was generally erected in the Altis or sacred grove of Jove at Olympia ; and on his return home he entered his native city in a triumphal procession, in which his praises were sung, frequently in the loftiest strains of poetry. He also received still more substantial rewards. He was generally re- lieved from the payment of taxes, and had a right to the front seat at all public games and spectacles. An Athenian victor in the Olympic games received, in accordance with one of Solon's laws, a prize of 500 drachmas, and a right to a place at the table of the magistrates in the prytaneum or town-hall ; and a Spartan conqueror had the privilege of fighting on the field of battle near the person of the king. § 6. During the sixth century before the Christian era the three other festivals of the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games, which were at first only local, became open to the whole nation. The Pythian games, as a national festival, were insti- tuted by the Amphictyons after the destruction of Cirrha in 585 B.C., in honour of Apollo, as has been already related. They were celebrated in every third Olympic year, on the Cirrhcean plain, under the superintendence of the Amphictyons. The games consisted not only of matches in gymnastics and of horse and chariot races, but also of contests in music and poetry. • Called Theori (Qeupol). Chap. YI. NATIONAL FESTIVALS. 53 They soon acquired celebrity, and became second only to the great Olympic festival The Nemean and Isthmian games occurred more frequently than the Olympic and Pythian. They were celebrated once in two years — the Nemean in honour of the Nemean Jove, in the valley of Nemea, between Phlius and Cleonse, originally by the Cleona3ans and subsequently by the Argives — and the Isthmian by the Corinthians, on their isthmus, in honour of Poseidon (Neptune). As in the Pythian festival, contests in music and in poetry, as well as gymnastics and chariot-races, formed part of these games. § 7. Although the four great festivals of which we have been speaking had no influence in promoting the political union of Greece, they nevertheless were of great importance in making the various sections of the race feel that they were all mem- bers of one family, and in cementing them together by common sympathies and the enjoyment of common pleasures. The fre- quent occurrence of these festivals, for one was celebrated every year, tended to the same result. The Greeks were thus annu- ally reminded of their common origin, and of the great dis- tinction which existed between them and barbarians. Nor must we forget the incidental advantages which attended them. The concourse of so large a number of persons from every part of the Grecian world afforded to the merchant opportunities for traffic, and to the artist and the literary man the best means of making their works known. During the time of the games the Altis was surrounded with booths, in which a busy commerco was carried on ; and in a spacious hall appropriated for the purpose the poets, philosophers, and historians were accustomed to read their most recent works. The perfect equality of persons at the festival demands par- ticular mention. The games were open to every Greek without any distinction of country or of rank. The horse-races and chariot-races were necessarily confined to the wealthy, who were allowed to employ others as riders and drivers ; but the rich and poor alike could contend in the gymnastic matches. This, how- ever, was far from degrading the former in public opinion ; and some of the greatest and wealthiest men in the various cities took part in the running, wrestling, boxing, and other matches. Cylon, who attempted to make himself tyrant of Athens, had gained the prize in the foot-race ; Alexander, son of Amyntas, prince of Macedon, had also run for it ; and instances occur in which cities chose their generals from the victors in these games. § 8. The habit of consulting the same oracles in order to ascer- tain the will of the gods was another bond of union. It was the 54 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciur. VI. universal practice of the Greeks to undertake no matter of im- portance without first asking the advice of the gods ; and there •were many sacred spots in which the gods were always ready to give an answer to pious worshippers. Some of these oracles were consulted only by the surrounding neighbourhood, but others obtained a wider celebrity ; and the oracle of Apollo at Delphi in particular surpassed all the rest in importance, and was regarded with veneration in every part of the Grecian world. So great was its fame that it was sometimes consulted by foreign nations, such as the Lydians, Phrygians, and Komans ; and the Grecian states constantly applied to it for counsel in their diffi- culties and perplexities. In the centre of the temple at Delphi there was a small opening in the ground, from which it was said that a certain gas or vapour ascended. Whenever the oracle was to be consulted, a virgin priestess, called Pythia, took her seat upon a tripod, which was placed over the chasm. The ascending vapour affected her brain, and the words which she uttered in this excited condition were believed to be the answer of Apollo to his worshippers. They were always in hexameter verse, and were reverently taken down by the attendant priests. Most of the answers were equivocal or obscure ; but the credit of the oracle continued unimpaired long after the downfall of Grecian independence. § 9. A further element of union among the Greeks was the similarity of manners and character. It is true the difference in this respect between the pohshed inhabitants of Athens and the rude mountaineers of Acarnania was marked and striking ; but if we compare the two with foreign contemporaries the contrast between them and the latter is still more striking. Absolute despotism, human sacrifices, polygamy, deliberate mutilation of the person as a punishment, and selling of children into slavery, existed in some part or other of the barbarian world, but are not found in any city of Greece in the historical times. Although we cannot mention many customs common to all the Greeks and at the same time peculiar to them, yet we cannot doubt that there did exist among them certain general characteristics in their manners and customs, which served as a bond of union among themselves, and a line of demarcation from foreigners. § 10. The elements of union of which we havo been speaking — community of blood and language, of religion and festivals, and of manners and character — only bound the Greeks together in common feelings and sentiments. They never produced any political union. The independent sovereignty of each city was a fundamental notion in the Greek mind. The only supreme au- thority which a Greek recognised was to be found within his Chap. VI. WANT OF POLITICAL UNION. 55 own city walls. The exercise of authority by oue city over another, whatever advantages the weaker city might derive from such a connexion, was repugnant to every Greek. This was a sentiment common to all the different members of the Greek race, under all forms of government, whether oligarchical or democratical. Hence the dominion exercised by Thebes over the cities of Bceotia, and by Athens over subject allies, was sub- mitted to with reluctance, and was disowned on the first oppor- tunity. This strongly rooted feeling deserves particular notice and remark. Careless readers of history are tempted to suppose that the territory of Greece was divided among a comparatively small number of independent states, such as Attica, Arcadia, Rxotia. Phocis, Locris, and the like ; but this is a most serious mistake, and leads to a total misapprehension of Greek history. Every separate city was usually an independent state, and con- sequently each of the territories described under the general names of Arcadia, Boeotia. Phocis, and Locris, contained numerous political communities independent of one another. Attica, it is true, formed a single state, and its different towns recognised Athens as their capital and the source of supreme power ; but this is an exception to the general rule. The patriotism of a Greek was confined to his city, and rarely kindled into any general love for the common welfare of Hellas. The safety and the prosperity of his city were dearer to him than the safety and prosperity of Hellas, and to secure the former he was too often contented to sacrifice the latter. For his own city a patriotic Greek was ready to lay down his property and his life, but he felt no obligation to expend his substance or expose his life on behalf of the common interests of the country. So complete was the pohtical division between the Greek cities, that the citizen of one was an alien and a stranger in the terri- tory of another. He was not merely debarred from all share in the government, but he could not acquire property in land 01 houses, nor contract a marriage with a native woman, nor sue in the courts of justice, except through the medium pf a friendly citizen.* The cities thus mutually repelling each other, the sympathies and feelings of a Greek became more centered in his own. It was this exclusive patriotism which rendered it diffi- cult for the Greeks to unite under circumstances of common danger. It was this pohtical disunion which led them to turn their arms against each other, and eventually made them sub- ject to the Macedonian monarchs. * Sometimes a city granted to a citizen of another state, or even to the whole state, the right of intermarriage and of acquiring landed property. The former of these rights was called iiriyafiia, the latter tyKrrjcns. View of Mount Taygetus from the site of Sparta. CHAPTER VII. EARLY HISTORY OF PELOPONNESUS AND LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. § 1. Conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. Division of the Peloponne- sus into the Doric states, Elis, Achaia, and Arcadia. §2. Division of the Doric states in Peloponnesus. Argos originally the first Doric state, Sparta second, Messene third. §3. Phidon of Argos. § 4. Legislation of Lycurgus. § 5. Life of Lycurgus. § 6. The chief object of Lycurgus in his legislation. § 7. Population of Laconia divided into three classes. Spartans. § 8. Periceci. § 9. Helots. § 10. Political government of Sparta. The kings. The senate. The popular assembly. The ephors. § 11. Training and education of the Spartan youths and men. § 12. Training of the Spartan women. § 13. Division of landed property. § 14. Other regulations ascribed to Lycurgus. Iron money. § 15. De- fensible position of Sparta. § 16. Growth of the Spartan power, a conse- quence of the discipline of Lycurgus. Conquest of Laconia. § 1. In the Heroic ages Peloponnesus was the seat of the great Achcean monarchies. Mycence was the residence of Agamemnon, king of men, Sparta of his brother Menclaus, and Argos of Dio- medes, who dared to contend in battle with the immortal gods. But before the commencement of history all these monarchies had been swept away, and their subjects either driven out of the land or compelled to submit to tin' dominion of the Dorians. The history of the conquest of Peloponnesus by this warlike race is clothed in a legendary form, and has been already narrated Chap. VII. EARLY HISTORY OF PELOPONNESUS. 57 in the preceding Book. In what manner this conquest was really effected is beyond the reach of history, but we have good reasons for believing that it was the work of many years, and was not concluded by a single battle, as the legends would lead us to suppose. We find, however, in the early historical times the whole of the eastern and southern parts of Peloponnesus in the undisputed possession of the Dorians. The remaining parts of the peninsula were in the hands ol other members of the Greek race. On the western coast from the mouth of the Neda to that of the Larissus was the territory of Elis, including the two dependent states of Pisa and Triphylia. The Eleans are said to hit^e been descendants of the iEtolians, who had accompanied the Dorians in their invasion, and received Elis as their share of the spoil. The Pisatans and the Triphylians had been originally independent inhabitants of the peninsula, but had been conquered by their more powerful neighbours of Elis. The strip of land on the northern coast of Peloponnesus, and south of the Corinthian gulf, was inhabited by Achseans, and was called after them Achaia. This territory extended from the mouth of the river Larissus on the one side to the confines of Sicyonia on the other, and was divided among twelve Achsean cities, which are rarely mentioned in the earlier period of Greek history, and only rose to importance in the Macedonian times. The mountainous region in the centre of Peloponnesus was inhabited by the Arcadians, who may be regarded as genuine Pelasgians, since they are uniformly represented as the earliest inhabitants of the country. Their country was distributed into a large number of villages and cities, among which Tegea and Mantinea were the two most powerful. § 2. The division of Peloponnesus among the Dorian states differed at various times. At the close of the period which forms the subject of the present Book, Sparta was unquestionably the first of the Dorian powers, and its dominions far exceeded those of any other Dorian state. Its territory then occupied the whole of the southern region of the peninsula from the eastern to the western sea, being separated from the dominions of Argos by the river Tanus, and from Triphylia by the river Neda. At that time the territory of Argos was confined to the Argolio peninsula, but did not include the whole of this district, the south-eastern part of it being occupied by the Doric cities of Epidaurus and Troezen, and the Dryopian city of Hermione. On the Isthmus stood the powerful city of Corinth, westward Sicyon, and to the south of these Cleonse and Phlius, both also Doric cities. North-east of Corinth came Megara, the last of the Doric 58 HISTORY OF GREECE. Citai\ VIL cities, whoso territory stretched across the Isthmus from sea to sea. But if wo go back to the first Olympiad, wc shall find Sparta in possession of only a very small territory, instead of the exten- sive dominion described above. Its territory at that time ap- pears to have comprehended httle more than the valley of the river Eurotas. "Westward of this valley, and separated from it by Mount Taygetus, were the Messenian Dorians, while eastward of it the whole of the mountainous distinct along the coast, from the head of the Argolic gulf down to Cape Malea, was also inde- pendent of Sparta, belonging to Argos. In the earliest historical times Argos appears as the first power in the Peloponnesus, a fact which the legend of the Heraclids seems to recognise by making Temenus the eldest brother of the three. Next came Sparta, and last the Messene. The importance of Argos appear) to have arisen not so much from her own territory as from her being the head of a powerful confederacy of Dorian states. Most of these states are said to have been founded by colonies from Argos, such as Cleona}, Phliiis, Sicyon, Epiclaurus, Troezen, and /Eglna. They formed a league, the patron god of which was Apollo Pytnaeus, whose common worship was a means of uniting them together. There was a temple to this god in each of the confederated cities, while his most holy and central sanc- tuary was on the acropolis of Argos. But the power of Argos rested on an insecure basis ; the ties which held the confederacy together became gradually weakened ; and Sparta was able to wrest from her a large portion of her territory and eventually to succeed to her place as the first Dorian state in the peninsula. § 3. The importance of the privileges possessed by Argos before the rise of the Spartan power is shown by the history of Phidon. This remarkable man may be placed about the 8th Olympiad, or 747 B.C., and claims our attention the more as one of the first really historical personages hitherto presented to us. He was king of Argos, and is represented as a descendant of the Ileraclid Temenus. Having broken through the limits which had been imposed on the authority of his predecessors, he changed the government of Argos into a despotism. Ho then restored her supremacy over all the cities of her confederacy, which had become nearly dissolved. He appears next to have attacked Corinth, and to have succeeded in reducing it under his dominion. He is further reported to have aimed at extending his sway over the greater part of Peloponnesus, — laying claim, as the descendant of Hercules, to all the cities which that hero had ever taken. His power and his influence became so groat in the Peloponnesus that the Pisiitans, who had been accustomed B.C. 747. EARLY HISTORY OF PELOPONNESUS. 59 to preside at the Olympic games, but who had been deprived of this privilege by the Eleans, invited him, in the 8th Olympiad, to restore them to their original rights and expel the intruders. This invitation fell in with the ambitious projects of Phidon, who claimed for himself the right of presiding at these games, which had been instituted by his great ancestor Hercules. He accord- ingly marched to Olyinpia, expelled the Eleans from the sacred spot, and celebrated the games in conjunction with the Pisatans. But his triumph did not last long ; the Spartans took the part of the Eleans, and the contest ended in the defeat of Phidon. In the following Olympiad the Eleans again obtained the manage- ment of the festival. It would appear that the power of Phidon was destroyed in this struggle, but of the details of his fall we have no information. He did not however fall without leaving a very striking and per- manent trace of his influence upon Greece. He was the first person who introduced a copper and a silver coinage and a scale of weights and measures into Greece. Through his influence they became adopted throughout Peloponnesus and the greater part of the north of Greece, under the name of the iEginetan scale. There arose subsequently another scale in Greece called the Euboic, which was employed at Athens and in the Ionic cities generally, as well as in Eubcea. It is usually stated that the coinage of Phidon was struck in the island of iEgina, but it ap- pears more probable that it was done in Argos, and that the name of iEginetan was given to the coinage and scale, not from the place where they first originated, but from the people whose commercial activity tended to make them more generally known. § 4. The progress of Sparta from the second to the first placo among the states in Peloponnesus was mainly owing to the pecu- liar institutions of the state, and more particularly to the military discipline and rigorous training of its citizens. The singular constitution of Sparta was unanimously ascribed by the ancients to the legislator Lycurgus, but there were different stories respecting his date, birth, travels, legislation, and death. Some modern writers on the other hand have maintained that the Spartan institutions were common to the whole Doric race, and therefore cannot be regarded as the work of a Spartan legislator. In their view Sparta is the full type of Doric principles, tend- encies, and sentiments. This, however, appears to be an erro- neous view ; it can be shown that the institutions of Sparta were peculiar to henself, distinguishing her as much from the Doric cities of Argos and Corinth, as from Athens and Thebes. The Cretan institutions bore, it is true, some analogy to those of Sparta, but the resemblance has been greatly exaggerated, and 60 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VII was chiefly confined to the syssitia or public messes. The Spartans, doubtless, had original tendencies common to them with the other Dorians ; but the constitution of Lycurgus im- pressed upon them their peculiar character, which separates them so strikingly from the rest of Greece. Whether the system of Spartan laws is to be attributed to Lycurgus, cannot now be determined. He lived in an age when writing was never em- ployed for literary purposes, and consequently no account of him from a contemporary has come down to us. None of the detaUs of his hfe can be proved to be historically true ; and we are obliged to choose out of several accounts the one which appears the most probable. § 5. There are very great discrepancies respecting the date of Lycurgus ; but all accounts agree in supposing him to have lived at a very remote period. His most probable date is B. c. 776, in which year he is said to have assisted Iphitus in restoring the Olympic games. He belonged to the royal family of Sparta. According to the common account he was the son of Eunomus, one of the two kings who reigned together in Sparta. His father was killed in the civil dissensions which afflicted Sparta at that time. His elder brother, Polydectes, succeeded to the crown, but died soon afterwards, leaving his queen with child. The ambitious woman offered to destroy the child, if Lycurgus would share the throne with her. Lycurgus pretended to consent ; but as soon as she had given birth to a son, he presented him in the market-place as the future king of Sparta ; and, to testify the people's joy, gave him the name of Charilaus. The young king's mother took revenge upon Lycurgus by accusing him of enter- taining designs against his nephew's life. Hereupon he resolved to withdraw from his native country, and to visit foreign lands. He was absent many years, and is said to have employed his time in studying the institutions of other nations, and in con- versing with their sages, in order to devise a system of laws and regulations which might deliver Sparta from the evils under which it had long been suffering. He first visited Crete and Ionia ; and not content with the Grecian world, passed from Ionia into Egypt ; and according to some accounts is reported to have visited Iberia, Libya, and even India. During his absence the young king had grown up, and assumed the reins of government ; but the disorders of the state had meantime become worse than ever, and all parties longed for a termination to their present sufferings. Accordingly the return of Lycurgus was hailed with delight, and he found the people both ready and willing to submit to an entire change in their government and institutions. lie now set himself to work to B.C. 776. LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. 61 carry his long projected reforms into effect ; but before be com- menced bis arduous task, be consulted tbe Delphian oracle, from which he received strong assurances of divine support. Thus encouraged by the god, he suddenly presented himself in the market-place, surrounded by thirty of the most distinguished Spartans in arms. The king, Charilaus, was at first disposed to resist the revolution, but afterwards supported the schemes of his uncle. Lycurgus now issued a set of ordinances, called Rhetrce, by which he effected a total revolution in the political and military organization of the people, and in their social and domestic life. His reforms were not earned into effect without violent opposition, and in one of the tumults which they excited, his eye is said to have been struck out by a youth of the name of Alcander. But he finally triumphed over all obstacles, and succeeded in obtaining the submission of all classes in tbe com- munity to bis new constitution. His last act was to sacrifice himself for the welfare of his country. Having obtained from the people a solemn oath to make no alterations in his laws before his return, he quitted Sparta for ever. He set out on a journey to Delphi, where he obtained an oracle from the god, approving of all he had done, and promising everlasting prosperity to the Spartans as long as they preserved his laws. Whither he went afterwards, and how and where he died, nobody could tell. He vanished from earth like a god, leaving no traces behind him but his spirit : and his grateful countrymen honoured him with a temple, and worshipped him with annual sacrifices down to the latest times. § 6. In order to understand the constitution of Lycurgus, it is necessary to recollect the peculiar circumstances in which the Spartans were placed. They were a handful of men in possession of a country which they had conquered by the sword, and which they could only maintain by the same means. They pro- bably did not exceed 9000 men ; and the great object of the legislator was to unite this small body together by the closest ties, and to train them in such habits of hardihood, bravery, and military subordination that they might maintain their ascendency over their subjects. The means which he adopted to attain this object were exceedingly severe, but eminently successful. He subjected the Spartans to a discipline at once monastic and warlike, unparalleled either in ancient or in modern times. His system combined the ascetic rigours of a monastery with the stern discipline of a garrison. But before we proceed to relate the details of this extraordinary system, it will be necessary to give an account of the different classes of the population of the country, and also of the nature of the government. 62 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap, m § 7. The population of Lacouia was divided into the three classes of Spartans, Periceci, and Helots. The Spartans were the descendants of the leading Dorian conquerors. They formed the sovereign power of the state, and they alone were eligible to honours and public offices. They lived in Sparta itself, and were all subject to the discipline of Lycurgus. They were maintained from their estates in different parts of Lacouia, which were cultivated for them by the Helcts, who paid them a fixed amount of the produce. Originally all Spartans were on a footing of perfect equality. They were divided into three tribes, — the Hylleis, the Pamphyli, and the Dymanes, — which were not, however, peculiar to Sparta, but existed in all the Dorian states. They retained their full rights as citizens, and transmitted them to their children, on two con- ditions, — first, of submitting to the discipline of Lycurgus ; and secondly, of paying a certain amount to the public mess, which w as maintained solely by these contributions. In course of time many Spartans forfeited their full citizenship from being unable to comply with the latter of these conditions, either through losing their lands or through the increase of children in the poorer families. Thus there arose a distinction among the Spartans themselves, unknown at an earlier period — the reduced number of qualified citizens being called the Equals or Peers,* the dis- franchised poor the Inferiors, t The latter, however, did not become Periceci, but might recover their original rank if they again acquired the means of contributing their portion to the public mess. § 8. The PeriocciX were personally free, but politically subject to the Spartans. They possessed no share in the government, and were bound to obey the commands of the Spartan magis- trates. They appear to have been partly the descendants of the old Achaean population of the country, and partly of Dorians who had not been admitted to the full privileges of the ruling class. They were distributed into a hundred townships, which were spread through the whole of Lacouia. They fought in the Spartan armies as heavy-armed soldiers, and therefore must have been trained to some extent in the Spartan tactics ; but they were certainly exempt from the peculiar discipline to which the ruling class was subject, and possessed more individual free- dom of action. The larger proportion of the land of Laconia belonged to Spartan citizens, but the smaller half was the pro- * Of "O/xotoi. f Of "ti\oij.('iov(s. J The name wtp'wtKoi signifies literally " dwellers around the city," and is used generally by the Greeks to signify the inhabitants in the country districts, who possessed inferior political privileges to the citizens who lived in the city B.C. 776. LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. 63 perty of the Periceci. The whole of the commerce and manu- factures of the country was in their exclusive possession, since no Spartan ever engaged in such occupations. They thus had means of acquiring wealth and importance, from which the Spartans themselves were excluded ; and although they were probably treated by the Spartans with the same haughtiness which they usually displayed towards inferiors, their condition upon the whole does not appear as oppressive or degrading. They were regarded as members of the state, though not pos- sessing the fidl citizenship, and were included along with the Spartans as Laconians or Lacedaemonians. § 9. The Helots were serfs bound to the soil, which they tilled for the benefit of the Spartan proprietors. Their condition was very different from that of the ordinary slaves in antiquity, and more similar to the viUanage of the middle ages. They lived in the rural villages, as the Periceci did in the towns, cultivating the lands and paying over the rent to their masters in Sparta, but enjoying their homes, wives, and families, apart from their master's personal superintendence. They appear to have been never sold, and they accompanied the Spartans to the field as light-arnied troops. But while their condition was in these respects superior to that of the ordinary slaves in other parts of Greece, it was embittered by the fact that they were not strangers like the latter, but were of the same race, and spoke the same language as their masters. Their name is variously explained, and we have different accounts of their origin ; but there is no doubt that they were of pure Hellenic blood, and were probable the descendants of the old inhabitants, who had offered the most obstinate resistance to the Dorians, and had therefore been re- duced to slavery.* In the earlier times they appear to have been treated with comparative mildness, but as their numbers increased, they became objects of greater suspicion to their masters, and were subjected to the most wanton and oppressive cruelty. They were compelled to wear a peculiar dress — a leather cap and a sheepskin — to distinguish them from the rest of the population ; every means was adopted to remind them of their inferior and degraded condition ; and it is said they were often forced to make themselves drunk, as a warning to the Spartan youth. Whatever truth there may be in these and * The common account derives the name of Helots (E'/AcoTey) from the town of Helos ("EAos) in the south of Laconia, the inhabitants of which had rebelled and been reduced to slavery. Others connect their name with eA-n. marshes, as if it signified inhabitants of the lowlands. Others, again, with more probability e^rlain E'/AwTf s as meaning prisoners, from the root of eAe< to take. 64 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VIL similar tales, it is certain that the wanton and impolitic oppres- sions of the Spartans produced in the minds of the Helots a deep-seated and inveterate detestation of their masters. They ■were always ready to seize any opportunity of rising against their oppressors, and would gladly " have eaten the flesh of the Spartans raw." Hence Sparta was always in apprehension of a revolt of the Helots, and had recourse to the most atro- cious means for removing any who had excited their jealousy or their fears. Of this we have a memorable instance in the secret service, called Cryptla* which authorized a select body of Spartan youths to range the country in all directions, armed with daggers, and secretly to assassinate such of the Helots as were considered formidable. Sometimes, however, the Helots, who had distinguished themselves by their bravery in war, received their freedom from the government ; but in that case they formed a distinct body in the state, known at the time of the Peloponnesian war by the name of Neodcnnodes.f § 10. The functions of the Spartan government were distri- buted among two kings, a senate of thirty members, a popular assembly, and an executive directory of five men called the Ephors. This political constitution is ascribed to Lycurgus ; but there is good reason for believing that the Ephors were added at a later time ; and there cannot be any doubt that the senate and the popular assembly were handed down to the Spartans from the Heroic age, and merely received some modification and regu- lations from Lycurgus. At the head of the state were the two hereditary kings. The existence of a pair of kings was peculiar to Sparta, and is said to have arisen from the accidental circumstance of Aristodemus having left twin sons, Eurysthenes and Procles.J This division of the royal power naturally tended to weaken its influence and to produce jealousies and dissensions between the two kings, who constantly endeavoured to thwart each other. The royal power was on the decline during tho whole historical period, and the authority of the kings was gradually usurped by the Ephors, who at length obtained the entire control of the government, and reduced the kings to a state of humiliation and dependence. Originally the Spartan kings were the real and not the nominal chiefs of the state, and exercised most of the functions of the monarchs of the Heroic age. In later times the most important of the prerogatives which they were allowed to retain, was the supremo command of the military force on foreign expeditions. But even in this privilege their authority was restricted at a * Kpvmtia, a secret commission, from Kpvirrw, hide, conceal. t NtoSauwSeis : that is, ncxely enfranchised. * See above, p. 33. B.C. 776. LEGISLATION OF LYCtJKGUS. 65 Jater time by the presence of twc out of the five Ephors. Al- though the political power of the kings was thus curtailed, they possessed many important privileges, and were always treated with the profoundest honour and respect. They were regarded by the people with a feeling of religious reverence as the de- scendants of the mighty hero Hercules, and were thus supposed to connect the entire state with the gods. They were the high- priests of the nation, and every month offered sacrifices to Jove on behalf of the people. They possessed ample domains in various parts of Laconia, and received frequent presents on many public occasions. Their death was lamented as a public calamity, and their funeral was solemnized by the most striking obsequies. The Senate, called Oerusia* or the Council of Elders, consisted of thirty members, among whom the two kings wei e included. They were not chosen under sixty years of age, and they held their office for life. They possessed considerable power, and were the only real check upon the authority of the Ephors. They discussed and prepared all measures which were to be brought before the popular assembly, and had some share in the general administration of the state. But the most important of their functions was, that they were judges in all criminal cases affect- ing the life of a Spartan citizen, without being bound by any written code. The Popular Assembly was of little importance, and appears to have been usually summoned only as a matter of form for the election of certain magistrates, for passing laws, and for deter- mining upon peace and war. It would appear that open discus- sion was not allowed, and that the assembly rarely came to a division. Such a popular assembly as existed at Athens, in which all public measures were exposed to criticism and com- ment, would have been contrary to one of the first principles of the Spartan government in historical times, which was charac- terized by the extreme secrecy of all its proceedings. The Ephors may be regarded as the representatives of the popular assembly. They were elected annually from the general body of Spartan citizens, and seem to have been originally appointed to protect the interests and liberties of the people against the encroachments of the kings and the senate. They correspond in many respects to the tribunes of the people at Rome. Their functions were at first limited and of small im- portance ; but in the end the whole political power became cen- tred in their hands. They were thus the real rulers of the state, and their orders were submissively obeyed by all classes in Sparta. Their authority was of a despotic nature, and they ex- _, * Tfouvtrla. 66 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VII. ercised it without responsibility. They had the entire manage- ment of the internal as well as of the foreign affairs of the state ; they formed a court to decide upon causes of great importance ; they dismissed at their pleasure subordinate magistrates, and imposed upon them fines and imprisonment ; they even arrested the kings, and either fined them on their own authority, or brought them to trial before the senate. It will be seen from the preceding account that the Spartan government was in reality a close oligarchy, in which the kings and the senate, as well as the people, were alike subject to the irresponsible authority of the five Ephors. § 11. The most important part of the legislation of Lycurgus did not relate to the political constitution of Sparta, but to the discipline and education of the citizens. It was these which gave Sparta her peculiar character, and distinguished her in so strik- ing a manner from all the other states of Greece. In modern times it has been usually held that the state exists for the citi- zen, and that the great object of the state is to secure the citizen in the enjoyment of his life and his property. In Sparta, on the contrary, the citizen existed only for the state, and was bound to devote to its honour and glory not only all his time, affections, and energies, but to sacrifice to its interests his property and his life. We have already seen that the position of the Spartans, surrounded by numerous enemies, whom they only held in sub- jection by the sword, compelled them to be a nation of soldiers. Lycurgus determined that they should be nothing else ; and the great object of his whole system was to cultivate a martidl spirit, and to give them a training which would make them invincible in battle. To accomplish this the education of a Spartan was placed under the control of the state from his earliest boyhood, and he continued to be under public inspection to his old age. Every child after birth was exhibited to public view, and if deemed deformed and weakly, and unfit for a future life of labour and fatigue, was exposed to perish on Mount Taygetus At the age of seven he was taken from his mother's care, and handed over to the public classes. His training was under the special charge of an officer nominated by the state,* and was subject to the general superintendence of the ciders. He was not only taught all the gymnastic games, which would give vigour and strength to his body, and all the exercises and movements required from the Lacedaemonian soldiers in the field, but he was also subjected to severe bodily discipline, and was compelled to submit to hard- ships and suffering without repining or complaint. One of the * Called Pccdonomus (iraiSovSuos). B.C. 776. LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. C7 tests to which the fortitude of the Spartan youths was subjected, was a cruel scourging at the altar of Artemis (Diana), until their blood gushed forth and covered the altar of the goddess. It was inflicted publicly before the eyes of their parents and in the presence of the whole city ; and many were known to have died under the lash without uttering a complaining murmur. No means were neglected to prepare them for the hardships and stratagems of war. They were obliged to wear the same garment winter and summer, and to endure hunger and thirst, heat and cold. They were purposely allowed an insufficient quantity of food, but were permitted to make up the deficiency by hunting in the woods and mountains of Laconia. They were even en- couraged to steal whatever they could ; but if they were caught in the fact, they were severely punished for their want of dex- terity. Plutarch tells us of a boy, who, having stolen a fox, and hid it under his garment, chose rather to let it tear out his very bowels than be detected in the theft. The literary education of a Spartan youth was of a most re- stricted kind. He was taught to despise literature as unworthy of a warrior, while the study of eloquence and philosophy, which were cultivated at Athens with such extraordinary success, was regarded at Sparta with contempt. Long speeches were a Spar- tan's abhorrence, and he was trained to express himself with sententious brevity. He was not, however, an entire stranger to the humanizing influence of the Muses. He was taught to sing and play on the lyre ; but the strains which he learnt were either martial songs or hymns to the gods. Hence the warlike poems of Homer were popular at Sparta from an early period, and are even said to have been introduced into Peloponnesus by Lycurgus himself. The poet Tyrtaeus was for the same reason received with high honours by the Spartans, notwithstanding their aversion to strangers ; while Archilochus was banished from the country because he had recorded in one of his poems his flight from the field of battle. A Spartan was not considered to have reached the full age of manhood till he had completed his thirtieth year. He was then allowed to marry, to take part in the public assembly, and was eligible to the offices of the state. But he still continued under the public discipline, and was not permitted even to reside and take his meals with his wife. The greater part of his time was occupied in gymnastic and military exercises ; he took his meals with his comrades at the public mess, and h» slept at night in the public barracks. It was not till he had reached his sixtieth year that he was released from the publio discipline and from military service. F 2 68 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VII, The public mess — called Syssitia* — is said to have been insti- tuted by Lycurgus to prevent all indulgence of the appetite. Pubhc tables were provided, at which every male citizen was obliged to take his meals. Each table accommodated fifteen per- sons, who formed a separate mess, into which no new member was admitted, except by the unanimous consent of the whole company. Each sent monthly to the common stock a specified quantity of barley-meal, wine, cheese, and figs, and a little money to bu^ flesh and fish. No distinction of any kind was allowed at these frugal meals. Meat was only eaten occasionally ; and ono of the principal dishes was black broth. Of what it consisted we do not know. The tyrant Dionysius found it very unpala- table ; but, as the cook told him, the broth was nothing without the seasoning of fatigue and hunger. § 12. The Spartan women in their earlier years were subjected to a course of training almost as rigorous as that of the men. They were not viewed as a part of the family, but as a part of the state. Their great duty was to give Sparta a vigorous race of citizens, and not to discharge domestic and household duties. They were therefore trained in gymnastic exercises, and con- tended with each other in running, wresthng, and boxing. The youths were present at these exercises, and the maidens were allowed in hke manner to witness those of the youths. The two sexes were thus brought into close intercourse in a manner un- known to the rest of Greece ; but it does not appear to have been followed by any injurious consecmences, and the morals of the Spartan women were probably purer than those of any other females in Greece. At the age of twenty a Spartan woman usually married, and she was no longer subjected to the pubhc discipline. Although she enjoyed little of her husband's society, she was treated by him with deep respect, and was allowed a greater de- gree of liberty than was tolerated in other Grecian states. Hence she took a lively interest in the welfare and glory of her native land, and was animated by an earnest and lofty spirit of patriot- ism. The Spartan mother had reason to be proud of herself and of her children. When a woman of another country said to Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, " The Spartan women alone rule the men," she replied, "The Spartan women alone bring forth men." Their husbands and their sons were fired by their sympathy to deeds of heroism, and were deterred from yielding to the foe by the certain reproaches and contempt which awaited them at their domestic hearths. " Return either with your shield, or upon * luo-ffirla, that is, eating, or messing together or in common. The public mess was V "«• wMeJ Phiditia (t& ♦ciSfria), or frugal meals. B.C. 776. LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. 69 it," was their exhortation to their sons, when going to battle ; And after the fatal day of Leuetra those mothers whose sons had fallen returned thanks to the gods ; while those were the bitter sufferers whose sons had survived that disgraceful day. The triumphant resignation of a Spartan mother at the heroic death of her son, and her fierce wrath when he proved a recreant coward, are well expressed in two striking poems of the Greek Anthology : " Eight sons Demameta at Sparta's call Sent forth to fight ; one tomb received them all. No tear she shed, but shouted ' Victory ! Sparta, I bore them but to die for thee.' " " A Spartan, his companion slain, Alone from battle fled ; His mother, kindling with disdain That she had borne him, struck him dead , For courage, and not birth alone, In Sparta, testifies a son ! " * § 13. One of the most celebrated measures ascribed to Lycur- gus by later writers was his redivision of the land of the country. It is related that the disorders of the state arose mainly from the gross inequality of property : the greater part of the land was in the hands of a few rich men, whilst the majority of the people were left in hopeless misery. In order to remedy this fearful state of things, he resolved to make a new division of lands, that the citizens might all live together in perfect equality. Accordingly, he redistributed the territory belonging to Sparta into 9000 equal lots, and the remainder of Laconia into 30,000 equal lots, and assigned to each Spartan citizen one of the former of these lots, and to each Perioecus one of the latter. It is, however, very questionable whether Lycurgus ever made any division of the landed property of Laconia. It is not men- tioned by any of the earlier writers, and we find in historical times great inequality of property among the Spartans. It is suggested with great probability by Mr. Grote, that the idea of an equal division of landed property by Lycurgus seems to have arisen in the third century before the Christian era, when an attempt was made by Agis and Cleomenes, kings of Sparta, to rescue their country from the state of degradation into which it had sunk. From the time of the Persian war, the number of the Spartan citizens was constantly declining, and the property accumulating in a few hands. The number of citizens, reckoned by Herodotus at 8000, had dwindled down in the time of Aristotle to 1000, and had been still further reduced in that of * See Anthologia Pobjglotta, edited by Dr. Wellesley, pp. 191, 202. 70 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VII. Agis to 700 ; and in the reign of this king 100 done possessed nearly the whole of the landed property in the state, while the remainder were miserably poor. At the same time the old dis- cipline had degenerated into a mere form ; numbers of strangers had settled in the city ; and Sparta had long lost her ancient influence over her neighbours. The humiliating condition of their country roused Agis and other ardent spirits to endeavour to restore Sparta to her former glories ; and for this purpose they resolved to establish again the discipline of Lycurgus in its pris- tine vigour, and to make a fresh division of the landed property. Agis perished in his attempt to carry these reforms into effect ; but a similar revolution was shortly afterwards accomplished by Cleomenes. It was in the state of public feeling which gave birth to the projects of Agis and Cleomenes, that the idea arose of an equal division of property having been one of the ancient institutions of their great lawgiver. The discipline and educa- tion of Lycurgus tended greatly to introduce equality among the rich and the poor in their habits and enjoyments ; and hcnco we can easily understand how this equality suggested to a sub- sequent age an equality of property as likewise one of the insti- tutions of Lycurgus. § 14. It has been already remarked that the Spartans were not allowed to engage in any trade or manufactures ; and that all occupations, pursued for the sake of gain, were left in the hands of the Periccci. We are told that Lycurgus therefore banished from Sparta all gold and silver money, and allowed nothing but bars of iron to pass in exchange for every commodity. It is, how- ever, absurd to ascribe such a regulation to Lycurgus, since silver money was first coined in Greece by Phidon of Argos in the suc- ceeding generation, and gold money was first coined in Asia, and was very little known in Greece, even in the time of the Pelopon- ncsian war. In this case, as in others, the usage of later times was converted into a primitive institution of the lawgiver. As the Spartans were not allowed to engage in commerce, and all luxury and display in dress, furniture, and food was forbidden, they had very little occasion for a circulating medium, and iron money was found sufficient for their few wants. But this pro- hibition of the precious metals only made the Spartans more anxious to obtain them ; and even in the times of their greatest glory the Spartans were the most venal of the Greeks, and could rarely resist the temptation of a pecuniary bribe. The Spartans were averse to all changes, both in their govern- ment and their customs. In order to preserve their national character and the primitive simplicity of their habits, Lycurgus is said to have forbidden all strangers to reside at Sparta without B.C. 776 LEGISLATION OF LYCUKGUS. 71 special permission. For the same reason the Spartans were not allowed to go abroad without leave of the magistrate. Caution was also another characteristic of the Spartans. Hence we are told that they never pursued an enemy farther than was necessary to make themselves sure of the victory. They were also forbidden by Lycurgus to make frequent war upon the same foes, lest the latter should learn their peculiar tactics. § 15. The city of Sparta was never fortified, even in the days of her greatest power, and continued to consist of five distinct quarters, which were originally separate villages, and which were never united into one regular town. It is said that Lycurgus had commanded them not to surround their city with walls, but to trust for their defence to their own military prowess. Another and a better reason for the absence of walls is to be sought in the admirable site of the city, in the midst of a territory almost inaccessible to invaders. The northern and western frontiers of Laconia were protected by lofty ranges of mountains, through which there were only a few difficult passes ; while the rocky nature of its eastern coast protected it from invasion by sea. Sparta was situated inland, in the middle of the valley of the Eurotas ; and all the principal passes of Laconia led to the city, which was thus placed in the best position for the defence of the country. There can be no doubt that one of the causes of the Spartan power is to be traced to the strength of its frontiers and to the site of Sparta itself. § 16. The legislation of Lycurgus was followed by important results. It made the Spartans a body of professional soldiers, well trained and well disciplined, at a time when military train- ing and discipline were little known, and almost unpractised in the other states of Greece. The consequence was the rapid growth of the political power of Sparta, and the subjugation of the neighbouring states. At the time of Lycurgus the Spartans held only a small portion of Laconia: they were merely a garrison in the heart of an enemy's country. Their first object was to make themselves masters of Laconia, in which they finally suc- ceeded after a severe struggle. The military ardour and love of war, which had been implanted in them by the institutions of Lycurgus, continued to animate them after the subjugation of Laconia, and led them to seek new conquests. "We have already seen that they offered a successful resistance to the formidable power of Phidon of Argos. They now began to cast longing eyes upon the possessions of their Dorian brethren in Messenia, aud to meditate the conquest of that fertile country. Early Greek Armour, fruiu Vase-paintings. CHAPTER VIII. mSTORY OF SPARTA. THE MESSENIAST, ARCADIAN, AKD ARC.IVE WARS. § 1. Authorities for the history of the Messenian wars. § 2. The first Messenian war, H.c. 743 — 724. § 3. The second Messenian war, B.C. G85 — 668. Aristomenes, the Messenian hero, and Tyrtseus, the Spartan hero, of this war. § 4. Wars between the Spartans and Arcadians. Conquest of the southern part of Arcadia by Sparta. War between Sparta and Tegea. § 5. Wars between the Spartans and Argives. Battle of the three hundred champions to decide the possession of Cynuria. § 1. The early wars of Sparta were carried on against the Mcs- senians, Arcadians, and Argives. They resulted in making Sparta the undisputed mistress of two-thirds of Peloponnesus, and the most powerful of the Grecian states. Of these wars the two waged against Messenia were the most celebrated and the most important. They were both long protracted and obsti- nately contested. They both ended in the victory of Sparta, and in the subjugation of Messenia. These facts are beyond dispute, ;iinl are attested by the contemporary poet TyrtsBUB. But of tire details of these wars we have no trustworthy narrative. The account of them, which is inserted in most histories of Greece, is taken from Pausanias, a writer who lived in the second cen- tury of the Christian era. He derived his narrative of the fust B.C. 743. FIRST MESSENIAN WAR. 73 war from a prose writer of the name of Myron, who did not live earlier than the third century before the Christian era ; and he took his account of the second from a poet called Rhianus, a uative of Crete, who lived about B.C. 220. Both these writers were separated from the events which they narrated by a period of 500 years, and probably derived their materials from the stories current among the Messenians after their restoration to their na- tive land by Epaminondas. Information of an historical character could not be expected from the work of Rhianus, which was an epic poem celebrating the exploits of the great hero Aristomenes. We must not, therefore, receive the common account of the Mes- senian wars as a real history ; and we shall consequently give only a brief outline of the narrative of Pausanias. The dates of the two wars cannot be fixed with certainty. Pausanias makes the first last from B.C. 743 to 724, and the second from B.C. 685 to 668. Both of these dates are probably too early. § 2. The real cause of the first Messenian war was doubtless the lust of the Spartans for the fertile territories of their neigh- bours. But its origin was narrated in the following manner. On the heights of Mount Taygctus, which separated the two kingdoms, there was a temple of Artemis (Diana), common to the Spartans and Messenians. It was here that the Spartan king Teleclus was slain by the Messenians ; but the two people gave a different version of the cause of his death. The Spartans asserted that Teleclus was murdered by the Messenians, while he was attempting to defend some Spartan virgins, whom he was con- ducting to the temple, from the insults of the Messenian youth. The Messenians, on the other hand, averred that Teleclus had dressed up young men as virgins with concealed daggers, and that Teleclus was slain in the affray which ensued upon the dis- covery of the plot. The war did not, however, immediately break out ; and the direct cause of it was owing to a private quarrel. Poiychares, a distinguished Messenian, who had gained the prize at the Olympic games, had been grossly injured by the Spartan Eusephnus, who had robbed him of his cattle and mur- dered his son. Being unable to obtain redress from the Spartan government, Poiychares took the revenge into his own hands, and killed all the Lacedaemonians that came in his way. The Spartans demanded the surrender of Poiychares, but the Messe- nians refused to give him up. Thereupon the Spartans deter- mined upon war. They silently prepared their forces ; and without any formal declaration of war, they crossed the frontier, surprised the fortress of Amphea, and put the inhabitants to the sword. Thus commenced the first Messenian war. Euphiies, who was 74 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VIII, then king of Messeuia, carried on the war with energy and vigour. For the first four years the Lacedaemonians made little progress ; but in the fifth a great battle was fought, and although its result was indecisive, the Messenians did not venture to risk another engagement, and retired to the strongly fortified mountain of Ithome. In their distress they sent to consult the oracle at Delphi, and received the appalling answer that the salvation of Messenia required the sacrifice of a virgin of the house of .(Epytus * to the gods of the lower world. Aristodemus offered his own daughter as the victim ; but a young Messenian, who loved the maiden, attempted to save her hfe by declaring that she was about to become a mother. Her father, enraged at this assertion, killed his daughter with his own hand and opened her body to refute the calumny. Although the demands of the oracle had not been satisfied, since this was a murder and not a sacrifice, the Spartans were so disheartened by the news, that they abstained from attacking the Messenians for some years. In the thirteenth year of the war, the Spartan king Theopompus marched against Ithome, and a second great battle was fought, but the result was again indecisive. Euphiies fell in the action ; and Aristodemus, who was chosen king in hia place, prosecuted the war with vigour and ability. In the fifth Mar of his reign a third great battle was fought, in which the Corinthians fought on the side of the Spartans, and t ae Arca- dians and Sicyonians on the side of the Messenians. This time the Messenians gained a decisive victory, and the Lacedaemonians were driven back into their own territory. They now sent to ask advice of the Delphian oracle, and were promised success upon using stratagem. They therefore had recourse to fraud ; and at the same time various prodigies dismayed the bold spirit of Aristodemus. His daughter too appeared to him in a dream, showed to him her wounds, and summoned him away. Seeing that his country was doomed to destruction, Aristodemus slew himself on his daughter's tomb. Shortly afterwards, in the twentieth year of the war, the Messenians abandoned Ithome, which the Laceda3monians razed to the ground, and the whole country became subject to Sparta. Many of the inhabitants fled into Arcadia, and the priestly families withdrew to Eleusis, in Attica. These who remained in the country were treated with great severity. They were reduced to the condition of Helots, and were compelled to pay to their masters half of the produce of their lands. This is attested by the authority of Tyrtseus, who Bays, "Like asses worn down by heavy burtbens they were com- * The royal family of Meseenia was ck-scendod from iipytus, who was a Hon of Creephontes. B.C. 685. SECOJND MESSENIAN WAR. 75 pelled to make over to their masters an entire half of the produce ol their fields, and to come in the garb of woe to Sparta, themselves and their wives, as mourners at the decease of the kings and principal persons." § 3. For thirty-nine years the Messenians endured this degrad- ing yoke. At the end of this time (b.c. 685) they took up arms against their oppressors, having found a leader in Aristomenes, of Andania, sprung from the royal line of iEpytus. The exploits of this hero form the great subject of the second Messenian war. It would appear that most of the states in Peloponnesus took part in this struggle. The Argives, Arcadians, Sicyonians, and Pisatans were the principal allies of the Messenians ; but the Corinthians sent assistance to Sparta. The first battle was fought before the arrival of the allies on either side ; and though it was indecisive, the valour of Aristomenes struck fear into the hearts of the Spartans. To frighten the enemy still more, the hero crossed the frontier, entered Sparta by night, and affixed a shield to the temple of Athena (Minerva) of the Brazen House, with the inscription, " Dedicated by Aristomenes to the goddess from the Spartan spoils." The Spartans in alarm sent to Delphi for advice. The god bade them apply to Athens for a leader. Fearing to disobey the oracle, but with the view of rendering no real assistance, the Athenians sent Tyrtseus of Aphidnoe, who is represented in the popular legend as a lame man and a schoolmaster. The Spartans received their new leader with due honour ; and he was not long in justifying the credit of the oracle. His martial songs roused the fainting courage of the Spartans, and animated them to new efforts against the foe* The Spartans showed their gratitude by making him a citizen of their state. So efficacious were his poems, that to them is mainly ascribed the final success of the Spartans. Hence he appears as the great hero of Sparta during the second Messenian war. Some of his celebrated songs have come down to us, and the following war-march is a specimen : — " To the field, to the field, gallant Spartan band, Worthy sons, like your sires, of our warlike land ! Let each arm be prepared for its part in the fight, Fix the shield en the left, poise the spear with the right, Let no care for your lives in your bosoms find place, No such care knew the heroes of old Spartan race.'' f Encouraged by the strains of Tyrtoeus, the Spartans again * " Tyvteusque mares animos in Martia bella Versibus exacuit." — Hor. Ars Poet. 402. t Mure's History of Greek Literature, vol. iii. p. 195. 76 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VIII. marched against the Messenians. But they were not at first suc- cessful. A great battle was fought at the Boar's Grave in the plain of Stenyclerus, in which the allies of both sides were pre- sent. The Spartans were defeated with great loss ; and the Messenian maidens of a later day used to sing how "Aristo- menes pursued the flying Lacedaemonians down to the mid-plain of Stenyclerus, and up to the very summit of the mountain." In the third year of the war another great battle was fought, in which the Messenians suffered a signal defeat, in consequence of the treachery of Aristocrates, the king of the Arcadian Orcho- nienus. So great was the loss of the Messenians, that Aristo- menes no longer ventured to meet the Spartans in the open field ; and he therefore resolved to follow the example of the Messenian leaders in the former war, and concentrate his strength in a fortified spot. For this purpose he chose the mountain fortress of Ira, and there he continued to prosecute the war for eleven years. The Spartans encamped at the foot of the moun- tain ; but Aristomenes frequently sallied from his fortress, and ravaged the lands of Laoonia with fire and sword. It is unne- cessary to relate all the wonderful exploits of this hero in his various incursions. Thrice did he offer to Jove Ithomates the sacrifice called Hecatomphonia, reserved for the warrior who had slain a hundred enemies with his own hand. Thrice was he taken prisoner ; on two occasions he burst his bonds, but on the third he was carried to Sparta, and thrown with his fifty compa- nions into a deep pit, called Ceadas. His comrades were all killed by the fall ; but Aristomenes reached the bottom unhurt. He saw, however, no means of escape, and had resigned himself to death ; but on the third day perceiving a fox creeping among the bodies, he grasped its tail, and following the animal as it struggled to escape, discovered an opening in the rock. Through the favour of the gods the hero thus escaped, and on the next day was again at Ira to the surprise alike of friends and foes. But his single prowess was not sufficient to avert the ruin of his country ; he had incurred moreover the anger of the Dioscuri or the Twin gods ; and the favour of heaven was therefore turned from him. One night the Spartans surprised Ira, while Aristo- menes was disabled by a wound ; but he collected the bravest of his followers, and forced his way through the enemy. He took refuge in Arcadia, where he was hospitably received ; but the plan which he had formed for surprising Sparta was betrayed by Aristocrates, whom his countrymen stoned for his treachery. Many of the exiled Messenians went to Rhegium, in Italy, under the sons of Aristomenes, but the hero himself finished his days in Rhodes. His memoiy long lived in the hearts of his B.C. 56C. WAR BETWEEN SPARTA AND TEGEA. 77 countrymen ; and later legends related, that in the fatal battle of Leuctra, which destroyed for ever the Lacedaemonian power, the hero was seen scattering destruction among the Spartan troops. The second Messenian war was terminated by the complete subjugation of the Messenians, who again became the serfs of their conquerors (b.c. 668). In this condition they remained till the restoration of their independence by Epaminondas, in the year 369 B.C. Daring the whole of the intervening period the Messenians disappear from history. The country called Messenia in the map was in reality a portion of Laconia, which, after the second Messenian war, extended across the south of Pelopon- nesus from the eastern to the western sea. § 4. Of the history of the wars between the Spartans and Arcadians we have fewer details. The Spartans made various attempts to extend their dominion over Arcadia. Hence the Arcadians afforded assistance to the Messenians in their struggle against Sparta, and they evinced their sympathy for this gallant people by putting to death Aristocrates of Orchomenus, as has been already related. The conquest of Messenia was probably followed by the subjugation of the southern part of Arcadia. We know that the northern frontier of Laconia, consisting of the districts called Sciritis, Beleminatis, Maleatis, and Caryatis, originally belonged to Arcadia, and was conquered by the Lace- doomonians at an early period. The Lacedaemonians, however, did not meet with equal success in their attempts against Tegea. This city was situated in the south-eastern corner of Arcadia, on the very frontiers of Laconia. It possessed a brave and warlike population, and defied the Spartan power for more than two centuries. As early as the reign of Charilaiis, the nephew of Lycurgus, the Lacedaomonians had invaded the territory of Tegea ; but they were not only defeated with great loss, but this king was taken prisoner with all his men who had survived the battle. Long afterwards, in the reign of Leon and Agesicles (about B.C. 580), the Lacedaemo- nians again marched against Tegea, but were again defeated with great loss, and were compelled to work as slaves in the very chains which they had brought with them for the Tegeatans. For a whole generation their arms continued unsuccessful ; but in the reign of Anaxandrides and Ariston, the successors of Leon and Agesicles (about b. c. 560), they were at length able to bring the long protracted struggle to a close. In their distress they had applied as usual to the Delphic oracle for advice, and had been promised success if they could obtain the bones of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon. The directions of the god enabled them to find the remains of the hero at Tegea ; and by a 78 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. VIIL skilful stratagem one of their citizens succeeded in carrying the holy relics to Sparta. The tide of the war now turned. The Tegeatans were constantly defeated, and were at length obliged to acknowledge the supremacy of Sparta. They were not, how- ever, reduced to subjection, like the Messenians. They still con- tinued masters of their own city and territory, and only became dependent allies of Sparta. § 5. The history of the early struggle between Argos and Sparta is quite unknown. We have already seen that the whole eastern coast of Peloponnesus had originally belonged to Argos, or the confederacy over which this city presided. The Lacedae- monians, however, succeeded not only in conquering all the eastern coast of Laconia, but also in annexing to their territory the district of Cynuria,* on their northern frontier, which had originally formed part of the dominions of Argos. It is uncer- tain at what time the Lacedaemonians obtained this important acquisition ; but the attempt of the Argives to recover it in 517 B. c. led to one of the most celebrated combats in early Grecian history. It was agreed between the Lacedremonians and Argives that the possession of the territory should be decided by a combat between three hundred chosen champions on either side. So fierce was the conflict that only one Spartan and two Argives survived. The latter, supposing that all their opponents had been slain, hastened home with the news of victory ; but Othryades, the Spartan warrior, remained on the field, and spoiled the dead bodies of the enemy. Both sides claimed the victory, whereupon a general battle ensued, in which the Argives were defeated. The brave Othryades slew himself on the field of battle, being ashamed to return to Sparta as the one survivor of her three hundred champions. This victory secured the Spar- tans in the possession of Cynuria, and effectually humbled the power of Argos. Sparta was now by far the most powerful of the Grecian states. Her own territory, as we have already seen, included the whole southern portion of Peloponnesus ; the Arcadians were her sub- ject allies ; and Argos had suffered too much from her recent defeat to offer any further resistance to her formidable neigh- bour. North of the Isthmus of Corinth there was no state whose power could compete with that of Sparta. Athens was still suffering from the civil dissensions which had led to the usurpation of Pisistratus, and no one could havo anticipated at tliis time the rapid and extraordinary growth of this state, which rendered her before long the rival of Sparta. * The plain, called Thyreatis from the town of Thyrea, was the most important part ofCynuria. Leaden Sling-bullets and Arrow-heads, found at Athens, Marathon, and LeontinL CHAPTER IX. THE AGE OF THE DESPOTS. § 1. Abolition of royalty throughout Greece, except in Sparta. § 2. Estab- lishment of the oligarchical governments. § 3, Overthrow of the oligarchies by the despots. Character of the despots, and causes of their fall. § 4. Contest between oligarchy and democracy on the removal of the despots. § 5. Despots of Sicyon. History of Clisthenes. § 6. Despots of Corinth. History of Cypselus and Periander. § 7. Conflicts of the oligarchical and democratical parties at Megara. Despotism of Theagenes. The poet Theognis. § 1. Sparta was the only state in Greece which, continued to retain the kingly form of government during the brilliant period of Grecian history. In all other parts of Greece royalty had been abolished at an early age, and various forms of republican government established in its stead. In all of these, though dif- fering widely from each other in many of their institutions, hatred of monarchy was a universal feeling. This change in the popular mind deserves our consideration. In the Heroic age, as we have already seen, monarchy was the only form of govern- ment known. At the head of every state stood a king, who had derived his authority from the gods, and whose commands were reverently obeyed by his people. The only check upon his au- thority was the council of the chiefs, and even they rarely ven- tured to interfere with his rule. But soon after the commence- ment of the first Olympiad this reverential feeling towards the king disappears, and his authority and his functions are trans- ferred to the council of chiefs. 80 HISTORf OF GREECE. Chap. IX. This important revolution was owing mainly to tie smallncss of the Grecian states. It must be constantly remembered that each political community consisted only of the inhabitants of a single city. Among so small a body the king could not surround himself with any pomp or mystery. He moved as a man among his fellow-men ; his faults and his foibles became known to all ; and as the Greek mind developed and enlarged itself, his subjects lost all behef in his divine right to their obedience. They had no extent of territory which rendered it advisable to maintain a king for the purpose of preserving their union ; and, conse- quently, when they lost respect for his person, and faith in his divine right, they abolished the dignity altogether. This change appears to have been accomplished without any sudden or violent revolutions. Sometimes, on the death of a king, his son was ac- knowledged as ruler for life, or for a certain number of years, with the title of Archon ; * and sometimes the royal race was set aside altogether, and one of the nobles was elected to supply the place of the king, with the title of Prytanis or President.! In ah cases, however, the new magistrates became more or less responsible to the nobles ; and in course of time they were elected for a brief period from the whole body of the nobles, and were ac- countable to the latter fur the manner in which they discharged the duties of their office. § 2. The abolition of royalty was thus followed by an Oli- garchy, or the government of the Few. This was the first form of republicanism in Greece. Democracy, or the government of the Many, was yet unknown ; and the condition of the general mass of the freemen appears to have been unaffected by the re- volution. But it paved the way to greater changes. It taught the Greeks the important principle that the political power was vested in the citizens of the state. It is true that these were at first only a small portion of the freemen ; but their number might be enlarged ; and the idea could not fail to occur that the power which had been transferred from the One to the Few might be still further extended from the Few to the Many. Tho nobles possessed the greater part of the land of the state, and were hence frequently distinguished by the name of Goo- mori or Gamon.J Their estates were cultivated by a rural and dependent population ; whilst they themselves lived in the city, and appear to have formed an exclusive order, transmitting their privileges to their sons alone. But besides this governing body and their rustic dependents, there existed two other classes, con- sisting of small landed proprietors, who cultivated their fields * "Apxwv. f Upinavi*. X r«i>iJ.6cni (Ionic), Tafi6poi (Doric), landowners- 6.C. 650. THE GRECIAJS DESPOTS. 81 with their own hands, and of artisans and traders residing in the town. These two classes were constantly increasing in num- bers, wealth, and intelligence, and, consequently, began to demand a share in the government, from which they had hitherto been excluded. The ruling body meantime had remained stationary, or had even dechned in numbers and in wealth ; and they had excited, moreover, the discontent of the people by the arbitrary and oppressive manner in which they had exercised their au- thority. But it was not from the people that the oligarchies received their first and greatest blow. They were generally over- thrown by the usurpers, to whom the Greeks gave the name of Tyrants.* § 3. The Greek word Tyrant does not correspond in meaning to the same word in the English language. It signifies simply an irresponsible ruler, and may therefore be more correctly ren- dered by the term Despot. The rise of the De3pots seems to have taken place about the same time in a large number of the Greek cities. They begin to appear in the middle of the seventh century B.c. ; and in the course of the next hundred and fifty years (from b. c. 650 to 500) there were few cities in the Grecian world which escaped this revolution in their government. The growing discontent of the general body of the people afforded facilities to an ambitious citizen to overthrow the existing oli- garchy, and to make himself supreme ruler of the state. In most cases the despots belonged to the nobles, but they acquired their power in various ways. The most frequent manner in which t hey became masters of the state was by espousing the cause of the commonalty, and making use of the strength of the latter to put down the oligarchy by force. Sometimes, but more rarely, one of the nobles, who had been raised to the chief magistracy for a temporary period, availed himself of his position to retain bis dignity permanently, in spite of his brother nobles. There was another class of irresponsible rulers to whom the name of *£symnetes,f or Dictator, was given. The supreme power was voluntarily entrusted to him by the citizens, but only for a limited period, and in order to accomplish some important object, such as reconciling the various factions in the state. The government of most of the despots was oppressive and oruel. In many states they were at first popular with the gene- ral body of the citizens, who had raised them to power and were glad to see the humiliation of their former masters. But discon- tent soon began to arise ; the despot had recourse to violence to put down disaffection, and thus became an object of hatred to his fellow-citizens. In order to protect himself he called in the Gb. * Tvpauvou f Ai. t For details see f 20. J " hoy^ut. B.C. 683. EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS. 89 nently, and gave his name to the year. The last of the decennial archons was Eryxias, the first of the nine annual archons Creon. Such is the legendary account of the change of goTernment at Athens, from royalty to an oligarchy. It appears to have taken place peaceably and gradually, as in most other Greek states. The whole political power was vested in the nobles ; from them the nine annual archons were taken, and to them alone these magistrates were responsible. The people, or general body of freemen, had no share in the government. § 3. The Athenian nobles were called Ev/patridas. Their name is ascribed to Theseus, who is said to have divided the Athenian people into three classes, called Eupalridce, Geomori or husband- men, and Demiurgi * or artisans. The Eupatridae were the sole depositaries of political and religious power. In addition to the election of the archons, they possessed the superintendence of all religious matters, and were the authorized expounders of ah laws, sacred and profane. They corresponded to the Eoman patricians ; while the two other classes, who were their subjects, answered to the Roman plebeians. There was another division of the Athenians still more ancient and one which continued to a much later period. We have seen that the Dorians in most of their settlements were divided into three tribes. The Ionians, in like manner, were usually distri- buted into four tribes.f This division existed in Attica from the earliest times, and lasted in full vigour down to the great revolution of Clisthenes (b. c. 509). The four Attic tribes had different appellations at various periods, but were finally distin- guished by the names of Geleontes (or Teleontes), Hopletes, JEgi- cores, and Argades,% which they are said to have derived from the four sons of Ion. The etymology of these names would seem to suggest that the tribes were so called froni the occupations of their members ; the Geleontes (Teleontes) being cultivators, the Hopletes the warrior-class, the iEgicores goat-herds, and the Argades artisans. Hence some modern writers have supposed that the Athenians were originally divided into castes, like the Egyptians and Indians. But the etymology of these names is not free from doubt and dispute ; and even if they were bor- rowed from certain occupations, they might soon have lost their original meaning, and become mere titles without any significance. § 4. There were two divisions of the four Athenian tribes, one for political, and another for religious and social purposes. * Evyraroiicci, Tttafjuofoi, Art^ioufyo'i. j &ukot, pi. #t/Xa. t Tt\iatrtf, or TsXfsvTSf, "OsTAorff, AiyixoeiTs, Apyaiiif. 90 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. X. For political purposes each tribe was divided into three Trit- fcyes, and each Trittys into four Naucrarioo.* There were thus 12 Trittyes and 48 Naucrariae. These appear to have been local divisions of the whole Athenian people, and to have been made chiefly for financial and military objects. Each Naucrary consisted of the Naucrari, or householders,! who had to furnish the amount of taxes and soldiers imposed upon the district to which they belonged. The division of the tribes for political and social purposes is more frequently mentioned. Each tribe is said to have contained three Phratrise, each Phratry thirty Gentes, and each Gens thirty heads of families.^ Accordingly there would have been 12 Phratrise, 360 Gentes, and 10,800 heads of families. It is evident, however, that such symmetrical numbers could never have been preserved, even if they had ever been instituted ; and while it is certain that the number of families must have increased in some gentes, and decreased in others, it may also be questioned whe- ther the same number of gentes existed in each tribe. But whatever may be thought of the numbers, the phratrise and gentes were important elements in the religious and social life of the Athenians. The families composing a gens were united by certain religious rites and social obligations. They worn accustomed to meet together at fixed periods to offer sacri- fices to a hero, whom they regarded as the common ancestor of all the families of the gens. They had a common place of burial and common property ; and in case of a member dying intestate, his property devolved upon his gens. They were bound to assist each other in difficulties. There was also a con- nection between the gentes of the same phratry, and between the phratries of the same tribe, by means of certain religious rites ; and at the head of each tribe there was a magistrate called the Phylo-Basilejis,^ or King of the Tribe, who offered sacrifices on behalf of the whole body. § 5. The real history of Athens begins with the institution of annual archons, in the year 683 B. c. This is the first date in Athenian history on which certain reliance can be placed. The duties of the government were distributed among the nine archons, in the following manner. The first, as has been already * TpiTTVS, tXauxpupicc. f Huvxoaoos seems to be connected with vala, dwell, and i3 only another form for vavxkagas or txuxXnoos. I *jaTji«, i.e. brotherhood : the word is etymologically connected with frater and brother. The word rites, or Gens, answers nearly in meaning to our clan. The members of a ylvos were called yttvrjrai or h/uoyaXaxrit. B.C. 683. EARLY HISTORY OF ATTICA. 91 remarked, was called TJie Archon * by way of pre-eminence, and sometimes the Archon Eponymus,f because the year was distin- guished by his name. He was the president of the body, and the representative of the dignity of the state. He was the protector of widows and orphans, and determined all disputes relating to the family. The second archon was called The Basileus or The King, because he represented the king in his capacity as high-priest of the nation.t All cases respecting religion and homicide were brought before him. The third archon bore the title of Tlie Polemarch,§ or Commander-in-chief, and was, down to the time of Clisthenes, the commander of the troops. He had jurisdic- tion in all disputes between citizens and strangers. The remain- ing six had the common title of Thesmotheta>,\\ or Legislators. They had the decision of all disputes which did not specially belong to the other three. Their duties seem to have been almost exclusively judicial ; and for this reason they received their name, not that they made the laws, but because their par- ticular sentences had the force of laws in the absence of a written code. The Senate, or Council of Areopagus, was the only other poli- tical power in the state in these early times. It received its name from its place of meeting, which was a rocky eminence opposite the Acropolis, called the Hill of Ares (Mars' Hill).^[ Its insti- tution is ascribed by some writers to Solon ; but it existed long before the time of that legislator, and may be regarded as the representative of the council of chiefs in the Heroic ages. It was originally called simply The Senate or Council, and did not obtain the name of the senate of Areopagus till Solon instituted another senate, from which it was necessary to distinguish it. It was of course formed exclusively of Eupatrids, and all the archons became members of it at the expiration of their year of office. § 6. The government of the Eupatrids, like most of the early oligarchies, seems to have been oppressive. In the absence of written laws, the archons possessed an arbitrary power, of which they probably availed themselves tc the benefit of their friends and their order, and to the injury of the general body of citizens. * 'O " Ap-x,tdv. f " Aj>%uv itfawftas. X 'O (Wes of the powerful family of the Alcmseonidoe, who had lived in exile ever since the third and final restoration of Pisistratus to Athens. Believing the favourable moment to be come, they even ventured to invade Attica, and established themselves in a fortified town upon the frontier. They were, however, defeated by Hippias with loss, and compelled to quit the country. Unable to effect their restoration by force, they now had recourse to a manoeuvre which proved successful. The Alcmoeonida) had taken the contract for rebuilding the temple at Delphi, which had been accidentally destroyed by fire many years previously. They not only executed the work in the best possible manner, but even exceeded what had been required of them, employing Parian marble for the front of the temple, instead of the coarse stone specified in the contract. This liberality gained for them the favour of the Delphians ; and Clisthenes, the son of Megacles, who was now the head of the family, secured the oracle still further by pecuniary presents to the Pythia, or priestess. Henceforth, whenever the Spartans came to consult the oracle, the answer of the priestess was always the same, — "Athens must be liberated." This order was so often repeated, that the Spartans at last resolved to obey, although they had hitherto maintained a friendly connexion with the family of Pisistratus. Their first attempt failed ; the force which they sent into Attica was defeated by Hippias, and its leader slain. A second effort succeeded. Clcomenes, king of Sparta, defeated the Thessalian allies of Hippias ; and the latter, unable to meet his enemies in the field, took refuge in the Acropolis. Here he might have maintained himself in safety, had not his children been made prisoners as they were being secretly carried out of the country. To procure their restora- tion, he consented to quit Attica in the space of five days. He sailed to Asia, and took up his residence at Sigcum in the Troad, which his father had wrested from the Mytilenaeana in war. § 6. Hippias was expelled in B. 0. 510, four years after the assassination of Hipparchus. These four years had been a time of suffering and oppression for the Athenians, and had effaced B.C. 510. EXPULSION OF HIPPIAS. 107 from their minds all recollection of the forrnei mild rale of Pisistratus and his sons. Hence the expulsion of the family was hailed with delight, and their names were handed down to posterity with execration and hatred. For the same reason the memory of Harmodius and Aristogiton was cherished with the fondest reverence ; and the Athenians of subsequent genera- tions, cvorlooking the four years which elapsed from their death to the overthrow of the despotism, represented them as the libe- rators of their country and the first martyrs for its liberty. Their statues were erected in the market-place soon after the expulsion of Hippias ; their descendants enjoyed immunity from all taxes and public burdens ; and their deed of vengeance formed the favourite subject of drinking songs. Of these the most famous and popular has come down to us, and may be thus translated : — " I'll wreath my sword in myrtle bough, The sword that laid the tyrant low, When patriots, burning to be free, To Athens gave equality. " Harmodius, hail . though reft of breath, Thou ne'er shalt feel the stroke of deatl: ; The heroes' happy isles shall be The bright abode allotted thee. " I'll wreath my sword in myrtle bough. The sword that laid Hipparchus low. When at Athena's adverse fane He knelt, and never rose again. " While Freedom's name is understood, You shall delight the wise and go»d ; You dared to set your country free, And gave her laws equality." * § 7. The Lacedfcrnonians quitted Athens soon after Hippias had sailed away, leaving the Athenians to settle their own affairs. The Solonian constitution, which had continued to exist nomi- nally under the administration of the family of Pisistratus, was now revived in its full force and vigour. Clisthenes, to whom Athens was mainly indebted for its liberation from the despotism, aspired to be the political leader of the state, but was opposed by Isagoras, who was supported by the great body of the nobles. By the Solonian constitution, the whole political power was vested in the hands of the latter ; and Clisthenes soon found that it was hopeless to contend against his rival under the existing order of things. For this reason he resolved to introduce an * Wellesley'B Anthologia Polyglotta, p. 445. 108 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XI important change in the constitution, and to give to the people an equal share in the government. This is the account of He- rodotus, who says that " he took the people into partnership, whi i had been before excluded from everything." It is probable however that these reforms were not suggested simply by a love of selfish aggrandizement ; but that he had seen the necessity of placing the constitution on a more popular basis, and of giving a larger number of citizens a personal interest in the welfare and preservation of the state. However this may be, the reforms of Clisthenes gave birth to the Athenian democracy, which can hardly be said to have existed before this time. § 8. The first and most important reform of Clisthenes, and that on which all the rest depended, was a redistribution of the whole population of Attica into ten new tribes. Up to this time the Athenian citizenship had been confined to the members of the four Ionic tribes, into which no one could gain admission except through means of the close corporations called gentes and phratrias.* But there was a large body of residents in At- tica who did not belong to these corporations, and who conse- quently had no share in the political franchise. Clisthenes accordingly abolished these four tribes, and established ten new uues in their stead, in which he enrolled all the free inhabitants of Attica, including both resident aliens and even emancipated slaves. These ten tribes were purely local, and were divided into a certain number of cantons or townships, called denies. f At a later time we find 174 of these demes ; but it is not known whether this was the original number instituted by Clisthenes. There is one point connected with the arrangement of the demes which deserves mention, since it indicates singular fore- sight and sagacity on the part of Clisthenes. The demes which he assigned to each tribe were never all of them contiguous to each other, but were scattered over different parts of Attica. The object of this arrangement was evidently to prevent any tribe from acquiring a local interest independent of the entire com- munity, and to remove the temptation of forming itself into a political faction from the proximity of its members to each other. This was the more necessary when we recollect that the parties of the Plain, the Shore, and the Mountain had all arisen from local feuds. Every Athenian citizen was obliged to be enrolled in a dome, and in all public documents was designated by the name of the one to which he belonged. Each deme, like a parish in Eng- land, administered its own affairs. It had its public meetings, it * See p. 90. f Iq/ie,. B.C. 510. REFORMS OF CLISTHENES. 109 levied taxes, and was under the superintendence of an officer called Demarchus.* § 9. The establishment of the ten new tribes led to a change in the number of the Senate. It had previously consisted of 400 members, taken in equal proportions from each of the four old tribes. It was now enlarged to 500, 50 being selected from each of the ten new tribes. At the same time its duties and functions were greatly increased. By the constitution of Solon its prin- cipal business was to prepare matters for discussion in the Ec- clesia ; but Clisthenes gave it a great share in the administration of the state. Its sittings became constant, and the year was di- vided into ten portions, called Prytanies,f corresponding to a similar division in the senate. The fifty senators of each tribe took by turns the duty of presiding in the senate and in the ec- clcsia during one Prytany, and received during that time the title of Prytanes.% The ordinary Attic year consisted of 12 lunar months, or 364 days, so that six of the Prytanies lasted 35 days, and four of them 3C days. But for the more convenient despatch of business, every fifty members were divided into five bodies of ten each, who presided for seven days, and were hence callod Proedri.\ Moreover, out of these proedri a chairman, called Epistutes,\\ was chosen by lot every day to preside both in the senate and in the ecclesia, when necessary, and to him were entrusted during his day of office the keys of the acropohs and the treasury, and the public seal. § 10. The Ecclesia, or formal assembly of the citizens, was accustomed at a later period to meet regularly four times in every Prytany. It is not stated that this number was fixed by Clis- thenes, and it is more probable that he did not institute such frequent meetings ; but it cannot be doubted that it was a part of his system to summon the Ecclesia at certain fixed periods. By the constitution of Solon the government of the state seems to have been chiefly vested in the archons ; and it was one of the principal reforms of Clisthenes to transfer the political power from their hands to the senate and the ecclesia. He accustomed the people to the discussion and management of their own af- fairs, and thus prepared them for the still more democratical reforms of Aristides and Pericles. At a later time we find that all citizens were eligible to the office of archon, and that these magistrates were chosen by lot, and not elected by the body of citizens. They were deprived, moreover, of most of their judi- cial duties by the extension of the powers of the popular courts of justice. * &nfiapx_ f- t rigi/Tamx). * IJooTanV § TJpotctoi u 'F.THTrKTtt;. 110 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL These reforms, however, were not introduced by Clisthenes. He continued to exclude the fourth of those classes into which Solon had divided the citizens, from the post of archon and from all other offices of state ; he made no change in the manner of appointing the archons, and left them in the exercise of im- portant judicial duties. Hence the constitution of Clisthenes, notwithstanding the increase of power which it gave to the people, came to be regarded as aristocratical in the times of Pericles and Demosthenes. § 11. Of the other reforms of Clisthenes we are imperfectly informed. He increased the judicial as well as the political power of the people. It is in fact doubtful whether Solon gave the people any judicial functions at all ; and it was probably Clisthenes who enacted that all public crimes should be tried by the whole body of citizens above thirty years of age, specially con- voked and sworn for the purpose. The assembly thus convened was called Helicea, and its members Heliasts* With the in- crease of the judicial functions of the people, it became necessary to divide the Hehsea into ten distinct courts ; and this change was probably introduced soon after the time of Clisthenes. The new constitution of the tribes introduced a change in the military arrangements of the state. The citizens, who were re- quired to serve, were now marshalled according to tribes, each of which was subject to a StnUegus,^ or general of its own. These ten generals were elected annually by the whole body of citizens, and became at a later time the most important officers in the state, since they possessed the direction not only of naval and military affairs, but also of the relations of the city with foreign states. Down to the time of Clisthenes, the command of the military force had been vested exclusively in the third ar- chon, or Polemarch ; and even after the institution of the Stra- tegi by Clisthenes, the Polemarch still continued to possess a joint right of command along with them, as will be seen when we come to relate the battle of Marathon. § 12. There was another remarkable institution expressly ascribed to Clisthenes — the Ostracism ; the real object of which has been explained for the first time by Mr. Grote. By the Os- tracism, a citizen was banished without special accusation, trial, or defence for ten years, which term was subsequently reduced to five : he was not deprived of his property ; and at the end of his period of exile was allowed to return to Athens, and to resume all the political rights and privileges which he had previously enjoyed. It must be recollected that the force which a Greek * 'HXiuix, 'Hkiatrrai. f 'Srfiartiyos. B.C. 510. KEFOKMS OF CLISTHENES. 1 1 1 government had at its disposal was very small ; and that it was comparatively easy for an ambitious citizen, supported by a nu- merous body of partisans, to overthrow the constitution and make himself despot. The past history of the Athenians had shown the dangers to which they were exposed from this cause ; and the Ostracism was the means devised by Chsthenes for removing quietly from the state a powerful party leader befcre he could carry into execution any violent schemes for the subversion of the government. Every precaution was taken to guard this in- stitution from abuse. The senate and the ecclesia had first to determine by a special vote whether the safety of the state re- quired such a step to be taken. If they decided in the affirma- tive, a day was fixed for the voting, and each citizen wrote upon a tile or oyster-shell * the name of the person whom he wished to banish. The votes were then collected, and if it was found that 6000 had been recorded against any one person, he was obliged to withdraw from the city within ten days ; if the num- ber of votes did not amount to 6000, nothing was done. The large number of votes required for the ostracism of a person (one-fourth of the entire citizen population) was a sufficient guarantee that a very large proportion of the citizens considered him dangerous to the state. It is a proof of the utility of this institution that from the time of its establishment no further attempt was made by any Athenian citizen to overthrow the democracy by force. § 13. The reforms of Clisthenes were received with such popu- lar favour, and so greatly increased the influence of their author, that Isagoras saw no hope for him and his party except by calling in the interference of Cleomenes and the Lacedsernonians. This was readily promised, and heralds were sent from Sparta to Athens, demanding the expulsion of Clisthenes and the rest of the Alcniseonidse, as the accursed family on whom rested the pollution of Cylon's murder. Clisthenes, not daring to disobey the Lacedaemonian government, retired voluntarily ; and thii3 Cleomenes, arriving at Athens shortly afterwards with a small force, found himself undisputed master of the city. He first expelled 700 families pointed out by Isagoras, and then , at- tempted to dissolve the Senate of Five Hundred, and place the government in the hands of three hundred of his friends and partisans. This proceeding excited general indignation ; the people rose in arms ; and Cleomenes and Isagoras took refuge in the Acropolis. At the end of two days their provisions were exhausted, and they were obliged to capitulate. Cleomenes and * Oatracon {jbrrootKo*), whence the name of Cstracistn {har^axiirftii). 112 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL the Lacedrcmonian troops, as well as Isagoras, were allowed to retire in safety ; but all their adherents who cvero captured with them were put to death by the Athenian people. Clis- thenes and the 700 exiled families were immediately recalled, and the new constitution was materially strengthened by the failure of this attempt to overthrow it. § 14. The Athenians had now openly broken with Sparta. Fearing the vengeance of this formidable state, Clisthenes sent envoys to Artaphernes, the Persian satrap at Sardis, to solicit the Persian alliance, which was offered on condition of the Athenians' sending earth and water to the King of Persia as a token of their submission. The envoys promised compliance ; but on their return to Athens, their countrymen repudiated their proceeding with indignation. Meantime, Cleomenes was preparing to take vengeance upon the Athenians, and to establish Isagoras as a despot over them. He summoned the Peloponne- sian allies to the field, but without informing them of the object of the expedition ; and at the same time he concerted measures with the Thebans and the Chalcidians of Eubcea for a simulta- neous attack upon Attica. The Peloponnesian army, commanded by the two kings, Cleomenes and Demaratus, entered Attica, and advanced as far as Eleusis ; but when the allies became aware ol the object for which they had been summoned, they refused to march farther. The power of Athens was not yet sufficiently great to inspire jealousy among the other Creek states ; and the Corinthians, who still smarted under the recollection of the suf- ferings inflicted upon them by their own despots, took the lead in denouncing the attempt of Cleomenes to crush the liberties of Athens. Their remonstrances were seconded by Demaratus, the other Spartan king ; so that Cleomenes found it necessary to abandon the expedition and return home. The dissension of the two kings on this occasion is said to have led to the enact- ment of the law at Sparta, that both kings should never have the command of the army at the same time. The unexpected retreat of the Peloponnesian army delivered the Athenians from their most formidable enemy, and they lost no time in turning their arms against their other foes. March- ing into Boootia, they defeated the Thebans, and then crossed over into Eubcea, where they gained a decisive victory over the Chal- cidians. In order to secure their dominion in Eubcea, and at the same time to provide for their poorer citizens, the Athenians distributed the estates of the wealthy Chalcidian landownera among 4000 of their citizens, who settled in the country undei the name of Cleruchi* K\natii%oi, that is, " lot-holders." B.C. 508. SUCCESSES OF THE ATHENIANS. 113 § 15. The successes of Athens had excited the jealousy of tho Spartans, and they now resolved to make a third attempt to over- throw the Athenian democracy. They had meantime discovered the deception which had been practised upon them by the Delphic oracle ; and they invited Hippias to come from Sigeum to Sparta, in order to restore him to Athens. The experience of the last campaign had taught them that they could not calculate upon the co-operation of their allies without first obtaining their approval of the project ; and they therefore summoned deputies from all their allies to meet at Sparta, in order to determine re- specting the restoration of Hippias. The despot was present at the congress ; and the Spartans urged the necessity of crushing the growing insolence of the Athenians by placing over them their former master. But their proposal was received with uni- versal repugnance ; and the Corinthians again expressed the general indignation at the design. " Surely heaven and earth are about to change places, when you Spartans propose to set up in the cities that wicked and bloody thing called a Despot. First try what it is for yourselves at Sparta, and then force it upon others. If you persist in a scheme so wicked, know that the Corinthians will not second you." These vehement remon- strances were received with such approbation by the other allies, that the Spartans found it necessary to abandon their project. Hippias returned to Sigeum, and afterwards proceeded to the court of Darius. § 16. Athens had now entered upon her glorious career. The institutions of Clisthenes had given her citizens a personal interest in the welfare and the grandeur of their country. A spirit of the warmest patriotism rapidly sprang up among them ; and the his- tory of the Persian wars, which followed almost immediately, exhibits a striking proof of the heroic sacrifices which they were prepared to make for the liberty and independence of their state. Coin of Atbens. Gr. Ancient Sculptures from Selinus. CHAPTER XII. HISTORY OF TIIE GREEK COLONIES. § 1. Connexion of the subject with the general history of Greece. § 2. Ori- gin of the Greek colonics and their relation to the mother-country. § 3. Characteristics common to most of the Greek colonies. § 4. The ./Eolic, Ionic, and Doric colonies in Asia. Miletus the most important, and the parent of numerous colonies. Ephesus. Phocrca. § 5. Colonies in the south of Italy and Sicily. History of Cuma;. § 6. Colonies in Sicily. Syracuse and Agrigentum the most important. Phalaris, despot of Agri- gentum. § 7. Colonies in Magna Grsecia (the south of Italy). Sybaris and Croton. War between these cities, and destruction of Sybaris. § 8. Epi- zephyrian Locri : its lawgiver, Zaleucus. Khcgium. § 9. Tarentum. Decline of the cities in Magna Grsecia. § 10. Colonies in Gaul and Spain. Massalia. §11. Colonies in Africa. Cyrene. §12. Colonies in Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace. § 13. Importance of a knowledge of the history of the Greek colonies. § 1. An accounc of the Greek colonies forms an important part of the History of Greece. It has been already observed that Hellas did not indicate a country marked by certain geographical limits, but included the whole body of Hellenes, in whatever part of the world they might bo settled. Thus, the inhabitants of Trapezus on the farthest shores of the Black Sea, of Cyrene in Africa, and of Massalia in the south of Gaul, were as essentially members of Hellas as the citizens of Athens and Sparta. They all gloried in the name of Hellenes ; they all boasted of their descent from the common ancestor Hellen ; and tney all pos- Crap. XII. THE GREEK COLONIES. 115 Bessed and frequently exercised the right of contending in the Olympic games and the other national festivals of Greece. The vast number of Greek colonies, their wide-spread diffusion over all parts of the Mediterranean, which thus became a kind of Grecian lake, their rapid growth in wealth, power, and intel- ligence afford the most striking proofs of the greatness of this wonderful people. It would carry us too far to give an account of the origin of all these colonies, or to narrate their history at any length. We must content ourselves with briefly mentioning the more important of them, after stating the causes to which they owed their origin, the relation in which they stood to the mother country, and certain characteristics which were common to them all. § 2. Civil dissensions and a redundant population were the two chief causes of the origin of most of the Greek colonies.* They were usually undertaken with the approbation of the cities from which they issued, and under the management of leaders appointed by them. In most cases the Delphic oracle had pre- viously given its divine sanction to the enterprise, which was also undertaken under the encouragement of the gods of the mo- ther-city. But a Greek colony was always considered politically independent of the latter and emancipated from its control. The only connexion between them was one of filial affection and of common religious ties. The colonists worshipped in their new settlement the deities whom they had been accustomed to ho- nour in their native country ; and the sacred fire, which was con- stantly kept burning on their public hearth, was taken by them from the Prytaneum of the city from which they sprung. They usually cherished a feeling of reverential respect for the mother- city, which they displayed by sending deputations to the prin- cipal festivals of the latter, and also by bestowing places of honour and other marks of respect upon the ambassadors and other members of the mother-city, when they visited the colony. In the same spirit, they paid divine worship to the founder of the colony after his death, as the representative of the mother- city ; and when the colony in its turn became a parent, it usually sought a leader from the state from which it had itself sprung. It was accordingly considered a violation of sacred ties for a mother country and a colony to make war upon one another. These bonds, however, were often insufficient to maintain a lasting union ; and the memorable quarrel between Corinth and her colony Corcyra will show how easily they might be severed by the ambition or the interest of either state. * A colony was called uwmx.'ix ; a colonist, «w*« ■ the mother city, ft-nr^o- woXtf, and the leader of a colony olxierrif. I 2 116 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap XII. § 3. The Greek colonies, unlike most which have been founded in modern times, did not consist of a few straggling bands of ad- venturers, scattered over the country in which they settled, and only coalescing into a city at a later period. On the contrary, the Greek colonists formed from the beginning an organised po- litical body. Their first cars upon settling in their adopted country was to found a city, and to erect in it those public buildings which were essential to the religious and social hfe of a Greek. Hence it was quickly adorned with temples for tht worship of the gods, with an agora or place of public meeting for the citizens, with a gymnasium for the exercise of the youth, and at a later time with a theatre for dramatic representations. Almost every colonial Greek city was built upon the sea-coast, and the site usually selected contained a hill sufficiently lofty to form an acropolis. The spot chosen for the purpose was for the most part seized by force from the original inhabitants of the country. The relation in which the colonists stood to the latter naturally varied in different localities. In some places they were reduced to slavery or expelled from the district ; in others they became the subjects of the conquerors, or were ad- mitted to a share of their political rights. In many cases inter- marriages took place between the colonists and the native population, and thus a foreign element was introduced among them — a circumstance which must not be lost sight of, especially in tracing the history of the Ionic colonies. It has frequently been observed that colonies are favourable to the development of democracy. Ancient customs and usages cannot be preserved in a colony as at home. Men are of neces- sity placed on a greater equality, since they have to share the same hardships, to overcome the same difficulties, and to face the same dangers. Hence it is difficult for a single man or for a class to maintain peculiar privileges, or to exercise a permanent authority over the other colonists. Accordingly, we find that a democratical form of government was established in most of the Greek colonies at an earher period than in the mother-country, and that an aristocracy could rarely maintain its ground for any length of time. Owing to the freedom of their institutions, and to their favourable position for commercial enterprise, many of the Greek colonies became the most flourishing cities in the Hellenic world ; and in the earlier period of Grecian history several of them, such as Miletus and Ephesus in Asia, Syracuse and Agrigentum in Sicily, and Croton and Sybaris in Italy, sur- passed all the cities of the mother-country in power, population, and wealth. Tho Grecian colonies may be arranged in four groups : 1. Those Chap. XII. COLONIES IN ASIA MINOR. H7 founded in Asia Minor and the adjoining islands ; 2. Those in the western parts of the Mediterranean, in Italy, Sicily, Gaul, and Spain ; 3. Those in Africa ; 4. Those in Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace. § 4. The earliest Greek colonies were those founded on the west- ern shores of Asia Minor. They were divided into three great masses, each bearing the name of that section of the Greek race with which they claimed affinity. The iEolic cities covered the northern part of this coast ; the Ionians occupied the centre, and the Dorians the southern portion. The origin of these colonies is lost in the mythical age ; and the legends of the Greeks respecting them have been given in a previous part of the present work.* Their political history will claim our attention when we come to relate the rise and progress of the Persian em- pire ; and their successful cultivation of literature and the arts will form the chief subject of our next chapter. It is sufficient to state on the present occasion that the Ionic cities were early distinguished by a spirit of commercial enterprise, and soon rose superior in wealth and in power to their iEolian and Dorian neighbours. Among the Ionic cities themselves Miletus was the most flourishing, and during the eighth and seventh centuries before Christ was the first commercial city in Hellas. In search of gain its adventurous mariners penetrated to the farthest parts of the Mediterranean and its adjacent seas ; and for the sake of protecting and enlarging its commerce, it planted numerous co- lonies, which are said to have been no fewer than eighty. Most of them were founded on the Propontis and the Euxine ; and of these, Cyzicus on the former, and Sinope on the latter sea, be- came the most celebrated. Sinope was the emporium of the Milesian commerce in the Euxine, and became in its turn the parent of many prosperous colonies. Ephesus, which became at a later time the first of the Ionic cities, was at this period inferior to Miletus in population and in wealth. It was never distinguished for its enterprise at sea, and it planted few maritime colonies ; it owed its greatness to its trade with the interior, and to its large territory, which it gra- dually obtained at the expense of the Lydians. Other Ionic cities of less importance than Ephesus possessed a more power- ful navy ; and the adventurous voyages of the Phocseans deserve to be particularly mentioned, in which they not only visited the coasts of Gaul and Spam, but even planted in those countries several colonies, of which Massalia became the most prosperous and celebrated. § 5, The colonies of whose origin we have an historical ac- * See p. 35. 118 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciiap. XIL count began to be founded soon after the first Olympiad. Those established in Sicily and the south of Italy claim our first atten- tion, as well on account of their importance as of the priority of their foundation. Like the Asiatic colonies, they were of various origin ; and the inhabitants of Chalcis in Euboea, of Corinth, Megara and Sparta, and the Acha:ans and Locrians were all con- cerned in them. One of the Grecian settlements in Italy lays claim to a much earlier date than any other in the country. This is the Campanian Cuniae, situated near Cape Misenum, on the Tyrrhenian sea. It is said to have been a joint colony from the iEolic Cyme in Asia, and from Chalcis in Euboea, and to have been founded, according to common chronology, in B.C. 1050. This date is of course uncertain : but there is no doubt that it was the most ancient Grecian establishment in Italy, and that a long period elapsed before any other Greek colonists were bold enough to follow in the same track. Cumae was for a long time the most flourishing city in Campania : and it was not till its decline in the fifth cen- tury before the Christian era that Capua rose into importance. § 6. The earliest Greciau settlement in Sicily was founded in B. c. 735. The greater part of Sicily was then inhabited by the rude tribes of Sicels and Sicanians. The Carthaginian settle- ments mostly lay on the western side of the island ; but the eastern and the southern coasts were occupied only by the Sicels and Sicanians, who were easily driven by the Greeks into the interior of the country. The extraordinary fertility of the land, united with the facility of its acquisition, soon attracted nume- rous colonists from various parts of Greece ; and there arose on the coasts of- Sicily a succession of flourishing cities, of which a list is given below.* Of these, Syracuse and Agrigentum, both Dorian colonies, became the most powerful. The former was founded by the Corinthians in b. c. 734, and at the time of its greatest prosperity contained a population of 500,000 souls, and was surrounded by walls twenty-two miles in circuit. Its great- ness, however, belongs to a later period of Grecian history ; and * 1. Naxos, the earliest, founded by the Chalcidians, B.C. 735. 2. Syra- cuse, founded by the Corinthians, B.C. 734. 3. Leontini and Catana, founded by Naxos in Sicily, B.C. 730. 4. Hyblaean Megara, founded by Megara, B.C. 728. 5. Gela, founded by the Lindians in Rhodes, and by the Cretans, B.C. 690. 6. Zancle, afterwards called Messana, founded by the Cumaians and Chalcidians : its date is uncertain. 7. Acra;, founded by Syracuse, B.C. 664. 8. Casmena:, founded by Syracuse, B.C. 644. 9. Selinus, founded by Hyblaean Megara, B.C. 630. 10. Camarina, founded by Syracuse, B.C. 599 11. Acragas, better known by the Roman name of Agrigentum, founded by Uela, B.C. 582. 12. Himera, founded by Zancle : its date is uncertain. B.C. 735. COLONIES IN SICILY. 119 we know scarcely anything of its affairs till the usurpation of Gelon in B. c. 4S5. Agrigentum was of later origin, for it was not founded till B.C. 582, by the Dorians of Gela, which had itself been colonized by Rhodians and Cretans. But its growth was most rapid, and it soon rose to an extraordinary degree of pros- perity and power. It was celebrated in the ancient world for the magnificence of its public buildings, and within a century after its foundation was called by Pindar " the fairest of mortal cities." Its early history only claims our attention on account of the despotism of Phalaris, who has obtained a proverbial celobrity as a cruel and inhuman tyrant. His exact date is uncertain ; but he was a contemporary of Pisistratus and Crcesus ; and the commencement of his reign may perhaps be placed in b. c. 570. He is said to have burnt alive the victims of his cruelty in a brazen bull ; and this celebrated instrument of torture is not only noticed by Pindar, but was in existence at Agrigentum in later times. He was engaged in frequent wars with his neigh- bours, and extended his power and dominion on all sides ; but his cruelties rendered him so abhorred by the people, that they suddenly rose against him, and put him to death.* Map of the chief Greek Colonies in Sicily. * There are extant certain Greek letters attributed to Phalaris, celebrated on account of the literary controversy to which they gave rise in modern times. Their genuineness was maintained by Boyle and the contemporary scholars of Oxford ; but Bentley, in his masterly " Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris," in reply to Boyle, proved beyond question that they were the pro- duction of a sophist of a later age. 120 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XII. The prosperity of the Greek cities in Sicily afterwards re- ceived a severe check from the hostilities of the Carthaginians ; but for two centuries and a half after the first Greek settlement in the island they did not come into contact with the latter people, and were thus left at liberty to develop their resources without any opposition from a foreign power. § 7. The Grecian colonies in Italy began to be planted at nearly the same time as in Sicily. They eventually lined the whole southern coast as far as Cumse on the one sea, and Taren- tum on the other. They even surpassed those in Sicily in number and importance ; and so numerous and flourishing did they become, that the south of Italy received the name of Magna Grsecia. Of these, two of the earliest and most prosperous were Sybaris and Croton, both situated upon the gulf of Tarentum, and both of Achaean origin. Sybaris was planted in B. c. 720, and Croton in B. c. 710. For two centuries they seem to have lived in harmony, and we know scarcely anything of their history till their fatal contest in b. c. 510, which ended in the ruin of Sybaris. During the whole of this period they were two of the most flourishing cities in all Hellas. The walls of Sybaris em- braced a circuit of six miles, and those of Croton were not less than twelve miles in circumference ; but the former, though smaller, was the more powerful, since it possessed a larger extent of territory and a greater number of colonies, among which was the distant town of Posidonia (Psestum), whose magnificent ruins still attest its former greatness. Several native tribes be- came the subjects of Sybaris and Croton, and their dominions extended across the Bruttian peninsula from sea to sea. Sybaris in particular attained to an extraordinary degree of wealth ; and its inhabitants were so notorious for their luxury, effeminacy, and debauchery, that their name has become proverbial for a voluptuary in ancient and in modern times. Many of the anecdotes recorded of them bear on their face the exaggerations of a later age ; but their great wealth is attested by the fact, that 5000 horsemen, clothed in magnificent attire, formed a part of the procession in certain festivals of the city, whereas Athens in her best days could not number more than 1200 knights. Croton was distinguished for the excellence of its physicians or surgeons, and for the number of its citizens who gained prizes at the Olympic games. Its government was an aristo- cracy, and was in the hands of a senate of One Thousand persons. It was in this city that Pythagoras settled, and founded a frater- nity, of which an account is given in the following chapter. The war between these two powerful cities is the most im- portant event recorded in the history of Magna Gratia. It arose B.C. 664. COLONIES IN ITALY. 121 from the civil dissensions of Sybaris. The oligarchical govern- ment was overthrown by a popular insurrection, headed by a citizen of the name of Telys, who succeeded in making himself despot of the city. The leading members of the oligarchical party, 500 in number, were driven into exile ; and when they took refuge at Croton, their surrender was demanded by Telys, and war threatened in case of refusal. This demand excited the greatest alarm at Croton, since the military strength of Sy- haris was decidedly superior ; and it was only owing to the urgent persuasions of Pythagoras that the Crotoniates resolved to brave the vengeance of their neighbours rather than incur the disgrace of betraying suppliants. In the war which fol- lowed, Sybaris is said to have taken the field with 300,000 men, and Croton with 100,000, — numbers which seem to have been grossly exaggerated. The Crotoniates were commanded by Milo, a disciple of Pythagoras, and the most celebrated athlete of his time, and they were further reinforced by a body of Spartans under the command of Dorieus, younger brother of king Cleomenes, who was sailing along the gulf of Tarentum, in order to found a settlement in Sicily. The two armies met on the banks of the river Traeis or Trionto, and a bluudy battle was fought, in which the Sybarites were defeated with pro- digious slaughter. The Crotoniates followed up their victory by the capture of the city of Sybaris, which they razed to the ground ; and in order to obliterate ah traces of it, they turned the course of the river Crathis through its ruins (b.c. 510). The destruction of this wealthy and powerful city excited strong sympathy through the Hellenic world ; and the Milesians, with whom the Sybarites had always maintained the most friendly connexions, shaved their heads in token of mourning,* § 8. Of the numerous other Greek settlements in the south of Italy, those of Locri, Rhegium, and Tarentum were the most important. Locri, called Epizephyrian, from the neighbourhood of Cape Zophyrium, was founded by a body of Locrian freebooters from the mother country, in b. c. 683. Their early history is memo- rable on account of their being the first Hellenic people who possessed a body of written laws. They are said to have suffered so greatly from lawlessness and disorder as to apply to the Delphic oracle for advice, and were thus led to accept the ordi- nances of Zaleucus, who is represented to have been originally a shepherd. His laws were promulgated in B.C. 664, forty years earher than those of Draco at Athens. They resembled the latter in the severity of their punishments ; but they were ob- * In B.C. 443 the Athenians founded Thurii, near the site of Sybaris. 122 IIISTOItY OF GREECE. Chap. XII. served for a long period by the Locrians, who were so averse to any change in them, that whoever proposed a new law had to appear in the public assembly with a rope round his neck, which was immediately tightened, if he failed to convince his fellow- citizens of the necessity of his propositions. Two anecdotes aro related of Zaleucus, which deserve mention, though their authen- ticity cannot be guaranteed. His son had been guilty of an offence, the penalty of which was the loss of both eyes : the father, in order to maintain the law, and yet save his son from total blindness, submitted to the loss of one of his own eyes. Another ordinance of Zaleucus forbade any citizen to enter tho senate-house in arms under penalty of death. On a war sud- denly breaking out, Zaleucus transgressed his own law ; and when his attention was called to it by one present, ho replied that be would vindicate the law, and straightway fell upon his sword. ^O POSIDOHIA T% IP/CSTUMj %Jir METAPONTUr/ O, Jlap of the chief Greek Colonies in SyuUioru Italy. B.C. GOO. COLONIES IN GAUL AND SPAIN. 123 Khegiuni, situated on the straits of Messina, opposite Sicily, was colonized by the Chalcidiaus, but received a large number of Messenians, who settled here at the close both of the first and second Messenian wars. Anaxilas, who made himself despot of the city about B.C. 500, was of Messenian descent ; and it was he who changed the name of the Sicilian Zancle into Messana, when he seized the latter city in B. c. 494. § 9. Tarentum, situated at the head of the gulf which bears its name, was a colony from Sparta, and was founded about B.C. 708. During the long absence of the Spartans in the first Mejsenian war, an illegitimate race of citizens had been born, to whom the name of Parthenia) (sons of maidens) was given. Being not only treated with contempt by the other Spartans, but excluded from the citizenship, they formed a conspiracy under Phalanthus, one of their number, against the government ; and when their plot was detected, they were allowed to quit the country and plant a colony under his guidance. It was to these circumstances that Tarentum owed its origin. It was admirably situated for com- merce, and was the only town in the gulf which possessed a per- fectly safe harbour. After the destruction of Sybaris, it became the most powerful and flourishing city in Magna Grsecia, and continued to enjoy great prosperity till its subjugation by the Romans. Although of Spartan origin, it did not maintain Spar- tan habit3 ; and its citizens were noted at a later time for their love of luxury and pleasure. The cities of Magna Gra)cia rapidly declined in power after the commencement of the fifth century before the Christian era. This was mainly owing to two causes. First, the destruction of Sybaris deprived the Greeks of one of their most powerful cities, and of a territory and an influence over the native popiuaticn, to which no other Greek town could succeed ; and, secondly, they were now for the first time brought into contact with the warlike Samnites and Lucanians, who began to spread from Middle Italy towards the south. Curnse was taken by the Sam- nites, and Posidonia (Psestum) by the Lucanians ; and the latter people in course of time deprived the Greek cities of the whole of their inland territory. § 10. The Grecian settlements in the distant countries of Gaul and Spain were not numerous. The most celebrated was Mas- salia, the modern Marseilles, founded by the Ionic Phocseans in B.C. 600. It planted five colonies along the eastern coast of Spain, and was the chief Grecian city in the sea west of Italy. The commerce of the Massaliots was extensive, and their r.avy sufficiently powerful to repel the aggressions of Carthage. They possessed considerable influence over the Celtic tribes in their 124 HISTORY OF GREECE. Crap. XII. neighbourhood, among whom they diffused the arts of civilized life, aud a knowledge of the Greek alphabet and literature. §11. The northern coast of Africa between the territories of Carthage and Egypt was also occupied by Greek colonists. About the year 650 B.C. the Greeks were for the first time allowed to settle in Egypt and to carry on commerce with the country. This privilege they owed to Psammetichus, who had raised himself to the throne of Egypt by the aid of Ionian and Cariau mercenaries. The Greek traders were not slow in availing themselves of the opening of this new and important market, and thus became acquainted with the neighbouring coast of Africa. Here they founded the city of Cyrene about B.C. G30. It was a colony from the island of Thera in the /Egean, which was itself a colony from Sparta. The situation of Cyrene was well chosen. It stood on the edge of a range of hills, at the distance of ten miles from the Mediterranean, of which it com- manded a fine view. These hills descended by a succession of terraces to the port of the town, called Apollonia. The chmate was most salubrious, and the soil was distinguished by extra- ordinary fertility. With these advantages Cyrene rapidly grew in wealth and power ; and its greatness is attested by the immense remains which still mark its desolate site. Unlike most Grecian colonies, Cyrene was governed by kings for eight generations. Battus, the founder of the colony, was the first king ; and his successors bore alternately tke names of Arcesilaiis and Battus. On the death of Arcesilaiis IV., which must have happened after B.C. 460, royalty was abolished and a democratical form of government established. Cyrene planted several colonies in the adjoining district, of which Barca, founded about B.C. 560, was the most important. § 12. The Grecian settlements in Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace claim a few words. There were several Grecian colonies situated on the eastern eide of the Ionian sea in Epirus and its immediate neighbour- hood. Of these the island of Corcyra, now called Corfu, was the most wealthy and powerful. It was founded by the Corinthians, about B. c. 700 ; and in consequence of its commercial activity it soon became a formidable rival to the mother-city. Hence a war broke out between these two states at an early period ; and the most ancient naval battle on record was the one fought between their fleets in b. c. 664. The dissensions between the mother-city and her colony are frequently mentioned in Grecian history, and were one of the immediate causes of the Pelopon- nesian war. Notwithstanding their quarrels, ifhey joined in planting four Grecian colonies upon the same line of coast — B.C. 657. COLONIES IN MACEDONIA AND THRACE. 125 Leucas, Anactorium, Apollonia, and Epidainnus : in the settle- ment of the two former the Corinthians were the principals, and in that of the two latter the Corcyrseans took the leading part. The colonies in Macedonia and Thrace were very numerous, and extended all along the coast of the iEgean, of the Hellespont, of the Propontis, and of the Euxine, from the borders of Thes- saly to the mouth of the Danube. Of these we can only glance at the most important. The colonies on the coast of Macedonia were chiefly founded by Chalcis and Eretria in Eubcea ; and the peninsula of Chalcidice, with its three projecting headlands, was covered with their settlements, and derived its name from the former city. The Corinthians likewise planted a few colonies on this coast, of which Potidsea, on the narrow isthmus of Pallene, most deserves mention. Of the colonies in Thrace, the most flourishing were Selymbria and Byzantium,* both founded by the Megarians, who appear as an enterprising maritime people at an early period. The far- thest Grecian settlement on the western shores of the Euxine was the Milesian colony of Istria, near the southern mouth of the Danube. § 13. The preceding survey of the Grecian colonies shows the wide diffusion of the Hellenic race in the sixth century before the Christian era. Their history has come down to us in such a fragmentary and unconnected state, that it has been impos- sible to render it interesting to the reader ; but it could not be passed over entirely, since some knowledge of the origin and progress of the more important of these cities is absolutely necessary, in order to understand aright many subsequent events in Grecian history. * The foundation of Byzantium is placed in B.C. 657. Coin of Cyrene, representing on the reverse the Silphium, which was the chief article In the export trade of to city. .* V *»'*r Alcanis and Sappho From a Painting on a \"a«c. CHAPTER XIII. HISTORY OF LITERATURE. § 1. Perfection of the Greeks in literature. § 2. Greek epic poetry divided into two classes, Homerie and Hesiodic. § 3. Poems of Hesiod. § 4. Ori- gin of Greek lyric poetry. § 5. Archilochus. § 6. Simonides of Amorgos. § 7. Tyrtaeus and Alcman. § 8. Arion and Stesichorus. § 9. Alcacns and Sappho. § 10. Anacreon. § 11. The Seven Sages of Greece. § 12. The Ionic school of philosophy. Thales, Anaximauder, and Anasimenes. § 13. The Eleatic school of philosophy. Xenophanes. § 14. The Pytha- gorean school of philosophy. Life of Pythagoras. Foundation and sup- pression of his society in the cities of Magna Graecia. § 1. The perfection which the Greeks attained in literature and art is one of the most striking features in the history of the people. Their intellectual activity and their keen appreciation of the beautiful constantly gave birth to new forms of creative genius. There was an uninterrupted progress in the develop- ment of the Grecian mind from the earliest dawn of the history of the people to the downfall of their pohtical independence ; and each succeeding age saw the production of some of those master works of genius which have been the models and the admiration of all subsequent time. It is one of the objects of the present work to trace the different phases of this intellectual growth. During the two centuries and a half comprised in this book many species of composition, in which the Greeks after- Chap. XIII. EPIC POETRY. HESIOD. 127 wards becanio pre-eminent, were either unknown or little prac- tised. The drama was still in its infancy, and prose writing, as a branch of popular literature, was only beginning to be culti- vated ; but epic poetiy had reached its culminating point at the commencement of this epoch, and throughout the whole period *he lyric muse shone with undiminished lustre. It is therefore to these two species of composition that our attention will be more particularly directed on the present occasion. § 2. There were in antiquity two large collections of epic poetry. The one comprised poems relating to the great events and enterprises of the Heroic age, and characterised by a certain poetical unity ; the other included works tamer in character and more desultory in their mode of treatment, containing the genealogies of men and gods, narratives of the exploits of sepa- rate heroes, and descriptions of the ordinary pursuits of life. The poems of the former class passed under the name of Homer; while those of the latter were in the same general way ascribed to Hesiod. The former were the productions of the Ionic and iEolic minstrels in Asia Minor, among whom Homer stood pre- eminent and eclipsed the brightness of the rest : the latter were the compositions of a school of bards in the neighbourhood of Mount Helicon in Bceotia, among whom in like manner Hesiod enjoyed the greatest celebrity. The poems of both schools were composed in the hexameter metre and in a similar dialect ; but they differed widely in almost every other feature. Of the Homeric poems, and of the celebrated controversy to which they have given rise in modern times, we have already spoken at length : * it therefore only remains to say a few words upon those ascribed to Hesiod. § 3. Three works have come down to us bearing the name of Hesiod — the " Works and Days," the "Theogony," and a descrip- tion of the " Shield of Hercules." The first two were generally considered in antiquity as the genuine productions of Hesiod ; but the " Shield of Hercules " and the other Hesiodic poems were admitted to be the compositions of other poets of his school. Many ancient critics indeed believed the " "Works and Days " to be the only genuine work of Hesiod, and their opinion has been adopted by most modern scholars. Of Hesiod himself there are various legends related by later writers ; but we learn from his own poem that he was a native of Ascra, a village at the foot of Mount Helicon, to which his father had migrated from the iEolian Cyme in Asia Minor. He further tells ub that he gained the prize at Chalcis in a poetical contest ; and that he was robbed of a fair share of his heritage by the un- * See Chap. V. 128 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XI 11 righteous decision of judges who had been bribed by his brother Perses. The latter became afterwards reduced in circumstances, and applied to his brother for relief ; and it is to him that Hesiod addresses his didactic poem of the " Works and Days," in which he lays down various moral and social maxims for the regulation of his conduct and his life. It contains an interesting representation of the feelings, habits, and superstitions of the rural population of Greece in the earlier ages, and hence enjoyed at all periods great popularity among this class. At Sparta, on the contrary, where war was deemed the only occupation worthy of a freeman, the poems of Hesiod were held in contempt. Cleomenes called him the bard of the Helots, in contrast with Homer, the delight of the warrior. Respecting the date of Hesiod nothing certain can be affirmed. Most ancient authorities make him a contemporary of Homer ; but modern writers usually sup- pose him to have nourished two or three generations later than the poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey. § 4. The commencement of Greek lyric poetry as a cultivated species of composition dates from the middle of the seventh century before the Christian era. In the Ionic and /Eolic colo- nies of Asia Minor, and in the Doric cities of Peloponnesus, an advancing civilization and an enlarged experience had called into existence new thoughts and feelings, and supplied new subjects for the muse. At the same time epic poetry, after reaching its climax of excellence in the Iliad and in the Odyssey, had fallen into the hands of inferior bards. The national genius, however, was still in all the bloom and vigour of its youth ; and the decay of epic minstrelsy only stimulated it more vigorously to present in a new style of poetry the new circumstances and feelings of the age. The same desire of change, and of adapting the sub- jects of poetry to the altered condition of society, was of itself sufficient to induce poets to vary the metre ; but the more im- mediate cause of this alteration was the improvement of the art of music by the Lesbian Terpander and others in the beginning of the seventh century B.C. The lyric poems of the Greeks were composed, not for a solitary reader in his chamber, but to be sung on festive occasions, either public or private, with the accompaniment of a musical instrument. Hence there was a necessary connexion between the arts of music and of poetry ; and an improvement in the one led to a corresponding improve- ment in the other. It would be impossible to pass under review the numerous varieties of Grecian lyric song, and to point out all the occasions which called into requisition the aid of the poet. It is sufficient to state in general that no important event either in the public B.C. 700. AECHILOCHDS. 129 or private life of a Greek could dispense with this accompani- ment ; and that the song was equally needed to solemnize the worship of the gods, to cheer the march to battle, or to enliven the festive board. The lyric poetry belonging to the brilliant period of Greek literature treated in this book has almost entirely perished, and all that we possess of it consists of a few songs and isolated fragments. Sufficient, however, remains to enable us to form an opinion of its surpassing excellence, and to regret the more bitterly the irreparable loss we have sus- tained. It is only necessary in this work to call attention to the most distinguished masters of lyric song, and to illustrate their genius by a few specimens of their remains. § 5. The great satirist Archilochus was one of the earliest and most celebrated of all the lyric poets. He flourished about the year 700 B.C. His extraordinary poetical genius is attested by the unanimous voice of antiquity, which placed him on a level with Homer. He was the first Greek poet who composed Iambic verses according to fixed rules ; the invention of the elegy is ascribed to him as well as to Callinus ; and he also struck out many other new paths in poetry. His fame, however, rests chiefly on his terrible satires, composed in the Iambic metre,* in which he gave vent to the bitterness of a disappointed man. He was poor, the son of a slave-mother, and therefore held in contempt in his native land. He had been suitor to Neobule, one of the daughters of Lycambes, who first promised and after- wards refused to give his daughter to the poet. Enraged at this treatment he held up the family to public scorn, in an iambic poem, accusing Lycambes of perjury and his daughters of the most abandoned profligacy. His lampoons produced such an effect that the daughters of Lycambes are said to have hanged themselves through shame. Discontented at home, the poet accompanied a colony to Thasos ; but he was not more happy in his adopted country, which he frequently attacks in his satires. He passed a great part of his life in wandering in other countries, and at length fell in a battle between the Parians and Naxians. The following lines of Archilochus, addressed to his own soul exhibit at the same time the higher attributes of his style, and his own morbid philosophy : — " My soul, my soul, care-worn, bereft of rest, Arise ! and front the foe with dauntless breast; Take thy firm stand amidst his fierce alarms ; Secure, with inborn valour meet his arms, * << Gr. Archilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo." — IIou. Ars Poet. 79. E 130 HIST0R7 OF GREECE. Chap. XIII. Nor, conquering, mount vain-glory's glittering steep; Nor, couquer'd, yield, fall down at home, and weep. Await the turns of life with duteous awe ; Know, Revolution is great Nature's law." * § 6. Simonides of Amorgos, who must not be confounded with his more celebrated namesake of Ceos, was a contemporary of Archilochus, with whom he shares the honour of inventing the iambic metre. He was born in Samos, but led a colony to the neighbouring island of Amorgos, where he spent the greater part of his life. He is the earliest of the gnomic poets, or moralists in verse. The most important of his extant works is a satirical poem "On Women," in which he describes their various cha- racters. In order to give a livelier image of the female character, he derives their different qualities from the variety of their origin ; the cunning woman being formed from the fox, the talkative woman from the dog, the uncleanly woman from tho swine, and so on. The following is a specimen of the poem ; — " Nest in the lot a gallant dame we see, Sprang from a mare of noble pedigree. No servile work her spirit proud can brook; Her hands were never taught to bake or cook ; The vapour of the oven makes her ill ; She scorns to empty slops or turn the mill. No household wasliings her fair skin deface, Her own ablutions are her chief solace. Three baths a day, with balms and perfumes rare, Refresh her tender limbs : her long rich hair Each time she combs, and decks with bloomhig flowers. No spouse more fit than she the idle hours Of wealthy lords or kings to recreate, And grace the splendour of their courtly state. For men of humbler sort, no better guide Heaven, in its wrath, to ruin can provide." f § 7. Tyrtseus and Alcman were the two great lyric poets of Sparta, though neither of them was a native of Lacedamion. The personal history of Tyrtoeus, and his warlike songs, which roused the fainting courage of tho Spartans during the second Messenian war, have already occupied our attention. I Alcman was originally a Lydian slave in a Spartan family, and was eman- cipated by his master. He lived from about B.C. 670 to 611 ; and most of his poems were composed in the period which fol- lowed tho conclusion of the second Messenian war. They par- * Translated by the Marquis V/elleslcy. t Translated by Colonel Mure. } See above, p, 75. B.C. 625. S1M0NIDES. ALCMAN. ARION. 131 take of the character of this period, which was one of repose and enjoyment after the fatigues and perils of war. Many of his songs celebrate the pleasures of good eatiDg and drinking ; but the more important were intended to be sung by a chorus at the public festivals of Sparta. His description of Night is one of the most striking remains of his genius : — " Now o'er the drowsy earth still Night prevails. Calm sleep the mountain tops and shady vales, The rugged cliffs and hollow glens ; The wild beasts slumber in their dens ; The cattle on the hill. Deep in the sea The countless finny race and monster brood Tranquil repose. Even the busy bee Forgets her daily toil. The silent wood No more with noisy hum of insect rings ; And all the feather'd tribes, by gentle sleep subduea, Roost in the glade, and hang their drooping wings." * § 8. Although choral poetry was successfully cultivated by Alcman, it received its chief improvements from Arion and Stesichorus. Both of these poets composed for a trained body of men ; while the poems of Alcman were sung by the popular chorus. Arion was a native of Methymna in Lesbos, and spent a great part of his life at the court of Periander, tyrant of Corinth, who began to reign B.C. 625. Nothing is known of his life beyond the beautiful story of his escape from the sailors with whom he sailed from Sicily to Corinth. On one occasion, thus runs the story, Arion went to Sicily to take part in a musical contest. He won the prize, and, laden with presents, he embarked in a Corinthian ship to return to his friend Periander. The rude sailors coveted his treasures, and meditated his murder. After imploring them in vain to spare his hfe, he obtained permission to play for the last time on his beloved lyre. In festal attire ho placed himself on the prow of the vessel, invoked the gods in inspired strains, and then threw himself into the sea. But many song-loving dolphins had assembled round the vessel, and one of them now took the bard on its back, and earned him to Tsenaruin, from whence he returned to Corinth in safety, and related his adventure to Periander. Upon the arrival of the Corinthian vessel, Periander inquired of the sailors after Arion, who replied that he had remained behind at Tarentum ; but when Arion, at the bidding of Periander, came forward, tho sailors owned their guilt, and were punished according to their * Translated by Colonel Mure. K 2 132 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIIL desert. In later times there existed at Toenarum a bronze monu- ment representing Arion riding on a dolphin. The great im- provement in lyric poetry ascribed to Arion is the invention of the Dithyramb. This was a choral song and dance in honour of the god Dionysus, and existed in a rude form even at an earlier time. Arion, however, converted it into an elaborate composition, sung and danced by a chorus of fifty persons spe- cially trained for the purpose. The Dithyramb is of great in- terest in the history of poetry, since it was the germ from which sprung at a later time the magnificent productions of the tragic Muse at Athens. Stesichorus was a native of Himera in Sicily. Ho is said to have been born in B. c. 632, to have flourished about B. c. 608, and to have died in B. c. 560. Ho travelled in many parts of Greece, and was buried in Catana, where his grave was shown near a gate of the city in later times. He introduced such great improvements into the Greek chorus, that he is frequently de- scribed as the inventor of choral poetry. He was the first to break the monotony of the choral song, which had consisted pre- viously of nothing more than one uniform stanza, by dividing it into the Strophe, the Antistrophe, and the Epodus — the turn, the return, and the rest. § 9. Alcoeus and Sappho were both natives of Mytilene, in the island of Lesbos, and flourished about B. c. 610 — 580. Their songs were composed for a single voice, and not for the chorus, and they were each the inventor of a new metre, which bears their name, and is familiar to us by the well known odes of Ho- race. Their poetry was the warm outpouring of the writers' inmost feelings, and presents the lyric poetry of the /Eolians at its highest point. Of the life of Alcaous we have several interesting particulars. He fought in the war between the Athenians and Mytilenooans for the possession of Sigeum (b. c. 606), and incurred the disgrace of leaving his arms behind him on the field of battle. He en- joyed, notwithstanding, the reputation of a brave and skilful warrior, and his hou.se is described by himself as furnished with the weapons of war rather than with the instruments of his art. He took an active part in the civil dissensions of his native state, and warmly espoused the cause of the aristocratieal party, to which he belonged by birth. When the nobles were driven into exile, he endeavoured to cheer their spirits by a number of most animated odes, full of invectives against the popular party aud its leaders. In order to oppose the attempts of the exiled nobles, Pittacus was unanimously chosen by tho people as iEsymnetes or Dictator. Ho held his office for ten years (b. c. 5£9— 579), B.C. 600. STESICHORUS. ALCiEUS. SAPPHO. 133 and during that time he defeated all the efforts of the exiles, and established the constitution on a popular basis. When Alcaeus perceived that all hope of restoration to his native country was gone, he travelled into Egypt and other lands. The fragments of his poems which remain, and the excellent imitations of Horace, enable us to understand something of their character. Those which have received the highest praise are his warlike odes,* of which we have a specimen in the fol- lowing description of his palace halls : — " From floor to roof the spacious palace halls Glitter with war's array ; With burnish'd metal clad, the lofty walls Beam like the bright noon day. There white-plumed helmets hang from many a nail, Above in threatening row ; Steel-garnish'd tunics, and broad coats of mail, Spread o'er the space below. Chalcidian blades enow, and belts are here, Greaves and emblazon'd shields ; Well-tried protectors from the hostile spear On other battle-fields. With these good helps our work of war 's begun , With these our victory must be won." f In some of his poems Alcaeus described the hardships of exile, and the perils he encountered in his wanderings by land and by sea ;% while in others he sang of the pleasures of love and of wine. Sappho, the contemporary of Alcaeus, whom he addresses as "the dark-haired, spotless, sweetly smiling Sappho," was the greatest of all the Greek poetesses. The ancient writers agree in expressing the most unbounded admiration for her poetry : Plato in an extant epigram calls her the tenth Muse ; and it is related of Solon, that, on hearing for the first time the recital of one of her poems, he prayed that he might not see death until he had committed it to memory. Of the events of her life we have scarcely any information ; and the common story that, being in love with Phaon and finding her love unrequited, she leaped down from the Leucadian rock, seems to have been an invention oi later times. AtMytilene Sappho was the centre of a female lite* * " Alcaei minaces Camenje." — HoR. Carm. iv. 9, 7. f Translated by Colonel Mure. J " Et te sonantem plenius aureo, Alcaee, plectro dura navis, Dura fugse mala, dura belli." — Hob. Carm. ii. 13, 2G. f34 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIII. rary society, the members of which were her pupils in poetry, fashion, and gallantry. Modern writers have indeed attempted to prove that the moral character of Sappho was free from all re- proach, and that her tenderness was as pure as it was glowing ; but it is impossible to read the extant fragments of her poetry without being forced to come to the conclusion that a female who coidd write such verses could not be the pure and virtuous woman which her modern apologists pretend. Her poems were chiefly amatory,* and the most important of the fragments which have been preserved is a magnificent ode to the Goddess of Love. In several of Sappho's fragments we perceive the exquisite taste with which she employed images drawn from nature, of which we have an example in the beautiful hne imitated by Byron, — " O Hesperus ! thou bringest all good things." § 10. Anacreon is the last Lyric poet of this period who claims our attention. He was a native of the Ionian city of Teos. Ho spent part of his hfe at Samos, under the patronage of Poly- crates, in whose praise he wrote many songs. After the death of this despot (b. c. 522), he went to Athens, at the invitation of Hipparchus, who sent a galley of fifty oars to fetch him. He remained at Athens till the assassination of Hipparchus (b. c. 514), when he is supposed to have returned to Teos. The uni- versal tradition of antiquity represents Anacreon as a consum- mate voluptuary ; and his poems prove the truth of the tradition. He sings of love and wine with hearty good will, and we see in him the luxury of the Ionian inflamed by the fervour cf the poet. His death was worthy of his life, if we may believe the account that he was choked by a grape-stone. Only a few genuine frag- ments of his poems have come down to us, for the odes ascribed to him are now universally admitted to be spurious. § 11. Down to the end of the seventh century be fere Christ literary celebrity in Greece was exclusively confined to the poets ; but at the commencement of the following century there sprang up in different parts of Greece a number of men who, under the name of the Seven Sages, became distinguished for their practi- cal sagacity and wise sayings or maxims. Their names are differently given in the various popular catalogues ; but those most generally admitted to the honour are Solon, Thales, Pitta- cus, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilo, and Bias. Most of theso per- sonages were actively engaged in the affairs of public life, and * " spirat. adhuc amor Vivuntque commissi calores /Eolia; fidibus puella?." — IIou. Cann. ir. 9, 10. B.C. 600. THE SEVEN SAGES. 135 exercised great influence upon their contemporaries. They were the authors of the celebrated mottoes inscribed in later days in the Delphian temple — " Know thyself," — " Nothing too much," — " Know thy opportunity," — " Suretyship is the precursor of ruin." Of Solon, the legislator of Athens, and of Periander, the despot of Corinth, we have already spoken at length ; and Thales will presently claim our notice as the founder of Grecian philo- sophy. Pittacus has been mentioned in connexion with the life of Al casus, as the wise and virtuous ruler of Mytilene, who re- signed the sovereign power which his fellow-citizens had volun- tarily conferred upon him, after establishing political order in the state. The maxims attributed to him illustrate the amiable features of his character. He pronounced " the greatest bless- ing which a man can enjoy to be the power of doing good ;" that " the most sagacious man was he who foresaw the approach of misfortune ;" " the bravest man he who knew how to bear it ;" that " victory should never be stained by blood ;" and that " pardon was often a more effectual check on crime than punish- ment." Cleobulus was despot of Lindus, in the island of Ehodes, and is only known by his pithy sayings. He taught that " a man should never leave his dwelling without considering well what he was about to do, or re-enter it without reflecting on what be had done ;" and that " it was folly in a husband either to fondle or reprove his wife in company." Chilo, of Sparta, had tilled the office of Ephor in his native city, and his daughter was married to the Spartan king Demara- tus. When asked what were the three most difficult things in a man's life, he replied : " To keep a secret, to forgive injuries, and to make a profitable use of leisure time." Bias, of Priene in Ionia, appears to have been the latest of the Seven Sages, since he was alive at the Persian conquest of the Ionian cities. The following are specimens of his maxims : he declared " the most unfortunate of all men to be the man who knows not how to bear misfortune ;" that " a man should bo slow in making up his mind, but swift in executing his deci- sions ;" that " a man should temper his love for his friends by the reflection that they might some day become his enemies, and moderate his hatred of his enemies by the reflection that they might some day become his friends." When overtaken by a storm on a voyage with a dissolute crew, and hearing them offer up prayers for their safety, he advised them rather "to be silent, lest the gods should discover that they were at sea." 136 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. Xlll. § 12. The history of Greek philosophy begins with Thales of Miletus, who was bom about B. c. 640, and died in 550, at the age of 90. He was the founder of the Iouic school of philosophy, and to him were traced the first beginnings of geometry and astronomy. The main doctrine of his philosophical system was, that water, or fluid substance, was the single original element from which every thing came and into which every thing returned. Anaximander, the successor of Thales in the Ionic school, lived from b. c. 610 to 547. He was distinguished for his knowledge of astronomy and geography, and is said to have been the first to introduce the use of the sun-dial into Greece. He was also one of the earliest Greek writers in prose, in which he composed a geographical treatise. He is further said to have constructed a chart or map to accompany this work ; and to this account we may give the more credence, since in the century after his death, at the time of the Ionic revolt, the Ionian Aristagoras showed to the Spartan Cleomenes " a tablet of copper, upon which was inscribed every known part of the habitable world, the seas, and the rivers." Anaximenes, the third in the series of the Ionian philosophers, lived a little later than Anaximauder. He endeavoured, like Thales, to derive the origin of all material things from a single element ; and, according to his theory, air was the source of lifo. In like manner, Heraclitus of Ephesus, who nourished about B. C. 513, regarded fire or heat as the primary form of all matter ; and theories of a similar nature were held by other philosophers of this school. A new path was struck out by Anaxagoras of Clazomence, the most illustrious of the Ionic philosophers. Anaxagoras was born in B.C. 499, and consequently his life, strictly speaking, belongs to the next period of Grecian history, but we mention him here in order to complete our account of the Ionic School. He came to Athens in 480 B.C., being then only in his twentieth year. Though he inherited a considerable property from his father, he resigned it all to his relatives, in order to devote himself entirely to philosophy. He continued to teach at Athens for thirty years, and numbered among his hearers Pericles, Socrates, and Euripides. He abandoned the system of his predecessors, and, instead of regarding some elementary form of matter as the origin of all things, he conceived a supreme mind or intelligence,* distinct from the visible world, to have imparted form and order to the chaos of nature. These innovations afforded the Athe- nians a pretext for indicting Anaxagoras of impiety, though it is B.C. 600. SCHOOLS OF PHILOSOPHY. 137 probable that his connexion with Pericles was the real cause of that proceeding. It was only through the influence and elo- quence of Pericles tLat he was not put to death ; but he was sentenced to pay a fine of five talents and quit Athens. The philosopher retired to Lampsacus, where he died at the age of 72. § 13. The second school of Greek philosophy was the Eleatic, Which derived its name from Elea or Velia, a Greek colony on the western coast of Southern Italy. It was founded by Xeno- phanes of Colophon, who fled to Elea on the conquest of his native land by the Persians. He conceived the whole of nature to be God, and did not hesitate to denounce as abominable the Homeric descriptions of the gods. His philosophical system was developed in the succeeding century by his successors, Parmenides and Zeno, who exercised great influence upon Greek Speculation by the acuteness of their dialectics. § 14. The third school of philosophy was founded by Pytha- goras. The history of this celebrated man has been obscured by the legends of later winters ; but there are a few important facts respecting him which are sufficiently well ascertained. He was a, native of Samos, and was born about b. c. 580. His father was an opulent merchant, and Pythagoras himself traveUed exten- sively in the East. His travels were greatly magnified by the credulity of a later age, but there can be no reasonable doubt that he visited Egypt, and perhaps also Phoenicia and Babylon He is said to have received instruction from Thales, Anaxi- mander, and other of the early Greek philosophers. Of his own philosophical views our knowledge is very limited ; since he left nothing behind him in writing, and the later doctrines of the Pythagoreans were naturally attributed to the founder of the school. It is certain, however, that he believed in the transmi- gration of souls ; and his contemporary Xenophanes related that Pythagoras seeing a dog beaten interceded in its behalf, saying— "It is the soul of a friend of mine, whom I recognize by its voice." Later writers added that Pythagoras asserted that his own soul had formerly dwelt in the body of the Trojan Euphorbus, the son of Panthous, who was slain by Menelaus. and that in proof of his assertion he took down, at first sight, the shield of Euphorbus from the temple of Hera (Juno) at Argos, where it had been dedicated by Menelaus.* Pythagoras * " habentque Tartara Panthoiden, iterum Oreo Demissum, quamvis clipeo Trojana refixo Tempora testatus, nihil ultra Nervos at^ue cutem morti concesserat atrae." Hou. Carm. i. 28. 10. 138 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIII, was distinguished by his knowledge of geometry and arithmetic ; and it was probably from his teaching that the Pythagoreans were led to regard numbers in some mysterious manner as the basis and essence of all things. We shall, however, form an er- roneous opinion of the character of Pythagoras, if we regard him simply as a philosopher, attaching to the word the same mean- ing which it bore among the Athenians of a later age. He was in fact more of the religious teacher than of the philosopher ; and he looked upon himself as a being destined by the gods to reveal to his disciples a new and a purer mode of life. The religious element in his character made a profound impression upon his contemporaries, and they believed him to stand in a close con- nexion with the gods. Pythagoras is said to have returned to Samos about the age of forty, with a mind deeply impressed with his divine mission. Finding the condition of his native country, which was then under the despotism of Polycrates, unfavourable to the dis- semination of his doctrines, he migrated to Croton in Italy. Here he met with the most wonderful success. His public exhortations induced numbers to enrol themselves as mem- bers of the new society which he sought to establish. This society was a kind of religious brotherhood, the members of which were bound together by peculiar rites and observances. There were various gradations among the members, and no can- didates were admitted without passing through a period of pro- bation, in which their intellectual faculties and general character were tested. Everything done and taught in the fraternity was kept a profound secret from all without its pale. It appears that the members had some private signs, like Freemasons, by which they could recognize each other, even if they had never met before. From the secrecy in which their proceedings were enveloped, we do not know the nature of their religious rites, nor the peculiar diet to which they are said to have been sub- jected. Some writers represent Pythagoras as forbidding all animal food ; but all the members cannot have been subjected to this prohibition, since we know that the celebrated athlete Milo was a Pythagorean, and it would not have been possible for him to have dispensed with animal food. But temperance was strictly enjoined ; and their whole training tended to produce great self- possession and mastery over the passions. Most of the converts of Pythagoras belonged to the noble and wealthy classes. Three hundred of them, most attached to their teacher, formed the nucleus of the society, and were closely united to Pythagoras and each other by a sacred vow. His doctrines spread rapidly over Magna Graccia, and clubs of a similar character were B.C. 530. PYTHAGORAS'. 1 39 established at Sybaris, Metapontum, Tarentum, and other cities. It does not appear that Pythagoras had originally any political designs in the foundation of the brotherhood ; but it was only natural that a club like that of the Three Hundred at Croton should speedily acquire great influence in the conduct of public affairs, which it uniformly exerted in favour of the oligarchical party, Pythagoras himself also obtained great political power. He did not, it is true, hold any public office, either at Croton or elsewhere ; but he was the general of a powerful and well- disciplined order, which appears to have paid implicit obedience to his commands, and which bore in many respects a striking resemblance to the one founded in modern times by Ignatius Loyola. The influence, howevei', exercised by the brotherhood upon public affairs proved its ruin. The support which it lent to the oligarchical party in the various cities, the secrecy of its proceedings, and the exclusiveness of its spirit produced against the whole system a wide-spread feeling of hatred. The conquest of Sybaris by Croton (b. c. 510), of which an account has been already given, seems to have elated the Pytha- goreans beyond measure. The war had been undertaken through the advice of Pythagoras himself; and the forces of Croton had been commanded by Milo, a member of the brother- hood. Accordingly, on the termination of the war, the Pytha- goreans opposed more actively than ever the attempts of the popular party to obtain a share in the government of Croton, and refused to divide among the people the territory of the conquered city. A revolution was the consequence. A demo- cratical form of government was established at Croton ; and the people now took revenge upon their powerful opponents. In an outbreak of popular fury an attack was made upon the house in which the leading Pythagoreans were assembled ; the house was set on fire ; and many of the members perished. Similar riots took place in the other cities of Magna Grcecia, in which Pytha- gorean clubs had been formed ; and civil dissensions ensued which, after lasting many years, were at length pacified by the friendly mediation of the Achoeans of the mother country. The Pythagorean order, as an active and organised brotherhood, was thus suppressed ; but the Pythagoreans continued to exist as a philosophical sect, and after some interval were again admitted into the cities from which they had been expelled. There were different accounts of the fate of Pythagoras himself ; but he is generally stated to have died at Metapontum, where his tomb was shown in the time of Cicero. Temple at ^Egina, restnrsd. CHAPTER XIV. HISTORY OF ART. § I. Perfection of Grecian art. § 2. Origin of architecture. § 3. Cjdopean walls. Treasury of Atreus. § 4. Architecture of temples. § 5. Three orders of architecture, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. § 6. Temples oi Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus, of Hera (Juno) at Samos, of Apollo at Delphi, and of Jove at Athens. Remains of temples at Posidonia (Pscstum), Selinus, and jEgina. § 7. Origin of sculpture. Wooden images of the gods. Sculptured figures on architectural monuments. Lions over the gate at Mycena;. § 8. Improvements in sculpture in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. § 9. Extant specimens of Grecian sculpture. The Selinun* tine, jEginelan, and I.ycian marbles. § 10. History of painting. § 1. The perfection of Greek art is still more wonderful than the perfection of Greek literature. In poetry, history, and oratory, other languages have produced works which may stand comparison with the master-pieces of Greek literature ; but in architecture and sculpture the pre-eminence of the Hellenic race Is acknowledged by the whole civilized world, and the most suc- cessful artist of modern times only hopes to approach, and dreams not of surpassing the glorious creations of Grecian art. The art of a people is not only a most interesting branch of its antiquities, but also an important part of its history. It forms Chap XIV. AROHITECTUEE. 141 one of the most durable evidences of. a nation's growth in civi- lization and social progress. The remains of the Parthenon alone would have borne the most unerring testimony to the intel- lectual and social greatness of Athens, if the history of Greece had been a blank, and the names of Pericles and Phidias un- known. § 2. Architecture first claims our attention in tracing the his- tory of Grecian art, since it attained a high degree of exceUence at a much earlier period than either sculpture or painting. Architecture has its origin in nature and in religion. The neces- sity of a habitation for man, and the attempt to erect habitations suitable for the gods, are the two causes from which the art derives its existence. In Greece, however, as in most other countries, architecture was chiefly indebted to religion for its development ; and hence its history, as a fine art, is closely con- nected with that of the temple. But before speaking of the Grecian temples, it is necessary to say a few words respecting the earlier buildings of the Greeks. § 3. The oldest works erected by Grecian hands are those gigantic walls which are still found at Tiryns and Mycenae, and other cities of Greece. They consist of enormous blocks of stone put together without cement of any kind, though they differ from one another in the mode of their construction. In the most ancient specimens, the stones are of irregular polygonal shapes, and no attempt is made to fit them into one another, the gaps being filled up with smaller stones : of this we have an example in the walls of the citadel of Tiryns. "iVall at Tiryns. In other cases the stones, though they are still of irregular polygonal shapes, are skilfully hewn and fitted to one another, and their faces are cut so as to give the whole wall a smooth 142 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIV. appearance A specimen of this kind is seen in the walls of Larissa, the citadel of Argos. In the third species the stones Wall of the Citadel of Argos. are more or less regular, and are laid in horizontal courses. The walls of Mycenae present one of the best examples of this structure. (See drawing on p. 25.) These gigantic walls are generally known by the name of Cyclopean, because posterity could not believe them to be the works of man. Modern writers assign them to the Pelasgians ; but we know nothing of their origin, though we may safely believe them to belong to the earliest periods of Greek history. In the Homeric poems we find the cities of Greece surrounded with massive walls ; and the poet speaks of the chief cities of the Argive kingdom as "the walled Tiryns," and " Mycenae, the well-built city." The only other remains which can be regarded as con- temporary with these massive walls are those subterraneous dome-shaped edifices usually supposed to have been the trea- suries of the heroic kings. This, however, seems doubtful, and many modern writers maintain them to have been the family- vaults of the ancient heroes by whom they were erected. The best preserved monument of this kin'd is the one at Mycenae, where we find so many remains of the earliest Grecian art. This building, generally called the Treasury of Atreus, is entirely under ground. It contains two chambers, the one upon entrance being a large vault about fifty feet in width, and forty in height, giving access to a small chamber excavated in the solid rock. The building is constructed of horizontal courses of masonry, which gradually approach and unite in the top in a closing stone. Its principle is that of a wall resisting a superincumbent weight, and deriving strength and coherence from the weight itself, which is in reahty the principle of the arch. The doorway of the monument was formerly adorned with pilasters and other ornaments in marble of different colours. It appears to have been lined in the interior with bronze plates, the holes for the nails of which are still visible in horizontal rows. Chap. XIV. TEMPLES. 143 § 4. The temple3 of the gods were originally small in size and mean in appearance. The most ancient were nothing but hollow trees, in which the images of the gods were placed, since the temple in early times was simply the habitation of the deity, and not a place for the worshippers. As the nation grew in know- ledge and in civilisation, the desire naturally arose of improving and embellishing the habitations of their deities. The tree was first exchanged for a wooden house. The form of the temple was undoubtedly borrowed from the common dwellings of men. Among the Greeks of Asia Minor, we still find an exact con- formity of style and arrangement between the wooden huts now occupied by the peasantry, and the splendid temples of antiquity. XJI 2 >3 5 SO >J2X'X» J x^TTJaxp^ S^ Wooden liut in Asia Minor. The wooden habitation of the god gave way in turn to a temple of stone. In the erection of these sacred edifices, architecture made great and rapid progress ; and even as early as the sixth century there were many magnificent temples erected in va- rious parts of Hellas. Most of the larger temples received their light from an opening in the centre of the building, and were for this reason called liypathral,* or under the sky. They usually consisted of three parts, the pronaos,-\ or vestibule ; the naos,% or cella, which contained the statue of the deity, and the opistho- domus,§ or back-building, in which the treasures of the temple were frequently kept. The form of the temples was very simple, being either oblong or round ; and their grandeur was owing to the beautiful combination of columns which adorned the interior as well as the outside. These columns either surrounded the building entirely, or were arranged in porticoes on one or more of its fronts ; and according to their number and distribution temples have been classified both by ancient and modern writers on architecture. Columns were originally used simply to sup- port the roof of the building ; and, amidst all the elaborations of * vjraifi^ef. f TrpoVaos, J ra&, also called $'yos, zophoms. * KoonvIs, coronis. Chap. XIV TEMPLES. 145 relief. The cornice projects far, and on its under side are cut several sets of drops, called rnutules. The Ionic order is distinguished by simple gracefulness, and by a much richer style of ornament than the Doric. The shaft of the column is much more slender, and rests upon a base ; while the capital is adorned by spiral volutes. The architrave is in three faces, the one slightly projecting beyond the other ; there is a small cornice between the architrave and the frieze, and all three members of the entablature are more or less orna- mented with mouldings. ^ j>m$m!m vmwsL™2.°m Doric Architecture. From Temple at Phigalia. Ionic Architecture. From the Erechtheum. The Corinthian order is only a later form of the Ionic, and be- longs to a period subsequent to the one treated in the present book. It is especially characterized by its beautiful capital, which is said to have been suggested to the mind of the celebrated sculp- tor Callimachus by the sight of a basket, covered by a tile, and overgrown by the leaves of an acanthus, on which it had accident- ally boon placed. The earliest known example of its use through- Gb. l 146 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIV. out a building is in the monument of Lysicrates, commonly called the Lantern of Demosthenes, which was built in B. c. 335. m Corinthian Architecture. From Monument of Lysicrates. § 6. Passing over the earlier Greek temples, we find at the be- ginning of the sixth century B. c. several magnificent buildings of this kind mentioned by the ancient writers. Of these two of the most celebrated were the temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus, and the temple of Hera (Juno) at Samos. The former was erected on a gigantic scale, and from its size and magni- ficence was regarded as one of the wonders of the world. It was commenced about B.C. 600, under the superintendence of the architects Chcrsiphron and his son Metagenes, of Cnossus in Crete, but it occupied many years in building. The material employed was white marble, and the order of architecture adopted was the Ionic. Its length was -125 feet, its breadth Chap. XIV. TEMPLES. 147 220 feet ; the columns were 60 feet in height, and 127 in number ; and the blocks of marble composing the architrave were 30 feet in length. This wonder of the world was burnt down by Herostratus, in order to immortalise himself, on the same night that Alexander the Great was born (b. c. 356) ; but it was afterwards rebuilt with still greater magnificence by the contributions of all the states of Asia Minor. The temple of Hera (Juno) at Samos was begun about the same time as the one at Ephesus ; but it appears to have been finished much earlier, since it was the largest temple with which Herodotus was acquainted. It was 346 feet in length, and 189 in breadth, and was originally built in the Doric style, but the existing remains belong to the Ionic order. The architects were Rhoecus, and his son Theodoras, both natives of Samos. In the latter half of the same century the temple of Delphi was rebuilt after its destruction by fire in B.C. 548. The sum required for the erection of this temple was 300 talents, or about 115,000/., which had to be collected from the various cities in the Hellenic world. The contract for the building was taken by the Alcrnseonidse, and the magnificent manner in which they ex- ecuted the work has been already mentioned. It was in the Doric style, and the front was cased with Parian marble. About the same time Pisistratus and his sons commenced the temple of the Olympian Jove at Athens. It was a colossal fabric in the Doric style, 359 feet in length by 173 in breadth, and was only completed by the emperor Hadrian, 650 years after its foundation. The temples mentioned above have entirely disappeared, with the exception of a few columns ; but others erected in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. have withstood more successfully the ravages of time. Of these the most perfect and the most striking are the two temples at Posidonia, or Paestum, the colony of Sy- baris in southern Italy, the remains of which still fill the beholder with admiration and astonishment The larger of the two, which is the more ancient, is characterised by the massive simplicity of the ancient Doric style. It is 195 feet long by 75 feet wide. There are likewise considerable remains of three ancient temples at Selinus in Sicily, built in the Doric style. The temple of Jove PanheUenius, in the island of iEgina, of which many columns are stiU standing, was probably erected in the sixth century B.C., and not after the Persian wars, as is stated by many modern writers. It stands in a sequestered and lonely spot in the north-east corner of the island, overlooking the sea and com- manding a view of the opposite coast of Attica. It is in the Doric style ; and the front elevation, as restored, is exhibited in the engraving at the head of this chapter. L 2 148 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIV. § 7. Sculpture, or to use a more correct expression, Statuary, owed its origin, like architecture, to religion. The only statues in Greece were for a long time those of the gods ; and it was not till about B.C. 550 that statues began to be erected in honour of men. The most ancient representations of the gods did not even pretend to be images, but were only symbolical signs of their presence, and were often nothing more than unhewn blocks of stone or simple pieces of wood. Sometimes there was a real statue of the god, carved in wood, of which material the most ancient statues were exclusively made.* The art of carving in wood was confined to certain families, and was handed down from father to son. Such families are represented in Attica by the mythical name of Daedalus, and in iEgina by the equally mythical name of Smilis, from both of whom many artists of a later age traced their descent. The hereditary cultivation of the art tended to repress its improvement and development ; and the carvers long continued to copy from generation to generation the exact type of each particular god. These wooden figures were frequently painted and clothed, and were decorated with diadems, ear-rings, and necklaces, and in course of time were partly covered with gold or ivory. Statues in marble or metal did not begin to be made till the sixth century B.C. Though statuary proper, or the construction of a round figure standing by itself, continued in a rude state for a long time m Greece, yet sculptured figures on architectural monu- ments were executed at an early period in a superior style of art. One of the earliest specimens of sculpture still extant is the work in relief above the ancient gate at Mycenae, representing two lions standing on their hind legs with a kind of pillar be- tween them. They are figured on p. 25. § 8. About the beginning of the sixth century B.C. a fresh impulse was given to statuaiy, as well as to the other arts, by the discovery of certain mechanical processes in the use and application of the metals. Glaucus of Chios is mentioned as the inventor of the art of soldering metal; f and Rhoocus and Theodoras of Sarnos, who have been already spoken of as archi- tects, invented the art of casting figures of bronze in a mould. The magnificent temples, which began to be built about the same period, called into exercise the art of the sculptor, since the friezes and pediments were usually adorned with figures in relief. Dipcenus and Scyllis of Crete, who practised their art at Sicyon about B.C. 580, were the first sculptors who obtained renown for thoir statues in marble. They founded a school of art in Sicyon, * A wooden statue was called £/a»av, from \lo>, " polish" or " carve." t r<3ii<350 k'^ ">-«■•*, Herod, i. 25. Chap. XIV. STATUARY. 149 which long enjoyed great celebrity. The other most distin- guished schools of art were at Samos, Chios, iEgina, and Argos. The practice of erecting statues of the victors in the great public games, which commenced about B.C. 550, was likewise of great service in the development of the art. In forming these statues the sculptor was not tied down by a fixed type, as in the case of the images of the gods, and consequently gave greater play to his inventive powers. The improvement thus produced in the statues of men was gradually extended to the images of the gods ; and the artist was emboldened to depart from the ancient models, and to represent the gods under new forms of beauty and grandeur. Nevertheless even the sculptures which belong to the close of the present period still bear traces of the religious restraints of an earlier age, and form a transition from the hardness and stiffness of the archaic style to that ideal beauty which was shortly afterwards developed in the sublime works of Phidias. § 9. Among the remains of the sculpture of this period still extant, those most worthy of notice are the reliefs in the metopes of the temple of Selinus, the statues on the pediments of the temple of iEgina, and the reliefs on the great monument recently discovered at Xanthus in Lycia. The two reliefs given on p. 114 are taken from the metopes of two temples at Selinus, The first, belonging to the more ancient of the temples, which was probably built about B.C. 600, represents Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa, with the assistance of Pallas. The work is very rude and very inferior, both in style and execution, to the lions over the gate at Mycenae. The second, belonging to the more recent of the temples, probably erected in the latter half of the fifth century, exhibits a marked improvement. It repre- sents Actaeon metamorphosed into a stag by Artemis (Diana), and torn to pieces by his own dogs. Two of the statues on one of the pediments of the temple at iEgina are represented on pp. 16, 17. These statues were dis- covered in 1812, and are at present in the collection at Munich. They have been restored by Thorwaldsen. The subject is Athena (Minerva) leading the iEacids or ^Eginetan heroes in the war against the Trojans. There are traces of colour on the clothes, arms, eye-balls, and lips, but not on the flesh ; and it appears, from the many small holes found in the marble, that bronze armour was fixed to the statues by means of nails. There i9 great animation in the figures, but their gestures are too violent and abrupt ; and one may still perceive evident traces of the archaic style. The close imitation of nature is very striking. The reliefs on the monument at Xanthus in Lycia were evi- 150 HISTORY OF GitEECK Ciiai-.XIV. deutly executed by Greek artists, and probably about the same time as the /Eginctan statues. The monument consists of a quadrangular tower of limestone on a base, and was surrounded on four sides by marble friezes at the height of 20 feet from the ground. On these friezes, which are now in the British Museum, there are sculptures representing various mythological subjects ; and, from the ends of the narrower sides containing four beau- tiful Harpies carrying ofl* maidens, the building is frequently called the Harpy Monumene. The general character of these sculptures is an antique simplicity of style, united with grace and elegance of execution. § 10. Painting is not mentioned as an imitative art in the earliest records of Grecian literature. Homer does not speak of any kind of painting, although he frequently describes gar- ments inwoven with figures. The fine arts in all countries appear to have been indebted to religion for their development ; and since painting was not connected in early times with the worship of the gods, it long remained behind the sister arts of architecture and sculpture. For a considerable period all paint- ing consisted in colouring statues and architectural monuments, of which we find traces in the ruins of the temples already described. The first improvements in painting were made in the schools of Corinth and Sicyon ; and the most ancient speci- mens of the art which have come down to us are found on the oldest Corinthian vases, which may be assigned to the beginning of the sixth century B.C. About the same time painting began to be cultivated in Asia Minor, along with architecture and sculpture. The paintings of the town of Phocoea are mentioned on the capture of that city by Harpagus in B.C. 544 ; and a few years afterwards (b.c. 508) Mandrocles, wdio constructed for Darius the bridge of boats across the Bosporus, had a picture painted representing the passage of the army and the king him- self seated on a throne reviewing the troops as they passed. The only great painter, however, of this period, whose name lias been preserved, is Cimon of Cleona>, whoso date is uncertain, but who probably must not be placed later than the time of Pisistratus and his sons (B.C. 560-510). He introduced great improvements into the art, and thus prepared the way for tho perfection in which it appears at tho beginning of the following period. His works probably held the same place in the history of painting which the /Eginctan marbles occupy in the history of sculpture, forming a transition from the archaic stiffness of the old school to tho ideal beauty of the paintings of Polygnotua of TLosos. Cyrus, from a bas-relief at Fosargadje. BOOK III. THE PERSIAN WARS. b.c. 500—478. CHAPTER XV THB Rl&E AND GROWTH OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 1. Introduction. § 2. The Assyrian Empire. § 3. The Median Empire, § 4. The Babylonian Empire. § 5. The Lydian Monarchy, and its influ- ence upon the Asiatic Greeks. § 6. Conquest of the Asiatic Greeks by Croesus, king of Lydia. § 7. Foundation of the Persian Empire by Cyrus, and overthrow of the Median Empire by the latter. § 8. Conquest of the Lydian Monarchy by Cyrus. § 9. Conquest of the Asiatic Greeks by Harpagus, the general of Cyrus. Death of Cyrus. §10. Reigns of Cam- byses and of the false Smerdis, §11. History of Polycrates, despot of 152 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XV. Saraos. § 12. Accession of Darius, son of Hystaspes. His organization of the Persian Empire. § 13. Invasion of Scythia by Darius. § 14. Sub- jection of Thrace and Macedonia to the Persian Empire. 1. The period upon which we are now entering is the most brilliant in the history of Greece. The subject has hitherto been confined to the history of separate and isolated cities, which were but little affected by each other's prosperity or adversity. But the Persian invasion produced an important change in the relations of the Greek cities. A common danger drew them closer together and compelled them to act in concert. Thus Grecian history obtains a degree of unity, and consequently of interest. The rise and progress of the Persian empire, which produced such important results upon the Grecian states, there- fore claim our attention ; but in order to understand the subject aright, it is necessary to go a little further back, and to glance at the history of those monarchies which were overthrown by the Persians. § 2. From the first dawn of history to the present day the East has been the seat of vast and mighty empires. Of these the earliest and the most extensive was founded by the Assyrian kings, who resided at the city of Nineveh on the Tigris. At the time of its greatest prosperity this empire appears to have ex- tended over the south of Asia, from the Indus on the east to the Mediterranean sea on the west. Of its history we have hardly any particulars ; but its greatness is attested by the una- nimous voice of sacred and profane writers ; and the wonder- ful discoveries which have been made within the last few years in the earthen mounds which entcmb the ancient Nineveh afford unerring testimony of the progress which the Assyrians had made in architecture, sculpture, and the arts of civilized life. At the beginning of the eighth century before the Christian era the power of this vast empire was broken by the revolt of the Medes and Babylonians, who had hitherto been its subjects. The city of Nineveh still continued to exist as the seat of an independent kingdom, but the greater part of its dominions was divided between the Medes and Babylonians. § 3. The Medes belonged to that branch of the Indo- Germanic family inhabiting the vast space of country known by the general name of Iran or Aria, which extends south of the Caspian and the Oxus, from the Indus on the east to Mount Zagros on the west — a range of mountains running parallel to the Tigris and eastward of that river. The north-western part of this country was occupied by the Medes, and their capital Ecbatana was situated in a mountainous and healthy district, which was cele- brated for the freshness and coolness of its climate in the sum- Chap. XV. THE ASSYRIAN AND MEDIAN EMPIRES. 153 mer heats. Their language was a dialect of the Zend ; and their religion was the one which had been founded by Zoroaster. They worshipped fire as the symbol of the Deity, and their priests were the Magi, who formed a distinct class or caste, pos- sessing great influence and power in the state. The people were brave and warlike, and under their successive monarchs they gradually extended their dominion from the Indus on the east to the river Halys in the centre of Asia Minor on the west. Their most celebrated conquest was the capture of Nineveh, which they rased to the ground in B.C. 606.* § 4. The Babylonians were a Semitic people. Their territory comprised the fertile district between the Tigris and the Eu- phrates, and their capital, Babylon, situated on the latter river, was one of the greatest cities in the ancient world. Herodotus, who visited it in its decline, describes its size and grandeur in terms which would exceed belief, if the truthfulness of the his- torian was not above all suspicion. It was built in the form of a square, of which each side was 15 miles in length, and it was surrounded by walls of prodigious size, 300 feet high and 75 feet thick. Under Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian empire reached its height. This monarch extended his dominions as far as the confines of Egypt. He took Jerusalem, and carried away its in- habitants into captivity, and he annexed to his dominions both Judea and Phoenicia. On his death, in B.C. 562, he bequeathed to his son Labynetus a kingdom which extended from the Tigris to the frontiers of Egypt and the south of Phoenicia. § 5. The Median and Babylonian empires did not include any countries inhabited by the Greeks, and exercised only a remote influence upon Grecian civilization. There was, however, a third power, which rose upon the ruins of the Assyrian empire, with which the Greeks were brought into immediate contact. This was the Lydian monarchy, whose territory was originally confined to the fertile district eastward of Ionia, watered by the Cayster and the Hermus. The capital of the monarchy was Sardis, which was situated on a precipitous rock belonging to the ridge of Mount Tmolus. Here three dynasties of Lydian kings are said to have reigned. Of the two first we have no account, and it is probable that, down to the commencement of the third of these dynasties, Lydia formed a province of the Assyrian empire. However this may be, the history of Lydia begins only with the accession of Gyges, the founder of the third dynasty ; and it * According to Herodotus, there were four Median kings : — 1. Deioces, the founder of the empire, who xeigned B.C. 710-657; 2. Phraortes, b.g 657-635; 3 Cyaxares, B.C. 635-595 ; 4. Astyages, B.C. 595-559. 154 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XT. cannot be a mere accident that the beginning of his reign is nearly coincident with the decline of the Assyrian empire and the foundation of the independent monarchies of the Babylonians and Medes.* Under Gyges and his successors Sardis became the centre of a powerful and civilized monarchy ; and the existence of such a Btate in close proximity to the Greek cities in Ionia exercised an important influence upon the latter. The Lydians were a wealthy and industrious people, carrying on an extensive commerce, prac- tising manufactures and acquainted with various arts. The Lydians are said to have been the first people to coin money of gold and silver ; and of the former metal they obtained largo quantities in the sands of the river Pactolus, which flowed down from Mount Tmolus towards the Hermus. From them the Ionic Greeks derived various improvements in the useful and the ornamental arts, especially in the weaving and dyeing of fine fabrics, in the processes of metallurgy, and in the style of their music. The growth of the Lydian monarchy in wealth and civilization was attended with another advantage to the Grecian cities on the coast. As the territory of the Lydians did not originally extend to the sea, the whole of their commerce with the Mediterranean passed through the Grecian cities, and was carried on in Grecian ships. This contributed greatly to the prosperity and wealth of Miletus, Phoccea, and the other Ionian cities. § 6. But while the Asiatic Greeks were indebted for so much of their grandeur and opulence to the Lydian monarchy, the increasing power of the latter eventually deprived them of their political independence. Even Gyges had endeavoured to reduce them to subjection, and the attempt was renewed at various times by his successors ; but it was not till the reign of Croesus, the last king of Lydia, who succeeded to the throne in B.C. 560, that the Asiatic Greeks became the subjects of a barbarian power. This monarch succeeded in the enterprise in which his predecessors had failed. He began by attacking Ephesus, and reduced in succession all the other Grecian cities on the coast. His rule, however, was not oppressive ; he appears to have been content with the payment of a moderate tribute, and to have permitted the cities to regulate their own affairs. lie next turned his arms towards the east, and subdued all the nations in Asia Minor west of tin' river Halys, with the exception of the Lycians and Cilicians. The fame of Croesus and of his countless * According to Herodotus, there were five Lydian kings: — 1. Gyges, who reigned B.C. 716-678; 2. Ardys, B.C. 673-629 ; ". Sadyattes, B.C. 629-617? 4. Alyattes, B.C. 617-560; 5. Croesus, b.c 560-5' J. Chap. XV. THE BABYLONIAN AND LYDIAN EMPIKES. 155 treasures now resounded through Greece. He spoke the Greek language, welcomed Greek guests, and reverenced the Greek oracles, which he enriched with the most munificent offerings. The wise men of Greece were attracted to Sardis by the famo of his power and of his wealth. Among his other visitors he is said to have entertained Solon ; but the celebrated story of the interview between the Athenian sage and the Lydian monarch, which the stem laws of chronology compel us to reject, has already been narrated in a previous part of this work.* Croesus deemed himself secure from the reach of calamities, and his kingdom appeared to be placed upon a firm and last- ing foundation. His own subjects were submissive and obe- dient ; and he was closely connected with the powerful monarchs of Media, Babylon, and Egypt. Astyages, the king of Media, whose territories adjoined his own, was his brother-in-law ; and he had formed an alliance and friendship with Labynetus, king of Babylon, and Amasis, king of Egypt. The four kings seemed to have nothing to fear either from internal commotions or ex- ternal foes. Yet within the space of a few years their dynasties were overthrown, and their territories absorbed in a vast empire, founded by an adventurer till then unknown by name. § 7. The rise and fall of the great Asiatic monarchies have been characterized by the same features in ancient and modern times. A brave and hardy race, led by its native chief, issues either from the mountains or from the steppes of Asia, ovei*runs the more fertile and cultivated parts of the continent, con- quers the effeminate subjects of the existing monarchies, and places its leader upon the throne of Asia. But the descendants of the new monarch and of the conquering race give way to sen- suality and sloth, and fall victims in their turn to the same bravery in another people, which had given the sovereignty to their ancestors. The history of Cyrus, the great founder of th«s Persian empire, is an illustration of these remarks. It is true that the earlier portion of his life is buried under a heap of fables, and that it is impossible to determine whether he was the grandson of the Median king, Astyages, as is commonly stated ; but it does not admit of doubt, that he led the warlike Persians from their mountainous homes to a series of conquests, which secured him an empire extending from the iEgean to the Indus, and from the Caspian and the Oxus, to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The Persians were of the same race as the Medes, spoke a dialect of the same language, and were adherents of the same religion. They inhabited the mountainous region south of Media, * Page 100. 156 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XV. which abounds in several well-watered valleys, and slopes gra- dually down to the low grounds on the coast of the Persian gulf. While the Medes became enervated by the corrupting influences to which they were exposed, the Persians preserved in their native niouutaiLS their simple and warlike habits. They were divided into several tribes, partly agricultural and partly no- madic ; but they were all bravo, rude, and hardy, clothed in skins, drinking only water, and ignorant of the commonest lux- uries of life. Cyrus led these fierce warriors from their moun- tain fastnesses, defeated the Medes in battle, took Astyages prisoner, and deprived him of the throne. The other nations, included in the Median empire, submitted to the conqueror ; and the sovereignty of Upper Asia thus passed from the Medes to the Persians. The accession of Cyrus to the empire is placed in B.C. 559. § 8. This important revolution excited alike the anger, the fears and the hopes of Croesus. Anxious to avenge his brother- in-law, to arrest the alarming growth of the Persian power, and to enlarge his own dominions, he resolved to attack the new monarch. But before embarking upon so perilous an enterprise he consulted the oracles of Amphiaraus, and of Apollo at Delphi, in whose veracity he placed the most unbounded confidence. The reply of both oracles was, that " if he should make war upon the Persians, he would destroy a mighty monarchy," and they both advised him to make allies of the most powerful among the Greeks. Understanding the response to refer to the Persian empire, and not, as the priests explained it after the event, to his own, he had no longer any hesitation in commencing the war. In obedience to the oracles he first sent to the Spartans to solicit their alliance, which was readily granted, but no troops were sent to his immediate assistance. He then crossed the Halys at the head of a large army, laid waste the country of the Syrians of Cappadocia, and took several of their towns. Cyrus lost no time in coming to the help of his distant subjects. The two armies met near the Pterian plain in Cappadocia, where a bloody, but indecisive battle was fought. As the forces of Croe- sus were inferior in number to those of the Persian king, ho thought it more prudent to return to Sardis, and collect a large army for the next campaign. Accordingly he despatched envoys to Labynetus, Amasis, and the Lacedaemonians, requesting them to send auxiliaries to Sardis in the course of the next five months ; and meantime he disbanded the mercenary troops who had fol- lowed him into Cappadocia. Cyrus anticipated his enemy's plan ; he waited till the Lydian king had re-entered his capital and dismissed his troops ; and B.C. 559. CYRUS. 157 he then marched upon Sardis with such celerity that he ap- peared under the walls of the city before any one could give notice of his approach. Croesus was thus compelled to fight without his allies ; but he did not despair of success ; for the Lydian cavalry was distinguished for its efficiency, and the open plain before Sardis was favourable for its evolutions. To render this force useless, Cyrus placed in front of his line the baggage camels, which the Lydian horses could not endure either to see or to smell. The Lydians, however, did not on this ac- count decline the contest ; they dismounted from their horses, and fought bravely on foot ; and it was not till after a fierce combat that they were obliged to take refuge within the city. Here they considered themselves secure, till their allies should come to their aid; for the fortifications of Sardis were deemed impregnable to assault. There was, however, one side of the city which had been left unfortified, because it stood upon a rock so lofty and precipitous, as to appear quite inaccessible. But on the fourteenth day of the siege a Persian soldier, having seen one of the garrison descend this rock to pick up his helmet which had rolled down, climbed up the same way, followed by several of his comrades. Sardis was thus taken, and Croesus with all his treasures fell into the hands of Cyrus (b.c. 546). The Lydian king was condemned to be burnt alive ; but his life was afterwards spared by the conqueror ; and he became the confidential adviser both of Cyrus and his son Cambyses. § 9. The fall of Croesus was followed by the subjection of the Greek cities in Asia to the Persian yoke. As soon as Sardis had been taken, the Ionians and /Eolians sent envoys to Cyrus, offer- ing to submit to him on the same terms as they had obtained from Crcesus. But the Persian conqueror, who had in vain at- tempted to induce them to revolt from the Lydian king at the commencement of the war, sternly refused their request, except in the case of Miletus. The other Greeks now began to prepare for defence, and sent deputies to Sparta to solicit assistance. This was refused by the Spartans ; but they despatched some of their citizens to Ionia to investigate the state of affairs. One of their number, exceeding the bounds of their commission, re- paired to Cyrus at Sardis, and warned him " not to injure any city in Hellas, for the Lacedaemonians would not permit it." Astonished at such a message from a people of whom he had never heard, the conqueror inquired of the Greeks who stood near him, "Who are these Lacedaemonians, and how many are they in number that they venture to send me such a notico ?" Having received an answer to his question, he said to the Spar- tan, " I was never yet afraid of men, who have a place set apart 158 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XV, in the middle of their city, where they meet to cheat one another and forswear themselves. If I live, they shall have troubles of their own to talk about apart from the Iouians." This taunt of Cyrus was levelled at Grecian habits generally ; for to the rude barbarian, buying and selling seemed contemptible and dis- graceful. ( \ rus soon afterwards quitted Sardis to prosecute his con- quests in the East, and left the reduction of the Greek cities, and of the other districts in Asia Minor, to his lieutenants. The Greek cities offered a brave, but ineffectual resistance, and were taken one after the other by Harpagus, the Persian general. The inhabitants of Phocaea and Teos preferred expatriation to slavery ; they abandoned their homes to the conqueror ; and sailed away in search of new settlements. The Phocaoans, after experiencing many vicissitudes of fortune, at length settled in the south of Italy, where they founded Elea. The Teians took refuge on the coast of Thrace, where they built the city of Ab- dera. All the other Asiatic Greeks on the mainland were en- rolled among the vassals of Cyrus : and even the inhabitants of the islands of Lesbos and Chios sent in their submission to Har- pagus, although the Persians then possessed no fleet to force them to obedience. Samos, on the other hand, maintained its independence, and appears soon afterwards as one of the most powerful of the Grecian states. After the reduction of the Asiatic Greeks, Harpagus marched against the other districts of Asia Minor, which still refused to own the authority of Cyrus. They were all conquered without any serious resistance, with the exception of the Lycians, who, finding it impossible to maintain their freedom, set fire to their chief town, Xanthus ; and while the women and children perished in the flames, the men sallied forth against the enemy and died sword in hand. While Harpagus was thus employed, Cyrus was making still more extensive conquests in Upper Asia and Assyria. The most important of these was the capture of the wealthy and populous city of Babylon, which he took by diverting the course of the Euphrates, and then marching into the city by the bed of the river (B.C. 538). Subsequently he marched against the nomad tribes in Central Asia, but was slain in battle, while fighting against the Massageta?, a people dwelling beyond the Araxes. He perished in B.C. 51i9, after a reign of thirty years, leaving his vast empire to his son, Cambyses. § 10. The love of conquest and of aggrandizement, which had been fed by the repeated victories of Cyrus, still fired the Per- sians. Of the four great monarchies, which Cyrus had found in all their gin ry when he descended with his shepherds fr«m the B.C. 529. CAMBYSES. 159 Persian mountains, there yet remained one which had not been destroyed by his arms. Amasis continued to occupy the throne of Egypt in peace and prosperity, while the monarchs of Media, Lydia, and Babylon had either lost their lives, or become the vassals of the Persian king. Accordingly, Cambyses resolved to lead his victorious Persians to the conquest of Egypt. "While making his preparations for the invasion, Amasis died after a long reign, and was succeeded by his son, Psammenitus, who in- herited neither the abilities nor the good fortune of his father. The defeat of the Egyptians in a single battle, followed by the capture of Memphis with the persou of Psammenitus, decided the fate of the country. Cambyses resided some time in Egypt, which he ruled with a rod of iron. His temper was naturally violent and capricious ; and the possession of unlimited power had created in him a state of mind bordering upon frenzy. The idolatiw of the Egyptians and their adoration of animals excited the indignation of the worshipper of fire ; and he gave vent to his passions by wanton and sacrilegious acts against the most cherished objects and rites of the national religion. Even the Persians experienced the effects of his madness ; and his brother Smerdis was put to death by his orders. This act was followed by important consequences. Among the few persons privy to the murder was a Magian, who had a brother bearing the same name as the deceased prince, and strongly resembling him in person. Taking advantage of these circumstances, and of the alarm excited among the leading Persians by the frantic tyranny of Cambyses, he proclaimed his brother as king, representing him as the younger son of Cyrus. Cambyses heard of the revolt whilst in Syria ; but as he was mounting his horse to march against the usurper, an accidental wound from his sword put an end to his life, B.C. 522. As the younger son of Cyrus was generally believed to be alive, the false Smerdis was acknowledged as king by the Persians, and reigned without opposition for seven months. But the leading Persian nobles had never been quite free from suspicion, and they at length discovered the imposition which had been prac- tised upon them. Seven of them now formed a conspiracy to get rid of the usurper. They succeeded in forcing their way into the palace, and in slaying the Magian and his brother in the eighth month of their reign. One of their number, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, ascended the vacant throne, B.C. 521. § 11. During the reign of Cambyses, the Grefsk cities of Asia remained obedient to their Persian governors. The subjection of the other cities had increased the power and influence of Sanios, which, a3 we have already seen, had maintained its inda- 160 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XV. pendence, when the neighbouring islands of Lesbos and Chios had submitted to the lieutenant of Cyrus. At the beginning of the reign of Cambyses, Samos had reached under its despot, Polycrates, an extraordinary degree of prosperity, and had be- come the most important naval power in the world. The ambition and good fortune of this enterprizing despot were alike remarkable. lie possessed a hundred ships of war, with which he conquered several of the islands, and even some places on the mainland ; and he aspired to nothing less than the dominion of Ionia, as well as of the islands in the /Egean. The Lacedaemo- nians, who had invaded the island at the invitation of the Sa- urian exiles for the purpose of overthrowing his government, were obliged to retire after besieging his city in vain for forty days. Everything which he undertook seemed to prosper ; but his uninterrupted good fortune at length excited the alarm of his ally Amasis. According to the tale related by Herodotus, the Egyptian king, convinced that such amazing good fortune would sooner or later incur the envy of the gods, wrote to Poly- crates, advising him to throw away one of his most valuable pos- sessions, and thus inflict some injury upon himself. Thinking the advice to be good, Polycrates threw into the sea a favourite ring of matchless price and beauty ; but unfortunately it was found a few days afterwards in the belly of a fine fish, which a fisher- man had sent him as a present. Amasis now foresaw that the ruin of Polycrates was inevitable, and sent a herald to Samos to renounce his alliance. The gloomy anticipations of the Egyp- tian monarch proved well founded. In the midst of all his prosperity, Polycrates fell by a most ignominious fate. Orcetes, the satrap of Sardis, had for some unknown cause conceived a deadly hatred against the Samian despot. By a cunning stra- tagem, the satrap allured him to the mainland, where he was immediately arrested and hanged upon a cross (B.C. 522). Like many other Grecian despots, Polycrates had been a patron of literature and the arts, and the poets Ibycus and Anacreon found a welcome at his court. Many of the great works of Samos, — the vast temple of Hera (Juno), the mole to protect the harbour, and the aqueduct for supplying the city with water, carried through a mountain seven furlongs long — were probably executed by him. § 12. The long reign of Darius forms an important epoch in the Persian annals. After putting down the revolts of the Ly- dian satrap Orcetes, of the Meries, and of the Babylonians, he set himself to work to organize the vast mass of countries which had been conquered by Cyrus and Cambyses. The difference of his reign from those of his two predecessors was described by the Persians, in calling Cyrus the father, Cambyses the master, i ;itKi;t, waiting for a fair wind to carry them straight across to Naxos. Being anxious that the ships should be in readiness to depart, as soon as the order was given, Megabates made a personal inspection of the fleet, and discovered one of the vessels left without a single man on board. Incensed at this neglect, he summoned the captain of the ship, and ordered him to be put in chains with his head project- ing through one of the port-holes of his own vessel. It happened that this man was a friend and guest of Aristagoras, who not only set the authority of Megabates at defiance by releasing the prisoner, but insisted that the Persian admiral held a subordi- nate command to himself. The pride of Megabates could not brook such an insult. As soon as it was night he sent a message to the Naxians to warn them of their danger. Hitherto the Naxians had had no suspicion of the object of the expedition ; but they lost no time in carrying their property into the city and making every preparation to sustain a long siege. Accord- ingly, when the Persian fleet reached Naxos, they experienced a vigorous resistance ; and at the end of four months they had made such little way in the reduction of the city, that they were compeLed to abandon the enterprize and return to Miletus. § 4. Aristagoras sas now threatened with utter rum. Hay- B.C. 500 THE CONIC REVOLT. 1 65 ing deceived Artaphernes, and incurred the enmity of Mega- bates, he could expect no favour from the Persian government, and might be called upon at any moment to defray the expenses of the armament. In these difficulties he began to think of exciting a revolt of his countrymen ; and while revolving the project, he received a message from his father-in-law, Histioeus, urging him to this very step. Afraid of trusting any one with bo dangerous a message, Histiseus had shaved the head of a trusty slave, branded upon it the necessary words, and, as soon as the hair had grown again, sent him off to Miletus. His only motive for urging the Ionians to revolt was his desire of es- caping from captivity at Susa, thinking that Darius would set him at liberty, in order to put down an insurrection of his country- men. The message of Histiseus fixed the wavering resolution of Aristagoras. He forthwith called together the leading citizens of Miletus, laid before them the project of revolt, and asked them for advice. They all approved of the scheme, with the exception of Hecatams, who deserves to be mentioned on account of his celebrity as one of the earliest Greek historians. Having determined upon revolt, the next step was to induce the othei Greek cities in Asia to join them in their perilous enterprize As the most effectual means to this end, it was resolved to seize the persons of the Grecian despots, many of whom had not ye 4 , quitted the fleet which had recently returned from Naxos. Aris- tagoras laid down the supreme power in Miletus, and nominally resigned to the people the management of their own affairs. The despots were seized, and a democratical form of government established throughout the Greek cities in Asia and in the neigh- bouring islands. This was followed by an open declaration of revolt from Persia (b.c. 500). § 5. The insurrection had now assumed a formidable aspect ; and before the Persians could collect sufficient forces to eope with the revolters, Aristagoras resolved to cross over to Greece, in order to solicit assistance from the more powerful states in the mother country. He first went to Sparta, which was now admitted to be the most powerful city in Greece. In an inter- view with Cleomenes, king of Sparta, he brought forth a brazen tablet, on which were engraved the countries, rivers, and seas of the world. After dwelling upon the wealth and fertility of Asia, he traced on the map the route from Ephesus to Susa, and de- scribed the ease with which the Spartans might march into the very heart of the Persian empire, and obtain possession of the vast treasures of the Persian capital. Cleomenes demanded three days to consider this proposal ; and when Aristagoras returned on the third day, he put to him the simple question, how far it 166 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVI was from the sea to Susa? Aristagoras, without considering the drift of the question, answered that it was a journey of three months. " Milesian stranger," exclaimed Cleomenes, " quit Sparta before sunset : you are no friend to the Spartans, if you want them to undertake a three months' journey from the sea." Still, however, Aristagoras did not despair, but went as a suppliant to the king's house, to see if he could accomphsh by money what he had failed to do by eloquence. lie first offered Cleomenes ten talents, and then gradually raised the bribe to fifty ; and per- haps the king, with the usual cupidity of a Spartan, might have yielded, had not his daughter Gorgo, a child of eight years old, who happened to be present, cried out, "Fly, father, or this stranger will corrupt you." Cleomenes accepted the omen, and broke up the interview. Aristagoras quitted Sparta forthwith. Disappointed at Sparta, Aristagoras repaired to Athens, then the second city in Greece. Here he met with a very different reception. Athens was the mother-city of the Ionic states ; and the Athenians were disposed to sympathize with the Ionians as their kinsmen and colonists. They were moreover incensed against Artaphernes, who had recently commanded them to recall Hippias, unless they wished to provoke the hostility of Persia. Accordingly they lent a ready ear to the tempting pro- mises of Aristagoras, and voted to send a squadron of twenty ships to the assistance of the Ionians. " These ships," says He- rodotus, " were the beginning of mischiefs between tho Greeks and barbarians." §6. In the following year (b.c. 500) the Athenian fleet crossed the iEgean. They were joined by five ships from Eretria in Euboca, which the Eretrians had sent to discharge a debt of gra- titude for assistance which they had received from the Milesians in their war with Chalcis. Upon reaching the coast of Asia, Aristagoras planned an expedition into the interior. Disem- barking at Ephesus, and being reinforced by a strong body of Ionians, he marched upon Sardis. Artaphernes was taken un- prepared ; and not having sufficient troops to man the walls, he retired into the citadel, leaving the town a prey to the inva- ders. Accordingly, they entered it unopposed ; and, while en- gaged in pillage, one of the soldiers set fire to a house. As most of the houses were built of wickerwork and thatched with straw, the flames capidly spread, and in a short time the whole city was in flames. The inhabitants, driven out of their houses by this accident, assembled in the large market-place in the city ; and perceiving their numbers to bo superior to those of the enemy, they resolved to attack them. Meantime reinforcements came pouring in from all quarters ; and tho Ionians and Athe- B.C. 500. THE IONIC REVOLT. 167 mans, seeing that their position was becoming more danger- ous every hour, abandoned the city and began to retrace their steps. But before they could reach the walls of Ephesus, they were overtaken by the Persian forces and defeated with great slaughter. The Ionians dispersed to their several cities ; and the Athenians hastened on board their ships and sailed home. The burning of the capital of the ancient monarchy of Lydia was attended with important consequences. "When Darius heard of it, he burst into a paroxysm of rage. It was against the ob- scure strangers who had dared to invade his dominions and burn one of his capitals, that his wrath was chiefly directed. " The Athenians/* he exclaimed, "who are theyf" Upon being in- formed, he took his bow, shot an arrow high into the air, saying, " Grant me, Jove, to take vengeance upon the Athenians :" and he charged one of his attendants to remind him thrice every day at dinner, " Sire, remember the Athenians." His first care, how- ever, was to put down the revolt, which had now assumed a more formidable aspect than ever. The insurrection spread to the Greek cities in Cyprus as well as to those on the Hellespont and the Propontis ; and the Carians warmly espoused the cause of the Ionians. § 7. A few months after the burning of Sardis the revolt had reached its height, and seemed to promise permanent independ- ence to the Asiatic Greeks. But they were no match for the whole power of the Persian empire, which was soon brought against them. A Phoenician fleet conveyed a large Persian force to Cyprus, which was soon obliged to submit to its former masters ; and the generals of Darius carried on operations with vigour against the Carians, and the Greek cities in Asia. Aris- tagoras now began to despair, and basely deserted his country- men, whom he had led into peril. Collecting a large body of Milesians, he set sail for the Thracian coast, where he was slain under the walls of a town to which he had laid siege. Soon after his departure, his father-in-law, Histiceus, came down to Ionia. Darius had at first been inclined to suppose that Histiaeus had secretly instigated the Ionians to revolt ; but the artful Greek not only succeeded in removing suspicion from himself, but persuaded Darius to send him into Ionia, in order to assist the Persian generals in suppressing the rebellion. Bus vow to take vengeance upon Athens. Shortly after the suppression of the Ionic revolt, he appointed Mardonius to succeed Artaphernes in the government of the Persian provinces bordering upon the iEgean. Mardonius was a Persian noble of high rank, who had lately married the king's daughter, and was distinguished by love of glory. Da- rius placed at his command a large armament, with injunctions to bring to Susa those Athenians and Eretrians who had in- sulted the authority of the Great King. Mardonius lost no time in crossing the Hellespont, and commenced his march through Thrace and Macedonia, subduing, as he went along,the tribes 172 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVII which bad not yet submitted to the Persian power. Meanwhile he ordered the iiset to double the promontory of Mount Athos, and join the land forces at the head of the Gulf of Tkerma. But one of the hurricanes, which frequently blow off this dangerous coast, overtook the Persian fleet, destroyed three hundred vessels, and drowned or dashed upon the rocks twenty thousand men. Mardonius himself was not much more fortunate. In his passage through Macedonia, he was attacked at night by the Brygians, an independent Thracian tribe, who slaughtered a great portion of his army. He remained in the country long enough to reduce this people to submission ; but his forces were so weakened, that he could not proceed farther. He led his army back across the Hellespont, and returned to the Persian court, covered with shame and grief. Thus ended the first expedition of the Persians against the Grecian states in Europe (b.c. 492). § 2. The failure of this expedition did not shake the resolution of Darius. On the contrary, it only made him the more anxious for the conquest of Greece ; and Hippias was constantly near him to keep alive his resentment against Athens. He began to make preparations for another attempt on a still larger scale, and meantime sent heralds to most of the Grecian states to de- mand from each earth and water as the symbol of submission. This he probably did in order to ascertain the amount of resist- ance he was likely to experience. Such terror had the Persians inspired by their recent conquest of Ionia, that a large number of the Grecian cities at once complied with the demand. But at Athens and at Sparta the heralds met with a very different reception. So indignant were the citizens of these states at the insolent demand, that the Athenians cast the herald into a deep pit, and the Spartans threw him into a well, bidding him take earth and water from thence. § 3. Meanwhile Darius had completed his preparations for the invasion of Greece. In the spring of b.c. 490, a vast army was assembled in Cilicia, and a fleet of 600 galleys, together with many transports for horses, was ready to receive them on board. The command was given to Datis, a Median, and Artaphernes, son of the satrap of Sardis of that name, and a nephew of Da- rius. Their instructions were generally to reduce to subjection all the Greek cities which had not already given earth and water ; but more particularly to burn to the ground the cities of Athens and Eretria, and to carry away the inhabitants as slaves. They woro furnished with fetters for binding the Grecian pri- soners ; and before the end of the year Darius fully expected to see at his feet the men who had dared to burn the city of Sardis. B.C. 490. SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 173 Having tafcen their men on board, Datis and Artaphernes first sailed to Saruos ; and, warned by the recent disaster of Mardo- nius in doubling the promontory of Mount Athos, they resolved to sail straight across the ^Egean to Eubcea, subduing on their way the Cyclades. They first resolved to attack Naxos, which ten years before had gallantly repelled a large Persian force com- manded by Megabates and Aristagoras of Miletus. But the Naxians did not now even venture to wait the arrival of the Persians, but fled to the mountains, abandoning their town to the invaders, who burnt it to the ground. The other islands of the Cyclades yielded a ready submission ; and it was not till Datis reached Eubcea that he encountered any resistance. Eretria defended itself gallantly for six days, and repulsed the Persians with loss ; but on the seventh the gates were opened to the be- siegers by the treachery of two of its leading citizens. The city was razed to the ground, and the inhabitants were put in chains, according to the command of the Persian monarch. Datis had thus easily accomplished one of the two great ob- jects for which he had been sent into Greece. He now pro- ceeded to execute his second order. After remaining a few days at Eretria, he crossed over to Attica, and landed on the ever memorable plain of Marathon, a spot which had been pointed out to him by the despot Hippias, who accompanied the Persian army. § 4. It is now time to turn to Athens, and see what prepara- tions had there been made to meet the threatening danger. While the Persian army was on its passage across the iEgeau, ten generals had been elected for the year, according to the regular custom, one for each tribe. Among these generals were three men, whose names have acquired immortal fame, — Mil- tiades, Themistocles, and Aristides. Of the two latter we shall have occasion to speak more fully presently ; but Miltiades claims our immediate attention. Miltiades had been the despot of the Chersonesus, whither he had been sent from Athens by Hippias about the year 516 B.C., to take possession of the inhe- ritance of his uncle, who bore the same name. As ruler of the Chersonesus, he had distinguished himself by his bravery and decision of character. We have already seen that he accom- panied Darius in his invasion of Scythia, and recommended the Ionian despots to break down the bridge of boats across the Danube and leave the Persian monarch to his fate. While the Persian generals were engaged in suppressing the Ionic revolt, he took possassion of Lemnos and Imbros, expelled the Persian gar- risons and Pelasgian inhabitants, and handed over these islands to the Athenians. He had thus committed two great offences against 174 HISTOKV OF GREECE. Chap. XVII. the Persian monarch ; and accordingly when the Phoenician fleet appeared in the Hellespont after the extinction of the Ionic revolt, he sought safety in flight, and hastily sailed away to Athens with a small squadron of five ships. He was hotly pur- sued by the Phoenicians, who were most eager to secure his person as an acceptable offering to Darius. They succeeded in taking one of his ships, commanded by his son Metiochns, but Miltiades himself reached Athens in safety. Soon after his arrival, he was brought to trial on account of his despotism in the Chersonesus. Not only was he honourably acquitted at the time, probably on account of the recent service he had rendered to Athens by the conquest of Lemnos and Imbros, but such confidence did his abilities inspire, that he was elected one of the ten generals of the republic on the approach of the Persian fleet. § 5. As soon as the news of the fall of Eretria reached Athens, the courier Phidippides was sent to Sparta to solicit assistance. Such was his extraordinary speed of foot that he performed this journey of 150 miles in 48 hours. The Spartans promised their aid ; but their superstition rendered their promise ineffectual, since it wanted a few days to the full moon, and it was contrary to their religious customs to commence a march during this interval. The reason given by the Spartans for their delay does not appear to have been a pretext ; and this instance is only one among many of that blind attachment to ancient forms which characterize this people throughout the whole period of their history. Meantime, the Athenians had marched to Marathon, and were encamped upon the mountains which surrounded the plain. Upon learning the answer which Phidippides brought from Sparta, the ten generals were divided in opinion as to the best course to be pursued. Five of them were opposed to an imme- diate engagement with the overwhelming number of Persians, and urged the importance of waiting for the arrival of the Lace- daemonian succours. Miltiades and the remaining four contended, on the other hand, that not a moment should be lost in fighting the Persians, not only in order to avail themselves of the pre- sent enthusiasm of the people, but still more to prevent treachery from spreading among their ranks, and paralyzing all united effort. The momentous decision, upon which the destinies of Athens, and indeed of all Greece hung, depended upon the cast- ing vote of Callimachus, the Polemarch ; for down to this time the third Archon was a colleague of the ten generals.* To him Miltiades now addressed himself with the utmost earnestness, * See above, p. 91 B.C. 490. PLAIN OF MAKATHON. 175 pointing out the danger of delay, and urging that only a speedy and decisive victory coidd save them from the treacherous attempts of the friends of Hipjrias within the city. The arguments of Miltiades were warmly seconded by Themistocles and Aristides. Callimachus felt their force, and gave his vote for the battle. The ten generals oommanded their army in rotation, each for one day ; but they now agreed to surrender to Miltiades their days of command, in order to invest the whole power in a single person. § 6. While the Athenians were preparing for battle, they received an unexpected reinforcement from the little town of Platsea, in Bceotia. Grateful to the Athenians for the assistance which they had rendered them against the Thebans, the whole force of Plataea, amounting to 1000 heavy-armed men, marched to the succour of their allies and joined them at Marathon. Their arrival at this crisis of the fortunes of Athens made a deep and abiding impression upon the Athenian people, and was recol- lected with grateful feelings down to the latest times. The Athenian army numbered only 10,000 hoplites, or heavy-armed soldiers ; there were no archers or cavalry, and only some slaves as light- armed attendants. Of the number of the Persian army we have no trustworthy account, but the lowest estimate makes it consist of 110,000 men. The plain of Marathon lies on the eastern coast of Attica, at the distance of twenty-two miles from Athens by the shortest road. It is open to a bay of the sea on the east ; while on every side towards the land there rises an amphitheatre of rugged lime- stone mountains, separating it from the rest of Attica. The prin- cipal shelter of the bay is afforded by a long rocky promontory to the north, called Cynosura. The plain, which is about six miles in length and two in breadth, in its widest or central part, is in the form of a half-moon. Near each of its horns, at the northern and southern extremities of the plain, is a marsh, of which the southern is not large and almost dry at the conclusion of the great heats, while the northern, which is much larger, offers several parts which are at all seasons impassable. The plain itself, described by Aristophanes as " the pleasant mead of Marathon," * is a level green expanse. A stream, now called the river of Mara- thoua, flows through its centre into the sea. Note upon the accompanying Map of Marathon. — The modern village of Vrana is the site of the ancient demus of Marathon, which disappeared at an early period ; and its name was transferred to the village in the central part of the * Kii/tuYx tov ipottra Matafujif. — Avcs, 24tv 176 HISTORY OF GllEECE. Chap. XVII. plain. Ou the day cf battle the Athenian line (marked A A in the Map) extended in front of Marathon and the sacred enclosure of Hercules (marked 10 in the Map), while the Persians (B B in Map), who were 8 stadia in front of them, had their right resting upon a mountain, and their left extending to the southern marsh (6 m Map), which prevented them from having a front much greater than that of the Athenians. When the Persians defeated the Athenian centre, they pursued the latter up one or both of the valleys on either side of the mountain (marked 3 in the Map), through each of which a road (6 and c) runs into the plain of Athens. When the Persian left and right were defeated, the right fled by the road dd towards the narrow pass lending into the plain of Tricorythus; and here numbers were forced into the large northern marsh (marked 7). The tumulus of the Athenians is marked 13, and the tomb of Miltiades 14 in the Map. B.C. 490. BATTLE OF MARATHON. 177 On the day of battle the Persian army was drawn up along the plain about a mile from the sea, and their fleet was ranged behind them on the beach. The native Persians and Sacians, the best troops in the army, were stationed in the centre, which was considered the post of honour. The Athenians occupied the rising ground above the plain, and extended from one side of the plain to the other. This arrangement was necessary in order to protect their flanks by the mountains on each side, and to prevent the cavalry from passing round to attack them ir rear. But so large a breadth of ground could not be occupied with so small a number of men, without weakening some portion of the line. Miltiades, therefore, drew up the troops in the centre in shallow files, and resolved to rely for success upon the stronger and deeper masses of his wings. The right wing, which was the post of honour in a Grecian army, was commanded by the Polemarch Calhmachus ; the hoplites were arranged in the order of their tribes, so that the members of the same tribe fought by each other's side ; and at the extreme left stood the Platreans. Before the hostile armies join in conflict, let us try to realize to our minds the feelings of the Athenian warriors on this event- ful day. The superiority of the Greeks to the Persians in the field of battle has become so familiar to our minds by the glo- rious victories of the former, that it requires some effort of the imagination to appreciate in its full extent the heroism of the Athenians at Marathon. The Medes and Persians had hitherto pursued an almost uninterrupted career of conquest. They had rolled over country after country, each successive wave engulphing some ancient dynasty, some powerful monarchy. The Median, Lydian, Babylonian, and Egyptian empires had all fallen before them ; and latterly the Asiatic Greeks, many of whose cities were as populous and powerful as Athens itself, had been taught by a bitter lesson the folly of resistance to these invincible foes. Never yet had the Medes and Persians met the Greeks in the field and been defeated. " For hitherto," says Herodotus, " the very .name of Medes had struck terror into the hearts of the Greeks ; and the Athenians were the first to endure the sight of their armour, and to look them in the face on the field of battle." It must, therefore, have been with some trepidation that the Athenians nerved themselves for the conflict. Miltiades, anxious to come to close quarters as speedily as possible, ordered his soldiers to advance at a running step over the mile of ground which separated them from the foe. Raising the war-cry, they rushed down upon the Persians, who awaited them with aston- Gr. n 178 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap XVII. ishmont and scorn, thinking them to be little short of madmen thus to hurry to certain destruction. They were quickly unde- ceived ; and the battle soon raged fiercely along the whole hue. Both the Athenians' wings were successful, and drove the enemy before them towards the shore and the marshes. But the Athenian centre was broken by the Persians and Sacians, and compelled to take to flight. Miltiades thereupon recalled his wings from pursuit, and rallying his centre, charged the Persians atd Sacians. The latter could not withstand this combined attack. The battle had already lasted some hours, and the rays of the setting sun streamed full in the faces of the enemy. The rout now became general along the whole Persian line ; and they fled to their ships, pursued by the Athenians. " The flying Mede, his shaftless broken bow ; The fiery Greek, his red pursuing spear ; Mountains above, Earth's, Ocean's plain below, Death in the front, destruction in the rear ! Such was the scene." The Athenians tried to set fire to the Persian vessels on the coast, but they succeeded in destroying only seven of them, for the enemy here fought with the courage of despair. Thus ended the battle of Marathon. The Persians lost 6400 men in this memorable engagement : of the Athenians only 192 fell. The aged despot Hippias is said to have perished in the battle, and the brave Polemarch Calli- machus was also one of the slain. Among the Athenian com- batants were the poet ^Eschylus and his brother Cyncegirus ; the latter of whom, while seizing one of the vessels, had his hand cut off by an axe, and died of the wound. § 7. The Persians had no sooner embarked than they sailed towards Cape Suuium. At the same time a bright shield was seen raised aloft upon one of the mountains of Attica. This was a signal given by some of the partisans of Hippias to invite the Persians to surprise Athens, while the army was still absent at Marathon. Miltiades, seeing the direction taken by the Persian fleet, suspected the meaning of the signal, and lost no time in marching back to Athens. He arrived at the harbour of Phale- rum only just in time. The Persian fleet was already in sight ; a few hours more would have made the victory of Marathon of no avail. But when the Persians reached the coast, and beheld before them the very soldiers from whom they had so recently fled, they did not attempt to land, but sailed away to Asia, car- rying with them their Eretrian prisoners. § 8. The departure of the Persians was hailed at Athens with one unanimous burst of heart-felt joy. Whatever traitors there B.C. 490. EETREAT OF THE PERSIANS 179 may have been in the city, they did not dare to express their feelings amidst the general exultation of the citizens. Marathon became a magic word at Athens. The Athenian people in suc- ceeding ages always looked back upon this day as the most glorious in their annals, and never tired of hearing its praises sounded by their orators and poets. And they had reason to be proud of it. It was the first time that the Greeks had ever de- feated the Persians in the field. It was the exploit of the Athenians alone. It had saved not only Athens but all Greece. If the Persians had conquered at Marathon, Greece must, in all likeli- hood, have become a Persian province ; the destinies of the world would have been changed ; and oriental despotism might still have brooded over the fairest countries of Europe. Such a glorious victory had not been gained, so thought the Athenians, without the special interposition of the gods. The national heroes of Attica were believed to have fought on the side of the Athenians ; and even in the time of Pausanias, six hundred years afterwards, the plain of Marathon was believed to be haunted with spectral warriors, and every night there might be heard the shouts of combatants and the snorting of horses. The one hundred and ninety-two Athenians who had perished in the battle, were buried on the field, and over their remains a tumulus or mound was erected, which may still be seen about half a mile from the sea. Their names were inscribed on ten pillars, one for each tribe, also erected on the spot ; and the poet Simonides described them as the champions of the common independence of Greece : — " At Marathon for Greece the Athenians fought; And low the Medians' gilded power they brought." * § 9. Miltiades, the hero of Marathon, was received at Athens with expressions of the warmest admiration and gratitude. His trophies are said to have robbed Themistocles of his sleep ; and the eminent services which he had rendered to his country were also acknowledged in subsequent generations. A separate monument was erected to him on the field of Marathon ; his figure occupied one of the prominent places in the picture of the battle of Marathon, which adorned the walls of the Pcecile, or Painted Porch, of Athens ; and the poet gave expression to tha general feelings in the lines : — " Miltiades, thy victories Must every Persian own; And hallow'd by thy prowess lies The field of Marathon."! * Translated by Sterling f Wellesley's Anthologia, p. 263 N 2 180 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVU It would have been fortunate for his glory if ho had died on the field of Marathon. The remainder of his history is a rapid and melancholy descent from the pinnacle of glory to an igno- minious death. § 10. Shortly after the battle, Miltiades requested of the Atheniaus a fleet of seventy ships, without telling them the ob- ject of his expedition, but only promising to enrich the state. Such unbounded confidence did the Athenians repose in the hero of Marathon, that they at once complied with his demand. This confidence Miltiades abused. In order to gratify a private animosity against one of the leading citizens of Paros, he sailed to this island, and laid siege to the town. Paros was one of the most flourishing of the Cyclades, and the town was strongly fortified. The citizens repelled all his attacks ; and ho had be- gun to despair of taking the place, when he received a message from a Parian woman, a priestess of the temple of Demeter (Ceres), promising that she would put Paros in his power, if he would visit by night a temple from which all male persons were excluded. Catching at this last hope, he repaired to the appointed place. He leaped over the outer fence, and had nearly reached the sanctuary, when he was seized with a panic terror, and ran away ; but in getting back over the fence he received a dan- gerous injury on his thigh. He now abandoned all hope of success, raised the siege and returned to Athens. § 11. Loud was the indignation against Miltiades on his re- turn. He was accused by Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, of having deceived the people, and was brought to trial. His wound had already begun to show symptoms of gangrene. He was carried into court on a couch, and there lay before the assembled judges, while his friends pleaded on his behalf. They could offer no excuse for his recent conduct, but they reminded the Athenians of the inestimable services they had received from the accused, and urged them in the strongest terms to spare the victor of Marathon. The judges were not insensible to this appeal ; and instead of condemning him to death, as the accuser had demanded, they commuted the penalty to a fine of fifty talents, probably the cost of the armament. He was un- able immediately to raise this sum, and died soon afterwards of his wound. The fine was subsequently paid by his son Cimon. Later writers relate that Miltiades died in prison ; but Herodo- tus doen not mention his imprisonment, and we may therefore hope that the hero of Marathon was spared this further in- dignity. The melancholy end of Miltiades must not blind us to his offence, and ought not to lead us to charge the Athenian people B.C. 489. WAR BETWEEN ATHENS AND MGINA. 181 ■with ingratitude and fickleness. The Athenians did not forget his services at Marathon, and it was their gratitude towards him which alone saved him from death. He had grossly abused the public confidence, and deserved his punishment. A state which should give impunity to a criminal on account of previous ser- vices would soon cease to exist. § 12. Soon after the battle of Marathon, a war broke out be- tween Athens and iEgina, which continued down to the invasion of Greece by Xerxes. This war is of great importance in Grecian history, since to it the Athenians were indebted for their navy, which enabled them to save Greece at Salamis as they had already done at Marathon. The rocky island of iEgina is situated in the Saronic gulf about twelve miles from the coast of Attica, and contains only about 41 square English miles. But, notwithstanding its small extent, it is one of the most celebrated of the Grecian islands. In the mythical ages it was the residence of iEacus, king of the Myrmidons, from whom Achilles and some of the most illus- trious Grecian heroes were descended. In historical times it was inhabited by a wealthy and enterprizing Dorian people, who carried on an extensive commerce with all parts of the Hellenic world. It is said that silver money was first coined in iEgina, by Phidon, tyrant of Argos ;* and we know that the name of iEginetan was given to one of the two scales of weights and measures current throughout Greece. The wealth, which its citizens acquired by commerce, was partly devoted to the en- couragement of art, which was cultivated in this island with great success during the half century preceding the Persian war. Indeed, during this period iEgina held a prominent rank among the Grecian states, and possessed the most powerful navy in all Greece. § 13. There had been an ancient feud between Athens and iEgina, which first broke out into open hostilities a few years after the expulsion of Hippias from Athens. About the year 506 b. c. the Thebans, who had been defeated by the Athenians, f applied for aid to iEgina. This was immediately granted ; and the iEgmetaus forthwith attacked the Athenian territory, without making any formal declaration of war. Of the details of this contest we have no information ; and we lose sight of iEgina for the next few years. In the year before the battle of Marathon iEgina is mentioned among the Grecian states which gave earth and water to the envoys of Darius. It was, probably, as much hatred of the * Respecting this statement, se? p, 59 f Seep. 11?,. 182 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVIL Athenians as fear of the Persians, which led the iEginetans to submit to Darius, hoping to crush their obnoxious rivals with the help of the Great King. The Persians, however, were not yet in Greece ; and the Athenians lost no time in sending an em- bassy to Sparta, accusing the iEginetans of having betrayed the common cause of Hellas, and calling upon the Spartans, as the protectors of Grecian liberty, to punish the offenders. This request met with prompt attention ; and Cleomenes, one of the Spartan kings, forthwith crossed over to uEgina. He was pro- ceeding to arrest and carry away some of the leading citizens, when Demaratus, the other Spartan king, privately encouraged the iEginetans to defy the authority of his colleague. This was the second important occasion on which Demaratus had thwarted the plans of his colleague ; and Cleomenes returned to Sparta, firmly resolved that Demaratus should not have a third opportunity. It appears that there had always been doubts respecting the legitimacy of Demaratus. Cleomenes now persuaded Leoty • chides, the next heir to the crown, to lay claim to the royal dignity, on the ground that Demaratus was disqualified by his birth. The Spartans referred the question to the Delphic oracle ; and at the secret instigation of Cleomenes, the priestess de- clared that his colleague was illegitimate. Leotychides thus ascended the throne, and Demaratus descended into a private station. Shortly afterwards, the deposed monarch received a gross affront from the new king at a public festival, whereupon he quitted Sparta in wrath, and repaired to the Persian court, where we shall subsequently find him among the counsellors of Darius. Cleomenes now returned to iEgina, accompanied by Leoty- chides. The iEginetans did not dare to resist the joint demand of the two Spartan kings, and surrendered to them ten of their leading citizens, whom Cleomenes deposited as hostages in the hands of the Athenians. § 14. After the battle of Marathon, the iEginetans endeavoured to recover these hostages ; and the refusal of the Athenians to give them back led to a renewal of the war, which was pro- secuted with great activity on both sides. It was now that Themistocles came forward with his celebrated proposition, which converted Athens into a maritime power. Hitherto the Athenians had not possessed a navy ; and Themistocles clearly saw that without a powerful fleet it would be impossible for his countrymen to humble their rival. But his views extended still further. He well knew that Persia was preparing for another and still moro formidable attack upon Greece ; and ho had the B.C. 485. THEMISTOCLES AND AEISTIDES. 183 sagacity to perceive that a large and efficient fleet would be the best protection against the barbarians. Influenced by these two motives, and also impressed with the conviction that the very position of Athens fitted it to be a maritime and not a land power, he urged the Athenians at once to build and equip a numerous and powerful fleet. The Athenians were both able and willing to follow his advice. There was at this time a large surplus in the public treasury, arising from the produce of the valuable silver mines at Laurium. These mines, which belonged to the state, were situated in the southern part of Attica, near Cape Sunium, in the midst of a mountainous district. It had been recently proposed to distribute this surplus among the Athenian citizens ; but Themistocles persuaded them to sacrifice their private advantage to the public good, and to appropriate this money to building a fleet of 200 ships. The immediate want of a fleet to cope with the iEginetans probably weighed with the Athenian people more powerfully than the prospective danger from the Persians. " And thus," as Herodotus says, " the iEginetan war saved Greece by convening the Athenians to make themselves a maritime power." Not only were these two hundred ships built, but Themistocles also succeeded about the same time in persuading the Athenians to pass a decree that twenty new ships should be built every year. § 15. Of the internal history of Athens during the ten years between the battles of Marathon and Salamis we have little information. We only know that the two leading citizens of this period were Themistocles and Aristides. These two emi- nent men formed a striking contrast to each other. Themis- tocles possessed abilities of the most extraordinary kind. In intuitive sagacity, in ready invention, and in prompt and daring execution, he surpasses almost every statesman whether of an- cient or of modern times. "With unerring foresight he divined the plans of his enemies ; in the midst of difficulties and per- plexities, not only was he never at a loss for an expedient, but he always adopted the right one ; and he carried out his schemes with an energy and a promptness which astonished both friends and foes. But these transcendant abilities were marred by a want of honesty. In the exercise of power he was accessible to bribes, and he did not hesitate to employ dishonest means for the aggrandizement both of Athens and of himself. He closed a glorious career in disgrace and infamy, an exile and a traitor. Aristides was inferior to Themistocles in ability, but was in- comparably superior, not only to him but to all his contempo- raries, in honesty and integrity. In the administration of public affairs he acted with a single eye to the public good, regardless 184 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XYII. of party ties and of personal friendships. His uprightness and justice were so universally acknowledged, that he received the sur- name of the Just. But these very virtues procured him enemies. Not only did he incur the hatred of those whose corrupt prac- tices he denounced and exposed, but many of his fellow-citizens be- camejealous of a man whose superiority was constantly proclaimed. We are told that an unlettered countryman gave his vote against Aristides at the ostracism, simply on the ground that he was tired of hearing him always called the Just. Between men of such opposite characters as Themistocles and Aristides, there could not be much agreement. In the manage- ment of public affairs they frequently came into collision ; and they opposed each other with such violence and animosity, that Aristides is reported to have said, " If the Athenians were wise, they would cast both of us into the barathrum." After three or four years of bitter rivalry, the two chiefs appealed to the ostracism, and Aristides was banished. Aristides had used all his efforts to prevent the Athenians from abandoning their ancient habits, and from converting their state from a land into a maritime power. There can be no doubt that he viewed such a change as a dangerous innovation, and thought that the sailor would not make so good an Athenian citizen as the heavy-armed soldier. It was fortunate, however, for the liberties of Greece, that the arguments of his rival prevailed. Aristides was a far more virtuous citizen than Themistocles ; but their country could now dispense with the former much better than with the latter. Bust of MilUadea View of Thermupyla:. CHAPTER XVIII.' THE BATTLES OF THERMOPYLAE AND ARTEMISIUM. § 1. Death of Darius and accession of Xerxes. § 2. Preparations for the invasion of Greece. § 3. A bridge thrown across the Hellespont, and a canal cut through the isthmus of Mount Athos. § 4. Xerxes sets out from Sardis. Order of the march. §5. Passage of the Hellespont. §6. Num- bering of the army on the plain of Doriscus. § 7. Continuation of the march from Doriscus to Mount Olympus. § 8. Preparations of the Greeks to resist Xerxes. Congress of the Grecian states at the isthmus of Corinth. § 9. Patriotism of the Athenians. Resolution of the Greeks to defend the pass of Tempe, which is afterwards abandoned. § 10. Description of the pass of Thermopylae. §11. Leonidas sent with 300 Spartans and a small body of Peloponnesians to defend the pass of Thermopylae. § 12. Attack and repulse of the Persians at Thermopylae. § 13. A Persian detachment cross the mountains by a secret path in order to fall upon the Greeks in the rear. § 14. Heroic death of Leonidas and his comrades. § 15. Monu- ments erected to their honour. § 16. Proceedings of the Persian and Grecian fleets. § 17. The Persian fleet overtaken by a terrible storm. § 18. First battle of Artemisium. § 19. Second storm. § 20. Second battle of Artemisium. Eetreat of the Grecian fleet to Salamis. § 1. The defeat of the Persians at Marathon served only to in- crease the resentment of Darius. He now resolved to collect the whole forces of his empire, and to lead them in person 186 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XV111. against Athens. For three years, busy preparations were made throughout his vast dominions. In the fourth year his atten- tion was distracted by a revolt of the Egyptians, who had always borne the Persian yoke with impatience ; and before he could reduce them to subjection he was surprized by death, after a reign of thirty- seven years (b.c. 485). The death of Darius was a fortunate event for Greece. It deprived the Persians of an able ruler, who possessed an ex- tensive knowledge of men and of affairs, and it gave the Athe- nians time to form the navy, which proved the salvation of Greece. Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius, was a man of little ability and less experience. Being the favourite son of Atossa, the daughter of the great Cyrus, he had received the education of an eastern despot, and been surrounded with slaves from his cradle. In person he was the tallest and handsomest man amidst the vast hosts which he led against Greece ; but there was nothing in his mind to correspond to this fair exterior. His character was marked by faint-hearted timidity and childish vanity. Such was the monarch upon whom now devolved the execution of the schemes of Darius. Xerxes had not inherited his father's animosity against Grecco ; and at first appeared ready to abandon the enterprize. But he was surrounded by men who urged him to prosecute his father's, plans. Foremost among these was Mardonius, who was eager to retrieve his reputation, and to obtain the conquered count ly as a satrapy for himself. The powerful family of the Thessaliau Aleuadae and the exiled Pisistratids from Athens warmly se- conded the views of Mardonius, exaggerating the fertility and beauty of Greece, and promising the monarch an easy and a glo- rious victory. They also inflamed his ambition with the prospect of emulating the military glory of his father Darius, and of his grandfather Cyrus, and of extending his dominions to the farthest limits of the world. The only one of his counsellors, who urged him to adopt a contrary course, was his uncle Artabanus ; but his advice was rejected, and Xerxes finally determined upon the invasion of Greece. § 2. The subjugation of the Egyptians, however, claimed his immediate attention. This was effected without much difficulty in the second year of his reign (b.c. 484) ; and he was now at liberty to march against Greece. Darius had nearly completed his preparations for the invasion of Greece at the time of his death ; and the forces which he had collected were considered by this prudent monarch sufficient for the purpose. The new king- was anxious to make a still more imposing display of his power. He was net satisfied with collecting a military power sufficient for B.C. 485. ACCESSION OF XERXES. 187 the conquest of Europe ; he also resolved to gratify his vanity and love of ostentation, by gathering together the most numerous armament which the world had ever seen. Accordingly, for four years more the din of preparation sounded throughout Asia. Troops were collected from eveiy quarter of the Persian empire, and were ordered to assemble at Critalla, in Cappadocia. As many as forty-six different nations composed the land-force, of various complexions, languages, dresses, and arms. Among them might be seen many strange and barbarous tribes, — nomad hordes of Asiatics, armed with a dagger and a lasso, with which they entangled their enemy, — Libyans, whose only arms were wooden staves, with the end hardened in the fire, — and Ethiopians, from the Upper Nile, with their bodies painted half white and half red, clothed with the skins of lions and panthers, and armed with arrows tipped with a point of sharp stone instead of iron. The fleet was furnished by the Phoenicians and Ionians, and other maritime nations subject to the Persian monarch. Im- mense stores of provisions were at the same time collected from every part of the empire, and deposited at suitable stations along the line of march as far as the confines of Greece. § 3. While these vast preparations were going on, two great works were also undertaken, which would at the same time both render the expedition easier, and bear witness to the grandeur and might of the Persian king. These were the construction of a bridge across the Hellespont, and the cutting of a canal through the isthmus of Mount Athos. The first of these works was entrusted to Phoenician and Egyptian engineers. The bridge extended from the neighbourhood of Abydos, on the Asiatic coast, to a spot between Sestus and Madytus, on the European side, where the strait is about an English mile in breadth. After it had been completed, it was destroyed by a violent storm, at which Xerxes was so enraged, that he not only caused the heads of the chief engineers to be struck off, but in his daring impiety commanded the " divine " Hellespont to be scourged, and a set of fetters cast into it. Thus having given vent to his resentment, he ordered two bridges to be built in place of the former, one foi the army to pass over, and the other for the baggage and beasts of burthen. The new work consisted of two broad causeways alongside of one another, each resting upon a row of ships, which were moored by anchors, and by cables fastened to the sides of the channel. The voyage round the rocky promontory of Mount Athos had become an object of dread to the Persians, from the terrible shipwreck which the fleet of Mardonius had suffered on this dan- gerous coast. It was to avoid the necessity of doubling this 188 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVIII. cape that Xerxes ordered a canal to be cut through the isthmus which connects the peninsula of Mount Athos with the mainland. This work employed a number of men for three years. It was about a mile and a half long, and sufficiently broad and deep for two triremes to sail abreast. The traces of this canal, which are still distinctly visible, sufficiently disprove the assertion of many writers, both ancient and modern, that the cutting through of Mount Athos is a mere fiction.* § 4. At the end of the year 481 B.C., all the preparations were completed for the invasion of Greece. Xerxes spent the winter at Sardis ; and early in the spring of the following year (480) he set out from the Lydian capital in all the pomp and splendour of a royal progress. The vast host was divided into two bodies of nearly equal size, between which ample space was left for the Great King and his Persian guards. The baggage led the way, and was followed by one half of the army, without any distinction of nations. Then after an interval came the retinue of the King. First of all marched a thousand Persian horsemen, followed by an equal number of Persian spearmen, the latter carrying spears with the points downwards, and ornamented at the other end with golden pomegranates. Behind them walked ten sacred horses, gorgeously caparisoned, bred on the Nisrcan plain of Media ; next the sacred car of Jove, drawn by eight white horses ; and then Xerxes himself in a chariot, drawn by Nissean horses. He was followed by a thousand spearmen and a thousand horsemen, corresponding to the two detachments which immediately pre- ceded him. They were succeeded by ten thousand Persian in- fantry, called the " Immortals," because their number was always maintained. Nine thousand of them had their spears orna- mented with pomegranates of silver at the reverse extremity ; whUe the remaining thousand, who occupied the outer ranks, carried spears similarly adorned with pomegranates of gold. After the " Immortals" came ten thousand Persian cavalry, who formed the rear of the royal retinue. Then, after an interval of two furlongs the other half of the army followed. § 5. In this order the multitudinous host marched from Sardis to Abydos, on the Hellespont. Here a marble throne was erected for the monarch upon an eminence, from which he surveyed all the earth covered with his troops, and all the sea crowded with his vessels. His heart swelled within him at the sight of such a * Juvenal speaks Df it as a specimen of Greek mendacity : — "creditur olim Veliiii atus Athos, et quidquid Gnccia raendai Aii'l'.'t in historia." B.C. 480. MARCH OF XERXES. 189 vast assemblage of human beings ; but bis feelings of pride and pleasure soon gave way to sadness, and he burst into tears at the reflection, that in a hundred years not one of them would be alive. At the first rays of the rising sun the army commenced the passage of the Hellespont. The bridges were perfumed with frankincense and strewed with myrtle, while Xerxes himself poured libations into the sea from a golden censer, and turning his face towards the east, offered prayers to the Sun, that he might carry his victorious arms to the farthest extremities of Europe. Then throwing the censer into the sea, together with a golden bowl and a Persian scimitar, he ordered the Immortals to lead the way. The army crossed by one bridge, and the baggage by the other ; but so vast were their numbers, that they were seven days and seven nights in passing over, without a mo- ment of intermission. The speed of the troops was quickened by the lash, which was constantly employed by the Persians to urge on the troops in the battle as well as during the march.* § 6. Upon reaching Europe, Xerxes continued his march along the coast of Thrace. Upon arriving at the spacious plain of Doriscus, which is traversed by the river Hebrus, he resolved to number both his land and naval forces. The mode employed for numbering the foot-soldiers was remarkable. Ten thousand men were first numbered, and packed together as closely as they could stand ; a line was drawn, and a wall built round the place they had occupied, into which all the soldiers entered succes- sively, till the whole army was thus measured. There were found to be a hundred and seventy of these divisions, thus making a total of 1,700,000 foot. Besides these, there were 80,000 horse, and many war-chariots and camels, with about 20,000 men. The fleet consisted of 1207 triremes, and 3000 smaller vessels. Each trireme was manned by 200 rowers and 30 fighting men ; and each of the accompanying vessels carried 3 men, according to the calculation of Herodotus. Thus the naval force amounted to 517,610. The whole armament, both military and naval, which passed over from Asia to Doriscus, would accordingly consist of 2,317,610 men. Nor is this all. In his march from Doriscus to Thermopylse, Xerxes received a still further accession of strength. The Thracian tribes, the Macedo- nians, and the other nations in Europe whose territories he tra- versed, supplied 300,000 men, and 120 triremes containing an aggregate of 24,000 men. Thus when he reached Thermopylse the land and sea forces amounted to 2,641,610 fightiug men. * Whips made of the hide of the hippopotamus were used by Ibrahim Pasha to flog the Arab* into battle during the Egyptian invasion cf Greece in 1827. 190 HISTORY OF GllEECE. Chap. XVIII. This does not include the attendants, the slaves, the crews of the provision ships, &C, which, according to the supposition of Herodotus, were more in number than the fighting men ; but supposing them to have been equal, the total number of male persons who accompanied Xerxes to Thermopylae, reaches the astounding figure of 5,283,220 ! Such are the vast numbers given by Herodotus ; but they seem so incredible, that many writers have been led to impeach the veracity of the historian. But it cannot be doubted that Herodotus had reoeived his account from persons who were pre- sent at Doriscus, and that he has faithfully recorded the numbers that had been related to him. It is probable, however, that these numbers were at first grossly exaggerated in order to please Xerxes himself, and were still further magnified by the Greeks to exalt their own heroism in overcoming such an enormous host. The exact number of the invading army cannot be determined ; but we may safely conclude from all the circum- stances of the case, that it was the largest ever assembled at any period of history. 5 7. From Doriscus Xerxes continued his march along the coast through Thrace and Macedonia. The principal cities through which he passed had to furnish a day's meal for the immense host, and for this pui-pose had made preparations many months beforehand. The cost of feeding such a multitude brought many cities to the brink of ruin. Tho island of Thasos alone, which had to undertake this onerous duty on account of its possessions on the mainland, expended no less a sum than 400 talents, or nearly 100,000?. in our money ; and a witty citizen of Abdera recommended his countrymen to return thanks to the gods, because Xerxes was satisfied with one meal in the day. At Acanthus, Xerxes was gratified by the sight of the wonderful canal, which had been executed by his order. Here he parted for the first time from his fleet, which was directed to double the peninsulas of Sithonia and Pallene, and wait his arrival at the city of Therma, which is better known by its later name of Thessalonica. In his march through the wild and woody country between Acanthus and Therma, his baggage-camels were attacked by lions, which then existed in this part of Europe.* At Therma he rejoined his fleet, and continued his march along the coast till he reached Mount Olympus, separating Macedonia from the country properly called Hellas. The part of Europe through which ho had hitherto marched, had been already conquered by Megabazus and Mardonius, and yielded implicit obedience to tho * The figure of a lion seizing a bull is found on the reverse of the coins of Acanthus. See p. 3. B.C. 480. PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS. 191 Persian monarch. He was now for the first time about to leave his own dominions and tread upon the Hellenic soil. § 8. The mighty preparations of Xerxes had been no secret in Greece ; and while he was passing the winter at Sardis, a congress of the Grecian states was summoned to meet at the Isthmus of Corinth. This congress had been convened by the Spartans and Athenians, who now made a vigorous effort to unite the mem- bers of the Hellenic race in one great league for the defence of their hearths and their homes. But in this attempt they failed. The salvation of Greece appeared to depend upon its unanimity, and this unanimity could not be obtained. Such was the terror inspired by the countless hosts of Xerxes, and so absurd did it seem to offer resistance to his superhuman power, that many of the Grecian states at once tendered their submission to him, when he sent to demand earth and water, and others at a greater distance refused to take any part in the congress. Taking a glance at the Hellenic world, we shall be astonished to see how small a portion of the Greeks had the courage to resist the Persian despot. The only people, north of the isthmu3 of Corinth, who remained faithful to the cause of Grecian liberty,, were the Athenians and Phocians, and the inhabitants of the small Boeotian towns of Plataea and Thespise. The other people in northern Greece were either partizans of the Persians, like the Thebans, or were unwilling to make any great sacrifices for the preservation of their independence. In Peloponnesus, the powerful city of Argos stood sullenly aloof. The Argives had never forgotten that they were once the ruling people in Peloponnesus. They had made many attempts to resist the growing power and influence of Sparta ; but about five years before the battle of Marathon (b.c. 495), they had been effectually humbled by the great victory which the Spartan king Cleomenes had gained over them, and in which as many as six thousand of their citizens perished. They therefore con- templated the invasion of Xerxes with indifference, if not with pleasure, and were more willing to submit to the sovereignty of the Persian monarch than to the supremacy of their hated rivals. The Achteans likewise took no part in the contest, probably from hatred to the Dorians, who had driven their ancestors from their homes. From the more distant members of the Hellenic race no assist- ance was obtained. Envoys had been sent by the congress at Corinth to Crete, Corcyra, and Syracuse. The Cretans excused themselves under pretence of an oracle. The Corcyrseans pro- mised their aid, and despatched a fleet of sixty vessels, but with strict orders not to double Cape Malea, till the result of the 192 niSTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVIII. contest should be known. Gelon, the ruler of Syracuse, offered to send a powerful armament, provided the command of the allied forces was entrusted to him ; but the envoys did not ven- ture to accept a proposal, which would have placed both Sparta aud Athens under the control of a Sicilian despot. § 9. The desertion of the cause of Grecian independence by so many of the Greeks did not shake the resolution of Sparta and of Athens. The Athenians, especially, set a noble example of an enlarged patriotism. They became reconciled to the JSgi- netans, and thus gained fur the common cause the powerful navy of their rival. They readily granted to the Spartans the supreme command of the forces by sea as well as by land, although they furnished two-thirds of the vessels of the entire fleet. Their illustrious citizen Themistocles was the soul of the congress. He sought to enkindle in the other Greeks some portion of the ardour and energy, which he had succeeded in breathing into the Athenians. The confederates bound themselves to resist to the death ; and, in case of success, to consecrate to the Delphian god a tenth of the property of every Grecian state which had surrendered to the Persians without being compelled by irresistible necessity. The congress had now to fix upon the spot where they should offer resistance to the Persians. The Thessalians, who dreaded the return of the Aleuada3 to their cities, urged the congress to send a body of men to guard the pass of Tempe, which forms the entrance to northern Greece. They promised to take an active part in the defence ; adding, that if the request was re- fused, they should be obliged to make terms with the Persians. Accordingly a body of 10,000 men was sent into Thessaly under the command of the Spartan Euaenetus aud the Athenian The- mistocles. The pass of Tempe is a long and narrow defile in Mount Olympus, through which the river Peneus forces its way into the sea. On each side, steep and inaccessible mountains rise to a great height, and in some parts approach so closely as to leave scarcely sufficient space for a road. It is impossible for an army to force its way through this pass, if defended by a re- solute body of men ; but upon arriving at the spot, the Grecian commanders perceived that it would be easy for the Persians to land troops in their rear ; and they learnt at the same time that thero was another passage across Mount Olympus, a little farther to the west. For these reasons they considered it necessary to abandon this position, and return to the isthmus of Corinth. Their retreat was followed by the submission of the whole of Thessaly to Xerxes. § 10. After Tempe, the next spot in Greece most convenient B.C. 480. BATTLE OF THEKMOPYL^J. 193 for defence against an invading army is the pass of Thermo- pylae). This celebrated pass lies between the lofty and preci- pitous mountains of (Eta, and an inaccessible morass forming the edge of the Mahan gulf. It is about a mile in length. At each of its extremities the mountains approach so near the morass, as to leave barely room for the passage of a single cai*- riage. These narrow entrances were called Pylse, or the Gates. The northern, or, to speak more properly, the western Gate, was close to the town of Anthela, where the Amphictyonic council held its autumnal meetings ; while the southern, or the eastern Gate, was near the Locrian town of Alpeni. The space between the gates was wider and more open, and was distinguished by its hot springs, from which the pass derived the name of Ther- mopylae, or the "Hot-Gates." This pass was as defensible as that of Tempe, and in one important respect possessed a decided superiority over the latter. The island of Eubcea is here sepa- rated from the mainland by a narrow strait, which in one part is only two miles and a half in breadth ; and accordingly it is easy, by defending this part of the sea with a fleet, to prevent an enemy from landing troops at the southern end of the pass. Sis •' n. under *3Sj£| , Plan of Thermopylae §11. The Greeks, therefore, resolved to make a stand at Ther- mopylae, and to defend at the same time both the pass and the Eubcean strait. The whole allied fleet, under the command of the Spartan Eurybiades, sailed to the north of Euboea, and took up itp station off that portion of the northern coast of the island, which faces Magnesia and the entrance to the Thessalian gulf, and which was called Artemisium, from a neighbouring Gk. o 191 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVIII. temple of Artemis (Diana). It was, however, only a email land- force that was sent to the defence of Thermopylae. When the arrival of Xerxes at Therma became known, the Greeks were upon the point of celebrating the Olympic games, and the festival of the Carnean Apollo, which was observed with great solemnity at Sparta and in the other Doric states. The Peloponnesiaus could not make up their minds to neglect these sacred games, even when the dreaded enemy was almost at their doors. They there- fore resolved to send forward only a small detachment, which they thought would be sufficient to maintain the pass till the festivals were over, when they would be able to march against Xerxes with all their forces. The command of this body was entrusted to the Spartan king Leonidas, the younger brother and successor of Cleomenes. It consisted of 300 Spartans, with their attendant Helots, and nearly 3000 hoplites from the other Peloponnesian states. In their march through Bceotia they were joined by 700 Thespians, who were warmly attached to the cause of Grecian independence, and also by 400 Thebans, whom Leonidas compelled the Theban government to furnish much against its will. On their arrival at Thermopylae, their forces were still further augmented by 1000 Phocians, and a body of Opuntian Locrians, so that their numbers were not much short of 7000 men. It was now that Leonidas learnt for the first time, that there was an unfrequented path over Mount 02ta, by which a foe might penetrate into southern Greece without marching through Thermopylae. This path, commencing near Trachis, ascended the northern side of the mountain called Anopsia, along the torrent of the Asopus, crossed one of the ridges of Mount QEta, and descended on the southern side near the termination of the pass at the Locrian town of Alpeni. Leonidas was informed of the existence of this path by the Phocians ; and, at their own desire, he posted them at the summit, to defend it against the enemy. The Spartan king took up his station, with the re- mainder of his troops, within the pass of Thermopylae. He ren- dered his position still stronger by rebuilding across the northern entrance a wall, which had been erected in former days by the Phocians, but which had been suffered to fall into ruins. Hav- ing thus made all his arrangements, Leonidas calmly awaited th? approach of the Persian host. But the majority of the men did not share the calmness of their general ; and so great became their alarm at the smalhiess of their numbers, when the multi- tudinous forces of Xerxes began to draw near, that the Pelopon- neeiaus were anxious to abandon their present position and make the isthmus of Corinth their point of iefence. It was only B.C. 480. BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE. 195 the personal influence of Lesnidas, seconded by the indignant remonstrances of the Phocians and Locrians, which prevailed upon them to continue faithful to their post. At the same time he despatched messengers to the various cities, urgiDg them to send him immediate reinforcements. § 12. Meanwhile Xerxes had arrived within sight of Thermo- pylae. He had heard that a handful of desperate men, com- manded by a Spartan, had determined to dispute his passage, but he refused to believe the new r s. He was still more asto- nished when a horseman, whom he had sent to reconnoitre, brought back word that he had seen several Spartans outside the wall in front of the pass, some amusing themselves with gymnastic exercises, and others combing their long hair. In great perplexity, he sent for the Spartan king Demaratus, who had accompanied him from Persia, and asked him the meaning of such madness. Demaratus replied, that the Spartans would defend the pass to the death, and that it was their practice to dress their heads with peculiar care when they were going to hazard their lives. Xerxes still could not believe that they were mad enough to resist his mighty host, and delayed his attack for four days, expecting that they would disperse of their own accord. Later writers related, that Xerxes sent to them to deliver up their arms. Leonidas desired him " to come and take them." One of the Spartans being told that " the Persian host was so prodigious, that their arrows would conceal the sun :" — " So much the better," (he replied,) " we shall then fight in the shade." At length, upon the fifth day, Xerxes ordered a chosen body of Medes to advance against the presumptuous foes and bring them into his presence. Remembering their former glory as the masters of Asia, and anxious to avenge their defeat at Marathon, the Medes fought with bravery ; but their superior numbers were of no avail in such a narrow space, and they were kept at bay by the long spears and steady ranks of the Greeks. After the combat had lasted a long time with heavy loss to the Medes, Xerxes ordered his ten thousand " Immortals" to advance. But these were as unsuccessful as the former. Xerxes beheld the repulse of his troops from a lofty throne which had been provided for him, and was seen to leap thrice from his seat in an agony of fear or rage. § 13. On the following day the attack was renewed, but with no better success ; and Xerxes was beginning to despair of forcing his way through the pass, when a Malian, of the name of Ephi- altes, betrayed to the Persian king the secret of the path across tha mountains. Overjoyed at this discovery, a strong detach- o 2 196 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XVIII. rnent of Persians was ordered to follow the traitor. They set out at nightfall, and at daybreak had nearly reached the summit, where the Phocians were stationed. In Greece the dawn of day is distinguished by a peculiar stillness ; and the universal silence was first broken by the trampling of so many men upon the leaves, with which the sides of the mountains were strewed. The Phocians flew to arms, and anxious for their own safety, became unmindful of the important trust which had been committed to them, abandoned the path, and took refuge on the highest part of the ridge. The Persians, without turning aside to pursue them, continued their march along the path, and began to de - scend the southern side of the mountain. Meantime Leonidas and his troops had received ample notice of the impending danger. During the night deserters from the enemy had brought him the news ; and their intelligence was confirmed by his own scouts on the hills. In the council of war, which was forthwith summoned by Leonidas, opinions were divided; the majority recommended that they should retire from a position which could no longer be defended, and reserve their lives for the future safety of Greece. But Leonidas refused to retreat. As a Spartan he was bound by the laws to conquei or to die in the post assigned to him ; and he was the more ready to sacrifice his life, since an oracle had declared that either Sparta itself or a Spartan king must perish by the Persian arms. His three hundred comrades were fully equal to the same heroism which actuated their king ; and the seven hundred Thespians re- solved to share the fate of this gallant band. He allowed the rest of the allies to retire, with the exception of the four hun- dred Boeotians, whom he retained as hostages. § 14. Xerxes delayed his attack till the middle of the day, when it was expected that the detachment sent across the mountain would arrive at the rear of the pass. But Leonidas and his comrades, only anxious to sell their fives as dearly as possible, did not wait behind the wall to receive the attack of the Persians, but advanced into the open space in front of the pass, and charged the enemy with desperate valour. Num! of the Persians were slain; many were driven into the neigh- bouring sea ; and others again were trampled to death by the vast hosts behind them. Notwithstanding the exhortations of their officers, and the constant use of the lash, it was with diffi- culty that the barbarians could be brought to face this handful of heroes. As long as the Greeks could maintain their ranks they repelled every attack ; but when their spears were broken, and they had only their swords left, the enemy began to press in between them Leonidas was one of the first that fell, and B.C. 480. BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE. 19 1 around his body the battle raged fiercer than ever. The Persians made the greatest efforts to obtain possession of it ; but four times they were driven back by the Greeks with great slaughter. At length, thinned in numbers, and exhausted by fatigue and wounds, this noble band retired within the pass, and seated themselves on a hillock behind the wall. Meanwhile, the de- tachment, which had been sent across the mountains, began to enter the pass from the south. The Thebans seized the oppor- tunity of begging quarter, proclaiming that they had been forced to fight against their will. Their fives were spared ; and the detachment marched on through the pass. The surviving heroes were now surrounded on every side, overwhelmed with a shower of missiles and killed to a man. § 15. On the hillock, where the Greeks made their last stand, a marble lion was set up in honour of Leonidas. Two other monuments were also erected near the spot. The inscription on the first recorded " that four thousand Peloponnesians had here fought with three hundred myriads (or three millions) of foes." The second, which was destined for the Spartans alone, contained the memorable words : — " Go, tell the Spartans, thou that passest by, That here obedient to their laws we lie." * Both of these epigrams were probably written by the poet Si- monides, who also celebrated the glory of the heroes of Ther- mopylae in a noble ode, of which the following fragment is still extant : — " Of those who at Thermopyla; were slain, Glorious the doom, and beautiful the lot ; Their tomb an altar : men from tears refrain To honour them, and praise, but mourn them not. Such sepulchre nor drear decay, Nor all-destroying time shall waste ; this right have they. Within their grave the home-bred glory Of Greece was laid; this witness gives Leonidas the Spartan, in whose story A wreath of famous virtue ever lives. "f § 16. While Leonidas had been fighting at Thermopylae, the Greek fleet had also been engaged with the Persians at Artemi- sium. The Greek ships assembled off the northern coast ol Eubcea were 271 in number, commanded, as has been mentioned above, by the Spartan Eurybiades. The Athenian squadron * "0 \lfi , a.yyiXXny AaxiduifAovi'oi;, on tSiSi xiifii6a, to7; xnvuv p/ifiatri ttu&ouivoi. i Translated by Sterling. 198 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XVIlI was led by Themistocles and the Corinthian by Adimantus ; but of the other commanders we have no mention. Three vessels were sent ahead to watch the movements of the Persians. Off the island of Sciathus they were captured by a squadron of ten Persian vessels, which had in like mauner been despatched by the Persian admiral to obtain intelligence. As soon as the Greeks at Artemisium heard of this disaster, and of the speedy approach of the whole Persian fleet, they were seized with a panic, such as had taken possession of the soldiers of Leonidas upon the advance of the land force of the Persians. But Eury- biades did not possess the same influence over his men as the Spartan king ; and the whole fleet abandoned their position, and sailed up the channel between Eubcea and the mainland to Chalcis, where the straits, being only forty yards across, might easily be defended by a few ships. This retreat was equivalent to an abandonment of the whole scheme of defence, as it gave the Persians full liberty to land troops in the rear of the de- fenders of Thermopylae. But now a mightier power than that of man came forward, and saved the Greeks in spite of themselves. § 17. The Persian admiral, having learnt from the ten ships sent on the look out that the coast was clear, set sail from the gulf of Therma, and arrived in one day at almost the southern corner of Magnesia. Along the greater part of this coast the high and precipitous rocks of Mount Pelion hue the water's edge ; but there is an open beach for a short distance between the town of Casthanaea and the promontory of Sepias. Here the Persian admiral determined to pass the night ; but owing to the vast number of his ships, only a small portion of them could be drawn up on shore ; the remainder rode at anchor eight lines deep. In this position they were overtaken on the follow- ing morning by a sudden hurricane, which blew upon the shore with irresistible fury. The ships were torn from their anchor- age, driven against one another, and dashed against the cliffs. For three days and three nights the tempest raged without intermission ; and when on the fourth day calm at length returned, the shore was seen strewed for many miles with wrecks and corpses. At least four hundred ships of war were destroyed, together with a countless number of transports, fitores, and treasures. The remainder of the fleet doubled the southern promontory of Magnesia, and cast anchor at Aphetce at the entrance to the Pagasoean gulf. § 18. The news of this terrible disaster, which report had magnified into the entire destruction of the Persian fleet, revived the spirits of the Greeks at Chalcis. They now sailed back with the utmost speed to their former station at Artemisium, which B.C. 480. BATTLE OF ARTEMISIUM. 199 is opposite Aphetae, at the distance of only a few miles. But great was their surprise at seeing that the Persians still pos- sessed such an overwhelming number of ships. The sight again struck them with alarm ; and they were on the point of returning to Chalcis, when the Eubceans sent one of theii citi- zens to Themistocles, with an offer of thirty talents, on condition that he should induce the Greek commanders to remain and hazard a battle in defence of the island. There can be no doubt that Themistocles had already urged his associates in command to defend the Eubcean strait against the enemy, and he therefore readily undertook the commission offered him by the Eubceans. In all periods of their history the Greeks seldom had sufficient principle to resist a bribe ; and Themistocles was now enabled to accomplish by money what he had failed to do by argument. By giving five talents to the Spartan Eurybiades, three to the Corinthian Adimantus, and presents to the other commanders, he prevailed upon them to remain. "While the Greeks were thus brought with difficulty to face the enemy, the Persian fleet was animated with a very different spirit. They felt confident of victory, and their only fear was lest the Greeks should escape them. In order to prevent this, they sent a squadron of 200 ships, with instructions to sail round Eubcea and cut off the retreat of the Greeks. Themistocles had now succeeded in inspiring his comrades with sufficient courage to sail forth and offer battle to the enemy. But being anxious to acquire some experience of the nautical evolutions of the enemy, before they ventured upon a decisive engagement, they waited till it was nearly dusk. Their ships were drawn up in a circle, with their sterns pointed inwards ; and they seemed to be waiting the attack of the enemy, who began to close in upon them on every side. But suddenly, at a given signal, they rowed out in all directions, and attacked the enemy's ships, of which they took or disabled no fewer than thirty. The Persians were not prepared for such boldness, and were at first thrown into con- fusion ; but they soon rallied, and began to inflict considerable damage upon the Greeks, when night put an end to the contest, and each fleet returned to its former station, — the Greeks to Artemisium, and the Persians to Aphetse. § 19. This auspicious commencement raised the courage of the Greeks, and gave them greater confidence in their own strength. They were still further encouraged by the events of the following night. It seemed as if the gods had come to fight on thicr side. For, although it was the middle of summer, at which season rain rarely, falls in Greece, another terrific storm burst upon the Persians. Ail night long it blew upon the coast 200 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XY11I. at Apheta?, thus causing little inconvenience to the Greeks upon the opposite shore. The main body of the Persian fleet sus- tained considerable damage ; and the squadron which was sailing round Euboea was completely destroyed. The greater part of the eastern side of this island is an unbroken line of precipitous rocks, with scarcely a ravine in which even a boat can be hauled up. The squadron was overtaken by the storm off one of the most dangerous parts of the coast, called " the Hollows," and was driven upon the rocks and broken to pieces. The tidings of this second disaster to the Persian fleet reached the Greeks on the following day ; and while they were congra- tulating themselves upon the visible interposition of the gods in their favour, they were animated to still greater confidence by the arrival of fifty-three fresh Athenian ships. With this reinforce- ment they sailed out in the afternoon, and destroyed some Cilician ships at their moorings ; but the Persian fleet had suffered too much from the storm in the preceding night to engage in battle. § 20. Indignant at these insults, and dreading the anger of Xerxes, the Persians prepared to make a grand attack upon the following day. Accordingly, about noon they sailed towards Artemisium in the form of a crescent. The Greeks kept near the shore, that they might not be surrounded, and to prevent the Persians from bringing their whole fleet into action. The battle raged furiously the whole day, and each side fought with determined valour. The Egyptians distinguished themselves most among the Persians, and the Athenians among the Greeks. Both parties suffered severely ; and though the Persians lost a greater number of ships and men, yet so many of the Greek ves- sels were disabled that they found it would be impossible to re- new the combat. Under these circumstances the Greek commanders saw that it would be necessary to retreat ; and their determination was hastened by the intelligence which they now received, that Leonidas and his companions had fallen, and that Xerxes was master of the pass of Thermopylae. They forthwith sailed up the Euboean channel, the Corinthians leading the van and the Athenians bringing up the rear. At the various landing-places along the coast Themistocles set up inscriptions, calling upon the Ionians not to fight against their fathers. He did this in the hopes cither of detaching some of the Ionians from the Persians, or at any rate of making them objects of suspicion to Xerxes, and thus preventing the monarch from employing them in any important service. Having sailed through the Euboean strait, the fleet doubled the promontory of Sunium. %nd did not s:*>]i till it reached the island of Salamis. A Greek Warrior. From an Ancient Vase. CHAPTER XIX. THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS. § !. Results of the battle of Thermopylae. § 2. Alarm and flight of the Athenians. §3. March of the Persians and attempt upon Delphi. §4. Taking of Athens and arrival of the Persian fleet. § 5. Dissensions and debates of the Greeks. § 6. Stratagem of Themistocles. Arrival of Aris- tides. § 7. Position of the hostile fleets. Preparations for the combat. §8. Battle ofSalamis. §9. Defeat and flight of Xerxes. § 10. Pursuit of the Greeks. § 11. Homeward march of Xerxes. § 12. The Greeks celebrate their victory. § 13. Carthaginian expedition to Sicily. Defeat and death of Hamilcar. § 1. The apathy of the Lacedaemonians in neglecting to provide a sufficient defence against the advancing host of Xerxes seems altogether unaccountable ; nor is it easy to understand why the Athenians themselves did not send a single troop to aid in de- fending Thermopylae. The heroic and long sustained resistance of the handful of men who perished in that pass, as well as the previous battle of Marathon, clearly proves that a moderately numerous force, together with ordinary military precautions, would have sufficed to arrest the onward march of the Persians. But the small body to which that duty was assigned was alto- gether inadequate to the occasion. The forcing of the pass 202 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIX. annihilated the chief defence of southern Greece. Many of tne Grecian states which before were wavering now declared for the invader, and sent contingents to his army ; whilst his fleet was also strengthened by reinforcements from Carystus, and the Cyclades. The Athenians were now threatened with inevitable destruc- tion. The Peloponnesians had utterly neglected their promise of assembling a force in Boeotia for the protection of Attica ; and there was consequently nothing to prevent the Persians from marching straight to Athens. The isolated position of the Peloponnesians had probably influenced them in their selfish policy ; at all events, on the news of the defeat at Thercnopylrc, they abandoned Attica and the adjoining states to their fate, whilst they strained every nerve to secure themselves by forti- fying the isthmus of Corinth. It is true that in this selfish proceeding they overlooked the fact that their large extent of coast could not be thus secured from the descent of the Persian fleet. But after all, the greatest as well as the most pressing danger arose from the army of Xerxes. At sea, the Greeks and the Barbarians were much more nearly matched ; and if the multitudinous land-forces of the Persian monarch were once arrested in their progress, and compelled to retreat, there was perhaps little reason to dread that his fleet, composed mostly of auxiliaries, would be able to make any permanent impression on the Peloponnesus, or indeed to remain upon the coast of Greece. § 2. The Athenians, relying upon the march of a Pelopon- nesian army into Bceotia, had taken no measures for the se- curity of their families and property, and beheld with terror and dismay the barbarian host in full march towards their city. Fortunately, the Grecian fleet, on retiring from Artemisium, had stopped at Salamis on its way to Troezen, where it had been ordered to re-assemble ; and, at the entreaties of the Athenians, Eurybiades consented to remain for a time at Salamis, and to assist the Athenian citizens in transporting their families and effects. It was thus by accident, and not from any precon- certed military plan, that Salamis became the station of the Grecian fleet. In six days, it was calculated Xerxes would be at Athens — a short space to remove the population of a whole city ; but fear and necessity work wonders. Before it had elapsed, all who were willing to abandon their homes had been safely transported, some to J£gina, the greater part to Trcezen, where they met with an hospitable reception ; but many could not be induced to proceed farther than Salamis. It was necessary for Themistocles B.C. 480. THE ATHENIANS ABANDON THEIR CITY. 203 to use all his art and all his eloquence on this occasion. Those who were deaf to the voice of reason were assailed with the terrors of superstition. On a first interrogation the oracle of Delphi warned the Athenians to fly to the ends of the earth, since nothing could save them from destruction. In a second response the Delphian god was more obscure but less alarming. " The divine Salamis would make women childless," — yet " when all was lost, a wooden wall should still shelter the Athenians." In the interpretation of Themistocles, by whom these words had perhaps been suggested, they clearly indicated a fleet and a naval victory as the only means of safety. As a further persuasion it was declared that the Sacred Serpent, which haunted the temple of Athena Polias, on the Acropolis, had deserted the sanctuary ; and could the citizens hesitate to follow the example of their guardian deity ? In some, however , superstition, combined with love of their ancient homes, worked in an opposite direction. The oracle which declared the safety of the Athenians to lie in their wooden walls might admit of another meaning ; and a few, especially among the aged and the poor, resolved to shut themselves up in the Acropolis, and to fortify its accessible or western front with barricades of timber. Not only in them, but even in those who had resolved to abandon Athens, the love of country grew stronger in proportion as the danger of losing it became more imminent. The present misery extinguished past dissensions. Themistocles proposed a decree revoking all sentences of banish- ment, and specially included in it his opponent and rival Aristides. The rich and the aristocratic assisted the city both by their ex- ample and their money. The Hippeis, or knights, headed by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, marched in procession to the Acropolis to hang up their bridles in the temple of Athena, and to fetch from thence some consecrated arms more suitable for that naval ser- vice for which they were about to abandon their ancient habits and privileges. The senate of the Areopagus not only exerted its public authority in order to provide funds for the equipment of the fleet and the support of the poorer emigrants, but con- tributed to those objects by the private munificence of its mem- bers. The fund was increased by the policy of Themistocles. Under the pretext that the Gorgon's head had been removed from the statue of Athena, he directed that the baggage of each departing citizen should be searched, and appropriated to the service of the state the private treasures which were about to be exported. § 3, While these things were passing at Athens, the Persian army was in full march towards the city. Xerxes was surprisoc 204 HISTOBY OF GREECE. Chap. XIX to find that the Olympic games still deterred the Peloponnesians from opposing his progress ; nor was his astonishment di- minished on learning that the prize, which occasioned so much excitement and emulation, was a simple wreath of the wild olive, Of the states which lay between Thermopylae and Attica, the Phocians alone refused to submit to the Persians. Under the conduct of the Thessahans, the Persian army poured into Phocis, but found only deserted towns ; several of which, how- ever, they plundered and destroyed. The same fate attended Thespiae and Platsea, the only towns of Bceotia which declined to acknowledge the conqueror. On his march towards Athens, Xerxes sent a detachment of his army to take and plunder Delphi. But this attempt proved un- successful. The god of the most renowned oracle of the Hel- lenic world vindicated at once the majesty of his sanctuary and the truth of his predictions. He forbade the Delphians to remove the treasures which enriched and adorned his shrine, and encouraged by divine portents the handful of priests and citizens who ventured to remain and defend his temple. The sacred arms preserved in the inner cell, and which it was sacrilege to touch, were miraculously conveyed outside the door, as if the god himself interfered to arm his defenders. As the Persians climbed the rugged path at the foot of Mount Parnassus, leading up to the shrine, and had already reached the temple of Athena Pron;ea, thunder was heard to roll, and two crags suddenly detaching themselves from the mountain, rolled down upon the Persians, and spread dismay and destruction in their ranks. Seized with a sudden panic, they turned and fled, pursued, as they said, by two warriors of superhuman size and prowess, who had assisted the Delphians in defending their temple. The Delphians themselves confirmed the report, averring that the two warriors were tho heroes Phylacus and Autonoiis. Herodotus, when he visited Delphi, saw in the sacred enclosure of Athena Pronsea the iden- tical crags which had crushed the Persians ; and near the spot may still be seen large blocks of stone which have rolled down from the mountain. § 4. On arriving before Athens, Xerxes found the Acropolis occupied by a handful of desperate citizens, whom the Pisia- tratids in his suite in vain exhorted to surrender. The nature of the Acropolis might indeed have inspired them with reason- able hopes of successful resistance, had the disparity of force )>een less enormous. Rising abrupt and craggy to the height of 150 feet above the level of the town, its summit presents a space of about 1000 feet in length, from east to west, and 500 in breadth, from north to south. On every side except the west it B.C. 480 THE PERSIANS OCCUPY ATHENS. 205 is nearly inaccessible, and in the few places where access seemed practicable, it was defended by an ancient fortification called the Pelasgic wall. The Persian army took up a position on the Areopagus (Mars' Hill), over against the north-western side en the Aoropolis, whence they endeavoured to destroy the wooden fortifications which had been erected, by shooting against them arrows furnished with burning tow. But even after the destruc- tion of these barricades, the Athenians managed to keep their assailants at bay by rolling down huge stones upon them as they attempted to mount the western ascent. At length some of the besiegers ventured to clinib up the precipitous rock, on the northern side, by the cave of Aglaurus, where no guard was stationed. They gained the summit unperceived, thus taking the little garrison in the rear. Confusion and despair now seized upon the Athenians. Some threw themselves down from the rock, others took refuge in the inner temple ; while the Persian host, to whom the gates had been thrown open by then comrades, mounted to the attack, pillaged and burnt the temples and houses on the Acropolis, and put its defenders to the sword. Thus was the oracle accomplished which had foretold that Athens should fall before the might of Persia. But in the very midst of her ashes and desolation, a trivial portent seemed to foreshadow the resurrection of her power. The Athenians in the train of Xerxes, whilst sacrificing in the Acropolis, observed with astonishment that the sacred olive tree, which grew in the temple of Athena, had, in the two days which had elapsed since the fire, thrown out a fresh shoot a cubit in length. About the same time that the army of Xerxes took possession of Athens, his fleet arrived in the bay of Phalerum. Its strength is not accurately known, but at the lowest estimate must have exceeded 1000 vessels. The combined Grecian fleet at Salamis consisted of 366 ships ;* a larger force than had assembled at Artemisium, yet far inferior to that of the Persians. Of these ships 200 were Athenian ; the remainder consisted of the con- tingents of the allies, among which that of the Corinthians was the most numerous after the Athenian, namely, forty ves- sels. Xerxes went down to inspect his fleet, and held a council of war as to the expediency of an immediate attack upon the Greeks. The kings of Sidon and Tyre, together with the other assembled potentates, probably with the view of flattering Xerxes, were for an immediate battle. One voice alone broke * According to Herodotus ; but iEschylus reckons them at 310 only. 206 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIX the unanimity of the meeting. Artemisia, queen of Halicar- nassus, in Caria, deprecated the policy of fighting in the narrow strait of Salamis, where the numerous force of Xerxes would he au incumbrance rather than a help. She urjred that if the army were marched towards Peloponnesus, the Peloponnesian ships would withdraw from the Grecian fleet, in order to protect their own homes. She is likewise represented as having drawn a comparison between the maritime skill of the Greeks and Per- sians, very little flattering to the latter. But these representa- tions, though received with good temper, were disregarded by Xerxes, and orders were issued for an attack on the following morning. At the same time the army was commanded to march towards Peloponnesus. § 5. At this critical juncture dissension reigned in the Grecian fleet. In the council of war which had been summoned by Eurybiades, Themistocles urged the assembled chiefs to remain at Salamis, and give battle to the Persians in the narrow straits, where the superior numbers of the Persians would be of less consequence. The Peloponnesian commanders, on the other hand, were strongly opposed to remaining in their present posi- tion. They were of opinion that the fleet should be removed to the isthmus of Corinth, and thus be put in communication with their land-forces. The news of the talcing of Athens, which arrived during the debate, gave force to these counsels. The majority came to a vote in favour of retreat ; but the approach of night obliged them to remain till the following morning. It was with gloomy thoughts that Themistocles retired from the council. Upon reaching his own ship, a friend named Mnesiphilus, to whom he communicated the decision, urged him to make one more attempt to detain the Peloponnesians. Late as it was, he immediately proceeded to the ship of Eurybiades, where urging with more freedom, and in greater detail than he had been able to use in the council, all the arguments against the separation of the fleet, he succeeded in persuading Eury- 1 aades to convoke another assembly. He also used all his eflbrte privately with the different commanders to induce them to alter their opinion. But he elicited nothing but anger and reproach. When the council met, the Peloponnesian commanders loudly expressed their dissatisfaction at seeing a debate re-opened which they had deemed concluded. Adimantus, especially, the Co- rinthian admiral, broke out into open rebukes and menaces. "Themistocles," he exclaimed, "those who rise at the public games before the signal are whipped." " True," replied Themis- tocles, "but they who lag behind it never win a crown." An- other incident in this discussion has been immortalized by B.C. 480. DISSENSIONS AMONG THE GREEKS. 207 Plutarch. It is related by this writer that Eurybiades, incensed by the language of Themistocles, lifted up his stick to strike him, whereupon the Athenian exclaimed, "Strike, but hear me !"* Themistocles repeated his arguments and entreaties, but with- out effect. Adimantus, with unfeeling insolence, even denied his right to vote ; since, Athens being in the hands of the Per- sians, he represented no free Grecian city. Stung by this re- mark, Themistocles reminded the assembly that he was at the head of 200 well manned ships ; a force with which he could easily procure for himself a city, and even a better city than Corinth. Prophecies, he observed, had promised to Athens the town of Siris in Italy ; it only remained for the Athenians to sail thither and take possession of it. Meanwhile, let the assem- bly consider what the Grecian fleet would be without the Athenian contingent. This menace silenced his opponents. Eurybiades, half con- vinced before, hesitated no longer ; and without taking the votes of the assembly, issued orders for the fleet to remain and fight at Salamis. The Peloponnesians obeyed, indeed, the orders of their commander. The following morning discovered them engaged in preparing their ships for action ; but with an evident reluctance, soon increased to open discontent by messages re- ceived from home. These represented the distress and terror of their countrymen, engaged in fortifying the isthmus against the overwhelming force of Xerxes. Of what use was it to at- tempt the defence of Attica, already in the hands of the Persians ? Surely it would be much better for the Peloponnesian seamen to return and defend their native and yet unconquered country ; where, even if worsted at sea, they might transfer their services to the land. § 6. Incited by these representations, the very men who had found fault with a second council, now clamoured for a third. It met, and was characterized by the same turbulence and the same dissensions as the former councils. The malcontents, though representing only a small proportion of the naval force, had a numerical superiority of votes ; and Themistocles, perceiving that the decision of the assembly would be against him, determined to effect his object by stratagem. Among his slaves was an Asiatic Greek named Sicinnus, whom he had intrusted with the education of his children ; a man of address and ability, and per- fectly acquainted with the Persian tongue. Themistocles secretly * This memorable story, however, is not in accordance with the narrative of Herodotus, in which it is Adimantus, and not Eurybiades, to whom The- mistocles had given offence, and who opposes the Athenian with so much vehemence. 208 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIX despatched this mail with a message to Xerxes, representing the dissensions which prevailed in the Grecian fleet, and how easy a matter it would be to surround and vanquish an armament hoth small and disunited. Themistocles himself was described by Sicinnus as favourable to the Persian cause ; nor, to judge from his subsequent conduct, might the wily Athenian, in the present desperate situation of affairs, have been altogether indisposed to stand favourably in the sight of Xerxes. However this may be, Xerxes, already well inclined to strike a blow, readily adopted the suggestion, and ordered his captains to close up the straits of Salamis at both ends. It has been already stated that the Persian fleet was stationed in the bay of Phalerum, a harbour on the Attic coast, a few miles eastward of the entrance of the straits which divided the island of Salamis from Attica. This entrance, as well as that on the north-western side, leading into the bay of Eleusis, is ex- ceedingly narrow, being in parts not more than a quarter of a mile in breadth. Towards the middle, however, it expands ; and on the side of Salamis, forms a bay or harbour, on which the town of Salamis is situated, and where the Grecian fleet was stationed. During the night the fleet of Xerxes moved from Phalerum northwards along the coast, and took up a position on the Attic side of the straits, which they lined through their whole extent, while portions blocked up both the northern and south- ern outlets of the straits. Meanwhile, the debate of the Grecian leaders continued long after nightfall. Themistocles had employed every art to pro- tract the discussion, in order to gain time for the effect of his stratagem ; and when at last the assembly broke up, it was only on the understanding that the debate should be resumed before daybreak. Scarcely had the council re-assembled, when Themistocles was summoned from it by a message that somebody wished to speak to him. It was Aristides, who, in the sixth year of an unjust banishment, had returned to serve his ungrateful country, and to assist, but not to share the triumph of a rival. His rival had, indeed, proposed, and his country had ratified, the revocation of the sentence ; though to an ordinary man the repentance might have seemed suspicious, and the atonement of little value, which recalled him to his native land, or, more properly speaking, which restored him to his exiled countrymen, only to share in their dangers and distresses. But no such reflections found a place in the mind of Aristides. He was occupied only with his country's welfare, and his first address to Themistocles was that their ancient rivalry should for the future bo exerted onlj B.C. 480. BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 209 in their country's cause. He then communicated the fact that the Grecian fleet was completely surrounded by that of the Per- sians ; and related that it was only by favour of the darkness that his own vessel had contrived to elude them. Themistocles, having thus learned the success of his stratagem, expressed his satisfaction, and desired Aristides to communicate the news of their situation to the council, which would not be disposed to believe it from his own lips. But even from the lips of Aristides such unwelcome intelligence found but little credit, till it was confirmed by the arrival of a Tenian ship, which had deserted from the enemy. § 7. At length the day began to dawn which was to decide the fate of Greece. As the veil of night rolled gradually away, the Persian fleet was discovered stretching as far as the eye could reach along the coast of Attica. Its right wing, consisting of Phoenician and Cyprian vessels, was drawn up towards the bay of Eleusis, whilst the Ionians occupied the left, towards Piraeus and the southern entrance of the straits. On the low and bar- ren island of Psyttaleia, adjacent to that point, a detachment of choice Persian troops had been landed. As the Grecian fleet was concentrated in the harbour of the town of Salamis, it was thus surrounded, as it were, in a net by the Persians. Xerxes, who attributed the disasters at Artemisium to his own absence, had caused a lofty throue to be erected upon one of the project- ing declivities of Mount iEgaleos, opposite the harbour of Sala- mis, whence he could survey the combat, and stimulate by his presence the courage of his men ; whilst by his side stood scribes, prepared to record the names both of the daring and the backward. " A king sate on the rocky brow Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis ; And ships, by thousands, lay below, And men in nations ; — all were his ! He counted them at break of day — And when the sun set where were they ?" The Grecian commanders lost no time in preparing to meet their multitudinous opponents. The Athenians were posted in the left wing, and consequently opposed to the Phoenicians on the Persian right. The Lacedaemonians and the other Peloponnesians took their station on the right, and the iEginetans and Euboeans in the centre. Animated by the harangues of Themistocles and the other leaders, the Greek seamen embarked with alacrity, encouraging one another to deliver their country, their wives and children, and the temples of their gods, from the grasp of the bar- barians. Juat at this juncture a favourable omen seemed to pro- Ga. p 210 niSTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIX. mise them success. When Eurybiades gave the order for the fleet to remain and fight at Salainis, a trireme had been despatched to iEgina to invoke the assistance of yEacus, and the iEacid heroes Telamon and Ajas. As the Greeks were on the point of embark- ing, the trireme returned from the mission just in time to take her place in the line of battle. ! 1 = * a | % c c s o S o 9 c q F « « — £ .2 .3 £ 1 w & 9 1 g 8 . § * „ S j 6. O H P Z 5 P i s g i i I is- 1 III II! - i. < j ■§• I s. "'- „• *. - la | g ol "! a I c s g « •->, § .2 p. |S I 6 !•§. § E 5 "5 i. u o 2. c w < C5 o O W te B 55 B.C. 480. BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 211 § 8. As the trumpets sounded, the Greeks rowed forward to the attack, hurling into the still morning air the loud war Psean reverberated shrilly from the cliffs of Salamis, and not unan- swered by the Persians. But suddenly a panic appeared to seize the Grecian oarsmen. They paused— backed astern — and some of the rearward vessels even struck the ground at Salamis. At this critical juncture a supernatural portent is said to have re-animated the drooping courage of the Greeks. A female figure was seen to hover over the fleet, uttering loud reproaches at their flight. Ee-animated by the vision, the Greeks again rowed forward to the attack. History has preserved to us but few details of the engagement, which, indeed, soon became a scene of confusion too intricate to be accurately observed ; but the names of those who first grappled with the enemy have not been left unrecorded. The Athenian captains, Aminias and Lycomedes, the former a brother of the poet iEschylus, were the first to bring their ships into action ; Democritus, a Naxian, was the third. The Persian fleet, with the exception of some of the Ionic contin- gents, appears to have fought with alacrity and courage. But the very numbers on which they so confidently relied, proved one of the chief causes of their defeat. They had neither concert in action, nor space to manoeuvre ; and the confusion was aug- mented by the mistrust with which the motley nations compos- ing the Persian armament regarded one another. Too crowded either to advance or to retreat, their oars broken or impeded by collision with one another, their fleet lay like an inert and lifeless mass upon the water, and fell an easy prey to the Greeks. A single incident will illustrate the terror and confusion which reigned among the Persians. Artemisia, although, as we have related, averse to giving battle, distinguished herself in it by deeds of daring bravery. At length she turned and fled, pur- sued by the Athenian trierarch, Aminias. Full in her course lay the vessel of the Carian prince, Damosithymus of Calyndus. Instead of avoiding, she struck and sunk it, sending her country- man and all his crew to the bottom. Aminias, believing from this act that she was a deserter from the Persian cause, suffered her to escape. Xerxes, who from his lofty throne beheld the feat of the Halicamassian queen, but who imagined that the sunken ship belonged to the Greeks, was filled with admiration at her courage, and is said to have exclaimed — " My men are be- come women, my women men ! " § 9. The number of ships destroyed and sunk is stated at 40 on the side of the Greeks, and 200 on that of the Persians, ex- clusive of those which were captured with all their crews. Be- sides this loss at sea, Arrstides succeeded in inflicting on the P 2 212 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XIX. Persians another on land. It has been already stated that some chosen Persian troops had been lauded at Psyttaleia, in order to assist such Persian ships, or destroy such Grecian ships as might be forced upon the island. When the rout of the Persian fleet was completed, Aristides landed on the island with a body of Hoplites, defeated the Persians, and cut them to pieces to a man. Boundless were the rage and vexation of Xerxes, as he con- templated the flight and destruction of his fleet. Some Phoeni- cian crews, which were unlucky enough to be forced ashore close at the despot's feet, felt the full weight of his displeasure. In vain they sought to throw the blame of the defeat on the Ionic Greeks serving under the Persian flag. Xerxes, who, besides the feat of Artemisia, had observed a very daring act of valour performed by a Samothracian vessel, treated the Phoenicians as dastardly calumniators, and ordered them to be beheaded. Notwithstanding this signal defeat and loss, the Persian fleet was still formidable by its numbers, whilst their land-force had suffered hardly any loss. The Greeks themselves did not regard the victory as decisive, and prepared to renew the combat. But from this necessity they were relieved by the pusillanimity of Xerxes. Passing at once from overweening confidence to unrea- sonable distrust, the Persian monarch became anxiously soli- citous even about his own personal safety. He no longer relied on the capability of his ships to protect his retreat over the Hellespont, especially as his own conduct had alienated a consi- derable part of his fleet. The Phoenicians, alarmed by the threats which rage and fear caused Xerxes to utter against them, stole away in the night and sailed homewards. The whole care of the Persian monarch was now centered on securing his retreat by land. The best troops were disembarked from the ships, and marched towards the Hellespont, in order to secure the bridge, whilst the fleet itself was ordered to leave Phalerum and make for Asia. These dispositions of Xerxes were prompted by Mardonius. As the adviser of the expedition, Mardonius felt all the danger of responsibility for its failure, especially if the personal safety of his sovereign should be at all endangered. With adroit flat- tery he consulted at once the fears and the vanity of Xerxes, and his own personal interests. He represented to his master that the defeat, after all, was but slight, and had fallen entirely upon the foreign auxiliaries ; that having attained one of the great ob- jects of the expedition by the capture of Athens, he might now retire with houour, and even with glory ; and that for the rest he (Mardonius) would undertake to complete the conquest of Greece with 300,000 men. Xerxes readily listened to this advice, B.C. 480. RETREAT OF XERXES. 213 which accorded so well with his own inclinations, and which was supported by his courtiers, as well as by Queen Artemisia. § 10. When the Greeks learned that the Persian fleet had left Phalerum, they immediately sailed in pursuit of it. Themis- tocles and the Athenians are represented, but probably on no sufficient ground, as anxious to push on to the Hellespont, and cut off the retreat of the Persians, and as having been restrained only by the more prudent counsels of Eurybiades and the Pelo- ponnesians. The moment was chosen by Themistocles to send a second message to Xerxes of a much more questionable cha- racter than the first. Sicinnus was again despatched to inform the Persian monarch that Themistocles, out of personal friend- ship for him, had restrained the Greeks from destroying the bridge over the Hellespont, and thus cutting off his retreat. In this communication it is impossible to believe that Themistocles can have had anything but hia own personal interest in view. He was well aware that the Persian cause wm far from de- sperate ; and even if the Greeks should prove victorious in the end, he may have been anxious to secure a safe retreat for him- self, if he should be detected in his guilty practices. The Greeks pursued the Persian fleet as far as the island of Andros, but without success. To punish those islands which had sided with Xerxes was a natural and justifiable act, which the large naval force under the command of Themistocles en- abled him to execute ; but he abused the same means in order to gratify his private rapacity. The Andrians, indeed, were too poor to be robbed ; and though Themistocles threatened them with two great gods — Persuasion and Necessity — they found themselves protected, as they said, by two others equally effi- cient — Poverty and Helplessness. But in other quarters he succeeded better. From Carystus, Paros, and other places, he privately extorted bribes by engaging to preserve them from attack ; and after a short time employed in the vain attempt to wring something from Andros, the Grecian fleet returned to Salamis. § 11. Meanwhile Xerxes pursued his homeward march through Boeotia into Thessaly. In the latter country Mardonius selected the forces with which he proposed to conclude the war, consist- ing chiefly of Persians, Medes, Saca3, and Bactrians, to the number of 300,000 men. But as autumn was now approaching, and as 60,000 of these troops were to escort the march of Xerxes as far as the Hellespont, Mardonius resolved to postpone all further operations till the spring. After forty-five days' march from Attica, Xerxes again reached the shores of the Hellespont, with a fcrce greatly diminished by 214 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XIX famine and pestilence. The sufferings of his army were exag- gerated by jEschylus, and by later poets and moralists who de- lighted in heightening the contrast between the proud magni- ficence of the monarch's advance, and the ignominious humi- liation of his retreat. Many of these statements cannot be accepted as historical facts ; although there can be no- doubt that great numbers perished from want of provisions, and the diseases which always follow in the path of famine. On the Hellespont Xerxes found his fleet, but the bridge had been washed away by storms. Landed on the shores of Asia, the Persian army at length obtained abundance of provisions, and contracted new maladies by the sudden change from privation to excess. Thus terminated this mighty but unsuccessful expedition. Two thou- sand years later, still more barbarous eastern hordes were des- tined to find a settlement on the fair shores of Greece. But Greece had then worked out her appointed task, and had trans- mitted her arts, her literature, and her civilization, to the nations of western Europe. § 12. Among the Greeks nothing now remained to be done but to celebrate their victory after the national fashion by the distribution of rewards. To the xEginetans was adjudged the chief prize for valour, whilst the Athenians carried off the second. Amongst individual combatants, the iEginetan, Polycritus, and the Athenians, Eumenes and Ananias, obtained the first rank. The deities also received their share of honour. Three Phoeni- cian triremes were dedicated respectively to Athena at Sunium, to Poseidon at the Corinthian isthmus, and to the Salaminian hero, Ajax. The shrine of the Delphian Apollo was also still further enriched by the offerings of grateful superstition. Having distributed the rewards of valour, the Greek com- manders undertook the more difficult task of assigning the prizes of wisdom and conduct. Upon the altar of Poseidon, at the isthmus of Corinth, whither the Grecian fleet had now repaired, each chief deposited a ticket inscribed with two names, of those whom he considered entitled to the first and second prizes. But in this adjudication vanity and self-love defeated their own objects. Each commander had put down his own name for the first prize ; for the second, a great majority preponderated in favour of Thomistocles. But since the first prize thus remained undecided, and as the second could not, consequently, be adju- dicated, the Athenian leader reaped no benefit frcm these votes. From the Spartans, however, whom ho shortly afterwards visited, ho received the honours due to his merit. A crown of olive, similar to that which rewarded their own commander, Eury- biodes, was conferred upon him, together with one of the most B.C. 480. DEFEAT OF THE CARTHAGINIANS. 215 splendid chariots which the city could produce ; and on his de- parture the three hundred Hippeis, or knights, the youth and flower of the Lacedaemonian militia, accompanied him as a guard of honour as far as Tegea. In fact, the honours heaped upon Themistocles by the haughty Spartans were so extraordinaiy, as to excite, it is said, the jealousy of the Athenians against their distinguished countryman. § 13. On the very same day on which the Persians were de- feated at Salamis, another portion of the Hellenic race, the Sici- lian Greeks, also obtained a victory over an immense barbarian force. There is reason to believe that the invasion of Sicily by the Carthaginians was concerted with Xerxes, and that the simultaneous attack on two distinct Grecian peoples, by two immense armaments, was not merely the result of chance. It was, however, in the internal affairs of Sicily that the Carthagi- nians sought the pretext and the opportunity for their invasion. About the year 481 B.C., Theron, despot of Agrigenturn, a relative of Gelon's, the powerful ruler of Syracuse, expelled Terillus from Himera, and took possession of that town. Terillus, backed by some Sicilian cities, which formed a kind of Carthaginian part}', applied to the Carthaginians to restore him. The Carthaginians complied with the invitation ; and in the year 480 B.C., Hamilcar landed at Panormu-s with a force composed of various nations, which is said to have amounted to the enormous sum of 300,000 men. Having drawn up his vessels on the beach, and protected them with a rampart, Hamilcar proceeded to besiege the Himerceans, who on their part prepared for an obsti- nate defence. At the instance of Theron, Gelon marched to the relief of the town with 50,000 foot and 5000 horse. An obsti- nate and bloody engagement ensued, which, by a stratagem of Gelon's, was at length determined in his favour. The ships of the Carthaginians were fired, and Hamilcar himself slain. Ac- cording to the statement of Diodorus, 150,000 Carthaginians fell in the engagement, while the greater part of the remainder sur- rendered at discretion, twenty ships alone escaping with a few fugitives. This account may justly be regarded as an exaggera- tion ; yet it cannot be doubted that the victory was a decisive one, and the number very great of the prisoners and slain. Thus were the arms of Greece victorious on all sides, and the outposts of Europe maintained against the incursions of the semi-barbarous hordes of Asia and Africa. In Sicily, Greek taste made the sinews of the prisoners subserve the purposes of art ; and many of the public structures which adorned and distin- guished Agrigenturn, rose by the labour of the captive Carthagi- nians. Temple of Nike Apteros (the Wingless Victory), on the Acropolis at Athens. CHAPTER XX. r.ATTLES OF PL AT /T. A AND MYCALE. 1. Position of the Persian and Greek fleets. § 2. Preparations of Map- donius for the campaign. § 3. He solicits the Athenians to join him. Faithlessness of the Spartans. §4. Mardonius occupies Athens. Athenian embassy to Sparta. March of the Spartan army. § 5. Mardonius retires into Boeotia: followed by the Grecian army. Skirmishes. § 6. The Greeks descend into the plain. Manoeuvres of the two armies. § 7. Alex- ander, king of Macedon, visits the Grecian camp. The Greeks resolve to change their ground : their disorderly retreat. § 8. Battle of Plataea. Defeat of the Persians. § 9. Division of the spoil. § 10. Reduction of Thebes, and execution of the Theban leaders. § 11. Death of Aristodemus. §12. League of Plataea. Religious ceremonies. §13. Battle of Mycale. Defeat of the Persians. §14. Liberation of the Greek islands. § 15. Siege and capture of Sestos. § 1. The remnant of the Persian fleet, after conveying Xerxes and his army across the Hellespont, wintered at Cym6 and Samos ; and early in the ensuing spring, the whole armament, to the number of about 400 vessels, re-assembled at the latter island. This movement was adopted in order to keep a watch over Ionia, which showed symptoms of an inclination to revolt ; and not with any design of attacking the Grecian fleet. The latter, consisting of about 110 ships, under the command of the Spartan king Leotychides, assembled in the spring at ^'gina. From this station it advanced as far eastwards as Delos ; but B.C. 479. PREPARATIONS OF MARDONIUS. 21? the Ionian envoys despatched to the Peloponnesians, with pro- mises that the Ionians would revolt from Persia as soon as the Greek fleet appeared off their coast, could not prevail upon Leo- tychides to venture an attack upon the Persians. § 2. The disastrous retreat of Xerxes had not much shaken the fidelity of his Grecian allies. Potida?a, indeed, and the other towns on the isthmus of Pallene, declared themselves indepen- dent ; whilst symptoms of disaffection were also visible among the Phocians ; but the more important allies of Persia, the Macedonians, the Thessalians, and especially the Boeotians, were still disposed to co-operate vigorously with Mardonius. That general prepared to open the campaign in the spring. As a preliminary measure, adopted probably with the view of flatter- ing the religious prejudices of his Greek allies, he consulted some of the most celebrated oracles in Bceotia and Phocis respecting the issue of the war. He was not without hopes of inducing the Athenians to join the Persian alliance ; and, in order to facilitate such a step, it was pretended that the oracles had fore- told the approach of the time when the Athenians, united with the Persians, shoidd expel the Dorians from Peloponnesus. § 3. The influence of superstition was aided by the intrigues of diplomacy. Alexander, king of Macedon, was despatched to conciliate the Athenians, now partially re-established in their dilapidated city. His offers on the part of the Persians were of the most seductive kind ; the reparation of all damage, the friendship of the Great King, and a considerable extension of ter- ritory : the whole backed by the pressing instances of Alexander himself, and enforced by a vivid picture of the exposed and helpless situation of Attica. The temptation was certainly strong. On the one hand, ruined homes and empty granaries, the result of the last cam- paign ; the first shock and severest brunt of the war to be sustained by Attica, as the outpost of southern Hellas, and this for lukewarm and selfish allies, to whose negligence and breach of faith the Athenians chiefly owed their present calamities : on the other hand, their city restored, their starving population fed, the horrors of war averted, and only that more agreeable part of it adopted which would consist in accompanying and aiding an overwhelming force in a career of almost certain vic- tory. The Lacedaemonians were quite alive to the exigencies of the situation, so far, at least, as it concerned their own safety. They also had sent envoys to counteract the seductions of Alex- ander, and to tender relief to the distressed population of Athens. The answer of the Athenians was magnanimous and dignified. They dismissed Alexander with a positive refusal, and even with 218 HISTORY OF GREECE. Crap. XX. something like a threat of personal violence in case he should again be the bearer of such proposals ; whilst to the Lacedaxno- nians they protested that no temptations, however great, should ever induce them to desert the common cause of Greece and freedom. In return for this disinterested conduct, all they asked was that a Peloponnesian army should be sent into Bceotia for the defence of the Attic frontier ; a request which the Spartan envoys promised to fulfil. No sooner, however, had they returned into their own coun- try than this promise was completely forgotten. As on the former occasion, the Lacedaomonians covered their selfishness and indifference beneath the hypocritical garb of religion. The omens were unfavourable ; the sun had been eclipsed at the moment when Cleombrotus, the Spartan king, was consulting the gods respecting the expedition ; and, besides this, they were engaged in celebrating the festival of the Hyacinthia. But no omens nor festivals had prevented them from resuming with unremitting diligence the labour of fortifying the isthmus, and the walls and battlements were now rapidly advancing towards completion. § 4. When Mardonms was informed that the Athenians had rejected his proposal, he immediately marched against Athens, accompanied by all his Grecian allies ; and in May or June, b. c. 479, about ten months after the retreat of Xerxes, the Persians again occupied that city. With feelings of bitter indignation against their faithless allies, the Athenians saw themselves once more compelled to remove to Salamis. But even in this de- pressed condition, the naval force of the Athenians still ren- dered them formidable ; and Mardonius took advantage of his situation to endeavour once more to win them to his alliance. Through a Hellespontine Greek, the same favourable conditions were again offered to thern, but were again refused. One voice alone, that of the senator Lycidas, broke the unanimity of the assembly. But his opposition cost him his life. He and his family were stoned to death by the excited populace. In this desperate condition the Athenians sent ambassadors to the Spartans to remonstrate against their breach of faith, and to implore them, before it was too late, to come forwards in the common cause of Greece. The ambassadors were also instructed to intimate that necessity might at length compel the Athenians to listen to the proposals of the enemy. This mes- sage, however, was very coolly received by the Lacedaemonians. For ten days no answer whatever was returned ; and it can scarcely be doubted that the reply which they at last thought fit to make, would have been a negative, but for a piece of advice B.C. 479. MAEDONIUS RETIKES INTO BCEOTIA, 219 which opened their eyes to the consequences of their selfish policy. Chileos, a Tegean, a man whose wisdom they revered, and whom they consulted on this occasion, pointed out to them that their fortifications at the isthmus would prove of no avail in case the Athenians allied themselves to the Persians, and thus, by means of their fleet, opened a way into the heart of Peloponnesus. It is strange that the Lacedaemonians should have needed this admonition, which seems obvious enough ; but selfishness is proverbially blind. The conduct of the Spartans was as prompt as their change of resolution had been sudden. That very night 5000 citi- zens, each attended by seven Helots, were despatched to the frontiers ; and these were shortly followed by 5000 Lacedaemo- nian Periceci, each attended by one light-armed Helot. Never before had the Spartans sent so large a force into the field. Their example was foUowed by other Peloponnesian cities ; and the Athenian envoys returned to Salamis with the joyful news that a large army was preparing to march against the enemy, under the command of Pausanias, who acted as regent for Plis- tarchus, the infant son of Leonidas. § 5. Mardonius, on learning the approach of the Lacedaemo- nians, abandoned Attica, and proceeded by the pass of Decelea, across Mount Parnes into Boeotia, a country more adapted to the operations of cavalry, in which his strength principally lay. Whilst he still entertained a hope that the Athenians might be induced to join his arms, he had refrained from committing any depredations on their territory ; but finding this expectation vain, he employed the last days of his stay in burning and devastating all that had been spared by the army of Xerxes. After crossing the frontiers of Bceotia, and marching a day or two along the Asopus, he finally took up a position on the left bank of that river, and not far from the town of Plataea. Here he caused a camp to be constructed of ten furlongs square, and fortified with barricades and towers. The situation was well selected, since he had the friendly and well fortified city of Thebes in his rear, and was thus in no danger of falling short of provisions. Yet the dispo- sition of his army was far from being sanguine. With the ex- ception of the Thebans and Boeotians, his Grecian allies were become lukewarm or wavering ; and even among the Persians themselves, the disastrous flight of their monarch in the pre- ceding year had naturally damped all hopes of the successful issue of a campaign which was now to be conducted with far inferior forces. Meanwhile, the Lacedaemonian force collected at the isthmus was receiving reinforcements from the various states of Pelo- 220 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XX. ponnesus. On its march through Megara it was joined by 3000 Megarians ; and at Eleusis received its final accession of 8000 Athenian and 600 Platoean Hoplites, who had crossed over from Salamis under the command of Aristides. The Grecian army now consisted of 38,700 heavy-armed men, attended by Helots and light-armed troops to the number of nearly 70,000 ; and, together with 1800 badly armed Thespians, formed a grand total of about 110,000 men. There were, however, no cavalry, and but very few bowmen. Having consulted the gods by sacrifices, which proved of a favourable nature, the Grecian army broke up from Eleusis, and directed its march over the ridge of Cithteron. On descending its northern side, the Greeks came in sight of the Persian army drawn up in the valley of the Asopus. Pausanias, not caring to expose his troops to the attacks of the Persian cavalry on the plain, halted them on the slopes of the mountain, near Erythrrc, where the ground was rugged and uneven. (See Plan, First Position.) This position did not, however, altogether preserve them. Skilled in the use of the bow and of the javelin, the Persian horsemen, under the command of Masistius, repeatedly charged the Greeks, harassing them with flights of missiles, and taunting them with cowardice for not venturing down into the plain. The Megarians, especially, suffered severely until rescued by a body of 300 chosen Athenians, who succeeded in repulsing the Persian cavalry, and killing their leader, Masistius, a man tall in stature and of distinguished bravery. The Greeks celebrated their triumph by parading the corpse through the army in a cart. § 6. This success encouraged Pausanias to quit the high ground and take up a position on the plain. Defiling from Ery- thrae in a westerly direction, and marching by Hysirc, he formed his army in a line on the right bank of the Asopus. In this arrangement, the right wing, which extended to the fountain Gargaphia, was conceded, as the post of honour, to the Laceda> monians ; the occupation of the left, near the grove of the hero Androcrates, was disputed between the Tegeans. and Athenians. The matter was referred to the whole body of the Lacedaemonian troops, who by acclamation declared the Athenians entitled to the preference. On perceiving that the Greeks had changed their position, Mardonius drew up his army opposite to them, on the other side of the Asopus. (See Plan, Second Position.) He himself, with the Persians and Medes, the flower of hie army, took his post in the left wing, facing the Lacedaemonians on the Grecian right : whilst the Greeks and Macedonians in the Persian service. B.C. 479 BATTLE OF PLAT-EA. 221 6. Athenians. c. Laced: d. Various G reek allies. Battle of Plata?a. (From Grote's Greece.) 1. First position occupied by the opposin: II. Second position III. Third position. A. Road from Plata>a to Thebe5. B. Road from Meg-ara to Thebes. C. Persian camp. D. Krvthrae. to the number, probably, of 50,000, were opposed to the Athe- nians on the left. The centre of Mardonius was composed of Bactrians, Indians, Sacte, and other Asiatics and Egyptians ; and his whole force probably amounted to about 300,000 men. But though the armies were thus in presence, each was reluc- tant to commence the attack. The soothsayers on both sides, whose responses were probably dictated by the feeling prevalent among the commanders, declared that the sacrifices were un- favourable for any aggressive movement. For eight days the armies remained inactive, except that the Persians annoyed the Greeks at a distance with their missiles, and altogether pre- vented them from watering at the Asopus. On the eighth day 222 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XX. Mardonius, at the suggestion of the Theban leader Tiniagenidas, employed his cavalry in cutting off the supplies of the Greeks, and captured a train of 500 beasts of burthen, together with their escort, as they were defiling through one of the passes of Cithaeron. Artabazus, the second in command, advised Mardo- nius to continue this policy of harassing and wearing out the Greeks, without risking a general engagement ; and also to en- deavour, by means of bribes, to corrupt and disunite them. That this latter step was feasible appears from what actually occurred among the Athenians. Several of the wealthier Hop- lites serving in their ranks entered into a conspiracy to estabhsh at Athens, under Persian supremacy, an oligarchy resembling that at Thebes. Fortunately, however, the plot was discovered and repressed by Aristides. But Mardonius was too impatient to await the success of such measures, which he considered as an imputation on the Persian arms ; and, overruling the opinions of Artabazus and the rest of his officers, gave orders to prepare for a general attack. § 7. On the night after Mardonius had taken this resolution, Alexander, king of Macedon, leaving the Persian camp by stealth, rode up to the Athenian outposts, and desiring to speak with Aristides and the other generals, informed them of the intended attack on the morrow. " I risk my life," he observed, " in con- veying this intelligence ; but I too am a Greek by descent, and with sorrow should I see Hellas enslaved by the Persians." Aristides immediately communicated this news to Pausanias. On hearing it, the latter made a proposal savouring but little of the traditionary Spartan valour, namely, that the Athenians, who had had experience of the Persian mode of fighting, should change places with the Lacedaemonians in the line. The Athe- nians readily assented to this arrangement. Mardonius, how- ever, on perceiving the change which had been made, effected a corresponding one in his own line. Hereupon Pausanias marched back to the Grecian right, and was again followed by Mardonius ; so that the two armies remained in their original position. Neither side, however, was inclined to venture a general at- tack. The fighting was confined to the Persian cavalry, which tho Greeks had no adequate means of repelling. For some por- tion of the day it obtained possession of the fountain of Garga- phia, the only source from which the Greeks could procure their water, and succeeded in choking it up. It also intercepted tho convoys of provisions proceeding to the Grecian camp. Under these circumstances, finding the ground untenable, Pausanias summoned a council of war, in which it was resolved to retreat B.C. 479 BATTLE OF PLATJSA. 223 (luring the night to a place called the Island, about ten furlongs in the rear of their present position, and halfway between it and the town of Platcea. The spot selected, improperly called an island, was in fact a piece of ground about three furlongs in breadth, comprised between two branches of the river Oeroe, which, rising from distinct sources in Cithseron, and running for some space nearly parallel with one another, at length unite, and flow in a westerly direction into the gulf of Corinth. The nature of the ground would thus afford to the Greeks both abundance of water and protection from the enemy's cavalry. The retreat, however, though for so short a distance, was ef- fected in disorder and confusion. The Greek centre, chiefly composed of Megarians and Corinthians, instead of taking up a position on the Island, as commanded by Pausanias, did not halt till they reached the town of Platsea, where they formed in front of the Heraeurn on high ground, and protected by buildings. (See Plan, Third Position.) Some time after their departure Pau- sanias commanded the right wing, which, as we have said, was composed of Lacedsemonians, to follow. But his orders were dis- puted by one of his captains, Amompharetus, a leader of one of the lochi, who had not been present at the council of war, and who, considering this retrograde movement as a retreat derogatory to Spartan honour, obstinately refused to stir from his post. Mean- while, the Athenians — not unnaturally distrustful of the Spartans — before they broke ground themselves, despatched a mounted messenger to ascertain whether the right wing was really pre- paring to march. The messenger found the Spartan troops in their former position, and Pausanias, together with the other generals, engaged in a warm dispute with the refractory captain. No threats of being left alone could induce him to move ; and when reminded that the order for retreat had been resolved upon in a council of war, he took up a huge rock, and casting it at the feet of Pausanias, exclaimed — " With this pebble I give my vote not to fly from the foreigners." Meantime, the day began to dawn : a little longer delay and retreat would become impossible. Pausanias resolved to aban- don Amompharetus and his lochus to their fate, should he really prove so obstinate as to stand his ground after the departure of the rest of the army. The order to march was given. The slant rays of the rising sun gleamed on the tall and bristling spears of the Lacedaemonian columns as they slowly ascended the hills which separated them from the Island. The Athenians posted more towards the east, and who were to arrivo at the appointed spot by turning the hills, began their march at the same time. Amompharetus was not so madly obstinate as to 224 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XX. await aloue the approach of the Persians. Finding that his com- 3 had really departed, he gave orders to follow, and overtook them at their first halt. § 8. Mardonius beheld with astonishment and disdain the retreating ranks of the Spartans. The order was given to pursue, The shout of victory already rang through the Persian host as they dashed in a confused mass, cavalry and infantry, through the waters of the Asopus, and up the hill after the retreating foe. Scarcely had Pausanias time to deploy on the spct where he had halted for Amompharetus, when the Persian cavalry were upon him. These were soon followed by the infantry ; who, planting in the ground their long wicker shields, or gerrha, and thus forming a kind of breastwork, annoyed the Lacedaemonians with showers of arrows. Even in these circumstances the rites of religion were not neglected by Pausanias. For some time the sacrifices were unfavourable for an attack ; till Pausanias invoked the assistance of Hera, whose temple rose conspicuous at Plat tea. Hardly had the prayer been uttered when the victims changed, and the order to charge was given. The line of wicker shields fell at the first onset of the Lacedaemonians. The light-armed undisciplined Persians, whose bodies were unprotected with armour, had now to maintain a very unequal combat against the serried ranks, the long spears, and the mailed bodies of the Spartan phalanx. Desperate deeds of valour they performed, throwing themselves upon the Grecian ranks and endeavouring to get into close combat, where they could use their javelins and daggers. Mardonius at the head of his body-guard of 1000 picked men, and conspicuous by his white charger, was among the fore- most in the fight, till struck down by the hand of Aimnestus, a distinguished Spartan. The fall of their general was the signal for flight to the Persians, already wearied and disheartened by the fruitless contest. The panic was general both among the Persians themselves and their Asiatic allies ; nor did they once stop till they had again crossed the Asopus and reached their fortified camp. The glory of having defeated the Persians at Platrea rests, therefore, with the Lacedaemonians ; yet the Athenians also were not without some share in the honour of the day. Pausanias, when overtaken by the Persians, despatched a horseman to Aris- tides to request him to hasten to his assistance ; but the coining up of the Boeotians prevented him from doing so. A sharp conflict ensued between the latter and the Athenians. The Thebans, especially, fought with great bravery ; but were at length repidsed with considerable loss. Though compelled to give way, they retreated ic good order to Thebes being covered B C. 479. DEATH OF MARDONIUS. 225 by their cavalry from the pursuit of the Athenians. None of the other Greeks in the Persian service took any share in the fight, but turned their backs as soon as they saw that the day was lost. Of the Persians themselves, 40,000 under the com- mand of Artabazus did not strike a blow. The eagerness and impetuosity of Mardonius, and the contempt which he had con- ceived for the Laceda)monians on account of what he considered their flight, had led him to begin the attack without waiting for the corps of Artabazus ; and when that general arrived upon the field the rout was already complete. Artabazus, indeed, who had always deprecated a general engagement, was probably not very zealous on the occasion ; at all events he did not make a single attempt to restore the fortune of the day ; and instead of retreating either to Thebes, or to the fortified carup of his coun- trymen, he gave up the whole expedition as irretrievably lost, and directed his march towards the Hellespont. The Lacedaemonians, now reinforced by the Corinthians and others from Plataea, pursued the Persians as far as their fortified camp, whose barricades proved a complete check to them, till the Athenians, more skilled in that species of warfare, came to their assistance. The barricades were then stormed and carried, after a gallant resistance on the part of the Persians. The camp became a scene of the most horrible carnage. Ac- cording to Herodotus, only 3000 men, exclusive of the division under Artabazus, escaped out of an army of 300,000. These numbers are probably exaggerated ; yet the Persian loss was un- doubtedly immense. That of the Greeks was comparatively small, and seems not to have exceeded 1300 or 1400 men. § 9. It remained to bury the dead and divide the booty ; and so great was the task, that ten days were consumed in it. The body of Mardonius, found among the slain, was treated by Pau- sanias with respect ; on the morrow, not, perhaps, without his connivance, it was secretly conveyed away and interred. A mo- nument was even erected over it, which was to be seen several centuries afterwards. His scimitar and silver-footed throne fell to the share of the Athenians, by whom they were preserved along with the breastplate of Masistius, in the Acropolis of Athens. The other booty was ample and magnificent. Gold and silver coined, as well as in plate and trinkets ; rich vests and carpets ; ornamented arms ; horses, camels ; in a word, alJ the magnificence of eastern luxury, were collected together in order to be divided among the conquerors. A tithe was first selected for the Delphian Apollo, together with ample offerings for the Olympic Jove, and the Isthmian Poseidon : then, after a large share had been appropriated to Pausanias, the remainder Gr. q 226 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciiap. XX. was divided among the Grecian contingents in proportion to their numbers. § 10. The reduction of Thebes, which had proved the most formidable ally of the Persians, was still necessary to complete the victory. On the eleventh day after the battle, Pausanias in- vested that city, and demanded that the leading men who had espoused the Persian cause, especially Timagenidas and Atta- giuus, should be delivered up to him. The Thebans having refused to comply with this demand, Pausanias began to batter their walls, and to lay waste the country around. At length, after the siege had lasted twenty days, Timagenidas, and the other Medising leaders, voluntarily offered to surrender them- selves, hoping, probably, to be able to redeem their lives for a sum of money. In this expectation, however, they were com- pletely disappointed. The whole of them, with the exception of Attaginus, who found means to escape, were conveyed to Corinth, and put to death without any form of trial. No attempt was made to pursue Artabazus, who escaped safely into Asia. § 11. Among the slain Spartans was Aristodemus, the sole survivor of those who had fought at Thermopylae The disgrace of having outlived that battle seems to have rendered life a burthen to him. In order to wash it out, he stepped forth from the ranks at the battle of Plataia, and after performing prodigies of valour, received from the enemy the death which he courted. But in the distribution of funeral honours, this conduct could extort no favour from the stern justice of his countrymen. They considered that desperate rashness and contempt of discipline were no atonement for former misconduct, and refused to put him on a level with the other citizens who had fallen in the combat. Among these was Amompharetus, the captain whose obstinacy had precipitated the attack of the Persians, and thus perhaps, though undesignedly, contributed to secure the victory. § 12 With the Greeks, religion and politics went ever hand in hand ; and if the town and territory of Plataia, as the scene of the Persian defeat, were signally honoured on this occasion with the grateful offerings of devotion, it was not probably without a view to the services which might be hereafter required from its citizens in the cause of Grecian independence. In the market- place of Platsea, Pausanias, in the presence of the assembled allies, offered up a sacrifice and thanksgiving to Jove Eleuthe- nos, or the liberator, in which the gods and heroes of the Platajan territory were made partakers. The Platasana were in- trusted with the duty of taking care of the tombs of the slain ; of offering a periodical sacrifice in honour of the victory ; and of celebrating it every fifth year with gymnastic games, in a grand B.C. 479. BATTLE OF MYCALE. 227 public festival to be called tbo Eleutheria. For these services the large sum of eighty talents was allotted to them out of the spoil, part of which was employed iu erecting a temple to Athena. At the same time the independence of Platsea, and the inviola- bility of her territory, were guaranteed by the allies ; the de- fensive league against the Persians was renewed ; the contingent which each ally should furnish was specified ; and it was arranged that deputies from all of them should meet annually at Platsea. § 13. At the very time of the defeat at Platsea, the failure of the Persian expedition was completed by the destruction of their naval armament. Leotychides, the Spartan admiral, having at length sailed across the iEgean, found the Persian fleet at Mycale, a promontory of Asia Minor near Miletus, and only separated by a strait of about a mile in breadth from Cape Poseidium, the easternmost extremity of Samos. Their former reverses seem completely to have discouraged the Persians from hazarding an- other naval engagement. The Phoenician squadron had been permitted to depart ; the rest of the ships were hauled ashore and surrounded with a rampart ; whilst an army of 60,000 Per- sians, under the command of Tigranes, lined the coast for their defenoe. The Greeks landed on the 4th of the month Boedromion (September), in the year 479 B. c. : the very day on which the battle of Platsea was fought. A supernatural presentiment of that decisive victory, conveyed by a herald's staff, which floated over the -iEgean from the shores of Greece, is said to have pervaded the Grecian ranks at Mycale" as they marched to the attack. As at Platsea, the Persians had planted their gerrha, or wicker-shields, before them ; but after a sharp contest this bul- wark was overthrown. The Persians now turned their backs, and fled to their fortifications, pursued by the Greeks, who en- tered it almost simultaneously. Here a bloody struggle ensued. The Persians fought desperately, though without discipline, and for some time maintained an unequal conflict. At length the arrival of the Lacedaemonians, who composed the right wing of the Greek force, and who had been retarded by the hilly ground which they had to traverse, as well as the open revolt of the Ionians, who now turned upon their masters, completed the dis- comfiture of the Persians. A large number of them, together with both their generals, Tigranes and Mardontes, perished on this occasion ; and the victory was rendered still more decisive by the burning of their fleet. The honour of the day, which, however, was not won without the sacrifice of many hves, was principally due to the Athenians, as the Lacedsemonians did not arrive till the battle was nearly decided. Q 2 228 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XX, § 14. The remnant of the Persian army retreated to Sardis, where Xerxes had lingered ever since his flight from Greece. He was not in a position to avenge this affront, or to retain the Ionian cities of the continent in obedience ; still less was it pos- sible for him, after the destruction of his fleet, to preserve his dominion over the islands. The latter were immediately ad- mitted into the Greek confederation ; but respecting the Ionian cities on the continent there was more difficulty. The Greeks were not in a condition to guarantee their independence ; and therefore the Peloponnesian commanders offered to transport their inhabitants into Greece, where they prepared to make room for them, by transplanting into Asia the Greeks who had espoused the Persian cause. But this proposition was strenuously opposed by the Athenians, who regarded their own dignity and glory as inseparably bound up with the maintenance of their Ionian colo- nies ; and indeed the effect of such a measure must have been to transfer them completely to the Persians. § 15. So imperfect in those times was the transmission of in- telligence, that the Greeks still believed the bridge across the Hellespont to be entire, though it was broken and useless al- most a twelvemonth previously, during the retreat of Xerxes. At the instance of the Athenians, Leotychides set sail with the view of destroying it ; but having learnt at Abydos that it no longer existed, he departed homewards with the Pelopon- nesian vessels. Xanthippus, however, the Athenian commander, seized the opportunity to recover from the Persians the Thracian Chersonese, which had long been an Athenian possession, and proceeded to blockade Sestos, the key of the strait. Being thus taken by surprise, the Persians flung themselves into the town without having time to collect the provisions necessary for a siege. Nevertheless, amid the most painful privations, they con- trived to protract the siege till a late period of the autumn, when famine and insubordination reached such a height, that the Per- sian commanders, ffiobazus and Ai-tayctes, were fain to quit the town by stealth, which was immediately surrendered. Artayctes, having fallen into the hands of the Greeks, was fixed to a high pole, and left to perish just at the spot where the bridge of Xerxes had stood. This deviation from the usual humanity of the ( i reeks, and which seems to have been sanctioned by Xanthippus, can only be accounted for by religious exasperation occasioned by Artayctes having violated and insulted the grove and temple of the hero Protesilaus, in the neighbourhood of Sestos. After this exploit the Athenians returned home, carrying with them the cables of the bridge across the Hellespont, which were afterwards preserved in the Acropolis as a trophy. Bust of Pindar. CHAPTER XXI. HISTORY OF LITERATURE. § 1. General characteristics. § 2. Simonides. § 3. Pindar. § 4. Ibycus and Bacchylides. § 5. Rise of history and of composition in prose. § 6. Hecataeus, Charon of Lampsacus, Hellanicus. § 7. Herodotus. § 8. Character of his work. Analysis. § 9. Predilection of Herodotus for Athens. §10. Style of his work. § 1. During the period which we have been surveying in the present book, Grecian literature was gradually assuming a more popular form, especially at Athens, where, since the expulsion of the Pisistratids, the people were rapidly advancing both in intellec- tual culture and in political importance. Of this we have a strik- ing proof in the rise of the drama, and the founding of a regular theatre ; for dramatic entertainments must be regarded as the most popular form which literature can assume. Nearly half a century before the Persian invasion, Thespis had sketched out the first feeble rudiments of tragedy ; and iEschylus, the real founder of tragic art, exhibited a play nine years before he fought at Marathon. But tragedy still awaited its final improvements from the hand of Sophocles, whilst comedy can hardly be said to have existed. For these reasons we shall defer an account of the Greek drama to a later period, when we shall be enabled to pre- sent the subject as a whole, and in a connected point of view. Tragedy, the noblest emanation of ancient genius, was in fact only the final development of lyric poetry ; which, in the period we are considering, had attained its highest pitch of excellence in the hands of Simonides and Pindar. These two great masters of the lyre never ventured, however, beyond the stricter limits of that species of composition, and left their contemporary, 230 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXI. iEschylus, to gather laurels in a new and unexplored field. With Pindar ends the ancient school of lyric poetry ; with iEschylus properly begins the splendid list of Athenian dramatists. § 2. Simonides was considerably older than both these poets ; but the length of years which he attained made him their con- temporary. He was born at Iulis, in the island of Ceos, in tho year 556 B.C. His family had cultivated music and poetry with diligence and success, and he himself was trained up in them as a profession. From his native island he proceeded to Athens, where he resided some years at the court of Hipparchus, together with Anacreon and Lasus of Hermione, the teacher of Pindar : a society which could not but serve to expand and mature his powers, more especially as a sort of rivalry existed between him and Lasus. Here he seems to have remained till the expulsion of Hippias (B.C. 510). Subsequently he spent some time in Thes- saly, under the patronage of the Aleuads and Scopads, the domi- nant families of the cities of Larissa and Crannon. The poet seems, however, to have been but little satisfied with his visit. His songs were unappreciated by the rugged Thessalians, and ill- rewarded by their vain and selfish masters. Scopas bespoke a poem on his own exploits, which Simonides recited at a banquet. In order to diversify the theme, Simonides, as was customary on such occasions, introduced into it the exploits of Castor and Pollux. An ordinary mortal might have been content to share the praises of the sons of Leda ; but vanity is exacting ; and as the tyrant sat at his festal board among his courtiers and syco- phants, he grudged every verse that did not echo his own praises. When Simonides approached to receive his promised reward, Scopas exclaimed, " Here is my half of thy pay ; the Tyndarids who have had so much of thy praise will doubtless furnish the other." The disconcerted poet retired to his seat amidst the laughter which followed the great man's jest. In a little time he received a message that two young men on horseback, whose description answered in every respect to that of Castor and Pollux, were waiting without, and anxious to see him. Simonides bastened to the door, but looked iu vain for the visitors. Scarcely, however, had he left the banqueting hall, when the building fell in with a loud crash, burying Scopas and all his guests be- neath the ruins. Into the authenticity of such a story it would be idle to inquire. It is enough that we sec in it the tribute which a lively and ingenious people paid to merit, as in the tales of Arion saved by the dolphin, and of Ibycus avenged by the uranes. But a nobler subject than the praises of despots awaited the muse of Simonides — tho struggles of Greece for her inde- Ohap. XXL SIMONIDE8. 231 pendence. At the time of the Persian wars, the poet, who had then reached the age usually allotted to man, was again residing among the Athenians. His genius, however, was still fresh and vigorous, and was employed in celebrating the most momentous events of that memorable epoch. He carried away the prize from ^Eschylus with an elegy upon the warriors who had fallen at the battle of Marathon. Subsequently we find him cele- brating the heroes of Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, and Platrea. He was upwards of 80 when his long poetical career at Athens was closed with the victory which he gained with the dithyrambic chorus in B.C. 477, making the 56th prize that lie had carried off. Shortly after this event he repaired to Syracuse at the invitation of Hiero. Here he spent the remaining ten years of his hfe, not only entertaining Hiero with his poetry, but instructing him by his wisdom ; for Simonides was a philo- sopher as well as a poet, and is reckoned amongst the sophists. Simonides was one of the most prolific poets that Greece had seen ; but only a few fragments of his compositions have de- scended to us. He employed himself on all the subjects which fell to the lyric poet, then the mouth-piece of human life with all its joys and sorrows, its hopes and disappointments. He wrote hymns, paeans, elegies, hyporchemes, or songs for dancing, dithyrambs, epinician odes, and threnes, or dirges, in which he lamented the departed great. In the last species of composition he particularly excelled. His genius was inclined to the pathetic, and none could touch with truer effect the chords of human sympathy. § 3. Pindar, though the contemporary of Simonides, was con- siderably his junior. He was born either at, or in the neigh- bourhood of, Thebes in Bceotia, about the year 522 B.C. His family ranked among the noblest in Thebes, and seems to have been celebrated for its skill in music, though there is no authority for the assertion that they were hereditary flute-players. The youth soon gave indications of a genius for poetry, which in- duced his father to send him to Athens to receive more perfect instruction in the art. Later writers tell us that his future glory as a poet was miraculously foreshadowed by a swarm of bees which rested upon his lips while he was asleep, and that this miracle first led him to compose poetry. At Athens he became the pupil of Lasus of Hermione, who was the founder of the Athenian dithyrambic school. He returned to Thebes before he had completed his twentieth year, and is said to have re- ceived instruction there from Myrtis and Corinna, two poet- esses who then enjoyed great celebrity in Bceotia. Corinna appears to have exercised considerable influence upon the youth- 232 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciui-. XXI. i'ul poet, and he was not a little indebted to her example and precepts. It is related that she recommended him to introduce mythical narrations into his poems, and that when, in accordance with her advice, he composed a hymn in which he interwove almost all the Theban mythology, she smiled and said, " Wo ought to sow with the hand, and not with the whole sack." With both these poetesses he contended for the prize in the mu- sical contests at Thebes. Pindar commenced his professional career at an early age, and soon acquired so great a reputation, that he was employed by various states and princes of the Hellenic race to compose choral songs. He was courted especially by Alexander, king of Mace- donia, and by Hiero, despot of Syracuse. The praises which he bestowed upon Alexander are said to have been the chief reason which led his descendant, Alexander the Great, to spare the house of the poet when he destroyed the rest of Thebes. About B.C. 473, he visited Syracuse, but did not remain more than four years with Hiero, as he loved an independent life, and did not care to cultivate the courtly arts which rendered his contempo- rary, Simonides, a more welcome guest at the table of their patron. But the estimation in which Pindar was held, is still more strikingly shown by the honours conferred upon him by the free states of Greece. Although a Theban, he was always a great favourite with the Athenians, whom he frequently praised in his poems, and whose city he often visited. The Athenians testified their gratitude by making him their public guest, and by giving him 10,000 drachmas ; and at a later period they erected a statue in his honour. The only poems of Pindar which have come down to U8 entire are his Epinicia or triumphal odes, composed in comme- moration of victories gained in the great public games. But these were only a small portion of his works. He also wrote hymns, paeans, dithyrambs, odes for processions, songs of maidens, mimic dancing songs, drinking songs, dirges, and encomia, or pa- negyrics on princes.* * Most of them are mentioned by Horace : — " Seu per audaces nova dithyrambos Verba devolvit, numerisque fertur Lege solutis ; Seu deo6 (hymns and pecans) regesve [encomia] raint, ^eortim Sanguinem : Sive quos Elea domain redacit Palma ccelestes (the Epinicia). Klebili sponsa? juvenemve raptum Plorat" (the Dirges). — Od. iv. 2. Chap. XXI. PUN' DAE. 233 The style of Pindar is marked by daring flights and abrupt transitions, and became proverbial for its sublimity. He com- pared himself to an eagle, — a simile which has been beautifully expressed in the hues of Gray : — " The pride and ample pinion That the Theban eagle bare, Sailing with supreme dominion Through the azure deep of air.' § 4. The only other poets of this epoch whom we need mention are Ibycus and Bacchylides. Ibycus was a native of Rhegium, and flourished towards the middle of the sixth century before the Christian era. The best part of his life was spent at the court of Polycrates of Samos. The story of his death is well known. While travelling through an unfrequented place near Corinth, he was set upon by robbers and mortally wounded. As he was on the point of expiring, he called upon a flock of cranes that happened to fly over the spot to avenge his death. Soon afterwards the cranes were beheld hovering over the theatre at Corinth, where the people were assembled ; ;md one of the murderers who were present, struck with remorse and terror, in- voluntarily exclaimed, " Behold the avengers of Ibycus !" and thus occasioned the detection of the criminals. The poetry of Ibycus was chiefly of an amatory character. He wrote in a dialect which was a mixture of the Doric and iEolic. Bacchylides was a native of Iulis in the island of Ceos, and the nephew and fellow-townsman ofSimonides. He lived with Simonides and Pindar at the court of Hiero at Syracuse. His odes and songs turned on the same subjects as those of the poets just named ; but though he seems to have rivalled his uncle in the grace and finish of his compositions, he was far from attaining to the strength and energy of Pindar. He wrote in the Doric dialect, with a mixture of the Attic. Such were the principal characteristics of the poetry of the epoch which we are considering, and such the chief poets who flourished in it. Our attention must now be directed to a striking feature in the literature of the period, — the rise of com- position in prose, and of history properly so called. § 5. The Greeks had arrived at a high pitch of civilization before they can be said to have possessed a history. Nations far behind them in intellectual development have infinitely ex- celled them in this respect. Many of the eastern nations had continuous chronicles from a very remote antiquity, as the Egyp- tians, the Babylonians, and the Jews. But among the Greeks this branch of literature was singularly neglected. Their imagi- nation seems to have been entirely dazzled and fascinated with 234 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXI. the glories of the heroic ages, and to have taken but littlo in- terest in the events which wore daily passing around them. But a more critical and inquiring spirit was now beginning to spring up, especially among the Ionians of Asia Minor. "We have already recorded the rise of natural philosophy among that people, and we are now to view them as the originators of his- tory in prose. This innovation of course implies a more ex- tended use of the art of writing, without which a long prose composition could not be remembered. § 0. The use of prose in writing was probably coeval with the art of writing itself; but its first application was only to objects of essential utility, and it was long before it came to be culti- vated as a branch of literature. The first essays in literary prose cannot be placed earlier than the sixth century before the Chris- tian sera. Three nearly contemporary authors, who flourished about the middle of that century, lay claim to the honour of having been the first prose writers ; namely, Cadmus of Mi- letus, Pherecydes of Syros, and Acusilaus of Argos ; but He- catseus of Miletus, to whom Herodotus frequently refers by name, must be regarded as the first historical prose writer of any importance. He was apparently a man of wealth and importance, and distinguished himself by the sound advice which he gave the Ionians at the time of their revolt from Persia (b.c. 500). He lived till the close of the Persian wars in Greece. Like many other early Greek historians, Hecatams was a great traveller, for at first geography and history were almost iden- tical. Egypt especially he seems to have carefully explored. Two works are ascribed to him; one of a geographical nature, called " Periodus," or travels round the earth, and the other of an historical kind, which is sometimes cited by the name of "Genealogies," and sometimes by that of "Histories." The former of these seems to have constituted the first regular system of Grecian geography ; but it was probably little more than a " Periplus," or circumnavigation of the Mediterranean; and its adjoining seas. The " Genealogies " related to the descent and exploits of the heroes of mythology. Charon of Lampsacus, an Ionic city on the Hellespont, is re- markable as the first prose writer whose subjects were selected from the historical times, and treated in a rational and discrimi- nating manner ; and he has therefore some title to be regarded as the first historian really deserving of the name. He flourished in the first half of the fifth century B.C., and was certainly alive in B.C. -if, l. The only other prose writer previous to Herodotus, whom it is necessary to mention, is Holanieus of Mytilen6. Hellanicus Chap. XXI. EARLY PROSE WRITERS. 235 was alive at the corumei 1 cement of the Pelopomiesian war, and was therefore a contemporary of Herodotus, though probably a little older. He was by far the most eminent and most volu- minous writer of history before the time of Herodotus, and seems to have been the author of at least ten or twelve works of considerable size. Many others were ascribed to him which in all probability were spurious. Like his predecessors, a large portion of his labours was dedicated to imaginary pedigrees, but some of them were historical and chronological. He seems to have been acquainted with the early history of Italy and Rome. He must be regarded as forming the chief link between the earlier logographers and Herodotus ; but his works were pro- bably very far from exhibiting the unity of design which we find in that of the latter writer. § 7. According to the strict order of chronology, neither He- rodotus nor some others of the authors just mentioned belong to the period which we are now considering ; but the subject of Hero- dotus connects him so intimately with the Persian wars, that we have preferred to give any account of him here, rather than in a subsequent book. Herodotus was born in the Dorian colony of Halicarnassus in Caria, in the year 484 B.C., and accordingly about the time of the Persian expeditions into Greece. He was descended from a distinguished family, but respecting his youth and education we are totally in the dark. One of the earliest events of his life with which we are acquainted is his retirement to Samos, in order to escape the tyranny of Lygdamis, a grand- son of queen Artemisia, who had fought so bravely at Salamis. It was perhaps in Samos that Herodotus acquired the Ionic dialect. The celebrity of the Ionian writers of history had caused that dialect to be regarded as the appropriate vehicle for that species of composition ; but though Herodotus made use of it, his language has been observed not to be so pure as that of Hecatseus, who was an Ionian by birth. Herodotus was pro- bably rather more than thirty years of age when he went to Samos. How long he remained there cannot be determined. He seems to have been recalled to his native city by some poli- tical crisis ; for on his return he took a prominent part in deli- vering it from the tyrant Lygdamis. The dissensions, however, which prevailed at Halicarnassus after that event, compelled Herodotus again to emigrate ; and it was probably at this period that he undertook the travels of which he speaks in his work. The extent of them may be estimated from the fact that there was scarcely a town in Greece, or on the coasts of Asia Minor, with which he was not acquainted ; that he had explored Thrace and the coasts of the Black Sea : that in Egypt he had penetrated 236 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXL as far south as Elephantin6 ; and that in Asia he had visited the cities of Babylon, Ecbataua, and Susa. The latter part of his life was spent at Thurii, a colony founded by the Athenians in Italy in B.C. 443 ; and it was probably at this place that he com- posed the greater portion of his history. The date of his settle- ment at Thurii cannot be accurately fixed. Some accounts make him accompany the first colonists thither ; but there are reasons for believing that he did not take up his abode there till several years afterwards. According to a well-known story in Lucian, Herodotus, when he had completed his work, recited it publicly at the great Olympic festival, as the best means of procuring for it that celebrity to which he felt that it was entitled. Posting himself on the platform of the temple of Jove, he recited, or rather chaunted, the whole of his work to the assembled Greeks. The effect is described as immediate and complete. The de- lighted audience at once assigned the names of the nine Muses to the nine books into which it is divided ; whilst the celebrity of the author became so great, that it even eclipsed that of the victors in the games. A still later author (Suidas) adds, that Thucydides, then a boy, was present at the festival with his father Olorus, and was so affected by the recital as to shed tears ; upon which Herodotus congratulated Olorus on having a son who possessed so early such a zeal for knowledge. But there are many objections to the probability of these tales. The time and manner of the death of Herodotus are uncertain, but we know, from some allusions in his history, that he was alive subsequently to the year 408 B.C. According to one tradi- tion he died at Thurii, according to another at Bella in Mace- donia. The former account is hardly probable, since Thurii revolted from Athens in 412, when the old Athenian colonists who sided with the mother country were driven into exile. Un- less therefore we assume that Herodotus took part with the in- surgents, it seems most probable that he quitted Thurii at this period, and it is not improbable that, like Lysias the orator, he returned to Athens. § 8. Herodotus interwove into his history all. the varied and extensive knowledge acquired in his travels, and by his own per- sonal researches. The real subject of that magnificent work is the conflict between the Greek race, in the widest sense of the term, and including the Greeks of Asia Minor, with the Asiatics. This is the ground-plan of the book, and was founded on a notion then current of an ancient enmity between the Greeks and Asiatics, as exemplified in the stories of Io, Medea, and Helen. Thus the historian had a vast epic subject presented to him, which was brought to a natural and glorious termination by the Chap. XXI. HERODOTUS. 237 defeat of the Persians in their attempts upon Greece. He touches the ancient and mythical times, however, but lightly, and hastens on to a more recent and authentic historical period. Croesus, king of Lydia, the earliest Asiatic monarch who had succeeded in reducing a portion of the Greek race to subjection, first en- gages his attention at any length. The quarrel between Crcesus and Cyrus, king of Persia, brings the latter power upon the stage. The destruction of the Lydian monarchy by the Persians is re- lated, and is followed by a retrospective view of the rise of the Persian power, and of the Median empire. This is succeeded by an account of the reduction of the rest of Asia Minor and of Babylonia ; and the first book closes with the death of Cyrus in an expedition against the Massagetaj, a race inhabiting the plains beyond the Caspian Sea. Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, under- takes an expedition against Egypt, which gives occasion to a de- scription of that country occupying the whole of the second book. In the third book the annexation of Egypt to the Persian empire is related, as well as the abortive attempts of Cambyses against the ^Ethiopians and Ammonians. The death of Cambyses, the usurpation of the false Smerdis, and the accession of Darius form the remainder of the third book. The fourth book is chiefly occupied with the Scythian expedition of Darius ; whilst at the same time a Persian armament fitted out in Egypt for the conquest of Libya, serves to introduce an account of the discovery and co- lonization of the latter country by the Greeks. In the fifth book the termination of the Thracian expedition under the satrap Me- gabazus is related, and a description given of the Thracian people. This book also contains an account of the origin of the quarrel between Persia and the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. The history of the wars between the Greeks and Persians then runs on with little interruption in the remainder of this book, and in the four last books. The work concludes with the reduction of Sestos by the Athenians. § 9. The love and admiration of Herodotus for Athens are appa- rent throughout his work ; he sided with her with all his soul, and declared her to be the saviour of Grecian liberty. This attach- ment was not unrewarded by the Athenians, and a psephisma, or vote of the people, is recorded, granting him the sum of 10 talents out of the public treasury. It was this not unfounded admira- tion of Herodotus for Athens that gave occasion to Plutarch, or some writer who assumed Plutarch'3 name, to charge him with partiality, and malice towards other Grecian states. § 10. The ease and simplicity of the style of Herodotus lend it an indescribable charm, and we seem rather to be conversing with an intelligent traveller than reading an elaborately com- 238 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXI. posed history. On the other hand a certain want of skill in composition may be observed in it. Prose style does not arrive at perfection till much has been written, and with Herodotus it was still in its infancy. Nor must we seek in him for that depth of philosophical reflection which we find in Thucydides. Some- times, indeed, he exhibits an almost childish credulity. Yet he had formed a high notion of the value of history, and was evi- dently a sincere lover of truth. He may sometimes have received the accounts of others with too trusting a simphcity, yet he always gives them for what they are worth, leaving the reader to form his own judgment, and often cautioning him as to their source and value. On the other hand, where he speaks from his own observa- tion, his accounts may be implicitly relied upon ; and many of them, which were formerly doubted as improbable, have been con firmed by the researches of modern travellers. In short, Hero- dotus is the Homer of history. He has all the majesty and simplicity of the great epic bard, and all the freshness and vivacity of colouring which mark the founder of a new literary epoch. Bust of Heiobotus. The Theseum at Athens. BOOK IV. THE ATHENIAN SUPREMACY AND THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. B.C. 477—404. CHAPTER XXII. FROM THE EXPULSION OF THE PERSIANS TO THE DEATH OF THEMISTOCLES. § 1. Further proceedings against the Persians. § 2. Misconduct and treason of Pausanias. § 3. The maritime supremacy transferred to the Athenians. § 4. Confederacy of Delos. § 5. The combined fleet under Cirnon. § £.. Growth of the Athenian power. Plans of Themistocles. § 7. Rebuilding of Athens. The Lacedaemonians attempt to prevent its being fortified. § 8. Fortification of Piraeus. § 9. Strife of parties at Athens. Miscon- duct of Themistocles. § 10. He is ostracised. § 11. Pausanias convicted of-Medism. § 12. Themistocles implicated in his guilt. He escapes into Asia. § 13. He is magnificently received by Artaxerxes. His death and character. § 14. Death of Aristides. § 1. The last campaign had effectually delivered Greece from all fear of the Persian yoke -, but the Persians still held some posts 240 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXII. from which it concerned both the interests and the honour of the Greeks to expel them. They were in possession of the island of Cyprus and of the important town of Byzantium ; to- gether with Eion on the Strynion, Doriscus, and several other places in Thrace. A fleet was therefore fitted out (b.c. 478) the year after the battle of Platcea, and placed under the command of the Spartan regent, Pausanias. Of this fleet only twenty ships belonged to the Peloponnesians, whilst thirty, under the com- mand of Aristides and Cimon, were furnished by Athens alone. After delivering most of the Grecian towns in Cyprus from the Persians, this armament sailed up the Bosporus and laid siege to Byzantium, which was garrisoned by a large Persian force commanded by some kinsmen of Xerxes. The town surrendered after a protracted siege ; but it was during this expedition that the conduct of the Spartan commander struck a fatal blow at the interests of his country. § 2. The immense booty, as well as the renown, which Pau- sanias had acquired at Platsca, had filled him with pride and ambition. When he returned home, he felt it irksome to con- form to the simplicity and sobriety of a Spartan life, and to submit to the commands of the Ephors. He had given a signal instance of the pride with which he was inflated by causing Simonides to attribute the glory of the Persian defeat solely to himself in the epigram which he composed for the tripod dedi- cated at Delphi ; a piece of vanity which gave such offence to the Lacedaemonians that they caused the inscription to be erased, and another to be substituted in its place. Nevertheless, in spite of these symptoms, he had been again entrusted with the command. During the whole course of it his conduct was marked by the greatest vanity and insolence ; towards the end it was also sullied by treason. After the capture of Byzantium, he put himself in communication with the Persian court, through Gongylus, an Eretrian exile and subject of Persia. He sent Gon- gylus clandestinely to Xerxes with those members of the royal family who had been taken at Byzantium, and assured the allies that they had escaped. At the same time he despatched the following letter to Xerxes : — "Pausanias, the Spartan commander, wishing to oblige thee, sends back these prisoners of war. I am minded, i f it please thee, to marry thy daughter, and to bring Sparta, and the rest of Greece, under thy dominion. This I hold myself able to do with the help of thy counsels. If, therefore, the project at all pleases thee, send down some trustworthy man to the coast, through whom we may carry on our future correspondence." Xerxes was highly delighted with this letter, and sent a reply B.C. 178. MARITIME SUPREMACY OF ATHENS. L41 in which, he urged Pausauias to pursue his project uight and daVj and promised to supply him with all the money and troops that might be needfid for its execution. At the same time he appointed Artabazus, who had been second in command in Bceotia, to be sa- trap of Dascylium, where he would be able to co-operate with the Spartan commander. But the childish vanity of Pausanias be- trayed his plot before it was ripe for execution. Elated by the confidence of Xerxes, and by the money with which he was lavishly supplied, he acted as if he had already married the Great King's daughter. He assumed the Persian dress ; he made a progress through Thrace, attended by Persian and Egyptian guards ; and copied, in the luxury of his table and the dissoluteness of his manners, the example of his adopted coun- try. Above all, he offended the allies by his haughty reserve and imperiousness. § 3. His designs were now too manifest to escape attention. His proceedings reached the ears of the Spartans, who sent out Dorcis to supersede him. But when Dorcis arrived, he found that the allies had transferred the command of the fleet to the Athenians. There were other reasons for this step besides the disgust occasioned by the conduct of Pausanias. Even before the liattln of Salamis, the preponderating naval power of Athens had raised the question whether she was not entitled to the command at sea ; and the victory gained there, under the auspices of Themis- tocles, had strengthened her claim to that distinction. But the delivery of the Ionian colonies from the Persian yoke was the immediate cause of her attaining it. The Ionians were not only attracted to Athens by affinity of race, but, from her naval su- periority, regarded her as the only power capable of securing them in their newly acquired independence. Disgusted by the insolence of Pausanias, the Ionians now serving in the combined Grecian fleet addressed themselves to Aristides and Cimon, whose manners formed a striking contrast to those of the Spar- tan leader, and begged them to assume the command. Aristides was the more inclined to listen to this request as it was made precisely at the time when Pausanias was recalled. The Spartan squadron had accompanied him home ; so that when Dorcia arrived with a few ships, he found himself in no condition to assert bis pretensions. § 4. This event was not a mere empty question about a point of honour. It was a real revolution, terminated by a solemn league, of which Athens was to be the head ; and though it is wrong to date the Athenian empire from this period, yet it can- not be doubted that this confederacy formed her first step towards Gr. r 242 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXII. it. Aristides took tho lead in this matter, for which his pro- verbial justice arid probity, and his conciliatory manners, emi- nently qualified him. The league obtained the name of " the Confederacy of Delos," from its being arranged that deputies of the allies belonging to it should meet periodically for deliberation in the temple of Apollo and Artemis in that island. The league was not, however, confined to the Ionians. It was joined by all who sought, in the maritime power of Athens, a protection against the attacks of Persia. Besides the Ionic islands of Samos and Chios, it was joined by Rhodes, Cos, Lesbos, and Tenedos. Among the continental towns belonging to it we find Miletus, the Greek towns on the peninsula of Chalcidice, and the recently delivered Byzantium. Each state was assessed in a certain con- tribution either of money or ships, as proposed by the Athenians and ratified by the Synod. The assessment was intrusted to Aristides, whose justice and impartiality were universally ap- plauded. Of the details, however, we only know that the first assessment amounted to 460 talents (about 106,000?. sterhng) ; that certain officers called Hellenotamiae were appointed by the Athenians to collect and administer the contributions ; that Delos was the treasury; and that the tax was called pharos; a name which afterwards became odious when the tribute was abused for the purposes of Athenian ambition. § 5. Such was the origin of the Confederacy of Delos. Soon after its formation Aristides was succeeded in the command of the combined fleet by Cimon, whose first important action seems to havo been the capture of Eion on the Strymon. This place was bravely defended by Boges, the Persian governor, who re- fused all offers of capitulation ; and when his provisions were exhausted and all further defence impracticable, he caused a large funeral pile to bo kindled into which he cast his wives, his con- cubines, and children, and lastly himself. The next event of any moment was the reduction of the island of Scyros, probably in b. c. 470. A portion of the inhabitants of Scyros had been condemned by the Amphictyonic council as guilty of piracy, and in order to avoid payment of the fine imposed upon them, appealed to Cimon ; who took possession of the island, and after expelling the natives, colonised it with Athenians. The hero Theseus had been buried in Scyros ; and now, by com- mand of an oracle, his bones were disinterred and carried to Athens, where they were deposited with much solemnity in a temple called the Thescum, which exists at the present day. § 6. The isle of Scyros is small and barren, but its position and excellent harbour rendered it an important naval station. The occupation of it by the Athenians seems to have been the first B.C. 477. CONFEDERACY OF DELOS. '243 actual step taken by them in the career of aggrandizement on which they were now about to enter ; but the rapid growth of their maritime power, and especially the formation of the Con- federacy of Delos, had already roused the jealousy and suspicion of Sparta and other states. It was, probably, a lingering dread of the Persians, against whose attacks the Athenian fleet was indispensably necessary, which had prevented the Lacedaemo- nians from at once resenting that encroachment on their supre- micy. Up to that time Sparta had been regarded as entitled to take the lead in Grecian affairs, and for a moment the league formed at Plataea after the defeat of Mardonius seemed to con- firm her in that position. But she was soon deprived of it by the misconduct of her leaders, and by the skill and enterprise of Athens. That city was the only one which, during the Persian wars, had displayed ability and heroism equal to the crisis. She had taken a large share in the battle of Platoea, whilst the glory of Marathon, and Salamis, and Mycale was almost entirely her own. Above all, the sufferings which she had voluntarily undeigone in the common cause entitled her to the love and sympathy of Greece. It was not, however, the gratitude of her allies which placed her in the commanding situation she was now about to seize. She owed it rather to the eminent qualities of two of her citizens — to the genius of Themistocles, and to the virtue of Aristides. It was, as we have seen, through the immediate agency of Aristides that the Confederacy of Delos was esta- blished : a matter which his able but unprincipled rival, owing to the want of confidence felt in his character, would hardly have been able to carry out. But it was Themistocles who had first placed Athens in a situation which enabled her to aspire to the chief command. His genius had mastered all the exigencies of the crisis. His advice to the Athenians to rely on their ships, and to abandon their city to its fate, had not only saved Athens but Greece. He was now engaged in measures which might enable Athens by the same means to consolidate and extend her power ; and the Confederacy of Delos promised to bring his plans to an earlier maturity than even he had perhaps ventured to anticipate. But in order to understand the plans of Themis- tocles, it will be necessary to revert to the city of Athens itself, and to trace its progress after the close of the Persian war. § 7. The Athenians, on their return to Attica after the defeat of the Persians, found their city ruined and their country deso- late. Their first care was to provide shelter for the houseless fa- milies which had been transported back from Trcezen, iEgina, and Salamis. "When this had been accomplished, they began to 244 HISTORY OF GHEECE. Chap. XXII. rebuild their city on a larger scale than before, and to fortify it with a wall. Those allies to whom the increasing maritime power of Athens was an object of suspicion, and especially the /Eginetans, to whom it was more particularly formidable, beheld her rising fortifications with dismay. In order to prevent the completion of these fortifications, they endeavoured to inspire the Lacedaemonians with their own fears, and urged them to arrest the work. But, though Sparta shared the jealousy of the iEgiuetans on this occasion, she could not with any decency interfere by force to prevent a friendly city from exercising a right inherent in all independent states. She assumed, there- fore, the hypocritical garb of an adviser and counsellor. Con- cealing her jealousy under the pretence of zeal for the common interests of Greece, she represented to the Athenians that, in the event of another Persian invasion, fortified towns would serve the enemy for camps and strongholds, as Thebes had done in the last war ; and proposed that the Athenians should not only desist from completing their own fortifications, but help to demolish those which already existed in other towns. The object of this proposal was too transparent to deceive so acute a statesman as Themistocles. Athens was not yd, how- ever, in a condition to incur the danger of openly rejecting it ; and he therefore advised the Athenians to dismiss the Spartan envoys with the assurance that they would send ambassadors to Sparta to explain their views. He then caused himself to be appointed one of these ambassadors, together with Aristides and Abronychus; and setting off at once for Sparta, directed his colleagues to linger behind as long as possible. At Sparta, the absence of his colleagues, at which he affected to be surprised, afforded him an excuse for not demanding an audience of the Ephors. During the interval thus gained the whole population of Athens, of both sexes and every age, worked day and night at the walls, which, when Aris- tides and Abronychus at length arrived at Sparta, had attained a height sufficient to afford a tolerable defence. Meanwhile, the suspicions of the Spartans had been more than once aroused by messages from the J^ginetans respecting the progress of tho vvalls. Themistocles, however, positively denied their state- ments, and urged the Spartans to send messengers of their own to Athens in order to learn the true state of affairs ; at the same time instructing the Athenians to detain them as hostages for the safety of himself and colleagues. As there was now no longer any motive for concealment, Themistocles openly avowed tho progress of the works, and his intention of securing the independence of Athens, and enabling her to act for herself. As the walls were now too far advanced to be easily taken, the B.C. 478. FORTIFICATION OF ATHENS. 245 Spartans found themselves compelled to acquiesce, and the works were completed without further hindrance. § 8. Having thus secured the city from all danger of an imme- diate attack, Themistocles pursued his favourite project of ren- dering Athens the greatest maritime and commercial power of Greece. The large fleet which he had called into existence, and which he had persuaded the Athenians to increase by building twenty triremes every year, was destitute of a strong and com- modious harbour such as might afford shelter both against the weather and the attacks of an enemy. The open roadstead of Pha- lerum was quite inadequate for these purposes ; and during his administration three years before, Themistocles had persuaded his countrymen to improve the natural basins of Piraeus and Muny- chia. The works had been interrupted and perhaps ruined by the Persians ; but he now resumed his scheme on a still more magnificent scale. Piraeus and Munychia were both enclosed in a wall as large in extent as that of the city itself, but of vastly greater height and thickness. In his own magnificent ideas, which already beheld Athens the imdisputed mistress of the sea, the wall which sheltered her fleet was to be perfectly unas- sailable. Its height was to be such that boys and old men might suffice for its defence, and leave the men of military age to act on board the fleet. It seems, however, to have been found either unnecessary or impossible to carry out the design of Themistocles. The wall rose only to about sixty feet, or half the projected height ; but this was always found amply sufficient.* § 9. The ancient rivalry between Themistocles and Aristides had been in a good degree extinguished by the danger which threatened their common country during the Persian wars. Aristides had since abandoned his former prejudices, and was willing to conform to many of the democratical innovations of his rival. In fact, the crisis through which Athens had recently passed, had rendered the progress of the democratical sentiment irresistible. Whilst the greater part of the male popidation was serving on shipboard without distinction of rank, and the re- mainder dispersed in temporary exile, political privileges had been necessarily suspended ; and the whole body of the people, rendered equal by the common danger, became also equal in their civil rights. The effect of this was to produce, soon after their return to Attica, a still further modification of the consti- tution of Clisthenes. The Thetes, the lowest of the four classes of Athenian citizens, were declared eligible for the magistracy, from which they had been excluded by the laws of Solon. Thus * For a further account of the topography of Atheas and the Pirseus, se« Chap. XXXIV. 246 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXII. not only the archonship, but consequently the Council of Areo- pagus, was thrown open to them ; and, strange to say, this reform vsus proposed by Aristides himself. Nevertheless, party spirit still ran high at Athens. Cimon and Alcmseon were violent opponents of Themistocles, and of their party Aristides was still the head. The popularity of Aris- tides was never greater than at the present time, owing not only to the moderation aud the more hberal spirit which he exhibited, but also to his great services in establishing the Confederacy of Delos. He was, therefore, more than ever to be dreaded as an adversary ; and the conduct of Themistocles soon laid him open to the attacks of his enemies. He offended the Athenians by his ostentation and vanity. He was continually boasting of his services to the state ; but worse than all this, his conduct was stained with positive guilt. There was much to be done after the close of the Persian wars in restoring order in the Grecian communities ; in deposing corrupt magistrates, in punishing evil doers, and in replacing fugitives and political exiles in their possessions. All these things opened up a great field for bribery and corruption ; and whilst Themistocles, at the head of an Athenian squadron, was sailing among the Greek islands for the ostensible purpose of executing justice, there is little room to doubt that he corrupted its very source by accepting large sums of money from the cities which be visited. § 10. The influence of the Lacedaemonians was still considerable at Athens. The conservative party there, and especially Cimon, one of its principal leaders, regarded with love and veneration the stable institutions of Sparta, which formed a striking con- trast to the democratical innovations which were making such rapid progress in their own city. The Lacedaemonians on their side were naturally inimical to the Athenian democracy, as the party most opposed to their interests and power ; and to 1 hemis- tocles himself they were personally hostile, on account of the deception which he had lately practised upon them. Hence when Pausanias became suspected of Medisrn, they urged the political opponents of Themistocles to accuse him of being implicated in the same crime. This accusation was at all events prema- ture ; nor is it surprising that the Athenian statesman should have been acquitted of a charge which could not at that time be brought home to Pausanias himself. The result, however, of this accusation was to embitter party spirit at Athens to such a de- gree that it was found necessary to resort to ostracism, and Themistocles was condemned to a temporary banishment (b. c. 471). He retired to Argos, and had been residing in that city for a of about five years when indubitable proofs were discovered B.C. 471. TREASON AND FALL OF PAUSANI AS. 247 of his being implicated in the treasonable correspondence of Pausanias with the Persians. But in order to explain the fall of the Athenian statesman, we must first relate that of the Spartan regent with which it was intimately connected. §11. The recall of Pausanias from Byzantium has been already mentioned. On his arrival at home he seems to have been ac- quitted of any definite charges ; yet the general presumption of his guilt was so strong that he was not again entrusted with the command of the fleet. This was perhaps an additional motive with him to complete his treachery. Under pretence of servin? as a volunteer, he returned to Byzantium with a single trireme, and renewed his negotiations with Artabazus. Here he seems to have again enjoyed a sort of ascendency, till his conduct obliged the Athenians to expel him from this city. He then retired to Colons, in the Troad, where he still pursued his de- signs ; employing both Persian gold, and perhaps the influence of the Spartan name, in order to induce various Grecian cities to participate in his schemes. At the news of these proceedings the Spartans again ordered Pausanias home, under pain of being denounced as a public enemy. "With this order he deemed it prudent to comply ; for- seeing that, if proscribed, his influence would be at an end, and relying, probably, on his riches to bribe his judges and procure an acquittal. But, though at first imprisoned by the Ephors, nobody was bold enough to come forwards as his accuser. His treachery, though sufficiently palpable, seems to have offered no overt and legally tangible act, and he was accordingly set at liberty. He now employed himself in hatching treason nearer home. He tampered with the Helots, and by promises of en- franchisement and political rights, endeavoured to persuade them to overthrow the Ephors, and make him sole sovereign. Though these plots were communicated to the Ephors, they were still either unable or unwilling to prosecute so powerful a criminal. Meanwhile, he continued his correspondence with Persia ; and an accident at length afforded convincing proofs of his guilt. A favourite slave, to whom he bad entrusted a letter to Ar- tabazus, observed with dismay that none of the messengers employed in this service had ever returned. Moved by these fears, he broke the seal and read the letter, and finding his suspicions of the fate that awaited him confirmed, he carried the document to the Ephors. But in ancient states the testimony of a slave was always regarded with suspicion. The Ephors re- fused to believe the evidence offered to them unless the slave placed them in a position to have it confirmed by their own 248 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciur. XXII. ears. For this purpose they directed him to plant himself as a .suppliant in the grove of Poseidon, near Cape Toenarus, in a hut behind which two of their body might conceal themselves. Pausanias, as they had expected, anxious and surprised at the step taken by his slave, hastened to the spot to question him about it. The conversation which ensued between them, and wliieh was overheard by the Ephors, rendered it impossible for them any longer to doubt the guilt of Pausanias. They now determined to arrest him on his return to Sparta. They met him in the street near the temple of Athena Chalcioecus (of the Brazen House) ; when Pausanias, either alarmed by his guilty conscience, or put on his guard by a secret signal from one of the Ephors, turned and fled to the temple, where he took refuge in a small chamber belonging to the building. From this sanc- tuary it was unlawful to drag him ; but the Ephors caused the doors to be built up and the roof to be removed ; and his own mother is said to have placed the first stone at the doors. When at the point of death from starvation, he was carried from the sanctuary before he polluted it with his corpse. § 12. Such was the end of the victor of Plat;va. After his death proofs were discovered among his correspondence that Themistocles was implicated in his guilt. The Lacedivmonians now again called upon tho Athenians to prosecute their great statesman before a synod of the allies assembled at Sparta ; and joint envoys were sent from Athens and Sparta to arrest him. Themistocles avoided the impending danger by flying from Argos to Oorcyra. The Corcyraeans, however, refusing to shelter him, he passed over to the continent ; where, being still pursued, he was forced to seek refuge at the court of Admetus, king of the Molossians, though he had made Admetus his personal ene- my by opposing him on one occasion in some favour which the king begged of the Athenians. Fortunately, Admetus happened to be from home. The forlorn condition of Themistocles ex- cited the compassion of the wife of the Molossian king, who placed her child in his arms, and bade him seat himself on the hearth as a suppliant. As soon as the king arrived, Themis- tocles explained his peril, and adjured him by the sacred laws of hospitality not to take vengeance upon a fallen foe. Admetus accepted his appeal and raised him from the hearth ; he refused to deliver him up to his pursuers, and at last only dismissed him on his own expressed desire to proceed to Persia. Having tra- versed the mountains, Themistocles reached Pydna, on the Ther- maic gulf, where, under an assumed name, he took a passage in a merchant vessel bound for tho coasts of Asia Minor. The ship was driven by stress of weather to the island of Naxos, which B.C. 449. DEATH OF THEMISTOCLES 24'J happened at that very moment to be blockaded by an Athenian fleet. In this conjuncture Themistocles adopted one of those decisive resolutions which never failed him in the hour of dan- ger. Having summoned the master of the vessel, he disclosed to him his real name, and the peril which menaced him in case of discovery. He then conjured the master not to make the land, at the same time threatening that, if detected, he would involve him in his own ruin by representing him as the accom- plice of his flight ; promising, on the other hand, a large reward if he would secure his escape. These representations induced the master to keep the sea in spite of the weather ; and Themis- tocles landed safely at Ephesus. § 13. Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, was now upon the throne of Persia, and to him Themistocles hastened to announce himself. Having been conducted to Susa, he addressed a letter to the Per- sian king, in which he claimed a reward for his past services in favouring the escape of Xerxes, and promised to effect much for Persian interests if a year were allowed him to mature his plans. Artaxerxes welcomed the arrival of the illustrious stranger and readily granted his request. According to the tales current at a later period, the king was so transported with joy as to start from his sleep at night and thrice to cry out, " I have got The- mistocles the Athenian." At the end of the year, Themistocles having acquired a sufficient knowledge of the Persian language to be able to converse in it, entertained Artaxerxes with magni- ficent schemes for the subjugation of Greece, and succeeded in gaining his entire confidence and favour. Artaxerxes loaded him with presents, gave him a Persian wife, and appointed Mag- nesia, a town not far from the Ionian coast, as his place of residence. In accordance with Eastern magnificence, the reve- nues of that place, amounting to the yearly sum of fifty talents, were assigned to him for bread, whilst Myos was to supply con- diments, and Lampsacus wine. At Magnesia Themistocles was joined by his family ; and after hving there some time, wan carried off by disease at the age of sixty-five, without having realized, or apparently attempted, any of those plans with which he had dazzled the Persian monarch. Rumour, which ever dogs the footsteps of the great, ascribed his death to poison, which he took of his own accord, from a consciousness of his inability to perform his promises ; but this report, which was current in the time of Thucydides, is rejected by that historian, though it was subsequently adopted by writers of no mean note. The tale was probably propagated by the friends of Themistocles, who also asserted that, at his express command, they had carried his bones to Attica, and had secretly buried them in his native laud, 250 UISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXII. In tLe time of the Roman empire his tomh was shown npon the promontory at the right hand of the entrance of the great har- bour of Pirceus. This was doubtless the invention of a later age ; but the imagination could not have chosen a litter spot for the ashes of the founder of the maritime greatness of Athens. Hence we find in an ancient epigram, supposed to have been inscribed upon his tomb : — " By the sea's margin, on the watery strand, Thy monument, Themistocles, shall stand : By this directed to thy native shore The merchant shall convey his freighted store ; And when our fleets are summoned to the fight, Athens shall conquer with thy tomb in sight." Themistocles is one of those characters which exhibit at once all the greatness and all the meanness of human nature. Acute- nesa in foreseeing, readiness and wisdom in contriving, combined with vigour and decision in acting, were the characteristics of this great statesman, and by these qualities he not only rescued his country from the imminent danger of the Persian yoke, but enabled her to become one of the leading states of Greece. Yet his lofty genius did not secure him from the seductions of avarice and pride, which led him to sacrifice both his honour and his country for the tinsel of Eastern pomp. But the riches and luxury which surrounded him served only to heighten his infamy, and were dearly bought with the hatred of his country- men, the reputation of a traitor, and the death of an exile. §14. Aristides died about four years after the banishment of Themistocles. The common accounts of his poverty are pro- bably exaggerated, and seem to have been founded on the circum- stances of a public funeral, and of handsome donations made to his three children by the state. But in ancient times these were no unusual marks of respect and gratitude towards merit and virtue ; and as he was archon eponymits at a time when only the first class of the Solonian census was admissible to this office, he must have enjoyed a certain amount of property. But what- ever his property may have been, it is at least certain that he did not acquire or increase it by uitiawful means ; and not even calumny has ventured to assail his well earned title of the Just. Pericles and Aspaeia. CHAPTER XXIII. RISE AND GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE. — FROM THE BATTLE OF EURTMEDON TO THE THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE WITH SPARTA. § 1. Cimon leader of the aristocratical party at Athens. § 2. Revolt of Naxos. §3. Battle of Eurymedon. §4. The Athenians blockade Thasos, and attempt to found colonies in Thrace. § 5. Earthquake at Sparta and revolt of the Helots. §6. Decline of Spartan power. §7. Cimon assists the Spartans to suppress the revolt, but without success. The Spartans offend the Athenians by dismissing their troops. § 8. Parties at Athens. Character of Pericles. § 9. Attack upon -the Areopagus. § 10. Ostra- cism of Cimon. §11. Administration and foreign policy of Pericles. § 12. Expedition of the Athenians into Egypt against the Persians. § 13. Hostilities with Corinth and ^Egina. Defeat of the Corinthians at Megara. § 14. The long walls of Athens commenced. § 15. The Lace- daemonians march into Boeotia. Battle of Tanagra. § 16. Recall of Cimon. § 17. Battle of (Enophyta, and conquest of Bceotia. Conquest of jEgma. § 18. The five years' truce. Expedition of Cimon to Cyprus. His death. § 19. Conclusion of the war with Persia. § 20. The Athe- nian power at its height. § 21. Decline of Athenian power. Revolution in Boeotia. Other Athenian reverses. Invasion of Attica by the Lacedae- monians under Pleistoanax. § 22. Pericles recovers Eubcea. Thirty years' truce with Sparta. § 1. On tlie death of Aristides, Cimon became the undisputed leader of Uio anstocraticalor conservative party at Athens. Cimon 252 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIII. was generous., affable, magnificent ; and, notwithstanding his po- litical views, of exceedingly popular manners. He had inherited the military genius of his father, and was undoubtedly the greatest commander of his time. He employed the vast wealth acquired in his expeditions in adorning Athens and gratifying his fellow-citizens. He kept open house for such of his j/emos„ (the Laciadse) as were in want of a meal, and appeared in public attended by well-dressed slaves, who were often directed to ex- change their comfortable garments with the threadbare clothes of needy citizens. But his mind was uncultivated by arts or letters, and what eloquence he possessed was rough and soldier- like. § 2. The capture of Eion and reduction of Scyros by Cimon have been already related. It was two or three years after the latter event that we find the first symptoms of discontent among the members of the Confederacy of Delos. Naxg^-one of the confederate islands, and the largest of the Cyclades, revolted in B.C. 4G6, probably from a feeling of the growing oppressiveness of the Athenian headship. It was immediately invested by the confederate fleet, and after a blockade of unknown duration re- duced and made tributary to Athens. It was during this block- ade that Themistocles, as before related, passed the island in his flight to Asia. This was another step towards dominion gained by the Athenians, whose pretensions were assisted by the im- prudence of the allies. Many of the smaller states belonging to the confederacy, wearied with perpetual hostilities, commuted for a money payment the ships which they were bound to supply ; and thus, by depriving themselves of a navy, lost the only means by which they could assert their independence. § 3. The same year was marked by a memorable action against the Persians. Cimon, at the head of 200 Athenian triremes, and 100 furnished by the allies, proceeded to the coast of Asia Minor, where he expelled the Persians from several Grecian towns in Carja4md Lycia. Meanwhile the Persians had assembled a large Heet and army at the mouth of the river Eurymedon in Pam- phylia. , Their fleet already consisted of_20_0~vessels, chiefly Phce- n'uian ; and as a reinforcement of 80 more was expected, Cimon resolved to lose no time in makmg~an attack. After speedily defeating the fleet, Cimon landed his men and marched against the Persian army, which was drawn up on the shore to protect the fleet. The land-force fought with bravery, but was at length put to the rout. These victories were still further enhanced by the destruction of the 80 vessels, with which Cimon happened to fall in on his return. A victory gained on the same day both by sea and land added greatly to the renown of Cimon, and waa B.C. 466. BATTLES AT THE EURYMEDON. 253 coinnieniorated on the tripod dedicated to Apollo as one of the most glorious of Grecian exploits. § 4. The successes of the Athenians, and their undisputed power at sea, led them to extend their empire by means of co- lonies. Some of the Athenians who had settled at Eion__on the Strymon after the expulsion of the Persians, had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the surrounding country, which was principaUy occupied by Edonian Thracians, and was distin- guished not only by the fertility of its soil, but also by its gold mines on Mount Pangseus. But in their attempts to form a permanent settlement on this coast, the Athenians were opposed by the inhabitants of the opposite island of Thasos,.who were possessed of considerable territory upon the continent of Thrace, and derived a large revenue from the mines of Scapte Hyle and other places. The island of Thasos was a member of the Confederacy of Delos, with which, however, this quarrel does not appear to have been in any way connected. The ill-feeling soon reached such a pitch, that Cimon was despatched in e.g. 465 'with a powerful fleet against the Thasians. In this expedition the Athenians gained various successes both by sea and land, but totally failed in their attempt to found a colony on the main land, near Eion, Tliis result, however, was owing to the hostility of the native tribes. A body of ten thousand Athenians and their allies, who had taken possession of Ennea Hod oi, a place on the Strymon, about three miles above Eion, were"~attacked by the Thracians and nearly all of them slain. Nevertheless the Athenians did not abandon the blockade of Thasos. After a siege of more than two years that island surrendered, when its fortifications were razed, its fleet and its possessions in Thrace were confiscated, and it was condemned to pay an annual, as well as an immediate, tribute. § 5. The expedition to Thasos was attended with a circum- stance which first gives token of the coming hostilities between Sparta and Athens. At an early period of the blockade the Thasians secretly applied to the Lacedaemonians to make a diver- sion in their favour by invading Attica ; and though the Lace- daemonians were still ostensibly allied with Athens, they were base enough to comply with this request. But their treachery was prevented by a terrible calamity which befel themselves. In the year (B.C. 464, their capital was visited by an earthquake which laid it uf ruins and killed 20,000 o f the citizens, besides a large body of their chosen youth, who were engaged in a build- ing in their gymnastic exercises. But this was only part of the calamity. The earthquake was immediately followed by a revolt 254 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIII. ot the Helots, who were always ready to avail themselves of the weakness of their tyrants. Some of that oppressed people had been dragged from the sanctuary of Poseidon at T aenarns, probably in connexion with the affair of Pausanias, related in the preced- ing chapter ; and now the whole race, and even the Lacedaemo- nians themselves, believed that the earthquake was caused by the anger of that " earth-shaking " deity. Encouraged by this signal of the divine favour, and being joined by some of the Perioeci, the Helots rushed to arms, and marched straight upon Sparta. In this attempt to seize the capital they were repuLsed ; never- theless they were still able to keep the field ; and being joined by the Messenians, fortified themselves in Mount Ith om6 in Messenia. Hence this revolt is sometimes called the third" Mes- senian war. After two or three years spent in a vain attempt to dislodge them from this position, the Lacedaemonians found themselves obhged to call in the assistance of their allies, and among the rest of the Athenians. § 6. That Sparta should thus have condescended to solicit the assistance of her rival to quell a domestic feud, shows that she must have fallen greatly from her former power and station. During the period, indeed, in which we have traced the rise of Athens, Sparta had been proportionably declining. Of the causes of this decline we can only mention some of the more prominent. Foremost among them was the misconduct of her leaders. The misconduct of Pausanias, by which the maritime supremacy was transferred to Athens, has been already related. His infamy found a counterpart in the infamy of Leoty chi des, a nother of her kings, and the conqueror of Mycale ; who, being employed in arranging the affairs of Thessaly after its evacuation by the Persians, was convicted of taking bribes from the Persian king. The Lacedaemo- nians committed, moreover, a great political blunder in the set- tlement of Bceotia, whose affairs had been so thoroughly shaken by the Persian invasion. Thebes, convicted of Medism, was, with the concurrence of Sparta, degraded from her former rank and influence ; whilst Plataea and Thespiae, which stood opposed to the capital, were strengthened, and the latter repeopled. Thus the influence of Athens in Bceotia was promoted, in proportion as Thebes, her ancient enemy, was weakened and degraded. The affairs of the Peloponnesus itself had been unfavourable to the Spartans. They had been engaged in a harassing war with the Arcadians, and were also cramped and menaced by the growing power of Ehs. And now all these causes of weakness were aggra- vated by the earthquake, and consequent revolt of the Helots. § 7. It was with great difficulty that Cimon persuaded his countrymen to assist the Lacedaemonians in quelling this revolt £.0.464. REVOLT OF THE MESSENIA.NS. 255 His power was now somewhat waning before the rising influence of Pericles. Notwithstanding what he had accomplished at Thasos, it is even said that more had been expected by the Athe- nians, and that Pericles actually accused him, though without suc- cess, of having been diverted from the conquest of Macedonia, by the bribes of Alexander, the king of that country. Cimon, however, at length succeeded in persuading the Athenians to despatch him with a force of 4000 hoplites, to the assistance of the Lacedae- monians; but the ill-success of this expedition still further strengthened the hands of his political opponents. The aid of the Athenians had been requested by the Lacedae- monians on account of their acknowledged superiority in the art of attacking fortified places. As, however, Cimon did not succeed in dislodging the Helots from Ithome, the Lacedaemonians, pro- bably from a consciousness of their own treachery in the affair of Thasos, began to suspect that the Athenians were playing them false. The conduct of the latter does not seem to have afforded the least ground for this suspicion, and Cimon,' their general, was notoriously attached to Sparta. Yet the Lacedae- monians, fearing that the Athenians intended to join the Helots, abruptly dismissed them, stating that they had no longer any occasion for their services ; although the other allies were re- tained, and the siege of Ithome still proceeded. § 8. This rude dismissal gave great offence at Athens, and annihilated for a time the political influence of Cimon. The de- mocratical party had from the first opposed the expedition ; and it afforded them a great triumph to be able to point to Cimon re- turning not only unsuccessful but insulted. That party was now led by Pericles. A sort of hereditary feud existed between Pe- ricles and Cimon ; for it was Xanthipp ua, the father of Pericles, who had impeached Miltiades, the father of Cimon. The cha- racter of Pericles was "almost the reverse of Cimon's. Although the leader of the popular party, his manners were reserved. He was of high family, being descended on his mother's side from the princes cf Sicyon. and the Alcinceonidao, whilst, on his father's, he was connected with the family of Pisistratus, to which tyrant he is said to have borne a striking personal resem- blance. He appeared but little in society or in public, reserving himself for great occasions ; a conduct which, when he did come forward, enhanced the effect of his dignified bearing and impres- sive eloquence. His mihtary talents were but slender, and in fact in this department he was frequently unsuccessful. But his mind had received the highest polish which that period was capable of giving. He constantly conversed with Anaxagoras, Protagoras, Zeno, and other eminent philosophers.~~~To oratory 256 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIII. in particular he had devoted much atteution, as an indispensable instrument for swaying the public assemblies of Athens ; and he is said to have been the first who committed his speeches to writing. He was not much distinguished for private liberality ; but he made amends for the popularity which he lost in this way by his lavish distribution of the public money. Such was the man who for a considerable period was to administer the affairs of Athens. § 9. Pericles seized the occasion presented by the ill-success of Cimon, both to ruin that leader and to strike a fatal blow at the aristocratical party. The latter object he sought to accomplish by various changes in the Athenian constitution, and particu- larly by an attack upon the Areopagus. That venerable and time-honoured assembly contained the very pith and marrow of Athenian aristocracy. Besides its high judicial functions, it exercised a kind of general censorship over the citizens. By the nature of its constitution it was composed of men of advanced years, and of high position in the state. The measure of Aris- tides, already mentioned, opened it, at least ostensibly, even to the lowest class of citizens ; but this innovation, which was perhaps only designed to stave off those more serious changes which the rapid progress of democratical opinion seemed to threaten, was probably but of little practical effect. So long as magistracies continued to be elective, there can be little doubt that the rich would carry them, to the exclusion of the poor. A fatal blow to aristocratical power was, however, struck about this time by rendering the election to magistracies dependent upon lot ; though it is uncertain whether this measure was ori- ginated by Pericles. We are also ignorant of the precise nature of the changes which he introduced into the constitution and functions of the Areopagus, though, with regard to their result, it is certain that they left that august body the mere shadow of its former influence and power. Other changes which accom- panied this revolution — for such it must be called — were, the institution of paid JJcus ta-ies or jury-courts, and the almost entire abrogation of thejudicial power of the Senate of Five Hundred. As the seal and symbol of these momentous innova- tions, Eph ialtes. the friend of Pericles, caused the tablets con- tain ing~fhelaws of Solon to be brought down from the Acropolis and deposited in the market-place, as if to signify that the guar- dianship of the laws had been transferred to the people. § 10. It cannot be supposed that such fundamental changes were effected without violent party strife. Even the theatre became a vehicle to express the passions and the principles of the agora. In the drama of the Eumenides, ^Eschylus in vain B.C. 458. ADMINISTRATION OF PERICLES. 257 exerted all the powers of his genius in support of the aristocra- tical party and of the tottering Areopagus ; his exertions on this occasion resulted only in his own flight from Athens. The same fate attended Cimon himself. In the heat of political con- tention, recourse was had to ostracism, the safety-valve of the Athenian constitution, and Cimon was condemned to a ten years' banishment. Nay, party violence even went the length of assassination Ephialtes, who had taken the lead in the attacks upon the Areopagus, and whom Pericles, in conformity with his policy and character, seems to have put forward throughout as the more active and ostensible agent, fell beneath the dagger of a Bceotian, hired by the conservative party to despatch him. This event took place after the banishment of Cimon, who was guiltless of all participation in so foul a deed. § 11. It was from this period that the long administration of Pericles may be properly said to have commenced. The effects of his accession to power soon became visible in the foreign rela- tions of Athens. Pericles had succeeded to the political prin- ciples of Themistocles, and his aim was to render Athens the leading power of Greece. The Confederacy of Delos had already secured her maritime ascendency ; Pericles directed his policy to the extension of her influence in continental Greece. The insult offered by Sparta to Athens in dismissing her troops had highly inflamed the Athenians against that power, whose sup- porters at Athens were designated with the contemptuous name of Laco nizers. Pericles and the democratic party improved the conjuncture "not only by persuading the people to renounce the Spartan alliance, but to join her bitterest enemies. Argos, the ancient rival of Sparta, claimed the headship of Greece rather from the recollections of her former mythical renown than from her present material power. But she had availed herself of the embarrassment which the revolt of the Helots occasioned to Sparta, to reduce to subjection Mycena), Tiryns, and some other neighbouring towns. ^"With Argos thus strengthened Athens now formed a defensive alliance against Sparta, which theJThes- sahans were also induced to join. Soon afterwards Athens still farther extended her influence in continental Greece by an alliance with Megara. This step, which gave signal offence both at Sparta and Corinth, greatly increased the power of the Athe- nians, not only by opening to them a communication with the Crissoean gulf, but also by giving them the key to the passes oi Mount Geraueia, and thus enabling them to arrest the progress of an invading army from Peloponnesus. In order to strengthen Megara the Athenians adopted a contrivance which they after- wards applied to their own city. Megara was seated on a hiU, Gr. h 258 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XX111. at the distance of nearly a mile from its port, Nisa;a. -To prevent the communication between the port and city From being cut off, the Athenians caused them to be connected together by two parallel lines of wall, and placed a permanent garrison of their own in the place. § 12. Whilst these things were passing in Greece, the Athenians were still actively engaged in prosecuting the war against Persia. The confederate fleet was hovering about the coasts of Cyprus and Phoenicia ; and the revolt of Inarus (n.c. 4(H)) gave lliem an opportunity to carry the war into Egypt. Inaros, a Libyan prince, and son of Psammetichus, was bent on expelling the Per- sians from Egypt and obtaining the sovereignty of that country ; and with this view he solicited the assistance of the Greeks. The Athenian fleet at Cyprus, amounting t o 200 trir emes, accord- ingly sailed to the Nile, and proceeded up that river as far as Memphis. From this city they succeeded in expelling the Per- sians, who, however, maintained themselves in a kind of citadel or fortification called " the White Fortress." The siege of this fortress had already lasted four or five years, when Artaxerxes sent a large army, together with a Phoenician fleet, into Egypt, under the command of Megaby zus, who compelled the Athenians to raise the siege and "to retire to an island in the Nile, called Prosopitis, as tho Persians had prevented their further retreat by obstructing the lower part of the river. Here the Athenians offered a long and heroic resistance, till at length Megabyzus, having diverted one of the channels which formed the island, was enabled to attack them by land. The Athenians, who had previously burnt their ships, were now obliged to capitulate. The barbarians did not, however, observe the terms of the capi- tulation, but perfidiously massacred the Athenians, with the exception of a small body, who succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy, and escaping to Cyrene, and thence to Greece. Inaros himself was taken and crucified. As an aggra- vation of the calamity, a reinforcement of 50 Athenian vessels, whose crews were ignorant of the defeat of their countrymen, fell into the power of the enemy and were almost entirely de- stroyed. Thus one of the finest armaments ever sent forth from Athens was all but annihilated, and the Persians regained pos- session of the greater part of Egypt (B.C. 455). § 13. It may well excite our astonishment that while Athena was employing so largo an armament against the Persians, she was still able to maintain and extend her power in Greece by force of arms. Corinth, Epidaurus, and /Egina, wero watching her progress with jealousy and awe. At "the time of the Mega- rian alliance no actual blow had yet been s*mck ; but that B.C. 457. LONG WALLS OF ATHENS. 259 important accession to the Athenian power was speedily followed by open war. The iEginetans, in conjunction with the Co- rinthians, Epidaurians, and other Peloponnesians, fitted out a large fleet. A battle ensued near the island of iEgina, in which the Athenians gained a decisive victory, and entirely ruined the naval power of the iEginetans. The Athenians captured seventy of their ships, and, landing a large force upon the island, laid siege to the capital. The growth of the Athenian power was greatly promoted by the continuance of the revolt of the Helots, which was not put down till the year B.C. 455. This circumstance prevented the Lacedaemonians from opposing the Athenians as they would otherwise probably have done. All the assistance afforded by the allies to the ^Eginetans consisted of a miserable detachment of 300 men ; but the Corinthians attempted to divert the Athe- nians Tiy "making an attack upon Megara. Hereupon Myronides marched from Athens at the head of the boys and old men, and gave battle to the enemy near Megara. The affair was not very decisive, but the Corinthians retired, leaving their adversaries masters of the field. On their return home, however, the taunts which they encountered at having been defeated by so unwarlike a force incited them to try their fortune once more. The Athe- nians again marched out to the attack, and this time gained a decisive victory, rendered still more disastrous to the Corinthians by a lai'ge body of their troops having marched by mistake into an enclosed place, where they were cut up to a man by the Athenians. § 14. It was about this time (b.c. 458 — 457) that the Athe- nians, chiefly through the advice of Pericles, began to construct the long walls which connected the Piraeus and Phalerum with Athens. They were doubtless suggested by the apprehension that the Lacedaemonians, though now engaged with domestic broils, would sooner or later take part in the confederacy which had been organized against Athens. This gigantic undertaking was in conformity with the policy of Themistocles for rendering the maritime power of Athens wholly unassailable ; but even the magnificent ideas of that statesman might perhaps have deemed the work chimerical and extravagant. The wall from Phalerurn was 35 stadia, or about 4 miles long, and that from Piraeus 40 stadia, or about 4^ miles in length. The plan of these walls was probably taken from those already erected at Megara, which had been recently tried, and perhaps found to be of good service in the war which had taken place there. The measure was vio- lently opposed by the aristocratic party, but without success. § 15. The progress of Athens had now awakened the serious jealousy of Sparta, and though she was still engaged in the siege 8 2 260 HISTORY OF GRKECE. Ciiai . XXIII. of Ithornl*, she resolved on taking some steps against the Athe- nians. Under pretence of assisting the Dorian s, whose territory had been invaded by the Phocians, 150tTSpartan hoplites, sup- ported by 10,000 allies, WUrti Ue^pal'ehed into Doris. The mere approach of so large a force speedily effected the ostensible object of the expedition, and compelled the Phocians to retire. The Lacedaemonians now proceeded to effect their real design, which was to prevent the Athenians from gaining such an ascend- ency in Bceotia as they had gained in other places. In conse- quence of the part she had played during the Persian wars, Thebes had lost much of her former influence and power ; and the conduct of Sparta herself in the subsequent settlement of Greece, had, as before related, been conducive to the same result. The Lacedaemonians seem to have now become sensible of the mistake which they had committed ; and though their general policy was adverse to the confederation of cities, yet they were now induced to adopt a different course, and to restore the power of Thebes by way of counterpoise to that of Athens. With this view the Lacedaemonian troops were marched into Bceotia, where they were employed in restoring the fortifications of Thebes, and in reducing the Boeotian cities to her obedience. The designs of Sparta were assisted by the traitorous co-operation of some of the oligarchical party at Athens. That faction, finding itself foiled in its attempt to arrest the progress of the long walls, not only invited the Lacedaemonians to assist them in this attempt, but also to overthrow the democracy itself. The Lacedaemonians listened to these proposals, and their army took up a position at Tanagra, on the very borders of Attica. The Athenians, suspect- ing that some treason was in progress, now considered it high time to strike a blow. With such of their troops as were not engaged at /Egina, together with a thousand Argeians, and some Thessalonian horse, they marched out to oppose the Lacedae- monians at Tanagra. Here a bloody battle ensued /6xT45?}j> in which the Lacedaemonians gained the advantage, chiefly through the treacherous desertion of the Thessalians in the very heat of the engagement. The victory was not sufficiently de- cisive to enable the Lacedaemonians to invade Attica; but it served to secure them an unmolested retreat, after partially ravaging the Megarid, through the passes of the Geraneia. § 16. Previously to the engagement, the ostracised Cimon, who was grievously suspected of being implicated in the treach- erous correspondence of some of his party with the Lacedaemo- nians, presented himself before the Athenian army as soon as it had crossed the border, and earnestly entreated permission to piece himself in the ranks of the hojilites. His request being B.C. 456. BATTLE OF (ENOPHYTA. 261 refused, he left his armour with some friends, conjuring them to wipe out, by their conduct in the field, the imputation under which they laboured. Stung by the unjust suspicions of their countrymen, and incited by the exhortations of their beloved and banished leader, a large band of his most devoted followers, setting up his armour in their ranks, fought side by side with desperate valour, as if he still animated them by his presence. A hundred of them fell in the engagement, and proved by their conduct that, with regard at least to the majority of Cimon's party, they were unjustly suspected of collusion with the enemy. Cimon's request had also stimulated Pericles to deeds of extra- ordinary valour ; and thus both parties seemed to be bidding for public favour on the field of battle as they formerly had done in the bloodless contentions of the Athenian assembly. A happy result of this generous emulation was that it produced a great change in public feeling. Cimon's ostracism was revoked, and the decree for that purpose was proposed by Pericles nim^lf. § 17. The healing of domestic faction gave a new impulse to public spirit at Athens. At the beginning of the year EC. 456, and only about two months after their defeat at Tanagra, the Athenians again marched into Bceotia. The Bceotiaus went out to meet them with a numerous army ; but in the battle of CEno- phyta, j rhich ensued, the Athenians under Myronides gained" a brilliant and decisive victory, by which Thebes itself, and conse- quently the other Boeotian towns, fell into their power. The Athenians now proceeded to reverse all the arrangements which had been made by the Lacedaemonians, banished all the leaders who were favourable to Spartan ascendency and established a democratical form of government. To these acquisitions Phocis and Locris were soon afterwards added. From the gulf of Corinth to the straits of Thermopylae Athenian influence was now predominant. In the year after the battle of (Enophyta (b.c. 455), the Athenians finished the build- ing of the long walls and completed the reduction of iEgina, which became a subject and tributary ally. Their expedition into Egypt, and its unfortunate catastrophe in this year, has been already related. But notwithstanding their efforts and reverses in that quarter, they were strong enough at sea to scour the coasts of Greece, of which they gave a convincing proof. An Athenian fleet, under the command of Tolmides, sailed round Peloponnesus, and insulted the Lacedaemonians by burning their ports of Methone and Gythium. Naupactus, a town of the Ozo- lian Locrians near the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, was cap- tured ; and in the latter place Tolmides established the Helots and Messenians, who in the course of this year had been subdued 262 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciiai XXIIL by the Lacedaemonians, and compelled to evacuate Ithome'. During the course of the same expedition the islands of Za- cynthus and Cephallenia were gained over to the Athenian alliance, and probably also some towns on the coast of Achaia. § 18. After the battle of Tanagra the Lacedaemonians made no attempts to oppose the progress of the Athenians, and quietly beheld the occupation of Bceotia and Phocis. Even after the bin-render of Ithome they still remained inactive ; and three years after that event (iJTj. 452),Jeoncludcd a five years' truce with the Athenians. This truce was effected through the medi- ation of Cimon, who was anxious that no dread of hostilities at home should divert liim from resuming operations against the Persians ; nor perhaps was Pericles unwilling that so formidable a rival should be absent on foreign service. Cimon sailed to Cyprus with a fleet of 200 trrrerues belonging to the confede- racy ; whence he despatched 60 vessels to Egypt, to assist the rebel prince Amyrtscus, who still held out against the Persians among the marshes of the Delta. But this expedition proved fatal to the great Athenian commander. With the remainder of the fleet, Cimon undertook the siege of Citium in Cyprus ; but died during the progress of it, either from disease or from the effects of a wound. The command now devolved on Anaxi- crates ; who, being straitened by a want of provisions, raised the siege of Citium, and sailed for Salamis, a town in the same island, in order to engage the Phoenician and Cilician fleet. Here he gained a complete victory both on sea and land, but was deterred, either by pestilence or famine, from the further prosecution of the war ; and having been rejoined by the sixty ships from Egypt, sailed home to Athens. § 19. After these events a pacification was concluded with Persia, which has sometimes, but erroneously, been called " the peace of Cimon." It is stated that by this compact the Persian monarch agreed not to tax or molest the Greek colonies on the coast of Asia Minor, nor to send any vessels of war westwards of Phaselis in Lycia, or within the Cyanean rocks at the junction of the Euxine with the Thracian Bosporus ; the Athenians on their side undertaking to leave the Persians in undisturbed pos- session of Cyprus and Egypt. Even if no treaty was actually concluded, the existence of such a state of relations between Greece and Persia at this time must be recognized as an histo- rical fact, and the war between them considered as now brought to a conclusion. § 20. During the progress of these eventsthe states which formed the Confederacy of Delos, with the exception of Chios, Lesbos, and Samoa, had gradually become, instead of the active allies of B.C. 447. DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN POWER. 2G3 Athens, her disarmed and passive tributaries. Even the custody of the fund had been transferred from Delos to Athens, but we are unable to specify the precise time at which this change took place. This transfer marked the subjection of the confederates as complete yet it is said to have been made with the con- currence of the Samians ; and it is probable that Delos would have been an unsafe place for the deposit of so large a treasure. The purpose for which the confederacy had been originally orga- nized disappeared with the Persian peace ; yet what may now be called Imperial Athens continued, for her own ends, to exercise her prerogatives as head of the league. Her alliances, as we have seen, had hkewise been extended in continental Greece, where they embraced Megara, Boeotia, Phocis, Locris ; together with Trcozen and Achaia in Peloponnesus. Of these allies some were merely bound "to military service and a conformity of foreing policy, whilst others were dependent tributaries. Of the former kind were the states just mentioned, together with Chios, Lesbos, and Samos ; whilst in the latter were comprehended all the remaining members of the Confederacy of Delos, as well as the recently conquered iEgina. Such was the position of Athens in the veai r44{nrc^t he period of her greatest power and pros- perity. From this time her empire began to decline ; whilst Sparta, and other watchful and jealous enemies, stood ever ready to strike a blow. § 21. In the following year (b.c. 447) a revolution in Boeotia deprived Athens of her ascendency in that country. This, as ■we have seen, "was altogether political, being founded in the de- mocracies which she had estabhshed in the Boeotian towns after the battle of OSnophyta. These measures had not been effected without producing a numerous and powerful class of discon- tented exiles, who, being joined by other malcontents from Phocis, Locris, and other places, succeeded in seizing Orcho- menus, Chseronea, and a few more unimportant towns of Boeotia. With an overweening contempt of their enemies, a small band of 1000 At henian hoplites, chiefly composed of youthful volunteers belonging to the best Athenian families, together with a few auxiliaries, marched under the command of Tolmides to put down the revolt, in direct opposition to the advice of Pericles, who adjured them to wait and collect a more numerous force. The enterprise proved disastrous in the extreme. Tolmides suc- ceeded, indeed, in retaking Chseronea and garrisoning it with an Athenian force ; but whilst his small army was retiring from the place, it was surprised by the enemy and totally defeated. Tol- mides himself fell in the engagement, together with many of the hoplitesj whilst a still larger number were taken prisoners. This 264 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chat. XXIII last circumstance proved fatal to the interests of Athens in Bceotia. In order to recover these prisoners, she agreed to eva- cuate Bceotia, to restore the exiles, and to permit the :e-esta- hlishment of the aristocracies winch she had formerly overthrown. Thus all Bceotia, with the exception of Plataa, ouce more stood opposed, and indeed doubly hostile, to Athens. But the Athenian reverses did not end here. The ex- pulsion of the partisans of Athens from the government of Phocis and Locris, and the revolt of Eubcca and Megara, were announced in quick succession ; whilst to crown all, the Spartans, who were now set free to act by the termination of the five years' truce, were preparing to invade Attica itself. The youthful Pleistoanax, king of Sparta, actually penetrated, with an army of Lacedaemonians and Peloponnesian allies, as far as the neigh- bourhood of Eleusis ; and the capital itself, it is said, was saved only by Pericles having bribed the Spartan monarch, as well as Cleandrides, his adjutant and counsellor, to evacuate the country. The story was at least believed at Sparta ; for both Pleistoanax and Cleandrides were found guilty of corruption and sent into banishment. § 22. Pericles had been recalled by the Spartan invasion from an expedition which he had undertaken for the reconqucst of Eu- bcca, and which he resumed as soon as the Spartans had departed from Attica. With an overwhelming force of f<0 triremes and . r ii H H i hoplites he soon succeeded in reducing the island to obe- dience, in some parts of which the landowners were expelled and their properties given to Athenian cleruchs or colonists. But tins was the only possession which Athens succeeded in recover- ing. Her empire on land had vanished more speedily than it had been acquired ; whilst in the distance loomed the danger ol an extensive and formidable confederacy against her, realized some years afterwards by the Peloponnesian war, and not unde- servedly provoked by her aggressive schemes of conquest and empire. Thus both her present position and her future prospects were well calculated to fill the Athenians, and their leader Peri- cles, with apprehension and alarm ; and under these feelings of despondency they were induced to conclude, at the beginning of the year k.c. 445, a thirty years' truce with Sparta and her allies, by which they consented to abandon all the acquisitions which they had made in Peloponnesus, and to leave Megara to be [Deluded among the Peloponnesian allies of Sparta. x\ The Acropolis restored. CHAPTER XXIV. FROM THE THIRTY YEARS TRUCE TO THE WAR BETWEEN CORINTH AND CORCYRA. § 1. State of parties at Athens. Thucydides. §2. Opposite political views. § 3. Ostracism of Thucydides. Administration of Pericles. He adorns Athens. His foreign policy. § 4. Athenian colonization. Cleruchia?. Thurii and Amphipolis. § 5. Nature of the Athenian maritime empire. Amount of tribute. Oppressions. § 6. Revolt of Samos. Reduction of the island by Pericles. § 1. The aristocratical party at Athens had been nearly anni- hilated by the measures of Pericles recorded in the preceding chapter. In order to make a final effort against the policy of that statesman, the remnant of this party had united them- selves under Thucydides, the son of Melesias. Thucydides — who must not be confounded with his namesake, the great historian — was a relative of Cimon's, to whose political prin- ciples he succeeded. In ability and character he differed considerably from Cimon. He was not much distinguished as a military man ; but as a statesman and orator he might even bear some comparison with his great opponent Pericles. Thucydides, however, had not the advantage of being on the popular side ; and his manner of leading the opposition soon proved the ruin both of himself and of his party. The high character and great services of Aristides and Cimon, the con- ciliatory manners of both, and especially the affable and generous 266 ItlSTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIV. temper of Cirnon, had, in spite of their unpopular views, se- cured them considerable influence. Thucydides, on the con- trary, does not appear to have been distinguished by any of these qualities ; and though the steps which he took to give his party a stronger organization in the assembly at first enabled him to make head against Pericles, yet they ultimately proved the cause of his overthrow. Not only were his adherents urged to a more regular attendance in the assembly, but they were also instructed to take up a separate and distinct position on the benches ; and thus, instead of being mixed as before with the general mass of citizens, they became a regularly organized party. This arrangement seemed at first to lend them strength. Their applause or dissent, being more concentrated, produced a greater effect. At any sudden turn in a debate they were in a better position to concert their measures, and could more readily put forwards their best speakers according to emergencies. But these advantages were counterbalanced by still greater draw- backs. A little knot of men, who from a particular corner of the ecclesia were constantly opposing the most popular mea- sures, naturally incurred a great share of odium and suspicion ; but what was still worse, the paucity of their numbers — and from their position they could easily be counted — was soon re- marked ; and they then began to fall into contempt, and were designated as The F ew. § 2. The points~of dispute between the two parties were much the same as they had been in the time of Cimon. Thucydides and his followers were for maintaining amicable relations with the rest of Greece, and were opposed to the more popular notion of extending the Athenian dominion even at the risk of incurring the hostility of the other Grecian states. They were of opinion that all their efforts should be directed against the common enemy, the Persians ; and that the advantages which Athens derived from the Confederacy of Delos should be strictly and honestly applied to the purposes for which that confederacy had been formed. With regard to this subject the administra- tion of Pericles had produced a fresh point of contention. The vast amount of treasure accumulated at Athens from the tribute paid by the allies was more than sufficient for any apprehended necessities of defence, and Pericles applied the surplus to strengthening and beautifying the city. Thucydides complained that, by this misapplication of the common fund, Athens was dis- graced in the eyes of Greece. Pericles, on the other hand, con- tended that so long as he reserved sufficient to guarantee secu- rity against the Persians, he was perfectly at liberty to apply the surplus to Athenian purposes. This argument is the argument B.C. 445. PERICLES ADORNS ATHENS. 26? of the strongest, and, if valid in this case, might at any time he applied to justify the grossest abuses of power. The best that we can say in favour of the Athenians is that, if they were strong enough to commit this injustice, they were also enlightened enough to apply the proceeds in producing works of art that have excited the wonder and admiration of the world. Other conquerors have often contented themselves with carrying off the works of others — the Athenians had genius enough to pro- duce their own. But we can hardly justify the means by pointing to the result. . § 3. From the opposition of Thucy elides, Pericles was released by ostracism ; though by which party such a step was proposed cannot be determined. Thucydides went into banishment. This event, which probably took place about two years after the conclusion of the Thirty Years' Truce, completely broke up the aristocratical party ; and for the remainder of his life Pericles enjoyed the sole direction of affairs. His views were of the most lofty kind. Athens was to become the capital of Greece, the centre of art and refinement, and at the same time of those democratical theories which formed the heau ideal of the Athe- nian notions of government. In her external appearance the city was to be rendered worthy of the high position to which she aspired by the beauty and splendour of her public buildings, by her works of art in sculpture, architecture, and painting, and by the pomp and magnificence of her religious festivals. All these objects Athens was enabled to attain in an incredibly short space of time, through the genius and energy of her citi- zens and the vast resources at her command. No state has ever exhibited so much intellectual activity and so great a progress in art as was displayed by Athens in the period which elapsed between the Thirty Years' Truce and the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war. But of the literature of this period, as wel 1 as of the great works of art produced in it, an account is given in another place * and it will suffice to mention briefly here the more important structures with which Athens was adorned during the administration of Pericles. On the Acropolis rose the magnificent temple of Athena, called the Parthenon, built from the plans of Ictinus and Callicrates, but under the direction of Phidias, who adorned it with the most beautiful sculptures, and especially with a colossal statue of Athena in ivory, 47 feet in height. At the same time a theatre designed for musical performances, called the Odeunij was erected at the south-eastern foot of the Acropolis. Both these structures appear to have been finished * See below, Chap. XXXIV., XXXV. 2f>8 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIV. by 437 B. c. Somewhat later were erected the Propylaea, or magnificent entrance to the Acropolis, on the western side. Be- sides the.se vast works, others were commenced which were interrupted by the breaking out of the Teloponnesian war, as the reconstruction of the Erectheum, or ancient temple of Athena Polias ; the building of ;i great temple of Dcmeter, at Eleusis, for the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries ; another of Athena at Suuium, and one of Nemesis at Rhamnus. Be- sidelTthese ornamental works, Pericles undertook others of a 7iiore useful kind. In order to render the communication be- tween Athens and Piraeus still more secure, he constructed a third long wall between the two already built, running parallel to, and at a short distance from, the one which united the city to Piraeus. At the same time Piraeus itself was improved and beautified, and a new dock and arsenal constructed, said to have cost 1000 talents. The whole cost of these improvements was estimated at 3000 talents, or nearly 700,000/. In this parT~bT~his plans Pericles may be said to have been entirely successful. The beautiful works which arose under his superintendence established the empire of Athenian taste, not only for his own time but for all succeeding ages. But the other and more substantial part of his projects — the establishment of the material empire of Athens, of which these works were to be but the type and ornament — was founded on a miscalculation of the physical strength and resources of his country ; and after involving Athens, as will be seen in the sequel, in a long series of suffering and misfortune, ended at last in her degrada- tion and ruin. § 4. Colonization, for which the genius and inclination of the Athenians had always been suited, was another and safer method adopted by Pericles for extending the influence and empire of Athens. The settlements made under his auspices were of two kinds, CleruehieSf* and regular colonies. The former mode was i xclusively Athenian. It consisted in the allotment of land in conquered or subject countries to certain bodies of Athenians, who continued to retain all their original rights of citizen- ship. This circumstance, as well as the convenience of entering upon land already in a state of cultivation, instead of having to reclaim it from the rude condition of nature, seems to have ren- dered such a mode of settlement much preferred by the Athenians. The earliest instance which we find of it is in the year B.tJ./506, ) when four thousand Athenians entered upon the domains ofHhe Chalcidian knights. But it was under Pericles that this system B.C. 44o. ATHENIAN COLONIES. 269 was most extensively adopted. During Lis administration 1000 Athenian citizens were settled in the Thracian Chersonese, 500 in Naxos, and 250 in Andros. His expeditions for this purpose even extended into the Euxine. From Sinope, on the shores of that sea, he expelled the despot Timesilaus and his party, whose estates were confiscated, and assigned for the maintenance of 600 Athenian citizens. The islands of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, as well as a large tract in the north of Eubcea, were also completely occupied by Athenian proprietors. The most important colonies settled by Pericles were those of TVnyrii and Ampliipolis. Since the destruction of Sybaris by the Crotoniates, in b. c. 509, the former inhabitants had lived dis- persed in the adjoining territory along the gulf of Tarentum. They had in vain requested Sparta to recolonize them, and now apphed to Pericles, who granted their request. In b. c. 443 he sent out a colony to found Thurii, near the site of the ancient Sybaris. But though established under the auspices of Athens, Thurii can hardly be considered an Athenian colony, since it contained settlers from almost all parts of Greece. Among those who joined this colony were the historian Herodotus and the orator Lysias. The colony of Ampliipolis was founded some years later (b. c. 437), under the conduct of Agnon. But here also the proportion of Athenian settlers was sruall. Amphipohs was in fact only a new name for Ennea Hodoi, to colonize which place the Athenians, as before related, had already made some unsuccessful attempts. They now succeeded in maintain- ing their ground against the Edonians, and Amphipohs became an important Athenian dependency with reference to Thrace and Macedonia. § 5. Such were the schemes of Pericles for promoting the em- pire of Athens. That empire, since the conclusion of the Thirty dears' Truce, had again become exclusively maritime. Yet even among the subjects and allies united with Athens by the Con- federacy of Delos, her sway was borne with growing discontent. One of the chief causes of this dissatisfaction was the amount of the tribute exacted by the Athenians, as well as their misappli- cation of the proceeds. During the administration of Pericles, the rate of contribution was raised upwards of thirty per cent., although the purpose for which the tribute was originally levied had almost entirely ceased. Ln the time of Aristides and Cinion, when an active war was carrying on against the Persians, the sum annually collected amounted to 460 talents. In the time of Pericles, although that war had been brought to a close by what has been called the peace of Cimon, and though the only arma- ment still maintained for tho ostensible purposes of the con- 270 HISTOR? OF GREECE. Chap XXIV. federacy was a fleet of sixty triremes, ■which cruised in the iEgsean, the tribute had nevertheless increased to the annual sum of -600 talents. The importance of this tribute to the Athenians may be estimated from the fact that it formed con- siderably more than half of their whole revenue ; for their in- come from other sources amounted only to 400 talents. It may be said, indeed, that Greece was not even yet wholly secure from another Persian invasion ; and that Athens was therefore justified in continuing to collect the tribute, out of which it must in justice to Pericles be admitted, a large sum had been laid by, amounting, when the Peloponnesian war broke out, to' G000 talents. But that there was no longer much danger to be apprehended from the Persians is shown by subsequent events ; and though it is true that Pericles saved a large sum, yet he had spent much in decorating Athens ; and the surplus was ultimately applied, not for the purposes of the league, but in defending Athens from enemies which her aggressive policy had provoked. But the tribute was not the only grievance of which the allies had to complain. Of all the members of the Confederacy of Delos, the islands of Chios, Samos, and Lesbos were the only states which now held the footing of independent allies ; that is, they alone were allowed to retain their ships and fortifications, and were only called upon to furnish military and naval aid when required. The other members of the league, some of them indeed with their own consent, had been deprived of their navy and reduced to the condition of tributaries. The deliberative synod for discussing and conducting the affairs of the league had been discontinued, probably from the time when the trea- sury was removed from Delos to Athens ; whilst the Helleno- tamise had been converted into a board consisting solely of Athenians. Notwithstanding, therefore, the seeming independ- ence of the three islands just mentioned, the Athenians were in fact the sole arbiters of the affairs of the league, and the sole administrators of the fund. Another grievance was the trans- ference to Athens of all lawsuits, at least of all public suits ; for on this subject we are unable to draw the line distinctly. In criminal cases, at all events, the allies seem to have been deprived of the power to inflict capital punishment. It can scarcely be doubted that even private suits in which an Athe- nian was concerned were referred to Athens. In some cases, it is true, the allies may have derived benefit from a trial before the Athenian people, as the dicasteries were then constituted ; but on the whole, the practice can only be regarded as a means and a badge of their subjection. Besides all these causes of complaint, the allies had often to endure the oppressions and B.C. 440. KEDUCTION OF SAMOS. 271 exactions of Athenian officers both military and naval, as well as of the rich and powerful Athenian citizens settled among them. Many of these abuses had no doubt arisen before the time of Pericles ; but the excuse for them had at all events ceased to exist with the death of Cimon and the extinction of the Persian war. To expect that the Athenians should have voluntarily relinquished the advantages derived from them might be to de- mand too much of human nature, especially as society was then constituted ; and the Athenians perhaps, on the whole, did not abuse their power to a greater extent than many other nations both in ancient and modern times. With this argument for their exculpation we must rest content ; for it is the only one. They were neither better nor worse than other people. The allurement, it must be confessed, was a splendid one. By means of the league Athens had become the mistress of many scattered cities, formerly her equals ; and the term of despot over them was applied to her not only by her enemies, but adopted in her overweening confidence and pride by herself. § 6. The principal event in the external history of Athens during the period comprised in the present chapter was the subjugation of the island of Samos, the most important of the three islands which still retained their independence. In B. c. 440, the Milesians, who had been defeated by the Samians in a war respecting the possession of Priene, lodged a formal complaint in Athens against the Samians ; and it was seconded by a party in Samos itself, who were adverse to the oligar- chical form of government established there. As the Sa- mians refused to submit to the arbitration of the Athenians, the latter resolved to reduce them to obedience by force ; and for that purpose despatched an armament of forty ships ^to Samos, under the command of Pericles, who established a demo- cratical form of government in the island, and carried away hostages belonging to the first Samian families, whom he de- posited in the isle of Lemnos. But no sooner had Pericles departed than some of the oligarchical party, supported by Pissuthne s, satrap of Sardis, passed over in the night time to Samos, overpowered the small Athenian garrison which had been left by Pericles, and abolished the democracy. They then pro- ceeded to Lemnos, and having regained possession of the hos- tages, proclaimed an open revolt against Athens, in which they were oined by Byzantium. When these tidings reached Athens a fleet of sixty triremes immediately sailed for Samos. Pericles was again one of the ten strategy or generals in command of the expedition, and among his 272 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chat. X5IV. colleagues was cophocles, the tragic poet. After several engage- ments between the hostile fleets, the Samians were obliged to abandon the sea and take refuge in their city, which, after en- during a siege cf nine months, was forced to capitulate. The Samians were compelled to raze their fortifications, to surrender their fleet, to give hostages for their future conduct, and to pay the expenses of the war, amounting to 1000 talents. The Byzantines submitted at the same time. During these operations, it was a point disputed among the states opposed to Athens whether the Samians should be assisted in their revolt ; a question decided in the negative, chiefly through the influenco of the Corinthians, who maintained the right of every confe- deracy to punish its refractory members. The triumphs and the power of Athens were no doubt regarded with fear and jealousy by her rivals ; but the conquest of Samos was not followed by any open manifestation of hos- tility. A general impression however prevailed that sooner or later a war must ensue ; but men looked forwards to it with fear and trembling from a conviction of the internecine character which it must necessarily assume. It was a hollow peace, which the most trifling events might disturb. The train was already laid ; and an apparently unimportant event, which occurred in B. c. 435 in a remote corner of Greece, kindled the spark which was to produce the conflagration. This was the quarrel between Corinth and Corcyra, which will be Jetailed in the following chapter. Bust of the poet Sopbuclea, The Propylrea of Ibe Acropolis. CHAPTER XXV. CAUSES OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. § 1. Quarrel between Corinth and Corcyra. § 2. Corcyraean embassy to Athens. Decision of the Athenians. § 3. They send a fleet to Corcyra. Naval engagements. Defeat of the Corinthians. § 4. Revolt of Potidaea. § 5. Congress of the Peloponnesian allies at Sparta. The Spartans decide for war. § 6. Second congress. The allies resolve upon war. § 7. The Lacedaemonians require the Athenians to expel Pericles. § 8. Attacks upon Pericles, Aspasia, and Anaxagoras. Imprisonment and death of Phidias. § 9. Further requisitions of the Lacedaemonians. Rejected by the Athenians. § 10. The Thebans suiprise Plataea. § 11. The Athe- nians prepare for war. Portents. § 12. Forces of the Lacedaemonians and Athenians. § 13. The Peloponnesian army assembles at the isthmus cf Corinth. § 1. On the coast of Illyria, near the site of the modern Du- razzo, the Corcyraans had founded the city of Epidamnus. Corcyra (now Corfu) was itself a colony of Corinth ; and, though long at enmity with its mother country, was forced, according to the time-hallowed custom of the Greeks in such matters, to select the founder or cecist of Epidamnus from the Corinthians. Accordingly Corinth became the metropolis of Epidamnus also. At the time of which we speak, the Epidamnians were hard pressed by the Illyrians, led by some oligarchical exiles of their own city, whom they had expelled in consequence of a domestic sedition. In their distress they applied to Corcyra for assist- Gr. t 274 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXV. ance ; which the Corcyraeans, being principally connected with the Epidamnian oligarchy, refused. The Epidamnians, after con- sulting the oracle of Delphi, then sought help from the Corin- thians, who undertook to assist them, and organized an expedi- tion for that purpose, consisting partly of new settlers, and pai*tly of a military force. The Corcyrreans highly resented this interference, proceeded to restore the Epidamnian oligarchs, and with a fleet of 40 ships blockaded the town and its new Corinthian garrison. Hereupon the Corinthians fitted out a still stronger expedition, for which they collected both ships and money from their allies. The Corcyraeans, having made a fruitless attempt to persuade the Corinthians to refer the matter to arbitration, prepared to meet the blow. Their fleet, the best in Greece after that of Athens, completely defeated the Corinthians off Cape Actium ; and on the same day Epidamnus surrendered to their blockading squadron (B.C. 435)?V § 2. Deeply humbled by this aefeat, the Corinthians spent the two following years in active preparations for retrieving it. They got ready 90 well-manned ships of their own ; and by active exertions among their allies, they were in a condition, in the third year after their disgrace, to put to sea with a fleet of 150 sail. The Corcyroeans, who had not enrolled themselves either in the Lacedaemonian or Athenian alliance, and therefore stood alone, were greatly alarmed at these preparations. They now resolved to remedy this deficiency ; and as Corinth belonged to the Lacedaemonian alliance, the Corcyraeans had no option, and were obliged to apply to Athens. Ambassadors were accord- ingly despatched to that city, who, being introduced into the assembly, endeavoured to set in a .striking light the great acces- sion of naval power which the Athenians would derive from an alliance with the Corcyraeans. The Corinthians, who had also sent an embassy to Athens, replied to the arguments of the Corcyraean envoys, appealing to the terms of the Thirty Years' Truce, and reminding the Athenians that it was through the representations of the Corinthians that the Peloponnesian allies had not assisted the Samians in their late revolt. The opinions of the Athenian assembly were much divided on the subject ; but the views of Pericles and other speakers at length pre- vailed. They urged that whatever course might now be taken, war could not ultimately be avoided ; and that therefore the more prudent course was to avail themselves of the increase of strength offered by the Corcyraean alliance, rather than to be at last driven to undertake the war at a comparative disadvantage. To avoid, however, an open infringement of the Thirty Years Truce, a middle courso was adopted. It was resolved to con- B.C. 433. COIUNTH AND CORCYEA. 275 elude only a defensive alliance "with Corcyra ; that is, to defend the Corcyrseans in case their territories were actually invaded by the Corinthians, but beyond that not to lend them any active assistance. § 3. By entering upon this merely defensive alliance the Athe- nians also hoped to stand aloof and see the Corinthian and Cor- cyrseau fleets mutually destroy one another ; and it was probably in accordance with this policy that only a small squadron of ten triremes, under the command of Lacedsemonius the son of Cimon, was despatched to the assistance of the Corcyrseans. The Corinthian fleet of_150_aaol took up its station at Cape Chei- merium on the coast of Epirus ; where the Corinthians established 1 a naval camp, and summoned to their assistance the friendly Epirot tribes. The Corcyrsean fleet of HQ^sail, together with the 10 Athenian ships, were stationed at one of the adjoining islands called Sybota. A battle speedily ensued, which for the number of ships engaged, was the greatest yet fought between fleets entirely Grecian. Neither side, however, had yet adopted the Athenian tactics. They had no conception of that mode of attack in which the ship itself, by the method of handling it, became a more important instrument than the crew by which it was manned. Their only idea of a naval engagement was to lay the ships alongside one another, and to leave the hoplites on deck to decide the combat after the fashion of a land fight. At first Lacedtemonius, in accordance with his instructions, took no part in the battle, though he afforded all the assistance he could to the Corcyrseans by manoeuvring as if he were preparing to engage. After a hard fought day, victory finally declared in favour of the Corinthians. The Athenians now abandoned their neutrality, and did all in their power to save the flying Corcy- reeans from their pursuers. This action took place early in the morning ; and the Corinthians, after returning to the spot where it had been fought in order to pick up their own dead and wounded, prepared to renew the attack in the afternoon, and to effect a landing at Corcyra. The Corcyrseans made the best preparations they could to receive them, and the Athenians, who were now within the strict letter of their instructions, de- termined to give their new allies ah the assistance in their power. The war psean had been sounded, and the Corinthian line was in full advance, when suddenly it tacked and stood away to the coast of Epirus. This unexpected retreat was caused by the appoarance of 20 Athenian vessels in the distance, which the Corinthians believed to bo the advanced guard of a still larger fleet. But though this was not the case, the succour proved sufficient to deter the Corinthians from any further hostilities. t 2 276 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXV Drawing up their ships along the coast of Ejjirus , they 3ent a few men in a small boat to remonstrate with the Athenians for having violated the truce ; and finding from the parley that the Athenians did not mean to undertake offensive operations against them, they sailed homewards with their whole fleet, after erect- ing a trophy at Sybota. On reaching Corinth 80p of their pri- soners were sold as slaves ; but the remaining 250, many of whom belonged to the first families in Corcyra, though detained in custody were treated with peculiar kindness, in the hope that they would eventually establish in that island a party favourable to Corinth. These events took place in the year B.C. 432. § 4. The Corinthians were naturally incensed at the conduct of Athens, and it is not surprising that they should have watched for an opportunity of revenge. This was soon afforded them by the enmity of the Macedonian prince Perd iccas towards the Athenians. Offended with the Athenians for having received into their alliance his two brothers Philip and Derdas, with whom he was at open variance, Perdiccas exerted all his efforts to injure Athens. He incited her tributaries among the Chalcidians and Botticcans to revolt, including Potidtea, a town seated on the isthmus of Pallene. Potidaca, though now a tributary of Athens, was originally a colony of the Corinthians, towards whom it still owed a sort of metropolitan allegiance, and received from them certain annual magistrates called Epidemiurgi. Aware of the hostile feeling entertained at Corinth against the Athenians, Perdiccas not only sent envoys to that city to concert measures for a revolt of Potidaea, but also to Sparta to induce the Pelopon- nesian league to declare war against Athens. The Athenians were not ignorant of these proceedings. They were about to despatch an armament to the Thermaic gulf, de- signed to act against Perdiccas ; and they now directed the com- mander of this armament to require the Potidaeans to level their walls on the side of the town towards the sea, to dismiss their Corinthian magistrates, and to give hostages, as a pledge of their future fidelity. Thereupon the Potidaeans openly raised the standard of revolt, in the summer apparently of B.C. 432. In- stead of immediately blockading Potidaea the Athenian fleet wasted six weeks in the siege of Therma, during which interval the Corinthians were enabled to throw a reinforcement of 2000 troops into Potidaea. Thereupon a second armament was de- spatched from Athens, and joined the former one, which was now engaged in the siege of Pydna on the Macedonian coast. Bat as the town promised to hold out for some time, and as the necessity for attacking Potidaea seemed pressing, an accommo- dation was patched up with Perdiccas, and the whole Athenian B.C. 432. MEETING OF THE PELOPONNESIAN ALLIES. 277 force marched overland against Potidsea. Aristeus, the Corinthian general, was waiting to receive thern near Olynthus, and a battle ensued in which the Athenians were victorious. The Corinthians ultimately succeeded in effecting their retreat to Potidsea ; and the Athenians, after receiving a further reinforcement, com- pletely blockaded the town both by sea and land. § 5. Meanwhile the Lacedajmonians, urged on all sides by the complaints of their allies, summoned a general meeting of the Peloponnesian confederacy at Sparta. Besides the Corinthians other members of it had heavy grievances to allege against Athens. Foremost among these were the Megarians, who com- plained that their commerce had been ruined by a recent decree of the Athenians, which excluded them from every port within the Athenian jurisdiction. The pretexts for this severe measure were that the Megarians had harboured runaway Athenian slaves, and had cultivated pieces of unappropriated and conse- crated laud upon the borders. These reasons seem frivolous ; and the real cause of the decree must no doubt be ascribed to the hatred which the Athenians entertained towards Megara, since her revolt from them fourteen years before. iEgina was another, though not an open, accuser. No deputy from that island actually appeared at the congress ; but the JEginetans loudly complained through the mouths of others, that Athens withheld from them the independence to which they were entitled. • The assembly having been convened, the deputies from the various allied cities addressed it in turn, the Corinthian envoy reserving himself for the last. He depicted in glowing language the ambition, the enterprise, and the perseverance of Athens which he contrasted with the over-cautious and inactive policy of Sparta. Addressing himself to the Spartans, he exclaimed : "The Athenians are naturally innovators, prompt both in de- ciding and in acting : whilst you only think of keeping what you have got, and do even less than what positive necessity re- quires. They are bold beyond their means, venturesome beyond their judgment, sanguine even in desperate reverses ; you do even less than you are able to perform, distrust your own con- clusions, and when in difficulties fall into utter despair. They never hang back ; you never advance ; they love to serve abroad you seem chained at home ; they believe that every new movement will procure them fresh advantage ; you fancy that every new step will endanger what you already possess." And after telling them some more home-truths, he concluded with a threat that if they still delayed to perform their duty towards their confede- rates, the Corinthians would forthwith seek some other alliance. An Athenian ambassador, charged with some other business, 278 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciup. XXV. was then residing at Sparta ; and when the Corinthian envoy had concluded his address, he rose to reply to it. After de- nying the right of Sparta to interfere in a dispute between Corinth and Athens, he entered into a general vindication of tho Athenian policy, lie contended that empire had not been sought by Athens, but thrust upon her, and that she could not abdicate it without endangering her very existence. He alluded to tho eminent services rendered by Athens to all Greece during the Persian war ; maintained that her empire was the natural result of that conjuncture, and denied that it had been exercised with more severity than was necessary, or than would have been used by any other Grecian power, including Sparta herself. He concluded by calling upon the Lacedaemonians to pau.se before taking a step which would be irretrievable, and to compose all present differences by an amicable arbitration ; declaring that, should Sparta begin the war, Athens was prepared to resist her, as he now called those gods to witness who had been invoked to sanctify the truce. After these speeches had been delivered, all strangers, in- cluding the Peloponnesian allies, were ordered to withdraw from the assembly, and the Lacedaemonians then proceeded to de- cide among themselves the question of peace or war. In this debate the Spartan king Archidamus spoke strongly in favour of peace ; but the ephor Sthenelai'das, who presided upon this occa- sion in the assembly, called upon his countrymen in a short and vigorous speech to declare immediate war against Athens. The Spartan assembly was accustomed to vote by acclamation, and, on the question being put, the vote for war decidedly predomi- nated. But in order to remove all doubts upon so important a subject, Sthenelaulas, contrary to the usual practice, ordered the assembly to divide, when a vast majority declared themselves for war. § 6. Before their resolution was publicly announced, the Lace- daemonians, with characteristic caution, sent to consult the oracle of Delphi upon the subject. The god having promised them his aid, and assured them of success, provided they exerted themselves to obtain it, another congress of the allies was sum- moned at Sparta. In this, as in the former one, the Corinthians took the most prominent part in the debate. The majority of the congress decided for war, thus binding the whole Peloponne- sian confederacy to the same policy. This important resolution was adopted towards the close of B.C. 432, or early in the fol- lowing year. § 7. Previously to an open declaration of war, the Lacedaemo- nians sent several requisitions to Athens, intended apparently to B.C. 432. ATTACKS UPON PERICLES. 279 justify the step they were about to take against her, in case she refused to comply with their demands. The first of these requi- sitions seems to have been a political manoeuvre, aimed against Pericles, their most constant and powerful enemy in the Athe- nian assembly. Pericles, as we have said, belonged to the Alc- maeonidse ; a family regarded as having incurred an inexpiable taint through the sacrilege committed nearly two centuries before by their ancestor Megacles, in causing the adherents of Cylon to be slaughtered at the altar of the Eumenides, whither they had fled for refuge.* The Lacedaemonians, in now demand- ing that Athens should be delivered from this " abomination," hardly expected that she would consent to the banishment of her great statesman ; but they at all events gave his opponents in the assembly an opportunity to declaim against him, and to fix upon him the odium of being, in part at least, the cause of the impending war. § 8. For Pericles, despite his influence and power, had still many bitter and active enemies, who not long before had indi- rectly assailed him through his private connections, and even endeavoured to wound his honour by a charge of peculation,. His mistress Aspasia belonged to that class of women whom the Greeks called hetcerce, literally " female companions," or as we should designate them, courtezans. Many of these women were distinguished not only for their beauty, but also for their wit and accomplishments, and in this respect formed a striking con- trast to the generality of Athenian ladies ; who, being destined to a life of privacy and seclusion, did not receive the benefit of much mental culture. Pericles, after divorcing a wife with whom he had lived unhappily, took Aspasia to his house, and dwelt with her till his death on terms of the greatest affection. 'Their intimacy with Anaxagoras, the celebrated Ionic philo- sopher, was made a handle for wounding Pericles in his tenderest relations. Paganism, notwithstanding its licence, was, with sur- prising inconsistency, capable of producing bigots : and even at Athens the man who ventured to dispute the existence of a hundred gods with morals and passions somewhat worse than those of ordinary human nature, did so at the risk of his life. Anaxagoras was indicted for impiety. Aspasia was included in the same charge, and dragged before the dicastery by the comic poet Hermippus. Anaxagoras prudently fled from Athens, and thus probably avoided a fate which in consequence of a similar accusation afterwards overtook Socrates. Pericles himself pleaded the cause of Aspasia. He was indeed indirectly implicated in the indictment ; but he felt no concern except for his beloved * See above, y. 93. 280 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXV. Aspasia, and on this occasion the cold and somewhat haughty statesman, whom the most violent storms of the assembly could not deprive of his self-possession, was for once seen to weep. His appeal to the dicastery was successful, but another trial still awaited him. An indictment was preferred against his friend, the great sculptor Phidias, for embezzlement of the gold in- tended to adorn the celebrated ivory statue of Athena ; and according to some, Pericles himself was included in the charge of peculation. Whether Pericles was ever actually tried on this accusation is uncertain ; but at all events if he was, there can be no doubt that he was honourably acquitted. The gold employed in the statue had been fixed in such a manner that it could be detached and weighed, and Pericles challenged his ac- cusers to the proof. But Phidias did not escape so fortunately. There were other circumstances which rendered him unpopular, and amongst them the fact that he had introduced portraits both of himself and Pericles in the sculptures which adorned the frieze of the Parthenon. Phidias died in prison before the day of trial ; and some even whispered that he had been poisoned by the enemies of Pericles, in order to increase the suspicions which attached to the latter. Another report, equally absurd and un- founded, was that Pericles, in order to avoid the impending accusation, kindled the Peloponnesian war. But although these proceedings proved that Pericles had many bitter enemies mt Athens, still the majority of the Athenians were in hi3 favoqt and were not prepared to sacrifice him on account uf the abl^rd and obsolete charge which the Lacedae- monians now thought fit to bring against him. They retorted that the Spartans themselves had some accounts to settle on the score of sacrilege, and fcauired them to clear themselves from having violated the saiifc^iry of Poseidon at Cape Tamarus by dragging away and slayiiw the Helots who had taken refuge there, as well as from theiVimpiety in starving to death the regent Pausanias in the teinpVof Athena Chalcicecus. § 9. Having failed in this Requisition the Lacedaemonians brought forward others more jwtineut to the matter in hand. They demanded that the Athenians should withdraw their troops from Potidasa, restore the independence of -T'gina, and repeal their decree against the Megariaws. On the last of these demands they laid particular stress, abd intimated that war might be avoided by a compliance with il^LBut this was rejected as well as the others. The LacedsemoniansVhen sent their ulti- matum. They declared that they wished for\>eace, and that it would not be interrupted if the Athenians consented to recognise the independence of the other Grecian states. \ \ ti.V,. 431. THE THEBANS SURPRISE PLAT.EA. 281 This last requisition, so different from, and so much more general than the preceding demands, showed clearly enough that the Lacedsemonians were resolved upon war. The character of this requisition seem.i to indicate that it had been adopted as a sort of manifesto in order to enlist the sympathy of all Greece in favour of the Peloponnesian league, which now pro- fessed to stand forwards as the champion of its liberties. That this was the view taken of it by the Athenian assembly may be inferred from the debate that ensued, in which the principal topic was the Megarian decree, and the possibility of still avoid- ing a war by its repeal. On this point a warm discussion took place. A majority of the assembly seemed still inclined for peace. But Pericles, in a speech of surpassing eloquence and power, again contended that no concessions could ultimately avert a war, and after passing in review the comparative forces of Athens and her opponents, concluded by persuading the Athenians to return for answer that they were ready to give satisfaction re- specting any matter which properly concerned the Thirty Years' Truce, and that they would forbear from commencing hostilities ; but that at the same time they were prepared to repel force by force. This answer was accordingly adopted, though not without much reluctance, and communicated to the Spartan envoys. § 10. Before any actual declaration of war, and whilst both parties stood in suspense, hostilities were begun in the spring of B.C. 431 by a treacherous attack of the Thebaic upon Platasa. Though Boeotians by descent, the Platseans dm not belong to the Boeotian league ; but, as we have seen, hay long been in alli- ance with the Athenians, and enjoyed in sora degree a commu- nion of their civil rights. Hence they wera^regarded with hatred and jealousy by the Thebans, which sentiments were also shared by a small oligarchical faction in PJpfca itself. The state of affairs in Greece seemed favourable^or striking a secret and unexpected blow. Nauclides, the h^l of the oligarchical faction at Piataja, entered into a correspomlence with the Thebans, and it was agreed to surprise the to\^at a time when the citizens were off their guard. Duringyf religious festival and in a rainy night, a body of more thanajoO Thebans presented themselves before one of the gates of rfataea, and were admitted by Nau- clides and his partisans^ The latter wished to conduct the Thebans at once to theijouses of their chief political opponents, in order that they rj^ht be secured or made away with. The Thebans, however, J^sitated to commit so gross a piece of vio- lence. They expected to be reinforced next day by the larger part of the Theban army, when they should be able to dictate their own terms without having recourse to the invidious act / 282 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXV. which had been proposed to them. They accordingly took up a position in the agora, or market-place, and directed their herald to summon all the inhabitants whose political views coin- cided with their own, to come and join their ranks. The first feeling of the Plataeans was one of surprise and alarm on being roused from their sleep with the astounding intelligence that their ancient enemies were in possession of their town. But when the small number of the Thebans began to be ascertained, they took heart, established communications with one another by breaking through the walk of their houses, and having barri- caded the streets with waggons, fell upon the enemy a little before daybreak. The Thebans formed in close order, and de- fended themselves as well as they could. But they wore ex- hausted by their midnight march through a soaking rain ; they were unacquainted with the narrow crooked streets of the town, now choked with mud and obstructed by barricades ; whilst tho women hurling the tiles from the housetops with loud yells and execrations, completed their confusion and dismay. A very few succeeded in escaping over the walls. The great majority, mis- taking the folding-doors of a large granary for the city gates, rushed in and were made prisoners. The march of the rein- forcement had been delayed by the rain, which had rendered the river Asopus scarcely fordable ; and when they at last arrived they found all their countrymen either slain or captured. The Thebans without the walls now proceeded to lay hands on all the persons and property they could find, as pledges for tho restoration of the prisoners. Hereupon the Platseans despatched a herald to remonstrate against this flagrant breach of the exist- ing peace, promising at the same time that if they retired the prisoners should be given up, but if not, that they would be im- mediately put to death. The Thebans withdrew on this under- standing. But no sooner were they gone than the Plataeans, instead of observing the conditions, removed all their moveable property from the country into the town, and then massacred all the prisoners to the number of 180. § 11. At the first entrance of the Thebans into Plata:a a mes- senger had been despatched to Athens with the news, and a second one after their capture. The Athenians immediately sent a herald to enjoin the Platseana to take no steps without their concurrence ; but he arrived too late, and the prisoners wero already slain. So striking an incident as this attempt on the part of the Thebans could not fail to produce an immediate war, and the Athenians concerted their measures accordingly. They immediately issued orders for seizing all Boeotians who might happen to be in Attica, placed an Athenian garrison in Platea, B.C. 431. FORCES OF SPARTA AXD ATHENS. £83 and removed thence all the women and other inhabitants inca- pable of taking a part in its defence. War was now fairly kindled. All Greece looked on in suspense as its two leading cities were about to engage in a strife of which no man could foresee the end ; but the youth, with which both Athens and Peloponnesus then abounded, having had no experience of the bitter calamities of war, rushed into it with ardour. Every city, nay, almost every individual, seemed desirous of taking a part in it ; most of them, however, from a feeling of hatred against Athens, and with a desire either of avoiding or of being relieved from her yoke. The predictions of soothsayers and oracles were heard on all sides, whilst natural portents were eagerly inquired after and in- terpreted. A recent earthquake in Delos, which had never before experienced such a calamity, seemed to foreshadow the approaching struggle, and to form a fitting introduction to a period which was to be marked not only by the usual horrors of war, but by the calamities of earthquakes, drought, famine, and pestilence. § 12. The nature of the preparations and the amount of forces on both sides were well calculated to excite these apprehensions. On the side of Sparta was ranged the whole of Peloponnesus — except Argos and Achaia, — together with the Megarians, Boeo- tians, Phocians, Opuntian Locrians, Ambraciots, Leucadians, and Anactorians. The force collected from these tribes consisted chiefly of hoplites, or heavy-armed foot-soldiers ; but Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris also supplied some exceUent cavalry. A good navy was the great deficiency on the side of the Peloponnesians, though Corinth and several other cities furnished ships. Yet with the assistance of the Dorian cities in Italy and Sicily, they hoped to collect a fleet of 500 triremes ; and they even designed to apply to the Persian king, and thus bring a Phoenician fleet again to act against Athens. The allies of Athens, with the exception of the Thessalians, Acarnanians, Messenians at Naupactus, and Platseans, were all insular, and consisted of the Chians, Lesbians, Corcyrceans, and Zacynthians, and shortly afterwards of the Cephallenians. To these must be added her tributary towns on the coast of Thrace and Asia Minor, together with all the islands north of Crete, except Melos and Thera. The resources at Athens immediately available were very great. They consisted of 300 triremes ready for active service, 1200 cavalry, 1600 bowmen, and 29,000 hop- lites, for the most part Athenian citizens. Of these, 13,000 formed the flower of the army, whilst the rest were employed in garrison duty in Athens and the ports, and in the defence of the long walls. In the treasury of the Acropolis was the large sum 284 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXV. of 6000 talents, or about 1,400,0007. sterling, in coined silver. This reserve had at one time amounted to 9700 talents, but had been reduced to the sum stated by the architectural improve- ments in Athens, and by the siege of Potida3a. The plate and votive offerings in the temples, available in case of urgent need, were estimated at nearly 1000 talents of silver. Besides these re- sources, Athens had also the annual tribute of her subjects. § 13. Such were the forces of the two contending cities. Im- mediately after the attempted surprise of Platsea, the Lacedae- monians issued orders to their allies to send two-thirds of their disposable troops at once to the isthmus of Corinth, where the v were to assemble by a day named, for the purpose of invadrng Attica. At the appointed time, the Spartan king Archidamus, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, reviewed the assem- bled host, and addressed a few words of advice and exhortation to the principal officers. Archidamus still cherished hopes that the Athenians would yield, when they saw the hostile army ready to enter Attica, and accordingly he sent forwards Mele- sippus to announce the impending invasion. But, at the instance of Pericles, the assembly had adopted a resolution to receive neither envoy nor herald ; and Melesippus was escorted back without having been permitted to enter the city. As he parted from his escort at the Attic border, he could not help exclaim- ing — " This day will be the beginning of many calamities to the Greeks." Biat of tlip historian Thucydides, The 1'an.heium. CHAPTER XXVI. rEI-OPONNESIAN WAR. — FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR TO THE CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF PLAT^A. § 1. The Peloponnesians invade Attica. § 2. Athenian naval expeditions to Peloponnesus and Locris. § 3. The Athenians invade the Megarid. § 4. Second invasion of Attica. Plague at Athens. § 5. Unpopularity of Pericles. He is accused of malversation. § 6. His domestic misfortunes. Death. Character. § 7. The Lacedaemonians ravage Attica. Their naval operations. § 8. Surrender of Potidaea. § 9. The Lacedaemonians besiege Platea. §10. Part of the garrison escape. §11. Surrender of the town. Trial and execution of the garrison. § 1. Archidamus had entered upon the war with reluctance, and he now prosecuted it without vigour. He still clung to the idea that the Athenians would ultimately incline to peace, and he did all he could to promote so desirable a result. The enor- mous force which he was leading against them was, indeed, well calculated to test their firmness. It consisted, according to the lowest estimate, of 6u,000 men. whilst some writers raise the number to 100,000 ; and the greater part of them were animated with a bitter hatred of Athens, and with a lively desire of revenge. Archidamus having lingered as long as he could at the isthmus, marched slowly forwards after the return of Melesippus, and taking a circuitous road, crossed the Attic border. Having wasted several days in an unsuccessful attack upon the frontier fortress of CEno6, and not having received, as he expected, any 286 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XXVI. message from the Athenians, he proceeded towards Elenaia and the Thriasian plain, where he arrived about the middle of June in B.C. 431. Meanwhile, Pericles had instructed the inhabitants of Attica to secure themselves and their property within the walls of Athens. They obeyed his injunctions with reluctance, for the Attic population had from the earliest times been strongly attached to a rural life. But the circumstances admitted of no alternative. From all quarters they might be seen hurrying towards the capital with their families and goods ; whilst the cattle were for the most part conveyed to Eubcca, or some other of the adjoining islands. Athens now became inconveniently crowded. Every vacant spot in the city or in Piraeus, even those which belonged to the temples, were occupied by the en- campments of the fugitives. The Acropolis, indeed, was pre- served from this profane invasion ; but the ground immediately under it, called the I'clasij icon, which, in obedience to an ancient oracle, had hitherto been suffered to remain unoccupied, was now brought into use. The towers and recesses of the city walls were converted into dwellings, whilst huts, tents, and even casks were placed under the long walls to answer the same purpose. Archidamus, after ravaging the fertile Thriasian plain, in which he was but feebly opposed by a body of Athenian cavalry, proceeded to Acharnce, one of the largest and most flourishing of the Attic boroughs, situated only about seven miles from Athens. Here he encamped on a rising ground within sight of the metropolis, and began to lay waste the country around, ex- pecting probably by that means to provoke the Athenians to battle. But in this he was disappointed. The Athenians, indeed, and especially the Acharnians now within the walls, who had contributed no fewer than .3000 Hoplitcs to the army, were excited to the highest pitch of exasperation at beholding their houses, their ripening crops, their fruitful vineyards and orchards destroyed before their very eyes. Little groups might be seen gathered together in the streets angrily discussing the question of an attack, quoting oracles and prophecies which assured them of success, and indignantly denouncing Pericles as a traitor and a coward for not leading them out to battle. Among the leaders of these attacks upon Pericles, Cleon, the future demagogue, now first rising into public notice, was con- spicuous. It required all the firmness of Pericles to stem the torrent of public indignation. He had resolved not to venture an engagement in the open field, and steadily refused in the pre- sent excited stute of the public mind to call an assembly of the 13.C. 431. INVASION OF ATTICA 287 people, in which no doubt some desperate resolution would have been adopted. In order, however, to divert in some de- gree the popular clamour, he permitted the Athenian and Thes- saliau cavalry to make sallies for the purpose of harassing the plundering parties of the enemy and of protecting as much as possible the lands adjacent to the city. § 2. But whilst Pericles thus abandoned the Attic territory to the enemy, he was taking active measures to retaliate on the Peloponnesus itself the sufferings inflicted on the Athenians. For this purpose an Athenian fleet of 100 triremes, strengthened by 50 Corcyraean ships, as well as by some from the other allies, sailed round Peloponnesus, and disembarking troops at various points, caused considerable damage. This expedition penetrated as far northwards as the coast of Acarnania, where the Corin- thian settlement of Solliuni and the town of Astacus were taken, whilst the island of Cephallenia, which voluntarily submitted, was enrolled among the allies of Athens. Meanwhile a smaller fleet of thirty triremes had been de- spatched to the coast of Locris, where the towns of Thronium and Alope were taken and sacked, and a naval station established at the small uninhabited island of Atalanta, in order to coerce the Locrian privateers who infested Euboea. The naval opera- tions of the year were concluded by the total expulsion of the ^Eginetans front their island. The situation of iEgina rendered it of the highest importance as a maritime station ; and the Athenians were, moreover, incensed against the inhabitants for the part they had taken in exciting the war. The whole of the population was transported to the coast of Peloponnesus, where the Spartans allowed them to occupy the town and district of Thyrea ; and their island was portioned out among a body of Athenian cleruchs. § 3. Archidamus evacuated Attica towards the end of July, by the route of Oropus and Bceotia ; after which his army was dis- banded. The Athenians availed themselves of his departure to wreak their vengeance on the Megarians. Towards the end of September, Pericles, at the head of 13,000 Hoplites, and a large force of light-armed troops, marched into the Megarid, which he ravaged up to the very gates of the city. The Athenians re- peated the same ravages once, and sometimes twice every year whilst the war lasted. In the course of this year the Athenians also formed an alliance with Sitalces, king of the Odrysian Thra- jjians, whose assistance promised to be of use to them in reducing Potidoea and the revolted Chalcidian towns. Such were the results of the first campaign. From the me- thod in which the war was conducted it had become pretty 288 IITSTOKY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVI evident that it would prove of long duration ; and the Athenians now proceeded to provide for this contingency. It was agreed that a reserve fund of 1000 talents should be set apart, which was not to be touched in any other case than an attack upon Athens by sea. Any citizen who proposed to make a different use of the fund incurred thorebythe punishment of death. With the same view it was resolved to reserve every year 100 of their best triremes, fully manned and equipped. Towards the winter Pericles delivered, from a lofty platform erected in the Ceramicus, the funeral oration of those who had fallen in the war. This speech, or at all events the substance of it, has been preserved by Thucydides, who may possibly have heard it pronounced. It is a valuable monument of eloquence and patriotism, and particularly interesting for the sketch which it contains of Athenian manners as well as of the Athenian con- stitution. § 4. Another year had elapsed, and in the spring of B.C. 430 the Peloponnesiaus, under Archidamua, again invaded Attica. At the same time the Athenians were attacked by a more insi- dious and more formidable enemy. The plague broke out in the crowded city. This terrible disorder, which was supposed to have originated in ^Ethiopia, had already desolated Asia and many of the countries around the Mediterranean. At Athens it first appeared in the Piraus ; and the numbers of people now congregated in a narrow space caused it to spread with fearful rapidity. A great proportion of those who were seized perished in from seven to nine days. Even in those who recovered it generally left behind some dreadful and incurable distemper. It frequently attacked the mental faculties, and left those who recovered from it so entirely deprived of memory, that they could neither recognise themselves nor others. The disorder being new, the physicians could find no remedy in the resources of their art, nor, as may be well supposed, did the charms and incantations to which the superstitious resorted prove more effectual. Despair now began to take possession of the Athenians. Some suspected that the Peloponnesians had poisoned the wells ; others attributed the pestilence to the anger of Apollo. A dreadful state of moral dissolution followed. The sick were seized with unconquer- able despondency ; whilst a great part of the population who had hitherto escaped the disorder, expecting soon to be attacked in turn, abandoned themselves to all manner of excess, de- bauchery, and crime. The dread of contagion produced an all pervading selfishness. Men abstained from tending and allevi- ating the sufferings even of their nearest relatives and friends during their sioknesf. as well as from administering the sacred litcs B.C. 430. PLAGUE OF ATHENS. 289 of sepulture to their remains after death. These pious offices of duty and friendship either remained unperformed, or were left to be discharged by strangers, who, having recovered from the disease, enjoyed an immunity from its further attacks. Often would a struggle arise for the possession of a funeral pile, and many a body was burnt on the pile destined for another. But for the most part the dead and the dying lay unheeded in the streets and temples, but more particularly around the wells, whither they had crowded to quench the burning and insatiable thirst excited by the disorder. The very dogs died that preyed upon the corpses, whilst by a peculiar instinct the vultures and other birds of prey abstained from feeding on them. The numbers carried off by the pestilence can hardly be esti- mated at less than a fourth of the whole population. Such at least was about the ascertained proportion among the knights and hoplites forming the upper classes. The number of vic- tims among the poorer part of the population was never ascer- tained, but there can be no doubt that the ratio among these was much higher. § 5. Oppressed at once by war and pestilence, their lands desolated, their homes filled with mourning, it is not surprising that the Athenians were seized with rage and despair, or that they vented their anger on Pericles, whom they deemed the author of their misfortunes. But that statesman still adhered to his plans with unshaken firmness. Though the Lacedaemo- nians were in Attica, though the plague had already seized on Athens, he was vigorously pushing his plans of offensive opera- tions. A foreign expedition might not only divert the popular mind, but would prove beneficial by relieving the crowded city of part of its population ; and accordingly a fleet was fitted out, of which Pericles himself took the command, and which com- mitted devastations upon various parts of the Peloponnesian coast. But, upon returning from this expedition, Pericles found the public feeling more exasperated than before. Envoys had even been despatched to Sparta to sue for peace, but had been dismissed without a hearing ; a disappointment which had ren- dered the populace still more furious. Pericles now found it necessary to call a public assembly in order to vindicate his conduct, and to encourage the desponding citizens to persevere. But though he succeeded in persuading them to prosecute the war with vigour, thoy still continued to nourish their feelings of hatred against the great statesman. His political enemies, cf whom Cleon was the chief, took advantage of this sts.te of the public mind to bring against him a charge of peculation. The main object of this accusation was to incapacitate him for the Gr. U 290 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVI. office of strategus, or general. He was brought before the dicas- tery on this charge, and sentenced to pay a considerable fine ; but eventually a strong re-action occurred in his favour. He was re-elected general, and apparently regained all the influence lie had ever possessed. § 6. But he was not destined long to enjoy this return of popularity. His life was now closing in, and its end was clouded by a long train of domestic misfortunes. The epidemic deprived' him not only of many personal and political friends, but also cf several near relations, amongst whom were his sister and his two legitimate sons, Xanthippus and Paralus. The death of the latter was a severe blow to him. During the funeral ceremonies, as he placed a garland on the body of this his favourite son, he was completely overpowered by his feelings and wept aloud. His ancient house was now left without an heir. By Aspasia, however, he had an illegitimate son who bore his own name, and whom the Athenians now legitimised, and thus alleviated, as far as lay in their power, the misfortunes of their great leader : a proceeding all the more striking, since Pericles himself had pro- posed the law which deprived of citizenship all those who were not Athenians on the mother's side, as well as on the father's. After this period it was with difficulty tbat Pericles was persuaded by his friends to take any active part in public affairs ; nor did he survive more than a twelvemonth. An at- tack of the prevailing epidemic was succeeded by a low and lingering fever, which undermined both his strength of body and vigour of intellect. As he lay apparently unconscious on his death-bed, the friends who stood around it were engaged in re- calling his exploits. The dying man interrupted them by remarking — " What you praise in me is partly the result of good fortune, and at all events common to me with many other com- manders. What I chiefly pride myself upon, you have not no- tioed — no Athenian ever wore mourning through me." The character of Pericles has been very variously estimated. Those who reflect upon the enormous influence which, for so long a period, and especially during the last fifteen years of his life, he exercised over an ingenious but fickle people liko the Athe- nians, will hardly bo disposed to question his intellectual supe- riority. This hold on the public affection was not, as in the case of Cinion, the result of any popularity of manner, for, as we have said, the demeanour of Pericles was characterized by a reserve bordering upon haughtiness. To what then are we to attribute it ? Doubtless, in the first place, to his extraordinary eloquence. Cicero regards him as the first example of an almost perfect orator, at once delighting the Athenians with his copiousness B.C. 430. SECOND INVASION OF ATTICA. 291 and grace, and overawing them by the force and cogency of his diction and arguments. He seems, indeed, on the testimony of two comic poets who will not be suspected of exaggeration in his favour, to have singularly combined the power of persuasion with that more rapid and abrupt style of oratory which takes an audience by storm and defies all resistance. According to Eupolis, persuasion itself sat upon his lips, and he was the only orator who left a sting behind ; whilst Aristophanes charac- serizes his eloquence as producing the same effects upon the tocial elements as a storm of thunder and lightning exerts upon the natural atmosphere. His reserved manners may have con- tributed, and were perhaps designed, to preserve his autho- rity from falling into that contempt which proverbially springs from familiarity ; whilst the popularity which he enjoyed in spite of them may probably be traced to the equivocal benefits ■which he had conferred on the Athenians, by not only making the humblest citizen a partaker in all the judicial and legislative functions of the state, but even paying him for the performance of them. These innovations are condemned by the two greatest philosophers, though of opposite schools, that Greece ever saw, by Plato and Aristotle, and not only by them but by the unani- mous voice of antiquity. Pericles, indeed, by the unlimited authority which he possessed over the people, was able to coun- teract the evil effects of these changes, which, however, soon became apparent after his death, and made the city a prey to the artifices of demagogues and rhetors. But if Pericles, as a politician, may not be deserving of unqualified praise, Pericles as the accomplished man of genius and the liberal patron of literature and art, is worthy of the highest admiration. By these qualities he has justly given name to the most brilliant intellectual epoch that the world has ever seen. But on this point we have already touched, and shah have occasion to refer hereafter. § 7. Whilst the Athenians were suffering from the pestilence, the Lacedaemonians were prosecuting their second invasion even more extensively than in the previous year. Instead of confin- ing their ravages to the Thriasian plain, and the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Athens, they now extended them to the more southern portions of Attica, and even as far as the mines of Laurium-. The Athenians still kejjt within their walls ; and the Lacedaemonians, after remaining forty days in their ter- ritory, again evacuated it as before. This year, however, the operations of the latter by sea formed a new feature in the war. Their fleet of JOO- triremes, under the command of Cnemus, at- tacked and devastated the island of Zacynthus, but did not u 2 292 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVI succeed in effecting a permanent conquest. They were too inferior in naval strength to cope with the Athenians on the open sea; but the Peloponnesian privateers, especially those from the Megarian port of Nistea, inflicted considerable loss on the Athenian fisheries and commerce. Some of these privateers even ventured as far as the coasts of Asia Minor, and molested the Athenian trade, for the protection of which the Athenians were obliged to despatch a squadron of jux triremes, under Melesander. A revolting feature in this pre- datory warfare was the cruelty with which the Lacedemonians treated their prisoners, who were mercilessly slain, and their bodies cast into clefts and ravines. This produced retaliation on the part of the Athenians. Some Peloponnesian envoys, on their way to the court of Persia to solicit aid against Athens, were joined by the Corinthian general Aristeus, who persuaded them to visit the court of the Thracian king Sitalees, in order if possible to detach him from the Athenian "alliance. But this was a fatal miscalculation. Not only was Sitalees firmly attached to the Athenians, but his son JSadocus had been admitted as a citizen of Athens ; and the Athenian residents at the court of Sitalees induced him, in testimony of zeal and gratitude for his newly conferred rights, to procure the arrest of the Peloponne- sian envoys. The whole party were accordingly seized and conducted to Athens, where they were put to death without even the form of a trial, and their bodies cast out among the rocks, by way of reprisal for the murders committed by the La- cedemonians. § 8. By this act the Athenians got rid of Aristeus, who had proved himself an active and able commander, and who was the chief instigator of the revolt of Potidaea as well as the principal cause of its successful resistance. In the following winter that town capitulated, after a blockade of two years, during which it buffered such extremity of famine, that even the bodies of the dead were converted into food. Although the garrison was re- duced to such distress, and though the siege had cost Athens 2000 talents, the Athenian generals, Xenophon, the son of Euri- pides/and his two colleagues, granted the Potidajans favourable terms. For this they were reprimanded by the Athenians, who had expected to defray the expenses of the siege by selling the prisoners as slaves, and perhaps also to gratify their vengeance by patting the intrepid garrison to death. Potidrea and its territory was now occupied by a body of 1000 colonists from Athena. §9. The third year of the war (b. c. 429), was now opening nnd nothing decisive had boon performed on either side. After B.C. 429. SIEGE OF PLAT.2EA, 293 two invasions, but little mischief, probably, was capable of being inflicted on the Attic territory, or at all events not sufficient to induce the Peloponnesians to incur the risk of infection from the plague. Archidamus, therefore, now directed his whole force against the ill-fated town of Platsea. As he approached their city, the Platseans despatched a herald to Archidamus tc remonstrate against this invasion, and to remind him of the solemn oath which Pausanias had sworn, when, after the defeat of the Persians, he offered sacrifice to Jove Eleutherios in the great square of Platsea, and there, in the presence of the as- sembled allies, bound himself and them to respect and guarantee their independence. Archidamus replied that by their oaths they were bound to assist him in the liberation of the rest of Greece ; but, if they would not agree to do this, their independ- ence should be respected if they onlj consented to remain neutral. After this summons had been twice repeated, the Pla- tseans returned for answer that they could do nothing without the consent of the Athenians, in whose custody their wives and families now were ; adding, that a profession of neutrality might again induce the Thebans to surprise their city Hereupon Archidamus proposed to them to hand over their town and territory to the Lacedaemonians, together with a schedule of all the property which they contained, engaging to hold them in trust and to cultivate the land till the war was terminated, when every thing should be safely restored. In the mean time, the Platoeans might retire whithersoever they chose, and receive an allowance sufficient for their support. The offer seemed fair and tempting, and the majority of the Platteans were for accepting it, but it was resolved first of all to obtain the sanction of the Athenians : who, however, exhorted them to hold out, and promised to assist them to the last. The Plata3ans, afraid to send a herald to the Spartan camp, now pro- claimed from the walls their refusal of the proffered terms ; when Archidamus invoked the gods and heroes of the soil to witness that it was not until the Platpeans had renounced the oaths which bound them, that he had invaded their territory. The Peloponnesians, indeed, seem to have been really unwilling to undertake the siege. They were driven into it by the ancient grudge of ths Thebans against Platsea. The sieg3 that ensued is one of the most memorable in the annals of Grecian warfare. Platrca was but a small city, and its garrison consisted only of 40Q citizens and 80 Athenians, toge- ther with 110 women to manage their household affairs. Yet this small force set at defiance the whole army of the Pelopon- aesifins. The first operation of Archidamus was to surround the 294 HISTORY- OF GREECE. Chap. XXVI. town with a strong palisade formed of the fruit trece ivL.ch had been cut down, and thus to deprive the Platrcans of all egress. He then began to erect a mound of timber, earth, and stones against the wall, forming an inclined plane up which his troops might march, and thus take the place by escalade. The whole army laboured at this mound seventy days and nights ; but whilst it was gradually attaining the requisite height the Pla- taeans on their side were engaged in raising their walls with a superstructure of wood and brickwork, protected in front with hides. They also formed a subterranean passage under 1 walls, and undermined the mound, which thus fell in and re- quired constant additions. And as even these precautions seemed in danger of being ultimately defeated, they built a new interior wall, in the shape of a crescent, whose two horns joined the old one at points beyond the extent of the mound ; so that if the besiegers succeeded in carrying the first rampart, they would be in no better position than before. So energetic was the defence, that the Lacedaemonians, after spending th>'ec months in these fruitless attempts, resolved to turn the siege into a blockade, and reduce the place by famine. § 10. They now proceeded to surround the city with a double wall of cireumvallation, the interior space between the two of sixteen feet in breadth being roofed in, and the whole structure protected by a ditch on each side, one towards the town and the other towards the country. The interior was occupied by the troops left on guard, half of which consisted of Boeotians and the other half of Peloponnesians. In this manner the PlateBana endured a blockade of two years, during which the Athenians attempted nothing for their relief. In the second year, however, about half the garrison effected their escape in the following bold and successful manner. Provisions were beginning to run short, and the Platrean commander exhorted the garrison to scale the wall by which they were blockaded . Only _212 men, however, were found bold enough to attempt this hazardous feat. Choosing a wet and stormy December night, they issued from their gates, lightly armed and carrying with them ladders accurately adapted to the height of the wall. These were fixed against it in tho space be- tween two towers occupied by the guard, and the first company having mounted, slew, without creating alarm, the sentinels on duty. Alrea ly a great part of the Platseans had gained the sum- mit, when the noise of a tile kicked down by one of the party betrayed what was passing. The whole guard immediately turned out, but in the darkness and confusion knew not whither to direct their blows, whilst the lighted torches which they car- ried rendered them a conspicuous aim for the arrows and javelins B.C. 427. SURRENDER OF PLAT^IA. 295 of those Plataeans who had gained the other side of the walls. In this manner the little band succeeded in effecting their escape with the exception of one man, who was captured, and of a few who lost their courage and returned to Plataea. § 11. But though the provisions of the garrison were hus- banded by this diminution in their number, all the means of subsistence were at length exhausted, and starvation began to stare them in the face. The Lacedaemonian commander had long been in a condition to take the town by storm, but he had been directed by express orders from home to reduce it to a voluntary capitulation, in order that at the conclusion of a peace, Sparta might not be forced to give it up, as she would be in case of a forcible capture. Knowing the distressed state of the gar- rison, the Lacedaemonians sent in a herald with a summons to surrender and submit themselves to their disposal, at the same time promising that only the guilty should be punished. The besieged had no alternative and submitted. This took place in B. c. 427, after the blockade had lasted two years. +p The whole garrison, consisting of 200 Plataeans and 25 Athe- nians, were now arraigned before five judges sent from Sparta. Their indictment was framed in a way which precluded the possi- bility of escape. They were simply asked " Whether during the present war they had rendered any assistance to the Lacedaemo- nians or their allies 1 " So preposterous a question at once re- vealed to the prisoners that they could expect neither justice nor mercy. Nevertheless, they asked and obtained permission to plead their cause. Their orators, by recalling the services which Plataa had rendered to Greece in general in the Persian war, and to Sparta in particular, by aiding to suppress the revolt of the Helots, seemed to have produced such an impression on their judges that the Thebans present found it necessary to reply. Their speech does not appear to have contained any very cogent arguments, but it was successful^ The Plataeans were mercilessly sacrificed for reasons of state policy. Each man, including the 25 Athenians, was called up separately before the judgment seat, and the samo question having been put to him, and of course answered in the negative, he was immediately led away to execution. The town of Platasa, together with its territory, was transferred to the Thebans, who, a few months afterwards, levelled all the private houses to the ground, and with the materials erected a sort of vast barrack arouni the Heraeum, or temple of Hera, both for the accommodation of visitors, and to serve as an abode for those to whom they let out the land. Thus was Plataea blotted out from the map of Greece. Statue of Theseus, from the Pediment of the Parthenon. CHAPTER XXVII. PELOPONXESIAN WAR CONTINUED — FROM THE SIEGE OF PLAT^A TO THE SEDITION" AT CORCYRA. § 1. General character of the war. §2. Military and naval operations of the third year. Attempt of the Peloponnesians to surprise Piraus. §3. Fourth year. Revolt of Mytilene'. §4. Fifth year. Surrender of Mytilene'. §5. Debates of the Athenian assembly respecting the Mytileneans. Cleon and the Athenian demagogues. § 6. Bloody decree against the Mytileneans. §7. Second debate. Reversal of the decree. Lesbos colonized by Athenians. §8. Civil dissensions at Corcyra. §9. Picture of the times by Thucydides. § 1. In recording the fall of Flataca, we have anticipated the order of chronology. The investment of that town formed, as we have related, the first incident in the third year of the Pelo- ponnesian war. The subsequent operations of that war down to the eleventh year of it, or the year B.C. 421 — when a short and hollow peace, or rather truce, called the peace of Nicias, was patched up between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians — were not of a decisive character. There was, indeed, much mutual injury inflicted, but none of those great events which bring a war to a close by disabling either one or both parties from continuing it. The towns captured were, moreover, restored B.C. 429. NAVAL VICTORIES OF PHORMIO. 297 at the peace ; by which, consequently, Athens and Sparta wera placed much in the same state as when the war broke out. It would be tedious to detail at length all the little engagements which occurred, and which the reader could with difficulty re- member ; and we shall therefore content ourselves with a sketch of the more important events, especially those which display the general character of the period, the actions of the more remark- able men who flourished in it, and the motives, views, and dis- positions of the contending parties. § 2. Except the siege of Plataea, the operations by land in the third year of the war were unimportant. The Athenians failed in an attempt to reduce the town of Spartolus in Chalcidice' nor were the efforts of their new ally Sitalces more successful in that quarter. According to the ancient myth of Tereus, Sitalces considered himself a kinsman of the Athenians ; but some well applied bribes were probably a more efficacious inducement for him to undertake the reduction of Chalcidic6, and the dethrone- ment of Perdiccas, king of Macedonia. The sway of Sitalces over the barbarous tribes of Thrace was very extensive. He was able to collect an army estimated at 150,000 men, one-third of which was cavalry. With this multitudinous, but wild and disorderly host, he penetrated far into the dominions of Perdiccas, and compelled the Macedonians, who did not venture to meet him in the open field, to shut themselves up in their fortresses. He also detached a force to reduce the Chalcidians and Bot- tiseans. But his expedition was undertaken at too late a period of the year, seemingly about the end of November or beginning of December ; and as the winter proved very severe, and the Athenians neglected to send any armament tc his assistance, Sitalces was compelled to relinquish his conquests after a cam- paign, or rather foray, of thirty days. In the same year the naval superiority of the Athenians was strikingly exhibited by the victories of Phormio in the Co- rinthian gulf. The Laceda3monians had planned an expedition against Acarnania, and had sent a fleet of forty-seven sail, under the command of Cnemus, to carry this project into effect. Phormio was stationed at Naupactus with only twenty Athe- uian ships ; but notwithstanding his numerical inferiority, he gained a brilliant victory over the Peloponnesian fleet. But this was not all. The Spartans lost no time in collecting an- other fleet, amounting to seventy-seven sail. Meantime Phormio , had received no reinforcements ; but such was his confidence in the skill of his seamen, that he ventured to meet even these overpowering numbers, and though this victory was not so decisive as the previous oae, the Peloponnesians relinquished 298 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVII. all further operations and sailed back to Corinth. The Pelo- ponnesian commanders tried to compensate for these losses by surprising the harbour of Piraeus, which was unprotected by a guard, or even by a chain. Having marched overland from Co- rinth to the Megarian port of Nissea, they embarked their men in forty old triremes, which, however, were in a sufficient state of repair for so short an expedition. But either their courago failed them at the very moment of executing their project, or else, as they gave out, the wind proved adverse. Instead of attempting Piraeus they proceeded to the opposite island of Sa- lamis. Here they landed in the night, captured three guard- ships, ravaged the island, and succeeded in retreating with their booty before the alarmed and enraged Athenians could come up with them. The Athenians, however, took warning from this insult, and were more careful in future in guarding their har- bours. § 3. The fourth year of the war (b.c. 428) was marked by the usual invasion of Attica on the part of the Peloponuesians. It was accompanied by the alarming news of the revolt of Myti- lene, the capital of Lesbos, and of the greater part of that island. This revolt had been long meditated ; but though the Athenians had before received some intimation of it, their reduced condi- tion from the war and from the plague had prevented them from taking any measures to arrest it. An embassy which they now sent to the Mytileneans, to persuade them to remain in their duty, having failed, the Athenian commander ^CJeippides, who was on the point of sailing to the Peloponnesus with a fleet of 40 triremes, was ordered to proceed directly to Mytilen6. It was one of the disadvantages of the Athenian constitution, so far at least as the foreign relations of Athens were concerned, that the executive power lay with the people, and that thus all their debates and resolutions being public, it was impossible to keep them concealed from those who were the subjects of them. The Mytileneans having received information of the intended expedition through a spy, postponed the festival of Apollo, during which the Athenians had expected to surprise them, and made every preparation to receive the hostile fleet. But being still inferior in strength they pretended to enter into ne- gotiations with Cleippides, who fell into the snare ; and in the mean time secretly despatched envoys to Sparta to implore im- mediate assistance. The embassy which the Mytileneans had 6eut to Athens with tho ostensible purpose of negotiating, having, as might to expected, failed, Cleippides, who had been reinforced by several vessels from the allied islands, as well as by 1000 Athenian hoplites under Baches, commenced hostilities, B.C. 428. REVOLT OF MYTILENE. 299 iind by the beginning of October succeeded in blockading Myti- lene both by sea and land. The Mytilenean envoys despatched to Sparta arrived during the celebration of the Olympic festival, where most of the mem- bers of the Peloponnesian alliance were present. After the festival was concluded they set forth the grounds of their com- plaints against Athens, which were chiefly two, namely : — their fear of being reduced to the condition of the other subject-allies of Athens, and their repugnance to assist that state in her ambi- tious policy, which was generally offensive to the states of Greece. Their application was of course favourably received by their Pe- loponnesian auditors. They were promised assistance, and were formally received into the Peloponnesian alliance. Not only was a second invasion of Attica ordered, but it was also pro- posed to transport on trucks, across the isthmus, from the har- bour of Lechaeum into the Saronic gulf, the ships which had fought against Phormio, and to employ them against Athens. A very general impression seems at this time to have pre- vailed among the allies that the plague and war combined had nearly exhausted the resources of the Athenians. Nor was this opinion altogether without foundation. The fund which they possessed at the beginning of the war was now exhausted, with the exception of the reserve of 1000 talents put by to meet a naval invasion. The numbers of their soldiers, and especially of their able seamen, had also no doubt been consider- ably reduced by the war and pestilence. But there were still ample means, and above all an indomitable spirit, among the Athenians, to supply the deficiencies thus created. A higher class both of citizens and metics than those who had hitherto engaged in the naval service was ordered on board the fleet, from which duty only the two highest classes, namely, the Pen- tacosiomedimni, and the Hippeis, or Knights, were now exempted. And, in order to replenish the public treasury, the Athenians were for the first time subjected to a direct contribution or in- come tax, by which a sum of 200 talents was raised. By these efforts the Athenians manned a fleet of 100 triremes, which suddenly and unexpectedly appeared off the isthmus, and made descents at various points. At the same time the Lacedaimonians assembled there were surprised by the news that another Athenian fleet of 30 triremes, which had been previously despatched under Asopius, the son of Phormio, was committing devastations on the coast of Laconia. These energetic proceedings arrested the projected enterprise of the La- cedaemonians, especially as their allies were engaged in gathering the harvest, and had therefore assembled only in small numbers. 300 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVII. Accordingly they returned home, and contented themselves with preparing a fleet of forty triremes for the relief of Mytilene. § 4. This armament, however, could not be got ready till the spring of the following year (B.C. 427). Meanwhile Salrethus, a Lacedajmonian envoy, proceeded to Lesbos, and having contrived to enter Mytilene, encouraged the citizens to hold out till the arrival of the promised succours. In the course of April the Be- loponnesian fleet, consisting of 42 triremes rmrWjMr.id/ftSj actually sailed, and at the same time, in order to create a diversion, the allied army again invaded Attica. But week after week passed away, and Alcidas did not appear before Mytilene. The provisions of the town were exhausted, the populace was growing impatient, and even Salrethus himself began to despair of the arrival of the fleet. It was therefore resolved as a last desperate expedient, to make a sally, and endeavour to raise the blockade. With this view even the men of the lower classes were armed with the full armour of the hoplites. But this step produced a very different residt from what Sakethus had expected or intended. The great mass of the Mytileneans were not adverse to the Athenian dominion ; but they regarded their own oligarchical government with suspi- cion, accused it of starving the citizens whilst it possessed stores of concealed provisions for the use of the higher classes ; and being now strengthened by the arms which had been distributed to them, threatened that, unless their demands were complied with, they would surrender the city to the Athenians. In this desperate emergency the Mytilenean government perceived that their only chance of safety lay in anticipating the people in this step. They accordingly opened a negotiation with Baches, and a capitulation was agreed upon by which the city was to be sur- rendered, and the fate of its inhabitants to be decided by the Athenian Assembly. It was stipulated, however, that they were to be permitted to send envoys to Athens to plead their cause : and Paches engaged that meanwhile nobody should be impri- soned or sold into slavery. When Baches entered the city, those Mytileneans who had been the chief instigators of the revolt took refuge at the altars ; but he induced them by his assurances to quit their places of refuge, and placed them in Tenedos. Scarcely had this capitulation been concluded, when, to the surprise of the Mytileneans, the Beloponnesian fleet appeared off the coast of Ionia. Alcidas, overawed by the maritime reputation of Athens, had neglected to discharge his duty with the energy required by the crisis ; and, finding that he had arrived too late to save Mytilene, he sailed back to Beloponnesus, without attempt- ing any thinj» further. B.C. 427. CLEON. 30] § 5. Paches, being now undisputed master of Lesbos, de- spatched to Athens those Mytileneans who had been deposited at Tenedos, together with others implicated in the late revolt, and likewise Sakethus, the Lacedaemonian envoy, who had been detected in a place of concealment in the city. The Athenians assembled to decide on the fate of these prisoners, amounting in number to more than a thousand. Sakethus was at once put to death. The disposal of the other prisoners caused some de- bate. It was on this occasion that the demagogue, Cleon, whom we have already noticed as an opponent of Pericles, first comes prominently forwards in Athenian affairs. The effects of the extensive commerce of Athens, and more particularly of the po- litical changes introduced by Pericles, were now beginning to show themselves. Down to the time of that statesman, the democracy of Athens had been governed by aristocratic leaders alone. The personal qualities of Pericles, in spite of the growing feeling of democracy, secured his ascendency in the assembly ; but even during his lifetime men of a much lower rank than those who had formerly pretended to govern the people were beginning to step forward, and to claim a share of power. Such were E aerates, the rope-maker, Lysicles, the sheep-dealer, and Hyperbolus, the lamp-maker. The humblest mechanic, if an Athenian citizen, was at liberty to address the assembly ; there was nothing to prevent him but disfranchisement for debt or crime. If he succeeded, his fortune was made ; for the influence thus acquired might be converted in various, but not over reput- able, ways into a source of profit. Success, however, demanded some peculiar qualifications. An Athenian audience was some- what fastidious ; but more especially the vastness of their assem- blies, and the noise and clamour with which they frequently abounded, demanded not only a considerable share of nerve, but also physical powers, especially a loud voice, which are not always found combined with the higher mental requisites of an orator. Hence those who possessed even a moderate share of ability, if endowed with audacity and a stentorian voice, stood a much better chance in the assembly than men of far higher talent, but deficient in those indispensable qualifications. If we may trust the picture drawn by Aristophanes, Cleon, the leather- seller, was a perfect model of that new class of low-born orators just alluded to ; a noisy brawler, loud in his criminations, insolent in his gestures, corrupt and venal in his principles ; extorting money by threats of accusations, a persecutor of rank and merit, a base flatterer and sycophant of the populace. In this portrait much allowance must no doubt be made not only for comic licence and exaggeration, but also for party feeling and personal 302 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIL piquo. Aristophanes was on the aristocratic -side in politics, and was moreover engaged in a private quarrel with Cieon, caused by the latter having complained to the senate of his comedy of iha Babylonians. Thucydides, indeed, in his account of Cleon, goes very far to confirm the description of Aristophanes. But here too we must be somewnat ou our guard respecting the tes- timony of an historian otherwise remarkable for his impartiality ; for it was to Cleon that Thucydides owed his banishment. Still, after making all due allowance for the operation of these causes, we cannot refrain from thinking that the character of Cleon conveyed to us by these two writers is, in its main fea- tures, correct. Even a caricature must have some groi nds of truth for its basis ; nor would Aristophanes, out of mere regard for his poetical reputation, have ventured to produce before aa Athenian audience a character of their well-known demagogue so unlike the truth as not to be easily recognised. The actions of Cleon, which are undisputed, show him cruel and cowardly ; characteristics which tatty lead us to infer any degree of baseness in a man. Along with his impudence and other bad qualities he must however no doubt have possessed a certain share of ability, since, at the period of which we arc now speaking, he possessed more influence than any other orator in the Athenian assembly. It was he who took the lead in the debate respecting the disposal of the Mytileneans, and made the savage and hor- rible proposal to put to death not only the prisoners who had been sent to Athens, but the whole male population of Mytilene of military age — including therefore those who had not partici- pated in, or were even opposed to, the revolt — and to sell the women and children into slavery. This motion he succeeded in carrying, notwithstanding the opposition of Diodotus a nd others ; and in order seemingly that no room might be left for cooler reflection, a trireme was immediately despatched to Mytilene, conveying orders to Paches to put the bloody decree into exe- cution. § 6. The barbarous laws of ancient warfare justified atrocities which in modern times would be regarded with horror and de- testation ; and we have already described the Lacedaemonians aa exercising those laws with the most revolting severity in the case of the garrison of Plateea ; — aa-eve ut, howe v e r , w h ich took pla.ee tr httlo aft er th e~fci m o of w hich-we-nxe now speaking. The conduct of the Lacedaemonians on that occasion admits of no excuse. But this decree of the Athenians was infinitely worst.', not only on accouut of the much greater number of persons whom it devoted to death, but also and principally because it made no discrimination between the innocent and the guilty. Ono B.C. 427. DECREE AGAINST THE MTTILENEANS. 303 night's reflection convinced the better part of the Athenians of the enormity which they had sanctioned. Ordinary experience shows that bodies of men will perpetrate acts which the indivi- duals composing them would shrink from with horror pCand this tendency was one of the worst evils springing from the multitu- dinous and purely democratical composition of the Athenian assemblies. On the morrow so general a feeling prevailed of the horrible injustice that had been committed, that the Strategi acceded to the prayer of the Mytilenean envoys and called a fresh assembly ; though by so doing they committed an illegal act and exposed themselves to impeachment. § 7. Cleon, however, had not changed his opinion. In the second assembly he repeated his arguments against the Mytile- neans, and clamoured for what he called "justice" against them. He denounced the folly and mischief of reversing on one day what had been done on the preceding ; and, though himself the very type and model of a demagogue, had the impudence to cha- racterize his opponents as guilty and ambitious orators, who sacrificed the good of the republic either to their interests or their vanity ! His opponent, Diodotus, very wisely abstained from appealing to the humanity of an assembly which had passed the decree of the previous day. He confined himself entirely to the policy of the question, and concluded by recommending that the Mytileneans already in custody should be put upon their trial but that the remainder of the population should be spared. This amendment having been carried by a small majority, a second trireme was immediately despatched to Mytilene, with orders to Paches to arrest the execution. The utmost diligence was needful. The former trireme had a start of four and twenty hours, and nothing but exertions almost superhuman would en- able the second to reach Mytilene early enough to avert the tragical catastrophe. The oarsmen were allowed by turns only short intervals of rest, and took their food, consisting of barley- meal steeped in wine and oil, as they sat at the oar. Happily the weather proved favourable ; and the crew, who had been promised large rewards in case they arrived in time, exerted themselves to deliver the reprieve, whilst the crew of the pre- ceding vessel had conveyed the order for execution with slownesa and reluctance. Yet even so the countermand came only just in time. The mandate was already in the hands of Paches, who was taking measures for its execution. With regard to the pri- soners at Athens, the motion of Cleon to put them to death was carried, and they were slain to the number of more than a thou- sand. The fortifications of Mytilene" were razed, and her fleet delivered up to the Athenians. The whole island, with the ex- 304 E1BT0KY OF GREECE. Chap. XXY1X jeption o f Methymna, which had remained faithful, was divided into 3000 lots, 300 of which were set apart for the gods, and the remainder assigned to Athenian cleruchs. The fate of Paches, the Athenian commander at Mytileno, must not be passed over in silence. On his return to Athens, he was arraigned before the dicastery for the dishonour of two Mytile- nean women, whose husbands he had slain ; and such was the feeling of indignation excited by this case among the susceptible Athenians, that Paches, without waiting for his sentence, killed himself with his sword in open court. § 8. The fate of the Plata3ans and Mytileneans affords a fearful iUustration of the manners of the age ; but these horrors soon found a parallel in Corcyra. It has been already related that, after the sea-fight off that island, the Corinthians earned home many of the principal Corcyrseans as prisoners. These men were treated with the greatest indulgence ; and while Mytilene" was under blockade, were sent back to Corcyra, nominally under the heavy ransom of 800 talents, but in reality with the view of withdrawing the island from the Athenian alliance. Being joined by the rest of the oligarchical citizens on their return, t'uey assassinated the leaders of the democratical party in the senate-house, and then carried a resolution in the assembly of the people, that the Corcyrseans should for the future observe a strict neutrality between the contending parties. But they did not stop here. They determined on putting down the demo- cratical party by force, and with this view seized the principal harbour, together with the arsenal and market-place. The people, however, got possession of the higher parts of the town, together with the Acropolis ; and having been reinforced by slaves from the interior, whom they promised to emancipate, they renewed the combat on the following day. The oligarchs, driven to extremity, adopted the desperate expedient of setting fire to the town, and thus destroyed a great deal of property near the docks ; but an adverse wind fortunately prevented it from extending to the remainder of the city. The Athenians had been informed of the state of things at Corcyra, and at this juncture an Athenian squadron of twelve triremes, under the command of-^34coatratus, arrived from Nau- pactus. Nicostratus behaved with great moderation, and did his best to restore peace between the parties. He had apparently succeeded in this object, when the position of affairs was sud- denly changed by the arrival of a Peloponnesian fleet of £3 gal- leys under the command of Alcidas. Nicostratus succeeded, by skilful manoeuvres, in keeping the enemy at bay with his small fleet, but was obliged at last to retreat, which he did m good B.C. 427. REVOLUTIONS AT COltCYBA. 305 order, and without losing any of his vessels. Alcidas, however, with his usual slowness, neglected to make use of the oppor- tunity, and attack the capital at once, though Brasidas strongly advised him to do so. He lost a day in ravaging the country, and in the following night fire-signals upon the island of Leucas telegraphed the approach of an Athenian fleet of 60 triremes under Eurymedon. Alcidas now only thought of making his escape, which he effected before daybreak, leaving the Corcyrtean oligarchs to their fate. Another vicissitude thus rendered the popular party in Cor- cyra again triumphant. The vengeance which they took on their opponents was fearful. The most sacred sanctuaries afforded no protection ; the nearest ties of blood and kindred were sacrificed to civil hatred. In one case a father slew even his own son. These scenes of horror lasted for seven days, during which death in every conceivable form was busily at work. Yet the Athenian admiral did not once interpose to put a stop to these atrocities. About 500 of the oligarchical party, however, effected their escape, and fortified themselves on Mount Istone, not far from the capital. § 9. Thucydides, in drawing this bloody picture of domestic dissensions, traces the causes of it to the war. In peace and pros- perity, when men are not overmastered by an irresistible neces- sity, the feelings both of states and individuals are mild and humane. But a war under the auspices of Sparta and Athens — one the representative of the aristocratic, the other of the demo- cratic, principle — became a «var of opinion, and embittered the feelings of political parties, by offering to each the means and opportunity of enforcing its views through an alliance with one or the other of the two leading cities. The example of Corcyra was soon followed in other Hellenic states. Not only were the dispositions of men altered by these causes, but even the very names of things were changed. Daring rashness was honoured with the name of bravery, whilst considerate delay was denounced as the mere pretext of timidity. Wisdom was regarded as equivalent to cowardice, and the weighing of every- thing as a pretence for attempting nothing. The simplicity which generally characterises virtue was ridiculed as dulness and stupidity ; whilst he was regarded as the cleverest who excelled in cunning and treachery, and especially if he employed his arts to the destruction of his nearest, and therefore unsuspecting, fronds and relatives. Gr. Fium the Frieze of the Partuencu. Panatheneic Procession. CHAPTER XXVIII. PELOPONNESIAN WAR CONTINUED. — FROM THE SEDITION AT CORGYP.A TO THE rEACE OF NICIAS. § 1 . Sixth year of the war. Return of the plague. Purification of Delos. § 2. Seventh year. Fortification of I'ylus. § 3. Attempts of the Lacedae- monians to recover Pylus. § 4. Arrival and victory of the Athenian fleet. Blockade of Sphacteria, § 5. The Lacedaemonians sue for peace at Athens. Extravagant demands of Cleon. §6. Renewal of hostilities. §7. Debates in the Assembly. Cleon elected general. § 8. Capture of Sphacteria. §9. Advantages of the victory. §10. Proceedings at Corcyra. Slaughter of the oligarchs. §11. Eighth year of the war. Captm-e of Cythera. § 12. Invasion of the Megarid and Bceotia by the Athenians. Capture of Nisa:a, the port of Megara. Defeat of the Athenians at the battle of Delium. § 13. Brasidas in Thrace. Takes Amphipolis. Banishment of Thucydides. § 14. Ninth year of the war. A truce between Sparta and Athens. The war continued in Thrace. § 15. Tenth year of the war. Cleon proceeds to Amphipolis. His defeat and death. Death of Brasidas. § 16. Eleventh year of the war. Fifty years' peace between Athens and Sparta. § 1. The beginning of the sixth year of the war (B.C. 426) was marked by natural calamities which seemed to present a counter- part to the moral disturbances which were agitating Greece. Floods and earthquakes of unusual violence and frequency oc- curred in various parts ; and the Lacedaemonians, alarmed at these portents, abstained from their intended invasion of Attica. The military operations of the Athenians were unimportant. B.C. 423. THE ATHENIANS SEIZE PYLUS. 30t The plague, which had reappeared at Athens towards the close of the preceding year, was now making fearful ravages. This scourge was attributed to the anger of Apollo ; and in order, as it seems, to propitiate that deity, a complete purification of Delos was performed in the autumn. AH the bodies interred there were exhumed and reburied in the neighbouring island of Ehenea ; whilst for the future it was ordered that no deaths or births should be suffered to take place on the sacred island. At the same time the celebration of the Delian festival, to be renewed every fourth year, was revived with extraordinary splen- dour ; and thus in some measure compensated the Athenians for their exclusion, through the war, from the Olympic and Pythian games. § 2. In the seventh year of the war (b. c. 425) the Lacedaemo- nian army under Agis, after a stay of only 15 days in the Attic territory, was recalled by the news that the Athenians had esta- blished a military post at Pylus in Messenia. In consequence of circumstances to which we shall have occasion to allude here- after, the Athenians had sent a fleet of forty ships to Sicily, under the command of Eurymedon and Sophocles ; but on their way thither these officers were directed to stop at Corcyra, and to assist the people against the oligarchs, who, as already related had fortified themselves at Mount Istone, and were annoying the capital. Demosthenes, who had acquired great glory by a campaign against the Ambracians, had also embarked in the same fleet, with a kind of roving commission to make descents on the Peloponnesian coasts. Pylus, on the modern bay of Na- varino, struck him as an eligible spot on which to establish some of theMessenians from Naupactus, since it was a strong position,from which they might annoy the Lacedaemonians, and excite revolt among their Helot kinsmen. As the Peloponnesian fleet, how- ever, was announced to have arrived at Corcyra, Eurymedon and Sophocles were averse to the delay which the scheme of Demos- thenes would occasion. But an accident caused its accomplish- ment. The fleet had scarcely passed Pylus, when it was driven back to that spot by a violent storm ; and as the bad weather continued for some time, the soldiers on board amused them- selves, under the directions of Demosthenes, in constructing a sort of rude fortification. The nature of the ground was favour- able for the work, and in five or six days a wall was thrown up sufficient for the purposes of defence. Demosthenes undertook to garrison the place. Five ships and 200 Hoplites were left behind with him ; and, being afterwards joined by some Messe- nian privateers, he appears altogether to have possessed a force of about 1000 men. x 2 308 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIII. § 3. This insult to the Lacedaemonian territory caused great alarm and indignation at Sparta. The Peloponnesian fleet, under Thrasymelidas, was ordered from Corcyra to Pylus ; and at the same time Agis evacuated Attica, and marched towards the same place. So vast a force, both naval and military, seemed to threaten destruction to the little garrison. Thrasymelidas, on arriving with the fleet, immediately occupied the small unin- habited and densely wooded island of Sphacteria, which, with the exception of two narrow channels on the north and south, almost blocked up the entrance of the bay. Between the island and the mainland was a spacious basin, in which Thrasymelidas stationed his shipg. It was on this side that Demosthenes anticipated the most dangerous attack. The Lacedaemonians were notoriously un- skilful in besieging walls, and on the landside a few imperfectly armed troops would suffice to keep their whole army at bay. But towards the sea was a small open space which remained un- fortified. Here, therefore, Demosthenes, after hauling his three remaining triremes ashore — for on the approach of the enemy he had despatched two to Eurymedon, to solicit assistance — took post himself with 60 chosen hoplites. The assault from the sea was led by Brasidas, one of the bravest and most distinguished commanders that Sparta ever produced. The narrowness of the landing-place admitted only a few triremes to approach at once. Brasidas stood on the prow of the foremost, animating his men by his words and gestures ; but he was soon disabled by numerous wounds, and fell back- wards into his vessel, fainting with loss of blood. After repeated attempts on this and the following day, the Lacedaemonians were unable to effect a landing ; whilst the Athenians considered their success decisive enough to justify the erection of a trophy, the chief ornament of which was the shield of Brasidas, which had dropped into the water. § 4. Whilst the Lacedaemonians were preparing for another assault, they were surprised by the appearance of the Athenian fleet. They had strangely neglected to secure the entrances into the bay : and, although the Athenian admiral spent the first day in reconnoitring, they were still either so inconceivably slow, or so paralysed by surprise and terror, that, when on the morrow the Athenian ships came sailing through both the un- defended channels, many of their triremes were still moored, and part of their crews ashore. The battle which ensued was desperate. Both sides fought with extraordinary valour ; but victory at length declared for the Athenians. Five Peloponne- B.C. 425. SPARTA SUES FOE PEACE. 309 sian ships were captured ; the rest were saved only by running them ashore, where they were protected by the Lacedaemonian nrmy. Bay of Pylus. The Athenians, thus masters of the sea, wore enabled to blockade the island of Sphacteria, in which the flower of the Lacedaemonian army was shut up, many of them native Spartans of the highest families. In so grave an emergency messengers were sent to Sparta for advice. The Ephors themselves imme- diately repaired to the spot ; and so desponding was their view of the matter, that they saw no issue from it but a peace. They therefore proposed and obtained an armistice for the purpose of opening negotiations at Athens. They agreed to surrender their whole fleet, and to abstain from all attacks upon Pylus till the return of the envoys, when their ships were to be restored Meanwhile, the Athenians were to continue the blockade of Sphacteria, but not to commit any acts of hostility against it ; whilst the Lacedaemonians were to be allowed to supply the 310 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIII. besieged with provisions enough for their subsistence during the armistice. § 5. Great was the sensation excited at Athens by beholding the pride of Sparta thus humbled and her envoys suing for peace. Cleon availed himself of the elation of the moment to insist on extravagant demands. Nothing less would satisfy him than the restoration of those places which Athens had ceded fourteen years before, when the Thirty Years' truce was con- cluded ; namely, Nissea, Pegce, Trcezen, and Achaia ; and his influence in the assembly induced it to adopt his views. The Lacedaemonian envoys, perceiving that nothing could be hoped from the assembly, proposed a private negotiation with a few chosen individuals. But Cleon would not hear of this arrange- ment, and when the envoys attempted to remonstrate, he com- pletely bullied and silenced them by his violence, and caused them to be sent back to Pylus, as they had come, in an Athe- nian trireme. § 6. When the envoys returned, the Lacedaemonians demanded the restoration of their fleet, according to agreement ; but Eury- medon refused to comply, under the, apparently, false pretext that the Lacedaemonians had violated the armistice by an at- tempt to surprise Pylus. Hostilities were now resumed, but without any decisive result. The blockade of Sphacteria began to grow tedious and harassing. The force upon it continually received supplies of provisions either from swimmers, who towed skins filled with linseed and poppy-seed mixed with honey, or from Helots, who, induced by the promise of emancipation and large rewards, eluded the blockading squadron during dark and fctormy nights, and landed cargoes on the back of the island. The summer, moreover, was fast wearing away, and the storms of winter might probably necessitate the raising of the blockade altogether. Under these circumstances, Demosthenes began to contemplate a descent upon the island ; with which view ho collected reinforcements from Zacynthus and Naupactus, and also sent a message to Athens to explain the mi favourable state of the blockade, and to request further assistance. § 7. These tidings were very distasteful to the Athenians, who had looked upon Sphacteria as their certain prey. They began to regret having let slip the favourable opportunity for making a peace, and to vent their displeasure upon Cleon, the director of their conduct on that occasion. But Cleon put on a face of brass. He charged the messengers from Pylus with having misrepresented the facts of the case ; and when that position proved untenable, began to abuse the strategi. His political opponent, Nicias, was then one of those officers, a man of quiet B.C. 42b. CLEON ELECTED GENERAL. 311 disposition and moderate abilities, but — a peculiar destination in those days — thoroughly honest and incorruptible, pure in his morals and sincerely religious. Him Cleon now singled out for his vituperation, and pointing at him -with his finger, exclaimed — " It would be easy enough to take the island if our generals were men. If /were Strategus, I would do it at once !" This burst of the tanner made the assembly laugh. He was saluted with cries of " Why don't you go, then 1 " and Nicias, thinking probably to catch his opponent in his own trap, seconded the voice of the assembly by offering to place at his disposal what- ever force he might deem necessary for the enterprise. Cleon at first endeavoured to avoid the dangerous honour thus thrust upon him. But the more he drew back the louder were the as- sembly in calling upon him to accept the office ; and as Nicias seriously repeated his proposition, he adopted with a good grace what there was no longer any possibility of evading. Nay, he even declined the assistance of the regular Athenian hoplites, and engaged, with some heavy-armed Lemnian and Imbrian troops, together with some Thracian peltasts and 400 bowmen, in addition to the soldiers already at Pylus, to take Sphacteria within twenty days, and either kill all the Lacedaemonians upon it, or bring them prisoners to Athens. § 8. Never did general set out upon an enterprise under circumstances more singular ; but, what was still more extra- ordinary, fortune enabled him to make his promise good. In fact, as we have seen, Demosthenes had akeady resolved on attacking the island. Cleon procured that general to be named his second in command, and thus stepped in, with a nominal authority, to intercept the honours which were in reality due to another. On the other hand, Nicias is not free from blame on this occasion. He seems to have given the command to Cleon, whom he deemed totally incompetent for it, merely with the view of ruining a political opponent, and to have left the interests of Athens wholly out of sight. When Cleon arrived at Pylus he found everything prepared for the attack. Accident favoured the enterprise. A fire kindled by some Athenian sailors, who had landed for the pur- pose of cooking their dinner, caught and destroyed the woods with which the island was overgrown, and thus deprived the Lacedsemonians of one of their principal defences. Nevertheless, such was the awe inspired by the reputation of the Spartan arms, that Demosthenes considered it necessary to land about 10,000 soldiers of different descriptions, among whom were 800 Athe- nian hoplites, although the Lacedaemonian force consisted of only about 420 men. ■ Their commander, Epitadas, was posted 812 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciiap. XXVI11 with the main body in the centre of the island. An outpost of 30 hoplites defended the extremity farthest from Pylus. The end of the island facing that place, steep and rugged by nature, was rendered still stronger by a circuit of rude stones, of an- cient and unknown origin, which answered the purpose of a fort. The Athenians, having landed before daybreak, surprised and cut to pieces the advanced guard of 30 hoplites. Then De- mosthenes, having divided his light-armed troops into bodies of about 200 men each, which were to hover round and annoy the enemy, drew up his 800 hoplites in battle array near the spot where he had landed. Epitadas had therefore to advance against him with his main body, about 360 in number, over ground ob- structed by the ashes and stumps of the burnt wood, and amidst a shower of missiles from the light troops on his flanks and rear. At length, distressed by a species of warfare which he had no means of repelling, and almost blinded by the dust and ashes, Epitadas ordered his men to retreat to the stone fort at the ex- tremity of the island, whither they were followed by the Athe- nian hoplites. Here, however, having the advantage of the ground, and being able to use their spears and swords in close combat, the Lacedaemonians for a long while kept their assailants at bay ; till some Messenians, stealing round by the sea-shore, over crags and cliffs which the Lacedaemonians had deemed im- practicable, suddenly appeared on the high ground which over- hung their rear. They now began to give way, and would soon have been all slain ; but Cleon and Demosthenes, being anxious to carry them prisoners to Athens, called off their men from the pursuit, and sent a herald to summon the Lacedaemonians to surrender. The latter, in token of compliance, dropped their shields, and waved their hands above their heads. They re- quested, however, permission to communicate with their coun- trvinen on the mainland; who, after two or three communica- tions, sent them a final message — " to take counsel for themselves, but to do nothing disgraceful." The survivors then surrendered. They were 292 in number, 120 of whom were native Spartans belonging to the first families. By this surrender the prestige of the Spartan arms was in a great degree destroyed. Tha Spartans were not, indeed, deemed invincible ; but their pre- vious feats, especially at Thermopylae, had inspired the notion that they would rather die than yield ; an opinion which could how no longer be entertained. § 9. Cleon had thus performed his promise. On the day after the victory, he and Demosthenes started with the prisoners for Athens, where they arrived within 20 days from the time of Cleon's departure. Altogether, this affair was one of tne most B.C. 425 CAPTURE OF PYLUS. 313 favourable for the Athenians that had occurred during the war. The prisoners would serve not only for a guarantee against fu- ture invasions, which might be averted by threatening to put them to death, but also as a means for extorting advantageous conditions whenever a peace should be concluded. Nay, the victory itself was of considerable importance, since it enabled the Athenians to place Pylus in a better posture of defence, and, by garrisoning it with Messenians from Natipactus, to create a stronghold whence Laconia might be overrun and ravaged at pleasure. The Lacedaemonians themselves were so sensible of these things, that they sent repeated messages to Athens to pro- pose a peace, but which the Athenians altogether disregarded. § 10. Meanwhile, after the victory at Sphacteria, Eurymedon and Sophocles proceeded with the Athenian fleet to Corcyra, where, in conjunction with the people, they took by storm the post of the oligarchs on Mount Istone. The latter at first retired to an inaccessible peak, but subsequently surrendered them- selves on condition of being sent to Athens to be judged by the Athenian assembly. Eurymedon, the same man, it will be ob- served, who had before abandoned the Corcyrrcans to all the" fury of civil discord, assented to these conditions, and caused the prisoners to be secured in the smaU adjoining island of Ptyohia. But he took not the slightest pains to carry out the agreement ; nay, he even connived at the artifices of the Cor- cyreean democracy to en crap the prisoners into a breach of the capitulation, and thus procure a pretext for their destruction. For this purpose emissaries in the guise of friends were sent over to Ptychia to persuade the prisoners that Eurymedon in- tended to hand them over to their enemies, and thus succeeded in inducing some of them to escape in a boat provided for that purpose. The boat was seized in the act, and Eurymedon now delivered up the prisoners to the democratical party. They were at first confined in a large building, whence, chained two and two together, they were led out to execution in companies of twenty. They advanced through a road lined with armed men, who singled out their private enemies, and struck and wounded them till they perished. " These scenes,"' says a great historian, " are real prototypes of the September massacres at Paris : all the prisoners, just as at Paris, were led from the prison between two rows of armed men, and cut to pieces."* What, however, renders this scene still more disgusting than the Pa- risian massacres, is, that a third party — Eurymedcn, with his Athenians — looked on in cold blood, and saw these atrocities * Niebuhr, * Lectures on Ancient History,' vol. ii. n. 39. 311 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIII, perpetrated without making the slightest attempt to prevent them. After three companies had been destroyed the remaining prisoners refused to quit the building, or to allow any one to enter it ; at the same time piteously imploring the Athenians to kill them, rather than abandon them to the cruelties of their countrymen. But Eurymedon was inexorable. The people now unroofed part of the building, and assailed the prisoners with showers of tiles and arrows, tih 1 , in order to escape this lingering fate, they were driven to commit suicide. The work of death proceeded through the night. At daybreak the people entered the building with carts, and piling upon them the dead bodies, in number about 300, carried them out of the city. § 11. The eighth year of the war (b. c. 424) opened with bril- liant prospects for the Athenians. But their good fortune had now reached its culminating point ; and before the year closed, their defeat at the battle of Delium and the loss of their empire in Thrace more than counterbalanced all the advantages they had previously gained. At first, however, success stdl attended their arms. 2Sicias reduced the important island of Cythera, at the southern extremity of Laconia, and placed garrisons in the towns of Cythera and Scandeia. He then proceeded to the coasts of Laconia, which he ravaged in various places. Among his conquests here was the town of Thyrea, where the Lacedie- monians had allowed the vEginetans to settle after their expul- sion from their own island. Thyrea was destroyed, and the sur- viving .Eginetans carried to Athens and put to death. Among the horrors which the great historian of the Peloponnesian war ha3 noted as characterizing the times, the murder of 2000 Helots by the Lacedoemonians stands conspicuous. Alarmed for their own safety since the establishment of an Athenian and Messe- nian force at Pylus, the Lacedaemonians about this time pro- claimed that those Helots who had distinguished themselves by their services during the war should come forward and claim their liberty. A large body appeared, out of whom 2000 were selected as worthy of emancipation. Crowned with garlands, and honoured with all the imposing ceremonies of religion, the unhappy Helots paid with their lives for the liberty thus so- lemnly acquired. In a short time they all disappeared, no man knew how, by secret orders from the Ephors, who took this per- fidious and detestable method to rid themselves of formidable enemies. § 12. Elate with their continued good fortune, the Athenians aimed at nothing less than the recovery of all the possessions wmen they had held before the Thirty Years' truce. For this purpose they planned two important expeditions, one against B.C. 424. BATTLE OF DEL1UM. 315 Megara and the other against Boeotia. In the former they were partially successful. They seized Nisoea, the port of Megara, which they permanently occupied with an Athenian garrison but they were prevented from obtaining possession of Megara itself by the energy of Brasidas, who was at that time in the neighbourhood of Corinth, collecting troops for his Thracian expedition. Receiving intelligence of the danger of Megara, he immediately marched to the assistance of the city with a consi- derable force, which the Athenians did not venture to attack. The expedition against Boeotia was attended with the most disastrous results. Some Boeotian exiles, and other malcontent citizens, had formed a plan to betray Siphre, on the gulf of Co- rinth, and Chseronea, on the borders of Phocis, into the hands of the Athenians, who were on the same day to invade Boeotia from the south, and to seize the temple of Apollo at Delium, a place about five miles from Tanagra, strongly situated upon the cliffs on the eastern coast. It was anticipated that these simultaneous attacks at various points would divide the Boeotian forces, and render the enterprise easy of execution. But the scheme was betrayed, and miscarried. Demosthenes, who was to attack Siphoo and Chseronea, found those places preoccupied by a formidable Boeotian force, which rendered vain all hopes of surprising them. Hippocrates, who commanded the army of invasion from the south, proceeded to execute his part in the arrangement, and marched to Delium with the very large force of 7000 Athenian hoplites, toge- ther with 25,000 light armed troops and several hundred cavalry. A day's march brought him to Delium, where he immediately fortified the sanctuary of Apollo with a rampart and ditch, besides other works. When these were completed, a garrison was left in the place, and the army commenced its homeward march. On arriving at the heights between Delium and the plain of Oropus, they were encountered by the Boeotians, who had assembled in great force at Tanagra. Their army consisted of about 7000 Boeotian hoplites, some of whom were the very flower of the Theban warriors, 10,000 light armed troops, 500 peltasts, and 1000 horse. They were led by the eleven Bceotarchs then at the head of the Boeotian confederacy, though the supreme command seems to have been vested, probably alternately, in the two Bceotarchs of Thebes, Pagondas and Aranthides. All the Bceot- archs, with the exception of Pagondas, were of opinion that, as the Athenians seemed to be in full retreat, they should be suffered to retire unmolested. But that commander, disregarding the opinion of his colleagues, appealed to the patriotic and religious feelings of the soldiers. He painted in strong colours the danger of suffering this insult to their territory to pass unpunished, and 816 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIII, pointed out that the sacrifices were favourable for an attack, whilst, on the other hand, the Athenians had incurred the anger of Apollo by violating his temple. Having by these representa- tions persuaded the Boeotians to hazard an engagement, he drew up the army in order of battle under the brow of a hill which concealed them from the Athenians. Hippocrates, on his side, hastened to prepare his troops for the battle. His hoplites were drawn up in a hue of eight deep, having the hght armed troops and cavalry on the flanks. The heavy Boeotian phalanx, on the contrary, was twenty-five deep ; the Theban hoplites occupying the right, with the other heavy-armed Boeotians on the left and in the centre. The light-armed troops and cavalry were ranged, as in the Athenian line, upon the flanks. The Boeotians, ascend- ing the hill in this array, as soon as they came in sight of the Athenians, raised the war-shout and charged, before Hippocrates had finished addressing his men. Ravines at both extremities of the line prevented the light troops from engaging ; but the Berried ranks of the hoplites met in desperate conflict. The left wing of the Boeotians was repulsed ; but on the right the skill and valour of the chosen Theban warriors who led the van, as well as the superior weight of the deep and densely compacted phalanx, bore down all resistance. At the same time Pagondas, having sent round his cavalry to attack the Athenian right, restored the fortune of the day on that side also. The rout of the Athenians was now complete. Some fled back to Dehum, some to Oropus, others to the heights of Parnes. Hippocrates himself fell in the engagement, together with 1000 hoplites ; a loss about double that of the Boeotians. Fortunately for the Athenians, the battle had commenced late in the day, and they were thus rescued by the friendly shades of night from the pur- suit and massacre which would otherwise have overtaken them. When on the morrow an Athenian herald asked the cus- tomary permission to bury the slain, the Boeotians reproached the Athenians with the violation of Apollo's sanctuary, and re- fused the sacred rites of sepulture till the sacrilege should bo expiated, and Delium evacuated. They immediately invested that place, which surrendered after a siege of seventeen days. The greater part of the garrison, however, succeeded in escaping by sea, but about 200 prisoners fell into the hands of tho Boeotians. Altogether the battle of Delium was the greatest and most decisive fought during the first period of the war. An interesting feature of the battle is that both Socrates and his pupil Alcibiades were engaged in it, the former among the hoplites, the latter in the cavalry. Socrates distinguished him- self by lis bravery, and was one of those who, instead of throw- B.C. 4'H. BRASIDAS IN THRACE. 317 ing down their arms, kspt together in a compact body, and re- pulsed the attacks of the pursuing horse. His retreat was also protected by Alcibiades. § 13. This disastrous battle was speedily followed by the overthrow of the Athenian empire in Thrace. At the request of Perdiccas, king of Macedonia, and of the Chalcidian towns, who had sued for help against the Athenians, Brasidas was sent by the Lacedaemonian government into Thrace, at the head of 700 Helot hoplites and such others as he could succeed in raising in Greece. While engaged in levying troops in the neighbourhood of Corinth, he saved Megara from falling into the hands of the Athenians, as has been already related. Having obtained 1000 Peloponnesian hoplites, in addition to the 700 mentioned above, he succeeded, by a rapid and dex- terous march through the hostile country of Thessaly, in effecting a junction with Perdiccas, with whom he marched into Thrace. Here he proclaimed that he was come to deliver the Grecian cities from the tyrannous yoke of Athens. His bravery, his kind and conciliating demeanour, his probity, moderation, and good faith, soon gained him the respect and love of the allies of Athens in that quarter ; whose defection was likewise promoted by the news of the Athenian reverses. Acanthus and Staglrus hastened to open their gates to him ; and early in the ensuing winter, by means of forced marches, he suddenly and unex- Plan of the neighbourhood of Ampbipolis. I . S&e oi Amphipohs. 1. Site of Eion. 3. K.dtje coontt liu^ AmphiDon. with Mount Pan"a us. 6. Lake Cerciniti*. 7- Mount Cerdyliuii. 8. Mount Pangtmis. 318 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIIL pectedly appeared before the important Athenian colony of Amphipolis on the Strymon. In that town the Athenian party was the stronger, and Bent a message for assistance to Thucy- dides, the historian, who, in conjunction with Eucles, was then general in those parts. Thucydides hastened with seven ships from Thasos, and succeeded in securing Eion at the mouth of the Strymon ; but Amphipolis, which lay a little higher up the river, allured by the favourable terms offered, had already sur- rendered to Brasidas. For his want of vigilance on this occasion, Thucydides was, on the motion of Cleon, sentenced to banish- ment, and spent the following twenty years of his life in exile. From Amphipolis Brasidas proceeded to the easternmost penin- sula of Chalcidice, where most of the towns hastened to surrender. At Torone, on the Sithonian peninsula, the gates were opened by an anti-Athenian party. The Athenian garrison fled to a neighbouring fort ; but Brasidas took the place by storm, and put all the prisoners to the sword. § 14. The Athenians were so much depressed by their defeat at Deliurn, that they neglected to take vigorous measures for arresting the progress of Brasidas. They now began to think seriously of peace, and to entertain the proposals of the Lacedae- monians, who were on their side sohcitous about their prisoners still in custody at Athens. Early in B.C. 423, the ninth year ot the war, a truce was concluded for a year, with a view to the subsequent adjustment of a definitive and permanent peace. The negotiations for that purpose were, however, suddenly inter- rupted by the news that Scione had revolted to Brasidas This revolt appears to have taken place two days after the conclusion of the truce ; and as one of the oonditions was that every thing should remain in statu quo till peace was definitively concluded, the Athenians demanded that the town should be restored. With this demand Brasidas refused to comply. Excited by the speeches of Cleon, the Athenians would not listen to any proposals for arbitration, and sent an armament against Scion6, with orders tint every man in the place should be put to death. The war was thus revived in those distant regions, but nearer home the truce was observed. Brasidas, who had been deserted by the faithless Perdiccas, threw himself into Toron6 on the approach of the Athenians. Nicias and Nicostratus, who had arrived in Chalcidice with 50 triremes and a large body of troops, commenced operations against Mend6, which had also revolted. The town was surrendered by a party among the citizens : the Lacedaoinonian garrison contrived to escape to Scione, which town the Athenians proceeded to invest ; and then Nicias had completely blockaded it, he returned to Athens. B.C. 422. DEATH OF BRASIDAS AND CLEON. 319 §15. Things remained in this state till the beginning of the year B.C. 422, when the truce expired. Early in August, Cleon having been appointed to the command, proceeded against Scione, with a fleet of 30 triremes, carrying 1200 hoplites, 300 cavalry, and a large force of subsidiary troops. In the absence of Brasidas he succeeded in taking Torone and Galepsus, but failed in an attempt upon Stagirus. He then lay for some time inactive at Eion, till the murmurs of his troops compelled him to proceed against Amphipolis. Thither Brasidas had also directed his march, with au army of 2000 hoplites, 300 Greek cavalry, and a large body of light armed Thracians. He encamped on the heights of Cerdyhum on the western bank of the river, whence he coidd survey all the movements of the enemy ; but, on the approach cf Cleon, he threw all his troops into the town. That general encamped on a rising ground on the eastern side of Amphipolis. Having deserted the peaceful art of dressing hides for the more hazardous trade of war, in which he was almost totally inexperienced, and having now no Demosthenes to direct his movements, Cleon was thrown completely off his guard by a very ordinary stratagem on the part of Brasidas, who contrived to give the town quite a deserted aud peaceful appearance. Cleon suffered his troops to fall into disorder, till he was sud- denly surprised by the astounding news that Brasidas was pre- paring for a sally. Cleon at once resolved to retreat. But his skill was equal to his valour. He had no conception that he coidd be attacked till Brasidas had drawn out his men and formed them, as if they were on parade, in regular order. He therefore conducted his retreat in the most disorderly manner. His left wing had already filed off, and his centre with straggling ranks was in the act of following, when Brasidas ordered the gates of the town to be flung open, and rushing out at the head of only 150 chosen soldiers, charged the retreating columns in flank. They were immediately routed ; but as Brasidas was hastening to attack the Athenian right, which was only just breaking ground, and where Cleon himself was posted, he re- ceived a mortal wound and was earned off the field. Though his men were forming on the hill, Cleon fled as fast as he could on the approach of the enemy, but was pursued and slain by a Thracian peltast. In spite, however, of the disgraceful flight of their general the right wing maintained their ground for a con- siderable time, till some cavalry and peltasts issuing from Am- phipolis attacked them in flank and rear, and compelled them to fly. On assembling again at Eion it was found that half the Athenian hoplites had been slain. Brasidas was carried intu Amphipolis, and lived long enough to receive the tidings of his 320 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIII. victory. He was interred within the walls with great military pomp in the centre of what thenceforth became the chief agora ; he was proclaimed cecist, or founder uf' the town ; and was wor- shipped as a hero with annual games and sacrifices. §16. By the death of Brasidas and Cleon, the two chief ob- stacles to a peace were removed ; for the former loved war for the sake of its glory, the latter for the handle which it afforded for agitation and for attacking his political opponents. The Athenian Nicias, and the Spartan king Pleistoanax, zealously forwarded the negotiations, and in the spring of the year B.C. 421, a peace for 50 years, commonly called the peace of Nicias, was concluded on the basis of a mutual restitution of prisoners and places cap- tured during the war. The Thebans, however, retained Plata^a on the plea that it had been voluntarily surrendered, and on the same grounds Athens was allowed to hold Nisoea, Anactorium, and Solliuni. Neutral towns were to remain independent, and pay only the assessment of Aristides. By this treaty Sparta sacrificed the interests of her allies in favour of her own. Her confederates viewed it with jealousy and distrust, and four of them, namely, the Boeotians, Corinthians, Eleans, and Megarians, positively refused to ratify it. Alarmed at this circumstance, as well as at the expiration of her Thirty Years' Truce with Argos, Sparta soon afterwards concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with Athens, with the stipulation that each might in- crease or diminish at pleasure the number of its allies and subjocts. Coin uf AmphipoUs. Centaur from the Metopes of the Parthenon. CHAPTER XXIX. PELOPONN'ESIAN WAR CONTINUED. FROM THE PEACE OF NICIAS TO THE EXPEDITION OF THE ATHENIANS TO SICILY. § 1. League of Argos, Corinth, Elea, Mantinea, and Chalcidice. § 2. Trans- actions between Sparta and Athens. § 3. Policy and character of Alci- biades. § 4. He advocates a league with Argos. Resorts to a stratagem to procure it. § 5. Alcibiades victor at Olympia. His magnificence. § 6. He proceeds to Peloponnesus. § 7. Proceedings of the Lacedaemo- nians. Battle of Mantinea. § 8. Revolutions at Argos. A democracy established. § 9. Conquest of Melos by the Athenians. § 10. Interven- tion of the Athenians in Sicily. §11. Embassy of the Egestaeans. They deceive the Athenians respecting their wealth. § 12. The Athenians re- solve on an expedition to Sicily. § 13. Preparations at Athens. Popular delusion. § 14. Mutilation of the Hermae. Accusation of Alcibiades. § 15. Departure of the Athenian fleet for Sicily. § 1. It has been mentioned that several of the allies of Spaiia were dissatisfied with the peace which she had concluded ; and soon afterwards some of them determined to revive the ancient pretensions of Argos, and to make her the head of a new con- federacy, which should include all Greece, with the exception of Sparta and Athens. The movement was begun by the Corin- Gr. * 332 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIX. thians, who felt themselves aggrieved because the Lacedaemonians had allowed Athens to retain Sollium and Anactoriuni. The league was soon joined by the Eleans, the Mantineans, and the Chalcidian*. But they in vain endeavoured to persuade the powerful city of Tegea to unite with them ; whilst the oligar- chical governments of Bceotia and Megara also stood aloof. § 2. Between Sparta and Athens themselves matters were far from being on a satisfactory footing. Sparta confessed her in- ability to compel the Boeotians and Corinthians to accede to the peace, or even to restore the town of Amphipolis. After the death of Brasidas, Clearidas had succeeded to tire- 'command of Amphipohs ; and he now pretended that he was not strong enough to surrender it against the will of the inhabitants. However, he withdrew with his garrison from the place ; and the Athenians do not appear to have made any attempt to take possession of it. All that they effected in that quarter was to reduc e Scio ne, when the bloody decree of Cleon was earned into execution. ^Athens consequently refused to evacuate Pylus, though she removed the Helots and Messenians from it. § 3. In the negotiations which ensued respecting the surrender of Pylus, Alcibiades took a prominent part. This extraordinary man had already obtained immense influence at Athens. Young, rich, handsome, profligate, and clever, Alcibiades was the very model of an Athenian man of fashion. In lineage he was a striking contrast to the plebeian orators of the day. The Athenian public, in spite of its excessive democracy, was anything but insensible to the prestige of high birth ; and Alcibiades traced his paternal descent from the iEacid heroes Eurysaces and Ajax^whilst on his mother's side he claimed relationship with the Alcmaeonidae, and consequently with Pericles. On the death of his father Clinias, Pericles had become his guardian. From early youth the conduct of Alcibiades was marked by violence, reck- lessness, and vanity. He dehghted in astonishing the more sober portion of the citizens by his capricious and extravagant feats. Nothing, not even the sacredness of the laws, was secure from hi3 petulance. Sometimes we find him beating a school- master for not having a copy of Homer in his school, or inter- rupting the performances of the theatre by striking his fellow choregus ; and en one occasion he effaces with his own hand an indictment published against a Thasian poet, and defies both prosecutor and magistrate to proceed with it. His beauty, his wit, and his escapades, had made him the darling of all the Athenian ladies, nor did the men regard him with less admira- tion. But he was utterly destitute of morality, whether public or private. The " lion's whelp," as he is termed by Aristo- B.C. 421. CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. 323 phanes, was even suspected, in his boundless ambition, of a design to enslave his fellow-citizens. His vices, however, were partly redeemed by some brilliant qualities. He possessed both boldness of design and vigour of action ; and though scarcely more than thirty at the time of which we are now speaking, he had already on several occasions distinguished himself by his bravery. His more serious studies were made subservient to the purposes of his ambition, for which some skill as an orator was necessary. In order to attain it he frequented the schools of the sophists, and exercised himself in the dialectics of Pro- dicus, Protagoras, and above all of Socrates. As an orator he seems to have attained a respectable, but not a first, rank. He had not the rapid and spontaneous flow of ideas and words which characterised the eloquence of Pericles. He would fre- quently hesitate in order to cull the most choice and elegant phrase ; and a lisp, whether natural or affected, which turned all the r's into Vs, must have been a serious drawback to his oratory. § 4. Such was the man who now opposed the appli cation of the Lacedaemonian ambassadors. It is characteristic of him that personal pique was the motive of his opposition. The politics of his ancestors had been democratic, and his grandfather was a violent opponent of the Pisistratidfe. But he himself on his first entrance into public life, a little before the peace of Nicias, had manifested oligarchical sentiments, and even endeavoured to renew an ancient tie of hospitality which had formerly connected his family with Sparta. With the view of becoming the Spartan proxenus at Athens, he had been assiduous in his attentions towards the Spartan prisoners, and had taken an active part in forwarding the peace. But the Spartan government rejected his advances, and even sneered at the idea of intrusting their political interests to a youth known only by his insolence and profligacy. The petulant Alcibiades was not the man to brook such an affront. He immediately threw himself, with all the restless energy of his character, into the party opposed to Sparta, now deprived of its most conspicuous leader by the death of Cleon. He began to advocate a, league with Argos, in which city the democratic party at that time predominated, and sent a private message to his friends there advising them to despatch ambassadors to negotiate the admission of Argos among the allies of Athens. A joint embassy was accordingly sent from Argos, Elea, and Mantinea. The Lacedaemonians endeavoured to defeat this negotiation by sending three of their most popular citizens to Athens, to make another attempt to procure the oession of Pylus. Their reception was so favourable, that Alci- y 2 324 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIX. biadcs, alarmed at the prospect of their success, resorted to n trick in order to defeat it. He called upon the Lacedamioniaa envoys, one of whom happened to be his personal friend ; and pretending to have resumed his predilections for Sparta, he ad- vised them not to tell the Assembly that they were furnished with full powers, as in that case the people would bully them into extravagant concessions, but rather to say that they were merely come to discuss and report ; promising, if they did so, to speak in their favour, and induce the Assembly to grant the restitution of Pylus, to which he himself had hitherto been the chief obstacle. Accordingly on the next day, when the ambas- sadors were introduced into the Assembly, Alcibiades, assuming his blandest tone and most winning smile, asked them on what footing they came, and what were their powers ? In reply to these questions, the ambassadors, who only a day or two before had told Nicias and the Senate that they were come as plenipo- tentiaries, now publicly declared in the face of the assembly, that they were not authorized to conclude, but only to negotiate and discuss. At this announcement, those who had heard their previous declaration could scarcely believe their ears. A universal burst of indignation broke forth at this exhibition of Spartan duplicity ; whilst to wind up the scene, Alcibiades, affecting to be more surprised than any, distinguished himself by being the loudest and bitterest in his invectives against the perfidy of the Lacedaemonians. Taking advantage of the moment, he proposed that the Argive ambassadors should be called in, and an alliance instantly concluded with Argos. The motion, however, was defeated for the present by an earth- quake which occurred, and which caused the assembly to be adjourned. This delay procured Nicias the opportunity of pro- ceeding to Sparta, and making another attempt at adjustment. It proved, however, unsuccessful. Nicias was obliged to make the mortifying confession of his failure before the assembly ; and Alcibiades thereupon procured the completion of a treaty of alliance for 100 years with Argos, Elis, and Mantinea. This took place in the year 420 ET7T Tims were the Grecian states involved in a complicity of separate and often apparently oppo- site alliances. It was evident that allies so heterogeneous could not long hold together; nevertheless, nominally at least, pe:u e was at first observed. § 5. In the July which followed the treaty with Argos, the Olympic games, which recurred every fourth year, were to be celebrated. The Athenians had been shut out by the war from the two previous celebrations ; but now Elean heralds came with the usual forma to invite their attendance. Curiosity was ex- B.C. 418. WAR IN PELOPONNESUS. 325 cited throughout Greece to see what figure Athens would make at this great Pan-Hellenic festival. War, it was surmised, must have exhausted her resources, and would thus prevent her from appearing with becoming splendour. But from this reproach she was rescued by the wealth and vanity, if not by the patri- otism of Alcibiades. By bis care, the Athenian deputies exhi- bited the richest display of golden ewers, censers, and other plate to be used in the public sacrifice and procession ; whilst for the games he entered in his own name no fewer than the un- heard of number of seven four-horsed chariots, of which one gained the first, and another the second prize. Alcibiade-s was consequently twice crowned with the olive, and twice proclaimed victor by the herald. In his private tent his victory was cele- brated by a magnificent banquet. It is not improbable, how- ever, that on this occasion he was assisted by the Athenian allies ; for the whole Ionic race was interested in appearing with due honour at this grand national festival. § 6. The growing ambition and success of Alcibiades prompted him to carry his schemes against Sparta into the very heart of Peloponnesus, without, however, openly violating the peace. For the first time an Athenian general was beheld traversing the peninsula, and busying himself with the domestic affairs of several of its states. He persuaded the citizens of Patrse in Achaia to ally themselves with Athens ; and proceeded with the few troops he had brought with him to assist the Argives in an attack upon Epidaurus, a city conveniently situated for facili- tating the intercourse between Argos and Athens. The territory of Epidaurus was ravaged ; and late in the autumn, the Lacedas- monians sent 300 men by sea to the assistance of that city ; but nothing decisive took place. § 7. The Lacedsernonians now found it necessary to act with more vigour ; and accordingly in B.C. 418, they assembled a very large army, consisting both of their allies and of their own troops, and invaded the territory of Argos in three divisions. Their operations were judiciously planned. The Spartan king, Agis, succeeded in surrounding the Argive army in such a manner that he might easily have cut it to pieces ; but at the moment when an engagement was on the point of commencing, two of the Argive leaders proceeded to Agis, and by undertaking to procure a satisfactory alliance between Argos and Sparta, in- duced him to grant a truce of four months. Shortly after this truce had been concluded the Athenians came to the assistance of the Argives with a force of JL000 hoplites and 400 cavalry. They were accompanied by Alcibiades, who seems, however, to have come in a civil capacity. He now persuaded the Argives 326 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIX. to march with these troops and other allies agahst the town of Orchonienos in Arcadia. Having reduced Oichomenos, they proceeded against Tegea, hoping to become masters of it through the treachery of a party among the citizens. These proceeding.*, however, roused the Lacedaemonians, who entered the territory of Man tinea, with a large force. Agis, who had incurred the just indignation of his countrymen by the improvident truce before mentioned, was nevertheless intrusted with the command of this army ; but only in consideration of his having promised to wipe out his former disgrace by performing some great exploit. He marched into the territory of Mantinea, and took up a posi- tion near the Heracleuin, or temple of Hercules, whence he laid waste the surrounding country. The Argives and their allies marched forth from Mantinea, and, posting themselves on very rugged and advantageous ground, offered the Lacedaemonians battle. Anxious to retrieve his honour, Agis was hastening to attack them even at this disadvantage, and had already arrived within javelin-throw, when an aged warrior exclaimed that lie was now about " to heal one mischief by another." Struck by this remark Agis drew off his men, and, with the view of enticing the Argives from their position, commenced a retrograde march over the plain ; intending also to block up a watercourse situated at some distance, and annoy the Mantineans by flooding their lands. Finding, however, this project to be impracticable, he returned upon his steps the following day, when his columns suddenly found themselves in presence of the enemy, drawn up in order of battle upon the plain. But, though taken somewhat by surprise, the admirable discipline of the Lacedaemonians, ensured by a continuous subordination of officers, as well as by constant drill, enabled Agis to form his line speedily and without confusion in the face of the enemy. Instead of charging before his troops were formed, the Argive generals were wasting the time in haranguing their men. The Spartans, who were soldiers, by profession, needed no such encouragement, and trusted rather to discipline and valour than to fine speeches. Instead of these, the inspiriting war-song resounded through their ranks ; whilst the slow and steady regularity of their march was go- verned by the musical time of their pipers. Their opponents on the contrary came rushing on at a furious pace. From the natural tendency of Greek armies to advance somewhat towards the right, in order to keep their left or shielded side as much as possible towards the enemy, the left wing of Agis was outflanked by the right of the allies, in which fought a chosen body of 1000 Argivo hoplites, formed of the flower and aristocracy of the city, and maintained and drilled at the public expense. On this side B.C. 418. BATTLE OF MANTINEA. 327 the Lacedaemonians were routed ; but Agis nevertheless pushed on with his centre and right, and gained a complete victory. The loss of the allies was computed at 1100, a mong whom were 200 Athenians and both their generals, Laches and Nicostratus. Of the Lacedaemonians about 300 were slain. This "battle, called the battle of Mantinea, which was fought in June;, 418 B.c.^had great effecfrn restoring the somewhat tarnished^lusffefof the Spartan arms. From the renown of the nations engaged in it, though not in point of numbers, it was a more important battle even than that of Delium. § 8. This defeat strengthened the oligarchical party at Argcs, which now entered into a conspiracy to bring about an alliance with Sparta. To assist their views the Lacedaemonians marched in great force to Tegea, and offered Argos the alternative of an alliance or war ; and in spite of all the efforts of Alcibiades to counteract it, a treaty was eventually concluded between the two states. This was followed by a revolution at Argos. The denio- cratical leaders were slain, and an oligarchical government esta- blished by means of their thousand chosen hoplites. But the oligarchs abused their power, and the brutal tyranny ofJBryas, the commander of the chosen Thousand, produced a counter- revolution. A bride of the humbler class, whom he had ravished from the very midst of a wedding procession, and carried to his house, put out the eyes of the tyrant during the night with the pin of her brooch, and having thus effected her escape, roused by her tale of woe the indignation of the people. The latter, taking advantage of the Lacedaemonians being engaged in the festival of the Gynmopaedia, rose against the aristocrats, ob- tained possessiorTbf the city, and renewed the alliance with Athens. An attempt to construct long walls from Argos to the sea, a distance of four or five miles, was defeated by the Lacedae- monians ; but in the spring of B.C. 416 Alcibiades arrived to support the Argive democracy with an Athenian armament, aud 20 triremes. Nevertheless, the peace between Sparta and Athens continued to be nominally observed, although the gar- rison of Pylus were committing ravages in Laconia, and the Lacedaemonians, by way of reprisal, infested the Athenian com- merce with their privateers. § 9. It was in the same year that the Athenians attacked and conquered Melos, which island and Thera were the only islands in the-^gean not subject to the Athenian supremacy. Their arma- ment consisted of 38 triremes and a considerable force of hoplites. The Melians having" rejected all the Athenian overtures for a voluntary submission, their capital was blockaded by sea and land, and after a siege of some months surrendered. On the pro- 828 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIX. posal, as it appears, of AJcibiades, all the adult males were put to death, the women and children sold into slavery, and the islaDd colonized afresh by. 500 Athenians. This horrible proceeding was the more indefensible, as the Athenians, having attacked the Melians in full peace, could not pretend that they were justified by the custom of war in slaying the prisoners. It was the crowning act of insolence and cruelty displayed during their empire, which from this period began rapidly to dechne. § 10. The event destined to produce that catastrophe — the intervention of the Athenians in the affairs of Sicily — was already in progress. The feuds of race had been kindled in that island, as in the rest of Greece, by the Peloponnesian war. Eleven or twelve years before the period of which we are now speaking the Dorian cities of Sicily (with the exception of Camariua), to- gether with the Locrians of Italy, had, under the headship of Syracuse, joined the Peloponnesian confederacy, and declared war against Leontini, Camariua, and their ally, the city of Rhe- gium in Italy. In the year 427 B.C., the Leontines sent an embassy to Athens, to crave the assistance of the Athenians. At the head of it was the rhetorician, Gorgias, the novelty of whose brilliant eloquence took the Athenians by surprise, and is said to have chiefly con- tributed to the success of the applicatiou. However that may be, an Athenian squadron of twenty ships was despatched to the assistance of the Leontines, and also with a view to ascertain the possibility of reducing all Sicily, of whose size the Athenians seem to have had very vague and imperfect notions, to the obedience of Athens. A subsequent expedition in 425 B.C., con- sisting of forty triremes, under the command of Eurymedou and Sophocles, has been already mentioned.* The selfish and am- bitious designs of Athens had however become so evident that in the spring of the following year a congress of the Sicilian cities met at Gela ; where the Syracusan, Hermocrates, in an able and patriotic speech, succeeded in persuading them to lay aside their dissensions, and to unite in defeating the schemes of Athens. The Athenians were so disappointed at this failure, that when Eurymedon, and his colleagues Sophocles and Pytho- dorus, returned, they were indicted and convicted of having taken bribes to accede to the peace. Eurymedon was sen- tenced to pay a fine, and his fellow commanders were banished. § 11. In the year 422 n.c, another application for assistance was made to the Athenians by the Leontine democracy, who tad been expelled by the aristocrats ; but the Athenians, then * Set above, p. 6o7. B.C. 416. AFFAIRS OF THE SICILIAN GREEKS. 329 smarting under their recent losses, and having just concluded a truce with Sparta, could not be persuaded to grant any effectual succour. In the spring of 416 B.c. )y however, an embassy from the Sicilian town of Egesta was more successful. A quarrel had broken out between Egesta and Selinus, both which cities were seated near the western extremity of Sicily ; and Selinus, having obtained the aid of Syracuse, was pressing very hard upon the Egestseans. The latter appealed to the interests of the Athe- nians rather than to their sympathies. They represented how great a blow it would be to Athens if the Dorians became pre- dominant in Sicily, and joined the Peloponnesian confederacy ; and they undertook, if the Athenians would send an armament to their assistance, to provide the necessary funds for the pro- secution of the war. Their application was supported by the Leontine exiles still resident at Athens. But their most power- fid advocate was Alcibiades, whose ambitious views are said to have extended even to the conquest of Carthage. In these distant expeditions he beheld a means of gratifying his passion for adventure and glory, and at the same time of retrieving his fortune, which had been dilapidated by his profligate expendi- ture. The quieter and more prudent Nicias and his party threw their weight into the opposite scale ; and at tneir instance it was resolved, before an expedition was undertaken, to ascertain whether the Egestaeans were really able to perform the promises they had made. For this purpose commissioners were despatched to Egesta, whom, however, the cunning Egestaeans completely deceived. In the splendid temple of Aphrodite on Mount Eryx, a magnificent display of offerings was set out, consisting of vessels which the Egestaeans passed off for solid gold, though only silver gilt. In the private houses, where they were invited to banquet after banquet, the Athenian envoys were astonished at the profusion of plate under which the sideboards groaned, but which was slily transferred for the occasion from one house to another. Sixty talents of silver, placed in their hands as earnest-money, completed the delusion ; and the commissioners, who were, perhaps, not unwilling to be deceived, returned to Athens with magnificent accounts of the wealth of Egesta. § 12. Dazzled by the idea of so splendid an enterprise, the means for accomplishing which seemed ready provided, the Athenian assembly at once decided on despatching a fleet of sixty triremes, under Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus, with the design of assisting Egesta, of restoring the Leontine democracy, and lastly of estabhshing the influence of Athens throughout Sicily, by whatever means might be found practicable. Nicias, though named as one of the commanders of the expedition. 330 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXIX. entirely disapproved of it, and denounced it in the assembly as springing from the vain glory and ambition of Alcibiades. The latter repelled these not unmerited attacks in a violent speech, and persuaded the assembly to ratify their former deci- sion. Another attempt of Nicias to deter the Athenians from the enterprise by representing the enormous force which it would require, had an effect exactly contrary to what he had intended ; for the assembly, taking him at his word, decreed a fleet of 100 instead of 60 triremes, together with a proportionate increase in the land forces. § 13. For the next three months the preparations for the un- dertaking were pressed on with the greatest ardour. Young and old, rich and poor, all vied with one another to obtain a share in the expedition. Oracles and prophecies predicting success were circulated through the city, and greedily listened to. So great was the throng of volunteers, that the care of the generals was restricted to the task of selection. The trierarchs contended which should produce his vessel not only in the most efficient, but in the most ornamental state of equipment. Five years of comparative peace had accumulated a fresh supply both of men and money ; and the merchants of Athens embarked in the enterprise as in a trading expedition. It was only a few of the wisest heads that escaped the general fever of excitement. Me- ton, the astronomer, and Socrates, the philosopher, are said noT to have shared in the universal enthusiasm ; the latter warned, perhaps, by that familiar demon to whose whispered wisdom his ears were ever open. § 14. And now the magnificent armament is on the point of sailing. The brilliant city is alive with hope, and pride, and ex- pectation, when a sudden and mysterious event converts all thes6 exulting feelings into gloomy foreboding. At every door in Athens, at the corners of streets, in the market-place, before temples, gymnasia, and other public places, stood Hermco, or statues of the god Hermes, consisting of a bust of that deity surmounting a quadrangular pillar of marble about the height of the human figure. When the Athenians rose one morning towards the end of May, 4 If) it. a, it was found that all these figures had been mutilated during the night, and reduced by unknown hands to a shapeless mass. We may partly realize the feelings excited by this occurrence, by picturing to ourselves some Roman Catholic town, in which all the statues of the Virgin should have been suddenly defaced. But the act in- spired political, as well as religious, alarm. It seemed to indicate a wide spread conspiracy, lor so sudden and general a mutilation must have been the work of many hands. Athens, like other B.C. 415. MUTILATION OF THE KERMM. 331 Grecian states, abounded with clubs, which, like our societies of freemasons, offered facilities for secret and extensive combina- tions. This will probably afford the most natural explanation of the fear which now pervaded Athens ; for the sacrilege might only be a preliminary attempt of some powerful citizen to seize the despotism, and suspicion pointed its finger at Alcibiades. Active measures were taken and large rewards offered fcr the discovery of the perpetrators. A public board was apj^ointed to examine witnesses, which did not, indeed, succeed in eliciting any facts bearing on the actual subject of inquiry, but which obtained evidence respecting similar acts of impiety committed at previous times in drunken frolics. In these Alcibiades him- self was implicated ; and though the fleet was on the very eve of departure, Pythonicus rose in the assembly and accused him of having profaned the Eleusinian mysteries by giving a represen- tation of them in a private house, producing in evidence the testimony of a slave. Pythonicus also charged him with being privy to the mutilation of the Hernia?, but without bringing for- ward the slightest proof. Alcibiades denied the accusation, and implored the people to have it investigated at once. His enemies, however, had sufficient influence to get the inquiry postponed till his return ; thus keeping the charge hanging over his head, and gaining time to poison the public mind against him. § 15. The day had arrived for the sailing of the fleet. Corcyra was appointed for the rendezvous of the allies ; but even the de- parture of the Athenian armament was a spectacle imposing in the extreme. Of the hundred triremes, sixty were equipped as men of war, the rest as transports. Fifteen hundred chosen Athenian hoplites, 700 of the class of Thetes to act as marines, together with 500 Argive and 250 Mantinean hoplites, marched at daybreak to embark at the Pirseus, accompanied by nearly the whole of the population. As the ships were preparing to slip their moorings, the sound of the trumpet enjoined silence, and the voice of the herald, accompanied by that of the people, was lifted up in prayer. Then followed the chanting of the psean, whiist the officers on the decks of their respective vessels made libations of wine to the gods from gold and silver goblets. At length at a given signal the whole fleet started from Pirseus, each crew striving as in a nautical contest to arrive first at the island of iEgina. The people who lined the beach watched the vessels till they were out of sight, and then returned to the city with heavy hearts and ominous misgivings. Bust of Akii'iades. CHAPTER XXX. PELOPONNESIAN WAR CONTINUED. THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION. § t. Armament mustered at Corcyra. § 2. Its reception in Italy. Proceed- ings at Syracuse. § 3. Plans of the Athenian generals. § 4. The advice of Alcibiades adopted. He gains over Naxos and Catana. § 5. Proceed- ings at Athens respecting the mutilation of the Henna;, and the profanation of the mysteries. § 6. Alcibiades accused, and ordered to return to Athens. § 7. Proceedings of Nicias in Sicily. § 8. Preparations of the Sicilians for defence. § 9. Nicias lays siege to Syracuse. § 10. He seizes Epipola; and constructs a fort at Syke. Attempt of the Syracusans against it. § 11. Arrival of the Spartan general Gylippus. Change in the Athenian pros- pects. § 12. Invasion of Attica by the Lacedaemonians. They fortify De- celeia. § 13. The Syracusans defeat the Athenians at sea. § 14. Demos- thenes and Eurymedon arrive in Sicily with reinforcements. Reverses. The Athenians resolve to retreat. § 15. Naval engagement in the Great Harbour. Victory of the Syracusans. § 16. Its effects. Disastrous retreat of the Athenians. Surrender of Demosthenes. § 17. Surrender of Nicias. Treatment of the prisoners. Death of Nicias and Demosthenes. § 18. Their characters. § 1. The Athenian fleet destined for Sicily was joined at Cor- cyra by the other allies in the month of July, 415 b.o. The whole armament when mustered consisted of 134 triremes and two Ithodian pentecontcrs, and had on board 5100 hoplites, 480 bowmen, of whom 80 wore Cretans, 700 Ithodian slingers, and B.C. 415. THE ATHENIANS IN SICILY. 333 120 Megarian exiles, who served as light-armed troops. The fleet was accompanied by no fewer than 500 transports, carrying provisions, warlike stores, and artificers, as well as by a great many private trading vessels. Three fast-sailing triremes were sent ahead to ascertain the disposition of the Italian and Sicilian towns, and to notify to the Egestaeans the approach of assistance. The fleet then made for the Iapygian promontory, in three divi- sions, commanded by Xicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus. § 2. Their reception in Italy was far from encouraging. The utmost they could obtain was permission to take in water, and even this was refused by the Tarentines, and by the Epize- phyrian Locrians. At Rhegium, however, they were allowed to land and to purchase provisions ; but they were not permitted to enter the town, and the citizens refused to join or assist them. Here, therefore, they awaited the return of the three exploring vessels. Rumours of the intended expedition prevailed at Syracuse, but were treated as incredible. Hermocrates, however, was better informed than his fellow-citizens. He urged them to summon their allies and to prepare for defence, and even exhorted them to sail at once to the friendly harbour of Tarentum, and from thence to offer battle to the Athenian fleet in the Ionian gulf. But the demagogue Athenagoras treated the whole matter as a fiction invented to serve the interests of the oligarchical party. At last one of the generals put an end to the debate by under taking to place the city in a posture of defence. § 3. Meantime the three vessels which had been sent to Egesta returned to Rhegium, with the discouraging news that the accounts respecting the wealth of Egesta were entirely fic- titious, and that the sum of thirty talents was aU the assistance that could be hoped for from that quarter. A council of war was now held. It appears that the Athenian generals had pro- ceeded thus far without having formed any definite plan, and each now proposed a different one. Nicias was of opinion that, since no effectual help could be expected from the Egestaeans, the objects of the expedition should be confined to the narrowest possible limits, and with that view that they should sail at once against the Selinuntines, obtain from them the best terms pos- sible, and then return home. Alcibiades, whose hopes of glory and profit would have been ruined by this plan, proposed to gain as many allies as they could among the Greek cities in Sicily, and, having thus ascertained what assistance they could rely upon, to attack Syracuse and Selinus. Lamachus was for bolder measures. He recommended an immediate attack upon Syracuse, whilst it was yet unprepared for defence The terror of the 334 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciur. XXX. Syracusans would probably cause them to surrender, and the capture of their city would determine the conduct of the rest of Sicily ; but, if they lingered, negotiated, and did nothing, they would first be regarded with indifference and then with con- tempt § 4. The advice of Lamachuswas the most soldierlike, and, though seemingly the boldest, would undoubtedly have been the safest and most prudent in the end. But neither of his colleagues approved of it, and, as Lamachus was poor, and possessed no great political interest, he was obliged to give way. The counsel of Alcibiades was adopted as a mean between the other two. Messana refused his solicitations, but Naxos cordially joined the Athenians. Alci- biades then sailed southwards with a considerable portion of the fleet, and, passing Syracuse, despatched ten triremes into the Great Harbour, for the purpose of surveying its docks and forti- fications. Nothing further was attempted ; but as they sailed back the Athenians obtained possession by surprise of the im- portant city of Catana, which was now made the head-quarters of the armament. § 5. An unwelcome message greeted Alcibiades at Catana. After his departure from Athens fresh inquiries were instituted respecting the mutilation of the Henna?, and the offer of large rewards brought forward additional evidence. The public agita- tion and anxiety were kept alive by the demagogues Pisauder and Charicles, two of the commissioners of inquiry, who de- nounced the affair not only as a sacrilege, but also as a con- spiracy for putting down the democracy and establishing a tyranny. Numerous arrests were made, and citizens of the highest character were thrown into prison on the testimony of hireling wretches. Terror reigned in the city, and the fear of being informed against rose to such a pitch that the convocation of the senate by the herald was a signal to the crowd which filled the market-place to disperse. Among the persons arrested was Andocides, the orator, who was induced by his fellow-prisoners to come forward and state what he knew of the affair. He was a young man of rank, and his evidence was implicitly believed, especially as it was confirmed by his alaves, who were put to the torture. Those whom he denounced were executed. He saved his own life by turning informer, but the hatred he incurred was such that he was obliged to leave the city. His evidence was most probably false, and the whole affair has ever remained involved in mystery. § 6. The execution of the supposed criminals had the effect of tranquillizing the city respecting the mutilation of the Hernia' ; but the urofanation of the Eleusinian mysteries, a rite regarded B.C. 415. THE ATHENIANS IN SICILY. 335 with the deepest reverence at Athens, still remained unexpiated. The Eumolpidae, and other great families who held hereditary offices in the celebration of the mysteries, looked upon them- selves as personally insulted. The public excitement was in- creased by the appearance of a Lacedaemonian force on the frontier, which, it was suspected, might be connected with some internal conspiracy. Both oligarchs and democrats were loud in demanding the arrest of Alcibiades ; and Thessalus, the son of Cimon, who belonged to the former party, preferred an indict- ment against him. In pursuance of this step the Salaminian trireme was despatched to Sicily, carrying the decree of the assembly for Alcibiades to come home and take his trial, and which met him, as before related, on his arrival at Catana. The commander of the Salaminia was, however, instructed not to seize his person, but to allow him to sail in his own trireme. Alcibiades availed himself of this privilege to effect his escape. When the ships arrived at Thurii in Italy, he absconded, and contrived to elude the search that was made after him. Never- theless, though absent, he was arraigned at Athens, and con- demned to death ; his property was confiscated, and the Eumol- pids pronounced upon him the curses of the gods. On hearing of his sentence Alcibiades is said to have exclaimed, " I will show them that I am still alive." § 7. Three months had now been frittered away in Sicily, during which the Athenians had done little or nothing, if we except the acquisition of Naxos and Catana. The Syracusans began to look upon them with contempt. They even meditated an attack upon the Athenians at Catana ; and Syracusan horse- men rode up and insulted them in their camp. Nicias was thus absolutely shamed into undertaking something, and resolved to make an attempt upon Syracuse. By a false message that the Catameans were ready to assist in expelling the Athenians, he induced the Syracusans to proceed thither in great force, and he availed himself of their absence to sail with his whole fleet into the Great Harbour of Syracuse, where he landed near the mouth of the Anapus, in the neighbourhood of the temple of the Olym- pian Jove. Here he intrenched himself in a strong position, on the right bank of the Anapus, breaking down the bridge over the river. The Syracusans, when they found that they had been deceived at Catana, marched back and offered Nicias battle in his new position. The latter accepted it, and gained the vic- tory ; after which he retired to Catana, and subsequently to Naxos into winter quarters. He then sent messages to Athens for fresh supplies of cavalry and money, and to his Sicilian allies for reinforcements. 336 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXX. § 8. The Syracusans employed the winter in preparations for defence. They built a new wall, covering botn their inner and outer town to the westward (See Plan, osed several of their officers, and appointed others whom they could better trust. The meeting resounded with patriotic speeches. Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus were appointed to the chief com- mand ; the former of whom proposed the return of Alcibiades, who, it was believed, was now able and willing to aid the demo- cratic cause with the gold and forces of Persia. After consider- able opposition the proposal was agreed to; Alcibiades was brought to Samos and introduced to the assembly, where by his magnificent promises, and extravagant boasts respecting his influ- ence with Tissaphernes, he once more succeeded in deceiving tho Athenians. The accomplished traitor was elected one of the generals, and, in pursuance of his artful policy, began to pass backwards and forwards between Samos and Magnesia, with the view of inspiring both the satrap and the Athenians with a reci- procal idea of his influence with either, and of instilling distrust of Tissaphernes into the minds of the Peloponncsiana. B.C. 411. PROCEEDINGS AT SAMOS. 355 § 14. Such was the state of affairs at Sanios when the envoys from the Four Hundred arrived. They were invited by the generals to make their communication to the assembled troops j but so great was the antipathy manifested towards them, that they could hardly obtain a hearing. Their presence revived a proposition which had been started before, — to sail at once to Athens, and put down the oligarchy by force. By the advice of Alcibiades, seconded by Thrasybulus, this proposal was, how- ever, again discarded. The envoys were sent back to Athens with the answer that the army approved of the 5000, but that the Four Hundred must resign and reinstate the ancient Senate of Five Hundred. § 15. At the first news of the re-establishment of democracy at Samos, distrust and discord had broken out among the Four Hundred. Antiphon and Phrynichus, at the head of the ex- treme section of the oligarchical party, were for admitting a Lacedaemonian garrison ; and with a view to further that object, actually caused a fort to be erected at Eetionea, a tongue of land commanding the entrance to the harbour of the Piraeus. But others, discontented with their share of power, began to affect more popular sentiments. Conspicuous among these were The- ramenes and Aristocrates, the former of whom began to insist on the necessity for calling the shadowy body of 5000 into a real existence. As the answer from Samos very much strengthened this party, their opponents found that no time was to be lost ; and Antiphon, Phrynichus, and ten others, proceeded in all haste to Sparta, with offers to put the Lacedaemonians in possession of the Piraeus. The latter, however, with their usual slowness, or perhaps from a suspicion of treachery, let slip the golden oppor- tunity. All they could be induced to promise was, that a fleet of 42 triremes should hover near the Piraeus, and watch a favour- able occasion for seizing it. The failure of this mission was an- other blow to the party of Phrynichus ; and shortly afterwards that leader himself was assassinated in open daylight whilst leaving the Senate House. Some hoplites, of the same tribe as Aristocrates, now seized the fort at Eetionea. Theramenes gave his sanction to the demolition of the fort, which was forthwith accomplished ; whilst the inability of the Four Hundred to pre- vent it, betrayed the extent of their power, or rather of their weakness. § 16. The Four Hundred now appear to have taken some steps to call the 5000 into existence. But it was too late. The leaders of the counter-revolution entering armed into the theatre of Dionysus at the Piraeus, formed a democratic assembly under the old forms, which adjourned to the Anaceum, or temple of 2 a 2 356 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chai\ XXXI. the Dioscuri, immediately under the Acropolis. Here the Foul Hundred sent deputies to negotiate with them, and anothei assembly was appointed to be held in the theatre of Dio- nysus ; but just as they were meeting the news arrived that the Lacedaemonian fleet was approaching the Piraeus. The Athe- nians were immediately on the alurt, and the Lacedaemonian admiral, perceiving no signs of assistance from within, doubled Cape Sunium and proceeded to Oropus. It was now plain that their object was to excite a revolt in Eubcoa. In all haste the Athenians launched an inadequate fleet of 36 triremes, manned by inexperienced crews. At Eretria in Eubcea it was encoun- tered by the Lacedaemonian fleet, and completely defeated with the loss of 22 ships. Euboea, supported by the Lacedaemonians and Boeotians, then revolted from Athens. § 17. Great was the dismay of the Athenians on receiving this news. The loss of Eubcea seemed a death blow. The Lacedae- monians might now easily blockade the ports of Athens and starve her into surrender ; whilst the partisans of the Four Hundred would doubtless co-operate with the enemy. But from this fate they were ac;ain saved by the characteristic slowness of the Lacedaemonians, who confined themselves to securing the con- quest of Euboea. Thus left unmolested, the Athenians convened an assembly in the Pnyx. Votes were passed for deposing the Four Hundred, and placing the government in the hands of the 5000, of whom every citizen who could furnish a panoply might be a member. In short, the old constitution was restored, except that the franchise was restricted to 5000 citizens, and payment for the discharge of civil functions abolished. In sub- sequent assemblies, the Archons, the Senate, and other institu- tions were revived ; and a vote was passed to recall Alcibiades and some of his friends. The number of the 5000 was never exactly observed, and was soon enlarged into universal citizen- ship. Thus the Four Hundred were overthrown after a reign of four months. Theramenes stood forward and impeached the leaders of the extreme oligarchical party, on the ground of their embassy to Sparta. Most of them succeeded in making their escape from Athens ; but Antiphon and Archiptolemus were apprehended, condemned and executed, in spite of the admira- tion exoitcd by the speech of the former in his defence. The rest were arraigned in their absence and condemned, their houses razed, and their property confiscated. One of the Caryatides supporting the southern porticc of the Erechtheum. CHAPTER XXXII. FROM THE FALL OF THE FOUR HUNDRED AT ATHENS TO THE BATTLE OF .EGOSPOTAMI. § 1. State of the belligerents. § 2. Defeat of the Peloponnesiaus at Cynos- sema. § 3. Capture of Cyzicus by the Athenians, and second defeat of the Peloponnesians at Abydus. § 4. Arrest of Alcibiades by Tissaphtrnes, and his subsequent escape. Signal defeat of the Peloponnesians at Cyzicus. § 5. The Athenians masters of the Bosporus. The Lacedaemonians propose a peace, which is rejected. § 6. Pharnabazus assists the Lacedaemonians. § 7. Capture of Chalcedon and Byzantium by the Athenians. § 8. Re- turn of Alcibiades to Athens. § 9. He escorts the sacred precession to Eleusis. § 10. Cyrus comes down to the coast of Asia. Lysander ap- pointed commander of the Peloponnesian fleet. § 11. Interview between Cyrus and Lysander. §12. Alcibiades at Ssmos. Difeat of Antiochus at Notium. § 13. Alcibiades is dismissed. § 14. Lysander superseded by Callicratidas. Energetic measures of the latter. §15. Defeat of Conon at Mytilene, and investment of that town by Callicratidas. § 16 Excitement at Athens, and equipment of a large fleet. § 17. Battle of Arginusae. 358 HISTORY OF GREECE. Cum: XXXII. Defeat and death of Callicratidas. §18. Arraignment and condemnation of tue Athenian generals. § 19. Reappointment of Lyaonder as Navarchus. § 20. Siege of Lampsacus, and battle of jEgospotami. § 1. It is necessary now to revert to the war, and the state of the contending parties. The struggle had become wholly mari- time. Although tho Lacedaemonians occupied at Decelea a strong post within sight of Athens, yet their waut of skill in the art of besieging towns prevented them from making any regular attempt to capture that city. On the other hand, the great re- verses sustained by the Athenians in Sicily disabled them from canying the war, as they had formerly done, into the enemy's country. Yet they still possessed a tolerable fleet, with which they were endeavouring to maintain their power in the ^Egean and on the coasts and islands of Asia Minor. This was now become the vital point where they had to struggle for empire, and even for existence ; for, since the commencement of the war, the maritime power of the Spartans and their allies had become almost equal to the maritime power of Athens. They now put to sea with fleets generally larger than the fleets of the Athenians ; and their ships were handled, and naval manoeuvres executed, with a skill equal to that of their rivals. The great attention which the Lacedaemonians had bestowed on naval affairs is evinced by the importance into which the new office of the Navarchia * had now risen amongst them. The Navarchus * enjoyed a power even superior, whilst it lasted, to that of the Spartan kings, since he was wholly uncontrolled by the Ephors ; but his tenure of office was limited to a year. From this state of things it resulted that the remainder of the war had to be decided on the coasts of Asia ; and it will assist the memory to conceive it divided into four periods : 1. The war on the Hellespont (which must bo taken to include the Propontis, whither it was transferred soon after the oligarchical revolution at Athens) ; 2. From the Hel- lespont it was transferred to Ionia ; 3. From Ionia to Lesbos ; 4. Back to the Hellespont, where it was finally decided. § 2. Mindarus, who now commanded the Peloponnesian fleet., disgusted at length by the often-broken promises of Tissaphernes, and the scanty and irregular pay which he furnished, set sail from Miletus and proceeded to the Hellespont, with tho inten- tion of assisting the satrap Pharnabazus, and of effecting, if pos- sible, the revolt of the Athenian dependencies in that quarter. Hither he was pursued by the Athenian fleet under Thrasyllus. In a few (.lays an engagement ensued (in August, 411 B.C.), in the famous straits between Sestos and Ahydos, in which tho Atbe- * lfavae%ia : XnWoj, 8.C. 411. NAVAL VIGTOltY AT CYNOSSEMA. o59 niaus, though with a smaller force, gained the victory, and erected a trophy on the promontory of Cynossenia, near the tcmb and chapel of the Trojan queen, Hecuba. After this defeat Mindarus sent for the Peloponnesian fleet at Eubcea, which, however, was overtaken by a violent storm near the headland of Mount Athoa, aud totally destroyed. But though this circumstance afforded some relief to Athens, by withdrawing an annoying enemy from her shores, it did not enable her to regain possession of Eubcea. The Eubceans, assisted by the Boeotians, and by the inhabitants of Chalcis and other cities, constructed a bridge across the nar- rowest part of the Euripus, and thus deprived Eubcea of its insular character. § 3. The Athenians followed up their victory at Cynossema by the reduction of Cyzicus, which had revolted from them. A month or two afterwards another obstinate engagement took place between the Peloponnesian and Athenian fleets near Aby- dos, which lasted a whole day, and was at length decided in favour of the Athenians by the arrival of Alcibiades with his squadron of eighteen ships from Samos. The Peloponnesian ships were run ashore, where they were defended, with great personal exer- tion, by Pharnabazus and his troops.' § 4. Shortly after this battle Tissaphernes arrived at the Hellespont with the view of conciliating the offended Pelopon- nesians. He was not only jealous of the assistance which the latter were now rendering to Pharnabazus, but it is also evident that his temporizing policy had displeased the Persian court. This appeal's from his conduct on the present occasion, as well as from the subsequent appointment of Cyrus to the supreme command on the Asiatic coast, as we shall presently have to relate. When Alcibiades, who imagined that Tissaphernes was still favourable to the Athenian cause, waited on him with the customary presents, he was arrested by order of the satrap, and sent in custody to Sardis. At the end of a month, however, he- contrived to escape to Clazomenae, and again joined the Athenian fleet early in the spring of 410 B.c. Mindarus, with the assist- ance of Pharnabazus on the land side, was now engaged in the siege of Cyzicus, which the Athenian admirals determined to relieve. Having passed up the Hellespont in the night they assembled at the island of Proconnesus. Here Alcibiades ad- dressed the seamen, tolling them that they had nothing further to expect from the Persians, and must be prepared to act with the greatest vigour both by sea and land. He then sailed out with his squadron towards Cyzicus, and by a pretended flight inveigled Mindarus to a distance from the harbour ; whilst the other two divisions of the Athenian fleet, under Thrasybulus and 3tiO . HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXII. Thrasyllu3, being favoured by hazy weather, stole between Min- darus and the harbour, and cut off his retreat. In these circum- stances the Spartan commander ran his vessels ashore, where, with the assistance of Pharnabazus, he endeavoured to defend them against the attacks of the Athenians. Alcibiades having landed his men, a battle ensued, in which Mindarus was slain, the Lacedajmomaus and Persians routed, and the whole Pelopou- nesian fleet captured, with the exception of the Syracusan ships, which Hermocrates caused to be burnt. The severity of this blow wai pictured in the laconic epistle in which Hippocrates, the second in command,* announced it to the Ephors : " Our good luck is gone ; Mindarus is slain ; the men are starving ; we know not what to do." § 5. The results of this victory were most important. Perin- thus and Selymbria, as well as Cyzicus, were recovered ; and the Athenians, once more masters of the Propontis, fortified the town of Chrysopolis, over against Byzantium, at the entrance of the Bosporus ; re-established their toll of ten per cent, on all vessels parsing from the Euxine ; and left a squadron to guard the strait and collect the dues. So great was the discouragement of the Lacedaemonians at the loss of their fleet that the Ephor Endius proceeded to Athens to treat for peace on the basis of both parties standing just as they were. The Athenian assembly was at this time led by the demagogue Cleophon, a lamp-maker, known to us by the later comedies of Aristophanes. Cleophon appears to have been a man of considerable abdity ; but the late victories had inspired him with too sanguine hopes, and he ad- vised the Athenians to reject the terms proposed by Endius. Athens thus threw away the golden opportunity of recruiting her shattered forces of which she stood so much in need ; and to this unfortunate advice must be ascribed the calamities which subsequently overtook her. § 6. Meanwhile Pharnabazus was active in affording the Lace- daemonians all the assistance in his power. He clothed and armed their seamen, furnished them with provisions and pay for two months, opened to them the forests of Mount Ida for sup- plies of timber, and assisted them in building new ships at Antandros. He helped them to defend Chalcedon, now besieged by Alcibiades, and by his means that town was enabled to hold out for a long time. But the Athenians had already obtained their principal object. The possession of the Bosporus reopened to them t*he trade of the Euxine. From his lofty fortress at Decelca the Spartan king, Agis, could descry the corn-ships * Called Epistulcus {'EtrivTckivf) or "Secretary" in the Lacedemonian fleet. B.C. 407 ALCIBIADES RETUKNS TO ATHENS. 361 from the Euxine sailing into the harbour of the Piraeus, and felt how fruitless it was to occupy the fields of Attica whilst such abundant supplies of provisions were continually finding their way to the city. § 7. The year 409 B.C. was not marked by any memorable events ; but in the following year Chalcedon at length surren- dered to the combined Athenian forces, in spite of an attempt of Pharnabazus to save it. Selymbria was also taken by Alci- biades about the same time. Byzantium fell next. After it had been besieged by Alcibiades for some months, the gates were opened to the Athenians towards the close of the year 408 B.C., through the treachery of a party among its inhabitants. § 8. These great achievements of Alcibiades naturally paved the way for his return to Athens. In the spring of 407 b. c. he proceeded with the fleet to Samos, and from thence sailed to Pirseus. His reception was far more favourable than he had ventured to anticipate. The whole population of Athens flocked down to Pirseus to welcome him, and escorted him to the city. In the Senate and in the assembly he protested his innocence of the impieties imputed to him, and denounced the injustice of his enemies. His sentence was reversed without a dissentient voice ; his confiscated property restored ; the curse of the Eu- tnolpidse revoked, and the leaden plate on which it was engraven thrown into the sea. He seemed to be in the present juncture the only man capable of restoring the grandeur and the empire of Athens : he was accordingly named general with unlimited powers, and a force of 100 triremes, 1500 hoplites, and 150 cavalry placed at his disposal. § 9. But whatever change eight years of exile and his recent achievements had produced in the public feeling towards Alci- biades, it was one of forgiveness rather than of love, and rested more on the hopes of the future than on the remembrance of the past. The wounds which he had inflicted on Athens in the affairs of Syracuse and Decelea, in the revolts of Chios and Mi- letus, and in the organization of the conspiracy of the Four Hundred, were too severe to be readily forgotten ; and he had still many enemies who, though silent amid the general applause, did not cease to whisper their secret condemnation. Alcibiades, however, disbelieved or disregarded their machinations, and yielded himself without reserve to the breeze of popular favour which once more filled his sails. Before his departure, he took an opportunity to atone for the impiety of which he had been suspected. Although his armament was in perfect readiness, he delayed its sailing till after the celebration of the Eleusiuian mysteries at the beginning of Sept-ember. For seven years the 362 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciiai-. XXXII. customary procession across the Thriasian plain had been sus- pended, owing to the occupation of Decelea by the enemy, which compelled the sacred troop to proceed by sea. Alcibiades now escorted them on their progress and return with his forces, and thus succeeded in reconciling himself with the offended god- desses and with their holy priests, the Eumolpidce. § 10. Meanwhile, a great change had been going on in the state of affairs in the East. We have already seen that the Great King was displeased with the vacillating policy of Tissa- phernes, and had determined to adopt more energetic measures against the Athenians. During the absence of Alcibiades, Cyrus, the younger son of Darius, a prince of a bold and enterprising spirit, and animated with a lively hatred of Athens, had arrived at the coast for the purpose of carrying out the altered policy of the Persian court ; and with that view had been invested with the satrapies of Lydia, the Greater Phrygia, and Cappadocia, as well as with the military command of all those forces which mustered at Castolus. The arrival of Cyrus opens the last phase of the Peloponnesian war. Another event, in the highest degree unfavourable to the Athenian cause, was the accession of Lysander, as Navaj-chus, to the command of the Peloponnesian fleet. Lysander was the third of the remarkable men whom Sparta produced during the war. In ability, energy, and suc- cess he may be compared with Brasidas and Gylippus, though immeasurably inferior to the former in every moral quality. He was born of poor parents, and was by descent a mot or one of those Lacedaemonians who could never enjoy the full rights of Spartan citizenship. The allurements of money and of pleasure had no influence over him ; but his ambition was boundless, and he was wholly unscrupulous about the means which he employed to gratify it. In pursuit of his objects he hesitated at neither deceit, nor perjury, nor cruelty, and he is reported to have laid it down as one of his maxims in life to avail himself of the fox's skin where the lion's failed. § 11. Lysander had taken up his station at Ephesus, with the Lacedaemonian fleet of 70 triremes ; and when Cyrus arrived at Sardis, in the spring of 407 B.C., he hastened to pay his court to the young prince, and was received with every mark of fa- vour. A vigorous line of action was resolved on. Cyrus at once offered 500 talents, and affirmed that if more were needed, be was prepared to devote his private funds to the cause, and even to coin into money the very throne of gold and silver on which he sat. In a banquet which ensued Cyrus drank to the health of Lysander, and desired him to name any wish which he could gratify. Lysander immediately requested an addition til JJ.C. 407 ARRIVAL OF CYRUS ON THE COAST. 363 of an obolus to the daily pay of the seamen. Cyrus was sur- prised at so disinterested a demand, and from that day conceived k high degree of respect and confidence for the Spartan com- mander. Lysander on his return to Ephesus employed himself in refitting his fleet, and in organizing clubs in the Spartan in- terest in the cities of Asia. § 1 2. Alcibiades set sail from Athens in September. He first proceeded to Andros, now occupied by a Lacedaemonian force ; but, meeting with a stouter resistance than he expected, he left Conon with 20 ships to prosecute the siege, and proceeded with the remainder to Samos. It was here that he first learnt the altered state of the Athenian relations with Persia. Being ill provided with funds for carrying on the war, he was driven to make predatory excursions for the purpose of raising money. He attempted to levy contributions on Cyme, an unoffending Athe- nian dependency, and being repulsed, ravaged its territory ; an act which caused loud complaints against him to be lodged at Athens. During his absence on this expedition he intrusted the bulk of the fleet at Samos to his pilot, Antiochus, with strict injunctions not to venture on an action. Notwithstanding these orders, however, Antiochus sailed out and brought the Pelo- ponnesian fleet to an engagement off Notium, in which the Athenians were defeated with the loss of 15 ships, and An- tiochus himself was slain. Among the Athenian armament itself great dissatisfaction was growing up against Alcibiades. Though at the head of a splendid force, he had in three months' time accomplished literally nothing. His debaucheries and dis- solute conduct on shore were charged against him, as well as his selecting for confidential posts not the men best fitted for them, but those who, like Antiochus, were the boon companions and the chosen associates of his revels. § 13. These accusations forwarded to Athens, strengthened by complaints from Cym§, and fomented by his secret enemies, soon produced an entire revulsion in the public feeling towards Alcibiades. It was seen that he was still the same man, and that he had relapsed into all his former habits, in the confidence that his success and two or three years of good behaviour had succeeded in recovering for him the favour and esteem of his countrymen. The Athenians voted that he should be dismissed from his command, and appointed in his place ten new generals, with Conon at their head. § 14. The year of Lysander's command expired about the same me as the appointment of Conon to the Athenian command. Through the intrigues of Lysander, his successor Callicratidas was received with dissatisfaction both by the Lacedaemonian sea- 364 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap XXXII. men and by Cyrus. Loud complaints were raised of the im- policy of an annual change of commanders. Lysander threw all sorts of difficulties into the way of his successor, to whom he handed over an empty chest, having first repaid to Cyrus all the money in his possession under the pretence that it was a private loan. The straightforward conduct of Callicratidas, however, who summoned the Lacedaemonian commanders, and after a dignified remonstrance, plainly put the question whether ho should return home or remain, silenced all opposition. But he was sorely embarrassed for funds. Cyrus treated him with haughtiness ; and when he waited on that prince at Sardis, he was dismissed not only without money, but even without an audience. Callicratidas, however, had too much energy to be daunted by such obstacles. Sailing with his fleet from Ephesus to Miletus, he laid before the assembly of that city, in a spirited address, all the ills they had suffered at the hands of the Per- sians, and exhorted them to bestir themselves and dispense with their alliance. He succeeded in persuading the Milesians to make him a large grant of money, whilst the leading men even came forward with private subscriptions. By means of this assistance he was enabled to add 50 triremes to the 90 delivered to him by Lysander ; and the Chians further provided him with ten days' pay for the seamen. He now sailed for Lesbos, and taking the town of Methymna by storm, delivered it over to be plundered by his men. He likewise caused all the slaves to be sold for their benefit, but he nobly refused to follow the example of his predecessors, in selling the Athenian garrison and Methymnsean citizens as slaves ; declaring, that so long as he held the com- mand, no Greek should ever be reduced to slavery. § 15. The fleet of Callicratidas was now double that of Conon. Like the doge of Venice in modern times, he claimed the sea as his lawful bride, and warned Conon by a message to abstain from his adulterous intercourse. The latter, who had ventured to ap- proach Methymna, was compelled to run before the superior force of Callicratidas. Both fleets entered the harbour of My- tilene at the same time, where a battle ensued in which Conon lost 30 ships, but he saved the remaining 40 by hauling them ashore under the walls of the town. Callicratidas then blockaded Mytilene both by sea and land ; whilst Cyrus, on learning hia success, immediately furnished him with supplies of money. Co- non, however, contrived to despatch a trireme to Athens with the news of his desperate position. § 16. As soon as the Athenians received intelligence of the blockado of Mytilene, vast efforts were made for its relief; and wo learn with surprise that in thirt* days a fleet of 110 triremoa B.C. 408. BATTLE OF ARGLNUS.E. 365 was equipped and despatched from PirsBus. The armament assembled at Samos, where it was reinforced by scattered Athe- nian ships, and by contingents from the alhes, to the extent of 40 vsssels. The whole fleet of 150 sail then proceeded to the small islands of Arginusa?, near the coast of Asia, and facing Malea, the south-eastern cape of Lesbos. Callicratidas, who went out to meet them, took up his station at the latter point, leaving Eteonicus with 50 ships to maintain the blockade of Mytilene. He had thus only 120 ships to oppose to the 150 of the Athe- nians, and his pilot, Hermon, advised him to retire before the superior force of the enemy. But Callicratidas replied that he would not disgrace himself by flight, and that if he should perish, Sparta would not feel his loss. § 17. The greatest precautions were taken in irawlng up the Athenian fleet. The main strength was thrown into the wings, each of which consisted of 60 Athenian ships, divided into four squadrons of 15 each, ranged in a double line. The Pelopon- uesian fleet, on the contrary, was drawn up in a single extended line ; a circumstance displaying great confidence of superiority, and which denoted a vast change in the relative naval skill of the parties ; for at the beginning of the war their tactics had been precisely the reverse. It must, however, be borne in mind, that the far greater part of the Athenian fleet was on this occasion manned by hastily raised crews, who had never been to sea before ; whilst the Peloponnesian sailors had been well trained by several years' experience. The battle was long and obstinate. All order was speedily lost, and the ships fought singly with one another. In one ol these contests, Callicratidas, who stood on the prow of nis vessel ready to board the enemy, was thrown overboard by the shock of the vessels as they met, and perished. At length victory began to declare for the Athenians. The Lacedaemonians, after losing 77 vessels, retreated with the remainder to Chios and Phoca?a. The loss of the Athenians was 25 vessels. Eteonicus was now in jeopardy at Mytilene. When informed of the defeat of his countrymen, he directed the vessel which brought the news to put to sea again, and to return with wreaths and shouts of triumph ; whilst, taking advantage of the false im- pression thus raised in the minds of the Athenians, he hastily got ready for sea, and reached Chios in safety. At the same time the blockading army was withdrawn to Methymna. Conon, thus unexpectedly liberated, put to sea, and the united fleet took up their station at Samos. § 18. The battle of Arginusae led to a deplorable event, which has for ever sullied the. pages of Athenian history. At least a 366 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXII. dozen Athenian vessels were left floating about in a disablod condition after the battle ; but, owing to a violent storm that ensued, no attempt was made to rescue the survivors, or to collect the bodies of the dead for burial. Eight of the ten generals were summoned home to answer for this conduct ; Conon, by his situation at Mytilene, was of course exculpated, and Archestratus had died. Six of the generals obeyed the summons, and were denounced in the Assembly by Theramenes, formerly one of the Four Hundred, for neglect of duty. The generals replied that they had commissioned Theramenes him- self and Thrasybulus, each of whom commanded a trireme in the engagement, to undertake the duty, and had assigned 48 ships to them for that purpose. This, however, was denied by Theramenes ; and unluckily the generals, from a feeling of kind- ness towards the latter, had made no mention of the circum- stance in their public despatches, but had attributed the aban- donment of the foundering vessels solely to the violence of the storm. There are discrepancies in the evidence, and we have no materials for deciding positively which statement was true ; but probability inolines to the side of the generals. Public feel- ing, however, ran very strongly against them, and was increased by an incident which occurred during their trial. After a day's debate the question was adjourned ; and in the interval the festival of the Apaturia was celebrated, in which, according to annual custom, the citizens met together according to their families and phratries. Those who had perished at Arginusao were naturally missed on such an occasion ; and the usually cheerful character of the festival was deformed and rendered melancholy by the relatives of the deceased appearing in black clothes and with shaven heads. The passions of the people were violently roused. At the next' meeting of the Assembly, Callixenus, a senator, proposed that the people should at once proceed to pass its verdict on the generals, though they had been only partially heard in their defence ; and, moreover, that they should all be included in one sentence, though it was con- trary to a rule of Attic law, known as the psephisma of Can- uonus, to indict citizens otherwise than individually. Callixenus carried his motion in spite of the threat of Euryptolemus to indict him for an illegal proceeding under the Q raphi Paranomm The Prytanes, or senators of the presiding tribe, at first refused to put the question to the Assembly in this illegal way ; but their opposition was at length overawed by clamour and vio- lence. There was, however, one honourable exception. The philosopher Socrates, who was one of the Prytanes, refused to withdraw his protest. But his opposition was disregarded, and B.C. 406. EXECUTION OF THE GENERALS. 367 the proposal of Callixenus was carried. The genenJs were con- demned, delivered over to the Eleven for execution, and com- pelled to drink the fatal hemlock. Among them was Pericles, the son of the celebrated statesman. The Athenians afterwards repented of their rash precipitation, and decreed that Callixenus and his accomplices should in their turn be brought to trial ; but before the appointed day they managed to escape. §19. After the battle of Arginusse the Athenian fleet seems to have remained inactive at Samos during the rest of the year. Through the influence of Cyrus, and the other allies of Sparta, Lysander again obtained the command of the Peloponnesian fleet at the commencement of the year 405 B. c. ; though nominally under Aracus as admiral ; since it was contrary to Spartan usage that the same man should be twice Navarchus* His return to power was marked by more vigorous measures. Fresh funds were obtained from Cyrus ; the arrears due to the seamen were paid up ; and new triremes were put upon the stocks at Antan- drus. Oligarchical revolutions were effected in Miletus and other towns. Summoned to visit his sick father in Media, Cyrus even delegated to Lysander the management of his satrapy and revenues during his absence. Lysander was thus placed in possession of power never before realized by any Lacedaemonian commander. But the Athenian fleet under Conon and his coad- jutors was still superior in numbers, and Lysander carefully avoided an engagement. He contrived, however, to elude the Athenian fleet, and to cross the iEgean to the coast of Attica, where he had an interview with Agis ; and, proceeding thence to the Hellespont, which Conon had left unguarded, he took up his station at Abydos. § 20. The Athenians were at this time engaged in ravaging Chios ; but when they heard of this movement, and that Ly- sander had commenced the siege of Lampsacus, they imme- diately sailed for the Hellespont. They arrived too late to save the town, but they proceeded up the strait and took post at iEgos- potami, or the " Goat's River ;" a place which had nothing to recommend it, except its vicinity to Lampsacus, from which it was separated by a channel somewhat less than two miles broad. It was a mere desolate beach, without houses or inhabitants, so that all the supphes had to be fetched from Sestos, or from the surrounding country, and the seamen were compelled to leave their ships in order to obtain their meals. Under these circum- stances the Athenians were very desirous of bringing Lysander to an engagement. But the Spartan commander, who was in a * Lysander received the title of Epistoleus. See note on p. 360. 868 BISTORT OF GREECE. Chap. XXX 1 1 strong position, and abundantly furnished with provisions, was in no hurry to run any risks. In vain did the Athenians sail over several days in succession to offer him battle ; they always found his ships ready manned, and drawn up in too strong a position to warrant an attack ; nor could they by all their ma- noeuvres succeed in enticing him out to combar.. This cowardice, as they deemed it, on the part of the Lacedemonians, begat a corresponding negligence on theirs : discipline was neglected and the men allowed to straggle almost at will. It was in vain that Alcibiades, who since his dismissal resided in a fortress in that neighbourhood, remonstrated with the Athenian generals on the exposed nature of the station they had chosen, and advised them to proceed to Sestos. His counsels were received with taunts and insults. At length on the fifth day, Lysander, having watched an opportunity when the Athenian seamen had gone on shore and were dispersed over the country, rowed swiftly across the strait with all his ships. He found the Athenian fleet, with the exception of 10 or 12 vessels, totally unprepared, and suc- ceeded in capturing neai'ly the whole of it, without having occa- sion to strike a single blow. Of the 180 ships which composed the fleet, only the trireme of Conon himself, the Paralus, and S or 10 other vessels succeeded in escaping. Conon was afraid to return to Athens after so signal a disaster, and took refuge with Evagoras, prince of Salamis in Cyprus. All the Athenian prisoners, amounting to 3000 or 4000, together with the generals, were put to death by order of Lysander, in retaliation for the cruelty with which the Athenians had treated the prisoners they had lately made. By this momentous victory, which was suspected to have been achieved through the corrupt connivance of some of the Athe- nian generals, the contest on the Hellespont, and virtually the Peloponnesian war, was brought to an end. The closing scene of the catastrophe was enacted at Athens itself ; but the fate of the imperial city must be reserved for another chapter. Rust of the Poet ECoTlpidtt, View of Phyle. CHAPTER XXXIII. FROM THE BATTLE OF iEGOSPOTAMI TO THE OVERTHROW OF THE THIRTY TYRANTS AND THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMOCRACY AT ATHENS. § 1. Alarm at Athens. § 1. Proceedings of Lysander. Capture of the Athenian dependencies. § 3. Measures of the Athenians, Athens invested. §4. Embassy of Theramenes. Conditions of capitulation. §5. Lysander takes possession of Athens. Destruction of the long walls, &c. § 6. Re- turn of the oligarchical exiles. Establishment of the Thirty. § 7. Sur- render of Samos and triumph of Lysander. § 8. Proceedings of the Thirty at Athens. § 9. Opposition of Theramenes. § 10. Proscriptions. Death of Theramenes. § 11. Suppression of intellectual culture. Socrates. § 12. Death of Alcibiades. § 13. Jealousy of the Grecian states towards Sparta and Lysander. § 14. Thrasybulus at Phyle'. § 15. Seizure and massacre of the Eleusinians. § 16. Thrasybulus occupies Piraeus. Death of Critias. § 17. Deposition of the Thirty, and establishment of the Ten. Return of Lysander to Athens, and arrival of Pausanias. § 18. Peace with Thrasy- bulus, and evacuation of Attica by the Peloponnesians. § 19. Restoration of the democracy. § 20. Archonship of Euclides. Reduction of Eleusis. § 1. The defeat of iEgospotami, which took place about Sep- tember, 405 B.C., was announced at Pirgeus in the night, by tha (xb. 2 B 370 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIII arrival of the Paralus. " On that night," says Xenophon, " no man slept." The disaster, indeed, was as sudden and as authen- tic as it was vast and irretrievable. The proceedings of the de- jected assembly which met on the following day at once sho vved that the remaining struggle was one for bare existence. In order to make the best preparations for a siege, it was resolved to block up two of the three ports of Athens — a plain confession that maritime supremacy, the sole basis of her power, had de- parted from her. § 2. Lysander, secure of an easy triumph, was in no haste to gather it by force. The command of the Euxine enabled him to control the supplies of Athens ; and sooner or later, a few weeks of famine must decide her fall. With the view of hastening the catastrophe he compelled the garrisons of all the towns which surrendered to proceed to the capital. The question was not one of arms, but of hunger ; and an additional garrison, so far from adding to her strength, would complete her weakness. A strong proof of the insecure foundation of her power ! A naval defeat in a remote quarter had not only deprived her of empire, but was about to render her in turn a captive and a subject. Lysander now sailed forth to take possession of the Athenian towns, which fell one after another into his power as soon as he appeared before them. In all a new form of government was established, consisting of an oligarchy of ten of the citizens, called a decarchy, under a Spartan harmost. Chalcedon, Byzan- tium, Mytilene, surrendered to Lysander himself ; whilst Eteoni- cus was despatched to occupy and revolutionize the Athenian towns in Thrace. Amidst the general defection, Samos alone remained faithful to Athens. All her other dependencies at once yielded to the Lacedaemonians ; whilst her cleruchs were forced to abandon their possessions and return home. In many places, and especially in Thasos, these revolutions were attended with violence and bloodshed. § 3. The situation of Athens was now more desperate even than when Xerxes was advancing against her with his countless host. The juncture demanded the hearty co-operation of all her citizens ; and a general amnesty was proposed and carried for the purpose of releasing all debtors, accused persons, and state prisoners, except a few of the more desperate criminals and homicides. The citizens were then assembled in the Acro- polis, and swore a solemn oath of mutual forgiveness and har- mony. About November Lysandjr made his appearance at iEgina, with an overwhelming fleet of l. r >0 triremes, and proceeded to devastate Salamis and blockade Tincus. At the same time the B.C, 404. CAPITULATION OF ATHENS. 371 whole Peloponnesian army was marched into Attica, and en- camped in the precincts of the Academus, at the very gates of Athens. Famine soon began to be felt within the walls. Yet the Athenians did not abate of their pretensions. In their pro- posals for a capitulation they demanded the preservation of their long walls, and of the port of Piraeus. But the Spartan Ephors, to whom the Athenian envoys had been referred by king Agis, refused to listen to such terms, and insisted on the demolition of the long waUs for the space of 10 stadia at least. The spirit of the people, however, was still so unsubdued — though some of them were actually dying of hunger — that the senator Arches- tratus was imprisoned for proposing to accept the terms offered by the Ephors ; and on the motion of Cleophon, it was forbidden to make any such proposal in future. § 4. Theramenes, formerly one of the Four Hundred, now offered to proceed to Lysander for the purpose of learning his real intentions with regard to the fate of Athens ; and as he pretended that his personal connexions would afford him great facilities in such an undertaking, his offer was accepted. After wasting three months with Lysander, — three months of ter- rible suffering to the Athenians, — he said that Lysander had then informed him for the first time that the Ephors alone had power to treat. The only construction that can be put on this conduct of Theramenes is, that he designed to reduce the Athenians to the last necessity, so that they should be compelled to purchase peace at any price. If such was his object he com- pletely succeeded. When he returned to Athens the famine had become so dreadful, that he was immediately sent back to con- clude a peace on whatever terms he could. In the debate which ensued at Sparta, the Thebans, the Corinthians, and others of the more bitter enemies of Athens, urged the very extinction of her name and the sale of her whole population into slavery. But this proposition was resolutely opposed by the Lacedaemo- nians, who declared, with great appearance of magnanimity, though probably with a view to their own interest in converting Athens into a useful dependency, that they would never consent to enslave or annihilate a city which had rendered such eminent services to Greece. The terms which the Ephors dictated, and which the Athenians were in no condition to refuse, were : That the long waUs and the fortifications of Piraeus should be de- molished ; that the Athenians should give up all their foreign possessions, and confine themselves to their own territory ; that they should surrender all their ships of war ; that they should readmit all their exiles ; and that they should become allies of Sparta. A>s Theramenes re-entered Athens, bearing in his hand 2 B 2 372 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXI 1 1 the roll, or scytulr, which contained these terms, he was pressed upon by an anxious and haggard crowd, who, heedless of the terms, gave loud vent to their joy that peace was at length con- cluded. And though there was still a small minority for holding out, the vote for accepting the conditions was carried, and noti- fied to Lysander. § 5. It was about the middle or end of March. B.C. 404, that Lysander sailed into Pirseus, and took formal possession oi Athens ; the war, in singular conformity with the prophecies current at the beginning of it, having lasted for a period of thrice nine, or 27 years. The Lacedaemonian fleet and army remained in possession of the city till the conditions of its capitulation had been executed. Lysander carried away all the Athenian triremes except twelve, destroyed the naval arsenals, and burned the ships on the stocks. The insolence of the victors added another blow to the feelings of the conquered. The work of de- struction, at which Lysander presided, was converted into a sort of festivaL Female flute-players and wreathed dancers inaugu- rated the demolition of the strong and proud bulwarks of Athens ; and as the massive walls fell piece by piece excla- mations arose from the ranks of the Peloponnesians that free- dom had at length begun to dawn upon Greece. The solidity of the works rendered the task of demolition a laborious one. After some little progress had been made in it, Lysander withdrew with his fleet to prosecute the siege of Samos. Thus fell imperial Athens in the seventy-third year after the formation of the Confederacy of Delos, the origin of her subse quent empire. During that interval she had doubtless com- mitted many mistakes and much injustice ; had uniformly, per- haps, overrated the real foundations of her strength, and fre^ quently employed unjustifiable means in order to support it. But on the other hand, it must be recollected that in that brief career she had risen by her genius and her valour from the con- dition of a small and subordinate city to be the leading power in Greece ; that in the first instance empire had not been sought by her ambition, but laid at her feet, and in a manner thrust upon her ; that it had been accepted, and successfully employed, for the most noble of human purposes, and to avert an over- whelming deluge of barbarism ; and that Greece, and more particularly Athens herself, had been thus enabled to become the mother of refinement, the nurse of literature and art, and the founder of European civilisation. § (J. The fall of Athens brought back a host of exiles, all of them the enemies of her democra.tical constitution. Of these the most distinguished was Critms, a man of wealth and family, the B.C. 404. THE THIRTY TYRANTS. 373 uncle of Plato and once the intimate friend of Socrates, distin- guished both for his literary and political talents, but of unmea- sured ambition and unscrupulous conscience. Critias and his companions soon found a party with which they could co-operate. A large portion of the senators was favourable to the establish- ment of an oligarchy ; of which Theramenes had already laid the foundation during his residence with Lysander. Scarcely was the city surrendered, when this faction began to organize its plans. The political clubs met and named a committee of five, who, in compliment to the Lacedaemonians, were called Ephors. Their first step was to seize the leaders of the de- mocratical party, whom they accused of a design to overturn the peace. Cleophon had already fallen, on an accusation of neglect of military duty, but in reality from his perseverance in opposing the surrender of Athens. The way being thus pre- pared, Critias and 'i heramenes invited Lysander from Samos, in order that his presence might secure the success of the move- ment. It was then proposed in the assembly that a committee of thirty should be named to draw up laws for the future government of the city, and to undertake its temporary ad- ministration. Among the most prominent of the thirty names were those of Critias and Theramenes. The proposal was of course carried. Lysander himself addressed the assembly, and contemptuously told them that they had better take thought for their personal safety, which now lay at his mercy, than for their political constitution. The committee thus appointed soon ob- tained the title of the Thirty Tyrants, the name by which they have become known in all subsequent time. § 7. After completing the revolution at Athens, Lysander re- turned to Samos. The island surrendered towards the end of summer, when an oligarchical government was established, as in the other conquered states. Never had Greek commander celebrated so great a triumph as that which adorned the return of Lysander to Sparta. lie brought with him all the prow orna- ments of the numerous ships he had taken ; he was loaded with golden crowns, the gifts of various cities ; and he ostenta- tiously displayed the large sum of 470 talents, the balance which still remained of the sums granted by Cyrus for prosecuting tha war. § 8. Meanwhile, the Thirty at Athens having named an en- tirely new Senate, and appointed fresh magistrates, proceeded to exterminate some of their most obnoxious opponents. In order to insure their condemnation, the Thirty presided in person in the place formerly occupied by the Prytanes ; and the senators were obliged to deposit their voting pebbles on tables placed 374 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIII. immediately before them. Frequently even this show of legality was dispensed with, and the accused were put to death by the mere order of the Thirty. But Critias, and the more violent party among them, still called for more blood ; and with the view of obtaining it, procured a Spartan garrison, under the harmost CaUibius, to be installed in the Acropolis. Besides this force, they had an organized band of assassins at their dis- posal. Blood now flowed on all sides. Many of the leading men of Athens fell, others took to flight. A still greater refinement of cunning and cruelty was, to implicate distinguished citizens in their own crimes by making them accomplices in their acts of violence. Thus, on one occasion, they sent for five citizens to the government house, and ordered them with horrible menaces to proceed to Salamis, and bring back as a prisoner an eminent Athenian named Leon. Socrates was one of the five, and again did himself immortal honour by refusing to participate in such an act of violence. f § 9. Thus the reign of terror was completely estabhshed. In the bosom of the Thirty, however, there was a party, headed by Theramenes, who disapproved of these proceedings. Thera- menes wa3 long-sighted and cunning, as we have seen from his former acts, and so shifting and unstable in his political views as to have obtained the nick-name of Cothurnus, from resembling a shoe that would fit either foot. But he was not unnecessarily and gratuitously cruel ; and though he had ap- proved of the slaughter of those citizens whom, from their former political conduct, he deemed dangerous and irreconcilable ene- mies to the new state of things, yet he was not disposed to sanction murder merely for the sake of obtaining the wealth of the victims. He was also inclined to give the new government a more constitutional form ; and it was at his suggestion that the Thirty were induced to bestow the franchise on 3000 citi- zens, chosen, however, as much as possible from their own adherents. ^ But this show of liberality, as managed by the ma- jority of the Thirty, was in reality only a vehicle for greater oppression towards the remainder of the citizens. All except the chosen 3000 were considered to be without the pale of the law, and might be put to death without form of trial by the simple fiat of the Thirty ; whilst in order to render them inca- pable of resistance, they were assembled under pretence of a review, during which their arms were seized by a stratagem. § 10. The Thirty now proceeded more unsparingly than ever. A regular proscription took place. A list was made out of those who were to be slain and plundered ; and the adherents of the Thirty were permitted to insert in it B.C. 404. DEATH OF THERAMENES. 375 whatever names tLey pleased. So little was the proscription of a political character, that it extended to rnetics (resident aliens) as well as to citizens ; and under the raetics were included Lysias, the celebrated orator, and his brother, Polemar- chus. Theramenes stood aloof from these atrocities ; and when offered the choice of a victim among the metics, to be destroyed and plundered for his own especial benefit, he indignantly rejected the offer. His moderation cost him his life. One day as he entered the Senate-house, Critias rose and denounced him as a public enemy, struck his name out of the privileged 3000, and ordered him to be carried off to instant death. Upon hearing these words Theramenes sprang for refuge to the altar in the Senate-house ; but he was dragged away by Satyrus, the cruel and unscrupulous head of the " Eleven," a body of officers who carried into execution the penal sentence of the law. Being conveyed to prison, he was compelled to drink the fatal hemlock. The constancy of his end might have adorned a better life. After swallowing the draught, he jerked on the floor a drop which remained in the cup, according to the custom of the game called cottabos, exclaiming, " This to the health of the gentle Critias ! " § 11. Thus released from all check, the tyranny of Critias and his colleagues raged with tenfold violence. It has been affirmed by subsequent orators that no fewer than 1500 victims were put to death without trial by the Thirty ; and, though this is pro- bably an exaggeration, the number was undoubtedly prodigious. Measures were taken to repress all intellectual culture, and to convert the government into one of brute force. A decree was promulgated, forbidding the teaching of " the art of words ;" a phrase which, in its comprehensive Greek meaning, included logic, rhetoric, and literature in general, and was more particu- larly levelled at those ingenious and learned men who went by the name of " Sophists." Socrates, the most distinguished among them, had commented with just severity on the enormities per- petrated by the Thirty. He was summoned before Critias, and prohibited in future from all conversation with youths. Socrates exposed, in his usual searching style, the vagueness of the com- mand, and the impossibility of its execution ; but this only pro- voked the more the rage of the tyrants, who dismissed him with the hint that they were not ignorant of the censures he had passed upon them. § 12. Alcibiades had been included by the Thirty in the list of exiles ; but the fate which now overtook him seems to have sprung from the fears, of the Lacedaemonians, or perhaps from the personal hatred of Agis. After the battle of .cEgospotami 376 H1ST0RV OF GREECE. Chap. XXXI lh Alcibiadss felt himself insecure on the Thracian Chersonese, and fled to Pharnabazus in Phrygia, not, however, without the loss of much of his wealth. He solicited from the satrap a safe conduct to the court of Susa, in the hope, perhaps, of playing the same part as Themistocles. Pharnabazus refused this request, but permitted him to live in Phrygia, and assigned him a revenue for his maintenance. But a scytale, or despatch, came out from Sparta to Lysander, directing that Alcibiades should be pat to death. Lysander communicated the order to Pharnabazus. The motives of the latter for carrying it into execution are not alto- gether clear. It seems probable that the demands of the Spar- tans were supported by Cyrus, who was now forming designs against his brother's throne, and feared perhaps that Alcibiades would reveal them at Susa. Be this, however, as it may, it is certain that the murder was undertaken under the superintend- ence of the uncle and brother of Pharnabazus. They surrounded the house of Alcibiades with a band of assassms, and set it on hre. Alcibiades rushed out with drawn sword upon his assail- ants, who shrank from his attack, but who slew him froni a distance with their javelins and arrows. Timandra, a female with whom he lived, performed towards his body the last offices of duty and affection. Thus perished miserably, in the vigour of his age, one of the most remarkable, but not one of the greatest, characters in Grecian history. Alcibiades was endowed with most of those qualities which serve to constitute greatness. He possessed talent, ambition, enterprise, courage, great presence of mind, and inexhaustible resources in emergencies ; but all these were marred and rendered pernicious, instead of profitable. to himself and to his country, by profligacy, selfishness, pride, rapacity, and utter want of principle. With qualities which, properly applied, might have rendered him the greatest bene- factor of Athens, he contrived to attain the infamous distinction of being that citizen who had inflicted upon her the most signal amount of damage. § 13. Meantime an altered state of feeling was springing up in Greece. Athens had ceased to be an object of fear or jealousy, 8iid those feelings began now to be directed towards Sparta. That state persisted in retaining the large amount of booty acquired by the war ; and when the Thebans and Corinthians sent in their claim it was resented almost as an insult. Yet in the monument erected at Delphi in commemoration of the vic- tory at vEgospotami, Lysander had not only caused his own statue in bronze to be erected, but also that of each commander of the allied contingents. Lysander had risen to a height of un- paralleled power. He was in a manner idolized. Poets showered B.C. 404. THRAsYBULUS AT PHYLE. 877 their praises on him, and even altars were raised in his honour by the Asiatic Greeks. The Ephesians set up his statue in the famous temple of their goddess Artemis ; the Samians did the like at Olym- pia, and altered the name of their principal festival from Heraea to Lysandria. In the name of Sparta he exercised almost uncon- trolled authority in the cities he had reduced, including Athens itself. But it was soon discovered that, instead of the freedom promised by the Spartans, only another empire had been esta- blished, whilst Lysander was even meditating to extort from the subject cities a yearly tribute of one thousand talents. And all these oppressions were rendered still more intolerable by the overweening pride and harshness of Lysander's demeanour. § 14. Even in Sparta itself the conduct of Lysander was be- ginning to inspire disgust and jealousy. Pausanias, son of Plis- toanax, who was now king with Agis, as well as the new Ephors appointed in September, B.C. 404, disapproved of his proceedings. The Thebans and Corinthians themselves were beginning to sympathise with Athens, and to regard the Thirty as mere in- struments for supporting the Spartan dominion ; whilst Sparta in her turn looked upon them as the tools of Lysander's ambi- tion. Many of the Athenian exiles had found refuge in Bceotia : and one of them, Thrasybulus, with the aid of Ismenias and other Theban citizens, starting from Thebes at the head of a small band of exiles, seized the fortress of Phyle, in the passes of Mount Parnes and on the direct road to Athens. The Thirty marched out to attack Thrasybulus, at the head of the Lacedaemonian garrison, the three thousand enfranchised citizens, and all the Athenian knights. But their attack was repulsed with considerable loss. A timely snow-storm, by com- pelling the Thirty to retreat, relieved Thrasybulus and the exiles from a threatened blockade, and enabled him to obtain reinforce- ments which raised his little garrison to the number of seven hundred. In a subsequent rencontre Thrasybulus surprised at daybreak a body of Spartan hoplites and Athenian horse that had been sent against him ; and, after killing one hundred and twenty of the Spartans, carried off a considerable store of arms and provisions to Phyle. § 15. Symptoms of wavering now began to be perceptible, not only among the three thousand, but even among the Thirty themselves ; and Critias, fearful that power was slipping from his grasp, resolved to secure Salamis and Eleusis as places of refuge. All the Eleusinians capable of bearing arms were accordingly seized and carried to Athens, and their town occupied by ad- herents of the Thirty. The same was done at Salamis. Critias then convoked the three thousand and the knights in the Odeum, 378 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIII. which he had partly filled with Lacedaemonian soldiers, and com- pelled them to pass a vote condemning the Eleusinians to death. This was done, as he plainly told them, in order the more thoroughly to identify their interests with those of the Thirty. The prisoners were immediately led off to execution. § 16. Thrasybulus, whose forces were now a thousand strong, incited probably by this enormity, and reckoning on support from the party of the reaction at Athens, marched from Phyle to Piraeus, which was now an open town, and seized upon it without opposition. "When the whole force of the Thirty, including the Lacedaemonians, marched on the following day to attack him, he retired to the hill of Munychia, the citadel of Piraeus, the only approach to which was by a steep ascent. Here he drew up his hoplites in files of ten deep, posting behind them his shngers and dartmen, whose missiles, owing to the rising ground, could be hurled over the heads of the foremost ranks. Against them Critias and his confederates advanced in close array, his hoplites formed in a column of fifty deep. Thrasybulus exhorted his men to stand patiently till the enemy came within reach of the mis- siles. At the first discharge the assailing column seemed to waver ; and Thrasybulus, taking advantage of their confusion, charged down the hill, and completely routed them, killing seventy, among whom was Critias himself. § 17. The partisans of the Thirty acknowledged the victory by begging a truce to bury their dead. The loss of their leader had thrown the majority into the hands of the party formerly led by Theramenes, who resolved to depose the Thirty and con- stitute a new oligarchy of Ten. Some of the Thirty were re- elected into this body ; but the more violent colleagues of Critias were deposed, and retired for safety to Eleusis. The new government of the Ten sent to Sparta to solicit further aid ; and a similar application was made at the same time from the section of the Thirty at Eleusis. Their request was complied with ; and Lysander once more entered Athens at the head of a La- cedaemonian force, whilst his brother Libya blockaded Piraeus with 40 triremes. Fortunately, however, the jealousy of the Lacedaemonians towards Lysander led them at this critical juncture to supersede him in the command. King Pausanias was appointed to lead an army into Attica, and when he en- camped in the Academus he was joined by Lysander and his forces. It was known at Athens that the views of Pausanias were unfavourable to the proceedings of Lysander ; and his presence ehcited a vehement reaction against the oligarchy, which fear had hitherto suppressed. At first, however, Pausa- nias made a show of attacking Thrasybulus and his adherents, B.C. 403. THE THIRTY DEPOSED, 379 and sent a herald to require them to disband and return to their homes. As this order was not obeyed, Pausanias made an attack on Piraeus, but was repulsed with loss. Retiring to an eminence at a little distance he rallied his forces and formed them into a deep phalanx. Thrasybulus, elated by his success, was rash enough to venture a combat on the plain, in which his troops were completely routed and driven back to Piraeus with the loss of 150 men. § 18. Pausanias, content with the advantage he had gained, began to listen to the entreaties for an accommodation which poured in on all sides ; and when Thrasybulus sent to sue for peace, he granted him a truce for the purpose of sending envoys to Sparta. The Ten also despatched envoys thither, offering to submit themselves and the city to the absolute discretion of Sparta. The Ephors and the Lacedaemonian Assembly referred the question to a committee of fifteen, of whom Pausanias was one. The decision of this board was : That the exiles in Piraeus should be readmitted to Athens ; and that there should be an amnesty for all that had passed, except as regarded the Thirty, the Eleven, and the Ten. Eleusis was recognised as a distinct government, in order to serve as a refuge for those who felt themselves compromised at Athens. § 19. When these terms were settled and sworn to, the Pelopon- nesians quitted Attica ; and Thrasybulus and the exiles, marching in solemn procession from Piraeus to Athens, ascended to the Acropolis and offered up a solemn sacrifice and thanksgiving. An assembly of the people was then held, and after Thrasybulus had addressed an animated reproof to the oligarchical party, the democracy was unanimously restored. This important counter- revolution apj>ears to have taken place in the spring of 403 b. c. The archons, the senate of 500, the public assembly, and the dicasteries seem to have been reconstituted in the same form as before the capture of the city. Ail the acts of the Thirty were annulled, and a committee was appointed to revise the laws of Draco and Solon, and to exhibit their amendments at the statues of the eponymous heroes. These laws, as afterwards adopted by the whole body of 500 nomothetae, and by the Senate, were ordered to be inscribed on the walls of the Po3cil6 Stoa, on which occasion the full Ionic alphabet of 24 letters was for the first time adopted in public acts, though it had long been in private use. The old Attic alphabet, of 16 or 18 letters, had been pre- viously employed in public documents. § 20. Thus was terminated, after a sway of eight months, the despotism of the Thirty. The year which contained their rule was not named after the archon, but was termed "the year of 380 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XXXIII. anarchy." The first archon drawn after their fall was Euclldes, who gave his name to a year ever afterwards memorable among the Athenians. The democracy, though smarting under recent wrongs, behaved with great moderation ; a circumstance, how- ever, which may in some degree be accounted for by the facts, that 3000 of the more influential citizens had been more or less implicated in the proceedings of the Thirty, and that the number of those entitled to the franchise was now reduced by its being restricted to such only as were born of an Athenian mother as well as father. Eleusis was soon afterwards brought back into community with Athens. The only reward cf Thrasybulus and his party were wreaths of olive, and 1000 drachma given for a common sacrifice. But though Athens thus obtained internal peace, she was left a mere shadow of her former self. Her fortifications, her fleet, her revenues, and the empire founded on them had vanished ; and her history henceforwards consists of struggles, not to rule over others, but to maintain her own independence. Clio, the Muse of History. CHAPTER XXXIV ATHENS AND ATHENIAN AND GRECIAN ART DURING THE PERIOD OF HER EMPIRE. § 1. Situation of Athens. § 2. Origin and progress of the ancient city. § 3. Extent of the new city. Piraeus and the ports. § 4. General ap- pearance of Athens. Population. § 5. Periods and general character of Attic art. § 6. Sculptors of the first period. Ageladas, Onatas, and others. § 7. Second period. Phidias. § 8. Polycletus and Myron. § 9. Painting. Polygnotus. § 10. Apollodorus, Zeuxis, and Parrhasius. §11. Architecture. Monuments of the age of Cimon. The temple of Nike Apteros, the Theseum, and the Pcecile Stoa. § 12. The Acropolis and its monuments. The Propylaea. § 13. The Parthenon. § 14. Statues of Athena. § 15. The Erechtheum. § 16. Monuments in the Asty. The Dionysiac theatre. The Odeum of Pericles. The Areopagus. The Pnyx. The Agora and Ceramicus. § 17. Monuments out of Attica. The Temple of Jove at Olympia. § 18. The Temple of Apollo near Phigalia. § 1. In the present book we have beheld the rise of Athens from the condition of a second or third rate city to the headship of Greece ; we are now to contemplate her triumphs in the 382 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXTV. peaceful but not less glorious pursuits of art, and to behold her establishing an empire of taste and genius, not only over her own nation and age, but over the most civilized portion of the world throughout all time. First of ah, however, it is necessary to give a brief description of Athens itself, the repository, as it were, in which the most precious treasures of art were preserved. Athens is situated about three miles from the sea-coast, in the central plain of Attica, which is enclosed by mountains on every side except the south, where it is open to the sea. In the southern part of the plain rise several eminences. Of these the most pro- minent is a lofty insulated mountain, with a conical peaked summit, now called the Hill of St. George, and which bore in ancient times the name of Lycabettus. This mountain, which was not included within the ancient walls, lies to the north-east of Athens, and forms the most striking feature in the environs of the city. It is to Athens what Vesuvius is to Naples, or Arthur's Seat to Edinburgh. South-west of Lycabettus there are four hills of moderate height, all of which formed part of the city. Of these the nearest to Lycabettus, and at the distance of a mile from the latter, was the Acropolis, or citadel of Athens, a square craggy rock rising abruptly about 150 feet, with a flat summit of about 1000 feet long from east to west, by 500 feet broad from north to south. Immediately west of the Acropolis is a second hill of irregular form, the Areopagus. To the south- west there rises a third hill, the Pnyx, on which the assemblies of the citizens were held ; and to the south of the latter is a fourth hill, known as the Museum. On the eastern and western sides of the city there run two small streams, which are nearly exhausted before they reach the sea, by the heats of summer and by the channels for artificial irrigation. That on the east is the Ilissus, which flowed through the southern quarter of the city : that on the west is the Cephissus. South of the city was seen the Saronic Gulf, with the harbours of Athens. The ground on which Athens stands is a bed of hard limestone rock, which the ingenuity of the inhabitants converted to architectural purposes, by hewing it iuto walls, levelling it into pavements, and forming it into steps, seats, cisterns, and other objects of utility or ornament. The noblest description of Athens is given by Milton in his Paradise Regained : — " Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount, Westward, much nearer by south-west behold, Where on the jEgean shore a city stands, Built nobly ; pure the air, and light the scil : Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of ait* And eloquence, native to famous wits, Chap. XXXIV CITY OF ATHENS. 383 Or hospitable, in her sweet recess, City or suburban, studious walks and shades, See there the olive grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Trills her thick warbled notes the summer long ; There flowery hill Hyrnettus, with the sound Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites To studious musing; there Ilissus rolls His whispering stream : within the walls then view The schools of ancient sages ; his who bred Great Alexander to subdue the world, Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next." Plan of Athens. 1. Pnyx Erc.eoia 2. ThesCum 3. Theatre of DionyBUS 4. Odeum of Pericles 5. Temple of the Olympian Jove § 2. Athens is said to have derived its name from the pro- minence given to the worship of Athena by its King Erechtheus. The inhabitants were previously called Cranai and CecropidiB, from Cecrop3, who, according to tradition, was the original founder of the city. This at first occupied only the hill or rock which afterwards became the Acropolis ; but gradually the build- ings began to spread over the ground at the southern foot of this hill. It was not till the time of Pisistratus and his sons (b.c. 560-514) that the city began to assume any degree of splendour. The most remarkable building of these despots was the gigantic temple of the Olympian Jove, which, however, 384 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXI7. was not finished till many centuries later. In B.C. 500, the theatre of Dionysus was commenced on the south-eastern slope of the Acropolis, but was not completed till B.C. 340 ; though it must have been used for the representation of plays long before that period. § 3. Xerxes reduced the ancient city almost to a heap of ashes. After the departure of the Persians, its reconstruction on a much larger scale was commenced under the superintend- ence of Themistocles, whose first care was to provide for its safety by the erection of walls. The Acropolis now formed the centre of the city, round which the new walls described an irre- gular circle of about 60 stadia, or 7£ miles in circumference. The new walls were built in great haste in consequence of the attempts of the Spartans to interrupt their progress ; but though this occasioned great irregularity in their structure, they were nevertheless firm and solid. The space thus enclosed formed the Astij* or city, properly so called. But the views of Themis- tocles were not confined to the mere defence of Athens : he con- templated making her a great naval power, and for this purpose adequate docks and arsenals were required. Previously the Athenians had used as their only harbour the open roadstead of Phal rum on the eastern side of the Phaleric bay, where the sea- shore is nearest to Athens. But Themistocles transferred the naval station of the Athenians to the peninsula of Piraeus, which is distant about 4J miles from Athens, and contains three natural harbours, — a large one on the western side, called simply I' irams or The Harbour, and two smaller ones on the eastern side, called respectively Zea and Munychia, the latter being nearest to the city. Themistocles seems to have anticipated from the first that the port-town would speedily become as large a place as the Asty or city itself; for the walls which he built around the peninsula of Piraeus were of the same circumference as those of Athens, and were 14 or 15 feet thick. It was not, however, till the time of Pericles that Piraeus was regularly laid out as a town by the architect, Hippodamus of Miletus. It was also in the administration and by the advice of Pericles, but in pursuance of the policy of Themistocles, that the walls were built which connected Athens with her ports. These were at first the outer or northern Long Wall, which ran from Athens to Piraeus, and the Phaleric wall connecting the city with Phalerum. These were commenced in bc. 457, and finished in the following year. It was soon found, however, that the space thus inolosed was too vast to be easily defended ; and as the port of Phalerum * To *.Wi/. (JnAr. XXXIV. ITS GENERAL APPEARANCE. 385 was small and insignificant in comparison with the Piraeus, and soon ceased to be used by the Athenian ships of war, its wall was abandoned and probably allowed to fall into decay. Its place was supplied by another Long Wall, which was built parallel to the first at a distance of only 550 feet, thus rendering both capable of being defended by the same body of men. The mag- nitude of these walls may be estimated from the fact that the foundations of the northern one, which may still be traced, are about 12 feet thick, and formed of large quadrangular blocks of stone. Their height in all probability was not less than 60 feet. In process of time the space between the two Long Walls was occupied on each side by houses. § 4. It will be seen from the preceding description that Athens, in its larger acceptation, and including its port, consisted of two circular cities, the Asty and Piraeus, each of about 7^ miles in circumference, and joined together by a broad street of between 4 and 5 miles long. Its first appearance was by no means agree- able or striking. The streets were narrow and crooked, and the meanness of the private houses formed a strong contrast to thn Athens and its Port-towns. 13 a. 2 c 386 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIV magnificence of the public buildings. None of the houses were more than one story high, which often projected over the street. They were for the most part constructed either of a framework of wood, or of unburnt bricks dried in the open air. The front towards the street rarely had any windows, and was usually nothing but a curtain wall covered with a coating of plaster. It was not till the Macedonian period, when public spirit had de- cayed, that the Athenians, no longer satisfied with participating in the grandeur of the state, began to erect handsome private houses. Athens was badly drained, and scantily supplied with water. It was not lighted, and very few of the streets were paved. Little care was taken to cleanse the city ; and it appears to have been as dirty as the filthiest town of southern Europe in the present day. • The population of Athens cannot be accurately ascertained. The population of the whole of Attica probably exceeded half a million, of whom, however, nearly four-fifths were slaves, and half the remainder metics. or resident aliens. The number cf citizens — native males above the age of twenty, enjoying tho franchise — was 20,000 or 21,000. The population resident in Athens itself has been variously estimated at from 120,000 to 192,000 souls. § 5. Such was the outward and material form of that city, which during the brief period comprised in our present book reached the highest pitch of military, artistic, and literary glory. The progress of thw first has been already traced, and it is to the last two subjects that we are now to devote our attention. Tho whole period contemplated embraces about 80 years, the middle portion of which, or that comprised under the ascendency of Pericles, exhibits Athenian art in its highest state of perfection, and is therefore by way of excellence commonly designated as the age of Pericles. The generation which preceded, and that which followed the time of that statesman, also exhibit a high degree of excellence ; but in the former perfection had not yet attained its full development, and in the latter we already begin to observe traces of incipient decline. The progress both of poetry and of the plastic arts during this epoch is strikingly similar. The great principle that pervaded all was a lively and truthful imitation of nature, but nature of an ideal and elevated stamp. Epic poetry and the ode give place to a more accurate and striking rendering of nature by means of dramatic repre- sentations ; whilst sculpture presents us not only with more graceful forms, but with more of dramatic action in the ar- rangement of its groups. In this latter respect, however, tbe ago was probably excelled by the succeeding one of Soo] Chap. XXXIV. BEST PERIOD OF ATHENIAN ART. 387 and Praxiteles. The process by 'which Athenian genius freed itself from the trammels of ancient stiffness, is as visible in the tragedies of ^Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as in the pro- ductions of the great masters of the plastic arts during the same period. In the dramas of iEschylus majesty and dignity are not unmixed with a rigid and archaic simplicity, which also marks the works of the contemporary sculptors. In the next genera- tion, during the time of Pericles, we find this characteristic giving place to the perfection of grace and sublimity united, as in the tragedies of Sophocles and in the statues of Phidias. Art could not be carried higher. In the next step we find equal truthfulness and grace ; but the former had lost its ideal and elevated character, and the latter was beginning to degenerate into over-refinement and affectation. Such are the examples offered by the plays of Euripides, and by the sculptures of Myron and Polycletus. In like manner, with regard to architecture, the Parthenon, erected in the time of Pericles, presents the most exquisite example of the Doric style in the happiest medium between antique heaviness and the slender weakness of later monuments. Painting also, in the hands of Polygnotus, attained its highest excellence in the grace and majesty of single figures. But painting is a complicated art ; and the mechanical improve- ments in perspective, light and shade, grouping, and composition in general, afterwards introduced by Apollodorus and Zeuxis, and stiU later by Apelles, undoubtedly brought the art to a greater degree of perfection. § 6. Among the artists of this period the sculptors stand out prominently. In general the eminent sculptors of this period also possessed not only a theoretical knowledge, but frequently great practical skill in the sister arts of painting and architecture. One of the earliest sculptors of note was Ageladas of Argos, whose fame at present chiefly rests on the circumstance of his having been the master of Phidias, Myron, and Polycletus. He was probably born about B.C. 540, so that he must have been an old man when Phidias became his pupil. Another distinguished statuary and painter among the immediate predecessors of Phidias was Onatas, an iEginetan, who flourished down to the year B.C. 460. His merit as a painter appears from the fact that h«^ was em- ployed, in conjunction with Polygnotus, to decorate with paintings a temple at Plataea. Contemporary with these elder masters of the best period of Greok art were Hegias, Canachus, Calamis, and others. The somewhat stiff and archaic style which distinguished their pro- ductions from those of Phidias and his school was preserved even by some artists who flourished at the same time with Phidias ; 2 c 2 388 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XXXIV as, for instance, by Praxias and Androsthenes, who executed soma of the statuary which adorned the temple of Delphi. § 7. Phidias is the head of the new school. He was born about 490 B.C., began to flourish about 460, and died just before the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war in 432. He seems to have belonged to a family of artists, and to have first turned his attention towards painting. He was the pupil, as we have said, of Ageladas, and probably of Hegias ; and his great abilities wero developed in executing or superintending the works of art with which Athens was adorned during the administration of Pericles. He went to Elis about B.C. 437, where he executed his famous statue of the Olympian Jove. He returned to Athens about 434, and shortly afterwards fell a victim to the jealousy against his friend and patron, Pericles, which was then at its height ; and, though he was acquitted on the charge of peculation, he was con- demned on that of impiety, for having introduced his own likeness, as well as that of Pericles, among the figures in the battle of the Amazons, sculptured on the shield of Athena. He was in conse- quence thrown into prison, where he shortly afterwards died. The chief characteristic of the works of Phidias is ideal beauty of the subhmest order, especially in the representation of divini- ties and their worship. He entirely emancipated himself from the stiffness which had hitherto marked the archaic school, but without degenerating into that almost meretricious grace which began to corrupt art in the hands of some of his successors. His renderings of nature had nothing exaggerated or distorted : all was marked by a noble dignity and repose. We shall speak of his works when we come to describe the buildings which contained them. § 8. Among the most renowned sculptors contemporary with Phidias were Polycletus and Myron. There were at least two sculptors of the name of Polycletus ; but it is the elder one of whom we here speak, and who was the mere famous. He seems to have been born at Sicyon, and to have become a citizen of Argos. The exact date of his birth is uncertain, but he was rather younger than Phidias, and flourished probably from about 452 to 412 B.C. Of his personal history we know absolute]}' nothing. The ai-t of Polycletus was not of so ideal and elevated a character as that of Phidias. The latter excelled in statues of gods, Polycletus in those of men ; but in these he reached so great a pitch of excellence that on one occasion, when several artists competed in the statue of an Amazon, he was adjudged to have carried away the palm from Phidias. The greatest of his works was the ivory and gold statue of Hera in her templo between Argos and Mycenos which always remained the ideal Chap. XXXIV. SCULPTURE AND PAINTING. 389 model of the queen of the gods, as Phidias's statue at Olympia was considered the most perfect image of the king of heaven. Myron, also a contemporary and fellow-pupil of Phidias, was a native of Eleutherae, a town on the borders of Attica and Boeotia. He seems to have been younger than Phidias, and was probably longer in attaining excellence, since he nourished about the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. He excelled in representing the most difficult, and even transient, postures of the body, and his works were marked by great variety and versatility. He appears to have been the first eminent artist who devoted much attention to the figures of animals, and one of his statues most celebrated in antiquity was that of a cow. It was represented as lowing, and stood on a marble base in the centre of one of the largest open places in Athens, where it was still to be seen in the time of Cicero, but was subsequently re- moved to Rome. This, as well as most of his other works, was in bronze. He excelled in representing youthful athleta3 ; and a celebrated statue of his, of which several copies are still extant, was the discobolus, or quoit-player. § 9. The art of painting was developed later than that of sculpture, of which it seems to have been the offspring, and in its earlier period to have partaken very closely of the statuesque. character. The ancient Greek paintings were either in watet colours or in wax : oil colours appear to have been unknown. We have already given some account of the rudiments of the art among the Greeks.* The first Grecian painter of any great renown was Polygnotus, who was contemporary with Phidias, though pro- bably somewhat older. He was a native of Thasos, whence he was, in all probability, brought by his friend and patron Cimon, when he subjugated that island in B.C. 463. At that period he must at least have been old enough to have earned the celebrity which entitled him to Cimon 's patronage. He subsequently be- came naturalized at Athens, where he probably died about the year 426 B.C. His chief works in Athens were executed in adorning those buildings which were erected in the time of Cimon ; as the temple of Theseus, and the Pcecile' Stoa, or Painted Colonnade. His paintings were essentially statuesque — the re- presentation by means of colours on a flat surface of figures similar to those of the sculptor. But the improvements which he introduced on the works of his predecessors were very marked and striking, and form an epoch in the art. He first depicted the open mouth, so as to show the teeth, and varied the ex- pression of the countenance from its ancient stiffness. He ' * See p. 150. 390 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIV excelled in representing female beauty and complexion, and in- troduced graceful, flowing draperies, in place of the hard stiff lines by which they had been previously depicted. He excelled in accuracy of drawing, and in the nobleness, grace, and beauty of his figures, which were not mere transcripts from nature, but had an ideal and elevated character. His master-pieces were executed in the Lescte (inclosed court or hall for conversation) of the Cnidians at Delphi, the subjects of which were taken from the cycle of epic poetry. In these there seems to have been no attempt at perspective, and names were affixed to the different figures. § 10. Painting reached a further* stage of excellence in the hands of Apollodorus, Zeuxis, and Parrhasius, the only other artists whom we need notice during this period. Apollodorus was a native of Athens, and first directed attention to the effect of light and shade iu painting, thus creating another epoch in the art. His immediate successors, or rather contemporaries, Zeuxis and Parrhasius, brought the art to a still greater degree of perfection. Neither the place nor date of the birth of Zeuxis can be accurately ascertained, though he was probably born about 455 B.C., since thirty years after that date we find him practising his art with great success at Athens. He was patronised by Archelaiis, king of Macedonia, and spent some time at his court. He must also have visited Magna Graecia, as he painted his celebrated picture of Helen for the city of Croton. He acquired great wealth by his pencil, and was very ostentatious in displaying it. He appeared at Olympia in a magnificent robe, having his name embroidered in letters of gold ; and the same vanity is also displayed in the anecdote that, after he had reached the summit of his fame, he no longer sold, but gave away, his pictures, as being above all price. With regard to his style of art, single figures were his favourite subjects. He could depict gods or heroes with sufficient majesty, but he particularly excelled in painting the softer graces of female beauty. In one important respect he appears to have degenerated from the style of Poly- gnotus, his idealism being rather that of form than of characti r and expression. Thus his style is analogous to that of Euripides in tragedy. He was a great master of colour, and his paintings were sometimes so accurate and life-like as to amount to illusion. This is exemplified in the story told of him and Parrhasius. As a trial of skill, these artists painted two pictures. That of Zeuxis represented a bunch of grapes, and was so naturally executed that the birds came and pecked at it. After this proof, Zeuxis, confident of success, called upon his rival to draw aside the cur- tail; which concealed his picture But the painting of Parrhasius K Giiap. XXXIV. MONUMENTS OF C1MON. 391 was the curtain itself, and Zeuxis was now obliged" to acknow- ledge himself vanquished ; for, though he had deceived birds, Parrhasius had deceived the author of the deception. Whatever may be the historical value of this tale, it at least shows the high reputation which both artists had acquired for the natural representation of objects. But many of the pictures of Zeuxis also displayed great dramatic power. He worked very slowly and carefully, and he is said to have replied to somebody who blamed him for his slowness, " It is true I take a long time to paint, but then I paint works to last a long time." His master- piece was the picture of Helen, already mentioned. Parrhasius was a native of Ephesus, but his art was chiefly exercised at Athens, where he was presented with the right of citizenship. His date cannot be accurately ascertained, but he was probably rather younger than his contemporary, Zeuxis, and it is certain that he enjoyed a high reputation before the death of Socrates. The style and degree of excellence attained by Parrhasius appear to have been much the same as those of Zeuxis. He was particularly celebrated for the accuracy of his drawing, and the excellent proportions of his figures. For these he established a canon, as Phidias had done in sculpture for gods, and Polycletus for the human figure ; whence Quintilian calls him the legislator of his art. His vanity seems to have been as remarkable as that of Zeuxis. Among the most celebrated of his works was a portrait of the personified Athenian Demos, which is said to have miraculously expressed even the most contradictory qualities of that many-headed personage. The excellence attained during this period by the great mas- ters in the higher walks of sculpture and painting was, as may be well supposed, not without its influence on the lower grades of art. This is particularly visible in the ancient painted vases, which have been preserved to us in such numbers, the paintings on which, though of course the productions of an inferior class of artists, show a marked improvement, both in design and exe- cution, after the time of Polygnotus. § 11. HaviDg thus taken a brief survey of the progress of sculpture and painting in the hands of the most eminent masters, we now turn to contemplate some of the chief buildings which they were employed to adorn. The first public monuments that arose after the Persian wars were erected under the auspices of Cimon, who was, like Pericles, a lover and patron of the arts. The principal of these were the small Ionic temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless Victory), the Theseum, or temple of Theseus, and the Pcecile Stoa. The temple of Nike' Apteros. was only 27 feet in length by 18 in 392 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIV breadth, and was erected on the Acropolis in commemoration of Cimon's victory at the Eurymedon. It was still in existence in the year 1676, but it was subsequently destroyed by the Turks in order to form a battery. Its remains were discovered in 1835, and it was rebuilt with the original materials. A new of it is given on p. 216, and its position on the Acropolis, on one side of the Propykea, is seen in the drawings on pp. 265 and 273. Four slabs of its sculptured frieze, found in a neighbouring wall, are now in the British Museum. The Theseum is situated on a height to the north of the Areopagus, and was built to receive the bones of Theseus, which Cimon brought from Scyros in B.C. 469. It was probably finished about 465, and is the best preserved of all the monuments of ancient Athens. (See drawing on p. 239.) It was at once a tomb and temple, and possessed the privileges of an asylum. It is of the Doric order, 104 feet in length by 45 feet broad, and surrounded with columns, of which there are 6 at each front, and 13 at the sides, reckoning those at the angles twice. The cella is 40 feet in length. It is not therefore by its size, but by its symmetry, that it impresses the beholder. The eastern front was the principal one, since all its metopes, together with the four adjoining ones on either side, are sculptured, whilst all the rest are plain. The sculptures, of which the subjects are the exploits of Hercules and Theseus, have sustained great injury, though the temple itself is nearly perfect. The figures in the pediments have entirely disappeared, and the metopes and frieze have been greatly mutilated. The relief is bold and salient, and the sculptures, both of the metopes and friezes, were painted, and still preserve remains of the colours. There are casts from some of the finest portions of them in the British Museum. The style exhibits a striking advance on that of the ^Eginetan marbles, and forms a connecting link between them and the sculptures of the Parthenon. The Poecile Stoa, which ran along one side of the Agora, or market-place, was a long colonnade formed by columns on one side and a wall on the other, against which wore plaoed the paintings, which were on panels.* § 12. But it was the Acrojiolis which was the chief ceutre of the architectural splendour of Athens. After the Persian wars the Acropolis had ceased to be inhabited, and was appropriated to the worship of Athena, and the other guardian deities of tho city. It was covered with the temples of gods and heroes ; and thus its platform presented not only a sanctuary, but a museum, containing the finest productions of the architect and the sculptor, • Hence its name of Poecil<5 (■roiKiXn, variegated or painted). Chap. XXXIV. THE PROPYL.EA. 393 wimmmm>Mi§MWMM Plan of the Acropolis. 1. Parthenon. 2. Erechtheun 3. Propylcea. 4. Temple of Nike' Aptc. 5. Statue of Athena Promachus. in which the whiteness of the marble was relieved by brihiaLt colours, and rendered still more dazzling by the transparent clearness of the Athenian atmosphere. It was surrounded with waUs, and the surface seems to have been divided into terraces communicating with one another by steps. The only approach to it was from the Agora on its western side. At the top of a mag- nificent flight of marble steps, 70 feet broad, stood the Propylsea,* constructed under the auspices of Pericles, and which served as a suitable entrance to the exquisite works within. The Pro- pyla?a were themselves one of the masterpieces of Athenian art. They were entirely of Pentelic marble, and covered the whole of the western end of the Acropolis, having a breadth of 168 feet. They were erected by the architect Mnesicles, at a cost of 2000 talents, or 460,000/. The central portion of them consisted of two hexastyle porticoes, of which the western one faced the city, and the eastern one the interior of the Acropolis. Each portico consisted of a front of six fluted Doric columns, 4J feet in diameter, and nearly 29 feet in height, supporting a pediment. The central part of the building just described was 58 feet in breadth, but the remaining breadth of the rock at this point was covered by two wings, which projected 26 feet in front of the western portico. Each of these wings was in the form of a Doric temple. The northern one, or that on the left of a person ascend- ing the Acropolis, was called the Pinacotheca, from its walls being covered with paintings. The southern wing consisted only of a porch or open gallery. Immediately before its western front * TJeorrvf.ata. HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciur. XXXIV stood the little temple of Niko Apteros already mentioned. (See drawing on p. 273.) 13. On passing through the Propykea all the glories of the Acropolis became visible. The chief building was the Parthenon,* the most perfect production of Grecian architecture. It de- rived its name from its being the temple of Athena Parthenos,f or Athena the Virgin, the invincible goddess of war. It was also called Hecatompedon, from its breadth of 100 feet. It was built under the administration of Pericles, and was completed in B.C. 438. The architects were Ictinus and Callicrates ; but, as we have said, the general superintendence of the building was in- trusted to Phidias. The Parthenon stood on the highest part of the Acropolis, near its centre, and probably occupied the site of an earlier temple destroyed by the Persians. It was entirely of Pentelic marble, on a rustic basement of ordinary limestone, and its architecture, which was of the Doric order, was of the purest kind. Its dimensions, taken from the upper step of the stylo bate, were about 228 feet in length, 101 feet in breadth, and 66 feet in height to the top of the pediment. It consisted of a cella, surrounded by a peristyle, which had 8 columns at either front, and 17 at either side (reckoning the corner columns twice), thus containing 46 columns in all. These columns were 6 feet 2 inches in diameter at the base, and 34 feet in height. The cella was divided into two chambers of unequal size, the eastern one of which was about 98 feet long, and the western one about 43 feet. The ceiling of both these chambers was sup- ported by rows of columns. The whole building was adorned with the most exquisite sculptures, executed by various artists under the direction of Phidias. These consisted of, 1. The sculp- tures in the tympana of the pediments (/. c. the inner portion of the triangular gable ends of the roof above the two porticoes), each of which was filled with about 24 colossal figures. The group in the eastern or principal front represented the birth of Athena from the head of Jove, and the western the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the land of Attica. An en- graving of one of the figures in the pediments is given on p. 296. 2. The metopes between the triglyphs in the frieze of the entablature (;'. c. the upper of the two portions into which the space between the columns and the roof is divided) were filled with sculptures in high relief, representing a variety of subjects relating to Athena herself, or to the indigenous heroes of Attica. Each tablet was 4 feet 3 inches square. Those on the fcouth side related to the battle of the Athenians with the * Hitfdtuv, i.e., House of the Virgin. i AJnm trAthtH, Chap. XXXiV. THE PARTHENON. 395 Centaurs. One of the metopes is figured on p. 321. 3. The frieze which ran along outside the wall of the cella, and within the external columns which surround the building, at the same height and parallel with the metopes, was sculptured with a representation of the Panathenaic festival in very low relief. This frieze was 3 feet 4 inches in height, and 520 feet in length. A small portion of the frieze is figured on p. 306. A large num- ber of the slabs of the frieze, together with sixteen metopes from the south side, and several of the statues of the pediments, were brought to England by Lord Elgin, of whom they were purchased by the nation and deposited in the British Museum. The engraving on p. 285 represents the restored western front of the Parthenon. § 14. But the chief wonder of the Parthenon was the colossal statue of the Virgin Goddess executed by Phidias himself, which stood in the eastern or principal chamber of the cella. It was of the sort called chryselephantine,* a kind of work said to have been invented by Phidias. Up to this time colossal statues not of bronze were acroliths, that is, having only the face, hands, and feet of marble, the rest being of wood, concealed by real drapery. But, in the statue of Athena, Phidias substituted ivory for marble in those parts which were uncovered, and supplied the place of the real drapery with robes and other ornaments of solid gold. Its height, including the base, was 26 cubits, or nearly 40 feet. It represented the goddess standing, clothed with a tunic reach- ing to the ankles, with a spear in her left hand, and an image of Victory, 4 cubits high, in her right. She was girded with the aegis, and had a helmet on hur head, and her shield rested on the ground by her side. The eyes were of a sort of marble resem- bling ivory, and were perhaps painted to represent the iris and pupil. The weight of solid gold employed in the statue was, at a medium statement, 44 talents, and was removable at pleasure. The Acropolis was adorned with another colossal figure of Athena in bronze, also the work of Phidias. It stood in the open air, nearly opposite the Propykea, and was one of the first objects seen after passing through the gates of the latter. With its pedestal it must have stood about 70 feet high, and conse- quently towered above the roof of the Parthenon, so that the point of its spear and the crest of its helmet were visible off the promontory of Sunium to ships approaching Athens. It was called the " Athena Promachus," t because it represented the goddess armed, and in the very attitude of battle. It was still * i.e.. of gold and ivory, from xovV.< nica. From this quiet retreat he was at length expelled by the Eleans, but at what date is uncertain ; though he seems at all events to have spent at least 20 years at this place. His sentence of banishment from Athens was repealed on the motion of Eubulus, but in what year we do not know. His two sons, Gryllus and Diodorus, are said to have fought with the Athenians and Spartans against the Thebans, at the battle of Mantinea in 362. There is, however, no evidence that Xenophon ever returned to Athens. He seems to have retired to Coiinth after his expulsion from Elis, and it is pro- 1 >ahle that he died there. He is said to have lived to more than 90 years of age, and he mentions an event which occurred as late as 357 b.c. Probably all the works of Xenophon are still extant. The Anabasis is the work on which his fame as an historian chiefly rests. It is written in a simple and agreeable style, and convey;; much curious and striking information. The HeUentca is a con- tinuation of the history of Thucydides, and comprehends in seven books a space of about 48 years ; namely, from the time when Thucydides breaks off, b.c. 411, to the battle of Mantinoa Chap. XXXV. SOPHISTS. 413 in 362. The subject is treated in a very dry and uninteresting style ; and his evideut partiality to Sparta, and dislike of Athens, have frequently warped his judgment, aud must cause his state- ments to be received with some suspicion. The Cyropcedia, one of the most pleasing and popular of Xenophon's works, professes to be a history of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, but is in reality a kind of political romance, and possesses no authority whatever as an historical work. The design of the author seems to have been to draw a picture of a perfect state ; and though the scene is laid in Persia, the materials of 'he work are derived from his own philosophical notions and the usages of Sparta, engrafted on the popularly current stories re- specting Cyrus. Xenophon displays in this work his dislike ol democratic institutions like those of Athens, and his preference for an aristocracy, or even a monarchy. Xenophon was also the author of several minor works ; but the only other treatise which we need mention is the Memorabilia of Socrates, in four books, intended as a defence of his master against the charges which occasioned his death, and which undoubtedly contains a genuine picture of Socrates and his philosophy. The genius of Xenophon was not of the highest order ; it was practical rather than specu- lative ; but he is distinguished for his good sense, his moderate views, his humane temper, and his earnest piety. § 10. In closing this brief survey of Athenian literature, it is necessary to make a few remarks- upon Athenian education, and upon the greatest teacher of his age — the philosopher Socrates. A certain amount of elementary education seems to have pre vailed among the free citizens of all the Grecian states at the time of which we are speaking. Instruction was usually im- parted in schools. The pscdagogue, or private tutor, was not a teacher ; he was seldom a man of much knowledge — often indeed a slave — and his office was merely to watch over his pupils in their idle hours, and on their way to the schools. When a youth could read with fluency, he was set. to learn by heart passages selected from the best poets, in which moral precepts and examples of virtuous conduct were inculcated and exhibited. The works of iEsop and Theognis were much used for this purpose. He was then taught those accomplishments which the Greeks included under the comprehensive head of " music," and which cc mprised not only the art of playing on the lyre, and of singing and dancing, so as to enable him to bear a part in a chorus, but also to recite poetical compositions with grace and propriety of accent and pronunciation. At the same time his physical powers were developed and strengthened by a course of gymnastic exercises. At the age of 18 or 20 the sons 414 HISTORY OE GREECE. Oiiaz>. XXXV of the more wealthy citizens attended the classes of the rhetors ind sophists who gave their lectures in the Lyceum, Academy, or other similar institutions ; — a course somewhat analogous to entering a university in our own times. Here the young man ■studied rhetoric and philosophy ; under which heads were in- cluded mathematics, astronomy, dialectics, oratory, criticism, and morals. § 11. It will be perceived from the above sketch that the rhetor and sophist — whose provinces were often combined, and are generally difficult to distinguish with accuracy — played the most important part in the formation of the future man. They gave the last bias to his mind, and sent him forth into the world with habits of thought which in after life he would perhaps have neither the leisure nor the inclination to alter, or even to exa- mine. Most of the young men who attended their lectures had little more in view than to become qualified for taking a practical part in active life. The democratical institutions which had begun to prevail in Athens, Sicily, and other parts of Greece during the fifth century before the Christian sera, and which often obliged a public man to confute an adversary, to defend himself from an attack, or to persuade a public assembly, ren- dered it necessary for him to obtain some knowledge of rhetoric >md dialectics. It was for this purpose that the schools of the rhetors and sophists were frequented by the great mass of their hearers, without, perhaps, much care for their speculative prin- ciples except so far as they might serve as exercises to sharpen dialectic skill. Among the most eminent of these teachers in the time of Socrates were Protagoras of Abdera, Gorgias of Leontini, Polus of Agrigentum, Hippias of Elis, Prodicus of Ceos, and others. As rhetorical instructors they may be compared with Isocrates or Quintilian ; but, generally speaking, there was more or less of philosophical speculation mixed up with their teaching. The name of "Sophist" borne by these men had not origin- ally that invidious meaning which it came to possess in later times. In its early use it meant only a wise or a clever man. Thus it was applied to the seven sages, and to the poets, such as Homer and Hesiod ; men as far removed as possible from the notion implied in the modern term sophist. The word seems to have retained its honourable meaning down to the time of Socrates ; but Plato and Xenophon began to use it in a depre- ciatory sense, and as a term of reproach. Whenever they wished to speak of a truly wise man they preferred the word " philosopher." It may therefore be inferred that the name of "Sophist" began to fall into contempt through the teaching of Chap. XXXV. SOCRATES. 415 Socrates, more especially as we find that Socrates himself shrank from the name. § 12. But the relation of Socrates to the Sophists will be best 8ho\vn by a brief account of his life. Socrates was born in the year 468 B.C. in the deme of Alopece, in the immediate neighbourhood of Athens. His father, So- phroniscus, was a sculptor, and Socrates was brought up to, and fcr some time practised, the same profession. A group of the Charites or Graces, from his chisel, was preserved in the Acro- polis of Athens, and was extant in the time of Pausanias. His mother, Pha?narete\ was a midwife. Thus his station in life was humble, but his family was of genuine Attic descent. He was married to Xanthippe^ by whom he had three sons ; but her bad temper has rendered her name proverbial for a conjugal Bcold. His physical constitution was healthy, robust, and won- derfully enduring. Indifferent alike to heat and cold, the same scanty and homely clothing sufficed him both in summer and winter ; and even in the campaign of Potidsea, amidst the snows of a Thracian winter, he went barefooted. He was moderate and frugal in his diet, yet on occasions of festival could drink more wine than any other man without being intoxicated. It was a principle with him to contract his wants as much as pos- sible ; for he had a maxim that to want nothing belonged only to the gods, and to want as little as possible was the nearest approach to the divine nature. But though thus gifted with strength of body and of mind, he was far from being endowed with personal beauty. His thick lips, flat nose, and prominent eyes, gave him the appearance of a Silenus, or satyr. We know but few particulars of his life. He served with credit as an hoplite at Potidsea (b.c. 432), Delium (b.c. 424), and Amphipohs (b.c. 422) ; but it was not till late in life, in the year 406 B.C., that he filled any political office. He was one of the Prytanes when, after the battle of Arginusse, Callixenus submitted his proposition respecting the six generals to the public Assembly, and his refusal on that occasion to put an unconstitutional ques- tion to the vote has been already recorded. * He had a strong persuasion that he was intrusted with a divine mission, and he believed himself to be attended by a daemon, or genius, whose admonitions he frequently heard, not, however, in the way of excitement but of restraint. He never wrote anything, but he made oral instruction the great business of his life. Early in the morning he frequented the public walks, the gymnasia, and the schools ; whence he adjourned to the market-place at its * See p. 366. 416 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXV. most crowded hours, and thus spent the whole day in convers- ing with young and old, rich and poor, — with all in short who felt any desire for his instructions. There was, however, a certain set of persons who were in the habit ot following him to hear his conversation, and these became known as his disciples. From this public maimer of life, he became one of the best known characters in Athens, and this circumstance was probably the reason why he was selected for attack, as the representative of the Sophists in general, by Aristophanes and the comic poets. But the picture of Aristophanes shows that he either did not know, or was not solicitous about, the real objects and pursuits of Socrates : his only object seems to have been to raise a laugh. The dramatist represents Socrates as occupied with physical researches. But though in early life Socrates had paid some attention to natural philosophy, he soon abandoned the study in disgust, from reading a treatise of Anaxagoras, in which he found that the philosopher's hypotheses were not sustained by any basis of reasoning. This led Socrates to turn his attention to dialectics. In this pursuit there can be httle doubt that he derived great assistance from the Eleatic school of philosophers, especially Parmenides and Zeno, who visited Athens when Socrates was a young man. He seems to have borrowed from the Eleatics his negative method ; namely, that of disproving and upsetting what is advanced by a disputant, as a means of unmasking not only falsehood, but also assertion without authority, yet without attempting to establish anything in its place. § 13. We are now in a condition to see in what points Socrates differed from the ordinary teachers or Sophists of the time. They were these : I . He taught without fee or reward, and com- municated his instructions freely to high and low, rich and poor alike. 2. He did not talk for mere vain show and ostentation, but for the sake of gaining clear and distinct ideas, and thus ad- vancing both himself and others in real knowledge. It was with this view that he had abandoned physics, which, in the manner in which they were then taught, were founded merely on guesses and conjectures, and had applied himself to the study of his fellow men, which opened a surer field of observation. And in order to arrive at clear ideas on moral subjects, he was the first to employ definition and inference, and thus confine the discourse to the eliciting of truth, instead of making it the vehicle for empty display. A contrary practice on these two points is what con- stituted the difference between Socrates and the Sophists. The teaching of Socrates forms an epoch in the history of philosophy. From his school sprang Plato, the founder of the Academic philosophy ; Euclides, the founder of the Mogario Chap. iXXV. SOCRATES. 417 school ; Aristippus, the founder of the Uyrenaic school ; and many other philosphers of eminence. § 14. That a reformer and destroyer, like Socrates, of ancient prejudices and fallacies which passed current under the name of wisdom should have raised up a host of enemies is only what might be expected ; but in his case this feeling was increased by the manner in which he fulfilled his mission. The oracle of Delphi, in response to a question put by his friend Chserephon, had affirmed that no man was wiser than Socrates. No one was more perplexed at this declaration than Sccrates himself, since he was conscious to himself of possessing no wisdom at all. However, he determined to test the accuracy of the priestess, for though he had little wisdom, others might have still less. He therefore selected an eminent politician who enjoyed a high reputation for wisdom, and soon elicited by his scrutinising me- thod of cross-examination, that this statesman's reputed wisdom was no wisdom at all. But of this he could not convince the subject of his examination ; whence Socrates concluded that he was wiser than this politician, inasmuch as he was conscious of his own ignorance, and therefore exempt from the error of be- lieving himself wise when in reality he was not so. The same experiment was tried with the same result on various classes of men ; on poets, mechanics, and especially on the rhetors and sophists, the chief of all the pretenders to wisdom. § 15. The first indication of the unpopularity which Socrates had incurred is the attack made upon him by Aristophanes in the " Clouds " in the year 423 B.C. That attack, however, seems to have evaporated with the laugh, and for many years Socrates continued his teaching without molestation. It was not till n. c. 399 that the indictment was preferred against him which cost him his life. In that year, Meletus, a leather-seller, seconded by Anytus, a poet, and Lycon, a rhetor, accused him of impiety in not worshipping the gods of the city, and in introducing new deities, and also of being a corrupter of youth. With respect to the latter charge, his former intimacy with Al- cibiades and Critias may have weighed against him. Socrates made no preparations for his defence, and seems, indeed, not to have desired an acquittal. But although he addressed the di- sasts in a bold uncompromising tone, he was condemned only by a small majority of five or six in a court composed of between five and six hundred dicasts. After the verdict was pronounced, he was entitled, according to the practice of the Athenian courts, to make some counter-proposition in place of the penalty of death, which the accusers had demanded, and if he had done so with any show of submission it is probable that the sentence Gr. 2 k 418 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXV. would have bsen mitigated. But Lis tone after the verdict was higher than before. All that he could be brought to propose against himself by way of punishment was a fine of 30 mince, which Plato and other friends engaged to pay for him. Instead of a fine, he asserted that he ought to be maintained in the Pry- taneum at the pubhc expense, as a public benefactor. This tone seems to have enraged the dicasts, and he was condemned to death. It happened that the vessel which proceeded to Delos on the annual deputation to the festival had sailed the day before his condemnation ; and during its absence it was unlawful to put any on9 to death. Socrates was thus kept in prison during 30 days, till the return of the vessel. He spent the interval in philo- sophical conversations with his friends. Crito, one of these, arranged a scheme for his escape by bribing the gaoler ; but Socrates, as might be expected from the tone of his defence, resolutely refused to save his life by a breach of the law. His last discourse, on the day of his death, turned on the immor- tality of the soul, and has been recorded, and probably em- bellished, in the Phcedo of Plato. With a firm and cheerful countenance he drank the cup of hemlock amidst his sorrowing and weeping friends. His last words were addressed to Crito : — ■ " Crito, we owe a cock to iEsculapius ;* discharge the debt, and by no means omit it." Thus perished the greatest and most original of the Grecian philosophers, whose uninspired wisdom made the nearest ap- proach to the divine morality of the Gospel. * In allusion to the sacrifice usually offered by sick rereons to that deity on their recover:. Bust ol Socruti SsIF i& The Pactolus at Sardis. BOOK V. THE SPAETAN AND THEBAN SUPKEMACIEiS. B.C. 403—371. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE EXPEDITION OF THE GREEKS UNDER CYRUS, AND RETREAT OP THE TEN THOUSAND. § 1. Causes of the expedition. § 2. Cyrus engages an army of Greek mercenaries. Their character. § 3. March to Tarsus. § 4. Discontent of the Greeks. March to Myriandrus. § 5. Passage of the Euphrate-, and march through the desert. § 6. Battle of Cunaxa, and death of Cyrus. § 7. Dismay of the Greeks. Preparations for retreat. § 8. Retreat of the army to the Greater Zab. Seizure of the generals. § 9. Election of Xenophon and others as generals. § 10. March from the Zab to the con- fines of the Carduchi. March across the mountains of the Carduchi. §11. Progress through Armenia. § 12. March through the country of the Taochi, Chalybes, Scythini, Macrones, and Colchi to Trapezus on the Euxine. § 13. March along the coast of the Euxine to Chrysopolis. 2 E 2 42C HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XXXVl. Passage to Byzantium. § 14. Proceedings at Byzantium. § 15. The Greeks enter the service of Seuthes. § 16. Are engaged by the Lacede- monians. Last exploits of the army, and retirement of Xenophon. § 1. The intervention of Cyrus in the affairs of Greece, related in the preceding book, led to a remarkable episode in Grecian his- tory, which strongly illustrates the contrast between the Greeks and Asiatics. This was the celebrated expedition of Cyrus against his brother Artaxerxes, in which the superiority of Gre- cian to Asiatic soldiers was so strikingly shown. It was the first indication of the change in the current of the tide of conquest, which had in former times flowed from east to west, and the harbinger of those future victorious expeditions into Asia which were to be conducted by Agesilaus and Alexander the Great. It has been already mentioned, in the account of the death of Alcibiades, that Cyrus was forming designs against the throne of his brother Artaxerxes. The death of their father, Darius Nothus, took place about the beginning of the year B.C. 404, shortly before the battle of iEgospotami. Cyrus^-who was pre- sent at his father's death, was charged by Tissaphernes with plotting against the new monarch. The accusation was believed by Artaxerxes, who seized his brother, and would have put him to death, but for the intercession of their mother, Parysatis, who persuaded him not only to spare Cyrus, but to confirm him in his former government. Cyrus returned to Sardis, burning with revenge, and fully resolved to make an effort to dethrone his brother. § 2. From his intercourse with the Greeks Cyrus had become aware of their superiority to the Asiatics, and of their usefulness in such an enterprise as he now contemplated. The peace which followed the capture of Athens seemed favourable to his projects. Many Greeks, bred up in the practice of war during the long struggle between that city and Sparta, were now deprived of their employment, whilst many more had been driven into exile by the establishment of the Spartan oligarchies in the various conquered cities. Under the pretence of a private war with the satrap Tissaphernes, Cyrus enlisted large numbers of them in his service. The Greek, in whom he placed most confidence, and who collected for him the largest number of mercenaries, was Clearchus, a Lacedrcmonian, and formerly harmost of Byzantium, who had been condemned to death by the Spartan authorities for disobedience to their orders. It was not, however, till the beginning of the year n.c. 401, that the enterprise of Cyrus was ripe for execution. 1'he Greek levies wore then withdrawn from the various towns in which they were distributed, and concentrated in Sardis, to the number of 7700 422 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVI. hoplites, and 500 light-armed troops ; and in March or April of this year Cyrus marched from Sardis with them, and with au army of 100,000 Asiatics. The object of the expedition was pre claimed to be an attack upon the mountain-freebooters of Pisidia ; its real destination was a secret to every one exoept Cyrus him- self and Clearchus. The Greeks who took part in this expedition were not mere adventurers and outcasts ; many of them had some position in their own cities, and several were even opulent. Yet the hope of gain, founded on the riches of Persia, and on the known liberality of Cyrus, was the motive which allured them. Among them was Xeuophon, an Athenian knight, to whom we owe a narrative of the expedition. He went as a volunteer, at the invitation of his friend Proxenus, a Boeotian, and one of the generals of Cyrus. § 3. The march of Cyrus was directed through Lydia and Phrygia. After passing Colossa? he arrived at Celaenaj, where he halted thirty days to await the arrival of Clearchus with the re- serves and reinforcements. The grand total of the Greeks, when reviewed here by Cyrus, amounted to 11,000 hoplites and 2000 peltasts. The line of march, which had been hitherto straight upon Pisidia, was now directed northwards. Cyrus passed in suc- cession the Phrygian towns of Peltae, Ceramon Agora, the Plain of Caystcr, Thymbrium, and Tyriaeum. At the last of these places he was met by Epyaxa, wife of Syennesis, the here- ditary prince of Cilicia. Epyaxa supplied him with money euough to furnish four months' pay to the Greeks, who had pre- viously been murmuring at the irregularity with which they received their stipend. A review was then held, in which the Greeks, in their best array, and with newly-furbished shields and armour, went through their evolutions, and executed a mock charge with such effect that Epyaxa jumped out of her palanquin and fled in affright, followed by a great part of the Asiatics. Cyrus was delighted at seeing the terror which the Greeks in- spired. Brom Tyriaeum Cyrus marched to Iconium (now Konieh), the last city in Phrygia, and from thence through Lycaonia to Dana, south of which lay the pass across Mount Taurus into Cilicia. This pass, called the Gates of Taurus, or the Cilician Gates, was occupied by Syennesis. But the resistance of that prince, who was a vassal of the Persian crown, was in fact a mere feint. Ho had already, as we have seen, supplied Cyrus with money through his wife ; and he now abandoned his impregnable position, and retired first to Tarsus, and thence to an inaccessible fortress in the mountains. Put, when Cyrus arrived at Tarsus, Sjennesis, ct the first invitation of his wife, repaired thither, and furnished B.C. 401. PASSAGE OF THE EUPHRATES. 423 the young prince with a supply of money and a contingent of troops for his expedition. § 4. Pisidia had now been passed, and the Greeks plainly saw that they had been deceived, and that the expedition was de- signed against the Persian king. Seized with alarm at the pro- spect of so long a march, they declared their resolution to pro- ceed no farther. But they had already advanced so far that to retreat seemed as difficult and dangerous as to advance ; and, after considerable hesitation and delay, they sent a deputation to Cyrus to ask him what his real intentions were. Cyrus re- plied that his design was to march against his enemy, Abrocomas, satrap of Syria, who was encamped on the banks of tho Euphrates . The Greeks, though they still suspected a delusion, contented themselves with this answer in the face of their present diffi- culties, especially as Cyrus promised to raise their pay from one Daric to one Daric and a half a month. The whole army then marched forwards to Issus, the last t -wn in Cilicia, seated on the gulf of the same name. Here they met the fleet, which brought them a reinforcement of 1100 Greek soldiers, thus raising the Grecian force to about 14,000 men. Abrocomas, who commanded for the Great King in Syria and Phoenicia, alarmed at the rapid progress of Cyrus, fled before him with all his army, reported as 300,000 strong ; abandoning the impregnable pass situated one day's march from Issus, and known as the Gates of Cilicia and Syria. This pass was a narrow road, nearly half a mile in length, lying between the sea and Mount Amanus, and enclosed at either end by gates. Marching in safety through this pass, the army next reached Myriaudrus, a sea-port of Phoenicia, where the Grecian generals Xenias and Pasion deserted, and hired a merchant-vessel to convey them home. Cyrus might easily have captured them with his triremes, but declined to do so ; — conduct which won for him the confidence and love of the army. § 5. Cyrus now struck off into the interior, over Mount Ama- nus. Twelve days' march brought him to Thapsacus on the Euphrates, where for the first time he formaUy notified to the army that he was marching to Babylon against his brother Artaxerxes. At this intelligence loud murmurs again broke forth from the Grecian ranks, and accusations against the generals of having deceived them. The discontent, however, was by no means so violent as that which had been manifested at Tarsus, The real object of the march had evidently been suspected beforehand by the soldiers, and the promise of a large donative soon induced them to proceed. The water happened to be very low, scarcely reaching to the breast ; and Abrocomas made no 424 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVf. attempt to dispute the passage. The army uow entered upon the desert, where the Greeks were struck with the novel sights which met their view, and at once amused and exhausted them- selves in the chase of the wild ass and the antelope, or in the vain pursuit of the scudding ostrich. After several days of tod- some march, the army at length reached Pyla>, the entrance into the cultivated plains of Babylonia, where they halted a few days to refresh themselves. § 6. Soon after leaving that place symptoms became per- ceptible of a vast hostile force moving in their front. The exaggerated reports of deserters stated it at 1,200,000 men ; its real strength was about 900,000. In a characteristic address Cyrus exhorted the Greeks to take no heed of the multitude of their enemies ; they would find in them, he affirmed, nothing but numbers and noise, and if they could bring themselves to despise these, they would soon find of what worthless stuff the natives were composed. The irmy then marched cautiously forwards, in order of battle, along the left bank of the Euphrates. They soon came upon a huge trench, 30 feet broad and 18 deep, which Artaxerxes had caused to be dug across the plain for a length of about 42 English miles, reaching from the Euphrates to the wall of Media. Between it and the river was left only a narrow passage about 20 feet broad ; yet Cyrus and his army found with surprise that this pass was left entirely undefended. This cir- cumstance inspired them with a contempt of the enemy, and induced them to proceed in careless array ; but on the next day but one after passing the trench, on arriving at a place called Cunaxa, they were surprised with the intelligence that Artaxerxes was approaching with all his forces. Cyrus immediately drew up his army in order of battle. The Greeks were posted on the right, whilst Cyrus himself, surrounded by a picked body-guard of 600 Persian cuirassiers, took up his station in the centre. It was long, however, before the army of the Great King appeared in sight. A white cloud of dust in the extreme distance gave the first indication of their approach. Out of this an undefined and ominous dark spot began gradually to emerge ; presently arms and armour glanced in the sunbeams ; and at length the whole array of the enemy became discernible, advancing in dense and threatening masses. On their left wing, and cousoquentlv op- posed to the Greeks, appeared Tissaphernes, at the head of the Persian horsemen, with white cuirasses ; on his right the Persian bowmen with their gerrha, or light wicker shields, which they planted in the ground, and from behind them shot their arrows ; next, the array of the Egyptian infantry, whose long wooden shields covered their whole body from head to foot. Jn front B.C. 401. BATTLE OF CUNAXA. 425 was a line of chariots, having scythes attached to the wheels, and which were to lead the charge. The Persian line was so vast that its centre extended beyond the left of Cyrus. Before the battle began Cyras desired Clearchus to attack the Persian centre, where the king in person was posted. But Clearchus, whose right rested on the river, cared not to withdraw from that position, lest he should be surrounded by the superior numbers of the enemy, and therefore returned a general answer that he would manage everything for the best. His over-pi-ecaution oc- casioned the defeat and death of Cyrus. When the enemy were about half a mile distant, the Greeks charged them with the usual war-shout. The Persians did not await their onset, but turned and fled. Tissaphernes and his cavalry alone offered any resistance ; the remainder of the Persian left was routed without a blow. As Cyrus was contemplating the easy victory of the Greeks, his followers surrounded him, and already saluted him with the title of king. But the centre and right of Artaxerxes still remained unbroken ; and that monarch, unaware of the defeat of his left wing, ordered the right to wheel and encompass the army of Cyrus. No sooner did Cyrus perceive this move- ment than with his body-guard he impetuously charged the enemy's centre, where Artaxerxes himself stood, surrounded with 6000 horse. The latter were routed and dispersed, and were fol- lowed so eagerly by the guards of Cyrus, that he was left almost alone with the select few called his " Table Companions." In this situation he caught sight of his brother Artaxerxes, whose per- son was revealed by the flight of his troops, when, maddened at once by rage and ambition, he shouted out, " I see the man !" and rushed at him with his handful of companions. Hurling his javelin at his brother, he wounded him in the breast, but was himself speedily overborne by superior numbers and slain on the spot. § 7. Meanwhile, Clearchus had pursued the flying enemy upwards of three miles ; but hearing that the King's troops were vic- torious on the left and centre, he retraced his steps, again routing the Persians who endeavoured to intercept him. When the Greeks regained their camp they found that it had been completely plundered, and were consequently obliged to go sup- perless to rest. It was not till the following day that they learned the death of Cyrus ; tidings which converted their triumph into sorrow and dismay. A Greek in the service of Artaxerxes now appeared in their camp, with a message re- quiring them to lay down their arms. " If the King," replied the Grecian generals, "thinks himself strong enough, let him come and take them." But they were in a difficult position. 426 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXX VI They were desirous that Ariaeus, who now commanded the army of Cyrus, should lay claim to the Persian crown, and offered to support his pretensions ; but Ariseus answered that the Persian grandees would not tolerate such a claim ; that he intended im- mediately to retreat ; and that if the Greeks wished to accom- pany him, they must join him during the following night. This was accordingly done ; when oaths of reciprocal fidelity were interchanged between the Grecian generals and Arioeus, and sanctified by a solemn sacrifice. The difficult question now arose how their retreat was to be conducted. They were nearly 1500 miles from Sardis, and were to find their own way back, without guides, and by a new route, since the former one was impracticable on account of the desert and the want of provisions. Moreover, though they might easily defy the Persian infantry, however numerous, yet the Persian cavalry, ever hovering on their rear, would prove a formidable obstacle to their retreat. They commenced their march east- wards towards some Babylonian villages, where they hoped to find supplies ; but on reaching them at the end of a long day's march, they found that they had been plundered, and that no provisions were to be obtained. On the following day a message arrived from the Persian king, with a proposal to treat for peace on equal terms. Clearchus affected to treat the offer with great indifference, and made it an opportunity for procuring provisions. " Tell your king," said he to the envoys, "that we must first fight; for we have had no breakfast, nor will any man presume to talk to the Greeks about a truce, without first providing for them a breakfast." This was agreed to, and guides were sent to conduct the Greeks to some villages where they might obtain food. In these all the riches of Babylon were spread before them. Corn in vast abun- dance, dates of such size and flavour as they had never before seen, wine made from the date palm ; in short, luxury and abundance in place of their late scanty fare and privations. Whilst they were enjoying these quarters, they received a visit from Tissaphernes, who came in great state. ' He pretended much friendship towards them, and said that he had come from the Great King to inquire the reason of their expedition. Cle- archus replied — what was indeed true of the greater part of the army — that they had not come thither with any design to attack the king, but had been enticed forwards by Cyrus under falso pretences ; that their only desire at present was to return home : but that if any obstacle was offered, they were prepared to repel hostilities. In a day or two Tissaphernes returned, and with some parade stated that he had with great difficulty obtained B.C. 401. ilETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 427 permission to save the Greek army ; that he was ready to con- duct them in person into Greece, and to supply them with provisions, for which, however, they were to pay ; but if he failed to supply them, then they were to be at liberty to help themselves. An agreement was accordingly entered into to this effect. Artaxerxes, indeed, seems to have been heartily desirous ol getting rid of them. They were now within 90 miles of Baby- lon, in a rich country intersected by canals, and easily defensible against cavalry. But a painful interval of twenty days ensued during which Tissaphernes neglected to return ; whilst at the .same time the suspicions of the Greeks were excited by the friendly messages which Ariseus received from Artaxerxes, with pro- mises of oblivion and forgiveness of his past conduct. At length, however, Tissaphernes returned, and undertook the direction ol the homeward march. § 8. The troops of Ariseus were now mingled with those of Tissaphernes, whilst the Greeks followed the combined army at a distance of three miles. In three days' march they reached the wall of Media, and passed through it. This wall was 100 feet high and 20 feet broad, and was said to extend a distance of 70 miles. Two days more brought them to the Tigris, which they crossed on the following morning by a bridge of boats. They then marched northward, arriving in four days at the river Physcus and a large city called Opis. Six days' further march through a deserted part of Media brought them to some villages belonging to queen Parysatis, which, out of enmity to her as the patron of Cyrus, Tissaphernes abandoned to be plundered by the Greeks. From thence they proceeded in five days to the river Zabatus, or Greater Zab, having previously crossed the Lesser Zab, which Xenophon neglects to mention. In the first of these five days they saw on the opposite side of the Tigris a large city called Csense, the inhabitants of which brought over provisions to them. At the Greater Zab they halted three days. Mistrust, and even slight hostilities, had been already manifested between the Greeks and Persians, but they now became so serious that Clearchus demanded an interview with Tissaphernes. The latter protested the greatest fidelity and friendship towards the Greeks, and promised to deliver to the Greek generals, on the following day, the calumniators who had set the two armies at variance. But when Clearchus, with four other generals, accompanied by some lochages, or captains, and 200 soldiers, entered the Persian camp, according to appoint- ment, the captains and soldiers were immediately cut down ; whilst the five generals were seized, put into irons, and sent to 428 H1ST0IIY OF GREECE. Chap. XX XVI the Persian court. After a short imprisonment, four of them were beheaded ; the fifth, Menon, who pretended that he had betrayed his colleagues into the hands of Tissaphernes, was at first spared ; but after a year's detention was put to death with tortures. This scene naturally produced a commotion in the Persian camp ; and the Greeks who observed it from afar, warned by one of the companions of the generals, who came running wounded towards them, rushed to arms in expectation of a general attack. None, however, followed ; but Ariaeus rode up at the head of 300 horse, and relating to the Greeks the fate of their generals, called upon them to surrender. § 9. It seems to have been the opinion of the Persians that under these circumstances the Greeks would feel themselves completely helpless ; but some of the Greek officers stepped forward and dismissed Ariseus with indignant reproaches. Yet apprehension and dismay reigned among the Greeks. Their situation was. indeed, appalling. They were considerably more than a thousand miles from home, in a hostile and unknown country, hemmed in on all sides by impassable rivers and moun- tains, without generals, without guides, without provisions. Despair seemed to have seized on all. Leaving their watch- fires imlighted and their suppers uncooked, they threw them- selves on the ground, not to sleep, but to ruminate on their forlorn condition. Xenophon slumbered, indeed, but his fancy was filled with the images naturally conjured up by his desperate situation. He dreamed that a thunderbolt had struck his pa- ternal house, and enveloped it in flames. This partly favourable and partiy unfavourable omen indicated at all events a message from Jove ; and the superstition which formed so marked a trait in his character, led him to consider it as a warning to rise and bestir himself. He immediately got up, and calling an assembly of the captains, impressed upon them the danger of their posi- tion, and the necessity for taking immediate precautions. Xeno- phon, though young, possessed as an Athenian citizen some claim to distinction ; and his animated address showed him fitted for command. He was saluted general on the spot ; and in a subsequent assembly was, with four others, formally elected to that office. § 10. The Greeks, having first destroyed their superfluous baggage, crossed theGreaterZab,and pursued their march on the other bank. Tissaphernes preceded them with his host, but without daring to dispute their passage or molest their route : though some cavalry, under Mithridates, annoyed the rear guard with their missiles. In order to meet this species of attack, a small body B.C. 401. RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 429 of 50 horse and 200 Rhodian slingers was organized. It was found highly useful, as the leaden bullets of the Rhodians car- ried farther than the stones of the Persian slingers. Another day's march brought the Greeks to the Tigris, near the deserted city of Larissa, 7 miles in circumference, with walls 25 feet thick and 100 feet high. Pursuing the course of the Tigris, they ar- rived on the following day at Mespila, another deserted city. It was in this neighbourhood that Nineveh was situated, and, according to a modern theory, the two were both formerly com- prised under the name of Nineveh. Larissa seems to be repre- sented by the mound now called Nimroud, and Mespila by that of Kouyunjik, opposite the modern town of Mosul. The march from Mespila to the mountainous country of the Carduchi occupied several days, in which the Greeks suffered much from the attacks of the enemy. § 11. Their future route was now a matter of serious per- plexity. On their left lay the Tigris, so deep that they could not fathom it with their spears ; while in their front rose the steep and lofty mountains of the Carduchi, which came so near the river as hardly to leave a passage for its waters. A Rhodian soldier proposed to transport the army across the Tigris by means of inflated skins ; but the appearance of large masses of the enemy's cavalry on the opposite bank rendered this inge- nious scheme impracticable. As all other roads seemed barred, they formed the resolution of striking into the mountains of the Carduchi, — a tribe of fierce and warlike highlanders, who, though surrounded on all sides by the dominions of the Persian king, had succeeded in maintaining their independence. On the farther side of these mountains lay Armenia, where both the Tigris and the Euphrates might be forded near their sources. The Greeks found the first mountain-pass undefended, and de- scended thence into some villages ; but all their attempts to conciliate the inhabitants proved unavailing. Every pass was disputed. Sometimes huge rocks were hurled down on the defiling army ; sometimes they were attacked by the Carduchian slingers and bowmen. The latter were of extraordinary skill, and their bows and arrows of such strength as to pierce the shields and corslets, and even the brazen helmets of the Greeks. After a difficult and dangerous march of seven days, during which their sufferings were far greater than any they had ex- perienced from the Persians, the army at length emerged into the plain, and reached the river Centrites, the boundary of Ar- \ menia. §12. Their first attempts to cross the Centrites failed. The /\ cavalry of Tiribazus, satrap of Armenia, lined the opposite bank 480 1IIST0RY OF GBEECE. Chap. XXXVI of the river, which was 200 feet broad, up to the ueck in depth, with a rapid current and slippery bottom. All the efforts of the Greeks to ford it proved abortive ; and as the Carduchi were threatening their rear, their situation seemed altogether desperate. On the following morning, however, two young men fortunately discovered a ford about half a mile higher up tho stream, by which the whole army succeeded in getting across. They now prosecuted their march in Armenia, and in three days arrived at some villages situated on the river Tcleboas. Hero Tiribazus proposed to them that they should proceed unmolested through his satrapy, taking what supplies they wanted, but with- out damaging the villages. During the first part of their march Tiribazus kept his word, and the only annoyance they felt was the severity of the weather. It was now the month of December, and Armenia was cold and exposed, being a table-land raised high above the level of the sea. Whilst halting near some well sup- plied villages, the Greeks were overtaken by two deep falls of snow, which almost buried them in their open bivouacs. Hence a five days' march brought them to the eastern branch of the Euphrates. Crossing the river, they proceeded on the other side of it over plains covered with a d?ep snow, and in the face of a biting north wind, here many of the slaves and beasts of burthen, and even a few of the soldiers, fell victims to the cold. Some had their feet frost-bitten ; some were blinded by the snow ; whilst others, exhausted with cold and hunger, sunk down and died. The army next arrived at some singular vil- lages, consisting of dwellings excavated in the earth, and entered by means of a ladder through an opening like a well. As these villages were plentifully stocked with cattle, corn, vegetables, and beer, they here took up their quarters for a week, in order to refresh themselves. On the morning after their arrival, they despatched a detachment which brought in most of the soldiers left behind during the march. On the eighth clay they pro- ceeded on their way, ascending the banks of the Phasis, not the celebrated river of that name, but probably the one usuaDy called Araxes. § 13. From thence they fought their way through the country of the Taochi and Chalybes, both of them brave and warlike tribes. Then, after crossing the Harpasus (the modern Tchorouk), they reached the country of the Scythini, in whose territory they found abundance in a large and populous city called Gymnias. Tlic chief of this place having engaged to conduct them within sight of the Euxine, they proceeded for five clays under his guidance ; when, after ascending a mountain, the sea suddenly burst on the view of the vanguard The men proclaimed their B.C. 401. ARRIVE AT TRAPEZUS, ON THE EUXINE. 431 joy by loud shouts of " The sea ! the sea ! " The rest of the army hurried to the summit, aud gave vent to their joy and exultation in tears and mutual embraces. With spontaneous impulse they erected a pile of stones, by way of trophy, to mark the spot ; and dismissed their guide with many presents and expressions of the warmest gratitude. The Greeks now entered the country of the Macrones, with whom they opened negotiations through a peltast conversant with their language, and agreed for an unmolested passage and the purchase of provisions. The Colchians, through whose ter- ritory the march next lay, attempted to oppose their progress, but were soon dispersed. The honey of this region produced a singular effect upon the Greeks. It was grateful to the palate, and when eaten in moderation produced a species of intoxication ; but those who partook largely of it were seized with vomiting and diarrhoea, and thrown into a state resembling madness. Two days' further march at length brought them to the ob- jects for which they had so often pined, and which many at one time had never hoped to see again — a Grecian city and the sea. By the inhabitants of Trapezus or Trebizond, on the Euxine, where they had now arrived, they were hospitably received, and being cantoned in some Colchian villages near the town, re- freshed themselves after the hardships they had undergone by a repose of thirty days. They also seized this opportunity to dis- charge the vows which they had made for a safe deliverance, after the capture and massacre of their generals by Tissaphernes, by offering up sacrifices to Jove the Preserver, Hercules the Conductor, and other gods. Solemn games followed and com- pleted these sacred ceremonies. § 14. The most difficult pari of the return of the Ten Thou- sand was now accomplished, but much still remained to be done. The sight of the sea awakened in the army a universal desire to prosecute the remainder of their journey on that element. " Comrades," exclaimed a Thurian soldier, " I am weary of pack- ing up, of marching and running, of shouldering arms and falling into line, of standing sentinel and fighting. For my part I should hie to get rid of all these labours, and go home by sea the rest of the way, so that I might arrive in Greece outstretched and asleep, hke Ulysses of old." The shouts of applause which greeted this address showed that the Thurian had touched the right chord ; and when Chirisophus, one of the principal officers, offered to proceed to Byzantium and endeavour to procure transports for the conveyance of the army, his proposal was joy- fully accepted. Meanwhile, the Ten Thousand were employed in marauding expeditions, and in collecting all the vessels possible, 432 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVI. in case Chirisophus should fail in obtaining the requisite supply. That officer delayed to return ; provisions grew scarce, and tho army found itself compelled to evacuate Trapezus. Vessels enough had been collected to transport the women, the sick, and the baggage to Cerasus, whither the army proceeded by land. Here they remained ten days, during winch they were mus- tered and reviewed ; when it was found that the number of hoplites still amounted to 8600, and with peltasts, bowmen, &c, made a total of more than 10,000 men. From Cerasus they pursued their journey to Cotyora, through the territories of the Mosynreci and Chalybes. They were obliged to fight their way through the former of these people, capturing and plundering the wooden towers in which they dwelt, and from which they derived their name. At Cotyora they waited in vain for Chirisophus and the transports. Many difficulties still stood in the way of their return. The inhabitants of Sinopti represented to them that a march through Paphlagonia was im- practicable, and the means of a passage by sea were not at hand. After remaining 45 days at Cotyora a sufficient number of vessels was collected to convey the army to Sinope. A passage of 24 hours brought them to that town, where they were hospitably received and lodged in the neighbouring sea-port of Arrnene. Here they were joined by Chirisophus, who, however, brought with him only a single trireme. From Sinope the army proceeded to Heraclea, and from thence to Calpe, where Chiri- sophus died. From Calp6 they marched across Bithynia to Chrysopolis, a town immediately opposite to Byzantium, where they spent a week in turning into money the booty which they had brought with them. § 15. The satrap Pharnabazus was desirous that the Greeks should evacuate Asia Minor ; and, at his instance, Anaxibius, the Lacedtemonian admiral on the station, induced them to cross over by promising to provide them with pay when they should have reached the other side. But instead of fulfilling his agree- ment, Anaxibius ordered them, after their arrival at Byzantium, to proceed to the Thracian Chersonese, where tho Lacedemonian harmost, Cyniscus, would find them pay ; and during this long march of 150 miles they were directed to support themselves by plundering the Thracian villages. Preparatory to the march they were ordered to muster outside the walls of Byzantium. But the Greeks, irritated by the deception which had been practised on them, and which, through want of caution on the part of Anaxibius, became known to them before they had all quitted the town, prevented tho gates from being closed, and rushed in infuriated masses back into the city, uttering loud B.C. 400. RETURN TO EUROPE. 433 threats and beut on plunder and havoc. The lives and property of the citizens were at their mercy ; for at the first alarm Anaxi- bius had retired with his troops into the citadel, whilst the affrighted inhabitants were either barricading their houses, or flying to the ships for refuge. In this conjuncture Xenopnon felt that the destruction of a city like Byzantium would draw down upon the army the vengeance not merely of the Lacedae- monians, but of all Greece. With great presence of miud, and under colour of aiding their designs, he caused the soldiers tc form in au open square called the Thracion, and by a well-timed speech diverted them from their designs. Shortly afterwards, the army entered into the service of Seuthes, a Thracian prince, who was anxious to recover his sovereignty over three revolted tribes. But after they had ac- complished this object, Seuthes neglected to provide the pay which he had stipulated, or to fulfil the magnificent promises which he had made to Xenophon personally, of giving him his daughter in marriage, and putting him in possession of the town of Bisanthe. The army, now reduced to 6000, was thus again thrown into difficulties, when it entered on the last phase of its checkered career by engaging to serve the Lacedaemonians in a war which they had just declared against the satraps Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. Xenophon accordingly conducted his comrades to Pergamus in Mysia, where a considerable booty fell into their hands by the capture of a castle not far from that place. Xeno- phon was allowed to select the choicest lots from the booty thus acquired, as a tribute of gratitude and admiration for the ser- vices which he had rendered. Shortly after this adventure, in the spring of B.C. 399, Thim- bron, the Lacedaemonian commander, arrived at Pergamus, and the remainder of the Ten Thousand Greeks became incorporated with his army. Xenophon now returned to Athens, where he must have arrived shortly after the execution of his master Socrates. Disgusted probably by that event, he rejoined his old comrades in Asia, and subsequently returned to Greece along with Agesilaus, as we have already related.* * Seep. 412. GK. 2 F ]£ I Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. CHAPTER XXXVII. PBOM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SPARTAN EMPIBE TO THE BATTLE OE CNIDUS. j 1. Invasion and reduction of Elis by King Agis. § 2. Ambitious projects ofLysander. § 3. He procures the throne for Agesilaus. § 4. Character of Agesilaus. § 5. Nature of the Spartan empire. § 6. Affairs of Asia Minor. § 7. Agesilaus proceeds thither. § 8. ilortities Lysander. § 9. Campaigns of Agesilaus against Tissaphernes and Fbarnabazus. § 10. Execution of Tissaphernes. §11. Proceedings of Conon. Rhodes revolts from Sparta. § 12. Agesilaus ravages the satrapy of Pharnabazus. Interview between them. § 13. Recall of Agesilaus. § 14. Battle of C nidus. B.C. 401. ELIS REDUCED BY KING AGIS. 43A § 1. Resuming the thread of the narrative, we shall now briefly trace the history of the Spartan supremacy, which resulted from the battle of /Egospotami, and the consequent capture of Athens, related in the preceding book. This supremacy lasted altogether 34 years, from the victory of iEgospotami in B.C. 405 to the defeat of Leuctra in B.C. 371. It was, however, only during the first nine years of this period that Sparta exercised an undis- puted sway in Greece, since the battle of Cnidus, fought in B.C. 394, deprived her of her maritime ascendency, and consequently of much of her power. After the fall of Athens Sparta stood without a rival in Greece. The first use she made of her undisputed power was to take vengeance on her neighbours the Eleans for some wrongs and insults which she had received at their hands. It will be recol- lected that in the year in which Alcibiades conducted the Athe- nian theory at Olynipia with so much splendour, the Eleans had excluded the Spartans from the festival ; and moreover that they had subsequently, ir conjunction with Argos and Mantinea, borne arms against Sparta. To these causes of offence a fresh insult had been recently added, by the exclusion of King Agis from the temple of Olympia, whither he had gone to offer sa- crifice and consult the oracle. The Spartans also viewed with dislike and suspicion the democratical form of government esta- blished in Ehs. Accordingly, they now demanded that the Eleans should make good their quota of the expenses of the war against Athens, and also that they should relinquish their authority over their dependent townships in the district of Triphylia. Upon the refusal of the Eleans to comply with these demands, King Agis entered their territory at the head of a Lacedemonian army in the summer of B.C. 402, but he was in- duced to retire and disband his troops by the unfavourable omen of an earthquake. In the following year, however, he resumed the expedition with more success. Assisted by the allies of Sparta, among whom even the Athenians now furnished their contingent, he ravaged and plundered the territory of Elis, per- formed by force the sacrifice at Olympia from which he had been debarred, and ultimately compelled the Eleans to accept a humiliating peace. This success placed Sparta in a more com- manding position than she had ever before occupied ; and she took advantage of it to root out her ancient enemies the Messenians, some of whom had been planted by the Athenians in Naupactus, and others in the island of Cephallenia. § 2. Meanwhile the overgrown wealth and power of Lysander made him ill-satisfied to remain in the condition of a private citizen. Stimulated by the flattery which he received frcoo 2 f 2 436 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XX XVI I every quarter, lie began to contemplate setting aside the two regal families of Pausanias and Agis, and by rendering the crown elective, to pave the way for his own accession to it. It is to be recollected, however, that at Sparta such a design must not bo regarded in quite the same light as in any other monarchy. Although the two chief magistrates there enjoyed the title of Basihus, or King, they were not kings in the modern sense of the term. They were merely hereditary magistrates, enjoying indeed certain privileges, and exercising certain definite civil and military functions ; but they had no share in the government, which was carried on by the Ephors and the senate, with occasional appeals to the public assembly ; and even in the discharge of their ap- pointed duties they were subject to the control of the Ephors. § 3. Aware of the influence of religion over the Spartan mind, Lysander, in pursuance of his scheme, endeavoured by bribery to procure for it the sanction of the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, and Jove Ammon in Libya. But the priests of those famous temples proving on this occasion incorruptible, he employed his influence in obtaining for another the sceptre which had eluded his own grasp. About a year after his campaign in Elis, King Agis died, leaving a son named Leotychides, about fifteen years of age. The legitimacy of Leotychides was however doubted, and Agis himself suspected him to be the offspring of Alcibiades. Agesilaus, the younger brother of Agis, but by a different mo- ther, took advantage of these doubts, and being assisted by the powerful influence of Lysander, succeeded in setting aside Leo- tychides and ascending the throne, B.C. 398. § 4. Agesilaus was now forty years of age, and esteemed a model of those virtues more peculiarly deemed Spartan. He was obedient to the constituted authorities, emulous to excel, cou- rageous, energetic, capable of bearing all sorts of hardship and fatigue, simple and frugal in his mode of life. To these severer qualities he added the popular attractions of an agreeable coun- tenance and pleasing address. The character of Agesilaus seems, however, to have been magnified beyond its real worth by the indiscriminating panegyrics of his biographers, who relate of him many trivial anecdotes with a sort of unctuous admiration ; and though he was indisputably a good general, yet his cam- paigns present us with little that is striking or decisive. Pre- viously to his accession he had filled no prominent public office, and his character consequently remained in a great measure unknown even to Lysander himself ; who erroneously considered him to be of a yielding and manageable disposition, and hoped by a skilful use of those qualities to extend his own influence, and under the name of another to be in reality king himself. B.C. 398. ACCESSION OF AGES1LAUS. 437 The personal defects of Agesilaus at first stood in the way of his promotion. He was not only low in stature, but also lamo of one leg ; and there was an ancient oracle which warned the Spartans to beware "of a lame reign." The ingenuity of Lysan- dcr, assisted probably by the popular qualities of Agesilaus, contrived to overcome this objection by interpreting a lame reign to mean not any bodily defect in the king, but the reign of one who was not a genuine descendant of Hercules. Once possessed of power, Agesilaus supplied any defect in his title by the prudence and policy of his conduct ; and, by the marked deference which he paid both to the Ephors and the senators, he succeeded in gaining for himself more real power than had been enjoyed by any of his predecessors. The very beginning of his reign was threatened by the conspiracy of Cinadon, one of the poorer class of citizens, but possessing all the pride of an ancient Spartan. The conspiracy, however, was discovered, and Cinadon and his accomplices were arrested by a stratagem of the Ephors and put to death. § 5. The discontent which gave birth to this conspiracy ori- ginated in a great measure from the altered condition of Spartan citizens, in consequence of the extension of Spartan power and dominion. Sparta had now stepped into the place of Athens. In the various cities which had belonged to the Athenian em- pire, Lysander established an oligarchical Council of Ten, called a Decarchy* or Decemvirate, subject to the control of a Spartan Harmost^ or governor. The Decarchies, however, remained only a short time in power, since the Spartan government regarded them with jealousy as the partisans of Lysander ; but Harmosts continued to be placed in every state subject to their empire. The government of the Harmosts was corrupt and oppressive ; no justice could be obtained against them by an appeal to the Spartan authorities at home ; and the Grecian cities soon had cause to regret the milder and more equitable sway of Athens. The commencement of the Spartan degeneracy and decay may be dated from her entrance upon imperial power. Before the victories of Lysander, iron had formed the only Spartan money. That commander brought vast sums of gold and silver into the public treasury, in spite of the opposition of some of the Ephors, who regarded such a proceeding as a flagrant violation of the ordinances of Lycurgus. Several instances of corruption re- corded in the course of this history have, however, shown that the Spartans were far from insensible to the love of money, and that they contrived to gratify it even under the old system. But, * h\Ka.oxlcr.. f ' k^uoirrris, literally " one who fits or arranges." 4^8 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXX VII properly regarded, an extension of the currency was rendered necessary by the altered situation of Sparta. It would have been impossible to maintain a large fleet and a colonial empire without the requisite funds ; and how, for instance, could a re- venue of 1000 talents, which Sparta levied from the subject states, have been represented in iron money ? Whether Sparta had now entered on a career to which the national genius was suited is another question ; and it would not perhaps bf difficult to show that in grasping the splendid prize of empire, she lost those homely virtues which previously formed her chief distinction, aud for which her children were naturally most fitted. It is at all events certain that the influx of wealth caused a great alteration in her internal condition. It was only the leading men who were able to enrich themselves by foreign com- mands or at the expense of the public treasury. Hence arose a still more marked distinction between the higher class of citizens, called the Equals or Peers, and the lower called the Inferiors. • The latter, though nominally in the enjoyment of equal pri- vileges, were no longer able, in consequence of the altered scale of living, to bear their share at the Syssitia, or public tables, and thus sank into a degraded and discontented class, in which Cinadon found the materials of his sedition. § 6. The affairs of Asia Minor soon began to draw the atten- tion of Agesilaus to that quarter. The assistance lent to Cyrus by the Spartans was no secret at the Persian court, and Tissa- phernes, who had been rewarded for his fidelity with the satrapy of Cyrus in addition to his own, no sooner returned to his go- vernment than he attacked the Ionian cities, then under the protection of Sparta. A considerable Lacedaemonian force under Thimbron was despatched to their assistance, and which, as related in the preceding chapter, was joined by the remnant of the Greeks who had served under Cyrus. Thimbron, however, proved so inefficient a commander, that he was superseded appa- rently at the end of 309 or beginning of 398 B.C., and Dercyllidas appointed in his place, a man who from his cunning and re- sources had acquired the name of Sisyphun. On assuming the command, Dercyllidas concluded a truce with Tissaphernes in order that he might direct his whole force against Pharnabazus, from whom he had received a personal injury. He overran the greater part of iEolis with great rapidity, reducing nine towns in eight days, and took up his winter quarters in Bithynia. Early in the ensuing spring he proceeded into Thrace, where he built a wall across the Chersonese, to protect the Grecian colo- • See p. 62. B.C. 397. WAR IN ASIA MINOR. 439 nies from the attacks of the barbarians of the interior. On his return to Asia he received orders from the Ephors to attack Tissaphemes in Caria, whilst the Lacedaemonian fleet under Phara x co-operated with him on the coast. But here the Per- sians appeared in such force, the two satraps having united their armies, that he was able to effect but little ; and being surprised in an unfavourable position would himself have suffered severely but for the timidity of Tiasaphernes, who was afraid to venture upon an action. Under these circumstances an armistice was agreed to for the purpose of treating for a peace. Dercyllidas de- manded on the part of the Spartans the complete independence of ±he Grecian cities in Asia : the Persians on their side required the Lacedsemonians to withdraw their army from A sia as well as their various harmosts, or governors. This armistice took place in 397 B.C. Pharnabazus availed himself of it to make active preparations for a renewal of the war. He obtained large reinforcements of Persian troops, and began to organize a fleet in Phoenicia and Cihcia. This was to be intrusted to the Athenian admiral Conon, of whom we now first hear again after a lapse of seven years since his defeat at iEgospotami. After that disastrous battle, Conon fled with 9 triremes to Cyprus, where he was now living under the protec- tion o f Evagoras , prince of Salami s. At the instance of Pharna- bazus, seconded by Evagoras, Conon consented to accept the command of the Persian fleet, which was to be raised to the number of 300 vessels. § 7. It was the news of these extensive preparations that in- duced Agesilaus, on the suggestion of Lysander, to volunteer hia services against the Persians. He proposed to take with him only_3Q full Spartan citizens, or peers, to act as a sort of council, together with 2000 Neodamodes, or enfranchised Helots, and 6000 hoplites of the allies. But Thebes, Corinth, and Athens refused on different pleas to join the expedition. Lysander in- tended to be the leader of the 30 Spartans, and expected through them to be the virtual commander of the expedition of which Agesilaus was nominally the head. Since the time of Agamemnon no Grecian king had led an army into Asia ; and Agesilaus studiously availed himself of the prestige of that precedent in order to attract recruits to his standard. The Spartan kings claimed to inherit the sceptre of Agamemnon ; and to render the parallel more complete, Age- silaus proceeded with a d. vision of his fleet to Aulis , intending there to imitate the memorable sacrifice of the Homeric hero. But as he had neglected to ask the permission of the Thebans, and conducted the sacrifice and solemnities by means of his 440 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVII. own prophets and ministers, and in a manner at variance with the usual rites of the temple, the Thebans were oflended, and expelled him by armed force : — an insult which he never forgave. § 8. It was in 39(3 B.C. that Agesilaus arrived at Ephesus, and took the command in Asia. He demanded the same conditions of peace as those previously made by Dercyllidas ; and in order that there might be time to communicate with the Persian court, the armistice was renewed for three months. During this in- terval of repose, Lysander, by his arrogance and pretensions, offended both Agesilaus and the Thirty Spartans. Agesilaus, determined to uphold his dignity, subjected Lysander to so many humiliations that he was at last fain to request his dis- missal from Ephesus, and was accordingly sent to the Hellespont, where he did good service to the Spartan interests. § 9. Meanwhile Tissaphernes, having received large rein- forcements, sent a message to Agesilaus before the armistice had expired, ordering him to quit Asia. Agesilaus replied by saying that lie thanked the satrap for perjuring himself so flagrantly as to set the gods against him, and immediately made preparations as if he would attack Tissaphernes in Caria ; but having thus put the enemy on a false scent, he suddenly turned northwards into Phrygia, the satrapy of Pharnabazus, and marched without opposition to the neighbourhood of Dascylium, the re- sidence of the satrap himself. Here, however, he was repulsed by the Persian cavalry ; and the sacrifices proving unfavourable for an advance, Agesilaus gave orders to retreat. Ee now pro- ceeded into winter quarters at Ephesus, where he employed himself in organizing a body of cavalry to compete with the Persians. A conscription was accordingly made of the richest Greeks in the various towns, who, however, were allowed if they pleased to provide substitutes. By these and other energetic exertions, which during the winter gave to Ephesus the appearance of one vast arsenal the army was brought into excellent condition ; and Agesilaus gave out early in the spring of 395 B.C. that he should march direct upon Sardis. Tissaphernes, suspecting another feint, now dispersed his cavalry in the plain of the Maeander. But this time Agesilaus marched as he had announced, and in three days arrived unopposed on the banks of the Pactolus. before the Persian cavalry could be recalled. When they at last came up, the newly raised Grecian horse, assisted by the peltasts, and some of the younger and more active hoplites, soon succeeded in putting thern to flight. Many of the Persians were drowned in the Pactolus, and their camp, containing much booty and several camels, was taken. B.C. 396. AGESILAUS IN ASIA. 441 § 10. Agesilaus now pushed his ravages up to the very gates of Sardis, the residence of Tissaphernes. But the career of that timid and treacherous satrap was drawing to a close. The queen-mother, Parysatis, who had succeeded in regaining her influence over Artaxerxes, making a pretext of the disasters which had attended the arms of Tissaphernes, but in reality to avenge the part which he had taken against her son Cyrus, caused an order to be sent down from Susa for his execution ; in pursuance of which he was seized in a bath at Colossse, and be- headed. Tithraustes, who had been intrusted with the execution of this order, succeeded Tissaphernes in the satrapy, and imme- diately reopened negotiations with Agesilaus ; proposing that if he quitted Asia the Greek cities there should enjoy their in- dependence, with the sole exception of paying to Persia the tri- bute originally imposed upon them. Agesilaus replied that he could decide nothing without consulting the authorities at home. For this purpose an armistice of six months was concluded ; and meanwhile Tithraustes, by a subsidy of 30 talents, induced Age- silaus to move out of his satrapy into that of Pharnabazus. § 11. During this march into Phrygia Agesilaus received a new commission from home, appointing him the head of the naval as well as of the land force — two commands never before united in a single Spartan. For the first time since the battle of ^Egospotami the naval supremacy of Sparta was threatened. Cpnon, with a fleet o f 40 t triremes, occupied the port of Caunus, on the confines of Carta and Lycia, and was there blockaded by a Lacedaemonian fleet of 120 triremes under Pharax ; but a re- inforcement of 40 more ships having come to the aid of Conon, Pharax raised the blockade and retired to Rhodes. Here the first symptoms appeared of the detestation in which the Spartan government was held. The inhabitants rose, compelled the Spar- tan fleet to leave the island, and put themselves under the pro- tection of Conon, who now sailed thither. § 12. Agesilaus, having despatched orders to the Lacedaemonian maritime dependencies to prepare a new fleet of 120 triremes against the following year, and having appointed his brother- in-law, Pisander, to the command of it, marched himself into the satrapy of Pharnabazus. He passed the winter in the neighbour- hood of JDascy lium, the rich and fertile country about which afforded comfortable quarters and abundant plunder to the Grecian army. Towards the close of the winter a Greek of Cyzicus, named Apollophanes, brought about an interview between Agesilaus and Pharnabazus. Agesilaus, with the Thirty, having arrived first at the appointed place, sat down without ceremony on the grass?. 442 EISTOltY OP GREECE. Chap. XXXVII. When the satrap came, accompanied with all the luxury of ori- ental pomp, his attendants prepared to spread some rich carpets for him ; but Pharnabazus, observing how the Spartans were seated, was ashamed to avail himself of such luxuries, and sat down on the grass by the side of Agesilaus. After mutual salutes, Pharnabazus began to reproach the Greeks with their treatment of one who had always been their faithful ally. " You have reduced me so low," he observed, "that I have scarcely a dinner except from your leavings. My residences, my parks and hunting-grounds, the charm of my life, are all burnt or destroyed. Pray tell me if this is gratitude." The Spartans seemed struck with shame ; and Agesilaus, after a long pause, remarked in apology that their war with the Persian king compelled them to act as they had done ; that towards himself personally they had the most friendly feelings, and invited him to join their alliance, when they would support him in independence of the Persian king. The reply of Pharnabazus was characterised by a noble frankness. " If the king," he said, "should deprive me of my command, I would willingly become your ally ; but so long as I am intrusted with the supreme power, expect from me nothing but war." Agesilaus was touched with the satrap's magnanimity. Taking him by the hand, he observed, " Would to Heaven that with such noble sentiments it were possible for you to be our friend. But at all events I will at once quit your territory, and never again molest you or your property so long as there are other Persians against whom to turn my arms." § 13. In pursuance of this promise Agesilaus now entered the plains of Thebe, near the gulf of Ekeus ; but whilst he was here preparing an expedition on a grand scale into the interior of Asia Minor, he was suddenly recalled home (B.C. 394) to avert the dangers which threatened his native country. Meanwhile Conon, who had remained almost inactive since the revolt of Rhodes, proceeded in person to Babylon, and succeeded in obtaining a considerable sum of money from Artaxerxes. Ho shared his command with Pharnabazus, and by their joint exer- tions a powerful fleet, partly Phoenician and partly Grecian, was speedily equipped, superior in number to that of the Lacedae- monians under Pisander. About the month of July Conon proceeded to the peninsula of Cnidus, in Caria, and offered Pisander battle. Though inferior in strength, Pisander did not shrink from the encounter. Being abandoned, however, by his Asiatic allies, he was soon overpowered by nuinbem, and fell gallantly fighting to the last. More than half the Lace- daemonian fleet was either captured or destroyed. This event occurred about the beginning of August B.C. 30-1. View of Corinth and the Acrocorinthui. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE CORTNTHIAN WAR. FROM THE BATTLE OF CNIDUS TO THE PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS. § 1. Mission of Timocrates to the Grecian cities. § 2. Hostilities between Sparta and Thebes. § 3. The Athenians join the Thebans. Defeat and death of Lysander. Retreat of Pausanias. § 4. League against Sparta. Battle of Corinth. § 5. Homeward march of Agesilaus. § 6. Battle of Coronea. § 7. Loss of the Spartan maritime empire. § 8. Conon rebuilds the walls of Athens. § 9. Civil dissensions at Corinth. § 10. Campaign of Agesilaus in the Corinthian territory. § 11. New system of tactics introduced by Iphicrates. Destruction of a Spartan mora by his light- armed troops. § 12. Negotiations of Antalcidas with the Persians. Death of Conon. Defeat and death or Thimbron. § 13. Maritime war on the coast of Asia. Revolt of Rhodes. Thrasybulus appointed Athenian com- mander. His death at Aspendus. Anaxibius defeated by Iphicrates at the Hellespont. § 14. War between Athens and ,'Egina. Teleutias surprises the Pirams. § 15. Peace of Antalcidas. § 1G. Its character. § 1. The jealousy and ill-will with which the newly acquirer, empire of the Spartans was regarded by the other Grecian states had not escaped the notice of the Persians ; and when Tithraustes succeeded to the satrapy of Tissaphernes he resolved to avail himself of this feeling by exciting a war against Spartr in the heart of Greece itself. With this view he despatched one Timo- crates, a Pdiodian, to the leading Grecian cities which rppeared . 444 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXV1IL hos'.ile to Sparta, carrying with him a sum of 50 talents to bo distributed among the chief men in each for the purpose of bringing them over to the views of Persia. This transaction, however, is scarcely to be viewed in the light of a private bribe, but rather as a sum publicly advanced for a specific purpose. Timocrates was successful in Thebes, Corinth, and Argos ; but he appears not to have visited Athens. § 2. Hostilities were at first confined to Sparta and Thebes. A quarrel having arisen between the Opuntian Loerians and the Thocians respecting a strip of border land, the former people appealed to the Thebans, who invaded Phocis. The Phocians on their side invoked the aid of the Lacedaemonians, who, elated with the prosperous state of their affairs in Asia, and moreover desirous of avenging the affronts they had received from the Thebans, readily hstened to the appeal. Lysander, who took an active part in promoting the war, was directed to attack the town of Haliartus, having first augmented the small force which he took with him by contingents levied among the tribes of Mount (Eta ; and it was arranged that King Pausanias should join him on a fixed day under the walls of that town, with the main body of the Lacedaemonians and their Peloponnesian allies. § 3. Nothing could more strikingly denote the altered state of feeling in Greece than the request for assistance which the Thebans, thus menaced, made to their ancient enemies and rivals the Athenians ; even offering, as an inducement, to assist them in recovering their lost empire. Nor were the Athenians back- ward in responding to the appeal. Disunion, however, prevailed among the Boeotians themselves ; and Orchomenus, the second city in importance in their confederacy, revolted at the approach of Lysander, and joined the Lacedaemonians. That commander, after ravaging the country round Lebadea, proceeded according to agreement to HLuartus, though he had as yet received no tidings of Pausanias. Here, in a sally made by the citizens, opportunely supported by the unexpected arrival of a body of Thebans, the army of Lysander was routed, and himself slain : and though his troops, favoured by some rugged ground in their rear, succeeded in rallying and repulsing their assailants, yet, dis- heartened by the severe loss which they had suffered, and by the death of their general, they disbanded and dispersed themselves in the night time. Thus when Pausanias at last came up, he found no army to unite with ; and as an imposing Athenian force had arrived, he now, with the advice of his council, took the humiliating step — always deemed a confession of inferiority — of requesting a truce in order to bury the dead who had fallen B.C. 394. BATTLE OF CORINTH. 445 in the preceding battle. Even this, however, the Thebans would not grant except on the condition that the Lacedaemonians should immediately quit their territory. With these terms Pausanias was forced to comply ; and after didy interring the bodies of Ly- sander and his fallen comrades, the Lacedsemonians dejectedly pursued their homeward march, followed by the Thebans, who manifested by repeated insults, and even by blows administered to stragglers, the insolence inspired by their success. Pausa- nias, afraid to face the public indignation of the Spartans, took refuge in the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea ; and being con ■ demned to death in his absence, only escaped that fate by re- maining in the sanctuary. He was succeeded by his son Age- sipolis. § 4. The enemies of Sparta took fresh courage from this disaster to her arms. Athens, Corinth, and Argos now formed with Thebes a solemn alliance against her. The league was soon joined by the Euboeans, the Acarnanians, the Ozolian Locrians, the Ambraciots, the Leucadians, and the Chalcidians of Thrace. In the spring of 394 B.C. the allies assembled at Corinth, and the war, which had been hitherto regarded as merely Boeotian, was now called the Corinthian, by which name it is known in history. This threatening aspect of affairs determined the Ephors to recall Agesilaus, as related in the preceding chapter. The allies were soon in a condition to take the field with a force of 24,000 hoplites, of whom one-fourth were Athenians, together with a considerable body of light troops and cavalry. The Lacedsemonians, under the conduct of Aristodemus, had also made the most active preparations. The exact amount of their force is not known, but it was in all probability consi- derably inferior to that of the allies. The latter were full of confidence, and the Corinthian Timolaus proposed marching straight upon Sparta, in order, as he expressed it, to burn the wasps in their nest before they came forth to sting. This bold, but perhaps judicious advice, was however anticipated by the unwonted activity of the Lacedsemonians, who had already crossed their border, and, advancing by Tegea and Mantinea, had taken up a position at Sicyon. The allies, who had pro- ceeded as far as Nemea, now fell back upon Corinth, and encamped on some rugged ground in the neighbourhood of the city. Here a battle ensued, in which the Lacedeemoniaus gained the victory, though their allied troops were put to the rout. Of the Spartans themselves only 8 men fell ; but of their allies 1100 perished, and of the confederates as many as 2800. This battle, called the battle of Corinth, was fought apparently about the same timo as that of Cnidus, in July 394 B.C. 446 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXV1I1 § 5. Agesilaus, who Lad relinquished with a heavy heart his projected expedition into Asia, was now on his homeward march. By the promise of rewards at Sestus in the Chersonese, he had per- suaded the bravest and most efficient soldiers in his army to accom- pany him, amongst whom were many of the Ten Thousand, with Xenophon at their head. The route of Agesilaus was much the same as the one formerly traversed by Xerxes, and the camels which accompanied the army gave it somewhat of an oriental aspect. At Amphipohs he received the news of the victory at Corinth ; but his heart was so full of schemes against Persia, that the feeling which it awakened in his bosom was rather one of regret that so many Gi'eeks had fallen, whose united efforts might have emancipated Asia Minor, than of joy at the success of his countrymen. Having forced his way through a desultory opposition offered by the Thessalian cavalry, he crossed Mount. Othrys, and marched unopposed the rest of the way through the straits of Thermopylae to the frontiers of Phocis and Bceotia. Here the evil tidings reached him — foreshadowed according to ancient superstition by an eclipse of the sun (14 Aug. 394 B.C.) — of the defeat and death of his brother-in-law, Pisander, at Cnidus. Fearing the impression which such sad news might produce upon his men, he gave out that the Lacedaemonian fleet had gained a victory, though Pisander had perished; and,, having offered sacrifice as if for a victory, he ordered an advance. $ 6. Agesilaus soon came up with the confederate army, which liad prepared to oppose him in the plain of Coronea. The hostile forces approached each other slowly and in silence, till within about a furlong, when the Thebans raised the pa?an, and charged at a running pace. They succeeded in driving in the Orchonie- nians, who formed the left wing of the army of Agesilaus, and penetrated as far as the baggage in the rear. But on the re- mainder of the fine Agesilaus was victorious, and the Thebans now saw themselves cut off from their companions, who had retreated and taken up a position on Mount Helicon. Facing about and forming in deep and compact order, the Thebans sought to rejoin the main body, but they were opposed by Age- silaus and his troops. The shock of the conflicting masses which ensued was one of the most terrible recorded in the annals of Grecian warfare. The shields of the foremost ranks were shat- tered, their spears broken, so that daggers became the only available arm. The regular war-shout was suppressed, but the silence was occasionally broken by deep and furious exclamations. Agesilaus, who was in the front ranks, unequal by his size and strength to sustain so furious an onset, was flung down, trodden on, and covered with wounds ; but the devoted courage of the E.G. 394. BATTLE OF COEONEA. 44? 50 Spartans forming his body-guard rescued him from death. The Thebans finally forced their way through, but not -without severe loss. The victory of Agesilaus was not very decisive ; but the Thebans tacitly acknowledged their defeat by soliciting the customary truce for the burial of their dead. After the battle Agesilaus visited Delphi, where he dedicated to Apollo a tithe, valued at the large sum of 100 talents, of the booty which he had acquired during his Asiatic campaigns. He then returned to Sparta, where he was received with the most lively demonstrations of gratitude and esteem, and became hence- forwards the sole director of Spartan policy. § 7. Thus in less than two months the Lacedemonians had fought two battles on land, and one at sea ; namety, those of Corinth, Coronea, and Cnidus. But, though they had been vic- torious in the land engagements, they were so little decisive as to lead to no important result ; whilst their defeat at Cnidus pro- duced the most disastrous consequences. It was followed by the loss of nearly all their maritime empire, even faster than they had acquired it after the battle of iEgospotami. For as Conon and Pharnabazus sailed with their victorious fleet from island to island, and from port to port, their approach was everywhere the signal for the flight or expulsion of the Spartan harmosts. Abydus formed the only exception to this universal surrender. Fortunately for Sparta the able and experienced Dercyllidas was then harmost in that city, and by his activity and courage he succeeded in preserving not only Abydus, but also the opposite Chersonese from the grasp of Pharnabazus. § 8. In the spring of the following year, B.C. 393, Conon and Pharnabazus sailed from the Hellespont with a powerful fleet, and, after visiting Melos and several of the Cyclades, directed their course to the Peloponnesus. After ravaging the coast of Laconia at several points, and taking the island of Cythera, where they established an Athenian garrison, they sailed to the isthmus of Corinth, then occupied as a central post by the allies. The appearance of a Persian fleet in the Saronic gulf was a strange sight to Grecian eyes, and one which might have served as a severe comment on the effect of their suicidal wars. Phar- nabazus assured the allies of his support, and gave earnest of it by advancing to them a considerable sum of money. Conon dexterously availed himself of the hatred of Pharnabazus towards Sparta to procure a boon for his native city. As the satrap was on the point of proceeding homewards Conon obtained leave to employ the seamen in rebuilding the fortifications of Piraeus and the loDg walls of Athens. Pharnabazus also granted a large sum for the same purpose ; and Conon had thus the glory of appear- 448 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVIIJ. iug, like a second Themistocles, the deliverer and restorer of his country. By a singular revolution of fortune, the Thebans, who had most rejoiced at the fall of Athens, as well as the Persians, who had subsidized Sparta to destroy the city, now gave their funds and labour to restore it. Before the end of autumn the walls were rebuilt. Athens seemed now restored, if not to power at least to independence ; and if she reflected but the shadow of her former greatness, she was at least raised up from the depths of her degradation. Having thus, as it were, founded Athens a second time, Conon sailed to the islands to lay again the founda- tions of an Athenian maritime empire. § 9. During the remainder of this and the whole of the follow- ing year (b.c. 392), the war was carried on in the Corinthian territory. The Onean mountains, which extend across the Isth- mus south of its narrowest part, afford an excellent line ol defence against an invading army. Through these mountains there are only three passes, one by the Saronic gulf, close to Cenchreoe, a second through a ravine at the eastern side of the Acrocorinthus or citadel of Corinth, and a third along the narrow strip of land which lies between the western foot of the Acrocorinthus and the Corinthian gulf. The two former of these passes could easily be defended by a resolute body of troops against superior numbers ; and the third was completely protected by two long walls running down from Corinth to Lechpeum, the port of the city upon the Corinthian gulf. Corinth Plan of Corinth. A. Acroconnthi II. Corinth. (/. LaefaflMim. 1. I. I nc u .:■ . RC. 392 THE CORINTHIAN "WAR. 449 and the passes of the Oneau mountains were now occupied by the allied troops ; but while the allies themselves suffered little or nothing, the whole brunt of the war fell upon Corinth. The Spartans took up their head-quarters at Sicyon, whence they ravaged the fertile Corinthian plain upon the coast. The wealthy Corinthian proprietors suffered so much from the devastation of their lands, that many of them became anxious to renew their old alliance with Sparta. A large number of the other Co- rinthians participated in these feelings, and the leading men in power, who were violently opposed to Sparta, became so alarmed at the wide-spread disaffection among the citizens, that they in- troduced a body of Argives into the city during the celebration of the festival of the Eucleia, and massacred numbers of the opposite party in the market-place and in the theatre. The go- vernment now formed such a close union with Argos, that even the boundary marks between the two states were removed, and the very name of Corinth was changed to that of Argos. But the aristocratical party at Corinth, which was still numerous, contrived to admit Praxitas, the Lacedannonian commander at Sicyon, within the long walls which connected Corinth with Lechaeum. In the space between the walls, which was of consi- derable breadth, and about a mile and a half in length, a battle took place between the Lacedaemonians and the Corinthians, who had marched out of the city to dislodge them. The Co- rinthians, however, were defeated, and this victory was followed by the demolition of a considerable part of the long walls by Praxitas. The Lacedaemonians now marched across the Isthmus, and captured Sidus and Crommyon. These events happened in B.C. 392. § 10. The breach effected in the long walls of Corinth excited great alarm at Athens, as it opened a secure passage to the Lace- daemonians into Attica and Boeotia. Accordingly the Athenians moved in great force to Corinth, with carpenters and other ne- cessary workmen ; and with this assistance the Corinthians soon restored the breach. In the summer of B.C. 391, this step was, however, rendered useless in consequence of Agesilaus, assisted by the Lacedaemonian fleet under his brother Teleutias, having obtained possession not only of the long walls, but also of the port of Lechaeum itself. Agesilaus followed up his success by marching into the rocky peninsula between the bay of Lechaeum and the Alcyonian sea, from which Corinth derived both support and assistance. The two principal places in this district, Piracum and (Enoe, together with large booty and many captives, fell into his hands. Corinth was now surrounded on every side ; and the Thebans were thrown into such alarm that they sent envoys to Gk. 2 g 150 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVIII. Agesilaus to treat of peace. Agesilaus had never forgiven the Thebans for having interrupted his sacrifice at Aulis ; and he now seized the opportunity of gratifying his spite against them. Accordingly, when they were introduced into his presence, he treated them with the most marked contempt, and affected not to notice them. But a retributive Nemesis was at hand. As Agesilaus sat in a pavilion on the banks of a lake which adjoined the sacred grove of Hera, feasting his eyes with the spectacle of a long train of captives, paraded under the guard of Lacedaemo- nian hoplites, a man galloped up on a foaming horse, and ac- quainted him with a disaster more novel and more astounding than any that had ever yet befallen the Spartan arms. This was nothing less than the destruction of a whole Lacedaemonian mora, or battalion, by the light armed mercenaries of the Athe- nian Iphicrates. § 11. For the preceding two years Iphicrates had commanded a body of mercenaries, consisting of peltasts,* who had been first organised by Conon after rebuilding the walls of Athens. For this force Iphicrates introduced those improved anus and tactics which form an epoch in the Grecian art of war. His object was to combine as far as possible the peculiar advantages of the hoplites and hght-armed troops. He substituted a linen corslet for the coat of mail worn by the hoplites, and lessened the shield, while he rendered the light javelin and short sword of the peltasts more effective by lengthening them both one-half. These troops soon proved very effective. At their head Iphi- crates attacked and defeated the Phiiasians, gained a victory near Sicyon, and inflicted such loss upon the Arcadian hoplites that they were afraid to meet his peltasts in the field. He now ven- tured upon a bolder exploit. A body of Amyclaean hoplites had obtained leave to celebrate the festival of the Hyacinthia in their native city ; and a Lace- daemonian mora, 600 strong, was appointed to escort them till they should be considered out of reach of attack. Iphicrates, who was in Corinth with his peltasts, suffered the Amyclaeans and their escort to pass unmolested ; but on the return of tho Lacedaemonians he sallied forth with inconceivable hardihood, and attacked them in flank and rear. So many fell under the darts and arrows of the peltasts that the Lacedaemonian captain called a halt, and ordered the youngest and most active of his hoplites to rush forward and drive off the assailants. But their heavy anus rendered them quite unequal to such a mode of fighting ; nor did the Lacedaemonian cavalry, which now came up, but • Sc called from the i><'lt:i, or kind of shield which they carried. B.C. 391. VICTORY OF IPHICRATES. 451 which acted with very little vigour and courage, produce any better effect. At length the Lacedaemonians succeeded in reach- ing an eminence, where they endeavoured to make a stand ; but at this moment Callias arrived with some Athenian hoplitet; from Corinth, whereupon the already disheartened Lacedasmo- nians broke and fled in confusion, pursued by the peltasts, who committed such havoc, chasing and killing some of them even in the sea, that but very few of the whole body succeeded in reaching Lechseum. The news of this defeat produced a great change in the con- duct of the Theban envoys then with Agesilaus. They did not say another word about peace, but merely asked permission to communicate with their countrymen at Corinth. Agesilaus, per- ceiving their altered sentiments, and taking them with him, marched on the following day with his whole force to Corinth, where he defied the garrison to come out to battle. But Iphi- crates was too prudent to hazard his recently achieved success ; and Agesilaus marched back to Sparta as it were by stealth, avoiding all those places where the inhabitants, though allies, were hkely to show their satisfaction at the disgrace of the Spar- tan arms. No sooner was he departed than Iphicrates sallied forth from Corinth and retook Sidus, Crommyon, Pira?um, and (Eno'e, thus liberating all the northern and eastern territory of Corinth. But, in spite of his military abilities and great services, the domineering character of Iphicrates had rendered him so unpopular at Corinth, that the Athenians were obliged to recall him, and appoint Chabrias in his place. § 12. Meantime important events had taken place in connexion with the maritime war. The successes of Conon had inspired the Lacedaemonians with such alarm that they resolved to spare no efforts to regain tbe goodwill of the Persians. With this view they sent Antalcidas, an able politician trained in the school of Lysander, to negotiate with Tiribazus, who had suc- ceeded Tithraustes in the satrapy of Ionia, in order to bring about a general peace under the mediation of Persia. His nego- tiations, however, though supported by the influence of Tiri- bazus, at present proved unsuccessful. Conon, and the other representatives of the allies in Asia, rejected with indignation the proposal of Antalcidas to abandon the Grecian cities in Asia to Persia ; nor was the court of Susa itself as yet disposed to entertain any amicable relations with Sparta. Tiribazus, how- ever, covertly supplied the Lacedaemonians with money for the purposes of their fleet, and, by a gross breach of public faith, caused Conon to be seized and detained, under the pretence that he was acting contrary to the interests of the Great King. This 2 g 2 452 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVIII. event proved the end of Conou's public life. According to one account the Persians caused him to be put to death in prison ; but it seems more probable that he escaped and again took refuge with Evagoras in Cyprus. Be this, however, as it may, the public labours of one of the most useful, if not one of the greatest, of Athenian citizens, were now brought to a close : a man from whose hands his country reaped nothing but benefit, and to whose reputation history seems to have done but scanty justice. Struthas, who held the command in Ionia during the absence of Tiribazus at Susa, carried on hostilities with vigour against the Lacedaemonians. In spite of his proved incapacity, Thimbron had been again intrusted with the command of an army of 8000 men ; but while on his march from Ephesus he was surprised by Struthas, and suffered a complete defeat. Thirnbron himself was among the slain, and those of his soldiers who escaped were compelled to take refuge in the neighbouring cities. § 13. The island of Rhodes now demanded the attention of the belligerents. The democratical party in this island, having ob- tained the upper hand, had revolted from Persia ; and the Spar- tans, fearing that they would form an alliance with Athens, sent Teleutias, the brother of Agesilaus, with a fleet to reduce the island, although they were themselves at war with Persia, so much greater was their fear of the Athenians than of the Per- sians. On his way from Cnidus, Teleutias fell in with and cap- tured an Athenian squadron of 10 triremes under Philocrates, which was proceeding to assist Evagoras in a struggle that was impending between him and the Persians. The news of this reverse, as well as the great increase of the Lacedaemonian fleet, induced the Athenians to despatch, in B.C. 389, a fleet of 40 triremes, under Thrasybulus, to the coasts of Asia Minor — a feat which betokens a considerable renovation of their naval power. Thrasybulus first proceeded to the Hellespont, where he ex- tended the Athenian alliance among the people on both sides of the straits, persuaded or compelled Byzantium and other cities to establish democratical governments, and reimposed the toll of i tsnth on all vessels passing from the Euxine. After this, Thra- sybulus sailed to Lesbos, where he defeated the Lacedremonian harmost, and next visited several places on the mainland, with the view of raising funds for his meditated expedition to Rhodes. Rut the inhabitants of Aspendus in Pamphylia, where he had obtained some contributions, surprised his naval camp in the night, and slew him. Thus perished the man who had delivered his country from the Thirty Tyrants. He was succeeded in hit command by Agyrrhius. B.C. 389. TELEUTIAS SURPRISES PIRJETJS. 453 The success of Thrasybulus in the Hellespont created such anxiety at Sparta that the Ephors were induced to supersede Dercyllidas, and appoint Anaxibius to the government of Aby- dus. Anaxibius took with him a force that rendered him master of the straits, and enabled him to intercept the merchantmen bound to Athens and other ports belonging to the allies. The Athenians now despatched Iphicrates with 8 triremes and 1200 peltasts to make head against Anaxibius ; and by a well-laid stratagem the Athenian commander succeeded in surprising Anaxibius among the mountain-ranges of Ida, whilst on his homeward march from Antandrus to Abydus. The troops of Anaxibius were completely routed, and himself and twelve other harmosts slain. § 14. This exploit rendered the Athenians again masters of the Hellespont. But whilst thus successful in that quarter, their attention was attracted nearer home by the affairs of iEgina. After the battle of iEgospotami, Lysander had restored to the island as many of the ancient population as he could find ; and they were now induced by the Lacedaemonian harmost to infest the Athenian trade with their privateers ; so that, in the lan- guage of Pericles, iEgina again became "the eyesore of Piraeus." The most memorable event in this period of the war was the surprise of Piraeus by Teleutias with a squadron of only 12 sail. Teleutias was the most popular commander in the Lacedaemonian fleet, and was sent by the Ephors to appease the discontent among the Lacedaemonian seamen at ^Egina, in consequence of not receiving their pay. Teleutias plainly told them that they had nothing to depend upon but their swords, and he bade them prepare for an enterprise, the object of which he did not then disclose. This was nothing less than an attack upon Piraeus ; an enterprise which it seemed almost insane to attempt with a force of only 12 triremes. But Teleutias reckoned on taking the Athenians by surprise. Quitting the harbour of iEgina at night- fall, and rowing along leisurely and in silence, Teleutias found himself at daybreak within half a mile of Piraeus, and when it was fully light he steered his vessels straight into the harbour, which was beginning to assume again some of its former com- mercial importance. Here, as he expected, he found no pre- parations for repelling an attack, and though the alarm was immediately raised, he had time to inflict considerable damage before any troops could be got together to oppose him. His men disembarked on the quays, and carried off not only the portable merchandise, but also the shipmasters, tradesmen, and others whom they found there. The larger merchant ships were boarded and plundered ; several of the smaller were towed 454 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciur. XXXN'III off with their whole cargoes ; and even three or four triremes met the same fate. All this booty Telcutias succeeded in carry- ing safely iuto /Egina, together with several corn-ships, and other merchantmen which he fell in with off" Sunium. The prizes were then sold, and yielded so large a sum that Teleutias was able to pay the seamen a month's wages. § 15. Whilst these things were passing in Greece, Antalcidas, conducted by Tiribazus, had repaired to the Persian court a second time for the purpose of renewing his negotiations for a general peace on the same basis as he had proposed before. This time he succeeded in winning the favour of the Persian monarch, in spite of his dislike of the Spartans generally, and prevailed on him both to adopt the peace, and to declare war against those who should reject it. Antalcidas and Tiribazus again arrived on the coasts of Asia Minor in the spring of B.C. 387, not only armed with these powers, but provided with an ample force to carry them into execution. In addition to the entire Beet of Persia, Dionysius of Syracuse had placed 20 tri- remes at the service of the Lacedaemonians ; and Antalcidas now sailed with a large fleet to the Hellespont, where Iphicrates and the Athenians were still predominant. But the overwhelming force of Antalcidas, the largest that had been seen in the Helles- pont since the battle of yEgospotami, rendered all resistance hopeless. The supplies of corn from the Euxine no longer found their way to Athens; the iEginetan privateers resumed their depredations ; and the Athenians, depressed at once both by what they felt and by what they anticipated, began to long for peace. The Argives participated in the same desire ; and as without the assistance of Athens it seemed hopeless for the other allies to struggle against Sparta, all Greece seemed in- clined to listen to an accommodation. Under these circumstances deputies from the Grecian states were summoned to meet Tiribazus ; who, after exhibiting to them the royal seal of Persia, read to them the following terms of a peace : " King Artaxerxes thinks it just that the cities in Asia and the islands of Clazomen?e and Cyprus should belong to him. He also thinks it just to leave all the other Grecian cities, both small and great, independent — except Lemnos, Imbras, and Scyros, which are to belong to Athens, as of old. Should any parties refuse to accept this peace, I will make war upon them, along with those who are of the same mind, both by land and sea, with ships and with money." The deputies reported these terms to their respective govern- ments, all of which at once accepted the peace with the exception of the Thebaus, who claimed to take the oath not in their cwn B.C. 387. fEACE OF ANTALCIDAS. 455 behalf alone, but for the Boeotian confederacy in general. But when Agesilaus threatened the Thebans with war if they did not comply, they consented to take the oath for their own city alone — thus virtually renouncing their federal headship. § 16. This disgraceful peace, called the peace of Antalcidas, was concluded in the year B.C. 387. By it Hellas seemed pro- strated at the feet of the barbarians ; for its very terms, engraven on stone and set up in the sanctuaries of Greece, recognized the Persian king as the arbiter of her destinies. Although Athens cannot be entirely exonerated from the blame of this transac- tion, the chief guilt rests upon Sparta, whose designs were far deeper and more hypocritical than they appeared. Under the specious pretext of securing the independence of the Grecian cities, her only object was to break up the confederacies under Athens and Thebes, and, with the assistance of Persia, to pave the way for her own absolute dominion in Greece. Her real aim is pithily characterized in an anecdote recorded of Agesi- laus. When somebody remarked "Alas, for Hellas, that our Spartans should be Medizing I " " Say rather," replied Agesilaus, " that the Medes are Laconizing." Adventures of Dionysus, from the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. Adventures of Dionysus, from the Cuoragic Monument of Lysicrates. CHAPTER XXXIX. FROM THE PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS TO THE PEACE OF CALLIAB. § 1. Aggressions of Sparta in Boeotia. Rebuilding of 1'iataa. § '_'. Keduc- tion of Mantinea. § 3. Olynthian confederation. Sparta interferes. § 4. Seizure of the Cadmea at Thebes by the Lacedaemonians. § 5. Reduction of Olynthus. § G. Unpopularity of Sparta. § 7. Revolution at Thebes. *j 8. The Lacedemonians expelled from the Cadmea. § 9. Their expedi- tions against Thebes. Alarm of the Athenians, who ally themselves with Thebes. § 10. Reorganization of the Athenian confederation, § 11. Pre- parations for war. The Theban "Sacred Band." § 12. Character of tipaminondas. § 13. Spartan invasions of Bototia. § 14. Maritime affairs. Battle of Naxos. Success of Timotheus. § 15. Progress of the Theban arms. § 16. The Athenians form a peace with Sparta, which is immediately broken. Proceedings at Corcyra. § 17. The Lacedaemonians solicit Persian aid. § 18. Congress at Sparta to treat of peace. The Thebans are excluded from it. § 1 . No sooner was the peace of Antalcidas concluded than Sparta, directed by Agesilaus, the ever-active enemy of Thebes, exerted all her power to weaken that city. She began by pro- claiming the independence of the various Boeotian cities, and by organizing in each a local oligarchy, adverse to Thebes and fa- vourable to herself. The popular feeling in these cities was in general opposed to the Spartan dominion ; two alone, Orchome- uus and Thespiae, preferred it to that of Thebes ; and in these the Lacedaemonians placed garrisons, and made them their main stations in Bceotia. Even such a step as this seemed to exceed the spirit of the treaty, which required merely the independence of each city ; but the restoration of Plataea, now effected by the Lacedtemonians, was an evident work of supererogation, under- taken only t" annoy and weaken Thebes, and to form a place lor another Lacedtomoina.ii garrison. Since the destruction of B 0. 385. DESTRUCTION OF MAN TINEA. 457 Platoea, most of her remaining citizens had become domiciled at Athens, had married Athenian women, and had thus almost forgotten their native country. These were now restored, and their city rebuilt ; but merely that it might become a Spartan out-post. Thebes was at present too weak to resist these en- croachments on her dignity and power, which even at Sparta were regarded with dissatisfaction by king Agesipolis and the more moderate party. § 2. The Lacedaemonians now found themselves in a condition to wreak their vengeance on the Mantineans, by whom they deemed themselves aggrieved. They could not, indeed, bring any charge of positive hostility against the Mantineans ; but they accused them of lukewarmness and equivocal fidelity ; of having been slack in furnishing their contingents during the late war ; and of having supplied the Argives with corn when at war with Sparta. On these grounds a message was sent requiring the Mantineans to raze their walls ; and as they hesitated to comply, an army was despatched under Agesipolis to enforce obedience. Agesipolis succeeded in taking Mantinea, which was well sup- plied with provisions, by damming up the l'iver Ophis which ran through it. The inundation thus caused undermined the walls which were built of baked bricks, and obliged the citizens to capitulate. Much harder terms were now exacted from them. They were required not only to demolish their fortifica- tions but also a great part of their town, so as to restore it to the form of five villages, out of which it had been originally formed. Each of these villages was left unfortified, and placed under a separate oligarchical government. About the same time the Lacedaemonians compelled the city of Phlius to recall a body of exiles who had been expelled on account of their at- tachment to the interests of Sparta. § 3. But the attention of Sparta was soon called to more distant regions. Olynthus, a town situated at the head of the Toronaic gulf in the peninsula of the Macedonian Chalcidice, had become the head of a powerful confederation, which included several of the adjacent Grecian cities, and among them Potidaea, on the isthmus of Pallene. Acanthus and Apollonia, the largest cities after Olynthus, in the Chalcidic peninsula, had refused to join the league ; and as they were threatened with war by Olyn- thus, they despatched envoys to Sparta to solicit aid (b.c. 383). The envoys gave an alarming account of the designs of Olyn- thus : and being seconded by ambassadors from Amyntas, king of Macedonia, the Lacedaemonians were easily persuaded to enter upon an undertaking which harmonised with their present course of policy. Their allies were persuaded or rather overawed into 458 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIX. the adoption of their views, and an army of 10,000 men -war: voted. The emergency, however, was so pressing that Euda- midas was despatched at once with a force of liOOO hophtes. Marching rapidly with only a portion even of these, he arrived in time enough to defend Acanthus and Apollonia, and even suc- ceeded in inducing Potidaea to revolt from the league. But, though joined by Amyntas with his forces, he was not strong enough to take the field openly against the Olynthians. § 4. This expedition of the Lacedaemonians led incidentally to an affair of much greater importance. The Thebans had entered mto an alliance with Olynthus, and had forbidden any of their citizens to join the Lacedaemonian army destined to act against it ; but they were not strong enough to prevent its marching through their territory. Phocbidas, the brother of Eudamidas, was appointed to collect the troops which were not in readiness at the time of his brother's departure, and to march with all pos- sible speed towards Olynthus. On his way through Boeotia he halted with his division at a gymnasium not far from Thebes ; where he was visited by Leontiades, one of the polemarchs of the city, and two or three other leaders of the Lacedaemonian party in Thebes. It happened that the festival of the Thes- mophoria was on the point of being celebrated, during which the Cadmea, or Theban Acropolis, was given up for the exclusive use of the women. The opportunity seemed favourable for a sur- prise ; and Leontiades and Phocbidas concerted a plot to seize it. Whilst the festival was celebrating, Phcebidas pretended to re- sume his march, but only made a circuit round the city walls ; whilst Leontiades, stealing out of the senate, mounted his horse, and joining the Lacedaemonian troops, conducted them towards the Cadmea. It was a sultry summer's afternoon, so that the very streets were deserted ; and Phcebidas, without encounter- ing any opposition, seized the citadel and all the women in it, to serve as hostages for the quiet submission of the Thebans. Leontiades then returned to the senate, and caused his fellow Polemarch, Ismenias, who was the head of the opposite, or pa- triotic, party, to be seized and imprisoned. After this blow, 300 of the leading men of his party fled to Athens for safety. Ismenias was shortly afterwards brought \o trial by Leontiades before a packed court, and put to death on the ground of his receiving money from Persia and stirring up the late war. This treacherous act during a period of profound peace awakened the liveliest indignation throughout Greece. Sparta herself could not venture to justify it openly, and Phocbidas was made the scape-goat of her affected displeasure. The Ephors, though tbiv had secretly authorised the proceeding, now dis- B.C. 379. END OF THE OLYNTHIAN WAR. 459 avowed him ; and Agesilaus alone, prompted by his burning hatred of Thebes, stood forth in his defence. The result was a truly Lacouian piece of hypocrisy. As a sort of atouemerrt to the violated feeling of Greece, Phoebidas was censured, fined, and dismissed. But that this was a mere farce is evident from the fact of his subsequent restoration to command ; and, however indignant the Lacedsenionians affected to appear at the act of Phcebidas, they took care to reap the fruits of it by retaining their garrison in the Cadmea. § 5. The once haughty Thebes was now enrolled a member of the Lacedaemonian alliance, and furnished her contingent — the grateful offering of the new Theban government — for the warwhich Sparta was prosecuting with redoubled vigour against Olynthus. The troops of that city, however, especially its cavalry, were ex- cellent, and the struggle was protracted for several years. During the course of it king Agesipolis died of a fever brought on by his exertions ; and the war, which had begun in B.C. 383, was ultimately brought to a close by his successor, Polybiades, in B.c. 379 : who, by closely blockading Olynthus, deprived it of its supplies, and thus forced it to capitulate. The Olynthian con- federacy was now dissolved ; the Grecian cities belonging to it were compelled to join the Lacedaemonian alliance; whilst the maritime towns of Macedonia were again reduced under the dominion of Amyntas. Sparta thus inflicted a great blow upon Hellas ; for the Olynthian confederacy might have served as a counterpoise to the growing power of Macedon, destined soon to overwhelm the rest of Greece. About the same time as the reduction of Olynthus, Phlius yielded to the arms of Agesilaus, who, on the complaint of the restored exiles that they could not obtain a restitution of their rights, had undertaken the siege of that city. A govern- ment nominated by Agesilaus was now appointed there. § 6. The power of Sparta on land had now attained its greatest height. At sea, she divided with Athens the empire of the smaller islands, whilst the larger ones seem to have been inde- pendent of both. Her unpopularity in Greece was commen- surate with the extent of her harshly administered dominion. She was leagued en all sides, with the enemies of Grecian free- dom — with the Persians, with Amyntas of Macedon, and with Dionysius of Syracuse. But she had now reached the turning- point of her fortunes, and her successes, which had been earned without scruple, were soon to be followed by misfortunes and disgrace. The first blow came from Thebes, where she had per- petrated her most sigual injustice. § 7. That city had been for three years in the hands of 4bO HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIX. Leontiades and the Spartan party. During this time great dis- content had grown up among the resident citizens ; and there was' also the party of exasperated exiles, who had taken refuge at Athens. Among these exiles was Pelopidas, a young man of birth and fortune, who had already distinguished himself by his dis- interested patriotism and ardent character. He applied a great part of his wealth to the relief of his indigeut feilow-citizens, and gave such undivided attention to public affairs as to neglect the management of his own property. Pelopidas took the lead in the plans now formed for the libe- ration of his country, and was the heart and soul of the enter- prise. Rebuked by his friends on account of his carelessness, ho replied that money was certainly useful to such as were lame and blind. His warm and generous heart was irresistibly at- tracted by everything great and noble ; and hence he was led to form a close and intimate friendship with Epaminondas, who was several years older than himself and of a still loftier cha- racter. Their friendship is said to have originated in a cam- paign in which they served together, when Pelopidas having fallen in battle apparently dead, Epaminondas protected his body at the imminent risk of his own life. Pelopidas afterwards endeavoured to persuade Epaminondas to share his riches with him ; and when he did not succeed, he resolved to live on the same frugal fare as his great friend. A secret correspondence was opened with his friends at Thebes, the chief of whom were Phyllidas, secretary to the polemarchs, and Charon. Epaminon- das was solicited to take a part in the conspiracy ; but, though lie viewed the Lacedaemonian government with abhorrence, his principles forbade him to participate in a plot which was to be carried out by treachery and murder. The dominant faction, besides the advantage of the actual possession of power, was supported by a garrison of 1500 Lace- aa'iaonians. The enterprise, therefore, was one of considerable difficulty and danger. In the execution of it Phyllidas took a leading part. It was arranged that he should give a supper to Archias and Philippus, the two polemarchs, whose company was to be secured by the allurement of an introduction to some Theban women remarkable for their beauty. After they had partaken freely of wine, the conspirators were to be intro- duced, disguised as women, and to complete their work by the assassination of the polemarchs. On the day before the banquet, Pelopidas, with six other exiles, arrived at Thebes from Athens, aud, straggling through the gates towards dusk in the disguise of rustics and huntsmen, arrived safely at the house of Charon, where they remained concealed till the appointed hour. Before B.C. 379. LIBERATION OF THEBES. 461 it arrived, however, a summons which Charon received to attend the polemarchs filled the conspirators with the liveliest alarm. These magistrates, whilst enjoying the good cheer of Phyllidas, received a vague message from Athens respecting some plot formed by the exiles ; and, as Charon was known to be connected with them, he was immediately sent for and questioned. By the aid of Phyllidas, however, Charon contrived to lull the sus- picions of the polemarchs, who were already half intoxicated. Shortly after the departure of Charon another messenger arrived from Athens with a letter for Archias, in which the whole plot was accurately detailed. The messenger, in accordance with his instructions, informed Archias that the letter related to matters of serious importance. But the polemarch, completely engrossed by the pleasures of the table, thrust the letter under the pillow of his couch, exclaiming, "Serious matters to-morrow." The hour of their fate was now ripe, and the polemarchs, flushed with wine, desired Phyllidas to introduce the women. The conspirators, disguised with veils, and in the ample folds of female attire, were ushered into the room. For men in the state of the revellers the deception was complete ; but when they attempted to lift the veils from the women, their passion was rewarded by the mortal thrust of a dagger. After thus slaying the two polemarchs, the conspirators went to the house of Leon- tiades, whom they found reclining after supper, whilst his wife sat spinning by his side. Leontiades, who was strong and courageous, immediately seized his sword and inflicted a mortal wound on one of the conspirators, but was at length overpowered and killed by Pelopidas. Then the conspirators proceeded to the gaol, and, having liberated the prisoners, supplied them with arms. The news of the revolution soon spread abroad. Epaminondas, whose repugnance to these proceedings attached only to their secret and treacherous character, now appeared accompanied by a few friends in arms. Proclamations were issued announcing that Thebes was free, and calling upon all citizens who valued their liberty to muster in the market-place. As soon as day dawned, and the citizens became aware that they were sum- moned to vindicate their liberty, their joy and enthusiasm were unbounded. For the first time since the seizure of their citadel they met in public assembly ; the conspirators, being introduced, were crowned by the priests with wreaths, and thanked in the name of their country's gods ; whilst the assembly, with grateful acclamation, unanimously nominated Pelopidas, Charon, and Mel- Ion as the first restored Boeotarchs. § 8 Meanwhile the remainder of the Theban exiles, accom- 462 HISTOUY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIX panied by a body of Athenian volunteers, assembled on the frontiers of Boeotia ; and, at the first news of the success of the conspiracy, hastened to Thebes to complete the revolution. The Lacedaemonian garrison sent to Thespiae and Plataea for reinforce- ments ; but these were dispersed by the Theban cavalry before they could approach the gates. The Thebans, under their new Bceotarchs, were already mounting to the assault of the Cadinea, when the Lacedaemonians capitulated, and were allowed to march out with the honours of war. But several of the Theban citizens of the Lacedaemonian party, who had taken refuge in the citadel, were put to death, and in some cases even their children shared their fate. The surrender of the Cadmea seems to have been a disgraceful dereliction of duty on the part of the three com- manding Spartan harmosts ; nor are we surprised to hear that two of them were put to death, and the third fined and banished. § 9. The news of this revolution gave a shock to the Lace- diemonian power throughout Greece. At Sparta itself it occa- sioned the greatest consternation. Although it was the depth of winter, the allied contingents were immediately called out, and au expedition undertaken against Thebes. As Agesilaus, being now more than sixty years of age, declined to take the command, it was assigned to his colleague, Cleombrotus, who penetrated as far into Boeotia as Cynoscephake ; but, after re- maining there sixteen days, he returned to Sparta without having effected anything, leaving, however, a third of bis army at Thes- piae, under the command of Sphodrias. This expedition caused great alarm at Athens. The Lacedaemonians sent envoys to demand satisfaction for the part which the Athenians had taken in the Theban revolution. Among those who had aided and abetted the plot were two of the Strategi or Generals, who were now sacrificed to the public security, one of them being con- demned and executed, and the other, who fled before trial, sen- tenced to banishment. The Thebans, now fearing that the Athenians would remain quiet and leave them to contend single- handed against the Spartans, bribed Sphodrias to invade Attica. Accordingly Sphodrias set out from Thespiaj with the intention of surprising the Piraeus by night ; but, being overtaken by day- light whilst still on the Thriasian plain near Eleusis, he retreated, though not without committing various acts of depredation. This attempt excited the liveliest indignation at Athens. The LacedsBmonian envoys, still at Athens, were seized and interro- gated, but exculpated themselves from all knowledge of the en- terprise. Sphodrias himself was indicted for it at Sparta, but the influence of Agesilaus procured his acquittal. lli> e» denounced by the unanimous voice of Greece. At Athene B.C. 378. ALLIANCE BETWEEN ATHENS AND THEBES. 463 it at once produced an alliance with Thebes, and a declaration of war against Sparta (b.c. 378). § 10. From this time must be dated the cera of a new political combination in Greece. Athens strained every nerve to organize a fresh confederacy. She already possessed the nucleus of one in a small body of maritime allies, and envoys were now sent to the principal ports and islands in the iEgean, inviting them to join the alliance on equal and honourable terms. Thebes did not scruple to enrol herself as one of its earliest members. At Athens itself the fortifications of Piraeus were completed, new ships of war were built, and every means taken to ensure naval supremacy. The basis on which the confederacy was formed closely resembled that of Delos. The cities composing it were to be independent, and to send deputies to a congress at Athens, for the purpose of raising a common fund for the support of a naval force. Care was taken to banish all recollections con- nected with the former unpopularity of the Athenian empire. The name of the tribute was no longer phoros,* but synta.ris,f or " contribution ;" and all previous rights of cleruchia were formally renounced. The confederacy, which ultimately numbered 70 cities, was chiefly organized through the exertions of Chabrias, of Timotheus the son of Conon, and of the orator Callistratus ; but of these Timotheus was particularly successful in procuring accessions to the league. § 11. The first proceeding of the assembled congress was to vote 20,000 hoplites, 500 cavalry, and 200 triremes. To meet the ne- cessary expenses, a new graduated assessment of the eisphora,% or property tax, was instituted at Athens itself (b.c. 378) ; a species of tax never imposed except on urgent occasions. These pro- ceedings show the ardour with which Athens embarked in the war. Nor were the Thebans less zealous, amongst whom the Spartan government had left a lively feeling of antipathy. They hastened to enrol themselves under Pelopidas and his colleagues ; the most fertile portion of the Theban territory was surrounded with a ditch and palisade, in order to protect it from invasion ; the military force was put in the best training, and the famous " Sacred Band " was now for the first time instituted. This band was a regiment of 300 hoplites. It was supported at the public expense, and kept constantly under arms. It was com- posed of young and chosen citizens of the best families, and organized in such a manner that each man had at his side a dear and intimate friend. Its special duty was the defence of the Cadmea. 464 HI8T0BY OF GREECE. Chap XXXIX. § 1 2. The Thebana had always been excellent soldiers ; but then good fortune now gave them the greatest general that (Greece had hitherto seen. Eparninondas, who now appears conspicuously in public life, deserves the reputation not merely of a Theban but of a Grecian hero. Sprung from a poor but ancient family, Eparninondas possessed all the best qualities of his nation with- out that heaviness, either of body or of mind, which characterized and deteriorated the Theban people. In the exercises of the gymnasium he aimed rather at feats of skill, than of mere cor- poreal strength. He excelled in music, — a term which among the Greeks denoted not only instrumental and vocal perform- ance, and dancing, but also the just and rhythmical intonation of the voice and movement of the body. To these accomplish- ments he united the more intellectual study of philosophy. Through the Theban Simmias, and the Tarentine Spintharus, both of whom had been companions of Socrates, Eparninondas imbibed the wisdom and the method of the great philosopher of Athens ; whilst by the Pythagorean Lysis, a Tarentine exile resident at Thebes, he was initiated into the more recondite doctrines of the earliest of Grecian sages. By these varied com- munications his mind was enlarged beyond the sphere of vulgar •superstition, and emancipated from that timorous interpretation of nature, which caused even some of the leading men of those days to behold a portent in the most ordinary phenomenon. A still rarer accomplishment for a Theban was that of eloquence, which he possessed in no ordinary degree. These intellectual qualities were matched with moral virtues worthy to consort with them. Though eloquent, he was discreet ; though poor, he was neither avaricious nor corrupt; though naturally firm ami courageous, he was averse to cruelty, violence, and bloodshed ; though a patriot, he was a stranger to personal ambition, and scorned the little arts by which popularity is too often courted. lMopidas, as we have already said, was his bosom friend. It was natural, therefore, that when Pelopidas was named Bceotarch, Eparninondas should be prominently employed in organizing the means of war ; but it was not till some years later that his mili- tary genius shone forth in its full lustre. § 13 The Spartans were resolved to avenge the repulse the\ had received — and in the summer of B.C. 378, Agesilaus marched with a large army into Bceotia. He succeeded in breakin.' through the Theban circumvallation, and ravaged the country up to the very gates of Thebes ; though the combined Theban and Athenian armies — the latter under Chabrias — presented too formidable a front for him to venture upon an engagement. After spending a month in the Boeotian territory without B.C. 376. RATTLE OF NAXOS. 465 striking a decisive blow, Agesilaus returned to Sparta with the bulk of his army, leaving the rest under the command of Phoebidas at Thespiae ; who shortly afterwards fell in a skirmish. A second expedition undertaken by Agesilaus in the following summer (b.c. 377) ended much in the same manner. An injury to his leg, which he received on the homeward march, and which was aggravated by the unskilfulness of his surgeon, disabled him for a long time from active service ; so that the invasion in the summer of B.C. 376 was conducted by Cleombrotus. But the Thebans had now acquired both skill and confidence. They an- ticipated the Lacedaemonians in seizing the passes of Cithaeron ; and Cleombrotus, instead of invading Boeotia, was forced to retreat ingloriously. § 14. This ill-success on land determined the Lacedaemonians to try what they could effect at sea ; and a fleet of 60 triremes under Pollio was accordingly despatched into the Mgeaii. Near Naxos they fell in with the Athenian fleet under Chabrias, who completely defeated them, thus regaining once more for Athens the mastery of the seas. (B.C. 376.) It was on this occasion that young Phocion first distinguished himself. The Athenians followed up this success by sending Timotheus, the son of Conon, with a fleet into the western seas. Timotheus won success as much by prudence and conciliation as by arms. The inhabitants of Cephallenia and Corcyra, several of the tribes of Epirus, together with the Acarnanians dwelling on the coast, were persuaded to join the Athenian alliance. Off Acarnania he was attacked by the Peloponnesian fleet, which however he de- feated ; and being subsequently reinforced by some triremes from Corcyra, he became completely master of the seas in that quarter. § 15. The justice and forbearance, however, which Timotheus observed towards friends and neutrals, obliged him to draw largely upon the Athenian treasury ; and the losses inflicted on the Athenian commerce by the privateers of iEgina caused the drain to be still more seriously felt. Athens was thus compelled to make fresh demands on the members of the confederacy ; with which however the Thebans refused to comply, though it was partly at their instance that the Athenian fleet had been sent into the ^Egean. This refusal was embittered by jealousy of the rapid strides, which, owing to the diversion caused by the maritime efforts of Athens, Thebes had recently been making. For two years Boeotia had been free from Spartan invasion ; and Thebes had employed this time in extending her dominion over the neighbouring cities. One of her most important successes during this period was the victory gained by Pelopidas near Gk. 3 h 466 IHSTOHY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXIX. Tegyra, a village dependent upon Orchomenus (b.c. 375). The Spartan harmost of Orchomenus having left that town with the greater part of the garrison in order to make an incursion into Locris, Pelopidas formed the project of surprising Orchomenus, but finding it impracticable, was on his road home, when he fell in near Tegyra with the Lacedaemonians on their return from Locris. Pelopidas had with him only the Sacred Band and a small body of cavalry, while the Lacedaemonians were nearly twice as numerous. He did not, however, shrink from the con- flict on this account ; and when one of his men, running up to liim, exclaimed, " We are fallen into the midst of the enemy,'' he replied, " Why so, more than they into the midst of us ?" In the battle which ensued, the two Spartan commanders fell at the first charge, and their men were put to the rout. So signal a victory inspired the Thebans with new confidence and vigour, as it showed that Sparta was not invincible even in a pitched battle, and with the advantage of numbers on her side. By the year 374 B.C., the Thebans had succeeded in entirely expelling the Lacedaemonians from Bceotia, had put down the oligarchical factions in the various cities, and revived the Boeotian confe- deracy. Orchomenus alone, which lay on the borders of Phocis, together with its dependency Chaeronea, still remained under Spartan government. The Thebans now began to look beyond their own boundaries, and to retaliate on the Phocians for the assistance they had lent to Sparta. The success of the Thebans in that quarter would have laid open to them the temple of Delphi with all its treasures ; nor did such a result seem impro- bable, as the Phocians were at the same time hard pressed by Jason, of Pherae in Thessaly. But at the instance of the Phocians Cleombrotus came to their aid, and succeeded in assuring their safety, as well as that*of Orchomenus. § 16. Such were the successes of the Thebans which revived the jealousy and distrust of Athens. Phocis was her ancient ally ; and the Theban menace of that countiy, coupled with the anger excited by the refusal of the Thebans to pay the required tributo, induced the Athenians to make proposals of peace to sparta. These were eagerly adopted, and Timotheus was in- structed to sail back to Athens with the fleet. The peace, how- ever, was broken almost as soon as made. On his way back. Timotheus disembarked at Zacynthus some exiles belonging to that island, and assisted them in establishing a fortified post. For this proceeding Sparta demanded redress at Athens in the name of the Zacynthiau government ; which being refused, war was again declared. The Lacedaemonians now sent a large force under the command of Muasippus to subdue the important island U.C. 371. PEACE BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPA11TA. 467 of Corcyra, which has not appeared in Grecian history since tli6 time of the fearful dissensions by which it was torn asunder in the Peloponnesian war. Mnasippus having effected a landing and blockaded the capital, the Corcyrseans invoked the aid of the Athenians, who appointed Timotheus to conduct a fleet to their relief ; and whilst this was preparing despatched Stesicles with 600 peltasts overland through Thessaly and Epirus. Thesa being conveyed across the channel to Corcyra, contrived to get into the city, and revived the hopes of the besieged with the news of the approaching Athenian fleet. The distress and pri- vation had now become very great within the city ; but the mis- conduct of Mnasippus afforded the Corcyrseans an oppertunity of retrieving their affairs. His soldiers, who were mostly mer- cenaries, being irregularly paid and harshly treated, became mu- tinous and insubordinate ; the watch was badly kept ; and the besieged, observing their opportunity, made a sally in which the Lacedaemonians were defeated, and Mnasippus himself slain. Shortly afterwards the approach of the Athenian fleet being an- nounced, the Lacedaemonians hastily evacuated the island, leaving behind them a large store of provision and many slaves, besides a considerable number of sick and wounded soldiers. When the Athenian fleet arrived it was found to be com- manded by Iphicrates, Chabrias, and the orator Callistratus. Timotheus had been superseded in the command, because he was thought to have wasted time unnecessarily in equipping the fleet. Iphicrates, soon after his arrival at Corcyra, captured nine out of ten triremes sent by Dionysius of Syracuse to the assist- ance of Sparta. From thence he crossed over to the opposite coast of Acarnania, and even laid waste the western shores of Peloponnesus. § 17. These successes of the Athenians occasioned great alarm at Sparta. Antalcidas was again despatched (b.c. 372) to solicit the intervention of Persia, on the plea that the peace had been infringed by the re-estabhshment of the Boeotian confederation. But even Athens had become anxious for peace, in consequence of the increasing jealousy of Thebes, which had recently de- stroyed the restored city of Platea, and obliged its inhabitants once more to seek refuge at Athens. Prompted by these feel- ings, the Athenians opened negociations for a peace with Sparta : a resolution which was also adopted by the majority of the allies. Due notice of this intention was given to the Thebane, who were also invited to send deputies to Sparta. § 18. A congress was accordingly opened in that city iu the spring of 371 B.C. The Athenians were represented by Callias, Autocles, and Callistratus ; and the Thebans byEpaminondas.thcn 468 HISTORY OF GREECE. Citm\ XXXIX one of the polemarchs. The terms of a peace were agreed upon, by which the independence of the various Grecian cities was to be recognized ; the armaments on both sides were to be disbanded, and the Spartan harmosts and garrisons everywhere dismissed. Sparta ratified the treaty for herself and her allies ; but Athens took the oaths only for herself, and was followed separately by her allies. But wheu the turn of the Thebans came, Epami- nondas refused to sign except in the name of the Boeotian con- federation, and justified his refusal in a bold and eloquent speech, in which he maintained that the title of Thebes to the headship of Boeotia rested on as good a foundation as the claim of Sparta to the sovereignty of Laconia, which he maintained was derived only from the power of the sword. This novel and startling view of the matter, which nobody before had ever ven- tured to open, was peculiarly insulting to Spartan ears. Agesi- laus was incensed beyond measure at what he regarded as another instance of Theban insolence. Starting abruptly from his seat, and addressing Epaminondas, he exclaimed : " Speak out — will you, or will you not leave each Boeotian city independent ?" Epaminondas replied by another question : " Will you leave each of the Laconian towns independent V Agesilaus made no answer, but directing the name of the Thebans to be struck out of the treaty, proclaimed them excluded from it. Thus ended the congress. Tho peace concluded between Sparta, Athens, and their respective allies, was called the peace ofCallias. The result with regard to Thebes and Sparta will appear in the following chapter. TJie Wind Rorpes, from the Horolopium of Andronicus Cyn-hestes at Altum Ithome, from the Stadium of Messene. CHAPTER XL. THE SUPREMACY OF THEBES. § 1. Invasion of Boeotia by Cleombrotus. § 2. Battle of Leuctra. § o. Its effect throughout Greece. § 4. Jason of Pherae joins the Thebans. § 5. Progress of Thebes. § (j. Assassination of Jason. § 7. Establishment of the Arcadian league. § 8. Fust invasion of Peloponnesus by Epaminondas. Alarm at Sparta. Vigorous measures of Agesilaus. § 9. Epaminondas founds Megalopolis, and restores the Messenians. § 10. Alliance between Athens an I Sparta. Second invasion of Peloponnesus by Epaminondas. §11. Invasion of Laconia by the Arcadians. § 12. Expedition of Pelopidas into Thessaly. The " Tearless Battle " between the Arcadians and Lacedaemonians. § 13. Third invasion of Peloponnesus by Epaminondas. § 14. Mission of Pelo- pidas to the court of Susa. § 15. Seizure of Pelopidas by Alexander. His release. § 16. The Athenians acquire Oropus. Alliance between Athens and Arcadia. § 17. Attempt of the Athenians to seize Corinth followed by an alliance between the Corinthians and Thebans. § 18. Success of the Athenians at sea. A Theban fleet commanded by Epaminondas. § 19. Death of Pelopidas. § 20. Wars between Elis and Arcadia. Battle at Olympia during the festival. § 21. Dissensions among the Arcadians. § 22. Fourth invasion of Peloponnesus by Epaminondas. Attempts upon Sparta and Mantinea. § 23. Battle of Mantinea, and death of Epaminon- das. §24. Death of Agesilaus. § 1. In pursuance of the treaty, the Lacedaemonians withdrew their harmosts and garrisons, whilst the Athenians recalled 470 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL. Iphicrates with the fleet from the Ionian sea. Only one feeling prevailed at Sparta — a desire to crush Thebes ; and this was carried to an almost insane extent ; so that even Xenophon, a warm partizan of the Lacedaemonians, compares it to a mis- leading and fatal inspiration sent by the gods. But this was an after-thought. Before the actual collision, the general opinion not only at Sparta, but throughout Greece, was very different. Thebes was regarded as doomed to destruction ; and it was not for a moment imagined that, single-handed, she would be able to resist the might of Sparta. At the time when the peace was concluded, Cleombrotus happened to be in Phocis at the head of a Lacedaemonian army ; and he now received orders to invade Bcsotia without delay. The Thebans, on their side, were equally determined on resistance. In order to prevent Cleombrotus from penetrating into Bcootia, Epamiuondas occupied with a strong force the narrow pass near Coronea, situated between the lake Copais and a spur of Mount Helicon, through which Agesi- laus had forced a passage on his homeward march from Asia. But Cleombrotus took a circuitous road, deemed hardly practi- cable, and therefore but slightly guarded, over the mountains to the south. Arriving thus unexpectedly before Crcusis in the Crissaean gulf, he took that place by surprise, and seized twelve Theban triremes which lay in the harbour. Then, having left a garrison in the town, he directed his march through the terri- tory of Thcspiae, and encamped on the memorable plain of Leuctra. § 2. This march of Cleombrotus displays considerable military skill. He had not only succeeded in penetrating into Bcootia almost without opposition ; but, by seizing the port of Creusis, he had secured a safe retreat in case of disaster. The Thebans were discouraged at his progress, and it required all the energy and address of Epaminondas and Pelopidas to revive their drooping spirits. Omens of evil import had attended their march from Thebes ; and when they encamped within sight of the Lacedae- monians, three out of the seven Bceotarchs were for returning to the city and shutting themselves up in it, after sending away their wives and children to Athens. But Epaminondas had too much confidence in his own genius to listen to such timorous counsels. His own mind was proof against the fears of super- stition, and luckily some favourable portents now gave encourage- ment to his troops. A Spartan exile serving with the Thebana bade them remark, that on that very spot stood the tomb of two Boeotian virgins who slew themselves in consequence of having been outraged by Lacedaemonians. The shades of these injured maidens, he said, would now demand vengeance ; and B.C. 371. BATTLE OF LEUCTBA. 471 the Theban commanders, seizing the omen, crowned the tombs with wreaths. The forces on each side aie not accurately known, but it seems probable that the Thebans were outnumbered by the Lacedae- monians. The military genius of Epaminondas, however, com- pensated any inferiority of numbers by novelty of tactics. Up to this time Grecian battles had been uniformly conducted by a general attack in line. Epaminondas now first adopted the ma- noeuvre, used with such success by Napoleon in modern times, of concentrating heavy masses on a given point of the enemy's array. Having formed his left wing into a dense column of 50 deep, so that its depth -p-as greater than its front, he directed it against the Lacedaemonian right, containing the best troops in their army, drawn up 12 deep, and led by Cleombrotus in person. Meanwhile the Theban centre and right were ordered to be kept out of action, and in readiness to support the advance of the left wing. The battle began with skirmishes of cavalry in front, in which the Lacedaemonian horse were soon driven in. The Theban left, the Sacred Band with Pelopidas at their head, leading the van, now fell with such irresistible weight on the Lacedaemonian right, as to bear down all opposition. The shock was terrible. Cleombrotus himself was mortally wounded in the ouset, and with difficulty carried off by his comrades. Numbers of his officers, as weU as of his men, were slain, and the whole wing was broken and driven back to their camp. On no other part of the line was there any serious fighting ; partly owing to the dis- position made by Epaminondas, and partly to the lukewarmness of the Spartan allies, who occupied the centre and part of the right wing. The loss of the Thebans was small compared with that of the Lacedaemonians. Out of 700 Spartans in the anny of the latter, 400 had fallen ; and their king also had been slain, an event which had not occurred since the fatal day of Thermo- pylae. Many of their allies hardly concealed the satisfaction which they felt at their defeat ; whilst so great was the depres- sion among the Lacedaemonians themselves, that very few were found bold enough to propose a renewal of the combat, in order to recover the bodies of the slain. The majority decided that a truce should be solicited for that purpose. But, though the bodies of the fallen were given up, their arms were retained ; and five centuries afterwards the shields of the principal Spartan officers were seen at Thebes by the traveller Pausanias. § 3, The victory of Leuctra was gained within three weeks after the exclusion of the Thebans from the peace of Callias. The effect of it throughout Greece was electrical. It was every- where felt that a new military power had arisen — that the J._ HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL. prestige of the old Spartan discipline and tactics had departed, Yet at Sparta itself, though the reverse was the greatest that her arms had ever sustained, the news of it was received with an assumption of indifference characteristic of the people. The Ephors forbade the chorus of men, who were celebrating in the theatre the festival of the Gymnopaedia, to be interrupted. They contented themselves with directing the names of the slain to be communicated to their relatives, and with issuing an order forbidding the women to wail and mourn. Those whose friends had fallen appeared abroad on the morrow with joyful countenances, whilst the relatives of the survivors seemed over- whelmed with grief and shame. The Ephors then directed their attention to the rescue of the defeated army. The whole re- maining military force of Sparta, including even the more aged citizens, together with what forces could be collected from the allies, was placed under the command of Archidamus, son of Agesilaus, and transported by sea from Corinth to Creusis. which port now proved an invaluable acquisition. § 4. Immediately after the battle the Thebans had sent to Jason of Pherae in Thessely to solicit his aid against the Lacedae- monians. We have already had occasion to mention this despot, who was one of the most remarkable men of the period. He was Tagus,* or Generalissimo, of all Thessaly ; and Macedonia was partially dependent on him. He was a man of boundless ambi- tion, and meditated nothing less than extending his dominion over the whole of Greece, for which his central situation seemed to offer many facilities. Upon receiving the invitation of the Thebans, Jason immediately resolved to join them, and marched with such rapidity that he forestalled all opposition, though he had to proceed through the hostile territories of the Heracleots and Phocians. When he arrived, the Thebans were anxious that he should unite with theni in an attack upon the Lacedaemonian camp ; but Jason dissuaded them from the enterprise, advising them not to drive the Lacedaemonians to despair, and offering his mediation. He accordingly succeeded in effecting a truce, by which the Lacedaemonians were allowed to depart from Bceotia unmolested. Their commander, however, did not trust to this ; but, having given out that he meant to march over Mount Cittueron, he decamped in the night to Creusis, and from thence proceeded by a difficult road along the side of the rocks upon the coast to ^Egosthena in the Megarid ; where he was met by Archidamus and his army. As the defeated troops were now in safety, the object of the latter had been attained, and the whole armament was disbanded. * Tayo(. B.C. 370. JASON OF PHEE,^. 473 § 5. According to Spartan custom, the survivors of a defeat . were looked upon as degraded men, and subjected to the pe- nalties of civil infamy. No allowance was made for circum- stances. But those who had fled at Leuctra were three hundred in number ; an attempt to euforce against them the usual penalties might prove not only inconvenient, but even dangerous ; and on the proposal of Agesilaus, they were, for this occasion only sus- pended. The loss of material power which Sparta sustained by the defeat was great. The ascendency she had hitherto enjoyed in parts north of the Corinthian gulf fell from her at ouce, and was divided between Jason of Pheras and the Thebans. The latter, flushed by success, now panted for nothing but military glory, and under the superintendence of Epaminondas devoted themselves to an active course of warlike training. Their alliance was sought on every side. The Phocians were the first to claim it, and their example was soon followed by the Euboeans, the Locrians, the Malians, and the Heracleots. In this flood-tidy of power the Thebans longed to take vengeance on their ancient enemy Orchomenus, to destroy the town, and to sell the inhabit- ants for slaves ; and from this design they were only diverted by the mildness and wisdom of Epaminondas. But the Orchomenians were forced to make their submission, and were then re-admitted as members of the Boeotian confederation. The same lenity was not extended to the Thespians, who were expelled from Bceotia, and their territory annexed to Thebes. They took refuge, like the Platseans, at Athens. § 6. At the same time Jason of Pherae was also extending his influence and power. It was known that he was revolving some important enterprise, but it was doubtful whether he would turn his arms against the Persians, against the cities of Chalcidice, or against the states of southern Greece. After the battle of Leuctra the last seemed the most probable. He had announced his inten- tion of being present at the Pythian festival which was to take place in August 370 B.C., at the head of a numerous army ; on which occasion his sacrifice to the Delphian god was to consist of the enormous quantity of 1000 bulls, and 10,000 sheep, goats, and swine. But it was unpleasant tidings for Grecian ears to learn that he intended to usurp the presidency and management of the festival which were the prerogatives of the Amphictyonic Council. In this conjuncture the alarmed Delphians consulted the god as to what they should do in case Jason approached their treasury, and received for answer that he would himself take care of it. Shortly afterwards the despot was assassinated by seven youths as he sat in public to give audience to all comers. The death of Jason was felt as a relief by Greece, and especially 474 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL. by Thebes. He was succeeded by his two brothers Polyphron aud Polydorus ; but they possessed neither his ability nor his power. § 7. The Athenians stood aloof from the contending parties. They had not received the news of the battle of Leuctra with any pleasure, for they now dreaded Thebes more than Sparta. But instead of helping the latter, they endeavoured to prevent cither from obtaining the supremacy in Greece, and for this pur- pose called upon the other states to form a new alliance upon the terms of the peace of Antalcidas. Most of the Peloponnesian states joined this new league ; but the Eleans declined, on the ground that they would thus deprive themselves of their sove- reignty over the Triphylian cities. Thus even the Peloponnesian cities became independent of Sparta. But this was not all. Never did any state fall with greater rapidity. She not only lost the dominion over states which she had exercised for centuries ; but two new political powers sprung up in the peninsula, which threatened her own independence. The first of these was the Arcadian confedera- tion, established a few months after the battle of Leuctra ; the second was the new Messenian state, founded by Epaminondaa two years later. It has been related how the Lacedaemonians had some years previously broken up Mantinea into its five original villages, and thus degraded it from the rank of a city. The Mantineans, assisted by the Arcadians of various other quarters, now availed themselves of the weakness of Sparta to rebuild their town. Its restoration suggested the still more extensive scheme of a union of all the Arcadian cities. Hitherto the Arcadians had been a race and not a nation, having nothing in common but their name. The idea of uniting them into a federal state arose with Lycomedes, one of the leading men of the restored Man- tinea. It was expected that the Thebans and Argives would lend their aid to the project, which was well received throughout the greater part of Arcadia, though opposed by Tegea and cer- tain other cities jealous of Mantinea The Spartans would not tamely allow such a formidable power to spring up at their very doors ; and, accordingly, Agesilaus inarched with a Lacedaemo- nian army against Mantinea (b. c. 370). But the Mantineans were too prudent to venture on an engagement till reinforced by the Thebans, to whom they had applied for assistance ; and as they kept within their walls, Agesilaus, after ravaging their ter- ritory, marched back to Sparta. § 8. Ever since the battle of Leuctra, Epaminondaa had been watching an opportunity for interfering in the affaire of Pelopon- B.C. 370. EPAMINONDAS INVADES LACONIA. 475 nesus. But his views were not confined to the establishment of an Arcadian union. He also proposed to restore the exiled Mes- senians to their territory. That race had formerly lived under a dynasty of their own kings ; but for the last three centuries their land had been in the possession of the Lacedemonians, and they had been fugitives upon the face of the earth. The re- storation of these exiles, now dispersed in various Hellenic colo- nies, to their former rights, would plant a bitterly hostile neigh- bour on the very borders of Laconia. Epaminondas accordingly opened communications with them, and numbers of them flocked to his standard during his march into Arcadia, late in the au- tumn of 370 B.C. He entered that country shortly after Agesi- laus had quitted it, and, in addition to the Arcadians, was immediately joined by the Argives and Eleans. The combined force, including the Thebans, is estimated at 70,000 men. Epa- minondas, who had in reality the chief command, though asso- ciated with the other Bceotarchs, brought with him choice bodies of auxiliaries from Phocis, Locris, and other places, and especially the excellent cavalry and peltasts of Thessaly. But it was tho Theban bands themselves that were the object of universal ad- miration ; which, under the inspection of Epaminondas, had been brought into the highest state of discipline and efficiency. The Peloponnesian allies, elated at the sight of so large and so well appointed an army, pressed Epaminondas to invade Laconia itself, since his services were no longer required in Arcadia, in consequence of the retreat of Agesilaus. Although it was now mid-winter, he resolved, after some hesitation, to comply with their request. Dividing his army into four parts, he crossed without any serious opposition the mountains separating Ar- cadia from Laconia, and reunited his forces at Sellasia. From thence he marched to Amyclse, two or three miles below Sparta, where he crossed the river Eurotas, and then advanced cautiously towards the capital. Sparta, which was wholly unfortified, was now filled with con- fusion and alarm. The women, who had never yet seen the face of an enemy, gave vent to their fears in wailing and lamentation. Moreover, the state was in great danger from her own intestine divisions. Not only was she threatened by the customary dis- content of the Periceci and Helots, but the large class of poor and discontented citizens called " Inferiors," looked with anger on the wealth and political power of the "Peers."* But the emergency was pressing, and called for decisive measures. The Ephors ventured on the step of offering freedom to such Ho- * See p. 438. 176 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL, lots as would enlist as hoplites for the defence of the city. The call was responded to by no fewer than 6000, who now inspired fear by their very numbers ; and the alarm was justified and heightened by the fact that a considerable body of Periceci and Helots had actually joined the Thebans. In the midst of these pressing dangers Sparta was saved by the vigilance and energy of her aged king Agesilaus. He re- pulsed the cavalry of Eparninondas as they advanced towards the city ; and so vigorous were his measures of defence, that Epa- minondas abandoned all further attempt upon the city, and proceeded southwards as far as Helos and Gythium on the coast, the latter the port and arsenal of Sparta. After laying waste with fire and sword the valley of the Eurotas, he retraced his steps to the frontiers of Arcadia. § 9. Epaminondas now proceeded to carry out the two objects for which his march had been undertaken ; namely, the conso- lidation of the Arcadian confederation, and the establishment of the Messenians as an independent community. In the prosecu- tion of the former of these designs, the mutual jealousy of the various Arcadian cities rendered it necessary that a new one should be founded, which should be regarded as the capital of the confederation. Consequently, a new city was built on the banks of the Helisson, called Megalopolis, and peopled by the inhabitants of forty distinct Arcadian townships. Here a synod of deputies from the towns composing the confederation, called " The Ten Thousand," * was to meet periodically for the de- spatch of business. A body of Arcadian troops, called Epariti,t was also levied for the purposes of the league. Epa- minondas next founded the town of Messene. Its citadel was placed on the summit of Mount Ithome, which had three cen- turies before been so bravely defended by the Messenians against the Spartans ; whilst the town itself was seated lower down upon the western slope of the mountain, but connected with its Acro- polis by a continuous wall. The strength of its fortifications was long afterwards a subject of admiration. The territory at- tached to the new city extended southwards to the Messenian gulf, and northwards to the borders of Arcadia, comprising some of the most fertile land in Peloponnesus. In order to settle the affairs of Arcadia and Messcnia, Epami- nondas had remained in Peloponnesus four months after the legal period of his command had expired ; for which offence he and the other Bceotarchs were arraigned on his return to Thebes, But they were honourably acquitted, Epaminondas having ex * Mi/fioi. + , 'Bmiftr*u B.C. 370. FOUNDATION OF MEGALOPOLIS. 477 pressed his willingness to die if the Thebans would record that he was put to death because he had humbled Sparta, and taught his countrymen to conquer her armies. § 10. So low had Sparta now sunk, that she was fain to send envoys to beg the assistance of the Athenians. This request was acceded to ; and shortly afterwards an alliance was formed between the two states, in which Sparta waived all her claims to superiority and headship. It was agreed that the command both on land and sea should alternate every five days between Athens and Sparta, and that their united forces should occupy Corinth and guard the passes of the Onean mountains across the isth- mus, so as to prevent the Thebans from again invading Pelopon- nesus. Before this position Epaminondas appeared with his army in the spring of the year B.C. 369 ; and as all his attempts to draw on a battle proved unavailing, he resolved on forcing his way through the hostile lines. Directing his march just before daybreak against the position occupied by the Lacedaemonians, he succeeded in surprising and completely defeating them. He was thus enabled to form a junction with his allies in Pelopon- nesus, whilst the Lacedaemonians and Athenians do not appear to have stirred from their position. Sicyon now deserted Sparta and joined the Theban alliance ; but the little town of Phlins remained faithful to the Lacedaemonians, and successfully re- sisted all the attempts made to capture it. The Thebans were also defeated in an attempt upon Corinth; and the spirits of the Spartan allies were still further raised by the arrival at Lechseum of a Syracusan squadron, bringing 2000 mercenary Gauls and Iberians, together with 50 horsemen, as a succour from the despot Dionysius. After a while, however, accord- ing to the usual desultory nature of Grecian warfare, both armies returned home without having achieved anything of im- portance. § 11. Meanwhile the Arcadians, elate with their newly acquired power, not only believed themselves capable of maintaining their independence without foreign assistance, but thought themselves entitled to share the headship with Thebes, as Athens did with Sparta. Lycomedes, whom we have already mentioned as an able and energetic citizen of Mantinea, was the chief promoter of these ambitious views, and easily flattered the national vanity of his countrymen by appeals to their acknowledged courage and hardihood. They responded to his representations by calling upon him to lead them into active service, appointed him their commander, and chose all the officers whom he nominated. The first exploit of Lycomedes was to rescue the Argive troops in Epidaurus, where they were in great danger of being cut off by a 178 HISTORY OF GREECE. chap. XI* body of Athenians and Corinthians under Chabrias. He then marched iuto the south-western portion of Messenia, where he penetrated as far as Asin6, defeated the Spartan commander Geranor, who had drawn out the garrison to oppose him, and destroyed the suburbs of the town. It was probably by this expedition that the annihilation of the Spartan dominion in that quarter was completed. The hardihood and enterprise displayed in it excited everywhere both admiration and alarm ; but at Thebes it also occasioned jealousy. At the same time circum- stances arose which tended to disunite the Arcadians and Eleans. The former objected to Elis resuming her sovereignty over the towns of Triphylia, which they had thought to regain after the decay of the Spartan supremacy. § 12. During the year 368 B.C. the Thebans undertook no ex- pedition into Peloponnesus ; but Pelopidas conducted a Theban force into Thessaly for the purpose of protecting Larissa and other cities against the designs of Alexander, who, by the murder of his two brothers, had become despot of Pherae and Tagus of Thessaly. Alexander was compelled to solicit peace ; and Pe- lopidas, after establishing a defensive league amongst the Thes- salian cities, marched into Macedonia, when the regent Ptolemy entered into an alliance with the Thebans. Amongst the hos- tages given for the observance of this treaty was the youthful Philip, son of Amyntas, afterwards the celebrated king of Ma- cedon, who remained for some years at Thebes. Shortly afterwards the Lacedaemonians, under the command of Archidamus, supported by the reinforcements sent by Diony- sius, succeeded in routing the Arcadians with great slaughter, whilst not a single Lacedaemonian fell, whence the victory de- rived the name of "the Tearless Battle." The news of this defeat of the Arcadians was by no means unwelcome at Thebes, as it was calculated to check their presumption, and to show them that they could not dispense with Theban aid. § 13. Epaminondas now resolved on another expedition into Peloponnesus, with the view of bringing the Achaians into the Theban alliance. Until the battle of Leuctra the cities of Achaia bad been the dependent allies of Sparta ; but since that event they had remained free and neutral. On the approach of Epa- minondas they immediately submitted, and consented to bo en- rolled among the allies of Thebes. That commander, with his usual moderation, did not insist upon any change in their go- vernments. Pmt this was made a subject of accusation against him at home. The Arcadians charged him with having left men in power in the Achaean cities who would join Sparta on the first i] 'tiinit y. These accusations, being supported by the enemies B.C. 368. THE TEARLESS BATTLE. 479 of Epaminondas, prevailed : his proceedings in Achaia were re- versed ; democratic governments were established in the various Achaean cities ; and in the ensuing year Epaminondas himself was not re-elected as Boeotarch. But the consequence was that the exiles thus driven from the various Achsean cities, watching their opportunity, succeeded in effecting counter-revolutions, and afterwards took a decided part with Sparta. § 14. The Thebans now resolved to send an embassy to Persia. Ever since the peace of Antalcidas the Great King had become the recognised mediator between the states of Greece ; and his fiat seemed indispensable to stamp the claims of that city which pretended to the headship. The recent achievements of Thebes might entitle her to aspire to that position ; and at all events the alterations which she had produced in the internal state of Greece, by the establishment of Megalopolis and Messene, seemed to require for their stability the sanction of a Persian rescript. For this purpose Pelopidas and Ismenias proceeded to the court of Susa apparently in the years 367-366 B.C. They were accom- panied by other deputies from the allies ; and at the same time the Athenians sent Timagoras and Leon to counteract their in- fluence. Pelopidas may probably have pleaded the former ser- vices of Thebes towards Persia at the time of the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, as well as in having opposed the expedition of Agesilaus into Asia. But the great fact which influenced the decision of the Persian king would doubtless be that Thebes was now the strongest state in Greece ; for it was evidently easier to exercise Persian ascendency there by her means, than through a weaker power. Pelopidas had therefore only to ask his own terms. A rescript was issued declaring the independence of Messene and Amphipohs ; the Athenians were directed to lay up their ships of war in ordinary ; Thebes was declared the head of Greece ; and the dispute between Elis and Arcadia on the subject of the Triphylian cities was decided in favour of the former power : probably at the instance of Pelopidas, and on account of the estrangement now subsisting between Arcadia and Thebes. The Athenian and Arcadian envoys had attempted in vain to secure better terms for their own states. Antiochus, the repre- sentative of Arcadia, on his return to Megalopolis, vented his displeasure by a most depreciatory report to the Ten Thousand of all that he had seen during his journey. There were armies, he said, of cooks, confectioners, wine-bearers, and the like, but not a single man fit to fight against Greeks ; and even the vaunted golden plane-tree itself, he affirmed, was too small to afford shade for a single grasshopper. The Thebans, on the contrary, made the most of their success. Deputies from the allied cities were 480 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL summoned to Thebes to hear the royal rescript read ; but it was coldly received by all present. Lycomedes, the Arcadian envoy, even protested against the headship claimed for Thebes, and asserted that the allied synod should not be exclusively convened in that city, but in the actual seat of war. After some angry language, the Arcadians withdrew from the assembly, and the other deputies seem to have followed their example. Nor wire the Thebans more successful in an attempt to get the rescript recognized by sending it round to the various cities separately. § 15. It was, iu all probability, during a mission undertaken by Pelopidas and Ismenias, for the purpose of procuring the acknowledgment of the rescript in Thessaly and the northern parts of Greece, that they were seized and imprisoned by Alex- ander of Pherse. That tyrant met them at Pharsalus under all the appearances of peace, but took occasion of their being with- out guards to seize and carry them off to Phera. Such value was attached to the person of Pelopidas that his imprisonm induced several of the Thessalian partisans of Thebes to submit to Alexander. Even the Athenians did not disdain to avail themselves of this treacherous breach of public faith, and sent Autocles with a fleet of 30 triremes and 1000 hoplites to the support of Alexander. Meanwhile the justly incensed Thebans had despatched an army of 8000 hoplites and 600 cavalry, to recover or avenge their favourite citizen. Unfortunately, how- ever, they were no longer commanded by Epaminondas, who, as we have related, had not been re-elected to the office of Boeotarch. Their present commanders were utterly incom- petent. They were beaten and forced to retreat, and the army was in such danger from the active pursuit of the Thessalians and Athenians, that its destruction seemed inevitable. Luckily, however, Epaminondas was serving as a hoplite in the ranks. By the unanimous voice of the troops he was now called to the command, and succeeded in conducting the army safely back to Thebes. Here the unsuccessful Boeotarchs were disgraced, and Epaminondas, whose reputation now shone forth more brilliantly than ever, was restored to the command, and placed at the head of a second Theban army destined to attempt the release of Pe- lopidas. Directed by his superior skill, the enterprise proved successful. Anxious, however, for the life of his friend, Epami- nondas avoided reducing Alexander to such extremities as might induce him to make away with Pelopidas ; and thus, though the main object of the expedition was attained, it was not accom- panied with such striking and decisive results as to counter- balance the advantages which Alexander had derived from hie treachery. B.C. 366. ALLIANCE BETWEEN ARCADIA AND ATHENS. 481 § 16. The acquirement of Oropus was, however, some com- pensation to the Thebans for their losses on the other side of their frontier. The possession of that town, which lay on the borders of Athens and Thebes, had long been a subject of contention between the two states. For many years past it had been in the hands of the Athenians ; but it was now seized by a party of exiles favourable to the Theban interest, and imme- diately occupied by a Theban garrison, which deprived the Athe- nians of all hopes of retaking it. The Athenians had been dis- pleased at the want of zeal manifested by their Peloponncsian allies in not assisting them in the affair of Oropus ; and Lyco- medes, who was disgusted with the Theban ascendency, took advantage of this feeling to negotiate an alliance between Arcadia and Athens. He procured himself to be appointed ambassador to that city, where he was favourably received, and preliminary arrangements made for an alliance ; but on his way home he was assassinated by some Arcadian exiles of the opposite party. The negotiations, however, proceeded. Callistratus was sent from Athens as ambassador to the Arcadian Ten Thousand, whilst Epaminondas hastened from Thebes, to counteract, if possible, the machinations of the eloquent Athenian. But though Epaminondas here displayed his ready talent in debate, he was unsuccessful. The Athenians concluded an alliance with Ar- cadia, but at the same time without formally breaking with Thebes. § 17. This connexion rendered it desirable for Athens to secure an uninterrupted communication with Peloponnesus, and for this purpose she formed the treacherous design of seizing Co- rinth by surprise. She was not only at peace but in alliance with that city ; and her auxiliaries were serving in the Corinthian forts and outposts. These, however, were to be the instruments of her treachery. Under pretence of a reinforcement an armament under the command of Chares was despatched to Corinth. But the designs of Athens had reached the ears of the Corinthians, who refused to admit Chares into their port of Cenchrea? ; and at the same time dismissed the other Athenians in their service, yet with all the appearance of good will. Though thus saved for the moment, this step had placed the Corinthians in a state of isolation ; and they therefore resolved to open negotiations with Thebes for a general peace. Their overtures were well re- ceived by the Thebans. A meeting of the allies was then con- vened at Sparta, in which the Corinthians set forth the necessity of their case, and endeavoured to induce the rest of the confe- derates to follow their example in concluding a peace with Thebes, the terms of which were to be the independence of each Gr. 2 i 482 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciur XL. individual city, including Messene ; but without recognizing the headship of Thebes, or entering into any formal alliance with her. On this basis a peace was accordingly concluded between Thebes, Corinth, Phlius, Epidaurus, and perhaps one or two other cities ; but as the Thebans made the independence of Messene an indispensable condition, Sparta resolutely refused to join it, and the larger states of Greece, Thebes, Athens, Sparta, Arcadia, and others, still remained at war. § 18. Athens availed herself of the distracted condition of Greece to extend her maritime empire. She had no longer occa- sion to dread any opposition from Sparta ; and she accordingly sent a powerful fleet into the ^Egean under the command of Timotheus, who succeeded in conquering Samos, and in ob- taining possession of Potidoea, Pydna, Methonu, and it is said even of Olynthus itself. But in the midst of his success, he was menaced by the unexpected appearance of a Theban fleet. Epa- minondas, jealous of the maritime empire of Athens, had per- suaded his countrymen to try their strength on a new element. Sparta, he said, was humbled ; it was not she, but Athens, who was now their prominent enemy ; and he exhorted them not to rest content till they had transferred to the Theban Cad- mea the Propykea which adorned the acropolis of Athens. A fleet of 100 triremes was constructed, and he himself appointed to the command ; whilst envoys were sent to Rhodes, Chios, and Byzantium, to induce them to break with Athens. It was with this fleet that Epaminondas appeared in the Hellespont in B.C. 363. He seems, however, to have effected little, — at least no- thing splendid is recorded — and this expedition proved both tho first and last of the Thebans by sea. § 19. It was in the same year that his friend Pelopidas led an expedition into Thessaly against Alexander of Phera. Strong complaints of the tyranny of that despot arrived at Thebes, and Pelopidas, who probably also burned to avenge his private wrongs, prevailed upon the Thebans to send him into Thessaly to punish the tyrant. The forces he had collected were far inferior in number to those of Alexander ; and when informed at Pharsalus, that the tyrant was advancing towards him with a great army, he remarked that it was so much the better, since there would be more for him to conquer. The battle was fought on the hills of Cynoscephalss ; the troops of Alexander were routed ; and Pelopidas, observing his hated enemy endeavouring to rally them, was seized with such a transport of rage that, regardless of his duties as a general, he rushed impetuously forwards and chal- lenged him to single combat. Alexander shrunk back within the ranks cf lus guards, followed impetuously by Pelopidas, who B.C. 364. DEATH OF PELOPIDAS. 483 was soon slain, fighting with desperate bravery. Although the army of Alexander was defeated with severe loss, the news of the death of Pelopidas deprived the Thebans and their Thessa- lian allies of all the joy which they would otherwise have felt at their victory. The Thebans, however, subsequently avenged the death of their general by sending a fresh force of 7000 hop- lites into Thessaly ; with which they compelled Alexander to relinquish all his dependencies in that country, to confine him- self to the actual limits of Pkerse, and to swear allegiance to Thebes. The Thebans thus acquired greater influence than they had ever before enjoyed in Northern Greece. § 20. Meantime a war had been carried on between Elis and Ar- cadia. It has been already remarked, on more than one occasion, that the Eleans claimed the sovereignty of the Triphylian towns, in which they were backed by Sparta, but opposed by the Arca- dians. The Eleans also laid claim to a tract of hilly ground lying north of the Alpheus, containing Lasion and some other towns which had been included in the Arcadian league. They seized Lasion by surprise, but were driven out again by the Arcadians, who afterwards took formal possession of the sacred district of Olympia. Other acts of hostility had occurred between the Eleans and Arcadians, and the former kad called in the assistance of the Lacedsemonians, but without any decisive result. In 364 B.C. the Arcadians were still in possession of Olympia ; and as the Olympic festival occurred in that year, they availed themselves of their situation to transfer the presi- dency of the games from the Eleans to the Pisatans, who had long laid claim to it. It was anticipated that the Eleans would assert their rights by force ; and the Arcadians prepared to resist any attempt of that kind, not only by a large army of their own, but also by summoning tkeir allies. The festival had already commenced, many of the games had been performed, and the wrestling match was going on, when bodies of the Eleans, and their allies the Achseans, were observed approaching the sacred ground. The Arcadians immediately rusked to arms, and formed on the bank of the little river Cladeus, to prevent their approach. The Eleans advanced with the utmost boldness, but were finally repulsed and obliged to retire. On this occasion the temple of the Olympian deity himself was converted into a fortress, and the majestic Jove of Phidias looked down witk calm dignity upon tkose who were contending for the honour cf celebrating his festival. The Eleans subsequently avenged them- selves by striking the 104th Olympiad out of the list of the festivals. § 21. Not content with this insult to the Eleans, the Arcadians 2 i 2 1-1 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL. carried their insolence to the extent of sacrilege, by despoiling the rich temples of Olympia. But this act ripened the seeds of disunion which wore already springing up among the Arca- dians themselves. The assembly of Mantinea passed an act re- nouncing all participation in the sacred spoil, and though the Ten Thousand attempted at first to seize the leading men at Mantinea as traitors to the Arcadian league, the views of the Mantineans respecting the employment of the sacred treasures were so evidently just, that even their opponents were at length shamed into them. Accordingly a peace was concluded with the Eleans, who were restored to all their rights with regard to Olympia. Since the Spartans had supported the Eleans, the Mantineans were naturally brought into close connexion with the former ; whilst the rest of the Arcadians, and especially the Tegeans, favoured Thebes. Tegea thus became the centre of Theban influence in Arcadia, and was occupied by a Theban harmost and a garrison of 300 Boeotians. The 'Unbans viewed tne success of the Mantineans and Spartan party with suspicion ; and when the peace, recently concluded, was sworn to at Tegea, they seized the principal members of the Spartan party. The news of this treacherous act was received with great indig- nation at Mantinea. Heralds were immediately despatched by the Mantineans to demand the release of their own citizens. Hereupon the Theban harmost released the prisoners, protesting that he had been misled by a false report of the approach of a Spartan force, prepared to co-operate with a party within the walls in order to seize Tegea. The Mantineans and their party, however, were not satisfied with this apology, but sent envoys to Thebes, demanding the punishment of the harmost. Epami- nondas, incensed that a peace had been concluded without the sanction of Thebes, justified the harmost's conduct, and bade the envoys carry back word that he would himself soon lead an army into Arcadia. The Mantineans and their partisans imme- diately made preparations for war, and sent ambassadors to request the assistance of the Lacedamionians. § 22. These events occurred in 362 B.C., and in the summer of that year Epaminondas undertook his fourth and last invasion of Peloponnesus. The proceedings in Arcadia, which threatened to undo all that he had done in that country, and ultimately to lead to an alliance between it and Sparta, were the motives for his expedition. His army was numerous, and included many troops from Northern Greece. He marched without opposition to Tegea, where he was joined by such of the Arcadians and other Peloponnesians as were favourable to the Theban cause. The other party concentrated themselves at B.C. 362. BATTLE OF MANTINEA. 485 Man tinea, whither the aged Agesilaus was marching with a Lace- daemonian force, whilst Athenian succours were also expected. Epaminondas, whose movements were characterized by decision and rapidity, resolved to surprise Sparta in the absence of Age- silaus by a sudden march upon it. Providentially, however, a swift Cretan runner overtook Agesilaus in time to warn him of the danger. He got back to Sparta early enough to anticipate the attempt of Epaminondas ; and though that commander actually entered the city, yet he found the streets and houses so well defended, that he was fain to retire. The alarm caused by this diversion had however occasioned the recall of the Lacedae- monian army destined for Mantinea, and Epaminondas took advantage of that circumstance to attempt the surprise of that place. Fortunately for the Mantineans, the Athenian cavalry had reached their city an hour or two before the arrival of Epaminondas, and though hungry and tired with their march, succeeded in repulsing the Theban and Thessalian horse. Epa- minondas now fell back upon Tegea. § 23. Thus both these well planned manoeuvres were acci- dentally frustrated. As the enemy had now succeeded in con- centrating their forces at Mantinea, it was clear that a general action was unavoidable. The plain between Tegea and Mantinea, though 2000 feet above the level of the sea, is shut in on every side by lofty mountains. In length it is about ten miles, whilst its breadth varies from one to eight. About four miles south of Mantinea it contracts to its narrowest dimensions, and here the Lacedaemonians and Mantineans took up their position. Epa- minondas, in marching northwards from Tegea, inclined to the left, so as to skirt the base of Mount Maenalus, which bounds the plain on the west. On arriving in sight of the hostile hues, Epa- minondas ordered his troops to halt and ground arms. Hence the Lacedaemonians inferred that he did not mean to offer battle that day ; and so strong was this persuasion, that they left their ran^s, whilst some of the horsemen took off their breastplates and unbridled their horses. But meanwhile Epaminondas was making his dispositions for an attack. His plan very much re- sembled that of the battle of Leuctra. His chief reliance was upon the Boeotian troops, whom he had formed into a column of extraordinary depth. The enemy at length became aware of his intentions and hurried into their ranks ; but they were in no condition to receive the onset of the Theban hoplites, who bore down all before them. The Mantineans and Lacedae- monians turned and fled, and the rest followed their example. The day was won ; but Epaminondas, who fought in the foremost ranks, fell pierced with a mortal wound. His fall occasioned 186 HISTORY OP GREECE. Cjiai\ XL. such consternation among his troops, that although the enemy were in full flight, they did not know how to use their advantage, and remained rooted to the spot. Hence both sides subse- quently claimed the victory and erected trophies, though it was the Lacedjemonians who sent a herald to request the bodies of the slain. Epaminondas was carried oft' the field with the spear-head still fixed in his breast. Having satisfied himself that his shield was safe, and that the victory was gained, he inquired for Iolaidas and DaiphantuSj whom he intended to succeed him in the com- mand. Being informed that both were slain : " Then," he ob- served, " you must make peace." After this he ordered the spear-head to be withdrawn ; when the gush of blood which followed soon terminated his life. Thus died this truly great man ; and never was there one whose title to that epithet has been less disputed. Antiquity is unanimous in his praise, and some of the first men of Greece subsequently took him for their model. "With him the commanding influence of Thebes began and ended. His last advice was adopted, and peace was con- cluded probably before the Theban army quitted Peloponnr Its basis was a recognition of the status quo — to leave everything as it was, to acknowledge the Arcadian constitution and the in- dependence of Messen6\ Sparta alone refused to join it on account of the last article, but she was not supported by her allies. § 24. Agesilaus had lived to see the empire of Sparta extin- guished by her hated rival. Thus curiously had the prophecy been fulfilled, which warned Sparta of the evils awaiting her under a "lame sovereignty." But Agesilaus had not yet aban- doned all hope ; and he and his son Archidamus now directed their views towards the east as the quarter from which Spar tan power might still be resuscitated. At the age of 80 the i mitable old man proceeded with a force of 1000 hoplites to assist Tachos, king of Egypt, in his revolt against Persia. The agt insignificant appearance of the veteran warrior made him, how- ever, a butt for Egyptian ridicule, and he was not intrusted with the supreme command. But in spite of this affront he accom- panied the Egyptian army on an expedition into Phoenicia. During the absence of Tachos, Nectanebis rose against him, and being supported by Agesilaus, obtained the throne of Egypt. Nectanebis rewarded this service with a present of 230 talents. But Agesilaus did not live to carry this money home to Sparta. He died on his road to Cyren6, where he had intended to embark for Greece. His body was embalmed in wax, and splendidly buried in Sparta. Ho was succeeded by his son Archidamus 111. Bust of Plato. CHAPTER XLI. HISTORY OF THE SICILIAN GREEKS FROM THE DESTRUCTION' OF THE ATHENIAN ARMAMENT TO THE DEATH OF TIMOLEON. § 1. Revolutions at Syracuse. Dionysius the Elder seizes the despotism. § 2. His successes. § 3. His poetical compositions. Plato visits Syracuse. §4. Death of Dionysius. His character. Story of Damocles. §5. Acces- sion of the younger Dionysius. Second visit of Plato. Banishment of Dion. Third visit of Plato. § 6. Dion expels Dionysius, and becomes master of Syracuse. § 7. Assassination of Dion. § 8. Revolutions at Syracuse. The Syracusans invoke the aid of Corinth. § 9. Character of Timoleon. § 10. His successes. Surrender of Dionysius and conquest of Syracuse. § 11. Moderation of Timoleon. He remodels the constitution. § 12. Defeats the Carthaginians at the Crimesus. § 13. Deposes the Sicilian despots. § 14-. Retires into a private station. His great popularity and death. § 1. The affairs of the Sicilian Greeks, an important branch of the Hellenic race, deserve a passing notice. After the destruc- tion of the Athenian armament in B.C. 413, the constitution of Syracuse was rendered still more democratical by a new code of laws, which Diodes, one of the principal citizens, took the chief part in drawing up. Shortly afterwards, in B.C. 410, Hermo- crates, the leader of the aristocratical party, who had greatly distinguished himself during the Athenian invasion, was ba- nished ; and Diodes thus obtained for a time the undisputed direction of the Syracusan government. But two years after- wards Diodes was in his turn banished in consequence of his want of success in the war against the Carthaginians. Mean- time Hermocrates had returned to Sicily and collected a con- siderable force at Selinus, from whence he carried on hostilities 488 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL1. against the Carthaginians and their allies with considerable success, and thus secured a strong party at Syracuse in his favour. Relying upon this circumstance, he endeavoured to effect his restoration by force, but was slain in an attempt to enter Syracuse by night. B.C. 407. This state of things opened the way for a still more daring and successful aspirant. This was the celebrated Dionysius, the son of a person also named Her- niocrates. Dionysius was of humble origin, but of good educa- tion, and began life as a clerk in a public office. He had taken an active part in the enterprise of Hermocrates just mentioned, in which he had been wounded and given out for dead, — a cir- cumstance by which he escaped a sentence of banishment. After the death of Hermocrates, the domestic discontents of the Syracusans were still further fomented by another invasion cf the Carthaginians in 406 B.C., during which they took and plun- dered Agrigentum. Dionysius, who now headed the party of Hermocrates, taking advantage of the prevailing discontent, in an artful address to the assembly attributed the fall of Agrigentum to the incompetence of the Syracusan generals, and succeeded in procuring their deposition, and the appointment of others in their stead, of whom he himself was one. His advent to power was immediately followed by the restoration of all the exiles of his party. His next step was to get rid of his colleagues by ac- cusing them of treachery and corruption, and to procure his own sole appointment with unlimited and irresponsible au- thority. The remaining steps towards a despotism were easy. Under pretence that his life had been attempted, he obtained a body-guard of 1000 men for his protection ; by whose means he made himself master of Syracuse, and openly seized upon the supreme power, B.C. 405. § 2. Dionysius first directed his arms against Naxos, Catana, and Leontini, which successively fell into his power either by force or treachery ; but it was not till B.C. 307 that he considered himself sufficiently strong to declare war against Carthage. This war was conducted with varying success. In 395-4 Syracuse itself seemed on the point of falling into the hands of the Cartha- ginians. The Carthaginian fleet, after obtaining a great naval victory at Catana, sailed into the harbour of Syracuse upwards of 200 strong. At the same time their army established itself in the neighbourhood of the city, and Imilcon, the Carthaginian general, took up his head-quarters in the temple of the Olympian Jove, within about a mile and a half of the walls, and even occu- pied and plundered the suburb of Achradina. The situation of Dionysius now seemed desperate. It is even said that lie whs on the point of giving up all for lost and making his caacpe ; from B.C. 393. DIONYSIUS THE ELDER. 489 which he was deterred by one of his friends observing, " that so- vereign power was an honourable winding-sheet." A pestilence which shortly afterwards broke out in the Carthaginian camp proved the salvation of Syracuse. The Carthaginians fell by thousands, whilst the Syracusans themselves remained unharmed. Dionysius made a successful attack both by sea and land on their weakened forces ; and Imilcon was glad to secure a disgraceful retreat by purchasing the connivance of Dionysius for the sum of 300 talents. After this period the career of Dionysius was marked by great though not altogether unvarying success. In 393 the Cartha- ginians under Magon once more threatened Syracuse, but were again defeated, and compelled to sue for peace. Dionysius willingly concluded a treaty with them, since he was anxious to pursue his schemes of conquest in the interior of Sicily, and in Magna Grajcia. By the year 384 he had reduced the greater part of the former, and a considerable portion of the latter country. He had now arrived at his highest pitch of power, and had raised Syracuse to be one of the chief Grecian states, second in influence, if indeed second, to Sparta alone. Under his sway Syracuse was strengthened and embellished with new fortifications, docks, arsenals, and other public buildings, and became superior even to Athens in extent and population. Dio- nysius took every opportunity of extending his relations with foreign powers, and strengthening himself by alliances. He cultivated the friendship of the Lacedaemonians ; and among the last acts of his reign was the sending of an auxihary force in two successive years to support them against the increasing power of the Thebans. § 3. Dionysius was a warm patron of literature, and was anxious to gain distinction by his literary compositions. In the midst of his political and military cares he devoted himself assiduously to poetry, and not only caused his poems to be publicly recited at the Olympic games, but repeatedly contended for the prize of tragedy at Athens. Here he several times obtained the second and third prizes ; and, finally, just before his death, bore away the first prize at the Lensean festival, with a play called the " Ransom of Hector." In accordance with the same spirit we find him seeking the society of men distinguished in literature and philosophy. Plato, who visited Sicily about the year 389 from a curiosity to see Mount iEtna, was introduced to Dionysius by Dion. The high moral tone of Plato's conversation did not however prove so attractive to Dionysius as it had done to Dion ; and the phi- losopher was not only dismissed with aversion and dislike, but 490 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLL even, it seems, through the machinations of Dionysius, seized, bound, and sold for a slave in the island of iEgina. H9 was, however, repurchased by Anniceris of Cyren6, and sent back to Athens. § 4. Dionysius died in B.C. 367, after a reign of 38 years. Love of power was his ruling passion : the desire of literary fame his second. In his manner of life he was moderate and temperate ; but he was a stranger to pity, and never suffered it to check him in the pursuit of his ends. Although by no means deficient in personal courage, the suspicious temper of Dionysius rendered him the miserable prey of uneasiness in the midst of all his greatness, and drove him to take precautions for the security of his life even against his nearest friends and relatives. The miseries of absolute, but unlegalized and unpo- pular power, cannot be more strongly illustrated than by the celebrated story of the despot of Syracuse and his flatterer Da- mocles. The latter having extolled the power and majesty, the abundant possessions and magnificent palaces which rendered his master the happiest of men, Dionysius invited Damocles to try what his happiness really was, and then ordered him to be placed on a golden couch, decked with coverings of the richest and most magnificent embroidery. The sideboards groaned under the weight of gold and silver plate ; pages of the choicest beauty waited on him ; his head was crowned with garlands and reeked with unguents ; the smell of burning odours fiiled all the apart- ment, and the table was covered with the most exquisite viands. Damocles now thought himself supremely happy ; but in the midst of his enjoyments he happened to cast his eyes towards the ceiling, and beheld a naked scimitar suspended over his head by a single hair. At this sight his satisfaction vanished in an instant, and he entreated to be released from the enjoyment of pleasures which could only be tasted at the risk of life.* Such was the tyrant's practical illustration of his own envied con- dition. § 5. Dionysius was succeeded by his eldest son, commonly called the younger Dionysius, who was about 25 years of age at the time of his father's death. The elder Dionysius had married two wives at the same time. One of these was a Locrian woman named Doris ; the other, Aristomache, was a Syracusan, the daughter of Hipparinus, one of the most active partisans of * " Destrictus ensis cui super impia Cervice pendet, non Sicuta dapes Dulcem elaborabunt saporem ; Non avium citharaeque cantus Somnura reduceut" — Hon. Carm iii. 1, 27. B.C. S87. DIONYSIDS THE YOUNGER. 491 Dionysius, and sister to Dion, whom we have already had occa- sion to mention as the friend of Plato. The marriage with Doris proved immediately fruitful, and by her he had three children, of whom the eldest, Dionysius, was his successor. But Aristo- mache was long childless, much to the chagnn of Dionysius, who, attributing the circumstance to the spells and incantations of the mother of Doris, caused the latter to be put to death. At length Aristomache also bore him children, two sons and two daughters. Dionysius having died without appointing any suc- cessor, Dion at first attempted to secure the inheritance for his youthful nephews, but found himself obliged to relinquish all such claims in favour of the son of Doris. The inexperience of the young Dionysius, however, inclined him to listen to the counsels of Dion, who had always enjoyed the respect and con- fidence of his father, and who now became the confidential ad- viser of the son. Plato's lofty and ideal conceptions of civil government had sunk deep into the mind of Dion, and the influence which he now enjoyed over the youthful sovereign made him long to seize the opportunity for realizing them in practice. To expel the Carthaginians from Sicily, to civilize and Hellenize the semi- barbarous Sicehot tribes, and to convert Syracuse from a despotism into a constitutional monarchy go- verned by equal laws, — these were the projects which floated in the imagination of Dion, and which he endeavoured to instil into Dionysius. With this view he persuaded Dionysius to invite Plato again to Syracuse, nothing doubting that his eloquence and conversational powers would work an immense effect upon the youthful monarch. But Plato was now growing old, and had already experienced the danger of attempting to instruct despots in the sublime, but somewhat visionary theories of perfect go- vernment. Nevertheless, after something of a struggle, he sacri- ficed his scruples and apprehensions to the pressing instances of his friend Dion, and the warm invitation of young Dionysius himself. The philosopher was received with the greatest honour. His illustrious pupil immediately began to take lessons in geo- metry ; superfluous dishes disappeared from the royal table ; and Dionysius even betrayed some symptoms of a wish to mitigate the former rigours of the despotism. But now his old courtiers took the alarm ; nor does Plato himself appear to have used with skill the opportunity for a practical application of his doc- trines which chance had thrown in his way. It was whispered to Dionysius that the whole was a deep laid scheme on the part of Dion for the pui-pose of effecting a revolution and placing his own nephews on the throne. These accusations had the desire-., effect on the mind of Dionysius ; and an intercepted letter from 492 HISTOltY OF GKEECE. Chap. XLI, Dion to the Carthaginian generals, in which he invited them to make their communications through him, afforded Dionysius a pretext for getting rid of him. In the course of a conversation he enticed Dion down to the very brink of the harbour, when suddenly producing the intercepted letter, and charging him to his face with treason, he forced him to enter a vessel that was in readiness to convey him to Italy. The situation of Plato was now very critical. Many advised Dionysius to put him to death ; but the despot refused to listen to these suggestions. He even in- vited Plato to his palace, and treated him with the greatest respect ; but he cautiously abstained from any more lessons in a philo- sophy which he had now been taught to regard with suspicion as designed only to deprive him of his power. Plato was at length suffered to escape from the kind of honourable captivity in which he was held ; but at the pressing invitation of Diony- sius he again reluctantly returned to Syracuse in the hope of prevailing upon the tyrant to recall Diou from banishment. In this, however, he proved unsuccessful ; nay, Dionysius even pro- ceeded to measures of violence against his former guide and minister. First the remittances which Dion, who was now residing at Athens, was in the habit of receiving, were stopped, and at length all his large property was confiscated and sold, and the proceeds distributed among the personal friends of Diony- sius. Plato beheld this injustice towards his friend with grief and mortification, but without the power of preventing it ; and it was with difficulty that he himself at length obtained permis- sion to return to Greece. § 6. This event took place early in 360 B.C. ; and at the Olympic festival of that year Plato met his friend Dion, and acquainted him with the measures which had been taken against him by Dionysius. The natural indignation of Dion was fur- ther inflamed by other acts of the Syracusan tyrant. Dionysius compelled Aret6, the wife of Dion, and his own half-sister, to marry one of his friends, named Timocrates. He also acted in the most brutal manner towards Dion's youthful son. Thus wounded in the tenderest points, Dion resolved on revenge. The popularity which he had acquired, not only at Athens but at Sparta and in the Peloponnesus, and especially among thoso who were attached to Plato and his teaching, rendered many disposed to serve him; whilst the natural desire of a great part of the Syracusan population to recover their liberty, as well as the contempt into which Dionysius had fallen from his drunken and dissipated habits, promised success to any enter- prise against him, though undertaken with ever so small a force. B.C. 356. DION CONQUEKS SYRACUSE. 49S After two or three years spent in preparations, Dion, in the sum- mer of 357 B.C., landed on the coast of Sicily with only 800 men. The enterprise was favoured by an imprudent step on the part of Dionysius, who had recently sailed with a fleet of 80 vessels on an expedition to the coasts of Italy. By a rapid night-march Dion appeared unexpectedly before Syracuse ; at dawn his troops were beheld from the walls in the act of crossing the little river Anapus, first crowning their heads with garlands, and sacrificing to the rising sun. Their advance resembled rather the solemn procession of a festival than the march of an hostile army. The inhabitants, filled with joy and enthusiasm, crowded through the gates to welcome Dion as their deliverer, who proclaimed by sound of trumpet that he was come for the purpose of putting down the despotism of Dionysius, and of liberating not only the Syracusans, but all the Sicilian Greeks. Dion easily rendered himself master of the whole of Syracuse, with the exception of Ortygia, which was still held by the parti- sans of Dionysius. Such was the state in which that tyrant found his capital on his return from his Italian expedition. Dionysius at first attempted to recover possession of the city by force, but having been defeated in a sea-fight, he determined to quit Syra- cuse, and sailed away to Locri in Italy, leaving his son Apollocrates in charge of the citadel (B.C. 356). After his departure, dissen- sions broke out among the besiegers, and Dion was deposed from the command ; but the disasters of the Syracusans, arising from the incapacity of their new leaders, soon led to his recall and to his appointment as sole general with uncontrolled authority. Not long after, Apollocrates was compelled by famine to sur- render the citadel. § 7. Dion was now master of Syracuse, and in a condition to carry out all those exalted notions of political life which he had sought to instil into the mind of Dionysius. He seems to have contemplated some political changes, probably the esta- blishment of a kind of limited and constitutional monarchy, after the fashion of Sparta, combined perhaps with the oligarchi- cal institutions of Corinth. But this scheme of a constitution existed only in his imagination : his immediate and practical acts were tyrannical, and were rendered still more unpopular by his overbearing manners. The Syracusans looked for republican institutions — for the dismantling of the fortifications of Ortygia, the stronghold of despotism — and for the destruction of the splendid mausoleum, which had been erected there to the me- mory of the elder Dionysius, by way of pledge that the despotism was really extinct and overthrown. But Dion did nothing of all this. Nay, he even caused Heraclides, who had proposed the 494 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XLI destruction oi Ortygia, to be privately assassinated. This act increased to the highest pitch the unpopularity under which he already laboured. One of his bosom friends — the Athenian Callippua — seized the opportunity to mount to power by his murder, and, having gained over some of his guards, caused him to be assassinated in his own house. This event took place in 353, about three years after the expulsion of the Dionysian dynasty. § 8. CaUippus contrived to retain the sovereign power about a twelvemonth. He was ultimately driven out by Hipparinus, the nephew of Dion (son of the elder Dionysius by Aristoniache), who reigned but two years. Nysaeus, another of Dion's nephews, subsequently obtained the supreme authority, and was in possession of it when Dionysius presented himself before Syra- cuse with a fleet, and became master of the city by treachery, about B.C. 346. Dionysius, however, was not able to re-establish himself firmly in his former power. Most of the other cities of Sicily had shaken off the yoke of Syracuse, and were governed by petty despots : one of these, Hicetas, who had established himself at Leontini, afforded a rallying-point to the disaffected Syracusans, with whom he joined in making war on Syracuse. Meantime, the Carthaginians prepared to take advantage of the distracted condition of Sicily. In the extremity of their suffer- ings, several of the Syracusan exiles appealed for aid to Corinth, their mother-oity. The application was granted, and Timoleon was appointed to command an expedition destined for the relief of Syracuse. § 9. Timoleon was one of those models of uncompromising patriotism which we sometimes meet with in the history of Greece, and still more frequently in that of Rome, but which, under some of its phases, we, in modern times, are at a loss whether to approve or to condemn. When a man's country was comprised in a small state or a single city, the fooling of patriot- ism grew stronger in proportion as it was more condensed ; and to this circumstance, as well as to the humanising effects of Christianity, may perhaps be chiefly attributed the difference between ancient and modern views respecting the duty of a patriot. Timoleon was distinguished for gentleness as well as for courage, but towards traitors and despots his hatred was intense. He had once saved the life of his elder brother Timophanes in battle at the imminent peril of his own ; but when Timophai availing himself of his situation as commander of the garrison in the Acrocorinthus, endeavoured to enslave his country, Timo- leon did not hesitate to consent to his death. Twice before had Timoleon pleaded with his brother, beseeching him not to B.C. 344. TIMOLEON INVADES SICILY. 495 destroy the liberties of his country ; but when Timophanes turned a deaf ear to these appeals, Timoleon connived at the action of his friends who put him to death, whilst he himself, bathed in a flood of tears, stood a little way aloof. The action was not without its censurers even among the Corinthians them- selves : but these were chiefly the adherents of the despotic party, whilst the great body of the citizens regarded the conduct of Timoleon with love and admiration. In the mind of Timoleon, however, their approving verdict was far more than outweighed by the reproaches and execrations of his mother. The stings of blood guiltiness and the maternal curse sunk so deep into his soul that he endeavoured to starve himself to death, and he was only diverted from his purpose by the active interference of his friends. But for many years nothing could prevail upon him to return to public life. He buried himself in the country far from the haunts of men, dragging out the life of a self-condemned criminal and exile, till a chance voice in the Corinthian as- sembly nominated him as the leader of the expedition against Dionysius. § 10. Boused by the nature of the cause, and the exhortations of his friends, Timoleon resolved to accept the post thus offered to him. The prospect however was discouraging. Before he sailed, a message arrived from Sicily to countermand the expe- dition, Hicetas and the anti-Dionysian party having entered into secret negotiations with the Carthaginians, who refused to allow any Corinthians to land in Sicily. But the responses of the Delphic oracle and the omens of the gods were propitious ; especially the circumstance that in the temple of Delphi itself a wreath of victory fell from one of the statues upon the head of Timoleon. The fleet of Timoleon consisted of only ten triremes, but by an adroit stratagem he contrived to elude the Carthaginian fleet of twenty sail, and arrived safely at Tauromenium in Sicily, where he was heartily welcomed by the inhabitants. Hicetas, meanwhile, had made great progress in the war against Diony- sius. He had defeated him in battle, and had made himself master of the whole of Syracuse with the exception of Ortygia, in which he kept the despot closely besieged. Hicetas, learning that Timoleon was advancing to occupy Adranum, hastened thither to anticipate him, but was defeated with heavy loss. Timoleon now marched upon Syracuse. Dionysius, who appears to have abandoned all hope of ultimate success, judged it better to treat with Timoleon than with Hicetas, and accordingly sur- rendered the citadel into the hands of the Corinthian leader, on condition of being allowed to depart in safety to Corinth, 496 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLI B.C. 343. Dionysius passed the remainder of his life at Corinth, where he is said to have displayed some remnants of his former luxury by the fastidious taste which he showed in the choice of his viands, unguents, dress, and furniture ; whilst his literary in- clinations manifested themselves in teaching the public singers and actors, and in opening a school for boys. Hicetas still had possession of Achradina ;* and, since he saw that his selfish plans were on the point of failure, he now called in the aid of the whole Carthaginian force for the reduction of Ortygia. The harbour of Syracuse was occupied by 150 Car- thaginian ships, whilst an army of 60,000 Carthaginians was admitted within the walls of Syracuse. But while Hicetas and Magon the Carthaginian general marched with a great part of their force to attack the town of Catana, whence the garrison of Ortygia was supplied with provisions, Neon, the Corinthian commander in Ortygia, watching a favourable opportunity, made a sally, defeated the blockading force on all sides, and even ob- tained possession of the suburb of Achradina. This unexpected success raised the suspicions of Magon, who, fearing that Hi- cetas meant to betray him, resolved to quit the island, and sailed away with all his forces to Carthage. Notwithstanding the defection of his powerful ally, Hicetas attempted to retain possession of that part of Syracuse which was still in his power, but he was unable to resist the attack of Timoleon, and was obliged to abandon the city and return to Leontiui. § 11. Thus was the apparently hopeless enterprise of Timoleon crowned with entire success in an incredibly short space of time. It now remained for him to achieve a still greater victory — a victory over himself. He was master of Syracuse aud of Ortygia, with all its means and resources for establishing a despotism in his own favour ; but his first public act was to destroy those impregnable fortifications which would have ren- dered such a usurpation feasible. All the Syracusans were invited to assist in demolishing the walls of Ortygia, and the monument of the elder Dionysius, the record of their former slavery ; and on the ruins of these dreaded works Timoleon caused courts of justice to be erected, at once the pledge and instruments of equal laws and future freedom. Much, however, remained to be done to restore Syracuse to its former prosperity, and Sicily in general to a state of liberty and order. With this view all exiles were invited to return ; whilst Corinth was intreated to co-operate in the work of restoration nnd to become a second time the founder of Syracuse. Two * See plan of Syracuse, p. 3M. B.C. S4S. TJMOLEON AT SYRACUSE. 497 leading Corinthian citizens were accordingly despatched to assist Timoleon and the Syracusans in recasting their constitution, which was remodelled on the basis of the laws of Diocles.* To remedy the poverty into which Syracuse had been plunged by its misfortunes, new colonists were invited to enrol them- selves ; and thus a body of 10,000 citizens, including the Syra- cusan exiles, was collected at Corinth and transported to Syracuse. But larger bodies of Greeks soon poured in from Italy, so that altogether the immigrants are reckoned at 60,000. § 12. Meantime, Timoleon was not idle. He attacked Hicetas in Leontini, and compelled him to capitulate. But the submis- sion of Hicetas was a mere feint in order to gain time for calling in the Carthaginians ; who, highly indignant at the precipitate retreat of Magon, were anxious to wipe out the disgrace by some signal act of vengeance. An army of 70,000 men was accordingly disembarked at Lilybeeum. To meet this formidable force Timoleon could raise only about 12,000 men ; and on his march against the enemy this small force was still further re- duced by the defection of about 1000 of his mercenaries. With the remainder Timoleon marched westwards into the Cartha- ginian province. As he was approaching the Crimesus, or Cri- missus, a small river which flows into the Hypsa on the south- western coast of Sicily, he was saluted by one of those omens which so frequently either raised the courage of the Greeks or sunk them into despondency. The army was met by several mules bearing loads of parsley, the usual ornament of tombs. Perceiving the alarm of his soldiers, Timoleon, with great pre- sence of mind, gave the omen another and a favourable direction. Crowns of parsley were also employed to reward the victors in the Isthmian games ; and Timoleon, seizing a handful and making a wreath for his own head, exclaimed, "Behold our Corinthian symbol of victory ; its unexpected appearance here affords an unequivocal omen of success." These timely words reanimated his men, who now followed him with alacrity. In the battle which ensued Timoleon appeared to have been again favoured by the gods. In the hottest of the fight a terrific storm of hail, rain, thunder, and lightning beat right in the faces of the Carthaginians, and by the confusion which it created enabled the Greeks to put them to the rout. The same cause occasioned the death of thousands in their retreat, for the river Crimesus, swollen by the sudden rain, earned away a great part of those who attempted to recross it. Ten thousand Carthaginians are said to have perished in the battle, while 15,000 more were * See p. 487. Ge. 2 K •198 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLT. made prisoners. The remainder fled without stopping to Lily- bffium, whence they immediately embarked for Carthage, not without a dread that the anger of the gods would still pursue them at sea. § 13. The victory of the Crimesus brought Timoleon such an accession of power and influence, that he now resolved to carry into execution his project of expelling all the despots from Sicily. The Carthaginians sent another expedition to assist these despots, but they were unable to effect anything, and were glad to conclude a treaty with Timoleon in h.c. 338. While the war still continued with the Carthaginians, Timoleon obtained possession of the town of Leontini, as well as of the person of Hicetas, whom he caused to be put to death. Ma- mercus, despot of Catana, was next deposed and executed by order of the public assembly at Syracuse, and the other despots in Sicily soon shared his fate. § 14. Having thus effected the liberation of the island, Timo- leon immediately laid down his power. All the reward he received for his great services was a house in Syracuse, and some landed property in the neighbourhood of the city. He now sent for his family from Corinth, and became a Syracusan citizen. He con- tinued, however, to retain, though in a private station, tho greatest influence in the state. During the latter part of his life, though he was totally deprived of sight, yet when important affairs were discussed in the assembly, it was customaryto send fcr Timoleon, who was drawn in a car into the middle of the theatre amid the shouts and affectionate greetings of the assembled citizens. When the tumult of his reception had subsided he listened patiently to the debate. The opinion which he pro- nounced was usually ratified by the vote of the assembly ; and he then left the theatre amidst the same cheers which had greeted his arrival. A truly gratifying position ! and one which must have conferred on Timoleon more real happiness than the possession of the most absolute power could ever have be- stowed. In this happy and honoured condition he breathed his last in B.C. 336, a few years after the battle of Crimesus. He was splendidly interred at the public cost, whilst the teara of the whole Syracusan population followed him to the grave. View of Delphi and Mount Parnassus. BOOK VI. THE MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY. b.c. 359—146. CHAPTER XLII. FROM THE ACCESSION" OF PHILIP TO THE END OF THE SACRED WAR. § 1. State of Greece. § 2. Description of Macedonia. § 3. Kings of Macedon. § 4. Character of Philip. § 5. He subdues the Paionians and Illyrians. § G. His military discipline. § 7. Capture of Amphipolis, and foundation of Philippi. § 8. The Social War. § 9. Commencement of the Sacred War. The Phocians seize Delphi. § 10. Successes of the Phocians. §11. Philip interferes in the war. Conquers Thessaly. § 12. Philip in Thrace. Demosthenes. § 13. The Olynthian War. § 14. Character of Phocion. Fall of Olynthus. § 15. Progress of the Sacred War. Embassy to Philip. § 16. Conquest of Phocis by Philip. Sentence of the Amphictyonic Council on the Phocians. § 1. The internal dissensions of Greece, which have formed the suLject of the two preceding books, are now about to produce their natural fruits ; and in the present book we shall Lave to 2 k 2 500 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLII. relate the downfall of her independence and her subjugation by a foreign power. We have first of all seen Sparta exercising a sort of empire of opinion over the other Grecian states, and looked up to by them with willing obedience as their traditional and chosen leader. After the Persian wars Athens contests the palm with her, and, through the confederacy of Delos, becomes virtually the head of Greece in material power, if not recognised as such by the public opinion of the nation. But Sparta and most of the other Grecian states, from jealousy of the Athenian supremacy, league together for the purpose of crush- ing Athens. After a long struggle, Athens falls into the power of her enemies ; and Sparta becomes the ruler of Greece. Tho power which she has thus acquired, she exercises with harsh- ness, cruelty, and corruption ; her own allies desert her ; and in little more than thirty years after the battle of J^gospotami she is in her turn not only deprived of the supremacy, but even stripped of a considerable portion of her own ancient territory, chiefly through the power and influence of Thebes. For a little while Thebes becomes the predominant state ; but she owes her position solely to the abilities and genius of Epaminondas, and after his death sinks down to her former level. The state of exhaustion into which Greece had been thrown by these protracted intestine dissensions is already shown by her having condescended to throw herself at the feet of Persia, and to make her hereditary enemy the arbiter of her quarrels. Athens alone, during the comparative state of tranquillity afforded her through the mutual disputes of her neighbours, has succeeded in regain- ing some portion of her former strength, and becomes the leading power in the struggle which now threatens to overwhelm the whole of Greece. This new danger comes from an obscure northern state, hitherto overlooked and despised, and considered as altogether barbarous, and without the pale of Grecian civi- lization. § 2. Macedonia — for that is the country of which wo are speaking — had various limits at different times. Properly, how- ever, it may be regarded as separated from Thessaly on the south by the Cambunian mountains ; from lllyria on the west by the great mountain chain called Scardus and Bernus, and which, under the name of Pindus, also separates Thessaly from Epirus ; from Mcesia on the north by the mountains called Orbe- lus and Scomius ; and from Thrace on the east by the river Strymon. It is drained by three rivers of considerable size, the Axius, the Lydias, and the Haliacmon ; each of which has its separato valley, formed by two mountain ranges running south- eastwards from the mountains that divide lllyria and Macedonia. B.C. 359. HISTORX OF MACEDONIA. 501 All these rivers discharge themselves into the Thermaic gulf. The origin of the people who inhabited this tract of country has been much disputed. The Greeks themselves looked upon them as barbarians, that is, as not of Hellenic origin. They were pro- bably an Illyrian people, and the- similarity of the manners and customs, as well as of the languages, so far as they are known, of the early Macedonians and lllyrians, seems to establish the identity of the races. . § 3. But though the Macedonians were not Greeks, their (so- vereigns claimed to be descended from an Hellenic race, namely, that of Temenus of Argos ; and it is said that Alexander I. proved his Argive descent previously to contending at the Olympic games. Perdiccas is commonly regarded as the founder of the monarchy ; of the history of which, however, little is known till the reign of Amyntas I., his fifth successor, who was contem- porary with the Pisistratida? at Athens. Under Amyntas, who submitted to the satrap Megabyzus, Macedonia became subject to Persia, and remained so till after the battle of Plataea. The reigns of the succeeding sovereigns down to Philip II. present httle that is remarkable, with the exception of that of Arche- laus (b.c. 413). This monarch effected much for Macedonia by improving the condition of the army, by erecting fortresses to check the incursions of his barbarous neighbours, by construct- ing roads, and by endeavouring to diffuse among his subjects a taste for literature and art. He transferred his residence from Mgae to Pella, which thus became the capital, and he employed Zeuxis to adom his palace there with paintings. He entertained many literary men at his court ; such as Agathon and Euripides, the latter of whom ended his days at Pella. Archelaus was assas- sinated in B.C. 399, and the crown devolved upon Amyntas II., a representative of the ancient line. Amyntas left three sons : Alexander II., who was assassinated by Ptolemy Alorites ; Per- diccas III., who recovered his brother's throne by slaying Pto- lemy, and who fell in battle against the lllyrians ; and lastly, the celebrated Philip, of whom we have now to speak. § 4. It has been already mentioned that the youthful Philip was one of the hostages delivered to the Thebans as security for the peace effected by Pelopidas. His residence at Thebes gave him some tincture of Grecian philosophy and literature. It seems probable that he made the personal acquaintance of Plato ; and he undoubtedly acquired that command over the Greek lan- guage which put him on a level with the best orators of the day. But the most important lesson which he learned at Thebes was th3 art of war, with all the improved tactics introduced by Epa- minondas. At the time of Philip's residence, moreover, Thebes 502 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XLII. was the centre of political interest, and he must accordingly have had opportunities to become intimately acquainted with the views and policy of the various Grecian powers. The genius and character of Philip were well calculated to derive advantage from these opportunities. He had great natural acutcness and sagacity, so as to perceive at a glance the men to be employed, and the opportunities to be improved. His boundless ambition was seconded by an iron will, which no danger could daunt and no repulse dishearten ; and when he had once formed a project he pursued it with untiring and resistless energy. His hand- some person, spontaneous eloquence, and apparently frank deportment, were of great assistance to him in the prosecution of his schemes ; whilst under these seducing qualities lurked no inconvenient morality to stand between his desires and their gratification. Corruption was his instrument as frequently as force ; and it was one of his favourite boasts that he had taken more towns with silver than with iron.* Yet when force was necessary no man could wield it better ; for with the skill of a general he united a robustness of constitution which enabled him to bear all the hardships of a campaign as well as the meanest soldier. § 5. Such was the man who at the age of 23 assumed the go- vernment of Macedonia (b.c. 359). It had probably been in- trusted to him when his brother Perdiccas set out on the expe- dition against the Illyrians in which he fell ; and after that event he became the guardian of his brother's infant son. This minority induced two pretenders to claim the crown : Pausanias, who waa supported by the king of Thrace ; and Argseus, whose claims were backed by the Athenians with a force of 3000 hoplites, because he had engaged to put them in possession of Amphi- polis. But by his promises and address Philip contrived to propitiate both the king of Thrace and the Athenians ; to the latter of whom he made the same offers as Argseus had done. The two pretenders being thus deprived of their supporters, were easily got rid of, and Philip was left at liberty to turn bis arms against the Pseonians and Illyrians, who were threatening Macedonia with invasion. The former people were easily sub- dued, and Philip then marched against the Illyrians with a force of 10,000 men. He was met by Bardylis, the aged chief of Illyria, with an army of about the same strength. This was the first important engagement fought by Philip. He displayed in it the military skill which he had acquired in the school of Epa- * " diffitlit urbium Portas vir Maccilo et subruit ajmulos Reges munerihus."--HoK. Carm. iii. 16. 13. B.C. 359. ACCESSION OF PHILIP. 505 minondas, and, like that commander, gained the victory by con- centrating his forces on one point ol the enemy's line. Nearly two-thirds of the Illyrian army were destroyed ; and they were consequently compelled to submit unconditionally, and to place in the hands of Philip the principal mountain passes between the two countries. It was after these victories that Philip seems to have deposed his nephew, and to have assumed the crown of Macedon. This revolution, however, was unattended with harsh- ness or cruelty. Philip continued to bring up his nephew at court, and ultimately gave him one of his daughters in marriage. § 6. It was natural that success acquired with so much ease should prompt a youthful and ambitious monarch to further undertakings. In anticipation of future conquests he devoted the greatest attention to the training and discipline of his army. It was in his Illyrian wars that he is said to have introduced the far-famed Macedonian phalanx. But perhaps the greatest of his military innovations was the establishment of a standing army. We have already noticed certain bodies of this description at Argos and Thebes. Philip, however, seems to have retained on foot the 10,000 men which he had employed against the Illy- rians ; and this standing force was gradually enlarged to double the number. Among the soldiers discipline was preserved by the severest punishments. Thus we hear of a youth of noble birth being scourged for leaving the ranks to get a draught of wine at a tavern ; and of another who, though a favourite at court, was put to death for a similar offence, aggravated by a breach of positive orders. § 7. Philip's views were now turned towards the eastern fron- tiers of his dominions, where his interests clashed with those of the Athenians. A few years before the Athenians had made various unavailing attempts to obtain possession of Amphipolis, once the jewel of their empire, but which they had never reco- vered since its capture by Brasidas in the eighth year of the Pe- loponnesian war. Its situation at the mouth of the Strymon rendered it also valuable to Macedonia, not only as a commercial port, but as opening a passage into Thrace. The Olynthians were likewise anxious to enrol Amphipolis as a member of their confederacy, and accordingly proposed to the Athenians to form an alliance for the purpose of defending Amphipolis against their mutual enemy. An alliance between these two powerful states would have proved an insurmountable obstacle to Philip's views ; and it was therefore absolutely necessary to prevent this coali- tion. Here we have the first instance of Philip's skill and du- plicity in negotiation. By secretly promising the Athenians that he would put Amphipolis into their hands, if they would 604 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL11. give liiin possession of Pydna, he induced them to reject the overtures of the Olynthians ; and by ceding to the latter the town of Anthemus, he bought off their opposition. He now laid siege to Amphipolis, which, being thus left unaided, fell into his hands (b.c. 358). He then forthwith marched against Pydna, which surrendered to him ; but on the ground that it was not the Athenians who had put him in possession of this town, he refused to give up Amphipolis to them. Philip had now just reason to dread the enmity of the Athenians, and accordingly it was his pohcy to court the favour of the Olynthians, and to prevent them from renewing their negotia- tions with the Athenians. In order to separate them more effectually, he assisted the Olynthians in recovering Potidsca, which had formerly belonged to their confederacy, but was now in the hands of the Athenians. On the capture of the town he handed it over to the Olynthians ; but at the same time he treated the Athenian garrison with kindness, and allowed them to return home in safety. Plutarch relates that the capture of Potidsea was accompanied with three other fortunate events in the life of Philip ; namely, the prize gained by his chariot at the Olympic games, a victory of his general Parmenio over the Illyrians, and the birth of his son Alexander. These events happened in B.C. 356. Philip now crossed the Strymon, on the left bank of which lay Pangseus, a range of mountains abounding in gold mines. Panga3us properly belonged to the Thracians, but had some- times been in the possession of the Athenians, and sometimes of the Thasians ; and at this time was held by the latter people. Philip conquered the district, and founded there a new town called Phihppi, on the site of the ancient Thasian town of Crenides. By improved methods of working the mines he made them yield an annual revenue of 1000 talents, nearly 250,000/. But it was chiefly as a military post that Philippi was valu- able to him, and as a means of pushing his conquests farther eastwards ; for which, however, he was not at present pre- pared. § 8. Meanwhile, Athens was engaged in a war with her allies, which has been called the Social War ; and which was, perhaps, the reason why she was obliged to look quietly on whilst Philip was thus aggrandizing himself at her expense. This war broke out in B.C. 358. The chief causes of it seem to have been the contributions levied upon the allies by the Athenian geno- rals, and the re -establishment of the system of cleruchies, which the Athenians had formally renounced when they were beginning to reconstruct their empire. However this may be, a co;dition B.C. 357. THE SACRED WAR. 505 was formed against Athens, of which either Byzantium or Rhode* was the head, and which was soon joined by Chios, Cos, and other places. The insurgents were also assisted by the Cariau prince, Mausolus. The first step taken by the Athenians, in order to quell this insurrection was to attack Chios with 60 tri- remes, under Chares and Chabrias. The expedition proved un- successful. Chabrias was slain whilst gallantly leading the way into the harbour of Chios, and the armament was altogether de- feated. We next find Timotheus and Iphicrates employed in this war in conjunction with Chares : but the details recorded of it are obscure, and sometimes contradictory. Chares got rid of his two colleagues on a charge of failing to support him in a battle. On this indictment they were subsequently tried, when Iphicrates was acquitted ; but Timotheus was condemned, and retired to Chalcis, where he soon afterwards died. Athens thus lost her best commanders ; and Chares, having obtained the sole command, entered the service of the satrap Artabazus, who had revolted against Artaxerxes, and was rewarded with a large sum, which enabled him to pay his men. He did not succeed, how- ever, in reducing the refractory allies to obedience ; and when Artaxerxes threatened to support them with a fleet of 300 ships, the Athenians were obliged to consent to a disadvantageous peace, which secured the independence of the more important allies (b.c. 355). The Athenians only succeeded in retaining some of the smaller towns and islands, and their revenue from them was reduced to the moderate sum of 45 talents. § 9. The Social War tended still further to exhaust the Grecian states, and thus pave the way for Philip's progress to the su- premacy. Another war, which had been raging during the same time, produced the same result even to a greater extent. This was the Sacred War, which broke out between Thebes and Phocis in the same year as the Social War (b.c. 357). An ill- feeling had long subsisted between those two countries. It was with reluctance that the Phocians had joined the Theban al- liance. In the last campaign of Epaminondas in the Pelopon- nesus, they positively refused their assistance ; and after the death of that leader they seem to have committed some actual hos- tilities against Bceotia. The Thebans now availed themselves of the influence which they possessed in the Amphictyonic council to take vengeance upon the Phocians, and accordingly induced this body to impose a heavy fine upon the Phocians, because they had cultivated a portion of the Cirrhsean plain, which, after the first sacred war, had been consecrated to the Delphian god,* and was to he waste for ever. The Phocians pleaded that the » See pp. 50, 51. 506 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLlI. payment of the fine would ruin them ; but instead of listening to their remonstrances, the Amphictyons doubled the amount, and threatened, in case of their continued refusal, to reduce them to the condition of serfs. Thus driven to desperation, the Phocians resolved to complete the sacrilege with which they had been branded, by seizing the very temple of Delphi itself, to the possession of which they asserted an ancient right, founded on a verse in Homer, in which the " rocky Pytho " was reckoned among the Phocian towns.* If they succeeded in seizing the temple, not only would all its treasures be at their command, but they would even be able to dictate the responses of the oracle. The leader and counsellor of this enterprise was Philo- melus, who, with a force of no more than 2000 men, surprised and took Delphi. The Locrians of Amphissa, who came to the rescue of the temple, were defeated by him with great loss. Being now master of the temple, Philomelus destroyed the re- cords containing the sentence of the Amphictyons, and appealed to all Greece against its injustice. At first, however, he care- fully abstained from touching the sacred treasure ; but he levied large sums on the private property of the Delphians. He then fortified the temple afresh ; and, having hired more mercenaries, which swelled his force to 5000 men, invaded the Locrian terri- tory. After some petty skirmishes, the Locrians were finally defeated in a pitched battle ; whereupon they applied to the Thebans for assistance. $ 10. Meanwhile, Philomelus, being master of the oracle, ex- torted a decree from the priestess sanctioning all that he had done ; and sent envoys to the principal Grecian cities, including Thebes, to vindicate his conduct, and to declare that the treasures of Delphi were untouched. The envoys succeeded in obtaining the alliance of Sparta and Athens, but from Thebes they were repulsed with threats. There, however, the application of the Locrians met with a ready acquiescence ; and messages were sent by the Thebans to stir up the Thessalians and all the northern tribes which belonged to the Amphictyonic Council. The Phocians now saw themselves threatened by a powerful combination, whilst from Athens, weakened by the social war, and from Sparta, hampered by Megalopolis and Messcn6, they could expect but little aid. In this emergency Philomelus threw off the scruples which he had hitherto assumed, and announced that the sacred treasures should be converted into a fund for the payment of mercenaries. Crowds of adventurers now flocked on all sides to his standard, and he soon found himself at the head of 10,000 men. Wi+h these he again invaded Locris, and defeated the * iiiad, ii. r>n. B.C. 352 INTERFERENCE OF PHILIP. 507 Thebans and Thessalians. Subsequently, howsver, tbe Thebana obtained large reinforcements, and baving become manifestly the strongest, put to death all Phocian prisoners, as being guilty of sacrilege. The war thus assumed the most barbarous character, and the Phocians, by way of self preservation, were obliged to retaliate. The details of the straggle are not accurately known, but it appears that a great battle was at length fought, in which the Phocians were defeated and Philomelus killed. The victory, however, does not seem to have been sufficiently decisive to enable the Thebans to obtain possession of Delphi, and they sub- sequently returned home. Onomarchus, who succeeded his brother Philomelus in the command, carried on the war with vigour and success. He re- duced both the western and eastern Locrians, as well as the little state of Doris. He then invaded Bceotia, captured Orchome- nus, and laid siege to Chaeronea ; which, however, the Thebans compelled him to raise, and drove him back with some loss into Phocis. § 11. Such was the state of the Sacred "War when rhilip first began to interfere in it. It was only, however, through his pre- vious conquests in Thessaly that he was enabled to do so. Even before he could enter that country he had to reduce the town of Methone, which lay between him and the Thessalian frontier ; and it was at the siege of this place that he lost his eye by an aiTow. After the capture of Methone, his road lay open into Thessaly ; and at the invitation of the Aleuada3 of Larissa, who were disgusted with the tyranny exercised by the successors of Alexander of Pherce, he undertook an expedition against that state. Alexander himself had been despatched through the machinations of his wife Thebe, who caused him to be murdered by her three half-brothers. These subsequently ascended the throne, and exercised a tyranny as harsh as that of their jjre- decessor. Pherse, it seems, had shown some disposition to assist the Phocians ; and when Onomarchus heard that Philip was marching against it, he sent his brother, Phayllus, with a force of 7000 men, to its assistance. Philip defeated Phayllus, but was subsequently routed and compelled to retreat by Onomar- chus in person. The latter then turned his arms against Coro- nea, which he reduced ; but the news that Philip had re-entered Thessaly at the head of 20,000 men, soon compelled him again to march thither. Philip now assumed the character of a cham- pion of the Delphic god, and made his soldiers wear wreaths of laurel, plucked in the groves of Tempe. Onomarchus was at the head of about an equal number of men ; but in the encounter which en«ued, apparently hear the gulf of Pagasce, he was slain, 508 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLII. and his army totally defeated (b.c. 352). This victory made Philip master of Thessaly. He now directed his march south- wards with the view of subduing the Phocians ; but upon reaching Thermopylae, he found the pass guarded by a strong Athenian force, and was compelled, or considered it more prudent, to retreat. § 12. After his return from Thessaly, Philip's views were di- rected towards Thrace and the Chersonese ; but he first carried his arms so far into the interior of the country that the Athe- nians could learn nothing of his movements. It was at this juncture that Demosthenes stepped forwards as the proclaimed opponent of Philip, and delivered the first of those celebrated orations which from their subject have been called "the Philip- pics." Since the establishment of democracy at Athens a cer- tain degree of ability in public speaking was indispensable to a public man. Hitherto, however, the leading men of Athens had, like Cimon and Pericles, been statesmen and warriors, as well as orators. But the great progress made in the art of rhetoric, as well as in the art of war sinco the improved tactics introduced by Epaminondas, had now almost completely separated the pro- fessions of the orator and the soldier. Phocion, the contempo- rary of Demosthenes, was the last who combined the provinces of the two. The ears of the Athenians had become fastidious. They delighted in displays of oratorical skill ; and it was this period which produced those speakers who have been called by way of eminence "the Attic orators." Demosthenes, the most famous of them all, was born in B.C. 382-381. Having lost his father at the early age of seven, his guardians abused their trust, and defrauded him of the greater part of his paternal inheritance. This misfortune, however, proved one of the causes which tended to make him an orator. Demosthenes, as he advanced towards manhood, perceived with indignation the conduct of his guar- dians, for which he resolved to make them answerable when the proper opportunity should arrive, by accusing them himself before the dicastery. The weakness of his bodily frame, which unfitted him for the exercises of the gymnasium, caused him to devote himself with all the more ardour to intellectual pursuits, lie placed himself under the tuition of Lsaeus, who then enjoyed a high reputation as an advocate ; and when he had acquired a competent degree of skill, he pleaded his cause against his guar- dians, and appears to have recovered a considerable portion of his estate. This success encouraged him to speak in the public assembly ; but his first attempt proved a failure, and he retired from the bema amidst the hootings and laughter of the citizens. The more judicious and candid among his auditors perceived, B.C. 352. DEMOSTHENES. FIRST PHILIPPIC. 509 however, marks of genius in his speech, and rightly attributed his failure to timidity and want of due preparation. Eunomus, an aged citizen who met him wandering about the Pirseus in a state of dejection at his ill success, bade him take courage and persevere. " Your manner of speaking," said he, " very much resembles that of Pericles ; you fail only through want of con- fidence. You are too much disheartened by the tumult of a popular assembly, and you do not take any pains even to acquire that strength of body which is requisite for the bema." Struck and encouraged by these remarks, Demosthenes withdrew awhile from public life, and devoted himself perseveringly to remedy his defects. They were such as might be lessened, if not re- moved, by practice, and consisted chiefly of a weak voice, imperfect articulation, and ungraceful and inappropriate action. He derived much assistance from Satyrus, the actor, who exer- cised him in reciting passages from Sophocles and Euripides. He studied the best rhetorical treatises and orations, and is said to have copied the work of Thucydides with his own hand no fewer than eight times. He shut himself up for two or three months together in a subterranean chamber in order to practise composition and declamation. It may also be well supposed that he devoted no inconsiderable part of his attention to the laws of Athens and the politics of Greece. His perseverance was crowned with success ; and he who on the first attempt had descended from the bema amid the ridicule of the crowd, became at last the most perfect orator the world has ever seen. § 13. Demosthenes had established himself as a public speaker before the period which we have now reached ; but it is chiefly in connexion with Philip that we are to view him as a statesman as well as an orator. Philip had shown his ambition by the con- quest of Thessaly, and by the part he had taken in the Sacred War ; and Demosthenes now began to regard him as the enemy of the liberties of Athens and of Greece. In his first " Philippic" Demosthenes tried to rouse his countrymen to energetic mea- sures against this formidable enemy ; but his warnings and exhor- tations produced little effect, for the Athenians were no longer distinguished by the same spirit of enterprise which had cha- racterized them in the days of their supremacy. It is true they were roused to momentary action towards the end of B.C. 352 by the news that Philip was besieging the fortress of Herseum on the Propontis ; but the armament which they voted, upon receiv- ing the news, did not sail till the autumn of B.C. 351, and then on a reduced scale under the command of Charidemus. For the next two years no important step was taken to curb the growing power of Philip ; and it was tho danger of Olynthus, which first 510 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLII. induced the Athenians to prosecute the war with a little more energy. In 350 B.C., Philip having captured a town in ChalcidicS, Olyn- thus began to trenib. 3 for her own safety, and sent envoys to Athens to crave assistance. Olynthus was still at the head of thirty-two Greek towns, and the confederacy was a sort of coun- terpoise to the power of Philip. It was on this occasion that Demosthenes delivered his three Olynthaic orations, in which he warmly advocated an alliance with Olynthus. § 14. Demosthenes was opposed by a strong party, with which Phocion commonly acted. Phocion is one of the most singular and original characters in Grecian history. Naturally simple, upright, and benevolent, his manners were nevertheless often rendered repulsive by a tinge of misanthropy and cynicism. He viewed the multitude and their affairs with a scorn which he was at no pains to disguise ; receiving their anger with indiffer- ence, and their praises with contempt. When a response from Delphi announced to the Athenians that though they were themselves unanimous, there was one man who dissented from them, Phocion stepped forwards, and said : " Do not trouble yourselves to seek for this refractory citizen ; — I am he, and I like nothing that you do." On another occasion, when one of his speeches was received with general applause, he turned round to his friends, and inquired, " Have I said anything bad ?" Pho- cion's whole art of oratory consisted in condensing his speeches into the smallest possible compass, without any attention to the smoothness of his periods, or the grace of his language. Yet their terse and homely vigour was often heightened by a sort of dry humour, which produced more effect than the most studied efforts of oratory. " What, at your meditations, Phocion ?" inquired a friend, who perceived him w T rapt up in thought. — "Yes," he replied, "I am considering whether I can shorten what I have to say to the Athenians." His known probity also gave him weight with the assembly. He was the only statesman of whom Demosthenes stood in awe ; who was accustomed to say when Phocion rose, " Here comes the pruner of my periods." But Phocion's desponding views, and his mistrust of the Athenian people, made him an ill statesman at a period which demanded the most active patriotism. He doubtless injured his country by contributing to check the more enlarged and patriotic views of Demosthenes; and though his own con- duct was pure and disinterested, he unintentionally threw his weight on the side of those who, like Demades and others, were actuated by the basest motives. This division of opinion ren- dered the operations of the Athenians for the aid of the Olyu- B.C. 347. PHILIP TAKES OLYJSTHUS. oil thians languid and desultory. Town after town of the confe- deracy fell before Philip ; and in B.C. 348, or early in 347, he laid siege to Olynthus itself. The city was vigorously defended ; but Philip at length gained admission through the treachery of Las- thenes and Euthycrates, two of the leading men, when he razed it to the ground and sold the inhabitants into slavery. The whole of the Chalcidian peninsula thus became a Macedo- nian province. Philip celebrated his triumph at Dium, a town on the borders of Thessaly ; where, on the occasion of a festival to the Muses, instituted by Archelaus, he amused the people with banquets, games, and theatrical entertainments. § 15. The prospects of Athens now became alarming. Her possessions in the Chersonese were threatened, as well as the freedom of the Greek towns upon the Hellespont. At this junc- ture Demosthenes endeavoured to persuade the Athenians to organize a confederacy among the Grecian states for the purpose of arresting a power which seemed to threaten the liberty of all ; and in this he was seconded by some of those politicians who usually opposed him. But though steps were taken towards this object, the attempt entirely failed. The attention of the Athenians was next directed towards a reconciliation with Thebes. The progress of the sacred war, to which we must now briefly revert, seemed favourable to such a project. After the death of Onomarchus, his brother Phayllus had assumed the command of the Phocians ; and as the sacred treasure was still unexhausted he succeeded in obtaining large reinforcements of troops. The Spartans sent 1000 men ; the Achseans 2000 ; the Athenians 5000 foot and 400 horse under Nausicles. "With these forces Phayllus undertook a successful invasion of Bceotia ; and afterwards attacked the Epicnemidian Locrians, and took all their towns except Naryaa. But in the course of the year Phayllus died, and was succeeded in the conduct of the war by Mnaseas, guardian of Phalrecus, the youthful son of Onomarchus. Mnaseas, however, was soon slain, and Phalaecus himself then assumed the command. Under him the war was continued between the Pho- cians and Thebans, but without any decisive success on either side. The treasures of Delphi were nearly exhausted, and on the other hand the war was becoming every year more and more burthen- some to the Thebans. It was at this juncture that the Athe- nians, as before hinted, were contemplating a peace with Thebes ; nor did it seem improbable that one might be concluded not only between those two cities, but among the Grecian states generally. It seems to have been this aspect of affairs that induced Philip to make several indirect overtures to the Athe- nians in the summer of B.C. 347. In spite of subsidies from 512 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLII. Delphi the war had been very onerous to them, and they received these advances with joy, yet not without suspicion, as they were quite unable to divine Philip's motives for making them. On the motion of Philocrates, however, it was decreed that ten am- bassadors should be despatched to Philip's court. Philocrates himself was at the head of them, and among the rest were the rival orators, Demosthenes and iEschines, and the actor Aristo- demus. We have, however, no particulars on which we can rely respecting this embassy. All that we can gather respecting it is from the personal recriminations of Demosthenes and iEschines, and we can only infer on the whole that it was a miserable failure. Philip seems to have bribed some of the ambassadors, and to have cajoled the rest by his hospitable banquets and his winning and condescending manners. Nothing decisive was done respecting Amphipolis or the Phocians ; and as far as we can learn the whole fruits of the embassy were some vague promises on the part of Philip to respect the Athenian possessions in Thrace. Soon after the return of Philocrates and his colleagues, Antipater, Parmenio, and Eurylochus, three of Philip's most dis- tinguished generals and statesmen, came on a mission to Athens, where they were entertained by Demosthenes. The basis of a treaty of peace and alliance seems now to have been arranged, in which Philip dictated his own terms. Another embassy, con- sisting probably of the former ten, was appointed to procure the ratification of this treaty by Philip ; and on the news that he was invading the dominions of Cersobleptes, they were directed to hasten their departure, and to seek that monarch in whatever quarter he might be. With this view they proceeded to the port of Oreus in Eubcea ; but instead of following the advice of Demosthenes, and embarking for the Hellespont, which they might have reached in two or three days, they wasted some time at that place, and then proceeded by a circuitous route to Pella : hence they did not reach that city till upwards of three weeks after quitting Athens. Here they met ambassadors from other states concerned in the progress of the sacred war, as Thebes, Phocis, Sparta, and Thessaly ; but Philip was still in Thrace, and they had to wait a month for his return. Even when he arrived at Pella, lie delayed the final ratification of the treaty, and per- suaded the ambassadors to accompany him on his march to Phera in Thessaly, under pretence that he desired their media- tion between the Pharsalians and Halus ; though his real motive undoubtedly was to gain time for invading Phocis. He at length swore to the treaty in Phera; ; but the Phocians were expressly excluded from it. § 1G. Scarcely had the Athenian ambassadors returned home B.C. 346. END OF THE SACKED \\ AH. 513 when Philip began his march towards Thermopylae. Demosthenes, on his return, protested against the acts of his colleagues, and his representations had such an effect, that the ambassadors were not honoured with the usual vote of thanks. The main charge which he brought against his colleagues, and against iEschines in particular, was that of having deluded the people with false hopes respecting Philip's views towards Athens. But the opposite party had possession of the popular ear. Not only was nothing done for the Phocians, but a decree was even passed to convey the thanks of Athens to Philip, and to declare that unless Delphi was delivered up by the Phocians to the Amphi- ctyons, the Athenians would help to enforce that step. The am- bassadors were again directed to carry this decree to Philip ; but Demosthenes was so disgusted with it that he refused to go, and ^•Eschines also declined on the plea of ill-health. The Phocians now lay at the mercy of Philip. As soon as the king had passed the straits of Thermopylae, Phalsecus secured his own safety by concluding a treaty with Philip, by which he was permitted to retire into the Peloponnesus with 8000 mer- cenaries. When Philip entered Phocis all its towns surrendered unconditionally at his approach. Philip then occupied Delphi, where he assembled the Amphictyons to pronounce sentence upon those who had been concerned in the sacrilege committed there. The council decreed that all the cities of Phocis, except Aba?, should be destroyed, and their inhabitants scattered into villages contaimng not more than fifty houses each ; and that they should replace by yearly payments the treasures of the temple estimated at the enormous sum of 10,000 talents, or nearly two millions and a half sterling. Sparta was deprived of her share in the Amphictyonic privileges ; the two votes in the Council possessed by the Phocians were transferred to the kings of Macedonia ; and Philip was to share with the Thebans and Thessalians the honour of presiding at the Pythian games. These were no slight privileges gained by Philip. A seat in the Amphictyonic council recognized him at once as a Grecian power, and would afford him occasion to interfere in tha affairs of Greece. Thebes recovered the places which she had lost in Bceotia. Such was the termination of the Sacred Wax (b.c. 346). Gr H CHAPTER XLIII. FROM TIIE END OF THE SACRED WAR TO THE DEATH OF PHILir. § 1. Results of the Sacred War. §2. Macedonian embassy to Athens. Second Philippic. § 3. Philip's expedition into Thrace. § 4. Third Philippic. Progress of Philip. Siege of Perinthus. § 5. Phocion's successes in Eubcea. § G. Declaration of war between Athens and Macedon. Phocion compels Philip to evacuate the Chersonese. § 7. Charge ol sacrilege against the Amphissians. § 8. Philip appointed general by the Amphictyons to conduct the war against Amphissa. § 9. He seizes Elatea. League between Athens and Thebes. § 10. Battle of Cha?ronea. § 11. Philip's extravagant joy for his victory. § 12. Congress at Corinth. Philip's progress through the Peloponnesus. § 13. Philip's domestic quarrels. § 14. Preparations for the Persian expedition. § 15. Assassination of Philip. § 1. The result of the Sacred War rendered Macedon the lead- ing state in Greece. Philip at once acquired by it military glory, a reputation for piety, and an accession of power. His ambitious designs were now too plain to be mistaken. The eyes of the blindest among the Athenians were at last opened ; the pro- moters of the peace which had been concluded with Philip incurred the hatred and suspicion of the people ; whilst on the other hand Demosthenes rose higher than ever in public favour. They showed their resentment against Philip by omitting to send their usual deputation to the Pythian games at which the Macedonian monarch presided. B.C. 344. SECOND PHILIPPIC. 515 It was either this omission, or the unwillingness of the Athe- nians to acknowledge Philip as a member of the Amphictyonic league, that induced him to send an embassy to Athens for the purpose of settling a point which neither his dignity nor his interest would permit to lie in abeyance. It was generally felt that the question was one of peace or war. Yet the Athenians were so enraged against Philip that those who were for main- taining peace with him could hardly obtain a hearing in the assembly. On this occasion we have the remarkable spectacle of iEschines and Demosthenes speaking on the same side, though from widely different motives. The former adhered to his usual corrupt policy in favour of Philip ; whilst Demosthenes, in sup- porting him, was actuated only by views of the most sagacious and disinterested policy. These he detailed and enforced in his Oration On the Peace, in which he persuaded the Athenians not to expose themselves at that time to the risk of a war with Philip, supported, as he would be, by the greater part of Greece. § 2. Philip had now succeeded to the position lately occupied by Thebes, and in virtue of it prepared to exercise the same influence which that state had previously enjoyed in the Pelo- ponnesus. He declared himself the protector of the Messenians, and the friend and ally of the Megalopolitans and Argives. De- mosthenes was sent into Peloponnesus to endeavour to counter- act Philip's proceedings in the peninsula ; but his mission led to no result. During his stay there, he had openly accused Philip of perfidy ; and that monarch now sent an embassy to Athens, accompanied by envoys from Argos and Messene, to complain of so grievous an accusation. It was on this occasion that the second Philippic of Demosthenes was delivered, which was chiefly directed against the orators who supported Philip (b.c. 344;. In the following year a prosecution was instituted against iEschines and Philocrates for " malversation in their embassy " to the Macedonian court. The latter, conscious of his guilt, evaded the trial by flight ; and iEschines, who defended himself with great skill, was acquitted by only thirty votes.* § 3. Meanwhile, in b.o. 344, Philip overran and ravaged Illyria ; and subsequently employed himself in regulating the affairs of Thessaly, where he occupied Pherse with a permanent Macedonian garrison. He was likewise busied with preparations for the still vaster projects which he contemplated, and which embraced an attack upon the Athenian colonies, as well as upon the Persian empire. For this purpose he had organized a con- siderable naval force as well as an army ; and in the spring of * See the speeches of Demosthenes and jEschines B.C. 336. ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER. 527 ronea is only reduced by one man !" Jn this last remark, indeed, he depreciated the abilities of Philip, as much as Demosthenes was inclined to underrate the abilities of Alexander. During his embassy to Pella, the Athenian orator had conceived a mean opinion of the youthful prince, whom he now compared to Homer's Margites, and assured the Athenians that he would spend all his time in either prosecuting his studies, or inspect- ing the entrails of victims. At the same time Demosthenes made vigorous preparations for action. He was already in cor- respondence with the Persian court for the purpose of thwarting Philip's projected expedition into Asia ; and he now despatched envoys to the principal Grecian states for the purpose of ex- citing them against Macedon. Sparta, and the whole Pelopon- nesus, with the exception of Megalopolis and Messenia, seemed inclined to shake off their compulsory alliance. Even the Thebans rose against the dominant oligarchy, although the Cadmea was in the hands of the Macedonians. § 3. But the activity of Alexander disconcerted all these move- ments. He retained the Thessahans in obedience partly by flattery, partly by a display of force, and having marched through their territory, he assembled the Amphictyonic Council at Ther- mopylae, who conferred upon him the command with which they had invested his father during the Sacred War. He then ad- vanced rapidly upon Thebes, and thus prevented the meditated revolution. The Athenians were now seized with alarm, and sent an embassy to deprecate the wrath of Alexander, and to offer to him the same honours and privileges which they had before conferred upon Philip. Demosthenes was appointed one of the envoys, but when he had proceeded as far as the confines of Attica, he was filled with apprehension respecting Alexander's intentions, and found a pretence for returning home. The other ambassadors were graciously received, and their excuses accepted. Alexander then convened a general congress at Corinth, which, as on the former occasion, was attended by all the Grecian states except Sparta. Here he was appointed generalissimo for the Persian war in place of his father. Most of the philosophers and persons of note near Corinth came to congratulate him on this occasion ; but Diogenes of Sinope, who was then living in one of the suburbs of Corinth, did not make his appearance. Alex- ander therefore resolved to pay a visit to the eccentric cynic, whom he found basking in the sun. On the approach of Alex- ander with a numerous retinue, Diogenes raised himself up a little, and the monarch affably inquired how he could serve him ? u By standing out of my sunshine," replied the churlish philo- sopher. Alexander was struck with surprise at a behaviour to 528 HISTORY OF GKEECE. Chap. XL1V. which he was so little accustomed ; but whilst his courtiers were ridiculing the manners of the cynic, he turned to them and said, "Were I not Alexander, I should like to be Diogenes." § 4. The result of the Congress might be considered a settle- ment of the affairs of Greece. Alexander could very well afford to despise Sparta's obsolete pretensions to the supremacy of Greece, and did not deem it worth while to undertake an expe- dition for the purpose of bringing her to reason. He then re- turned to Macedonia, in the hope of being able to begin his Persian expedition in the spring of B.C. 335 ; but reports of dis- turbances among the Thracians and Triballians diverted his attention to that quarter. He therefore crossed Mount Hsemus (the Balkan) and marched into the territory of the Triballians, defeated their forces, and pursued theni to the Danube, where they fortified themselves in an island. Leaving them in that position, Alexander crossed the river by means of a fleet which he had caused to be sent from Byzantium, and proceeded to attack the Getse. The barbarians fled at his approach, and Alexander, who had acquired a large booty, regained the banks of the Danube, where he received the submissions of the Danu- bian tribes, and admitted them into the Macedonian alliance. Thence he marched against the Illyrians and Taulantians, who were meditating an attack upon his kingdom, and speedily re- duced them to obedience. § 5. During Alexander's absence on these expeditions, no tidings were heard of him for a considerable time, and a report of his death was industriously spread in Southern Greece. The Thebans rose and besieged the Macedonian garrison in the Cadmea, at the same time inviting other states to declare their independence. Demosthenes was active in aiding the move- ment. He persuaded the Athenians to furnish the Thebans with subsidies, and to assure them of their support and alliance. But the rapidity of Alexander again crushed the insurrection in the bud. Before the Thebans discovered that the report of his death was false, he had already arrived at Onchestus in Bceotia. Alexander was willing to afford them an opportunity for repent- ance, and marched slowly to the foot of the Cadmea. But tho leaders of the insurrection, believing themselves irretrievably compromised, replied with taunts to Alexander's proposals for peace, and excited the people to the most desperate resistance. An engagement was prematurely brought on by one of the ge- nerals of Alexander, in which some of the Macedonian troops were put to the rout ; but Alexander coming up with the phalanx, whilst the Thebans were in the disorder of pursuit, drove them back in turn and entered the gates along with them, when a B.C. 335. ALEXANDER DESTEOYS THEBES. 629 fearful massacre ensued, committed principally by the Thracians in Alexander's service. Six thousand Thebans are said to have been slain, and thirty thousand were made prisoners. The doom of the conquered city was referred to the allies, who decreed her destruction. The grounds of the verdict bear the impress of a tyrannical hypocrisy. They rested on the conduct of the The- bans during the Persian war, on their treatment of Platoea, and on their enmity to Athens. The inhabitants were sold as slaves, and all the houses, except that of Pindar, were levelled with the ground. The Cadmea was preserved to be occupied by a Ma- cedonian garrison. Thebes seems to have been thus harshly treated as an example to the rest of Greece, for towards the other states, which, were now eager to make their excuses and submission, Alexander showed much forbearance and lenity. The conduct of the Athenians exhibits them deeply sunk in degra- dation. When they heard of the chastisement inflicted upon Thebes, they immediately voted, on the motion of Demosthenes, that ambassadors should be sent to congratulate Alexander on his safe return from his northern expeditions, and on his recent success. Alexander in reply wrote a letter, demanding that eight or ten of the leading Athenian orators should be delivered up to him. At the head of the list was Demosthenes. In this dilemma, Phocion, who did not wish Lo speak upon such a question, was loudly called upon by the people for his opinion ; when he rose and said that the persons whom Alexander de- manded had brought the state into such a miserable plight that they deserved to be surrendered, and that for his own part he should be very happy to die for the commonwealth. At the same time he advised them to try the effect of intercession with Alexander ; and it was at last only by his own personal applica- tion to that monarch, with whom he was a great favourite, that the orators were spared. According to another account, how- ever, the wrath of Alexander was appeased by the orator De- mades, who received from the Athenians a reward of five talents for his services. It was at this time that Alexander is said to have sent a present of 100 talents to Phocion. But Phocion asked the persons who brought the money — " Why he should be selected for such a bounty ?" " Because," they replied, " Alex- ander considers you the only just and honest man." " Then," said Phocion, " let him suffer me to be what I seem, and to retain, that character." And when the envoys went to his house and beheld the frugality with which he lived, they perceived that the man who refused such a gift was wealthier than he who offered it. § 6. Having thus put the affairs of Greece on a satisfactory Gr. 2 m 530 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLIV. footing. Alexander marched for the Hellespont in the spring of B.C. 334, leaving Antipater regent of Macedonia in his absence, with a force of 12,000 foot and 1500 horse. Alexander's own army consisted of only about 30,000 foot and 5000 horse. Of the infantry about 12,000 were Macedonians, and these composed the pith of the celebrated Macedonian phalanx. Such was the force with which he proposed to attack the immense but ill- cemented empire of Persia, which, like the empires of Turkey or Austria in modern times, consisted of various nations and races with different religions and manners, and speaking different lan- guages ; the only bond of union being the dominant military power of the ruling nation, which itself formed only a small numerical portion of the empire. The remote provinces, like those of Asia Minor, were administered by satraps and military governors who enjoyed an almost independent authority, fre- quently transmitting their provinces, like hereditary fiefs, to their heirs, and sometimes, as we have already seen in the course of this history, defying their sovereign or their brother satraps in open war. The expedition of Cyrus, and the subsequent retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks, had shown how easy it was for a handful of resolute and well disciplined men to penetrate into the very heart of an empire thus weakened by disunion, and composed for the most part of an unwarlike population, and we are not therefore surprised at the confidence with which Alex- ander set out upon his expedition. Before he departed he dis- tributed most of the crown property among his friends, and when Perdiccas asked him what he had reserved for himself he replied, " My hopes." § 7. A march of sixteen days brought Alexander to Sestos, where a large fleet and a number of transports had been collected for the embarkation of his army. Alexander steered with his own hand the vessel in which he sailed towards the very spot where the Achaeans were said to have landed when proceeding to the Trojan war. "When half the passage had been completed, he propitiated Poseidon and the Nereids with the sacrifice of a bull and with libations from a golden goblet ; and as his trireme neared the shore, he hurled his spear towards the land, by way of claiming possession of Asia. He was, as we have said, a great admirer of Homer, a copy of whose works ho always carried with him ; and on landing on the Asiatic coast he made it his first business to visit the plain of Troy. A temple of Athena still existed there, and the very altar was pointed out to him at which Neoptolemus was said to have slain Priam. Alexander then proceeded to Sigeum, where he crowned with a garland the pillar said to mark the tumulus of hi3 mythical ancestor Achilles, and B.C. 334. BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS. 53 1 according to custom, ran round it naked with his friends, whilst Hephsestion paid similar honours to the tomb of Patroclus. § 8. Alexander then rejoined his army at Arisbe, near Abydos, and marched northwards along the coast of the Propontis. The satraps of Lydia aud Ionia, together with other Persian generals, were encamped near Zelea, a town on the G ranicus, with a force of 20,000 Greek mercenaries, and about an equal number of native cavalry, with which they prepared to dispute the passage of the river. A Rhodian, named Memnon, had the chief com- mand. The veteran general Parmenio advised Alexander to delay the attack till the following morning ; to which he replied, that it would be a bad omen at the beginning of his expedition, if, after passing the Hellespont, he should be stopped by a paltry stream. He then directed his cavalry to cross the river, and followed himself at the head of the phalanx. The passage, how- ever, was by no means easy. The stream was in many parts so deep as to be hardly fordable, and the opposite bank was steep and rugged. The cavalry had great difficulty in maintaining their ground till Alexander came up to their relief. He imme- diately charged into the thickest of the fray, and exposed himself so much, that his life was often in imminent danger, and on one occasion was only saved by the interposition of his friend Clitus. Having routed the Persians, Alexander next attacked the Greek mercenaries, 2000 of whom were made prisoners, and the rest nearly all cut to pieces. In this engagement Alexander killed two Persian officers with his own hand. After the battle he visited the wounded, and granted immunity from all taxation to the families of the slain. He also sent 300 suits of Persian armour to Athens, to be dedicated to Athena in the Acropolis ; a proceeding by which he hoped, perhaps, further to identify his cause as the common cause of Hellas against the barbarians, as well as to conciliate the Athenians, from whose genius he wished to receive an adequate memorial of his exploits. § 9. Alexander now marched southwards towards Sardis, which surrendered before he came within sight of its walls. Having left a garrison in that city he arrived after a four days' march before Ephesus, which likewise capitulated on his approach. Magnesia, Tralles, and Miletus next feU into his hands, the last after a short siege. Halicarnassus made more resistance. It was de- fended by Ephialtes, an Athenian exile, supported by Memnon, whose head-quarters were now in the island of Cos. It was obliged to be regularly approached ; but at length Memnon, finding it no longer tenable, set fire to it in the night, and crossed over to Cos. Alexander caused it to be razed to the ground, ar.d leaving a small force to reduce the garrison, which 2 m 2 532 HISTORY OF GREECE. Citai\ XLIV. had taken refuge in the citadels and forts, pursued his inarch along the southern coast of Asia Minor, with the view of seizing those towns which might afford shelter to a Persian fleet. The winter was now approaching, and Alexander sent a considerable part of his army under Parmenio into winter-quarters at Sardis. He also sent back to Macedonia such officers and soldiers as hud been recently married, on condition that they should return in the spring with what reinforcements they could raise ; and with the same view he despatched an officer to recruit in the Pelopon- nesus. Meanwhile he himself with a chosen body proceeded along the coasts of Lycia and Pamphylia, having instructed Par- menio to rejoin him in Phrygia in the spring, with the main body. After he had crossed the Xantlms, most of the Lycian towns tendered their submission, and Phaselis presented him with a golden crown. On the borders of Lycia and Pamphylia, Mount Climax, a branch of the Taurus range, runs abruptly into the sea, leaving only a narrow passage at its foot, which is fre- quently overflowed. This was the case at the time of Alex- ander's approach. He therefore sent his main body by a long and difficult road across the mountains to Perge ; but he himself, who loved danger for its own sake, proceeded with a chosen band along the shore, wading through water that was breast- high for nearly a whole day. From Perge he advanced against Aspendus and Sid6, which he reduced ; and then forcing his way northwards through the barbarous tribes which inhabited the mountains of Pisidia, he encamped in the neighbourhood of Gor- dium in Phrygia. Here he was rejoined by Parmenio and by the new levies from Greece. Gordium had been the capital of the early Phrygian kings, and in it was preserved with super- stitious veneration the chariot or waggon in which the celebrated Midas, the son of Gordius, together with his parents, had entered the town, and in conformity with an oracle had been elevated to the monarchy. An ancient prophecy promised the sovereignty of Asia to him who should untie the knot of bark which fastened the yoke of the waggon to the pole. Alexander repaired to the Acropolis, where the waggon was preserved, to attempt this ad- venture. Whether he undid the knot by drawing out a peg, or cut it through with his sword, is a matter of doubt ; but that he had fulfilled the prediction was placed beyond dispute that very night by a great storm of thunder and lightning. § 10. In the spring of 333, Alexander pursued his march east- wards, and on arriving at Ancyra received the submission of the Paphlagonians. He then advanced through Cappadocia without resistance ; and forcing his way through the passes of Mount Taurus (the I'yla Cilicice), he descended into the plains of Cilicia. B.C. 333. BATTLE OF ISSUS. o33 Hence he pushed on rapidly to Tarsus, which he found abandoned by the enemy. Whilst still heated with the march, Alexander plunged into the clear but cold stream of the Cydnus, which run? by the town. The result was a fever, which soon became so violent as to threaten his life. An Acarnanian physician, named Philip, who accompanied him, prescribed a remedy ; but at the same time Alexander received a letter informing him that Philip had been bribed by Darius, the Persian king, to poison him. He had, however, too much confidence in the trusty Philip to believe the accusation, and handed him the letter whilst he drank the draught. Either the medicine, or Alexander's youthful consti- tution, at length triumphed over the disorder. After remaining some time at Tarsus, he continued his march along the coast to Mallus, where he first received certain tidings of the great Persian army, commanded by Darius in person. It is said to have con- sisted of 600,000 fighting men, besides all that train of attendants which usually accompanied the march of a Persian monarch. This immense force was encamped on the plains of Sochi, where Amyntas, a Greek renegade, advised Darius to await the approach of Alexander. But Darius, impatient of delay, and full of vain- glorious confidence in the number of his forces, rejected this advice, and resolved to cross the mountains in quest of his foe. Alexander had meantime passed through Issus ; had secured the whole country from that place to the maritime pass called the Gates of Syria and Cilicia, and had pushed forwards to Myrian- drus, where he was detained by a great storm of wind and rain. Meanwhile Darius had crossed Mount Amanus, more to the north, at a pass called the Amanic Gates, and had thus got into Alexander's rear ; who heard with joy that the Persians were moving along the coast to overtake him. By this movement, however, Issus had fallen into the hands of the Persians. Alex- ander now retraced his steps to meet Darius, whom he found encamped on the right bank of the little river Pinarus. The Persian monarch could hardly have been caught in a more un- favourable position, since the narrow and rugged plain between Mount Amanus and the sea afforded no scope for the evolutions of large bodies, and thus entirely deprived him of the advantage of his numerical superiority. Alexander reoccupied the pass between Syria and Cilicia at midnight, and at day-break began to descend into the plain of the Pinarus, ordering his troops to deploy into fine as the ground expanded, and thus to arrive in battle array before the Persians. Darius had thrown 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry across the river, to check the advance of the Macedonians ; whilst on the right bank were drawn up his choicest Persian troops to the number of 60,000, together with 534 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap XL1V. 30,000 Greek mercenaries, who formed the centre, and on whom he chiefly relied. These, it appears, were all that the breadth of the plain allowed to be drawn up in line. The remainder of the vast host were posted in separate bodies in the farther parts of the plain, and were unable to take any share in the combat. Darius took his station in the centre of the line in a magnificent state chariot. The banks of the Pinarus were in many parts steep, and where they were level Darius had caused them to be intrenched. As Alexander advanced, the Persian cavalry which had been thrown across the river were recalled ; but the 20,000 infantry had been driven into the mountains, where Alexander held them in check with a small body of horse. The left wing of the Macedonians, under the command of Parmenio, was ordered to keep near the sea, to prevent being outflanked. The right wing was led by Alexander in person, who at first advanced slowly ; but when he came within shot of the Persian arrows he gave the order to charge, rushed impetuously into the water, and was soon engaged in close combat with the Persians. The latter were immediately routed ; but the impetuosity of the charge had disarranged the compact order of the Macedonian phalanx, and the Greek mercenaries took advantage of this cir- cumstance to attack them. This manoeuvre, however, was de- feated by Alexander, who, after routing the Fersians, wheeled and took the Greeks in flank. But what chiefly decided the fortune of the day was the timidity of Darius himself, who, on beholding the defeat of his left wing, immediately took to flight. His example was followed by his whole army ; and even the Persian cavalry, which had crossed the river, and was engaging the Macedonian left with great bravery, was compelled to follow the example. One hundred thousand Persians are said to have been left upon the field. On reaching the hills Darius threw aside his royal robes, his bow and shield, and mounting a fleet courser, was soon out of reach of pursuit. The Persian camp became the spoil of the Macedonians ; but the tent of Darius, to- gether with his chariot, robes and arms, was reserved for Alexander himself. It was now that the Macedonian king first had ocular proof of the nature of Eastern royalty. One compartment of the tent of Darius had been fitted up as a bath, which steamed with the richest odours ; whilst another presented a magnificent pavi- 1 ion, containing a table richly spread for the banquet of Darius. But from an adjoining tent issued the wail of female voices, where Sisygambis the mother, and Statira the wife of Darius, were lamenting the supposed death of the Persian monarch. Alexander sent to assure them of his safety, and ordered them to be treated with the most delicate and respectful attention. B.C. 333. SIEGE OP TYRE. 535 §11. Such was the memorable battle of Issus, fought in No- vember, B.c. 333. A large treasure which Parmenio was sent forward with a detachment to seize, fell into the hands of the Macedonians at Damascus. Another favourable result of the victory was that it suppressed some attempts at revolt from the Macedonian power, which, with the support of Persia, had been manifested in Greece. But, in order to put a complete stop to all such intrigues, which chiefly depended on the assistance of a Persian fleet, Alexander resolved to seize Phoenicia and Egypt, and thus to strike at the root of the Persian maritime power. Meanwhile, Darius, attended by a body of only 4000 fugitives, had crossed the Euphrates at Thapsacus. Before he had set out from Babylon, the whole forces of the empire had been summoned ; but ho had not thought it worth while to wait for what he deemed a merely useless encumbrance ; and the more distant levies, which comprised some of the best troops of the empire, were stiU hastening towards Babylon. In a short time, therefore, he would be at the head of a still more nume- rous host than that which had fought at Issus ; yet he thought it safer to open negotiations with Alexander than to trust to the chance of arms. With this view he sent a letter to Alexander, who was now at Marathus in Phoenicia, proposing to beccuie his friend and ally ; but Alexander rejected all his overtures, and told him that he must in future be addressed not in the language of an equal, but of a subject. As Alexander advanced southwards, all the towns of Phoenicia hastened to open their gates ; the inhabitants of Sidon even hailed him as their deliverer. Tyre, also, sent to tender her submission ; but coupled with reservations by no means accept- able to a youthful conqueror in the full tide of success. Alex- ander affected to receive their offer, which was accompanied with a present of a golden crown and provisions for his army, as zn unconditional surrender, and told them that he would visit their city and offer sacrifices to Melcart, a Tyrian deity, who was considered as identical with the Grecian Hercules. This brought the matter to ait issue. The Tyrians now informed him that they could not admit any foreigners within their walls, and that if he wished to sacrifice to Melcart, he would find another and more ancient shrine in Old Tyre, on the mainland. Alexander indignantly dismissed the Tyrian ambassadors, and announced his intention of laying siege to their city. The Tyrians probably deemed it impregnable. It was by nature a place of great strength, and had been rendered still stronger by art. The island on which it stood was half a mile distant from the main- land ; and though tbe channel was shallow near the coast, it 536 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap XLIV. deepened to three fathoms near the island. The shores of the island were rocky and precipitous, and the walls rose from the cliffs to the height of 150 feet in solid masonry. The city was abundantly supplied with fresh water ; was well furnished with arms and provisions ; possessed an intelligent and warlike population ; and though the greater part of the fleet was absent in tho Persian service, it had in its two harbours a competent number of vessels of war. As Alexander possessed no ships, the only method by which he could approach the town was by constructing a causeway, the materials tor which were collected from the forests of Libfmus and the ruins of Old Tyre. Through the shallow part of the water the work proceeded rapidly ; but as it approached the town the difficulties increased, both from the greater depth of the water, and from the workmen being ex- posed to missiles from the town and from the Tyrian galleys. To obviate the latter inconvenience, Alexander caused two wooden towers, covered with hides, to be built at the head of the mole, which would serve both to protect the workmen, and to keep assailants at a distance by the missiles hurled from engines at the top of the towers. The Tyrians, however, con- trived to burn these towers by seizing the apportunity of a favourable breeze to drive against them a vessel filled with dry wood, besmeared with pitch, and other combustible materials. The Macedonians being thus dris*en from the mole, the Tyrians came off in boats, and destroyed such parts of it as the flames had spared. But Alexander was so far from being discouraged by this mishap, that he began the work again on a larger scale. He also procured ships from Sidon and other places in order to protect it, and in a httle time had collected a fleet of 250 sail, which he exercised in nautical manoeuvres ; and thus forced the Tyrian galleys, which had previously molested the progress of the work, to keep within their harbour. After overcoming many difficulties the mole was at length pushed to the foot of the walls, which were now assailed with engines of a novel descrip- tion. The besieged on their side resorted to many ingenious methods of defence, among which was the discharging of heated sand on the besiegers, which, penetrating beneath the armour, occasioned great torment. But it now began to grow evident that the city must fall ; and as soon as Alexander had effected a practicable breach, he ordered a general assault both by land and sea. The breach was stormed under the immediate inspec- tion of Alexander himself; and though the Tyrians made a desperate resistance, they were at length overpowered, when tho oity became one wide scene of indiscriminate carnage and plun- ier. Tho sisge had lasted seven months, and the Macedonians B.C. 332. FOUNDATION OF ALEXANDRIA. 537 were so exasperated by the difficulties and dangers they had undergone that they granted no quarter. Eight thousand of the citizens are said to have been massacred ; and the remainder, with the exception of the king and some of the principal men, who had taken refuge in the temple of Melcart, were sold into slavery to the number of 30,000. Tyre was taken in the month of July, in 332. Whilst Alexander was engaged in the siege of Tyre, Darius made him further and more advantageous proposals. He now offered 10,000 talents as the ransom of his family, together with all the provinces west of the Euphrates, and his daughter Barsine in marriage, as the conditions of a peace. When these offers were submitted to the Council, Parmenio was not unnaturally struck with their magnificence, and observed, that were he Alexander he would accept them. "And so would I," replied the king, " were I Parmenio." Had Alexander's views been bounded by the political advantage of Macedonia, he would doubtless have adopted the advice of his veteran general. But his ambition was wholly of a personal nature. He felt more pleasure in acquiring than in possessing ; and as his prospects expanded with his progress, he was unwilling to accept what he considered as only an instalment of the vast empire which he was destined to attain. Darius, therefore, prepared himself for a desperate resistance. § 12. After the fall of Tyre, Alexander marched with his army towards Egypt, whilst his fleet proceeded along the coast. Gaza, a sti'ong fortress on the sea-shore, obstinately held out, and de- layed his progress three or four months. According to a tradi- tion preserved in Josephus, it was at this time that Alexander visited Jerusalem, and, struck with its pious priests and holy rites, endowed the city with extraordinary privileges, and the priesthood with ample gifts ; but this story does not appear in any other ancient author. After the capture of Gaza, Alex- ander met his fleet at Pelusium, and ordered it to sail up the Nile as far as Memphis, whither he himself marched with his army across the desert. Alexander conciliated the affection of the Egyptians by the respect with which he treated their na- tional superstitions, whilst the Persians by an opposite line of conduct had incurred their deadliest hatred. Alexander then sailed down the western branch of the Nile, and at its mouth traced the plan of the new city of Alexandria, which for many centuries continued to be not only the grand emporium of Europe, Africa, and India, but also the principal centre of in- tellectual life. Being now on the confines of Libya, Alexander resolved to visit the celebrated oracle of Jove Amnion, which 538 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLIY lay in the bosom of the Libyan wilderness, and which was reported to have been consulted by his two heroic ancestors, Hercules and Perseus. As he marched towards the Oasis in which it was situated, he was met by envoys from Cyreu6, bringing with them magnificent presents, amongst which were five chariots and three hundred war-horses. After marching along the coast for about two hundred miles, Alexander struck to the south-east into the desert ; when a five days' journey over pathless sands and under a scorching sun brought him to the well-watered and richly- wooded valley, containing the renowned and ancient temple of Amnion, The conqueror was received by the priests with all the honours of sacred pomp. He consulted the oracle in secret, and is said never to have disclosed the an- swer which he received ; though that it was an answer that contented him appeared from the magnificence of the offerings which he made to the god. Some say that Ammon saluted him as the son of Jove. § 13. Alexander returned to Phoenicia in the spring of 331. He then directed his march through Samaria, and arrived at Thap- sacus on the Euphrates about the end of August. After crossing the river, he struck to the north-east through a fertile and well supplied country. On his march he was told that Darius was posted with an immense force on the left bank of the Tigris ; but on arriving at that river, he found nobody to dispute his passage. He then proceeded southwards along its banks, and after four days' march fell in with a few squadrons of the enemy's cavalry. From some of these who were made prisoners Alexander learned that Darius was encamped with his host on one of the extensive plains between the Tigris and the mountains of Kurdistan, near a village called Gauga- mela (the Camel's House). The town of Arbela, after which the battle that ensued is commonly named, lay at about twenty miles distance, and there Darius had deposited his baggage and trea- sure. That monarch had been easily persuaded that his former defeat was owing solely to the nature of the ground ; and, there- fore, he now selected a wide plain for an engagement, where there was abundant room for his multitudinous infantry, and for the evolutions of his horsemen and charioteers. Alexander, after giving his army a few days' rest, set out to meet the enemy soon after midnight, in order that he might come up with them about daybreak. On ascending some sand-hills the whole array of the Persians suddenly burst upon the view of the Macedonians, at the distance of three or four miles. Darius, as usual, occupied the centre, surrounded by his body-guard and chosen troops. In front of the royal position were ranged the war-chariots B.C. 331. BATTLE OF ARBELA. 530 and elephants, and on either side the Greek mercenaries, to the number, it is said, of 50,000. Alexander spent the first day in surveying the ground and preparing for the attack : he also ad- dressed his troops, pointing out to them that the prize of victory ■would not be a mere province, but the dominion of all Asia. Yet so great was the tranquillity with which he contemplated the result, that at daybreak on the following morning, when the officers came to receive his final instructions, they found him in a deep slumber. His army, which consisted only of 40,000 foot and 7000 horse, was drawn up in the order which he usually observed, namely, with the phalanx in the centre in six divisions, and the Macedonian cavalry on the right, where Alex- ander himself took his station. And as there was great danger of being out-flanked, he formed a second line in the rear, com- posed of some divisions of the phalanx and a number of light troops and cavalry, which were to act in any quarter threatened by the enemy. The Persians, fearful of being surprised, had stood under arms the whole night, so that the morning found them exhausted and dispirited. Some of them, however, fought with considerable bravery ; but when Alexander had succeeded in breaking their fine by an impetuous charge, Darius mounted a fleet horse and took to flight, as at Issus, though the fortune of the day was yet far from having been decided. At length, how- ever, the rout became general. Whilst daylight lasted, Alexander pursued the flying enemy as far as the banks of the Lycus, or Greater Zab, where thousands of the Persians perished in the attempt to pass the river. After resting his men a few hours, Alexander continued the pursuit at midnight in the hope of overtaking Darius at Arbela. The Persian monarch, however, had continued his flight without stopping ; but the whole of the royal baggage and treasure was captured at Arbela. § 14. Finding any further pursuit of Darius hopeless, Alex- ander now directed his march towards Babylon. At a little distance from the city the greater part of the population came out to meet him, headed by their priests and magistrates, ten- dering their submission, and bearing with them magnificent presents. Alexander then made his triumphant entry into Babylon, riding in a chariot at the head of his army. The streets were strewed with flowers, incense smoked on either hand on silver altars, and the priests celebrated his entry with hymns. Nor was this the mere display of a compulsory obedience. Under the Persian sway the Chaldsean religion had been oppressed and persecuted ; the temple of Belus had been destroyed and still lay in ruins ; and both priests and people consequently rejoiced at the downfall of a dynasty from which they had suffered so 540 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciui\ XLIV. much wrong. Alexander, whose enlarged views on the subject of popular religion had probably been derived from Aristotle, observed here the same politic conduct which he had adopted in Egypt. He caused the ruined temples to be restored, and proposed to offer personally, but under the direction of the priests, a sacrifice to Belus. He then made arrangements for the safety and government of the city. He appointed Mazanis, the Persian officer who had been left in charge of it, satrap of Babylon ; but he occupied the citadel with a garrison of 1000 Macedonians and other Greeks, whilst the collection of the revenues was also intrusted to a Greek named Asclepiodorus. Alexander contemplated making Babylon the capital of his future empire. His army was rewarded with a large donative from the Persian treasury ; and after being allowed to indulge for some time in the luxury of Babylon, was again put in motion, towards i he middle of November, for Susa. It was there that the Per- sian treasures were chiefly accumulated, and Alexander had de» spatched Philoxenus to take possession of the city immediately after the battle of Arbela. It was surrendered without a blow by the satrap Abulites. The treasure found there amounted to 40,000 talents in gold and silver bullion, and 9000 in gold Darics. But among all these riches the interest of the Greeks must have been excited in a lively manner by the discovery of the spoils carried off from Greece by Xerxes. Among them were the bronze sta- tues of Harmodius and Aristoglton, which Alexander now sent back to Athens, and which were long afterwards preserved in the Ceramicus. At Susa Alexander received reinforcements of about 15,000 men from Greece. Amyntas, who conducted them, brought tidings of disturbances in Greece, fomented by Sparta ; and to assist in quelling them, Alexander transmitted a considerable sum to the regent Antipater. He then directed his march south-eastwards towards Persepolis. His road lay through the mountainous territory of the Uxians, who refused him a passage unless he paid the usual tribute which they were in the habit of extorting even from the Persian kings. But Alexander routed them with great slaughter. The difficult mountain defile called the " Persian Gates," forming the entrance into Persis, still re- mained to be passed, which was defended by Ariobarzanes, the satrap of that district, with 40,000 foot and 700 horse. Ario- barzanes had also built a wall across the pass ; but Alexander turned the position by ascending the heights with part of his army, whilst the remainder stormed and carried the wall ; and the Persians were nearly all cut to pieces. He then advanced rapidly to Persepolis, whoso magnificent ruins still attest its B.C. 330 PURSUIT OF DARIUS. 541 ancient splendour. It was the real capital of the Persian kings, though they generally resided at Susa during the winter, and at Ecbatana in summer. The treasure found there exceeded that both of Babylon and Susa, and is said to have amounted to 120,000 talents, or nearly 30,000,000^. sterling. It was here that Alexander is related to have committed an ^,ct of senseless folly, by firing with his own hand the ancient and magnificent palace of the Persian kings ; of which the most charitable ver- sion is that he committed the act when heated with wine at the instigation of Thais, an Athenian courtezan. By some writers, however, the story is altogether disbelieved, and the real de- struction of Persepolis referred to the Mahommedan epoch. Whilst at Persepolis, Alexander visited the tomb of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, which was situated at a little distance, at a city called Pasargadse. § 15. Thus in between three and four years after crossing the Hellespont, Alexander had established himself on the Persian throne. But Darius was not yet in his power. After the battle of Arbela, that monarch had fled to Ecbatana, the ancient capital of Media, where he seemed disposed to watch the turn of events, and whence, if he should be again threatened, he meditated flying farther north across the Oxus. It was not till about four months after the battle of Arbela, and consequently early in 330, that Alexander quitted Persepolis to resume the pursuit of Darius. On approaching Ecbatana, he learned that the Persian monarch had already fled with the little army which still ad- hered to him. On arriving at that place, Alexandsr permitted the troops of the allies to return home if they wished, as the main object of the expedition had been accomplished ; but many volunteered to remain with him, and the rest were dismissed with a handsome share of booty, in addition to their pay. The treasures which had been conveyed from Persepolis were lodged in the citadel of Ecbatana, under the guard of 6000 Ma- cedonians, besides cavalry and light troops. Alexander, with his main body, then pursued Darius through Media by forced marches, and reached Rhagge, a distance of three hundred miles from Ecbatana, in eleven days. Such was the rapidity of the march that many men and horses died of fatigue. At Rhagaa he heard that Darius had already passed the defile called the 14 Caspian Gates," leading into the Bactrian provinces ; and, as that pass was fifty miles distant, urgent pursuit was evidently useless. He therefore allowed his troops five days' rest, and then resumed his march. Soon after passing the Gates he learned that Darius had been seized and loaded with chains by his own satrap Bessus, who entertained the design of establish- 542 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL1V. iug himself in Bactria as an independent sovereign. This intel- ligence stimulated Alexander to make still further haste with j 'art of his cavalry and a chosen body of foot. On the fourth day he succeeded in overtaking the fugitives with his cavalry, having been obliged to leave the infantry behind, with direo tions to follow more at leisure. The enemy, who did not know his real strength, were struck with consternation at his appear- ance, and fled precipitately. Bessus and his adherents now endeavoured to persuade Darius to fly with them, and provided a fleet horse for that purpose. But the Persian monarch, who had already experienced the generosity of Alexander, in the treatment of his captive family, preferred to fall into his hands, whereupon the conspirators mortally wounded him in tho chariot in which they kept him confined, and then took to flight. Darius expired before Alexander could come up, who threw his own cloak over the body. He then ordered him to bo magnificently buried in the tomb of his ancestors, and provided for the fitting education of his children. § 16. Alexander next invaded Hyrcania, a province of the Persian empire, on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and took possession of Zadracarta, the chief town in the country. From thence he undertook an expedition against the Mardians, a warlike tribe in the western part of Hyrcania, who, thinking themselves secure amidst their forests and mountains, had re- fused to make their submission. After chastising the Mardians, Alexander quitted Zadracarta, and pursued his march eastwards through the province of Aria. Near Artacoana, the capital of Aria, he founded a city on the banks of the river Arius, called after him (Alexandria Ariorum), and which, under the name of Herat, is still one of the chief cities in central Asia. Hence he proceeded southwards to Prophthasia, the capital of Drangiana, where his stay was signalized by a supposed conspiracy against his life, formed by Philotas, the son of Parmenio. Alexander had long entertained suspicions of Philotas. Whilst still in Egypt he had discovered that Philotas had spoken disparagingly of his exploits, and had boasted that, without the aid of his father and himself, Alexander would never have been able to achieve his conquests. He had also ridiculed the oracle respecting Alex- ander's supernatural birth, and had more recently opposed the inclination which that monarch now began to display to assume all the pomp and state of a Persian king. But the immediate subject of accusation against him was that he had not revealed a conspiracy which was reported to be forming against Alex- ander's life, and which he had deemed too contemptible to notice. He was consequently suspected of being implicated in it ; and B.C. 329. DEATH OF BESSUS 543 on being put to the torture he not only confessed his own guilt in his agcnies, but also implicated his father. Philotas was executed, and an order was sent to Ecbatana, where Parmenio then was, directing that veteran general to be put to death. A letter, purporting to be from his son, was handed to him ; and whilst the old man was engaged in reading it, Polydamas, his intimate friend, together with some others of Alexander's prin- cipal officers, fell upon and slew him. His head was carried to Alexander. Hephsestion, who had been active in exciting the king's suspicion against Philotas, was rewarded with a share of the command vacated by his death ; but the horse-guards were now divided into two regiments, one of which was given to Ile- phaastion and the other to Clitus. § 17. Late in the year 330, Alexander directed his march southwards, to the banks of the Etymandrus (the Helmund), where he remained sixty days. Hence he penetrated into Ara- chosia, and founded there another Alexandria, which is sup- posed to be the modern city of Oandahar. He then crossed the lofty mountains of Paropamisus, called Caucasus by the Greeks (now Eindoo-Koosh), which were covered with deep snow, and so barren that they did not even afford firewood for his army. At the foot of one of the passes of these mountains Alexander founded another city called Alexandria ad Caucasum, situated probably about fifty miles north-west of Cabul. Alexander now entered Bactria ; but Bessus did not wait his approach, and fled across the Oxus into Sogdiana. Early in the summer of 329, Alexander foUowed him across the Oxus ; and shortly afterwards Bessus was betrayed by two of his own officers into the hands of Alexander. Bessus was carried to Zariaspa, the capital of Bactria, where he was brought before a Persian court, and put to death in a cruel and barbarous manner. Alexander next took possession of Maracanda (now Samar- cand), the capital of Sogdiana, from whence he advanced to the river Jaxartes (Sir), which he designed to make the boundary of his empire against the Scythians. On the banks of that river he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate (the last or farthest), probably the modern Khojend. After crossing the river and defeating the Scythians, who menaced him on the opposite bank, he returned into winter-quarters at Zariaspa. Sogdiana, however, was not yet subdued, and accordingly in the following year 328 Alexander again crossed the Oxus. He divided his army into five bodies, ordering them to scour the country in different directions. With the troops under his own command he marched against the fortress called the Sogdian Rock, seated on an isolated hill, so precipitous as to be deemed noac- 544 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLIV. cessible, and so well supplied with provisions as to defy a blockade. The summons to surrender was treated with derisicn by the commander, who inquired whether the Macedonians had wings ? But a small body of Macedonians having succeeded in scaling 3?me heights which overhung the fortress, the garrison became so alarmed that they immediately surrendered. To this place a Bactrian named Oxyartes, an adherent of Bessus, had sent his daughters for safety. One of them, named Roxana, was of surpassing beauty, and Alexander made her the partner of his throne. § 18. Alexander now returned to Maracanda, where he was joined by the other divisions of his army, and while remaining at this place he appointed his friend Clitus satrap of Bactria. On the eve of the parting of the two friends, Alexander cele- brated a festival in honour of the Dioscuri, though the day was sacred to Dionysus. The banquet was attended by several parasites and literary flatterers, who magnified the praises of Alexander with extravagant and nauseous flattery. Clitus, whom wine had released from all prudent reserve, sternly rebuked their fulsome adulation ; and, as the conversation turned on the com- parative merits of the exploits of Alexander and his father Philip, he did not hesitate to prefer the exploits of the latter. He re- minded Alexander of his former services, and, stretching forth his hand, exclaimed, " It was this hand, Alexander, which saved your life at the battle of the Granlcus ! " The king, who was also flushed with wine, was so enraged by these remarks, that he rushed at Clitus with the intention of killing him on the spot, but he was held back by his friends, whilst Clitus was at the same time hurried out of the room. Alexander, however, was no sooner released than, snatching a spear, he sprang to the door, and meeting Clitus, who was returning in equal fury to brave his anger, ran him through the body. But when the deed was done, he was seized with repentance and remorse. He flung himself on his couch and remained for three whole days in an agony of grief, refusing all sustenance, and calling on the names of Clitus and of his sister Lanice, who had been his nurse. It was not till his bodily strength began to fail through protracted absti- nence that he at last became more composed, and consented to listen to the consolations of his friends, and the words of the soothsayers ; who ascribed the murder of Clitus to a temporary frenzy with which Dionysus had visited him as a punishment for neglecting the celebration of his festival. § 19. After reducing the rest of the fortresses of Sogdiana, Alexander returned into Bactria in 327, and began to prepare for his projected expedition into India. Whilst he was thus B.C. 327. INVASION OF INDIA. 545 employed, a plot was formed against his life by the royal pages, incited by Hermolaus, one of their number, who had been punished with stripes for anticipating the king during a hunting party in slaying a wild boar. Hermolaus and his associates, among whom was Callisthenes, a pupil of Aristotle, were first tortured, and then put to death. It seems certain that a con- spiracy existed ; but no less certain that the growing pride and haughtiness of Alexander were gradually alienating from him the hearts of his followers. Alexander did not leave Bactria till late in the spring. He crossed the Indus by a bridge of boats near Taxila, the present Attoch, where the river is about 1000 feet broad, and very deep. He is said to have entered India at the head of 120,000 foot and 15,000 horse, the greater part of whom must necessarily have been Asiatics. He now found himself in the district at present called the Penj-db (or the Five Eivers). Taxiles, the sovereign of the district, at once surrendered Taxila, his capi- tal and joined the Macedonian force with 5000 men. Hence Alexander proceeded with little resistance to the river Hydaspes (Behut or Jelum). On the opposite bank, Porus,* a powerful Indian king, prepared to dispute his progress with a numerous and well-appointed force. Alexander, however, by a skilful stra- tagem conveyed his army safely across the river. An obstinate battle then ensued. In the army of Porus were many elephants, the sight and smell of which frightened the horses of Alex- ander's cavalry. But these unwieldy animals ultimately proved as dangerous to the Indians as to the Greeks ; for when driven into a narrow space they became unmanageable, and created great confusion in the ranks of Porus. By a few vigorous charges the Indians were completely routed, with the loss of 12,000 slain and 9000 prisoners. Among the latter was Porus himself, who was conducted into the presence of Alexander. The courage which he had displayed in the battle had excited the admiration of the Macedonian king. Mounted on an enor- mous elephant, he retreated leisurely when the day was lost, and long rejected every summons to surrender ; till at length, over- come by thirst and fatigue, he permitted himself to be taken. Even in this situation Porus still retained his majestic bearing, the effect of which was increased by the extraordinary height of his stature. On Alexander's inquiring how he wished to be treated, he replied, "Like a king." "And have you no other request ?" asked Alexander. " No," answered Porus ; " every- thing is comprehended in the word king." Struck by his mag- * Porus is probably a corruption of the Sanscrit word " Paurusha," which signifies a " hero." GR. 2 n 546 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLIY. naniruity, Alexauder not only restored him to his dominions, but also considerably enlarged them ; seeking by these means to retain him as an obedient and faithful vassal. Alexander rested a month on the banks of the Hydaspes, where he celebrated his victory by games and sacrifices, and founded two towns, one of which he named Nicaea, and the other Bucephala, in honour of his gallant charger Bucephalus, which is said to have died here. He then overran the whole of the Penj-ab, as far as the Hyphasis (Ohurra), its southern boundaiy. The only resolute resistance he experienced was from the war- like tribe of the Cathsei, whose capital, Sangala, was probably the modern Lahore. They were subdued, and their territory divided amongst the other Indian tribes. Upon reaching the Hyphasis, the army, worn out by fatigues and dangers, positively refused to proceed any farther ; although Alexander passionately desired to attack a monarch still more powerful than Porus, whose dominions, he heard, lay beyond the river. All his attempts to induce his soldiers to proceed proving ineffectual, he prepared to submit with a good grace to an alternative which he perceived to be unavoidable. Pretending that the sacrifices were unfavourable for the passage of the Hyphasis, he gave the order for retreat ; having first erected on its banks 12 colossal altars to mark the boundary of his conquests in that direction. § 20. When Alexander again arrived at his newly founded cities of Nicaea and Bucephala on the Hydaspes, he divided his army into three detachments. Two of these, under the com- mand of Hephoestion and Craterus, were ordered to descend the Hydaspes on its opposite banks ; whilst he himself, at the head of 8000 men, embarked on board a fleet of about 2000 vessels, which he had ordered to be prepared with the view of sailing down the Indus to its mouth. The ignorance which prevailed among the Macedonians respecting the geography of the region to be traversed, may be estimated from the circumstance that Alexander at first considered the Indus to be a branch oi the Nile. The army began to move in November 327. The navigation lasted several months, but was accomplished without any serious opposition, except from the tribe of the Malli, who are conjec- tured to have occupied the site of the present Mooltan. At the storming of their town the life of Alexander was exposed to imminent danger. He was the first to scale the walls of tho citadel, and was followed by four officers ; but before a fifth man could mount, the ladder broke, and Alexander was left exposed on the wall to the missiles of the enemy. From this, situation B.C. 326. RETURN TO PERSIA. 547 thei'e were only two methods of escape ; either by leaping down among his own army, or into the citadel among the enemy. Alexander chose the latter ; and alighting on his feet, placed his back to the wall, where he succeeded in keeping the enemy at bay, and slew two of their chiefs who had ventured within reach of his sword. But an arrow which pierced his corslet brought him to the ground, fainting with loss of blood. Two of his fol- lowers who had jumped down after him, now stood over and defended him ; till at length more soldiers having scaled the walls, and opened one of the gates, sufficient numbers poured in not only to rescue their monarch, but to capture the citadel ; when every living being within the place was put to the sword. Alexander's life was long in great danger, but when he was suffi- ciently recovered he was again placed in his vessel, and dropped down the Hydraotes (Have) to its confluence with the Acesines. Here his army was encamped ; and the soldiers testified by shouts and tears their joy at again beholding their commander. Hence Alexander pursued his course to the point where the four rivers, now united into one stream, the Acesines (Chenab), join the Indus. At their confluence he ordered dockyards to be con- structed, and another Alexandria to be built. Hence he pursued his voyage to the Indian Ocean, all the towns on either bank of the river submitting at his approach. When he arrived at the mouth of the Indus, he explored its estuaries, and accompanied by a few horsemen skirted the margin of the Delta next the sea. Nearchus with the fleet was directed to explore the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the mouths of the Tigris and Eu- phrates, with the view of establishing a maritime communication between India and Persia. We have hitherto beheld Alexander only as a conqueror ; but these cares exhibit him in the more pleasing light of a geographical discoverer, and of a sovereign solicitous for the substantial benefit of his subjects. § 21. From this point Alexander proceeded with his army, in the autumn of 326, through the burning deserts of Gedrosia towards Persepohs ; marching himself on foot, and sharing tho privations and fatigues of the meanest soldier. In these regions the very atmosphere seems to be composed of a fine dust, which, on the slightest wind, penetrates into the mouth and nose, whilst the soil affords no firm footing to the traveller. The march through this inhospitable region lasted 60 days, during which numbers of the soldiers perished from fatigue or disease. At length they emei-ged into the fertile province of Carmania. Whilst in this country, Alexander was rejoined by Nearchus, who had arrived with his fleet at Harmozia (Ormuz) ; but who subsequently prosecuted his voyage to the head of the Persian 2 n 2 548 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciiaf. XLIV. Gulf. The main body of the army under Hephoestion was directed to march along the shores of the Gulf ; whilst Alexander himself, with his horse-guards and light infantry, took a shorter route through Pasargadse and Persepolis. During his stay in the latter city, he remedied the disorders which had been committed since he left it, and executed summary justice on the delinquent satraps who had oppressed the provinces of Persis. It was thus that he caused his empire to be respected as much by the equity of his administration, as by the irresistible force of his arms. § 22. From Persepolis Alexander pursued his march to Susa (b.c. 325), where the soldiers were allowed to repose from their fatigues, and were amused with a series of brilliant festivities. It was here that he adopted various measures with the view of consolidating his empire. One of the most important was to form the Greeks and Persians into one people by means of in- termarriages. He himself celebrated his nuptials with Statira, the eldest daughter of Darius, and bestowed the hand of her sister, Drypetis, on Hephscstion. Other marriages were made between Alexander's officers and Asiatic women to the number, it is said, of about a hundred; whilst no fewer than 10,000 of the common soldiers followed their example and took native wives. As another means of amalgamating the Europeans and Asiatics, he caused numbers of the latter to be admitted into the army, and to be armed and trained in the Macedonian fashion. But these innovations were regarded with a jealous eye by most of the Macedonian veterans ; and this feeling was increased by the conduct of Alexander himself, who assumed every day more and more of the state and manners of an eastern despot. At first, indeed, the growing discontent was repressed by the largo bounties distributed among the soldiers, and by the dis- charge of all their debts. But at length their long stifled dis- satisfaction broke out into open mutiny and rebellion at a review which took place at Opis on the Tigris. Alexander here jiroposed to dismiss such Macedonians as were wounded or otherwise disabled ; but though they had clamoured for meir discharge whilst on the other side of the Indus, they now re- garded this proposal as an insult, and called out " That the king had better dismiss them all — his father Amnion would fight his battles." But the mutiny was quelled by the decisive conduct of Alexander. He immediately ordered thirteen of the ring- leaders to be seized and executed, and then addressing the remainder, pointed out to them how, by his own and his father's exertions, they had been raised from the condition of scattered herdsmen to be ths masters of Greece and the lords of Asia; and that whilst lie had abandoned to them the richest and most B.C. 324. ALEXANDER ENTERS BABYLON. 549 valuable fruits of his conquests, he had reserved nothing but the diadem for himself, as the mark of his superior labours and more imminent perils. He then secluded himself for two whole days, during which his Macedonian guard was exchanged for a Persian one, whilst nobles of the same nation were appointed to the most confidential posts about his person. Overcome by these marks of alienation on the part of their sovereign, the Macedo- nians now supplicated with tears to be restored to favour. A solemn reconciliation was effected, and 10,000 veterans were dis- missed to their homes under the conduct of Craterus. That general was also appointed to the government of Macedonia in place of Antipater, who was ordered to repair to Asia with fresh reinforcements. § 23. Soon after these occurrences, Alexander proceeded to Ecbataua, where during the autumn he solemnized the festival of Dionysus with extraordinary splendour. The best actors and musicians in Greece, to the number it is said of 3000, were assembled for the occasion ; whilst the natives flocked from all quarters to the Median capital, to witness what was to them a novel spectacle. But Alexander's enjoyment was suddenly con- verted into bitterness by the death of his friend Hephaestion, who was carried off by a fever. This event threw Alexander into a deep melancholy, from which he never entirely recovered. The memory of Hepheestion was honoured by extravagant marks of public mourning, and his body was conveyed to Babylon, to be there interred with the utmost magnificence. His name was still retained as commander of a division of the cavalry ; and the officer who actually discharged the duties of the post was only regarded as his lieutenant. Alexander entered Babylon in the spring of 324, notwithstand- ing the warnings of the priests of Belus, who predicted some serious evil to him if he entered the city at that time. Babylon was now to witness the consummation of his triumphs and of his life. As in the last scene of some well-ordered drama, all the results and tokens of his great achievements seemed to be collected there to do honour to his final exit. Ambassadors from all parts of Greece, from Libya, Italy, and probably from still more distant regions, were waiting to salute him, and to do homage to him as the conqueror of Asia ; the fleet under Ne- archus had arrived after its long and enterprising voyage, and had been augmented by other vessels constructed in Phoenicia, and thence brought overland to Thapsacus, and down the river to Babylon ; whilst for the reception of this navy, which seemed to turn the inland capital of his empire into a port, a magnificent harbour was in process of construction. A more melancholy. 550 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL1V. and it may be added, a more useless, monument of his greatness was the funeral pile now rising for Hephasstion, which was con- structed with such unparalleled splendour, that it is said to have cost 10,000 talents. The mind of Alexander was still occu- pied with plans of conquest and ambition ; his next design was the subjugation of Arabia ; which, however, was to be only the stepping stone to the conquest of tho whole known world. Ho despatched three expeditions to survey the coast of Arabia ; ordered a fleet to be built to explore the Caspian sea ; and en- gaged himself in surveying the course of the Euphrates, and in devising improvements of its navigation. The period for com- mencing the Arabian campaign had already arrived ; solemn sacrifices were offered up for its success, and grand banquets were given previous to departure. At these carousals Alexander drank deep ; and at the termination of the one given by his favourite, Medius, he was seized with unequivocal symptoms of fever. For some days, however, he neglected the disorder, and continued to occupy himself with the necessary preparations for the march. But in eleven days the malady had gained a fatal strength, and terminated his life on the 28th of June, B.C. 323, at the early age of 32. Whilst he lay speechless on his deathbed his favourite troops were admitted to see him ; but he could offer them no other token of recognition than by stretching out his hand. § 24. Few of the great characters of history have been so differently judged as Alexander. Of the magnitude of his ex- ploits, indeed, and of the justice with which, according to the usual sentiments of mankind, they confer upon him the title of " Great," there can be but one opinion : it is his motives for undertaking them that have been called in question. An emi- nent writer* brands him as an "adventurer ;" an epithet which, to a certain extent, must be allowed to be true, but which is not more true of him than of most other conquerors on a large scale. His military renown, however, consists more in the seem- ingly extravagant boldness of his enterprises, than in the real power of the foes whom he overcame. The resistance ho met witli was not greater than that which a European army expe- riences in the present day from one composed of Asiatics ; and the empire of the East was decided by tho two battles of Issus and Arbela. His chief difficulties were the geographical diffi- culties of distance, climate, and the nature of the ground tra- versed. But this is no proof that he was incompetent to meet a foe more worthy of his military skill ; and his proceedings in Greece before his departure show the reverse. * Nicbuhr. .B.C. 323. DEATH OF ALEXANDER. 551 His motives, it must be allowed, seem rather to have sprung from the love of personal glory and the excitement of conquest, than from any wish to benefit his subjects. The attention which he occasionally devoted to commerce, to the foundation of new cities, and to other matters of a similar kind, form rather episodes in his history, than the real objects at which his aims were directed ; and it was not by his own prudence, but through the weariness of his army, that his career of conquest was at length arrested, which he wished to prosecute before he had consoli- dated what he had already won. Yet on the whole his achieve- ments, though they undoubtedly occasioned great partial misery, must be regarded as beneficial to the human race ; the families of which, if it were not for some such movements, would stag- nate in solitary hstlessness and poverty. By the conquests of Alexander the two continents were put into closer communica- tion with one another ; and both, but particularly Asia, were the gainers. The language, the arts, and the literature of Greece, were introduced into the East ; and after the death of Alexander Greek kingdoms were formed in the western parts of Asia, winch continued to exist for many generations. A polio Cltharwdus. Frctn the collection in tho Vatican.. The Group of Xiobe. From the Collection at Florence. CHAPTER XLV. FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER TDIE GREAT TO THE BATTLE OF IPSUS. § 1. Division of the provinces after Alexander's death. § 2. Retrospective view of Grecian affairs. Revolt of Agis. Demosthenes dc Corona. § ">. Arrival of Harpalus at Athens. Accusation and exile of Demosthenes. § 4. The Lamian war. Defeat of Antipater, and siege of Lamia. § 5. De- feat and death of Leounatus. Battle of Crannon. End of the Lamian war. § 6. Death of Demosthenes. Ambitious projects of Perdiccas. His inva- sion of Egypt, and death. § 7. Fresh division of the provinces at Tripara- disus. Death of Antipater. Polysperchon becomes regent, and conciliates the Grecian states. Death of Phocion. § 8. War between Polysperchon and Cassander. Ill success of Polysperchon. Cassander becomes master of Macedonia, and puts Olympias to death. § 9. Coalition against An- tigonus. Peace concluded in B.C. 311. Murder of Roxana and her son. § 10. Renewal of the war against Antigonus. Demetrius Poliorcetes expels the Macedonians from Athens. § 11. Demetrius Poliorcetes at Cyprus. Battle of Salamis. Attempt on Egypt. Siege of Rhodes. §12. Battle of Ipsus, and death of Antigonus. § 1. The unexpected death of Alexander threatened to involve both his extensive dominions and his army in inextricable con- fusion. On the day after his death a military council assembled to decide on the course to be pursued. Alexander on his death- bed is said to have given his signet-ring to Perdiccas, but he had left no legitimate heir to bis throne, though his wife Roxana was pregnant. In the discussions which ensued in the council, BC. 323. PARTITION OF THE EMPIRR. 553 Perdiccas assumed a leading part ; and after much debate, and a quarrel between the cavalry and infantry, which at first threat- ened the most serious consequences, an arrangement was at length effected on the following basis : That Philip Arrhidaeus, a young man of weak intellect, the half-brother of Alexander (being the son of Philip by a Thessalian woman named Philinna), should be de- clared king, reserving however to the child of Roxana, if a son should be born, a share in the sovereignty : that the government of Macedonia and Greece should be divided between Antipater and Craterus : that Ptolemy, who was reputed to be conuected with the royal family, should preside over Egypt and the adjacent countries : that Antigonus should have Phrygia Proper, Lycia, and Pamphyha : that the Hellespontine Phrygia should be as- signed to Leonnatus : that Eumenes should have the satrapy of Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, which countries, however, still remained to be subdued : and that Thrace should be committed to Lysimachus. Perdiccas reserved for himself the chiliarchy, or command of the horse-guards, the post before held by He- phaestion, in virtue of which he became the guardian of Philip Arrhidseus, the nominal sovereign. It was not for some time after these arrangements had been completed that the last rites were paid to Alexander's remains. They were conveyed to Alex- andria, and deposited in a cemetery which afterwards became the burial-place of the Ptolemies. Nothing could exceed the magnificence of the funeral car, which was adorned with orna- ments of massive gold, and so heavy, that it was more than a year in being conveyed from Babylon to Syria, though drawn by 84 mules. In due time Eoxana was delivered of a son, to whom the name of Alexander was given, and who was declared the partner of Arrhidseus in the empire. Roxana had previously inveigled Statira and her sister Drypetis to Babylon, where she caused them to be secretly assassinated. § 2. It is now necessary to take a brief retrospective glance at the affairs of Greece. Three years after Alexander had quitted Europe, the Spartans made a vigorous effort to throw off the Macedonian yoke. They w&i'e joined by most of the Peloponne- sian states, but the Athenians kept aloof. La B.C. 331, the Spar- tans took up arms under the command of their king, Agis ; but though they met with some success at first, they were finally defeated with great slaughter by Antipater, near Megalopolis. Agis fell in the battle, and the chains of Greece were riveted more firmly than ever. This victory, and the successes of Alex- ander in the East, encouraged the Macedonian party in Athens to take active measures against Demosthenes ; and iEschines trumped up an old charge against him which had lain dormant 554 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLY. for several years. Soon after the battle of Chseronea, Ctesiphon had proposed that Demosthenes should be presented with a golden crown in the theatre during the great Dionysiac festival, on account of the services he had conferred upon his country. For proposing this decree Machines indicted Ctesiphon ; but though the latter was the nominal def?ndant, it was Demos- thenes who was really put upon his trial. The case was decided in 330 B.C., and has been immortalized by the memorable and still extant speeches of iEschines " Against Ctesiphon," and of Demosthenes " On the Crown." vEschines, who did not obtaif a fifth part of the votes, and consequently became himself liable to a penalty, was so chagrined at his defeat that he retired to Rhodes. § 3. In B.C. 325, Harpalus arrived in Athens. Harpalus was a great favourite with Alexander, as he had embraced his side during his quarrel with his father, Philip. When Alexander, after the conquest of Persia and Media, determined to push on into the interior of Asia, in pursuit of Darius, he left Harpalus at Ecbatana, with 6000 Macedonian troops, in charge of the royal treasures. From thence he removed to Babylon, and appears to have held the important satrapy of that province as well as the administration of the treasury. It was here that, during the absence of Alexander in India, he gave himself up to the most extravagant luxury and profusion, squandering the treasures en- trusted to him, at the same time that he alienated the people subject to his rule, by his lustful excesses and extortions. He had probably thought that Alexander would never return from the remote regions of the East into which he had penetrated ; but when he at length learnt that the king was on his march back to Susa, and had visited with unsparing rigour those of his officers who had been guilty of any excesses during his absence, he at once saw that his only resource was in flight. Collecting together all the treasures which he could, and assembling a body of 6000 mercenaries, he hastened to the coast of Asia, and from thence crossed over to Attica. He seems to have reckoned on a favourable reception at Athens, as during the time of his pros- perity he had made the city a large present of corn, in return for which ho had received the right of citizenship. At first, however, the Athenians refused to receive him ; but bribes administered to some of the principal orators induced them to alter their determination. Such a step was tantamount to an act of hostility against Macedonia itself; and accordingly Antipater called upon the Athenians to deliver up Harpalus, and to bring to trial those who had accepted his bribes. The Athe- nians did not venture to disobey these demands. Harpalus w«is B.C. 323. LAMIAN WAS. 555 put into confinement, but succeeded in making his escape from prison. Demosthenes was among the orators who were brought to trial for corruption. He was declared to be guilty, and was con- demned to pay a fine of 50 talents. Not being able to raise that sum he was thrown into prison ; but he contrived to make his escape, and went into exile. There are, however, good grounds for doubting his guilt ; and it is more probable that he fell a victim to the implacable hatred of the Macedonian party. Upon quitting Athens Demosthenes resided chiefly at ^Egina or Trcezen, in sight of his native land, and whenever he looked towards her shores it was observed that he shed tears. § 4. When the news of Alexander's death reached Athens, the anti-Macedonian party, which, since the exile of Demosthenes, was led by Hyperides, carried all before it. The fieople in a decree declared their determination to support the liberty of Greece ; a fleet of 240 triremes was ordered to be equipped ; all citizens under 40 years of age were commanded to enrol them- selves for service ; and Leosthenes was directed to levy an army of mercenaries. Envoys were despatched to all the Grecian states to announce the determination of Athens, and to exhort them to struggle with her for their independence. This call was responded to in the Peloponnesus only by the smaller states, whilst Sparta, Arcadia, and Achaia kept aloof. In northern Greece the confederacy was joined by most of the states except the Boeotians ; and Leosthenes was appointed commander-in- chief of the allied forces. Phocion, as usual, was opposed to this war, thinking the forces of Athens wholly inadequate to sustain it. Leosthenes scoffed at him, and asked him " What he had ever done for his country, during the long time that he was general V* " Do you reckon it nothing," answered Phocion, " that the Athenians are buried in the sepulchres of their forefathers 1" And when Leosthenes continued his pompous harangues, Phocion said : "Young man, your speeches resemble cypress-trees, which are indeed large and lofty, but produce no fruit." " Tell us, then," interrupted Hy- perides, "what will be the proper time for the Athenians to make war?" Phocion answered: "Not till young men keep within the bounds of decorum, the rich contribute with liberality, and the orators desist from robbing the people." The allied army assembled in the neighbourhood of Thermo- pylae. Antipater now advanced from the north, and offered battle in the vale of the Spercheus ; but being deserted by his Thessalian cavalry, who went over to his opponents during the heat of the engagement, he was obliged to retreat, and threw himself into Lamia, a strong fortress on the Malian gulf. Leos- 556 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLY. thenes, desirous to finish the war at a blow, pressed the siege with the utmost vigour ; but his assaults were repulsed, and he was compeded to resort to the slower method of a blockade. From this town the contest between Antipater and the allied Greeks has been called the Lamian War. § 5. The novelty of a victory over the Macedonian arms was received with boundless exultation at Athens, and this feeling was raised to a still higher pitch by the arrival of an embassy from Antipater to sue for peace. Phocion was bantered unmercifully. He was asked whether he would not like to have done such great things as Leosthenes ? " Certainly," said he ; " but I should not have advised the attempting of them." And when messenger after messenger announced the successes of the Athenian arms, he ex- claimed sarcastically, " When shall we have done conquering V The Athenians were so elated with their good fortune, that they would listen to no terms but the unconditional surrender of Antipater. Meantime Demosthenes, though still an exile, ex- erted himself in various parts of the Peloponnesus in counter- acting the ens-oys of Antipater, and in endeavouring to gain adherents to the cause of Athens and the allies. The Athenians in return invited Demosthenes back to his native country, and a ship was sent to convey him to Piraeus, where he was received with extraordinary honours. Meanwhile Leonnatus, governor of the Hellespontine Phrygia, had appeared ou the theatre of war with an army of 20,000 foot and 2500 horse. Leosthenes had been slain at Lamia in a sally of the besieged ; and Antiphilus, on whom the command of tho allied army devolved, hastened to offer battle to Leonnatus before he could arrive at Lamia. The hostile armies met in one of the plains of Thessaly, where Leonnatus was killed and his troops defeated. Antipater, as soon as the blockade of Lamia was raised, had pursued Antiphilus, and on the day after the battle he effected a junction with the beaten army of Leonnatus. Shortly afterwards, Antipater was still further reinforced by the arrival of Craterus with a considerable force from Asia ; and being now at the head of an army which outnum- bered the forces of the allies, he marched against them, and gained a decisive victory over them near Crannon in Thessaly, on the 7th of August, n.c. 322. The allies were now compelled to sue for peace ; but Antipater refused tc treat with them except as separate states, foreseeing that by this means many would be detached, from the confederacy. The result answered his expectations. One by one, the various states submitted, til] at length all had laid down their anas. Athens, the original insti- B.C. 322. DEATH OF DEMOSTHENES. 557 gator of the insurrection, now lay at the mercy of the conqueror. As Antipater advanced, Phocion used all the influence which he possessed with the Macedonians in favour of his countrymen ; but he could obtain no other terms than an unconditional sur- render. On a second mission, Phocion received the final demands of Antipater ; which were, that the Athenians should deliver up a certain number of their orators, among whom were Demosthenes and Hyperides ; that their political franchise should be limited by a property qualification ; that they should receive a Macedo- nian garrison in Munychia, and that they should defray the expenses of the war. Such was the result of the Lamian war. § 6. After the return of the envoys bringing the ultimatum of Antipater, the sycophant Demades procured a decree for thn death of the denounced orators. Demosthenes, and the other persons compromised, made their escape from Athens before the Macedonian garrison arrived. yEgina was their first place of refuge, but they soon parted in different directions. Hypo- rides fled to the temple of Demeter at Hermione' in Pelopon- nesus, whilst Demosthenes took refuge in that of Poseidon in the isle of Calaurea, near Trcezen. But the satellites of Anti- pater, under the guidance of a Thurian named Archias, who had formerly been an actor, tore them from their sanctuaries. Hype- rides was carried to Athens, and it is said that Antipater took the brutal and cowardly revenge of ordering his tongue to be cut out, and his remains to be thrown to the dogs. Demosthenes contrived at least to escape the insults of the tyrannical con- queror. Archias at first endeavoured to entice him from hia sanctuary by the blandest promises. But Demosthenes, fore- warned, it is said, by a dream, fixing his eyes intently on him, exclaimed : " Your acting, Archias, never touched me formerly, nor do your promises now." And when Archias began to employ threats : " Good," said Demosthenes, " now you speak as from the Macedonian tripod ; before you were only playing a part. But wait awhile, and let me write my last directions to my family." So taking his writing materials, he put the reed into his mouth, and bit it for some time, as was his custom when composing ; after which he covered his head with his garment and reclined against a pillar. The guards who accompanied Archias, imagining this to be a mere trick, laughed and called him coward, whilst Archias began to renew his false persuasions. Demosthenes feeling the poison work — for such it was that he had concealed in the reed — now bade him lead en. " You may now," said he, " enact the part of Creon, and cast me out unburied ; but at least, O gracious Poseidon, I have sot polluted thy temple by my death, which Antipater and his Macedonians 658 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLV. ■would not have scrupled at." But whilst he was endeavouring to walk out, he fell down by the altar and expired. § 7. The course of events now carries us back to the East. Perdiccas possessed rnorG power than any of Alexander's ge- nerals, and was regarded as the regent of the empire. He had the custody of the infant Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great, and the weak Philip Arrhidseus was a puppet in his hands. Perdiccas had at first courted the alliance of Antipater, and had even married his daughter Niccea. But when Olympias offered him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra, if he would assist her against Antipater, Perdiccas resolved to divorce Nicoea at the first convenient opportunity, and espouse Cleopatra in her stead, believing that such an alliance with the royal family would pave his way to the Macedonian throne, to which he was now aspir- ing. His designs, however, were not unknown to Antigonus and Ptolemy ; and when he attempted to bring Antigonus to trial for some offence in the government of his satrapy, that general made his escape to Macedonia, where he revealed to Antipater the full extent of the ambitious schemes of Perdiccas, and thus at once induced Antipater and Craterus to unite in a league with him and Ptolemy, and openly declare war against the regent. Thus assailed on all sides, Perdiccas resolved to direct Ins arms in the first instance against Ptolemy. In the spring of B.C. 321 he ac- cordingly set out on his march against Egypt, at the head of a formidable army, and accompanied by Philip Arrhidaeus, and Roxana and her infant son. He advanced without opposition as far as Pelusium, but he found the banks of the Nile strongly for- tified and guarded by Ptolemy, and was repulsed in repeated attempts to force the passage of the river ; in the last of which, near Memphis, he lost great numbers of men, by the depth and rapidity of the current. Perdiccas had never been popular with the soldiery, and these disasters completely alienated their affec- tions. A conspiracy was formed against him, and some of his chief officers murdered him in his tent. § 8. The death of Perdiccas was followed by a fresh distribu- tion of the provinces of the empire. At a meeting of the generals held at Triparadisus in Syria, towards the end of the year 321 B.C., Antipater was declared regent, retaining the go- vernment of Macedonia and Greece ; Ptolemy was continued in the government of Egypt ; Seleucus received the satrapy of Ba- bylon ; whilst Antigonus not only retained his old province, but was rewarded with that of Susiana. Antipater did not long survive these events. He died in the year 318, at the advanced age of 80, leaving Polysperchon, one of Alexander's oldest generals, regent; much to the surprise and B.C. 321. TREATY OF TEIPARADISUS. 559 mortification of his son Cassander, who received only the second- ary dignity of Chiliarch, or commander of the cavalry. Cas- sander was now bent on obtaining the regency ; but seeing no hope of success in Macedonia, he went over to Asia to solicit the assistance of Antigonus. Polysperchon, on his side, sought to conciliate the friendship of the Grecian states, by proclaiming them all free and inde- pendent, and by abolishing the oligarchies which had been set up by Antipater. In order to enforce these measures, Poly- sperchon prepared to march into Greece, whilst his son Alex- ander was despatched beforehand with an army towards Athens, to compel the Macedonian garrison under the command of Kica- nor to evacuate Munychia. Nicanor, however, refused to move without orders from Cassander, whose general he declared himself to be. Phocion was suspected of intriguing in favour of Nicanor, and being accused of treason, fled to Alexander, now encamped before the walls of Athens. Alexander sent Phocion and the friends who accompanied him to his father, who was then in Phocis ; and at the same time an Athenian embassy arrived in Polysperchon's camp to accuse Phocion. A sort of mock trial ensued, the result of which was that Phocion was sent back to Athens in chains, to be tried by the Athenian people. The theatre, where his trial was to take place, was soon full to overflowing. Phocion was assailed on every side by the clamours of his enemies, which prevented his defence from being heard, and he was condemned to death by a show of hands. To the last Phocion maintained his calm and dignified, but somewhat contemptuous bearing. When some wretched man spat upon him as he passed to the prison, " Will no one," said he, " check this fellow's indecency V To one who asked him whether he had any message to leave for his son Phocus, he an- swered, " Only that he bear no grudge against the Athenians." And when the hemlock which had been prepared was found in- fiufficient for all the condemned, and the jailer would not furnish more unless he was paid for it, " Give the man his money," said Phocion to one of his friends, " since at Athens one cannot even die for nothing." He died in B.C. 317, at the age of 85. The Athenians afterwards repented of their conduct towards Phocion. His bones, which had been cast out on the frontiers of Megara, were subsequently brought back to Athens, and a bronze statue was erected to his memory. § 9. Whilst Alexander was negotiating with Nicanor about the surrender of Munychia, Cassander arrived in the Piraeus with a considerable army, with which Antigonus had supplied him ; and though Polysperchon himself soon came up with a largo 560 HISTORY OP GREECE. Chap. XL V. force, he found the fortifications of Piraeus too strong for him. Leaving, therefore, his son to blockade the city, Polysperchon advanced with the greater part of his army into the Pelopon- nesus. Here he laid siege to Megalopolis ; but that town was defended with such extraordinary efforts that Polysperchon was compelled to withdraw. His ill success, as well as the destruction of his fleet by the fleet of Cassander, produced an unfavourable turn in the disposition of the Greek states towards Polysperchon, and Athens in particular abandoned his alliance for that of Cassander, who established an oligarchical government in the city under the presidency of Demetrius of Phalerus. At the same time Eurydic6, the active and intriguing wife of Philip Arrhidaeus, conceived the project of throwing off the yoke of the regent, and concluded an alliance wdth Cassander, while she herself assembled an army with which she obtained for a time the complete possession of Macedonia. But in the spring of 317 Polysperchon, having united his forces with those of /Eacides, king of Epirus, invaded Macedonia, accompanied by Olympias. Eurydice met them with equal daring ; but when the mother of Alexander appeared on the field, surrounded by a train in bacchanalian style, the Macedonians at once declared in her favour, and Eurydice, abandoned by her own troops, fled to Amphipolis, where she soon fell into the hands of Olympias, who put both her and her husband to death, with circumstances of the greatest cruelty. She next wreaked her vengeance on the family of Antipater, and on the adherents of Cassander. These events determined Cassander to proceed with all haste into Ma- cedonia. At his approach Olympias threw herself into Pydna, together with Roxana and her son. Cassander forthwith laid siege to this place ; aud after a blockade of some months it sur- rendered in the spring of 316. Olympias had stipulated that her life should be spared, but Cassander soon afterwards caused her to be murdered. After the fall of Pydna ail Macedonia sub- mitted to Cassander ; who, after shutting up Roxana and her son in the citadel of Amphipolis, married Thessalonica, a half- sister of Alexander the Great, with the view of strengthening his pretensions to the throne. Shortly afterwards Cassander marched into Greece, and began the restoration of Thebes (b.c. 315), in the twentieth year after its destruction by Alexander, a measure highly popular with the Greeks. § 10. A new war now broke out in the East. Antigonus had become the most powerful of Alexander's successors. He bad conquered Eumenes, who had long defied his arms, and he now B.C. 315. COALITION AGAINST ANTIGONUS. 581 began to dispose of the provinces as he thought fit. His in- creasing power and ambitious projects led to a general coalition against him, consisting of Ptolemy, Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus, the governor of Thrace. The war began in the year 315, and was carried on with great vehemence and alternate suc- cess in Syria, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, and Greece. After four years all parties became exhausted with the struggle, and peace was accordingly concluded in 311, on condition that the Greek cities should be free, that Cassander should retain his authority in Europe till Alexander came of age, that Ptolemy and Lysi- machus should keep possession of Thrace and Egypt respectively, and that Antigonus should have the government of all Asia. The name of Seleucus does not occur in the treaty. This hollow peace, which had been merely patched up for the convenience of the parties concerned, was not of long duration. It seems to have been the immediate cause of another of those crimes which disgrace the history of Alexander's successor.-;. Alexander, who had now attained the age of sixteen, was still shut up with his mother Eoxana in Amphipolis ; and his parti- sans, with injudicious zeal, loudly expressed their wish that he should be released and placed ujion the throne. In order to avert this event Cassander contrived the secret murder both of the mother and the son. | 11. This abominable act, however, does not appear to have caused a breach of the peace. Ptolemy was the first to break it (b.c. 310), under the pretext that Antigonus, by keeping his gar- risons in the Greek cities of Asia and the islands, had not respected that article of the treaty which guaranteed Grecian freedom. After the war had lasted three years, Antigonus resolved to make a vigorous effort to wrest Greece from the hands of Cassander and Ptolemy, who held all the principal towns in it. Accordingly, in the summer of 307 B.C. he de- spatched his son Demetrius from Ephesus to Athens, with a fleet of 250 sail, and 5000 talents in money. Demetrius, who after- wards obtained the surname of " Poliorcetes," or "Besieger of Cities," was a young man of ardent temperament and great abilities. Upon arriving at the Piraeus, he immediately pro- claimed the object of his expedition to be the liberation of Athens and the expulsion of the Macedonian gan-ison. Sup- ported by the Macedonians, Demetrius the Phalerean had now ruled Athens for a period of more than ten years. Of mean birth, Demetrius the Phalerean owed his elevation entirely to his talents and perseverance. His skill as an orator raised him to distinction among his countrymen ; and his politics, which led him to embrace the party of Phocion, recommended him Gr. 2 o 562 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLV to Cassander and the Macedonians. He cultivated many branches of literature, and was at once an historian, a philosopher, and a poet ; but none of his works have come down to us. During the first period of his administration he appears to have governed wisely and equitably, to have improved the Athenian laws, and to have adorned the city with useful buildings.* But in spite of his pretensions to philosophy, the possession of uncontrolled power soon altered his character for the worse, and he became remarkable for luxury, ostentation, and sensuality. Hence he gradually lost the popularity which he had once enjoyed, and which had prompted the Athenians to raise to him no fewer than 360 bronze statues, most of them equestrian. The Athenians heard with pleasure the proclamations of the son of Antigonus ; his namesake, the Phalerean, was obliged to surrender the city to him, and to close his political career by retiring to Thebes. The Macedonian garrison in Munychia offered a slight resistance, which was soon overcome. Demetrius Poliorcetes then formally announced to the Athenian assembly the restoration of their ancient constitution, and promised them a large donative of corn and ship-timber. This munificence was repaid by the Athenians with the basest and most abject flattery. Both Demetrius and his father were deified, and two new tribes, those of Antigonias and Demetrias, were added to the existing ten which derived their names from the ancient heroes of Attica. § 12. Demetrius Poliorcetes did not, however, remain long at Athens. Early in 306 B.C. he was recalled by his father, and, sailing to Cyprus, undertook the siege of Salamis. Ptolemy has- tened to its relief with 140 vessels and 10,000 troops. The battle that ensued was one of the most memorable in the annals of ancient naval warfare, more particularly on account of the vast size of the vessels engaged. Ptolemy was completely defeated ; and so important was the victory deemed by Antigonus, that on the strength of it he assumed the title of king, which he also conferred upon his son. This example was followed by Ptolemy Seleucus, and Lysimachus. Encouraged by their success at Cyprus, Antigonus and Deme- trius made an attempt upon Egypt, which, however, proved ft disastrous failure. By way of revenge, Demetrius undertook an expedition against Rhodes, which had refused its aid in the attack upon Ptolemy. It was from the memorable siege of Rhodes that Demetrius obtained his name of "Poliorcetes." * A census which Demetrius took of the population of Attica, probably ia 309 B.C., the year of his archonship, gave 21,000 freemen, 10,000 metics, or resident a'.iens, and the amazing number of 400,000 slaves. The wives and families of the free population must of course be added. B.C. 301. BATTLE OF IPSUS. 563 After iu vain attempting to take the town from the sea-side, by means of floating batteries, from which stones of enormoub' weight were hurled from engines with incredible force against the walls, he determined to alter his plan and invest it on the land-side. With the assistance of Epimachus, an Athenian en- gineer, he constructed a machine which, in anticipation of its effect, was called Helepolis, or " the city -taker." This was a square wooden tower, 150 feet high, and divided into nine stories, filled with armed men, who discharged missiles through apertures in the sides. When armed and prepared for attack, it required the strength of 2300 men to set this enormous machine in motion. But though this formidable engine was assisted by the operation of two battering-rams, each 150 feet long and propelled by the labour of 1000 men, the Rhodians were so active in repairing the breaches made in their walls, that after a year spent in the vain attempt to take the town, Demetrius was forced to retire and grant the Rhodians peace. § 13. Whilst Demetrius was thus employed, Cassander had made great progress in reducing Greece. He had taken Corinth, and was besieging Athens, when Demetrius entered the Euripus. Cassander immediately raised the siege, and was subsequently defeated in an action near Thermopylae. When Demetrius en- tered Athens, he was received as before with the most extrava- gant flatteries. He remained two or three years in Greece, during which his superiority over Cassander was decided, though no great battle was fought. In the spring of 301 B.C. he was recalled by his father Anti- gonus, who stood in need of his assistance against Lysimachus and Seleucus. In the course of the same year the struggle be- tween Antigonus and his rivals was brought to a close by the battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which Antigonus was killed, and his army completely defeated. Antigonus had attained the age of 81 at the time of his death. Demetrius retreated with the remnant of the army to Ephesus, whence he sailed to Cyprus and afterwards proposed to go to Athens ; but the Athenians, alienated by his ill-fortune at Ipsus, refused to receive him. Se- loucus and Lysimachus shared between them the possessions of Antigonus. Lysimachus seems to have had the greater part of Asia Minor, whilst the whole country from the coast of Syria to the Euphrates, as well as a part of Phrygia and Cappadocia, fell to the share of Seleucus. The latter founded on the Orontes a new capital of his empire, which he named after his father Antioch. The fall of Antigonus secured Cassander in the pos- session of Greece, though it does not appear that any formal treaty was entered into for that purpose. 2 o 2 Group of Dirce. From the Museum at Naples. CHAPTER XLVI. FROM THE BATTLE OF IPSUS TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY THE ROMANS. § 1. Proceedings of Demetrius Poliorcetes. Ho captures Athens. § 2. Ob- tains the Macedonian crown. His flight and death. § 3. Lysimachus reigns over Macedonia. He is defeated and shun by Seleucus. § 4. Seleu- cus assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus. Invasion of the Celts, and death of Ptolemy Ceraunus. § 5. Antigonus Gonatas ascends the Macedonian throne. Death of Pyrrhus of Epirus. Chremonidean war. § 0. The Achaean League. § 7. State of Sparta. Reforms of Agis and Cleomenes. The Cleomenic war. § S. The .Etolian League. § 9. The Social War. § 10. War between Philip and the Romans. § 11. Philopccmcn. § 1'-!. Second war between Philip and the Romans. Battle of Cynoscephala?. § 13. Defeat of Antiochus, and subjugation of the Jf'tolians by the Romans. § 14. Extension of the Achaean League. Conquest of Sparta. Death of Philopcemen. § 15. War between Perseus and the Romans. Conquest of Macedonia. § 16. Proceedings of the Romans in Greece. § 17. Athens and Oropus. War between the Achaeans and Spartans. § 18. The Spartans appeal to the Romans, who reduce Greece into a Roman province. § 1. After his repulse from Athens, Demetrius proceeded towards Peloponnesus, but found that his allies in that quart ir had also abandoned him and embraced the cause of Cassander. B.C. 294. DEMETRIUS GAINS MACEDONIA. 565 He was, however, neither ruined nor discouraged. On leaving the Peloponnesus (B.C. 300) he proceeded to the Thracian Cher- sonese, and ravaged the territory of Lysiniachus. Whilst en- gaged in this expedition he was agreeably surprised by receiving an embassy from Seleucus, by which that monarch solicited his daughter Stratonlce in marriage. Demetrius- gladly granted the request, and found himself so much strengthened by this alliance, that in the spring of the year 296 he was in a con- dition again to attack Athens, which he captured after a long siege, and drove out the bloodthirsty tyrant Lachares. who had been established there by Cassander. Such was the extremity of famine to which the Athenians had been reduced, that we are told of a father and son quarrelling for a dead mouse ; and the philosopher Epicurus supported himself, and the society over which he presided, by dividing amongst them daily a small quantity of beans. On becoming master of the city, Demetrius, much to the surprise of the Athenians, treated them with great lenity and indulgence, and in consideration of their distresses, made them a present of a large quantity of com. § 2. Meanwhile Cassander had died shortly before the siege of Athens, and was succeeded on the throne of Macedon by his eldest son, Philip IV.* But that young prince died in 295, and the succession was disputed between his two brothers, Antipater and Alexander. Their mother Thessalonica, a daughter of the great Philip, seems to have been their guardian, and to have attempted to arrange their disputes by dividing the kingdom between them ; but Antipater, thinking that she favoured Alex- ander, slew her with his own hand in a fit of jealous rage. Alexander now called in the aid of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, as well as of Demetrius, who was in the Peloponnesus with his army. Pyrrhus, as the nearest, was the first to respond to this call, and effected a partition of Macedonia between the two brothers ; an arrangement, which, as it weakened a neighbouring kingdom, was favourable to his own interests. Shortly after- wards (294) Demetrius, who saw in the distracted state of Mace- donia an opening for his own ambitious designs, appeared in that country with his forces. Alexander having joined him with his army, Demetrius caused that young prince to be assassinated, and was saluted king by the troops. Demetrius reigned over Macedonia, and the greater part of Greece, about seven years. He aimed at recovering the whole of his father's dominions in Asia ; but before he was ready to take the field, his adver- saries, alarmed at his preparations, determined to forestall * Philip Arrhiljeus is called Philip III. 566 IIISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XL VI. hirn. In the spring of B.C. 287, Ptolemy sent a powerful fleet against Greece, while Pyrrhus on the one side and Lysimachus on the other simultaneously invaded Macedonia. Demetrius had completely alienated his own subjects by his proud and haughty bearing, and by his lavish expenditure on his own luxuries ; while Pyrrhus by his generosity, affability, and daring courage, had become the hero of the Macedonians, who looked upon him as a second Alexander. The appearance of Pyrrhus was the signal for revolt : the Macedonian troops flocked to his standard, and Demetrius was compelled to fly. Pyrrhus now ascended the throne of Macedonia ; but his reign was of brief duration ; and at the end of seven months he was in turn driven out by Lysi- machus. Demetrius made several attempts to regain his power in Greece, and then set sail for Asia, where he successively endea- voured to establish himself in the territories of Lysimachus, and of his son-in-law Seleucus. Falling at length into the hands of the latter, he was kept in a kind of magnificent captivity in a royal residence in Syria ; where, in 283, at the early age of 55, his chequered career was brought to a close, partly by chagrin, and partly by the sensual indulgences with which he endeavoured to divert it. § 3. The history of Alexander's successors continued to be marked to the end by the same ambition, the same dissen- sions, and the same crimes which had stained it from the first. The power of Lysimachus had been greatly increased by the acquisition of Macedonia ; and he now found himself in posses- sion of all the dominions in Europe that had formed part of the Macedonian monarchy, as well as of the greater part of Asia Minor. Of Alexander's immediate successors, Lysimachus and Seleucus were the only two remaining competitors for power ; and with the exception of Egypt, those two sovereigns divided Alexander's empire between them. In Egypt the aged Ptolemy had abdicated in 2S5 in favour of his son by Berenice, afterwards known as Ptolemy Philadelphus, and to the exclusion of his eldest son, Ptolemy Ceraunus, by his wife Eurydice. Ptolemy Ceraunus quitted Egypt in disgust, and fled to the court of Lysimachus ; and although Arsino6, the wifo of Lysimachus, was own sister to his rival, Ptolemy Philadelphus, he succeeded in gaining her entire confidence. A.rsino6, jealous of her stepson Agathocles, the heir apparent to the throne, and desirous of securing the succession for her own children, conspired with Ptolemy Ceraunus against his life. She even procured the consent of Lysimachus to his murder; and after some vain attempts to make away with him by poison, he was flung into prison, whore Ptolemy Ceraunus despatched him with his own hand. Lysandra, tho mother of B.C. 280. INVASION OF THE CELTS. 567 Agathocles, fled with the rest of her family to Seieucus, to de- mand from him protection and vengeance : and Seleucus, induced by the hopes of success, inspired by the discontent and dissen- sions which so foul an act had excited among the subjects of Lysimachus, espoused her cause. The hostilities which ensued between him and Lysimachus were brought to a termination by the battle of Corupedion, fought near Sardis in 281. in which Lysimachus was defeated and slain. By this victory, Macedonia, and the whole of Alexander's empire, with the exception of Egypt, southern Syria, Cyprus, and part of Phoenicia, fell under the sceptre of Seleucus. § 4. That monarch, who had not beheld his native land since he first joined the expedition of Alexander, now crossed the HeUespont to take possession of Macedonia. Ptolemy Ceraunus, who after the battle of Corupedion had thrown himself on the mercy of Seleucus, and had been received with forgiveness and favour, accompanied him on this journey. The murder of Aga- thocles had not been committed by Ptolemy merely to oblige Arsinoe. He had even then designs upon the supreme power, which he now completed by another crime. As Seleucus stopped to sacrifice at a celebrated altar near Lysimachia in Thrace, Ptolemy treacherously assassinated him by stabbing him in the back (280). After this base and cowardly act, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who gave himself out as the avenger of Lysimachus, was, by one of those movements wholly inexplicable to our modern notions, saluted king by the army ; but the Asiatic dominions of Seleucus fell to his son Antiochus, surnamed Soter. The crime of Ptolemy, however, was speedily overtaken by a just punishment. In the very same year his kingdom of Macedonia and Thrace was in- vaded by an immense host of Celts, and Ptolemy fell at the head of the forces which he led against them. A second inva- sion of the same barbarians compelled the Greeks to raise a force for their defence, which was entrusted to the command of the Athenian Callippus (b.c. 279). On this occasion the Celts, attracted by the report of treasures which were now perhaps little more than an empty name, penetrated as far southwards as Delphi, with the view of plundering the temple. The god, it is said, vindicated his sanctuary on this occasion in the same su- pernatural manner as when it was attacked by the Persians : it is at all events certain that the Celts were repulsed with great loss, including that of their leader Brennus. Nevertheless some of their tribes succeeded in establishing themselves near the Danube ; others settled on the sea-coast of Thrace ; whilst a third portion passed over into Aeia, and gave their name to the country called Galatia. 568 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVI. § 5. After the death of Ptolemy Ceraunus, Macedonia fell for some time into a state of anarchy and confusion, and the crown was disputed by several pretenders. At length, in 278, Auti- gonus (ionatas, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, succeeded in esta- blishing himself on the throne of Macedonia ; and, with the exception of two or three years (274-272) during which he was temporarily expelled by Pyrrhus,he continued to retain possession of it till his death in 239. The struggle between Antigonus and Pyrrhus was brought to a close at Argos, in 272. Pyrrhus had marched into the Peloponnesus with a large force in order to make war upon Sparta, but with the collateral design of reduc- ing the places which still held out for Antigonus. Pyrrhus, having failed in an attempt to take Sparta, marched against Argos, where Antigonus also arrived with his forces. Both armies entered the city by opposite gates ; and in a battle which ensued in the streets, Pyrrhus was struck from his horse by a tile hurled by a woman from a house top, and was then de- spatched by some soldiers of Antigonus. Such was the inglo- rious end of one of the bravest and most warlike monarchs of antiquity ; whose character for moral virtue, though it would not stand the test of modern scrutiny, shone out conspicuously in comparison with that of contemporary sovereigns ; but whose enterprises, undertaken rather from the love of action than from any well directed ambition, were rendered abortive by their de- sultory nature. Antigonus Gonatas now made himself master of the greater part of Peloponnesus, which he governed by means of tyrants whom he estabhshed in various cities. He then applied himself to the reduction of Athens, whose defence was assisted by an Egyptian fleet and a Spartan army. This war, which is some- times called the Chremonidean war from the Athenian Chre- monides, who played a conspicuous part iti defending the city, lasted six or seven years, and reduced the Athenians to great misery. Athens was at length taken, probably in 262. § 6. While all Greece, with the exception of Sparta, seemed hopelessly prostrate at the feet of Macedonia, a new political power, which sheds a lustre on the declining period of Grecian history, arose in a small province in Peloponnesus, of which the very name has been hitherto rarely mentioned since the heroic age. In Aehaia, a narrow slip of country upon the shores of the Corinthian gulf, a league, chiefly for religious purposes, hau existed from a very early period among the twelve chief cities of the province. This league, however, had never possessed much political importance, and it had been finally suppressed by the Macedonians. At the time of which we are speaking B.C. 251. ACH2EAN LEAGUE. 569 Antigonus Gonatas was in possession of all the cities formerly belonging to the league, either by means of his garrisons or of the tyrants who were subservient to him. It was, however, this very oppression that led to a more efficient revival of the league. The Achaean towns, now only ten in number, as two had been destroyed by earthquakes, began gradually to coalesce again ; a process which was much facilitated after Antigonus had with- drawn from Greece to take up his residence at Pella, where the affairs of Macedonia chiefly occupied his attention. But Aratus of Sicyon, one of the most remarkable characters of this period of Grecian history, was the man who, about the year 251 B.C., first called the new league into active political existence. Aratus was one of those characters who, though not deficient in bold- ness and daring, seem incapable of exerting these qualities except in stratagems and ambuscades. He had long lived in exile at Argos, whilst his native city groaned under the dominion of a succession of tyrants. Having collected a band of exiles, Aratus surprised Sicyon in the night time, and drove out the last and most unpopular of these tyrants. Instead of seizing the tyranny for himself, as he might easily have done, Aratus consulted only the advantage of his country, and with this view united Sicyon with the Achaean league. The accession of so important a town does not appear to have altered the con- stitution of the confederacy. The league was governed by a Strategics, or general, whose functions were both military and civil ; a Grammateus, or secretary, and a council often demiurgi. The sovereignty, however, resided in the general assembly, which met twice a year in a sacred grove near iEgium. It was com- posed of every Achaean who had attained the age of thirty, and possessed the right of electing the officers of the league, and of deciding all questions of war, peace, foreign alliances, and the like. In the year 245 B.C. Aratus was elected Strategics of the league, and again in 243. In the latter of these years he suc- ceeded in wresting Corinth from the Macedonians by another nocturnal surprise, and uniting it to the league. The confe- deracy now spread with wonderful rapidity. It was soon joined by Trcezen, Epidaurus, Hermion6, and other cities ; and ulti- mately embraced Athens, Megara, iEgina, Salamis, and the whole Peloponnesus, with the exception of Sparta, Elis, and some cf the Arcadian towns. § 7. Sparta, ii is true, still continued to retain her independ- ence, but without a shadow of her former greatness and power. The primitive simplicity of Spartan manners had been com- pletely destroyed by the collection of wealth into a few hands, and by ths consequent progress of luxury. The number of 570 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVI. Spartan citizens had been reduced to TOO ; but even of these there were not above a hundred who possessed a sufficient quantity of land to maintain themselves in independence. The Spartan kings had ceased to be the patriotic servants and generals of their country. Like the condotticri of more modern times, they were accustomed, since the time of Alexander the Great, to let out their services to the highest bidder ; and no longer content with the simple habits of their forefathers, they repaired to foreign courts in order to squander the wealth thus acquired in lux- uries which they could not procure at home. The young king, Agis IV., who succeeded to the crown in 244, attempted to revive the ancient Spartan virtue, by restoring the institutions of Lycurgus, by cancelling all debts, and by making a new distri- bution of lands ; and with this view he relinquished all his own property, as well as that of his family, for the public good. These reforms, though promoted by one of the Ephors, were opposed by Leonidas, the colleague of Agis in the monarchy, who rallied the majority of the more wealthy citizens around him. Agis and his party succeeded, however, in deposing Leo- nidas, and for a time his plans promised to be successful ; but having undertaken an expedition to assist Aratus against the iEtolians, the opposite party took advantage of his absence to reinstate Leonidas, and when Agis returned, he was put to death (241). But a few years afterwards, Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas, succeeded in effecting the reforms which had been contemplated by Agis ; a course which he was probably induced to take by the widow of Agis, whom he had married. It was his military successes that enabled Cleomenes to carry out his political views. Aratus, in his zeal for extending the Achsoan confederacy, attempted to seize the Arcadian towns of Orcho- menus, Tegea, and Mantinea, which the iEtolians had coded to Sparta, whereupon a war ensued (227-226) in which the forces of the league were defeated by Cleomenes. The latter then sud- denly returned home at the head of his victorious army, and after putting the Ephors to death, proceeded to carry out the reforms projected by Agis, as well as several others which regarded mili- tary discipline. The effect of these new measures soon becamo visible in the increased success of the Spartan arms. Aratus was so hard pressed that he was compelled to solicit the assist- ance of the Macedonians. Both Antigonus Gonatas and his son Demetrius II. — who had reigned in Macedonia from 239 to 229 B.C. — were now dead, and the government was administered by Antigonus Doson, as guardian of Philip, the youthful son of Demetrius II. Antigonus Doson, who obtained the latter sur- name from his readiness in making promises, mu Ison B.C. 220. ,ETOLIAN LEAGUE. 571 of Demetrius Poliorcetes, and the nephew of Antigonus Gonatas. The Macedonians compelled him to accept the crown ; but he remained faithful to his trust as guardian of Philip whose mo- ther he married ; and though he had children of his own by her, yet Philip succeeded him on his death. It was to Antigonus Doson that Aratus applied for assistance ; and in 223 the Mace- donian king marched into the Peloponnesus and compelled Cleo- rnenes to retire into Laconia. This war between Cleomenes and Aratus, which is called the Cleomenic war, lasted altogether about six years. It broke out in 227, and was not brought to a close till two years after the intervention of Doson. After his defeat Cleomenes raised a considerable sum by allowing 600C Helots to purchase their freedom ; and having thus recruited his army, he in the following year attacked and destroyed Mega- lopolis. He afterwards pushed his successes up to the very walls of Argos ; but in 221 he was totally defeated by Antigonus Doson in the fatal battle of Sellasia in Laconia. The army of Cleomenes was almost totally annihilated ; he himself was obliged to fly to Egypt ; and Sparta, which for many centuries had re- mained unconquered, fell into the hands of the victor. § 8. Antigonus, however, did net live loog to enjoy his success. Before the end of the year he was recalled to Macedonia by an invasion of the Illyrians, which he repelled, but he shortly after- wards died of a consumption. He was succeeded by Philip V., the son of Demetrius II., who was then about sixteen or seven- teen years of age. His youth encouraged the /Etolians to make predatory incursions into the Peloponnesus. That people were a species of freebooters, and the terror of their neighbours ; yet they were united, like the Acha^ans, in a confederacy or league. The iEtolian League was a confederation of tribes in- stead of cities, like the Achaean. Its history is involved in ob- scurity ; but it must at all events have had a fixed constitution oven in the time of Philip and Alexander the Great, since Aris- totle wrote a treatise on it ; and after the death of Alexandei we find the League taking a prominent part in the Lamian war. The diet or council of the league, called the Panaatolicum, assem- bled every autumn, generally at Thermon, to elect the strategus and other officers ; but the details of its affairs were conducted by a committee called Apoclcti, who seem to have formed a sort of permanent council. The iEtohans had availed themselves of the disorganised state of Greece consequent upjn the death of Alexander to extend their power, and had gradually made them- selves masters of Locris, Phocis, Bceotia, together with portions of Acarnania, Thessaly, and Epirus. Thus both the Amphic- tyonic Council a,nd the oracle of Delphi were in their power. 572 HISTORY Or OREECE. Chap. XLVI. They had early wrested Naupactus from the Achaeans, and had subsequently acquired several Peloponnesiau cities. § 9. Such was the condition of the ^Etolians at the time- of Philip's accession. Soon after that event we find them, under the leadership of D^rimachus, engaged in a series of freebooting expeditions in Messenia, and other parts of Peloponnesus. Aratus marched to the assistance of the Messenians at the head of the Achaean forces, but was totally defeated in a battle near Caphyae. The Achaeans now saw no hope of safety except through the assistance of Philip. That young monarch was ambitious and enterprising, possessing considerable military ability, and much political sagacity. He readily listened to the application of the Achaeans, and in 220 entered into an alliance with them. The war which ensued between the iEtolians on one side, and the Achaeans, assisted by Philip, on the other, and which lasted about three years, has been called the Social War. Philip gained several victories over the iEtolians, but he concluded a treaty of peace with them in 217, because he was anxious to turn his arms against another and more formidable power. § 10. The great struggle, now going on between Eome and Carthage, attracted the attention of the whole civilized world. It was evident that Greece, distracted by intestine quarrels, must be soon swallowed up by whichever of those great states might prove successful ; and of the two, the ambition of the Romans, who had already gained a footing on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, was by far the more formidable to Greece. Philip's inclination to take part in the great struggle in the west was increased by the news of the overthrow of the Romans at the lake of Trasimene ; and he therefore readily listened to the advice and solicitations of Demetrius of Pharos, who had been driven by the Romans from his Illyrian dominions, and who now appealed to him for assistance. After the con- clusion of the peace with the iEtolians Philip prepared a large fleet, which he employed to watch the movements of the Romans, and in the following year (216) he concluded a treaty with Hannibal, which, among other clauses, provided that the Romans should not be allowed to retain their conquests on the eastern side of the Adriatic. He even meditated an invasion of Italy, and with that view endeavoured to make himself master of Apollonia and Oricum. But though he succeeded in taking the latter city, the Romans, under M. Valerius Laevinus, surprised his camp whilst he was besieging Apollonia ; and as they had likewise blockaded the mouth of the river Aous with their fleet, Philip was compelled to burn his ships and retire. Meanwhile Philip had acted in a most arbitrary manner in tho B.C. 208. PHILOP(EMEN. 573 affairs of Greece ; and when Aratus remonstrated with him respecting his proceedings, he got rid of his former friend and counsellor by means of a slow and secret poison (b.c. 213). When the affairs of the Romans had begun to recover in Italy, they directed their attention more seriously towards Greece, and in the year 211 concluded an alliance with the iEtolians, who were no'ft weary of peace, and declared war against Philip. Be- fore the end of the year, the Romans made themselves masters of Zacynthus, with the exception of the capital ; and having also wrested CEniadae and Naxos from the Acarnanians transferred these acquisitions to the iEtolians, and retained the booty for them- selves, agreeably to the treaty. In the following year the town of Anticyra and the island of iEgina were treated in a similar manner. § 11. In B.C. 209, the Achaeans, being hard pressed by. tho iEtolians, were again induced to call in the aid of Philip. The spirit of the Achaeans was at this time revived by Philopcemen, one of the few noble characters of the period, and who has been styled by Plutarch " the last of the Greeks." He was a native of Megalopolis in Arcadia, and had already distinguished him- self in the Cleomenic war, and especially at the battle of Sellasia, which was mainly won by a decisive charge which he made, with- out orders, at the head of the Megalopolitan horse. In 210 he was appointed to the command of the Achaean cavalry, and in 208 he was elected Strategus of the League. In both these posts Philopcemen made great alterations and improvements in the arms and discipline of the Achaean forces, which he assimi- lated to those of the Macedonian phalanx. These reforms, as well as the public spirit with which he had inspired the Achaeans, were attended with the most beneficial results. In 207 Philopce- men gained at Mantinea a signal victory over the Lacedaemonians, who had joined the Roman alliance ; 4000 of them were left upon the field, and among them Machanidas, who had made himself tyrant of Sparta. This decisive battle, combined with the withdrawal of the Romans, who, being desirous of turning their undivided attention towards Carthage, had made peace with Philip (205), secured for a few years the tranquillity of Greece. It also raised the fame of Philopcemen to its highest point ; and in the next Nemean festival, being a second time general of tho league, he was hailed by the assembled Greeks as the liberator of their country. § 12. Upon the conclusion of the second Punic war, the Ro- mans renewed their enterprises in Greece, for which the conduct of Philip, who had assisted the Carthaginians, afforded them ample pretence. Philip's attempts in the iEgean sea, and in Attica, had also caused many complaints to be lodged against him at 574 HISTORY OF GHEECE. Chap. XLYI. Rome ; and in B.C. 200 the Romans declared war against him. Athens, which he had besieged, was relieved by a Roman fleet ; but before he withdrew, Philip, prompted by anger and revenge, displayed his barbarism by destroying the gardens and buildings in the suburbs, including the Lyceum and the tombs of the Attic heroes ; and in a second incursion which he made with large reinforcements, he committed still greater excesses. For some time, however, the war lingered on without any de- cided success on either side. But in 198 the consul T. Quinctius Flamininus succeeded in gaining over the Achrean league to the Roman alliance ; and as the yF.tolians had previously deserted Philip, both those powers fought for a short time on the same side. In 197 the struggle between the Romans and Philip was brought to a termination by the battle of Cynoscephake, near Scotussa, in Thessaly, which decided the fate of the Macedonian monarchy. Philip was obliged to sue for peace, and in the fol- lowing year (196) a treaty was ratified by which the Macedonians were compelled to renounce their supremacy, to withdraw their garrisons from the Grecian towns, to surrender their fleet, and to pay 1000 talents for the expenses of the war. At the ensuing Isthmian games, Flamininus solemnly proclaimed the freedom of the Greeks, and was received by them with overwhelming joy and gratitude. The Romans, however, still held the fortresses of the Acrocorinthus, Demetrias, and Chalcis ; and it was not till 194 that they showed any real intention of carrying out their promises by withdrawing their armies from Greece. § 13. The /Ktolians, dissatisfied with these arrangements, endeavoured to persuade Nabis, who had succeeded Machanidas as tyrant of Sparta, Antiochus III., king of Syria, as well as Philip, to enter into a league against the Romans. But Antio- chus alone, at whose court Hannibal was then residing as a refugee, ventured to listen to these overtures. He passed over into Greece with a wholly inadequate force, and was defeated by the Romans at Thermopylae (b.c. 191). The iEtolians were now compelled to make head against the Romans by themselves. After some ineffectual attempts at resistance, they were reduced to sue for peace, which they at length obtained, but on the most humiliating conditions (b.c. 189). These, as dictated to them in Ambracia, by M. Fulvius Nobilior, differed but little from an unconditional surrender. They were required to acknowledge (he supremacy of Rome, to renounce all the conquests they had recently made, to pay an indemnity of 500 talents, and to engage in future to aid the Romans in their wars. The powsr of the yEtolian league was thus for ever crushed, though it seems to have existed, in name at least, till a much later period. B.C. 197. BATTLE OF CYNOSCEPflAKE. 575 § 14. The Achaean league still subsisted, but was destined be- fore long to experience the same fate as its rival. At first, indeed, it enjoyed the protection of the Romans, and even acquired an extension of members through their influence, but this protectorate involved a state of almost absolute dependence. Philopcemen also had succeeded, in the year 192, in adding Sparta to the League, which now embraced the whole of Pelo- ponnesus. But Sparta having displayed symptoms of insubor- dination, Philopoemen marched against it in 188, and captured the city ; when he put to death eighty of the leading men, com- manded all the inhabitants who had been enfranchised by the recent tyrants to leave the place by a fixed day, razed the walls and fortifications, abolished the institutions of Lycurgus, and compelled the citizens to adopt the democratic constitution of the Achasans. Meanwhile, the Romans regarded with satisfac- tion the internal dissensions of Greece, which they foresaw would only render her an easier prey, and neglected to answer the appeals of the Spartans for protection. In 183 the Mes- senians, under the leadership of Dinocrates, having revolted from the league, Philopamen, who had now attained the age of 70, led an expedition against them ; but having fallen from his horse in a skirmish of cavalry, he was captured, and conveyed with many circumstances of ignominy to Messene, where, after a sort of mock trial, he was executed. His fate was avenged by Lycortas, the commander of the Achaean cavalry, the father of the his- torian Polybius. In the foUowing year, Lycortas, now Strategus, captured Messen6, and having compelled those who had been concerned in the death of Philopcemen to put an end to their own lives, conveyed the ashes of that general to Megalopolis, where they were interred with heroic honours. § 15. In B.C. 179 Philip died, and was succeeded by his son Perseus, the last monarch of Macedonia. The latter years of the reign of Philip had been spent in preparations for a renewal of the war, which he foresaw to be inevitable ; and when Perseus ascended the throne, he found himself amply provided with men and money for the impending contest. But, whether from a sincere desire of peace, or from irresolution of character, he sought to avert an open rupture as long as possible, and one of the first acts of his reign was to obtain from the Romans a renewal of the treaty which they had concluded with his father. It is probable that neither party was sincere in the con- clusion of this peace, at least neither could entertain any hope of its duration ; yet a period of seven years elapsed before the mutual enmity of the two powers broke out into open hostilities. Meanwhile, Perssus was not idle ; he secured the attachment of 576 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVl. his subjects by equitable and popular measures, and formed alliances not only with the Greeks and the Asiatic princes, but also with the Thracian, Illyrian, and Celtic tribes which sur- rounded his dominions. The Eomans naturally viewed these proceedings with jealousy and suspicion ; and at length, in 172, Perseus was formally accused before the Roman senate, by Eu- menes, king of Pergamus, in person, of entertaining hostile de- signs against the Roman power. The murder of Eumenes near Delphi, on his return homewards, of which Perseus was suspected, aggravated the feeling against him at Rome, and in the follow- ing year war was declared against him. Perseus was at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army, but of all his allies, only Cotys, king of the Odrysians, ventured to support him against so formidable a foe. Yet the war was protracted three years without any decisive result ; nay, the balance of success seemed on the whole to incline in favour of Perseus, and many states, which before were wavering, now showed a disposition to join his cause. But his ill-timed parsi- mony restrained him from taking advantage of their offers, and in 108 the arrival of the consul, L. iEmilius Paulus, completely changed the aspect of affairs. Perseus was driven from a strong position which he had taken up on the banks of the Enipeus, forced to retreat to Pydna, and finally to accept an engagement near that town. At first the serried ranks of the phalanx seemed to promise superiority ; but its order having been broken by the inequalities of the ground, the Roman legionaries penetrated into the disordered mass, and committed fearful carnage, to the extent, it is said, of 20,000 men. Perseus fled first to Pella, then to Amphipohs, and finally to the sanctuary of the sacred island of Samothrace, but was at length obliged to surrender himself to a Roman squadron. He was carried to Rome to adorn the triumph of Paulus (167), and was afterwards cast into a dun- geon ; from whence, however, he was liberated at the inter- cession of his conqueror, and permitted to spend the remainder of his life in a sort of honourable captivity at Alba. Such was the end of the Macedonian empire, which was now divided into four districts, each under the jurisdiction of an oligarchical council. § 16. The Roman commissioners deputed to arrange the affairs of Macedonia did not confine then - attention to that pro- vince, but evinced their designs of bringing all Greece under the Roman sway. In these views they were assisted by various despots and traitors in lifferent Grecian cities, and especially by Callicrates, a man of great influence among the Achrcans, and who for many years lent himself as the base tool of the Romans B.C. 168. CONQUEST OF MACEDONIA 577 to effect the enslavement of his country. After the fall of Ma- cedonia, CaUicrates denounced more than a thousand leading Achseans who had favoured the cause of Perseus. These, among whom was Polybius the historian, were apprehended and sent to Eome for trial. Polybius was one of the survivors, who, after a captivity of seventeen years, were permitted to return to their native country. A still harder fate was experienced by iEtolia, Boeotia, Acarnania, and Epirus. In the last-named country, especially, no fewer than seventy of the principal towns were abandoned by Paulus to his soldiers for pillage, and 150,000 persons are said to have been sold into slavery. § 17. An obscure quarrel between Athens and Oropus was the remote cause which at length afforded the Romans a pretence for crushing the small remains of Grecian independence by the destruction of the Achaean league. For some time Athens had been reduced to a sort of political mendicancy, and was often fain to seek assistance in her distress from the bounty of the Eastern princes or of the Ptolemies of Egypt. In the year 156 the poverty of the Athenians became so urgent, that they were induced to make a piratical expedition against Oropus for the purposes of plunder. On the complaint of the Oropians the Roman Senate assigned the adjudication of the matter to the Sicyonians, who condemned the Athenians to pay the large fine of 500 talents. In order to obtain a mitigation of this fine the Athenians despatched to Rome (in 151) the celebrated embassy of the three philosophers — Diogenes the Stoic, Critolaiis the Peripatetic, and Carneades, the founder of the third Academy. The ambassadors were nominally successful, since they obtained a reduction of the fine to 100 talents ; a sum, however, still much greater than the Athenians were in a condition to pay. The subsequent relations between Athens and Oropus are ob- scure ; but in 150 we find the Oropians complaining of a fresh aggression, which consisted in an attack upon some of their citi- zens by the Athenian soldiers. On this occasion the Oropians appealed for protection to the Achaean league, which, however, at first declined to interfere. The Oropians now bribed a Spartan named Menalcidas, who was at that time Strategus, with a present of 10 talents ; and Menalcidas employed the corrupt influence of CaUicrates to procure the intervention of the league. Menalcidas having subsequently defrauded CaUicrates of the sum which he had promised him, the la/fcter accused him of having advised the Romans during his administration to effect the detachment of Sparta from the league. Menalcidas escaped condemnation by bribing Diseus, his successor in the office of Strategus. But such was the obloquy incurred by Diaeus through Gr. 2 p 578 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVI. this transaction, that in order to divert public attention from himself, he incited the Achseans to violent measures against Sparta, which ultimately involved the league in a fatal struggle with Rome. His pretext for making war on the Spartans was, that instead of appealing to the league respecting a boundary question, as they ought to have done, they had violated its laws by sending a private embassy to Rome. § 18. The Spartans, feeling themselves incompetent to resist this attack, appealed to the Romans for assistance ; and in 147 two Roman commissioners were sent to Greece to settle these disputes. These commissioners decided that not only Sparta, but Corinth, and all the other cities, except those of Achaia, should be restored to their independence. This decision occa- sioned serious riots at Corinth. All the Spartans in the town were seized, and even the Roman commissioners narrowly escaped violence. On their return to Rome a fresh embassy was de- spatched to demand satisfaction for these outrages. But the violent and impolitic conduct of Critolaiis, then Strategus of the league, rendered all attempts at accommodation fruitless, and after the return of the ambassadors the Senate declared war against the league. The cowardice and incompetence of Crito- laiis as a general were only equalled by his previous insolence. On the approach of the Romans under Metellus from Macedonia he did not even venture to make a stand at Therrnopyko ; and being overtaken by them near Scarphea in Locris, he was totally defeated, and never again heard of. Diseus, who succeeded him as Strategus, displayed rather more energy and courage. But a fresh Roman force under Mummius having landed en the isth- mus, Diseus was overthrown in a battle near Corinth ; and that city was immediately evacuated not only by the troops of the league, but also by the greater part of the inhabitants. On entering it Mummius put the few males who remained to the sword ; sold the women and children as slaves ; and having car- ried away all its treasures, consigned it to the flames (b.c. 146). Corinth was filled with masterpieces of ancient art ; but Mum- mius was so insensible of their surpassing excellence, as to stipulate with those who contracted to convey them to Italy, that if any were lost in the passage, they should be replaced by others of equal value ! Mummius then employed himself in chastising and regulating the whole of Greece ; and ten commis- sioners were sent from Rome to settle its future condition. The whole country, to the borders of Macedonia and Epirus, was formed into a Roman province, under the name of Achaia, de- rived from that confederacy which had made the last struggle for its political existence. Group of the Laocoou. CHAPTER XLVIL HISTORY OF GRECIAN ART FROM THE END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO ITS DECLINE. § 1. Later school of Athenian sculpture. § 2. Scopas. § 3. Praxiteles. § 4. Sicyonian school of sculpture. Euphranor, Lysippus. § 5. Sicyo- nian school of painting. Eupompus, Pamphilus, Apelles. § 6. Architec- ture. § 7. Period after Alexander the Great. School of Rhodes. § 8. Plunder of Greek works of art by the Romans. § 1. After the close of the Peloponnesian war, what is called the second or later school of Attic sculpture still continued to assert its pre-eminence. In style and character, however, it pre- sented a marked difference from the school of the preceding age. The excitement and misfortunes which had attended the war had worked a great change in the Athenians. This was communicated to their works of art, which now manifested an expression of stronger passion and of deeper feehng. The serene and composed majesty which had marked the gods and heroes of the earlier artists altogether vanished. The new school of sculptors preferred to take other deities for their sub- jects than those which had been selected by their predecessors ; and Jove, Hera, and Athena gave place to gods, characterized by 2 p 2 580 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVII. mora violent feelings and passions, such as Dionysus, AphroditS, and Eros. These formed the favourite subjects of the later Athenian school, and received from it that stamp and character of representation which they retained through the succeeding period of classic art. A change is also observable in the ma- terials employed, and in the technical handling of them. The magnificently adorned chryso-elephantine statues almost wholly disappear ; marble becomes more frequently used, especially by the Athenian statuaries, and the whole execution is softer and more flowing. § 2. The only two artists of this school whom it will be neces- sary to mention are Scopas and Praxiteles. Scopas was a native of Paros, and flourished in the first half of the fourth century B.C. His exact date cannot be ascertained, nor is there any- thing known of his life, except in connexion with his works, of which some specimens still remain. Among these are the bas- reliefs on the frieze of the peristyle which surrounded the Mau- soleum, or tomb of Mausolus, at Halicarnassus (Budrum), some of which are now deposited in the British Museum (Budrum Marbles). Their style is very similar to that of the sculptures on the frieze of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, which is of the same period of art* Both are of high excellence, but inferior to the frieze of the Parthenon. Scopas, however, was more famous for single statues and detached groups than for architectural sculpture. His statues of Aphrodite were very celebrated in antiquity. That of the victorious Aphrodit6 (Venus victrix) in the Louvre at Paris is ascribed to his chisel by many competent judges. But the most esteemed of all his works was a group representing Achilles conducted by the marine deities to the island of Leuce. It consisted of figures of Poseidon, Thetis, and Achilles, surrounded by Nereids on dolphins, huge fishes and hippocampi, and attended by Tritons and sea-monsters. In the treatment of the subject heroic grandeur is said to have been combined with grace. A group better known in modern times, from a copy of it preserved in the Museum at Florence, is that of Niobe and her children slain by the hands of Artemis and Apollo.f There can be no doubt that it filled the pediment of a temple. At a lator period it was preserved in the temple of Ai>ollo Sosianus at Rome, but it was a disputed point among the Romans whether it was from the hands of Scopas or Praxiteles. In the noble forms of the countenances grief and despair are portrayed without distortion. Another celebrated work of Scopas was the statue of the Pythian Apollo playing on the lyre, which * See below, p, 584. + tee drawing on p. 552. Chap. XLVII. SCOPAS. PRAXITELES. 581 Augustus placed in the temple which he built tc Apollo cm the Palatine, in thanksgiving for his victory at Actium. The copy of this statue in the Vatican is figured on p. 551 . Scopas was an architect as well as a statuary, and built the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea, in Arcadia, one of the largest and most magnifi- cent in the Peloponnesus. § 3. Praxiteles was contemporary with Scopas, though perhaps somewhat younger. Nothing is positively known of his history except that he was at least a citizen, if not a native, of Athene, and that his career as an artist was intimately connected with that city. He excelled in representing the softer beauties of the human form, and especially the female figure. But art had now sunk from its lofty and ideal majesty. The Cnidian Aphrodite, the master-piece of Praxiteles, expressed only sensual charms, and was avowedly modelled from the courtesan Phryne. Yet such was its excellence that many made a voyage to Cnidus on purpose to behold it ; and so highly did the Cnidians prize it, that they refused to part with it to king Nicomedes, although he offered to pay off their public debt in exchange for it. In this work Aphrodite was represented either as just entering or just quitting the bath ; and it is said to have been the first instance in which any artist had ventured to represent the goddess en- tirely divested of drapery. At the same time he made a draped statue of the goddess for the Coans, which however never enjoyed so much reputation as the former, though Praxiteles obtained the same price for it. He also made two statues of Eros, one of which he deemed his masterpiece. It is related that in his fond- ness for Phryne he promised to give her any statue she might choose, but was unwilling to tell her which he considered his master-piece. In order to ascertain this point Phryne sent a message to Praxiteles that his house was on fire ; at which news he rushed out exclaiming that he was undone if the fire had touched his Satyr or his Eros. He also excelled in representing Dionysus with his fauns and satyrs. A statue of Apollo, known as Apollo Sauroctonos, or the lizard-killer, was among his most famous pieces. It was in bronze, and numerous copies of it are still extant. § 4. The later Athenian school of sculpture was succeeded by the Sicyonian school. It is characterised by representations of heroic strength and of the forms of athletse, and by a striving after the colossal. Its chief artists were Euphranor and Lysippus. Euphranor was a native of the Corinthian isthmus, but practised his art at Athens. He appears to have flourished during the time of Philip of Macedon, and beyond the period of Alexander's accession. He excelled in painting as well as in statuary. He 532 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVII. executed figures in bronzo and marble of all .sizes, from a drink- ing-cup to a colossal statue. One of bis most celebrated works was a statue of Paris. Lysippus was a native of Sicyon, and flourished during the reign of Alexander the Great. He was originally a mere workman in bronze, but through his genius and a sedulous study of nature rose to the highest eminence as a statuary. He followed the school of Polycletus, whose Dory- phorus formed his standard model ; but by this course of study the ideal of art was sacrificed to the merely natural. Hercules, a human hero, was the favourite subject of his chisel ; but he deviated from former models, in which Hercules was endowed with ponderous strength, and represented him as characterised by strength and agility combined. This type was adopted by subsequent artists. The celebrated Farnese Hercules in the Museum at Naples is probably a copy of one of his works. Ly- sippus excelled in portraits ; in which department he also adhered to his principles of art, and followed nature so closely as to portray even the defects of his subjects. Thus, in his busts of Alexander, he did not omit his wry neck. Nevertheless, that monarch was so pleased with his performances, that he forbade anybody but Lysippus and Apelles to represent him. The most renowned of Lysippus's statues of Alexander was that which represented him brandishing a lance, and which was re- garded as a companion to the picture of Apelles, in which he wielded a thunderbolt. It has been observed that the features of Alexander pervade most of the heroic statues of this period. Lysippus worked principally in bronze. One of his most celebrated productions was an equestrian group of the chieftains who fell at the battle of the Granicus. His works were very numerous, and are said to have amounted to 1500. § 5. With regard to painting, the Asiatic school of Zeuxis and Parrhasius was also succeeded by a Sicyonian school, of which Eupompus may be considered as the founder. He was excelled, however, by his pupil Pamphilus, who was renowned as a teacher of his art, and founded a sort of academy. His period of in- struction extended over ten years, and his fee was a talent. The school of Pamphilus produced several celebrated artists, of whom Apelles was by far the greatest. Apelles seems to have been a native of Colophon, in Ionia ; but, as we have said, he studied ten years under Pamphilus at Amphipolis ; and subsequently, even after he had attained some reputation, under Melanthius at Sicyon. Thus to the grace and elegance of the Ionic school he added the scientific accuracy of the Sicyonian. The greater part of his life seems to have been Chap. XLYII. APELLES. 583 spent at the court of Pella. He was warmly patronised by Alex- ander, who frequently visited his studio, and, as mentioned before, granted him the exclusive privilege of painting his por- trait. In one of these visits Alexander began to descant on art, but exposed his ignorance so much that Apelles gave him a polite hint to be silent, as the boys who were grinding the colours were laughing at him. He appears to have accompanied Alexander in his eastern expedition, and after the death of that monarch to have travelled through the western parts of Asia. He spent the latter part of his life at the court of king Ptolemy in Egypt. The character of Apelles presents us with traits quite the reverse of the silly vanity of Zeuxis. He was always ready to acknowledge his own faults, as well as the merits of others. In fact, there was only one point in which he asserted his supe- riority over his contemporaries, namely, grace ; and there can be no doubt that this was no vain assumption. He was not ashamed to learn from the humblest critics. With this view he was accustomed to exhibit his unfinished pictures before his house, and to conceal himself behind them in order to hear the cri- ticisms of the passers by. On one of these occasion a cobbler detected a fault in the shoes of one of his figures, which Apelles corrected. The next time he passed, the cobbler, encouraged by the success of his criticism, began to remark upon the leg ; at which the artist lost all patience, and rushing from behind his picture, commanded the cobbler to keep to his shoes. Hence the proverb, " Ne sutor ultra crepidam," — let the cobbler stick to his last. His conduct towards his contemporary Protogenes of Rhodes exhibits a generosity not always found among rival artists. On arriving at Rhodes, Apelles saw that the works of Protogenes were scarcely at all valued by his countrymen ; where- upon he offered him fifty talents for one of his pictures, at the same time spreading the report that he meant to sell it again as one of his own. Apelles studied with the greatest industry, and always went on trying to improve himself ; yet he knew when to leave off correcting his pictures, and laid it down as a maxim that over care often spoiled a piece. His pictures seem to havo been chiefly on moveable panels, and he was probably the first who used a sort of varnish to his pictures with an effect some- what similar to that of the modern toning or glazing. He gene- rally painted single figures, or groups of only a few. He excelled in portraits, among the most celebrated of which was that already mentioned of Alexander wielding the thunderbolt. The hand which held it seemed to stand out of the panel ; and, in order to heighten this effect of foreshortening, Alexander's com- plexion was made dark, though in reality it was light. ThG 584 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVIL price paid for this picture was twenty talents. But the most admired of all his paintings was the " Aphrodit6 (Venus) Ana- dj'omene " * or Aphrodite rising from the Sea. The goddess was represented wringing her hair, whilst the falling drops formed a veil around her. It was originally painted for the temple of iEsculapius at Cos, and was afterwards placed by Augustus in the temple which he dedicated to Juhus Caesar at Rome. Another figure of Aphrodite, also painted for the Coans, Apelles left incom- plete at his death, and nobody could be found to finish it. By the general consent of the ancients Apelles was the first of painters, and some of the later Latin poets use his name as a synonyme for the art itself. § 6. The architecture of this period was marked rather by the laying out of cities in a nobler and more convenient fashion, and by the increase of splendour in private residences, than by any improvement in the style of public buildings and temples. The conquests of Alexander caused the foundation of new cities, and introduced into the East the architecture of Greece. The two finest examples of cities which arose in this manner were Alexandria in Egypt, and Antioch in Syria. The regularity of its plan, the colossal size of its public buildings, and the beauty and solidity of its private houses, rendered Alexandria a sort of model city ; yet it was probably surpassed by Antioch in the pleasing nature of the impression produced. The fittings and furniture of the apartments kept pace with the increased external splen- dour of private dwellings. This age was also distinguished by its splendid sepulchral monuments : the one to the memory of her husband Mausolus, erected at Halicarnassus, by the Carian queen Artemisia, was regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. It was adorned with sculptural decorations by the greatest artists of the later Attic school. (See p. 580.) At the same time temple architecture was not neglected ; but the simple and solid grandeur of the Doric order, and the chaste grace of the Ionic, began to give place to the more florid Corinthian. One of the most graceful monuments of this period still extant is the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, at Athens, vulgarly called the Lantern of Demosthenes, which was dedicated by Lysicrates in B.C. 335, as we learn from an inscription on the architrave, in commemoration of a victory gained by the chorus of Lysicrates in the dramatic contests. It is a small circular building on a square basement, of white marble, and covered by a cupola, supported by six Corinthian columns : the summit of the cupola was formerly crowned by the tripod, which Lysicrates * h a.vxivouurt ' Affair*. Chap. XL VII. ARCHITECTURE. 585 had gained as the prize. The frieze of the monument, of which there are casts in the British Museum, represents the destruction of the Tyrrhenian pirates by Dionysus and his attendants. A drawing of the monument is given on p. 434, and portions of the frieze are figured on pp. 455, 456. Another extant monument of this period at Athens is the Horologium of Andronicus Cyrrhestes, probably erected about B.C. 100, and vulgarly called the " Temple of the Winds," from the figures of the Winds upon its faces. It is an octagonal tower, with its eight sides facing respectively the direction of the eight winds into which the Athenian compass was divided. The directions of the several sides are indicated by the figures and names of the eight winds, which were sculptured on the frieze of the entablature. On the summit of the building there stood originally a bronze figure of a Triton, holding a wand in his right hand, and turning on a pivot, so as to serve for a weathercock. (See drawing on p. 617.) § 7. After the age of Alexander, Greek art began visibly to decline. The great artists that had gone before had fixed the ideal types of the ordinary subjects of the sculptor and painter, and thus in a manner exhausted invention ; whilst all the tech- nical details of handling and treatment had been brought to the highest state of perfection and development. The attempt to outdo the great masterpieces which already existed induced artists to depart from the simple grace of the ancient models, and to replace it by striking and theatrical effect. The pomp of the monarchs who had divided amongst them the empire of Alexander required a display of eastern magnificence, and thus also led to a meretricious style in art. Nevertheless, it was impossible that the innate excellence of the Greek schools should disappear .altogether and at once. The perfect models that were always present could not fail to preserve a certain degree of taste ; and even after the time of Alexander, we find many works of great excellence produced. Art, however, began to emigrate from Greece to the coasts and islands of Asia Minor : Rhodes, espe- cially, remained an eminent school of art almost down to the Christian era. This school was an immediate offshoot of that of Lysippus, and its chief founder was the Rhodian Chares, who flourished about the beginning of the third century B.C. His most noted work was the statue of the Sun, which, under the name of the Colossus of Rhodes, was esteemed one of the seven wonders of the world. It was of bronze, and 105 feet high. It stood at the entrance of the harbour of Rhodes ; but the statement that its legs extended over the mouth of the harbour does not rest on any authentic foundation. It was twelve years in erecting, 566 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLV1I. at a cost of 300 talents, and was so large that there were few who could embrace its thumb. It was overthrown by an earth- quake 56 years after its erection. But the most beautiful work of the Rhodian school at this period is the famous group of the Laocoon in the Vatican, so well known by its many copies. (See drawing on p. 579.) It was the work of three sculptors, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. In this group the pathos of physical suffering is expressed in the highest degree, but not without a certain theatrical air and straining for effect, which the best age of Greek art would have rejected. To the same school belongs the celebrated group called the Farnesian bull, in the Museum at Naples, representing Zethus and Amphion binding Dirce to a wild bull, in order to avenge their mother. (See drawing on p. 564.) It was the work of two brothers, Apol- lonius and Tauriscus of Tralles. About the same time eminent schools of art flourished at Pergamus and Ephesus. To the former may be referred the celebrated dying gladiator in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, and to the latter the Borghese gladiator in the Louvre. The well-known statue of Aphrodite at Florence, called the " Venus de' Medici," also belongs to the same period. It was executed by an Athenian artist named Cleomenes, whose exact date is unknown, but who lived before the capture of Corinth, in B.C. 146. § 8. When Greece began to fall into the hands of the Romans, the treasures of Greek art were conveyed by degrees to Rome, where ultimately a new school arose. The triumphs over Philip, Antiochus, the iEtolians, and others, but, above all, the capture of Corinth, and, subsequently, the victories over Mithrv dates and Cleopatra, filled Rome with works of art. The Ro- man generals, the governors of provinces (as Verres), and finally, the emperois, continued the work of spoliation ;* but so pro- digious was the number of works of art in Greece, that, even in the second century of the Christian era, when Pausanias visited it, its temples and other public buildings were still cro wiled with statues and paintings. * Nero alone is said '*• have brought 500 statues from Delphi, merely to aiiorn his trolden hou*c AFU.TO. Bust of Aristotle. CHAPTER XLVIII. GRECIAN LITERATURE FROM THE END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE LATEST PERIOD. § 1. The drama. The Middle comedy. The New comedy: Philemon, Menander. § 2. Oratory. Circumstances which favoured it at Athens. § 3. Its Sicilian origin. § 4. The ten Attic orators: Antiphon, Ando- cides, Lysias, Isocrates, Isseus, JEschines, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Hype- rides, and Dinarchus. § 5. Athenian philosophy, Plato. § 6. Sketch of his philosophy. § 7. The Megarics, Cyrenaics, and Cynics. § 8. The Academicians. § 9. Aristotle and the Peripatetics. § 10. The Stoics and Epicureans. § 11. The Alexandrian school of literature. § 12. Later Greek writers: Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Diodorus Siculus, Arrian, Appian, Plutarch, Josephus, Strabo, Pausanias, Dion Cassius, Lucian, Galen. § 13. The Greek Scriptures and Fathers. Conclusion. § 1. In reviewing the preceding period of Greek literature, we have already had occasion to notice the decline of tragedy at Athens. It continued, indeed, still to subsist ; but after the great tragic triumvirate we have no authors who have come down to us, or whose works were at all comparable to those of their predecessors. There are, however, a few names that should be recorded ; as that of Agathon, the contemporary and friend of Euripides, whose compositions were more remarkable for their flowery elegance than for force or sublimity : of Iophon, the son of Sophocles, whose undutiful conduct towards his father has been already mentioned, the author of 50 tragedies, which gained considerable reputation : of Sophocles, the grandson of the great tragic poet : and of a second Euripides, the nephew of the celebrated one. With regard to comedy the case was dif- ferent. After the days of Aristophanes it took, indeed, a 588 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciup. XLVIT1. wholly different form ; but a form -which rendered it a more perfect imitation of nature, and established it as the model of that species of composition in every civilized nation of after- times. "We have already noticed, in the plays of Aristophane3 himself, a transition from the genuine Old Comedy to the Middle Comedy. The latter still continued to be in some degree po- litical ; but persons were no longer introduced xipon the stage under their real names, and the office of the chorus was very much curtailed. It was, in fact, the connecting link between the Old Comedy and the New, or the Comedy of Manners. The most distinguished authors of the Middle Comedy, besides Aristophanes, were Antiphanes and Alexis. The New Comedy arose after Athens had become subject to the Macedonians. Politics were now excluded from the stage, and the materials of the dramatic poet were derived entirely from the fictitious adventures of persons in private life. The two most distin- guished writers of this school were Philemon and Menander. Philemon was probably born about the year 360 B.C., and was either a Cilician or Syracusan, but came at an early age to Athens. He is considered as the founder of the New Comedy, which was soon afterwards brought to perfection by his younger contemporary Menander. Philemon was a prolific author, and is said to have written 97 plays, of which only a few fragments remain. Menander was an Athenian, and was born in B.C. 342. Diopithes, his father, commanded the Athenian forces on the Hellespont, and was the person defended by Demosthenes in one of his extant speeches.* Menander was handsome in person, and of a serene and easy temper, but luxurious and effeminate in his habits. Demetrius Phalereus was his friend and patron. He was drowned at the age of 52, whilst swimming in the har- bour of Piraeus. He wrote upwards of 100 comedies ; yet during his lifetime his dramatic career was not so successful as his subsequent fame would seem to promise, and he gained the prize only eight times. The broader humour of his rival Philemon seems to have told with more effect on the popular ear. But the unanimous praise of posterity made ample compensation for this injurious negiect, and awakens our regret for the loss of one of the most elegant writers of antiquity. The number of his fragments, collected from the writings of various authors, show how extensively he was read ; but unfortunately none are of sufficient length to convey to us an adequate idea of his style and genius. The comedies, indeed, of Plautus and Terence may give us a general notion of the New Comedy of the Greeks, from Chap. XL VIII. THE NEW COMEDY. 589 which they were confessedly drawn ; but there is good reason to suppose that the works even of the latter Roman writer fell far short of the wit and elegance cf Menander. § 2. The latter days of literaiy Athens were chiefly distin- guished by the genius of her orators and philosophers. Both rhetoric and philosophy were at first cultivated exclusively by the sophists, and, till the time of Socrates, remained almost entirely in their hands. Socrates, by directing the attention of philosophers to the more useful questions of morals, effected a separation l>etween rhetoric and philosophy. After his time we find various schools of moral philosophy springing up, as the Academicians, Peripatetics, Stoics, &c, whilst the more technical part of the art of speaking became a distinct profession. The extreme democratical nature of the Athenian institutions, especially after the reforms of Pericles, rendered it indispensable for a pubhc man to possess some oratorical skill. All public business, both political and judicial, was transacted by the citi- zens themselves in their courts and pubhc assemblies. The assembly of the people decided all questions not only of domestic policy, but even those which concerned their foreign relations. They not only made but administered the laws ; and even their courts of justice must be regarded as a sort of public assem- blies, from the number of dicasts who composed them. The vast majority of those who met either in the public assemblies or in the courts of justice were men of no political or legal training. The Athenian citizen was a statesman and a judge by prerogative of birth. Although he took an oath to decide ac- cording to the laws, he was far from considering himself bound to make them his study, or to decide according to their letter. The frequency and earnestness with which the orators remind the dicasts of their oath betray their apprehension of its viola- tion. It contained, indeed, a very convenient clause for tender consciences, as it only bound the dicast to decide according to the best of his judgment ; and the use which might be made of this loophole by a clever advocate is pointed out by Aris- totle.* Hence it is surprising how little influence the written code had on the decision of a case. The orators usually drew their topics from extraneous circumstances, or from the general character of their adversary, and endeavoured to prejudice the minds of their audience by personal reflections wholly foreign to the matter in hand, and which modern courts would not tolerate for a moment. In addition to all this, the natural tem- perament of the Athenians rendered them highly susceptible * Rhetoric, I 15, 5. 690 HISTOIiY OF GREECE. Chap. XLV111. of the charms of eloquence. They enjoyed the intellectual gla- diatorship of two rival orators, and even their mutual reproaches and abuse. § 3. It is remarkable, however, that, though the soil of Attica was thus naturally adapted to the cultivation of eloquence, the first regular professors of it, as an art, were foreigners. Prota- goras of Abdera, who visited Athens in the earlier part of the fifth century before Christ, was the first who gave lessons in rhetoric for money. He was followed by Prodicus of Ceos, and Gorgias of Leontini ; the latter of whom especially was very celebrated as a teacher of rhetoric. The art, however, had been established in Sicily before the time of Gorgias by Corax and his pupil Tisias. Corax has been regarded as the founder of tech- nical oratory, and was at all events the first who wrote a treatise on the subject. The appearance of Gorgias at Athens, whither he went as ambassador from Leontini, in 427 B.C., produced a great sensation among the Athenians, who retained him in their city for the purpose of profiting by his instructions. His lectures were attended by a vast concourse of persons, and at- tracted many from the schools of the philosophers. His merit must have been very great to have drawn so much attention in the best times of Athens ; and we are told by Cicero that he alone of all the sophists was honoured with a golden, and not merely a gilt, statue at Delphi. § 4. The Athenians had established a native school of elo- quence a little before the appearance of Gorgias among them. The earliest of their professed orators was Antiphon (born B.C. 480), who stands at the head of the ten contained in the Alexandrian canon. Gorgias seems to have been known at Athens by his works before he appeared there in person ; and one of the chief objects of Antiphon was to estabhsh a more solid style in place of his dazzling and sophistical rhetoric. Thucydides was among the pupils in the school which he opened, and is said to have owed much to his master. Antiphon was put to death in 411 B.C. for the part which he took in establishing the oligarchy of the Four Hundred. Fifteen of his orations have come down to us. The remaining nine Attic orators contained in the Alexandrian canon were Andocides, Lysias, Isocrates, Isaeus, iEschines, Ly- curgus, Demosthenes, Hyperides, and Dinarchus. Andocides, who has been already mentioned as concerned with Alcibiades in the affair of the Hennas,* was born at Athens in B.C. 467, and died probably about 391. We have at least three genuine orations of * See p. 334. Chap. XIMII. ATHENIAN OKATORY. 591 his, which, however, are not distinguished by any particular merit. Lysias, also born at Athens in 458, was much superior to him as an orator, but being a metic, or resident alien, he was not allowed to speak in the assemblies or courts of justice ; and therefore wrote orations for others to deliver. Of these 35 are extant, but some are incomplete, and others probably spu- rious. His style may be regarded as a model of the Attic idiom, and his orations are characterized by indescribable gracefulness, combined with energy and power. Isocrates was born in 436. After receiving the instructions of some of the most celebrated sophists of the day, he became him- self a speech writer and professor of rhetoric ; his weakly consti- tution and natural timidity preventing him from taking a part himself in public life. His style is more periodic than that of the other Attic orators, and betrays that it was meant to be read rather than spoken. Although pure and elegant it is wanting in simplicity and vigour, and becomes occasionally monotonous, through the recurrence of the same turns. Isocrates made away with himself in 338, after the fatal battle of Cheeronea, in despair, it is said, of his country's fate. Twenty-one of his speeches have come down to us. He took great pains with his compo- sitions, and is reported to have spent ten, or, according to others, fifteen years over his Panegyric oration. Isseus, according to some, was a native of Chalcis ; others call him an Athenian ; and it is certain, at all events, that he came at a very early age to Athens. His exact date is not known, but he flourished between the end of the Peloponnesian war and the accession of Philip of Macedon. He opened a school of rhetoric at Athens, and is said to have numbered Demosthenes among his pupils. The orations of Isseus were exclusively judicial, and the whole of the eleven which have come down to us turn on the subject of inheritances. Of iEschines, the antagonist of Demosthenes, we have already had occasion to speak. He was born in the year 389, and was a native of Attica, but of low, if not servile, origin, and of a mother of more than equivocal reputation. This, however, is the account of Demosthenes ; and iEschines himself tells a dif- ferent story. He was successively an assistant in his father's school, a gymnastic teacher, a scribe, and an actor ; for which last profession a strong and sonorous voice peculiarly qualified him. He afterwards entered the army, where he achieved more success ; for besides a vigorous athletic form, he was endowed with considerable courage. The reputation which he gained in the battle of Tamynsj encouraged him to come forwards as a public 592 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVIII. speaker. As a politician he was at first a violent anti-Mace- donian ; but after bis embassy along with Demosthenes and others to Philip's court, he was the constant advocate of peace. Demosthenes and yEschines now became the leading speakers on their respective sides, and the heat of political animosity soon degenerated into personal hatred. In 343, Demosthenes charged Machines with having received bribes from Philip during a second embassy ; and the speech, or rather pamphlet * — for it was not spoken — in which he brought forward this accusation, was answered in another by iEschines. The result of this charge is unknown, but it seems to have detracted from the popularity of ^Eschines. We have already adverted to his impeach- ment of Ctesiphon, and the celebrated reply of Demosthenes in his speech de Corona.f After the banishment of ^Eschines on this occasion (B.C. 330), he spent several years in Ionia and Caria, where he employed himself in teaching rhetoric. After the death of Alexander he retired to Rhodes, and established a school of eloquence, which afterwards became very celebrated, and which held a middle place between Attic simplicity on the one hand, and the ornate Asiatic style on the other. He died in Samos in 314. As an orator he was second only to Demosthenes. He never published more than three of his speeches, which have come down to us ; namely, that against Timarchus, that on the Embassy, and the one against Ctesiphon. Of the life of his great rival Demosthenes, we have already given some account, and need therefore only speak here of his literary merits. The verdict of his contemporaries, ratified by posterity, has pronounced Demosthenes the greatest orator that ever lived. The principal element of his success must bo traced in his purity of purpose, which gave to his arguments all the force of conscientious conviction ; and which, when aided by a powerful logic, perspicuous arrangement, and the most un- daunted courage in tearing the mask from the pretensions of his adversaries, rendered his advocacy almost irresistible. The effect of his speeches was still further heightened by a wonderful and almost magic force of diction. It cannot, however, be supposed that his orations were delivered in exactly that perfect form in which we now possess them. There can be no doubt that they were carefully revised for publication ; but on the other hand, any trifling defects in form and composition must have been more than compensated by the grace and vivacity of oral de- livery. This is attested by the well known anecdote of yEschines, when he read at Rhodes his speech against Ctesiphon. His * riifi irmgaTgiirSiiizf. f See pp. 5515, 554. Chap. XLYI1I. DEMOSTHENES. 59S audience having expressed their surprise that he should have been defeated after such an oration : " You would cease to won- der," he remarked, " if you had heard Demosthenes." Sixty-one of the orations of Demosthenes have come down to us ; though of these some are spurious, or at all events doubtful. The most celebrated of his political orations are the Philippics, the Olyn- thiacs, and the oration on the Peace ; among the private ones, the famous speech on the Crown. The remaining three Attic orators, viz., Lycurgus, Hyperides, and Dinarchus, were contemporaries of Demosthenes. Lycurgus and Hyperides both belonged to the anti-Macedonian party, and were warm supporters of the policy of Demosthenes. Of Ly- curgus only one oration is extant ; and of Hyperides only two, which have been recently discovered in a tomb in Egypt. Di- narchus, who is the least important of the Attic orators, survived Demosthenes, and was a friend of Demetrius Phalereus. He was an opponent of Demosthenes, against whom he delivered one of his three extant orations in relation to the affair of Harpalus.* § 5. Whilst Attic oratory was thus attaining perfection, philo- sophy was making equal progress in the new direction marked out for it by Socrates. Of all the disciples of that original and truly great philosopher, Plato was by far the most distinguished. Plato was born at Athens in 429 B.C., the year in which Pericles died. By Ariston, his father, he was said to be descended from Codrus, the last of the Athenian kings ; whilst the family of his mother traced a relationship with Solon. His own name, which was originally Aristocles, is said to have been changed to Plato on account of the breadth of his shoulders.t He was instructed in music, grammar, and gymnastics, by the most celebrated masters of the time. His first literary attempts were in epic, lyric, and dithyrambic poetry ; but his attention was soon turned to philosophy by the teaching of Socrates, whose lectures he began to frequent at about the age of twenty. From that time till the death of Socrates he appears to have lived in the closest intimacy with that philosopher. After that event Plato with- drew to Megara, and subsequently undertook some extensive travels, in the course of which he visited Cyren6, Egypt, Sicily, and Magna Graecia. His intercourse with the elder Dionysius at Syracuse has been already related.^ His absence from Athens lasted about twelve years ; on his return, being then upwards of forty, he began to teach in the gymnasium of the Academy, and also in his garden at Colonus. His instructions were gratuitous, and his method, like that of his master * See pp. 554, 555. f xXuru ( . £ See p. 489. Ok. 2 Q 5:>4 HISTORY Of GREECE. Chap. XLVIIL Socrates, seems to have been by interrogation and dialogue. His doctrines, however, were too recondite for the popular ear, and his lectures were not very numerously attended. But he had a narrower circle of devoted admirers and disciples, consisting of about twenty-eight persons, who met in his private house ; over the vestibule of which was inscribed — " Let no one enter who is ignorant of geometry." The most distinguished of this little band of auditors were Speusippus, his nephew and successor, and Aristotle. But even among the wider circle of his hearers, who did not properly form part of his school, were some of the most distinguished men of the age, as Chabrias, Iphicrates, Timotheus, Phocion, and others. Whether Demosthenes attended his lectures is doubtful. In these pursuits the remainder of his long life was spent, relieved, howevei - , by two voyages to Sicily.* He died in 347, at the age of 81 or 82, and bequeathed his gar- don to his school. § 6. Plato must be regarded principally as a moral and political philosopher, and as a dialectician : as a physical inquirer he did not shine, and the Timaus is his only work in that branch of philosophy. His dialectic method was a development of that of Socrates ; and though he did not, like Aristotle, produce any formal treatise on the subject, it is exemplified in most of his works, but especially in the Thesetetus, Sophistes, Parmenides, and one or two others of the same class. The fundamental prin- ciple of Plato's philosophy is the belief in an eternal and self- existent cause, the origin of all things. From this divine being emanate not only the souls of men, which are also immortal, but that of the universe itself, which is supposed to be animated by a divine spirit. The material objects of our sight and other senses are mere fleeting emanations of the divine idea ; it is only this idea itself that is really existent ;t the objects of sensuous perception J are mere appearances, taking their forms by participation § in the idea. Hence it follows that in Plato's view all knowledge is innate, and acquired by the soul before birth, when it was able to contemplate real existences, and all our ideas in this world are mere reminiscences of their true and eternal patterns. These principles, when applied to the investi- gation of language, necessarily made Plato a realist ; that is, he held that an abstract name, expressing a genus — as, for instance, mankind, comprehending all individual men — tree, comprehend- ing every species of tree, and so forth — were not mere siyns to express our modes of thinking, but denoted real existences, in fact the only true existences, as being the expressions of the * See pp. 491. 492. f rt Srruf St. J ,. Chap. XLVII1. TLATO. 595 eternally pre-existent idea. In this matter he seems to have departed from Socrates ; and, indeed, the reader who should geek the philosophy of Socrates in the writings of Plato would often be led very far astray. Socrates believed in a divine cause, but the doctrine of ideas and other figments with which Plato surrounded it seem to have been his own. As a moral and political philosopher the views of Plato were sublime and elevated, but commonly too much tinged with his poetical and somewhat visionary cast of mind to be of much practical utility. They are speculations which may awake our admiration as we read them, but which for the most part it would be difficult or impossible to put in practice. His belief in the immortality of the soul naturally led him to establish a lofty standard of moral excellence, and like his great teacher, ho constantly inculcates temperance, justice, and purity of life. His political views are developed in the Republic and the Laws. The former of these works presents us with a sort of Utopia, such as never has existed, and never could exist. The main feature of his system is the subordination, or rather the entire sacri- fice of the individual to the state. The citizens are divided into three classes, in fanciful analogy with the faculties of the soul. Thus the general body, or working class, represents the passions and appetites ; the will is typified by the military order, which is to control the general mass, but which is in turn to be thoroughly subservient to the government, whose functions cor- respond with those of the intellect, or rational faculty. With such views Plato was naturally inimical to the unrestricted demo- cracy of Athens, and inclined to give a preference to the Spartan constitution. In the Latvs, however, he somewhat relaxed the theory laid down in the Republic, and sought to render it of more practical operation. Thus he abandons in that work the strict separation of classes, sets some limits to the power of the govern- ment, and attempts to reconcile freedom and absolutism by mingling monarchy with democracy. § 7. Plato, as we have said, visited Megara after the death of Socrates, where other pupils of that philosopher had also taken refuge. Among these the most famous was Euclides, who must not be confounded with the great mathematician of Alexandria. Euclides founded the sect called from his residence the Me- garic, and which from the attention they paid to dialectics were also entitled Dialectici and Eristici (or the litigious). Two other offshoots of the Socratic school were the Cyrenaics and Cynics. The former of these sects was founded by Aristippus of Cyren6 in Africa, the latter by Antisthenes. Aristippus, though a hearer of Socratts, wandered far from the precepts of his great master. 2 q 2 596 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVIII. He was fond of luxurious living and sensual gratifications, which he held to be shameful only when they obtained so uncontrolled an empire over a man as to render him their entire slave. His chief maxim was to discover the art of extracting pleasure from all the circumstances of life, and to make prosperity and ad- versity alike subservient to that end. Such tenets made him a favourite with the clever and cultivated man of the world, and we find him more than once approvingly alluded to by Horace.* Antisthenes was an Athenian, and also a pupil of Socrates. He taught in the Cynosarges, a gymnasium at Athens designed for Athe- nian boys born of foreign mothers, which is said to have been his own case. It was from this gymnasium that the sect he founded was called the Cynic, though some derive the name from their dog-like habits, which led them to neglect all the decent usages of society. It was one of the least important of the philoso- phical schools. One of its most remarkable members was Dio- genes of Sinope, whose interview with Alexander the Great at Corinth we have had occasion to relate. t No writings of any of the three last-mentioned sects have survived. § 8. Such were the most celebrated minor schools which sprang from the teaching of Socrates. The four principal schools were the Academicians, who owed their origin to Plato ; the Peri- patetics, founded by his pupil Aristotle ; the Ejricureans, so named from their master Epicurus ; and the Stoics, founded by Zeno. Speusippus, Plato's nephew, became the head of the Academy after his uncle's death. Under him and his immediate suc- cessors, as Xenocrates, Polemon, Crates, and Crantor, the doc- trines of Plato were taught with little alteration, and these professors formed what is called the Old Academy. The Middle Academy begins with Arcesilaus, who flourished towards the close of the 3rd century B.C., and who succeeded to the chair on the death of Crantor. Under him the doctrines of the Academy underwent some modification. He ajipears to have directed his inquiries almost exclusively to an investigation of the grounds of knowledge, and to have approached in some degree the Pyrrhon- ists or Sceptics. The Platonic doctrines suffered a further change in the hands of Carneades, the founder of the New Aca- * " Nunc in Aristippi furtim prsecepta rclabor Et mihi res non me rebus subjungere conor." Hon. Ep. i. 1. 18. And again :— "OmDis Aristippum decuit color et status et res." It. 17, 23. t See p. 527. Chap. XLYIII. ACADEMICIANS. PERIPATETICS. 597 demy. Carneades flourished towards the middle of the 2nd oentury B.C. Under him, doubt and hesitation began still more strongly to characterise the teaching of the Platonists. His distinguishing tenet was an entire suspension of assent, on the ground that truth has always a certain degree of error combined with it ; and so far did he carry this principle, that even Clito- machus, his most intimate pupil, could never discover his master's real tenets on any subject. § 9. But of all the Grecian sects, that of the Peripatetics, founded by Aristotle, had the greatest influence so far as the researches of the intellect are concerned ; and this not merely in antiquity, but even perhaps to a still greater extent in modern times, and especially during what are called the middle ages. Aristotle was born in 384 B.C., at Stagira, a sea-port town of Chaleidice, whence he is frequently called the Stagirite. His father Nicomachus was physician to Amyntas II., king of Mace- donia. At the age of 17, Aristotle, who had then lost both father and mother, repaired to Athens. Here he received the instructions of Heraclldes Ponticus, and other Socratics ; and when, about three years after his arrival at Athens, Plato returned to that city, Aristotle immediately attended his lectures. Plato consi- dered him his best scholar, and called him " the intellect of his school." Aristotle spent twenty years at Athens, during the last ten of which he established a school of his own ; but during the whole period he appears to have kept up his connexion with the Macedonian court. On the death of Plato in 347, Aristotle quitted Athens, and repaired to Atarneus, in Mysia, where he resided two or three years with Hermias, a former pupil, who had made himself dynast of that city and of Assos, and whose adopted daughter he married. Atarneus being threatened by the Persians, into whose hands Hermias had fallen, Aristotle escaped with his wife to Mytilene, and in 342 accepted the invi- tation of Philip of Macedon to undertake the instruction of his son Alexander. Philip treated the philosopher with the greatest respect, and at his request caused the city of Stagira to be re- built, which had been destroyed in the Olynthian war. It was here, in a gymnasium called the Nymphaeum, that Aristotle imparted his instructions to Alexander, as well as to several other noble youths. In 335, after Alexander had ascended the throne, Aristotle quitted Macedonia, to which he never re- turned. He again took up his abode at Athens, where his friend Xenocrates was now at the head of the Academy. To Aristotle himself the Athenians assigned the gymnasium called the Lyceum ; and from his habit of delivering his lectures whilst walking up and down in the shady walks of this place his school 698 IIISTOEY OF GREECE. Chap. XLYIII. was called the peripatetic* In the morning he lectured only to a select class of pupils, called esoteric^ and these lectures were called acroamatic,X in contradistinction to being written and published. His afternoon lectures were delivered to a wider circle, and were therefore called exoteric.^ His method appears to have been that of a regular lecture, and not the Socratic one of question and answer. It was during the thirteen years in whioh he presided over the Lyceum that he composed the greater part of his works, and prosecuted his researches in natural history, in which he was most liberally assisted by the mu- nificence of Alexander. The latter portion of Aristotle's life was unfortunate. He appears to have lost from some unknown cause the friendship of Alexander ; and, after the death of that monarch, the disturbances which ensued in Greece proved unfavourable to his peace and security. Being threatened with a prosecution for impiety, he escaped from Athens and retired to Chalcis ; but he was condemned to death in his absence, and deprived of all the rights and honours which he previously enjoyed. He died at Chalcis in 322, in the 63rd year of his age. In person Aristotle was short and slender, with small eyes, and something of a lisp. His manners were characterised by briskness and vivacity, and he paid considerable attention to his dress and outward appearance. Of all the philosophical systems of antiquity, that of Aristotle was best adapted to tho practical wants of mankind. It was founded on a close and accurate observation of human nature and of the external world ; but whilst it sought the practical and useful, it did not neglect the beautiful and noble. His works consisted of treatises on natural moral and political philosophy, history, rhetoric, criticism, &c. ; indeed there is scarcely a branch of knowledge which his vast and comprehensive genius did not embrace. Any attempt to give an account of these works would far exceed the limits of the present work. His greatest claim to our admiration is as a logician. He perfected and brought into form those elements of the dialectic art which had been struck out by Socrates and Plato, ami wrought them by his additions into so complete a system, that he may be regarded as at once the founder and perfecter of logic as an art, which even down to our own days has been but very little improved. § 10. The school of the Stoics was founded by Zeno, a native of Citium in tho island of Cyprus. The exact date of Zeuo's birth is uncertain ; but he seems to have gone to Athens about the * From cos, external. Chap. XLVIII. STOICS. EPICUREANS. 599 beginning of the 3rd century (b.c. 299) ; a visit whicb, according to some accounts, was owing to his having been shipwrecked in the neighbourhood of Piraeus. At Athens he first attached him- self to the Cynics, then to the Megarics, and lastly to the Acade- micians ; but after a long course of study he opened a school of his own in the Pcecil6 Stoa, or painted porch, whence the name of bis sect. The speculative doctrines of Zeno were not marked by much originality. He inculcated temperance and self-denial, and his practice was in accordance with his precepts. The want of reach in the Stoic tenets, which did not demand so much refined and abstract thought as those of many other sects, as well as the outward gravity and decorum which they inculcated, recommended their school to a large portion of mankind, espe- cially among the Romans, by whom that sect and the Epicurean were the two most universally adopted. Two of the most illus- trious writers on the Stoic philosophy, whose works are extant, are Epictetus and the Emperor M. Aurelius. Epicurus was born at Samos in 342, of poor but respectable Athenian parents. He followed at first the profession of a schoolmaster, and after spending some time in travelling, settled at Athens at about the age of 35. Here he purchased a garden, apparently in the heart of the city, where he established his phi- losophical school. He seems to have been the only head of a sect who had not previously gone through a regular course of study, and prided himself on being self-taught. In physics he adopted the atomic theory of the Pythagoreans and Ionics ; in morals that of the Cyrenaic school, that pleasure is the highest good ; a tenet, however, which he explained and dignified by showing that it was mental pleasure that he intended. His works have perished, but the main substance, both of his physical and religious doctrines, may be derived from Lucretius, whose poem De Berum Natura is an exposition of his principal tenets. The ideas of atheism and sensual degradation with which the name of Epicurus has been so frequently coupled are founded on igno- rance of his real teaching. But as he denied the immortality of the soul, and the interference of the gods in human affairs, — though he held their existence, — his tenets were very liable to be abused by those who had not sufficient elevation of mind to love virtue for its own sake. § 11. We have thus traced the progress of Grecian literature from its earliest dawn till it was brought to perfection by the master-minds of Athens. After the death of Alexander, Grecian literature did not become extinct : there was a vitality about it that insured its subsistence for several ages, though not in its 600 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ciiap. XLVIII. former splendour. Alexandria, now the emporium of commerce, became also the chief seat of learning, where it was fostered by the munificence and favour of the first Ptolemies. It was here that literature became a profession, supported by the foundation of noble and extensive libraries, and cultivated by a race of grammarians and critics. These men were of great assistance to literature by the critical care which they bestowed on editions of the best authors, and by the invention of many aids to faci- litate the labours of the student, as better systems of grammar, punctuation, &c. One of the most eminent of them was Aris- tophanes of Byzantium, chief librarian at Alexandria in the reigns of the second and third Ptolemies, and who founded there a school of grammar and criticism. It was he and his pupil Aristarchus who were chiefly concerned in forming the canon of the Greek classical writers ; and in their selection of authors they displayed for the most part a correct taste and sound judgment. To Aris- tophanes is ascribed the invention of the Greek accents. Aris- tarchus is chiefly renowned as the editor of the Homeric poems in the form in which we now possess them. From their school proceeded many celebrated grammarians and lexicographers. It must not, however, be supposed that this was the sole species of literature which flourished at Alexandria. Theocritus, the most charming pastoral poet of antiquity — of which species of compo- sition he was the inventor — though a native of Syracuse, lived for some time at Alexandria, where he enjoyed the patronage of Ptolemy II. His contemporaries and imitators, Bion of Smyrna, and Moschus of Syracuse, also wrote with much grace and beauty. This school of poetry was afterwards cultivated with success by Virgil, Tibullus, and others among the Romans. At Alexandria also flourished Calhmachus, the author of many hymns, elegies, and other poems, which were much admired at Rome, and were translated and imitated by Catullus and Propertius. Amongst numerous other poets we can only mention Apollonius Rhodius, the author of an epic poem on the exploits of the Argonauts ; and Aratus, who composed two poems on astronomy and na- tural phenomena. Among the Alexandrine writers on pure science, the mathematician Euclid (Euclides) stands conspicuous, whose elements of geometry still form the text-book of our schools. He flourished during the time cf the first Ptolemy (B.C. 323—283). § 12. The list of Greek writers down to the extinction of the Greek empire might be indefinitely enlarged ; but our limits would only permit us to present the reader with a barren list of names ; and wo therefore content ourselves with selecting for notice a few of the most eminent. Chap. XLYIII. LATER GREEK .VRITERS. 601 The historian Polybius (B.C. 204 — 122) has already been men- tioned as taking a part in the final struggle of his country with Rome. His History, though the greater part of it has unfortu- nately perished, is one of the most valuable remains of antiquity. His long residence among the Eomans afforded him an oppor- tunity of studying their annals ; and from the period of the second Punic war he has been very closely followed by Livy. Another Greek writer of Koman history was Dionysius of Ha- licarnassus, who flourished in the latter half of the first century B.C. He spent a considerable part of his life at Rome, and de- voted himself to the study of the history and antiquities of that city, on which he wrote a book, a considerable part of which is still extant. He was, however, a better critic than historian, and we still possess several of his treatises in that department of literature. Diodorus, called from his country Siculus, or the Sicilian, also lived at Rome in the time of Julius aud Augustus Caesar. He was the author of a universal history in 40 books, called The Historical Library, of which 15 books are still extant. Arrian, of Nicomedia in Bithynia, who lived in the first century of our era, wrote an account of Alexander's expedition, as well as several works on philosophical and other subjects. Appian of Alexandria lived in the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius, and was the author of a Roman history. One of the best and most valuable Greek writers of this time was Plutarch, the biographer and philosopher. He was a native of Chseronea in Bceotia. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it must have been about the middle of the first century of our era. He passed a considerable time in Rome and Italy ; but it was late in his life before he applied himself to the study of Roman literature, and he appears never to have completely mas- tered the language. The later years of his life seem to have been spent at Chseronea, where he discharged several magis- terial offices, and filled a priesthood. His Lives, if not the most authoritative, are certainly one of the most entertaining works ever written. They have perhaps been more frequently trans- lated than any other book, and have been popular in every age and nation. Besides his Lives, Plutarch was the author of a great number of treatises on moral and other subjects. About the same time flourished Josephus, the Jewish histo- rian, who was born at Jerusalem a.d. 37. Though a Hebrew, the Greek style of Josephus is remarkably pure. Strabo, the celebrated geographer, was a native of Amasia in Pontus, and lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. His valuable work on geography, which also contains many important 1)02 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLVIIL historical facts, still exists pretty nearly entire, though the text is often corrupt. Pau&anias, author of the Description of Greece, is supposed to have been a native of Lydia, and flourished in the second cen- tury of our sera. His account of Greece is of considerable value, for many of the great works of Grecian art were extant when he travelled through the country, and he appears to have described them with fidelity as well as minuteness. Dion Cassius, the historian, was born at Nictea in Bithynia, a.d. 155. His history of Rome in 80 books extended from the earliest times to a.t>. 229. It has come down to us in a very imperfect state, but is still a valuable authority for the history of the later republic and a considerable portion of the empire. Lucian, one of the wittiest and most entertaining of ancient writers, and who, from his sparkling style, his turn of mind, and his disregard for authority, may be compared to Swift or Vol- taire, was born at Samosata, probably about a.d. 120. Of his numerous works, the best known are his Dialogues of the Dead, which have been universally esteemed, not only for their wit, but also for their Attic grace of diction. We cannot close this imperfect list of Greek profane writers without mentioning the name of Galen, the celebrated physician. Galen was born at Pergamus in Mysia, a.d. 130. He completed his education at Smyrna, Corinth, and Alexandria, after which he undertook some extensive travels. He seems to have visited Rome at least twice, and attended on the emperors M. Aurelius and L. Verus. The writings of Galen formed an epoch in me- dical science, and after his time all the previous medical sects seem to have become merged in his followers and imitators. § 13. But the Greek language was not merely destined to be the vehicle of those civilising influences which flow from the imagination of the sublimest poets and the reasonings of the most profound philosophers. The still more glorious mission was reserved for it, of conveying to mankind through the Gospel that certain prospect of a hfe to come, which even the wisest of the Grecian sages had beheld only as in a glass, darkly. Three at least of the four Gospels were written in the Greek tongue, as well as the greater portion of those scriptures which compose the New Testament. We have already alluded to the facilities which the conquests of Alexander afforded to the spreading of the Gospel ; nor were there wanting in subsequent ages men who assisted its extension by their writings. Even the works of an author like Lucian were subservient to this end, by casting ridicule on the gods of paganism, and thus preparing the minds of men for the reception of a purer doctrine. Among the Greek Chap. XL VIII. CONCLUSION. 603 Fathers of the Church were many men of distinguished talent ; as Justiu Martyr, one of the earliest of the Christian writers, Clemens of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, and many others ; especially Joannes, surnamed Clnysostomus, or the golden-mouthed, from the power of his eloquence. The Greek language and literature continued to subsist till the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. Even that shock did not entirely destroy their vitality. The many learned Greeks who then took refuge in Italy were the means of reviving the study of their tongue, then almost entirely neglected, in the West, and especially at Florence, under the auspices of Cosmo de' Medici, who appointed Johannes Argyropulus, one of these refugees, preceptor to his son and nephew. Maxiuius Planudes, Manuel Moschopulus, Emanuel Chrysoloras, Theodore Gaza, and others, assisted in this work ; and through these men and their successors, and particularly through the labours of Aldus Ma- nutius, the Venetian printer, who flourished iu the same cen- tury, the chief mastei-pieces of Grecian literature have been handed down and made intelligible to us. Bust of the poet STcn&mler. ( 604 ) CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. Book I.— MYTHICAL AGE. B.C. 1184. Capture of Troy. 1124. Emigration of the Boeotians from Thessaly into Boeotia. 1104. Return of the Hcraclidae. Conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. 1050. Cumao founded. 1350. Probable age of Homer. Book II.— GROWTH OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 776. Commencement of the Olympiads. Age of Lycurgus. 747. Phidon, tyrant of Argos, celebrates the 8th Olympic games. 743. Beginning of the first Messenian war. 734. Syracuse founded by Archias of Corinth. 723. End of the first Messenian war. 720. Sybaris, in Italy, founded by the Achaeans. 710. Croton, in Italy, founded by the Achaeans. 708. Tarentum founded by the Lacedaemonian Parthenii, under Phalanthus. 700. Archilochus of Paros, the iambic poet, nourished. 693. Simonides of Amorgos, the lyric poet, nourished. 690. Foundation of Gela in Sicily. 685. The beginning of the second Messenian war. 683. First annual Archon at Athens. Tyrtaeus, the Athenian poet, camo to Sparta after the first success of the Messenians, and by his martial songs roused the fainting courage of the Lacedaemonians. 670. Alcman, a native of Sardis in Lydia, and the chief lyric poet of Sparta, nourished. 668. End of the second Messenian war. 664. A sea-fight between the Corinthians and Corcyraeans, the most ancient sea- fight recorded. Zaleucus, the lawgiver in Locri Epizephyrii, flourished. 657. Byzantium founded by the Megarians. 655. The Bacchiadae expelled from Corinth. Cypselus begins to reign. 644. Pantaleon, king of Pisa, celebrates the Olympic games. C30. Cyrene in Libya founded by Battus of Thera. 625. Periander succeeds Cypselus at Corinth. Arion flourished in the reign of Periander. 624. Legislation of Dracon at Athens. 612. Attempt of Cylon to make himself master of Athens. 610. Sappho, Alcoeus, and Stesichorus flourished. 600. Massilia in Gaul founded by the Phocaeans. 596. Epimenides, the Cretan, came to Athens. 595. Commencement of the Cirrhaean or Sacred War, which lasted 10 yeare. 594. Legislation of Solon, who was Athenian archon in this year. .'■91. Cirrha taken by the Amphictyons. 589. Commencement of the government of Pittacus at Mytilene. 586. The conquest of the Cirrhceans completed and the Pythian games celebrated. The Seven AVise Men flourished. 585. Death of Periander. 5*2. AgTigentum founded. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 605 fc.c. 561. The dynasty of the Cypselida ended. 560. Pisistratus usurps the government of Athens. Ibycus of Rhcgium, the lyric poet, flourished. Book III.— THE PERSIAN WARS. 659. Cyrus begins to reign in Persia. 556. Simonides of Ceos, the lyric poet, born. 548. The temple at Delphi burnt. Anaximenes flourished. 54G. Sardis taken by Cyrus and the Lydian monarchy overthiown. 544. Pherecydes of Syros, the philosopher, and Theognis of Megara, the poetj flourished. 539. Ibycus of Rhegium, the lyric poet, flourished. 538. Babylon taken by Cyrus. 535. Thespis the Athenian first exhibits tragedy. 532. Polycrates becomes tyrant of Samoa. 531. The philosopher Pythagoras and the poet Anacreon flourished. 529. Death of Cyrus and accession of Cambyses as king of Persia. 527. Death of Pisistratus, 33 years after his first usurpation. 525. Cambyses conquers .<£gypt in the fifth year of his reign. Birth of .Escbylus. 523. Choerilus of Athens exhibits tragedy. 522. Polycrates of Samos put to death. Birth of Pindar. Death of Cambyses, usurpation of the Magi, and accession of Darius to the Persian throne. Hecatseus, the historian, flourished. 514. Hipparchus, tyrant of Athens, slain by Harmodius and Aristogiton. 511. Phrynichus, the tragic poet, flourished. 510. Expulsion of Hippias and his family from Athens. The ten tribes insti- tuted at Athens by Clisthenes. 504. Charon of Lampsacus, the historian, flourished. 501. Naxos besieged by Aristagoras and the Persians. Upon the failure of this attempt Aristagoras determines to revolt from the Persians. 500. Aristagoras solicits aid from Athens and Sparta. Birth of Anaxagoras the philosopher. First year of the Ionian revolt. The Ionians, assisted by the Athenians, burn Sardis. iEschylus, aged 25, first exhibits tragedy. 499. Second year ef the Ionian revolt. 498. Third year of the Ionian revolt. Aristagoras slain in Thrace. Death of Pythagoras. 497. Fourth year of the Ionian revolt. Histieeus comes down to the coast. Birth of Hellanicu8 of Mytilene, the historian. 496. Fifth year of the Ionian revolt. Birth of Sophocles. 495. Sixth and last year of the Ionian revolt. The Ionians defeated in a naval battle near Miletus, and Miletus taken. 493. The Persians take the islands of Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos. Miltiades flies from the Chersonesus to Athens. 492. Mardonius, the Persian general, invades Europe, and unites Macedonia to the Persian empire. 491. Darius sends heralds to Greece to demand earth and water. Demaratus, king of Sparta, deposed by the intrigues of his colleague Cleomenes. He flies to Darius. 490. Datis and Artapheraes, the Persian generals, invade Europe. They take Eretria in Euboea and land in Attica. They are defeated at Marathon by the Athenians under the command of Miltiades. jEsehylus fought at the battle of Marathon, aet. 35. War between Athens and JJgina. 4S9. Miltiades attempts to conquer Paros, but is repulsed. He is accused, and, unable to pay the fine in which he was condemned, is thrown into prison, where he died. 486. Revolt of Egypt from the Persians in the fourth year after the battle of Marathon. 606 HISTORY OF GREECE. B.C. 485. Xerxes, king cf Persia, succeeds Darius. Gelon becomes master of Syru. cuse. •184. Egypt reconquered by the Persians. Herodotus born, -Sschylus gain? the prize in tragedy. 483. Ostracism of Aristides. 481. Themistocles the leading man at Athens. 480. Xerxes invades Greece. He set out from Sardis at the beginning of the spring. The battles of Thermopylae and Artcmisium were fought at the time of the Olympic games. The Athenians deserted their city, which ■was taken by Xevxes. The battle of Salamis, in which the fleet of Xerxes was destroyed, was fought in the autumn. Birth of Euripides. 479. After the return of Xerxes to Asia, Mardonius, who was left in the com- mand of the Persian army, passed the winter in Thcssaly. In the spring he marches southward and occupies Athens ten months after its occu- pation by Xerxes. At the battle of Platsea, fought in September, he Is defeated by the Greeks under the command of Pausanias. On the same day the Persian fleet is defeated off Mycale by the Greek fleet. Sestos besieged by the Greeks in the autumn and surrendered in the following spring. 478. 8estos taken by the Greeks. The history of Herodotus terminates at the 6iege of Sestos. Book IV.— THE ATHENIAN SUPREMACY AND THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 478. In consequence of the haughty conduct of Pausanias, the maritime allies place themselves under the supremacy of Athens. Commencement of the Athenian ascendency or empire, which lasted about 70 years — 65 before the ruin of the Athenian affairs in Sicily, 73 before the capture of Athens by Lysander. 476. Cimon, commanding the forces of the Athenians and cf the allies, expels the Persians from Ei'on on the Strymon, and then takes the island of Scjtos, where the bones of Theseus are discovered. Simonides, set. 80, gains the prize in the dithyTambic chorus. 471. Themistocles, banished by ostracism, goes to Argos. Pausanias convicted of treason and put to death. Thucydides the historian born. 469. Pericles begins to take part in public affairs, 40 years before his death. 468. Mycenaa destroyed by the Argives. Death of Aristides. Socrates born. Sophocles gained his first tragic victory. 467. Simonides, aet. 90, died. 466. Naxos revolted and subdued. Great victory of Cimon over the Persians at the river Eurymedon, in Pamphylia. Themistocles fires to Persia. 465. Revolt of Thasos. Death of Xerxes, king of Persia, and accession of Artaxerxes I. 464. Earthquake at Sparta, and revolt of the Helots and Messenians. Cimon marches to the assistance of the Lacedaemonians. Zeno of Elea flourished. 463. Thasos subdued by Cimon. 461. C'jnon marches a second time to the assistance of the Lacedaemonians, but his offers are declined by the latter, and the Athenian troops sent back. Ostracism of Cimon. Pericles at the head of public affairs at Athens. 460. Revolt of Inaros, and first year of the Egyptian war, which lasted 6 years. The Athenians sent assistance to the Egyptians. 458. The Oresteia of ^Eschylus performed. 457. Battles in the Megarid between the Athenians and Corinthians. The Lace- daemonians march into Doris to assist the Dorians against the Phocians. On their return they are attacked by the Athenians at TanagTa, but the latter are defeated. The Athenians commence building ♦heir long walls, which were completed in the following year. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 607 B.C. 456. The Athenians, commanded by Myronides, defeat the Thebans at (Enophyta, Reca'; of Cimon from exile. Death of jEschylus, set. 69. 455. The Mossenians conquered by the Lacedaemonians in the tenth year of the war. Tolmides, the Athenian general, settles the expelled Messenians at Naupactus. See B.C. 464. Tolmides sails round Peloponnesus with an Athenian fleet, and does great injury to the Peloponnesians. End of the Egyptian war in the sixth year. See B.C. 460. All Egypt con- quered by the Persians, except the marshes, where Amyrtaeus continued to hold out for some years. See b.c 449. Euripides set. 25 first gains the prize in tragedy. 454. Campaign of Pericles at Sicyon and in Acarnania. Cratinus, the comic writer, flourished. 452. Five years' truce between the Athenians and Peloponnesians, made through the intervention of Cimon. Anaxagoras set. 50 withdraws from Athens, after residing there 30 years. 449. Renewal of the war with Persia. The Athenians send assistance to Amyr- taeus. Death of Cimon and victory of the Athenians at Salamis in Cyprus. 448. Sacred War between the Delphians and Phocians for the possession of the oracle and temple. The Lacedsemonians assisted the Delphians, and the Athenians the Phocians. 447. The Athenians defeated at Chseronea by the Boeotians. 445. Revolt of Euboea and Megara from Athens. The five years' truce having: expired (see b.c 450), the Lacedaemonians, led by Pleistoanax, invade Attica. After the Lacedsemonians had retired, Pericles recovers Eubcca, The 30 years' truce between Athens and Sparta. 444. Pericles begins to have the sole direction of public affairs at Athens. Thucydides, the son of Milesias, the leader of the aristocratical party, ostracised. 443. The Athenians send a colony to Thurii in Italy. Herodotus aet. 41, anc Lysias set. 15, accompany this colony to Thurii. 441. Euripides gains the first prize in tragedy. 440. Samos revolts from Athens, but is subdued by Pericles in the ninth month Sophocles aet. 55 was one of the ten Athenian generals who fough: against Samos. 439. Athens at the height of its glory. 437. Colony of Agnon to Amphipolis. 436. Cratinus, the comic poet, gains the prize. 435. "War between the Corinthians and Corcyrseans on account of Epidamnus. The Corinthians defeated by the Corcyrseans in a sea-fight. 434. The Corinthians make great preparations to carry on the war with vigour. 433. The Corcyrseans and Corinthians send embassies to Athens to solicit assist- ance. The Athenians form a defensive alliance with the Corcyraeans. 422. The Corcyraeans, assisted by the Athenians, defeat the Corinthians in the spring. In the same year Potidaea revolts from Athens. Congress of the Peloponnesians in the autumn to decide upon war with Athens. Anaxagoras, prosecuted for impiety at Athens, withdraws to Lainpsacus, where he died about four years afterwards. Aspasia prosecuted by the comic poet Hermippus, but acquitted through the influence of Pericles. Prosecution and death of Phidias. 431. First year of the Peloponnesian war. The Thebans make an attempt upon Plataea two months before midsummer. Eighty days afterwards Attica is invaded by the Peloponnesians. Alliance between the Athenians and Sitalces, king of Thrace. Hellanicus aet. 65, Herodotus aet. 53, Thucydides aet. 40, at the commence- ment of the Peloponnesian war. The Medea of Euripides exhibited. 480. Second year of the Peloponnesian war. Second invasion of Attics. The platrue rases at Athens. (108 HISTORY OF GREECE. B.C. 429. Third year of the Peloponnesian war. Potidooa surrenders to the Athenians after a siege of more than two years. Naval actions of l'hormio in the Corinthian gulph. Commencement of the siege of l'lataea. Death of Peric'es in the autumn. Birth of Tlato, the philosopher. Eupolis and Fhrynichus, the comic poets, exhibit. 428. Fourth year of the Peloponnesian war. Third invasion of Attica. Revolt of all Lesbos except Methymna. Mytilene besieged towards the autumn. Death of Anaxagoras, oet. 72. 127. Fifth year of the Peloponnesian war. Fourth invasion of Attica. Mytilene taken by the Athenians and Lesbos recovered. The demagogue Cleon begins to have great influence in public affairs. Plataoa surrendered to the Peloponnesians. Sedition at Corcyra. The Athenians send assist- ance to the Leontines in Sicily. Aristophanes, the comic poet, first exhibits. Gorgias ambassador from Leontini to Athens. 426. Sixth year of the Peloponnesian war. The Peloponnesians do not invade Attica in consequence of an earthquake. Lustration of Delos. 425. Seventh year of the Peloponnesian war. Fifth invasion of Attica. Demos- thenes takes possession of Pylos. The Spartans in the island of Sphac- teria surrendered to Cleon 72 days afterwards. Accession of Darius Nothus. The Achamians of Aristophanes. 424. Kighth year of the Peloponnesian war. Nicias ravages the coast of Laconia and captures the island of Cythera. March of Brasidas into Thrace, who obtains possession of Acanthus and Amphipolis. The Athenians defeated by the Thebans at Delium. Socrates and Xenophon fought at the battle of Delium. Thucydides, the historian, commanded at Amphipolis. The Knights of Aristophanes. 423. Ninth year of the Peloponnesian war. Truce for a year. Thucydides banished in consequence of the loss of Amphipolis. He was 20 years in exile. The Clouds of Aristophanes first exhibited. 422. Tenth year of the Peloponnesian war. Hostilities in Thrace between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians. Both Brasidas and Cleon fall in battle. The Wasps of Armtophanes and second exhibition of the Clouds. Death of Cratinus. Protagoras, the sophist, comes to Athens 421. Eleventh year of the Peloponnesian war. Truce for 50 years between the Athenians and Lacedemonians. Though this truce was not formally declared to be at an end till d.c 414, there were notwithstanding fre- quent hostilities meantime. 420. Twelfth year of the Peloponnesian war. Treaty between the Athenians and Argivcs effected by means of Alcibiades. 419. Thirteenth year of the Peloponnesian war. Alcibiades marches into Pelo- ponnesus. The Peace of Aristophanes. 418. Fourteenth year of the Peloponnesian war. The Athenians send a force into Peloponnesus to assist the Argives against the Lacedaemonians, but are defeated at the battle of Mantineia. Alliance between Sparta and Argos. 417. Fifteenth year of the Peloponnesian war. 416. Sixteenth year of the Peloponnesian war. The Athenians conquer Mclos. 415. Seventeenth year of the Peloponnesian war. The Athenian expedition against Sicily. It sailed after midsummer, commanded by Nicias, Alci- biades, and Lamachus. Mutilation of the Herman at Athens before the fleet Bailed. The Athenians take Catana. Alcibiades is recalled homo : he makes his escape, and takes refuge with the Lacedajmoniana. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 609 Andocides, the orator, imprisoned on the mutilation of the HermeB. lie escapes by turning informer. 414. Eighteenth year of the Peloponnesian war. Second campaign in Sicily. The Athenians invest Syracuse. Gylippus the Lacedaemonian comes to the assistance of the Syracusans. The Birds of Aristophanes. 413. Nineteenth year of the Peloponnesian war. Invasion of Attica and fortifi- cation of Decelea, on the advice of Alcibiades. Third campaign in Sicily. Demosthenes sent with a large force to the assistance of the Athenians. Total destruction of the Athenian army and fleet. Nieias and Demosthenes surrender and are put to death on the 12th or 13th of September, 16 or 17 days after the eclipse of the moon, which took place on the 27 th of August. 412. Twentieth year of the Peloponnesian war. The Lesbians revolt from Athens. Alcibiades sent by the Lacedaemonians to Asia to form a treaty with the Persians. He succeeds in his mission and forms a treaty with Tissaphernes, and urges the Athenian allies in Asia to revolt. The Andromeda of Euripides. 411. Twenty-first year of the Peloponnesian war. Democracy abolished at Athens, and the government entrusted to a council of Four Hundred. This council holds the government four months. The Athenian army at Samos recalls Alcibiades from exile and appoints him one of their generals. He is afterwards recalled by a vote of the people at Athens, but he remained abroad for the next four years at the head of the Athenian forces. Mindarus, the Lacedaemonian admiral, defeated ai Cynossema. Antiphon, the orator, had a great share in the establishment of the Four Hundred. After their downfal he is brought to trial and put to death. The history of Thucydides suddenly breaks off in the middle of this year. The Lysisirata and Thesmophoriazusce of Aristophanes. Lysias returns from Thurii to Athens. 410. Twenty-second year of the Peloponnesian war. Mindarus defeated and slain by Alcibiades at Cyzicus. 400. Twenty-third year of the Peloponnesian war. The Philoctetes of Sophocles. 408. Twenty-fourth year of the Peloponnesian war. Alcibiades recovers Byzan- tium. The Orestes of Euripides. The Pluttis of Aristophanes. 407. Twenty-fifth year of the Peloponnesian war. Alcibiades returns to Athens. Lysander appointed the Lacedaemonian admiral and supported by Cyrus, who this year received the government of the countries on the Asiatic coast. Antiochus, the lieutenant of Alcibiades, defeated by Lysander at ls T otium in the absence of Alcibiades. Alcibiades is in consequence banished, and ten new generals appointed. 406. Twenty-sixth year of the Peloponnesian war. Callicratidas, who succeeded Lysander as Lacedaemonian admiral, defeated by the Athenians in the sea-fight off the ArginussaB islands. The Athenian generals condemned to death because they had not picked up the bodies of those who had fallen in the battle. Dionysius becomes master of Syracuse. Death of Euripides and Sophocles. 4C5. Twenty-seventh year of the Peloponnesian war. Lysander defeats the Athenians off jEgospotami, and takes or destroys all their fleet with the excepUon of eight ships which fled with Conon to Cyprus. The Frogs of Aristophanes. 404. Twenty-eighth and last year of the Peloponnesian war. Athens taken by Lysander in the spring on the 16th of the month Munychion. Demo- cracy abolished, and the government entrusted to thirty men, usually called the Thirty Tyrants. Ge. 2R 610 HISTORY OF GREECE. B.C. The Thirty Tyrants held their power for eight months, till Thrasybulus occupied Phyle and advanced to the Piraeus. Death of Alcibiades during the tyranny of the Thirty. Book V.— THE SPARTAN AXD THEBAN SUPREMACIES. 403. Thrasybulus and his party obtain possession of the Piraeus, from whence they carried on war for several months against the Ten, the successors of the Thirty. They obtain possession of Athens before July; but the contest between the parties was not finally concluded till September. Thucydides, tet. 68, returns to Athens. 401. Expedition of Cyrus against his brother Artaxerxcs. He falls in the battle of Cunaxa, which was fought in the autumn, nis. Greek auxiliaries commence their return to Greece, usually called the retreat of tho Ten Thousand. First year of the war of Lacedaemon and Elis. Xenophon accompanied Cyrus, and afterwards was the principal general of the Greeks in their retreat. The CEdipus at Colunus of Sophocles exhibited after his death by his grand- son Sophocles. 400. Return of the Ten Thousand to Greece. Second year of the war of Lacedaemon and Elis. The speech of Andocides on the Mysteries. 399. The Lacedaemonians send Thimbron with an army to assist the Greek cities in Asia against Tissapherncs and Pharnabazus. The remainder of the Ten Thousand incorporated with the troops of Thimbron. In the autumn Thimbron was superseded by Dcrcyllidas. Third and last year of the war of Laccdaonion and Elis. Death of Socrates, net. 70. Plato withdraws to Megara. 308. Dcrcyllidas continues the war in Asia with success. 807. Dercyllidas still continues the war in Asia. 396. Agesilaus supersedes Dercyllidas. First campaign of AgesUaus in Asia. He winters at Ephesus. 395. Second campaign of Agesilaus in Asia, ne defeats Tissapherncs, and be- comes master of Western Asia. Tissaphernes superseded by Tithraustes, who sends envoy? into Greece to induce the Greek states to declare war against Lacedaemon. Commencement of the war of the Greek states against Lacedaemon. Lysandcr slain at Haliartus. Plato, a?t. 34, returns to Athens. 894. Agesilaus recalled from Asia to fight against the Greek states, who had declared war against Lacedaemon. He passed the Hellespont about mid- summer, and was at the entrance of Bocotia on the 14th of August. Ho defeats the allied forces at Coronea. A little before the latter battle the Lacedaemonians also gained a victory near Corinth ; but about the same time Conon, the Athenian admiral, and Pharnabazus, gained a decisive victory over Pisandcr, the Spartan admiral, off Cnidus. Xenophon accompanied Agesilaus from Asia and fought against his country at Coronea. He was in consequence banished from Athens. He retired under Lacedaemonian protection to Scillus, where he composed his works. 893. Sedition at Corinth and victory of the Lacedaemonians at Lechoeum. Phar- nabazus and Conon ravage the coasts of Peloponnesus. Conon begins to restore the long walls of Athens and the fortifications of the Piraeus. 391. The Lacedaemonians under Agesilaus ravage the Corinthian territory, but a Spartan mora is cut to pieces by Iphicrates. The Ei rlrstnzu ir of Aristophanes. Expedition of Agesilaus into Acarnania. Speech of Andocides " On the Peace." He is banished. 390. Expedition of Agesipolis into Argolis. The Persians again eepouso the cause of the Lacedaemonians, and Conon is thrown into prison. The CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 611 B.C. Athenians assist E'-agoras of Cyprus against the Persians. Thrasybulua, the Athenian commander, is defeated and slain by the Lacedsemonian Teleutias at Aspendus. 389. Agyrrhius sent as the successor of Thrasybulus to Aspendus and Iphicrates to the Hellespont. Plato, set. 40, goes to Sicily : the first of the three voyages. 388. Antalcidas, the Lacedaemonian commander on the Asiatic coast, opposed to Iphicrates and Chabrias. The second edition of the Plutus of Aristophanes. 387. The peace of Antalcidas. 38G. Restoration of Plataea, and independence of the towns of Bccotia. 885. Destruction of Mantinea by the Lacedaemonians under Agesipolis. 884. Birth of Aristotle. 332. First year of the Olynthian war. Phcebidas seizes the Cadmea, the citadel of Thebes. Birth of Demosthenes. 381. Second year of the Olynthian war. 380. Third year of the Olynthian war. The Panegyricxis of Isocrates. 379. Fourth and last year of the Olynthian war. The Cadmea recovered by the Theban exiles in the winter. 378. Cleombrotus sent into Boeotia in the middle of winter, but returned 'without effecting anything. The Lacedaemonian Sphodrias makes an attempt upon the Piraeus. The Athenians form an alliance with the Thebans against Sparta. First expedition of Agesilaus into Boeotia. Death of Lysias. 377. Second expedition of Agesilaus into Bccotia. 376. Cleombrotus marches into Boeotia, and sustains a slight repulse at the passes of Cithaeron. The Lacedaemonian fleet conquered by Chabrias off Naxos, and the Athe- nians recover the dominion of the sea. 875. Cleombrotus sent into Phocis, which had been invaded by the Thebans, who withdraw into their own country on his arrival. 374. The Athenians, jealous of the Thebans, conclude a peace with Laceda?mon. Timotheus, the Athenian commander, takes Corcyra, and on his return to Athens restores the Zacynthian exiles to their country. This leads to a renewal of the war between Athens and Laccdoonion. Second destruction of Plataea, Jason elected Tagus of Thessaly. 378. The Lacedaemonians attempt to regain possession of Corcyra, and send Mnasippus with a force for the purpose, but he is defeated and slain by the Corcyraeans. Iphicrates, with Callistratus and Chabrias as his col- leagues, sent to Corcyra. Prosecution of Timotheus by Callistratus and Iphicrates. Timotheus is acquitted. £72. Timotheus goes to Asia. Iphicrates continued in the command of a fleet in the Ionian sea. 271. Congress at Sparta, and general peace (called the Peace of Callias), from which the Thebans were excluded, because they would not grant the independence of the Boeotian towns. The Lacedaemonians, commanded by Cleombrotus, invade Boeotia, but are defeated by tho Thebans under Epaminondas at the battle of Leuctra. Commencement of the Theban Supremacy. Foindation of Megalopolis. 370. Expedition of Agesilaus into Arcadia. Jason of Pherae slain. After the interval of a year, Alexander of Pherre succeeds to his power in Thessaly. First inTisiou of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. They remain in Pelopon- nesus four months, and found Messene. 367. Embassy of Polopidas to Persia. _ _ 612 HISTORY OF GREECE. B-O. &67. Second invasion of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. Expedition of Pclopidas to Thcssaly. He is imprisoned by Alexander of Pherae, but F.paminondas obtains bis release. Archidamus gains a victory over the Arcadians. Death of the elder Dionysius of Syracuse, after a reign of 88 year*. 866. Third invasion of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. The Archidamm of IsocrateB. 365. War between Arcadia and Elis. 364. Second campaign of the war between Arcadia and Elis. Battle of Olympia at the time of the games. 362. Fourth invasion of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. Battle of Mantinca, in June, in which Epaminondas is killed. Xenophon brought down his Greek history to the battle of Mantinea. 361, A general peace between all the belligerents, with the exception of the Lacedremonians, because the latter would not acknowledge the inde- pendence of the Messenians. Agesilaus goes to Egypt to assist Tachos, and dies in the winter when pre- paring to return home. Birth of Deinarchus, the orator. C80. War between the Athenians and Olynthiar.s for the possession of Amphl- polis. Timotheus, the Athenian general, repulsed at Amphipolis. Book VI.— THE MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY. 359. Accession of Philip, king of Macedonia, set. 23. ne defeats Argirus, who laid claim to the throne, declares Amphipolis a free city, and makes peace with the Athenians. He then defeats the Paeoniuns and Illy- rians. 358. Amphipolis taken by Philip. Expedition of the Athenians into Eubcea. 35 7. Chios, Rhodes, and Byzantium revolt from Athens. First year of the Social War. The Phocians seize Delphi. Commencement of the Sacred War. The Thebans and the Locrians are the chief opponents of the Phocians. Dion sails from Zacynthus and lands in Sicily about September. 356. Second year of the Social War. Birth of Alexander, the son of Philip and Olympias, at the time of the Olympic games. Potidaja taken by Philip, who gives it to Olynthus. Dionysius the younger expelled from Syracuse by Dion, after a reign of 12 years. 855. Third and last year of the Social War. Peace concluded between Athens and her former allies. 854. Trial and condemnation of Timotheus. Demosthenes begins to speak in J.c assemblies of the people. 853. Philip seizes upon Pagasoe, and oegins to besiege Mcthonc. Death of Dion. 952. Philip takes Methone and enters Thessaly. ne defeats and slays Onomar- chus, the Phocian general, expels the tyrants from Phera?, and becomes master of Thessaly. He attempts to pass Thermopylae, but is prevented by the Athenians. War between Lacedremon and Megalopolis. The first Philippic of Demosthenes. £49. The Olynthians, attacked by Philip, ask succour from Athens. The Olynthiac orations of Demosthenes. St 9. Olynthian war continued, i) 17. Olynthus taken and destroyed by Philip. Death of Plato, oet. 82. Spcusippus succeeds Plato. Aristoti. 1 , upon the death of Plato, went to Atarneus. 846. Peace between Philip and the Athenians. CHEONOLOGICAL TABLE. 613 Philip overruns Phoeis and brings the Sacred War to an end, after It had lasted 10 years. All the Phocian cities, except Abx, were destroyed. Oration of Demosthenes on the Peace. 345. Speech of ^Eschines against Timarehus. 844. Timoleon sails from Corinth to Syracuse, to expel the tyrant Dionysius. Aristotle, after three years' stay at Atarneus, went to Mytilene. The second Philippic of Demosthenes. 343. Timoleon completes the conquest of Syracuse. Disputes between Philip and the Athenians. The speech of Demosthenes respecting Halonnesus. The speeches of Demosthenes and iEschines Hep! napmrpc(Tj3eiaj. 342. Philip's expedition to Thrace. He is opposed by Diopithes, the Athenian general at the Chersonesus. Aristotle comes to the court of Philip. Isocrates, set. 94, began to compose the Panathenaic oration. Birth of Epicurus. 341. Philip is still in Thrace, where he wintered. The oration of Demosthenes on the Chersonesus, and the third and fourth Philippics. Philip besieges Selymbria, Perinthus, and Byzantium. 339. Renewal of the war between Philip and the Athenians. Phocion compels Philip to raise the siege both of Byzantium and Perinthus. Xenocrates succeeds Speusippus at the Academy. 338. Philip is chosen general of the Amphictyons to carry on the war against Amphissa. He marches through Thermopylae and seizes Elatea. The Athenians form an alliance with the Thebans ; but their united forces are defeated by Philip at the battle of ChaBronea, fought on the 7 th of Metageitnion (August). Philip becomes master of Greece. Congress at Corinth, in which war is declared by Greece against Persia, and Philip appointed to conduct it. Death of Isocrates, aet. 98. ?36. Death of Timoleon. Murder of Philip, and accession of his son Alexander, set. 20. S85. Alexander marches against the Thracians, Triballi, and Illyrians. While he is engaged in this war Thebes revolts. He forthwith marches south- wards, and destroys Thebes. 834. Alexander commences the war against Persia. He crosses the Hellespont in the spring, defeats the Persian satraps at the Granicus in May, and conquers the western part of Asia Minor. Aristotle returns to Athens. 333.. Alexander subdues Lycia in the winter, collects his forces at Gordium in the spring, and defeats Darius at Issus late in the autumn. 332. Alexander takes Tyre, after a siege of seven months, in July. He takes Gaza in September, and then marches into Egypt, which submits to him. In the winter he visits the oracle of Ammon, and gives orders for the foundation of Alexandria. £31. Alexander sets out from Memphis in the spring, marches through Phoenicia and Syria, crosses the Euphrates at Thapsacus in the middle of the summer, and defeats Darius again at Arbela or Gaugamela on the 1st of October. He wintered at Persepolis. In Greece Agis is defeated and slain by Antipater. 330. Alexander marches into Media, and takes Ecbatana. From thence he sets out in pursuit of Darius, who is slain by Bessus. After the death of Darius Alexander conquers Hyrcania, and marches in pursuit of Bessus through Drangiana and Arachosia, towards Bactria. The speech of jEschines against Ctosiphon, and the speech of Demosthenes on the Crown. -Eschines, after his failure, withdrew to Asia. Philemon began to exhibit comedy during the reign of Alexander, a little earlier than Menander. 329. Alexander marches across the Paropamisus in the winter, passes the Onus, 614 HISTORY OF GREECE. takes Bessus, and reaches the Jaxartcs, where he founds a city, Alex- andria Eschate. He subsequently crosses the Jaxartes and defeats the Scythians. He winters at P.actra. 323. Alexander is employed during the whole of this campaign in the conquest of Sogdiana. no marries Roxana, the daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian prince. 327. After the subjugation of Sogdiana Alexander returns to Bactra, from whence he marches to invade India. He crosses the Hydaspes and defeats Porus. He continues his march as far as the Hyphasis, but is there compelled by his troops to return to the Hydaspes. In the autumn he begins to sail down the Hydaspes and the Indus to the Ocean, which he reached in July in the following year. 326. Alexander returns to Persia, with part of his troops, through Gcdrosia. He sends Neaxehus with the fleet to sail from the mouths of the rndus to the Persian gulph. Xcarchus accomplishes the voyage in 129 days. 325. Alexander reaches Susa at the beginning of the year. Towards the close of it he visits Ecbatana, where Hephacstion dies. Harpalus comes to Athens, and bribes many of the Greek orators. 324. Alexander reaches Babylon in the spring. Demosthenes, accused of having received a bribe from Harpalus, is condemned to pay a fine of 50 talents. He withdraws to Troezen and .-Egina. S23. Death of Alexander at Babylon, in June, after a reign of twelve years and eight months. Division of the satrapies among Alexander's generals. The Greek states make war against Macedonia, usually called the Lamian war. Leosthenes, the Athenian general, defeats Antipater, and besieges Lamia, in which Antipater had taken refuge. Death of Leost! Demosthenes returns to Athens. 322. Leonnatus comes to the assistance of Antipater, but is defeated and slain. Craterus comes to the assistance of Antipater. Defeat of the confederates at the battle of Crannon on the "th of August. End of the Lamian war. Munychia occupied by the Macedonians. Death of Demosthenes on the 14th of October. Death of Aristotle, act. C3, at Chalcis, whither he had withdrawn from Athens a few months before. 321. Perdiccas invades Egypt, where he is slain by his own troops. Partition of the provinces at Triparadisus. Menander, set. 20, exhibits his first comedy. 318. Death of Antipater, after appointing Polysperchon regent, and his son Cassander chiliarch. 317. War between Cassander and Polysperchon in Greece. The Athenians put Phocion to death. Athens is conquered by Cassander, who places it under the government of Demetrius Phalereus. 317. Death of Philip Arrhidaeus and Eurydicc. Olympias returns to Macedonia, and is besieged by Cassander at Pydna. 316. Antigonus becomes master of Asia. Cassander takes Pydna, and puts Olympias to death. He rebuilds Thebes. 315. Coalition of Seleucus, Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus against Anti- gonus. First year of the war. Polemon succeeds Xenocratcs at the Academy. 314. Second year of the war against Antigonus. Death of the orator ^Eschines, set. 7 5. 313. Third year of the war against Antigonus. SI 2. Fourth year of the war against Antigonus. &11. General peace. Murder ol Roxana and Alexander IV. by Cas.ander. 310. Ptolemy appears as liberator of the Greeks. Renewal of hostilities between him and Antigonus. 308. Ptolemy's expedition to Greece. 807. Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, becomes master of Athens. Deniotrius Phalereus leaves the city. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 615 8.0. 806. Demetrius recalled from Athens. He defeats Ptolemy in a great sea-fight off Salamis in Cyprus. After that battle Antigonus assumes the title of king, and his example is followed by Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassandcr. Epicurus settles a; Athens, where he teacLes about 36 years. 305. Rhodes besieged by Demetrius. 80 4. Demetrius makes peace with the Rhodians, and returns to Athens. 803. Demetrius carries on the war in Greece with success against Cassander. 302. War continued in Greece between Demetrius and Cassander. 801. Demetrius crosses over to Asia. Battle of lpsus in Phrygia, about the month of August, in which Lysi- machus and Seleucus defeat Antigonus and Demetrius. Antigonus, aet. 81, falls in the battle. 297. Demetrius returns to Greece, and makes an attempt upon Athens, but is repulsed. Death of Cassander and accession of his son Philip IV. 295. Death of Philip IV. and accession of his brother Antipatcr. Demetrius takes Athens. Civil war in Macedonia between the two brothers, Antipater and Alexander. Demetrius becomes king of Macedonia. 291. Death of Menander, fet. 52. 290. Demetrius takes Thebes a second time. He celebrates the Pythian games at Athens. 287. Coalition against Demetrius. He is driven out of Macedonia, and his do- minions divided between Lysimachus and Pyrrhus. Demetrius sails to Asia. Pyrrhus driven out of Macedonia by Lysimachus after seven, months' pos- session. 286. Demetrius surrenders himself to Seleucus, who keeps him in captivity. 285. Ptolemy II. Philadelphus is associated in the kingdom by his father. 283. Demetrius, a>t. 54, dies in captivity at Apamea in Syria. Death of Ttolemy Soter, set. 84. 281. Lysimachus is defeated and slain by Seleucus, at the battle of Corupedion. 280. Seleucus murdered by Ptolemy Ceraunus seven months after the death of Lysimachus. Antiochus I., the son of Seleucus, becomes king of Asia, Ptolemy Cerannus king of Thrace and Macedonia. Irruption of the Gauls and death of Ptolemy Ceraunus. Rise of the Achaean league. 279. The Gauls under Brennus invade Greece, but Brennus and a great part of his army are destroyed at Delphi. 278. Antigonus Gonatas becomes king of Macedonia. 273. Pyrrhus invades Macedonia, and expels Antigonus Gonatas. 272. Pyrrhus invades Peloponnesus, and perishes in an attack on Argos. An- tigonus regains Macedonia. 262. Death of Philemon, the comic poet, a?t. 97. 251. Aratus delivers Sicyon, and unites it to the Achaean League. 243. Aratus, a second time general of the Achaean League, delivers Corinth from the Macedonians. 241. Agis IV., king of Sparta, put to death in consequence of his attempts to reform the state. 239. Death of Antigonus, and accession of his son, Demetrius II. 236. Cleomenes III. becomes king of Sparla. 229. Death of Demetrius II., and accession of Antigonus Doson, who was left by Demetrius guardian of his son Philip. 227. Cleomenes commences war against the Achaean League. 226. Cleomenes carries on the war with success against Aratus, who is again tho general of the Achaean League. 225. Reforms of Cleomenes at Sparta. 224. The Achaeans call in the assistance of Antigonus Doson against Cleomenes. 616 HISTORY OF GREECE. B.C. 221. 217. 216. 213. 211. 208. 207. 205. 200. 197. 196. 192. 191. 189. 188. 179. 171. 168. 167. 151. 147. 146. Aiiti^onus defeats Cleomenes at Sellasia, and obtains possession of Sparta. Cleomenes sails to Egypt, where he dies. Extinction of the royal Una of the HeraclidsB at Sparta. Death of Antigonus Doson, and accession of Philip V., ret. 17. The Achaeans and Aratus are defeated by the .Etolians. The Acltcana apply fur assistance to Philip, who espouses their cause. Commencement of the Social War. Third and last year of the Social War. Peace concluded. Philip concludes a treaty with Hannibal. Philip removes Aratus by poison. Treaty between Pome and the jEtolians against Philip. Philip marches into Peloponnesus to assist the Achaeans. Philopceinen is elected general of the Achaean League, and effects important reforms in the army. Philopoemen defeats and slays Machanidas, tyrant of Lacedaeinon, at the battle of Mantinea. The .Etolians make peace with Philip. Philip's treaty with Rome. War between Philip and Rome. Philip defeated at the battle of Cynoscephalae. Greece declared free by Flamininus at the Isthmian games. Lacedaemon is added by Philopcemen to the Achaean League. Antiochus comes into Greece to assist the .Etolians agairjst the Romans. He winters at Chalcis. Antiochus and the .£tolians defeated by the Romans at the battle of Ther- mopylae. The Romans besiege Ambracia, and grant peace to the .Etolians. Philopoemen, again general of the Achaean League, subjugates Sparta, and abrogates the laws of Lycurgus. The Messenians revolt from the Achaean League. They capture and put to death Philopcemen. Death of Philip and accession of Perseus. War between Perseus and Rome. Defeat and capture of Perseus by JEmilius Paulus. Division of Macedonia. One thousand of the principal Achaeans are sent to Rome. Polybius is among the Achaean exiles. Embassy of the three philosophers to Rome. Return of the Achaean exiles. War between Rome and the Achaeans. Destruction of Corinth by Mummius. Greece becomes a Roman province. Colonial Coin of Corinth. On the obverse the head of Anion'uius Pius ; on the reverse the port of Cenchreae. The letters C. L. I. Cor. stand for Colonia Lena Julia Corinthus, the name given t) the city when Julias Cresar founded a colony there in u.c 40. ( 617 ) INDEX. A. Abdera. 158. Abrocomas, 423. Abydus, battle of, 423. Academy, tbe, 399, 596. Acarnania, 6 Achaeans, 12, sq. Achaean league, 568, sq Achseus, 12. Achaia, 6, 57. , a Roman province, 57 8. Acharnae, 286. Achelous, 4, 9. Achilles, 22. Achradina, J44. Acrisius, 18. Acropolis, Athenian, 382, 392. Acusilaus of Argos, 234. Adimantus, 200. Admetus, 248. Adrastus, 22. Aeetes, 20. .Egaa, 523. jEgaleos, Mt., Xerxes at, 209. ^geus, 19. iEgina, 7; described, 181; taken by the Athenians, 287. jEginetan scale, 59 ; sculp- ture, 149. iEginetans submit to the Spartans, 172. jEgospotami, battle of, 368. iEgyptus, 15. iEolians, 13. iEolic migration, 35. iEolus, 12. iKschines, 512 ; Amphicty- onic deputy, 518 ; accuses Demosthenes, 553 ; retires to Rhodes, 554 ; account of his life, 591. iEschylus, 178; account of, 40 j, sq. ^syrnnetes, 8. ^tolia, 6. .Stoliau league, 571. ^Etolians reduced, 574. Agamemnon, 16, 22. Agathon, 587. Ageladas, 387. Agesilaus becomes king of Sparta, 4 j6 ; character, ib. ; his expedition against the Persians, 439 ; attacks Pharnabazus, 440 ; routs the Persians on the Pacto- lus, ib. ; his interview with Pharnabazus, 441 ; recalled, ALEXANDER. 442 ; homeward march, 446; offering at Delphi, 447 ; takes Lechaeum, 449 ; invades Boeotia, 464 ; at- tacks Mantinea, 474; saves Sparta, 476, 485 ; expedition to Egypt, 486 ; death, ib. Agesipolis, 445 ; death, 459 Agis, 307, 326, 4J5- IV., 570. Agnon, 269. Agora, 26. — — , Athenian, 398. Agrigentum, 118, 488. Agyrrhins, 452. Aimnestno, 224. Ajax, 22. Alaric, 396. Alcaaus, 132. Alcibiades, character of, 322 ; deceives the Spartan Am- bassadors, 324 ; at Olympia. 325 ; attacks Epidaurus, ib.; in Sicily, 329; accused of mutilating the Henna? 331; arrest and escape of 335; condemned, ib. ; goes to Sparta, 336 ; excites a revolt of the Chians, 348 ; dismissed by the Spartans, 349 ; flies to Tissaphernes, 350; intrigues of, 351 ; pro- ceedings at Samos, 354 ; arrested by Tissaphernes 359 ; defeats the Pelopon- nesians at Cyzicus, 360; returns to Athens, 361 ; dismissed from the com- mand of the Athenian fleet, 363; flies to Pharnabazus, 376 ; murdered, ib. Alcidas, 300, 304. Alcmaeon, 88. Alcnueonida; banished, 93. Alcman, 130. Alcmena, 15. Aleuada?, 501. Alexander, King of Macedon, 217. Alexander of Phera.', 480; defeated by Pelopidas, 482 ; subdued, 483. Alexander the Great, 522; education, 526; accession, ib. ; overawes the Thebans and Athenians, 527; gene- ralissimo against Persia, ib. ; interview with Dio- genes, 528; expedition against the Thracians, &c, ib.; reduces the Thebans AMPHITRYON, to obedience, ib. ; demands the Athenian orators, 529; crosses to Asia, 530; forces the passage of the Grani- cus, 5J 1 ; progress through Asia Minor, ib. ; cuts the Gordian knot, 532; danger- ous illness, 533 ; defeats the Persians at Issus, ib.; march through Phoenicia, 535; besieges Tyre, 536; answer to Parmenio, 537; proceeds to Egypt, ib. ; visits the temple of Am- nion, 538 ; defeats Darius in the battle of Arbela, 539 ; enters Babylon, ib. ; seizes Susa, 540; marches to Persepolis, ib. ; pursues Darius, 541 ; invades Hyr- cania, 542; enters Bactria, 543 ; deleats the Scythians, ib. ; marries Roxana, 544 ; kills Clitus, ib. ; plot or the pages against his life, 545 ; crosses the Indus, ib. ; vanquishes Porus, ib. ; marches homewards, 546; peril at Malli, ib. ; arrives at the Indian Ocean, 547 ; march through Gedrosia, ib. ; marries Statira, 548 ; quells a mutiny at Opis, ib. ; solemnises the festival of Dionysus at Ecbatana, 549 ; his ambitious projects, 550; death, 16.; character, ib.; estimate of his ex- ploits, 551; funeral, 553; portraits and statues of, 582. Alexander, son of Alexander the Great, 553, 561. Alexandria in Arachosia, 543. Alexandria Ariorum, 542. Alexandria ad Caucasum, 54; Alexandria in Egypt, founded, 537; description of, 584; literature at, 600. Alexandria Eschate, 54?. Alphabet, Ionic, introduced, Alpheus, 6, 7. Altis, the, 52. Ambracian Gulf, 4. Aminias, 211. Amnion, Jove, 538. Amompharetus, 22?. Amphipolis, 269, 503. Amphissians, 518. Amphitryon, ij 618 AMrillCTYONIC. Amphictyonic council. Its origin and constitution, 49 Amphictyons decree of th'- ut the end of the second sacred v.u, 51 3. Amynus, 457. Anacharsis, 84. Aaaoreon, 134. Anactorium, 125. Anaxagoras, 136; charged with impiety, 279. Anaxibius. 452 ; slain, 453. Anaxicrates, 262. Anaximander, 136. Auaximenes, 136. Anducides, j;4, 590. Androsthenes, J83. Auuiceris, 490. Antalcidas, peace of, 454 ; mission to Persia, 457. Antigonias, Athenian tribe 562. Antigonus, 553, 558; coali- tion aguir.it, 561 ; assumes the title of king, 562 ; slain, 56J. Antigonus Doson, 570. Atitigoivus Gonatas, 568. Antioch, founded by Scleu- cus, 563. Antiochus, ?6j, 470. Antiochus Soter, 567. Antiochus 111., 574. Antipater, defeats the Spar- tans, 553 ; defeated at the Spercheus, 555; ' over- throws the allied Greeks at Crannon, 556; demands the Athenian orators, 557; declared regent, 558; death, to. Antiphon, 351, 355; exe- cuted, 3 56 ; character as an orator, 593. Antisthenes, 50,6. Anytus, 417. Apaturia, festival of, 366. Apelles, 582. Apollo Pythaus, 58; Tem- nites, 3J7; Epicurius, tem- ple of, J99. Apollodorus, 390. Apollonia, 125. Appian, 601. Arachosia, 543. Aratus, 569. Arbela, battle of, 539. Arcadia, 6, 57. Arcadian confederation, 474. Arcadians transfer the pre- sidency of the Olympic games to the Pisatans, 483). Arcesilaus, 596. Ar. helaus, 501. Archiaa, 460, 557. anus, 278. 284, 28;, 287, 288; **sieges Platan, 293. Archilochus, 129. Architecture rax, 584. 1NDF.X. ATHENIANS. Archon, 80; Athenian, 88; eponymus ami basilens, 91. igOS, court of, 91 ; re- .1 by 1'ericles, 256; hill of, J82, 398. Argiuusae, battle of, 365. Argives and Spartans, strug- gles between, 78. - Argonauts, 20. Argos, 7, 13, 15, 57 ; progress of, 257 ; head of a new con federacy, 3:1. Ariadne, 19. Ari:vus, 426. Ariobarzanes, 540. Arion, 131, 402. Arist.igoras, 163, sq. Aristarchus, 600. Axistides, character of, 183; recalled from exile, 233 ; defeats the Persians, 212 ; organizes the confederacy of Delos, 242 ; change in his views, 24; ; death, 250. Aristippus, 59;. Aristocrates, 76. Aristodemus of Messenia, 74. Aristodemus of Sparta, 226. Aristogeiton (v. Harmodias). Aristophanes, his politics, 302 ; account of, 408, sq. Aristophanes of Byzantium, 600. Aristomenes of llessenia, 7;. Aristotle, 526; account of, JOT; method and philosu- phy, 598. Arrian, 601. Arsinoe, 566. Art, Greek, 30, 140 sq.: Athenian, 380 sq. ; G 579 sq. ; decline of, 585. Artabazus, retreat of, 225. Artaphernes, 164, 173. Artaxerxes, 249, 420. Artemisia, 206; her prowess, 211. Artemisium, battle of, 199. Asia Minor, Greek colonies in. 35. Asopius, 299. Aspasia, 279. Assyrian empire, 152. Astacus, 287. A.»iy. the, 384. Astyochus, 349. Atheas, 518. Athena, 20; statue of, 395. \ thenian navy, 299. ins, divided into four -, 97; assist the 1, ni- ans, 166; war with /Egina, 181 ; abandon Athens, 201 ; the Persian alliance 217; constitntioD more de- itic, 24; ; furm an alliance v,jtl, AjgOS, 257; assist Inarus, 258; defeat the iEginetans, 259: con- AT1IENS. quer Bceotia, 261 ; reduce jEgina, 261 ; lose their power in Bceotia, 263; des- potic power of, 271 ; make peace with Persia, 262* conclude a thirty years truce with Sparta, 264; subjugate Samos, 271 ; form ince with Corcyra, 275 ; their allies and re- Bonrces in the Peloponne- si.m war, 283 ; their fleet annoys the Peloponnesus, 287 ; ravage the Megarid, 16.; their decree against the Mytileneans, 302; take Pylus, 307 ; expedition against Bceotia, 315; con- clude a truce with Sparta, 318; peace of Midas, J20; refuse to evacuate Pylus, 322; treat}' with Argos, 324; conquer Mclos, 327; massacre the inhabitants, 323; interfere in Sicilian affairs, ib. ; expedition to Sicily, 3 29 ; progress of, 33Ji insult the coasts of . 343 ; send a fresh fleet to Sicily, 14' ; defeated at sea by the 342 ; retreat from Syracuse, 343 ; defeated by the Lace- daemonians off Eretria, 356 ; gain a naval victory at lema, 358; at Aby- dus, 359; at Cyzicus, 360; regain possession of the Bosporus, 360 ; totally defeated at zEgcepotami, 368 ; ally themselves with Thebes, 444 ; form a league with Corinth and Argos I Sparta, 44^; lose mand of the Helles- pont, 454; head of a new confederacy, 463 ; aeclare war against Sparta, 463; peace with Sparta, 468; form an alliance with the mesian States, 474 ; send an embassy to I 479; support AJexan Pherae, 480; their desire to seize Corinth, 48 1 ; reviving maritime power of, 482 ; deceived by Philip, 504; coalition against, 50; ; at nd an embassy to him, 512; court Philip, yijj send a fleet to relieve Byzantium, 517; their alarm at the apprt act of Philip, 519; ted by the battle of Charonea, 52c; tl ratical expedition to Oro- ^77; condemned In 500 talenu by the ltomans, 16. Athens, its origin, 15, 19 : INDEX. fil9 ATHOS. early constitution of, go ; taken by the Persians, 205; second occupation of by the Persians, 218; re- building of, 244 ; long walls of, 259; incipient decline of, 26} ; crowded state of during the Peloponnesian war, 286 ; plague at, 233 ; dismay at, 347 ; oligarchy established at, 353; in- vested by the Peloponne- sians, 371; famine at, ib. surrender of, 272; Spartan garrison at, 374 ; democracy restored at, 379 ; descrip- tion of the city, 382 s<;.; origin of its name, 383 rebuilt, 384; walls, ib. harbours, ib. ; streets, &c J 85 ; population, ib. ; long walls rebuilt, 447 ; captured by Demetrius, 565. Athos, Mount, canal at, 187. Attaginus, 226. A ttic tribes, four, 89 ; in- creased to ten, 108. Attica, 5; early history of, 88 ; three factions in, 95. CHARIOTS. Bucephala founded by Alex- ander, 546. Byzantines erect a statue in honour of Athens, 518. Byzantium, 12; ; taken by the Athenians. 240 ; second capture of, 272 ; third cap- ture of, 361 ; besieged by Philip, 516; relieved by the Athenians, 518. B. Babylon, 153; taken by Cy- rus, 158 ; submits to Alex- ander, 539. Babylonians, the, i;j; Aris- tophanes, comedy of, 302. Bacchiadaj, oligarchy of the, 383. Bacchylides, 233. Bad, the, 85. Barbarian, meaning of the term, 48. Barca, 124. Bards, ancient, 30. Bardylis, 502. Basileus, what, 26. Belus, temple of, 539. Bessus, 541 ; put to death, 54 J • Bias, 135. Bion, 600, Boar's grave, battle at the, 76. Boeotarchs, restored, 461. Bceotia, description of, 5. Boeotians, Immigration of the, 32 ; their confederacy re- stored, 466. Boges, 243. Bosporus, Athenian toll at the, 360. Boule, 26. Brasidas, 308; hisexpedition into Thrace. Cadmea, or Theban citadel, seized by the Spartans, 458 ; recovered, 462. Cadmus, 16. Cadmus of Miletus, 234. Calamis, 387. Callias, peace of, 468. Callias of Chalcis, 517. Callicrates, 576. Callicratidas, 363. Callimachus, 600. Callippus, 494. Callirrhoe, fountain of, 104 Callistratus. 463. Callixenus, 366. Cumbunian mountains, 2. Cambyses, 158; conquers Egypt, 159; death, ib, Canachus, 387. Carduchi, 429. Carneades, 596. Caryatides, 397. Carthaginians invade Sicily, 215,488. Caspian gates, 541. Cassander, 559; establishes an oligarchy at Athens, 560 ; takes Pydna, ib. ; kills Roxana and her son, 561. Casting, art of, 148. Catana, surprised by the Athenians, 334. Cathan, 546. Caucones, 14. Cecropidae, 383. Cecrops, 15. Celts invade Macedonia, 567. Cephallenia, 7, 287. Cephissus, the, 382. Ceramicus, the, 392. Ceryces, the, 351. Chabrias, 451, 463 ; defeats the Lacedaemonian fleet at Naxos, 465 ; slain, 505. Cbaereas, 354. Chaerephon, 417. ChaBrilus, 402. Chaironea, first battle of, 263 ; second battle, 520. Chalcedon, j6i. Chalybes, the, 430. 317; death, 319; honours paid to his Chares, 481, 50;, ; 17. memory, 320. ; Chares, (sculptor), 585. Brennus, 5O7 Bribery among the Greeks, 199. Bryas, 327. Charicles, 340. Chaiidemus, 509. Charilaus, 61, 77. Ctariots of war. jo, CONON. Charon of Larnpsacus, 234. Charon of Thebes, 463. Chians, revolt of the, 348. Chileos, 219. Chilo, 135. Chionides, 407. Chios attacked by the Athen- ians, 505. Chirisophus, 431. Chremonidean war, 568. Chronology, Grecian, 38. Chryselephantine statuary, „ w - Cimon of Cleon:e, 150. Cimon, son of Miltiades, 242 ; his character, 252 ; assists the Lacedaemonians, 255 ; banished, 257 ; his sentence revoked, 261 ; expedition to Cyprus and death, 262; his patronage of art, 391. Cinadon, conspiracy of, 437. Cirrhaian plain, 51, 505. Cithaaron Mount, 5. Cities, independent sove- reignty of, 54. Clearchus, 420, 425. Clearidas, 322. Cleippides, 298. Cleobulus, 135. Cleombrotus, 462 ; assists the Phocians, 466 ; invades Bceotia, 470 ; slain, 471. Cleomenes, 106, m sq., 182. Cleomenic war, 571. Cleon, 286 ; character of, 301. his violence, 310 ; his ex- pedition against Sphacteria, 3ii ; toThrace, 319 ; flight and death, ib. Cleopatra, Philip's wife, 522. Cleopatra, Philip's daughter, marries Alexander of Epi- rus, 523. Cleophon, 360. Cleruchi, 112,268. Clisthenes of Sicyon, 83. Cleisthenes, 107 ; his reforms, 108 ; their effect, 113. Clitus saves Alexander's life, 53 1 ; killed by Alexander, 544- Cnemus, 291. Cnidus, battle of, 442. Codrus, death of, 88. Colchians, the, 431. Colonies, Greek, 11;, sq. ; re- lation to the mother coun- try, ib.; how founded, 116; mostly democratic, ib. ; in Asia Minor, 117 ; in Sicily, 118; in Italy, 120; in Gaul and Spain, 123 ; in Africa, 1 24 ; in the Ionian Sea, ib. , in Macedonia and Thrace, 1 2; ; progress of, 268. Comedy, old Attic, 408 ; new, 588. Conon supersedes Alcibiadea, 363 ; defeated by Calilcra« S20 COPAIS. tidas, 564; accepts the command of the Persian fleet, 439 ; occupies Caunus, 441; proceeds to Babylon, 442; defeats the Spartan fleet at Cnidus, ib. ; reduces the Spartan colonies, 447 ; takes Cythera, to. ; rebuilds the long walls of Athens, 448 ; seized by Tiribazus, 45>- Copals, lake, 5. Uorax, 5. Corcyra, 7, 124; troubles in, 304; massacre at, 313; de- fended by an Athenian fleet, 467. Corcyrasans, quarrel with Co- rinth, 273 ; send an em- bassy to Athens, 274. Corinna, 2Ji. Corinth, 57; despots of, 8j; battle of, 445 ; massacre at, 449; congress at, 521; another congress at, 527 ; destroyed by Muniniius, 578. Corinthian gulf, 5. Corinthian order, 145 ; war, 445- Corinthians assist the Epi damnians, 274 ; ally them selves with Argos, 449 ; conclude a peace with Thebes, 481. Coronea, battle of, 446. Corupedion, battle of, 566. Cottyus, 519. Cotys, 576. Cranai, 383. Crannon, battle of, 556. Crantor, 596. Craterus, 546. Crates, 596. Cratinus, 408. Crete, 7, }8. Creusis, 470. Crimesus, battle of, 497. Crissa, 50. Critias, 372; seizes Salamis and Eleusis, J77 ; slain, 378. Crito, 418. Crilolaus, 578. Cnesns, 150, 154 ; fall of, 157 Crotcn, 120. Cryptia, 64. Cum», 118. Cunaxa, battle of, 424. Cyclades, 7. Cyclic poets, 40. Cyclopean walls, 142. Cyllene, Mount, 6. Cylon, conspiracy of, 92. Cynics, the, 596. CynosargeB, the, 59/J. Cynoscephalae, battle of, 482. Cynuria, 78. Cypselus, 8j. Cyrtoaic sect, 595. INDEX. 1 DEMOSTHENES. Cyrene, 124. Cyrus, empire of, 155; cap- tures Sardis, 156; takes Babylon, 158; death, to. Cyrus the younger, arrives on the coast, 362 ; his ex- pedition against his brother Artaxerxes, 420; march, 422, sq. ; slain, 425. Cythera, 7. Cyzicus, ii", J 59; recovered by the Athenians, 360. Dxdalns, 48. Damocles, story of, 490. DanaS, 15, Danal, 15. Danaus, 15, 18. Darius, 159; his administra tion, 161 ; Thraclan expedi- tion of, to.; extorts the submission of the Mace- donians, 162 ; death, 186 Darius Codomanus, defeated by Alexander at Issus, 533 ; overthrown by Alexander at Arbela, 5J9; murdered, 54J- Datis, 1 7 J. Decarchies, Spartan, 370, 437 Dccelea, 340. Delium, Athenian expedition against, j 1 5 ; battle of, 316 Delos, confederacy of, 241 ; tribute, 209 ; synod re moved to Athens, 270 ; lus- tratlon of, 507. Delphi, temple of, 50 ; oracle, 54 ; taken by the Phocians, ;o6 ; oracle of, concerning Philip, 523. Demades, 557. Demaratus, 182. Demes, Attic, 108. Demetrias, Athenian tribe, 562. Demetrius of Phalerus, 560; character of, 561 ; retires to Thebes, 562. Demetrius Poliorcetes, 561 ; besieges Salamis, 562; be sieges Rhodes, 16. ; takes Athens, J65 ; king of Mace- don, 565 ; death, 566. Demetrius of Pharos, 572. Demiurgi, 20. Democracy, 80; Athenian, progress of, 3c 1. Demosthenes (general), 307 Hi. Demosthenes (orator'), ac- count of, 508 ; Philippics, ib.; first, 509; Objnthiacs, 510; embassy, 512 ; second Philippic, 515; oration on the 1'eace, ib. ; mission into Peloponnesus, ib. ; third rh Hippie, 516; oration on EION. the Chersonese, ib.: pre sented with a golden crown, 511; goes envoy to rhebea, 519; tights at Chwronea, 520; his conduct after Philip's death, 526; pro- poses religious honours for Philip's assassin, ib. ; his opinion of Alexander, 527 , exertions to rouse Greece, 16. ; embassy to Alexander, ib. ; accused by iEschines — speech on Uie Crown, ,54 ; condemned of corrup- tion, 555 ; recalled from exile, 556; demanded by Antipater, 557 ; escapes to Calaurea, to ; death, ib. , character as an orator, 592. Dercyllidas, 438, 447. Diacria, 95. DUeus, 577. Diasia, 9;. Dicasleries, 256. Dinarchus, 59}. Diocles, 487. Diodorus Siculus, 601. Diodutus, jo.}. Diogenes, his interview with Alexander, 527. Dion, 489 ; patriotic projects of, 491 ; exiled, 492 ; takes Syracuse, 49} ; assassinated, 494- Dion Cassius, 601. Dionysius the elder, tyrant of Syracuse, 488, sq.; death and character, 490. Dionysius the younger, 490; expelled by Dion, 49 3 ; retires to Corinth, 496. , Dionysius of Halicaniassus, 601. Dionysus, theatre of, at Athens, 397. Dlopithes, 516. Dithyramb, invention of the, 132 ; the 60tirce of trageoy 402. Dodona, oracle of, 14. Dorcis, 241. Dorians, 12, 1 } ; in Pelopon- nesus, 32; migrations of the, 37 ; three tribes of, 62. Doric Hexapolis, 37; order, 144- Doris, S. Dorus, 12. Draco, iaws of, 92 E. Ecclesia, the, 109. Education, Spartan, 66 ' Athenian, 413. Egesueans, the, deceive the Athenians, 129. Egypt, its influence on Greece, 15- Eion, Athenian colony at, 153. INDEX. 621 EISPHORA. Eisphora, the, 463. Elea, founded, 158. Eleaus, 34; attack the Arca- dians at Olyinpia, 483. Eleusinians condemned to death by the 3000 Athens, 178. Eleutheria, festival of, 227 Elis, 7, 57; reduced by the Spartans, 4*5. Embassy of the three philoso- phers to Rome, 577. Embroidery, 30. Ennea Hodoi, 25?. Epaminondas, 460; named Boeotarch, 461 ; his cha- racter, 464; embassy to Sparta, 468 ; military genius of; defeats the Spartans at Leuctra, 47 1 ; invades Laconia, 47;; es- tablishes the Arcadian con- federation, and restores the Messenians, 476 ; again in- vades Peloponnesus, 478 ; eaves the Theban army, 480 ; rescues Pelopidas, ib. ; naval expedition of, 482 ; last invasion of Peloponne- sus, 484 ; death of, 486. Epariti, 476. Epeans, 34. Ephesus, 117. Ephetaj, 92. Ephialtes, 195. Ephialtes (the friend of Peri- cles), 256. Ephors, 64 ; power of the, 65. Epic poetry, 40. Epicharmus, 401. Epicnemidian Locrians, 5. Epicurean sect, 596. Epicurus, 565, 590. Epidamnus, 125, 27}. Epidaurus, 7. Epigoni, 22. Epimenides, 94. Epipolaj, j j 7. Epirus, 4. Epitadas, jii. Epyaxa, 422. Equals, Spartan, 4j8. Erectheum, 268. Eretria, capture of, 174. Eteocles, 22. Euajphnus, 73. Eubcea, 7; revolt from Athens, 264; second revolt of, 356. Euboic scale, 59. Euclides, arclion, 380. Euclides of Megara, 595. Euclides of Alexandria, 600. Eudamidas, 458. Eumenea, 553. Eumenes, King of Pergamus, 576. Ewmenides of ^Eschylus, 256. Eumenides, cave of the, J98. Eumolpidae, 335, 351. GREEKS. Eupalridce, 20; nature of their government, 91. Kuphaes, 73. Kuphranor, 581. Euphrates, surveyed by order of Alexander, 550. Eupolis, 408. Eupompus, 582. Euripides, account of, 406; character as a poet, 407. Euripides the younger, 587. Eurotas, 7. Eurybiades, 19 J. Euiydice, 560. Eurymedon, battle of the, 252. Eurymedon, 307, 313; ban- ished, 328. Eurystheus, 18. Evagoras, 439. F. Farnesian bull, 586. Fathers, Greek, 603. Few, the, 266. ' Five Thousand," the, 353, J 55. Flaminius, T. Q., 575. ' Four Hundred," Athenian Senate or Council of, 98 ; enlarged to five hundred, 109; their judicial power abrogated, 256. ' Four Hundred," conspiracy of the, 353 ; put down, 356. Franchise, Athenian, re- stricted, j 80. Freemen, 27. G. Galatia, 567. Galen, 602. Gargaphia, fountain of, 220. Gaugamela, battle of (v. Arbela). Gelon of Syracuse, 192, 215. Generals, ten Athenian, con- demned, 367. Geomori, 20, 80, 89. Geranean mountains, ;. Gerusia, Spartan, 65. Good, the, 85. Gordion knot, the, 542. Gorgias, 328, 414, 590. Government, in the heroic ge, 25. Granlcus, battle of the, 531. Graphe parandmon, repealed, 153- Greece, form of, 2 ; physical features of, 7, sq. ; climate, 9, sq. ; products, ib. ; re- duced to a Roman province, 578. Greek language, 13, 48; his- tory, early, 48. Greeks, character of the, 8; causes which united them, 48 ; disunion of, on the approach of Xerxes, 191 ; celebrate the battle of Sala- HOMERIC. mis, 214 ; expedition of the Ten Thousand, 422; retreat of, 426, sqq. ; arrive at the Euxine, 450; at Byzan- tium, 4 j 2. Gyges, 153. Gylippus, arrives in Sicily, 339; captures the fcrt of Labdalum, ib. H. Ilamilcar, 215. Hannibal, 572. Harmodius and Aristcg.fton, conspiracy of, 105. Harmosts, Spartan, 370, 437. Harpagus, 158. Harpalus, 554. Hecataius, 165, 234. Hegias, 387. Helen, 22. Helia?a, no. Helicon, 5. Hellanicus, 234. Hellanodicas, 51. Hellas, 2. Hellen, 12. Hellenes, 2. Hellenotamise, 242. Hellespont, bridge over the, 187. Helots, origin of, 34; condi- tion, 63 ; revolt of, 254 ; massacre of, 314. Hepha>stion, 540; marries Drypetis, 548 ; death, 549. Heraclidaj, return of the, 32. Heraclitus, 136. Hercules, 18. Henna;, mutilated, 330. Hermione, 7. Hermippus, 279. Hermocrates, 328, 487. Hermolaus, 545. Herodotus, 235; account ol his work, 236, sq. ; at Thu- rii, 269. Heroes, 17. Heroic age, 18 ; manners of, 27, sq. Hesiod, 127. Hetajrse, 279. Hicetas, 494, 496. Hiero of Syracuse, 231, 232. Hieromnemon, 49. Hipparchus, 104; assassin- ated, 105. Hipparinus, 494. Hippias, 104; expelled from Athens, 106. Hippocrates, 31;. Hippodamus of Miletus, 384. Histiseus of Miletus, 162; crucified, 168. History, rise of, 233. Homer, 39; his identity, 41 date, ib. Homeric poems, their value, 24 ; preservation of. 42 ; 622 INDEX. H0R0L0G1UM. arranged by Pisistratus, 43; poetical unity of, 46. Horologiuiu, the, 585. Hyperbolas murdered, 351. Hyperides, 555, 593. liyphasis, the, 546 Iambic verse, 129. Ibycus, 233. lctinus, 263, 394. Ilissus, }82. Ilium, or Troy, 2J. Inaros, revolt of, 358. Ion, 12. Ionia subjugated by the Per- sians, 170. Ionians 12, 13; four tribes of, 89 ; revolt of the, 165 ; defection from Sparta, 241. Ionic migration, 36. Ionic order, 14;. lophon, 587. Iphltus, 51. Iphicrates, tactics of, 450 ; successes of, 451 ; 1 ib. ; defeats the Lacede- monians near Abydus, 45 j ; indicted, 505. Ipsus, battle of, 563. Ira, fortress of, 76. Isaeus, 591. Isagoras, 107, ill. Ismenias, 479, 480. Isocratcs, 591. Issus, battle of, 513- Isthmian games, 50, 51, 53. Ithaca, 7. ltbome becomes subject to Sparta, 74; Mount, 476. J. Jason, :o. Jason of Pheraj, 472; assas- sinated, 473. Jerusalem, Alexander's re- ported visit to, 537. Jocasta, 21. Josephus, 601. Jove, temple of, at Olympia, m- K. Kings, Grecian, 25. Knights, Athenian, 07. KnighUoi Aristophanes, ex- tract from, 409. Laceda>monians (v. Sparta). Laceda'inonius, 27;. I.achares, 565. Laconia, 7 ; reduced by the Spartans, 71; northern fron- tier of, 77. Laconizeis, what, 257. Lade, battle of, 168. LfBvinus, M. V r al., S72. LalUK, 2T. LYSANDER. Lamachus, 329 ; advises an attack on Syracuse, 333; slain, 338 I.amian war, 556. Lampsacos, 367. Laocoon, 586. l.arissa, 429. Lasns of llcmivme, 230. Laurium, 9; silver-mines at, 183. Legends, heroic, their value, 24. Leieges, 14. Leonidas, 194; his death, 196. Leonnatus, 55 ;. s, 458. Leontines, 328. Lcotj-chiiKs, \ii, 227; treach- ery of, 254. Leosthencs, 55;. Lesbos, confiscation of, 303 ; revolt of, 348. I.esche, at Delphi, 390. Leucas, 125. Leuctra, battle of, 471. Ltchaa, 349. Literature, Greek, history of, 126, 229, 400, 587; revival of, in the West, 603. Locrians, 5 ; Epizephyrian, 121. Locris, 6. Ixing walls, Athenian, 384; rebuilt, 448. Lucian, 602. Lycabettus, 382. Lycambes, 1 29. Lyceum, 399, 597. Lycians, destruction of the, 158. Lycomedes, king, 20. Lycomedes of Manlinea, 474, 477 ; defeats the Spartans, 478, 480. Lycon, 417. Lycophron, 84. Lycortas, 575. Lycorgna (legislator), 6a Lycurgus (orator), 59;. Lydian monarchy, 153. Lygdamis, 103, 235. Lyric poetry, 128; occasions of, 129; development of, 229. Lysander, appointed iTavar- clius, 362 ; SmttoltUS, 367 ; intrusted by Cyrus with his satrapy, ib ; his proceed- ings after the victory of jEgospotami, 370; block- ades Piraus, ib. ; takes possession of Athens, 372; establishes the Thirty Ty- rants, 373; triumph, 16. ; honours, 377 ; re-enters Athens, 378; his ambitions schemes, 436; despatched to the Hellespont, 440 ; expedition Into Bceotla, 444 ; slain, ib. MKL03. Lysiax, 269, 591. Ly sides, 521. Lysicrates, choragic monu- ment of, 584. I.ysiniachus, 553, 566; 6lam, 567. Lysippns, 582. M. Macedonia, description of, 500. Macedonian empire, partition of, 553 ; overthrow, 576. Macedonians, their origin, 501. Machanidas, 573. Macroncs, the, 431. Magi, 153. Magna Grscia, 120; causes of the decline of its cities, 123. Magon, 496. Malian < ; n 1 f, 4. Malll, the, 546, Mantinea, 57 ; battle of, 326; taken by the Spartans, 385 ; rebuilt, 474; battle of, 485 1 third battle of, 573. Mantlneans Invoke the aid of Sparta against the The- bans, 484. Marathon, battle of, 176. Martians subdued by Alex- ander, 542. Mardontes, 227. Mardonius, 171 ; adroit flat- tery of, 21 2 ; negociations with the Athenians, 217; marches against Athens, 218; retreats, 219; death 224. Masistius, 220. Massageue, 158. Massalia, 123. Mausoleum, the, 580, 584 Mausolus, 535. Maza'us, 540. Medea, 21. Medes, the, 152. Media, wall of, 427. Medon, first Athenian archon, 88. Megabazus, 162. Megabyzus, 258. Megacles, 8;, 93, 101, 103. Megalopolis founded, 476 battle of, 553. Megan, 57; revolutions of, 85 ; long walls at, 257 ; revolts from Athens, 264; complains of Athens, 277; Athenian expedition a- gainst. (14. Megaric sect, 595. Megaris, j. Melcart, 539. Melesander, 192. Meletus, 417. Moles, 317. INDEX. 623 MENALCIDAS. Menalcidas, 5Tj. Mcnander, 588. Mende, 318. Menelaus, 22. Menon, 428. Messene, 58. Messene founded, 476; taken by Lycortas, 575. Messenia, 7. Messenian war, first, 73; second, 75 ; third, 254. Messenians conquered by the Sparatans, 74 ; subjugated, 11- Mespila, 429. Methone, 507. Metellus, 578. Meton, J jo. Miletus, 117; fall of, 169; revolt of, 348. Milo the Crotoniate, 121, Miltiades, 174; accusation and death of, 180. Mindarus, 358. Minos, 18, 20. Minotaur, 19. Mioyans, 38. Mnaseas, 511. Mnasippus, 4G7. Morea, 6. Moschus, 600. Mosynreci, 4J2. Muiumius, 578 ; his Ignorance of art, ib. Munychia, 384. Museum, 382. Mycale, battle of, 227. Mycenas, 13, 16; ruins of, 29, 141. Myron, 389. Myronides, 259. Mytilene, naval engagement at, 364. Mytileneans, revolt of the, 298 ; embassy to Sparta, 299 ; capitulate, 300. N. Nauclides, 281. Nauci-ary, 90. Naupactus, 33 ; taken by the Athenians, 261. Navarchia, Spartan, 358 Nixos, Spartan expedition against, 164; revolt of, 252; battle of, 465. Neapolis, 337- Nearchus, voyage of, 547. Nemean games, 51, 53. Neodamodes, 64. Nicaea founded by Alexander, 546. Nicias, 310; reduces Cythera, 314; concludes a peace with Sparta, 320; appointed com mander in Sicily, 329; his dilatory proceedings there, 335 ; Jesponding situation of. 340; indecision, 341; PAM1SUS. surrender, 344 ; death, 34? : character, ib. Nicostratus, 304. Nike Apteros, temple of 391, Nimroud, 429. Nineveh, 429. Nisseus, 494. Nobilior, M. Fulv., 574. Nobles, 27, 80. Oceanus, 30. Odcuin, 267, 399. (Edipus, 21. (Enophyta, battle of, 261. (Eta, Mount, 4. Oligarchy, 80. Olympia, 7 ; temple of, plun- dered by the Arcadians, 484. Olympiad, first, 12. Olympian Jove, 14. Olympias, 522; takes refuge with Alexander in Epirus, 522; whether concerned in Philip's assassination, 524 ; puts Eurydice to death, 560 ; murdered, ib. Olympic games, 51. Olympus, 4. Olyntbiac orations of Demos- thenes, 510. Olynthian confederacy dis- solved, 457; its extent, 510. Olynthus, 457 ; taken by the Spartans, 459. Onatas, 387. Onomarchus, 507. Op-untian Locrians, 5. Oracles, 54. Orators, Athenian, demanded by Alexander, 529; ten Attic, Alexandrian canon of, 590. Oratory, Greek, rise and pro- gress of, 589. Orchomenos, 326, 466, 473. Orders of architecture, 144. Oropus, 481, 577. Orthagoras, 82. Ortygia, 336. Ossa, 4. Ostracism introduced by Clis- thenes, 1 10. Othryades, 78. Othrys, Mount, 4. Oxyartes, 544. Ozolian mountains, 5. Paches, 300, 304. Pactolus, the, 154. Pseonians, 502. Psestum, 120. Painting, origin and progress of, 150; development of, 389; Sicyonian school of, 582. Pamisus, river, 7. PERICLES. Pamphilus, 582. I'anatheusea, 19. Pancratium, 52. Pangfeus, Mount, 253, 504. Pan-Ionic festival, 36. Parabasis, comic, 409. Parali, 95. Paris, 22. Parmenio, 537 ; put to death by Alexander, 543. Parnassus, Mount, 5. Parnes, Mount, 5. Parnon, Mount, 7. Paropamieus, 543. Parrhasius, 391. Partheniae, 123. Parthenon, 267, 394. Parysatis, queen, 427, 441. Pasargadse, 541. Paulus, L. Mm., 576. Pausanias, regent of Sparta, vanity and treason of, 240, recall and impeachment of, 247 ; conviction and death, 248. Pausanias (second), 378 ; ex- pedition into Bceutia, 444 ; condemned to death, 583. Pausanias assassinates Philip. 52J- Pausanias (historian), 602. I'cdieis, 9;. Feers, Spartan, 438. Pelasgians, 14. Felasgicon, the, 286. Pelion, 4. Pelopidas, character of, 460 ; gains a victory at Tegyra, 466 ; subdues Alexander of Pherae, 478; imprisoned by Alexander, 480; defeats Alexander, 482 ; slain, 483. Peloponnesian confederacy, meeting of, 277; decides for war against Athens, 278; war, commencement of, 283; invasion of Attica, 285; Thucydidrs' character of the war, 305. Peloponnesians attempt to surprise Piraeus, 298. Peloponnesus, 6. Pelops, 16. Peneus, 4. Penj-ab, the, 54;. Pentacosiomedimni, 97. Pentathlum, 52. Perdiccas, 276. Perdiccas (Alexander's gene- ral), 552 ; marches against Ptolemy, 558; assassinated, ib. Periander, 8j; his cruelty, 84 ; abilities and power, ib. ; and Arion, 131. Pericles, character of, 25; ; innovations of, 256 ; his administration, 257; re- duces Eubcea, 2(14; plar.fi for adornlig Attens 267 •, 624 INDEX. PERICLES, his banishment demanded by the Lacedaemonians, 279; pleads for Aspasia, ib. ; persuades a war, 281 ; funeral oration by, 288 ; accused of peculation, 289 ; death and character, 290. Pericles, age of, character of art in, j86. Perintbus, siege of, 516. Perioeci, 62. Peripatetics, 596. Persepolis taken and burnt by Alexander, 541. Perseus, 18. l'erseus, 575; defeated by the Romans, 576. Persian Gates, 540. Persians, 155 ; their cruelties towards the Ionic Greeks, 169; invade Greece, 171; PISISTRATL'S in the war against Ani- phissa, 519; seiies Klatea, to.; defeats the Thebans and Athenians at Cha?ro- nea, 520 ; his conduct after the battle, 521 ; clemency towards Athens, 16.; ap pointed generalissimo a gainst Persia, 522 ; chas- tises the Spartans, ib. family feuds, ib. ; omens of his death, 52J ; assassin- ated, ib. ; character, 524. Philip IV., 565. Philip V, 571; assists the Achaeans, 572 ; forms alliance with Hannibal, 572; defeated by the JU>- mans, 574. Philip Arrhidasus, 55 j. I'hilippi founded, 504. demand earth and \rau-rl Philippics of Demosthenes, from the Grecian States, 508 ; first, 509 ; second, 17:; second invasion of: 515; third, 516. Greece, 17J ; land at Mara-lPliilocrates, 452. thon, 174; third invasion Philomelus, 506 ; slain, 507. of Greece, 188; their num- Philopcemen, 575; takes Sparta, 57; ; taken and put to death, 16. Philosophy, Greek, origin of, Ij6; Ionic school of, ib. ; Eleatic school, 1 37 ; Pytha- gorean school, ib. ; various schools, 596. Phocwans, i;8. Phocians, 505 ; defeated by the Thebans, 507 ; reduced by Philip, 51 3. Phocion, 46; ; character of, 510; his expedition to Eu- ber under Xerxes, 189 ; de- struction of their fleet by a storm, 198 ; their pro- gress, 20}; attack l>elpui, 204; take Athens, t'6. ; re- treat of, 214; their Beet reassembles at Samos, 216. Phcedo, Plato's, 418. Phalanx, Macedonian, 50J. Phalaris of Agrigentum, 119. Phalerum, J84. Phamabazna assists the La- cedaemonians, 360 ; mag- nanimity of, 442. rhayllus, 507, 511. Pherecydes of Syros, 234. Phidias, 267 ; accused of peculation, 280 ; his style, J88; his statue of the Olympian Jove, .599. Phidon, 53. Phignliaii marbles, 399. Philamon, 588. Philip of Maccdon carried to Thebes as a hostage, 478 ; education of, 501 ; cha- bcea, 516; to Byzantium, 517 ; his rebuke of Demos- thenes, 526; refuses Alex- ander's presents, 529; ac- cusation and death, 559. Phocis, ;. Phcebidas, 46$. Phoenicians, 16. Phormio, victories of, 297. Pharos, the, 242. Pbratriae, 90. Pbryne, 581. Phryr.ichus, 351, J5f racter, 502; defeats the Phrynichus (dramatist), his Illyrians, 503 ; assumes the I Fall of Miletus, 169; ac- crown, ib. ; takes Amphi-| count of, 402. polis and Pvdna, 504; takes Phyllidas, 460. part in the sacred war, I'hylo-basileus, 90. 507 ; loses an eye, ib.; re- IMnacotheca, 39?. dui«s Thessaly, 508; ex- Pindar, 231; his style, 2} j ; pedition into Thrace, 16. ;j his house spared by Alex- takes Olynthus, 511; oc- ander, 529. cupies Delphi, 5lj; over- Tindus, Mount, 4. runs Illyria, 515; second Piraeus fortified, 245, 268; expedition Into Thrace, I re-fortified, 447; surprised 510 ; manifesto to the Athe- by Teleutias, 45 j. mans, 517; compelled to Pirithous, 20. evacuate the Chersonese, Pisa, 7. «8; expedition into Scy- Plsander, 442. thla. 16. ; elected general , Pisistratns, usurpation of, PYTHIA. 101 ; his stratagem, ioj; death and character of, 104. PissutliD^s. 271. Pittacus, 135. Plague at Athens, 288. Plataea, battle of, 221; sui- prised, 282; besieged by the Peloponnesians, 293 ; surrenders. 295 ; destroyed, ib.; restored by the La- cedaemonians, 456; again destroyed by the Thebans, 467. Plataeans join the Athenian?, 176; massacre of the, 295. Plato, visits Sicily, 489; sold as a slave, 490 ; second visit to Sicily, 491 ; life of, 593 ; philosophy, 594. Pleistoanax, 264. Plutarch, 601. Pnyx, ihe, 382, 398. Facile Stoa, the, 392, 599, Poetry, Greek, 40. Polemarch, 91. Polemon, 596. Po!us of Agrigentum, 414. Polybius, 577, 601. Polybus, 21. Polychares, 7;. Polycletus, 388. Polycratcs of Samos, 16a. Pofygnotus, 389. Polynicee, 22. Polysperchon, 5;3; expedi- tion to Peloponnesus, 560. Poms, 545. Potidaea, 276, 292, 457, 504. Pratinas, 402. Praxias, 388. Praxitas defeats the Corin- thians, 449. Probuli, 347. 452. Prodicus, 590. Prodicus of Ceos, 414. Prose composition, origin of, 2JJ. Propylaea, 268, 39;. Protagoras of Abdcra, 414, 590. Prytaneum, 99. Prytanies, 109. Prytanis, 80. Psammeticbos of Corinth, 85. Psyttaleia, 209. Ptolemies patronise learning, '•00. Ptolemy. 558; defeated at Salamis, 562. Ptol nay Ceranmtt, 566, 567. Ptolemy Philadelphia, 566. Pydna, ;6o ; battle of, 576. Pylagorae, 49. I'ylus, 307. PyTrhus, 565; becomes klnp of Macedonia, 566. Pythagoras, 121, 157. Pythagorean clubs sup- pressed, 1 39. PythU, u- INDEX. 625 Pythian games, 51. Pythodorus, 328. Pythonicus, 331. B. Rhapsodists, 42. Rhegium 121. Ehefra of Lycurgus, 61. Rhodes, 7 ; siege of, 562 ; colossus at, 585. Rhoecus, 148. Romans direct their atten tion towards Greece, 573 ; declare war agaiust Philip V., 574 ; proclaim the free- dom 3i Greece, ib. ; declare war agaiust Perseus, 576 ; spoliation of Greek works by, 586. Royal'.y abolished in Greece, 79; cause of its abolition, 80. Roxana married by Alex ander, 544 ; murdered, 561 S. Sacred Band, Theban, 463. Sacred war, first, 51 ; second, 50J ; barbarity of, 507 ; progress of, 511 ; termina tion, 513 ; results, 514. Sages, the seven, 134. Salsthus, 300, 301. Salamis, 7 ; acquired by the Athenians, 95 ; battle of, 209. Salamis (in Cyprus), battle of, 562. Samos, revolt of, 271; sub dued, ib. ; its importance to Athens, 348 ; revolution: at, j 54; subdued by Ly. sander, 373. Sappho, 1 j j. Sardis, 153 ; burnt, 166. Saronic gulf, ;. Scarphea, battle of, 578 Scione, 318. Scopas, 220. Scopas (sculptor), 580. Scyros, reduction of, 242. Scythini, the, 450. Sedition, Solon's law respect- ing. 99- Seisactheia, the, 96. Seleucus, 558; founds An tioch, 563 ; succeeds to the greater part of the Mace donian empire, 567 ; assas sinated, ib. Sol inun tine sculptures, 149 Sellasia, battle of, 571. Selymbria, 125. Se.stos reduced by tno Athe- nians, 228. Seutlies, 433. Sicilian expedition, 332 ; ter- mination of, 344. Gb. SPARTAN8. Sicily, dissensions in, 328. Sicyon, 7 ; despots in, 82. Silver-mines, 9. Simouiies of Amorgos, 130, Simonides of Ceos, 230. Sinope, 117. Sisygambis, 534. Sitalces, 287, 292, 297. Slaves, 27. Smerdis, 159. Smilis, 148. Smyrna, 3 ft. Social war, 504 ; ill effects of the, 505 ; second, 572. Socrates at Delium, 316; his opinion of the Sicilian ex- pedition, 330; opposes the condemnation of the ten generals, 366; refuses to obey the commands of the Thirty, 374 ; summoned before them, 375; sketch of his life, 415 ; his teach- ing and method, 416; how he differed from the So- phists, ib. ; wisdom of, 417; unpopularity and in- dictment of, ib. ; con- demned, ib. ; refuses to escape, 418; death, ib. Sogdiana, fortress of, taken, 544- Sollium, 287. Solon, 94; legislation of, 96; supposed interview with Crcesus, 100; laws of, brought down into the Agora, 256. Sophists prohibited from teaching, 375; description of the, 413. Sophocles at Samos, 272; account of, 405 ; character as a poet, 406. Sparta, 13, 57; landed pro- perty in, 69 ; power of, 78 ; head of the Grecian States, 172; earthquake at, 253; allies of, iu the Peloponne sian war, 283 ; introduction of gold and silver at, 437; league against, 445 ; con gress at, 467 ; rapid fall of, 474; entered by Eparui- nondas, 485 ; taken by An tigonus Doson, 571; taken by Philopcemen, 575. Spartan constitution, 62 tribes, ib. ; education, 66 women, 68; money, 70 fleet totally defeated at Cyzicus, 360 ; mora defeated by Iphicrates, 450. Spartans make war on Ar- cadia, 77; alone retain their kings, 79; overthrow the despots, 82; send an em- bassy to Cyrus, 157 ; con- duct of, at Thermopylae 19 J ; selfish conduct of, 8YSSITIA. 202; their apathy, 218 j dismiss the Athenians, 255 ; oppose the Athenians in Boeotia, 260; require the Athenians to withdraw the decree against Megara, 280 ; invade Attica, 285 ; reject the advances of Alcibiades, 323 ; send an embassy to Athens, ib. ; invade Argos, 325; force the Argives to an alliance, 327; establish themselves at Decelea, 340; invade Elis, 435 ; duration of their supremacy, ib. , assist the Phociaus against the Thebans, 444 ; defeated at Haliartus, ib. ; lose their colonies, 447 ; proclaim the independence of the Boeo- tian cities, 456; garrison Orchomenus and Thespioe, ib. ; assist Amyntas against the Olynthians, 457 ; height of their power, 459; ex- pelled from Boeotia, 466 ; attack Corcyra, 467 ; solicit the aid of the Athenians, 477 ; defeat the Arcadians, 478 ; send an embassy to Persia, 479 ; excluded from the Amphictyonic council, 513 ; attempt to throw ofl the Macedonian yoke, 553 ; their decline and degrada- tion, 569 ; call in the Ro- mans, 578. Speusippus, 596. Sphacteria blockaded, 309 , captured, 312. Sphodrias, 462. Sporades, 7. Statira, 534, 548 ; murdered by Eoxana, 553. Statuary, 30; progress of, 148; schools of, 149, 387, 579- Stesichorus, 132. Sthenela'idas, 278. Stoics, 596. Strabo, 601. Strategi, Athenian, 1 10, Stratonice, 565. Sunium fortified, 347. Susa, treasures at, 540. Susarion, 402. Sybaris, its luxury, 120; de- stroyed, 121. Sybarites, 269. Sybota, naval battle off, 275 Syennesis, 422. Syntaxes, the, 463. Syracusans, (heir vigorous defence, 336. Syracuse, 118 ; description of, .336; naval battle at, 340; engagement in the Great Harbour of, 341 ; constitu- tion of, 487. Syssitia, 68, 438. 2 s 626 INDEX. T. "Table Companions," the, 42 5. Tfenavuni, 7. Tanagra, battle of, 260. Taochi, the, 4?o. Tarenuini, I2J. Taygetus, Mount, 7. Tearless battle, the, 478 Tegea, 57 ; reduced by the Spartans, 78. Teleclus, 7}. Telcutias, 452, 4;}. Temenng, 58. i'empe, 4 ; pass of, 192. Temples, Greek, description of, 14J ; of Diana at Kphesus, 146; of Jimo at Samos, 147 ; of Delphi, ib. ; of the Olympiau Jove, ib. ; at P«stum, ib. ; at Selinus, ib. ; in jEgina, ib. ' Ten Thousand," expedition and retreat of the, 419, sqq. "Ten Thousand," the Arca- dian, 476. Teos, revolt of, J48 Terillus, 215. Tcrpander, 128. Tetralogies, 40J. Thais, 541. Thales of Miletus, 1 \(>, Thasos, reduced, 25 j. Theagenes of Megara, 8j. Thebans surprise I'iatsea, 281 ; expel king Agis from Aulis, 440; invade Phocis, 444 ; form an alliance with Athens, ib. ; forced into the Lacedaemonian alliance, 459; rise of their ascend- ency, 47J ; defeated by Alexander of Pherae, 480 ; fit out a fleet, 482 ; their proceedings at Tegea, 484 ; ally themselves with the Athenians against Philip, 519; humbled by Philip 521 ; rise against the Mace- donians, 528. Thebes, Sever, against, 22. Thebes, 16 ; reduced by Pau- sanias, 227 ; liberated from the Spartans, 461 ; declared head of Greece by the Per- sians, 479; destroyed, 529 ; restored by Cassander, 560. Themistocles, proposes a Beet, 182; his character, 181; his advice to fight at Sala- mis, 206 ; his stratagem to bring on an engagement, 207 ; his message to Xer- xes, 21} ; his rapacity, ib. ; rewarded by the Spartans, 214 ; his views, 241 sq. . goes ambassador to Sparta, 244 ; corruption of, 246 ; TISSAPHERNES ostracised, 16. ; flight, 248 ; ZOROASTER. 428; attacks the loni&c cities, 458; beheaded, 441 Tithraustes, 441, 445. Tolmides, 261, 20J. Torone, ji8. Tragedy, Greek, origin of, 401 Trapezus, 4JI. ' 1 reasury" of Atrcw, 142 Trlparadisus, treaty of, 558 Trilogies, 40J. Tryphilian cities, 474, 479. 'J'ritti/s, 90. Trcezen, 7. Trojan expedition, 22. Troy captured, 24. Tyche, })■]. Tyrant, value of the term, 81. Tyre, besieged by Alexander 5*6. Tyrtieus, 75, i^o. reception in Persia, 249 ; death, to. ; tomb, 250. Theocritus, 600. Theodoras of Samoa, 148. Theognis, 85 . rheopompns, 74. 1'lier.mienes, J55, 37', fji ; his death, ;->. Thermopylae, 4 ; pass of, 19 j; battle of, 195 Theron of Agrigentum, 215. Thespis, 229, 402. Theseum, the, 392. Theseus, 18, 19, 88 ; bones of, brought to Athens, 242. Thessalians, 31. Thessaly, 4 ; submits to Xer xes, 192. Thesmoth;; attacks Za- cide, 122. cy tubus, 466; successful na- »a, J84. val expedition of, 482.; in- Zeno, 598. dieted and condemned, 505. \Zeufftia, 97. Tiribazus, 429, 451. \Zeus Ekutherios. 226. Tiryns, remains of, 29, 141. Zeuxis, 390. rissaphernes,i48*i2.,J59.4»0.|i4oroaster, 15}. Ulysses, 22. Uxians, the, 540. Venus de Medecis, 586. w. Wolf, Homeric theory of, 44 Writing, use of, 44. X. Xanthian marbles, 149. Xa-lhippus, 180; recovers the Thracian Chersonese, 228. Xenocrates, 596. Xenophanes, 137. Xenophon, account of, 412; his wcrks, ib. ; accompanies Cyr^.s, 422 ; his dream, 428 ; saluted General of the Ten Thousand, 16. . returns to Athens, 433 ; joins Agesi- laus, 446. Xerxes, character of, 186; subdues Egypt, ib. ; chas- tises the Hellespont, 187; marches towards Greece, 188 ; reviews his troops, to. ; crosses the Hellespont, 189; number of his host, ib.; takes Athens, 209; bis alarm and retreat, 212. LONDON! PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. So, Albemarle Street, London, March, 1886. MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS, MURRAY'S STUDENT'S MANUALS. % jlmes at Class=boxrhs iox aMnnctir Scholars. Forming a Chain of History from the Earliest Ages down to Modern Times. "We are glad of an opportunity of directing the attention of teachers to these admirable schoolbooks."— THE MUSEUM. English History and Literature. THE STUDENT'S HUME : A History of England, from the Earliest Times to the Revolution in 1688. By DAVID HUME. Incorporating the Researches of recent Historians. New Edition . revised, corrected, and continued to theTreaty of Berlin in 1S70, by J. S. BREWER, M.A. With Notes, Illustrations, and 7 Coloured 5laps and Woodcuts. (830 pp.) Post 8vo. js. 6d. _%* Also in. Three Parts. With Coloured Maps and Illustra- tions. Post 8vo. 2s. 6d. each. I. From b.c. 55 to the Death op Richard III., a.d. 1485. II. Henry VII. to the Revolution, 1688. III. The Revolution to the Treaty of Berlin, 18/8. *** Questions on the" Student's Hume" 121110. 2s. THE STUDENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL, HISTORY OF ENGLAND. From the Accession of Henry VII. to ths Death of George II. By HENRY HALLAM, LL.D. (6Sopp.) Post 8vo. js. 6d. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By GEORGE P. MARSH. (538pp.) PostSvo. 7 s.6J. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF ENGLISH LITE- RATURE. By T. B. SHAW, M.A. (510 pp.) Post 8vo. 7 s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH LITE- RATURE. Selected from the Best Writers, and arranged Chrono- logically. By THOS. B. SHAW, M.A. (560 pp.) Post 8vo. 7 s. U. Scripture and Church History. THE STUDENT'S OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. From the Creation of the World to the Return op the Jews fko.m Captivity. With an Introduction to the Books of the Old Testament. By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. With 40 Maps and Woodcuts. (630 pp.) Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. With an Introduction, containing the Connection of the Old and New Testaments. By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. With 30 Maps and Woodcuts. (680 pp.) Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. A Histcry of the Christian Church from the Times of the Apostles to the Reformation. By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. = vols. Post 8vo. 7s. i>d. each. Part I. — a.d. 30 — 1003. (654 pp.) With Woodcuts. Part II. — a.d. 1003 — 1614. (744 pp.) With Woodcuts. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF ENGLISH CHURCH HISTORY. By G. O. PERRV, M.A., Canon of Lincoln. 2 Vols. 7$. M. each. xst Period. From the Planting of the Church in Britain to the Accession of Henry VIII. a.d. 596— 1509. (576 pp.) ind Period. From the Accession of Henry VIII. to the Silencing of Convocation in the Eighteenth Century, (a.d. 1509 — i7'7> ( 6 35 PP-) THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. By HENRY WACE, D.D. Post 8vo. [/;; Preparation. Ancient History . THE STUDENT'S ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. From the Earliest Times to the Conquests of Alexander the Great, including Egypt. Assyria, Babylonia, Media, Persia. Asia Minor, and Phoenicia. By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. With 70 Wood- cuts. (608 pp.) Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S HISTORY OF GREECE. FROM the Earliest Times to Tin: Roman Co.nqlest. With Chapters on the History of Literature and Art. By WM. SMITH, D.C.L. With Coloured Maps and Woodcuts. (640 pp.) Post8vo. 7s. dd. *»* Questions on the" Student's Greece." 121/to. 2s. THE STUDENT'S HISTORY OF ROME. From the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Empire. 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While his pages abound in facts, lie has not been content to give a mere crowded summary of events : he presents us with many sound and thought- ful remarks on the tendencies of eacli of his periods. His grasp is firm and he never loses his way amidst a multitude of details . . . above all, we believe that we are justified in saying that it is minutely accurate." — Journal c/Edtuatioii. THE STUDENT'S HISTORY OF EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. By HENRY HALLAM, LL.D. (650 pp.) Post 8vo. 7-r. 6d. France. THE STUDENT'S HISTORY OF FRANCE. FROM THE Earliest Times to thr Fall of the Second Empire. With Notes and Illustrations on the Institutions of the Country. By W. H. TERVIS, M.A. With 4 Coloured Maps, and Woodcuts. (760 pp.) Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. *■ Geography and Geology. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF ANCIENT GEO- GRAPHY. By Canon BEVAN, M.A. With 150 Woodcuts (710 pp.) Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF MODERN GEO- GRAPHY, Mathematical, Physical, and Descriptive. By Canon BEVAN, M.A. With 120 Woodcuts. (684pp.) Post8vo. 7 s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH INDIA. Political and Physical. By GEORGE SMITH, LL.D. With Maps. Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY. By Sir CHARLES LYELL, F.R.S. A New Edition, thoroughly revised by Professor P. MARTIN DUNCAN. With 600 Wood- cuts. Post 8vo. gs. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY By MARY SOMERVILLE. 7th Edition, corrected and revised. Post 8vo. 9s. Law and Philosophy. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF MORAL PHILOSO- PHY. With Quotations and References. By WILLIAM FLEM- ING, D.D. (440 pp.) Post Svo. js. 6d. THE STUDENT'S EDITION OF AUSTIN'S JURIS- PRUDENCE. Compiled from the larger wurk. By ROBERT CAMPBELL. (544 pp.) Post Svo. 12s. AN ANALYSIS OF AUSTIN'S LECTURES ON JURISPRUDENCE. By GORDON CAMPBELL. (214 PP-) Post Svo. 6s. MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. Dr. Wm. Smith's Smaller Manuals. These Works have been drawn up for the Lower Forms, at the request of ■everal teachers, who require more elementary books than the STUDENT'S HISTORICAL MANUALS. A SMALLER SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENT. In Three Divisions :— I. Old Testament History. 11. Connection of Old and New Testaments. III. New Testament History to a.d. 70. Edited by WM. SMITH. With Coloured Maps and 40 Illustrations. (370 pp.) i6mo. y. (xi. This book is intended to be used with, and not in the place of, the Bible, " Students well know the value of Dr. Wm Smith's larger Scripture His- tory. This abridgment omits nothing of importance, and is presented in such a handy form that it cannot fail to become a valuable aid to the less learned Bible Student." — Ptofle'j iiagfuint. A SMALLER ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. From the Earliest Times to the Conquest of Alexander the Gkeat. By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. With 70 Woodcuts. (310 pp.) i6mo. 3*. td. " This book is designed to aid the study of the Scriptures, by placing in their true historical relations those allusions to Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, rhcenicia, and the Medo- Persian Empire, which form the background of the history of Israel trom Abraham to Nehemiah. The present work is an in- dispensable adjunct of the ' Smaller Scripture History;' and the two have been writ'.ea expressly to be used together." A SMALLER HISTORY OF GREECE. From the Earliest Times to the Roman Conquest. By WM. SMITH. With Coloured Maps and 74 Woodcuts. (26S pp.) i6mo. 3*. 6rf. This history has been drawn up at the request of several teachers, for the use of lower forms, elementary pupils. The table of contents presents a full analysis of the work, and has been so arranged, that the teacher can frame from it questions for the examination of his ci-ASS, the answers to which will be found in the corresponding pages of the volume. A SMALLER HISTORY OF ROME. From the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Emiire. By WM. SMITH, D.C.L. With Coloured Map and 70 Woodcuts. (324 pp.) 161110. 3-f. cV/. The " Smaller History of Rome" has been written and arranged on thssame plan, and with the same object, as the " Smaller History of Greet-.'' Like that work it comprises separate chapters on the institutions and literature ofti.e countries with which it deals. A SMALLER CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY. With Trans- lalions from the Ancient Poets, and Questions on the Wurk. By H. R. LOCKWOOD. With 90 Woodcuts. (3^0 pp.) i6mo. 3s. 6J. This work has been prepared by a lady for the use of schools and young persons of both sexes. In common w ith many other teachers, she has long felt the want of a consecutive account of the heathen deities, which might safely be placed in the hands of the young, and yet contain all that is gene- rally necessary to enable them to understand the classical allusions they may meet with in prose or poetry, and to appreciate the meanings of works ol art. A carefully prepared set of questions is appended, the answers to which will be found in the corresponding pages of the volume. MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. $ A SMALLER MANUAL OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. By Canon BEVAN, M.A. (240pp.) With Woodcuts. i6mo. 3S.6d. "This work has been drawn tip chiefly for the lower forms in schools, at the request of several teachers wno require for tlieir pupils a more elemen- tary work than the ' Student's Manual of Ancient Geography.' The arrange- ment of the two works is substantially the same. The more important towns alone are mentioned; the historical notices are curtailed; modern names are introduced only in special cases, either for the purpose of identifi- cation or where any noticeable change has occurred ; and the quotations from classical works are confined for the most part to such expressions as are illustrative of local peculiarities. A very ample Index is supplied, so that the work may suppiy the place of a dictionary for occasional reference." A SMALLER MANUAL OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY. By JOHN RICHARDSON, M.A. New and Revised Edition. i6mo. (290 pp.) 2S. 6d. This "Smaller Manual" has been compiled for pupils who are acquiring for the first time the chief facts of General Geography, and no pains have been spared to render the learner's task as easy and as pleasant as the nature of the subject admits of. Accuracy as to details has been striven after, in order that the young student may have a solid and safe foundation lor his future studies in the advanced branches of the Sciences. "Great pains appear to have been spent on the verification of facts, and the arrangement is a model of good method. Throughout the book there are unmistakable indications of solid, conscientious work, sound judgment, and practical acquaintance with teaching." — School Guardian. A SMALLER HISTORY OF ENGLAND. From the Eaklikst Times to the Year 18S0. By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. With Coloured Maps and 68 Woodcuts. (400 pp.) 161110. 34. 6d. " The most recent authorities have been consulted, and it is confidently believed that the Work will be found to present a careful and trustworthy account of English History for the lower forms in schools, for whose use it is chiefly intended." — Pre/ace. " This little volume is so pregnant with valuable information, that it will enable anyone who reads it attentively to answer such questions as are set forth in the English History Tapers in the Indian Civil Service Examina- tions." — Reader. A SMALLER HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE: Giving a Sketch of the Lives of our Chief Writers. By JAMES ROWLEY. (276pp.) i6mo. 3s. 6d. The important position which the study of English literature is now taking in education has led to the publication of this work, and of the accompanying volume of specimens. Both books have been undertaken at the request of many eminent teachers, and no pains have been spared to adapt them to the purpose for which they are designed — as elementary works to be used in schools. SHORT SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Selected from the chief authors and arranged chronologically. By JAMES ROWLEY. With Notes. (368 pp.) i6mo. y. 6d. While the " Smaller History of English Literature" supplies a rapid but trustworthy sketch of the lives of our chiei writers, and 01 the successive influences which imparted to their writings their peculiar character, the present work supplies choice examples 01 the works themselves, accom- panied by all the explanations required for their periect explanation. Tht two works are thus especially designed to be usecf together. 6 MR. MURRA YS LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. Dr. Win. Smith's Biblical Dictionaries. A DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE : comprising ITS Ant quities. Riography, Geography, and Natural History. By Various Writers. Edited by WM. SMITH, D.C.L and LL.D. With lllustraiions. 3 vols. (3158 pp.) Medium 8vo. £5 5s. " The most complete, learned, and trustworthy work of the kind hitherto produced." — Athenixum. A CONCISE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. Con- denied from the larger Work. For Families and Students. With Maps and 300 Illustrations. (1039 pp.) 8vo. 21J. A Dictionary of the Hib'e. in some form or another, is indispensable for every family. To students in the Universities, and in the Upper Forms at Schools, to private families, ard to that numerous class of persons who desire to arrive at results simply, this Concise Dictionary will, it is b lie fed, supply all that is necessary for the elucidation and explanation of the Bible. A SMALLER DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. Abridged from the larger Work. For Schools and Voting Persons. With Maps and Illustrations. (620 pp.) Crown 8vo. 7s. (xi. " An invaluable service has been rendered to students in the condensation of Dr. Wm Smith's Kible Dictionary. The work has been done as only a careftd and intelli ent scholar could do it. which preserves to us the essential scholarship aid value of each article."— British Quarterly Revieiv. The tivo following Works are intended to furnish a complete account of the leading personages, the Institutions, Art, Social Life, Writings, and Controversies of the Christian Church from the time of the Apostles to the Age of Charlemagne. They commence at the period at zvhich the " Dictionary of the Bible " leaves off, and form a continuation of it. A DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITIES. The History, Institutions, and Antiquities of the Christian Church. Edited by WM. SMITH, D.C.L., and Archdeacon CHEF.THAM, D.D. With Illustrations. 2 vols. Medium 8vo. £3 13J. 6d. " The work before us is unusually well done. A more acceptable present for a candidate for holv orders, or a " ore valuable book for any library, than the 'Dictionary of Christian Antiquities' could not easily be found. "— Saturday Review. A DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY, LITERATURE, SECTS, AND DOCTRINES. Edited by WM. SMITH, D.C.L., and HENRY WACE, D.D. Vols. I., II., and III. Medium 8vo. 31*. 6d. each. (To be completed in 4 vols.) " The value of the work arises, in the first place, from the fact that tha contributors to these volumes have diligently eschewed mere compilation. In these volumes we welcome the most important addition iha' h.n been made for a century to the historical library of the English theological Student." — Timet. MR. HURRAYS LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. Dr. Wm. Smith's Classical Dictionaries. AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY. By Various Writers. Edited by WM. SMITH, D.C.L. andLL.D. *' It is an honour to this College to have presented to the world so dis- tinguished a sch ilar as Dr. Wm. Smith, who has, by his valuable manuals of classical antiquity, and classical history and biography, done as much as any man living to promote the accurate knowledge of the Greek and Roman world among the students of this age." — Mr. Grote at the London University. I. A DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. Including the Laws, Institutions. Domestic Usages, Painting, Sculpture, Music, the Drama, &c. (1300 pp.) With 500 Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 28s. II. A DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY AND MYTHOLOGY. Containing a History of the Ancient World, Civil, Literary, and Ecclesiastical. (3700 pp.) With 560 Illustrations, 3 vols. Medium 8vo. 84*. III. A DICTIONARY OP GREEK AND ROMAN GEOGRAPHY. Including the Political History of both Countries and Cities, as well as their Geography. (2500 pp.) With 530 Illustrations. 2 vols. Medium Svo. 561. FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OP BIOGRAPHY, MYTHOLOGY, AND GEOGRAPHY. For the Higher Forms in Schools. Condensed from the larger Dictionaries. With 750 Woodcuts. 8vo. 1 8 j. A SMALLER CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. For Junior Classes. Abridged from the above Work. With 200 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. js. 6if. A SMALLER DICTIONARY OF ANTIQUITIES. For Junior Classes. Abridged from the larger Work. With 200 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. 7.?. 6d. Dr. Wm. Smith's Ancient Atlas. AN ATLAS OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, Biblical and Classical. Intended to illustrate the "Dictionary of the Bible," and the " Classical Dictionaries." Compiled under the superintendence of WM. SMITH, D.C.L., and Sir GEORGE GROVE, LL.D. With Descriptive Text, Indices, &c. With 43 Maps. Folio, half, bound. Price Six Guineas. " The students of Dr. Smith's admirable Dictionaries must have felt themselves in want of an Alias constructed on the same scale of precise and minute information with the article they were reading. 1 his want has at length been supplied by the superb work belore us. The indices are full, the engraving is exquisite, and the delineation of the natural features very minute and beautiful. It may safely be pronounced— and higher rraise can scarcely be bestowed— to be a worthy companion of the volumes which it is intended to illustrate."— Guardian. 8 MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. Dr. Win. Smith's Latin Dictionaries. "I consider Dr. Wm. Smith's Dictionaries to have conferred a great and lasting ■ervice on the causo of classical learning in this country." — Dean LIEDELL. "I have found Dr. Wm. Smith's Latin Dictionary a great convenience to me. I think that he has been very judicious In what he has omitted, as well as what h» has Inserted. "-Dr. SCOTT. A COMPLETE LATIN-ENGLISH DICTIONARY. Based on the Works of Forceli.ini and Freund. With Tables of the Roman Calendar, Measures, Weights, and Money. By WM. SMITH, D.C.L. and LL.D. (1200 pp.) Medium 8vo. sis. This work aims at performing the same service for the Latin language as Liddell and Scott's Lexicon has done lor the Greek. Great attention has been paid to Etymology, in which department especially this work is ad- mitted to maintain a superiority over all existing Latin Dictionaries. "Dr. Win. Smith's ' Latin-English Dictionary' is lifted, by its indepen- dent merit, far above comparison with any school or college dictionary commonly in use." — Examiner. A SMALLER LATIN-ENGLISH DICTIONARY, with a Separate Dictionary of Proper Names, Tables of Roman Moneys, &c. A New Edition, Edited by Prof. T. D. HALL. The Etymological portion by JOHN K. INGRAM, LL.D. Square i2ino. ys. td. This edition of Dr. Smith's 'Smaller Latin English Dictionary' is to a great extent a new and original Work. Every article lias been carefully revised. The improvements introduced fall mainly under the following heads : — 1. A much larger number of the examples given are actually translated. _•. Many articles have been recast, and not a few entirely re written. ;. All the etymological articles have been revised, and the greater part of them re-written. |. Very great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the quantities. 5. Short notes on synonymous words have been introduced in a large number of cases. 6. The Index of Proper Names has been largely increased ; and additional information given. A COPIOUS AND CRITICAL ENGLISH-LATIN DIC- TIONARY. Compiled from Original Sources. By WM. SMITH, D.C.L. and LL.D., and THEOPHILUS D. HALL, M.A. (970 pp.) Medium 8vo. 21s. It has been the object of the Authors of this Work to produce a more com- plete and more perfect ENGLISH-LATIN Dictionary than yet exists, and every article has been the result of original and independent research. Iach meaning is illustrated by examples Irom the classical writers ; and those phrases are as a general rule given in both English and Latin. A SMALLER ENGLISH-LATIN DICTIONARY. Abridged from the above Work, for the use of Junior Classes. (73c pp.) Square 121110. 7s. td. "An English-Latin Dictionary worthy of the scholarship of our age and country. It will take absolutely the first rank, and be the standard English- Latin Di< tionary as long as either tongue endures. Even a general exami- nation ol the pages will serve to reveal the minute pains taken to ensure its fulness and philological value, and the ' work is to a large extent a diction- ary of the English language, as well as an English- Latin Dictionary.'"— English Churchman. MR. MURRAY* S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. 9 Dr. Wm. Smith's Educational Series. " The general excellence of the books included in Mr. Murray's educa- tional sf ries is so universally acknowledged as to give in a great degree the stamp of merit to the -works of which it consists. "—SCHOOLMASTER. INTRODUCTION TO THE LATIN COURSE. THE YOUNG BEGINNER'S FIRST LATIN BOOK: containing the Rudiments of Grammar, Easy Grammatical Questions and Exercises, with Vocabularies. Being a Stepping Stone to " Prin- cipia Latina," Part I., for Young Children. (112 pp.) i2tno. 2s. THE YOUNG BEGINNER'S SECOND LATIN BOOK: containing an easy Latin Reading Book, with an Analysis of the Sentences, Notes, and a Dictionary. Being a Stepping Stone to "Principia Latina," Part II., for Young Children. (98 pp.) i2mo. is. Latin Course. PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part I. First Latin Course. Grammar, Delectus, Exercises, and Vocabularies. (216pp.) i2mo. 3s. 6d. The main object of this work is to enable a Beginner to fix the Declensions and Conjugations thoroughly in his memory, to learn their usage by construct- ing simple sentences as soon as he commences the study of the language, and to accumulate gradually a stock of useful words. The Cases of the Nouns, Adjectives, and Pronouns are so arranged that the work can be used with equal advantage by those who prefer cither the Public School Primer or the older arrangement. APPENDIX TO PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part I. Containing Additional Exercises, with Examination Papers. (125 pp.) i2mo. 2s. 6d. PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part II. Reading Book. An Introduction to Ancient Mythology, Geography, Roman Antiquities, and History. With Notes and a Dictionary. (268 pp.) 121110. 3.5.61/. PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part III. Poetry, i. Easy Hexameters and Pentameters. 2. Eclogse Ovidianae. 3. Prosody and Metre. 4. First Latin Verse Book. (160 pp.) i2mo. 3s. 6d. PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part IV. Prose Composition. Rules of Syntax, with Examples, Explanations of Synonyms, and Exercises on the Syntax. (194 pp.) nmo. 3s. 6d. PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part V. Short Tales and Anecdotes from Ancient History, for Translation into Latin Prose. (102 pp.) i2mo. 3s. LATIN-ENGLISH VOCABULARY. Arranged according to Subjects and Etymology ; with a Latin-English Dictionary to Phasdrus, Cornelius Nepos, and Caesar's " Gallic War." (190 pp.) i2mo. 3s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S LATIN GRAMMAR. For the Use of Colleges and the Higher Forms in Schools. By WM. SMITH, LL.D. and T. D. HALL. Thirteenth Edition, thoroughly revised and partly re-written. (450 pp.) Post 8vo. 6s. SMALLER LATIN GRAMMAR. For the Middle and Lower Forms. Abridged from the above. (220 pp.) i2ino. 3s. 6d. TACITUS, Germania, Agricola, and First Book of the Annals. With English Notes. i2mo. 3s. 6d. V Keys may be had by AUTHENTICATED Teachers on application. io MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS.. Greek Course. INITIA GR.ffiCA, Part I. A First Greek Course, containing Grammar, Delectus, Exercise Book, and Vocabularies. (284 pp.) i2mo. 3s. 6d. *»* The / resent Edition has been very thoroughly revised, and many additions and improvements have been introduced. The grent object of this work, as of the " Principia I.atina," is to make the studv of the language as easy and simple as possible, by Riving the grammatical forms only as they are wanted, and by eiubling the pupil to translate from Greek into English and from English into Greek as soon as he has learnt the Greek character", and the First Declension. For the con- venience of teachers the cases of the nouns, &c, arc given according to the ordinary grammars as well as according to the arrangement of the Public Schools Latin Primer. APPENDIX TO INITIA GR-cECA, Part I. Containing Additional Exercises, with Examination Papers and Easy Reading Lessons with the Sentences Analysed, serving as an Introduction to Initia Gr/Bca, Part II. (no pp.) nrao. zs. 6d. INITIA GRJECA, Part II. A Reading Book. c Con- taining short Tales, Anecdotes, Fables, Mythology, and Grecian History. With a Lexicon. (220 pp.) i2mo. 3s. 6s intended for the use of Colleges and Upper Forms in schools, than by quoting what M l.ittre" says of it in an introductory letter: — 'I have carefully tested the principal parts of your work, and have been com- pletely satisfied with the accuracy and correctness which I found there.'"— Saturday Review. A SMALLER FRENCH GRAMMAR. FOR THE - Middle and Lower Forms. Abridged from the above Work. (230 pp.) i2mo. 3-r. 6d. %* Ktyt may be had by Authenticated Teachers on amplication. 12 MR. MURRATS LIST OF SCHOOL BOOK'S. German Course. GERMAN PRINCIPIA, Part I. A First Cf.rman Course. Containing a Grammar, Delectus and Exercise Rook, with Vocabularies and materials for German Conversation. (244 pp.) ismo. 3*. 6d. '.' Tin present edition has undergo*! a very careful revision, and various improvements and additions have teen in/reduced. This work is on the same plan as the " French Tiincipia," and therefore requires no further description, except in one point. Differing from the ordinary grammars, all German words are printed in Roman, and not in the eld German characters : and as the Roman letters are not only used by many modern German writers, but aiso in Grimm's great Dictionary and Grammar, there seems no reason why the beginner, especially the native of a foreign country, who has learnt iiis own language in the Roman letters, should be any longer debarred from the advantage of this innovation. It is believed that this alteration will facilitate, more than at first might be sup- posed, the acquisition o the language. But at the same time, as many German books continue to be primed in the German characters, the exer- cises are printed in both German and Ruman letters. GERMAN PRINCIPIA, P.*rt II. A Reading Eoox. Containing Fables, Stories, and Anec lotes. Natural History, and Scenes from the History of Germany. With Grammatical Questions, Notes, and Dictionary. (272 pp.) i2mo. 31. dd. PRACTICAL GERMAN GRAMMAR, With a Sketch of the Historical Development of the Language and its Principal Dialects. (240 pp.) Post 8vo. 3*. 6d. ',' Keys may it had by Authenticated Teachers on amplication. Italian Course. ITALIAN PEINCIPIA, Part I. A First Italian Coukse. Containing a Grammar, Delectus, Exercise Book, with Vocabularies, and Materials for Italian Conversation. By Sicnor RICCI, Professor of Italian at the City of London School. (288 pp.) i2mo. $s. 6d. ITALIAN PRINCIPIA, Part II. A First Italian Readinc-Book, containing Fables, Anecdotes, History, and Passages fiom the best Italian Authors, with Grammatical Questions, Notes, and a Copious Etymological Dictionary. By Signor RICCI. umo. 3*. 6d. V Keys may bt had by Authenticated Teachers em application. MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. 13 English Course. A PRIMARY ENGLISH GRAMMAR for Elementary Schools. With 134 Exercises and carefully graduated parsing lessons. By T. D. HALL, M.A. (120 pp.) i6mo. is. This Work aims at the clearest and simplest statement possible of the first principles of English Grammar for the use of children from about eight to twelve years of age. " We doubt whether any grammar of equal size could give an introduction to the English language more clear, concise, and full than this." — Watchman. A SCHOOL MANUAL OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. With 194 Exercises. By \VM. SMITH, D.C.L., and T. D. HALL, M.A. With Appendices. Eighth Edition, carefully revised. (270 pp.) Post 8vo. 3r. 6d. This Work has been prepared with a special view to the requirements of Schools in which English, as a living language, is systematically taught, and differs from most modem grammars in its thoroughly practical character. A distinguishing feature of the book is the constant appeal lor every usage to the authority of Standard English Authors. "An admirable English Grammar. We cannot give it higher praise than to say that as a school grammar it is the best in this country'- There is a more complete and systematic treatment of Syntax than in any other works of the kind. It is a work thoroughly weil aone." — English Churchman. •«• Keys may be had by Authenticated Teachf.rs on application. A MANUAL OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION. With Copious Illustrations and Practical Exercises. Suited equally for Schools and for Private Students of English. By T. D. HALL, M.A. (210 pp.) i2mo. jr. 6d. "Mr. Hall's ' Manual' is certainly the most sensible and practical book upon English composition that we have lately seen. The great variety of subjects which it suggests as themes for exercising the imagination ax well as the literary powers of young students will be found a great assistance to teachers, who must often be sorely puzzled to hit upon subjects sufficiently diversified without being ridiculously beyond the scope of youthful experi- ence. " — Saturday Review. A PRIMARY HISTORY OF BRITAIN. Edited by WM. SMITH, D.C.L. and LL.D. (368 pp.) ismo. 2s . 6d. This book is a Primary History in no narrow sense. It is an honest at- tempt to exhibit the leading facts and events of our history, free from political and sectarian bias, and therefore will, it is hoped, be found suitable for schools in which children of various denominations are taught. "This Primary History admirably fulfils the design of the work. Its style is good, its matter is well arranged, and the pupil must be very stupid who fails to gather from its lively pages an intelligent account of the history of our united nation. It cannot tail to be a standard book." — John Bull. A SCHOOL MANUAL OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY, Physical and Political. By JOHN RICHARDSON, M.A. (400 pp.) Post 8vo. 5i\ This work has been drawn up for Middle Forms in Public Schools, Ladies' Colleges, Training Colleges, Assistant and Pupil Teachers, Middle Class ana Commercial Schools, and Civil Service Examinations. " It fully sustains the high reputation of Mr. Murray's series of school manuals, and we venture to predict for it a wide popularity. Hearing in mind its high character, it is a model of cheapness." — School Guardian. A SMALLER Iv.ANUAL OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY. For Schools and Young Persons. Ntw and Revised Edition. By JOHN RICHARDSON, M.A. (290 pp.) i6mo. 2*. 6rf. "Great pains appear to haye been spent on the verification of facts, and the arrangement is a model of good method. Throughout the book there are unmistakable indications of solid, conscientious work, sound judgment, and practical acquaintance with teaching."— School Guardian. /4 MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. Eton College Books. THE ETON LATIN GRAMMAR. Part I. — Ele- mentary. For Use in the Lower Forms. Compiled with the sanction of the Headmaster. By A. C. AINGEK, M.A., and H. G. WINTLE, M.A., Assistant Masters at Eton College. Crown Svo' 3* . 6d. Also, by the same Editors, A FIRST LATIN EXERCISE BOOK. Adapted to the Eton Latin Grammar. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. THE ETON FOURTH FORM OVID. Being Easy Passages selected from the Elegiac Poems of Ovid and Tibi'llus With Explanatory Notes. By H. G. WINTLE, M.A., Assistant- Master at Eton College. Third Edition, post Svo. as. 6d. Standard School Books. A CHILD'S FIRST LATIN BOOK. Comprising Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives, with the Active Verbs. With ample and varied Practice of the easiest kind. Both old and new order of Cases given. By THEOPHILUS D. HALL, M.A. (124 pp.) New and Enlarged Edition. i6mo. 2s. The speciality of this book lies in its presenting a great variety of viva voce work for class-room practice, designed to render the young beginner thoroughly familiar with the use of the Grammatical forms. " This work answers thoroughly to its title. The explanations are very clear and very lull, indeed an inexperienced teacher will find hers A METHOD SLTEKIOR TO ANYTH1NC. OF THE KIND WE HAVE SEEN."— Watchman. KING EDWARD VI. ;s LATIN GRAMMAR; or, An Introduction to the Latin Tongue. (324 pp.) 121110. 3*. 6'. Agnew, & Co.) (PrinUis, WhltefrUr*